'
Congrats, Zaz!
In other unrelated news, but still on the topic childcare, I suppose, I was (shock) annoyed by cable news this morning, when the impossibly pretty anchorwoman said something to the effect of, "Another disappointment for the Schiavos' effort to save their daughter."
Save. Think about that word choice. Save. Its very utterance would suggest, then, that if the parents are trying to save the daughter, then the husband who has fought for the feeding tube's removal must be trying to hurt her, right? By definition, save means to rescue or keep safe. But can't one argue the husband is also rescuing Terri Schiavo -- saving her, if you will -- by fighting to end her life in a dignified way? Media sometimes is too unfortunately sloppy in its word selection.
How my world looked yesterday:
Anyway, I posted a long entry earlier and it got deleted, sucked into the blogger vortex. So, here's a brief synopsis of the past few days:
* Finished reading "The Rule of Four" and totally loved it. Made me cry.
* The Contender made me cry too. Ask John if you don't believe me.
* Started reading "Deadwood" by Pete Dexter. Love it so far.
* Watched Deadwood on Sunday and am so increasingly impressed with this series.
* Got an invite to Todd and Mandy's wedding at Edgefield in April. However, I will be at a conference in Denver at the time. I have to think of something fun to send them. Ideas?
Chris is back from Iraq!
The above photograph was taken a long time ago -- note my much shorter hair. But it was the last time I got to see Chris, who just spent a year overseas in Baghdad. Ever the photogenic hottie, both the Oregonian and the Portland Tribune used shots of Chris in their newspapers to mark the Guard's return to Oregon. The Oregonian's shows Chris with a really hot blond, who I know to be his gal pal whom he met when home on leave some months back. Don't they look happy to be reunited? Wink wink.
Well, DeAnn has for several days now patiently awaited my thoughts on Rachael Scdoris, the legally blind musher who scratched from the Iditarod some 800 miles and 12 days into it. Also, in comments to my last post, Adam asked about whether or not the Iditarod is cruel to animals. Let me answer Adam's question first, and briefly: There are a lot of folks out there -- though hardly any of them in Alaska, it seems -- who do think the Iditarod is cruel. They point to dog deaths, the grueling pace, the harsh conditions, and think mushers should accept the Last Great Race is an unkind relic. But, I have watched the dogs run, and I see how much these mushers care about their dogs -- who are really like these mushers' families, in a sense -- and you have to understand that these dogs running? They aren't your family's lap dog, or even your family's big tough barky attack dog. These are athletes, with strength and endurance honed over years of focused breeding and intense training. They are the Olympic marathon runners of the canine kingdom, truly born to run. Do dogs sometimes die? Yes. Is that sad? Yes. Does that mean we should stop the race forever? Not in my opinion. (By the way, Adam, my editors are all fascinated that Gov. Frank was on Bill Maher's show, so thanks for the tip!! :)
OK, now on to DeAnn's question: What did I think about Rachael scratching? Well, I had serious doubts about her going in -- maybe not so much doubts I guess as aprehensions. Yes, these dogs are athletes, but they need a human in the sled to guide them, too. Yes, Rachael had race experience -- but mostly mid-distance races, nothing of Iditarod's calibur and nothing with terrain as trecharous as that pozed by such hazards as the Dalzell Gorge. But guess what? She did it. She got through that hard first part and though she banged off some trees and tipped over and suffered bruises and sores, and once even ended up in freezing water to her waist, it looked like she'd make it to Nome. Then, last Wednesday, she found herself in Eagle Island. Vets wanted her to drop 4 of her 12 dogs because they looked undernourished. Some mushers have since suggested the AttaBoy dog food ("I will bow to no sponsor") she was using wasn't substantial enough to keep her dogs fed and energetic - and that they warned her of that before the race. She says her dogs got a virus. Whatever the reason, her end comment was essentially, "I could have kept going -- it was the dogs that had a problem." If the dogs truly had a virus among them, then yes, it was the dogs' fault, and though mushers freak about the possibility of their dogs getting sick, there is only so much of that they can help, y'know? But if the dogs weren't able to go on because Rachael chose to feed them sub-par (I WILL BOW TO NO SPONSOR) dog food, then that's not their fault, it's hers. Truth, though? We'll never know every factor that went into her decision to pull out. She says she'll be back next year. Now I think she's earned respect enough that people won't worry for her dogs' safety, or for her own. I think another thing Alaskans noted, watching her race, is she really isn't that blind. In other words, though legally blind, and with this horrible disease, she can still see enough to race her dogs without being an iminent danger to herself or others.
