XOvergear.com Blog

Technology -ATT

Administrator — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:13:36 +0000

I now have the Samsung Galaxy Note and am 95% certain I have the phone of my dreams. I say certain as this thing will mow through a battery at times. This is especially true when travelling for work and using the phone for navigation… I now carry a car charger with me and I have found that depending upon the car charger being used, you can still lose charge, but at a reduced rate when running navigation. Typically I have GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi (I never turn WiFi off) on while in the car, as well as I keep the screen active. If that battery could last me into the second day on a single charge, this would be the ticket. As it is, you cannot really use it on an airplane as the screen consumes so much power that even a short 2-3 hour flight will suck 60-80% of your battery if you choose to play games or watch videos or simply tinker with the phone. BUT! I did just purchase a New Trent Battery pack (5000mAh) on daily steals mobile today, so will be evaluating that shortly to see if it will help with the battery situation on the Note, plus I have a spare battery that came with a dock that I purchased that I keep in my bag as well. I will have to provide reviews on those in the future.

Example of battery usage from Screen

Other than being a great phone for doing just about everything that you can think of, I still have my share of issues with ATT (maybe unreasonably…). I was tempted to leave ATT, but I wanted this phone which is only available on ATT…AND I did not wish to lose my unlimited data plan –whether I use it or not. I have heard that ATT will throttle high users of data, but I have not noticed anything like that, but then I cannot seem to access my data usage from my phone either, so I cannot tell how much data I might be pulling with this phone. I do not imagine that I am using much since I am on WiFi all day long, and even at home. I have noticed that ATT 4GLTE is not nearly as nice as my wife’s Verizon 4G. Hers simply smokes…being much faster than our home WiFi. –she is on a Droid Bionic, which she does not particularly like, preferring the iPhone experience and simplicity instead.

The Tennis Pro and XOG

Administrator — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:05:19 +0000

At our Gym, (In-Shape Tracy) we have a really nice tennis facility. I have made a lot of friends there, and if I am not at work, or at home, I am at the club hitting balls.
I have also had some reasonable success with XOG underwear at the club as well. I have no issues with giving a way a free pair if someone will at least try them. One person in particular is the tennis pro, AG. AG has become someone that I would call a good friend, and I have never even taken a lesson with him. NOT that I wouldn’t mind you. After playing Tennis for 16 months, it sounds silly to say that I just cannot seem to find the time to schedule a lesson. The wife thinks that I spend far too much time there…and she may have a point. Prior to the baby, I was out there 4-5 times a week. Open nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Saturday mornings having the same format. I hated missing even one of these “social” events. And once I began to meet people, or I guess the right way to word it would be, once my skills advanced enough, I found that I was able to play on other evenings and Sunday mornings. There area few folks that are as caught up with Tennis as I am, and fortunately for me, they are all better than I am. This means that my game started improving even faster.
Anyway, back to AG…I gave him a pair, and I kid you not if AG did not call me that same evening asking for 10 more pair! Since then I pretty much pay him in product for my racket stringing -which he does a great job. (to be continued)

Update:
AG has left our club, and with his leaving, so has our contact ended. I cannot seem to get hold of him and I wish he and his family the best.

Politics and new math

Administrator — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:04:27 +0000

This is a great time to be an American.
Our politicians have created new Math!!!
Where else can somebody increase our spending limits (debt ceiling) by $2.4 Trillion dollars –which at our current rate of spending will last 1 year and 5 months…OK, let’s round it up to 1.5 years. Mind you, this is for NEW spending as there are thus far, no actual cuts to current spending…To make this even easier to understand, that is $141 BILLION (with a “B”) in increased spending PER MONTH!!!
But to offset this, the government promises to reduce spending by $1 Trillion over 10 years. Again, to clarify, that is $1Trillion over 120 months which comes to just under $8.5 BILLION (with a “B”) per month in “reduced” spending. –Again, not a cut, but a “reduction” in spending. For the idiots that voted this admin into office, and for others that simply do not GET it, anytime you hear or read of reductions in spending, understand that this does NOT decrease monies that go to any specific agency, it simply means that future increases are reduced. The increases continue to roll in, just at a smaller growth rate! AMAZING, right?
To summarize, but increasing our spending by $141B per month, our efficient government will reduce spending by $8.5B per month. Also understand that a future Congress is NOT bound by legislation of a previous Congress. Which means if 2012 is carried by the liberals, bet money that spending will go right back up…which may very well happen if carried by Republicans as happened under Bush. Seriously, the only shining light are the extremists as the mainstream media like to call them, that are carrying the TEA party message, but clearly they are in the sights of the media as well as our current socialist administration, and will have serious battles ahead…

