Costa Rica! Day 2: Manuel Antonio

7/29/2012

We were woken up in Quepos to the feeling of dripping sweat on our bodies thanks to the lack of air conditioning in the hostel. One thing that the hostel in Quepos had that the rest of our hostels during the whole rest of the vacation lacked was a ceiling fan. This one appliance made the first night the most pleasant out of all the rest of the nights in the humidity. The locks from the prior night in our room actually kept all of our belongings, including ourselves safe.

Balys had gotten up at like 5am to take Harriet to the bus stop because she had to catch a bus back into San Jose to get to the airport, for she was on her way back to the U.K. So we were minus one for the beginning of day #2. We packed up and had decided that A.J., Balys, and me would all head to Manuel Antonio for the day. Hydi, Brian, and Kava were going to head down south because they were going to head into Peru to renew Hydi's 3-month Visa. Amy was going to an internet cafe to find other woofing opportunities in Costa Rica so she went her separate way right away. Before the rest of us were to split up, we went to the Soda Stand from the first night to get breakfast. Got the typical Costa Rican breakfast consisting of pintos (rice and beans), an egg, and a tortilla. After that went to the bus station to get our tickets to our respective destinations. At the bus station in Quepos Hydi, Brian, and Kava decided they wanted to come to Manuel Antonio with us. Balys says that he just wanted to be away from them, but I welcomed the addition of Hydi (cuz she was blonde and pretty hot, although she was 21) in particular, but after hanging with Kava I liked the Kiwi from New Zealand also. At the bus station I ran into Christina from the night before. Her and her beautiful big eyes were heading to San Jose because she was going to the Carribean side of the country to meet up with some other friends of hers.

So we got on the bus for the quick trip from Quepos to Manuel Antonio. It was about 20 minutes I guess. On the ride there, Balys pointed out a pretty sweet broken down cargo plane that was converted into a bar. Of course I don't have a picture of it, damn! But it still was cool because the fuselage was the main bar area and the wings with engine housing in tact were used as a shade for outside tables. We were dropped off in Manuel Antonio around noon and the four experienced travelers took us on a short walk to the hostel we were to stay in for the night so we could drop off our bags. The walk up to the hostel felt like walking in the surface streets of the San Diego Zoo. There was so much vegetation on both sides of us, and it was almost encroaching on us, but not quite like the canopy of the rain forest. The hostel we stayed in was called Costa Linda, and it was pretty sweet. In stark contrast to the dirt lot that the hostel in Quepos had, Costa Linda had all this vegetation in the courtyard complete with a huge tree for shade and lots of bushes lining the walkways. Already it was a totally different experience than Quepos. After dropping our stuff off at Costa Linda we headed to the beach.

Manuel Antonio looked like something out of Jurassic Park. In fact, at one point later that night I mentioned to Hydi that I felt like I was in Jurassic Park as we were walking back to the Costa Linda hostel. Mainly because when we were walking back at night with the jungle vegetation on both sides there were all these birds singing and monkeys hooting along with all the insects making their respective noises. The sounds along with the surrounding jungle environment totally felt like that movie. When I said that to Hydi she laughed and said, "That's pretty much what everyone says the first time I take them here."





The beach was like nothing I had ever seen before, granted I have never been to Hawaii. It had palm trees lining the sand, but it was more like a jungle than a beach atmosphere to me. Just a little ways in from the sand and further south it was very green all the way up to the sand. How green it was reminds me of the hills in North Carolina and Virginia in the Summertime with the hills blanketed with green trees, and not a trace of dirt in sight for miles. There were huge rocks out in the ocean probably about half a mile out with vegetation on the north side of them. It was here where Brian and A.J. decided to rent surfboards. I was scoping out the waves with my trusty pal Balys, and both him and I decided they did not look very inviting to us. I opted not to surf on this day. The waves were barely rolling at all, crashing in and closing out: not forming a very nice ride. Plus I was not about to try to get on any wave that was anything bigger than 3-4 feet. These waves were right around 5-6 feet and likely would've thrashed me all around the water from any wipe out I might experience.





I did get in the water here in Manuel Antonio. This was my first experience of the water temperature in Costa Rica. It was 80 degrees, and a totally different experience from the water temp of 60-70 degrees in San Diego! Up to this point in my life, I have never been in an ocean this warm. It was awesome! I swam around for a little bit, but once I couldn't touch the ocean floor I would venture a little closer to the shore to be able to stand on my two feet. I was super impressed with Hydi's swimming ability though. She was out in the waves treading water and just body surfing them without the help of a board. She literally was probably out swimming (not able to touch the ground) for over an hour. I couldn't believe that one could brave the ocean like that. I would've had a hard enough time the way these waves were crashing staying out if I had a surf board! Finally we decided to head back to the Costa Linda hostel after a while. On our way back, we saw monkeys jumping through the trees! Scavenging for coconuts and whatever food they could likely find.

Costa Rica! Day 1: Quepos

You know I had to blog about this trip, didn't you? Right around the time my old roommate from San Diego and Ocean Beach, Balys, decided to take a year off from what us normal Americans would call work (which now is looking very much like it could turn into 2-3 years or more off for him), he had mentioned going down to Costa Rica for part of that time. This was back in September of 2011, and we both planned on me visiting him down there whenever his endeavors would take him down to that part of the world. Well, it just so happened that he flew down on the Red-Eye from Denver on June 20h, 2012 and set foot in Costa Rica on June 21st. He went to Jaco and hung there for a couple of days before heading into Londres outside of Quepos to work on a farm in exchange for camping space and food (woofing), which he did for 4 weeks. As luck would have it, my best friend from Denver, A.J., who had met Balys on a few occasions while we both went into San Diego for a surfing weekend for a couple years in a row was able to trek down to Costa Rica with me for this adventure. We all decided that A.J. and myself would fly into San Jose, Costa Rica on the Red-Eye leaving out of Denver on Friday, July 27th. So at approximately 5am on July 28th my feet touched down on foreign soil after getting off an airplane for the first time in my life.

I had done a little bit of research into getting around and having some things to do while we were down in Costa Rica just in case we were not able to meet up with Balys down there. And I started to become fearful of not being able to meet up with him when we had yet to plan a meeting time and place, and here we were less than a week away from our flight. My fears were banished when I Skyped with Balys on the Tuesday before we left the country, and much to his happiness I decided to bus into Quepos which was only like 10-15km from his farm on that Saturday morning. We planned for A.J. and me to meet him at the Quepos bus station at 12:30pm on Saturday, July 28th mainly because I thought that me and A.J. would be catching a 9am bus from San Jose and would get us into Quepos at 12:30-1pm. My initial timing was WAY off! Why you ask?

1. Customs in Costa Rica took all of 1 minute to get through. It consisted of handing an already filled out slip of paper to some uniformed person, and putting our bags through an Xray machine. No lines or anything.

2. We were on the street at 5:30am and immediately searching for a taxi (not hard to find cuz they're all waiting for you outside the airport)

3. I asked the cabbie to take us to the bus station so we could get a bus into Quepos. The cabbie in his broken English said he'd take us to the Coca Cola station (contrary to what the internet told me). I was puzzled because the internet told me to go to Tracopa station for that bus, so I asked the cabbie, and he told me that I was wrong.

4. We get to the Coca Cola station. Well, the cabbie was WRONG. We needed to go to Tracopa station in order to get into Quepos. I was armed only with U.S. Dollars, but what I read online about the exchange rate, I figured it was 500 to 1 and was able to not get ripped off. My Spanish isn't very good, but I remembered counting and numbers for the most part so I was able to figure how much to pay pretty quickly. Our original cabbie left, and we got another cab to the correct station (Tracopa) for $6 more.

5. The earliest bus into Quepos was at 7am, and we were there at 6:15am. So naturally we took the next bus (which was a blessing in disguise cuz it saved us from a heated bus in the sun since we got on it so early). Plus this bus was a direct line into Quepos with hardly any stops so instead of a 3.5-4 hour bus ride, it was only a 2.5 hour ride.

So A.J. and me were in Quepos at 9:30am, and we were supposed to meet Balys at 12:30pm. That gave us 3 hours to kill. We first hit Subway for some food, which was expensive. It was like $8+ for a 6" Sub Combo, but it was food, and we got to sit in A/C. Around 10am we walked out to the water and checked it out a little, but there wasn't really a beach close to us, more of a jetty with rocks bordering it. If we went further south or north by a kilometer there might be some beach to get on, but we were loaded with our packs and my mind was on finding Balys. We walked around probably all of Quepos keeping a lookout in case we saw him walking, and looked inside some businesses, but didn't see the Lithuanian from the U.S. anywhere. So we found a bar that was mostly a Gringo Bar, as evidenced by the fact the bartender was white and spoke English, and also that everyone else that we saw in there or passed through were all apparently from the U.S. or Canada. It was called Los Pescadores, so we drank until 12:30 when I went to the bus station and saw Balys, along with a girl he worked on the farm with who was from England named Harriet. We all set up shop in Los Pescadores and drank some more. Then Balys's boss, Elena showed up (which Balys was not happy about). She owned the house and land that he had been working on the past 4 weeks, and he was ready to get away from her, but she decided to invite herself over to our table and stayed there for a couple hours. The poor people who worked on the farm couldn't even get away from her for most of the day! There were 4 others that joined us as the day grew a bit longer, all of them worked with Balys and Harriet on Elena's farm. Kava from New Zealand, Amy from Scotland, Heidi from Montana, and Brian from North Carolina were the coworkers. Finally we made a deal with a shady character at the bar to get two rooms in a Hostel in Quepos for the night, each with a bathroom, and each was a private room that locked from the outside and inside. So there were 4 of us to a room. And thank God the rooms were secure because my money, GoPro, Digital Camera, and Passport/ID were in there!

