The art of spring skiing

There are few rules about skiing in general, but there is a capital one for spring skiing: Do it early in the day! Get out of bed early, do all you have to do and then get to the ski area by opening time. With a tiny bit of experience, observation and orientation, you'll be able to find yourself at the right place and the right time. That's right, in no time, you'll be able to begin by “following the sun” and visiting the runs that are oriented in the early morning sun and then work you way to the next ones and so on.

You'll be able to dash through corduroy and do “first tracks” on that heavenly material that will give you a subtle, but out-of-this world “foot massage.” You'll also be spot on to find yourself at the right place when the snow slowly begin to melt and become just creamy, well before it turns to slush. Lastly, don't overstay your welcome, know when to fold, and that's generally much earlier than you usually do and end up doing in most case. If you get caught muddling through slush at 1 pm, you should probably have quit at noon! Now, let's put all that good planning to work...

GoPro frustrations

Using a GoPro video camera is subject to both elation and frustration. When it works, the results are pretty cool. When it doesn't, for some arcane reason, it's immensely frustrating. When it functions properly, this wonderful video camera deliver the goods, but setting it right and getting feedback that it is in fact recording, are the downside of the device.

First, the instructions for using the device were made by engineers for engineers, not for normal folks like you and me who look at them, but won't read them from A to Z. Last night after missing two great shots while skiing with my daughter yesterday, I brought the printed directions to my bedroom, but when I started to unfold the piece of paper (it spreads out like a huge map, not even a little booklet) I fell asleep.

I need to remember to take them with me, next time I catch a “red-eye” flight to Europe; it beats “Ambiant.” Early this morning I found a ton of tutorials on Youtube. That says a lot about the user-friendliness – or lack thereof – of any product. Perhaps that 16 month after owning the helmet cam, I'll finally learn how to use it!

Counting cars...

As I woke up at 4 this morning, and instead of counting sheep, I undertook to count the cars I had driven personally for a significant amount of time, excluding of course rental cars and other “loaners.” I came up with 18, if I include my newest acquisition, the whole number spread over some 46 years.

The average driving experience amounts to 32 month per vehicle which seems stunningly low, but I need to recognize that my last car stayed with me for the last 9 years, which explain why, my heart was a bit heavy when I gave it up this week.

That car had been good to me and I feel much better thinking that it will benefit someone whom I know and love and who may get many more years of driving pleasure out of it. Which other car stands out in that “stable?”

Probably the Citroën 2cv that I drove for some 7 years, as it was my very first car during my early driving years!

Patience, fuel for success?

It's hard to be patient when we're young because we don't have gained enough perspective yet to understand its potency and left on its own, patience is pretty much meaningless. Like a catalyst, patience needs to be paired with something to work with and what a better matching element than a plan and a long-term one at that?

That's right, if we're able to manage a “pipeline” of projects, keep it filled up, patience acts like the sun on vegetation and bring these goals and plans of ours to fruition with little hard work and direct intervention. Only then, is patience bearable, practical and productive.

Without an associated project or goal, patience is just... a waste of time!

A One-Member Supreme Court

No matter what kind of arguments will be heard for and against the new healthcare law, and no matter how long the legal joust will last, there is only one Justice who needs to be convinced one way or the other and it's Anthony Kennedy. I can already predict the eight other votes .

The critical “swing vote” in the nine member court, the 75 year old Kennedy the one that will need to be convinced. I hope he's reasonable and won't strike down Obamacare; that's just my wish and we'll see...

“Oil slick” on snow

On Sunday as we were about done skiing, I suddenly sensed that my right ski wasn't sliding right. In fact it was dragging me back and when I lifted it, I instantly picked up speed from my still performing left board.

It was such an abominable drag that I thought I might have run over a very aggressive piece of rock that had torn apart my entire base, then when I looked up more closely, I saw some grease smudging the entire yellow sidewall of my ski.

I instantly understood that I must have skied over a huge “oil slick” left behind by the snow cat while grooming the run. I still rode up the chairlift and stopped at the top to discover that one-third of the base of my ski was covered with grease. I undertook to empty my pockets and fortunately found a good supply of paper tissues that I rubbed against the base to absorb all that gooey stuff.
Now tell me, should I sue BP or accept their settlement?

Jesus' political views...

Yesterday was my lucky day. When I returned from skiing, Jesus was on Skype and we talked for a few moments:

 Go 11: Hi Jesus,
Jesus: How was skiing today?
Go 11: Pretty good, we only stayed till noon thought. It's spring skiing now.
Jesus: I wouldn't have the slightest idea what spring skiing is. Remember, I wasn't on the Nazareth ski team! What's on you mind today?
Go 11: Just wanted to know you opinion about the Republican Candidates in the U.S. Primaries; have you followed that contest?
Jesus: Actually a little, because three on these guys are continually dropping my name for no good reasons. At first, I kind of liked Tim Pawlenty, but I guess he didn't make it. The four guys left look pretty bad in comparison...
Go 11: What do you think of Romney?
Jesus: He acts like a robot and sounds like a... Mormon missionary – Just kidding!
Go 11: Santorum?
Jesus: Dumb and useless.
Go 11: The two other fellows?
Jesus: Well I kind of like Gingrich, he sounds like an old car salesman and he's fat like Santa Claus, but I can't stand his new wife, what's her name, Calistoga?
Go 11: No, Callista, but that's alright...
Jesus: As for Ron Paul, I think he's getting delusional. That might be the age... Who did you vote for ?
Go 11: I thought I told you Jesus, I am an independent...