New, New, New

I have been getting comfortable in my new job as a server and yesterday I had some of my own tables while training!!  I think I did a pretty awesome job considering that it was only my third day.  Friday will be the first "non-training" day and I will actually be able to make tips.  I do, however, work this Saturday so I won't be attending Rondy, but at least I have off on Sunday and get to go out to the Iditorod start (yay!!).  I am definitely going to take some pics and I plan on writing on a somewhat tough and confusing subject:  dog mushing.  If you do not live in an area where dog mushing/dog kennels are predominant, then a lot can be misunderstood.  So I want to bring about some clarification.

Sunday's hoop jam was a pretty good success in my opinion.  My neighbors came out and hooped for a while and some friends attended, too.  I got my neighbors really excited about hooping and I think they are now more willing to recruit their friends to jams, classes, and workshops now that they have a taste of how truly awesome hoopdance is.  I plan to extend the invitation to the public for the hoop jam at the end of this month, in hopes to gain some interest in classes.  I am very excited.  Check out my photo album on Hoop City for the pics I took.

On another note, I have been working ridiculously hard on my website.  I think I have found a layout and design that I am happy with.  I am going to start doing posts and announcements so that people can become more involved on the site versus it just being static pages.  I plan to add a little more oomph to it, but I am satisfied with what has become of it as of now.  If you are a website designer or even html/code friendly and would like to give me any tips or tricks, I would sincerely appreciate it.  I am not at all computer illiterate, but when it comes to coding, I am pretty lost.  Thank god for google.

I wanted to share some pics and things from the Iron Dog that I went to a few weekends ago.  I got so busy, but it is an amazing thing.  It is a snowmachine race that starts out in Big Lake, paves the way for the Iditorod to Nome, then over to end in Fairbanks.  All in all, the races covers over 2000 miles.  And what is the craziest part?  It takes about a week, the riders are required to takes a minimum of 50hours in breaks (spaced through out the race at specific check points), and their average speed in 90 mph.  Yes, it is pretty insane.  You can check out the website for the Iron Dog to get a better view of the extent of the race, see the map (go 5o "for race fans" and click on map and checkpoints), and even check out the racers.  Bill wants to do the trail team (which is a group of riders that just takes the trail to Nome and isn't in the competing group) next year.  If I had more experience on snowmachines, I would, but it is pretty hardcore going out there this time of year.

So here are some pics I took that I never got a chance to post.

Bill and I

Snowcycle

And here is a random pic of me on the snowmachine when we were out at the cabin last weekend.  It was cold and blustery, so I am all geared up to the point I feel like Ralphie's brother in A Christmas Story haha.

And as a side note, the boots I am wearing are waaaaay too big.  I know they look like clown boots, but they are good for -60 degrees and when it is freezing and your riding on a snowmachine, you DON'T want your feet to be cold, so I borrowed Bill's bunny boots.  Interesting thing about bunny boots:  they are a huge accessory up here in AK for the winter months, especially for things like dog mushing, snowmachining, and any outdoor work during the winter.  They were originally made for US soldiers to use when dropping out of air planes.  For more info check out the wiki page for bunny boots.  There, a short history lesson of AK :).