My mother accompanied me to freshmen orientation. When we dropped into the Honors Department office, everyone turned and warmly welcomed her by name. They knew her because she was a student at the university. My mother and I had a two year overlap in our undergraduate education. She would sometimes swing by my apartment to drop something off on her way home or I would go visit her in the photo studio where she spent a lot of time working…
Last quarter, I took a data storytelling class as part of my graduate studies at the University of Denver. Research and statistics are powerful tools of persuasion, but if they are not presented in compelling and understandable ways the impact is diminished. In order to hone my data storytelling skills, I created a report about Instagram and teen mental health. I did a lot of secondary research, but also gathered primary research through surveys. As a parent of a teen…
Back in September, Noel and I did a Rim to Rim to Rim run of the Grand Canyon broken up into two days. It was a couples getaway for masochists. My parents (who are now retired) came and watched the kids so we could do this madness. Honestly, my parents carry a lot of blame for this whole thing. They instilled a deep love in me for the Grand Canyon. I’ve been there several times and it was the location…
Noel and I recently entered Recreation.gov’s Share Your Story contest. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about trips we’d taken and editing, editing, editing. At the end of the day, Noel had a winning essay – an honorable mention for the Family or Group travel category. For his efforts, he was rewarded with some Recreation.gov swag. If you’re interested, you can check out our essays below: Lessons on the San Juan River – Noel’s Honorable mentionPerseid Meteor Shower at…
I can’t remember if his name came up on the radio or in a conversation between Noel and I, but what I do remember is Ellen’s reaction.
We had penciled a backpacking trip onto our calendar for fall break months ago, but it wasn’t until the week before that we actually decided what we were doing. We’d originally wanted to backpack in Canyonlands, but didn’t realize how competitive the permits were and that our fall break was at the same time as the entire state of Utah. Undeterred, this just challenged us to go even further off the beaten path. Finally, we decided to backpack the Halls…
As the fourth of July approached, we weren’t feeling very enthusiastic. All the fireworks shows were cancelled and honestly, we weren’t feeling terribly patriotic and didn’t have much of a desire to be around people who were. We decided it would be best for us to get away from everyone and enjoy some of our nation’s natural beauty.
I mentioned in my last post that we had permits to raft the San Juan river. Way back in March we snagged the permits. We didn’t get selected through the lottery, but after lottery recipients accepted or declined they released any extra permits. Quarantine had just started and we figured things would be better by June. As the weeks progressed, we began to realize there was a strong chance the trip would be cancelled. Noel was calling the BLM office…
I’m doing some Zoom workouts this next month while my work is closed. I’m even doing one for the whole family that I’m really excited about! Check out my work’s calendar for days, times, and links to the Zoom meetings. I’d love to see familiar faces there!
My work has been shut down by a state executive order closing all gyms until at least April 16th. I actually think it was a good call – the Golden Community Center, like most gyms, is a bustling place with lots of older clientele, kids running around to various classes, and lots of equipment sharing. Still, it’s hard when your routine, especially such a healthy one, gets disrupted. A few of our trainers and fitness instructors were asked to put…