Perfect storm

Look at these fabulous pictures I took of my niece and nephew just minutes before a nasty rainstorm. It was raining horrendously hard and the house became pitch black in the middle of the day! Oh and credit goes to me for hairstyling too!

Achoo!

I have a summer cold. Summer colds are the worst!

How to be happy longer

What's the secret to long lasting happiness? I asked my lunch companions. Short term happiness seems pretty easy...I remembered being very excited when we first bought our house or sometimes when I get something I really like, like the monogrammed towels. The excitement has worn off in both situations. Am I supposed to buy another house or get new towels to inject some joy into my life?
I thought about what I read once, that happiness is a pretty stable factor. They took two groups of people, measured their levels of happiness before and after a really happy event like winning the lottery or a really tragic event, like becoming a quadriplegic. Surprisingly, after some time has passed, the levels of happiness was the same after the initial high or low of the unhappy or happy event.
So except for short bursts of excitement and sadness, I'm pretty much doomed to my current levels of happiness regardless of what I do?

Irresponsible hydration

Does anyone actually believe that Vitamin Water is good for you? I'm drinking a nice looking light pink concoction called "formula 50" with the subtitle "grape (50% daily dose)". The sub-title is very confusing to me because in the ingredient list, I can't find the word "grape". I do see "cane sugar", "crystalline fructose", "natural flavor" among the top ingredients, leading me to proclaim, the product is a piece of sh@!!

I'm behind the times

As it turns out, everybody and their mother-in-law is using a Sonicare or like product. WTF have I been?!
Now I'd like to know what the best/most effective model is and why...in my husband's typical style of spending, I'm pretty sure I got the cheapest model possible. Wonder if it's refurbished?!

Not to be outdone

Here's Dazee, 22 hours old in her best hospital garb.

Blast from the past!

Well not so so past...Sadie, about 16 hours old.

Today rocked!

Today was a great summer day that I'd like to try to repeat. Generally, I've always tried to take it easy..."scheduling" only one activity a day or we would mostly stay home and relax in the yard.

Today was so action packed. Instead of being stressed out, I think we all had so much fun. In the morning, we took our kids to the zoo with another couple and their child. In the late afternoon, we took them to the beach.

Being out all day in the sun lifted my spirits and as a bonus, it tired my kids out. By ten to eight, both babies were sound asleep, rewarding me with some much needed personal time!

WTF? Tell me what you like

We've been using a really cheap (and in my opinion crappy) Kraft (ew!) Parmesan. I tried telling Josh that we can do better, but my spendthrifty pleas sound are so whiny and frequent that they often go unheeded. Recently my husband found out that his parents have been consuming $13/lb Parmesan cheese, so he got very upset. It's not what you think though. Because his parents are generally thrifty people (the apple does not fall far from the tree), if they are willing to splurge on a product, then it must be good. He felt cheated. He learned to get cheap cheese from them, if they've moved on, why didn't they clue him in? Thinking about how many times they've stayed at our house and ate the crappy cheese without sharing their opinions on how things should be done makes my husband fume.
There're plenty more stories like this, the basic gist is that someone's figured out something good or likes a certain product AND they know what you're using/eating is crappy but they keep mum. I used to think my husband sounded like a pretty whiny nerd to get mad over this, but then it happened to me.

I've been complaining for ages about my crappy teeth. Anyone who's listened to me while using/owning an electric toothbrush makes me angry. Why didn't you say anything?! Now that I have one, I feel obligated to tell others who would benefit from knowing this information.

I'm totally incensed that people don't do enough sharing. Everyone knows word of mouth is powerful testimonial so why are people so loath to doing it? Is politeness the main reason to stay quiet? Because privately thinking someone's an idiot when you can help change the situation sounds pretty rude to me. I'm not asking you to spew non-sequiturs left and right, inundating all conversations with recommendations but if the subject does come up, you happen to know something about it, connect the dots, do some good for the world, goddammit and tell me what you know. You can try to balance "to each his own" with "share your knowledge", but when you are hanging out with me, you can always err on the side of letting it all hang out - please!
Josh and I are like missionaries for all the things we like. Here's a list of some stuff we think are great, please add your words of wisdom here. Quickly, for Christ's sake, you've made me wait for too long!
1. Eurofoam mattress
2. Pulltap corkscrews
3. Down pillows
4. Ralph Lauren towels from Horchow
5. Lands end rashguards for kids
6. Menstrual cups (this one's just from lil 'ol me)
7. GPS unit
8. Mach 3 razor blades
9. Cheap knives that are frequently sharpened
10. Cuisinart multiclad as an economical substitute to All Clad
11. San Marzano tomatoes

My teeth

A recent trip to the dentist revealed two more cavities. At the rate I'm going, I need to put on a down payment now for my set of false teeth.
I nagged my husband to get me an electric toothbrush. Last night I used the sonicare. My teeth felt so clean but it does take some getting used to. It hurts and tickles; the two minute timer seems like forever torture.

