Courduroy

Coming from the East Coast to a West Coast mountain town, there are so many new things. Fish tacos (sounds gross but they grow on you), mountains outside my backdoor, so many mountain biking trails and climbing routes I don't know where to start, and lots and lots of ski-bums. (Not that it's a bad things to be a ski-bum. I'm actually kind of jealous.)

Some things I have done here that I never did in the 3 1/2 years I lived in DC: Attended both a formal and a few semi-formal events. (I now have 5 dresses. This alone is amazing.) Not felt the desire to get out of town for some fun. Everything here is fun. Got the chance to break out things like cross-country skis and snowshoes and tromp around in the snow. And rode the mountain and sat at the beach (of the lake) in the same day. Truly unbeatable.

The one cool thing about being from the East is they very infrequently get reals snow. You tend to get very good at skiing and riding in icy, crappy, fake-snow conditions. So when you get to a real mountain, with real snow, and they have a not-so-good day, you're like SWEET!! Because a bad day in the mountains is better than the best day on the slopes back East. And you ride like a pro. Woohoo!


There's one thing about snow and ski resorts though that seems to be fairly universal. Courduroy. At night when everyone goes home, all the ski areas bring out the groomers to smooth out the bumps and moguls and make all of the trails even and consistent.


Some people would scoff at riding "groomers", the trails that the ski areas have made all smooth and nice. But your average skier pretty much sticks to the designated areas and doesn't ski in the trees or out of bounds.


I'm not saying it's the best, because powder is the best. But if you can't have powder, and you're at the mountain for first chair, one of the coolest things is riding untouched courduroy. You can pick up some speed knowing the snow is consistent and really lay out your turns. It's pretty awesome.

It snowed!!

Hooray! I have been waiting for snow like this since last winter.. When all was said and done we had about 5 1/2 feet. Four in this snowfall on top of the foot and a half we got the week before.

So this is my road, normally a two lane road, now a single lane.

My roommate drives a subaru and she had a tough time getting out of the driveway. The civic was going nowhere. I was lucky to make it home a couple of hours after the snow started. I actually got stuck in my road but fortunately made it into the driveway.


This is our mailbox. It's kind of cute actually. It could totally be a postcard.



And my poor car. There was a solid 3 feet of snow on top of it.



When I finally got around to digging it out the snow was thigh deep around it. And then after knocking the snow off the roof, it was waist deep. The picture's a bit deceiving.


Thank God for snowblowers because this would have taken forever.


Seriously though, the powder was some of the best I have ever seen. It was so deep and so smooth. This is what I moved out here for.

I miss the rain.

I love rain. L-O-V-E. I grew up in upstate New York which apparently has the same number of overcast days as Seattle. If you’ve ever been upstate you know what I mean. Apparently some of the highest college suicide rates. But I think the rain is wonderful. It makes me feel at home.

It’s always sunny here. Always! It’s almost depressing. (I think I’m wired funny or something.) Tahoe is beautiful, I shouldn’t complain. I just wish we could have the occasional rainy day.. I have a raincoat. And boots. I would be all set!

I love waking up to the sound of rain. Napping in the rain. Mountain biking in the rain. (I like mud a lot.) But then maybe the lake wouldn’t be so blue.. hmm..

This is why I can’t live in Tahoe forever. You have to have a goal right?

I have seen the light (like a DUI roadblock in the sky)

I have to admit, I've been flying a little differently since I got here. Singing a bit of a different tune. I am completely and totally in love with my new home, and I've noticed a few changes in my demeanor.

I have always considered myself to be a conservative person. Yes, I do some non-conservative things, but I do them safely. Sorta. I'm typically not a risk taker or a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl. I rock climb but I've had to work hard to overcome my fear of heights. I snowboard but always hang back on the safe side of things. And I am definitely not an adrenaline junkie. I feel that rush and I back off. I never liked feeling out of control.

