An Otter WorldAn Otter WorldPhoto Journal of My Trips Around the USA Articles
Into the great wide open
2008-11-05 19:13:00 Well life happens as they say. Along with the brave new world we face with yesterday's outcome, I am left to face a future full of opportunity and change myself. Last year I struggled with some tough decisions and made the choice to alter my course on this ocean we call life. I have left my current occupation and face much uncertainty during this economic purgatory our nation is experiencing. I do not yet know where the winds will carry me, but I'll keep this journal updated as life progresses. One serious option I am considering is teaching. If that is where my destiny lies, I'm sure I'll find much to keep all of us entertained. Wish me luck. More About: Open , Great , Wide
Still flapping
2008-06-06 13:13:00 It's been a while since I posted, but, as they say, life happened. I was away from work for a couple of months getting the rental house in order so there was nothing too exciting to post. Now I'm back up in Cape Cod for the summer so some pictures will be forthcoming.
Can't help but think of Ender's Game.
2008-03-01 16:19:00 I recently acquired Call of Duty 4 for the PC. If you like FPS games this one is completely top-notch. The single-player campaign is one of the most engaging I've ever played. In one of the missions you take to the skies in an AC130 Spectre unleashing divine vengeance from 25mm Gats, 40mm Bofors, and 125mm cannon. I must admit while I was playing through this I kept having flashbacks to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Here's a video from the game:Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.Here's real-life over Afghanistan:It's just a game. It's just a game.
Does FDOT encourage speeding?
2008-01-01 22:50:00 I was out of town when these signs went online. So recently, when I was driving southbound and noticed the advisory sign was live, the information jumped right out at me. Something wasn't quite right. Notice the speed limit sign, and then look at the distance and the estimated time. At 55 mph it would take a driver about 5 min 27 seconds to travel 5 miles. To reach the I-4 exit indicated on the sign in 4 minutes a driver would need to travel 75 mph. It would seem that their numbers rely on drivers breaking the law. More About: Speeding
On the other side of the camera for once.
2007-12-25 23:39:00 Funny what memories and reminders the holidays bring. Here are some photos of my first solo and my first plane crash.Off I go into the wild blue yonder...well, maybe not so much.Any landing that you can walk away from is a good one, so they say. More About: Camera , Side , The Other Side , Other Side
Hiatus
2007-12-19 19:08:00 With the winter season and the holidays, we will be taking a brief recess(I know..I haven't been updating much lately) I'll be combing through some older shots and try to get some material up soon. More About: Hiatus
A poem
2007-12-06 17:18:00 My true vocation lies in living each day to its fullest, to experience all the joys, pain, trials and victories life has to offer.To dream is to plant the seeds of adventure and sorrow, but to live you must harvest the fruits of each with sweat, toil and tears.A fool for love shows wisdom no sage can match. To live a dream simply requires you allow yourself to take the chance and let goof the rail, for a safe life is one not truly lived.Each disappointment, each sorrow, each wound to the heart enriches the soil of experience and is the fertilizer of life itselfPain is the affirmation of life well-lived, for it sweetens the taste of each joy, enhances the sensitivity of the soul andpunctuates the dull moments to imprint life itself upon the heart and mind. The soul that bleeds knows life, the painless heartpasses silently and alone.Joy is simple, and is found everywhere if we just let go of preconceptions and allow ourselves to see it, to hear it, to feel it.Betrayal is sib... More About: Poem
Gotta love the leaves
2007-11-25 19:28:00 Can't argue with how pretty Fall is up this way.Boston Common Thanksgiving Day More About: Love , Leaves , Gotta , Aves
Gettin out of Beantown
2007-11-25 19:25:00 Zakim Bridge from the hotel. Lots of folks heading out of town on Turkey Day Eve.
