Laying on my...

best friend's couch, I am listening to a thunderstorm. Ah, the things that we miss about home. Eventhough the thunderstorm sounds comforting and familiar - we do not want to be caught outside in one. So is it the thunderstorm that is reassuring? Or the fact that we are sheltered?
What if we went outside?

I've always said...

...that a wink and a smile gets you far in life. Example: Last Friday we did a little bar hopping. Great Divide, dinner at el Potrero, Uptown Tavern, then of course the Rockbar. Good times. BUT we were leaving the Uptown, had about ten people, and I stepped out to grab a cab or two. Its not very far - about 15 blocks or so, but for ten people we would have to grab three cabs, two van cabs, or...one limo. There was a limo driver outside, looked friendly enough, so I asked:

Me: Hey man. Hows it going? You have a party of people here?

Driver: Oh, yeah man. Just hanging out and waiting for them to leave.

Me: Right on. You, uh, maybe want to give me and my friends a lift?

Driver: He he. Maybe. Where to?

Me: Rockbar, of course.

Driver: Oh yeah man, no sweat.

Me: We will throw you a couple of bucks or whatever.

Driver: Dont worry about it man. No sweat.

Me: Bad ass.

And tonight, tonight we rolled sushi. This has been one of my favorite activities for years...I think interactive food experiences make life worth living. Have I ever told you that I want to put comfortable couches and stadium seating in my dream kitchen? Well, I do. Anyway, sushi became a wasabi-fest, with each of us trying to outdo the others. Some people dont understand, I cant explain it, but eating massive amounts of nose-burning Japanese Horseradish is the greatest legal high one can get at a dinner table. WASABI!

Spring is in...

...the air. Or whatever. Its about time, too. I mean - I love to ski, but its time for spring/summer stuff. You know like biking, fly fishing, camping, summer concerts, and bare feet.

I celebrated the beginning of spring like any other single heterosexual male: dying easter eggs. Yup.

Also, I started training for the MS 150 Bike Ride. Its 15 weeks away, but there is another century ride a month before, so my 10 week training schedule will work out nicely. Im pretty excited about it, not just because I will be back in the saddle, but because its for an actual cause this time. One of my friend's mom has MS, thus its a little closer to home. So I actually have an opportunity to do something to benefit someone else, which will be a nice change of pace from my selfish lifestyle.

Learned a little lesson on love in my reflections the past few days: We all change. If unconditional love does not exist, then love does not exist - because we have to be loved even as we change daily. Conversely, if you expect to love someone and not love their changes, then you really arent loving them at all.

Ultimate Frisbee pickup starts today. "Easter Dinner" is tomorrow night and I am making stuffing- two kinds, I love cooking for people. Heading to Texas to see my Grandpa on his 85th birthday on Friday. Going to Phoenix then to see Eddie Vedder in Los Angeles next week, Eddie carries most of the responsibility for making me fall in love with music. So Ill see you in a few weeks. With ringing ears and a little tan.

I might be...

...a snob of sorts. A beer snob, obviously. A coffee snob, perhaps. A ski snob, most definitely.

Here are a few short rules/suggestions to follow if you do not want to look like a goon:

1. We know where you are from. I can especially attest to this, because I used to be one of them. I thought "I can ski real good, watch how fast I can go." Therefore, you dont need to boast your home-location...we already live in Colorado and you cant beat us.

1a. Therefore, if you wear a one-piece camo suit on the mountain, you dont need to wear a Nebraska beanie...we already know you are from Nebraska.

1b. If you are wearing scotch-guarded jeans, you dont need to wear a Texas A&M Starter Jacket. You can donate that back to 1991.

1c. If you are wearing Adidas wind pants over your jeans, and a backwards white cap, you dont need to wear your University of Kansas hoodie.

2. I understand that ski clothes can be expensive, but it is time to let go of your tights. Having anything tucked into your boots in uncomfortable, as well as unfunctional.

3. Yes, unbuckling your boots can be more comfortable when you walk. But please, avoid the pant-bunching at the top of your pants and just pull them over your boots. Thanks.

4. Unless you are on the US National Ski team, you dont need to tuck.

5. If you drop something off the lift (ie: lift map), your decision has already been made for you: ski to where your dropped off your litter, and de-litter.

6. Snow blades are dumb. There is no exception to this rule.

7. Applying grenade stickers to ANYTHING is counter-intuitive. You have paid someone in an office $10 for a sticker that cost $1. You have done something because someone else has done it (have you ever seen how many grenade-stickers are on car-windows, snowboards, lift poles?). Thus, you are not doing anything counter-cultural, you are doing something trendy.

8. Smoking in lift lines is NOT cool. Ever.

9. You have to ski/ride to learn, you will not get better if you dont challenge yourself. BUT respect the mountain. Do not ski/ride above your ability level, and always ski with a buddy. If I find you waist deep in powder on the back side of something that I hiked 30 minutes to get to, I will help you up. I will also laugh at your 160mm rentals, with your DIN set at 2. I will also tell you that you need to stay on groomed runs, and that you are dumb. But thanks for buying a day-lift ticket to keep my season pass cheap.

10. Rant over. For now.

10a. Note that I have not mentioned anything about snowboarders. This would have to cover an entire blog entry.

Im going to go put my grenade sticker on my car.

There is a...

...holiday that signifies an extremely important event. It represents the tradition of St. Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland. Although scientists proclaim that there have never been snakes in post-glacial Ireland, some scholars maintain that perhaps the word "serpent" was used to represent the culture of Druids. Blah, blah, blah.