ATT and the iPhone

Administrator — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:53:23 +0000

It is amazing how businesses stay in business these days.
Take AT&T for example. Now I am sure that there are many that will take an opposing position to what I have to say here, but that is to be expected. But since it is my blog, I get to say what is on my mind…
Having just moved from the City of Tracy to the City of Pleasanton, I have run into a number of difficulties. I could write pages on the trials and tribulations of a moving a small family to a new town and a home that is one half the size of the previous home, (one that has no garage or storage)…but I will not.
I will talk about AT&T, in particular AT&T cellular service. You see, in my new (old) home I am lucky to get one bar on my iPhone 3GS. My 2 year contract expires in 6 months, and you can pretty much bet that I am switching providers. I have never really liked the locked down nature of the iPhone and certainly have no use for bloatware that is iTunes. But not being able to take or make calls at my house is just too much. But, ATT has a solution. (I am paying for unlimited data and calling, I have a rather large bill every month –but that is to be expected when you need the phone for work.) The solution is what is called a microcell. This is available to subscribers who have AT&T internet at their home, along with an AT&T phone if the coverage at their home renders their phones unusable. The problem is that AT&T used to provide these microcells free of charge –or so I have read, and now they want me to pay $200 for one. Now, here is where I see the logic…they figure if you are committed enough to buy the unit, you will stay with AT&T when your contract expires. What they have not counted on is how pissed off folks will be when they stop to consider what they are being asked…For the record, I have been with AT&T for better than 10 years –all unlimited data and calling plans. So now that I have moved, in order to actually receive what I am already paying for, I am being asked to buy another piece of equipment. I do not know if this is because they do not believe me when I say that I have a paperweight when I am at my home or not, because according to their map I should be in a “good” reception zone.
Regardless of their reasoning, here is what has turned me off of AT&T.
-Their attitude that I can just piss off…for one…in other words, that they do not really care about “me” as a customer. (Maybe because I have been w them for 10 years, they figure that I will not leave?)
-Their attitude towards their supposedly “unlimited” data plan. You see, to me, unlimited data means just that…unlimited. They no longer offer an unlimited data plan for new subscribers, but since I have been paying for unlimited data since the day I got the iPhone, I supposedly get to keep it. But here is the rub…you cannot use your phone as a tethering device. So unlimited data is limited to the iPhone ONLY. Even if tethering means that your laptop or tablet must go through your iPhone, it is not considered valid under their plan. I realize that other providers offer data plans for their cell phones, and that you must purchase a data plan for this, but they do not call their plans unlimited data plans unless they are truly unlimited. If you jailbreak your iPhone, you can get access to using your phone as a tethering device, and even newer iPhones have tethering in the settings menu, but again, a different plan must be purchased to “legally” tether under their plan.
-Poor signals and dropped calls: Everyone who has AT&T and an iPhone knows exactly what I am talking about. If you have an iPhone through AT&T, it is expected that many calls will simply be terminated for no apparent reason. The poor signal issue discussed here is just me at my home, and is so bad that I went and installed Skype, and I even got a Skype phone number so that I can send and receive calls at my house…I was and am not interested in forking over another $20-$30 month for a dedicated line that will rarely be used. –Or “should” rarely be used since we live on our cell phones.
-Poor support: I have not received a voice message indication on my phone in over a month. Now if I miss a call, I have to dial and hold down the “1” button in order to see if I have messages. To further compound the issue, none of these messages have a time stamp with them, so I have no idea when a message may have been left if I haven’t checked messages in a while…Phone support failed to turn up any help, as the problem persists. I have been told that I should stop by an AT&T store to get a new sim card, but just need to find the time.
-In typical iPhone fashion, I cannot upgrade the phone. I cannot install apps because they say that I need a certain version of firmware on my phone, but like I stated, I cannot upgrade my phone, so therefore I must forgo some frequently used applications. Sort of a quandary.

