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AKStafford: I'll check out those locations over my weekend, thanks. I may be the only one with this problem but every time I go to the Alaska Job Center Network, I can't register to get job information because I am not an Alaskan resident. The first thing it asks for is my zip code. If it's not an Alaska one, you don't get to register. I suppose I could lie but that's not me. Kinda annoying though.... Makes it very hard to find a job. I'll keep trying thou.
Grannyroot: Do you remember what station had the documentary? I don't have a TV (well, I have a TV but no reception or cable or satelite... I just watch DVD's) but my sister can record it if it comes on again. That's how I get my Dr. Who, Torchwood and Castle shows! A bonus for having such a computer nerd for a sister. She has a media computer that puts NASA to shame!!! As for water and electric, etc... if the land I find (just a couple acres, I'm sure) already has it, great! If not, I'll be off the grid, which I would be in some ways if I have electric, water, etc. Wood stove heating and cooking plus a non-electric composting toilet, for starters. I want to be off the grid as much as possible regardless of where I live.
Jerseykat: Thanks for the websites. I took a quick look at the first but will check it out in detail later. I like that they built it on top of a garage looking thing. I hadn't thought of that! Mine will be on a platform right on the ground but I'm going to have a double platform with mega insulation in between the layers (if that makes sense). I've been looking at Pacfic Yurts based out of Oregon. I'll do a carefull compairson of Nomad vs Pacific Yurts. I want the best and most well built as possible. It's a hell of an investment - $10K or more....!
Well, yolks - I mean folks, I get to finally go home after a long and very boring day at work. At least I had Babe the bird dog to keep me company... I keep waiting for someone to complain about the dog snoring at my feet but everyone knows her and loves her. And she's not even my dog!!! She's just happy to be out of the cold. It's 10 degrees here and snowing. The low over the next 2 nights - negative 4... Homer, Alaska is 26 degrees WARMER than Lowry City, Missouri at the moment....
hey Jerseykat...thanks for those linkys!! I have mentioned yurts to my hubby a couple of time...then I saw the one on top of the foundation/garage wow! all hubby did was give me a look like this don't think he's impressed with yurts!!
Yurt's - There was one a yr or two ago that got vandalized or broken into by someone with a knife, they cut the $#@& out of it. See if you can insure it. Good for putting a sauna or hot tub in.
blueflames50: Yeah, that's the same look my boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend) gave me when I mentioned my 20+ year old dream to live in a yurt. He went on to say how he could build me a round house that would be so much better, etc... I told him that wasn't the point and he gave me a "deer in the head light" look. (I gave him the finger). Men... they have NO vision.... (just kidding, guys)
Lakester: From what I've been told yurts are uninsurable (is that a word??) and unmortgageable (yeah, that's NOT a word). Someone once told me that a single independent insurance company in Hawaii insured yurts but they don't seem to actually exist. And unless one of the yurt builders offer financing, you're on your own. The company I'm familiar with requires 50% with order and balance upon pick up/ship date. The smaller yurts are perfect for hot tubs/saunas. Toasty toasty!!! Get one with lots of windows and a solar arc (arc shaped window in the roof) and it offers an awesome view of land and sky!
Finally had a chance to compare Nomad and Pacific Yurts (online anyway). I have to say I'm still going to go with Pacific Yurts. They seem to have more choices and they are also cheaper. While picking up a Yurt in Homer, AK would be logistically better than picking one up in Cottage Grove, OR, that's not enough of a deciding factor. Now, this is all just my opinion and I hope I don't offend anyone. I'm biased towards Pacific Yurts, I'm sure, since they are the company I keep going back to after checking every one else out. There are several companies out there and I'm sure they all have their good and bad points. A Google search for YURTS results in several manufacturers.
Just to make my life more interesting, I got a call regarding a job interview down here. I'd actually forgot about applying for the job and can't even remember exactly what the position is!!! It's a city position in a small town near here. What crappy timing!! I'm so completely ready to leave my current job but my anniversary date is 2-7-10 and I get 2 weeks paid vacation coming to me then. I was going to take it from 2-14 to 2-28 but wouldn't actually return to work until 3-4 because of my work schedule (normal days off). I was going to fly home to Florida and spend a week there then fly to Alaska for my first visit there. I haven't booked anything but I found very good plane ticket and rental car prices. Sigh. I want my vacation. I haven't had a VACATION since 2003 when I spent a week tent camping alone in Bisbee, AZ. Double sigh. So if I go on this interview (this Tuesday at 3 pm) and they offer me the job sometime after that, I'll have to tell them I can't start there until after March 4th. But what if they need someone right away. If I leave before 2-7, I walk away from that vacation and the possibility for a vacation for at least a year. They will have to offer me more than I'm making now, especially if they offer benefits, because I currently have a 10 mile round trip commute to my crappy job but this new job would be 64 miles round trip. I'll need the extra money just to cover gas!
And, what would taking a new job here do to my plans to be up there in 2 years or less???? I would hate to take the job only to turn around and quit a year or so later. My conscious totally needs to take a vacation some times. Drives me nuts. Somebody ought to slip my Jimmy the Cricket a mickey!!!
