Taking one day off from skiing, we went over to Park City and watched the Half Pipe competition. It is always impressive!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Visit from Stuart and Laurie
This past weekend we had visitors in from Chicago: Stuart and Laurie Jones. They came out to do some skiing and were met with spring conditions. It was sunny and in the 50s every day. That makes for glorious weather for sitting on a deck, drinking a beer, and watching people ski. It makes for some tough skiing. Mornings bring hard pack, then a bit of nice snow, then slush for the rest of the day.
Taking one day off from skiing, we went over to Park City and watched the Half Pipe competition. It is always impressive!
Taking one day off from skiing, we went over to Park City and watched the Half Pipe competition. It is always impressive!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Creating the guts of the house
They have been doing the low-voltage wiring in the house. This includes phone, ethernet, coax, and some distributed video. This first collection is mostly phone/data.
This is the audio/video collection.
There is well over a mile of Cat5 in the house. I am hoping this means never having to run another wire.
Boy, I sure hope they labeled them well!!!
This is the audio/video collection.
There is well over a mile of Cat5 in the house. I am hoping this means never having to run another wire.
Boy, I sure hope they labeled them well!!!
Golfing at Myrtle Beach
We had a great golf trip in Myrtle Beach. Played once decent course (Blackmoor) and two excellent courses (Caledonia and True Blue).
Here is one of the less welcome participants we ran across. No one went and got their ball.
This is Darrell, posing with a ball that just missed being a hole in one. He could have won our days bet immediately with such a shot.
Here is one of the less welcome participants we ran across. No one went and got their ball.
This is Darrell, posing with a ball that just missed being a hole in one. He could have won our days bet immediately with such a shot.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Where's Waldog? Part 3
This one is the hardest yet, so I added a second picture as a clue.
Yes, the snow is that deep. Jasper is a pretty tall dog and he needed a dog snorkel.
Yes, the snow is that deep. Jasper is a pretty tall dog and he needed a dog snorkel.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Annual ski trip
OK, it really isn't a trip any more. Since both we and the Kahn's live in Park City, it seems much easier and cheaper to have everyone come here for skiing. After all, this area has some of the best skiing available.
Here is our group photo for the year. The two people missing are Anne and Bill. Anne had a sore knee and wasn't skiing this day. Bill had too much work at work and couldn't join us this week.
Top row: Mark, Tom, Sherrie, Carol, Julie, Bruce and Steve
Bottom row: Cameron, Katie, Carson, Hannah and Hilary
JohnQ, Bruce and Carol at Deer Valley
One night we had a Chilean chef from Deer Valley come over to the Kahn's house to prepare dinner. It was quite wonderful!
Bruce ripping through the powder.
Hilary, jumping off a ledge.
This is Cameron becoming at one with the snow.
Here is our group photo for the year. The two people missing are Anne and Bill. Anne had a sore knee and wasn't skiing this day. Bill had too much work at work and couldn't join us this week.
Top row: Mark, Tom, Sherrie, Carol, Julie, Bruce and Steve
Bottom row: Cameron, Katie, Carson, Hannah and Hilary
JohnQ, Bruce and Carol at Deer Valley
One night we had a Chilean chef from Deer Valley come over to the Kahn's house to prepare dinner. It was quite wonderful!
Bruce ripping through the powder.
Hilary, jumping off a ledge.
This is Cameron becoming at one with the snow.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Good progress
Lots of things happened while we were off in France and the pace continues now that we are back.
- The trusses are all in and the roof is finished
- Almost all the windows are in. The big picture windows just got ordered.
- The roof is papered and waterproofed
- The house is wrapped in Tyvek
- Lots and lots of the little framing changes got made
- The electrical rough-in is 75% complete
- HVAC is going in and is 25% complete
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Skiing in France
Julie and I went to France for a ski trip. This is the third we have done with Norman and Ginny from the Wine and Things store in Raleigh. We flew to Paris and then headed to Meribel in the Alps. Meribel is in an area called the Three Valleys. It includes three huge ski areas, one in each valley, that are interconnected by lifts. For a map, click here. The central valley alone has 16 gondolas. Not lifts. Gondolas. HUGE!! After a week of skiing, we went back to Paris for a few days of visiting. It was a great trip.
This is the group of 10 (as long as you include the photographer). One of the nicest things was that everyone skied at roughly the same level. That made it much easier to ski together throughout the day.
