I had a wonderful idea for this blog, but since the clutch in the tractor is going out, I am unable to write about it... so, instead, I will write about what I was going to write about.
Have you ever learned something and then wondered when you would ever use it in real life? I certainly have. Well, this week's blog is about using skills that I learned in Heavy Equipment Operations lecture & lab at Colorado Mountain College.
The plan was for me to teach my mom how to use the tractor to clean off our driveway. Now, I could be a girl and say that it's my dad's job to clean the snow off of the driveway, but he doesn't clean it off fast enough for my mom's liking. Last winter, I got my Explorer stuck in our driveway. Then, a day or two later, my mom got the Expedition stuck in the driveway. After that, the guy who lives about a mile away felt sorry for us and came and cleared the driveway off for us with his tractor. Hence why I was going to teach my mom how to use the tractor to clean off the driveway. The only glitch... the clutch on the tractor is going out, so we are not using it to clean off the driveway.
As far as the rest of my life goes, Christmas was good. Quiet, but good.
The local ski area changed the loading & unloading ramps for thechairlift in an effort to make it easier for disabled skiers. My opinion on the change is: Issac (the 1 disabled skier who I have ever seen there, and who is way better than 99% of the people at the ski area) could already get on the chair just fine. While it may be easier for the disabled skiers to get on and off the lift now, the non-disabled skiers and snowboarders struggle to stay upright. If you have ever felt the stuff that they put on top of ski/snowboard boxes, the ramp material is a lot like that- designed to be fast and slippery, not designed to grip/slow you down/allow you a lot of control, and definately not a surface that you want to use an edge on. I must say, I am certainly looking forward to going back to Copper. I don't think their loading & unloading ramps are made entirely of natural snow, but they definately aren't a slip & slide either.
Monday night I went to down with my parents and my brother and we drove around looking at Christmas lights. Well, at least my mom and I looked at Christmas lights- my dad and my brother both took naps.
Tuesday we did some last minute Christmas shopping before opening presents Wednesday night (Christmas Eve) since my dad worked Christmas Day.
Today consisted of 2 runs at Great Bear before the slip & slide unloading ramp got the best of me. After that, I came home and cleaned our laundry room (aka: junk collection room) and did a little bit of cleaning in my room.
Plans for tomorrow involve snowboarding and then a very thorough search of my Explorer and my house in an effort to find my black snowpants that went missing. I am determined to find them... they WILL reappear.
Until next week, goodbye and stay warm & safe.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
A Week At Home
I left Leadville at 6:30AM last Friday (December 12th). By some miracle, I managed to avoid rush hour traffic alond I-70 and through Denver. It was then smooth sailing until I got to the Colorado/Nebraska border. Not that it was rough sailing once I got there, but I did have to stop because cars only run for so long on a tank of gasoline. While there, I stopped and got Subway. I then continued along on my way to Omaha, Nebraska. I think I hit rush hour in Omaha. I didn't notice it on I-680, but when I got off to find a gas station, traffic was not moving at all quickly. After filling up in Omaha, I got on I-29 and went home.
Saturday I woke up at 6:30AM with the realization that I was allergic to my parent's house. My mom claims that she vaccummed "once or twice"... if you ask me, she probably thought of vaccumming once or twice, and then decided to take a nap instead. (Disclaimer: My mom is aware of the last couple sentences, and takes no offense). Then we went to Walmart and then to home. After that, we went to the little tiny airport that she works at and did she some paperwork so that her employees could be paid. After that, we went to a film at the University of Sioux Falls that someone did as their senior project. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think my mom did too, but she fell asleep for the ending.
Sunday we stayed at home all day. My mom and I cleaned my brother's room in an effort to avoid it becoming a toxic waste dump. My mom and I really aren't that nice to just clean his room for him, but we needed the power cord for the DVD player. We never did find the DVD player power cord, but we did find underwear from when he was probably about 6 years old (he is now 16). I also choked on enough dust under his bed to almost die of asphyxiation. That day, my parents were also introduced to the wonders of Wii bowling, golf, and boxing. My mom beat me in bowling, I beat her in golf, and my dad beat the computer twice in boxing.