Let's list some funny things that happened all while we were just hanging at the Hostel coming to and from getting food and getting some alcoholic beverages to sip on back at the rooms, shall we?

1. The shady character who set up the Hostel had told us that he could get us a ride from the bar to the Hostel, which (Surprise!) didn't happen. So he decided to be our tour guide through the city on the way to the Hostel. Walking us to the Bus Station telling us this is how we can get in and out of Quepos, and also walking us around a grocery store and some food places. We didn't ask for a tour mind you, but he decided to give it to us.

2. We were promised keys to the room after we paid him. I asked Balys if he ever got the guys name, and Balys said Paco. I was like, really?! To which Balys replied, they're all either Paco, Pedro, or Juan for the most part. We were hanging in the room for five minutes when I asked Balys about the keys. Balys's response, "Hiatt you're gonna figure out that things down here move a lot slower than the U.S. Don't worry, these things always have a way of working out. We'll get the keys, just don't stress about it." So I kinda just chilled after that. But an hour or 2 went by and we still didn't have the keys so Balys was now thinking we need to find Paco and get the keys, and we did find Paco eventually and got them.

3. Balys's statement about things moving a lot slower down there was spot on... Including time. The sun sets at 6pm and it's pitch black at 6:30pm. Once it gets dark, time starts C.R.A.W.L.I.N.G. If you think it's been an hour, it's probably only been 15 minutes... Seriously!

4. Paco was seriously shady, cuz I went to a Soda Stand (the cheapest place to eat in Costa Rica) with Balys and Kava to get some cheap Empanadas. Soda Stands are basically street corner restaurant shops owned by locals. We were walking back from there to the Hostel and Paco saw us and asked, "Was I talking to you guys about powder?" Yeah, he was dealing cocaine.

5. Balys explained that when we're out, and especially at night, any chick in high heels is almost always a hooker.

6. Prostitution is legal down in Costa Rica, and there was a Pimp next door to us. Me and A.J. were drinking on the bench outside our room (cuz it is fucking hot all the time in Costa Rica and especially inside a Hostel room with no windows!), when a dude with running/basketball shorts on and shirtless (who could blame him for the attire though) started talking to us and asking if we like the girls in Costa Rica. We responded yes, and then he started only what I could say was his sales pitch. His hooker girl had walked by us once already, which we noticed because she was kinda hot wearing a tight dress (which isn't the case for all hookers down there) and wearing high heels, of course! After the initial conversation he left, and I turned to A.J., "I hope I didn't just end a transaction there. I wasn't trying to 'buy' that girl." A.J., "Yeah, I have no idea." Then the guy comes back over to us, "She likes you guys. I can tell. She likes the Gringos." At that point she was walking up the stairs again and she says, "Si, I lika do Gringos!" Me, "No gracias." A.J. was just laughing over the whole situation.

7. As we were chilling/hanging at the Hostel, our neighbors next door were getting a little rowdy in their room (it was probably just the girl and some Joe that she snagged). It was just weird because at one point a key had gotten thrown out their bathroom window onto the floor outside. A few minutes later Paco walks up the stairs coked out of his mind, pissed and yells at the Pimp, "I don't fucking need this shit man! This is bull shit!"

8. Amy and Heidi had Cuba Libres (canned Rum and Coke) so I tried it, and it was delicious! 8% alcohol, so 1 ounce rum and 11 ounces of coke. These were 1000 colones, so about $2.

9. It is humid as all hell in Costa Rica! Living in Colorado has made me forget about what humidity feels like. It's funny because I've spent summers in Louisiana before working on a barge and outside all day long, which was probably worse than Costa Rica. But the lack of A/C in most places we frequented (including our Hostel rooms) had me sweating all the time! Balys informed me that there are two types of clothes in Costa Rica: Wet and Damp.

But enough with the lessons. Kava, Heidi, Brian, A.J., and myself wanted to walk around so we left the rooms probably around 8:30pm. Our attempts at waking Balys and Harriet up proved futile, so we let them sleep. And Amy was done for in the other room too. Before leaving we got some more drinks and walked down to the water. I climbed down the rocks to stick my feet in the water. It was so refreshing, and not cold at all! I wished I had my board shorts on and no electronics with me so I could get into the water at that very moment. After chilling there for a little bit we started walking around Quepos for a little bit when Heidi and Brian decided to head back to their room. It was mine and A.J.'s first night in Costa Rica and we were ready to party though! Kava shared our sentiments so we found a dance club in Quepos, which kinda reminded me of a tiny version of some of the clubs I used to frequent in Tijuana, Mexico back in my younger days. Except the club wasn't nearly as packed as those T.J. clubs would've been, but it still was fun. We drank some more beers and started scoping out the talent which included a bunch of hookers in high heels. At one point I saw a short haired blonde girl dancing, but I thought she was there with another guy. It became apparent later that she was not attached to the guy cuz she was dancing by herself, so I decided to try to dance with her. I didn't even know if she spoke English, but we did dance for a while, then I asked if she spoke English. She was from Norway, but she spoke English so we chatted for a while. At the end of the night we just left though, empty handed.





As Kava, A.J., and me were walking back to the Hostel we were all hungry. We found a Soda Stand on the way back and we got some American food there (hamburgers and hot dogs). So we're chowing down on our food, and a cab roles up to let some people out. Who's in the cab, but the prostitute from the Hostel with another guy! And she's wearing a totally different dress. Like a black dress with fringes on it (I'm guessing this was her club attire). So after that we headed back to the Hostel to sleep in our rooms drenched in sweat.

What a memorable first day out of the United States.

Best Game I Have Ever Played!

February 1999, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA—

I played lacrosse throughout high school, and was able to find a decent club team to play on at San Diego State University when I decided to extend my playing career into college. The first time I picked up a stick was at the age of 10 years old in the San Diego County town of Poway, CA thanks to my older brother discovering the game when he was in high school. It was a relatively early age for someone on the west coast to pick the game up, especially when it was still in the very early stages of the game reaching that part of the country way back in 1989. I played decently my freshman year at SDSU during the Spring of 1998, but still was not able to earn a starting roll on the team that year. The next year that all changed when the team was in turmoil due to an issue with a recent alum and the school, and the firing of the head coach from the year before. The team was barely able to field the minimum of 10 players needed for a game in the Spring of 1999, and I was immediately thrown into a starting midfielder roll. Our first game of the season and coincidentally the first game I ever started in college was on February 19, 1999 against USC in Los Angeles. It was a chilly, Southern California night, as evidenced by the fact that we could see the warm exhales of our breath as they emanated from our mouths (though we don't have the winters that a lot of the country get, this is about as cold as it gets for a Southern California boy). The nervousness that I get every time I walk onto a field for the first time was with me as well. I couldn't help but shake from the nervous excitement as I stood at the wing for the opening face off. From the get go, it was apparent that both teams were evenly matched as neither team was able to build a lead of more than two goals all night. For my part, I don't believe I have ever played a better game than I did that night before or since. From the moment I touched the ball the first time, as I waited to receive that first check and find out what the other team had in store for me, I felt in control of every aspect of the game. It helped that our team that year had probably the best fast break of any team I had ever been a part of. If I were running down the field on a 4 on 3 odd man advantage I knew that if I could get the ball to one of the three attackmen down low, it was almost automatic that they would score. We had probably the best finishing attackman I have ever played with that year, in David Jacobs. If he got the ball in a one on one situation with the goalie, he couldn't miss. He always scored. That night, I had 4 goals and 2 assists (both to Jacobs). Every decision I made with the ball was the right one. If I was the catalyst for a fast break, we scored. On two occasions, the defense slacked off of me and let me run to within 15 yards of the goal without picking me up. Without hesitation I shot both times, which resulted in two goals. Although, this was the best game I have ever played, there was still the problem of winning the game. As I said both of the teams on the field that night were evenly matched, and so much so that with a minute left the score was tied. I still will never forget the trust we had in our goalie, Curt Borton, to make the one big save in order to give us the chance to win. In the timeouts he would tell us, "If you see them shoot from outside, just assume that I am going to make the save and break out." Perhaps the fact that he was 25 years old when I was only 19 had let me put a little more faith in his statement. We were on defense with about a minute left and that exact situation happened when one of USC's midfielders shot from about 15 yards out. I broke out for an outlet pass the second the ball left the midfielders stick, and Borton made the save just like he said he would. I found myself wide open for an outlet pass to start the fast break. I ran down the right side of the field trying to draw the defense to me, and finally was able to get one to bite. To my right I spotted Jacobs awaiting my pass. I gave him a perfect pass, but the defense had recovered to him in time and the fast break had died. As I watched Jacobs protect the ball, the only thought in my mind was to make sure he had a clear lane to the goal. If my defender were to slide to help on him, then I would call for the open shot provided Jacobs would spot me. As it happened, I never did get the ball. Jacobs took the ball from behind the cage and beat his defender one on one to score the go ahead goal with 0:06 seconds left. Both teams knew the game was over at that moment. It didn't sink into me the type of game that I played because I was so overjoyed with the fact that we won! The fact that I didn't have the game-winning goal meant absolutely nothing to me because after going through a fired head coach, and barely being able to field a team, we deserved to win that night. That is the moment that I realized my love of the game would last forever also. The team aspect is still something I search for in all walks of life, and although it wasn't the Olympics, my teammates and coaches had the ultimate respect for each other that night and throughout the rest of my time playing as an Aztec at SDSU.

The First 3 Years of the Rest of My Life

It's hard to believe, but on Friday 11/4/2011 it had been exactly three years since my move out to the Mile High City. Completely weird to think how the first year was so tough living out here, but once I met the current group of people I've been hanging out with, everything has just snowballed into an epic mass of awesome!

