The China syndrome

So I was rushing down the mountain when a guy starts weaving back and forth on his skis. I patiently wait behind him to find his rhythm, and when I think I’ve got it, I start passing him to the right. That’s when he suddenly decides to stop dead in the middle of the run, and not catching himself right he slowly moves back towards the edge.

I had no chance to avoid him, so I sliced over his skis and fell badly into the snow. I called him an idiot, and he gave me a lecture on “keeping your distance behind fellow skiers.” I didn’t call him any more names, but wondered why he behaved the way he did.

A South Lake Tahoe hotel roundup

This is going to be a little of an ongoing effort. I realized that I have been to a number of accomodations in SLT, and maybe it could be useful to pass on a little information about the hotels and inns of the place if you find yourself in need of advice.

The location: South Lake Tahoe is the biggest city around the lake, and is backed by the highest and largest ski resort in the area (actually, in all of Northern California). SLT, as it is abbreviated locally, is right on the Nevada state line, which means there are casinos aplenty on the other side of the “border.”

White Christmas???

Guess where I am typing from? Sitting on my bed in Holiday Lodge, Heavenly Village, South Lake Tahoe, California. I got here late in the morning (actually it was already after lunch) and was expecting an exciting day on the slopes.

First impressions:

1. More people were coming down the mountain (at noon!) than going up
2. The bottom of the slope was bare
3. A giant puddle had formed under the lift

So, you got it: the snow was no good. Better than what I had heard about Squaw, for sure. As soon as you get to the top of the mountain, the snow is actually usable, and Ridge Run is actually a real pleasure to be on. But as soon as you get to the bottom of the runs (Sky Express), the mush is on – and that’s halfway up the mountain!

Heaven [DJ Sammy] (CD)

Dance versions of pop songs are DJ Sammy’s specialty, and with Heaven he gets quite a few right. I first heard about him when watching a few kids play Dance Dance Revolution on a Playstation 2 (at the Metreon in the City). The dance version of the Bryan Adams hit “Heaven” is included in the game.

Aside from accelerating the old pace of songs of the sixties and seventies, DJ Sammy adds a lot of riffs and beats, and makes the sound overall more danceable. It’s fun to listen to a new reading of “California Dreaming”, and the old “The Boys of Summer” sounds amazing with a bit of beat behind it.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Some movies are just not meant for you. Brokeback Mountain was certainly not meant for me, and I had a hard time separating the movie’s impact on me from the movie itself.

My friend J. and I went together to this remote theater, one of only two showings in the whole city of San Francisco. Stonestown Galleria is a suburban shopping mall, and the tiny theater on its edges seemed to be an unlikely place for what was hailed as a groundbreaking movie.

Raining on the snow!

My friend D. just called with horrible news: the wonderful, wonderful powder of last week is disappearing under heavy rain! The snow level is at about 8000 feet, making it impossible to ski in the lower elevations of the mountain. Actually, Squaw and the other (lower) resorts are having a ton of trouble, while the top of Monument Peak still seems to be fine.

Meet the Fockers (2004)

Short story: lame.

I confess I kept the movie as a particular treat in my Netflix list, and I was looking forward to a funny movie. “Meet the Parents” was stuck in my brain as an incredibly laugh-worthy movie, and I though that Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand would just be a hoot together.

Not so. Amazing. I don’t know what happened. Even Robert de Niro lost all his funny bones in this sequel. The only one that still stands out is Blythe Danner, who has the same charming ditzyness that made her so vital to the success of the first movie.

Power outage

Amazing. So there is this little storm (actually, quite the giant storm) passing through town, and it brings the first thunder and lightning in years. Wouldn’t you know it, the power is knocked out for 16 hours, like in some backwards Third World country?

Sunday plans had to go to heck. No laundry, no gym, and instead of working on improving the house and putting everything in place, I spent the whole day looking for the fuse box. I knew I had seen it while trying to save the little Mondo, but I didn’t know where it was.

Almost missed the first winter storm

In a strange coincidence J. and I decided to go up to Tahoe and ski away on Saturday. We had initially planned for Sunday by decided then we wanted to go Saturday. The trip up was great – we made it in no time, thanks to careful planning – and then we proceeded to going up and down as many times as we could.

On the way up from the gondola for lunch, we chatted with a couple that was going up for the first time boarding. They had rental equipment (wise) and no experience at all. We tried giving them a few tips and hints, but I was shaking my head inside.

Saturday Fun

This weekend, the first Saturday run with two colleagues of mine. One is a total beginner, the other one an intermediate beginner, and then I, the uberrookie. Sounds like fun???