Destiny Skywalker

Tamikins how was your flight?

I'm getting Q a Go/Pro for her birthday this year. Also I will be stealing it occasionally. Yes, Snoqualmie powder barely counts as powder. The snow in general is very heavy and thick. I used to hate and avoid moguls but Snoqualmie gave me no choice. But if it's icy or super firm I stay the heck away. Really I'm just mad that they've taken most of my steep terrain away and replaced it with moguls. But, the heavier snow, when it's fresh, is actually kind-of nice for moguls because it slows you down and you get more reaction time. I need to get over to East this season. Q's instructor told me I need to take her over there, she will love it. As for ski aesthetics, yeah I kind of agree. Head skis are boring af designs. But I also really want to avoid pink. The Salomons look the nicest, they even have some purple, which is my favorite color. Meh, worst case I can pass some of these on to Q.

Well, it looks like Head may have the skis I'm looking for. I'm just annoyed with my current ones. I'm looking at the Head Power Joy or Super Joy. Also going down the list and checking out the Atomic Cloud line. The 14s might be too much ski for me but they sound fun. And I just found the Salomon S/Max No. 10. I think these are the new version of my skis, which are the Salomon Siam No. 10s.

I did see those, they're just still kind of wide. My old Salomons are 75 width, my current ones are 91 width. I'm trying to stay under 80. Really I just probably need to try a few widths and see if I can get up on the edges on some 82s or 85s. I did read up on my Head skis and apparently they are considered to be very stiff. I guess by comparison I considered my old skis to be very playful. They did what I wanted instead of me feeling like I'm at the mercy of my skis. It's like driving a boat. I don't think the K2 Minderbenders felt like this, but they were way too long. Ugh I've been looking and there is such a bias in the industry right now towards powder skiing. You can't be a good skier if you're on groomers, apparently. At least if you're a woman. Most of the carving skis I can find are just way too long for me because they're for tall men. And I don't want them super long because I do have to ski bumps sometimes. All the women's carving skis are for beginner-intermediate. I did see some mogul skis. Might need to look more into those. I wonder if I can carve on them.

My knee was actually like 80% today. I think I will be fine in 2 weeks. I think I will still take Q to the terrain park, though. I had already convinced myself before I saw your post that I just need to fork out for another pair of skis. I've been on them about 10 times now and they just still feel like planks. Thank you for the link, though, that was helpful. I did take a look at some of the recommended carving skis, mostnofbthem are too long for me but it did give me some ideas. I'm tempted by the Salomon S/MAX because I loved my old Salomons, but they come in 150 and 160, which are really the top and bottom of my range. I think I need a really tight radius, because what I really value is maneuverability. I also looked at REI just because they're big (but kind of generic). They had some Atomic Cloud Q9s that are available in 154 length, but they are almost 3 lbs heavier than the Salomons (maybe that's what I liked so much about my Salomons). The problem I am finding is most of the ones I like are for beginner skiers, and I need an Intermediate-Advanced ski. I'm not sure how much of this is just because I am short and need a shorter ski. I'm so tired of the idiots out here who insist I need to be on a 168-170 when I am only 160 cm tall myself. The other thought is that maybe I need mogul skis. I am doing a lot of that lately, although I'm skiing over the top and making my turns on top of the mogul and not in the channels (and that's exactly how I messed up my knee, was trying to work the channels). Unfortunately Snoqualmie has cheaped out on grooming, so I do not get pure groomers. But it's definitely hard pack most days, it's nowhere near powder conditions. I think I keep the Head skis for powder days, but I need to get back on my edges again, and that means a thinner ski, probably under 80 mm wide. I am getting too damn old to be carving on fatty skis. I will need my knees to last, and that means the skis need to do some of the work.

