"I Ain’t Never Seen Anyone Do That To a Wheel!"

-Ken at Kwiki Tire, Hotchkiss, CO

Rock 3, Mazda 0. Ready, wrestle!

Watch for Falling Rocks

I’m finally on the shuttle out of middle-of-nowhere, CO and am recounting some of the things I’ve learned while I’ve been here. A good amount of them I was already well aware of, but some of these words of wisdom have been epitomized in the last week.

Watch for falling rocks. I am no clearly no expert on what to do if you encounter a rock or boulder with your car, but I might be more inclined to pay more (any?) attention to these signs from now on. There is a possibility that this could preclude you from needing to know the rest.

Don’t sweat the small things, or moreover, things that are out of your control. I am a strong believer that people are able to choose their overall morale and attitude. Stressing out or getting angry (albeit warranted in some situations) really isn’t going to help any situation. It is more likely to ruin your day/week/weekend/etc. This was reinforced this past week when although my car was pretty screwed up and I was stuck in a strange town, I was thankful that my retirement plan and estate weren’t being allocated in my stead. Make the best of your situation.

Being polite and courteous gets you a long way (bonus: also has a positive effect on your disposition!). To name a few: free lift tickets, employee discounts, rides, free drinks, and people going out of their way to help you get what you need and get you where you need to be.

The concept of tipping well is akin to being polite and courteous. If you are willing to extend incentives in the forms which someone needs most, they are more likely to help you out as well. In a mountain town, tips are the bulk of many peoples’ incomes. This is a modest trade for the things you may need as a tourist.

On Encores

I hate encores. Alright, they may have their place for bands just getting their name out—a strong indicator about whether or not your audience enjoys your music. However, for any show that cost more than twenty bucks to get into, it’s a waste of time. Of course your audience wants you to play more; they did pay to see your show. So, stop wasting everyone’s time, and just play your whole set list–straight through. Don’t pretend to be surprised when the audience cheers for more, and then pretend like you’re surprising your audience by making a second, more dramatic presence on stage… unless you are content with being a sell-out.

Why I Couldn’t Live in the Mountains

In light of recent events, I have spent some time thinking about the possibility of moving out west someday (or just staying here, as I was offered a job at Elevation Imaging today). I know I have always said that I would love to live in a place like this, but the truth is, I couldn’t do it. The list of pros basically consists of 1 thing: being close to big-mountain riding. However, this is offset by my list of cons:

-I think I get more riding days out west by living in Minneapolis. I would be constrained by a job(s) in a ski town which probably wouldn’t afford me a whole lot of time actually doing what I came there for. On that note, I would probably be working a strict schedule, and most likely full-time or more to make ends meet, neither of which are really my thing.

-I like the city. I tend to take it for granted when I am there, but realize how I couldn’t live without it when I am gone. There are a couple of aspects to this. I tend to like the fast-paced environment of big city living; nothing happens fast in the mountains. There is also a certain convenience of being able to go pick up anything you might want or need at the drop of a hat. You need a card reader in Telluride? Or Mazda wheels and tires in Hotchkiss? Sucks to be you. That’ll be at least 5 business days. You want a certain book or organic celery or maybe just some Chipotle in Minneapolis? No problem.

-Moving would suck, especially when you know you are most likely committing to a smaller space.

This list seemed much longer and convincing in my head, but I still don’t think I’ll be sold on mountain living anytime soon.

I Am Officially A Transient

There are so many other titles that would have worked for this post, but I think that does a good job encompassing all the details of my present state. Pictures would do it great justice, but since I have unsuccessfully tried all options of obtaining a card reader out here, they will have to wait a few days. Stay tuned.

The pertinent part of the saga began last Wednesday when I was en route to pick up a friend of mine from the Montrose, CO airport. About 40 miles out, my pretty car encountered a boulder that had previously been careening down the mountain to my right. All details aside, my car was left undriveable. AAA dropped the ball and left me and my car sitting in the middle of the highway for 2 hours. Eventually it was towed, and we came up with a plan to get us to Telluride, the initial final destination (also approximately 100 miles from my car). I was pretty calm and collected during all of this (except when I was transferred to the 5th person at AAA, at which point I lost my head for about 10 minutes), and was determined not to let it ruin my weekend.

Fast-forward to Thursday through Sunday. The reason for our visit to Telluride was that my friend was competing in skiercross in the Jeep King of the Mountain event. Although he was just seconds from qualifying on Thursday, we still had a good time; the potential for early nights, early mornings, and lots of competition was substituted with a much more lax schedule of free-riding, live music, and alcohol consumption. Kinetix was a band that we were turned onto by a couple of people at the bar the afternoon before they played. I was really impressed. Michael Franti put on an amazing show (as always). I would suggest seeing both of them if they come to your neck of the woods. We didn’t get much snow while we were here, but the riding was decent. There was ample amount of time spent at Tracks Bar (and Cafe). I think that pretty much sums it up.

