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...

The Vail Weekend 2009

Okay, so finally I have something else to write about after all this time…

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE COLORADO!!! Seriously, I can’t think of anywhere else on Earth I would rather live at this point in my life. This past week, I have gotten a little bit more confident in my virgin career in Medical Sales, and I had the pleasure of playing tour guide for a few days with my friend Dre who came in from San Diego to snowboard in the Rocky Mountains. She got into Denver on Monday afternoon with three other California friends. We texted back and forth and decided to meet up downtown at Pat’s to do some liberal drinking. I called up my new friend Ashley, and her roommate and her met up with us down at Pat’s.

Probably the most important thing about Monday was the price for drinking: $7 pitchers! And there was a beer pong tournament. Dre came with her California friends Ashley, Ryan, and Doug. She was also staying with her friend Austin and his roommate Diego. We all met up, and then my friend Ashley showed up about 20 minutes later with her roommate Liz. Come to find out, Doug went to SDSU so there was an immediate, “We can party hard,” connection between Doug and myself since we’re both party animals that went to SDSU. We played in the beer pong tournament and dismantled our first opponents who were native Coloradans. We talked trash about the Broncos with these guys since our SD roots run deep… We then got destroyed by another set of Coloradans that were transplants from the Boston area. All in all we went 2-2 and didn’t win any prizes as it was double elimination in the beer pong tournament.

Tuesday through Thursday Dre and all her friends headed up to the mountains. Todd hooked them up with his FAT Frisco Cabin for Wednesday and Thursday nights at $300/night. Ridiculously cheap when you realize that it’s about 2000 square feet, has a hot tub, four rooms, a living room upstairs, a den downstairs, a huge kitchen, and is hooked up with a flat screen TV, Ipod radio, and surround sound system!!! It has enough sleeping space for 12 comfortably so it is perfect!!! I was fortunate to meet up with the crew on Thursday night and stay at the Frisco Cabin with them Thursday night. I stayed Thursday night for free since I hooked them up with a $200 discount. Of course the first thing I did was get in the Hot Tub. I was so jazzed up about the Hot Tub that I didn’t even mix myself a drink. Not to worry, Ryan aka Dingo, mixed me a Jack and Coke, emphasis on Jack! Austin is an awesome cook and he cooked us some Salmon with Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes on Thursday night. Then we all went out to the bars in Breckenridge and stayed out til 2:30am. Woke up at 7am and cleaned up and then bailed for Vail…

We parked at Vail and were on the mountain at 11am, and it was dumping!!! Visibility was not so good, but I took Austin, Dre, Dingo, and Doug to the back bowls immediately. It was not easy at all to see with the conditions, but we still hauled down the mountain on the first run. The SD transplants were so tired thanks to the massive elevation of the Rockies. I am lucky enough to be used to the elevation so I had no issues. We went up lift 17 and went through some open trees. This is where I got a bit ahead of everyone, and went through some open trees myself. I hit some powder bumps, and was having an awesome time! I was having so much fun hauling downhill that I kept going, but then I hit a tuft of snow and lost control. Fell down on my back on my way straight into a tree. I was hoping that I might be heading away from said tree and hopefully just slide to the side of it. I really tried to bring my board down to stop or slow down but my momentum carried me straight down. Unfortunately for me, I was heading towards the tree, but fortunately my helmet stopped me! As in, I hit the tree head first, but the helmet saved my LIFE!!! Everyone was behind me and they just saw a puff of powder smoke as I lost control and then they just saw me lying next to the tree. I got up and we went back down to the bottom.

We went a couple other places and warmed up at Two Elk’s Lodge around 12:30 on the top of the mountain cuz it was 11 degrees and there was no trace of the sun. After we warmed up it was about 1pm, and then the sun came out. We hit up a bit more POW runs, and then headed down to Los Amigos for some Apres Ski drinking! We started chatting up two other ladies from NYC, and got their numbers to hang with later on. We finally finished at Los Amigos, and went to the hotel. Dre got a room at the Sitzmark Lodge, so we all recovered there for a bit. The awesome thing was, there was a stage and live music being played right outside our hotel. We got in the hot tub on the second floor outside and were drinking our own mixtures of alcohol while being serenaded with live Reggae. The stage was almost right below us, so we got hooked up! It was so chill, and it was like GOD was smiling upon us, allowing us to listen to really good music for free while soaking our loins.