If only the next 6 months fly by quickly. I can live with this for the time being I suppose. I just need to remember to press and hold the #1 in order to see if I have voicemessages…
The new Droid phones are looking really nice. I like the idea of the Bionic, but it is made by Motorola –who have apparently pissed off many Droid fans by locking down their phones, which means that Motorola is off the table for me…not that I plan to root the phone or anything, but if a company is going to mimic Apple, then I will not consider them.
There is the Samsung galaxy S2 that is rumored to be coming stateside –and is likely the one that I will go with. Of course, I will change carriers, so I am hopeful that Verizon is able to pick up this phone as well. If not, there is always the HTC, which I have liked since the EVO…

Which brings up early cancellation fees. I understand that as of today, I would have to pay a $90 fee, and since the phone that I most want is not yet available, there is no need to break my contract just yet. Just my desire to stick it to AT&T in my own small way by switching carriers. Which I guess will have to wait for now.

Anyway, that is all for now. No actual resolution just yet, just venting.

Big Government

Administrator — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:36:19 +0000

Today’s topic: DEBT
Before starting, I would like to offer apologies to anyone that does not like my writing style, or viewpoint. I certainly wish that I knew how to express myself through writing, but that is simply not the case as I was not blessed as a good creative writer…
Politically speaking, we are in for a world of hurt.
We have an administration that is trying to vilify anyone who stands for fiscal responsibility (and succeeding). Now I do not profess to be an economic wonderboy. Far from it. However, what is happening in Washington right now is the equivalent of maxing out your credit card, and then saying that the ONLY way out is to raise the card’s credit limit in exchange for a promise that you will eat out one less night a week and not take a vacation. Of course, this does not mean that you will not continue to spend beyond your means, it just means that you will back off on the specifically mentioned niceties. (But that big screen is still a MUST have…)
The logic is mind blowing to me. It seems to me that politicians ONLY make decisions that will satisfy their constituents –but the good of the country be damned. Now that the majority of the voters out there are voting for their own best interests, and not that of the country that they live in, I do not see how things can possibly turn around. When more and more people vote for entitlements, you will see work quality and output continue to degrade, and even more jobs leave the US (but for different reasons than now). Regardless of what you think the reasons for businesses fleeing the US for overseas manufacturing are, (selfishness, self interest, greed, etc) you have to ask yourselves why would those reasons drive someone away? It used to be said that US wages are too high, but that is only part of the equation in my mind. I work in the high tech industry, which used to be a cash cow. That made these businesses prime targets for government agencies to grab money. They grab them through regulations, standards, fees, etc. In order to build a building these days, you need to have multiples of dozens of agencies sign off…and do not think for a minute that each agency does not have their hands out. Anyway, when any business is making lots of money, they are not looking to move away…quite the opposite, they are naturally going to look at how to continue to make more money. That always involves expanding production, which leads to more jobs. Now if the government sees that a company is doing really well, the government starts to see a source for additional revenue –money that can be used to grow bigger government. Of course, the very nature of government can be best described as inefficiency at work (I use the word “work” loosely). THIS is what drives companies to manufacture elsewhere. If said company wants to expand, you have government officials looking at an opportunity to tax every aspect of an expansion in the interest of increasing revenues…fees are added everywhere. Road fees, even if roads servicing the proposed site already exist, there are always “other roads” in need of repair (that “should have” been repaired using fees previously collected but redirected towards other “pet projects” of the city managers, etcs…Fees for new parks on the other side of town, fees to help complete the rejuvenation the downtown (that should have already been completed if not for “feature creep”), etc. The list goes on. School impact fees, water runoff impact fees, permits for building, electrical, water treatment, police, fire, and a whole host of which did not even exist when the business first started. Ever see buildings sitting that were never even completed? Makes you wonder how many were dropped because new fees were being “invented” that were not considered during the design phase, because they did not exist at that time. You know the fees must be out of control when it is easier to just leave the building partially built, then pick up and move to another state, or country, build and start producing product before the original construction project would have even completed being built.