Even in the Courcheval valley, Park City is famous. Apparently someone had decided to name one of the ski runs "Park City". I love our home town, but it never looks quite like this.
Dick and Cosette are getting ready for another day of skiing. The scenery is so dramatic. We never could figure out why the tree line is so much lower here than in the US. Probably some soil thing since the weather is warmer.
Scattered around the mountain sides are rock cabins. They were used to hide Jewish refugees during WW II. Most seem to be in good condition although I don't think they get used any more.
We never found any details about what happened, but we are pretty certain that this plane should not have tried landing in the mountain side. The crowd of people seemed to be trying to figure out exactly what they were going to do with it.
This is the group on the front porch of our house in Meribel. The house was ski-in/ski-out and was large by European standards.
The house we were staying in came with a most wonderful couple as our caretakers and hosts. Regan was the chef and his fiance' Ome handled most everything else. They were from New Zealand and were working for an English company called Ski Cuisine.
We had dinner served at the house on every night but one. They were incredible!!
OK, the food was so good I included another night's fare.
Oh, we the meals included all the wine you can drink, and it was good. That is a scary offer to make to a couple that owns a wine store and their friends. They said we drank 18 bottles, the first night.
In Paris, we did some sightseeing and I did a bit of photography. One neat thing about Paris is that the Eiffel Tower shows up from almost anywhere.
My favorite building is the Notre Dame cathedral.
Oh, did I mention it was my favorite?
It was a dark cloudy evening, looking down the river.
This is the Arc de Traffic, or something like that.
Our only museum stop was the Musee de l'Orangerie. About half the museum is specifically designed for Monet's Water Lilly's, but there was a surprising amount of other works on display.
A most wonderful trip with a great set of people.
This is the group of 10 (as long as you include the photographer). One of the nicest things was that everyone skied at roughly the same level. That made it much easier to ski together throughout the day.
Even in the Courcheval valley, Park City is famous. Apparently someone had decided to name one of the ski runs "Park City". I love our home town, but it never looks quite like this.
Dick and Cosette are getting ready for another day of skiing. The scenery is so dramatic. We never could figure out why the tree line is so much lower here than in the US. Probably some soil thing since the weather is warmer.
Scattered around the mountain sides are rock cabins. They were used to hide Jewish refugees during WW II. Most seem to be in good condition although I don't think they get used any more.
We never found any details about what happened, but we are pretty certain that this plane should not have tried landing in the mountain side. The crowd of people seemed to be trying to figure out exactly what they were going to do with it.
This is the group on the front porch of our house in Meribel. The house was ski-in/ski-out and was large by European standards.
The house we were staying in came with a most wonderful couple as our caretakers and hosts. Regan was the chef and his fiance' Ome handled most everything else. They were from New Zealand and were working for an English company called Ski Cuisine.
We had dinner served at the house on every night but one. They were incredible!!
OK, the food was so good I included another night's fare.
Oh, we the meals included all the wine you can drink, and it was good. That is a scary offer to make to a couple that owns a wine store and their friends. They said we drank 18 bottles, the first night.
In Paris, we did some sightseeing and I did a bit of photography. One neat thing about Paris is that the Eiffel Tower shows up from almost anywhere.
My favorite building is the Notre Dame cathedral.
Oh, did I mention it was my favorite?
It was a dark cloudy evening, looking down the river.
This is the Arc de Traffic, or something like that.
Our only museum stop was the Musee de l'Orangerie. About half the museum is specifically designed for Monet's Water Lilly's, but there was a surprising amount of other works on display.
A most wonderful trip with a great set of people.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Trusses
The middle of the house finally starts really taking shape. Yeah!!
This is standing near the front door, looking through the living room.
This is standing near the front door, looking through the living room.
Sky dog
One day when Sara was here, we walked up April Mountain. I was tossing snowballs to Jasper and Sara took a few pictures. This was the nicest. When it comes to snowballs, the dog has a lot of focus and gets some great air. If I had springs like he does, I would be able to dunk a basketball. As I came back down.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Sundance 2007
Well, I have been doing a poor job of blogging this year's Sundance. Better late than never.
This year my cousin Sara came out from Atlanta. We did a mix of movie going, star stalking and skiing. Quite a nice week. Here are the movies we saw, followed by a few star pictures.
