Is what the burg looks like today! I feel like I've been staring out the window all day watching the flakes fall. It's beautiful. And kinda sad this is our first big snow of the year!
My weekend in Fairfax was wonderful. Got to spend time with friends and family I rarely see. It's always great to spend time with mom :) Funniest quote of the weekend comes from M who came over for dinner on friday night. "I don't believe it, there's a bag of bags here too" HAHA See I get it honest :)
Second funny quote, made by my 81 year old aunt, AKA Alta #1, she loves talking politics, praising Billy and trashing W. So of course politics comes up and I ask her how she can think Billy is so cute and doesn't think W is hot. Her quote "If you marry a repulican I'm taking back my name" :) And her sister leans over later and tells me "I'll dance at your repuplican wedding". If you've ever met 'the sisters' this will be much funnier to you.
Other highlight of the weekend was re-learning how to play craps at a Casino night fundraiser. I'm ready for Vegas in Dec. We will not have a repeat of me on the Craps tables in Atlantic City!
Snowboard Trip #5
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Fifth and most likely final trip. You know what they say, Save the best for last!
With a group of 22 somewhat random folks most of whom only knew a couple people prior you never know how things will turn out. Of course my friends ROCK and the trip was great. Everyone meshed well, some very well ;)
M and I didn't get quite the early start we wanted because dummy me forgot to pick up my board from the shop thurs night. Opps. Oh well. I ended up teaching M how to board when we made it up there friday. You never know how teaching someone will go. We worked well together, she was patient and listened, and I think I did a decent job teaching the basics. C took over on run two and gave his spin on teaching. M improved each time down the mtn. I didn't get a whole lot of riding in fri due to teaching, the bitter cold, and wanting to eat dinner and shower in time to go out! About 10 of us went out friday night. We hit up the Junction and Connections. I was surprised at how dead it was! I figured it would be packed on a holiday weekend. M and I had some entertaining conversation with some guys from FL. The evening ended with some NHTing.
Sat some folks hit the mtn while others of us stayed home relaxing. It was nice to have a free day. I went tubing for the first time with J&C, J, and C. This was after C had takin a hard fall on his first day of snowboarding. He was a trooper though. Tubing was more fun and not as scary as I thought it would be. Crowded though! We ended up walking up the hill most of the time instead of riding the tow rope up. TIRING! Then I headed down and worked on making dinner for everyone. We had seen a sign for Kareoke so decided to go out again sat night. Almost everyone went. D is a Kareoke DJ in NC and sings for us often, so everyone wanted to hear him Kareoke. The bar was dead, but had pool, darts, and megatouch so it passed my test! A bunch of us got up there and sang (including me believe it or not, I was with my girls singing man hater songs though :)). D won over everyone ;)
Sun I spent all day on the mtn. Lots of time on Western Territory. The conditions were great!!! Even did lower shay's. The snow was so soft I'd a liked to just roll down it :) The funest part of the day was probably the last 2 hours I spent at Silver Creek with A and T tearing down the blues over there. Had another graceful attempt on a jump in the terrain park :/ I was so wiped out I basically ate and hit the hay.
Mon lots of folks left in the morning. Even though it was warm and drizzly us die hards headed up the mountain again. No lines! I spent less then 4 hours on the slopes but made run after run after run due to the lack of lift lines. Yeah the snow was starting to get a little slushy, and there were a couple bare spots starting, it was great though! Even the couple runs when it was definitely raining!
Remember C's hard fall. Turns out he has a feather (?) fracture in his wrist. No cast, just a brace. He'll be just fine and loved boarding even with the fracture. Let me point out this happened on Sat when I was no where near the mountain. And J was his instructor. M was my project and she's still in one piece, sore and bruised, but all one piece!
It was great spending time with everyone and getting to hang out with folks I don't get to see often. Maybe next year we should plan a big trip out west!! Can't wait for the next adventure!
