popcorn!

who knew? popping popcorn on the stovetop is yummy.

its my new thing, at least for this holiday break.  and it comes without the chemicals of microwave popcorn.

and extra delish with lemon pepper on top.

yak trax

now i try not to be a commercial for gadgets.  

but!  seriously!  these things are amazing.

turns out it is CRAZY icy here in juneau, making running quite a trick for the klutz like myself.

these things, yaktrax, give whole new meaning to my favorite word: GRIPTION.  and they just slip over my running shoes.

me. snowboarding.

busted!

this happened today:

i'm rounding the corner in line for the ski lift, happy that i've managed to make it through what i would call "pillows" of snow on the blue run.  and this woman points to the snow & asks if this piece of plastic in the snow is mine.

i barely turn around, assuming she couldn't be talking to me, & continue struggling to dig my pass out of my layers to show the guy.

but, oh my!  it was mine!  there, in the snow, lay the top part of my rear foot binding.  

damn.  thanks, i say & shuffle, in my still-awkward-snowboarder-on-flat shuffle, out of line.  and wait for greg to make his way down whatever path he has chosen.

he shows up & i wave the piece of binding.  he says, "you're done for the day!"

what!??!  i only made it one time & i was really looking forward to going down the as-of-yet out of my range west bowl!  

as he slides up to make new friends in line, i hoof it down the hill & to my car.

sad, sad, snow-filled day.

but its as if the gods knew my snowboarding day had gone up bust.  20 minutes after the busted binding, the chairs overheated & stalled for about an hour. 

and just now greg fixed the binding!  i'll be back in action tomorrow (hopefully the chairs will be, too)!

shaking hands with the gov'

okay, so this isn't a picture (photo credit: brian wallace) of me shaking gov. sarah palin's hand; but it could have been.  

last week, the gov opened up her mansion for all of us juneau-ites to see her house & eat her cookies & drink her hot cider &, yes, shake her hand.

she told me my hand was warm (probably b/c of the cider, i explained).

next month, you can see her in vogue.  she is known as america's "hottest" governor.  why not have her picture in vogue?

too bad she's a republican.

and then the nuns.

i mean, sometimes nuns blow me away.

check out these IHMs in Monroe, MI & their environmentally-friendly chapel remodel.  

a friend of mine who used to be a member of this community told me that when the monastery switched over to its water recycling program (referenced in the above video), people in town were shocked by the increased water pressure in their home showers, etc.

i just like nuns.

just like sodak...

guess who i saw on the plane last night from anchorage to juneau?

three hints!

1. last year around this time, he had a big W shaved into his hair; all in support of the d'ham wolverines wrestling team (also his traveling mates last night)

2. he's married to "hooper tundra tales."  rumor has it he's headed to cabo after returning from scenic sitka.

3. he called me, "dugan".  and there are only 2 people in the state of alaska who know me as dugan.  and the other is a woman.

any guesses:)?

its a small state, folks. 6 degrees?  try 3.  

just like sodak.  

the captain cook

captain cook. hat's the name of the hotel i'm staying in tonight.  funny.  since its in anchorage, at the crook of the cook inlet, the name is doubly funny to me.  

tomorrow we're doing a training for new big brothers/big sisters school mentoring coordinators.  its all about the 40 developmental assets, kids.  well, that & community engagement & multiple intelligences.

when did my life become buzz words & catch phrases?

is that what it means to be professional?  we know how to get by in a very specific type of jargon-world?  

coldy!

yo!  it is COLD in southeast.  

and, frankly, i can't believe how much alaskans complain about the cold.  might be almost as much as they complain about the heat.

this complaining about the weather.  is it human nature? i mean, what is a good midwesterner without a gripe about the rain or the sun or the snow or the wind?  

so i join in with all of humankind and hope the arctic wind blowing in from the yukon territory stops soon.  we need snow, y'all.  i bought a season pass.

also, thank gawd for long underwear.