Sunday, January 22, 2006

Going back to Qwerky

Well, I'm back in Albuqwerky. Came out 2 days early to get an extra ski day in. It was interesting. I didn't go to the big resort that's nearby, Taos. Instead, I hit up this lil small family resort called Sinapu. Since there's not a lot of snow, I figure I'll go with the cheaeper lift tickets and take advantage of the FREE lodging. Who gives free lodging? The catch: No phone, no tv, no maid service. The mountain was bigger than I expected. It was half open, and that was plenty for my & my snowboard. It seemed like I had the entire resort to myself! I counted about 9 other skiers/boards there, not counting the workers. More about this later.


Spam Breakfast


Going back to my Hawaii post... I forgot to tell you about the crazy breakfast menu at the McDonald's in Hawaii. Click on the pic to see the menu! SPAM for breakfast!!!! MMMMmmmm. No, I didn't try it, but it must be a popular breakfast out there.


Ski Racing


Here's a pic of me racing exhausted! As I mentioned in my previous post, I was a little late, and just finished taking a shortcut... which was on an expert run. So my legs were like jello. So my time on this run was.... slow. Not to mention that wearing a big old jacket acts like a parachute!


Here is my second run. I took off my jacket, my legs were still like jello though. My time was about a second faster. Still slow compared to others. But considering this was my first trip of the season, & others ski in their backyard, I'm not disappointed at all.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Heavenly Skiing

I know, I've been gone & busy for a while, but now I'm back. As you can probably tell from my pic (& past posts), I love skiing! I just led a group of 20+ to Cali to ski at Heavenly Ski Resort, located at the beautiful Lake Tahoe! I have soooo much to comment on regarding this trip.



First of all, Lake Tahoe is probably one of the most beautiful places to ski. Check out this pic! Crystal blue waters as a backdrop to mountain fun & adventure. On the beach one week, and up in the mountains a few weeks later... life is good.


I did do some racing. But didn't go the awards ceremony, so I don't know the results. I didn't do my best since I was previously traversing trails like this one! Very steep. Double Black Diamond run (experts only). To get a better idea of how steep this slope is, WATCH THIS VIDEO It's called "I'm About To Take It". If you look real close, you'll see a snowboard eat snow in the upper left corner.


One of the most enjoyable parts of the trip was accepting an invitation to get on the mountain before the resort even opens! The reason this is so sweet, is because you get to be the one who puts the first tracks in the snow. Skiing on pure powder. Us ski bums call it, Virgin Snow. Fresh Tracks. You can only make fresh tracks after a good snow fall, then you have to be first on the mountain. That's why skiers get all excited when there's a snow storm. And also why I'm up at 6 AM every morning to get an early start. So here is a pic of the Fresh Tracks I made in some Virgin Snow, and check out this video. FRESH TRACKS. I'M LOVIN' IT!


Since I was on the slopes so early in the morning, I was able to get really good views of the sunrise over the mountain. As you can tell from the Hawaii pics, I like sun rises & sunsets. Come to think of it, I love the stars, which must be a reason I enjoy camping. And I like looking at the clouds as well.


When you go skiing, you have a very unique vantage point of the clouds. Sometimes, I can ski through two different layers of clouds! What's really weird is how the weather changes depending on which part of the mountain you're own, & whether you're above or below the clouds. Here's a video of me SKIING ABOVE THE CLOUDS.


We stayed in a casino. Won a little money on the blackjack table. Lost a whole lot more the following day. Oh well. What I saw on the way up to the room made up for the disappointment. I'm not lying, I swear to you, I saw an anorexic midget!!! It was the smallest, skinniest man I've ever seen.


Another hilarious moment is when I was waiting for a chair lift to take us to the top of the mountain, I kept noticing folks ignoring the "Wait Here" sign. The sign is posted so you won't get hit by the chair lift while waiting for you turn to be carried up to the top. I saw two folk almost get taken out. Weird. But not as weird as what happened next. This guy stood diretly in the path of the incoming chair! Now this is a chair lift at the bottom of an expert ski run, so it should be all experienced folks there. So maybe this guy was just an idiot. The chair came around, and took the full blow of a 300 lb metal chair square in the face!!! Knocked him down, it was hilarious. I couldn't help but yell, "DAAMMNN, you got KNOCKED OUT!!" All 30 folks in line started laughing. The dazed snowboarder stumbled to his feet, and was obviously embarrassed, and gave me a quick finger as he got in position to catch the next chair. That's when I yelled out, "Hey man, you left your tooth on the ground!" It was funny. One of those things where you had to be there.


