auto show

We went to the Auto Show with Allen and Steve Saturday night. While Team Purple House isn't in the market for a new car right now - the Alero is doing just fine - it sometime takes us over an hour to decide what to eat for dinner, so we should probably start vehicle negotiations early.

Going into the evening both of us had a few cars in mind. For Lelaine that would be an Audi Q5, Prius, or Volvo C30 (something about a kid's car seat). I am more into a Chevy Malibu, Ford Edge, or Jeep Patriot. Unfortunately, even after looking at over 100 cars I don't think we are any closer to agreeing on anything.

I must admit, the Q5 is really nice, and surprisingly costs less than a A4. The only problem is the small sticking point of still costing a lot. I really like the Jeep Patriot - it reminds me of my old Cherokee. However, Lelaine doesn't like its boxy design.

We couldn't even agree what cars we would get if we won the lottery, as she would take a Mini Cooper over a Range Rovers or a Jag XK. Pretty much the only thing we mutually agreed to eliminate was the Ford Edge.

Granted it is a few years down the road, but I see either a Prius or CRV in our future.

After agreeing to disagree about cars, we met Sam, Alison, Hudson, Heather, and Shelby at Carmine's for an Italian feast consisting of fried zucchini, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, veal parmesan, penne alla vodka, and chicken scaloppine. When we left, I was more stuffed than the cannoli I had for dessert (we went skiing on Sunday, so we make up the excuse that we needed to eat a lot to be ready for a day on the slopes).

continental divide(s)

On the way to Wisp, you pass a sign claiming you are passing the "Eastern Continental Divide." While a harmless sign to most, it spurred quite the debate in the car. And by debate, I mean I ranted about it while the others shook their heads and Lelaine called me a moron.

I do not believe the eastern continental divide exists. Our continent is bordered by two oceans. That means that the true continental divide is the one in which water on one side flows to the Pacific and the other side the Atlantic. The "eastern continental divide" apparently exists because water to the east flows to the Atlantic and to the west the Mississippi River. But where does the Mississippi go? Into the Gulf of Mexico, which then feeds into the Atlantic. So water on both sides of the "eastern continental divide" ends up in the same place. In other words, it isn't a continental divide.

Aren't you as outraged by this as I am? I will assume the lack of comments means that you are so worked up you cannot type a response.

wisp weekend

MLK weekend a group of eight of us gathered in two cars and drove three hours to Wisp for a ski weekend in far western Maryland. Allen, Heather, Steve, and Shelby arrived around 11:30pm on Friday and used Steve's Jeep to partially clear the snow-covered driveway of the big house we rented. The second car with Justin, Kelly, Lelaine, and me arrived a short while later. We (Steve) started a fire, had a couple beers, and then went to sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up and got to see our place in the daylight. It was great, right on a frozen lake, covered by icicles that were as big as me, and blanketed by at least a foot of snow. We headed to the hill and spent all day skiing. Kelly, Steve, Shelby, and I stayed together for most of the day hitting some greens and blues. Justin, Allen, and Heather (the last two being never evers) took lessons and were near Lelaine on the bunny slope. After a late lunch next to the fire in the lodge we went back out. I don't know if it was because the temperature was dropping or the fact that the Ravens and Steelers (two somewhat local teams for western Maryland) were playing, but the mountain emptied out. Kelly and I had a great hour or two on a handful of blues with no one in sight and zero lift lines. Pretty glorious.

We had big plans for what to do at night, but the combination of being dog tired, me forgetting all the cords to plug in the Wii, a warm fire, and the fact that we had an outdoor hot tub overlooking the lake make for a pretty low key evening.

We woke up Sunday and made the five minute drive back to Wisp. It was crowded, but we all got in a handful of good runs. I convinced Kelly to go down a black with me, which she managed to do without falling. Can't say the same for me, as I took a pretty sad fall while snowplowing on the flatest part of the run. Kind of sad.