Dazee

I sometimes get accused of publishing more pictures of Sadie, so here are some cute ones of Dazee. She kind of looks like a really cute boy.

I'm a menstrual activist

This is not the long-awaited menstrual cup sequel I promised a while back but it is a little nugget to get you excited (or disgusted) by what's to come.
I just can't stop singing the praises of using one. Formerly I had major leakage problems.

STOP HERE IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT...





I've leaked on everything imaginable, mattresses, chairs at work, cars, etc. etc. For the first time in my life, I feel secure in knowing that my underwear and surrounding furniture is safe.

Kids can be so mean...what should I do?

Sadie frequently pushes her sister out of the way or knocks her down if she thinks Dazee is getting too much attention. Dazee doesn't really know what's going on. If she takes a fall on her butt, she just gets back up again. But if she takes a fall on her head, she cries and an adult comes to her rescue and Sadie gets a reprimand or "time-out".
This weekend, the tables were turned on Goliath but not by David, but even bigger Goliaths. We had a big family reunion in the country - 12 adults and 6 children. Sadie was one of the youngest and got picked on by the older kids. "Get out of here, we're going to kick you in the ass!" they scream at her. They take away her toy and make her chase them to get it back, but it's impossible, they have a 3 year lead. "POOOPY HEAD!!!" they taunt. But she continues to follow them around like a lovesick puppy. I don't know if she's fully processing that they're mean to her. "SHUT UP!!!" they command her. Then they play "jail" and lock her in the closet. We had to rescue poor Sadie from her tormenters twice.
What's a parent to do? It seems hardwired for kids to pick on the smaller or younger. When do I intervene and when do I turn a blind eye? Is there a difference between bullying borne from envy versus one borne from carrying out hard-wired instructions to pick on those smaller/weaker than you?
I noticed that parents of the older kids tend to ignore more than me. I don't know if that's a result of personality differences, experience or energy level. Maybe it's a gender thing too? The boys seemed so much more active and physical than the girls. My heart just goes out to poor little Sadie when she gets picked on. It's like I'm watching Animal Planet and I know the gazelle's going to get eaten by the lion. Should the camera people intervene?!

3 year old baby

Sadie insisted on wearing one of Dazee's "onesie" or jumpsuit today. We're supposed to dress her in a bathing suit for camp, but she refused. I tried all kinds of bribes and chicanery but nothing convinced her of taking off her baby sister's outfit. She looks silly and the camp people might get mad that we didn't follow instructions and send her in wearing a bathing suit. I guess we should tell them we don't care if she "swims" in her "regular" "clothes". Sigh....

I'm supposed to learn from a pathological sleep averter?

Many times I hear people say we need to get in touch with children or we need to think and feel the world like children. How they have such a keen sense of being in the moment, how they take risks, fully trust and how they are full of self esteem etc. etc. This is all true but I can't help but think of a situation when I don't understand children and certainly do not want to emulate them.

Each night, my children put up the biggest fuss as they resist going to bed. How can I get my children to sleep easily and quickly? I know they're tired. Why are children so pathological? Instead of screaming and crying why don't they just close their eyes, relax and go to sleep like normal human beings?

Take a breather

I'm in the middle of executive training and the instructor tells us to
take a break. What do we all do? Everyone reaches for their Blackberry
or cell phone. It's kind of funny because I self consciously reach for
my Blackberry to follow the herd but when I first heard take a break,
I was thinking about zoning out.

SOS SMS

Because I'm not on a text message plan on any work or personal devices, I'm totally clueless about texting. I just discovered like 20 texts, sent in the last year on my Blackberry. Most of them seem to be either junk mail or automated notifications from my service provider. There is one from a friend asking, Where is your office located again? I did eventually meet him for lunch (this took place a few months ago), so he did figure where to meet me. How come he never mentioned my SMS snub?

French Toast Recipe using whole wheat bread

I made some delicious French toast today, so I'd like to share the recipe. The crushed cornflakes idea comes from Ari who had it at EAT.

