North To Alaska

After church this morning I had the opportunity to witness the transfer of power of the Alaska Governorship today. The pastor of the church I’m going to and his wife invited me along and it was a great time.

Sarah has a very good presence and is well liked by the vast majority of the folks that were there today. We got to Pioneer Park a minute or two after the event started. I looked around and saw NO negative signs. Once Sarah got up they came out of the woodwork. By percentage, still a very small group though.

Governor Sean Parnell seems to be a great guy, a man of faith and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

All in all, a fun day. Just a few pics:

I’ve always enjoyed talking politics. I think I got that from Dad. So, when I got up here I thought it would be a slam dunk to find all the conservatives loving soon to be ex-Governor Palin. Boy was I wrong. Now, keep in mind that I have been living in a pretty small cocoon since I got here, but I’ve yet to find a conservative that thinks as highly of her as the conservatives in the lower 48.

From what I have seen of Palin’s record, I am a fan. The ethics complaints have, without exception, been found without legal merit to this point. In the mean time, contrary to the law, all of the complaints have also been leaked early on in the process. Now it comes out that the “independant investigator” works for a lawfirm that represented (and still does) the DNC and the Obama campaign. He has also been shown to be a pretty big giver to liberal causes with at least $3500 going to democratic candidates.

In an interesting twist, at least as I see it, the issue voiced from the conservatives I’ve talked to is indeed ethics. The two statments I’ve heard a couple of times now are “it’s not an open administration” and “she doesn’t practice what she preaches”. I don’t have any idea of the validity of these statements, but I found it interesting that they came from conservative Republicans.

The single person that has filed the most ethics complaints is a Republican by the name of Andree McLeod. I found a couple of interesting blog posts that attempt to explain why she has gone off the deep end with the complaints. And I do mean the deep end… In my way of thinking she is just looking to destroy Palin financially. Most, if not all, of her complaints are NUTS.

Anyway, for your reading enjoyment;

http://alaskapride.blogspot.com/2009/05/anchorage-ethics-queen-andree-mcleod.html

http://alaskapride.blogspot.com/2009/07/andree-mcleod-finally-opens-up-and.html

Well, it’s been an interesting week. I spent 3 hours testing with an agency on Monday. One of the tests was on CheckBooks Pro 2007. I’d never seen the app, but scored an 87%. I guess that is really a testament to standardization among applications.

Spent a little time Thursday afternoon sitting by the Chena River. My hosts are only a lot away from the river, but the park is a few blocks away. A couple of pictures:

The back of the hotel in the first picture is a Princess Hotel. It is across the highway from Fairbanks airport. During the winter, the folks here cross the river in their cars to take a shortcut to that side of town. Probably saves 8-10 miles.

[sarcasm]
For the geeks, the coffee house is running wireless N. I’m uploading at up to 490 kbs. SaWEET!
[/sarcasm]

Tomorrow is the Governor’s picnic here in Fairbanks. The pastor of the church I went to last week has invited me to go with them. Should be a fun time. Today is the same picnic, but in Anchorage.

Sarah Palin is an interesting subject here. More coming in a separate post.

Actually, most days here are slow. I thought it was just me, but my hosts keep reminding me of Alaska time.

At the coffee house today doing some research on video streaming and archiving of the same. Had a nice visit with a miner that came in to town to get fuel and check email. He lives 100 miles outside of town in a dry cabin on a small mining claim. Nice guy. Funny all of my conversations at this coffee shop involve technology and God. He started the conversation but when he took it in the direction of God and/or religion he left pretty quick.

Not being real productive today, but I’m starting to really enjoy visiting with strangers.

Had a rough day yesterday. Nice ride to Anchorage, but started feeling sick about the time I pulled into town. Storm was supposed to be moving in, couldn’t find a campground and all the motels were WAY too expensive. Finally got a special price online for the Ramada. Went in and asked for the price and the guy told me $50 over. I told him about the price I found online – he said oh, yeah, well you have to do that online… So, I stood there blocking the way to his counter and booked the room on the iPhone. I love technology (but not as much as you Gorgeous). Started feeling better this morning.

