What? 2 months left?

Hello.

I'll start with some details about the 2009 CMC Rail Jam that is being put on by the Events Management class of Colorado Mountain College. I've had a few people write me about it, and I figure if a couple people don't know, there are probably others tht don't know or haven't even heard of it.
The 4th Annual CMC Rail Jam is taking place on Dutch Henri hill on March 21st, 2009. The rail jam is limited to the first 50 competitors. Day-of registration is $15.

9AM- Registration
11AM- Practice
1PM- Competition Starts

6:30PM- After Party and SWAG giveaways at Doc Holliday's with live music from Groove Speek

Competitors must be 18 years or older to participate. Mustaches and helmets are strongly recommended (our theme is "Mustache March").

Yesterday I went snowboarding at Ski Cooper. It worked out quite well because even though there was powder, there was little enough that I was still capable of getting back up when I didn't put enough weight on my tail. Last night was free swimming night. Due to a lack of planning, I did not go though because I figured it would be a good idea to do my Food and Beverage homework.

Many students are beginning to get really excited about Spring Break which begins in about a week. However, being excited about Spring Break also means having to get their homework done this weekend so that they can fully enjoy their week off.

My Spring Break plans involve going to Whistler for a week to snowboard and to check out the area because I am considering doing my internship there next winter. I may also try to fit in a day trip to either Winter Park or Steamboat since my Copper Mountain pass gets me free lift tickets to both places. March 14th is another En Fuego date at Copper. Then classes start up again on the 16th.

Another thing that many students are thinking of is summer jobs. Considering the degree programs here, it is no surprise that many students are considering outdoorsy jobs such as working as Trail Crew for the US Forest Service, interning with the Natural Resource Management program, or working in various positions at summer camps.

I just realized that classes end 2 months from now. WOW! This semester is going by fast. It's hard to believe that 1 1/2 months of classes are already done with. Well, I'm off. Goodbye.

All Kinds of Excitement

The last couple of days have been quite exciting.

Saturday night the smoke alarm went off at 10pm because someone was cooking, but apparently they lacked skill in the cooking department, so everyone got to go outside. Now, the fire alarm going off at 10pm on a weekend might not seem that bad, but I had been asleep for an hour and a half because I didn't feel the greatest, so the smoke alarm was not exactly appreciated.

Sunday I worked the Leadville Loppet which was a lot of fun. However, I discovered that SPF 60 does not last for 4 hours. As a result, my face was slightly redder than I would have liked, but it is beginning to return to a normal skin color now. After the Leadville Loppet I hung out with Justin and Marea in my room. After dinner, several of us watched The Strangers (It is probably the scariest movie ever... Marea and I love scary movies and we do not get scared by them. However, we were clinging to each other for dear life within about the first 15 minutes).

Monday I had Ropeway Operations lecture, Events Management class, a Student Government meeting, and my Public Speaking class. We were supposed to give speeches on our career 5 years from now, luckily we didn't though because none of us really understood what it was that we were doing. So, after an hour of having our assignment explained to us and then seeing a few demonstration speeches (the people that missed last week's class did their demo speeches this week), we got out of class. Randi, one of the RA's, did a tobacco awareness program. For every 10 cigarette butts that you picked up, you received a slice of pizza. It was more popular than I expected it would be, but I suppose when you offer college students pizza, most anything can be accomplished.

Yesterday (Tuesday), was a rather uneventful day until approximately 5pm when I checked my mailbox. My mailbox contained an OEC certification card (I'd already been given one in class so it wasn't too exciting), a paycheck (money is always exciting), and a letter informing me that I had qualified for NASTAR Nationals which are in Steamboat at the end of March. Now that was exciting! It was especially exciting because I was pretty sure that I hadn't qualified because I didn't feel like I did such a great job of racing that day. The next half an hour or so consisted of me excitedly texting people and telling people on Facebook that I had qualified for nationals. Yesterday was also Mardi Gras and Randi's birthday, but by the time that they had figured out what we were doing, I had decided that I was tired and was going to bed.


