Cage Your Ego Dude

Wedge, Wedge, Wedge...that's all I heard tonight and despite my best efforts, I can't wedge to save my freaking life.

Unless, of course, you count me wedging all the way down the main slope (Missi's) right under the main lift (Gateway) and right onto the grass at the edge of the snow. Wedge...you betcha, all the way to the most graceful faceplant there ever was.

So, here's this newly minted stud ski patroller, bright and shiny red jacket with the big white crosses, super sharp ski's and polished up boots, with the really fancy NSP hat. If nothing else, at least I'll look the part.

So, while working on my wedge, I was damned and determined to wedge all the way down the main slope - that is until my legs started to go soft and I lost general control and managed to wedge my way to a massive ego crushing garage sale.

Nice . . . and I thought the skiing part would be easy.

I'm HIRED!

Happened last night.

Spent 2 days with a client and while heading back to the Detroit airport I got a call from the Snow Sports School Director, Merle.

"Hello, Brian . . . I'd like to offer you a position on our ski school staff".

YESSSSSSS!

More training and skiing tonight, in-processing and all that.

Can't wait!

Ski Season Is Here!

It finally happened . . . ski season at Hidden Valley!

Man, I thought it would never get here but suddenly, Opening Day is behind us and there's 75 days of skiing to be had.

Saturday started with a couple of hours of free-skiing, catching up with Ski Patrol buds (Emilio, Charles, John, Hans, Ian, Gene and several others) . . . Man was it ever fun!

Then, at 2pm, Ski School for Newbie Instructors began led by Hawkie Moore. This guy's a stud - seriously. And not in a "too cool for the room" sort of way. He's just really good and really smooth and a real teacher. His task is to turn skiing-enthusiasts with some level of skiing capability into instructors good enough to safely take completely untrained "wanna be's" into wedge-stoppable capable skiers in 50 minutes.

The instructor class had about 10 of us, a couple of 'collegiates', several school teachers and of course, career guy that "just wants to have fun" this winter (that'd be me!).

Very odd thing started to happen, about an hour into Saturday's clinic I started to realize that my simple goal of "helping people have fun with this new thing they're doing called skiing" was really pretty short-sighted. While a reasonable and worthy goal, my focus really needs to be on making sure people get how much fun skiing can be and are able to do so in a safe and consistent manner. Yeah, I knew all of that 25 years ago but in the interim, I forgot that people allowing you to be their instructor is the highest complement they can afford you . . . in return, you promise to make sure they're safe and are going to have an enjoyable experience.

So, we spent several hours learning the 4 basics: Balance, Rotational Motions, Pressure and Edging and fought with Hawkie about them for the better of that time. Eventually, even thick-skulled me got how important the rotational motion element is in skiing and even I started to notice my technique improving towards the end of the day.

Then, it was time to go free-skiing!

Not that the clinic wasn't enjoyable . . . it was . . . but hey, I've got to start assimilating all this new knowledge and there's no better way than to cut a few turns.

So, off I went into an amazing sunset lift. Smartly, I didn't do any shooting while I was skiing, I think my ski patrol friends would have certainly found it amazing if I wrapped myself around a tree, camera in-hand. Didn't want to give them the pleasure of sledding me off the hill.

All I can say is, it's a great time to be a skier in St. Louis . . . this is going to be fun (and, it already is!).

Oh, one last thing to notice . . . the ski industry is definitely changing. I guess I never noticed how many ski-boarders there are but man, they're everywhere. You'll notice that in this picture, there's only one set of ski's (mine) and the rest are boards.

I'm not one of those skiers that shreds shredders, frankly, I think they're all pretty cool and especially since my daughter's are two of the best all-around shredders that I know, I really enjoy the scene.

Spent some time over at the terrain park, very cool stuff going on. Maybe, one day, if I'm brave enough . . . we'll see. It's kind of cool to be around when an industry is re-inventing itself. This winter's going to be a fun observation.

OK, you know the drill, email, or comment . . . enjoy!

What...No Skiing?

No snow, too warm, no skiing.

Aaargh!

At least we're talking about skiing! A bud of mine and I are organizing a local group to head to the mountains this winter. Likely, a trip to Jackson Hole late Feb with my buds, likely Breck mid-to-late March with my daughter's (and then a meet-up with my wife in Cabo) and then one more time to Snowbird mid-April for The National Ski Patrol Snowpowder, or Powderfall, or whatever it's called.

I'm either going to be so addicted I can't stand it, or totally burned out on skiing once May rolls around.

I'm betting on addicted!

So, if I play my cards right, I'll have about 50 days on-hill by the time Hidden Valley shuts down mid-March, and then an additional 15 or so by the time May rolls around.

This could be an awesome year of Ski Patrolling, Ski Instrucing and just plane old free-skiing.

Yeeehaw!

