I am saddened today. I went to listen to one of my favorite public radio shows The Savvy Traveler and was informed that it was the last show. Either this is an early April fools joke (in bad taste I might add), or they are really going away. The reason sited was a decline of the travel industry in general as a result of 9.11.

I will miss you Savvy Traveler, you who take me to far away places each week, you who inspire me not only to listen, but to travel too.

We left for Killington a little after 1pm on Sunday. I was a little excited as this was my first time going there, especially since Ali has always talked highly of this particular mountain. It was about a four hour drive from our house, and it was pretty uneventful being a Sunday afternoon and all. Harry got us a free condo sans sheets and towels. We later learned that the cleaning company does not provide these things for non-paying visitors. Apparently, the guy who lent it to us, rents it out during the season. Anyway, had we known this we could have brought our own, but I don't think this was a clear point for any of the involved parties (including the cleaning/renting agency). They did end up bringing us sheets and towels Sunday evening, and all was well on that front.

Ali and I went to The City yesterday to see The Producers on Broadway. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have reprised their roles for a short time, and we were lucky enough to get tickets.

Ah, but I'm getting a head of myself ...

Hey y'all!

Not much to say this week. I'm still trying to recuperate from my trip to Evansville. I haven't worked so hard in quite a while. I started by getting up at 2am Monday morning to make a 5am flight, and once arriving in Evansville I proceeded to work until 11pm Tuesday night with the bulk of Tuesday being spent in a small hut in Louisville, KY. I must say our hut is in a quite scary part of town, and that I didn't enjoy spending time in it after dark. For those of you playing along at home, and don't think you know what a telecom hut is, guess again. These are the smallish aggregate looking buildings (huts) usually seen on the side of the road near railroads tracks.

So the hut is located in a very scary and seedy neighborhood in Louisville -- it has had a sledge hammer taken to the door at some point in the past, and the day after I was there (late at night mind you), someone smashed a car through the tall fence with razor wire. Tall fences and razor wire are not common for a hut, but in this neighborhood it is a necessity. Also the gate is (supposed to be) automatic so you do not have to exit your vehicle until safely inside. However, when I was there this feature was conveniently BROKEN. However, given the car that ran right through the fence anyway, I'm not sure how safe I'll feel when it is working again. Hopefully, I won't have to go back.

Anyway, turned out to be quite a long day. I only had a week in Evv and quite a lot to accomplish -- In the end I worked over 80 hours, and not being as young as I once was (but never as old as Will) it took a toll on me.

I am thinking about taking Friday off now, to go skiing (or snowboarding), which ever strikes my fancy.

On the Okemo front, it looks like we may be going to Killington instead. It would seem that my father in-law was able to procure us a free condo at said ski resort, and thus the reason for the change of plans. No matter which place we end up going to, y'all can rest assured that I will be having a great time drinking, skiing, and snowboarding, not necessarily in that order.

I did finish fierce invalids, very much worth reading if you find yourself in the market for a good book. Thanks, David!

And in other news, my in-laws bought a Subura Forrester (small world).

Peace and equanimity be with you.

I bought a snowboard and boots this weekend, wahoo!

David recommended I read Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins when I was last down his way.

I'm in the middle of the fourth book in The Cleric Quintet -- The Fallen Fortress by R.A. Salvatore at the moment, but I bought that book as a single bound edition, and so I wasn't inclined to bring in on the trip (as it is not exactly petite). I had Fierce Invalids on deck (I bought it when I bought Amazon women, The Kentucky Fried Movie, and Still Life with Woodpecker -- another Tom Robbins book), and for the purpose of having something to read while traveling, I decided to start Fierce Invalids, and leave the bulky Cleric Quintet at the homestead, despite the fact that I'm really into it.

I'm about two-thirds though Fierce Invalids at this point, and it is proving to be a good book (not that I doubted you, Daivd). There have been several things I've enjoyed. In particular there was a parrot who made a brief but impacting appearance in the book before being eaten who would sometimes say "People of zee wurl, relax". I found this particularly comforting coming off of a major network upgrade, (the "plan" I referred to in one of my previous blog entries). Anyway I thought the maintenance had gone extremely well until around 9am when we started getting reports of people having intermittent trouble across our network access web sites (Yikes!). Anyway this Parrots sagely words proved soothing during the 3 hours or so it took me to sort through and fix the problem. Mind you it would have taken about 15 minutes to fix (I believe) if I hadn't been up for 30 something hours at that point and my mind being a little addled. Anyway I digress, I just read a section which I found intriguing and is certainly worth a little more scrutiny -- "Faites de beaux reves" this would be the French version of "have sweet dreams", which translated apparently means "make fine dreams". Obvious, implications indicating controlling vs. spectating in the dreaming foray. I, of course, being a strong proponent of lucid dreaming have taken quite a liking to the French version. It is worth noting this is a work of fiction, and myself not being versed in French am taking this a valid statement in this book of otherwise made up realities. And at any rate it is an interesting notion.

And finally, though I'm not done with the book, the last thing I read and the reason I decided to pull out my laptop and write this blog entry many miles above the earth in route to Albany was this question. "When you were little did you ever wish to be called by something other than your given name?"

I thought about this, and I honestly could not remember ever wanting to be called anything other than Jamie. And according to the book this is supposed to be a common thing for a child to want. Anyway, so I was wondering if anyone else out there had a secret name or otherwise that they were interested in being referred to as during adolescence (i.e. I'm trying to determine if the author is just made that up for the purpose of the book, or if kids really do dislike the name given to them by their parents).