Today I had Trail Grooming lecture and Ski Patrol lecture. In Ski Patrol lecture, Cascade the avalanche dog (better known as Cade) came to visit. Cade is an adorable 3 year old Golden Retriever who spent the entire class period wandering around the room getting lots and lots of pets. Cade (along with his handler Chris) is based out of Chicago Ridge Snowcat tours which is associated with Ski Cooper. This is his first season working at Chicago Ridge. Prior to this season, he spent two seasons at Copper Mountain. After watching a powerpoint about avalanche dogs, Brian went outside and got buried, and Cade had located him within 37 seconds of being released. Cade's training involves
-Having pots and pans banged above his head while he was eating as a puppy. Occasionally he still gets pots banged above his head. (I have a French Broque at home and if you banged pots and pans over her head while she was eating she would spend the next several days afraid to go near her food bowl).
-Riding on snowmobiles as a puppy. The dog rides on the seat in front of the snowmobile driver. Last year Cade was involved in an incident on a snowmobile, so now Chris and his wife have had to work with Cade to get him to willingly ride on a snowmobile again.
-Visiting helipads as a puppy to get used to the noise. While the flight crew was inside with the patient, Cade would get to jump in and out of the helicopter.
-Visiting lots of different environments.
-Having a special toy that he gets to play tug-o-war with when he finds an avalanche victim. He only gets this toy and gets to play tug-o-war after finding a victim. This way, finding avalanche victims is all fun and games for him.
-Searching for live victims. When he finds a live victim he will bark. Apparently avalanche dogs haven't always barked when they found a victim- they used to be trained to just start digging. Cade will also search for articles (gloves, hats, etc.) but he won't bark when he finds them. In the system that Utah uses (which is a Canadian system), the dogs are trained to search for articles rather than live victims.
-Cade rides on chairlifts. He turns around and jumps onto the chair as it comes around. Then he lays on the chair while someone holds onto his harness. He is not a big fan of long, cold, windy chairlift rides. I don't think that anyone is a fan of those chairlift rides.

Other interesting facts about avalanche dogs
-Cade weighs 61 pounds. Apparently this is heavy for an avalanche dog. The heavier the dog is, the harder it is on them.
-Cade can search avalaches without a handler or being commanded to. Last year he was attached to an alternate handler's belt loop and he took off to search an avalanche, pulling their belt loop off in the process. We were also told that he's been let out of a helicopter and he ran a search of avalanche debris before anyone had to tell him too.
-Depending on who you talk to, the average working career for an avalanche dog is 6-8 years or 7-10 years.
-Dogs have to take a test with their handler before they are considered avalanche dogs.
-Colorado is the only state where the Flight For Life crew gets out of the plane at a ski area, the avalanche rescue team gets in, and the helicopter takes off. Flight For Life travels to an avalanche with the pilot, the technician, a handler, and a dog. In other states, a Flight For Life nurse also travels with the group and makes sure that the doors are shut properly and that everyone is wearing safety belts.
-You shouldn't pet dogs while they are working because it distracts them. Contaminating an avalanche site will also distract them.

I forgot to bring my camera to class today, but I will try to find someone who did take pictures so that you can see a picture of Cade, because who doesn't love seeing pictures of cute animals. :)


Well, I should probably get back to my homework now. I'll try to write again tomorrow or Friday.

Classes are good

The "Dorm Plague" seems to be making a disappearance right in time for students to get in some blue-bird days of skiing and riding. We've been getting snow flurries for the past couple of days and today the sun is out if full force.

This week in Ropeway Ops lecture, we learned about sheave assemblies and towers. Paul also went over how to find information in the ANSI B77.1 code and the CPTSB code, which was important because our homework was to go to the school library, get the code books from a librarian, and answer 20 questions about the code.

