Is Amazon my next ski lift?

Back in 2016, Amazon filed a patent for a drone-powered towing system designed for skiers, surfers, skaters, and other folks that want to be pulled by other means than their own muscular strength. The patent was issued this past August 18.

The idea is to allow the user to direct the drone, like telling the machine to pull the user towards a desired location while figuring out the best path, including avoiding obstacles like rocks, cliffs or trees.

Also, from what I’ve read, the drone is powerful enough to lift my body up in the air in order to skip a chalet, a crossing elk-herd or a high-voltage line!

So far, this concepts sounds like it would ideal for me. Still, I wonder what I’ll do with the drone when I reach my uphill destination and get ready for my descent? I guess, I’ll strap it on my back and roll the pull rope into it, or something along these lines...

I hope this invention will be available to the skiing public before I quit skiing altogether and while I can still muster the physical strength to turn my boards into deep powder snow or crud.

I doubt Park City Mountain or Deer Valley Resort will let me on their hills, but I’ll probably ski-drone elsewhere on the Wasatch Front or in the nearby Uintas mountains.

Finally, I’ve already figured out that my future own personal lift should cost me no more than the total price of two season passes!

Skiing, the only sport I knew

A few days ago, I wrote a eulogy to be read at my brother’s funeral. Both of us began skiing together. I think I was 7 and he was 14. We took our first slides on skis handmade by our Dad.

I instantly got hooked to the sport, even though we both acted as our self-lift, side-stepping the hill after each single descent. Over the years, I have tried to understand and discover what really was behind my passion for skiing.

Then, as I wrote the few words that would be played on the day my big brother was laid to rest, the words “skiing was the only sport we knew” popped into my mind and perfectly fit inside the text. We didn’t know about soccer, tennis, climbing, swimming.

All we knew in terms of after-school activities was working multiple chores around the house to help our family.

We were poor, with enough to live, but deprived of fun, comfort and never spoiled. So when we discover what it felt to be sliding on snow, we simply couldn’t believe that true recreation existed, filled with speed, freedom, and weightlessness.

Thank you skiing for opening up our eyes and making us fall in love with you!

After the Republican Convention

Out of sheer curiosity, I managed to catch the end of Trump’s acceptance speech, portion of which I felt was poorly delivered and stuffed with his trademark lies in order for him to expunge his appalling mismanagement of Covid-19, inherent racism and woeful incompetence.

I’m not talking of all the other issues that the media covered, like using the White House as a campaign prop or letting his groupies pile on top of each other without wearing a mask.

The man really is the devil incarnate, must be voted out on November 3, and forcibly removed from office if necessary, for America to survive.

...And now the Farmer’s Almanac snow forecast!

Following the winter weather forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we just got the Farmers Almanac’s one.

This publication goes back to 1818 and provides long-range weather predictions for both the U.S. and Canada. Its publisher that "many of its longtime followers claim that their forecasts are 80% to 85% accurate", but most scientific analyses of the accuracy its forecasts have shown a 50% rate of accuracy, no greater than random chance, but higher than that of groundhog prognostication, another folklore method of forecasting.

As far as Park City is concerned, we are smack in the middle of the western Intermountain region (Spokane down to Flagstaff, and Reno to Salt Lake City), for which snowfall is predicted to be near normal. Overall precipitation will be slightly below normal, on average. In terms of temperatures, our winter will be slightly milder than normal, with cold periods in early to mid-December, late January, and late February.

This stands in stark contrast with NOAA’s forecast that didn’t appear favorable to Park City or the state of Colorado. I hope farmers will be right and scientists dead wrong, but in both cases, I’ll make a note to check how close their predictions come to reality at the end of winter, and let you know who you should believe.

Beginning thirty-six years in Park City

Yesterday marked the 35th year that we’ve been in Park City. So far, things have, for the most part, been smooth, fun and happy.

As we get into our thirty-sixth year as “Parkites” as we locals call ourselves, under the threat of Covid-19 and the specter of Emperor Trump, nothing seems so sure anymore!

Let’s hope that three dozen will develop to handsomely beat twenty-twenty!

Should I watch the Republican Convention?

After watching (and enjoying) the Democratic Convention one week earlier, you might ask why won’t I watch its Republican version?

