Find Hollie

Lots of Change....

2011-08-05T09:27:00.005-08:00

It's been too many years since I thought about my abandoned blog, and for this, I am sorry. But I have been doing many things and have gone on many adventures since. This will be whirlwind, but I'd like to get you all up to speed.

Left Oregon in April 2009 for a job at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, in Wildlife.

Started back at school FULL TIME (with dedication in tow) the Fall of 2009.

Ditched the lame ex boyfriend - I don't remember when but it wasn't soon enough.
Went hunting for caribou in the Brooks, duck hunting in Minto Flats (flown in by friends!) and went black fish trapping too!
I continued to work for ADFG in Wildlife through school, when I was awarded a grant to research the morphology of northern hemisphere bear claws...more on this later.
then I met this guy on 5/8/2010, immediately proclaiming him as my future husband, whether he likes it or not:

in May of 2011 we bought this house:
Since these large leaps in my life, I've been scrambling to decorate, do homework, help my brother get hitched (yay!) and a multitude of other feats.

I have grown exhausted and weary, and yet my brain still says that I have far too much to say, and since Facebook isn't really the most appropriate platform for this type of discussion, I will {hopefully} continue the flow of creativity, take-the-world-by-storm ideas, and creations. I will also write innumerable run-on sentences like the one above because they are easier to write and because I obviously didn't learn anything in my English classes!

Holy F*ing Sturgeon

2009-02-25T22:41:00.003-09:00

Two small sturgeon and the biggest live trout I've ever seen. He was such a monster I almost mistook him for a salmon, except the sign read 'Rainbow Trout'.

Longer than one of my whole arms and I've got some pretty gangly arms...

The window is five feet across. Fishing regulations state that no fisherman can take a sturgeon in excess of eleven feet as female sturgeon don't produce eggs until reaching this average length. This thing rivals many species of shark - in length any ways - being bottoms feeders, they aren't much for gigantic teeth or predatory habits. This picture was taken through my sunglasses - seems like I was the only one out there that could this beast through the water (which was about ten - fifteen feet deep.) Thanks polarization!

I never knew that ducks were so gregarious with people....

...Until I realized that they come to the sound of the fish food dispenser dishing out an afternoon snack. I was a stupid tourist, again. But entertaining as hell to hand feed ducks! I bet the fish were pissed, the food never got that far.

Pretty neat, its the biggest weirdest most archaic fish I've ever seen!

A Day at the Oregon Zoo

2009-02-20T12:43:00.005-09:00

I can't remember who these curious little guys are...but they were in a woodstove.

These poor monkeys acted like they were all incarcerated. And the chain link didn't help either. Obviously one of the smartest of the zoo animals.

Freakin huge beaver - must have been 30 lbs.

This little black bear has a relative - the relative is much MUCH bigger than this one. If it wasn't for his roman nose I'd mistake him for a grizz.

G'Day Cougar - he was ruffling his bedding.

Pretty ducky - harlequin?

The zoo keepers give marine animals the rags from car washes - they make great nests apparently. I've never seen a sea otter on land.

This is ironic. A turtle with a tracking device.

Notice HUGE fish in the background..

Red Hemlock - Nice to see the world has some big trees still.

The Hood River Pad

2009-02-20T12:10:00.005-09:00

Our house in Hood River

Kitchen/Dining Room - Stackable W/D behind the folding doors -

REALLY cool Brazilian Granite countertops...that little strip cost almost 4k!

Living Room - theres a TV in here but its hiding!

That's right - we even make the bed - for pictures at least.

Here's the downstairs 'bedroom' - its more of a space to do

school and yoga.

Its not purple, its periwinkle! A bit of an Edward Scissorhands' neighborhood. Apparently built by an associate of Bill Gates. Were sandwiched between a middle school, a creek and the Hood River Hospital. It gets a bit noisy but watching helicopters land on the roof of the hospital from the living room is pretty cool.

When You're Bored on the Internet

2008-12-20T16:47:00.002-09:00

I just found out today that hundreds of people everyday go to google and type in the term “I’m bored“. I found this out because I was bored and I was wondering what can I do on the internet when I’m bored. It turns out a lot of people are looking for fun things to do at work when bored and top things to do when bored.

It’s good that bored people have a lot of company; at least they’re not bored and lonely.
But the bored people have it good. A subset of the “I’m bored” sect trump their counterparts by saying “I’m so bored.” This should make all the I’m bored people feel a lot better. They can say, “Well, at least I’m not so bored.”

