Sunday, April 22, 2012

An Ex-Soldier at an NRA Banquet

Cartoon source: http://www.usdemocrazy.net/2010/12/01/gunning-for-schools/

Alaska has historically been a Republican State and is well-known to be extremely conservative when it comes to gun ownership.  Those in the lower 48 either thinks or jokes that the everyone in Alaska owns a gun.  Well, it doesn't seem to be far from the truth.  There is a lot of hunting opportunities in Alaska, and some enjoy it for the sport.  Then there seems to be the folks that have them because they are right-wing nuts.  As a liberal, I have been fortunate to have been sheltered from most conservative rhetorics, aside the occasional democrat-bashing or god-worshipping spam I receive from an acquaintance or a friend.  I try to overlook a person's political views in making friends, especially since I do disagree with some aspect of Democratic views, like excessive free handouts (i.e. welfare and unemployment).  My dislike with Republican politics stem mostly from their constant theme of trying to make the rich richer and trying to impose their religious views in deciding what's good for the nation.  I never really had an issue with their stance on guns though, since I stand in the middle on gun control.  Last night, however, my husband's experience at an NRA banquet only reaffirmed my view of Republican politics as self-serving and out of touch with rest of the nation.

My husband is an ex-soldier in the British Army.  He also currently works in an environment that requires him to carry a firearm.  As such, he has had a lot of experience with various types of weapons and has an interest in them.  Therefore, when a colleague invited him to an NRA Banquet evening, he was excited to go.  For whatever reason, we've had difficulty making many friends in Juneau, so I had hoped he would have an enjoyable evening out.  Well, he came home a lot sooner than I expected and told me the evening was more than disappointing.  Turns out he spent the entire night being picked on by rich old men for coming from an unarmed country (England) and not having had a "collection" of guns.  He managed to hold his own by emphasizing he had other priorities at this stage in life, yet he got the sense that some were offended at him putting the importance of guns down.  My husband is also somewhat of a conservationist, so he was quite irked by all the boasting of who killed what.  When asked how many animals he killed, my husband could only reply, "Can that number include humans?"  Everyone he spoke to assumed he had no knowledge or experience with guns, but the fact is my husband could probably outshoot 90% of the people there.  The evening got a little better with some support and backing from the friend who invited him, but there were other aspects of the event that left a bad taste in his mouth.

The most offending part of the night seemed to be the celebratory attitude they took towards guns.  They touted the Second Amendment and claim "gun = freedom".  The NRA chairman said firearms are "peacekeepers" and that they save lives.  At that point all my husband could think of were his squadmates that got their legs shredded by 50 caliber rounds and will never walk again, or of the mothers of his dead combat buddies.  My husband agrees that the Second Amendment is a mark of freedom and is something to be preserved.  However, he does not think that guns should be valued so much that people must make void and thoughtless comments to try and justify their use.  In my husband's words, "No gun is a peacemaker.  Anybody that has seen combat will tell you that a gun is a tool of death.  It is designed to kill, nothing more.  Must we hold celebratory events in order to brainwash gun owners into believing that guns are instruments of peace?"

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Hike from Hell to Eagle Glacier

Eagle Glacier
Eagle Glacier


I don't even know how to begin explaining our experience on the Eagle Glacier Trail. I wouldn't say it was horrible, though Brad may disagree. I was disappointed in some ways since the trip didn't quite turn out as expected. Yet, I was glad to have done it.

Eagle Glacier Trail
Start of the hike
The hike started off easy enough. I was a bit worried about the weight of my pack since I was not used to hiking with one. However, that did not seem to be an issue and my legs handled it fine.  We had also scouted the first couple miles of the trail a few weeks back and knew we wouldn't have much issues with at least that part of the trail. There was lots of snow on the ground still though, and I worried about what the conditions may hold for us later in the trail. We started on a pretty slow pace, stopping for photos and shouting for bears.  We left just before 1pm and expected to get there around 5ish. Well, it turned out that we only covered about 3 miles in that time and still had another 2.5 miles left to our cabin at Eagle Glacier. The snow and ice on the trail slowed us considerably, and there were other obstacles such as dodgy bridges, flooded trails, and fallen trees. The trail by everyone's standards is rated "difficult". There's no total elevation gain, but there is enough ups and downs to give you a good work out.

Eagle Glacier Trail
Brad falling thigh deep into snow
The last two miles of the hike to the cabin was absolute hell.  We'd walk for a long time and get very discouraged when we look at the GPS and saw we only covered a third of a mile. Friday the 13th indeed. There was more snow cover here and the recent warm weather made it soft.  We both kept falling knee and thigh deep into the snow. Snowshoes would have been really helpful for this part. Brad had it even worse, since he weighed a lot more than me and didn't have poles or cleats. I was a bit frustrated since I did warn him against taking unnecessary gear and encouraged him to take poles and cleats. However, I was also very concerned since he was really hurting. It is easy to twist an ankle or hurt your knees in these conditions. He had the additional danger of slipping on ice. I knew I could continue on, but he and I were unsure whether he could. What if he really did injure himself and physically couldn't go on? We joked at the possibility that we could end up on the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive." He pushed through his pain and kept going though. 

