I finally skied all the way out to Glacier Point. It's a 21-mile round trip and I thought I would wait until I had a couple more skating days under my belt, but then just got the urge.
First Blizzard of 2004
Oh man. Winter made up it's mind. We've been getting hammered and I feel worked. I spent six hours shoveling snow today. Even the 4WD vehicles with chains were having major problems.
Ski School
I've managed to land a full time job as a ski instructor at Badger Pass. I keep meaning to sit down and write all about it – the great group of people that I get to work with (instructors, students, lifties, etc.), and all the things I get to learn about improving my own skiing, as well as teaching skiing to others. It's a great job.
Hot and cold.
Winter can't seem to make up it's mind this year. Sunny. Then snowy. Then it got warm. Then it got cold. The variation has my internal body thermometer working overtime trying to get reset to whatever it is that the weather is doing, but in terms of outdoor activities, it's all good.
Il fait froid en ce pays!
Winter hit suddenly in Yosemite. It seemed like one moment I was hanging out on the porch in the sunshine reading through JP's thesis, and the next in my down jacket huddled in front of the pellet stove. 80 degrees and sunny to cold and snowing in only a few days. Tom has taught me the French phrase for “It's cold around here,” (Il fait froid en ce pays!) and I've been getting a lot of practice using it.
We did have a spectacular autumn season. Nothing to rival the displays out East, but beautiful yellows and pinks nonetheless. We took an excellent hike up from Wauwona Tunnel past the scenic points along the rim of the Valley, the points being Inspiration, Old Inspiration, Stanford, Crocker, Dewey, and Taft. Between the stunning vistas of the valley we hiked through several small meadows full of autumn color. Then we met our friend Mike at Taft just as the sun was setting and he was nice enough to give us a ride back to our car.
So many things have happened and I haven't managed to get any of them written down. Hans finished his California 14ers challenge in great style. You can read all about that on his site, http://speedclimb.com/14ers/ or click on the link above. On October 7 I started working at the medical clinic in Yosemite Valley. The … Read more
Whirlwind trip
I'm back from my Modesto/Mountain View trip. What a ride. I ended up missing the Modesto appointment because the car broke down in Oakdale. Anthony's housemate, Ryan, gave me a bunch of great reading material on case study interviews at his house, and I read enough to know that I could have done much better … Read more
Whoa! An interview from Plan A
Last night I got a message on the answering machine from Gabe at Plan A asking me to come in for an interview. I'm completely flabbergasted. I sent in an application to the company in April, but I had received pretty non-committal responses to my follow up calls back then and had assumed that they wouldn't get around to calling me.
I’ve been hired!
OK, it's probably not what you'd think if you knew me. But, I went for an interview today at the medical clinic down in Yosemite Valley and they hired me on a per diem basis. Basically, that means that if they need an extra person, they call me, and I either can go or I can't. It's ultra flexble, relatively lucrative (anything is more lucrative than sitting around the house) and seems like an interesting place to work. Plus, it sounds like for the time being, they are going to be in need of extra help quite a bit, so it will be a good chance to earn some money.
Burning Man Report
We’re back. In summary – an interesting place that we will probably never go back to. Oh well.