It helps to know people...

I went to a printmaking gallery today to see what the local artists are doing.  I'm also eager to know if there's any way I can get back into printmaking.  It often pains me to think that I rarely use all the skills I learned in college.  

Last thursday, one of my colleagues was handing out announcements for a show opening at a local printshop.  I decided to check it out, and as I started asking my colleague about the printshop and explaining that I have some background in printmaking, it came up that my aunt and uncle happen to be the THE Veatches from The Veatches Arts of the Book.  

Instantly, I went from being a random coworker who happens to have a BFA in Art (with a concentration in Printmaking and Photography) to someone worth collaborating with on silkscreen projects.  

It turns out that being lucky enough to have Lynne and Bob as my aunt and uncle is better than any degree from college.

I have the best family ever.

My Legs

Mandy (formally known as Amanda or AJ) brought up the topic of my bizarrely proportioned legs.  It has been pointed out by many that A) my legs are what my mom likes to refer to as "squatty little legs" and B) that I walk and run really strangely.  As a result, I have avoided athletics for many decades.  I learned early on that the only strength I had as an athlete was in my exceptional skills at the Sit and Reach.  It was a portion of the Presidential Fitness Test that I excelled at, most likely because of my "squatty little legs."  

Now, my legs are troubling me.  Really, I think it is my knees.  I am going to get an MRI tomorrow, and I have already set up an appointment for arthroscopic surgery on December 5th.  I would explain what's wrong with my knees, but everyone I have talked to has given me a different diagnosis.  Every time I have someone look at my knee, the pain is in a different place, and my knee is at any level between "extremely swollen" to "not swollen at all."  All I know is that when I do my favorite activities, it hurts like a (insert any profanity you like).  And that makes me sad.  That is all the info I have at the moment.  I will let you know what the magical imaging device tells me.

Really, I hope I don't develop claustrophobia by tomorrow afternoon.  

October is the Best!

It's been a while. Sorry. It's been a busy month or two. After going to China and moving to a new house, I've been a little preoccupied with organizing my life, and enjoying the last moments of daylight that I will have until Spring.

That's an exaggeration, but now, with this 9 to 5 job, I only see daylight on weekends. So strange.

I love the month of October. It gives me so many reasons to dress up like a crazy person, and it has given me my first few tastes of snow. This blog entry is merely to gloat about the fact that I was able to start my ski season on October 24th by testing climbing skins in Colorado at A-Basin and on Independence Pass. I also took a day to play in the Fright Flight tournament in Boulder, which is a Halloween-themed Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Each team has to dress up as a theme, or they are deducted points as a penalty. It makes for a wonderfully amusing spectacle. This year, my team went as some characters from South Park. Other teams dressed as Looney Tunes, Saturday Night Live characters, Tron, Cavemen and Cavewomen, Sarah Palin and her friends, etc. I love watching people trying to be seriously competitive while they are dressed up as a conehead, or Marvin the Martian. Our team managed to win the B pool, which earned us a bottle of Tequila (to share) and frisbees for each team member.

Then i drove to Aspen where a few of my good friends talked me into spending Halloween in Aspen. I had three days to scrounge up a costume (because I couldn't be seen in the same costume twice, and the costume I wore to the frisbee tournament was not as obvious without the rest of the South Park characters to put it into context). So, I selected a store-bought care bear costume and drove back to Aspen. Jake went to CB for Halloween (long story), and we met up the day after in CB so I could sleep off the "headache" from the night before.

But, the events leading up to the headache were great, and because I was in Aspen on Halloween, I managed to put my vote in for the election (I'm still registered in Aspen. woot! Colorado voted for Obama!).

And, that's my tale. not a very well crafted blog entry...but I don't have sufficient internet at home, so I have to steal small moments to put together these entries so I don't forget how fun my life is sometimes... Happy Halloween, beginning of winter, and Election Day!!!!

My adventure in Shanghai

I feel kinda silly writing about my journey to China, because the majority of the people who are reading this right now have already been in China, or live in China, or just know more about China than I do in general. That being said, when people ask me how my trip to China went, I usually reply "good." Most people here expect me to jump up and down with excitement, or to start rambling away about all of my exciting adventures. But, my trip to China was for business...and I stayed with a Japanese man and his Taiwanese friends, and as a result, I get the strange feeling that my Chinese adventure was about as un-Chinese as you can get. I don't know what I was expecting, and I hadn't done any research on China or Chinese culture, and I'm pretty sure that is why I felt so A) stupid, B) un-worldly, C) naive, and D) vulnerable. Usually, if i'm to travel somewhere new, I try to learn something about where I'm going...but not this time. Luckily, my host (who happens to own the factory who makes all of our gloves) is a lovely Japanese man who assigned me an entertainment manager who is supremely social and studied for a time in Michigan. I think Jim (my entertainment manager) was rather sympathetic. He helped me shop for souveniers and wouldn't let me pay for a thing.