Meanwhile, my insurance company was taking their sweet time getting the ball rolling for me to get back on the road. I was really hoping they would total it out. I even offered someone a few hundred bucks to set it on fire…

Anyway, Sunday comes (the planned departure day for the both of us) and I am clearly not going anywhere. We brainstormed and discussed my options a few times over the week, and they were not looking good. Usually I am pretty good about coming up with viable solutions to complex problems, but this situation was an exception. I opted for staying in Telluride, as it really isn’t the worst place in the world to be stuck for a few days. I may have had a slight, very uncharacteristic-of-me mental collapse within the first 5 minutes that I was alone here, but have since dragged myself out of that rut, albeit still a little despondent. I have moved twice since our check-out yesterday. I think I am finally settled. If I have to haul around my ridiculous amount of luggage again, I might lose it.

There were some more bumps in the road, but for now I am waiting out the car repairs, at which point I need to figure out how to get myself near Hotchkiss (aka, the middle of nowhere, CO). I will be here, snowboarding, shopping, and hanging out until at least Wednesday. For reasons I can’t elaborate on publicly, this actually isn’t going to end up being a bad deal (knock on wood). Possibly a blessing in disguise.

Can I Borrow Some Tape?

This year marks the first EVER that I have done any Christmas shopping prior to December. In fact, I have even wrapped 2 presents already, and am awaiting the shipment of most of my other gifts. I’m usually the one that goes shopping en route to family functions, shows up with newly-purchased items and wrapping paper, and am all, “Can I borrow some tape?”. Every year since 2004 I have essentially been out of town the first 2-3 weeks of December, as I will be this year, so I am really excited to already have a handle on this. You’d think I would have learned about this early-shopping phenomenon prior to now.

It seems petty, but I’m celebrating my small victories.

Happy Thanksgiving, a Week Late

I have been meaning to post about Thanksgiving.. better late than never I guess…

My plans were kind of up-in-the-air until the day before, at which point one of my co-workers and his partner mentioned that they really had no plans. So, like any good housewife (ha!), I invited them over for dinner, thus committing to cooking a Thanksgiving meal.. for the first time. I really enjoy cooking, but I feel like I don’t have time to do it as much as I would like. I was a little nervous about a whole Thanksgiving dinner…

On the menu:

-Cornish hens (marinated in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and garlic; cooked with butter). They turned out really well, albeit holding up the rest of the food, as they took longer to cook than expected.
-Buttermilk mashed (red) potatoes
-Croissant rolls
-Fresh veggie mix (zucchini, peppers, broccoli.. I forget what else)
and..
-A homemade blueberry pie (!). I even made the crust. This actually turned out really well!!

(Yes, the pie deserved a picture. I was excited)

The food and the company was good, but besides all that, I feel thankful for many things:

-My family and friends and their well-being.
-My job(s) that constantly take me to see new places while doing things that I enjoy, and also giving me the flexibility to have a life on the side.
-My own health and ability to get around on my own, both of which I think I would take for granted if I had never had any setbacks or temporary disabilities.
-My dog, Mesa, who keeps me company at home most days. She was our second try at a puppy after the first one died almost exactly a year ago at 3 months old.

Summit, 3 months old, RIP!

Mesa. Isn’t she cute? She’s a troublemaker.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Supplementing My Prison Fascination

This guy blogs from prison, which is reading material that is right up my alley. I haven’t read enough to know if he divulges what caused him to end up there, as there are about 3 years of posts. I have, however, read enough to see that he has been in prison for 12 years so far, so I’m sure it’s nothing petty. I’ll be disappointed if there wasn’t any dismemberment involved.

Anyways, this is even more interesting to me because as in most prisons, there is no internet access. None. He’s got someone on the outside scanning his and posting his posts.

Relating Stocks to Snowboarding

I ran across this article today, which is kind of long and boring.. but there was one paragraph that caught my attention:

“At the peak of the poker craze shares in WPT Enterprises, a publicly traded subsidiary of Lakes that operates the World Poker Tour, hit $25. They now trade at about $2.50.”

Yes, I own some of that. I probably should have paid a little more attention to what was going on with WPTE day-to-day. I knew that I wasn’t necessarily coming out ahead in this one, but was also unaware that I could snowboard down the slippery slope (this is just a picture of 6 months; the past 2 years looks like a bunny-hill slowly transforming into black diamond terrain):

Now, the question is, should I take my $2.50 a share and run, or hang out and watch it bottom out at zero dollars and zero cents, knowing full well that it probably isn’t going to turn around?

All Caucasian Dolls Full Price

…..but get your multicultural dolls 15% off. I glanced over someone’s shoulder yesterday who was reading Black Friday ads, and thought this was really funny. Go Kmart.