Are we there yet?
Boris made me proud this weekend. He FINALLY walked to the front door to tell me he was considering pee-ing somewhere other than in our dining room. And... (drum roll please...) He JUMPED into the back of the car on his own. Twice!
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January 30, 2005
January 26, 2005
Pictures: Utah 2005
Click here for the full photo gallery: Utah 2005.
Down from the Mountain.
Sorry for the absence folks, but a man can't be blamed for withdrawl from the public's view when he's surrounded by the majesty and solitude of craggy peaks and long-winding meadows of snowy goodness.
Last Saturday, Natasha and I headed up to stay with her brother George at his house in Alta. The "Big House" as it's called, sits high above the resort and is only accessible by snow mobile, ski's , or boot power. Saturday was spent packing up our stuff from the hotel, doing a bit of riding over lunch, and then ferrying out stuff up the house. George welcomed up us with huge plates of salmon and grilled veggies... Yum.
Sunday and Monday were spent skiing, snowboarding, sipping hot Chai Lattes and playing Scrabble at the lodge. (Enjoy the word 'Gorp' Charlene...) The weather continued to be extraordinarily hot, but the snow base was sufficiently deep to afford some decent riding conditions from about 10:30 A.M. till 3-ish. George spent a lot of time telling us about backcountry riding, avalanches, life at Alta Lodge, and such. A big thank you to George, for being the consumate host. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know how to use the following words in the proper canyon context: Pow, Corned-up, Skinning, Crud, Huck, Nukin', Boot-it, Inversion, and Switch. Example:
"Dude, didn't get the pow, but it's corned-up all right so lets's skin up to the spine and huck ourselves into the chute - switch!"
For those of you who might head out to Utah this season to ride, my recommendation is Mineral Basin on the backside of Snowbird. Huge. Open. Majestic. Sunny. Make the trip if you can! Mineral Basin was the site of my last ride of the trip, in the setting sun, The Faint blaring from my iPod, with snow spraying gently from the tail of my board. Rip-your-head-off awesome.
The night before flying back to Atlanta was spent hanging out with my Aunt Jeanie, Laura, Tapin and family. Aunt Jeanie and Laura fed us gobs of yummy homemade mexican, and then we all sat around and played catch up our personal current events and such. Makes me really miss family, you know? Anyway, thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome, and come on down to the South anytime. We'll cook up some grits and teach ya'll some werds that'll make ya feel downright local.
January 22, 2005
Pain and Tepanyaki.
We're packing up the hotel and headed up to stay in Alta with Nat's brother George, so this entry will be quick. The high points from yesterday:
- Nat overcomes her fear and tackles her first big slope.
- We both are in extreme pain from all the extreme contact with ice.
- We meet up with John, Heather, Kim, Doug, Pat, Rebecca, Shan, and Sydney for a little tepanyaki steak at Shogun. Absolutely awesome time catching up on stories, geek talk, and plans for the future.
- Spotting the actor from Almost Famous hanging out at the Red Door lounge.
January 20, 2005
Doin' the Bird.
We just finished our first day of riding up at Snowbird (me) and Alta (Nat). The weather is beautiful up here, but I wish it would snow! It's like 50 out, and the day was a complete sweat-fest. I'll be posting pictures of our trip to this link:
On the way back down to the hotel, I snapped this pic. I imagine this is what a decent into hell might look like. Not that Utah is hell, but the irony of a smog ceiling resting over a valley populated primarily by folks who hate second hand smoke is... well, worthy of a least a snap shot.
January 15, 2005
New Sex Change.
Phone Coversation - 3PM EST:
Nat: "Dude. I'm in Phoenix."
Matt: "I'm glad you made it. I just woke up"
Nat: "Ever notice that the news kiosks in Atlanta Harstfield read New Sex Change."
Matt: "...um, you mean the NEWSEXCHANGE?... NO, I guess I never noticed that".
Nat: "I'm bored. I'm gonna go grab a burrito. I'll call you when I land in Vegas".
January 12, 2005
Chocolate Flavored Crack.
Chocolate Frosted Krispy Kreme doughnuts are the snack food equivalent of free-basing. I had two on the way home, and I'm still jjjjiiittteeerrryyy.....
January 06, 2005
The Frill and Folly of Dasani.