And get this…a whole lot of bored people search for stupid stuff to do when bored. None of these people search for smart stuff to when bored. Does this mean that boring people are stupid? Or does it mean that boring people are smart but just prefer to do stupid things? Maybe stupid things are more fun than smart things.

For instance, right now, this is a stupid article about bored people. It’s much more fun than writing a witty essay entitled Will American Elect a Black President?
But it is possible that bored people are actually stupid. I can tell because a whole lot of
people try to tell google that they’re bored, but instead they search for this term: “I’m Board“. These people are fortunate though because they have one glaring thing that they need to do-learn how to spell. Now that’s exciting! If you landed on this page by typing I’m Board into google, here is a link to help you spell better. I provide you this link because you’ll probably type it into google like this: Lern How to Cpell.

Did you know that when people want to find out about spell check, many type in spell chack? Is that ironic? If you’re really bored, which I know you are because you’re here, you can evaluate whether the lines in the ALANIS MORISSETTE song Isn’t it Ironic are in fact ironic. There are hundreds of websites dedicated to this very topic. In fact one person was so bored, he re-wrote all the lyrics to make them actually ironic.

This brings up an interesting group of google searchers. The “I was bored” crowd. Yes, several people type into google “I was bored.” What are they doing? Are they gloating? Are they looking for other people who got over boredom just like them?

That might even be ironic. If you’re at the keyboard typing “I was bored”, doesn’t that activity kind of imply that you still are.

Google has been searching for ways to improve their search engine. Perhaps, they could find a way to put the “I’m bored” people, and the “I’m so bored” people, with the “I was bored” people. This way the people who were bored can tell the people who are bored, and so bored, what to do-how to get over their boredom.

This would be a tough audience though. You’d have to inspire people who get bored so easily. And, you’d have to talk to them about boredom, which would probably really easily bore them.

Are you still with me?

I FLUNK!

2008-12-07T13:00:00.002-09:00

Sorry - I guess we were having too much fun to update the blog...

The last two weeks of our trip was pretty wild, and really sad to say is that our camera died on day three of Belize, but the memories with be forever burnt into our minds. The cultures, the people, the language, the atmosphere: everything so different from what we've always known. I'm really glad that we took as long as we did for this trip so that we could slow down enough to truly appreciate the luxuries and conveniences of home.

I personally will very dearly miss 'tres tacos con pollo' and our beloved Belizean breakfasts of Fry Jacks and beans. And while those dishes will be the taste of the past for now, our mouths and senses have been re-filled with those native to the North West.

I've already scoped out the nearest bakery of which dawns a delicious foccassia bread among other baked-daily-and-dirt-cheap delectibles. The swanky, picture perfect downtown scene boast specialty shops and services without losing the historical, cozy ski town appeal. Each shop is tastefully painted in harmonizing colors that make us want to drink cups of coffee back to back and snack on the good-for-you-and-tasty affairs. The town is riddled with outdoor equipment stores that have enough to appeal to all affecionados.

The only downside I can see to this town is the lack of snow. The mountiain is closed, the warm weather system isn't giving way to the gifts the high altitude Pacific Ocean and Canada is trying to give us. Freezing level is above 5000 feet - its hitting the mid 40's during the days. Possibly the only time I have very seriously prayed for moisture and cold temperatures. The people of Hood River are going stir crazy - the worst kind of cabin fever - Waiting Season. Were a bunch of hungry wolves starving in a confined area - deprived of the fluffy white stuff that is blessing every other mountain in the country. We are waiting and we are impatient.

So if you have a moment: think of cold temperatures and lots of moisture for Oregon.

miss you all - and take care

UnBelizeable!!

2008-11-10T12:24:00.000-09:00

Let us all take a moment to remember that we are still in the midst of hurricane season. Let us also come to this realization by experiencing some mighty fierce tropical rain. It might be 80 degrees, but we froze our butts off!!!

Some Visual Porn for all

2008-11-09T10:45:00.007-09:00

Our Ragga skipper stranded himself on these posts - when we all stopped laughing, we threw him a rope.
Here Sharky Sharky Sharky! We swam with a bunch of these, apprently, they are 'harmless'...
Eagle Ray at Hol Chan Marine Reserve
There were everywhere - I think they are a type of grouper
more rays, but not an eagle ray - you can dance with these guys...the big fish in the background were pretty intimidating though!
a coral garden...
Sorry for the sideways-ness....Who said we can't play with our food when we're away from the parentals?
This is the Ik Kill Cenote...apparently the whole is about 300 feet deep. I don't swim in 'bottomless pits in foreign countries' so we just observed.
This flower was at Ik Kill Cenote in Mexico. Really pretty garden there...

