Aspen School District shits the bed with new 'hybrid' model

OMG what a beautiful example of trying to find something for everyone and instead creating something that won't work for anyone (or at least the majority of students).

Our high school plan is as follows:

1.  Divid the school into two groups--group A goes to school in person for the first week and group B goes the second week.  If kids in group A don't feel comfortable going in person they can go remote full time (but MUST decide before the week starts and stay committed to in person --why who knows).  Repeat.  

2.  Teachers will teach in person and remote cohorts synchronously (at the same time).

3.  Students will have 4- 85 minute classes a day (with 5 minute passing periods) and a 45 minute lunch--except most teachers are running over (yes running over with an 85 minute class--didn't see that coming)

4.  Some teachers will choose to teach remotely themselves.  What does that look like?  English class being taught in the gym with 8 kids in person in the gym looking at their computers while10 remote students are on their screens  and the  teacher teachers from their home on a computer.

5.  No school on Wednesday (so they can clean).

6.  Each class is only taught twice a week (so for example English Monday and Thursday, Math Tuesday and Friday).

7.  Kids that are in school will have their movements restricted (yes bowl movements too---if you want to go to the bathroom you have to get permission and if someone else is using the bathroom on your floor well ya better hold it till the end of the day).

OMG.  OMG.  OMG.  85 minute class periods!!!!!!  WTF.  No school on Wednesday.  Class only twice a week (forget reinforcement).  Did I mention that is 6 hours of screen time a day just for school.  Add in 2-5 hours for homework and ---well I would like to ask the pediatricians who all recommended the kids go to school what they think about 9 hours of screen time a day and 85 minute classes (and no opportunity to take a crap).

And ya don't need a PHD in education to know that trying to teach to students in person and online at the same time is nigh impossible.

Full remote was working---people just didn't like it.  This solution is a heaping pile of crap that our kids are being tossed into---our school administrators should be ashamed.

ARGGGGGGG.   

COVID pricing--it stinks

Aspen real estate up about 20% (along with rentals)

Take out has added a 15% service charge (not delivery mind you but to just pick up the food costs 15%)

Visit to the Doc--can't see them without a COVID test --cost $200 and they won't submit it to insurance

Ski pass--up about 20% and who knows what kind of product you are getting at that higher price point

paper towels and TP up between 200-300%

cost of gas at the pump up, price of oil down

and don't even begin to ask about the cost of higher education (up) product being delivered (way down)

I guess this is a weird rehash of the 80s stagflation

speaking of the 80s I suggest everyone put on a little VH and remember so fun rock and roll--Eddie Van Halen you will be missed

what the heck is up with those pants?

The truth about ski passes

 Ski Co has announced new ski passes.  They are about 20% higher than prior years.  

That is what we know for sure.

Next,  what SkiCo hopes:

1.  SkiCo hopes they can open the mountain and keep it open from November 26th, to April 15.

2.  They will try to limit the number of people on chair lifts and gondolas to groups of people in same vector---resulting in longer lift lines even if there are fewer skiers.

3.  They hope to have restaurants open, but are not sure how they are going to do that in a COVID safe way.

4.  They hope to have bathrooms open, but are not sure how to do that in a COVID safe way.

5.  They hope not to have to implement a reservation system but they might have to to stay COVID safe

6.  They will refund a prorated portion of your ski pass if the mountain closes due to COVID, less 10 days and insurance.  Let me put some numbers on this--assuming a ski season of nov 26-april 15, and the mountain closing for the season on Jan 10 ish due to lots of community spread over x-mas-new years winter break that would mean if you bought a $2,400 primer pass with $170 insurance, you would be refunded about $1,200 of your $2,570 cost of purchasing a pass and insurance.  Lets assume of those first 45 days the mountain is open you ski a day in November (lets say the snow sucks, and 10 days prior to x-mas break and then a reservation system goes in place and you only get 3 days in over 'winter break' and then you get in another 4 days before they shut the mountain ---that is a total of 18 days which cost you $76 bucks a day).  I will let you judge how good a deal that is.

Bottom line--the price of a pass has gone up 20% and pass buyers are being forced to assume all the risks of the quality of the product being provided and the ability to actually use the services the pass provides.  

