alright, i'm over it. i'm shutting this puppy down. so long and thanks to flight of the condors for reading my mind and making this song:

Aww yeah That’s right baby. Girl, tonight we’re gonna make love.
You know how I know, baby? ‘Cause it’s Wednesday.
And Wednesday night is the night that we make love.
Tuesday night’s the night that we go and visit your mother, but Wednesday night is the night that we make love.
‘Cause everything is just right conditions are perfect.
There’s nothing good on TV. Conditions are perfect.
You lean in close and say something sexy like, “I might go to bed I’ve got work in the morning.” I know what you’re trying to say baby. You’re trying to say, “Oh, yeah. It’s business time. It’s business time.”

It’s business. It’s business time. That’s what you’re trying to say you’re trying to say let’s get down to business it’s business time. It’s business. It’s business time.

Next thing you know we’re in the bathroom brushing our teeth. That’s all part of it, that’s foreplay. Then you go sort out the recycling. That’s not part of it but it’s still very important. Then we’re in the bedroom. You’re wearing that ugly old baggy t-shirt from that team building exercise you did for your old work. And it’s never looked better on you.

Oh, team building exercise ’99. Oh, you don’t know what you’re doing to me. I remove my jeans but trip over them ‘cause I still got my shoes on. But I turn it into a sexy dance. Next thing you know I’m down to just my socks and you know when I’m down to just my socks what time it is…it’s time for business.

It’s business time. It’s business. It’s business time. You know when I’m down to just my socks it’s time for business that’s why they call it business socks. It’s business. It’s business time.

Oh. Ooh, makin’ love. Makin’ love for two. Makin’ love for two minutes. When it’s with me you only need two minutes, ‘cause I’m so intense. Two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven. You say something like, “Is that it?” I know what you’re trying to say. You’re trying to say, “Aww yeah, that’s it.” Then you tell me you want some more. Well I’m not surprised. But I’m quite sleepy.

It’s business. It’s business time. Business hours are over. Right, right. It’s business. It’s business time.

in the long run, men hit only what they aim at

making bullets:
new weapons:

target:

one step closer to being a revolutionary. nows all i need is a purpose.

time well spent

good quotes from friday:

"it's always a good day when you go home with one more hot dog than you left with."

"i figured it must be a good book if magneto recommended it."

"i've always wanted to be a hit in prison."

better quotes from the simpsons movie:

"Of course I've gone mad with power! Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring, and no one listens to you!"

"I was elected to *lead*, not to *read*."

"Oh, why does everything I whip leave me?"

"No, I love Alaska, I'm never going back to America!"

reason #723410498 homeland security blows

apparently even homeland security employees are frustrated with the process because during my fingerprinting appointment, all the guy did was complain to me about his job, the inane procedures they have and the fancy but fickle fingerprinting machine. also, i found out i COULD HAVE DONE THIS IN JUNEAU TODAY after all. they travel to other cities around the state on certain times, and it's up to some person in DC to schedule alaskans for local/near local appointments and then another person in nebraska to notify us, so any one in that process could have dropped the ball. the fingerprint clerk said a mistake happens every period, be it mass notification of the wrong date, location, time, or combo of above.

now i'm at a downtown coffee place called kaladi brothers. no matter how many times i've left juneau these past 2 years, i still forget how different the atmosphere is there until i leave. there are ups and downs to juneau. instead of a smart alternative paper, we get club hooligan. (i recently filled out an online survey, in which the empire asked opinions about this relatively new supplement, and i pretty much said it was banal at best, terribly written and pointless at worst.) and even though this coffeeshop is pretty cool with its funky world music and subculture beats playing and walls adorned with minimalist local art, i prefer silverbow's back room with its wobbly tables. shrine to elvis, and more private feel. but the differences are in more than just choice of cafes or publications. it's in the pace, the urban planning, the types of facades - purposeful or accidental.

sometimes i get taken aback when i think of reacclimating to "the real world" when i move for grad school. i think when i first moved to alaska, i viewed it as a physical and mental removal from my normal life - not as a natural progression of life events - and i don't think i've ever shed that attitude. i don't know why i saw it that way when it does align with my constant pursuits for travel, adventure, and philanthropy, but this sabbatical mentality has me a bit scared to move out of juneau. for my perceptions to return to 'real' life: the ivory tower studies removed from direct nonprofit social work, the career far removed from anything to do with children, a city of strangers much bigger than 30,000. who ever wants to leave vacation? the 15-year-old me would never have thought i could wrap a small town around myself like a favorite sweater.

