One the many reasons I live in Park City...

This morning was mountain-bike day for me and I climbed the hills behind my home and rode what is my routine course. The weather was a bit unsettled with threatening clouds all over that enhanced the beautiful fall colors.

They cradled the bright foliage colors and made everything magic. Two days ago, I took the drive over from Empire Pass to Midway to be treated by a spectacular festival of colors. There's nothing like or foliage season and there's no place like Park City!

My weekend with Donald Trump

A well-connected friend of mine, suggested to Donald Trump that he should bring me in to provide him some badly needed political advice. I got summoned to show up at Trump Towers last Sunday for a fee amount that I won't reveal, all expenses paid.

Since the weather was quite pleasant. I showed up at Trump's home dressed as if I had attended a typical meeting in Park City. T-shirt, jeans and sandals. From the looks he gave me, I don't think Donald liked my attire, but without even exchanging the usual brief pleasantries, we dove right into the heart of the matter.

I advised him to smile a little bit more, be a little bit less of a bully and refrain from calling his opponents names. He didn't seem to appreciate my recommendations either. Instead, he asked me what I had been doing all my adult life, what was my net worth and if I even had a job at the moment.

After barely listening to my answers he blurted out: “So, you're a loser!” I wanted to say “Why makes you say that?” but before I had time to even mentally form my response, I heard him scream “You're fired!” I caught the next flight to Salt Lake and got home earlier.

Picking the “good” trash pile...

The news magazine Frontline showed us an amazing documentary about our two presidential candidates.

It pitted on one side, a ruthless, narcissist Donald Trump against a power-obsessed Hillary Clinton and painted a dismal picture of both.

Yet, one is worst than the other, and we, the American electorate, have make a choice between the two. My wife and I have selected the less evil of these two alternatives. Like picking one heap of trash over another one.

We'll go for the one that's not as stinky and less radioactive.

The angry white man...

Like millions of Americans, I was glued to my TV screen watching the first presidential debate of this election season. I said “I watched”, and saw plenty of telling body language. Trump wasn't doing too well in that category, while Clinton performed close to perfection.

Donald Trump personified the typical “angry white man” he is so good at electrifying. He must also have experienced a bruising contrast between the sixteen sub-par candidates he crushed during the primaries, and the fortress-like wall he had to confront in Hillary, last evening.

His usual swagger and bullying technique didn't work well on her. She was in fact a much fiercer wall than the one he promised to build on the Mexican border...

Until last night, it was totally impossible to imagine the outcome of this first face-to-face, and evidently, the difference between the two was simply overwhelming. While I was a reluctant Hillary supporter until that debate, I now can see that this choice totally makes sense and I bet that, besides Trump, other losers might be all down-ticket Republican Candidates suffering from a lower voters turn out on Election Day...

My One Percent is richer than yours!

In America, following the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, we've been talking a lot about that rich “One Percent” of the population.

According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, it takes a minimum yearly household income of $389,436 to belong to the club while the average earnings of America’s 1-percenters is $1,153,293, but this threshold varies a lot per region as a recent article in the New York Time just showed.

Around Jackson Hole, in Wyoming is where the richest of America’s 1-percenters live; its 1-percenters earn more than $2.2 million. New York County, or Manhattan, ranks second, with a $1.44 million, followed by nearby Fairfield County, in Connnecticut, with just under $1.4 million. On the oposite side of the spectrum, if your household makes just $97,000a year, you'll be a 1-percenter in Holmes County, Mississipi, or in Lamar County, Alabama!

Ski resorts counties are all doing well too and that of Summit, which is Park City's own, is ranked #5 nationally with an annual threshold income of $1,207,000 per family. We seem to even do better than San Mateo County, home of Silicon Valley where they earn at least $1.1 million.

Enough said, I need to go out to work now, if I want to be in the club!

Better Ski Resort rankings

I recently criticized the way Ski Magazine was conducted its ski resort by its readers based on the experienced thay had during the previous winter season. Beside letting the publication know that their format is neither fair nor helpful, we should encourage them to reform the way such tests are conducted.

For instance the tests should be a reflection of the entire community (i.e. Park City) and include both ski areas (Deer Valley and Park City Mountain). Aspen should follow the same template and at least include Aspen Mountain and Aspen Highlands.

North Lake Tahoe would include Squaw – Alpine and Northstar, while South Lake Tahoe would include Heavenly and perhaps Kirkwood. Banff with its enormous bed base would be the community connected to Mt. Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise, etc.

We should also know how that survey is conducted. How does the process work? How many questionnaires are sent? To whom (who's qualified to respond)? What's the total rate of return and the percentage distribution by resorts to make sure that there is a minimum of statistical legitimacy...

Finally, there should be some independent oversight to guarantee that the results are not manipulated to reward those sole adverting in the publication...

Revisiting our former home...

It's just fourteen years ago that we sold our large home of twelve years overlooking the Park City mountains on American Saddler Drive in Park City.

Today, I got a chance to preview the massive remodeling our former abode had undergone over the past year. It's stands now even larger at some 6,300 square feet of area, with updated and beautiful finishes and captures even more views than ever before.

In the past 26 year, this home has seen our family, another one for a couple of years and a 9-11 widow and her kids for the following 11 years. Today, it's looking for a new household with a large family...

Do I feel regretful or nostalgic in walking back into what used to be our house? Not really, I now feel relieved that we've have substantially scaled down in view of this supersized dwelling that we could no longer afford!