We've arrived!

After a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam, a quick connection, then a 90 minute flight into a very windy Vienna, we have arrived! We were able to catch some sleep on the plane, so it almost feels like we're on local time. The hotel is beautiful, it feels like we're staying in a palace. Our room has high ceilings, a beautiful chandelier, and two balconies that overlook the Kärntner Straße pedestrian mall. Serendipitously, it is also less than half a block from the school that Carrie studied at when she was here in college. More posts and pictures to come later...

And we're off!

It's an overcast day at SFO, but at least the torrential rains have
ceased for the day for us to get an on time departure. The picture is
of out baby blue KLM Boeing 777 that will whisk us away to Amsterdam,
final destination: Vienna.

European Babymoon

Tomorrow we jump on a plane to fly to Europe, where we'll be spending two weeks in Austria and the Czech Republic. Carrie had spent a semester studying abroad in Vienna and has always wanted to go back, so John surprised her with a babymoon for her 30th birthday! This is our itinerary:

- Saturday 01/26/08: Travel from San Francisco to Vienna, via Amsterdam on KLM
- Sunday 01/27/08: Arrive in Vienna, stay at the Ambassador Hotel
- Friday 02/01/08: Travel to Prague, stay at the Hotel Josef
- Monday 02/04/08: Travel to Salzburg, stay at the Hotel Wolf-Dietrich
- Thursday 02/07/08: Travel to Vienna, stay at the Hotel Sacher Wien
- Saturday 02/09/08: Travel from Vienna to San Francisco, via Amsterdam on KLM

We're very excited about the trip and will be blogging our way through Europe as internet access allows.

Forster and Kate come visit

Our good friends Brian and Kate came out to California to visit last week, flying on a promotional airfare from Virgin America. John didn't get MLK day off, but it worked out for Brian and Kate because they were able to use the holiday as a travel day and spend some time away from the NYC cold weather. Was great to see our friends, we spent a day wine tasting (picture here at Testarossa), went to see the Wings/Sharks game, and spent some time sightseeing up in San Francisco.

Amanda and Dan get married in Austin

We just got back from a fun filled weekend down in Austin, Texas, to see our friend Amanda get married. A good sized crew from the Bay Area travelled down for the event. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was an awesome party...we would expect nothing less from Amanda. We also got a chance to have some fun in and around the Austin area. 6th street, the UT campus, Jimmy John's, the Oasis at Lake Travis... Good times! Pictures from the weekend are posted up at Picasa.

It's a Girl!

Today was Carrie's four-month ultrasound, and thankfully the baby cooperated with the machine. Check out the video for a clip from the ultrasound, the pink or blue check is at 1:30. We are very excited for baby "Cortana". We hear the four nieces are thinking about what they're going to pass down. John is starting to shop for shotguns. Ultrasound pictures are posted up at Picasa.

Fischer Kehua Backcountry Freestyle Powder Skis

Details: 177cm, radii 20.0, sidecut 127/92/115mm, cut inlay base, sandwich construction, twin twip
Average retail price: $750
Conditions: Heavenly (Lake Tahoe), 20-30F, sunny, 20 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Expert out of bounds deep powder stash, groomed intermediate trails, advanced moguls with moderate powder coverage and ice interspersed, uneven chop on intermediate transitional merges
Review: As with many of the freestyle skis, this one's graphics were clean, but kind of boring. Obviously inspired by Pacific island culture, the tattoo art feels a little out of place on a ski, but whatever. I found it especially curious that it's such a *white* ski, which makes it very difficult to find in powder if you ever lose it. Performance-wise, these skis are a ton of fun, and were surprisingly much more versatile than I expected. They did a very good job at floating on top of the powder, but were also extremely stable at speed on conduroy, responsive and quick in the mogul fields, and calmly predictable through uneven chop. The only place they may have slightly faltered was in the really deep, heavy powder, where they produce a "bounce" effect. As the skis float you over the snow, they kind of bounce you out, forcing you into a turn, or a weird seasick feeling if you want to straightline. This is probably a good thing when carving long lines of s-turns, but is pretty brutal on the quads if you don't to turn as much, or want to try and stop for a break. Overall powder performance not quite as good as the Volkl Gotomas.
Score (scale of 1-3): 3 - Loved them, really versatile, would probably prefer to buy the Gotomas instead though.

Skiing in Tahoe

Is it coincidence, or an indicator of great power? Both last season and this season, the first time that John went up to Tahoe, he was met with an epic snowstorm. The entire Wei family congregated in Tahoe this holiday season for a few days of skiing which happened to coincide with over 20" of fresh powder...the first major snowstorm this season. We all had a great time either skiing Heavenly and carving first tracks, or cruising through Heavenly Village and checking out the great shopping.