So the third chapter in my life would be the post-San Diego Hiatt. Luckily for me, my brother, Russel, talked me into moving away from my comfort zone in good old SD and on out to Denver. This is the second of only two places I've ever really wanted to live in my life ever since I visited here in 2005 when my friend and ex-coworker Katie was living out here. The phone conversation prior to the decision to leave SD with Russ was definitely the encouragement I needed. Something about how we're both outgoing and that since I've been thinking about moving that I should just do the damn thing and JUMP! Of course he paved the way when he moved from San Diego to North Carolina all those years ago, and now he resides there with his wife and kids. There's no turning back from NC for him, just like there's really no turning back from CO for me.

I've been through a lot out here in Denver, starting with being held up at gun point in the first house I was living in. You would think something like that would sour my view, but there was really no physical harm, and the main emotional toll that was bestowed on me was courtesy of the "great" people at the Colorado DMV. There were spin-outs on the freeway on my way to snowboard, sphincter-tightening moments driving on Loveland Pass, Loveland Pass Moonlight rides in the winter, the BSG, the GPC, coaching lacrosse (for the main purpose of finding leagues to play in myself: Mission Accomplished), hiking 14ers, camping, skydiving, wakeboarding, and a slew of other events that have culminated into my ultimate love for my second home.

As most people that I am associated with now-a-days know, the BSG saved my social life. I am heading into the fourth winter season snowboarding in the Rockies and pretty much everyone who I hang out with now is a result of the BSG. Two years ago I started riding with a bunch of avid snowboarders from the cities and outlying areas of Denver and Boulder, and chances are that if you know me, we were introduced by the BSG or by someone who I met in the BSG. Now there's yet another season ahead with a Mountain Haus, and it will most likely end up in being the best season yet!

With my apologies to all I know and love in San Diego, I feel like Denver is the city I have been looking to make my permanent residence. My life has changed dramatically out here, to the point of never really wanting to live in San Diego again. There's too much to do out here in Colorado. The winters, of course for snowboarding, were the main reason I moved out here. Also the fact that housing is cheaper to purchase (although I have realized I need to seriously start working on my spending/saving habits in order to purchase one), and the bar and nightlife scene is more my style. Most everywhere is t-shirt and jeans as far as the bar scene goes. Even downtown is pretty laid-back and chill. In that respect I get the beach bar atmosphere, but in the downtown setting. Being in the mountains on the weekends in the winter is like living in a whole other city also. Besides the winters, summers out here kick ass! Camping, hiking, pool parties, house get-togethers, the summer-crew, and most recently wakeboarding... You should be able to gather the fact that there is no shortage of amazing things to do in the summer to keep me busy. I have missed my hometown less and less and noticed that I haven't seen hardly any of my San Diego friends visiting me in Colorado. The trips back to San Diego will start to get less and less attractive to me as I get to know other cool things to do out here, and keep meeting new and awesome people out here in Colorful Colorado. Don't be surprised if sooner rather than later I don't make it back to California at all for a visit because it may take away from my time in my new residency.

And of course to all who know me in Colorado, I thank all of you for helping me come to the realization that the best decision in my life happened three years ago. I can't thank Chris Miller enough for volunteering to drive his own car full of my crap almost 1100 miles to drop it off with me. He ultimately drove back on his own, but on 11/3/2008 Chris Miller and myself got into our cars to move me out of Southern California, and on 11/4/2008 my foot stepped down onto the ground that I now call HOME.

Right in Two

Maynard is a genius... These are lyrics from a TOOL song, and it basically is a social commentary on humans. AWESOME!

Right in Two by TOOL

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused.

Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys,
Where there's one you're bound to divide it.
Right in two.

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
And this is what they choose...

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one
they're bound to divide it,
Right in two.
Right in two.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs.
They make a club.
And beat their brother, down.
How they survive so misguided is a mystery.

Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven conscious of his fleeting time here.

Cut it all right in two [x4]

Fight over the clouds, over wind, over sky
Fight over life, over blood, over prayer,
overhead and light
Fight over love, over sun,
over another, Fight...

Angels on the sideline again.
Benched along with patience and reason.
Angels on the sideline again
Wondering when this tug of war will end.

Cut it all right in two [x3]
RIGHT IN TWO!

Right in two...

2010-2011 Season in Review with the GPC

So sue me! I took Dan's group idea and I ran with it, so what? Anyways... It's sunnier outside, the weather is getting warmer, I've been coaching lacrosse... What do all these things have in common? They all mean that the snowboarding season is coming to an end, and just as I did last year I am posting (cue the inspirational music, the fireworks display, the guys waving and walking on stilts, numerous people holding their hands up in the air as if to say "We're Number 1!") the "2010-2011 Season in Review!!!"

Disclaimer: If for some reason I left you out of this or you feel I have made an error feel free to put up your own post! Don't go hating on mine!

I guess you can say the season for most of us started on Halloween weekend 2010. I barely got on my board in October, making it to A-Basin with Tammy on 10/31/2010. Phew! Just made that month, which also meant that I kept alive the possibility of snowboarding every month of the calendar year in 2010. Yes, it was early season conditions, but who cares? Snowboarding is awesome just like all of you! Most everyone else, A.J., Kevin, Dan, Vlad, Ben, Mike Looooowery!, Tzvi all went the day before.

November brought plenty of riding because every resort that I ride, and that is on my season pass opens up in November. I was out for Keystone opening weekend 11/6-11/7 along with Michee, Shelley, Scott, J. Fish, Mike Dowd, the D-Bag (Dan), Vlad, and Tzvi. Breck opened up the next weekend, and I made it out for that Sunday, 11/14. Then, as was a common theme for this winter, came the beginning of numerous injuries to all of us. For me, it was my back that was basically seized up and made it nearly impossible/unbearable to ride. So I was sidelined for five weeks. November also brought the introduction of The Mountain Haus to many of us! It was late November, the last weekend/Thanksgiving break that the Haus came open. I did not make the opening weekend for I was in NYC visiting my cuz, but I did make it out to the Haus first weekend in December.

December's first weekend was my intro to the Mountain Haus, however, because of my back I was unable to ride. Met a few Haus-mates like Lauren, Adam, Kate, Andrew & Jessica. Also, Kimmy and Jessica were part of the Haus so they were there along with A.J. Our friends Jennifer and Collin came on out to party for the weekend as well. The Haus was phat! Complete with a Hot Tub on the deck out back, a nice little grill, four rooms, sleeping arrangements for 15+, within 5 minutes of Keystone. Get the point? Perfection! We can attribute the proximity of the Haus to Breckenridge to numerous trips into the town for the night life including mainly spending many a night in Cecilia's... We can also attribute the location of the Haus to the addition to our crew of Martha, Joanna, and Natalie whom A.J., Ben, and myself met in Breckenridge randomly while chilling, drinking some beers in mid-February... But that's for February. Finally got back on my board during the weekend of the Dew Tour, and hit a few POW! days over the weekend. Once in Vail, then the next day at Keystone where Lauren and I met up with Walt on a Monday. After that Weekend, December was all but done save for a frigged day on New Year's Eve. We can attribute Christmas break and the like for that break in action.

New Year's in the Mountains! Well, I had hoped to be riding on New Year's Day after A.J. and myself set up the sweetest of parties for New Year's Eve in the Mountain Haus. Collin made it out for the New Year's festivities with his friends Andrew and Marcia... And his friend Andrew also brought a friend. Someone had the bright idea to move all the furniture out of the way in the living room, and made a dance floor where I can only assume I danced the night away. I can only assume this because I was HAMMED! by the time the New Year's countdown came around. Met some of the pilot Haus-mates and Rae also. Sky came out for the New Year's jam, and we ended up going to (you guessed it!) Cecilia's in Breck the night of January 1 with A.J., Jessica, Kimmy, Lauren, Collin, Sky, and Laura. The next day, 1/2/2011, was day 1 riding in 2011 at the 'Stoner! Because of the Mountain Haus, I got many a nights riding at Keystone... Most of them by myself, but that was actually a blessing in disguise because I started working on my switch riding and getting it down pretty good. Rode with Kelley for the first time at Keystone on 1/8 along with Dan and Vlad. Then on 1/9 we all headed to the Beav! where A.J., Kimmy, and myself met up with Lauren, Summertime and J. Fish for a few runs. Unfortunately for the theme of the winter, Dan tore his ACL at Keystone, so we had one boarder down for the season. Along with Dan, Kevin broke his ankle sometime in January, so his season was over as well. Body Count: 2 Boarders. Boo!!!

January was a very long month, and I had two guests come in from San Diego in the middle of the month... One Chris Miller and the forever infamous Alisha High. Just read my blog "Alisha's Adventures in the Colorado Winter Wonderland" and you will know just why she has become rather infamous! Alisha rode with me at Vail, then with A.J. and a few others of us at A-Basin, then with Kelly (part-time Haus mate) at Vail. Miller was at A-Bay and Vail working on his transitioning skills. That same weekend Alisha got lost in the Vail Back-Country, and Miller was visiting; Roxanne had a B-day and came to the Haus with Collin and a few of Roxanne's friends. We partied at Cecilia's yet again that weekend (surprise)! There was an impromptu Birthday breakfast for Miller and Roxanne of glazed donuts and birthday candles. On a random Thursday, 1/20/2011, I made it up to Keystone with the Roomie, Sarah! Rode with Steph a future Haus-mate at Keystone along with Monique. Also went to Vail a few more times in the month and Rae introduced us to the George in Vail. AWESOME! Great place for Happy Hour btw... A.J. had his AZ crew come out last weekend in January and we all rode together that weekend. Plus went out in Breck, but the first night we somehow strayed from Cecilia's mainly because Tammy was doing a Tuaca promo at the Goldpan, which meant free booze! Love it! Don't worry, the second night we made it to our home away from the Haus. Jennifer came up the last Sunday in January and met up with the AZ crew and us at Keystone. I toughed out a few hours at Keystone the next day with Jennifer where she took her birthday board (from Paul) on it's maiden voyage.