OK, that's enough for the day. But here's one last fun thing, keeping in the canine spirit: What kind of dog are you? Took me a couple minutes to complete. But well worth it to find out that I, ladies and gentleman, am a Swedish Vallhund! Originally from a primitive Spitz breed from the Vastergotland plains of Sweden, I am known for my skilled cattle herding, and I look a lot like Welsh Corgis. I'm a farm dog, and I work hard with the cattle, and provide good watch dog qualities. I'm also an "excellent family dog, particularly with a family and children, very energetic, lots of vitality and generally friendly toward strangers. An independent thinker that gets bored easily."
You don't say?
Welcome to the world, baby Hayden!
Well, another week come and gone. Nicole has gone to Nome and returned. The Iditarod -- though not over -- has its victor. Others are still on the trail, headed for the burled arch. Some had to give up, including some fans' fave, Rachel Scdoris, the legally blind musher from Oregon, who dropped out on Wednesday. DeAnn has requested a blog entry on that, and you'll get one. Next week. Promise. In other news... Mom received word that she's officially accepted into graduate school. John returns tonight from L.A. And after a very long work week, I am ready for my weekend to begin.
Maybe that's what prompted me to go to three bars last night? Well, it was St. Patrick's Day, after all. First was Pioneer with Shanda and Jessica; then after a pitstop at Gaslight to use the bathroom, on to Darwins Theory, where we were joined by a couple of guys they know, and also ran into Brian Moon and, briefly, Lillie; and the night ended as it often does: at Crossroads, with Kevin. It took an interesting turn when Nan informed me someone had bought me a drink, and I looked across the bar to see my favorite school board member, and also an Anchorage prosecutor who does homicide trials. Conversation was hardly dull! And then, after my oh-so-smart decision of going to three different bars, I watched an episode of Deadwood with Kevin. That was my condition for letting him borrow the first season. That -- and if anything happens to it, I'll feed him to Mr. Wu's pigs.
Last night, John called from LA, and we talked for a long time about -- of all things -- our TV viewing habits. He started it. I believe what he asked was, "Have you always watched this much TV?" My simple answer: "No."
The longer version: No. When growing up, Mom wisely limited our TV viewing. In college, I shared the TV in the sorority with 60 other girls, and had much better things to do than fight about the TV with the handful of wallflowers who monopolizedit nightly. After moving in with Meagan, well, let's just say the TV belonged to her and so did the remote and it was rare she wasn't taking full advantage of it. Even after my brother loaned us his better, larger television, Meagan still was a boob-tuber and I was happy to let her have it. When I moved back up to Milwaukie after graduation to work at the Oregonian, I didn't bother buying cable, and rarely watched the two or three channels I did have. So then I moved here. I didn't know anybody. And while I quickly made friends, I suddenly found myself watching more TV than ever before.
So John and I discussed how much TV we watch, how many of the shows we both watch are crap, and what we could be doing if we weren't watching so much TV. Namely, he encouraged me to spend more time writing -- "and work writing doesn't count," he said.
I know he's right.
These days, despite a busy work schedule, active social life, hobbies such as working out and knitting and camping, and volunteering for the Alaska Press Club, I still cram my week full of TV. In fact, I hadn't realized how much so until I started looking through my TV guide.
