South East Asia Here I Come!!!

On Wednesday I will be taking off for another adventure in Asia.

This trip I will have my friend Brad with me on the first half. We are starting off in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. Brad is going to be flying home out of Thailand, Bangkok on April 4th. And I'm going to be flying home out of Vietnam, Hanoi on April 16th. That's all we have planed. Everything else we will figure out along the way.

Most of my friends and family think this is crazy. But I love the split second decisions about were to go and stay. I have a rough idea on what I want to see. All other things will fall in place along the way. A few of my highlights that I want to hit are the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia, Halong Bay in Vietnam, floating down the Mekong river in Laos and a list of others things.I'm going to be updating every few days along the trip.

Please check back for amazing pictures of Asia.

Sunshine to Shoveltime

One Sunday to the next couldn't have been any more different. Valentine's Day was bluebird, perfect temps. The very next Sunday we awoke to find two feet of snow outside. On Saturday we went to dinner with my Aunt Ginger, Janet, Great-Grandma Margaret, and Brad to celebrate my Great-Grandma's 86th birthday. It started to snow, but it wasn't sticking. The forecasters had called for up to two inches on the Valley Floor, so we figured it would change over night to snow and give us a little dusting. WRONG. After dinner we went to the Grand Sierra to catch up with some of Danielle's past co-workers. We were only there for about an hour and three inches had already built up on the car. There were people outside the hotel playing in the snow. They were from Miami and had never in their lives seen snow. They were beyond excited to be playing in it in just shirts and shorts. We drove home - slowly. When we got up in the morning we found a nice surprise of around twenty four inches of snow. Luckily the snow fell so fast the roads didn't have much time to cool down from the prior week's heat. The roads were surprisingly in decent shape. Just as two feet of snow can fall, the rain can come and melt it all away. Over the next four days all of it was gone.

Valentines Weekend

I've been really busy with work the last few months, so I had to make sure this Valentine weekend was perfect.

Saturday we awoke, had breakfast, then off to the gym. We took a class called 24 Lift which is a 1hr class of non stop sets with dumb bells and a barbells. By the end you are beat.

After class we had a sandwich then showered up to go out. We went and saw "Valentine's Day" the movie. It was packed with couples out on their Valentines day dates. We were running late so Danielle let me out so I can get a seat while she parked the car. I felt a little funny buying a ticket for one to a chick flick on Valentines day. It was kinda funny, I got a few strange looks. Danielle said she felt the same when she came in. The movie itself was great. It was shot in a few different views and tied all together at the end. There were also a ton of popular actors/actresses in it.

To complete the day we went to our favorite Sushi restaurant, Sushi Moto for dinner.

Valentine's day I woke up early and made Danielle's favorite breakfast, Crepes. We needed to store up energy for our afternoon of Cross Country skiing. This was our first time ever trying it. We decided to go to Donner Summit to the Clair Tappaan lodge. They have 12km of trails which head up towards the backside of Boreal. Went rented our gear and headed out. We had a lot of fun and made fools of ourselves at the same time. We each crashed a few times. Cross country skis suck for going downhill, or maybe it was just us. My binding was cracked on one of the skis so the ski kept popping off which didn't help. It was still a great time and I'd do it again. I want to try Skate Skiing next time.

After skiing we went and got massages to help with all the pains from crashing and the Lift class yesterday. The weekend was wonderful. Back to work tomorrow. Here are some pics of Danielle being a goofball. :-)

Crashing Jackson with K2

After an extremely busy holiday in the stores, I was flying off to Jackson Hole for a preview of the 2011 K2 skis and K2 Snowboards. I was really excited. Since I've been buying for Porters, I've been fortunate enough to snowboard at some of the top resorts in the world. One of a handful still on my list was Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The resort is amazing. It's one of the steepest resorts from top to bottom. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has the longest continuous vertical rise of any ski area in the U.S rising 4,139 feet from the valley floor to the top of Rendezvous Mountain! The snow wasn't the best, so you could only go off trail on the top half; however I had an amazing time. On one of the runs as we were cruising through a closed area of the mountain, a moose jumped out of the bushes. It freaked me out. I was lucky enough to snap a few shoots of it running away for evidence.


K2 once again looks amazing for 2011. After each day of riding we had to do some work. The first day was a 3 hour presentation on ski. Followed by the same for snowboard the next day. K2 put us up slope side at the Hotel Terra the resort was top notch. If I wasn't on the hill or in a meeting I was in there amazing saltwater pool overlooking the Teton Village. If anyone is looking to go to Jackson, I would highly recommend the Hotel Terra.


Due to snow on the night before we were leaving, our plane was delayed 8 hours. Once we arrived to the airport we found out they were not fully loading to plane due to the weight of the ice build up on the plane and slick runways. Chappy and I volunteered to stay a extra night. They put us up in a hotel, gave us a $400 travel voucher and bought us dinner, breakfast and lunch. Not a bad deal. We were both able to just set up office and work from the hotel room. The next day we were able to get home. It was a short, but great trip. I would love to come back when the mountain has more snow.


The next morning I jumped in the car and went to Oakland to look at Burton and Forum snowboards. It was a short trip there and back. I manage to See John, Ginger and Ryan we had a quick bite to eat before heading up the hill. I was worn out for the weekend.

