2011

Year in Review coming soon! (b/c I'm a blogging fail!)

Powda!

Caitlin and I headed to Brighton!

Lookin Good

Buying this in the next few days! Thanks Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa! Birthday money put to excellent use :) I've been needing a new SHELL jacket for a few years. Accumulated 2 new insulated ones last season, but they were way too warm on spring days or when I was out hiking. Really excited for this jacket though - Volcom Gio - long fit, hand gaiters, 10k. Yup I'm a gear nerd.

I'm still enjoying fall even though I can't wait for winter...

10/13/10

Practicing waking up early for winter - alarm 7 a.m., trail head 8:15 a.m.

It was chilly - like frost on the ground cold.

Made it to Lake Blanche in less than 2 hours - about 3 miles up

Salty City view

Money Shot

Ross and I - planning a bunch of hikes before winter gets rolling



10/14/10

Next night, got off work at 10 p.m. and hiked in to camp with some friends in Guardsman.

Woke up to a surprise, awesome view and the sweetest tent spot.

Winter is almost here!

It's finally cold! I like it! Just bought my new snowboard too! Can't wait for the snow. Till then I'm working full time at Backcountry and just trying to stay sane!

<----The new board, Never Summer Evo 142. Can't wait to get in the park with this board!

Been Awhile

At the request of Rita, I'm finally updating my blog. I've pretty much given up the whole internet social scene because a) I like to talk in person and b) working at a computer all day makes me not want to be on it when I'm off.

So I've been graduated for a year. It feels really weird, yet really awesome. No writing papers or going to class are my favorite parts. Obviously. But I've kept myself pretty busy and very happy since then.

All summer I hung out with friends and worked a little (with no idea how I still had money to pay rent from my measly job). I went on some road trips, did a lot of camping and rode my bike around the city. I started trail running and also did some climbing. In August, I started working at Snowbird bussing tables. Not the most glorious job but I made bank doing it. Then I was rehired at Backcountry.com doing the Livehelp chat in September.

Starting in December, I was working 7 days a week and snowboarding 4 days a week. Yep really. I loved/hated it. But who else do you know that can still get 80+ days of riding while working everyday for 5 months. Needless to say, I was exhausted and I quit Snowbird in April due to some management issues. I'm still working at Backcountry and killing it every quarter so far.

I plan to work there all summer and have time to relax. Lots of plans for backpacking the Uintas and Moab, climbing and camping. Raging Waters, floating the Provo, Cottonwood Heights and hoping my plan for hitchhiking boats on lakes will keep me cool when I'm stuck in the city.

Speaking of cities...I'm hoping to move out of it in the fall. I'm trying to get a cabin to rent in Big Cottonwood Canyon, which has been my dream before I even graduated. I can't wait to live in the mountains, walk to the resort, work from home and live my snowboard bum dream.

I'll try to update more often and with some pictures when I do next.

Need Help?

If you need any help around the house this week or next, I'm looking to make some extra cash since both of my jobs have cut my hours now.

Here are some of my skills I can offer:

Cleaning
Doing Laundry
Organizing
Babysitting
Gardening
Mowing the Lawn
Typing papers
Running errands
Photography
Filming/Video editing
Walking the dog
Washing cars/detailing
Cooking dinner

OR

Anything that you need done and I can help with!

Email me at jdunn.loves.snow@gmail.com and I'll send you my phone number. And if you know anyone else who may be in need of some help...I'm there.

Graduation

It's official...I'm a college graduate!

Mal and I...Go Utes!

Classic grad pic.

The family. Thanks for all the support!

We went to the Melting Pot for dinner. It was yummy!

The chocolate fondue dessert was killer. Mmmmmmm.

DONE!

Just took my last undergrad final! It was an open book law hypothetical test...with 8 long questions and 2 hours. I scribbled furiously and think I did well.

So I'm officially done with my undergrad! It's been a short 4 fun years and it's kind of sad to leave that all behind. But I'm off to bigger and better things! I can't wait to see what the future holds!