4 eggs
2/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you can substitute regular flour, I'm sure, but this is what I used)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
crushed corn flakes
6 slices thick whole wheat bread (ours was the slightly sweet kind, I think it has honey in it)

1. Combine the first seven ingredients in a bowl.
2. Heat a skillet with some butter.
3. Dip each piece of bread (I cut them in half) in the mixture, making sure to cover each side well.
4. Coat both sides with crushed corn flakes.
5. Cook each slice in the hot buttered skillet, maybe about 4 minutes per side.
ENJOY!!!
We had ours with maple syrup, blueberries, strawberries and yogurt.

Eagle eye Josh

3 Gutenberg Bibles, published around 1450 are on display at the Morgan! Really interesting and cool exhibit. The Bibles are gigantic (20" X 30" closed), beautiful (hand illumination and decoration), written in Latin with barely readable thick Gothic type setting. I tried to make out some of the words but it was impossible. Until Josh poked me and declared, "Look! I can make out the word labia!" I rolled my eyes and dismissed him. But, he was right!
I recall vividly seeing Et labia after he pointed it out. After we left, he asserted that he saw Et labia majora, which I am refuting. Even though I didn't read past the word labia, I'm quite sure there are no lines in the Bible equivalent to what I think Et labia majora translates to.

How we were meant to celebrate the 4th of July

By pure coincidence, at the Morgan museum, I saw a letter, written in 1779, by our founding father, George Washington . In it, Washington orders his general to fire 13 cannons at 1PM to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. Because they were in the middle of fighting the Revolutionary War, Washington notes that the reason for doing is to "exhilarate the troops" since we "can not afford rum". Finally in the post script of the letter, Washington specifically notes that they use the "damaged" gunpowder (just enough for 13) to fire the cannons.

Washington was frugal like my skin flint husband!

Can you imagine if a less frugal person was in charge? Instead of fireworks on the 4th, we'd be getting drunk in the afternoon.

Graft and cronyism: a work perk!

I'm mad as heck and if I hadn't witnessed it for myself, I would've never believed such a thing could exist...an institutionalized form of corruption. Preferential treatment for those in the know...please read on.


Yesterday, I rode shotgun with a friend of mine. At one point, she obviously and blatantly ran a red light. Within seconds, we saw flashing lights behind us; dread settled in as we prepared for our encounter with the cops. My friend politely handed over her license and registration and then casually made a comment, "Oh my boyfriend's a cop" while handing over a leather portfolio that contained some plastic PBA cards as well as a miniature badge with the number of the cop who gave it to her. Why couldn't you stop the car, interrogated one cop. My friend blurted out with a ridiculous fib, Oh because I was afraid the groceries were going to hit us. I had to really control myself to not burst out of laughter over this and the fact that she told them her boyfriend is a cop. How is that relevant?! I marvelled.

As we sat alone while the cops took the documents back to their car, my friend started telling me about how she got out of at least 6 other sticky situations (speeding, not stopping at a stop sign, etc.). She was optimistic that we would not get a ticket. I don't know where her hubris came from and I tried to quash it, "We're definitely getting a ticket. You ran that red light, no question."

The cops came back, gave her a lame warning and even politely informed her one of her brake lights were out. They exchanged a few pleasantries and my friend got off the moving violation!!! I was shell-shocked. My friend explained to me that cops don't "mess with their own." The "silly" portfolio she handed over, with the PBA cards and badge was actually a get out of jail free card!!!

Since then I've spoken to a number of people and did a little Google search and I've learned this:

NY/NJ cops are given a small number of badges/tokens that they can give to their closest friends and families. When these "friends" are stopped for a traffic violation (or are parked illegally, risking a parking ticket), they can show their "credentials" and the vast majority of the time, instead of getting a ticket, they'll get a: "Have a nice day". (Of course these days many people sell the cards, so I don't think it's unusual for an officer to call the cop who the card originated with to see if it's legit.) In fact, most police organizations discourage their officers from writing tickets to friends of the police - and they're public about it!

They even have a euphemism for it -- PC (professional courtesy). A cop from NY wrote on a Michigan police message board asking if Michigan police would extend PC to NY PBA badge/card holders.

I'm incensed and outraged!

I've been reading a lot of message boards on the debate/discussion about the ethics of this situation. The logic that people employ to condone this is that you wouldn't give your mom a ticket. I think that this is legitimate because you know your mom. But to not give someone else's mom a ticket so that they won't give your mom one is going a step to far. Josh tells me to suck it up as a fringe benefit of cops.

