Hooked

I missed the terrains. I wish I could just ski or snowboard everyday during the short winter. I loved these winter sports. My wife isn’t happy that I want to hit the slopes every chance I get. In addition to taking advantage of my seasonal Epic pass, which cost around $700, I am not getting enough time to hone my skills. Since I am skiing and snowboarding, I have so much too learn and I am obsessed with learning new skills.

My kids are getting bored with skiing and snowboarding because they are not picking up new skills. After hitting the double-black-diamond slopes, they have nowhere else to go. I encouraged them to learn carving, hit the trick terrains, or picking up new techniques, but they didn’t want to. In fact, they would rather sit in front of their computers then skiing or snowboarding. Đán, in particular, is such a fantastic snowboarder. If he puts his mind into it, he could go really far. Unfortunately, his mind is stuck on his PC. It is such a shame.

Having access to the slopes is a privilege not every kid could have. Last weekend, Đạo met up with his friend who wanted to try skiing for the first time. Her dad spent $600 for the three of them just for one day. The price included lift tickets, rentals, and lessons for her, her dad, and her brother. With skiing and snowboarding, you are either all in or all out. Imagine our family of six going for one day skiing. That’s $1,200. I can’t afford that.

At this point into the season, all of our passes are paid for themselves. I don’t even make my kids go anymore. If they don’t want to go, they can stay home and rot their brain on their devices. I don’t have any issue hitting the slopes myself. Even on the weekends when the lift lines were packed, riding single was always faster. In addition, the backside was always less crowded.

My obsession is creating a bit of a friction between my wife and me. She introduced me to this game and I am now all in. I made it clear with her before we decided to renew our passes. If we wanted to do this, I would need to hit the slopes as much as I could, even if she and the kids wouldn’t want to.

Type Design Resources

A growing, public, collaborative collection of type design resources. Everything from learning the basics to running your own foundry. Vietnamese Typography is listed under character design for Vietnamese.

Jeremy Wagner: Responsible JavaScript

I was hoping to recommend this book to the people above my pay rate so they would understand why need to handle JavaScript responsively. An outside vendor is in the progress of redesigning our website and the site will be unusable with JavaScript turns off. It’s such a shame that we will be excluding some of our users, but I am not the one in charge. Even though I found the information useful, it is way too technical for the top decision makers. Nevertheless, Responsible JavaScript is a must read for web developers who care about progressive enhancement and inclusivity.

Back to Whitetail

Đạo, Đán, Xuân, and I went to Whitetail today because Đạo had a ski date with his female friend. She’s a nice who loves rock climbing. She was trying out skiing for the first time. He took her on Sidewinder. She struggled a bit but managed to get down.

The weather was quite warm and the snow is thinning out. The bases of my skis were scratched up because I went over some big rocks. Mother nature is not giving us cold temperatures. We have about a month and a half left to ski.

I was sharing a lift with two older women. They were talking about ski techniques. I asked one of them advice on carving. In order for my skis to bend and grip the snow, she told me, I needed to push my knee forward and toward the inside of my outside ski. She even gave me a demo after we got off the lift. It seemed to make sense. I tried it, but it still felt awkward. I need to spend more time figuring it out.

We had a fun day with the kids. I missed seeing Vương skied though.

I have been blogging about all of my ski trips. It is probably boring for my readers, but I wanted to document all of my skiing and snowboarding experience.

Today at Liberty

Since Sunday, I have been resting, taking Aleve for a few days, and drinking zero alcohol. The sesamoiditis seems to subside. I still feel a bit of a pinch. I went to Liberty this morning to ski. I didn’t want to take a chance with snowboarding. I am not sure if the boots or the way I put pressure on my toes caused the pain.

As I had thought, the ski boots would keep my feet in place. The bottom of my left foot didn’t feel any pain when I skied. I was able to ski down the double-black slopes without any issues. I even filmed myself skiing down the double-black slopes.

I skied for about three hours. I tried to learn carving on the blue slopes. My goal is to be able to carve on skis by the end of this season. I set that goal three seasons ago and I haven’t reached it. Snowboarding distracted my progress. I’ll get it this time.

