Today I shadowed two different instructors who taught absolute beginners. They both taught differently. They did not followed the official curriculum.

After a couple of days of thinking about the official curriculum, I find the progression to be well-thought out. I will follow it.

After the two shadows, I was tired. I wanted to stay back to ski, but I decided to head home to relax and spend time with my kids.

I will do one more shadowing tomorrow. I will ask to take the test as well. Once the test is done, I can start teaching classes. Can’t wait.

I spent the whole day taking the ITC (Instructor Training Course). The expectations weren’t as high as I thought. I just need to remember all the steps. I learned that I will only get paid when I teach. If I don’t have a class, I can ski or snowboard without getting paid, which is what I would prefer anyway. I am not there to make money. I am there for thee perks.

After the training ended at 3:00 pm, I took off my uniform and hit the trails. The trails on the backside were icy. I did three runs and then headed home. I left the house at 6:00 am and didn’t get back until 6:30 pm. It had been a long day. I’ll do it again in the next three days before we head to Attitash and Wild Cat in New Hampshire.

I am not looking forward to the 14 hours drive, but I am definitely looking forward to skiing and snowboarding with the family for a week.

I drove to Whitetail today for its opening day. I spent about three hours skiing and snowboarding. The conditions were icy. I spent most of my time on the blue trails trying to carve. I am getting a hang of carving on skis. I am not quite there yet on snowboard. My feet got burn out the harder I tried to bend my ankles and knees. I am not worrying too much about carving. I am working on my open stance, which I am getting a hand of. Carving to where my hands can touch the snow I still have a long way to go.

I couldn’t work today because I needed to attend the Instructor Training Course (ITC) first. They have sessions for Saturday and Sunday. I’ll come in early tomorrow to do snowboard ITC. I also went to guest services to activate my employee pass and deactivate my Epic pass. I got reimbursed for my pass. The guest service rep also informed me that I could get dependents’ passes for a significantly low price. I am so glad that Vail cares about the family too.

Now I am motivated to work for Vail. We are saving thousands of dollars for our seasonal lift tickets alone. This is such a sweet deal. I made the right decision to work for the perks, not the pay. The only issue I am running into is that I can’t take my kids to skiing on weekends anymore because of my working schedule. I guess I can’t have everything. Something gotta give.

Welcome to the 2025 rendition of Visualgui. The change is in the typography. Back in February, I set the blog in AT Lang, designed by Stephen Nixon, and AT Lang Gothic, but the Gothic sibling did not support Vietnamese at that time.

I typically don’t set my body text in a sans serif typeface; therefore, I wanted to change it up. AT Lang Gothic is the main text face complemented by AT Lang for headers and Recursive, also designed by Nixon, for dates and codes.

This redesign has lots of white space, especially on the right of the screen, which is similar to the thumb space in a book. I want this blog to have a book feel to it, but a modern book, instead of traditional long books that are set in a serif text face. I hope you will enjoy reading the new version.

As I am sitting on the coach listening to my second and third sons taking their piano private lessons, I hear no progress. The instructor is doing his best, but he can’t help them if they don’t put their effort into their playing.

They spend hours after hours on their digital devices each day. I hardly hear them practice playing piano. Their hearts aren’t in it, why are they still taking lessons? These private lessons aren’t cheap. My wife and I discussed and argued over this issue. She wanted them to continue. I caved in. I don’t want it to be the reason to break us.

My wife and I are moving further and further away from where we want to raise our kids. For example, I want to limit their use of screen time by shutting down the internet at a certain time. She wants it on all the time and they sit in front of their screens until she screams at them to get off. I don’t mind paying for private piano lessons, skiing, snowboarding, or any activities if they put their efforts into them. If they don’t appreciate what we provide for them, why should we waste our money?

If one of us lost our job one day, we would be screwed. The thought of losing an income worries me, particularly if I would be the one. It stresses me out everyday. I explained to the kids many times about taking these privileges for granted, but they just don’t get it. I don’t want to repeat it anymore.

Yesterday, we went to Roundtop. My wife and I let Xuân and Vương played hooky. My wife also invited four of her friends to come.

I spent about 2 hours introducing three of them to skiing. They were able to plow down the hill in the carpet area. One of them started to turn. They just needed a bit more practice.

My wife and Vương were easing back into skiing. My goal this season is to transition Vương from plow to parallel.

Xuân picked up snowboarding. He did really well on the green trails. If he sticks with it this season, we will be proficient in snowboarding.

After skiing for a few hours, I switched to snowboarding. I didn’t feel any discomfort when I bent my knees and ankles. I am going to stick with teaching snowboarding this season. I’ll teach skiing next season.

I’ll have trainings on Saturday and Sunday before I could start teaching.

Reading about the deadly crash that killed two adults, one 17-year-old kid, and injured 4 little kids devastated me. I didn’t know the parents personally, but I know someone who knew them. If you can help the surviving kids, please donate.

Driving has been really stressful for me. On my recent trip to Stowe, I drove 12 hours each way, even though Google estimated 8.5 hours. Last year, I drove our family to Mount Snow and we got hit with a snowstorm in late March. Our 2018 Toyota Sienna SE skidded. We couldn’t get up the hill. Luckily a local man helped us out and showed us the bigger road. It was a relief that we made it to the rental house.

I had always worried about driving the entire family. I have 6 lives under my watch. As a result, I had always been extra careful and over stressed. Even a small nail could derail our trip. Now I have an air pump and repair kit in the car just in case.

I bear the responsibility for their safety. I need to be extra careful and extra alert.

Wynton Marsalis chastised Miles Davis for taking jazz beyond its tradition. In The Shanghai Suite, Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra take jazz to China. No crime in that. The results are quite fascinating. In “Hot Pot!,” Marsalis plays his unmistakable intro solo before the big band joins in swimming. “Li Bai’s Blues” fuses western and eastern instruments together to create a mournful emotion. From the western blues to the easter winds, I enjoyed the entire suite.

I didn’t go to mountains yesterday because of the rain. I also needed a day off to recuperate. I ended up staying in the motel room watched 2 films, read, and listened to music.

I felt recharged this morning and ready to snowboard. I did 3 runs on the Spruce Peak side on the easy terrains and yet my feet and legs were burning. I even tried out a new pair of boots I bought for Đán. I took a break and headed over Mansfield. I took the long green trail and yet I had to stop every few minutes to rest because my feet felt uncomfortable.

I took a lunch break and decided to give it another shot. I didn’t even try to carve. I was just riding and turning. Yet, I still had to stop to rest my legs. I didn’t know if the equipment caused the discomfortness or my riding had issues. Perhaps, I might not snowboard correctly.

Around 1:00 pm, I decided to switch to skiing. My feet weren’t comfortable at first, but they were fine after the second run. I was able to keep my legs close in parallel and shift my weight to my outside ski. I also tried to turn my knees so my skis could be on an edge. Carving this way begins to few a bit more natural. The speed was a bit too fast for my comfort level, but I finally got it.

I did 3 or 4 runs on blues and green trails. Around 3:00 pm the lift went down. I also called it the day. I went back to the motel to pack up. I will be leaving early tomorrow around 3 am. I hope to get back home before 3:00 pm. I miss my family too much.

Here’s a Christmas album from one of my favorite jazz pianists. Mr. Peterson swings on the classics such as “Let It Snow,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Santa Clause Is Coming to Town.” Yet the slow tempos, including “What Child Is This?,” “White Christmas,” and the orchestra-backed “Silent Night,” are relaxing. Just lay back and enjoy the holiday spirit.