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      <title>Ski-Blog.com</title>
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      <description>Ski Blog: A guide to the best skiing of the Rockies and my personal journey through the 2005, 2006, and 2007 Seasons.</description>
      <language>en</language>
      <copyright>Copyright 2008</copyright>
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            <item>
         <title>MSNBC  Global Warming Story - Penguins in Danger at North Pole</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24340329#24340329" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>

<p>Check at about the 46 second mark.  Story about vast expanses of water now present at the North Pole.</p>

<p>I feel sorry for those penguins.  Not only are their ice shelves collapsing as evidenced by the dramatic photos used in the story, but they must be extremely lonely SINCE PENGUINS DO NOT LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE, THEY LIVE AT THE SOUTH.</p>

<p>The 15 year old Arctic explorer is kinda cute though.  Some kind of fur collared coat wearing Hannah Montana.  I like the accent.  Her "bum gets cold" when going to the bathroom in the Arctic Circle.  And she needed to learn to use a gun to protect against Polar Bears.  She would be the bell of the ball at a party in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/politics/12campaign.html?fta=y">Bitter America where we cling to our guns, except that she is an immigrant and most of us cling to anti-immigrant sentiments</a>.  </p>

<p>First, this is problematic because I didn't think Brits were allowed to own or shoot guns.  Second, SHOOTING AN EFFING POLAR BEAR?  AREN'T THEY ALREADY ABOUT TO ALL DIE FROM GLOBAL WARMING?  <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111323/plotsummary">Sounds like she needs to join the NRA and hunt humans like the rich folks that hunted Ice-T</a>.  I want a polar bear coat lined with baby seal fur personally or maybe lined with <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown08/news/story?id=3380100">Eight Belles skin</a>.  Shooting Polar bears.  My word.  </p>

<p>Top notch reporting there MSNBC.  </p>

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>:</p>

<p>MSNBC edited the video just about an hour ago.  Nice.  Solid touch.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/msnbc_global_warming_story_pen.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/msnbc_global_warming_story_pen.html</guid>
         <category>Weather</category>
         <pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2008 12:24:16 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>End of SSOL Era in PHX</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080501">This article said it best about the PHX Suns</a> and almost made me cry in doing it:</p>

<blockquote>I made my friend Chris Connelly appear on this week's B.S. Report to discuss "critically acclaimed sports teams," following up on a discussion we had right after Game 2 of the Suns-Spurs series, when things were looking bleak for Phoenix and the end of Mike D'Antoni's reign seemed imminent.

<p>"Well, that's OK that they didn't win the title," Connelly cheerfully said at the time. "At least they were critically acclaimed!"</p>

<p>From there, Connelly unleashed his theory of "critically acclaimed" sports teams (check the podcast for the full details) and how these Suns teams would be cheerfully remembered some day like we remember Coryell's Chargers and the Fab Five. <strong>In other words, it didn't really matter that they never won a championship, just like it didn't matter that "Pulp Fiction" didn't win an Oscar, "The Wire" never won an Emmy and "Arrested Development" bombed in the ratings. We would always remember them fondly and feel like they were more successful than they actually were.</strong></p>

<p>And I was sitting there thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?"</p>

<p>You couldn't come up with a better two-word eulogy for the Seven Seconds or Less Era (or S.S.O.L. Era) in Phoenix: Critically acclaimed.</p>

<p>Maybe the Suns didn't win a championship, but we'll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs, who taught everyone over the years that the regular season doesn't matter, transformed the NBA playoffs into a flopathon, revived the vile and fan-unfriendly Hack-A-Shaq strategy and did everything short of sending Bruce Bowen out on the court with a chainsaw and a taser. If the Spurs were the Team of the Decade, no wonder ratings dwindled until the league's big comeback this season. The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team, a shrewdly assembled roster of well-coached guys who played beautifully together, didn't care about credit and revolved around the best power forward who ever played. Instead, we'll remember them as the team that turned the NBA playoffs into the World Cup. Congratulations, fellas.</blockquote></p>

