Better Late Than Never

Hello, world!  Hello, friends and family!  I've been off having adventures for awhile now but I haven't been very diligent about sharing them with you.  Several years into my scattered post-college explorations, it occurs to me that a blog might be a useful tool.  It won't always be ideal, since I've recently lived in several places without internet access or electricity and I hope eventually to live in many more.  But my current situation has both, so while I lack a little in rustic charm I'm going to give this blogging thing a try.

First: if you haven't heard from me in awhile, I'm sorry!  I'm in constant awe of the amazing people who continue to make appearances in my life: the new friends I meet, and the old ones who tolerate my sporadic presence and communication blackouts.  Even when we're living in the same city, I'm not always good about staying in touch; when I'm halfway across the country, I am terrible about letting good friendships languish when they shouldn't.  It's taken me many more years than it should have to realize that this is not inevitable.  Progress is slow, but I'm doing my best to be more intentional about maintaining connections.  So: I am grateful for your existence, even if we haven't spoken in years.  I would love to hear about your life and I promise to respond even if I am slow about it.

Okay -- end heartfelt paragraph.  On to logistics and adventure.  Here are all my plans:

1. Right now I'm a volunteer at Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.  More on that in later posts but, in summary, I'm soaking up as much experience as I can with birds, boats, statistics, and anything else people will let me help with.  I'll be here until the middle of October.
2. Then I'll spend about a month traveling south to San Diego: itinerary still to be determined.  (If you'll be located on the west coast this fall and might like to say hello, let me know -- I'd be delighted to see you!)
3. From San Diego I leave for a few weeks as a volunteer on an oceanographic research vessel run by California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations.
4. Then I'll try frantically to make it through the throngs of travelers to arrive home by Thanksgiving.  And after that -- who knows??

Eventually I'll edit all my pictures and post them somewhere, but here's one for now.  The Kodiak airport -- a 10-minute walk from my house.