In Events Management, we had another logistical meeting. Each committee head gave a brief synopsis of their group's progress. I'm the head of the publicity committee and we have to have posters printed and distributed next Monday, so we're in a bit of a time crunch. We have the poster designed though luckily- we are just in the process of finding sponsors to put on the posters. Hopefully after Monday things will be more relaxed for our committee. As far as the other committees go, an after party is in the process of being planned, "El Mexicano" (the burrito bus) should be making an appearance at the rail jam, Dutch Henri is the official location, and it's been decided that all competitors must be 18+ and helmets are strongly recommended.

This past week in Public Speaking we gave demonstration speeches. Tying knots, kick flipping a skateboard, waxing skis, washing a car, knitting, and putting bindings on a snowboard were all covered. This coming week we will be giving a One-Point speech on the career we plan on having 5 years from now.

We learned about pre-season grooming and packing of new snow this past week in Trail Grooming lecture. We also learned about grooming patterns. The main grooming patterns are: standard, sidehill, skip passing, "zamboni" and fan. Next week we will be learning about snow surface conditioning. We also got our tests from last week back and I was extremely excited about my B+. I think the fact that I did not have to remember the names of different parts of the groomer helped because that is what always messed me up on Heavy Equipment tests.

In Ski Patrol lecture, we had a test that I don't think too many of us were prepared for. Some people didn't read their syllabus, others thought the avalanche dogs were coming this week and we had a test next week (nope), and the last group was the people that may have known about the test but chose not to study (I don't know if anyone fell into this group or not). So, now that we have acomplished the taking of our first ski patrol test, we get to learn about avalanche dogs this coming week. As far as my group's ski patrol manual goes, we finally got started (probably about 3 weeks later than we should have). Yesterday we divied up tasks. I volunteered for the job of pricing items and WOW! ski patrolling stuff is expensive. The basic model of a ski patrol toboggan is almost $900!

Last, but not least, online Food and Beverage Management. This week's assignment is on nutrition for food service operations which includes the 6 basic nutrients, nutrition guidelines, menu planning, and contemporary diet concerns. Next is "the menu". "The menu" consists of menu pricing styles, menu schedules, types of menus, menu planning, menu design, evaluating menus, and menu management software.

Student Government is making progress on the renovation of the kitchen in the MPR. We've decided where to get the cabinets and countertops from. The actual work won't start until after spring break though because many students use the kitchen to make food during spring break.

Upcoming theater production at the Glenwood Springs campus of Colorado Mountain College:
The Cripple of Inishmaan
March 5, 6, and 7 @ 7:00 PM
March 12, 13, and 14 @ 7:00 PM
March 15 @ 2:00 PM
Adults: $14.00, Students and seniors: $10.00

Until next week, have fun, stay safe, and enjoy the snow. :)

The "Dorm Plague"

It's that time of the year- students are calling in sick to class, professors are cancelling classes, and there isn't a whole lot of movement around the dorms. No, a huge snowstorm was not involved (at this point a lot of us are probably glad that last week's storm never really happened, I certainly do not have enough energy to go snowboarding). Students and faculty are just sick.

I never get sick. Yet, yesterday I was awake for only 6 or 7 hours and today has not been much better. It is also important to note that I may have cursed myself. On Wednesday, Casey was complaining about how he's been sick twice since the beginning of the semester. I thought I'd be cool and comment about how I never get sick, and then a couple days later I was sick. Lesson to be learned: don't brag about how you never get sick unless you want to be sick. At least today it occured to me that I could read my textbooks between naps, which has resulted in higher productivity than yesterday.

