Juneau! A place to live!

I was so happy to see this sign on the walk to work this morning. 56 degrees. Whoa. Right now, my toes are still cold from work and I'm wearing two jackets, but I love it. Love it! Also on my walk to work I got to reconnect with the eagle that sits on the cross bar by the bridge (not always the same eagle, but I pretend it is) and the morning fog rise up Mt. Juneau and Mt. Roberts. :)

The cruise ships were coming down the channel and hardly anyone was awake - the mornings in Juneau are so peaceful and refreshing.

Today it was nothing but rain, rain, rain. As soon as I got to work it started, and when I was coming home it stopped. After the morning ship had all of it's tours departed, I went back to the office and had my shirt drying over a fan and my rain gear all over the desk, trying to get it dried a bit before the next span of time out in the rain.

I'm so happy to have a place to stay! I thought it was going to take me much longer to find a place than it did, but now I know not to doubt the power of word-of-mouth in this tourist town. This is it!

It's a cute one bedroom rented by a sweet girl named Caitlin. She has a gem of a dog in Mac, a black lab, and is super chill. She is in the bedroom, and I sleep in the loft, in the space above the closets. I climb up that ladder and crash on a feather mattress and my sleeping bag. It is exactly what I was hoping for - enough space to have a room of my own, but not so much that it was an empty homecoming at the end of every day. I have the benefit of the lived in home with the convenience of not paying my entire paycheck. And, I can walk the two miles to work, so no car is no problem!

This was last night. Hanging out with Lauren, her boyfriend, his mom, and some friends from the ship.

Hanger and float planes coming in for the day.
Some images from the afternoon passengers leaving the ship for town.

Shuttle line!
Mikey, Darlene, and Lauren hamming it up before the ship was docked.
Lauren and I!

Care package!

I came home today to one of my favorite things: mail! There was a care package sitting in the foyer from my dear friend Kristy, and ripping it open made me so happy. And I needed a boost. I am firmly in the dregs of a post-Dan visit. I'm tired all the time, I don't want to tour, I don't want to be here, I don't care about much of anything. Lauren has posted a count down chain in her office, like the paper chains we used to make to count down to Christmas. Staring September first, there will be so much joy in watching her rip off a paper ring.

People are dropping like flies, slowly dwindling down the driver list as people go home. It's raining all the time. I'm cold all the time. I'm trying to not think about much of anything. I'm reading a lot. I'm sleeping a lot. That is me at the moment.

Jacque and Bruce have moved back in the house while Carrie is off to Boston to visit her mom. Kodak is back on the defensive, and the sounds of WoW have returned. I'm back in the blue room.

Four days is too long for no update!

I had Friday off. With the free time I went on a Zip Line tour with my friend Lauren. It was misty, and all the water made it that much faster. It was close to 40 mph! We had a ton of fun with all the other zippers, and the two guides, Kyle and Daniel, were a blast too. Almost three hours of adrenaline and fun.
This is the group minus Kyle, who is out on the line taking the picture.
There were two Indiana Jones style bridges. We had to split the group up in two for weight purposes, and my group was having a blast swinging the bridge all over the place. This is our cheesy picture, which I think is pretty cute.
Lauren and I, looking like goobers. After zipping, we back to the house and watched a movie before going to a BBQ at Carrie's parent's house.

Carrie and Jacque hosted a great BBQ. The shore ex from the Volendam came for dinner too, and it ended up being a good group. Carrie made this amazing baked brie, with brown sugar, whiskey, and walnuts on top. So good! I'm can't wait to make it for my own party!
Lauren and Mary
Along with the great party and great atmosphere, Carrie and Jacque were responsible for taking care of Kimber, a black lab puppy. It was such a good dog!
We all played with her for so long and so hard, that he just tuckered out on the couch. Already she can fetch and has got the "I'm adorable" gallop down pat.
The two on the left are some of my managers, and the man on the right was the shore ex from the ship. They were so intently playing some Mario game on Carrie's Wii.

Jacque!
This is Travis. I felt a little bad for being part of the group that kept saying he looked like the dude from Reno 911, since he just shaved his beard into a moustache, but it almost had to be done. Travis is a fire fighter and he couldn't respond to any fires in the recent months because of his beard - it wouldn't make an air tight seal in the face mask. We'll see how long he puts up with the teasing.

