Ok so about those Christmas trees. In Chicago my local supplier charged about $10 bucks a foot. Family owned business with a couple of the brothers always drunk and handing out shots of whiskey for the adults and candy for the kids while wielding the chainsaw and giving a fresh cut and lashing to the roof of the car without tieing to the car door jams. Trees are also displayed open and they bind them up for the ride home. Aspen --we went to Basalt Whole Foods--trees were very fresh, and cost was $50 for the big trees (5-8 feet). Trees were pre-bound and they couldn't open then because they had no way to rebind them, they had a wimpy little chain saw which didn't give a good fresh cut, they broke the top of the tree when mounting it on top of car, and they screwed up car doors by tieing tree to jams in car doors. No whiskey or candy either.
Your call on which is better.
We had a white Christmas which was lovely. More of the mountain is open for skiing which is great.
I recently received some correspondence from my new health care company which was addressed to myself, wife and son---wait what about daughter? So I called them, and after waiting on hold for 58 minutes discovered that yes she is covered too, and they are not sure why she wasn't included in cards that were sent etc. Can I have my hour back?
My check engine light went on in my German car. Nearest dealership is in Denver (140 miles away). They towed it there for free and fixed the problem which was under warranty for free as well in about an hour. Then they called me and asked about when I was going to come pick it up. Uhhhhh. Humm. Let me get back to you on that.
Lastly my son is off racing (sailing) in Miami this week. He is sailing in a new class of boat, and is undoubtedly the youngest kid in the class (average age is probably 17 and he is 13). His teammate also has never sailing in a race at this level (where the crew 'traps' and they also use a spinnaker). So our hope was that he not finish dead fccking last. I can't tell you how nice it is as a parent to have such low performance expectations. This race is just about experience and joy and who cares where he places. It feels great. Also so far avoiding the DFL overall finish.
If you want to see what some high end 420 racing looks like click on the link below ---you can see what trapping looks like and having 3 sails out on a 420 CM long boat.
420 sydney champs
and another
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
secret santa (breaking the rules)
Ah Christmas time---fun, joy, stress, fights. Yes it's the holidays. And now that my kids aren't going to a Jewish Day School Secret Santa has joined the mix. Great more crap to juggle. When I got the memo from the teacher last week I found my stress levels rising. Deliverables Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Fck. But then the first Christmas Miracle occurred and the first two deliverables were completed during school. Friday's deliverable was a small gift, with a price tag limit of $10.
My daughter had done a great job teasing out her recipient's preferences (CIA agent maybe?), and I was given a mission to buy a fox (stuffed) and some chocolate. Miracle number 2. I found a small stuffed fox for $8.99 at Carl's Pharmacy and bought a bag of Hersey kisses in x-mas colors for $1.99 which was pretty close to budget. Yea.
That was Monday. Monday night my dogs ate the bag of Hersey kisses. A 12 OZ bag (about 72 kisses). This raises numerous questions. Is chocolate fatal for dogs? (not mine). What happens to the foil? (good question so far no signs of it although I keep expecting a red, green a silver turd) Does it cause stomach distress --i.e. you can't expect me to pick that up with a bag can you? (no problems yet). And lastly if you buy a second bag of kisses have you broken the spending limit on secret Santa? (Good question).
So I bought a second bag, and put it on a very high counter. This morning I was greeted with a second empty bag (no signs of foil though) and a box that used to contain 12 candy canes. The dogs' mood was good even though their energy level seemed a bit high. Also the 1.5 year old seems to be getting thinner while my 4.5 year old looks to have put on 3-8 lbs. Which is kinda like humans, my kids can eat sweets all holiday long and come back thinner, I look at some pie and carbs and gain 10 lbs. Anyhow this sent me to Roxy's grocery which is the most over priced place on the planet. Suggest retail price of a 7 oz hershey bar is $1.99 at Roxy's its $3.99. While there I also noticed that the price of my favorite ice cream was 110% more than at City Market in Basalt. I am never ever going back there again.