When I returned from my day of shopping, I was treated to extensive multi-course dinners of some of the best seafood and sushi I've ever had in my life. My new favourite food is Lobster Sashimi. I also learned that I love what our hostess called "fish neck" which looked more like "fish face" to me. Paired with some daikon (cold shredded radish), it is so delicious. Although I felt a little guilty eating it while the poor thing stared at me with his dead eye.

Next time I'm going to try to get out of the city and see some other aspects of China, but I was so tired the whole time, and was still expected to keep all the projects at home still running, that I didn't have much time to do anything other than eat, drink, and talk about the future of gloves at Black Diamond.

And, I'm sure everyone's curious about the factory. The factory was nothing like I expected. It was a well-lit, small, seemingly efficient factory. I did NOT see young children sewing. I think the youngest person I saw was about 24. I didn't really talk to any of the workers other than Jim, but overall, I get a good feeling about my Chinese (or Japanese or Taiwanese) colleagues.

But, my favourite things about China? the busses that look like giant caterpillars and the bacon. The bacon is sososososoosossosososososososoooo good. At least the bacon I had at my little bed and breakfast was so good. Like I said, I'd be surprised if I actually had eaten any Chinese food, because I didn't really get out much. But seriously, mmmm.....bacon.

and I leave you with that.

Paper Chef: my first attempt

Andrew's blog continues to inspire me. I was particularly impressed by his participation in Paper Chef two months ago, and I decided that I might give the next round a try. Well, the next installment of Paper Chef occurred this past weekend.

I am not really a chef, and I wouldn't say that I even know how to cook very well, so I approached this challenge as I would have one of my art projects in college.

And, I decided that food-based art projects are a more satisfying at this point in my life because I can eat them!

The ingredients I had to work with were the following: Quinoa, Yogurt, Tomatoes, and Rice Paper or some other wrapper.

Instantly, I was reminded of a couple of memories. I had only ever heard of Quinoa at NOLS. It was a mysterious grain type substance that all of our instructors opted for instead of Cous Cous every time we put together our rations. I had never tried it because I thought that anything that could be compared with couscous had to be gross (or at least hard to cook on a camp stove). The Yogurt reminded me of Naan bread. I had cooked naan once in my college years, and loved how easy it was to make a delicious dough. And, instantly I thought of the spectacular Stuffed Grape Leaf Pita sandwiches that I used to snack on from the falafel stand on St. Mark's Place. So I decided to put together my version of that wrap. I had intended to make the "stuffed grape leaves" into invisible stuffed grape leaves, where the filling included minced grape leaves and Quinoa, and it was all nicely wrapped in the rice paper wrappers, but I couldn't get rice paper wrappers at any of the grocery stores I went to. Grape Leaves seemed to be hard to obtain too, but I ultimately found them. So I am counting my naan bread as the "other wrap" and also the yogurt element. You may notice the yogurt sauce I made to accompany the wrap, but I hate yogurt sauce, so I didn't actually put it on my wrap, and I think it tastes better without it.



And, without further ado......my Paper Chef submission: Grape Leaves stuffed Sandwich Wrap

The filling:

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 cup Quinoa (toasted, then rinsed)

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

3 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup currants (dried)

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

1/4 cup minced fresh mint

8-10 grape leaves, minced

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until tender. Add quinoa and cumin and stir for a minute. Add 3 cups of broth and currants. Cover and simmer until quinoa is tender and the liquid is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Mix in nuts, parsley, mint, and grape leaves. Salt and Pepper to taste.

I let this stuffing hang out over night, and I think it's better chilled.

and the next day I baked the Naan bread:

1 1/2 tsps dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsps sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3 tbsps vegetable oil
3 tbsps ghee (clarified butter)
3 tbsps yogurt

Preparation:
Add the dry yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir till the yeast is dissolved. Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to froth. This indicates the yeast is active. Keep aside.
Mix the flour and salt to taste and sift through a very fine seive. Put it into a large mixing bowl and now add the yeast mixture, 3 tbsps of oil and all the yogurt.
Use your fingertips to mix all this into a soft dough. Once mixed, flour a clean, flat surface and knead the dough till it is smooth and stretchy
Grease a large bowl with a few drops of cooking oil and put the dough in it. Cover and allow to rest for about 90 minutes or till the dough doubles in volume.
Punch the dough down and knead again for 10 minutes.
Equally divide the dough and roll between your palms to form 8 round balls.
Lightly flour the same surface on which you kneaded the dough and roll out each ball until you have a circle, 7-8 inches in diameter (1/2 "thick). Gently pull on one edge of the circle to form the Naan into a teardrop shape. Do not pull too hard or you may tear the Naan. Instead of rolling the dough out (with a rolling pin) you can also pat it into a circle with your hands.
Preheat your oven 400.
Lay a piece of aluminum foil in an oven tray (to cover) and grease it lightly with a few drops of cooking oil.
Place as many Naans as will fit without touching each other, on the tray.
Brush each Naan with some ghee.
Put the tray into the oven and cook till the Naan begins to puff out and get lightly brown. Flip the Naan and repeat.

