General Differences

Hello,

I know I haven't posted in a while. Since the routine of work started, I haven't had anything big to post about. I still don't have any big events to write about, but here are some of the differences I've noticed between Anchorage and the rest of the lower 48.

1) No recycling. It makes my cringe to throw away paper and plastics. I'm so used to CA where every house has a recycle bin along with the regular trash bins. You can pay to have a company come get your paper stuff to recycle. I had to look in the phone book to see about cans and such. There are a handful, but not like the places all over in Cali. Then again there's no CRV on cans or bottles here either.

2) No taxes. It still throws me a bit when I look at a receipt and the tax line is either missing or has "0.00" there.

3) Apparently Alaska has no lotto either. A co-worker mentioned that there is an independent company (or something) that tries every so often. But they had to cancel the last drawing because not enough people bought tickets.

4) Only one highway... and that even has traffic lights downtown thru mid-town. Phooey. I miss using 5th gear in my car. I haven't driven 65 mph in over a month.

5) The Roller Skating Rink. A co-worker took pity on me and my homesick self and invited me to go rollerskating with her and her family for her daughter's 14th birthday. It was a blast and I have the blisters to prove it. Here are the differences... First the rink was in desperate need of a wax job. It was smooth enough to skate on, but not nearly as well kept as I'm used to. Second, at max there were 30 people on the rink at any given time. I know because I would do random head counts. So there was plenty of room to fall down without getting run over if need be (and no, I didn't fall down). Third, it was pretty cheap. Only $5 admission for the night (3 hours) and $2 for skate rental. Fourth and last, there was no Hokey-Pokey, nor was there the Chicken Dance. I was highly disappointed.

6) Things are more expensive here. I laugh at fast food ads on TV. A $5 foot-long at Subway is $6 here. A pizza at Pizza Hut advertised at $10 (or so) is $13.99 here. Makes up for the whole no taxes thing I suppose.

7) There are lots of earthquakes. I think there's about one a week or so. The radio news this morning reported that there was an earthquake at the far end of the Aleutian Islands this last weekend and the aftershocks were still happening. I haven't felt any earthquakes, and I'm okay with that.

That's all I have to report. The weather has been in the low 60s and overcast of raining for a week now. Every so often the sun will visit for a day and the temp will get into the low 70s. That's when everyone breaks out the shorts and flip-flops. :-)

Take care!