This blog is now closed. In October of 2013, I lost my job (defunded by the Federal Government). Juneau is so expensive and so isolated that I knew we couldn't stay if I weren't working. I tried to find another job, but we really didn't have the resources to be able to wait for very long.

At the end of November, I did find another job, but we had to move. We're now in Washington DC, where I lived hears ago. I hope we can return to Juneau someday, but until then, I'm not going to post here anymore.

I really miss Juneau...seriously.

all is peachy

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't updated this blog after Chris and Dante got here. Heh.

They arrived on schedule on March 1 at about 9:30 in the morning. I had picked up the keys to our new place the night before and moved some household items, such as a litter box for the cats and toilet paper and laundry detergent, into the house. My landlords were still moving out, which I knew would be the case, so I left everything in the garage.

I was so excited to see Chris and Dante. It turned out that a) they'd stored a lot more stuff back in Virginia than I'd thought they would and b) we had pretty much NO money, but we somehow managed to muddle through for the next few weeks. On my next paycheck, we bought a recliner and sofa for almost nothing, and a little bit later we bought Dante a bed (he slept on an air mattress till then). We still want to buy s a king bed for ourselves (and put the queen we're sleeping on in the guest bedroom) but we are in no hurry to do that. Oh, we've also acquired a ping pong table because we all love ping pong. I haven't been playing recently, but I need to get back to doing that because it's a lot of fun.

Our other major acquisition is a dog, a chocolate lab mix named Koda whom we adopted from the local Humane Society. She's a sweetie, aside from her penchant for eating everything in sight. I got a large, energetic dog because I want to be challenged to get in (better) shape, and she is definitely keeping me on my toes. I haven't managed to tire her out yet.

Chris is starting a handyman business here, and doing insurance surveys for a company based in New York, so he's keeping busy. Dante is enjoying the mild summer, and the fact that he can walk to the library and (some) shopping whenever he wants. So I would say we're all pretty well settled in.

We're having another beautiful (well, in my opinion) summer here - mostly cool-ish, lots of rain, but also some decent sunny and warm days. It actually got up in the 80's for a bit, which I didn't really enjoy, but it was only for a few days. In a way it was kind of nice, because one of those days was Knit In Public Day (yes, this is a thing) and so I was sitting outside in a strapless sundress enjoying the breeze from the ocean as I worked on whatever I was working on at the time.

So I've been here a YEAR and I am loving it just as much as when I first arrived. There are bad things about Alaska - the expense of living here, the lack of some things I used to take for granted, and so on - but just looking out the window makes so much of that worthwhile, even on a "bad weather" day. One of my friends tells me she won't believe I'm staying till I've been here for three years...TWO TO GO!

I will continue to blog here from time to time about experiences I'm having here that aren't like those I've had elsewhere, and stuff like that. Thank you all for joining me on my Alaska adventure!

pins and needles

It's now exactly ONE MONTH until Chris and Dante will be moving here, and I'm so excited I can hardly think.

The original idea was for them to rent a U-Haul, pack all our stuff (and the cats) into it, hitch a car trailer to it, and drive to Haines, AK where they would ferry to Juneau. Then Chris decided that perhaps taking the car wasn't the best idea, so he decided to sell the car (he hasn't done that yet but I know the woman we bought it from wants to buy it back).

Then I got into a minor car accident with my Toyota. Basically, the streets were a mess after a snowfall, and it was hard to see what was street and what wasn't at this particular intersection (it's an exit instead of a right turn). I was meaning to go straight but was too far over to the right and hit the exit/median instead. It wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been the exact right mix of darkness, street mess, and precipitation messing up my windshield. Nor would there have been any damage to my car if there hadn't been a sign for the exit that I hit.

The signs are designed to snap off when you hit them and they just spring right back up, so I'm not being charged with anything, and there were no other cars involved. My darling Toyota has a busted headlamp, a slightly dented hood, and a completely destroyed front bumper. A full repair job will be twice what I paid for the car, but just to get it street legal is going to take 2-3 weeks (no local parts) and $1,000. So there goes Chris's ability to rent a truck and drive (although it was looking doubtful anyway).

