Sometimes I just have to wonder... how did I end up here...

I found this post in my drafts....I wrote it months ago and just found it in my drafts folder and decided to finally post it....

So I apparently have a lot of friends with birthdays this weekend. As is appropriate, there was some birthday partying tonight. Being a good friend, I attended and bought the birthday boy and girl some shots. And made my other birthday friend a cake. This post won't have any pictures that are really relevant. So I will post some random ones from my life recently. Anyway, getting to the point, I was talking to one of my friends tonight when she said, as she often does, something to the effect of how insanely lucky she is to have such an awesome family, friends, career, etc. and how she never could have planned it any better if she had tried. 

Pokemon cake!! It was absolutely 105% properly appreciated by the recipient :D

Naturally, this statement always makes me think. She also went a little further and talked about some things happening at work that it was just interesting how all the pieces had fallen into place to bring her to where she is now. I won't go into the details of her story, but I will go into some with mine.

That said, I totally agree with what she is saying. I mean, I am at a slightly different place in my life than she is but I am happy. Almost too happy. It is kind of a weird feeling. I mean, of course I have bad days, but they pass. And they really aren't that bad. Something dumb happens and it annoys me and I get over it. The part that interests me so much is how I got here. Because I sure didn't plan it. Looking back, it is a random series of events that has brought me to this point. If you had told me who I would be and what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with two years ago, I probably would have laughed at you. If you had told me that 5 years ago, I probably wouldn't have believed you. 8 years ago... well, there is no way i would have believed that that would be me in the future.

Anyway, so 8 years ago  I was in highschool, living in Alabama and had no idea what I was going to do with my life. (not that I know that now...) I was in band and played soccer and had some friends and that was my life. Oh, I had my first job, as a lifeguard. Not a career but I was making money. My life plan was to graduate and go to college, probably down in the South with all my friends. Anyway, along came life and things outside of my control changed my perfect little plan. 6 years ago, I end up in Alaska, still in highschool. The soccer team sucks, the band is good but just isn't the same, and I have no friends. I manage to find a job working in retail. Good experience but still not a career... at least I am making money. Seeing a pattern here???  All I want to do is go back to what I know. I am completely opposed to change and terribly unhappy with life in general. My perfect little plan has been ruined!

Anyway, fast forward a little more. I go to college, graduate, and things start to get better. I meet people, I get progressively better jobs, I start to find new things that I love to do. I learn to ski, dirt bike, weld, etc. My network of friends starts to grow. I meet people who know people that I know. I actually start to find some really good friends. Anyway, enough of my life story. Just for the background of where this is all coming from.

Anyway, to the topic. I was thinking on my drive home from the bar (I wasn't drinking. I don't drink and drive) how I got here. I am happy with who I am and honestly don't care what other people think. If they don't like me, that's their problem. I will seriously inform someone I just met "oh, I am pretty cool. We should be friends". And if they don't want to be then whatever. My self esteem is frighteningly high. I push my limits outside of my comfort zone because I like to. It is challenging and fun. I used to be too scared to do that. I just wonder where this came from. 2 years ago, I was not like this at all. I was worried about why so and so didn't like me. In general, I was just worried about the wrong things.

I like to think about things like this. So I thought about this for a while. What happened to me?  Well there was this crazy series of events that happened. I learned things, I met people, I experienced things. And I made decisions based off of what happened to me. I let them change me for the better. (I think) I stopped being so worried about my plan and my destination and started looking at the journey and even looking for the side tracks that may not take me where I planed to go when I planned to go but might still get me somewhere worth going. I started looking for and even making opportunities that were not part of my plan at all.

I mean, I have always been very career and money oriented my whole life. I don't think that money is the most important thing in life but I have come to the conclusion that the lack of money causes a lot of problems. Therefore, a career and money making means have always been very important to me. So what did I do when I graduate from college? I took a low paying job that I like waking up and going to more days than not and allowed me to travel (and go way into debt) for three months. I packed up my truck and took a 13,000 mile road trip.  Oh, by myself.  Totally not planned. I mean I could have graduated and looked for and possibly gotten a much higher paying career fast track job. If you had told me I was going to do that two years ago I would have laughed at you and told you no way in hell am I doing that. It was scary. Really scary. But I am sure glad I did it.

