8.19.2009

Jamie + Spray Paint + Blondie Poster

So after all that traveling, I finally got a few days at home. I finally got to decorate my bathroom and my bedroom the way I have wanted to for months now. Here is how it turned out:



I re-did the dresser, painted a bunch of $1.00 wooden frames in which I put my cross-country pictures in, I got some new towels and a new duvet cover. It feels a lot more homey now. Not bad for >$300 bucks and two days :)

Until next time, Savor the Flavor and Drink the Blue Kool-Aide.

The Great One

The third and final park in my tour-de-alaska was Denali National Park and Preserve. I was up there doing some business related to my job. It was a heavy work week; however, we kicked so much butt on Monday and Tuesday we got to go out all day on Wednesday on the park road. We made it all the way to Wonder Lake. We saw the big five - wolves, moose, dall sheep, caribou and bears. We also saw one crazy lynx trying to stalk a caribou. This is my second lynx in two weeks! They are really hard to spot.

Another miracles of miracles -- the mountain was clear and out all day long! This doesn't happen often. In fact, only an average of three days in August! We were very very fortunate. Thursday and Friday it rained and rained -- if we didn't take the mid-week break we would have missed it!

On Friday, we ventured to Talkeenta where the climbing is staged.

Over all it was a hard week, but very productive. I am extremely happy with the work that was done and our little adventure. If you would like to learn more about Denali National Park and Preserve click here:Tallest Peaks in North America and With Some Explain' the World!

Again, here are my uncut uncaptioned photo and work photos included for your added bonus!




Until Next time- Savor the Flavor and Drink the Blue Kool-Aide.

"Fly Me Away on an Aero-plane..."

I wanted to get my pictures of my trip to Wrangle-St.Elias up for y'all to see. I haven't edited the pictures or captioned them --- so you will see a bunch of blurry pictures and some work related pictures. No - I don't think trail counters and rutted roads are note worthy outside of my job ;)

The first day we went to Kennecott National Landmark to a scoping meeting. I am trying to learn more about contracting. We got to tour the mill building. It was awesome. To learn more about Kennecott click here: A 14 stories of Awesome!

The next day we went down the Nabesna Road to look out some future projects. Super neat.

The final day we went up in a itty bitty plane. We had some weather issues, so at one point we had to work as a "team" to find the landing strip! We went to May Creek and back to Kennecott. We had a lot more on our agenda, but the weather plus a forest fire made the skies not such a friendly place.

If you would like to learn more about Wrangle-St.Elias National Park and Preserve click here: The park is as big as Switzerland!





Until next time- Savor the Flavor and Drink the Blue Kool-Aide.

8.03.2009

Bugs, Lynx and Bears! OH MY!

So I did not update my blog as promised because I had a better thing to update the blog about, but had to wait a few days -- KATMAI NATIONAL PARK. The slide show below really tells the story. Hope everyone is well. I will be going to Wrangle St. Elias tomorrow and Denali next week so I should have a bunch more pictures to share.

Love you all.

Savior the Flavor and Drink the Blue Kool-Aide.

7.07.2009

Hey There Long Time!

Hi there. I know I haven't update this blog in a loooooooong time! I have been mostly updating my facebook page and I just started twittering. These two mediums seem to compliment my short attention span.

Dadd -- Aunt Peggy, Aunt GG, Aunt Kim, Ms. Buckley, Leslie, and Betty ALL have facebook pages. I can set one up for you if you want :o)

Michele- You can facebook too :)

Also, if you are into twittering my name is JamieInTheAK.

For those completely against technology, I will post a summary blog this weekend with pictures and stories from the past 5 months.

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about Drink the Blue Kool-Aide, but once the sun starts shinning and the weather warms up in the AK it's hard to sit down and write a blog.

Love you all!
-Jamie.

2.18.2009

Where in the World is Jamie San Digeo?

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina, She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize, She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry Uncle, From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues, Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe, Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back! Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia, Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pick-pocket Perth, She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Oh tell me where in the world is... Oh tell me where can she be? Ooh, Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam, Mali to Bali, Ohio, Oahu...! Well she glides around the globe and she'll flimflam every nation, She's a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery, Her itinerary's loaded up with moving violations, Tell me where in the world is Jamie Sandiego?


So for the past four weeks I have been traveling around the United States. It was a mix of business and personal travel. My first stop was Washington, DC. I spent the weekend with my friend Gina. We went to Georgia Brown's for dinner (yummy) with Hope, Amy, Eric and Matt. Then we traveled to my favorite bar in DC -- Kelly's Irish Times. I didn't know it but my old kickball crew was there! It was like being at Cheers -- everyone new my name! The weekend was so cool and hanging out with Gina was super cool.