Speaking of falling, there were three outstanding spills. The first came on Saturday when a few of us were on a blue. I was about half way down when I looked up and saw no one coming down, and then a couple seconds later Shelby started making a couple big S's down the hill. I kept on about my business until a few seconds later when I heard a noise rush by me similar to the sound of a semi dispersing air as it passes someone on the highway. It was Picaboo Street...I mean Shelby...who evidently grew tired of slowly making her way down. After she was a couple hundred feet below me and disappearing behind a bend I saw a huge cloud of snow fly up in the air as she wiped out. I was worried she might be hurt - she was flying - but she laughed it off.

The second big fall came from Justin. He was on a reen and had a little bit of a problem with a brief steep section. He managed to end up with a decent yard sale, complete with him face down on the snow, poles above him on the hill and his skis below getting further and further away as they continued to slide. In his defense it probably was the steepest thing he has gone down.

But Allen saved the best for last. As a first timer, he spent all of his time on the bunny slope but wanted to go down a regular green before heading home. He started off really well, which surprised us all, not because he was good, but because for a beginner he was skiing pretty fast. Definitely not the typical super-slow turns that most first times make. But we soon realized there was a reason for it. While Allen appeared to have mastered keeping his skis parallel to gain speed, he couldn't turn or slow down. After ensuring a kid didn't experience a pain free day on the hill (the kid walked away just fine), he did something really impressive. At the end of the run, the trail we were on comes down the hill horizontally and merges with a steep trial that comes down the hill vertically. At the point of convergence, there is a fairly sizeable bump. For most it isn't a big deal because you are either 1-not going fast since it is the end of the run or 2-aware of the bump and and have fun with it. Well Allen didn't know about the bump, couldn't slow down, and didn't know what to do. He ended up hitting the bump as though it was a ramp in the terrain park. Both skiis had a lot of air under them. I've never seen a beginner do anything like it. It was awesome.

When we left all were sore, but all had a good time and are hoping to do something similar again.

good and bad weekend

The good: Saturday we woke up and drove to Whitetail to meet Rich for our second ski/snowboard day with Rich in as many weeks. It had snowed the night before, so while the drive was slow, the conditions on the hill were great. After a day of skiing (I skied and Lelaine boarded) we drove to Allen and Heather's for dinner. All and all a pretty good day.

The bad: the Chiefs game on Sunday. All week I had been looking forward to the Chiefs first playoff game at home since 2003. Things started well - the Chiefs had a big goaline stand early and then took the lead on a long touchdown run. But after failing to convert a fourth and one in the third quarter, the game took a turn for the worse and the Chiefs were clobbered the rest of the way. Sunday was not a good day.

misadventures in snowboarding

This weekend we drove to Liberty, a ski hill near Gettysburg, PA. Normally, Lelaine snowboards and I ski. But this time I felt like changing things up. We were meeting Rich, a friend from Mizzou who starting boarding last year, and I figured I would join them on a snowboard.

This is despite the fact that the one time I previously attempted to snowboard turned out to be one of the most frustrating days of my life. Back in January 2002, several friends were in Keystone, CO, and we had the bright idea to ride a gondola and another lift to the top and assumed we would just learn how to snowboard a couple thousand feet above the base. That was a mistake. The others picked it up relatively well, but I couldn't keep my click-in boots in the bindings and it took three or four hours to get down, broken up by falling on my face every three minutes.

Well, not much has changed since that day in Keystone. Even with a lesson, I am terrible. I have probably gone skiing twenty times in my life. And in those twenty times I have fallen half has many times as I did in three hours of trying to snowboard this weekend. None of the falls were bad...except for one that involved my elbow going into my ribs and making it hurt to breath deeply, laugh, and sleep.

After making it down the bunny slope only twice (in three hours!) I traded the board for skis. I don't understand why anyone snowboards. It isn't like I am the best skier, but it isn't that difficult to at least snowplow your way down a hill. But just standing up on a board for more than two seconds, let alone things like turning to avoid crushing into groups of people or figuring out how to stop (I finally managed to stop without falling...once) are nearly impossible. Somehow Lelaine likes it, and that is nice and all, but I will never be able to do it.

I'm glad I tried it again, but I will stick to skiing when we go to Wisp with a big group MLK weekend.