Crap, I'm Getting a Lot of Awesome Ideas

Ummm... so these past few days of surfing the Internet waiting for the day to be over has given me a lot of time to look at the opportunity to pursue a lot of my dreams. Since I don't want my family to freak out about my typical spontaneity and impulsiveness I'll just give you guys some hints with pictures:



Here is something that could be in my VERY NEAR future:




Not so near future:

And I just talked to my friend Ashley from back at Grand Valley. So, yeah...

The Prodigal Roommate Returns

I can't even begin to explain how nice it is to have a roommate again, especially Al. Even though it's only temporary, he's sleeping on the couch, and I have to wake up at 6:00 am to go to work, it still really brings back some of that youthful energy I had back in college (that doesn't mean I'm getting old now, it just means I'm more motivated to go out and do things after I get home from work).

Tuesday night a bunch of my friends out here (Al's old friends from college as well) decided to give him the proper Denver welcome by going out to the Park Tavern for some 2 for 1 drink specials and watch the Red Wings vs. Avs game. Even though the Wings lost, we had a long night of making Al taste different Colorado brews and trying to figure out how Ryan and I could have someone sign us into school on Thursday and Friday so we can start our ski trip earlier.

Last night I went for a 2k swim and then met up with Al at his aunt and uncle's house in Centennial (just south of Denver but still considered Denver metro area). His dad made us a phenomenal dinner (Bourbon glazed salmon, potatoes, asparagus, etc...) and Al hooked me up with some nasty ass beer (Little Kings).

Today is the last day before Christmas break, 2 exams to give, grade a bunch of benchmark exams, kick some ass at Trivia tomorrow and then enjoy the freshies until making the trip back to Michigan!!!

Sub-Arctic Weather

It was 18 below this morning - record breaking low for Denver. In fact, the seat of my car was actually frozen when I went to start it this morning.

This weekend was definitely awesome. Friday night I rode at Keystone for a few hours, met up with Ryan and a friend, then went up to Winter Park for the night. Saturday morning was welcomed with 6-7 inches of fresh powder and over 40 open trails. I was really pumped to get my skis back on and really rip down the mountain. We hit the slopes for about 3 hours before meeting with Kate, Rae, Sarah and Jeremy and then put in another 3 hours of intense tree and bump skiing.

Afterwards, I was supposed to head back to Denver for a Christmas party at my friend Ashley's, but Kate talked me into staying up to enjoy the 6-7 inches of predicted snow for Sunday morning. I figured out earlier this season that it's not very much fun to ski/ride hungover, so we decided to spend only two drinks worth of time at Coffee and Tea and just one drink at ski patrol party before calling it a night.

Sunday was definitely the hi-light of the entire weekend. We made it over to the mountain around 830 to get some breakfast and found my buddy Mike (Jesus) reading a book in Moffat Market. Mike has lived up at Winter Park for about 4 seasons now and knows almost every inch of the mountain - he's also the best back-country snowboarder I've ever met or seen. He rips through the trees faster than most skiers (which is very rare) and can ride bumps like it's his job. Apparently his class didn't make it up the mountain last night, so he had the entire day off to ride with us.

The three of us headed up the main lift and noticed that ski patrol had just opened up the Challenger Lift; giving us easy access to about 10 untouched trails. We made a b-line straight to the new snow and enjoyed first tracks in about 2 feet of powder down some of my favorite runs on the Mary Jane side of the mountain. We skied for about 3 hours on nothing but untracked trails before Kate and I had to head back over to the Winter Park side for a level 2 certification clinic.

Mary Jane - Winter Park is divided up into 4 different peaks: Winter Park, Parsenne Bowl, Mary Jane and Vasquez. The Mary Jane side is probably one of the most well-known peaks in the U.S. because of it's plethora of gnarly bump runs. It got its name from a lady named Mary Jane who used to sleep with the loggers on the mountain in exchange for plots of land. Eventually she owned majority of the mountain, hence its name.

Level 2 Certification - With ski and snowboard instructing, you can get nationally certified as a professional instructor by taking exams. Last year I completed my level 1 Certification which allows me to teach more advanced skiers (levels 4 and 5) and gives me a pretty hefty pay raise. Level 1 Certification is ridiculously easy to achieve as long as you are half-way decent at the sport. Level 2 is a completely different story. It involves a really intense on the snow skills test (you need to pretty much master skiing on bumps) and a movement analysis test on a paper. The movement analysis test encompasses what muscles make you do the most precise and minuscule movements while skiing. It's quite challenging and will unfortunately "gasp" require studying!

Now the benefits of achieving this is that Level 2 "certs" can teach any level of skier (level 7 and below), receive a larger raise and most importantly, the level 2 certification is equivalent to an international level 1 which would allow me to teach skiing in any country across the globe (France!!!!). Ski instructors overseas get paid up to 20 Euros an hours (about $30) and freaking live overseas of course. So I don't think I need to give any more details as to why this might interest me.

After the long day of skiing I met up with some friends at Coffee and Tea for a drink before heading down the mountains. I know I explained before that none of my international friends would be returning (to work) this season, but I've actually met quite a few really cool new employees. One dude that I met is actually from Gaylord Michigan and water skis all the time on Lake Otsego - what a small world.

Last but definitely not least - Al made it into Denver last night. I can't wait for break to start in 2 days!!!

Probability Looks Promising

This weekend has the potential of being awesome.

To start, I got in a killer pool workout this morning. Came into school at 7:30 for 4 hours of professional development before my kids begin their finals - and as a token of appreciation, got a huge bonus check from the principal!!!! HOLY SHIT I was so awestruck and almost put into tears. Never would have ever expected this. I was already blown away by the card signed by the administration, but a bonus!?!

Anyway, Keystone night riding tonight, meeting up with an old friend, skiing at Winter Park tomorrow and half-pipe finals at Copper, then "Ofer-mas" Christmas party on Saturday night and Al arrives on Sunday. I'm on cloud 9 right now - 3 hours til departure!

Little Marissa

I have a student in my class who started out this year hanging out with the wrong crowd and not doing anything classwork. She had a 22% last quarter and about 30 absences. About 2 weeks into the next quarter, she spoke with a counselor and myself and stated "I have been doing everything wrong. I don't know why I was doing what I was doing, but I want to do better. What can I do to bring my grades up."

Now since she basically learned absolutely nothing during the first quarter and math builds on itself, she had none of the previous knowledge necessary to complete the second quarter successfully. She knew this. She spent at least 2 hours every single day after school working to get caught up in JUST my class as well as an hour or 2 every week in the morning. She was failing all of her classes. Yesterday she showed me her updated grades and has about a 3.1 GPA excluding my class. I told her that her grade would not be accurate until she completed her two tests (she needs extra time to complete things) and turned in her notebook.

Today she came up and asked if she could see her final grade since everything is completely updated minus her final exam. She has a C in my class. I never saw a student's face light up as much hers did at that moment.

A Long Weekend

Last weekend provided me with a chance to take another little vacation, see some old friends and watch Sam graduate from college. I flew out extremely early on Friday morning and hung out with Carp for pretty much all of Friday. It was great to see him along with other friends that are still hanging around the west side of the state. I definitely planned on this weekend being a time of relaxation and maybe catching up on some lost time, but turned into a weekend of stress and no sleep.

Saturday we went out to breakfast before Sam walked and the eggs at Big Boy were definitely not cooked properly. I spent the remainder of the day trying not to throw-up until it finally overtook me around 6 o'clock that night. I spent the next 13 hours sleeping.

Sunday I felt fine when I woke up but still had absolutely no appetite. I grazed pretty much the entire day and just took it easy. Monday I flew out at 5:50am (terrible idea by the way) and still had no appetite. I forced myself to eat later on that day and struggled to keep it down. Once I got back to Denver I decided that I really needed sometime to recover mentally and physically. So I packed up my car, went to the chiropractor and drove up to the mountains for some night riding.

