Pulled Back from the Brink

Yes, my computer has been brought back to life. I even got an OS upgrade in the process... and all my files still exist.

Huzzah!

I say huzzah way too much lately.

Snowromp Video!

Kudos to that fiancee of mine for taking the video... I was obviously too busy having fun.

Frolic!

Ah, chasing snowballs. So fun. He'd do this all day if we let him.

What I Bin' Doin'

Whole lotta nothing.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of coworkers on Thursday. It was fun... I like having a non-school reason to hang out with people. We hardly talked shop at all.

Friday happened, Saturday happened, both without any events meriting mention. Then... Sunday. I awoke at 9 with hopes of starting a load of laundry, but alas, the machine was taken. Not one to be dragged down, I got over that extreme let-down and started my day. I looked out the window, and lo and behold, it was a-snowing. Lots.

Noon... still snowing.

Three o'clock... still snowing. Received instant messages and e-mails from coworkers stranded in Bethel. All planes cancelled.

Five o'clock... yup, more white $#!+. Loki loves it. He romped several times today. Pics to follow, and maybe a video if it gets uploaded somewhere. He likes to chase snowballs. I also romped, although I find snowball-chasing slightly less amusing.

It's now ten minutes to ten o'clock in the evening, and the snow is still falling with gusto. The boardwalks have vanished.

Pictures tomorrow!

But it's a Dry Heat

Something is wrong with our heat.

It's not broken, in the strictest sense of the word. Pipes haven't frozen, we aren't shivering, huddled under blankets and burning furniture for warmth.

Quite the opposite.

It seems our heat has lost its "off" mode. It's all go, all the time. We opened our one functioning window and put a fan in it, and managed to COOL our home down to a balmy 82. Then we foolishly shut aforementioned window when we went to bed. Fools, damn fools.

I awoke at 3am in a sweaty panic. I was can't-breathe-must-have-air hot. I ran into the living room, opened the window, and stuck my head all the way out. I then moved over to the thermostat to check out the thermo-stats. It was maxed out at 88 degrees.

I slept the rest of the night on the couch in front of the window.

Noooooooooooooooooo...

My hard drive on my trusty iBook G4 (OK, it's not mine, but the school district's... but it's been with me for the past two and a half years!) has been pronounced legally dead.

All my pics... gone.

All my music... gone.

All my old lesson plans... gone.

*Sigh* I was in the process of backing it up so it could be reimaged, but I never quite finished the job.

Alas, I carry on. Why do I feel naked without it?

What is This "Teaching" You Speak Of?

It's Thursday, and we're finally having school. Freeze-up combined with the death of someone in the village kept our attendant population under 60% on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This meant that I came to school every morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (or at least washed, which is a step in the right direction, I suppose), only to leave an hour and a half later when we confirmed that we had too few students to hold a legal day. Basically, an hour and a half of work that does not count as work. We have to make it up. Grr.

I had a lot of week-long lesson plans set, so I'm just going to scratch them and use them next week. I can't imagine the kids will be too focused today or tomorrow anyway.

HEY YOU

Did you vote?

If not, why not?

If your answer to "why not" is "It is not voting day where I live," then I accept your reasoning.

If it is, indeed, voting day where you live, and you did, indeed, answer "no" to my intial question, well, that was your decision I guess.

But I voted. And I got a sticker. Then I got another because the nice voting worker said I could. I like stickers. In that way, I am much like a kindergartner. With voting rights.

Silly River

That silly river is freezing up. A bunch of students live on the other side of aforementioned freezing river, and didn't come to school today because their boats have been pulled from the water.

District sez we must have 60% of our students present in order to call it a school day.

As of 9:40 today, we were 28 students short... so no school.

School tomorrow? Stay tuned, folks.

Quick News Flash

It's getting cold. When it gets cold, liquid water turns into a solid. We call this "ice." Rivers are made of water.

So basically, the river is freezing. More later (hopefully "more" will include pictures).

Ten Random Thoughts.

1. Loki (with Bailey's help, but let's be honest, Loki was the primary perp in this crime) nearly gave me a black eye.

2. The first "sticking" snow should be classified as a child drug. They're like a bunch of crack fiends.

3. Hallween is coming. I'm looking for good hiding places from the hordes of candy-seeking small people.

4. Nights are getting loooooooooong. Days are getting shooooooooooooort.

5. I haven't been TRULY sick yet this school year.

6. Now I will probably be sick next week.

7. Booked my flight home for the holidays! Prepare, Lower 48, for my glorious coming! December 23rd, your part of the continent will be bathed in the brilliance that is me. Offer me beer.

8. How is it 2006? I'm getting old.

9. How come kids don't get a nap anymore? In kindergarten and even first grade, we bought carpet squares at Shopko and brought them to school for nap time. What happened to this?

10. I have been eating too much cheese lately.

He's an Intellectual

Doesn't he look like he's got all the answers, and that the digusting string of drool is 100% intentional?
Thanks to Shaun for doing the captioning.

Throwback to Summer

Summer, up at The Shack, wearing shorts... seems to be a world or five away sometimes...
Is it just me or does my chin look evil and pointy?

Mirror, Mirror, On the Water...

Dangit, my camera lens is smudged!

What's in the Box?

And will it fall in the river?

Dockalicious Sunsettage

EL DOG

He's not sad, I swear... he was just napping.

Schnow!

It snowed yesterday. Huzzah!

I took Loki for a walk last night. Actually, the boardwalks were covered with about 1/8 inch of frost and ice, so let me rephrase that: Loki took me for a slide last night.

You see, it seems that Loki has decided he is part sled dog. He seemed to enjoy pulling me around the village, only needing me to provide the occasional push to keep us going. He only pulled me off the boardwalk onto the smooshy, wet, cold tundra once, and in his defense, he DID have to potty, so I put that in the win column.

Now this morning, when he decided he had to potty at 6:30, and he made me slip and fall on my butt, I was less generous with my ratings.

For Real, CONSISTENT (or more so, anyway) Updates

See Shaun's Alaska Blog.

He's just better about this "updating" stuff than I am. My days are all kind of the same. Wake up tired, work eight (plus) hours, go home, eat, watch some TV or do some reading, and hit the sack too late for my own good. I have settled into a routine up here... life just doesn't feel blogworthy on a day-to-day basis.

Now if I could blog about problem students and their individual effects on my mental health... and name names... I could have several new posts every day.

That Time of Year

PFD Time, that is.

And I finally qualify this year. Huzzah!