Side note: My apologies for the poor organization of this post. I wanted to spend a lot more time on this post, elaborate a lot more and maybe even submit it to a paper or something but my husband insists that it be extremely brief and that I get it out to my dear readers as soon as possible because they would be interested in this kind of information.

Fireworks - bah humbug

I was never a fan of fireworks. My first memory of it was around the time I was in grade school. My mom went through a lot of effort to get us from Queens to the fireworks on the East side; she really hyped it and got us all excited for them. Once I was there, I was terrified of the crowd, of getting lost and of the noise. When the fireworks were in full effect, as many people hooted and cheered, I could barely breathe. My heart was pounding in my throat; I feared that the fireworks would come down and burn me. I kept asking my mom for reassurances that this couldn't happen. As recent as a few years ago, I turned to my trusty source for scientific truths and asked Josh if the fireworks could descend upon me and burn me. He assured me it couldn't happen.
Why am I not enamored with fireworks like most people? Not liking fireworks, especially on 4th of July makes me a lame, unpatriotic party pooper. I don't know why people don't think about how much energy, time and money is lost in something so loud and stupid.
Now, as a mom, I hate fireworks even more because they spook my children. Every year, I dread the 4th, knowing that my children will be frightened from their peaceful slumber by ear piercing noises of illegally acquired burned gunpowder by sketchy neighborhood teens. Last night Sadie remarked to me, "Thunder! Mom it's going to rain." I had to explain they were fireworks but she couldn't comprehend the concept of them. Just like me, she couldn't understand why anyone would make loud noises for fun?
I'm sure when she grows up she'll like them just like the rest of humanity. As me for me, I'll never get it.

My first kiss

Hug me Dazee, hug me

Sadie begs for a little love.

Daisy's molar

Is this face going to pay for college?

Several people at work have encouraged me to submit Saydee's photos to a modeling agency.

Not digging the new lenses

I would have been satisfied with any of these pictures but they all came out blurry with the portrait lens. I'm learning that unless the conditions are optimal (my subjects are still; only one subject; I'm at close range; good lighting, etc.), the pictures come out very poorly. TAKE IT BACK JOSH!!! I WANT THE OLD (more expensive) LENSES.

Many questions

Last night, I watched most of Star Wars, episode III, Revenge of the Siths. It was the first time I saw more than a half hour of a Star Wars movie and actually followed the plot. Because this was my introduction to the series, I had a cornucopia of questions as I was watching. I began to pester Josh. Why do Anakin and Padme have to keep their baby/marriage a secret? Who's the guy Anakin and Obi Wan are fighting and why does the old guy ask Anakin to kill him? Why is there a weird recurrent arm cutting theme? I know giving Darth Vader the respirator is a climactic plot turn, but shouldn't they have given him the respirator right away, even before operating on his limbs? Etc.
I found many of the answers on Wikipedia. They have the keep the baby a secret because Jedi's aren't supposed to marry or fall in love. (This generated an unanswered question, how are the Jedi to perpetuate their race if they can't marry/reproduce? Especially if the Jedi potential is hereditary. Or is it trying to say Jedi's can only have one night stands?!) Anakin and Obi Wan are fighting Count Dooku, a Jedi that turned to the dark side and became Lord Sidius's apprentice.
This morning, as I was riding on the train with Josh, I blurted excitedly, "I know why there's an arm cutting recurring theme! It's a deliberate attempt to prevent the person from doing the force lightning!" I got chastised for being obsessed and geeky. Shut up, he said. Don't talk about Star Wars any more. He treated me as if I was an I-CON (which is different from ICON) card carrying weirdo. But I ignored him and continued..."Or can you do a force lightning with a robotic arm?!"

UPDATE: Greg from work answered all my questions. He scorns the 2nd trilogy so I'm going to have to watch the 1st trilogy to see for myself.

Another blog, er video from Josh!

Josh posted another video on break.com. This one garnered even more nasty comments than the previous ones.

I took this one while we were in Iceland two years ago. It's Josh eating glacial ice.

Daddy's little helper

Isn't cute how they even have the same stride?

Blurry but you get the point.

I made this dress from scratch! No pattern even!

Sisters

I love this picture of my kids that Frank took.

Nice picture of me and Sadie

White out

Here's a picture that Josh took; you can barely make out the Harding ice field (covered in snow) from the horizon.

What is this crap?!

Any idea what this might be? We spotted it on a trail in Alaska.