February is my favorite month from here on out with one exception... This year February marked pretty much the end of my season with two torn ligaments in my ankle. Grrr!!! But let's focus on the positives, shall we? Superbowl Sunday is in February, and for the third straight year the Chargers were not in the Superbowl so... It became SUPER-BOARD SUNDAY!!! for the third straight year. Instead of wasting my time watching a game in which my team wasn't playing in, I went to the mountains and rode. This year it was riding at the Beav! with Laura, Lauren, A.J., Steph, Damon, Vlad, and Damon's brother. And yet again, an excellent decision! POW! day, BOOM! The next weekend A.J., Ben, and myself went to Breck where we met the additions to the crew of Martha, Joanna, and Natalie. After meeting these lovely ladies, we all rode together going through the baby park numerous times. I started landing my 180's on the smaller jumps consistently for the first time! We then decided to party with them that night playing beer pong. Met up with Amanda Montana at Martha's house of staying in Breck and got systematically schmammered! The next weekend Paul was visiting! So we went up to the Haus on Friday night, and met up with Adam and Kelly at the Loveland Pass Moonlight ride. J. Fish and Monique were there along with Mike Loooowery! and Rae, Mikey B, and Mad-Mike came out to ride for the moonlight festivities also. We rode Loveland Pass from 10pm-3am, but the party went on all night into the morning from what I heard! Rode Keystone a couple hours the next day. Saturday night Jennifer came up to the Haus to hang out, and on Sunday we headed to Keystone. A.J., Paul, Jennifer, Rae, and Steph headed there and we met up with Amanda Montana & Martha there. Got some footage on the Sony Camera, and then towards the end of the day in the Outback I tore two ligaments in my ankle while trying to make a powder cloud. Result: Season over (save for some late season riding). Official Body Count: 3 Boarders

Closing weekends... Somehow I managed to ride at Keystone for Closing weekend, and I also made it on the board for Vail closing day. Vail weekend was fun as hell!!! J. Fish, Martha, Joanna, Tracy (Martha & Joanna's friend), A.J., Rae, Ben, and Marcia
got some rooms at the Vail Marriott where we partied for the Saturday night of Vail closing weekend. Saw Lauren at Whiskey Jack's in the Village, and then ran into Cindy, Kelley, and Michee as we were headed to the buses. Amazingly, I got kicked off the bus for doing flips with the assistance of the hand-holding straps (Ok, maybe not so amazingly)! When the Bus Driver kicked me off, we were not far from the hotel, so J. Fish valiantly decided to keep me company on my short walk back to the hotel. Got on the board for the Sunday closing of Vail. Saw Laura and Kim Hathcock on the mountain as well. The end of the day we made our Vail pyramid with A.J., Ben, Martha, Joanna, Tracy, Rae, myself, and a guy dressed as the kid from "Where the Wild Things Are."

Along with the closing weekends, I made it to A-Basin for a sweet little Beach Party with most of the Haus-mates mid-April which was a rockin good time!

Now we're in May, and I was able to make it to A-Basin mid-May, and will be there probably the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend also. A-Basin is open at least until June 19th, if not longer depending on if they get one more late season storm. Talked with my big Bro, Russel, and he may be down for a day at the Basin the weekend of June 19th. But we'll have to wait until then to find out now, won't we?!

Well, GPC'ers, the season was a fun one yet again! I can't wait to ride with ya'll next year, and hopefully I'll catch ya at the Basin at least one more time before it officially closes. Peace out!!!

Alisha's Adventures in the Colorado Winter Wonderland: Part I - Saturday

Yes, that's right! First blog of the new year, 2011, and it's a good one I promise. It's quite long, but I feel you will be sufficiently rewarded...

This particular adventure started Friday, January 14, 2011 and concluded on Saturday night, January 15, 2011. I'd like to thank Alisha High, for the story of the year (yes, I know it's only January and there's still 11 more months to go, but this story may stand the test of time throughout the entire year).

Alisha, is a girl who I met once when I was in San Diego over the summer of 2010, the Sunday after my buddy Jeff got married. She is friends with Yumi, my Colorado roommate for all of 6-8 weeks from January-February of 2010. We only met for an hour over chips and salsa and a few beers in Pacific Beach while I was hanging with Yumi and Miller. I had a flight to catch back to Denver that night, but in the short period of time we talked she had expressed interest in coming out to Colorado to snowboard over the next season. Being the gracious host that I am, I told her to just hit me up and we could figure something out. And she actually did, and decided to come out from 1/14/11-1/17/11.

Subsequently my best friend, Miller, was also going to be heading out for that weekend flying in on Saturday 1/15/11 and hanging over the weekend before working the rest of the week in Denver.

So Alisha flew into Denver on Friday night, 1/14, and of course her flight was late. Typical D.I.A. flight pattern to be late/delayed! So instead of getting into Denver at 8:20pm, she gets in at 9pm or so. I pick her up from the airport and we drive immediately to the Mountain Haus in Dillon. I was able to snag a share of this particular abode through a few friends I met late in the snow season last year. We end up getting to the Haus around 11:30pm, and start talking with Kevin and Kelli that night. Alisha did have one task I asked her to take up before flying to Colorado. Miller knows all about this task because he has always been asked to perform the same task for me countless times. Task: "Pick me up a Chicken California Burrito from what used to be known as Santana's." She did it for me, but there was a mix-up on the part of Santana's and she was given a Carne Asada Cali-Burrito. Not a big deal because it was still delicious! I was very happy with it, none the less. I wanted to get her out to Vail for her first day on Saturday because that mountain never disappoints when it is fully covered. And this particular Saturday, you can say that was an UNDERSTATEMENT.

It was just the two of us because A.J. ended up hitting the Beav and meeting up with some other people, and Alisha and I were up earlier than anyone else and outta the Haus by 7:40am. So we get to Vail, park at Lionshead, and by the time everything is situated get on the chair lift around 9-9:15am. All I wanted to do was get her to Blue Sky Basin, home of sick tree runs and back country terrain. We got to the back bowls and rode down the Sun Up Bowl to get to a lift that would get us to China Bowl and allow us to get to Blue Sky Basin. We finally get to Blue Sky around 10:30-11am and we take a nice tree run down skier's left through some trees. Vail didn't get hardly any new snow, so there was very little powder, and a lot of the tree runs were skied out. I was kinda pissed about this fact, but we went up the lift and went far skier's left this time and came up to a back country gate that said basically, "Enter at your own risk." We went through and ran into a nice sign on a tree through the catwalk saying, "Good Bye. Ski Area (arrow to the right). Cold Night in Woods (arrow to the left)."



So naturally we duck into the trees and head to the right to stay in bounds and get back to the lift. We keep getting separated through the trees, but finally we hit some untouched POW! Thank you Vail! Finally something worth riding today! It was the first time I had been to this area, and we met up at the bottom of the lift and lapped it again. After this run I want to take her far skier's right down the catwalk the other direction so we can get to an area with some small rock/cliff drops into deep, soft powder (Skree Field). It dumps you out into some trees and a nice little tree run finishes your ride until you hit Pete's Express which takes you back up to the top of Blue Sky even farther skier's right. We do this and then go back to Skree Field again, before finally getting back up to the top where we can access the back country gate again because that was the best snow we had all day. We go down again, and meet up at the bottom.

About this time it's 2:00pm. Blue Sky closes at 2:30pm, so in all reality I think to myself (I don't say it!) that this is probably going to be our last run back here before we have to head back to the front. Apparently, even thinking something to the effect of "Last Run" is a bad idea for me...

Here's where the real fun begins! We go back through the back country gate for the fourth and final time of the day. I duck into the trees to the right and go down then keep heading right to get back to the lift. I hit the tree run before Alisha dropped in, and I get down to the bottom of the lift. About this time, it's probably around 2:15pm. I have been beating Alisha down all the time, so it's no big deal that I beat her again. I did end up taking a while to get down this particular run myself, getting stuck in a few places and having to wiggle my way out of some trees. I'm pretty sure I even unstrap and hike up a few feet at one point. Still, I beat Alisha down again. I'm waiting for her for a while. It's been five minutes... Now it's ten minutes... Okay, now I'm starting to get worried so I give her a ring on my cellular. She's not answering, and I'm not liking this either. I'm really starting to get worried. Did she hit a tree? She wasn't wearing a helmet. Did she get a concussion? Is she hurt? Only bad things are going through my mind right now. Right after I call and get her voice mail, another boarder comes down. I passed this guy too. Okay, I'm not worried as much anymore. She's probably in the next wave of people about to come down.

Ring! Ring! Ring! My phone's ringing now, and it's Alisha. At least she's calling me. Her, "Ryan! I'm lost! I don't know where I am!"

Me: "Calm down. You're going to have to give me a little more information. Are you okay? I mean, are you hurt? Look around you. What's around you? Do you see the lift?"

"I'm not hurt. No, I don't see the lift. I'm really scared. I'm sorry, can you please get Ski Patrol? This is how people die."

I don't like that at all. "Alisha, did you go through the trees on the right? I mean, do you see ANY other tracks around you?"

"No. There are no tracks around me, just animal tracks. There is no one else around me."

I'm still trying to calm her down. I still have no idea where she could possibly be. A little more questions. "You're going to be okay. Can you traverse at all to your right. I'm pretty sure if you can keep working your way to the right you'll be able to find a track and it will lead you out."

"No. There are no other tracks and I'm in a flat area. Can you please talk to someone?"

I'm still not satisfied with knowing any vicinity that she's in. I ask a few more questions and get some more information.