A bun in the oven

Somebody mentioned the other day that John had a twinkle in his eye. lol. Our big announcement for the year is that Carrie's pregnant! The bundle of joy is due on June 18, 2008. That's a Gemini, year of the Rat, for those who are counting. Twins do run in the family, but the ultrasound is only showing one for now. :) We find out pink or blue next month, and we'll keep everybody posted on progress here.

Sloane playing soccer

As many people close to us know, sometimes this blog is just a forum for John to show off us sick photography skillz. Occasionally, this also intersects with an actual event or purpose for the pictures. A couple weeks back, our niece Sloane had a playoff game for her soccer team, and we were there to watch the game, cheer her on, and get some great pictures. Sloane is the goalie and had a bunch of really great stops. The full photo album is here: Sloane Playoff Soccer

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is John's favorite holiday of the year, and this year we had a little party at the house, decorated, and gave out lots of candy. We are slowly establishing ourselves as the "cool" house to trick-or-treat at. This is the third year that we've given out full size candy (not the "fun size")...peanut M&Ms, Fun Dip, Starburst and Nerds. We also setup the projector to display out the front window, which brought a lot of visitors to figure out how it was working. As per tradition for our holiday party, we had "scary spaghetti" and then some awesome chocolate fondue for dessert. Carrie's dressed as a bunny, John (if it's not obvious) is dressed as a guy riding on Frankenstein's shoulders.

Scuba Diving in Cozumel

Still catching up on blog posts. Back in October, we had a chance to getaway to Cozumel, Mexico, to do some relaxing and scuba diving. Cozumel is perhaps North America's most famous dive spot, home to the world's second largest reef system (next to the Great Barrier Reef). They have some unique wildlife, but are most known for their coral formations, many of which are like tunnels that you can swim through. Our good friends Julie and Pete met us there for the week, and all had a great time diving and soaking up the pleasures at the fancy all-inclusive resort. Check out the entire photo album here: Cozumel Pics

John's First Published Photograph

If you're at Border's or Barnes and Noble this month, look in the Lifestyle section of the magazine rack for a copy of eldr magazine. John has a photo of his friend, Peter Chang, published on the contributors page (page 8). This marks John first photograph ever published and credited, in a major (relatively) publication nevertheless! The magazine itself is a little bizarre (Celebrate Aging!), but the honor is nonetheless exciting. Peter and John were both on the last trip to China, and the picture is one that John took of Peter at an old fort along the Great Wall. Peter is a professional photographer, whose work is featured in this month's issue of eldr, and asked John for the original image to use as his profile picture.

John's Birthday Tailgate

We have season tickets for the 49ers, so we spend many of our fall Sundays at Candlestick Park. John's birthday fell on a home game this year, so Carrie threw a huge birthday tailgate to celebrate. Was great to hang out with a bunch of our friends, and there was a ridiculous amount of delicious food. The game kind of fell flat, but at least the 49ers stayed close for the entire game!

Kyle and Tina's Wedding

Our friends Kyle and Tina got married at the end of September and John got to be in the wedding party. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend down in SoCal. Managed to not play horribly at the pre-wedding golf outing. The wedding was beautiful, and Kyle and Tina planned some fun things for the reception that were a little different. Good times.

Danny's Baptism

Our very good friends, Julie and Dave, had their son Danny baptised back in September. Was a very nice day, Danny was a good boy the whole time and really enjoyed getting dunked. Carrie is the godmother and Julie's brother Michael is the godfather. I mainly just wanted to show off my mad photography skillz.

Catching up...Labor Day

We've been away from the blog for quite a while, mainly because we haven't had that many grand adventures. We have been having fun though... Over Labor Day, the Polhemus clan came down for a barbeque. The nieces always have fun playing with each other. The rest of the pictures are posted to Picasa.

Campbell Farmer's Market

We go to the Campbell Farmer's Market almost every Sunday, as it's one of the best farmer's markets in the area, and it runs year round. There's a Russian guy with a crepe stand who makes the most amazing crepes...light batter, spinach, feta, cheddar, tomatoes, onion, sauteed mushrooms, lemon juice, yum! At any rate, this little girl was standing in front of me in line waiting to get a crepe yesterday. The technology elite just get younger and younger... (No, that's not my iPhone...)

Polysomnography Sleep Staging

As anybody who has ever shared a room (or a cabin for that matter) with me, you know that I've got some snoring issues. So after years of sounding like "trucks downshifting on the freeway", my doc decided that it might be a good idea to get tested for sleep apnea, a sleep condition that could potentially be fatal in rare cases. Everybody cautioned me about the sleep study and gave very precise descriptions of how much stuff would be hooked up...mental note: when people overly caution and repeatedly ask, "do you know what to expect?" you may want to be somewhat more tentative. It wouldn't have changed much I guess, I just didn't totally realize how ridiculously I'd be wired up. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much. But hopefully they got some good data...