Bottom line; I have almost doubled the secret santa budget. Did I violate the rules? And when will the foil make an appearance? Will my younger dog ever gain weight (she also ate 7 ornaments)? Will we have any ornaments left by the time Santa arrives? Will Santa get to eat any cookies or will the dogs demolish those too? Did I use up all my Christmas miracles? Does a Jew get Christmas miracles? And will we ever get any snow?
Next up ---x mas trees.
Friday, December 9, 2016
hockey --compare and contrast chicago vs aspen
Oh my the post you have all been waiting for. And it's early in the season for my daughter's team (squirt c) so this is very preliminary. Also my first thought was to be very PC and not offer any opinion and then I figured in this era of Trump Fuck that.
Starting with some of the least contentious differences and working my way towards more exciting stuff.
1. Neck guards---not required and not worn in CO except by my daughter. Required and worn by everyone from ADM on up in IL. The neck guard costs about $11. Attached is a vid of Zednik almost dying on the ice post getting his neck cut. Seriously I don't care if CO doesn't require it, why doesn't the team? If you are trying to get more kids to play hockey having someone die on the ice from a cut aorta seems a stupid risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3znNVAMQzY
2. Uniforms. In Chicago almost every team has name on the back. My daughter has a closet full of jerseys with her name on the back however Wilmette took back her number 69 jerseys at the end of the season. In CO almost no one does and they keep cost down by not making you buy jerseys. Win CO, although making it a little hard for the new guy to figure out who is who. Now about those green gloves, helmets and shields-breezers. Are you kidding me, no names on jerseys but you want them to get green everything else. Stick with black. Try going into a hockey store and asking to see their assortment of 11in gloves in green or forest green helmets. And the breezers are a pain in the ass. Keep it simple give them socks and jerseys and forget the cute colors for the rest of the equipment. (and yea I know many of my chicago readers are dealing with red pants, gloves and helmet now--fun right?)
3. Since we are talking dress code ---out in CO there is some talk about dress with class, play with class so wear jackets and ties to games. In IL at the young levels I never saw this. In college my roommates had some trouble with dress with class thing too (and did you have to shave?)
4. Game travel. From the Sears wait no Willis tower in Chicago if you drive 40 miles you can probably find 40 different youth hockey programs---maybe even 70. From Aspen you can find 1 program. In an effort to get more bang for your driving buck you often play 2-3 games with teams over a weekend. It gives a whole new meaning to home home games and it can get uglier than a Blues-Blackhawks series in the early 90s when the hawks still played in a quality barn not the UC. Last weekend squirt B had 3 in Telluride and one of our kids got nailed for 2 10 min major and 3 minor penalties over the weekend. And another kid got an unsportsmanlike conduct called on him while he was on the bench (oh yea and his dad is the assistant coach). Remember that thing about dress with class play with class in the above point. Humm.
5. Now about those parents coaching. In Aspen it's standard protocol. In Chicago it's more rare. I am not brave enough to offer an opinion on this one in this venue, however feel free to do a google search on the subject and see what smarter folks than I think.
6. Season length and number of games. In Chicago the regular season kinda starts in the end of August and runs through March with a great 3 on 3 program in April and May. Out in Aspen there was a bit of conditioning in the end of September and teams were not determined until the start of November. My daughter played on a team in a tournament in October never having met the coach nor played with the kids till she walked on the ice for the first game. I love having a shorter season than what we had in Chicago. I hate the fact that my daughter hasn't yet played a league game and that they wind up playing games and paying for tournaments before they practice. Seems both like a waste money and a chance to get injured. Not sure where the happy medium is but don't think I have found it yet. Oh yea about 2-3x more games in IL than CO. And there are almost no girls teams in CO. That said Aspen really tries to get girls to play on girls teams which is silly because under U12 there are no girls teams to speak of.
7. Smack talk, trash talk and contact. Aspen and CO wins this one hands down. Congrats Aspen.
8. Power skate--once a week in Chicago---not really a part of Aspen. See above comment about contact, if you can't skate with em hit em.
