I’m back from Ruidoso and had a wonderful time with Melissa.  We snowboarded on the few runs that were open but had a blast none the less.  After much banter about whether either of us would be any good after a year hiatus, both of us were able to pick up right where we left off.  We even played around on some of the obstacles and jumps available though I did have a wreck that packed my goggles and shirt with snow.  I guess I wouldn’t be trying hard enough if I didn’t ache for days after.

The only regret I have from the weekend is not taking a picture of “downtown” Ruidoso in its full holiday decor.  Every shop, and I mean every single one, had Christmas lights up including the park on Sudderth St.  It really helped put me in the holiday spirit.

Here we are at a lookout point on the road to the slopes.

I’m going to make my first snowboarding trip of the season next week in Ruidoso, NM!  It’s pretty much all I can do to stay on task even now as I think about it.  The best part is that Melissa will be accompanying me and probably showing me a thing or two about boarding.  We’ll see if I can keep up.  I bought a new board and new boots just for the occasion.  STOKED!

Here’s the slope and run map.

The place is called Ski Apache.  Check it out and if anyone has a suggestion for along the way or something we must do while there let me know.

Holla!!

This little dude, Hillarious! Lil’ O’Reilly needs his own show.

This is the video that the end of Lil O’Reily is based on.

It was the 18th of October and my first attendance of Ale Fest at Hemisphare Park in downtown San Antonio.  It was a fun place to go and was the first city-sponsored drun-fest I’ve ever been to.  It went like this; you walk in with a ticket and they hand you a wrist band a 15 tickets for 15 cups of beer.  If that doesn’t promote drunkeness I don’t know what does.

I’m not sure why I always turn out looking like a goon in these things but Matt looks like a champ.

The crowd looks impressive but there really weren’t that many people.

All in all, it was a good time.  You can’t beat the price of a mere $20 for all that beer.  One unfortunate side effect of a beer-fest of any type are the large groups of people standing in line for the Budweiser tent.  Who the hell wants that when they’re giving away Dogfish Head 60 min IPA for free?!?!  D-Bags!

There are a freakishly large number of people at ACL this year.  This crowd seemed to go on forever and resembled the crowds from the closing act instead of the mid-day Saturday crowd that it was.  I can safely say that the last time I saw this many people at one place was when I was 6 and we went to see the Pope in San Antonio.

The good thing is that I got to see Erykah Badu, and I got a good seat.

ACL Music Festival is in full swing this year.  Having a wonderful time with enjoyable weather I managed to see quite a few bands as I wandered about the grounds.  The bands I saw today were (Vampire Weekend, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Gogol Bordello, N.E.R.D.).  I ended up leaving a bit early, which is actually blasphemy in terms of ACL, but I was just beat like some eggs at breakfast.

If anyone plans to go don’t make the same mistake I’ve made just about every year for the last few years.  Cell phone operation is terrible if you have AT&T.  A little ironic since they’re the primary sponsor of the event, but too many people on their phones at once and you’re lucky to get anything to go through.  Define meeting points for people before you go.  Chances are, you won’t bump into them.