Don't Be Stupid

I normally don't like to cause a stir, be too in your face about my opinions or call people stupid. But I have a message that needs saying, and I feel so strongly about it that I may just use some harsh language.

So, here it is . . . people who don't vaccinate their children are IDIOTS! I just can't think of a nice way to put it. Here's a generalization that I think everyone can agree with. Long ago, lots of children died of diseases such as smallpox and polio, now, hardly any children die of these diseases. People may not have died as a result of diseases such as mumps, measles and rubella, but did end up having health troubles later in life that were related to these diseases. Does anyone want to take a guess as to why we have fewer incidents today? There has been one major shift since the 50's and 60's . . . vaccinations. Yet, there are some people out there who are nervous about immunizations. Why? Why? Why?

A popular scare today is concerning the Measles, Mumps and Rubella shot. One argument against the MMR vaccinations is that it supposedly causes autism. If you go to the Centers for Disease Control website and check out the "Myths Busted" section, you'll find an explanation of the flawed studies that have linked autism to the MMR shot. The "Wakefield" study, that found a supposed link between the MMR immunization and autism missed the boat in two areas. First the MMR shot just happens to be administered at about the same time in a child's life that autism is first noticed and diagnosed. This causes parents to think that the shot brought on the autism. Secondly, they only studied children who had the vaccine, then developed autism and did not include children who did not have the vaccine and then developed autism. They had a flawed approach to the study and therefore, do not have conclusive evidence. You can read more about studies, the flaws in the studies, as well as research that has proven no relationship between autism and vaccinations in the "Myths Busted" section. Most importantly, there is very strong evidence that autism is a genetic disorder, and not caused by environmental factors.

If you are a parent who is choosing not to vaccinate, I find it hard to believe that you are willing to take such a serious gamble with the LIFE of your child. It really is a matter of life or death, especially with more and more uneducated yahoos skipping out on immunizations. Did you know there were over 6,000 reported cases of mumps in the U.S. in 2006, just a few years back, mumps was expected to be eliminated. Way to go, anti-vaccination wackos.

So, get off the, anti-immunization because of autism, bandwagon people. Just because those in the media says their beliefs over and over doesn't make it true. I'd rather trust good science and good doctors because guess what, they've done a whole lot of positive things for our society. I think that people who honestly believe that doctors would knowingly give patients things that are bad for them, are paranoid, conspiracy theorists. So, go on now, before it's too late and get your kids vaccinated. If you don't have kids, be a part of the solution, spread common sense instead of perpetuating the foolishness of, "I heard on TV that blah, blah, blah, so I don't think I'll get my kids their shots."

Oh, and I'd love to debate this topic with anyone, but only if you're willing to back your arguments with some logic and evidence, not hearsay. --AnnMarie

Jack 'n Me

This isn't exactly new news, but I was just thinking about these photos today and wanted to share.

So, C.O. and I were in Baldwin City, Kansas last summer and this guy was helping to promote the opening of the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie for a local theater. He was amazing! He had the swagger, the lingo, the look and was a real hoot. It was a fun, and totally random encounter.

* The only Pirates movie worth seeing was the first one, btw.

Phone Calls

Our Snowman

The weather has warmed up here causing big, fluffy, sticky snow to fall. So, we decided to make a snowman. We bundled Harold up and started rolling.

Harold was pretty excited about the big ball. (Ball is his favorite word, he says it over and over and over everyday.)

Before long, we had attracted a crowd.

And she's done. I convinced C.O. that our snowman really needed to be four balls high this time.

--AnnMarie

Contagious

When you're around a person who has a real love of something, it can be contagious. That's what it's like being around Bill. Bill is a tech fanatic and here's what always happens when he's around.

Bill ended up being weathered in here in Brevig for an extra day. We had a great time visiting with him. We stayed up way too late each night, had a great crab dinner and had some good laughs. --AnnMarie

The Weekend

This has been a fairly interesting weekend. I attended a one day meeting in Unalakleet for the reading facilitators at each site. My brother John and I happen to help out with the reading program at our respective schools. So, I got picked up by the district plane on Friday night.

The next stop after Brevig was in Elim to pick up John.