A Day In The Life of A Patroller

Click the title of this post for a really good series of articles on what it's like to patrol at a major Colorado resort; Loveland, near Denver.

I'm going to include this link, on the right . . . defintely worth the read but I don't think it's updatedtoo frequently.

CPR...Kinda Cool

Completed the CPR course today with my wife Sheri, Katie and a former colleague Mark Lammert.

Interesting story Mark, he would have been the 3rd partner of ours as we started the company but he got cold feet at the end and stayed on the safe course. Too bad, he didn't look like his career is fulfilling him.

Anyway, had a very nice time with Sheri and Kates and learned a bunch about primary care and first responder elements. Captain Smith of Valley Park was the instructor. Very good guy, knows his stuff and super accomodating.

Finished in about 6 hours, took the test and now all we await is our cards.

This stuff is kinda fun.

But, the most important and best thing about today is that it's Kimmy's 19th birthday. She's out with all her buds and going to the Blues game tonight (our insurance guy gave me 4 tickets yesterday for her birthday...thanks Myles!).

Kimmy's a great young lady. Looking forward to spending a bunch of time with her this winter as she's employed at HV in rentals. Last year she was in the ticket booth but I think she wanted a little more action . . . and she'll get it. Rentals is always hopping - gonna be cool!

Ski Hill Web Site

I know I'm a web snob. I truly believe that my company produces the best technology products on the market.

Notice, not web sites, that's only a part of what we do . . . but nonetheless, I've been watching the local ski hill's web site and especially the snowcam. See anything wrong with this picture? Anything? Nothing?

Here's a hint: There's no people, yet!!!

I hope this is the last time that we have pictures of Hidden Valley with this much snow and nobody on the slopes. If we're lucky, we'll get 90 days this season . . . I plan to be on at least 60 and with a trip to CO and then UT, it could be a really good year!

So, I can't wait until we finally get to shred-it-up on the slopes. Hidden Valley is such a sweet slope, especially for St. Louis where we're pretty darned flat compared to other places in Missouri.

The best thing about HV is that it's darned close to my house (same distance from Breck to Vail) and with pretty fast lifts and decently long runs (if you get a bit creative), it's an ideal ski-venue.

Really nice facilities, the lodge is right next to the Patrol Head Quarters (PHQ) and it's just a really fun/family place.

With a pair of black runs, mostly intermediates and a slug of greens, it really can be a place to start, learn, improve and even challenge yourself boarding or skiing. With the advent of a pretty significant shredding community in St. Louis, the folks at Peak Resorts have made a commitment to terrain parks that allow the two communities (skiers and snowboarders) to exist together and enjoy watching each other.

My oldest daughter Kimmy is a big-time boarder, as are most of her friends . . . and she's really good and not for a girl, she's just really good. Last year, she started to pull some bigger air and in Colorado, it was fun watching her in the parks, in the bowls, in the pipes and moguls and in general free-riding. I can't wait to see what she advances to this year, she's a cool kid!

OK, back to the web for a second...keep in mind, I'm a web snob: I just don't understand why anyone would switch from a fully functioning .asp site to a so-so, kinda blah, .php site. The old site had all the industry-standard functionality that was needed and then, the decision's made to go Open Source? Uhhhh, what? Not that I have any of the inside picture on why that's been done, hopefullyit has something to do with an inside resource being able to more easily maintain the systems, or a less expensive web host. If it was made because a web developer "sold them on the idea of this cool new tool", well, then, I'd question that pretty seriously.

But, since switching, the snowcam has gotten a new address . . . finally figured out where it is (eventhough it's not publically available) and have been watching the Hill Crew push stuff around. One more week, and we'll be skiing!!!

Oh, one last thing . . . got a call from the Ski School Director and hopefully, I'll be able to earn my way onto the School Staff. Interviews and auditions are next week . . . wish me luck!

You can do that by commenting or emailing . . . enjoy!

Avalanche Training

Got in a round of "slab, sluff, wet, slush" and all sorts of other avy orientaition tonight.

Unfortunately, forgot the camera because:

• Emilio was there. OEC bud and now a Basic Patroller (took the on-hill last Spring). Really good guy and MAN, can he drive an SUV up hill, chasing me all the way to the base lodge. He's a true Italian, great accent and a super friendly guy.
• Charles was there. He's a geek like me, was in my OEC class and is now a Basic as well. Super good guy, just purchased his 'pack' from NSP and was showing it off.
• John, the OEC instructor, was there as well. He just became a brand new, for the first time, daddy. One of those good, quiet and super capable guys. Looking forward to patrolling with him.
• Some others but like I said, no camera.

OK, so, on to the avy orientation. Got a super lesson in weather, snowpack, terrain and human factors. It was pretty interesting but I've got to admit, after waking up at 530am to deliver a product for a client, I was in no mood to learn about the fine points of gnaurl snow at 930p. So, when we started to talk about V-canyons and their dangerous aspects, I just had to get out of there.

