Okay, reader's digest on my life over the past few years:
1. Perfect life until about 2009, when a combination of factors started taking the business down.
2. Everything came to a head in 2012. The biz died, the divorce became inevitable. Had to take a job in Dayton, where I work, now.
I am so very grateful for the job I have, now. I got it during a time when a good many folks were having difficulty finding work. It pays fine. Benefits are insane. I love the people I work with.
But I love my son so much more. So, I never did get a place down in Dayton. I just stay in a cheap hotel when I'm down there.
So many times, I've driven back and forth for football games and whatnot. I drive about 50,000 miles a year. That's just a lot of driving. Averages about a thousand miles a week. And I don't like it.
Anyway, long and short of it was that I could have made my life easier by moving to Dayton, and just touching base with my son now and then. But what sort of life would that have been? He's the most important thing in my life.
Anyway, there's every indication that starting in January, I may be starting a teaching job in Toledo. If I get it, I can give up this horrible life on the road. I can hardly wait.
For those of you who have followed me through my ups and downs (and pretty much only downs since 2009... the two exceptions are the job and the son), this is a pretty big up.
For the first time in 7 years, I feel like I finally will have my life back.
I'm not going to lie: it's been a shitty slog. I can't wait for it to end.
I also know that mine is just one of millions of stories of people who have struggled, some much worse than I have, since the economy cratered.
For the first time in a long, time, though, I have hope and plans and am looking forward to how my life will play itself out. It feels good after so many years of just praying for bare survival.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
Terraform Your Own Planet
Science fiction writers often write of a future where humans have destroyed the earth's ecology, rendering it unfit for us. We then trek out into space to try and find suitable planets to live on. Over the years, we've come to realize that nearly no planet will ever duplicate the conditions on earth. However, another sci-fi concept: terraforming, has entered the literary lexicon.
The idea being that you take a planet like Mars, but then you add oxygen and an atmosphere, etc. Scientists will tell you that this may be feasible in a universe where there are limitless amounts of energy and resources, but it is essentially impossible in practice.
Then, most scientists will say: if we had the capability to terraform an environment as hostile as Mars, we could terraform a "ruined" Earth much, much more easily.
So, the answer, once you gain terraforming technology, is to terraform the planet you are on. It's way cheaper, easier and faster than terraforming a distant, hostile planet. If having to chose between limiting greenhouse gasses on earth, or turning Mars' atmosphere into one we could live in, there is one clear winner of an idea, and one clearly idiotic idea in the mix. If we can't even save our own planet with modest changes, the likelihood of changing an alien world are essentially zero.
So, I'm going to say that at my age, I've come to realize that the secret to happiness or even survival is to terraform the life you have. Thinking about terraforming some distant life is essentially impossible.
Others have stated it as, "the grass may be greener over there, but it's a lot easier to just water the grass where you are."
My son is starting High School next year. 4 more years, and, if I have anything to say about it, he'll be off to college, on his own. I think going away to school is a great experience for young people. I don't judge folks who don't do it. Not everybody has the same means. And not every kid is the same. But generally speaking, if a kid can do it, I think going away to school is a great thing to do. I also think you have to do it shortly after high school. It's not something you can chose to do in your mid 20s or later. For a kid to gain the maximum formative effects of it, it should be done when they are relatively young.
I am at a paradox in my life. I can't say that my current situation is particularly comfortable. So, part of me is looking forward to a day in the medium-term future, where things are a lot easier financially, and I'm not so worn out all the time trying to balance my work life in Dayton and my home life 2.5 hours away in Toledo.
Dammit, though, these are the last four years of my son as a child. I don't want to let this time pass to quickly. I want to drink it in as much as possible. I have 4 more years of my son as a young man, then he will be off to make his own way in the world.
Someday, I hope he has a family of his own and I will be able to spend time with grandkids. That would be a great way to spend the last years of my life.
My future is pretty clear, and probably going to be really, really good. I am so incredibly blessed to have a great job that pays fairly. (And when I consider that they hired a guy in his late 40s into a program intended for kids in their 20s, I want to kiss the ground in gratitude. Nobody else does that. Nobody.) I will have a pension, some substantial savings, and social security. My life after retirement will probably be easier, financially, than all but a handful of my working years were.