We eventually reached the cabin at about 8pm, seven hours after we started. The hike was not the most strenuous one I've done, but it was probably the most difficult. At the cabin we got a glimpse of the Eagle Glacier (above) just before the sun went down. At night the sky was clear and the stars were magnificient. I was hoping to see the aurora borealis but wasn't quite so lucky.

Eagle Glacier Cabin
Eagle Glacier Cabin
Our original plan for our second day was to hike two miles to the Eagle Glacier and back. Well, after yesterday's ordeal, we knew it would be difficult getting there in these conditions. Plus, we needed to rest up our legs for the trek back the next day. I also wanted to see this waterfall that was supposedly only a quarter of a mile past the cabin. We couldn't find the trail to it though amongst all of the snow. So instead, we relaxed at the cabin and enjoyed the peace and quiet. No one showed up at the cabin that day, not that we expected anyone would be crazy enough to come out here and go back on a day hike. The only wildlife I saw were squirrels, but Brad claims he saw a wolf in the evening while outside peeing. Despite not being able to do what I wanted to do this day, I actually enjoyed just being at the cabin. I liked being there so much I'm considering booking another cabin somewhere. In a way I want to come to this same cabin again, but in the summer.

The next day we set off quite early at 0630. We had to get to Pet Nanny's by 3pm to pick-up Millie. We worried it might take us longer to get back with our tired legs, but we did a little better coming back. We were back by noon. It was a little easier to get back because we hit the hardest part of the trail first whilst we had the strength. Plus, we were able to trace back our footsteps (or holes) and avoided falling into the snow as much. Brad had also shed about 30lbs of food and water, which helped a lot. It was a tiring hike back but our spirits were much higher than the hike in. After about 3-miles walking, we ran into three women who were planning to hike out to the cabin in back in one day. One woman was unsure if they'd actually make it all the way out there, but the woman with a f'ing cup of coffee in her hand made it sound like this was a stroll in the park for her. There's a lot of fit people in Juneau who probably do these types of hikes all the time... but hiking with a cup of coffee?  I really would like to know if she made it there and back on that particular day.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Google Voice, Skype, and Wireless Carriers

I came to Juneau with a Verizon cell phone and service.  Although Verizon is not a carrier in Alaska, they are partnered with Alaska Communication Systems to provided extended service.  This means you can make calls, but other services were limited:
  • You cannot use data service, including picture or video texting
  • In-coming calls go to voicemail after 3 rings
  • You cannot update your phone
  • Backup assistant (for your contacts), and probably other applications, won't work
  • You cannot activate a new phone with the same service
Unfortunately, I had just gotten a new contract right before moving so I was stuck for a while.  Initially I tried to get Verizon to resolve some of these issues, but this went nowhere and a lot of time was wasted.  After putting up with their crap service for about a year, my phone started physically falling apart at the hinges.  I tried to convince the customer service rep and his supervisor that they should let me out of my contract because I am not getting the same service as everyone else.  They wouldn't budge because as of 2 years ago or so, they no longer guarantee service outside of the original contract area.  That must have been in the fine print somewhere. 

I was pretty furious after the call and began looking into my options here in Alaska.  By now I didn't care if I had to pay $100 to terminate - I just wanted to get rid of Verizon.  I checked out all of the carriers located in Alaska - AT&T, ACS, and GCI.  At the end of the day though, I had no intention of getting into another contract with any wireless carrier.  I just wanted a no-contract, pre-paid phone service.  The downside to getting one of those was that I could not port my phone number to a pre-pay phone.  I wanted to avoid changing phone numbers

I started looking into other options - Skype and Google Voice.  Skype would have been the best choice since they had variety of call services and user friendly interfaces.  You could also buy phones designed to specifically work with Skype.  The downside is you could not port your # to Skype.  You could, however, port your number to Google Voice (GV).  GV is actually pretty feature rich for a free service.  It has just about all of the features I really needed, as well as the capability to forward my calls anywhere.  One thing that was not clear to me though was how to make calls using the computer, or how I would get a VOIP phone working with GV.  I eventually found out how to use Gmail to make calls from, but it was not a convenient way of making calls.  So here's the solution I came up with:
- Port cell number to Google Voice
- Cancel contract and service and complain to BBC to get termination fee waved (it worked)
- Get pre-paid AT&T cell phone and minutes for emergencies
- Get Skype-in number, subscription, and Skype phone for use while at home
- Forward my GV number to office, skype, and cell
- Use office phone or skype when possible to make calls
- I chose not to forward text messages to my cell, but texts sent to my GV number are sent to my Gmail.  I can easily reply to texts by replying to the e-mail.

The result of all of this is reachable practically everywhere on my old number except when I get no reception while hiking.  Since majority of the time I am at home or the office, my pre-paid cell usage is kept to a minimum.  I could potentially stretch the $25 pre-paid minutes to the max 90 days that it is valid for.  The Skype phone was a bit overpriced at $60-70ish, but I find it quite convenient to use it since I don't have to be logged on to the computer to use Skype.  One year's worth of Skype-in number and US service (unlimited calls) came out to about $60 with the promotions going on.  Assuming I use $25 in pre-paid cell services every 90 days, the first year average phone costs per month is about $20. 

This setup probably won't work for those who spend a lot of time outside of home and office, or those who are attached to their data service.  For me though, it works quite well and I am very happy not to be relying heavily on a wireless carrier service.