Q's best friends' (they're twins) mom refuses to send her kids to public school because she is so worried about gun violence. She is also not from the US, so she thinks we're all gun-toting crazies. I feel bad because I think it's not that likely to happen, but I also did go to high school with the Northern Illinois University shooter, so... In any event, I don't think the private schools really have any better security, even though they pretend to. I think it will be ok for Noah, but I can understand the concern and YES, you do want to get a 504/IEP in place, and that's a lot easier to do with a diagnosis. And I agree that having a teenage boy learn largely unsupervised because he has 2 working parents is probably not a recipe for success. How much is he impacted by dysgraphia? E has come a long way but it basically took him being in-person at school for a full school year, ADHD meds, and 3 years of private OT on top of school OT. He actually wrote out all of his Valentines this year and they were legible. That said, Noah is probably at the age where he's going to use a laptop or computer to write out most essay work. And schools got so used to using Google Classroom that they may not have much in the way of paper assignments anymore. I would think math will probably be the most handwriting.

I followed Q's lesson and was skiing in unfamiliar territory. He took them off trail on a black through some gnarly moguls. I'm still getting used to the longer skis and I don't think I got my ski all the way around. I think I ran right into a mogul and essentially pitched forward and landed on my head and managed to twist my ski off. It happened really fast. I still can't believe I came out of my binding like that, but I think it came out sideways, so that tells you how hard my knee twisted. I'm not a fan of Look bindings, but they were supposedly the recommended bindings for my skis. Q had Look bindings last year on her Rossignols and I hated them. They don't look very secure to me, but I'm so used to my Salomon bindings which are a different style. Sigh, I just miss my Salomons so much. They felt like a second skin. I mean, I still have them. I really should've demoed more skis but that gets expensive fast unless you find a demo day.

Well its a LCL strain, probably not a tear. So 7-10 days rest, maybe up to 14. We will consider going back in 2 weeks. Quinn wanted to try the starter terrain park, which is on a green run. So I can probably handle that in 2 weeks if she wants to work on tricks.

Ughhhhh my season might be done. I'm pretty sure I messed up my PCL and I hope it's not torn. Best case is probably 10 days and I have to stick to blues the rest of the season. I followed Q's lesson today. She has 3 jerk 14-year old boys in her class and they are... well 14-year old boys. She claims they don't fall and I told her it's because they don't push themselves like she does. Today I got to witness them in action. Her form is much better and she at least listens. But she's just so small compared to them. Her instructor told me once again, that she just has kid muscles and she just needs to grow. I told him that we're probably just going to do private lessons next year with her and I because now we are close to the same level and I could use the same reinforcements she needs. He thought it was a great idea and a better fit for her because she will get more out of it (and not get held back by teenage clowns). They mostly worked on jumps tonight because that's all the boys want to do (and Q now too). They did one small bit with some moguls and that's where I ate it, bad. I don't know what I actually did but I landed on my head and twisted my knee so bad I popped out of my ski (binding still in locked position), which I haven't done in years. Although lately I've lowered my DIN because I've realized I'm not a type 3 skier, I'm a type 2. Then I skied on it for 2 more hours. There's no bruising or swelling but now I can't bend it. DAMMIT Jacob

Honestly, that is my biggest reason for wanting to move to a year-round schedule. I would happily take 2 weeks off every couple of months and then a 3-4 week summer break. It would be so much less daunting to find a week or two of camps than a whole summer worth of camps. Ultimately I get about 3-4 weeks of straight vacation time and 2 weeks of sick leave a year, so I couldn't take off the entire time, but we wouldn't be so limited on when we can take vacation and we could find camps the other weeks. Or just work from home. Right now I really think we are gearing up to ask my husband's boss if he can wfh 2 days a week instead of 3 for the summer so E can be home again. I almost wish he qualified for extended school year because he needs that structure and routine, even if it was only half day. I think we will try some half day camps, too, but I think full day might be too much for him.

