Customer Service Fun

After a few months of finagling and more emails than she probably cares to count, Sara succeeded this week in bringing fresh, organically grown produce to the village. No, she didn't plant a garden. She did, however, coordinate to get Nunapitchuk as a drop-off site for Full Circle Farm. So now, instead of hoping to have a few bruised apples and sad looking onions (if anything) to pick through at the store, we will get glorious fruits and veggies delivered once a week! Needless to say, we're quite excited...not to mention eating like royalty.

We had another successful - if slightly more frustrating - customer service victory this week, involving trying to take advantage of the new cell phone service here in the village. Recently, GCI put up a tower, and after seeing cell phones on TV and all around them when they visit Bethel or Anchorage, people here have all jumped on the cell phone bandwagon. It's a good thing, in a way, as many of the Search and Rescue missions that are currently conducted for people who have gitten turned around or run out of gas between villages will probably be reduced if people are able to call for help.

But anyways, GCI started cell service here recently, and came out to the village for a day a couple months ago an signed a bunch of people up. After hearing about this, we had discussed calling the company and getting signed up, not knowing if the reps would come back out. I actually called them a week ago to ask a few questions about the service, but as it turns out they came back on Wednesday, and I headed over as soon as I could to try to get signed up. Well, when I got to the community building, there were a bunch of people already waiting, so I got a form to fill out, and had a seat. Well, as it turned out, they were at a standstill because their tower and network were "down" (good sign, huh?), and we were all sitting around waiting for the reps to be able to call in credit checks. Yeah. Once the network came back up, I spent an hour waiting around for people to get their credit checked, have it come back bad, and argue with the reps about having to pay hundreds of dollars in deposits to get a phone. So. By time I got to talk to a rep, they were out of the phones we wanted, and the rep was (and this is a gross understatement) not at all helpful. Add to that the fact that he kept calling me "bro", trying to sell me a Blackberry even though the tower here doesn't support data service, and I just asked him for my paperwork back and walked out. So after wasting a few hours waiting in the community building, I just decided to call the 800-number and try to get phones that way. After talking to a couple people and getting disconnected (again with the good signs from a phone company), Sara and I have cell phones on the way that will replace our crappy landline here, and work just fine (in theory) back in WI.

So numbers will be forthcoming :-)

(special note: This entry was written, about a sentence at a time, over the course of 5 hours today. Please blame any repetition, logical leaps, and disjointed writing on NPR, Loki, Isaac, and a Zach Galifianakis TV special.)

On CNN

CNN: In rural Alaska villages, families struggle to survive

I wonder if any of this attention is thanks to our lovely Governor's new national profile?

Unfortunately, she's too busy setting up her Political Action Committee and trying to figure out how to keep her name in the national headlines to actually do anything productive.

"Well THERE'S yer problem!"

So yeah, when they tell you to be careful about over-reving your snowmachine when the track's frozen, because you might ruin your belt...

They're not kidding.

Good thing we're S-M-R-T and keep a spare around! (though now we have to order a replacement for the spare...but at least we can still bum around for now :-P)

You know what's tough?

Getting back on the blogging train once you've missed a whole bunch of time. Especially over the holidays and beginning of a semester when there is really SO much blogworthy stuff to catch up on, that it just keeps getting more and more daunting.

So you keep slacking.

But fear not, dear readers...I will take up the challenge. For now, here are links to 2 photo galleries that are posted on Facebook but available for all you non-facebookers to see :-P

Holiday Break Album

Isaac IV

Xmas Break So Far (in Varying Poetic Forms)

Travel (McWhirtle)

The airplanes and jetways
are never the problem,
it's just getting airborne
in spite of the fog.

And so as I shouted
while sprinting the tarmac,
"Just screw my blue luggage
and load the damn dog!"

First week Back (Haiku)

Beer and cigarettes
Nights at Joe's Bar on the Square
Like I never left

Weather (Fib)

Wind,
Snow,
More snow.
Roads are bad,
But the plows aren't out:
Waiting to make holiday pay.


Christmas (Limerick)

As the holiday season inspired us
To be social and festive and pius,
Clan Mac drove up North,
Where we all waddled forth,
To the can with a mean norovirus.

Rougher in Alaska!

