Changing gears

Well, I've officially moved out of Alaska...and it's a hard adjustment being home. I miss all of my friends...who actually became family. But that's life right? I arrived home early in the morning at Logan Airport. After taking a bus outside the city, my little brother Matt picked me up...and we went home.


I got to see most of my family in the first couple days which was nice. I also got to see my niece Tristan (left) and my nephew Cooper (right)...who are my sister Jaime's kids. Aren't they adorable....and blond? A picture can be deceiving...believe me. They may be adorable, but they're a handful.


And within 24 hours of being home...I bought a new car. I know...I know...but if you think about it...it's giving me job security. BUT...in my defense, it's got awesome fuel economy and it looks cute, too.....win-win.


So I guess my life has been lackluster since I got home. My days basically involve entertaining my sister's kids, helping my mom out, and mentally preparing for the next phase of whatever I might be doing in the next year. As you can see, my mother, grandmother, and I took the kids to the Zoo...where we not only saw lions, no tigers, and bears (oh my)....but also, turtles humping (see above).


So between trips to the zoo, the beach, and most recently...New Hampshire...I've managed to stay relatively busy. Since I've nixed the graduate school plans for now, I've been applying to jobs in Washington state and in the Massachusetts area...so we'll see where fate takes me next. And who know....because last time it took me to Fairbanks, Alaska!

Bittersweet endings

My pal Julie organized a little barbecue for my last night in Fairbanks so I could say good bye to all of my close friends. She did an amazing job, and it was hard for me to say good bye to everyone and to tell them how much I appreciated everything they've done for me.


So we all gathered together at Julie and Donald's cabin. As you can see, it was a low key night...just a little food, a couple adult beverages, and a lot of critical judging of Olympic athletes on TV.


Donald was manning some meat on the grill, and doing an excellent job. I'm certainly going to miss him, and his rare talent for grilling low quality meats.


We also played outside a little before the rains came. A lovely game of ladder golf occupied us for awhile...but since Julie's backyard is basically Alaskan forest/tundra/marsh...it was somewhat challenging.


I feel totally blessed since the day I got here. I've made amazing friends and had the opportunity to do really cool research. I also got to live in Alaska for two years which has been completely amazing and see animals, glaciers, hot springs, auroras, dog team races, concerts, the Yukon River, marriage of friends, avalanches, the Arctic Circle, 24 hours of sunlight, 24 hours of darkness and TONS more. I can't thank everyone enough for all the rides, talks, laughs, support, and encouragement along the way.


So this is a good bye to Fairbanks, Alaska...my home for the last two years. But this isn't a good bye to the Bourne Blog. I decided to keep it alive for awhile longer, if only to chronicle my adventures in the next few years. I figured if nothing else, it will serve as a digital diary for me so I can remember all the amazing things that have happened to me, and all the amazing people I've met along the way. Farewell Fairbanks!

We learned our lesson from the three little pigs...

My good buddy Dan, (my first friend I met in Fairbanks!!) is building a cabin this summer. He's doing a great job so far, even though he's still got a ways to go, I'm totally impressed with all the work he's done having never built anything this big before!


He rallied a bunch of people (mostly dudes, and I don't blame him...I'm pretty useless) to help him place his support beam and get some more of the walls built. As you can see, he had the help of Ed, Ted, Evan, Ben, Donald, Colin, me, and Julie!


Here's Dan directing everyone and trying to get the support beam in place. That puppy was heavy...much heavier than my bags I packed to go home...which is difficult to fathom.


After we got the support beam in place, we had Julie (above) and Trevor prop themselves up there to hammer that bad boy down.


And of course, in order to get boys to work...you need incentive...i.e. food. And what better incentive than Mexican food? That's enough to motivate an army...at least in my book. And evidently, it was enough motivation for Sky...


Motivation wasn't really the problem for me... it was more my lack of strength in lifting huge pieces of wood. So instead, I decided to entertain the troops...and as you can see...I was doing a horrible job.


So instead, they gave me a power tool....which, in hind sight....was probably a bad idea.

Byes and boredom.

Dave and Laura, two of my close friends up here in Fairbanks had to bid Fairbanks adieu a few days before I did. After finishing her PhD up here in Chemistry, Laura and Dave are headed to North Carolina to live and work for awhile. In their honor, we all headed out to Silver Gulch, in Fox, Alaska to say good bye over fine cuisine and delicious adult beverages.


Here's Donald posing with his semi-exotic looking Raspberry brew at Silver Gulch. We had a great big table, and I got to see Randy, Kendra, Jennifer, Dan, Carrie, Donald, Dave, Laura, Michael, Ted and Colin before my departure as well...which was lovely.


The following morning, Dave and Laura left...so in an attempt to curb my depression about their departure, and my inevitable departure...I went and bugged Colin at work. He works on campus at the Patty Center, which basically means he does nothing and gets paid for it. This is where your tuition goes, people....drink it in, it's delicious.


As you can see, it's a laugh a minute. But it was nice to be around people and get my mind off the fact that I was leaving in a couple days.....whaaa whaaa whaaaaaaaaa.

I scream, you scream...