I know, it was rude, and what the heck, I'M BUSY!

Learn all you want to about avy's at the link and as always, comments or email.

I Get It...You're Busy

Just a quick rant . . . there's absolutely no excuse for not returning emails or phone calls. Absolutely NONE (the only exception is unsolicited sales or nuisances...those are ok not to return). But, if you know the person and you contacted them for help...RETURN THE DAMNED CALL....aaaaarggggh!

OK, beginning to feel better.

What I typically get is "I've been so busy..., blah, blah, blah!"

Well, confreakingratulations to you!

I've just been sitting around eating bon-bons trying to get in touch with you and of course, my life isn't nearly as important as yours is and therefore, it's absolutely cool that you don't return my calls or emails because who am I to dare impeed on your "busy day".

OK, the feeling better thing is starting to grow . . . "I get it, you're too busy and better than the rest of us!"

Aaaaaah, all better now!

What I Do In My "Real" Life

As we started our new company, my partner David and I were fortunate to have as our very first client, the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis. While we had all the experience and a significant record of "have done" behind us, it was still risky to let two guys that had just hung out their own shingle, conduct a Discovery Conference and direct the redevelopment of the web site. Of course, it's no accident that David has an amazing relationship with the powers-that-be within the J network and when they wanted to do make their web presence more powerful, they turned to him.

Originally, they wanted a simple makeover of their web site, of course, we gave them much more. David and I have a basic tennet that putting lipstick on a pig doesn't make it less of a pig. While we haven't used that one at the J (for obvious reasons), we did take advantage of our knowledge and experience examing and building the link between technical and business processes to provide them with the foundation of an improved marketing and sales tool; their outreach via the web to their current and prospective members and the community at large.

As will always occur, there were some learnings and gotchas, in the end; my hope is that this is the start of a new way that the J will look at systems and tools. By examining the integrated link between people, systems and information it's extensively possible to eliminate the human-redundant elements. The goals is NOT to reduce head-count, to the contrary, the goal is to maintain and grow head-count and assure that the people are interacting in a positive and contributory manner to the target audience. The more automated systems become, the more freedom staf members have in impacting the end client, rather than managing the system.

Man, does that sound like sales-garble, sorry about that . . . David says it much better.

So, here's what the current J site looks like (yeah, I know, kind of looooong). The new http://www.jccstl.com is now LIVE and in addition to looking a lot better, if you become a member, you'll even better understand how the efficiencies of this new tool is helping the J serve their target audience and provide a richer Jewish experience for them.

As "Members of the Tribe", you betcha we're darned proud of our work and what's even better, we did some of our best thinking for our own family, if you will. It's always great when that can happen.

As always, email me, or comment, below.

Did I Mention . . .

. . . that in addition to patrolling, I'm also feeding my Jones by re-upping as a ski instructor this winter, as well?

No?

Well, here's an email exchange from someone on the Epicski .com message boards; someone I've grown to respect for his posts and wise counsel. I'm not going to use his real name unless he is ok with that.

Oh, so you're not confused, the thread starts with me asking for some guidance, then his response, and then my typically long-winded reply.

I may not be a good writer, but I sure have the "volume" thing down to a tee!

-----------------

Hey there <>.
I’m a regular reader and sometimes poster on Epicski.com and have read and admired your posts for some time now.

The reason for my email is a request of you. 25 years ago I was a ski instructor in Pennsylvania – that was during College. Since then, I’ve ski’d regularly but haven’t ski instructed. Through a series of acquaintances, I’ve been asked to become an instructor at the hill near my home in St. Louis.

“Training” begins 12.16 and while I’ve asked the SSD what type of training/evaluation I need to be prepared for, the answer came back as “we just want to see how you ski and how you teach” . . . not a lot of guidance.

So, I turn to you. Let’s say you’re the SSD and here comes a late 40’s type guy that has a bunch of skiing, formerly PSIA L1 certified and was a college professor for 10 years.

• What are you going to look for?
• How are you going to evaluate him?
• What should he (me) be prepared for?
• What types of ski-specific interview questions are you going to ask?
• ???

Granted, this all occurs in less than a few weeks so nothing I do, at this point, is going to turn me into the next Stache, but I’d like to at least enter into this with my eyes open and as prepared as I can be.

In advance, thanks so much!

- - - His Reply - - -

Hi Brian,

I am flattered that you would bring your inquiry to me. I will try to reward you with some valuable insight.

First thing an SSD is looking for is your pulse.

OK, you've got one. Can you pick up a four to seven year old when they fall ten times in ten minutes? Good!

Next is a SSN or green card, got it? Good!

Will you give me 25 or more days of being here on time in boots and at all line ups (not off somewhere free skiing)?