Shiny new iPhone

John is the proud owner of a shiny new iPhone. And not just because of the "hype." Anybody who knows my cell phone usage will attest to the fact that I've always chosen practical phones that delivered the best solution and value, and that I've always kept my phones until they fell apart. I passed on the RAZR because it didn't add any new functionality (just smaller form factor), and passed on the Treo and Blackberry smartphones because I have not had a pressing need for slow and flaky internet access when Google SMS has served all my mobile information needs just fine. However, since AT&T and Cingular merged about 2 years ago, I've been shopping for a new phone because all 4 phones on our family cell phone plan are using old SIM cards on the legacy network. We can't get many AT&T/Cingular features until we upgrade to new SIM cards on the new network, so I've been waiting 2 years for a good time to upgrade.

The iPhone, is the phone I've been waiting 10 years for. All other phones on the market suffer from, in my opinion, an engineering atrocity...they all have keypads. Keypads, in general, are useless. Phones are primarily used for making and receiving phone calls, and with the advent of cell phones and built-in address books, almost nobody actually dials phone numbers anymore. How many of your friends and families' phone numbers do you remember by heart? Probably only a handful, because you call everybody from the address book. Therefore the keypad is just wasted space when it could be a soft-keyboard only when you need to call a number not already stored. Wasted keypad space means all other phones on the market are either twice as thick, twice as long, twice as heavy, or have a screen half as big as it could be, depending on what your priorities are. The iPhone is the first phone in the US market that does an acceptable job at eliminating the wasted keypad. And contrary to reports that the soft keypad is wonky, it actually works pretty well, and gets easier as you use it more. I certainly don't find it any harder than Carrie's Blackberry, the keys are actually bigger. If they're too small, you can flip the screen, and the keys get twice as big (almost full size)! Thanks to no keypad, it's very compact. It's as long as my old Motorola V551, as thin as Carrie's Motorola RAZR, and less wide than a Blackberry. There's been plenty published about people's thoughts. Here's some of my own thoughts from a real-life tech person that you all know:

