"when do you think he'll let us back in the library?" 

pals

hi all. it's sadie and marley again. dave's worried that people will think he's a big dork by letting us take over his blog, but we told him not to worry.

actually, it's sadie typing, and marley is just goofing off.

(marley) "shut up, sadie! i'd type, but you never let me."

anyway, dave's got us here at work again. it's been a fun day - we got to meet the other sadie over in the bookstore. she's a pretty golden retriever, and was just rescued by the bookstore manager. she's 6, like me. and then we went over to tommy's office and saw little ernie jenkins and little joe bender. tommy names his dogs after his favorite people (i know - weird, huh?). actually, joe bender is a cranky blue heeler mix, but for some reason he's sweet on marley. thank goodness it's not me - he's a hairy, ill-tempered old fart and i don't like him. but marley brings out the best in him - lord knows why.

(marley) "i heard that!"

after we went over to the other building, we saw erin's dog izzie, who just had a cancerous growth removed from her stomach. she didn't seem to mind, though - her tail was wagging and she was happy. and then glenn brought up his dog pumpkin, who turned out to be a real alpha bitch. but maybe i'm just saying that because i'm the same with other females.

(marley) "damn right."

and up until now, we've been kicking it out on the balcony, watching steamboat hustle and bustle beneath us. tomorrow dave and jenn are taking us snowshoeing up on the pass, and then on saturday our grandparents are getting here. hopefully they have some christmas presents for us. and then on january 1st, i turn 6 years old. actually, we don't really know if that's my real birthday, but it's dave and jenn's best guess.

all right, folks. dave wants me to wish our family and friends a happy christmas and merry new year.

(marley) "that's merry christmas and happy new year, sadie!"

"shut it, marley!"

magnet poetry redux

well, it continues to snow - a foot yesterday. i've never seen anything like this. jamie and i are headed up on buff pass with tommy tomorrow morning for some snowmobiling and snowboarding. i feel bad about the noisy 2-stroke engine, but it sure is better than hiking for turns.

the students are gone, and there's little to do except inventory books and compose magnet poetry. so, without further ado, i give you my latest refrigerator magnet poetry masterpiece (again, keep in mind that i am working with the goddess set, and am therefore creatively limited to melodramatic words about earth and power and beauty).

chants and murmurs

shine and chant them
to their brilliant sordid carnival
as they
moan through falling moons

will you murmur across the road?
dream beneath a summer of language?
soothe and celebrate her delirious heart?

live think imagine
remember an america
when death rose from the soil

link o' the day:

in case you're unfamiliar with magnet poetry, check it out here.

the sweet lowdown

*the book talk went well. 15 people turned out on a night when we had 5 inches of new snow and it was already 0 degrees by 7 pm. no mormons or ex-mormons, which surprised me, but those who were there were willing to springboard into larger religious/philosophical issues. no one screamed at anyone or stormed out, so i think it was a success.

*the semester is effectively over tomorrow, and it couldn't come any sooner. it's been a very, very busy 4 months in this library.

*band practice on sunday. our gig monday night was great. the originals are really good, and i'll get them up here if i can.

*snowboarded yesterday morning for 3 hours and made sweet, sweet powder turns in shadows and closets, and the glades skier's right of two o'clock. incredible.

*really looking forward to catching some arizona trout over the holidays with geno, playing tennis or pickle ball with nan, and getting lost in the desert with timmy and robbie.

