Chair Sadness

I spent a grand total of $20 on my desk chair. I should have saved that $20 and put it towards a chair that cost maybe $50-$60 maybe? Now all I can think when I sit/look at that chair is that I wasted $20. I’ve blown $20 more times than I care to remember in my life but I am usually not reminded daily of that failure as this chair now does.

I can tolerate failure in my life, hell it’s happened a bunch. What I cannot tolerate is being reminded of it. I think most people are like that. It’s not the failure that gets to them, it’s being reminded of that failure that’s the hard part to deal with. That’s probably why most relationship advisors tell you to get rid of everything that reminds you of your ex. In theory it’s great advice, but in practice it is pretty hard. I, for example, have a couch and chair from my ex. Does this mean I am going to get rid of a perfectly good couch and chair when there are standing kids in Africa who would be happy to have those? Absolutely not. Do they remind me of her? Sometimes. I am going to get rid of them? No.

Another failure in my life is my Itunes library. No, the music is grand and I love it all, that’s why it’s there. The failure lies in the organization. Having been carried over from 3+ computers at this point, the library has it’s share of duplicates and missing files. I have been trying to edit them out and I know there are handy features to assist in this tedious task but I cannot seem to do it for more than a few minutes before I lose interest and something else like write, or read a book. I am doing both right now, well sort of. I was reading a magazine actually, Snowboarder.

There’s something about the “we don’t give a fuck what we print so long as its true to our sport” attitude the magazine has always presented that I have enjoyed. Snowboarding has always been more than a sport to me. I’ve said it and I’ll say it again, it’s a culture. Some people are lucky enough to live that life every single day and I am happy to have even lived it for just a year. A major facet of snowboarding is learning to love the environment around you and appreciating everything nature gives you. You take the snow when its heavy, wet, or scare for the days its dry and plentiful. You cannot have the good without the bad, so you better learn to love the bad as much as the good because sometimes it’s all you have.

Allow me to get deep for a second: I had a realization tonight as I was reading the section in Snowboarder entitled “On Deck”. Basically, On Deck is a feature where the magazine puts the spotlight on up and coming snowboarders breaking into the professional realm for the first time. I was reading one of the columns when I realized that all these riders had something in common: Overwhelming optimism. It’s not their youth or their good fortune, it’s just the way they see life. They don’t hate and they don’t judge, their concerns lie elsewhere. I realized that I spend too much time on the latter. I need to occupy my time and faculties to looking towards the future and not commenting on the present.

That being said I really hope there are more treats at healthcare tomorrow. Just because I am going to subscribe to overt positivism doesn’t mean I cannot take joy in an interesting oddity of corporate office culture.

I just realized I wrote this entire thing MS Works Word processor. Gross.

HealthCake

Holiday weeks in the office are traditionally slow. I don't know if this is how all offices operate or just those that are related to healthcare but I do like that it allows for my creative vices: I.E. writing.

I've been babysitting the Orange Cat for Trevor while he and Rina visit his parents in California. It's nice to have another body in the house, even if it is a 4-5 pound cat who is orange. I am not home terribly often so I do feel a bit bad about leaving her in the house to tend to herself, but she seems not to mind. So far, favorite spots of my apartment include perching on the counter corner that overlooks the living (so she resembles a very soft gargoyle) and blending in with the chair that has a very similar color wheel to the Orange Cat. When not at either of those two spots it is busy doing one of 3 things:

1. Trying to open the cupboard door that is very skinny and full of plastic bags. Not sure why.

2. Incessantly running her paws across the patio door blinds. This annoys me and I put a stop to it promptly.

3. Molesting me. Usually at the exact time I am ready to get up or move to the kitchen/bed/etc. No idea how she plans this.

I could do without these behaviors. It seriously impacts my ability to play Call of Duty when I have to toss a pillow in its direction to make it stop. Ruins many a good killstreak. The orange does not care that I would be but one kill away from a chopper but then get knifed in the back as I protest its behavior. She's lucky it isn't real war. How bad would she feel?

No sooner does Trevor retrieve the Orange than I go to Cali myself for 5 days. It will be great to get away. Since I bought a new car I have been re-figuring my finances. My normal one or two trips a month has been realistically slashed to one every other month. This trip doesn't count into those finances since I will be with family and essentially on their dime the entire time. I do plan on making a trip out to Mt. High though, a snowboard haven for park rats. This will be a nice contrast to my last snowboard trip since there were no hips, jumps, rails or boxes to be seen. Still the same amount of snow though, hah. I am optimistic for a 15 inch base which should be enough when riding park. I am also hopeful that I will not injure/break anything on this outing.

When I get home from Cali the next weekend will mark the opening of my home mountain, Sunrise. Well...supposed opening anyway. There hasn't been much snow in the forecast there that I have seen, but who knows. I heard rumor that the White Mountain Apaches are allowing the use of reclaimed water on the mountain for snowmaking purposes: If that's the case then it should open early. If not, it could be closer to Christmas which would necessitate me making another trip out to Cali before the season. Either way, the temperatures are finally in the 60's in Phoenix which means winter has finally arrived in Phoenix. That's about as cold as it gets here...maybe 50's for a week or so later in the year, but that's the biggest bite winter packs here.