Knowing John was gone for the week, and looking forward to solo downtime, I had circled shows to watch -- things that I wouldn't put on if he was here for fear of either boring him to death or subjecting myself to mockery. So, I examined my picks and cringed. These weren't quality shows, which I will staunchly defend momentarily, but crappy things I'd never watch anyway like, um, American Idol, Nashville Star, some trashy entertainment programs... you get the drift. Basically they were just space fillers.
If you had asked me yesterday, I would say most of the shows I watch are things I really really like and enjoy -- like Deadwood, the O.C., Gilmore Girls, Survivor, and Lost. That seems a manageable number, right? But our conversation got me thinking about all the time I spend with the TV simply on, and shows on that I am sort of watching and using more so to just kill time. Take Law and Order. Yes, it's fabulous. But it's on almost every hour of the day, and if it's on, I always seem to end up watching it.
Panic struck: How many hours of my life have I wasted watching Law and Order when I could have been writing the Great American Novel?! And what about all those E! True Hollywood Stories!? Are the vapid airings of America's Next Top Model? Or all those smarmy seasons of the Bachelor??
Anyway, this has resulted in a new resolution: less TV! Not NO TV. Just less. More music. More writing. And if there's something on I really want to watch, I'll watch it, but I'm going to become way more purposeful about not having the TV on just to fill dead air. I might even drop a couple shows. Like, um, Survivor? I mean, what do I have to gain by watching yet another season of Survivor where people just plot and scheme and lie to each other and look progressively grungier and more crazed as they plot and scheme some more?
I pledge now to never be one of those KILL YOUR TV psychos who thinks the television is the bane of our existence. Some shows really do have great redeeming qualities -- whether it's great writing or a stellar cast or just thought-provoking ideas and concepts or takes on historical events. But there's also a lot of garbage out there and I resolve to remove it from my life.
Really! Except at 7 a.m. I must have the TV on channel 13 to catch the finish-line antics of the Iditarod!! Yes folks, another great race nears its close as the winner and other top finishers are expected to roll into Nome early tomorrow. Looks like Robert Sorlie will win, which is fine, he deserves it. But honestly it's just sorta boring and I'm still rooting that someone comes from behind to steal it. Catch it live on the web on Nome's finish line web cam!
So anyway, here we go. If you have a blog, use this! And if you don't, feel free to copy and paste it into my comments section and fill it out with your own responses.
1. Song that sounds like happy feels:
"Tide is High" by Blondie. Ah, that song brings back fantastic memories of tanning atop a houseboat while chugging across sunny Lake Shasta.
2. Earliest (music) memory:
Hm... We sang a lot, growing up -- at school, at camp, in the car. I'd have to say one of my happiest earliest music memories would be singing hokey tunes at Camp Namanu.
3. Last CD you bought:
The "Deadwood Season 1 Soundtrack" ($14.99). Got it this weekend actually. It's quirky and fun -- lots of bluegrassy twang interspersed with salty dialogue from the show.
4. Reminds you of school:
Elementary School:
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album (remember how it unfolded and he was laying there with the pre-adolescent cheetah? or some kind of cat? remember?); "We are the World." Really anything by Cindi Lauper or Madonna. And for the school talent show, me and the other "cool girls" did a dance to "Nasty Boys" by Janet Jackson.
High School:
A lot of songs remind me of high school because we would use them in the Homecoming "lip sync" competitions -- my class' themes included Happy Days, MASH, an obscure breakdancing musical called "Breakin," and the Jungle Book. A bunch of songs associated with those ring definite nostalgia bells. In terms of other music, I gobbled up the typical pop crap but also started listening to rap (Snoop Dawwwwg!) and country ("Friends in Low Places," Jess, remember?).
College:
Pearl Jam was a favorite during the college years. So were Sublime, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd -- the usual suspects, I suppose.