So now the new plan is that Chris is going to sell 99% of our possessions and he and Dante will fly out here. In a way, we're all relieved; the drive was going to be a huge pain in the ass, and I was worried about the  cats. In another way, I'm kind of freaked about jettisoning all our stuff, particularly since I will not be present for the process. But we do have a lot of stuff that we don't need, and doing things this way will actually give us a bunch of money left over to replace stuff that we DO need. Renting the truck would have meant we'd have pretty much no money when he arrived.

Not everything is going; some stuff will be shipped here and a very few things will be stored. And in one month, the boys will fly out here, and we'll all be together again.

In the meantime, I'll be taking the bus to work until my car is (somewhat) fixed. This week, my other roommate has been driving me, as he works next door, but he's going to be traveling for the next two weeks. Fortunately, there IS a bus that would not work on a permanent basis (it gets me to work an hour later before I should be there and I end up shorting my work time by about 30 mins) but which should be okay for a couple of weeks anyway.

I'm told that ditch diving is a rite of passage here, so I'm hoping that's the worst accident I ever have.

on the move

I've been quite anxious lately because Chris and Dante are arriving in a couple of months (I keep saying mid-Feb but that's actually when they are leaving VA; they'll arrive in AK a couple of weeks later) and I haven't known where we'll be living. It's really hard to find rental property in Juneau; we don't have apartment complexes like they do in the rest of the country. Apartments exist but they are intended for low or no income folks and have long waiting lists (and I'd consider it unfair to put my name in for that reason). On top of it, most of the rentals that do exist don't allow pets, and we still have two cats. So I was going a little crazy.

However, my "government boss" wanted to buy a house and rent out the current house he's got, and it turned out that his timing and mine coincide pretty much exactly. So on March 1, I'll be moving into a gorgeous (and fairly new) house in Mendenhall Valley. It's in a development where the houses are attached, but it's an end house with a fence around 3/4s of it, and the side that's attached is the garage side. We can walk (in decent weather anyway) to shopping, post office, movies, and the local library, and it's only a couple of miles from where I work. It's got three bedrooms and two full baths, and my boss had just finished building a fully wired workshop in the back yard. They're leaving all of the appliances, including the washer/dryer. They're fine with our cats and we can get a dog if we want. There's a ton of parking. There is no homeowners' association (YAY!).

I'll be moving in right around the time Chris and Dante arrive, i.e. March 1 (though I'm hoping I can at least start moving some boxes in a bit before that). The roommate I'm currently renting from would have liked me to be out sooner, but he had to go out of town until April, so he's actually benefiting from my continued presence since he's getting more rent, and I'll be out before he comes back. So it's all worked out, and I'm happy as a clam. 

...Do clams really have emotions?

Here's a picture of the house from the outside:

. 

it's cold in these here hills

WOW it got cold. The temp got down in the teens/single digits a couple of weeks ago, then we had a week of high 30's, and now it's back down again. During the time that it was a little warmer, it rained and snowed a lot, which resulted in a lot of ice. I was alone in my house during that time, so I had to maintain the driveway by myself, and I wouldn't say that I was exactly successful in keeping it ice-free. I don't have studded tires or chains, and my driveway is a hill, so I've just been parking at the top (street level) since it got really snowy anyway. However, when my roomie came back, he said that I hadn't done anything wrong, so that was good. I was kind of nervous about that. 

My friend C's driveway, which is level, was a complete ice rink. I was actually wishing I had skates as I navigated my sloooooow way across it. A lot of people wear ice cleats on their boots here and I kind of wish I'd gotten a pair when I first saw them. If I see them again I'll pick some up. Anyway, I've broken out the long undies. The cold only really bothers me early in the morning because I'm not really awake yet and I don't like being cold when I'm not really awake. Even so, I wouldn't say I hate it. 

I'm trying to do more around Juneau, simply because it's really easy many days to get up, go to work, come home, eat and sleep. Of course I have Weight Watchers on Thursday nights, plus on Friday nights I spend an evening at C's house and we watch a movie or TV or something, often while doing our nails or working on crafts or whatever. Saturdays I think I'm going to start hanging at the Viking, which is a downtown bar, to do karaoke (although I'm not sure that they consistently do karaoke on Saturday nights, and if not, I may end up either going another night or finding somewhere else to go). I just don't want to stagnate, and I really have nothing else to do with my time until Chris and Dante get here.