Year by year, things will continue to get easier, too. Once bambino is off to college, I won't have to live 2.5 hours away from where I work anymore.
So, in 4 years, my life will change immensely. I'll finally have the time for both fitness and music that I sorely wish I had today.
4 years after that, he'll be done with school. (Or at least done with Dad paying for it.) From there on out, my finances will be pretty comfortable until retirement.
So, I have a lot to look forward to. I can't say I'm happy about a lot of the ways my life has turned out. I took a pretty bad beating in 2012. In a recent training session, a lecturer asked, "In the past 3 years, how many people here have suffered the loss of a job? Financial setbacks? Death of a loved one? Having to move? Having to start a job with a new company? Divorce?"
I raised my hand.
Not because I've had one of those things happen to me.
Because I have had EVERY ONE of those things happen to me in the past 3 years. Like kharma was sitting back saying, "You know, you've had a good run, Streb, but there's some long overdue dues you're going to pay and you're going to pay them all at once. Right now."
So, I can't say that I like my life the way it is at the moment.
On the other hand, I can't move to Mars and terraform the place. I have one life. Each passing year is a gift I will never get to have again.
I have the best kid I could have ever imagined. I have a job I love. It would be nice if they were in the same place, but they aren't.
There are those who have had it much worse. Not just in the past 3 years, but in life. Many folks would look at my life and say, "Wow... you think THAT is bad? That's nothing man. Let me tell you a story." And they would be right. They would be 100% right.
So, I'm working on terraforming the life I have. Trying to make it as good as I can make it.
Another thing, though, is that I'm already feeling a sense of loss for what life will be once bambino moves out. Yes, I will be able to fill my life with fitness and music. Those, other than my son, are probably the two most important activities to me, personally.
Still, I'll feel a little lost, I know. I love sports and having a kid who plays every sport under the sun has been a great experience. I get to not only watch a lot of sports, but I have an athlete that I genuinely love.
Anyway, I'm an overthinker. Always have been. Always will be. I guess I should just be thankful for today. Logan is hurt at the moment, but his team plays so many games, it's not the worst thing that he gets a little mid-season break. (Especially with school still in session.)
I'm finally getting to put some of my musical gear to use with Logan's band getting ready to play their middle school talent show. I'm excited to see that. He's been working hard at playing bass. He's still doing just fine in school. Mostly, he's just a good human being.
I have been truly blessed. I need to focus more on that, and less on the idea that these years have not turned out at all like I would have planned.
Then, I need to get busy with continually terraforming my world.
The idea being that you take a planet like Mars, but then you add oxygen and an atmosphere, etc. Scientists will tell you that this may be feasible in a universe where there are limitless amounts of energy and resources, but it is essentially impossible in practice.
Then, most scientists will say: if we had the capability to terraform an environment as hostile as Mars, we could terraform a "ruined" Earth much, much more easily.
So, the answer, once you gain terraforming technology, is to terraform the planet you are on. It's way cheaper, easier and faster than terraforming a distant, hostile planet. If having to chose between limiting greenhouse gasses on earth, or turning Mars' atmosphere into one we could live in, there is one clear winner of an idea, and one clearly idiotic idea in the mix. If we can't even save our own planet with modest changes, the likelihood of changing an alien world are essentially zero.
So, I'm going to say that at my age, I've come to realize that the secret to happiness or even survival is to terraform the life you have. Thinking about terraforming some distant life is essentially impossible.
Others have stated it as, "the grass may be greener over there, but it's a lot easier to just water the grass where you are."
My son is starting High School next year. 4 more years, and, if I have anything to say about it, he'll be off to college, on his own. I think going away to school is a great experience for young people. I don't judge folks who don't do it. Not everybody has the same means. And not every kid is the same. But generally speaking, if a kid can do it, I think going away to school is a great thing to do. I also think you have to do it shortly after high school. It's not something you can chose to do in your mid 20s or later. For a kid to gain the maximum formative effects of it, it should be done when they are relatively young.
I am at a paradox in my life. I can't say that my current situation is particularly comfortable. So, part of me is looking forward to a day in the medium-term future, where things are a lot easier financially, and I'm not so worn out all the time trying to balance my work life in Dayton and my home life 2.5 hours away in Toledo.