It was closed. For some reason Keystone only has weekly night skiing during the first few weeks of the season, then changes it to only weekends. So I basically drove 2 hours up the mountain to gear up and walk to the Gondola and hear "we close at 4." To make this trip not a complete waste, I met up with my friend Carly for a little while before making the trip back down the mountains.

The drive home was complete hell. A huge snowstorm rolled in and added about 30-45 minutes of driving to the return trip. I definitely should have stayed up in the mountains, called in sick(for safety reasons of course) for one day and spent all day today riding the pow .

Well here I am today, just finishing off the week. The students are using this entire week for review (which is good because I still have no appetite and am still feeling quite a bit under the weather).

Being the Student

So today I have a formal evaluation of teaching :) I'm actually really excited, I've worked here for a year now and this is the first time somebody will actually be sitting in on my classroom and giving me some feedback. I think this is one of the most important pieces of being an excellent educator, so wish me luck!

Last night was a blast, I really miss hanging out with Erica. I picked her up after work and we went over to watch a couple of my students' wrestling match. Unfortunately one of my favorites lost (but he was up against one of the top students in the state) but it was the first wrestling match I've ever been too - and it was pretty cool. Afterwards we went out and grabbed a drink and some food to catch up on the past year or so. Good times :)

On another note, I've rediscovered coffee. I can completely understand why so many teachers drink it. I have way too much energy right now and don't know what to do with it. I've already completely prepped myself for the entire school day....and the next three days to follow. Great, I'm on drugs.

It's snowing in Denver!!!!

The Return of the Hairy Buffalo

So I almost completely forgot that one of my really good friends from Grand Valley is going to be out in Denver this week training for her new job! Erica and I were on staff as R.A. together and I haven't seen her for like a year. She just moved from L.A. out to Arizona and for some reason has training in Denver. My last memory of when her and I hung out was her chugging majority of a Hairy Buffalo at a crappy bar in Grand Rapids and falling a sleep in her high heels. So I think tonight we'll take it a little easier and maybe just go get dinner.

Unfortunately I've been under the weather since Saturday or Sunday - which would explain why I felt so crappy at the end of snowboarding. I also decided to put in 90min of intense training on Monday which definitely put me on my ass for the night and all of yesterday. However, I do feel a little better today and will be taking it very easy the next couple of days so I can be close to 100% for this weekend.

Turkey Break

Thanksgiving break began last Tuesday and lasted until last night. I was so excited to get this much needed break and the chance to rip the powder for 4 or 5 days.

I left for the mountains Wednesday morning and rode Loveland all day and Keystone for a little bit at night (Keystone is the only major resort with night skiing out here). Afterwards I met up with my friend Samira (volunteer in my math class) and chilled at the bar waiting for her friend to get off work and give us a couch or floor to crash on - never happened.

So neither of us wanted to drive back down to Denver and then back up the next day to ride at Copper, so we thought it would be clever to just car camp. We found a dirt road along the side of one of the mountains and decided it was secluded enough. For those of you that forget, I drive a Wrangler so it was quite a feat to set-up camp inside of it. So I blasted the heat for about 30 minutes, lined the soft top with clothing for insulation, crawled in my sleeping bag, wrapped that in my comforter and laid my head on the wheel well and passed out immediately.

11 pm, Samantha calls and wakes me up. We kept the phone call quick because I wanted to be back a sleep before I realized how cold it was in the Jeep (I could definitely see my breath at this point). As I laid back to sleep, I could here Samira talking on the phone in her car (hopefully to her friend) and eventually passed back out.

4am - This is where the fun begins. I move constantly when I sleep so when I awoke, my sleeping bag was open, comforter on the floor and ice sickles hanging from my nose. Holy crap it was like 25 degrees!! So I put on another sweatshirt, situated my bed and somehow managed to pass back out for about an hour.

5am - Woke up and decided this was stupid and too damn cold, so I turned the car on and read the Onion for about an hour before a cop rolled up. Apparently we weren't breaking any laws so we actually just talked about snowboarding with him for about 10 minutes and he went on his way.

Thanksgiving I rode Copper mountain hard for about 5 hours. I can officially do a front-side 180 on my board and a mute grab :) Around 1pm we called it a day and I headed down to my friend Ashley's and had Thanksgiving at her house. I really appreciate this since Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and this was my first without seeing any of my friends from back home or any of my family.

Friday and Saturday I went back up to the mountain and stayed with my friend Carly B. The snow was ridiculous. Each day the mountain got at least 6 inches of snow, so I experienced my first powder days on a snowboard!!! Let me tell you that riding on powder is like night and day compared to a groomer. It felt just like slalom skiing.

So on another note, I've started to really get back into training. I spend at least 90 minutes a day doing a combination of swimming/running/biking. I think I hit around 30-35 miles on the road last week, 6 days in the pool and 2 days of biking (inside of course). I'm really excited for the next triathlon season and am about 90% sure I'm going to do the Grandma's Marathon in Minnesota (or maybe Wisconsin?) this March.

Other than that, I'm just finishing off the semester. This is our last normal week of school, then it's block days, half days, assessment days, etc... Two weeks til Al comes to visit and three more weeks til I return back to the mitten.

World Cup

Wednesday Ryan and I went to the U.S.A. v Guatemala qualifying game. IT FREAKING ROCKED!

We couldn't contain the excitement and left immediately after school to the game. We tailgated with some guys we met in the parking lot before, met up with Jonny at the gate then headed in. There were actually quite a few Guatemala fans and a ton of U.S. fans (which is quite surprising since soccer isn't that big over here). The U.S. has already qualified for the next round but Guatemala had to win in order to have any chance of winning. However, we still played really hard (since they were the fourth stringers) and ended up winning 2-0. Freddy Adu (19 years old) scored his first goal for the U.S. national team.

This game has totally re-motivated me to start saving up money for World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Ryan's already committed and I already know of two places we can stay for free. So anyone else that is seriously interested should inquire :) Definitely one of the joys of being a teacher - entire summer off to travel abroad.

Shreddin'

I decided to take the snowboard up for the weekend to mix it up a little bit. Friday night, Ryan Kate and I headed up to Copper Mountain and found some cheap little hotel in Frisco to crash in for like 15 bucks a piece.

Saturday we made it to the mountain fairly early and had an awesome day. The mountain was crazy packed, verifying the name of the only run open "White Ribbon of Death." However, the snow was still awesome and made it more of a challenge for me to get better on my board.

Apres ski - We met up with Kate's friend from high school (Arthur) and headed out to explore the night life of Vail. After a very interesting night of bar hopping - getting a ride home from a police officer to avoid the cab fee (seriously, we just simply asked him for a ride home) and avoiding an altercation with a guy due to me telling his girlfriend "to get off of my chair," we headed back to his ridiculously sweet house. Seriously, he got this house from another couple's divorce settlement which cut the price of the house down to about a third of what it was listed as. It has about 5 temperopedic (sp??) beds, a hot tub, and overlooks a national refuge on the side of the mountain. The best part of it all though, is that he is completely down to Earth and will make an excellent ski buddy this season.

Sunday I had Ryan drive me to the mountain on his way back down to Denver since Kate and Arthur take about 10 times longer to get ready (well specifically Kate does). I met up with another friend from Denver who came up for the day and rode for about 3-4 hours before the other two made it to the mountain.

I think I definitely hit a breaking point for snowboarding - I can officially "ride switch" (with my opposite foot forward) and feel completely comfortable on jumps (I can almost do a grab).

Wednesday Ryan Jonny Arthur and I are going to the U.S. World Cup Qualifying match in Denver. We got freaking sweet seats (with "Sam's Army") and this will be my first time seeing a soccer match of this caliber!

