SantaCruz

Jynxx, you're right that there are a lot of these in NAmerica. I've seen many that are basically semi-like a hotel in terms of the physical building. When you purchase in you own a unit. There's variations on your rights and priveleages, but the ones I"ve heard of are either: a) You can stay whenever you want. These seem more difficult to find and are more expensive. You have a certain allotment of time that you can stay during a year/season c) You have specific dates that you can stay. In this I guess you really "own" the time span. A management agency runs the day

Does anyone have any experience purchasing a place in at a resort? A house or cabin is more than likely out of my price range, but something like a condo-hotel might be doable. Long term it seems like it could be a good investment, although who knows when the economy will pick up again. I live in the US, so if you're not living in Japan then I'd be even more interested in your experiences in purchasing and owning. Cheers.

My experience as a beginner, and I've heard this from a few other people, is that starting off heel side seems to be more natural. Especially in the beginning you're mostly perpendicular to the fall line and you fall a lot, so I think it's natural to want to see where you're going. And peeps would instinctively rather fall on their butt instead of their face.

GoNative, I'll start to shop around for bookings soon. Can u PM me info for where u work? I'll check out other places of course, but all things being equal it'd be cool to help out a fellow SJer.

I'm thinking about booking soon. But the Yen is strong right now. Pretty bad exchange rate against the USD. But who knows if it'll bounce back or not.

I used to work in the Windows Mobile org, but changed to another group about 5 months ago. Working on an "incubation" team now. MS has always got some new things we're trying to cook up. Hopefully some of it works out

Originally Posted By: r45 You work for Microsoft SantaCruz? Yep, been here for about three and a half years now.

Millennium? Ouch. As a Microsoftie I gotta say I'm embarrassed by that product (even though it was way before my time here).

Ahh interesting. And reading details aren't fun!

Do either of these resolve the issue? http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/4a90fe71-cca6-4965-ab39-97f92ca1a03f1033.mspx http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/35a1b021-d96c-49a5-8d8f-5e9d64ab5ecc1033.mspx

Originally Posted By: IIIII Unfortunately it looks like only the Ultimate edition does the different languages. I'm surprised by this. You should be able to buy a most of the versions in Japanese. Windows ships in a boatload of different langauges. What is it you're looking for?

Hmm, I should check that out. Or at the very least see if I can talk my boss into letting my work remote for a few weeks or a month. Thanks TB.

Originally Posted By: Go Native I've been working up here for years on a similar visa. I keep thinking of getting a Master's at some point, so might as well kill two birds with one stone and check out studying in another country. I'm not sure what sort of visa you do have, but I'd be curious to know how many hops u had to jump through to get it.

Awesome photos. I visited Nikko in 06 and loved it. I missed out on the waterfalls as well!

Hi SJF. I'll give it a try next time it's up. I'm in the States, so my hours are a bit different Thanks! Update: Looks to be working, thanks SJ!

I tihn I have more than 20 posts. I'm sad =(

Snowhuntress, if u don't mind me asking, what area are you staying and how much did it run you? I totally understand if you don't want to broadcast that info. I'll start to plan my trip soon and wanted to get a reference for what a good deal is. Cheers.

Hopefully. I'm shooting to get a trip together this next season, either Jan or Feb I'm thinking. Just trying to get a posse together, figured it'd be better having one or two friends along for the ride. Where abouts are you at?

Originally Posted By: ger You'll have to check Crystal out if you haven't been. I've been once when I was still somewhere between beginner and intermediate. There had just been a late season dump so skipped out on work, it was great! Ger, are you in the PNW?

Living in Seattle has some nice benefits.... Mt Baker (1) is about 3 hours away. Stevens Pass (6) and Crystal (16) are both about 2-2.5 hours away. Crystal is larger and has better back country compared to Stevens (so I'm told). Whistler is maybe 5-6 hours away and doable on a long weekend. I've never been to Mt. Hood but it's close to Portland which is 3 hours away. But yeah the snow tends to be wet and more heavy I guess. I started riding a few years ago and have only done it in the Pacific NW so I can't compare. But the snow's nick name is Cascade Concrete. Ther

Yep, just checked and the model numbers are the same. I'm stoked!

Think I just scored a sweet deal. I got some Crowbar replacement lenses from sierrasnowboard.com for $20. Oakley lists the price as $80 on their website! I was a bit uncertain, since I was looking for "Fire Iridium" but these were listed as just Fire on the website, as opposed to Fire Iridium. I figured for the price it was worth it. Just got them today and the Oakley packaging also calls them simply "Fire". Took them outta the box and they've got the rainbow mirrored thing going on so I think it's the iridium. And there doesn't seem to be a plain Fire on Oakley's website. I w

Any computer u buy will be fine.

Is the Aus or NZ scene worth checking out? I'm in the US and could see myself getting an itch to ride this summer.

Nice. I'll have to follow up with an agent then. I've worked with some Japanese travel agencies in Seattle before (there's a decent sized ex-pat community here). I'll ask around to see if there's any that they recommend.