Uniform Managed Care

Probably depends on which mountain, and when you patrolled at that mountain. I was on Patrol at Mammoth Mountain for just one season, so I am by no means an expert, but I can share my experiences.For context, I was told that Mammoth is one of only a small number (under 10) of ski resorts in terrain categorized as "most avalanche prone." I imagine others include Alta/Snowbird, Big Sky, Jackson Hole, etc. Mammoth averages around 400" of snow each year, but also gets over 300 days of sunshine each year. So when it snows, it can dump quite a bit. A "snow day" for a patroller (aka an avi control day) is MUCH different than a sunny day. And at least when I worked there, Mammoth Patrol was run as a pretty tight ship. Mgt took the job seriously, and people who didn't, well they didn't act that way for long.Patrolling was one of the most grueling jobs I've had, and also one of my favorites (though this VC thing ain't bad). Lots and lots of schlepping stuff with skis on, often through deep snow. Lots and lots of shoveling snow. Lots and lots of first-responder work. And of course lots and lots of skiing. I think I got 115 days on skis "on the clock" that season.Typical (no avi control) week-end day:Week-ends are pretty busy at Mammoth. Mostly SoCal clientele, some amazing skiers but also many folks who see snow once/yr or less. A patroller gets assigned a "territory" on the mountain, and after doing a bunch of work runs to help set up the mountain for the day, you head to your "station" which is usually a lift shack at the top of the territory (so you can ski down to respond to call-outs). A call-out is a response to a reported injury. Week-end days, most patrollers on the mountain will respond to 4 or more call-outs a day. There are maybe 30 patrollers on the mountain at any given time, so that gives you a sense of the number of call-outs per day at a mountain like Mammoth. You grab your vest which is basically a wearable first aid kit, and grab a sled which is 80 lbs of metal unwieldiness, and rush to the scene. Generally no idea what you're going to find, not dissimilar to EMS. If it's bad (badly broken bones, head / neck / back trauma, loss of consciousness), you call for help, if not so bad, you package them up and bring them down to first aid. This often involves "skating" a fair bit while pulling 220+ lbs of sled and patient, can also involve skiing through areas you really don't want to (on your own skis which you destroy by the way). Can involve trying to control this massive heavy thing on really steep slopes with someone inside streaming in pain. Can be really exhausting. But also good adrenaline / excitement, and the satisfaction of using your skills to help someone in need. When done, you report back to your station.When not responding to a call-out, you do work runs like resetting bamboo (every piece of bamboo on the entire mountain gets pulled and reset every day, so they don't ice up and become impossible to pull), tightening rope lines, adjusting lift tower cushions as snowpack levels change, restocking equipment, etc. When those are done you can take free runs, keeping an eye out for people who may need a hand, and "being a cop" if for example you see people skiing too fast in a slow zone.Day starts at 7 am, ends around 5 pm after sweep. Sweep is where all patrollers at once travel pre-established routes at the very end of the day, searching for stranded/hurt/lost skiers. Often occurs at / after sunset.Typical (no avi control) week-day day:Like the week-end day, but with far fewer call-outs. Once the work runs are done, you can get a lot of skiing in on a week-day. There are certain high-speed chairs that are pretty steep, and if you are trying, you can just do laps at speed and log maybe 30k vertical feet or more in a day. You're in the sun (or the snow), the hard work for the day is done, the mtns are gorgeous, there's no one on the hill, and you're getting paid to do what others pay a ton to do. Sometimes more experienced patrollers will take you on something really hard, to test you / haze you / help you improve. Avi control day:If it's snowing in the evening or there's any chance of snow in the overnight forecast, you set your alarm for 4 am and drag your ass up to the mtn in the dark. The howitzer (Mammoth is too windy to use mortar style cannons) on loan from the government is already going off to do the initial clearing of the summit bowls, faces and