… and so Fall has officially begun in Juneau:

Fog, mist, rain: a little taste of what the Wx holds for all us Panhandlers around this time of year. It doesn’t get much better than that!

-P

Those in the know know that I am finally settled in New York (city) and neck deep in school. I have mixed feelings about the program I am in, which I’d be happy to discuss with anyone, but I am very happy to be back in the academic saddle.

I’d like to bring your attention to an article last week in the NYTimes illuminated one of the tools I used on my last trip, through eastern up to northern Africa. Couchsurfing.com was recommended to me while I was traveling in Uganda, first as a method for reducing costs and then as a way to make friends in some of the stranger, more difficult places that I might be going to.

The concept: make the world smaller and friendlier by bringing together strangers who share a common interest in exploring the world and having fun. Those with couches (or futons or spare bedrooms or floorspace) post availability, while those seeking space look for them. Safety is the number one concern in this kind of exchange, but the site and it’s participants do a pretty good job of keeping things on the level. I used the site with great success in Rwanda, Sudan, and Israel; meeting many kind people and opening up my understanding of those places a little more than I would have otherwise.

If you are interested in opening up the world a bit, drop me a line. I’d be happy to fill you in on the details of my experience.

In the meantime, if you aren’t thrilled about having a stranger share your space, but you want to think about what this kind of internet social networking means for the future of real political and social organizations, chew on what Pico Iyer mentions in the article. Saskia Sassen’s last book Territory, Authority, and Rights is probably a source that I’ll be following up on later.

In other news:  Happy birthday Peter.

In the recently released Beyond DeLay Report, 22 memebers of congress were cited as having a hand in rather unscrupulous dealings. Of these, all three memebers of Alaska’s congressional delegation were cited. Sen. Ted Stevens, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young. One more scolding to add to a long sordid list. Shame.

-Peter

ps, Juneauites, you should all direct yourselves to JDHS on the 28th @ 6pm for our first Critical Mass! Drinks at Silverbow afterwards.

Wow, its been quite a while since I put words up here. Since the last post authored by me, I’ve retired my other humble blog, and decided to amalgamate all e-wordyness to a single space. So, a quick update:
I’ve been spending most of my time travelling lately. After arriving in Juneau from down south, I began work as a glacier guide for TEMSCO, a run-of-the-mill southeast (AK) evil-empire helicopter/tour company. This was pretty much to make enough cash to go on a float trip down the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers, one of the more remote places on can make their way to in the region. Two weeks of floating through UNESCO world heritige material, yum! Pics are up on flickr.

Immediately after returning from the Tat, I popped into school for two short days before flowing up to Anchorage and the Kenai peninsula (pics on flickr, link to the right) to participate in the AK cell of Friends of the Pleistocene. Drinking with geologists from all over the state, talking geologic history, hanging in Homer, and planning next years get together in juneau were all integral portions of the weekend.

Finally, last weekend was the International Klondike Road Relay, an 10 leg relay between Skagway, AK and Whitehorse, YT. We placed 17th in our category out of 46, not bad for a first time team. More suprisingly was my personal results, a decent 7:27/mi average over 13.9 miles and placing 14th out of the 116 runners on leg 5. Also not bad for an untrained run at 1am after beer, the consumption of unhealthy amounts of pasta, and a 6 hours of cheering & supporting. The night went on and on until we were the third runners into the finish (though the race is done in heats and starts @ 7pm with everyone running through the night). Large quantaties of alcohol and several manic hours of dancing later found us soaking our headaches in the Takhini Hot Springs and grilling spectacular burrito sandwiches in the parking lot before retiring back to the car for the long journey home. Pics are still forthcoming for this event.

Onward and upwards, the first weeks of school have brought the rain in typical september fashion, nothing to do but work, organize, house-seek, and maybe make a few strides in the saturated trails…

-P