Happy Holidays

So I know, I know, a blog update is loooong overdue. My apologies. In my haste to absorb into mountain life I have neglected well, anything outside the mountains. In that spirit I'll use this outlet to tell everyone I know and love, happy holidays. I celebrate Christmas, purely for the nostalgic and historical significance it holds for me. I don't like to think of the holidays as the time of year where you have to spend a bunch of money to fill someone's happiness quota. I confess I do hold certain expectations for my mood during the holiday season and therefore the true spirit of the season is lost a bit but thats ok. I tend to think of friends and family that are far away. I think of what they are probably doing christmas morning.

I've been working a lot lately, six 10.5 hour days in a row. I have the next two days off and they are reserved for, skiing and snowboarding. I have a friend that is loaning me his board and bindings and my roommate Cesar has given me a pair of boots. I get two free lessons from Vail ski school per month so I'll take advantage and learn to board. Skiing has been the main source of my pleasure out here. Going in I figured I would just be comfortable with casually strolling down ridges and viewing the landscapes but I have found that combined with my enjoyment of the freedom out here and the equipment I'm riding on I have found myself enjoying the speed and agility granted with 5 feet of snow. Powder is like a magical word out here. Everyone dreams of it. I work chair 15 at Vail right now. It is a mostly beginner chair which suits me because I get to work with kids all day. The crew I have been placed on has been coined "The Brown Crew" on account of 80% of us being from Peru. This has sparked a desire in me to visit South America. As of now my next destination options are, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Peru, Argentina, Montana, Tenessee and New Zealand as a long shot. I am trying to learn Spanish the right way, through people that speak it. I have picked up the guitar as a hobby and have found it to be a welcomed companion. The harmonica always brings smiles when I play it at work in the lifthouse. Work has been long but good. I typically just shovel a lot and make sure people are loading and unloading the lifts correctly while also monitoring the lift mechanics, engine, tension systems and such. Really quite easy work once you figure it out. The best part of the job is the skiing that is necesarry and encouraged throughout the day. Somedays I'll be skiing for a good 3 hour total on the job just getting from place to place. I also get to make first tracks on ungroomed runs in the morning. This is pretty amazing. Skiing a freshly snowed on mountain slope as the sun is coming up. Definitely one of the perks of the job. In my free time I mostly hang out with my roommates and some southern boys that are also lifties. Anyway, I'm getting tired of writing for now. I hope this finds you all well. Life out here is good. I work a lot but work doesn't feel like the same word it used to be these days.
Byron

Life in the Mountain Valley

Hi folks.

So I feel as though I've lived here long enough to have a good working understanding of the people, the places, the attractions, the detractions and the overall vibe of life as a Vail resident. The only aspect of life out here that I do not fully grasp yet is the overall winter weather season. I know what winters are, Michigan will do that to a person, but weather, that is always something new depending on setting. I have spent some time out here in the Rockies during the winter, I know what a ridiculous amount of snow can mean but an entire life of it? I currently enjoy walking everywhere I go, can I say the same thing when 300 inches have fallen in a matter of months?

Small changes like that affect the things you enjoy.


The library is a gem here in Vail. I spend at least an hour at it 5 days a week. If I haven't made time for the library during my day it usually means mountain days have tired me out too much. I fear that the library will be a lesser place when Vail is in full swing and Scandanavian elitists are huddled by the fire in their fur coats discussing the pratfalls of competing nose wipes for their kids. For now its relatively deserted, aside from the busy computer section at which I currently sit. I found the most amazing Gonzo book on display last week. It is hardcover and at least a foot tall and one foot wide, so double that when opened. It has great widespread pictures, quotes, poems and just overall inspirational material.

Most of the books I have checked out from the library have been about music theory and guitar playing. I found a good deal on a nice yamaha and have been strumming my way through the dark sleepy nights out here.

For all of you interested back home, friends have been easy to come by. There is always a friendly face around the corner that I can share a laugh with. In the odd case that there is no one around the ambiguous mountain air and vibe get me through.

I'm sorry if I haven't checked in as frequent as maybe some of you expected/wanted. Or maybe I am reporting back just enough or perhaps too much. I have no gauge of this other than my overall desire to confine myself to the glowing pixels of a computer screen. In other words I'm trying to need the computer as little as possible so I apologize if I've been a little distant. I don't really enjoy talking on the phone to anyone unless I get involved in small talk enough to forget that I am on the phone.

Love you all, take care.
Byron, or fish as my nametag says on the mountain.

