Welcome to Tehran, Utah!

If you're not a fan of theocracy or the Iranian lifestyle, please don't move to Utah.

In our very scenic state, Mormons still accounted for nearly 90 percent of the state Legislature when its annual session began this week, giving members of the bizarre faith an disproportionate influence in a state that is becoming slightly more diverse in terms of religion.

That's correct, Mormon legislators occupy 91 of the 104 seat available, even though their church can only claim a 62% market share out of the 3.1 million Utahans. There used to be 70% Mormons out of 1.5 million people, when I first moved to Park City in 1985.

Thank God, that hegemony has decreased a bit in spite of its enormous birthrate. Now, can we say that patriarchal and theocratic Utah is as bad as Iran?

Perhaps not quite, with a lesbian mayor at the helm of Salt Lake City, its capital, and another female mayor leading Salt Lake County, but aside from Salt Lake and Summit counties, where Park City is located, conservatism still reigns supreme.

This said, it would be nice to see our legislature less rigged towards the “Mormon Mullahs” and more reflective of the prevailing faiths or lack thereof, all over the state.

I guess Utahans need to vote more intelligently!

Brilliance or luck ?

I stumbled on that financial forum in which the subject was the possible reasons behind someone's success; was it due to brilliance of luck?

Without getting into the details of the ensuing discussion, my initial response was that, on average, it probably was a mixture of both.

But I added that the catalyst of success when both brilliance and luck were equally involved, was a strong dose of common-sense along with a good sense of timing.

At least this reflect my own experience. What's yours?

More on binding placement

As I explained two days ago, binding placement on a ski can have sometime unintended consequences, especially in the form of hurting a joint.

While the Dynastar factory set up are obviously wrong and misleading (I since then checked all the skis on my racks to confirm it), there seem to be little agreement as to what's the best boot placement, except trial and error as long as the binding toe unit is movable and – ideally – is adjusted longitudinally by turning a screw instead of being dependent on fixed increments defined by a notched, adjustment track.

This said, there are basically three competing methods that a skier can use for approaching the perfect boot placement on skis: The Ball of foot (BoF) method used in connection with the Campbell Dynamic Balancer (see illustration), the Center of Running Surface (CRS) which is the middle between the contact points of the base with a flat surface, and then the mid-sole mark on the boot that must be aligned with a corresponding marking on the ski and is now the industry standard.

I will focus on the later, since it come from ski manufacturers that ought to have a clue about the product they put out (?) This said, the mid-sole mark isn't perfect as the increment should be more a split 1/3 – 2/3 with the longer portion of the sole going forward, instead of 1/2 – 1/2, as if there weren't enough approximations already!

Now, it's fair to say that a position forward for that mid-sole mark will make the ski more “turny” or over-steering, but less stable as the skier will be more likely to “go over the handlebar”. It may also help women that have their center of mass more toward the rear than men.

The opposite would be true for speed skis that need to be stable, turn significantly less and could use a backward position relative to that mid-sole mark.

The bottom line, in that entire discussion about the ideal boot placement should depend on a skier's age, sex, ability, morphology and style of skiing, as well as preferences in terms of turn radius, speed, terrain, and snow conditions.

I'm not even mentioning orthopedic considerations if my findings explained in my previous blog can be validated.

A full laundry-list that means that the best adjustment can only conducted on snow and via trial and error. Have fun and good luck with it!

Macron and his “Great Debate”

Starting mid-January and for two month, the French President Macron has launch the “Great Debate”, that will involve himself listening and talking to thousands of mayors, for hours on end, following the demonstrations and questions recently raised by the “Yellow Vests” movement.

There are over 35,000 municipalities in France, ranging from large cities to small villages, and while laudable, that process seems incredibly heavy and inefficient.

I listened to the abbreviated summary of one of them and was struck by the good questions and comments from these local leaders, as well as by their common sense and clear communication style.

Yet, I was struck in contrast by the aloofness and the terribly complicated form of language and muddy communication style of Emmanuel Macron, who sounded like a perfect technocrat.

I bet the resulting gobbledygook didn't play too well among an assembly of common-sense individuals like the French mayors...

To be continued.

Can skis hurt the knee?

During the month of December 2016, I was given a pair of test Polish-made skis XO “One Seventy Two” and I proceeded to ski on them for a few days.

