Showing posts with label skiing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skiing. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pictures From Colorado and the Pirate Party
Thanks, Stephanator for reminding me to post pictures from the 2008 ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado. I've also uploaded pictures from the recent pirate party.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I'm Engaged!
For those of you who haven't heard, Elizabeth and I are engaged to be married, as of this past Sunday evening (the 13th). Based on the overwhelming amount of wall posts and messages I've gotten on Facebook in the past few days (over 50), it's a safe bet that many of you already know.
Well, here's how it happened:
I had gone ring-shopping with Elizabeth's sister Katherine the day before, but I hadn't bought anything. There were a couple of rings that I was interested in at the Shane Company, which is where we had started, interestingly enough at the recommendation of my roommate, Casey. We had hit three other stores, but there were two rings at Shane that I really liked. The problem was, there were two.
Anyway, on Sunday, I had arranged to speak with Scott, Elizabeth's father, so after church, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to their house. When Scott showed up, I told him that I loved his daughter Elizabeth and was there to ask for her hand in marriage. His prompt response was that I had their blessing. The conversation quickly turned to the question of when I planned on asking her, and had I bought a ring yet?
I didn't know when exactly would be the best time, so I started going through the next few days in my head. One important thing that I wanted to be able to do very soon after proposing was to go dancing, since Elizabeth and I had decided together that we wouldn't dance with each other until such a time as we were engaged.
I had thought of proposing on the dance floor, but two nights prior, Elizabeth had commented that she just had no desire to go dancing anymore, because she wouldn't be able to dance with the one person she really wanted to dace with. Swing dancing was on Sunday nights at Century, and on Thursdays at the Russian Center. The problem was that on Thursdays we had just started skiing lessons in the evenings, and this Thursday was the day before we were leaving for Colorado on a ski trip. I didn't want to propose right before, or on the ski trip, because I wanted Elizabeth to be surrounded by her friends and family at that time, and not merely a bunch of my friends.
I suddenly came to the realization that it would have to be that day, or in another two weeks, in other words, it had to be that day! And I didn't have a ring!
Shortly after this realization, I found myself back at the Shane Co., staring at a pair of rings: both possessing a unique appeal; each one, in the absence of the other, was the perfect choice, but for entirely different reasons. One looked back at what Elizabeth has been and is now; the other looked forward, to what she could be and is now becoming. I describe it this way in retrospect, but at the time, it was much harder to congeal my thoughts, fears, and hopes. I stared at the two rings for about an hour. Talking to the lady who was helping me. Finally, I just knew. Kristen, Elizabeth's mom had called me to let me know how moved her husband had been when I asked for his daughter's hand, and as I tried to describe my dilemma, it became crystal clear which ring I should choose. I marshaled my courage, pointed, and said "it's that one; that one is the ring."
Shortly thereafter, I had paid for the ring, floated to my car, and drove home. Elizabeth and I were meeting with our friends Mike, Chris, and Keisha to go skiing that night. Four of us are taking lessons on Thursdays together, and we decided that it would be both fun and productive to get in some real skiing, sans instructor.
I called Mike to make sure that he had his camera. He had just left his house, and said that he could turn around and get it. I should have told him why, but I didn't have time; I figured that I could call him back to fill him in once I had a plan.
I called Katherine. We discussed my options. I mentioned proposing at Century Ballroom, and she said that she thought she could get Elizabeth to go, but I was skeptical: she was already going to be icky from skiing, and her legs might be tired, not to mention that she would despair that she couldn't dance with me. I decided against it.
The plan I developed went like this: I would convince our friends to leave Snoqualmie at about 7:30. I would call or text message Katherine with an ETA to Renton on the way home. There is a dentist's office located on the side of the hill above the road that we would be taking in Renton. This dentist's office parking lot has an exceptionally pretty view of downtown Renton. I would nonchalantly pull the car up the driveway; Katherine would be there with her fiance Dave. I would pull Elizabeth out of the car, get down on one knee, and ask her to marry me.
This plan never happened.
