long belated update
Oh, hi, is this thing on? Tap tap. Hello! It's been a while since I updated this, so it might be a good time to give a general update about what's been going on. Let's go back... 2 months? Sure!
Well, I got out in the field twice this year, the first time was a while ago, in August. It involved me getting on a 30ish foot landing craft in Glacier Bay National Park and zooming around to collect bear hair, record tracks, and do physical observation of bear. Wow, was it fun. NPS has a very different management culture than I'm used to, and they have a different philosophy on a couple of issues. I also found myself in the strange position of having to justify Intensive Management, when I'm don't work for state Fish and Game. Still, we got past all that, and I had a great time! I took a few hundred photos, and I've been posting them periodically to my other blog.
When I got back to Fairbanks, I was told my budget has more budgetary issues - the bane of my existence. It seems my grant will run out sooner than expected, so to cover some of the in-between time, I got loaned out to another professor to help with smolt surveys in Eagle, Alaska. It was pretty neat - the project was in the News Miner and everything. Work consisted of waking up at Oh-My-God in the morning and setting Fyke Nets in the Yukon. We'd repeat that 3 times a day, motoring up and down the Yukon to do so. I spent a good chunk of time driving a jet boat, and wow driving a boat with a helm is different! It took a while to get used to.
Part of the problem I had in Eagle was that the waders I was using weren't mine, and were full of holes. That'd mean I got pretty wet each time I went to drop the gear in the river. Not fun, especially how cold the air and water was getting. We were patching holes up with ducttape, which worked pretty good. But it was like a game of wak-a-mole, where you sealed up 2 holes, to find you missed a 3rd. And applying ducttape to gortex or neoprene requires the material to be dry. So, there I was, chopping wood to dry out my gear and seal up the holes so I wasn't lugging water around in my waders. 95% of the wood was wet and sappy, and I whaled on it forever without making progress. I then grabbed one of the 5% that was dry, and I put far too much swing into it. My axe went straight through, off a knot, and straight into my right foot. D'oh! >.<
Well, I got "Medical Care" in Eagle, and I was trying to walk off the injury so I could get back into the River ASAP. However, my foot was getting more and more swollen, bits were getting black, and the "Medic" was not thrilled about how things were looking. Two days later, with things looking worse, I got on a plane and went back to Fairbanks to see a proper Doctor. There, they told me that in addition to the cut, I had smashed up some bones pretty badly, and I needed surgery. Now. So, I got sent to a Orthopaedic surgeon who re-arranged his schedule for me. However, I found out the surgery he wanted to do was to fight an infection we didn't know was there. Normally what happens when someone hits themselves with an axe is they wash out the wound with antibiotics heavily, then stitch the wound closed, and then give more IV antibiotics. Bone infections suck, and smashing your bones to lots of tiny pieces with a dirty axe is a great way to get a bone infection. However, the normal situation involves people getting treated the very day they hit themselves, not 3 days out.
We talked it over for a bit, and given the risks of surgery, and the fact that I was 3 days out without sign of infection yet, we decided to instead put me on a constant stream of IV antibiotics, do some blood work and make sure I wasn't infected. After I was given the all-clear, I got sent back to work with the order to take it easy. Well, let me tell you, not being able to drive in Fairbanks gets really old, really fast. I have to beg favours for all the mundane bullcrap of like such as doing laundry (can't carry the basket), groceries (can't push the cart), hauling water (ever try to haul water on crutches? It ain't pretty).
Since then I've been fairly laid up. I'm off the narcotics except for bad days, mostly using OTC stuff to manage pain. And there's a ton of pain. Everything aches, constantly. No matter how loose I get the Cam Boot, my foot swells up to the point where it's too tight. It feels like I'm fighting off a mild virus constantly, which may actually just be one of the bugs going around campus right now. When I don't have to beg rides to do mundane crap, I've been laying around watching netflix instant play - thank god for that and YouTube! I'm sick of it though - I want to get out and do stuff. Or at least be mobile again. Last Thursday, some chickenshit asshole stole my lunch from the counter before I could get over to get it. The asshole was so brazen that for a moment, I thought it wasn't my lunch and I had been mistaken. Who the fuck steals from a guy on crutches, anyhow?
So between the health issues, and the fact that in all likelihood I'm not going to have employment for a few months, I'm in a bit of a funk. It's hard to get motivated for anything. I've put my feelers out there for a more stable job, one where I don't have to worry about getting laid off constantly. I'm pretty sure I'll have a job come January, but it'll be back at the University, with all the constant budget worries that come there.