"I followed another snowboarder down, and then we both hit a flat area. He unstrapped and walked out. Once he was gone I got worried. So I tried to get to somewhere that I could get cell phone reception. You'll see two tracks going down from the catwalk, and then there will only be one, and that's me."

At this time I head to the lift and yell at a lifty and he subsequently sees a Ski Patrol guy. I'm still on the phone with Alisha and tell her I'm going to talk to this guy from Ski Patrol. Me and Ski Patrol guy, I think this guy was Bob(?) get on the lift. I give the phone to him. He's telling her it's okay, and that her buddy, Ryan, knows pretty much where she's at. Then he tells her, "Your buddy, Ryan's gonna take us to where you are. He knows where you went. We'll be there in 10 minutes. Sit tight." BIG MISTAKE. Let me just say, they didn't find her in 10 minutes. We get to the top of Blue Sky and go into the Ski Patrol station there. I talk to Tom(?) and Cory also. We give them the story, and these two are going to follow me out to the last point where I saw Alisha. At this time, I'm looking at my phone, and notice it could possibly die on me at any time. So I make a very smart move, and give them her number. They write it down and take it with them as we head to the back country gate.

It's around 3:15pm and we're on the catwalk, farther down it than I had gone all day long. We went past a tree that was down, that I had to duck under to get past. Haven't seen that tree all day long. Then we come to a marked valley with a sign on a post with a cross on it and the #1. Ski Patrol is telling me these are marking Valley's. They keep asking me if she went left (the sign had the arrow pointing to the left stating "Cold Night in Woods"), and I keep telling them no way. "We've been down this all day long and she knows not to go left. We've been staying right the whole time." They're not convinced, so they ask me to call her. Well, guess what? My phone's dead! Good thing I gave them her number. Cory pulls out his phone and calls her. It's around 3:30pm now. And she's not answering her phone. Now my worry level is at a 5 out of 10. It was probably somewhere at a 2 or 3 before this.

Ski Patrol is talking to each other now. I'm kinda useless at this point. They get two others out. When the two extra peeps in the search party are on their way, Alisha calls Cory's phone. They're asking her questions. Did she go left or right? Is she in a covered tree area, or is she out in the open? Is she in a flat area? Is she hurt? Cory follows a single board track down which goes off to the left ("Cold Night in Woods). This track doesn't prove to be her either. He comes back up. Now Tom and Cory are talking to each other again. "We have to have her call 911 and have them GPS her coordinates." Now the Hiatt worry-meter jumps up to 6 out of 10, and it's very unstable! Cory calls her phone, and she's still not answering. Cory leaves her a voice mail to call 911 and get them to GPS her coordinates. Then one of the two extra search party members meets up with us. They make it apparent that I have served my purpose and that he should take me down to the next lift so I can get to the front side. Before I leave Tom says, "Don't worry. People get lost back here all the time. We find people lost back here all the time. Head to the front and charge your phone. By the time you do that, we'll probably have found her." For some reason this calms me a bit. Hiatt worry-meter back down to 5.

I get to the lift with the other Ski Patrol guy, and then the 2nd extra guy in the search party gets down to the lift also. This lift is off now, and there's no lifty's here. Then I see a sled/snow-mobile come down. Now I'm thinking, "Sweet! I get to ride a snow-mobile to the top? And then I get to ride to the bottom of Blue Sky Basin to get back to the front side. Um.... Awesome?!" Yeah, I thought wrong. They tell me to take a catwalk down which will get me to another lift that can get me to the front side. So I take the catwalk to the lift which is gonna take me front side.

This is where my small adventure comes into play... There are two lifty's back here, and I am the absolute last pass holder (other than Alisha) to be back here. I tell them my friend's lost back in Blue Sky, whether they care or not is beyond me. So I get on the lift. It's a high speed quad. Hiatt worry-meter still at a 5. My phone's dead, so there's no way to know if they've found Alisha at this point still. I'm on the lift to the front side. About 7 or 8 polls from the top, the lift starts to slow down. Hiatt worry-meter back to a 6. They have to know that I'm on the lift. I look up and see I'm on chair 72, and I'm sure the lifty's know this too, right? I look down, and there's no way I'm jumping from the chair lift. That's going to hurt! The chair slows down to a crawl now. I'm starting to think it's gonna stop very soon. Hiatt worry-meter hits 8 now. Mind you, my phone is dead... If the chair stops with me on it, I can't call anybody! I basically would start yelling/raising hell if this were to happen. It's kinda my only option at this point. The chair I'm on is about 5 polls from the top now. Luckily, I'm in the brightest possible outfit I own. A very bright light blue Quiksilver jacket and neon lime green Quicksilver pants. Once I am in view of the operating shack at the top, the lift miraculously gains speed back to normal speed! Hiatt worry-meter back to 5. I get off the lift and strap in. I'm gonna high-tail it to Lionshead and charge my phone. Hopefully by the time I make it to my car and get my phone working there's gonna be a voice mail that Ski Patrol's found her.

I get to Lionshead base area and see a guy with a Vail vest on. Me, "Where's the Ski Patrol lodge down here?"

Him, "There isn't one down here."

That kinda makes me mad, because I just don't see how he couldn't at least divert me to a first aid station or something... But I pry a bit further, "My friend's lost in Blue Sky Basin. Ski Patrol's been looking for her."

"Oh, that's your friend back there?"

"Yes. Have they found her?"

"No."

Hiatt worry-meter 7 and unstable. "Well, they tried to get her to call 911 and GPS her coordinates. Did she do that?"

"Oh, yeah. They got hold of her and told her to call 911."

And?!?! "So did they get her coordinates?"

"Oh, no. They couldn't get them."

Talking to this particular "Ambassador of Vail," felt like talking to a 4 year old child. Short answers to every freakin question I have. I was trying to steer the conversation for more information, but to no avail. I decide that the best thing to do to get any information is to actually get to my car and charge my phone so I can call Ski Patrol myself at this point. This guy was an IDIOT.

Hiatt worry-meter is at an 8 now!

I get to my car and charge my phone. It's 4:18pm when my phone charges and starts getting reception. I get a text from Chris Miller. He's got his rental car, and heading from D.I.A. to the Mountain Haus. I totally forgot all about Miller! So I call him and tell him the whole Alisha situation. I really don't know what's going to happen, so just head to the Haus and I'll call him back when I get more information.

It's 4:21pm. It's at this time that I receive my cousin, Walt's text message. The text message interaction verbatim...

Walt: Some guy called me trying to help his daughter Alecia H
-He said u guys were together and she is lost

Me: Ya. She's w me @ Vail. Got lost in Blue Sky near Champagne Glades. Ski patrol's lookin for
-My phone was dead. Chargin it now

The Hiatt worry-meter is steady at an 8. The person who called Walt was Alisha's Dad. I call Walt at this point. He's wondering what's going on now too. He was skiing at Keystone all day long.

You may be wondering to yourself at this point, "How come Walt is getting a call from Alisha's Dad?" Well, between the time Alisha was first lost and the time I actually make it to my car, Alisha called her Dad to say, "I'm lost in Colorado, and I was snowboarding. If I have to die at least I died a pretty cool way."

Talk about not putting your Father at ease! Apparently he got my number by calling her ex-boyfriend (who she works with) then he told him to call Yumi, who gave him my number. And since my phone was dead it went straight to my voice mail. On my voice mail I list Walt as an emergency contact (for work purposes in case someone's calling for a surgery and they need our implants... Stuff of that nature). So that's the circle of phone calls. Walt has his number and asks me if I want him to call the Dad back. I have her Dad's number and tell Walt I'll call her Dad. I asked Walt to text me Vail Ski Patrol's number so I can call them too, though.

Before calling her Dad, I get Ski Patrol's number via text message from Walt. So I call Ski Patrol. They are still looking for her. It's 4:25pm now! Hiatt worry-meter 9.

So now I'm dialing Alisha's Dad, not sure what he's going to be like on the phone... Is he going to be pissed at me for losing her? Will he be yelling at me? Am I about to be verbally assaulted via cellular phone? Well, I have to call him no matter what so I dial out. I get his voice mail and his name is Chris High, "Hi Chris, this is Ryan Hiatt. I'm with your daughter Alisha... Well, I WAS with your daughter Alisha today. We are at Vail Mountain in Colorado. She got lost in the back country and Ski Patrol's looking for her. Call me back when you get this. My number is 619-325-9575." Rather uneventful.

My car is parked in the Lionshead parking garage, and my service is in and out. I receive a phone call from an Unknown Number a few minutes after I hang up with Alisha's Dad. I try to answer, but the call drops. Aughhhhhh!!! Come on!!! Who was that calling me? I really would have liked to have been able to answer because it was either Ski Patrol or her Dad I'm guessing. I realize that my service is bad because I am underground, and that I should move my car up top to get better reception. So I do, and I decide first to call Alisha's Dad back because I'm guessing that was him with the Unknown Number. It goes to his voice mail again, so I don't leave him one this time. I hang up and call Ski Patrol. It's like 4:30 or so now. They found her!

"They found her. They're either taking her to Red Cliff or Vail."

I'm confused now. I've never heard of Red Cliff before. What is that? Is that a hospital? She wasn't hurt, but is she like traumatized out of fear that they have to take her to a hospital? So I ask them on the phone, "Are they taking her to a Hospital? What is Red Cliff?"

"No. It's a town. If they take her to Red Cliff we have to send a truck to pick them up, so it's probably going to be at least an hour before they get back to Vail. They have bad reception back there so we'll call you when we hear from them."

