Vacationing In a Warmer Climate

My apologies for the delay.
Last week started, and finished, finals.
Monday, I gathered a group and we went and spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear.  A huge success in my standards, we had a group of six people.  Most important, though, was the look of amazement and the smile that grew on their faces.  Plus we "sang" the 12 Days of Christmas at the top of our lungs in the Civil Engineering hallway.
Twas' a traumatic (rest of) week.
I studied, took a test, studied, took a test, studied, took a test, studied, and took a test.
Tuesdays's test in a phrase: On a scale of 1 to 5, how much effort did you put into this class? A. 1 B. 2 etc. (actually on the exam)
Wednesday's exam: Open book, open note, open other textbooks, open internet. Just don't talk to your neighbor.
Thursday's exam was one of the hardest that I've taken.
Friday's was at 8pm.  Who schedules an exam for a Friday at 8pm?


Rewind to the weekend before. I thought that my gingerbread house construction plans were not going to work out until Kevin called me all excited about building one.  Since a picture is worth 1000 words, here's how it went:

WHAT?!?!? I get to build a gingerbread house???

But what should I make?

YAY! I'm all done!

Fast forward to Thursday again.  Brendan flew up to Fairbanks for the weekend.  Friday we drove around town, worked out, then went to see Sherlock Holmes.  This was the first movie I've seen in theaters since the newest Chronicles of Narnia back in March.  Decent movie, too.  Made me chuckle at times.  Much more closure than the first movie.

Saturday was supposed to be MANlympics, but you can't have games with only three people, so Brendan, Sean, and I decided to throw the caper around, build a fire, then shovel the yard into a pile to make a MANcave.  Caper tossing is just fun.  The Scot's sure know how to make a manly event.  The fire wouldn't have happened without Brendan.  We were starting it with matches, and it was dying until Brendan saved it.  But it turned into an inferno and burned some nice 10X10's.  The pile that we shoveled ended up being near 10' in diameter and 6' high.  I was a tad stiff in the morning.

Our Caper

The Blaze

Sean Working at the pile

We finished Saturday by going to Chena Hot Springs and soaking in the beautiful hot water.

Sunday morning I woke up far too early and got Brendan on a plane.

Continuing on Sunday, Kevin, Sean and I trudged around the top of Esther Dome with MAN-lamps and flashlights in the dark.  There were clear skies making the night beautiful.  We're doing it again.  Hopefully with a full moon.

After Esther Dome, the three of us went to the airport to pick up Andrew, who came in to drive down with me.

(This listing of events is getting rather boring, so to speed things up...)

The Prestige is a straaaaange movie.

And patience is a virtue. Steven drove down Sunday morning, it was icy, but manageable.  The evening drive was absolutely horrible from what I hear.  There was blizzards, ice, more blizzards, thunder, lighting, blizzards, ice...

Monday morning, however, was driving in a winter wonderland.  There was great visibility, the roads were mostly clear.

We're now caught up to Tuesday, at which point, I will say something is wrong with Anchorage.  Its super windy, its warm, and it is not pretty.  I want to go back to Fairbanks where there is actually snow.

Expensive

Egg Nog, like raindrops on roses, is one of my favorite things. Right up on the top of the list next to chocolate milk and warm woolen mittens. And whole milk for that matter. I think that I just like nice, thick milk. (and REAL chocolate milk is either store mixed or Ovaltine. NOT Hershey's or Nesquik or other brands)

Anyways, given that I am at home for Thanksgiving, I went to get egg nog at Fred Meyer. For the first time in my three and a half years at UAF, I noticed a price difference. The egg nog in Fairbanks is $1.00 more on sale than it is in Eagle River. ($2.19 in E.R. and $3.89 normally in FBX)
That's saddening. It's egg nog. Do they really make that much more off of it?

Anatomy of your arm: (see picture)
Deltoids look really cool, but you need fairly large shoulders to see them. At least in my experience.
Forearms - you can have tiny wrists and huge forearms because the muscle center is a ways away from your wrist.

