Frag Swap

This weekend is the Manhattan Reefs annual Frag Swap event at Pratt. There are about six-teen vendors who sell hundreds of corals and fish to the three-hundred people who will be there. I help sign everybody in at the front desk; which means I check off their name, and give them their name-tag. Last year, Turan, (the CEO's wife) said that I did such a good job, that she wouldn't work with anyone else! After everyone is checked in, I help various vendors run their booths, and help their customers. Such as Saltwater Critters, Diamonds of the Reef, and Cherry Corals. I also try not to bug my dad too much because he is the host of the event and is always super busy running around like a maniac. I also pull the tickets for the raffle and make a lot of people happy. The really cool part of last years event was that one of the vendors had a Slush Puppy Machine. A Slush Puppy Machine is basically a Snow Cone Machine but more like a drink. Roomer has it that there are four new flavors this year! It's going to be really fun!

Chocolate Sales #2

Remember in one of my previous posts where I said that I am hoping to sell 5 boxes of chocolate (250 bars)? Well, I met that goal. I sold 5 boxes of chocolate, with a little over a week to spare. My new goal is to sell 2 more boxes of chocolate. I hope I can make it!

Sick Day

Today, I am sick with what appears to be a cold. The symptoms are really bad cough and runny nose. It is not fun. I have to stay home today, and we will call my doctor to see what he recomends. (While writing this post, I sneezed on the screen of the iPad, don't tel my Dad)! Being sick isn't fun, so I hope it goes away.

Chocolate Sales

A week or 2 ago, I sold a whole box of fundraising chocolate (50 bars per box) to various Pratt Faculty Workers and students in 2 days. Each individual chocolate bar is $1.00, that means I sold $50.00 of chocolate. Yesterday, I received a 2nd box of chocolate and sold it all in 1 day...1 DAY!!! That's another 50 chocolate bars, and another $50.00. So in total, I have sold $100.00 dollars worth of chocolates. I'm doing pretty well if you ask me. They are still handing out the boxes until March 30th, so I have plenty of time. If I sell at the same rate, I estimate that I will make another $250.00, 5 boxes. I think I can sell 5 boxes of chocolate in 27 days. Lets just hope for the best!

Good-Bye Vermont, Hello New York!

Yesterday, I left Smuggler's Notch with Magda, Carlos, and Gabby after 2 last runs on the upper mountains, (Madonna and Sterling). We went on the same trails on Madonna, ("Upper Chilcoot," "Lower Chilcoot," "Father Bob's," and "Link") and "Upper Rumrunner" and "Crossover" on Sterling. It was very cold, though. For the first time ever, my legs actually felt the wind. That means the wind went through my ski pants, Long Johns and my silk layer, but my feet and hands were fine; the complete opposite of the other days. Anyway, we packed the car and left Smugg's at 2:00, the latest we've ever left! Surprisingly, we arrived the earliest in Brooklyn, 8:30. The day was all miss-matched. In the car, to pass time, Gabby and I edited some REALLY funny videos on iMovie, all part of a series called Big Face Girl or BFG. We made the videos in Photo Booth, so we could distort our faces. (We put the distortion on "Stretch" so that might clear up why "Big Face Girl" is called "BIG Face Girl"). It is full of Gabby pushing my head out of the screen and both of us looking like complete idiots. We also made a commercial about BFG, full of various parts of various clips, that to us, are the funniest. So now I am in Brooklyn, regular old Brooklyn, but that is okay.

Mid-Winter Vacation #6 (cont.) 2

Whenever I ski in ski school, I always wear a GPS. I have found a link that can show you where I went, how fast I went, and my total distance for the day. Here is a picture from the link of my travels:

NOTE:
The green is 1-7 miles per hour, and the yellow is 8-14 miles per hour

Mid-Winter Vacation #6 (cont.)

I just returned from the zip-line at Smuggler's Notch and I had a BLAST!!! It was not scary at all and you saw all kinds of trees and the actual Smuggler's Notch mountains. There were 8 or 9 (I wasn't counting, but something around that) individual lines, which might not seem like much, but in total, the length of all the lines together, is 4500 feet!!! That's a lot of metal lines. The even cooler part of it is that the people who run the zip-lines, created the course. So they cut down the trees to make the platforms and clear the path, and they are the ones who ran the metal cables throughout the woods. Since I was a kid and only weighed 63-64 pounds, I sometimes got stuck in the middle of the cord so I had to pull myself in by using my hands against the rope until I got to the platform. It took a lot out my arms and legs. There was also a ton of gear to put on such as: chest harness, leg harness, helmet, attachment clips, and more. On the last run, I was told by our instructor, Jay, that it gets steep at the end, so I decided to go with Jay. We went much faster, not that he is heavy or anything like that. (There is no way I would have made it up without the extra weight; I would have been dangling there franticly and it would have taken me hours to get to the top...HOURS!!!).
Today was pretty much the best day EVER!!!

Mid-Winter Vacation #6

Today, we are going on a zip-line! We are going to skip ski school because the times interfere. But after we  finish the zip-line we will ski as a family. It is my first time on a zip-line so I am a little nervous. I am lucky that I can even go on. You need to be 70 pounds or more, but I am only 63-64 pounds, but luckily, this person who is the owner of the zip-line said that he could make an exception. I know that I will see amazing things up there, so I will go. Also, I would sort of feel bad to make someone stay behind to watch me. I am SUPER DUPPER excited for this!!!

Mid-Winter Vacation #5 (cont.)

