Go here instead

http://www.thisiscourtney.com

You’ll find my new site at the address above

Wow, I suppose it’s time for an update

I haven’t written a blog in almost 5 months. That proves that things have been busy.

As of right now I’m working at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working on their website, editing some video, keeping things current, and that kind of stuff. So far it’s been great, sometimes a little slow but overall it’s a fun job. I’m still working for Mail Marketplace as well. I meet with Kirk once a week to discuss projects, then do the rest of the work from the comfort of home – very nice.

I’m living in St. Louis Park with Chris, our cat Big, kitten Lilly, and “the iguana”. Minneapolis summers are definitely way hotter than summers in Biwabik.

I miss hanging out with my friends and family back home, having fires and such but at least I’m making money (and getting internship credit from FWS for school).

I have one more semester of classes at MCAD, then I’ll be doing an externship spring semester (working full time at the FWS for 15 credits + pay). I’ll be graduating May 2010! I’m going to be thrilled to be done at MCAD. I liked it at first but it has been getting more and more lame there.

Fall 2009 Classes:
Monday – Futures 9:30 – 12:00
Tuesday – Senior Seminar 9:30 – 12:00
Wednesday – No classes
Thursday – Copywriting 1 6:30 – 9:00
Friday – Psychology of Social Interactions 9:30 – 12:00
Online – Design for Community

I’ll continue working both jobs through the semester so I’m only going to get busier.

Enurshia Jay Jam

Thursday Feb 5th I had a morning class from 9:30 – 12:00. At noon I headed to Chilton Wisconsin to begin the first part of our trip to the Enurshia Jay Jam at Jay Peak Vermont. I skipped my Thursday night class (6:30 – 9:00) but made it to Chilton, WI around 5pm so it was well worth skipping class to make some good time. In Wisconsin I met up with Andrew and he drove to Sandusky Ohio. We got there around 3am then slept at Matt’s house. From Sandusky we headed to Ithaca New York around 7am. Once we got to Ithaca we relaxed for a bit and were off to Vermont. The driving time alone was about 27 hours one way from Minneapolis. Saturday we rode at Jay Peak and it was an awesome experience. We were riding through tight trees and deep snow. Although it hadn’t snowed at Jay for about a week previous to us getting there, it was still way more snow than I was use to riding in Minnesota. Riding the real snow was a pretty heavy work out. I had never ridden anywhere that required me to stop mid run and take a little break but this place definitely required it. My knees, thighs, and shins were pretty beat after riding most the day but it was a great time. My knees had already hurt from riding in the car for so long so after riding they were beat. Saturday night it rained then Sunday morning it was sleeting which then turned to snow. Some Jay Peak employees (as well as many people trying to go ride) couldn’t even get up the hills to get to the base of the mountain. Luckily we had an SUV so we didn’t have any troubles. Everyone from our car pool was pretty tired and didn’t really want to pay to ride for only a couple hours in probably icy conditions. We packed up and headed out around noon, maybe 1pm. We drove to Ithaca New York and then waited for the second car to arrive. We couldn’t head to Ohio without the second car so we hung out and waited. Several hours later the second car arrived. Their GPS had told them to go into Canada and then had them eventually take a ferry – we still don’t know why. Since it was pretty late by the time the second car got to Ithaca we decided to sleep at Robert’s house. This was the first night all trip that I slept on an actual bed so I slept great. We got up at 7:30 and hit the road. Andrew and I just happened to have the right timing and got stuck in Chicago for 2 hours. Apparently a tenth of a mile of construction can back the entire city up for 2 hours. We had just gotten into Chicago at 5:30pm and didn’t get out until 7:30pm. North of Chicago we hit some pretty heavy rain which made it hard to see for quite a while. We finally got to Chilton at 9pm and I hit the road toward Minneapolis. I hit a long area of thick fog which made my already tired eyes even more tired. Once I got to the Minnesota border I hit some light rain but nothing serious. I got home around 2am – there was no traffic around Minneapolis at 2am on a Monday night and I was definitely happy about that. Once I got home I carried my suit case and backpack inside and talked to Kurstin for a bit. Soon after I got home I went to bed. After spending 19 hours in a car I was beat. I maybe slept about 2 hours maximum in the car. To my surprise I woke up in the morning after sleeping only 8 hours – I had figured I would be in hibernation for quite a while.