Monday, I went to the dentist. I had no cavities :) and my two teeth that I thought I had broken weren't actually broken. AND the dentist gave me samples of gum and I LOVE gum, so it was a good day. Then I drove to my brother's school and picked him up after play practice and fed him Get N Go pizza before taking him home.
Tuesday afternoon I went skiing on a little anthill named Great Bear. That evening, my brother played in Pep Band at the basketball game and my mom and I sold concessions with FCCLA.
Wednesday I had the great priviledge of torturing my brother for several hours while I put blonde "highlights" in his hair. Originally, they were supposed to be white tips. By the time that I had taken the wonderful little hook that came in the kit and pulled 200-300 tufts of hair through the tiny little holes in the cap, I did not have the patience to make only the tips of his hair white. So, I convinced him to let me attack all of the hair that I had pulled through the cap with the dye. After 30 minutes of him wandering around with the worst smelling hair possible (I have dyed my own hair... I have dyed my mom's hair... I have been around while Erin and Randi dyed their hair... I have NEVER EVER EVER smelled dye that was anywhere near as bad as his), he was tired of having dye in his hair, so I instructed him on how to was it out. The next day, he went to school and was apparently embarrassed by his hair, but the people at school liked it and his teacher liked it (he did it for the school play), so I guess that's all that counts. However, I apparently did it wrong because I didn't do enough hair in the back. If you heard how much he was screaming, you wouldn't have done enough hair in the back either, lol.
Thursday my brother got out of school early because of semester tests. Then our neighbor came up to our house and found a mink living in our barn. He, along with two guys in their early 20s who also live nearby, then had the thrill of chasing the mink around the barn in an effort to capture it so that it would no longer kill the chicken and ducks living in our barn. After that episode of excitement, my mom and brother went to school so that he could again play in the Pep band at the basketball game while my mom helped sell concessions, this time for the preschool in town.
Today, Friday, I was planning on driving to Minneapolis to go tubing at Afton Alps with a group of kids I traveled with this summer and then to go to a weekend church thing. However, due to the road conditions my parents told me not to go, so now I am at home for the weekend. Today's journeys involved taking a cat to the vet, eating at HyVee (a grocery store that has a small dining area), my mom going to work for about an hour, and going back to HyVee to get gas (if you buy an item in the store, they give you a discount on gas). Now we are at home, trying to remove a "Trojan Vundo" virus from my brother's computer.
Plans for the weekend probably involve sitting at home, watching it snow. Assuming we get our act together, we are going to cut our Christmas tree down in our backyard. According to my mom, it is crowding other trees. Due to the fact that I have not been out to look at it, I can't tell you if it's crowding trees or not.
You'll have to wait until I get back to Leadville for pictures because I think if I tired to upload 3 or 4 pictures with the dial-up internet that we have at home, I would be waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more.
In case I don't post again until after Christmas, have a Merry Christmas. We'll worry about the Happy New Year later- I think I can manage to post again before then.
Saturday I woke up at 6:30AM with the realization that I was allergic to my parent's house. My mom claims that she vaccummed "once or twice"... if you ask me, she probably thought of vaccumming once or twice, and then decided to take a nap instead. (Disclaimer: My mom is aware of the last couple sentences, and takes no offense). Then we went to Walmart and then to home. After that, we went to the little tiny airport that she works at and did she some paperwork so that her employees could be paid. After that, we went to a film at the University of Sioux Falls that someone did as their senior project. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think my mom did too, but she fell asleep for the ending.
Sunday we stayed at home all day. My mom and I cleaned my brother's room in an effort to avoid it becoming a toxic waste dump. My mom and I really aren't that nice to just clean his room for him, but we needed the power cord for the DVD player. We never did find the DVD player power cord, but we did find underwear from when he was probably about 6 years old (he is now 16). I also choked on enough dust under his bed to almost die of asphyxiation. That day, my parents were also introduced to the wonders of Wii bowling, golf, and boxing. My mom beat me in bowling, I beat her in golf, and my dad beat the computer twice in boxing.