We all scream for ice cream! So since our options are limited without wheels in Fairbanks, we resort to taking multiple trips down to Hot Licks to get ice cream. So I rounded up the Matteson boys, and cracked the proverbial whip.


Even though they decided to have an intense conversation about basketball...which pretty much leaves me behind in the dust....I didn't mind, because it was absolutely lovely out, and I got to play with my camera (which as I'm sure you've realized...is one of my favorite things to do).


Down at the intersection, you can see the result of the past 8 years with ol' Dubya....sky high pump prices. Which doesn't make me happy considering I'll be purchasing a vehicle upon my return to civilization.

A good night for wine, and a fake murder.

In the process of packing up all their belongings, Dave and Laura came across a game called "How to Host a Murder" in their apartment. Since they'd never used it, we all figured we could put it to good use before they left. So we assigned roles, food, and designated drivers...and headed over to Walter's house to solve this murder mystery.


As you can see, not all of us got actual roles (i.e. Colin, Julie, Ted, Donald, and myself)...so we decided to recycle our old Halloween costumes....might as well get our money's worth! Thus, in addition to all the characters in the Murder, we had Batman, Superman, a lobster, my costume for Little Red Riding Hoe which doubled as a beer wench ensemble, and Donald in white-face. Jackpot!


Here's Julie the lobster drinking wine with her oven mitt claws. Don't be fooled, it's harder than it looks, people.


Here's Colin boning up on the rules...he was supposed to narrate in his best Christian-Bale-Batman-scary-voice ....but it turned out that our actors didn't need much direction....just wine.


Here are three of the very handsome characters (all innocent, for the record)...and if my memory serves me correct...it's Les (Dave), the General (Michael), and Ham (Walter).


After lots of eating and the first two rounds of the murder mystery, we all went outside because for the first time in 3 or 4 weeks...it wasn't raining. Hooray! So, as you can see...Michael was trying to harness his inner Crocodile Dundee.


Then, some of the extras took part in some trampoline action. It kind of looks as if Ted has captured his inner Superman powers...because he's flying away. But, this has to be....by far...the weirdest combination of people on a trampoline in history.


Dave got some pretty good air, and kind of looks like one of those dancers from the iPod commercials....sweet moves, Dave.


And after a little too much rough-housing on the trampoline, the lobster decided to fight back. It was well warranted, I believe.


Anyway...after getting all the energy out of our systems...we went back inside to continue solving the murder mystery....and as you can see...some of the clues were shocking to us lowly extras.

In the end, it was Terra (a.k.a. Kendra) who committed the crime. And although I'm sure she'd still admit innocence...I'm not buying it, and neither is anyone else.

Thus, the moral of this murder mystery is to never trust a pregnant woman in her third trimester....they're calculating and evil!

Let's all ride the Mexican Train

Last Friday, a bunch of us got together over at what used to be Dave and Laura's apartment (sadly, they moved out this morning... :( ...and are on their way to NC). Since they had a ton of halibut and leftover beer, they decided to get rid of it. And what better way to get rid of food and booze than us...eh?


So we gorged ourselves with tons of delicious halibut and celebrated Dave's, Laura's, and my last weekend here in Fairbanks. Above you can see us playing a rousing game of Mexican train.


And of course, we couldn't have a last weekend without going to the Marlin (a local bar right outside of campus). Here's Walter, Laura, and Dave enjoying the ambiance...good times.


And much to our excitement, Michael showed up to partake in the PBR indulging. It was a fun night...but clearly not as fun as the night we stripped down to our skivvys and posed in front of the UAF sign in -38F....also, good times.

Wet, cold American summer.

Overall this summer has been somewhat lackluster. It has been overcast, rainy, cold, and downright miserable. But as I thought more about it, I came to realize that I may be somewhat bias in my perceptions and observations....mainly because I was trying to finish my thesis this summer. As a result, my fun has been sufficiently minimized...along with my chipper attitude.

So, like any gloomy Fairbanksian....I picked myself up, and went to the Tanana Valley Fair in hopes that people watching (which mostly consists of me judging high school students for being the way they are) would lighten my mood a bit.


It definitely worked. After seeing all the horses that Carrie gets to play with everyday, we went to the petting zoo. There were a couple hundred goats in there, along with hundreds of guinea pigs and rabbits too. No elephants of course....maybe next year. There were lots of little babies...and as you can see...they were planning their escape route.


After watching a pig show and fighting through crowds of interesting people, we made it to the indoor venue that had tons of booths giving out free stuff (jackpot!). So, of course...we hit up the National Weather Service booth because Julie was putting out the vibe there. Not only did we get NWS tattoos (which made my biceps look HUGE!), but we also got posters, keychains, and lots of other free stuff that will collect dust in my apartment.


Here's Julie and her weather balloon launch photo...she's pretty famous in the local Fairbanks weather circuit...she's Heidi Klum of the Weather Service. What a bad ass.


And due to the recent and extensive flooding of the local watershed, the NWS brought their safety sign...which is basically stating what normal people might consider "common sense", but you have to remember that we're in Alaska...and don't really have much sense to begin with.