And then, finally, while the naan is still warm, spread some of the Quinoa/Grape Leaf mixture on to it, and add some fresh lettuce and some sliced cherry tomatoes (picked fresh from your garden), fold the naan around all of these things and eat!

I wish I had known about this recipe when I was a vegetarian, because I would've eaten it all the time!

Relocating

Here is a lovely picture of our new home. It was not a problem to find a new and better living situation. Our new landlords are very friendly and they live at least two houses away, in their own (and completely separate) house. Ahhh...so much better.

I also live about 5 miles closer to work, so I may even be able to ride my bike to work.

But, what I really wanted to show you about this picture can be seen by looking just a wee bit closer at the photo....

Do you see what I see? Can you possible understand how happy I am? Yes, like the first crocus that peers it's head out of the frozen ground to signify the beginning of spring....it is SNOW!!!!! It's what I've been waiting for since April. Beautiful, glorious, cold, snow.

I went away to Boise for an ultimate tournament this past weekend, and when I came back, it was raining. Then, on Monday the clouds cleared and there was some snow sprinkled on tops of the surrounding peaks. Oh, and the temperature dropped to be around 68 degrees and it was beautiful. My happiness level has increased ten-fold.

Joy.

Homes Sweet Homes

This past weekend, Jake and I returned to Crested Butte. I had an Ultimate Frisbee tournament there and it was Jake's birthday, so we spent the weekend in our favourite town.
It was bittersweet going back there. The weather was absolutely beautiful, 40's at night, and 70's during the day. Jake and I didn't really have much planned, so we went for a bike ride and about a half a mile into it, we found a nice little spot on the Slate River to play around on. There was not another soul in sight, so I took a nice dip in the refreshing (read: 45 degree) water.
That is something that I don't think I could do in Salt Lake City. It's nearly impossible to get a nice moment to yourself because we're still in a city, but I will keep looking.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful, the people were great as usual, and I didn't have to get into a motorized vehicle the entire weekend. Crested Butte is an extremely bike friendly town, and it's easy to get everywhere on two wheels.

Of course, I have to remind myself that there are no jobs in Crested Butte that are anywhere near as wonderful as the job I have now...and I'm sure as soon and the snow comes, I'll be pretty psyched to be in Salt Lake City. But, for summers, Crested Butte is Paradise.

Jake and I returned home Sunday night and were greeted by my mom who had just gotten off of her bus tour and the three of us went out for Olive Garden. It was great to have mom there. But she did have to witness the fallout of the strange relationship we have had with our current landlord. Apparently while jake and I were out of town, our landlord decided that he needed to move back into his house (or at least the downstairs apartment). He stated that as a result, Jake would have to move his trailer from the property by September 1st and that Jake and I would not be allowed to make any noise after 10pm.

Jake and I immediately started searching for another place to live, and will be moving to another house on Labor Day. Welcome back to Salt Lake City....

A month later

Yes, it's been a while.  Sorry for the long silence.  I was involved in a house hunt which ultimately ended in my putting in an offer for a house, getting the offer accepted (finally) and then I discovered that there was a large inexplicable hole underneath the house which would eventually compromise the foundation.  

So, that was my dress rehearsal, and I've decided to put off the final performance until a later time...

And, because I was so busy (and stressed out) about that house experience, I sort of let everything slide.  In that time, however, I did manage to attend a huge trade show for work and a frisbee tournament, and I'm off to another frisbee tournament tomorrow.

And my garden is still exploding.  I've baked a grand total of 10 loaves of zucchini bread, 2 strawberry/rhubarb pies, and I've cooked more zucchini and tomato tortellini than I can handle at this point.  Apparently all my plants didn't need my help while I was busy taking care of work-related things.  It's just happy to keep doing it's thing.  And I'm glad it is because it makes me happy.

my garden exploded!

well, I went away for the weekend (more about that later) and I came back to find that my garden started producing.  I have two full size zucchinis, a tomato that is almost ready to pick.  my basil has finally become tall enough that I don't feel guilty pillaging it, and there are green tomatoes everywhere!  I like this gardening thing.

They weren't lying

They weren't lying when they said that the desert is dry. It's pretty hard to find a place to cool off around here. Watershed protection efforts dictate that you can't play in some of the most inviting streams. I'm okay with this, because I would like to do my part to protect our watershed, but it makes it difficult for me because I love water. I love it in at least two of it's forms....liquid and solid (water and ice/snow).
This past weekend Jake and I went in search of water that we could play in, which took us a few hours northeast of Salt Lake City. Northeastern Utah is gorgeous. It's not as hot and dry as it is down here. The foliage is a bit more lush and it reminds me of Colorado. Why can't Black Diamond be up there?!

