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...
11 years ago
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, October 20, 2008
A Bright Future
DUDE
So here is what's happening starting next week.
So here is what's happening starting next week.
- October 28 - Fall break begins next Tuesday and the old man is coming out to visit with me until Sunday.
- November 8 - Winter Park and Copper Mountain's opening day
- November 10 - No school (aka ski vacation)
- November 25 - Thanksgiving Break with possibility of a Eugene and Ryan Howard sighting... maybe even a Sam sighting???? (aka ski vacation)
- December 18 - xmas break starts (aka long ski vacation)
- December 18 (again because it is worth noting) - Al (roommate) is definitely coming out to shred the nar for a full week
- December 22 - Road trip back home to Detroit for xmas with the family
- 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.
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.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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.
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