Our district hates doing 1:1. They claim the kids get too attached or dependent on it being the same person day after day. So the other child is impacted enough that he needs a 1:1 but since he shares with E, they technically "share" a paraeducator. So basically, this child may not be in E's classroom next year, which means he wouldn't have the full time support he is currently getting, but is only documented as 60 minutes daily SEL (pull out) by a SpEd teacher and 60 minutes weekly for OT (pull out). So they changed it to 90 minutes paraeducator SEL support (push in) instead (which, honestly, I'm cool with, and 60 minutes pull out daily for OT handwriting support. The contention point was that they better just prepare for a rough transition at the beginning of next year so be ready for it. He is doing great now but he almost always backslides at the beginning of the school year. Whether that's because he has been at a new school every single year, or because he just hates going back to school after a lazy summer, I dunno. We always have someone from admin there. Personally I would rather have the school psychologist, he has been way more helpful and generally has good suggestions. He made them implement the ticket system that I suggested at least twice before they actually did it.

I'm glad they are going to start right off with supports. The social skills pullout is a really good support. E's 1st grade teacher basically did it full time and she was fabulous. Taught E a ton.

Hahaha I love kids. I just pushed back and said no we really need virtual because we have no childcare. It went pretty well, there was one point of contention around para support and we wanted them to make sure they have a good plan for next school year. Basically he is being over-served currently because there is another child in his class who has 100% shared para support. They want him to become more independent, which is absolutely the goal, but the start of a new school year is a bad time to pull the rug out from under him. In all honesty, the principal always HAS to have the last word and when you mix that with my husband it can be a flash point because he likes to make sure he got his point across. He got a little snippier than he probably had to, but honestly he's still pretty pissed about how things went down last year. I'm wondering if she thought that in-person might defuse that, but in all honesty, virtual is better because I can give him some off-screen signals that he needs to chill. Our phone conversations have usually been worse than our in-person interactions, but this particular principal really gets under my skin. I feel like she tries to make her problems every one else's problem. We've been though 9 different principals over the years between our 2 kids, and I've only had 2 have that have acted like this (and the other one is at Q's former private school, which, we basically left because of that attitude). She tried to get rid of him, and now we are back and she's stuck with us. That relationship is going to take awhile to repair, if it can be. Unfortunately because her behavior earlier triggered us because of some past trauma, I probably will never be able to trust her. Overall, though, E is doing really well now that we've got his medications dialed in. He's made a lot of progress in his PT goals for writing and cutting. I think everyone is on board with what we want E's skills to be when he moves to middle school in 7th grade. The goal is no para support, able to write out his math work, and can use a laptop or computer to write out his longer response work. We are still working on letter formation in some cases.

You guys still up? E's annual IEP meeting is tomorrow and for some reason the SpEd teacher is really hot to trot on doing it in person, with E there. Any idea why she would want to do it this way? I think he's going to be a huge distraction.

Oh I remember you telling us about them. Are you worried about them with their new family or does this one just mean more to you because the way they were abused (not allowed to learn or have interests)?

Try deleting some porn.

FINALLY found a skilled soccer coach with a positive mindset for personal training. I feel like I should buy a lottery ticket. I think we course corrected with Q's teacher. I think she was having a bad week and now everyone realizes how you do NOT talk to Q because she internalizes. This is going to be a lifelong struggle, I think.

Just super icy and deep moguls. If anything, I probably knocked my tips into each other. I'm finding in my new skis that I do that occasionally. Not sure if its the length or the width. I am skiing faster now, Strava tells me that. But I feel less in control when I'm not up on my edges. I'm still really considering getting another new pair at the end of the season. I'm getting a lot better at moguls as long as it's not super icy. I'm starting to think about hitting some new terrain soon. If it's good snow I will go for it next week. Q and I hit Triple 60 again this week. She fell a few times but no yard sales or sliding down half the hill. I am trying to link turns better on it. Snow was good. A little crusty in some parts but we got fresh snow today that turned into freezing rain for the lower half of the mountain for the last hour. I got soaked despite all the Goretex. And I ate shit on a completely flat part in front of a lift after mostly skiing black runs tonight. Nasty ice patch. Felt like it jumped up and got me. Now my ass hurts.