Tucked up in the corner of Utah which borders both Wyoming and Idaho there is a large lake called Bear Lake. The color of the water is similar to the carribean, and it was not as crowded as I would have suspected. The water was fairly warm, and I'm pretty sure I could have floated out there for hours, but, alas, it was a school night, and we had to drive another 3 hours to get home.

The west is huge.

2 weeks later

Hi again.  

Well, I haven't been able to garden or do anything really exciting for a little bit.  I injured my knee (or possibly my ankle/knee/hip/leg...whatever).  You see, I've been trying out for a club Ultimate Frisbee team.  Yes, I aspire to become a world class player of Ultimate.  The strange thing is, I never was very athletic before.  I don't know why I don't count skiing or snowboarding or hiking as being athletic.  But, I do count things like soccer and rugby and cross-country running, and biking as athletic.  I guess it's because they actually get your heart rate up to a significant level.  Maybe I'm confusing Cardiovascularly Taxing with Athletic.  I don't know.  But, anyway, due to a problem with my right eye, I was never "allowed" to play any type of game that would result in my body coming into contact with some other fast moving body or object.

And now my body is rejecting my attempts to play sports.  I practiced and played with the serious players here in Salt Lake for three weeks straight before the actual tryouts, and on the first day of tryouts, my leg cramped up, and I've been unable to walk normally for the past two weeks or so.  But, I made the team.  There's an A team and a B team.  I will be on the B team.  I'm quite happy with that, as I can't imagine the level of damage I'd do to my body if I was to try and play at the level that some of the better players play at.  I'll be going to a tournament in Boulder in a couple of weeks.  The cool thing is that a few of my friends from Crested Butte are going to be playing against us at that tournament.  I can't wait!

And, in the weeks that I couldn't bend my knee, I wasn't able to tend my lovely garden, but it seems to be doing quite well without me.  I have killed about 12 snails so far, and already my plants seem much happier.  My basil is still pretty sorry looking, but everything else is looking quite good.

Oh, and I'm looking for a house, and Jake has been helping me strengthen my leg by taking me biking, which I'm also starting to really like, and oddly, it doesn't hurt my knee nearly as much as ultimate.

Public Enemy Number 1: the snail

The main reason I wanted to start a garden was to have a never-ending supply of basil. Basil is quite possibly my favourite flavor in the world. Jake would say that everything is my favourite thing in the world, so I can't possibly mean that about Basil...but I do. I love the smell of it. I love the smell it leaves on my hands for days after I cook something with it. and, I don't think I know how to cook anything that doesn't require the use of basil. In fact, if I have a son ever, he is going to be named Basil. And maybe I'll have a girl named Sage, and another named Rosemary....

But I digress...

Anyway, there is one thing standing between me and my never-ending supply of basil: the garden snail. Grrrr..... I researched it, and it seemed that there are a few simple tricks to deterring these monsters from feasting on my basil. The beer trap seems to be the way to go, except that beer is not easy to come by in these here parts. In fact, I have one precious bottle of beer in my refrigerator that I brought from colorado, and I'll be damned if I'm going to waste such a precious commodity on these little bastards, but it may have to come to that. Fortunately, I'm not the biggest fan of beer, but it's the principle of the the thing.


The rest of my garden is going well enough. Apparently, Desert soil is not the easiest to work with, but it's nothing a couple piles of composted cow poop and a six pack of "near beer" can't fix. (I hope).

Bag Lunch

I went back to the Northeast to hang out with my family (on my mom's side) last week. It was a wonderful trip, even though it was way too short. My sister and I had two nights out on the town in Boston. We gorged ourselves on lobster, chowder, italian food, and we met up with two of my closest friends from high school, Emily and Gretchen. I love returning home. I love catching up with people that I'm so close to that it doesn't matter how long we've been apart. Somehow, whenever I see my high school friends, and, of course my family, it's like we haven't skipped a beat. There are more babies to meet, and more stories to share, but there are not hard feelings about being gone for so long.

And, oh, how I love lobster...

After Boston, Jess and I took a bus to Springfield where we were picked up by my mom. We drove to Northampton to stay with Lynne and Bob, and we were greeted by our hosts and by a wonderful meal. We also were reunited with Tina and Andrew and Molly and Abby. The entire Veatch clan.

Later the Gates arrived many of us got to meet Anya for the first time.

So wonderful.

But, the purpose of this blog is to discuss the bag lunch that I was given when I left for the airport. Lynne and Bob put together a wonderful sandwich with a side of grapes, a chunk of brie (i'm guessing here...maybe it was camembert, but whatever...it was great!) and a collection of walnuts...and of course, for dessert, a piece of my mom's zucchini bread. I held onto it through both of my flights as though it were some precious gift, which to me it was. Something about how the Veatchs can take a simple meal and turn it into a gourmet feast. Even more so than the lobster and the chicken marsala in the North End of Boston. It's silly, I know, but it's the sort of thing that reminds me how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and talented family.

