Halloween is less than a week away, so those of you who don’t have your costumes ready I suggest you start working on one! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I can showcase my creativity. This is the first year in a very long time that I bought my costume, but since I’m helping my boyfriend make his I don’t feel so bad. Of course, Halloween isn’t just about the costumes. There’s also pumpkin carving!

The other night my friend decided to host a pumpkin carving party at his house. I didn’t get the chance to carve one last year so doing it this year was even more exciting than ever. My friend Shelby and I went to pick out our pumpkins then headed to our friend’s house.

There was a really great turn out and a lot of creative ideas. I chose a pretty simple design due to my limited carving abilities.

One of the major advantages of pumpkin carving is cooking the seeds after. It’s a pretty simple process and my favorite seasonal snack.

Simply separate the seeds as you are taking the pumpkin guts out and try to remove as much of the orange pumpkin goo as possible. Then soak the seeds in salty water for about ten minutes and spread them out on a baking tray. I choose to sprinkle more salt on because I like mine salty. After that put them in the oven on 325 for 15 minutes. Take them out once they start to brown. Let them cool and enjoy!

CMC’s Alpine campus has a lot planned to help celebrate the holiday. The dorms will be opened up for trick-or-treaters this Thursday from 6-8pm. All are welcome to attend.

This Friday there will be a campus wide costume contest. Whoever is dressed the best around campus will win prizes, so be sure to wear your costume to class!

And last but not least, CMC’s Sky Club will be running “Screamboat”, the best Haunted House in Steamboat. It will be the 29th, 30th and 31st from 6-10pm. The cost is $10 at the door. (I went last year and can say first hand this is not for the weak-hearted).

However you choose to celebrate, enjoy your Halloween. Just be sure not to overdose on too much candy!

Some colleges are in major cities and have a bus system that goes until all hours of the morning, commonly known as “The Drunk Bus”.

Here in the small town of Steamboat Springs there are not so many options. There is no safe driver who shuttles kids around town for a reasonable fare. The bus stops running around 10pm and riding a bike while under the influence qualifies you for a DUI. Some kids find a designated driver, some opt to split a taxi, and some choose drive drunk.

For the month of October Student Government has decided to try and eliminate drunk driving altogether. If you are at a party and you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation call Alpine Taxi. If your designated driver didn’t follow through with his or her commitment call Alpine Taxi. If you go to the bar and realize you had too much to drink call Alpine taxi.

They can be reached at 970-879-TAXI (8294) or 970-879-2800

Student Government will be covering the charge for any student attending the Alpine campus of Colorado Mountain College. All you need to do is show the taxi driver your student I.D. (If you haven’t picked yours up yet talk to someone in the first floor of Bristol).

This is the very first time something like this has been set up by Colorado Mountain College and it is important that students do not take advantage. This isn’t for rides from party to party. This is to ensure everyone has a safe ride HOME. It would also be beneficial to get a group going to the same area to take the cab together. Just remember to be safe!

As previously stated, I enrolled in late start classes this year. In order to get my degree I need at least 4 more science credits. Math is hardly a problem for me and I actually enjoy learning about history and writing research papers for english. Science on the other hand is my  downfall. I am certainly not made of steel but if I was science would easily be my kryptonite.

I have a difficult time understanding bizarre concepts that can be disproven at any time. I have an even harder time motivating myself to study things that don’t interest me in the least.

I struggled for a while trying to decide which class I wanted to take a shot at. Last year I took astronomy thinking the material would be new and interesting and believe me it was, but I still got a C. So I looked into other options such as biology and chemistry with terror.

Finally I decided on taking Environmental Science. I heard the class was more hands on and relevant to our every day lives. We deal with  issues that are happening right now including beetle kill, nuclear energy, and deer overpopulation. It’s a four credit class and for once I feel I stand a fair chance at getting an A in science.

We have a lot of field trips this semester and our first was at the Yampa River. We explored the riparian habitat, which I initially learned about on River Orientation.

First we were told to pick up rocks in the river and try to find creatures on them. After playing around for a little while we were then asked to try and identify the creatures we found. It was so interesting, we were finding bugs I never even knew existed. Some of them looked like they came from another planet while others were similar to worms and other creatures we see daily. Unfortunately my camera isn’t the best quality so I couldn’t get any good pictures of the bugs.

After looking around on the banks for a while two brave souls went into the river with a net to try and collect different samples. It was 85 degrees out so they hardly froze, but the water was only 61.

We found eggs and larva and creepy crawlers that I wouldn’t want to find in my house. But for as scary as some of them looked they were delicate species. Finding as many creatures as we did shows that the river is healthy.

It was a fun class where we were able to explore through hands-on experience. Alas! A science class that’s right for me.

Putting classes aside there have been a lot of events going on around campus. This has included everything from a comedy show called “Sex Signals”, a night at the foam pit and KICKBALL.

Last year while working at The Steaming Bean I covered shifts for one of my co-workers while she competed in a weekend kickball tournament. Now to most people Kickball is just a middle school sport that kids play during recess. However I am not the most athletic person in the world and kickball is one of the few sports where I feel I have a fair chance at competing. Needless to say when I heard there was a kickball league in town the next two words out of my mouth were “Where and when?”

Unfortunately I couldn’t play last year because I was working, but when my friend Mark told me he was starting a CMC team I immediately told him to sign me up.

Since CMC sponsored our team we made an agreement not to participate in the drinking, which is a small price to pay for a weekend of competitive kickball. Not to mention it gave us a pretty clear playing advantage.

I did let my temper get the best of me during our second game against a group of drunk hooligans. We began losing when the ref started making unfair calls and the team started making unnecessary comments in an attempt to intimidate us. We wound up losing after a horrible inning where they gained ten runs, but they didn’t last long in the competition and one of their players was barred from the tournament.