It is time to stop electing officials that WANT to be elected, and start looking for all new traits in elected officials. How about somebody that wants what is best for AMERICA? Not what is best for their neighborhood. How about someone who has an understanding of fiscal responsibility?

Flex League Tennis

Administrator — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:46:19 +0000

In order to try to improve my tennis game, I joined a men’s singles flex league at the 3.5 level. At the time that I joined, I was a true 3.5, and if I am being honest, I feel that as a singles player I am still at the 3.5 level. However, during the course of the 4.0 men’s league in Tracy that just ended, I had some pretty good results against some solid doubles teams, and I was bumped up. To think that a year ago at this time, I was moving up from a 2.5 rating to 3.0 rating! In November 09, I rated myself up from a 3.0 to a 3.5, and then in July ‘10, the USTA sends me a letter telling me that I am now rated at 4.0. I only wish that my consistency was up to that of a 4.0 player. I digress. So I am playing flex league for the opportunity to improve game in ways that playing doubles cannot. Unfortunately, I am also learning that either I am getting old (fact) or that if you are feeling like you might be on the verge of a physical ailment, playing singles will pretty much ensure that you will have a physical ailment.
Several weeks prior to the start of flex singles, my knee was swelling externally. I would ice it after playing, and even started to wear a neoprene sleeve during play to help press-out or prevent external inflammation. It seemed to be working just fine up until my first singles match. I believe that the cool air combined with my chasing down every shot contributed to my injuring my knee. –I later learned that I have a torn lateral meniscus and will at some point have surgery to fix this.
The doctor that performed my first two knee surgeries suggested that I take some time off from tennis. Of course I didn’t listen, and thought that I would alter my style to sort of meet his request half way. I reduced my play by roughly two nights a week –down to 2-3 times per week. I felt that it was working and even managed to get in a complete singles match the following week, but the week after that I was up 1 set to 0 and leading the second set when my knee told me that it has had enough. I almost could not walk off the court at that point and I offered to concede the match. My opponent said that he did not want the win and that we should finish the match sometime in the future…wow!
So this issue with my knee bummed me out for several reasons. In addition to being damaged goods, the guys on our 4.0 team (well some of them) indicated that they wanted me in the lineup for the playoff match against Escalon. These playoffs determined who would be playing post season, and Escalon was in first place, while Tracy was in second at the end of the season. Escalon is a very solid team, and I would not be surprised if a good portion of their team gets bumped up to 4.5 for next year. They have several guys that are at the level of the Tracy area 4.5s, but I’m not saying this as a complaint, rather as an observation. Anyway, our match was a tight one, and quite contrasting in styles. Our opponents were very steady and consistent, while we were much more dangerous in that we tended to hit more aggressively and powerfully, especially our serves. Their net play was better than ours, and for that the blame falls on me alone. I have been practicing my net play every single chance I get, and while I have made great strides in my net play, I was still the weakest net player on the court that day.
The good news was that I was able to play mostly pain free, and I had actually at one point not played any tennis or hit any balls for as many as 3 weeks leading up to that match. I only started the week prior, and at that, tried to limit my hitting and running. Suffering the most was and is my backhand. That part of the two handed motion where I weight transfer to my right foot and turn (twist) is what is bothering me the most. I have a two handed backhand, and prior to my knee bothering me really felt that my backhand was my more stable shot. That is certainly not the case right now, and I look forward to the day when I can swing out on my backhand without something in the back of my mind playing tricks on me, and causing me to back off. I do not have much power on my backhand, especially compared with my forehand, but I am seriously missing the consistency. –I have even questioned whether or not I should continue to play BH side on the doubles court, but that is my spot, so have been playing there regardless. I have a match this weekend (at home) for the 8.5 combo men’s team, and expect that I will be playing BH again…I only hope that I get the opportunity to hit some balls before then.
I played two flex matches this week, both on Tuesday in order to make up for the 5 weeks that I have pushed off playing singles. My first match was during lunch in Walnut Creek and 15 minutes into the match, I thought I was a goner. My opponent, Chris, is a lefty with decent movement on his serve…just enough movement to keep me from taking the offensive when he was serving, plus my first serve was not on. Playing southpaws is always tough if you do not get to face them on a regular basis. Their spins are always the exact opposite of what you are expecting -or used to seeing, plus if they are smart enough to develop some spin on their serves, it sometimes can take an entire match just to get the hang getting strings to ball on serve receive. In this case, it took me the first set. He cleared me off the court 6-2 in short order. His serves possibly frustrated me into making service errors myself, so I started to back off of my 1st serve, and focused on throwing different spins at him, and it seemed to work. I held all my serves, and he held all his, and I managed to win the tie break at 7-5. Third set was played as a tie break to 10 and I was up 8-2 or 9-2 and managed to win at 11-8. It is scored as a 1-0 third set win, but it was close. And it was not that I felt that I disintegrated when I was up, he just made more shots than me to crawl back into the game. Good match.
Second match of the day was at 6PM in Pleasanton, and I was playing a guy named Danny, and he had me worried. Short court warmup revealed that I did NOT want him coming to the net…he looked so comfortable with volleys, and had great footwork as well. When we backed up for baseline hitting, I was not feeling any better as he had a great swing, on both sides. At that point, I was telling myself to just try to hit smart balls, and run him when possible as I did not see myself beating him in baseline rallies. I also knew that I would need big serves. I managed to win the toss, so I elected to serve and I believe that is what saved me. I was able to throw a lot of different serves at him and possibly spooked him (I don’t know) out of his game. The final score I thought was 6-4, 6-3, but he posted to the website that it was 6-2, 6-2. Regardless, it was NOT a blowout by any means, and I was still trying just as hard when serving for the match -as I did not want him to get on a roll. I could tell that Danny was angry that he lost, and even today, I feel lucky that I came away with two wins that day. We stayed around and hit for another hour, and my initial assessment remains…he is a better player than me. My keys were that I hit short to him, to bring him inside the baseline, and then I would try to hit at his feet to keep him from coming in to the net. He tended to hit deep when hitting from inside the court, which is exactly what I do as well, so I guess that you could say that I played him as if I was playing against myself. It is amazing what the first couple of minutes of a match can do for the outcome. My serve set the rhythm in my favor, and I am glad that he did not try to fight his way to the net. I do not feel that I would have had as much luck if I had to try and pass him…
I will schedule more matches for next week, and will try to catch the Isner-Fish match that I recorded last weekend at some point (meaning the next few nights)…

