Marathon Relayin'

Here's a picture of Tiffany and one of her co-worker interns Arielle after they ran a marathon relay together with two other interns. Tiff did the 8.5 mile uphill-on-dirt portion and Arielle did the 5.2 mile leg at the end.

We just got back from a 40 mile bike ride to Eagle River. It was great. I'm a bit hungry though, because it's 5pm and all I've eaten today is breakfast(!) in the grand Bartzian tradition.

Swingin' on the Swings

Here's one more note from Jessica Levy, that sweet, kind (to babies and animals), great cook, and wonderful reader who has probably given up on me ever mentioning her on bussmann.bigwhoop.org: "me falling asleep on the ride to Homer and waking up alone, scared, and confused in an abandoned vehicle." Fortunately, she survived that dangerous encounter with the Great Alaskan Wilderness and has been able to continue gracing the world with her presence ever since. Here's what Tiffany and Joe were doing while Jessica was busy sleeping and getting deserted:

Here's a picture of the four of us (me, Tiff, Jess, and Joe) flying around on a four-person swing set:

Sans Shane

While I was baking in Arizona, Jessica and Tiffany were kind enough to take my camera up Flat Top for a few nice photographs. Here's one of them:

We saw salmon swimming upstream today! It was in a river near Tiffany's work downtown. There were all these fishermen trying to catch them as they swam upriver (doesn't look easy at all I might add), but most of them made it, although one poor guy didn't.

Bike ride today at lunch, tonight before dinner, last night before dinner, and tomorrow to frisbee. So far so good on getting use out of the bike. Probably 35 miles over Mon.-Wed.

It's Wet and Cold (And I'm Loving It!)

The high today has hovered around right around 50 degrees -- that's just about half the high in Tucson! It's also been raining all day today. Tiff and I celebrated by staying inside and reading all day long. I started and finished the first Harry Potter book in two sittings. And, as you might expect, Tiff's off on a run. She only raced for 8 miles uphill as part of a 4-person marathon relay, so it stands to reason that she needs a little exercise today. Of course who could refuse to run in cold, sopping-wet rainy weather like today??

Back to AK

Tomorrow morning I head back to Alaska, and let me tell you, I am going to enjoy having double digit temperatures again. According to me, this is the hottest summer ever in Tucson and I'll be dang glad to be departing!

I think the plan is to stay up all night Saturday night, since it's almost the longest day of the year and it's a Saturday, and because Tiff will have run 8 miles in a marathon relay along the coastal trail near Anchorage.

Big News

My computer monitor at work is now twice as high off the table as it used to be, encouraging good posture at work and discouraging painfully dangerous back surgery 40 years (or less!) down the line.

See, life in Tucson is just so darn exciting.

On a more serious note, Matt and Sang checked out of Hotel Bartz & Bussmann last night. I told them to give me their address in Phoenix when they've settled down so that I can send them the bill for their stay. Hopefully, they won't forget the 15% gratuity I charge.

It's Almost 10pm

But it's still over 90 degrees outside, yikes! Fortunately I'm headed back to Alaska on Saturday.

No pictures associated with this recap from the Kenai Fjords trip, but at least we will have the pleasure of Jessica's razor-sharp wit:

[A]rriving in Homer at 1am, stopping at Bidarka Inn Best Western (with one elderly woman ahead of us) to check for rooms only to find out that all of the local hotels and motels were booked solid. EXCEPT for the charming Heritage "Hotel." For a modest price ($148!!) we had two double beds, running hot and cold water, and cable tv! We had little use for the tv, except to annoy Tiffany when she emerged from the shower and chided us for catching a couple of minutes of "Fresh Prince." Hmpff.

Makin' Pizza

Here's a picture of my friends Matt and Sang after we spent the evening cooking an awesome pizza pie!

It's a very special pizza, because the sauce is a spinach pesto sauce that used fresh basil from our garden, which has been flourishing thanks to the daily watering provided by the neighbors while we were gone. We tried growing a garden last fall, but had very little success, in large part because the plants we got at the nursery were already too mature when we bought them, so they didn't even grow out of their original soil volume. This spring, however, our friends Maggie and Aleks very kindly gave us little basil and tomato seedlings that we planted back in February. They must have been really hardy seedlings, because now the garden is booming and we've already made three pesto recipes (one went to the neighbors across the street). The tomatoes are just starting to ripen, but I don't think I'll get any before I leave for Alaska on Saturday.

