Myk's Tape

The mixtape isn't dead. I least I hope not. One site's trying to keep it alive. It's called Muxtape. If you know me, you know I love sharing my music taste with others, so I didn't hesitate to upload a few tracks. Check it out. Go to my site, click the first track and enjoy. Better yet, make your own and let me know about it.

My Favorite Natural Resource

Four days ago, while the in-laws were visiting, the water main to our sub-division broke during a storm. Charlie discovered this in the early morning. That meant no tap, no shower, no toilet flush, no laundry etc.. No big deal considering we could compensate. Charlie and I hit up the nearest grocery store for bottled water, the cheapest being $1.99 per gallon. We thought we'd hold off on showering; maybe use a little to wash our hands and face. As for the toilet, we'd let the yellow mellow and flush anything more solid.

Well, in less than six hours we were grimy and greasy, urine filled our toilets and the sink was piled with dirty dishes. However, we still managed to use over nine gallons of water. I then came to realize how much we took cheap, clean running water for granted. Seriously, I think we get it at quite an amazing bargain; especially considering in some parts of the world, when it comes to water that is cheap, clean and running, you're fortunate to get two out of three of those factors.

By the afternoon, I was so happy to get our service back, that I recorded this video.

Colorado Was A Blast

It was a much shorter trip than previous years, but we got in plenty of slope-time. The crew included four boarders (Hue, Sioux, Bill and Me), four skiers (Megan, Carl, Derek and Nicole), one guest boarder (Stephen) and one undecided (Milagra). We stayed at a Condo in Breckenridge. Being 9,600 feet above sea level really took the wind out of us. Most of us became out-of-breath from climbing one flight of stairs. ("I just flew in from sea level, and boy are my lungs tired!")

It snowed the first two days and we spent those days at the diversely-terrained Breckenridge. It snowed enough to created a pleasurable riding surface, but the visibility in the Horseshoe Bowl was non-existent (you could just as easily ride with your eyes closed) and an awesome run called The Burn, got nicknamed "Wind Burn." By the end of second day, things began to clear up and some of the best/ most challenging runes were between Peak 8 and the E Chair.

On the third day, we rose up to 14,000 feet to take on the legendary Arapahoe Basin. It was the first sunny day after continuous snowing and with very few skiers/boarders at A-Basin the place became powder-heaven. Unfortunately, that powder took out Nicole's knee, but the rest of us made tracks for the rest of the day. I declared that resort to be my favorite in Colorado.

We spent the last day at Vail. As opposed to the A-Basin, it was very crowded so it was more tracked out. However, by East Coast standards, Vail was still pleasurable to ride and the back bowls certainly didn't disappoint. Megan relaxed and took to the spa in the afternoon. Nicole and her wounded knee found more than enough shopping in Vail village.

What else did we do? Throw in a birthday dinner for Sioux, Texas Hold-em over hot chocolate and nightly use of our own hot tub, and I'd say we had a pretty complete vacation experience.

Photo documentation can be found here. As expected, the sunny day pictures at Arapahoe Basin turned out the best.

Would you prefer a slideshow?