If You only See a Doctor When Something Breaks...

And so it begins...

2007-05-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Wow been a long time - lots has happened since the last post - I went home for just over a week and had a great time visiting friends and family - the only bad part was having to leave Boomer behind - it just didn't feel right driving back to Colorado not having him as my co-pilot. Oh well - I know this is for thebest and he is in good hands. We now have about 15 staff here, so camp is starting to get pretty busy and will only get busier - which is a good thing.

We started program staff training last week which has been pretty good, although it is all old hat for me, so it can get kinda boring, and then we will need to do it again for regular staff training.

Yesterday I finished up my Wilderness First Aid course, which was a lot of fun, however there is a staff member who is able to teach that course here at camp, and he said that the instructor did not really do it right - which I can see, but I still feel I learned a lot. The course was supposed to be 16hours, but everyday we got done at a bare minimum 2hours early - and we were supposed to do a bunch of scenarios and then take a multiple choice test, but we just did the scenarios and then he said we were done and we all passed! haha which was nice, but kinda weird.

Alright I gotta go eat breakfast hope all is well out there!

I need More Money!

2007-04-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

So last week, I signed my contract for trips director - $32/day - fine by me 6 dollars more a day that the last time I worked here. Then I looked at the pay scale range and saw that I was going to be at the bottom end of it - so I decided to ask Toby about it - he said that Clint decided that since I was getting a lot of certifications for free and because I had never lead trips before that is why I was on the bottom rung - well i didn't agree with that reasoning, so I summoned up some courage and went to talk to Clint - I asked him why I was getting paid so low and he basically said the same thing - I told him that i didn't agree and he then said he could go as high as 33/day which was good - but i wanted to see how much I could get out of him so I just nodded and didn't really say anything - he then asked me to explain myself further, which I did, and he finally went up to 34/day...haha - and I guess Toby had talked to him earlier and had gotten him to commit to 33/day, but i got him to 34...haha that's right.

nothing else really exciting has gone on since - we are pretty packed with groups for the rest of the time until camp starts, but I will be gone for a week of it, so nothing to crazy for me!

More Debt???

2007-04-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sure, why not - In the past week, I have as I said interviewed for a grad ass, and much to my surprise been offered a position as an Intramural Coordinator however it isn't actually through UW La Crosse. It is in the sense that by doing this I will get help paying for school and get offered health insurance, but it is actually in coordination with Viterbo and Western Technical College. It is a 15 hour a week assistantship and it starts Aug. 20th which will give me just about a week to find housing and get settled in La Crosse before it starts. At lease School doesn't start until Sept. 4th. So, after much hmming and haahing and worrying about what to do with my life it has once again....drum roll please....worked out as it somehow always manages to do...

So Far So Good

2007-04-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't flunked out yet...2 days of water skills are done, and now I have two days of strictly classroom work before I take the actually tests...My Brother came to visit this week, and although we had some of the crappiest weather we've had in the last month, we still had a good time - we spent most of it in Denver as Camp lacks things to do when the weather is crappy. WE ended up going out on Sat., going to Ali's aunt and uncles Easter dinner and to a movie on Sunday, and then to New Belgium Brewery and a Lakers Nuggets game on Monday, so it was pretty fun and packed full of things to do. He leaves today and seems to be ready to get home and sleep in his own bed.

Yesterday I got a call from a representative from Wisconsin's Technical College regarding my assistantship - apparently they have an intramural coordinator position open and wanted to interview me. I told her that today would be good for an interview...Had the interview this morning, and I kind of regret saying I could do the interview so soon, because it has been a long time since I have had to actually interview for a position, and lets just say I was not at my best....to be honest I feel like it was one of my worst performances interview wise that I have had...she said that she has one more person to interview and that she would let me know by the end of the week....If you look at the position requirements, I feel like I am definitely qualified for the position and it seems like it would be easy, based on my past experiences, but she didn't really ask a whole bunch about my work history - it seemed like she just got some common interview questions off the web and picked 3-4 of them to ask me....it was kinda weird, but we will see how everything turns out...until then.

Lifegaurd training...

2007-04-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

The test of time has arrived....can I swim a 500 continously using a known stroke....tread water holding a brick over my head for 5 minutes, and dive to the bottom of a pool to retrieve a brick from the bottom of the pool? We'll find out after tonight....it could prove interesting as I tend to sink...but hopefully all will go well...we'll find out!