With a group of 22 somewhat random folks most of whom only knew a couple people prior you never know how things will turn out. Of course my friends ROCK and the trip was great. Everyone meshed well, some very well ;)
M and I didn't get quite the early start we wanted because dummy me forgot to pick up my board from the shop thurs night. Opps. Oh well. I ended up teaching M how to board when we made it up there friday. You never know how teaching someone will go. We worked well together, she was patient and listened, and I think I did a decent job teaching the basics. C took over on run two and gave his spin on teaching. M improved each time down the mtn. I didn't get a whole lot of riding in fri due to teaching, the bitter cold, and wanting to eat dinner and shower in time to go out! About 10 of us went out friday night. We hit up the Junction and Connections. I was surprised at how dead it was! I figured it would be packed on a holiday weekend. M and I had some entertaining conversation with some guys from FL. The evening ended with some NHTing.
Sat some folks hit the mtn while others of us stayed home relaxing. It was nice to have a free day. I went tubing for the first time with J&C, J, and C. This was after C had takin a hard fall on his first day of snowboarding. He was a trooper though. Tubing was more fun and not as scary as I thought it would be. Crowded though! We ended up walking up the hill most of the time instead of riding the tow rope up. TIRING! Then I headed down and worked on making dinner for everyone. We had seen a sign for Kareoke so decided to go out again sat night. Almost everyone went. D is a Kareoke DJ in NC and sings for us often, so everyone wanted to hear him Kareoke. The bar was dead, but had pool, darts, and megatouch so it passed my test! A bunch of us got up there and sang (including me believe it or not, I was with my girls singing man hater songs though :)). D won over everyone ;)
Sun I spent all day on the mtn. Lots of time on Western Territory. The conditions were great!!! Even did lower shay's. The snow was so soft I'd a liked to just roll down it :) The funest part of the day was probably the last 2 hours I spent at Silver Creek with A and T tearing down the blues over there. Had another graceful attempt on a jump in the terrain park :/ I was so wiped out I basically ate and hit the hay.
Mon lots of folks left in the morning. Even though it was warm and drizzly us die hards headed up the mountain again. No lines! I spent less then 4 hours on the slopes but made run after run after run due to the lack of lift lines. Yeah the snow was starting to get a little slushy, and there were a couple bare spots starting, it was great though! Even the couple runs when it was definitely raining!
Remember C's hard fall. Turns out he has a feather (?) fracture in his wrist. No cast, just a brace. He'll be just fine and loved boarding even with the fracture. Let me point out this happened on Sat when I was no where near the mountain. And J was his instructor. M was my project and she's still in one piece, sore and bruised, but all one piece!
It was great spending time with everyone and getting to hang out with folks I don't get to see often. Maybe next year we should plan a big trip out west!! Can't wait for the next adventure!
Life's Too Short to Drink the Bad Wine
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What a great saying to live by :)
So this week has been pretty insane and drama packed. It's all good :) ID has made a company decision to pull out of our ARMY projects and help J with his heap of commercial contracts. So yesterday afternoon I cleaned out my desk and turned in my badge and said good-bye to the bunker I've worked at for 3.5 years. Yeah I'm sad to go. It's hard to let go of my baby. I already miss my friends there! But I'm really excited! I get to go shopping for desks today, I'll have windows, I can wear jeans to work everyday, no more cussing AIM express, my commute is now 5 minutes, I get to work with the guys everyday, I'm excited about our projects. It'll be fun!
NOTE: We'll have to beef up the TMC and TTC calendar!!
So a rough start to the week is being finished up not only by a great ID change, but..... 4 days at SNOWSHOE with my girls, my boys, my family :) It's gonna rock!!
So this week has been pretty insane and drama packed. It's all good :) ID has made a company decision to pull out of our ARMY projects and help J with his heap of commercial contracts. So yesterday afternoon I cleaned out my desk and turned in my badge and said good-bye to the bunker I've worked at for 3.5 years. Yeah I'm sad to go. It's hard to let go of my baby. I already miss my friends there! But I'm really excited! I get to go shopping for desks today, I'll have windows, I can wear jeans to work everyday, no more cussing AIM express, my commute is now 5 minutes, I get to work with the guys everyday, I'm excited about our projects. It'll be fun!
NOTE: We'll have to beef up the TMC and TTC calendar!!