9. Clock management. Running clock in CO in first two periods, stop clock in 3. In IL clock stops unless mercy rule invoke (mercy rule also in play in CO 3rd period). Also lots of music during clock stoppage in CO, not so much in IL.
10. Parents. Both areas have their fair share of nut jobs and sane folk. Really a draw but if forced to pick I would say that Chicago lends itself a bit more to nuttiness due to the many different teams and better quality of players (that is what happens in a big city with a big population and a NHL team that wins the cup every other year). That said Aspen has many parents who have a healthy view towards hockey (sadly not yours truly I fear) and some folks who are sure little Timmy is gonna be the next Connor McDavid. Don't worry--no Connor's in the current Aspen program. I suspect the really nutty sports parents are to be found in the ski program.
11. Fun on away tournaments--Willmett Notre Dame weekend still owns this with zero competition. Very educational---March 14 indeed. I mean Aspen and Saddle you guys aren't in the same league and maybe not even playing the same sport. It's kinda like Wilmett is playing hockey and the rest of ya are figure skating (maybe even ice dancing).
That's it for now.
Starting with some of the least contentious differences and working my way towards more exciting stuff.
1. Neck guards---not required and not worn in CO except by my daughter. Required and worn by everyone from ADM on up in IL. The neck guard costs about $11. Attached is a vid of Zednik almost dying on the ice post getting his neck cut. Seriously I don't care if CO doesn't require it, why doesn't the team? If you are trying to get more kids to play hockey having someone die on the ice from a cut aorta seems a stupid risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3znNVAMQzY
2. Uniforms. In Chicago almost every team has name on the back. My daughter has a closet full of jerseys with her name on the back however Wilmette took back her number 69 jerseys at the end of the season. In CO almost no one does and they keep cost down by not making you buy jerseys. Win CO, although making it a little hard for the new guy to figure out who is who. Now about those green gloves, helmets and shields-breezers. Are you kidding me, no names on jerseys but you want them to get green everything else. Stick with black. Try going into a hockey store and asking to see their assortment of 11in gloves in green or forest green helmets. And the breezers are a pain in the ass. Keep it simple give them socks and jerseys and forget the cute colors for the rest of the equipment. (and yea I know many of my chicago readers are dealing with red pants, gloves and helmet now--fun right?)
3. Since we are talking dress code ---out in CO there is some talk about dress with class, play with class so wear jackets and ties to games. In IL at the young levels I never saw this. In college my roommates had some trouble with dress with class thing too (and did you have to shave?)
4. Game travel. From the Sears wait no Willis tower in Chicago if you drive 40 miles you can probably find 40 different youth hockey programs---maybe even 70. From Aspen you can find 1 program. In an effort to get more bang for your driving buck you often play 2-3 games with teams over a weekend. It gives a whole new meaning to home home games and it can get uglier than a Blues-Blackhawks series in the early 90s when the hawks still played in a quality barn not the UC. Last weekend squirt B had 3 in Telluride and one of our kids got nailed for 2 10 min major and 3 minor penalties over the weekend. And another kid got an unsportsmanlike conduct called on him while he was on the bench (oh yea and his dad is the assistant coach). Remember that thing about dress with class play with class in the above point. Humm.
5. Now about those parents coaching. In Aspen it's standard protocol. In Chicago it's more rare. I am not brave enough to offer an opinion on this one in this venue, however feel free to do a google search on the subject and see what smarter folks than I think.
6. Season length and number of games. In Chicago the regular season kinda starts in the end of August and runs through March with a great 3 on 3 program in April and May. Out in Aspen there was a bit of conditioning in the end of September and teams were not determined until the start of November. My daughter played on a team in a tournament in October never having met the coach nor played with the kids till she walked on the ice for the first game. I love having a shorter season than what we had in Chicago. I hate the fact that my daughter hasn't yet played a league game and that they wind up playing games and paying for tournaments before they practice. Seems both like a waste money and a chance to get injured. Not sure where the happy medium is but don't think I have found it yet. Oh yea about 2-3x more games in IL than CO. And there are almost no girls teams in CO. That said Aspen really tries to get girls to play on girls teams which is silly because under U12 there are no girls teams to speak of.
