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Happy new year! Okay, I’m 12 days late, but I’ve been doing important things, like sleeping—which is SO UNDERRATED when you have 8AM-EST-but-actually-5AM-PST meetings to attend. I’ve been in D.C. this and last week where it’s a whole two degrees above freezing temperature. For someone who wears a down jacket in 60 degree weather, staying warm saps any creative/writing energy I have after work is done (and when is it ever done?).

I have also neglected to clearly define my new year’s resolutions. Due to the excitement preceding the (now annual?) Tahoe cabin trip, and the subsequent business trips beginning on the first day back to work, I haven’t had the willpower to make those resolutions. I can perhaps resort to the usual “1) Lose weight, 2) Save money” but losing weight is hard to do with a generous per diem in D.C.

I continue to digress. Back to my first point: Happy 2010!

I brought in the new year in Tahoe once again, in a posh cabin with 21 friends over a span of 5 nights.

Many of us are avid snowboarders and carry season passes, so we went riding at Sierra-at-Tahoe for as many as 4 days. There was a bit of a blizzard on the first day, but the powder was perfect for smooth riding. I feel like I finally have a decent grasp on carving moguls, but it takes so much focus that I am entirely spent after one run. The Lower Main run is quite possibly my favorite run at Sierra: steep, smooth, and good powder when groomed; Beaver is very fun for tree runs on the side, except for one particular jump I hesitated on and totally faceplanted. At least my new riding helmet helps keep my brains in!

I’m tired and must sleep for the week’s activities in D.C. now, but Reid, the ever faithful blogger, has captured more cabin moments here. However, I do want to reiterate that the word game Bananagrams was more successful than I could have ever imagined! Best game ever, really!

What possesses people to wake up at 5AM on a Sunday morning and drive 7 hours in cold rain and snow, only to stand out in the snow for 4 hours? I don’t get it. I hate the cold. How can I love snowboarding? Yet I do so much. It was SO WORTH the 18 hour day trip to Northstar. Of course, I didn’t have to drive in the aforementioned rain and snow and just slept in the backseat instead, so I guess my opinions amounts to less. Still though: maximum lift wait time of 3 minutes, beautiful weather (sun shining through overcast clouds, snowing lightly), and powdered snow. Helloooooooooooooo, snowboard season! Plus, Eric’s 4-wheel-drive with snow tires is SUCH A WIN.

Hello again, old friend. It’s gonna be a good 4 months!

There is Eric up to his chest in fresh powder!

The last snowboarding trip on April 4th marked the end of winter for me. I couldn’t have asked for more at Northstar: there were literally no lines for the ski lifts, we virtually had the black-diamond slopes to ourselves at Lookout Mountain, the weather was gorgeous, and the snow was pretty decent for the time of year. It was all kinds of awesome!

The season had started off shaky for me, as I had only gone on two snowboarding trips from 2004 through 2008. This is how the first one ended up:

   At least it looks likeI’m having fun

The second trip last in January’08 yielded a similar experience. But last October’08, I VOWED TO SNOWBOARD. I splurged on pre-season deals (I’m frugal so I need good foresight for these things) and bought all my discounted gear, snow apparel, and the Double Whammy season pass to Northstar and Sierra. Thanks to the encouragement and tips from Arden and Justin, I was carving by my second trip in December!

My skills require some fine-tuning

The Asparaguys

   The Googlers - once “the Others”, now our friends