defensive sliding

Then there's this guy......

Notice his jeans.....they aren't jeans, they are $300 denim mock ups from China.  Sean and I were trying to absorb some vitamin D from the afternoon sun on Saturday and got the 'pleasure' of sharing space with this fellow.  He's a nice enough guy, but he was working really hard to fit the stereo typical asshole snowboarder mold.  His beer was a mere chaser for the bottle of Jack Daniels he maintained in his backpack, which oddly enough he did not share with his buds.  Much to the displeasure of the family at the table next to us; when not sucking Jack his mouth repeatedly spit the word "Fuck!" and the fact that he was married to a Mexican.

....sigh....

Was I like that?

I hope not.  Maybe I should curtail my construction mouth though, fatherhood just around the corner and all.

It was a nice visit with Sean and his parents though, I told Sean the story of my engagement to Erin over a $1.00 Sierra Nevada @ a bar called 7,800 (it's the elevation).  That's an emotional story, good memories.

Also I got to have breakfast with the newly named CEO of the year, but was interrupted by an overly anxious Sean whom realized upon dragging me to the first chair that he'd forgotten his season pass in the condo.  I guess I should have made a pitch to Rob after all....thanks Sean.

I came home to a happy wife, who'd prepped an amazing dinner and dessert, she's awesome.  Saturday was a good day. 

I took my dog on a three mile run this morning because Erin and Leanne think she's getting fat.  That's good because it allowed me to verify what's really going on.  Reality is that her muscles are thickening.  A mouse squirted across the path about two miles into the run, in the split second that it happened I think my brain saw what was coming but my body couldn't react in time; mid-stride the dog dropped her hind end and launched herself, taught leash and subsequent owner included off the trail into the bush where the mouse took shelter. 


I'm in a bush with my dog, and a dead mouse.  


Let's go home fat ass.

Anticipation.

Here's a local forecast model for precipitation between now and the 28th of January.  The black hole in northern CA and southern OR is not dry; that's off the charts with 10+ feet of snow.  I remember last March when we spent a week in one of those black holes, one of the best weeks ever....

Looks like my work schedule is about to get more difficult to manage, wet weather is a challenge for construction projects.  Oh well, we've really benefited from the dry spell, time to suck it up....

In anticipation of the eventual snow I planted a seed a few weeks back with a nice lady I know who has a condo in squaw valley.  She offered the condo to Erin and I for next weekend, right in the brunt of the storm.  We'll see what develops, we might be headed for the hills.....

Yep. Old ski boot ads; they sell boots; especially Lange ads.  Bob Lange started the company in Iowa, (Iowa?) and his first provocative ads featured his wife.  The trend caught on and is continuously mimicked by action sport companies, with great success.  A lange ski boot ad was one of the first breaks for a  Canadian model, Pamela Anderson.  Some guy from Iowa did that.  Marketing is neat.

What's up with.....

Ole' Man Winter??
I've traded in my snowboard for a Rug Doctor carpet cleaning unit.  That's right, I'm nesting......nothing else to do.

Shall I join Sean and go Heli-skiing in Colorado at the end of February?  The resort is Silverton Mountain......
http://www.silvertonmountain.com/page/home

The mountain base is 10,400' in elevation and offers a single chairlift, that tops out over 12,000'.  Terrain is hikable on foot to 13,500'; all other mountain access is by Heli.  The mountain is 100% advanced/expert terrain.

I need to determine what mama thinks and the total cash outlay....

Promani Dough

Greek rubbed chicken, crimini mushrooms, fresh tomato and serrano chiles....mmmm pizza night at the Stanley's.  The real delicacy here is the dough.  Ronna Promani must have spent 10K importing an outdoor pizza oven from Italy to her backyard in Castro Valley.  Then she shared her recipe for homemade dough with us.  That scrumptious bread pillow will knock you so.  It cooks up pretty nicely on my .01K Charbroil Grill too......

Christmas & New Years 2011

Christmas 2011

Family photos…..my family seems to be multiplying and growing rapidly, soon gatherings on the Stanley side will be overrun with little ones continuously bouncing off hard objects.  Oh well, it makes them tougher right?  I don’t really know, but I’m taking an infant CPR class next week to earn a certification in the practice of reviving little guys and gals should the event be deemed necessary.

I’m pretty sure Hopyard Rd. in Pleasanton, CA will be repaved this Spring.  That’s because our range rover repeatedly beat the crap out of Hopyard as we raced back and forth from family to family over the Christmas holiday.  It’s a lot of fun but I think perhaps next year things will change.  In hindsight I regret that over the past few years the gift exchange between Erin and I almost seems like a chore…..we tear our respective presents open and quickly revel in the moment of our love for one another and then it is go time.  Get the F out of our way because we have a schedule to maintain, we rush out of the house before some have left their warm beds; Houstons’ , Stanleys’, look out!!  We blow in with the wind and then we are off like a prom dress before you realize it.  Gotta keep everybody happy, it's not that much of a chore but I just feel like I can never settle in and catch up with family members because I'm always watching the clock, gotta stay on schedule.  

I anticipate the arrival of ‘The Babe’, a tax deduction and the right to create a Christmas morning schedule around my little one.  Don’t take it the wrong way, I love the shit out of my respective families however, every Christmas Erin and I find ourselves absolutely exhausted and burn at least one tank of gas running from house to house.  Not sure how we will restructure things, I just know we'll be watching the 'Babe' maow on the corner of a gift box next Christmas morning, that's nice.

I took many photos over Christmas; in the picture below Duchess had gotten a hold of Cooper's Christmas gift, a stuffed snow guy.  Duchess was furiously ripping the shit out of the snow guy when she lost her grip and the snow guy flew across the room colliding with the Christmas tree knocking several pieces of merry flair into the pile of presents below.  Simultaneously with this event I was taking a 'Sibling' photo of the Houston kids.  Frozen in air, the snow guys' final flight was documented.....(he died later that night)

New Years 2011

Luckily there’s new years…..Erin and I have never been big new years party people, we typically use the weekend to reconnect and spend quiet time with one another, this year will be no different as we plan to spend the first new years ever at the Murray family cabin.  What a nice treat.