Overall Vail Update

Whats up all? I hope everyone in their respected places are doing well. I miss you. Things are good here in Vail. I am going through training sessions every day, pretty much all day. Turns out it takes a lot of equipment and protocal guidelines to memorize when working a ski lift. I love it here. Living in a mountain valley means looking out the window and every time seeing slopes and mountain peaks. The people are all friendly for the most part. Things are absolutely divided into, locals, tourists and Vail employees. Vail employees are close to locals but a lot of us, possibly myself included, are only here for seasons at a time so it is not really the same thing as living in Vail througout the summer as well and knowing how that whole lifestyle works. My first paycheck comes in about 1.5 weeks from now, thank god. Everything is on the pricier side of life but a perk of being surrounded by nice people is that you tend to find the deals pretty easily if you know how to ask. Life is good, I'm keeping a smile on my face everywhere I go and knowing that if I take the time to look around I will like what I see.

I'll have pictures soon I just haven't had enough daylight free time to get some good shots.

Love,
Byron

Greetings from Vail

I made it. I have been in Vail now for 4 days and I really am happy to be here.

I flew into Denver the day after Halloween with a bunch of hungover skate and board kids, pretty quiet flight really. Joe Schramm picked me up at the airport and I had the chance to hang out with him for 3 days in Denver. He has a nice little setup with Nick Kjolhede, Jason Bulter, John Hickey and little (but now all grownsies) JoJo. I got to play some disc, tour the town, hit up some bars and just kick back with some faces from the past.

I took the CME from Denver to Vail, it is essentially a van that they load up with ski bums and rich people. My first day in Vail was a little trying, I got to town with about 1 hour of daylight but most of that was wasted with paperwork at my apt. complex's housing office and just getting all my shit into my apartment and set up. So by the time I was ready to get my bearings about me it was already dark out and I just had to hop on the city bus and take it where it took me and figure out as I go. Luckily Vail is accomodating to the hiker. I stopped into a coffee shop and a cool cat named Quincy gave me a lowdown. So after drinking the free coffee Quincy gave me I hopped on a different bus and took it to a grocery store. Life is expensive out here. I shall be consuming tuna, trailmix, granola bars, eggs and beer, nothing else. So eventually I made it back to my apartment and just passed out.

Every day thus far has consisted primarily of training classes. Today is my first free day in Vail and I plan to just stroll the streets with my camera and get to know the place. I have plans to go hiking up one of the mountain sides with my friends Jeff and Philip so that should also give me a good idea of what else Vail life has in store for me.

I have two roommates, Cesear and Tyler, we are expecting one more by the time ski season starts. They are both good guys, Tyler is a fellow lift operator from D.C. Cesear has been in Vail for a year and a half and is working as a cook at one of the ridiculously expensive restaurants in downtown.

Life in Vail has been good but busy. I am looking forward to ski season and finally getting up there on the mountain and having the whole day to waste on shredding through powder. I am surrounded by people my age and of my mindset so making friends has never been easier. All in all life is good and just keeps getting better the more you let it.
LB

I LEAVE SUNDAY!!

As i sit in a lab and realize that I am approaching the 10th hour in a row that I am occupied with activities that keep me indoors I am surprisingly okay with it. This is because I am so close to departure date. I don't talk  much these last few days (weeks really) and I guess it is because I don't want to waste my breath. How involved can I really be in a conversation if my mind is off in the Denver airport? I really have nothing of merit to add to a work conversation. The only things that really distract me from Vail are tiny things like the various shades of grey that permeate the Michigan sky this time of year. The southward bound birds, green colors spread amongst oranges. Simple little things.

I have all but wrapped up life at Such Video. My desk never had much of my identity in it. One would go to it now and find post it notes. A phone book. A small desk lamp. The G4 that made work bearable at times. No personality. There never was any really, just traces of life. Here and there I would leave an article of clothing. A cd. Something given to me by a friend that hadn't made its way home with me yet. Now, nothing but the cold dark whisper of corporate sterility.

My room is the exact opposite. Everything I am taking with me is visible. Skis sit next to travel bags with tags on them that hold words like voyage, journey, travel. On the countertop sits my passport, some deoderant, and a few books sprawled out so as to show me every cover. It is tough deciding what words to take with you. Paper is so heavy and does not weather well. I think I will miss my collection of literature as much as anything. Even the books that I never finished, they always sat there looking at me with confidence that I would someday discover their total message. If they are ever lost I will lose more than just the sum of their parts, their very existence in my collection is a story that I am happy to remember.