There are those of us who are embracing our sickness (or lack the energy to stay awake long enough to fight it) and then there are those who are fighting it. I blame the ones who are fighting it for getting the rest of the campus sick, because we sit in class with them for two or three hours soaking up their germs. Now, I'm by no means a germ-a-phobe, but I would rather not have your germs, especially since I don't seem to know how to be sick because I've never really been sick in my life (prior to Saturday, I think 3/4 of a day was about the longest I'd ever been sick). I've heard the "Turn up the heat, pile on the blankets, go to sleep, and sweat it out" method of getting better mentioned around campus a few times. I don't know if it works or not though because yesterday it was more like "Turn up the heat, pile on the blankets, and still be freezing cold".

How not to get sick in college:

• First of all, why we have the 'dorm plague': "Colds and the flu spread like wildfires in college dorms because of the confined space many college students must share. Since students are sharing rooms and bathrooms, colds and sicknesses can be transferred very easily. "
• "With most colds and sicknesses, people who are infected don't show signs of the cold right away ... This makes every person a student comes into contact with a suspect that needs to be avoided." So basically I should avoid going to class? I don't think my professors will go for that one.
• "Wear gloves as much as possible- wearing gloves will help students from directly touching surfaces that could potentially contain a virus or cold." I don't imagine too many students will go along with the idea of wearing latex gloves everywhere they go.
• "Use Lysol disinfectant on everything." Simple enough
• "Try not to hook up with too many people - every person you hook up with is multiplying your chances of getting sick. Try to limit yourself until the cold season is over." At a very male-dominated campus, this should be incredibly simple for the guys. It is also quite simple for the girls that are trying to keep any kind of positive reputation about themself.

Some more tips to prevent the cold or flu include:

• "Wash your hands." Preferably using warm water and soap and more than 10 seconds of your time.
• "Don't share cups or silverware." Probably why the majority of the campus is sick to some degree. We eat off of our friends plates, use their silverware when we're too lazy to get up and get our own, and drink out of each others water bottles.
• "Boost your immune system by getting plenty of rest, eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly, decreasing stress, and cutting back on smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol." I don't think this website was directed towards college students. C0llege students are not exactly known for getting tons of sleep, eating balanced meals in the cafeteria, planning far enough ahead to avoid stress, or their healthy life-style choices in the areas of smoking and partying. My recommendation: multivitamins- they do a wonderful job of making up for all of the vitamins and minerals in the foods that you should eat but do not.
• "Boost your immune system by incorporating garlic, dairy foods, vitamin C, and zinc into your meals." I dunno about the garlic, but dairy foods sound do-able. Again, multivitamins- they have vitamin C and zinc.
• "Fresh ginger root, warm beverages, and chicken noodle soup are said to help you heal. Getting lots of rest, drinking lots of fluids (I don't think they mean the alcohol kind), and using a humidifier are also said to help you heal." So, in other words, drink lots of hot chocolate? Sounds good to me!

Well, it's back to napping for me. Until next time, try to stay healthy. OK? :)

Only In Leadville

I thought of the "Only In Leadville" topic last Sunday while I was at Subway. I saw a little girl playing with Barbies at one of the booths while her parent worked and I thought to myself "You know... that's not something you see too often". I grew up in a small town (population 1,000) and while we didn't have a Subway, we did have other small places to eat, but I don't recall ever seeing someone's child at work with them. The other town that I frequented was Sioux Falls (population 125,000) and I certainly didn't see children playing while their parents worked there. This prompted me to think about other things that are unique to Leadville.