Talk about not getting with the program

Administrator — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:20:04 +0000

That is the best title that I could come up with…sad.
I recently updated my index page for www.xovergear.com based upon feedback from a guy I just met this week. I was scheduled to play flex league Tennis here in the Tri-valley area (Bay Area), but due to tearing my meniscus I was basically unable to play for more than a month. I got pretty far behind schedule for my matches, but everyone in my flight have been pretty good about it.
I am playing in a mens’ flex league at the 3.5 level -since the flex league season began, I have been moved up to a 4.0 rating based upon some doubles performances that I have had… Getting back into the flex league after more than a month off, my lunch time opponent that I played against yesterday (I scheduled 2 matches, lunch and evening) mentioned that he visited my site and asked if I would like any feedback. “Of course” was my response, so he basically cleaned up the text on the front page. I sent him a pair of briefs for the help -actually, I was sending them to him regardless as he sounded interested, and I could use all the interest I can get. BTW -I beat him in 3 sets, and am happy as I seriously thought that I was going to get pounded. He beat me the first set 6-2! The next two sets were both tiebreaks which I squeaked by. I remember thinking going into the 3rd set that win or lose, this was a fun match. Maybe I am actually starting to mature??? J/K I am still competitive, but seriously not too concerned with my singles skills as I am not sure how long my body will hold up to singles competition. It is partly due to my competitive nature that I feel will ultimately do in my body, as I tend to play each point too hard. I am starting to realize that at 45, I really need to play more intelligently and not run myself ragged -even though that is fun in itself and is a good portion of the reasoning behind my picking up tennis in 2009 in the first place. The best way to preserve my body I have found is to avoid single competition and stick to doubles…but singles is the truest test on a tennis court that there is.
Anyway, in summary, sport has once again provided the motivation to get around to updating my site and trying to take this underwear project more seriously. The desire is there on my part, but in streaks…I don’t want to make excuses, but I do have a lot of them (excuses that is).