Dammit, though, these are the last four years of my son as a child. I don't want to let this time pass to quickly. I want to drink it in as much as possible. I have 4 more years of my son as a young man, then he will be off to make his own way in the world.
Someday, I hope he has a family of his own and I will be able to spend time with grandkids. That would be a great way to spend the last years of my life.
My future is pretty clear, and probably going to be really, really good. I am so incredibly blessed to have a great job that pays fairly. (And when I consider that they hired a guy in his late 40s into a program intended for kids in their 20s, I want to kiss the ground in gratitude. Nobody else does that. Nobody.) I will have a pension, some substantial savings, and social security. My life after retirement will probably be easier, financially, than all but a handful of my working years were.
Year by year, things will continue to get easier, too. Once bambino is off to college, I won't have to live 2.5 hours away from where I work anymore.
So, in 4 years, my life will change immensely. I'll finally have the time for both fitness and music that I sorely wish I had today.
4 years after that, he'll be done with school. (Or at least done with Dad paying for it.) From there on out, my finances will be pretty comfortable until retirement.
So, I have a lot to look forward to. I can't say I'm happy about a lot of the ways my life has turned out. I took a pretty bad beating in 2012. In a recent training session, a lecturer asked, "In the past 3 years, how many people here have suffered the loss of a job? Financial setbacks? Death of a loved one? Having to move? Having to start a job with a new company? Divorce?"
I raised my hand.
Not because I've had one of those things happen to me.
Because I have had EVERY ONE of those things happen to me in the past 3 years. Like kharma was sitting back saying, "You know, you've had a good run, Streb, but there's some long overdue dues you're going to pay and you're going to pay them all at once. Right now."
So, I can't say that I like my life the way it is at the moment.
On the other hand, I can't move to Mars and terraform the place. I have one life. Each passing year is a gift I will never get to have again.
I have the best kid I could have ever imagined. I have a job I love. It would be nice if they were in the same place, but they aren't.
There are those who have had it much worse. Not just in the past 3 years, but in life. Many folks would look at my life and say, "Wow... you think THAT is bad? That's nothing man. Let me tell you a story." And they would be right. They would be 100% right.
So, I'm working on terraforming the life I have. Trying to make it as good as I can make it.
Another thing, though, is that I'm already feeling a sense of loss for what life will be once bambino moves out. Yes, I will be able to fill my life with fitness and music. Those, other than my son, are probably the two most important activities to me, personally.
Still, I'll feel a little lost, I know. I love sports and having a kid who plays every sport under the sun has been a great experience. I get to not only watch a lot of sports, but I have an athlete that I genuinely love.
Anyway, I'm an overthinker. Always have been. Always will be. I guess I should just be thankful for today. Logan is hurt at the moment, but his team plays so many games, it's not the worst thing that he gets a little mid-season break. (Especially with school still in session.)
I'm finally getting to put some of my musical gear to use with Logan's band getting ready to play their middle school talent show. I'm excited to see that. He's been working hard at playing bass. He's still doing just fine in school. Mostly, he's just a good human being.
I have been truly blessed. I need to focus more on that, and less on the idea that these years have not turned out at all like I would have planned.
Then, I need to get busy with continually terraforming my world.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Spring is Here!
I'm so very happy that Spring is here and the outdoors are no longer a hostile, foreign environment. I swear every time I left a building, I was half expecting somebody to warn me that my tauntaun would freeze before I reached the first marker. I'm pretty sure I froze my tauntauns off on more than one occasion.
So, updates on all the news that's fit to print. Baseball season is kicking off in high gear. Bambino is on a new team, now. I am a little nervous about it, but I figure in the long run, he'll be fine. This team is, hands-down, the best team he's ever been on. They play a tournament every single weekend of the season except one. Then, add a couple of midweek games and all told, he's going to basically average about a game a day from mid April to mid July.
There's a big tournament in Myrtle Beach to cap off the entire season. So, that's vacation for the year.
I'm excited for Bambino and my goal with all this travel baseball was to prepare him to play in High School. Doing the math, looking at the available players and talking to other parents, I think we can all but roll out the mission accomplished banner on this one.
I think he has all the tools he will need to play in High School. If he wants to put in the work, he can continue to excel. Even if he continues to play other sports, he should still have a good HS career, and eventually play varsity.
