Monday Afternoon in the Great Land, 1/11/10

The temp has worked its way back up to the 17 degree mark at the airport. Here at my place, it's 5 degrees above. AccuHunch is predicting wind chills of -15 to -30 tonight; that's probably the only part of the forecast they'll have predicted correctly.

The sun shone today - that's three days in a row! - and made life bearable. The temp was 8.5 degrees (per the computerized HVAC controls at my building) at 7:30 this morning. At noon, it was -1, but was back up to 8.2 above at 2:30 this afternoon. Because of the proximity to mountains and the Inlet, Anchorage is prone to multiple temperature pockets, inversions, and eddies. The temps at 6 a.m. ranged from 16 above (at the airport again) to -11 along the base of the mountains.

I love Anchorage!

* * * * *

The Alaska news is starting to fill with reports of ... well, civil unrest, from the apparent ambush of an Anchorage patrolman two days ago*, to the ignition of some incendiary devices in Juneau earlier today**.

Were these the beginning of something bigger, or isolated events? As trite as it seems, only time will tell.

* * * * *

It's now 4:35, and the daylight is fading. I'm going to stop now, and eat some of the chicken-and-dumpling soup which my younger daughter just set on my desk.

Thanks for stopping by.


* The officer had just come from a domestic call, and was sitting in his patrol car, writing his report. A person or persons unknown pulled up alongside & opened fire at point-blank range. He was shot five times, although his body-armor may have provided some protection; initial reports are vague. He's recovering in a local hospital.

** Apparently the devices were left in trash cans; fires were described as "not too serious".