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I think I have been a spoiled skier my whole life. My parents where big skiers in their day. Dad was on the UW downhill race team with my uncle as the coach. My Mom spent her winter quarters in Sun Valley as a waitress hanging in the scene back in the day. She even graced the cover of SKIING magazine which is bigger editorial coverage than I ever achieved.
They started me skiing at a very young age. I don't remember how old I was but I'm guessing 3, 4, or 5. They put me in classes when I was little and I eventually went on to race at Snoqualmie. Never had the patience for racing. Then one of my fathers friends was a K2 rep and we went and skied bumps and I dreamed of being a bumper. That didn't amount to much either. Then I went to MSU to ski some more and get an education. I got to ski 3-4 times a week through a long college career.
All the while I seemed to get hooked up with free or discounted ski gear. The family always went on ski vacations for Spring Break and sometimes for X-Mas. They always made sure I had enough good equipment and keep me going every weekend on a bus of some sort, or when I was old enough to drive, supplied me with enough funds for lift tickets. In college I worked at a ski/snowboard shop which allowed me to continue getting cheap goodies.
Then when I started working in the Wintersports Industry I got spoiled even more. Free equipment from just about any brand I wanted, cat skiing, heli skiing, backcountry on snowmobiles, going to the US Open and the X-Games, and skiing around the world became the norm. What a dream come true.
But never have I been as spoiled as the beginning of this season. I have a seasons pass at my favorite local resort. I'm still getting free equipment from my favorite brands like LINE, K2, HH, POW, and tid-bits from athletes I used to sponsor. But for the first time in my life, I have no school or work to get in the way of riding. Mother Nature decided that at the same time she would supply me with the most snow on record in the Northwest. Only now am I realizing how fortunate I've been. Skiing and snowboarding is not at all a cheap sport, it's truly a very expensive sport.
Today I went up skiing and it was only the second day I haven't ridden at least 4 inches of new snow. There was still new snow from a few days ago, no ice, but it just wasn't powder. For most people, especially those from the East Coast, today would have been epic. For this season, it was below average.
It was a blue sky day and we went in search of powder in the backcountry. Only ended up finding wind blown and hard pack conditions. I had a little scare with my ski buddy as we did a North Backcountry run and I lost him. I'll admit, I like going first all the time and push the pace all day long. I'm glad the people I ski with have patience for my nagging and fast pace. I stopped along the run and waited my usually time frame, but he just didn't show up.
Did he get in front of me some how? He must have... So I keep on down the run and out to the chairlifts. I also skied with my headphones as sometimes I like to ride with music. I learned my lesson and don't think I'll ride the backcountry or with friends and have my music playing. It's just not safe.
I then decided I had waited at the chair so long, that maybe he thought my impatience lead me to hop on the chair and him to follow. I went up and skied a couple runs on the chair we were sessioning. No ski buddy. I ran into a crew of Crystal Mountain ski buddies who wanted to go take a run, but I was actually getting a little worried. I almost asked them to go back to the run and do a sweep with me, but took off and decided I'd do the sweep myself and then if I came up empty, I'd grab the ski patrol.
Luckily, on that lift ride up I spotted my ski buddy. He had taken a wrong turn and had to ski down to the road and catch a bus back to the resort. Whew, glad the timing worked out and I spotted him under the chair when I did. Lesson learned, always keep track of your ski buddy and don't listen to music in the backcountry.
Hopefully the snow storms will line up and start dumping more powder. I think I enjoy being a spoiled skier.
As we go through life we experience different chapters, periods, stages, and versions. Some people change a lot, have multiple chapters in a long novel of life and others stay steady with little changes and less diversion. Some of our life story we get to write and change to our liking, but the project is a group effort with many contributing authors. Where do you find yourself in the book of life?
I personally am starting the 4th chapter or version of myself. The first version was growing up in Seattle from birth through graduating High School. Version 2.0 was when I went off to college at Montana State University and started to become more independent. Version 3.0 was my first career at Helly Hansen. All of the versions were pretty good, with 3.0 running a little too hot and fast; resulting in it getting a little bogged down, catching a view viruses, and on occasion having to shut down or re-boot.
The new lighter, faster, and healthier Gary 4.0 version has been under development and strenuous testing the last 6 months and is now ready for release to the general public. This version has reconnected with old friends, gotten a lighter frame, filled itself with new skills, functions, and up-to-date data, branded itself, and created a life plan. This version is no longer as narrow in its' application and has much more balance.