Finally had a chance to compare Nomad and Pacific Yurts (online anyway). I have to say I'm still going to go with Pacific Yurts. They seem to have more choices and they are also cheaper. While picking up a Yurt in Homer, AK would be logistically better than picking one up in Cottage Grove, OR, that's not enough of a deciding factor. Now, this is all just my opinion and I hope I don't offend anyone. I'm biased towards Pacific Yurts, I'm sure, since they are the company I keep going back to after checking every one else out. There are several companies out there and I'm sure they all have their good and bad points. A Google search for YURTS results in several manufacturers.
Just to make my life more interesting, I got a call regarding a job interview down here. I'd actually forgot about applying for the job and can't even remember exactly what the position is!!! It's a city position in a small town near here. What crappy timing!! I'm so completely ready to leave my current job but my anniversary date is 2-7-10 and I get 2 weeks paid vacation coming to me then. I was going to take it from 2-14 to 2-28 but wouldn't actually return to work until 3-4 because of my work schedule (normal days off). I was going to fly home to Florida and spend a week there then fly to Alaska for my first visit there. I haven't booked anything but I found very good plane ticket and rental car prices. Sigh. I want my vacation. I haven't had a VACATION since 2003 when I spent a week tent camping alone in Bisbee, AZ. Double sigh. So if I go on this interview (this Tuesday at 3 pm) and they offer me the job sometime after that, I'll have to tell them I can't start there until after March 4th. But what if they need someone right away. If I leave before 2-7, I walk away from that vacation and the possibility for a vacation for at least a year. They will have to offer me more than I'm making now, especially if they offer benefits, because I currently have a 10 mile round trip commute to my crappy job but this new job would be 64 miles round trip. I'll need the extra money just to cover gas!
And, what would taking a new job here do to my plans to be up there in 2 years or less???? I would hate to take the job only to turn around and quit a year or so later. My conscious totally needs to take a vacation some times. Drives me nuts. Somebody ought to slip my Jimmy the Cricket a mickey!!!
I heard gas is going up again, and wear-and-tear on your vehicle with 64 miles a day (I doubt they care how far you have to drive...) You might want to go for the interview just to check it out, nothing says you have to take the job even if they offer it. Plans change, goals change, don't beat yourself up if off on the original time frame
I've lost count how many times my plans, goals and dreams have exploded or melted and had to be revised or created fresh.
My earliest memories are of wanting to be a stay at home Mom like my Mom. That dream lasted thru high school but fell apart when I found out I couldn't have kids. Add the lack of a significant other that turned out to be a decent non-abusive a**. Looking back, I'm glad I never had kids. Would have made bad situations worse.
So I went to college without any plan, goal or clue as to my possible future. I changed my major every semester for the first 2 years. 3 colleges and 10 years later (I did not go to school for 10 years non-stop; it was stop and go), I had my first degree. Anthropology. But no job. No job prospects. A 4th college started a Forensic Science program and thru my Anthropolgy program, I'd grown to love that stuff (the real CSI, not the 90% incorrect TV and movie CSI) so I did that program. 3 years later - 2nd degree, with honors even. But the program had a major flaw that the college discovered during my last semester. Too many Criminal Justice classes and not enough Science classes. They completely re-vamped the program but I was at the max in student loans and couldn't continue with the new program. Plus the fact that I SUCK at chemistry.... I have 12 hours but need 30 or more to get a job. I looked into the job market when I started and by the time I finished, it all changed. My plan was to do Crime Scene Photography or Latent Prints. Even those positions require 30 hours of chemistry. I suck enough at chemistry that I'm not going to go to school for 2 more years for it. I think my passing grades in chemistry were pitty grades...
So here I am, age 38, single (again, thank God), with 2 basically useless degrees and a student loan debt that scares me, working as an Office Manager in Hell surrounded by abusive co-workers and owners (it's a campground that makes the most redneck trailer park look like Beverly Hills) and just to make things more interesting (warning: this is probably TMI for you guys but I bet you gals will understand) my Private Nightly Tropical Vacations have started with a passion. Some days I want to move to Barrow just so I can COOL OFF!!! It's terrible when it happens in Wal-Mart. But then again, nothing is surprising in Wal-Mart so I bet people wouldn't notice if I started ripping my clothes off and climb into the ice cream freezer.
I have the same problem here as I would have up there. I live in a rural area and basically all jobs are 25+ miles (one way) away. Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Dr office, Vet office - 42 miles round trip. I use 2 and 4 lane highways to get to them so that's an improvement over what some in Alaska have to use - snow trails, ATV trails, PLANES. To live happily, no matter where I live, I will likely have a heck of a commute. I "lucked out" when I found the job I have now. My unemployment benefits ended and this job came up. I was hired within a month of my last unemployment check. Within the first week, I started doubting the wisdom of taking the job. Within the second week, I started having nightmares about the job. Literally. I've been looking for something, anything, better for nearly 3 years. Nothing. The job market down in the Lower 48 sucks as much as in Alaska but at least the weather is (usually) better here.
So, there ya go. Life story, asked for or not. Deep down inside I know I'll never make it to Alaska unless I win the lottery or the economy makes a mega turn around. Frankly, I think the lottery is more likely. But I'm going to hang on to the dream and continue on.
Gotta have something to dream about at night besides work, right??
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