Friday, May 31, 2024

Utah DMV’s problems

Rare are the Departments of Motor Vehicles that enjoy a pristine reputation, yet until now, Utah wasn’t too bad in my eyes. 

One year ago, when I had to renew registration on my electric car, I was invited to join the Utah’s road usage charge program which helps pay state road maintenance. Like in other states, Utah roads are maintained by using taxes from gasoline sales. As vehicles become more fuel efficient and the number of electric vehicles grows, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is changing to a per-mile fee as a way for drivers to pay their portion of roadway operations and maintenance. 

During the 2018 Legislative session, lawmakers instituted an alternative fuel fee to cover a portion of those vehicles’ contribution to building and maintaining our roads. ​This comes in addition to the annual vehicle registration fee assessed on all vehicles in the State​. Utah’s Road Usage Charge provides a choice for owners of alternative fuel vehicles to pay by the mile instead of paying the alternative fuel vehicle fee. The Utah’s Road Usage Charge Program is voluntary for electric vehicle owners.

UDOT had first contracted with Emovis, a Spanish firm that specialized in transportation systems to operate the program. In April, the state changed contractors and went with Etan, a Dallas based company, and promised a seamless transfer to provide a better value (read cheaper). This didn’t work seamlessly at all for me. 

When time to renew my registration came, I couldn’t do it at the rate I was promised. My records were lost in some malfunctioning software. I quickly became a football bouncing from UDOT, Etan and a separate customer service program that bounced me from place to place as they were incapable of solving my situation. 

Eventually, two Etan's ladies, through trial and error, were able to help me after admitting that its software was all screwed up and that I had lost one full day trying to solve the problem. They gave me a bogus name, something like “Go11” as a first name and “Trustees” as a last name because a trust owns my car. 

They really made it work. Another example in life that we get what we pay for in terms of value; “Trust” me!

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Distance and relationships

My wife and I have lived away from our respective families and old friends for more than 47 years. By away, we mean a continent apart. All of our families and friends were, and still are, in France. Recently, we were reflecting on how such a remoteness affects ties and brings with it a mixed bag of bad and good things. 

If we start with the negative side, it’s the absolute truth that by being apart, we care much less about each other. Talk about the classical “Out of sight, out of mind” and its implications. It’s clear that a lack of frequent personal contact weakens bonds and makes it harder to maintain a close relationships as daily routines, small events, family episodes, good and bad, or even important milestones, may or will be missed. Then there are all the challenges attached to communications.

This was particularly tough during our first 20 years in America before the internet, as phone communications were still very expensive and we missed body language and spontaneous interactions to give us a full picture of what was going on. Conflicts, misunderstandings or family issues were not helped either by the distance. Also, our kids missed out greatly on grand-parental bonding and interactions. 

On the positive side, our remoteness from family helped us grow independently, allowing us to establish our own lives and identities. Living in a different country was also very enriching as it exposed us to another culture, language and experiences, thus broadening our small-town views of the world. It is said that distance can make hearts grow fonder, but that didn’t seem to be the case with our respective families. 

Finally, today’s technology partially bridges the gap: the internet, various apps, and social media help us stay connected and share experiences despite the physical distance. Beyond this, keeping the relationship alive demands lots of effort and attention on the expatriate party (that is us) as the rest of the family doesn’t understand or doesn’t feel as much the separation. 

Sure, the cost of traveling was discouraging; we had to take it all, and the “other side” could rationalize, “We didn’t make the decision to move overseas, so it shouldn’t be our problem to go and visit…” That’s why I do everything I can to pursue regular communication, phone calls, videos, or online messages to stay connected. 

The only problem with this is that many of the family members and friends that are my age aren’t at ease with technology, or just picking the phone up and calling us, to put it mildly. This has a huge impact on communication. There are of course visits that we’ve done regularly in spite of a glaring lack of reciprocal visits by our family and the majority of friends. 

So, you have it, it’s up to us, the expatriate, to remain proactive and constantly put in the effort to maintain some decent relationships, despite the distance...

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Closing day at Snowbird!

My 71st ski season came to a sunny and uneventful end at Snowbird this past Memorial Day. Snow, skiers and snowboarders were plentiful, the weather was just perfect and the mood quite festive. 

I skied from about 8:15 am till 12:30 pm, covered a lot of ground, didn’t fall, didn’t get hit or hurt, so it was the perfect setting to draw the curtain of what has been another fantastic ski season. 

In less than 6 months, God willing, I hope to be returning on my ski, so now, I just have to bide my time!

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

The end of Snowbird as we knew it?

Snowbird’s claim of fame used to be the “longest ski season in Utah”. Not anymore, as Monday, May 27 was the final ski at the Utah resort, and at the end of that day, it was Solitude thanks to an earlier opening, not Snowbird that could claim the title! 

Since Dick Bass and his family sold a majority interest in Snowbird to the Ian Cumming family in May of 2014, money and profitability began to rear their ugly heads and Snowbird’s closing dates have gradually decreased in recent years, as most of their spring visitors are season pass holders and it probably costs the ski mountain big dollars to stay open into June or early July. 

