The art of freeloading on skis

Freeloading is more of an art than a technique, at least that’s my opinion. 

A few days ago a guy I used to know, let’s call him Paul, but that has ignored me for a long time, sent me that email: “I'm driving to Utah tomorrow and will ski at Snowbasin on Monday. I'm planning on skiing at Park City on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Let me know if you'll be skiing any of those days and we can try and take some turns together.” 

On the surface, that looked perfectly legit, but knowing Paul like I do, I sensed that he was fishing for free room and board, so I agreed to one afternoon of skiing together, but didn’t offer him what I thought he was looking for. 

On that day, we were supposed to meet at a certain spot at 1:30 pm sharp, he came up with some excuse and was 30 minutes late. When he finally showed up (I had time for a run as the weather was bitterly cold and didn’t want to freeze standing up). Surprisingly, he was with a friend, that we’ll call Charlie, and he said to me, “Usually, I always show up ahead of the agreed upon time…”

Well, that was that, so without further ado, I did my best to show that pair all my nice runs they’d have surely missed would had they skied on their own. At the end of the day, they told me that they left their car in the Canyons parking lot, some 4 miles away, so to save them them the inconvenience of catching a shuttle bus to get there, I offered to go out of my way and give them a ride to that place. 

I’m sure Paul was still hoping I would invite them both for dinner at my house, but I didn’t. Paul did not offer me to have a beer with them at the resort base either, I guess he forgot, and only Charlie was gracious enough to thank me for a “Fabulous afternoon”. I guess that summarizes what I have learned in having lived in Park City for 40 years and getting burned countless time by professional freeloaders!

Pig-Gitou’s unique story

In 1989, for my wife’s birthday, I decided to turn into reality a design-sculpture concept I had dancing in my head for a long time. I had called that business concept “Slice of Life”; it consisted in stringing together slices of wood into a shape. 

In that particular instance, I had decided to create a pet-pig, that would be named “Pig-Gitou”, which held a special meaning to my wife and I. It’s hard for me to remember if she took delivery of that unique animal on her birthday, but I tend to think that it was presented to her with some delay. 

At any rate, “Pig-Gitou” has followed us into the four residences that we’ve occupied after it was created. Over 35 years of age, clean, never hungry, smelling good old pine, not requiring vet visits or immunization shots and never uttering a nasty word, it instantly became the ideal pet. 

That was until it fell and split into two pieces, breaking Evelyne’s heart in the process. She had to reawaken the animal’s biological father who took it to the operating table and reassembled the two pieces into a stronger pig ready to survive both of us, take on inflation Trump’s second mandate, climate change and a life that I guarantee won’t be boring at all!

Has Musk become Tesla’s worst enemy ?

I used to admire Elon Musk a whole lot, but not anymore, especially since he took some radical political positions a couple of years ago, then purchased Twitter to use it as a mouthpiece to convey Trump-style lies and more recently for financing his presidential campaign and wedging himself inside the dictator’s inner circle. 

At the same time, as Musk is blinking, Tesla’s US sales are down by 5% in 2024 (before Q4 results) compared to the prior year. Regionally, Tesla would be down about 10% in Europe, up 8% in China, although Tesla’s growth has greatly slowed down in the world’s biggest auto market, and finally down 5% in the US. 

Our domestic US market is particularly interesting and worrying for Tesla, considering the automaker operated in the country in 2024 with record discounts and incentives, including price cuts, subsidized financing and introducing its new Cybertruck. It’s clear that from the get go, when it came with its Model S, Tesla was the progressive’s beloved, non polluting, green car, and certainly not the vehicle of Trump’s redneck supporters. 

Since then, Elon Musk has devolved into a polarizing figure, his actions and statements often sparking debate. Long gone is his visionary leadership that propelled Tesla to the forefront of electric vehicles. Now, his controversial tweets and public statements have caused volatility in Tesla's stock price and raised concerns among investors while dispiriting Tesla owners and discouraging prospective buyers. 

I certainly love my Tesla, but despise the guy with a passion! Yes, Elon Musk has publicly stated that he is on the autism spectrum. He has been specifically identified with Asperger's syndrome. 

Being on the autism spectrum means having a developmental disability that affects how people communicate, interact socially, and learn. 

This might explain his contradictory behaviors, as his recent involvement in the California wildfire response using Tesla Cybertrucks and Starlink terminals, showed his commitment to leveraging his companies' technologies for public good, but this barely counteracts his criticism of California's regulations, his promotion of conspiracy theories or his meddling into European politics. 

While everyone is speculating on how long the “bromance” between Musk and Trump will last, the richest man in the world has become the most controversial and volatile personality America has ever seen.

Standing up to bullies

As Trump gets ready to regain power in the US, I would hope that its opposition handles his bullying behavior much more robustly than it did during the man’s first term. To handle bullies, one must answer them quickly and forcefully and I would recommend a force response ratio of 3 to 1.