That's still scheduled to be in mid-February. My roommate is displeased and really wants me out earlier, because he is regretting having rented to two people. I don't blame him, as I am chafing also, but there's not really a lot I can do about it. I'm not exactly taking advantage of him (I'm paying him a fair rate in rent, and I help clean), and I would be out sooner if I could, but I can't. I'm looking at spaces though because you never know, I might find a deal.

I'm not doing anything for either Christmas or New Year's Eve, so mostly I'm ignoring their existence. I'm going for a drink with a friend New Year's Day though. We figure it'll be pretty quiet. Anyway, not much else going on. The next two months are going to be spent mostly looking for a place to live and getting ready for Chris and Dante, and trying not to get too antsy. 

through the trees...

I have a new car! She's a white 1998 Toyota Camry LE, and she's in great condition! I'm calling her Nene. I love Camrys, so I'm really happy. I bought her from my mechanic, so I really feel that the car is reliable.

I still owe $1000, but they let me take her Friday night, which was really nice of them as I was starting to go crazy without a way to get to and fro. If I really needed something my roomie would take me - so for instance, I got to go grocery shopping last Thursday (I didn't know they were going to let me have the car early then) - but I didn't feel like I could ask to go to the library and so on. So it's great having a car and having a little more freedom. On Saturday I went out just to go out; I needed a few items but mostly I just wanted to relish having a bit more freedom.

It's been snowing here off and on, and I've been enjoying it. I wasn't sure how I would feel about winter here, because while I was living in the DC area back in my 20s and early 30s I really started to hate winter. I think, though, that was because the attitude of the residents and government was that winter didn't really exist, thus they were never prepared for it, nor could they really deal with snow. I think that's why I hated it. Here, it's expected that anytime from October on till about May, it's going to be cold, wet, snowy and dark, and they have the equipment to deal with it, so it's no big deal when it happens. Of course, we'll see how I feel at the other end of the winter season - I'm sure I'll be sick of it - but so far I'm pretty content. I grew up with weather much like this (not as wet and winters not quite as long), so it's not a big stretch for me.

I've lost about 30 pounds now on Weight Watchers, and I've been a bit more active, starting to go for longer walks and so on. My biggest "problem" is that my clothes are all too big, but that's a nice problem to have. My hope is that by the time summer rolls around again I'll be fit enough to go on hikes and such. I always enjoyed walking when I was younger, but the fibromyalgia has been hitting me hard in the last decade. My medication and losing weight are really helping with that.

Here's a picture I took of the ocean while on a walk over North Douglas Highway.

finally there was snow; also, no car

It finally snowed, a couple of weeks ago. It only lasted a couple of days, but it's supposed to snow again this weekend. In fact, we had a few wet flakes even this morning. Here are some pictures:

Anyway, it was kind of fun to have some snow on the ground at last, although it also made things pretty slippery. I'm looking forward to more snowiness this weekend.

In other news, my car gave up the ghost this morning, as I knew it would eventually. I was just hoping it'd last till Chris got here. So I am taking it off to the junker tonight or tomorrow, and I am not sure what I am going to do for a car in the meantime. I live close to 20 miles away from work, so I kind of have to have a car at this point. My roomie has two, but I don't know if the one he uses primarily for hauling his boat around has winter tires on it or not (and if not, then he won't lend me either that or his primary car). I have been offered fairly decent prices (though more than I can pay in a single payment) on used cars that are more or less guaranteed to be reliable, and it's possible that I would be allowed to pay in two or three installments. So I have options, but I'm not real comfortable at the moment. The fortunate thing is that my roomie (the one with two cars) and I work together so we could, theoretically, carpool if necessary. But that makes stuff like grocery shopping a pain in the ass, plus it severely curtails what little social life I have at the moment.

SO I guess we'll see. As I said to my mom (when telling her that this pretty much torpedoes my Xmas plans), at least I have the money and just don't want to spend it on that, rather than not having the money. It makes a world of difference.

alaska day!