Self sufficient

2007-03-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

my stitches have been removed and I can once again use my right hand/finger....Finally.....life has been good lately beautiful weather means i am starting to get a little tan - without the help of a spring break - so that's pretty cool - work has been the same ol shit different day - I'm looking forward to trips starting up this summer so I can get out and see new places - as always I am starting to get a little stir crazy - still much better than what it was when i was stuck in good ol EC - but just looking to get out and do some cool stuff....Speaking of cool stuff today, as my food supply is running low - i decided I would try my hand at catching my own dinner - as luck would have it I was able to catch two pretty good size trout in the lake we have up here and fried'm up for a pretty damn good meal if i do say so myself - I haven't cleaned a fish in ages so that pretty much consisted of cutting the head off and ripping the meat of the skin with my bare hands, so that was a little awkward, but it worked, so that felt pretty good....Josh flies in on Thursday, so i am looking forward to that - however there may be one hick-up my boss despite knowing that josh was going to be here- signed me and dave up for a bunch of trainings in April and as luck would have it - one of the lifeguard trainings lands on the day that his flight leaves - I'm going to have to tell Mitch tomorrow that I cannot do that training - i'm guessing that is not going to go over too well....ahh well what can ya do...

A week later...

2007-03-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

and a week later this is the damage.....first the splint....now i just have some minor blue stretchy wrap and gauze... stitches come out on monday!

it's all in the family

2007-03-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here is some advice... when splitting wood on a wood splitter....do not try to adjust the wood while it is bring split, lest you end up splitting your finger, passing out, getting eight stitches, a brace, 2 shots of novacaine, 3 x-rays, 16 pills of vicodin, and a nice trip to the ER.....Thank god for workmans comp...

The aftermath

2007-03-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Another 125 dollars and two more bottles of pills later and Boomer is on the mend - They only kept him for a day or so and then sent me home with him with strict instructions to squeeze out the puss from the wound - that was 3 days ago and three days have passed with no puss, swelling, or pain. They put him on two kinds of antibiotics which are supposedly the strongest ones out there, and they seem to be doing the trick.

In the meantime Boomer thinks he is healed and is getting extremely restless and tired of wearing the e-collar and not being able to run free - every time I let him out of the kennel now he is just a ball of energy waiting to burst - understandable but it is frustrating when i have been given instructions to keep him calm. I think I am going to call the vet on Monday and see what they think. I am sure he needs to keep it on til the stitches come off, and I am thinking this coming Friday would be the best bet for that, so that means a few more days of frustration for both him and I.

Infected...

2007-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning and Boomer had Puss all over his back leg and dripping from his stitches....great - I took him to the vet and they said that He needed to stay for 2-3 days because if the infection travels up to the abdominal cavity (where they took his teste from) then things could turn ugly real quick. Thankfully I caught it quickly and took him in when i did - his temperature was still normal (apparently with these infections high fevers are extremely common and signal bad news), he still had a good demeanor, i.e, wagging tail, licking faces etc, and he still had his appetite.

I got an update from the vet at around 2pm - apparently they flushed the wound to get the rest of the puss out, gave him a couple strong antibiotics to hit it hard, and were planning on using hot packs tonight to get any excess puss out of there...sounds like he is going to be alright, and may even be able to come home tomorrow.

Thankfully i talked to the doc and he said that they are going to work with me on the price and try to make it so that I don't pay much at all if anything. I assume I will be paying for the antibiotics, but hopefully not much more than that...we'll see though the doc seemed sincere about wanted to not charge me and just wanted to get Boomer back on his feet...

316 dollars later....

2007-03-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

I took Boomer into the Vet this friday to get neutered. Normally the surgery and everything should be taken care of by that evening and I should be able to take him home, but that Friday I got a message about 20 minutes after I had gotten back to work stating that "everything was fine but that I should call the vet as soon as possible..." Of course it was Boomers testicle - it still had not dropped and they just wanted to tell me that before they proceeded. Apparently even in undecended testicles they normally can still feel where they are at in the process, but not in Boomers case - they couldn't feel a thing, so they braced me for a 200-300 dollar vet bill that normally should be about 100-150.

I get a call back from the vet around 2:30 that afternoon, once again stating that everything was fine but that they had to go all the way up into the abdomen to find it and that they wanted to keep him overnight for observation...Long story short when all was said and done, I owed 316 dollars and Boomer was walking with quite the sore limp. Now it's 10-14 days before he can run freely, play with Fenway, and jump up and down - then he gets the stitches back and hopefully he will be all better.

