Ketchikan

When I got off the airplane at Ketchikan Internationl Airport in Monday night, I walked out of the terminal to this sunset, on a rare and "sunny" evening. It was pretty amazing, but the locals told me that it was rare, and I was lucky to not have been greeted by wind and driving rain. Oh, well. I'll take what I can get. So far I've been here three days (including Monday), and only yesterday was rainy.

I snapped this picture yesterday morning. This is the road that runs by where I work now. I work up the hill to the left at that intersection. The forest all around here is thick, a rainforest so to speak, with moss and ferns and all sorts of dark and dripping things. The amount of the color green is so incredible. I remember thinking that in Georgia, but this is much, much thicker

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This ship is one of the big cargo ferries that travels the Alaska Marine Highway System. This view is looking out from by where I work, across the Tongass Narrows with Gravina Island in the background, where the airport is. I took a ferry from the airport to town. That's the way it's done up here. It would have changed had the "Bridge to Nowhere" been built, but that got shot down as "Pork And Barrel" spending in congress.

At any rate, so far, it's great. More pictures and stuff to come.

Morning in Alaska

I took this picture this morning looking southeast at the greater Ketchikan. It was a gorgeous sunrise, even if there wasn't really any sun. The days are a little longer here, but I haven't adapted from Colorado time either, so to me, bedtime is around 8 or 9, and I'm wide awake before 5. I'm sure I'll adapt.

As soon as I get some internet figured out, I'll post a longer entry with more and better pictures, but for now, I'll try to stay on the mobile witchcraft here.

Sea-Tac's Main Terminal

This place was huge! The windows curved as if nature was pushing inwards on this large space! This is the main terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Aiport. Not quite as big or unique as Denver's Jeppeson Terminal, but the windows were enough to get my attention and share them.

Inside a Lonely Corner of Sea-Tac

Airports are airports. I've always loved them for being the hubs of people's best and worst emotions. Today, however, everyone just looks tired, and I'm bored. I wish I had enough foresight and money to find a friend to explore Seattle with. No matter, I will sit here and enjoy my quiet time. Four and a half hours to Ketchikan.

Down Time at Sea-Tac

I landed in Seattle with the daunting mission of killing almost 10 hours in the airport, but fortune smiled upon me and gave me free Wi-Fi in the airport terminal. The result, with a little searching for an electrical outlet, a quick stop at the Burger King, and a few winks of sleep on the floor, is a blogging and picture-downloading extravaganza!

Since I have plenty of time, I have to recap the awesome force of friends and family. I've somehow managed to find all sorts of wonderful, smart, funny, and supportive people in my life, people that, when I tell them I'm moving over two thousand miles away, they still manage to tell me that if I don't do it, they'll kill me. I'm a selfish friend, and many of my friends have hints of this, too. I always thought that if I had a good friend who was moving away for good, that they'd either have to stay or I'd go with them to whatever place they were going. It's interesting to see what it's like when the other foot drops and I'm the one leaving all my friends behind. Who knows if this will be permanent or temporary. It's exciting, and it's about time I created something for myself to write about.

I loaded all of the pictures I've taken onto my laptop, but unfortunately, either the WiFi here at Sea-Tac or the wireless card on my computer, one of the two is failing me at the moment. Maybe they're conspiring. At any rate, I'll have to keep in touch later with pictures of the journey. In the meantime, I'll be running one-offs from my phone. Thanks a bunch!

Denver International Airport

Today, I'm leaving Denver for Alaska, and it's a big deal for me. I'm trekking into the unknown, and because of that, I'll be blogging more and more often. It'll be my only real connection to the familiar. I leave for Seattle here in half an hour or so, and then, onward to Ketchikan. The reality hasn't coompletely sunk in yet, but I'm going to guess that my perception of life in general is so surreal already that this whole experience is just another logical step, just another bend in the river of my life.

Awesome Tunes in Fort Collins

Tonight, I took a break from Day 2 of StarFest to come up to Fort Collins and spend an evening with my good friend Joe, my college roommate, nerd-equal, fellow Trekkie, biggest-hearted guy I know.... anyway, I'm sitting with his lovely wife, Bonnie, and watching him assault his drumset. They've played Weezer and Radiohead so far, and I haven't been disappointed. They're a good band, and it reinforces the idea that a little time away from the grind for some good music and a cold beer makes all the difference when you're stressed or tired or hurt.

Geek- er... StarFest 2010: Day 1

Today I got off work and met up with my buddy Bob before cruising down to the annual Denver sci-fi convention. I snapped this quick shot of "Ecto 1A", a souped up Dodge Magnum. Pretty sweet.

New Life

So many things plant themselves on the horizon of our journeys through life. We find ourselves contently travelling, blissfully unaware of the new, scary, and exciting prospects hidden in plain view just around the corner. Then, in the blink of an eye, life takes away the canyon wall or lifts the fog or let's us crest the hill, unveiling the new adventures and letting us determine the best way to undertake them.

