Starting Over

Well, it’s been almost 2 months since I left LA for DC and I’m leaving today.  It was a great experience but I didn’t see myself fitting in to a specific role at Dallas’s company so I’m out.  I also didn’t want to fight to stay in DC as I think the West is more my style and I know once the Winter hits I will not like it.

I left around 8":45 after a meeting and got on 495 to 270 and headed out.  It was a beautiful day and once I got close to Cleveland I realized I could make it to CedarPoint after all.  I got there by the twilight price of $29.95 and took off for the Raptor and Millennium Force.  I love that shit and the speed and adrenalin were amazing.

 

 

I had a great time overall and hit all the major coasters.  The best in my opinion was the Dragster as it was like 0 to 120mph in 2.2 seconds.  It was such a rush and I could have done it ten times.

At around 9:00 I took off for the Motel 6 in Toledo, about 1.5 hours away for some good sleep.

New Years eve was pretty cool, but not a blast.  Went to a meeting and afterwards there was a party up in Deer Valley at a beautiful condo.  It was very cool going up the mountain to get there.  I was wiped at 11 and went home by 12.  I guess I'm getting pretty lame.

 

New Year's Day was time for skiing.  Not too packed and pretty tame.  I noticed I was getting tired of doing the same runs and skiing by myself.  I only went a few hours and called it quits.

 

 

 

The snow was pretty thin in spots so I'm sure I scratched up my skis pretty good.  Oh well.  They need to be tuned soon anyway.

 

All the gear.

 

 

The area where I ski has some amazing, sick homes built on the mountain.  Nutty views and monstrous.

 

Dream home:

 

 

 

Drive getting up there.  Definitely 4 wheel drive territory.

 

 

 

The rest of the weekend I didn't do much but watch documentaries on netflix.  I watched like 7 movies as I just streamed them onto the laptop while laying on the couch.  Very cool.

 

Friday night it dumped huge, heavy thick snow and I once again was unable to make it up the driveway.  I was so pissed and frustrated as we spent an hour trying to get up.  I was cussing the mountains and not happy.  I left my car on the street.

 

 

I finally made it in and played around with my new camera.  Still getting used to it.  I think it is like laptops.  Never going to be SLR performance on a point and shoot.  Oh well.  Seems to do ok.  Test shot of kitchen.

 

 

I went skiing today with my roommate and it was awesome.  Barely anyone on the mountain, sunny with decent groomers, and it was great skiing with someone else.  He is better than me but he did say I skied really well, especially for as long as I've been skiing.

 

 

 

It was negative 2 or something at the start, however, but dressing for it it wasn't bad.  I'm off to do a little work tonight and watch some more movies.  I'm hooked.  Headphones and the laptop with netflix.  My solution to living in this winter wonderland.  I'm still a warm, summer guy at heart and always will be I'm afraid.

The last weekend was nice but rather uneventful.  I watched a lot of tv but I did go skiing 3 times over the break.  I ordered a new small camera for Christmas for myself and hope to get it any day now.  I'm really excited to have a good little camera to use while skiing and for taking everywhere again.  Supposed to be a great camera and relatively inexpensive.  The Canon SD770 IS for $159 from Amazon.  I looked today and it was $20 more.  Not sure how they price those things but I'm not complaining.

 

Back on Christmas morning, the dogs had the most fun.  They each had a gift wrapped and when Tressa put them down the dogs dug in and shredded the paper.  It was really cool.  I don't think I've ever seen dogs dig in so fast.  They were going at the goods inside within seconds.

 

 

 

  

 

Anyway, I wanted to share the pics of the dog since it was cool.  Since it snowed 19 inches on Christmas the driveway was not very driveable.  It's a really good thing I bought some snow tires as I wouldn't be leaving otherwise.

 

 

It was also very interesting to see the parking lots at the outlet mall and how the snow accumulates.  I'm sure it is nothing compared to what it will be in a few months but it is pretty crazy nonetheless since I've never really seen anything like it.

 

 

I drove down and checked out Yes Man on Saturday and just took it easy.  Trying to ski deep powder on Friday killed my legs and I wasn't ready to hit it again.  The movie was decent with a good message about saying yes to life.  Something I could really learn from.  In Salt Lake right off the 80 is a little park area where tons of kids sled and tube down the hill.  I'm sure it's a blast for them.

