Update on Fairbanks Shooting

Well, there is good news and bad news on the shooting that I blogged about a few days ago. The good news is that the guy who shot Skyler is in police custoday and Skyler is still fighting. The bad news is that it sounds like he'll be a quadrapalegic. They have had him in an induced comma for the past few days. I guess they tried taking him out of it and off of the ventilators, but his lungs started filling with fluid so they had to put him back on and back into the comma. Eric gets updates at work every once and awhile. I would like to send the family something, but I'm not sure what to send. Get well doesn't seem appropriate, but Sympathy is even less appropriate.

Shooting in Fairbanks Bar

Normally something like this I wouldn't even think twice about. First it's in Fairbanks and secondly, I don't know alot of people up there. Well, this just happens to be the time that I work with the victims mom and Eric works with the victims dad here in Bethel. Apparently some jealous guy came into the bar and shot the victim because he had started dating the guys ex. He fired 4 to 5 rounds and at least one of them hit the victim in the chest. He's currently in the hospital in Anchorage in what I can only assume in very critical condition. I'm sitting here trying to still process the information. I can only imagine what his parents are going through and what his brothers are going through. His one brother just came back from a tour in Iraq/Afghanistan about a month ago. His parents were so worried about him getting shot/IED, etc. I'm sure they never thought that they would have to worry about one of their sons here, safe in Alaska. I'll keep you all posted on how the victim is doing.

Work Christmas Pary

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Eric and I spent the day at home relaxing and were gald we didn't have to go out in the blizzard that we ended up having. We had light snow and 30 mph winds with gusts up to 49 mph. I did some reading (Ann Brashares new book The Last Summer (of you and me)) and a little crocheting. I'm working on a cardigan I saw in one of my newest crochet magazines. Hopefully I have enought year in the color I chose to finish it.

I finally took a picture of the gift I received at my work Christmas Party. The lady that had my name, her husband makes a bunch of different native crafts. He teaches a native dance fan class, but I didn't know that he also does some jewelry carving. Here's a picture of the earrings he made. This was my gift.
They are spoons. I'm not sure what the significance of them are suppose to mean and I feel a little embarassed about that. If I do find out I'll let you know.

Merry Christmas!!!!

The cats wanted to wish you all a very Happy Holiday season!

Since my sister has finally "gone public", I can say something here. I'm going to be an aunt again! Raquel and Doug will be having their 3rd boy sometime in April. We are all excited for them.

Also, a congratulations goes out to my old high school/college friend Ellen and her husband Bill. They had a little girl (Kaylee) at the end of October. Best wishes to you all!

The little fat guy

Friday morning at work we had a surprise. The ABE Center (Adult Basic Education) had an unwelcomed student trying to get some education. His name was Mr. Ondantra zibethicus. He was a fat little guy that waddled as he ran. He came in to get some coffee and decided to do a little chute running since he was in the position to anyways. We got the little guy outside and he ran away, never to come back again.

Translation of story:

Mr. Ondantra zibethicus is actually the scientific name for the Muskrat. We had the doors propped open because the building was a little warm. Apparently the muskrat thought it needed to come in and warm up. It was sitting under the coffee stand, so a couple of the guys mocked up a chute to shuttle the little guy outside. The muskrat was a chunky little thing. Unfortunately they were able to get him out of the building before we could locate a camera to get a picture of him. Here's a general picture of one for those of you that don't know what a muskrat looks like.

They are about the size of a very fat hamster. I had to call Eric as soon as I got back to my office to let him know. The first thing out of his mouth was "you let it go?" I knew he was going to say that. He's been trying out a few muskrat traps this winter on his trapping excursions.

Happy B-day little Sis!!!

Happy Birthday to my little sister. She is 27 years old today. Have a wonderful birthday and I'll give you a call tonight. By the way, Chubbs wants to say Happy Birthday too!

Door Decorating Contest

The students at the college had a door decorating contest last week, with the voting held on Friday. This morning, Cindy and I had the chance to count the ballots. My door won!!!! Alex Nicori from Kwethluk decorated my door and did a remarkable job. And what does the 1st prize winner get - - - a roundtrip plane ticket on one of our local carriers. Here's a picture of the winning door. Door #2 went to my old office and it's current occupant Jaclyn. Yeah Jaclyn!
Third place went to Carol Sanders door. She is the Admin Assistant for the NSF Grant and a few other projects.Fourth place went to the Janitor's closet.

Cardmaking with Preschoolers

The Little Red School House Preschool has a auction every year during December to try to raise money for the preschool. This year I was asked to help (actually lead) the preschooler in some cardmaking with stamping. They want to auction off the cards that the kids make. Well, today was the day! There was about 10 kids and only myself and the preschool teacher. Yikes! I was told that there were going to be some parents or more helpers available. That would have kept us a little more organized, but actually it was alot of fun. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying themselves.Here is a picture of a couple of the "final" products. These are they types of creations that only a family member could love. Or someone who loves the craft of stamping and cardmaking! Hopefully these cards make alot of money for the preschool.Finally, here is a picture of the 10 little cardmakers. Some of them were really into it and some didn't want to do it at all.
One thing I did learn is that if you are going to be working with preschoolers, make sure you have everything cute ahead of time!!!!! I need to spend more time with the nieces and nephews to learn what to do! Well, hopefully you all will enjoy this pictures. The auction is this Friday and I'm hoping to make it. Maybe I'll have more pictures.

Back from Portland

Well, I don't know how many of you knew, but I was recently in Portland for a work conference. It was the regional (Oregon, Portland, Idaho and Alaska) meeting for the TRiO programs. TRiO is the program at the Dept. of Ed. that the Educational Talent Search program falls under. I left the Saturday after Thanksgiving and returned Thursday evening. The meeting didn't start until Sunday evening so I had some time to do a little shopping on Sunday morning. There is the Pioneer Place shopping center about 8 blocks from the hotel I stayed at. They also had a movie theater. So naturally I had to watch a movie. I decided that I wanted to see Twilight. Excellent movie, but not as good as the books. I'm addicted to the series. I'm currently about 1/2 to 3/4 through Breaking Dawn (the 4th in the series) and am dreading finishing it. As of right now there are no more books in the series after this one. The had a Ross Dress for Less and I went a little sweater happy. During the winter I like to dress warm, but I have a hard time paying full price for anything - hard time paying full price, but yet I pay about 2x as much for things living in Bethel?????? Anyways, I got 6 different sweaters that I plan on wearing alot!

Back to the meeting. We stayed at the Marriott Downtown. I helped with registration check-in and met some nice people. We had some good sessions on our different TRiO programs (Talent Search, Upward Bound, Student Support Services, Educational Opportunity Centers). I got to meet one of our big supporters in Washington, DC with the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE). Angelica Vialpando (who is actually from Laramie, WY) is a great asset out there. Since she grew up in Wyoming, she understands the rural, small town thing. They are trying to talk me into Policy Seminar in Washington, DC in March to talk about my unique situation out here. We'll see.

On Tuesday night we had our Banquet and Silent Auction. I made a qaspeq for it. A qaspeq is a short-pullover type of top that the Yupik Alaskans in this area wear alot.

This is one that I made for myself to wear for our Thanksgiving potluck at work, but I also took it to Portland to wear at the meeting so I could show everyone what the qaspeq actually looked like.The qaspeq only brought in $35, but that's okay. It's all for a good cause. It goes to scholarships for TRiO students.

I spent all day Thursday either in airports or on airplane, 8:00 am to 9:00 pm. I'm now enjoying what little is left of my weekend before I have to go back to work tomorrow!