Saturday was a different type of adventure.

I was doing an Evening Quest Whale watching tour, and just before the end my bus broke down. I couldn't get it started and had to rustle up some fast transportation for the very last tour of the day so they wouldn't miss their All-Abord time. A little stressful, but it ended fine. The frustrating part was it was a dead battery. It died in the 20 minutes I was waiting for my people to show up. Ug!

I got to talk to Dan, which is always a nice surprise. He was traveling that day from Shimla to Dharamsala and had stopped on the trip for some lunch. His lunch was my bed time. It works.

Today was easy stuff. The big excitement was possibly finding Baxter, as one of my neighbors said she saw a black and white cat with a pink nose and green eyes. I thought maybe she didn't get a good look at the eyes, as Baxter's are yellow, but when I got home today, it was no good. I found the same cat she spotted, and yes, it was black and white, with green eyes. Almost the exact same markings as B, but definitely not him. It sucked to go through. I'll keep you posted on any more B sightings that may come up.

LIving with girls

Being with Carrie and Jaquey has been a blast so far. They've been educating me on the hilarity of Eddy Izzard and Dane Cook, with promises of Margaret Chow in the future.

I have access to a coffee pot (!), which is the first since being able to use Audrey's when she brought her's over to my house for a few months. It may not produce the level of tastiness that my French Press gives me, but the sheer quantity of coffee makes me so very, very happy. I have taken a page out of Dan's book, and instead of rolling out of bed, bedraggled and sleepy faced to work, I'm up a few hours early so I can consume my caffeine and be awake before being expected to operate a machine and make people laugh. So far so good. It also helps that it's light by 3:30am, and the birds are chirping right outside my window. It makes me feel like I'm in a Disney movie.

Bruce the dog and I are getting along smashingly. I was convinced I could wear him out, so on our walk yesterday, I didn't set a limit on how far we we go. Two and a half hours later, I'm dragging my tired butt back up to the house (oh, I live on a huge hill now!) and he was still perky and jumping to investigate any little bug or movement in the grass. I should know better than to try and out moxie a Jack Russel terrier.

In the past few days, I've also been happy to have two messages from Dan. The first came as I didn't recognize the number and didn't answer, which made me feel horrible, and the other came while I was on that epic walk with Bruce and didn't bring my phone. We have a prearranged time for the next call, as it seems I am no good at this phone business (you could probably find that info out from my family, as they will testify I don't call enough, and don't answer my phone.)

I have photos, but my camera battery is dead, so you'll have to wait a little while longer for those. Time to get ready for work!

May is over

A month of the tourism season has already gone by. It seems both quick and painfully long. What I've liked about this summer better than others here is living away from the valley. Being able to walk out my door, go two blocks to a coffee shop or a pub makes being up here alone much more enjoyable.

The people I've met at Gold street have had a stereotypical small town cheerfulness that is contagious. Lots of fleece. Lots of hiking sandals. Lots of dogs. Lots of xtratuffs. I'll take a picture of some xtratuffs so you know what I'm talking about.
Tours haven't been bad for me. Organization has been com si com sa at the dispatch office, but that's to be expected. It's been: sunny - more than typical, cold -about average, and miserable - close to none.
The dock reps, two of about 50 are Eddie and Kelly above, have their game faces on, and are doing their best to keep things organized. Any frustrations are getting swept under the rug. It's still early enough for easy forgiveness and a night's sleep.

And I'm moved. I'm happy to be in with Carry and Jackie. They are both cool girls with low key drama. Already the cats are making nice with the dog, and I have my little corner of the house to relax in. I sit right there, on the edge of the bed and type my emails and load my pictures, with Kodak beside me taking a nap and Baxter up on the table.

I've had so much free time in compared to years past, that I'm truckin through books. I can't get a library card without local bills in my name, so I'm borrowing books, and buying books, and reading like crazy. I will have a huge stack to donate to the library at the end of the summer - I am not driving them back to Il.

So, we'll see what June brings. Already I'm bummed I'm missing Benjamin's second birthday. I won't get ahead of myself...

Moved! Again! To Douglas!