After the hot tub, we decided to get my car and drive out to West Vail to park it at a Safeway parking lot since we had no other parking passes for it, and I didn’t want to necessarily pay for overnight parking. Diego and I went to drop off the car while everyone else got ready to go to Garfinkles for the partying portion of the night. We dropped off my car, and Diego and I made an executive decision to get everyone $1 menu McDonald’s. Called up the rest of the crew and gave them specific instructions to figure out what they want from the $1 menu. Got the text of the order and we got the food and headed back. We went to Garfinkles around 10pm and met up with the NYC girls Rebbekah and Lara. The one thing about Garfinkles is that they must stamp you when you enter. Not a big deal, but the stamp must be radio-active! I am writing this on Monday, and there is still a faint blue mark from it. It has a half-life of 5 years I think! I digress, $3 U-Call-It’s all night long = SUITE!!! Love the cheap drinking! It was packed in there. We met a lot of Vail locals and I’m pretty sure between Austin, Diego, and I we will have a place to stay in Vail for free from now on. Austin was playing pool, and after winning and taking control of the table, he was awaiting for the next man up to rack for him. This guy was probably waiting for an hour, and finally racked up so Austin could break. I heard the distinct CRACK of the break and watched in amazement as Austin sank the “8” ball on the break! Translation: GAME OVER! This guy waited all that time to just lose on the break, OUCH! We were pretty much done at Garfinkles after that, so we headed back to the Sitzmark Lodge. Austin already said that we’re gonna hang at this Aussie’s place next weekend in Vail. I love it!!!

The bad news of the night was that my neck was so stiff from hitting that tree. Not only that, but I tried to ride on Saturday, but I really couldn’t rotate my neck. I’m gonna get a massage from Jackie later on this week to hopefully loosen me up…

Saturday we woke up, and my neck was so stiff! I had issues sleeping Friday night. I was sleeping in between Ashley and Dre, without a pillow to hopefully straighten out my neck. I woke up in the middle of the night so sore, so I got off the bed and tried sleeping on the floor sitting up with my back against the bed. After that didn’t work out, I just lied down on my back on the hard floor without a pillow again. I was so stiff and sore! Dre woke up and I didn’t think that I could ride on Saturday. Yeah, it was that BAD! If you know me, it’s gonna take a lot for me not to go riding… I’ve gone up sick as a dog before because I love to ride! That should let you know the kind of pain I was in.

The Sitzmark Lodge had free breakfast, so we all went in waves to get us some food. The breakfast was excellent! Fresh fruit, bagels, cereal, and the coup de tat: Fresh Waffle Batter to be poured into the Waffle Maker! Man, what a great way to start your day! I really wanted to get on the hill cuz it was my last chance to go riding with Dre, Dingo, and Doug this trip. Finally I decided to soak in the bathtub under some hot water one last time. I psyched myself up and got on my gear and was off to the mountain. Dre got her lift ticket, and we waited in the never ending singles line to get on the mountain. Finally when it was time to get our tickets scanned, hers was not scanning. Come to find out the peeps at the ticket counter had given her a pass for Keystone, A-Basin, and Breckenridge instead of the one she really needed: VAIL! Luckily they fixed it, cuz the ticket scanner dude went down to the ticket office and switched it out for her so we didn’t have to leave the line. We finally got to the top and met up with Doug and Dingo. Went down Sun Up Bowl, but it had mostly been skied out already so we didn’t get to hit some FRESH POW. It was at this point that we got some pictures of us on the mountain.

After the pictures and hitting some crusty snow on the way down, I was barely able to move my neck. Every time my heel would slip or I would have to dig into the snow extra hard, the pain would shoot up into my neck and the pain was getting ridiculous. Since I couldn’t do much I decided to ride down and call it a day for myself. Dre and the Cali boys kept on going, and I can’t blame them.

Since I was done for the day, I went back to Austin’s truck and dropped off my gear. After that I called Austin, who was with Ashley and Diego. They came and picked me up in the rental car and we went to Denny’s to eat us some food. It was a little ways away from the resort, but I got the Super Bird, and it was excellent! We then drove on back over to the Safeway parking lot to pick up my car. We get there and there’s a sticker on my car reading,

Okay… So I didn’t get a ticket, just a big orange sticker on my car. Funny! I had to take a picture of it to document this part of the trip. Austin had to go take a massive poopy, so he went into the Ace Hardware store, but before he went to said bathroom he called me and told me I had to go in and see the fish in there. So I went in, and got some pics of the fishies. They were pretty big, so it made for good use of my camera.

