I'm a Wuss

I went to my gym's spinning class tonight (read: riding a stationary bike while an instructor tells you to speed up, stand up, sit down, visualize hills, wind, etc.). There was a woman in there who was 31 weeks pregnant, and she was rockin' it. Talk about making me feel like a slacker.

Skiing and Sundance

Just got back from a week of skiing in Park City, Utah. So to my faithful blog readers, no, I'm not dead. I did, however, bang up my leg and even went as far as taking a picture of my battle wounds, but deleted it once I realized how unattractive a red, blue, and yellow leg can be. So don't worry, only fun/cool/scenic photos will be coming soon to Flickr.

We stayed and skied at The Canyons, and also skied Park City, Brighton, and Snowbird. Snowbird was a little rough, but the rest were excellent, with Brighton being my favorite. I already can't wait to go back.

For you film buffs out there, you may be aware that the Sundance Film Festival was also taking place out in Park City. We had the opportunity and pleasure to see Eagle vs. Shark -- a very Napoleon Dynamite-esque film that had you feeling sorry for and laughing at the main characters throughout the movie. I think it will hit the big screen. Remember you heard it here first.

Doe, a Deer

Just got back from cross country skiing at Theodore Worth Parkway with Robbie(bus). It was a perfect Minnesota day for winter sports -- cold, but sunny -- and it was a good first outing for the season.

At one point we stopped in front of a small bridge that crossed a stream and waited for a better skier to pass. The skier stopped as well, and at first we wondered why. Then a few seconds later about 10 deer slowly approached from the other side, looking at us with as much curiosity as we held for them.

After cautiously crossing the bridge they took off in the snow, performing the most elegant and beautiful bounding leaps I've ever seen, as if they were bouncing from cloud to cloud. Needless to say it was pretty cool*, and it made me feel like a clumsy idiot with two fiberglass sticks strapped to my feet.


*My 11th grade creative writing teacher would be appalled at such a terrible use of a non-vivid verb and adjective.

Multi Touch

So maybe the iPhone isn't as far ahead of the curve as I thought:

Shortie McShort?

Quick Poll:

How many people out there think I should:
a) get a regular haircut
b) get a buzz cut
c) grow out my hair
d) shave my head

?

MPG

The other day I brought my 1997 VW Jetta into the shop to get fixed.

When I walked in the main door of the VW dealership I walked past a few new cars -- a Passat, a Rabbit, and a Jetta. It seemed like the average City MPG rating was around 20-22, and a Highway rating of around 28-32 MPG.

My 10 year old Jetta averages 28 MPG. Anyone else find it painful that in the past ten years automobile engines for the most part have not become any more fuel efficient? You can go buy a car that tells you where to turn, heats your butt, plays movies, and helps you parallel park...but you can't buy one that takes you 60 miles on a gallon of gas?

But now for the real question: Who's to blame? If we consumers didn't purchase these inefficient machines, would automobile companies continue to make them? I think not.

I promise to not keep posting about Apple, but...

...I just used the new Apple iPod Shuffle at the gym today for the first time, and wow, what a perfect device. I clamped it to my shorts and it was so light I couldn't even tell I was wearing it. Thanks Mom and Dad!

If working out wasn't enough, I went and played hockey with Robbie and friends today. It was a lot of fun, even though the ice was pretty terrible. Hopefully the weather will continue to stay cold and we'll have some better ice next week. My biggest issue with hockey is stopping. Anyone out there willing to teach me how to hockey-stop?

Integration

I can see it now…you’re walking to your car, listening to music on your iPhone*. You receive a call, and you switch over to phone mode to answer.

You get into your Bluetooth-enabled car, and your iPhone* recognizes this. You switch your call to come through the car speakers for a hands-free phone conversation.

You drive down the road and finish your chat. You press play on your steering wheel and your car stereo starts playing the iTunes song you were listening to before you were interrupted by the call --right where you left off – wirelessly streamed from your iPhone* via Bluetooth.

Your kids will wonder in amazement what life was like without this technology.


*Assuming iPhone will still be called iPhone, after Cisco is finished suing Apple.

The Least Unique Post of January 9th

Going with the masses today, I wanted to post about Apple Inc. (no longer Apple Computer Inc., mind you). If you haven't heard about the amazing iPhone yet, then you may be living under a rock. But if you're reading this, then you have an internet connection and a computer underneath that rock, which makes no sense at all. I digress...have I mentioned how amazing the iPhone is, and how it will be released shortly after my birthday? Huh, what a coincidence.

A while back Brad mentioned BlogPulse, an interesting site where you can track how popular a topic is by measuring activity within the blogosphere. I was curious to look at Apple vs. Microsoft.

And according to the chart below, I am an incredibly unoriginal blogger (or is it a direct reflection of the unoriginality of Microsoft?). Even puppies, which everybody loves, are less talked about than Apple:

Colorado Avalanche

Anybody hear about the avalanche 50 miles west of Denver that hit U.S. Highway 40, taking out cars as it roared down the mountainside? Jordan Cook, a high school classmate of mine, was driving one of the vans that was swept off the road:

“It felt like forever,” Cook said of the rolling. “I was just waiting to see what was going to happen to us next, wondering when it was all going to end.”

Amazingly, he climbed out of the van with just a few scratches. Talk about freaky. What are the chances?

And speaking of avalanches and getting swept away, what happened to The Ohio State last night? I think they just lost the right to their precious "The".

Room & Board

I decided to check out Room & Board's outlet sale this past weekend. They open at 10am on Saturday; when I showed up at 10:14 the parking lot was so full I had to park a quarter of a mile away. People in Minneapolis are serious about their furniture.

On more than one occasion I overheard a well-dressed, attractive young couple next to me mention, "this would look great in our lake house", or, "this would be perfect for the cabin". If you're unaware, Room & Board is nice stuff. As in, I would feel spoiled having it in my primary residence, let alone my second home. Apparently Minnesotans are also serious about their lake homes.

Tis the Season...

Tis the season to be back-logged with to-do lists. Heck, even one of my to-dos is to take the time to write down a to-do list.

Christmas was great this year, although a little quiet and sort of empty feeling since my brother and sister couldn't make it. I'll upload some pictures shortly from the festivities when I get the chance (another item on my to-do list).

And speaking of Christmas, I was contemplating what I wanted to write about it the other day. Turns out that the first thing that came to my mind was the word "tradition". I hope Jesus doesn't take offense -- but it's hard to not instantly think of family, my grandma's house, lutefisk, stockings full of presents that would make a dentist proud, laughing, and of course, Cool Whip.

Then I laughed to myself at the irony of thinking of and humming the melody to Tradition -- a great song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. For those of you out there that are unfamiliar with Fiddler on the Roof, it is a Broadway musical about a Jewish family and its hardships living in Russia.

Let's bring back some learnings from elementary school:
If A = B and B = C, then A = C.
So it sounds like Christmas makes me think of Jewish fiddlers.
Go figure.