Sharry Miller

Gainful Unemployment

I am counting today as my first day of "gainful unemployment." I made up that phrase because I'm too young to retire, I am no longer working a regular job, and I have no intention of sitting around doing nothing of utility, whether to me or others. So, I am not retired, I am gainfully unemployed. Technically, my last day of work was December 19, 2017, but since we immediately went to Hawaii for Rowan's... Read more →

Fireweed 400 - Headwinds, Sidewinds, but No Tailwinds

It's been a week since the 2014 Fireweed 400, a series of 50-400 mile races and one non-race 2Day300K ride. Earlier this spring I'd decided to challenge myself by riding the last of those, what I keep calling the "tourist class" of the Fireweed: ~200 miles in two days. The first day is 110 miles from Sheep Mountain Lodge on the Glenn Highway to Tonsina Lodge on the Richardson Highway. The second day is about... Read more →

Happy Day

A plain white envelope with handwritten addresses. My name in black ink brought a little smile to my lips. Real mail, not bills or advertisements or junk, always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with a pleasurable tingle. Even better was seeing my friend Maureen's name in the return address. My hands were full of envelopes, but I was able to press the envelope between my fingertips, an action that... Read more →

It’s YOUR Potential

I’ve discovered an ultimate in multitasking: exercising my brain by watching Ted Talks while exercising my body on the treadmill. I love that the new treadmills at the Prince William Sound Community College fitness center give users the ability to not only access a variety of workouts, but also TV and the internet for their entertainment. The other day, as I huffed and puffed my way up a random variety of inclines at 3.8 mph,... Read more →

Compulsions

Complusion psychological force: a psychological and usually irrational force that makes somebody do something, often unwillingly. Synonyms: urge, impulse, desire, craving, force, need (Bing online dictionary) Have you ever felt a compulsion to do something? Come on, you know you have. You ate too much chocolate over Christmas, or stuffed yourself with turkey, or bought a new outfit you didn't really need. We all have times during which we can't seem to control ourselves and... Read more →

Happy Holidays!

As often happens, this holiday season has been a bit crazy. Between going to Wasilla to spend Christmas with family and having guests for the New Year, I decided the best I was going to be able to do was a mid-season blog post. I don't think I'm even going to manage to write a few words for this week's Visual Dare and Five Sentence Fiction challenges (the links, however, will take you to my... Read more →

Adventures in Writing

I'm leaving on another trip tomorrow afternoon, nowhere near as exotic as Bhutan, but perhaps more intimidating. I'm going to Homer for the Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference. I've never been to a writers' conference before, and I'm a little nervous. Realistically, there's nothing to be nervous about. The conference will consist primarily of panel discussions, workshops, and informal writing circles - I imagine it'll be like being back in school for a few days. However...however,... Read more →

Published!

It's not technically my first time, but in many ways it is. Several years ago, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News about the Exxon Valdez settlement issue. At the time, Exxon had requested the courts to dismiss the $5 billion they owed to fishermen and others, and I wrote a letter against it. Apparently it was a good letter, because the editor of Outdoor America, the magazine of the... Read more →

Honoring One's Spouse

I write this at the risk of offending a number of friends and acquaintances, but that is not my intention. This topic is just one I've been giving a lot of thought to over the last several months, and since this is my blog and therefore my space to write about whatever topic I choose, here I go. My hope is that others who are reading this and who have opinions of their own, either... Read more →

Pauper's Philanthropy

Okay, not by any stretch of the imagination can I be considered a pauper, but bear with me here. More than once, twice or twenty times have Thane and I said, "If we were millionaires, we'd support...." Fill in the blank with any number of worthy causes: not just feeding starving children in Africa, but helping support struggling artists here at home. We're no Rockefellers, however (hench the pauper reference). I've recently been introduced to... Read more →