Sunshine, like 2 Liter bottles of Mountain Dew, is not available in Shishmaref

It's currently 1:10 p.m. and I just took this picture of the sun peeking over the horizon.

Copenhagen

Funding went through. I'm leaving on Thursday after school and taking two girls to Copenhagen with me for the climate change talks. Obama will be there.

My Intense Love/Hate relationship with my computer.

You may have noticed a lack of pictures on the blog lately. That's because I can't post them anymore. Also, I can't use the top row of letters on my keyboard, so I have a white plastic keyboard plugged in. Also, it rejects every disk I put into it at least six times.

There are also some red lines that keep showing up on the screen.

I don't think I've had this laptop very long. I can't really remember when I got it. It's maybe three years old. I did find out that the other teacher with this same brand is also having problems. In that her computer won't turn on. If that happens to me, I'm screwed. All of my presets are on this one, and my research for my masters class, and my student grades, and a lot of music. I think I'll go back some of this up on the server. Couldn't hurt.

Ugh. The bush.

Like a responsible coach, I ordered new uniforms for my team two months before I needed them. Two weeks before I needed them, I e-mailed the company to ask where they were.

Today, FOUR DAYS BEFORE WE LEAVE, the school got a phone call from the company, letting us know that they never sent them, since our school address and the district address (on the check) are not the same.

Did they tell us this two months ago, or two weeks ago? No, they waited until today.

I called them, and left a message telling them just to send them to Stebbins, where the meet is being held. Wonder if they'll be there by Tuesday.

Here is a picture of one of our current uniforms, and why we needed new ones so badly:

Temperature

Today, when I was getting ready for school, I looked at the indoor/outdoor thermometer my dad bought me. Yup, it was 10.5 degrees, F. That's -23* Celsius, for those interested. Winter is here.

The Mountain Dew Challenge

I feel a little bit like this should be written in the style of a marooned sailor: "Day 18 of my abandonment. Looked for fruit this morning, will go to the lookout fire this afternoon. . ."

So here it is: "Day 6 of my Mountain Dew deprivation. I worked at the student store today, and stared longingly at the glass front refrigerator."

Dividend

Dividend, also called Div for short, is one of the greatest parts of living in Alaska!!

False rumors about the Div:

-You just have to be in Alaska one day a year.

-We all have to come up here to be counted.

-They give it to you when you show up.

-You have to be a native.

-It's different amounts based on how long you've been in the state.

The truth about the Dividend:

-Once you have been in the state for a whole calendar year, you are able to apply in March, to be paid in October. So, when I started in Aug of '04, none of that counted. I was here for all of '05, so that counted, and I got my first check the fall of '06.

-The amount being paid is based on the average of the last five years' profits of state investments.

-The first people to be paid are those with automatic payments to Alaska state bank accounts. The rest of us (who still bank at home), get our checks several weeks later.

-The first year, you have to have two people vouch for you, and after that, you can just re-up. However, you have to re-up, because they won't just send it to you.

Last year, the dividend was $1800, and we were given an additional $1,200 gas credit. A three thousand dollar bonus was very nice. It almost covered the extra cost of plane tickets, rent, and $8 a gallon for milk.

This year, it's $1,305. This will pretty much cover my plane tickets home for the summer. Yup, that's it. And people wonder why I don't come home for Christmas.

The key to getting a div is to remember that you can't get into the habit of spending the money frivolously, because then you get into the habit of spending that way.

Most of the people in the village have gotten theirs, and have already spent half of them. New shoes, iPods, and four-wheelers. Since parents aren't required to give their children the money until they're old enough (I want to say 16 or 18). That way, last year for example, a family with two parents and four kids would receive $18,000. Enough to buy a new boat, snow-machine, or other major purchase.

Everybody knows we're getting this money. Because of that, everyone is looking for their cut of our money. the following WONDERFUL DEALS are available right now:

-Car lots offer deals where you can get the car now, and can sign your div over to them later.

-Plane tickets are CHEEP this time of year, especially from Anchorage to Hawaii.

-Electronics in Nome are on sale, and we've all been given flyers.

Well, now it's just time to sit back and wait for my check to come in.