That pretty much sums it up. If I spend any time doing something that doesn't involve one of those things it is pretty out of the ordinary. So my last report was to talk about The Slapper for the final time. Thank god. I haven't touched the holds on the route one time since. As of now the next time I go back to school I will be the sole teacher in the room, which is pretty crazy to think about. I don't feel like I am old enough to be instructing children. Oh well, apparently I am. So the last two weeks of school have been good. Nothing out of the ordinary. The last week was off the chain because we had two field trips, and two parties. This doesn't bode well for productivity. Now its not like I am all for productivity, which most of you know, but still. Our field trips were both good. They got to go to the power plant, which was quite cool, and to Garden of the Gods. I obviously was stoked to take them to the Garden. I did get a little comedy out of the trip. While we were there my kids saw two people climbing and were all pretty stunned. The route they were one was about 300 ft. One of the kids looked at me and said, "Mr. Cady, is that what you do? Do you go up that high?" I responded by asking if they remembered me talking about climbing the third flatiron and told them that the third was three times as high as one of the fins in the garden. All of the kids just kind of looked and me with confused faces until one responded with, "so, so, you're like crazy then right?" I got a good laugh out of that.
Oh I forgot. I also was the DJ for the school dance last Friday. That was interesting. I had to search long and hard for music that was appropriate for third graders.
The Saturday after the DJing Nick and I went up to Breckenridge to board. Another great day for that. We came back to Denver for John Ward's christmas party...which Nick and I were overwhelmingly unprepared for. We were still wearing snow gear and didn't have christmas sweaters. Fortunately John and his wife Meredith had extras. Im sure those pictures will surface soon enough, unfortunately. I stayed in Denver that night at Nick's with Sharma. We slept on the floor together. By the way together is referencing me and my dog, not me and Nick. Anyway this was not because there wasn't anywhere comfortable to sleep, but because the dumb dog is spoiled and complains if we are in a strange place and I don't sleep next to him.
So yesterday I woke up at about six to decide if I was going to go board or not. I looked at snow reports, weather reports and driving reports and made the decision that I wanted to go. I drove up to Denver then West because the back roads were still pretty bad that early. It took me three and a half frickin hours to get to A-Basin. I was not so thrilled about that however it was the first day the back bowl of the mountain was open so I was pretty excited. Sharma of course came with me. I spent literally the entire day in the back bowl doing powder runs through the trees while listening to Kid Cudi. That might has well be considered a religious experience. The snow was unbelievable and there was virtually no one doing the tree runs I was on. Unbelievable. I paused about halfway through the day to call Matt to hear the news. As a sidenote I am so happy for both of you. Although it doesn't change the fact that I think you (Matt) are a huge pile of shit. Anyway, the riding was sick. The drive back was not so sick. I took the back roads because I didn't want to sit stagnantly on 70. The back way is actually really scenic, but slow going. It took about the same time to get back home. A lot of driving for one day. That night I went to a friend's house that I work with to hang out.
This morning I was up at the normal stupid time. I was semi productive. I had breakfast with Nick, Tracy, and Jessy at King Chef, my favorite place ever. I always get something called a "bent over grump." A bent over grump is this...a layer of hash browns, a layer of sausage, eggs, cheese, gravy, and green chili. It is so good, or bad depending on the point of view. I decided afterward that climbing was necessary. I went home, picked up the dog, and headed up to Ute Pass. After The Slapper Kevin Branford suggested that my next project be "The Bloody Arete" up in Ute Pass. I had seen it before and it looked absolutely horrendous. Well I figured I would go start to work it today. I didn't even get the first move. I was getting really close and dialing it until my friend the middle finger started bleeding. No wonder it is called what it is. Just from the start hold I was bleeding. It is going to be interesting. It will go sometime. My last attempt at the first move felt pretty good so at least I made some progress.
Now I am watching biking, drinking gin and sitting by my animals and the fire. One more day in Colorado then back to Oxford. Very excited to see everyone. I am also very excited for Christmas Movie Night, which is always a disaster. Hope everyone has a good holiday (to be PC) season.
Nick and Meredith at the Christmas Party (Meredith is actually pregnant, Nick is not)
The funniest place ever. And most practical.
Apparently I look angry while I am driving... I was unaware.
At least Sharma looks content.