<p>And I sit here and wait for the new Arrested Development movie to come out and watch my re-runs fondly (including all of seasons 1 and 2 on my recent road trip to bury my grandfather).  Four seasons of having season tickets, a game 7 against LA and the Clippers, two Western Conference Finals Appearances, and close to 250 wins...</p>

<p>And 53 episodes of AD.  </p>

<p>I hope this is not the end of fun.  I like basketball games that are decided 123-118.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/end_of_ssol_era_in_phx.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/end_of_ssol_era_in_phx.html</guid>
         <category>Phoenix Sports</category>
         <pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2008 23:31:29 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>Next Ten Years will have No Global Warming</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aU.evtnk6DPo">This article is rather interesting</a>:</p>

<blockquote> April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Parts of North America and Europe may cool naturally over the next decade, as shifting ocean currents temporarily blunt the global-warming effect caused by mankind, Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences said.

<p>Average temperatures in areas such as California and France may drop over the next 10 years, influenced by colder flows in the North Atlantic, said a report today by the institution based in Kiel, Germany. Temperatures worldwide may stabilize in the period.</p>

<p>The study was based on sea-surface temperatures of currents that move heat around the world, and vary from decade to decade. This regional cooling effect may temporarily neutralize the long- term warming phenomenon caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases building up around the earth, said Richard Wood, a research scientist at the Met Office Hadley Centre, a U.K. provider of environmental and weather-related services.</p>

<p>``Those natural climate variations could be stronger than the global-warming trend over the next 10-year period,'' Wood said in an interview. ``Without knowing that, you might erroneously think there's no global warming going on.''</p>

<p>The Leibniz study, co-written by Noel Keenlyside, a research scientist at the institute, will be published in the May 1 issue of the journal Nature.</p>

<p>``If we don't experience warming over the next 10 years, it doesn't mean that greenhouse-gas warming is not with us,'' Keenlyside said in an interview. ``There can be natural fluctuations that may mask climate change in the short term.''</blockquote></p>

<p>Hmmm.  Well, OK, so no global warming for the next ten years.  I guess that is good news.  Because Climatology is such an accurate science.  <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/06/br_r_r_where_did_global_warming_go/">Let's check this article from January 2008</a>:</p>

<blockquote>THE STARK headline appeared just over a year ago. "2007 to be 'warmest on record,' " BBC News reported on Jan. 4, 2007. Citing experts in the British government's Meteorological Office, the story announced that "the world is likely to experience the warmest year on record in 2007," surpassing the all-time high reached in 1998.

<p>But a funny thing happened on the way to the planetary hot flash: Much of the planet grew bitterly cold.</p>

<p>In South America, for example, the start of winter last year was one of the coldest ever observed. According to Eugenio Hackbart, chief meteorologist of the MetSul Weather Center in Brazil, "a brutal cold wave brought record low temperatures, widespread frost, snow, and major energy disruption." In Buenos Aires, it snowed for the first time in 89 years, while in Peru the cold was so intense that hundreds of people died and the government declared a state of emergency in 14 of the country's 24 provinces. In August, Chile's agriculture minister lamented "the toughest winter we have seen in the past 50 years," which caused losses of at least $200 million in destroyed crops and livestock.</p>

<p>Latin Americans weren't the only ones shivering.</p>

<p>University of Oklahoma geophysicist David Deming, a specialist in temperature and heat flow, notes in the Washington Times that "unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007." Johannesburg experienced its first significant snowfall in a quarter-century. Australia had its coldest ever June. New Zealand's vineyards lost much of their 2007 harvest when spring temperatures dropped to record lows.</p>

<p>Closer to home, 44.5 inches of snow fell in New Hampshire last month, breaking the previous record of 43 inches, set in 1876. And the Canadian government is forecasting the coldest winter in 15 years.</p>

<p>Now all of these may be short-lived weather anomalies, mere blips in the path of the global climatic warming that Al Gore and a host of alarmists proclaim the deadliest threat we face. But what if the frigid conditions that have caused so much distress in recent months signal an impending era of global cooling?</p>

<p>"Stock up on fur coats and felt boots!" advises Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and senior scientist at Moscow's Shirshov Institute of Oceanography. "The latest data . . . say that earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012."</p>