So a rough start to the week is being finished up not only by a great ID change, but..... 4 days at SNOWSHOE with my girls, my boys, my family :) It's gonna rock!!
Snowboard Trip #4
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Headed up to the Marlington Motor Inn sat night with 3 other women. Wasnt't really sure what to expect, it was nice enough though. We missed the band that started at 10 in the lounge. That might have made for a more interesting evening in Marlington :)
Spent most of the day on the main mtn. Some time over the the Western Territory. Some time on my favorites blues (Skip Jack). Hit the terrain park, but wasn't really in the mood. I hit one jump twice, and fell twice :) But I was just having a blast free riding, plus the park is not as fun solo (read: minus the chewies :)). I ran into A and company, yelling at me from the lift twice... finally caught up with them around lunch and made a couple runs before heading over to Silvercreek to find the girls.
Allison loved snowboarding even though she says "I feel like I got beat up". She's ready to try it again. It was great hanging out with the women, I really enjoyed the mommy talk, and hope I have girlfriends and relationships like theirs throughout my life :) It was decided on the drive home this is now an annual trip, I hope I get invited back :)
PS - No whiplash today!! Woohoo!!!
Spent most of the day on the main mtn. Some time over the the Western Territory. Some time on my favorites blues (Skip Jack). Hit the terrain park, but wasn't really in the mood. I hit one jump twice, and fell twice :) But I was just having a blast free riding, plus the park is not as fun solo (read: minus the chewies :)). I ran into A and company, yelling at me from the lift twice... finally caught up with them around lunch and made a couple runs before heading over to Silvercreek to find the girls.
Allison loved snowboarding even though she says "I feel like I got beat up". She's ready to try it again. It was great hanging out with the women, I really enjoyed the mommy talk, and hope I have girlfriends and relationships like theirs throughout my life :) It was decided on the drive home this is now an annual trip, I hope I get invited back :)
PS - No whiplash today!! Woohoo!!!
EBAY
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BUT IT NOW!
So.. just posted my first EBAY auction. I have a feeling this will be a learning experience. Let's cross our fingers someone wants to buy my boots/bindings!
So.. just posted my first EBAY auction. I have a feeling this will be a learning experience. Let's cross our fingers someone wants to buy my boots/bindings!
Weekend Highlights
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M and I had a blast saturday afternoon when she decided we had to make masks for the Mardi Gras party we were heading to that night. I wasn't as excited as she was initially, but once I went into the craft room to see what supplies I had... I was hooked. It's days like this when I'm glad I have too much crap :)
Last night I saw the benefits of a DVR firsthand! I've heard all the hype and praise, but had not previously experienced. We were at the Ultimate Superbowl Party :) First off good friends! Secondly we watched via the Replay. So we started a little later... watched a play, 30 sec skip, presto the next play was being snapped, 30 sec skip, next play :) AMAZING! If we wanted to see the replays or rewatch a play ourselves we could. Want us to pause it. Sure :) Seen this commercial already, skip :) Stupid movie trailers, skip :) Halftime... pause, time for some hot tubbing :) Don't have to get back to the game til you feel like it :) And the best part of the game... McNabb lost :)
NASCAR quote of the day: NASCAR driver Morgan Sheherd, on why the NBA brawl couldn't happen in his sport: "None of our fans would ever let go of a beer for any reason, much less throw it at somebody." (SI - Dec 6, 2004)
Countdown to DAYTONA - 13 days!!!
Last night I saw the benefits of a DVR firsthand! I've heard all the hype and praise, but had not previously experienced. We were at the Ultimate Superbowl Party :) First off good friends! Secondly we watched via the Replay. So we started a little later... watched a play, 30 sec skip, presto the next play was being snapped, 30 sec skip, next play :) AMAZING! If we wanted to see the replays or rewatch a play ourselves we could. Want us to pause it. Sure :) Seen this commercial already, skip :) Stupid movie trailers, skip :) Halftime... pause, time for some hot tubbing :) Don't have to get back to the game til you feel like it :) And the best part of the game... McNabb lost :)
NASCAR quote of the day: NASCAR driver Morgan Sheherd, on why the NBA brawl couldn't happen in his sport: "None of our fans would ever let go of a beer for any reason, much less throw it at somebody." (SI - Dec 6, 2004)
Countdown to DAYTONA - 13 days!!!