Harvard Business School professors will tell you raising prices while cutting services and asking your customer to bear the risks is not a business strategy they recommend ---perhaps SkiCo's Covid response will become a case study some day.

holy smokes

 Last week I drove my wife to and from Billings MT for a work meeting (don't ask).

WY has some of the more awesome views in our country, and I was looking forward to enjoying the views and listening to lots of rock and roll.  Nothing like listening to Led Zep Ramble On while driving 90 along a two lane highway enjoying amazing views and praying not to hit wildlife.

And I got the opportunity to get away from my kids.  Wooooooo Hooooooo.

In the 300+ miles I drove in WY guess what I didn't see.  Mountains.  Not a single one.  Visibility was limited to less than a mile and was often a lot less than that.  The air tasted like shit and looked like it too.  Across all of WY and MT.  

Something else I didn't see much of was gas stations.  When you are driving out west and you got less than 150 miles of range left on your car I would advise starting to look for a gas station.  Bizarrely for this midwest-east coast guy there were almost no gas stations along interstate 25.  Weird right?  We got off the highway to get gas at Midwest WY (pop 390) where the gas station was 7 miles off the highway.  If you got an electric car; WY and MT are not for you.

Before we got off the highway we passed a fire in the brush next to the highway.  A single police cruiser was blocking the lane closer to the fire that was licking the highway, but at that point I could still drive north.  After a quick fill up in Midwest (not a mask in sight) the digital billboard by the entrance to I25 indicated the road to the South was closed due to the fire we drove through.  

Bingo.

The upside to wildfires everywhere is when they close the highway behind you and all 8 emergency responders within 150 miles are trying to put the fire out, the speed limit becomes whatever you like.  While I didn't get a picture of my spedo because my knuckles were white and the wife asleep,  I can say I think the top speed of my Tahoe is faster than 113 MPH that Chevy claims (maybe a dry hot tail wind and a downhill section helped).  Their ya have it.  One bonus to the west being on fire.

But aside from that, I am really not seeing any other benefits.  I can't understand why anyone in the western states would vote for anyone who doesn't have an environmental plan.  I didn't exercise or do anything outside in Billings because breathing was dangerous.  WY ranchers are going to watch their cattle burn, or at a minimum starve to death as the prairie burns.  Eventually even the idiots will stop recreating outside as everyone develops asthma.  And what is the point of having a view if you can't see it.  You couldn't have a more in your face reason to say climate change is real, and something needs to be done before the back 40 burns.  

Back home no evidence of a party ( a little disappointed in the boy) but we did find some Jul pods and puff bars.  Nothing like getting a head start on respiratory issues before the entire country is covered in smoke.

PS Billings---I don't see any appeal.  Kinda looked like a love child of Cleveland and Detroit without the lakes.  

Beautiful Billings

The sun ain't supposed to look like that

Who stole the mountains (and trust me my crap phone camera isn't doing the air justice)

tourists go the F home

 

I am sick of ya.  

What is that?  It sure as heck ain't a local family stopping in front of my neighbors (NYC) house to take pictures of a deer.  They were there for about 5 min looking at, filming and taking pictures of a deer.  In my neighborhood there are fewer year around'ers than there are deer.  It's like people going to New York City and stopping traffic to take a picture of a pigeon or a homeless person.

Come on.

Speaking of tourists my Texas friends finally are going home.  I did get a little joy from hearing they wish they had left a week earlier---seems snow and rain and gray skies were not exactly what they were hoping for.  Wonder how the people who have moved here for a year are gonna feel after 2 more months of this (and the real possibility that the lifts don't spin that much this winter).

I also saw a car off the road last night (again Texas plates)---seems driving on a curvy road at night was too much for their driving skills.

Speaking of Texas driving skills,  I got passed going down Owl Creek Rd (on the straight away) by a jeep from Texas.  To be clear, she passed me, and the truck in front of me (ie double pass) while we were going 40 in a 30 mph zone with a double yellow line.  Think she beat us into town by about 20 seconds.

