Walking with Dinosaurs

It's amazing to me that I still feel the draw of dinosaurs.  It's not just children that were excited for this event... In April, I first heard it was coming to town, and went to the website to check it out.  After looking at the cool site and watching some of the "making of" videos, that clinched the deal.  I convinced Greg to get tickets on the first day they were available (in May).  So I've been looking forward to this show for more than four months.  Of course, it was even better because we shared the experience with good friends (happy late birthday, Nita!).  If this ever comes to your neck of the woods, I highly recommend it!

Rondy Run-for-Fun

It's the one year anniversary of when Greg started running races.  Last year in February he entered the Fur Rendezvous (aka Fur Rondy, or just Rondy to the locals) Frostbite Footrace (my post is here).  He didn't dress in costume this year, but wanted to run anyway as it's a big anniversary.

My reward for getting up much earlier than usual on a weekend, was breakfast at Snow City Cafe with Stacy.  Mmmm... Bacon....  (Two Eggs Any Style - scrambled with cheese - comes with choice of meat - is there any choice besides bacon?? - hashbrowns, and toast.  Plenty of fuel for the morning to come...)  As a treat, we stopped first at Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop and I had my first ever chocolate filled croissant.  I can tell that's a bad habit to start, but since it's downtown I'll be saved a bit (since I hardly ever venture that way).  They also had a bacon, cheddar, and black pepper scone that's on my list to try the next time I'm there...

After breakfast and a nice chat, Stacy and I headed into the heart of downtown.  She had to get to the parade staging ground, and I was off to root for Greg on his run.  The helpful race MC proudly announced that it was a balmy 15 degrees, and since there's always a breeze downtown (it's right by the water) it was a mite chilly.  I dressed well for the weather (I thought), but could have done much better.  The thermals under jeans didn't quite keep out the chill, and I should have worn winter boots instead of trusting to my wick-away-wool socks (that I got last year after Greg's race!) to keep my feet warm.  Maybe I'll remember next year...

I got some pictures of the racers - those people are nuts! - and will be posting the entire collection on Facebook.  Then hung around the same area, since it was on the parade route.  There were all kinds of fun entries, and it was great to see people out and about.  I waved at everyone, since they were waving at me - and because I appreciate their fortitude in the brisk morning air.  The Geocache Alaska team was towards the end of the parade, so shortly after I watched Greg and Stacy walk by, we hooked up again and I was on my way home.

We couldn't tell the butt-warmers in Stacy's car were working until almost half-way home, and then it was by the stinging in our backsides.  I've been home for almost four hours now and am just about thawed.

Derby Madness

Saturday night was roller derby - wahoo!!  A chance to get out of the house; watch some fast rolling, hard hitting competition; and spend time visiting with friends.  A great evening!  (Note: Greg and his fancy-pants camera provided the pictures for this entry - all my pix turned out grainy, probably because of the lighting (and only a little because it's a plain-jane point-and-shoot camera and his is super-spiffy).)

Greg and I went early.  Him, because he's one of the photographers for the event; me, because I want good seats and it starts filling up fast.  Because Greg's an "official" person, we can get in before the doors technically open.  So I was there by 5:45pm  - holding seats for 9 of us. I was really glad to see James and Stacy - having a couple extra people helped stave off the dirty glares, but not necessarily all the hopeful "are these seats taken?" inquiries.  Last night there was standing room only and they actually had to turn people away.  One of our group almost didn't make it in, but we were lucky.  It's a good sign for the sport - but for me, it meant that I arrived not a moment too soon, and could actually have been a little earlier for extra peace of mind.

Roller derby is always enjoyable - and Saturday's bout was no exception.  I think it's more exciting to watch than hockey.  There's more action, lots of shoving and pushing, and plenty of excitement.  No out-and-out brawls, but hard work and good fun.

The teams were well matched, so the score was close - first one team in the lead, then the other.  My team lost.  I was rooting for the green team.  For sports, that's one of the best deciding factors for me. (Just ask Sheri about the football game on Sunday.  I did pick the black team to win - because black goes with everything and New Orleans knows how to throw a kick-ass party (we should all know the good party-throwers, right? and the cool purple just doesn't overcome the freezing coldness of Minnesota).  But when she was giving updates using team names I got confused and cheered for a score by the purple team...  Now it's black and blue for the Super Bowl - I'm going to root for black.) 

 The next bout is the 6th of March - I think it's a little too early for Jeannea or Sara to be here.  One of these days their visit will coincide with a bout and they'll be able to experience derby Anchorage-style.  Yeah, baby!

