Vampires and Vegas

I started reading a new book last week. I'm sure a lot of you have already read "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer, but it's taken me awhile to find some time to start it. I couldn't stop reading it this weekend, on all my flights down South to Las Vegas (and on the way back of course). The author is really good at describing the people and places in the book and you can almost feel like you are there and you know the people. I always love a good vampire story, and this one isn't disappointing, however I don't think I would reccommend it to guys as much, since the main character is a female, and there is an awful lot of romance entwined in the story. I'm super excited that there are 3 more books already published in the series...
The rest of my weekend when I wasn't reading I was hanging out in sunny Las Vegas. It was around 100 degrees every day, and I spent a fair share of my time sitting in the huge swimming pool at the Flamingo Hotel. I would tell you the rest, but as they say "what happens in Vegas..."

Vocabulary Word--Example for Students!

I read an article about fall weather on adn.com, and the word from the article I chose was "Dreary."

Dreary means dull bleak and lifeless; depressing

synonyms: Dull, Drab, uninteresting, boring, gloomy
antonyms: exciting, cheerful, bright

Sentences:

She was tired of her dreary routing of working,eating, and trying to sleep.

He sobbed as he thought of dreary things.

This dreary weather makes me want to go back to bed.

getting old

I can't believe how sore I am after one night of city-league volleyball. I'm not talking like Olympic beach volleyball where you actually run/jump/dive, I'm talking about mostly standing in one place and occasionally hitting the ball over the net, serving a couple times, and standing some more!! What a wake up call--- Coach Emily needs to get back in shape. Only 4 more days until high school Volleyball starts, can't wait!!

Rural Alaska Fuel Crisis

Whenever I read the Anchorage Daily News I always check the "Bush" section to see if there is anything of interest to me. The latest entry was an article about a summit that was held down the river from me in good old Bethel, AK. One of the contributing members of the summit was one of our state Senator's--Lisa Murkowski. Lisa urged villages not to move to urban areas because of the fuel crisis--she said that the state would have to be creative in solving the problem rather than village people sacrificing their culture and way of life. I was interested to read what sort of solutions came out of the summit--here are the ideas the article highlighted:

Naneng suggested that Alaska should create more refineries to produce heating fuel, gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels.

Calista President Matthew Nicolai suggested tax incentives and bond financing to meet immediate needs.

Middleton suggested technical help from the government.

Leask suggested strengthening the Power Cost Equalization Program by examining and refining its mission.

AVCP's Hoffman suggested developing central bulk fuel storage areas using ex-military areas like the Adak Naval Base.

BBNC's President Anderson suggested developing renewable energy sources, especially hydropower using Alaska's rivers

All these ideas seem to have some merit and might help the crisis, however I'm not sure that any of them are going to solve the problem of this upcoming winter for some rural Alaskans. I just don't see how families living on fixed-incomes are going to be able to pay hundreds-thousands each month to heat their homes. The solution for myself is to turn off the furnace and wear like 3 sweaters and four pants, sleep with 10 blankets, and light lots of candles for my pets to sleep by. Also, I need to stop being so lazy and walk the 1/2 mile to work and stop wasting gas. Cutting down energy use is a solution that everyone can utilize to some degree. Sure the pfd's/energy rebate should help but I know that people will be using that money for other needs besides fuel. I love the free money myself, but the state might of been better off buying everyone fuel--who knows??
The article briefly touches on CITGO and how the venezuelan guy gave us all that free 100 gallons of oil earlier this year--that is a whole other issue. Anyway, if you love fuel and Lisa Murkowski this article is definitely for you!

if you want to read it: http://www.adn.com/rural/story/526301.html

Welcome to Class!

Well good evening class (or any other nosy blog readers),
I just wanted to write and say I'm really excited to start Publications class, and I think it's going to be a great year. I hope you all learn something, and have fun too. If you ever need help I'm just an e-mail away.

Thank you to everyone who faxed their assent forms already. If you haven't please fax them as soon as you get a chance.

I promise this will most likely be the most boring blog entry I ever write. We will work more on blogging tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Emily