Had a great time meeting Terry Hull of Voice to the Village. They do video streaming to villages without pastors and/or churches. It’s a great outreach and Terry has thought things through really well. It seems like life might be a little easier for the ministry if technology to the villages was a little better. Satellite DSL is a bit odd, as they can’t use the same satellites up here that folks use in the lower 48. Something I found interesting; some of these villages don’t have water, but they have cell service.

Trip back was beautiful, saw a small rabbit on the side of the road and a BIG cow moose. Loved driving through Denali.

Lots of fire in Alaska right now. Four hundred fires have burned over 1 million acres so far. Most of what looks like clouds in the pictures is actually smoke. Some of the pictures that would have normally been really sharp look a little soft due to all the smoke. After the car had been sitting for an hour tonight there were chunks of ash the size of a dime all over the car. it’s coming in thick.

A few pics:

Well, my wife, THE Proverbs 31 woman, has been working like a crazy woman. Well, she is crazy, but she’s working while being crazy. Anyway, she sold our towncar for a GREAT price and did an excellent job of picking out a used truck for us. Thanks go to dad for negotiations and helping it all come together.

Truck specs:
1991 Ford F250 Ext Cab 4×4 XLT w/ Shell
V8 460/7.5 Liter Gas Engine
156k miles
Just over 7,000 miles from last major tune-up
Rebuilt Automatic transmission
TOWING PACKAGE (Electronic trailer Brake setup, Extra Heavy Duty rear springs)
AM/FM Cassette Radio AND CB Radio
Power Windows and Door Locks
Tilt Wheel
Cruise Control
Overdrive
Running Boards
Bed Liner
A/C was converted to R134 last year

A few pics for your viewing pleasure…

Sorry about the lack of posts, it’s just been real slow around here. I’m learning a new term – “Alaska Time.” Most folks are REAL laid back and not in much of a hurry.

Here in Fairbanks, customer service at some places has been pretty poor. Surprisingly, the worst that I have seen so far was at Wally World. I went in through the “auto dept” entrance to get an oil change. The lady was so rude to the folks ahead of me I finally just left and went walking through the store. I saw several clerks treating folks the same way. Amazing at Wal-Mart. I left, didn’t spend a dime in the store. Jiffy Lube folks on the other hand were so sweet I nearly went diabetic. They did a great job though, and had great customer service.

I think I’ll start a new segment; we’ll call it “Only In Alaska.” They might not really be “only” in Alaska, but I’ve sure not seen it anyplace else.

We’ll start with these:

 


 


 


 


 

These are electrical outlets around the perimeter of the parking lot, also throughout the middle of the lot. The bottom pic is just a closer view. When it gets down to -40 or lower, you have to keep the car warm. Most cars have an engine block heater, a batter blanket and at least one other external heater (can’t remember what). They install a four place electrical box under your hood and a cord comes out the front of the car, usually just below the grill. Gotta love it.

On the job front, I had an interview with an employment agency and some testing – 3 hours total. Had a meeting with the office manager of a Ford dealership here in town. It lasted about an hour and the guy was VERY nice. Don’t know if anything will come of either of those meetings, but God does.

I’m heading to Anchorage at 0 dark 30 tomorrow morning. Well it’s not dark up here, but early. I will meet with an agency there and then meet with Terry Hull of “Voice to the Village” to talk about the ministry and get acquainted. I’m looking forward to that part the most.

If I have cell reception tomorrow, you can expect tweets and any pics will update to the right of this post. If not, well, it’s Alaska.

Spent the day out running around and sitting in a cyber-cafe.

Did the Jiffy-Lube thing. Cracked me up, they always want to up-sell you on stuff, but they couldn’t find anything to up-sell. Belts and filters were great. Thanks Dad and Darrell!

Since I don’t have a kitchen here, I have been eating out once a day. Fast food normally, but today I went to a little Italian place. It reminded me VERY much of the restaurant in one of Denise’s favorite movies, “Return To Me.” While I was there, the all of the music was “The Chairman Of The Board” or Dean Martin. I love the rat-pack stuff.

My Grandpa Cox and Caleb, 5 generations represented here.

(Thanks Jessie)