The next step will be finding a new path for my career. What I want to do is keep my connections in the Action Sports Industry while broadening my horizons. I'm going to take two paths: 1) see what kind of contract work I can get under the G Brand and 2) look for work as an Account Manager for a Creative/Design/Ad Agency here in Seattle.
There are only a handful of brands in Action Sports that I would like to represent and collaborate with. I still have an amazing passion and drive for the industry and it comes naturally to me. As many of my friends have been telling me, why fight it. If I can get a base of 2-3 clients from the industry and then branch out to new things, then the G Brand will be in full operation.
If I can't do it on my terms working for myself then I will go work for one of my top 5 targeted companies here in the Seattle area. I'm ready to rejoin the working world and become a more productive member of society. It's been great to stop, fix 3.0 and recharge the batteries, but with the new year Gary 4.0 wants to begin a new career.
So if you are reading this and would like to know more about the 4.0 version, shoot me an email. Or if you know a company that fits the description please forward on my information.
I plan on accomplishing more than just a new career with the 4.0 version, but that will come later. Right now the first objective is starting a new career and the other aspects I'll post later. I suppose it's kind of like making a picture by connecting the dots. I can see all the dots (things I want to do and accomplish) and about half of the picture (my life's story), now I just need to draw some more lines connecting a few more dots.
Don't knock it unless you've tried it. Move over Yoga and welcome to Pilates!!! Most people in Seattle go to Starbucks for their Espresso, get Thai food on the corner, and do Yoga. Face it, it's hip.
But have you tried Pilates? I have always been active in sports and gone to the gym to work out. But not until recently, when I blew out a couple disk's in my lower spin did I realize how good Pilates is.
Both of my parents go to Pilates. My Dad used to be rather hunched over with bad posture, but I noticed how much better he got. I too had become a slouch with all that time sitting in front of the computer. I also kept on hurting myself whether I was skiing, playing soccer, mountain biking, or just going out for a jog.
Some of my friends think the fact that I go to Pilates is silly. They say, "dude, chicks go to things like Pilates and Yoga; and if you're a guy going to Yoga, your their to pick up on the chicks." Well I'm here to tell you that the saying is true about criticizing the things you don't understand (although my instructor is a beautiful woman).
Pilates strengthens your inner core of muscles, the ones that don't pick up chicks but makes you feel good. My posture is better, my back doesn't hurt, my knees don't hurt, I'm not pulling my calf muscles regularly, and I think my skiing and soccer has improved because of it. Granted I don't think it helps shed any pounds, but it does give you more balance. The exercise and breathing also helps to clear your mind.
If you are looking to try it out, I highly recommend going to Maya in Fremont. The people there are very nice, very informative, and make the workout fun. I look forward to my little sessions. Check out the Maya website link on my Network page.
Sign up, take some classes and thank me later. Especially if you are like me, who's been active their entire life and all of a sudden things start to hurt. It will fix you up and keep you active. Oh, Yoga is also really good and don't give it up. I think they are both beneficial and better than getting your 'beef-cake' on at the gym. Your life is what you make it, make it good and healthy.
I'm glad I decided to leave my job at Helly Hansen this summer and stick it out in semi-retirement until the end of December. Why you ask? Because it's been one of the best early ski seasons I can remember. It has to rank in my top 3 for the most deep powder days before January. I've only had one day that hasn't been at least 4 or 5 inches of new and most have been deeper than that.
Of all the early seasons to take off and go skiing, this was it. I got lucky and hit it when Mother Nature decided it was the Northwest's turn to get dumped on. My friend Adam has been counting the number of runs we get in during the day, I have been counting the number of days. Yesterday I hit my 15th day of the season, please don't hate me my fellow ski and snowboard enthusiasts. I've been going 2-3 times a week since Crystal Mountain opened. I guess that means my back is pretty much healed huh?
Yesterday there was 11" of new snow and about 20" or so in the backcountry. Most of the day it was knee deep or deeper. Hardly anybody was up at the mountain, maybe they were too busy returning gifts. Adam and I just hopped right on the chair lift every time. I'm happy to report we got 20 runs in again. Most of which were top to bottom and backcountry.