Monday, I went to the dentist. I had no cavities :) and my two teeth that I thought I had broken weren't actually broken. AND the dentist gave me samples of gum and I LOVE gum, so it was a good day. Then I drove to my brother's school and picked him up after play practice and fed him Get N Go pizza before taking him home.
Tuesday afternoon I went skiing on a little anthill named Great Bear. That evening, my brother played in Pep Band at the basketball game and my mom and I sold concessions with FCCLA.
Wednesday I had the great priviledge of torturing my brother for several hours while I put blonde "highlights" in his hair. Originally, they were supposed to be white tips. By the time that I had taken the wonderful little hook that came in the kit and pulled 200-300 tufts of hair through the tiny little holes in the cap, I did not have the patience to make only the tips of his hair white. So, I convinced him to let me attack all of the hair that I had pulled through the cap with the dye. After 30 minutes of him wandering around with the worst smelling hair possible (I have dyed my own hair... I have dyed my mom's hair... I have been around while Erin and Randi dyed their hair... I have NEVER EVER EVER smelled dye that was anywhere near as bad as his), he was tired of having dye in his hair, so I instructed him on how to was it out. The next day, he went to school and was apparently embarrassed by his hair, but the people at school liked it and his teacher liked it (he did it for the school play), so I guess that's all that counts. However, I apparently did it wrong because I didn't do enough hair in the back. If you heard how much he was screaming, you wouldn't have done enough hair in the back either, lol.
Thursday my brother got out of school early because of semester tests. Then our neighbor came up to our house and found a mink living in our barn. He, along with two guys in their early 20s who also live nearby, then had the thrill of chasing the mink around the barn in an effort to capture it so that it would no longer kill the chicken and ducks living in our barn. After that episode of excitement, my mom and brother went to school so that he could again play in the Pep band at the basketball game while my mom helped sell concessions, this time for the preschool in town.
Today, Friday, I was planning on driving to Minneapolis to go tubing at Afton Alps with a group of kids I traveled with this summer and then to go to a weekend church thing. However, due to the road conditions my parents told me not to go, so now I am at home for the weekend. Today's journeys involved taking a cat to the vet, eating at HyVee (a grocery store that has a small dining area), my mom going to work for about an hour, and going back to HyVee to get gas (if you buy an item in the store, they give you a discount on gas). Now we are at home, trying to remove a "Trojan Vundo" virus from my brother's computer.
Plans for the weekend probably involve sitting at home, watching it snow. Assuming we get our act together, we are going to cut our Christmas tree down in our backyard. According to my mom, it is crowding other trees. Due to the fact that I have not been out to look at it, I can't tell you if it's crowding trees or not.
You'll have to wait until I get back to Leadville for pictures because I think if I tired to upload 3 or 4 pictures with the dial-up internet that we have at home, I would be waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more.
In case I don't post again until after Christmas, have a Merry Christmas. We'll worry about the Happy New Year later- I think I can manage to post again before then.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Room Arrangement
As I write this, I am sitting on my desk in my newly re-arranged room. Today, I packed up the stuff I needed for Christmas vacation and then packed it into my Explorer. After all of the stuff was moved out, the room seemed rather empty. Well, not necessarily empty, but more open then usual. Being who I am, this empty space meant that things MUST be rearranged.
If you have ever lived in a dorm, you may have discovered that white-washed walls are not the prettiest things to look at. You probably also discovered that the RA's idea of how to arrange your room is not the way you would arrange it. Hence why pictures from home, a calandar, two bulletin boards, a giant sticky note pad, a Mt Hood poster, 2 Led Zeppelin posters, and a couple hand-drawn pictures of Halloween costumes cover the walls of the room that Erin and I share.