Along with that, the number of lifts open that weekend were left to a bare minimum in spite of plenty of snow, Mineral Basin was scheduled to run, but mechanical issues have allegedly shut it down (?). 

Snowbird also used the official excuse that snow was melting fast (it always does at this time of the year) and construction projects at the Wilbere terrain pod and Mid-Gad were forcing them to an early shut-down. 

Many locals, all season pass-holders, and hoping to ski through June with so much snow, weren’t happy with the decision and voiced their displeasure on Snowbird’s Instagram page. This days things are changing for the worst at the “Bird”. 

Too many Ikon pass visitors, road access and parking problems that take more than an hour to travel the 6 miles into Little Cottonwood Canyon also explain why many Salt Lakers have given up on their local resort in favor of Park City...

Monday, May 27, 2024

Aerating my veggie garden just in time…

Last Friday, the skies got cloudy in the afternoon and I immediately set to aerate my bone-dry veggie garden in anticipation of a full evening and day of rain a few hours later. 

This preparation is always a big job that I’m never looking forward to, yet it’s important in order to get my veggies ready for sowing and planting. In order to do the job, I push all the way down and tilt the tool forward and continue this process every four inches or so.

Some areas were softer than others, but I got the entire job done in less than four hours. At the end, I was tired and beat up, and when it began raining at 6 pm, I felt elated as I timed my work perfectly and also felt the happiest gardener in the entire world!

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Fixing my Ryobi leaf blower…

At times, advice and “How to” found on YouTube can be very deceptive and their step-by-step recommendations are a far cry from reality. This week, I finally got the part I ordered to repair my leaf blower and without wasting one minute, began changing the defective part. The first problem sprung up when using the special Torx T15 insert to get the screws out. 

My shaft (1) was too fat to get inside the narrow guides of the plastic housing, whereas the slender insert used on the video was long and narrow (2). That forced me to drill larger diameter holes into the housing to allow the bit to make contact with the screw. Then, there was the wire routing that was delicate and tricky and if I had to do it again, I would have enlarged its paths (3) in certain areas by cutting with an Exacto knife. 

Same thing for cutting the wires at the right length and reconnecting them near a cavity where the closed-end crimp connectors could fit into. Finally the battery contacts (4) and the switch (4) had to be held in place securely enough to allow the other half of the housing to close without disturbing their precise location. The solution would simply consist in dropping a bit of hot glue to hold these components in place while the other half-shell is closed in. 

While the video makes the whole operation look very easy, reality might be quite different, if the individual isn’t particularly handy or technically inclined, if the right tools aren't available (long enough thin bits for screws) and the job of precisely re-routing the wires, the contact assembly, as well as re-assembling the two halves isn’t well thought-out. In fact, reassembly is by far the most complicated job in the entire operation. 

A good idea would be to "prepare or warn the patient" accordingly, otherwise some of the YouTube viewers might embark into a task that will cost them a full day’s work or can’t be completed at all, leaving them with frustration, a completely broken blower and a useless replacement part!

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Another door-to-door salesman…

As I am on my way out, rushing to a meeting on Main Street, Park City, I open the garage door and see a well dressed young man standing on an electric hoverboard. I say: “Hi, can I help you?” The man answers “Are you Swiss?” 

That doesn’t begin the exchange too well, not so much that I have nothing against Swiss nationals, but I’m in a hurry to get to my appointment and I see the guy’s question out of place. I sort of repeat, “What do you want?” 

He goes “Tell me, are you Swiss?” I go “I don’t care who I am, what do you want?” Finally the guy says he’s here to offer me a treatment to get rid of voles in my yard. I tell him, “I have nothing against voles, in fact, I love them” He goes: “Well, I can help you get rid of them?” I answer, “Where do you see a lawn where voles could roam?” 

True, the front of my house is one hundred percent rockscape with no blade of grass in sight. Finally, I get angry and tell the guy to go away, albeit in a nice way. He flies off on his hoverboard, disappears from my life and I drive to my appointment. 

The things that ticked me off during that encounter was the guy’s nonchalant attitude on his hoverboard, the fact that he wasn’t the good salesman like I expected him to be (he could have said, “How are you, nice property that you have, etc.”), that I felt he dropped into my life like a fish out of water, and that I – most certainly – failed to manage my feelings as I should have and let my displeasure show to that hapless afternoon visitor...

Friday, May 24, 2024

When debt service trumps defense budget

The last thing we that should surprise us when we must live again with higher interest rates, is that our life is made more expensive from credit card debt, to home or car buying. This also affects even more our federal government that is faced with huge interest payments on its exploding debt that has ballooned from $17 trillion in 2014 to $33 trillion last year. 

Servicing that debt is now the fastest growing part of the budget, and will overtake our defense costs this year at $870 billion against the $822 billion we’ll spend on our military, namely a 32% increase from last year's $659 billion in interest expense. The solution: Raise taxes, period. But this is anathema to Americans, the President and Congress and probably in that reverse order. 

