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!

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!

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.

Re-cap

It has been awhile I know and a lot has gone on since I last posted. Let’s recap shall we. The Twins are done playing baseball, booooo. School is going fairly well, I took three classes this semester and 3 is turning out to be to many, but in the long run it is turning out to be a good thing. Yeah that didn’t make any sense at all, but after this semester is done I will have 5 or so classes left which will be so nice. I love school but… My best friend got married this past weekend, so Melissa and I were busy doing wedding stuff. I was in the wedding so that was pretty fun. I have never been in a wedding besides my own so it was good to be up there and see the event from the front row. The wedding turned out to be a blast. I had so much fun. Lots of laughs with Chris and his brother Scott. I have known these guys for 34 years so it was good times. It is funny how time flies, seems like just yesterday we were little kids running around the neighborhood with little in the way of cares. But I am happy for him; he has found someone to spend his life with.

Melissa and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Oct 21st. Our anniversary got a little screwed up with all wedding stuff going on, so we are headed out of town in early November to celebrate officially, I am really looking forward to that as well.

In other news the 2010/2011 Rockies ski season officially started yesterday, Loveland ski resort in Colorado opened with 1000 vertical feet of skiing. YES! But they were not the first to open this year, Sunday River resort in Maine opened on Friday Oct. 22nd. Awesome! My snowstorm watching begins now. Melissa and I are starting to think about a place to go this year and once again all signs are pointed to a Montana week of skiing. We are thinking about Whitefish again, but I have a few more goals for Big Sky, so I am guessing we are going to end up there. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have a love affair with Montana. I love skiing there, the place is beautiful, the people are friendly and the snow is amazing and perfect. All signs right now are predicting a good winter for snow so I am hoping we can luck out and score lots and lots of fresh powder to play in.

This year if we do go back to Big Sky, I am going to ski the south face of Lone Mountain, whether it is the run Castro or Lenin it will not matter, but I am going to do one of them, I have been eyeing them for about 2 years and now is the time to make the jump. I have to start training now. They are steep and will be filled with powder so they will be leg killers, sadly I can’t build up the quads skiing around here as I would like, but every little bit will help. I am actually going to start running again. Yikes. There is a running group here in the Twin Cities that opens the dome up to running 2 nights a week starting in Late November and I figure if I run to nights a week, and try to get back to 8-10 miles I will be ready for Montana. I want to be ready in case we get pounded with snow while we are out there.
In other skiing related news, I am about 99% sure I am going to buy a snowboard this year. I really want to give it a try. I would like to be able to do it a bit and have another option for around here. Melissa and I have season passes for Welch Village this year so I am hoping to get a lot of skiing in. The beauty of the season pass is we can head down in the morning, ski for a few hours and then leave when it starts to get busy and not be out much at all.

Life is good, busy but good. Halloween is just around the corner and with that comes the Great Pumpkin. I am with Linus and wait every year for the Great Pumpkin. I am hoping he show this year. We always watch The Shining and have a pizza for Halloween, so that is really fun. I am looking forward to another fun night.

Weekend

So it is almost the weekend, thank god. It has been a long really crappy week. I am ready for some R&R. Hmmm do people even still say that? Anyway, this should be a good weekend, besides a Cultural Anthropology exam that I have to take tonight, the rest of the weekend should be pretty low key. Melissa and I are hitting the Twins game Saturday and then running a few errands in preparation for my Notre Dame football watching party I am hosting, Melissa is the only person I invited but it should be a fun party. I am going to have lots of snacks and beverages. Go Irish! Then I plan on doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. Awesome!

The week has been busy, work is crazy. I am doing a huge server upgrade and it has just been a ton of work, luckily there have been very few problems, so that is good. But the stress level is high and Eric is crabby. So I will be glad to be done with work at 4pm today.

The weather has really turned, man it is chilly outside. Typical Minnesota went from hot too cold without much warning. But the good thing is, snow is right around the corner. I am looking forward to skiing this year. It always makes me happy. Bring on the powder.

My classes are going well, they are busy. Lots of reading, lots of reading! Luckily I have no papers to write this semester so over all it should be a good semester. I am taking 3 on-line classes which I think I have mentioned 5 or six times. (sorry) It is the most on-line classes I have taken at once. I love online classes a lot; they keep my organizational skills keen. I have a lot of planning and calendaring to do daily so it keeps me on my toes. The cool thing about all of this is I am starting to see the goal ahead of me. At least I think I do, I am 80% sure I know what I am going to do with all of this, but it is the 20% uncertainty that keeps throwing me off.

The really exciting news is the fall session of Mini-Medical School is 3 weeks away!!! Sweet! I am so excited. I can’t wait for it to start up for this session. I love Mini-Med School and can’t wait to get back at it. I signed up right away after getting my registration information and then count down began.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. I wonder if anyone exactly reads my blog…

Ramblings

I have a feeling this is going to be a busy week. Things at work are really picking up. I am doing a lot of cool stuff and the days are going really fast which is nice. The past weekend was good, mostly a quiet weekend, but nice none the less. Saturday Melissa had to work so I stayed home and relaxed, did some homework, took an exam and watched a little college football. So overall it was a nice relaxing day. Sunday I got up and did a few things around the house, and then it was off to the Wayzata Yacht Club for a little sailing action out on Lake Minnetonka. It was a perfect day, nice and windy. I got to the dock just a bit after noon and helped Steve set up the boat. After the whole crew was there we set off and headed for the race area. The race went pretty good, we had a few problems but it was a fun day out on the lake. Sailing season is nearing the end, and even though it will be nice to take a break, I know that I will miss it once it is gone.

I have become a bit of a voracious reader in the past few years; I have been reading a lot of stuff. Novels, magazines and blogs. I have discovered a couple of great blogs that I read fairly religiously, some are just for fun others pertain to my job. Currently I am reading a book called Med School Confidential (http://tinyurl.com/35xpkj6) It is a great read so far and I am really enjoying it. It is meant as a guide to walk you through the process of preparing, applying and what to except during your time in Medical School. I am a little more than half way through it and I am finding it very interesting. It is fun for me to wonder if I really could have done it. The information that I am reading make me wonder if I would have been smart enough to even attempt Medical School. Wow, what a process. If you have any interest in such things I highly recommend this book. I bought the digital version for my Barnes and Noble Nook book reader so I can’t loan it out but for $13 at Amazon it is an interesting read. I love my Nook by the way. It is a little different to get use to but once you do it is a great device.

It is amazing how fast time is going, September is basically half over and I noticed yesterday there is a little fall chill in the air. It is getting close to that time when I start to dream of snow and also start to think about planning our winter ski trip. I think we are planning on taking one, we are just not sure to where. Right now the leader of the pack is Utah. So we would have a week skiing, Deer Valley, Alta and Snowbird. I have been reading early weather predictions and it is look favorable for big snows in the west. I know some areas have already gotten snow this year. Jackson Hole, Whistler and even some spots in Utah. I think I am mostly ready for snow. Summer was good, but the weather wasn’t the best so, it went fast and I just don’t feel like I did much. Any thoughts on where we should go?

Self Pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

-D. H. Lawrence