Happy Alaska Day! It's the 145th anniversary of the day that the US took possession of Alaska from Russia. A lot of people have the day off, because it's a state holiday, but I do not.

Last night it was supposed to snow, but it didn't. Today, tonight, and tomorrow we're supposedly going to have snow showers, but I'm pretty much set: I have my boots (2 pairs even), my winter-weight jacket, and I'm almost done crocheting a hat and mittens.

I know there are other parts of the US that already have snow, and of course the rest of Alaska has had it for about a month now, but the panhandle, where Juneau is located, is very temperate compared to the rest of the state. Having grown up in Western MA, I'm pretty confident I can handle winter here. My husband, who grew up in Maine, will find it a piece of cake.

A year ago, I was visiting my parents in MA right around this time, and we had an unexpected snowstorm. I hadn't brought boots or a heavy coat on the trip, because the snow wasn't expected. It was pretty funny trying to step around the drifts. Fortunately it all melted while I was still there. I probably should have at least brought my rubber mocs from L. L. Bean (I'm wearing them right now). They're as comfy as shoes and they would have made a huge difference. I'll probably be wearing these all winter, when I'm not wearing my knee-height Bog boots that is.

I'll take some pretty pictures of the snow when it comes!

the winter of my content

Winter is here in Alaska. No, I'm not kidding. It's snowing up on the mainland, and last night, we had our first major frost here in Juneau. It's supposed to be warmer the rest of the week, but basically, anytime after this it could snow.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready, but I don't think I mind too much. I need for Chris to send my Bean boots though. I have a pair of knee-high Mucks, but I figure the Bean boots are probably sufficient unless I'm actually wading through snowbanks. The Bean boots are essentially shoes, really, but for snow. I actually bought them in Maine on one of our trips there, and they've had only light use since then because until now I haven't lived anywhere where it snows a lot.

Yesterday, on the way to work, my engine overheated. I am hoping I managed to stop before the head gasket got damaged, but of course you can't know without taking the engine apart. It's not so bad at this point, anyway, that I have water in my oil or whatever (I did check). I didn't have coolant with me, so I had it towed to a mechanic, who put some in and said it started up without overheating again. I drove it home (after work) and my roomie and I checked the coolant level which had not really changed noticeably (although he did put some more in anyway). Tonight we're going to check it again and then after that I'll check it on weekends. My big issue with checking it, actually, is that the hood is hard to open -- it actually takes one person pulling the release inside the car and another person doing the actual opening. But I have two roomies so as long as one of them is around to help it should be cool.

My feeling is that I want to go ahead and get it fixed (although if I'm going to pay someone to open it up I hope the gasket's actually cracked, because the cost of fixing it is mostly labor and I'll have to pay it even if there's nothing to fix), even though fixing it will cost way more than I paid for her in the first place. This might seem like a silly thing to do, but my only two alternatives are either buying another inexpensive car - which might develop the same issue or, who knows, might even already HAVE a cracked head gasket - or putting a down payment on a new or certified pre-owned car and having to make payments for years (but of course having the security of a warranty).

I would like to think that I will never have a period of unemployment or financial crisis again. As jobs go, from everything I have been told, this one is very stable. But I am pretty gun-shy on the subject, and right now I'm stressed out by the fact that the contract I'm on hasn't been renewed yet. It very likely will be, and from what I've been given to understand, I'd very likely remain in my job even if my company lost the contract to another company simply because I'm here and I'm competent, but right now is really not a great time for me to be contemplating car payments. That said, if Chris and Dante were already here, I might very well go for it, and if the car lasts that long, a new or certified pre-owned car may be the way I go.

Anyway! Juneau is still breathtakingly beautiful. Pretty much every day as I'm driving in I'm just marveling at how gorgeous it is. Yeah, I'm a sucker for natural beauty. I'm so glad I'm here.

it's just water...from the sky

I've been traveling! I've taken two trips, one (aborted unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances) to the Alaska mainland, and then one to Washington DC for training. DC is only about 3 hours from where Chris and Dante are still living, so I got to see them on Chris's day off (Wednesday) and then spent the weekend with them. I returned on Monday (my 49th birthday) and am getting back in the swing of things.