Happy Endings

So I don't know what happened today, but ALL my students brought their A game.

Geometry - My students are learning proofs which has proved to be a struggle for everyone that goes through West. I think it's really difficult because of the language barrier (they all speak English as a second language) and the fact that students aren't often asked to explain "why" or what they are doing. However, today we went through flow chart proofs and everything clicked. I asked the students to walk me through it and they were remembering all their conjectures (i.e. vertical angles, triangle conjectures, AIA and even CPCTC!!) Now I know this may not mean very much too anyone reading this except Aunt Sue, but just know that this is completely different than any other math high school students are expected to do.

Algebra - Finally the students grasped how to solve linear equations. I've been working with "undoing" equations and the distributive property for 2 weeks with little to no turnover - until today! I asked EVERY SINGLE STUDENT in the class at least 2 questions about solving equations and had them walk me through it. We had about 4 or 5 different ways (each of them came up with) to solve a single equation. You can call me a huge loser, but it seriously almost brings a tear to my eye thinking about it right now. I had about 5 teachable moments today (when students ask you a question that leads to a huge discussion)!!!

On another note, the students decided to protest against the dress code at our school (which is very strict) that involves wearing West High School t-shirts/sweatshirts. Now I came into school this morning with an email warning (Students are having a dress code protest, we don't know what we're going to do about it, so stay tuned). Here's how I handled it.

"Well it looks like quite a few of you have decided to protest the dress code, so here's how its going to work: I think its great that you guys are working together to accomplish something and make a statement, but you all must realize that consequences come from protesting. So here's what's going to happen, all of you not wearing proper dress code attire, move to the right corner of the room and be prepare yourself for you pop quiz. If you would like to not take this quiz, simply put your uniform shirt on."



Not more than 10 minutes later, one of the administrators walks in my room and in a stern voice "everyone not in dress code stand up and come with me to the auditorium!" The students who just put on their uniforms look up at me, laugh and say "thanks Mr. Baalerud." hahaha

Anyway, I can't wait for this weekend. I think we have a pretty good crew going into the mountains for some heavy (hopefully) shreddin'.

SNOW STORM IN DENVER!!!

Do you know how much snow the mountains must be getting!!!?? Niether do I, I guess I'll have to go find out

A Change of Pace

Something exciting may be happening.... if you want more information, talk to my parents or Aunt Sue :)

I'm not ready to put it in my blog yet, but this is a hint...

November Powder.. what???

Sunday Kate and I actually left early enough to make it to the mountain close to opening. We decided to go to Copper Mountain since they were getting "a foot and half of snow." Of course, this turned out to really be about 1.5". What I now realize, is that everyone that lives up in the mountains and especially the employees at ski resorts are way too optimistic. None-the-less, the mountain looked fairly empty and last time we had a pretty stellar time.


Not-so-much though. The U.S. ski team was practicing (initially I thought it would be cool) which caused everyone to funnel to one side of the run hoping to evade being plowed over by an alpine boarder or one of the racers going 40+ mph down the run. It was pretty sweet watching how perfect their form was...even on the ice. After about 2 hours of bulletproof (ice) suicide skiing on the "white ribbon of death," we decided to check out Breck.


HORRIBLE!!! Breck had one run open with no vert. and a million people. We did two runs there before we decided to bounce. However, we did get to enjoy some beer and lunch on the gondola ride up.


Our next and final option was A-Basin. So we left Breck, finished up my Pig-O-Beer (it's a keg shaped like a pig), got it refilled in Frisco and headed over to the mountain. When we arrived at A-Basin it started snowing like crazy!!! Not an intense blizzard, but a huge dump of big fluffy snowflakes. Needless to say, the next hour of skiing was amazing. Nothing less than crashing through 3-4 inches of fresh powder...in November!!!

So on a funny note, while Kate and I were walking to the lift at Copper Mountain there was a lady handing out free Nature Valley Bars. Now as we were walking there was a little girl (about 5 years old) walking akwardly in her ski boots to catch up with her mom who was about 20 yards ahead of her. As we took our Nature Valley bars, the lady looked at me, hands me another one and says "here's one for your little girl."

Definitely the first time I've ever been mistaken for a dad, haha.

A Visit from Dad and opening weekend

Fall break was relaxing and all around a great time. Dad flew in on Wednesday as planned and hung out with me for the majority of the week. We spent the first day running errands (I needed to get an oil change and do some other stuff that I normally don't have time for) and relaxing which was beneficial since getting used to the altitude takes a while. Friday we went up to Loveland Basin and got some good early season skiing in. The old man did really well for his first time out in 10 years (only 1 tip-over ha ha) and I'm starting to get pretty comfortable doing 180's and riding switch.

Sunday I took him off to the airport then headed back up the mountain to A-Basin to ski with Rae Kate and some friends. It was a little frustrating since only 1 lift was open and we had to wait in line about 15 minutes on average. However, things calmed down around 2pm and the snow became quite a bit better.

School's been going about the same as usual. I decided not to let all the little things that I consider less important bother me and just focus on teaching my students math - like I'm supposed to. I did decide to rearrange my classroom again. I want to see how well the students work when they're not in groups. This will definitely make my classroom easier to manage, but more work as far as helping with homework goes.

Okay so here's the really exciting part (not to take away from Fall Break at all) - We had Monday off (yesterday) because of Veteran's day which gave me a three day weekend :) So here's how it started:

Friday we had a staff vs. staff volleyball game against one of our rival schools (unfortunately this school wins at everything), so we felt as a staff we needed to make our school feel like winners and show our students some determination by kicking some ass. As many of you know, volleyball occupies majority of my summer team sport activities and I'm extremely competitive. So the first game was crap, the scorers messed up and ultimately cost us the game. It was 23-21 us and for some reason they randomly changed it to 20-20 and we ended up losing by one point. The next loss was even more frustrating because we decided that we would just rotate all the teachers in, so the starting line up sat on the bench for the entire game while the opposing game just played their best players non-stop. So the third game we decided to do the same and rocked them. The fourth game we went back to the old method and of course lost. Oh well, either way it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed spiking the ball into the faces of the rival school ;)

Afterwards we went out to a Mexican restaurant close by for some Margarita pitchers and authentic food, then Ryan and I went over to the Park Tavern to meet up with Jonny, Lauren and Kate.

Saturday was opening weekend for Copper, Breck and Keystone so Kate and I decided we would mount our skis and just rip the man-made snow for the weekend. We went to Copper on Saturday and had an awesome day. There were only 2 runs open, but the lift went up to 12,100 ft and had a pretty decent vertical. The resort was actually pretty empty and the snow was decent (awesome by Midwest standards).

We had a little dilemma afterwards - we couldn't stay with my friend that works at Copper Mountain. Our initial plan was to just find an incredibly cheap hotel in Frisco (city close by Copper) and crash their for the night, but still would have ran us $30 a piece. However, my friend Samira (she volunteers in my math class) was staying in Breck with some friends for the night in a huge hotel room. Saved!

So Samira's friend was putting on a huge benefit concert/auction/dinner/party for the mountain rescue team at a banquet hall. It was cost $20 and included dinner, raffle, prized and most importantly beer! So we met up with them and had an awesome night of bar hopping in Breck and random Obama chants.

I LOVE BRECKENRIDGE. I want to move there. It's definitely the coolest ski town I've been to. It looks kind of like downtown Rochester except surrounded by mountains and wilderness. I'm definitely going to be inquiring on some jobs in that area.

The next morning I woke up early, worked out, then Kate and I headed over to Keystone to meet up with Rae and company. Similar to the weekend before, the lift line (notice "line" is not plural) was horrendous. I felt like I was waiting to go on the Raptor at Cedar Point for its opening weekend. However, that eventually calmed down, we ditched Rae and had about 3 twenty minute long ski runs on excellent snow.

