Staying awake about jet lag

Hello!

Its that time again for me to warm up my writing pencil and get into a good habit to blog about my and Aunt Kats upcoming trip to.....(if you dont already know since I have been talking of nothing else)....NORWAY!!!!

Once again I will not be sending out individual emails. (Of course I will respond if you just want to say hello!) But if you want to keep track of where we are and how we are doing I recommend checking out: http://sitkakoala.blogspot.com/ every couple of days, as I will be blogging regularly and posting when I can find internet connection and using my fabulous new ipad! Or at least posting some pictures as we go....

This year I have come to the conclusion that I need need NEED to beat jet lag!!!! Last year when I flew to Greece I had jet lag baaaaadddd.....I swear the locals thought I was a zombie from the last frontier! Does anyone know why jet lag is worse when you fly West to East vs the return trip? And what are some things that you have tried to beat your own jet lag?!

The time adjustment from Alaska to Norway is +10 hours. Today it is tomorrow in Norway(or at least dinner time if you are reading this in the morning ;)

4pm Alaska= 2am in Norway
7am Alaska= 5pm in Norway
7am Norway= 9pm in Alaska

So I will be taking my insulin at 12am beginning Friday the 22, and none that morning. This will be easier to control and fix on my home turf versus in a foreign country where there too many distractions! So that when arrive at my +10 hour destination I can set my alarm and take my insulin at 8am "Norway time" for the remainder of the trip.

Dont worry folks, I will be testing my blood glucose and taking fast acting insulin humalog on Friday to compensate as needed throughout the day. I will also be sleeping a bit during normal waking hours and not eating so much so I can confuse my sleep/food schedule before hand, maybe it will then be less of a shock to my system once we arrive in Norway. (nothing is to be missed on this adventure!!!!!)

To Do List 1 week before trip:

1. Adjust insulin so body is not going through blood sugar changes AND city disorientation!
2. Stay up ALL night 5 nights in a row before flight (sleep right after work 4pm-12am-sorry social life I will be back in September) this will also help me sleep ON the plane (at least I hope)
3. Eat ALL meals during the night: breakfast @12am, lunch @7am and dinner @around 12pm.
4. Eat less (or nothing) during the day to trick my body into changing its meal time pattern.
5. Pack light!

Except this packing light technique is unavoidable when you have to pack water resistant items + a jacket!! Why did I pick a place so similar to where I live year round?!

And oh boy, Monday and Tuesday at work should be tricky...... when you read the next post it will be coming from Oslo!

Skoal!!

8 seconds of guilt

Adventures in meter reading is my current status: every time I go out on the field something is bound to happen. To me. To somebody. Something is bound to happen.

One beautiful summer day this year I squished a zygote, or an undeveloped bird embryo to be more specific. Or I really should say I picked it up to examine it and with an iota of too much pressure it exploded within my hand.

This little birdie did not even have a chance to hatch!

Now my guilt is a bit more than weighted in my mind, so many thoughts were flying through my mind as I randomly saw this white object on the ground and what, just had to pick it up on first impulse? Why do we do the things that we do, when the outcome could be less than desirable. (as it turned out this particular day in May)

The first of three thoughts that wriggled around up there in my gray matter in the span of 3.6524 seconds was: Could this be a stone? Its just so smooth... the next thought was: Or could this be one of those plastic eggs that you can buy to go with a toy kitchenette like I used to have as a child?

The next thought was more like a shock: !!OH SHIT!!! It was an egg. The incredible, edible, now nonexistent, egg.

A delicate, ultra smooth, lighter than you can fathom, simple yet extraordinary egg. to which I happened to come upon, pick up, and (gulp) totally dessimate in less than 8 seconds.

I wouldnt make a very good oologist.

Sigh

Deerly Encounters of the Creature Kind

Do you ever get that feeling that something is watching you? The little hairs on the back of your neck stand on end giving you that unusual sensation that something is not quite right.

Today I had that feeling, not a lot, just a little. I got out of my truck and looked around at the snowy landscape. Nothing out of the ordinary that I could see. Hmmmm. I walk down the hill.

As I walk back up the hill, once again my intuition is telling me something is off, and this time I could hear some sounds. As I scanned the area I saw a form pop out of the bushes just ahead to the left of me.