<p>Sorokhtin dismisses the conventional global warming theory that greenhouse gases, especially human-emitted carbon dioxide, is causing the earth to grow hotter. Like a number of other scientists, he points to solar activity - sunspots and solar flares, which wax and wane over time - as having the greatest effect on climate.</p>

<p>"Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate change," Sorokhtin writes in an essay for Novosti. "Solar activity is many times more powerful than the energy produced by the whole of humankind." In a recent paper for the Danish National Space Center, physicists Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen concur: "The sun . . . appears to be the main forcing agent in global climate change," they write.</p>

<p>Given the number of worldwide cold events, it is no surprise that 2007 didn't turn out to be the warmest ever. In fact, 2007's global temperature was essentially the same as that in 2006 - and 2005, and 2004, and every year back to 2001. The record set in 1998 has not been surpassed. For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming. Even though atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to accumulate - it's up about 4 percent since 1998 - the global mean temperature has remained flat. That raises some obvious questions about the theory that CO2 is the cause of climate change.</p>

<p>Yet so relentlessly has the alarmist scenario been hyped, and so disdainfully have dissenting views been dismissed, that millions of people assume Gore must be right when he insists: "The debate in the scientific community is over."</blockquote></p>

<p>I guess the next ten years may not be so dire for ski resorts.  All their efforts and the extra cost of Wind Energy programs must have been what reversed Global Warming and saved the ski industry.</p>

<p>More inconvenient truths.  Nobel Prize anyone?</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/next_ten_years_will_have_no_gl.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/05/next_ten_years_will_have_no_gl.html</guid>
         <category>Weather</category>
         <pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 17:52:39 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>Brian Head Still Has Plenty of Snow</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>I was at Brian Head this last week and it is amazing that on the 24th of April, the resort could easily remain open.</p>

<p>I spent two nights in Brian Head on my trip to Wyoming, one up and one back.  I took my grandfather's body to Lovell for his burial service and spoke at another funeral.  We did two funerals since we have so many family and friends that could not make the Wickenburg services.  It was a little odd to haul him 1500 miles in the back of my truck, but if you knew him, you would understand how much he would enjoy the mere thought of me and my two uncles hauling him back home.</p>

<p>I spent the last three years hoping to take him to my place in Brian Head.  The back of the truck in the parking garage was as close to my condo as he got, but I got his old ass up there.</p>

<p>I am slowly settling in to the groove of things again.  Sorry for the slow blogging, but it takes a while to recover.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/brian_head_still_has_plenty_of.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/brian_head_still_has_plenty_of.html</guid>
         <category>Brian Head</category>
         <pubDate>Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:38:30 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>Donald Asay Blackburn</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>I haven't written here much recently.  I was asked to speak at the services and write his obituary:</p>

<blockquote>Donald Asay Blackburn left this earthly life April 12th at his family home in Wickenburg with his wife Victoria by his side.  He was born December 1, 1932, in Lovell, Wyoming to Hyrum and Gladys Blackburn.  June 11, 1985, he married his wife Victoria Watson of Chinook, Montana.  On February 4, 2003, he was sealed for time and eternity in the Mesa Temple in Arizona.  Throughout his life, he showed a deep love for his family.  

<p>Don was preceded on his journey by his three sons Steve, Danny, and Lynn Blackburn.  He awaits the reunion with his loving wife Victoria; Marilyn Witt and husband Kelly; Jeffrey Blackburn and wife Linda; David Blackburn and wife Velma; Teri Lee Benoit and husband Kenny; Troy Hunter; Harley Blackburn and wife Jodi; Brenda Lorash and husband Eddie; Derk Hunter and wife Katrina; Brent Bowen and wife Alison; grandchildren Natalie Rallo and Justin Blackburn of Wickenburg; and over 60 grandchildren and great grandchildren.</p>

<p>Don grew up in Lovell where he was an outstanding athlete in football and basketball before leaving for Korea as an Army soldier in 1951.  Upon his return from Korea, he worked the jobs no one else would.  He worked setting concrete forms for the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.  He owned and ran a large Uranium mine in his mid-20’s.  He worked as a salesman for FMC selling agricultural products to some of the largest farms in the US near Stockton, California.  </p>

