Took the dogs for a walk up in the cemetary.

Taught a morning group, but i forgot how many people were in it. (This is what happens when you teach every day and don't write things down until a few days later.) After work i took the dogs over to the park.

I taught a morning upper-level group (Park & Pipe), then had Ditto, one of the lift-operator's son for the full day. We picked up another comp lesson (a guy who works in mountain operations) for the afternoon and rode all over the mountain. I took a spill off the bottom jump in the Blind faith terrain park. Oops.

I got the CD "Situation Dangerous" by Bozzio Levin Stevens today. Sort of King Crimsonesque with a more flamenco feel.

Taught a 9:30 3-hour private, then at 1:30 i wasn't scheduled but the instructor assigned didn't show up so i took a 2-hour 2-person private of two teenage girls who were up for the weekend.

I got the CD "More Memories In Cababi" by Bayou Seco in the mail today from Jeanne McLerie. I did all the graphic production for this CD.

Taught an 8:30 2-hour private, then a 10:30 2-hour requested private (Kaitlyn, the girl i had in a private a few weeks before who'd broken her wrist). I was hoping that the two girls who i'd taught the day before would request another private lesson with me today, but they didn't so i taught an afternoon group of 4.

Taught an 8:30 2-hour private, a 10:30 2-hour requested private (Kaitlyn again), then a 12:30 2-hour private.

Taught a morning group of 3, then had a 2-hour 2-person requested private at 12:30 with the two girls i taught 2 days before.

No lessons.

No lessons again. I spent the day taking lots of pictures of people in the halfpipe and on the rails. I took some pictures of another instructor, Christina, until she wiped out on the down-flat-down rail. That's Mike up there in the half-pipe. Near the end of the day Tyler took a picture of me going over a small jump with really bad form.

There was some fresh heavy snow and i was the only one to show up for the 8:30 clinic which was on "linked toe turns". Dan Rowe and i rode up the lift, did linked toe turns from the top of the B Quad to the bottom of the NorthStar lift, then went and laid down fresh tracks in powder. On the lift ride up Dan told me that he wanted me to run the upper-level line-up that morning since there wasn't anyone else to do it. I was the only one up there and there were 4 kids there for lessons, 2 morning and 2 all-day, so i took them all and we struggled through the wet heavy choppy snow. At the end of the day, Dan gave me an Okemo "Difference Dollars" coupon (worth $3 at any area shop or restaurant) for helping out with the upper line-up.

It was really windy today, so the Northstar lift was closed. The snowboard supervisors took a late run up the Sachem lift and didn't make it back down to morning line-up until nearly 10:00, so i dealt out the lessons in their absence. When they got back down and the lessons were out, Dennis gave me another "Difference Dollars" coupon. All i taught today was an 11:30 private.

I showed up at the 8:30 line-up even though i didn't have anything scheduled, but Rachel didn't show up for her private, so i took it. Tyler and i had 2 sisters, Megan (me) and Molly (Tyler), and they liked snowboarding so much that their dad extended each of our lessons for another hour. After that i taught an 11:00 group of 12, my biggest lesson so far (with no junior instructor to help). At 2:30, Tyler and i both had requested privates with Megan and Molly again.

Taught an 8:30 private, then an 11:00 group of 2.

I was scheduled to be at Jackson Gore today so i rode over there in the morning and taught a morning group of 2. At the 1:00 line-up we got a call from the Okemo side that they needed an instructor. I hopped on the lift and zipped over to teach 2 snow-stars kids for the afternoon. They were brother and sister and spent the lesson alternating between snowboarding and "stupidboarding", which was riding down the hill using the snowboard like a sled.

Day off.

Taught an all day group of 2 (with one morning-only kid). By about 2:30 it started to rain really hard and we rode around in the rain until about 3:20. Normally all-day lessons end at 3:30, but the kids were happy to break early and so was i!

Taught an 8:30 private, a 9:30 private, and a 10:30 3-hour private. I was scheduled for a 2:30 private, but the supervisor gave it to Mark since he hadn't taught much and i'd been teaching all day.

Got to teach Megan and Molly again in a requested 2-hour 2-person private. They had asked for either me or Tyler, and i happened to be available. After that i taught an afternoon group of 3.

Vacation week starts. I taught privates at 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30, then a 2-hour 2-person private at 12:30, then a final private at 2:30. No lunch.

Taught an 8:30 private (i switched my assignment so that i could have the same kid that i'd taught the day before in a private), a 9:30 2-hour series private (1 of 4) with a girl named Anna, an 11:30 upper-level private, then a 12:30 2-hour requested private with a kid named Nick. I didn't know him, but apparently he had an instructor last year who didn't work at Okemo this year, so his mom called my boss Rob and asked who she should request and he recommended me. That was nice.

The kid i taught the previous two days requested me for another 8:30 private, then i had the second of 4 series 2-hour privates with Anna, then an 11:30 FOUR HOUR requested private with Nick. We had lunch over at Jackson Gore, then basically rode around the mountain.

8:30 private, 9:30 series private with Anna (3 of 4), 11:30 2-hour requested private with Nick, and a 1:30 2-hour private.

8:30 private, last one of the series privates with Anna at 9:30, 11:30 private, 12:30 2-person private, 1:30 2-hour private.

The instructor room was still locked when i got there in the morning so i walked over to the lifts and took some pictures. That's Willy up there. Today i taught an 8:30 private, 9:30 private, 10:30 2-hour private, 12:30 2-hour 4-person private. Dennis marked my schedule as "off" at 2:30 so that i wouldn't be scheduled and could get a little break from the holiday grind. Glad to take it.

When i checked in in the morning all i had scheduled was an 8:30 private, however i ended up teaching an 8:30, a 9:30, a 10:30, an 11:30, a 12:30 (which got extended for another hour), and a 2:30. The 2:30 was a little kid who didn't show up until 2:55 so i took him until about 3:40 and fortunately he got tired. When i got back to the instructor's locker room there was beer and drinks for everyone in appreciation of the work during the holiday week.

Had an 8:30 private and a 9:30 private. The rental shop at the base lodge ran out of snowboards today so they had to take two pickup trucks over to Jackson Gore to empty out their stock and bring it over to the Okemo side. Because of this, my and Mark's 10:30 private lessons didn't show up until 11:10, so Rob told us to take our lessons until Noon. This actually gave me a chance to have lunch after not lunching for the past week. Then i was scheduled for afternoon groups and taught a group of 4 adults.

Tony Patt and his wife Daxe came up from Cambridge today. We took the dogs over to the park before it got too dark, then had dinner at Sal's (good pesto pizza!).

I taught a 9:30 2-hour private lesson, then was off for the rest of the day (i'd asked for it). Tony and Daxe and i took a couple tree-runs with Tyler before he had to get back over to the afternoon line-up, then we went over to Jackson Gore for lunch. After that we went through the half-pipe a couple times, then explored back over to the South Face before finally wrapping it up just before 4:00. Tony and Daxe headed back to Cambridge and i headed home to Wallingford.

I was scheduled to be at Jackson Gore and there were only 2 snowboard instructors there and 2 lessons. Millsy took the one all-day kid and i taught 2 overweight under-muscled siblings a morning lesson that so wore them out that they decided not to do the afternoon lesson. So after waiting around until 1:30, i jetted back over to the locker room and split. Long vacation week.