Graduation is this Friday!

So close...

Well, my paper did get finished and turned in a week ago. It was nice to get it over with and pretty much be able to cruise through the last 3 weeks of school. Cruise in my mind means that I'm not stressed on writing a paper or cramming for an exam.

I'm still working on my video...which is more fun for me because it's about snowboarding. I was in editing for 9 hours on Tuesday. Pretty ridiculous but I got a lot done. I'll be at school editing more for the next week...I need to do a lot more detailed stuff now. Like color correction, some cool transition/edits, and type stuff. Should be a good time. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on it already!

Then after that, I only have my Law final, which is all hypothetical essay type questions but is also open book and notes. Sooooooo, I mostly just have to mark my book and study over a few things (maybe).

I need to get my announcements out soon too. I'll probably work on those this weekend and hopefully get them in the mail by Monday.

Other than that...I'm trying to look for an internship anywhere. And maybe a second job. And still hoping for Hawaii...or I've even been considering New Zealand (if I can get a work visa). Who knows...I'll probably be stuck in Utah for the summer. Hello hot desert wasteland.

The Process of Writing a Paper

Well...I'm halfway through with this paper. Just over 2 pages into it and feeling good. My thesis and background is set. I need to work on my arguments a little more though, hence this break. My arguments have to be awesome. At least I think so, since I'm proving that a case was ruled wrongly.

Sorry for the bore. If you want to check out the case, I'm going against check this out: Hosty v. Carter. It's not the actual court documents that I'm using, but it gives a good overview. Very controversial...and in my opinion, obviously in the wrong. Which is the very reason I chose it, over others of course!

Anyways, I'm going to get some dinner to give my brain some rest and my stomach some real food instead of all this Easter candy.

Dead Computer = Stress

My computer decided to die today. Or at least inhibit me from using it for awhile. I think it may have gotten a virus because the internet has been acting weird for the last week or two. I ran some tests on it (because I'm a nerd and know how to do that at least). It looks like the memory is having a lot of issues...and I hope that all my pictures, projects and everything are ok. I would be devastated. I actually tried to back everything up last night because I had a feeling this would happen. BUT it wouldn't read my external hard drive and kept saying it had to be reformatted (which would erase everything on there). No good. I haven't backed things up since before last summer...so Hawaii pics, football stuff, school projects to use in my portfolio, etc. would all be gone if we can't recover them. :(

And my computer has such awesome timing as well...I have my last college paper due on Thursday. A 5 page law paper arguing against a case. So I'm using Mal's laptop tonight...THANKS MAL! Lifesaver for sure. I'll probably work on it at school if I have to tomorrow. And once this paper is out of the way, I'll work on getting my laptop fixed.

But good news is I've just figured out my thesis and how I'm approaching the paper. Always the hardest part for me when writing...I like to have things organized before I dive in and write it. So now to find all my backup and points...

No need to waste more time and STRESS!

The Future (aka this summer)

I ordered my graduation announcements! It's so close! One month from tomorrow I graduate!

I've been looking for an internship and I just got an email back for an interview with a video production company. So exciting! We'll see what happens with that.

I also got an email from Wainani in Hawaii. I taught her kids swim lessons all summer. She was hoping I was coming back. I told her that I wouldn't be able to unless I got a job first. She's going to check on jobs at Surfer magazine for me. It would really be an awesome surprise if things worked out and I did get to go back. Everyone that I was friends with over there has contacted me to see if I was coming for the summer again. I'll cross my fingers.

April News

I got a job! I'm now working at Red Mango. It's a frozen yogurt place that's super healthy. I'm excited to have any job at this point, but I think it will be fun.

I've been busy snowboarding in all the new powder! It's been amazing.

Rocking a sweet goggle tan!

School is wrapping up and I have tons of things to get done this month (my last in school). Test, 5 page paper, editing and a little more filming for my video final, and then a law final. Doesn't sound like a ton but they're all time consuming for sure. I graduate in ONE month!

