Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday today! I had a great day here in Alaska. The weather was AMAZING!!! Almost 50 degrees today, so I went for a nice walk. I also bought a bunch of vegetables to make homemade chicken noodle soup. I bought a Fred Meyer's Roasted Chicken last night and I decided to boil the carcass to make soup...It is VERY good!!! Here is a picture of the veggies =)

(The parsnip makes the soup...I will never make a chicken soup without them)


There were also potatoes in the mix...I just forgot to photograph them. The soup is amazing, so I will post my recipe for y'all.

Step one: buy a cooked chicken and eat about half of it for lunch and dinner.
Step two: Pick off all of the meat and boil the non-meat in a bunch of water with some veggies and herbs
Step three: add the chicken and the noodles and eat!!

A lot has been going on the last few days. I need to move out of Wedgewood by May 1st, so I am looking for places to live. In May, Wedgewood turns into a tourist resort, so my apartment will no longer be available for less than a few hundred dollars a day...a bit out of my price range. I have a few leads that I will write more about when things are finalized. I'll just say that I am looking into living the true Alaskan lifestyle.

Also, I have made a sound file of the Randy Smith Jazz Band available for you all. I am going to upload it as a video clip. Since I have absolutely no desire to post pictures of my students on the web, I have made a little backdrop photo out of an Aurora shot that is a little blurry. I hope you enjoy Randy Smith's version of Manteca.



Well, that's all I got for the moment. I will keep you all updated on my living situation. I should know for sure what is happening in a week or so. I cannot believe mid-quarter grades are due already for 4th quarter. I am 7/8th of the way finished with my first year teaching!

Rock on
~Mr. Lockwood

A Crazy Time of Year!!

Wow...keeping this blog updated has been very difficult lately! Life is crazy busy these days...I guess that is a good thing. It keeps the boredom away.

Last weekend, I took my jazz band to Jazz Fest, a large three day celebration of jazz. The festival took place at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, and it was AMAZING! There were guest artists from all over the country who worked with the students and in the evenings put on some outstanding concerts. On Friday night, Randy Smith was involved in a "Show off your school" concert. The show was four hours long...each school getting about 10 minutes. Since this is a JAZZ concert...groups went WAY over 10 minutes =) Randy Smith put on a GREAT show! I am very proud of my students. I will be posting a sound clip of one of their pieces from the performance sometime this weekend. Also, three of Randy Smith students were chosen to participate in the 2009 UAF Jazz Fest Honor Jazz Band...a great opportunity for them!

Well...I don't have too much else new really. I am looking for a place to live because Wedgwood turns into a tourist resort in about a month. I will end this post with a cheesy self portrait for all y'all...I do not want anyone out there forgetting how beautiful I am ;-) (I am actually posting this pic because I think the colors are cool. I was playing with different light sources and white balance. I am lit by a tungsten light and the room is illuminated by the setting sun. Kinda a need mix in my opinion)


Ok fellow bloggers...I'm out. The end of the school year is approaching FAST, so these posts may continue to be more sparse, but fear not...I will be back more often when summer rolls around!

Rock on!
~Mr. Lockwood.

Spring Break II...The Sequel

Hello all! I thought I'd post more pictures. I might come back to this posting as I finish more photographs, but for now I will put up what I have. WARNING!!! It might be a lot. First things first...A couple more shots from the Ice Sculptures.









On Tuesday, Jen and I went for a long trip to Cantwell, AK (a very small town) and the drive was amazing! It was a mostly cloudy day through the mountains...with the sun peeking out every now and then to say, "Hello." I have LOTS of pictures from the drive, so here they are. Enjoy!!

Not far from Fairbanks, we stopped to shoot the mountains in the horizon. Here is Jen capturing the Alaskan Mountain Range.


The Nenana River is frozen and looks cool. Fun colors and lines!


Then here are some mountains:








This one might be my favorite:





Now...a couple shoots of the moose. I love moose. Both to look at and to eat.