Katel LeDû & Lisa Maria Marquis: You Should Write a Book

Should you write a book? The CEO and managing editor of A Book Apart not only say you should, but they also guide you through the entire publishing process. With clarity, authority, years of experience, and doses of humor, Ms. LeDû and Ms. Marquis can help turn your wonderful ideas onto the pages. If you are thinking about writing a book, you should, but you should read this book first.

Staci Robinson: Tupac Shakur (The Authorized Biography)

It took me a month to finish reading the 344-page authorized biography of Tupac Shakur. In one part, I had been busy skiing and snowboarding. In another part, I didn’t want the book to end. Through Staci Robinson’s exceptional writing, I wanted to ride with Pac for as long as I could. I knew the ending would be heartbreaking. I still remember hearing the horrific news about his passing after getting shots. My heart dropped. In addition to Pac’s life, Robinson delved into his mother’s life and the influences she had on her son. An engaging and breathtaking read.

Skiing With Scouts

We spent the past three days skiing with our Scout pack. My wife rented a condo right by Whitetail. We arrived on Thursday evening. After checking in and had a quick dinner, we headed over the resort for a night skiing. The weather was warm, the rain was pouring, and the trails were foggy. Nevertheless, we were able to ski.

Đạo, Đán, and Xuân went to the back side for the blue, black, and double black slopes. Vương, my wife, and I stayed at the front. We did the first run together on Sidewinder, which is a long green. Because of the poor visibility, my wife didn’t want to go back. Vương and I went back for three more runs. He was skiing ahead and I was snowboarding behind him. At some points, I couldn’t see him. Luckily, he just went straight down without falling. We went back to the rental house and I started to feel the sharp pain at the bottom of my left foot (Metatarsalgia). I couldn’t sleep much because of the pain.

Friday morning, the pain didn’t go away. I was not sure if I could ski or snowboard. I took one pill of Aleve. I planned to teach some Scouts who had never skied before a quick lesson. Fortunately, I didn’t feel too much pain in my ski boots. I taught four teenagers how to “pizza” and “French fries.” I also explained to them the ski stand. Just the first half hour, I took them on the magic carpet. To my surprise, they could ski very well. They only fell once or twice and they already could do the magic carpet on their own. After that I took each one up the lift with me. With just a few hours, they were able to get on and off the lift themselves and they could ski down all by themselves. They spent the entire day skiing on the green slopes. My mission was accomplished.

In the afternoon, I skied on the back side for a few runs then switched to snowboarding. My foot didn’t feel too much pain until we went back to the rental house. Parents of the four kids I was teaching came over to our rental house for dinner. We ate, drank, and karaoked until 10 pm. The pain came back again, but I couldn’t take an Aleve because I was drinking.

Saturday morning, the pain was getting more excruciating. We cleaned up the rental place and checked out at 11 am. We headed over to the resort once again. I took an ibuprofen. It didn’t help much. I snowboarded with my back foot in pain, but I managed to do a few runs on the back side. We left Whitetail around 2 pm because I couldn’t take it anymore and the kids also wanted to go home.

It is now 11 pm on Saturday as I am writing this. I just took another Aleve hoping the pain will go away tonight, tomorrow, or the next few days. I need to rest my foot before I go skiing or snowboarding again.

Notes From My Doctor

Yesterday, I went for my annual check up. Everything else seemed good except:

  • LDL-C is 129 and goal < 100. Maximize lifestyle efforts: lose weight, exercise, and follow low fat diet. Return fasting in 6 to 12 months.
  • Fasting glucose is in Prediabetes range, so exercise to build muscle and to lose body fat. Avoid refined sugar and limit quantities of rice and pasta to only 1/2 cup cooked.

Damn, all the skiings and snowboardings aren’t enough. I need to watch my diet as well.

Bold Decision

I snowboarded at Whitetail for a bit today. I did about 6 runs on Bold Decision to practice short turns on the double black slope. Thanks to the soft snow coverage, I did not slide down on my ass like I did at Liberty. I still couldn’t complete my short turns. I could do a heel or a toe turn then slid down. I couldn’t find a comfortable spot to make the next turn. I need to learn how to snowboard down the double-black slopes with ease.