Notes on Carving

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2008 Ski Season Day 13

Location: Alpine Meadows
Conditions: 3" powder and morning snowfall



Alpine is a great mountain. First chair up Roundhouse we went up with a local. He asked if we skied there a lot and told him it was our first time. This guy took me on a morning powder first run. Pretty sweet, he even let me get first tracks on a few runs.

Then, we took Scott's Chair to the Promised Land and into Gentian Gully past Butch Block Rock. Very cool. We had to traverse out of there to get back to catch a lift.

By the end of the day, we were ready to deal with Scott's Chute.

Conditions were soft and there were a few people skiing it by then so we went for it.

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2008 Ski Season Day 12

Location Northstar
Conditions: Afternoon snowfal

There was race being held at Northstar on Friday. It was juniors level and the kids were all wearing racesuits.

The day started off pretty slow moving around Northstar. We got to lookout mountain which was the best spot in my opinion.

Got to go for a last run on Martis after talking ski patrol in to letting me go.

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2008 Ski Season: Day 11

Location: Squaw Valley
Conditions: groomed, soft, variable

In the morning, I headed over to Emigrant lift to try to get into the Funnel. It was roped off and the conditions were pretty bad. I took Shirley Bowl a few times then headed to Granite Chief.

I had a lesson scheduled for 12:00 noon. We lucked out and got Thomas Gardtman, a world class skier and coach. He was amazing. The two hour lesson was an attempt to teach us to carve. Thomas would get so low and put so much pressure on his skis, he would come out of turns with more speed than going in.

I tried to follow his tracks for the whole day and failed miserably. He is simply too fast. It was a ton of fun though and i learned so much from him.

Check out hotskiing.com for details.

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Goalie Jonathan Roy Fights Bobby Nadeau

This is perhaps one of the most brutal hockey fights I have ever seen. The attacker is Jonathan Roy.

Here's more from SI:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/hockey/nhl/wires/03/25/2040.ap.hko.roy.suspended.0534/

I like hockey fights as much as the next guy but Roy violated the number one rule:

If the other guy doesn't want to fight, you respect that.

Then he proceeds to flip off the crowd. I'm glad number 5 objected to that and came out to give hime some payback.

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Tahoe: Skiing into June?

I found the following link on the Accuweather.com site:

Slope Conditions Around California

Some highlights indicate I could be skiing into June!

Squaw Valley USA Updated: 06:00 (03/24/2008)
New Snow: 0 - 0 (None Reported)
Surface: Packed Powder / Base: 126 - 126
(Percent Open: 100 %) Including: Trails 170 / Lifts: 26 / Acres: 4000
Operating Status:
- Projected closing: 05/31/2008

Good thing I'm scheduled to go up to Tahoe this Thursday to catch the new snowfall. My sources are predicting up to 8 inches this week!

http://www.snowforecast.com/CaliforniaSkiResorts

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First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring!

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Four Years in the Valley

Today marks the four year anniversary of my move to Mountain View. Thinking back to my life in Chicago, I recall looking at the Google map for the bay area trying to figure out how I would get around. I planned to move here without a car and go as long as I could. Four years later I still don't have a car and it has been a wonderful experience organizing my life around traveling by bicycle.

It turned out that getting around was not such a problem at all. The weather here permits cycling year round minus the occasional rain storm here or there. The bike, plus the Caltrain have proven to be a complete transportation solution for me and I couldn't be happier.

Another important takeaway from these past four years has been my education about my career. I've worked for two startup companies for roughly two years each and done a fair amount of consulting for others as well. Companies in the valley are generally started with venture funding which makes for a very interesting work dynamic. I knew virtually nothing about this world back in Chicago and this four year period has introduced me to all the nuances of valuation, rounds of funding, stock options, and even buyout.

It certainly is a different world here. Things happen on a different schedule and for different reasons. No matter what direction the economy is heading, people here continue to innovate. That is one major attraction to me about the area and my lifestyle here.

Of course I've been blogging almost exclusively about skiing lately, my wintertime bay area passion. It has been great being so close to Lake Tahoe and all the resort skiing available there. Once the snow melts and the lifts stop turning it will be back to the bike for me. I have plenty of long leisure rides to tackle plus some training rides and climbs I plan to accomplish.

The outdoor lifestyle is yet another reason why I've been so happy with my lifestyle here. Here's to another four years in the valley.

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