Signs that you are an Alaskan

I think I already mentioned that I'm pretty acclimated to the cold now. Looks like Buck is too, since he was panting at the end of our walk this morning. I mean it was like 30 degrees (wow, I can't believe that two months ago that was considered cold.-well, it still is in VA- heh!), but we weren't running or anything.

I think it helped that I finally bought some 'grippers'. They are these things you strap to the bottom of your shoes so that you don't fall down on the ice all the time. Like studded tires for your feet. I hadn't gotten any, but since everything has become a solid sheet of ice already (here comes break-up), I went to REI Sunday and picked some up. They are really great. You still slip a bit sometimes on the really smooth ice, but hardly ever. Made for a much quicker, more enjoyable walk, that's for sure.

It really warmed up today- 40 degrees when I went out earlier! Man, I'm glad I wore a short-sleeved shirt today.

Got my plane tickets for my Virginia/Hawaii trip. I even managed to get the flight from here to VA and from Hawaii back here on Alaska Airlines, so that'll be about 5K more miles for me. Another couple trips and I'll have enough for a free upgrade at least. I also managed to get a direct flight from Honolulu to Anchorage. There aren't many of them and it's an overnight flight, but it's only 6 hours in the air and no changing planes. With a little luck, I'll actually be able to sleep on the flight. I'd better be able to because I get in at like 6 am and I have to be at work at around 8 am. That's going to hurt.

While I'm in Hawaii I'm going to get meet up with one of my old Captains from Auburn AFROTC days. Well, he was a Captain then, now he's a Lt. Col. Very excited to get to meet back up with he and his wife and their son, Brandon. The last time I saw Brandon he was a toddler, and I think he's like 11, maybe 12 now. Makes we feel so old. No clue what I'm going to do on my weekend in Hawaii yet. I think I'm too pale for laying on the beach, so I'll have to see if there are any tours I can take or something. I'd love to learn how to surf, but I'm so out of shape I think I'd end up hurting myself. LOL! I'm looking forward to Hawaii, but not as much as I think some folks would. I'm going to be sure to get up early enough to catch the sunrises, but I'm just not much of a beach bum, so I need to see what else there is to do there. I'm sure there's plenty- you just don't hear much about it.

After Hawaii, I'll only have about twelve states left to visit. I'm going to get Washington State pretty soon I hope. I have an old college buddy down in Seattle that I need to hang out with before he moves to the east coast in a couple months. I'll have gotten to all 50 states by the time I'm 40, but at this rate, I might make them all by 35! Hmmm, that would mean voluntarily going to New Mexico though. Maybe not. Too bad I didn't manage to get up to Connecticut and Vermont and New Hampshire while I was living on the east coast. Could have had those all knocked out at once. Oh, well, I bet I'll have been to 40 out of 50 before I hit 35. That's still pretty impressive. It almost makes up for never having been outside the country except to Canada once. Heh! Well, hey, I'm pretty close to Russia and Japan, now- maybe I'll have to check them out. :) They are both closer than the east coast.