The response is an emphatic “no”, I will let his 35 million “groupies” soak into it. I won’t watch it, and the reason is both clear and simple. According from the Washington Post, dated July 13, 2020, Donald Trump is responsible for 20,000 lies while he was in the presidential office.

I’m sure we’re closer to 25,000 at this point. I’m not saying that I have never lied, but my big lies don’t even come close and have never caused harm or death to ordinary people.

Frankly, I don’t need to hear more lies from a phony man who’d love to become dictator and that I hope my American countrymen will fire his ass on November 3. A very sound reason to ignore his reality TV show!

Managing my anger at Trump…

There's rarely a day when I don’t get angry at what Trump thinks, says or does, and even worse, at all the people who once voted for him and the many that still plan to support him in November.

This of course is not good for my blood pressure, this is why I just turned to the famous Mayo Clinic for some guidance to help me manage my anger at anything “Trump”.

Here are the tips I picked from that famous medical institution:

1. I should always think before I open my mouth 
In the heat of the moment, I often say something I'll soon regret. Instead, I’ll take a deep breath, take time to formulate my thoughts before saying something.

2. I will first calm down and only then, express myself 
When I can think calmly and clearly, I will express my frustration in an assertive but non-confrontational way. I will state my concerns and my needs clearly and directly, without hurting my opponents or trying to manipulate them.

3. I will stick with “I” statements 
The best way to avoid criticizing or placing blame and increase tension, is to avoid “you this” and “you that”. Instead I will only use "I" statements to make my point. I will do my best to stay respectful and be as specific as I can.

4. I won’t hold a grudge 
If I am able to forgive, I won’t left anger and negative feelings fester and ruin my time. By letting go and forgiving the person who angered me, we might both learn from the situation and strengthen, rather than ruin our relationship.

5. To minimize tension, I will sprinkle a bit of humor 
Whenever possible, a bit of humor will help me face what’s making me angry. I said humor, not sarcasm, this would make things worse.

My brother Gaston, 1940-2020

For the past twelve years, my big brother Gaston has suffered the martyrdom of COPD and finally went to a better place yesterday.

Although seven years my elder, Gaston was both my buddy and my mentor, especially during the summer up in the Alps, where there were no kids my age.

It was with him that I learned to take my first ski steps next to our family home, on the ash skis our father had made for us.

I went to elementary school with him for only one year, after that he joined our dad at his cheese shop, helping making tomme, this delectable Alpine cheer and butter. In the summer, he was a shepherd up in the mountains, sharing the milking of the herd of cow with my father, both in the morning and the evening, in addition to many other chores.

 When our family got into the restaurant business, Gaston ran the errands down valley in the morning and quickly returned to the kitchen where he was second to none when it cane to preparing his delicious “truites belles meunières”!

When the last dairy cow disappeared in the village, our dad closed the cheese shop. My brother first worked at the Pléney ski area, in Morzine, grooming the slopes by dragging a wooden-roller and cutting the bumps with a shovel on the steeper runs, before becoming a certified ski patrol. He also got me a first job at Pléney, where I sold lift tickets.

In 67, my parents replaced cheese shop with a youth hostel of sorts inside the family home. It had just been remodeled and enlarged for that purpose. Gaston and I would help after giving ski lessons. When came the time for me to drive a car, Gaston patiently taught me the basics at the wheel our Peugeot 203 pickup truck.

Together we would harvest blueberries in September and the rest of the year, when I was available, I would help him with maintenance, construction, logging or any tough job that had to be done. Gaston always supported my dream of becoming a ski instructor. Throughout the winter season, we religiously watched the ski races in front of the black and white TV that our parents had just purchased.

We were both passionate about skiing, the only sport we knew! Passion that Gaston passed on to his son Yves, as well as to Victoria, his granddaughter that he adored. During the summers of 73 and 74, I had worked with Gaston in his souvenirs shop at les Lindarets, just before taking a full time job in the ski industry and before leaving for the United States.

Now separated by the distance and caught up with our respective lives, we only saw each other again when I was passing through my hometown and more and more we were chatting on the phone as soon as international telecommunications improved.

Always encouraging, Gaston has also often inspired me, and I am happy to have so many good moments in his company. On portable oxygen for 12 years, he fought without ever complaining as he clung to the life he loved so much. What kept him going was his love for his family and for little Victoria that he wanted to see grow up.