When we got to Snoqualmie, we arrived to a mass exodus of cars and skiers. After an inquiry, we were told that the lifts had just been closed for the night!
After panicking slightly, I turned the car around and headed back down the mountain. We decided that since we were already together, the five of us would get Teriyaki and watch a movie at my apartment. I called Katherine, who was apparently occupied at work, and left a voicemail. She called back, and I let her know all that I could, trying not to arouse Elizabeth's suspicions: too late. She was beaming a smile, but trying to hide it. I, in turn, tried to hide my smile. Neither of us were very successful. That was her third clue.
Her first had been Katherine, who had shown Elizabeth Saturday evening some of the ring designs that she and I had looked at, under the guise of looking at designs for her own wedding ring. Her second had been Mike, who, assuming I asked him to bring his (DSLR) camera simply because I was already at Elizabeth's and had left mine at home, upon arriving at her house and not finding me there, had wondered out loud why I had asked him to bring it. Before the words were out of his mouth, he knew why, and tried to play it off, but Elizabeth had caught the implication, and he knew it.
Once at Elizabeth's, everyone got in their own car. I made sure that it was Elizabeth who got the food, and that she was alone, while the rest of us made our way to my apartment. Once there, I explained to my friends what was going on, and concocted a new plan. Chris and Keisha were sent out of sight to my room in the back, Mike concealed himself in the kitchen, ready to pop out and take pictures. I turned on the lights so that he wouldn't need flash, and rearranged the furniture so that it wouldn't be in the way of pictures. When she came in, she would be carrying bags of food, so I prepared a chair to receive it. And then we waited.
It seemed like a long time. It was probably only five minutes. Once I heard footsteps on the stairs, but it was only the neighbors. Then, I saw her pull in. I glanced at her through the blinds, bending one with my finger. Little did I know, that she could see my entire profile. Little, that is, until she waived at me. Sheepishly, I waived back. She knew it was coming, but did she know when?
A minute later, a knock at the door. I opened it, and attempted to grab the Teriyaki out of her hands. It didn't come immediately because her keys were also in her hand. The time it took for us to untangle her fingers was enough for her to notice that I had changed into nice clothes. Now she definitely knew something was up. Once I had disposed of the food, I dropped to my knee, and said, "Elizabeth Anne Harris, I love you, and I want you to be my wife, and I want to be your husband. Will you marry me?"
She said yes, and threw herself into my arms.
That was the first time that I had told her that I love her. Mind you, I had been doing it all along, but I wanted the words to carry the weight of all the actions that I had done out of love for her.
Two seconds later, she pulls back, lowers her eyebrows, widens her eyes, and yells at me, "I've been waiting for two months for you to ask me that!"
We could hear Keisha burst out laughing, as she had obviously heard Elizabeth from the back room. Moments later, she and Chris emerged, and we were all smiles, laughter, stories, and tears of joy, as we ate together and hung out. Elizabeth's parents came over, as did Dave and Katherine.
Later in the evening, we headed over to the Century Ballroom for our first dance in over nine months.
Later that evening, we thanked the Lord together for what He had done in bringing us together, and leading us each step of the way. We haven't always known what the next step would be, or even if there would be a next step, but He has led us the whole way through, and I am counting on Him guiding and leading the way as we proceed into marriage.
Me on my knee
Putting on the ring
Right before she yelled at me
Happiness
Telling my parents
The ring
Us with Elizabeth's parents, Kristen and Scott
Dancing at Century
Two other dancers tried to cut in on our engagement dance, but I turned them away.
Thanks for taking pictures, Mike and Cliff.
Well, here's how it happened:
I had gone ring-shopping with Elizabeth's sister Katherine the day before, but I hadn't bought anything. There were a couple of rings that I was interested in at the Shane Company, which is where we had started, interestingly enough at the recommendation of my roommate, Casey. We had hit three other stores, but there were two rings at Shane that I really liked. The problem was, there were two.
Anyway, on Sunday, I had arranged to speak with Scott, Elizabeth's father, so after church, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to their house. When Scott showed up, I told him that I loved his daughter Elizabeth and was there to ask for her hand in marriage. His prompt response was that I had their blessing. The conversation quickly turned to the question of when I planned on asking her, and had I bought a ring yet?
