Xuân wanted to learn carving on skis. I signed him up for group lessons. I selected level 6, but they placed him on level 4. He learned pole planting and dynamic riding. He didn’t get to learn carving at all. I spoke to his instructor at the end of the day and he said he couldn’t get to carving. If Xuân wanted to learn something that specific, we should sign him for private lessons. I checked the price for private lessons. Half day lessons (3 hours) cost $875 and full day lessons (6 hours) cost $1235. Thanks, but no thanks. He’s going to have do skidded turns for now until I learn carving technique on skiing.

As for me, I lost counts of how many runs I had. Snowboarding for four days is wearing me out. Man, I am getting old. The good thing is that I am learning to turn skidded to carving thanks to this video from Malcolm Moore. He is such a great instructor. I watched all of his instructional videos. If you want to learn snowboarding, subscribe to his channel.

I might just stick with snowboarding if my skis don’t turn up. I ordered a pair with a great deal on Sun & Ski website this morning. Unfortunately, they cancelled the item because they couldn’t fulfill it. Son of a bitch. I am really enjoying snowboarding, especially carving. It felt so nice leaving the line behind. I haven’t been able to carve on skis in the past two seasons.

P.S. A young snowboard crashed into me from behind as we went down a blue terrain. He must had lost control. Fortunately I didn’t get hurt. On another occasion, I pulled over the side to pick up a phone call from my wife. About a minute later, an elder skier flew off his skis and poles. One of his skis flew toward me just a few feet away.

Xuân and I hit the mountains early so we can work on snowboarding. I wanted to teach him the basics starting with skating on one foot, but he didn’t listen to me. He wanted to strap on both feet and start snowboarding. I showed him how to initiate turns with his front foot, but he didn’t pay attention. As a result, he kept catching the edge and got frustrated. He wanted to switch back to skiing.

He took me up to the top of the mountain in the Gondola. It was my first time snowboarding the blue terrains on this side. I enjoyed them. We did another run before the big kids joined us. I did five runs total on that side and another blue on Spruce Peak.

Of course I was snowboarding the whole time. My skis haven’t turned up. They might be gone. Is this a sign that I should move to the dark side?

As we unloaded our equipment this morning, I discovered my skis and poles were missing. It then occurred to me that I left them at the rack at the resort on Sunday. I completely forgot about them. They were gone when I checked back this morning. I filed a report hoping they will turn up. They were my brand new skis I only rode two times.

Fortunately I still had my snowboard; therefore, I snowboarded for the entire day. I didn’t hit the slopes until 11:00 am. I took a long run on the Mansfield side then headed over to Spruce Peak side. I stayed there for the rest of the day. The condition was a bit icy, but snowboardable.

It was a fantastic day even though I was a bit bummed out about my skis. If they don’t turn up in the next couple of days, I’ll look for a new pair.

Unfortunately we didn’t ski or snowboard today. It has been raining hard all day and the area where we’re staying is flooding.

Let’s hope the water will subside tomorrow and the snow start to fall. We already missed one day of skiing and snowboarding.

We stayed in the house all day. The kids played Monopoly and spent most of their time on their devices.

What else can they do. I really want to hit the slopes.

Since it was our first day at Stowe, we didn’t know what to expect. The older kids explored the mountains on their own. My wife took her time learning to ski at the bunny slopes. We sent Vương to an all-day group lesson.

I joined the older kids for two ski runs on the blue terrains. My ski skills were rusty. I needed to learn to turn smoothly instead of quickly.

I switched to snowboarding and went on my own for four runs. I also wanted to learn to turn smoothly instead of abruptly. At this point, I like snowboarding a bit more than skiing.

When I picked up Vương after his all-day lesson, I learned that he spent all day in one tiny area playing with snow. He didn’t make it to the magic carpet. I was so disappointed. I thought he could at least make it to an easy green. $300 went down the drain. I was planning on taking snowboarding lessons myself, but didn’t seem like it would be worthwhile.

Damn, I am falling asleep trying to write this post. I am exhausted.

I haven’t listened to Stacey Kent for a minute. She has a beautiful voice, but her meticulous pronunciation has me hanging to every word. Her rendition of “If You Go Away” is just splendid. Her French version “Ne Me Quitte Pas” is just lovely. I enjoyed both languages of her singing in this album. This is a perfect vibe for the holiday season.

When someone from a high-profile organization reached out to me for a potential consulting project, of course I was skeptical. I assumed they tried to spam me—it was too good to be true. I ignored their message, but they followed up. Their email seemed legit; therefore, I did some research and they turned out to be who they claimed to be. I took on the project. Although I cannot share anything, I am excited about the opportunity to work for a company I have admired and respected.

Grato Marker, designed by Teja Smrekar, is a playful hybrid of geometry and informality. Although it has a casual attitude, Grato Marker is serious about supporting Latin, Greek and Cyrillic languages. Reviewed by skilled experts, it supports more than 270 languages including Vietnamese. Yes, I was consulted on Grato Marker’s Vietnamese diacritics. Big props to TypeMates.

I went to Bryce yesterday to kick off our skiing/snowboarding season. I also wanted to test out my new gears to make sure I can ride them. Since we are getting serious about these sports, we might as well invest into new equipments.

Over the past several months, I sold my used gears and replaced them with new ones. Although they were brand new, they were at least 50% off. I took my time to do my search.

For snowboarding, I bought a 2023 Salomon Super 8 board ($265), 2020 United-G1 Rome bindings Rome Bindings ($110), and 2021 DC Men’s Laced Lace snowboard boots ($164). The whole set was $539.

For skiing, I bought 2023 Fischer RC Fire SLR Pro skis with RS 9 SLR bindings ($215) and Lange RX 120 ski boots ($355). The whole set was $570. Both set for just a bit over a $1000 is not bad.

Since Bryce is running an early-season discount on lift ticket for $40, I decided to drive an hour and 45 minutes to test out my equipments. Unfortunately, the condition was icy hard yesterday. I couldn’t initiate or turn my board at all. I was falling on my ass and knees. Fortunately, I had my Soared 3D Protection short pants on, but my knees were brutal. I need to put on my knee guards. The board performed well despite my horrible skills—I couldn’t get my front-knee steering down. This will be the technique I will learn this season. The DC boots worked really well. The stiffness held up well. I didn’t feel any pain at all.

I also tested out my Fischer skis, but I couldn’t do much under the hard-ice condition. They worked. I can’t wait to spend a week at Stowe starting this Saturday.

Out of the Chainz-Wayne duo, the veteran flows far more superior than the rookie. Right off “G6” and “Big Diamonds,” 2 Chainz can’t keep up with Lil Wayne’s virtuosic deliveries. Wayne maneuvers his way around the beats with effortlessness. It’s easy to enjoy the way he raps than what he raps. On the other hand, 2 Chainz has a few hilarious punchlines like, “I went to paradise with a pair of dice with a pair of dykes.” Unfortunately the album loses its momentum halfway in. “P.P.A.” is just misogynistically horrendous.