A force of nature, he finally left us to find the peace and rest he so badly needed. Goodbye big brother, I will miss you a lot!

My impressions about the Democratic Convention

In spite of all the pandemic restrictions, the Democrats delivered wonderfully well produced four-night convention with great presentations, excellent speeches and successfully made the case for Joe Biden as a candidate that could stand up to Trump.

Even a skeptic like me was greatly re-assured and sold on his chances of squashing our terrible president. Barak and Michelle Obama’s speeches stood out and our former president is truly a great orator and a consummate salesman on behalf of his party.

This also reminded me that political leaders are unfortunately good salespeople who know how to get elected, but poor or mediocre decision makers with variable judgmental qualities, little ability to improvise, and not necessary a working understanding and a sense of politicking.

Overall, I’m pleased with the performance delivered by the Democrats and I truly believe that it will be hard for the Republicans to neutralize it, yet alone do better.

Treating voters with civility and respect

Tomorrow, I’ll try to summarize my response to the Democratic Convention that ended this past Thursday, but for the moment I still need to harp on Trump a bit more.

After criticizing his imperfect and misplaced hypocrisy, I would like to now focus on the man’s general lack of respect and civility. As you know, in life, we’re always trying to convince, please or have as many people as possible siding with us on all kinds of issues.

Call it salesmanship or craving for popularity, but in order to advance in society (if that goal is important to us) we need to rally as many folks as possible on our side. Likewise, political candidates win by garnering a majority of votes in their favor and are not exempt of pursuing the exact same approach, with only one exception, and it’s Trump.

Once more, he strongly feels he doesn’t have to abide by this timeless societal rule. This gives him the apparent license to insult his opponents or any individual or group that doesn’t espouse his views.

He’s so full of himself that he doesn’t care a damn, and yet he should, because he’s alienating more voters instead of rallying them to his cause (regardless of its merits). Just like I did yesterday, this makes me conclude that in behaving in such a counter-productive manner, his action is dumb, plain and simple.

He only deserves to lose big times in November and get the hell out of our lives.

Trump should have been more hypocrite

After almost four years of Trump, we’ve observed that besides being a remarkable liar, he’s also a somewhat good hypocrite. I say “somewhat”, because he could do much better in that particular skill set.

His best achievement in the category was the “photo op” of him brandishing a bible outside a church across the street from the White House, but he still can’t fake it with folks he doesn’t like.

He seems uniquely able to perform as a decent hypocrite with his loyal base. Herein lays Trump’s main quandary; he can’t grow his somehow shrinking base because he refuses to fake his appreciation, love or empathy to the huge number of people that haven’t supported wholeheartedly until now, or just don’t like him.

He, who calls himself a savvy businessman, still seems to ignore that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. Unfortunately, his deep conceit blinds him to a world of possibilities and prevents him from being just nice.

No matter how you look at it, being nice isn’t rocket science! He should smile to all Americans instead of looking like a mad, tough, angry old man all the time. Again, that’s not very complicated, but if one is morbidly stupid like our president is, there seems to be no way out of that jam!

A job for the Fall of 1970…

Fifty years ago, I still was shopping for a career. If possible a seasonal one that ideally would dovetail perfectly with my nascent ski-instructor occupation.

In the Spring, I had made an attempt as an assistant surveyor, but didn’t pursue it for a variety of reasons I explained in a prior blog.

After working at the family’s restaurant for the summer season, I turned my attention to a profession that’s barely known in the USA, but exists all over Europe, that of “Quantity Surveyor”, in the home construction industry and deals with estimates, actual costs verification and the like.

It sounded an opportunity worth exploring to me. So, I went to work that Fall of 1970 with a small company owned by two young partners named Arnaud and Malagutti, working out of Cluses, the exact place where I attended the “Ecole d’Horlogerie” four years before.

The job consisted mostly of working with painters and masons and checking the dimensional aspect of their job in order to certify their invoicing.

A work that was taking me mostly locally as well as to some nearby mountain resorts like La Clusaz and Grand Bornand. My bosses were good, the job varied, the pay dismal ($42 a week), and after about three months I had enough and concluded that it wasn’t cut for that activity.

As Queen’s song summarizes it well: “Another one bites the dust”. In other words, back to square one!

Samsung’s planned obsolescence?