We’d rather hand money to Netanyahu so he can destroy Gaza and then to the Gazans so they hopefully can rebuild their enclave, or cancel student loans, fund human exploration to Mars among other non-essential things. 

I don’t mind paying more taxes if they’re well spent and all my life I’ve been living well under my means, so I expect no less from my government. 

Just like with global warming, we’re getting closer and closer to crashing into the proverbial wall and we’ll need to be in a state of total annihilation before all realize what we should have done to prevent it!

Thursday, May 23, 2024

A “passing” thought…

While death is a certainty, we just don’t know when and how it will happen. Precisely because of this, we don’t do much planning for that ultimate step in our own lives. So when that time comes, our survivors must make quick and often bad or expensive decisions, burdened with second-thoughts, doubts and guilt and it’s been that way since funerals have been invented and seared into our cultures. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind following a loved one’s death: To begin, we should keep in mind that death is not an emergency. When death occurs, the emergency is over: the worst thing that can happen has already occurred. To put it bluntly, the deceased person isn’t going to get any deader. Before proceeding with a traditional funeral, the first thing to do is call at least five different funeral homes within a 20- to 30-mile radius and get some price quotes. 

Take the time to study and compare the prices before deciding on a funeral home to come and remove the body if it’s outside of a hospital. Better options prevail if the person dies at a hospital, something more common. Ask the hospital if the body can stay in the morgue for a couple of days while you seriously shop around for a funeral home that will fit your budget or your ability to pay. Of course, it’s a good idea to know ahead of time what one’s can comfortably afford. 

Let's not get railroaded into considerations like: “Money is no object. It’s my mom, she deserves the best,” and soon find yourself straddled with a ruinous bill. By shopping around, it’s easy to find price differences in the thousands of dollars for exactly the same service. A large number of folks will say, “We just use our family’s funeral home”, but this makes no sense, as no one has a family car dealer, a family plumber or utility company. 

One must compare prices and services, but the problem is the nature of a death transaction we have no practice with. And because it’s a hugely emotional business transaction, many make the mistake of thinking of fitting funeral homes in the same emotional category as churches are. That’s not the case, a funeral home is a business, pure and simple. The key is to start by picking a funeral home that is priced reasonably. 

Once that choice is made, scrutinize their offerings and see how much will fit into the budget, avoiding “bundles” and shopping a la carte, instead. A low budget - say in the US $3,000 range - won’t buy a traditional funeral with embalming, public viewing of the body, deluxe casket and graveyard burial. This may mean a simple, no-frills cremation that some won’t like at all. 

Sure, a totally free exit is the ultimate ticket (pardon the pun), as there’s always the option of body donation to a medical school, delayed ashes delivery by a few months, but if one is able to wait, the price difference could fund a fabulous celebration of life party. After all, what ultimately counts is making great memories!

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Back to the "Bird"...

Snowbird is a cool ski resort, but it’s also far from my Park City home. It takes about one hour to get there on dry roads and light traffic, as it’s about 40 miles (64 km) away, so I seldom go and ski there when it only takes me just 5 minutes to drive to our local resort. 

I traditionally do it late in the spring, when Park City Mountain is closed, which has been the case for one month now. So, this past Saturday, I drove down to the Salt Lake Valley and then back up to the “Bird” as locals call the place. The day was beautiful, traffic flowed smoothly and I immersed myself driving into the early morning scenery. 

On my way to skiing, I was thinking about a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson the American philosopher: “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. That’s right, it was all about enjoying the journey, ‘the getting there’, was for me every bit as important as reaching the slopes. 

Whatever we’re doing, there’s joy and learning to be taken from every possible moment we live our lives. When I got there, I was lucky to find a rare parking spot as the place was surprisingly crowded, and soon, I was back on my skis. 

At first the sliding was rough, I had not been on my boards for close to four weeks and the early morning conditions weren’t great, but it got better as I rediscovered my ski legs and by 1 pm when quitting time came, I was back into the groove. I even managed to ski to my car and just had to cross the road… 

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Gwynet goes skiing

This weekend we went to our local theater to see a play originally premiered in the UK this past February. 

It’s build a round a ski crash lawsuit that happened in Park City, more precisely in Deer Valley where Gwyneth Paltrow and Terry Sanderson collided on the ski slopes back in 2016. Three years later, Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist sued Paltrow first for $3 million, then for $300,000, claiming she was responsible for the collision that caused him permanent traumatic brain injury. 

Paltrow counter-sued Sanderson saying that he was the faulty party. She sought $1 in damages, and repayment of her legal fees. At trial in March 2023, Sanderson was found at fault and this concluded a story that captivated Park City for a while. 

From that story “Gwyneth Goes Skiing” was produced by the Pleasance Theatre Trust of London , written and co-directed by Linus Karp and Joseph Martin and features an original music by Leland. 

This in fact is an extremely tongue in cheek satire peppered with very pop culture references, jokes, witticisms and even puppetry to show the antecedents leading up to the collision the and eventual court case. 

