I heart volcanoes

Stupid ashfall. Messed up date night. Who watches the Watchmen? Not me. Who closes a movie theater because ash is falling? What kind of ash related disaster are they saving people from? A kid free night comes along as a rarity and it was wasted on a night watching The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (actually a pretty good movie, the intricacies of Wes Anderson’s films bring me joy) while eating Subway at my mother-in-law’s house. With businesses closing down left and right to protect their patrons, we were forced to the Blue Fox for drinks. A good dive bar knows that the only way to protect people from a volcano is with cheap beer and pool. Upon entering, a man walked out into the same air we were breathing wearing a remarkably complex respirator. The biggest punishment levied by the volcano gods was that we were forced to listen to the entire catalog of Evanessence while waiting for our drinks. Skiing is out for the rest of the week/winter, unless we get some new snow. Stupid volcano.

On a plus note (for us, not them), the volcano has marooned the Robert’s family at our house on their way back to Kodiak. This has given Jackson and the twins a couple of new playmates who will be missed when they return, and has revived the good old days of Hotel Church with a multitude of adults, children and animals all living under the same roof.

Yay! Kids!

Figured we'd better get in a little snow time before the volcano wiped out the rest of our winter. Here are a couple of pix of the kids, and a short video of Jackson on his kicksled. If only Maggie would pull me like this when we skijor.






PS-in a brilliant observation by Team Edwards in Sitka, please play the Britney Spears video and the Big Lebowksi video clips at the same time. Idle hands are the Devil's tools.

I have the best job ever!

Win a job in Australia...Fail. Have a great job here...Win. I am pretty fortunate in this day and economy to have a fairly secure and well paid/benefitted job. I am very thankful for that. I am especially thankful today as my schedule came out for the next few months, and I have a significant portion of summer off or on a decent rotation. This means much of the summer will be spent on the Homestead, hiking and fishing. Sweet. Now all I need is a dune buggy. The additional benefit is that I will have time to play if anyone is passing through town or actually wants to come visit us. Again, sweet. Duty calls, back to the ER. I'll try and post some kid pix soon. There seems to be a distinct lack of my beautiful children on this page.

Bored with too much to do

Motivational issues. I always seem to have this problem on my week off. I am a man built for structure and lists. Mind you, I've gotten quite a bit done and managed to watch High School Musical (it's no Confessions of a Shopaholic, let me tell you). Jana gets a little upset because I tend to fill my time off with taking on extra shifts or moonlighting. I try not to, but I am just better at working, than not. Not really sure what to do about that. Fortunately I have a little more leisure time the next couple of weeks. Perhaps I'll get used to the pace and not be so mopey. I keep claiming that this is the perfect opportunity to write, but again the lack of time structure defeats me. Anyone else have this problem? Know a cure?

Sweet, sweet powder

First day off in 22 days. Skied today. Again. Second time this year. Second time in two years. Visibility...zero. Temperature...10 degrees. Wind...of course. Awesome...yeah, baby, awesome. I reconciled my recent old man post and had a fantastic powder day. Almost turned around when we arrived at the mountain due to visibility (Anchorage was sunny), but there were only a handful of people skiing today and I skied untracked powder all day long. An additional 4-6 inches by the time we left. It was such a beautiful thing. I have a nice set of wobbly legs and a warm, warm windburn to keep me at peace tonight.

If you seek Rob

I figured most of you who visit this site would not come across this video without me (wisely so, perhaps). All mediocrity aside, you've gotta love dirty double entendres.


I miss the school girl Britney.

Another reason for hardwood floors

Vomit. Frothy, white, chunky, projectile baby vomit. Fortunately most of it collected on my sweater, although the floor, arm of the sofa and the dog took minor hits as well. All I can smell is sour milk. I guess the plus side is that all I can smell is sour milk. Could be peas. Used to like milk. Used to like peas.

Also into cats...

Skipped work, saw Coraline, in real 3D today. Awesome. Odd movie, with an odd plot, beautiful stop motion animation, and the 3D part was super cool. Not crazy Disneyland 3D super cool, but totally appropriate-wow this is in 3D cool. Go see it. Seriously. In 3D.

Also, in an effort to bring smiles, please enjoy the following video clips.



See what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?

Sad, but true

Sorry kids, we're not going to Australia. Thanks to everyone for checking out the video. It was a lot of fun to make. The good news is that I get to spend the summer in Beautiful Alaska! Maybe there will be more writing and less self promotion around here nowadays.