WOW that is a lot of pictures...but wait..there's more!

(ok...just three more...one of me in the hot springs and two from around Chena)


Open water from the spring:


It's kinda cool. The Chena Hot Springs Resort have several hotels and a restaurant. All hot water (not used in food) is taken from the hot springs. They use the geothermal heat for almost all heating. I am guessing this is one of the places they pump the water from:


Yesterday was my birthday, so we celebrated by going to Chena Hot Springs...WOW was that amazing. It was a little below freezing yesterday (about 20 - 25 degrees) and the water's average temperature is 106 degrees..but there were some severe hot pockets that, my guess, where around 120 degrees...way to hot for me. On the drive there and home we saw LOTS of moose. Between the two outings, I saw at least 10 moose and a couple of caribou.

I've had a great couple of days with a few more left to go. I hope you are all having a wonderful week out there in Blogging world.

Take care!
~Mr. Lockwood

SPRING BREAK!!!!!

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Ok...it may not be time to talk of cabbages and kings...but it IS time for spring break. Last week one was of the busiest weeks I have had yet in my teaching career. With dress rehearsals, concerts, and TONS of snow...I am very happy last week is over.

I will start off with a picture, then a lot of pictures =) My friend Jen is up here visiting me for Spring break...and she brought me a couple of camera lenses to play with. THEY ARE AMAZING!! This picture is one of my favs with a Canon 50mm 1.4.


Yesterday, Jen and I went to "Ice Alaska." A place where people from all over the world come to create these amazing ice sculptures. It was unbelievable what these people can do with a bit of frozen water and a chainsaw! But before we went to the ice park...we had a very tasty lunch of Copper River Salmon Salad with Basil Blue Cheese Dressing and Red Wine.


We arrived at the ice park around 2:00 and walked around with cameras. It was pretty fun! Tons (literally tons) of very cool sculptures everywhere. Here are a few that caught my eye...and my lens (ok...not my lens, but I wish it was.)

Ok...now for some pictures....WARNING!! There are a lot of pics, and I am uploading then as large files...so it may take a while for them to come up.








There are MANY MANY more pictures...but these are some of the more impressive sculptures. Taking pictures of ice and snow is very challenging. It is easy to overexpose the photograph...I am still learning everyday fun new things to try in order to make my photography better. I love Alaska!

I'll will try very hard to be back more to update this site. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures over spring break, so be on the look out!

Rock on
~Mr. Lockwood

Hooray for Weekends =)

It's a Sunday! I have actually been pretty productive today. I sent out program information for our combined concerts (Music in Our Schools Month), I cleaned my kitchen, straightened up my living room, and posted on my blog (well, I guess I'm not quite finished with that one yet.)

I will start off with another picture. This one was taken right outside my door. It was ridiculously warm yesterday (23 above zero) and the sun was shining bright. The icicles on the awning were starting to melt, so I thought I would sit and try to capture a drop of water in mid-air...and what do you know, the very first shot I took caught one!




Well...I am still sans automobile =( I am approved for my loan...there are just a few other hoops I need to jump through that were not foreseen. I REALLY hope I will have a vehicle by Wednesday. Cross your fingers for me =)

It feels like I have been stuck inside my apartment for the longest time. Cabin fever is no fun. Luckily, I have the internet and great digital company to keep me distracted ;-)

I do have some great news I can share with y'all...I am teaching a summer class, as most of you probably know, and the official website for it is up! Click here --> ASRA
The module I am co-teaching is called "Sounds of Science" (the last link on the side of the page I believe) If you read my bio, there is an interesting picture of me (I did NOT pick it, the program director did) and a link to a youtube video of my latest circuit bending project. Ah what the heck...I won't make you search for it...here it is =)


(please pay no attention to the idiot dancing to the random noise...he got a little too into the groove)

So that is pretty much all that is going on here in AK. School is still amazing. I hope you all have a fantastic week! I will try to be more on top of updating this site...so please stick around =)

Rock on
~Mr. Lockwood

So Sorry For The Lateness of this Post

I had been very busy with school lately, so I have fallen behind a bit in my blog postings...for that I apologize. I just received an email from a friend of mine. basically yelling at me for not updating this site...It was pretty funny, and eye opening. I would post it here for everyone to read...but in my very first post I said I was going to keep this blog kid-friendly...and he used some very "unique and colorful" language while suggesting I spend a little more time in Blogging World.

