trash lady 3

I saw this car at the Vienna Metro station and I had to take a picture of it. It’s a mid sized SUV completely filled with trash and stuff. I actually saw the lady getting into the car at the end of the day, she kind of looks like my mom, which makes total sense!

Later!

So after realizing that the last post accidentally stayed in draft form for over a week. I decided it’s time to pick up the pace with writing these things down. So this weekend even though we didn’t go anywhere we did get some snowboarding in. Let me introduce something I like to call DogBoarding. We have a unique deck at the house, I think it used to have an above ground pool because the highest part of it has a swinging gate. So we took a lot of the snow from around the yard and on top of the cars and made a roll-in to the backyard and then a ramp out in the middle. We originally thought that this would be enough to get speed, but we ended up making a second roll-in on top of the deck. So this run turned out to be a four foot ramp, 10 feet of flat, into a second 4 foot roll-in across the yard and onto a 2 foot ramp. It was pretty difficult but really fun on a snowboard and Jesse was out there to get some sweet pictures. It’s good to have the paparazzi around! Later the girls used it for sledding, which also made for some interesting pictures. here are a couple of them.

Flickr Dogboarding

So this weekend was another chance for me to prove that it was a wise investment to buy my own snowboard this season. I know I’ve at least saved 150 bucks in rental fees… by spending a couple hundred going snowboarding. Well you gotta spend money to make save money!

So after the weeks of emails planning the trip I can say that it was totally worth it. The cabin was just what I expected, just a couple rooms and a bathroom. It was run by an older couple, the wife looked nice enough, but she kept asking for a $5 deposit on pretty much everything I asked for. The husband looked like I might be seeing him hovering over my bed at night holding an axe. But since that didn’t end up happening I can say that he was an alright guy.

The mountain was great, It was the first time I’d been to a resort that wasn’t snowmaking. They had gotten 5 inches of snow earlier in the week so they had enough to go around. I think they had about 35 trails open, enough variety that you didn’t get bored. I think my skills are really progressing, I’ve gone this year from just barely being able to carve to landing sweet mute grabs out of little moguls. I know they don’t look too impressive to other people but it feels really awesome to fly out and stomp the landing. I might have a few clips I can put together from Wade’s “Heady McCamera”.

This was probably the best boarding that I’ve done all year, it really makes me want to get back to Vermont with Ben and Bonnie. Too bad they can’t move their wedding back so that we can get some boarding in! Other highlights of the trip were getting a picture taken with Cap’n Morgan, winning a beanie in the ring toss, playing with Will’s Wii!, and of course landing a killer mute grab in front of those teenagers and hearing them say “ohh cool!”

Look out flying tomato, Big Guy is coming right at you… no seriously… I can’t turn that fast.

Later!

I’ll post the links to the videos as soon as I get them…

*UPDATE*

Flickr Phot Set

So I knew we were dirty, but this is taking it to the next level. I’ve been trying to keep the kitchen a little more recentley… you know since I’d seen those roaches in the kitchen.  And every once in a while we’ve seen a little mouse run across the lights in the drop ceiling. Our relationship has always been that they don’t bother us and I wont kill them. But they’ve crossed the line… they ate the water hose that goes to the dishwasher. We wouldn’t have even noticed if Charlie wasn’t back in the lab again (yo), all the water that should have been going into the dishwasher was going into the basement. Not Cool Man!

So at the Home Depot while we were getting the incompetent workers to explain where black rubber tubing is, we picked up some poison to kill those little mickeys. So this marks the start of the Dogwood war on the mice.

So let me continue to complain about the NoVA snow situation. We drove to upper PA over the weekend to go snowboarding at Camelback Mountain (which was awesome and deserving of it’s own post) and we kept hearing how everybody was complaining about how badly the state handled the roads during the snow. I thought they did an alright job, but that’s cause VA handled it even worse. When I got back it hit me that we really aren’t complaining enough about our roads.

I mean come on! They didn’t even plow the turn lanes?? So not only are people driving slow and freaking out about “black ice” when it’s 40 degrees out, but now they’re all backed up at the intersections. Also I don’t know who’s responsibility it is to shovel the sidewalks. I keep thinking of doing it vigilante style while wearing a “other states are laughing at us” t-shirt. But I couldn’t even be bothered to shovel my own, so that’s probably not going to happen.

