Simone and friend testing the equipment for safety...

Working at Uncommon Grounds can be a great launching pad for folks in-between schooling and other life situations. One of our brightest employees, Simone B. has worked at our store on numerous occasions in two different decades. Most recently, she joined us at the Saratoga Springs location after a 9 year stint living in Russia (!) and before heading off to grad school in California.

Her time in Russia was spent working for the Peace Corps and for Middlebury College in Yaroslavl. This experience prepared her for an incredible opportunity this year where she served as an interpreter for the Tajikistan team at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver! We were excited to hear her reports from the Games and loved getting a glance at the happenings from an insider’s perspective.

Uncommon Grounds (UG): What got you interested in becoming a translator?

Simone B. (SB): I’m actually more interested in interpretation (the spoken side) than translation (the written). Mostly because I like to talk, love languages, and like smoothing out misunderstandings between cultures, especially Russian and English.

Whistler... wow!

UG: A-ha! You left us within the last year, how does one shoot straight to interpreting at the Olympics so quickly?

SB: I left in August of last year to begin my Grad studies at the Monterey Institute for International Studies in Monterey, CA. I am planning on graduating in 2011 with a Masters in Conference Interpreting, to hopefully work at the UN or with NASA or (the holy grail) as an interpreter at various world sporting events. So I mentioned my interest to my professors, and one of them was able to pass my resume on to VANOC (the Vancouver Organizing Committee). They needed Russian speakers, so I was invited to work as a volunteer.

UG: How many hours would you work at a time? Were you “always on”?

SB: I worked anywhere from 5 to 15 hours a day, depending on what was needed. I was indeed ‘always’ on because I was the only interpreter that they had for Tajikistan, the team I was assigned to.

View of the downhill slope from the Olympic Family Room!

UG: How much of the actual games were you able to catch?

SB: I got to go to Curling (Men’s with Norway’s delightful pants), biathlon (Men’s relay), all the alpine skiing events for men, the closing and opening ceremonies (although I wasn’t really AT them, but rather, behind the scenes).

UG: Please name some other personal highlights from the games…

SB: Personal highlights?? Well Canada beating the US in hockey was pretty sweet, especially as it set off one of the largest, kindest, happiest parties I have ever seen. Getting to carry the Tajik flag during the dress rehearsal of the Opening ceremonies, in front of 60,000 people was also pretty amazing. We got to test out where the athletes were to sit and see the entire show, the night before everyone else in the world did. Some of my friends and I also had a great time at a party for Ghana’s only athlete, the ‘Snow Leopard’ at a local club. And we also took Chinese Taipei’s athlete out clubbing one night. Just being there was a long series of highlights for me.

UG: Sounds truly life-changing! So what’s next for you Simone?

SB: Next??? Hmmm… Well, graduating would be nice
This summer I hope to have an internship with the company that interprets and translates for NASA and the International Space Station in Moscow. That would really set me up for a wonderful future career. We’ll see!!

Anna in the lead!

At Uncommon Grounds, we are proud and excited to learn about the places that some of our workers go after working at our stores. We recently caught up with Anna D. who worked at the Saratoga Springs store in the early 00s. She was one of our best bagelers (yes, we made our own word for “person who makes bagels”) of all time, and always had a smile, a few words in German or Spanish for anyone who would understand it and the most gigantic hoop earrings on quite a little person. We were pleased to hear about her travels and adventures as a cyclist and language teacher/obsessionist.

Uncommon Grounds (UG) : How are you, Anna? It’s been awhile!

Anna D. (AD) : I’m GREAT. I’m living in southern California, training and working.

UG : When exactly did you work at Uncommon? It feels like a long time ago, but…

AD : I worked at UG for four years, on and off. 2001-2005, give or take. Some of the greatest years of my life!

UG : While you were working at the store, I remember your obsession with cycling starting. Can you detail how you started and what your path has been with it?

AD : Well, I bought my first bike from Blue Sky Bicycles in Saratoga (and later upgraded to a Serotta, also from Saratoga!) and started going for recreational rides around the area. A friend suggested I try racing, and after coming in 15th at my first race, I just got hooked. I’ve been racing ever since!

After leaving Saratoga, I moved to Costa Rica for 6 months to train, race and teach ESL. While I was there, I was signed to a pro team based in New Jersey, so I moved to Philly and spent a year doing continental races with them.

After that I moved to California so that I could train year-round. I’ve been having a blast since I’ve gotten here. I started in Santa Barbara, then moved to LA and am now in Orange County. I’ve been doing mostly road racing (like the Tour de France stuff, but much less cool!), but this year I’ve gotten into track racing too. It is easier for women to go farther on the track (professionally) than it is on the road, so I am really hoping to go far with that!

UG : Sounds excellent! Rumor mill says that you are now a sponsored rider. What does that entail?

AD : I am an elite, or semi-pro, rider. This means that we are paid to ride. I also get all my equipment (bike, helmet, shoes, pedals, clothing, etc) taken care of. The team also pays for my race entry fees and travel expenses. I also get an additional stipend, or salary. Cycling is different than other sports in that you don’t have to get individual endorsements. At the end of each season, around November, we all apply to teams. We send a race resume which is very similar to a job resume, stating our results and goals and have to do interviews with the team directors. Then they review them all and select their teams. So, whatever team we sign with dictates what our sponsors are–they come with the team. This year, I will be on team Herbalife-LaGrange. Herbalife will be one of our head sponsors.

