Here's even more proof that the end is near for all museums everywhere: The director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, Aldona Jonaitis, has decided to retire. Not that this is the world's most important museum or anything (even though we personally think anything in Alaska is cooler than anywhere else), it fits well into our predictions on an earlier date that these couple of years (2007 and 2008) will be forever remembered as the age where museums stopped employing directors to run their shops, instead handing over all responsibility to docents, who are really sick of just standing there all day in the exhibits, making sure you don't get your greasy palms all over the expensive art. Okay, maybe that last part we made up, but still. Here's a bit:

Jonaitis hopes to write a book about Native American horse art. She will work as a museum consultant and is setting aside time for dog mushing with friend Ken Severin. A longtime culinary enthusiast, she's also planning to launch a small dessert catering company.

"I just would like to make things like wedding and party cakes and make people happy," she said. "Sweet things make people happy."

"Horse art"? "Dog mushing?" "Make people happy"?! You see, this is why Alaska is awesome.