Two days later I was back in the car going to Sacramento. For the ski and snowboard preview show, to look at 2011 product for the stores. I spent 3 days and was booked from 9-6 checking out all I could. This show is put on by the local sales reps, it helps save time for when I go to SIA in Denver next week. It's hard to see all the lines before I have to make my buy.

I'll try to get back on doing post more often. Danielle has been helping me out. Check out the new blog title.

Love and miss you all.

Happy New Year 2010!

After putting in about 100 hours in the last two weeks at Porter's we were pretty lame and fell asleep around 10:30pm. Although we didn't stay up to ring in the New Year, we were grateful to have a busy holiday season. We hope that the rest of the winter continues to be successful. Happy New Year all! Hopefully 2010 brings joy and happiness to you and yours.

Christmas Visits 2009

Because of our busy holiday work schedule, we headed down to see family the weekend before Christmas. Our first stop was Grandpa Don and Thelma's. Next, we at dinner at Grandpa John and Grandma Irene's along with the whole gang. It had been several years since we have everyone from my Dad's side all together. After having a wonderful dinner we spent the night at Gail and Treacy's. A morning breakfast and a visit from Danielle's parents Dave and Diane made the weekend complete. We headed back over the hill on Sunday afternoon to prepare for two weeks of non-stop work. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Reno Bighorns

There's a new team in Reno. Well it's there 2nd season, but the first game for us. The Bighorns are a NBA development D League team for the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic.

One of Danielle's student's parents gave the school there tickets for the night. No one wanted them so Danielle, Mike Siobain and I took them. They were great seats, center court only a few rows back. I'm not a huge Basketball fan. In my opinion they foul to much, the game stops every minute if not less. We still had a great time. The Bighorns were down most of the game, but beat the Bakersfield Jam in the end.

I'd go again with some friends. It's an inexpensive night out. Tickets start at $7 not bad for a few hours of entertainment.

Reno Extreme Fights

Two weekends ago was all about fighting. We'll not us fighting but watching fights.

We started off Friday night at the GSR for the 1st Reno Extreme Fights. There was 7 boughts 4 Boxing and 3 MMA. Most of the fights were good. There was a few knockouts that made the crowds crazy. We had a great time and hope to go again.

Saturday we went to Bully's for UFC 107. It was a night of great fights. The main event was Penn Vs Sanchez. The fight was dominated by Penn. A lot of people thought Sanchez had a chance but BJ dominated.

Fight Night - Reno Xtreme Fights

Tonight we are headed to the Grand Sierra Resort to watch the Reno Xtreme Fights. This fight night is a mix of boxing bouts and also MMA battles. It should be a great show. We have watched Muay Thai Boxing in Thailand, but never anything else. There are also a few local fighters representing Reno. Pics and video to follow!

Snowboarding in -18 what!!!!

Yesterday I had a meeting at Northstar with 32-Boots at 10 AM. I decided to take a few runs before it. In the Martis Valley just before Northstar my thermometer read -18. That's the coldest I've ever seen it in Truckee. I started to think I was crazy for going snowboarding, but the snow was amazing. We had just got a huge storm dropping 2-3 feet of light, fresh snow. I only had an hour and a half, but wanted to get a few runs in. I worn plenty of layers and wasn't affected by the cold. I had a fresh track my first run and nailed a few stumps along the way. This is the first big storm so there's hidden obstacles all over the place.

The car Thermometer reading -18!!!

Snow Day!

It started to pretty heavily last night and continued until this afternoon. They even cancelled school and scheduled a two-hour delay for tomorrow due to heavy amounts of snow and ice. I think we ended up with around 14" or so at our house, but the best is the ski resorts who ended up with around 45". This storm is perfect timing for the holidays. Let's get this winter started off right!

Taylor's Baptism

Sunday we started setting up for the party and headed over to the church. Taylor was absolutely adorable in her white dress. After the baptism we headed back to the house for dinner. We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with everyone. Thanks to Susan and Mando for inviting us!

Hanging Out in Fresno

Friday morning we headed over the hill (which was an adventure in it's own due to the heavy snowfall) and arrived in Turlock for a quick visit with Grandpa John and Grandma Irene. We had soup, sandwiches, and fun catching up. After about three or fours hours we headed out to our next stop, Fresno. Our friends Susan and Mando invited us down for the weekend to celebrate their baby's baptism. Our friend's Brett and Macy, Susan's parent's Judy and Joe, and her brother Steve and girlfriend Jen were already there when we arrived late Friday night. The baptism was set for Sunday, so what else was there to do on Saturday except have a mini-golf challenge and go-kart race at Blackbeard's! Steve took the mini-golf challenge with a 2 under par, but I came back like a wrecking ball to destroy the racetrack. (Sorry about the whiplash, Macy!)

Gobble Gobble - Look a New Post!

Well November has come and gone and the posts have been lacking (thanks for your comments!). I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Aunt Ginger, Janet, Grandma Margaret, Brad, my Mom and Dad, Jason, and I headed over to the Atlantis for an evening of buffet heaven. After eating to our heart's content and then some, we headed over to our house to play a game of Scrabble and hang out. It was a great day and we were glad that everyone could get together.