After that we headed back and met up with the rest of the crew. We had a little bit of time to chill in Vail still, so Austin and I went to an art store and saw some ridiculously expensive art, sculptures, displays. He started chatting up the girl who was helping us and come to find out she’s apparently an ex-pro snowboarder. She gave him a card with a website she’s supposedly on. I checked out what I could on my Blackberry, and it’s def a pro-snowboarding website. Her name is Zoe, but there is no last name. He got her phone number and email, so I hope we can all ride in Vail if she really is that good. It was my own little, unofficial vacation! It was excellent!

Back in Denver, we decided to go out on Saturday night too… Why not? So Austin, Diego, Dingo, Doug, and I went downtown to Spill, Monarch, and 24K to get our swerve on Saturday night. Dre and Ashley actually drove from Vail over to Aspen to visit with some other of their friends. The boys all stayed out all night Saturday… I think it was three birthday parties and a girls night out between all of the ladies we chatted up Saturday night. It was just ridiculous! My First Bank Visa Check Card got stolen, but luckily I have two bank accounts, so after I called and cancelled that card at 12:30am Sun morning/Sat night, I wasn’t completely cut off from society… Sunday was recovery day from all of the hard partying we did. The Cali crew flew back on Sunday night, and my weekend was finally put to a hault! But not before I watched, “Taken” with my Colorado friend Ashley. BTW… “Taken” was awesome!!! Great ending to a great weekend!

Superbowl Sunday Ride Day!!!

Yee-haw!!! It's the day after the Superbowl, and I did the best possible thing... I went snowboarding! And it was ridiculously awesome!!! Thanks to Jimmy Lin and myself, we decided a long time ago that if the Chargers aren't in the Superbowl, we will pass up seeing some or all of the game if it gives us a chance to ride. The reasoning behind this: way back in 2000, when Jimmy met me in Big Bear on Superbowl Sunday to ride, it was dead on the mountain! So it seems that it's the most watched sporting event in the U.S. every year, and that means a majority of the skiers and boarders won't be hitting the mountains on this day.

Before we get into all that, there was the beginning of my day. It consisted of getting up before my alarm at 5:39am and jumping out of bed, ready to suit up and get my butt in gear. Got me some McDonald's for breakfast: chicken biscuit, hash browns, and a coffee. What would happen on my commute later on that morning would prove that actually drinking coffee helped me stay alert. I was on the 25 south at 6:20am, so I was making good time. If I can manage to get on the freeway by 6:30am I'm normally gonna make it to any mountain before opening time, and this day would prove no different. Only I had a slight issue with my commute on the way up to Vail this particular Superbowl Sunday.

I was making great time. It was 7:30am, and I had passed Frisco, which is normally about 25-30 minutes from Vail on the 70 westbound, assuming there is no traffic. Well, there wasn't a lot of traffic this morning, so I was going at a comfortable pace, only passing mainly semis on the way once past Frisco. The rode was definitely slick because I could see the white sheets of snow and ice in either lane. I was doing about 50 mph, and I felt completely safe. I was thinking, "I'll be fine as long as I don't have to make any sudden stops or sharp turns." I should really stop thinking these things.

Maybe five minutes later, I'm in the left lane and I'm coming up about to pass a semi that is already in the right lane about 1/4 mile ahead of me, maybe 1/2 mile. Guess what? Yeah, he was doing about 30 mph and he turns on his blinker and immediately gets in my lane! I see this ahead of me, and I immediately know that I am going too fast because he is not gonna speed up in time to keep me from hitting him at this pace, and I don't have a lot of room to safely slow down. I start with cussing, "Sh--." I keep saying this over and over again to no-one in particular since it's just me in the car. I AM GOING TO HIT HIM, unless I slow down. I don't down-shift, which in retrospect would have been a smarter decision. I instead opt to tap on my brakes and see how much I can slow down. The tapping isn't working too well. I'm still going too fast to hit him. I can feel my car starting to slide, but I have no other options. The wheels locked up because I was either gonna try my luck at sliding and slowing down while on the brakes, or rear-ending the semi ahead of me! My car starts to shift to the right, and the tail end is coming around. I do the over-correction steering move, and then I'm sideways sliding, still going too fast. The passenger side is downhill, facing the semi and now I can see the AWD Subaru that he was passing! Friekin' ALL WHEEL DRIVE SUBARU was going 30 mph!!! This person, in my mind, should never be allowed to drive a Subaru again in their life!

