California – Yosemite & Pacifica

Posted on June 2, 2010 by admin

Holy Memorial Day weekend…Daniel flew in to town.  Immediately, we went to a fantastic North Beach dinner with a new member to the global “we.”  It was great.  We then trekked on a four hour drive to Yosemite Valley.  Despite everyone telling us that it would be impossible to find a campsite…we got lucky.  As soon as we pulled into the park, there was a cancellation and we had a campsite for the night.  It worked out well because we would have been stranded.  The next morning, we hiked 2800 vertical feet to Yosemite Falls.  There was minimal clouds and the hike was exactly what we were looking for…the opportunity to check out and be offline.  I recommend it.

We returned to the city and crashed out hard.  Joe picked us up on Monday in his Bio-diesel VW van and brought us all to Pacifica Beach.  We all went surfing.  The waves were super mellow and perfect for the first waves of the year.  This was followed by drinks and apps at the Distillery in Half Moon Bay.  The long weekend was very needed and relaxing.

In other news, I left facebook.  So, if you are reading this…don’t worry…we are still friends.
yosemite campfire  Yosemite Smores  Yosemite Falls and Valley  Yosemite Falls  Wetsuits Dudes  Jump for joy

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Mt. Hood

Posted on May 18, 2010 by admin

Davu Yusef Sadr kept calling me and calling me and talking about Mt Hood.  He lives in Hood River, so he stares up at Hood whenever the weather allows him.  Dave cooked up a great idea….ascend and ski off the top of Mt Hood.  The Pacific Northwest has the worst weathermen or they have a difficult job because its nearly impossible to predict the precipitation up there.  We spent the week trying to think of other alternatives because the weather looked to be snow or white out conditions on Hood.  I packed a wetsuit to have kiteboarding as an alternative to skiing.  Many factors came together to make this trip happen.  Weather worked out, extra candidates came onboard, and things came together.

So, 6 dudes headed up for the summit at about 2 am on Saturday morning.  At a certain point, I was breaking trail.  Basically, I used this green light from the Timberline Lodge as my beacon to help me determine where we were on the hill.  The problem with that is that the lodge was below us.  It was almost comical that about 15 headlamps were following in my skin track, especially since I’d never done this before.  The sun was officially up, once we got to the Hogsback.  At this point we had to choose which line to ascend.  The Pearly Gates was the first option and after seeing a ton of snow chunks and scree falling down the 5 foot wide entrance, we opted for around the corner.  This approach led us through an unbelievable snow tunnel.  It was the coolest way to approach a summit.

Ultimately, we all made it to the top and everyone agreed that the scariest part was after that…the traverse to our ski line.  It was a no fall traverse.  We made it over and all got face shots of powder.  The ski down was perfect.  After 30 hours of being awake and a lot of smiles, we fulfilled the Sadr plan.  …Video of the trip is here.
Jeff sunrise   Mt Hood Summiting  Mt Hood Tunnel    Summit Proper Mt Hood     Skiing off of Hood    Mt Hood Hogsback

Posted in Climb, Ski, West | Leave a comment

Word of the Week

Posted on April 9, 2010 by admin

Last week, I was chatting with my friend online (FYI).  She is a 5th grade teacher and I asked how she has the ability to be online while teaching all day.  Apparently, she gets some time when she can chat, like when the kids are at recess and so forth.  So, I dared her to try and use a made up word in class…just to keep things fun.  I asked her to use the word Skadittle in class.  Its not a word, so it has to be tough to try and throw that in there.  Instead of trying to use it, she just simply wrote the word on “the board” and asked the students to try and define “Skadittle.”  They came up with some interesting definitions.  I had to choose the best definition for my made up word.  The winner received a few tootsie rolls.  I picked the following definitions…

Skadittle -  is when you run away wearing moon boots and jumping and eating skittles
This week’s word of the week is “Jolm.”  And here are some of the submissions for the correct fabricated definition of this non-existent word.
Honorable Mention:
Alexis:  A toy that a kangaroo jumps on in a zoo show
Isabella:  A type of fish that is only found in the Arctic.  These big fish only get around with their tiny fins.  Many are extinct because of this.
True Fabricated Definition of Jolm -
Sania:  A creature between a crab and a starfish that dances to any kind of music when you ask it to.
Congratulations Sania.

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togwotee pass

Posted on April 9, 2010 by admin

My last post spoke about my trip to Jackson.  I put together a video of Katherine and I dog sledding in togwotee pass.  The footage could have been better, but you get the idea.

48 Paws

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March 2010

Posted on March 22, 2010 by admin

It has been a little over a month and I have been settling in to California lifestyle.  I was fortunate enough to spend a few weekends in Lake Tahoe.  One weekend on the slopes of Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe.  Another weekend was spent in North Lake Tahoe, Reno, and skiing Squaw Valley.  Last weekend, I was able to visit my sister in Jackson, Wyoming.  It was great to get back to the town that has left me with some of my most memorable moments.  There wasn’t too much snow for skiing, but we still managed to have a good time.  I had two great days on the hill.  One with Katherine and the other with an assortment of players.  I began the morning with Betsy and then met some Canadians from Alberta…then I move to the 4th generation Mangy Moose girls.  But the highlight was dog sledding.  Katherine had a hook up with some mushers.  So, we drove to Togwotee Pass and went dog sledding in Teton National Park. Driving the sled was probably one of the highlights to my year. It ruled. Some pictures…

Tetons Cathedral Group   sled Dogs  Teton dogs

Shout out to Denny.  If you are reading this thing, I am thinkin of you.

