Sick Day and Internet Connections

So, I'm bored... hence the post! So are you all ready to hear about my oh so exciting day? Hold on to your hat folks because here it comes! [|:-) <-- Yes... that is a smiley face wearing a hat, don't judge me...--

So I wake up this morning feeling yucky, but since I had to be in by 7 there was no way I could call in sick. I dragged my butt out of bed and proceeded to get ready. I figured that I just needed to wake up and get some fresh air. So off on my purple mountain bike I went. (Btw, I ride with one of the girls living with us because we are good at motivating each other) By the time I got to work I wasn't feeling any better, in fact it was worse but that was only the start. I went to look at our board (the board we write the schedule on and a lot of other things you wouldn't understand.) and almost had a heart attack when I saw it. My tour was BOOKED completely... Wonderful... so now I feel like crap and will be crazy busy all day. Luckily for me, my wonderful coworker Brandi wanted hours and only had one helicopter to load all day and I wanted to go home so we were able to switch shifts and after about 2 hours I was able to leave. WOOHOO!! The fact that I knew rest was on its way made me feel a little better, well, better enough to ride my purple mountain bike to the bus stop.

My bike has requested to remain anonymous, so alas, this bike is only a paid actress... Sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this may have caused!

When I got home I got so lucky, I was able to turn on Colin's computer. (Yes, it really is a challenge. Don't ask me to explain, because it's beyond me today to try and put the problem into coherent explanation.) As I am minding my own business, watching stuff on Netflix when all the sudden the internet stopped working. I tried everything my tired mind could think to do. I went and checked with my roommate, Katy, and she was having internet problems too. After turning off the pain in the butt computer and some phone calls I figured out the problem... The internet jack in the wireless router that connects the router to the modem doesn't hold the plug in tight. So I taped them together and tried to turn on the computer again... no luck. So I give the computer some time to cool down and use my Ipod to watch Netflix on. But since I was already having so much luck today (or lack of it..) my Ipod decides to act up. I could watch about 30 minutes of my show and then it would go back to my main screen on my Ipod, quite frustrating. So after 2 or 3 times of that happening I try to turn on the computer again and voila! It worked! But my joy was short lived.. The internet on the computer, not working. Thats right, you read it. No. Internet. Connection! BUT it was working on my Ipod so it was time to turn on my computer detective mode! I went into the network connections and somehow the internet connection had been disabled... I didn't do it! So I figure that all I had to do was re-enable it. Yeah... no... didn't work. So now what?! I had a thought, and it seemed crazy but I decided to try it anyways. I switched the Ethernet cord from jack 1 in the router to jack 4, then tried the internet again, and it worked! Technology is a pain.

And now, two videos that are bound to please!

That is all!

Well, to sum up...

It's been a month (I know, it's awful) since I've been able to post... I was honestly starting to go through blogging withdrawal! So, let me sum up what has happened....

Colin joined me in Juneau the night after I got in! We are now living in an apartment with 2 co-workers who are awesome and we only pay $700 a month for rent! We are still sleeping on an air mattress, and that probably won't change until we are in a more permanent location (aka not Juneau), though once we have started our family and are a little more stable with the finances we are DEFINITELY moving back to Alaska because lets face it, Alaska is the most awesome place EVER.

I LOVE MY JOB! I meet people from all over the world and I send them to one of the most amazing things on the planet, a glacier, by helicopter. How much better could it get! Things I've learned you ask? 1.Well, I can now hot fuel a helicopter, which is fueling a helicopter while the blades are turning, I must say I look pretty epic!
2. Women from Thailand think that the sanitary napkin box is a trash can for all of their used toilet paper and seat covers (gross I know, but hey! You never know when you may need that kind of information!)
3. Colin McDaniel is the best husband EVER!!!
4: The reason there is blue ice on the glacier is because the ice is so condensed that the blue rays can't soak into it and instead bounce back giving it the extremely blue appearance.

Now for some exciting stories!

First day off we had while living in the apartment me and my other roommate, Katy, went and explored the public transportation in Juneau. We first walked to Wells Fargo to get some quarters since we were pretty much clueless on how the bus system worked and didn't know if they took dollar bills or nickels or dimes and such. After getting a roll of quarters each we set out towards the post office. I knew where it was, but I didn't know exactly which bus stop we wanted to get off at. So here we are riding a long and we pass the turn we would need to take to get to said post office.... now what?! So we got off at the next stop possible and walked about a mile to the post office. Then we headed to safeway where we could have access to internet to look up the bus schedule and see if there was a closer bus stop that would take us back home. We didn't see anything so in frustration we decided it was time for something sweet from the bakery. After filling our tummies with yummy desserts we decided it would be best to call the bus main office and ask them. Sure enough there was much closer, but how to get there and in ten minutes... we had no clue. So as we walk out trying to figure out directions a cute little old lady stopped us and asked us where we needed directions to. We told her and she started giving us directions, but to the wrong place! She realized this and quickly started giving us directions to the right spot. We asked her if we could make it there in 10 minutes and she said "oh, you can make it there in 5!" Katy kindly pointed out that we were walking and she offered us a ride there. Since there were two of us and she seemed totally harmless we decided to accept. We felt even safer when we saw the beanie baby pugs in the back of her car and the pug seat covers. We made it to the bus stop, and were able to get home thanks to the pug lady.