After using the skis for over one week, I didn't particularly enjoy them as I found the skis very difficult to steer and control. More importantly, I suffered a relapse of an old left medial collateral ligament (MCL) elongation that occurred 22 years earlier.

As a result, I stopped skiing 10 days the following January, to rest that knee. Not knowing what to make of that resurging pain, I conveniently suspected that these skis had caused it. Fast-forward to a few days ago, when following some abundant snow falls, I decided it was now safe to use my brand new Dynastar Legend X80 without ruining them.

These boards skied and carved beautifully and were full of liveliness. At the end of the first day though, I began to feel pain again in my left MCL and it become worst on the second day. I returned to my old, flabby, Dynastar PowerTrack 79, and the symptoms immediately went away.

First, I thought my MCL problem was caused by the new skis high level of response and springiness, but I wasn't quite satisfied with that rather baseless hypothesis. I then thought of comparing the binding position on both skis (they were 180 cm in length) and observed that my older skis were mounted about half-and inch forward, compared to the new ones.

Yesterday, I adjusted the boot position on the new skis by a similar distance of 12 mm (4 notches at 3 mm each), to get closer to the old ones, and took them for a spin. I skied a good sampling of terrain and snow conditions to get a valid, general idea, and the results were totally positive.

I had solved the problem and my take-away is that the one-piece binding plate that's installed at the factory with its numbered markings related to boot sole length is woefully inaccurate can't be securely relied upon.

Further, it shows that weak knees are extremely sensitive to longitudinal binding placement and that relative boot position to ski is totally ignored by so-called ski specialists and for which there's no information.

This will need more digging into!

Welcome to the Sundance Film Festival!

Robert Redford's 34th Sundance Film Festival just opened in Park City, with 112 feature-length films selected, representing 33 countries and 45 first-time filmmakers.

I'm not counting the 50,000 visitors that will stay in Park City over the 10 days event.

Will I go and watch some films?

Not this year; I've delegated that task to my wife and my daughter. I'll be skiing instead on empty slopes and great powder snow. As we often say: “Been there, done that!”

Religiosity and gullibility

I heard on the local morning news that in the United States, there are still 30% of the population that don't believe in global warming.

In Utah, we do even worst, with 40% of folks denying it.

Why is this?

I believe it's the inherent gullibility of our Mormon faithfuls that is directly related to this and the blind belief in Church doctrine and authority and that of the Republican Party, that by far, is the favorite political leaning of the Mormon Church...

When is China's growth enough?

When it was recently announced that China's GDP “only” grew by 6.4% for 2018, instead of 6.9% the year before stock markets the world over took it in the chin.

While more than 300 million Chinese are now part of the middle-class, there is still more than one billion of them living in poverty, so, on paper, it might make sense that China's growth be over the USA's 2.5% rate or the entire planet's 3% growth.

If the idea is that the whole world should access full development status, we are likely to bring the planet to its knees or more simply, kill it altogether.

World's population is currently over 7,679,000 people and still growing at a rate of more than 1% per year.

This may seem small, but with an increase of over 80 million per year, we're on our way to reach the 10 billion mark by 2055, so if some still China growth isn't big enough, they should begin to accept massive decrease, both in GDP growth and population if they wish to leave a livable planet to their grand-kids!

Rock-eating snowblower!

My 28 years old Honda snowblower has been a loyal servant all these years and is remain priceless asset this snowy winter.

It always has started on the first pull and aside from changing a broken shear pin it's been working flawlessly.

This is not the first time that I must change broken shear-pins on my snowblower, but this is the first time I broke the pin securing the impeller that blows the snow upward into the discharge chute.

Usually, it was always one of the pins holding the two horizontal augers. The impeller is much harder to reach and ejecting the broken pin as well as replacing it with a new one involves the use of a mirror and is no easy task.

I checked YouTube and there wasn't a single video on how to do the job (yeah, I should produce one!). So, I had to think, improvise and the machine magically resurrected, I tested it, finished the work I had left the day before and all worked perfectly.

If your snowblower gives you trouble, and if it's a two-stage design, don't hesitate to ask me for tips!

GO at Club Med: Pass to mountain-life

Many Frenchmen that have ended up making their career in the American ski industry, came from an unsung school, Club Med.

Because of Alpine ostracism, would-be ski professionals like ski instructors were never warmly welcome by native mountain dwellers that saw them as parasites intent on stealing their livelihood. In addition, they didn't have the chance of having parents that owned precious and limited real estate, and instead had to find an expensive place to rent that would eat up into their earnings.

