I live in a 900 square foot cabin in Fairbanks. It doesn’t quite qualify as a “cabin” per Fairbanks standards as it actually has running water and indoor plumbing. However, it’s made out of logs, so I’m calling it a cabin.

I also have electricity.
DSL, too.

“But Ken, why Alaska?”
If you’ve never been here, you wouldn’t understand. I can leave my house, drive (or ride) 50 miles and experience absolute isolation. I’ve been in areas where the animals don’t run away–because they’ve never seen a human being.

There’s very, very little crime.
I leave my keys in my truck when I go to the store.
I rarely lock my house.

People wave when you pass them on the street.
I walk into the post office and know the people there.

I can glance at a floatplane flying over the house and not only know who it is, but also know where he was that day. (And that goes for more than just one floatplane, too)

“Don’t you get cold?”
Duh. It’s 40 degrees below zero. Yes, it’s cold. But it’s all in what you get used to. I can’t imagine 95*F, with 90% humidity.
One can always put on more clothes.

Sure, there are drawbacks–I miss good sushi. The dating pool is small. (Very small….) Pretty much everything needs to be ordered via the internet. Shipping costs are expensive. There’s a huge redneck contingent that thinks natural resource management are “college boy words that don’t mean nuttin”

“ohmygod, 900 square feet? Seriously?”
Yes. Seriously. That’s pretty average here. I do know people that live in cabins that are less than 200 sq ft…… Can you live in a 12′x16′ house?

Overall, I’m incredibly happy with my life. I have very little stress. I don’t have the overwhelming urge to consume like a lot of other people. The acquisition of “stuff” is a never-ending snowball of misery.
Once you get the TV, then you need the DVD player, then you need the “good” cables, then you need the satellite dish, then you need better speakers, then you need a dedicated room, and then you need a new house….and so on. That breeds total unhappiness, stress, and a life of suffering.

Anyhow, that’s just my thought, and I know it doesn’t work for a lot of people. You think “Oh, if I can just get that new widget, _then_ I’ll be happy.”

But it never works…….

Very single. Very OK with that.
No children. Very OK with that, too. LMS is a pretty cool….1.5 year old kid that I enjoy throwing in the air on a semi-regular basis. It’s disapointing that her parents don’t get upset, thought. Then there’s the 3 year old that walked into my house, looked at my woodstove that’s half installed, and said “Kenny, why doesn’t the stove work?”