7. Smack talk, trash talk and contact. Aspen and CO wins this one hands down. Congrats Aspen.
8. Power skate--once a week in Chicago---not really a part of Aspen. See above comment about contact, if you can't skate with em hit em.
9. Clock management. Running clock in CO in first two periods, stop clock in 3. In IL clock stops unless mercy rule invoke (mercy rule also in play in CO 3rd period). Also lots of music during clock stoppage in CO, not so much in IL.
10. Parents. Both areas have their fair share of nut jobs and sane folk. Really a draw but if forced to pick I would say that Chicago lends itself a bit more to nuttiness due to the many different teams and better quality of players (that is what happens in a big city with a big population and a NHL team that wins the cup every other year). That said Aspen has many parents who have a healthy view towards hockey (sadly not yours truly I fear) and some folks who are sure little Timmy is gonna be the next Connor McDavid. Don't worry--no Connor's in the current Aspen program. I suspect the really nutty sports parents are to be found in the ski program.
11. Fun on away tournaments--Willmett Notre Dame weekend still owns this with zero competition. Very educational---March 14 indeed. I mean Aspen and Saddle you guys aren't in the same league and maybe not even playing the same sport. It's kinda like Wilmett is playing hockey and the rest of ya are figure skating (maybe even ice dancing).
That's it for now.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
8 in of POW and I am..............
in an insurance agent's office (again) trying to get health care. Actually I think I got it sorted, so starting Jan 1 I have a plan that costs 2.4k per month (without subsidy,) with a 5k individual 10k family deductible, for a very limited HMO network. And it only took 9 days and 27 hours to make this happen. Yea!
No not yea, but atleast I can cross that off my to do list.
Couple of quick observations post first real snowfall:
1. Aspen doesn't use salt. I guess they are worried about purity of the water table. In Chicago they throw salt at everything and if lake Michigan is a toxic dump so be it. My dogs paws are much happier and my wife is scared she is going to break her C5-7 neck fusion on the very icy, slippery roads.
2. Snow tires are a must. See above.
3. Saw a 6 point buck cross the road in front of me while driving home from dog groomers, thank God for snow tires.
4. Dog groomers in Chicago are about 40% less than Aspen. Chicago you win that one hands down.
And on a happy note my 10 year old daughter's note to Santa.
Dear Santa,
I have been pretty good, but not great this year. I am not going to lie.
I really want a hamster. I don't want a thing, I want an animal. I want to show my parent's how responsible I am. I will take really great care of it.
Love,
daughter of Aspen green acres
Should I set up a kickstarter campaign for a habitrail? How do you think the dogs will feel about a rodent in the house? I suspect they will find it a tastee treat.
No not yea, but atleast I can cross that off my to do list.
Couple of quick observations post first real snowfall:
1. Aspen doesn't use salt. I guess they are worried about purity of the water table. In Chicago they throw salt at everything and if lake Michigan is a toxic dump so be it. My dogs paws are much happier and my wife is scared she is going to break her C5-7 neck fusion on the very icy, slippery roads.
2. Snow tires are a must. See above.
3. Saw a 6 point buck cross the road in front of me while driving home from dog groomers, thank God for snow tires.
4. Dog groomers in Chicago are about 40% less than Aspen. Chicago you win that one hands down.
And on a happy note my 10 year old daughter's note to Santa.
Dear Santa,
I have been pretty good, but not great this year. I am not going to lie.
I really want a hamster. I don't want a thing, I want an animal. I want to show my parent's how responsible I am. I will take really great care of it.
