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Monthly Archives: August 2013

Taking Stock of the Trai Wreck that is My Current State!

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by danielwalldammit in General

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Bad Habbits, Blogging, Doctors, Donuts, Falling Behind, Health, Travel

Gotta love the title.

Gotta love the title.

This is going to be one of those this-is-what’s-happening-in-my-life posts. I generally don’t do those. I figure a blog is a sufficiently self-indulgent exercise in itself when I am at least trying to talk about other things, but life has gotten far eough ahead of the me and my blog that a commet or two about my present state would seem to be in order.

…My keyboard has a sticky ‘n’ …dammit!

Anyway, It’s been a Hell of a summer. I won’t say its been a particularly good one, but it certainly did have its moments. The first feature quality of this summer would seem to be travel. First I flew down to Denver, then I flew to Vegas, then to Orange Couty, then back to Vegas, then up to Barrow, down to Santa Fe as part of a summer camp I ran for high school kids, then back to Barrow, down to Anchorage, and back to Barrow once again. …and I’m headed back to Anchorage in a few days.

That’s a bit much.

Extra travel (always by plane) is part of life i barrow, but this is a bit much. I worry that my cats will soon disown me. Seriously, all I have to do now is touch my socks and they are all over me. That aloe makes me feel bad.

This summer has also been a bit too medical for my tastes. I entered Jue with two teeth on the left side of my mouth making a good argument against ordering a steak dinner. They have had me chewing on the right side for awhile now, and I’m getting pretty good at it. Mid you, both of these teeth have had work doe on them, ostensibly complete work. So, an endodontist tore into one perfectly good cap i search of problems with a root canal and my regular dentist tore into a nice filling to investigate the other tooth. Turns out the first was a lateral channel near the bottom of the root, ad the secod also had an extra root. The doc took what nerves she could outta the tooth, but lucky me, I get to visit another endodontist soon. …and I get to pay some hefty bills on accounta my dental plan is already maxed out for the year.

Ouch!

I the interim, I have a steak i my fridge, and I wouldn’t bet on it still being there tomorrow night.

The funny thig about doctors is that if you avoid them for a long time (say about a decade) they tend to find things when you come back. Everythig on me is more or less fixible, or live-with-able, but damn! I am relieved to learn that the general sense of fatigue that has bee creeping up o me for years may have a specific (and perfectly treatable) cause. That’s a good thing. I’m also happy that this doc found the source of recurrent pai i my side. Let me just say that a certain kidney stone has a date with destiny. …soon, you bastard! I do wonder why previous doctors missed it, but K-Sarah, or something like that! Also, I am hoping the outtie which became my belly button a few years back will one day soon be a innie again. Three small procedures in one day; I wonder if that adds up to at least a medium-ish procedure?

Also, I guess I eed to eat more bananas. At least I’m told my heart will stop skipping around so much if I do. And of course it’s time to start thinking about my cholesterol, …well past time actually.

Sheeshes!

…and once again money! My bank account was healthy a few weeks ago. It’s taking a hell of a hit now, and I can’t help but wonder what I would have done without work-related insurance.

Then I realize the answer is obvious. I would have done exactly what I did do when I didn’t have insurance, which is nothing. Without insurance I still wouldn’t know what that pain was in my side, why I am so damned tired all the time, or why the slightest exercise makes me want crawl directly into the grave. And since a couple of those things are ticking time bombs, I guess my story would be a tragedy unfolding it’s way toward the climax chapter.

So, I guess things are shaking out okay, but I definitely have to rethink my perspective on doctors. Time was when I simply couldn’t afford any of this care, but I was awful slow to take advantage of it when my circumstances changed. Ah well, I shall kick myself over this three or four more times before moving on.

We are already seeing snow here in Barrow, though it isn’t sticking yet. I am oe week ito a ew semester, which usually means a more stable schedule, and more time with the cats. I ca only hope my students don’t pick up any bad spelling habits from yours truly. …and maybe I can fid some compressed air i Anchorage.

The blog looks like a bit of a train wreck at the moment. My topics are a bit more scattered than usual, and my efforts to catch up on summer comments ended with many good people unanswered. As of now, I eve have a badly misspelled title i one of my posts.

Just terrible!

I have plas for several posts. Most of those plans have been in place since Jue, but I suppose that’s better to be behid than to have nothing to say. Hopefully I will soon begin knockig out new material soon.

Could someone please eat these donuts for me? The doc says they will kill me, so naturally I bought a whole firing squad.