*will do absolutely nothing tonight except watch that crazy s.o.b. tom cruise in war of the worlds.

link o' the day:

denver's alternative weekly, westword, does a ski resort guide every year. it's well written, and kind of fun to read. select steamboat and learn more about where jenn and i live.

faith and weather

first off, it's snowing again. 4 or 5 inches already, and about that much more expected tonight. i may take some personal time tomorrow morning and get some runs in. roberto, i hope you enjoy the "frozen granular" on your upcoming trip to sugar mountain. poor bastard.

secondly - tomorrow night is my book talk on krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. i've finished reading it for a second time, and am overflowing with questions of faith:

are all prophets and gurus inherent narcissists?

what differentiates the prayers of a common person from the delusional missives from god that a schizophrenic receives?

doesn't every set of beliefs - secular or spiritual - start off outside of the mainstream?

as joseph campbell argues, all religions have stories that borrow from mythological archetypes that have existed since time immemorial - does this fact discredit religious dogma?

et cetera, et cetera. i hope to focus on the role of faith in our modern world; the fascinating cast of religious characters in history (joseph smith in particular); and, ultimately, what faith, prophets and gurus can inspire people to do - both inspring and horrific.

there could be 5 people attending or 50. my challenge is to mediate, and to help people - faithful and questioning alike - approach religion (and mormonism particularly) in a new way.

yikes.

i'll let you know how it goes.

link o' the day:

if i were a mechanical man (which i'm definitely not), i'd convert my subaru into a greasecar in a heartbeat.

book talk

link o' the day:

i'm doing a book talk next wednesday on "under the banner of heaven" by john krakauer. here's the story in the paper about it.

have a great weekend folks!

my boogers are frozen

folks, when i woke up this morning, the thermometer in the kitchen window was at 29 degrees below zero.

let me repeat that, in case you thought you read it wrong - negative 29 degrees farenheit!

now, i've lived in some cold places (gunnison, co; jackson, wy), but nothing compares to this. i've experienced 10, 12, 15 below zero, but when you start approaching negative 30, that's a whole different kind of cold. it's offensive!

i walked outside to start the cars at about 8:30, and my feelings were hurt. (thank you, i'll be here all night)

seriously, though - i had gloves on and my fingers were almost numb in about 4 minutes; it hurt to blink - my eyelids felt like sandpaper; and it feels like there's less oxygen in the air when it's this cold.

the yampa river, which runs at about 40 degrees in the winter, was putting off so much steam that driving on the valley floor was like navigating through a pea soup fog.

there's ice inside the first floor stairwell of bristol hall, where i work. ice inside the building!

okay, i'm done ranting. link o' the week:

even though college students worldwide overuse wikipedia, it is still an awesome free resource on the internet. check out the thorough wikipedia entry for my favorite band ever, the stone roses. (timmy, read the last bit about reformation - very interesting)

oh...my...goodness...

more snow folks. here's some numbers:

9 inches have fallen as of about 2 a.m. this morning. still dumping - i can't see downtown from my work window.

the ski area has the most snow in the state - 134 inches have fallen so far this season at midmountain. to give you some perspective, that's already more than 1/3 of our season average, and it's only december 6th. if you count december, we still have 4 1/2 months of snow to go.

15 inches in october, 83 inches in november (snowiest november on record for steamboat ever), and 45 inches and counting in december.

largest compacted summit base of all colorado ski areas at 69 inches.

midmountain numbers - 20 inches in past 3 days, 45 inches in past 6 days, 58 inches in past 8 days, 86 inches in past 10 days.

(as an aside to my man roberto - you need to get your ass out here, and bring your bandit B3's with you, sucker!)

link o' the day:

these pics represent what my past 2 days on the mountain have looked like. absolutely, positively epic conditions.

i'm not sure i remember...

what life was like before a constant barrage of snow.

it's been dumping here since 8:00 this morning. and i mean dumping. no breaks, just a steady stream of snow. 8 inches already, easily, and it's not supposed to stop until saturday afternoon some time.

wow, this is just one heck of a start to the ski season. and people here are so jazzed - everyone here loves the snow. whether folks want to play in it, or whether they are business owners looking forward to increased skier visits - people are just excited. giddy, even. every time i stopped next to some complete stranger on the mountain on sunday, we'd just grin at each other and say something to the effect of "holy crap."

link o' the day:

this link is a librarian's tool. if you buy books online, why not compare prices and availability from several different booksellers, all at one time? this page allows you to do just that. just in time for the holidays! happy spending, folks!