Picking up life-changing habits

When I ski, I need to remind myself of body motions that are counter-intuitive in the hope, that someday, these movements will become second-nature. Without getting into these ski-related details, anticipation of turns is one crucial one.

In my life, and from now on, I see two key habits that need to become ingrained. One of them is seeing every adversity in a challenging opportunity that I can't wait to tackle. This isn't obvious, as we seem inevitably dragged down by negative thoughts and overwhelmed by difficulties.

A second one is to adopt an assertive body language that will influence the actual impression made on others as featured in a recent blog post. Two worthwhile areas of improvements that are worth focusing upon (at least from my vantage point...)

Who ever knew Straver skis?

I certainly did, and that's because I only lived 45 minutes away from the tiny factory, in Perrignier, France, not far from the shore of Geneva Lake where Paul Peillex, turned his plastic plant into a ski production facility.

I don't remember exactly the year when I got my only two pairs of Straver. Could have been in 1966 or 1967?

I had bought a pair of Straver 28 Slalom in 207 cm, these new, revolutionary fiberglass skis were a compound of fiberglass and polyester. The skis skied wonderfully well for a week before they would delaminate around the edges.

That's how I got two pairs; the second one was replaced under warranty. Polyester wouldn't bind along the steel edges. Epoxy was the only material that could.

Later, in 1973, Mr. Peillex would throw in the towel and sell his factory to Daniel and Léo Lacroix...

Last (?) April snow

Our Rocky Mountain springs are also our snowiest months of the year. Now that ski areas are closing down, snow wakes up and suddenly falls upon us...

Sure nearby Snowbird is still open but we now need to respond to the calendar and pretend it's spring. If we don't, it will be summer before we now it, so time to shovel that last serving away and enjoy the moment. Carpe diem!

The mountain spring blues

If you live in the mountains, you may have experienced that phenomenon which has a little bit to do with seasonal transition, skiing withdrawal and has hit me almost each season I've live in the mountains with some alarming (?) regularity.

This is the only time of the year I feel that something's missing and a deep sense of void. That's what I call the “mountain spring blues”.

It lingers for a few days or weeks, but after all it's also filled with reminiscences of the past, of my youth and has become a regular fixture in my life, so why not embrace it and enjoy it!

April powder

This is not an oxymoron. It just is a piece of elusive matter as evidenced by our experience yesterday when my friend Dirk took me skiing to Snowbird.

The first three runs were – almost – out of this world (read heavenly), while the last ones seemed to come right out of Dante's inferno. Do I need to say more?

Good neighbor?

In the 29 years we've lived in Park City, we always had good neighbors. This was until we built our new home; one of our next door neighbors didn't appreciate that the vacant lot bordering his home was growing a house of its own and decided to make our life difficult through the construction process.

A few days ago, he complained bitterly to me that the wire used for his dog fence which, by the way, was sitting on my property, had been torn apart by the workers. Yesterday, in a similar scenario, he accused me of throwing deadwood on his lot.

I responded quite forcefully by telling him I wouldn't be bullied by his tactics and my reaction seemed to be enough for shutting him down. At least for the moment.

Preserving enthusiasm

As we move into the years and sail into comfort, natural enthusiasm quickly becomes under siege and begins eroding. How do we keep it healthy and noticeable? That's always an important question and the response to it represents another big challenge.

For me, it tends to submarine and I need to remind me constantly of the importance of enthusiasm and make sure it stays on my personal dashboard. I promised to do my very best to remain enthused this entire day!