I know what you were all thinking. Two days without posting, maybe he's fallen off the wagon, maybe I'll finally be able to stop wasting my time reading about Ratner's life and waste my time doing something more productive, like Pong. Alas and asunder, no such luck. I couldn't post two days ago due to the internet being down, and couldn't post yesterday due to passing out. (from exhaustion. and crystal meth.) We got hammered by a blizzard the past few days (made national news) which meant I got to spend two days at Vail with my new skis. (Admittedly, I just really like typing "new skis" because it reminds me of how sexy they are.) This most elemental day was definitely exhilarating--and hard to describe. The snow was so thick that you could barely see the terrain ahead of you, and between that and the powder you really had no concept of the gradient of the hill until it was underneath you. Adding to the experience was the general paucity of people (who would be nutty enough to be outside?) in the back bowls. (More trees than people is always a good thing.) The only issue was that, apparently, some of the markers that point out hazardous terrain blew down, and I very nearly skied off of a 10 ft. rock ledge. That would have been bad, m'kay? Quick tangent--I may be a bit oversensitive, but when they decided to name the restaurant at the top of Vail's gondola "The Eagle's Nest", didn't they realize that name was already taken? Vail should unveil (no pun intended) their new mascot, Goebbels the Gopher, any day now.

Three other random anecdotes from Wednesday:

It's a shame I'm not a screenwriter because I have enough characters for 8 movies after a little over a month on the job. My favorite Wednesday was the 12 year old from Texas who, when ordering a cherry coke, gave me his best Stifler look and said, "how about a little Captain Morgan with it this time?" Smooth kid, smooth.

The mercurial nature of the service industry also never ceases to amaze--I got a $6 tip on a $60 tab, and 10 minutes later got a $20 tip for bringing the pool balls out for someone.

Finally, I walked into HR Wednesday and someone asked me the name of my "hot girlfriend" When informed that I had no girlfriend, hot or otherwise, she insisted that a coworker had seen me with some gorgeous lady. If you are reading this, hot girlfriend, you are clearly lost and/or misplaced. Give me a call (you should know the number) and I will be happy to pick up and/or rescue you. Sincerely, Matt Ratner