I'm out of the house on Gold street. I was going to do half today and the cats tomorrow, with one last night in with the Moldavians, but I got to workin' at it, and all of a sudden, I had vacuumed, washed the sheets, and hit the road.

Baxter is currently hiding under my new bed, and Kodak is staked out under the coffee table, staring at the door, which has a Bruce on the other side. No, not Bruce, the nice old sea boat captain I used to live with. Bruce, the very cat friendly Jack Russel terrier. Baxter and Kodak don't know that he's friendly, as they only know he likes to run at them. It is very safe to say they are freaked out. BUT - There was no scratching, no huge run fights through the house, and nothing broken so far. They will get used to each other, and I bet by the end of the summer, I can even snap a photo of them being cozy and nice.

In other exciting news in my world, I heard from Dan today! He got to a computer and sent some awesome photos from Agra. It is so beautiful there!

There was a fluke today at work that made me feel like an idiot. An embarrassed idiot. They put me on a tour that I've never done, but I've been talked through. Well, I wasn't talked through it correctly, as I didn't know where to go when it came to the actual tour. There are three stops, so after the first, I called a manager and asked them for step-by-step instructions. When it was close to the end, I met up with the location guide, and the owner of the establishment to apologize, but they apologized to me! They didn't know I was supposed to be there at all and they were starting to send their staff home. They didn't have an updated ship schedule, and felt horrible that they weren't ready. Mess ups on both sides, which thankfully didn't make it to the guests. It could have been horrible.

It was a small tour, one in which I have lots of time to talk with everyone. Nine people, all very happy to have someone ask them questions and be interested. I've never been on a cruise, and in situations like these I like to ask their honest opinions of their experience. I want to know if it is like I imagine (over whelming in a casino way, with too many flashing lights and never ending music. Or more rightly, boring.). One couple tells me they've been cruising for close to ten years, going everywhere from South America to Scotland, with several stops along the way. I got some very interesting insight. It's such a crazy world, this cruise ship life! As much as they all say I should go on a cruise, I haven't changed my mind. I'd rather spend the money some other way. Sorry. It's fun to hear their stories though.

Pictures of the new digs and such to come! (Where did I put my camera?)

Rainy in Juneau, party in BloNo

I packed up my room today and got organized to move either tomorrow or Friday. Yay.

Had a great conversation with Andrei tonight. Found out that he and the others are not from Bulgaria, but Moldova and they speak Romanian. I had to look up where Moldova was; it's tucked in there! He showed me videos of traditional dance performed by his nieces, and pictures of his wife and little boy, who will be one on June 1st. We used his handy dandy translator software to work out the kinks in our conversation, but for the most part, we were happy to chat. He is really excited to be working on his English.

While he's in town, he works as a house keeper at the Baranof hotel, but at home, he is a Chemistry PhD student. He has completed his research and will complete his dissertation when he returns. We started to go into what his research was on, but I wouldn't know the right words, even in English, let alone what he was trying to add to the field. But, he is happy and excited to return in three months.

It was another wet, foggy day in town. There was a lift for a moment when I had a tour at the hatchery, but it was definitely a rain gear day. I also had the pleasure of being on a tour that was over sold, with six very unhappy people that were guaranteed they would be traveling with their friends. From my point of view, I understand that this can happen from time to time, but apparently, tours were oversold left and right today. There were lots of people being given refunds or offered other tours. It's embarrassing. We are supposed to be a company that is organized and professional.

After I got rolling, my group calmed down and were happily distracted by my commentary and Sarah Palin references. And no, you can't see Russia from here.

This is the driver's lounge. This is where the paper work gets filled out, and the plentiful storage of peanut butter and jelly are. There is one woman who keeps bringing in tubs of both from Costco, saying we are welcome to it. The percentage of returning drivers is about 60%. This woman is a mother to us all, especially the 40% first years, making sure we get something in our tummies to make the 14 hour days seem tolerable.


Also today is Val's 27th birthday! Happy birthday Val! Wish I could be in your back yard enjoying the BBQ and company.

58 days

Sunday mornings. Two days off in a row. Eventually, I'll go have a waffle at Southeast Waffle Co., because 1 - they are so good, and 2 - sometimes a person just needs to shove a sweet, doughy mass in her face.