Anyway, just some more random, slightly disconnected thoughts from my brain :)

Still in Cooper Landing.. drilling... not so much

Don't worry.  The fun hasn't stopped yet! We have at least a month of this!


-Don't leave your gloves sitting on the heater too long... they will melt

-Of the four people working on this project, apparently I was the only that brought a knife or a gun

-The drill can be used in many creative ways. For instance, it can be used to lift and turn a couple ton air compressor.

-Bonfires make everyone more enjoyable to work with.

-The propane torch/weed whacker is a great way to start a fire

-Don't leave plastic things like buckets or water bottles close to the fire... they melt.

-Apparently we have melted quite a few things on this project.

-Some dirt is really hard on equipment.  We destroyed two shoes for the sampler in 15 feet of drilling...

-If anything gets destroyed, it is always my fault.  Even though I am the only one that doesn't actually touch the equipment.

-Winching a drill rig and air compressor up a bumpy hill can be bad.... and result in the cable snapping and a project delay

-As soon as the winch is fixed and the rig moved to the next site, one of the hydraulic jacks busts.  Bolts broke, fittings sheared off, hydraulic fluid everywhere....

-3 days later waiting for it to get fix, I find out the solid 4 inch diameter ram of the jack is also bent.... 

-Apparently the drillers only have problems with hydraulics on the rig when they are on projects with me. (they blew something on the last hole when we were in Chignik Bay.....).  That some how makes it my fault. ha.

-Chainsaws are still fun. Even though at this point, only one is remotely sharp enough to safely use.  And the ex-lumberjack/tree cutting expert gets to use it.  The rest of us just move the downed trees.  And when I say us I mostly mean the other drillers.  And me when I can do it without getting in the way too much.

-Don't put your revolver in your backpack and then toss it on the ground at the work site.  While the trigger is safely covered by the holster and the safety mechanisms of the gun keep it from firing, you can still break off the rear sight. Now how am I supposed to aim it at the pissed off I-just-woke up bear?

-Plastic bottles can be lit on fire

-Frozen dirt is a bitch to clean off of equipment... especially 150 feet of rod .

-After torching the shit out of a split spoon (to dry the dirt so I can brush it off... since carrying water to the site is really impractical), it is hot.  And should not be touched for a while.

-For some reason the drillers don't like the idea of welding without a welding hood... the hammer needs to be rebuilt and all the hoods have disappeared back to Anchorage....

-When shit gets stuck together, torch the shit out of it and then whack it with a hammer.  Fixes the problem almost every time.

-sometimes it takes over a week to do what should take a few days.  Shit likes to break.




So there will probably be at least one more of these.  If you are still interested.  :)  Probably.

Adventure is taking inappropriate gear to out of the way places... AKA my skiing adventures in Cooper Landing

So if you know me you know that I don't like sitting around.  If I am out on a job, there is a really good chance I will go wander around wherever I am working in my off time.  I generally try to be relatively safe and not do anything too dumb and by myself.  This entry is going to be kind of random and probably pointless.  Though, it sould be somewhat entertaining.

Anyway, Cooper Landing is full of fun stuff to do when the weather is nice.  In the past two years, they have started grooming two of the camp grounds for cross country skiing, which I have taken up this winter and am pretty excited about. There is also a surplus of hiking trails (most of which I will not attempt by myself in the winter... ya know, no phone reception, avalanche danger, exposure danger, wild animal danger, etc....), a few of which are tame enough that I will attempt on my own. And it is fucking gorgeous.  I am pretty much in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Kenai River which is BLUE.  And I love blue.  Lots of amazing photo opportunities.  Anyway, enough about Cooper Landing, it's awesome, you should visit.  This post is about me so let's get onto that....

I decided to have my first skiing adventure at the Russian River Campground.  I've been here in the summer a few times.  Never to actually camp, mind you.  I must say, I like what they have done with the place.  I spent a while looking for the trail map online before I went.  It's not online anywhere as far as I know.  But, it's posted at the entrance to the campground and is pretty simple; one road in, follow it back out.  Also, I have posted it below if you are really curious.  (for google if anyone is looking Russian River Ski Trail... I think that google picks these up) Also, grooming reports can be found here if you are using this as a guide for your own ski adventure.... It is done by volunteers and seems to take about 24 to 48 hours after a snowfall to get groomed.

