reward is unrewarding so far...

 lovely day in Anchorage!  after Monday walk and Kaladi's with friends i headed over to the other side of town...searching for fun photo ops.  pretty reflections of downtown on the inlet waters.

 fun day on trails and in Kaladi's.

 My sweet girl!!  we did a 4 mile loop out there.  only one day in many that i missed hitting my 10,000 step goal.  no gym  today.  i decided to head over to Sports Authority to reward myself for my first 6 weeks of workouts. so i will need to hit the gym on Fri and Sat this week.

 my reward couldn't have been any less rewarding.  fitting gym clothes to my less than amazing shape was pretty sad and depressing.  every imperfect female knows how depressing bathing suit shopping can be.  we were laughing earlier that it's better to just order online so you can try them on in the comfort of home with a glass of wine and possibly better lighting.

 the only gym clothes i managed to purchase were some work out t-shirts.  sports bra's were not fitting well and the bathing suits, which were in limited supply were for sure a no.  gym pants were not working for me either.  form fitting is great for those with forms that fit, but i'm not sure we all look fabulous in non baggy clothes at the gym. annoys me that women's gym attire is all body hugging where as men's gym clothes are comfy and baggy. may just need to shop in the mens department for some comfy gear to wear.

 feeling a wee  bit sick..just that muscle achy/am i getting a bug feeling...most often a good nights rest will make that go away.

 really beautiful out there today though.

 guess Hugh Neff won the Yukon Quest.  congrats to him. was kind of hoping for Sass.  not sure why...we all get our preferences i guess.

 as i headed to turn in for the night last night i felt another quake hit.  thought it was an aftershock to the previous 7.1 quake we had several weeks back now.  it turns out it wasn't.  this one was centered a wee bit out of Hope, which is much closer to us.  it was also not nearly as deep.  maybe 15 miles deep.  it was a pretty good shake though i'd guess less than 30-40 seconds.

 nice at 1;30 am to be able to just get on to facebook and you are not alone.  of course, if we have a really big one centered here we would probably lose electric so then i'd not have the option of checking in with everyone...though texting may still be possible...at least until the battery died.  probably shouldn't waste the battery in that situation on chit chat though i guess.  it was a 4.2.  if i'd been asleep i suspect i would have slept through it.

 the walking part of the day.

 drove out moose spotting, but no moose were spotted.  some lovely views though!!

 did opt to not go down on the beach at Pt Woronzof.  it was high tide and still seems creepy...creepy statues with recent double homicide to add to the creepy factor.

 beautiful reflections i thought of our downtown though

 stopped by my friends place after. i think she's sticking close to home since she broker her arm.  first few weeks critical...she may still need surgery.  hopefully, she doesn't and can get a better cast after this first bit. My SIS seems to be recovering...great to hear.  don't like when bad things happen to good people but do like when bad things go away quickly and they mend.

 also cruised over to Lake Hood. always fun to look at planes over there. it's supposedly the busiest float plane lake out there.  frozen at the moment.  no planes on ski's took off or landed while i was there.  a few wheeled planes took off from the land runway right by there.  love watching planes come and go no matter what size.

 a book that might be interesting but that i didn't catch the name of ..or the authors name really.  it was written by someone who worked on Challenger, i think that was the name of the Shuttle that blew up shortly after launch.  seems he wrote a bit of a story about how that could have happened.  he was the one who is supposed to authorize launch..that the ship is safe to fly.  temperatures in Florida launch site were expected to drop and the o rings were only tested to 50F...it was expected to drop below 20F.

 he says the best decision he ever made was refusing to sign off on this and the guy above him signed off.  he also stated to the boss that if anything bad happened he would not be standing out there on some podium acting clueless or spinning it.  again, not exact words.  exactly what he feared may happen did happen and all died.

 i remember that day.  i was working at an all cat vet hospital, The Cat Clinic.  the tv had been brought in to our main treatment area so we could watch this event.  as we treated various cats we watched it all...then it just exploded.  all were lost.

 they were talking on this program about how often leaders in these situations get overly confident and want things to go a certain way so badly that they start to skip steps.  they don't want to be seen as failing so they just move forward.  in truth many times in life, that works out just fine...but sadly other times, total catastrophe.

 the space program never seemed as vibrant after this failing.  sad as i think its worthwhile to forge ahead in space exploration.  i do remember at a pretty young age realizing as i did reports on various things and read up on inventions that all too often every big exciting invention is later twisted up and used as a war tool or a means of military benefit.

 space is the same.  these great ideas get funding partly because someone sees the potential to protect us or take out someone else.  space, planes, air balloons,...

 have got a room for two nights in Fairbanks. i can cancel or i can change dates and have a lovely winter get a way to  Fairbanks.  fun last year.  did get pretty chilly.  nice to stop in to Denali National Park in the winter as well and see it in a totally different light. i have until March 5 to cancel as well.  so some options.  can't take Blossom though so that is always a bummer.  too cold to consider camping.

 so early to bed tonight i guess.  first...in the news...should female hygiene products be subject to taxes?  i guess an all male panel in Utah decided yes. just thought it was funny to think of this room full of men having this discussion.  just like i have always thought it funny to ponder a bunch of police officers hunting for that guys penis that had been cut off and tossed aside.

 China back in news as well.  first i'd been reading that they are one of 5 Asian nations that are putting the most plastics into the oceans above all other nations.  now they are opening ocean parks/zoos.  sad news for all the wild animals they are capturing to entertain their citizens.  the enclosures are small and substandard.  pretty sad.  they also have that super large Panda Bear refuge..yet continue to destroy the natural habitat of Panda's at an alarming rate.  so at a time when many zoos are trying to improve enclosures and lives of the animals that exist in these places...China appears to be making the same mistakes made in other nations decades ago.  Polar bears in tiny enclosures pacing, 5 young walrus in a small dirty pool of water.  sad, sad, sad...

 back to work for three tomorrow night.  then we have our lecture next week.  waiting to hear from our replacement speaker...just want to touch base and make sure he has details right and will be there.  seems a rational concern anytime to plan something.  make sure the speaker shows up. i'm a bit paranoid like that

thankful for:  A.  beautiful days like this  B.  friends that make a beautiful day even more lovely C.  getting my 10,000 steps.  feels good when my fitbit buzzes.