I've been up for sometime listening to the Bulgarians make breakfast and chat. It is a wonderful language to listen to, but when I try and say the words they teach me, I feel like I have to wrap my cheeks around a marshmallow to get the right mouth stance. It's hard for me. I feel so completely American, with my lack of a second language.

I've got to be honest, I'm not feeling very good. I just got some financial news that has me questioning my logic and reasoning skills. If I have learned anything these two years of home ownership, it's that I'm hiring someone to do my taxes next year. I'm not good with surprises, even good ones, so when they show up and want things like money, I'm doubly upset.

Being in Juneau, I feel unprepared to do battle with the federal government. I don't have my paperwork. I don't have my records. I can't defend myself. They are storming the castle in the middle of the night! Wake the troops! Oh, right. There are no troops.

My right hand in Bloomington, Alex, who has been checking my mail scanned in the entire packet that came, so I have the paperwork I need to file for an extension, and this is what I'll do. Not the end of the world. My confidence is a bit wobbly is all.

All that and I'm sad.

I'll get over it. Everything will be fine. I'm a Johnson. I'll take care of it.

My friend Danny sent this to me, and I really like it. Made me happy on this morning of not so happy things. Hope you enjoy it too.

Coffee

I like coffee so much that I have tea for breakfast: The first cup of the day in particular is so good that I’m afraid I won’t be able to properly appreciate it when I am half-asleep. Therefore, I celebrate it two hours later when I am fully conscious.

I must have been 5 when I first discovered the taste of coffee, when I was accidentally given a scoop of coffee ice cream. I was inconsolable: how could grown-ups ruin something as wonderful as ice cream with something as disgusting as coffee?

A few years later I was similarly devastated when my parents announced that for our big summer vacation we would go . . . hiking.

When I was 10 I still hated coffee, but fell in love with the ritual of making coffee. My parents were thankful enough about me fixing them coffee every morning that they overlooked my first clashes with brewing technology.

At 17 I still suffered from coffee schizophrenia: I loved the concept of coffee, but resented the taste. I decided to cure myself through auto-hazing. Around that time, my parents took me on my first trip to Paris. We arrived by train early in the morning and went straight to a little cafe. I ordered a large café au lait and forced down the entire bowl. It worked. Since then I have enjoyed coffee pretty much every day.

When I was 21 I worked as an intern at a magazine. The art director and I would brew a gigantic pot of coffee around 9 a.m. to help us get through the day. The pot would simmer in the coffeemaker, and through evaporation the coffee strengthened noticeably at lunchtime. In the evening hours, the remaining coffee had turned to a black concoction with a stinging smell and tar-like taste. We endured it without flinching.

When I came to New York in 1995, I was delighted to discover deli coffee. At the time, I was focused less on taste and more on quantity and price. Thus, I was in caffeinated paradise.
In January 1999 a friend seduced me into switching to latte. Within weeks a considerable portion of my budget ended up at the L Cafe in Williamsburg.

My inner accountant quickly convinced me to buy one of those little espresso machines (for the price of approximately 10 tall lattes). It had a steam nozzle to heat milk, which one should clean very thoroughly after each use. I didn’t have the patience to do so. Within a few uses, an unappetizing, dark brown, organic lump developed around the nozzle. A few days later it had become unremovable, and I reverted to getting my coffee outside.

Here’s a chart that shows my coffee bias over the years.

For good measure I have added my bagel preferences over the same period. (1) Drip coffee, (2) Starbucks, (3) blueberry bagels, (4) sesame bagels, (5) poppy-seed bagels, (6) everything bagels

Please don’t hold my brief affair with blueberry bagels against me. I cured myself of this aberration.

I order large coffees, but stop drinking when the coffee gets too cold. There’s always a couple of ounces left in the cup, so I can’t just toss it into my wastebasket. I dread the long haul to the bathroom to properly dispose of the coffee remains. Hence you will usually find a tower of paper cups on my desk.

Hot milk greatly improves the taste of coffee, but I find milk foam useless and annoying.

My mother (who makes the most delicious coffee in the world), is obsessed with a particularly potent mechanical foam maker. The result is a layer of impenetrable foam, a kind of lacto-stucco. I have to gnaw my way through it before being able to get to the actual coffee. Apart from that she really makes the best coffee in the world.

