Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Just a Little Late
Lately my life has been stressful. The one joy of today came from turning in my research paper that's worth 1000 pts. (out of 1500 for the class) So anyways, after I turned the paper in I went to my tutorial and presented a brief overview of my thesis for a presentation that's next week. In the process of "winging it" I came up with the pharse that Wole Soyinka disguises his play using comedy because if he directly went against the Nigerian government he would be arrested. Both professors at the tutorial mentioned that using 'disguise' in my thesis was extremely effective. So why the heck couldn't I come up with the phrase while I was writing my paper?! The thesis in my paper sucked.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Spring Break in Canada
My spring break this year was a trip to Whistler, BC, Canada to go snowboarding. There are 2 mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb. The bases are about a 5 min walk apart. We, my mom and I, left on Sunday morning and got back Thursday night. The highlights:
Sunday- We arrived in Vancouver arount 10:30 only to find out that our luggage was sent to Seattle, all of it. And so we got our rental car and headed to Whistler, which is about a 2 hour drive. On the road... their green lights flash! Crazy! It's weird, if someone is using the crosswalk they don't flash, but if no one is then they do (least that was what we came up with). And how could I forget the metric system, much cooler than our units. The road to Whistler is 2 lanes through the mountains. It was nice, though cloudy. And everything is forest (rain forest to be detailed). Sunday night while watching sportscenter they had the World Championship of Curling! on tv. That's awesome. That's one way to know that you aren't in the US.
Monday- We still didn't have 2/4 bags. Stupid airlines. So for most of the morning we just walked around the village. Then around 1 pm we got our stuff and so we went to Blackcomb for a few hours. My first impression was that there wasn't much snow. Most of the bases of the mountains were melting. And both mountains are surprisingly low in altitude which made for rain at the base and snow midway up. For dinner that night we went to the whistler brewhouse and I wasn't carded. Either I actually look at least 19, or they didnt card me cause I was with my mom (I go with looking 19).
Tuesday- We went to Whistler for the day. The weather was warm, though cloudy most of the day. The sun did come out in the afternoon a little, and it was the only sun we saw the entire time. The snow wasn't too bad until it got slushy. The mountain was cool though and it had a nice board park. And big moguls, very big. A lot of runs weren't groomed, which made for some difficult times.
Wednesday- Since we already had a good day at Whistler we went to Blackcomb again. It basically snowed all day. The visibility was not good, especially in the clouds. Poor visibility plus not knowing the mountain makes for interesting runs. Oh! The runs, on both mountains, are long... much longer than any at Mammoth. Basically every chair is a high speed quad and they still take forever. The runs are multi-tiered. Fresh powder is always fun, as is exploring the 'high avalanche zone.' That night for dinner we went to another good resturant and the higlight was getting 2 long island ice tea's with dinner. On the drink menu it said "If you are going to drink, don't drive, don't even putt." My mom let me order the first no problem (though hinting it had a lot of alcohol in it..duh) but the second was more difficult. After nicely asking failed multiple times, I took a different approach. The deal I came up with was if I ate all my veggies I could get a 2nd. And it worked. Carrots, bell peppers, onions and zucchini all for a 2nd drink. Then we got dessert after that. I had a full meal that night.
Thursday- This was our last day. We packed, went to a bakery for breakfast then started back for the airport. On the way back we passed a blackbear on a log over a river. So I stepped into my tourist shoes, and got out of the car to take a picture. We were on a windy two lane road, with not really a fully emergency lane, but that didnt stop me. The bear was stubborn and walked too far away to get a decent picture though. The memory is stored though. We also stopped in Squamish. The have a curling center there (something that America lacks). We didn't actually go to the place but the sign was good enough. It was pouring rain the entire drive, but we stopped at a waterfall too and the way back. I got soaked walking to it, but it was worth it. And just because I was curious I walked down to feel the water temp in a river. Very cold. Then it was off to the airport with no other stops.
