High Altitude

Living almost a mile above sea level has some interesting consequences for those of us adjusted to sea-level elevations. Cigarettes burn slower, carbonated beverages are flat upon purchase, and laptop hard disks randomly suffer from catastrophic mechanical failures. They say that the mountains get inside your head and change you, for better or worse, I can’t really say. I spent the last week in Dillon — a suburban neighborhood situated 9,000 ft above sea level in the mountains of Colorado — acclimating to this strange winter-obsessed way of life. Getting away from the blustery plains of Minnesota and being in the mountains really restored my appreciation for winter and all the enjoyable things that come with it.

It seemed that throughout the entire trip, some sort of invisible force was preventing me from interacting with technology and interfacing with my life back home. My notebook hard disk crashed — everything gone — before I even got off the plane. The University email servers were mysteriously down for the entire week, preventing me from checking my email even if I wanted too. I couldn’t even access my grades to see how I did on an exam I took right before I left. I couldn’t imagine a better set of circumstances/coincidences for enjoying this trip and forgetting about the digital work-load I left behind me.

I climbed rocks, snow shoed through the woods, skied Keystone mountain, got a full body massage, ate lots of Sushi, watched movies, met new people, went to the Denver Zoo, drank Colorado beer and had an overall amazing time.

Like all good things, the trip has come to an end and I find myself once again in front of my computer in Saint Paul. I sit here writing this with a little less bitterness towards the Minnesota winter and the way it makes me feel. Nevertheless, School resumes on Monday and its going to be a pain recalling the material I let slip out my ears while I was on vacation. Winter is ending, spring is coming, and I am finally finishing my degree. It’s been a long time coming, but things are looking up.