We decided not to drop any money that night on a hotel room since it would actually be cheaper to drive to Denver, sleep in our own beds and then drive back up.

Alright, well class is about to start but I will update later on Monday (yesterday). It deserves a post for itself.

Fall Break...finally here

Fall break starts tomorrow - what a relief.

I realized why everything has been dragging - tomorrow will be our first break. I didn't realize that 2 months of work with no break could be so taxing...

Anyway, last weekend was pretty sweet. Winter Park employee orientation on Saturday was awesome and pumped me up (again) for ski season. Apparently they're doing all sorts of neat stuff at Winter Park this year. They've opened up 11 new businesses on the mountain (restaurants, ski shops, etc) - right at the resort, built two huge new areas to hangout, and a freaking cabriolet!

Cabriolet - open-aired gondola

The head honchos decided that while the day skiers are great, the resort would make a lot more money if they catered to the destination skiers as well. So the resort is actually going to look a lot more like Steamboat and Vail. Also, they've also built a pretty gnarly pond that should be ready for ice skating by January. Seriously, why do I not live up there?

On that note, I'm once again looking for jobs up in the mountains. As much as I love my staff down here, I think I would be able to accomplish all my goals and feel more content in one of the resort towns. More updates on that to come....

After orientation, some friends and I went to go watch the soap box derby at Red Rocks but apparently it was too crowded and they stopped letting people in by the time we showed up. No problem though, we drove up to Evergreen (pretty deep in the foothills) and played Frisbee golf.

Later that night, Rae and I went to an 80's party (my favorite) til about 4am (hate my life). However, I met a lot of people and still had an awesome time.

I'm really excited for the old man to fly into town tomorrow. We're planning on heading up to the mountains on Friday for skiing at A-Basin or Loveland and probably relaxing on Saturday. Can't wait!!

On another note, I wanted to thank you all (family members especially) for their feel-good-emails/comments when I leave really depressing facebook posts. You guys are the best!

A Bright Future

DUDE

So here is what's happening starting next week.

1. October 28 - Fall break begins next Tuesday and the old man is coming out to visit with me until Sunday.
2. November 8 - Winter Park and Copper Mountain's opening day
3. November 10 - No school (aka ski vacation)
4. November 25 - Thanksgiving Break with possibility of a Eugene and Ryan Howard sighting... maybe even a Sam sighting???? (aka ski vacation)
5. December 18 - xmas break starts (aka long ski vacation)
6. December 18 (again because it is worth noting) - Al (roommate) is definitely coming out to shred the nar for a full week
7. December 22 - Road trip back home to Detroit for xmas with the family
8. January 1 - Deener and her lover are coming to rip the pow and the high possibility of Samantha moving to God's country (aka snowboard vacation + future even more exciting ski trips)

Is this anything less than Epic??? I think not :) :) :)

Transitioning

In general things have been really stressful. My last block class is extremely challenging, the administration doesn't seem to be giving us the support we need (to be put very lightly) and I have no time because of soccer.



So let's rewind quite a bit since I have not updated since....September??

France trip - My administration told me I could not do it because of "too much liability." Before my administration even looked at the document or asked me to explain anything they said "it's not going to happen because our students can't afford it." This is so frustrating because they're assuming that since the students won't be able to come up with the money and there's liability for traveling (which is obvious for traveling anywhere) that my students should not even be given this opportunity. Regardless of the fact that this program has absolutely nothing to do with West High School. The school is not sponsoring it or being held accountable for anything. It's solely the company i'm going through and myself. Our students miss out on so many opportunities because they're automatically stereotyped with the "bad apples." Actually nevermind, they don't miss out. They aren't given the opportunity at all.

Soccer - The guys really came a long way from the beginning but at the end it just came down to them not wanting to listen and doing their own thing on the field. Unfortunately this was much more severe with the Varsity game and they ended up missing the playoffs because they lost their last game. However, I did really enjoy watching the guys grow as athletes.

Transition - What I mean by transitioning is moving from the stressful chaotic beginning of this year to a more a relaxed and healthy mentality. As the Aspen trees all change to a vibrant gold and the leaves begin to fall, that crisp Winter air from the mountains keeps inching closer. When I ski or ride, everything else in life just doesn't matter. It's the most relaxed I can possibly be. Just knowing that some resorts are open along with the end of soccer season (aka 2.5 more free hours each day) and being more organized, I already feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Sam - Well she's been plagued with another injury so she decided (on a whim) to come out and visit for a week to get away. It was definitely a great week for the both us. It was awesome hanging out with her for more than 2 consecutive days for the first time since.... May of 2007? With me moving all over the place, cross and track seasons, school and work, it's been quite difficult. Anyway, she managed to get in some stellar bike rides and pool workouts at altitude while I was at work and got to enjoy my infinitely pleasurable company afterwards. We even got the chance to drive up to Breckenridge (beautifully mountain city that I'm trying to get a teaching job in) and Copper Mountain to visit with Sam's old roommate (Carly aka Bonesaw). It even snowed while we were up there!!!

Sam left Wednesday of the following week and I flew back to Michigan that Friday and got to enjoy another weekend with her and my old roomies. Friday we went out to the bar, Saturday Sam and I went rock climbing, tailgating, then to my friend Tank's house; Sunday we drove back to Hartland to do birthdays with her family and finally to Chicago so I could make it back to work. All in all, pretty stellar.

Last week I was barely in the classroom since I had trainings to go to all week (which usually means my classroom is a disaster when I return). Needlessly to say, it was a pretty low key and stress free (work wise) week. To top it off, Bonesaw came down to Denver to visit on Saturday night, then we went snowboarding all day at Loveland!!! Ski season is finally here!!

I actually have a lot more exciting news to share about my Winter plans, so stay tuned for another update.

Stress

been really busy lately and incredibly stressed. However I do have some pretty cool updates. Don't worry, I should find some time to update this guy in the next couple of days.

Pushing through

So this last week or so has been quite busy and due to a single weeknight of fun, I was sick for about 3 days.

Wednesday last week I got a call from my cousin Julie who just so happened to be in Denver on a business trip. So I met up with her and had a few drinks and did not end up returning home until about 3:00 am. Oh wait, I didn't return home because somebody stole my keys off the sideline at my soccer game that day, sweet. So I actually ended up sleeping on Rae's couch. Luckily, the package with my spare car key that my grandparents sent arrived in Denver on Monday. However, it went to my old address. Thus I had to borrow a friend's car, drive to the old pad, get the box with my car key and then head back up to school before I could drive my car anywhere. Thank God that box finally arrived...

The next morning I woke up completely congested and with the worst headache in the world. Needless to say, it was a rough day at work (luckily it was a late start and we had Friday off). So I basically spent Thursday through Saturday watching movies and popping Zinc supplements to kick the cold.

Sunday I felt awesome so I went for a short 6-7 mile run and put in about 30 miles on the bike. I took it up to the shop and got some modifications done on it, so I can really cruise! I also received THREE packages on Saturday (bike equipment from the family, car keys/phone charger from grand parents, and a box of cookies and muffins from Sam)!!! It was like Christmas :)

So things that are happening right now and the upcoming future:

Currently I am trying to get a group together for a trip to France during Spring Break. I have A TON of potentials and I get to go for free as a group leader if I get 6 students (or adults) from anywhere to partake. If I have 10 students sign-up and pay the initial fee by Oct. 1, I get to go to an orientation in Paris for a weekend!!!! So tomorrow I have the big parent meeting, so keep your fingers crossed.

October 10 - I'm flying into Chicago and riding with my friend JP back to Grand Valley to hangout with Sam and go to the homecoming football game. I'm pumped to head back to my Alma mater and see some old friends.