So, that's the payoff. That's all I really wanted with all the travel ball. Like most stuff in life, if I had it all to do over, I'd do it differently. However, it's done, now, and the result is what I'd hoped for. Bambino continues to be a heck of a good ballplayer.
Fencing season is pretty much over for me until late Summer 2015. It's as good a time as any for a break. There is just no real way I can do any tournaments until baseball season is over. It was time for a break, anyway.
I'm very, very happy with my progress over the past 8 months. I started out basically only knowing how to do one thing (beat the hell out of a blade, close distance and stab like a madman.) Now, I'm evolving a style that's pretty far removed from that. I'm getting tons of glove and forearm touches, even in tournaments. So, I'm using a lot more finesse these days.
Next year, I hope to combine my blade control / sniping ability with the aggression I started out with. Try to combine it with some better attempts at binding and controlling the opponent's blade and see how it goes.
I'm going to also try french grip. If it works out the way it's planned, that should lead to more touches and improved control. If not, I can always go back to the standard pistol grip (the visconti grip) and continue along the path I was going.
Basketball season is over for the Bambino, now. He's finishing up his rec basketball season. He continues to absolutely love basketball. So, I'm encouraging him to give it his all. Basketball is, by far, the hardest teams to make and the hardest to get a varsity letter in, in high school, IMHO. Baseball is second. (Just personal opinion. Not trying to start a fight with people who have kids in other sports.) He knows he's either going to have to grow or develop a killer 3 if he hopes to play varsity. His ball handling, leaping ability, jump shooting, etc., are phenomenally better than last year. I'm really impressed with his progress. If he improves a comparable amount next year, I think he's going to be in fantastic shape for freshman ball.
Bambino is also thinking he wants to play wide receiver in football. I'm nervous about it. Every parent is these days. It'll be more than a little crazy seeing him suit up for his High School's football team. So far so good. No significant dane brammage that I can see. I will be holding my breath until he finishes his time under the Friday Night Lights uneventfully. Fingers crossed.
I just finished the last of my Defense Acquisition University (yes, there is such a thing) classes required for my Level II certification in Acquisition. (These certifications are under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, or DAWIA.) In July, my 3 year service obligation with the Air Force is over. I am desperately trying to find work closer to home.
I'm a little surprised I've been able to do this for as long as I have. This drive and this situation have just been crazy and I've been doing them for almost 3 years, now. I was in pure survival mode. I'd like to do a little living though.
Until Bambino graduates High School, I want to try and stay here if at all possible. Of course, that may not be possible. I'll just keep playing it by ear. If I have to do this same routine for another 4 years, I'd survive. However, if I could get a job with the VA in Ann Arbor, I'd sure take it.
So, now, the weather is good. I can start running outside again. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into the shape I was in back in August or so of last year. I did make some gains with weight training over the long Winter, but I've never really liked being big. I'll be very happy to slim back down.
So, updates on all the news that's fit to print. Baseball season is kicking off in high gear. Bambino is on a new team, now. I am a little nervous about it, but I figure in the long run, he'll be fine. This team is, hands-down, the best team he's ever been on. They play a tournament every single weekend of the season except one. Then, add a couple of midweek games and all told, he's going to basically average about a game a day from mid April to mid July.
There's a big tournament in Myrtle Beach to cap off the entire season. So, that's vacation for the year.
I'm excited for Bambino and my goal with all this travel baseball was to prepare him to play in High School. Doing the math, looking at the available players and talking to other parents, I think we can all but roll out the mission accomplished banner on this one.
I think he has all the tools he will need to play in High School. If he wants to put in the work, he can continue to excel. Even if he continues to play other sports, he should still have a good HS career, and eventually play varsity.
So, that's the payoff. That's all I really wanted with all the travel ball. Like most stuff in life, if I had it all to do over, I'd do it differently. However, it's done, now, and the result is what I'd hoped for. Bambino continues to be a heck of a good ballplayer.
Fencing season is pretty much over for me until late Summer 2015. It's as good a time as any for a break. There is just no real way I can do any tournaments until baseball season is over. It was time for a break, anyway.
I'm very, very happy with my progress over the past 8 months. I started out basically only knowing how to do one thing (beat the hell out of a blade, close distance and stab like a madman.) Now, I'm evolving a style that's pretty far removed from that. I'm getting tons of glove and forearm touches, even in tournaments. So, I'm using a lot more finesse these days.