You would think that Samsung, the TV world’s market leader, with its 20% share of global shipments would be more concerned and careful about its consumers.

In our home we have two of their TVs and at least three cell phones made by the Korean firm. Yet, Samsung, in spite of its great products, seems to be oblivious of its consumers’ happiness with its brand.

For the past 10 days, I couldn’t load directly the app menu by pressing on what they call their Smart Hub. An error message invariably came up announcing “Smart Hub is being updated. Please try again later”.

I went online and discovered that it was a widespread problem dating back to 2018 and that seemed unresolved by the techs at Samsung. I unsuccessfully tried several “recipes” offered on the web, further wasted my time on Samsung chat feature and finally called the company three times and none of their support folks was able to help me; in fact, they knew less than I did on the subject.

I finally realized that the app display had changed ever since I got the error-message, and that it now takes longer before the new displays fully loads on my screen (1 or 2 minute, an eternity in modern electronic timeline).

Further, this display vanishes too quickly and don’t let the operator the time to make a selection. This is not impossible to deal with, but certainly inconvenient enough for many people to choose to dump their current TV and buy a new one.

If I can give them a piece of advice, don’t buy another Samsung, the company certainly doesn’t deserve a repeat purchase, go for an LG or something else!

Skiing, social distancing and lift ticket pricing…

If you go to a restaurant anywhere in the world, expect to find no more than half the normal sitting capacity whether it’s outdoors or indoors. Yet prices have not been raised by a factor of two.

The result is that patron can enjoy a relatively safe experience for the same price. Sure, the restaurant owner will need to adjust its cost structure, mostly through smart staffing and other productivity enhancements in order to retain a modicum of profitability. Tricky, but not necessarily impossible to achieve.

Now, apply the same logic to ski resorts for the upcoming season. Absent a vaccine or a satisfactory medical solution, social distancing will reduce lift capacity by at least 50%, this include people living under a same roof and riding a lift together that may balance people riding as single on a triple chair, two skiers inside a gondola build for holding eight (has anyone thought about re-configuring the sitting back-to-back with a Plexiglas partition?), and hoping that a six-passenger chair can hold three (yet the trio won’t be 6 feet apart)!

This said, the drop in uphill capacity will create lines that weren’t there before and will therefore account for a significant loss of value to the skier or snowboarder.

Who will bear that burden? The user, the operator, or a little of both? Big questions, deep silence, no idea at all as to which kind of product ski resorts will offer, as deadlines to purchase season passes on the best possible terms are looming...

How are you sailing through this pandemic?

Up until recently, when I was asked this question, I would invariably answer: “Just fine.” Like billions of other people across the world, I just lied.

In truth, this pandemic and the uncertainty that is hovering over us all, is undermining our resolve, our motivation and our stamina.

Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we’re stalled, waiting for some definite order to come, an announcement to be made or next development to happen.

The world is stuck in quicksand at the moment and, in the end, being mentally frozen in place will cost us a lot. And you, what’s your sincere and honest answer to the above question?

Prudent return to mountain-biking

This Saturday was my first day mountain biking of the season.

Now at age 72. I have only been on fat tires once a season since I turned 70. More hesitancy, less brute force would be the key observations on that very first day.

Since we’ve had such a dry spring and summer, erosion has done some significant damage to the trails and rocks are showing larger and more frequently, requiring much more attention than in seasons past.

Much more than skiing or road-bike riding, the first day out on a mountain bike is always marked by lots of tension, from a hesitant mind to a pair of white knuckles that firmly grab the handlebar and stand ready to squeeze the brakes.

When the ride is smooth and the slope isn’t too steep, there is nothing quite like it, though! I would love to ride more often for the rest of the summer if I can muster the right balance between becoming much more relax and remaining extremely attentive.

I’ll let you know how this plan develops...

Reining in our hot buttons

This pandemic is stressing all of us moment and it’s also the perfect time to encounter folks who are able to “push our buttons” either on purpose or by accident. The next question is how can we manage it well?

Our “buttons” are those sensitive areas that can make us react as we communicate with others. They vary in size and sensitivity but no matter what the intensity, it’s a good idea to be prepared to handle minor situations that have the potential to degenerate into major fights or unpleasant situations.

Obviously, when our buttons get pushed, we react as if we were thrust by a force that's far much stronger, than our rational grown-up minds, and we strenuously defend ourselves or attack the individual who has provoked us.