newbe with the iPhone

Administrator — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:18:28 +0000

Just a quick blurb to get this off my chest. I recently changed jobs and had to get a new phone…Dropped a Blackberry pearl for an iPhone 3GS. Love the iPhone, but simply hate the way some of it’s features are implemented. I mean, what is it with iTunes? Is it even possible to come up with a more UN-intuitive system for putting music/files/applications on your phone? I purchased bejeweled-2 the same day that I picked up the phone, and before I had even setup iTunes on a computer was enjoying the game. I get home, setup iTunes, and select music to put on my phone, and only a few days later head off to Japan for training with the new company, and a new laptop. Install iTunes on the new laptop so that I can get more apps and d/l some podcasts, and find that I risk erasing all my music if I sync my music. Ok, I unselect sync for my music. BUT I do have some language lessons on my laptop that I would like to get on my iPhone, but there is basically NO way to do this that I can find. I will have to wait to get back to the US and to my home PC so that I do not lose the music that I presently have installed. How lame. Of course, there might be a way to get around this, but just describing it took me this long, so I cannot imagine how I would search for this. What little searching I did do, turned up having to d/l a text editor and finding certain lines to make changes, but that was to address a similar though from what I could tell, not exactly the same issue that I am faced with. Not sure why I cannot just drag and drop my music wherever I want.
Then there is the issue with APPS. I lost bejeweled when I downloaded several apps off the net while here in Japan, but I lost Bejeweled!!! the only APP that I have actually purchased -and not through iTunes! I went back to purchase Bejeweled with the hope that the store would recognize my phone and user ID, but no, they wanted to charge me again for this APP. Now the new apps that I downloaded while in Japan will be gone when I sync back at home -how lame -again!!! I purchased this game directly from the phone over wi-fi, so fail to see why it would be wiped from my phone during a sync.
Then the issue of getting images onto the iPhone that were not taken with the iPhone. Again, why no drag and drop?
Enough of the rant. I hope that over time I can figure out this complicated POS that has so many strengths at the same time. The APPS rock, but the portability w/r/t to traveling with a laptop or separate laptops is poorly implemented.

Bittersweet February -the bitter

Administrator — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:23:22 +0000

Now for the bad news…
If you prefer, you can skip the bitter and get to more interesting matters below (under sweet).
Business is non-existent. To further make matters worse, we received an order on January 4th that we completely ignored (actually we failed to notice it). Talk about incompetence! It was only an order for one pair, so I tossed in a second pair for the trouble. I am not please that this happened, ESPECIALLY when I am only seeing about one order per week right now. What makes it so frustrating is that my primary tenants for starting this business is to offer a superior product with superior service –talk about dropping the ball!

The economy, namely the press (in my opinion, it wreaking havoc on the job market. Confidence is at such a low that I believe many jobs are being lost purely due to speculation. If every news outlet is reporting doom and gloom, then it must be true, right! It was the press that managed to nominate McCain as the Republican presidential nominee, it was the press the elevated Obama to superhuman status, and it is the press that has had a big hand in pushing us into the current economic mess that we are in. Granted, the housing bubble was bound to burst –it was unnatural, the magnitude of growth seen over the past decade and a correction was due. Not to mention how easy it was to get loans where the primary qualification was that you were breathing. Anyway, enough of that.

Finally, the really bad news. We lost our dog –Roxy. She was only 15 months old, and she was a huge part of our family. Outgoing and friendly…and full of life and energy, she passed away in surgery on the table while being fixed. To really make matters worse, the wife was having doubts about getting the procedure done, and I talked her into staying with the plan. We really thought that it would be best for her, but when the call came…suffice to say that it was not a good day, or even week. She is now buried out in the country at my folk’s home, and has her own tree planted in her memory…complete with her collar and nametag. We will miss her dearly. We know that we will want another dog, another Shih Tsu at that. But our hearts aren’t really into it, and we wonder if we ever will.