In Unalakleet, we visited with folks at Kim and Greg Johnson's home, then spent all of Saturday in a meeting. It was short, sweet, informative, included good food and good company. Saturday evening I returned to Brevig. Our friend Bill Bryson is visiting and he had watched Harold quickly while C.O. came to pick me up at the air strip. Turns out Harold had been sick and miserable all day. Here's what we saw when we got home. --AnnMarie

Results: 4th Place

I would say the Elim Eagles had a great showing at the Alaska State Basketball Tournament.

First game: they unfortunately lost, but what a game! Elim was behind by 18 points in the fourth quarter, and they came back to tie up the score. The game went into double overtime and Elim lost by only one point.

Napaskiak 74, Elim 73 2OT

"John Maxie had 19 points as Napaskiak squandered a big second half lead but survived to defeat Elim in a double-overtime thriller.

Elim outscored the Hawks 23-6 in the fourth quarter to force overtime, thanks to the hot outside shooting of Matt Takak, who scored a game-high 32 points and was 5 of 15 from beyond the arc.

Napaskiak scored the winning bucket with about 8 seconds left in the second extra session and Elim was unable to get a good shot off after that." -- from the Alaska Daily News

Second game: Elim won.

Third game for 4th place: Elim won, but only by 2 points and again it was an overtime game. The games must have been fun for all the fans. Congratulations and great job to the entire team. You must have a really great coach. ; ) --AnnMarie

Musk Ox Hunting

The first challenge to hunting musk ox is getting close to them. You can see them from many miles away, but they are often on the top of a steep rocky mountain. Normally the wind has blown all the snow off of the rocks on the mountains making it difficult to drive a snowmobile there. If you try hiking up the mountain the herd can flee down the other side by the time you get to the top. Once you get to a herd, the second challenge is trying to get a clean shot. When threatened they form up shoulder to shoulder in a close bunch. This makes it impossible to get a shot at one individual animal.

On this hunt we managed to find a herd that was on a low mountain top that we were able to snowmobile up. We were then able to walk around the top and get close to the herd. We then sat and watched the heard until they got used to us and spread out. I shot from about 130 yards. The large bull that I took probably weighed 800 to 1000 lbs.

C.O.

State Game Schedule

John's game will be broadcast online. You can follow this link to see it. The first game will be played today (Tuesday) at 6:50 p.m., Alaska Time. I'll update the blog on results and further game times. Good luck Elim Eagles, we'll be watching! --AnnMarie

The Rest of the Visit

Aiti and Ellen were here a total of 6 days. They made many memories and had a few more adventures. On Tuesday, they had the chance to take a short dog sled ride. Unfortunately, as they rounded a corner to return back to the village, the dogs took too sharp of a turn and dumped the ladies out of the sled. Oh dear.

For an Alaskan souvenir, I made the two ladies their very own kuspuks. Don't they look cute?

Aiti got to spend a lot of quality time with her great-grandson. The last day they were here, amongst Harold's babbling, we heard, "Aiti".

There was quite a bit of SkipBo action at our house over the past few days.

And they're off.

I've talked to Aiti and Ellen in Elim and it sounds like they are adding to their list of interesting experiences. Shortly after they arrived, they went down to the Iditarod checkpoint and got to see a musher come through. Yesterday, there were six dog teams and mushers at the check point at one time. (I'm so jealous.)

We had a great time hosting these two wonderful ladies and are so glad they decided to make the long journey north. --AnnMarie

Sharp Dressed Man

"Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man." -- ZZ Top

Supportive Parents

Growing up, my parents were always very supportive of the activities and events that my two brothers and I were involved in. They traveled to sporting events, near or far, got us to the bus on time for speech meets, attended our drama productions, my Mom was the local 4-H leader and the list could go on and on. Well, my parents have outdone themselves. When John's team won the regional championship for the Bering Strait School District, my parents, along with my brother Brian, bought airline tickets to attend the games in Anchorage. How cool is that! They are the epitome of supportive parents. Thanks for being so great Mom and Dad. --AnnMarie