chutes. Funny side note, the howitzer was threatened to be "unloaned" by the govt to be put back in service in Afghanistan: mtn had no idea what it was going to do without it. Everyone loads up in snowcats to head up the mtn, around 6 am. Patrollers get paired up assigned avi control routes. The more experienced is "the shooter", who lights and throws sticks of dynamite to trigger avalanches kinda right below where we stand, and the less experienced (rookies like me) is "the mule" who carries said dynamite in a backpack, hands each stick to the shooter when requested, and keeps track of what got "shot", any "shots" that did not combust, etc.Along the avi control route, after you "shoot", you "ski cut." THIS IS ONE OF THE SCARIEST THINGS I HAVE EVER DONE. If no slide is created by the dynamite, you ski along the part of the slope MOST likely to trigger a slide, and bounce along as you ski, TRYING to set off an avalanche. With your body. Often in a white-out while it's still snowing. Above some really scary steep long faces. So when you see long diagonal traverses in fresh snow it's not because some idiot got in over their heads and ruined a great powder face for everyone else. I got caught in two relatively small slides while doing this. One was in a complete white-out and I literally did not know it was happening until I was already knocked off my feet and disoriented. The other was small but it was amazing how quickly the "work-hardended" snow solidified around my legs. I had to take my skis off, pull myself out as if my lower half was in quicksand, and then dig my skis out with a shovel.Some of the avi control routes require a lot of trudging. When a lot of new snow has fallen (e.g. 4 feet in a single storm), these routes are absolutely exhausting. I was the oldest guy in my rookie class (but by no means the oldest on patrol), and I felt it. These folks are in great shape. I literally ate all I wanted and could not keep weight on when I had this job. I was in awe of the conditioning of some of the more experienced people on patrol (John, Bobby, Travis, Jason, Brent, Steve, Lindsay, Chris, CJ, etc.).After the avi control routes are done, there is a ton of work to do on the hill on a snow day. EVERYTHING needs to be shoveled out. I even remember for a few days putting on rope and harness to shovel off the steep (metal) roofs of the main lodge. All day, for a few days.When I started, I was a pretty good skier. I'd been skiing since age 4, raced in high school, raced in college, even raced in grad school. I'd already logged more than my 10,000 hours (see Gladwell's Outliers) and thought I was as good as I was ever going to get. But those 115 days of skiing, not getting to choose where you skied or when you skied or through what you skied, or carrying what while you skied, really upped my game and made me a better skier.I'm not sure my Mammoth experience is similar to working at other mountains. E.g. I spent a season at Alta (not on patrol), and after a big snow they open the mtn in stages over the course of 5 days or so after the storm. Mammoth is shaped such that the top flows into everything else, so they can't really do that: you work and work until everything you can open is open. Until this year (2013-14 season), patrollers at Mammoth were not allowed to have facial hair: it was kinda like the marines, rookie hazing and all (by a few). At other mountains I've seen packs of patrollers in uniform all free-skiing together (on a fresh snow day when there was obviously plenty of work to be done), which would never happen at Mammoth when I worked there. So maybe the job is more fun and less hard other places. Maybe more fun and just as hard. Can't say, but I expect every season at every mountain is a little different.Ski town life was great, days off I'd ski the resort, go backcountry skiing in the amazing Eastern Sierra, or head the 39 miles down to Bishop and go bouldering or climbing in the sun. I lived in a beautiful cabin in what felt like deep woods. It often required a shitload of shoveling just to get to the front door, and was heated only by a woodstove, so after said shitload of shoveling, I often had to start a fire and sit in the freezing cold for 30 minutes until the place warmed up: that may have contributed to the sense of how tough the job was. But overall it was a really great year. If I ever feel like risking my life for minimum wage (or thereabouts) again, I'd love to head back.

