Homer feels like home

Last weekend Aaron and I went down to Homer to do some winter king fishing. His hippie friend Drew came along with us. Drew has a lot of girl-friends (to clarify, friends that are girls) and he's been trying to set me up with some so I can start making friends. I've been realizing lately how much more difficult it is to meet people after you're out of college. Where do you find them?! The gym? Where you're all out of breath and sweaty? Work? Where you're already around them for 9 hours everyday and would rather not see their face again when you get home? Church? yea maybe. Well I'm trying it all and hopefully I'll start taking classes at University of Alaska Anchorage next semester and maybe I'll meet some cool people there. Anyway, back to fishing. We did really well! We went out fishing in the Kachemak Bay and we got 4 kings on saturday and 6 kings on sunday. The limit is 2 per day per person. An interesting fact about winter King Salmon is 1 out of 10 is a white salmon- which means its meat is white instead of the red/pink color. And they are delicious. We got 2 white kings, but ended up giving one of them away unintentionally to one of Aaron's friends that has a crab pot, pulled the crab pot, and gave us a huge crab in return for it. While we were fishing we were catching Pollock left and right. If we had actually been trying to fish for Pollock (which is just a fancy name for the fish they use in Mickey D's fried fish sandwiches- the stuff in frozen fish sticks..etc) we would have been the most successful fishermen I know. But since we weren't, and we just wanted kings, it was ultra super annoying. King salmon take down the whole rod and run the line out when they bite. Pollock just swallow the bait and get dragged behind the boat until we see the rod quivering slightly and know we've caught a little turd. We lost a lot of little herring bait to those dumb fish. I caught the biggest king while we were out. He was about 18-20 lbs. Pretty little guy. They have the shiniest silver scales with a strip of purple and gold high on their side.

Also- I got the job at Alpine Urology! Two weeks of solid work under my belt... time to go shopping! The pants and boots have been calling my name for awhile. That is the only thing on my agenda for today, a beautiful saturday. OH- that's not true. Apparently we are going to a haunted house out in Wasilla tonight. I dont know how keen I am about that plan, but it's something to do and it's time to get in the Halloween spirit. We have to dress up for work on friday so if any has some good PG suggestions of cool costumes, holla atcha girl.

The working world

I’ve been in Anchorage for about 2 weeks, and I have a job!! Well.. almost. I am currently doing a ‘working interview’ at Alpine Urology being a surgery scheduler. I get to talk about and hear about genitals all day long :) . It is pretty interesting stuff- it’s amazing how many things can go wrong down there. And how many different types of procedures they have to fix them. Then there’s the occasional really old man (and by really old I mean over 80) that comes into the office wanting a cure for erectile dysfunction. I just wonder if there is a point in a man’s life where he should just accept the fact that it’s not going to get up anymore… maybe I’m mistaken and that point doesn’t exist. Anyway, I like the job a lot so far, it keeps me really busy and it gets me into a medical office setting with good pay- can’t beat it really. To top it off, the view from my window consists of the Chugach Mountains peaked in snow. Gorgeous.

I went on a hike on Pioneer Peak yesterday with some peeps and it was a tough one. It was 5.5 miles to the ridge and another mile to the peak. I think we made it 3 miles up (maybe) and called it a day and had to hike 3 more back down. I then proceeded to pass out for 3 and half hours when we got home. The views were amazing as usual but I also forgot my camera as usual. Drew took some pictures for me so maybe he’ll email them soon. Today when I got off of work we went for a shorter, less strenuous hike, not straight up the side of steep mountain, and it was a good way to wind down the day. You can’t go for a walk or hike anywhere in Anchorage without being awed by the surrounding mountains, lakes and sunsets. I love it.

Hopefully my ‘working interview’ will turn into full employment starting Wednesday- I’ll keep you updated. And this weekend I am going down to Homer to do some winter king salmon fishing- back into the fish already!