What it means now is an excuse to drink all day. You know, like the Irish.

Of course we started the day watching the Denver Parade from the balcony of the Wynkoop, drinking "Irish Cream Stout"[wink] and eating Corn Beef and Cabbage. The stout turned to Car Bombs. The Car Bombs turned to whiskey. And the Whiskey turned into...well, whatever.

At one point a few of us walked over to FADO to take part in the big hoopla-festival that goes on there every year...because nothing says "Authentic" like a national Irish Chain restaurant. I have some friends that talk it up every year, that it is the place to be, "Its the best St. Paddys party outside of Boston, Chicago, Savannah, and of course the Emerald Isle..." they would say. Ten bucks to get in. $9 for a Coors Light. Very authentic. We actually asked for our money back when we left. I guess lots of people dig that scene...We must have not been able to figure out why its so cool.

So, back to the Koop. Drank some more. Played pool. After hanging out there for about 8 hours, Erik and I headed over to $1.25/scoop for some classy chinese cuisene. (Side note: we rode bikes. And apparently we were in a hurry. Please do not eat chinese food after riding your bike for a 2 mile near-sprint after drinking beer for 8 hours...not good for anyone). We went to the good old standby Park Tavern for, get this, $1 beers. Now, that is IRISH. It cost nothing to get in, and beers were $1. Not just any beer, but ANY BEER. Guiness if you were feeling traditional, Arrogant Bastard if you wanted good beer, Coors Light if you have no palate.

Good day/night altogether. But for next year, I probably wont get started so early. I bowed out at about 10pm. Getting old, I guess.

Slainte.

I am half...

...scotch drunk, and in Savannah, Georgia. Why Savannah? Why not.

There are a few things here that I love:

1. No open container law. I can drink whatever I want, whenever I want...given that I drink out of plastic. Normally, this is a faux-pas. This weekend, I can deal with it.

2. Girls in dresses. Actually, saw a girl in a green fishnet shirt with nothing else save a couple of green stars covering her personal-parts. Reason: St. Paddys is HUGE in Savannah. Huge, huge. Some people probably couldnt afford to pay the rental prices for the real St. Paddy's, so they started a week early. Good for me, apparently.

3. Southern food. I havent eaten anything today that isnt fried.

4. And in no particular order, old stuff. Savannah was not burned down in the Civil War (which was not), thus, there are many many antebellum buildings still standing and operational in town. You dont get to see that very often in the American South, and it is nice to see extensions of it. The opulent simplicity. The functionality. The courtyards. Cobblestone. AND no yankees.

5. Scotch. Not that Scotch came from here. Hell, we arent even in the Bourbon Belt. But I am drinking it, and I am enjoying it. Now, leave me alone.

I dont necessarily want to leave Colorado. But there are a few places that I could go:

1. Sienna, Toscana, Italia.

2. Austin, TX, USA.

3. Munchen, Bavaria, Germany.

4. Charleston, SC, USA.

5. And Savannah, GA, USA.

If anybody knows of a place for me to stay in nos 1-5, let me know. I am kind of sick of working 13 hours a day. Enjoy.

Really, medium format...

...has always been my favorite. I remember Photo I as an undergrad - my experience with a certain Yashica MAT-124 might have solidified my decision to continue with photography. It might have. It did. I remember looking through the vertical glass and seeing a real image. Not the kind that you see in a viewfinder in a 35mm SLR. Not the kind that you see on a little screen on the back of a digital point-and-shoot. It took time to make an image. It took patience. It took a light meter.
I shot my first album cover with that camera. In fact, Ive shot three album covers with that camera. I fell in love with square photography. I fell in love with huge negatives.
Unfortunately, I later fell in love with digital photography. Ive never been a fan of the finished product, but I became a fan of the ease. The instant gratification. The commerical reliability of digital images. I became the epitome of the American Fast-Food, Wal-Mart, Coors-Light society. So, according to my current state of mind, I re-evaluated. I brew my own beer. I wax my own skis. I cook my own food. And I began shooting on film again. I bought a Holga. Actually, I bought two Holgas. And I bought film, I made trades to acquire expired film (thanks Suz). I finally shot that first roll. Analog.
And I fell in love with photography again.

Yesterday was such...

...a tease. About 75 degrees, on a Saturday, and the weather was actually predicted/predictable. So we had another Wash Park day. Cornhole, frisbee, beer, bocce ball, general merriment. I wore shorts. I was barefoot. Everything was alright. It was good to toss the old corn-bags again, looking forward to spending most of my free summer time doing that. OH, and Bitburger 4packs are still on sale at Joy, so I didnt have to subject myself to the shitty park beer everyone else was drinking (see: Budlight, piss).
My buddy Ryan was in town, so we got to hang out in the park and throw the frisbee around. Ryan was on summer staff at Wildhorse Canyon when I was on staff there - and somehow we've kept in touch over the years. He was on staff at Fronter Ranch for a year, then he moved to North Carolina to be on field staff. If anybody is interested in financially supporting a really great guy that does an important job, let me know and Ill connect you. Speaking of Wildhorse, Ive had a funny couple of weeks. I randomly pulled into another camp in Arizona this week, and even more randomly one of the guys I lived with in Oregon was there. AND this weekend I am going to go to Savannah (for no reason other than the fact that I dont work there) and Ill get to hang out with the infamous Margarita, another staff friend from Wildhorse. Ah, memories.
But I digress. Yesterday was 70 and sunny, a great Park Day. Today - 40 and snowing, blowing winds. How sad. At least I know I will be able to ski for a few more months. Out.