Saridactyl did this and it made me want to as well.

I think this is stinkin' adorable.  My brother had been participating in a Big Wheel race downtown.  That shirt I'm wearing is most definitely a Girl Scout Cookie program shirt.

5th grade

Alien Day at school.  Those red and black things were mom's tops from the early 80's.  Fantastic.

  We got to have an overnight at a museum in Girl Scouts!

Mammoth Cave - I look THRILLED.

The night I was initiated into the International Order of Job's Daughters.  I was 14 and my hair was crazy red those days.

Um, this is so NSFW, and by far, the weirdest thing I have seen in a LONG time.

Temporary tattoos for your schlong.

This weekend we were going to start a tradition by going camping for the second year in a row at Sunshine Cove.

However, it was windy and nasty out!  Winds of 20 knots, 4 ft. seas.  So, yeah, I was ok to NOT go camping.  BUT, Coupon did some morning fishing while I was in the visitor's center kiosk and got his daily limit of King Salmon after I brought him some extra bait.  I got the best compliment ever - more than once!

Right there in front of me he told a guy who was hosing himself off at the dock "You know you have a good girlfriend when she'll bring you extra bait!" and then later posted on Facebook "You know you have a keeper of a girlfriend when she brings you more bait after you run out....one last herring = the biggest fish of the day!"  I know you're thinking how that is a big deal?  Well, herring STINKS!  Haha!

Anyway, here are pictures from yesterday.  Sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate pictures on Xanga.
   

And since we didn't get to go out camping, Coupon took me out on a date for a "consolation."  We went to the Twisted Fish which is owned by some year-round restaurants, but it isn't open year-round anymore.  I had a fabulous crab-prawn angel hair pasta and Nick had a smoked salmon pizza.  We tried to get crepes for dessert but the crepe stand was closed.  Boo!  I'm so into these delicious crepes!  But we went to Frozen Yogurt instead -- that's our usual date night dessert spot.

Today, in less than an hour I'll meet Coupon out at the hatchery and go out with me for king salmon.

I got to go on a helicopter ride today!  SO NEAT!!

First time in a helicopter!
 
Herbert Glacier rifts

A deep hole in the glacier filled with water.

Looking out at the glacier.  It was a fairly typical cloudy grey Juneau day!  
These are the helicopters we came in on.

Pretty good self-portrait if I do say so myself!
 

Again!

I'm too lazy to write much right now . . .

Being on-call is such a bittersweet thing.

The pros are that:
- it is extra money each paycheck that I definitely like.
- the more people who do on-call on the evenings and weekends means the less time each person needs to be on call overall, so I'm glad to help out, especially since I don't do on-call during the work day.
- some nights you don't get any calls!

The cons are most definitely that:
- sometimes you go in for one person and get to stay for two. (sort of a pro in a way).
- sometimes you really don't get a lot of sleep (last night I got to sleep between 11PM and 12AM and then again from 2:30 AM to 5:30AM
- you feel like a slave to the pager and you can't get too far out of range of the hospital and jail and most definitely not out of cell phone range.
- it can make you feel really inadequate when you are the "professional" who is supposed to have all the answers and you don't.
- being a mental health professional on-call means you have to make judgments about whether to pursue involuntary mental health commitments and that is no easy job.
- sometimes you get bitter about what you're doing when you get called for false alarms (like someone is suicidal but drunk; they don't need me at that point and sometimes the docs will have me called before a BAC is done - NOT COOL)
- you realize how many people here have serious issues.  It is so sad how much medication-seeking/doctor-shopping and substance use goes on here.  Heroin is on the rise because it is cheaper than Oxycontin on the street.  At least no one injects Oxy.

Sigh.  No real point to this entry other than just to vent.  I was on-call yesterday, from 8PM to 8AM today.  I agreed to take the evening half of today's shift from the guy who'd already signed up for it but needed to give up the evening shift.  I told myself I wouldn't take two days in a row on the weekend again -- but here I am exhausted from the lack of sleep last night and it's only an hour til I have to turn on the pager again.  Here's to hoping tonight is calm.  (BTW, this is exactly what our pagers look like)

News (yessiree) and pictures!

Not gonna lie, I rock.

I get some flack for doing survey sites out the wazoo, but yesterday something pretty cool happened. 

I got an email from one of the survey sites (a very credible one) saying I was a winner in their $250 monthly sweepstakes for April.  BOO-YAH.

The money was already deposited in my account, so I just had to go in, and request a check for a-whole-lotta-moolah.

It may take a bit for the check to actually arrive, but I can wait.

So, I do a lot of surveys and one today was asking me all about WalMart.  Does WalMart make me feel like a valued customer, does WalMart have affordable prices, do they help me live a better life.  All kinds of random b.s.  Here's the best one.

"WalMart makes me feel sexier."

Um, STRONGLY DISAGREE, WTF.

I dropped the ball in updating about my Kiva loans with the moving. However, fear not, I am definitely still lending. 

I am owed over $90 back just on May 15th alone.  That is the most yet, and I cannot WAIT to turn around and re-lend that!  I'll bump it up to $100.  The question is whether I should do 4 $25 loans, or 2 $50 loans, or a $100 loan.  Part of me thinks I shouldn't put all $100 onto one loan, especially when there is risk involved. 

I have only had one loan default and end with loss, and while it was a bummer, it isn't the end of the world to me.  Losing $100 would be harder to swallow.  Of course, if I do the $100 to one loan I would make sure it was through a lending agency that was rated the highest (5 stars).  Choices! 

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We have fully moved over to the house and in fact met the girlfriend of the couple renting our condo.  She's already dolled it up like a mini-house and they'll only be there through September!  Oh well, she's a neat freak, and I know that eased Coupon's mind about it being kept nice so we can show it at some point. 

But because we spent most of last week working on the condo until bedtime or nearly bedtime, there hasn't been much more unpacking going on here.  I need to get some painting done here ASAP (before the carpet comes in), so unpacking much more may have to wait even longer.

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Easter was pretty darn nice!  It was an absolutely gorgeous day - especially for southeast Alaska.  I walked to church.  I hadn't been in probably a couple months, but it was nice to go at least for Easter.  The Tlingit Gospel Choir sang in both English and Tlingit and that was pretty darn cool. 

After church I had bazillions of things on my to-do list to do, but had the stirrings of wanting to make Easter dinner.  So, I invited a couple people (our renter/boarder and our friend who happen to both be named Joe) and set to work on a menu.  I made halibut, zucchini (with tomatoes, onions, fontina cheese and I added artichokes), salad, and brownies.  Joe the boarder created some bruschetta.  It was all very good and we had a good time feasting followed up by me teaching the boys Rack-O.  All in all, a very nice Easter. 

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I'd write more, but I have to get up early tomorrow to make my potato chowder (adding smoked salmon and some other goodies perhaps) in the crock part before I head off to work.