Overall I had lots of fun. The snow wasn't the greatest, but that's cause Mammoth has spoiled me. The mountains are nice and there are tons of runs, and the village has great food. I want to go back sometime in Jan/Feb when the snow is better and I can freeze.
Sunday- We arrived in Vancouver arount 10:30 only to find out that our luggage was sent to Seattle, all of it. And so we got our rental car and headed to Whistler, which is about a 2 hour drive. On the road... their green lights flash! Crazy! It's weird, if someone is using the crosswalk they don't flash, but if no one is then they do (least that was what we came up with). And how could I forget the metric system, much cooler than our units. The road to Whistler is 2 lanes through the mountains. It was nice, though cloudy. And everything is forest (rain forest to be detailed). Sunday night while watching sportscenter they had the World Championship of Curling! on tv. That's awesome. That's one way to know that you aren't in the US.
Monday- We still didn't have 2/4 bags. Stupid airlines. So for most of the morning we just walked around the village. Then around 1 pm we got our stuff and so we went to Blackcomb for a few hours. My first impression was that there wasn't much snow. Most of the bases of the mountains were melting. And both mountains are surprisingly low in altitude which made for rain at the base and snow midway up. For dinner that night we went to the whistler brewhouse and I wasn't carded. Either I actually look at least 19, or they didnt card me cause I was with my mom (I go with looking 19).
Tuesday- We went to Whistler for the day. The weather was warm, though cloudy most of the day. The sun did come out in the afternoon a little, and it was the only sun we saw the entire time. The snow wasn't too bad until it got slushy. The mountain was cool though and it had a nice board park. And big moguls, very big. A lot of runs weren't groomed, which made for some difficult times.
Wednesday- Since we already had a good day at Whistler we went to Blackcomb again. It basically snowed all day. The visibility was not good, especially in the clouds. Poor visibility plus not knowing the mountain makes for interesting runs. Oh! The runs, on both mountains, are long... much longer than any at Mammoth. Basically every chair is a high speed quad and they still take forever. The runs are multi-tiered. Fresh powder is always fun, as is exploring the 'high avalanche zone.' That night for dinner we went to another good resturant and the higlight was getting 2 long island ice tea's with dinner. On the drink menu it said "If you are going to drink, don't drive, don't even putt." My mom let me order the first no problem (though hinting it had a lot of alcohol in it..duh) but the second was more difficult. After nicely asking failed multiple times, I took a different approach. The deal I came up with was if I ate all my veggies I could get a 2nd. And it worked. Carrots, bell peppers, onions and zucchini all for a 2nd drink. Then we got dessert after that. I had a full meal that night.
Thursday- This was our last day. We packed, went to a bakery for breakfast then started back for the airport. On the way back we passed a blackbear on a log over a river. So I stepped into my tourist shoes, and got out of the car to take a picture. We were on a windy two lane road, with not really a fully emergency lane, but that didnt stop me. The bear was stubborn and walked too far away to get a decent picture though. The memory is stored though. We also stopped in Squamish. The have a curling center there (something that America lacks). We didn't actually go to the place but the sign was good enough. It was pouring rain the entire drive, but we stopped at a waterfall too and the way back. I got soaked walking to it, but it was worth it. And just because I was curious I walked down to feel the water temp in a river. Very cold. Then it was off to the airport with no other stops.
Overall I had lots of fun. The snow wasn't the greatest, but that's cause Mammoth has spoiled me. The mountains are nice and there are tons of runs, and the village has great food. I want to go back sometime in Jan/Feb when the snow is better and I can freeze.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Just Wow
Now that it's April, mother nature has decided to share. Mammoth has gotten snow non-stop the past few weeks. To sum it up: 51 feet in 5 months, and currently a base depth of 20-22 feet. Maybe the weekend before finals I'll have to go up there since spring break is already planned. Back to the point of this post... Becca this snow bank be way more fun to jump off. Just imagine snow tripping.
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