My final project, a 60 second video meant to bring to light the plight of American Veterans that suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is completed. I think this video will keep me grounded in the notion that my college education was/is worthwhile. I have no regrets about college, the friends I made, the relationships I had/have, my overall experience, but I do always question my current course and whether or not I could be doing something that fully utilizes my abilities and my desires. I think everyone, if they speak truthfully, feels that way.

LB

Two Weeks to Go!

Only two weeks left before the big move and I can't help but be bored. I love the fall colors here, orange, reds, yellows, its all really pretty and produces sweet smells and great harvests. Michigan is a really cool state for anyone thinking of relocating here. It's hard really appreciating it if you've grown up here and don't know anything else. This is why I can't agree with anyone that just stereotypes a region as one thing. Michigan has so much variety and I know this because I've spent so much time here. I can't even begin to assume I know the entire spectrum of splendor that somewhere like Maine has to offer. The same goes for people. Don't pigeon hole a person into a type, unless you want to be proven wrong. Barack Obama was just a fat momma's boy, now he's three weeks away from the oval office, I hope.

Well that was a random diatribe, all I really want to say is that things are progressing and I am one week closer to Vail. Our friends from New Zealand, Dan and Mary, are on their way to us right now. They will be staying with us for a while until they go back to Kiwi land. I am excited to talk with them about their travels and my future trip. Spending time in New Zealand remains one of my long-term goals. It is a staple of who I am and who I want to be. That's all I have. These posts will start getting more exciting I hope as the coming months progress.

3 Weeks and Counting

Yowza! 3 Weeks. Here is where I am:

• Plane Ticket: Purchased. Detroit to Denver Nov. 2
  
• Skis: Purchased. Salomon 1080 Foil Twin Tips
  
• Bindings: Purchased. Demo Salomon S712 Flat. I'm not ecstatic that they are demo's but I have to start somewhere and I couldn't argue with the deal I got.
  
• Boots: Not purchased. Looking for a good deal on Atomic Hawk 80's.
  
• Pack List: Half way completed. Its been difficult to decide what I want to keep cuz I don't know when I'll return. Like my Ipod speakers. I love them. They are heavy and don't travel well. They have to stay but I know I'll miss em.
  

I guess those are all the big things but there is a ton of other stuff that is secondary. Hopefully everything will fall into place. 

NOTICE: My last official night out in Michigan will be Halloween in East Lansing. I look forward to seeing anyone that can make it. 

Im the meantime, I had a nice weekend visiting old friends in Dearborn, Royal Oak and other little wealthy communities just outside of Detroit. One lasting remark about the weekend, Detroit and its outlying cities epitomize the state of our economy. BMW's and beaters, wealthy aside woeful. The gap is enormous.

Anyhow, I'll keep this post short. Things are falling into place nicely at this juncture. I feel like my conscious is teetering on cold feet but I like that, it lets me know that this is not something that is any small feat. The scarier the better really. 

Love

LB

4 Weeks and Counting

I figured its the right time for a countdown. Before I go into any diatribes here are some pics from my September and October. The flight is imminent and most of every decision that I make revolves around the departure date. I should probably be concentrating at the tasks at hand a little more but concentration is impulsive and I can't seem to stop getting powder snow on mountain peaks in my mind. Work is just 8 hours that try to distract me from thinking about what to bring and what is no longer an item I keep. As I write this and try to assemble my thoughts in a blurb I got distracted by an email from Vail Lift Operations discussing the first training date... exhibit A. 

Went to buy skis today. They are gonna be a major purchase but as I look at it, that will only prove to be reinforcement that if I am willing to fork it over, I am doing the right thing, and that feeling will last.

What is an important distraction from Colorado is the project that I am doing with Tom Gennara. We are assembling a piece that showcases the plight of the forgotten homeless of the American Veteran. These guys fought for their country, sacrificed their lives and their minds in many ways to make this country safe for all of us and now that they are back and struggling the only people that will help them, besides the underfunded VOA are local photographer Tom Gennara and a recent college grad that wants to help but also would take most video projects that allow his creative input. The 5 gentlemen we interviewed were amazing in their ability to be candid. We asked a lot of them. Open up about what has been the most difficult thing in their lives. And all five of them did. You couldn't get that kind of honesty in all of Wall Street. 

Anywho, I'm proud to be where I am and I am proud of where I am going. Through all of my faults, the ones I am self-aware of and the ones I am not, I feel like each day is progress, and thats what I like about life.

