The Toughest Guys on Earth

As February is the official "don't talk about you-know-who" month I will refrain from using a certain characters name. It is however, a woman who lives in Wasilla, AK and the name starts with "S"--enough said.
So anyway, "S" was recently quoted on some news show that she feels the Irondog participants are the "toughest guys on earth", forgive me if I get the exact wording wrong. But I do get the message--she feels that men racing around on snowmachines (snowmobiles for the lower 48) are as tough as they come....Well maybe this is something you say when your own husband is one of the monkeys riding around and you need to stroke his ego...but I disagree.
True enough, that compared to most lower 48 inhabitants--who freak out if a snowflake hits their stylish hair---participating in a 2,000 mile cross country snowmachine race in arctic conditions, scores pretty high in the "man pants category". However, did Mrs. "S" forget about the Iditarod??
The Iditarod follows the same course as the IronDog (actually those pesky snow machines help break trail for the doggies) but obviously a musher with dogs plods along a lot slower than a machine that can go about 80mph. Not to mention that the Iron Dog participants travel in pairs to help each other out (?) while mushers are only allowed to hang with their canine companions. Same weather conditions, but you are in it sooo much longer with the dogs (and responsible for more lives). Or how about the difference between filling up a snowmachine with gas vs. feeding 14 sled dogs a hot meal and rubbing their feet with ointment? There is also a little known fact about sled dog racing--some folks may choose to stand on the runners or even sit in the sleds--but there are a whole bunch of mushers who RUN behind their dogs for substantial portions of the 1,200 mile race, to lighten the load. That's right RUN. Try running behind your snowmachine !

So my vote goes to the many tough men (and women!!) of the Iditarod, for doing what I feel is the hardest, craziest sport in the western hemisphere!

Moose and Rainbows!

A while back, a guy posted an emotional double rainbow video on Youtube--here is my version, but it is actually a triple rainbow- take that !

Little visitors, just babies--don't know where mamma is.

This could be dad. He is the size of a small tank.

Societal Oppositional Disorder

This is my new affliction, Societal Oppositional Disorder. The list of things that everyone else likes and I do not, continues to grow at an alarming pace. I am actually worried that I will become a kook hermit living in the woods.
It's like an avalanche of things that everyone wants and likes is falling on my head, but instead of embracing these new societal love interests, I just take cover and actually dislike them more! I am talking about the popular necessities: like cell phones, ipads, Costco, Facebook, large flat screen TV's, trending celebrities and now my email is bombarding me with the movie title: Just Go With It. No, I do not want to JUST GO WITH IT! What an ironic title.
I can't stand the Super Bowl, as viewership continues to increase, nor do I find any new movies to be interesting. I did attend a free symphony last Saturday which I enjoyed more than I expected--maybe there's hope after all. I wasn't alone after all....

Can the Country Actually Head in any Direction?

During the contentious midterm election here in Alaska, I received more pollster telephone calls than any human being should be expected to endure. Some days there would be 2 or 3 calls a day form various polling companies. Some of these polling agencies admitted their alliances to a political candidate or party--others did not. But even when they didn't want to say who was funding them, a dead giveaway was the question: "Do you feel the Country is headed in the right direction?" In other words, I can decode this to mean--"don't you just hate Obama?"

And if they mean: do you like what's happening in the country today? That too is a ridiculous question. At any given moment there are millions of conflicting ideas, opinions and attitudes that vary across every state, town, and household in the US. So is there even a common direction to begin with? I think not. Each political party feels the other yanks everyone in the wrong direction.
Why not just ask people for real examples of what is "wrong" about the country in their opinion?? (Before the biased folks asking this question get a chance to implant their well known sound bites : government over-reach, loss of freedom...blah, blah.)

The same people who have been trained to chant these phrases and misspell them on signs, would be the first to freak out if you really just "allowed" capitalism to happen. In other words, you would have a huge gap between rich and poor (goodbye middle class), economic decline and job loss before any economic improvements were seen. Deregulate everything and you have a country driven by people's darkest desires: greed, porn, fast food and flat screen TV's. Because that's all the people really want and that's what they will buy. Not to mention the splendor of no government over site so we have more contaminants in our products, pollution and other fun greed inspired consequences.
I personally don't like the direction of the country myself. But it has nothing to do with Obama. I feel if Obama had been allowed to let his elitist star shine--then the country would have had a chance to thrive..
I see a country that no longer has the attention span to read good books or listen to a symphony. Culture is quickly becoming a grunting super-bowl party or mass sex-tape viewing. People don't research facts, but listen only to annoying sound bites. They don't foster the arts or garden, they play silly little computer games on Facebook as if all adults have become 14 again. There is general apathy and disinterest for anything intellectual or cognitively challenging. Children no longer want to grow up to be astronauts and doctors, but rappers and basket ball stars.
And who do I blame for this "direction"? I can't say if it is democrat or republican, but instead of fearing a loss of freedom, I feel we have been given too much. Give the people free will and they will choose to be apathetic, unread, wanna be rock stars-- full of sugar and fat.