We spent most of the day ripping up the North Backcountry, more so than we've done in the past. Then at the end of the day, around 3 pm, they opened Chair 6 for the first time in 3 days. We didn't make it over there first, but let's just say when I skied down, there wasn't another track within 30 feet of my left or right.
Another good social day as well. Ran into Mike Porter and his buddy JD, went for a good run down O Meadows. Saw Liz on skis for the first time in years, congratulations on the bun in the oven Liz. Then just happened to run into an old fraternity brother named Jason Anderson on the chair. We took him and his brother-in-law out to do Left Angle but lost them after a couple turns in the trees. I hope they enjoyed the run. Where was everybody else though? Usually there are tons of the Crystal Mountain kids running around.
The storms are still dropping lots of snow in the mountains. I'm going to have to wait until this Saturday to go again. It's time for me to get ready for the new year and a new career.
Here's a couple more images from the day, click on the thumbnails to go bigger. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not a good ski model, nor a good photographer, nor do I have the right camera for what I'm trying to capture. The shot at the beginning is the best effort of my friend Adam so far (check me out looking at the camera as I go by). Then there's the shot of Adam getting a turn in, him and I in the blizzard, me being happy below, Adam traversing out on I-5, and a shot I took of the trees trying to use my Photoshop skills. I wanted to take 3 images with the focus being at 3 different depths and then put the images together. Gotta have a tripod and another camera to achieve that one. Until next time, enjoy your turns.
Should I go into the dangerous waters of talking politics on my blog? My question is why talking about politics is so 'dangerous' today? I'm not going to talk about which party or what candidates are better in my opinion, but why as individuals we don't discuss it more often.
I recall growing up and having my parents and their friends talk about politics all the time. If there was a family get together or party of some sort, politics always came up at some point in the evening. Issues were discussed, argued, debated, and it was good healthy conversation.
Why is it that today, people are more afraid to talk openly about their thoughts and positions on political issues? Is it because the media does a poor job educating the public about what's really going on? That they focus more on political scandal and drama to obtain high viewer ratings than the more boring facts of serious issues facing our great country?
Could it be that people are so busy looking out for their own and their families well being that they don't have time to be concerned with what our government is doing? I mean, does it seem like the government of the United States is currently acting in the best interests of it's citizens or the best interests of a political party or campaign of the few? How much GOOD is our country doing for it's citizens and the world as a whole versus HARM?
There is no question the people who live in the United States are better off than the majority. But could it not be better? Where is the leadership and people standing up to say, "enough is enough"?
We live in a time where if one does speak their opinion, which is supposed to be protected by our government and freedom of speech, they receive death threats. How did it come to this? I could provide many examples like what happened to the Dixie Chicks or even the Rabbi who wanted more than just X-mas trees up at Sea Tac who in turn got death threats, but that would take too long.
I am not going to put blame on any individual or organization but say it is up to every citizen to start making things better and nurturing the idea of 'HOPE'. As a society we have become complacent. We need to discuss politics and the workings of our government. When we do not voice our opinions, our government and fellow citizens will not know what is and what isn't the will of the people.
So the next time you are at a social gathering, bring up a political issue and don't be defensive if somebody expresses a view different from your own. Learn from them, get to know what they think and why? When issues are talked about, others will want to sound knowledgeable and will seek out information.
I will state a couple issues that need to be addressed. I will not say what needs to be done with these issues, just that they need to be discussed:
1) Education
2) The Environment
3) The War in Iraq
4) The Economy
5) The Growing Divide Between Social and Economic Classes
6) What It Means to Be a Good Citizen
That should get us started. Lastly, I will state that I was one of those people who was just concerned with my own well-being and getting by. I didn't have time to get involved with politics and government. I did vote, but is that enough? Now I'm seeing that I can't help but get involved. You have to agree that the United States of America is in rough shape. It may have to even get worse before the people rise up and take responsibility since our government isn't. If you think America is doing really well, did you know that Wal Mart is the #1 employer?
Ok, I will put it out there... If you didn't notice from the first image, I'm not a fan of President Bush. His leadership is taking us in a scary direction. I miss the days of balanced budgets, budget surpluses, intelligence, education initiatives, and blow jobs being our nations biggest problem.
Good luck people.
Every year Christmas comes and goes. Some things stay the same and some things change. This year was particularly nice with all the holiday parties, catching up with so many friends, going to entertaining holiday plays, seeing movies, and having Christmas with my family.