The event had a really great turn out. It was so awesome riding with a bunch of other skiboarders. I still feel like my body is slowly recuperating. Unfortunately we have lost a lot of snow from the warm weather and rain but it looks like it’ll be snowing more pretty soon.

Here are some photos taken by another rider.

Bringing In The New Year With A Headache

Today I woke up at 9:00 am, did some work with my boss (over the phone and remotely connected to his computer). It’s pretty cool how I can remotely use his computer from my own 200 miles away without any lag. He was able to sit there and watch what I was doing on his screen as we discussed upcoming projects and so on.

At about noon I started getting a headache which is just finally starting to go away (I think). The last couple days have been super cold so I haven’t attempted to go skiboarding. It’s pretty miserable when its cold and windy, especially when you’re riding up the chair lift then flying down the hills.

Winter break seems to be flying by. I can’t believe it’s new year’s eve right now. I have to go back to Minneapolis on January 17th. Before then I have to write up my learning objectives and other stuff for my internship (I’ve been putting this off for quite a while). In the Bachelor of Science program at MCAD, we have to do two internships and an externship (working full time for a semester getting a certain amount of hours). I’m going to do my first internship at my current job as a Web and Email Communication Support person. Basically I’ll be doing the same things just keeping more in depth time logs, writing a mid point review on the experience, and getting credit for it.

Since I’m taking an internship I’ll only have 4 other classes. It should be nice not having 5 classes. I’ll have three morning classes (9:30 – noon), and one night class (6:30 – 9:00). It’ll be nice not having any studio classes (1:00 – 6:00). Five hour classes get so boring sometimes.

I’ve been having a blast on break. It’s nice to be back home and hanging out with my friends / skiboarding almost everyday. I’m looking forward to the tourists leaving Giants Ridge so it’s not so packed. Lately it’s been hard to even find a parking spot. People park so stupid, one guy I saw even parked between two handicap signs (so there was a sign on the side of each side of the middle of his vehicle).

It’ll also be nice being back in Minneapolis and hanging out with Kurstin again. She’s back home in Maryland until January 5th. It’s also her birthday today so happy birthday Kurstin! I’m not especially looking forward to classes starting. I think I’m just getting tired of school. I never use to put things off and now it seems as though I have to be under pressure or close to a deadline just to get motivated to do things like papers. Only 3 more semesters and I’m done though. At least the end is near.

Once again, it’s been a while

So it’s clearly been a while since I’ve written anything. The semester ended Dec 12th. Finals week was surprisingly relaxing compared to the past few semesters. I only had one actual final exam and just a few presentations. Overall the semester ended really well.

Design: Green – Eco Design &: A-
Digital Marketing Immersion: A
Foundation: Media 2: A-
Portfolio.net: A
Symbolic Images/Objects/Places: A-
Web Development Basics: CSS: A
Web Development Basics: HTML: A-

It’s nice to have a break without having to worry about finishing up assignments and working on projects. I’m now in Biwabik at my parents house. I’ve been able to shred a lot even though it’d been freezing. Today when I woke up around 10:30 it was -22 F. I went riding with my brother today for a little bit. It was about -13 F when we left. The snow was super slow even though I had fresh cold weather wax on. We tried hitting the mini park but I wasn’t able to get enough speed to even make it up one of the tiny jumps they have set up right now. The mini park wasn’t groomed though, the steep parts of the hills aren’t too bad where they’re groomed but the flat spots are terribly slow.