I'll start with a quick picture. I have not been out shooting too much due to the cold, but I am sure that will change come March. So the picture...I love hoarfrost!!!! It is beautiful. Here it is:



So how have I been doing?.....I've been great! School has been working me like mad! I have two combined concerts in less than a month than I am working very hard to prepare the kids for. March is Music in Our Schools Month, and to celebrate, Randy Smith is joining up with two other middle schools (Tanana and Ryan) to perform two very large joint concerts...one band and one orchestra. since I teach both band and orchestra...I get to work on both =) We are playing some very fun music...but it is extremely challenging, so the pressure is a little high.

Other cool things about school: I had a formal evaluation from my principal a few weeks ago and she seems to be VERY impressed with what I am doing. I thought I was doing pretty well with everything, but of coarse I am critical of my teaching and feel like I have a long way to go. My principal also sees that I have a long way to go, but she told me that I am already a great teacher...and in years to come, if I keep doing what I am doing and continue to grow, people will be hearing about me. That was very sweet and kinda fun to hear =)

I am very happy, however, not everything has been great: "The Swamp Donkey" is dead! I went out to start my car last week. It was one of those pleasant -40 degree mornings, I went to the passenger side door to get in (oh yeah...my door handle snapped off in the cold one day), and I started the car. It turned over...it didn't want to...but it did. When I say it didn't want to turn over, I just mean that it was very sluggish...so I gave it a little gas. I barely touched the accelerator when all of the sudden something caught and the engine revved very high for a fraction of a second, then calmed down and idled regularly. I then went in side to grab a few things for school and to let "The Swamp Donkey" warm up for today's ride to school. I go back out to the car and find that it had shut it's self off...not something it had ever done before. I turn her back over and she goes. I wait a little bit and decide to slowly back out and start going to work. I back up about 6 feet and it dies again. I try turning it over...and no dice. I am not super happy at this point. To make things worse...I look over to where the car was, and there, on the ground, was a large puddle of black, viscous, liquid. The Swamp Donkey had bled to death. Apparently, during the very brief period the engine was revving high, I blew a gasket. Blown head gaskets are VERY nasty and expensive to replace...so guess who is going to try to buy a car today...ME =) I have been taking the city bus to school everyday and have been getting rides home by various teachers. It has been a pain in the backside...but it's not that bad. The bus come right to Wedgewood pretty early in the morning, so I still have pleanty of time to get to jazz band.

I actually need to wrap this one up now because the bus will be here soon and I need to go to the bank as see about a loan for a vehicle. I know it has been a while since my last post, so I hope people still check this place out now and then.

Have a fantastic weekend!!
~Mr. Lockwood

I am back in Alaska!

I made it back. It was wonderful being in Minnesota/Wisconsin over the holidays. I saw a lot of friends and family but I also missed the opportunity to see some great people as well (like the Roadfeldts)...so I hope to make it back sometime this summer.


So...I wrote this VERY long story below about my trip back to Alaska...but I also have another circuit bending video I want to share. I decided to come back to the top of this post and put up the video first...in case you get bored of the story and do not feel like scrolling all the way down to watch the clip. At the end of this video, my new toy stops working. That is because I still need to add a reset button/kill switch. Every now and then I overload the circuits or create a never ending loop and things stop working. A simple push button that connects the positive and negative battery polls together will fix that issue. Once I find a ride to Radio Shack, I will install the kill switch and have a quick fix...as of right now I need to take the whole thing apart and use a wire to connect the + and -.

Here it is...the "Bent" Vtech Alphabet Apple:



The inside of "The Apple"



While I was in MN, I was enjoying the warm weather. Fifteen degrees ABOVE zero!?! That's unheard of! I was walking around in just a sweater...I loved it! However, I came home to a nice slap in the face...let me tell you about it:

As some of you know, The Supertonics, my 1980's acoustic rock cover band, had a gig the night before I left for home (it is a little odd for me to call Fairbanks home...but it actually feels more like home than MN now. While I was back in the lower 48, I fell like a visitor. I don't think that is a bad thing...it is just a little strange.) I got bock to my Dad's place from the show that Friday at about 2:30am. The show was a ton of fun, but I was a little bummed because I had to wake up pretty early to catch my flight....and I am not good at sleeping on airplanes. Anyways, I was picked up, arrived at the airport with plenty of time, and flew to Anchorage. The flight was actually quite nice. The flight to MN from Anchorage was AWFUL! I was exhausted because I stayed up the whole night before, expecting to pass out on the plane (which never happened) and I sat in an isle seat, so anytime I did start to feel myself drifting off into slumber, the flight attendance's cart would come by and smack my knees or shoulder...I was not a happy camper. The flight back to anchorage however, was surprisingly pleasant. I had about 6 hours of sleep that night, which is more than enough for me to function, I sat next to some pretty nice guys from the North Star traveling hockey team, and I had enough music for my disc-man to keep me entertained (that's right, I have a disc-man...no ipod for Bobbo.)
The flight lands in Anchorage and I am feeling pretty hungry so I went to the Chili's in the airport. I figured I had tons of time for some wings and a beer so I sat down at the table at ordered. Luckily, the Chili's was right across from the gate my plane was at. As I looked across the hall to the computer at the gate, I realized I only had about 15 minutes until I was suppose to board...and I had JUST gotten my beer. Ooops...I miss calculated the amount of time I had. My miscellaneous dippable fried chicken things arrived with only 5 mins until they were going to call me up. You would think they would have called up first class passengers first...then VIP gold members...passengers with small children...but that didn't happen. I finished my food just in time. I ate my last crunchy chicken thing and took my last sip of 'o' beer. The moment I set my glass down they called all passengers to board the plane. I hurried across the hall and stepped in line. I handed the gentleman at the desk my boarding pass and he said, "It's the last plane." I was a little confused. The closed in walkway always let me to the door of only one plane in the past...I never had to choose which plane to board...then I figured out what he was talking about. I followed the crowd down a narrow hallway that lead to a door. On the other side of this door was the frigid Alaskan air...not the inside of a plane. We had to walk across the tarmac to get to our very small jet. That was not too bad since Anchorage's climate is very similar to MN's...it was about 10 degrees. I boarded the plane, ate my crispy snacks, drank my OJ, had a wonderful conversation with the guy next to me, and arrived in Fairbanks.
The step out to the tarmac was a LOT different from Anchorage. It was currently -46 degrees and the city was covered with heavy ice fog. I walk to the airport, find my bags, and try to call a cab. No one would answer. I don't know if you all knew this or not, but cars do not like to function in -46 degree weather, so EVERYONE was calling cabs that evening. I had no idea what I was going to do. I really do not know anyone to pick me up. I could have asked a fellow teacher, but I left my faculty phone number list in my other pants ;-)

Luckily I saw a cab just sitting by the door, I stepped out and asked if he was waiting for anyone. He was available so I was happy =) The cab dropped me off at my apartment and I went inside to put away my stuff. I then went out to make sure my car would start. I get to "The Swamp Donkey" and discovered that, while I was gone, someone had stolen the extension cord I use to plug in my car!! I tried to start the car anyways...but it was no use. The next day, I was picked up by a fellow teacher to go to the store. I bought some food and a new extension cord, plugged in Mr. Donkey, and tried it after it sat for several hours...and still not luck. That was a week ago today and I still do not have a mode of transportation.

My vice principal has been giving me rides so I have not missed any school. There was, however, one night that I did not have a ride home, so I walked about two miles in -45 degree temps...I do not recommend doing that. My ears, toes, and fingers were fine. I made sure the little body parts susceptible to frostbite were well covered. I had good socks, gloves, and a wonderful new scarf...but my legs were not very well insulated and they HURT!!! It felt like I had razor blades circulating through the veins in my thighs...ouch.

Anyways...I have no car, but I am still happy. I have been fortunate enough to have friendly coworkers help me out...and if push comes to shove, I know that I could walk to and from school in -45 if I had better leg insulation, and that can easily be arranged. It is suppose to be ridiculously warm on Tuesday (the forecast says 18 above!!!!!) so I think I am just going to find a ride and buy a new battery, put it in on Tuesday, and hope to get "The Swamp Donkey" up and running.

I realize this is a VERY long rambling story. I hope it made sense =) Have a wonderful week and I will try to post more often!

Rock on,
~Mr. Lockwood

Circuit Bending...a new hobby and my first video blog post attempt =)

Hello everyone!! I leave for MN/WI in less than two days!!!!!!! I am excited =) So, I have discovered a new hobby to keep be busy these cold, long, Alaskan nights. That hobby is Circuit bending. Here is a video of my first attempt at it.


I accidentally call this "Pitch Bending" in the video. Technically that is what I am doing...but the hobby is called Circuit Bending. I hope you enjoy =)




Circuit Bending (click here for a great link) is a VERY cool hobby which involves finding old noise making toys/keyboards/games, ripping them apart, fiddling with the wires, and discovering the endless possibility of sounds you can create!! Basically, you just start poking around the inside of toys and find out what happens when you connect this to that. Sometimes you get nothing, sometimes you get awesomeness!! When you find an effect you like, you add a switch, maybe a potentiometer, and look for more awesomeness. This video is the product of about 15 hours of "playing around" with wires. After I made this video, I had some more ideas and updated my "bent" toy to make it even cooler. I will post another video of the new and improved noise maker after I get back to Alaska.

Total cost of this toy is about $15, ($2 for the toy from the thrift store and $10 -$12 in switches, wires, and other electronics...not including the cost of the soldering iron and Dremel) Radio Shack and the Thrift Store are my two new favorite locations!!!

Disclaimer...I highly recommend circuit bending to anyone and everyone. It is easy and fun; however, I must advise you to NOT attempt this on anything that plugs into the wall for power. Circuit bending is meant for low-voltage toys and games (anything that runs on 9 volt batteries or less.) Unless you are an experienced electrician (and even if you are), bending electronic devices that plug into the wall is to dangerous.

I'm still here =)

Hello everyone! Life is crazy this time of year. I have had two very successful concerts over the last two weeks. The jazz band, varsity band and concert band had a concert last Wednesday (12/3) and it was fantastic!!!! They did such a good job and the feedback from the parents was VERY positive. Choir and orchestra was last night (12/10) and that was also a blast. There were a few more things that could have gone better on the 10th, but over all it was great!!

I have a couple of pictures I would like to share with you that made me smile. First of all, you may remember that US senator Lisa Murkowski stopped by our "Rock-A-Thon" fund raiser...well, she send me this in the mail:

The senator also signed a few photos for some students. It was very nice!

The second picture was taken today. I am now officially a teacher because a student brought me an apple!!


Well...I have rehearsal tonight so I need to cut this post short. I am looking forward to seeing everyone in December. In less than two weeks I will be in Minnesota!!!