We keep claiming and saying let's do less presents this year, but Santa's sleigh is awfully heavy and he needs to lose the weight so his reindeer don't get tired. Therefor he dropped a big load at the Winberg house.
This may be the first Christmas where I have nothing to return or exchange for a different size. Santa hooked me up with a 12 piece Calphalon cooking set, all new bedding, towels, clothes, PJ's, candles, and some green-backs. What a nice fellow that Santa Claus is.
It was also more fun shopping and giving this year. I gave more presents to both my family and friends than in years past. I even put out a X-Mas and New Years email that I haven't done before. I think it's because I've had a little more time available.
Thanks Santa.
I'm a little tired today. Went up to Crystal Mountain yesterday and had that hard-charging ski day I was looking for. What a good release, good exercise, and so much fun. Got home around 1:30 am from some parties, packed up my ski stuff, and then got up again at 5:45 am. It can be hard getting going in the morning, but so awesome by the time you're done with the first turn.
Got up to Crystal at a good time, just when the lifts started to run. They had from 8-11" of new snow. The lifts were running full speed and there was hardly anybody up at the mountain. Then both the North and South Backcountry opened and it was on.
My ski buddy Adam is into counting the runs we do during the day. If I remember correctly, here's the tally: 21 total runs, of which we did 1 South Backcountry hike, 4 North Backcountry runs, and rode from the top of the mountain to the bottom 9 times. Also did what might have been my first true top to bottom run without stopping. Well almost top to bottom. I rode from the top of the Rainier Express lift down Right Angle, then straight into Left Angle all the way down to the I-90 traverse out. Feels so good to be in shape.
I meant to take more photos from the day but it was so good and we weren't stopping. Just didn't have the patience to set up for photo's. The light wasn't good, but the image above is laying down a powder turn.
There's a couple storm systems lining up but it's a little on the warm side. Hopefully it stays cold and I'll get another good day in on Tuesday.
Merry Christmas.
Went downtown to the Viveza Gallery for one of my childhood friends engagement parties. So much fun. You know the story, slideshow of the kids growing up being projected on the wall, the compilation of images from 'through the years' on poster board, parents partying and catching up with their kids friends, music, wine, snacks, and the celebration of two people finding love.
Saw a few more people I haven't seen in a long time. Some had come home for the holidays from the East Coast, some I used to play soccer with, etc. So many mini reunions going on.
It was good to see Will. He's a friend I wish I would have hung out with more. Just an all around good guy who always portrays a positive attitude and fun to be around. I'm sure I will get to know his finance better, but so far I'm sold! Alison seems to be a good match for Will. Dave (Will's brother) through a great engagement party for them. Well done Dave.
After a few hours at the gallery, we then ended the night at one of my favorite old hangouts, The Cyclops. Love that place. Good drinks, atmosphere, and food. Then I looked at my watch and couldn't believe the time. Damn, I had to get up early for skiing the next day and it was getting late. Time to go.
Earlier in the evening I was at the Seattle Yacht Club for my grandma Gloria's 94th birthday party. Wow. She is an impressive lady for reasons well beyond her age.
The holidays have arrived. The X-Mas and holiday party scene has been relentless. Finally had a day off last night, relaxed and caught up on a few things.
One of those things being, creating and sending out my own little X-Mas and New Years card. It came out kind of funny, as I tried to do one of those picture ones. You know the kind, the one where it's your vacation shots, a couple portraits, etc. I think it looks kind of funny because there are so many shots of me. Maybe I should have put a few more scenic shots in? Whatever, at least I got it done and out there.
I am a bit of a procrastinator, so I need to run out and buy the rest of my X-Mas presents. Going skiing again tomorrow and have a ton to do before a couple parties this evening. I don't know when I'm going to have time to wrap the presents. Hmm...
Went over to Gareth and Ann's house to surprise one of our teammates, Jess, on her 21st birthday. Wow, just turning 21 makes me feel old. The good news is that Jess only sprained her ankle in our second to last game. She has a boot on her foot but didn't pull or damage and ligaments. She should be playing again in a month or so.
Ann made some great food and it was fun to hang out with the soccer team outside of playing games.
This post starts a new category that I am calling 'random'. I have a lot going on in my head and sometimes I need to get it out. When I started laying out the contents of my website I wasn't sure about having a blog. Why? What was my purpose of it?
