Category Archives: snow

Baltimore Trip in phone photos

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Our trip began at 3:30 am. That’s important to note when you see this first photo (waiting for the shuttle in the Pike’s Peak lot at the Denver airport…IMAG5516_edit_resized IMAG5518_edit_resized

Somewhere near Dallas TX…
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The next morning in Hampden…
IMAG5541_edit_resized IMAG5542_edit_resized First breakfast was at the Golden West.

Then off to the Ridge…IMAG5544_edit_resized IMAG5545_edit_resized IMAG5547_edit_resized Joey was there.IMAG5549_edit_resized

We skated a street spot, then off to Frederick for Katie’s wedding…
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Then next day we ended up at the Pirate/Privateer festival…

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We did a little shopping, and I added this next photo because (if I’m correct) my parents ski with Art Blakey’s son…
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Later we checked out the Boston Street rails…IMAG5572_edit_resized IMAG5578_edit_resized

Brewer’s hill..
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And got to skate Tide Point in between security guard rounds…
IMAG5587_edit_resized IMAG5588_edit_resized Jack put in some effort. And broke two boards. Woo!

Next up was Johnny Rad’s with Joey and Christie…

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And finally some more Natty Boh’s…IMAG5596_edit_resized IMAG5597_edit_resized

Back in Hampden…IMAG5598_edit_resized

Then to Style’s neighborhood to meet up with her and Carl to skate the Ridge…
IMAG5599_edit_resized IMAG5600_edit_resized IMAG5601_edit_resized … and a quick stop at Carroll park too.

Then back to the airport for the trip home…

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And around 1am, we arrived to my car…
IMAG5619_edit_resized IMAG5623_edit_resized So much snow. The drive home took forever. And the next morning, Jack got the pleasure of clearing snow of the car yet again…IMAG5625_edit_resized IMAG5629_edit_resized IMAG5630_edit_resized IMAG5633_edit_resized IMAG5634_edit_resized IMAG5639_edit_resized

 

Yay for spring in Colorado!!

First snow of the season

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It may just be a dusting, but the message is clear. It’s that time. First snow of the season, yet also first hot tub session of the season. And that says it all… it’s time to get my pass.

[side note: it's almost 10 days into November and I'm still surviving. only 1 serious breakdown including utter panic and crying myself to sleep. luckily, it manifested from a drunken realization of my personal life that led into desperation in my professional life and not the other way around. this may seem like an insignificant factor, but ultimately it makes all the difference. being an emotional girl is just life, but when my work alone brings me to a breaking point, that's when it will be time to re-evaluate my direction (or it just means I've returned to teaching - which comes with highs that outweigh the dramatic lows). but for now, i'm going to make the most of my insane schedule and daunting expectations for the next week and a half... and appreciate everyone that offers me any form of support and encouragement]

May in Colorado (and a Canadian memory)

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So much for Chip’s so called K’s China (May)mester. Apparently my brother Chip spent his past few May months on the roof on K’s China, baking in the sun and drinking cheap beer. Well, my first May in Boulder, Colorado is a slightly different story. Besides the fact that I’m working round the clock because I fell behind on my curriculum work for my first job and picked up a second job this week, the weather sucks. It just goes from rain to snow to rain to snow etc. Luckily, Glen let us skate rampy last night! And even though the rampy session made the snow worthwhile for me, I was slightly annoyed to wake up this sight mid-May…

Skating indoor ramps seems wrong in May, but then again, so does sub-freezing temperatures and cleaning my car off with an ice scraper. Boo.
In fact, it all seems so wrong that I was convinced this was the first time in my life that I have seen snow in May. But then I remembered a crazy trip across Canada I took years ago. Heading back to Montreal across the Plains, we ran into the worst snow storm I’ve ever been in. The blizzard was so bad, they decided to close down all the roads. We were stopped by the police in one town, but then snuck back on the road for the scariest drive ever to the next town, where we were again stopped by the police. This time we stayed and got stuck in a junior gymnasium for the night. I thought I had photos of driving in the storm, but I must have actually been paying attention while driving. Instead I found some photos worth posting… (they look weird because they’re photos of printed photos)
Jamie and Dave. These guys put up with all my craziness for one of the wildest road trips I’ve ever been on.
Here’s Dave making a sandwich with one of the volunteers at the junior high. It was pretty rad that they fed us…
And how the road looked the next day. You would never guess there had been a crazy blizzard the day before. When we made it back to Montreal (after another mini-crisis that set us back on time), it was around 80 degrees.
I guess that’s just how it is in May. And since we have snow and rain now, hopefully in a few days it will all be a distant memory…