Last week in October - It's been confirmed, the old man is flying out to Denver for a weekend of Skiing and intense bar-hopping (haha just playing). A-Basin and Loveland should be open for the season and I'm just excited to have somebody come out and see me (especially from my family).

Last but not least, everything back at school and life is starting to settle down quite a bit. I'm beginning to find much more free time as I get into a routine at school and have severely cut-down on my training (I took about 1 week completely off). But I'm starting to pick back up on the training and just in a better mood that fall is finally starting to set-in.

New Friends

I was quite happy with the end of last week. Three soccer games and shuffling students to different classes is quite exhausting. However, this weekend help me put all that behind me. Saturday morning I woke up and had to work (professional development at 8am), which was not too big of a deal since I get paid for it. However, Friday night's Edward 40 hands definitely made it quite a challenge to roll out of bed. School is West for me, so every morning I get to enjoy the beautiful view of the mountains as I head to work. As it turned out, early Saturday morning Colorado got its first major dump. The mountains were covered with snow instead of the usual brown dirt. I cannot wait to strap on my snowboard!

The professional development (as I eluded to before) was extremely painful due to my hangover, but extremely useful. I completed majority of my planning for Chapters 2 and 3 of my Algebra class, which occupies about a month of the school year :) Finally, I'm starting to catch up! Afterwards I took a much needed nap then headed over to my friend Ashley's for a little get together.

Sunday afternoon, Jonny, Ryan and I met up with Ashley and some friends (whom I met at Saturday night's party) to play some pick-up soccer. What a blast, I cannot explain enough times how much I miss playing. Ashley's friend Ofer (sp?) also gave me some information on some co-ed leagues around the area. Looks like I'll be putting a team together to help me keep in shape during my off season :) To top it off, a group of people came over after the game and invited to play Ultimate Frisbee with them. I love how everyone out here is so friendly and active. It makes it really easy to make friends and never be bored. Speaking of, I have been meeting quite a lot of people in the Denver area these past weeks (runners and triathletes at Ashley's, more teachers at the PD, friends of friends, etc).

Now that I'm getting caught up with school, I'm starting to find more time to enjoy life.

Back to Reality

Well I was definitely on a runner's high for about two or three days and was rudely awakened several days later to the stress and lack of support I'm feeling at work. I'm not going to go into much detail (since everyone can read this), but these last few weeks have been quite challenging and be elevating my levels of anxiety.

However, I do have another race coming up at the end of September to close out the triathlon season and soccer coaching to keep myself grounded. The JV team is 0-3 right now but with a lot of potential. Many of these guys have never REALLY played soccer before and need to learn basic skills (shooting, passing, trapping, etc..). I feel if our guys learn to finish and control the ball more, we will be take down the majority of the teams we play. All of the guys work hard and are respectful (minus a few which sat almost all of yesterday's game to make my point clear). And they're awesome. I love just hanging out with them and helping them grow as athletes. It helps me forget any of the stress that dampens my day.

As far as the race goes, it's a 750m pool swim, 14.3 mi on the bike and a 5k run. I've been really working on my transitions and have somehow managed to squeeze decent training into my life. I feel for all of you that wake up at 5am now. Below are the elevation maps of the bike followed by the run - quite intense!!!

But other than that, the harsh reality is... sometimes people forget to appreciate things that other people do for them. That pretty much explains everything.

Officially a Triathlete

September 6, 2008

17th place

4th age group

http://www.myentryfee.com/results/RaceList.aspx?target=84

My first Triathlon was awesome and a really good learning experience. So let me break it down.

The Swim - This was definitely the most insane and intense part of the race. The swim was in a reservoir and began at 8am; it was 49 degrees.

However, the wetsuit made it feel warmer in the water than out and provided a lot of buoyancy (and made me look sweet as you can see below).

So everyone in my wave (50 or so people) get in the water about waist deep and take off at the sound of the gun. Then for the next 5 minutes the water is complete calamity. Basically you're swimming blind towards bright pink buoys with at least 5 or 6 people frantically splashing around you. I just remember feeling a body go underneath me, feeling someones hands repetitively hit my feet and being pincered by two other bodies. It was awesome but very different. Every couple of minutes it's imperative to peak out of the water and redirect yourself towards the buoy. I felt like I only diverted off course a few times during the swim and posted a half mile swim split of 12:26!!!! That's almost 3 minutes faster than my best 1/2 mile time.

(This is where the swim took place)

Rank for the swim: 48th

The Bike - The bike was definitely the most difficult part for me. I did fine during the transition (had no problem getting the wetsuit off) but it took about 4 miles of biking (1/3 of the leg) to loosen up. The bike was set-up as a 4 mile loop on the road that we had to complete 3 times. During that horrendous first lap, I was passed by a pack of 4 or 5 people. I tried to hang with them but couldn't do it (I think my tires were a little deflated as well). During the next two laps I loosened up and really started to regain what I had lost. I think I caught about 3 people during the next few laps but only one of them being from the initial pack.

Rank for the bike: 23rd

The Run - I had no problems during the run transition but felt really sluggish for the first mile of the of the 5k (as I expected). I did end up passing the intial group of riders that blew by me during the first lap of the bike. After I picked off those runners, my legs really loosened up and I made my way to the 2 mile mark. Since the run was an out and back, I had a good idea of where the rest of my competition was and knew that I could definitely pick them off before the end. However, the finish came way too quick (i'm not used to running such a short race and I actually felt way too good as I finished) and I only ended up passing a few people as I turned at the halfway point. However, I did end up posting an 18:05 (5:50 pace per mile) during the run which wasn't too bad, but definitely slower than I was capable of.

Rank for the run: 8th

So my overall time was a 1:08:27 which was 2 minutes under what I projected myself. The most frustrating part was, I could've easily cut a minute and half off my transition times and placed second for my age group. However, I'm still very content with my results and had a blast racing. I can't wait to do my next one and really take my training to the next level after ski season.

All in all it was a great learning experience. Things that I will/could've done differently:

1.) Learn how to transition to and from the bike by leaving my shoes attached

(This is the transition area)

2.) Make sure bike tires are pumped properly

3.) Run harder during short distances

4.) Not change into bike clothing (ie bike shirt) from swim.

5.) Get better on the swim

I think if I do these things, I will see drastic improvements.

On another note, I came back from my Tri and found a letter in the mail from Cullen (gas money from GLR), and this was also included.

Thank you very much David Cullen. You crack me up.

Race Jitters

Wow, I'm so excited for the race tomorrow. Somehow I've managed to stay fairly focused at school and come up with some pretty good lesson plans for the students. However, I can't stop thinking about my first Tri tomorrow.

However, my training has been nothing close to stellar this week. With soccer games, meeting, practice, teaching, etc.. I've logged in a total of 14 miles running, 2k swimming and 12 miles on the bike. Earlier this week I've definitely felt like I've been coming down with a cold, so I sacrificed training for sleep and relaxation to successively (so far) fend it off. And on top of that, the weather broke. It is officially Fall. I swear to God I actually saw some snow flurries during lunch today....great! That swim at 8am tomorrow is going be like stepping into an ice bath. Thus, I'm going to have to break down and buy a horribly expensive wetsuit to thwart off hypothermia and pulled muscles.

But...I have so much adrenalin right now that none of that even matters. I've decided to cut practice down to one hour today so I can get my race packet early and prep for the big day. I know there's a million other things to write about right now, but this is all that's on my mind.

Well, the snow flurries definitely got me pumped for ski season. I can't wait to take out the new board and tear up some fresh Fall powder.

ONLY A MATTER OF WEEKS BEFORE THOSE MOUNTAINS TURN FROM BROWN TO WHITE!!!

