Daily Archive for January 4th, 2009

Happy New Year

Published on January 4, 2009 in Meta. Closed

I realize I haven’t been writing much lately and I’ve probably said this before.  I’m now a homeowner, which has been taking up quite a bit of my time outside of work.  We also just bought a new car, trading in our two cars for just one.  For those interested, it’s a 2008 Subaru Legacy Outback 2.5i.  It’s quite a nice car and a good upgrade from the two we had (my 2003 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport and Susan’s 2002 VW Jetta GLS).  Unfortunately, I had to give up my manual transmission, but the change was worth it.  After only putting 2500 miles on Susan’s car in the last year and having to put several hundred dollars worth of work into it because it sat most of the time (I wasn’t really willing to drive it to work just to give it use, I hated it), we decided we had no need for 2 cars, but we couldn’t keep mine, the more utilitarian one, being a wagon, because Susan couldn’t comfortably drive it (the manual transmission being the main culprit).  We opted for a bigger car because there might be a possibility of a family someday and I firmly believe that cars are meant to be run until they die.  Well, that and the fact that when we go on trips, mine somehow got overfilled.

I’ve been drinking a lot of beer and spending time with friends and family over the holidays, which has taken up my time over the past couple weeks, being on vacation (though I go back to work tomorrow, ugh).

Anyway, here’s what to look for in 2009:

  • Updated WordPress – I’m planning on doing a full site update at some point.
  • More posts about beer.
  • Homebrewing! I’ll be getting equipment sometime this month and will hopefully brew my first batch by spring (style TBD, but possibly a porter or stout of some kind so Susan will let me continue brewing).
  • Cooking with beer – something I’ve wanted to do for a while and once we’re fully settled, I plan on doing some more cooking.
  • More on Providence and my new neighborhood – I plan on getting involved with Friends of Elmhurst.
  • Phish!!!! They’re back and I’ll be at some shows.
  • Local music – I hope to find some time to check out some more local music.
  • Technology – I want to use technology a bit more in my house, this might be a bit more long term than the next year, think 2-3 years.
  • Technology – Cell phone contract is up in April, plan on going the smart phone route and re-evaluating carriers.

I’m looking forward to 2009.  From what I’ve been reading, I’m the only one looking forward to it.  The economy still sucks, but I have hope it will pick up again.  It should be a good year for me as I should be able to start some new hobbies and continue with some old hobbies.  I’ll be going on a ski trip in February to Sunday River.  I’ll probably have some stuff to report about that as well (both about the skiing and the beer).  It should be fun.

So here’s to a great 2009!

A Day at Bretton Woods

Published on January 4, 2009 in Skiing. Closed

Susan and I went to Bretton Woods in New Hampshire a few days ago to go skiing and try out the new skis we bought in the fall.  It was a fairly crappy day for conditions, since temps were in the 50s and 60s the day or two before our arrival.  The sun was supposed to come out, but the clouds just hung over the mountains to the west, leaving us a kind of grey day with ice that never softened.

After taking a few easy runs to get used to the new skis (they’re more shaped and longer than my old skis, which were old rental skis I bought used), I ventured to the summit and did some more serious skiing.  Because of the conditions and the weather, a lot of the trails I was hoping to ski either weren’t open or had a very thin cover to the point where you could see grass and rocks.  I wasn’t about to take my new skis over rocks and grass.  I managed to ski about as much of the mountain as I was comfortable with before 11:00 (we arrived for first tracks at 8:00), getting in a good 10 runs.  I took a longer break then and went back out for a couple more runs before stopping for lunch as it was getting crowded and lift lines were long (it was empty until about 10:00-10:30).  After lunch, Susan decided she was done and I went out for another couple runs.  I skied to the summit lift and then ventured down.  After that run, my legs were like jelly and I had to call it quits or risk serious injury.

All in all, it was a good day.  We only paid half price because we had a free pass from the purchase of Susan’s skis.  It was worth what we paid, but I found most of the trails to be kind of boring.  I had only been to Bretton Woods once before on the day after Thanksgiving and they only had one run open.  This was better, but there wasn’t a whole lot of variety.  Cannon is still my favorite mountain and I’m sure I’ll like it even more with the new skis.  We’re hoping to get one more day of skiing in before our trip to Sunday River in February.