Pictures

Taken by Josh using the newer cheaper better (as he'd like you to believe) portrait lens. Top: Dazee. Bottom: from left, Sadie, Siri (my sister), me and Dazee.

Super cranky

4 nights straight of poor, restless and short sleep. A few days of bad or no food -- I've been struggling with what to eat. Dinner has been vegetarian. Yesterday's was a few vegetarian "chicken" nuggets and a bowl of cereal. Not very satisfying.

Feeling guilty about all animal products (meat, leather, eggs, milk). What should I do?

Here comes the bride

After a week of torture (ie. "vacation"), in which my demanding husband forces a grueling boot-camp style routine (for example - I had to get up super early, skip lunch or eat a few pretzels and nuts and call that lunch, then hike 7 miles.), I've slinked right back into all my pre-2005 size 2 dresses that I previously reluctantly cast aside for donation. I don't think these dresses are stylish anymore, I'm wearing them because I have no time for shopping, althought it does feel satisfying to be able to fit into my pre-pregnant clothes. I think my husband is pleased because it helps with the pocketbook. Should I wear my wedding dress to work tomorrow?!

Getting back to my daily grind

Here's a run down of my last 24 hours, starting with 11PM, last night.

11PM - I get into bed. I'm fretting about going back to work and feel so wound up. I can't fall asleep. I know my husband is going to fall asleep and start snoring within ten seconds, so I feel some loneliness and unjustified resentment.
12:30AM - I've been tossing and turning for over an hour. "Momeeeee!" I hear Sadie shriek. She must have had a nightmare. I go into her room and fetch her. I put her in between us in our bed. I try to cuddle with her but she wriggles around too much. Eventually she goes back to sleep and I'm by myself again.
2:30AM - Now I'm really nervous thinking about how I won't be able to function on just 4.5 hours of sleep or less. Hopefully I'll fall asleep soon.
6:00AM - Sadie wakes up. Thankfully she goes back to sleep.
7:00AM - Josh and Sadie get out of bed.
7:20AM - I make a mad dash out of bed; I'm going to be late for work! On the train, I feel half dead so I try to close my eyes but it doesn't work. My mind is racing about all the different things I have to do at work.
8:30-5:20PM - I'm at work. I'm glad to be back. I missed my neighbors, GH and EL, as well as my co-worker, PG. There are a couple of things that have started to pile up so my head was spinning for most of the day, I even held in pee for 3-4 hours at one point. A few people share some of their frustrations about their work with me and I sympathesize with them. I start to worry about what I can do to help them. As I'm riding home on the train, I get an email from someone asking me to do some work and to turn it around overnight -- the very same frustration that another co-worker had shared with me, earlier today. I'm a little annoyed about the last minute request. Still, I'd like to help out, so I request an 8:30AM meeting for five minutes the next day so that I'm clear on what I'm being asked to do. I get an email back to say that she's on a plane and then a bus so she won't be able to talk to me, just email her the questions. It doesn't make too much sense to me except that she's too busy to clarify what she needs. Isn't that the worst?! If I thought I could email the questions, I would've. I think that it would only create a chain of frustrating mis-communications. To top it off, she mentions the reason why she asked me to do it was because someone else thought I'd be good at it. This someone else is someone who I think is a real weasel. I suspect he only mentioned me so that he wouldn't have to do it. I resolve to email her my questions in the morning. Why should I be stressing about something that someone doesn't even have the time or energy to properly explain to me what's needed?! And BTW, the request is not within my job function, it's more like a favor. Nevertheless, I'm still feeling stress and guilt over it.
6:30-6:35PM - I drink a cup of milk and eat one chicken nugget to for some much needed energy.
6:35-9:PM - I give my children a bath and try to put them to bed. They are especially restless and fractious. Dazee generally falls asleep within 20 minutes no matter what I do, but tonight she's big trouble. Josh got home a little after 7, I asked him to take over reading to Sadie while I put Dazee to sleep. While I'm trying to put Dazee to sleep, I hear Sadie repeatedly whimper with desperation, "Stay wit me Mommy. Mommeeee!!! Momeeeee!!! MOMMMEEE!!!" On and on. I feel torn about wanting to be in two different places. Eventually they both fall sleep but it took a full 2 hours of torture.
9-9:45PM - I'm so starving for dinner but there's nothing to eat. I make a little miso soup. My husband makes a comment about wanting hijiki. So I make that too. We eat our light dinner.
9:45-10:45PM - I'm trying to make up for not blogging for a week by blogging like crazy. How's this for self-love - I really missed my blog.