The show uses actual lines from the court case to further stage that strange series of events. Audience participation in this show was facilitated by some audience members playing specific roles, others threw snowballs at Sanderson while he was “skiing” to create the blizzards on the slopes that day. 

Finally, the play ended as the audience was asked to vote as members of the jury. Since we followed the story as it slowly unfolded around Park City, we were expecting a much better show and were left with a disappointing, far-fetched production that didn’t impress us that much. 

Yeah, it was British!

Monday, May 20, 2024

Ryobi’s quality?

Six years ago I purchased one of the better 18v leaf blowers from Ryobi. At first, it worked okay, but in the past two years it wouldn’t start or would stop at time until the other when it died. 

Before I ran to the store to buy another blower I looked up the internet and found out that the switch that is actuated by the device’s trigger frequently breaks down. Knowing that I order a replacement trigger switch and we’ll see how long this one last. 

I suspect poor Chinese-made quality for that product even tough I own other Ryobi products that are performing reasonably well. Well, time will tell us if it works… 

Sunday, May 19, 2024

Do you know III?

There is AI (Artificial Intelligence) and, as found it this morning, there’s also III which stands for Ignorant and Incorrect Intelligence that is situated at the opposite end of AI. 

One doesn’t need Gemini or Chat GPT to access that dubious source of information, but suffice to say that it’s all over us and particularly over social media and the internet. Many people you end up coming in contact to over a course of a year are only equipped with III, so make sure to stay away from them.

While AI works pretty well and, I’m told, keep on improving, I don’t recommend your trying III, unless you’re in search of mediocrity of course!

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Much, too much mulch!

On May 2nd, a huge dump truck was delivering what I thought was 16 cubic yards (over 13 m3) of mulch made of crushed tree bark to my home.
 
In fact I was badly mistaken in ordering as I got twice as much as was needed. Seven years ago, I had measured around 2,200 to 2,800 square feet of coverage needed and came up with an 8 cubic yard order that, upon delivery covered everything and left me some. 
 
This year, the coverage was considerably broader as well as thicker and still left me with 2.5 cubic yards (about 2 m3) leftover that I’ll be able to use over the following years. 
 
Live and learn!

Friday, May 17, 2024

My neighbor’s roof…

My next door neighbor is a “famous” general contractor in Park City, who until recently, has been building multi-million dollar houses in the most prestigious areas of town. Great reputation. Yet, you wouldn’t guess this if you looked at his home that is in serious need of maintenance. Talks about the cobbler that has no shoes! 

The house was built in 1988 and he purchased it in 2004. The roof is made of wood shingles that are now all twisted-dry and have seen much better days. In addition to being a fire danger in of itself, the roof is covered by trees that have extended all over upon its surface, not a good idea either in terms of fire propagation. 

The other day, I talked to his girlfriend and she told me that her man is now sailing in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and she’ll soon meet him, along with their 16 year old son, in the Azores and the three of them will keep sailing into northern Europe. She said they will have young folks in their house while they’re all away. 

I said, “It’s good to have someone in the house in case there are leaks and other issues…” She answered, “As a matter of fact we’ve got some huge roof leaks and we’ll be re-roofing it soon!” The next day I looked at their roof on my house side and noticed some huge tarped area and other patches that had been recently placed to address the leaks. 

I probably would have addressed that detail before navigating the Ocean, but I guess we all see things differently!

Thursday, May 16, 2024

When life calls for goal management

Well into my seventies, I find it extremely hard to select and then set goals to keep on “fueling” my life. Having goals is essential for motivating myself as it was during my younger years. I do realize a shift in goal-setting and motivation is understandable after retirement and that’s why I’ve been doing some research to get me out of that funk.

Here are some of the ideas I have found and liked the most. First, it’s true that retirement shouldn’t slow me down, on the contrary, I’ve got the gifts of free time and not having to work for a living. The first order of business is to set goals, I should make them SMART. This means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. 

They shouldn’t be generalities like "get healthier," but instead "walk 30 minutes 3 times a week for the next month." Big goals should also be broken into small parts that become more achievable steps that can be noticed when they’re reached and should be celebrated to keep the motivation flowing. All these ideas are a reasonable blueprint for getting started. 

Before picking my goals, it’s also essential to check what brings me joy and fulfillment, like helping others, learning something new, experiencing something new or creating anything I can be proud of. Goals aligned with my purpose are likely to be more meaningful. I just need to find something that keeps me engaged, motivated, and that I love doing. 

I’ll let you know how that project develops!

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Going to Mars (continued)

I was discussing the documentary recently discussed in that blog, “Space: The longest goodbye”, with my son, and he disagreed with me about not letting human participate in that exploration in spite of all the challenges it raised. 

My idea was to use very smart robots instead. He felt that it ran against the drive humans have to reach out to the seemingly impossible. I understand his point, he’s only 45 and is still more adventurous that what I’ve become at my age, but I thought that given the cost, the challenges such of voyage poses, it might not be a smart use of taxpayer dollars.We have so many things to fix on our poor planet!