- Multi-touch, multi-orientation screen: Revolutionary interface makes navigation a pleasure. "Flicking" is very intuitive for scrolling, and squeezing and stretching to zoom makes a much larger effective screen area that's easy to move around. Combined with the screen that automatically switches between portrait and landscape when you flip it, makes the photo browsing application the best I've ever seen or used (and I've used them all).
- Cell phone: Best cell phone I've ever had. Super complete and easy to navigate addressbook (includes all details from Outlook Contacts, including notes and birthdays). Visual voicemail is revolutionary (pick and listen to voicemails like you read your email). SMS texting interface is revolutionary (displays like an IM chat window, so you can follow the whole thread). Touch screen interface makes it trivial to conference call, swap calls, un-conference, check menus, use speakerphone, all in-call. A counterpoint, however, is that AT&T still has its head up its butt. It took me a full week to get my phone (despite promises of 1-2 business days). And it took over 3 hours and 5 agents over the span of 3 days to get the phone activated, working correctly, and the rate plan set up properly.
- iPod: Eliminates the need to carry my iPod-mini. Apple is right that it's the best iPod they've ever made. Works iPod functionality like any other iPod, except that you can now scroll through your albums by album art like in iTunes, very pretty. Perfectly integrated with the phone...songs fade out when a call comes in, the included headphones even have a built-in mike to answer the call...music comes back on when you hang up. It uses the same iPod interface as all the other ones, so the docking station, car chargers, USB cables I have now are all still useful.
- Portable video: Eliminates the need to carry my Creative Zen Vision M (a video iPod like hard-drive based video player). With 8GB of storage space, I have enough room to carry a dozen full-length DVDs with me to watch on the airplane. The beautiful 3.5" 16:9 320x480 screen is more than big enough to enjoy movies on the go, and "airplane mode" allows you to turn off the radio devices to watch on the plane. Battery life is up to 7 hours when watching a movie, so plenty of time to be entertained.
- PDA: Eliminates the need to carry my Palm Pilot. With auto sync'ing to Outlook Contacts and Calendar, I have all my business information available at all times. The Contacts sync'ing is impeccable, though I do wish I had some more control over the sync. It currently pulls all your contacts from Outlook, I'd like to filter it by Category (personal, business, etc.) Also, to be fair, I haven't gotten the calendar sync to work correctly yet. iTunes (the way you sync everything) currently does not handle recurring meetings nicely and bombs. [UPDATED 07/26/07] iTunes now syncs the calendar correctly. In response to numerous support calls, Apple posted several troubleshooting steps, a re-install of iTunes fixed it for me. One hopes a fix for this is coming. iTunes has been smart enough to realize that I only want Contacts and Calendar from my work laptop, and that I only want music, photos and video from my personal desktop.
- Web device: It's the only smartphone with a full-featured web browser, so you can read webpages as they are designed, not just the watered-down mobile sites. And it has POP3, IMAP and Exchange access to hook into mail systems. I use gmail, so it hooks up to that decently, albeit slightly wonky, because gmail isn't a traditional mail service. I don't need my work email, so I haven't tried that yet. Web browsing over the cellular EDGE network is adequate, though painfully slow. But the iPhone hooks into Wi-Fi networks as well (unlike most smartphones), which speeds it up exponentially. There isn't a chat application though, which frankly, sucks. It's a big gap in the device functionality to not hook into AIM, Yahoo IM, or MSN messenger. Not a deal breaker since the SMS interface is so good (and 200 messages/month are free), but not real super. The SMS interface displays text messages like an IM window, which makes it much easier to track a conversation. Currently though, the iPhone does not support MMS. Which means no sending and receiving picture messages, oddly enough. You can email them back and forth, but the POP3 interface is a bit wonky, and means you can only communicate with email accounts (not most cell phones).
- Customization: There's some interesting glaring omissions in the iPhone's functionality which may be fixed moving forward. Though you can use any photo for contacts and wall paper, the same is not true for ringtones. So far you can only use the built-in ring tones (which all kind of suck), even though you have a whole library of mp3's loaded on the device. Also, there are no 3rd party applications available yet, though Apple has said they plan to open it up. [UPDATED 07/25/07] An application has just been released that converts mp3's to ringtones and lets you push it straight to your iPhone. Trick. It actually works! Also, 3rd party applications are starting to appear...most are enabled via Safari, but at least one legitimate iPhone binary has been published and works. +1 for the iPhone.
- Wow factor: This is, without question, the coolest device on the market. It's cool to look at it, cool to play with, cool to use, and cool to show off. It's public awareness is so pervasive that nobody is ambivalent about it. Every single person is aware of what it is, and either loves it or hates it. Which makes it very exciting to be a part of.
- Price: The iPhone service is just another $20/month for the unlimited data plan (and include 200 SMS messages), which is actually less than most carriers' Blackberry plans for smartphones. The voice service will work with any existing AT&T voiceplan (which I've been a customer of for 8 years). For $599, the hardware price is a little steep for a cell phone. But it integrates a cell phone, an iPod, a Zen, a Palm Pilot, and a web browser all into one. It's really more of an ultra-mobile laptop than a cell phone. And seeing as I haven't bought a new computer in 13 years, this seems like a long overdue purchase.
- Summary: Overall, I'd rate the current iPhone a 8.5/10.0 (UPDATED 07/25/07). It has the potential to reach 9.0/10.0 if it fixes a few things: Outlook Calendaring, IM client, ringtones, 3rd party apps.

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta

As many of you know, I am an avid Xbox gamer. And as all Xbox owners know, Halo is the killer app for the platform. Halo 3 is launching in late September, but for the last couple of weeks, some Halo fans have had the opportunity to beta test the multiplayer part of the game. It's been a riot, the game is a ton of fun. There have been some very memorable games, one of which was a perfect game I had. I didn't die, my team cleared our objectives perfectly without giving up a score, and I led the entire team to victory. With Halo 3, there is a new "saved videos" feature that allows you save your game and watch it later. I've posted this perfect game on YouTube so everyone can share in my glorious victory. :)

1,100 miles

Well, I'm finally home from my East Coast tour. Home-basing out of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I drove all over the eastern seaboard this week, braving heavy rains, snow, high winds and storms. In total, I logged over 1,100 miles on my little Pontiac G6 rental car, across 7 different states. You can actually see from the map just how wide ranging my travels were. I kind of miss the GPS lady in my trusty Hertz Neverlost navigation system...

Dover Township, NJ

Ever since Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle came out in 2004, I've had a craving for those delicious little cheeseburgers. But unfortunately, just as in the movie, the hallowed grounds of White Castle restaurants are very elusive...existing in only a handful of states in the northeast and midwest. Thanks to the power of GPS navigation with integrated phone books, I was able to find a White Castle relatively close by to my driving route today, only 2 extra hours out of my way. Seems long considering my original destination was only 30 minutes away, but it's more reasonable when you consider this is the closest I've been to a White Castle in 3 years. A long drive through the Jersey countryside and a couple hundred miles later, I had my hands on those delicious cheeseburgers that made Harold so heady that he became a new man, and that made Kumar finally realize his life purpose.

Southampton, PA

My original plan was to visit Steph and JJ in Southampton last week, but Steph up and had her baby instead. So we rescheduled for today... I got a chance to visit them at their beautiful new house in Southampton, hang out with Kaden (their 2 year old in the picture), get some home cooked grub from JJ's mom, AND watch Planet Earth over FiOS on their shiny new plasma HDTV. The 6-day old peanut was funny to watch, but I decided that bath time was my cue to exit and head home.