So being the giant nerds that we are, Sara and I listen to a lot of Public Radio. Mind you, this is the only radio station we get, and even if it wasn't, our radio dial is broken, stuck on 640am, so it wouldn't matter. But even so, we both listened to a lot of Public Radio before we were up here, so it's fine by us. Anyways, for those of you back in the lower 48, let me explain a little about our ...eclectic...local station. It's a mix of the following:

1. Standard NPR programs we all know and love (Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Cartalk/WWDT/Prairie Home Companion/whatever else on the weekends)

2. Local programming like area news/events/weather, along with some very regional "traditional" stuff (like the Birthday Call-In show at 3:30 every day, where people can just call in and wish friends and family a happy birthday, and which, considering local phone etiquette, can be quite humorous). Not to mention locally-programmed music shows that are as crazy and varied as the folks who live here...Reggae one night, Techo the next. Kinda like large scale college radio, now that I think of it. The Thirsty Thursday Show was EPIC in its coolness (where else do you hear Kris-Kross, David Allen Coe, and G'n'R played back to back on Public Radio, with the swear words usually "accidentally" not bleeped?) but alas, is no more, as the hosts moved away from Bethel this fall.

3. Alaska Public Radio programs, including state news reports and all the regular stuff you'd expect from state public radio stations, but one show in particular has really grown on me. It's a show called simply AK, and every week is a treat. This past week's episode had a little comedy bit thrown in at the end making fun of all the Alaska-based reality shows that have popped up on cable in the last few years, and Sara and I enjoyed it so much I had to download, clip, and find a way to post it on here for you to enjoy. I ended up just using the audio in front of a picture and uploading as a video, so watch for a special (and apropos) cameo by our own favorite 2nd grade teacher ;-)

Time to get a Blackberry?

Cell phone coverage has made it to the village!

Tundra Drums: Cell phones the latest rage in Bush Alaska

So far, we can get a signal on Sara's pre-paid phone she bought in Anchorage last spring while she was there waiting for Isaac to arrive, but we can't actually use it as we're not on the same plan. We get 3 bars of signal, but the display reads "emergency use only". Still, it's good to know that it works in an emergency. As for my phone, it's on the Sprint network, so it's still useless 'til I get down to the lower 48.

But if GCI has brought a cell signal to Nunap, might internet be close behind? We can only hope...

Like a furry, grey marshmallow

So I rarely post pictures of myself here, not because I'm shy or anything, but because I'm usually the one taking the pictures...but here I am last night.

The weather shifted earlier this week, with the temp climbing 50 degrees (from -15F to 35F), and winds gusting to 40 mph bringing moist air and snow. Of course, as I watched the wind whip the wet snow into soggy drifts around our house...all while losing sight of all but the nearest neighbors' houses...I decided it would be a good idea to cover up our snowmachine, which I had stupidly left uncovered after returning from Bethel. Unfortunately, I had to wait until Sara got home (it was a little too stormy out to bring Isaac out to play in the snow), so by the time I got out there, the machine was pretty well drifted in. I swept it off, covered it, and bungeed the cover down (considering snow seems to sneak under the cover when it's windy), and Sara was kind enough to snap a picture as I came in the door.

Had it been a few degrees colder my face would have been solid ice, but luckily it was just covered in slush...

Happy Trails

You know, it's amazing how much of a difference a little less drifting can make.

I took advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend to take a ride into Bethel on Saturday to pick up some groceries and a new mattress for Isaac (he's gotten too good at climbing to be just in the co-sleeper at night). The plan worked out well, as a few of our neighbors flew in early to visit the craft fair, and the husband of one of the fliers wanted to ride along, as he had never been into Bethel by snowmachine, so I didn't have to ride alone.

Last year, the trail was so rough from the light snow and windy weather that the 26.3 miles from my front door to the AC store was anywhere from a 2 to 3 hour ride, most trips. The best we did all last year was to run a pace that would have gotten us there in around an hour in the early spring when the weather was warm and the trail was flat and slick, but unfortunately the warm weather and our...aggressive pace...caused my co-traveler's machine to give out (to the tune of a couple new pistons and cylinders :-/ )

This year so far, knock on wood, the trail is much better. I don't know if it was the early freeze or how much snow we've had so far, but the trail was better Saturday than it was at any point last year. We made it in only an hour and fifteen minutes, which is pretty darn fast considering it was Jim's first time on the trail. Even heading back pulling a mattress and boxspring on the school sled, we got back in less than an hour and a half. That is, minus a tail light (from sled impact) and a chain clip pulled apart like a paper clip (from the weight of the sled), of course.

Unfortunately, it's been snowing and crazy windy for the past few days, so the trail could be wrecked by now. I guess I'll find out next time I go riding :-P

Sounds like someone was going "Into the Wild"

Fairbanks News-Miner: Brooks Range hiker rebuked for rescue