March 28, 2009

Earth Hour

So thanks to my sister in law Jessica I have now become aware of a new special occurrence Earth Hour. This is kind of a last minute posting as it is 7:15 in KC and it begins at 8:30 but hey better late than never right? So the purpose of this hour is show that you care about energy conservation. You can do so by switching off your lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time today March 28th. Sounds great to me!

This is new to me so I have to strategize and now I have questions about the whole thing.

1. Can I use my laptop if it is not plugged in. Probably, but to be true to the Earth Hour I probably shouldn't.

2. I will turn off my ceiling fans but the heat is definitely staying on. Sorry lots of snow and ice outside and I am a wimp. :-)

3. Can I talk on the phone during this time? I would think cell phones would be ok since they are already charged. But maybe this is not consistent to the point of energy conservation. The power in my battery came from somewhere.

4. Reading should be good but I will have to use candles to see. This kind of scares me after last summer when we lost power during a thunderstorm. I was at the end of a book I was reading so I could not stop. So to see I had to get really close to the candle and almost lit my book on fire. How did we do anything without electricity?

5. Other things we could do by candle light. Play games, talk, watch it snow outside, snuggle.

In addition to being beneficial to reducing and making us aware about our energy consumption maybe this earth hour also serves another function. Maybe "unplugging" for an hour is important for us to reconnect to those around us.

Happy Earth Hour to All!

March. In like a lamb out like a lion?

March (my favorite month) is coming to a close. I have been so busy blogging about the Iditarod that I have not kept up on the comings and goings around the Azevedo household. So here is a quick recap of the past couple of weeks.

I had a wonderful birthday. I would have to say one of the best since I have been in KC. One of the reasons may be due to the fact that E was home for my birthday for the first time in 4 years. :-) Also all my friends and coworkers at Modern PT did a great job of making my day special. I received new fun colored socks and some shamrock socks which I donned for the special day. I also received two little green beanie babies with white shamrocks. Lisa made a wonderful vegetable soup, Ashlee made delicious cornbread, and Courtney made a great birthday cake. :-) Bellini also had a great day. She found one of my beanie babies in my gift bag after I was home for a whopping 5 min and proceeded to take it and hide it in the back yard. I caught her taking the second one out the doggie door and when I asked her where the first one was she took me directly to it in the back yard. What a smart dog, mischievous but smart. The weather was in the 80s for my birthday which was a real treat after the cold of the winter.

Speaking of weather I have been pondering the saying in like a lamb and out like a lion. Last weekend was 70 degrees and E and I had a great time spending as much time outside as possible. However so far this weekend is consumed with freezing rain and snow. Therefore, I would have to agree with the Farmers Almanac that March 2009 came in like a lamb and went out like a lion.

Here are some pics I quickly snapped out of our back door of the snow coming down.





March 18, 2009

Iditarod Day 12

Well we have a winner. Lance Mackey is the first musher to make it to Nome. He arrived with 15 dogs. Congrats Lance!

Since my update yesterday Lance left Elim and travelled 28 miles to Golovin, 18 miles to White Mountain, 55 miles to Safety, and then 22 to Nome.

The standings for the rest of the pack are as follows:

2. Sebastian Schnuelle - Out of Safety - 13 dogs - 7.86 mph
3. John Baker - Out of Safety - 9 dogs - 7.43 mph
4. Aaron Burmeister - In White Mountain - 10 dogs
5. Mitch Seavey - In White Mountain - 10 dogs
6. Cim Smyth - In White Mountain - 9 dogs
7. Dallas Seavey - In White Mountain - 10 dogs
8. Jessie Royer - In White Mountain - 13 dogs
9. Ramey Smyth - In White Mountain - 11 dogs
10. Hans Gatt - In White Mountain - 13 dogs

15. DeeDee Jonrowe - Out of Elim - 13 dogs - 6.92 mph
17. Aliy Zirkle - Out of Elim - 11 dogs - 4.59 mph
27. Melissa Owens - In Koyuk - 11 dogs

Good luck to all of those still out on the trail!