I found I kind of missed DC and was really happy to spend some time there. I went to college there, and lived in the area for about 15 years, so I have a lot of memories of the place. I felt a little wistful with having moved so far away at first.

It was funny though. On Tuesday a big storm blew through the area and everybody was going on about all the rain. I found I didn't mind it a bit, although I did get pretty wet Tuesday night walking back to my hotel from the class. By the time my plane landed in Juneau the following Monday night, I was really glad to be back in the soft, cool wetness, and I've been happy as a clam since, even though yesterday I had a sore throat (probably from being so tired), and I'm still pretty out of it today (though the sore throat is gone). I'll probably be fine by tomorrow.

 I do miss Chris and Dante terribly. We've been paying bills and stuff and so we haven't really been able to put any money away for them to make the move out here, which means they'll probably have to wait till our tax refund hits. That's not too far off from the original plan, but I wish some sort of miracle would occur that would allow them to move out here sooner. We'll manage; we have to. But it kind of sucks.

Here, have a gratuitous picture of some Alaskan mountains on the way to Anchorage!

news flash: it's gorgeous

Wow, it's been a while. I didn't have anything really new to talk about. I've been making some new friends, and I've joined Weight Watchers, but nothing really blog-worthy.

When I got here, it was "high summer", but the temps were mostly in the mid-fifties during the day, which I take it is cool even for Juneau. During the latter part of July and much of August, the temps reached the mid 60's to low 70's, but it didn't get any warmer than that (which suits me fine). As of now, it's back to mid-50's to very low 60's during the day, with mid to low 40's at night, which again suits me.

Right at the moment, our days are about as long as they are on the mainland, give or take a few minutes. I'm not sure when I'm really going to notice that we have a lot lesslight, but I'm sure I will definitely notice it. I'm not sure how much it will matter, and I do have a SAD lamp, so I should be okay.

I confess I haven't been going out a lot or doing "Alaska" things because I'm saving a lot of that stuff for when Chris and Dante move up here (although even so, they'll have to wait for summer to come again to do some of them). I've been trying to take some decent pictures, but I need to edit them. My laptop hard drive died, and I'm waiting for the replacement to come in, and then perhaps I'll post some pictures. Even a crappy day here often yields some gorgeous scenery.

I did drive "out the road" (i.e. to the end of Glacier Highway) the other day with a friend and saw some GORGEOUS views. I didn't take any pictures, though, so I will have to do it again. The road is in bad repair up towards the end (they are widening it) and so it might take me a while. But if I ever question what I'm doing here, that's a drive I can take to remind myself.

new (to me) car!

I've bought a car! One thing that is pretty much de rigueur here in Alaska is four wheel drive, so that was one thing I looked for in a car. I didn't even look at cars that didn't have it, because we will already have such a car when Chris arrives, as he's bringing ours.

I went through Craigslist, because I didn't have a ton of money to spend. I found a guy who flips cars, and bought from him, because even if what he had to sell wasn't pretty I was fairly sure that he had a reputation to protect. He had more than one car for sale, but the one I purchased was a 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.

I actually found (and test drove) the car last week, and asked him to save it for me till I got paid (today). I guess he'd had trouble selling the car, because he agreed and even reduced the price on it. So today I met with him, gave him money, he signed the title over, and I've got a new car!

She's dark blue (except where's she's been reconstructed, which is that black anti-rust paint stuff), with a dark blue velour interior. The tag on the key fob the guy gave me says "Ugly Subaru", but she's not ugly to me. We've already bonded, and I've named her Morgen. I'm going to take great care of her.

Along with registering the car, I got my Alaska driver's license, so I'm now completely legal. After work today, I'm going to go buy a bed, and then I'll be set on the big stuff.

It's been sunny here all week, but today it started to rain. I don't mind; the sun was actually making me a little nervous. I think my co-workers are all a little annoyed at me though because I mentioned in a meeting that I was wishing it would rain. Oops.

speed bump

Well, I've hit my first really annoying bump. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, because of course, I'd seen the notices on mail-order sites saying that they ship (certain items) only to the contiguous US.