So the first day I decide to go ski, it has just snowed a few inches and the trail is ungroomed.  I am skating (I kind of hate classic skiing... but I will get to that in a bit) along happily.  The snow isn't deep enough to really be an issue.  There are maybe two other peoples' tracks on the trail... so it is quite serene... I look down and find these:

Ohhh shitttt.  Those are some big ass paw prints.  My hands really aren't that small.  Pretty normal size actually.  Anyway, so I see these and am like.... what?!?! wolves?!?! There are danger signs about avalanches and bears (all of which are hibernating at the moment) all over and nothing about wolves.  I really haven't even heard of them being a big issue on the Kenai Peninsula in general, hence my lack of preparation and shock.  Needless to say, I turn around and get the hell out of there in a hurry.  It didn't stop snowing until late the night before... so those tracks are probably from within the last 12 hours.  I go back to the cabin I am staying in and do some research on the local wildlife.  Yup, wolves.  Though they are rarely seen apparently. Needless to say, I didn't really want to run into one.  Especially not unarmed at dusk.  I concluded probably fighting off a wolf with a ski pole would place me amongst the most badass people alive.  However, the alternative of failure in that endeavour was not particularly appealing.

The next time I went out, I decided I should go snowshoeing while it was still snowing.  This turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience.  Relatively speaking of course. Being outside is almost always awesome.  But I have placed snowshoeing at the top of my "least favorite things to do outside" list.  I have concluded I like it less than classic skiing and bicycling, both of which I have an unreasonable dislike of.  No particular reason why I don't like them, I just don't like the motion they require me to do.  And I don't like it any better the more I practice.  I have concluded that snowshoeing is unreasonably slow and annoying and I would rather classic ski if I have a choice.  I feel so strongly that I asked for my classic skis back from my friend that I let borrow them a year ago. 

Anyway, I snowshoe out on the Russian lakes trail.  The trail head is off the Russian river campground road.   It's about 3 miles to Russian Lake falls, which was my goal.  Well, about an hour and a half in, I still see no falls.  I don't think I hike that slow and it is going to be dark in about another hour and a half.  And with the wolves around and my mild fear of the dark and the whole being alone in the Alaskan wilderness in the cold anddd the chance of someone else coming along this trail tonight being little to none, I decide I really don't want to be out that late and the falls must not be THAT cool.  So I turn around and hike back to the truck.  It wasn't a bad hike but I really did not enjoy the snowshoeing.  And there was very little elevation change.  I really like hikes that require some sort of rock scrambling.  Not that that would be a good idea in the winter... but just so you know where I am coming from. There were a bunch of trees and no view.  There probably would have been a cool one if I had found the falls, but clearly I did not. Anyway, I now have my classic skies and and going to attempt this one again on those.

I have been to the ski trails a few more times and they are nice. If you do all the loops and such it is about 6 miles. According to the map at least.  The views are great and it is kind of fun making first tracks on the freshly groomed trails. Though it is concerning when there are no signs of skiiers and there are animal tracks all over.  Oh well, at least most of them are little :)

So my final notable skiing adventure happened up bean creek trail.  FYI, this trail is not groomed.  Or appropriate for skate skiing really.  But that's all I had so that's what I used.  I show up in the parking lot and there is a group getting ready to do ressurection pass.  (bean creek is a safer winter trail to use for the first part of t resurrection) I ask them what the trail is like and if it is wide enough for skating.  It is.  For a ways.  Well, I plan to take the trail to where it intersection Resurrection Trail so I have a great idea: strap the snowshoes to my backpack and ski as far as I can and then switch.  Brilliant!  So I load up my backpack with my gun, extra clothes, some water, some food, and of course my medical kit (I like to be prepared or somthing).  I also shove my shoes in there. I don't think that snowshoes and ski boots will be that great. Then I attempt to figure out how to strap my snowshoes on to the backpack.  I have two straps used to compress the bag that I manage to loop around the straps on the snowshoes.  Well, they are gonna flop around but they won't go anywhere!