*Having 10 students attend a Student Government meeting is pretty much a school record. 10 students represents approximately 10% of the on-campus population and while off-campus students can be in student government 1) I'm not sure most of them know it and 2) It's a lot easier to be at a 4:30 meeting it's only a 25 foot walk from the door of the residence hall to the door of the cafeteria.
*If you walk into the cafeteria wearing clean-clean clothes (as opposed to "clean" clothes which have only been worn a "few" times, while you wait to accumulate the $1.25 necessary to make the washing machine work) someone will probably ask you where you are going. If you walk into the cafeteria wearing clean-clean clothes, with clean hair that is in something besides a ponytail, it is almost certain that you will be asked about your "hot date" that night. Clean clothes, hair, AND make-up is pretty much a mind-blowing concept, I recommend that you use it with caution.
*Being the only girl in a class of 25 guys is perfectly normal. This has both its' advantages and disadvantages. Being the only girl in Outdoor Emergency Care the day we watched a video on "Emergency Childbirth" was just a bit awkward. Then there are also the times where you get to be the patient in OEC simply because you're a girl (If a male patient complains of abdomen pain and you diagnose him as having an ectopic pregnancy, you evidentally missed out on a few key details during training).
*You walk into Safeway wearing snowpants and snowboard boots and no one gives you weird looks. In fact, someone will probably ask you which resort you went to and a conversation might even be started. At home, wearing snowpants into a store was weird enough, but you certainly didn't wear ski or snowboard boots.
*Someone mentioned to me a few days ago that the history of Leadville is unique and really fascinating. They also thought that the people of Leadville were really amazing, and while that may not be unique to Leadville, it's not something that they had found before.

My blog this week is divided into two postings. If you want to read the other one, keep scrolling down.

The past week

College is an interesting place. It makes you realize things about yourself that you were not aware of. For example, I like to think that I am capable of keeping my room more or less clean. However, as I look at my desk, I realize that I am not a neat person. On my desk, there is currently:
-a wide assortment of dishes and cooking utensils. They have a home- it is not my desk - I just neglected to put them away after they were clean.
~my textbooks are in 3 different piles, facing in 5 different directions
~a ball of yarn... at first I thought it had to do with my "How to Knit" demonstration that I am doing in Public Speaking, but I now realize it is simply a messy, knotted, ball of yarn
~various sheets of paper. Some are work related and some are school related, but most are just miscellaneous sheets of paper.
~pens, pencils, and highliters scattered
~a bag of lemonade flavoring
~a random catalog from a company that prints business cards (throwing it away made too much sense)
~a snowboard lock and Ski Cooper season pass (you would think these would be in my snowpants)
~a tube of chapstick
~hair-ties (because the bathroom was too logical of a location)
~a USB drive
~a wall calender, a little pop-up desk calendar, and my planner... it's probably safe to say I have 2 or 3 different sets of appointments written on these 3 calendars
~other items which I have not un-earthed
I think it's safe to say I know what I'll be doing tomorow (No... not snowboarding... I broke my binding strap and haven't fixed it yet)

As far as the world of academics goes,
~This past week in Ropeway Operations, we turned in a worksheet where we calculated chairlift ride time, capacity, Vertical Transport Feet per Hour, and chair spacing. Some people got a review in math (19.08 minutes should not be rounded to 20 minutes... length x 2 doesn't give you the same answer as T = (60 x carrier spacing) / (rope speed)... "some of the chairs" does not qualify as a number). Then we studied the haul rope. Next week I'm guessing we will be going over the sheave assemblies and towers (we were supposed to go over them this week but ran out of time). Based on looking at the hand-out we were given for sheave assemblies and towers, we should also have time to cover "tramway regulations, inspections, and record keeping".
~This past week in Events Management our topic was "Programming". Greg (our "event director") had each of the committee heads give a summary of what their group had accomplished so far and then he and Paul made suggestions. This coming week, the topic is "Staging the Event". This coming weekend, the majority of our class will be helping with the State High School XC Ski Race and/or the 6th Annual Leadville Loppet. The Recreation District Snowshoe Race is also scheduled for this weekend.
~We took a test in Public Speaking this past week. Next week we are doing 3-4 minute demonstration speeches on a topic of our choice.
~In Trail Grooming Operations, we had our first test of the year. This coming week we will be studying "Pre-season Grooming and Packing New Snow".
~This past week we learned about "Legal Issues and Risk Management" in Ski Patrol Operations lecture. According to our syllabus, we have a test this week, but I believe I heard that the avalanche dogs are actually going to come next week.
~This past week in Food and Beverage Management, our assignment was over "Food and Beverage Marketing". Food and Beverage Marketing includes feasibility studies, ongoing market research, and marketing plans. Our assignment for this next week is "Nutrition for Food Service Operations". This includes: the science of food, nutrition and food service managers, and contemporary dietary concerns. I've heard a lot of people talk about struggling through their online classes, but I don't find my online class to be that difficult. We were given all of our assignments the first week of class- we just have to manage to answer 3 or 4 questions to show that we understood the chapter and then take a 10 question quiz once a week. If you ask me, it's easier to keep up with than face-to-face classes.

