Monay, monay, monay, monnnaaay...monnnaaay

Today was my first day working out of my own drawer at the credit union. The past few days I was working out of my manager's drawer w/ her looking over my shoulder. Twice I handed too much cash to customers and they pointed it out. And once I caught myself handing out an extra fifty. I specifically looked and nowhere in the job description did it say counting would be required. But at the end of the day my drawer balanced.

We got a shipment of money in today of $110,000 that I helped count. I've never seen so much money in my life. It would not have fit into one of those slim briefcases that bad buys in the movies use to transport a million dollars. The boss wouldn't let me rolls in it, though. Bugger!

Ravens

The ravens here are worse than seagulls. They roost like vultures in the McDonald’s parking lot waiting for someone to drop a French fry or at least look away so they can swoop down and claim an unsuspecting McChicken “sammich”. They’re bloated on leftovers and not afraid of people. The other day I was in a mall parking lot and one cawed at me from five feet away, perched on a pickup bed. I’m told they’ll sometimes open mail boxes and leave the mail strewn all over the street; no doubt looking to steal social security checks. Filthy beggars! I’d shoot one and stuff it for Thanksgiving if I didn’t think it would take my gun and come after me.

7 things I love...

...About my new job

7. The commute to work is great (2 minutes on foot)
6. Cookies on Casual Friday
5. Casual Friday
4. Pops are $0.35
3. I get to sit down a lot
2. I can raid the candy dishes
1. My name is on a name plate instead of my shirt


...About living in Juneau, AK vs. Podunk, MI

7. Two words, Cable TV
6. I live on oceanview property
5. I can abbreviate it down to JNU (and why is abbreviate such a long word anyhow?)
4. No slow moving farm vehicles
3. No wearing snowpants to work
2. I get 5 bars on my cell phone
1. Flannel and blue jeans are considered formal attire

Can I even call it a sports injury?

Don't mean for my posts to have a woe-is-me theme, but at least they're funny. I pulled a muscle in my right leg this morning. And it wasn't even doing something exciting like chasing after a purse snatcher or running from Satan. I pulled it in a big yawn-stretch in bed. I guess I overdid it a little on the treadmill the day before. What would the headline of this story read? Girl Injured in Overzealous Yawn? I iced my calf down w/ a package of frozen mixed vegetables in cheese sauce, but it was no use.

So I spent the whole day hobbling around work w/ my right foot pointing sharply to the side, dragging it like Igor from Frankenstein. It took me nearly 5 minutes to walk the block home from work this evening, which included the two times I had to stop to rest.

Nobody Knows My Sorrow

I recently made a comment of an annoying used car salesman that has commercials every day up here. Here's an annoying mattress salesman:



The song gets stuck in my head. Drives me nuts! And what's worse, my current TV has no mute button. I have to turn off the TV when it comes on. My first ridiculous commercial. I've heard about them before, but you never think it's gonna happen to you.

New job

My first day as a financial services specialist was very dry. Spent the entire day reading and training on the computer. There's SOOOO much stuff to learn. So many procedures to follow.

Second day was horrid. I arrived at work and saw the lights on in the branch manager's and loan officer's offices. I knew the manager had a doctor's appointment so she wouldn't be there, but I assumed the loan officer was in. Her desk is obscured by the teller station so I couldn't actually see her.

I unlocked the door and proceded to try to lock it up after I was inside. There was an annoying beeping behind me, but I paid no attention to it. Then I suddenly realized that was the alarm! I ran over to the loan officer's office since she had the code, but no one was in there. I frantically tried to dial the manager but my fingers fumbled and I was freaking out.

The loan officer showed up just as I reached the manager and she disarmed the alarm. The 60 second window had already passed so the police had to be called to let them know it was a false alarm. The manager asked if the "All Clear" sign was up before I walked in. Doh! I forgot about that. There's a sign the opening person puts up to let the tellers know they can come in. Never even looked for it.

I was so embarrassed! The loan officer tried to comfort me saying it was alright and we'd laugh about it one day. But I couldn't get my mind off it for over half the day. I figured I would be there for at least a couple weeks before I made my first big mistake. Sigh...

Got a job! Yippee! Starting Thursday I'm going to be a Financial Services Specialist (teller) at a credit union. Not horrible pay. Eleven something an hour plus benefits. So after my 90 days I'll never have to floss again. Hee, hee. Plus, it's a block from my house so I can walk to work and eat lunch at home and they're still gonna give me a credit for parking. Also looking at a possible part time job as an administrative assistant/web editor. Keep your fingers crossed.

Translating Alaskan to English

If my need of regional attire, Michigan plates and lack of fish aroma weren’t enough to give me away as a fudgie, apparently I also have an accent. Two people have actually told me I have an accent. I couldn’t believe it! Apparently Alaskans have their own dialect the rest of the country isn’t aware of. I haven’t noticed any difference. I take comfort in the fact that Midwesterner’s vernacular is the most like true English, so if anyone has an accent, it ain’t us.

You won’t hear any talk of Indians unless someone is discussing a recent call to a customer service agent for a US-based company. Eskimos are referred to as Natives. Not Native Americans, just Natives. It’s funny how in Michigan even the Indians call themselves Indians.