Enjoying a little R and R

So this weekend has actually been pretty phenomenal thus far.  After practice on Friday, I headed home to drop off the LOADS of papers I had to grade, then headed over to Rae's house to play some Texas Hold Em'.  This was exactly what I needed, just a chill night - drinking some wine and rocking out to Alice in Chains.  And to top it off, I ended up getting some really good cards on the river and won!  Normally this would be awesome, except I've given up "partying" until after my race next weekend and won free drinks from everyone at the table.  But we just ended up going down the street to the Park Tavern and I behaved.

Saturday morning I woke up early, cleaned my apartment and headed over to Sniagrab ("Bargains" spelled backwards).  This is one of the many things that is so amazing about this state.  Every year sports authority has this enormous sale where they sell all the left over ski/snowboard equipment from the previous season.  THERE IS SO MUCH LEFTOVER GEAR, more than I could've fathomed.  It opened at 8am on Saturday and was packed with people.  All the radio stations in the area were there and all the Colorado ski resorts had reps giving away lift tickets and promo items.  It was pretty awesome, besides all the amazing deals (everything is 50-70% off) it was just cool to hangout with all the skiers and riders that were already getting anxious for the upcoming season.

So my purpose for going up here was to get some boots and bindings for my new board I bought last season.  I ended up getting some sweet Flo bindings and some Burton boots (pictures below) and of course I bought another beeny (you can never have enough).  Check out the pictures below.  As I walked out, one of the bag checkers notified me that I spent enough money to receive a free lift ticket to Loveland (one of the first resorts to open) and a shit ton of coupons to A-Basin (the other resort that opens very early into the season).  So my first experience at Sniagrab was pretty epic.

Later on I met up with Andy Duemling (one of my buddies from GV) who had been hanging out with some family up in the mountains.  So we went and checked out The Taste of Denver and bar-hopped until about 2 a.m. with Ashley.  It was pretty awesome catching up with Andy and just talking about our future in the next couple years.  It's exciting to hear about so many people thinking of moving out here in the next few years (Goat, Carly, Duemling, Sam). I like the idea of my friends having the same experiences I have in the move to God's country :)

Sunday was a pretty low key day for me.  I just chilled and got all my papers graded, watched a couple of movies, cleaned and prepped for the following week.  I took took a couple of breaks: ran back up to Sniagrab and picked up some sick bindings for Samantha, went running and found a stray puppy and did a little grocery shopping.

So that about sums up my exciting weekend.  I'm heading over to a party later on tonight and just found The Sword in the Stone.  Can't get much better than that eh?

Olay Olay Olay Olay

So the Varsity soccer team won it's first game yesterday 9-0!!! Granted the team we played wasn't very good, but I still thought our guys played fairly well. It definitely brought back old memories terrible referees, adrenalin rushes as you pound a shot into the back of the net, watching the opponent go flying through the air after a perfectly timed tackle and the sweet taste of victory.

Back at school, pretty much all of the teachers are extremely stressed and frustrated. Everyone for the most part feels like their voice is not being heard and not enough is being done about the overflow of students in core classes. Supposedly everything will be balanced out by September 5th. However, that will make things tricky considering the students will have already been in one class for 3 weeks and then will be expected to switch to a possibly completely different class environment and method of teaching. More to come on that..

My training has been going very well this week. I did some reading on the race for next weekend and definitely felt a little bit of the race jitters. I'm seriously pumped for this. This morning I woke up at 5 and biked to the YMCA, did 1000m swim then immediately hopped back on my bike for 12 miles to school. I felt amazing in the pool and on the bike afterwards. I think I finally got back into swim shape. I just need to keep it up for this next week.

I'm really looking forward to relaxing this long weekend. Although last year's events were definitely exciting (getting the boat stuck on the side of house, pulling out the emergency bottle of tequila to erase any feelings of guilt, watching Aunt T fall into the livewell, etc..), I really just want to focus on training, kick it with Duemling on Saturday (he's in town), bbq all day Monday, and most importantly - grade a million papers and prep for the next few weeks of school. If everything goes well this weekend, this should be exactly what I need.

GOOD NEWS!!!

Alright so I gave the random rant about why I was stressed last week. So now I'll provide you with a little more insight and then you'll understand the good news.

So last year we cut 9 teachers at West High School because Denver Public projected our school to be at less than 850 students. Now by October 1 last year, West had 1100 students. So why they projected that is beyond me. Anyway, West High School has been under the magnifying glass for the last few years because our students' CSAP (MEAP for Colorado) scores were terrible and falling and the graduation rate is extremely low. Thus DPS was inquiring to move a charter or alternative school into the building (which means everyone at West loses their jobs and all the students must go elsewhere). So our debate was that the CSAP scores stabilized and the graduation rate was increasing. Plus there is a large population of students attending.

Anyhoo, so as the first day of school (August 18) we had 650 students enrolled at West total. Now for you readers that are used to the suburbs and non-hispanic population, this isn't really that big of a deal for us. For some reason, the population out here decides to enroll their students weeks after the school year starts. I'm not really sure why, but that's just how things are done. Anway, so September 7 is the deadline as far as DPS is concerned. If we reach 850+ students, then our school gets a huge grant that will allow us to hire more teachers. MORE TEACHERS = LESS STUDENTS PER CLASS. If we have below that amount, we would have to lay off 2 more teachers. So you can all probably guess what the good news is... As of 5 minutes ago we have 848 students enrolled, hurray!!! Maybe my classes can be cut-down to below 30???

DETOX

So I had a pretty productive weekend which was nice after last week's calamity. I actually got quite a bit a accomplished.

Saturday morning I didn't end up running that 10k (which was a good thing, my legs felt terrible on Friday). However, I did manage to get a 6 mile night run in on Friday and about 70 mile bike ride on Saturday, woo hoo!

I woke up and decided to go on about a 2 hour bike ride, but after I finished a loop around the Cherry Creek reservoir (about 55 min), I thought it'd be pretty sweet to ride to Red Rocks. When I arrived I still felt pretty sweet so I biked up the foothills to Lair of the Bear (see post from June) and got to bomb down one of the mountain roads. It was awesome, it gave me that rush I get when I go skiing. The speed limit on the road is like 25-35mph for cars, which is easily surpassed on the bike. That night was pretty uneventful, just chilled and watched the men's marathon over a glass of wine (haha so sophisticated). Here's the map of my ride(sorry for the terrible quality):

Sunday I was supposed to meet up with Ashley about 3-4 miles into her run. However, I had some trouble finding our meeting point and eventually had to ask for directions. The security guard told me to go to a nearby park where "a bunch of trails meet." So I parked my car and asked a lady who was walking 5 dogs where the High Line Trails was. She said that we were on it. Now this is a little odd because it looked like a sidewalk and High Line is a large dirt trail. Whatever, I took her word for it and tried it out. Of course, it was just a little loop that went around a playground and soccer field. So I started running in the direction I thought the trail was in and ended up going through the Denver Tech Center for about 30-40 min. Finally I found a park with a map that showed where the trail was. So 50 min had gone by of my 14 mile run and I had just found the trail. So I went about 5 min down the trail (random direction) and actually ran into Ashley, SWEET! I ended up finishing the run with some pretty good splits (sub 7), took Ashley home (she had done 18 miles and if she didn't run into me would've ended up doing about 20).

After the run I turned in a decent swim at the YMCA and just ran some errands the rest of the day. I think i'm going to pick up another job at the Runner's Roost to try and fund my triathlon training. It'd be a sweet place to work (all runners with athletes as my customers) and would definitely help me network with some sweet athletes (and get better). I talked to the manager yesterday and I would only need to work weekends. I'll keep everyone updated on how that goes.

That night I went out to dinner at an authentic mexican restaurant and got my meal for $3 because it was happy hour! I was craving mexican food all week, so a pretty good end to it all.

