In Dire Need of Another Vacation

So I went snowboarding a couple of weeks ago. Two full days of it. My brothers, my coolest brother in law(okay, so he is my only brohter in law, but he is really cool), and my cousin Matt went the first day. Well, that isn't entirely true, Matt skiis. We all make fun of him for it, but he is actually pretty good. It was an interesting day, trying to get my feet back under me, and I felt kind of bad that I didn't spend more time boarding with Clay that day, even though he had other much more important (and prettier than my ugly mug) responsibilities to attend to. But it ended up being a good day, even though I was ready to keel over at the end of it.

My brothers and I went again the following Monday (my birthday), and it was even better. We went to Brighton the second time around (my favorite resort). I fainally got close to as good as I used to be with about 3 hours left until closing time. Plus I got to play in some powder and run blacks and double blacks all day long. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but we were too busy having fun to do something menial like save the moments on film so they would last a lifetime...

Note to self: the shape you get in from a cushy desk job is not the same as the shape you need to be in to go snowboarding.

All in all, there isn't anything I would have changed about that weekend (unless it was possible, in some alternate universe, for Lauren to come along). Ben's sweet wife even went through all sorts of trouble to make me a cake (actually, a lot of cup cakes) and a dinner, even though I was very vague about what I wanted (if you read this... sorry about that, you did great!).

Then I came home, all set to get back to work and school, re-energized and ready to go full tilt to the end of the semester. I was excited, but then a long chain of events happened, and now I'm worn out again. I'm happy to be home, don't misunderstand me, I missed my wife and kids a lot. But both cars broke down (okay, Lauren's car was already broken down, I was ready for that -- but my jeep too! What a low blow) so someone else had to pick me up from the airport (thanks Jared), then we found out that one of the guys at work is quitting (we already have too many projects going on), then I had mid-term exams and a program due, and on top of it all, I got some nasty cold I haven't been able to shake (trust me, it really helped on the exams, especially with a nice dose of not enough sleep). There is more that went on, but I'm to worn out to keep going on about it.

Good things have happened as well, but I'm entirely ready for another vacation. Maybe one that doesn't wear me out, but instead allows me to relax and drift in blissful statelesness. Wait... I've never had a vacation like that. I really think it would be too boring. Anyway, life goes on.

A Pair of Greasemonkeys

So Lauren's Corolla has been having some issues. Almost like one of the cylinders isn't firing or something. I started working on it today, replacing spark plugs and the cap and rotor. As I was working on it a little mechanic came to my aid. She is starting to remember the names of the tools, and was very handy as she gave me tools and parts when I needed them. She also worked awfully hard on a few of the bolts in the chassis of the car with an adjustable wrench. Maybe I should go check to make sure those are still tight.

A week from today

Well, it's been a long time since I went snowboarding. Years and years. My sweet wife talked me into going for my birthday/valentines day gift. It really works out well as I have the 24th off of both school and work due to Mardi Gras.
So this coming Friday I'll be flying out to Utah. I'll spend the whole day travelling, but thats the cheapest fare we could find. I've always found the scheduling of flights to be interesting. I'm taking off at 8:00 AM, flying to Oakland, CA for a long layover, and then finally flying in to Salt Lake for 6:30 PM. When I went down to Brazil, I left Nasville, TN and flew up to Chicago, then from there headed south to Brazil. As crazy as it sounds, it makes sense. Whether you fly or not, the planes will still follow those routes, so they just take show you all paths that lead to your destination, and ones that are under-booked tend to be cheaper, thus leading to crazy flight paths.
Anyway, this time next week I'll be carving it up at Sundance. Then the following Monday (my birthday) we'll head up to Brighton, which is my favorite resort in that area. I'm not sure I'll get many pictures, but if so. I'll post them. Here is one of my favorites from when I used to live there though.
Hopefully I'm in decent enough shape for this. I'm a little worried about the altitude difference. I do live at sea level after all. Anyway, you'll hear more from me in about a week.