Try not to talk to much your first month here . . .

When I first decided to move to WY, I got a lot of advice on how to survive. In addition to a brutal winter and completely different landscape, I needed to adjust to a little bit of a cultural change. As one friend, and former Colorado resident, said, I'll need to adjust to the rugged individualism of Wyoming. "Try not to share your feelings to early". I feel like I also maybe should have a bigger car or at least more articles of flannel . . . but my favorite advice came from one of the WCC program directors. He said "You're probably going to have a lot of trouble here in the beginning. You are from the East coast, you're liberal, and you think about things . . . try not to talk for at least your first month."

Well it has been more than a few months, and I'm starting to adjust. Really there isn't much difference when you surround yourself with the kind of people you enjoy. I don't talk to much to the neighboring apartment with 3 Ford F350 Trucks that wake me up on occasion because the diesel fumes start to seep into my 1st level apartment. I also don't talk to much to the girls with bleached blond hair, fake tan, and wearing high heals in the dead of winter - although truth be told they probably don't spend much of their day worrying about me talking to them. I do have a blast with the 11 other crew leaders though. These are people who are ready to devote a summer to working and living outside, so they have to be cool.

I don't know if I'll move back to WY after the summer, but I'm certainly not ruling it out.

So much time on my hands!

In my first week back in WY, I have been relatively bored. Not the angsty teenager bored because you're angry that mom didn't let you go to the party and you don't want to act like you're actually enjoying yourself, but the kind of bored that exists when you're an only child on vacation at the beach - you're happy that you're at the beach, not at school, and that you get to pick the marshmallow sugar cereal for breakfast, but there are only so many sand castles that you can build by yourself. Most of it is to be expected because I just moved to a completely new place where I am friends with all of three people within 4 hour driving distance, but I am also used to occupying my time working on some sort of project or toward some sort of goal.

One project I am eager to start is remodeling Ed's house. Although he was gone all week I painted his ceiling, mopped and cleaned the kitchen, fed his dog, and cleaned all the dirty dishes. He finally got back home yesterday and we started to hang kitchen cabinets and install light fixtures today. Unfortunately Ed has to work every once in a while, so I spend my time waiting with his dog Keegan for him to return so we can play.

It just seems that with ample amount of time and even other crew leaders to help out, I should be able to think of some sort of project or business idea. My current plan is to touch base with some of the local service organizations and non-profits in Laramie this week to see if I can start to make connections, and continue to brainstorm ideas with friends. Hopefully at some point it will turn into some reasonable ideas. In the mean time I will continue to apply to Applebees and pizza restaurants in the hopes of finding some money to pay for my thermodynamics book I just bought.

Summer Goals

This summer I will be working for the Wyoming Conservation Corps. I'll be leading a group of 6 crew members with a co-leader on 10-day hitches doing work for the State Parks and conservations groups of Wyoming. In preparation, all of the leaders attend a class at the University of Wyoming in Laramie once a week to cover topics like leadership, conservation, natural resource management, volunteerism, group dynamics, and communication.

Our first assignment is to state our intentions and goals for the summer. Here is what I've come up with:

I want to give ownership of the experience to the crew members by allowing them to make decisions. On the same note, I don't want to allow myself to be concerned with small details.

It needs to be my priority to get to know the people I'm working with.

I should be able to raise at least $1000 in donations for the WCC

I don't ever want to feel like I could have worked harder at something, planning/working/whatever

I want to understand the administration of the program so that I can feel comfortable running a non-profit in the future. This includes grant writing and general logistics.

Most importantly I want to figure out how this whole experience is relevant to my life goals.

Avoid Fire Hydrants

Welcome to what is to become my unorganized and seldom updated blog on my life adventures. The plan is to use this space to post some thoughts and reflections on my life experiences . . . or maybe just post some pictures of cool things I see. I just figured that after quitting my job, biking across the country, and moving to Wyoming, I should try to uncover some meaningful life lessons so I don't have to repeat it all in a couple years.

Without any major reflection here are some of the past year's lessons.

• Avoid fire hydrants and stay close to friends when you're intoxicated
• Save for unexpected emergencies, lapses in judgement, and poor life decisions
• Face to face, people are generous and kind
• There is little to no recycling between Ohio and Eastern Washington State