5. Total Music Files on your PC:
Zero! Well, I have about 20 songs as e-mail attachments that John has sent me during the past couple of years, but that's it. I've actually never downloaded a song. I'm a loser! :) This is not some moral choice, don't mistake me. It's just that I don't have Internet at home.
6. Song for listening to repeatedly when depressed:
"Mad World." Suddenly, I'm depressed. Um, what else? "The Scientist," by Coldplay. "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits.
7. Sounds British, but isn't:
I have no clue. Um, seems like every band these days IS British!
8. Song you love, band you hate:
Song: Answer the Phone.
Band: Sugar Ray.
9. A favorite song from the past that took ages to track down:
"It's Your Life" by Milla (yup, Milla the model/semi-actress. It's on a CD of hers that includes Russian folks songs. Really.)
10. Bought the album for one good song:
I am the queen of doing this! Um, "It's Your Life" by Milla. Blush.
11. Worst song to get stuck in your head:
"Hair." And this actually gets stuck in my head fairly often. And no, I don't know why.
12. Best song to dump a beer on someone's head to, then storm out of the bar?
Well, it would have to be a country song, right? If I had more time to think of this, I'd probably come up with a different answer, but for now, I'll vote for "Here For the Party" by Gretchen Wilson because it's the perfect sassy song to do something defiant like that.
13. Who should do this next?
My sister.
And there you have it! I'd love to see other folks' answers to this.
Well, another weekend zoom-zoomed by. Went out Friday with friends. We got word late that our friends Roger and Mirjam had their baby. Woohoo! Saturday, we made a trip to the hospital to visit the tyke. Totally adorable boy named Hayden, weighed in just over 7 pounds and 21 inches long. Mirjam looked tired but happy. I took pictures and will post them soon. That night was mellow. I took John to the airport late (he's in L.A. for the week), then met Kevin and Andrew at Buckaroo for a couple drinks, then called it a night. And yesterday, I spent the day doing homey things -- knitting, making beef stew, cleaning house, and discovering a new television show that I can be shamefully addicted to. Cheers!
"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog."
-- Jack London
Iditarod excitement is of course rampant. The Norweigans have been predictably strong, with Robert Sorlie holding fast to first place. Martin Buser is at Sorlie's heels, apparently undaunted by the fact that he cut off half a finger just days before the race started. I'm still cheering for Charlie, my sentimental favorite, especially since he's said it will be his last race.
But I'm assuming few of you blog readers give a rip about the Iditarod since the only person to reply to my last post was my sister, who simply said, "I love you." Well, OK, new topic!
It's actually raining today, and hovering around 40 degrees, which is effectively wiping out lots of the lingering snow. In fact, conditions are doing a great job of mimicking "break-up" -- the period usually in late March or early April when the ice, well, breaks up, and the snow melts, and everything's a muddy dirty swamp or lake. I'm wary of singing in spring quite yet: My first March here, we got more than two feet of snow in a 24-hour period, a record-setting and life-halting snowfall. That could of course happen again. But I'm cautiously optimistic it won't.
Nothing major planned for the weekend. John is off to L.A. tomorrow night (business)... There's talk of going out tonight, if we can rally the troops. I get to leave work early today since I am putting in a couple hours tomorrow. That means time for some errands -- post office, bank, salon, grocery store, probably in that order.
Oh -- for any of you who missed it, check out this story I wrote. Total riot.
Still makes his livin' with his rope;
As long as there's a sunset he'll keep ridin' for the brand,
You just can't see him from the road."
