Well, I said I was going to try and post more regularly, and here it is two months later, and the posting has not been regular. But I have at least thought about posting more often, so I guess... baby steps, right?
I'm on break at work and am using a computer with an absolutely crummy keyboard. I type my password many many times a day, and this computer is the only one where I often have to stop and retype it, sometimes three times, because the keyboard is so gummy. You have to use a ton of force on these keys to get the keystroke to register. I don't like that because using the extra force screws up my momentum and means I'll often waste time and energy because then I hit a wrong letter. Also, the strokes still don't register sometimes, so that screws up too. Stupid keyboard. Normally I can type over 100 wpm with 98% accuracy. It used to be 120 wpm back when I was blogging almost every day. I can get back to that again. I just need to blog more!
I'm tempted to start leaving the typos. Then you'll all see just how crummy this keyboard is. But I can't, because hitting the backspace to correct errors is kind of hard-wired into me.
Stupid keyboard.
I was at Wal-Mart earlier today and this lady in one of those motorized scooter shopping cart thingies was driving in front of me. Suddenly, without any warning at all, she abruptly spun the cart around and almost ran me over. I jumped back to get out of the way with an automatic apology, and instead of saying what normal people would (something like "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!") she glared at me and drove away. Ahhh people of Wal-Mart...
Oh wait. You don't read this to know about the people of Wal-Mart. They're pretty much the same everywhere, I think. You really want to know about adventures in Alaska, right? Of course you do.
It doesn't really snow too often in Fairbanks. Not nearly as much as it does in Seward, which is where I lived several years ago. It doesn't feel like that long ago, but I guess it's been ten years. Boy, I'm old! Anyway, it does get a lot colder up here, but it isn't as humid, so it doesn't feel too bad.
I really enjoy snowshoeing, but the snow here is dry and powdery ("sugar snow"), so snowshoes often just punch right through, no matter how much surface area they have (it's called post-holing). It's a ton of work to snowshoe on that. But work keeps you warm, so I guess it's not so bad.
I learned how to cross-country ski a couple winters ago. It turns out I'm really really bad at it. I fall down a lot. I have been informed that downhill skiing is a completely different skill from cross-country, and it's possible that I could be really talented at downhill skiing and be completely inept at cross-country, but I'm afraid to try. Seriously? I get scared when I get going faster than 30mph on my bicycle, and you expect me to go shooting down an icy slope at 80mph? I will die. Dead. Boom. Blarg. Those will be the sounds.
Snowshoeing is easy, though. It's like hiking. Hiking is easy. Put one foot in front of the other. And sometimes carry things when you do it. I began training for hiking when I was less than a year old.
I went to Denali for the first time a week or two ago. I can't believe I've lived in Alaska as long as I have and had never been to Denali before. It turns out it is completely incredible. My hiking partner and I brought snowshoes but didn't end up using them. We went to the Healy Overlook trail. The path up took a little bit of kicking, but was solid enough to not require the snowshoes. Coming down was way fun. It was steep and had a ton of switchbacks. We ran a lot of the way. It turns out that trail running is not so great when you're carrying a pack stuffed with warm clothes and a water bottle and snowshoes. Okay, the snowshoes weren't stuffed IN the pack, they were lashed onto the outside, but you know what I mean.
When I was a kid and went hiking with Dad, he used to tell me to never never never ever ever never run on the hiking trails. He said you could get hurt and then you would be out in the wilderness with no way to get help and even something minor like a sprained ankle could be serious because you couldn't get out and get to help. True story. But what he DIDN'T say is that more importantly, if you run on the hiking trails, you might accidentally step off the narrow foot trail and into the deeper, unpacked snow, and then you'll fall down and land in the snow and when you stand up, the snow will go down your pants and it will be cold and wet and you'll make those squealy "EEK THERE IS SNOW IN MY BOOTY" sounds while trying desperately to maintain your dignity to impress your hiking partner because he's really cute but it's too late because he's doubled over laughing at you.
The danger is real.