So I head out. The trail is ok for skating... It has been packed pretty well by snowmachines.  However, I quickly realize why people who are skiing with gear always pull it in a sled.  The backpack is on pretty tight but is still flopping around.  With the snowshoes, it is making me incredibly unbalanced.  (on the up side, I now ski much better without the extra weight...) I almost fall multiple times.  Anyway, I stop to take off some layers and the guys I saw in the parking lot catch up.  This is signifigant because a short while later, the trail narrows.  A lot. I really don't want to use my snowshoes if I don't have to.  (as mentioned before they are so painfully slow that I can't deal with them.  I know it is about the journey and all but I like to journey quickly and stop to enjoy things as I please. Not go slow and look at everything.  Ya know, it isnt fun until I am soaked in sweat... Just my style ya know)

Anyway, so I skate down the narrow trail maybe about 100 yards before running my ski tip into the snow on the side of the trail.  For anyone that has done that, you know what happened next.... I immediate face plant.  Litterally, face plant.  Face to snow.  And then my snowshoes flip over my back pack and whack me on the head.  Ow.  Ok snowshoes. You win.  I will use you. Oh, and I had an audience for this. Possibly the only other people to use this trail all day.....

So I take off my skies and switch over to the snowshoes. I stash my skis, poles, and boots under a tree.  Chances are that people are not coming up here looking for ski gear to steal... and I won't be completely heartbroken if it does dissappers.  Maybe just slightly dissapointed in humanity.  Anyway, I continue down the trail on my snowshoes.  My pack feels amazingly light now that I am wearing the shoes and snowshoes that were in/on it. I make it to resurection pass trail and turn around.  Nothing too specacular but there are some nice mountain views.

The end!  Oh, and no one stole my skis.  I got back and put them back on and skiied back to the truck :D

The Rules of my Life

The cabin I am staying in has the 10 commandments hanging on the wall.  I was looking at them one morning and then went out into the field to do some work.  I then started talking to the drillers about something which lead me to saying something along the lines of  "ya I always act this way".  Which is a weird statement for me to make because I don't really live by absolutes.  I kind of believe that there is an exception to every rule and what is right or wrong in one situation might be completely different in another.  I then started thinking about ways that I pretty much always act in all situations....

Anyway, I decided to compile a list of my "life rules". Not really like the 10 commandments, so I don't really know how that ties in....  Just things that I always try to keep in mind when making choices and getting through life.

1) Don't argue unless you are pretty sure you are right, and it is worth arguing about.
Personally, I am not a fan of arguing.  Once in a while I will argue over something dumb just to remind someone that I am not a push over.  Or because they are talking about something that I happen to know a lot about and they are wrong.  Or because someone manages to strike a nerve. But usually, I just don't argue unless it is important.  

2) Don't agree to things unless you know what you are agreeing to. 
If anyone comes up to me and says "ya wanna do me a favor", my response is always something along the lines of  "most likely", "probably", "maybe", or "probably not but what is it" depending on who is asking and what their history of favors is.  This might come from my fear of commitment, but I adopted this attitude after blindly agreeing to do some things that I really didn't want to. (Not like bad things, but more like, you lazy ass hole... you just didn't want to deal with your own shit and now I am in it too) Call me old fashioned, but if I tell someone I am going to do something then I am damn well going to do it.  If I don't then probably something is wrong, or I am experiencing a human moment and genuinely just forgot or something dumb like that. I try to keep that to a minimum though. Since I do what I say, I try to be pretty damned careful what I agree to.

3) If you tell someone you will do something, then do it.
I am more than willing to overlook all sorts of slightly annoying traits in my friends if they have this quality.  I mean I totally understand that sometimes you just can't, but I have known some flaky people.  Make plans and then the day of the plans, not only do they forget, but I can't even get a hold of them. That gets old... I can't tell you how much I appreciate people who consistently do what they say they will.  Or, at the very least let me know as soon as they know something has changed.  Reliability, it seems like a dying idea these days where everyone is full of excuses.....

4) Don't make excuses.
We all do it. But honestly, rarely does anyone want to hear it. If I am late or feel the need to make excuses, I try to just keep my mouth shut, or just go with "Sorry about that, I will do my best not to let it happen again." Ok, I still make a lot of excuses. It's hard not to. Sometimes you just want people to know that there actually is a reason you completely sucked at whatever.  However, I find that a lot of the time, your actions can completely make up for one bad performance... sans excuses.

5) Don't be a whiny bitch. 
Chances are, it could be much worse.  You could be starving and dying of some awful disease in the middle of nowhere. Oh, also caught in a downpour.  We all lose perspective and get tired of our lives, but really, for most of us, shit ain't that bad. Vent if you have to, then be done with it and move on.

