X-men 3

Wait for it to come out on video or go see it during a matinee. It was ok, not bad, not great... just ok.

The drive home

I took this pic about 6 months ago (I think). I've just worked on it a little bit.

Otter Lake

This is a creek that runs off of Otter Lake on Ft. Richardson. An amazing place hidden off to the side of a fairly busy lake, the constant sun now-days is making everything super-green. I think we're getting about 19 hours of sunlight.

Dandelions in High Res

Fletcher

A quick shot of my son playing with a stick, I just like how it turned out.

More weeds

Norwood Matt

Just wanted to say thanks for letting me rip off his idea for the picture links at the top of the blog, and pretty much working his ass off helpin me makeover this entire site. Without his help, it'd be pretty damn boring round here. Plus, his blog is freakin hilarious and maybe, just maybe, he can lay some knowledge on ya.

Stuff on Fire

Street Dancer

Lately, on the ride home, I have been seeing this guy. He dances on a street corner that get's heavy rush hour traffic wearing different types of t-shirts (I liked this one). A lot of people don't make eye contact and just keep on driving, some yell out the window calling him retarded and others cheer him on. I stopped for a minute to talk to him, pretty level headed guy. Funny as hell to watch.

If you can't read the shirt, it goes something like this.

Black
White
Red
Yellow
Brown
Human

That's good stuff.

Spike

This guy belongs to Harvey (a friend the helped me get into photography)...he only poked his head around the corner enough for me to get this shot. [the cat, not harvey ;)]

Spring

Rocks

That's about the size of it, they're rocks ;)

Moose gate

This shows about how secure that giant multi-million dollar fence they built around Ft. Richardson is worth. These are located all down the fence line, they're to allow moose to travel in off the highway.

Word Verfication

I hate it, had it off for almost a full year with no problems at all. I get up this morning to see over 600 spam comments on my page...hah. Man that sucked.

Guess I have to turn it back on =\

New fence

Just beefin up the ole security around my house. Ok, not really. This is the new fence they just built around Fort Richardson (where I work). This sucker is impressive.

Archival Cds

For anyone with a digital camera, these are a must have. You should never store your pictures/home videos on your computer hardrive, and regular cd's only have a lifespan of about 10 years.
Archival CD's

Fishing season

It's getting close to the time when thousands of people flock here to catch The Chinook Salmon, also known as The Alaska King, I've been here about 9 years and never bothered to even try. This year I think I'm going to, just so I can say I did. They start running early next month, there's a spot here in town "ship creek" where most of the combat fishing goes down. Even if I don't catch anything I think I'll get some good pic's.

Anyway, the reason I made this post is so I could toss this song up. I found it on some forums about fishing I was reading, it's hilarious.


Fish On, unknown artist


If you push play and it skips it because it's still loading. Just push pause and wait a few minutes.

More tree art

Another quick one of the boy

Nothing special about this pic, I just had my son here while I was working on my pictures and he wanted to show off his skateboard backpack and his Army of Darkness lunchbox. So I showed him how to post pics and let him type this....

hi im Fletcher i AM 6

Fish Hatchery

Razor Wire in color

Razor Wire

This woulda been a pretty cool pic, but I ended up getting that shadow across the wire, /shrug. Don't have anything else so i'm postin this'a one.

Urban moose

Something wrong with the way picasa+hello work together, server problems. Gonna have ta post pictures the old fashion'd way till they fix the problem.



Anyways, this guy was just lounging around in the front yard of one of the houses on Fort Rich. He was completely comfortable with me being there. It was classic I have never seen a moose so laid back.



Just kickin back and enjoying the little bit of sun we were lucky enough to recieve today.



They have been out thick this year, I have been seeing at least 1 every day for the last week or so.

A walk with the boy

I wasn't sure which of these to post so I'm just gonna post them all, this is my boy on a walk we took yesterday.

Anyone else only seeing half the pictures?

*edit* The problem with the pictures not loading correctly is with the blogger servers and the way picasa loads pic's onto it. Seems they should have it resolved soon enough. I took the broken ones out.

Gnarly Old Tree

I think it's a black cottonwood.

Yearling moose

This little guy wandered into the housing area on Fort Richardson (where I work) on Friday, the reason I am posting this, is the dog. Look down in the lower right hand corner in the fenced in yard, the dog is crawling. The moose was walking casually and the dog was stalking it the entire time (lucky for the dog he was fenced in), when the moose got to about where the dog was, he lunged and that moose jumped about 6 feet straight up... I could not believe it. He coulda cleared that fence easy... heh.