Ok, you're committed.

Now, do you want to pursue your own skiing and teaching and go for that L2 pin?

This won't be a deal maker or breaker it will just give us some idea of how to use you in our line ups versus you being in clinic and hopefully our investment in training you will come back as not only a better instructor but also a loyal employee who "owes us".

Your ability to get down the hill on skis rather than a ski patrol toboggan is a plus.

Your ten years as a professional educator a definite plus.

What you do with panamedia will help you on the job but not necessarily help you get the job.

Understanding the different psychographics of people and how different people respond or react to different impulses and stimuli will definitely give you an edge on what to do to connect with some of your students. Regrettably very few SSDs have the slightest, if any, idea of what the heck I just typed in that last sentance.

In fact, if you study the PSIA materials and embrace the American Teaching System you will find ideas and methods to help you in your "other" career. As a Sales Manager and Sales Trainer I have often said "The best sales training I ever received was learning how to sell folks on having more fun skiing more efficiently." Rather than teaching me how to teach, PSIA made sure that I learned how different people learn.

So what most SSDs are looking for is a reliable warm bloody body that will be there when they are supposed to be. If they can ski and teach that is a little less training we have to do before we turn them loose on the public. If they are committed to improving their own skiing and ski teaching by going after PSIA certification, then we may have them hooked for a few more years at least.

Last, but certainly not least, do they have a good sense of humor, can they tell a joke or entertain a group of people for a while? You don't have to be the life of the party but the fact is wall flowers just aren't the best ski instructors.

Notice we haven't said anything about pay? The only thing said about pay is that we ski instructors don't get paid anywhere near what it costs us to be ski instructors.

Hope this gives you some insight and doesn't miss the mark by too much.

Please let me know how you make out and what help if any this does provide.

Having just been fired by email and done a ski instructor job search myself this fall, I believe I have an accurate if not slightly jaded view of the scene, at least here in the east.

Again, please keep me informed as your season and career progress.

- - - And...my reply to him - - -
<>

Thanks so much for the thorough and kind reply.

As a quickie, instructing has never been about the cash; I’ve got a company for that. Now that I find myself in a life-position that allows me to spend some time enjoying a specific quality of life every now and then, I’m finding that just freeskiing isn’t nearly enough to satisfy my need to share skiing with others. The most fun I have is when I get to ski with other people. To that end, I’m also regaining my ski patrol certification this season as well…already passed OEC and CPR, doing the on-hill training presently.

Yeah, it’s going to be quite a season of “snow”…but that’s more than ok with me. Both of my daughter’s are boarders and they’re darned good at it (I had nothing to do with that). They both drive, are independent and love the snow sports as much as I do. Now, if we could only get my wife/their mom to come with us then, well, we’d have it all, but for now, I’m more than ok hanging with my children and teaching others to have fun and patrolling as well.

OK, to your thoughts…I get that ski instructing isn’t about instructing people to ski, it’s about showing people that skiing is fun, they can have fun, that they can master certain skills which will improve their fun and my job is to make it fun, while they learn. As a professor (aviation at Parks College) my job was to make sure people saw that all of the studying/learning was to make sure they could liveout their career choices and it wasn’t an end in itself. I view learning to ski in the same way.

I do hope that I get a bunch of adults to teach, as well as the youngsters. I just LOVE IT, when I get a mom or dad, or older person to see that they can walk, talk, not fall over, wedge, French fry and enjoy the activity of skiing. To feel the cold air, to feel that stinging in your nose and then go into a warm lodge with a roaring fire and let the warmth rush over you…is there anything better than that?

Oh, yeah, this is about ski instructing.

Frankly, I don’t know if I’ll go for an L2, L3, certificate…likely I will because I just like learning new things and testing myself. There’s nothing better than to humble yourself in front of a teacher and put yourself in a vulnerable position and then recognize the ‘student’ that you are and realize that all of your students are feeling the same thing. Surely puts a huge dose of ‘reality check’ into instructing.

You’ve given me some great guidance. I figured that this orientation/test/evaluation was going to be more about me as a person and my level of patience and communications capabilities more than my ability as the best instructor in the world. Let’s hope the SSD concurs.

My goals:

1. Get my business partner’s children to come out and learn to love skiing. They’re 7 and 9 (boys) and I’ve already been bugging them . . . “hey, you guys ready to go skiing?”
2. Get my wife out on the slops . . . that’s such a lofty goal I can’t even imagine it might occur but I know that I would revel in that. I won’t make the mistake of trying to be her instructor, but by the time she gets on-hill, I’ll know which are the best instructors and make sure she gets hooked up with them.
3. Enjoy the heck out of the time I’ll spend with my daughter’s. The hill is about a 20 minute drive from my home, add to that the ‘strapping it on’ time and I’ll be able to spend about an hour each time we go to the hill…cool, eh?
4. And finally, if by the end of this ski season I’ve been specifically requested to deliver a private lesson, that would be the ultimate.

