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It’s now the day before my vacation to Alaska. I find there is still a lot for me to do. I need to pack my luggage. I need to check my camera gear. I need to make sure the electronics I’m bringing along work. I need to pay the rent and make sure my affairs are in order. I’ve got my passport (yay!) and other important documents. Stop the mail. Haircut. Clean. Water the plants. Check on my arrangements to keep the plants alive. Eat. Yoga. Post production on the weekends photos. (That’s not going to get done before I leave but I can start and get some of it taken care of.)

Craziness.

On the other hand I do have a lot done already. I’m off of work and all the things that need to be taken care of are being taken care of by my co workers. They may not think they’re ready but I think they will be just fine. I have an ongoing checklist of things to do and pack and bring. That should keep me on track. As I think of new things that I need to handle I just add them to the checklist. So all is good there.

And I got my Xbox 360 back last night from warranty repair. So I celebrated with Rock Band for a bit. In the weeks that my xbox has been gone I’ve lost some of my skill. Still a little practice should iron things out quite nicely!

Last weekend I was up in Glenwood Springs for the Colorado Cave Rescue Network’s rescue seminar. It is held every other year. Saturday morning is lecture. The afternoon is hands on practice with the various pieces of rescue equipment and obstacle courses. Sunday is a mock rescue from a part of the wild cave at Glenwood Caverns. I was invited along to take pictures. How could I pass up an chance like that? 🙂

This is one of my favorites from Sunday’s mock rescue. The orange and blue thing in the middle is a person with a broken arm and leg. With these sorts of injuries it is necessary to package someone up and carry them out of the cave. This area is narrow but not too tight. That’s why there are 10 people involved at this particular point in the cave. In some areas it gets small and tight. Down the road I’ll have a gallery up with more of the images.

Now I need to stop procrastinating and get started on my to do list. It’s not like everything will pack itself 🙂

When my coworkers learned that I was going to Alaska, I started to receive a lot of advice, thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, mocking, stories, anecdotes, concerns, questions, and oddly enough a book suggestion. Several people suggested that I pickup a copy of “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer.

Last night I was out having dinner with some good friends and I found myself near Borders. So I went inside and with the help of a cute sales woman we found a copy of the book. Actually it should have been pretty easy since the book was just made into a movie. But I digress.

From the cover of the book:

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do-family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself…

The first chapter of the book has been an interesting read. I’d like to finish it before I leave for Fairbanks. The next couple weeks are a whirlwind of events. I have the Monday – Thursday of next week to wrap up my work for a 3 week vacation. There is the Colorado Cave Rescue Network (CCRN) rescue seminar in Glenwood Springs next weekend that I promised to photograph. Friday through Monday for me. Tuesday Wednesday of the week after the seminar are the days I have set aside to pack, clean and prepare for the trip. Thursday, May 1^st Ryan and I fly out of Denver. We’ll see where I can stick some reading here and there. The book is 203 pages so a good afternoon of reading should be sufficient. I just have to find the time.

I also wonder if the book is a warning from my coworkers. Not to wander off into the woods perhaps? Perhaps their meaning will become clear once I’ve finished the book. Or maybe it’s just because I will be in Alaska for a bit.

But one thing is clear. The author spells his first name correctly 😉