6) Never let your fear decide your fate. 
Ok, I stole that one from an Awolnation song.  Good song by the way.  But it is the most poetic way I have had heard that concept said.  And when I say this, I don't mean stupid things like "there is a bear over there that I am scared of so I should overcome my fear and walk towards it".  Not like that.  What I mean is don't not do something because it is new or unknown or scary. A lot of fears are not rooted in any real danger.  It is just a "this bad thing might happen". Well, chances are you are more likely to die in a car crash driving to work than from doing whatever awesome thing you are scared to do. For me (and most people I would assume) doing new things is scary since it's unknown.  I spent a lot of my life in my "comfort zone". Now that I have gotten out of it, I enjoy life a hell of a lot more.

7) Don't worry what other people think.  You can't change it anyway.
When I finally was able to do this, it seriously changed my life in a really good way.  My self confidence went through the roof and I became a lot happier in general.  I used to spend a lot of time wondering why so and so didn't like me. Then I realized it didn't matter.  I haven't done anything to them and if they want to not like me, that's their problem. And ya know what happened when I started thinking this way?  I'm pretty sure that a lot fewer people disliked me for dumb reasons.

8) If you make a mistake, admit it, accept the consequences, and move on.
Chances are if you try to cover it up, its just gonna fuck shit up a lot more.  And everyone is going to know anyway.  Usually if you own up to it, you can still keep peoples' respect. And fix the problem in a timely manner.

9) Treat others with respect.
I don't care who someone is, I am going to treat them with respect. I run into a entitled superior attitude a lot with people.  I am blah blah blah so that makes me better than you. No, not really. Or, you are here to serve me. (Like at a restaurant... or supermarket... work situations) Ok, it might be someone's job to help you but you don't have to treat them like shit. Really, we are all people here trying to make our way through life the best we can.  Everyone deserves respect.  Well, at least until if and when they do something really shitty to lose it. I feel like this attitude is my small way of giving back to people.  People I meet in passing I am always polite to and always try to give a smile.  Who knows, maybe they were having a shitty day and something just being nice to them made it a little bit better.

10) Make your choices wisely. They define who you are. 
Everyone has to make choices.  Inaction is also a choice. I believe in two things that govern our lives as humans: choice and balance. Our choices should lead us towards living a more balanced life. Yes, some people are born really fucking lucky. They have a lot of good things going for them. I was pretty lucky. My life hasn't been perfect, but overall, I had a damn good start. Anyway, that affects my point of view on the matter.  But at the end of the day, EVERYONE has a choice.  Even when things outside of your control happen, you have the choice of how you react to them.  I don't mean what you do necessarily, but how you think.  NO ONE can control that but you.  You can always choose how you react to a situation, how you let it change you, if you view yourself as a helpless victim, etc.. You can choose to think positively or negatively about a situation. I know this from experience. It works.  Even when shit sucks, you have the choice to be positive. And it is amazing what making that choice can do.  It isn't easy, but it's worth it.

Everyone has things happen to them in their lives.  And everyone has to choose how they react to them. End of story. 

11) It's about value and balance.
My uncle said this a fair bit when I was a child.  Usually in what I thought a joking matter.  However, we did get into a pretty intense conversation about the power of this statement.  At this point in my life, this IS the governing idea in my life. Finding balance. Usually, there are two choices, paths, whatever.  Most of the time, neither one is entirely right. It's more about finding the right balance between to. I mean if you look at the qualities people have, no one person can exhibit all "good" qualities at one time. 

Let me explain via example.  I value both strength and compassion in a person.  Most people would argue that to be strong, you don't show compassion and to show compassion is a weakness. Well, I would argue that a good person has both qualities.  It isn't about one or the other, it is about knowing when to be strong when to be compassionate.  Finding that balance between the two. There are countless examples of the this concept. 

I believe that balance is the key to everything.  Life is about finding that right spot between two extremes.  It sure isnt easy to do and takes a lot of trial and error. But hey, where is the fun in easy things?



Anyway, those are my thoughts. And the super abbreviated explanation of what I think. If you didn't know me, or know me well, or thought you knew be but really don't, now you do.  :)

More Cooper Landing fun!

As the Cooper Landing project goes on, I learn ever more exciting things about work, traveling, gear choice, myself, and life in general....


-Xtratuffs make poor hiking shoes.  Something about a lack of tread and ankle support....