Next year, I hope to combine my blade control / sniping ability with the aggression I started out with. Try to combine it with some better attempts at binding and controlling the opponent's blade and see how it goes.
I'm going to also try french grip. If it works out the way it's planned, that should lead to more touches and improved control. If not, I can always go back to the standard pistol grip (the visconti grip) and continue along the path I was going.
Basketball season is over for the Bambino, now. He's finishing up his rec basketball season. He continues to absolutely love basketball. So, I'm encouraging him to give it his all. Basketball is, by far, the hardest teams to make and the hardest to get a varsity letter in, in high school, IMHO. Baseball is second. (Just personal opinion. Not trying to start a fight with people who have kids in other sports.) He knows he's either going to have to grow or develop a killer 3 if he hopes to play varsity. His ball handling, leaping ability, jump shooting, etc., are phenomenally better than last year. I'm really impressed with his progress. If he improves a comparable amount next year, I think he's going to be in fantastic shape for freshman ball.
Bambino is also thinking he wants to play wide receiver in football. I'm nervous about it. Every parent is these days. It'll be more than a little crazy seeing him suit up for his High School's football team. So far so good. No significant dane brammage that I can see. I will be holding my breath until he finishes his time under the Friday Night Lights uneventfully. Fingers crossed.
I just finished the last of my Defense Acquisition University (yes, there is such a thing) classes required for my Level II certification in Acquisition. (These certifications are under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, or DAWIA.) In July, my 3 year service obligation with the Air Force is over. I am desperately trying to find work closer to home.
I'm a little surprised I've been able to do this for as long as I have. This drive and this situation have just been crazy and I've been doing them for almost 3 years, now. I was in pure survival mode. I'd like to do a little living though.
Until Bambino graduates High School, I want to try and stay here if at all possible. Of course, that may not be possible. I'll just keep playing it by ear. If I have to do this same routine for another 4 years, I'd survive. However, if I could get a job with the VA in Ann Arbor, I'd sure take it.
So, now, the weather is good. I can start running outside again. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into the shape I was in back in August or so of last year. I did make some gains with weight training over the long Winter, but I've never really liked being big. I'll be very happy to slim back down.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
The Comedic Stylings of Jimmy Trying to Ski
Had 5 days of skiing in the past week. This pretty much equals my total skiing for the years 1995 thru 2012. I never was a very good skier. However, I wanted my son to learn. So, starting when he was about 8, we started hitting the little local places.
This is like a lot of things I took up as an adult where I wish I had known how to do this, but wasn't in a position, financially, to try until I was grown up. Even so, I learned on a budget, which meant that I was probably a dangerous and not-very-good skier for most of my life. I was lucky to afford a lift ticket now and then. Forget affording lessons.
I got to where I could go down a hill, hockey stop if going to the left, and that's... well, that's about it. I'd wipe out several times a day on the slopes and when I'd start wiping out every run, I knew it was time to go home.
I wanted my son to learn how to ski properly. So, I frequently would hire a private instructor for him when we'd hit the slopes.
It's been a few years since I did skiing of any kind. So, when a friend asked if I wanted to hit Snowshoe West Virginia for a week, I was pretty eager for it. I haven't had a real vacation in a long, long time and it was time to dust off the skis.
Snowshoe felt like a skiing Disneyland for grownups. Our Hotel room was a short walk to the top of the slopes. It was close enough that you could walk to the hotel and up to the room if your feet got cold or you had to pee. The feet part was pretty important because the week we were there, it was very, very cold. Like single digits and some negative temperatures.
My friend taught me quite a bit. For instance, I didn't know that the symbols for difficulty aren't universal. They're only in relation to that particular location. So, a green slope just means it's the easiest type of slope at that location. A black diamond in one location could easily be a green elsewhere.
At Snowshoe, the greens were pretty challenging, I think. Most of them had a relatively steep drop-off and were on narrow trails.
The first couple of days, I was mostly just trying not to die. My priorities have changed a lot since I was in my 20s.
In my 20s, my priorities for skiing were:
1. Ski all the black diamonds by the end of the day.
2. Ski fast.
3. Turn roughly when I intend to turn.
4. Stop, or if I can't stop, slide to a stop somewhere near the lift line.
5. When I fall, try not to fall on anybody else, and try to keep the yardsale of gear nearby so it won't take me long to gather it up, put it back on and keep flying down the hill.
