Dust off your snowboards and skis!

Mt Baker might be opening this Thursday, November 16, 2006!!! Keep an eye out. Be careful though, a couple trips to Mt Baker and all of a sudden you'll need an oil change. Make sure your friend drives.

Other events going on...

Newport High School Ski Swap - www.skiswap.info - This is by far the biggest high school ski swap I have EVER seen. They usually surpass $200,000 in sales over 2 days. Other schools have tried to imitate, but no one has come close. One ski swap I used to be a part of had nobody show up one year (it was at Lake Washington High School). Newport usually has people lined up. And you get good deals there too. Check it out if you need cheap new gear or even cheaper second hand gear.

Warren Miller - I guess they're playing their new movie "Off The Grid" (correct me if I'm wrong) at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue this weekend... but I gotta be honest with you, I can no longer stand watching Warren Miller movies. Nothing has changed in 10 years. It's the same formula, and watching the newest trailer reinforced that.

I've noticed that a 25 minute ski or snowboard freestyle video (that I can buy for $25 - $30 at a ski or snowboard shop) usually has a lot more action than Warren Miller's 1.5 hour movies (which cost as much as a regular movie per person).

Take Afterbang by Robotfood (a snowboard video) versus Warren Miller's Fifty. The action in Warren Miller is BAD in comparison. It usually shows riders NOT landing a single jump (it just shows them falling into deeeep powder) and features boring narration of how really really wealthy people live.

I feel bad saying any of this, as I used to look forward to these movies, and I used to treat my friends and customers by buying 20 to 30 tickets to go see Warren Miller at the Fifth Avenue Theater in Downtown Seattle. But his movies have let me down big time. Especially because the last time I went, most of the good footage was from OTHER videos I had already bought and watched earlier in the fall. To make matters worse, they took a DVD, stuck it in a projector, and projected the image onto a movie theater sized screen. The quality was BAD (very pixelated). I was apalled.

24 Hour Fitness

Just got a soliciting phone call from 24 Hour Fitness in Bellevue, AGAIN. The number on my caller ID was 425-467-6420. Don't know how they got my number, but this is at least the third time they've called me now. I finally told them, "Hey... take me off your call list," although I could swear I've already said that twice before. I was a litte more irritated than usual since I just got home and wanted to relax, and I've been hearing the phone ring all day.

I really don't mind calls from strangers. Being in real estate and owning my own company, I get random calls all the time and I'm used to getting them. But it seems like each time 24 Hour Fitness calls, it's right around 5 PM or later. One time they called right as I was sitting down to dinner.

In reality though, I've thought about joining a gym. But it won't be 24 Hour Fitness. There are at least 5 other gyms closer to my home than 24 Hour Fitness (Sammamish Club, Bally's, Pine Lake Club, Columbia Fitness are ones off the top of my head). If I get another phone call from them, I wonder if I could report it.