Now, if Elon Musk wants to do it on his own dime, he certainly should. To me, that should be a test for any such adventures, especially if the reason for going there isn’t clear, beneficial or well articulated, just fuzzy or nonexistent. 

Do you share my opinion, and if not, why?

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Tesla’s full-self-driving (conclusion)

On several occasions following my blog on that subject (April 2) I experimented with the self-driving Tesla feature with various levels of success. In simple driving conditions the system was simply amazing, but as traffic became more complicated it was showing its current limitations, especially on itineraries I was highly familiar with and had idiosyncrasies of their own. 

At times, it felt like another human was driving. On the freeway, the blinkers self-activated themselves and the car was changing lane based on the speed of the car ahead of me or when one was tailgating me, or when it was just time to change lane, sometimes (not always) like I would have done it. 

I also thought it was mentally taxing to pay attention to what the car was doing, and also to keep some pressure on the steering wheel (as asked by the system) but not so much that the software would think I was trying to take control. Clearly, the system isn’t perfect yet and one must remain vigilant at all times, which in a way defeats its purpose. 

Further, the car wasn’t always good at maintaining consistent speeds. The throttle tends to stick to the set speed as one tries to go faster. Another case in point is that it doesn't pull over and stop the car for emergency vehicles on two lane highways. There’s also snow and rain that interfere with the good running of things as precipitations are messing with the sensors, requiring some more improvements. 

Yet, I must recognize that the system, as it exists now, may already be much safer than many human drivers sharing the road with us today! Bottom line, normal driving isn't that hard. In reading others’ reviews, one caught my attention; it said: “Currently, Tesla’s self-driving is like buying a calculator and checking with a pen and paper if the results are right...” 

Also, the system remains pricey even after it was brought down to $8,000 or $99 a month, I still will pass for the time being. Autosteer (the feature that upgrades cruise control and steers the wheel automatically) is good enough for me on the freeway. 

That said, I was quite impressed by what I experienced and believed that perfection might not be too faraway. Hopefully, when I turn 80 or 85, at least, I hope so!

Monday, May 13, 2024

The (singular) way I ski ...

For those of us (a select few, I realize) who happen to ski alone, we all have our personal way of spending our day on the mountain. I happen to be one of those, even though I ski mostly with family members between 20 and 30 percent of my time when I’m not alone on the mountain. Since I’ve never studied the habits of lone skiers, I can only speak for myself and that’s what I want to share with you. 

First, remember that I love skiing unconditionally. All weather, snow, terrain and change in visibility seem to work for me. The exception being, obviously, crowding. There are limits to that blanket statement of course when a thick fog wraps everything up, it never makes for a comfortable experience! 

Yet, I embrace the entire premise of the sport and over a long season there are few days that I might consider to be despicable. My way of skiing is more of an unstructured happening that takes me from place to place on the mountain, without much of a plan, yet that takes current conditions and crowding into consideration. 

I have just a few principles that I never deviate from. If a ski run is defined at least by leaving a top lift station and skiing to the bottom of that or another lift to ascend again, the ski run thus defined is always non-stop, the exception to that rule being the need of relieving myself behind a tree. Non-stop skiing is crucial to my skiing as it forces me to adapt and improvise to the ever changing terrain or slope conditions and forces me to become even more instinctive in my ways of skiing. 

Then, I always make sure that I ski a difficult run or some bad snow, wherever I happen to find myself on the hill, just to push the envelope and keep on bettering myself technically. Because I’m on the last stretch of my life and that my ski days are counted, the final rule is that I ski as fast as conditions permit, yet permanently stay in control which narrows my range of action and forces me to concentrate at all times.

This results is having an uphill to downhill time-ratio very much tilted towards spending most of my time sitting on a ski-lift. During that enormous “dead time” if I can use that word, I don’t seem to think much, except mentally debrief the last descent, draw conclusions that might be worth memorizing as a bona fide learning experience and also deciding where my next run will take me, which often end up being a thorny dilemma. 

When skiers are visible I observe them and always try to learn something from the way they ski. I also look for new lines, new pathways through the trees or I’ll scrutinize a ridge to see if there are skiers there and make sure I don’t miss a thing around me. When the folks sitting next to me are talkative, I will happily engage in a conversation with them that I always find enjoyable. 

When I’m alone on a lift, I let myself soak into the surrounding natural elements and it’s for me an extra form of meditation. What I hate is to have to take pictures or shoot videos while I ski. I find it cumbersome and it damages the “flow” of the whole experience. Of course, I love having these pictures and that footage afterwards! 

Then, there’s the time factor. I consider my time skiing extremely precious so I always plan how many rides I can fit into that window of time and waste not a single moment from the moment I slide into a lift corral to the time my feet touch the ground at the top station. I’m a slave to my watch that keeps the pace and runs my schedule through the entire outing. 

