Alaska a Day

Whole Lot of Catching Up To Do

2009-01-15T08:50:00.002-09:00

Today I am truly making the effort to get some framework up so this thing can get up to date. The three weeks extreme sub-zero tempratures were quite distracting and put a bit of a cramp in my updates. I do have a slew of photos to toss up here. But bare with me, photobucket was giving me a hard time when I went to upload- so pictures won't come up today.

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T09:47:00.004-09:00

I am so terribly behind! Keep a watch for backdated posts all day today, since I do have a plethora of photos to toss up here. Joe has been an enthusiastic helper for this project since purchasing a new camera right before Christmas. I finally managed to snag his SD card and upload some good shots. I appreciate it, since my camera isn't fond of being exposed to the cold once it gets around 25 below zero or colder. His new camera seems to handle the cold a lot better than mine which is a good thing considering the weather this week.

With all of that said, I'll bring on the pictures from Dec 30th in this post.

No, that isn't snow you see. Those white dots are particulates normally found in the air, but as it gets colder small bits moisture ends up freezing to them which makes them slightly larger than usual and much heavier. You can't really see them that well with the naked eye (yay for camera flashes), but they do seem to form a fog at times or just hang around and decrease the air quality.

Celestial photo as the sun finishes setting. I can all ready tell the days are getting longer. Even as recently as last week, the light would have been pretty much gone by 4:40ish PM after work.
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I will hope for the best regarding pictures today. I know Joe wanted to see if he can snap a few of the fireworks tonight, so my fingers are crossed. The temperature is around -45 to -50 and colder. It's hard on just about everything, even vehicles with trickle chargers and all of the heating pads aren't that happy about starting. The seats in the truck were rock hard when I got in, and it took a while for the tires to round out too.

I wish everyone a wonderful New Year full of fun and happiness. Have a great celebration tonight, but remember to take care of yourself and others- don't drink and drive. Stay warm folks!

Photos from Dec 29th

2008-12-30T10:37:00.006-09:00

All of the photos displayed in this post are thanks to Joe. He braved the cold during his morning break (around 10 AM) to snap a nice set of pictures of the sunrise and the city of Fairbanks. All photos are taken from the roof of one of the buildings up on UAF's West Ridge.

Everything I tried to take came out overly blurry, since it was cold enough to make my camera not want to behave outside. It also drained the batteries. Somehow I doubt my little Fugi was cold weather tested.

I'm going to leave these photos as rather large ones. The colors are stunning, and I can't bring myself to take anything away from them. Joe's new camera takes awesome pictures.

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Starting off here is the sun over the valley. You can see the inversion layer hanging over the tree tops and a few mountains in the background on the horizon. This one is a nice reminder that the sun is, indeed, still present for a bit during the day. After a while one tends to forget that fact...

Mountain range framed by a couple of the vents from the building.

The city in fog. It really isn't that polluted up here but everything looks even worse since even a "cool" temperature will start steaming at thirty below.

Trees in the valley.

This picture is a great example of the inversion layer. The wind isn't blowing- it's so cold anything in the air flattens out and hangs at a certain level. That's how the ice fog forms.

Great shot of the mountains!

More mountains. You can really see for miles in this cold!Without so much zoom. That sunrise would make an awesome cross stitch pattern!

A panoramic view of a Fairbanks sunrise.

I all most forgot to add one final photo. Here’s the UAF temperature as of 4:40ish on Monday evening.

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One of the things I enjoy the most about living up here are all of the colors I can see during the winter. Even in during the dark and days made almost entirely of twilight, there are so many different shades of blue, purple, pink, yellow, and orange that it is hard to explain. So many people ask me how I can handle living in the dark for so long- I have to tell them it makes me appreciate the different colors found everywhere even more.

Sunday's Picture

2008-12-29T11:54:00.004-09:00

Unfortunately on Sunday I was hit with that nasty stomach flu. I hardly managed to do anything beyond the basic necessities all day.