On the plus side, hockey is going again.
Well, I got out in the field twice this year, the first time was a while ago, in August. It involved me getting on a 30ish foot landing craft in Glacier Bay National Park and zooming around to collect bear hair, record tracks, and do physical observation of bear. Wow, was it fun. NPS has a very different management culture than I'm used to, and they have a different philosophy on a couple of issues. I also found myself in the strange position of having to justify Intensive Management, when I'm don't work for state Fish and Game. Still, we got past all that, and I had a great time! I took a few hundred photos, and I've been posting them periodically to my other blog.
When I got back to Fairbanks, I was told my budget has more budgetary issues - the bane of my existence. It seems my grant will run out sooner than expected, so to cover some of the in-between time, I got loaned out to another professor to help with smolt surveys in Eagle, Alaska. It was pretty neat - the project was in the News Miner and everything. Work consisted of waking up at Oh-My-God in the morning and setting Fyke Nets in the Yukon. We'd repeat that 3 times a day, motoring up and down the Yukon to do so. I spent a good chunk of time driving a jet boat, and wow driving a boat with a helm is different! It took a while to get used to.
Part of the problem I had in Eagle was that the waders I was using weren't mine, and were full of holes. That'd mean I got pretty wet each time I went to drop the gear in the river. Not fun, especially how cold the air and water was getting. We were patching holes up with ducttape, which worked pretty good. But it was like a game of wak-a-mole, where you sealed up 2 holes, to find you missed a 3rd. And applying ducttape to gortex or neoprene requires the material to be dry. So, there I was, chopping wood to dry out my gear and seal up the holes so I wasn't lugging water around in my waders. 95% of the wood was wet and sappy, and I whaled on it forever without making progress. I then grabbed one of the 5% that was dry, and I put far too much swing into it. My axe went straight through, off a knot, and straight into my right foot. D'oh! >.<
Well, I got "Medical Care" in Eagle, and I was trying to walk off the injury so I could get back into the River ASAP. However, my foot was getting more and more swollen, bits were getting black, and the "Medic" was not thrilled about how things were looking. Two days later, with things looking worse, I got on a plane and went back to Fairbanks to see a proper Doctor. There, they told me that in addition to the cut, I had smashed up some bones pretty badly, and I needed surgery. Now. So, I got sent to a Orthopaedic surgeon who re-arranged his schedule for me. However, I found out the surgery he wanted to do was to fight an infection we didn't know was there. Normally what happens when someone hits themselves with an axe is they wash out the wound with antibiotics heavily, then stitch the wound closed, and then give more IV antibiotics. Bone infections suck, and smashing your bones to lots of tiny pieces with a dirty axe is a great way to get a bone infection. However, the normal situation involves people getting treated the very day they hit themselves, not 3 days out.
We talked it over for a bit, and given the risks of surgery, and the fact that I was 3 days out without sign of infection yet, we decided to instead put me on a constant stream of IV antibiotics, do some blood work and make sure I wasn't infected. After I was given the all-clear, I got sent back to work with the order to take it easy. Well, let me tell you, not being able to drive in Fairbanks gets really old, really fast. I have to beg favours for all the mundane bullcrap of like such as doing laundry (can't carry the basket), groceries (can't push the cart), hauling water (ever try to haul water on crutches? It ain't pretty).
Since then I've been fairly laid up. I'm off the narcotics except for bad days, mostly using OTC stuff to manage pain. And there's a ton of pain. Everything aches, constantly. No matter how loose I get the Cam Boot, my foot swells up to the point where it's too tight. It feels like I'm fighting off a mild virus constantly, which may actually just be one of the bugs going around campus right now. When I don't have to beg rides to do mundane crap, I've been laying around watching netflix instant play - thank god for that and YouTube! I'm sick of it though - I want to get out and do stuff. Or at least be mobile again. Last Thursday, some chickenshit asshole stole my lunch from the counter before I could get over to get it. The asshole was so brazen that for a moment, I thought it wasn't my lunch and I had been mistaken. Who the fuck steals from a guy on crutches, anyhow?
So between the health issues, and the fact that in all likelihood I'm not going to have employment for a few months, I'm in a bit of a funk. It's hard to get motivated for anything. I've put my feelers out there for a more stable job, one where I don't have to worry about getting laid off constantly. I'm pretty sure I'll have a job come January, but it'll be back at the University, with all the constant budget worries that come there.
On the plus side, hockey is going again.