No blood, no breaks, no real turns, no tears, all smiles, GLAD to RIDE

Journal entry filed at MTNOPS.

I have ridden on the East Coast for around 15 years and seriously can only remember a handful of days with snow like this. These are the days that amp you for years, the days you seek afterwards, the days that you never forget.

I started driving at 4:20am, taking a spin to the airport to drop a bag off to K&D. Truth be told, this was a bit of a blessing as it ensured I was up and at it early and I got to rally the STI on beautiful untouched snowy roads with purpose.

Rolling over the gap is a burden to most, for me it is an integral part of the experience, adding both inspiration and excitement to day. The fresh snow on the trees, the solitude of a deserted road, the thrill of spinning four tires sliding around a 45; it stands on its own in its pleasure.

I got to the mtn about 10 minutes prior to lift spin and made it up to the liftline with the quickness.

I soon found myself planted firmly on my first lift of the day, laughing uncontrollably at the conditions that awaited.

Unknown folks as seen from the chair.

and more. Whoa deepness.

After some pretty ripping solo runs, I met up with a fellow wiffler, Jody, and started tracking out the chowder and powder of the peak. Finding riding bros on a powder day ready to rip is always a welcome occurrence.

We caught up with Jody's posse and snuck over to the semi secret, semi tough stash. On a epicosity scale, the riding was somewhere between righteous and ridiculous. There were actually minor pillow lines from the waterbars. I took so much snow in the face that I actually crusted my goggles over. It was pure, well just pure.


As I was packing up the rig, a guy came up to me and asked if I had driven over the gap. Apparently he had been one of the cars that had let me by and was super amped up on the high speed snow driving. Pretty seldom that someone actually praises you for that, I gotta say it was a good day.

And I got to close it all out enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in a "sick" boot with my daughter.

ORWELL, Vt. — Not much has changed over the years at the First National Bank of Orwell. Not the gilded chandeliers and teller’s booths with brass bars separating employees and customers. Not its view of the village green across the street. And most certainly not its ability to make loans, even as the big-city banks are cutting back.

“Demand is up, there’s a tight credit market out there, and we benefit from having money available,” said Bryan Young, the vice president. “We’re very particular on what and who we take, and there’s no need to take anything less than solid credit.”

While many of the nation’s large and midsize banks are staggering under the weight of bad mortgages piled up during the housing boom, the First National Bank of Orwell, Vermont’s smallest bank, founded in 1832, is having its best year in recent memory. Loans are up 22.6 percent from a year ago, and deposits are up 7 percent in the same period, Mr. Young said. The bank has $36.5 million in assets.

“If the banks maintained the lending standards that they had established in the past, and had not and did not buy a lot of securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they’ve got no problems and they’re sound,” said James F. Gatti, a finance professor at the University of Vermont.

“There is a value to sticking to your knitting, if you will,” Mr. Gatti added. “And I think banks that did will prosper, and prosper nicely, in the next few years.”

NY Times

Click here to see our hometown's 2+ minutes of fame: The Little Bank that Could

It has been a stressful month so far. It is time to take a break and bask in the joy and innocence of a 4 year old's first real drawings. I feel better already.

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Self Portrait

An amazing rendition of Jennifer, note the ears

Me with hair

Me without hair looking much happier

Rumor has it that my step-brother is going to be on Couric tomorrow night discussing banking with the owner of the First National Bank of Orwell. Maybe he will have a shot at the vice presidency now.

Well I have made through the mid point of my wee staycation. The problem with being a road warrior is that the instant you stop traveling, you get sick. Of course the only time I cease traveling is when I am on holiday and yes you can guess how this one started out.

Though my grand plans of snowboarding and biking have been mostly thwarted, it has been a good time. On Sunday, Hunter S. Thompson Memorial Greens (my wiffle field) hosted the season opener for LowBall.

Good times for sure.

Finally something original from the Laudromat.

While Isa and I were kicking it to the dump, we saw the holy grail of roadside debris, "the free bike". Now the free bike typically comes complete with piles of rust, a non pink exterior, and a host of other issues. Obviously the second is a near deal breaker for a 3 year old. There was some work to be completed. We stripped the bike completely down.

Painted the main components pink, obviously.

Scrubbed the remaining pieces until no rust or dirt could be found.

Put it together in a mere 13 attempts, chipped some of the fresh paint off, and holy cow a new-ish bike. Thrifty is the new black, get some.

Looks like another banger day and the trees are starting to green, only 4 days of staycation left.

S Nathaniel o.u.t.

Until this moment, I had no clue that I needed 5 pounds of silly putty. But man, now that I think about it, there are really a lot of things I could fix around the house with that. Or I could just do full sized copies of newspapers or make a really big bouncy ball. I bet you want some now too and lucky stars you can get it at the Crayola Store for only $76.99. When times get tough spend your hard earned money impulsively on completely irrelevant stuff. Yeah.