First Halloween

Tonight was Brady's first Halloween so we dressed her all up and dragged her all around Anchorage getting candy that she will never, ever taste. You know, parenting thing has its perks.

Getting Out of Dutch

Made it back home last night. More later. Go SOX!

Just so it is known, Brady is not amused.

Work Shall Set You Free

Watching the weather out here and the forecast is getting nasty. There is a major storm that is coming this way and they are talking about damn near hurricane force winds. That would be a major crisis in Florida. That is normal fall weather in Aleutians. As such, I have been busting butt to get out of here today. All my field work is pretty much set and I am cramming all my junk into bags rushing to meet a plane.

Everyone learns things from their profession. I have learned how to cram all my gear into luggage in 10 minutes and run out the door to meet a plane that may or may not be able to make through the weather.

Update later, hopefully from Dutch Harbor.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Well, I must admit that I have often made disparaging comments about blogs and whatnot in the past, but I think I am going to give this a try and see whether or not I can address some problems that I have been having. First of all, it is difficult to keep in touch with friends and family while I am out and about through just email or Flickr. Secondly, I have often tried to keep track of the various happenings in my life, but have never been particularly successful at keeping a journal.


And what better time to start something like this then on my birthday?

That's right, it is my 28th year on this rock and I am spending it in a cluttered, flithy house in Atka, Alaska. For a bit of background Atka is an island in the western Aleutians, about 1,200 air miles west southwest of Anchorage. The village on the island is remarkably small, only 75 residents, almost all are Aleut natives. The climate is quite mild by Alaska standards, it very rarely gets much below freezing and never below zero.


I was tasked with a fairly straight forward layout task out here and am supposed to leave on Monday. That may not happen though as there is an impressive storm raging out here right now. The winds were fairly steady at 40 knots today and one gust almost knocked me on my face at one point. The winds are supposed to be picking up over the next couple of days, so the chances of getting out on time are slim or none.


Though, as you may be able to tell from the picture of the house, there is plenty of food here, so I won't starve to death.


I guess this is enought to start. We'll see if I can keep up with it now.