I'd write more but I just received a very important message at my office:

Cake - November Birthdays - 1:50 PM

At the printer in 5 minutes

This just gave me an idea...CAKE TALLY! For the remaining 2010 I am going to document all the sweets that make their way through the office.

11/22/10 @ 1:50PM - Giant cookie cake with vanilla ice cream to put on top

I woke up at 6: 20 AM this morning. It was like Christmas day when I was a kid, I was just too excited to sleep. I tried to go back to sleep for another hour, didn't happen. I laid in my bed for the next hour before rallying and getting out of bed. Threw on my snowboarding clothes and was out the door. I had to scrape frost off the window of my car and it actually felt good. It made me miss living in the mountains. After the ice was gone, I hoped in the car and headed up the mountain toward wolf creek.

It was chilly when I got there, but I knew the sun was going to be out all day and things would warm up pretty quickly. Besides, I never wear jackets when I snowboard unless I absolutely have no choice (read sub 35 or so). See, the sun was doing its thing:


First lift of the day. Can't wait to get off it and take my first run of the 2010-2011 season.


Conditions were sketchy at best. Lots of bare spots, rocks and tree branches poking out just about everywhere. There weren't a ton of people on the mountain today, so we all dealt with the snow together.


This is what I would refer to as the bridge of death. I'm sure that if there is enough snow than this spot is not all that sketchy, but when you're dealing with a ten inch base, it's very sketchy. The thing about it is that it's at the bottom of a step decline and then goes immediately back up a sharp incline so you need to approach it with a lot of speed. There wasn't a ton of room for error either since it was narrow and the snow was all packed and was basically kernals. Ski patrol came in and tried to shore it up.


Not all of the runs were terrible. There were definitely some sections of pow here and there that allowed for an edge.


Best part of Colorado, the epic views


The sun became merciless. It wasn't too hot for me, but it was too hot for the snow.As morning gave way to afternoon, the snow began to melt, quickly. The hard kernals of death turned into a combination of that with slush, which created some really tricky conditions. Seeing as it was my first day out, my faculties were not all about me. I hit a jump, tweaked it out, and came down on a slush pile that stuck my board and result in me going end of over end on hard/soft snow. Luckily, only superficial wounds:


Nothing shitty beer can't solve.


A full day of riding, from 9AM to 430 PM. It will take me approximately 18 hours of driving, several hundred bucks and a strict diet of fast food, but to me and others like me, it's always worth it.

Colorado makes my heart happy everytime. So good to be home, if only for a few days. Nothing else matters to me when I am here.

Also, Sister Golden Hair is a great song.

November 3rd, 2010

Hi. I'm Chuck. I'm 26 years old and reside in Phoenix, AZ for the time being. I've lived here the majority of my life but a couple years back I discovered the one thing in life that I can confidently say I am passionate about: Snowboarding.

My junior year of college I took a trip with a few of my buddies to Big Bear, CA to learn how to snowboard. They all knew how to snowboard and I had no idea. After one very painful day full of falls and frustration I decided snowboarding was too hard and didn't want to learn. The second day as they all went to snowboard and explore Bear Mountain, I sat in the lodge and drank, heavily and steadily.

I nursed my wounds and that ended up being the only time I would snowboard that entire season. After a year I decided I wanted to go back out and try again, this time in Sunrise Ski Resort, AZ. The terrain was simple and the slope wasn't too much to handle and it was there that I learned the mechanics behind snowboarding. I can remember thinking that if I could just learn how to do ride toeside, I'd be happy. After I got that I remember thinking if I could just learn to carve when I ride and link turns, I'd be happy. Then it became jumps and grinds, then it became speed then...

I learned all this in one season with some very special people. Some are still in my life, others are not. In the end I decided the only way for me to progress was to remove myself from Arizona and find a new locale. I packed up my bags and headed north to Steamboat Springs, CO. I worked, played and loved in that town for just under a year before I made the decision to return to AZ.

Since that time I have found a hole in my heart, something that winter always fills each year. Now my days are filled with travel to new destinations and new mountains to conquer. In the years since I have been to just about every resort in CO, Park City, and returned to Bear. This year I've made the decision to travel and snowboard as much as I can, my goal being 30 days on snow. That's a lofty goal for anyone, especially someone in Arizona.

The only way I am going to get there is by being aggressive. This weekend marks the beginning of that attitude. I've got a room booked for Wolf Creek, CO and intend on a full day of riding. Granted, the resort only has a 13 inch base, but we all have to start somewhere. I purposefully didn't invite anyone on this trip, it's going to be a solo journey. Snowboarding is very personal to me and to open up the season I want to be left to my surroundings and my music. I know I will have trips full of friends and laughter this season but for the first one I want it to be about the sport. I'm excited to be left to my thoughts and watch the scenery shift from desert to mountain.

It's a long way and a lot of money for one trip, but to snowboard in early November I'll make some sacrifices. This is why I work as much as I do; it all pays off in the winter. Here's to another beautiful season!