So… this is me, say hi Tanis!BUT WAIT! I HAVE A QUICK AS FRICK DISCLAIMER FOR YOU! YES! YOU! JUST BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE THIS STUFF ABOUT MY BODY DOES NOT MEAN I HATE ON OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT IT I JUST DON’T LIKE IT ABOUT ME. YOU MAY PROCEED.Okay say: bye Tanis!That was a nice garbage dump to look at. Anyways, I rate myself a strong 2.5 maybe a weak 3. Honestly, the only good psychical quality about myself is my eye colour. It’s nice.Now, onto the list of reasons why Tanis is a 2.5:I have a lot of acne, now before you go off on your angry comment scream fest yelling: BUT TANIS THAT ISNT THAT MUCH ACNE!!! I say to you: haven’t you heard of concealer and good lighting? My acne is red as FrIcK so, it is very noticable if I don’t cover it. I always cover it. Always. I also have it on my back and I’m a swimmer so I can’t hide it there. Sadly. I don’t like it on me I want it off but I’m not taking any proscripshit drugs to get rid of it. I apologise for swearing.I am the palest of pale people and it burns! Literally! I am the palest Metis you will ever meet. I don’t like the psychical look of it either, many colours make me look ashy in an unhealthy way and people ask me if I am feeling okay because I look sick. It just doesn’t work with my other features either. Out of place, ew moving on.Okay, I like the colour of my eyes but my eyes are huge, in person the sorta look like alien eyes, honestly. I try to make them look smaller but they just nope. And continue to look tge size of Canada.Look at those shoulders, human, do you see how broad those shoulders are they are like Russia my friend. And I hit everything with them, honestly, that door BANG, that lamp? BAM! That bool shelf? CRASH! Can you imagine the bruises? (which makes them worse by the way, no mum I didn’t get in a fight. I ran into a bookshelf) These shoulders hurt and they aren't proportionate to the rest of my body. Tisk tisk, can I buy new shoulders?Welcome to tiny hand town. You know that meme with the baby hands in the sleeves? That is me in real life. You might say: aww your hands are so cute! but NO BAD THEY ARE WERID AND TOO SMALL TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL STOP.Let’s look back at the face. Ah yes what the fRiCk is that face shape? It looks like a drunk oval, I don’t even drink alcohol. Slow clap for the oval thing on drugs. Good job.Last thing I promise. My hair colour is messed up. It doesn’t ever say a consistent colour and I don’t even dye it. It just likes to look bad. SighOKAY AGAIN DISCLAIMER INCASE YOU FORGOT: IF YOU HAVE THESE QUALITIES OR LOOK LIKE THIS IT’S FINE! YOU LOOK GREAT! I JUST DON’T LIKE IT ABOUT ME AND THE COMBINATION, YEAH. ALSO, I’M NOT EXAGGERATING ANYTHING. THIS IS WHAT I HONESTLY THINK ABOUT MYSELF, BUT LOVE YOURSELVES AND WHO YOU ARE. POSITIVE SENTENCES, OKAY.This was a lot of yelling.Subtle encouragement -Tanis Hoekstra

Come to think of it, I don’t know anyone from rich circles. I am as middle class as it gets. But then, this is Quora and I found this question. So…Silence is classyThey are seldom loud; they speak a lot less than us. Seldom do they divulge information about themselves. It’s not that they are averse to speaking. They weigh the need to converse. They have a hold of their emotions, their words are measured and they are cautious to not offend people with their words. If you tell them about your vacation in Spain, they listen and nod enthusiastically. And they don’t interrupt you with, ‘Oh, I went there when I was fourteen’. They speak to the point and don’t beat around the bush.Neat, not just good lookingTheir skin, teeth and hair are well maintained. And it’s not the result of one day at that fancy schmancy salon; they go to the same hair salon their family has gone to, for years together. You don’t find ugly scars, pigmentation, plaque, dandruff, dry skin, callus, split ends, chipped nails and all the other tell tale signs of hardships. I don’t recall the name of Adichie’s book where she mentions this but I remember how the narrator judges the economic status of some random man on the street with his skin. Moisturised, smooth and supple skin is a mark of the elite! Here is someone who does’t have to brave the sun or the cold more than necessary. And years of good grooming shows beautiful results. They get their teeth aligned. Their