-Properly torquing the rod is important; a 5 hour delay may occur otherwise which involves pulling all equipment out of the hole and re-drilling it.

-I need more warm socks.  I brought all 5 I own to my month long job...  Socks should probably be changed more often than that. (ew??? Im not trying to impress anyone here though...)

-when typing the word "experience" make sure you don't accidentally type "sexperience" and post is on an online forum.  You will get made fun of. (not related to this project but it happened during this time...) 

-When driving down an icy hill with huge bumps at the bottom, go EXTRA SLOW.  Brakes don't work well on ice and the work truck isn't set up with long travel suspension...

-riding a 4 wheeler 1-handed and bringing coffee to a site is easy.  Riding a snowmachine 1-handed down a super rutted trail is a huge pain in the ass.  And is probably dangerous.

-Attempting the above bullet results in a 50% loss of coffee and a 10% increase in the wetness of my clothing....

-When putting the snowmachine key in your pocket, make sure it actually goes in your pocket.  The ground is not a good place to keep the key.

-I am horrible at picking locks.  However, I locked myself out of my cabin and somehow magically jiggled the lock open with my knife in about 5 seconds.  After grabbing the key and trying it again, I was completely unsuccessful.

-Apparently this is the only field job going on right now and office people are bored.  In one week, I have had 4 visitors to the side.

-Don't leave your hardhat unattended upside down under a snowy tree.  It won't be empty when you get back

-HWT casing makes a really melodic tone when whacked repeatedly with a hammer

-When post holing through waist deep snow,  Xtra tuffs keep the snow out a lot better if they are not folded down...

-The bear proof trash can is easier to figure out when its not dark, you're not in your pajamas, and you aren't freezing your ass off

-Make sure you know which gas cans have gas and which ones have diesel. When in doubt, ask the person that filled them up

-Have more than one color of flagging with you.  Sometimes, other people have been in the middle of no where forest with flagging the same color as yours.  It confuses people.  Multiple colors is best. If you must only have one color, orange is a poor choice since everyone else seems to use it too.

-Cell phone reception is awesome at the site.  Somehow.  I even get internet.


Don't worry... there will be more :D

Cooper Landing drilling is fun :)

Well, it has been since September since I have had any field work. One of the drillers pointed out that was 6 months ago.  No wonder the office has been driving me crazy. So this current project is kinda cool.  There are only 7 test holes which should be like a 2 day job.  BUT the holes are located a half mile to a mile off the existing road system in the forest.  AND we are not drilling 30 foot holes.  This project has cuts that are 100 feet deep so we are drilling 100 foot test holes minimum.  On top of that, we need information on the bedrock in the area because there is very little geotechnical data for the area and they are planning on constructing a bridge on slopes that have been historically not so stable.  So, there will also be rock coring, unless we don't hit rock for some reason.  To get to a test hole, we have to cut a path through the forest with chainsaws (yayy!!! The drillers even let me help!) and then winch a 40,000 pound drill rig and air compressor up steep hills. 

So that is the background on this project.  That said, what looks easy on paper really isn't. It will probably take a few weeks if everything goes perfectly. Anyway, in similar fashion to my last projects, I will be updating the world on random things that I have learned and that have happened in bullet form.  I might add some pictures to some posts if I feel really ambitious. As of now, I have driven to the site and worked on it for one day.  Oh the fun things that have happened!

-Driving in the dark in glowing shoes is really distracting, but AWESOME. (btw... I have super brightly colored shoes that GLOW IN THE FUCKING DARK. and are awesome! If you didn't know, now you do.)

- PVC is a pain in the ass.  I ordered 1000 feet of it on Friday and was told it would be picked up by the drillers by tuesday... on wednesday i get a call from the plumbing store wondering why no one had picked it up. Apparently the drillers left town without it. When we are buying close to the entire stock of 1 inch PVC they want us to actually get it...

-When I am with a driller and tell him "I am flagging this tree with 4 flags so you know where to set up here when you mob the rig in and I am not here", they set up somewhere completely different. On a random flag that was only marking an access point.  I guess I need more colors of flagging... Maybe I can convince the boss to get blue :)

-I show up at 10 and they are all ready to drill.... on a spot that isn't even a test hole or in the proposed road alignment... and I get to be the asshole that tells them that everything has to be taken down and moved.... up a hill... with lots of trees on it.

-All this lovely warm weather means the bears are probably gonna be waking up soon... and be really happy about life in general.

