High today: 8
Low so far today: -16
Nothing to report today but you have to check out Stef's blog for some insight on the 40 below temperatures in Minnesota. I find it rather entertaining. :-)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Snowy World
High today so far: 4
Low today: -35
Today we escaped from an 8 day streak of low temperatures below -40. It was also the first day in 19 days of which our temperature went above zero. It's amazing how warm it feels after being cold for so long. I am really enjoying the snow that stays on the ground all the time and doesn't turn mushy brown. I went for a ski today to enjoy the warmer weather while Jana walked her dog Sawyer on the designated canine trails.
The trails were pretty empty. Saw two other people ski by but otherwise all was calm.
The setting sun made the ski even more beautiful. I wanted to stay out there all day and just be at peace away from the hustle and bustle of town.
When I was skiing it still felt like I was on some sort of vacation. I had to remind myself that this is my new home. I guess it's ok to treat life like a vacation as long as you're taking care of your work and responsibilities, right? I guess that's the nice thing about starting over.. no clubs and activities to attend to, no leadership positions, no expectations, none of that. Just starting over with just the memories and lessons you took from them all along the way, with a blank paper trying it all again. :-)
Low today: -35
Today we escaped from an 8 day streak of low temperatures below -40. It was also the first day in 19 days of which our temperature went above zero. It's amazing how warm it feels after being cold for so long. I am really enjoying the snow that stays on the ground all the time and doesn't turn mushy brown. I went for a ski today to enjoy the warmer weather while Jana walked her dog Sawyer on the designated canine trails.
The trails were pretty empty. Saw two other people ski by but otherwise all was calm.
The setting sun made the ski even more beautiful. I wanted to stay out there all day and just be at peace away from the hustle and bustle of town.
When I was skiing it still felt like I was on some sort of vacation. I had to remind myself that this is my new home. I guess it's ok to treat life like a vacation as long as you're taking care of your work and responsibilities, right? I guess that's the nice thing about starting over.. no clubs and activities to attend to, no leadership positions, no expectations, none of that. Just starting over with just the memories and lessons you took from them all along the way, with a blank paper trying it all again. :-)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
One Month of Fairbanks Winter
High today: -16
Low today: -48
Today marks my one month mark living in Fairbanks. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, and sometimes I feel like I'm still in a mass confusion of settling in and meeting people. Today though, I was shopping and bumped into someone who I hung out with when I lived in Anchorage two summers ago. He remembered my name and completely stumped me, it was actually rather funny. He's now living up here, and through him I found out another guy I knew in Anchorage is moving up here in a few weeks. It's like the great mass exodus of the Anchorage summer '06 interns to Fairbanks! We have a couple more to work on, but I know one of my roommates from Anchorage who is still in pharmacy school has definitely plans of moving back to AK after school. What a funny little world... talking about the world, let's see a map of my recent blog readers. Thanks Al for viewing the blog from London!
Thanks blog readers!
Low today: -48
Today marks my one month mark living in Fairbanks. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, and sometimes I feel like I'm still in a mass confusion of settling in and meeting people. Today though, I was shopping and bumped into someone who I hung out with when I lived in Anchorage two summers ago. He remembered my name and completely stumped me, it was actually rather funny. He's now living up here, and through him I found out another guy I knew in Anchorage is moving up here in a few weeks. It's like the great mass exodus of the Anchorage summer '06 interns to Fairbanks! We have a couple more to work on, but I know one of my roommates from Anchorage who is still in pharmacy school has definitely plans of moving back to AK after school. What a funny little world... talking about the world, let's see a map of my recent blog readers. Thanks Al for viewing the blog from London!
Thanks blog readers!Saturday, February 9, 2008
Yukon Quest, Hobo Jim, and the northern lights
High today: -15
Low today: -44
This morning was the start of the Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile dog sled race that starts in Fairbanks and finishes at Whitehorse in the Yukon. Jim, Carla and I went down to check it out. It was a toasty 40-ish below..
Here is a picture of Lance Mackey starting - he is one of the few names I recognized. He won both the Iditarod AND the Yukon Quest one season (last year maybe?) and the two races were only 2 weeks apart from each other!
Jim and Carla were all bundled up.
This evening we went to see Hobo Jim at Ivory Jack's which was awesome. He was quite entertaining, but better than him playing was seeing the aurora, I mean REALLY seeing the aurora. Out from the city lights... here are my first semi-successful but not fantastic aurora pictures.
I tried to photoshop some pictures too, they kind of turned out cool but not realistic.. but it's good to see the pattern of the lights.
Low today: -44
This morning was the start of the Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile dog sled race that starts in Fairbanks and finishes at Whitehorse in the Yukon. Jim, Carla and I went down to check it out. It was a toasty 40-ish below..
Here is a picture of Lance Mackey starting - he is one of the few names I recognized. He won both the Iditarod AND the Yukon Quest one season (last year maybe?) and the two races were only 2 weeks apart from each other!
Jim and Carla were all bundled up.