Americans are the embodiment of excess. Our malls. Our mammoth meal portions. Our heaping menus of cable channels (how many HBO channels does one REALLY need). I could go on here, but I won’t. I’m going to jump straight to the front of the line, cut past the bouncer, and smack the Grande Dame of Excess across the face with my smoking gun: Dasani Water.
I purchased a one-liter bottle of Dasani water at Publix, on sale, for $1.39. I’m thinking, hmm... 1 liter = .264 gallons. I do the match, and to my suprise, realize that I'm paying $5.29 per gallon of Dasani water.
Let me repeat that.
A gallon of Dasani water costs $5.29. I’m paying $5.29 for a gallon of liquid that is free and readily available from most any public tap, faucet, spicket?! I start to smell a rat.
Consider that a gallon of unleaded gas costs a national average of $1.75 per gallon right now. Ok boys and girls, for those of you that are feeling a bit dull right now, let me break this down for you.
Petroleum is a complex mixture of organic liquids called crude oil and natural gas.
These crude oils and natural gases are extracted from the ground, on land or under the oceans, by sinking an oil well and are then transported by pipeline and/or ship to refineries where their components are processed into refined products. (Authors note: In many instances, large democratic nations will send battalions of young men with guns, at a great cost of life, to secure these oil fields so the continued extraction of petroleum may continue).
The crude oil is largely a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds and relatively small quantities of other materials such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, salt and water. In the refinery, most of these non-hydrocarbon substances are removed and the oil is broken down into its various components, and blended into useful products (like gas).
Automotive gasoline is then trucked to a station near you for your consumption.
The $1.75 you're paying per gallon of gas includes the cost of crude oil to refiners, refinery-processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, and finally the retail station costs and taxes.
So now the common-sense-fairy on my shoulder is starting to thump my skull with a bat, and the veins in my temple are starting to throb under the stress of my brain trying to work this out. Certainly there is a reason that bottled WATER, the most plentiful resource on the planet, costs nearly 4 times the amount of refined petroleum.
I begin sleuthing and as web pages turn… the smell of rat increases.
"Surely Dasani is imported from a remote glacier,” I think. “A glacier so sacred, hosts of adventurers make pilgrimages to the glacier’s source, tapping the mystical fountain of life that is Dasani water…” Um. No.
Dasani is PURIFIED LOCAL WATER. And by local, I certainly don’t mean purified local glacier water, or purified local magical well water. I mean purified tap water. The same water is that is FREE to many of us, is being run through a few filters, a little UV light, sprinkled with a few minerals at a local warehouse, and bottled for our consumption. These blue bottles are sold to us at nearly FOUR TIMES THE COST OF REFINED PETROLEUM.
For those of you that might wrap themselves in a clinical health defense, there is a lot of evidence that bottled water has higher rate of contamination than actual municipal water. At the very least there are “Gaping Holes in Government Water Regulation”. Read the report. It’s a bottled water the “Super Size Me”.
To those of you who hate the taste of tap water, do yourself a favor a buy a filtered water pitcher from a reputable company like Brita. Based on the cost of replacement filters, Brita filtered water is costing you approximate 15 cents a gallon. ($6 per filter per 40 gallons of water).
So the next time you’re watching CNN, and you wonder why your average Afghan or Iraqi citizen is all that impressed with Joe Yankee, ask yourself what they’d think if they knew you paid $5.29 per gallon for something you already get for free.
Dasani. Frill and folly indeed.
January 03, 2005
:: Mystery Mustache 2005 ::
Happy New Year!
Natasha and I had wonderful New Years weekend! We kicked off the evening at Jen Hipps place for some food and drink. After a little visiting we moved to Dan's Beneath the Noise partyvaganzapaloozaspectacular. I took over the Rock Lounge from 10:30 to midnight, and played a loud mix of garage rock. I might have scared the party natives, but ITS MY PARTY AND I'LL PLAY WHAT I WANT TO. Sort of.
Anyway, from there we went to an after party at our friend Aaron's place. A nice little gathering, more excellent iPod DJ'ing, and a dance party broke out. Watched Uncle Johnny (a 70 yr old black man from the neighborhood) get his funk on dancing with Natasha.
Saturday and Sunday were spent up at a cabin in the mountains, eating lasagna, sitting by a campfire, listening to sounds of the river rush by, and sleeping. Not a bad way to start the year!
Last but not least, I kick off a year of mattLandia postings with an mysterious mustache sighting in BellSouth building. My pal Gerard spotted this and caught the image with his camera phone. More proof that the mustache IS the future.