Holgate Glacier

Well I screwed up in my post yesterday! I should have said at the outset that my friends Matt and Sang are in town for a few days and staying at our house. It's really nice to have them as guests and I'm enjoying seeing them for the first time in quite awhile (a couple of years, in fact). Thanks to Tiff for reminding me not to be a jerk!

In other news, here's a picture of me and Tiff in front of Holgate Glacier.

Here's Jessica's take on the dinner we ate near Holgate Glacier: Shane loves salmon! He ate three salmon dinners aboard the Kenai fjord tour catamaran.

And here she is pointing me out to Joe as I wolf down yet another salmon dinner!

Lo Siento

Apologies for the lack of updates! Things just aren't that exciting here in Tucson you know. Tomorrow I will post another picture from the trip to the Kenai Fjords, to go along with another uncannily useful comment from Jessica.

Homer's Winery

From left to right: Joe, Jessica, Tiffany, and Shane.

This picture was taken after we visited the premier winery in all of Homer, AK. Here's what Jessica has to say: "buying wine--noone expected to buy any and we each left with an expensive 26 dollar bottle of wine WITH THE EXCEPTION of Shane, who was only willing to shell out a 20 for the chintzy strawberry-rhubarb. blech."

Thanks for that very informative summary Jessica! Just one clarification on my part: I was in fact only willing to shell out $18, as the strawberry-rhubarb was easily the cheapest wine on the list!

Alaskan Wildlife

Towards the beginning of the Kenai Fjords Tour we went on last weekend, we saw a few Bald Eagles. Below is probably the best shot I took:

It's of the immature variety, or as Jessica might call it, the "amateur" variety.

Probably the most common question I got today at lunch was what time the sun sets in Anchorage, AK. The answer is about 11 or 11:30pm. There, now I won't have to answer that question anymore!

Here's another tidbit from Jessica: starfish. Thanks again for that fine tidbit of info, Jessica!

The Mighty Orca

From the Kenai Fjords tour:

Any time you see a pod of orcas, you know life is good.

Jessica has urged me to note the following highlight from our trip this past weekend: "Volcanoes." Thanks for that very special note Jessica!

In other news, I was 24 hours late to my flight this morning. Apparently I was supposed to leave at 1am Sunday morning instead of Monday morning. Fortunately, they stuck me on the Monday flight and everything worked out fine. I didn't sleep too well on the plane, but I did get a few hours of naptime in during the afternoon evening.

It's weird to have nighttime again. Makes me feel like it's winter, even though it's almost triple digits outside in the daytime.

Just Got Back From Homer, AK

Jessica Suzanne Levy, Joe "Paranoid" Fernandez, Tiffany Marie Bartz, and I had a great trip to the Kenai Fjords this weekend. We had an incredible time viewing all kinds of wildlife and seeing amazing scenery, including spectacular views of the Holgate glacier. However, we "voted" on which picture should be shown first, and this is the one that was chosen:

As Jessica says, "Shane is nothing if not honest." Check out Joe's rear end!

We went to Beluga point yesterday and damn that wind was blowin' up a storm! Tiff and I were both doing the "lean into the wind" thing. Here's a shot of me getting blown away:

And apologies to Jessica and Joe for not mentioning the mosquitos earlier! I should have known you two would be chomping at the bit to tour places like Mosquito Lake and get to know, at a personal level, all 27 species of mosquito that the Great White North has to offer. We'll just cancel our cruise trip so we can spend a couple days camping at the ol' ML.

Touring Mosquito Lake

Tiffany and I went on a bike ride yesterday, our first semi-long ride by ourselves, and it turned out to be quite an adventure! We got lost on our way back home and ended up on the University of Alaska campus (which, incidentally, is a nice campus) for some time. At one point we biked/walked close to a moose, but this one wasn't offended by our presence and didn't chase after us.