 

 

 

Tomorrow is of course New Year's eve and I don't have too much going on.  I'd just as soon stay home but I'm sure I'll do something.  I don't really have any expectations so it doesn't really matter to me.  I want to work out as I haven't been doing anything but eat.  On Sunday I ate nearly a whole pumpkin pie after skiing.  It was pretty good and the whip cream is like crack.  So good. 

 

More snow on the roads.  Looks a lot different than when I got here.

 

 

I'm really getting ready for the festival to start.  The crazy thing is that it's all going to be over so fast and then I'm going to be going Oh shit once again as I move onto the next phase of my life.  I don't mind different quick phases as long as they kind of lead one into the other.  That is not usually the case, however.  I know something will work out and I just need to enjoy the festival and where I am for now.

Yesterday we got off work at 12:30 and since I had an idea this was going to happen I brought my ski stuff.  I went over to the Canyons and it was a beautiful day.  They had a few new runs open so I gave them a shot. Very humbling as they were harder with bumps and I didn't do so well.  I tried a double blue and it was bumpy and very hard.  I wiped out 2 times but it was kind of fun.

 

I went back to my tried and true runs and they were a lot of fun as I feel myself getting better at times.  It comes and goes but we'll see.  I do know that my quads burn all the time and that hasn't gotten easier.

 

I picked up my car yesterday with the snow tires.  I was excited to test the car out on the driveway as that was the main reason to get them.  I took a little running start and it went up with no problem.  I was so happy as it was pretty freaky sliding down the driveway with the car spinning sideways before. 

 

Today my 2 roommates and I opened gifts and it was pretty cool.  I always love giving a gift and watching someone open it.  I bought my landlord a cool Mountain Living Magazine so she could read it on her trip to Tahoe today.  I don't know how she is going to get out of here as there are sustained 30-40 mph winds up here.  It shouldn't be so bad at the airport but who knows?

 

There is supposed to be 20-30 inches of snow possible today and tomorrow and none of it is sticking here at home as the crazy wind is blowing the snow at a 90 degree angle and there is really no accumulation.  It's blowing right into the mountain so that will be wild to see when the storm ends.

 

I guess the rest of the day I'm going to eat pumpkin pie and watch tv.  Don't feel like getting out in the storm.

What a weekend!  Well, it was pretty cool at the minimum.  Yesterday morning I hand my mind set on going to Salt Lake and getting my hair cut and running some errands.  I woke up around 8:00 and there was a storm blowing snow at virtually a 90 degree angle and the roads looked pretty treacherous.  I decided to go anyway.  What was I thinking?

 

I got in I-80 and it was not horrible but pretty bad.  I pretty much went 35 mph or slower the entire way to Salt Lake.  It was pretty scary at a few points but I never really slid out or anything.  Just big clumps of snow and it was hard to see the lanes.  Luckily most everyone else was going really slowly as well so that helped.

 

I got my haircut really quickly at Supercuts and decided to go to Wal Mart to stock up on some groceries.  No one realizes it but the Wal Marts out here are more expensive than even California.  Doesn't really make much sense but it's true.  Oh well.  I got a bunch of things, including two donuts for my sugar fix, and took off to see Slumdog Millionaire.  It was a really good movie and I thought it was pretty close to the 8.7 it got on imdb.  Lastly I ate a mahi burrito at Rubio's to reminisce my 3 time a week San Diego habit.  It was pretty good but after only 2 months I couldn't even remember how to order what I used to order.  That shit pisses me off.  Sometimes my memory just makes me feel stupid and certainly frustrated.  What happened?  I used to remember every single thing that ever happened to me.

 

I made it home safely and got all the way to the driveway and things got interesting.  I  started up the driveway and it was pretty much pure ice.  I couldn't make it up.  I started sliding towards the rocks on the edge and my car was at an angle.  I was a little freaked out.  I got my downstair's roommate to help and we tried salt, his old chains, and pushing but we couldn't get it up the driveway.  The landlord came home with her friend and he told me to back down and make a run for it.  I did and managed to barely make it up.  Wow.

 

 

You can see the tracks which are pretty much pure ice and the driveway is steeper than it looks.