Philadelphia, PA

I was sitting around with Dave and Heidi this morning (in Fairfax, VA) having breakfast, and we were chatting about what we felt like doing today. Since the East Coast is getting hammered by a Nor'easter right now, we decided the best thing to do would be to head over to Philadelphia to get some delicious cheesesteaks. 2.5 hours later, we arrived at Pat's King of Steaks, where the cheesesteak was invented by Pat Oliveri in 1930. (Note Dave's drink in picture, we are not at Pat's.) Dave, Heidi and I all had a very delicious cheesesteak at Pat's, but noticed that there was another restaurant across the street called Geno's. Though Pat Oliveri was the first to put chopped up steak on hoagie rolls, Joe Vento of Geno's was the first to actually put cheese on such a sandwich, the key ingredient in said sandwiches. So Dave and I looked at each after finishing our sandwiches, shrugged, laughed, and then headed across the street to have another cheesesteak at Geno's. lol. Heidi, of course, just shook her head, not so surprised. We also ran up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (like in Rocky, the original movie), saw a secret Freemason meeting at Independence Hall, checked out the Liberty Bell, and cruised around the very unique and very cool sports complex (with venues for the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers). Good times on a spontaneous day trip before I dropped the two of them off at the train station to send them back home.

Fairfax, VA

After aforementioned ridiculously long drive down south, I've arrived in Fairfax, home of very good friends, Dave and Heidi. I get to hang out here for the weekend, catch up on 8 years of life, stay in their beautiful home, and do some sightseeing. Fairfax is a pleasant suburb just out of Washington, D.C. ("the District"), and apparently a pretty good central location for us to cruise around to fun places nearby. We headed into Arlington for lunch today to hit the Hard Times Cafe, a cool little chili joint here where Dave got some Chili Mac (pictured), and Heidi and I got chili dogs. YUM. Also got to visit Georgetown, see the waterfront (complete with a regatta and rowing teams, just like in the movies!), the historical landmarks in "the District," and grab dinner at Zatinya, a cool tapas place downtown. Good times.

Long Island, New York

After an epic raging bender in Manhattan, I figured I'd head across the river to Long Island and visit Yo, who's hanging out there for a few weeks after interning in SoNo, but before heading home to California. Just a quick visit to the L.I., because my final destination today was Fairfax, VA, near Washington, D.C. The GPS unit in the rent-a-car said it should have been just over a 4 hour drive. But due to the bender from the previous night and me getting a slightly late start to the day, I didn't get out of Long Island until almost 5pm. On a Friday night. With only one route available to get off the Island. I discovered NYC traffic, took me 3.5 hours just to get out of New York City. In total, nearly 8 hours to get to Fairfax. Thankfully, 5 Red Bulls later, I made it awake and alert. And kept Heidi up long enough to get some Taco Bell. Yum! No, the picture has nothing to do with Long Island, but I didn't end up taking any pictures out there. But I did like this picture that I took while walking around in Manhattan.

Manhattan, New York

After the customer meeting in Philly, my first stop on the whirlwind is Manhattan, New York, home of Forster. And what else would Forster and I do with only one night to hang out together? Party! The included picture on the left is the two of us after about 20 beers each. Forster: "Yeah, I'm about done with this." Wei: "Time for Indian food!" The beers were a great idea. The Indian food...less so. When we finally turned in at 6am (after getting Indian food and then watching some Team America), I crashed out to treasure the 2.5 hours of sleep I would grab before arising to tackle the next day.

Malvern, Pennsylvania

Today, I'm out in Malvern, Pennsylvania for a customer meeting with Unisys. This kicks off a week-long East Coast tour where I'll be cruising around and visiting friends, while getting ready for another meeting with Unisys next week. Malvern is a suburb about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. The weather here is 45F and rainy. Makes me miss the absence of weather in California. Rain is so inconvenient. Then again, with temps this cold, it means the salsa and wine that I brought for friends will stay fresh without a need for refrigeration. lol.

It's alive!