Psychologists claim that getting our buttons pushed almost invariably sends us on a nasty return trip to our past. By contrast, the adult that we have become is normally reasonable, logical, objective, and controlled, which means that when we've gotten our buttons pushed, we’re developmentally regressing back into the little kids we used to be and the grown up in us has suddenly checked-out.

We’re so shocked that our irresistible impulse is to regain some sense of safety, to reduce our precarious sense of vulnerability and to act out the emotion that now holds us in its grip. It is therefore critical to be able to identify what pushes our buttons.

Chances are, the stimulus of the moment will unconsciously reminds us of something that has so much upset us in the past you weeks, months, years, or even decades ago, that we feel obligated to go berserk in the present.

We therefore have to dig deep into our troubled past to determine what causes us become so upset at this kind of provocation. We’ll explore that process and the causes in a next blog. In the meantime don’t let others get under your skin!

An embarrassing “hit-parade” (continued)

As we seem to find ourselves in the middle of the planetary pandemic, the only yardstick that has much meaning for me is the rate of death per 100,000 people.

For example my home in Utah and its 3,206,000 inhabitants has experienced 351 Covid-19 death, which brings its rate to 10.95 / 100,000 people, pretty close to the best performing nations of Denmark and Germany.

To keep things simple, I have focused on a list of countries that are either well developed or significant enough politically or otherwise. Asia was the first continent hit, then Western Europe, then the US and Canada.

All other countries followed. Some Asian countries minimized the number of casualties remarkably well, like Vietnam and Taiwan. China did a good job, but I have a tough time trusting their total numbers as it might have had an incentive to minimize its casualty quite significantly.

India, on the other hand, is still in the middle of the pandemic and one is permitted to think that their numbers might get worse. Just as in the case of China, it’s very hard to believe the Russian numbers given the fact that country lies with an alarming regularity. Its credibility is zero.

Beside China, Singapore and Japan, off most of the large, densely populated countries, Germany did extremely well. Five times less death than in the United States. North of the border Canada had half the casualties than we had. France didn’t fare well at all, and so did Brazil and the US. Three highly politicized governments that were caught unprepared and in total disarray.

Sweden chose to do nothing and got what it deserved, especially compared to Denmark and Norway. Italy and Spain were also caught unprepared, but this wasn’t a shocker. The UK screwed up big time, with their head of state is in the same demented leagues as a Bolsenaro or a Trump!

Finally, why in the world, the good old Belgians find a way to kill so many of their folks?

The true meaning of “Temporaily”

More than four months ago, in the middle of the Covid-19 lock-down, I snapped a picture of our local cinema with its ominous “Close Temporaily” marking.

I assumed it meant something close to “temporarily”, just for a month or so, at the very most. Yet, today, as I was passing by, I couldn’t help seeing that nothing had changed. My favorite theater was still “temporaily closed”.

That’s when I realized that Temporaily meant much more than what I originally had assumed. I immediately began to research the meaning of “temporarily”.

I found that it meant “for a limited period of time; not permanently.” I looked and looked but couldn’t find one for “temporaily”, so I assumed that it came from “time” and “rail”, meaning that time was being railroaded.

In other words, that time was being coerced into a course of action that it would not otherwise choose, hence the seemingly long lasting (four month) and unpleasant (no more movies!) situation.

I’m so glad I’m a “lettered” man!

Ghosn alive and well in Beirut...

Unlike what Carole, Carlos Ghosn’s wife told a Brazilian newspaper after the Lebanese catastrophe, the couple’s home in Beirut wasn’t really damaged by the explosion that rocked the downtown area on August 4.

What Ghosn must be worried about is that his political protector’s day might be numbered and with it, its welcome mat in that country, along with his protection against being sent back to Japan.

One would think that the Japanese could put pressure on their fugitive, but they’ve been good sport and as always, have been very generous by providing emergency relief goods including 1,800 blankets, 400 tents and 400 water tanks to help the Lebanese.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s also sent a message of condolence, saying that the tremendous damage caused by the blast was heartbreaking and that he hopes the damaged part of the city can be rebuilt as soon as possible.