Mac vs PC

I saw this commercial the other day about how Macs are better than PCs because Macs never crash. This is complete and utter BS. If you are planning on buying a Mac rather than a PC, don't let it be for that reason alone. Macs are crash-resistant for one reason and one reason only: they don't run the most popular operating system on the planet. If 80% of the computers on the planet ran the Mac OS, then the majority of hacker attacks would be directed against the Mac OS. Well then, “Why not buy a Mac if they're not the ones under attack?” you ask. There are 3 simple reasons. Apple is the most pretentious company that I have ever had the misfortune to smell. "Our stuff is the bestest, the most beautifulest, and the most greatest stuff on the planet and we never evar screw up." Everything that Apple makes, they make using their own proprietary components that only Apple makes. That also means that only Apple makes the replacement parts and only Apple makes the upgrades. How the Hell they get away with this crap is a mystery to me. Microsoft gets sued for adding their own media player to THEIR operating system but Apple can bundle iTunes with every program they make, including QuickTime. QuickTime, as we all know, is a requirement for anything like satisfactory web surfing these days. The "superiority" of their customer service, design, and programming is a myth. Take the iPod for instance (NEVER BUY AN IPOD): The first 2 versions of the iPod had battery problems. Battery problem number one with the first 2 versions of the iPod - the battery won't hold a charge for very long. Why is that? Well, after 6 hours of searching through iPod forums I finally found out that those iPods had an internal clock that keeps drawing power from the battery, even when you've shut the iPod down. So, you charge the battery and then, less than 16 hours later, you have a dead iPod. BTW - they never did make a fix for that clock thing even tho iPods have updateable firmware. Problem number 2 with the early edition iPod batteries was that the battery itself only lasts about 6 months with constant use. After that? You need a new battery. Search for "how to replace an iPod battery" on Google. It quickly becomes apparent that Apple did not design these iPods to be disassembled. Once they are snapped (or, in the case of the iPod Mini, glued) together, Apple essentially considers them to be a disposable item, and warranty/repair work (you know, like replacing that lame-ass battery) consists of swapping the broken iPod for a new one. Great, just great. You'll want special tools and special medicine and even with those you'll still probably mar the case. It's easier to learn to fly a 747. You'd think they'd cover that crap in some kind of warranty, but you'd be wrong. So much for the "superiority" of their customer service, design, and programming. The iPod uses a laptop hard drive. These laptop hard drives are nothing so much as they are ghettoes for moving parts that would like to stop moving and just go to moving parts heaven. You can send them there by dropping the iPod oh, say 12 inches. Great, just great. Next time you see an iPod? Ask it if its hard drive has been washed in the blood of the lamb, 'cause it's sure as Hell gonna die soon. And when it does? You are now the proud owner of a 400 dollar paperweight. You want an mp3 player? Get a memory stick. Memory sticks are tuff. They are so tough, they can even survive you breaking their freakin' cases. To sum, up I'm not saying that Apple sucks (please don't fly off the handle if you're a Mac freak), only that they have just as many problems as Microsoft (or PCs). To say that a Mac is better than a PC or that a PC is better than a Mac is like saying hamburgers taste better than sloppy joes. It's a matter of taste. I have played with both. In my opinion, though, you only need to get a Mac if you also need to be spending lots of money. Here's a way better commercial about the Mac than the one I saw that started this whole rant: Hunter Cressall demonstrates the proper use of the Mac in this video - "Crash Different." Hunter uses a Mac every day. Yes, Virginia, he even owns two of them, not including the one that he dropkicks in the video.

Gulls in color

It was an overcast day so not much color to these guys before i b&w'd it... but here's the color version anyways ;)

Seagulls

I hate seagulls,when they show up all the ravens leave (the raven is by far the coolest of all the birds) but when learning to photograph wildlife i guess you gotta start with the easy stuff.

Otter Lake

First of the mosquito's are showing up, check out the size of this sucker.. Some people joke that the mosquito is the Alaskan state bird (take into effect that I have wide hands). That's a big skeeter.

Waterfall

This is where we usually stop to eat lunch everyday.


The van with the rack on the top is mine. Not that it means a whole hell of a lot... heh.

The rest of the Battle

I had no idea people would like the toy soldiers so much, so here's the rest of the fight that the kids (or whoever) had set up.


Somehow it seems the bear has become the innocent bystander /shrug.

Today

This looks like storm clouds, but they're not. It was sunny all morning and this was just as the clouds road in.

Walk in the woods

I was taking a walk thru the woods today for lunch when I ran across a toy soldier battle field someone had set up and left.

Lonely Day

One o them songs that get stuck in your head.

Lonely Day, System of a Down



May take a bit to play, castpost has been slow as hell lately.

2 more I never planned on posting

Color

I dunno what my deal is lately, but I don't seem to like anything in color anymore. Maybe i'm goin color blind... so i'll post this tree in color even tho I don't really want to hehe.

Not much to say, just a tree from yesterday :)

Same pic as below

I monkey'd with this one a bit.

