Life is good

Yeah, I'm an organ donor. What?

Sorry Friends, it's been a long time... 20 days or something. Any who, a lot has happened in the month of February. Highlights include me not getting a Drivers License in Craig and then finally obtaining one in Ketchikan last Friday. Rest assured that the people who work in the DMV on the island are equally as worthless as they are in the rest of the country. I could go on, but I wont.

I found a Wilderness First Responder course being offered over my spring break in Juneau. This is good and bad. Good: I need WFR certification to guide for Spirit Walker this summer. Good also because my district is allowing me to use my professional development money to pay for the class and travel (over $1,000 value) and my Principal is giving me an additional four days off from school because the class spills over into the next work week. Bad, only because I was suppose to being going to Hawaii with Shane and Beth. Yeah, a real a-hole move on my part, luckily they are like the most kind and understanding people I know and didn't make me feel bad about completely bailing on plans that were my idea to begin with. THANKS!!

Last thing, I was offered a job with Spirit Walker leading kayak trips this summer. So yeah, that is happening. Stephen, the owner, said that I would be done by August 18th so I am really hoping to be able to come home for at least a week before school starts up again in September.

Yeah, I'm blessed.

I still don't have a contract for next year. Please continue to send positive employment thoughts my way. At this point, I would be really sad if I was assigned to any school other than Thorne Bay. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching here.

Okay, well I have 7 classes to plan for.

WAIT, it's my BIRTHDAY on Thursday...okay, that's it.

new mailing address

Last day teaching in Coffman Cove :(

Satellite radio update: I ordered a new Sirius Radio online through Amazon about two and half weeks ago. I just received an email informing me that the radio has been sent back to Amazon because it sat in the Ketchikan post office for too long. See, we’ve had total crap for weather for the last three weeks so we’ve only had one or two mail planes, so, while mail can easily get to Ketchikan it can be very difficult to get it to the island. Which for record, is EXACTLY why I wanted to take care of this while I was home…so I wouldn’t have to depend on the postal service. While in ANC this weekend, I’m going to attempt to return my old XM radio. So help me God, if I have any issues…….there will be hell to pay. I’m ready to put this saga behind me. Wish me luck.

New mailing address:

PO BOX 19298

Thorne Bay, AK 99919

LOVES

Don't drink the Water

The ocean can freeze?

Tuesday (the day after I arrived), Thorne Bay was put on a BOIL WATER advisory because there is a massive leak in our water system. No worries, the city is supplementing the loss water with untreated lake water. I literally cannot see through the water coming out of the facet. It’s kind of disgusting, but apparently totally potable if you boil it for two minutes. So…I’m still living in bush Alaska.

I was at the post office when somebody asked the city manager if she knew when the problem would be fixed. She looked at them and said, “Problem…problem? Can you still flush your toilet, can you still take a shower? Then I don’t think we have a problem yet.” At this point I knew I had been living in AK for too long, because I had to give it to her, she was right. All the while everyone in TNB was bitching about not being able to drink out of the water fountain, I was just so grateful to have running water in my bathroom again. As far as the water leak goes, they don’t know where it’s leaking so it’s anybody's guess.

I'm staying in ANC tonight....I think it's bubble bath time.

It's true

this picture needs no explanation

Wow. I’ve been really busy….ridiculously busy if you will. The only reason I have time to write this post is because I’m traveling from Hollis to Ketchikan in hopes of getting to Anchorage and then down to Kenai by tomorrow morning for a conference. Oh the life of Alaskan teacher. Where do I begin?

So yes, I moved to Thorne Bay. I am now a proud full-time teacher, which is pretty great. I’m currently teaching a 3-5^th grade reading, math and spelling group in the morning and 6^th grade Language Arts, Middle School Health, and the real kicker, Entrepreneurship in afternoon to high schoolers. I am busy, to say the least, but I am SO happy to be out of Coffman Cove and in the great city Thorne Bay. Here’s why (in order of greatness):

1. Thorne Bay School has a Principal and a secretary, which mean, I DON’T HAVE to play either one of those roles. HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I hate, hate (HATED), HATED being Lead Teacher and everything that entails. I am so HAPPY to be focused on TEACHING.

2. My living situation has improved by approximately 1000%. Not only is there running water, but the apartment has heat, Internet, cable, cellphone reception, AND my rent is cheaper. I WIN.

3. Thorne Bay Market (aka Alaskan & Proud = awesome grocery store): a grocery store in town. What!?!

I still think that it’s GD ridiculous that I was asked to move and take on a whole new course load over night but it makes me feel a lot more secure about next year. Our district lost a bunch of money from timber sales this year which means that we are looking at cutting at least 4 fulltime teachers. I was def scarred for my job and didn’t think that fulltime employment would even be an option. There are still no guarantees but I feel better about the future.

listen to this

Check out the big move on this map

Times like this, I'm really grateful have a blog, because nobody would believe this shit if I tried to tell them in a year from now. So in the past week I've been without power, without running water in my bathroom, I have termites in my kitchen, and the final blow was yesterday with the furnace and the whole carbon monoxide fiasco. Last night I took a scolding hot shower and then jumped into bed.....hoping that I wouldn't wake up until morning. It was freezing in my house (literally), we got two new feet of snow yesterday, in fairness, the temperature is significantly higher than last week, my guess is anywhere between 32 and 34 degrees Fahrenheit.....whatever it doesn't matter. It should also be said that I had a small space heater plugged into my room courtesy of the one and only COP (Cass on Pegs). Thanks Cassie, you literally probably saved my life.

