15 done, 15 to go

Number 5 on the birthday list is complete, read 5 books from the top 100 books list. Well I guess I read more than 5 and I have quite a few more that I am going to try to read over the next few months.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin



Avery and I are also almost finished with the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman. This is also on the top 100 list and also number 21 on the birthday list. We're not quite done with it yet, but should be able to finished it before my next birthday.

I am also currently reading The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. I'm hoping to finish that one before Christmas break. That one is also on the top 100 list and also number 11 on the birthday list.

Flood watch and broken records

Areal Flood Watch
Statement as of 11:30 AM AKST on November 26, 2010


... Flood Watch in effect through Saturday afternoon along the
lower Kuskokwim River from Kalskag to Bethel...

The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a

* Flood Watch for the lower Kuskokwim River from Kalskag to Bethel

* through Saturday afternoon

* significant rainfall occurred in the Kuskokwim basin over the
last several days with total amounts ranging from 1.5 to 2.5
inches over a four day period. This event was accompanied by
warm temperatures that have melted much of the low lying
snow pack. Ice has moved at various locations along the Kuskokwim
River with reports of ice moving steadily Thursday at Aniak
before stopping Friday morning and open water at Stony River. A
resident of Sleetmute reported that ice had moved in various
locations from Stony River to Kalskag. Ice has lifted at Bethel.
Ice thickness has been reported to be from 6 to 10 inches. This
will mitigate the chance of a prolonged ice jam. Temperatures
are expected to fall below freezing through the weekend which
will greatly reduce inflows to the river. However... if an ice
jam were to occur on the lower river... low-lying communities
are at risk of flooding. This is a very unusual event.

* Travel on the Kuskokwim River in places where breakup has
occurred will be very dangerous until a significant ice cover
has reformed. If a significant ice jam forms below a Village that
is flood-prone... flooding is possible.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding.

You are encouraged to closely monitor this weather situation.
Preparation for this potentially dangerous weather event should
begin now.






Record Report
35 5 akst Fri Nov 26 2010

... A new record for precipitation and snowfall...

A new record of 0.64 of precipitation was set yesterday. The old
record of 0.57 was set back in 1936. There was also a new record of
6.7 inches of snowfall set yesterday. The old record of 5.9 inches
was set in 1965.

2010 BRHS haunted house

The haunted house this year was a huge success. The 10th graders had a very ambitious plan this year, but it all came together in the end. The first hallway was clowns, then there was the stranger.Then there was a big spider web with a person caught in it and a big spider that dropped down in people's faces. Then they walked down a pitch black dark hallway to meet a person with a electric saw who chased them out of the hallway.Then they had to say "Bloody Mary" three times. Bloody Mary came out from behind a black curtain.Then they entered the blood bath area where the person rose up out of the bloody bathtub and stood dripping and look at the people all creepy. They splashed around some too.

And a person in a body bag squirmed around on the floor as well.

Then this guy in a coffin jumped out to scare you!And these monsters shaked and rattled this cage trying to get you as you walked past.And this person locked in the closet rattled another chain and begged you to let him out.

Then finally when you thought it was over, one more person with a mask on jumped out and scared you one last time.

I lost count of the number of kids that left crying. Good stuff!

Warrior Art

We had a new piece of artwork installed above the main entrance of the high school this year. It was a community art project where the kids got to submit quotes to go on the pieces that where installed to make up the whole big picture. I think the question was, "What inspires you?"It is a really large piece and it spans one whole side of the building and then curves over onto a second side above the main entrance where it says, "Home of the Warriors".

The big warrior head at the end lights up at night with LED lights. It glows pretty brightly, which is cool to see when you get to school on a dark winter morning.
It is so big that I could not fit the whole thing in my camera lens. The art teacher and I are thinking of applying for a grant to do a similar project inside the school. It wouldnt be quite this large though.
Really makes the front entrance of our school look great. I'm proud to be a Warrior!

The Sky is on Fire!

I am fortunate to have a classroom at the end of the hallway in the east wing of the school where I can frequently witness amazing sun rises such as this one. There was a massive snow storm moving in from the north and west this morning, which you can see as a huge dark cloud at the top of these pictures.
The storm has completely covered us now and it is snowing fiercely, but while the east was still clear, we got to witness this amazing sunrise. These pictures were taken around 10am.

What's the opposite of break up?

Freeze up? Well, I've shown plenty of pictures of break up (here, here, and here for example), but I've never really posted about the other end of the phenomena. I woke up bright and early on Friday and went for a walk down by the river so that I could see the progress of the ice on the river. The river is slowly freezing. There were chunks floating on the river making a clinking sound.
I had a nice walk and enjoyed watching the sun rise over the river around 9:30am. I stopped by the dock and watched a commercial fishing rig being pulled out of the water. Avery took a boat down to the village downriver for a wrestling tournament on Friday afternoon and had to take a plane home on Saturday afternoon because the river was even more frozen.

It's been fun to watch the river freeze since we put so much emphasis on watching it break up.

The other side

Here is the rest of the moose video. The part where he makes it to the other side. It was so awesome to watch him. He just took his sweet time too. He wasnt scared at all.

Moose crossing the street

Not sure if this video is going to work....

I saw this moose standing on the side of the road in Anchorage over the weekend. It came within about 5 feet of my car. He crossed the street, then climbed up the hill into the woods on the side of the road next to where I was parked.

Of course, watching this video just makes me want to ask...why did the moose cross the road?

Advice to Myself

For the first two weeks of my summer I took a science class. It was the Alaska Science Consortium class. It focused on teaching physical science.

IT. WAS. AWFUL.

HORRIBLE.

really.

On the last day of class, we were asked to write ourselves a letter as part of a reflection on the course. We enclosed the letter in a self addressed stamped envelope with a promise by our super terrible instructor that the letter would be mailed in the fall to remind us of all the things that we had learned in the course.

I got my letter in the mail today. It made me smile. Here is what I wrote to myself, word for word...

Warning: Content may be graphic and/or offensive!

Alisha,

This class really sucked a big fat one, but you have to learn to be more patient and take things in stride. Be more accepting of people and their flaws. Like Chris said today, "Don't be so judgemental." You also need to be careful about the way you say things and approach people. You're body language says alot and so does your tone. Be careful about how you express yourself. People stop listening to you after awhile when they think you're just a BITCH!

Chill out,

(signed by me)

Like Elizabeth Bennet says in Pride and Prejudice, "We can only teach what is not worth knowing." It turns out that I learned something in the class after all. :)

14 done, 16 to go

Number 23 is done. Between January and August, I took 12 credits. The is enough for me to move over a column on the pay scale. I turned in my transcripts today. Which means, I'm getting a raise...oh yeah!