Itasca State Park

To those who don't know my parents recently moved from Vermont to North Dakota. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with my family so I figured I would take a spring break and go visit them in North Dakota  I flew into Fargo late on Thursday night and drove to their home. That next weekend they took me to Minnesota to visit Itasca State Park. Itasca State Park is home to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. 

Before we left I contacted my friend who I met in Maine and invited him to come join us for the day. I love catching up with friends and was excited that he could join us for the day. We rented snow shoes a the parks visitor center and did a 2 mile loop it took us by lakes and through the trees. The snow was about two feet deep in places and we were glad that we had rented the snow shoes. The trail itself was well packed and an easy snow shoe. Although, I will say that snow shoeing is much harder than hiking. 

The forest in the winter time is completely different than the forest in the summer time. I'm a strong believer that you can hike a trail every day and notice something different every time. The woods may seem quiet but they are always alive and changing. The snow deadens any sound that is made and the cold makes everything seem so still. However, it is much easier to track animals in the winter time because of the tracks they make in the snow. The hoar frost on the vegetation gave everything an ethereal quality. 

Being out in the woods magnifies memories and time instead of stealing them. Spending time outside always makes a day seem special and is filed differently in my memory bank. What a great day spent with family and friends! 

mylife.com

I recently found out that I had an online profile at a site called mylife.com. This site had posted my age, and places I have claimed residency, and where I was currently living. It said who my parents were and where they were living. Then it asked if I wanted to claim my profile. I also saw that many of my other family members were on this site.

Never had I ever given mylife.com to post this personal information. I have a facebook account but within that account I do not have my address, or phone number posted. Even here on this blog I understand it's public information and would never post the things that they had available for everyone to see.

Beware mylife.com has compiled public records and seeks for everyone to be on their website in one way shape or form. I would highly suggest googling yourself with mylife.com attached to the end and see what comes up. It was very uneasy for me to see all the public records about me compiled into one place.

The only way I could take down my profile is calling their office 310-571-3144 in order to delete it. When I called they had much more information about me which hadn't been posted. Such as my PO Box number at my old house, and current location.

This type of thing makes me so angry. If someone wants to post personal information about themselves that is their choice, but for mylife.com to post someone information about someone else without their permission is wrong. Even if it is public information I still don't want it all on place to easily find.

Busy Busy

I work in a ski town, and February kind of explodes for all of us. February is the month where everyone decides the snow has been around long enough and they can finally go skiing. I work at the mountain from 11:30 until 8pm. This generally speaking, give me the morning to do whatever chores I need to do and then I get to work. Lately however I've been working at a bed and breakfast as a waitress as well.

I worked at this place one summer mostly working wedding parties serving breakfast and doing housekeeping, as well as the occasional busing routine at the wedding. During this time between my junior and senior year of college I made enough in one summer that I didn't have to take out a private loan to pay my rent senior year.

When I'm in the area again I give them a call, it's not like it was when I could work there full time but the owner of the place does keep it in mind for someone to fill work breakfast. It works pretty well for me to serve breakfast and then go to my next job, it makes for a long day but it's a little extra money in my pocket. Usually I can buy groceries for the week with my tip money. This year I'm looking at this money as a trip to San Francisco.

However, during the Presidents vacation week the entire town blows up. Forget being able to get from Point A to Point B, get gas, get a dinner reservation, ski, or get a drink at the bar. I'm not complaining about this at all, I can do all these thing again when everyone leaves to go home, after spending lots of $$ in the area. This also means I work ALL THE TIME. 7am until 8pm. Next week is going to be crazy, but I'm glad for it. I'm looking forward to a nap next Friday.

Hiking

I love to hike, its is probably my favorite activity of all time. I also realized that I've been hiking in quite a few places. I now have made it a goal to try to go hiking to every state/ country I visit, even if it's only for a mile.

Here are the places I've already gone:

Vermont

This picture was taken just after returning from Benin. It's at Little Rock Pond near to where I grew up. 

Wyoming and Montana

I led backpacking trips in and out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park one summer. This picture is taken at the lower saddle of the Grand Teton. I had pretty bad altitude sickness that day. 

Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin 

Park W

My fellow Peace Corps volunteers and I along with local guides took children on safari in the park and hiked through the three countries it is located in.  

Wyoming

This picture was taken at Heart Lake, beautiful spot but FULL of mosquitoes.

California

This was taken at Joshua Tree National Park. Absolutely stunning place. I really fell in love with Joshua Tree. Backpacking is really the way to go, the stars are unforgettable! 

New Hampshire 

I've been on many hikes in New Hampshire, but this was one of my favorites, hiking up Mt. Moat with my Wilderness First Responder friends! 

Alaska 

I was in Skagway for a time and this was taken at Lower Dewey Lake, a 3 mile round trip hike that is straight up hill, but well worth the hike. 

North Carolina

This was taken on my birthday last year we hiked at the Pisgah National Forest. What a great way to spend a birthday! 

I've also been hiking in New York, Maine, and Florida. 

Catfish

I've recently gotten into watching the show Catfish its about people who have built connections and relationships online, and the show is a documentary about people meeting their online 'loves'.

Have you ever met anyone online or known anyone who has met someone in life they met online? I bet you do.

I know many people who have met friends, significant others and those they would choose to forget online. Emotions don't have to be face to face. If someone feels strongly about someone, who is to say that it isn't real? Just because something starts online, or even stays there, doesn't mean that the connections are any more or less important.

I personally have never met anyone that I've come in contact with only online. I used to think that it was dangerous, after all what types of people are online looking for emotional connections with other people? My original thoughts were the 'online' people were desperate and only interested in taking advantage of others. One by one many of my sane friends and family went online to look for dates. At first I was afraid for them. I then learned that 'online' people are in fact, real people somewhere. My friends and family were dating people they'd met online. These were real people, with real emotions and real interests. I have found that many people I know who use online dating sites to be very happy with the results. They find people who make them feel good.

To say that online dating is without problems is to say that life is without problems. There are those you meet online, just as in life who aren't worth while who are only out to take advantage of you. The more trust that is built in a relationship the harder it is to find out the truth.

Catfish explores the darker side, when people lie online. When someone lies to your face, it's easier to tell, it's easier to pick up on body language. When someone lies to you in a text message it's much harder to extract the truth. This is my fear for my loved ones who date online, that the person they think they have feeling for is hiding something from them. This person who they think they love isn't real, giving them a half truth. While one could argue that this same behavior happens in reality I still think it's much easier to get away with it online. People lie all the time, men pretend to be women, women pretend to be men, people cheat on each other, use each other, take advantage of each other. I can't think of one person I know who hasn't been hurt by another person they trusted.

My point isn't to single out those who use online dating, because it does work. Do you meet jackasses? Yes. But there are still jackasses just walking around in real life who you also could have met. Don't you get your hopes too high and build a relationship based around technology. The people I see in Catfish who are hurt in the end are those who don't meet their crushes, and put too much stock in the technology that holds them together rather than a friendship that doesn't hide behind a phone.