How handy would this be? – A rich media based version of Wikipedia where all the content was video based. No, I don’t mean a flash website. I mean a huge organized archive of video clips that present useful information.
Now how cool would it be if you could sync your iPod style device to this database at any time and keep it up to date with the database?
As an example, you could hook it up to a GPS and it could tell you interesting things about where you’re at in the world. Imagine driving past a national monument and the kids in the back seat are treated to a history lesson on the flip down video screen.
Another example, you’re laying on your back with your significant other and looking at the stars. One of you asks about a constellation so you pause that romantic background music long enough to get the low down on those heavenly bodies.
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So we had a fantastic time in Winter Park. The snow conditions weren’t the best – we had a lot of dust on crust. However, more of the mountain was open this year than when I went two years ago. I didn’t perform as well as I had hoped. I wanted to try a 180 on the jumps, but I wasn’t able to figure it out. In fact, I really wasn’t even close. However, falling twice made me realize just how much I am going to have to exaggerate my body movements. After crashing on both 180 attempts, I crashed on the same simple straight jump I had landed time after time. It was the end of the third day, and frankly I was trashed.
Halfway through the trip, I did find something interesting to play with in the future. I’d been thinking about this thing they call butter. Something to the effect of riding up on the nose and spinning around such that you land switch. I leaned forward on the board while I was thinking about it and felt the board start to come up and around real smooth. Suddenly I realized I was starting to do it when I didn’t intend to and tried to straighten back out. It was too late, and my hesitation made me wipe out. However, I was surprised and how naturally it was starting to happen.
So the bus ride to Winter Park was hell. The condo was laid out great, but was falling apart. I had to rebuild the shower door and later Roger was hanging the handle back on the stove. When we locked our keys inside, Cyn was able to pop the door open using her driver’s license. I can’t complain much, the place had a kitchen and we ate good. We even had a turkey on Thanksgiving day. I must say, the group I was with was great. Everyone was all over things like cooking and cleaning up dishes. I also met lots of other neat folks including a rider from Dallas who got started at 36 and has been riding for 5 years. He was really comfortable on the board and impressed the group time and again.
So, finally, about the iRide cap mentioned in the title of this post. Cyn noticed a cap in one of the ski shops that she had to point out. How about that, someone else snagged the name “iRide” and put it on a cap with a snowboarder! Granted, the iPod-esque logo was predictable… however, Ride does not really imply snowboarding any more than a mountain bike or rollerblades. I have to wonder if someone visited my website before creating these hats? Oh, and for the record, iPod didn’t inspire my journal name – that was actually a fluke. Anyway, check out the cap in the photo for a grin.
SnowTripping
It’s the day of the trip – finally. It’s always been the day of the trip, in my mind. It’s approaching on 11:00. I was up early this morning. I cooked myself a yummy breakfast, washed all the dishes, cleaned the counters, washed up the laundry, and took out the trash. I’ve got most of my stuff packed aside from the food items. I’ve printed my map to the bus stop. I’ve got snacks set aside for the trip. Folks should start showing up in a couple of hours.
I can’t decide on taking the laptop. If I bring it, then I have a place to dump photos and movies off of the camera – meaning I can take a lot more video than I normally would. I would also have lots of movies I could watch in the evenings. Having the movies almost encourages me not to take it. If there is Internet access from the resort, it sure would be nice to post a photo and update while I’m there. I guess I’ll decide at the last minute.
Of all the things to be haunting my mind, I keep thinking about someone who’s not going with us. Anyway, I’ve still got to pack up the cooler when my friends get here with their stuff and then I’m ready to hit the road. Another weird thing haunting my mind, I don’t feel like I want to come back. I haven’t even left yet, and I’m not looking forward to coming home. At least I got the apartment cleaned up a little before we left. I suppose I could use the next hour to wash all my bedding. It sure is nice coming home to clean sheets.
SnowTripping
One more day of work, and then tomorrow I leave. Only somewhere between 6% and 10% of Winter Park is likely to be open. I was hoping for a little bit more snow, but I’ll still have just as much fun. Just checked the weather. Wunderground thinks there’s a 20% chance of snow on Thursday and Friday. Weather.com thinks there’s a 10% chance. If you noticed, next week it starts ramping up to a 40% chance. I’ve noticed over the years that the big dumps like to come right AFTER Thanksgiving. It’s funny how it works like that.
I’d like to thank everyone that comes by my journal, but most of you are google searchers. I sometimes wonder if anyone is subscribed to my RSS feeds. Maybe I should start playing with that Feedburner stuff. You know, I just recently started seeing revenue on this site from the google ads. This week I’ve raked in nearly $2. That’s like $8 a month! That almost pays for a GoDaddy hosting account. This encourages me to talk about things that would attract ad clickers. Although, if I did that, I’d be a sell out. But, I guess having the ads in the first place kinda makes me a sell out… Last month I got about 5,500 page loads and I’ve already had more than 5,000 this month. My traffic ramps up during the season, and my more frequent posting seems to be increasing traffic. I wonder if any ‘real’ sponsor would be interested in replacing my google ads with something a little more targeted? That sure would be nice as I’d feel a lot better about promoting a product I actually like rather than random text ads assigned by google.
Anyway… off to work for one last day… and tonight I finish packing.
