Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Well February got off to a less than eventful start than the month of January did. The riggers of work and partying were starting to take their toll for some of the house mates. Others just increased their partying antics. The regular 3 nights out for the dollar drink specials had slowed, but there was always a mid week party to be found somewhere. The parties were usually categorized into the groups of an Aussie, Argie, Heavenly or pommy party. Some of which had a keg or two. These parties were always a bit of fun and did not drag late into the early hours of the morning either due to work the next day or the arrival of the police. Each time we head out we called the maxi taxi company with their high class drivers called Steve and Dan, each of whom knows us and our addresses off by heart - helpful if we are unable to communicate them.
Apart from the house party we had our work valentine’s ball, with a costume choice of formal or retro. We thought we’d better get to the op shop as quickly as possible. But the problem is that the op shop
standards resemble that of a very small community town such as Anakie. Choices were limited and half of Sierra was shopping there, so I was able to locate an overly large jacket that would not rank that highly in my op shop wardrobe, but it did the job. The Knox Avenue team all put in another solid performance with outfits and antics. So with our $5 (if not cheaper) hip flask of vodka in the girls hand bags we made our grand entrance. There were some impressive get ups on show, especially a few of the South American ladies looking a treat. It was a great night but surprisingly finishing at 10-10.30. The after party was going to have to start early but fun times where had by all. The day after was another story for me, the 1.75 litres of vodka may have been dirt cheap at $11, but it also gives you a dirt cheap and distasteful hang over.
Another high light for my drinking adventures is that the pub at work has started a club where you pay $30 for a 24oz mug that allows you to drink any beer for $3. So the savings will start
to roll in soon. On the 19th Dave, Stew and myself headed off on an adventure to Arizona to see Dave's twin brother and catch up with Cookie and Ali, friends of Guns and mine in Tucson. These adventures are detailed in their own blog entry. So after a great trip to Arizona, I arrived home to see Saul asleep with nothing packed and having an hour till his bus was due to leave for his trip around the states and then head back to the Melbourne. I helped him pack and said the first of three goodbyes to my house mates. With Saul being my living room, room mate it sort of kicked in that the house would be a fair bit quieter in the coming weeks. Whilst I was away there were a number of Aussies that headed back to the land down under for uni. This meant the mountain became a lot quieter and the bus trips and nights out a lot less entertaining. The snow had started to come down quite heavily the day before I came back and continued for a few days after that, so riding was really good there for a bit. Well
that’s until the sun hit the snow on the Monday and it became quite sticky and slow. I went for my lunch time ride break on the Monday and ended up following some fresh tracks thru the trees and soon found that I did not have a clue where I was going. I soon came up to set of foot prints which where knee to waist deep and realized that I was in for a big hike. After an hour of hiking I found a semi groomed trail I gave me some idea of where I was located. The rider whose tracks I followed seem to have sledge marks along side, which meant that there must have been Patrol helping them out. So after rocking up 20mins late from my hour break and dripping with sweat I headed back to work.
Stew and Dave missed their flight back to Reno from Phoenix and had to spend the night at the Reno airport as the buses were cancelled due to the road conditions. So the boys got home a day later than first planned. The Monday night would be the last night we got to head out with the boys and
Sarah.
Tuesday was my day off so that helped with me heading out on Monday, but it did not help with the mornings snowboarding at a near by resort (Kirkwood). Mike, one of the Aussies who works in lifts offered to drive us in his $250 Saab, so it was four of us in the car each packing a 12 pack of bears to trade with the lift operations manager for tickets to the mountain. The morning was slow from the night after, but after a long lunch we had a great afternoon in the park and the pipe.
Stew, Dave and Rob where heading off on Wednesday, so I had to do an early morning goodbye and head off to work. The house was very deserted on the Wednesday night at home and I got to sleep in a bed for the first time in 2-3 months (pure bliss). Work was work, but the sun was out for 4 or 5 days so it was great to work in a t-shirt for those days. I also collected myself a few $10 cash bonuses. These are called ‘magic moments’ and they come in values of either $5, $10 or $25
vouchers. It has become a bit of a comp between Doug the other Aussie lifty who is staying till the end and I.
Sarah was leaving at 3am on the Saturday morning, so I did people lunch break at work so I could ride with her on the last day. After a few last beers at the pub with Sarah we headed home and myself, Jess, Sarah, Doug and Mike (house mate for the next week) had beers. As it was my birthday, the girls where kind enough to bake me a chocolate cake and also gave me a few gifts. The first a book on how to have sex in the woods and the second a trail map of Sierra and Northstar on a goggle (sun glasses) cleaning fabric. So tomorrow is my American birthday so I think I will be at the pub till the last bus leaves.
March should be a good month with my birthday happening and there being a number of dress up days and parties at work. Jess and I are moving out of the house on the 6th and are moving in with 3 Argentinians for the last 6 or 7 weeks
in Tahoe.
I hope that every one is well and I would also like to congratulate John Howley and Lauren Haliburton on getting married on the 1st of March.
Caio For Now
Advertisement
Tot: 0.128s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0471s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb