Fairbanks and Denali (1990s)

Rodney with salmon (see below) My first project at JPL was the Alaska SAR Facility, a receiving station for radar data from Earth-orbiting satellites at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

JPL sent me to Fairbanks nine times in the 1990s. Because of my teaching schedule, almost all the trips were in the summer. What a deal!

On my first trip in 1993, I went a day early to do some sight-seeing. At a scenic overlook, a small dog came scampering up to me and wanted to jump in my rental car. No one else was there. The dog had tags with a phone number, and when I called, they had just realized the dog was missing. As a reward for returning the dog, they gave me a salmon they had caught the day before. I brought it to the B&B where I was staying, and we enjoyed it that night.

Alaska Range (Denali N.P.)
Fox with Arctic ground squirrel lunch (Denali N.P.) I extended my second trip in 1994 to spend two days in Denali National Park, where I saw bears and moose and Dall sheep and caribou (from a distance), marmots, foxes, and lots of mosquitoes.

I always enjoyed the Alaska Salmon Bake, with all-you-can-eat salmon and halibut. (It seems they've swapped out the halibut in favor of cod.)

Cincinnati (Spring 2012)

The Ohio River seen from the Overlook in Eden Park.

Link to more photos

I've graded Advanced Placement Computer Science exams for the Educational Testing Service for many years. I began in 1987, but was out for 1993-1997. It's 7 to 12 days of work (depending on my position) each year in late May / early June.

The APCS Reading has moved around during those years. First, Trenton State College (NJ), then Clemson University (SC), then back to Trenton (where the same school has a new name, The College of New Jersey), then to convention centers instead of college campuses, in Louisville (KY), and finally, the last few years, in Cincinnati (OH).

I haven't previously written these up as travel. For one thing, since work is 8 am to 5 pm every day including weekends, we don't get a lot of time to sightsee. Also, I only have a few photos from earlier years.

This year, since I'm still trying to lose weight, I did do a little hiking in central Cincinnati a few times after dinner, and, since it was my last APCS Reading, I did take a few photos. The link is above.

Katmai National Park (Summer 2000)

Bear in a stream feeding Kaflia Bay
In 2000, I won a bear-watching trip to Alaska in a sweepstakes that I didn't even know I had entered!

Somewhere, I had read about Bears magazine, and I bought a subscription for bear-loving Victor. I didn't know that they were having a sweepstakes where some new subscriber would win a bear-watching trip! I was shocked when I got the email telling me I had won. After calling them, I convinced myself that it wasn't some sort of scam.

The only bad part of it was that Victor -- the one who obsesses over bears, the one for whom I bought my subscription, the one indirectly responsible for my winning the trip -- couldn't join me. (Instead, in 2006, Victor and I went bear-watching in British Columbia. Update: Victor finally joined me for a repeat of this trip in 2019!) My friend Jerry, who was already planning to be in Alaska visiting his brother at the time of this trip, went along.

It was a fantastic trip. Photos and a map are here, and four of my video clips are on YouTube. And here is the text of the Bears magazine story about the trip.

On the first day, we glimpsed Timothy Treadwell at his tent in Hallo Bay. (Our guide knew who he was.) He walked away from his tent when he saw us. In 2003, he and his girlfriend were killed and partially eaten by bears at that same spot. Werner Herzog made a 2005 film,  Grizzly Man, about it all.

Autographs - Ian Whitcomb

Ian Whitcomb

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Edmund White

Edmund White

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - William Samelson

(Click the image to enlarge it.)
William Samelson was one of my Hebrew teachers at Temple Beth-El when I was a boy. His first novel, All Lie In Wait, is based on his personal history as a Holocaust survivor who was in Nazi labor and concentration camps at the age of 11. Click here for a 7-minute video interview with Dr. Samelson from 2007.

(Index of autographs)

Index to autographs

For a general introduction to my collection of author autographs, click here. For a note about the science fiction authors, click here. Here is a complete alphabetized link list:

• Peter Alsop
• Dennis Altman
• Don Bachardy
• Tim Barela
• Alison Bechdel
• A. Scott Berg
• Ann Bernath
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Ivy Bottini
• Ray Bradbury
• Judith Branzburg
• Roz Chast
• Kittredge Cherry
• Ted Chiang
• Sara Chisholm
• Sandra Cisneros
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Howard Cruse
• John Dean
• Samuel R. Delany
• Thomas Disch
• S.B. Divya
• Cory Doctorow (1)
• Cory Doctorow (2)
• R. James Doyle
• Nick Duretta
• Dave Eggers
• Harlan Ellison
• Lillian Faderman
• Philip José Farmer
• Nancy Freedman
• Erik Frydenborg
• Allen Ginsberg
• Gregoire
• Tim Greiving
• Paul Hawken
• Harry Hay
• Frank Herbert
• Michael Hiltzik
• David Hockney
• Andrew Hodges
• Christopher Isherwood
• Ken Kesey
• TJ Klune
• Don Knuth
• David Kopay
• Rachael Kuintzle
• David Leavitt
• Fritz Leiber
• Bruce Lemerise
• Audrey Lockwood
• Sandra Tsing Loh
• Gabi Lorino
• Édouard Louis
• Helen Macdonald
• Nancy MacLean
• Ashish Mahabal
• Emily St. John Mandel
• Jerry Mills
• Christine Morbett Moran
• Victor Moscoso
• Walter Mosley
• Larry Niven
• Deji Bryce Olukkotun
• Brad Parker
• John Rechy
• Catherine Rhodes
• Amanda Ross-Ho
• William Samelson
• John Sayles
• John Scalzi
• Sean (John Klamik)
• Gilbert Shelton (1)
• Gilbert Shelton (2)
• Robert Silverberg
• Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Cody Sisco
• Allic Sivaramakrishnan
• Rebecca Solnit
• Spain [Rodriguez]
• Norman Spinrad
• Theodore Sturgeon
• George and Brad Takei
• Stuart Timmons
• Justin Torres
• Daniel Vieyra
• A. E. Van Vogt
• Jen Wang
• Wil Wheaton
• Ian Whitcomb
• Edmund White
• Larry Wilde
• Robert Williams
• S. Clay Wilson
• Steve Wozniak
• Lawrence Wright
• Tim Wu
• Yes Men
• Luis Zapata
• Roger Zelazny

Autographs - Ray Bradbury

Besides enjoying his work, I've always admired Ray Bradbury for living in Los Angeles without driving a car. (See also my note on Frank Herbert.)

On the other hand, I'm with Cory Doctorow on Bradbury's silliness about others riffing on his titles

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Frank Herbert

I heard Frank Herbert speak at Rice University in 1972, while I was an undergraduate there. What I remember best about his talk was that he asked everyone to pledge never to buy a new internal combustion engine automobile. (Search for "combustion" on this web page, and you'll find the pledge.) I've always been known for my hatred of automobiles, and I jumped at the chance to take the pledge. (I've honored it, too, only buying used cars until 2006, when I bought my first new car, a hybrid Prius.)
(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. (Chip) Delany is one of my favorite writers. I own more books by him than by any other author. I've read his science fiction, his memoirs, his other non-fiction, his literary criticism, and his porn.

On a visit to New York City, I happened to spot a notice that he was going to be signing this new book at a Manhattan bookstore while I would still be in town. I bought the book, got his autograph, and asked if he ever visited Los Angeles. He basically said, "Not if I can help it."

(Index of autographs)