Recycle Bin Igloos

Do you remember the feeling of a first snow when you were a kid?  I was a geeker for that kind of stuff.  As a child, I can remember rushing to all of the different windows in the house to see who got the best visit from Jack Frost...which did little more than only point toward the mere possibility that the environment could sustain snow.  There was more than one winter where I used the recycle bin to make bricks for an igloo!  Granted, I never completed a recycle-bin-brick-igloo...but the effort was there!

There was a corner near the carport at Needle Drive that used to collect snow at a much faster rate than any other part of the yard.  If we were lucky, the snow would pile high enough that we could tunnel into a few feet.  I swear there's a picture floating around of me as a tyke in front of that snow drift...

For the first time this season, it feels like winter has come to Boston.  I think that dogs love the snow just as much as me.  Snow delivers the additional blessing of covering the goose poo (yep) from our young lad's scent detection device.  Which means, he can go off leash during the daylight!

Warmer weather and rain is in the 10-day forecast. It sounds like the snow will be gone just as quickly as it arrived.  Until then, it's game on!

Captain Beard’s Log, Startdate 65505.1

Yes, that is today’s real stardate.  Don’t believe me?

I was combing through the featured articles on Yahoo! today and recognized two of the homes in a real estate article.  They're in my neighborhood!

Here’s a link to the original, Urban Mansions Rich with History.  Both of these homes are along the morning dog walk.  The Ames-Webster Mansion is on Dartmouth St.  As you’ll see in my picture, the shades in the windows have been drawn for months.

The O’Connor Residence is eerily close to home.  I can’t believe they’re asking $12.75M for the property.  Unreal.  This house is equally unoccupied on a frequent basis.

It must be nice to have a mansion on the market and feel no pressure to close a deal!

Bretton Woods II - Return of the Moose

It’s tough to know whether winter is going to happen this year (or not).  We headed for the North Country this weekend and didn’t see snow cover until we hit Franconia Notch (70 miles south of Canadia)!  Even then, there’s only 2-4 inches at the base of the mountains.  Onward!

By the time we got to the Mount Washington Hotel, the snow situation wasn’t much better.  The temperatures were low but there’s hardly any precipitation.  I love this hotel.  It’s one of my all-time favorites.  Snow or no snow, there’s tons to do.  On Friday night, we went out to the fire pit for s’mores.  I’m happy to have prepared Ali’s first EVER s’more.  She’s a fast learner and was dishing ‘em out as quickly as I could scarf them down.

On Saturday morning, I was off to fulfill my latest fascination: skiing.  Here’s the view from the top of the run that skied for most of the day.  Wifey and I have been here once before…this is the same Quad that we rode to get to the beginning of the zip-line course a year ago.  Our hotel is toward the lower left and Mount Washington is toward the upper right.

Since this is my third ever attempt to ski down a mountain, I feel conspicuously out of place at all times.  Stopping to snap pictures conceals that though, right?  …at least I didn’t fall this weekend!  My ski strategy is to find the path least traveled and then ski it over and over and over.  I highlighted “my” trails with yellow.  Even at this point in the season, they’re only operating ~30% of the trails because of the lack of snow.  All of the trails that were open were thanks to the maintenance, groomers, and snow making crews.

This was my first experience skiing by myself.  A bit nerve wracking to be honest; I was worrying about what would happen if I careened of the trail and into a tree.  I went early to avoid the crowds…would I ever be discovered??  Oh well, if I let the anxiety get ahold of me, I’ll never get off of the couch.  Fortunately, it all worked out in my favor.  I’m starting to wonder whether or not skiing will evolve into a more permanent fixture in my life.  I despise forking over $60-$70 to rent equipment each time I ski (3 times in the past 2 weeks - ugh).  But at the same time, I’d be even more upset if I bought skis…only to let them collect dust in the back of the storage unit.

I do, however, feel like a pro in the rentals room.  I cruise through there like a champion.  Once the crowds started to show up, it was time for me to hit the road.  Until tomorrow, Bretton Woods, until tomorrow.

We filled the rest of Saturday with mostly outdoor activities.  We contemplated cross country skiing until we agreed that it required too much effort.  We opted for snow tubing instead.  Here’s a pic of Ali cruisin’ down the hill.

There’s quite a bit of predictable chaos that occurs on a snow tube course.  For example, I towed Ali up to the top of the hill as she sit comfortable in her tube.  At which point, I took the liberty of propelling her down the hill against her will.  The only unpredictable element of our tomfoolery was the grandfather/grandson duo who had jumped onto the course at the midway point.  Sorry for the scare, guys!

I've uploaded some extra pictures from the trip here.

Hunting Winter

As ‘night walk administrator,’ I’m prepared for some chilling conditions.  Sub-zero temperatures and blizzard conditions don’t make me flinch.

(A skier, I am not.)  I do, however, look the part.  ...dangerous combination.