<p>His business ventures included owning and managing various gold mines in Montana, Wyoming, and Arizona; consulting work for the governments of China and Vietnam; Uranium ventures in Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming; Blackburn Drilling that operated across the United States and in Australia; Bear Creek Coal Partners of Montana; Titanium Resources Corporation; Vanadium Partners, Inc.; and other projects too numerous to recount.</p>

<p>His character, humor and personality will be celebrated at the Wickenburg LDS Church at 6:00 PM, Thursday, April 17th, and at the LDS Stake Center in Lovell, Wyoming, at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, April 23rd.   All are welcome to attend.</blockquote></p>

<p>I spent Friday with my grandfather at Chemo in Phoenix and was with him just hours before he passed.  I already miss him as do many others.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/donald_asay_blackburn.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/donald_asay_blackburn.html</guid>
         <category>Personal</category>
         <pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:16:32 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>E-mail Exchange on Global Warming</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>I sent a couple e-mails back and forth with a long time reader and friend Jon Wade at <a href="http://www.steamboatsprings.blogspot.com">Steamboat Springs Blog</a> about Climate Change.  Just wanted to post the text of one of my e-mails to him for public view:</p>

<blockquote>We can keep the world from heating by forcing gas prices to $10 a gallon with Carbon taxes, increasing the cost of every single thing that we consume, and putting the entire world into a recession.  If the earth cools, that is great, but even if it doesn't, it is still good for the ski industry and for John Kerry, Algore, and the Kennedy families because the massive recession will not affect their billions and will simply provide less crowded slopes by getting rid of the riff raff like us from their billion dollar playgrounds.

<p>Every time that some ski resort talks about how global warming will impact the sport by shutting down ski resorts that don't get enough snow, they are speculating on Climatologists not having their heads up their ass.  But when they talk about the solutions they propose to global warming that are little more than rebranded collectivist ideas under the guise of "saving the environment", we need not speculate on how that will affect the sport.  It will increase costs and decrease the number of people that can ski with absolute certainty.  We are right at the price point that my wife and I can barely afford to ski with our kids and all the resorts are running round bragging about being "wind powered".  How about bragging about being affordable for families?</blockquote></p>

<p><a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/news/stories/2008/04/03/turner_0404.html">Ted Turner had this to say about global warming</a>:</p>

<blockquote>Failure to address global warming will have us all dead or eating each other by mid-century.

<p>So says Ted Turner, the restaurateur, environmentalist and former media mogul whose controversial comments have earned him the nickname "Mouth of the South."</p>

<p>If steps aren't taken to stem global warming, "We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow," Turner said during a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with PBS's Charlie Rose that aired Tuesday.</p>

<p>"Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals," said Turner, 69. "Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state — like Somalia or Sudan — and living conditions will be intolerable."</p>

<p>One way to combat global warming, Turner said, is to stabilize the population.</p>

<p>"We're too many people; that's why we have global warming," he said. "Too many people are using too much stuff."</p>

<p>Turner suggested that "on a voluntary basis, everybody in the world's got to pledge to themselves that one or two children is it."</blockquote></p>

<p>8 DEGREES!  In light of this, I better stop skiing, driving, breathing CO2,...  Or else get ready to start eating people.  EATING PEOPLE!  This Global Warming crap is just going beyond what can even be considered reasonable.  Having to eat people sounds like a pretty inconvenient truth to me.<br />
</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/email_exchange_on_global_warmi.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/email_exchange_on_global_warmi.html</guid>
         <category>Weather</category>
         <pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:52:47 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>Opening Day, NBA Playoffs, and the End of the 2007-08 Ski Season</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>A little time to reflect on the last ski season.  This year, I skied Beaver Creek for the first time, skied Wolf Creek for the first time in three years, and got my usual days in at Brian Head.  I got in about half as many days this season as last--12 versus 25--but enjoyed it far more.</p>

<p>Couple great memories for me.  First was <a href="http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/02/jarretts_first_black_diamond.html"><br />
Jarrett skiing his first black diamond</a>.  He isn't even in the same ballpark as Jake, but that is a function of being 7 versus 11.  But he discovered a love for skiing this season and now looks forward to it.  I am excited about this year and looking forward to going from having two skiing boys to having three kids that rip it up when Lindsey gets a couple years older.</p>