Rock on
~Mr. Lockwood

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone out there in "Blogging-Land" had a great Turkey Day! I had a blast hanging out with a few teachers and their families. Great food and some wonderful outdoor fun. It was a little chilly (-10) but we dressed warm. Today is much warmer (about 10 above) and I hope to get out and take some pictures. I am house-sitting this weekend, so I have a couple of girls to hang out with (Molly and Su-Su...the pets) I have been having a blast watching Marx Brother movies on a huge flat screen TV with NICE speakers.

Well, my first concert is in five days...so I have some work to do =) I'll try to post again on Sunday...but I may be pre-occupied with concert preparations.

Enjoy the rest of the Holiday weekend!

Rock on,
~Mr. Lockwood.

Murphy's Law holds true in Alaska!!!

Funny story. Today, I took the day off from school to get things done around town that can only be done during business hours, like: get an Alaskan Drivers License, get measured for a tux, get an oil change, look into emission testing for my car, and possibly get a bock heater put in The Swamp Donkey. I got out to the car at about 9:30, opened my door, turned the key...and nothing happened. My car wouldn't start. It got ridiculously cold last night (about -30) and my car did NOT enjoy it. I think it is funny that the day I wanted to go out and winterize my car was the very day that winter messed it up. After a few phone calls, I came to the conclusion that a tow was the only way I was getting anywhere, so I called up my assistant principal for suggestion on a good auto shop. he has been very knowledgeable and helpful in many situations...and this one is no different. I called to tell him my problem, and instead of suggesting a good shop, he tells me he is on his way to my apartment to help. We hook up "The Swamp Donkey" to some jumper cables and wait a few minutes for the frozen battery to take a charge. I get the car started up and I am off to run my errands. My assistant principal ROCKS!!!

I didn't get everything done I wanted to, but I did most of it. I was fitted for the tux I will be wearing on New Years Eve for Satan's wedding, I got an oil change, and I now have an Alaska State Driver's License. It is kinda funny...I get a good picture taken of me once every five years...and that is my DL pic. I hate every picture of me unless it is on a small piece of plastic that I keep in my wallet.


(I blurred out the information that people might be able to use for identity theft. I trust my readers, but not the other people who might swing by)

Well, I think I am going to go and take a nap before I have community band rehearsal.
Have a great week!
~Mr. Lockwood

Alaska never ceases to amaze me!

Tonight I saw something in the sky that was amazing. I have been told of lights that shoot straight up. I believe this is a type of Aurora, but I am not sure. I have been told that when it gets to a certain temperature, something happens where beams of light may be seen. I wish I was outside of city limits so I could have seen it better. I did have my camera this time, so you can see what I am talking about. If anyone out there knows what this is....I would love some more info.

(Edit: I asked around at school, and it turns out that these light pillars are just street lights reflecting off of ice crystals in the air...who knew that our industrialized lifestyle and mother nature herself could form a symbiotic relationship to create this inspiring nocturnal spectacle)





I hope people still read this blog so they can experience this phenomenon as well.

Have a great week!
~Mr. Lockwood

Alaska is a Winter Wonderland

The snow up here is beautiful!!! I'll just cut right to the chase and post the pictures =) It has been a while since I have been out shooting.


This is a view about 6 miles from my apartment. Fairbanks is somewhere under that fog:



The lack of wind allows everything to stay covered in snow. Everything is white and beautiful!!!:








I was actually pretty scared walking away from the car to take some of these shots for one very specific reason:

These moose tracks were right next to where I was shooting and I had no idea how fresh they were. Moose do actually kill people here in Fairbanks, so you always need to be careful. The advice I have been told is that if you are ever charged at by a moose, you should run to the nearest tree, stand behind it, and keep VERY still. Moose, apparently, have very bad eyes and are quite stupid...so if you hide behind a tree I guess they can't see you and then they forget what they were charging at.

Needless to say, a moose did not charge me down =)

School is going well. We are in the late stages of concert preparation. Dec. 3rd is right around the corner!! I hope everyone out there in blogging land is doing well.
Only 34 days, 21 hrs, 09 mins, 13 secs from this very moment until I am back in MN =)

Rock on,
~Mr. Lockwood

Bobb's Awesome Alaskan Halibut Chowder.