March 17, 2009

Iditarod Day 11

For the past two days the Iditarod has been VERY brutal due to 40 mph winds and subzero temperatures (50 below zero with the wind chill). Due to the conditions many teams are staying put and waiting for the wind to slow down. Others have had mushers suffer frostbite to their faces or have to travel very slowly and had difficulty getting to their next check point. Three teams have had to be rescued and withdraw from the race due to weather and trail conditions. One of these teams had two dogs die from unknown reasons. Let us all hope for nicer weather for all the teams tomorrow and send positive and warm thoughts to all the remaining teams out there.

Since yesterday the leaders have left Koyuk and travelled 48 miles to Elim.

The current standings are:

1. Lance Mackey - Out of Elim - 15 dogs -6.46 mph
2. Sebastian Schnuelle - Out of Elim - 14 dogs - 6.64 mph
3. John Baker - Out of Elim - 10 dogs - 6.58 mph
4. Ramey Smith - In Koyuk - 11 dogs - 8.51 mph
5. Dallas Seavey - In Koyuk - 11 dogs - 8.88 mph
6. Mitch Seavey - In Koyuk - 11 dogs - 2 mph
7. Jessie Royer - In Koyuk - 10 dogs - 9.43 mph
8. Aaron Burmeister - In Koyuk - 10 dogs - 1.98 mph
9. Cim Smyth - In Koyuk - 9 dogs - 8.97 mph
10. Jeff King - Out of Shaktoolik - 15 dogs - 6.37 mph

16. DeeDee Jonrowe - In Shaktoolik - 13 dogs - 7.04 mph
17. Aliy Zirkle - In Shaktoolik - 11 dogs - 6.49 mph
28 Melissa Owens - In Unalakleet - 11 dogs - 6.44 mph

Take care everyone! My warm thoughts and best wishes go out to everyone on the trail and all of those who have had to withdraw.

March 16, 2009

Iditarod Day 10

Well the good news is it looks like there will be more than 10 days of Iditarod!!

The lead mushers left Unalakleet and travelled 40 miles to Shaktoolik. From there only one musher has made it to the Koyuk check point which is another 58 miles. Koyuk is 171 miles from the finish line in Nome. So more excitement to come sports fans.

The current standings are:

1. Lance Mackey - In Koyuk - 15 dogs - 8.25 mph
2. Sebastian Schnuelle - Out of Shaktoolik - 15 dogs - 6.23 mph
3. Aaron Burmeister - Out of Shaktoolik - 10 dogs - 6.02 mph
4. Mitch Seavey - Out of Shaktoolik - 11 dogs - 6.17 mph
5. Jeff King - Out of Shaktoolik- 15 dogs - 6.37 mph
6. John Baker - Out of Shaktoolik - 13 dogs - 6.32 mph
7. Hans Gatt - Out of Shaktoolik - 13 dogs - 6.63 mph
8. Hugh Neff - Out of Shaktoolik - 11 dogs - 6.22 mph
9. Sonny Lindner - In Shaktoolik - 13 dogs- 7.21 mph
10. Dallas Seavery - In Shaktoolik - 11 dogs - 6.09 mph

13. Aliy Zirkle - Out of Unalakleet - 13 dogs - 6.17 mph
14. DeeDee Jonrowe - Out of Unalakleet - 13 dogs - 6.35 mph
15. Jessie Royer - Out of Unalakleet - 14 dogs - 7.58 mph
40. Melissa Owens - Out of Eagle Island - 12 dogs - 6.14 mph

So far only 6 teams have dropped out of the race. Best wishes to all!

March 15, 2009

Iditarod Day 9

Well its time once again for my update on the race. Today the top teams left Eagle Island and travelled 70 miles to Kaltag. From Kaltag they are currently travelling to Unalakleet (90 miles). Currently, only one muser has made it to Unalakleet. From there the next checkpoint is Shaktoolik which is 40 miles away. All of the teams have now taken their 24 hour and 8 hour layovers.

