luddite

I finally got my tv's conversion box set up and so far I'm not pleased. Sure, the picture is great, but now when there is bad reception I get that annoying pixilation and the audio stutters. I was perfectly fine watching a slightly fuzzy picture with unbroken audio. And now I can't find NBC! I barely even watch tv, but when I do NBC is a staple. Big. Fat. Ugh.

Gus the firefly

Tonight I saw a whole slew of fireflies in the bushes beside the road while driving home from Charlottesville at twilight. It was pretty neat.

I went to Wisconsin and didn't eat any cheese.

It's true. I spent all of last week (Monday through Saturday) in Madison, Wisconsin, and I didn't have Wisconsin cheese. I did have some beer and a brat though.

I was there for a historical editing "camp" (no camping was involved, however). I learned some stuff, but the best part was meeting other people who do what I do. It was also exciting to meet a couple fellow historians of the westward trails, and I knew I had found my people when we spent a lunch break visiting the grave of the historian Frederick Jackson Turner, famous for his "frontier thesis." Overall it was a fun week of history nerdom.

Flag Day

Today, June 14, is Flag Day. It's also my Dad's birthday. He is pretty excited his birthday is always on Flag Day, and he always wears a flag shirt to commemorate. My Dad has always told me that Flag Day was started in 1949 by President Truman, which is extra exciting for Dad because that's the year he was born (hello 60!). However, I heard a story on the radio on Friday that said Woodrow Wilson started Flag Day in 1916. I immediately picked up the phone to confront my father on this huge discrepancy in the story he has told me my whole life.

Turns out he and the radio were both right. Whew.

You can learn more here, but the gist is that the design for our national flag was approved by the Continental Congress on 14 June 1777, Woodrow Wilson established a national Flag Day in 1916, and the day was actually signed into law in 1949.

Happy Flag Day, and Happy Birthday Dad!

We love us some TJ.

Maybe it's lame, but here are two pictures with the same statue.

My brother Ryan is in town for a couple days, and today we went to Monticello. I haven't been there since I was in the sixth grade, and he went in the fifth grade. So it was about time.

Alaska

I'm back from Alaska folks, and it was great. Allison and Sam got married, and I saw musk ox. Here's how it went down:

Wednesday I woke up before dawn to embark on over seventeen hours of travel, including a 6.75 hour flight in the middle seat of the second to last row in the plane next to a man who coughed and wheezed the whole time. The toils of travel were soon forgotten, however, when the man driving me from the Anchorage airport to my hotel said "Want to see some moose?" And sure enough, right there next to the road on our way into town we saw two teenage moose, and another one farther up the road. Unfortunately I was too embarrassed to get my camera out, so you will just have to believe me on this one.

I checked into the hotel at 10 pm (it was still light out!) and went to bed. Then Josefina came in a couple hours later, and I woke up to talk to her. She and Allison and I went to UPS together and were in a Bible study all through college. We finally called it a night at 1:30 am.

Thursday Allison picked Jo and me up and took us to her house, where a bunch of us set out for Girdwood. The drive there was beautiful, with towering snowy peaks and a big lake. We ate sourdough pancakes at a bake shop, then we went for a "leisurely" hike.



The best part was the hand tram that you have to take to get across a gorge, with a rope to pulley yourself across in a little cage.



Don't look down!



After the hike we returned to Allison's house to hang out and relax for the afternoon. We also played a fun game of Pictionary with her family. For dinner we joined her billions of cousins at Snow Goose. I think after that we just went to bed.

Friday I woke up early, so I walked downtown to a coffee shop, where I had a latte and scone while working a crossword puzzle. Mid-morning Josefina and I went back to Allison's house, where Jo practiced the flute with the pianist for the wedding and I helped wrap chocolate for table favors. The wedding rehearsal was at noon. I was a reader for the wedding, and everyone yelled at me at the rehearsal and told me to go slower. I tried.

The rehearsal dinner (or lunch) was at the Moose's Tooth, a great pizza place and pub. After stuffing ourselves on cheezy bread sticks, pizza, and cake, it was time for a nap. So Josefina and I went back to the hotel. At 6 pm we walked downtown to watch Allison and her sister run a 12k. (Did you catch that? The night before her wedding she ran a 12k. She also went for a hike the next morning before hair and makeup!) We watched them take off, and then we joined some other UPSers (fellow alumni and friends of Allison's) for drinks. We saw Al again after the race, and when she went home for bed the rest of us went out to eat at Orso. I had a beet salad and halibut, and it was seriously delicious. The meal finally ended after 10pm (still light out!), so we went home to bed.

Saturday The big day. Josefina and I walked downtown for a great breakfast at Snow City Cafe, then went to Allison's house for a ladies'-brunch-slash-get-ready-for-the-wedding. Once everyone was ready (Allison looked amazing!) we joined the guys for pictures at a park. The morning had looked pretty dreary but by the afternoon the sky was blue, so it was perfect. After pictures we went to the church. The wedding was very nice. Her grandfather was the pastor. Josefina played the flute beautifully, and I didn't read too fast. Allison and Sam looked great, and it was a really happy moment for everyone!



The reception was at an art museum downtown. There was eating and dancing and an overall great time. After it was all over at 11 pm (it was still light out!), some of us went downtown for more fun. That midnight sun really messes with you.



Sunday Sunday it was my mission to see a musk ox. So I made it happen. Josefina and I checked out of the hotel and went to the airport to rent a car. We were then joined by the UPS group from before and headed north of Anchorage. We stopped at the Thunderbird Falls to take a short hike. Unfortunately there were more mosquitoes there than I have ever seen in my life, and we spent the entire time swatting at them. Seriously guys, there were a ton of mosquitoes. After that we kept driving until we reached the Musk Ox Farm. It's a little non-profit co-op that is trying to domesticate the musk ox so they can harvest it's wool, which they then send out to remote Alaskan villages for women to knit into fancy scarves and hats that cost a boatload of money.



We even got to feed "treats" to the animals. They were super cute.



After the Musk Ox Farm we stopped for lunch, where I ate a BLT but sampled someone else's reindeer sausage. We then drove back to Anchorage and I dropped Josefina off at the airport.

At this point I was on my own but still had my rental car, so I went downtown to visit the weekend market. I wandered around the booths of crafts and food, and bought myself a pair of earrings. Then I decided to look for a moose.

Since I still had time to kill before my flight, and since I hadn't gotten pictures of the moose I saw on my first night, I headed to Kincaid Park, which has the largest moose population in Anchorage. There were lots of trails and stuff, and I didn't really know where I was going, but it was fun anyway. And sure enough! I saw two moose cross the path in front of me. And I got pictures. (But I didn't get the two in one shot, because when I thought I was doing that it turns out I was taking a video with my camera. Oops.)



After the moose I walked on a little farther, and then turned back and headed to the car and to the airport.

pause button

Sorry I've been such a slacker on the blogging front lately. I head off to Alaska in the morning, so I imagine you will get a post when I return.