YES! There is snow.

I just landed in Anchorage Alaska, I will be working and playing here for about a week before moving on to Fairbanks, Kodiak and other cities. I will be in Alaska for a little over three weeks. I was so happy that there was snow on the ground when we got off the plane. Not much but some, I had heard that it had all melted off and it would have been sad for my first experience in this state to be snow free.

I am in a lovely suite, It is an extended stay so there is a kitchen and a seperate bedroom. I just got all moved in and it is very comfortable. I work tomorrow night but I have all day to explore and then have the next day off as well before working again.

The flight was a little dissapointing. I love to fly, no matter how many times I do it I get exc ited and filled with wonder just like a little kid. This was my first night flight and I was hoping it would be impressive. I had imagined a great field of stars once we were over the ocean and above the clouds, but the light in the cabin made it hard to see. City lights were very pretty though, leaving Portland and entering Anchorage I could see the lights stretch on seemingly forever.

I had a co=worker who was terribly afraid to fly and we were talking at length about the possibility of crashing. She was somewhat taken aback that I was completely unafraid of dying. I explained to her that death was nothing, why be worried, if you don't exist anymore what is to be afraid of. She is a Christian lady and it struck me as strange once again that Christians fear death. It seems very common among those I know. I would think that if I believed I had a paradise waiting I would be positively eager to die, and certainly not scared. That doesn't seem to be the case however. Fear of death seems to be ingrained into the Christian religion, in many ways it seems to be the entire point of the faith.

As an atheist on the other hand death is literaly nothing. Certainly I regret the prospect of dying, leaving things unfinished, the sadness of my loved ones, but for myself it doesn't bother me at all. As Epicurus said, If you exist then death has not come and for the dead they no longer exist and death can not harm them. So death hurts niether the living nor the dead.

I will be posting regularly while I am here, that should be a change for those of you who have been paying attention. I have been very lazy about blogging for a while. Family and business have been monopolizing my time. Now however I am on a bussmans holiday to a beautiful part of the world and hopefuly will be waxing philosophic for the duration.