"And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him." - Jack London, "Call of the Wild"
First off came Saturday, the ceremonial kickoff of the Iditarod in downtown Anchorage. The track, shown above, zips straight past my apartment building (in the background), so for the second consecutive year, I whipped up some brunch and coffee and invited over roughly 30 of my closest friends for eating, drinking, dog-watching and musher cheering. There was plenty to take in, with some 79 teams passing by. We saw a couple sleds tip over. I got to make eye contact with my beloved Charlie Boulding. The effervescent Deedee Jonroe was resplendent in a cool powder-blue ensemble -- her dogs wearing matching bandanas, of course. Last year's second-place finisher Jeff King soared by with his hands held up in confident V-for-victory formation -- so focused on this pompous pose that he totally dissed a fan who was straining with a hand out, eager to get a high-five. Adorable Norweigan newcomer Bjorner Anderson waved happily, with mushing partner and last year's third-place finisher Kjetil Backen riding drag on his sled -- wearing a plastic horned viking helmet, no less. And of course, there was Rachael, her sensitive eyes shielded by sunglasses. She looked truly happy.
Yes, we all have our favorites: Josh organized an "Iditapool" at work so for $2, you could draw a musher. Cash prizes go to eventual first, second and third place winners, plus rookie of the year and also the red lantern (i.e. last arrival) winner. I drew Jesse Royer and Dallas Seavey. Probably out of luck as far as Jesse winning anything for me. But Dallas, the youngest of the Seavy mushing dynasty, has a decent shot at being rookie of the year. He is now the youngest to ever race the Iditarod, turning 18 -- the cutoff -- just one day before the race started. When he passed by, we yelled, "Happy birthday, Dallas!" He flashed us with a super-stoked smile and said, "Thanks!" OK, now mush on to Nome, Dallas, and win me some money!
Anyway, the race goes on, and if it keeps pace with past years, Nome could see a winner pass beneath its burled arch as early as next Tuesday. For race updates you can check out Cabelas' website, or the official Iditarod website, or our newspaper's website. Another good one is kept up by Roxy Wright, enthusiastic former champion sprint musher and mom of musher Ramy Brooks (and aunt to my friend Jessica). She follows the race along and files dispatches of the trail. And finally, to mock the Norweigan's broken English -- but also get pretty decent updates of their progress and attempts at total mushing domination -- check out this must-see site.
OK, enough Iditarod. Sunday came and went, and the trails were taken over -- not by dogs, but by hundreds of skiers competing in the annual Tour of Anchorage crosscountry ski race. I had a few friends and coworkers participating, namely Josh and Evan competing in the 40K race, so Scott and I walked down to the Chester Creek Trail by my apartment around 11 a.m. to watch them pass. We saw them -- they looked great! We decided to continue our motivational efforts by driving further down the trail to see them again. This time, we pulled over by Point Worzonof. From there, we got a breathtaking view of the brightly illuminated Mt. McKinley and its slightly squatier neighbor, Mt. Foraker. Finally, after seeing the guys pass there, we went on to Kincaid Park and saw them across the finish line. Josh in particular did amazingly well (65th place out of 204 racers in the men's freestyle 40K!). He crushed his goal (2:30) and ended up doing the whole 40K in just over two hours. I was very proud!! And it was all very fun. It almost made me want to go learn to cross country ski. Instead, Scott and I went to Gwennie's for breakfast.
Finally, I ended the day by watching the season 2 premiere of Deadwood. Of course, I loved it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to soak up every single scene and snippet of saucy dialogue -- but I taped it!! And will probably watch it again within the next couple of days. Afteward, John and I caught a new show on A&E called "Intervention." It was pretty sobering, to say the least. The premise is they find addicts and tell them they want to film them for a documentary on addiction. After showing viewers how deep and dark and scary the addicition is (in this show, one guy was a cokehead, and then a girl seriously was using and abusing everything from morphine to heroine to crack), they spring an intervention on the unsuspecting addicts.
