Workout Log (n' stuff): 23-25 December 2016

Some people go home for the holidays, but blackbirds go skiing. As with previous ski trips, I tried to use various mechanisms to capture speed and distance and vertical feet, and once again they all gave substantially different results, although at least I can report that all of the EpicMix RFID scanners at Kirkwood seem to be functional. I can't say the same for Heavenly and Northstar, as they both once again failed to catch all the lifts I was on. Anyway, let's get the numbers out of the way first.

23 December (Northstar):
Distance: 21.73mi (MC) | 16.3mi (ST)
Vertical: 11595ft (MC) | 13469ft (ST) | 7207ft (EM)
Max Speed: 25.3mph (MC) | 38.1mph (ST)
[MC track 1 | MC track 2]

24 December (Heavenly):
Distance: 16.08mi (MC) | 10.6mi (ST)
Vertical: 9229ft (MC) | 7475ft (ST) | 9758ft (EM)
Max Speed: 20.4mph (MC) | 33.5mph (ST)
[MC track 1]

25 December (Kirkwood):
Distance: 16.49mi (MC) | 10.7mi (ST)
Vertical: 9354ft (MC) | 8164ft (ST) | 8151ft (EM)
Max Speed: 22.1mph (MC) | 32.8mph (ST)
[MC track 1]

As usual, the speed numbers are way off, and my watch doesn't differentiate between time on the lift and time on the run, but at least SkiTracks and EpicMix are showing effectively the same vertical feet.

This weekend was great on all sorts of levels. The snow conditions were excellent all three days and at all three resorts, even if the visibility was a bit rough at Heavenly. I drove (snow tires rock!) up with one of my coworkers (although I'm not sure if it's entirely accurate to use that term since we are in completely different parts of the company and don't actually work together) and we talked politics, science, work, life, and other assorted random topics. On the drive back, we ended up having dinner at a Chinese restaurant, which is inherently amusing simply because of the stereotypical element, but it becomes that much more ironic when considering that my coworker is Chinese. The generally-antisocial blackbird may have actually made a new friend. That's not something that happens every day - or every year, even!

Finally, from the synchronicity and serendipity department, based on a dream she had, C told me that I should go into the Earthbound Trading store on Christmas Eve because I'd probably run into the cute girl that I saw working there on Thanksgiving Day.^[1] Indeed, she was there, and she recognized me, and so we talked a little bit more. Now I know her name, I know that she's a snowboarder who has Dragon goggles that she got for half price because there was a scratch way over on the side, and she had a purple cast on her right forearm due to a snowboarding injury that wasn't there on Thanksgiving Day. That damn blackbird and his memory.... One of these days my penchant for remembering random factoids about people I find interesting is going to be useful for something.

The highlight of my day, however, was that she gave me an unsolicited hug on my way out.

Anyway, I doubt that I'll ever have the balzac to ask her out for coffee or to go ski/ride together, because I'm really not a flirtatious person and I don't just hit on random girls (or non-random ones, for that matter), but if I see her on my next trip to Tahoe, I'm going to find out if she's a psytrancer or not, and if so, then maybe I'll step outside my comfort zone and go for it. It can't be any more frightening or painful than skiing down the face of Kirkwood from the top.^[2] Besides, what's the worst that can happen? That's easy: she could say yes to doing a couple of runs together, be much better than me, and then I can break an arm or a leg or something while trying to keep up with her. No problem! :-P