Now, my priorities are more like:
1. Don't get hurt.
2. Avoid injury.
3. Attempt not to cause myself or others bodily harm.
4. Endeavor to eschew anything that will result in pain.
5. Enjoy skiing.
So, the first two days I was trying to get myself back to where I could ski like I used to: with some semblance of control and ability to stop and turn. By day four, I was pretty much as good as I'd ever been and was really enjoying the greens. Each run might have 1 or 2 places where the hill got a little steep and I'd have to really work to keep my speed under control, but for the most part, I could practice staying parallel and controlling my speed.
On Saturday, I took Logan up to Mt. Holly to try out his new ski gear. His skis are MUCH longer than last year. I also had some concerns about his boots. However, the night before I had him put the boots on to make sure they weren't too big. I didn't know about the skis, though. If they were too long, they'd be hard to control and he might hurt himself.
So, first thing I did was hire an instructor for an hour. Unlike years prior, I paid extra so it would be a private lesson for the two of us. The instructor gave us some great guidance and stuff to work on and then we were on our own.
Mt. Holly, for a little local hill, is pretty nice. It's an hour and a half away from me. There's a closer one: Mt. Brighton, but Brighton is very, very small and very, very crowded. Much like local places near Cleveland like Brandywine. You spend most of your time dodging out of control kids on snowboards. The hill is small. It's sorta dangerous.
Last time I went to Holly, there were absolutely some hills there that were out of my reach, skill-wise. It's bigger, with more runs and is less populated than Mt. Brighton. For a skiier of my skill level at the time, I could have skied there a week and not gotten bored.
I was having difficulty controlling my skis all week and prior to the lesson. There are a lot of reasons for this. For one, they're giant slolom (GS) skis. Probably not appropriate for kid-dodging east of the Rockies. This means they're a little longer than typical recreational skis. Probably intended for folks who ski a little better than I did.
For another, the skis today have different technology than they did in the early 90s when I first tried skiing. The skis are parabolic, now, which makes them much easier to turn. Thing is, to get them to perform, you have to lean forward in your boots, which scares the heck out of me.
The instructor gave me basically one thing to work on: leaning forward in my boots. With the new parabolic skis, this is critical for engaging the front of the ski for turning.
Once I did this, everything that hadn't worked the prior week snapped right into place. My turn to the right was just as good as my turn to the left. I was able to get my skis left and right to dig them in to control speed on very steep grades.
By the mid-afternoon, Logan and I had safely slayed all the runs at Mt. Holly. And by early evening we were starting to get bored with them. My "too long" skis were not a problem at all. (Not at Holly, anyway. Next season, I will be looking for shorter skis. I just saw way too many skiers who probably weren't as good as me, handling much gnarlier stuff in Snowshoe because their skis were so much more nimble and easy to control.)
I thought back to the stuff that gave me fits at Snowshoe, and with my technique the way it is, now, none of it would be tricky at all for me. So, after 4 days in Snowshoe, I was as good as I ever was. After 1 lesson and a day at Mt. Holly, I'm a better skiier than I ever thought I would be.
I doubt I'll be going back to Snowshoe. Honestly, I loved it, but it's just too danged far. For me, it's like an 8 or 9 hour drive under good conditions. Also, a lot of the drive is winding single-lane roads. Boyne is only 4 and a half hours away and from what I can gather, is pretty much the same skiing as Snowshoe. So, my penciled in plan for next year is Boyne for a week with Logan. Depending on what happens with the job and the rest of my life, a trip out west is probably in the not-too-distant future.
I don't think Boyne has the fake village Disneyland atmosphere of Snowshoe, but that's okay. I liked being able to walk out the door of the hotel to a restaurant within a few yards, but honestly, although the food was usually good, the quality was insanely inconsistent. If I did it again, I'd take a cooler of food and nuke a breakfast sandwich and hit the slopes that much earlier. I'll probably follow that plan in Boyne.