I wanted my site to have two main purposes or sections: personal and work. The personal side is like having a myspace page. I mean, with the way software, technology and computers are going, everybody will have their own website in the near future. Myspace was just an easy template for people to use. A brilliant idea!
The other portion was to document the work that I have done and help me find new employment. The whole thing was also part of a learning process I wanted to experience. The site has turned out much better than I anticipated.
So the blog has turned into an interesting outlet. One of the reasons why I decided to include it was to help me with my copy writing. It's not one of my strengths, but practice will make me better. Another reason is for having a diary of sorts. The tricky thing here is that this is a diary for the whole world to read. How much do I say or what can I say?
If the content becomes too social or just parties will it negatively affect my ability to find new work? Can I use cuss words? What about my friends? Many times pictures or words could be written about friends that could negatively affect my relationships. They most likely will be the main activity and content for the site.
I imagine the key is to know my audience, keep it light, keep it fairly clean, and don't drink and blog. I can be kind of emotional for a guy and might write something I shouldn't after having a few too many cocktails.
I will say that I enjoy doing the blog more than I thought I would. People can keep up to date with what's going on in my life, I will have it documented and backed up for my future viewing, and I think it's a form of mental health or mental exercise.
I do enjoy logging onto other sites and reading blogs. It's a source of news that's more entertaining than what's on TV. I hope you enjoy my ramblings...
I am fortunate enough to have many different groups of friends. I am truly lucky in that I like just about everybody, many different styles of life, and like to bounce around and check out how people live.
Last night I went to my high school or childhood group of friends X-mas party. I really enjoy hanging out with this group and should try to do it more. It's kind of weird, because when I do I sometimes feel behind in life. Many of these friends are living what I call the "Leave it to Beaver" life. They grew up fast, did college in 4 years, got MBA's, got good paying jobs right out of college, found husbands and wives, got married, bought big houses, fancy cars, and are all having children. They have what we all envision or hope to have some day while growing up.
I don't know what I'm most jealous about. The nice house in Laurelhurst, a nice car, flat screen TV's (projection in this case), and all the material things. Or what I think it really is, their place in life. It's the being married and in love, having children, having friends the same place in life, and financial stability that just sort of says, whew, I made it... It's the not wondering when will I meet the girl of my dreams, how my future will unfold, will I have kids, etc. It's happened for these people and I'm happy for them.
I spent my post college years traveling around the world, partying, skiing, and putting all of my being into work. I wouldn't change any of my past but now I think I want the "Leave it to Beaver" life. Hmm, maybe I'm finally growing up, just a little later than most. Hey, I am 32.
The top image is of Brent Jones enjoying an oversized cocktail and below is just one shot of a small portion of Autmn's Snow Village. She has a whole city. Happy Holidays Cleaver families of the world!!!
Got up at 5:30 am to get the untracked goods up at Crystal Mountain. Since Seattle experienced some of the nastiest weather in it's history, the skiers and snowboarders thought the riding would be 'all time' on Saturday. The upper mountain had been closed all week due to wind so there was supposed to be 25" of fresh waiting for us.
Well, either the wind or maybe some rain had taken much of the snow and made it 'not-so-epic'. Granted it was still good, but more like 5-6 inches of fresh on top of a crusty layer. The power was out or something because the lifts were running on diesel. I had fun all day long, but it wasn't what the website had advertised.
I also got up so damn early and the ride there took 3 hours. Going direct is more like an 1 and 45 minutes. But we got lost picking somebody up, then had breakfast and coffee at Starbucks. The people I skied with complained much of the day about the conditions, being cold, their feet, being hungry, took a long lunch, etc. that it bummed me out a little. Also had to leave early, but whatever.
Attitude is everything.
Everybody was up there. Saw Scotty, Glen, Keith, Ingrid, Kip, Katie, Bryce, dude from the Seahawks game, and should have broken off to make some runs with them. It was a social day at the hill. Would have been fun to hang out with everybody at the Elk afterwards. It was also demo days and all the sales reps and clinic folk were at the hill.
Looking forward to going skiing again on Tuesday to get my groove on. Hopefully the chairlifts will be running at full speed and I can make some TB's and get a little quad burn going. I need to get a good hard day of skiing in. Anyway, I might start to ramble so I'm going to stop. Look for a better ski blog entry on Tuesday night.
