I live in the middle-of-nowhere, Alaska. Ask me anything!

[Abelman]

'Cause I've got all the time in the world.

[chicagojoe]

1. Is the top of nowhere in Alaska, also?

[Abelman]

13. Funny you should ask

But yes. Yes it is.

[ogradda]

2. do you have snow yet?

:)

[Abelman]

14. Yes.

Half a foot in some spots, a whole foot in others. Great for sledding and building quinzhees and such.

[Leilani]

3. What's it like in the middle-of-nowhere Alaska?

I've lived all over the country, but I've never been to Alaska, & would love to visit.

[Abelman]

15. Isolated

I live in a village (Class 3 city as the locals say - technically they're right) on the Yukon. It's polite for the most part. But you can only get here by plane, so if the weather is bad you're SOL. The Internet helps.

It's not the picturesque portion of the state though, those areas are along the coast and in the southeast. I'd suggest reading "Looking For Alaska" by Peter Jenkins for the best spots to visit. My area is a little wasteland-ish.

[Leilani]

38. Thanks for the info!

[donheld]

4. What's it like in the middle of all that red

:shrug:

[roguevalley]

5. sucky. I live south of you on the peninsula. Howzit up there.

[donheld]

10. Sweety you asked the wrong person

Colorado doesn't have peninsulas that i know of :shrug:

[Abelman]

16. Ugh. Don't remind me.

Luckily, I work with a few other blue-staters so I can talk sane-politics with them. The teens I work with though - some are pretty bright and some are not. One voted for * because "I like him." I ask him why, and he really couldn't answer the question. But he won't listen to FACTS. Kid thinks he's all hot shit too.

A few, though, are pretty smart about it and they understand *=bad for Alaska.

[mirandaod]

6. Got any good bear stories?

[Abelman]

17. I do not

But I mentioned a book above that does. One such story is about a man who had his head crushed by a bear and then walked two miles until he found a person to drive him to the ER.

[mirandaod]

31. Wow.

[Leilani]

7. Do you have sled dogs?

[Abelman]

18. I wish.

Lots of snow machines. Don't call them snow-mobiles, that's far too "white" as it was explained to me. Or snow-gos. It's better than back home where everyone calls them "sleds" which really pisses me off. A sled is something you go down a hill with and it doesn't have an engine, morons. It's one of the few things that sets me off.

There are a couple of sled-doggers in town though, and the Iditarod comes through once every two years.

[Leilani]

39. The Iditarod is amazing!

The dogs are wonderful...I've never had a dog that could do more than eat & sleep. Of course, I'm not the world's best dog trainer.

[BAPhill]

8. I was in the Army up there...

Ft Greely.

[Leilani]

9. Abelman, you got me really curious

& then you disappeared!!!

[Abelman]

20. Sorry.

I was watching the Venture Brothers. I'd been online for a long time, as it is my day off and that's all there is to do. But I'm back now, and not tired because the most physical and mental exertion I did today was yell at some moron in GD, who couldn't hear me anyway because it's a computer not a magical two-way video phone.

But I'm back now to answer Alaska related questions as best I can!

[Leilani]

41. Just kidding!

I'm trying to visit all 50 states, & Alaska is probably the most interesting.

Like Hawaii, Alaska is removed from the mainland, & so different from the rest of the country. It seems Alaskans are like Hawaiians, in that we're independent, & don't take real well to marching orders.

[NamVetsWeeLass]

11. Do you live where they have Night For 24 Hours???

Or the Day for 24 hours??? I always wanted to see the midnight sun.

[Abelman]

21. Nope

That's further north still. I think Barrow. It's funny because instead of the time, they ask "what day does the sun set in Barrow this year?"

We get down to about two hours of daylight here. We're already down to about six, I believe. I figured it to be a loss of 7 minutes a day once, unless I'm totally off my mark.

[yvr girl]

12. How good is my gut?

[Abelman]

22. Pretty good.

I don't have much to say, though. Just an average guy looking for friends on the world wide web, and out of the interweb loop for a while.

[Dover]

19. If you are 'nowhere'......then how can you be sure you are in the middle?

n/t

[Abelman]

23. There's a map...

Don't you read the "Far Side?"

Actually, by my calculations, we're toward the left of the middle in this town. Assuming the Interior=Nowhere.

[Abelman]

24. I guess

I didn't have all the time, as I had to eat and whatnot.

But I swear, I'm going to be here for a good hour at least!

Stupid Eastern time zone with it's "Majority of people"

[fleabert]

25. any job openings?

[Abelman]

28. HAAAHAHAAA!

no. Sorry.

In the summer, you can find jobs on fishing boats and touristy stuff, but the winter...the winter is a little harder.

I'm just moonlighting here until I write the great American Novel.

[fleabert]

29. I'm sick of civilization! I am hoping someone will offer me and DH a job,

without me looking of course, one that pays really well and doesn't require much effort. I am starting to get discouraged.

[Abelman]

30. I'm sorry...

I cannot help you.

My dream job is summer camp counselor in the summer, beloved American personality the rest of the year.

I've got the first one already. Just have to work on the second.

[Skittles]

26. shortage of gals in your area, Abelman?

:D

[Abelman]

27. What's a gal?

It's been so long since I've seen one.

Any girl my age is either A) leaving for college soon and/or B) Drunk way too much for my tastes and a "Conservative"

The shortage is only in the 18-25 demographic. If I wanted to lose my job, self-respect, and possibly go to prison I could try for one of the high schoolers.

Too answer your question: yes. But I write letters to a few back home. Getting married before age 30 is soooooooo 20th century though.

[Lexingtonian]

32. So how's the Great American Novel coming?

Or is that the perfect recipe for grizzly...I actually have a Native cookbook that begins a Cree recipe with 'Skin the bear while slowly stoking up the fire....'

Just kiddin' ya. Have an ex now living in Anchorage, was raised there, with some guy and a stepkid. She likes the flying and the fishing and such and missed it badly. I just couldn't imagine what seven or eight months of wintering would do to me and headed for LA.

[Abelman]

33. Anchorage

is a nice town, but I wouldn't want to live there. It's a great base of operations for exploring the rest of the state, though.

If I made more dough I'd visit many of the other villages but alas!

[Lexingtonian]

34. how 'bout going North?

Or maybe there are some local Native tribes with interesting feasts or something.
And there's still gold over the border in Yukon.

Yeah, she hated the extreme Repub guys and -especially- oil industry people that glommed all over her bits of Anchorage. But she's fine with taking the yearly dividend or whatever it's called, of course.

[roguevalley]

35. What town on the Yukon? I'm in SOldotna.

[Abelman]

36. Galena

[Historic NY]

37. have you found any gold?

[Abelman]

42. Nope.

But I keep looking, anyway!

[Dzimbowicz]

40. I've resided in northern Europe and...

the dark autumns and winters depressed me. How do you cope with the darkness during this time of the year; and, on the other hand, how do you cope with extended daylight in the spring?

I have no idea in which part of the state you reside, so I do not know if you have to deal with these issues.

[Abelman]

43. Well...

I am used to limited daylight in the winter. I use bright full-spectrum lights indoors.

I've never had a problem with extended daylight. I used to have a job back in Michigan where I worked all night and slept during the day. You just close the curtains and cope.

[KamaAina]

44. Is everyone stoked for the upcoming drilling of ANWR?

Just kidding.

Seriously, any plans for organized resistance?

[Abelman]

45. Not that I know of

No one seems to really understand politics, though. I'm not really sure why so many people vote Red. I guess they still think the Repugs are the party of less government.