SLC, week one

One week down, and an indefinite number of weeks left to go.

I've decided that I love it here. It's scary for me, because usually I don't have that feeling right off the bat. My job is perfect, my house is great, and I even found organized ultimate frisbee to play. It's almost unsettling.

About the job: I feel like I already belong. I've met a handful of really cool people. And, oddly enough, the time goes by so quickly every day that it doesn't even feel like work. I'm using my brain more than I have in awhile, and unlike working for Ralph Lauren, I'm actually really excited about the product that I'm developing. I can relate to ski gloves because I actually use them. I also enjoy the fact that we can "borrow" sample products and use them as long as we come back with some constructive feedback. I'm pretty sure I can handle it. And, of couse, that three person tent that I just got, uh...I mean borrowed, will come in pretty handy on my next few camping trips.

About Salt Lake City: The city is pretty strange. I know that there are a lot of Mormons here (mainly because people tell me that there are, and there are quite a few LDS churches) but there are also a lot of athletic/outdoorsy people who are here for the mountains and the desert. The liquor laws are funny, so I'm glad that I'm not a big drinker. Also, today, as we were standing in line at the grocery store, Jake pointed out that some of the magazines had black panels in front of them. Now, I've only ever seen stores put these black panels in front of magazines like Playboy or Hustler, but there's no way any grocery store would put those magazines in the checkout line. Apparently Cosmopolitan and Shape magazine are a tad too risque for Salt Lake City. No joke.

That is about all I've discovered during week one of my SLC adventure. I will keep you posted as more develops.

Home Sweet Home

After an 8 hour drive through Wyoming, and a little bit of Colorado and Utah, we arrived at our new home in Sandy, Utah.  Sandy is a suburb of Salt Lake City.  Sandy is also strategically located for easy access to Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons (home to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude).  

First thing I did when I got the chance was to get some starter plants for my new vegetable garden.  I only have three varieties of tomatoes, but I saved some room for a couple of basil plants, some bell pepper plants, a cucumber, and some rhubarb plants that were sent from Long Island.  I'm pretty excited.  I hope I don't kill them all.  

I introduced Jake to the wonders of IKEA (where we found a dresser for 37$...so what if it is missing some corners).  And, we are quickly filling up our 3-bedroom house with ski gear, bikes, and stuff to cook with.  Yes, I'm actually eating meals at home!  Thank god Jake knows something about cooking.

We haven't ventured too far from our house yet, but I've been busy working.  I love my new job so far.  The company is great, and the people there are even better.  My favourite quote of the the day was spoken by Mari (the textile engineer) as we were walking around the office.  I spotted a pair of skis that I have been coveting for an entire season and mentioned my obsession with them.  Mari just told me, "well, you know that cage in the back, with all the skis? Well, we have a couple of each model, each with a different type of binding, that you can take out pretty much whenever you want, all you have to do is sign them out."  And, apparently we have a lot of opportunity to borrow them.  In the winters, the staff go out a few times each week to do laps in the backcountry.  It's amazing.

That's all I have for now.  Enjoy the pictures of my house, my garden, and the view of the Wasatch Mountains from my front yard...

Tour de Colorado

Before I could move to Utah, I had to visit a few friends in Colorado.  Specifically Aspen.  I love Colorado.  And many of it's residents do too.  It's the only State (other than Texas) that has a flag that I can pick out of a line-up.  People actually fly the Colorado flag outside of their houses, or hang the flag in their windows.  It's strange that such a state has the kind of pride that it does.  But if you lived here, you would too.  Well, actually, if you lived in the western half of the state.  See, Colorado is only half mountains...the other half is flat land.  Granted, Denver, being the "Mile High City" is still pretty up there...but it's the mountain towns that have the most pride in being from Colorado...and a lot of the residents aren't even native Coloradans.  But we love it.  And it's hard to leave.  

After Jake's mountain bike race, I went and visited Aspen.  Aspen is a wonderful place, and if it wasn't so darned expensive, I would consider settling down there.  But, the millionaires are now being pushed out by the billionaires (no exaggeration), but the billionaires are getting their money's worth.  Even ski bums can live large in this town because of locals discounts...as long as they don't mind sharing a room the size of a queen size bed.  But, Aspen has some of the greatest climbing, rafting, kayaking, hiking, skiing, and biking (road and mountain) in the entire state, not to mention some really great festivals.  The Food and Wine Classic is my personal favourite, and if you know somebody who knows somebody you can usually find a pass for at least one day for free and live like a king!  or get really drunk really fast on amazing wines and food, as there isn't much food, and more than enough wine (and vodka, and honey wine, and beer and other assorted modes of inebriation).  So good.

