holy sh#t.

welcome to 2009.

it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas

christmas has come to the ’skis residence this week:

we bought our christmas tree on thursday and decorated for the holiday.  please note the following items:  a yule log dvd, the et statue, and the necktie tree skirt.

you see, most of our christmas decorations have a story behind them, which makes decorating for christmas so much fun.   our tree ornaments are typically ornaments that people have given to us as gifts or we have bought on vacations.  for example, we have a maker’s mark ornament from our trip to the kentucky derby and we have a beer mug ornament from a trip to germany.  each time we hang an ornament on the tree we are reminded of fun trips or memories.

last year, i received two new additions to the ’skis christmas decor collection: the necktie tree skirt and an ET statue.  i needed a tree skirt (not like the generic felt one we bought at wal-mart for $2) and my mom made a skirt out of old neckties from the men in our family.  the ET statue came from brother and his wife…. i was absolutely TERRIFIED of ET when i was growing up (ok, still harbor some fear today) and my brother thought it would be fun to torture me with….i mean, remember…..all those great memories of my childhood by giving me a 2 foot statue of ET.   in this picture, he’s standing guard over our christmas tree.

last, but not least, is the yule log.  it’s fantastic.  you need to rush out and get one.

happy holidays everyone!

palin for vp

well, well, well…..  the ’skis coverage of sarah palin’s politcal career on this blog has proven rather prophetic.

obviously, we have been fans of sarah palin and have followed her career since she first came into the scene in 2006.  i knew should would be a rising star in the republican party, however i didn’t realize it would come this soon.   mccain shocked the campaign trail today by picking sarah palin for his running mate this fall.   mccain’s vp pick surprised the pundits and woke up the obama cult from their hypnotic trance after last night’s teleprompted speech.

palin is a risky pick.  but we like it.  she is a maverick and fits mccain’s “brand.”  mccain is sticking with his message of reform by picking her as a running mate.  they will have to answer to attacks about her inexperience, but obama has his own issues with that charge. 

one thing is certain — this election just became one of the most interesting elections in history.   props to both parties for making certain that regardless of the outcome, history will be made.

can i buy a vowel?

gear update for the trip up big mac — my new sleeping bag arrived today. it is marmot’s cwm eq bag… that’s right… cwm. pronounced “coom.” it’s a welsh word meaning “valley” the most famous being the western cwm on mt everest.

this bag is 4 lbs of down and rated to -40 degrees. i scored a big fatty deal on basegear.com which allowed me to score this big fatty bag to keep my digits from freezing as i wrap myself in 800 fill goose down! pretty exciting stuff!

too bad it’s 85 degrees outside and i can’t fathom needing this much warmth anytime soon.

it’s official

I received confirmation from Rainier Mountain Guides (RMI) today that I have a spot on their May 6th 2009 Denali expedition.    I’m pretty pumped about this!    Since I started climbing, Denali has been a goal for me and I’m very excited to get the opportunity to climb it next May.

Also, as the mountain gods must have been smiling on me today, I received my new 8000m parka in the mail today. This tang-colored beast is about as warm as you can get.  Which will be necessary when I’m shivering like a naked child in -50 degree temps at 17k ft camp next May.  Although I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to climb to the rooftop of North America I know that more than once during the climb I will say to myself, “this is just stupid.”
Some facts about Denali:

Aliases – Mt McKinley, Denali, the “High One”

Elev – 20,320ft; 6,189m

ode to CCB

i was clicking through my list of websites that i check on a daily basis….when suddenly… my whole life changed.

over here at this great blog, i found a post about chocolate covered bacon. at first i thought…. ew….. then i thought.. hmm… i love bacon… i love chocolate…. so why wouldn’t i love chocolate covered bacon?

so, tonight i walked to our local market and picked up some chocolate chips to make my own batch of ccb.

after whipping up my first batch of ccb, the ’skis sampled the new treat.

the verdict: incredible. pow! my taste buds leaped with gladness as they greeted the sweetness, then the saltiness, then the sweetness again. the perfect blend of sweet and salty. a happy marriage of calories and saturated fat. (i calculated each slice to have 110 calories and 7.5 grams of fat).

at first glance, i thought this was a crazy idea that no one would dare to recreate. however, it seems that ccb is much more common than i thought.

a family of phs grads

may has been a busy month for the ’skis. first the derby, then a cousin’s wedding, then my nephew’s high school graduation. this weekend my bestcousinfriend comes to boston. all really great and fun things, but also busy, busy, busy.

last weekend i flew home to thehappiestplaceonearth. i bought my ticket last minute (only four days before) so i was rather limited with flying choices. not wanting to spend more than $1700, i decided to take a us air flight through philly on a regional jet. mistake. big mistake.

we pulled away from the gate in boston and the pilot let us know we were going to be waiting on the tarmac for awhile due to delays in philly. he also mentioned that he would kill the engine to conserve fuel. (hint #1). after 3 minutes, the pilot came back on the speaker and said we were clear for take-off. we took off for our 1 hour flight to philly.