So after spending 300+ dollars on Boomer I thought I might as well go all out and spend a bunch more money this weekend, so I went in to CO Springs and met up with Miguel and Ali for lunch and then went to re-up my verizon contract, bought some groceries, and some new Crocs for camp, all in all an expensive weekend, but what are ya gonna do...Oh yeah I think Boomer's stay at the vet (or maybe before hand) may have given him worms(roundworm), i researched up on it and puppies usually have them when they are born, but before i got him he was checked and he was fine, so maybe Fenway has them and he picked it up or one of the other dogs that he has played with in the past - it says online that there are Over the Counter drugs that can take care of it, but i may have to take him to the vet again...

Melt out

2007-02-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well, as the days go by, it gets warmer and the snow continues to melt. Now it leaves camp a pretty muddy place - I am looking forward to the snow completely melting out and things drying up a bit.

Last week was a very good week - I was chosen to help promote camp in Fort Collins, Greeley, and Boulder. It was great to get out of camp and to get to know the program director Toby a little more. We were able to talk a little bit more about what I thought about my future with camp - and at the time I had told him that I would possibly be interested in committing to the Trips Director Position regardless of what I hear about my graduate assistantship - my thought being that if I got the asisstantship I would be ok with money and not need to get a high paying job, and if I didn't get the assisstantship then I would just stay in Colorado anyway - more on this later.

I was also able to meet up with my good friends Sarah and Nicole from camp in 2004 - I had never really hung out with just them before - it had always been more of a group, but I had a great time and it was good to catch up. I also was able to meet up with Ali - who just moved out hear 2 Saturdays ago and we made plans to meet up over the weekend. On Friday I went to Ali's new place in Denver with Boomer. We were able to go out for drinks a couple of times - one of them to a bar called "Sing Sing" that had two dueling Jazz pianists who would play up to the crowd, make fun of people, and play whatever song you could think of. It was a very energetic place full of people and was actually a lot of fun, despite the fact that we got there a little late and were not able to get a table. I was also able to take boomer to Washington Park that was full of people everywhere walking their dogs. It was great to get Boomer out in an environment like that and to see how he would react. In the beginning he wanted to pull us all over the place, but after about a quarter of the way into it he settled down and walked right next to us.

Now is the time that I am beginning to feel the pressure of deciding what to with my life, but it is very hard because I feel like so much of my life is up in the air right now. As i said above I was and still am definitely interested in becoming the Trips Director here at camp, but that has some serious drawbacks to it - I wouldn't have boomer for 3 months of an important time in his life as far as training goes - I wouldn't get paid much - and if i go to grad school, I wouldn't have much time to find a place before the job ended. Another option is to force the action and say forget about grad school and go straight into the hardcore search for full time employment out here. That is a great option because it would allow me to know what and where I am going and I could put all my energy into that, but it is bad because it then does not allow me to go to grad school, forces me out of the trips job, and forces me to "grow up" another option is to say no to the trips job - move back to Wisconsin find a job to make quick money and then go to grad school regardless of the assistantship. The final option is to do what I have been doing up til now and that is to play the waiting game as far as grad school goes and then make decisions from there - this is the ideal scenario however I fear/know that if i wait that long I am going to miss out on a lot of other opportunities for summer/full time employment (including camp) depending on the outcome of the assistantship.

I think I have made up my mind that I will only go back to Wisconsin if I get my assistantship - so that leaves the decision to whether or not I want to work at camp or not. and that brings up the issue of Boomer which is a difficult one for me - I feel like I should not pawn off responsibility of him despite numerous offers, because I am the one who adopted him and I knew the responsibilities going into it, I also have grown very attached to him and do not want to leave him for three months for that reason, and I also feel like this is an important time for training to happen for him and for him to be brought up behaving how I want him to and responding to my voice/demeanor's.

Lot of choices (as always) the great thing is that I am in the perfect place to sit down, weight my options and make the right choice for me - and as I always say, all of these choices/problems that I speak of are definitely "Good Problems" to have - not a lot of people get the opportunity to have these "problems."

Let the sun shine!