When I went to Colorado over Thanksgiving I spent a week riding the "groomers" because there wasn't really enough snow to be in the trees much. The group I was with would have much preferred the trees and OB if at all possible. I was secretly grateful to be safely on the predictable groomed trails and not deep in the "pow" dodging trees. (For the record, I think "pow" is a ridiculous slang term. I use it purely in the context of the group I was with. Aaannd maybe to make fun of them a bit. The only thing worse is calling basketball "hoop". Seriously, just say basketball. Or ball. That would do. Boys. But I digress.)

I couldn't really understand why you would want to dodge trees risking life and limb (not to mention your lift ticket) when you could cruise like mad on the nice, safe, groomed trails. But yesterday something snapped. I was about half way down the killer tree run I mentioned yesterday and I got a rush of adrenaline. And I liked it! Wow... So this is what they've been talking about. I wanted more. I spent the rest of the day and all day today seeking out every tree, every rock. And I found them. Trees, rocks, and bumps galore. Oh God I've died and gone to heaven.

Maybe it's the laid back new me. Maybe it's the town or the knowledge that the next good stretch of riding won't be until next November. I'm like a fox in a hen house. A redneck at a Nascar race. haha.. I'm as giddy as a school girl. I've never jumped before and suddenly I'm jumping at every opportunity. I've never bombed so many tree runs or mogul fields in my life! I crave speed. Sweet. But seriously, who is this new me and where did she come from?!? I was beginning to wonder if perhaps I was not as adventurous as I thought. Phew... Also, I smile a lot more. Can't imagine why... :)

Go to Heavenly, ride like Hell.

Right now less is more

I was thinking that maybe what I need right now is less. Less responsibility. Less stress. Less clutter. I keep applying for these jobs that would step me up the proverbial ladder a rung or two and I'm not entirely sure that's what I want. I kind of want to just chill out for a while. Get rid of this burned out feeling I can't seem to shake. I am already starting to feel the dread of more responsibility creaping into my heart and I haven't even quit my job yet!

I bought three books the other day. One on .Net, one on the ADO.net framework, and one on project management. So what is it I think I'm going to do work all day, study in the evening, and then what? Say I learn .Net and everything there is to know about project management. Do I want to be a .Net developer? Do I want to be a project manager? I'm growing increasingly
envious of my friends who leave work and play video games all evening while I go to the gym and train clients for four hours.

But there was a reason I got that second job. I needed the experience so I could get away from sitting at a desk all day and more into doing something fun like training. And I like training, but I don't know if I want to do it all day. But it would be a lot less responsibility and a lot less stress.

For the past few months I have been looking at the world through thick cynical glasses. It's like a bad dream and I can't seem to focus on anything good. May as well ditch the glasses and fumble around in the dark. It takes very little to push me over the edge. Short fuse, big bomb. I want to live on the other side of the spectrum. I want to be a ski bum. At the end of the day, nothing matters but the powder and soothing sore legs. No worries..

BASKET CASE

I wouldn't consider myself stingy. I'm usually a bit frivolous, actually. I remember feeling really embarrassed once because I hesitated to spring for a deck of cards. I was with a bunch of upperclassmen on a ski team trip in college and they all were all a bit miffed by my second thought about a $2 deck. Since then I've sort of made it a point to not let money really matter in situations like that. Now I'm like a kid who just got her allowance; money kind of burns a hole in my pocket. But with the move getting so close I've been singing a different tune.

Today I wouldn't go grocery shopping because I didn't have my shopper's club cardwith me. Normally I would have walked in anyway, but the prospect of spending approximately $7 more than I had to was too much. I'm so terrified about the move and anxious about not having enough money, it's really changed my whole outlook.

On one hand, this is good. At least my "urban survival" skills are kicking in. But on the other hand it's kind of stressful. I wish I just didn't have to worry about it. Soon enough I suppose.

Seriously, though, I'm stressed. I have dreams about crazy things happening. I'm terrified of anything and everything going wrong. I can reason with myself from now until the end of time but it really doesn't do much for my obsessive need to know what "the plan" is. And it's kind of hard to know the plan when I'm still not sure where I'm working.

I'll be so happy when I can just sit back in my couch, look out my window at Lake Tahoe, and finally know that I accomplished my goal. Until then, I'm strongly considering prozac. Or Vallium. Mmm.. Vallium!