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Ever since my man vs boat experience, I have been a bit reluctant to ride a bike in Vancouver. I figure I need to face my fears and get out there.

I bought a bike and started bike commuting. I might be the only person dumb enough to take a bike from Vancouver to downtown Portland, but I have never been much for fitting in. Actually, I do not ride the entire 11 miles. I grab the Yellow Line in North Portland.

I get a Tri-met pass for work, so minus the cost of the bike, my commute is now free. Woohoo.

Going over the Interstate Bridge in the rain, wind, and dark is less than my favorite activity in the world. Otherwise, I enjoy my commute better than sitting in traffic.

Next step, move back to Portland.

I was finally able to go skiing last night. Huzzah. This brings my all time total ski trips to six, hence the two hands thing. For my sixth trip and that I have not skied in two years, I was pretty excited about my progress. I was weaving and curving with the best of them and my confidence is getting better. James even told me I should run a Black Diamond – nah, next time.

Conditions reminded me of late March. Old, packed snow. Lines were very short, we never had to wait more than 15 seconds.

How about some stats?

• About three hours – just after 6:00-9:00.
• 15-20 runs.
• $15. Meadows has super special deals after 6:00 or something.
• Five crashes including the two below.
• One yard sale. Skies off, 20 feet apart and 30 feet behind me. Poles off. Boats unbuckled. Snow in pants. Six inch wide, three feet long, and four inch deep hole, 15 feet behind me.
• One failed lift entrance. Some snowboarder tried to join James and I on the four person lift. He took about three of the spots. My attempt to give him more room failed when I noticed the lift railing between my legs. Adjusting back found myself face first in the snow under the lift. Stupid snowboarders.

A good night, a good night.

The weather hates me. It probably is just fine with other people, but me – hatred. In the last week I have had three failed ski trips.

It all started the weekend before last. I wanted to go night skiing sometime during the week at Mt Hood. After attempting to recruit ski buddies, I found the lifts were closed except on Friday and Saturday due to lack of snow and insanely warm weather for mid-January. Turns out, some lifts were open later in the week, but I had already ditched hopes. Fail one.

For several months a friend from the college dorms was planning a XC skiing trip. I was ready to go this last Saturday, but it turns out it was 40 and raining. Not too fun. Fail two.

After seeing the lifts open later last week, I attempted to reorganize another trip. I got to work early this morning, so I could leave at 3:00. After meeting my ski buddies for the day, we made our way to the mountain. If the foreshadowing did not give it away yet… Closed. All three places. Fail three.

What does a guy have to do to get a little ski around here?

This weekend a buddy of mine was in town from Texas. After college he moved down there for work, so I do not see him too much. I decided to give the job search a break for most of Friday and play with him instead. That night we met up with friends and watched the UP women’s soccer team play St. Mary’s. They won 5-1. Fun times indubitably.

Today, four of us hiked Cape Horn on the Washington side of the Gorge. About a seven mile hike. I would definitely suggest it. There are a ton of viewpoints over the river. Easy to moderate hike. Shocking, I gave up watching the Packers to go socialize. Odd, I know.

Tonight I am pooped, so baseball playoffs and then bed time.

I sit here. It is 5:37 am PST. I am wide awake. I have even been up for two and a half hours. Yes, I got up at 3:00 this morning.

After sitting in bed wide awake for an hour this morning, I said screw it and got up. I thought I was going to handle the time change just fine until this happened after coming home, but I guess there were a few bumps. Then again, loosing three hours of sleep is not a big deal, given it is almost 3:00 pm in Amsterdam.

I am actually quite impressed with my productivity. In the last hour and a half, I have gone through more than 400 emails I missed while being away from work for two weeks. I have also done some catch up on some of the feeds I regularly read. All in all, a good morning thus far.

Hey, look. The sun came up.