OK, <> off. Thanks again and I’ll be in touch.

-----------------
OK, you wanna contact me? How about an email or a comment, below.

He Ran Over My Daughter-2

And...my final words on the subject:
--------------------------------------------------------
[quote=segbrown;610469] We'll never rid the world of violence ... that's what I mean by accepting reality . . . The world is a messy place.[/quote]

Seg, I know you're a thoughtful and caring person. I've read some of the things you've written on Epic and have admired your thoughts.

And, in this instance, you're just plain wrong.

If you re-read your sentence, from above, I could NOT disagree more stringently:

• There is NO eventuality that the world is violent.
• There is NO eventualy that you have to accept the "reality" of a violent world.
• There is NO eventuality that the world is a messy place, unless you (and tens-of-millions of others) keep saying it is.
• There is NO reason VailDad did this other than his inability to control his temper and take the right path (of non-violence and tending to his daughter).
• And...there is NO reason a civil society has to act the way VailDad did or more importantly, that other members of that society should "understand" his actions.
  

Simply put, there is no reason and I mean NONE, that we should approve, agree with or even "understand" what VD did.

I'm not John Lennon or Rodney King, but I do think in many ways they got it right...Can't We All Just Get Along?

VailDad was wrong. He should have completely taken care of his daughter; exclusively. There was no reason to go after the boarder because that young man didn't matter. Now, VD's daughter has to live with the horrible vision of her Dad watching her get plowed over, live with the vision of the man she loves and admires getting wiggy on some guy and live with the horrible conclusion that she had something to do with all of that. 8-year old girls get screwed up for life, for far less than that. Can you imagine how scared, terrified and horified she must have been, first knowing that she's "bleeding to death" (my words, not hers and maybe not even the situation but 8 year olds are either OK, or they're bleeding to death) and then watching her Dad's anger boil over into violence? You think she's going to live with that for the rest of her life - count on it!?!

These are life-changing moments and in her most significant time of need, VailDad decided to mete-out-his-brand-of-justice, instead of truly caring for his daughter and letting the "authorities" and other civil citizens take care of DrunkenBoarder.

No, it's not an eventuality...it's not "the way it is" just because you keep saying so. We could change all of this, seriously...on a big scale...we could change this.

We don't have to accept the world as it "is", just because we can't figure out a way to change that.

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? - Bobby Kennedy as borrowed from George Bernard Shaw

He Ran Over My Daughter...!

In a recent event, the father of an 8 year old snowboarding girl was tossed in jail for having taken out his anger on the young man that ran over his daughter, on the hill in Vail.

More details at the link to the story . . . and here's my take on this, originally posted at Epicski.com:

--------------------

Originally Posted by ragin' cajun'

Someone explain to me what I'm missing and not understanding here. A little girl, 8 years old, is run over by a drunken boarder. Her father hits this bum. And he is wrong????????

Yes, the father is wrong...period, end of story.

In our civilized society, we are supposed to be able to climb above the animalistic, jungle-based instincts that led us from the muck, to the swamp, to the land and then to eventually walk upright. A thinking human being has to be able to overcome their base instincts or else we'd have pure anarchy.

So, yep, darned right...the father's wrong.

Let's also consider this, his 8 year old daughter just got shredded by a complete and total ass of an irresponsible boarder. That this guy's even allowed on slope is a mystery, but that's a completely other discussion. So, isn't the guys first reponsibility to his daughter to make sure she's ok? Doesn't he call to the boarder, to passersby, to the patrol, to anyone to render assistance for her? Isn't that what a responsible father needs to be doing at this point? Or, just because it "feels good to rail on the guy", we applaud Dear Old Dad for 'evening the score' and taking his and rightfully all of our rage out on this terd of a human being.

No, dad's wrong in this one and for many, many reasons.

Does Colorado have a conceal/carry law? Would this have ended more tragically had the dad shot the offending boarder? Would any of us have blamed him? Would he be any less "wrong"?

Believe me, I'm no mamby-pamby when it comes to this type of stuff, you should have heard me when my daughter was intentially thrown at during a softball game this past summer...ballistic? You betcha. Violent, not a chance.

My first responsibility was to my daughter;
Then, to my wife who was apopleptic;
Then, to the umpire who was kicking the pitcher out of the game;
And then, back to my daughter. Should I have gone up and punched the kid, the parents, the coach, the ???

Absolutely not, I was tempted, believe me, but we can't have this in a civilized society, period.

Look around the world at society's that permit this and tell me that's what you want. Not a chance; keep your hands to yourself and keep your children protected.