After I hang up with them I look up Red Cliff on Google Maps. It's on the backside of the mountain. She did go left and opted for the "Cold Night in Woods" from the sign after we went through the back country gate. It's a 35 minute drive from there to Vail. Wow, she was totally lost. She was lucky Ski Patrol found her because the whole time we were thinking she was somewhere in the trees to the right. After I checked out Red Cliff on Google Maps, I get a call from Alisha's Dad. Thank GOD I have good news for him! "Ski Patrol just called me and said they found her."

Him, "Yeah, I was just on the phone with them. Thanks for calling me. Can you do me a favor? Whenever you see Alisha, can you have her call me?"

Me, "Yes. I'm pretty sure she'll be calling you the second she gets reception, but I will remind her when I see her in case she didn't call you."

I hang up with her Dad, and I call Miller back. "They just found her. They won't be back here for at least an hour so you're gonna beat me there for sure. Just tell everyone in the house you know Ryan. They're cool. I'll probably be there around 6:00 I hope."

I also text him not to say anything about what's going on with Alisha because in all honesty, I don't know what she's gonna be like when I see her again. Who knows if she's going to want to ride in Colorado ever again.

4:36pm now, and I receive a text message from Laura...
Her: How was Vail? Breck tonight still?
Me: I'm sure AJ is down.
-Vail was aight. Not the best snow, but did duck into a backcountry area that was pretty sweet @ Blue Sky
-Until Yumi's friend Alisha got lost and ski patrol had to look for her. So I'm waiting til they get back to Vail w her. She took a wrong turn and ended up near Red Cliff
Her: Wtf oh no she must be terrified! K let m know bout ur plans!
Me: Well, she was freakin out for sure. It took em 2 hours to find her.

I'm waiting in my car the whole time, and I haven't heard from Alisha or Ski Patrol to find out when they're getting back. Around 5:30 I call Ski Patrol. They haven't heard from them yet, and they still can't get hold via cellular. But once they do, they'll let me know.

I've been flying blind ever since 4:30 when they said they found her. I'm not worried at all anymore. I just want information other than, "We don't know where they're at still." Really, I am not very impressed with how little information I have received ever since I left Blue Sky at 3:30pm. The Ski Patrol guys were all cool, and putting me at ease, and these dispatchers had no concept of that. NONE. So, I am now starting to jump up a notch on the Hiatt pissed off-meter. So I finally get out of my car and walk into Lionshead Village around 5:30pm. I want to find a security station or information booth so I can wait with them while hearing first hand any radio communication between them and the search party. I know that Alisha's okay physically, and that they're all going to make it back to Vail eventually, but I don't know when this fictitious "eventually" is going to be. So I'm walking through the village and all Information Booths close at 5:00pm... WTF!!!!!! I can't find any security stations, and I basically am stuck having to deal with the dispatchers over the phone, who haven't been impressive in the slightest!

I walk back to my car and get in it again. It's around 6:00pm so once again I call Ski Patrol. "Oh... We were just gonna call you!" I'm thinkin, 'yeah right!' "We finally got hold of them. There's a truck going out to pick them up now. They're going to take her to Vail Village."

Ok... I'm at Lionshead so I'll just drive over to Vail Village, but, "Where in Vail Village? Are they taking her to a security station?"

Their response I'm sure will shock you! "Yeah... We're not sure. They didn't say."

OH MY GOD! I should be wax ecstatic that she's alive and safe, but all I'm thinking is how incompetent these dispatchers have been ever since I left Blue Sky Basin! Whatever. I decide to drive to Vail Village anyways, and hopefully they'll call me back at some point.

At 6:15 I get a call from a (970) number. "Ryan! It's Alisha! My phone was dead so I'm using one of these guys phone." She actually doesn't sound freaked out at all. I would officially classify her demeanor over the phone as, 'Happy to be alive.' "We're on our way back now. They're going to take me to Vail Village."

Okay? "Where in the Village?"

She's asking them, and they tell her where to meet them. "Vendetta's."

"Vendetta's? Okay, that's a bar. I know where that is. I'll meet you there."

I get to Vendetta's and I'm riding solo. I walk into a packed crowd that is watching the Packers-Falcons game on the TV. I'm soooooo ready for a beer now! So I get a pint and wait. About five minutes later Alisha enters the bar. It's around 6:45pm now. "RYAN!!! Let me just say, I LOVE Ski Patrol!" The search party is with her. "I'm buying everyone drinks. What do you want? It's all on me!" She wanted to get a picture with all of them, including me. So we got someone to take our picture.



Meanwhile, while we're drinking with Ski Patrol, Miller's been sitting at the Mountain Haus. He doesn't really know anyone there. He's been there since 6:00, and it's probably around 7:15pm now. I'm giving Alisha the benefit of the doubt since she was all by herself for more than two hours in the back country. I'll let her blow off some steam, but for sure I have to get back to Dillon. Miller's waiting on me. Also, A.J. and me have a few friends there that want to go to Cecilia's in Breckenridge tonight because it's our friend Roxanne's birthday weekend. I have no choice. I have to get back to the Haus. If Miller weren't in town, I could be partying with Ski Patrol all night in Vail, and I wouldn't care. I text Miller at 7:45pm. Say that we'll be leaving Vail in 15-30 minutes, and that he better be ready to go out in Breck tonight. After my day, I am so ready for tonight in Breck. I guarantee I will be drinking! His response to me leaving Vail in 15-30 minutes was, "I think I heard that story about 2 hours ago." I finally tell Alisha that we have to leave. She's cool and understands. She closes her tab and around 8-8:05pm we're making our way out.

I text Miller at 8:18pm saying we're walking to the car and I'll be home around 9. Miller texts me back and he's starving. He asks me to pick up some food on the way home. I was starving too, so I'm 100% down to do that for him and me! Alisha's cool and totally in good spirits. We get to Dillon, and I stop off at Qdoba to get some food. I ask her is she's hungry. Her response, "Oh, no. I'm pretty full from the nachos we ate when we were at the bar in Red Cliff?" Huh? This is the first time I'm hearing about this. This is when I make the executive decision to tell everyone what took us so long the second I walk in the door! There's a group of people around the kitchen table drinking. It's 9:00pm now. Kevin, A.J., and Chris are all here. So are Collin, Roxanne and her friends Amanda and Krista. Alisha and myself tell them the story of the year! Alisha is so drained from her ordeal that she doesn't feel like going out in Breck, but I am ready to let loose... She stayed home, and around 10:30pm the rest of us head to Cecelia's where I am handsomely rewarded for my day by drinking numerous Irish Car Bombs and beer. Ahhhh, so refreshing! I needed this night after the day I just had...



The End... For now...

2009-2010 Season in Review

I'm sure you've all been waiting, and here it is... Cue the inspirational music to "The Natural," because here comes the 2009-2010 Winter Season in Review from yours truly!!!

I kind of gave a small preview of this with my last post, but I feel I need to include a little insight as to the shenanigan's I had put myself through whilst on the mountains of North America (and specifically, the mountains of the Western portion of the United States). The season unofficially started when I decided to go on Meetup.com and try to find a group of people to hit up the mountains with. I joined some Denver Ski/Board group which I subsequently quit once I got a message from one Krista Hood that I needed to join the Boulder Snowboarding Group, now BSG Colorado.

My introduction to the BSG was a snowboard movie premiere at the Ogden Theater in Denver. I love me some snowboard porn, so I was ready to go watch a bunch of professionals pull some tricks on film in ridiculous snow that I have no chance of replicating. I showed up and met up with Adam (the organizer) and Krista (the co-organizer). It should be noted that everyone was around the ages of 21-30, and they were all super chill. My kind of peeps! I went to a few more events before the mountains opened up, and then the main event: A-Basin opening weekend on October 10, 2009... By far the EARLIEST I have ever ridden in a season. I tried to put on the old Hiatt charm to the peeps that were there, and it worked!

Went riding with the BSG on many events through October and November, and then in December everything started to just click. I went up to Breckenridge with a meetup group that stayed up there on Saturday night. We all stayed in a cabin in Breck and hit up the bars that Saturday night. I was introduced to Validimir aka John this weekend, although I still didn't ride with him at all for the whole weekend. I also met my future roomie, Sarah this weekend as well.

Now my season was not limited to just Colorado, although I did the vast majority of my riding in Colorado this season for sure. Christmas time came, and I flew to Utah to visit my Mommy and Grandma for the Holiday Season. Of course I brought my board with me and the morning I flew in, I hit up Park City Mountain Resort because you get a free lift ticket on the same day of your flight. Park City: not so good. It was windy, crusty, and icy. Yuck! Plus I ripped my pants. WTF! I stayed in Ogden with Mommy and Grandma, and then on Christmas Eve I hit up Powder Mountain for the first time since 1997 (when I was 18 years old). Nic Saben had been raving about Powder Mountain anyways, so I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. The last time I was on this mountain was the first time I strapped into a snowboard, so needless to say I am much better now than that first day. Powder Mountain was SICK! So much POW! And the vast majority of my runs was through trees and in untouched POW! Plus, it is a relatively unknown mountain so there was hardly anyone on it.

January and February: Plenty of riding happened in January. I had a welcome edition to my household with Yumiko, who I know through a best friend JenGen in San Diego. Yumi moved in mid-January and was going to be staying with me through February. At this point, my one-man Wolf Pack had expanded to many people. I started riding with A.J., Laura, Dan, Vladimir, Tennyson, Shelley, Deven, Sarah, Kim, Kevin, and Michelle. And Yumi got up to the mountains with us also. There was still a few people who I had yet to meet. I had ridden with plenty of others besides the aforementioned including Mike Lohr aka Mike Loooowwwry!, Krista, Adam, The Chad, Miss Wendi, Johnny Dee, Nic Saben, Nicole, and who knows how many others... The other beyond awesome thing that happened was Ruby Hill Rail Yard opened up in Denver. That meant getting to hit box rails any night of the week, and only about 20 minutes from my house! It was here that I met Kelley, a friend of Laura's. I also was re-introduced to Cindy, although we had met before at earlier off-mountain events (only Cindy and I didn't ride together, ever, until the very end of the season).

