New Year!

Now that it's 2010, I'm going to make an attempt to post more often. That said, please comment if you read this entry - I'm just curious to see who's out there.

Today, we're going to look a bit at Alaska's weather. The reason for this is because when I went home for break, I got a lot of the OMG IT MUST BE SO COLD THERE WHY WOULD YOU GO THERE!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yes, there are some parts of Alaska that are like that. Consider the fact that the weather is so different in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from the Lower Peninsula - and then realize that Alaska is a third of the size of the contiguous United States (Alaska - Where Size DOES Matter! as the t-shirts say). If there's that much of a difference in the 10 hours it takes to drive from Houghton to Detroit, there's going to be even more of a difference up here.

Let's use some weather.com to check stuff out:

(Also, please check out a map to see where these are in relation to each other)

9:19am, January 10, 2010
Fairbanks: -22F, windchill -38F, amount of sunlight: 4 hours, 42 minutes
Nome: 6F, windchill -12F, amount of sunlight: 4 hours, 50 minutes
Anchorage: 19F, windchill 6F, amount of sunlight: 6 hours, 7 minutes
Barrow: -34F, windchill -58, amount of sunlight: still nothing (sun rises and sets at 1:52pm)
St. Paul Island (this is where Mel is, and Beth and all of them were teaching): 24F, windchill 9F, amount of sunlight: 8 hours, 10 minutes
Homer: 27F, windchill 19F, amount of sunlight: 6 hours, 35 minutes

In other words - it all depends on where you are. The weather in Homer is actually very mild. They get approximately 50 inches of snow a year, as opposed to the 250+ that Houghton normally gets. We get a lot of rain because it is so temperate, which then does freeze and turns to ice. That's the real danger here. Not white-outs or blizzards, but the roads can get very icy.

Also notice how much the daylight changes. Barrow is the farthest north part of Alaska, which is why they are in complete darkness right now. I maintain that my job is the primary reason that the sunlight (or lack thereof) does not bother me. Every school day, I am required to go outside so that I can drive from the high school to the middle school (about a mile, I believe, perhaps a bit less). I just make sure that I take my time getting out to my car and then walking back into the middle school. Sure, there are times when I get a bit sad that it's 4pm and already dark, but it doesn't seem to affect me. I'm sure that it would if I were farther north, but... I'm not!

On that topic, school is still going well. I know quite a few teachers who love the beginning of the semester because there aren't as many papers/projects/quizzes/tests to grade, but that's not quite how it works for music classes. I have to prepare all of the music to hand out. That's why I've been spending extra time at the school (even more than I normally would). I'm probably going to head in for a few hours today, just to make sure that the high school is all set. I've got two or three more songs that I want to hand out for pep band, and then we'll be done with that. I'm also waiting for the directors to pick the pieces for Mass Band (they take all the bands on the Peninsula and combine them, it should be interesting) so that I can make sure I have those and pass them out and start working on them. I have to pick 2-3 of my own pieces for that as well, and I'm waiting for a response as to what "type" of pieces I'm supposed to pick out, as well as length. Once I get that, I'll be good to go.

I'm also directing a winter play. It's called "David and Lisa", set in a boarding school for mentally disturbed adolescents. Definitely a drama, but there are some funny moments as well (as there always should be). I'm excited for it, as are the kids. There's an amazing theatre company here in town that I'm hoping to get involved with at some point, but a lot of what they do is in the summer, and I'll be back in Michigan for this summer. Ah well, there's always the summer after!

Also, please remember to comment - I'm just curious to see who's reading. Thanks!