After going to a horrible Seahawks game I went home, changed out of my foul weather gear, and headed down to the Times Infinity Gallery for the Hayter Communications Holiday Party. This proved to be a much better way to spend the evening.
As always, Stacey Hayter had cooked up an amazing display of food. Man that woman can cook. When I arrived the party was packed with people, some of which I hadn't seen in some time. There were old HH folk, people from K2, photographers, athletes, people from EVO, etc. Basically all of Hayter Communications clients and friends.
They had a DJ spinning CD's with Cuban music and people were getting their Salsa dancing on. I'm always surprised when people start dancing. I'm surprised by both how bad some people are and by the people you would never guess are good dancers start rippin up the dance floor. I myself, didn't get started until late in the evening, but did my fair share and left having worked up a bit of a sweat.
It was good to see Eric Doyne from the Hayter San Fran office. I also met their new hire who seemed like a good fit to the team. I must have had a little too much wine because I can't seem to remember her name today.
I was in the groove a little so I ended up closing down the party. Nice work Ryan Hayter and the crew. Fun times had by all.
Here's some images from the evening:
I went to my one and only Seahawks game of the season. It just so happened that the same day Seattle experienced some seriously challenging weather. It rained harder than I've seen it rain in Seattle in years. Then the wind picked up and things got ridiculous around town.
The game started at 5 so I left my house around 3:15. I sat in traffic and maybe, just maybe, broke 20 mph. For the most part it was just a stream of red tail lights. I got parked about 4:45 and walked to meet my group at FX McCrory's.
As I walked from my parking spot under I-99 I saw things I've never seen before. Water spurting up out of man-hole covers 4 feet high, parking lots under 8 inches of water, gutters under I-99 bursting with water at every joint, I-99 bursting of water not only at the gutters but at the concrete joints as well, and drains and spouts at a water capacity limit. Check out a couple shots that I took on my walk...
Part of the entertainment from the evening was individual stories. My buddy Adam had to walk a couple blocks and didn't wear clothing appropriate for the storm. He showed up soaked. Shoes, shirt, jeans, hat, jacket, I mean everything was totally soaked. He was drying off using napkins from the bar, going to the bathroom and ringing out this clothes.
We met some people at the bar we see up at Crystal Mountain who had taken the bus from Tacoma. They were waiting for friends from Spokane who had the tickets to the game. The pass on I-90 closed and their friends had to turn around. They got a phone call notifying them that their basement had flooded. They packed up their things and hopped back on the bus for home without ever making it to the game.
Adam and I were waiting for our friend Scott from Vancouver, Canada with our tickets. The traffic and border crossing was so bad that he didn't show up until halftime. So we got to the game at the start of the 3rd quarter. Too bad the adventure getting to and from the game was more exciting. The Sea-"Chickens" are sucking it up. You can see it's all mental. Left early the game was so bad. That and I had another holiday party to attend following the game that had more potential than the game.
A fun adventure none the less.
Trevor and Paige were in town for a holiday business party, so on Sunday we got together at the Cyclops for a little brunch. The group consisted of Trevor, Paige, Joel, Lindsey, Drew, Ryan, and myself. Wow, I had forgotten how good the breakfast meals are at the Cyclops. If you have a chance, go check it out.
It was fun to catch up with the newlyweds. I looked at all of their images from the wedding and honeymoon on Trevor's iPod as well as gave Trevor my wedding images and video footage. I'm looking forward to checking out their post with all the images together. Here's a shot of Trevor, Joel, and Drew.
Then I went over to Adam's house to catch the second half of the Seahawks game. Man they blew it. I'm starting to give up hope that they will repeat getting to the SuperBowl. They just aren't getting any better.
Then I cruised over to my folks house for dinner. I gave them the 'Gary' update, we exchanged X-mas lists, booked some shopping days, and a night to go see a play. Now it's time to tighten up my website a little more, send out some emails for jobs, contract work, etc. And I need to get out and do my Christmas shopping.
Tis the season to go skiing all day and have holiday parties all night. Went up to Crystal again today and skied with Nicole and Adam. The day started out as a blizzard and ended up with clear skies. It had snowed about 4-5 inches and was dust on crust. Also saw Mark up there as he lost one of his brand new skis last week. He was out on snowshoes on a retrieval mission. Sure enough, the kid found his ski.