Jealousy and a Sense of Humor

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Jealousy…

I really couldn’t help but be jealous when I heard on Friday that Baltimore was about to get hit by a blizzard. Ever since I could remember, I have always loved snow. The memories of playing in the snow, the white glistening beauty, and the association with snow days – a day off with no responsibilities.

It’s actually a little funny that I even make this association, especially since both my high school and undergraduate university didn’t give snow days regardless of how much it snowed. In high school, I went to a boarding school and I guess they figured we could walk through any depth of snow. At McGill in Montreal, they wouldn’t dare give us a snow day or there might be a winter when almost every day warrants another snow day.

Teaching in Baltimore is the first time I got to experience a few snow days since I was a little kid. And even though I didn’t go out and build snowmen or forts or go sledding like I used to, I possibly enjoyed snow days even more when I was a teacher. And now living in Colorado, snow days are almost unheard of. And to be honest, for the first time, I actually like not getting snow. I think this is only because it’s possible for Boulder to be warm and sunny enough to skate outside in a t-shirt, while the mountains just a little under 2 hours away can be getting dumped on.

Yet, I still felt that pang of jealousy. Now realizing they literally got a few feet of snow overnight, I can’t even begin to imagine what a mess the city must be. I’m not sure if they’ll be back in school tomorrow but through the magic of facebook, I know that school was closed today and yesterday from the storm Friday night. Crazy.

Anyways, we did get a little bit of love from the snow gods and it snowed all day Sunday and Monday… although we really didn’t get much accumulation.

…and a Sense of Humor

Along with the snow, came this classic photo…

Hey Bich! Who doesn’t love laughing at other’s mistakes? I haven’t seen such blatent misspellings out in public since I left Baltimore that I almost wonder if this could have been on purpose? It reminds me of a time I was driving behind a ice cream truck, which on the back had written: Watch Out Childeren. Awesome.

While we were at the Outback Saloon on Saturday night, we all found this pretty funny.

I guess they forgot which superbowl it was this year… good thing they saved it by adding a I to write the 4 as IIII instead of IV. Nice work!

Effing Cold Week. In review.

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It was so cold this week! I seriously could not help missing Montreal when the weather dropped below 0 degrees F (about -18 C) for about 3 or 4 days straight. Some weather forcasts even claimed that it “felt” as cold as -20 F (-29 C). It was so cold that my cats Wallace and Grommit, who are brother and sister, decided to snuggle together on my bed. Now that they’re grown up, they rarely show each other any affection, so this was a rare scene.


Tuesday was our last TEAMS seminar for the semester…and Will’s last seminar ever since he is leaving us next semester. So sad.

After the seminar, Jon, Eszter and I headed to the ITL holiday potluck party.

On the way to Jon’s house to get his car, I snapped some photos because it was so beautiful out by the creek with snow falling. Unfortunately, Jon and Eszter were not about to wait for me so I just took the photos really quick on automatic. Here’s one with the flash…

…and one without the flash. Crazy how bright it looks.

