Lacking Luster

Such is this blog. This is why things like facebook and other social media are not for me. I have the hardest time keeping up with this. Email is about the best that I do.

You know it's cold when... Your car shakes horrible when trying to idle, even though you just drove it for an hour. Or when a car passing you creates a fog that cannot be penetrated by sight. But Chena at less than 40below is awesome. It feels so good. And then you sleep for 10hrs, only to wake up and do yoga.

"Yoga??!!?!?," you say. It was a P90X workout that I never did. It was hard. For the first 45 minutes, you're in positions that stretch you body beyond belief, holding it, and dripping sweat. Then we got into "balance poses" and you think, "what the h*&% was I just doing?!?" Those were more like, just hold a not so awkward position for longer.

I got some great face time the other day with the UAF and UAA advisory boards. It was an unspoken duty of a position that I hold, and as a result, I've been asked to help muster student support for a new engineering building. Sort of single handedly. I keep asking myself over and over, how do you sell something to someone who just doesn't care. Its not easy.

And as a cherry on top, mark "Moving at -40 below" off my list of things to do. That was this weekends activity.

New Hobby

I've found a few new absolutely time consuming things to do: chess and reading.

Both I sort of stumbled upon and didn't intend to make anything of them, but I decided that I would be a man of action and make good on all of the book recommendations that I get and play as many chess games as I can.

Chess is frustrating me right now. I've lost now three games that, egotistically, I should've won. People overestimated my ability, and pride cometh before a fall... Three of them.
Two of them, I have a vague idea of where I went wrong. The third, I swear I know where I went wrong, but I wonder if it would've made a difference.
However! It is very enjoyable to text chess moves, so if you're ever interested in a chess game, send me the opening move.

As far as books go, I'm reading "How the Mind Works" and right now, it's in a section about emotions and is quite dull. To me.
Also being read: How to Win Friends and Influence People. Read it. Or go look for it. Mainly because of the strange feeling of being in the self improvement section.
I am reading this because it is on the artofmanliness and looked good. Honestly, who doesn't want to read a book giving them more manipulative power to bend people to their will?
The book, though, is filled with what should be seen as common sense that no one knows, or at least follows. Chapter 1: don't criticize. How simple is that? Don't tell someone that they're wrong, just give them a suggestion and the option to change. And don't weight your suggestion. People can see through condescension and that opens a new can of worms.
And, "a great man shows his greatness by how he treats little men."
Chapter 2: truly appreciate people. Flattery is opaque, and we're back to condescension.
Interesting read; I recommend it.

On a lighter note, you can judge the character of a man by his... Underwear!
Briefs: the man loves his security, isn't much of a risk taker.
Boxers: for those who are adventurous and will just jump off of a cliff of risk.
Boxer Briefs: for those who are highly athletic. If you are not, get off the fence.

There are my thoughts for the weekend.

Welcome Back

Nothing says "welcome back!" quite like a flooded apartment.

Apparently pipe broke upstairs in the wall nearest my bed. Most of the apartment floor was soaked and they tore up the carpet. On top of that, the kitchen circuit went out, so everything in the fridge was bad.

I had fish in the freezer. The strange thing is that it's not in the freezer. I'm not sure what happened to it.

Well, hello. I gave practically no warning that Christmas vacation meant not blogging. Somehow, I just didn't find time.

Tying in to the last post, I said something was wrong on Tuesday the 20th. I'm not sure when it started snowing, and I am equally unsure of whether or not it truly stopped. The piles around the yard are now quite deep and as high as the tractor bucket. There's a lack of places to put the snow.

The wind was pretty strong at times and created this:

Notice the trails that those snow balls made behind the larger ones.

There were clear skies a few days, and I got to listen to people whine about 5 to 10 below.

Just one more way that Fairbanks says, "welcome back!" The sign read 40 below at 5pm and 41 below at 6pm yesterday. I read this morning that it was 45 below in Nenana. When I drove through Anderson, the heat was being sucked from my car. It was blowing hot air out of the vents, but the interior temperature was falling. I don't want to know how cold it was there.

While I was in Anchorage, I completed a few applications, and worked a little. Well, maybe not a little. I think I worked more than I did in October, November, and December combined.

Only now am I getting a relaxing break. (That's only because its too cold to go outside and do anything)

Stay tuned for how the last semester comes and goes...

View from one of my office windows