I'll try to keep this short but that's not me. As promised, that's my address and phone. I'm pretty good at finding a place to live and it took me about a day to find this one. It's a small house with combined living room / bedroom, kitchen, and bath. It's small but I have too much cupboard space. Rents are just like everything else around here..expensive. Gas starts at a buck and a half a gallon..triple that for milk. Safeway is the discount grocery store. It ain't cheap.. We call it the gouge factor but at least, there are no state taxes.

The state of Alaska also pays each resident nearly a thousand dollars a year..every little bit helps.

A few statistics compliments of a town map of Kodiak:

First capital of Russian America.

Fifth largest city in Alaska - 6774 in 1989

Island population 15558 in 1989

Average temperature -20 degrees to 82 degrees (It's hovered around freezing since I arrived)..add a 25 degrees to the temp of Anchorage. Even I thought I was crazy when the stewardess announced it was 2 degrees in Anchorage on the way up here.

Average Annual Precipitation 74.2" (The local joke..the rain festival running from January 1 to December 31.) I've seen one snowfall since I arrived a week ago..rain melted it away as is the norm.

Largest fishing port in the U. S..

Largest U. S. Coast Guard Base.

Home of the largest carnivore, the Kodiak bear..haven't met one of these yet.

Second largest island in the U. S. 3670 square miles.

I've found all the important stuff like bars (not much time in this area), gym, movie theater (one screen), Catholic Church among others. I even hooked up with the Community Theater. Their next production is a dinner theater. The boss got me on the community basketball team. Last night was our first game in a dramatic loss of 63-42. My contribution..two turnovers. My court is a racquetball court which I've booked a game for Thursday night.

Saturday night, the local high school put on the play Rebel Without A Cause. It doesn't take long for me to hit the ground running.

I shipped up the CD's and the stereo so life is bearable during the prolonged periods of darkness. The CD player didn't make the journey too well so a new one is in the works. Right now, the sun comes up around nine a. m. and goes down around four p. m..

For you golfers, they have a relatively famous tournament, one hole..up the face of a mountain.

The snow capped mountains are an incredible sight. When summer comes, I'll be riding the lesser travelled roads on my bike. Scuba diving is definitely out..ocean temp in the summer is around 48 degrees according to one local diver.. I'll stick to fishing.

First impressions..I'll live out the terms of my agreement to finish out the project and then I'm gone..that's what most locals say and stay for years. It's not bad here there are seven guys to every female.. I have a hard time with that statistic. Don't get me wrong..I don't want to settle down and get married but the guys just aren't what I care to look at and all of the entertainment must be found on the island. I am looking to stay in one place for a while but in the south. People here are quite offbeat..they make me..normal. Most of the folks are from somewhere else and are fed up with the hectic life..in search of adventure..sound familiar?

An update since the last letter of which I got a number of comments. Perhaps, I should write a book. I had to leave Turkey a day early due to a projected Turkish workers strike. This cost you, the tax payer, an additional eight hundred bucks..six hundred in baggage alone. European baggage regulations allow forty-four pounds. I had nearly two-hundred and ten at eight bucks per kilo or two point two pounds. I had to spend the night in Germany. I hated every minute I spent drinking German beers in the hotel bar..oh the agony.. make me do it again. Leaving Turkey, like any place else, was quite difficult. I'd still go back. I try to make myself at home where ever I go. I felt quite strange returning to the states. I missed Turkey.

Christmas at home was quite nice. The folks are still the same but aging nicely. Got to hook up with a number of friends..something I'll treasure.

Snow ruled out KC for New Year's Eve but I did get a ride home from the Nebraska troopers the following morning. No, I wasn't driving. I was walking. I was in relatively in decent shape but walking in the street because the sidewalks weren't scooped. Maybe it was due to the single digit temp. I don't know. Call me for details.

How bout them Huskers? Every year it's the same thing..wait until next year. Well, next year was this year. I'm still on cloud nine. Saw that game in KC where I hooked up with the legendary Mr. Ed and my old college buddy, Roger. We burned Roger's U of Miami t-shirt in the front yard of one of Mr. Ed's associates..you had to be there.

I drove to Virginia for more reunions with old friends. One last round of Myrtle Beach before going up north. Imagine wearing shorts on Saturday and heavy coats the following Wednesday. It's not an easy thing to deal with but I'm fine.

Today was my first day at work. It's my third company in less than a year..each assignment different from the last. My official title is project manager, something that makes me nervous..never done that before. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

We had some minor earthquakes but nothing serious unlike that in Japan. Around here, they're more concerned with grinding fish into fish meal..something this Mid-western boy doesn't quite understand or care about.

I'm thinking about signing up on Compuserve so I can go global. Send me your addresses on the net (Me and Newt agree on that his comments on giving the homeless access to the Internet was really dumb but giving me access could be quite interesting). Take care, stay in touch, and may God Bless!

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