Plymouth, MA
2007-11-25 19:17:00 Dance your cares away, worry's for another day, let the music play, down at Plymouth Rock.Mayflower IIProceed with caution
A rare treat
2007-10-23 13:08:00 Awoke one morning to this sight.The wind had been blowing for days and the suspended dust enhanced by sunrise was quite lovely. More About: Treat , Rare
Let's beat a Deadhorse
2007-10-23 13:01:00 It's finally starting to snow. Just amazing what an improvement a little bit of the white stuff makes on this place.More snow.Even more snow.The road out of town, often one of the most beautiful sights in Deadhorse.Blowing snow. More About: Beat
Welcome to the Arctic
2007-10-08 16:17:00 Shortly after returning from Barrow(I only took a handful of pictures, and the memory card they're on is misplaced) I got the word I was heading back up to the Arctic . This time I'm doing time in Deadhorse, a work camp for the Prudhoe Bay oil operations. Hasn't been above 20 since I've been here and it's getting colder. Deadhorse AK, my "hotel" is the brown building at the intersection.More DeadhorseThe ocean is starting to freeze......The rivers are already there.....So's the shoreline.....Brrr.....Time for the polar bears.....stay tuned. They're out there, but have eluded my lens thus far.My cheeks are turning red, my toes are turning blue, out there on the tundra, I see a couple of caribou...
Of injured possums
2007-08-03 15:11:00 One of the nice things of living in our fair city is that, in many ways, it has not quite transitioned to a total concrete and asphalt jungle. We still have citrus rats roaming our back yards, snakes making a regular appearance, as well as visiting ambassadors of many varieties of birds, mammals and reptiles. Here at our house even have an opossum living under the shed in the back yard.The downside is that occasionally those creatures interact with modern living and are most often on the losing side. For instance this morning an opossum was behaving erratically just down the street. It appeared to be sick or injured, and truth be told, the sight was heartrending. What it is about the suffering of animals that touches something so sensitive inside most of us. I'd rank empathy as one of the most human of qualities, and it was hard to see that little fella in pain. A call to animal services was made so, I can only hope the creature is no longer suffering. Anyone else have more... More About: Injured
Really cool clock
2007-07-31 20:17:00 A friend passed this along to me. It's a really nifty clock showing various rates of events affecting the planet.World Clock More About: Cool , Really , Lock , Ally
There's no place like home(particularly with the lightning, humidity and ba
2007-07-19 23:24:00 After clicking together my ruby slippers(well, my hiking boots which for a brief time were stained with pink paint, so I guess that counts) I finally have made it back home. I stepped out of TPA right into this soup that those of us around here call air. I do have to give kudos to Frontier Airlines, my new favorite budget carrier. The little TVs are awesome, the seats quite comfy, and we were, gate to gate, right on time with no hassles at all. Suck it Southwest. We flew our plane from Alaska to Boulder. Many shades of summer, it was nice and moderate in Anchorage, and Juneau. Then it just started getting warmer from Seattle to oven-like Boise and Boulder(104 and 98 respectively, but it's a dry heat(that makes the turkey feel better too I'm sure)), to the swampiness of good old Tampa Bay. One thing that struck me my first days back were just how aggressive the drivers are here. I guess being immersed in it here and in New England I was just conditioned, but getting away... More About: Lightning , Home , Place , Like , There
Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn
2007-07-10 16:14:00 As seen south of Fairbanks.Mommy, what are those bears doing?World famous? More About: Skinny
If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand
2007-07-10 07:46:00 Whitman wrote of it, Kerouac inspired a generation with it. The allure the road holds for some of us is positively irresistible. It's the siren song of the open highway, the anticipation of unimagined sights around the next bend, just over the next rise. The pavement marks time for the very beating of our hearts. I was never a Harley guy, don't quite get the branding, but I am definitely a motorcycle guy. Always have been. Something about taking to the highway on two wheels with the wind in your face defies explanation. Seems you either love it or you want nothing to do with it. For me few things rival the sensuality of riding. The tactile, but subtle changes in temperature as you top a hill into the sunshine, or dip into a shady hollow rounding a curve. How morning brings the smell of coffee and bacon wafting from homes. The afternoon breeze carries the scent of fresh cut hay, or the smell of the sea. It's as though the wind embraces you wrapping you, and caresses each of your s... More About: Would , Understand , Under , Stand
A few more villages
2007-07-09 16:43:00 Streets of QuinhagakNear Quinhagak, AKA basketball court at the high school in KwethlukThe general store in KwethlukStreet in Kwethluk, AKKasigluk, AK More About: Villa , Ages
Midnight sun
2007-07-09 10:27:00 Outside Fairbanks International Airport Sunday "night"Still 20 minutes to sunset.(notice the state trooper hiding behind the sign) More About: Midnight
Alexia Pipplin reincarnated
2007-07-08 21:13:00 A feisty little old lady passed away, and upon arriving at the Pearly Gates was met by St. Peter. Thumbing nervously through his book, he announced that she wasn't scheduled to arrive for a couple of years. To make up for the mistake, he told her that she could be reincarnated as anyone she chose to live out her remaining days she was owed. Without a moment's hesitation she blurted out Alexia Pipplin. St. Peter looked a bit stunned as he was at a loss since he expected her to choose someone familiar. He rifled through his files and still came up with nothing. He asked the little old lady just who was this Alexia Pipplin, as he did not have anyone by that name on record. A bit embarassed she slowly produced a tattered old news article. A quick glance brought a smirk of understanding to St. Peter's face. It seems the article was about the Alyeska Pipeline and indicated how it was laid by several thousand people over two years time. Guess maybe her eyes were the only thing... More About: Nate , Lexi
Various village vistas
2007-07-06 16:50:00 This go round I'm posting just a miscellaneous collection of photos from some of the villages we've visited. I will add to this entry as I'm able.King Salmon aerialDowntown King SalmonKing Salmon MallOur home away from home in King SalmonNaknek, AKTatitlek aerial viewTatitlek Russian Orthodox churchLarsen BayLarsen Bay canneryLarsen Bay Post Office More About: Village , Villa , Vario
I love a parade.
