Dec 26th

We didn't have a white christmas in town but they've got multiple feet of snow up in the mountains. I think santa had to put wheels on the sleigh this year ;) Hope everyone had an excellent christmas. Happy holidays and check back later in the week for an Ironman Update.

Boot cam

snow

Oregon update / weather.

Some of my friends and family back home have been wondering about what the hell is going on in Oregon this year. Californians getting stranded in snowstorms (1 out of 4 dead) , Snowmobilers getting lost (1 of 2 dead), climbers stranded on Mt Hood (status unknown), and huge storms coming in almost every week making the national news. Well for the most part we have been high and dry in central Oregon, since we're on the other side (east side) of the cascade volcanic range. We have had storms, but by the time they get here, they are a bit weaker.

And since there's no snow in MN right now I thought I'd just rub it in a little bit more. I just pulled up the el nino forcast for Central Oregon (see below). If this forcast comes true, we'll be skiing in town. But right now, it's full on sunny. On the horizon where we usually see white capped volcanoes, it's a huge blanket of cloudy snowy wonder. That's the high desert for ya, in 10 mintues we might be in a blizzard. Get the kick wax ready!

NOAA weather forcast, Bend, OR as of 2:07 pacific time:
HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON
Rest Of Today...Snow showers west of highway 97 with total accumulations of 6 to 12 inches. Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers and rain showers elsewhere with local accumulations of 1 to 3 inches. Breezy...Colder. Snow level 3000 feet. Highs 34 to 42. Southwest wind 15 to 25 mph. Gusts around 35 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

Tonight...Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow showers. Much colder. Lows 7 to 16. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph.

Saturday...Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow showers. Highs 28 to 34. South wind 5 to 15 mph.

Saturday Night...Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow showers. Lows 8 to 16. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday...Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow showers. Highs 27 to 37. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday Night...Partly cloudy. Lows 7 to 13.

Monday...Partly cloudy. Highs 32 to 37.

Monday Night...Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of snow showers. Lows 16 to 21.

Tuesday...Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow showers and rain showers. Highs 33 to 38.

Tuesday Night...Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain showers and snow showers. Lows 15 to 23. Highs 33 to 38.

Wednesday...Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain showers and snow showers. Lows 15 to 23. Highs 33 to 38.

Wednesday Night...Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of snow showers. Lows 19 to 25.

Thursday...Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain showers and snow showers. Highs 33 to 39.

There's a Pool in town...

This one goes out to my buddies in St. Cloud, MN (aka 'the cloud') who swim (or even bike). See back in the cloud, there used to be a freaking sweet 50 meter outdoor lap swimming pool called Municipal Pool (or just Munice). It was old and historic. Generations of people learned to swim in this pool including my parents, it was a great asset to the community of STC. Problem is, the pool needed updates. It was losing money and it wasn't managed effectively. The leadership in the city (and most likely the majority of the tax payers) didn't see it that way, and thought that the area would be better served if they filled in the pool and made it into a parking lot. (I still can't believe it). So that's just what happened.

Here in Bend, there's this place called Juniper Park Fitness center where they used to have a 45 meter outdoor lap swimming pool that was wearing out, needed updates, much like munice in STC. But instead of giving up, and filling it in, they spent millions, lengthened it to 50 meters and widened it to have 8 foot lanes. They also put a removable lid on it so it can be used in the winter. Duh, what a brilliant idea. Holy crap, that's not the end of it, they also built an awesome weight room and spinning room (a room 100% dedicated to cycling spin classes with a 50 inch plasma flat screen TV in there - I'm not kidding, I going to push for live TdF coverage during the tour!). There is a big difference though between Bend, and St. Cloud. People here are generally fit and want their kids to have a healty lifestyle, and that's where they want to go in their free time, unlike in the people in the cloud are going to the buffet and then the bar to drink MGD light.

The pool in St. Cloud was one of the reasons that brought me back there after college, and now it's gone. Someday maybe Dave Kleis (STC Mayor, and also my former drivers ed teacher) will regret that decision, but I'm sure most of St. Cloud probably doesn't care, which is too damn bad.

This completes my rant for the day. Snow report: it's blizzrarding up at bachelor, and we have 1 inch of snow in town.

The gingerbread man.

In the holiday spirit, Laurie made some gingerbread people cookies. Can you tell which one is her's and which one is the actual photo in a magazine?

MN Wild - Spin o rama

This is almost a week old, but it's sweet, because the opposing coach invented the move. Pierre Marc Bouchard wins it in the shootout. enjoy.

Pint 26.

I gave pint 26 today.

If you don't know what I mean by that, you don't read this blog very often.

Hopefully only a few more weekly pints to go.