I know the time it takes to get from here to there, just like when I was a ski instructor and was under the time constraint of the one-hour lesson. All the way back over to my car, there are no idle moments, all flows well as if choreographed with not much left for random events or happenstance. That’s the way I ski.

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Driving an EV, year II

This two-year time period includes two harsh winters and at just 12,500 miles in total let me stand by the observations made one year ago

Even in our high mountain environment, I wonder if a four-wheel drive version is needed with good snow tires?

We still have an old ICE car in the garage that we hardly ever drive and after a few road trips, my range anxiety is now gone and I wouldn’t want to go back to gasoline powered car ever again! 



Saturday, May 11, 2024

Fifty years ago, Germany, take 2

German isn’t an easy language, at least for French-born individuals. After taking a first 6-week course the preceding year, I returned to Tübingen, in southern Germany to perfect my training in the local language, thing I had not paid too much attention the first time around, as I guess, I focused mostly on the fun part and not the academic rigor! 

So, just fifty years ago, I was there again, this time with a group of students that was not even close to the previous one in terms of fun-factor. My fellow students were just serious and kept just their nose on the grindstone. All work, no fun! 

A good thing for me as it served me as a huge springboard for my transition from ski-bum (read ski instructor) into high-powered executive inside the ski industry, at a time when linguistic skills were still largely trumping the best business school degree, at least in that line of work. 

This would be a fantastic door-opener or “break”, whatever you might choose to call it, into my young adult life and this is why I consider (true) foreign language fluency and its power in anyone’s résumé...

Friday, May 10, 2024

Should we send humans to Mars?

We just watched the PBS documentary “Space: The longest goodbye” about NASA’s next goal to send astronauts to Mars. The undertaking would require astronauts to leave earth for three-year, during which communication in real time would be impossible due to the huge distance. 

In that film psychologists whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in outer space, reviewed questions and challenges propping up, as astronauts are caught between their dream of reaching new frontiers and the basic human need to stay connected to home. 

They briefly evoked the idea of placing humans into hibernation during the 12 month required round-trip by understanding our bears do it... When all was said and done, the viewing left me with the impression of NASA’s misplaced priorities. 

With the tremendous progress made with Artificial Intelligence, why not develop and use an army of sophisticated robots to do that job instead of engineering the impossible around humans? 

Better yet, scrape the idea together, and take care of global warming, overpopulation and wars? Has humanity got its priorities in order or are we just pleasing a constituency (NASA and astronauts) that want to play explorers when their house is on fire? 

Thursday, May 9, 2024

New, cool Utah retro license plates

Like in many American states, Utah has a plethora of license plates available depending on one’s graphic taste, hobbies, passions, convictions, including of course the ones like mine promoting skiing in the state through the “Greatest Snow on Earth” slogan. 

In the middle of that variety of designs and colors, about five years ago, a private manufacturer began selling simple black retro-plates online. Problem was, these were illegal. That was until a Utah State Senator, Lincoln Fillmore, found them “cool” enough to use his political clout to turn things around.

Since the legislature oversees license plates, he was in the right spot to introduce a bill in 2019, making similar black plates legal. He even found a way to justify his creation by targeting yet another special group, the Historical Society of Utah, that would benefit from its $25 surcharge. 

A lot of political energy mobilized for just a “cool” move. Another example of our politicians hard at work!

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

How to take Trump down?

It’s certainly much easier to demolish entire blocks of a city in Gaza or Ukraine than make a dent in the fanatic and loyal Trump supporters by convincing them that their semi-god is a con artist. So, the question is and remains, “How to topple this would-be dictator” in the minds of his followers? 

This is a question that has preoccupied me for a long time and outside of radical solutions. it’s hard to see a clear pathway that could neutralize this nefarious character. One way I like would be to mount a campaign under the theme “What would Jesus say or do?” targeted at Trump’s words and actions. That would keep Jesus Christ very, very busy. This would involve a heavy communication campaign by the Democrats and Biden on that theme. 

Let’s try to see what Jesus would say. To the professional liar: “Remember Donald that honesty and integrity are key to ‘repeat business’, so if your want a second term, you might want to seek forgiveness for your actions. Does forgiveness ring a bell to you? I know that you think you can get away with lying, and most of the time you do, but you won’t make it to Heaven if you persist!” 

To the unrepentant bully: “Reflect on your childish behavior and try to see the harm you’re causing to others. Can’t you grow up a bit and treat others with kindness, compassion, and respect? Better seek forgiveness and make amends with those they have hurt before you go to jail, because you won’t stay free for much longer!” 

Finally, to the narcissistic Donald: “Many say that narcissistic personalities like yours may be your parents’ fault; they placed you on a pedestal regardless of your experiences and achievements when you were a kid. I suggest you step down, catch your breath, apologize big time and eat some humble pie instead of the junk food you ingest!” 

As you can read, profound thoughts and advice from Jesus, but will Donald understand, yet alone listen? I doubt it!

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

How to read Trump’s supporters?