Then back to Seattle to clean up and back out to Jordan and Ellie Peterson's for a part X-mas and part house warming party. Jordan works for Boeing and just bought a nice new house overlooking Boeing Field and Lake Washington in South Renton. Nice work Jordan.
The theme of the night was old school Christmas sweaters, ties, and apparel. Guys and gals came in serious heavy wool Christmas sweaters that turned out too warm to keep on for the entire evening. Good food, wine and company. Although they excluded themselves from the "best dressed" competition, I think Jordan and Ellie won. Above is a posting of Ellie's socks, with each toe a different X-mas character. Both of them were also rocking good sweaters and Jordan went so far as sporting a half turtleneck. Check them out on the thumbnails below. There's also Mark and his wife Arlene, and Lawson in the cool plaid blazer.
Tonight I went out to dinner with my old boss, mentor, and good friend Cory Bayers. We went to Wasabi Bistro and grabbed some very tasty sushi. You know how you have some friends that you don't see very often, but when you do it was just like yesterday? That's what it was like tonight. Man I miss working and talking the 'talk' with Cory.
He had just come from a photo shoot with my friend and replacement, Mike Arzt, and our staff photographer, Mark Gallup, and the stories from the shoot made me miss my old job. How can you not miss good trips with great people that produce great results. I know I left a couple 'issues' or 'skeletons' in the closet that my replacements had to deal with, but I'm also proud with how I left things.
I do miss my old work or I should say my old passion. I had forgotten how much fun working with Cory and discussing the issue/challenges that face the business. I still feel I made the right decision to leave my old job, as I'm a much healthier and more balanced person, but what a dream job. One of the first questions I have during my interviews is, "why did you leave your last job?'
I wish the best for my athletes and people who I hired upon leaving HH. So much talent and such potential that is yet to be realized. They all deserve success.
A big thanks goes out to Mr. Bayers, you are 'the man'. Keep the dream alive and keep treating the 'good' people at HH as you have. You are the point at the top of the pyramid that will keep the foundation in place. Don't give up and keep pissing the little and big people off to keep things on track. And most importantly, don't be a stranger...
This is my first soccer entry. I play soccer every Thursday night on a co-ed team and sometimes on Tuesday nights for an all mens league team. Since I blew out my back I mostly play on the boys and girls team, it's more fun and easier on the body.
Our team, called Little Billie Dynamite (LBD), has won the championship the last couple seasons. This year is no different and we are in 1st place going into the championship game. We played tonight to get to the championship game and killed the other team. We dominated and I think the end score was 4-1.
In the first half I was playing sweeper and got scored on during a break away. It was a collision near the goal and I got flipped forward and landed on my back. I knocked the wind out of myself and my back is still slightly swollen on the lower right side. Luckily I don't think it has anything to do with my previous injury.
Our star female player named Jess hurt herself in the last minute of play. She was just running across the field and twisted her ankle. There was a pop sound and she went down with a horrible cry. She's going to be out for at least 6 weeks and I hope her recovery to be speedy. She is really fun to play with.
Next Thursday will be our championship game. Yeah, I think we will win it. Just got to bring our 'A' game. I'll let you know.
Cheers!
Today I'm just trying to get on top of my 'to do' list. Trying to contact some companies for contract work, booking a cat/heli trip for a bachelor party, tons of emails, looking for riders for a ski and snowboard team, finishing up my gallery on the website, etc.
Going to take the rest of this week for some office time. With the record precipitation in the Northwest, it's been hard to do much but go skiing. Went back up to Crystal yesterday and met up with an old friend from college. He drove up and back in one day from Portland. Damn, that's some serious driving for one day. Been fun catching up with people.
Still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with my career. Declined a couple employment opportunities on Monday. It was tough. I also called a couple companies down in Portland that wanted me to come down for interviews and declined. One thing I do know is that I want to stay in Seattle. They were all good potential places to work but I just wasn't excited enough. I should feel pumped and passionate for the place I want donate my next set of blood, sweat and tears.
I was starting to think I needed to work because I've been unemployed for awhile and the $$ is starting to get a little low. I actually caught myself thinking, "well, I can get a job now and keep looking in the meantime". What I really need to do is give myself a swift kick in the ass, focus my energy, and get after what I want. I can't wait to just get lucky. It seems like some people have all the luck in the world, but they are the ones who never depend on it.