Chicago 10 - This was one of the two opening films. It discusses the anti-war riots in Chicago in 1968. The director's mom was staying with our friends, the Kahn's. They have been family friends for many years. Good movie. Creative mix of film and animation. Rare to see a documentary as an opening film at Sundance. Extremely timely for the troop increases for Iraq. 3 stars.
Delirious - A fun, emotional film about the dark life of paparazzi. Steve Buscemi was the perfect actor for the part of the slightly demented photo stalker. 2.5 stars
Noise - An Australian film about a policeman with a hearing problem, caught up in a nasty mass murder. Well written. Different sound effects, putting you in the position of the suffering policeman. Sometimes difficult to understand the Australian accent when combined with the odd sounds. 3 stars.
Hound dog - This one has been getting a lot of national attention from the religious right. A twelve year old gets raped in the movie. The protesters want the director charged on child pornography. It just goes to show you how stupid Americans can be. The people complaining about the movie aren't at Sundance and they haven't even seen the movie. They "heard" about it though. The movie is actually awesome and incredibly well done. The 12 year old is Dakota Fanning. The girl is simply not human. No 12 year old can act this good. She carries a very deep, emotional movie to perfection. The rape scene is key to the suffering of this girl. It is filmed as tastefully as you possibly can while still exploring her life. Total time on screen, about 15 seconds. 5 out of 4 stars.
Blame it on Fidel- a French film with subtitles. It was a story about a little girl, growing up in France with parents who are Chilean political activists. The girl was probably about 8 years old. She was a wonderful little actress. Very expressive. 3 stars.
I will be seeing a few more movies and will blog them as I go.
Julie and Sara did the wait list line to see Grace is Gone. They said it was excellent.
This is Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight on the office. He is giving the thumbs up after I told him I have a Dwight bobble head. This was a Christmas gift from my brother in law, Marty.
If you have to have a nice shot, why have it of this guy? This is Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell. He was in town having a "collect the most SWAG" contest with Gary Coleman. Nice to see their careers have blossomed.
Steve Buscemi leaving his movie Delirious.
Puff Diddy. P-Daddy. Whatever....
... and a fur-lined Tara Reid.
This year my cousin Sara came out from Atlanta. We did a mix of movie going, star stalking and skiing. Quite a nice week. Here are the movies we saw, followed by a few star pictures.
Chicago 10 - This was one of the two opening films. It discusses the anti-war riots in Chicago in 1968. The director's mom was staying with our friends, the Kahn's. They have been family friends for many years. Good movie. Creative mix of film and animation. Rare to see a documentary as an opening film at Sundance. Extremely timely for the troop increases for Iraq. 3 stars.
Delirious - A fun, emotional film about the dark life of paparazzi. Steve Buscemi was the perfect actor for the part of the slightly demented photo stalker. 2.5 stars
Noise - An Australian film about a policeman with a hearing problem, caught up in a nasty mass murder. Well written. Different sound effects, putting you in the position of the suffering policeman. Sometimes difficult to understand the Australian accent when combined with the odd sounds. 3 stars.
Hound dog - This one has been getting a lot of national attention from the religious right. A twelve year old gets raped in the movie. The protesters want the director charged on child pornography. It just goes to show you how stupid Americans can be. The people complaining about the movie aren't at Sundance and they haven't even seen the movie. They "heard" about it though. The movie is actually awesome and incredibly well done. The 12 year old is Dakota Fanning. The girl is simply not human. No 12 year old can act this good. She carries a very deep, emotional movie to perfection. The rape scene is key to the suffering of this girl. It is filmed as tastefully as you possibly can while still exploring her life. Total time on screen, about 15 seconds. 5 out of 4 stars.
Blame it on Fidel- a French film with subtitles. It was a story about a little girl, growing up in France with parents who are Chilean political activists. The girl was probably about 8 years old. She was a wonderful little actress. Very expressive. 3 stars.
I will be seeing a few more movies and will blog them as I go.
Julie and Sara did the wait list line to see Grace is Gone. They said it was excellent.
This is Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight on the office. He is giving the thumbs up after I told him I have a Dwight bobble head. This was a Christmas gift from my brother in law, Marty.
If you have to have a nice shot, why have it of this guy? This is Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell. He was in town having a "collect the most SWAG" contest with Gary Coleman. Nice to see their careers have blossomed.
Steve Buscemi leaving his movie Delirious.
Puff Diddy. P-Daddy. Whatever....
... and a fur-lined Tara Reid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)