Mile Hi - New Things

Woke up, packed up some things, and drove west to the mountains. Went skiing for a few hours at Keystone, not too bad for November skiing. Then we came back to Denver to go on a bar crawl. I met up with my sister-in-law's roommate from PA who also brought another friend from CA. This friend also invited a friend of a friend from IL and that friend in turn invited a friend of a friend. I also invited another friend of a friend from MI. 6 random girls who just met are all crawling from bar to bar having a good time. Denver is such a transient city; there are always people moving in and out of this state. Most people are friendly and welcome you with open arms. The very next day, I went to my MI friend’s friend’s house for Thanksgiving and there were about 10 of us from all over the place; IN, FL, MI, AZ, etc. Like I said it was just a typical day in Colorado.

What I Learned My 1st Quarter in DU's MBA Program: 1. The Essence of Enterprise My key takeaway of this class is Awareness . When I say, awareness I mean self awareness, as well as, awareness of what is going around the world. I learned about myself, my values, who I am, and who I want to be. Most of the time, I live in my own little bubble. I don't think much about the rest of the world. However, in class we were forced to think outside the box. Therefore, I also learned about what is going on in the world with poverty, globablization, and sustainability. Some other key words are color energies, SLOT, team building, leadership, critical thinking, compass, MICEE, professionalism, oxford engagements, grand rounds, systems thinking, synergy, capitalism, democracy, triple bottom line, whistle-blowing, BOP, biomimicry, amongst others. Sustainability - If you didn't already know it, our world is being depleted of unrenewable resources. People can't keep living the way they ...

Why can't people control themselves, their emotions, and their actions? I'm not sure and not one to be preaching because it is a known fact, when life gets rough, I cry :'-(. If someone yells at me, I cry. If something is sad, I cry. If something is happy, I cry. Yes, I need to work on that. Toughen up woman! I am mostly talking about controlling anger and actions (male & female). Why do people get aggressive and what to argue or get in a fist fight? If someone accidentally bumps into you, does that mean punch them in the face? If someone says something to you that you misunderstand, does that mean you start yelling at them? Even if you are alone and upset, does that mean you can throw a temper tantrum screaming and yelling? Yes, you have a right to be angry. However, anger is no excuse to verbally or physically abuse others (by the way, anger comes from fear). You also have the right to choose how to express our feelings. But please try to find a constructive way to ex...

So we learned about Critical Thinking in 1 of my classes, which I would have to say I am not very good at. However, the point is to learn the concepts and can get better at it. For instance, there are Richard Paul and Linder Elder's Standards of Thinking. These are the principles applied to checking the quality of reasoning about an issue and consist of: clarity accuracy precision relevance depth breadth logicalness significance fairness There also Gerald Nosich’s Elements of Reasoning. These are tools to use when we reflect on our thinking and consist of: purpose question at issue assumptions implications and consequences information concepts conclusions point of view context alternatives You probably have no idea what I am talking about so I leave you with this situation: An elderly coworker of yours is out climbing in the mountains with you and falls and gets very hurt. His last dying wish is delivered to you as "I have $1 million dollars in my safe at home, clean, legal, a...

1. 09/04/09 - The CA Wildfires haze Rocky Mountain view. 2. 09/22/09 - Up to 16" of Snow Expected in CO Mountains. 3. 09/22/09 - CO Woman Attacked by Elk Near Home. 4. 10/05/09 - Colorado Grandma Uses Pillow to Fight Off Black Bear. 5. 10/06/09 - CO's Loveland Ski Area 1st to Open for Season. 6. 10/09/09 - New Jobless Claims Fall to 521K, Lowest Since Jan. (nationwide) 7. 10/09/09 - Denver Among America’s Smartest Cities. ( #5 ) 8. 10/15/09 - CO Release 1st 10 Prisoners to Save Money. 9. 10/15/09 - 6-year-old CO Boy Floats Away in Balloon. 10. 10/20/09 - The Financial Times Ranked the Daniels College of Business #85 in World. 11. 10/21/09 - Daniels College of Business Ranked #20 Globally According to the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes. 12. 10/31/09 - City's Nude Halloween Streak May End. (discusses The Naked Pumpkin Run in Boulder on H-Ween) 13. 11/30/09 - Pot Patients Suing City Over Closed Dispensary. 14. 12/28/07 - Birth Control to be Tried on CO Elk. 15...

Leading at the Edge Wknd... wow, what a great way to bring the classroom into the natural world, good times! Leading at the Edge: This course uses the experiences & accomplishments of the 10th Mountain Division as a metaphor for values-based leadership, innovation, teamwork, & global perspective. It challenges students to work as a team & evaluate their abilities in a difficult changing mountain setting. The result is stronger bonds within the cohort, team-building skills & increased self-awareness. My PMBA class went down south in the mtns to the Nature Place in Florrisant, CO. 3 fun-filled days of compass learning, map reading, pacing, hiking, orienteering, knot tying, rope dangling, rock climbing, repelling, team building, critical thinking, leadership training, trust building, values testing, challenging our minds, and other activities. It was a great experience to learn more about myself and others. It was a bit colder in the mtns but the sun still shined through ...

Anybody out there? All I hear is my own Echo Echo Echo , my own damn E-echo. No one is near me. No one can hear me. With my own damn Echo! E-echo! No one to hear me. There's nobody near me. Thank you Gorilla Zoe.