Alaska, FaQ

Frequently Asked Questions



1. Is it dark all the time in the winter?
This depends on where in Alaska you live or visit. Anchorage has 5.5 hours of daylight in mid-winter; however, Barrow, at the most northern point of Alaska, has no daylight from November 18 through January 24. In the summer, Anchorage has 19.5 hours of daylight and Barrow has 84 days of continuous sunlight from May 10 to August 2.

2. Is Alaska part of Canada?
No, Alaska is the 49th state of the United States of America. Alaska uses the same currency as the rest of the U.S., the same postage.
When driving into Alaska, however, you will travel through Canada and must be prepared to cross the U.S.- Canada border and go through Customs. A passport is not needed for U.S. citizens.

3. What county is Anchorage in?
Alaska is unique among the 50 states in that most of its land mass has not been organized into political subdivisions equivalent to the county form of government. Instead, local government in Alaska is organized by a system of "boroughs." The city of Anchorage is in fact located in the "Municipality of Anchorage," along with the towns of Eagle River, Girdwood, Chugiak, and Eklutna.

4. Can I drive across Alaska?
Alaska has very few roads for its vast size. Austria, a country one-eighteenth the size of Alaska, has twice as many miles of road. Alaska has 15 highways, 3 of which are only open between April and October.
Roads go from Anchorage to the Canadian border, to Seward, to Homer, to Valdez, to Fairbanks.

Four major highways, the Denali Highway from Paxton to Cantwell, the Dalton Highway (Haul Road) from Fox to Prudhoe Bay, the Steese Highway from Fairbanks to Circle, and the Taylor Highway from Teslin to Eagle Junction are unpaved.

Alaska is 2,435 road miles and 1,498 air miles from Seattle, WA. This is a three and 1/2 hour flight to Anchorage or a four-day minimum drive. It is also possible to take the ferry during the summer months from Bellingham, WA to Seward, AK and during the spring, fall and winter from Bellingham, WA. to Haines, AK.

5. Is there snow all year round?
This again depends on where in Alaska you settle. Alaska has four different climate zones, ranging from warm and wet, to cold and dry, to cold and snowy. In Anchorage, the weather averages 50 degrees in the summer and 20 degrees in the winter. Snow season runs from October through May, averaging 70 inches of snow in the Anchorage area.

6. Are there penguins in Alaska?
No, penguins live only in Antarctica. Alaska has polar bears living north of the Arctic Circle, as well as brown, black, and grizzly bears across the rest of the state, including Anchorage. Alaska also has moose, which are regularly seen in the middle of the highway, caribou, foxes, eagles, wolves, dall sheep, killer whales, lynx, and beluga whales, among other species.

7. What time zone is Alaska in?

Alaska used to have four time zones, but since the mid 1980s that has been reduced to two time zones. Most of Alaska falls under Alaska time, which is one hour earlier than the West Coast. The Alaskan Aleutian Islands are in Hawaiian-Aleutian time, which is one hour earlier than Alaska time.

8. How cold does it get?

Anchorage has a maritime climate modified by its 61 degree north latitude and by continental influences. Summers are cool and winters are cold. However, Anchorage seldomly experiences the seasonal temperature extremes of interior Alaska or the north-central United States. Total precipitation for Anchorage is only 15.91 inches per year, with the greatest amount being recorded in late summer and fall. Total snowfall averages 69.3 inches, but is mostly light and dry, i.e. low in water content. Reflecting its northerly latitude, Anchorage experiences dramatic seasonal swings in the amount of sunlight, ranging from a low of about 5.5 hours per day in mid-December to a high of over 19.5 hours in mid-June.



9. Will I get to see the Northern Lights?

The aurora borealis (otherwise known as the Northern Lights) are created from charged electrons and protons striking gas particles in the atmosphere. The color and shape of the aurora varies according to how hard the gas particles are being struck. Auroras occur most frequently in the spring and fall months, because of the tilt of the planet. Residents of Fairbanks at latitude 65 degrees north see the aurora an average of 240 nights per year. Because of almost continuous daylight and twilight in the summer months, the aurora is best best viewed in fall, winter and spring.



10. Is it true that there are many more men than women?

Although that is generally true in rural areas of Alaska, especially fishing and mining communities, it is not true for Anchorage. In Anchorage, males and females are almost equally represented - 51.3 percent males and 48.7 percent females.

Taken from the Anchorage Chamber Of Commerce Website

One more

Cloudy Day

It was cloudy and a bit rainy today, but I kinda dig that. This is a quick pic of the mountains that stand over Ft. rich (where I work), no clue on the names. All three of the above pic are completely untouched, this is the way they came outta the camera.

Today's weather.
50°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: SE at 17 mph
Humidity: 50%

3 pic's that I had never planned on posting