2007-02-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Hello - long time no write! I have forgotten what I wrote last, but lots has happened since. I believe the last thing I wrote was when right before Mitch went on vacation - that week was good - got lots of things done - not as much as I would have liked to, but still a productive week. The highlight of the week was when Brett came out and taught us how to fell trees, and even though we were really only supposed to learn the proper techniques of limbing he asked if we wanted to try falling a tree, and I said hell yeah! So I used what I learned to make the tree fall in the direction I wanted it to, and let'r rip.

Since Friday of that week the weather has been unbelievable. Consistently in the mid to upper forties, and once up to 65 degrees - gorgeous. We have cleared off a spot on the basketball court and are finally able to play some basketball after work, so that is really nice.

Boomer is behaving well. I have been trying to get him to go for runs with me the last couple days but have run into a couple stumbling blocks. The first is Toby's dog Fenway - She has now gotten to the point when she knows the times that I am bringing Boomer outside and loves to play with him - as well as Boomer with her - but she will try and try to play with Boomer while I am trying to run with him. Their favorite antagonistic move is to playfully bite the others back leg, so that does not bode well with running. The other is that lately Boomer will do great for the first few minutes and then he will just lag behind and try to stop. Maybe he is still a little to young to go running real far and I should just wait a little bit - we will see i guess!

This next week at work will be a nice change of pace - I will be leaving Monday night for Fort Collins with the Program Director to promote camp at the college on Tuesday - then to Greely on Wednesday, and finally to Boulder on Thursday. It will be great to get out of camp, and most importantly to get and all expense paid trip to visit the colleges!!

Plays Well With others

2007-01-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was great. I got to get out of camp from Friday-Sunday see some good people and have a good time. On Friday Miguel, Teresa, Vanessa, Sarah and I all met up at Teresa's house and cooked a wonderful feast of dirt cake, rice crispy treats, bean dip, and smoothies as an after dinner snack. It was delicous. From there I went over to Miguel's place to hang out for the rest of the weekend. Miguel is just recently engaged, and asked me to be a groomsman...should be a great time. It was nice to be able to go over to Miguels, not only to see him and hang out, but also because I was able to bring Boomer with me, and did not have to worry about him all weekend.

Boomer loved it, he got to play with two other dogs the whole weekend and got good and worn out. Not nearly as worn out as Miguels sister's dogs did though. The one dog Boomer got along with most (Buddy) I think was happy to see him go. Buddy was all about playing for the first hour or two, but I don't think he realized that Boomer wasn't going to quit until he could go no longer. After about 2-3 hours of franitcally runnign around the sofa and play fighting, Buddy was doing all he could to hide from Boomer, but Boomer always managed to find him and harass him. It was good though, they all slept well that night.

Now I get to look forward to my first full paycheck on Friday...that will be nice.

It has arrived...

2007-01-25T17:42:00.001-08:00

Television that is...I am finally reconnected with the outside world, and it feels good. Thank you dish Network. Turns out we got a pretty good deal with it and were able to split it three ways, so it should be fairly reasonable.

This week finally warmed up. Today and yesterday we were in the fifties and should be tomorrow as well, so that is great to work in as well as to help melt some of the snow. As far as work this week, it has been a lot of preparing for the work that is going to need to be done when Mitch is gone for the next week. We got lumber for making 100+ boxes, cut them to size and have begun staining them, went over how Dave and I are going to fix a fenced in dumpster area that was destroyed by a bear last fall, talked about fixing decks, learned how to use the wood splitter, got trained on how to use a chainsaw, as always continued plowing and staying ahead of the snowfall, replaced the steering mechanism on the gator, and filled the rest of the time with other small projects. It has been great experience to learn how to do much of these things, and I know I will carry it all with me in the future.

On another note, I recently have been thinking about positions available at camp this summer. It is strange though, because every time that I tell my roommate a position I am interested in, he suddenly has an interest in the same exact position despite what he had previously said. For example: this past week Dave and I were having a conversation about what positions we would most want at camp. I said probably Assistant Program Director, Unit Director, and Maintenance director in that order. I asked him and he said Unit Director, and Assistant PD. We talked a little bit about how we both were interested in similar positions, and I told him not to worry about fighting for the same spot for a couple reasons: A. I don't even know if I am coming back, and B. Even if I did and the current program director selected him over me, I would have no problem with that (the better man won) (or at least they think!) but anyway then yesterday I was talking with the Program Director and somehow we got on the topic of the Trips Director - which I had totally forgotten about position wise - and it hit me that that would be a great position for me and would move to the top of my wish list. I told Dave this and he suddenly wants to be Trips. Whatver.