Ever since he ran for office of president, Trump has had a remarkable hold on it’s supporters. Before coming with a strategy for demolishing the would-be dictator, it’s essential to study and identify the nature of that powerful glue. 

Is it just charisma, telling folks what they love to hear, believing in lies or improbable stuff, triumphing over people more intellectual than trumpists in general or what else? Here are some of my thoughts about that quandary: 

It’s true that when it comes to charisma and depending on one’s attraction or repulsion he inspires, you may not think that Donald Trump has much of it, but his hard-core supporters love his brash and bullying personality that empowers him to act and do things the way they’d never dare to. 

While unable to utter complete sentences Trump uses a few words that resonates with his crowd as they speak directly to their concerns and frustrations, and by making vague as well as outlandish promises to address some of the issues they care about.

Once again, he empowers them by making the seemingly impossible possible. Better than most politicians, he tells people exactly what they want to hear. This said, much of what he says are lies, but his base are willing to overlook or rationalize the ones Trump delivers daily, because they’re blinded by his simplistic, easy to understand message and his strong-man persona. 

Trump also knows how to create enemies his supporters love to hate, especially among the intellectual elites, including most of the press. His continued attacks on them strongly resonate with many who feel marginalized or disaffected by their low position on the totem pole. 

Finally, being part of a vocal, passionate and iconoclastic political movement, like MAGA – I should say a Cult - creates a sense of belonging and bestows a cool identity upon its members making it harder for them to even soften or renounce their allegiance to Trump. 

Tomorrow, we'll how we can influence Trump's supporters

Monday, May 6, 2024

When common sense takes a break…

An elaborate underground crossing is located near the Park City High School and features a long set of NeON 2 BiFacial solar panels that are vertical, double-sided solar cell structures, along with a transparent back sheet that enables light absorption and power generation from both sides. 

Unlike slanted panels, they shed snow in winter, but they’re also far less efficient. They could however complement rooftop panels in snowy climates. They’re quite visible from State Route 248 that runs parallel to the railing, and recently a vinyl banner was attached on them to announce a relay race that’s also a fund raiser for the local schools.

What the folks who hang the banner on didn’t notice is that they should have attached it to the standard guardrail on its left instead of blocking power generation. I guess we common sense still has some way to go...

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Time to elect Utah’s Senator Gleich

In a theocratic and “red” state like Utah, our politicians are generally all but progressive, as the Democratic Party is generally nicknamed and known as the “Abortion Party”. 

This means that our politicians are Republicans thanks in parts to the dominating Mormon religion and to the well-chiseled voting districts designed to rob their political opponents of any chance of winning. That district limitation doesn’t apply of course to our US Senators, and this Fall, with Romney bowing out, there’s room for a fresh candidate to replace him.

Already, Republicans are fighting for their party nomination scheduled for June, but the Democratic Party just nominated Caroline Gleich, a 38 years old, with an established reputation for extreme skiing and environmental advocacy. Gleich was born in Minnesota and was 15 when she and her family moved to the state of Utah, both of her parents are physicians at the University of Utah. In college, Gleich became an activist and she’s now an advocate for environmental justice and climate reform. 

A recognized professional skier and mountaineer, she announced her candidacy earlier this year, hoping to leverage her platform to fight for climate action and social justice. Gleich's accomplishments in the world of extreme sports range from summiting Everest to becoming the first woman to conquer all the lines in Utah's Wasatch "Chuting Gallery." But her passion extends well beyond the slopes. 

She is quoted to have said, “I’ve been an underdog my whole life with skeptics questioning my height, strength, and bravery for scaling the world’s tallest mountains. Yet, I’ve summited Everest and Cho Oyu. I’ve broken records and defied limits. Running for the United States Senate to represent the people of Utah is undoubtedly an uphill climb, but I’m no stranger to overcoming challenges.” 

She goes on, “As I start this climb towards the US Senate, I carry with me the lessons learned from reaching mountain peaks and navigating life’s terrain, My commitment is unwavering—to empower, to protect, and to advocate for a brighter future.” 

I hope many Utahans will see through the blatant Republican’s hypocrisy, support her and make her our next US Senator. I plan to.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Let's keep something to look forward to…

How to make things and most importantly life interesting? 

Pepper the future with lots of things to look forward to. That may be not what I do, but that’s a strategy that I can believe in. In the early part of life, education, career and family take care of planting mileposts for us that are also guideposts as well and give us everyday that next big goal that we can keep in focus. 

I’ve done a bit of research on the topic and have found that it’s important to look for new ideas or things to do. This could be from learning or improving on a foreign language, learning about things we do everyday like cooking, gardening, computer science or fitness. 

Break the routine and go out to explore new places, like an unknown part of your town or even go farther out. Bring new challenges to your life, like a steeper hike, attending a local event, or volunteering for a cause you care about. Don’t forget to be grateful everyday or at any moment for big or small things. 

Make a point to stop to chat with neighbors or other folks, as strong social connections are essential for well-being. Put on your creative hat and develop something new by writing a short text, a card, trying a new recipe or painting an invisible door into a bright color. 