This picture shows my friend of many years, an Oregon soldier with the Army Guard. He has been in Iraq for more than a year, serving as his platoon's leader, and thankfully, is about to come home in one piece. Since he has been there, mostly in Bagdhad, I have found his correspondence fascinating. Here are his two latest e-mails, in order:
Hello all,
Things are winding down for our Battalion here in Iraq, and we are scheduled to fly to Kuwait around the 5th of March. My platoon is still at Volunteer along with 2 other platoons, the rest of the Battalion has moved up to Taji and is preparing for redeployment. We stayed on to hand off the AO (area of operations) to the incoming units, and have been serving as QRF (quick reaction force) for about a week now. There's nothing going on so for the most part we've just been sitting around trying not to die of boredom, but I think everyone is alright with that at this point in the game.
Baghdad is as quiet as it has ever been in the time we've been here, so quiet it's almost creepy sometimes. It's definitely a good thing, but not at all what we're used to. I guess it shows that we were successful in our operations here, and we're leaving the place a lot better than we found it. The elections went suprisingly smooth, and I have to admit that I was wrong in my opinion of holding elections in this country. Somehow or another we pulled it off, and it truely was a huge success. The Iraqi's have tasted freedom now, and that something they'll not like forget in the near future.
I think elections day was the first time since I've been here that I felt like we had Accomplished something, and maybe in our own little way changed the world for the better. It was a good feeling to drive around and see the people out in the streets celebrating and waving to us saying thank you. As we drove around, all the voters would hold up their ink stained fingers for us to see and give us the thumbs up, obviously proud that they had cast their vote. It was the first day I heard the Iraqi people refer to the insurgents as the enemy and not us, and I think all of us felt a little twinge of pride and accomplishment and we watched the people celebrate their freedom.
It's still hard for me to say whether it was all worthwhile, I guess only time will be be able to answer that question, but I know that we at least accomplished something while we were here, and we can only hope that accomplishment makes the world a slightly better place for all. It's been nice to have some peaceful time here at the end to sit and reflect on what we've done, and now we can finally see the light at the end of tunnel and know we're coming home. We should be back in the States somewhere around the 20th of March, but the way things have been changing I'm sure I won't have a hard date until that plane actually lands at Ft Lewis.
Any major movement of an Army unit is a lesson in patience, frustration and inefficiency, and this redeployment appears to be topping the chart in all those areas. At this point I really don't care, just as long as I have two feet on American soil sometime in March and all my boys are standing there with me. I should have internet access for the next few days thanks to the special forces guys who are currently sharing our humble abode with us. Talk about some boys with toys, those guys have it all, including their own high speed sattelite internet system they've been so graciously sharing. I'm also able to use a internet phone service, so if you'd like to hear from me just send your number (I've already packed my old cell phone that had everyone's number's on it) and I'll give you a call, lord knows I've got plenty of free time on my hands at the moment.
Keep the emails coming if you get the chance, even after we move to Taji and Kuwait. I'll still be able to check my email from time to time. Take care all, and to all of you still over here, keep it in the center lane and remember, haji don't surf.
~~~~~~
~~
Hey all,
We've moved to Taji and are no longer patroling or conducting any missions, so things are finally beginning to wind down. I've turned in my million plus dollars worth of equipment (a good feeling, to say the least), all my vehicles, and now we're just hanging out waiting for the bird.
Looks like we'll fly to Kuwait around the 9th and from Kuwait to Ft Lewis on the 16th or 17th, putting us stateside on the 17th and 18th. It's finally starting to hit home that we're actually done, and what a relief it is. The burden of command is finally starting to lift, and for the time being it is a welcome relief. I'm looking forward to a long vacation when I get back, and plan on taking a month or two to wind down and remember how to have fun again.
Internet access is horrible up here, so there probably won't be too many more emails from me until I get back, but I'll keep everyone updated as much as I can. Keep the emails coming if you get the chance, I often get to check my mail but rarely have time to write, and it's still nice to hear news of home. Take care all, and hopefully I'll see you soon!
~~~~~~
~~
People say you aren't supporting the troops if you don't support what's going on in Iraq. I don't agree. I have never supported what's going on in Iraq, but I love my friend and I love the sacrifice he's made, and I love that he's coming home soon.
Peace.