I was supposed to be back on campus for a group meeting to run through our final presentation for the next day at 6:15. Jon promised he would get me back in time, but the party was so much fun and the food was so amazing that Jon convinced me to tell my group members I wouldn’t be able to make it to the meeting. After a sketchy text message I felt terribly guilty, but the cajun rice, elk green chili, as well as the tirimusu and rum cake seemed to soothe my guilty conscience.
In the end, we met again as a group an hour before our class on Wednesday, and our actual presentation went smoothly. We received some very flattering compliments from our teachers as well. Luckily we were the first group to present, which meant that we sat and listened to 5 other presentations over the course of the next 3 hours and 30 minutes. It became increasingly difficult to be serious and pay attention, so we entertained ourselves with the clementines, provided by one of our instructors.
After class was over, our teachers took us out to an amazing dinner at the Nepali restaurant Sherpas. The meal began with an appetizer that was a very thin wafer with dill flavored yogurt.
The table was covered in naan, one of my favorite types of bread. Nepal borders India and not surprisingly, the cuisine is very similar.
My plate before I devoured it. I actually ate lamb for the first time since I was probably 8 or 9 years old, along with chicken and some vegetable dishes.
At the end of dinner, we found out that one of the men in the kitchen had climbed Mt. Everest 10 times without oxygen. He came up to our table after we enthusiastically requested to meet him. I felt extremely rude snapping a photo, but I just couldn’t help it. The man in the apron spoke for him, since he didn’t speak English, and reluctantly admitted that he had also climbed Mt. Everest without oxygen…but only once.
The next day I woke up with a stomach ache from all the food I had eaten at Sherpas. I had to pull myself together to get ready for my last day teaching for the semester. The day went smoothly and with the help of the teacher I work with, all the students finished the project. All the groups were engaged and excited, and I’m really going to miss working with these students.
After teaching I met up with Lazer for a drink. He promised that Harpos had awesome bloody marys and he was not lying.

Finally Friday came and it was my last day of classes. After I made it to both Statics and Water Chem I congratulated myself for my perfect attendance by hitting up happy hour at Hapa’s on the hill with Chip for some midday sushi and a drink. We later borrowed Tombstone from a friend and watched it on the couch at home with popcorn and a fire in the fireplace. Not bad.

Saturday, we headed up to Keystone for a session with Jules and Sam Fox, another friend from Rhode Island who found his way out to Colorado.

Jules and Chip
Sam (and me in the reflection of his glasses)
Jules, Chip, and Sam. After our break in the lounge that included hot coca and whiskey. It was delicious but possibly curdled in my stomach because I felt a little sick afterwards.
After a meal at Beaujo’s on the way home, it was time for another ART PARTY!

Reed and Lazer, busy at work.

My painting (in process) on the left, next to Reed’s rollerquade painting from last Art Party.

The Art Party-ers!

Rampy Session

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Mid-week stress reliever… Wednesday night rampy session!

Seriously… this week has been insane. I wasn’t planning to skate, especially after waking up to a winter wonderland.


After cleaning off my car and getting to my 8am class late, I missed a group meeting to finish an assignment which took up until 5 minutes before it was due. Got the text from Glen and I knew that I couldn’t blow off this session. So I used my break before my next class to drive back to Gunbarrel for my shoes (and my office keys). Got out of class around 6:15, picked up a bin of “arteries” to clog for my 7th grade students I’m teaching tomorrow, and headed to Lazer’s then Glen’s.
Rampy! Rampy may look friendly and gently, but she can be pretty mean. She’s as small the Vu micro mini ramp I spent all last winter skating, but with about a 1/3 of the flat. The session began sloppy, but finished as another epic session. It was only my second rampy session, but I redeemed myself (sorta) on a random kickflip rock in the middle of an hour straight of front disaster to butt on the coping. We all landed some tricks- Glen landed front 50 yank in (I don’t know what it’s called…) and Jake did a bizillion 5-0s to fakie -and Lazer took more slams than I’ve ever seen before. Oh and did some self-proclaimed “circus tricks” along with a fs ollie that was about 5 times bigger than rampy.
Here’s the rampy crew.
5050 by Glen. This is about the closest I can get to an action shot with just the crackberry camera. The sad thing is, my actual camera was just outside in the car, but I didn’t feel it was necessary to venture out in the 7 degree weather for it.
The session ended when I wanted to bail to go home and clog arteries for work the next day. Nobody wanted to have to walk home, so everyone quit. In the end, I took everyone to Viking’s Liquor, and we all drank a bit and watched Turd Merchants of Death before I finally made it home.