Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas. It was weird to be working on that day but a lot of things are new in my life these days. We got dumped on for Christmas, with about 3 feet of snow falling in a 48-hour span. We pretty much skided down our front stairs on our way to work on Christmas morning. After going out for pizza on Christmas Eve in a McArdle family tradition and having a few pops at McP's, our favorite Irish pub at the base of the gondola, we got up early to give ourselves a Christmas present--first tracks in powder! Check out the video I took of it on my Facebook page. Oh, and we drove around the corner to park on a sidestreet rather than walk the .3 miles to the base. Wouldn't you know it? Michael and Robin, the couple of ski instructors who used to live in our place, parked right in front of us and sufficiently and deservedly busted our balls. Think of it this way: Most of you know how far my apartment was from Toons. It would be like driving up to Southport and Waveland, parking, and walking the rest of the way.
I ended up getting a class around noon and had two young boys from Ireland and three Indians, one of whom twisted his ankle in a fall. My second day on the job and I had to fill out a "green sheet" (the term we use for an injury report). I think he was OK, but it's just something we have to do for liability. I caught a lot of grief from the other instructors about "breaking somebody on Christmas." We went out that night with Eric, another ski instructor friend, for Xmas dinner at a place called Fire & Ice, which is a Mongolian BBQ, Flattops type of place, and played some pool at one of the casinos.
Yesterday I got pulled out of lineup to take a private lesson with a couple 7 year olds. When I first met Lotus and Kiave they were very quiet and seemed scared. Wouldn't you be, too, if you saw me? They were BFF and sooooo cute. That's them in the picture with me at the top of the blog. We had such a fun time together and they were a hoot. Lotus was telling me at lunchtime that once when she got in trouble her mother made her sleep outside. I wondered if I should contact DCFS. Then she was stuffing loose M&M's into her snowsuit and we got into a little argument over whether or not they would melt inside her pocket. "How can they melt in snow?" she asked. "Well, if they do and you end up having to sleep outside tonight then don't blame me!" I told her.
By the end of the day they were calling me "the best ski coach EVER" and giving me hugs. They enjoyed it so much that they badgered their parents to let them come back again today. When Lotus' mom's boyfriend won 10K at the casinos last night, they called me up to see if I could work with them again today. It was supposed to be my day off but we get paid double for privates so I suited up and went in. Another fun day with the 7 year olds. Had them going from "hot dog" (skis straight, going fast) to "pizza" (skis in a wedge to slow down) and doing turns by the end of the day. And they brought a sled with them today and spent a good portion of our post-lunchtime sledding down a hill. Oh, and Kiave explained a game her mom and her mom's beau play with her. Mom tells Kiave a number from 1-10 and if Stanley can guess it he gets a hug from mom. "Noooo," Lotus interjected. "It isn't a hug." Kiave shushed her friend but when I pressed, Lotus said when Stanley guesses correctly he gets "a kiss with a tongue!" Did I mention Kiave's mom was a MILF?
So today we had to move out of our condo for a week. It had already been booked for New Year's week. Ziggy went north to spend time with friends. He's part time on the mountain and isn't scheduled to work all week. Me, on the other hand, I have to stay local. So tonight I'm staying at our friend Eric's place. The rest of the week I'm getting a hotel room with a friend who's coming in from L.A. I'm tired of packing and unpacking and moving but after another week we can settle in for the long haul at the Summit.
Lastly, the proofs for my book came in yesterday. I've got a couple weeks to review it and make any recommended changes. Pretty cool to actually see a tangible version of what I'd been working on for the lion's share of 2008. And I put in today for some time off to come home for the Cubs Convention in mid-January. Hope to get to see some of you during my visit!
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