When we first arrived, the only rearrangement of the room that occured was Erin turning her desk 90 degrees. A week later, my desk got rotated 180 degrees. A couple weeks later, my bed got turned 90 degrees, shoved along the wall with the window (aka the other side of the room), and my desk moved. That suited me for a couple weeks. In the meantime, Erin had rotated her desk another 90 degrees. After a couple more weeks, I was once again tired of the location of my furniture. So, my bed got turned 90 degrees with my desk next to it (I wish I had pictures to help explain all of this, but I don't). The room stayed that way for probably a good month and a half. Tonight, all of that changed.
It started off with me moving my desk. Then, in order to not block the fridge and microwave, I had to move those too. In order move the fridge, I had to move my tower of storage crates. Then, Erin decided to join in on the action. So, she spun her desk around 90 degrees, moved her footlocker, and put her printer on top of an empty box of mine. Although it might not sound like we moved much, the room looks entirely different and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the new arrangement. I think Erin does to, but she's managed to contain her excitement slightly better than I have, lol.
Tomorrow is my last day here for the semester. I have two finals (Technical Math and PC Apps). Then I leave bright and early Friday morning (bright and early being 5 or 6 AM... a time I have not yet gotten out of bed by this semester) for a rather long drive home, along a route that I have never been on.
I hope that you have enjoyed my blogs this semester, that they have given you a look into the life of a college student at Colorado Mountain College- Timberline Campus, and that you will continue to read my blogs next semester. I will try to update a couple times during Christmas break since I'm sure you're all DYING to know about the excitement of living in eastern South Dakota with our GIGANTIC ski hills.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Where oh where should I start?
I have 2/5 of my finals done.
*Intro to SAO was a take home final that I turned in yesterday.
*On Saturday we had our OEC practical test and it sounded like everyone did amazing on it. Today we had our OEC written test. It appears that a lot of people did well on that too, because facebook is becoming filled with status messages of “I passed OEC!!”.
*Tomorrow is our Heavy Equipment Operations final.
*Thursday is my Technical Math final and my PC Applications final.
Friday I'm guessing the dorms will be pretty empty because a lot of people don't have class on Friday, so I'm assuming that would be the day that they are leaving.
Because it is finals week, the dorms are on 24-hour quiet hours. I believe the library is also open extended hours.
Sunday night there was a pool night and yesterday there was a late night breakfast to provide energy for everyone that was doing some late night studying. Wednesday night there is another swim night.
Friday night, Erin and I passed out iFilm CMC chapstick.
iFilm CMC is a video contest that is open to all full-time students that are 18 or older. The idea behind the contest is that you film a day in the life of a student at CMC. Winners will earn a spot on the college website. Other prizes include a semester of in-state tuition, iPhones, iPods, and iTunes gift certificates. Entires should be between 1 and 5 minutes in length and must be received by 11:59pm MST on January 30th, 2009. Click here if you want more information. and If you would like to enter, go here.
If you are interested in being a blogger next semester, especially if you are at the Spring Valley campus, I encourage you to go here to apply.
Friday, Sunday, and Monday I went to Copper Mountain. More and more of the area is being opened up. Unless you are down on American Eagle, it is now possible to make a run while only having to share the run with a half dozen people. I am looking forward to when I return in January because they should have most, if not all, of the mountain open by then.
Well, I should probably go back to studying for my Heavy Equipment Final now. I'll try to update this again before I go home on Friday. This will probably be the one and only time that I say this, but DON'T hope for snow... at least not until Saturday- I want to be able to get home without it being a blizzard outside :)
*Intro to SAO was a take home final that I turned in yesterday.
*On Saturday we had our OEC practical test and it sounded like everyone did amazing on it. Today we had our OEC written test. It appears that a lot of people did well on that too, because facebook is becoming filled with status messages of “I passed OEC!!”.
*Tomorrow is our Heavy Equipment Operations final.
*Thursday is my Technical Math final and my PC Applications final.
Friday I'm guessing the dorms will be pretty empty because a lot of people don't have class on Friday, so I'm assuming that would be the day that they are leaving.
Because it is finals week, the dorms are on 24-hour quiet hours. I believe the library is also open extended hours.