I went on a little adventure to Gen X clothing with my friend Josh. He needs long XL shirts because he's so tall and he was super excited when I told him about this ghetto fab clothes store. He found his shirts and I found some super comfy men's v-necks (my new favorite style - they're easy, plain and really comfortable...oh and cheap). I decided to look around in the girls...though none of the clothes really appeal to my taste (I'd rather wear a looser guys shirt). But I spotted these mannequins...pregnant mannequins. LOL. This is not a maternity store! It's more of a place for teenagers and such. Josh and I were both pretty amused. And I HAD to get a picture.

Little Sister

I started volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters a few weeks ago. This is my little sister, Yeimi (pronounced just like Jaime). I get to go play with her and her friends on Mondays after school. We hula hoop, play basketball, monkey bars, truth or dare and whatever other random games we come up with. She's super cute and very talkative. She loves the Jonas Brothers and hates brocolli haha. And she loves to take pictures on my phone lol. I think I may take a camera one day for us to play with.

I'm Alive

Just wanted you to know I'm still alive and kicking. I haven't posted for a bit...had a friend in town and been busy snowboarding. I'll make some time to post pics and such from the last few weeks. And just in case you wanted to know how tired my legs really are...I've snowboarded 15 of the last 19 days this month (not counting today yet).

Fever and Warranty

So I've finally made time to blog again. Here's an update:

I was really sick this past weekend. I woke up on Friday with a fever that didn't go away until Saturday night. It peaked at about 102 degrees and would vary between that and 100 degrees. Not fun...all I did was lay on my couch and sleep. I feel great now though :)

I've been filming a lot lately for my final project. I have a video production class and access to some really nice cameras. Obviously (I hope) I'm doing it on snowboarding. So most of my snowboard days have become filming days. Which to my surprise, I don't mind at all. I had a little incident last week though...

I had filmed some follow shots and then we stopped to film one rail for a few shots. I took off my snowboard and put it into the snow vertically. I moved up and got some shots. Then there was a huge gust of wind...I look over and my board had fallen. Then it started to slide...DOWNHILL and was gone. I had to walk the rest of the way down the mountain with my camera in-hand. People on the chairlift told me where it went and my friend Cheston found it for me.



To my surprise, my board (my baby) was fine. One of my bindings wasn't though...the heel cup (the C-shape at the top of the picture) was bent in. It was still ok to ride on...just felt weird and the high back didn't fit well anymore. Ride bindings have a lifetime warranty on bending on the heel cup and base plate. And I bought them from Backcountry which has a 100% return policy. But I wasn't sure what would go down since I bought them with my discount.

Well...I went to the Backcountry retail store today and WA-LAAA! New shiny bindings! Fast and easy! No problem!

Twitter

I signed up for Twitter today. For those that don't know, it's a free site that you can update from a computer or phone. I even have a link in my blog...right here ------>.

So you can get updated on my whereabouts instantly. (And especially when I fail at being an awesome blogger.)

Fresh Pow!

It's been an epic pow week in Utah! Tuesday and Wednesday were super deep days...today though, aka Friday, I still found some epic face shots. We hiked up Pioneer Peak right off of Crest at Brighton. Traversed and dropped into a bowl of almost untouched pow. Sooooooooooo good! And this is 2 days after the last snow...and one of the many reasons I love BRIGHTON.

Our run. Look at all that pow! Hiking it again tomorrow!

On top of the World! Park City/Heber view.

Big Cottonwood view!

Mexico!

Front view from our suite!

Cattle truck cab ride. First of many.

Mazatlan

The Market. This is an aisle of clothes with a random chicken stand. Smelled gross.

Bacon?

More meat...everyone touched meat bare handed and there was no barriers. Sketch.

Sunset.

Mini cab ride. Squished.

Mal got front.

Old downtown.

Windy cab.

Night view of Mazatlan.

Last morning with our cowboy hats.

It was both mine and Mal's first times out of the U.S. Very eye-opening. We hated all the vendors that would bug you on the beach. But the food was delicious. And the weather was great.

Good times!