Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

The flights home were relatively uneventful. Exit row seating gave my legs a place to stretch. I didn't get much sleep on the Anchorage-Salt Lake flight, and I used the Salt Lake-Detroit leg to fill out my paperwork for the week. Arriving at Detroit at 2:05pm Saturday, I headed over to the Starbucks for my first coffee in well over a week. My lovely wife picked me up a few minutes later and we enjoyed the ride home. I can't wait to go back to Alaska. In fact, I think that's where we'll go for a family vacation this summer. Then I'll finally get to see the "other" Alaska - green everywhere and sunlight forever.

After breakfast I packed my room, checked out and headed over to Elmendorf for the last day of class. This group of students has been an exceptionally fun bunch to be with. So I was determined to enjoy every last moment with them. At lunch Dennis drove me over to the 3rd Wing headquarters building. In front of the building was a memorial. Part of that memorial was a large aviary in which resided three injured bald eagles who are not able to return to the wild. What a treat to see the national bird up close and personal! (See the bald eagles here .) After taking a few pictures with the birds we headed over to the Base Exchange (BX) for lunch. We wrapped up class and I headed out to the city. My flight wasn't for another 10 hours and there were no seats available on earlier flights. I drove around, looking for a place to have one final dinner in Alaska before heading home. It had to be salmon; what sense would it make to come all the way up here and not have salmon? Between window sh...

The price you pay in Anchorage for a clear blue sky is plummeting temperatures. Yesterday the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. This morning on the way into the office I watched in mild amusement as the outside temperature displayed on the dashboard fell from 15 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The official temperature at Elmendorf: Zero. Yep, it's going to be cold. Anchorage is set between the sea and the mountains. Cloud cover serves to trap heat and keep the area warmer than when there are no clouds. And today was an absolutely clear day - not a cloud in the sky. While that made for a gorgeous sunrise (at 10:00am), the temperature never climbed above 14 degrees. After work I headed back to the hotel and rested before heading over to Dennis' house for dinner. Yes, this dear brother has taken it upon himself to be the Hospitality Committee, Welcome Wagon and the Chamber of Commerce. He welcomed me into his home and I sat down to dinner with him and Michael, a fellow believer from...

On the way into work today I came across a car that had slid off the road and into some thick snow. The driver, an airman from Elmendorf, was spinning his wheels unable to get any traction. Well, this is Alaska and you don't just leave people in the cold when they need help. I put on my blinkers and tried to offer my assistance. We kicked snow out of the way and watched as the wheels kept spinning. Another lady who worked in a nearby warehouse also stopped and offered to get some shovels if we couldn't get the car out. But with our pushing, the airman was able to free his car and get back on the road. I climbed back in mine and headed off to work. This week was starting to take on the routine of all other weeks: Roll out of bed, through the breakfast line, into the car, into the office and back to the room at the end of the day. Thankfully, God intervened through the hospitality of one of my students. Dennis, or "3-D" as his friends and his initials go by, insisted o...

Today was a routine day at work. I got up, had breakfast and headed over to the classroom building. Class went smoothly, and I returned to the hotel. I tried going for a run, but my new shoes turned out to be a bit small and within 10 minutes I had shooting pain in both my heels. I decided to back off lest I do some serious damage. After all, I don't want to ruin my chances of running the Detroit Marathon.