Proud Big Sister

My brother John is also a teacher in the Bering Strait School District. He lives in a village called Elim about 150 miles southeast of Brevig. He teaches high school and junior high Socials Studies and also happens to be the boys basketball coach. They had a great season, undefeated in fact. Last night they played for the regional championship. The game was broadcast both over the internet and on the school's video conferencing system. So, C.O. and I took Aiti and Ellen over to the school and watched the game live on the big screen. It was very exciting. We were on the edge of our seats and cheering and having a great time. It was especially great when they won. In a couple of weeks, John and the boys will be traveling to Anchorage for the State Basketball Tournament. John's team was by far the better of the two, and if I do say so, he's a great coach. In fact, at the awards ceremony he received the coach of the year award. What a great evening and we're all very proud of him. Here's photos of us watching John's team last night. --AnnMarie

They've Arrived

My grandma and great-aunt Ellen arrived in Brevig on Friday evening. What a trip they had!

This is Ellen.


This is my grandma,
"Aiti".

The weather was marginal for flying into Brevig on Friday. So I was surprised when the airline agent said the plane was 7 minutes out. We went to the airstrip, waited, heard the plane approach, then quiet. *sigh* the plane had turned around. After, we heard from Aiti and Ellen that the attempted landing was pretty rough, rocking and rolling "like a roller coaster!" The plane didn't go back to Nome fortunately, it landed in Teller. Teller is only 8 miles away so we could drive our snow machine across the ice to go get them. When they got off the plane in Teller, the agent asked them where they were going. Since they don't know anyone in Teller, Ellen said, "We're going to your house." So, they did and called us from there. An hour later we had the ladies bundled up and ready to cross the frozen Bering Sea.

At ages 75 and 77 they're an inspiration!

Feet of a Kindergarten Teacher

Another Point of View

Harold's latest thing is to stop and look at life from a little different angle.

Smoking Bans and Private Property Rights

Minnesota recently passed a state wide smoking ban in workplaces (including restaurants and bars) and now Nome is considering a similar measure. After listening to all of the discussion about this I decided to let people know my thoughts on the matter.

Smoking is bad, smoking bans for private places are worse. Smoking has been banned in actual public places for years, city hall, the court house, library, etc. These are actual public places (owned by the public) and smoking should definitely be banned in there. People are required to go to these places to conduct public business. Bars and restaurants are not public, they are owned by individuals. People choose to go to these places.

This is a private property rights issue and not a health issue. There are two "slippery slopes" that we are starting down. What is a public place, and what is an activity that the government can regulate? We can all probably agree that the city hall, court house, etc are public places that should be regulated, now they are trying to say that a bar or restaurant is also a "public place". How long until the government decides that it is in the publics best interest to regulate your home? The other issue is what are the activities that the government can regulate? Today it is smoking, but it is not too much of a stretch to include consuming alcohol or eating fattening foods on the list of regulated activities. Once you decide to regulate one private activity you open the door to regulating all private activity.

This is just one more step down the road to the complete nanny state. Where we let the government control every aspect of our lives because we are not responsible enough to take care of ourselves.

Start taking some personal responsibility and stand up for yourself.

C.O. Rudstrom

Gearing Up For Work

I've mentioned in previous posts that we've had some pretty severe weather. I wanted to give you a glimpse into what I wear as I go to work on a stormy day. --AnnMarie

Tough Guy

Tough guy had to get four shots the other day. It's not fun at the time, but he recovers well.

My Birthday Suit

Last Sunday was my 28th birthday. A couple of things made my day pretty memorable. One is that C.O. got me a present that is quite possible the most comfortable thing I've ever worn.

Dressing Harold in his footed pajamas every night looks so cozy and I wanted a set for myself. Turns out they're great! I wear them every chance I get.

The other memorable part of my day was the opportunity to go on a dog sled ride. I'd never been before. Considering that I grew up in Minnesota and have been in Alaska for 6 years now, I figure it's one of those things I should do. Our friend, Henry, has a dog team and his grandsons have been taking them out nearly every day. So, C.O. arranged a ride for me. The boys took me about 10 miles total. It was an exceptional day, the scenery was beautiful, the sun was shining, needless to say, I had a great time. I learned two things on this journey: 1) it's not quite as fast as I had expected 2) the dogs can do their business and run at the same time. (The second part being not quite as lovely as the rest of the trip.)