Haven't had much to post about lately. Did recently discover a clever website related to the Xbox 360. Because Xbox Live provides a persistent on-line interface for the Xbox, 360voice.com has linked into the service to breathe life into Xbox 360's. Check out the blog being "written" by John's Xbox: gtdroptop

All NZ/Oz Photos Posted

Unfortunately, despite it's slick interface and useful tools, Picasa and Picasaweb just didn't have the storage capacity to hold all of our vacation pictures. So I've moved them all back to my regular location on Snapfish. We've now posted all of our New Zealand and Australia pictures on-line in 3 different collections. Check them out and enjoy!
- New Zealand
- Sydney
- Uluru and Cairns

Photo Album #4 Posted

I've posted the fourth album from our trip, this one is from the few days that we spent in Ayers Rock/Uluru. A very mystical place in the middle of the desert, we got a real feeling for what the Outback is like, and a good taste of Aboriginal culture. Some pictures from our 5am sunrise walk around the base of Uluru...a 5 hour hike where it was 120F in the shade. Pictures here: Uluru

Master sushi chef

So, I hear a friend of mine has MAD skillz at making sushi. Alas, I can't share this deliciousness with everyone, but you can virtually submit your opinion here: Sushi chef

Photo Album #3 Posted

I've posted the third album from our trip to the South Pacific. This one includes 135 pictures from all over Sydney. There is everything we saw in the city, at the various wildlife parks, the sunny beaches, the famous Blue Mountains, the Sydney Opera House where we saw Handel's Messiah, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which Carrie got to climb. The photo album is here: Sydney

Ben in town for skiing

John's brother, Ben, is finishing up med school and will be spending the next couple of months in Taiwan on a hospital rotation. Since he had to fly through San Francisco anyway, he was able to swing an extended layover in the Bay Area to do some skiing. There wasn't much snow, but we still had a great time. Our friends Kevin and Lora joined us on the slopes at Sugarbowl as well. In the picture, you can see Ben and Carrie sporting their stunna shades.

1,000 little Dixie cups

I have to give the guys credit, they came up with an original idea. To be honest, I would have felt unloved if I came back from sabbatical with no prank waiting for me, I just wasn't expecting something quite this messy. My first day back in the office was started off by discovering 1,000 little Dixie cups on my desk, all stapled together, and mostly filled with water. And my co-workers, being the cost-conscious people that they are, made sure to save a few pennies by buying the cheapest cups available. Which meant that by the time I arrived, the cups were already starting to melt and leak everywhere. Let's just say that it was non-trivial to get my day started today.

New snow in Jackson Hole!

Carrie flew out to join in the fun in Jackson Hole over the weekend. Carrie's arrival also means an upgrade in accommodations from the Hostel to the luxurious Teton Mountain Lodge
(4.5 stars), new snow (3 inches) and warmer temperatures (+16F).

K2 Apache Recon All-Mountain Skis

Details: 174cm, radii 18.0, sidecut 119/76/105mm, fir/aspen core, traditional shape
Average retail price: $649
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero overcast, 3 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, 3-6 inches accumulation of soft fresh over hardpack.
Review: This ski has clean graphics, in line with K2's tradition. I was however, very disappointed by their performance. Spent all day on the intermediate and advanced groomers, which chunked up through the day as the top layer was pushed off, and then new snow started building up mid-day. Granted, they were shorter than previous skis demo'd this week, but that should have made them more responsive. Instead, they felt clumsy and unresponsive. The Recons were light enough to turn pretty easily, but they carved poorly, and had a hard time holding their edge. Unlike the Volkl AC3's which were very confident in all conditions, the Recons were all over the place in the wide range of snow pack.
Score (scale of 1-3): 1 - Hated these, expected more from K2, would not buy them.

Pwn'd!!

The diagram you see in the picture articulates the details of just exactly how this narrow chute pwn'd me today. Granted, it's my own fault for turning into a gnarly looking chute on a low-snow coverage day, but who would guess that a marked trail on the map would be so hairy, or that the stream running straight through the middle was still running, despite the -10F temperatures?
1.) This is where my right ski nose-dived into a soft spot under the hard crust and popped off.
2.) This is the imprint of where my head was introduced to the hardpack after I was launched out of my right ski. Notice, no trail between points 1 and 2, that's all air-time, baby! (Loving my new helmet at this point!)
3.) This is where my body impacted after rotating over my head, creating the bounce for my next air.
4.) This is where I landed for the slide along hardpack before coming to a rest where the picture is taken. Notice again, no trail between points 3 and 4, more air-time, baby!
5.) This is the arduous climb back up to point #1, where my ski was. It's about 30 feet from my final resting place to my ski. Took about 25 minutes, because it's a 45+ degree slope with only a thin crusty layer of the snow, and 5 feet of soft stuff underneath. Kind of like trying to climb in quicksand.
And that's only one of my adventures today. Also came face first with aforementioned freezing cold stream, rode every single lift on the entire mountain, took the 4 lifts and 45 minutes (now that the tram is closed for replacement) to the top peak of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, experienced JHMR's famous 4,400 vertical foot top-to-bottom run (20 minutes, all black or double-blue runs), and rode a couple of JHMR's famous super-steep runs.
Took two days and some adjustments to my boots, but finally got my ski legs back and got to see everything this mountain has to offer.