Once, after a grueling all-day design conference at a university, I was invited to dinner on campus. To go with the various delicious pastas, salads and quiches, coffee was served.

When you are craving a beer, coffee is the most disgusting drink in the universe.

In New York, I was always envious of people who could walk into a coffee place and the guy behind the counter would know them so well he would just start fixing their order, without any exchange of words. It took me more than 10 years to get to that stage, but at the very end of my tenure in New York I finally achieved it: I would enter my little spot on Eighth Avenue and, with nothing more than maybe a nod of acknowledgment, my buddy prepared my personal choice: drip coffee with steamed milk.

After a couple of blissful weeks though, things took an unfortunate turn. For some reason he started making the wrong coffee (half and half, two sugars). I knew that if I corrected him, our mystic bond would be forever tarnished. So I swallowed the coffee, instead of my pride.

The link is here if you want to visit it again.

Another move

Ok, after this, I don't expect you to keep up with my moving anymore. I realize it's starting to get ridiculous. But...I'm moving again!

There is nothing bad about my current living situation, other than the price of being there. I've kept up the housing search, knowing I can find something for less than $708.25 a month. I shared my search with a local friend and her partner. They decided to clean out one of their rooms, currently being used for storage, and let me take it over. They live on Douglas Island, fairly close to my first home here. They have a dog, which from what I hear, won't be a problem, as he is docile and cat friendly. We'll see.

I am so excited to be over there. They are a great couple, super sarcastic, and fun. They are both big into WoW - which they thought would be weird for me, but I explained my familiarization with its demands. A washer and dryer will be at my disposal, and WiFi. And I'm back in the range I originally wanted to spend for housing here. I head over at the beginning of June, and hopefully won't move again. I'll have the place to myself for June, as they are house sitting for Carrie's mom. Going from Paul, Paul, and Bruce, to Carrie and Jackie will be a nice change. Sorry boys, but a clean bathroom is an invaluable gift.

This means I'll have a new address. I'm great friends with Paul the pilot, so if anything happens to wonder in after I've left, he'll make sure it gets to me.

This is Carrie back in 2004 when I first came to Juneau. That silly boy with her is Joel, one of the class clowns from that driving year. Drivers are so fun. Really, it's like summer camp up here.

Friday Night!

Friday night in the big city! Or something like that anyway.

I was off today for all but two hours where I and my fellow drivers were educated on how to safely and effectively handle the following situations: emergency evacuations, Noro virus presentation (vomiting on the bus), and spill response (some sort of fluid leaking from the coach). Very useful. Very informative. There were limited times in which I felt I was being parroted to, which is progress, I think, from the last Hazard Training Class.

Came home and worked on some paintings. They still need a lot of work, and the more I do this stuff, the more I think I should take a basic drawing class or something. Since most of my pieces have to do with body parts, maybe life drawing is more appropriate? Or maybe just more practice. I'm going to go with practice for now.

I went out to dinner with one of my roommates, Paul (the pilot), as he came home and was just gushing to tell someone the crazy day he had. There was an ambulance involved, a passenger with what seemed to be an exploding hernia, and a race to the landing strip in which he barely beat an Alaska Airlines jet. Pretty good for a little prop plane! So we went to the hanger and ate. I love halibut. Dinner tonight just reiterated that. Halibut = Win.

Then tonight, the dispatcher from Allen Marine, which is the company we partner with to sell and transport cruise ship passengers to whale watching tours, was playing bluegrass music with his band down at the Alaskan Bar. The guys are great! Violin (or is it a fiddle if it's this genre?), mandolin, standing bass, banjo, and guitar. Sorry Dan, no jug or tub players. But great still. I met some of the drivers out, as well as some of the other tour industry folks. Throw in a couple bosses and a few beers, and it was a great time had by all. And dancing! I still thank Ms. Luhn for casting me in her play as the stand in (for my brother) and made me learn how to swing dance. I love swing dancing! There were a few people there that had an idea of how to lead, and were happy to find a partner who could, at least, follow along. It was great!

Most of the time, I was leading my friend, Erin, along the floor, as she was too nervous to dance with strangers (what?) but even then she and I were laughing over our clumsiness and confusion about who was supposed to do what. The down side to all this - I may have hurt myself even worse. I didn't really feel anything, as I was under the influence of the delicious Alaskan IPA, but now, sitting here, I'm sure I'll need to nurse my heel in the morning. Oh well! It was so fun! I love dancing!

