A week of inner peace

This week was "Inner Peace" week on campus. I'm not sure where the idea originated, but I think it was a good one.

I had a delightful afternoon in Silverthorne wandering around the outlet malls doing some shopping. It was at least 50 degrees that day, probably closer to 60. If you live in the area and have never been to the Silverthorne outlet malls, I definately recommend a trip there even if you don't do any shopping. Although with their prices, it's hard to resist buying something. Most of the stores cater to teens and women, but there are some stores with infant and childrens clothing along with a few stores that sold outerwear. When you get hungry, Chipotle tends to be the restaurant of choice for "gourmet burritos and tacos". There are 3 different "villages" that make up the outlet malls, but there is a very nice walking path between them.
"Inner Peace" week kicked off on Sunday night with star gazing. I did not partake in this event because the idea of bundling up to go outside and look at stars did not particularly interest me.

Then on Monday, we had an Events Management class where I think a lot of us felt the stress (for a week of inner peace, class was not exactly increasing our inner peace, lol) of things not coming together quite as nicely as we would have liked them to. Paul told my committee to have posters distributed by February 23rd, and here it was March 2nd and they were sitting at the front of the classroom. Luckily, everyone in class took 10 or 15 posters to hang up, so things are progressing now. The rail jam is 2 1/2 weeks from now, but spring break complicates things because we all keep thinking "Oh, I have 2 1/2 weeks left", but it's more like a week when you factor in everyone leaving for spring break. Then we had a Student Government meeting where the only people in attendance were women. The only item of business was hearing about an incubator program for the Entrepreneurship program. Next fall, for $50/month, students will be able to rent office space to start their own business. There is also an opportunity to apply for mini-grants to assist in off-setting the costs of starting your business. After the meeting, the 5 girls that were there along with Sarah decided that it would be a fun idea to have a women's retreat (March is Women's History Month) and go rock climbing and/or to the hot springs in Buena Vista. We were all quite excited about this idea because sometimes the testosterone levels around here get to be a bit overwhelming. :)

Yesterday (Tuesday) there were two shifts of students signed up to go to the animal shelter to walk dogs as part of "Inner Peace" week. The 7 students signed up for the first shift turned into just me. Sarah and I went to the shelter anyway and took Cedar and Kena for a walk around Leadville for about an hour. Kena is a Husky and she was a lot of fun to walk. Cedar was a Golden Retriever/Husky mix who was a little shy. Then we went back to campus, and once again the group that was signed up didn't work out. We did manage to recruit Erin and Josh though. Then we went back to the shelter. Sarah, Erin, and Josh walked 3 little dogs named Coy, Zippy, and Poncho. I got to walk Kena again. We had a nice 45 minute or so walk, although I think the 3 small dogs were rather tired by the end. It was definately a fun day though and we were all interested in going back again (Erin may have been more interested in looking at cute cats than walking dogs though, lol). The picture at the top of this post was taken during the first walk around Leadville. The mountains looked slightly more majestic in person. I'll try to get more pictures uploaded when I get back from spring break- Sarah is supposed to email them to me.

Today was relatively uneventful. A group went snowshoeing as part of "Inner Peace" week but I haven't heard how it went.

Oh, my mini-rant of the day. In Colorado, considering that there are signs on the interstate that say "Remove Accidents From Traffic", I think it is safe to say that if you get in an accident in the bank parking lot, it is not necessary to leave your car sitting right in front of the drive-up ATM. As a result of two cars that felt it necessary to remain parked in front of the ATM, I got to park my car, walk to the ATM, and then walk back to my car. I'm not complaining about this small amount of exercise, but I was in a hurry to get back to campus because this was during our lunch break and I didn't need to personally experience:

"Paul: You're late

Student: I'm sorry

Paul: You're not sorry, you're late".

It turns out that I made it to class in plenty of time though, so I guess I don't have a whole lot to complain about. During Ski Patrol class, Paul also informed us that for our co-op experience next year, it is not too early to be thinking about it and that we should have an "A", a "B", a "C", and a "D" plan as far as where we would be interested in working. Pre-registration for fall courses (at least at the Timberline campus) will begin when students return from spring break on March 16th.

Tomorrow evening is the final activity of "Inner Peace" week. There is going to be a beginner's yoga session. I would go take part in it, but I will instead be on an airplane on my way to Vancouver, Canada.

I will try to give an update on Thursday night or Friday night, but I can't guarantee anything. More realistically, it will probably be next Thursday before I have internet access again (or at least internet access that I do not have to pay for).