February culminated in Arisara and the Chicago Crew heading to Colorado to hit up the mountains of Summit County (and Winter Park for a day). Yumi had just moved out of the house, but I welcomed in Sarah right away. When Arisara and friends got into town, we all went to Park Tavern to experience $2 You-Call-Its on that Tuesday night before we were to head up to Winter Park for the first of four straight days of mountain skiing and riding. We cabbed it to and from the Tavern because with $2 You-Call-Its everyone was sure to get a little tipsy. Woke up Wednesday and headed to Winter Park. We all had a Cabin in Frisco right near Breckenridge and Keystone, and only about 30 minutes from Vail. All three mountains that we rode while the Chicago Crew was visiting. Took the crew to Vail and had them experience Vail in all its glory. Went to the back bowls, and I watched like a proud father of the mountain as these Chicago peeps all got so deep in powder that their legs were probably about to fall off. I took the two boarders with me to Blue Sky Basin and we hit some of the deepest snow of the season! The cabin was the same one that I stayed in with Dre and the Cali Crew from the year before: Hot Tub on the deck. Big Ol' Kitchen, 4 rooms, enough sleeping for a small army. Chris Miller joined us on Thursday night, and Sarah joined us on Friday morning when we headed to Keystone and hit the Outback Bowl. In the Outback Bowl we hit some more SWEET POW! And had the longest untouched POW! ride of my season through what seemed like a glistening lake of soft snow. The days at Vail and Keystone with the Chicago Crew made me feel like a proud father of both mountains. They had lived up to the hype for sure. The last day the out-of-towners were here, they experienced over-crowding at Breckenridge unfortunately. But still, they for sure had a glorious time. That Saturday night we all met up with A.J., Tenny, Kelley, Kevin, Vlad, Dan, Michelle, Danny Collins, and Sarah at Cecilia's and "Danced the night away."

Speaking of Cecilia's, the main crew had been to Cecilia's many times before and thanks to Dan we are the "Pitted" Crew. Get PITTED!

March: More riding with the BSG, and then met up with Big Brother and one Jimmy Lin back in Utah. We stayed at my cousin's condo in Solitude. Now, I haven't ridden with my brother in over 15 years, and Jimmy is the man responsible for teaching me how to snowboard in the first place. I've rode with Jimmy all of my adult life, but I hadn't ridden with him for at least two years. It was a reuniting of Epic proportions! There's only two things that I would change about this trip: 1. I'd go any other time except for St. Patty's Day; 2. I wish there had been more snow. The snow wasn't the greatest, but still, how can you complain about the snow when you're not working all week? The other cool thing about Utah was that my brother introduced everyone to the Red Iguana! Such good Mexican Food! I was going to give up on getting good Mexican Food outside of California until I ate here. Apparently Salt Lake City has some awesome Mexican Food, and I'll be going back in June to eat some more of it! My brothers friend Paul also came out and skied with us in Utah. It was great to see big brother and Jimmy Lin.

Closing Weekends: April is closing month for all the mountains except for A-Basin really. I missed out on closing weekend at Keystone and Beaver Creek because I was working the Padres-Rockies series in Denver that weekend. No problem though because I went to Breck and Vail for it's closing weekend. We all dressed up something ridiculous on both Saturday and Sunday. The crew for closing weekend was Sarah, Dan, A.J., Laura, Michelle, Kelley, Vladimir, and Danny Collins. We saw Wycleff at Vail, who put on a killer free concert! Then we went out in Vail on Saturday night before dressing in spring clothing for Vail's closing day. Unfortunately for me, I had to leave Vail at noon on Sunday to head to Grand Junction for work.

Late April-May: Late April saw the re-introduction to A-Basin because it was the only mountain open. I am pretty much done riding except for closing day at A-Bay Bay now though. But the beginning of May saw me riding some fresh POW! at A-Basin? Yes, ridiculous, I know! I also finally rode with Cindy on the mountain! The end of the day at A-Bay saw a party on the Beach right by the bottom chairlifts with hula-hoops, live music, and beers. So much fun! Only Tenny, A.J., and myself stayed after with Cindy and her man Justin to enjoy this awesome fun-fest! The next week, the BSG had a beach party of their own on the beach at A-Bay, and there was tons of food, beers, and snow! We were now into May, and it was dumping! Still hitting fresh tracks on May 1st is pretty ridiculous if you ask me... We were there from 8:30am til close at A-Bay on May 1st, and so far I haven't been back since. The next time I will go back will be in three weeks for closing weekend, and the official close of my season.

Summer's just around the corner, and with it there will be surfing in San Diego and, thanks to Laura's suggestion, wake-boarding in Colorado! I can't wait!

The Season is coming to an END

For anyone who cares to even read this blog, you may have noticed it's been quite some time now since I have posted anything. I guess I've just been busy traveling to and from San Diego and Ogden, UT from my new home in Denver, along with snowboarding with an awesome group of people out here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

This winter season has left me feeling completely content to find a massive amount of people who want to hit up the mountains as often as possible. I will admit, that during my first year here, friends were scarce. But that has all changed after "The Season '09-'10." I am never without new stories or new adventures thanks to the peeps that I have met through the BSG aka Boulder Snowboarding Group and the Snow Betties! If I liked living out here with minimal contact or social activities, now I absolutely LOVE it out here!

But alas, "The Season" is coming to an end. Now I am shifting gears into Spring and Summer. I'm playing lacrosse in a spring league now through a few people that I met while deciding to volunteer with the Stapleton Lacrosse Club. I'll be joining a team for Summer Lacrosse also. Good things are coming. GT. With Summer, will come visits to Grandma's in Ogden to see Grandma and Mommy, Big Brother and his fam will most likely be visiting in Denver, then it's back to San Diego for a wedding and then a weekend in July with some Colorado people back to San Diego for some surfing! Finally, in August it will be Jimmy and Hiatt's dual birthday yet again with some sky-diving action and some more beach time in San Diego! I am very excited with what's to come...

LA Riptide Tryouts from St. Patty's Day, 2007

I apologize to all those that have read this blog before on my MySpace page, but let's be honest here... Nobody goes on MySpace anymore! So here's a little story I'd like to tell about one bad MoFo you may or may not know so well...

Well, as many of you know from the hundreds of text messages I had sent out way back in 2007, I attended Open Tryouts for the LA Riptide of Major League Lacrosse up at the Home Depot Center on St. Patty's Day of that year. What I came away with was a great experience, a reaction in my eyes probably from the field-turf, and a sore body.

So here is the diary of the day... The day was broke up into two sessions. The morning session which was basically line drills, one-on-ones, 4-on-3's, 5-on-4's and 15 minutes of scrimmaging; and the afternoon session which was a full field scrimmage in a game type of situation.

My friend Jimmy Lin and I went in, not knowing what to expect, but immediately we both saw another player from SD who we had played against. Later, just before the afternoon session, I also was greeted by a goalie I had played with in Junior High. Man talk about a weight that was lifted off my shoulders! The more West Coast people that I saw there, the better I felt. Now during the line drills, I was relaxed and pretty much didn't miss one ball that was thrown in my direction. This felt pretty damn good, as I could tell there were people there that were tense and messing up these routine drills.

In the one-on-ones, it became apparent that I had lacked some serious game-time situations, as I was having a hard time playing defense and getting by my guy on offense. In college, there was really no-one who I felt could defend me in a one-on-one situation, but I was definitely lacking my old moves or whatever. Still, I scored a few times and had some good showings. In the unsettled 4-on-3 and 5-on-4 situations, I was able to showcase my full field speed and open-field abilities on the field. A couple of the current Riptide players were out, and were telling us that, "Cross-checking is full legal in this league." That statement has to be a defenders dream come true. I certainly used it! He proclaimed, "Doing these wild stick checks isn't gonna work out here against these players. What works is playing good defensive positioning, and just basically cross-checking the shit out of everyone!" The last 15 minutes of the first session was done as a scrimmage. I did ok in that, but was happy for our lunch break as the unsettled full field situation had gotten me pretty damn tired!

Flash forward to the afternoon session, and the full field scrimmage portion. I was playing middie, and had to face off, which I don't like doing, but was able to do ok on face-offs. It was at this point that I found out a few guys had flown out from back east, who had played at Division I NCAA schools. But I have never felt intimidated by that. I have never played on a D-I team or against a full D-I team, but I have played against these players from D-I colleges before, and I have been able to hold my own against them in the past, and was still able to on this day. Still, any time I would try to drive one-on-one, I would be turned away. That surely couldn't bode well for me. But just when I thought I wasn't doing good, I got a pass near the two point line (in the MLL there is a 2-point shot), and I ripped a shot past the goalie, on his hip, stick-side! That definitely got me noticed, as no one else had even shot from that far out. The next time I faced off, one of the current players asked what my name was! Fuckin' Awesome! It's apparent that I could still use a lot of improvement before playing in this league, but if you put me up against guys at a professional level, I will start to play with them eventually.

I awaited anxiously to hear from the Riptide, but if they saw any sort of potential in me they sure didn't let me know. If so I would've been asked to register in the MLL player pool where I would have to be picked up as a free agent to go to training camp. All-in-all, this experience made me want to join a club team to play on a regular basis because I love to play. I can honestly say, that I am way past the tryout stage now though.

Whacky? No... Scary: I Have BED BUGS!!!

Seriously? Yes, I have bed bugs. I took all the clothes out of my room and had to bag them up in trash bags tonight because the Orkin man is coming tomorrow to spray my place for bed bugs...

So that's what I'm going through, but let's rewind this thing here a few weeks, shall we?

