Getting by

(I fell behind on my posts because my pictures are on my laptop and my words are on my desktop, and I was just too darn lazy to combine the two efforts. I've got another post already created. It will be up tomorrow.)

On my third night in Fairbanks, I nuked a Banquet dinner and sat on my couch/home. Bob walked in from work and joked, "It eats!"

As jovial as his statement was, it did strike a nerve. I hadn’t been eating much since arriving, most likely due to the stress of a new job, town and lifestyle. I was getting pale and thin.

Moving into the Box changed this. All the lifting, cleaning and set-up work really got me into a rhythm. Also, I was living on the north side of the river, which put me closer to some of the prettier views in town. The changing color of the leaves was motivation enough to get outside and start running again, and that got my appetite back quickly. The color returned to my cheeks as I discovered Creamer’s Field:




And also the view from atop UAF (it sits on a hill overlooking the city):


But of course, the days aren’t always beautiful here. In fact, right now it’s in a summer-winter transition (I hesitate to call it "fall") in which it’s mostly cold and rainy. So how do Fairbanksans entertain themselves when going outside is as fun as a novocaine-free tooth extraction?

TV! And forget your regularly scheduled programming. The commercials are the real entertainment. This is just the tip of the iceberg:




By my second "weekend" (Tuesday and Wednesday are my days off), I was ready to hit the town. The plan was to light up a cigar and walk south until I hit a bar I liked. A tour director I met in Whitehorse told me about a place called the Iris. I found it across the street from the Westmark Hotel I’d been stealing wireless Internet from.

Hmmm. Maybe the Iris is good on a Friday, but certainly not a Wednesday. The same can be said for the other bars in downtown Fairbanks. I grabbed a brew at The Big I and listened to a bad rendition of "Mr. Jones" (it was open mic night) before going home and shrugging off a tepid night.

The next "weekend," I found a few bars and music spots to hit up, mostly near UAF. I’ve been gravitating toward the university when looking for social activities because that’s where all the young, non-military people live. So far, it’s been fruitful. There’s some good local music around here – the DJs are especially notworthy.

And I’ve found that just because I’m out of college doesn’t mean I’m an outsider there. The UAF bar, The Pub, is welcoming to old fogeys like me. Plus, I can always just say I’m a grad student.