In the past two months, I've been friends with people who have had a total of four babies, lost a grandmother, lost a job, quit a job, lost a friend, and all the while, I've been blessed with those same friends in my life, enriching me and standing by me as the demons and hardships of the past rise up to greet the opportunities of the future.

I've heard a quote that, at some point, life stops giving us things and starts taking them away. Yet, as recent events unfold and continue to do so, I think it's more accurate to say that life continually gives and takes.

Malcolm, one of the four babies, represents to me that give and take. On the one side, he's a symbol for youthful and innocent hope and aspiration, the determination to fight and live and pursue all of the good things in life. On the other hand, he triggers memories of the things I've lost in life, the dreams that I had lumped into parts of my life that suddenly and inexpicably vanished and left me with no choice but to honor that there is a bigger world than any of us can fathom.

Every day we're given opportunities for a new life. We must choose to make the best of these opportunities, for the window of change can close well before we know it was open, and all we're left with is a view of what could have been.

Clouds and Medicine

I'm at Rose Medical Center, what's becomming my home away from home and work. My friend Lyss's baby Malcolm is here still, and will be for weeks as they maintain his prematurity until he's big enough and strong enough to be like other babies. It's a funny thing, the life of a tiny infant. I wish I was so lucky in lots of ways: sleep and eat and get someone to clean me up daily... on second thought, that's no life.

Day One at work without Bob. It was interesting. Already, a co-worker remembers getting stoned with the new Production Manager, a guy who has "37 years in set-letter printing" yet managed to ask me what we used vehicle laminate for. (Vehicles.) Apparently the owner of the commpany knows this guy from a bar they both frequent.

I need an adventure. The fact that I look to these miniature outings, like going to the hospital, the grocery store, the video store, the movies, etc., it definitely aids the idea that I don't get out enough.  Oh well. Time to see the little guy. I suppose this is one of the greatest adventures anyone could be a part of, that of a new life. In the past two months, I've been luck enough to see four new babies. Plus, yesterday I found out my friend Kim in Oregon had hers, too.  Apparently, there was a lot of fertile people in 2009.

Rapids on The Great River

Yesterday, I found out that my boss, mentor, and friend Bob was "let go" from our job. While I'm convinced that he will fight and come out on top, I'm disgusted and shocked at the circumstances behind his departure. The owners of the company had gone behind his back, interviewed and hired a replacement, and didn't tell him until yesterday, the day after we had stayed late at work to get a big job done for a potential big stream of steady work. They lied, they used, and they asserted their "power" based on a disagreement where they were actually proved to be in the wrong.

In the meantime, I got up this morning with ideas of climbing in my head, but the lack of partners led me to start fishing for applications in other career paths. It also led me to make a journey to the hospital to see Lyss's baby boy Malcolm Reynold. He's growing immensely, passing the three pound mark. He's starting to make little noises, smiles, and sad faces. I'm thankful for the opportunities I get to see him, as they're more than just innocent: they help me to remember the time I had with my own son, Tiberius, who was born and spent the first part of his own life under very similar experiences.

The Great River of Life is an interesting place. It starts off as a tiny mountain stream and ends in the Great Ocean of Heaven. Our own rivers are unique to us alone. Some are long and some are short. Some are tranquil and some are treacherous. Some are designed to feed crops and others are designed to carve immense natural cathedrals through the wilderness. The more I have these huge experiences in my life, the more I realize that I need to accept whatever direction my own river is pointing me. Swimming against the current is pointless and will kill me far too early. I'm learning to embrace change, to see awkward situations as opportunities to grow. I'm riding this river to it's conclusion, and, with any luck, I'll make it to the sea.

Indiana Jones

Tonight I watched the last two Indiana Jones movies. The first of the two, The Last Crusade, really impacted me as a kid. I remember having my parents buy me little notebooks that I could pretend were my own "grail diaries". I'd wear khaki pants and hiking books. My house had bricks outside the side door, and I would walk, carefully, from brick to brick, imagining that I was spelling the word "Jehovah" (even though we all know that, in Latin, "Jehovah" is spelled with an "I"). I would have loved to have travelled the world in search of ancient artifacts and adventure. However, I think I missed my calling.

I love writing. I love finding moving stories and having inspirational experiences and sharing them with people.  When I'm not writing about movies and burgers, I seem to create things that impress even myself.

Maybe I missed my calling in that I'm supposed to be a starving artist of sorts, going from place to place, looking for work and adventure and things to write about. Maybe I'm even supposed to get a job writing. I watched a movie the other night (I forget which movie), and one of the characters made a reference to the River of Destiny. The reference was that we're supposed to embrace what we are destined to be, or else we find ourselves swimming against the current, wasting all of our energy on fruitless endeavors.

With all of the upheaval at work on Friday afternoon and the cloud that will be hanging over things tomorrow, maybe it's my sign that I have been fighting the current long enough. Maybe it's time to go and actually do the things I've wanted to do, to live in a BattleWagon and actually travel to new and exciting places.  I can't resist the current.