Blog Dump Time-
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I like this method people are following as of late on their blogs-
~Chocolate Chip Pound Cake update: take II turned out much better. A little burnt cause I forgot about it, but that's was fixable! Third try is sure to be perfect!
~BUDGET: That's my new vocab word. We aren't gettin along to well. But I'm trying! So far so good. Things I've said no to so far this week...
Having my snowboard grinded
The cute snowboard stampin up set
Kenny's new CD
Eating lunch out at Kayo
Getting my eyebrows waxed
Going to snowshoe this weekend
I'm no worse for the wear. Maybe I will survive :)
~Verizon: Has a new text messaging google feature. Example. Send message to 46645 (GOOGL) stating "Pizza Hut. 24060" or "Pizza. Blacksburg VA". You will get a test back listing all the Pizza Huts (or Pizza places for ex 2) with addresses and phone numbers! Cool huh. You can search Businesses, Residential, Prices, Definitions, get Google snippets, or use it as a Calculator.
~Running: Not going so well. Hopefully I've got the shoe situation worked out. We'll see how the runs go this weekend. Hopefully the shins won't hurt too bad! Countdown to Nashville is less then 12 weeks!
~NRV Fair: Chris Cagle will be at the fair this July!! Woohoo!
~Weekend: I'm looking forward to relaxing, spending time with the roomies and other blacksburg friends, and if I'm lucky maybe I'll even get to meet Asian Pete :)
~Chocolate Chip Pound Cake update: take II turned out much better. A little burnt cause I forgot about it, but that's was fixable! Third try is sure to be perfect!
~BUDGET: That's my new vocab word. We aren't gettin along to well. But I'm trying! So far so good. Things I've said no to so far this week...
Having my snowboard grinded
The cute snowboard stampin up set
Kenny's new CD
Eating lunch out at Kayo
Getting my eyebrows waxed
Going to snowshoe this weekend
I'm no worse for the wear. Maybe I will survive :)
~Verizon: Has a new text messaging google feature. Example. Send message to 46645 (GOOGL) stating "Pizza Hut. 24060" or "Pizza. Blacksburg VA". You will get a test back listing all the Pizza Huts (or Pizza places for ex 2) with addresses and phone numbers! Cool huh. You can search Businesses, Residential, Prices, Definitions, get Google snippets, or use it as a Calculator.
~Running: Not going so well. Hopefully I've got the shoe situation worked out. We'll see how the runs go this weekend. Hopefully the shins won't hurt too bad! Countdown to Nashville is less then 12 weeks!
~NRV Fair: Chris Cagle will be at the fair this July!! Woohoo!
~Weekend: I'm looking forward to relaxing, spending time with the roomies and other blacksburg friends, and if I'm lucky maybe I'll even get to meet Asian Pete :)
Snowboard Trip #3
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So far the best trip of the year!!! I could probably blog 4 pages about it.... so I'll try to just highlight parts ;)
Elk River - This was the first time I've stayed at a non-Snowshoe-owned place. The people who run Elk River were so helpful during the planning, and just as great this weekend. They have a main lodge with a bar, very nice restaurant, and little store along with a couple cabins on the property. We had a Hot Tub right out our back door and a hot breakfast awaiting us both mornings at the main lodge 50 feet away. Very convienent!! I highly recommend!
Boarders! - This is the first trip I've been on with other boarders, not just skiers. This confuses some people, yes everyone goes down the same mountains. It's just great to tear down the slopes with other boarders :) It was exciting to see three friends try snowboarding for the first time and start to 'get it'. And to see their excitement going down the mountain!!
Lesson - I took an advanced lesson so I could get technique pointers. It really helped me notice some little things I wasn't doing. Like 'bending my knees' more. Making sure my body was perpendicular to the mountain. (leaning down the mtn) Using my knees, hips, and shoulders to turn instead of pullings my back leg. As a result I have a lot more control and am way more comfortable with higher speeds!