I didn't know when exactly would be the best time, so I started going through the next few days in my head. One important thing that I wanted to be able to do very soon after proposing was to go dancing, since Elizabeth and I had decided together that we wouldn't dance with each other until such a time as we were engaged.
I had thought of proposing on the dance floor, but two nights prior, Elizabeth had commented that she just had no desire to go dancing anymore, because she wouldn't be able to dance with the one person she really wanted to dace with. Swing dancing was on Sunday nights at Century, and on Thursdays at the Russian Center. The problem was that on Thursdays we had just started skiing lessons in the evenings, and this Thursday was the day before we were leaving for Colorado on a ski trip. I didn't want to propose right before, or on the ski trip, because I wanted Elizabeth to be surrounded by her friends and family at that time, and not merely a bunch of my friends.
I suddenly came to the realization that it would have to be that day, or in another two weeks, in other words, it had to be that day! And I didn't have a ring!
Shortly after this realization, I found myself back at the Shane Co., staring at a pair of rings: both possessing a unique appeal; each one, in the absence of the other, was the perfect choice, but for entirely different reasons. One looked back at what Elizabeth has been and is now; the other looked forward, to what she could be and is now becoming. I describe it this way in retrospect, but at the time, it was much harder to congeal my thoughts, fears, and hopes. I stared at the two rings for about an hour. Talking to the lady who was helping me. Finally, I just knew. Kristen, Elizabeth's mom had called me to let me know how moved her husband had been when I asked for his daughter's hand, and as I tried to describe my dilemma, it became crystal clear which ring I should choose. I marshaled my courage, pointed, and said "it's that one; that one is the ring."
Shortly thereafter, I had paid for the ring, floated to my car, and drove home. Elizabeth and I were meeting with our friends Mike, Chris, and Keisha to go skiing that night. Four of us are taking lessons on Thursdays together, and we decided that it would be both fun and productive to get in some real skiing, sans instructor.
I called Mike to make sure that he had his camera. He had just left his house, and said that he could turn around and get it. I should have told him why, but I didn't have time; I figured that I could call him back to fill him in once I had a plan.
I called Katherine. We discussed my options. I mentioned proposing at Century Ballroom, and she said that she thought she could get Elizabeth to go, but I was skeptical: she was already going to be icky from skiing, and her legs might be tired, not to mention that she would despair that she couldn't dance with me. I decided against it.
The plan I developed went like this: I would convince our friends to leave Snoqualmie at about 7:30. I would call or text message Katherine with an ETA to Renton on the way home. There is a dentist's office located on the side of the hill above the road that we would be taking in Renton. This dentist's office parking lot has an exceptionally pretty view of downtown Renton. I would nonchalantly pull the car up the driveway; Katherine would be there with her fiance Dave. I would pull Elizabeth out of the car, get down on one knee, and ask her to marry me.
This plan never happened.
When we got to Snoqualmie, we arrived to a mass exodus of cars and skiers. After an inquiry, we were told that the lifts had just been closed for the night!
After panicking slightly, I turned the car around and headed back down the mountain. We decided that since we were already together, the five of us would get Teriyaki and watch a movie at my apartment. I called Katherine, who was apparently occupied at work, and left a voicemail. She called back, and I let her know all that I could, trying not to arouse Elizabeth's suspicions: too late. She was beaming a smile, but trying to hide it. I, in turn, tried to hide my smile. Neither of us were very successful. That was her third clue.
Her first had been Katherine, who had shown Elizabeth Saturday evening some of the ring designs that she and I had looked at, under the guise of looking at designs for her own wedding ring. Her second had been Mike, who, assuming I asked him to bring his (DSLR) camera simply because I was already at Elizabeth's and had left mine at home, upon arriving at her house and not finding me there, had wondered out loud why I had asked him to bring it. Before the words were out of his mouth, he knew why, and tried to play it off, but Elizabeth had caught the implication, and he knew it.