They don’t count all the points on a buck either, they only count one side. So my 8 point is called a 4 point. I don’t know what they’d call a 9 point. A 4 ½ point? You’re allowed six deer a year and up to four in a day. Southeast AK has seasons for black and brown bear, deer, elk, goat, moose, wolf, wolverine and a variety of small game.

Alaskan to English Dictionary:

Break up (brake uhp) - The period at the end of winter and the beginning of spring. In Michigan this time of year is referred to as late winter

Build the Road (billd thah rode) - An abbreviation for, "Build the Road Juneau to Skagway." A bumper sticker found on the vehicles of more enlightened individuals in support of a highway between said cities. Those opposed to the road linking Juneau to the "outside" created their own bumper sticker stating, "Why extend the dead end? Ferries go all the way," proving that they can in fact rhyme.

Cheekako (chee-kah-koh) - Newbie to Alaska.

Juneau Sneakers (joo-noh sneek-ers) - Galoshes, rubber boots.

Outside (owt-side) - Any state other than Alaska.

Sourdough (sow-er-doh) - Long time resident of Alaska. One becomes a sourdough by killing a bear, urinating in the Yukon and sleeping with a Native.

Termination dust (ter-min-nay-shun dust) - The first light powdering of snow on the mountain peaks signaling the end of summer.

Zero lot (zere-oh laht) - A duplex.

Weather Forcast: Blah

The weather is mostly mild. In December it was only below freezing one day and in the 40s most of the time. I don’t think the road commission is used to a lot of snow. They seem to salt and sand the crap out of everything after a light dusting. Parking lots have so much gravel in them it’s like trying to push a shopping cart through a rock pile. Instead of regular snow plows they have bulldozers…in case they get a full foot, I suppose.

One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the rain. I thought Juneau gets rain like Gaylord gets snow. Well, Juneau gets rain like Gaylord got snow just before the glacier receded creating the Great Lakes. People walk around everywhere in rubber boots. Well-mannered, otherwise normal looking people out in public with ugly brown or olive drab rubber boots with their pant legs tucked in. Haven’t they ever heard of boots with Gore-Tex? I don’t care how long I stay here, until I see the animals lining up two by two to get on the boat the local crazy just built, I am NOT wearing galoshes.

And in case you’re wondering, I’m not overcome with 6 months of darkness. That’s much farther north. As I’m writing this, sunrise is at 8:32 am and sunset is at 3:44 pm (as compared to 8:14/5:25 in Gaylord). So I enjoy about four good hours of daylight when I wake up at noon ;-)

I'd buy that for a dollar!

I bought a cup at a store that was like a coffee mug cut in two. It read, "Alaska was so expensive I could only afford half a cup!" It’s fairly accurate. I think it’s a combination of being a bigger city than what I’m used to and the fact that it’s Juneau, Alaska and the only way here is by plane, boat or birth canal ‘cause so many locals oppose a road connecting it to the rest of the world. Gas is $2.81 a gallon, or $2.71 if I use my Fred Meyer’s card. Fred Meyer is an everything store kind of like Wal-Mart but without the selection and the everyday low prices. There’s no such thing as a dollar store here. In fact, the McDonalds Dollar Menu is $1.50.

Life in Juneau

Juneau isn’t really different than I expected because I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a great place so far. What other city of 30,000 can you go to and be surrounded by mountains? It’s a big town compared to "Podunk, Population: 1500" where I grew up that didn’t even have a blinking stoplight to watch for fun. Everyone here always says Juneau is a small town and sometimes they roll their eyes for emphasis. If they think the 2nd most populated city in the state is small I wonder what they think a big place is. Detroit? LA? Asia? Is there a certain number of Starbucks locations required to make that leap from a small town to a big city?

The roads took some getting used to. Most of the stop signs have been replaced by yield signs. You turn onto another street by way of miniature on and off ramps. The main roads are divided like highways, but the speed limit is still 55 mph. I hate divided roadways, but I guess they’re a necessary evil in a bigger city. I’m sure Gaylord will have to have them in a few million years.

Moving in

Got my trailer unloaded at my new place on the 3rd. Took me over 4 hours. What was I thinking when I packed up some of these huge boxes?!! If I couldn't load them onto the trailer on my own how could I unload them? I was sore all over the next day. Still haven't got everything unpacked and situated in my new room, but I'm working on it. I've got so much space now I don't have enough junk to fill it.

Got a note on my trailer today from to Juneau Police Dept. It said if I don't move my trailer by the 14th they're going to fine me and tow it. Apparently there's some ordnance that says you can only park a non-motorized vehicle on a city street for an hour. So now I have to rent storage space for some ungodly amount money.

First time blogger

My first post on my blog. Yippee! Now I don't have to clutter your inboxes w/ updates. There was an earthquake in AK on the 9th at 6:49 am. Registered 5.7 in the Richter scale. Originated 57 miles west of Haines, which is something like 65 miles north of Juneau (i'm guesstimating). My first real live earthquake and I slept right through it. Bugger!

I finally have all the stuff to make coffee. First I bought the creamer (the most important part). Then I unpacked the coffee maker (which I found out I neglected to remove the old filter from when I packed it up last winter). Then I bought coffee a few days ago and finally today I bought some filters for it. Maybe now I'll be awake for the next earthquake.