Finding a counter-seasonal job was also an extreme challenge few could easily muster, as carpenter, plumber or mason, like most of their local peers. As a result, the no-brainer solution was to get a ski-instructor job at Club Med, including free room and board, plus a chance to work during the off season as tennis or sailing instructor.

For some, after a short while, Club Med was no panacea as it implied moving all the time around resorts, not being able to take roots and lead a normal life.

Some of these ski instructors turned to America where European ski instructors were still in demand and since many could speak some English, it was a much easier way for them to get integrated into the American mountain culture.

Eventually, these individuals found better jobs, set up retail shops, or worked in the industry and pretty much made their home on this side of the pond. In sharp contrast, mountain-born folks like me were a meager exception of those French skiers who built their career in the USA.

The Canyons' “Schizophrenic Runs”

I've always thought that, The Canyons, the other half of Park City Mountain, has ski runs that are demented in the way they've been designed, without much concern about actual danger to their potential users.

I call them “schizophrenic”, and I feel I'm not exaggerating by any mean. The runs in questions are super steep, densely wooded, peppered with rock of all kinds and are not places where you'd take people you cherish or want to protect from harm.

I must confess that I have a soft side for these crazy runs and no later than yesterday, I was playing with my grandson in one of them. Maybe that's one of my ill-attempts of trying to remain young, hip and silly!

Putting a lid on envy

We all should be more mindful of creating envy. Okay, I should have said jealousy, but the correct term is actually envy.

Social sites like Facebook or Instagram are ideal breeding room for envy, plus any other opportunities people take to show a new car, a pair of shoes or talk about their personal achievements on the internet or elsewhere.

By and large, people are more prone to envy than say, compassion, love, appreciation or solidarity. Envy is a creepy feeling that is also taboo in our societies, and because of that, is largely swept under the rug where it breeds and keep growing.

The morale of the story is that we should always be very watchful and concerned of not fanning the flames of envy...

Wanna jump?

Friday was the best day of our new snow year with 2 feet of fresh powder and everyone went crazy. I did to, while skiing with my daughter.

As I was riding the chairlift, I was struck by an untouched patch of powder, right under the top section, that had been roped off, and was telling the other passengers, that in spite of the 20 feet drop I would love to jump and make first tracks below.

A bit surprised, my daughter asked: “Would you really do it Dad?” I said “Yes, if I still were 17!”

Sure, the numbers were right, but just not in the proper sequential order, but alas, I won't jump this time, I'm already 71!

Ski construction, usage and durability

I've always been an unabashed proponent and user of lightweight skis.

I can remember a time, in the early 70s when I went to the Dynastar factory, near my home, and bought a couple pairs of featherweight, prototype skis that were extremely fun for a very short time before they totally disintegrated under my feet.

This brings me to the point that what's very light isn't generally sturdy and won't last. This was made extremely clear to me, two days ago when I pulled my skis out of the car roof rack, ready for another few hours of adventures on the snow.

I noticed that the binding plate of my Dynastar Powertrack, had pulled out from the ski in the toe area. I had to return home and change skis.

The damaged, super-light skis were just wood core and fiberglass, but as a result, super fragile, in the absence of any metal laminate or binding inserts. Sure, these days, construction has become as flimsy as possible to save every possible fraction of Euro and particularly the (Look) ski bindings are now built like toys.

I since fixed the damage, and I'm looking forward to get back on the boards, but the morale of the story is that while you can make daring choices, you simply need to adjust your expectations accordingly!

Thaynes run's magic

There's a ski run in Utah that's like no other, in ways that are hard to describe and it's Thaynes, at Park City Mountain.

I've always loved that run and this season is not exception. In fact, it's the only run that often still takes my breath away. Granted, it's short on just 856 feet of vertical (260 m) just longer as a FIS slalom, but it feels much more than just this.

I don't ski down Thaynes, it literally swallows me and forces me to tumble non-stop through it, flying down its insane profile. It seems that I have no choice but go fast and literally “float” over its wavy, bumpy and changing terrain.

It's always hard to explain all the magic this run triggers in me, but I can't think of one single run that come even close to it among all the places I've skied in the world...

Three (old) men on skis

I just booked a condo in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for February, where two of my countrymen, Jean-Louis Villiot, Philippe Mollard, and I plan to go skiing.

