I am headed for Alaska on Thursday. I have been saving for this trip for 2 years. Because I am on a fixed income, it has involved eating a lot of noodle ramen. I would guess that I have consumed 2-300 servings of ramen in the last two years. At 15 cents a pop, every meal saves a nice chunk of change.

The inventor of ramen died this year. He envisioned a way to preserve noodles over long periods of time in order to feed hungry people in the Far East. I set aside the obituary from his death, but I misplaced it. I can't even remember his name. A sad thing, for the man did so much to ease human suffering and facilitate my Alaska trip.

The Alaska trip would not be thinkable without a free place to stay. I met Bill Emmert in the summer of 1998 in South Broad Ripple. He was managing the Melody Inn, then soon hit the road selling his art. Yossariun 'Yo' Gutwein worked as a barrista at Cornerstone Coffee (54th and College) during the summer of 2000. Bill and Yo stayed with me at my apartment. We would pile into Bill's van with his dog Kaiya to go to Cornerstone Coffee almost every day. We were s000 Scooby Doo! When we showed up at Cornerstone, Kaiya would come rumbling out of the van to greet everyone. Our friends would greet us with a joy like they hadn't seen us in a year. (We also threw a killer art show at my dump-of-an apartment.) What a summer!

Anyway, thanks to my friends' Alaskan crib and noodle ramen, I am looking forward to some Northern Exposure (my all-time favorite show-I will save that for another article.)