<p>Second was <a href="http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/01/wolf_creek_weekend.html">Jake and me going to Wolf Creek with Tim, Erich, and JP</a>.  It has been far too long since I took at trip to Wolf Creek and this trip magnified how Jake has improved from our last trip three years ago when he was a Wolf Pup.  When we hiked Alberta Peak and he left me behind, I had a new sense of humility and some pride that all the time and money that I have spent on gear and passes and gas and hotels and condos has paid off.  We have something that both boys enjoy and that helps us bond.  </p>

<p>Finally, <a href="http://www.ski-blog.com/2007/12/best_day_ever_beaver_creek_co.html">there was my trip to Beaver Creek</a>.  I have rarely enjoyed a ski day that much.</p>

<p>I am going to try to get one more weekend in before the season is over.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/opening_day_nba_playoffs_and_t.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/04/opening_day_nba_playoffs_and_t.html</guid>
         <category>General Skiing</category>
         <pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:46:00 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>Good News for the Southwest--The La Nina that Wasn&apos;t</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0329drought0323.html">The Arizona Republic has this recap of the 2007-08 winter</a>:</p>

<blockquote>This was supposed to be a dry Arizona winter, deprived of rain and snow by the oceanic weathermaker La Niña.

<p>As sure as it's hot in August, if it's La Niña, it's dry in winter...</p>

<p>How wet was the 2007-08 winter?  Pretty wet, though not as wet as 2004-05, the last time reservoirs rose and water flowed down the normally dry lower Salt River.</p>

<p>A few big storms delivered the bulk of the rain and snow in most areas. Four storm systems accounted for nearly all the precipitation recorded in Phoenix and Flagstaff from Nov. 30 through the end of January...</p>

<p>In the high country, the storms pushed snowpack well above normal, as high as 180 percent of the 30-year average in some basins. The San Francisco Peaks above Flagstaff remain at 225 percent of normal.</blockquote></p>

<p>But this is where it gets interesting.  Last year, it was an extremely dry El Nino year.  This year, it was an extremely wet La Nina.</p>

<blockquote>What happened to La Niña and its warm, dry winter?  That's a question meteorologists will puzzle over for a while.

<p>Temperatures in the Pacific Ocean began dropping off near the equator midway through 2007, signaling the onset of La Niña, one of the most reliable predictors of weather in the Southwest.</p>

<p>For months, climate experts forecasted warm, dry winter conditions across Arizona, an outlook that persisted until the first storms hit in early December.</p>

<p>Paul Iñiguez, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said this La Niña was the strongest in 35 years and the fourth-strongest in 132 years of record keeping. Such conditions almost always steer storms north of Arizona, drenching the upper tier of states.</p>

<p>But Iñiguez said the forecasts tripped over unexpected differences elsewhere in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, where pockets of warmer water grew, influencing the storm track in ways uncharacteristic of La Niña.</p>

<p>"This year, the systems had access to more moisture from the south," Iñiguez said, moisture that helped fuel the lower northern storm track and give Arizona a juiced-up winter.</p>

<p>Why all these events converged no one can yet say, but the result was one of Arizona's wettest La Niña winters on record.</blockquote></p>

<p>So what conclusion should I draw?  Climatologists are almost certain what La Nina and El Nino mean for the southwest.  Yet, here were are and the results the last two years are exactly the opposite of what the Climatologists predicted.</p>

<p>So they will scurry off for another several months to write papers about how they were actually right if they had taken into account some other phenomenon that suddenly emerged and no one considered and that their models simply need some minor tweak made.</p>

<p>Is it possible that the weather is far more complicated than Climatologists believe it to be?  That simple hockey sticks and CO2 cannot alter the entire planet or that ocean temperatures are not the only indicator of a wet winter?</p>

<p>While one wetter than expected winter in Arizona may not be more than a happy coincidence, it does call into questions the simplistic nature of many predictive models that Climatologists have convinced us can accurately predict weather patterns during the winter.</p>

