Alaska

[Kyng]

Wife got orders to Fairbanks Alaska. Anyone ever lived up there? Pros, cons? Also my biggest fear is not having cable/internet. I gotta be able to watch the games.

 

[URGatorBait]

Wife got orders to Fairbanks Alaska. Anyone ever lived up there? Pros, cons? Also my biggest fear is not having cable/internet. I gotta be able to watch the games.

Never lived there but there are about 1000 Alaska tv shows now

It'll depend on where you end up. Some places are very up to date, others are very much disconnected.
Prepare for snow, and lots of it, and also at times, days with sun most of the day, and the opposite, darkness most of the day.

Do you know where you are supposed to end up?

 

[grengadgy]

 

[grengadgy]

I recently joined a Facebook group called "Military Veterans that served in Alaska".
Quite a few were stationed in Fairbanks and all seemed to enjoy their tours. It's a closed group but it seems anyone can join.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

A lot of ppl actually really enjoy Alaska. I have a buddy who's retiring next year and actually plans to move back there afterwards.

 

[GatorBart]

Fairbanks is the biggest city in north Alaska. I'm pretty sure they have cable and the internet.
Extreme weather. Hot in the summer, thunderstorms, lightning, fires, smoke, and BUGS!
Effin cold in the winter - snow, a lot of it.

 

[ufgator812]

This is a picture I found of Alaska, 9 months out of the year. Have fun:





























.

 

[crosscreekcooter]

Had a buddy from high school that decided to move to Anchorage after seeing The Life and Times of Grizzley Adams when he was in his twenties. He died there in 2013.

 

[heavychevy]

get a divorce

 

[Kyng]

Lol thanks for the replies. Before we moved to Virginia, we were at Malmstrom in Montana. So hopefully the transition will be easy.

 

[DocZaius]

Visited Alaska two years ago, in June. It was awesome. Didn't go as far north as Fairbanks, but I would imagine that it's pretty brutal in the winter. Wikipedia says:

Fairbanks is commonly known as America's coldest city.[25] Average winter low temperatures range from −15 to −25 °F (−26 to −32 °C), but extremes can range from −60 to −75 °F (−51 to −59 °C).[26] In summer, temperatures typically range between 70 and 50 °F (21 and 10 °C).[26] Between 1994 and 2009, Fairbanks recorded a temperature of 90 °F (32 °C).[27] The highest recorded temperature in Fairbanks was 99 °F (37 °C) on July 28, 1919; this is just 1 °F (0.6 °C) shy of the record high temperature for Alaska which is 100 °F (38 °C), recorded in Fort Yukon. The lowest was −66 °F (−54 °C) on January 14, 1934.[24] The warmest year in Fairbanks was 1981, when the average annual temperature was 32.0 °F (0.0 °C), while the coldest year was 1956 with an annual mean temperature of 21.3 °F (−5.9 °C).[28] Low temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) have been recorded in every month outside June through September. The record cold daily maximum is −58 °F (−50 °C) on January 18, 1906, and the record warm daily minimum is 76 °F (24 °C) on June 26, 1915; the only other occurrence of a 70 °F (21 °C) daily minimum was June 25, 2013 in the midst of a particularly warm summer.

Probably a fine place to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

Watch out for the bugs. In the more rural areas they have mosquitos there the size of ****ing hummingbirds!!!!!!!

 

[G 2]

My wife had a doctor in her residency who when he graduated took a job in Alaska making 50% more than anywhere else and a hefty signing bonus. I think he made it 1.5 years and had to pay back his bonus.

It's my favorite state to visit but I could never live there. Good luck.

 

[GatorBart]

My wife had a doctor in her residency who when he graduated took a job in Alaska making 50% more than anywhere else and a hefty signing bonus. I think he made it 1.5 years and had to pay back his bonus.

Joel Fleischman?

 

[DocZaius]

Bonus: after a year of residency, you are eligible to receive oil money from the state. Last year it was about $2,000.

http://www.reuters.com/article/alaska-payment-fund-idUSL1N11N03U20150917

 

[G 2]

Bonus: after a year of residency, you are eligible to receive oil money from the state. Last year it was about $2,000.

http://www.reuters.com/article/alaska-payment-fund-idUSL1N11N03U20150917

I think that disappeared due to low oil prices.

 

[DocZaius]

I think that disappeared due to low oil prices.

Look who didn't read the article.

edit: for the lazy, here's the part I'm referencing:

Alaska's Permanent Fund was established by a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 1976 requiring a portion of state oil revenues to be put into a savings account to be available for the distant future, when North Slope oil fields are tapped out.

The payment to citizens is derived from a formula averaging the Permanent Fund earnings over a five-year period.

Global crude oil prices collapsed in late 2014 as global production exceeded demand, but the price of crude has less of an impact on the annual payments than how well the fund manages its $51 billion portfolio.

The fund benefited in 2014 from a surging stock market as well as real estate and private equity investments, Burnett said.

Continued low crude oil prices this year have helped to keep the unemployment rate in the state at 6.7 percent as of July, higher than the national rate as oil companies curtail production operations.

The annual payout from the fund is credited with keeping many low-income Alaskan families out of poverty.

The Fund is designed so that when the oil fields run dry, future generations will have something to fall back on. The earnings distributed every year are dividends from the fund's investments.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Bonus: after a year of residency, you are eligible to receive oil money from the state. Last year it was about $2,000.

$2000 keeps some Alaskan families out of poverty? Isn't that the cost of two gallons of milk and a loaf of bread up there?

 

[chferg]

Look at doing an internship up there in a museum and after looking at the $$ to make it happen; no way..but good luck if you do