Volkl AC3 Titanium All-Mountain Skis

Details: 184cm, radii ~19.5, sidecut 118/76/104mm, extended wood core, traditional shape
Average retail price: $899
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero mostly sunny, 0 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, off-trail advanced in-bounds bumps with chunky, unpredictable conditions.
Review: After fighting with the twin tips all morning, I switched to the Volkl AC3's for the afternoon and the difference was night and day. They aren't overly shaped, allowing for cruising the groomers with gentle, large radius turns. It has some fancy technology, but it felt nicely stiff to me, holding its edge very confidently with zero chatter, and extremely stable at speed. The graphics are a little boring and generic, but that's once of the tradeoffs with an all-mountain ski intended for the masses. I enjoyed these so much, that I'm keeping them for tomorrow, which looks to be another groomer day, as this afternoon's snow showers never really materialized. I can't quite stomach $900 for a pair of skis when I rarely get more than 10 days on the mountain in a season, half of which are spent snowboarding now. And honestly, as confident as these skis are on the groomers, they are not a $900 improvement over my K2 Four's, which are very happy on groomer days.
Score (scale of 1-3): 3 - Very fun current-gen ski, would buy as a replacement/upgrade to outdated or broken skis

Salomon Teneighty Gun Twin Tip Powder Skis

Details: 188cm, radii 12.8/15.5/18.6/22.2, sidecut 130/94/123mm, Isocell complex core, twin tip
Average retail price: $699
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero mostly sunny, 0 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, off-trail advanced in-bounds bumps with chunky, unpredictable conditions, intermediate terrain park with table tops and big air features.
Review: My biggest complaint about these skis is the sizes that they come in: 154/164/174/188cm. A 14cm jump is a big gap, I chose the 188cm, the closest to my normal K2's at 183cm, but they felt a little big. This was definitely not the day to be on powder skis, but I wanted to take some twin tips into the park to see what they were like. The Guns struggled on the groomers, requiring more than average effort to carve, suffering from a lot of ski chatter, with huge loss of stability at speed. When carving GS-radius turns, the Guns constantly feel like they want to run away on you, in almost every direction. In the terrain park, they were stable enough at the lower speeds, but with the hardpack conditions, I didn't feel it prudent to throw any reverse tricks. It's hard to compare these to the Volkl's because they were tested in such different conditions. But on price and graphics alone, I choose the Volkl's. Baby blue just isn't a very sexy color for $700 skis.
Score (scale of 1-3): 2 - Kind of indifferent, would not buy

Volkl Gotoma Twin-Tip Powder Skis

Details: 183cm, radii 25.9/28.5, sidecut 133-105-124mm, sensorwood core, twin tip
Average retail price: $679
Conditions: Kirkwood (Lake Tahoe) white-out blizzard conditions, 18 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Freshly powdered (normally groomed) intermediate trails, off-trail advanced tree skiing, out-of-bounds hiking.
Review: This is the first time I have skiied a non-K2 ski in over 15 years, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. These are the same length as my 10-year old K2 Four shaped skis (advanced for their time), but with their 103-70-93mm dimensions, the K2's have been failing miserably at keeping me above powder as of late. With about 40% more surface area, the Volkl's floated above the "Sierra cement" effortlessly. On the wide trails, I had a blast tearing through 6-12 inches of powder, and in the trees it was no harder to carve tight turns in 18-24 inches. At almost $700, these are out of my price range for a niche ski when we have so few powder days in Tahoe, but at $54 for a demo day, they were a dream to ski on.
Score (scale of 1-3): 3 - Loved them, would buy if I had 4 or more powder days a season

Temps are warming up!

The good news is that the temperature warmed up today. The bad news is that it was still only -11F when the lifts opened this morning. Here, you can see me in my full storm gear. For those of you wondering, yes, the Camelback tube that feeds water from my pack freezes in these temperatures. In about 10-15 minutes, actually. I've been having fun demo'ing the latest in ski technol0gy, I'll post some notes about what I've thought about the skis that I've tried. Since the airlines will only let me bring my snowboard or my skis (not both), I chose to just fly with my snowboard and demo skis on my ski days here.

Free lift ticket at Jackson Hole...w00t!

Yes, that is a picture of John, mid-mountain at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort from today. Yes, I was in Campbell this morning. Yes, it's true, even with my entire week in Tahoe and this afternoon in Jackson Hole, I have yet to pay for a lift ticket this season. w00t! It took 10 hours from door to snow, 2 cancelled flights, a 3 hour layover, but trading in my boarding pass for a free lift ticket at the ticket window and carving turns when everybody else is stuck in meetings pretty much makes it all worthwhile. I'm here until Sunday, anybody want in?