2 hours later, we were still in the air when the pilot let us know that we were being diverted because we didn’t have enough fuel to make it to philly. they didn’t tell us where we were landing, but just said we were going to be on the ground in 15 minutes. we landed in allentown, pa which was 60 miles outside of philly.

this was disconcerning for several reasons 1) we didn’t have enough fuel to make it 60 miles?!?!? this isn’t a car that you simple pull to the side of the road when you run out of gas. when a plane runs out of fuel — people die!!!! 2) thanks for not telling us where we were until we were on the ground. i thought we had landed in montreal when we finally touched down. 3) after this diversion, i clearly missed my connecting flight to st louis. i wasn’t aware that there was another flight to stl that day and i was convinced that i had spent $500 to fly home only to miss my nephew’s graduation because a stupid pilot forgot to check the fuel gauge before we took off.

the good news is: there was another flight to st louis that day. it wasn’t until 4:30 and was delayed until 5:30…which meant i had to spend my day in a philly bar drinking manhattans and talking to a 60 year old man about horse racing.. but i made it just in time to see my nephew cross the stage, collect his diploma, and become ninth graduate of perryville high school in our family.

derby recap

 

Hello Racing Fans!

This post is a little overdue, but we’re back from the Derby and we had a blast!   The weather was wonderful, Kentucky was beautiful, and the bourbon was plentiful. 
I’ve always wanted to go to the Derby, but we were prompted to go to the 134^th Kentucky Derby by an article in the New York Times last November.  We’re huge fans of bluegrass and bourbon, so why not combine those two great gifts from God with a slice another slice of Americana, the Derby?

Like the article suggested, we toured a few bourbon distilleries:  Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve.  Both distilleries are in the middle of nowhere and both made us think twice about whether were completely lost, despite what the Mapquest directions and GPS unit said.  After driving down two lane roads through horse pastures, then down to one lane gravel roads, and over low-water bridges, we found the Maker’s Mark distillery.   As soon as we arrived, we noticed that there were an uncanny number of guests dressed in their finest Derby attire walking toward a white tent.  Underdressed in our jeans and flip-flops, we were afraid that we had just crashed a southern belle’s wedding reception.   We checked in at the visitors’ center and realized that was not the case, but rather Mr Bill Samuels’ (president of Maker’s Mark) just knows how to throw a great Derby Party.    We were treated to barbeque and all the mint juleps we could drink, all compliments of Mr Samuels.  

After all the mint juleps on Friday, we were ready for the Derby on Saturday.  Despite the overnight rain showers, we had beautiful weather.   We placed bets, drank more juleps, and talked with everyone we met.  Everyone goes to the Derby with the intention of having fun.  That combined with the overall Southern Hospitality, makes for a very friendly crowd. 

Of course, despite all of the good times, the Derby ended on a sad note with the euthanization of the crowd favorite, Eight Belles.  I bet her across the board and felt a little guilty cashing in on her death at the window.    

Check out our pictures and start making plans to join us next year!

derby week

this week is derby week!

the ’skis met up with our friends/fellow derby goers last night to make the final plans for our trip to kentucky.  all four of us sat down at our dining room table with the intention of forming a rough agenda for our five days in the bluegrass state, however we were sidetracked multiple times by conversations about general patton, the correct pronouciation of louisville, how to make a kosher beef jerky food dehydrator, and which handbag would best match my derby hat.  we came away this agenda:

thurs: fly in to louisville (pronounced lou-a-vull).  check out 4th st and the louisville slugger museum.

fri: bourbon distilleries.  maker’s mark and woodford reserve.  buy maker’s mark t shirt and dip our own bottle.

sat: derby day!   put on hats and bowties, find our seats, place a bet on big brown, drink a mint julep, sing “my old kentucky home”, watch the best two minutes in sports.

sun: observe the day of rest.  hit up mammoth cave.

mon: visit locust grove.  fly home with all of our earnings from big brown. 

 

if any of you fine readers know of any sites-to-see in kentucky, please let us know!

hero for a day

 yesterday was patriot’s day.  aka marathon monday.  

it’s a holiday here is massachusetts.  a day when we celebrate things like the first shots fired in the revolutionary war, skinny kenyans, and not-so-skinny dominicans.  a day of heroes of all sorts: the original american soldiers, world-class runners, and baseball players.

patriot’s day is my favorite holiday in this state.  it’s the unofficial start of summer to me.   when i worked in public accounting, it was the sign that busy season was over and baseball season had begun.  nice weather sweeps in and pushes out the snow and grey skies of winter. 

ah, patriot’s day. 

but patriot’s day wasn’t so sweet this year, as i had to work.  what a shame.  however, i still found time to log in to wbztv.com just before noon to see the end of the marathon.  i witnessed the closest women’s finish in history, where dire tune and alevtina biktimirova duked it out to the finish.  (how can a woman find it in her to kick a quarter mile to the finish after running 26 miles at 5:33 pace?)

ah, patriot’s day.

even though i missed out on the day time festivities, i decided to take a run after work and run the last stretch of the course from kenmore square through the finish line and to our place.  the area looked like a scene from new year’s eve with trash, puke, and alcohol littering the streets.  (i couldn’t tell if it was athlete vomit or alcohol vomit — probably both). 

i decided against actually running through the finish line, already looking like a total poser crusing the streets some six hours after the elite women finished the race. 

instead, i cruised the side streets, curving around the medical tents, running past the runners in plain clothes with a finisher’s medal around their neck that were trying to find a place to have dinner.    i felt shamed running past them during my slow five mile run - i didn’t deserve to be on the same sidewalk. 

they were my heroes for the day. 

 

 

(edit:  i opened the comments for this post….finally)