Triceps: What this really is about.
Where your "long head" Triceps come down and meet your "lateral head" Triceps, theres a bump in your arm. That's what makes the triangle on the back of your arm.
WHY this is important: (something that I learned today)
Guys, if you have a defined arm, you make is much easier for a girl to dance with you. Dancing may be a leg workout, but you have to support your lady partner, and give her something to hold on to; i.e. your arm. That meeting point of the muscles mentioned above is where she's going to put her hand. If it's defined, she'll always know where to hold, and it will act like a stop collar so her hand doesn't slide further up.

I bet that you all extended and looked at your arm.

Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things.

The First Mangiving

First, I'd like to say that those ginger cookies that I made on Tuesday were still soft and chewy on Thursday. They were amazing.

Meat the width of the oven.

Alright. Mangiving. From now on, the third friday of every November.
At 2:45 I went to Jubilee to look for a pan big enough to hold our prime rib. I brought it back and started cooking at 3:30. The pan was large enough that it sat on the ridges that held the racks. In the picture, the rack below it is there just in case.

After an errand, I returned to the manly area to continue with the manly preparation for such a manly meal.

Menu:

Bacon...

Prime Rib
Baked Potatoes
Pepper-Onion-Bacon Saute'
Rolls
Apple Cider
Apple Pie
Ice Cream

To start off the evening, I made some very manly coffee to boost the number of hairs on our chests. Strong coffee is actually pretty good.
Take note, men are not patient, so waiting for the meat to reach 135 was painful. So painful, 60% of the crowd left to go rent a movie and find more xbox controllers. As soon as they left, I read the thermometer and it was done. Ironic.

When they came back, we sauteed the vegetables (had to divide it up - time factor) and set the table. As seen in the pictures, every had to 'bring something to the table' and do some part.

My Finger tips are touching it. My hand is mostly parallel.

While the sauteing and final prep was being done, we went around and said something manly that we were thankful for. Examples: snow machines and red meat.

Table of Men

The table was set and we were all given our own bottle of apple cider. It's more manly not to have to share.


A very manly, short blessing was prayed, then started the manly passing of the food. We piled up our plates and started consuming the bountiful feast.
After I was done eating, I gave a 'speech' on the Responsibility of a Man. See here.
Not bad for only ~30min of prep work.

Following the speech began the bottle choir. Men have to show our musical talents. Notes and rhythm come from bottles.

At this point I will bring to your attention the temporary man that you see flanking Daniel. We let her come. Enough said.

Meat...

From the table, we moved to the living room and started watching 3:10 to Yuma. It's a manly movie. Don't be a hero, but stand for what you know is right and just.

Mid movie we had dessert. (One reason why Jessi came)
Dutch Apple pie. The distinction is the fact that you pour in whipping cream midway through baking the pie. It makes it super rich. It was very... Manly.

Following the movie started halo, but after dessert, every man goes and does his own thing. Kevin went for a drive. I went home and went to sleep. It was a great manly evening.

Thanks to:
Steven - for the saute
Sean - provider of the meat
Kevin - roll maker
Nathan Baca - the tv and xbox
Daniel - excellent onion chopper and pie supervisor
And last, but not least
Jessi - for the pie. MMM... Pie...

Notice our Man tree in the background.

Responsibility of a Man

• Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Man came from the image of God. We were given authority over all things of the earth. Creatures along the ground, in the water, as well as plant life. We have to take responsibility over what we have dominion over: the life on earth.

• Gen 2:5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,

We have to work the ground for life to spring up. Being a farmer doesn’t sound appealing, but it’s necessary in order for life to spring up.

• Gen 2:22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

2nd responsibility - To our wife. Our companion came directly from us. We must leave our fathers and join a woman to protect and care for her. She is part of us.

• Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

3rd responsibility - To our fellow men. We have to be strong for those who are weak. To stand for our wives. To stand in the gap for other men so that they do not see destruction.

• Ps 1:1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

4th responsibility - take advice with a grain of salt, but also find Godly council. Don’t stay with those walking a wicked path.