-Snowmachines are still fun

-Buying a toothbrush and toothpaste because I forgot to pack is expensive in Cooper Landing... arguably more expensive than Chignik Bay. I might have somehow picked out the most expensive toothbrush in the store though...

-I am really awesome at losing pencils in the forest.  From my facebook post if you aren't on my facebook:  Day one and I have already lost 3 pencils in the forest. Ask me how much of a test hole we have done. At this rate, I am going to go through 3 pencils per 30 feet of drilling. At a maximum of 150 feet per test hole and 7 total holes, that puts me at a total of 105 pencils per project. I brought 5. Three are lost and one is currently broken :p Looks like I need to change my ways...

-Chainsaws are fun, through the drillers were a little skeptical about giving me one. "Have you ever used one of these before??"  "um, ya, who the hell do you think I am?!?!!?"

-I really hate driving at night

-People that forget to turn off their brights still piss me off

-My work truck lights are inferior to my Tacoma's lights.

-Sometimes I get lucky and remember that I forgot my work boots 2 miles from the office instead of 100.... 

-It is possible to winch a stuck 40,000 pound drill rig and air compressor up a hill...

-.... it just requires a snatch block... that isn't even technically a snatch block.  

-35 degrees is pretty nice for work... until it gets windy and snowy.  Horizontally blowing snow is not so fun.

-Hands stay warmer when my gloves are not soaking wet. 

-Field work is awesome!



Well, that's about all for now.  Tune in for more excitement later as the project goes on... and maybe I will be better about updating this thing :)



 

Reflections on my trip: Being Brave

While traveling, I met a lottttt of people. Being from Alaska, it was pretty easy to talk to them. Almost everyone wants to hear about Alaska. Once I had them roped into talking to me through the topic of Alaska, they generally would be mildly curious about me as a person. What I am doing in the lower 48, who I am traveling with,  etc. Well, I would tell them my story of  something like "yup, just packed up the truck and am driving. By myself" and the response I got most of the time was something along the lines of "That's really brave of you." Uh, well thanks, I don't feel brave at all. People also seemed to think my trip was impressive. I also do not feel all that impressive either.

I have been called a lot of nice things; brave, impressive, once in a while powerful (not in relation to this trip but I feel like it ties in... and I don't think I would mind being powerful), and while these are all words that I would like to describe me, and image of me does not come to my head when I hear those words. I suppose this is all in perception.  I mean from my point of view I am just trying to live my life in a way that makes sense to me and fulfills whatever it is I am looking for. Which I still don't know what that is. But I think I am on the right track and have become almost content with not knowing and just enjoying the journey.

Anyway, I am going to analyze this.... So let's start with some definitions. 

Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage

Impressive: Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill: grand, imposing, or awesome


So being brave is being ready (and willing?) to endure danger or pain. I don't consider my trip to be incredibly dangerous or painful. I really would hope it would not be painful. I mean sure, shit could go wrong. My truck could break down (ha), I could meet some really unscrupulous people, I could get lost, I could get in a car accident, etc. etc. All of this could happen to anyone at any time though. I am just further away from my support network than the average person.

It is not like I just blindly started this trip assuming everything would be great. I did my best to identify potential problems and at least think of what an appropriate response would be prior to leaving. I call it "calculated risk taking". Yeah, it is a risk, but I have a plan. Isn't that what life is all the time?  You could drop dead this instant, doing the same thing you do every day for all you know. Traveling alone just made these dangers blatantly obvious, as opposed to hidden in every day life monotony.

I still haven't really answered if traveling alone makes me brave in my book. I mean, before I left, I was totally scared and overwhelmed. However, I often feel this way and have found that some of the best things come from feeling scared and or overwhelmed. Once I said goodbye and hit the road, I was feeling good about the trip by the time I got to Eagle River. My doubts vanished and I felt free to explore. Really, I would argue that this does not qualify me as being brave. All I have done is put myself in a situation that makes the every day dangers of life a little more obvious.

Moving on to impressive.  I think this one is all in other people's perception. The end.

I mean when I hear words like these, I think of knights fighting for honor and the pyramids and just insanely awe inspiring and nostalgic things like that.  I am just wondering if maybe I am failing to see the modern day application of these words. Maybe people from history who we think were brave or impressive didn't think that they were. Maybe they did. Who knows.