Send it! He looks like he's doing good! Edison cracks me up, he looks like he's gonna be a racer. Watch out! I took a video of Q today, it's on my Facebook page. Conditions were super icy, so she's not quite as stable as usual. Working on getting her forward in her skis. We talked about edges today and she thinks she got up on them once. She said it felt weird but good. It was a glorious bluebird day, but it went from Cascade Concete (a little warm, almost melty) to super freaking cold the last few days. It was 7F when we left, it warmed up to about 22F when we arrived. We tried a black run at the beginning and even I ate shit twice. Decided to stick to blues after that. We got in 12 runs today! The longest lift line was maybe 5 minutes. MAYBE. Next year we are totally doing this again for teacher grading day. I met up with Jacob, Tami, Katrina and Cereese for dinner, they got to see my windburnt cheeks. (The ones on my face...)

So one less shitty beer and fast food run.

How did lessons go?

Nice job buddy! I've always felt that I have too much of an "athletic stance". I don't keep my skis very close together, especially on challenging terrain. I feel like I need to be ready to go in any direction and spring. Basically I am a goalkeeper on skis lol. I agree that they are too wide for what conditions I usually have, but everyone keeps telling me this is an all-mountain ski and I should be able to get up on my edges so easily. That Under 90 is only suitable for perfect groomers. Here's the thing, technically I'm on groomers. Except they are doing a shit job on grooming because they don't have enough employees, and because I think they're trying to cut costs where they can. Obviously people are still coming, so they know they can go without. There's a reason I avoid my favorite runs now unless conditions are perfect. Because they're essentially expert only/double black when they're not groomed. They only groom now when they get an absolute dumping of snow, and we haven't had one of those for awhile. I was starting to see some brown patches where it's starting to get a little bare because we've had a few pineapple express systems come through in the last month. But realistically packed powder is a good day out here. Otherwise it's crusty or the wet heavy stuff. Q and I are going to try to go Monday because school is out. Unfortunately, only our regular area is open. I'd really like to take her on some other terrain, and me too. There is an ungroomed area that is essentially a big beautiful open run, but there's no lift (it's between an upper and lower crossover). I wouldn't attempt it at night because its unlit, but I'd like to try it during the day. I'm sure it is moguls galore, but if it's not steep, that's not so bad.

Update: never mind my thighs, it's my ankles that are pissed. Stupid wide skis.

Middle school ski busses strike again. Q's instructor took them to another part of the mountain so they were super late getting back. He said he is seeing lots of progress in her. He did say she's sitting back in her skis a bit, though, but he also said it might just be muscle maturity (or lack thereof) because she's so small. So we're going to practice our stance in the living room this weekend lol. I'm not sure I like my new skis. I think going to 156 was the right decision. I'm just not sure I like the wide underfoot (went from mid 70s underfoot to 91). I think maybe I should done something more like an 85. I am not really getting up on my edges anymore. I finally found them briefly tonight on a flatter portion. I feel like I am doing a lot of work in these skis. Tonight's conditions were Cascade Concrete. The last few weeks have been dust on crust, which is not my favorite. It's easy on the knees but hearing that scrape and chatter is like nails on a chalkboard. Tonight the snow was thick, wet, and heavy, but not fluffy like powder. On more than one occasion I caught the back of my ski on something and almost ate shit. However, this made for good conditions on Triple 60, which is basically my nemesis. It's steep, it's never groomed, and it's mogul hell. It usually has random ice patches that jump out and get you. I refuse to ski it unless it is a powder day or a day like today. With the snow being thick and heavy, it's a little more forgiving and slows you down. So I hit it 3x and my thighs will never forgive me. I took the picture on the blue (ha, really a green, but I think they say blue to keep the idiots away) part. It was very foggy and misty tonight, so not the clearest picture.

I love me some cardio. I know everyone says ladies, you're not going to be skinny doing cardio. I don't care. I genuinely enjoy it. I think most people hate it. I find weightlifting painfully boring but I know it would be good for me. I must have some endorphin block kn weight lifting.