<p>I still believe that the Sun and Sun Spots play more of a role in things than Al Gore wants to let on and far more of a role than all the CO2 we can produce.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/good_news_for_the_southwestthe.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/good_news_for_the_southwestthe.html</guid>
         <category>Weather</category>
         <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:11:27 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>End of the Season Party at Brian Head</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.brianhead.com/">The end is near</a> and Brian Head is already getting ready for the end of season party:</p>

<blockquote><center><b>End of Season Party on the Snow!<br>
Saturday, April 12th</b><br>
Lift Tickets 50% Off!<br>
Bounce Back Sunday for the same price<br>
(Must show lift ticket from Saturday)</center> 

<p>Come celebrate the last weekend of the 2007-08 Winter Season! Lots of activities and competitions with cool prizes, outdoor barbecue, discounts on food and blowout prices on retail merchandise! Activities begin at 11 a.m. and include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Pond Skimming 
<li>Mountain Bike Race 
<li>Rubber Ducky Race 
<li>Rail Jam 
<li>On-Snow Putting Green 
<li>And Lots More! 
</ul>

<p>Sign-ups begin at 9 a.m. on the 3rd floor of the Giant Steps Lodge.</blockquote></p>

<p>I am gonna give pond skimming a try this season.  I gotta do it and if Jackson goes, I am gonna convince him and Jake to do it too.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/end_of_the_season_party_at_bri.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/end_of_the_season_party_at_bri.html</guid>
         <category>Brian Head</category>
         <pubDate>Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:06:55 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>14 Year Old Dies Skiing Heavenly</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080321/NEWS01/562875835/-1/NEWS">Bad news from Heavenly</a>:</p>

<blockquote>A 14-year-old girl died Thursday afternoon following a ski accident at Heavenly Mountain Resort, authorities said.

<p>Emily Clothier, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., apparently died from blunt force trauma after hitting a tree, although an exact cause of death was pending, said El Dorado County Sheriff's Lt. Les Lovell.</p>

<p>The girl was wearing a helmet and was practice skiing with the Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation, Lovell said. She was found by her coach who was skiing about one minute behind her, he added.</p>

<p>The accident happened on the Nevada side of the ski resort at about 1:30 p.m., Heavenly officials confirmed...</p>

<p>The girl received immediate medical treatment at the scene and then was taken by CALSTAR helicopter to Barton Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:39 p.m., Lovell said.</p>

<p>The accident occurred in the ski resort's Stagecoach area. The girl skied off the Stagecoach trail and into a wooded area, according to Heavenly. The resort has begun a routine investigation of the accident, Pecoraro said.</blockquote></p>

<p>Even helmets do not protect 100%.  </p>

<p>When we were at Wolf Creek, helicopters were flying overhead searching for the two snowboarders that got lost (and were not found).  Remember that it is a dangerous sport.  Trees.  Tree wells.  Blizzard conditions.  Cold.  Cliffs.  Icy roads.  There are lots of dangers.</p>

<p>Talk to your kids about safety.  Remember safety yourself.  Stay in control and stay safe.  Especially be safe about alcohol and drugs.  Save the crack smoking for the condo.  Every time some a-hole is getting on the lift in front of me and is drunk or I smell the pot smoke, I think about getting clipped from him and tearing an ACL or busting my dome.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/14_year_old_dies_skiing_heaven.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/14_year_old_dies_skiing_heaven.html</guid>
         <category>General Skiing</category>
         <pubDate>Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:02:13 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>21&quot; Last Night at Brian Head</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.brianhead.com/resort/snowreport.html">Brian Head got 21" last night</a> which puts the resort over the 300" mark for the year.  I got the e-mail powder alert at 8AM as I was heading to chemo.  The list of places I would rather be than the VA Hospital is pretty long, but Brian Head is the top of the list.</p>

