Tag Archives: alaska wildlife

9 Episodes in: Laugh Riot at “Instant Hotel,” Managing Expectations, and Alaskan Bald Eagles

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I don’t want to give anything away, which means I probably will, but episodes eight and nine of “Instant Hotel’s” Season 1 are seriously hilarious. You might have to watch from episode six to get a feel for the characters and allow the comedy to build, but I haven’t laughed that hard in a couple of months. (That’s your spoiler alert.)

Managing expectations in any endeavor is so important to customer and experience satisfaction. There are few companies that get it right. Disney, somehow, is able to deliver on sky-high expectations. Marvel movies have also done it consistently. DC movies weren’t able to satisfy expectations until movie goers started expecting bad movies and got decent ones. Otherwise, even in customer-oriented businesses, it’s a crap shoot. Under promise and over deliver should be your mantra, the problem is that people expect you to over deliver. If you just meet expectations, it isn’t good enough.

You need to be able to talk up your product, service or experience enough that people are interested in it and willing to take a chance on it, but not so much that people expect gold plated toilet seats and unicorns. It’s a fine line that requires honesty without bragging and still needs to feel positive.

(Seemingly unrelated detour, but stick with me. I’m not promising it will make sense, but it will be interesting.) It’s hard to see bald eagles at rest in the wild unless you know what you’re looking for. Part of the reason for this is because people expect it to be easy to spot a white head against a dark background. So, instead of looking for the heads, they look for the other parts of the eagle that blend into the background trying to see the full form of the bird.

When I moved to Alaska and went on my first camping trip on the Kenai during salmon season, the more experienced guy on the trip pointed at a tree and said, “Look at all those bald eagles.”

I looked at the evergreen tree and didn’t see a single eagle. I thought he was playing a joke on the cheechako (me). “Where?”

“In that tree.” He pointed to the same tree. “Do you see them?”

“No.” I shook my head.

My newbie friend leaned over and whispered, “Look for the golf balls.”

It was like a veil had been lifted. My jaw dropped. I uttered an exclamation of awe as the tree lit up with what looked like hundreds of bald eagles. From that moment on, I knew how to spot bald eagles in trees and could see them easily.

So, a couple years later when my mom came up to Juneau, I knew she would want to see bald eagles, and that seeing them could be problematic. There are a lot of bald eagles in Juneau, but they are less visible when the salmon aren’t running. There was one place where it was easy to find bald eagles, so I told my mom I was taking her to see a lot of them. However, the place where they hung out wasn’t going to be very majestic. It would stink if the wind was blowing inland, but there would be eagles there.

Properly prepared, we went to the city dump, and there were so many eagles. I was even able to tell my mom about the golf ball trick pointing to a nearby tree.

Mom had a great time looking at the eagles and laughing about how they weren’t so majestic when they were eating garbage. Had I told her we were going to a nutrient-enriched environment that acts as a sanctuary for the eagles when food is scarcer, her reaction to the dump may have been a but different. She would have been at least disappointed, even if she had fun.

When the “Instant Hotel” guests are overly critical at their hotel stays, they set themselves up for a downfall. If they have such high standards and can point out all the flaws of an instant hotel, their hotel must be immaculate and so much better. Don’t talk up your property or degrade others even if it really does deliver on what you think.’

Managing expectations is a key to success. It’s about being honest with yourself, your guests and your customers. When you can provide a little extra, you should, but don’t set the extra up as an expectation.

If you’d like to read more about Alaska, get the coloring book “There Are No Penguins in Alaska.”

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Animal Safety in Alaska: Moose in the Driveway

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As the manager for a larger organization in Alaska, I would sometimes get a strange call. For my team, I didn’t have problems if someone needed a day off or had to come in late as long as it wasn’t a habit. My employees never took advantage of this, probably because they were part-time and needed the money. They were also a good group. When I got this call, however, I did a double take.

“Um, hello, Shad.” I could tell who it was though he identified himself anyway. “Yeah, I’m going to be late coming into work. There’s a moose in my driveway.”

What could I say? Having a moose or bear in the driveway was a good reason not to come into work. Moose are unpredictable, and no one wants to antagonize a bear. So, I said the only thing I could, “Okay, well, when the moose is gone, come on in. I’ll leave an evening shift spot open for you.”

“Great. Thanks.” He couldn’t tell me when the moose would leave. I knew he needed his hours. This seemed like a good compromise. More importantly, no one was put in any danger in order to get to work.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard someone use a wildlife excuse. In fact, when I was an employee at a different organization, I had faced off with a moose in my yard and decided to call into work instead of hope the moose didn’t kick me or my car. I was new to Alaska, so when I talked to my boss, he told me it was better to stay at home rather than risk agitating the moose. I should stay home until the moose was gone. That was one of the best things about Alaska. People tried to take care of each other.

Fortunately, I never had to worry about facing a penguin in my driveway because there are no penguins in Alaska. I should know; I wrote the book. You can preorder the eBook from Amazon, or get a hard copy coloring book here on penguinate.com. If you want more stories, check out “Tales at an Alaskan Cabin” on Amazon.

Moose Safety in Alaska: Don’t Pet the Moose.

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I stepped out of my apartment door on the ground level and my breath misted as I bent down to pick up the Sunday paper. I stood up and about ten feet away from me was a moose. “Good morning, Mr. Moose,” I said and backed slowly into the apartment closing the door and practicing what I knew about moose safety habits.

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Get a printed proof of ‘There Are No Penguins in Alaska’

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You want a super exclusive version of “There Are No Penguins In Alaska”? Order in the next eight hours from my website, and I will send you a signed and numbered, limited edition printed proof. The number will be limited to however many people can get their order in within the next eight hours on Jan 17, 2019. That’s when I put my order in to the printer.

How Exclusive?

I already have 10 set aside. These coloring books feature all of the animals and drawings from Transcend Studio along with my words. There are black bears, grizzly bears and polar bears… But there are no penguins in Alaska. There are lots of animals, but there are no penguins in Alaska.

Before the Official Release

With 24 inside pages to color on A3 paper so that the book is roughly 8.5 by 11. There’s no better time to get this coloring book before its official release date. Once you have it, you can review at my website or on Amazon where it’s awaiting its release an eBook. Put your order in now because it expires soon.

‘There Are No Penguins in Alaska’ available for preorder

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In case you haven’t heard, “There Are No Penguins in Alaska,” and I wrote the book on it. Penguins, polar bears and Eskimos all live in colder climates, so many people come to Alaska expecting to see penguins! However, there are no penguins in Alaska.

If you would like to know what kinds of animals live in Alaska, my children’s story, featuring the drawings of Antonisa Scott and Oscar Feliz of Transcend Studio, talks about bears, sea life, birds and more while imploring the reader to remember that there are no penguins in Alaska. It’s available on Kindle for preorder and will be delivered Feb 28, 2019. You can preorder a hard copy coloring book here at penguinate.com!

Alaska is a beautiful country with wonderful summers and long, dark winters. To experience it fully, you really need to live there. If that doesn’t appeal to you now, after going through this coloring book, it may, especially if you have an irrational fear of flightless birds because there are no penguins in Alaska. Get your copy ordered today!