Learn to start paying attention to the smallest details in your daily life, from birds to garden animals, flowers, and wind. Begin mixing things up, vary the daily routine, try a new route to work or take a new walking path, listen to a different genre of music. 

Make room for improvisation each day. Accept unexpected invitations as sometimes the best experiences are unplanned. Every day, set goals, even if they’re tiny, they’ll give your life a sense of purpose and accomplishment. 

Oh, yes, don't forget to take some time each day to reflect on what's working and adjust your routine accordingly to find what works best for you. Good luck!

Friday, May 3, 2024

The tyranny of ski’s vertical drop…

In recent years, and with the advent of ski resorts apps, vertical drop has become the new hot pursuit for many skiers. It’s no longer “Didn’t I ski the zipper on these moguls?” or “I had face-shots all morning long…”, but “I’ve just clocked 27,421 vertical feet today!” 

This is to the point that some skiers whom I know very, very well will take some serious risk to reach their daily dose of vertical thrill some days. Could be dangerous, right? Then, there are some huge differences between vertical and vertical. 

Yes, it all depends on what’s being skied. Terrain, snow quality, grooming or lack thereof, deep snow, etc. I surmise that skiing two runs on Thaynes non-stop, my favorite steep ski run at Park City (vertical 856 feet) in bumpy and irregular snow conditions, is worth at least 10 Apex (vertical 1,780 ft) at the resort’s Canyon side, non-stop too, but on a perfectly groomed slope. That’s more than 10 times the nominal, total vertical. 

This means that next time someone tells you “I skied 25,000 feet on such and such groomed run” you can easily divide that number by 10 to equate the work it represents to see the equivalent on much rougher and steeper terrain. 

Finally, there are the “Vertical Snobs”. Let me explain; one day, this winter I was stuck on a broken down chairlift for one hour with 5 other passengers. 

My neighbor was a 50 something lady who not only complained that she was stuck 25 feet up in the air, but that Park City was a terrible ski resort because it had just a 3,100 vertical drop to offer, compared to Whistler-Blackcomb (5,280’), Jackson Hole (4,139’), Snowmass at Aspen (4,406’) ot even Telluride (3,845’). 

I tried to tell her that there was much more to great skiing than an impressive number of vertical feet, but she wouldn’t have any of it. Sure, Whistler and its impressive drop often only offers rain at its base while the good snow can only be found at its very top, but that wouldn’t change her mind. That’s right, too much focus on vertical drop far away, always ends up spoiling the very best skiing available nearby...

Thursday, May 2, 2024

My take on remote work...

During our daily morning walk we come across a young neighbor of ours, jogging and pushing her 6 month baby sitting on a stroller. We say hello, and she signals to us that she’s on a conference call. Wow! That’s multitasking at its best.

She makes me wonder: “How can she manage running, watching the traffic, making sure her baby is okay while at the same time paying close attention to what’s being said through her earbuds, and perhaps making a comment or asking a question?” 

That’s the epitome of multitasking, and beyond that of teleworking, this modern, flexible work arrangement under which an employee performs the duties and responsibilities of their position from an approved worksite, other than the location from where the employee would usually work. 

I see that all the time and especially in winter when remote workers conduct their daily duties sitting next to me on the chairlift. I then wonder, how many of these people are performing a really good job for their employer? Is it 100%, or 90%, even 25%? Do they make-up for their “partial” work by working longer hours? Don’t bet your life on it! 

I’ve been in their shoes during the early part of this century when I was working from my home office half of my working time. What I can say is that I was in my office, not in the kitchen, nor on my bike or my skis during my 10 hours working day. 

Sure, one can point out to the productivity gains made in the interval with new technology like teleconferencing and the like, but still work is work and I can’t prevent myself from thinking than these flexible working folks also must have a flexible sense of what work ethic is, and by so doing, are grossly overtaxing their employers without even thinking about it...

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Why are folks tempted by conservatism?

In these days of lightning-fast social and technological changes, many of us cannot keep abreast of what’s going on, understand it, approve of it, and use it. 

It’s why so many curl back and are game for conservative’s discourses like Trump's and some others, who say they long for the “good old days” without really knowing what they’re talking about… True, there are many people that feel overwhelmed by the constant flux of society and technology. They simply can’t keep up with it. 

This leads to constant and fast change that can be unpredictable and sometimes bring unforeseen consequences that become a recurring target of conservatives. Conservatism can offer a sense of security by holding to established norms and prioritizing caution over experimentation. Many also find value in established ways of doing things. This is especially true for those who are attached to the past and fear losing cultural ties. 

This said, there are definitely horrible reasons for clinging to the past. I was raised poor and I love all the good things progressive thinking has brought to my life over the years. This alone explains my progressive disposition! Nostalgia for the past often conveniently erases downsides and problems that were the fabric of yesterday.

Just like for me, “the old days", weren't always pretty for the great majority of humanity. Besides, social and technological progress have improved our lives to such an extent that if conservative had their ways, we’d still all be hunters and gatherers…