Higuma

Little Secret Markie - psssst don't let your wallet know - there are 3 people on staff that speak Eigo quite respectibly..... Like most though, they are too shy to volenteer it.. I have told them they should have a " Eigo OK " badge on their bibs...

A doctor friend in Canada told me after my very first Japan trip that for every hour of time change it takes one day to recover.... So West coast of Canada to Japan 17 hrs diff = 17 days to feel 100% or "Zero" effect again... seemed about right for me but then I'm a old fart... Amanda is right though... I usually force myself to stay up and then sleep only at the new time zones schedule not the one I just came from... My .02

Sunrise... Sorry I didn't return the private email earlier regarding my boot guy in Sapporo.... I just returned the other day from Holidays... My guy works at Sapporo (Tanuki-Koji) ICI and is quite capable of doing almost anything you might need to fit a boot if you ask the right questions and give the right feedback... He is also quite good with Comformable Footbeds (Master Tech Statis I think Sidas calls it).. I have already mentioned you to them so they could be expecting you?? BTW... We bought Head Edge 9.5s for my wife who is a fast intermediate skier who likes the groom

Just to clarify > Are we talking about "Catostrophic Failures" here? as in absolutely no warning whatsoever or - not meaning to offend but - Could some of these on-mountain failures be prevented by regular inspections? I agree that any regular-interval failure of something as important as a binding is in-excuseable but on the safety side of this issue... Are boarders regularly inspecting these "known breakage prone" peices of equipment for cracks, metal fatigue etc..,?? Just like the Car / Brakes analogy - If I had a car that was prone to brake failure with no factory recall or de

Hate to encourage you but... Sun-dried tomato cream cheese on a garlic bagel... vegetable cream cheese on a onion bagel... apple cream cheese on a cinnimon raisin bagel.. Ummmmmmm.. cream cheese.... but alas something else that our hosts just can't do right...

Ender0, Nice to hear a story or two about Baker... I've had a lot of decent Elephant Snot days there though.. they still hand out those Mt Baker clear plastic trash bag ponchos to people for free on the really Snotty days... I had one epic run down the cut under the "Pan" chair on Volkl P10 RS 208cm GS skis once.. lived to tell about it anyway... although it's not a run just kinda jump, slide, jump, slide for 15 minutes... The buddy that directed me that way wasn't too happy when I caught up with him What's the report on Whistler??

What do mean by "Best"... Depth, Powder, dryness, groomed condition etc.., the term best is a real broad term.. what conditions mean "Best" to you echineko??

Ender0, I have a Palm Vx and I purchased a lexicon dicionary from Beiks LLC @ www.beiks.com for it I now have the English to Japanese Gold and Japanese to English Gold - I think about 75,000 words if memory serves correct (and all in Romanji too)... plus all sorts of other goodies once your registered like thesaurus, quotes, english dictionary, etc.., etc.., They do have a free one available for download but it's a little inaccurate and thin on translation - I was very happy and less embarassed when I upgraded... Check it out....

When I read the Parent Company's site, I understood that they use the technical features and popularity of this site as a marketing tool for there Japanese and worldwide Web clients.... Kinda a synbiotic? relationship I think - we get a nice site by a company that cares about our passions and they in turn get some great marketing... Anyways - Works for me.........

Crispy Quads = sore or burning Quadracept muscles in your legs... common complaint from fat, out of shape skiers and people who over do it there first few days skiing every year..

Too tired to write too much tonight, just returned from a well earned supper after my first day at Niseko this season.... OMMMYGODDDDD... The ammount of snow is wild and only getting wilder... snowed modererately all day till about 3:00 then let up a bit... light was pretty flat but not too bad... Minimal ice... starting to see the build up of what could be big moguls on some runs.... Quads are toast... knee is as expected - shot.... could really use an Onsen but too tired to bother... For those of you heading to Niseko this year - You are in for a helluvva time if this keeps

I was actually just starting to like Aussies because I thought you were all like Steve... - - - but now you say that you're not????????? Jeez, I'm gonna hafta rethink this one.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a more serious note - The mainstream never picks the Cult Heros.... Just be thankful your's isn't a muderer, thief, terrorist, revolutionary, untouchable talento or a game show host.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't this where the smartasses say... "You snooze - You lose" Sorry, guess that makes me one doesn't it... I understand about commitments but I also understand the need to gloat from time to time...

2nd thing... With todays silicone, hi floro, low floro (floronated waxes) etc. additives - temperature means less and less.. The "board sucks" comment by Ocean is a good reason to use expensive High floro wax or regular stuff with a silicone additive... Instantly your board will no longer suck.....