Sure, the Japanese government has asked Interpol to help catching Carlos Ghosn, but Lebanon has indicated it’s unlikely to hand him over, absent an extradition treaty between Japan and that country. Neither Brazil nor France that have extradition treaties with Japan wouldn’t ship Ghosn back to Japan either, as he’s got these two nationalities as well, and both countries don’t extradite their nationals.

So for the time being, Ghosn can breathe a sigh of relief...

Let’s add Trump to Mt. Rushmore!

For those who still don’t know it, Mount Rushmore is known the world over for its colossal sculpture carved into its granite face deep into the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Gutzon Borglum designed it and oversaw its carving from 1927 to 1941. The sculpture depicts the head of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, and each one of them was chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation.

Instead of taking positive steps in containing Covid-19, Trump had recently told Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, that he was looking to have his head added to the monument. It’s also been reported that last year, a White House aide reached out to the governor’s office asking what’s the process to add additional presidents to Mount Rushmore?

From what I was able to observe and gather, there isn’t enough granite to carve Trump’s big face into it. I think American should be more resourceful than that, bring some cow manure (there’s plenty of it in the Midwest) and give Donald his due.

That wouldn’t be rocket science and it would hit the nail on its head. The material is very malleable, can be sculpted into the perfect Trump likeness and, as the colloquial “bull-shit” expression indicates, would address another “value”, that is the remarkable propensity of our sitting president to lie as much as he breathes.

Just be careful to wear a mask and bring galoshes if you ever fancy to visit the place after the addition has been made!

How to persevere?

Like everyone else, when obstacles get in the way, I find it horribly hard to persevere, and yet, somehow, for reasons almost unbeknownst to me, I break through and keep on doing what I was intent to accomplish.

For one thing, new endeavors always have appeal to me and suit my explorer’s mentality. I may also be because I set pretty simply and achievable goals to start with. I’m also an eternal optimist that viscerally hates to giving up whatever it is that I undertake.

It may also be that I’m the eternal optimist, clinging to the rosy aspect of most situations, and that I can very easily visualize my goal as something feasible and up to my abilities.

What also makes be persevere is loving to be challenged regardless of the obstacles thrown into my way and that never fail to fuel my determination.

Verdict out on our home...

Over the past 44 years, we’ve lived in 12 different places and since we have found our dream spot in Park City, we’ve lived in five different houses, including two that we’ve built ourselves.

During all that time, we’ve learned an awful lot about what works and what doesn’t in a home. Views, orientation, design and a lot of pertinent details like weather and temperature variations, ways in which the sun tracks into the sky over the course of each season and much, much more...

This last home in which we’ve lived for the past six years is almost perfect for us. I say almost, because no matter how hard one tries, it’s almost impossible to miss a few details here and there.

Oriented to the south, our house soaks tons of sun in winter when it’s cold and the sun rides low, but our exceptionally deep eaves block the hot summer rays as they only strike the roof, keeping the facade cool.

That steel roof we picked will absolutely outlast us and was just perfect for receiving the solar panels that we installed. Insulation is close to perfection and keep us warm when temperatures hit records low in winter, and cool enough when the summer sun bakes the air.

We hardly ever use our air-conditioning system except from 4 to 10 pm on the few extremely hot evenings that demand it. We also have a wonderful covered deck where we can cool off, read, congregate and enjoy “al fresco” breakfast, lunch or diner, from March to October.

Literally nestled into the trees, our house views open up to the ski runs and the mountains, is served by a street with minimal traffic and no noise, offers a comfortable and optimum living space without the need for incessantly climbing up and down the stairs, and is crowned by a beautiful backyard, naturally landscaped, that’s a true oasis of nature and tranquility.

This place is the culmination of many years of learning, practical observations and experiences that have worked perfectly for us!

Making fears productive!

In an ideal world there would be no fear and absolutely nothing to worry about. What would happen if this were the case? We’d probably all would become (too) fat and (too) happy…

Boredom, the kind – or presumably worst - that we’ve experienced during that Covid-19 pandemic would invade our lives and make them long, uneventful and totally miserable.

This is one good reason that we all need a sprinkling of fear every now and then, to get us off our rear-end and going into multiple directions, doing something that hopefully is constructive.

That's in fact what makes us uniquely different from our peers from the animal kingdom. So, I hope we’ve all got the message; time to make some comfortable room for a bit of healthy fear into our lives!