• 1Cor 11:3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Lastly, we must submit to our authority. Men have to put Christ as our head and follow him. Sure women are submitted to us, but men are ultimately responsible for our families’ actions.

That is what it takes to be a man.

Close to Home

So Lonely...

For starters. Remember that jack o' lantern that I carved earlier? The one pictured on the deck: http://makingnathan.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-one-free.html
It's gone. It was gone when I got back from Indianapolis. I haven't figured out where it is. And Steven and Caleb don't know. "The Case of the Missing Pumpkin!" How's that for being close to home?

So, in light of certain circumstances, Friday night dinners has transformed to SOGM dinners. It's fun.
Tonight:
Heart's on Fire. Crock pot beef heart with jalapenos.
Sounds strange? I'd eat it again. It was really tasty. REALLY tasty.

Dinner led to a tree. A lonely tree.

We transformed it into a very, nice, pretty, 'happy' tree.
Slightly frustrating in the beginning, but totally awesome.

Note: This thing is like 25ft tall. At least its 22ft. And we had a 10 foot ladder. A 4 foot pole. And a ~6ft body, 3ft arm Sean and I. It was still hard to reach the top.

Better pictures later.

One Step Closer

Be a man!
Latest SOGM activity: move a log pile and stack it. (last night)
You might be thinking carry a few logs at a time to a set location not far away and stack them neatly.
No. We had a water-bucket line spanning 40 feet and we were throwing the logs. It's awfully manly and awesome. And it's outside, just under 30 degrees, but we were sweating.
Follow that up with a man meal of pork chops, and its rounded out.

I also had a club council meeting. They asked, "Does the finance committee chair have a report?"
No.
"Does anyone have any questions for the finance committee chair?"
Nothing happens.
(meeting director) "I have one. When is your first meeting?"
When I get the contact information for those on my committee.

Classic.

Frustrating: when professionals just blow you off. I've made a bunch of calls to various engineering and service firms. One said that they'd respond by today. Nothing. One said that they would contact the firm where the report I was looking for originated. They later called back, said that the person who could help me was out until the end of next week. Besides, "everything that I need is on our website." I called them back less than an hour later, left a message, and have yet to hear back.
The response that I most respect is the response of the originating firm, "you have to call our client to release that information. We can't. Sorry." That may be a no, but it's an understandable no.

Ah, but I am one step closer to letting you see what's going on around me. I took a couple pictures. The next step is to actually put them on my computer. I'll get there. I swear.

Live By A Schedule

It makes life much easier. Trust me. I try to do the same things at the same time everyday. Patterns are nice. Adjusting to someone else's is not pleasant.
I've been trying to fix my brakes in my car. Arranging a time has been difficult. But I did find a rock jammed in there, maybe that will solve the popping.

Friday night, we grabbed Isaac to hang out. We wanted to take him to "Zipzaps" and play laser tag. To do so, we tried to get more people. Unfortunately, convincing college age and older people to do that is not easy. Plus Steven and I were super exhausted. I feel bad for Isaac. I hope that he had fun anyways.

Yesterday, I made the best breakfast pile of vegetables ever! Chopped cabbage, 1/4 of an onion, 1 shredded zucchini, and bacon chopped up. It was incredible. Plus this will go with any meal, too. (Ah beautiful bacon)
Speaking of bacon, when I went to ASRC today, the guy opened the drive-through window and all I smelled was bacon. Mmm...
Back to Saturday: 2 noted lessons of the day-
1. Never try on a 100% Merino Wool sweater. You'll want it. In Steven's words, "it's like a hug."
2. Don't let cayenne go down the wrong tube. It prevents breathing.

Sunday: I had a lazy Sunday morning. Read a lot of history and Heat&Mass. Went to a pot luck at Jubilee. (Ate moose meatloaf - which I think had smoked salmon or bacon in it) Came home, walked the frolf course, hung out with SOGM, tried to fix my car. I'm back to a lazy Sunday night.