This evening we went to see Hobo Jim at Ivory Jack's which was awesome. He was quite entertaining, but better than him playing was seeing the aurora, I mean REALLY seeing the aurora. Out from the city lights... here are my first semi-successful but not fantastic aurora pictures.
I tried to photoshop some pictures too, they kind of turned out cool but not realistic.. but it's good to see the pattern of the lights.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Some fresh 20 below air
High so far today: -24
Low so far today:-46
I got a new accessory for my bike for winter riding - some poagies! What are poagies you ask? Well, they are basically giant mittens that attach to your handlebars to keep the brake levers, gear shifters, and your hands protected from the cold and wind. And in Steelers colors.. all the better!
Rocky the Rockhopper and I went for a longer stroll today - I am gradually getting into this winter riding thing. Trying to work with the sunlight and my school/work schedule is the trouble, otherwise I'd go at 10pm.. Unfortunately my lightning system isn't up to par for night riding in the winter (yet.) I know from driving that the visual range of obstacles is a lot lot crummier in the winter because of icy windows, ice fog, exhaust of other cars, etc, so decent lights are a must.
I found a new route close to home to ride today which was completely car-less and the roads were in good, packed down shape. I ALMOST have the dressing system down -my feet got fairly numb even while wearing my winter boots, but other than that all was toasty. But it was a great great ride - gotta figure out that keeping the feet warm thing, and I'll be good to go. It would be great to have a riding buddy too, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. There has to be come sort of organized young cyclists/skiers/exciting people/etc that aren't pros but love to just be outside doing stuff but I can't seem to find them. Times like these I remember why Happy Valley has it's name.. and I sure do miss those reasons.
Low so far today:-46
I got a new accessory for my bike for winter riding - some poagies! What are poagies you ask? Well, they are basically giant mittens that attach to your handlebars to keep the brake levers, gear shifters, and your hands protected from the cold and wind. And in Steelers colors.. all the better!
Rocky the Rockhopper and I went for a longer stroll today - I am gradually getting into this winter riding thing. Trying to work with the sunlight and my school/work schedule is the trouble, otherwise I'd go at 10pm.. Unfortunately my lightning system isn't up to par for night riding in the winter (yet.) I know from driving that the visual range of obstacles is a lot lot crummier in the winter because of icy windows, ice fog, exhaust of other cars, etc, so decent lights are a must.
I found a new route close to home to ride today which was completely car-less and the roads were in good, packed down shape. I ALMOST have the dressing system down -my feet got fairly numb even while wearing my winter boots, but other than that all was toasty. But it was a great great ride - gotta figure out that keeping the feet warm thing, and I'll be good to go. It would be great to have a riding buddy too, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. There has to be come sort of organized young cyclists/skiers/exciting people/etc that aren't pros but love to just be outside doing stuff but I can't seem to find them. Times like these I remember why Happy Valley has it's name.. and I sure do miss those reasons.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Having too much fun at work
High today: -31
Low today: -47
Today I got to train on the forecasting desk with Kelly. First thing we did was launch boiling coffee into the -37 degree air back on the trail.
Then we saw a moose from the office. 
No big systems moving in - just a huge ridge of high pressure making it cold and foggy. You probably think of fog as crummy, but ice fog is pretty and makes cool optical phenomena. Sunrise this morning again was awesome. 
The time is starting to really fly by up here, before you know it the sun will be up 22 hours a day and the temperature will be 75 degrees. Hard to believe, hmm?
Low today: -47
Today I got to train on the forecasting desk with Kelly. First thing we did was launch boiling coffee into the -37 degree air back on the trail.
Then we saw a moose from the office. 
No big systems moving in - just a huge ridge of high pressure making it cold and foggy. You probably think of fog as crummy, but ice fog is pretty and makes cool optical phenomena. Sunrise this morning again was awesome. 
The time is starting to really fly by up here, before you know it the sun will be up 22 hours a day and the temperature will be 75 degrees. Hard to believe, hmm?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Great ball of fire!
High today: -29
Low this morning: -46
This morning it was cold. I mean, you look outside and there is a THICK layer of ice fog and you just KNOW it's cold. You wonder if your car will start.. and it does, unwilling, but does. The shifter barely moves, but it does. All it needs is to do, not necessarily do well, but just do. And it did. Did I just sound like Confucius? In any case, I thought about the old '89 Jetta this morning and wondered what it would have done. Probably just sat there and not try.. not even a wince.. maybe make some disgruntled noises. Kelly made an interesting observation about the temperature sensor on her car - hers shuts off and shows an error past 40 below. Mine shows nothing past ~25 below - just blank lines like my GPS showed on the 'sunrise/sunset' times when I was above the Arctic Circle last June. This morning was the first morning I found the thermometer at home to be at 40 below. We are always a little bit warmer than the airport because of the temperature inversion. 40 below is the temperature at which water absolutely cannot sustain liquid form - everything is ice crystals from there downward. I do wonder though, if you experience 65 below like the Taylor Hwy did this morning, does that make 40 below feel warm??
A 6000 degree C ball of fire rising above the 40 below air.
