Ah, the ceasless scourge of email accounts from hither to yonder! Another email from Brian of the North!
THE WINTER CARNIVAL
Well, it is once again the most wondrous time of year to be a resident of Interior Alaska. Late Winter! Gone are the gloomy and cloudy days of autumn! Gone are the dark and dark days of January, where the sunrise greeted your first coffee break at work and the sunset mocked you just after lunch!
NO!!! It is MARCH!!! Month of all things grand! I have begun preaching the idea that people who want to visit Alaska should come in March. It is one of the more beautiful times of year. Cloudless skies lead to bright sunny days and great views of the mountains and great opportunities to watch the northern lights at night.
We in Fairbanks have had reason to enjoy this season even more than usual. Our fair city, usually referred to as the Dog Sledding Capital of the World, can now be referred to as the Dog Sledding Capital of The Milky Way now. Of course there is the Yukon Quest race, this year running from Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, and the Open North American races, which start this weekend here in Fairbanks, but that is not all. As some of you may have heard, Anchorage and just about everywhere else south of the Alaska Range Mountains has had virtually NO snow this year. What snow they have had has been melted away by rain. Well, a lack of snow is somehow seen as a detriment to dog sledding, so we were able to nap the crown jewel of dog sledding, the Iditarod. They had to alter the route and find a new place to start the race, and Fairbanks got the nod. So, this past Monday, 64 mushers descended on the city and the start was held on the Chena River in the SW corner of the city. Estimates ranged that between 15,000 and 20,000 people turned out to watch the start of the race. Considering that Fairbanks and North Pole have about 70,000 residents, that is a huge percentage. It was a great spectacle.
Pictures of the Iditarod, and the other winter stuff that I plan to add soon, can be found here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/hartmannwinter/
And you can follow the race progress at the following sites:
http://www.iditarod.com
http://www.adn.com
Next on the docket is the winter carnival and all of its associated events. The Ice Park opened today and the World Ice Art Championships started as well. The single block competition started today and the multiple blocks are due to start next week. Pictures with be forthcoming!
What a time to be a Fairbanksan!! You should all be jealous!
PERMANENCE
Well, as a few of my siblings expressed when they heard the subtle bomb drop a couple of weeks ago, some of you might be surprised to learn that I have started to seriously investigate either buying or building a house here.
I will give that a minute to sink in for y'all. Heck, give me a minute to realize its implications.
I have grown to love this quaint little state. The adage goes that if you move to Alaska and don't leave within the first year, you won't leave. I used to chuckle to myself when I heard this, but now it is has a certain poignancy. I love this place. I just cannot see myself anywhere else.
LINUS UPDATE
Linus, my cat, is doing great. He is a real sweetheart, and is, like most cats, too smart for his own good. The minor health issues we had when he first arrived are gone (Kitty Cold...sneeze, ack...ala Bill the Cat).
As is the pattern when one gets any sort of pet, you start to talk to it, and it starts to respond. Of course, this could all be in my imagination, but I swear that Linus told me that I was almost out of peanut butter the other day. Or was he just saying "Hey, you stupid biped! Clean out my litter box! You think you are all that just because of your silly opposable thumb! Jeeez!"?
WORK
Work is progressing well. I finished the manuscripts on which I was named for the American Meteorological Society Conference on Polar Meteorology that I am attending in May. I learned that I will NOT be giving my first technical talk, but rather my first THREE technical talks. I am going to be the lone representative from the Center, so I will present all three papers. Dr. Martha Shulski, our first year lead climatologist, Prof. Gerd Wendler, my boss, and I have a paper about trend analysis of temperature and precipitation statewide, which is a pre-cursor to our "Climate of Alaska" atlas, which is in the works. Then, the paper that Jan Curtis, myself, and Gerd wrote based upon the work I did as an intern here in the summer of 2000 dealing with upper air climatology in the Arctic. Finally, my paper written with Gerd, dealing with abrupt climate circulation changes surrounding a regime shift in 1976. I am planning on expanding that study widely into a large study for publication this summer. Wish me luck.
A GREAT LOSS
Most of you know that I was involved in the drum and bugle corps activity for four wonderful years when I was younger, from 1993 to 1996. The experiences I gained here are a big part of who I am today.
Drum corps is a very close-knit community and so it hurts greatly when one of our own passes on, as happened this week. On Monday, at the age of 68, Col. Truman Crawford, USMC (Ret.) passed away. Though his involvement with drum corps started well before my time, I was aware of his name almost immediately upon becoming part of drum corps. His involvement with the USAF Drum and Bugle Corps, the Yankee Rebels Senior Corps, the Chicago Royalires, and most famously, the USMC "Commandant's Own" Drum and Bugle Corps are the stuff of legend. In addition to those corps, the number of corps who were either instructed by or played music written by Col. Crawford numbers in the many dozens.
1965 was a special year. During that season, every major drum corps circuit championship was won by corps playing his music or under his instruction. No less a drum corps legend than Gail Royer, who founded and led the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum Corps from 1967 to 1992 stated that, despite all of the magical performances that he had a hand in during his tenure at SCV, including 5 Drum Corps International World Championships, the 1965 Royalaires remained as his pinnacle of drum corps performance.
Cpl. Leland Jordon, my great friend from drum corps and college now plays contrabass with the USMC "Commandant's Own" and is, no doubt, in a much better position to tell you more about Col. Crawford.
A very nice and moving tribute to him can be found here:
http://www.dci.org/news/announce/item.php?xId=0637072008320720
It is worth the read. Trust me.
And finally, it just wouldn't be an unbearably long email from Brian if there wasn't...
INJECTIONS D'HUMEUR
"Hey, Dad. I am going to a party. Will you do my homework for me?"
"Sorry, son, but it wouldn't be right."
"Maybe not, but why don't you give it a shot anyway."
And another joke...
How many reference librarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
"I don't know. Let me get back to you."
And finally...
"So, would you like a cup of coffee?"
"No, ma'am. When I drink coffee, I can't sleep."
"Hmph...that is interesting. For me, it is the other way around. When I sleep, I can't drink coffee!"
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this latest dispatch from the far north. Just a quick reminder, there is no rule agaist actually writing back to me, you know. It is easy...that little button that says "Reply" is the one to hit...THERE it is...yeah, that is the one.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Brian "Semper Fi, Tru!" Hartmann