I’ve spent years vowing to learn to ski…maybe this will be THE year!?  The Christmas break gives me infinite opportunities to head for the mountains.  On Friday, I finally seized one of them.  Northbound on our way to Sunapee Mountain, Kyle (trusted ski consultant) and I arrived before 9a and ahead of the crowds.  A few tips and magic carpet rides later, we were on the lift to the top of the mountain for my first real ski run.  The potential for disaster was all around me.  The first run was emotionally draining.  The Cruiser Trail provides a false sense of security for a beginner.  There are ‘Slow Trail’ signs everywhere…can’t anyone around me read them?  Then it hits me…I’m going R-E-A-L-L-Y s-l-o-w.

The social pressure hit me on my second run and I began making tighter less frequent turns in order to keep up with the other skiers.  Oddly enough, I gain control as I speed up.  It’s also a helluva lot safer when I maintained the pace of traffic.  By my third run, I was feeling pretty confident.  Sure, I wrecked once (or twice) per run but my confidence and ability were increasing.  I was skiing and enjoying it!

Since we haven’t been getting much snow this year, only about half (17) of the trails were open this weekend and they were 100% manmade snow.  In the beginning I spent most of my time on the easiest trails (highlighted below).  Towards the end of the day, I got lost and accidentally skied a moderate trail from top to bottom.  …that was the run were my right ski decided to detach itself from the greater mass.

All in all, I had a blast – WAY more fun than I was expecting to half.  This sounds silly, but I was happy to fall – it meant that I was pushing my limits.  This morning, I have one black and blue toenail and a hip that won’t stop complaining about absorbing the brunt of each fall.  Wifey’s had enough of that hip and says that I’m too old to learn to ski.  :-)  She says, “No mas.”  We’ll have to see about that!

Check this out.  I saw this movie at the iMAX theater in Boston.

It probably deserves some of the credit for getting me up to the mountain this Winter.  The beginning of the trailer is a bit slow.  So hang in there.  The action and my (new) favorite song starts at 1:50.

In Defense of Fruitcake

I enjoy this time of year (and I hope you do too).  Ten days off from work that wrap Christmas, New Years, and my birthday like gifts under a tree.

“The holidays” are a beautiful thing and nothing is more beautiful than waking-up on the first day of vacation knowing that the ENTIRE Company is shut down.  No need to check e-mails throughout the day because, in theory, NO ONE is sending e-mails.  This is the biggest and sweetest differentiator between Christmas break and a typical vacation: no major catching-up to do when you return to the office!

Of course, it’s always a challenge to fill your time with things that you want to do.  For example, I want to bake chocolate chip cookies and ginger bread.  Ah, what the hell, I’ll do both!  And why does fruit cake have such a bad reputation?  It is succulent.  It delivers a generous portion of the best fruits on Earth.  It is delicious.  If you are the owner of an unloved fruitcake, please forward it to MA.

I love the holidays because it doesn’t matter that baking one batch of cookies and one loaf of ginger bread required a full day.  Oh and that golf lesson will probably require a full day too.  Same goes for the Christmas shopping, a run, Storage Wars, Dad’s coin collection, the WiFi extender, and a blog post.  Whew.  I need a nap already.

For more opinions about using the phrase “The Holidays,” please refer to I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas by Lewis Black.

Strollin' Around Town

December's warm weather has made night walks more bearable.  It is a bit odd though...  These Christmas lights are supposed to be accompanied by snowflakes.  Is it possible that we won't have a white Christmas this year!?

The pup and I do enjoy this time of year.  The lights and decorations breath extra life into the city during a time of year when nature tells us that it's time to head south (or at least for the warmth of the cave).

This Nikon CoolPix that I use has a setting called Night Landscape.  I think that, in general, night pics are tough for cameras.  Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with the pictures that it takes during both day and night.  One of my friends at work said, "What did you expect?  It is a Nikon!"

During my younger days, we enforced a rule about "falling asleep" with our shoes on/off.  Does that dog stocking count as a shoe?  Or is this a random act of cruelty?

Funny how pets become such an integral part of our lives.  Wifey nor I are comfortable sitting in Jake's Chair.  We're of the mindset that each of us have our designated seats and that is his.  He doesn't sit in ours and we don't sit in his.

Landed!

Ooof - traveling can really take a tole on a guy! The hotels, the taxis, the car rentals, the airports, the airplanes, the timezones, the UGH! Thank the lord that I'm home for a while.  The ticket from my 7th flight in 4 weeks is pictured below.

My latest trip took me to Las Vegas. Again. I have a very negative perspective of Vegas. Perhaps it's because I've been there at least a dozen times and not one of them have been for fun! Don't get me wrong, I love AU...but I loath Vegas. All of one's senses are bombarded with stimuli from the minute they step off the plane until the minute the flight attendant closes the cabin door behind you. The only thing I like about Vegas are the sports books. I wish I had one of those things in my living room.

I recently replaced a credit card for one with more perks and privileges. The new card entitles me to some cozy hotel amenities and access to most airline's airport lounges. Thank you Delta (and Detroit), you made the return flight a but more bearable. ...now if only JetBlue would open a lounge at Logan!