Two-Feet High and Risin'

If you don't already, check out the Saltonstall's blog. They have great photos year-round (including one of those Gigapan super-high resolution images of town), but now that it's winter, the ski and snow reports will be coming fast and furious. Seriously, if it weren't for Patrick's entries, I wouldn't have know there is two-feet of snow up on Pyramid Mountain right now.

There Needs to be a Watch List

And the author (I use that term loosely) of Wednesday's letter to the editor in the Mirror needs to be the first person on it. Here's a sample of his barely-lucid diatribe:

There is plenty of cottonwood trees out by Bell’s Flats, maybe all the liberals in Congress and all you progressives out there would like to decorate them.

It was the kind of incoherent and rambling letter usually penned by those who soon go on mass-murder shooting sprees, so I hope the Kodiak Police or the State Troopers have got their eyes on this lunatic.

There were two very good responses in the paper today from writers who suggested the Mirror exercise some editorial judgment and not print outright threats to lynch people. That would be reasonable.

Hamthrax!

Swine Flu, also known now as Hamthrax, is running rampant in Kodiak, yet school and health officials don't seem to be taking any action. Why haven't we heard from local public health officials on the status of vaccines? Why are they still having a wrestling match this weekend, the first round of which will be held Friday afternoon in front of the entire student body? Why was there a quack on KVOK's Hotline this morning calling this "a minor viral infection"?

At least one-third of the Kodiak Middle School student body is out sick! And that's just the tip of the ice berg; how many high schoolers will be out sick next week once the wrestling tournament is over? I just heard on the student radio show that half the swim team, which is going to state this weekend, hasn't been practicing because they're sick.

Public events need to be curtailed until this passes or there's enough vaccine - seriously, you will not see me in public, or eating out (one well-placed sneeze in the Special Sauce and scores can be infected), until the Swine Flu moves on.

WTF, over? This is getting serious.

The Darkside's Callin'

"There is a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."*

I guess it's okay to let the Evil Empire win the World Series once a decade. I'm actually happy that A-Rod won a series; he really is a good player and deserves at least one ring for his career. 

The upside of all this is teams will really be gunnin' for the Wankies all year and it will be sweet to see them fail miserably.

* Obi-Wan Kenobe, "Star Wars: A New Hope"

Spiffy

Have you noticed how much work is being done on the post office? Remodeling inside and out.... Kinda makes me think the plan for an entirely new post office building in Kodiak is off the table.

And that's fine with me. The current location could not be better, really, and it's obviously got enough room since they could afford to remove a thousand or more boxes (mine included - when changing my address, people say, "Oh, you're a forcibly relocated post office refuge, too.").

Full Moon Fever

By the way, my hypothesis that it's always clear enough to see the full moon down here continues to be proven true. Over the weekend it was shinin' high.

Swine Flu is freakin' everywhere, man

Seriously, why aren't we quarantining the schools or something?

Today's Doonesbury

Rain? Sun? How about both?