hair is neither dry nor oily. They don’t have large tattoos in visible places. Their clothes are customised, well tailored and neatly pressed!They buy timeYou and I are running behind extra assignments, work and anything at all that might fetch us an extra Rupee. We do that at the cost of our sleep, fitness, vacation, missed breakfasts and hurried lunch breaks. Wealthy folks have a nest egg and aren’t in any hurry to make that quick buck. They follow their routines: they sleep and wake up on time, make time for sport and fitness and go on vacations. You will find that they are fitter than the average person on the street because they play some sport or the other. They can afford to make time for it in their lives. They also respect your time. So, you will not find them turning up late for a meeting.PedigreeThey stick to the oldest educational institutions. They go to the same schools, colleges and universities their parents and grandparents went to. They have nick names from these instis and the nick names make no sense to us. They befriend folk from such places and stick with the pack for years. The dad/mum attend parent teacher meetings and then rush to the school watchman to say hi. Because that watchman has been around since their days in the same school. They are well connected with other rich families by marriage and friendship bonds!Their part of townThey are from old and posh places of the city/town. They are from pin codes that scream old money. However much your neighbourhood has appreciated in terms of real estate prices, they will not be caught dead outside their familiar environs. The houses and streets are decades old. See the guy who sends an email to the team asking them to collect mangoes from his home ‘garden’? His dog has space in the city’s most expensive part of town? That’s your wealthy guy.Music, Dance, Theatre, BooksThere is a certain social mandate in their circles to be well read. And the kids learn music, dance and other classical art forms. They play rich men sports that require club memberships. That kid who plays tennis/squash at the city’s oldest club? He or she is rich! They speak and write proper English (in addition to speaking their mother tongue very well) and observe the rules of grammar!They can afford time for education They study for years together because they needn’t worry about the cost of education. They are in no rush to complete their education, find jobs, get married, have kids and pay off home loans! They are also associated with ‘causes’. They have time, money and the opportunity to involve themselves in such causes.

I live in Germany. I got an invite to the Quora partner program the day I landed in USA for a business trip. So from what I understand, irrespective of the number of views on your answers, there is some additional eligibility criteria for you to even get an email invite.If you read the terms of service, point 1 states:Eligibility. You must be located in the United States to participate in this Program. If you are a Quora employee, you are eligible to participate and earn up to a maximum of $200 USD a month. You also agree to be bound by the Platform Terms (https://www.quora.com/about/tos) as a condition of participation.Again, if you check the FAQ section:How can other people I know .participate?The program is invite-only at this time, but we intend to open it up to more people as time goes on.So my guess is that Quora is currently targeting people based out of USA, who are active on Quora, may or may not be answering questions frequently ( I have not answered questions frequently in the past year or so) and have a certain number of consistent answer views.Edit 1: Thanks to @Anita Scotch, I got to know that the Quora partner program is now available for other countries too. Copying Anuta’s comment here:If you reside in one of the Countries, The Quora Partner Program is active in, you are eligible to participate in the program.” ( I read more will be added, at some point, but here are the countries, currently eligible at this writing,) U.S., Japan, Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia.11/14/2018Edit 2 : Here is the latest list of countries with 3 new additions eligible for the Quora Partner program:U.S., Japan, Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, India and Brazil.Thanks to Monoswita Rez for informing me about this update.