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Three Cool Characters from Anchorage

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by danielwalldammit in Alaska

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Alaska, Anchorage, Aunt Phil's Trunk, Local History, Pissing off Texas, Richard Ziegler, Texas, Ziggy

The Shape Shifter is still my favorite mural in Anchorage ...Ziggy did this in collaboration with one or two others.

The Shape Shifter is still my favorite mural in Anchorage …Ziggy did this in collaboration with one or two others.

This post was going to be called “Fat Loot and Three Cool Characters from Anchorage,” but thanks to the airlines, the ‘Fat Loot’ part is now in the questionable column. Somewhere out there a piece of luggage is lost and looking for its home.

…or maybe it’s out looking to party with the internet service for the hotel I stayed at last week. If you see a band of wifi coverage and a grey-colored stand-up suitcase doing lines of coke at a local strip club, please tell them both to go home.

That said a little stint in Anchorage has yielded a few good memories, not the least of them being a chance to meet some some truly memorable characters.

***

Me & Ziggy ...cool!

Me & Ziggy …cool!

I first noticed Ziggy‘s name on some of the beautiful mural‘s throughout downtown anchorage. He is responsible for a lot of the pieces featured in this post. On a lark, I decided to google the name and see if he might be found in the area. As it happened, I had only to cross the road and enter the coolest crafts shop in town. That’d be the one piping vintage blues out onto the street, a fact which had not escaped my attention, even if the name ‘Ziggy’ all over the establishment had.

Sometimes the path from 2 and 2 takes the scenic route to get to 4.

Wallet by Ziggy

Wallet by Ziggy

Richard Ziegler (that’s long for Ziggy) runs the Arctic Treasures Trading Post, which is also known for its 4th Avenue webcams. You can buy all sorts of Alaskan goodies in this trading post, but Ziggy does the leatherwork himself, so I have a cool new wallet. That much escaped the great suitcase escape of the summer.

My only beef with Ziggy is that he hasn’t done any new murals within the last year, a fact which is almost unforgivable. But seriously, it was a real treat to meet the artist behind so much of the public art in Anchorage.

***

Laurel Downing workin' a mean history booth

Laurel Downing workin’ a mean history booth

I first noticed Aunt Phil’s Trunk while looking for links to provide students in my Alaskan history classes. I was looking for short vignettes and flavor pieces to counter-balance the usual dense survey texts, and her website provided quite a few gems for use in the classroom. So, it was a pleasant surprise to find Laurel Downing working a booth at an arts and crafts fair in downtown Anchorage.

Laurel is the person behind this great website. Her path into Alaskan history started with the passing of her Aunt Phyllis. Phyllis Downing Carlson had written quite a bit about Alaskan history in her day, and Laurel picked up the torch when she inherited her Aunt’s life’s work. She wet to school to learn the skills necessary and then began turning out stories about Alaska’s remote past at an astounding pace. She is up to 4 books now, all of them worth a read.

We chatted a bit and Laurel was in high spirits as she had just sealed the deal on some new publications. For the present, I walked away with all four books from her series and a supplement of crossword puzzles to boot. Seriously, this is local history at its best.

…here is hoping my luggage doesn’t pawn all four of those books to pay for booze and cheap sex.

***

Mike, the Pissin Off Texas Guy

Mike, the Pissin Off Texas Guy

Mike the Pissin’ Off Texas Guy is one of a kind, …which is probably just as well, but hey, let’s just be glad there is one of him anyway. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw his work, the state of Texas sitting snugly inside the boundaries of Alaska. At the time I didn’t think much about it; just an internet meme as far as I knew, albeit a damned funny one. Little did I know, Mike has parlayed one-upmanship over the Lone-Star State into a gig of its own. His shirts are $20.00, but he offers a smaller price to his little buddies from Texas.

Mike seems to do a lot of business at the fair, …Texans are of course his best customers. I think he gets pretty much anyone from down that way right over to his booth, without exception.  But it’s all in good fun.

…I think.

Mike loves it when Texans wear his shirts.
Ouch!
Another Happy Texan

Still Cappin on Texas

***

My damned suitcase better not be giving my shirts away, …dammit! Seriously, I know a piece of luggage with some serious explaining to do!

