Apres Ski Saturday

Saturday was warmer than normal. The mountain was crowded apparently, I was skating though. 

I headed to the Matterhorn around 5 and had a few beers. Sat next to a couple from Boston. They were about to leave when we struck up a conversation. They were complaining about the long lift lines, and the crappy service at the bar. A special promo was going on, with a couple of cuties, Holly and Shannon, all 23 years of them , giving out prizes, and even buying beers for the select few. Of course the 2 of them were cute as can be, somehow they liked us. So we got free beers, free goodies and a flirtatious hour or 2 well spent with them. The Boston couple ended up staying till 10! 

There was Caroline from Boston / Burlington who worked in marketing. She was a cute 28 yo blonde rider. Recently broken up with her boyfriend and was currently in "man-o-pause". She was amusing, attractive and an insight into her girlfriends relationship…the line of the night, “ My best friends boyfriend said that his gf needs to loose 15lbs and go down on me”  YIKES. Apparently nthere is some relationship issue,  he wants to marry her, but she’s now pissed because of this attitude, Caroline is the rescuer to her friends relationship issue. 

Caroline is perfect, she skis, sails, just got back from BVI on bareboat charter, and almost has her pilots license, on top of that did I mention she was cute? Caroline was eventually dragged off by her GF’s boyfriend back to rescuing their relationship! 

Next was Heather, the brunette adorably dressed fro Apres Ski in a white down vest, white woolen sweater with a large collar, perfectly coiffed dark hair, her face nicely done up, great skin and you could tell a sense of her own being. Intelligent, worldly and sophisticated. 

She’s a lawyer, the compliance officer with an investment group in Boston. Originally from Wisconsin, 34 yo, and single, took up skiing 3 years ago and come to Stowe most weekends, she was intriguing. She was her with her girls form work, so she was entertaining them, playing pool. Just before she left the bar, she came over and gave me her number, quite a purposeful act, I texted her later and hopefully we’ll get together later on either this weekend or in the near future. 

On to Rimrod’s for a nightcap. 

Ice Hockey Stowe

Of all the winter events none beats a pick up game of “pond” hockey. Being born and raised south of the equator hockey and ice were non existent, and of course I cannot skate! The first time I participated was in Central Park NYC when the boat pond froze over in 2003. A gorgeous Sunday afternoon my ex ex ex and a couple of Upper east side fathers with there 10 yo kids. Our impromptu game of hockey was the benchmark for fun winter activities. The scene was Norman Rockwell and all participants,8 or 9 of us had a ball. I’m sure the fathers still remember fondly that day as much as I do. The strollers in the park that day who watched us all knew from the smiles, laughter and shrieks of delight that we were all having a blast. 

Saturday in stowe was similar except for there were 25 people per team, a sound system, real goals and the people were all CANADIANS! They could all skate! My pathetic skating plus ineptitude with the stick made me an oddity, I mean Canadians don’t know people who can’t skate! We played for 4 hours. Some guys were just amazing, I’m convinced they were all ex NHL players, and a few of them the 5yo’s were future NHL guys! 

Later that night I was having a couple of beers, the guys next to me were from Moscow VT, ( just out of Stowe) and she said her kids were there, in fact she picked them up. She commented on the whole scene, and how everyone was smiling and having a great time. Her kids said to her ”that was great why can’t we do that all the time!” 

There is nothing more fun than pond hockey, with kids form 5 – 75, people who can play and people like me who have no clue!

Skiing Mt Mansfield-Downhill

Finally got to downhill.

Temperature 11F…snow conditions, packed powder. Sunny, to start and cloud overcast, flat light in the shadows. Wind building in the afternoon, getting chillier! 

Because of the temperatures skied 4 runs on the Gondola, a few good cruisers. Had to stop and take a warm up break at the Cliff House at the top. Got a call from one of my lawyers, and spent 20 minutes with him. Of course didn’t tell him I was skiing! 

Headed over to the Quad, and took a few runs down the front. Haystack first, that’s where the flat light was a little off putting for me. ( Something to do with my first few runs in 4 years!) The surface a combination of powder, machine and wind blown snow. 