All in all it was a great was a great way to spend the weekend.  The weather was perfect and a lot of people were there to compete and cheer each other on. We were eliminated in our forth game with an 0-2 loss.  We walked away knowing we played a fair game and tried our hardest.

Upcoming events include a CMC Coffee House from 6-8pm this Wednesday and broom ball.

Eli aka Crip Nasty

After picking up some gear we all arrived at Butcher Knife park excited and ready to go. Now, Eli and Chuck-Ross do this about three days a week but I was certain I could handle the 20 maybe 30 foot rock we were climbing. Oh how wrong I was.

Without the brightly colored knobs to lead my way up the rock I had a difficult time navigating the way. So after several failed attempts of only making it half way I finally gave up.

Although Eli and Chuck-Ross were the only two to make it to the top we all had a blast. Not only did we get a great work out and have a lot of laughs in the process, it was also a bit of a trust exercise as we belayed each other up and down the rocks. This random excursion is yet another reason why I love going to school in Steamboat.

Vince gearing up

Chuck-Ross showing us how it’s done

This summer has flown by but I thought I’d let everyone know what has been going on at the library downtown. This week the Tibetan Monks have been diligently constructing a Mandela.

I’m sure many of you are wondering what exactly and Mandala is. Remember when you were little and spent hours building castles in the sand box? And then some of us got a little older and were introduce to sand art? Well ladies and gentleman, this is sand art to the tenth power. Imagine working 8 hours a day for a week carefully placing each grain of sand in its specific spot. This is a form of meditation for the monks and as they work on the piece they imagine it as a 3-D city.

And then- the part no child would be okay with. Once the project is finished the sand is blessed and swept away to show that all things are impermanent.

If you are looking for something to do this evening you can witness them finishing up around six and stay for closing ceremonies at 7 o’clock. If you’re lucky you may even get to take home some of the blessed sand!

The Sand

Me working on the community Mandela

But now I’m here and most people have left for the summer. Since I went home during the entire month of May last year, Mud Season was something I had yet to experience. It seems like a large amount of people in this town are bored and “have nothing to do”.

I can see where it’s easy to get bored this time of year because you wake up around noon, look outside the window at the gray rainstorms rolling in and and check your agenda. You groan and think to yourself “Oh, look, once again I have nothing to do today”.

However, I am determined not to get the mud season blues. This is a beautiful town and it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing, raining or sunny outside. There are always things to do for little or no money. Here are a few suggestions:

Get a Hobby- Some people enjoy building model cars, others like to crochet. Personally, I’m a book junkie. The start of Mud Season has been a reminder of how many good books I picked up last summer, and to be honest I’m excited to see if I can do more this year. It doesn’t matter what you’re into, this is the best time to enjoy doing it. Maybe it’s time to pick up that guitar you had to have but never learned how to play.

Visit Friends- I had three days off from work and nothing to do. What could possibly be a better time to hop in a car and visit a new town? A couple of my friends moved to Boulder last year and I had yet to make it out and visit them. It was a great trip because I got to check out CU Boulder, the school I plan on attending after CMC, and spend time with great people.

Get in Shape- Just because it’s raining doesn’t mean you can’t go for a run. I have to admit the first time I put my running shoes on in months was about a week ago. I stepped outside with my friend’s dog thinking we could jog to the dog park, play fetch and jog back. It was sprinkling but I didn’t mind. That was until I made it 20 yards to the dirt trail and a freak hail storm hit. I debated going for the run anyways until the puppy decided the hail was too painful and hid underneath my porch. Still, biking and jogging are great ways to get in shape and explore the beauties of this town that you haven’t seen before. And, if you do get caught in a freak storm you can always catch the free bus to safety.

Become a Movie Buff- Since we are all broke and home by around 6pm my roommates and I have frequent movie nights. If it’s come out in the past two months we’ve probably seen it. We frequent red box, blockbuster and netflix about two or three nights a week. It’s a good way to bond and pass time.

Travel- With the economy recovering from such a slump there are amazing deals everywhere. This winter my family and I went on a cruise for ridiculously cheap. Flights may vary daily but hotels have such great deals. Checkout sites like travelocity.com or orbitz for good deals.

Volunteer- If you are sitting around with nothing to do all day there is always the option to volunteer. You can participate in river clean ups, walk dogs at the animal shelter or even become a mentor. Chances are you will meet some pretty cool people and feel good about yourself in the process.

One of my favorite speakers was a woman who was supposed to talk to us about art. She began talking about local painters and then went into traditional weaving. She showed us some traditional clothes and began to explain the meaning behind the patterns.

The up and down lines she is pointing at in the photo represent the double headed snake which has many significant meanings to the Mayan culture. She explained that the up and down represented high points and low points in one’s life. When someone very close to you dies you are at the bottom and you grieve for the loss. After so many days of grieving a person says will ask themselves where they want to be emotionally and being to climb up the latter.

Being an American I assumed being at the top all the time would be the ultimate achievement but I was wrong. We are always moving up and down the latter depending on where we are in our lives. Unlike the US way of thinking being happy all the time is the best thing in the world, the important part to them is maintaining balance. When you are at the top you are reminded that things can always get worse, which makes you grateful for what you do have. When you are at the bottom there is the assurance that things will certainly get better.

This woman seemed to be very enlightened. At one point she said “The wisdom of the universe is very large”. This saying has definitely stuck with me because it’s so true. Often times we find ourselves wondering how we got to a certain point or into a certain situation but if we remind ourselves that there are larger things out there our problems seem much smaller.

She respected that we celebrated different ideas and came from a completely different way of life. It’s so interesting to learn about different ways of thinking and how people see the world. Meeting with this woman has only reinforced how bad I want to study philosophy.

Here is some of the artwork they had displayed.