I need to buy a bed. My roomie, when I first moved in, lent me an airbed (which leaks) but told me that when his houseguest (mom) left, I could use the spare bed. It later developed, however, that what he meant was that I could use the spare bed if he didn't have houseguests. He doesn't often have them, I guess, but he wants that bed available for when they're there.  And he does have some guy coming next month who will need the bed for a few weeks (I guess).

Well, that's fine, I'd been intending to buy a bed. I have back problems, so I decided on a new bed rather than taking my chances on Craigslist. So, because we have Prime, I decided to order off Amazon. I picked out a bed and a platform frame and I was all set.

Except I wasn't. I can't get those items shipped to me here. We put a man on the moon, but we can't ship a bed to friggin' Alaska. So I hopped in my roomie's car and drove to Sears, where I talked to a young man named Seth who found me a bed that I will be ordering on Friday. I forgot to ask if they'll deliver it or we have to pick it up, but either way I'm good because my roomie has a truck and has already agreed to haul it. So, bump navigated and it's all good.

In other news, I've also arranged to buy a car, a '90 Subaru Legacy. It's not in pristine condition, but it goes and I like it. My roomie's been letting me drive his Very Large SUV, but it's huge and makes me nervous to drive it. The Subie suits me, and it's a pretty dark blue.

Both of these things are happening Friday, because that's when I get paid. I hate having to wait (and I have to wait longer for the bed because it needs to be shipped to the store), but at least I have it all worked out. When I got here I had no bed, no car, and nowhere to live, and now I've got all three. Not too shabby!

a week in

I've been in Juneau a week now. I'd hoped, originally, to have explored a lot more by now, but unfortunately I came down with a cold toward the end of last week, so I've been spending all my free time resting. Viruses tend to hit me hard.

It's a pity, because the weather's been fabulous, fairly sunny and in the 60's. Fortunately, the house I'm staying in has a ton of windows and skylights, and so I haven't felt too shut in.

One of my colleagues from work met me at the airport when I flew in, and he told me that he had a room he was looking to rent out and I could move in pretty much right away. So after two days in the hotel, that's what I did. He's renting this house but looking to buy elsewhere in the area, which means the timing could work out such that when Chris and Dante arrive he'll be partially moved out and we could take over his lease. The house would be perfect for us while we're getting on our feet, so I'm hoping that it'll happen that way.

Anyway, this weekend I'm hoping to perhaps do a bit more exploring, although I'm not going to push myself too much if I'm tired. Definitely the weekend after that I'm going to be outside, rain or shine, as I'll have just gotten paid and I'll want to break in my first pair of XtraTufs boots.

Work has been great as well. I'm working as a contrator with the Coast Guard, doing infosec, and everyone's been very nice to me. My roomie has lent me a vehicle as well, until I can buy one, and so I'm pretty free to do whatever I want to do. So far I haven't used that freedom much, due to wanting to rest as much as possible, but I'm hoping to stretch my legs soon.

The house is actually in North Douglas Island, across the channel from Juneau. It's almost directly across from where I work, but there's only one bridge, so the commute takes me about 20 minutes. Still, that's not bad, and it's a gorgeous drive. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the scenery.

Here's a pic of our "backyard"...the Mendenhall Wetlands Preserve.

Nothing's quite as pretty...

My first morning in Juneau, and all I can really think about is how lovely it is. But first things first!

I'm staying at the Alaskan Hotel for my first few days, courtesy of my awesome Mom, but after that I'm most likely going to rooming with one of my colleagues. The Alaskan is charming, and currently I'm wishing only for some actual pots or even bowls in kitchenette-equipped room. I forgot to bring my camp spoon, so I'm hoping there's spoons at work so that I can make myself some oatmeal.

I didn't sleep too badly my first night (rare when I'm traveling), although the relative lack of darkness was a bit odd. Still, I'm looking forward to my first day here.

packing!

Today I took down my two rollerboard suitcases and started packing. Somehow, packing makes the trip seem real to me in a way that it hasn't, quite, up till now (although signing the offer letter definitely helped).