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I did manage to get a semi decent picture through my back window. The sunset was much more vibrant in person, but at that point I hardly wanted to be out of bed or even drinking much needed water none the less trying to get the perfect picture.
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For the record, I do feel much better now. Joe was wrapped up in family stuff, so he didn't get any pictures either.

Sunrise, Sunset- it's all the same!

2008-12-28T12:53:00.006-09:00

This set of pictures ended up being more of a comparison of two cameras than anything else. I didn't realize how similar the shots were until I started to create this post! These are from Saturday the 27th. The temperature had just started to drop, so the fog isn't too bad yet.

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The sunset seemed to come out really well in this one. At least, I think the sun was closer to setting. I am not sure if I remember correctly at the moment...

Just a gray horizon past the fence and trees.

Here's my take on the same afternoon sky, as well as some snow on the ground. I like the way this one looks, so I kept it as a larger photo.

It's a shame I couldn't get my zoom be a bit more clear, as I could just barely see the mountains on the pink horizon. The town had begun to hide blow some fog.

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The first two pictures were taken by Joe, the second two are mine. All of these photos were taken on the UAF campus at one of the bus stops that doubles as a scenic overlook.

The First Day After Christmas

2008-12-27T13:16:00.002-09:00

Surprisingly there weren't really any super sales at the usual stores to speak of, but at least it was a decent day outside. It wasn't too cold until nightfall. The 26th was a good day all together.

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I'll start with an evening picture. One of the neighbors decorated a tree with some lovely blueish lights. I thought it looked pretty neat! Joe took this one. My camera decided night pictures at -20 or colder just wouldn't happen. I'll spare people the random blurs of light.

This one is entitled, "Alaskans Need Lovin' Too" obviously this is an example of how Fairbanks really isn't all that different from most cities out there. The sign for The Showboat as viewed from Kurt & Kim's drive up coffee hut.

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This weekend I'll have to snap a picture of Kurt & Kim's. They have great coffee.

Christmas Was Nice

2008-12-26T14:42:00.003-09:00

Just a couple up from the holiday. It was a nice one full of good food and fun.

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It's not quite the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, but it still looked nice on Christmas night.

I'm strange. I know. I must be the only person in the world who gets excited to receive socks as a gift!

Packing up some of the goodies.

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A bit of a more personal look at stuff up here. A white Christmas indeed, as you can tell. Also obviously Joe took the two photos of me, but the street scene was one I snapped.

A Very Merry One

2008-12-25T14:53:00.000-09:00

Christmas Eve was a lovely day! I only had to work half of the day, it snowed all day long, and it was quite nice indeed.

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Early in the morning it really was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (Thanks to Joe for the photo.)

One of my favorite things about the downtown post office are the metal decorations in their wall. There are quite a few different designs, and all of them depict ways the mail has been delivered in Alaska at one point or another. I admit, the dogsled design is one of my favorites.

Each year downtown Fairbanks gets a bit of ice art. I'm not sure exactly what this one will turn in to, but they got a good start on it before it got too cold to carve the blocks. Joe snapped this picture as we were waiting at a traffic light on the flag bridge.

Food Factory is one of the local restraints. Their food is pretty good, and they have a "Beer Around The World" program. Once you get your beer passport filled out for each country, you get a free t-shirt. Currently a couple of friends and I are about a third of the way done. Not bad, considering it's something we do only twice a month or so.

Another photo for the folks out there who can't seem to believe me when I tell them we do actually have many of the same stores up here as the rest of the country. If only Fairbanks had its own Target too. Then I would be quite happy!

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Lunch after work on Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. I gave a friend of mine a gift card that was frozen in a Nalgene bottle of water. Now I wonder what will happen in retaliation.

Afternoon From Work

2008-12-24T09:09:00.007-09:00

Yesterday was much more visually pleasing day than Monday, as I got to see the sun for a little bit sometime between noon and 3ish! The temperature started to fall below zero, but not too very far, as I was still able to run outside and snap a few pictures without bothering to throw on a coat or a sweatshirt. Alaskan t-shirt weather I suppose. The cold up here in the interior feels so different from cold I grew up with back in New Hampshire. I never realized exactly how damp everything is on the East Coast until living in the Arctic Desert. Even the snow is very different. I might have examples of that to post tomorrow.