So, when we finished our lunch back at the condo, we went for a few last runs on the top of Morse. But, once we were in the line for the lift, Magda's right ski would not go on. After we waited for Magda for a while, the announcement came: "The lift is open for 15 more minutes!" Then, we rushed Magda, but it would not fit. Then, she said to go on the lift without her and she would get the ski fixed. So, Gabby, Carlos and I went up to the top of the mountain, and what do you know, Magda was in the chair a few behide ours! She had her ski on and it was attached firmly to her foot. Then we went down a path called "Garden Path" which is a nice,mellow run. Then, when we were nearly at the bottom of the mountain, Carlos taught us how to ski BACKWARDS!!!...BACKWARDS!!! It was fun. He encouraged Magda but she didn't want to. Then Carlos called her a wooze. It was really funny. Then, when we got back to our condo, there was a huge pile of snow that Gabby and I immediately jumped into and pretented to be dead, but the snow was BURYING US. Magda and Carlos took video of us that we refuse to put on the blog. Smugg's is getting better and better!

Mid-Winter Vacation #5

Today was awesome! I went with Gabby (she is felling much better thanks to the antibiotics) to Sterling for our shorter lesson; only 1 and a half hours instead of 5 hours. We only did 2 runs, though; but I learned a lot. Then, after ski camp, Carlos took Gabby and I to the top of "Madonna," the tallest mountain in Smuggler's at 3640! We went on 4 trails called: "Upper Chilcoot," "Lower Chilcoot," "Father Bob's," and "Link." It was so cold and it was snowing like crazy. We got 4-8 inches of snow and we were going against the wind so my helmet and goggles were frozen. When we got to the bottom of Madonna, we then took a trail called "Midway" back to our condo. When we got to our condo, my hair was FROZEN!!! There were big clumps of ice on my jacket, neck warmer, helmet and ski pants. Now we are having a late lunch and we are all warm, for now. We will be going back out to ski on "Morse," the smallest mountain so we will still be cold, but hopefully not too cold. And then, this evening, we are looking forward to the warmth of the hot-tub at the Smuggler's Notch Pool.

Mid-Winter Vacation #4

Today, I skipped Ski-School because Gabby had to go to the doctor. I had graduated from Level 4 to Level 5, but I had only been in Level 5 for 1 day a year ago, so since it was my first day in Level 5 in a year, I decided not to go. At the doctor's office, we found out that Gabby had Tonsillitis so we went to a pharmacy where we got the antibiotics. (Carlos cracked a really funny joke in the car). Then when we went back to Smuggler's, Gabby fell right asleep and Magda, Carlos and I went to "Sterling," the second highest mountain in Smuggler's, at 3040 feet high. On Sterling, we went on trails called "Upper Rumrunner," and "Lower Rumrunner." They were both long, but flat, and the views were amazing! Let's just say, I love Smuggs!

Mid-Winter Vacation #3

Today, Lauren, our ski instructor, told us that Ben was okay! I couldn't believe it. I thought he had a concussion and a broken leg, but no, all it was was a bad bruise on his knee, but other than that, he was perfectly fine! He was even doing the zip-line thingy! I am glad he is okay, he had me worried. Then, at the end of the day, Magda and Carlos went on a "romantic" diner on Sterling mountain, and abandoned us at a day care center for 5 hours!!!...A DAY CARE CENTER!!! We went to the "Fun Zone" for an hour, which we thought might be fun, but we were still in our ski layers, so we were sweating to death. The only good part of the center were the ice-cream sundaes that the people handed out. It turned out that Magda and Carlos had to walk down the whole mountain! 3040 feet!!! Therefore, making them more than an hour late. So today was okay, not my favorite, but okay, but I guess that's how it goes.

Mid-Winter Vacation #2

Today I had a much better day than yesterday, (see Gabby's blog for a very detailed version of yesterday) it was much warmer, making it much more enjoyable, (18 degrees without windchill and 3 degrees with windchill) and we got to on "Snowsnake," a blue trail that Gabby and I have been waiting to go on. Now let me tell you the bad news and the really bad news. When we were on the "Log Jam" obstacle course, this kid Ben who was in our group got his skis stuck in one of the jumps, and then he flipped over on his head but his ski that was stuck, and never came off. So then, his leg was stuck in a really awkward position for 3 minutes, he was unconscious! Once the instructor noticed him, she called "Ski Patrol" and 15 people came down the hill, 2 with stretchers. It took them 20 minutes to get him on the stretcher and into the hospital, still his eyes were closed. Then our instructor went into the hospital and didn't come out so we had to have a new instructor who bailed on us so then we had another instructor. I have to say, it was a scary day but we all survived.  

Mid-Winter Vacation

Today is the 3rd official day of Mid-Winter Break, but it is only the 1st day of vacation for Magda, Carlos, (Gabby's parents) Gabby and I. We are in Smugglers Notch, Vermont. We got here in record time yesterday, 5:30, only 6 hours! We are usually here at 8:00 which takes us 9 hours. (Much more enjoyable).
I am putting on my million layers of clothing so I don't get cold. It is suppose to be 7 degrees without windchill, but -24 degrees with windchill. I hope I don't freeze, bye!

Darth Pineapple Update #8

Hi, sorry I haven't posted in a while, so why don't I catch you up. Yesterday, Ewan made the first ever Darth Pineapple T-shirt! It is so cool! It has the Darth Pineapple Logo on the front and our web-address on the back, (www.darthpineapplle.blogspot.com). We also have a new way of making Darth Pineapple: Daniel does the drawings and then hands them to Ewan, who does the writing over-night and copies from the first draft. Also, we have a new way of selling Darth Pineapple: we are now selling the comic in volumes. There are two chapters in a volume, and a volume is only $0.50. That is about it, bye.