Love,
daughter of Aspen green acres
Should I set up a kickstarter campaign for a habitrail? How do you think the dogs will feel about a rodent in the house? I suspect they will find it a tastee treat.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Health care update
OMG .......OMG....OMG (and we have a winner from Chicago--robert DeNiro ) way to go Nils
So first a bit about me....I am a smart savvy guy. I graduated at the top of my class from a pretty good college, am Phi Beta Kappa, have run a hedge fund, created the industry standard for hedge funds to protect their margin deposits, and been CFO of a business.
I can't manage to buy health care in Colorado. I have now spent time 8 different days totaling over 25 hours with insurance agents, and various parts of the state of colorado government and am nowhere.
The current bit of Dante's hell that I am in is twofold.
1. I was put into Medicaid because I didn't declare enough income.
2. I changed my income to too much so I can't buy through the exchange which means if my income is below 97k I can't get a 17k subsidy. And I am working with an insurance agent who totally screwed this up too.
3. Also my application seems to be held up in a twilight zone between the exchange and the medicaid people so I can't do anything anyhow, and the current best suggestion is to send in a paper application--and I have only 8 business days to get this done. holy fuck.
So first a bit about me....I am a smart savvy guy. I graduated at the top of my class from a pretty good college, am Phi Beta Kappa, have run a hedge fund, created the industry standard for hedge funds to protect their margin deposits, and been CFO of a business.
I can't manage to buy health care in Colorado. I have now spent time 8 different days totaling over 25 hours with insurance agents, and various parts of the state of colorado government and am nowhere.
The current bit of Dante's hell that I am in is twofold.
1. I was put into Medicaid because I didn't declare enough income.
2. I changed my income to too much so I can't buy through the exchange which means if my income is below 97k I can't get a 17k subsidy. And I am working with an insurance agent who totally screwed this up too.
3. Also my application seems to be held up in a twilight zone between the exchange and the medicaid people so I can't do anything anyhow, and the current best suggestion is to send in a paper application--and I have only 8 business days to get this done. holy fuck.
Monday, December 5, 2016
quick hits
complement of the day from daughter--dad your not too fat--of course that follows Saturday's comment of dad you don't ski very good (is that a reverse shit sandwich)?
accomplishment of the day--I managed to convince the local medicaid office that my family doesn't qualify for medicaid. Yea. Now I can maybe buy insurance like everyone else--well maybe. The separate agency that I would buy insurance through hasn't gotten to appropriate case info in the government accepted way from the other government office and the clock is ticking.....It feels a bit like a scene in Brazil when Henry Tuttle shows up to fix the heating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dht_3NziwSw
Bonus points if you know who played Tutttle.
accomplishment of the day--I managed to convince the local medicaid office that my family doesn't qualify for medicaid. Yea. Now I can maybe buy insurance like everyone else--well maybe. The separate agency that I would buy insurance through hasn't gotten to appropriate case info in the government accepted way from the other government office and the clock is ticking.....It feels a bit like a scene in Brazil when Henry Tuttle shows up to fix the heating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dht_3NziwSw
Bonus points if you know who played Tutttle.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
skiing saturday
good news--the new boots are much better. I kept them on the whole day.
I walk into my house Friday and discover that my daughter has two girl friends over and my son has one (well a friend who is a girl but not the other type of girl friend, or so he insists while they hang out in his room with the door closed). However, this post is not about what does or does not go on behind my son's door. Nope. This is about local kids and skiing.
So none of these born in Aspen kids have ski equipment yet for the season. The 12 year old used to be ski on the team but quit because she got bored of just doing the race course day after day week after week. She says it chased the fun out of skiing. One of the younger girls spent the night. I thought I would take her skiing the next day on my daughters back up equipment but she isn't allowed to ski Aspen mountain because it's too steep. OMG really. And the third girl wasn't allowed to watch Mean Girls cause it's inappropriate.
If Mean Girls is inappropriate for a 5th grader in this day and age what do you do-say about Donald Trump?
A local who hasn't skied Aspen mountain. WTF. This takes overprotective to a whole new level. Love the kid, but pretty sure my daughter (why don't you tuck from Gents ridge to the base?) won't be skiing with her any time soon.
