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[Added 10/31/04 in response to Becky's comment]

Here’s the original (no photoshop work at all):

After not scoring any goals in, like, six months, I scored a hat trick tonight in our game against Coyote! Cool beans! The second two goals were actually supposed to be passes, but they went in by mistake … don’t tell ;) We won 5 – 3.

They interviewed Melany over at PCC for the show, but I somehow snuck on there, too — my voice is the one on the audio tape from the field!

http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/index_20041023.html

Last night, our friends Anthony and Kelly from the Mammoth Forums stopped by so we could meet them and their Aussie Bailey in person. Of all the dogs we’ve ever met, Bailey comes closest to Chaco. Like Chaco, he’s a black tri, just around 45 pounds, and a little shy. Bailey didn’t seem too impressed by the laser pointer, but he really likes to chase other dogs, so Chaco chased the laser all around the Motel 6 parking lot and Bailey chased Chaco, so they both got some energy out.

This morning, we met up with them again, ran the pups, and hit the slopes. It snowed all morning so the visibility wasn’t very good, but we got to ski on 6 – 8″ of fresh powder. I think the conditions this weekend are some of the best I’ve ever skied in. Amazing!

Today we met up with Jen Yu and her husband Jeremy at Chair 2. The weather turned cold and windy today, but the conditions were still pretty good, and we had a great time.

Before I delve into our skiing adventures, here are a couple random pictures from last night. First of all, a fruit we discovered at the Bishop Vons. What in the world is this thing? You could use it as a weapon in a pinch! It’s really spiky! Then, it turns out Chaco gets jealous of stuffed animals. Ben “let” Jake eat some of our dog food supply, much to a hungry Chaco’s chagrin:

We woke up bright and early this morning and headed over to Main Lodge to pick up our season passes. Then, Ben and I were ready for the Big Test of our new equipment — me on my 120cm skiboard/ski hybrids. I don’t know how Ben’s experience was (he had some foot pain), but my new skis are GREAT! They’re more stable, and hence faster, than my 83cm skiboards, and they aren’t so long that I cross my tips and fall down. They also float in powder, which I discovered when we got almost-first-tracks down Chair 23 when it opened before lunch. Woo-hoo!

We decided just to ski in the morning. Ben came back to the hotel to take a nap and I took Chaco snowshoeing. We walked around twin lakes, which was pretty fun except the light would’ve been better in the morning and I was interested in taking pictures. Fortunately, it was still light out when I finished, so we had time to stop at a couple places along the road to Main Lodge. I haven’t gotten to look at them yet, though, because I still don’t have a RAW converter.

Showshoeing in powder is a good way to tire Chaco out. He sinks in to his belly and running around takes a *lot* of energy. He was good and tired by the time we got home. He had also come down with a bad case of “butt balls”, which is what we call it for lack of a better word. Snow melts and then re-freezes to his underside and forms snowballs and swing back and forth while he walks. Yesterday, they got to be the size of softballs! It looks mighty uncomfortable, so I bought a pair of scissors and gave him a good trim yesterday. He looks a little funny from behind now, and he may notice that his rear end is a little draftier than before, but I think it’s worth it. Poor guy.

Last weekend, Ben took me on a date to Dave and Buster’s, a new restaurant/bar/arcade at the Santa Anita Mall. As you might already know, Ben and I are accomplished ski ballers, so we jump at the chance to get some competition in. Now, the management has raised the bar on these new-age ski-ball machines; to win the bonus pot, you have to get *550* instead of just 450, which pushes the jackpot a little out of reach of our usual two sigma expectation, but that didn’t stop us from trying. We also enjoyed some of the new high-tech games at this arcade. Below, I soak up the view from inside my very own tank turret, while Ben enjoys the nostalgia of Galaga, which came out the same year in which I was born.

And there’s the view from the 210 on the way out LA today. :) As I write this, we’re approaching Bishop, where we’re planning to stop at the supermarket to get some lunch foods (probably something very healthy like croissants, chocolate bars, and gatorade). If we don’t run out of gas first, which is looking like a rather distince possibility at the moment. Then, we’re headed up the Sherwin grade to the Motel 6, which supplies all the necessities of home … dog-friendliness and a data port in every room :)