Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Long weekends rule!

So what a weekend. Thanksgiving turned out to be really fun. My dinner was mostly good, but for the first time ever my Turkey didn’t turn out. I was bummed. It was tough and frankly kind of gross. I am not sure what I did wrong. I have always had good luck with turkeys in the past, but this one honestly sucked. Boooo. But the rest of the meal was really good. My stuffing was awesome, I make a really good stuffing. Anyway Melissa and I had a wonderful day together. We basically relaxed all day and hung out. We played a game of Monopoly which was really fun and then watched a movie. It was a great day. Friday we went to the Wild game which was also fun, it was a 1pm start so it fun having an afternoon game to go to. After the game which the Wild won by the way we met friends at a Chinese place in Bloomington for dinner. My buddy Scott and his wife go there often and said it was good. So 6 of us met there and had dinner. After diner we went to the Happy Gnome for a drink and all hung out. It turned out to be a really fun night. Saturday was a homework day and most of Sunday was as well. But Sunday night we met friends at the Roller-dome for some roller blading and then went out for dinner the 4 of us. We went to a place called Brasa, it was over in Northeast and was pretty good, but a little on the expensive side. Oh well.

I am really into single malt scotches right now so I have been trying them whenever I can. Might need a new hobby though single malts are really expensive.

I finished one of my classes on Saturday. My medical terminology class is now complete which I am happy about. This class load is killing me and I am looking forward to it being done so I can start skiing. I have a little over 2 weeks left in my classes so hopefully by then all of the runs at the area ski hills will be open and ready. At least that is my hope.

Today is Melissa’s birthday, I am bummed she has to work until midnight tonight so we will not be able to do much for her birthday on her birthday. But I gave her, her present last night so that was good.

I am really looking forward to Christmas. I love Christmas. I am hoping for lots and lots of snow for Christmas.

Only 73 days till our ski trip!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Trip Booked

Ok, so I booked our ski trip on Friday. SWEET! We are heading out Feb 10th. The goal is to be in Bozeman Montana on Friday the 11th for my birthday. I want to have my birthday dinner at the Pita Pit. I love the Pita Pit and it would be a great place for me to have my dinner. After a couple days in Bozeman we will head down to Big Sky and start skiing Feb 13th. The goal is to ski Moonlight Basin on Sunday, Big Sky Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we have an open day. We are either going to rest or head back to Bozeman and ski at Bridger Bowl, or depending on the snow we might just stay and ski Big Sky. Thursday as part of our hotel package we have a Biggest Skiing and America pass so that means we can ski Moonlight and Big Sky on one ticket. So we will go out with a bang on Thursday. Then Friday we are going to start back and depending on weather and snow conditions we are hoping to stop and ski at Red Lodge and spend a night or 2. I have been to Red Lodge during the summer but never the winter so I am hoping it works out. On Sunday then we will drive the rest of the way home. Monday will be a rest day. I am hoping for 6 skis. It is going to be awesome. I have begun the countdown. 88 days. Word!

So it snowed this weekend. It was crappy heavy wet gross snow. But it was snow and it was nice to see it back. Not sure if you know this but I love snow. Winter is the best season and I say the more snow the better. I do not like it when it is 20 below zero, that completely sucks but huge snow storms and temps in the teens or 20’s is ok with me. So I say bring on the dumpage. The more the better I think. I want to ski powder this year, whether here or there it does not matter. We are going to give the up of Michigan a go this winter. We have talked to a few people that said to give Indianhead and Big Powderhorn a try. So I think we are going to give it a go. It will be fun to try somewhere new. It looks like it is about the same distance from our house to that area of Michigan so it should be good.

I have 4 weeks of classes left. This semester has been both a total pain in the ass and incredibly rewarding. I did discover however that human anatomy and physiology is not something to take online. It is incredibly difficult. And trying to do it on your own is really tough. I think I am doing ok in it though so that is good.
Thanksgiving is next week and I am looking forward to a nice long weekend. Melissa and I are going to hang out and cook a nice dinner and relax. Friday we have a Wild game which should be fun. Life is good.

Think Snow!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Stuff

So I bought a snowboard. I didn’t get a really expensive one; I just got an inexpensive beginner one. It is a good brand though so I think it will work nicely. I really want to give snowboarding a try, and figured that with my Welch season pass it would be cheaper to buy a board instead of renting one every time I wanted to give it a try. I am really looking forward to giving it a go. I still skateboard a little bit and used to skateboard a ton when I was in high school. So I have the basic movements down and I understand that they carry over fairly well from skating to snowboarding. Hopefully I will be able to pick it up fairly quickly; it would be super fun to give it a go out west this winter. Melissa got a new pair of skis this weekend as well. She got a pair of Volkl Kiku powder boards. They are nice and fat and should be awesome in Montana powder. I also have a pair of Volkl powder skis, mine are Volkl Mantras but I love them. They are just an awesome ski, I have skied them all over Lone Mountain and Bridger Bowl and they were perfect. Snow fields, trees, and some of the steeper terrain I have done. I am guessing Melissa’s skis are going to behave the same way. I am excited for her to give them a try. I can’t wait for the snow to fly. I am getting so excited to get going.

Melissa and I have decided to return to Big Sky once again this year. I love it there; it is hard to go anywhere else. I know that is silly because there are a lot of great ski resorts in the US, but it is hard to beat Montana. Snow is perfect and there are no people. And there are a couple more runs that I want to do at Big Sky before moving somewhere new. This year, I want to ski either Lenin or Marx bowls on the south face of Lone Mountain, they are a step up from Liberty Bowl, they are huge snow fields that come down from the summit. I also would love to ski in the Dakota Territory which is below Liberty Bowl on the south west face. The Dakota Territory is all tree and steeper terrain way on the other side of the mountain. I think I have to talk Melissa into that one, but hopefully she will make her way over with me. I also want to ski the left side of Wardance, which is named Mine Shaft. I have been studying that line for a while now and I think it is for sure going to be on the list.

Melissa and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past weekend in Duluth. We had a nice room at the South Pier Inn. I love that hotel it is right on the Duluth Canal, so you can sit in your room and watch the ships go by. It is pretty dang cool. We both took Friday off last week and headed up early, made it to Duluth at about 1130. Went to Fitger’s right away for lunch and to have our beer growlers filled. Lunch was good, I really like that place for lunch. After lunch we went back and checked into our room. After that we took off and walked across the lift bridge and went and looked at all of the little shops that we like. We had a nice dinner. Saturday we got up and headed up to Gooseberry Falls and went for a nice hike. It was a beautiful weekend up north. We had a great time.

We are in the beginning stages of putting together a Christmas open house party. We have always talked about throwing a party. I think we are going to do it this year. We basically planned it on the drive up to Duluth on Friday. I am hoping we actually do it, because I think it would be a blast. More on that later.

Classes are killing me, so fricking busy. I just registered for spring semester 2 classes. After that I will have 3 classes left. SWEET! It will be so nice to be done. It has been a long road, but I am proud of myself for doing it.

We are not going to Chicago this year over Thanksgiving like we normally do. I am a little bummed but I think it will be ok. I am going to make a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Then we have a Wild game on Friday so I think the weekend will be fun. But I am guessing Chicago might creep in, it usually does.

Life is good.