SnowTripping
Well, after far too much drama trying to get that Demon Wheelie bag… I’ve settled on a solution. After spending some time looking around froogle, the deal on the Demon bag wasn’t even that great. Maybe Fedex’s inability to deliver a package was for the best. I ended up getting a cheap little Athlon bag (no wheels, no padding) for $20 flat. I don’t know if I’d want my board to fly on a plane in this bag – but for this bus trip, I think it’s perfect. I got two boards, my boots, and most of my snow gear in the bag. What I couldn’t fit in my new board bag I was easily able to put in my pack. About 1/5 of my pack is this really fluffy hooded robe I insisted on bringing. All things considered, it’s a waste of space. However, if I can squeeze it in, it sure is nice to wear back and forth from the hot tub. Anyway, I tried to research the Athlon bag and there’s not a ton of them out there. It’s pretty minimalistic, but it does what I need it to do and it will get me through these hard times. Two more work days and then I’m headed out.
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I picked up this pair of ski gloves. The tag says they’re not recommended for snowboarding… Are they serious? Why in the world would that be?
Product Callouts
It’s the last Saturday before our trip. I’d like to say that I’m stoked, but I’m actually a lot more confused. I woke up in a haze this morning trying to remember everything I need to get done before I go.
Yesterday broke me, as I spent the entire day fighting with Overstock.com and FedEx about the delivery – I mean misdelivery of my snowboard wheelie bag. The original mistake was mine – I didn’t noticed that the suite number of the delivery address was truncated by 1 digit. However, I’ve been desperately trying to update both parties with the new address. I kept getting re-assured that it’s all taken care of only to ultimately have been lied to. It was actually FedEx that lied to me – three different times. The last time they said my bag would be re-delivered to my office Monday morning. Good thing I followed up to make sure, as it turns out they sent the bag back to Overstock. Idiots. Honestly, I rarely see such an extreme level of incompetence as I’ve seen with Fedex in the past week. Overstock, on the other hand, was mostly cool about it. They’re only failures were not having a mechanism in place for me to fix the address on the shipment (I discovered the error almost immediately after placing the order) and for not having a mechanism in their system to overnight a product (they offered to send me another bag, but it would have gotten here after we all left).
*Deep breath*
The Fedex mess happened right after I got finished fixing my truck. I’ve had the transmission repaired three times now – this last time costing me about $700. This time, I honestly believe it’s fixed. That first shop screwed me pretty bad. Anyway, while picking the vehicle up, the battery expired. While I was replacing the battery, the clamp on the end of the battery cable fell apart. Almost $100 later, I could start my truck without a jump.
So by the end of the weekend I need to have found a board bag, possibly a helmet, checked all my equipment for anything that needs to be replaced, packed all my gear, cleaned up the apartment, return my parents truck (borrowed it while the Xterra was in the shop), purchased food for the trip making sure it all fits in the cooler, upgraded the kernel on my laptop (so my card reader will work) and I have no idea what else. The last thing I should be doing is wasting time on the Internet… *innocent look*
Please.. everyone out there in Internet land… put some positive energy out in my direction such that nothing else will break down or fall apart for the next few days… I just keep reminding myself, I’ll be snowboarding soon.
SnowTripping
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned DallasSnowboarders.com. We did some basic promotion by announcing the site in a few places online and started spreading the word of mouth. In the past two weeks we have had about 15,000 page loads. As of the time of this post, we have 29 registered users. If we can maintain such a good pace, we should be a very respectable looking community in a few months to a year. I bet we outgrow our software quickly.
Only time will tell if such an oddball nitch for a community will work out. We’re having our first get-together this Thursday. If nothing else, I’m glad to meet more local snowboard enthusiasts.
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I found an ad for this thing while researching a movie full of snowboarding ladies called “As If“. Now, I’m not sure who the target market is for this product. While I’m sure an all female cast will appeal to all those young ladies dreaming of becoming a snowboarding pro… I somehow think it might appeal to a whole lot of the boys. I’m not so sure about that box cover though…. So, back to the topic…
While researching, I happened across a press release for something called the T-Board. I’d reference the site I found it on if I could find it again. Anyway, thing looks like large inline skateboard. It actually looks like a whole lot of fun, regardless of how close to snowboarding it actually is. The only problem is, if I got one, I have no idea where I’d ride it… I live in a relatively flat area. Maybe I could get someone to pull me with a bicycle and tell people we’re land-wakeboarding???
Product Callouts
Well, I’m no expert. In fact, I’m just about as novice as one can be without being entirely clueless. I just completed (less than 30 minutes ago) my first Yoga class. While it was mostly what I expected, I was still surprised. Some of the positions really challenged me – to the extent that I failed to complete everything the teacher took us through… and it was a light routine.
However, it wasn’t so much the strength stuff that made me think this fit well for snowboarding. It was a combination of the stretching (pretty obvious) and the balance (perhaps a little less obvious). I sorta found myself looking at myself in the mirror while balanced on one foot and my arms raised up above my head thinking, “this is probably going to be really helpful.” When we were leaning way over to one side and the teacher was saying “you’re between two walls of glass,” it was easy to imagine myself trying to keep a nice flat stance while strapped to a board.
I’ve actually heard other snowboarders talking about the benefits of Yoga and even had a friend who’d stay behind in the mornings to do some stretches while the rest of us would hurry off to the lifts. However, now that I’ve tried it first hand, I can recommend it. I’ll also likely continue to do it.
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