This is Nate and I at the Cenote...cute face - hope it doesn't stay like that!
Cool Maya carving at Chichen Itza...I've got about 300 others, but this one is in particularly good condition...located at the bottom of the ball court.
And here is the grand pyramid - Chichen itza. The banner poles at the bottom of the Pyramid are about 4.5 feet tall, so that will give you a bit of perspective- quite a giant.

Belize It or Not!

2008-11-07T07:06:00.000-09:00

Allo everyone!

I'll make this quick because I'm running out of computer time....went snorkeling yesterday with the sharks and the rays off of San Pedro (Ambergris Caye, Belize)...that was amazing, but we're suffering terrible sun burns. Apparently the waterproof 10 hour sun block is only worth about 15 minutes......I've never been sunburned like this before...OUCH!

This place is amazing....Caye Caulker is the GO SLOW island...and you do go slow, because everything else goes slow...in fact the only thing that runs on time (sort of) is the water taxi out of here....I could stay here forever....but I've got more of Central America to see....

Miss everyone and hope all is well!
Hollie

WE MADE IT!!!!

2008-11-02T17:43:00.002-09:00

We made it to Cancun without a hiccup. Turns out when you go through Mexico immigration, you push THE BUTTON and it either turns green (and you get to keep walking) or it turns red and that means that you have to peel everything out of your bag and prove to them that you really dont have any alcohol, food, or prescriptions youre going to try to sell...among other things. Thankfully we both got green lights and we were good to go.

The next thing we learned was the importance of asking if a person has change before you give them any money. Since we arrived well before dark, we opted not to take the less expensive bus to avoid dealing with being lost in the dark in downtown cancun, so we took a collectivo (a van that other travelers pitch in on).....when we paid for our collectivo, I was expection 20 pesos back, and they werent received...ive been here for twenty minutes and ive already been taken as a stupid american. okay, point taken...lesson learned.

oh yeah... 100% agave tequila 59.00 USD, Fiji Purified Water 9.90 USD, Can of Pringles 6.90 USD realizing that you have to pay for everything in that deleciously stocked mini bar...PRICELESS!!!!

well, all is well...we are happy and well fed. tomorrow we go to Chichen Itza, which ive lovingly renamed Chicken Pizza....so please look for photos sometime tomorrow night or the next day...Ill atleast write to let you know what the next plan of action is...I think our first Belizean destination will be Corozol, but like I said, ill update that tomorrow....

Miss you all!
Hollie and Nathan

DEC Knows How To Paartay

2008-10-30T15:00:00.007-08:00

From Horrifying Zubaz to Gaper Gear: A photo essay of the lunch event...

Thank you to all who helped make that happen - thanks to those who dressed up.

Less than Seven Days

2008-10-26T15:17:00.003-08:00

Oh Lord - Please help us now!

We are six days from departure and six days from the point of no return. We are finally getting excited after all the stress and gut wrenching worry that has been poured into this trip, I am thankful that I can finally start enjoying the idea of being in Central America. We've been carefully calculating what we must have and what we must do without. And I think we've got it dailed in.

Nate and I are very excited for our first three days in Mexico. We'll arive in the late afternoon on the 2nd, just in time to scoop some tacos and get a good nights rest. Then, we'll wake early and travel to the ancient Maya ruins - Chichen Itza - for a day trip. On the way back, we'll stop at a Cenote for a swim and make it back to the hotel just in time to get some dinner and plan the rest of the weeks' adventures.

From there, we will be ditching the safety net of reservations and start our backpacking adventure towards Belize. Starting with a five hour bus ride from Cancun to Chetumal.

I'll have another opportunity to post before we get to Mexico, and right after Chicen Itza, so stay tuned for that...

...and Nathan wants everyone to know that he's Ron Bergendy.

14 Days and Counting - Dawhn, you're up shit creek!

2008-10-18T18:14:00.003-08:00

I'm on to you DDB....just watch yourself....

I checked the weather in Belize, still pretty rainy, but the low pressure zone is working on clearing out towards the end of the week. November is still technically rainy season, but the last month of it...Atleast we're bypassing hurricane season - no worries mom! :)

I'm not packed at all, and totally broke, but I'm sure everything will come together. I SOLD MY CAR! Whoopee! Sucks though because I can't go anywhere now, hopefully I can bum rides or borrow dads car..thats what family is for right? I hope so!

The sand and snow party will be on the 30th, which is the Thursday before we leave...at DEC through the noon hour...should be funny - you have to come dressed in gaper gear or in tropical attire and there will be awards for best dressed.