Yup, Dad was wrong and he deservers everything coming to him. __________________

Rams Game - With A Bonus

Went to the Rams-Cardinals game with my business partner and his family yesterday...had an absolute blast and it doesn't even matter that the the Rams suck!

Our seats were really nose-bleed so about halfway through the first quarter, we went to sit in a block of seats about 10 rows from the field. Those were really good seats, but unfortunately most of the action was on the OTHER 10 yard line...so, we didn't get to see much other than that which was on the jumbotron.

But, I've always wanted to get up close and personal with the "D-Fence" guy...and low-and-behold, once we sat down there he was, about 20 feet away. AWESOME... I'm sure I got on national TV.

Now, comes the fun part. St. Louis quarterbacks are known for their calm demeanor and Mark Bulger is the calmest of them all. So...when the star quarterback begins to call out his team mates as "slackers", well, it gets some notice. Not like it was back in the day with Curt Warner, Marshall Faulk and crew and the "Greatest Show on Turf".

But, all things must pass and as in every ski patrol run, there's the lift up the hill, the effortless run down the glades and then the slog over to the lift for the return...hey, that's pretty poetic.

So, the reason we were even there in the first place is because of my business partner David. He's an amazing fellow for so many reasons and the latest reason is his volunteering as a teacher at the Lift For Life Academy in downtown St. Louis. He developed a curriculum and has now taught it for several semesters...the curriculum is about computers.

It's very cool, so much so that the Rams have honored him with a Community Volunteer Award, which comes with a $2000 grant from the Rams Foundation to the sponsoring organization (LFL). He's now starting to work with other organizations throughout the city to bring this type of program to their groups; as I said, an amazing guy.

But that's not the best part. About 3 months ago, he received a letter from one of the students in a previous class telling him that because of the class, she was switching her career choice from nursing to computers. She even went as far as to apply to one of the Career High Schools in St. Louis and on her acceptance letter the Admissions Committee indicated that they wished there were more students with her type of background and career preparation (read that, computer skills) coming to their school. David was, deservedly, proud!

To say I'm proud to be his partner, and more importantly his friend, is a significant understatement...this is one amazing guy. Too bad he doesn't ski, yet. But, I've been working on his two sons "Hey, you guys ready to go skiing?" They're all fired up, I can't wait.

So, David's getting this award and during the pre-game he gets his mug up on the JumboTron...had to take a picture. Which one is he . ? . you ask? Well, there's only 4 people and 1 guy...right, he's farthest from the Bud Light bottle...which is a darned rare thing for him!

So, here's some pics. My favorite? The one of me,taking a picture of David, taking a picture of his son Ben with allthe Cheerleaders...You don't know how lucky you are young man.

In 15 years, you'll be the envy of your friends. I can't wait to see Ben's wife's reaction to this picture at their wedding reception in a couple of decades...man, that's going to be fun!!!

But of course, Ben's biggest cheerleader is his Mom...Randi. Such a sweetie. I've never really spent any time with her, in her "mom" role. She's really good with her sons and reminds me so much of the way Sheri (my amazing wife and mother to our 2 daughters) is. Caring, concerned, perhaps a bit edgy, totally cool, smart as a tack and really enjoyable to be around. While David and either Ben or Adam were on the field, Randi, one son and I were in the stands hooping and hollering it up!
Randi had a big time career with several of the hotels in St. Louis and now she's got this amazing job where she gets to take all of the concierge's in St. Louis to various events, restaurants, concerts and all that. It's one of those jobs that you'd read about in a magazine article; "The Coolest Job on Earth", or something like that. The name of the company is a big secret, owned by some pretty heavy hitters so I'm not sure what it is...all I know is that Randi knows everyone and more importantly, everyone knows her.

She's alot like David that way. Rarely do we ever go anywhere that David doesn't get approached by someone. He reminds me of my father-in-law, Mel Loewenstein. Same type of guys, everyone loves them and amazingly effective in what they do.

I've always marveled at the way David and Randi's relationship works. I'm priviledged to hear how they talk with each other, working together, truly loving each other. It makes me try harder in my relationship with Sheri.

I had fun with them.

Finally, and as a complete surprise to me, one of our clients was featured on the scoreboard right next to the JumboTron. We're so priviledged to get to work with some amazing people, it's great when they pop-up in the most unexpected places. Oh, try the Brooklyn-Style, it's fabulous.

OK, this posting didn't really have anything to do with ski patrolling, or skiing, or anything along those lines so, here's a picture of one of my two amazing daughter's; she's my youngest daughter with her brand new Spy goggles. She had to pay a heep of cash for those things... Over the Christmas Break, Katie and Sheri are headed to California to see what west coast softball is all about. She's been invited to try out for 4 different 18U-Gold teams. Katie rocks and she's going to find out if she's "got it" enough to play Pac10 softball. I think she does, but, I'm biased.

OK, that's it for now. As always, comments below and email: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com if you want to let me know anything.