The current standings are:

1. Lance Mackey - In Unalakleet - 15 dogs - 8.04 mph
2. Sebastian Schnuelle - Out of Kaltag - 15 dogs - 7.81 mph
3. Jeff King - Out of Kaltag - 15 dogs - 7.55 mph
4. Mitch Seavey - Out of Kaltag - 13 dogs - 7.88 mph
5. Hugh Neff - Out of Kaltag - 11 dogs - 7.39 mph
6. Aaron Burmeiste- Out of Kaltag - 12 dogs - 7.42 mph
7. John Baker - Out of Kaltag - 14 dogs - 7.69 mph
8. Hans Gatt - Out of Kaltag - 14 dogs - 7.58 mph
9. Paul Gebhardt - Out of Kaltag - 9 dogs - 7.82 mph
10. Dallas Seavey - Out of Kaltag - 11 dogs - 8.57 mph

12. Aliy Zirkle - Out of Kaltag - 13 dogs - 8.33 mph
14. Jessie Royer - Out of Kaltag - 14 dogs - 8.48 mph
15. DeeDee Jonrowe - Out of Kaltag - 13 dogs - 8.97 mph
35. Melissa Owens - Out of Grayling - 12 dogs - 6.75 mph

Typically the race is done in about ten days (for the leaders). We will see if this happens tomorrow but there is still well over 250 miles to cover. Go Teams!

March 14, 2009

Iditarod Day 8

Lance Mackey is taking a good lead in the race today. In addition, some of the racers have taken their mandatory 8 hour layover.

The lead racers left Anvik and travelled 60 miles to Eagle Island. Currently only one musher has left Eagle Island for the next check point Kaltag which is 70 miles away.

1. Lance Mackey - Out of Eagle Island - 15 dogs - 6.23 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

2. Sebastian Schnuelle - In Eagle Island - 15 dogs - 6.32 mph - completed 24 hour layover

3. Aaron Burmeister - In Eagle Island - 12 dogs - 6.21 mph - completed 24 hour layover

4. Hugh Neff - In Eagle Island - 12 dogs - 5.95 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

5. Mitch Seavey - In Eagle Island - 14 dogs - 6.63 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

6. Jeff King - In Eagle Island - 15 dogs - 6.41 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

7. John Baker - In Eagle Island - 14 dogs - 7.13 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

8. Paul Gebhardt - Out of Grayling - 10 dogs - 6.17 mph - completed 24 hour layover

9. Ken Anderson - Out of Grayling - 11 dogs - 6.75 mph - completed 24 hour layover

10. Cim Smyth - Out of Grayling - 12 dogs - 7.66 mph- completed 8 and 24 hour layovers


11. Aliy Zirkle - Out of Grayling - 13 dogs - 6.55 mph - completed 24 hour layover

16. Jessie Royer - Out of Grayling - 14 dogs - 7.35 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

19. DeeDee Jonrowe - In Grayling - 14 dogs - 7.55 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

33. Melissa Owens - Out of Anvik - 12 dogs - 6.70 mph - completed 8 and 24 hour layovers

Currently only 3 teams are out of the race. Only a couple of days left to go teams!

What will I do when this race is all over?

March 13, 2009

Iditarod Day 7

Hello Race Fans! Here is a quick recap of Day 7.

The teams left Ophir and travelled 90 miles to Iditarod. The next leg of their journey was to Shageluk 65 miles. One rider has made it to Anvik 25 miles.

1. Lance Mackey - In Anvik 16 dogs (speed 5.58)
2. Jeff King - Out of Shageluk - 15 dogs (speed 8.39)
3. Sebastian Schnuelle -Out of Shageluk- 15 dogs (speed 8.32)
4. Aaron Burmeister - Out of Shageluk - 12 dogs (speed 8.04)
5. Mitch Seavey - In Shageluk - 14 dogs (speed 8.37)
6. Hugh Neff - In Shageluk - 13 dogs (speed 7.43)
7. John Baker - In Shageluk - 14 dogs (speed 8.33)
8. Hans Gatt - In Shageluk - 14 dogs (speed 8.57)
9. Paul Gebhardt - In Shageluk - 12 dogs (speed 5.61)
10. Dallas Seavey - In Shageluk- 15 dogs (speed 8.94)

13. Aliy Zirkle - Out of Iditarod - 14 dogs (speed 4.34)
15. Jessie Royer - Out of Iditarod - 15 dogs (speed 5.32)
19. DeeDee Jonrowe - Out of Iditarod -14 dogs (speed 6.23)
29. Melissa Owens - In Iditarod - 13 dogs (speed 5.61)

From Anvik the mushers only have about 500 miles to Nome. The race is over half done. Great job everyone!