This is perfectly called for as we don't have to tolerate their behavior and that a disproportionate response will scare the bejesus out of them. Here are some fitting strategies. 

First it’s essential to assert oneself as bullies thrive on fear and intimidation. Ignoring their behavior will always embolden them. It’s time tto stand for what we believe is right, by using forceful, yet respectful language and clearly communicate what behavior will and will not be tolerated. 

Make sure to let others know about the bullying in seeking widespread support and using the available means (media and such) to broadcast it in a loud manner and tone. We must remember to focus on our strength, positive qualities and accomplishments as we’re not, for the most part, convicted felons! 

While some will recommend avoiding escalation and walking away, I’m convinced that’s good advice. One needs to respond extremely intensely and loudly to discourage any further attempt at bullying and turn that venom around straight in the perpetrator’s face (fight fire with treble intensity and don’t do as Jesus said by turning the other cheek.) 

The bottom line is that to fight a bully, one has to check fear at the door and be ready to deliver a really punishing blow and create a shocking surprise so bullies won’t even think of doing it again!

The sciatic nerve’s “long arm…”

When I had my slip-and-fall accident, my buttock’s piriformis muscle pinched my right sciatic nerve, but that son of a gun kept the pain going and carried it downstream alongside my thigh, my knee, my lower leg and even my ankle 9 days later. It also went back and “tickled” my lower spine in recent days, more than 10 days after the accident occurred. 

In addition to that invasive bad behavior, I got an attack 3 days ago from the radial nerve, on the same right side, the one that works with our arms and hands, in which my wrist and lower arm became stiff, swollen and exhibited all the signs of carpal syndrome. 

This latter problem seems now to be losing some of its sting. So, all this made me think that there might be a connection, a connivance of sorts, between these two giant nerves. 

My initial research on the subject tells me “NO”, but deep inside I’m not yet convinced… Sure, l learned that the sciatic and radial nerves are peripheral nerves, meaning they’re coming out of the brain and spinal cord. 

Both contribute to motor function in controlling muscle movement. The sciatic nerve controls muscles in the back of the leg and foot, while the radial nerve controls muscles in the back of the arm and hand. 

They’re also susceptible to being injured, compressed or irritated, leading to pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness. What’s different about them is their origins and functions as the sciatic nerve originates from the lower spine (L4-S3 nerve roots) in the lumbar region, while the radial nerve stems out of the cervical spine (C5-T1 nerve roots) in the neck region. 

Still I can’t comprehend what had “woken up” the radial nerve while the sciatic one was being pinched and acted out. I continue to believe that a big problem with the sciatic nerve “provoked” the radial nerve to manifest itself. 

This remains a total mystery, a troubling coincidence and I’m awfully tempted in connecting these two dots...

The power of sand inside cogs…

An interesting way to effectively resist autocratic leaders, or any dictator for that matter, is to think small, like a grain of sand, into what would be an oppressing machine with cog wheels all over (think of a giant gearbox). 

These mechanical devices don’t enjoy the presence of pesky hard foreign particles that will impede their smooth function and eventually cause them to stop. A perfect illustration for the expression "Sand in the gears" means to cause problems or prevent something from happening as it should. Sand can cause significant damage to cogwheels. 

So for people who don’t look forward to having a despotic president about to seize power, that’s the solution for resisting instead of fleeing their own country. They just have to turn into that lowly grain of sand that causes some of the following problems to the big gearbox we’re talking about. 

The most obvious one is abrasion, even with tiny but hard stone particles that get crushed between the teeth of the cogwheels, acting like sandpaper and causing wear and tear. If this abrasion persists it will lead to the teeth of the cogwheels becoming rounded or chipped, reducing their ability to mesh or lead properly. 

This causes increased friction between gears, leading to increased wear and tear and potentially overheating. Eventually, sand can get trapped between the teeth of the cogwheels in such ways nothing can turn smoothly and potentially causing the mechanism jams. 

The severity of the damage will depend on several factors, starting with the type of sand, as fine sand is generally more abrasive and in time can cause more wear than coarse sand that’s more capable of bringing the system to stop faster. 

If no one sees the grain of sand entering the machine, so much the better, and sooner than later will the horrible device come to a screeching halt. Just remember that!

How to stop crazy Musk

European governments have a couple of very simple options when it comes to Elon Musk’s interference with their political systems. 

First, all elected officials in the EC, from municipal council members to Presidents should immediately boycott X (ex-Tweeter) and stop using it. 

Then the EC should ask celebrities, movers and shakers, the entire press and the rest of the population to do the same in order to shut Musk’s imbecile big mouth who has somehow decided he wants to rule the world. 

Just give it about a month and if everyone is still stuck to the platform, shut it off sine die throughout the 27 country members. 

Addiction being hard to break, the EC would probably have to opt for the later option, then “Sayonara” Elon!