Carrie's birthday

This week was Carrie's birthday week, happy birthday, Carrie! We celebrated on Thursday by going to La Fondue for some yummy dessert and then on Saturday by taking a Hummer stretch limo with a bunch of our friends up to wine country. The Hummer was fun, it had a flat screen TV in the partition and 9 other small screens throughout the interior cabin, and was big enough to provide a cozy fit all 18 of us. We visited Michel-Schlumberger - our wine club winery - and had some yummy beef stew paired with their great Pinot Noir and a library tasting of several Cabernet Sauvignon's, including their delicious '99 vintage. From there, we headed over to David Coffaro, a cool winery specializing in Italian varietals, and enjoyed their 10-foot front projection hi-def screen showing the NFL playoff games, their popcorn machine, and the mini cheeseburgers that were coming off the grill. For dessert, we visited Geyser Peak (where the photo is taken) and got to sample several different chocolates paired with yummy dessert wines. We finished the day of wine tasting at Stryker Sonoma, where they had some super yummy paella, really outstanding Zinfandel's, and some Bordeaux varietals. The limo then brought us back home where Mondo Burrito catered a huge burrito bar for us and everybody decompressed before heading back to their respective homes.

Photo Album #2 Posted

I've posted the second photo album from our trip, this one includes pictures from Queenstown in New Zealand. There are 115 pictures showing us doing stuff in the city, at the Minus 5 ice bar, Milford Sound, riverboarding, canyoning, on the Shotover jet boat, going over to Walter Peak Station, and taking the Lord of the Rings Tour. Enjoy the pictures here: New Zealand

Holiday DVD Sneak Preview!

I've posted a 15 minute video with highlights of our liveaboard dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef, near Cairns, Australia. It's edited out so that it's just footage of us and the cool things we saw. All of the divers that are recognizable are us, there are a few divers in the background from time to time, those are other people from the trip. The easiest way to identify us is by our fins. John wears bright yellow split fins, and Carrie wears red split fins. This will be on our holiday DVD this year, but as usual, that's late. So this is a sneak preview!

Photo Album #1 Posted

Because there are just SO many pictures, we'll start posting them episodically so that it's not so overwhelming. The first album is up and has 31 photos chronicling our travels from Campbell, CA, to the San Francisco airport, a connection in Los Angeles, the flight to Auckland in New Zealand, the ferry ride, and then the two days we spent on Waiheke Island, before hopping on a jet down to Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand. Check it out here: Waiheke Island

Epic snow

So winter has finally arrived in the form of a huge snowstorm that made for an epic snow day up here in Lake Tahoe. We got more than 18" of fresh snow today, along with below freezing temperatures, translating into incredible skiing. The roads were horrendous...25 yard visibility at times, total white out conditions, chains or 4WD required on ALL roads, and idiots thinking the 25 mph chain control speed limit is for decoration. But the skiing made it all worthwhile. With whiteout conditions on the slope and 17F temps at the summit, I had on full storm gear including my new fleece hood/face mask and got to use my clear Oakley lenses for the first time since I got them two years ago (woot!). Because my 10-year old K2 Four's can no longer cut it in the powder, I demo'd a pair of Volkl fat twin-tip powder skis and had an awesome day surfing on top of the fluffy stuff. Made a wrong turn once and went O.B., resulting in a 35 minute hike up hill in chest deep snow to get back on the trail...but fun nevertheless. ;-D (Updated 1/7/07 with picture of Explorer covered in 6 hours worth of snow at Kirkwood, halfway dug out.)

Kirkwood

It's warm and sunny out, it hasn't snowed in over a week, what does that mean for mountain conditions? Hard pack most everywhere on top of an ice layer from the continual melting and refreezing everyday, unpredictable chunk in the trees and steeps, and corduroy groomers everywhere else. A perfect day for snowboarding on the blues. After fighting with my boots in the morning (they'd stiffened up after a long off-season), had a great afternoon cruising the groomers until the wind picked up and they started icing over. Loving the new Giro Fuse helmet that Carrie got me for Christmas and my new Under Armour thermals. Even with the super warm weather, I stayed comfortably regulated all day...yay!

South Lake Tahoe

Unfortunately, I forgot my CF card adapter, so no pictures until Friday when I'm home again. Up in South Lake Tahoe this week, and the weather is beautiful. About 40F at night, and up to 55F during the day. It's almost *too* nice (makes for bad snow), but that's ok, the sun is nice. And I get to try out my shiny new helmet that I got for Christmas...very exciting! I'm staying at one of our favorite gambling destinations in South Lake - The Lakeside Inn and Casino - which has super cheap gambling, and cheap rooms...bonus!

John's January Travels

Happy New Year! Hoping everybody had a fun and safe New Year's Eve, and wishing everybody a great 2007. Just an update for anybody who might be interested in joining John on his adventures in January. Here are the dates and places:

• 2-5 : South Shore Lake Tahoe, NV
• 13 : Winter Wineland Sonoma County, CA
• 16-21 : Jackson Hole, WY
• 22 : Back in the office (sadly)