Texas go the fuck home (and vote Biden when you get there---we got CO taken care of). 

what we did this summer (in pictures ......screw you teacher and 1000 word requirement)

 my daughter did this:

if you like numbers that is 11 vertebrae and a 45 degree curve

my wife did this :

that is two total knee replacements done at separate times this summer in Vail

my son did this:

they were the number 2 boat in Newport RI, and he got to assist and post race sail in an M32 (the top picture) and do some coaching on days he wasn't sailing

What did I do?:

that is me driving my wife to and from two knee surgeries and 2 post op appointments, me driving daughter to spine fusion and home (and the trip home was not fun----nope, I have audio of that someplace I might post if you want to feel lucky about your life) me driving my son to Newport RI, me driving a 14 year old taco from Newport RI back to CO, me driving my son back from Newport (ok he picked me up in Hartford CT) stoping in Chicago to see our house for moving stuff out, stopping in STL to see my parents, and then me driving the wife to a and from a business meeting in Billings MT because there are pretty much no flights in and out of Aspen starting in September.  

That is a total of 9,146 miles in just over 3 months, or just over 1/3 the circumference of the Earth.  Who says you don't get to go anywhere during COVID?

Did I mention that we also moved homes from Aspen to Snowmass Village while my son was out of town and my daughter and wife were post op.

I am not sure the Who got it right when they sang about the summer time blues.

what you can learn from dogs----and should I stay or should I go?

first some housekeeping---if you are super duper into the blog and want an email alert put your email in the above box and follow the instructions.

What you can learn from dogs

Dogs should never EVER play poker---their tells are super obvious and easy to read.  If you can't read what they are telling you DO NOT get a dog and have someone check to see if you have a heart beat.

I am really cheap and scared of COVID.  Ergo I have not had my dogs groomed in probably 9 months.  They were really gross.  On Saturday I finally got them cleaned and they look, feel and smell fabulous.  Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I only walked them on their leashes.  By Wednesday they threatened legal action if they were not allowed to run on a trail off leash.  I acquiesced.   

Boy did they run.  The energy and excitement they brought to the trail was epic.  It was also a good reminder to take some days off.  Sometimes even doing the most fun thing (running on a trail, looking for mud and deer and bones) can lose some of the thrill if you do it every day.  Also my older (ish 8 years) dog gets sore after a 4-8 mile trail run and her performance really benefits from a day or two off.

And what is true for dogs is true for humans too.  Whether its interval hill training and shooting pucks for hockey, or trying to come up with a creative marketing message sometimes some time off is the secret to success.  Dogs, thanks for the reminder.  Now I must hose off their undercarriage.

Should I stay or Should I go?

My super power is seeing risks.  Sadly sometimes that means I just hide in the basement and don't take any which isn't a great strategy.  This little post goes out to Dr. K who is wondering---should I visit Aspen?

1.  Think about what can go wrong.  You are driving---what happens if you can't get here.  What happens if roads close again and it adds 8 hours to your trip.  If that just makes for a better story and you have the mental reserves and patience for the real risk that the commute get tuff then go for it---if any bump in the travel road seems too much to handle then stay home or go someplace closer to home.

2.  Be honest with yourself about the importance of air quality.  Check this great website

purpleair

Look at the average over the past week or so and be clear that yea the air could be really bad.  Do you mind recreating in harmful conditions?  If yes then maybe stay away, if not then come.  One of the nice things about purpleair is it makes clear (er) exactly how bad the air is.  It puts a number on it which might help people make more informed intelligent decisions.

3.  COVID----right now our number look good.  Could they get bad again.  Of course.  COVID is just a wild card, but I would suggest that as people start to return to school across the country we will see USA wide spike---what happens in Pitkin county is less obvious to me.

4.  Fire restrictions and fire.  Pretty much no fires allowed.  If that is a problem don't come, if not come.  Do you have chicken little itus?  If you are worried about being in a valley with limited points of egress some of which are challenging, others of which are already restricted by fire and you won't be able to sleep at night out of fear of a fire starting and trapping you in Aspen and burning you alive DONT COME.  If you got no fear of fire, are happy to leave at any warning of fire danger (and a long exit might be the order of the day) then come.

Bottom line, know the risks you are taking and only take the risks you are comfortable with.

About yesterdays help wanted ad for a MANNY named Tom Brady (but with hockey skills)

When I learned that the ad was real, I took my post down.  I don't mind taking the piss out of a group of people or an idea but going after a specific individual(s) isn't right.  Especially online.  Which is kinda a shame cause that help wanted ad was awesome.