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Finding Your Inner Southitude: The Adventures of Lobster-Boy and His Poor Companions

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by danielwalldammit in Bad Photography, Museums, Native American Themes, Write Drunk, Edit Stoned

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Art, Institute for American Indian Arts, Santa Ana Pueblo, Sata Fe, School, Southwest, Street Art, Taos Pueblo, Travel

Looking up at the Institute of American Indian Arts

Looking up at the Institute of American Indian Arts

Sleep done left me now on accounta the kids. Not my kids, but they stare at me all day now and mostly frown. I do my best to inflict knowledge upon them, but my evil plans are often foiled by the mysteries of the modern world, …or at least the iphone.

It fills and protects their minds even when it stays in the room!

Some might call it a field trip; I call it a collective loss of Northitude. Alternatively, we could call it turning the heat up on the ice people. It’s also called visiting some folks I happen to think a lot of, but let us save sense and seriositude for another day.

Haven’t traveled with teens since I was one. Its an experience…

“When do we board?”

God may not exist but middle seats are pretty close to proof that the Devil is alive and busy issuing boarding passes. I think he also designs the help pages for Microsoft!

I miss the gargle-bunkies and my bloggetry has gotten sloppy. Classes need work and my ecological footprint is a big boot stomp on everything I love. For now, I am Southward, …and I have hostages!

“Hey, shouldn’t we be boarding soon?”

The rules are as follows:

1) Control of musical decisions belongs to the teenagers in the vehicle. Volume is negotiable.

2) Sarcasm is a given.

3) “Family” doesn’t mean what I think it means.

4) Failure to follow rule 1 is the first step to tears and fears, but no beers, not even one.

What the Hell? Hostages aren’t supposed to make the rules! One of the kids decides to throw me a bone and plays Madonna, (cause I’m old). This does NOT make me feel shiny and new.

Precedent argues strongly for the use of a scowl in conjunction with a stern ‘No’, all of which is best delivered in response to a perfectly reasonable question. I am apparently a bad influence, and I’m almost sorry about that.

“So what time do we board?”

Santa Fe is a wonderful place to visit. Taos Pueblo and the Institute for American Indian Arts are always beautiful places. Watching my students eat Frito pies for the very first time in the front yard of our host and guide brings the beauty up a notch for me. Knowing they aren’t used to the spice is pure joy. …Yes, I’m a bad man.

“Are we boarding soon?”

Seriously, I can’t believe I am driving by so many public murals without even getting my camera out. …I got a couple of them, though, yes, I did.

The doc says I gotta eat more bananas, and my friend owes me a beer, but never mind the beer and the friend, doc says what? She tells me all about the changes in my near future as I look down at my dinner and realize that I am presently eating about the only meal in a month that might pass muster. …except for the noodles, of course.

“Seriously, when are we gonna get on the plane?”

Project Runway aside, it’s probably best to leave the gay bar off the agenda. Angry parents sound like Jaws music. The Elvis Shrine is a big can-do, and Goose is the coolest!

…and the whole thing leads us to old Santa Ana Pueblo, fittingly, during the Feast of St. Anne. So, there we find ourselves sitting at the dining table of a wonderful host, looking over more dishes than any one of us could possibly sample. It wasn’t a week ago that I found myself eating Ugruk (seal) at Nalukataq (the Spring Whaling Festival). Now I am sitting here finishing off a bowl of red chili that proved a bit too much for one of my students, and thinking how wonderful this is. Some days (and especially feast days) it’s a good day to know indigenous people. I can only hope our little trip to the sun and the spicy food finds its way into the “worthwhile” bin amongst the learning lessons of my students. …and that there is more chili to be had.

It is a bit hot outside, and my students are holding the car keys hostage in the hopes that I will show mercy.

“There will be no more ice people if you melt us!”

I can’t help but laugh.

“Has the flight been delayed; when are we gonna board?”

I’m bringing back one demon girl, but another now knows how to feed a hundred Indians with 50 pieces of Fry-bread. Empirical proof of the former is confirmed, but we are still waiting on the latter.

“Seriously, when are we gonna board?”

…and Northitude returns with sleep soon to follow.

***

The Museum of Contemporary Native American Arts

Entryway Statue
Princesses
Abstract

Interesting
Yes, those are basketballs

***

The New Mexico Museum of Art (with a fantastic exhibition by Peter Sarkisian).




***

The Pecos Historical Park

The Church at Old Pecos Pueblo
One neat thing about this church…
It has been abandoned for close to 200 years…

The result of a Comanche raid, I believe.
But the descendants of those that lived here…
…will hold service in this place once a year.

…right under the stars.

