(A)musings of a bro you know: Utah'da be kidding me

Hey all, been a while since I got around to update but frankly, been a while since I took a breath. The very few I've kept in contact with, including my parents can attest to the short one-word text response syndrome I've been suffering from.

Anyways, to all who feel slighted, I'm sorry, I didn't forget boutchu.

So what the heck have I been doing?

Well a couple of weeks back my cousin from Oregon, Taylor and my Uncle Dan made a visit out for cross-country skiing and I got to see them which was pretty cool. East meets West in the middle, sort of. Taylor is always awesome to have around because she will adventure anywhere and this trip was no exception as we found this amazing natural hot spring that overlooked the mountains around dusk. I snapped a couple of photos, hope they do it justice. And damn, hot springs are HOT! Ran into some naked hippies there who told me expressly to keep the place a secret, so as far as my leaking its location, well, I'm bound by the Naked Hippy Code, and that's as good as law out here.

After Taylor's visit I was swamped with writing for the X Games. I didn't get to go to the events, but I got amazing interview access and talked with a boatload of X athletes, many of whom I looked up to growing up, pretty surreal.

It got more surreal the week after as the X parade rolled through Park City for the Freestyle World Championships. I got to chill with the likes of Bobby Brown, Sammy Carlson, Simon Dumont, Sarah Burke and Alex Schlopy (you get a dollar for every name you recognize) and they were all super down to Earth. Oh Yeah, and they throw DOWN on skis. Absolutely unreal!

Writing for the event was exhausting, legitimately 8am-11pm for 6 days but most of my stories got published internationally at the FIS website, the skiing equivalent of FIFA, talk about exposure. Seriously, go ahead, talk about it. Press passes are sweet though, I found myself in VIP tents at Deer Valley eating crepes and lox while rubbing shoulders with the industry elite, a very eye-opening experience.

Less than a week after that I switched over to boardercross for the U.S. Grand Prix and national championship at the Canyons. Those guys are a lot of fun and absolutely insane for flying down those courses, but it was awesome to watch. I didn't have to write really for that event, but I got a chance to take pictures and actually snuck on the course to grab some closer shots. Got to cheese it up with Lindsey "indy grab" Jacobellis, who is actually a really nice girl. And I got two free days at the Canyons in 40+ degree weather which was sweet, the goggle tan is reallly starting to take hold.

During that same event I also started a second job as a busboy at a steakhouse. Now this doesn't sound that cool, but I'm actually super excited about it. All the other busboys speak Spanish, so I'm looking forward to really digging in and improving my dormant Spanish skills. Also I'll be able to make a little expendable income to adventure out of Park City more and try more restaurants, resorts and excursions! Always hustling, no rest for the weary!

Oh yeah, and on top of that stuff, I've been skiing. Totals up to 31 downhill days and probably 7 nordic (which will rise now that I figured out I can ski home from work!). I hope I can update in shorter doses next time, but maybe this will do for now.

Definitely missing everybody back in Boston, but taking advantage of my experience out here and looking forward to some familiar faces in the coming weeks!

I've posted some pics, hope they find you well! Ok going out to get day 32!