Bad Luck Truck Strikes Again

This is the view of the student parking lot at school a couple days ago. You can see that it's mostly trucks with some SUV's thrown in and the classic four wheeler. Seeing fourwheelers and snow machines in parking lots around town in a pretty common sight, but whenever I see it, it is always a reminder of where I am. I'm living my Alaska dream!

I've been having problems with my truck already this year, pretty much from the moment that I got back. So, it was due for an oil change and I took it in. When I dropped it off, I also described the trouble that I've been having with it lately. While my truck was in the shop, I went to breakfast with some friends and hung out at their place for awhile. A few hours later, I went in to pick it up and was, of course, shocked by the bill...$274! For an oil change! OUCH! They also put the truck on the computer and ran the codes that it's been throwing...basically a bunch of misfires. Four out of 8 cylinders are misfiring. No wonder it's running like crap. They said the wires that connect the coil to the spark plug are bad and that some of the spark plugs themselves might also be bad. Man...we just replaced those spark plugs earlier this year. I've only been driving on those plugs for about 5 months. So, we're going to change the wires and hope that helps, then if we have to we will change the spark plugs too. I'm so sick of this truck and the trouble that I've been having with it. I hope this work does the trick cause I'd really like it to run better. I think I need to buy an extended warranty so when I take it back to the lower 48 in a couple years, it will still be under warranty. What a pain!

Maybe I need to start driving a four wheeler instead. Or just ride the snow machine more often. We did take the snow machine out for a ride yesterday. I let Avery drive it and he did really good. He drove it around by himself in the tundra behind our house and then he rode me on it over to the gas station across town so we could fill up. A friend of ours was with us and Avery followed him over to the gas station so that he would know where he was going. He did really good and he was so happy and excited to ride it. We were thinking yesterday that we need to put together a survival kit for when we are out riding...just in case!

In other news...
Weather update...It's blowing snow right now. The wind is fierce right now and although it is snowing, none of it will stick because the wind blows it away before it has a chance. It is 16 degrees but the wind makes it feel like -1.

Sunlight update...We're down to 7hours and 48 minutes with the sun rising at 9:35 and setting at 5:43. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 6 seconds shorter. It seems like the light is sticking around longer this year although I know that that's not the case. I just remember feeling like it was really dark for a really long time last year, but I guess it's really not as long as I thought. Although the darkness is coming. We lose about an hour every 10days or so, so by the time November is over, we'll be down to about 5 hours.

Houston update...I leave tomorrow night on the evening jet and get to Houston at noon on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to the trip and think it will be a great experience. I think I will really be able to learn some useful things at the conference, not to mention get to see a city I've never been to before. I hope to get over to the NASA space center while I'm there. Exciting! It has consistently been about 75 degrees in Houston this last week. That's like summer weather! I am so looking forward to not having to wear a ton of clothes every time I go out. I have read that it rains alot though, so I guess I'll be taking an umbrella.

Packer update...After how well they played against the undefeated Titans last week, I am really disappointed by how crappy they are playing today. I cant even remember the last time I've seen a safety and GB has gotten two just in the first half today. Aaron Rodgers is not playing well and the team as a whole has had an unbelievable amount of penalties. They are going to try a fieldgoal now...it's good! Now it's halftime. Hopefully McCarthy can whip them into shape during halftime.

OK...i think that's enough for now...I have to do some cooking and packing and lesson planning and finish reading my book so that I can take a new one with me on the long flight to HOUSTON! I'll try to write while I'm there, but if you dont hear much in the next week, you know why.