 

Today I went skiing again at the Canyon's.  It was way different this time.  A lot more snow and powder and it was way harder for me to control things and way harder on my legs.  I almost wiped out 10 times or so.  I would start to feel like I was going to wax it and I would somehow pull out of it.  It got better but I need to get better.  I'm probably trying to ski like a pro already and just skiing above my ability.  We'll see.

 

When I got home I had another difficult time making it up the driveway.  Not sure what I'm going to do.  My roommate has new snow tires and he can make it up without a running start.  They really do make a difference.  Maybe I need to get some but I tend to get stubborn about things.  Also when I closed my passenger door today the side mirror fell off.  This cold is really freaking hard on cars.

 

Updated view of the backyard:

 

 

I skied the mountain to the right in the distance.  Well, here I go into another week.  I hope it snows a shitload this week and I won't have to worry about driving.  It is definitely a different world here getting through and maneuvering through the snow.

 

On the lift back down this evening I met a guy and his family who were really nice.  He is a second unit director and has a house in Park City.  Pretty cool.  All kinds of people out here for sure.  I'm off to a meeting and ship a box.  Sold my cheap camera that I didn't like for 30 dollars more than I paid.  Amazon is the best for a lot of items.  Things that go for $4 on ebay can be sold on Amazon for $30.  Later.

I finally went skiing yesterday at the Canyons.  It snowed a little during the week and combined with the man made stuff they were able to open a run.  I gathered all my gear up in the morning and put it in the car.  I felt like a little kid and I was smiling from ear to ear as I was so excited.  It was a beautiful sunny day, kind of like when I skied 8 years ago, and I took off around 9:00am. 

 

I managed to finally get my boots and gear on and there was quite a walk to the lift.  I didn't know I was supposed to keep the boots loose so I had a hell of a time trying to walk in them.  Once I got on the lift I headed up to the main resort area.

 

 

Even though it felt relatively warm in the sun, my hands almost froze solid in a few minutes without gloves.  I made sure to leave them on from then on.  I made it to the easiest run of the day, a green run, and I was pretty much the only one on the lift.  Not many newbies yesterday.  I went down the green run a few times and slowly got the hang of it again.  It was very strange at first and a few times my skis dug in on the side and I felt like I was going to wipe out.   After getting more confident I headed up to the blue run open.

 

 

It was way steeper and a lot of fun.  I met an older guy who has been skiing for years and he stated that I need to learn how to turn quicker and better.  Basically I just fly down fast and turn when I need to slow down.  It works but there is no way to ski blacks and trees like that.  So, I started working on turns the rest of the day.  It was pretty difficult and I found it more and more challenging as my legs began fatiguing more and more.

 

I finally called it a day after about 2 hours and felt that was enough for my first day.  No sense in getting crazy sore and I don't think working on form crazy tired would have worked anyway.  I took a quick picture before boarding the lift back down.

 

 

I got on the gondola and it felt nice to sit down.  I rode down with some 17 year old Salt Lake kids and they were really nice.  Talked about the area and living in the mountains.  Here is a view going back down.

 

 

Overall it was a good time and I can't wait until it really dumps snow and the whole mountain is open.  It looks to go for days and it will be awesome getting back in there and getting better and better.  Can't wait.  Now I'm off to enjoy Sunday before heading back to work and the routine tomorrow! 

Well, another week of work is over.  It is a great place to work, clean, nice, great people, but I don't have much to do.  We had a list of items to complete this week and I pretty much finished most everything by Tuesday.  The last 3 days I've sat at my desk for at least 6 hours acting busy.  I feel kind of bad but there just isn't a whole lot left to do.  I don't know.  I know it will be busy in January but that doesn't help now.  Next week is going to be tough.

 

The ski resort I have a pass at opened today.  Not sure how great the snow is but it is open and I plan to give it a go tomorrow.  Just take it easy and adjust my legs to the new movement.  Should be fun and also warm tomorrow.  42 degrees will feel warm.

 

Other than being extremely bored at work I've been feeling better this week and content being here for now.  I took the bus all week to work and only drove about 7 miles all week.  That is different and cool. 

 

I've also been looking at brushing up on Photoshop again.  I really enjoyed learning Photoshop and all of the nuances of the program so as a hobby I think I'm going to try and get a book on the newer version and brush up.  I also eventually want to get a cheap point and shoot camera I can carry around that actually takes decent pictures.  That way I can always be snapping pics wherever I go. 

 

Ski gear is out, ready to go.  Stay tuned.