Everyone up here is getting ready for Christmas. We even have a half day at work! In spite of that, it's been a bit busy this morning.

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First up is a shot of the UAF Power Plant. The tracks in the snow leading into the building are for the coal cars. I can't remember how many coal cars they go through during the cold snaps, but it is a decent amount.

The view from the back yard looked quite pretty yesterday around 2:30. I snapped a quick series of pictures in an attempt to catch part of the pink and yellow afternoon sky before the sun went down. In spite of chopping off a few treetops, and the appearance of a fence rail in the bottom this was about the best of the bunch. Note to self, take the time to at least wear a sweatshirt next time or purchase a tripod for better camera stability after the holidays...

A blurry afternoon sunset sky. Hey, anyone out taking pictures in just a t-shirt and jeans would have a hard time standing still after a while in six or seven degrees below zero... I did think the unintentional blur made the colors look even more soft and pretty though, so I tossed it up here.

Finally, here's some Alaska style decorating. A bunch of the ladies in the office and I added a bit of holiday flair to the warehouse. The tinsel was all my doing. Also to give you an idea of work, I spend quite a bit of time standing behind the counter. Usually I’m standing behind the counter on the opposite side of the little tree.

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I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and enjoyed a Joyous Yule (my solstice was great thank you very much)!
I'll see if I can get some holiday looking pictures this afternoon, as well as some regular people having fun after work.

A Day Quite Ordinary

2008-12-23T08:29:00.003-09:00

After showing some pretty photos from the solstice, I present you with my Monday. Temperatures were around 10 above zero, and on this gray day we had a few flurries during the morning. Life wasn’t all that scenic at work.

10:15 in the morning is still quite dark, not just due to the snow cloud. These flakes fell upon the Facility Service parking lot, and apparently I took a scenic photo of the dumpster for whatever reason. I don’t believe I was all that awake yet.

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This feature is a very gray high noon picture of trees on the hill. It stopped flurrying for a bit at that time, but did not improve the looks of things very much.

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As a chaser to scenery, here are some luminaries one of the ladies at work made by freezing water in a five gallon bucket. Ice art and ice decorations are pretty popular up here during the winter.

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Any candle from tea light sized to a smaller pillar can easily fit in the middle. They look lovely when lit too!

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So there’s some real humdrum Alaska for everyone. Other than a lack of sunlight it isn’t all that different from life on the East Coast.

First Day of a New Season

2008-12-22T08:49:00.006-09:00

Earlier this winter I came up with an idea. I decided I wanted to create a way of sharing my day to day experiences with friends and family, as I started to grow tired of answering the same questions or comments regarding my surroundings up here. Many things are difficult to explain and a lot of times the answers are from either side of the spectrum, "Yes, there ARE stores and malls up here," to, "It's sixty below here and will take over 6 hours to get to Anchorage, of course I'm not going over this weekend!"

Alaska is different. The people are quite different, but in a good way as well. With all of that said, it is also shocking how normal daily life is as well. In that case, I live in a gigantic 591,004 square mile Catch-22. In any case, I love it up here.

With all of that said, I suppose I should get down to business and post my first few pictures.

Sunset around 2:30 PM on the Winter Solstice. I loved the orange colors, so I left this one as a large photo.

Even though I couldn't see Denali it's still a nice picture of some of the mountains with the sunset around them.

I believe the layer of fog in the distance is hovering above part of the Tanana River or the flats. It usually is at any rate and tends to look both mysterious and beautiful as the sun goes down.

The building that looks like a sliced off part of the Sydney Opera House is UAF's Museum of the North. I liked the way the sunset reflected in the window.

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Yesterday was around -15, so the weather isn't all that different from a cold snap anywhere else. It is obviously a lot darker here, since the sun doesn't peek too far over the horizon all day. I'll try for a few shots of that today from my breaks at work.

So there you have it. The start of a new seasonal year, and something new for me to keep up.

All photos included in this post were taken Sunday December 21st, 2008.