Long Absence and Personal Update

So I got hammered by freelance work in the past few weeks and it’s still rolling in. I work full-time and do extra on the side, so right now I have no life and no time. I did go on vacation to Florida last week to visit family (they all ditched me for the warm weather, but it’s just a vacation spot for me). I was working over vacation though and now I’m finally getting over my Florida sunburn and the blood blisters on my hands from the jet skis. I maxed them out at 51mph! I have a great camera (Nikon D50), but I just loathe carrying extra things around. I’m contemplating buying a small hand held camera. Suggestions?

The next things for me in the coming months are to knockout a few of these freelance projects I have going and get my life in order. Everything kind of hit at once and I had to drop personal stuff for business. Once I get things out the door and business organized again, I have to devote time to my personal web site, valuredesign.com, and this blog. I have been slowly trying to change the design over, but that hit a brick wall. I have a design waiting, so when I get things on track, it will appear (the final version should appear, lol).

Summer is going great. I’ve been hanging out with some friends at the lake when it’s break time, which isn’t as often as I’d like, but oh well. Summer is always super busy as I take on less freelance work so I can snowboard more. The excess of work in the summer pays for my winter obsession

AASI should be releasing their schedule of events and clinics for the upcoming season, so I’m excited to see what they offer and choose what I’m taking. I want to take my Level 2 Prep course right away and see where I’m at riding wise, and if money permits I want to take the Level 2 Exam and another clinic, just because they are fun. If a vacation is possible, I might drop the extra clinic.

I finally got back on a bike (mountain bike) after like 8 years or so. The reason for that is because my brother liked to take things apart when we were younger and not put them back together or be able to fix them, and not much has changed actually. I like it and it’s good exercise. I have a new bike rack in the mail, so I will take pictures and post them. It’s eye-catching; that’s all I’m saying.

And speaking of bikes, I went on a Harley! I love it. If time and money were of no matter I would learn to ride and buy a street bike though.

More to come…promise.

I Might Be Stuck On The East Coast This Year

Monday was like any other Monday. Exhausting and painfully slow. After a weekend of riding, I needed a little more than 7 hours of sleep. Everything was going pretty smoothly, I was even looking up flight and hotel prices to Park City, until I got the email. The email pretty much ruined my day and everyone else’s in my department. (more…)

Planning A Snowboard Trip, Help Is Appreciated

Winter is almost here, but I’m still looking at patches of dead grass and bare trees. That supposed storm my friend told me about, that I didn’t believe, yea we got it like 20 minutes north of me, but I had an inch. They got hammered. The whole county was closed, roads were slick and I…I went to work. I also heard that Mt. Snow, VT had opened a small rail park, FOR FREE, you just needed to get a ticket from ski patrol for the day.

Check out this early season video from The Levitation Project. I think it’s great to do that, maybe an incentive to get more people on the mountain earlier and stay longer. I have only visited Mt. Snow once, for the first time last year.

All of this talk about snow, the resorts and the upcoming season, I’ve been itching to go out west. And, this year, it just might happen. So to get my hopes up, I’ve started some research and since I don’t know when and if I’m actually going, this is very general. I’ve listed some promotions below that the major travel sites have now.

• Orbitz is offering Ski and Board Packages up to 35% off
• Travelocity Ski Packages

I might be able to go to Colorado this year and only pay for my flight and lift tickets (which I get a discount on since I’m an AASI member), which is great for my bank account. That might be about the only reason why I would go out west this year. I also was recently informed that PSIA/AASI is again offering its members a 15% discount on Choice Hotels, so I have to keep that in mind.

Last year on a lift at Hunter Mountain, NY another rider said that he had just gotten back from a trip to Mt. Hood, OR, and it was cheap. If I recall the other boarder and his friends rented a house, split it between about 10 people, and had to pay their share, for food, flight and lift tickets. They went for a week for about $600. Utah and Colorado seem so much more expensive, even if you rented a vacation home and not a hotel. Why, why, why must they rob us? I think it takes some effort, unless you have an unending pile of cash, to actually find a good deal. I wish I could make a few clicks and book a trip through a travel site, but it gets pricey. If you do some searching, there a tons of vacation rental sites where you can look for condos and homes for the ski season. If you can find a good deal and enough people, you won’t be paying much.

Here are some links:
• Vacation Rentals
• Vacation Rentals
• Utah Vacation Homes

Anyway, if there is anyone who knows where to get a better deal, or knows which place is cheaper at what time, I would love to hear it. Honestly, I need to find a way for this trip to fit into my ever shrinking bank account.