Normally when my kids get discontented about going to bed after I get home from work and especially if it was a long or taxing work day, it's a real bummer for me. I start to feel trapped and depressed about not having "me" time. But today, I relish everything. It's been the best 24 hours I've had in a long time! It's great to be home.

My angels

I love taking pictures of my children while they're sleeping. With my new killer camera and lens, I can but not for long (more on this in a bit). Here they are with their current love objects - Say\dee with "kitty cat" and Dazee with "Lu Lu Lambie." My evil husband is plotting to sell my zoom lens on eBay, replacing it with a portrait lens. It'll let in more light for indoor photography, which you love, he tries to convince me. I like what I have, I don't understand why I can't keep it or if he wants the portrait lens, why it can't be an additive purchase? I'm very upset by this unilateral intention; I've threatened to divorce him but it's all falling on deaf ears. Sucks to have a cheap husband...

Look what I made!

On my hubby's request, I whipped up this Japanese side dish, Hijiki. It's a type of seaweed that is seasoned with a hint of sweetness. It doesn't look very pretty in this picture, but it tastes pretty good. It's incredibly easy to make, all you need is oil, hijiki, carrots, sugar, soy sauce, water and mirin.

Enjoying all that Denali has to offer

Stealthy Josh snapped a Kodak moment of me, unconscious and drooling on the bus.

Josh has a secret blog!

I have been bugging Josh for ages to blog or sign up for Facebook to no avail. When I discovered that he posted two videos from our trip to Alaska to a website, I was really tickled to see some evidence of his Internet self-expression. As of tonight, he's already received 497 views on the running down from the Harding Ice Field video and 725 for the whale splashing in the ocean one; probably more views than my last six months of blogging combined!

Two people even left the same comment for the ice field video, "GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY", they write. I don't know if they're talking about his sexual orientation, his mood or something else. Watch the ice field video, I think it's pretty amusing. He is very talented running downhill in the snow and it's very funny that he's filming himself while doing it. Unfortunately, the video doesn't show the steepness very well - the only way to make it down alive or uninjured is to be masterful at managing downward momentum. I'm very fearful and extremely stinky when it comes to that, so I'm in complete awe and reverence.

Alaska: I'd rather be home

We're back from a week in Alaska and here are my random thoughts:
1. Alaska is vast and remote. We didn't get cell phone reception for the most part and when we did it was poor. This was a real shocker since we got very good internet/cell phone speeds in Hawaii. Also, in Hawaii, I had access to regular toilets. I won't go into details about Alaska's but it's was not uncommon for me to want to pee on the side of the road instead of my other options.
2. The most enjoyable parts of the trip: white water rafting in pouring rain (whee! the water was so cold on contact), flying in an airplane and then landing on a glacier (beautiful mountain views), having time to watch a romantic comedy (Definitely, maybe) with very little guilt.
3. Mostly I was homesick and missed my kids desperately. My father in law has a nice blog post about his experience with them.
4. I do not like hiking in the snow! Especially when there is elevation because I hate/fear the trip down. The 7.7 mile rountrip to the Harding Ice Field is ridiculously dangerous. Parts of it were like rock climbing (of course we had zero equipment) and other parts were just too death defying for me. Uncomfortable, dangerous and no fun -- I have a video of Josh wringing out his wet socks after we were done.
5. Completely overrated - the aformentioned Harding Ice Fields (best hike in Alaska, touted our B&B host. Ha!), Denali national park (SUCKS big time: 12 hours on a bus, getting up at 4:30 AM, seeing wildlife like moose, bear, caribou, fox, etc. sounds impressive until you realize they were seen as specks...Would have been nice to have binoculars...still you feel pretty removed.), short cruise in Seward (glaciers were nice, but I'd rather climb/walk/hike/fly to see them).
6. I was very disturbed by how people don't value animal life as much. Furs are more than condoned; they're a way of life. Thinking about how smart salmon are to return to the place where they were born and that large fish like halibut are shot before they're pulled on board makes me conflicted to eat them. Confronted by the cycle of life/food chain (wolves eating moose, bears eating wolves, etc. makes me sad. I want to be a vegetarian. I've reduced my meat consumption in half, but it's not enough. I feel guilty about eating eggs and drinking milk too. It's been on my mind a lot - the struggle and conflict to change my diet.
My final recommendation is that instead of going to Alaska, I would go to Iceland.