<p>Things will mellow for me after Easter hopefully and I am going to try to get in one more good weekend.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/21_last_night_at_brian_head_1.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/21_last_night_at_brian_head_1.html</guid>
         <category>Brian Head</category>
         <pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:43:43 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>Slow Blogging for a While</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>I am having a slew of things go on right now.  First, my grandfather has lung cancer.  Thankfully, it is in its early stages, but he is starting Chemo next week or the week after (if he decides to do it).  As I aluded to in the other post today, he is the man that raised me from the time I was 12.  I spent today with him going to the VA to help him get his benefits and treatment stuff straightened out.  A stop by In-N-Out Burgers and a long drive talking was much needed.  My daughter Lindsey stayed with my grandmother today while we drove to Phoenix.</p>

<p>Second, Jake is starting another season of football and Jarrett is starting another season of basketball.  So I am doing my best to balance all the duties of being a dad with those of being a son (grandson).  Boy Scouts.  Basketball Practices.  Football Practices.  Sprinting and Speed Camps.  Chemotherapy.  School projects and Parent-Teacher meetings.  Estate Planning.  You know, the usual stuff.</p>

<p>I am going to try to squeeze in a long ski weekend or two before April, but I am pretty booked.  I have dozens of ski seasons ahead of me, but have some serious work to do now.  In short, things might slow down around here for a while.  Blogging and skiing are my release and my way of spending time with friends and family.  I have some other business to attend to in the meantime.</p>

<p>Today was Jake's first football practice.  He is a completely different kid than in August when he first put on pads.  He is officially the fasted kid on his team and the tallest by at least four inches (which I told him did not bode well for his team j/k).  He just needs some more meat on his skinny bones.  He laid some wood today and then he got to run extra sprints after practice for not cleaning his room well enough this morning (he didn't open the blinds and close the closet doors).  The same kind of lessons my grandfather taught me.  Perfection.  Attention to details.  Hard work.  </p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/slow_blogging_for_a_while.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/slow_blogging_for_a_while.html</guid>
         <category>Personal</category>
         <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:41:42 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>D&amp;D Founder Gary Gygax Dies</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>A couple great lines about it from various blogs included this from <a href="http://ace.mu.nu/archives/257035.php">Ace of Spades</a>:</p>

<blockquote>He will be remembered by many geeks of a certain age for helping making long-lasting painful celibacy seem almost hip and cool (almost), and also, sadly, for undermining Israel's ability to defend herself from her enemies.</blockquote>

<p>So I encourage all of you to take the What Character am I challenge:</p>

<blockquote><b>I Am A:</b> Lawful Good Human Paladin/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)
<br><br><u>Ability Scores:</u><br>
<b>Strength-</b>14<br>
<b>Dexterity-</b>12<br>
<b>Constitution-</b>15<br>
<b>Intelligence-</b>20<br>
<b>Wisdom-</b>18<br>
<b>Charisma-</b>16
<br><br><u>Alignment:</u><br><b>Lawful Good</b> A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.<br>
<br><u>Race:</u><br><b>Humans</b> are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
<br><br><u>Primary Class:</u><br><b>Paladins</b> take their adventures seriously, and even a mundane mission is, in the heart of the paladin, a personal test an opportunity to demonstrate bravery, to learn tactics, and to find ways to do good. Divine power protects these warriors of virtue, warding off harm, protecting from disease, healing, and guarding against fear. The paladin can also direct this power to help others, healing wounds or curing diseases, and also use it to destroy evil. Experienced paladins can smite evil foes and turn away undead. A paladin's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast. Many of the paladin's special abilities also benefit from a high Charisma score.
<br><br><u>Secondary Class:</u><br><b>Sorcerers</b> are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
<br><br>Find out <a href='http://www.easydamus.com/character.html' target='mt'>What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?</a>, courtesy of Easydamus <a href='mailto:zybstrski@excite.com'>(e-mail)</a><br><br></blockquote>

<p>I remember back when I was 12 and had my head shaved and wore Army fatigues, wrote computer programs on an old Apple II-E in basic, and played D&D.  It was when my mother shipped my ass off to live with my grandfather that I discovered football and became a more "well balanced" person (read girls stopped treating my like a weirdo and people stopped fearing that I would someday go on a shooting spree).</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/dd_founder_gary_gygax_dies.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/03/dd_founder_gary_gygax_dies.html</guid>
         <category>Personal</category>
         <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:32:32 -0700</pubDate>
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         <title>Sad Day for Wickenburg</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p>I remember wrestling trips all across the state, travelling with Rome, Roxie, Joe and Kristina Glover.  I played football with Joe for four years and we both were four year lettermen in wrestling.  Christina was always there as a cheerleader or just to support her big brother.  The Glovers are a wonderful family.  All of them have (had) a sense of humor and personalities that just drew to them.  The were magnetic on the both the football field, cheer team, and in the community.  We had our 10 year reunion two years ago.  I remember walking into the bar with my classmates and she was the first one over to see us.  Talked about her nieces and Joe and how well things were going.  </p>