I have a very small business. It's usually just myself,and my assistant and my husband. Hes my employee of the month every month. I have a crew that is usually part time, but it's getting busier every year.My husband is the only one of my crew who is not a felon. Hes a veteran and was in Vietnam, as well as the Gulf Storm and has seen much sadness. He faces his own challenges.I have an assistant who is awesome, and a felon w an active addiction. She has her reasons, but she does the job and rarely lets me down. Has never stolen from me. Never appears high. I don't ask. Her work performance is impeccable.My crew have all been to prison. My crew are tough, resilient, flexible, resourceful, problem solvers. They know, as I know too, how hard it is to find work, that pays a living wage, and is legit.. if you're an ex offender. They work hard for me. They never gripe. They know the power of healing in working hard.If I paid my debt to society, why am I not treated as a citizen? I did my crime, did my time, and had I not started my own business thereby creating my own job, I'd be flipping eggs in a Denny's or something equally as “subsistence levels” for life.I've written a business plan outline for a non profit that hires the disenfranchised, the ex offender, the single mom, the veteran struggling w depression or addiction, the abuse survivor, the homeless guy on the corner….. Its only an outline, but it's based on the funding model of Paul Newman, and Newmans Own which donates 100% of its profits to charity. The idea of self funding is pure simplicity, and a stroke of brilliance on the part of the Newman's and their partner.In my outline, I would like to manufacture & bring to market a line of high end gourmet soups, much like Newmans Own spaghetti sauce. I would use those soup earnings to open soup cafes, soup trucks w bistro seating is what I envision, serving fresh delicious soup and hand made breads. Free.To the demographic that is fed by institutional or red tape bound shelters and soup kitchens, there will be a job opportunity, and job training, should they want it. Or they can just have some soup, and be in a supportive inclusive community environment, if only for lunch.Swankty soup that funds fresh, delicious free soup and a community, a place of acceptance and an opportunity to work .That's my dream job. I know I could make this happen. I want to very much.As I write this, I am warm and comfortable, full and loved, surrounded by two amazing young adults I am blessed to have as children, and 4 large and enormously spoiled dogs. I have a great job, and good books. I'm valued by my neighbors, appreciated and trusted by the people I choose to work with, and I am a peaceful soul. I'm healthy. I'm happy.And i am an ex convict, a convicted felon who served a 2 year sentence for fraud. I'm an abuse survivor, a former addict, and was homeless with 3 kids once upon a time.I got HERE from THERE, and I want to show the ones left behind, the slip-thru- the- crackers, the crazy, the loud, the scared, the ex offender and the hungry how to make soup. Good soup, too.*sigh*Maybe one day….Be well, friends. Count your blessings. And eat your soup.

Make it compellingQuickly and clearly make these points:Who you are and why you are doing thisHow long it takesWhats in it for me -- why should someone help you by completing the surveyExample: "Please spend 3 minutes helping me make it easier to learn Mathematics. Answer 8 short questions for my eternal gratitude and (optional) credit on my research findings. Thank you SO MUCH for helping."Make it convenientKeep it shortShow up at the right place and time -- when people have the time and inclination to help. For example, when students are planning their schedules. Reward participationOffer gift cards, eBooks, study tips, or some other incentive for helping.Test and refineTest out different offers and even different question wording and ordering to learn which has the best response rate, then send more invitations to the offer with the highest response rate.Reward referralsIf offering a reward, increase it for referrals. Include a custom invite link that tracks referrals.

Some 50,000 years ago, on a Tuesday late in May, a black woman died. We don’t know her name, but many call her Eve. Mourn her, she was your many times removed mother.I don’t care who you are, where you were born, what “race” you think you or your parents are, this particular Eve was your direct ancestor, not your great-n-aunt nor great-n-cousin, but your great-n-mother.EVERY SINGLE HUMAN NOW ALIVE.From this one mother.Again, she lived in Africa, and she was black.Now, let me acquaint you with a rule for determining your race.If either of your parents were black, you are black. This is known as the “single drop of blood” rule, but it’s far stronger than that. Because it’s recursive.Follow me down the rabbit hole.If one of your parents was black, they are black, so you are black.If one of the parents of one of your parents was black, that parent was black, so as we’ve already seen, you are black.Extends back as far as you like, ONE black ancestor anywhere in your tree makes you black.Eve is that one ancestor.Every single human now alive is black.If you don’t buy that definition, then you’re on the side of science, and science points out that there are no races at all, that we’re all simply human.I check the “other” box and write in human.But if you insist on the fallacy that race exists, you should check black.Everything else you could pick is an error.