youtu.be/_QABtc9HcI4?... This has been thumping in my head ever since the Equinox Marathon in September. It can be in yours too. Just tap the link. Let it in. Soak in those drums and feel the guitars ripple through your psyche.

Wicked Caresses

YouTube video by Electric Wizard - Topic

youtu.be

It turns out that Zoya here is a UT fan. Please advise and/or send Shiner Bock.

Forget a banquet or a trophy.. this is enough of an award for me. I ran on Ashley Carrick’s relay team for the Equinox Marathon, and for a guy who doesn’t run much, it seems I can still turn on the motor when needed.

Happy Labor Day, everyone! I marched with my union (Fairbanks Education Association, local chapter of NEA-Alaska) in our local Labor Day parade! Good times.

Bird enthusiasts of Bluesky: any ideas what kind of raptor this is? Spotted in my backyard, central Fairbanks. I perused my copy of Sibley’s and I think it’s a northern goshawk, but not sure.

Wife’s out of town for a trip and I’m watching 11.22.63 on Netflix with the dogs. Or rather, pausing every 10 minutes to think about it. I think it’s a great series because of the sense of dread, but the scenes with JFK get me overcome with emotion - for the United States that could’ve been..

I’m watched my hometown’s baseball team (the Alaska Goldpanners) play at the National Baseball Congress live on YouTube the past 3 nights. the Panners played well & made it to the final round. I wondered for a bit “Man, this is so easy to watch, why doesn’t MLB do this?” Answer: “Money!”

Well, Ester Dome demands a blood sacrifice every year for good trails, and my lottery number came up last night. I was riding my Enduro, minding my own business, and overcorrected trying to dodge a trees (it came right at me!) and ended up with an ER visit. I learned that.. a. No broken bones!

Finally have time to clear my garden plot and plant the seedlings I started in Spring (it’s been a cool start to summer in Fairbanks), and I found a Wood Frog! I set it loose in the woods nearby.

Anybody here into Softball? I’m part of a local Rec team and am enjoying it enough to invest in my own bat and practice. One question: what’s the difference between the one-piece bats and the two-piece ones?

As a year-round resident of House District 32, I have endorsed a candidate for House: this ham sandwich. It’s nourishing, made with sourdough bread baked in my house, is spicier than the competition with the Calabrian pepper spread, AND is better for me than either Rep. Stapp or Mr. Church.

Oh look, it’s my House Rep, Will Stapp (32-R) chatting with a Glenfarne representative as his committee amends legislation for the proposed LNG pipeline. That’s totally fine and not sketchy at all.

James Brooks Cascade@alaska.bsky.social · 5mo ago

As the Alaska House Finance Committee debates a tax break for the proposed gas pipeline, legislators are literally checking with the pipeline developer outside the committee room on each amendment. #akleg #Alaska

Also, the Cubs lost today.. to the Astros! Sigh, better luck next time…

My go-to cocktail is an Old-Fashioned. I’ve tried it with Bourbon, rye, and Japanese whiskey. A colleague of mine from Wisconsin told me that in the Dairy State, an OF is usually made with brandy. I was skeptical, but I tried it tonight and.. I have to say I like it the best of any I’ve had so far.

The Cubs lost today! I can accept that, but they lost to the Rangers?! Sigh..

I recently discovered my school has a bag of 20+ plastic practice Cricket bats. Next year, I may introduce students to the sport and who knows, maybe this will be the start of the Farthest North Cricket team?

One of my brand-new baseball cleats went missing this weekend. I searched our house and yard upside down, went back to the ballpark to see if I left it behind by accident, no luck. Guess what my wife found in our GSD’s box?

Had my first practice for my Rec Softball team today. My right shoulder’s sore from throwing, I need to practice sprints more, but my swing is pretty good. I’m happy with the start of the season and will post more as it goes on.

Dad’s back in the ER (for those just joining our program, my Dad is bed-bound and has had a whole bunch of health issues in the past year, including a stroke). He’s awake and talking, but it’s a lot to take in first thing on a Sunday morning.

Part of aging for me is a newfound interest in “safer” sports. Hockey? I didn’t grow up with it & have too many dreams about lost teeth to be excited about adult rec league, but Floorball (floor hockey designed by the Swedish Fun Police) is appealing to me now. Ditto for gravel bikes and pickleball.

It’s 6:19 AM in central Fairbanks: it’s -35 F, with the outdoor temperature rising, AND the ice fog has lifted!

Greetings from Fairbanks, where our outdoor thermometer quit (it stops after - 40 C), I’m on my 2nd week of Winter Break, and I’ve dusted off the cast iron tea pot Heather and I bought in Japan. It now lives on the wood stove.

I am revisiting Quake (the video game). It never ceases to surprise me that, with its turbulent development and lots of elements that shouldn’t mesh on paper (fighting chainsaw & grenade-launcher wielding ogres in castles with shotguns to a soundtrack made by Trent Reznor?!) but it all works out.

Birch Hill looks mighty spooky this October..

Preparing for the Golden Days Parade tomorrow! If you’re in Fairbanks, come on downtown to see the floats and familiar faces, such as yours truly!

Hello friends and family across the Fairbanks North Star Borough! I’m running for Assembly this Fall to strengthen our public schools, work on lowering energy costs and promoting more affordable housing, and supporting our seniors. See my website for more information: www.armstrongforassembly.org

So one of my eggplants has a bud, which is really cool. It’s my first year growing eggplants in my garden, and boy was I surprised to learn that not only do they grow thorns, their flowers look like they’re from a nightmare realm. Just look at it!

I just finished filling envelopes with thank you letters for donors from my campaign last year. Whew! It takes a while. Even a modest 71 letters took 2 hours. I can only imagine what it was like to pack envelopes for political campaigns in the days before the Internet.

#akleg Our state constitution says "All civil officers of the State are subject to impeachment by the legislature." If Adam Crum has been obstructing legislative audit and giving away hundreds of millions in sweetheart deals to his buddies at the oil companies, it might be worth considering.

Who’s my little chimichangita?!