Alaska Canine Insanity

We really have a canine mental health issue going on in our household right now. It started with these weird power flickers two days ago. I guess they are called brown outs or whatever. But they freak my dog Dinga out like the end of the world is near.
Because the lights flash and the appliances click..to mention a few of the weird sights and sounds that happen with each flicker. And then Dinga just freaks out. She hides behind chairs, under desks, shakes and shivers by the door. Even walks into the bathroom with me--which is just strange and annoying.
Then we go to bed and the real fun starts (it has been 2 nights now). A few hours after we are asleep Dinga starts whining by the door--I take her out to pee. But she keeps whining, and then barking. Last night (after only sleeping for 2 hours the previous night) my husband gave up and slept on the couch with her next to him (as she is not allowed in the bedroom). This finally settled her as well as the Enya CD I put on. But in the meanwhile she started peeing blood clots.

Now I know most doggy lovers would run to the vet with this-and maybe we should. But as we have seen Dinga suffer from anxiety before, this too isn't surprising. She has actually on more than one occasion managed to give herself bloody diarrhea from anxiety alone (she keeps forcing herself to go). I am hoping that is what the blood pee is as well, because of the correlation with the panic attacks, and I noticed her most recent pee a few hours ago was just fine.

On top of this nonsense is the usual Alaska fun. The temperature rose 50 degrees in two days (did this freak the dog out as well?) From -10 to 40 degrees today. So my hubby is outside with the tractor, trying to move wet snow. But then he gets stuck and I go out and help push...And a moose trampled our little ice skating rink. But I guess I don't really want to trade these weird annoyances for a tamer life in the suburbs.

My Prediction for 2011 or Maybe 2021

I want to write something here about social networking. Granted, I am no expert about anything regarding technology nor do I engage in social networking. Nevertheless--that's exactly why I have a strong opinion about it--I don't see social networking as being very gainful.
I regularly receive these little "join Facebook emails" (regular email I do like) or "check my profile on Facebook".
Well the more I learn about Facebook the more I am disinterested in it.
Why do I find it discouraging?
A) People seem to use it only for their own cheap narcissistic gain, not to spread anything useful (unless you consider cyber bullying useful).
B) Why is the age of privacy over? Instead, everyone allows greedy marketing companies to track their individual likes and dislikes. Facebook has become a tool of "the man"as it encourages you (for free!) to advertise where you shop and which movies you like.
C) The age of gentile correspondence seems to be over. I can't get individuals to reply to emails anymore, because I "should" instead check their updates on Facebook. Like everyone is a rock star now without five minutes for a reply or phone call anymore?

So my prediction for Facebook is that the empire may just come crashing down. I saw that their stock is soaring currently--never a good thing. (remember that over-inflated real estate market?) The type of person who enjoys social networking also seems to be a bit fickle. They jump to the next new and terrific thing. Isn't everyone finally going to be sick of looking at other people's photos? I still can't get over all the photo Christmas cards I get now, and then everyone still checks each others pics on a weekly basis on top of that? I mean come on people.

The Wasilla Windbag Speaks

I know the taping of Sarah Palin's Alaska happened already over the summer, so her little "I feed my kids smores " comment to protest Michelle Obama's (horrid!) recommendations against childhood obesity are already way outdated.....But nevertheless, I need to comment.

This again is like the millionth example of why Sarah P. has absolutely no critical thinking skills. It is a fact that Palin lives in Wasilla--surrounded by a huge population of people struggling with obesity. As I know locals bump into her at the Wasilla Wal-Mart, she must be aware of this. She does not pretend to surround herself with the well-off or well-educated.

So in Sarah's brain the obesity epidemic looks something like this: "well these poor folks choose to eat lots of chips, cakes and soda, yet don't exercise. Bless them and their future health problems, because it is their choice as Americans, you betcha!".

Here's where her thinking stops. Just stops I tell you. She can't comprehend what's next. Does she think low income obese people just disappear? Or do they all have some kind of magical free-market health plans that take care of life-style related illnesses and pay for them?

Back to reality--I worked for two years in low income disability services in Wasilla Alaska. Sarah's precious town. Does she have any idea how many people in WASILLA apply for Social Security Disability payments due to lifestyle related illness? A conservative estimate would be about 1/2 of those applying for SSDI had lifestyle disability. Heart disease, Diabetes II, lung cancer. Not to mention the Medicare & Medicaid payments.

So in Sarah's world, the Government has no right to recommend what to eat--just pay the disability $$ later on? Oh no, that's right -the Tea Party feels we should slash SSDI payments and Medicaid, etc....Those non-constitutional entitlement programs. So the answer for Sarah is: (if you can swallow this) "Eat what you want precious child. Get diabetes and heart disease--then I will make sure your government never pays to care for you, ha, ha!"

So is she just dumb, or EVIL?