As you might imagine, I had to question my life (again) this morning as I had on several layers of clothing, huddled in my room drinking my coffee. Again, whatever, the furnace will probably be fixed today...my thought was this: well atleast I will get a lot of work done at school, since I can't really can't be anywhere else. Fast forward to school, I get a call from Superintendent, he's kind of asking me but mostly telling me that they have a full-time teaching position available in Thorne Bay teaching 3-5th graders and a couple of high school classes. When does this position start/open-up, a logical person might ask?? Oh, tomorrow, "We need you to come to Thorne Bay tonight."

So I talked with James, like I said I really didn't have much choice, when you're superintendent asks you to do something, it's kind of like the pope or the president, it's more of a order disguised as an amazing opportunity.

The long and short: this report is coming from Thorne Bay. I start teaching full-time tomorrow, seven (7) classes. My housing is also taken care of AND I get 10 teacher days, which I think just equates to more money. I think that I'm actually experiencing shock right now. I have no idea what I'm doing....I'm both excited and super sad. I saw one of my students before I left and he started crying, and he's a seventh grader and he's a boy!?!

Who knows what will happen tomorrow!?!

my life keeps getting better

Plank Pose on a sheet of sea ice?
It's harder than you might think.

Yay, the pipes thawed. I have running water in the bathroom again. The temp has been above 20 degrees all weekend. The power has been on pretty consistently. We've got two feet of snow, things are look up. Oh wait, what's that sound?? Just my carbon monoxide detector going off. Awesome. So while there is indeed power here, I had to turn off my furnace and air out my apartment. Landlord? Out of town for the foreseeable future. Shit.

Somebody might be able to come look at it on Monday.

I give up.

Let me tell you a story about satellite radio

Spartan Training

Let me start with when I first realized that I wanted a satellite radio. It was way back in October when it became very apparent that I would NOT be able to get any Internet access at my house….I never really understood the need for satellite radio before this. I personally hate listening to the private/commercial radio and love listening to my own music. Furthermore, if the desire arose that I did need to listen to the radio, I could always stream it from the Internet, easy peasy. Okay, so a couple of things, first, there are no FM channels where I’m located so I can’t listen to the FM radio if I wanted to, which is find except for one little thing that actually proved to be really important, most of you know what I’m talking about…..there is a three letter acronym for it, you guessed it, I can’t live without a healthy does of NPR. Call me what you will.

Any who, last fall I tried to buy a radio online, but got really confused. I usually prefer to buy stuff in a store because I like to do my research, talk with people, and touch the product before I make a purchase…it’s called being cheap, I get it from my Grandmother (Lorraine). No worries though, because last October I went to Anchorage (for a conference), where I went to a Radio Shack or Best Buy in the mall to make my purchase. Except they don’t sell satellite radios in Anchorage because they can’t receive satellite radio transmissions that far north. F! Now, I know that I can get satellite radio here in Coffman Cove because everyone has one. I literally live thousands of miles south of Anchorage so I know that I can overcome this geographical obstacle.

Okay, back to the original plan….online, still can’t make a decision on which one to buy so I decide to wait until I go home at Christmas to make my purchase. This is truly where the drama begins. Before I go any further I have to mention that I had several people here tell me that I HAVE to buy a Sirius Radio and NOT XM because XM does not work here.

Tacoma Best Buy, Christmas time, is pretty much my definition of hell. Tons of people consuming at an alarming rates, whatever, I need this f-ing radio. I talk with one of the sales people….I tell him my situation, I’m living in rural Alaska, I need to buy a radio and a docking station before I leave, I don’t have access to a Best Buy where I live, blah blah blah. I ask him which radio I should buy, he tells me any of them, I tell him that I have to buy a Sirius Radio, he tells me, NO you don’t because Sirius and XM have merged, they are one in the same, synonymous if you will. Okay, great (I think to myself), I’ll buy this fifty-dollar XM radio and a docking station to go with it. Decision made, problem solved, let’s get the hell out of Best Buy. Except its Christmas and naturally they are out of the radio I need. NO worries he says you can buy it online, FREE SHIPPING. Great, go home, try to purchase it online, EXCEPT they refuse to ship it to a PO Box, and we don’t have a mail delivery service on the island so I literally cannot get it shipped to me. F! Okay, so I’ll just have it shipped to the store and then pick it up and take it back to Alaska with me. Naturally, the radio arrived at the store the day after I left. No worries, Shane Costello (long time friend and number one hommie) agreed to pick it up and send it to me. Yay!!

Two week later, my radio arrives!!! I’m way more excited than I should be. I leave school and rush home to set it up. NPR at last! Oh wait, there’s a problem. I call SiriusXM customer service only to find out…….that while Sirius and XM have merged, they are officially one company, XM radios are only able to receive transmissions from XM satellites and as I was repeatedly warned, we can only receive transmissions from Sirius satellites. OMFGGDMF!?!?##$%$Q%#

I cried. I am so f-ing pissed off. I tried to explain to the person at Best Buy who I was talking to that it’s not so easy to just return it and buy a new radio. I live in rural Alaska, we’ve had exactly four mail planes since Christmas AND you MFers won’t ship me a new one because I don’t have physical mailing address. Furthermore, I can’t get a newspaper here, there are no radio stations and I don’t have Internet at my house. This radio is a lot more than access to 5,000 stations; it’s my connection to the outside world. I actually had visions on going back into the Tacoma store and hurting the asshole that sold me the f-ing radio in the first place, which is highly unusual for me.

Any ways, I’m almost over it. I’m going to buy a Sirius radio from the nice people at Amazon who still ship to PO Boxes and start my campaign to run Best Buy out of business.

PIC: kids doing yoga on icy rocks = danger disguised as Spartan training.