I don’t have to go back to Minneapolis until Jan 18th to do Required Enrollment Authorization. Even though I have over a month break I’m still not too happy that they only do REA on Saturday.

I’ll pretty much be spending most of break riding at Giants Ridge. It’s awesome having a job that allows me to work wherever. I still can’t believe it’s almost Christmas.

Busy, Busy

Here’s what has been happening.

Tuesday Nov. 25th: Class 12:00 – 6:00 then drove the 200 miles north to Biwabik with Kurstin. Met up with Lisa and Steven at Stephs, went to my house and unpacked my car. We all went up to Giants Ridge to check out the snow situation. We hiked halfway up Sarajevo and checked out what rails were set up.

Wednesday & Thursday: Chilled / hung out, took Kurstin to GR and hiked the bunny hill. Taught her the basics of skiboarding. She did great for her first time ever riding snow. Thursday was Thanksgiving – ate dinner with the family and went up to GR to get some night hiking in and some extra practice for Kurstin.

Friday: Giants Ridge opened. I rode from about 9 am – 1pm. Not too many runs open but it was still a good time. Hung out with Kurstin and mom for a while then Kurstin, Lisa, and Steph. We went over to Steph’s moms and visited her for a while then Kurstin and I headed back up to GR to get some more hike/shred time in.

Saturday: Rode Giants Ridge with Lisa from about noon to 4:30. She had been skiing once and picked up on skiboarding pretty quickly. We had a good time. After shred Kurstin, Lisa, and I went out to eat with my parents, then got some ice cream and went to Target. Kurstin bought Hellboy 1 & 2 and we went back to my house and watched them.

Sunday: I drove back to Minneapolis from Biwabik with Kurstin. We unloaded the car and went to IKEA to check out some lights for a project Kurstin is working on. Next we went to the Mall of America so Kurstin could pick up her check and I bought a tv. Got back to the apartment and did some homework.

Now: Just ate dinner, watching Pathfinder and relaxing. Probably working on some more homework after I finish writing this.

Photos From the Studio

I went into the studio Monday night and brought Kurstin along. We ended up getting some pretty sweet photos.

Some Photos Around Minneapolis

Yes We Did

Election Day was exciting. This was the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in. I voted absentee but went and waited in line with Kurstin so she could vote and not be too bored while waiting. We waiting in line for an hour and a half. The line was pretty much steady the whole time we were there. Here are some photos:

Walking to the polls:

Vote Yes for The Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment (this actually passed) more info at http://www.yesformn.org/initiative.php

Back of the line

Watching the election results coming in at school.

The night before election day Kurstin and I had some fun and put this up in the student center where the election day activities were held. No one took them down, they’re probably still there today.

Kurstin is about 6 feet tall.

This Weekend/Atmosphere @ First Ave

This weekend Kurstin and I went to the pumpkin carving contest judging / halloween costume contest in the student center from 12 – 1. After that we started driving north to Biwabik. We met up with Lisa and Steven in Eveleth and hung out for a while. Steven had to leave so Lisa came to Biwabik with Kurstin and I. We hungout for a while then went to Virginia. Kurstin and I went to Saw 5 then went back to Biwabik and watched The Happening.

Saturday I did a lot of homework. Kurstin and I then went and shot some video in the old school. I haven’t looked at the footage yet but it’s for a documentary/experimental video that I have to do for Media 2. Hopefully I’ll be able to use the footage. If not, it was still cool to go in there and check everything out. Saturday night we hungout with Lisa some more.

On Sunday we started driving back to Minneapolis around noon. Once we got back I relaxed a little and got ready for the Atmosphere show. I met up with Kasey, Paige, and Aaron and we headed downtown. After we got into First Ave we stood there listening to the boring opening acts. It was really really hot in the venue and it was pretty packed since it was a sold out show. Finally Atmosphere was up. They played through the first song then Slug told some drunk guy in the crowd to leave because he was bothering the kids on the floor. Here’s a video of that:

Atmosphere played for 2 hours. It was a great show.