I haven’t started class yet, but we had orientation this week for my program. It went pretty well. 3 days for 4 hours each (we got to drink 2 out of 3 days). I met the dean, students, professors, and staff. We received books for the 1st quarter, 1 Financial Acctg book and 2 small Daniels Compass books. We also got a tshirt, waterbottle, and will be getting a backpack or messenger bag (I chose messenger bag). Most of it was telling us about the university, the college, the libraries, and the extracurriculars, but we also had lectures and a laptop setup session. If anyone knows about Carl Jung’s model of personality or Insights Discovery or Color Energies , I learned that I am a green, big surprise right? If anybody wants me to elaborate just ask me! The majority of the class is male, younger, and it turns out most are married. I actually feel like I am on the older side, a lot of kids out of undergrad college about 2 or 3 years, whereas I graduate 6 yrs ago. I also feel old when everyt...

1. Mercury revolves around the sun 4 times for every 1 time the Earth does. 2. CO sales tax is 7.2%. 3. They sell beer in grocery stores but not liquor. If you buy beer at the grocery store it has less percentage of alcohol in it as opposed to buying it at a liquor store, which has the normal amount. 4. They have hookah lounges here. 5. Fish tacos aren’t so bad. 6. I live the city of Denver and also Denver county and think I live in a neighboorhood called Hampden. 7. Don’t leave your home without your wallet, it is needed for many things, and then you will have to go back all the way back home to get it. 8. Not all DMV have all services, some are just for licenses, not taxes, titles, registration. 9. DMV close at 5:00 but take their last customer at 4:30 pm, so even if drive all across the city and show up at 4:31 pm, the doors are locked and you are SOL. 10. Within walking distance I can get to a bowling alley, 3 bars, 2 grocery stores, sushi joint, Indian buffet, Vietnamese restauran...

Ok let me redeem myself for that last entry was pretty sappy. Day 2 of driving was not as bad since it was only a 4.5 hr drive. We got to CO pretty quickly and had to get some more ghetto gas. The move-in wasn’t so bad… there is an elevator, however, you had to go up like 7 steps to get on it and then you had to either go to the 2nd floor and go up 7 steps or to the 3rd floor and go down 7 steps. So the moving dolly helped somewhat but not quite as easy as I thought. Also the damn dolly had tiny hard plastic wheels instead of the big rubber ones that are usually on dollies. After all that, I think I need a chiropractor. Let me break it down for ya… The Good - We made it to Colorado (sunshine most of the way) safely in approximately 16.5 hrs. My apt (inside) is great, the paint job is nice, quite spacious, I love my walk-in closet! The Bad - The office lady I met in July at my new apt complex quit and some new girl that knew absolutely nothing tried to help me sign the lease. I also a...

So moving time is finally here. Time to start a new chapter in my life, chapter 6 as a matter of fact (ch 1 – birth, ch 2 – elementary school, ch 3 – high school, ch 4 – WVU, ch 5 – Chicago). Anyways, everything’s packed and ready to go. EXCELLENT Parting Party on Friday! Sorry I missed some of you... I’m so glad everyone else showed and had such a great time. Although, it was a little hard to get up the next morning and move all the boxes & furniture into the Penske Truck. BUT that also went smoothly as a group of the most helpful friends chipped in and we were done in about an hour and a half. I said my goodbyes and shed some tears but it still didn’t really seem real until I hopped behind the wheel. It was so hard to actually drive away and leave, I left my apt, my home of 4 years, my family in Indi, my roommates, and worst of all, some of the greatest friends ever! I guess now is the time it all comes to reality. I didn’t think I’d be chokin back the tears for the 1st 5 hours o...

I apologize for the randomness of this blog, I’m not really sure how to blog or what to blog about yet. I appreciate your patience while I try to figure out what I'm doin... but enjoy reading the randomness!

Less than 3 weeks to the big move! It is definitely feeling more real now as my walls are getting emptier. I'm packing up boxes and tying up some loose ends. Status Update: Found an apt - √ Reserved a moving truck - √ Reserved a hotel room in good ole Cozad , Nebraska - √ To Do: Clean, clean, clean - √ Switch cable/internet bills to roommates - √ Make sure Immunizations Forms go through - √ Forward mail - √ Switch to CO license - √ Buy a car - √ Get DU ID - √ Get a job Buy a dining room set, coffee table, and TV stand - √

In Denver this week to look for apartments, jobs, and DU stuff. It is probably my 5th time here so I'm getting used to it. Everything is going great so far. Jam-packed days so I'm exhausted. I wish I got a job offer though! Day 1: Retrieved rental car from Budget Met DU staff Went on an informal interview at Tigris Met a recruiter at Tri-Worth Solutions Looked at 2 apts Moved a futon Ate dinner at Vines Day 2: Ran 3 mi at Wash Park Met a Crocs connection at Starbucks Looked at 2 apts Test drove 3 cars Met a Mango Media connection for a martini & apps at Sullivan's Day 3: Met a Sports Authority connection at Le Peep Toured DU Looked at 4 apts Happy Hour at Kona Grill Went to the movies to see The Hangover (hilarious :-D) Day 4: Ran 3 mi at Wash Park Returned rental car to Budget Appt w Apartment Finders to look at 4 apts Decided on Cedar Run Apts Ate a sandwich at Bruegger's Bagels (yum :-p) Relaxed Day 5: Farmer's Market on S Pearl Errands Ate a hugh breakfast b...

I am not sure about this myself, but here goes: 1. Sign up with a blog service. 2. Think about what you want to say. 3. Blog!