Sunday night there was a pool night and yesterday there was a late night breakfast to provide energy for everyone that was doing some late night studying. Wednesday night there is another swim night.
Friday night, Erin and I passed out iFilm CMC chapstick.
iFilm CMC is a video contest that is open to all full-time students that are 18 or older. The idea behind the contest is that you film a day in the life of a student at CMC. Winners will earn a spot on the college website. Other prizes include a semester of in-state tuition, iPhones, iPods, and iTunes gift certificates. Entires should be between 1 and 5 minutes in length and must be received by 11:59pm MST on January 30th, 2009. Click here if you want more information. and If you would like to enter, go here.
If you are interested in being a blogger next semester, especially if you are at the Spring Valley campus, I encourage you to go here to apply.
Friday, Sunday, and Monday I went to Copper Mountain. More and more of the area is being opened up. Unless you are down on American Eagle, it is now possible to make a run while only having to share the run with a half dozen people. I am looking forward to when I return in January because they should have most, if not all, of the mountain open by then.
Well, I should probably go back to studying for my Heavy Equipment Final now. I'll try to update this again before I go home on Friday. This will probably be the one and only time that I say this, but DON'T hope for snow... at least not until Saturday- I want to be able to get home without it being a blizzard outside :)
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Finals and Chapstick
A week from now most students will be loading up their cars to go home. The dorms close at noon on Saturday, December 13th, I doubt the RAs will have too much trouble getting students to leave though because we're all so excited to go home and see our family and friends. Another perk of going home is not having to shove quarters into the washer and dryer. However, before we can all enjoy the fun of going home, we must take finals.
*For Introduction to Ski Area Operations, Paul gave us a take home test that is due Monday at 5pm.
*Our test for Outdoor Emergency Care will be taken in 2 parts. This Saturday we are taking our practical test which consists of 4 scenarios. Then, next Tuesday we taking our written test. Luckily for us, because of National Ski Patrol regulations, we have two chances at every scenario along with two chances on the test
*Cyrus is giving us our Technical Math test on the last day of class (Thursday).
*Our Heavy Equipment Test is next Wednesday.
*PC Apps will be my last test of the scenario. It will be Thursday night and it's going to be on Microsoft Access 2007.
The cafeteria is serving a "Late Night Breakfast" on Monday night. I believe it is from 9 to 10pm. So, come take a break from all of your studying and enjoy a relaxing "breakfast" with friends... or at least enjoy eating while thinking of how unprepared you feel.
Open Gym nights are done with, but there are still two Pool Nights- Sunday night from 6 to 8pm and Wednesday night from 6 to 9pm.
If that isn't enough excitement for you, there is always the option of hitting the rails behind the residence hall.
If you want some iFilm CMC chapstick, Erin and I will be passing it out in the cafeteria tomorrow (Friday) night from 5 to 6pm. The chapstick is Orange Mango flavored. It also has SPF 15 and is designed to protect your lips from sunburn, dryness, and windburn... which is perfect for the cold, dry weather up here in Leadville where the elevation is 10,200 feet.
Tomorrow night the college plans on announcing who the new RA is. Six people (myself included) applied. The application process involved filling out an application, answering 13 short-answer questions, and writing a cover letter. Each applicant also had to get two letters of reference. Then we each had an interview with Sarah and Brett and now we are anxiously awaiting the results.
On Monday we doubled the size of Student Government. Several students had left, which resulted in there not being enough voting members to decide on how we wanted to spend the Student Government money. So, Monday at noon, Brett came roaming through the cafeteria, convincing students to join Student Government. Several students also gained officer positions. The purchase of a Wii for the Residence Hall was then discussed. There is no Student Government meeting this coming Monday because of finals. Student Government meetings will resume in January once classes start again. I don't know for sure, but I assume the January 12th would be our first meeting because that is the first Monday of classes. Intentions of activities to continue next semester are gym and pool nights. There is also talk of the occasional bowling night and a few ice skating nights.
If you still haven't signed up for classes for next semester, now would be an EXCELLENT time to do so as many classes are quickly filling up.