BizBee

It's Friday night, after a hectic day at work... the end of long week. What to do to celebrate?

Why, it's time to go support my friend Stacy at the BizBee. And what is that, you might ask? It's a fundraiser for literacy, where businesses put together teams to participate in a spelling bee. Stacy tried hard to get me on the team this year, but I was lucky to get to the event only 10 minutes late. (I *hate* parking down town. Even after business hours it seems like there's no place to park.)

In lieu of helping with the spelling, James, Greg, & I were part of the support crew. (Pictures are courtesy of Greg's fancy-pants camera, since I left mine home again...) Fortunately, some of the other people at our table brought props to help us get in the mood. And because we were loud and rowdy (is there another way to be at a spelling bee?!?), our table got the spirit award.

My favorite word was "pangolin" (which Stacy spelled correctly - way to go!!). Apparently it's a toothless, scaly mammal that looks like an artichoke. According to Wikipedia here: "The pangolin is often compared to a walking pine cone or globe artichoke." Is that cool or what? I told Stacy that maybe next year I'll be a speller instead of a cheerer. Who knows... maybe I'll get rich and famous based on my mad spelling skilz... Nah! =)

Black Violin

Yesterday was a great day! Fridays are always good, since it means the end of the work week and the beginning of two whole days where I can plan my own activities. This usually means sleeping in, probably some cleaning (bleh - not fun, but necessary), some playing on the computer, maybe some shopping... you get the idea. I'm master of my own time for two whole days. Yay!

Got a little sidetracked there... anyhow - yesterday was great because it was Friday. Also good because Sara's coming to visit for a bit before she heads to Valdez for the summer. ALSO good because Greg's taking me to an Event to celebrate our anniversary. It's a day early as the anniversary is actually on Saturday. He got us tickets to Black Violin - a group of three young men that do interesting things with music. Two play violin/viola while the DJ mixes it up. It's super high energy, and just cool how they mix classical music and hip-hop beats - or hip new music is redone on strings with classical influences.

The pictures I took didn't turn out very well... but I suppose that's okay, since we weren't supposed to be taking pictures anyway. I was like a sheep... "everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?!?" At least I turned the flash off, so I didn't potentially blind them. (Apparently that also helps the camera to NOT focus on the top of the head in the row in front of you - as I noticed the gal in front of us trying to take pictures, but what showed on her screen was the back of the seats/heads in the next row up...) Greg got seats up front - this is the closest I've been to the stage *ever*, and it was fantastic!! Apparently they were front-row seats when the tickets went on sale, but the venue added a couple rows later where the orchestra pit would be. Still the best seats I've had at an event, and it was *loads* of fun! More like a rock concert than a violin performance... =)

The group comes from public school education & training, and focuses on youth - letting them know that with hard work and perseverance you can do anything. A really positive message and nice that some quality entertainment is giving back to community. I checked out their web site - they're playing at Everette Community College in Seattle, WA tomorrow, and at Utah State University on Tuesday. Anybody close should really consider getting tickets - definitely two thumbs up for the show, it's worth it!!

Derby Madness

Last night was another derby night - wahoo! I took my camera, but the little point & shoot just doesn't cut it. I've attached one that I took, just because I finally got a shot that I was trying for. The shutter takes a bit, so when there's action I have to start taking the picture before the subject is even in the frame. This was the third try at getting Mr. Furious doing his warm up laps. Dark and he's almost out of the shot already. (In the first two, he's nowhere in the shot at all.)

So the rest of the photos are courtesy of Greg, who was taking pictures for the bout again. While he was wandering around the arena trying to get good shots, I was sitting in the bleachers rooting for whomever was making a move at the time. I'm primarily rooting for the Dirty Pollis, but the Sockeye Sallys can put on some good moves too. And most times it doesn't matter who's doing what, it's just so darn exciting that I have to cheer! =) My last post about roller derby (here) has some basics.

We went early again. If you try to show up 10-15 minutes before it starts, you won't find anywhere to sit. It's amazing how many people show up for roller derby. I'm not sure how other people found out about it, but I'm glad we did. Since Greg works with Mr. Furious during his day job (and they're both training for a marathon), we get our information from him. I'm impressed that Mr. Furious made it through the entire day. It can't be easy to start the day with a 5k run, and end it reffing the roller derby. Lots of work, that.

We're going to be in Seattle for the next bout - but so will the Rage City Roller Girls. Yay! They're travelling Outside for the March bout, back in Anchorage for April. We taking the Seattle fam with us, to introduce them to the fun.