<p><img src="http://images.townnews.com/wickenburgsun.com/content/articles/2008/02/27/obituaries/obit01.jpg"></p>

<p><a href="http://www.wickenburgsun.com/articles/2008/02/27/obituaries/obit01.txt">It is with great sadness that we remember her passing at age 30</a>.</p>

<blockquote>Kristina Lorene Glover, age 30, passed away Feb. 24 at Wickenburg Community Hospital, surrounded by her family and loving fiance Nate Cooper. She was born May 29, 1977 in Sturgis, S.D., to Rome C. Glover and Roxie D. (Wilsey) Glover.

<p>Kristina moved to Wickenburg in 1983, and this was the town that she justly called home, graduating Class of 1995. She received her bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Montana. Kristina was in her final year of law school at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Wash.<br />
 <br />
She is survived by her parents, Rome and Roxie Glover; her beloved brother Joe; sister-in-law Nora; nieces Elena, Ava, and Abbey; her fiance Nate; her grandparents Robert and Lillian (Wilsey) Pegra; 10 aunts; 11 uncles; several great-aunts and uncles; numerous cousins; and countless extended family and friends who will miss her dearly.</p>

<p>Kristina had a spirit and zest for life that touched many hearts. She loved spending time in the wilderness, embracing the closeness of nature. Her life was bountiful in experiences that reaffirmed this love: horseback riding, camping, hiking, and even becoming an experienced fisherwoman in Alaska.</p>

<p>The passion Kristina had for life was always apparent in the high goals she set for herself. Law school found Kristina chairing clubs, participating in competitions on a national level, raising money for non-profits, and achieving honors in her academics. She not only excelled at law school, but also made the time to acknowledge the more intimate side of life.</p>

<p>Foremost in Kristina’s heart was her family and the love of her life Nate. Her love of children was evident in the devotion she had to her three nieces. Kristina had a genuine care for others and was always willing to share her rich life experiences in hopes of enlightening another’s life path.</blockquote></p>

<p>Just a sad day.  Kristina was a year older than Tera and graduated two years after me.  </p>

<p>Thoughts and prayers go out to Rome, Roxie, Joe, Nate, and the rest of the family.  We lost another member of the Wickenburg family in Stephanie Babcock that passed away less than a year ago at 29.  The entire town knew and loved both of these young women.  It is just a sad day.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/02/sad_day_for_wickenburg.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/02/sad_day_for_wickenburg.html</guid>
         <category>Personal</category>
         <pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:28:13 -0700</pubDate>
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            <item>
         <title>Best Response EVER to the Arrested Development Movie</title>
         <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://the-op.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4293">The best response to the AD Movie</a>:</p>

<blockquote>I would cry, but I don't think I can spare the moisture.</blockquote>

<p>Second place:</p>

<blockquote>It's happening, isn't it.</blockquote>

<p>Third place:</p>

<blockquote>Hey, what a great idea for a Hugh Grant/ Julia Roberts-type movie.</blockquote> 

<p>I seriously cannot get over the idea that AD might be coming back.  I posted about it yesterday, but am still out trolling for tidbits of news to verify that this is a reality.  Spread the buzz and plan to see it right away in theatres.  Several times.  And buy the DVD.  Put it in your sock drawer next to <em>Les Cousins Dangereux</em>.  I like the way they think.</p>]]></description>
         <link>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/02/best_response_ever_to_the_arre.html</link>
         <guid>http://www.ski-blog.com/2008/02/best_response_ever_to_the_arre.html</guid>
         <category>Humor</category>
         <pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:55:50 -0700</pubDate>
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