The band plays again tomorrow night, so at least I'll have a fun time tapping my foot along, if I'm too injured to partake in the galloping. Hearing really good bluegrass live - there is really nothing like it.

Home Sweet Home

As promised, below is a view of the house I was staying in when I first arrived in Juneau. The tarp droop that is the middle of the roof is where we were catching water runoff to flush the toilets, and the stairs that are under the structure in the middle of the image were a fun obstacle, as the ground was thawing, and they had started to come unsecured from their footings.



This is where I'm at now. 408 Gold Street. My room is the one with the open window in the middle. I get glorious sunshine all day with its south exposure, and the cats like looking at all of the activity on the street. There is working plumbing, heat, and even room in the refrigerator.
This is the view up Gold street.
This is the view up 4th Street.

There is a 600 ft elevation gain with in four blocks, and a trail head to Perseverance Trail just farther up the road. The watershed for the city is just through that dip in the mountain, and it gives both great views and great exercise. I can walk to work, with it being just a mile and half straight south, but, we'll see how long the nice weather will hold out. Downtown Juneau gets on average 97 inches of rain a year, and we are due for a downpour. In fact, even as I type the sky is turning gray. Oh well. I had my coffee in the sunshine this morning.

And this nice man is Bruce. He is one of my house mates. He is a fishing boat captain who is waiting for the go ahead from his doctor to leave for the season. He thinks this year he'll fish for black cod and shrimp. The first night I was in the house, I had a good three hour talk with Bruce, and learned some interesting theories he has about government conspiracies. He seems to be a caring fellow who has lost his interest in living in the United States, but he won't be able to leave until his parole is up.

Another housemate of mine is Paul. Paul came from Arizona, via Michigan, and used to be an engineer for Honeywell. He had his pilot's license for sometime, but decided to make it his full time occupation after positions were becoming scarce in his company. He'll be working for a company call Wings, doing transports to the small towns in southeast Alaska. Paul helped me find this place to live one afternoon as were were sharing an outlet at the Silverbow Bakery. He needed help cropping photos to send to his sister, and I shared I was searching craigslist for a place to live. Maybe I'll snatch a photo of him when he gets back from a trip to Anchorage for the weekend.

There is another Paul that lives here, but he comes and goes at random. The only evidence he exists is the very real boy smell coming from his room, and the occasional dirty dish in the sink.

Soon to join the house will be three foreign exchange students from Bulgaria. I have no idea what they'll be doing here, but I'm sure I'll find out in due time.

I got invited to a halibut bake by my friend Carrie from my 2004 season, and I believe there is a movie to watch also. Things are looking up considerably.

Last night in my frozen Hades

I have a place to live! There is a roof, and running water, and heat! Funny how I used to think those were items you didn't have to ask about when renting a place. I won't make that mistake again.

But my new place. I move in next Friday. I was hoping to have a story about taking over the room of a sea captain, but I'll be in a different room than the one I originally thought. No forgotten pirate booty for me to haphazardly discover. Shucks. Instead, the landlord has to move some boxes out, put the furniture in, and I'm set.

In the mean time, one of my dispatchers, Bob, offered to let me and the kitties stay in his house. The boys will have a new kitty friend to make, but c'mon, have you been paying attention to what I've put them through already? One cat is no problem. I need to have the somewhat uncomfortable conversation with Ron about me leaving, but I don't think it will cause any ripples. Part of me doesn't think he'd notice if I left without telling him. For all he knows, maybe I got lost in the piles of miscellaneous crap.

Man. I'm so excited to stop hauling water from the leaky roof to flush the toilet! I've got to be honest - I was seriously concerned about K or B stepping on some jagged, rusty, object, and then have to lose a leg. That place is a beast! I took a picture, so there will be a before and after shot following the 20 minutes it will take me to move my junk from the car to my new room.

In the work world, today I moved more buses, moved some teenagers from the youth hostel to the skills building in the valley, and moved more buses. Nothing glamorous, but I'll get my fill of the circus when the boats show up next week.

