Friday, January 25, 2008

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

Today I stopped by in a parking lot behind the main street, as they had a snow sculpture contest that brought teams from all over the world. They began with approximately 15 x 15 x 15 feet block of snow, and all of these are works in progress - I won't post all of 'em, but a few that struck my fancy. Judging occurs tomorrow at 3p.


Sponsored by an ice cold four pack of Budweiser select. I'll take my Breckridge Brewery Amber Ale over Bud any day.


Ice Ads! So cool!

Team New York! End result is going to be two polar bears. I'm not sure why New York picked polar bears ...

Team Wisconsin! Bisons! While I know some Wisconsinans are proud Gallaudetians, I didn't know that they were so proud they decided to make a snow sculpture out of it!


France picked a scene of some of its famous sculptures - very fittingly French.


China made this awesome portrayal of a hunter in the middle of the winter.


Team Breckenridge! It is going to be a mask with a sun bursting out through it ... it looks pretty cool.

This one from the Netherlands rocked - calla lilies. Gorgeous.

All in all, it was a nice day walking around in Breck - I realized I needed to do it more often.

finally! an internet quiz I can get behind on!




You're Prufrock and Other Observations!

by T.S. Eliot

Though you are very short and often overshadowed, your voice is poetic
and lyrical. Dark and brooding, you see the world as a hopeless effort of people trying
to impress other people. Though you make reference to almost everything, you've really
heard enough about Michelangelo. You measure out your life with coffee spoons.



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.



I'm not sure how I feel about this result ... what y'all think?

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Blog for Choice

I know I do not usually talk about anything political on this blog – however, this topic I have been keeping a close eye on, and I feel that it is important enough to make a point of blogging about.

January 22nd was the annual Blog for Choice day – where a variety of blogs come together and blog about Roe v. Wade, and how much we continue to need that protection, as it seems as years goes on, Roe v. Wade gets weaker and weaker. I am a day late to the party, but wanted to put something thoughtful out there, so took a bit of time for me to get this together.

I come from a line of feminists – my paternal grandmother was president of the local Planned Parenthood chapter board for a few years, back in the 70’s I believe, my mom was strongly pro-choice, as well as the men in my family.

I remember clearly the moment when I realized that this was a hot button topic – I got in an argument with the teacher’s aide when I was like 12 or 13 – I believe it was right after a sex education class where we discussed abortion, and then a few of us went to the resource room and talked about it, and the aide was saying that it was murder, and that the pro-choice folks advocated murder – I remember retorting back that my family was pro-choice – that we supported the access to choice, not necessarily that abortion was the only choice. That if she thought that pro-choice people equaled to murderers, then she thought that my family were murderers. Needless to say, that did not go over very well with her.

Over the following years, I have helped a couple of friends get abortions, and the decision was always something that they had wrestled with for a long time, that they knew that they would suffer because of the procedure. One girl I took to a follow-up appointment said that she was upset because when she and her (at that time boyfriend, now husband) are ready to have kids, that the kids that they get would always be their second and third, and possibly fourth kids – never their first, and she was extremely sad about it. She knew that she could not possibly provide the life that the child deserve, and that was also a very difficult aspect of her and her boyfriend’s decision.

I have never understood the people who said that the women getting abortions made the decision easily and just popped in the local clinic and got the procedure done. Every time I see someone going though this procedure personally have made this heart-wrenching decision after thinking about it for as long as they could and figuring how the hell to deal with it. Naturally, there are exceptions to the rule, but in this case I really do not think there are that many.

There are a few other points regarding this that I have never understood – how the people that are against abortion feels that it is all right for their family to obtain in case of emergencies, and that it is not all right for others to do so. There is also the socioeconomic issue – research has shown there is a higher rate of abortion in communities that does not provide comprehensive sexual education and access to free or relatively cheap health care.

I have never thought that I would see the day when people are talking about repealing or appealing the Roe v. Wade, and it is happening in many parts of the country. I only hope for the sake of women all over the states that it never happen, in my generation, in my future children’s generation, or the following generations. This is why it is important to continue the conversations about this issue for the fight for equality for women.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thursday, January 3, 2008

So, 2008.

This was an interesting New Year's Eve. It told me tons about friendships, trust, love, and family.

I'll start with New York - a city that used to have me spellbound with its magic - have me thinking, how the hell can I ever live anywhere else. This is the city I lived, worked, played in, and loved for six years.

It is amazing how feelings can do a 180 - this city used to be my love - has become something that I enjoy, but not something that I am under the spell of. Granted, I want to live near / in a mid-size city because of the restaurants, the night life, the deaf community, a bit of culture, but I left New York yesterday feeling that New York was not it.

I missed a couple of people in the city - yes, they were separated from the city itself, and before, I did understand that I could miss them and not the city, but that was made even more clear this trip.

2008 bodes to be a good year. A few more months here in Breckenridge, and then a long assed road trip (two weeks, totally out of the way instead of the 18 hour 2 day drive, which I am positively and totally looking forward to) out to the brother and sister in law to help 'em build their house. We will see what happens after that.

So, 2008. Yup - I am looking forward to it. 2007 served it's purpose as the year of good changes after the totally annoying year of 2006, so, let's see what 2008 brings us.

New York - I still love you - but I honestly do not know when I will see you next - next year, two, three years from now? I trust you'll still be the same.

quite the way to start my vacation


Scene: Preparing to head over to Denver International Airport on the morning of December 24, 2007. Notes of Importance: I gave myself an extra hour in case.

In case of what, you ask?

If you have not figure out from the picture above, an encounter with a snowbank. I was trying to back out (mind you - this car, courtesy of mom, who is grand for switching with me and my dear jetta, has 4 wheel drive), and it drifted downward into the snowbank.

Oy.

Hey, nothing that this colorado girl can't handle, right? I went up in the house looking for a shovel to dig my car out.


The landlord's BF woke up and looked at me, going, WTF? Na Na Na - lemme pull you out.

Took him a few tries.



Look how stuck the car was. It finally was freed of the snowbank, and I was on my way to DIA. Not quite the start of my vacation that I expected.

I did get the entire row to meself on the plane, so that totally made up for the whole hassle that morning. Yea!

DISCLAIMER

This blog consists of my personal thoughts and opinions. It does not in any way reflect the position of the United States Government or the Peace Corps.