Mixing B'ness wit Pleasure


Next week, I have a business trip to Albuquerque. Theres's a ski resort a few hours away, so I'm going to fly out there early & check it out. Unfortunately, there's not much snow there.


Corporate Hustler (Cont.)


I often see my co-workers in the 'Good Ole Boy' network. Getting promotions... a-hem... getting promotions without others getting a chance to compete for the position. Well, a lady just got promoted, which is leaving a vacancy. Now the management talk is that my name was floating around as a replacement. This is definitely a great opportunity for me to be promoted! But wait. Does this mean I'm now one of the Good Ole Boys? Don't congratulate me yet, I still have to do my corporate hustler thing to get the job, and I already know the manager is considering opening up the job to other folks.


Close Call


I had a really close call yesterday. I'm driving in the rain when this idiot truck driver pulled out in front of me. I thought he would leave my lane before I approached, but he didnt. I had to slam on the breaks and turn the car sideways to aboid him! It came very close to hitting him. Thankfully, I avoided all the other vehicles and my wonderful car (with its new brakes) performed beautifully!


Mom's Brakes


Speakingn of brakes. I was wondering why Goodyear had me initial a statement that I have to bring my car back in after the brakes were serviced to ensure that the lug nuts were still tight on my wheels. Then I get a phone call from my mom, she had just gotten her brakes serviced as well. But when she was returning from her road trip, going 75 mph at night on the interstaste, the entire front driver's tire came off of her SUV!!!! THANK GOD SHE'S OK. The SUV heavily damaged as it coasted to the shoulder. Since it was nighttime, the wheel is lost. Since there was no human damage, lawyers won't take the case. I'm just thankful she's OK.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Hawaii

I hope everyone had a great Christmas & New Year! Mine was great. Spent it on the beaches of Hawaii. One of the highlights was definitely surfing! The waves may have only been 2-3 feet high, and the water 4 feet deep, but that was definitely enough! It was a lot of fun, can't wait to do it again. Folks were asking me how it compared to my favorite pasttime, skiing. It's not a comparison. The rush & excitement I get from skiing easily trumps gliding on a wave. I take a chair lift to get to the top of the mountain, which is much easier than trying to paddle against the current! Which reminds me, it was very frustrating to paddle your way towards the deep ocean, just to have a big wave negate all your hard work! While it is true I only surfed on a little wave, I do find it much easier to surf than ski. So I'm looking foward to some challenges this ski season


    I observed alot last week:
  • This should have been my honeymoon

  • I felt like I was in Japan

  • Learned to do the head nod to the Japanese

  • It's the opposite of the "What's Up" nod

  • Sunsets are beautiful

  • Saw some negroes that looked clueless

  • Saw them later on tv, NC A&T lost to Hawaii in basketball

  • Experienced a high-tech toilet

  • It spits out more than you put in it!

  • Streets are too narrow

  • Luau's are more enjoyable when you don't pay $65/person

  • Click Here to see a clip of where the Kappa's got their moves from.

  • Click Here to see a clip of 5 year old hula dance

  • Waikiki has to be the most crowded beach in the world on Christmas

  • 9/10 tourists stay at Waikiki Beach (according to the Travel Channel)

  • You know you're living good when you can watch the travel channel, then walk outside & visit what you just saw

  • I won't complain about the price of gas here again

  • But I will complain about the price of food out there!

  • There's an ABC store on every corner. Literally

  • Hiking Diamond Head Volcano is real cool

  • All live sports are time delayed

  • Long flights are not so bad in 1st class

  • The 1st class movies are UNEDITED!

  • I realized my body clock was screwed up when I was wide awake last night at 2 AM



For more detail, read GeckoGirl's blog.


Ratings


Nie.lson just sent me $15 to become a data point in their survey of what black folks watch!