Once at Elizabeth's, everyone got in their own car. I made sure that it was Elizabeth who got the food, and that she was alone, while the rest of us made our way to my apartment. Once there, I explained to my friends what was going on, and concocted a new plan. Chris and Keisha were sent out of sight to my room in the back, Mike concealed himself in the kitchen, ready to pop out and take pictures. I turned on the lights so that he wouldn't need flash, and rearranged the furniture so that it wouldn't be in the way of pictures. When she came in, she would be carrying bags of food, so I prepared a chair to receive it. And then we waited.
It seemed like a long time. It was probably only five minutes. Once I heard footsteps on the stairs, but it was only the neighbors. Then, I saw her pull in. I glanced at her through the blinds, bending one with my finger. Little did I know, that she could see my entire profile. Little, that is, until she waived at me. Sheepishly, I waived back. She knew it was coming, but did she know when?
A minute later, a knock at the door. I opened it, and attempted to grab the Teriyaki out of her hands. It didn't come immediately because her keys were also in her hand. The time it took for us to untangle her fingers was enough for her to notice that I had changed into nice clothes. Now she definitely knew something was up. Once I had disposed of the food, I dropped to my knee, and said, "Elizabeth Anne Harris, I love you, and I want you to be my wife, and I want to be your husband. Will you marry me?"
She said yes, and threw herself into my arms.
That was the first time that I had told her that I love her. Mind you, I had been doing it all along, but I wanted the words to carry the weight of all the actions that I had done out of love for her.
Two seconds later, she pulls back, lowers her eyebrows, widens her eyes, and yells at me, "I've been waiting for two months for you to ask me that!"
We could hear Keisha burst out laughing, as she had obviously heard Elizabeth from the back room. Moments later, she and Chris emerged, and we were all smiles, laughter, stories, and tears of joy, as we ate together and hung out. Elizabeth's parents came over, as did Dave and Katherine.
Later in the evening, we headed over to the Century Ballroom for our first dance in over nine months.
Later that evening, we thanked the Lord together for what He had done in bringing us together, and leading us each step of the way. We haven't always known what the next step would be, or even if there would be a next step, but He has led us the whole way through, and I am counting on Him guiding and leading the way as we proceed into marriage.
"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Brethren, pray for us." ~1 Thessalonians 5:23-25
Me on my knee
Putting on the ring
Right before she yelled at me
Happiness
Telling my parents
The ring
Us with Elizabeth's parents, Kristen and Scott
Dancing at Century
Two other dancers tried to cut in on our engagement dance, but I turned them away.
Thanks for taking pictures, Mike and Cliff.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Maybe I Just Needed a Drive
"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"
~ Mr. Bennet
I left the Winter Park at 2:35, only 5 minutes later than I had planned, and in plenty of time to get to the airport in Denver, even with the possibility of traffic or other unexpected delays. There was a little bit of traffic on I-70, but it only slowed down to 35mph, and instantly disappeared once the freeway expanded to three lanes. I was driving a Ford Taurus that I had rented online and picked up at the airport. When I scheduled my flight, I was counting on taking a shuttle to the ski resort, but the last one left at 10:00 PM, and my flight was scheduled to land at about 9:30. Korey, unbeknownst to me was on the same flight, but was counting on making the shuttle, and had therefore sent his checked bags ahead with TJ. The flight was delayed an hour, though, so it was good that I was there to give him a ride.
I hate closed-ended time constraints. The morning that I had left, my skiing was dictated by the fact that I needed to be back at the lodge at 2:00 at the latest. I had also agreed to meet Matthew at the top of Mary Jane at noon, so my first runs of the day, I had to be sure that I was within striking range of the lifts that would take me there. Once we finally met up, we both had to keep an eye on the clock, as we both needed to leave at about the same time. We therefore again had to choose our routes carefully. It wouldn't have been so bad had we been on the left side of the mountain where all roads lead to Zephyr, but we had decided to go to the far right in order to accommodate Andrew, who was a new skier. There weren't many good blue runs on the left side of the mountain, and we had worn him out enough the previous day on the blacks.