And, when I went back to the great city of Aspen, I ran into someone I knew everywhere I went.  And I hope that never changes.  I got to run Slaughterhouse (a class IV+ section of whitewater) at high water, got to drive through my favourite section of road in the world (I-70 through Glenwood Canyon), and play kickball with the locals, after having a wonderful 3-course meal at the Wild Fig.  Act like a child and live like a king.  Ahhh, Aspen.

Next stop, after Aspen, was Denver.  Jake and I met up to attend a concert at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre.  Red Rocks is an amazing venue.  It's a natural ampitheater in the rock formation just west of Denver.  I've only ever seen one other concert there, and the seats were high enough that we could see over the stage and watch a thunder storm over Denver.  This time, however, Jake and I got front row seats, which put us level with the stage and made it seem like the band was playing just for us.  It was fabulous.  

After the concert, Jake and I headed to the hotel where we would spend our last night in Colorado....for about a month.  

US Handcycle Racing

As a few of you may know, I have been spending a lot of time lately with Jake.  We're in the process of packing up all of our belongings and moving into a sweet little 3B house in Sandy, Ut.  We have already removed all of my stuff from Crested Butte, and are hanging out in Southern Colorado, where Jake has lived for a few months.  We need to pack all of his stuff up as well.  Luckily, he is the proud owner of a fairly large pickup truck, and a trailer for hauling all sorts of power tools and sports equipment.

Yesterday we took a break from packing and planning to attend a handcycle race in Conifer, CO.  Jake's friend, Seth, stayed overnight and we all went up together.  Seth happens to be the World Champion of Off-Road handcycling...and a paralympian.  Jake is a recreational handcycler...but does compete on occasion.  It's a new world for me, and they did a lot of technical talking about bikes, and construction of bikes, and geometry of bikes.  Oh, wait, I mean trikes, since handcycles tend to have three wheels.  I've shown a few people pictures of the kind of cycles I'm talking about but, basically, they are cycles that are pedaled with ones hands.  They have two wheels on the front and one in the back.  You can steer with your chest or with the handles in the front.  They're pretty complicated, and to my shame, I have yet to try one out.

Anyway, so, we went to Conifer and met up with a fairly large group of wheelchair athletes for this race.  There must have been about 30 competitors, which is a large group, especially for a first annual event.  And it was pretty impressive.  The most impressive thing, however, is that Jake came in second place, with Seth coming in first place, of course! 

 

Meanwhile, I got a chance to talk to a bunch of the guys and gals competing.  And, the rehab hospital in Denver had some of their staff members at the event.  Therapeutic Recreation is huge part of rehabilitation for people with injuries.  I actually worked with a program in Crested Butte, called the Adaptive Sports Center, which provides equipment and lessons to people with a variety of disabilities, and I learned so much about the importance of adaptive sports.  I also realized that my years of being a ski bum could be useful in helping other people.  And, at this race, the most impressive athlete was one of Jake's neighbors, who Jake had been hanging out with recently.  This guy Ryan was in a pretty bad car accident about 8 months ago, and began talking to Jake about his injury, and about handcycles.  Jake has two of his own handcycles (one for mountain biking and one for road biking), and had been letting Ryan use them recently.  Ryan ended up coming to this race, and as far as I knew, couldn't manage extensive amounts of time on Jake's bikes, but managed to complete the course in a little over an hour.  With such a new injury, it's amazing that this guy could do that course, and It'll be great to see what he does when he gets his own One-Off (handcycles used for mountain biking).

A weekend of thinking

This past weekend my friend Emily and I went camping in one of our National Park. I had no idea that we had a National Park so close to where I've been living for the past six months. But, as it turns out, the Black Canyon National Park is about a 2 hour drive away from me. Emily lives in Aspen, and I live in Crested Butte and we decided to meet for a girls camping extravaganza somewhere between our two towns. Oddly, Crested Butte and Aspen are about 22 miles apart, as the crow flies, but, because of mountains, Em and I had to meet 80 miles away from both of our towns. But I digress.

I am currently nursing a very bad case of tendonitis or tenosynovitis in my elbow. Basically, it's very severe tennis elbow, or, as I now call it: "mopping elbow." I'm not even allowed to lift a coffee cup with my right arm. So I decided to go camping.

Anyway, as I was driving to meet Em, I started to think back on the great things I had the opportunity to do as a kid. Before I turned into a Goth, I did spend some time in the outdoors, and apparently, those things I did when I was younger remained in my soul so that one day I would return to the outdoors again. I understand that the outdoors are not for everyone. But, I do think it is important for an individual to spend some time camping, or hiking, or skiing or something, so that they can decide for themselves how to enjoy the outdoors. As sad as it sounds, I personally would not be able to cook for myself if I hadn't ever camped. I still cook as though I'm cooking over my portable camp stove (use one pot for the entire meal, reuse the pasta water to make hot cocoa later, or as a hot water bottle at night). And, as much as I love to surround myself with nifty things (music, ipods, down comforters, snowboards, skis, my car, objects of art, etc), it wasn't until I had to carry everything I needed for day to day survival on my back that I realized how much of the stuff I own I didn't actually "need." Of course, this is why many of us opt to have a permanent place to call home. I myself will soon be living in a 3B in a nice little suburb of Salt Lake City, with a white picket fence (no joke) and a peace garden. And, I can't wait to have the garage to fill with all of my ski gear, and eventually maybe a printing press and typecases. Oh joy! And maybe a little garden with tomatoes and basil and cucumbers and lavender so that I can have fresh herbs and veggies to cook with, should I ever learn to cook like a normal person...

