Fleeing Hurricane Irene, bound for Alaska and school on Monday

ALASKA-BOUND -- Now I'm on the return journey to Anchorage, after the madness that is escaping a family wedding.

I had to leave the day of the wedding to beat Hurricane Irene, and lo-and-behold, I made it out by the skin of my teeth. The outskirts of the storm rained to the ground as my plane landed in Chicago.

All I have to do when I return to Anchorage is pretty much everything. Find my classes, buy notebooks, and find out if buying textbooks is actually necessary for the courses I'm enrolled in. Nothing grinds my gears more than spending $80 on a book to be taught by PowerPoint alone!