I think then make a point to tell the program director - in front of Dave - that I would like to talk to him about plans for the summer sometime when he has time, and make note about the position of trips direcotor.

So then this evening Dave comes back from using the Internet and says that he just talked to Toby (Program Director) and basically started an interview and that Toby thinks he would be a great Trips Director and all of a sudden is super excited about doing that. Which is fine with me once again, who knows if I will even be here and Toby will choose who he feels is the best, but I guess it is a little annoying is all, but as I told Dave - I am not too worried about it - The one thing that I have learned in my life is that somehow regardless of what happens I always manage to land on my feet, and I know I will do the same here.

Well Boomer is starting to get restless and is chewing on his leash, so I better get going.

Another Day, Another Dollar

2007-01-19T17:51:00.001-08:00

What a day...Mitch was out today, so he left us a note for things to do...1. finish gluing mattresses together and place them in appropriate cabins, 2. shovel off ice covered stairs in the winterized cabins...3. shovel paths to and from cabins...4. finish winterizing the windows in clints house...5. take an ice pick up on clints roof and chip away the 10 inch layer of ice build up that has frozen and is causing a damn....after 6 hours of shoveling and ice picking, my back has just about had it....but on the bright side, it was a gorgeous day to be outside...at one point - while i was on clints roof, i even stripped down to a cutoff t-shirt and jeans it was so nice!

The rest of this past week was filled with collecting all the camps bunk mattresses and hauling them to the shop and then reinforcing the seams with a seam sealer glue, and then bringing them back to the cabins...a long and tedious project, but one that needed to be done...on Thursday we at least got a break from it and had to go into the Springs to do an all day training session, so that was nice.

I think I have decided against the Canyonlands National Park internship for a couple of reasons...1. I figure I can save just as much money and get paid more if I stay here, and 2. I know Boomer would not be allowed in the park and it would be pretty hard to work and live there and not be able to take him out with me on walks or things like that. Plus I think having him go through - hopefully - most of his puppy hood stages here at camp is a good thing...Particularly when he is kenneled in the afternoons, he thinks he should not be in there and often you will hear him barking a few times as you walk by the house. I have a feeling though that some of that is because Fenway will come near the house and Boomer will catch her scent.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to meeting up with some old friends in the springs for lunch and possibly more. I have not seen Teresa and Miguel in a long time, and it will be good to catch up. Miguel just recently moved into a place with his soon to be wife and Teresa has only 3 weeks before she leaves for Russia for two years to serve out her Mission, so it will be great to see them both.

Dave(co worker who also lives out here) just decided to get dish network cable tv out here. It is going to come in on Tuesday, and I am really looking forward to it. I can only play so many games of Freecell and watch so many movies before I start to get a little stir crazy, so it will be nice to be able to stay in touch with what is going on in world.

On that note, I am getting pretty tired and I think I am going to go back to my room, pop in a movie and watch it until I fall asleep.

I can't feel my toes!

2007-01-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

These last couple days have been pretty brutally cold here in CO. Thursday and Friday we didn't make it out of the single digits, so it made working in that weather extremely cold. However on Friday we were lucky enough to burn up and enormous pile of scrap wood (we are talking 10 feet into the ground, 15 feet above ground and 30 feet in diameter) and that was pretty crazy. It put off enough heat for us to work in just t-shirts and gloves, as we tended to the fire and made sure it did not get out of control.

On Friday morning I took Boomer in to get neutered and found out much to my dismay that they want me to wait another month before getting it done. Apparently one testicle still has not dropped for him, and they would much rather wait until he is closer to 6 months. Which is pretty unfortunate, because I lost out on an hour of work time just to bring him down there and find out that it cannot be done. It is amazing how much extra add ons they try to get you to do also. There is a 50 dollar blood test, a 35 dollar microchip implantation, and then a 12.50 registration fee that they highly recommend. All the add ons make this quite the operation!

Over the weekend I made it into town to make a few phone calls, buy some groceries, and get a phone card, so that I will be able to try calling back the Canyonlands National Park person during one of my lunch breaks this week. It will be nice to be able to make a few calls without depending on people calling me from now on.

Other than that not much new has happened - Friday night we got another 3-4 inches of snow and I woke up to another 3-4 today...it is supposed to be warm throughout the rest of the week, but then snow again over the weekend, so we will see what it brings. I hope it's not too bad, as one my good friend Miguel just got back from Texas last week and Teresa and Sarah should be back from Costa Rica soon as well, and I would like to be able to meet up with them at some point!