But, the reason I say all this is that I had a lot of time to think about how much I would love to be available to all of my nieces (an nephews?) and take them out camping, or teach them how to ski if ever any of them wanted to. So, I'm advertising my services as an Aunt-for-Hire. And, if any of the mothers or fathers or grandparents of these wonderful nieces of mine ever wanted to join me in my outdoor pursuits, you are all more than welcome.

just putting that out there.

Alex Austin with Big Train at Hurricane Patty's

This weekend I went to Florida with Jake to celebrate my birthday and to go to my dad's CD release party. Dad has been playing regular gigs at venues in St. Augustine, Florida for awhile now. He has been spending the past few months recording tracks with a group of amazing musicians that he met when he moved down to Florida a few years back. This weekend he hosted a CD release party, which featured many local musicians and his own band, Big Train.

The weekend was great. Dad invited his friends, Jim and Barbara, to stay as well, so we all spent a lot of time listening to music in the local honky tonks (well, restaurants and bars really) and hanging out by the ocean, soaking in the sun.

Maryanne picked up a Carvel Ice Cream cake for me for my birthday, which was great. Jake, who is a Colorado native, had never even heard of Carvel, so I felt like it was an important step in his life. There is no better cake in the world. But I digress.

Dad's party was fantastic. He packed a fairly large restaurant with his friends and acquaintances. He started performing with Jim, the mandolin player. They play mostly country and bluegrass. Big Pineapple followed dad's set. Big Pineapple plays Hawaiian-style music, complete with ukelele and slide guitar. The ukelele player and slide guitarist (who also dabbles in the pedal steel) are both featured on dad's CD as well. After Big Pineapple, Big Train got up. Big Train is a pretty large band, and also quite impressive. Later in the night, other musicians were called on stage, and at one point I was persuaded to sing along with the band, which was fun, although I'm still pretty shy about performing in public!

Essentially, the whole experience made me extremely happy and proud of my dad and Maryanne. They have been fortunate enough to meet up and collaborate with a great community of musicians down in Florida. Everyone in the crowd was so excited about everything dad has been working on, and they were extremely welcoming.

A Ski Bum Moves On

I'm very excited about my new job, but I have to admit that I'm a little sad to have to leave Crested Butte. When I first decided to move to Crested Butte, I had a very strong feeling that this would be my final move. I had visited the town a handful of times before making the decision, but I knew that first day, at the 7th Annual Kickball Championship, that Crested Butte was a place I needed to live in. I met some of the greatest people on that fateful day in August. And, what started out as a group of strangers joking that I should just leave Aspen and move to Crested Butte because, "Crested Butte is way better than Aspen" according to five guys who had never even stepped foot in Aspen, turned in to a seemingly knee-jerk decision to relocate to "the last real great ski town."

Crested Butte is fantastic. I'm sure there are other places in the world that are just as fantastic. It's not the most beautiful Colorado mountain town. Telluride and Aspen have prettier scenery, in my opinion. And, CB doesn't have the greatest variety of skiing (although it does have arguably the most extreme terrain). But, of all the places that I've lived so far, Crested Butte certainly has the greatest community events. Yes, this sounds a little ridiculous. But, it was the Kickball Championship (which was a fundraiser for the Historical Museum) that got me to visit in the first place. Then, the appeal was increased by the Crested Butte Ultimate Hat Tournament (for Ultimate Frisbee), only to be enhanced by the promise of even better events: Vinatok (a pagan CB celebration in which the entire town gathers to burn the "Grump" which is a collection of scraps of paper on which it citizens have written all the worries and negative thoughts of the previous year, which they hope to let go of), the Townie Takeover (a bike event where everyone grabs their beat-up old bikes and ride around the town for 24-hours straight), the Red Lady ball (a fundraising event that not only celebrates the famous prositutes from the early days of CB, but also raises money to prevent the proposed mine that is threatening to ruin one of our favourite peaks, the Red Lady), and the Al Johnson Memorial Uphill/Downhill Telemark Race (which deserves its own blog, and which i will write about soon).

This is the type of community I have been searching for for a long time, and so I'm very sad to have to leave it. The problem is the lack of viable jobs. Most jobs in towns like this are seasonal. It is expected that most of the workforce will only be around for a few months at a time, so many companies that need year-round employees end up going somewhere else. The cost of living in such a glorious place is also unreasonably high. Rents are comparable to NYC, and food is even more expensive, since most restaurants (and, oddly, the local grocery store) know they can charge more because tourists will pay more. But, the wages here are lower than NYC, and also Aspen and Summit County, Colorado.