Cold, friggn’ cold. I had to stop and warm up my frozen toes at the base lodge. Ripping my boots off, I guess even plastic boots have a freeze point. This may have been the coldest I’ve skied, or at least remembered skiing in a while. 

The novelty value of my 205 late 90’s vintage skinny skis, were noted by a few on the lifts. The skiing style has definitely changed in the last few years. The style of skiing is more abrupt, more lower body or maybe even just legs,  with much less pole planting arm action. Legs a little wider apart. Speed may even be a little faster, a product of the wide skis giving the skier a more broad based balance point, perhaps. 

Stowe Derby Feb 22nd!

The key event of the winter the upcoming Stowe Derby Feb 22^nd 2009. 

Is now less than 3 weeks away. My training has been a little inconsistent. Getting in my cardio successfully, but I need much more time on skis. I realize that 6k is downhill and I need to spend time on that part of the training. Last time I was up at the mountain I scoped out the toll Road trail that the Derby takes. It’s a little steeper and longer than I thought it would be. The trail is all green and so would be a piece of cake on downhill equipment but on the x-country skis a different story I would think. I’m not sure what sort of speed I can do on the skinny skis but if I can keep good control and manage 15-20 mph ( which I think is absolutely flying on these skis) I’ll be on the flats in 12 minutes. Is that possible? I’ve read a previous account of the Derby and this one guy said that he attained a top speed of 45mph, and this was recorded on his GPS unit! Jeez that’s insane! He also said it took him 7 minutes to get down the hill, that’s an average speed of 34 mph! I really don’t know if that’s possible. This guy apparently finished the race in 43^rd place. 

The flat section follows the rec path and is flat to maybe slight downhill tilt. I can run 6 miles easily in 42 minutes, did it last week on the treadmill, that’s 8.5 miles per hour. I believe I can skate ski faster than jogging, maybe 10 miles per hour? 11 mph? even 12mph? I’m not sure, but that would mean 45 minutes for the Derby. 

On one of the next weekends I’m spending the day on Toll House double downhill skiing on the x-country skis. That will be a big test of my skill sets on the downhill trails. 

I know I need to spend a few solid days improving my flat technique and downhill technique. ( skip the uphill as there isn’t any on the course.)

Aussie Open Final

 Without question the best rivalry in sport and one that even the most casual observer would agree, a rivalry of unequaled class. Nadal and Federer are two giants in sport who both produce spectacular tennis and unrivalled tennis. However the unparalleled respect  they show for each other and their sportsmanship is an exemplar, that all in sports should emulate. It’s great to see 2 unquestioned stars be role models for all. Congrats to BOTH of them.

Bring on the next Grand Slam, The French in may is Nadals’ signature event, can he make it 6 in a row? And is it possible he could win the Grand Slam?

 

Evaluation of 1st Month of Bailout

End of the first month of the New Year. A brief evaluation of my “bailout plan” against the actuality. 

My prediction on the economy and the news cycle has been extremely accurate, no prize there, the news on the economy has been universally terrible. Job losses topping the news on a daily basis, actual GDP numbers dismal, with no good news in any direction. Perhaps one of the worst signs was when the respected Banking analyst Meredith Whitney proclamated in the FT, that her current forecast for the banking industry had been too optimistic. Yikes! 

There was one positive sign for the US, in “a its all relative segment”, the rest of the developed world’s economies ( based on GDP) will shrink around 3% whereas we in the US will only shrink 1.9% in 2009. So I guess we could Say it’s almost “twice as bad everywhere else!” 

I managed to obtain and get fired from 2 “low or no skill jobs”. Total hours worked, approx. 35 hours. Fired may be a strong word but I did have 2 jobs, now I have none.

My business surprisingly, did better numbers than I anticipated. I had very low expectations, but this was good news. 

I also managed to overly aggressively pursue some new business opportunities in what I would consider the consultancy arena. One was with the AIG subsidiary that operates the ski mountain, and one was with the Trapp Operation. While I know I may have come across aggressively I believe in the value of my concepts and ideas, I couldn’t sell them in these cases. AND that is always my fault! However the 2 individuals I dealt with I would characterize that one was incompetent and a product of large a corporate culture and the other a product of nepotism with no intellect. You can figure it out from there. 