Today I am going to leave you with an interesting quote I came across today while reading "The Golden Spruce," by John Vaillant. It's a true story about a logger turned environmentalist, and this quote made me stop and think a little, so I thought I'd share it...

"If you had the power, to create all matter, including life, and you could synchronize those creations, perfectly, what would you do if one life form, was apparently abusing, all other life, including themselves?

If the original 'INTENT,' of your creation, had apparently been twisted, from 'RESPECT,' to hatred, from compassion, to oppression, from generosity, to greed, and from dignity, to defilement, what would you do?

How would you convince, people, that material temptations, social status, and education institutions, are used, to preserve and perpetuate, the status quo, with very little real, consideration, for the future, of life, on earth?

...How would you, as "CREATOR OF LIFE," show your contempt and revulsion, for the institutions, and the individuals, who are supposed to protect life, but are apparently, doing something quite different instead?"

Another day another dollar...

2007-01-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

60 degrees.....sunny....2.5 feet of snow....what a day...Beautiful. Today we did a myriad of things...The day started with Dave and I shoveling snow and about 6 inches of solid ice off the top of bunk beds that had been covered with tarps, placing crates underneath them to help prevent the ice formation and tightening down the tarps, from there our attention shifted to cleaning a grill, fixing a bell tower, and cleaning out the attic of the trips shed, to finally the dark, cramped, hope you not claustrophobic atmosphere of climbing in the culverts - which are about 4 feet around with ice cold river/snow runoff flowing though them - crawling through them about 150 yards dragging a rucksack behind you to put rocks larger than your fist in and then hauling them out the other end so that the culverts do not get clogged. Hard work, but fun work! Keeps me in shape and keeps me active so that is all I can ask for.

Unfortunately today when my boss was plowing with the tractor, Boomer repeatedly got in the way and made things a little difficult for him, so I think Boomer may be staying in the kennel while we are working more often now...unfortunate, but if he is slowing down work than that has to be done.

On the plus side....today I got a phone call back from another SCA position in Arches/Canyonlands National Park that would start Feb 22 and run until May 15th - which would be perfect for them to pick me up full time over the summer! Hopefully anyway...I still need to call them back and talk to them, and my excitement in tempered a little bit because I know that dogs are not allowed in National Parks, so that could potentially and most likely cause a major problem with that plan.

I also was able to schedule an appointment with a Vet in Woodland Park today for Boomer to get neutered on Friday, so that is good...for me....not necessarily Boomer.

Other than that, it's just plugging away as usual....I find it hard to search for jobs out here due to our setup and not being able to use the phones w/o calling cards, and the Internet being fairly slow, so that is a bit frustrating, but, it is what it is and it is up to me to make the best of it, and so far I am.

Final Destination?

2007-01-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

We made it!! Boomer and I have arrived at Camp Shadybrook. the drive was long, but Boomer was about as well behaved as I could have asked for. He would either sit in my lap ( and rearranged himself about 40 times) and sleep or lay on his bed and sleep; with only minor states of agitation in between. We must have timed out trip just right, because from the look of the broken power lines, ice covered fences and numerous cars/truck/and semis rolled over in the ditches Nebraska must have gotten a pretty nasty ice storm right before we got there.

Boomer is quite the funny dog in all this snow here...I have to pave the way for him or else he gets stuck and even after I pave the way he still sinks in up to his nose. But he loves it and he loves having free roam of the camp. I guess the program director has a dog too, so that will be nice, hopefully they get a long well and don't have any problems.

I got all moved in and am ready to go to work....only one problem...apparently my background check hasn't gone through all the channels yet, so legally I cannot work, which sucks, because the sooner I can get paid - the better. I also just found out that I will not get my first paycheck until a month after I have started work, which will also suck....good thing I have a little bit of a cush in my checking account - let's hope it lasts that long!

Heading Down that Dusty Road

2007-01-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well here it is...tomorrow I leave for Colorado, I've got my car packed so tight it is - as a good friend of mine would say - "it's tighter than a twelve year old." But surprisingly I've got everything I wanted and then some so that is really good. I even managed to fit my computer inside there somehow...no if I only had somewhere to put it once I get there! :) oh well I'll figure out something. It's hard to know what to pack and what to leave behind when everything about this move is so - who the hell knows what is going to happen - I could be there just until the summer and then back for grad school, or I could be there for years with a new career in sight...

