Wednesday, February 20, 2008

2 days


Ok, so I now leave for my beloved Montana in 2 days and some odd hours. I am so excited, that I am all packed. In fact I was all packed 2 days ago. All of my clothes, stuff I am bringing, my skis, boots and poles, and all of my winter wear are packed and waiting to be loaded on to the train. Everything has gone so smoothly. I am really good at preparing for vacation and this trip was no different, I think that is why I have such a good feeling about having everything ready to go. Even though Melissa and I have been gone a lot this winter this is really going to be a fun trip. We are skiing 5 days in some of the best conditions the 2 resorts we are skiing have seen in many years. 348" of snow really makes me smile. And that is what Whitefish has gotten season to date. I can't even tell you how much I wish they get more while we are there. Even just a few inches a day, I don't need to be greedy, I probably couldn't ski in 20 inches of snow anyway, but maybe 3-6 everyday would be awesome. We have our rides to and from the station lined up and that was kind of the last thing we need to worry about. We don't have a lot of stuff we are bringing it is just kind of on the larger size. Ski bag, boot bag, and our North Face Expedition pack, which will carry all of our clothes for the week. We also have 2 backpacks as carry on's. That is the nice thing about the train, you are allowed more stuff. So you don't feel like you have to worry quite as much. But I think we tried to pack smart, I weighed everything and I know that we are good weight wise. So it should be good.


We had a fun weekend. Melissa ran a 5k on Saturday at Lake Harriet with a friend of hers. She did great they finish in 37 minutes which is far better than I would have considering I would have had the big one about half way around. We then went home and relaxed. Sunday we went skiing at Welch, I bought Melissa a private snowboard lesson which she took. I think she liked it and it seemed to help her. I thought she was doing a lot better on her snowboard but the end of the day. So I think I did a good thing signing her up.


Hopefully this week will go fast and we can get outta here...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I "heart" Valentines Day


Happy Valentines Day everyone. I like Valentines Day, I think it is fun. Even when I was single I thought Valentines Day was a fun holiday. There is proof that it is not an evil corporate holiday made up by the greeting card and candy makers of the planet so I don't feel the need to go into that but, check it out here, I mean if it says so on Wikipedia it must be true right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine We really don't have any big plans for tonight so that will be good. I think we are just going to throw in a frozen pizza and maybe watch a movie. Nice easy night.

It was suppose to snow last night into this morning and "we" were suppose to get 3" - 5" of freshies, but of course the weathermen were way off and we are lucky if we saw 3/4" of the white stuff. I am really getting bummed, we haven't had a good snowfall since Christmas Day, and that was a fun day too, Melissa and I were skiing at Afton that day and it was really nice. I think if I remember right we got about 6" and Afton was quiet so it was great. But that seems like so long ago that we actually had some good snow around here. It just doesn't seem fair, places out west have gotten 300"+ and I bet we haven't even gotten 30" this year. I wish it was more like when I was a kid and it would just snow and snow, but I guess the whole global warming thing is killing that. We are skiing one last time here on Sunday before heading out west. I can't wait. Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a great day; Melissa always makes things so special. She got me a couple nice books that I wanted for gifts, a really nice card and a cake with 2 skiers and a couple trees on it. It was great! It was another nice birthday. We watched a movie and then hit the rack. Melissa was not feeling to good last night, she thinks she might be getting a cold. I really hope not, but if she is going to get one I guess now is a better time then when we are in Montana.

Speaking of Montana, they got another 5" of snow last night. It seems to just snow and snow there. I get the snow report via RSS feed and it seems like everyday there is fresh snow. I just can't wait to get out there and hope that Ullr will save some freshies for us...

It is a quiet day today which I like, so not much else to report.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Skiing, Moguls, Steeps, then Blizzard


What a great weekend. We were up in Lutsen skiing this weekend. Melissa and I try to get up there every year right before my birthday and this year was no different. Since today is my birthday. Anyway, skiing was interesting to say the least this weekend. We got up to Lutsen Friday night and just hunkered down in the old hotel and hung out watching the boob tube. Got up around 8 on Saturday morning, had breakfast and headed up to the mountain. We got our secret parking place and geared up. It was snowing on and off for most of the day, which was great. We skied all of our favorite runs: Split Rock - Chris's Couloir - and others. We also headed over to Moose Mountain and skied the mile long mogul run Grizzly. It was a blast. The moguls had just opened so they weren't very icy and were really fun. We skied almost all day moving around between mountains and practiced different things in prep for Montana here in a few weeks. Then at about 245 everything went right in the tank. The forecast had called for falling temps through the day, but I had no idea that it was going to happen all at once. The wind started to blow and I mean really hard, like 40mph, they closed a few lifts, the gondola and with the little snow that was still falling it became a blizzard. We called it a day then, but it wasn't easy getting back to the car. But it was an adventure to say the least. Sunday came and we bailed on skiing, due to -60 degree wind chills. No fun to ski in that kind of cold. Oh well, it was a fun weekend anyway.


Like I said today is my birthday, I am 37 today. I don't feel 37 at all. Since I have really started to bike and ski hard I have lost a ton of weight and I feel great. With all of the exercising that Melissa and I have been doing we are able to still have some crappy food once and a while so it has been a fairly easy diet, and I use that term loosely...


I think tonight for my birthday dinner, Melissa and I are going over to CiCi's Pizza. It is a fun place in Eagan, a pizza buffet that has at any given time 12-14 pizza's on the line. And it is cheap. $12 for the both of us. Check it out here: http://www.cicispizza.com/ Should be a fun night.


Like I said I am going to try to be better about updating my Blog...

Friday, February 8, 2008

Back again.


Ok, so I have been away from my blog for quite sometime, I know shame on me. During that time I cannot even tell you how many things have changed. Jobs mostly. I left NACR and did a contracting deal at a major US Bank... Which sucked so bad I can't even tell you how bad it sucked. I left there and have now found a home at the State of Minnesota. Still doing IT stuff, but so far I really like it here. I won't bore you with the details.


Last year I rode my bike(s) a lot. Almost 1200 miles total and this year will be no different. I know for sure that; at least right now that I am going to be entering one race. And I plan on trying to ride at least 60-70 miles a week. I am hoping for more but that is going to be a good starting point.


Now lets talk about the real deal. It is ski season and I am hitting it hard so far this year. I have 15 ski days in and a season pass for Lutsen, Melissa and I are having a blast so far this season. Minnesota is actually having a winter this year and Lutsen has some good snow. We have been skiing Lutsen and Welch Village mostly here in the cities and are getting ready for our big trip out to Whitefish Montana here in 14 days. I can't wait. Whitefish season to date has gotten 310" of snow and are getting more what seems like daily. I have my powder skis waxed and ready to go. I am really looking forward to getting away. Melissa and I are taking the Amtrak out there which should be just a blast. It takes 22 hours which is about the same amount of time that it would take to drive. We have a sleeper room which will be awesome. The cost of the train round trip is about a third of what it would cost to fly and much easier then driving, plus it will be really fun.


I know I say this but I am going to try to be better about my blog because I do enjoy it.
Hang with me...