Low this morning: -46
This morning it was cold. I mean, you look outside and there is a THICK layer of ice fog and you just KNOW it's cold. You wonder if your car will start.. and it does, unwilling, but does. The shifter barely moves, but it does. All it needs is to do, not necessarily do well, but just do. And it did. Did I just sound like Confucius? In any case, I thought about the old '89 Jetta this morning and wondered what it would have done. Probably just sat there and not try.. not even a wince.. maybe make some disgruntled noises. Kelly made an interesting observation about the temperature sensor on her car - hers shuts off and shows an error past 40 below. Mine shows nothing past ~25 below - just blank lines like my GPS showed on the 'sunrise/sunset' times when I was above the Arctic Circle last June. This morning was the first morning I found the thermometer at home to be at 40 below. We are always a little bit warmer than the airport because of the temperature inversion. 40 below is the temperature at which water absolutely cannot sustain liquid form - everything is ice crystals from there downward. I do wonder though, if you experience 65 below like the Taylor Hwy did this morning, does that make 40 below feel warm??
Watching the sun come up this morning was uber cool with the ice fog.
A 6000 degree C ball of fire rising above the 40 below air.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Nice night for the aurora
Well, I finally got to see the aurora again! I am slightly bummed out because none of the pictures I attempted to take came out. I should have tried more options but was so tired and needed to get home. How cool though to just look up and have someone casually say, "hey, there's the aurora!" Thanks to Jim's notice call about the northern lights being out, I was able to get outside and see what I could see. It's funny though because you look up and for a second think it's a cloud, but then realize it's green and just speeding along on its own path. I look forward to seeing the aurora in full capacity someday.. there is just too much light and pollution from town to be able to get the full effect from anywhere I exist in Fairbanks. But I will say one thing, I think the aurora is something that will NEVER get old. Not if you're me, and still get excited for thunderstorm after thunderstorm. No - there's something about the mystery that makes you wonder how and why it's there, and then all of a sudden it's gone. Just like that.
Can't the weekend last forever?
High today: -8
Low today: -30
For lunch today I met up with Micole, a girl who I went to high school with for a year and is teaching up here after spending a semester student teaching. We found out that we were both in Fairbanks and wanted to get reacquainted. It was really cool talking to her and finding out about how she got "sucked up here" as I guess the story goes. You know, people saying "oh, you'll be back" that neither of us believed when told that upon leaving the first time. And here we are.. working in Fairbanks starting our post-undergrad lives! After lunch I decided to go on a little stroll on the two wheels to get some fresh air and test out my new biking shoes.
I biked up a road that I went up a ton of times this summer to get a view of the Chena running through town. After a certain part I couldn't go any farther because I was slipping all over the place in unpacked snow. The white stripe in the background is the frozen Chena.
Yessss I love my obnoxiously bright orange jacket - thanks Patty! The cars could all see me very well!
Just because it's so pretty laying on the snow...
After bowling we decided to hit up the pub ON CAMPUS. That is right, there is a pub on campus. How great is that??? We were having fun tossing M&Ms and goldfish into each others mouths.. ahh the cheap entertainment!
Dave decided to educate us on living in a dry cabin and going in the outhouse at 40 below. It was quite the conversation... I haven't laughed so hard since New Year's Eve playing Malarky at Patty and Reed's house...
Can't the weekend continue forever?
Low today: -30
For lunch today I met up with Micole, a girl who I went to high school with for a year and is teaching up here after spending a semester student teaching. We found out that we were both in Fairbanks and wanted to get reacquainted. It was really cool talking to her and finding out about how she got "sucked up here" as I guess the story goes. You know, people saying "oh, you'll be back" that neither of us believed when told that upon leaving the first time. And here we are.. working in Fairbanks starting our post-undergrad lives! After lunch I decided to go on a little stroll on the two wheels to get some fresh air and test out my new biking shoes.
I biked up a road that I went up a ton of times this summer to get a view of the Chena running through town. After a certain part I couldn't go any farther because I was slipping all over the place in unpacked snow. The white stripe in the background is the frozen Chena.
Yessss I love my obnoxiously bright orange jacket - thanks Patty! The cars could all see me very well!
Just because it's so pretty laying on the snow...It was a really good bike ride to really get to understand what parts of my body needed more/less coverage in the extreme cold. Funny thing is, the coldest thing besides my feet was my behind! Not sure what to do about that.. wear shorts underneath my ski pants??? Maybe that would work..
This evening, the atmos. science grad students and physics grad students had a "bowling competition", which was entertaining since none of us can bowl well. Michel shows us how to launch the bowling ball down the lane...
After bowling we decided to hit up the pub ON CAMPUS. That is right, there is a pub on campus. How great is that??? We were having fun tossing M&Ms and goldfish into each others mouths.. ahh the cheap entertainment!
Dave decided to educate us on living in a dry cabin and going in the outhouse at 40 below. It was quite the conversation... I haven't laughed so hard since New Year's Eve playing Malarky at Patty and Reed's house...
Can't the weekend continue forever?
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