It was a gorgeous doe deer! I stopped in my tracks, as she was about 15 feet in front of me and we just stood there. Staring at one another. I began speaking to her, softly at first. I then told her I was going to be walking toward her and that she should probably hop off into the bushes any time now. Except I think my talking to her was a little too non threatening. She continued to stand there and gaze at me, not looking worried one bit.

I got to about 4 feet from her before my mind started to say that she should really be dashing off into the woods now. The next thought to float through my brain was, I have an apple in the passenger seat of my truck, I am close enough to extend my hand and feed her if only I had my apple. And for those of you who know me well, I hoard my snacks to no end, but I would have gladly shared my apple with this doe.

Which would most likely explain why she was so fearless of me, perhaps someone in the neighborhood is feeding her.......hmmmmm.

Finally I get too close for her comfort and she bounds off up the hill side and into the shade of the snow laden trees. I finish my work and jump back to my truck. Only then asking myself, darn, why didnt I use the camera on my phone to snap a photo of her!!! Well even if I had thought about it, it would have taken me a precious second or two to find the camera application(since it is a fairly new phone and all grrr.....)

If only I had time in the day to post all that happens to me throughout a regular working day. And this apple sure is yummy!

Unbirthday party

An unbirthday party is an okay thing if you are not one in need of a lot of attention to celebrate the day you were born. I didnt really have a birthday party this year. But thats only because I am spreading it out, enjoying the entire month at my leisure. The planets are aligned in the proper spaces for fate to determine the year ahead of me and many changes are already taking place in the little corner of my world.

Lately I feel I am similar to the overly animated mad hatter at Alices tea party. (Hatters were mad because they handled mercury, a liquid metal that soaks into the skin quicky, in the production of making fur hats) Except instead of changing chairs like in the movie my qualm is coats. Liquid rain that is so wet here in Sitka that I can easily drench 3 coats a day. Yes, thats 3 coats per working day. I am out in all the elements: rain/sleet/snow/hail, sometimes occuring approximately at the same time. Which like mercury can cause madness after prolonged exposure.

Or maybe beyond working hours I become the doormouse: Another mad creature who takes tea all of the time because he lives in a state of frozen time. He also sleeps a lot. Which is all I require for myself after a long grueling day at work. A nice warm cup of tea and some hibernation.

I think its time to invest in a 110% "waterproof" jacket. A birthday- er unbirthday gift to myself. After all January is the month of my birth. Anyone know any good brands?

Dear dear Abby

Do you ever find yourself tempted to whine a little bit to dear Abby? Not many annoyances end up irking me so much as to give me a need for an an outlet so that others may hear my plea, but I must admit greatly annoyed I have been in recent times.

In accordance with true dear Abby style we will call man #1 Richard. Richard is my landlord, oh no you say a landlord story. Well as a tenant in my neighborhood I do my duty to pay my rent in a timely manner, follow rules to the best of my ability and keep to myself most of the time. I have always gotten along nicely with "Richard" but in the last eight months have taken on a new job. A job I like, a job I am good at, a job that is mine.

Lately every single time I encounter Richard (to pay rent, or just at the local coffee shop) he dives straight into a particular conversation about: when I applied for that job 10 years ago (and didnt get it) they told me I needed a college degree.....blah blah etc, this conversation can drift along for a good 10-15 minutes if I dont bat my eyelashes and politely excuse myself all the while brimming with irritation with the smile that is fakely plastered onto my face.

And Richard isn't the only one! Into the story comes "Ned" I'm not sure what Ned does for a living but Ned seems to have an intuition (oh I left an important part of the story out, I have "routes" that I do different times during the month) Ned has the uncanny ability of knowing exactly when I will be in his neck of the woods. Ned greets me, and it would be cute if he didn't also slip into the reminiscent ploy of: when I applied for that job, they told me I wasn't fit enough.....

Yes you have to be fit to obtain my job, yes you have to be smart to have my job, yes you have to know how to deal with lots of people who you will encounter with my job, but I might lose my head if I don't find an alternate way of keeping myself from screaming at these guys: ITS NOT YOUR JOB ITS MINE!

Most likely I will not end up sending this little outburst to the dear Abby column in the near future but oh doesn't it feels better to rant and rave about it. I really am not looking for someone to give me hints at how to solve my own dilemmas, I just wanted to give a little shout out to all the Richard's and Ned's in my world. Maybe a little ego statistical but: I see you guys, and the job is all mine.

Cheers!!