Stop in Glenwood Springs
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday and Wednesday, a bit of Thursday
On the way from Denver to Grand Junction.
Sporting my new backpack with D-town in the background.
Matt!!!!!
Jeff and I and our "Sonic Commercial" picture.
Monday- Hiking
Old ruptured dam at Castlewood Canyon State Park
William, testing his giardia tolerance.
Saturday and Sunday- Travel and Friends
A sunny Denver Sunday in Wash. Park with the ladies.
Julie walking the girls.
Traveling by Train is the BEST! This is the grand Union Station in Denver.
My humble home station.
Friday, March 20, 2009
All Aboard!
While there are many benefits I gave up when I left the classroom, I still have retained my right to a SPRING BREAK. Starting last Saturday night, I caught the #5 California Zephyr westbound to Denver. I knew I made the right choice to travel by train when I had my first conversation with a 15 year old boy sitting next to me in the observation car. He was doing homework and kept glancing at me and smiling. Filing though my past-student memory, I determined he was not a former student. But still he kept staring and smiling. Finally, he asked...
Were you on Jeopardy?
Never, have I been mistaken for a Jeopardy contestant before.
That was on the train from Iowa to Denver. Yesterday's trip was from Denver to Grand Junction.
I also loved overhearing conversations that were taking place on the train. For instance this was a conversation between an elderly, hearing impaired gentleman and a young Croatian man over a game of Chess:
So where are you from?
Croatia.
(The old man repeats himself , remember, he is hard of hearing.) So where are you from?
Croatia. (A little louder) Have you heard of it?
Croatia. You are the good guys.
It sounds like you know something about Croatia.
Yes, you are the good guys. (Very loudly) And Serbs are the bad guys. Except in World War Two, they you were the bad guys.
Uh...It is a bit more complex than that.
Yes, you were the bad guys
It is more complex than that!
I chuckled at the conversation, but felt for the Croatian man.
The dining car experience was fantastic, and a story in and of itself. I was seated with a 6th grader, his sister, a 7th grader and a politically boisterous man on vacation from Atlanta.
You know you have stepped into an bloggable story when part of the conversation goes something like this...
Atlanta guy to the kids: You need to vote! When you are old enough to vote, you need to vote anyone who is over 40 years old out of office. (He was not a fan our our past administration.) You need to vote all of these criminals and Nazis out of office. Make sure you vote!
The children quietly nodded their heads. And then the 6th grader broke the silence saying... I have story about Nazis!
He proceeded to share a story he learned from his friend's grandmother about her experiences in Hungary during WWII. At the end of the story, the man looked at me and jabbed
See, you can't test that! You can't measure that with statistics! Impressing upon me he knew what real education is. Obviously, he inferred a completely wrong conclusion about be from the one sentence introduction I shared earlier.
Later in the lunch, he asked me if it was a conscious decision to leave teaching. He rubbed his thumb along his index finger while inquiring. I explained that it was (as if anyone enters a PhD program unconsciously!) and in less than three sentences I had won him over to my side and he realized I wasn't an enemy after all.
In the end, the guy bought the kids ice cream and payed for all of our meals. Quite a pleasant surprise and an appreciated random act of kindness.
The train is wonderful. If you live anywhere near an Amtrak depot, I recommend you highly consider traveling by train on your next trip. It is better than flying or driving. You get to see the sights as you travel, meet fascinating people (and characters) and it is an more "green" way to travel. I can't wait for my 22 hour trip back home!
I promise to post pictures at some point.
Were you on Jeopardy?
Never, have I been mistaken for a Jeopardy contestant before.
That was on the train from Iowa to Denver. Yesterday's trip was from Denver to Grand Junction.
I also loved overhearing conversations that were taking place on the train. For instance this was a conversation between an elderly, hearing impaired gentleman and a young Croatian man over a game of Chess:
So where are you from?
Croatia.
(The old man repeats himself , remember, he is hard of hearing.) So where are you from?
Croatia. (A little louder) Have you heard of it?
Croatia. You are the good guys.
It sounds like you know something about Croatia.