Here's an our of plane ride music for hollie:

Walk this way - Aerosmith
Shoop ba Doop - Salt n Peppa
Hound dog - Elvis
If you think I'm sexy - Rod Stewart
I feel good - James Brown
Tequila
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Let's get it started - Black Eyed Peas
You Can't Always get what you want - Rolling Stones
Turn out the lights - Nelly Furtado
I'm just a girl - Avril Lavigne
Hotel California - Eagles
Holliday - Greenday
Californication - Red Hot Chili peppers

24 Days Till Departure

2008-10-08T13:23:00.005-08:00

Hello! Hello!

Well, there is only 24 days left until Nathan and I leave for our excellent adventures! There is a lot list making going on and there is too much stuff packed into my brain to pay attention!!!

I have short-timers' syndrome BAD - and can't wait for that first flight out....I will however miss Fairbanks and all the great people I know here.

If anyone needs a small horse (I mean Malamute) to entertain themselves with - I need to find a home for Sugi - he's a good ski-jorer, and if you wear him out enough he won't have time/energy to misbehave...He loves to play fetch, loves to swim and his recent antics include jumping and sleeping on a trampoline (who would have thought?)! He's purebred, papered and FREE to an active happy home.

Also, if you need a good gas getter-I'm selling my car. It's an 03 Ford Focus, standard, less than 60k miles...gets good gas mileage and maintanence has been kept up. Only needing to get rid of the payments - so you pay Blue book $6400.00.

Check back soon for pre-trip photos - I plan to have the camera ready when we tackle the packing stage - should be pretty funny!

OH! For those of you who are wondering why I am selling stuff - It's because I am moving to Hood River Oregon to work on Mount Hood. (Yep - getting paid to ski!) My last day in Fairbanks will be October 31st, and will probably be out on the town...Silver Gulch, ect. Give me a call or shoot me an email before then if you want to meet up to say goodbyes...!

BTW-Those aren't my phat boards, but I can still drool!!!

5 and 1/2 weeks to Departure!!

2008-09-19T16:32:00.004-08:00

Pre-departure-party will commence on Halloween at the Gulch or various other locales.

We're already practicing our Pina Colada drinking...

School is officially in session

2008-08-29T11:20:00.006-08:00

Sailing Puget Sound out of Seattle (sexy sailer boy doing his thang) and the Info Guy at Safeco Field - Twins vs. Mariners - Mariners Prevail!!!

Holy crap...(I Know) I'm back in school.

Didn't think that was going to happen any time soon - but here I am, cramming textbooks willingfully into my head....will be a good thing in the long run.

If you have tried to call me after 10 PM in the last week its because I was paying attention to school work...I've found quiet a few distractions to occupy myself with already - lengthy almost midnight phone calls to boot.

Heres a few pics from the Seattle trip - sorry nothing too exciting - I didn't have a camera, and there wasn't much to take pictures of...but more pics of a Fairbanks Autumn should be up soon..

Sneaky Clouds

2008-08-15T12:02:00.005-08:00

Often times I commute without turning on the radio. For most of my vehicles havn't had the commonplace luxury of a CD player or even the radio . This put me in a habit of driving to my own tune. One thats just as random as your iPOD on shuffle. Often I find myself thinking of obscure situations; a compilation of art, physcology, ethics and adventure. Sometimes I say to myself, "If I were driving a fancy car in a video game, I'd pass thig guy in a heartbeat." Too bad in all reality the only thing I'm drive is a poorche. None-the-less, my Focus does get me around and it starts on command, evertime.

Sometimes I think so hard when I drive I completely overshoot my destination or I'll arrive somewhere I didn't intend to go to. I think thats called destinesia. Yesterday, there was an enormous black storm cloud provoking all the tiny solar panels on the trees to turn away, to tuck under themselves - hanging on by a stem as the wind progressively got stronger. It was the same feeling in the air as a midwestern day before a tornado. Unusually warm where I was, but ugly outside. This cloud lingered from a distance, skirting around me and my little white pack of gum, like the atmosphere and I had an agreement that I wouldn't get rained on. It wasn't until this cloud literally snuck up from behind did I see any rain drops. One hit my windshield and five or six successive beads of water ran up the glass. I took inventory of these drops in my head, only the voice was the Count from Sesame Street: One raindrop, ah, ah, ah. Two raindrops, ah, ah, ah. Perhaps this is one of the only examples of water running uphill instead of down - thanks to the application of 60 mile per hour wind. Nine raindrops, ah, ah, ah. Then, too many to count.

