Snowbasin

Today I had an offsite clinic with school. We were providing free massages to the athletes at the Xterra Triathlon at Snowbasin, near Ogden, Utah. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it today, not because I don't like doing the offsite clinics, I really have enjoyed the ones I've done in the past. It's that I had been up since 2 PM the day before, and had worked the graveyard shift last night. As it turned out, I left home early and got to within 20 minutes of Snowbasin with still over two hours before I had to be there. I pulled into a rest area and took a nap.

I'd never been to Snowbasin before today. It's amazingly beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The air was cool, but the sun was very warm. Snowbasin itself is situated at the base of one of the tallest nearby peaks, but still well above the rest of the valley, if you can technically call it a valley. The view was more of rolling highland hills covered with trees than a proper intermountain valley like Salt Lake or Utah valleys. At any rate, the mountains and rolling hills below were covered in fall colors, which were at their peak of beauty. I'm used to the brilliant fall displays of the East Coast, but these views were breathtaking. I loved how the fall colors I'm used to seeing were sprinkled among dark green pines and white trunks of the aspen trees.

We set up our tables in a shady spot against the main lodge, just as the first runners were coming in. From that point until I took a lunch break, I was giving massage after massage to athletes. These were fairly quick massages, 10 to 15 minutes each, and mostly consisted of compressions along the legs, arms, back, and neck, coupled with some passive range-of-motion and stretching exercises. Everyone seemed really greatful for the massages, and a couple of them even tipped. After lunch (which I took between 3:30 and 4:00) things had started to slow down. We gave massages to the few latecomers, and some of the other volunteer staff, then it was time to go.

Surprisingly, I wasn't tired at all during the event, and even got 3/4 of the way home before I felt like I was going to fall asleep. I called my sister, Kate, and she talked me sober until I got home.

When I walked in the door, I immediately saw that Ninja had gotten into the stash of toy mice. There was a veritable killing field of them all over the front hall. Apparently the closet door hadn't latched after I got my jacket out this morning. It wouldn't have been terribly bad, except we ration them too him because he has a habit of shredding them and eating the skin off the plaster core (then often dropping the plaster core into his food bowl, lord knows why). It's not really a problem according to our PA vet, but we worry about giving him a second mouse before he's properly passed the current one. So, I gathered up all the mice I saw, save one, threw them in the closet, then crashed into bed. I had been awake for 27 hours at that time. I got almost 5 hours sleep before I had to go back in to work the graveyard at the hotel.

Man, I can't wait until I'm licensed. :)

Down to the Wire

Well, today was the last day of week 7 at school. The term is 10 weeks total, so only 3 more weeks then I graduate. There's a lot to be said for the structure of going to school. Right now, busy as I am, at least my weeks are very planned out and I always know what I have to do. Once I graduate, my schedule is going to be largely up to me. For the most part, that's a good thing, but it's also pretty scary.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle being in business for myself again. The issue with the Quiznos wasn't my organizational skills or anything. I just don't think it was the right business model for the time and place. On the other hand, Quiznos was an all consuming venture. I had stuff I had to do every day and every week and every month at very specific times. Procrastination wasn't an issue. With massage therapy, if I really want a day off (or an hour, or a week) I just don't have to schedule appointments. If I get lazy, I can easily fail. The plus side is that this is work I think I will genuinely enjoy. I know the student clinic is just a small taste of what day to day operations will be like, but so far I've loved the work. Even when I feel like I'd like to skip a clinic day, I'm always glad I didn't. I always come out of clinic feeling energized.

I think I'm going to be renting a space from one of the instructors at the school. She's offering me a good deal and the location and space aren't bad at all. On the down side, the location isn't my first choice, and I'd be working in a space that isn't my own. She also expects me to use her logo and business name on my cards, but I think that might be negotiable. There are other options out there, but truthfully, none of them poses as little risk for the benefit, nor as low a cost as this opportunity. And the most I'd be committed for is three months at first. Once I get a clientelle built up, I can always move into a space of my own.

Decisions, decisions. . .