Yes, you are the good guys. (Very loudly) And Serbs are the bad guys. Except in World War Two, they you were the bad guys.
Uh...It is a bit more complex than that.
Yes, you were the bad guys
It is more complex than that!
I chuckled at the conversation, but felt for the Croatian man.
The dining car experience was fantastic, and a story in and of itself. I was seated with a 6th grader, his sister, a 7th grader and a politically boisterous man on vacation from Atlanta.
You know you have stepped into an bloggable story when part of the conversation goes something like this...
Atlanta guy to the kids: You need to vote! When you are old enough to vote, you need to vote anyone who is over 40 years old out of office. (He was not a fan our our past administration.) You need to vote all of these criminals and Nazis out of office. Make sure you vote!
The children quietly nodded their heads. And then the 6th grader broke the silence saying... I have story about Nazis!
He proceeded to share a story he learned from his friend's grandmother about her experiences in Hungary during WWII. At the end of the story, the man looked at me and jabbed
See, you can't test that! You can't measure that with statistics! Impressing upon me he knew what real education is. Obviously, he inferred a completely wrong conclusion about be from the one sentence introduction I shared earlier.
Later in the lunch, he asked me if it was a conscious decision to leave teaching. He rubbed his thumb along his index finger while inquiring. I explained that it was (as if anyone enters a PhD program unconsciously!) and in less than three sentences I had won him over to my side and he realized I wasn't an enemy after all.
In the end, the guy bought the kids ice cream and payed for all of our meals. Quite a pleasant surprise and an appreciated random act of kindness.
The train is wonderful. If you live anywhere near an Amtrak depot, I recommend you highly consider traveling by train on your next trip. It is better than flying or driving. You get to see the sights as you travel, meet fascinating people (and characters) and it is an more "green" way to travel. I can't wait for my 22 hour trip back home!
I promise to post pictures at some point.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Luck
Today was a lucky day for two of my friends, one got a paper accepted to a journal, the other passed her comps. I couldn't help thinking that I wish something "lucky" would happen to me. Receiving communication from an internship to which I applied would be nice. Reading positive feedback on my paper would suffice. Really, I'm not picky.
Then on the bus ride home, my wishes were jolted back into perspective as I spoke with a man on the bus. I sat in the one remaining seat and we chit chatted about the weather. I could tell he is not the usual ridership that takes the bus to the predominantly student neighborhoods. Names were not shared, but his story was. The weather was causing literal pains in his neck from an old injury. With candor, he narrated the "the runaround" he had received from the VA here. I told him I'm sorry he felt he was getting the runaround. And then he told me he tried to OD on oxycontin last week because he wanted to die but "woke up at four in the morning still alive." You never really know what is going on in other peoples' lives.
The VA no longer supplies him with oxycontin.
I suppose just being alive is lucky.
Then on the bus ride home, my wishes were jolted back into perspective as I spoke with a man on the bus. I sat in the one remaining seat and we chit chatted about the weather. I could tell he is not the usual ridership that takes the bus to the predominantly student neighborhoods. Names were not shared, but his story was. The weather was causing literal pains in his neck from an old injury. With candor, he narrated the "the runaround" he had received from the VA here. I told him I'm sorry he felt he was getting the runaround. And then he told me he tried to OD on oxycontin last week because he wanted to die but "woke up at four in the morning still alive." You never really know what is going on in other peoples' lives.
The VA no longer supplies him with oxycontin.
I suppose just being alive is lucky.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
First Spin
Winter is letting down her guard and Spring is drizzling in. This past week saw temperatures in the 50s and 60s. For the past four months, my "new" bike has been holding up the wall in my apartment. With temperatures conducive to riding, I took it out for the first spin of the season with a friend. The bike path along the river was relatively unpopulated and a nice ride on a Friday evening. Iowa's crew team was practicing, and I couldn't help but wish to be on the river as I passed several houses with canoes in their backyards. On our way back, we stopped off downtown for drinks and dinner. The ped mall seemed busy and fun with families, students and the general public enjoying the first breaths of spring.
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