Terrain Park - I'm still determined to be landing jumps by the end of the year. M&N finally convinced me to just go off the big jumps! It wasn't til late the last day that we hit the terrain park so by the time I realized it wasn't so scary I only got to try a couple times. I still can't land em.. but it's so fun!! I'd been trying to go off the sides of the jumps (much smaller) and gotten some air and landed most of them. MOST. I did take one nice spill that surprising didn't hurt too bad or jar me like some have in the past. Well didn't seem to, til I woke the next morning and could feel the whiplash. That's twice this season :) Oh well, the pain it totally worth it!!! Hopefully next trip I'll get some pics of my jump attempts! :)
Hot Tub - Back to the hot tub :) It's so nice to treat your muscles after a long day on the slopes! So friday night I was convinced to jump out, roll in the snow (more like ice), and jump back in. It was fun, but would be better in fresh snow! (I knew M would aprrove, even though it wasn't rolling down a hill)
The Pain - What surprises me most is that everytime I get back from a trip something is pretty darn sore. I always feel sore all over but it'll be riduculous somewhere... Trip 1 - My right oblique Trip 2 - My back Trip 3 - My neck. You'd think with the same sport the same thing would hurt!
Friends - We had 16 people on the trip which was awesome. It was fun to meet new people, catch up with folks I don't see often, and hang out with the regulars. It's great to have lots of friends who share the same passion you do and get to share the amazing views, awesomeness of snow covered mountains, and adrenline rush flying down a mountain gives you!
I can't wait til the President's Weekend Trip!!!
Elk River - This was the first time I've stayed at a non-Snowshoe-owned place. The people who run Elk River were so helpful during the planning, and just as great this weekend. They have a main lodge with a bar, very nice restaurant, and little store along with a couple cabins on the property. We had a Hot Tub right out our back door and a hot breakfast awaiting us both mornings at the main lodge 50 feet away. Very convienent!! I highly recommend!
Boarders! - This is the first trip I've been on with other boarders, not just skiers. This confuses some people, yes everyone goes down the same mountains. It's just great to tear down the slopes with other boarders :) It was exciting to see three friends try snowboarding for the first time and start to 'get it'. And to see their excitement going down the mountain!!
Lesson - I took an advanced lesson so I could get technique pointers. It really helped me notice some little things I wasn't doing. Like 'bending my knees' more. Making sure my body was perpendicular to the mountain. (leaning down the mtn) Using my knees, hips, and shoulders to turn instead of pullings my back leg. As a result I have a lot more control and am way more comfortable with higher speeds!
Terrain Park - I'm still determined to be landing jumps by the end of the year. M&N finally convinced me to just go off the big jumps! It wasn't til late the last day that we hit the terrain park so by the time I realized it wasn't so scary I only got to try a couple times. I still can't land em.. but it's so fun!! I'd been trying to go off the sides of the jumps (much smaller) and gotten some air and landed most of them. MOST. I did take one nice spill that surprising didn't hurt too bad or jar me like some have in the past. Well didn't seem to, til I woke the next morning and could feel the whiplash. That's twice this season :) Oh well, the pain it totally worth it!!! Hopefully next trip I'll get some pics of my jump attempts! :)
Hot Tub - Back to the hot tub :) It's so nice to treat your muscles after a long day on the slopes! So friday night I was convinced to jump out, roll in the snow (more like ice), and jump back in. It was fun, but would be better in fresh snow! (I knew M would aprrove, even though it wasn't rolling down a hill)
The Pain - What surprises me most is that everytime I get back from a trip something is pretty darn sore. I always feel sore all over but it'll be riduculous somewhere... Trip 1 - My right oblique Trip 2 - My back Trip 3 - My neck. You'd think with the same sport the same thing would hurt!
Friends - We had 16 people on the trip which was awesome. It was fun to meet new people, catch up with folks I don't see often, and hang out with the regulars. It's great to have lots of friends who share the same passion you do and get to share the amazing views, awesomeness of snow covered mountains, and adrenline rush flying down a mountain gives you!
I can't wait til the President's Weekend Trip!!!
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