Total damage (non financial) is a little tweak on the shoulder, knee and hip. The shoulder is still a little sore. Hip is fine, now. And knee is still just ever so slightly noticeable. All of this happened prior to the lesson. After the lesson, it was the most uneventful (in terms of falling down) skiing of my life. I should have done the lesson so much sooner. Unlike lessons in a lot of other things, the difference was instant and dramatic. I was ten times the skiier by the end of that day as I'd been when I showed up that morning.
This is like a lot of things I took up as an adult where I wish I had known how to do this, but wasn't in a position, financially, to try until I was grown up. Even so, I learned on a budget, which meant that I was probably a dangerous and not-very-good skier for most of my life. I was lucky to afford a lift ticket now and then. Forget affording lessons.
I got to where I could go down a hill, hockey stop if going to the left, and that's... well, that's about it. I'd wipe out several times a day on the slopes and when I'd start wiping out every run, I knew it was time to go home.
I wanted my son to learn how to ski properly. So, I frequently would hire a private instructor for him when we'd hit the slopes.
It's been a few years since I did skiing of any kind. So, when a friend asked if I wanted to hit Snowshoe West Virginia for a week, I was pretty eager for it. I haven't had a real vacation in a long, long time and it was time to dust off the skis.
Snowshoe felt like a skiing Disneyland for grownups. Our Hotel room was a short walk to the top of the slopes. It was close enough that you could walk to the hotel and up to the room if your feet got cold or you had to pee. The feet part was pretty important because the week we were there, it was very, very cold. Like single digits and some negative temperatures.
My friend taught me quite a bit. For instance, I didn't know that the symbols for difficulty aren't universal. They're only in relation to that particular location. So, a green slope just means it's the easiest type of slope at that location. A black diamond in one location could easily be a green elsewhere.
At Snowshoe, the greens were pretty challenging, I think. Most of them had a relatively steep drop-off and were on narrow trails.
The first couple of days, I was mostly just trying not to die. My priorities have changed a lot since I was in my 20s.
In my 20s, my priorities for skiing were:
1. Ski all the black diamonds by the end of the day.
2. Ski fast.
3. Turn roughly when I intend to turn.
4. Stop, or if I can't stop, slide to a stop somewhere near the lift line.
5. When I fall, try not to fall on anybody else, and try to keep the yardsale of gear nearby so it won't take me long to gather it up, put it back on and keep flying down the hill.
Now, my priorities are more like:
1. Don't get hurt.
2. Avoid injury.
3. Attempt not to cause myself or others bodily harm.
4. Endeavor to eschew anything that will result in pain.
5. Enjoy skiing.
So, the first two days I was trying to get myself back to where I could ski like I used to: with some semblance of control and ability to stop and turn. By day four, I was pretty much as good as I'd ever been and was really enjoying the greens. Each run might have 1 or 2 places where the hill got a little steep and I'd have to really work to keep my speed under control, but for the most part, I could practice staying parallel and controlling my speed.
On Saturday, I took Logan up to Mt. Holly to try out his new ski gear. His skis are MUCH longer than last year. I also had some concerns about his boots. However, the night before I had him put the boots on to make sure they weren't too big. I didn't know about the skis, though. If they were too long, they'd be hard to control and he might hurt himself.
So, first thing I did was hire an instructor for an hour. Unlike years prior, I paid extra so it would be a private lesson for the two of us. The instructor gave us some great guidance and stuff to work on and then we were on our own.
Mt. Holly, for a little local hill, is pretty nice. It's an hour and a half away from me. There's a closer one: Mt. Brighton, but Brighton is very, very small and very, very crowded. Much like local places near Cleveland like Brandywine. You spend most of your time dodging out of control kids on snowboards. The hill is small. It's sorta dangerous.
Last time I went to Holly, there were absolutely some hills there that were out of my reach, skill-wise. It's bigger, with more runs and is less populated than Mt. Brighton. For a skiier of my skill level at the time, I could have skied there a week and not gotten bored.
I was having difficulty controlling my skis all week and prior to the lesson. There are a lot of reasons for this. For one, they're giant slolom (GS) skis. Probably not appropriate for kid-dodging east of the Rockies. This means they're a little longer than typical recreational skis. Probably intended for folks who ski a little better than I did.
For another, the skis today have different technology than they did in the early 90s when I first tried skiing. The skis are parabolic, now, which makes them much easier to turn. Thing is, to get them to perform, you have to lean forward in your boots, which scares the heck out of me.