Really, the only way to make money in a place like this is to own your own business or to become a realtor. No joke.

And so I move to Salt Lake City. It's a city, yes. But, it is supposedly a great city to live in if you're Mormon, or if you are an outdoor enthusiast. There are six ski mountains within 30 minutes of downtown, and there are more opportunities to own houses (joy!), and to have jobs that would allow one to own said houses (double joy!). So, we'll see.

And, if I am to end my ski bum story now, I can't have chosen a better "final season." We had so much glorious powder. I am at a place in my skiing/snowboarding where I am more than happy with my abilities, and I can say that I had an epic season. Also, I got to travel to Ecuador to go whitewater rafting, and I have seen and learned a lot about what I want from life.

Really. I can do this.

Survival of the Fittest

A few months ago, at the height of the snow accumulation in Crested Butte, the janitors at the Crested Butte Community School had their hands full.  Every day we'd get a call over the loudspeaker to remove snow from something or other.  One fine mid-February day, Jaime and Shawn were called down to the office and asked to shovel out the slides. I had developed tendonitis in my wrist at that point, so I got to stay inside and mop the cafeteria.  After I finished my task, I went outside to find Shawn and Jaime in the playground.  You see, we had at least 6 feet of snow covering the playground and, apparently, some kids insisted on sliding down the slides.  These are the plastic tubular slides, so the end of each slide was completely covered in snow, making the slides more like dead-end tunnels.  Needless to say, the kids, determined to use the slides, would slide down the slide and get stuck.  They would try to climb up the slick plastic, but to no avail.  On some level, this is hilarious.  On another level, the idea of these kids getting trapped in these inescapable plastic tunnels is a little frightening.  

As the story goes, these kids were third graders.  Obviously, third graders know everything. And, they know so much that they go against what their teachers say, knowing that they are able to escape from everything.  And, in order to save these kids from themselves, the janitors had to come to the rescue.  

The punchline for this story, however, is that while Jaime and Shawn were digging escape tunnels for the slides, a first grader came outside.  He asked the janitors what they were doing. To which the Janitors replied, "we are digging out the slides so that kids don't get stuck in them."  The first grader looked at Jaime and Shawn with an expression of disgust and proclaimed, "Well, that's stupid.  Everybody knows you're not supposed to go on the slides."

Janitor tricks

The only real trick I have learned as a janitor is a nifty way to clean shoe-scuffmarks off of linoleum tile floors: get yourself a tennis ball and rub it on the scuff. it comes off almost instantly. It's magical really. we have a tennis ball on a stick so that we don't hurt our backs or knees.

Off-Season Antics

The Elk Mountain Range is home to many things: Aspenites, Crested Buttians, Magpies, Black Bears and Elk being the only things I can think of at the moment. So, in an effort to allow all these things to coexist, the Aspenites and Crested Buttians close down their ski lifts so that the Elk can migrate along the mountain range without disruption.
This leaves us with an interesting phenomenon come mid-April, when the ski resort becomes "our National Forest" again. This means that we can pretty much do whatever we want without fear of getting our pass pulled.

This past weekend, a couple of my friends decided that it might be a good idea to snowmobile to the top of the longest black diamond run on Mt. Crested Butte with their mountain bikes (technically the bikes are trikes, and they are actually handcycles that have been developed for paraplegics to use for mountain biking) and ride down said black diamond ski run. Mind you, we still have a pretty substantial base of snow (60" and melting fast). I volunteered to skin up on my teles so that I could document this nonsense, and immediately was appointed the task of driving the snowmobile back down the mountain. I have never driven a snowmobile, so I was given my first lesson at the top of Mt. Crested Butte, and then sent on my merry way. I opted to take the easier way down, while my friends, Jake (who is a paraplegic) and Craig (who is not a paraplegic, but has an obsession with these handcycles) bee-lined it down International. Mind you, I have a hard time bee-lining it down that run on my snowboard...so watching these guys was a bit scary, and since, as far as we know, this sort of thing has never been tried before...anything could happen. But, we all made it down safely. And a good time was had by all.

The town is empty. all of it's seasonal citizens have left, and it's full-timers are all on vacation to warmer climates. It's a bit lonely, but it is nice to have an entire ski resort all to myself.

Ullr

So, mom asked me what Ullr meant.  

Ullr was the Norse God of Winter (or hunting and skiing).  As a result, skiers and snowboarders have started "worshipping" him as the one who brings us snow.  Citizens of mountain towns burn old skis and snowboards in his honor as an offering, so that he will bless us with powder or massive snowstorms.  This year he has been particularly generous.

anyway.  that's just a little bit of trivia for you all.