I read 62 books this year, which is 30 less than last year.

In 2023, I read mostly poetry books. This year, I went back to fiction, nonfiction, and a few design and technical. I should be reading more web design and development books. I also read Vietnamese fiction. I have over 30 Vietnamese books on my iPhone; therefore, I can alternate between English and Vietnamese.

I read some books on buddhism, which I liked. I want to read more on life, death, compassion, kindness, and all the buddha teachings. I also want to read music books again, especially on jazz and hip-hop. I am in the middle of reading a book on Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans.

With the skiing and snowboarding activities, reading has not been my top priority. I definitely pick up reading again after the holidays and ski season.

Check out my reading record.

At 11:00 pm on Wednesday, we hit the road from Virginia to New Hampshire. The kids were sleeping. My wife and I took turns driving. We arrived at Attitash around 9:30 am. I was expecting to take 12 to 14 hours, but we made it in 10.5 hours.

We had brunch then hit the trails. I skied with Vương and my wife on the green trails at Attitash Peak while Đạo, Đán, and Xuân went to Bear Peak. We had a late lunch. I joined the older boys on Bear Peak. Unfortunately, the lift stopped working. We waited 20 minutes and had to take the shuttle back to Attitash base.

Needless to say, I am exhausted and sleepy. I am going to need a nice sleep to recharge. We’ll be skiing and riding at Attitash and Wildcat for a week.

Snowboard Technical Fundamentals

1. Control the relationship of the Center of Mass (COM) to the Base of Support (BOS) to direct pressure along the length of the board
2. Control the relationship of the COM to the BOS to direct pressure across the width of the board
3. Regulate the magnitude of pressure created through board/surface interaction
4. Control the board’s tilt through a combination of inclination and angulation
5. Control the board’s pivot through flexion/extension and rotation of the upper body
6. Control the twist (torsional flex) of the board through flexion/extension and rotation

Teaching Skills Fundamentals

1. Collaborate on long term goals and short-term objectives
2. Manage information, activities, terrain selection, and pacing
3. Promote play, experimentation, and exploration
4. Facilitate the learner’s ability to reflect upon experiences and sensations
5. Adapt to the changing needs of the learner
6. Manage emotional and physical risk

People Skills Fundamentals

1. Develop relationships based on trust
2. Engage in meaningful, two-way communication
3. Identify, understand and manage your emotions and actions
4. Recognize and influence the behaviors, motivations and emotions of others

Vũ Nguyễn writes:

Please remove what you wrote about nhạc sến being cheesy. Obviously you don’t truly enjoy it. If you want cheesy then take a look in the mirror.

To be honest, I can’t remember what I had written about Nhạc Sến. This is the only post that I could find about Nhạc Sến and “cheesy.” Reading it again, I did not knock on Nhạc Sến. Anyway, I am not going to remove what I had written.

First Time Snowboarders

Level 1: “I’ve never snowboarded.” –Green Zone Snowboarder

Level 2: “I have experienced sliding, traversing both directions, and stopping.” –Easiest green terrain

Level 3: “I can control my speed while moving across the hill, and can stop with confidence. I am starting to turn in both directions.” -Green terrain

Level 4: “I can link skidded turns on green terrain.” –All green terrain

Blue Zone Snowboarders

Level 5: “I am confident and can connect different turn sizes and shapes on all green terrain. I make more or less the same size and shape turn on easy blue terrain.” –All green terrain and easiest blue terrain

Level 6: “I am doing most blue terrain by connecting various turn sizes and shapes. I am also exploring switch riding, easy bumps, and/or freestyle.” –All blue terrain

Level 7: “I am able to ride all blue terrain in varied conditions and working on easy black terrain, including bumps, trees, and terrain parks.” –All blue terrain and groomed black terrain

Black/Expert Zone Snowboarders

Level 8: “I am confident performing dynamic turns on varied terrain and snow conditions, including trees, steeps and powder.” -All black and easy double blacks terrain

Level 9: “I am confident riding the entire mountain. I am working on a variety of tactics and techniques that will take me to the next level.” –Entire mountain, all conditions

For my third shadow, I observed an instructor teaching 7 to 9 year-old kids to snowboard. He went off the curriculum. It was tough teaching kids. They caught an edge and fell over and over again. By the end of the lesson, they couldn’t do a J turn.

In the afternoon, I decided to take the test to get it done and over with before I take a week off for vacation. I bombed the test because I changed the order of the curriculum and added a few things. I have to do another shadow with my supervisor before I could take a retest.

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.