This week may be pretty crazy. The staff has been briefed about all these different lockdowns and procedures we might have to go through if there are protests near the school. West is located about 1 mile from the capital building and DNC is here. Since that's considered a matter of national security, "we may have to go under lockdown and even evacuate the school." My guess is none of this is going to happen, but some of our administration is freaking out and telling us that we may have to "camp out at the school for multiple days incase the feds decide to quarantine the block." Maybe it's just me, but that might be a little ridiculous...but sweet at the same time if it happens ;)

<>

Well it's finally the end of an incredibly stressful week. Between balancing out training, practice, work and figuring out what to do with my incredibly large classes and my online gradebook not working, this week has left me very high strung. On top of that, my phone charger has not yet arrived - making it impossible for me to use my phone for more than 30 minutes a day. Usually it's nice to not have a fun and be relaxed, but I also have no internet and have no way of contacting places of importance (Colorado Department of Education, Student Loan Lenders, Banks, Credit Card Companies) as well as people that are important to me (please accept this as an apology).

So my Geometry class has 45 students in it. I have not figured out a way to fit them comfortably in my small classroom. Today I had two students sitting on top of my desk, another in the chair for my desk, and another on a stool. Apparently every Geometry section is like that right now(good thing we cut that extra math teacher we didn't need). My 3rd/4th period Algebra class has 36 students (which is way too many for a freshman class with huge learning gaps) and my final class has 22 students and are all high achieving. So needless to say, my last class is easiest to teach.

On a lighter note, I'm doing a 10k run with Ashley tomorrow and am pretty pumped for it. My triathlon training has been pretty stellar so we'll see how that converts to a straight up run. Besides that, i'm really looking forward to some R and R this weekend. I definitely need to catch up on some sleep and do some laundry like whoa!

Another sad note... It looks like none of the international employees will be returning next year to Winter Park :( That means I lose about 80% of my friends from up there and a lot of the craziness. I heard last year that there were some problems with work Visas. I guess all I can do is hope for the best.

Back to school, Back to school, prove to dad that i'm not a fool

So this last week has been extremely hectic in trying to move in to my apartment and getting prepped for school. Of course, i'm severely unprepared for school.

The apartment:

I LOVE MY NEW PLACE. With the help of craigslist and clearance sales at Target, I have managed to fully furnish my living room and should have a bed by this evening. Here are some pictures:

Obvsiously the one below is what my bedroom looks like so far....

So just finished with Day 1. I LOVE my 7th and 8th period Algebra class. I can already tell i'm gonna have a lot of fun with them. They're energetic but well behaved and very diverse. However, my 3rd and 4th period could be quite challenging. First of all I have 34 students in that class and did not have enough desks to seat all of them. Second of all, I have flirty girls who cause a world of distractions to the dudes in the class. I'm hoping that class will eventually spread out and drop down to below thirty.

On another note, I'm registered for my first triathlon September 6th in a town called Longemont. It's just north of Boulder and will be a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run. I'm stoked.

Well it's off to soccer practice. I should have my phone charger back by tonight, so I can call all you eager family members and tell you about my life.

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

Well it's really hard to make a quick summary of all the exciting stuff that happened this summer. So I'll try and pick out a few key moments of it so ya'll don't get too bored.

ROAD TRIP back to the Mitten

So Deener flew for those last few days I was out here and I made it a point to show her as much of my life as possible. So the first day we just kind of took it easy so she could adjust to the altitude. Friday I decided to get her little butt into shape and we went on a 3 hour hike up Red Rocks. Saturday we drove up to A-Basin to do a little shredding. Now the drive up was always quite interesting, it was mid-80's in Denver so we drove up to about 12,000 ft with no top on the jeep and took some pictures at the continental divide. We then proceeded back down to ski on the slush that was left at the resort (no complaints though since it was 65 degrees, sunny and in June)! The coolest thing was that the snow would erode and eventually turned into running water down the slopes. You could just hop onto the mini stream, hydroplane down it and hop back onto the snow. SICK!!!

The road trip back presented an interesting surprise. I accidently took the wrong freeway (76 instead of 70) and drove us into Kansas, whoops. So that added about 5 hours to our trip but did give us a chance to pick up some sweet doo-rags.



FLORIDA


The day after I got back from Michigan, Eugene talked me into flying down to Florida for a week before Summer School started. It was a lot of fun as always (Boating through thunderstorms, winning a beer pong tournament and getting the worst hangover ever).


SUMMER SCHOOL in Rochester Hills


So with a little help from Aunt Sue and my amazing resume ;) I somehow landed a job in the Rochester School District for the summer. Now this is awesome for several reasons:


1.) Gets my foot in the door of one of the best school districts in the country
2.) Builds my resume
3.) Pays ridiculously well so I can dig myself out of debt


Teaching in this district is way different than the urban setting i'm used to. Even though I was teaching a recovery course, the students are much more motivated and better behaved. I thought it was quite amusing that my supervisors and co-workers would stop periodically to "check on me" because they "didn't know if I'd be able to handle the kids." All in all it was a great learning experience and rewarding (I only had one student fail each semester as opposed to the 50% I have at DPS).



MY NEW BIKE


So I finally decided to stop worrying about the price and buy a road bike. It's F*ing awesome. I bought an entry level tri bike (Trek Equinox 5) and have been riding it like crazy since the day I brought it home. Here's a picture :) The first day I decided to book it down the Tienken hill and passed a car (probably +40 mph) and then hit a small crack in the road and blew my tire. I then proceeded to carry my bike to the nearest gas station and called my Aunt Lori to have Aunt Sue pick me up. Since then i've been much smarter about where and how I ride and have yet to experience a similar mishap.




CHERRY FESTIVAL


My old roomies Tank and Al easily convinced me to pay a visit to the Cherry Capital (Traverse City) for a weekend of old fashioned craziness. Easily the best weekend of the summer. Since this weekend is way to hard to describe in a single blog posting, here are some things that stick out: Casino, K-ho (the only lesbian bar in Northern Michigan), "summer time in Northern Michigan", waking up on a beach in the morning, and hanging out with moms at the bar.

Great Lakes Relay


Even better than last year. We had 11 people on our team as opposed to 7 last year and I ran extremely well. My last three runs of the relay were all sub 6 min pace ranging from 5:40 to 5:55. I also finished top 12 on my second leg of the race "Tommy Toyota" which dubbed the hardest leg of the 270 mile relay. Of course when I returned I was injured and took 3 weeks off from running. But I'm back at it again and slowly adjusting to the altitude.



Vacation with the Family


The following weekend (third in a row up in Northern Michigan) I went up to Gaylord to hangout with the family at a cottage on Lake Otsego. As usual it was great being able to water ski (I slalom skied well for the first time!), ride my bike out through the backcountry, and chill with the fam.


Back to Colorado


So I left last Friday to head back to Denver (the Sunshine State) and return to the real world. The drive back was quite pleasant since Samantha decided to keep me company on the 18 hour drive. It took a little longer to get out here since we decided to go to a wedding on Friday and spent about 1.5 hours going to motels with No Vacancy in West Illinois.



We rolled into Colorado around midnight then spent most of Saturday hiking through Red Rocks and doing a 1.5 hour run for 3 hours (probably not the best run to start out with when jumping a mile in altitude).


Road trip hilights: No Vacancy, "that girl is so dangerous", trying to camp at Red Rocks summit, Rave Run and the beautiful city of Proctor Colorado.



RANDOMS



Fourth of July in Ann Arbor, new high scores in frolf, Drunk History, Off Roading, Eugene playing volleyball with one leg, Roxanne and Ball Room Blitz, using a crane to lift Cullen out of the jeep, "i'm gonna do a shot with every single person that walks in the door," Texas Road House, Wednesday Dinners and of course, Eugene's V-knee.