News cycle and internet use. 

I’d give myself an F or a c-. Uh? Well it was still too much, but definitely not having access except when I had to make a physical effort did reduce my use. Improvement needed. 

The Stowe Derby.

 Training has begun in earnest. My V1 and V2 are improving, my time on skis needs to increase. I need to spend more time on x-country skis to increase my comfort level on the skinny skis. I’m also getting a decent jog in 4 or 5 times a week, some outdoors. So my physical fitness should be good for my “attack” on the Derby. 

Romance & The Alaskan.

 Managed to meet a few fabulous girls, K especially, a couple taken, had a brief interaction with the Alaskan, to what end I’m not sure, but I don’t have any control of that situation. 

Housing

The GCH ( Gingerbread Crack House) has been an eye opener. The landlord did ZERO to clean out the place, the tools and building materials that I moved to the mud room are all where I left them. The ladders for the roof are still where they left them, leaning against the front of the house.  80% of the time multiple pipes are frozen, and I have now experienced frozen broken pipes. The roof leaks through the walls in any sort of thaw. On top of that at any time the landlord may just show up. This is unacceptable.

Unexpected Joys

The folks around Stowe are interesting and refreshing. My morning coffee group are a stellar group, interesting and quirky. The other folk I’ve had the pleasure to interact with from the unskilled work folk, from the jobs I got fired from, have all contributed a new and refreshing change on my perspective.

The true prize on folks go to the various political operatives, from selectman, to state senators, to JP’s. And of course my newly found goal of becoming a fence viewer! I can also understand how they can get quite frustrated with interlopers who come up for the weekend.

 The Valley

 The Valley around Stowe is quite beautiful. I can understand how people do fall in love with the area. The vistas that open up from the surrounding hills show that large swath of snow covered fields, that give Stowe the real valley field. And yes you do feel insulated from the travails of the outside world.

 

Merrill and BofA - doesn't this smell funny?

I think someone’s getting robbed Blind.

 Merrill loses $15b in a quarter.

Merrill Pays out $15 b in Compensation down only 5.7% from the year earlier. ( uh? the company went broke and  total compensation is down only 5.7%???)

Merrill distributes Bonus’ 2 months earlier than normal and 3 days prior to closing with BofA

Because of Merrill the US Gov puts in $20 b additional into BofA for a $45b total since October 2008.

Not including guarantees on loans etc.

 WTF???? Surely even a moron finds this “troubling” What other industries pay any form of bonus in a prepackaged bankruptcy, let alone the early payout, let alone 3 days prior to close....etc etc...

 From Multiple Sources.

 According to a securities filing last week, Merrill's overall compensation and benefit expenses were down by 5.7%, to $15 billion in the year ended Dec. 26, from $15.9 billion a year earlier. The average Merrill employee got $247,423 in compensation and benefits in 2008, down just slightly from 2007.

Merrill had decided to pay bonuses in December ahead of their usual payout time in February, and just three days before the merger with Bank of America closed. What is more troubling is that the shell of a company had allocated a total comp pool for distribution that was $15 billion or just 6% lower than 2007. 

Merrill Lynch reported a $15.31 billion fourth-quarter loss, and Bank of America has warned its shareholders to brace for even bigger losses in coming quarters.

The government plans to transfer the $20 billion to Bank of America by the end of the day in exchange for preferred stock shares with an 8% dividend. That will bring the government’s total investment in BofA up to $45 billion dollars. The company received $15 billion in government funds in October and another $10 billion last Friday to assist with its takeover of Merrill Lynch.

The government will also guarantee $118 billion of Bank of America assets, including commercial and real estate holdings and credit default swaps. Bank of America will be required to absorb the first $10 billion of losses from its pool of assets, the “large majority” of which were assumed with the purchase of Merrill Lynch. BofA will cover just 10% of any losses incurred beyond that point, and the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. will split what’s left of the tab.