If you're gonna do it, do it right.

I have delayed this post, as we were waiting for some details, I wasn't sure anyone was reading anymore, and I was trying to be clever. Two out of three ain't bad. Jana is doing well. She has been pretty sick with this one, and we weren't quite sure why. She is now 14 weeks (check the dates to dispell many conception rumors) and starting to feel better. At least the $1000 anti-nausea meds haven't been necessary for two days (thank God for insurance). We are starting to figure out which end is up. I had decided that the only thing truly under my control was the purchase of a new car. We have the trusty ol' Jeep, but with our expanding family, I felt we needed another vehicle aside from my collection of bicycles (and tricycle). Being a pragmatic, liberal, environmentally friendly, forward thinking kind of guy, I had decided to get a Prius. Maybe someday I could convert it to a plug-in model. Then I realized...how can you fit three car seats into a Prius? (note ominous foreshadowing music...dondondon)

Yes, Margret, your heard it right here. Who's got fertility? These guys. Twins, God help us all, twins. We don't know the sex yet, and we don't know if they are identical yet. They each have a placenta and their own sac, but they could still be identical or fraternal. We will be calling them C4 and C5 for the time being. Perhaps another naming contest is in order. Anyway, more to come. I will be pricing Suburbans and mini-vans. Wish me luck.

Speaking of luck, good luck to those at Potlach this weekend. Wish I could join you.

It's a freakin DQ!

To show the world what a metropolitan place that Anchorage is, I'd like to announce that we just opened a DQ Grill and Chill. Now Dairy Queen is not new, not really hip, and has been in Alaska for years. The DQ in Anchorage closed some time back, but there has always been one in Soldotna. The opening however, has generated news coverage, and lines out the door during all operating hours. I've heard rumors that it had the highest grossing days every for a DQ. Ever!

I just drove by, hoping to get a blizzard. There were 22 cars in the drive through lane, and over 50 people in line inside. I got no blizzard. You'd think it was a Krispy Kreme, or an In-n-Out. Maybe we are all a little more desperate up here.

On a couple of side notes, The WHite Stripes and Cake will be coming to Anchorage. Finally, good music. Oh yeah, and Jana is pregnant. More to follow.

Wash Me

On the road a couple of weeks ago, I saw an industrial delivery van with the word "SERENDIPITY" etched in the long accumulated detritus that covered it's rear cargo door. I have to qualify that this was outside of London. Never have I seen truck graffiti in the US that has risen above "WASH ME," "JESSE SUCKS," or "PANTERA!". It was quite refreshing, somewhat intimidating, and was a good opportunity to reflect on the intelligence/education/cleverness of our population. (It's frightening low sometimes, why don't people just try?)



Perhaps, together, we can start something new. A revolution of introspection, inspiration, and humor written in dirt. If you would, please write words of thought, words of outrage, words of peace, or just something that is funny on the back of your nearest favorite vehicle in need of a wash (it's better if it isn't your own). Send me a picture. I will begin to log them here. Hopefully this will go over better than the mixed metaphor contest (still taking entries if your playing). Peace.

Women's Prison

I had the opportunity over the past month to spend some time in the Highland Mountain Women's Correctional Facility. Believe it or not, it was not nearly as sexy as my cinematic education has led me to expect. Oddly enough, this was not my first time at Highland Mountain. I played a softball tournament there while I was in high school, against teams such as the MatSu Stealers. It was a men's prison at that time, and before that it was a rehab facility. Oddly enough, a rather picturesque place.

I slept in the waiting room for nearly an hour before the guard came to process my paperwork and give me an orientation. I was there to provide medical services to the inmates as part of my training. My orientation consisted primarily of signing paperwork, reading a story (about a guard who tried to be nice and help an inmate's family...he got shanked...moral of the story: Don't be friends with inmates), and a short lecture on the pecking order of the inmates. Felons wear yellow jumpsuits. Misdemeanors wear blue. The psychiatric inmates wear red. An extremely pleasant female guard told me, with a smile on her face, and a spark in her voice, that they can shoot yellow jumpsuits and red jumpsuits off the fence. The blue ones can get away. The State Troopers will get them.

I wonder what color jumpsuit Paris has.