blowland security

i hate the department of homeland security. it seems like an overly beaurocratic inefficiency party to waste a lot of money. the echelon project and patriot act spy systems probably just beeped somewhere for my statements, but beep all you want incompetent fuckers. the reason for my vitriol was caused by a letter i received on monday from the INS telling me to report to their fingerprinting service location on friday at 2pm. IN ANCHORAGE. so, in addition to the $400 application fee i already paid, now i have to put out another 5 g's to fly out of the STATE CAPITAL, which for some reason has no INS-approved fingerprint service, for some clerk to take my fingerprints in 5 minutes. when i called the customer service line, they said my only recourse was to reschedule. it'd still be anchorage, and my application's pushed back 3-4 months. great.

so here i am in anchorage saluting red tape like a good little hopeful US citizen. what a load of crap. but apparently some taxpayers stuck it back to the government and scammed the Department of Defense out of over 20 million. it's kinda funny and infuriating at the same time.

think you like burgers?

i was thinking of making burgers tonight and found this article on the world's biggest burger. holy moly.

something to brag about

two years ago, when i was a fresh-faced VISTA newly appointed to juneau, my agency had me and a couple coworkers discuss our school program on a regional talk show called "capital chat". then, i was a nervous novice, and my only contribution may have been saying that the cold weather didn't bother me as much as the low-hanging clouds did. i don't even know if i meant it so much as i read it somewhere and regurgitated the opinion because if you ask me that now, i'd say yeah, it all bugs me. the cold, the clouds, the rain, the outrageous price gouging and alaska airline's exploitation of our lack of roads. this year, i presented again as a seasoned veteran with my supervisor, and we were lobbing heartfelt stories, impressive statistics and impassioned pitches with the ease of a guy on steroids whacking a whiffle ball. our CEO told me i made him tear up. now that's the kind of tear shedding i can be proud about, rather than my usual ways of making people cry.

our discussion was aided by the new release of a national study on our school based program. matched students, in comparison with non-matched youth, showed significant improvements in certain academic areas such as science, oral and written language; school efficacy; and classroom behavior. with this research backing, we can confidently say for just a little time, you make a big difference. and the fun part is that these improvements occurred not from being specifically tutored but by focusing on social interactions. you don't have to be a math expert or a literary genius to help a kid; you just have to be a friend.

okay, this post looks like an advertisement, but i am really proud of the agency's work. i don't think i could ever have a job just for a paycheck.

this weekend in pictures

this is the simpsonized version of me

outer point was the scene of a quick, yet lethal, mid-air fight between this heron and a bald eagle

3 hours attempting to fish in 25 knot winds, the only things i acquired were this rockfish & some slight nausea

this is how the upstairs communicates with us because we are creatively lazy

money might not grow on trees

but it readily flows from plastic. my credit card is seing some serious action lately, and it's freaking me out just a bit considering i've spent the last 2 years paying it down to zero. some people pour money into their cars, houses, wardrobe, pets or, for the more lucky and - arguably - mature, their savings. travel and food are the only reasons for my financial exorbitance. fix my busted e-brake? nah. a 3 week trip to bonaire, an island in the netherlands antilles, during high season? yes please. frozen chickens in an economy size bag that'll feed you for a month? yuck. but i'll add that $15 square of handmade, limited-edition blue cheese macerated in pear brandy to my overladen grocery basket.

this dive paradise vacation is actually surprisingly reasonable. a 1st class, roundtrip plane ticket was less than $200 because i used miles. i got this exceed empress 3/2mm jumpsuit for less than $120 after shipping, and no-frills boots oughta be less than $30. between p and his dad, i can borrow the rest of the scuba gear. p's bringing their underwater video camera, and i'm also gonna get housing for my digicam - $192 being the cheapest available for shipping to AK. sure it adds up, but considering that a coach flight from juneau to seattle alone costs about $500, that tally ain't so bad.

our big ticket items were accomodations and a truck rental. we booked at a budget place called happy holiday homes, which has spacious, clean bungalows and consistently great reviews. it's a small, family-run business that caters to divers, just a block inland in a tranquil neighborhood. unlimited shore diving tacks on another $110/week. we will just have to dive our brains out. p wants to do 70 because he's nuts, but i'd be happy with 35-45.