What I'm Packing!

Here's my current playlist...

I'm thinking a nice 1Gb iPod Shuffle would go well with these.

What's In Your Pack?

There's a significantly high level of conversation, regarding National Ski Patrol and general ski patroller issues at: http://forums.epicski.com/forumdisplay.php?f=45

Here's something I just posted over there, and a link to the thread:
http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=47931

What's In Your Pack?

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Would anyone be willing to share their "fanny pack" contents list?

I'm looking to stock up on First Responder stuff and just dont' have a good sense of what all should be included. I'll be talking with the local patrol chief about this and other items, this weekend, but wanted to be prepared.

In addition to an official list (bandaids, whistle, flashlight, slings, creams, etc...), which will be very helpful, I'd also like to hear the types of things you carry that you've found really useful that are either not on the list or that you've found in your experiences to be helpful.

Thoughts, help, suggestions...let us hear it!

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If you want the "official" list from the NSP, email me at skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com and I'll send a PDF to you.

Who I've Ski'd With

Since "everyday Joe" is about as exciting as, well, nada . . . here's something I wrote on Epic Ski as a contribution to one of the threads over there.

Wow...and I thought my "brushes with celebrity" would never be useful . . .

Bill Clinton before he was President. If you recall, he gave the longest winded introduction speech for somebody at the Democratic Convention (was it Dutaxis?) and his speech was so long that the acceptance speech was actually no longer in prime time. Anyway, the reason I remember him is because he was on Johnny Carson right after that and then that winter (about 2 months later) I was skiing in Upper New York and somebody said "Make way for the Governor" and bam, there he was...it was very cool looking back at it but at the time, he was a big oaf that was way too friendly (Remember, this was 20 or so years ago and I was alot more interested in riding with cutie girls than with him...come to think of it, he would have likely wanted to ride with some cutie girls too).

Joe Paterno. I went to Penn State and the little ski hill where I patrolled in College was the best and closest version of skiing that we got. This happened right after the 1982 (I think) National Championship, JoePa's first. He was very cool and we didn't even talk about football. Managed to ride up with him 3 or 4 times that day and ski'd down with him a couple times too. He was good.

Michael Dorn...Warf from Star Trek. This is one of the truly normal people I've ever met and I ski'd with him and his three buddies for most of a day at Squaw Valley. He was so cool and normal, aside from being a massive human being and having the longest ski's I've ever seen on someone (something like 230's if I recall) he could actually carve it up pretty well. When all was said and done, he bought me a round or two and was just so normal about everything. Aside from being nearly unrecognizable (because of the make-up), his voice was so recognizable and he was very careful not to cause a scene. Excellent dude.

Someone few of you will ever remember is the first African American US Navy Blue Angel Donnie Cochran. Truly an excellent guy, athletic as all get out and selfless to a fault. Too bad he couldn't fly a Blue Jet well.

OK, now I SWEAR this is true although no one ever believes me and no one saw it and I don't have the pictures to prove it, nor the tshirt, the autograph or anything like that but I SWEAR I once got to ski about 50 yards in trail of Raquel Welch. It was at Aspen, mid 80's or so and since I was in my 20's and she was still hot, hot, hot...it was a dream come true. Not sure why no one believes me when I tell them...but I SWEAR it's true.

Not Hugh Hefner, but his brother Keith (???) in the mid-90's in of all places, some dinky little resort in North Carolina. He was there promoting something, or maybe just hanging out and I got introduced to him by a buddy saying "Here's the guy who's brother shares your birthday" (side bar, I've got the same birthday as Hef - April 9). So, I get introduced to him as he's walking out the door from lunch to go skiing and I end up being in the single line and happen to hook up with his group of 2 or 3 and ride up for about 10 minutes talking about my shared birthday and me asking why Hef has never sent me a birthday card (pathetic story about me, I've sent Hef a birthday card for about the past 25 years and I've never gotten one back...jerk!).

Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones about 8 years ago in Banff. Janet's from St. Louis and it turns out a friend of a friend, blah, blah 6 degrees of separation knew that they were going to be there when I was there and offered to hook us up. I figured why not, at least I could pimp Wayne for staying on the Blues for only half a season, but it turned out that they were really nice and down to earth and it was just a really nice half day of skiing.

Never did ski with Chuck Yeager (and you're right, he is a total jerk and pompous ass), but I did ski a day with some pretty famous fighter pilots, Francis Gabreski (who was about 300 years old when I met up with him in the late 80's but could still ski the planks off of anybody) and was as nice as all get out and a few years later with Randy "Duke" Cunningham (disgraced congressman from California) and Gen. Steve Ritchie (both Vietnam era Aces).

Then of course, there was the week I spent skiing with Howard Hughes, but it's all so fuzzy now.

