The Next America

Spring Boarding at Vail

Out to Colorado on business this week. Got there early for a day of boarding at Vail. I haven't seen a lot of blog entries to give people a sense of what the conditions are really like on April 8 for skiing/boarding. Unlike some ski areas (most of the East Coast), Vail does not have an almost fraudulently cheerful daily assessment of conditions during early and late season. Instead, they provide just the facts -- which doesn't tell a lot.

1) Not crowded in the slightest. #30 in the gondola line arriving 5 mins before it opened. Guy scalping lift ticket vouchers within sight of the cashier. Plentiful parking but still expensive ($17/day). However -- Northwoods Express (the only real way to get back right on the mountain) was crowded. Not unbelievably, horribly, as it is during even non-peak times. But still a real line.

2) The bottom of the mountain was in pretty bad shape. Luckily, the bottom of Vail isn't that great to begin with so you're not missing much other than an unpleasant ending to the day. The signs posted recommending downloading on the Gondola are the right idea. Unfortunately, their very nice intermediate terrain park is below the Lionshead gondola making cycling through it pretty unpleasant. The intermediate halfpipe is excellent -- tall enough to practice proper technique, but short enough to be safe. In contrast, the main pipe at Steamboat is ridiculous and the beginner pipe there is useless (far too short). The main pipe at some places on the East Coast is equivalent to the intermediate pipe at Vail.

3) Back bowls/Blue Sky Basin were nice but slushy. The warm weather had actually made much of the ungroomed areas better than it normally would be several days after snow as it had reduced mogul size, probably through melting. Many wooded areas were unboardable due to severe trenching. People focused on the groomed portions of the back area, completely missing out on the best area -- Mongolia Bowl. It had been closed for the past few days, but people assumed it had been skiied off and didn't check it out. Instead, I got run after run on untouched (and a bit slushy) snow, each time with less than 5 people in the entire bowl. A top 5 lifetime day.

4) Wait for the snow to soften later in the morning or stay on the groomed areas (and don't fall down -- rock hard at the beginning of the day).

When Vail is good it is unbelievable. When it is bad (extortionate concessions/lodging/everything, crowding, inconvenience) it is pretty annoying. Will definitely go back at this time of year -- better than a normal day during peak season, though not a powder day :)

I Hate Mercury

So I took Friday off to spend a whole day in the "shipyard". It's getting cold and I need to finish things up before first freeze.

While disassembling the water pump (replacing the impeller is smart maintenance every year or two and its hard to know how long it has been with a used boat) a bolt snapped. Finally ended up drilling it out and tapping new threads. As part of this, it was evident that the pump base was cracked and needed replacement. $90 from Mercury.

Here's where it gets confusing. 43055a4 is the "old base" which uses traditional gaskets. 19282a1 is the "new base" with integrated silicon gasket. The difference is explained well in the tech manual. I had a "new base" which broke. I had purchased on Ebay a 43055a4 for $40 (which came with a bonus 43055a2, 2 being an earlier revision, apparently the same except for no new spacers). When I got it, I realized this was the old base, so went to order directly. The tech manual was confusing, since it said that the new base could not be used with old pumps, but was silent whether old bases could be used with the newerpumps. I found 19282a1 is no longer available, replaced by 19282a2. So I opened up my 19282a2 from Cape Marine -- and it was an old base too. Not only that, it was completely identical to the 43055a4 with the same manufacturer markings on the base. Two different part #s, two different prices ($86 vs. $88), identical products.

So what happened? I'll get back my $90 (-10% restocking fee). Apparently the silicon bases were unreliable (surprise, maybe like how mine broke), so they moved back to the old pump base. And I've got a 43055a4 for sale for $40+shipping (I installed the a2 freebie).

Oh, and completely undocumented (another waste of $50), the two seals come preinstalled on all bases, so neither the 2 $10 seals nor the $30 tool for seal placement is necessary.

LastMinuteGolf

One site I've been pretty impressed with lately is lastminutegolf.com. I originally visited because of their free handicap retention and calculation feature. Free, convenient, and they're reasonably certain to retain my data (its tough for free services to retain data, yet its too small a feature to pay for).

Of late, I've started looking seriously at tee times. The biggest problem is that there isn't much coverage in Rhode Island, though they do have some nice courses about 50 minutes away. For those courses -- its working -- I think of them much more due to their presence on lastminutegolf, including some courses I'd never heard of. This week I booked some "placeholders" waiting for my favorite local course to open tee times on Wednesday. Since its online I went in and cancelled the placeholders. But if my local course had let me down they would have got business. One course, New England CC, got a tee time this Saturday directly, since the site won't let me book at their discounted rate after 1 PM.

It is a better experience booking online. For my Saturday tee time, I had a voice tree and two people to speak to. And I still don't know if there wasn't a different time I might like better (I took 1:30 which was what I was given -- closer to 1:00 would have been ideal). Times are clear, pricing is clear, on the site.

Bristol Golf Club

The Bristol Golf Club is OK.

Weekday rate is $12/9. A few sad pull carts rent for $4. Golf for 2 with cart is $35 (before 10AM). The bartender at the club house serves double duty as the greens fee guy.

It is not very long, though some of the shots require skill. There's decent variety and use of elevation and water. You always feel in the middle of an industrial park.

Condition is mediocre at best. There are no yardage markers either midcourse or at the tee boxes which I find annoying.

But its closer than Rehobeth.

Red Sox Tickets

Having Red Sox tickets (8 games) brings other problems -- namely unloading Red Sox tickets. So far, I've had two unavoidable conflicts requiring tickets to be unloaded. My experiences:

Ebay seems an obvious choice. I have high feedback. There are many buyers and sellers. Commissions aren't too bad. However, it is very difficult to get much interest in relatively low-end tickets. Or bids at all. The strange part is that identical tickets sell for 30-40% higher than adjacent listings (even by the same seller).

I've used Stubhub before. Commissions are usurious (25% counting both ways + $10 shipping). A lot of ticket brokers use Stubhub. But my perception is that it is the better way to go. On both occasions, even after commissions, I've taken home several dollars more than similar tickets were selling for on Ebay. Plus the advantages of the trusted, guaranteed environment. Clearly, a certain class of buyers is not comfortable buying on Ebay and will pay 25%+ more for the trusted environment.

On the buying side, I've had great success with Craigs List. Cheaper than Ebay. But not on the selling side.

Backdoor in Red Sox Ticket Sales

So the highlight of Saturday for much of New England was the release of the first tranche of Red Sox tickets.

My end result: a half interest in 32 tickets after two hours.

There are rumors about a secret backdoor that allowed people to jump the queue online. These rumors are absolutely true from witnessing a demonstration firsthand (unfortunately, it was mostly academic at that point). It is appalling that ticket companies in 2004 are still unable to execute the fundamentals of their business.

The Olympics in HD

It is truly a shame. The video is spectacular. The commentators are hands off. There are bizarre 3-7 minute scenery breaks at the end of most hours.

But for same day coverage, "please watch your NBC affiliate."

I can't wait until the 2006 Winter Games in full High Definition.