The real excitement started when we went down a "No outlet" road for some way (downhill), until we reached the end of the road, which went right down into a forrested gully. Naturally we decided to head through the gully in the hopes of quickly reaching the other side. At first, there was a nice little trail that we followed right down the hill, but then it bent at a 90 degree angle from where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to think about that, since we were getting swarmed, and I mean SWARMED, by mosquitos. So we got on our bikes (on the dirt trail) and biked off along the trail. Then I fell over at one point (couldn't get out of the pedals). Then we reached the end of that trail, and Tiffany spotted a building that looked close enough that we could... trudge through a marsh and get to the other side. So, that's what we did. Lets see... Tiff's shoe almost came off and sunk into the mud... Our bike spokes and chains got stuck in innumerable branches and weeds... And of course there were the ever-present mosquitos! It was quite an adventure and our feet were sopping wet when we finally reached concrete. But we made it! Jessica would have been proud.

Hockey Season is Over

Ottawa got trounced by Anaheim today to finish of the series, with the Ducks taking it four games to one. Unfortunately, this game was never really close, as Anaheim controlled the game from the get-go. It's too bad, since it was the last game of the season, but that's the way it goes (I was rooting for Ottawa myself).

Tiff is outside our apartment stretching after her run. She has a heel injury that makes even walking around a painful activity, so she has to spend a long time before and after she runs stretching to make sure that the heel is doing ok. Looks like she remembers the stretching routine from X-country pretty well!

As a final note, let me announce that the next commenter will secure the 500th comment this blog has seen. Who will be the lucky one to grab #500?? Will it be Jessica Levy? Or will she be too busy preparing for her and Joe's visit to the last frontier?!?

Best Commercial Ever

I'm watching the French Open today and yesterday, and probably the best thing I have seen is the following commercial, which is just so darn good that I have to share it with you.

First, imagine dramatic piano music playing softly in the background. Then the narrator comes on, saying "Where would you go for a delicious panini hot off the grill?" *Dramatic pause* "How about your microwave? For a crispy panini at home, try our full menu of Corner Bistro panini. Steuffers. Every dinner should feel this good."

This commercial often comes on twice in one series of advertisements. It's great. I think if I hadn't made this post I would've gouged my eyes and ears out listening to the damn thing. Maybe we'll get a few for our freezer so that Jess and Joe have something good to eat when they arrive in Anchorage.

By the way, in the world of clay-court tennis, there are only two player's on the men's side: Federer and Nadal. Off clay, there's only one.

Anchorage Ultimate Rocks

I'm on a really great team for frisbee league this summer in Anchorage! Everybody has a great attitude and is all about having fun. On top of all that, we won our first game too! Too bad I'm going to miss next week since I'll be back in Tucson.

Meanwhile, on a different topic... Worry not young Ms. Levy! I've read each and every one of your comments! Not only that, but I've also read each and every single comment made by Joe as well!

Back from a Long(ish) Ride

We just got back from a leisurely 20 miler along the coast. No pictures, due to a lack of camera. I decided I just couldn't afford the extra 10 ounces the camera would have cost (ho ho ho). We went with a couple of the other interns from Trustees for Alaska, so it was a bit slower than if it had just been the two of us, but it was still quite a workout (I won't name their names because I know Jessica might get a little pissed off if I did!)

Mom told me she liked the google maps picture of the Moose Encounter, so I thought I would try the same thing again.

The Flat Top Hike

Here's a picture from the hike we went on last night. Tiff is happy to be standing on top!

Didn't get any pictures of the sunset (which took place around 11 or 11:30), but it was quite nice indeed.

I think I hear Jessica complaining to Tiffany on the phone right now... probably something about how bad bussmann.bigwhoop.org is!

They're Sort of Like Gorillas

Tiff and I went on a great hike to a place called flat top that's near Anchorage tonight. It was your typical 10pm-midnight watch the sunset type of hike. You know, pretty commonplace. There were a lot of really incredible views, maybe some of which I'll post tomorrow. It was also nice to go on a hike with just the two of us, because we haven't really gotten a chance to do that yet.

We also saw our first bears ever tonight on the way back from the hike. They move sort of like gorillas do, which I think is pretty darn cool. Fortunately we were in the car so it was perfectly safe.

Finally, let me take this opportunity to send a personal apology to Jessica Levy (TOJR) for forgetting to include her in yesterday's post. I can only hope that this sincere and heartfelt apology can in some tiny way make up for my undeniably human imperfections.