Sounds like “Three men in a boat” in the snow! I've never been on a ski trip with buddies and I'm looking to this one.

Just like me, both of my friends have spent their working careers in the ski business and I'm sure we'll be able to share stories, reminisce a lot, ski our asses off, compare technical lot, laugh through it all and have a great time together.

This gives me an idea for a good movie.

Better get together on the boards now than later!

When is Trump's shutdown over?

That's my wife question and I respond “I don't know”, simply because the man responsible for it isn't behaving sanely.

Not only this, but he also acts unpredictably, so when you add up the two behaviors you get the worst of both world and a recipe for disaster, fully supported by the Republican Party.

Great job everyone!

Skiing: Quality over speed or quantity!

When I retired and began to ski my heart's content, I wanted to catch up for all the years I couldn't ski as much as I would, and particularly during eight long, New York ski-deprived years.

So, when I returned to skiing in earnest, I skied fast and logged as much vertical as I possibly could. Today, things have changed a lot, and to paraphrase a famous Beatles' song:

“When I was younger so much younger than today 

I never needed anybody's help in any way 

But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured...” 

meaning that as my body changes, I must adapt, and what a great opportunity to literally “shift gears” and focus on form, smoothness and efficiency.

Less brute quantity or massive speed, but more style!

I've tried it, already, and found it to be an attractive alternative!

The Art of Blackmail

In recent years hostage taking and terrorism have been working hand in hand as a preferred tactic of malevolent people.

It's clear that Mr. Trump has initially taken full ownership of the current government shut-down and has been using Federal employees as hostages to apply pressure on the U.S. Congress and the rest of the country.

This form of blackmail isn't what well-behaved individuals generally approve of and is more what low-life, terrorist type characters employ.

At any rate, this runs opposite to negotiating, unless it might be a revised version of “the art of the deal...”

Vail Resorts business model tested?

Just before this weekend began, shares of Vail Resorts (MTN) “schussed” down the hill by almost 13% after the company announced weak results from the holiday season.

Even though season-to-date total lift ticket revenue was up 12.2% from a year ago, ski school revenue rose 9.5%, and dining revenue was up 14.8% on a 16.9% rise in the number of skiers, management said that the pre-holiday season from December 1 to December 21 was lower than anticipated as poor conditions and weaker-than-expected short-term bookings hit the company.

Bloomberg Analytics commented: “Vail’s recent acquisitions and new season-pass offerings aren’t enough to sustain demand and will likely hurt its fiscal 2019 growth prospects.” The $99 military pass didn't help either, and CEO Katz admitted that while Vail achieved solid growth in its Colorado resorts and Whistler Blackcomb markets, it experienced declines in both the Northern California and Utah markets, suggesting that the Ikon pass seriously encroached on its rival in these two regions.

What is becoming apparent is that the Ikon and Epic passes might hinder the sport’s growth, as first-time skiers are reluctant to spend more than $100 on a day pass and are unlikely to buy a season pass, thus discouraging more folks from joining the sport.

The pursuit of happiness

I've always been a bit puzzled by "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", this well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence.

It gives three examples of the "unalienable rights" which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their creator.

I've always seen the “pursuit of happiness” as some kind of a trivial right; like, do we have the “unalienable right” to ski, watch TV or play golf, if these activities are meant to make us happy?

Well, I guess we probably have to think beyond basic definitions of happiness to understand what the original intent of these words were. We probably ought to move beyond the hedonistic aspects of happiness and focus more on positive emotions, individual virtues and positive institutions.

According to the Declaration, our Government should strive to enabling this state of affair, like taking action to guarantee all citizens' health and safety, including safe food, health care and sound living conditions.

In fact these puzzling words are meaningless because they had been changed at the last minute into “Property” by Thomas Jefferson before the Declaration was published. Most Americans ignore that important detail and it's a very good reason to question the literal value of our Constitution.

Perhaps, we should follow the example of the the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan that actually measures its country's Gross National Happiness index! Well, with all of this in mind, there's still a lot of progress that need to be achieved in the United States Department of Happiness!

Dear sport of skiing...

In a follow-up article about a stagnating US ski population in Skiing History magazine, John Fry is telling us that 70% of skier-days are logged in by season pass holders.

In other words, committed skiers are buying season passes, which doesn't leave much room for newcomers or day-skiers and clearly shows that the snow industry is “milking” the existing ski population without doing much to attract new folks into the sport.