Ok, so I made myself some "get better soup" this evening because I am feeling a cold coming on, and the soup was AMAZING!!! I do not mean to sound egotistical, but I make great soup (as I found out tonight.) I was given about a pound of halibut a while ago and had no idea how I was going to cook it. When I started feeling a cold coming on, I though chowder sounded great. I looked around for some halibut chowder recipes, but they all had things in them I didn't like and left out the things I do like....so I took the basics of a chowder and made it my own. I thought I would share the recipe with you all. This is a perfect soup to warm you up on a cold winter night!
(warning...this is NOT a low fat/low cal soup.)

Alaskan Halibut Chowder:
Ingredients:

• About 1 lb. bacon
  
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes, chopped
  
• *2 jalapeño peppers, de-seeded and chopped
  
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cups water
• 1 can evaporated milk (I used 2%)
  
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 lb Halibut, skin and bones removed and cut up
• Instant Mashed Potato Flakes, to thicken
• Sour Cream and chopped chives, to garnish

Directions:
Cook bacon in a large pot; place on paper towels, crumble, and put off to the side. Save about 1/4 cup of the good stuff left in the pot to cook the veggies in. Saute vegetables in reserved drippings (I put in the potatoes first, then the onion, and finally the peppers so things wouldn't burn.) Add water and evaporated milk; let simmer for 20 minutes. Add cream and halibut let simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes. Add potato flakes to thicken, about 1/2 cup. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add crumbled bacon and serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives.

*I find the best way to de-seed jalapeños is to cut the top off (where the stem is) and then, over a trash can or garbage disposal, roll the pepper between your hands...as if you were making play-dough snakes. Go ahead and be kinda rough with them so you can loosen all of the stuff inside. Give the peppers a little slap and most of the seeds should just fall out...a few seeds are not bad. The majority of the heat in peppers comes from the seeds and those little rib things inside the pepper...removing most of them still adds great flavor and a little heat to the dish without over-powering it with spice.

Like I said, this soup was very tasty! I have the advantage of wonderful Alaskan Halibut caught in the wild, but I am sure any Halibut from your local fishmonger/grocery meat section will work great. Try to get it as fresh as you can. I thought of trying this with cod, but I am afraid that cod is too flaky. I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I did. The best part is, it makes a LOT of soup, so I have leftovers to last me a week!!

Take care everyone!
Rock on,
~Mr. Lockwood

I Love Halloween!!

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a great Halloween. Before I post some pictures of my epic costume, here is a quick shot the Alaskan snow:


This shot was taken about 30 miles up the Eliot Hwy. There is snow and hoarfrost on everything. Since there is little to no wind in this area, the snow accumulates on everything. Even the smallest tree branches stay white since the snow is not blown off by gusting winds. It is beautiful!

So now about Halloween:
On Wednesday, Randy Smith Middle School celebrated Halloween. Thursday and Friday were Parent-Teacher conferences, so we had to celebrate a few days early. A few weeks ago, I showed a video in class of The Blue Man Group and the kids LOVED it!! I decided that it would be fun to dress up as a member if the Blue Man Group and go the whole day without talking. It was a challenge but it was also a ton of fun.







(This picture was taken on my school computer, so the quality is not as good)

It was very difficult teaching five classes without saying a single word, but it was great. I conducted rehearsals with nothing more than a pre-written class agenda on the white board and non-verbal cues. It took me about an hour and a half to put on all of my makeup, but it was worth it. The kids and staff thought the costume was amazing!

One more thing. I have a webcam, so if anyone has a camera for their computer and Windows Live Messenger, look me up and we video chat. I have been talking to some friends back home and my sister and niece via the internet and it has been great not only talking to them, but seeing them! Modern technology never ceases to amaze me.

I hope you all have a great week!!!!
Rock on
~Mr. Lockwood