I wake up one day about two weeks ago to a cluster of bug bites on my right shoulder. Not just one or two, but more like five or six... I'm wondering how the heck a mosquito or a bunch of mosquitoes could have gotten in their minds to just attack one section of my body? I really don't know, but it's just one night. I show my roommates Austin and Isaiah, and they're like, "Holy S---! You got ripped up last night." Mind you, none of them have any bites on their person. The next night, same problem, only this time it's on the other shoulder... Then another night, up around my neck... Probably about that point I'm getting really frustrated. Isaiah says, "Dude, you might have bed bugs." But I think nothing of it because I keep thinking I'm just getting hit by mosquitoes where I've failed to spray. To keep my mind on mosquitoes, I did kill like 3-4 of them in my room. Plus, I thought that with bed bugs, I shouldn't have bites centralized in one area, but they should be all over my body spread out.

I have some bug spray left-over from camping with Russ, Amy, and family so I start spraying myself. Well, I still get some bites on my lower back, and I notice there's even some on my feet... Eventually there's even a few small ones on my face. WTF?! I am spraying myself every night! And I keep thinking I'm missing spots because I keep getting bit in different parts of my body. Finally about a week later, I'm sleeping and I wake up at like 3am. I think I feel something crawling on my neck, so I smack it and immediately turn on the light and get out of bed. I look at my sheets and see something like 3-4 little bugs crawling around the sheets! Now, I know for sure I've got bed bugs! The problem I still have, is where did I get them from? Did they cling to me when I was sleeping over at a friends house? The most common way to pick them up is if you get them in Hotels/Motels/Hostels. Only problem with that is I haven't stayed in any of these for a long time! And definitely not in the last two weeks.

With my new-found discovery, I go to my trusty computer and look "bed bugs" up on the inter-web. Well guess what? Please pay attention to this next part. Bed bug bites are often in clusters and in one spot of your body. Like the clusters on my shoulders, and neck, and later my lower back... I actually bought some Bed Bug Spray from Home Depot and sprayed my bed. No help. They're still biting! I had stopped sleeping in my bed and started sleeping outside my room on the couch. Apparently, bed bugs are attracted to the CO2 we breathe out, which is strongest when we're sleeping. So... When I'm sleeping on the couch, they are attracted out there and keep biting!!!

I put in a call to Orkin and here I am almost three weeks after the first sign of them, going to finally have everything sprayed professionally! I have ordered genocide on those little bastards! I had heard something in the news too about a bed bug problem in Denver, but never thought I'd have a problem myself... Wrong! I can't wait for Orkin to come in and uphold their end of the bargain. Thank the LORD I'm flying out to San Diego next Wednesday night. But by that time them little suckers will be dead! I promise not to take them with me. I wouldn't wish this on anybody. I'm afraid to sleep in my own house for at least one more night.

Hopefully this enlightens everyone reading this of these little pests. Remember, the first sign of a cluster of bug bites on your person in one spot on your body, you can take it to the bank that you've got BED BUGS!!! And you should take care of it ASAP!

Being Held Up at Gun Point

For all of you accustomed to my normally funny/whitty/satirical blogs, you will be surprised to read a very serious blog I am posting.

The title is true in every sense of the word. I was held up at gun point after entering my house at 1am on Saturday morning, April 4, 2009. There were many events leading up to this, and it has seriously led me to believe that I either have a guardian angel, as I have been told by a girl I was dating back in 2005 (and I thought she was crazy at the time), but definitely do believe that God is looking down on us at all times.

I started off Friday like always, coming home from work. This day I got home around 3pm because, like most Fridays, it is rather slow and there are not a lot of surgeries or Docs around to talk to after 12pm. I had already made up my mind that I was to go up to Keystone to go snowboarding with my cousin, Walter. They were staying up there for the weekend anyways, and he said I might be able to stay up there with them on Saturday night. So I had already made up my mind to get up to the Mountains. There are only 2 more weekends before the resorts all close anyways. So, normally I try to get to bed early on Friday night so I can wake up at 5:45am to make the drive up to the mountains without hitting any traffic.

Well, I didn't go out with my friend Jackie because she said she was having a Girls Night Out, and I didn't want to hit anyone else up so I could get into bed as early as possible. I was watching VH1's "One Hit Wonders of the 80's" and also "The Girls of the Sunset Strip," which got me all the way to about 10pm. Then I watched some more TV and before I knew it, I was going up to my room about 11:30pm. I had failed in my attempt to go to bed early. So I texted Jackie, "Damn! The whole point of me not going out 2nite was 2 b in bed by 10:30 2 get up @ 6am so I can snowboard, n here it is 11:30... FAIL!!!"

She texted me back and said her friends and her were at Rock Bar if I wanted to go out. The bar is only like 2-3 miles away and not Downtown, so parking is not an issue. I decided to head over there. I left the house at around midnight and met up with her and her friends. I attempted to get a drink at a severely packed bar, and got so fed up with waiting that I didn't even care anymore. Danced with Jackie for a little bit, and then around 12:45am I was ready to head out. I drove her to her car at her friends place, and then headed home to get my snowboarding gear ready.

At around 1am I get home and unlock the deadbolt on the front door, and walk in. The only light on in the house is the front entry-way light. Todd (the home-owner/Amy's Brother) was not home, and his car was not there. He had gone to go skiing in the mountains, but I thought he said he'd be back Friday night. I hear noise coming from upstairs, which is where my room is. I start to wonder if Todd is home. I stand and listen some more, and I hear more noise coming from upstairs. I start to think maybe Todd is home, and his car is just not there. He had been having trouble with his car and was talking about getting rid of it anyways, so that was in the back of my mind.

Let me caution everyone: if you think that something just doesn't seem right, you should trust your instincts! DO NOT go investigate!

I'm thinking that something is fishy about this. I thought I heard papers ruffling around, and now that I think about it, it was still dark upstairs. So if Todd was home, he would've had the lights on. I yell out from downstairs, "Hello?!" No answer so I walk up the stairs (like an idiot), and yell out one more time, "Hello?!"

As I look down the hall into Todd's office, a black male, about 5'9" and maybe 200-220 lbs comes into the doorway down the hall. He is down the hall about 20 feet away. He points a silver pistol at me. I was looking down the barrel. He says in a really deep bass voice, and quietly yet forcefully, "Yeah. Give me your wallet."

I'm like, SHIT! No way is this happening! Why did I feel the need to go upstairs and find out what was happening? Why did I not just get the hell out and call 911 when I thought something was not right? My hands are up in the air and I had my wallet in my left hand and my keys in my right hand. Homeboy walks towards me and says, "Go down the stairs." I have my wallet in my hand walking down the stairs kind of holding it towards the intruder so he can take it. He says, "Throw the wallet on the stairs. Get down on the ground, face down." I get on the ground with my keys in my right hand, and I'm face down on the ground. "Are you calm," he asks.

"Yes," I respond.

"Good! Stay calm, lie down there, and no-one gets hurt."

He walked around me towards the back door. I was lying down, thanking my lucky stars to still be a living organism on this planet. I stayed lying there for a few minutes, listening, and I hear nothing. No sound at all. So I call out, "Hello... Hello?" It is apparent that he is not in the house, so I get up and visually check the back door and see that it is creaked open. So he must've exited out the back door. I feel ok at this point. I want to leave, but I start to fear he may be outside, so I check out front to see if he's there. I don't see anything, but I wait for a few more minutes and check again. Still nothing. I go out the front door and drive to Jackie's place. It is 1:30am at this point.

She's asking me if I'm ok and stuff... I tell her yes, I'm ok, but then it dawns on me that I should call 911. I hang up with her and call 911. I was fully intent on driving straight to her place, but I am told there are cop cars already on the way back to my house. I turn around and go back to meet the cops at home. I call Jackie and tell her that I am not going straight to her place, I have to meet the cops. But I am not sleeping at home tonight, so she can expect me later.

I meet the cops back at home, tell them everything. They go in and sweep and clear the house. They come out and tell me to come inside. I was on the phone with Navy Federal while they were sweeping the house, cancelling my bank/credit cards with them. I didn't even have cash on me. This guy didn't really get anything out of taking my wallet. I go through the house with the officers. Todd's room is tore apart, my room is tore apart, and Todd's laptop was taken from the office. The intruder did not have a bag with him because he emptied out my backpack and it was missing, so he must've put the laptop in my backpack.

I find out Sunday that a pocket watch I got for being in my friend Grant's wedding was taken also. Ironically, I am moving out of this house and moving this week into a much nicer and safer neighborhood. I will not even be here next weekend!

The cops say that the intruder came in by busting through the back door. This was the only door in the house that was not dead-bolted. He couldn't have been there for maybe 15 minute before I got there. I don't really think this was a thought-out, meticulous robbery. Just a smash and grab. I am lucky I was not sleeping in my bed when this happened. I would've freaked out probably! Somehow I didn't get to bed early enough, and Jackie invited me out. And what's more, I was wrestling with the option of either going to bed or going out at the time Jackie texted me back. Someone made up my mind for me to leave the house. Too bad that same someone didn't make up my mind for me to get out of the house the second I heard noises from upstairs, but I guess there's only so much a guardian can do.

ALWAYS DEAD-BOLT your house! ALWAYS! Granted, Todd lives in a sketchy, ghetto, neighborhood, but still. After this experience I will have everything bolted from now on.

Talking to some people, they say that they probably would've panicked or freaked out if it happened to them. Luckily, and I mean this... I'm me. I'm pretty calm and collected, and I was able to just deal with the situation as calmly as possible. I didn't know what to expect after the guy told me to go face-down on the ground, but I just trusted that he didn't want to shoot me. THANK GOD! I have been talking to a lot of people about it to get it out. I can't bottle this up, and now you all can read it, and hopefully take a lesson from it...