Posted in Ski, West | Leave a comment

Haitian Relief, Mos Def

Posted on February 5, 2010 by admin

Mos Def put on a show at the Independent on Wednesday.  It was a benefit for Haiti.  The show was great, but it was the poets that spoke before the show that left an impression with me.  I forgot that San Fran has an underground poets scene.  They reminded me of the movie, So I married an Axe Murderer.  This clip can explain.  Mos Def is a class act.  Here is a pic from Half Moon Bay this past weekend.

Half Moon Bay

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Sundance 2010

Posted on January 30, 2010 by admin

“A serious deficiency of vitamin D” the doctor said to me this week.  I visited the doctor about 4 times while I was in Utah.  The whole time, I felt like I had mono again.  I was fairly grateful to hear that from the doc. I attended the Sundance Film Festival for probably the 5th time this past weekend.  Although, I was hit hard and feeling ill, I still managed to have a good time.  The highlight was shaking hands with Bill Murray and talking about Loyola Academy and Second City.  The lowlight was the MRI on my head.  I managed to ski powder one day at the Canyons, attend a few high class parties, and see 4 movies.  All in all, it was a good time.  I wish that I had skiied more and seen more of my buddies in Utah.  The movies and pictures are listed below.

Movies: Life 2.0, Jack goes boating, Gasland, and happythankyoumoreplease.

Gasland was an eye opening documentary about Natural Gas and the dramatic impact that “fracking” has on spoiling natural drinking water resources.  happythankyoumoreplease was a great drama about life.  It was a very generational movie that’s dialogue hit home.  Jack goes boating was Philip Seymour Hoffman’s directorial debut.  And Life 2.0 was a twisted doc about second life and the impact that avatars actually have on real life. Oh and Banksy hit Sundance, he had a movie premeire, “Exit through the Gift Shop.”
Pics:    aspen you  Banksy  pimp pic  sundance family

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Tubing in Park City

Posted on January 6, 2010 by admin

Every time you drive into Park City from Salt Lake, you drive past the Gorgoza Sled hill.  They even light it up for you at night, to draw more attention to it.  It the perfect advertisement for the thousands of kids that pile in to Park City.  After bailing on multiple commitments to tube down this hill, I finally agreed and followed through.  It was exciting.  But what made it the most fun was being there with a three year.  Porter lives 2 minutes from this hill and it was his first time…it was all of our’s first time.  I put together a movie.  I’m gonna try and make more films in 2010

Porter’s Backyard: Click Here

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Utah Christmas

Posted on January 6, 2010 by admin

I was super fortunate enough to spend the holiday season in Utah.  The whole family spent the week in Park City for Christmas.  Some old friends were in town too.  So, it was great to see everyone.  The hills needed a little snow.  I skied before Christmas at the Bird with my boy Ross and while traversing the Cirque, I most definitely banged my butt on a rock and scuffed up my skis.  I currently, still, have a huge bruise.  But I was still able to ski and more snow came.  The Bird got 16 inches on Dec 31; the skiing was full of face shots.  I got 11 days in at Deer Valley (Katherine had multiple free passes for me), Snowbird, Snowbasin, and Solitude.  Both Sadr and Sheldon were able to fit in to a few family dinners and ski sessions.  I didn’t take too many pics because I was on parent duty for most of the week (with Katherine working everyday).  But I pulled a few off.

Snowbasin White out: Snowbasin Gondy

Mineral Basin at the Bird:Mineral Basin

Ross’s Famous Alta Bird Line:   Alta Bird line

NYE was spent at the Lumber Yard in PC.  $20 to get in the door and BYOB and a pretty good dance party.

Posted in Ski, West | Leave a comment

San Francisco

Posted on December 4, 2009 by admin

So, I am doing some work in the Bay Area for the next couple of months.  This may lead to me spending some more time here.  Regardless, I showed up here on Sunday with two small bags of (look legitimate in an office) clothes.  To give you an idea of how strewn across the country I am…I have valuable pieces of my wardrobe and feng shui pieces of furniture in 4 states.  Sounds like I live a pretty posh lifestyle, but it is actually more of the opposite.  California, Utah, Chicago, and Connecticut are all hosting pieces of me.  Amongst all of these ‘pieces,’ the one thing that I miss the most is gone completely.  Our beloved ping pong table was the best asset to my Chicago apartment.  Below are the craigslist pics that drove it into the arms of a Polish man and out of the hearts of a few Chicagoans.

pong table  pong table too

Posted in Mid-West | Leave a comment