2007-07-04 22:47:00 First let me wish everyone a Happy Independence Day! A late start today allowed us to take in the local 4th of July parade, here in Bethel, AK. The star of the show was the Blackhawk helicopter. The chopper made several low passes which was pretty cool.Another shot of the whirlybird.The requisite fire trucks. The parade is quite the attraction here in Bethel.This parade "float?" had us all a bit speechless.I did score a frisbee for the little fella back home.I imagine his reaction might be something like this:Did someone say Frisbee? More About: Love , Parade , Arad
W addicted to violent video games?
2007-06-23 17:56:00 I often wonder if such photo and headline placement is intentional. I, for one, got a bit of a chuckle from the association of the headlines to the picture. An article about video game addiction below a photo of our illustrious leader surrounded by computer screens, lights and switches, then an article about Manhunt 2(Bin Laden perhaps?) being suspended becacuse of violence. This appeared in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday. Too funny. More About: Video , Video Games , Games , Video-Games , Ames
My first You Tube video
2007-06-21 23:34:00 Yesterday I had a nice vantage point to take some video of a few planes taking flight. I never get tired of seeing them claw their way into the air. Check out the first one, he must have been loaded down, he was only about 20 feet up when he passed the end of the runway. First time doing any video so don't expect much in the way of production values. :-) More About: Video , You Tube , Tube
Home Sweet VHF Omnidirectional Range(VOR)
2007-06-20 17:20:00 Interesting spot we visited yesterday. While waiting for some equipment to do their thing we explored the village a bit. The structure in the photo above is a decommissioned navigation aid, either a VOR or VORTAC from the looks of it. Someone decided it would make a nice house, so they ran power to it and attached an oil drum for heat in the winter. The FAA sign is still on the door. Who'd have thunk it? More About: Home , Sweet , Range , Omni , Idir
Signs, signs, everywhere a sign
2007-06-15 17:19:00 Just a quick rewind. When speaking with a local pilot at Tatitlek, he mentioned that he's sort of like a flying Costco for the village. He said that one of the things he had recently delivered was street signs. That struck me as rather odd because the village has less than 100 people, and only about 10 cars or so. There were maybe 3 or 4 intersections. It might be just me, but it didn't really seem like there was a big traffic control problem there in Tatitlek. I just thought it was interesting.While exploring Larsen Bay we saw this sign:My first thought was that it should read something like this: More About: Signs , Sign , Where
What is that? Is it alive? I think it's a dog. It's Rasta Dog!
2007-06-14 16:38:00 While spending some time at the South Nakek International Airport:We came across this lump of matted hair:It has a tongue, I think it's a dog:Oh no, it's after us:It wasn't just a dog, it was Rasta dog, this pup had major dreadlocks. I guess when you live on the Tundra every bit of hair helps. More About: Alive
The Eagles Have Landed, and Flown Away
More articles from this author:2007-06-14 06:19:00 A few shots of the local denizens near Larsen Bay, AK.Pose for me:Just gorgeous:Hey what about me?Buh-bye now: More About: Eagles , Away , Flow , Eagle , The Eagles 1, 2, 3 |
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