March 12, 2009

More Iditarod

So on the Iditarod website I found this link to Zuma's Paw Prints (The Official Canine Iditarod Reporter). There are some very cute pics of the dogs waiting in Anchorage for their humans to come and get them. There is also some other good information on the blog as well if you are intersted.

http://iditarodblogs.com/zuma/

I also checked out why Bjornar Andersen from Norway is out of the race. Yesterday he was in the top ten. According to Anchorage Daily News he crashed his sled on Monday sustaining some serious injuries but waited until today to withdraw from the race (due to blood in his urine and excessive vomitting). Hope everything is ok Bjornar my thoughts are with you!

Iditarod Day 6

Today has been a quiet day for the Iditarod. Most of the mushers have completed or are completing their 24 hour layover. Currently the teams have left Ophir and are heading toward Iditarod.

1. Aaron Burmeister - 13 dogs
2. Hugh Neff - 14 dogs
3. Lance Mackey - 16 dogs
4. Sebastian Schnuelle - 15 dogs
5. Ken Anderson - 12 dogs
6. Jeff King - 15 dogs
7. Mitch Seavey - 14 dogs
8. Paul Gebhardt - 12 dogs
9. John Baker - 15 dogs
10. Cim Smyth - 12 dogs

12. Aliy Zirkle - 15 dogs
15. Jessie Royer - 15 dogs
19. DeeDee Jonrowe - 14 dogs
29. Melissa Owens - 13 dogs

So far only 3 mushers are out of the race Bjornar Andersen, Nancy Yoskida, and Bob Hickel.

Now that the mushers have completed their 24 hour layover they only have an 8 hour layover left to use before the end of the race. More exciting times to come!

March 11, 2009

Iditarod Day 5

Today has been another busy race day. The mushers left Nikolai and made it to McGrath (54 miles). Their next check point was Takotna (18 miles). Currently, only one musher has made it from Takotna to Ophir 25 miles. The next checkpoint is Iditarod which his 90 miles from Ophir.

The current standings are

1. Martin Buser - :-) In Ophir with 14 dogs
2. Aaron Burmeister - 13 dogs
3. Hugh Neff - 14 dogs
4. Sebastian Schnuelle - 15 dogs
5. Lance Mackey - 16 dogs
6. Jeff King - 15 dogs
7. Mitch Seavey - 15 dogs
8. Paul Gebhardt - 14 dogs
9. Bjornar Andersen - 15 dogs
10. John Baker - 15 dogs

12. Aliy Zirkle - 15 dogs
15. Jessie Royer - 15 dogs
18. DeeDee Jonrowe - 16 dogs
19. Melissa Owens- 14 dogs

This is a very close race and a lot of great teams are still in the running. Good luck to all!

March 10, 2009

Iditarod Day 4

Hello again!

Since yesterday the mushers left Rainy Pass and made it to Rohn which was a 48 mile stretch. From Rohn the top 16 are have now made it to Nikolai which was a 75 mile leg. These mushers are now 347 miles away from the start in Anchorage.

Currently the top ten are
1. Sebastian Schnuelle
2. Hugh Neff
3. Paul Gebhardt
4. Aaron Burmeister
5. Ed Iten
6. Hans Gatt
7. Lance Mackey
8. Bjornar Andersen
9. Jeff King
10. Aliy Zirkle

No mushers have left the Nikolai check point yet. The next check point is McGrath which is in 54 miles. The trail from Nikolai to McGrath crosses many open lakes and swamps for the first 20 miles. When the wind is blowing, these areas can quickly drift in. Hopefully no mushers break through the ice this year.

March 9, 2009

Iditarod Day 3

My favorite time of the year is upon us!!! IDITAROD!

For those of you who have not been glued to your computer watching the race I thought I would give you some updates.

The ceremonial start of the Iditarod was last Saturday in Anchorage. Yesterday, the race restarted out in Wasilla. The teams are going to cover over 1150 miles through some very rugged and frigid terrain.

Since leaving Willow the lead teams have travelled to Yenta Station (52 miles), Swkwenta (34 miles), Finger Lake (45 miles), and Rainy Pass (30 miles).

These top 7 teams have already left the Rainy Pass checkpoint after spending about 5-10 min each there.

1. Sebastian Schnuelle
2. Paul Gebhardt
3. Rick Swenson
4. Aaron Burmeister
5. Hugh Neff
6. Melissa Owens
7. Ed Iten

Each of these teams has 16 dogs except for Melissa who has 15.