I noticed for the first time this year the packaging for Holmenkol Wax that they are stating air temp ratings for wax choice on the package but they still sell three types of snow thermometers.... My personal opinion is that snow temps are not nearly as useful as snow humidity... most waxes are manufactured for dry, old, new, man-made, average, wet etc.., snow conditions... they just put the temp ratings on as a generization for us gits that can't figure that part out... If you look to the tech side of waxes they are not manufactured to temp specifics but to humidity (wetness) and gr

If we ever get together I will make some of my Chocolate chip - Walnut - Banana Bread... You should see the looks on my wife's friends faces when they first hear that her "husband" made it and then the astonished look when they taste it... I think I'd bake it just to see the reactions... PS: easy to make in the Microwave/Oven - took a while to learn how the thing bakes - If you want I'll post the recipe one of these days - Maybe on my reader page as a review - idea??

Enderzero, I hear and understand your post...but I am here and have to live with the (some would say mild) public/personal embarasment of the Sapporo Santa... and don't get me wrong it wasn't all that bad - just meaningless.. In Vancouver this would be a non-issue, In Tokyo maybe a lesser issue, but in Sapporo it is an issue to me at least... my opinion on how it affects me personally & nothing else... I invited comments and I am glad you gave yours... what parts of the post did you find harsh by the way... Did the Country Club comment strike too close to home

Dokumanju, I do feel for you and I also understand your statement about this making you weary... Myself and fellow Pacific Norwesters like Enderzero, have spent a lot of time in a part of North America which is populated by a large group of profession lay-about protesters... There is literally 2 or 3 different protests a week sometimes and it's the same guys leading the AIDs actitivist protest, the Anti-fur and Anti-Free Trade protests - no lie, it's clearly documented in News films... Anyways we / I tend to get a little cynical about people blowing there Anti-anything horn... Sappo

Aye..........

Here is a link TOKO Wax Wax and Mantanence Guide for Alpine Skis and Snowboards - PDF file Read and Educate yourself - Knoweldge is Power Edit: It's 29 pages and about 1.4 mb I think so give it some time if your on dial-up... just a warning

They only guy making a scene on Sunday was the guy in the Santa outfit... **** As one of the oldest members of this forum I can tell you that I have many friends and aquantinces who grew up as anti-establishment, hippie types in the 1960's and 70's... It's amazing that they are now some of the movers and shakers of industry and business that are driving this "Globalization Demon" that people are so worried about... I honestly believe that this is a case of a very boisterous and often violent minority that have simply found that lastest cause to satisfy their hormonal needs... 25

So I go downtown yesterday to have lunch with my wife in Sapporo... Get ready for this scene... Low and Behold here's some punk assed gaijin ( about 24, AET looking, semi-hippie beard and glasses - otherwise clean ) siting cross legged on the sidewalk, taking up a prescious amount of space, dressed in a SANTA CLAUS suit with brochures spread all over the sidewalk that say " Buy Nothing Today " in Eigo and Japanese... Oh yeah sitting directly outside Starbucks and across from Mitsukoshi knawwing on a Latte while he's there... I almost shatt my pants.... For the first time

Dave21... Since you're new perhaps I'll point out that you can easily Quote someone's thread by clicking on the little quotations on the top right of the posted message... Give it a try so you don't misquote someone.. Like stating - Ocean11 said "a few bad eggs" in his post - He did not say that... he said "Of course SOME bad eggs..." perhaps not so different to you but still a misquote... I for one think that "some" in this context means a lot more than you gave him credit... The first way to not get yourself taken seriously is to rant about a misquote on you

I agree that Wants and Needs are two different things.. I am constantly having to keep myself in check on these very thing... But, I am an adult and will decide how to be responsible to Mother Earth myself... thankyouveryf'n much... I remember how the self rightous tree huggers got all distressed about 10 years ago about these trees on Vancouver Island - the big one was about 600 years old and was in the middle of an area slated for forestation.. They called it the Carmannah Giant (Carmannah Valley)... Anyways the Greenpeace / Treehuggers brought HUGE publicity to this and as a

#1 - Pink Floyd - Division Bell - Vancouver, GM Place 1995... Took my (then) 15 year old son and he has never been satisfied with any concert he's seen since... #2 - Rush - 2112 Tour - Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada - 1974 or 75 I think ??? Little Hockey Rink Arena in Fort William.... little fuzzy those daze... er days.... #3 - Bob Welch (ex-original Fleetwood Mac) - French Kiss Tour - Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, 1977 or 78... Once saw The Guess Who perform live at Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg "just" before they got famous.. they were like a bunch of garage banders singing for free to