And back to skiing on Saturday. More of Aspen mountain is open (enough to make it fun). We banged some small bumps. Skied some trees. Skied a couple of blacks with very thin cover (time for some petex). And ordered two $5 hot chocolates for the kids who saw many of their middle school friends at the sun deck. Who were skiing aspen, without their parents. So not every kid has helicopters for parents just the ones at my house Friday night. I also saw the ski team crushing some blue runs with only one ski on. Yikes.
I walk into my house Friday and discover that my daughter has two girl friends over and my son has one (well a friend who is a girl but not the other type of girl friend, or so he insists while they hang out in his room with the door closed). However, this post is not about what does or does not go on behind my son's door. Nope. This is about local kids and skiing.
So none of these born in Aspen kids have ski equipment yet for the season. The 12 year old used to be ski on the team but quit because she got bored of just doing the race course day after day week after week. She says it chased the fun out of skiing. One of the younger girls spent the night. I thought I would take her skiing the next day on my daughters back up equipment but she isn't allowed to ski Aspen mountain because it's too steep. OMG really. And the third girl wasn't allowed to watch Mean Girls cause it's inappropriate.
If Mean Girls is inappropriate for a 5th grader in this day and age what do you do-say about Donald Trump?
A local who hasn't skied Aspen mountain. WTF. This takes overprotective to a whole new level. Love the kid, but pretty sure my daughter (why don't you tuck from Gents ridge to the base?) won't be skiing with her any time soon.
And back to skiing on Saturday. More of Aspen mountain is open (enough to make it fun). We banged some small bumps. Skied some trees. Skied a couple of blacks with very thin cover (time for some petex). And ordered two $5 hot chocolates for the kids who saw many of their middle school friends at the sun deck. Who were skiing aspen, without their parents. So not every kid has helicopters for parents just the ones at my house Friday night. I also saw the ski team crushing some blue runs with only one ski on. Yikes.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
went skiing today
I bought some new boots pre season at surefoot. Custom footbeds and liners etc. At the time they felt fair at best, today on the hill they felt like crap. So bad I almost cried, but grown men don't cry right? And I am not sure that would have lessened the pain anyway.
Best exchange:
Dan--man these boots hurt.
Surefoot tech---where?
Dan--hard to know. My feet are so numb and tingling I really can't pinpoint any spot.
Good news is Surefoot promises that they will get you in some boots that won't hurt. Between the 2 days there pre season and today I have logged over 5 hours at Surefoot. Below note the picture of me on the bus back to Snowmass.
So the great news is a good bit of Aspen mountain is open. I got to ski some steeper stuff today with some POW on it. The ok news is I still have my old boots which feel ok (although the plate is worn so thin the lock with the binding is super sketchy. And they don't make that plate anymore--I've tried to buy it but the dang boots are from the Olin Mark IV days. The bad news is I will be logging more time at Surefoot trying to find a boot that doesn't make my feet go numb.
Other good news, walking home in the snow barefoot made my feet feel better (yes walking on rock salt, grit, and snow was a huge improvement over the boots $%##%!! Surefoot).
Best exchange:
Dan--man these boots hurt.
Surefoot tech---where?
Dan--hard to know. My feet are so numb and tingling I really can't pinpoint any spot.
Good news is Surefoot promises that they will get you in some boots that won't hurt. Between the 2 days there pre season and today I have logged over 5 hours at Surefoot. Below note the picture of me on the bus back to Snowmass.
So the great news is a good bit of Aspen mountain is open. I got to ski some steeper stuff today with some POW on it. The ok news is I still have my old boots which feel ok (although the plate is worn so thin the lock with the binding is super sketchy. And they don't make that plate anymore--I've tried to buy it but the dang boots are from the Olin Mark IV days. The bad news is I will be logging more time at Surefoot trying to find a boot that doesn't make my feet go numb.
Other good news, walking home in the snow barefoot made my feet feel better (yes walking on rock salt, grit, and snow was a huge improvement over the boots $%##%!! Surefoot).
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