The rest of the top 10 are still in Rainy Pass. The next check point, Rohn, is in 48 miles. Good luck mushers hope the night is better than it is here in rainy and stormy KC.

For more up to date info you can check out www.iditarod.com

Currently I am cheering for Melissa. She is 19 years old and this is her second Iditarod and she is currently the only girl in the top ten, but Ally Zirkle is in 11th place.

March 8, 2009

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!


Three posts in one day! This is a first for me. However, another very important issue was brought to my attention today via my Mom. Today is my Uncle Jim's Birthday. So I thought I would send out best wishes to him via the Internet. Unfortunately, he does not have Internet at his house, but I know that Aunt Bonnie will get this in a couple of days or so when she goes to see Eric and Alicia! I just wanted to let you know Uncle Baldy that I am thinking about you today and reminiscing about all the fun times we have had and sarcastic comments we have shared! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

International Women's Day


So as I was logging off the computer I noticed my Yahoo had a women's symbol in the O. Being the curious procrastinator I am, I clicked on it to figure out why. Imagine my surprise when I found out today, March 8th, is International Women's Day! Who knew? Granted I am not much for watching the news right now (a little too depressing for my taste) but I don't ever remember learning about this holiday to celebrate women which has been around since 1911.


For more info you can go to the official webite: http://www.internationalwomensday.com


Happy International Women's Day to all you ladies out there! I am very grateful to be born in a country and in a time where women are afforded so many rights. Thank you to all the ladies whose struggles have made this possible for all of us!


You GO GIRLS!!!


In good times and in bad

It seems to be a trend that my posts are coming at longer intervals. I have had things to write about just not the time lately to do so. So for all those interested parties you get to hear about my "lovely" week last week.

I believe that you cannot have or enjoy good things in life without also having some bad times as well. However, I also wonder when you have bad things happen why do they seem to compound one upon the other? Is this really the case or is it when our thinking turns negative we can see all the problems around us? I would like to think this is the case. So as a test I am going to list all the bad issues dealt this week (eliminating most names for privacy issues) as well as the good issues.

Unfavorable situations
  1. Friday before last Esteban and I were at work until 9:30 pm dealing with someone having a pain episode.
  2. I switched our phone system at work to VOIP to save money. The phones transitioned perfectly, however our fax was completely nonoperational for over one week. This is the primary way we get referrals. So in an ironic twist of events my trying to save money has cost the company more money that I would like to imagine.
  3. The mandatory government census that was due Friday got lost in the mail and had to be faxed over from our accountant and then faxed into the government.
  4. Our fax came back up for about 1 glorious hour Tuesday and we faxed out all sorts of stuff to our referral sources saying our fax is back up. Only to have it go back down causing us to get another friendly round of calls.
  5. Found out that despite assurances in November a VOIP system cannot support a fax. Found out that our current phone company will not allow us to keep only one line with them (6 line minimum).
  6. Found out that due to tax increases on our building we owe a good amount of money to our landlord for 2007.
  7. Had a patient fall in our bathroom.
  8. Had a glitch in our billing system that erased all payments posted on Monday
  9. Have a glitch in our documentation system that logs most users out after 20 min even if they are currently working.

Good situations

  1. Steve and Jessica found out that they are having a BOY!!!!
  2. Ashlee had a birthday this week. Happy Birthday to you!!!
  3. Our fax came back up Friday afternoon!!!
  4. We found a new company that will allow us to have only a fax line with them.
  5. Friday afternoon, before going home, I remembered that we had not received our census and therefore we had not sent it in to the government. Thanks so much to a conversation with Lisa! :-) You rock Lisa!!
  6. Raised money for Jerry's son's baseball team via a bowl-a-thon on Friday
  7. I won one round of the bowling (on our lane) with a score of 126 after throwing nothing but gutter balls for the first 3 frames. Crazy huh?
  8. I work with and am surrounded by some wonderful people!
  9. I have an amazing family!!!

Looking back it was a stressful week. However, there were many good things that happened as well. Probably my main issue this week was that I let the problems get to me. In life there are both good and bad situations around us all the time. If we focus on the bad we will see those clearly however the same is true if we look toward the good. In these times of stress and difficult world issues let us all try to look for the good.