The Pole
Ear to the ground
“She retired.”
“What? She was fired?”
– A conversation overheard in a crowded bar that illustrates how fodder is produced for the local rumor mill


Jen-Chels does Tride
Oprah may have moved out, but TomKat still had a little company over the holidays. Seems Jennifer Aniston and boyfriend Justin Theroux shacked up in a 13,000-plus-square-foot Mountain Village “cabin” over the holidays.
According to the crack reporters at Us Weekly,  Aniston, 42, and  Theroux, 40, “kept a low profile.” The couple reportedly took daily ski lessons  and were visited by Jen’s gal pal and late-night gab queen, Chelsea Handler.
Apparently, the lessons paid off. “Jen is a really good skier,” Handler told Us.
When done taming the Misty Maiden, Aniston and Handler apres-ed at the Mountain Village’s swanky hotel Lumiere, sporting ski boots and all. “They stored their skis while they hung out,” an onlooker told Us. “Came right from skiing. Super casual.”
No word on whether the two kept their boots on for a late-night foray downtown to The Buck, but a sizable dent was said to be put in the Lumiere’s red wine supply.


On the prowl again
After being forced into a low-snow sabbatical, the San Juan Ski Co. is back in business thanks to an 18-inch dump last weekend.
Billed as North America’s second-largest snow-cat operation, Bob Rule and crew are boasting 60 square miles of “100% gluten-free powder.”
For more info, go to www.sanjuanski.com.


Time to do-si-do
Thin-Mint and Samoa junkies rejoice, the Girl Scouts are back. And as the organization celebrates its 100th year, it is stepping boldly into the technological frontier and mixing things up.
For starters, instead of making people preorder and endure the excrutiating wait for their Tagalong stash, the Girl Scouts will be offering instant gratification. That’s right, no more pass around the sign up sheet at the office – cookies will be sold on the spot, either door to door or at predetermined sale sites. Also new this year, participating troops will be giving customers the option to pay via plastic.
The cookies were delivered to local troops last week and will be on sale through March 4.
In honor of their 100th year, the scouts are introducing a new cookie, “Savannah Smiles,” a lemony powdered-sugar affair.
The annual venture generates a lot of dough for the Girl Scouts. Nationwide sales of the $3.50 boxes generate more than $700 million. For more info or to see a list of sales locations, visit girlscoutsofcolorado.org