DAMN technology

2008-08-12T13:43:00.003-08:00

I wrote up my huge itinerary only for it to have been snatched out of my hands prior to clicking the ever-so-precious POST button. It was grand, colorful, and neatly designed....it will not be so fun to read this time.

Sunday, November 2:
Depart Fairbanks for Cancun, Mexico - Arrive at 5:00 PM

Tuesday, November 4:
Depart Cancun by bus to Belizean Border

Wednesday, November 5-Sundayish November 15:
Explore Western Belize by foot/bus and venture into Guatmalan Jungle to Tikal

Sundayish November 15-Sundayish November 23:
Explore Eastern Coastal Belize and Barrier Reef

Monday, November 24:
Leave Cancun Mexico for Pittsburgh (Visit Hollie's Family) - Arrive at 8:15 PM

Friday, November 28:
Leave Pittsburgh for Portland-Visit Grandparents and other family

Thursday, December 4:
Leave Portland for Hood River, Oregon - move in, start work - SKI!!!!

So there you have it - you can email me for details of the itinerary if you need more info. I don't want that stuff floating over the web though.

Tchuss!

You Can't Catch Me

2008-08-10T15:31:00.003-08:00

I just finished a maiden voyage from Fairbanks to Chicago (ugh) then Chicago to Seattle...then Seattle to Home.

I found out a few key things:

1. Alaska Airlines is totally unAmerican for going cashless (think of all the kids traveling alone that won't be able to buy in-flight meals just because they don't have a credit card.)
2. I hate Chicago O'Hare with a passion.
3. Don't ever fly United in the coach class - fly coach plus at the least - Trying to cram a 3000 cu in backpack under the seat IS IMPOSSIBLE.
4. When traveling with small children, take the shuttle bus for a tour around the airport..it kills time and they are SO entertained.
5. Budget for ridicoulously overprices frozen salads and a few more lattes.

The trip returning Laurel was really a bummer. She was a doll and slept well on the planes. We had a fun time hanging out in airports and eating miniature marshmellows and m & m's. We found Mom and Darrell, had a quick bite to eat and then I was returned to The Airport. I spent the next ten hours in Chicago O'Hare flying standby on 3 other flights to Seattle, to no avail of course. I left that evening to meet Trevor in Seattle. That was a happy reunion and was nice to take my mind off of Miss LoLo being thousands of miles away.

The next day T and I went sailing in Seattle...I had never been on sailboat before - lots of fun and I'll be excited to do that again soon. That evening we met up with Trev's family for food, beers and a Mariners/Twins game. That was really fun- we got smashed and had a really interesting cab ride home. Mariners won Mon/Tues/Wednesday after a long running streak of defeat.

By Tuesday we were on the highway (excuse me, freeway) towards Portland. We stopped in on Trev's Uncle Bill and Aunt Joan. Quite possibly some of the nicest people I've ever met. Poor Joan was recently robbed of a non-essential organ and was having a slow time getting around, but she perked up well a few days later. Uncle Bill is riot! What a crafty and ingenious old dude. Ty and Trev asked me to take a good look at the 'ass progression' of the Oesters...Apparently it's all down hill from here. HA! Arriving in Portlanf, Grandma was excited to see us and I was able to see Grandpa too. Trev and I took his brohams dog Manny to the Tualitan River for a dip to escape the 90+ degree weather...well worth it, though we have been ridiculed since for exposing ourselves to such a stagnant muddy duckpond. Hey, you guys did it forty years ago.....

By Wednesday we were exploring the Riverview Cemetary for Trevors Father and Grandmother. We found them and came back with excellent maps for the rest of the fam. After that we buzzed right over to Idaho to pick up T's crap that has been abandoned at the start of the summer. We pawned most of it off onto Mike (who has the single busiest schedule I think I've ever seen-three kids, a job, and going to school)..we returned to Seattle on Thursday - cranky that our vacation was almost over.

Friday night was spent shopping and bar hopping....and contained a bit of heated debate. Sall good though because T and I were in agreeance.

Saturday was spent mostly traveling. I had a flight out of Anchorage that was a few late but poor Trev really got a BOHICA from Alaska Airlines...his flight from Seattle to Juneau was late, and his connecting flight was unable to land in Juneau...so there he stayed for an evening. At the ass-crack of dawn this morning he was supposed to fly to Ketchikan but there was some other hitch about an erupting volcano or such....he ended up on the milk run hopping respectively between Ketchikan, Wrangall, and Petersburg. He apprently made it and is currently busy attending to work business and managing his crazy impatient girlfriend awaiting the go-ahead for international travel reservations.

So there you have it, in a nutshell...the latest adventure i've had.