Frostbite Footrace Funtime

It's Rondy Time again! The Fur Rendezvous festival is every February. There're dog races, people races, and even outhouse races; ice bowling and ice sculptures (not at the same venue); a parade, fireworks, and more. Greg participated in the outhouse races last year (see here). I wasn't really planning on going downtown this year. Parking is nuts because there's lots of people there and they've closed roads; parades are great, but they're similar year-to-year and it's cold; Greg isn't doing the outhouse race this year. Little did I know...

For those that don't know, Greg is training to run a marathon this summer. He & his buddy (Mr. Furious, of roller derby fame), have been training together. They decided to enter the Frostbite Footrace - a 5k run during Rondy. As with the Running of the Reindeer, a huge portion of this race is the creative costumes that people wear. There were clowns, longjohns & bunny boots, fairies, tigger & eyeore (sp?), a sunny couple (she wore a bikini over her running outfit & he had a hawaiian shirt & shorts), bumblebees, and loads more.

And there was a roller derby girl with her ref. I heard that Mr. Furious couldn't get his costume to work properly. More specifically, he couldn't get his hooters to stay put - a problem many women have, but not quite the same... many find the uni-boob (sports bra) helpful when they're doing strenuous activities like running - which is what Greg used to keep his melons in place (thank goodness they're stretchy!! (I meant the uni-boob, not his tatas...)) =) So instead of a roller derby girl, Mr. Furious came as a ref. We'll see him again shortly in his official capacity, since there's a bout tonight. Wahoo!

After the race, we headed to Snow City Cafe for food and conversation. All-in-all a nice morning, even if I did have to roll out of bed tons earlier than I like to on a Saturday. The guys did great, and now they have a benchmark for progress. Summer isn't really that far away (altho I feel like we're having a setback: it's been snowing all day - we've got at least six inches of new snow and it doesn't look like it's going to quit anytime soon). And 26 miles is a fair bit farther than three.

As my prize for getting out of bed early, I promised myself a new pair of shoes. I get my Danscos from a shop downtown, but hardly ever go there - since the shoes are expensive and the shop's downtown... I know the ones I want - I even have a pair in brown already, I just want the black ones now. They don't have my size - so I put them on order, yay! And as a consolation prize I got some cool "smart" socks - they're supposed to cool my feet when it's warm, warm them when it's cold, and keep everything dry. How great is that?!?

Roller Derby, Yeah!

We made our second trip to see the Rage City Roller Girls last night. Let me tell you... watching roller derby bouts is *Fun*!! This is a relatively new sport here in Anchorage, but it seems to be catching on quite well. We have two teams: the Dirty Polli's (black & white) and the Sockeye Sallys (black & red). The crowds are really energetic, and it's easy to cheer for a team... any team.

How did we find out about this, you might ask? Well, it seems that Greg works with Mr. Furious, a referee at the bouts. How did we pick a team to root for? Mr. Furious's wife (Mrs. Furious) skates for the Dirty Polli's, so that sounded like a good enough connection to start. The basic rules are relatively easy to learn, so right away you can start cheering - and there's plenty to cheer about!

Dirty Polli's Mascot: Ken B. Bribed

Here's the basics:

• Each team has five members in play: the jammer (star on helmet), the pivot (stripe on helmet), and three blockers
• The pivots lead the pack and also act as blockers
• The pack starts at the whistle, the jammers wait until the pack has gone 20' then they start
• The jammers skate through the pack, lap them and try to skate through again, gaining a point for each opposing team member passed (so they have to pass through once for no points and start scoring on the second go)

Lead jammer

• The first jammer to break through the pack without penalties the first time becomes the lead jammer (not sure what the bonus of this is, except that only the lead jammer can call off a jam)
• Jams last for up to two minutes or until the lead jammer calls it off

Jammer for Sockeye Sallys out front;
Pivot for Dirty Polli's is down;
Pivot for Sockeye Sallys is behind the jammer

There's an animated video on YouTube for rules here. Right away, there's plenty to cheer about and people to root for; lots of pushing and bumping (but no fighting allowed); plenty of spills and thrills. The energy from the crowd is contagious and fills the air. We went early to get seats and because Greg was taking pictures as part of the event. (Pictures here are courtesy of Greg, as none of mine turned out and he was given free run of the place with his press pass.) The Polli's won this time, but lost in December so I'm looking forward to the next match: February 28th.

Asleep at the Wheel?

We went to a performance last night for Asleep at the Wheel - highly recommended for energetic, swing music! On the way to pick up Greg's mom, we encounter this beastie on the side of the road...