I think I bought these suitcases, which are definitely on the cheap side, when we still lived in Los Angeles. They're still in good condition because I've actually rarely used them, preferring to travel with duffels when possible. But I expect to do a lot of hoofing my first days in Juneau, and until/unless I find a housing situation for the first three weeks where I feel secure leaving my bags, I'd prefer that they be as easy to move around as possible. Even then, I wish I could restrict things to just one bag. If I can get it all in the checked bag, I may leave the smaller rollerboard home (I'm also taking a shoulder/briefcase bag). I'll probably need both rollerboards though, since until I find an apartment, the contents of my luggage is going to be everything I have.

I'm having a little issue with money; I thought that I would be able to sell my handgun (purchased in California, rarely used) and a couple of my guitars. Apparently, I already sold the guitar that's really the more valuable of the two (a vintage Rickenbacker). I don't remember selling it, but the particular time period in which I would have done so is kind of a blur for me for various reasons. So what I have left to sell are a couple of run of the mill violins (one a student violin) and an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe. As for my gun, I've mispI placed the key for the breech lock somewhere. I'm sure it's in a safe place, probably wherever I put its original case, but I don't know where that is right now. This means that I'm going to have to cut the lock in order to be able to sell the damn thing, which I really want to do, because it wasn't the right size for my hands anyway.

So if I can't offload those items, I'm a little at a loss as to what I'm going to do for cash. That said, I'm sure I will neither be out on the street nor starve, so while I'm nervous I'm not really freaking out or anything. I was just hoping to be in a much better position, cash-wise.

Back to packing, I guess. I'm generally a really good packer, in terms of just being able to throw stuff in a bag and go, but this is a little different. I've never really done anything like this before.

like a whisper from an angel

As an adult, I've never really had a stable life, I guess. Back when I was in my 20's, it was because my first husband and I didn't have a lot of money (but we did have kids), and so it was a bit of a struggle. In my 30's, my second husband and I moved to Los Angeles, because I really had a yen to live on the West Coast and that was the offer we had; we ended up loving it. During that time, the Dot Com boom and bust made life a little crazy.

And then in my 40's, I married my third husband, and that's when things really started to get interesting. Infosec really took off for me and I've been the breadwinner in my family, but at the same time, I've spent about 1/3 of the last decade unemployed (three separate times) because of the vagaries of the economy, where I was living at the time, and my own unique (for my chosen field) background. We've also moved twice in the last decade -- once from Los Angeles to Charlotte, NC and thence to Yorktown, VA -- and that, of course, has been a destablizing influence.

But now I think I can truly say that things have gotten wild. I'm close to the end of my 40's, have just come out of that third period of unemployment, and have accepted an offer in Juneau, Alaska. I've always loved the West Coast, and I was hoping to end up in the Pacific Northwest, but seriously...Juneau?

I barely hesitated at all when I got the offer, actually. It hadn't been all that long ago that Chris and I had thought about a move and rejected the idea. But neither of us were really getting any local employment nibbles. Yorktown is a great area but pretty much all the Infosec jobs were going to military contractors, and I was being beat out of those by ex-military. I knew that pretty much anywhere else, I would be employed, so I had broadened my search, including considering a move back to Charlotte, which had recovered from the initial crash that had hit that banking town so hard.

And then, like a whisper from an angel, I got the call from a firm that had interviewed me and almost-but-not-quite hired me. "I've got a job...but it's in Juneau. Would you consider that?" Boy would I! Especially after looking up the climate and discovering that it's cool in summer and no colder in winter than where I grew up! I do kind of wonder how I'll handle all the rain (Juneau is located in a temperate rain forest) but I don't dislike rain per se, and I was already considering moving back to a more rainy area, so I think it'll be okay.

Contemplating the trip is a little scary; currently I have nowhere to stay. I won't get paid till the end of my third week there, and I can't afford to stay in a hotel. However, I am not letting that stop me - I know something will work out. So, in about a week, I'm on my way!

My husband, Chris, and our son Dante are actually going to follow me in about six months, and Chris will be writing his own travelogue. I'll be using this blog to talk about getting myself there, my experiences when I arrive, and what it's like to settle into Juneau. I'm very excited!