The instructor gave me basically one thing to work on: leaning forward in my boots. With the new parabolic skis, this is critical for engaging the front of the ski for turning.
Once I did this, everything that hadn't worked the prior week snapped right into place. My turn to the right was just as good as my turn to the left. I was able to get my skis left and right to dig them in to control speed on very steep grades.
By the mid-afternoon, Logan and I had safely slayed all the runs at Mt. Holly. And by early evening we were starting to get bored with them. My "too long" skis were not a problem at all. (Not at Holly, anyway. Next season, I will be looking for shorter skis. I just saw way too many skiers who probably weren't as good as me, handling much gnarlier stuff in Snowshoe because their skis were so much more nimble and easy to control.)
I thought back to the stuff that gave me fits at Snowshoe, and with my technique the way it is, now, none of it would be tricky at all for me. So, after 4 days in Snowshoe, I was as good as I ever was. After 1 lesson and a day at Mt. Holly, I'm a better skiier than I ever thought I would be.
I doubt I'll be going back to Snowshoe. Honestly, I loved it, but it's just too danged far. For me, it's like an 8 or 9 hour drive under good conditions. Also, a lot of the drive is winding single-lane roads. Boyne is only 4 and a half hours away and from what I can gather, is pretty much the same skiing as Snowshoe. So, my penciled in plan for next year is Boyne for a week with Logan. Depending on what happens with the job and the rest of my life, a trip out west is probably in the not-too-distant future.
I don't think Boyne has the fake village Disneyland atmosphere of Snowshoe, but that's okay. I liked being able to walk out the door of the hotel to a restaurant within a few yards, but honestly, although the food was usually good, the quality was insanely inconsistent. If I did it again, I'd take a cooler of food and nuke a breakfast sandwich and hit the slopes that much earlier. I'll probably follow that plan in Boyne.
Total damage (non financial) is a little tweak on the shoulder, knee and hip. The shoulder is still a little sore. Hip is fine, now. And knee is still just ever so slightly noticeable. All of this happened prior to the lesson. After the lesson, it was the most uneventful (in terms of falling down) skiing of my life. I should have done the lesson so much sooner. Unlike lessons in a lot of other things, the difference was instant and dramatic. I was ten times the skiier by the end of that day as I'd been when I showed up that morning.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Fit at 50 Day One
Weight: 194. (Yikes! A little more weight gain than I wanted, but nothing I can't work with.)
Breakfast:
500 mg. Vitamin C.
1000 mg. Fish Oil.
Centrum Multivitamin.
Orange Juice
3 eggs
5 strips turkey bacon
Coffee
Workout today? Run 2 miles on treadmill at Planet Fitness. 50 kettlebell swings.
Multiple workouts in a day have always worked for me. I have heard people give various theories on this. That it amps up your metabolism. Who knows. Maybe it does.
I usually shoot for multiple workouts during my normal days. One at lunch and one after work. (Usually weights at lunch and run or cardio after.) I don't do this on fencing nights, but fencing is a workout, too. I sweat a lot during fencing. I'm probably getting some fitness benefit from it.
So, that's the plan for today. Also, diet-wise, not much of a plan. Just trying to keep total carb count below 100 grams for the day. During December, that was just going to be flat-out impossible. I wasn't even going to try. But time to get back on it.
I'll check in at the end of the day to report how the actual went against the plan.
Breakfast:
500 mg. Vitamin C.
1000 mg. Fish Oil.
Centrum Multivitamin.
Orange Juice
3 eggs
5 strips turkey bacon
Coffee
Workout today? Run 2 miles on treadmill at Planet Fitness. 50 kettlebell swings.
Multiple workouts in a day have always worked for me. I have heard people give various theories on this. That it amps up your metabolism. Who knows. Maybe it does.
I usually shoot for multiple workouts during my normal days. One at lunch and one after work. (Usually weights at lunch and run or cardio after.) I don't do this on fencing nights, but fencing is a workout, too. I sweat a lot during fencing. I'm probably getting some fitness benefit from it.
So, that's the plan for today. Also, diet-wise, not much of a plan. Just trying to keep total carb count below 100 grams for the day. During December, that was just going to be flat-out impossible. I wasn't even going to try. But time to get back on it.
I'll check in at the end of the day to report how the actual went against the plan.
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