If and when, occasional or accidental skiers happen, these are very likely to be “sticker-shocked” if they find themselves at a destination resort and have no choice but buy a day pass at their current exorbitant prices.

So, if the weather, the conditions or their on-slope experience is less than perfect, they won't probably repeat their costly experience. Also, to be likable, skiing requires a minimum amount of technique. Yet, it's hard to learn and the process takes time, especially for impatient adults. Further, instruction is an extra cost many winter visitors tend to minimize or skip altogether.

What is certain, is that ski resorts should offer more kid skiing and instruction at no or discounted cost, but this is a step hard to expect when a resort's share of revenue instruction from kids remains enormous.

It's also true that our American culture leaves little room for portraying skiing as a desirable sporting activity (unlike Europe, there's little room for skiing in songs, movies, TV shows and general folklore).

When all is said and done, the snow industry's focus is woefully unable to grow itself as it seems unwilling to put itself into wannabe skiers' boots and adding to this the uncertainties of global warming, it is setting itself to fail, by ignoring its challenges and refusing to take the steps needed to growing its audience.

Get in shape to ski?

My daughter just shared an article she had seen on CNN about the importance of ski-fitness training. Like most of the time, this article was written by someone who didn't understand much about skiing and its complexity.

Mixing popular images of intense training by champions all the way to keeping a positive mental attitude, the article didn't stress nearly enough the need for good technique and what brings in it to the equation, quality instruction combined with enough repetition or mileage.

Indeed a fundamental good technique combined with repetition, will significantly lessen the need for physical fitness, which the skier may use in dosing the dual “fuels”, or hybrid power, inherent with the practice of skiing: Brute physical force and savvy use of gravity.

This is a subject dear to my heart that I have explained before. The net result being that the more technique one has and the more mileage it collects over time, the less need there will be for shear muscular power!

Is Mormonism “Scientology Lite”?

Both Mormonism and Scientology are American-made “religions” and share a few important points in common.

After watching the “Going clear” documentary, that attacks an organization that many see as a sect, I could see many similarities between the two.

It seems true that many former Mormons familiar with Scientology and free to speak their mind, refer to Mormonism as “Scientology Lite” and see a difference between Mormonism and Scientology as one of degree only.

What I could see is that both organization are strong by exerting huge peer and family pressure, are highly secretive, have leaders that are worshiped like living gods, can't stand and punish detractors, are highly skilled at extracting money out of their members and are forms of cults.

Now, you know the difference! 

“Sick Days” in Utah

Yesterday was a very snowy day that followed a major snow strorm, and even though the tourists had supposedly left town, following the Holidays, the slopes were mobbed by Utahans and other Park City locals.

None of them could picture themselves working and had fallen ill to the “common powder cold” against which there's no vaccination that I know of.

This is not the first time I witness this social phenomenon, even though I can say that I never, while I was working in Utah, ever took advantage.

This might be a good reason why I should today, consider myself a fool!

Skiing-inspired songs or music?

In watching a documentary about George Harrison's life, I noticed one recording of his called “Ski-ing”, that's just an instrumental piece going back to 1968.

As I was thinking, there's nothing that I know in terms of skiing-inspired song or music in the English culture that I ever had a chance to listen to, which would tend to show that skiing isn't part of the English or American Culture.

Contrast this with French when there are at least two or three such songs, with one most notorious and dumb song about Killy (“C'est tout bon”) by Hugues Auffray, the Frenc folk-song artist in these days.

There's another song still from the same year created by Marcel Amont, called “Schuss”, that was picked to become the official Grenoble Olympics soundtrack.

I'd guess that German speaking countries must have a plethora of ski songs, but I haven't yet begun to explore that major ski culture...  

Draw me a picture!

We say one picture is worth a thousand words, a good video even more, and that's so true!

Recently, in Park City, a party that had a big stake in a huge real estate development, produced a composite video showing how awful the result would be. It spooked the entire Park City community and, last November, the project was voted down, even though it was hardly if not impossible to build, feasible.

Yet, the city didn't go through the nitty gritty of the obstacles that stood against this herculean project. Still, the citypayed $65 million to purchase the land and turned it into open space.

What a trick; it worked, and today the landowner is laughing all the way to the bank! Today, a friend of mine, back in my home town and ski resort of Morzine, France, is actively fighting a project of a large capacity gondola that is supposed to alleviate some of the ski resort's unsolvable transit problems.