I wish I could offer up someone younger and hotter (Brittney???) but, alas, I'm never where they are...or vice versa so, there you have it.

eMail, if you will: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com, or just post a comment, below.

__________________
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti

Day 1, After 25 Years

Today was very special.

After last Patrolling 25 years ago, I officially started the journey back to official Patrollerdom today with what's known as the "on-hill orientation".

During college, Penn State's nearest hill was 450 feet of vertical bliss. College was tough in so many ways. Financially, emotionally, academically, it was a real struggle . . . and then I began skiing. Somehow, all of the troubles just went away and so, when I had the chance to actually ski-for-free well, I leaped at it. I don't recall what it was called back then, but the medical component was a snap, the on-hill training was a blast and the 4 years that I spent patrolling was the best time of my life.

Once I left Happy Valley, while I continued to actively ski, I didn't make the opportunity to get back involved with the National Ski Patrol; instead, choosing to build my career, get married to an amazing woman, help raise two fabulous daughter's and in general, live my life . . . but it was always back there; I wanted to Patrol again.

This past fall, the Hidden Valley Ski Patrol near St. Louis conducted another of its Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) courses and I got up the guts to participate. My business partner, while silent about my "distraction" had to be wondering what the heck I was doing.

Only 2 weeks prior to the start of OEC, he and I left the Technology and Communications Consulting company we had been running for a Venture Capital Investment company and decided to make money for ourselves. So, right in the midst of that upheavel, I started OEC.

But, the timing was right and I needed Patrolling back in my life. My daughter's are now both old enough to have their own lives and in an amazingly cool twist of fait, they're both amazing snowboarders. My oldest daughter Kimmy really started us all back to the hills, Katie and I followed and this past spring we took a 10 day vacation together to Vail, Breck, Keystone, etc...

That's when I really caught the bug, skiing in the big west on real mountains with real deep snow, real long trails and big vertical...and red coats everywhere.

So, throughout the spring and summer, in parallel with the changes in my professional life, I got prepared for the Patrol.

So, after 18 weeks, about 200 hours of class and independent studying and an all-day written and practical test, I somehow passed the OEC with a 97%. Yeah, I know . . . I'm a freak that way.

So this morning, the day I've waited 25 years for, I began my journey back to becoming a Basic Patroller. Right now, I'm an auxilliary patroller with all of the rights and priviledges of a Basic Patroller except I can't handle the toboggan/sled with patients onboard, or in reality, I just can't handle the sled, at all. And, that's what this course of the training is all about; improving ski skills, learning new skills and learning the sled.

Three days ago, it snowed about 6 inches in St. Louis and as I got to the hill this morning, I was met with that wonderful "foggy, snowy, slightly stingy and moist" feeling in the air that I absolutely love so much. It was perfect and silent and still and amazing.

As my ears got attuned to the silence, I could hear the low droaning of the snow blowers in the distance. I was so darn psyched.

Hung out, met people as they arrived and eventually settled-in for the orientation being led by two of the Senior Patrollers, Dave and Jim. These two are SERIOUS dudes. Jim (on the right, in the picture on the right) has "been there and done that" from the big hills in the West, to the East Coast and now in St. Louis. You can tell he knows his craft. Dave is a "lifer" having been involved with the St. Louis ski-scene since it's inception and having been a Patroller for 2 decades. Interesting how quickly 'trust' can be built between a teacher and their students . . . I trust these guys, they're going to get us all there.

This is, I think, Gene (I'll correct this if that's wrong), and he's a real patroller's patroller. I forget the name of his designation, but there are only 4 of them on the St. Louis Patrol (out of about 200 Patrollers) and he's been involved with our hill and the Patrol for 25 years. I'm going to need to get to know him alot better in the coming months and years. He seems super knowledgeable, more than willing to teach and help and in general a really good guy.

During the OEC refresher for current patrollers, I got to be at his station and really enjoyed listening to and working with him. Man, I hope his name is Gene.

Speaking of "all of us", a bunch of the OECer's from the Fall, 2006 class (mine) are now taking on-hill:

• Brent is a real bud...he's a real good shit and has one of those fun-serious attitudes that is just a joy to be around. In real life he's a detective (cop) and a shredder on the hill. He claims to be able to ski, but I can tell he's got snowboard written all over him. Really looking forward to being in class with him again, and patrolling with him in the future...he's going to be one of those life-long buds, I fear!

• Julie is one of those super nice friendly types with a long pedigree of Patrollers around her. Her father is the Fire Chief of one of the really big cities that surround St. Louis, her brothers and most of her friends are EMT/Patrollers and she's got one of those super infectious personalities that's just really fun to be around. Plus, she attends high school with one of the best softball players to ever have come out of St. Louis. In, a really neat human being.
  

Day 1, of many to come, and many posts and pics to follow.

eMail, if you will: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com, or just post a comment, below.