***

Random Murals

Handball Court
Close-Up …thanks to Diane for helping me think about these sorts of things.
Just a cool wall mural.

PSA mural
Red and White on black.
Smoking Face

Hey that looks like a Shepard Fairey …oh, not without good cause apparently…

***

Unhumorous Point of Partial Clarification: I generally don’t show pictures of students, colleagues, etc. This is just a matter of personal respect. They have signed up for work or study with the school, not a command appearance in my personal blog. …also, I have no pictures from Santa Ana or Taos Pueblo. Those would not be appropriate for an entirely different set of reasons.

Yes, I wore sunscreen

Yes, I wore sunscreen

Hats and umbrellas are frowned upon during the Feast of St. Anne. Oddly enough 4 Alaskan Natives and a Tongan don’t burn as easily as a balding white guy who normally wears a hat.

Who’da thunk it?

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Jesus H. Attitude-Dancing Christ, MSN News Blurbs Can Be Damned Irritating!

01 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by danielwalldammit in History, Irritation Meditation, Religion

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Bullshit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Journalism, MSNBC, News, Skepticism, The Cross

JesusDon’t the folks at MSN know that I’m busy? Don’t they realize I have better things to do than rant about the slippage between their storylines and their headlines? Or is it some kinda clever plot to drive me bonkle-wozzies before the end of summer?

I mean, seriously, take a look at the teaser line for that story on MSN. Isn’t that amazing? No, not Zimmerman, silly, or the guy whose face I deliberately cut in half with the cropping tool (I’m in a bad mood); I mean the lady in the funny hat. Check out the line underneath it.

Seriously?

Somebody has reason to think they actually found a piece of the cross to which our dear and fluffy bamble-hussy was nailed in the way back when. And if that is true, then maybe a few other claims about that old carpenter’s cat might be true too, and damn! If that’s true, I guess I better re-evaluate a few things, not the least of them being the way I talk about our Lord and Savior.

Seriously, …uh oh!

Okay, I know it’s not really alleging proof of a miracle, but what the lie does suggest is that they have serious reason to believe a piece of wood actually dates back to the historical event of Christ’s crucifiction, and THAT would be a Hell of a piece of research to produce. It really would.

Jesus2But wait a minute, the actual headline on NBC News doesn’t have quite the same force as the front page teaser on MSN. The teaser is just the sort of phrasing you would use to put a claim on the table; the actual headline could as easily be used to suggest you were getting ready to throw the claim in the trash. This whole thing just got less interesting with a single click of the mouse. Still, I wonder what the Hell this is all about.

Guess I’ll have to read the article…

Oh well, it’s right here in the first paragraph.

Turkish archaeologists say they have found a stone chest in a 1,350-year-old church that appears to contain a relic venerated as a piece of Jesus’ cross.

It turns out that what MSNBC meant was little more than that they unearthed a artifact that WAS venerated as a piece of the old bad bark by a particular people in a particular time and place. The rest of the article discusses some of the comments thrown back and forth about such artifacts in centuries past, all of which is actually quite interesting, but what this piece does NOT contain is any reason to believe that it really is a piece of the most famous chunk of wood in human and (Divine) history.

Speaking of Icons, there is definitely an iconic relationship between the marketing of this article and its informative content, one that probably shouldn’t be there. Seriously MSN-NBCNews guys, it’s one thing to tell us about holy relic hyping; it’s quite another to hype a relic yourselves. …or at least those SHOULD be two-different things. The problem is at least partly a matter of slippage between the various stages of publication and promotion, but somewhere in there a potentially interesting story has been transformed into the rhetoric of carnival barking.

So, I guess this isn’t really the journalism-as-apologetics piece that the original teaser seemed to suggest it would be. Don’t get me wrong; this is actually kind of neat – in a perfectly-sober-professional-archaeologist-doing-what-those-guys-do sorta way, maybe even in a cool-find-and-high-fives-all-around-kinda-way, but definitely not in holy-carble-monkeys-you-has-found-the-holy-of-holies kinda way.

…one of these days I’ll go back to using real words in my posts.

But not today.

Today I am just blowing raspberries at the whole damned thing.

Speaking of absolutely bunk, let’s try an online poll. This oughtta be about as meaningful as all the other junk polls you get with news stories. I only regret that it will probably fail to find it’s way into anybodies talking points.

Dammit!

.

CORRECTION: I took a second look at this and changed a few things (including the title) on accounta I still think it’s June of 2012. Thanks to John for catching my mistake.

71.271549 -156.751450

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