Making the effort to go skiing...

Yesterday was a so-so day; overcast skies, pretty cold and I had just a few hours to go skiing. My wife encouraged me to get out. I didn't want to, but pushed myself anyway. Between the time I get dressed, take my gear, load the car, drive to the resort parking lot, put on my boots and hit the slopes, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on my speed and motivation.

I got there, skied for two hours, over 13,000 vertical feet, and – as always - had a wonderful time, experienced unique circumstances and these will never been taken away from me (true, each ski day is always unique.) Please, don't just stay home; even if there's only one hour available, your life is getting shorter everyday, so always get out and ski!

Selling automobiles...

I've always been appalled by the way cars are sold in America. Consider this, I own a car, brand ABC, and I regularly, take it for service to the dealership. Yet after 9 years that I've owned this automobile, today is the first time that I have received an email from the dealer offering a $5,000 credit if I considered one of their new models.

In the meantime, no one has ever approached me when I brought the vehicle for service for a tour or a test drive of one of their new models. One should think that the service department at this dealership should talk to the sales department and as a car ages, there should be someone from the sales department approach the owner to offer a trade-in for a newer model, etc. Am I missing something or are these people still with their head stuck in the sand?

Wonderful skiing is back!

It all begun mid-February and it's been snowing ever since then. Winter is back while I was expecting nothing and what a great surprise; the season may end up well over average, but for the moment, with new fresh powder at my doorstep, the word of the day is to go out and enjoy it...

Four years already...

Seems hard to believe, but we've been grand-parents for four years already.

That's right, four years ago today little Finn was born, just missing by one day being born on a leap year.

Talking about leap, what a big one since then.

Finn, we can't wait for your official birthday this coming Saturday!

Happier in Utah!

Utah and Alaska are the fourth happiest states of the Nation, according to a telephone interview survey conducted for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey during 2011. A random-digit dial was used to sample 353,492 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the entire United States.

The number one state was Hawaii, followed by North Dakota and Minnesota. While I can understand why the Aloha State made it to #1, I don't quite understand why the two following states ranked so high, but I'm happy enough not to dig into the reasons why, and am even happier to live in a state where we are happier than most!

Economic redux?

There is no question that the U.S. Economy is beginning to show signs of improvement. For one thing, we were hit far harder than any other developed nation, so it seem just right that our bounce be more spectacular. Now, how solid and serious is that economic recovery? No one seems really sure.

What is clear to me however is that we won't return to the pre-financial crash “go-go years” any time soon. First, that period was totally under “steroids,” was a sham and today, the rules of the game have drastically changed. We're no longer alone “looting” the world. Sharing the wealth as become the key word. We may return to times that are less stressful, a bit more comfy, but we won't go back to the excesses of the pre-2008 period.

For one thing we'll now need to get out of our financial hole, most likely through a combination of austerity and tax hikes, and this alone will take a long time and all of the above may come to fruition if nothing crazy that is man-made, or nature-induced, suddenly brings down our slow process of reconstruction...

Three things we forget when we ski...

Almost all skiers have found the hard way that their sport is the most counter-intuitive there is. Yet, after a while and miles later, we seem to get used to it. We remember most moves and are able to cope. What remains true however is that when the going gets tough, we all revert to the same errors whether we are seasoned veterans, world class skiers or recreational practitioners who only get on snow five days a year.

We all seem to make the same mistakes. Over the years, I have found that those are always the same and three of them stood out. Of course, none of them are intuitive and can seem to be developed as a reflex-response. I'll list them today and for the one that I haven't really covered in that blog, I plan to discuss them in detail at some later date.

Anticipation:
We can greatly facilitate the initiation of a turn by orienting the upper body into the slope. Plays a huge role as the terrain becomes steeper and the conditions are more difficult.

Upright stance:
By keeping an upright stance at all times, we force our knees and ankles to work more actively in balancing us.

Total relaxation:
By “playing it cool” and by not fighting the mountain or “attacking” we become much more efficient and save our energies. Tension is the enemy, cost strain and goes again a smooth glide.

That's it for the moment. Make a mental note of these three enemies and look for practical, step by step solutions to eradicate them from your ski life!