I can say I have had desires over the last year or so for a nickname, but I haven't come up with anything I like. Also, I feel a good nickname is something that should be bestowed upon a person (earned even), instead of it being dictated by said person. (Sorry Will, but Big Nose isn't quite what I'm looking for).

This is a sleep deprived, fickle, fuddled Jamie saying, "A big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere...and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys."

And enjoy this little ditty if you are so inclined.

On my way to work today I saw the funniest thing -- This little squirrel was dragging a huge pine comb across the road. I expect to see squirrels with acorns or nuts, not pine combs that are bigger than it is. Anyway found it amusing and though I would share.

I went to a holistic healer today (really a holistic physician, but I think healer sounds better). She did deep tissue massage, hot rock massage, and acupuncture (not in that order). I had never had acupuncture before, it was pretty cool, couldn't feel the needles at all, except for this place in my foot, and that just felt like a pin prick, although I can tell that I had a couple of needles put in my foot even a few hours later.

I can already tell I am going to be really sore tomorrow, which is not unusual for this sort of treatment. I've been to massage therapy several times, and had deep tissue stuff, but I've never had anyone work on my as hard and as deeply as this lady did. It was bordering on painful, but if I can do something to help get rid of these knots I've had in my back for the last six years it will be worth it.

It is also becoming clear that I'm going to have to do some back strengthening exercises as my back muscles have grown weak from being hunched over a computer for the last 10 years. Of course with my wife being a physical therapist, I have been told that for almost as long as I've known her, I just haven't been able to come to terms with it yet (I want a quick fix). It's like quitting a bad habit or losing weight, you won't do it and follow through until you're ready.

Cheers.

Well I'm off to Evansville, IN next week. This came as a pleasant surprise, as I've been working on a large project for work, and I didn't think the parts I needed would be in until later this month. I did some checking yesterday and found out everything had arrived, and so I bought my plane ticket. I am very happy because Ali, Harry, and I were planning to go to Okemo for a few days at the end of the month. My dilemma was this project was putting the trip in jeopardy for me, and I'm certain Ali and Harry would have had a great time with or without me. At least for the moment it all appears as if it is going to work out.

We have had constant snow (flurries at times, hard at others) since Sunday night with only a few inches of accumulation. It is melting faster than it is snowing -- the week of spring we had last week really put a hurt on the snow around here. The ground even thawed. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the respite we had from winter, but I am certainly not ready to give winter up just yet. I haven't even bought a snowboard yet.

They arrived late last week! I purchased The Kentucky Fried Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon. Thanks David, for turning me onto these movies all those years ago. At least one of these will be viewed while I'm jetting between here and Indiana, oh yes, it will happen. I just need to be careful, as I recall there is just a slight bit of nudity.

This reminds me of the time I was watching Fight Club (a most excellent movie I might add) on a plane trip. It was during one of the weird sex scenes with Marla and Tyler when I noticed a little girl trying to see what was I watching from the isle. I quickly turned my laptop away from her, and hoped she didn't really see anything.

Anyway, must get back to project planning ...

I hope all of y'all are well

I've posted additional pictures from Will's birthday taken by Sarah (I think). If it wasn't her or I've completely gotten the name wrong let me know and I'll fix it.

Also, I've posted pictures from the Alabama and Indiana legs of my trip for those who are interested.

I went snowboarding on Saturday at Belleayre. This was my second "real" time on a snowboard (I'm not counting the time in Park City, UT where I walked off the mountain in frustration after 1.5 hours). The first time I went this year, I was with Ali, we were going to board with Brooke, someone she met while taking care of Larry (a quadriplegic). She claimed to be a beginner and wanted to board without the pressure of her boyfriend who was a good boarder. Ali thought hey we're pretty bad having only done it the one time in Park City, and arranged for us to all go together. Well Brooke came with her boyfriend and when they saw how bad we were they quickly ditched us for the upper mountain. The day wasn't a total loss for me however, as by the end of the day I was able make it from top to bottom of the lower mountain without falling. I did however sustain several bruises and assorted injuries that took about a week and half to clear up.

Ali had to work Saturday, so I thought I would head to the mountain and get a little skiing in. It dawned on me that Ali hasn't really been up for boarding again since we went the first time -- I decided I would board instead of ski since I was by myself and all. I thought I would try to work up to the upper mountain so that when Ali and I are going over together I could board while she skied and we could do the same trails. After only 3 or 4 runs at the lower mountain I was ready to try my luck on harder terrain, and made my way up to the upper mountain. I worked up to being a blue square boarder, which is cool as now I have the option to ski or board when I go with Ali. I think I could probably even tackle a black diamond at this point, but I most likely have to do a falling leaf to get down okay, I'm still not super comfortable with turns on the steep stuff.

Now I'm ready to buy a snowboard/boots/bindings. The one thing about rentals is they SUCK! I have a wide foot and it is hard to find boots that fit properly, and that can make a tremendous difference (part of the reason for my frustration in Park City). I need to find a certified boot fitter so I can move forward with this purchase.

I spent the last few days in Monroe, NY, which is not far from the now famous Orange County Choppers. Ali and I went down to baby sit Caitlyn while my sister-in-law had a baby -- Paige Trumper. I mostly worked, but did take time out of my day to play with Caitlyn. We watched Tom & Jerry, which had been Tivo'd (I've got to get one of those things if I ever have my own place again), played hide and seek, and ran around in circles around a carpet in the kitchen (circles.avi).

Yesterday was my Dad's 5th heart birthday. It is hard to believe it has been five years since he has had his heart transplant. Go Dad!

I hope all of you are doing well ...