Bittersweet February -the sweet

Administrator — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:21:56 +0000

This month has been a bittersweet month. Much more bitter than sweet to be honest.
First the sweet…that way you can just skip over the bitter.
The first week of the month was spent up in North Lake Tahoe. We skied or boarded for 6 days. We hit Boreal on day one (Sunday) for some evening boarding. The next day (Monday) was in Northstar…now I do not like a resort where you cannot even walk to the main lodge mid-week. I mean, come on…Nobody likes lines, or waiting…in this case, you have to wait for the buses to get you back and forth from your car. Fortunately the spring conditions meant that we had lots of fun and sun, and the mountain in general is actually pretty good for skiing and boarding. In fact, it was among the best snow of the week with Friday being the exception. Tuesday we hit Squaw Valley, and this is the day that I cracked some ribs. They still hurt (most intensely in the morning). The morning was spent boarding with the wife, and at lunchtime my brother was arriving for some skiing. The wife was done for the day preferring to hang with the dog, so she took the tram down the hill while I boarded. I took a serious header on the flats moving along at about 20 miles an hour…not to fast, but very flat ground, when I went to turn and the downhill edge caught some slush and over I went. Long story short, I almost passed out from lack of Oxygen, and maybe 10 minutes passed before I could get back up and continue down the hill. Lucky for me, I had both Motrin and Vicodin in the truck and was able to get my boots on to finish the day on my skis. We had a blast skiing together, my brother and me. We found some great snow in the spring conditions on the upper runs everywhere we went. We did not hit KT though, it did not look very nice from below…
Wednesday, the wife decided to skip boarding and just hang out, so my brother and I hit up Alpine Meadows. To start, when I woke up, I was pretty certain that there wasn’t any possible way that I was going to be on the snow that day…I got almost no sleep and I still do not know how I managed to actually get my body out of bed. My ribs hurt so bad that I could not even lift my head. In the middle of the night, I had the wife help me get up so that I could go to the living room to try and sleep sitting up (with an electric blanket) to help keep me warm. When my brother got up, I hurt so bad that I could not even get up to get my Vicodin. About an hour after the Vicodin, I found that I was ready for some coffee and after adding in some Motrin, I was ready to go skiing…We skied everything but Scott’s and some of the double diamonds because of poor coverage and ice in the shadows. It was great once again and the spring conditions made for a good time –not to mention the warmer weather helped to keep me a little looser than had it been cold. Of course, being on skis really made the difference. I am so much more comfortable on skis, and the only thing that I could not really do was pole plant when trying to skate, and breath heavily. I could skate easily enough, but forget pushing with my poles. Oddly enough, we skied bumps (the face) most of the day and pole plants while skiing were a non-issue. Another thing that made the skiing so good this day was there was an equipment demo day for ski shops going on. And man, there were some good skiers out. I have never skied so fast all day without feeling like I was dodging slower skiers or at risk of drawing unwanted attention for Ski Patrol. There simply were not very many slow skiers out that day. My brother was skiing fantastic –actually skiing faster than me. He has clearly improved since I last skied with him, which was probably 15 or more years ago.
Thursday saw my brother heading back home, so the wife and I headed out to Homewood to try out something new. I boarded in order to do what the wife was doing, and Homewood really sucked for us. The snow was OK, but the mountain was not good for a top-down run for a beginner. Since I was with the wife (who is a beginner) we found her having to get out of her bindings to walk far too many sections as the green runs were basically a very narrow fire trail that meandered down the mountain. And to really as insult, this trail ended at a lodge that was closed! –I don’t see us going back there again. On the plus side, there were some great views of the lake to be had, and if you are an Intermediate skier, it looks to be a fun place…plus you can’t beat the price.
Friday, our final day…and it is snowing out! We have passes for Alpine, so that is where we head. Boy, I wish that my brother could see this. The entire mountain was skiable and fun. Only about 6-8 inches fell overnight, but it transformed the hill. I was off-piste (when the wife took breaks) and having a blast in the crud. I decided to ski while the wife boarded. She fell a lot and was getting frustrated. Towards the end of the day I talked her into letting me coach her down one run, and against her better judgment she relented, clearly frustrated that I wasn’t interested in taking NO for an answer. Long story short, she made more turns to toe side on this one run than she did the entire week combined! Not only that, but her big fear of falling and getting hurt never happened. Now, she is still not comfortable with transitioning from heelside to toe side, but at least she now knows that it CAN be done.
As an aside: we now believe that she may have damaged her tailbone early on during the trip, causing her to be extremely cautious –thus making things worse…to this day her tailbone is still hurting pretty badly (3 weeks later).