So here we go... December is the time to set myself up for success, beginning of January will be when I get it. Since December is filled with so many holiday parties, events, and is just plain busy, it will be more about teeing things up.
One thing is for sure, I'm getting itchy to work again. I love working and am starting to miss the pressure and rhythm of the creative process.
Check out this park bench and billboard campaign. I think it's extremely clever. It just sort of hit me today as I'm reading Al Gores book, "An Inconvenient Truth". We can all do better and consume less. Our future depends on it.
It was another beautiful blue sky day up at Crystal Mountain. I think one of the reasons why I love skiing up there is the view. You can almost see the whole Ring of Fire from the top. Views of Mt. Adams, St. Helens, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Rainier are right in your face. The only mountain you can't see is Mt. Hood. The image above is of Glacier and the thumbnails below are of Adams, Helens, and the ski buddies in front of Rainier (Glacier isn't in the Ring of Fire).
Saturday was the first day skiing with just my main ski buddy Adam. I don't know why, but I have the most fun skiing with just one or two other people. If the group gets bigger than that, for some reason the skiing isn't as fun for me.
I've been lucky in my unemployment to have gotten more days in than Adam, but the kid was a trooper. His quads were burning from the first run after lunch yet he stuck with it until until after 3:30. We managed to get 4 backcountry runs in: 2 in the South Backcountry and 2 in the North Backcountry. One of the first full days of skiing where we rode from first chair until after the upper lifts closed. Check out the view of Campbell Basin, with the relatively new lodge at the bottom of the basin, and Adam as he recovers from the hike to the top of the King. Total trooper.
Since Adam is my main ski buddy, he will most likely be the star athlete featured in the 'skiing' section of my routine. Since the Tuesday before Adam blew all of the photos he took of Nicole and I, he agreed to take the camera for all the action shots. He snapped off six shots and none of them turned out too well. Below is one of three shots he actually got me in the frame, decent action, and almost in focus. I know I have become high maintenance working with pro wintersports photographers, but come on. Hopefully he improves because there's only so many scenic shots I can take and post before it gets boring.
Meeting an old friend named Mark that I haven't seen since college up at Crystal on Tuesday. Should be fun.
My friend Mike Whalley is a member of Just Cauz and asked me to volunteer my time at their 2nd Annual Casino Night & Charity Auction. The evenings charity event was to help kids. To check out more information on the organization go to: www.justcauz.org. I'm sure they could use some more good people.
Oh, I found out during the evening that the organization was started by a Roosevelt alumni named Peter Finnely. He was a couple classes ahead of me. I saw and recognized him but didn't introduce myself.
The evening seemed more like a good place to meet 30 something successful singles in the Seattle area than a charity. Just a bunch of young professionals needing to spend some money and mix and mingle with other single Seattle folk. I met a couple people who asked if I was a part of some online singles mixer deal. So I suppose I was in the right place...
My volunteer duty consisted of being behind the bar from 7-10 pm working the kegs. I just had to keep pouring as the servers would grab the keg cups and pass them out to the paying patrons. Can't say it was too tough, as I've poured a few beers in my day. It's all for the kids you know.
My roommate Sarah was there with her boyfriend Kyle, Josh and Melissa came, Peter and his wife showed up, Marco was there, and a couple hundred other good locals. Good times for a good cause.
I gambled for a little while but am not much of a gambler. Since I once again was going skiing the next day, I wrapped it up around 11:30 pm and went home.
I always love it when it snows in Seattle. It doesn't always happen every winter like it used to. I remember growing up and it seemed to snow every winter.
How it's changed with what may or may not be global warming. I also don't remember it being such a huge deal when it snowed in the city. Yeah schools would close and things would be cancelled but with the way news stations report the conditions in the 'Severe Weather Center', it's seems like the city is under panic.
The roads are 'treacherous', you risk 'deadly injuries', stay home, etc. It makes me sick to watch the local news. What ever happened to just good advice of be careful and curtious to those around you. Deal with the weather. Where I went to college in Bozeman, Montana, there was snow on the ground 4 months out of the year. It was just normal.
I love it when it snows. Anytime, anywhere... I'm just happy we've had a few days of snow already this winter. The snow puts be in the holiday spirit more than X-mas lights, commercials, and parties. So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
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