Well, while sliding downhill sideways, I managed to slow down enough to give the semi time to accelerate and get on his way so I won't hit him. The Subaru, however, was still doing 30 mph! I was now in danger of hitting the Subaru! I can still remember catching up with Mr. or Mrs. AWD, and thinking that now I'm gonna crash into this AWD vehicle! The whole time I was just waiting to hear the CRACK!!! that happens when you are in an accident. Thanks to myself, and Jimmy, I have been in two accidents so I know what it sounds like inside the car when you crash into something, so I have experience! I was maybe three feet away from the Subaru at my closest point. If I had a passenger, they could have stuck a lacrosse stick out the window and whacked the Subaru with it! Miraculously, I slowed down enough to miss the Subaru as well!!!

But this is not over! No, not yet! I am still sliding, but now I am headed for the concrete divide on the left-hand side of the road! Now, I think I'm gonna hit the divide! And yet, another miraculous thing happens as I turn the wheel to the right and some-how decide to hit the gas to get the front tires spinning again. I managed to miss the divide! At this point I am going very slow, maybe 10 mph, and my wheels finally begin to grip, and I straighten out as my heart is leaping out of my chest! Now it's decision time: 1. Do I stop on the side of the road and try to compose myself or, 2. Do I just keep driving and let the adrenaline wear off eventually.

There were about 3-4 other cars that I had passed that passed me on the left when I was slow and go in the right lane after my out-of-control incident. I opt for option # 2. I decide that I should just keep driving because if I stop, it's not gonna do much for me to "compose" myself at that point. Since I averted that disaster, I felt that I would just take it slow and get to Vail. And the Subaru was so slow, that I still passed it maybe a mile down the road! As Jimmy put it, "The most fun I never want to have again."

So that was the morning commute. I still get to Vail at 8am, and get my gear on. I am on the Gondola right as they open at 8:30am. I get on the mountain, and now I really have to make this day worth it since I almost crashed my car on the way up there! Vail is huge! Over 5,000 acres, and this is the fifth time on the mountain this year. I go to the familiar back bowls, and look at a map at the top. There is still a whole side of the mountain that I haven't seen yet. I decide to go explore, and to my surprise I find a sweet Black Diamond on the far western(?) back-side of the mountain. It's got some rocks with a few smaller drops, cliffs. I don't get enough cajones to go off the top of these and drop into some soft, albeit, crusty powder. But I did follow another boarder and a skier into the trees. Normally, I hate tree runs, but today is different. In this particular tree run, it's still a bit narrow, but I can keep my speed up and shoot through the trees! It was sweet! It was so good, in fact, that I had to do it again.

After all of that, and after getting back to some of the more familiar back bowls, I was getting hungry. I ride down to the bottom and pull out my trusty Nature's Valley Granola Bar, and munch down on it. By this time it was 12:30pm, and I call a few people to hopefully tell them about my morning commute, but no one answers except my Dad. I tell him about it, and then get some water and do a restroom pit-stop. Now it's 1:00, and I'm pretty much done for the day. I get on the lift at 1:15pm to take me back to the top so I can ride to the other side of the mountain where my car is.

While on the lift, I see to my left, Vail's Terrain Park, complete with a super-pipe and a few jumps that look too big for me to hit. But I really wanted to hit the half-pipe! So I notice that the lift I'm on just keeps getting higher and higher up the mountain. So high in fact that I can traverse all the way to the Terrain Park. So I ride over towards the Terrain Park and finally, I'm there! I immediately hit the super-pipe, and then I notice a few jumps to my left that are smaller, and therefore, I can hit them. There is a shorter pipe to the left of the super-pipe, so I hit that one because it gives me access to the other smaller jumps. After the first couple jumps, I hit the third one and launch myself in the air enough to get a decent grab. At this point, I was hooked! I kept the same routine for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I got to the park at 1:45pm, and ended up taking the lift past the Terrain Park higher up the mountain at 3:00. I made my way all the way to the other side of the mountain where my car was, and I get to my car at 3:40. It was the best Superbowl Ride Day... EVER!!!

I was on the road back home at 4:00 which, as anyone who has ever experienced traffic back to Denver on the 70 can tell you, is normally the kiss of death! Parking lot!!! Yes, there was an accident on the way back, but the normal commute is an hour forty five minutes, and I still got home in two hours and fifteen minutes. Even if it would've taken me three and a half hours to get home, the whole day would've still been totally worth it! EPIC!!! Loved it!

So... Who wants to do it with me next year? I'll try to keep control of the car this time, I promise!