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.

After the 14-hour trip I couldn't quite settle down for a nap. Between having slept on the planes and the adrenaline of arrival, I found myself wondering whether I should just stay up until work. I slipped into my pajamas, turned on the TV and watched SportsCenter until about 3:00 am, when I felt drowsy. Two hours later my alarm clock went off. I shaved, showered, dressed and ate breakfast before heading out to the Visitor Center at Elmendorf Air Force Base. There, SMSgt Butler met me at 7:00am and sponsored me onto the base. I followed him with my vehicle to the classroom building. He gave me a tour of the building and showed me to my classroom. By 8:30am my 13 students showed up and we had a great time. This group is a fun bunch and I can tell it's going to be a good week. Sunshine is definitely at a premium up here. This is the dark time of the year, and when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds I snapped a couple of pictures on my phone for you to see what it looks lik...

The month of November saw me travel between Minneapolis (twice) and Fort Wayne (twice). Thanksgiving week was enjoyed at home with a weekend filled with huge meals and extended family. I carved a turkey on Thursday, venison shoulder on Friday, and a quiche on Saturday (that was for breakfast). The day after my 5K run saw me heading to Anchorage, Alaska for a 5-day class. Now I've been to Anchorage twice before, and both times in December. A quick check of the forecast for the week had highs in the 20s and lows in the 10s, so I wasn't too worried about the weather once I got there. But getting there was going to be the chore. The best price on a ticket meant that I would be flying from Detroit to Chicago/O'Hare to Salt Lake City, and from SLC on to Anchorage. As I checked on my flight statuses, I saw that my flight from Detroit was delayed to where I would not make the connection to Salt Lake City. Frustrated I called the airline to check my options. They put me on standby f...

A few weeks ago on a Saturday night I was sitting in my living room with my wife and three other couples from church. We were going around the room sharing our lives with each other. When it was my turn I talked about how low I was feeling from the accumulation of travel and absence from the family. Concerned for my well-being, they not only prayed for me but encouraged me to do something about it: Take up distance running. If you know anything about me, distance running would be the last thing I would choose to do in any athletic contest. I remember doing a cross-country run back in 8th grade - I placed 155th out of 157 runners. Yet somehow, I found myself not only accepting Karen's challenge to run a 5K road race in three weeks, but also welcoming Marty's offer to come by the next morning, Sunday at 7am, to "get me moving for 20-30 minutes." Sure enough, Marty showed up the next morning and we ran/walked a 1-mile loop by my house. It was tough going for me. I couldn...