Tomorrow night I plan on going to watch the Vagina Monologues at the Spring Valley CMC campus. If you can't make it tomorrow night, they also have it on Saturday night. All showtimes are at 7pm and tickets are $10.

My incredibly exciting Valentine's Day plans include snowboarding with one of my friends, going to En Fuego at Copper, and then watching 13 Going On 30.

Well, I'm off to free swim night. Until next week, have a good Friday the 13th and a Happy Valentines Day. Being nice to the snow gods would also be appreciated. Oh, and try not to get sick- there is some kind of cold/flu going around campus which is leaving people with varying levels of sickness.

The dates for next week's free activities are:
16th: Free gym and swim
17th: Free skate
18th: Free gym and swim
21st: En Fuego at Copper (OK... it's not school-related, but it is free, and who doesn't enjoy watching fireworks?)

"Traditional" v. "Non-traditional" students

Last Saturday, while looking at the Colorado Mountain College facebook group's discussion board, I came across an interesting topic. A 44-year-old student was asking what the "traditional" students think when they see older (aka "non-traditional") students on campus.

I think "non-traditional" students can be quite valuable to the education of us "traditional" students. The 30, 40, and 50 year old students have had experiences that us 18, 19, and 20 year olds haven't had. They have experience with law and medicine from former schooling and work... they can give you a parent's perspective on things, without being hundreds of miles away... they give you advice like "show the staff you're interested and that you want to be successful" which makes your life MUCH easier... they get you to think about the "big picture" and help you devise career plans when you feel like you're just spinning your wheels... they are the voice of reason and offer emotional support. They also provide a tremendous amount of entertainment when they shift from "adult" mode to acting more like a teenager.

I wrote the author of the discussion topic to find out how she, as a "non-traditional" student, felt about being in class with students half her age. I asked her "Do you feel that 'traditional' students bring an interesting perspective to classes? Also, do you ever feel that us 18, 19, and 20 year olds are a hindrance to your education?" Her response was, "I do feel that 'traditional' students bring interesting perspectives to the classes. While I may have more 'life experience' than they do, they have fresh new perspectives that I may not have. I think we benefit each other. I definitely do not feel that younger students are a hindrance to my education. The point to going to college at my age is to continue to learn. I feel that I learn a lot from younger people. I have children the same age (or even sometimes older) than the students I am in class with. I learned so much from my children as they grew, and I try to do the same thing in the classroom."
I found her response interesting for a couple reasons. First of all, I don't generally think of myself and other students my age as having "fresh new perspectives" but I suppose we do because of technology and such. Perhaps "hindrance" was the wrong word for what I was trying to ask, but I know my dad would definately find it an annoyance and think it rude, if he were sitting in class while other people were having side conversations, as us younger students have been known to have a side conversation or two during class and have even been asked, on more than one occasion, if we would like to teach the class.

Events coming up:
February 6th: Free swim night
Feb 6th-8th: Steamboat Winter Carnival
February 9th: Free gym/swim night
February 10th: Free ice skating
February 11th: Free gym night
February 14: En Fuego at Copper
February 16th: Free gym/swim night
February 17th: Free ice skating
February 18th: Free gym night
Feb 19th & 20th: Colorado State High School XC Ski Race
February 21st: En Fuego at Copper
February 22nd: Leadville Loppet