Wherein I complain about the snow again

This is the view out of the window of the “Dark Hole of Despair” condo right now. Isn’t it supposed to be spring? And the snow is merely the culmination of several days of bicycle troubles: flat tire, broken derailleur, flat tire again (I had patched it with flimsy pieces of junk from Walmart), and yet another flat tire, this time from a second hole.

But the last few days have been very good anyhow. Yesterday was the first day of the 2008 Juneau Folk Festival (the third year I attend it, after 2000 and two days in 2006). The Folkfest, as it is generally called, is a week-long series of fun concerts which I love, and this year the poster is by Eric Bealer:

The day before, I went to North Douglas Island with an invertebrate biology class in order to look for animals at a very low tide (and under a cold, incessant rain). It was a successful trip. There were all kinds of weird critters such as 5-foot long blood-red worms, the sea cucumber (Holothuroidea) Eupenctata pseudoquinquesemita:

And the crescent gunnel Photis laeta:

The day before that, Saturday, my landlord and friend Jad took me along on his plane on a trip down to Angoon. It was really fascinating all along the way, especially considering that I know almost nothing about Admiralty Island. This is a photo of Jad getting back on the plane at the float in Angoon.

And before that not so much happened, except that I got to briefly meet Fran Ulmer, our former Lieutenant governor, and an unsuccessful candidate for governor (alas, she lost against the power-hungry crook Frank Murkowski, who as he took over the governorship appointed his own daughter to his senate seat).