Shortest Day of the Year

Taken on the corner of F and 8th (across the street from the office) looking west on the Solstice.

I thought this was a nice 5:00 pm sunset one the way downtown to meet some friends.

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Solstice Moon

Last night I met a friend from work at an old air strip in town to take pictures of the lunar eclipse. This is one of the pictures Jeff got before the clouds slipped in to ruin the view.

One thing I noticed,at least for me, was that the moon didn't look red until I viewed it through some sort of optics like the camera or binoculars.

What is cool about this eclipse is that it marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Pretty soon we'll be back to the long darkness days of summer.

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TRON LEGACY

This morning I went to see TRON Legacy at Alaska's only IMAX theatre over by the Target near the Air Force base. Everyone should see this movie. The bigger the screen the better. Disney did a good job with this one and Jeff Bridges is awesome.

I tried to get the mountains in the background but the building is just to big.

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WINTER

Yep, It's winter. I live on the warm side of town but it probably dropped to negative double digits on the East side this morning.

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Another reason to love Alaska

This was taken at the BP Energy Center in Anchorage just after our ASPE meeting. BP is considerate enough to warn you about possible moose trampling situations. I've been waiting about two years to get an actual moose in the same picture as the warning sign.

This is the second post from my phone. Looks like I might have figured out the picture thing!

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First post from smart phone.

So... I finally broke down and own a smart phone and I'm trying to figure out how to post a picture on here. Technology is crazy! This little phone is more powerful and faster then my first computer. It also has 8 times more memory! And that memory is the size of my pink fingernail!

Now how do I get these pictures to post?

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Day of Decision

Downtown St. Ignace, MI
August, 2010

This was the first time I've been home for a real visit in the summer time since I moved to Alaska. I forgot how beautiful it is when you don't have to shovel snow.

It was a day just like this, in 2005, that I decided to go to Juneau, AK. This was a decision that would set the course for me to find myself where I am today.

I got a call in that June morning from a testing lab in Grand Rapids. At this time I had graduated with my Mechanical Engineering degree and was looking for a job in that field. Countless resumes had been sent out since my graduation in December with no sign of a job anywhere.

They were very interested in me but couldn't promise enough work for me to even pay rent. After thinking for a while I decided the job wasn't for me. I thought "What have I done? I just turned down work!"

To clear my head I decided to take the canoe for paddle and put in down by the marina. I paddled East, past town, all the way down to the airport and back. I saw some pretty big rocks in the bay and a few white fish swimming along. The water was calm and a cool breeze kept the sun from making the day uncomfortably warm.

Less than a half hour after I got home the phone rang. It was my good friend Josh asking if I had found a job yet. When I answered no, he asked if I wanted to come to Juneau and work on his survey crew for the summer. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. A couple days later my stuff was packed and I was on the road.

The relationships I made in the past would give the me opportunity to make new relationships that would help me find my way to Anchorage 2 years later.

I'm glad I turned down those guys in Grand Rapids.