We had a later start skiing Sunday than Saturday, and the fact that all of Denver decided to come up for the weekend didn't help get us started any sooner. The lift line was pretty long, so most of us decided to ride as singles. It was at least 11:00 by the time I got to the top. I wanted to go up to the top of Timberline like I had the previous day, but I also wanted to hang out with the people I was with, so TJ and I did a mogul run (I'm not very good at moguls), and afterward I hit a terrain park twice: one with a double jump. The first one was small, so I hit it slow, and got some decent air on the second one. The second time I went, though, I hit the first one without slowing down at all. I got tons of air, and then hit the second jump at full speed. It was a blast! I only wish I had gotten someone to film it like last time. I went shooting into the air, and landed about halfway down the ramp.
I wound down the mountain road, which was much clearer than the 100mph gust snowstorm that I had driven up in. The road took me to the interstate, which went through Denver on to the airport. Denver airport is isolated from the city by a 10-mile long road out into the middle of nowhere. There's nothing there but the airport; I suppose they planned it that way so that no one would have to deal with the noise and pollution. I guess if they have the space, they might as well, and they definitely have the space. I drove the car to the Avis lot, returned the car, and took the shuttle to the airport. Avis has two check-in places where you go before you get your car: the normal one and the "Avis Preferred" one. I have no idea what the Preferred place has different than the normal one; maybe the line is just shorter, maybe they put mints on your dashboard, speak with British accents, and have a duvet in the W.C.. When you get on the shuttle at the airport, they ask you if you're a member, and if you are, you get to feel special and get out at the special stop. Mostly I think it's to take more of their money, or at least their company's money, since it seems like the sort of thing corporations might buy into for their employees on business travel. Anyway, I was returning a car, not renting one, so I spoke to the attendant, got my receipt, took my luggage, and headed for the shuttle. They charged me for a full tank of gas: for some reason I was thinking that they would only charge me for what it would take to fill it up, but I guess that's why the rate wasn't exhorbant.
The shuttle arrived at the terminal, and I took the escalator to the ticket counter level. There was a line, and so I waited about 15 minutes with my backpack, laptop case, skis, and bag. I had packed my boots in the top portion of my bag. I usually over-pack for trips like this, and so there was no room in my bag for the Wii that I had brought. The Wii, along with my Bible, camera, and books was in my backpack. All in all, quite a lot of baggage for a three-day trip. I hadn't really used my laptop except once to unsuccessfully check for WiFi upstairs. There was an Ethernet jack, but Tim was using it, so I just checked my e-mail on his laptop. Normally I would have watched a movie or TV episodes on the flight, but this time I was reading. Josh had lent me Thr3e.
I finally advanced to the front of the line. There isn't really a comfortable way to hold that much luggage, particularly because my bag wasn't completely full, and so it wouldn't stand up on its own, so by this time I was sort of dragging my ski bag. I went up to the e-ticket counter, hit start, and selected English, and stuck my credit card in the slot. No dice. The display indicated that it had failed to read my card, so I swiped it again. Again, nothing happened. Annoyed, I exited the identification screen and started over. This time, after it had rejected my American Express, I tried my MasterCard. Still nothing. I pressed the "I need assistance" button, and was instructed to pick up the telephone receiver, which I did. While the line was ringing, an attendant came up to me and asked if I needed help. I told her it wasn't reading my credit cards. I had my itinerary printed out from an e-mail, but it wasn't the confirmation e-mail (which presumably would have had the confirmation number prominently displayed), because the flight time had been updated after the reservation, and this was the e-mail with the updated times. I handed her the printouts, hoping she would be able to find it, and looked at the screen to see what other forms of reservation confirmation were acceptable, and that's when she noticed that my flight was for Monday. This was Sunday. I had showed up 24 hours too early for my flight.