Responding to nefarious emails

It happens all the time since “Fake News” were officially enshrined by Trump and Facebook. I receive lots of “fake information” and I generally ignore it unless it comes from friends or folks I know well.

Then, I feel compelled to respond and try to set the record straight. The last in date went like this: “Pictures From Hell (Formerly Called Paris, The Capital Of France)” and showed a succession of pictures of black and Arab individuals amidst chaos and trash, even some urinating inside public transportation (see samples).

I have several reaction to that message that I shared with the sender and the other addressees: I don’t recall seeing quite the kind of mayhem showed on these pictures and described in the text the last time I recently was in Paris.

This said, it seems to me that there is a racist and xenophobic undertone in these pictures and the narration accompanying them. I don’t believe racism as we know it has such great future. Humanity also happens to originate from Africa, we should never forget it.

Granted, there’s a racist in all of us and it seems to me that it’s in our self best interest to curb that tendency and work at eliminating for good. The immediate problem that I can see with the situation as it’s portrayed, is the current French government’s responsibility.

Just like our dear American government, it needs to do a much better job at reviewing and amending its emigration policies, integrating any bonafide immigrant into its society, yet have zero tolerance for folks praying in the middle of the streets, roaming around in burkas or peeing in the subway.

Smarter folks know that religion is poison, whether it’s Christian, Muslim or whatever. The government also needs to make sure its public schools are equal for all, set and have its citizens abide by certain standard conducive to a harmonious society if they are to remain part of the community.

Finally, we’re more than 7.7 billion people on this planet and don’t be naive enough to expect national borders not to bulge at the seams, especially now in this 24/7 age of Instagram and Facebook. Not just France, but governments the world over should do something about overpopulation that’s dooming our planet.

Remember that global warming is but a symptom of overcrowding on earth. Overpopulation is the real cause we need to go after...

Ski the Nevele while it lasts!

Last night we stumbled upon a documentary about the Nevele ski and summer resort near Ellenville, New York, that opened in 1901 and closed in 2009.

The Nevele dated back to the days of the “Borscht Belt”, a name given to mostly defunct resorts of the Catskill Mountains, located about 90 miles northwest of New York City. These resorts were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s.

While it sounds as if the name was related to snow, “Nevele” is “Eleven” spelled backwards — according to lore, after the eleven nineteenth-century schoolteachers who discovered a waterfall within its present-day property.

My wife asked me if I ever heard of that resort, and me, the know-it-all, had to reluctantly admit that I didn’t.

Not only is the resort equipped with a Poma double-chair, fixed grip, 1240 feet long, serving a whopping 151 feet vertical with an 800 people per hour capacity, but its property also includes a once highly regarded 18-hole golf course and a 9-hole golf course have now fallen into disrepair.

The whole place reminded me of Tamarack that partially-completed Idaho ski resort, but it mostly of a Chernobyl version of a dead ski resort. Nothing appears to be salvageable except for an impressive ski rental section complete with thin-style Elan skis and rear-entry boots.

After decades of failed attempts to sell and resurrect the place, it is once more for sale. If you badly want to own a ski resort, here is your opportunity!

Playing electrician

I have learned about electricity when I was in high school, just enough though to get out of trouble if I came in presence of some lethal current, but decidedly not sufficiently to wire my own home.

So a variation of the popular song “Don’t know much about...” would definitely apply to that form of energy. Sure, I have changed switches, repaired small lamps and basic home appliances, but was never much at ease nor too well-equipped to carry-out the job.

Recently, I had attempted to convert some switches into fan timers in our bathrooms, but once I had peeked into the cavity, looked at the complex wire entanglement inside, and the apparent impossibility to tuck back the larger box into place, I decided to have a licensed electrician install them.

 Yet, we still had one such switch downstairs that could use the upgrade, so quite valiantly, last week, I decided to revisit that installation and after selecting and finding a good YouTube video showing me how to proceed, I watched it a few times and went to work on the project.

To both my amazement and satisfaction, all worked perfectly well and I decided that there would be more electrical project in my immediate future!

The neighbors are invading!

When I stare at the skies, I can hardly see any commercial jets flying and, given the nasty pandemic, can also understand why people are reluctant to board an airplane. This fear of flying has led many folks to take some long drives this summer.

If I look at the licenses plates that we see all over Park City, the ones we see most often are from California, followed by Texas, Arizona, along with some Oregon and Washington state plates.