But walking to the Metro is becoming a exercise in balance and grip. Not to mention that I decided to wear shoes that are apparently glorified socks. So it’s a miracle that I’m not on my ass every five feet. I took some pictures so that you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. Remember that all this is snow covered by a half inch of sleet refrozen every night.

will post pics later…

I once wrote a post about how I need my music to have a beat or at least get me pumped. I’m reconsidering that a little now. I like different music sometimes, here are some of the artists that I’ve added in the last few months. Lily Allen, Switchfoot, Thousand Foot Krutch, Kittie, Garth Brooks, Gorillaz, and Quarashi. If that’s not an ecclectic mix I don’t know what is. When I tell people that I like everything I really mean it!
So this leads me to my point. I don’t think I’ll ever be so depressed that I properly enjoy Deathcab for Cutie. I heard one of their songs on the radio the other day (94.7 the globe) and I really liked it, I thought maybe I’ll give them another chance. It turns out that this is the only song I like on the whole album. The rest of the songs sound like they all should be crying and kill themselves in the end. Not shoot themselves (that would require too much effort) but like stand on the edge of a building and just collapse over the edge.

But in case you’re wondering the song was “Soul Meets Body” from Plans.

What the hell is wrong with people around here? That’s a question I usaully ask myself around this time of year. I mean it snows enough in this part of the country that you think people would be used to it. I think that its because this area is so transient, people move in and don’t have time to adjust to the climate before it snows. Then when it does come they freak out.

I think we need a Virginia department of snow. Their responsibilities would include educating the population on how to drive in the snow, average area snowfall, and not stocking up on all the food at the supermarket on the threat of snow. He should also control the media reports of snow, they shouldn’t be able to sensationalize the impending snowstorm just to increase ratings. He would control school closings thus influencing the next generation of snow drivers.

I would like to throw my name into the hat which will be thrown into the ring which will be filled with contenders. May the best man be the next Snow Czar.

Later!

Vigilante commenting is becoming something of a morning habit for me. I think it may be the lack of sleep and not having my coffee yet, but don’t mess with me or be an ass in my general vicinity. Not that these incidents last more than a few seconds, I’m pretty sure at this time of the day I could only go back and forth with someone for a few times before my brain gives up. But I can get in one really good burst.

So here’s the set-up. One of my pet peeves is when the person in front of me can’t get their metro card to work. I’ve never had a problem with mine, I don’t even break stride going through the turnstile. But evidently this smartcard technology is beyond some people. So this morning there’s three people in our line at the turnstile middle aged black lady, young girl wearing a orange skirt, and me. Shockingly, old people have a problem with technology, she messes up, complains that the thing isn’t working, then has to back out of the turnstile. Which Metro etiquette says requires the apologetic nod or shoulder shrug, as it is your fault for screwing up the line. But instead complains when she bumps into the girl in the skirt, who says nothing, just uses her smartcard and moves on through, followed by me. All proper Metro behavior, no words or eye contact.

So to finally bring this story to some kind of end. The first lady says loudly, “SAY EXCUSE ME”, then softly, “you god damn witch”. Which for some reason caused me to blurt out, “Are you freaking kidding me? I’d take her side any day”. Not really my wittiest response, but defending the Metro Etiquette is a personal vendetta… and it was cold and early in the morning. People shouldn’t be that bitchy until at least after noon.

And how do I know this? I mean I went snowboarding this saturday and that wasn’t officially winter. It’s something that used to happen to me every day when I was waiting for the bus.

My hair froze.

In the time it took me to walk from the parking garage to the train my hair had frozen solid. I thought I’d put in some kind of new gel or something, I couldn’t figure it out for a while. I think it was 11 degrees outside when I got into my car. That’s way too cold. Also the window wasn’t iced over but it was a little dirty so I decided to use the washer fluid, bad idea. I went from being slightly annoyed with the window to completely blind pretty much instantly. Which is not good when you’re driving through the neighborhood. So I had to pull over (which is hard when you can’t see!) and wait for the window to defrost.

Twas a good morning.