What To Not Feel Helpless

It is so fast and easy!!!!

http://www.nrdc.org/action/default.asp

Snowboarding in California

Last weekend I went snowboarding for the first time in 7 years, since I left Vermont, and came to the conclusion that if I don't do something for seven years I tend to suck! Though I had so much fun I couldn't help but think of the saying "Its just like riding a bike..." I started off good but as the day went by I got worst and worst, via tiredness, hunger and the onset of a cold that I had been brewing in my lung cavity for a couple of days.

I only got off the chair lift one time without falling, so I had to worn people that I might take them out if they tried to go the same direction as me. It was so funny the chair lift guy started to know me just because I fell all the time and because according to him I was really good at it!!! One time I did a tumble tuck roll and he loved it, I told him "Some people just have skills; and mine happens to be falling of the chair lift in style."

I went to Bear Valley which is east of Fresno and stayed at this very sweet and generous girl Mindy's family cabin with a whole bunch of her friends. It is an absolutely gorgeous cabin three stories tall on a hill side, it was so beautiful. On the morning we were going up to the slopes I was sitting outside in the forest and snow, watching some kids play on sleds and building snowmen, which was very cute and it made me miss snow but then that thought faded fast when I remembered the difference between living in the snow and visiting the snow.

http://www.bearvalley.com/

Luckily Mindy and her friends took pity on me and put up with my crappy snowboarding skills and let me hangout on the slopes with them all day. I had SOOO MUCH FUN. My favorite part is that I still have a huge bruise on my leg. Its not just a normal bruise though its pretty cool it looks like I punctured a whole in some deep tissue near my knee and it bleed a line down to my calf, all under my skin, and made a blood pocket in my calf. It is so cool looking I think it happed when I my binding on my right foot failed and my foot started to come out, which was unfortunate timing since at the time I was heading straight for a tree so I crashed myself to avoid collision.

Me, Mindy and Lauren getting ready to ride

My Family at Christmas

Me, My Mom Marla, My Niece Anna , My Dad Frank, By Oldest Brother Jason, My Sister-In-Law Ellen, and My Next Oldest Brother Nate

Ellen's Sister Hillary did a beautiful job!! Thank you Hillary

Christmas Slide Show 2008

The Poly Population's Fashion Retardations

The other day I was basking in the sun on Dexter lawn, enjoying a nice Californian 78 degree winter day listening to my friend Lynette critiquing everybody's outfits as they walked by. I found this quite humorous because Poly definitely has its own fashion.

Some of these fashions are often observed and well know, some have names and some don't. If you go to Poly then you might know what I'm taking about.

A few days before this gorgeous day at school, I was at the beach with Lynette when her brother called her and she proceeded to tell him that Californians aren't all hippies and that we have a lot of cowboys in SLO county (she's from Illinois). Then she told him about some boys that she saw the other day at school, she explained to him that they wear dressed as Bro on top but cowboy on the bottom; I thought this was funny and she asked me if I have witnessed this fashion phenomenon. I had not, thus leading us to Dexter Lawn.

Lynette excitedly pointed out two guys that where wearing the combo attire; she was right, there seems to be a massive population at Poly that dresses Bro (frat boy) on top and Cowboy (wranglers and cowboy boots on the bottom). We concluded that this fashion phenomenon needs a name and needs to take its place with the all time greats like the "Eskihos" (I did not come up with this name and do not take any responsibility for the offensiveness of its nature, but this describes girls that wear polyester jump suits that they tuck into their Uggs).

I find that situations like this do not come around too often. It is a true honor to be the one who names a fashion trend and so as intelligent college students we pondered; I suggested Bro-Boy but Lynette said that's just a Bro, this went on for at least 30 min with no prevail.

A day or so latter I was expressing Lynette and my need to name this fashion trend to my friend Jeremy, who without missing a beat revealed to the world the linguistic miracles "They're Going to the Bro-deo." So Jeremy on be half of the world thank you.

My Second to last Quarter

This is my second to last quarter at poly and for some strange reason I have met so many new people who are now my friends. I went almost my entire college career with only a few friends but between last quarter and this quarter I have been blessed with interesting people to hang out with. Some may think this is sad but I think its great I was able to focus during the early part of my college career and was able to obtain good grades. Now that I'm almost done I'm motivated to socialize and not study.
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On an unrelated note I made an interesting dish last night it was supper easy too.

Stuffed Swiss Chard with Yogurt-balsamic dressing:

Ingredients:
-10 leaves of swish chard

Stuffing:
-3 cups cooked left over or boxed long grain wild rice mix any kind
-1 cup Mixed frozen veggies or fresh
-Garlic Salt (to taste)
-Black Pepper (to taste)
-Crushed Red Pepper (to taste)
-Or any seasonings that are desirable to you (to taste)
- 1 cup Cottage Cheese
-3 Tablespoon Cream cheese optional
-1/4 cup Cheddar cheese
-1/4 cup Graded or power Parmesan Cheese

Dressing:
-2 cups Vanilla yogurt preferably Brown Cow
- Balsamic (to taste)
Cooking:
1. Cook the rice as normal
2. Cook frozen veges as normal

3. Wash chard and soak chard in warm water while you preform the next step
4. In a large mixing bowl combine Rice, veggies, garlic salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, cottage cheese, cream cheese, cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Mix all ingredients until evenly combined.
4. Cut the midrib and stem off the chard (if big leafs cut in half, if small leafs keep as much soft midrib as possible so that your stuffing won't fall out)
5. Place a tablespoon to 3 tablespoons of stuffing on the top-tip of the leaf roll like a burrito use a toothpick to hold edges together or place folded edges on the bottom of the steamer or backing pan
6. Steam for 15-20 minutes or bake in the oven until leaves are tender but sill a little firm
7. Mix yogurt and balsamic together in a small bowl. add enough balsamic to get rid of most of the sweet yogurt taste.
8. When chard is cooked remove and serve with yogurt-balsamic dressing on the top

**** Note none of the measurements are based on reality since I just made it on the wing, you can change size of servings to what ever you want/