In sadder news, I have finished Battlestar Galactica. I'll admit it - I was a skeptic about the show, but I take it all back. I take it back! If only there was more!

I knew I liked coffee shops for a reason!

House search continues. Some of the craigslist ads answered back, all nos. I'm making progress though. Of the four responses I got back from ads, two of them offered to meet up and grab a beer to lament my troubles, saying that it's better to know people in this town than not. It is one big clique.

I was surfing through more posting just now and a dude next to me in the coffee shop struck up conversation over the site. He says the house he's staying at has an opening in May. That he'll talk to his land lord and give me a call. Seems like a nice fellow. Name is Paul and he's a pilot for one of the companies I'll be taking tourist to. I'm not getting too excited, but it's nice to have a lead.

More folk fest tonight. Hopefully training tomorrow.

Miles for the trip - 5900! Now, lets go drive in circles.

Before I get too far into my life in Juneau, I'd like to pat myself on the back. I did the calculations, and my trip from Bloomington to Juneau, via visits to Dan, Sarah, Ciara and Adam, and the Spokane clan puts my mileage over 5,900 miles! There where hundreds of miles where I thought I heard little noises that made me rigid for hours, fearing I would be stuck in the middle of the ________ (you choose: Oklahoma/California/Oregon/B.C.) wilderness, but I made it. There were support phone calls, books on tape, and many cups of coffee. So, thanks to everyone, and nice job me.

Now, on to the more recent past.

I met with Ron and saw the house today. To say the least, it is in a sad shape. The good news is Ron has agreed to not charge me rent while it is getting into the agreed upon condition. This gives me the time I need to 1) help get my areas into livable condition, or 2) look for a new place to live. Either way, I'll be ok. It's just the newest challenge I've been given.

I went to the bus yard to meet the people I've been talking with for months, fill out paperwork, and get an idea of what my next weeks will look like. I'm doing my refresher training tomorrow if my drug test results come back. The training will be reacquainting myself with the bus via pre-trip test and four hours of driving around a 25 mile loop of roads. The pre-trip will be me and my re-trainer, Mikey, walking around a coach while I point, feel, and visualize 308 points of inspection. I don't know how many I need to pass, but an 80% is 246 items. I would beat myself up if I got anything less.

That means I've been cramming. All the things I learned between February and May of 2004 need to be taken out of my cranial storage. Phrases like "the blower boxes are mounted and secure" and "The emergency engine shut off switch is in the off position" will be used again. I'll get intimate with u-bolts, push rods, brake drums, valves, and steering linkages. I'll be trying to remember the proper pressures and timing for the break test and emergency procedures. Radio checks. Fast idle. Various sight glasses containing various viscus materials used to keep the coach running. Lights! Camera! Action! And after all that I'll be ready to go back on my 53 foot stage to entertain tourists on those 25 miles of looped road.

Let's hope I didn't come all of those 5,900 miles just to fail now.

Ron, the house dude.

Ron is in Phoenix right now. Soon he'll be in Juneau getting his basement room for me ready. We had an interesting conversation on the phone about cat dander, heated bathroom floors, and waterfalls. There is a possibility I'll be room neighbors with a ex-Wimbledon player, who for unknown reasons will be driving tour bus this summer. Some of you have told me that only crazy people would do this bus driving thing, and the more drivers I meet and get to know, the more I agree with that.

Just got a phone call from Ron. He wanted to discuss a report in the USA Today about the emotional states of people working in their prime.

Some bird analogies for you.

Days, really a collection of moments, until I embark on my trip, and I get another email from my renter's company saying there are more forms to fill out before I can be paid. I'm getting impatient and frustrated at the amount of geese I'm being made to chase for this. The idea for me to work with her company was to alleviate these types of frustrations, but no, it has been a big mess so far. Thankfully Dan's house is equipped with the necessary technology to squelch their vicious thirst for documentation, and I can hope that soon the necessary funds will be dropped electronically into my world.

I also had a conversation with a home-owner in Juneau that is looking to rent out rooms for drivers. He wasn't opposed to having cats, but said that can be discussed in a later conversation. He was currently occupied in a meeting, but perhaps later tonight or tomorrow I can go to Juneau knowing I have a place to stay once I get there! With how things have been going, I'm not counting any eggs before they've hatched.