(This picture is from the gay bar on July 4th in Ann Arbor, notice the cosmos- haha)

THANKS TO ALL THE AMAZING PEOPLE BACK HOME FOR GIVING ME AN EPIC SUMMER.

BLOG IS BACK

just not right now....I will have an update on my summer craziness and my glorious return to the rockies soon!

Closing Time

Well I've been extremely busy this past week trying to move classrooms and close everything out for the year. So we'll start with Labor Day weekend and work from there.

The new Indiana Jones movie was actually quite good but not as awesome as the sushi I had afterwards. I wish I was rich and could afford to eat it all the time. The restaurant was called Wasabi's. It was very contemporary and had delicious food.

Saturday and Sunday I went over to Jonny's, grilled all day and went out to the bars at night. BBQing is probably in my top 5 for summer activities. Towards the end of Sunday the clouds rolled in from the mountains and gave Denver some cooler rainy weather for the next few days. A little gloomy, but a nice change from the dry heat we've been having lately.

Tuesday I watched the Bourne Ultimatum which is a such a bad ass movie. It inspires me to become an assassin...minus the whole killing people part.

Wednesday I almost forgot that I scheduled my first dentist appointment in about 3 years. Needless to say, I was pretty scared about what he/she was going to say. I noticed that one of my bottom teeth is a little discolored and though for sure it was a cavity. However, while the assistant was checking me out, she said it was just a wear (probably from grinding) and that I had amazingly clean teeth....woo hoo!! Wait hold the phone though, Doc comes in and tells me the same things but a minor cavity where I had previously had a filling. I HATE getting fillings. It's probably the most uncomfortable span of time ever....grinding and drilling and poking...yuck.
After the mining operation in my mouth, I jetted over to the soccer fields and played some ultimate frisbee.

Yesterday was the end of the year teacher party so all of us went over to a place called Armida's and sang karaoke. Now I was quite intimidated since majority of the teachers I work with can all sing...very well!!! But with a little liquid confidence, I went up on stage and rocked Outkast (of course only about 5 of us actually knew the song).

Later that evening I met up with DTR and did an amazing run in Golden (South Table Mesa I think it was called). The first mile took us almost 12 minutes since the climb was so intense. I'm guessing we topped it off at about 7000+ feet. There was a killer turnout to the run today. Probably over 50 people and even more for the party afterwards! So I got some grub and had a few brewskies with the runners and called it a night.

So now we come to today. So many teachers freaking wait til the last day to move and it pisses me off. Everyone automatically assumes that I'm going to help them move everything since I'm so young. Thursday I moved about 7 file cabinets which (no kidding) weigh about 500 lbs a piece with all the crap these teachers throw in them. Today wasn't much different, I broke down and stored 3 book cases with about 1000 books on them for the foreign language department, moved another file cabinet and helped move enough desks and chairs for two other teachers' classrooms. So I guess I learned my lesson, if you get all of your stuff done early, you will be expected to help everyone else out as well.

Okay, so normally this wouldn't be TOO big of a deal, except I need to move everything out of my house by tomorrow, put it in storage and pack up everything I'll need for back in Michigan. Well I'm thinking I need to get some food and prep for the Pistons now. I'm pretty much set to move out and can't wait to see Deener in 6 days!!!

I'm guessing I won't have access to a computer or make too many posts in the next couple of week since my pc will be stowed, I'll be traveling around Colorado, back to Michigan, and then to Florida :)

See you all soon!

School's out for the Summer!

So I've survived my first year as a high school teacher. Next on the agenda is..... a 10 mile run, cooking a delicious stir-fry, and going to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I have very high expectations; if it's half as good as the trilogy, it should be an awesome movie.

I've been playing around with the computer coding for the "blog template" so please excuse some of the random color changes and other things happening. I never thought that that computer programming class I took in college would be so helpful :)

Have a great holiday everyone!!! And start leaving me some messages (at the bottom of my posts) so I know you guys are at least reading them.

Lions and Tiger and Bears

so apparently there were like 8 twisters in Colorado today...since I received about 8 phone calls from people back in Michigan asking if I was dead.

This made me realize a couple of things; first of all I appreciate that you all care about me, and second of all I'm obviously the only person you all know that live in Colorado :)

So I had a ridiculously good run today and Green Mountain Open Space and a good day at school as well. Tomorrow is the last day of the semester than it's my first summer vacation as a teacher! woo hoo!!! Things are awesome out here, i'm loving the sunny weather (minus the tornadoes), the Pistons took game 2 in Boston tonight, and summer vacation is a stone's throw away.

DEEEEEEEETROOOIT BAAAAASKETBAAAALLLL!!!!!!!!!

Feeling a little more grown-up

Yesterday was graduation at West, so I left school during my last planning period to get a nice 8-9 miler in the 90 degree and met up at the bar with the teachers for the pre-party. After a couple cherry bombs, I dropped Faith off at the Rockie's game then met up at school to walk to graduation.

So here's the part where I feel grown-up, I get a gown with one of those hoods on the back to show that I have a college degree, pretty exciting huh? So they play the ceremonial song and we get to chill in the back of the stage while all the students and parents cry. I only had one senior graduating so it wasn't as sentimental of a moment as for the other teachers. However, it did bring back a flood of high school memories.

Well just two more days of school left...unfortunately they will be incredibly boring since all the students are just taking exams. I'll have to bring a good book or something.

Quote from my only graduating senior:

"That's not rude, that's baale-RUD" in a Minnesota accent (he thinks I talk like the guys from Fargo)

Crunch Time

So I know it's been a while since I've updated, so this could be a long one...

Well it's the end of the semester so things at school have been EXTREMELY busy. Friday is the last day of school so I had to grade about 100 tests, notebooks and assignments over the weekend. That also doesn't include all the students who just realized that they're failing my class and scrambling to turn in anything they can to bring their grades up. Finally seeing this phenomenon from the teacher's point of view is quite interesting. Memories from high school and college flood my mind every time a student asks me what they can do to gain those extra few points.

High School:

Biology "94.9% was rounded down to an A-, while having the head track coach as my teacher"

U.S. History "117% first quarter, 87% second quarter - somehow averages to be an A-"

College:

Calculus: "69.9% rounds down to a D+"

Abstract Algebra: "due to the bell curve, grades from 62%-79% are considered a C...I had a 79%, which was the 5th highest grade in the class"

I just don't have it in me to not let students do something extra to bring their grades up, even if they never show up to class or have blown off the entire semester. Thus I have been completely slammed with everything I do.

On a fun note, last Friday a bunch of the faculty got together and we all went to the Rockies-Twins game. So typical me, I got to the bar to meet up with everyone about 2 hours before the game and had a few drinks with the staff, then realized that I had left mine and Faith's tickets in the glove compartment of my car, back at my house....great! So we went to the game and talked to the head ticket office person and they said the only way we could get the tickets reprinted was if we knew the seat numbers. So I called up the roomie to check the tickets, and of course I locked the glove compartment and happened to lose the spare key to it 2 days prior. Awesome!

Well we decided that we would buy 2 more tickets for "Rock Pile" (nosebleed out in right field) for 4 bucks a piece and just sneak in. So as we're standing in line a bunch of the promoters walk around and announce that the "Rock Pile is sold out." Well...so much for the Rockies game. Not more than a minute after, Ryan calls me and says that Scott somehow talked the head honcho into reprinting the tickets and we were on our way :)

So the game was a blast even though the Rockies lost to the Twins (should make Carp happy), but the after party was even more fun. We went out to one of the dance clubs after and don't worry, I've got pictures!

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key; just graded papers all day Saturday. Sunday I went over to my buddy Johnny's with Kate (ski school) to BBQ and swim in his pool. It was about 86 degrees yesterday and I got my first Colorado sunburn!

And last, here's some pictures from my classroom: