response 1 of 122:

Mar 30 05:00 UTC 2007

 I walked home from work this afternoon in time to take some
 pictures in the late afternoon sunshine.  If you'd like to
 see what I see on my two mile walk home from work on a good
 day, check out:  http://www.dfred.net/~mcnally/DeerMt.html .

 It's a shame I didn't have time to linger for photography on
 my way *in* to work this morning (as opposed to my way home..)
 We had three or four inches of snow in town last night followed
 by clear skies, bright sunshine, and calm winds this morning.
 It was dazzling.  This afternoon was pretty; this morning,
 however, was spectacular.  Nevertheless, the afternoon pictures
 are what I have to offer; I hope those of you who like my
 pictures will enjoy them anyway.

response 3 of 122:

Mar 30 15:53 UTC 2007

Mike, when I look at your pictures, I always want to move to Alaska.

response 5 of 122:

Mar 31 21:38 UTC 2007

> Are you sure you don't miss Ann Arbor, Mike?

I was surprised to find, when I returned for a brief visit after New Years'
this year, that I don't miss the town as much as I thought I would.  Certain
people who still live there, yes, but the town -- not so much..  

That said, if I had the option, there are more than a few things in Ann Arbor
I wouldn't mind seeing Ketchikan equivalents of (mostly some restaurants,
music, and shopping opportunities in roughly that order) but I think 13 1/2
years in Ann Arbor was probably enough for me.

And though I remember some awfully pretty bicycle rides to work when the
apple and cherry trees were in blossom, or rides along Huron River Drive
when the fall colors were changing, A^2 is unquestionably at a serious
disadvantage in the scenery portion of the competition.  

Bottom line, both are nice places with plenty of things to love.  Ann Arbor,
I'm sure, has a broader appeal.  Ketchikan's is a little more specific. 

response 7 of 122:

Apr 13 19:38 UTC 2007

 Last week's local advertising supplement had an item in it that 
 I thought was funny.

 It was an announcement that a travelling piano tuner would be
 coming to town for a period of a week and that people who had a
 piano in need of tuning should contact the hotel where he would
 be staying to arrange an appointment.  There were several things
 about it that tickled my fancy, but mostly that there's actually
 a person (or people) out there employed as an itinerant piano tuner
 -- have pitchforks, will travel.  That's got to be one of the most
 obscure and unlikely jobs I've ever run into.  Now I can't help
 but picture a bad nighttime television drama series where a wandering
 piano tuner visits a different town each week, intervening at a
 critical moment in the lives of one of the town's inhabitants.
 Perhaps he can also be a tragic figure haunted by his mysterious
 past.  I'm thinking maybe a prestigious career as a young prodigy,
 then a tragic recital accident, followed by disgrace and a
 disappearance, and now he roams the earth seeking to atone, pursued
 by an embittered cellist who will never let him rest..

response 9 of 122:

Apr 13 19:46 UTC 2007

..but then who could we cast as the vengeful cellist?

response 11 of 122:

Apr 14 09:54 UTC 2007

Sure.  Hire the itinerant piano tuner and then where will he be when you've
discovered that he tuned your piano to B440?

response 13 of 122:

Apr 14 14:41 UTC 2007

I'm only 37! ;)

response 15 of 122:

Apr 16 05:00 UTC 2007

 re #14:  Based on the fact that it's located right behind the offices
 for KTKN and KTGW, I'd presume it has something to do with one or the
 other or both.  But I should find out, I guess..  I wonder if it might
 also have cell service and possibly the transmitters for other local
 radio stations (such as KRBD, the public radio show where I do an
 occasional show.)

response 17 of 122:

Apr 16 18:42 UTC 2007

  
re #11 ....     B-440  !!
  
        laughes
        till
        i
        cried!!!   
  
        thank you!
  

response 19 of 122:

May 16 19:25 UTC 2007

 Well, I'm back in Alaska, after having spent a couple of weeks of the
 spring back in Michigan, following my father's death.

 During my absence, spring has progressed quite a bit around here.  
 The salmonberry bushes, for example, are in bloom (they weren't when I
 left, but the huckleberries were getting started) and hummingbirds are
 fairly common in my neighborhood, though not as common as cruise-ship
 tourists, who are back in early-season swarms.

 This is the week one of the more interesting Ketchikan school traditions
 I know of takes place.  The entire 8th-grade class at Schoenbar Middle
 School, who have been receiving instruction on native flora and sea life
 as part of a five-week wilderness survival unit in their science classes,
 are asked to put their recent lessons into practice.  Each student is
 allowed a sleeping bag, tools to construct a sleeping shelter, the clothes
 they are wearing, and whatever other items they can fit into a 1 lb coffee
 can and transported in groups of about 20 to small uninhabited nearby
 islands (i.e. not on Revillagigedo Island, but within 5 miles) to survive
 from Wednesday until their pickup on Friday on whatever they have with them
 plus whatever edible plants and ocean life they can scavenge.  They're 
 accompanied by adult chaperones to prevent things from getting out of hand
 but the idea is to teach them what's necessary to survive for a few days
 until rescuers can find them, should they become shipwrecked and stranded.

response 21 of 122:

May 16 20:19 UTC 2007

That sounds like an awesome program, or the beginning of Lord of the Flies.
I'm not sure which.

response 23 of 122:

May 16 20:29 UTC 2007

 Each student is
  allowed a sleeping bag, tools to construct a sleeping shelter, the clothes
  they are wearing, and whatever other items they can fit into a 1 lb coffee
  can and transported in groups of about 20 to small uninhabited nearby
  islands (i.e. not on Revillagigedo Island, but within 5 miles) to survive
  from Wednesday until their pickup on Friday 

I went through a similar program at MUCC.  Our training was only 2 weeks long
but it included flora, basic water safety, first aid, hunting, fishing,
navigation, and survival skills.  They drove us out to the wilderness (about
15 miles away from camp) and we had to make it over night and a whole day with
what we had on us (including a sleeping bag.)  We foraged for food and built
fires and pretty much had a great time.  My grandfather sent me to MUCC for
several years as my birthday present starting at age 13.