Long day and Driver License

Well, it's been a long day. Work kept me up until midnight then called me every two hours for the rest of the night. So I'm not very optimized for writing much today.

1) I finally got my AK driver's license. You might ask why it's taken me a year. Good question. I will explain that hopefully after some sleep.

2)Anne talks about important things. I am all for discussions about important things too, which is probably why we've been friends for so long :)

Anne and I also share something else...Monday we both enter our last year of 20-something. I met Anne in the basement of a dorm at UK while doing laundry so that I could move out of the building. Anne wanted to watch X-Men on the basement TV. Somehow, I got her to help me and a band guy with a hatchback to move me to Boyd Hall on the other side of campus. We've been friends ever since!

3) This "Bridge to Nowhere" backlash is bumming me out. I was angry and wrote a note about it, and no you don't have to agree with my opinion, in fact if you disagree it will make me happy because I am cranky:
I read your blog everyday, but as an Alaskan I see the highway arguments against the "Bridges to Nowhere" you present as severely one-sided, and I feel it's unfair to single us out like that. The fact is, both of these bridges are vital to the growth of their communities.

I think what you're missing is an understanding of what these communities are like. Anchorage is surrounded almost by water on two sides, and federal land on the other. Almost all of the land in between has been filled in, and there's no room to grow. The other side of the Knik Arm is available land, but right now you have to drive many hours to get to Anchorage (there is no ferry and Knik is considered unnavigable). With a bridge "to nowhere" we connect this open land to our city, allowing us to grow. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me, it's no different than the bridges built in NYC or San Francisco to connect land.

In the case of Ketchikan -- have you ever been there? This is the place where many streets are sets of steps going up a mountain. The main street to the other side of the mountain where most people live sits precariously on top of other people's houses. This is another place where there seriously is no room to expand, and to expand they really do need to build this bridge to the only available land for expansion.

I also know people are giving the general argument that Alaska gets so much money for highway transportation. I invite those people to come up here and see why. The fact is, we're still a fairly new state, and don't have the transportation system that other states do. We not only need to keep building road to connect towns (how many towns in Tennessee have no road access?), but also to maintain the ones that span such a large area and are vital to our way of life.

I imagine that people called the national road across the country "a road to nowhere" when it was built -- but someone knew that transportation was the key to expansion and growth. I also bet that some of that money was federal as well.

I wish I was more eloquent, but here's the point: I know that you are looking to cut pork, but these two projects don't really constitute pork. To penalize Alaska for trying to expand with this Highway Reauthorization bill is wrong.


4) This is my favorite new page today. It shows the backbone networks of the internet and how they are doing. I'm easily entertained.

5)This blog is #2 on Google for "Wolfgang puck rich expresso latte, exploding" and I've gotten 17 hits so far for "Thanksgiving Pictures". Ha.

OK that's it...more later after a nap...