02/06/2006: "I'm a "SUPA STA""

A lot of times when faculty are visiting campus for a job interview I'm asked to give candidates a little tour of our university library, tell them about our resources, maybe have a cup of tea and shoot the shit about Juneau etc. So, the head of the social sciences department brought an Econ candidate by my office and introduced me and the woman said "hey, are you the same Elise with the website?" (she's currently teaching in Ohio).

Turns out she found my FAQ About Living in Alaska by doing a search in Google on "moving to Juneau". Ironically, I wanted an "artist" website, and according to my web stats, aside from this blog which by *far* gets the most hist, my pages on living in Alaska are always among the highest rated search strings. For example, last month 3 of my top 20 search strings were:

452 hits: living in alaska
283 hits: life in alaska
134 hits: relocating to alaska

Out of 187,592 hits and 18,121 unique IPs for January, it's not a huge percentage, but still...compare that with the search terms I'm shooting for:

47 hits: alaskan art
26 hits: alaskan artists
18 hits: alaskan artist

Anyway, the candidate was a little younger than me seemed laid back and fun, she's a big Alias fan so we had that in common...not to mention she owns the same exact pair of Dock Martins as the ones I wear everday that I've owned for almost 12 years! .

Said she felt like she knew me. (Yah, I get that a lot!)
;)

Replies: 10 Comments

on Tuesday, February 7th, greg said

My god Elise, you're an Alaskan blogging PUNDIT now!! :laugh:

You should lobby for a commission from the AK state Tourism & Industry dept., for all you've done ... or at least get yer crazy Senator to build a billion dollar bridge to your house!

BTW how did teaching that "Astrology" class go? ;)

on Tuesday, February 7th, Elise said

Uh, astrology? You must be thinking of someone else...you have the winky face but I'm still not sure what you're referring to.

As for the "relocating to alaska" page, I've been fairly amazed at the number of people, strangers...sometimes even students, have come up to me to say hello and that their decision to move here was in some way influenced by my website. It makes me feel a little strange cuz a lot of people can't live here...I mean, move here and then get depressed and hate it and I don't want to think I had a part in that. I mean, Juneau is perfect for me but I'm already sort of an odd duck.

on Tuesday, February 7th, Kasia said

And the funny thing is that I came across your site, becuse I wanted to find out more about alska! :D And then I fell in love with your blog! :D

on Tuesday, February 7th, greg said

...or was it Astronomy? :confused: I coulda sworn ... *nevermind* :)

on Tuesday, February 7th, K said

Alaska, not alska :)

on Tuesday, February 7th, Elise said

Hey Kasia, I love how random the web is, you can end up finding things you completely weren't expecting. Anyway, I'm so happy that you did find me! If you're ever in Alaska you'll have to come stay at my place.

As for the class, now I remember. I was teaching 60 middle schoolers how to do research on "astronomy"...it was a nightmare, like herding cats.
:(

on Tuesday, February 7th, berry bowman connell said

I wish I had the guts to move to Alaska, even for a little while. It has always struck me that the beauty in a land so full of snow and glaciers couldn't be so easily destroyed as it is like here in Indiana....

on Tuesday, February 7th, Jackie said

E: (or should I say SS?) Well, at least people are finding your blog! I think I actually searched for "Alaskan artists" or something similar, and found you. So there!
Hey - a while back, did you say you had watched the movie "Modigliani"? I rented it over the weekend - and was going to do a mini-review on my blog - just wondering what others thought of it. If they've seen it.
That is just wild about the candidate who had read your blog before her trip! And that you two clicked like that! The Internet is an incredible machine, at that.
Anyhoo - happy stats gathering, you Star, you! ;)

on Tuesday, February 7th, Elise said

Hi Berry! Thanks for commenting, it's always cool to hear from new people, to have the chance to check out their sites, work etc.

As for Alaska, I suppose it takes guts to move anywhere, it's scary to start over somewhere new where you don't know anyone...people here are pretty serious about taking care of the land though, one law that I really like is that you can't put up any billboards anywhere, along the highway for example. That makes me crazy when I visit the lower 48, everything seems so cluttered. Anyway, if you ever do decide to make the leap, let me know if I can help out in any way.

And Jackie (you can call me SS if ya like) and actually, I mentioned that as a DVD in my library (were you the one who recommended it to me) he's my favorite aritst (along with Matisse) but actually when I wrote that I was in the process of ordering that one...so, I haven't actually seen it yet but I will see it in the next week or so, when I get a chance, and then I'll email you and let you know what I think...though I'm sure I'll love it because I just worship his paintings and even seeing them in a film would be worth the money to me.

And yes, I thought that was pretty amazing that she's found my site as well!
:blush:

on Tuesday, February 7th, Kasia said