To get to Park City, these folks have been driving between 700 miles (for the closest visitors from Los Angeles) all the way to 1,500 miles (for Texans living in Houston).

In previous summers, we were used to seeing plenty of plates from Arizona, Nevada and California, that were generally from Seniors “snowbirds” escaping the desert heat for two or three month.

This year, however, they’ve been joined by regular folks made of family and kids fleeing their homes as they feel that their urban homes are significantly less secure than escaping to a nice place like Park City.

We welcome all these people and keep our fingers crossed that they will indeed be quite safe among us!

Less skiing for as much money?

Mike Kaplan, President and CEO of Aspen Skiing Company and Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts recently addressed the public to provide an update of their thinking – if not their specific plans – in view of the continuing pandemic.

Katz said he remained optimistic that Vail Resorts will have a great ski season. He said “We are actively preparing our resorts to ensure our employees and guests have a safe and enjoyable experience this winter amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic...” and added: “For the sake of winter, we must stay vigilant with safety as our number one priority – now and through the entire winter season...”

He also said: “We must assume the virus will reemerge. We cannot relax restrictions or protocols. We cannot get caught trying to play catch up to the virus during the ski season. Exacerbating that reality is the fact that each one of our communities is a destination for visitors from countless other cities. This is our greatest strength, but it can also be a weakness.”

Kaplan waxed a bit more lyrical and was more intent on “preparing the patient”, in other words the anxious skiers and snowboarders. He said something to the effect that like everything in people’s lives pre-COVID, skiing and snowboarding had become somewhat frantic. “Many of us were caught up in the conquests—tracking our bowl laps and vertical—rather than fully appreciating the moments. I’m looking forward to refocusing on the core of what this sport is all about, what this place enables: a chance to connect deeply—with nature, with our physical selves and movements, and even with our sense of purpose and our roles in society...”

These comments hit me at the core, being the vertical-obsessed skier and record seeking animal I am. I'd better scale down my expectation and be prepared to ski a lot less than usual, this winter, according to Kaplan’s stern warning.

This also leaves a huge, unanswered and ambivalent question: What’s going to happen to the value offered to winter guests if the pass prices stay where they are now, and if huge lines and certain lift closures stand in the way of a reasonably quick and widespread access?

Park City’s getting hot!

I have kept tab of our local temperatures since 2006, and yesterday, our daily temperature in Park City broke the record I had noted two years ago from 90 to 92 degrees!

According to the National Weather Service, the state of Utah has been keeping temperature records since 1874. In that time, it has seen a full range of extremes temperatures from 117 degrees (St George, July 5, 1985) in summer, to -60 degrees in winter at Peter Sinks, in the Bear Mountains area.

Closer to home, Salt Lake has seen twice a record heat of 107 degrees, on July 13, 2002 and July 26, 1960. At the same time, our own Park City jumped to a sizzling 96.5 degrees, so it seems that we’re still far from our previous record, but suffice to say that I don’t particularly like it and long for much cooler days.

The good news is that our nights have kept in the low 50s, which helps us cool off the house and minimizes air-conditioning use. This say, there’s no denying that, alas, warmers days are here to stay...

Goodbye old business suits!

The last time I wore a business suit was, I believe, more than 15 years ago, at a friend’s wedding in Vail, Colorado.

Since that time, my suits have been waiting patiently inside a downstairs bedroom closet, and on numerous occasions, my wife has begged me to get rid of the ones I would never wear again.

On Thursday, I finally gave in, and proceeded to conduct a painful sorting of what should be kept and what should be given to a local charity.

One good news was that all of my clothes were still fitting me easily, albeit in a baggier fashion than what’s fashionable these days. I must have lost quite a bit of muscle mass, even though I was never a muscled man.

The bad news was that for the most part, the styling was no longer in fashion. Granted, it might return some day, but without any guarantee that the jackets styling will be synched with the trouser’s, plus the time element make such a wait highly speculative!

With all these considerations in mind, I kept a tuxedo, a sport jacket, a timeless navy blazer, a pair of gray slacks and a navy pin stripped, double-breasted suit even though that style is not (yet?) in fashion again.

When all was said and done, this rescue felt like a lost cause as I’ll probably will have to step up and buy a new suit if some future event requires my wearing some decent, formal attire!