In one day (the day the Thai groups were in) I got enough pictures taken of me to fill 2 or 3 photo albums! I am probably going to be famous in Thailand, well at least the facebook part of it! I also got offered a discount at a SWEET hotel right on the beach by the owner of the hotel who just happened to be in my group. He was one of the few people I encountered that morning that spoke any english. The interpreters were an absolute crack up! They thought it was the funniest thing when I tried to pronounce their names and would laugh and laugh and then give me a big hug. One even told me I sounded like an American.... no, really?! Next day I had a group come in that had been told by the vendor that sold them their tour that they would be going on the dog sledding tour, sadly this was not what he sold them. He sold them the Mendenhall Tour (which is roughly $300 less than dog sledding...) They were so disappointed! I felt so bad for them! BUT back to the main story... One of the lady's was wearing this amazing panda hat. You know a white hat with cute little black ears on it and a panda face on the front. I told her that I thought it was just adorable and this was our conversation:
Panda Hat Lady (PHL): When I get back down from the glacier I will give it to you.
Me: Oh no, I couldn't take your hat!
PHL: No, I want you to have it.
(not wanting to argue) Me: Ok
So I figured she would forget about it after being on that awesome glacier and helicopter ride and to make sure I didn't make her remember the conversation I hid in the back. My coworker, Jay, had known what I was doing and I was surprised when he walked into the hanger laughing and telling me that the panda hat lady asked to see me... my response: If you are joking with me, you are in SO much trouble. He wasn't. I go out there and meet her and she hands it to me and says "A lot of people have told me how much they love my hat, but I think you deserve to have it." She hugs me and gives me that hat. How could you say no to that?! You can't.

This isn't the EXACT hat... but you get the point :)

 Now for the best story.....
Once upon a time, there was a young lady who worked as a TEMSCO employee. One day she came into work only to be told that she wasn't assigned an aircraft for the day. She was asked to wait and double check with the manager when she came in. So after waiting for 45 minutes or so she was finally told that she was to cover someones aircraft while they went on a tour! She reluctantly said ok and proceeded to cover the shift, but of course she complained to her prince charming (who also happened to be a pilot at the same company) about how upset she was. He, being the awesome prince charming he is, went and talked to his manager and was secretly setting up a tour for her. After it was all set up he came and told her that she would be able to go up on the Mendenhall Glacier and that HE would be her pilot! Her dream come true! Once her shift was over she hurried home to change out of her capri's and relax for a little while before the tour. She took a nap and set her alarm clock for 3pm giving her enough time to change, fix her hair and be out the door to the bus by 3:32. She napped for about an hour, then woke up and decided that she should just get ready and head over there earlier. As soon as she was ready she received a phone call from her prince telling her that he was on his way to pick her up since she had been moved to an earlier flight! "Good thing I got ready earlier" she thought to herself. She watched out the window as her handsome prince pulled up in a maroon mini van to pick her up. When she got to the base she was given the full tourist treatment. Her stylish glacier boots were put on her, she was put into a group and assigned a seat by the tour attendant and last but not least loaded into the shiny helicopter and had her seat belt put on for her. She watched as her handsome prince started to take off in the helicopter and through the flight had a hard time keeping her eyes off him even though there was some amazing scenery all around her (don't worry though, she got lots of pictures and saw a lot of stuff even if she was distracted). He announced to the passengers that the woman in the back seat at the far left was his wife and that it was her first time ever flying with him so it was a special flight for both of them (everyone looked a lot more comfortable after that). After expertly landing on the glacier one of her good friends unloaded her out of the helicopter and she walked over with the others to the glacier guides. After seeing a few spots with the other tourists she was taken on a private tour of the glacier and saw an amazing ice cave. She drank the glacier water which was the purest water she ever tasted (forget the fountain of youth... it should be called the glacier river of youth!) Then she watched as her prince landed the helicopter on the ice and she was again loaded into the helicopter and she began her trip back to the heliport. After landing back at the heliport she was unloaded and greeted by her coworkers with whom she shared pictures and told them how amazing it was and how they needed to go up there too! To complete her tourist experience she even had one of the coworkers take her picture with the big stuffed bear they had in the base. She waited for her prince to finish up the day at work and then headed home on the bus to relax together. The End.

So this is all I can remember right now.... It's hard to come up with a months worth of stuff in 24 hours.... But I vow never to get this behind on my blog again!