Instantly I knew what had gone wrong. When I had scheduled my flight, I was planning on taking the shuttle. It was weeks later, after I had bothered to find out about the shuttle schedule that I had made my rental car reservation. It had bothered me then that I had thought before that I wasn't going to be in town for the first class in a series of Sunday night dance classes. My flight landed at 7:06, which technically was enough time to make it to at least part of the lesson, but definitely to be there for the dance afterward. I remembered that I had considered the ski trip as a possible reason to forgo signing up for this particular class. The reason I had thought I wasn't going to be able to dance on Sunday night was because I wasn't supposed to arrive until the following evening. Dance lessons aside, I had more pressing matters to attend to: I was stuck at an airport, with no car, and 25 hours to kill.
I had two options: I considered trying to reschedule my flight a day early for about five seconds, but it simply wasn't what I wanted to do. I hadn't wanted to leave when I did: I wanted to spend time with my friends and my sister. The only reason I was heading back was that I thought that I hadn't taken Monday off. Had I? Yes, I was sure that I had, because I had scheduled my days off at the same time as I had booked the flight. There wasn't much I was working on at work anyway, so if worst came to worse I could call in and take the day off. Coming back was admitting that I had made a rather silly mistake, but it was the truth, and I wasn't going to give up my lost-and-found extra day of the trip to try to hide it. Yes, it made me look foolish, but it was pretty funny. It's just the sort of absent-minded thing that I would do.
I headed over to the Avis counter, and explained my situation. The man told me in a matter-of-fact way that if I had returned the car, then the contract was over. I asked him how much it would cost to rent another one for 24 hours, and he said $50 plus tax. That was lower than I expected, so I said "Okay then, I'll do that." and he handed me a slip of paper. I took the Avis shuttle back to the Avis lot, "No, I'm not a Preferred member," got to the counter, "No, I don't want to buy extra insurance," and "I'll bring it back full." I was assigned another Ford Taurus, this one with only 302 miles on it. The radio in this car worked better than the last one. I programmed the presets as I made my way to the freeway, and zoomed across the plain and up the mountain. I stopped before SR-40 to get a chicken sandwich at Burger King, and made it to the Lodge just after dinner at 6:00 PM.
I didn't get any skiing in the next day. Hardly anyone did, as most people were leaving early in the morning, and we had to be checked out by 10:00 AM. I did have some great conversations, though, and I hung out with the Boyds and their friends from Denver on the way down. It certainly made me appreciate being there. It was like finding $20 in your pants: you're not any richer, but you're richer than you thought you were five minutes ago; or like the woman in the parable who found her lost coin: she called her friends and celebrated. I think God knew I just needed a drive.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Ski Trip and Ponderings
Tomorrow, I'm leaving on a ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado. I've been looking forward to the skiing, and spending time with friends (and family!) who I don't see often. I haven't been skiing as much this year as last year, and I think that last year at this time of year I was a better skier than I am now. All my dancing and hanging out with friends is cutting into my skiing time this year, and I'm not unhappy about that. I know that the snow here in Washington isn't nearly as good as the Colorado snow, and last year I was surprised by how easy it was to ski well once I got off of the "Cascade concrete." I hope that's the case this year, too.
I was planning on taking a shuttle from the airport to the resort, but my flight lands a half an hour before the last shuttle leaves, so I had to rent a car. It ended up being about $50 more to do it that way, but having a car will give me more freedom. It might possibly enable me to help other people out, too.
I'm thinking of taking my Wii along with me, as it's so small, and there will certainly be downtime to play it in the evenings. The Wii is especially fun with lots of other people, so hopefully there will be a large TV that we can use in a common area. I could bring my projector too, but that would be pushing it. The Virtual Console is a really great feature. I recently downloaded and played through Super Mario World.
This evening is Valentine's Day, and as I am without attachment, I will be attending a "Lovely Literature Gathering" hosted by a young lady I know through BSF. I was at a BSF Valentine's party last Friday, and played The Dating Game. The "winners" were given a box of chocolates and a Starbucks card, and we are apparently to "go out for coffee" and report back. This will all probably happen sometime next week, as both of us are going out of town this week.