LB

Random thoughts this Morning Sept. 24

I wasn't planning on having another entry for at least a week but I just got motivated this morning to write when I had this thought.

I was debating over whether to charge my cellphone because I had just under half a battery left. I had thought to myself, is it really worth plugging my cell phone charger back in? These tiny little conscious debates are what decide global warming. Many Americans don't have them anymore. Many wasteful disregards like leaving the stairway lights on all day, or fans running all day are what could now be categorized as hobbies. Hobbies. But we are moving in the right direction in many ways.

Oh yeah and thanks Donny, sorry you got left out. As a special present to ya, here are two pics I think you'll remember.






Love ya, miss ya too out there in LA.
LB

Hello and Welcome

So this might look like an arbitrary day to start a blog and in some ways yes, yes it is. But the way I like to look at it, the day I chose to start a blog is its own day and thus is not arbitrary but soon to be celebratory....that is, if it's a decent blog. So I am officially inviting The Sierra Club, MoveOn.org, Cnn, The Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel, HBO and or PBS to sponsor my blog. Enjoy, I plan on it.

The names byron but thats not important. 

I live in Laingsburg today. I went to middle and high school here living with my mother, 2 sisters and one brother. I graduated from Michigan State University in 2007 (after a 1 year stint at Western Michigan University). I had a lot of fun in college and I am glad I did everything I did there. My times in East Lansing, and Kalamazoo, have shaped me and make me what I am today. I have many friends that I met at said university that I plan on keeping forever.

But college is over now and its been onto the real world for me since May 2007. That may I started interning at Such Video, a small video production company that does mostly corporate videos, local commercials and web-based videos. 

I was mostly an on-location guy, setting up lights and monitors and other various field equipment. This experience was my window into the corporate world. Wanting to be taking the right steps with my life I started to follow orders blindly, yes to this, yes to that. It got to a point where I didn't really know how to say no. To tell you the truth I still don't really know how to say no when I step into a track-lit, silver stinging aura of an office park. BUT, I am extremely grateful to have this experience. It grounds me. Its like watching the O'Reily factor on occasion. It's not because I like it, it's because you need to know what you aren't to know what you are.

Things might have changed for me when my brother had an accident involving a bad combination of prescription drugs (kinda like Heath Ledger) and MRSA. He was in the ICU for about two weeks, we didn't know, and I don't think the docters did, what was going to happen to him. He has recovered and is now living with us again, he's planning to go back to school next semester at Wayne State University. But if you really want to ask me I think I started re-examining things when I was videotaping the CEO of a company in her office. This was, of course, on the top floor of this monstrosity of a building. The entire floor smells like supermutant tea leaves and Ikea warehouses. Corporate art that means nothing on every wall. We had just finished videotaping her speak as she sits on the front edge of her desk. She couldn't have been on the desk for more than 6 minutes but when she stood up she started crying out. Two assistants came rushing in with the fear of panic on their faces. After several indiscernible mumbles and curses she finally blurts out that her foot has fallen asleep. The assistants look at her, then each other and rush out of the office. 

Now I have to admit, at first I figured they were running out to fix it somehow but then my head realized the situation I was witnessing and I started to challenge this. How on earth could two human beings be rushing out of a room, scared out of their wits, to find a solution to a sleepy foot. After all the years of perfecting our domination of the world in the centuries of hunting and gathering, after all those years (something like 90% of the existence of the world) how can we now be reduced to this? In what is supposed to be the most free society in the modern world, this is the answer to the question: "How can I succeed in America?" No. No way.

Now I travel. Far, near, whatever my money affords. For now I suppose I am locked down to currency and the way we do business. That solution has not presented itself. But the fear of panic in the eyes of the two assistants will never enter my own. Instincts are something that everyone has that can never be taken away. Trust them, they are there to protect you, even from yourself. So I have spent much of my free time this summer at the beach, at festivals, anywhere my instinct takes me.  I have made a lot of new friends and can't wait to make more.

I now have 5ish weeks till my last day at Such Video. Time cannot move fast enough. I have interviewed for, and been offered, a job in Vail, CO working as a lift operator. I sought out this job because it is outside all day every work day in one of the most beautiful regions in the world. Free season pass to go up on the mountain 7 days a week. Work four days, ski at work, off three days, ski and see on my own time. I will likely accept this job. I still need to protect myself and keep my eyes open for other possibilities. I have also applied to a ranch in Montana. We shall see. I will likely know in about a week.