On that note, I'm going to sleep. (how normal)

When the Rubber Hits the Road - 13

No menu today either. I've been sporadically snacking since I've been traveling so long. Also, I was probably in the air or asleep when any specified "meal time" was in the current time zone that I was in.
So in summary, the most closely related thing that I've eaten to a meal was a bunch of turkey roll ups. I definitely think that those will be the default when travelling. You can buy turkey sandwich meat anywhere, cucumbers and peppers are also extraordinarily common. But I've eaten beef jerky, an assortment of nuts, carrots, a banana, and... An Avocado. It was delicious. I might go get another one to eat. Ripe and amazing.
When I went to the store (walmart was the only place that I successfully found), I looked at prices and realized the higher cost of living in Alaska. 39 cents a pound for bananas that were ripe. 50 cents per avocado. Yeah. Had I not eaten the whole avocado and 2/3 of the cucumber, $11.18 would've fed me dinner for two days. I saw pineapple, but fear the pain of eating an entire pineapple by myself in one or two days.

I go to see my mom and brother last night for an hour. It was really nice. I wish that I was returning through Anchorage on Friday, instead of spending 4 hours in Seattle. It's really strange passing through your home town.
And SOGM: there was a black woman on my flight from FAI>ANC and when we landed, I got her bag out of the overhead bin. She started singing. Whether the two were connected, I don't know, but ALWAYS help a lady get her bag out of the bin. You will reap a reward. Mine was her singing.

Took two more flights. Walked quickly across an entire concourse in Chicago. Made it to HOT Harrisburg, PA. Saw a river super high. Rented my first car.
My lucky day: first, the woman behind the counter was born on Elmendorf and said that she hadn't seen an Alaskan Driver's license before. Second, they were out of "Honda Fit, or similar" size vehicles. I got an Impala for no extra charge. It's silver, black leather interior (which is a sauna in the sun) has a Bose stereo system, satellite radio works here, and its a gajillion (copy and paste that into word and it corrects it to gazillion) times larger than my car. Not really, just bigger.
I drove about 30min to the hotel, using my non-toll road instructions, checked in, then worked out:
20 Burpees - 20 Bodyweight Rows - 20 Diamond Pushups - 50 Chair jumps - 50 dips - 50 Good mornings - 20 Clapper Pushups - 20 B.W. Rows - 20 Mountain Climbers (per leg) - 2:00 Plank - 50 dips - 20 B.W. Rows - 100 ab twists - 25 Pikes
The chair jumps were changed into 100 jumping jack because they were quieter when I hit the floor.
I did all of that in 19:42.69
And finished up with 2:00 superman - 20 decline pushups - 20 pikes

Then I went to find the grocery store. I drove around a bit. Higher cost of living in Alaska or not, all of the residents up there are blessed compared to what I'm seeing here. There's been some losses here. I'm assuming from the downturn. More than I've seen in Anchorage or Fairbanks.

Eh. Back to homework. I want to have some whirlwind adventure.
Oh, and many, oh so many, hedges of protection around Dan as he journeys forth today.

Manday. 11

B: Manfrest. Meggs, Macon. And veggies.

S1: Two turkey roll ups, bananas

D: Sounds like meat. (It was meat)

Despite the rain and not being able to go hiking, Sean still pulled off a manday. We had manfrest, which was excellent, then went out to Chatanika dredge.

It's big. And Awesome.

We climbed inside hatches, up ladders, around cables, across steel beams, up a conveyor belt, had fun.

We had man time. And it included steven and michael.

Go here to a few more photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108980049808436694175/ChatanikaDredge?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Tonight, if the rain stops, we'll have a fire. In the least, we're going to grill a ton of meat. Hopefully someone brings veggies, but lets see. If it rains, hopefully we watch the expendables.

It's been decided that Saturdays will be activities days. Hiking, running, skiing, snow machining.

I'm excited to go to PA. One day to go.

(waldo is in this picture)

Manday 11.5:
SOGM is now open. School of general manliness. We chopped 8X8's, caper tossed one, poured gas over logs, but never got a fire to light.