My job is ending soon: my group is finishing up what we're doing and will be moving on to other programs within the company. At this point, I don't know what comes next, although there are a few possibilities that I'm keeping my eye on. There was a job opening in Anaheim (which would subsequently move to Huntington Beach), but that listing was withdrawn. The supply of software positions is a bit thin right now, but I'm not too worried about getting laid off.
The job opening in California caused me to consider whether I would want to go back. It would be nice to be near my family and friends down there again, but at this point I don't feel as if I'm "done" here. I'm not saying I want to stay in Washington forever, and I'm not saying that I don't. I've built a life here, not without pre-existing relationships, but certainly more on my own than ever before, and I have friends that I don't want to just up and leave. I need to be willing to go wherever and do whatever the Lord is leading me to go and do, and I believe that I am doing that. When I left California, I could clearly see the Lord's hand in it, and I was sure that this was where he wanted me to go. He prepared me for the change, and he prepared a place for me here. I suspect that if the Lord wanted me elsewhere, he would give me the same kind of peace that he gave me then, though not necessarily through the same means.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Breckenridge Pictures
Here are some pictures from my recent ski trip in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Of note, there is a video of me making a jump.
If anyone wants higher resolution copies, let me know.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Skiing
"I can't feel my face!" I thought, as I felt my face, wiping off the sprayed snow. Five-day-old stubble does not quite fulfill the biological purpose of a real beard. Or a scarf, but I didn't have one of those either.
A more correct subvocalization might have been "My face can't feel.", but it was cold, and I was tired. I had just fallen down trying to descend a particularly steep part of the slope. I wiped the snow off of my face, and put my glove back on, retrieved my missing ski, and descended the rest of the way without incident.
The day began with a phone call. Heather called to say that she wasn't going skiing after all. I tried to call Laura, but I kept getting her voicemail, so I just hung up and went back to bed for a while. I got up a while later, and decided to go skiing on my own. I made myself some breakfast, and then headed off. On the way, I called Doug to ask where to go. You see, I've never gone skiing, and I wasn't familiar with the lifts. There are three ski areas at Snoqualmie Summit with different sets of slopes. Since I hadn't ever skied before, he recommended I start at the conveyor belt, which was at Central.
I found Central, put on my boots, and headed up to take a look around. I found the conveyor belt pretty easily. It was a mostly flat area with a gentle incline and several groups of people teetering on their skis and snowboards. You know what they say, "When in Rome..." So, I went to the top of the slight incline and teetered along with them. I had never skied before, but I had heard lots of theory on the subject. When you learn to ski, the two most important things to remember are: pizza and french fries. To go slow, you point the front tips of your skis inward, making the shape of a slice of pizza. To turn in this configuration, you shift your weight onto the foot pointing the way in which you wish to go.
Parallel turnining is like french fries. It's a bit trickier, but the idea is to have your skis parallel, or very nearly so. Actually, the skis should be slightly open. You lean on the outward foot, and guide the turn with the other. The trick, as far as I can make out, is to shift from one direction to the other in sort of a zig-zagging pattern.
I spent a while on the slight incline, watching the others and doing what they were doing, and then decided that I was ready for the bunny slope. I fell a lot, at first. I like to ride the edge of my abilities, and the surest way to know the edge of your abilities is to exceed them. Also a great way to improve. I was at it for a while until I got hungry, so I checked my skis and poles and had a burger at the diner. After lunch, I went back to the 'Holiday' slope for a few runs, and that's about when the sun started going behind the mountain. I didn't want to spend all day on the bunny slope, so I took one last ride on the chairlift and cut across to the "Central Express" lift.
Once at the top, I decided to look for a way down where I would get to do some real skiing, but also not kill myself (those were, in that order, my two goals for the day). An arrow to the left said, "Easiest way down", no doubt a message for all the newbies who had taken the wrong lift and didn't want to hurt themselves. Meh, not for me. Several arrows pointed in the other direction, many of them black, but, in keeping with my goals, I selected a blue rout that, if you look here, is labelled 'Alpine'.