The idea he supports is for a similar gondola, but using a different route that seems to make more sense, both from a practical and an aesthetically point of view, when compared to that town's official proposal.

The problem is that most local citizens, after hearing about the project for years, have already a very tough time visualizing it, yet alone seeing how both projects look like and can't even less compare them side by side in their mind's eye.

This is where a visual comparison of both plans (each based on the existing 3-D video displayed below) makes so much sense in exposing the good and ugly sides of one plan over the other.

I really hope something is developed along these line to give people who either lack the time or the visual imagination to see for themselves what they are up against, so they can help their community reach the best possible decision.
 

Another good morning

I generally wake up around 5:30 AM. In winter it's dark and cold.

I get out of bed, stand up, feel that my joints are in working order, close the window, walk to the bathroom, check the outside temperature and if it's very cold, turn on the living room fireplace to assist the central heating that will kick in just a few minutes.

While I'm preparing the coffee, I'm grateful to be alive and able to go about without any pain.

I look forward to another great day. I check the news, my emails and review the stock market futures.

I already picture what I'm going to do during the next precious hours of daylight that soon will be mine to use. I'm grateful for having the privilege of enjoying another day to its fullest!

Too cold to ski?

The first two days of the new year have been very cold.

It was -7 F on Tuesday morning then 10 F later in the day, and -5 F on Wednesday with a high of 19 F in the afternoon. Needless to say that I didn't ski on both days! In the past, I have had my struggle with cold.

I remember one December day of 1969, in Chamrousse, France, as I was undergoing a ski-instructor examination, wearing just a red sweater – no jacket and no hat – in order to look good, and got my fingers badly frostbitten.

Later, as was instructing further north, at Avoriaz, I bought myself a Moncler down jacket, because the cool looking but freezing Skimer outfits we had couldn't do the job of keeping us warm.

Another memorable event was in Sugarbush, Vermont, during a Look sales meeting when we had to ski by -40F, with a windshield factor of -70F. There was only one long, cold ride on the fixed grip chairlift that day!

In Park City, there were ski days in the -20F range, when I could barely extract myself from my ski boots once I got back to my car, and many other when I was skiing with others that didn't give me a chance to produce enough efforts to remain warm enough.

My adopting a helmet 9 seasons ago, was also a godsend, as it finally kept my balding head and growing ears much warmer...

Of course, skiing isn't a tropical sport and we need cold to practice it; we should therefore embrace it. What I've learned through it all is that it's always better to err on the side of overdressing, whatever the conditions could be!

Meet the spoiler from Utah

In November, Utahans elected Mitt Romney as their new Senator (I don't particularly like the guy, so I voted for his opponent), but while he ran for just a senate seat, the former Massachusetts Governor and 2002 “Olympic Savior” was eyeing the Prize that is the Presidency of the United States.

To start the year with a bang, Romney wrote on New Year's Day, a virulent op-ed piece in The Washington Post, in which he criticized said Mr. Trump has not being up to the task of being a president.

Trump would rather have Romney drive a backhoe and help build his wall.

If, as I believe, Romney can't beat Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination, he sure can derail Trump's re-election by running as an Independent, and by so doing, help the Democratic candidate clinch the presidency.

A fight worth watching as 2019 unfolds...

An easy, simple and achievable resolution

One legitimate question on these first days of the year is whether the resolutions we've made are good enough. In fact, what counts isn't how many we've made, but their likelihood of holding through thick and thin during the year.

Sometimes, we embark into doing positive and amazing things without them being part of any resolution, so good things can originate in multiple ways. I'd say that the best way to succeed at achieving new year's resolution is to keep them simple, within reach and able to naturally motivate us.

Experts say, goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. I'd add to this, they should also be fun and why not, useful...

But now that I've learned all of this, I'll need to review my new year's resolutions and make sure they fully qualify, so there might some delay before final selection and execution. Just be patient!

Another new year...

Like many, I consider the new year to be an arbitrary milestone, but I accept it as such.

At my age, what's important, is that life remain as good in 2019 as it was in 2018.

I'm not asking for much, and status quo is absolutely acceptable, whether it has to do with health issues (the most important), good fortune and fun.

Today, simple stability is what replaces yesterday's ambitious plans and I can joyfully live with it, Happy New Year!