Colorado has been getting dumped on for the past week and the majority of the campus is LOVING IT. However, there is the occasional person who thinks that we need EVEN MORE snow. I suppose there might also be the rare person who is NOT happy that it is snowing, but if so, they're in the wrong place. Sunday night I-70 and Highway 91 were both closed... In the past 72 hours, Copper Mountain has recieved 9 inches of snow... Denver got 6 inches of snow last night... and most mornings for the past week students have woken up to a fresh layer of snow. Unfortunately the semester is soon ending which means that many of us are going home to slightly less snowy locations. Hopefully the snow will continue anyway so that we can return in January to amazing snow, because amazing snow equates to epic days skiing and riding.
Until next time... have fun, try not to slide around on the road too much, and hope for MORE SNOW!! :)
*For Introduction to Ski Area Operations, Paul gave us a take home test that is due Monday at 5pm.
*Our test for Outdoor Emergency Care will be taken in 2 parts. This Saturday we are taking our practical test which consists of 4 scenarios. Then, next Tuesday we taking our written test. Luckily for us, because of National Ski Patrol regulations, we have two chances at every scenario along with two chances on the test
*Cyrus is giving us our Technical Math test on the last day of class (Thursday).
*Our Heavy Equipment Test is next Wednesday.
*PC Apps will be my last test of the scenario. It will be Thursday night and it's going to be on Microsoft Access 2007.
The cafeteria is serving a "Late Night Breakfast" on Monday night. I believe it is from 9 to 10pm. So, come take a break from all of your studying and enjoy a relaxing "breakfast" with friends... or at least enjoy eating while thinking of how unprepared you feel.
Open Gym nights are done with, but there are still two Pool Nights- Sunday night from 6 to 8pm and Wednesday night from 6 to 9pm.
If that isn't enough excitement for you, there is always the option of hitting the rails behind the residence hall.
If you want some iFilm CMC chapstick, Erin and I will be passing it out in the cafeteria tomorrow (Friday) night from 5 to 6pm. The chapstick is Orange Mango flavored. It also has SPF 15 and is designed to protect your lips from sunburn, dryness, and windburn... which is perfect for the cold, dry weather up here in Leadville where the elevation is 10,200 feet.
Tomorrow night the college plans on announcing who the new RA is. Six people (myself included) applied. The application process involved filling out an application, answering 13 short-answer questions, and writing a cover letter. Each applicant also had to get two letters of reference. Then we each had an interview with Sarah and Brett and now we are anxiously awaiting the results.
On Monday we doubled the size of Student Government. Several students had left, which resulted in there not being enough voting members to decide on how we wanted to spend the Student Government money. So, Monday at noon, Brett came roaming through the cafeteria, convincing students to join Student Government. Several students also gained officer positions. The purchase of a Wii for the Residence Hall was then discussed. There is no Student Government meeting this coming Monday because of finals. Student Government meetings will resume in January once classes start again. I don't know for sure, but I assume the January 12th would be our first meeting because that is the first Monday of classes. Intentions of activities to continue next semester are gym and pool nights. There is also talk of the occasional bowling night and a few ice skating nights.
If you still haven't signed up for classes for next semester, now would be an EXCELLENT time to do so as many classes are quickly filling up.
Colorado has been getting dumped on for the past week and the majority of the campus is LOVING IT. However, there is the occasional person who thinks that we need EVEN MORE snow. I suppose there might also be the rare person who is NOT happy that it is snowing, but if so, they're in the wrong place. Sunday night I-70 and Highway 91 were both closed... In the past 72 hours, Copper Mountain has recieved 9 inches of snow... Denver got 6 inches of snow last night... and most mornings for the past week students have woken up to a fresh layer of snow. Unfortunately the semester is soon ending which means that many of us are going home to slightly less snowy locations. Hopefully the snow will continue anyway so that we can return in January to amazing snow, because amazing snow equates to epic days skiing and riding.
Until next time... have fun, try not to slide around on the road too much, and hope for MORE SNOW!! :)
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