I took Boomer on a bit of a test drive yesterday. I took him to Eau Claire to see a few buddies of mine one last time before I head out. He did really well. He got a little restless after about an hour in the car each time but it only lasted about 5 minutes and then he realized that there is not much he can do and he settled down. There will be even less for him to do now that his space is limited to the front seat only. It is going to be a really interesting 10hour drive with him tomorrow. I am going to have to pick up plenty of energy drinks to keep me going and motivated to keep him happy!

One thing that I do know for sure though is that he is going to love where he is going. He got his first taste of snow last night and he had a ball. He pushes his nose down in it and creates a mini snowball which he then of course attacks...creating several other mini snowballs to attack. He also loves the slip'n'slide abilities he has on snow...He'll run full bore one direction and then stop and slide as far as he can go. It is very entertaining to say the least, and now that the Denver area just got dumped on twice in the last two weeks, I am just he will just love it out there! Now if we can just make it through tomorrow...

If your lighter fluid to charcoal ratio is 2:1...

2006-12-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

Time is ticking....it's Dec. 26th...I leave for CO on the 2nd of January. I don't have much time to unpack everything i just moved home from college, figure out what exactly I'll need in Colorado, and then repack it all back in with room for Boomer to ride comfortably along with me. It really isn't all that bad - the way I figure it, the only things that I really need are the things that I just brought home - if I am bringing anything else on top of that - it's all extra that will probably just end up taking up space.
I plan on just sleeping in my sleeping bag - just like back in the closest - to cut down on space taken up by blankets - I'm debating if I should bring my T.V. and stereo...I probably shouldn't bring my computer, but if there is room I will probably try and squeeze it in. Other than that, all it should be is clothes - which I am finding out I have a LOT of. Oh well - more donations to Goodwill I guess.
Boomer is doing great. He has gotten a lot more active - however not quite to the area that I want him yet. He is still young and still has his baby teeth so as most young pups do, he likes to chew on everything! Including you and your hands. I am quickily trying to break him of that habit, but I have a feeling it will be useless until he loses his baby teeth, which fortunately should be in the next month or so. He is not a big fan of walks yet - at least not if he, A. doesn't know where he is going B. if it's dark out or C. Just wants to quick go out to pee and then come back in. Then it's a battle and you have to drag him just to get him going. If you can get him going he does pretty well for a puppy so far. He still gets distracted extremely easily and you are lucky if he will play fetch with you once before he gets bored or decides your hands are more fun to chew on than his toys...Oh well he is just a puppy and with consistency in my training my hope is to have him ship shape by month 9.

That's pretty much all for now - I am turning in my Graduate assistantship application by the end of this week, and then as Willie Nelson once said....I will be ..."on the road again....just can't wait to get on that road again..." Let's hope Boomer makes it!

What Lies Ahead

2006-12-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

In the past few weeks lots has been happening for me, all of it surprisingly good. I've finally got a little bit of direction in my life as opposed to just hanging in the breeze. Last week I was offered a position as the "Assistant Facilities Director" at YMCA camp Shadybrook. It sounds like the perfect opportunity for me. I'll be out in the boonies doing maintenance work around the camp (fixing bunk beds, splitting wood, etc. etc.) The great part about it is that it allows me to keep up great contact with Clint Knox - the executive director out there. This will put me in great position when a full time position comes up in the area as Clint will alert me to such a possibility right away. He is also fine with the fact that I am searching for a full time position and understands that if I get out there and a week later I have a job offer I will more than likely take it. this will give me some time to get out of the Midwest clear up my mind and focus on what direction I want to take my life to next.

Last week I also was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a new puppy. I've named him Boomer and he is a Black lab mix. He is 14 weeks old and is surprisingly calm for a puppy. He has had his issues adjusting to life without his other puppy friends, but is quickly becoming accustomed to his new surroundings.

Finally, the last positive thing to happen to me this week was I recently was accepted to grad school and UW-La Crosse. This is a great feeling, but is only half the battle. I must now take the next step and apply for a Graduate Assistantship so that I can get most of it paid for! :) Now I am left wondering who would be the best people to write my references....my old professors who have not seen me or talked to me in over a year but know how I perform in class?? or my past supervisors who know me better and can attest to my abilities as an employee.....a difficult choice yes, but a good problem to have...