June 29th, Day One: Life in Girdwood, Alaska

So, this was officially my first day in Girdwood, Alaska. Girdwood is about 40 miles away from Anchorage. I was a lucky SOB and got to crash here at a friend’s house for the summer of 2004, and ever since then I have wanted to come back. Its home to a ski resort, and yet it sits almost at sea level. You can hike to a glacier in the morning and watch beluga whales riding the tide later in the day. It also has a small town feel. It’s fairly normal to receive general delivery mail at the post office (because they don’t deliver mail to individual houses). There are a few restaurants in town and one general store. It’s a little bit like Boulder, but on a much smaller scale (when it comes to population size), and a much larger scale when it comes to wildlife and mountains.

Since I am working remotely while I am here for the summer, the morning started at 5am, with me staring at the computer on my kitchen counter. Sadly, after about 15 minutes I discovered that my internet connection (via a wireless card) was not going to be able to handle the week’s worth of mail that had piled up while I was driving here. This is due, in part, to the fact that my organization has a habit of sending 10M files on a regular basis, but it was also because my wireless card apparently only gets dialup-ish speed in Girdwood. Now, if I had lived in Anchorage, I would have been fine, because I would have been closer to the cell towers (and therefore have a faster connection). But, Anchorage is a bit like Denver, with moose. So no. I opted to live in eclectic and inspirational Girdwood, and now my Outlook was throwing a hissy fit. This caused me a significant amount of panic, but I figured, “heck, I’ll wait until 9am, order the DSL, and I’ll be fine.” So, 9am rolls around and they tell me that my internet will be ready on the 10th. Um yeah, that’s two weeks from now. My boss is going to KILL me. So, I panic a little more . . . . . and then, instead of giving into the panic anymore, I do what any normal person would do, and I go for a run.

On that run, not only do I run by the Girdwood airport (which admittedly is pretty much a field with a windsock), but I also come up with permanent or temporary solutions to all of the problems that arose this morning.

Problem #1: Tess wouldn’t poop this morning because its light all the time and she doesn’t know what time it is anymore.
Solution to problem #1: After less than 10 minutes of running, Tess drops it like it is hot

Problem #2: When I start to panic I get really wound up.
Solution to Problem #2: After 30+ minutes of running along a beautiful path I no longer care about work as much and I am too tired to panic.

Problem #3: I have a dialup speed connection and I need a high speed connection ASAP.
Solution to Problem #3: I will drive into Anchorage and work at a coffee shop.

Problem #4: I have to drive into Anchorage to work and I am supposed to be enjoying the spectacular Alaskan views
Solution to Problem #4: On my way into Anchorage I will be driving past glaciers, snow capped peaks, beluga whales, mudflats, and watching crazy tides. I quickly realize that driving into Anchorage to work for a few days won’t be that bad after all.

Problem #5: Operation FFF stalled on day 5 in Watson Lake
Solution to Problem #5: Operation FFF is back on track after 30+ minutes of running in Girdwood!

So, after the run, I drove into Anchorage, did a few hours of work, and felt pretty caught up by the time that I was heading back into Girdwood in the late afternoon.

A Random Story from Day One in Girdwood:
I have a friend who is interviewing for a job with the government. A few months back, she let me know that she had put me down as a reference on her application and the FBI might be calling me to ask me some questions about her. Right before I left on this trip, she reminded me again that the FBI might be calling, and sure enough at 7am this morning I got the call. The woman from the FBI was quite personable and we quickly started chatting about why she was calling. She wanted to know if I could come in for a face to face meeting. I explained that I couldn’t make it into the Denver office because I was in Alaska for the summer. She said that was ok, and asked me some more friendly questions about why I was in Alaska. It started to feel like I was chatting with someone I had known for years. Pretty soon we were both cracking jokes about Alaska and the remoteness of the state, and then as a courtesy I said, “Well, hey, I obviously can’t come into the Denver office, but if you’d like, I can come into the Anchorage office for an interview. I mean, that is if you have an Anchorage office. . . .”

And in less than a second, the jovial tone in the conversation came to an abrupt halt, her voice got really serious, and she said “oh, we have offices everywhere.”

There’s nothing like a quick reminder from your local FBI agent to remind you that the government is everywhere!