Anna (on far right) and her team for 2010.

UG : Oh that’s an interesting process. Sounds a lot different than other sports… Have you kept up your language studies?

AD : Yeah, my German is suffering, as I have very few friends who speak it, but I’ve lived in two Spanish-speaking countries in the last few years, which has helped a lot, and there are TONS of Mexican cyclists in the area, so that helps too!

UG : Since we’ve reached 2010, do you have any resolutions for the next decade that you’d like to share?

AD : Going to the Olympics! Or….I’d settle for international racing. Also, I’d like to try to live in one spot for more than a year–I’ve had a hard time doing that lately.

Anna wins!

UG : I wouldn’t be surprised to see you in the Olympics someday! You are certainly very motivated and competitive. Finally, do you have any UG memories you’d like to share?

AD : SO many. Mostly I remember the little stuff. The regular customers and how well I got to know them over the years. How we’d refer to most customers by their order: ex. “pot of English Breakfast…or “burnt pumpernickel”….etc.

What I liked best, I think, is that most of us were on our way somewhere else, but were having a blast during our time with Uncommon Grounds. We were musicians, artists, athletes, massage therapists….we were all people with bigger goals, but having a seriously good time working until we got on our way.

Kristen sporting one of her necklaces!

Uncommon Grounds (UG): So when exactly did you work here? I feel like it was a long time ago…

Kristen Barrows (KB): I started in the fall of 1993 and worked full-time for about two full years. I think I went away to teach for a bit but then came back to work just one or two days a week for another two years.

UG: Wow! That is old-school! What was it like back then?

KB: Well, 1993 was pre-bagels! We used to have to run down to Bruegger’s to get bagels for ourselves to eat. Then when we finally started serving them, it wasn’t even the full bagel bar. We just had little sides of cream cheese we gave out to people.

UG: Oh, right! Didn’t Dan (Murphy, owner) drive down to New York City to get the bagels back then?

KB: Right, exactly!

UG: So how many employees would work a shift back then?

KB: When I first started there were two or three on in the morning. At one point there was just two of us but he hired one more. At night there would be a few more people for closing chores or whatever. For awhile, there was only one guy who worked here so we told Dan that he had to hire more men. *Laughs*

UG: *Laughs* Sounds like a nightmare to me! Anyway, so was this before or after college for you?

KB: This was after. My first job out of college, in fact. I designed my own major at Skidmore; a combination of art, education and psychology. At one point I moved away from Saratoga to go teach but then figured that I was going to burn out really fast on that. So I’m falling back on my arts degree, ironically.

UG: In knowing you as an artist, I can’t seem to pin down a specific medium that you work with. I can’t seem to say “Kristen is a painter” or “Kristen is a sculptor.” Do you have any specific materials or styles you prefer to work with?

KB: That’s the thing. I work in every medium I can. I just love working with material. No matter what it is. Anything I can do with my hands I will, I’ll try it at least once. With the holidays, I always try and make all my gifts and I always try and teach myself something new each year. Sometimes I take classes; two summers ago I took a welding course. I have more tools than most guys I know!

UG: Are you selling or showing any work right now?

KB: Most of the stuff I am actively selling is the jewelery I have down at Symmetry Gallery where I work. It’s been a little quiet due to the economy. It’s not a necessity item, so it’s a little quiet but there’s still people out there that want to buy handmade things. They want to be able to attribute the work to a human being.

UG: Tell us about Symmetry Gallery; what is your role there? How long have you worked there?

KB: Well, I’ve been there for ten years. It’s kind of a collaborative working environment between a few artists. We all pitch-in many ways. The shop has been open on Broadway since May of 1990 and it was started by local couple, Dianne and Gary Zack who are both glass artists. We carry handmade American glass art from about 150 artists from around the U.S. We always include information about the artists with each piece that we sell. Our specialty is glass because in one form or another Dianne and Gary have over 30 years of experience working with and collecting the medium.

Kristen's handmade glass bead jewelery at Symmetry Gallery

UG: So the work you have at Symmetry is…?

KB: Jewelery that combines semiprecious stones and glass beads that I make in my home studio. Using a technique called lampworking, I use a torch flame to melt glass around a thin steel rod which when removed creates the hole of the bead. Before working at Symmetry, I really knew nothing about glass. But it didn’t take long before I had to get my hands on it, and see for myself what I could make it do!

UG: That was one of your Christmas challenges?

KB: Yeah pretty much!

UG: How long have you been making glass beads?

KB: I’d say about seven years? I love it.

UG: So what do you see for the future?

KB: Right now, I’m trying to get back into silversmithing which is something I started working on at classes at Skidmore. I just recently set up all of that equipment next to the glass equipment so I can start combining the two. Trying to figure out a way to do it so that it’s not arbitrary. *Laughs* I just really like working with stuff!

UG: A-ha! Yes, you do. Well, we look forward to seeing which new art discipline you find next! OK, to close it out, can you share a memory or some sort of personal anecdote about your time working at Uncommon Grounds?

KB: The one thing I remember about working here is that it forced me to get over my shyness. I was big-time shy.

UG: Really? Hard to believe!

KB: Oh, definitely. I was painfully shy. This working environment just forces you to come out from behind your shell. In a way, you have to take charge behind the counter, especially dealing with new people every five minutes. I had to come out of my shell in a big way so that was a huge bonus to working Uncommon.