I then went to work for a few days in my old office helping train the cool girl that took my place. It was neat to see everyone again. It kind of felt like I cam home from college. It was awesome. I really miss my old co-workers. They watched me grow up kinda like my family. I owe all my professional success to those back at PFMD.

Unfortunately, the evening that I had planned to visit with my family, it snowed! It hadn't really snowed in DC this winter, so though I felt confident driving in the snow -- I wasn't so confident about the rest of the DC area. I did get to have lunch with my dad which was great. I really miss my family.

Then from there I was on Operations Kate Marries Mario! First event was Kate and Mario's Jack and Jill party. The wedding party went to Lucky Strike to bowl. It was really a lot of fun! Then it was on! I spent a lot of time with Kate and her sister Margaret getting last minute preparations done. Margaret and I made a lean mean getting our girl married machine. Our motto for the week was "We got this shit" and you know what -- we totally did! The wedding ceremony was beautiful - I cried. The rehearsal was beautiful -- I cried. When I had to leave my family and friends in DC -- I cried once more. In the slide show there are some pictures. The wedding truly rocked!

From Washington, DC I flew FIRST CLASSY (upgraded myself so I could get some sleep) to Palm Springs, CA and then drove to Joshua Tree National Park. I was there to shadow the Pacific West Regional Fee Manager. She holds the same job I do here in Alaska. It was a great learning experience! I met some great gals from Yosemite and Lake Mead. And of course everyone at Joshua Tree was really amazing. It was neat to be in the desert in the middle of the winter. When the temp dropped to 65 everyone in the park was chilly -- I WAS IN HEAVEN. I would stand outside in the sunshine and just absorb the rays and make vitamin D.

From Joshua Tree, CA I flew in to Denver, CO for a two day meeting. I flew in on Friday so I got to spend the weekend with some friends I have in Denver. Marissa and Jimmy have lived in Denver for a while, but my friend Val had just moved to Denver that weekend so I got to see her as well. It was fun to hang out, go out to eat and just basically chill. I even went to a MMA (boxing type thing) fight. It was neat. As for work, I learned SO MUCH from the Fee Managers in Denver. It really was an invaluable experience.

While in Denver, I got a call from home letting me know my Granny had passed away. It was heartbreaking. I know that she is in a better place, but I know I will miss her every day for the rest of my life. I was very lucky to be surrounded by good friends and close to Jackson, TN so I could fly and join my family.

Though we gathered for a very sad occasion, it was very cool to reconnect with my cousins and extended family. My cousins are old enough now to talk too. I am very excited to be able to count them among my friends.

Martha Evelyn Cupples

September 29, 1931 - February 8, 2009





After my family obligations were done and my parents started the long drive back to West Virgina. My best friend Amanda who lives in Memphis came and picked me up from Jackson -- she also picked me up at the airport days before and drove 80 miles to drop me off in Jackson. True friendship is very hard to find.

Anyway, Amanda and I got to spend the weekend together hanging out and catching up. It was great to see her. I am forever grateful to her and RJ for putting me up for the weekend on such short notice.

From Memphis, I had to fly back to Denver to pick up my government ticket. But because I wasn't on government travel anymore...I was homeless as I had to wait to fly to Anchorage overnight. However, again true friendship is hard to find. My friends Jimmy and Marissa came and picked me up from the airport...brought me to what could be the best burger joint in Denver...and allowed me to crash at there place. There place is studio apartment, so this was a BIG deal. Jimmy and Marissa rock. I am again forever grateful to them for being there for me when I needed.

I finally flew back to Alaska. On the plane from Seattle to Anchorage, I sat next to another NPS employee. We chatted which made the whole trip go faster. Once I landed in Anchorage and got my stuff up the stairs!!! (Elevator was out of order), I realized...ohhhh no. I am getting sick. AND BOY DID I GET SICK! SO last week was mainly sleeping and sneezing and coughing. Today is the first day I have felt 100% and I still have a sinus infection! Yeah...I was pretty bad sick. SO sorry about the delay in the blogging...but I could hardly get my eyes open let alone sit in front of the computer when I wasn't getting paid. haha.

Check out the pictures from my little adventure! My next entry will be about FUR RONDY!

YAY!





Until then....Savor the flavor and Drink the Blue Kool-Aide

1.16.2009

FREEZE!

Here are some better pictures of the FREEZE installation. It's a link to an ADN artical, but if you look to the right there is the link to the slide show.

FREEZE!