It was quite a rush. I fell a few times, but after a while I started to get the hang of it. There was one part that was especially steep. I tried going sideways, but I would get going too fast, and when it came to turning around, I was at too much of an angle and it was too steep for me to pull off the turn with any regularity. I knew the proper thing to do would be to point myself straight down and jump side to side, but you'll remember my second objective. I wasn't confident that I could control my descent on such a steep, long hill. After that first run, I did the same one again, and then again, each time falling less and having more fun, but never quite satisfied with my performance on that one hill.
On my fourth run, I realized that I couldn't feel my face, my legs were tired, there was snow in one of my boots, and it was getting dark. My technique was improving, but I still always had trouble on that one part. I would have left then, but I didn't feel like walking all the way to where my car was parked along the road.
So I went again.
A more correct subvocalization might have been "My face can't feel.", but it was cold, and I was tired. I had just fallen down trying to descend a particularly steep part of the slope. I wiped the snow off of my face, and put my glove back on, retrieved my missing ski, and descended the rest of the way without incident.
The day began with a phone call. Heather called to say that she wasn't going skiing after all. I tried to call Laura, but I kept getting her voicemail, so I just hung up and went back to bed for a while. I got up a while later, and decided to go skiing on my own. I made myself some breakfast, and then headed off. On the way, I called Doug to ask where to go. You see, I've never gone skiing, and I wasn't familiar with the lifts. There are three ski areas at Snoqualmie Summit with different sets of slopes. Since I hadn't ever skied before, he recommended I start at the conveyor belt, which was at Central.
I found Central, put on my boots, and headed up to take a look around. I found the conveyor belt pretty easily. It was a mostly flat area with a gentle incline and several groups of people teetering on their skis and snowboards. You know what they say, "When in Rome..." So, I went to the top of the slight incline and teetered along with them. I had never skied before, but I had heard lots of theory on the subject. When you learn to ski, the two most important things to remember are: pizza and french fries. To go slow, you point the front tips of your skis inward, making the shape of a slice of pizza. To turn in this configuration, you shift your weight onto the foot pointing the way in which you wish to go.
Parallel turnining is like french fries. It's a bit trickier, but the idea is to have your skis parallel, or very nearly so. Actually, the skis should be slightly open. You lean on the outward foot, and guide the turn with the other. The trick, as far as I can make out, is to shift from one direction to the other in sort of a zig-zagging pattern.
I spent a while on the slight incline, watching the others and doing what they were doing, and then decided that I was ready for the bunny slope. I fell a lot, at first. I like to ride the edge of my abilities, and the surest way to know the edge of your abilities is to exceed them. Also a great way to improve. I was at it for a while until I got hungry, so I checked my skis and poles and had a burger at the diner. After lunch, I went back to the 'Holiday' slope for a few runs, and that's about when the sun started going behind the mountain. I didn't want to spend all day on the bunny slope, so I took one last ride on the chairlift and cut across to the "Central Express" lift.
Once at the top, I decided to look for a way down where I would get to do some real skiing, but also not kill myself (those were, in that order, my two goals for the day). An arrow to the left said, "Easiest way down", no doubt a message for all the newbies who had taken the wrong lift and didn't want to hurt themselves. Meh, not for me. Several arrows pointed in the other direction, many of them black, but, in keeping with my goals, I selected a blue rout that, if you look here, is labelled 'Alpine'.
It was quite a rush. I fell a few times, but after a while I started to get the hang of it. There was one part that was especially steep. I tried going sideways, but I would get going too fast, and when it came to turning around, I was at too much of an angle and it was too steep for me to pull off the turn with any regularity. I knew the proper thing to do would be to point myself straight down and jump side to side, but you'll remember my second objective. I wasn't confident that I could control my descent on such a steep, long hill. After that first run, I did the same one again, and then again, each time falling less and having more fun, but never quite satisfied with my performance on that one hill.
On my fourth run, I realized that I couldn't feel my face, my legs were tired, there was snow in one of my boots, and it was getting dark. My technique was improving, but I still always had trouble on that one part. I would have left then, but I didn't feel like walking all the way to where my car was parked along the road.
So I went again.
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