5 days down and Beaver Creek is still here but more importantly I am still able bodied. Since my last installment my Aunt Margo and cousins Bosque and Emily showed up. I was tasked with the job of teaching Emily how to ski and in the process decided that if I had any dreams of becoming a teacher…those have been quelled. I don’t want to go into the details but suffice to say the picture below shows Emily walking down the mountain and her mom Margo skiing. After that little exercise in patience…Emily turned around actually enjoyed skiing and was better than I expected. Overall a success…I learned that I didn’t want to teach and Emily finally figured out how to ski.
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If there is one thing that skiing can do, it can connect you to the rich and powerful. While on the lift I exchanged business cards (yes…I carry business cards with me on the ski slopes) with the former CEO of a company that was bought out by HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) and a venture capitalist that has ties to many people that could help me get into the type of law I am interested in down the road. However, those are boring stories that really don’t bring the smiles to the face of D&F readers. The stuff you want to hear about is me spending most of my Tuesday morning hitting on a high school chick. Now, before you crucify me…let me tell my side of the story. 
It all started on a beautiful Tuesday morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the ski and my face was getting burnt to a crisp. While loading on the Birds of Prey lift, a girl came from behind me and snuck on the lift. Now, there is one tried and true way to determine a person’s ability on the ski slope…the color of their boots…the brighter the color the better the skier. Her boots were orange…enough said. Anyway, while on the lift, I started a conversation and that led to us taking a few runs together. My theory of the boots was correct. She was able to keep up with me…and that is pretty, pretty, pretty good (not to toot my own horn or anything). Anyway, it was about time for lunch and she needed to meet up with her family. As we got to the lodge, she asked how old I was. I said to myself, “that is a weird question.” After telling her my age she responded that she was 17. After that…I quickly bid adieu and went on my way..JPG)
I don’t tell this story so that you have ammunition to make fun of me the rest of my days (there is already plenty of ammunition) but as a public service announcement. Ski clothes are baggy and hide a person’s real age. Obviously if I thought she was 17 this wouldn’t have happened. But it did…I just hope to God that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
To totally switch the subject…tonight was Belmont University’s coming out party. The 15th seeded Bruins of Belmont were pit against the 2nd seeded Blue Devils of Duke. We decided to head over to our favorite watering hole in Avon, CO…Bob’s. We sat at a table and the staff at Bob’s was kind enough to switch the channel on one of the 30 TV’s to the game. At the start of the game no one in the bar knew who Belmont was and thought we were idiots for cheering on a 15 seed. By halftime we had the people next to us cheering and by the end of the game…two thirds of the TV’s in the bar were tuned to the game. The underdog effect went into play and the entire bar (except for 2 Dukies) was going for the Bruins. Unfortunately, we were unable to pull it out (that’s what she said) but Belmont put its stamp on the tournament. For the discerning viewer of the game, you might have seen Sean at the game. He got more face time than Vince Gill and that is saying something. 
Other than that…not much has happened. Except that I conquered the Talons Challenge (doing the 13 hardest runs on the mountain) and everyone on the Sawyer side and Uncle Tommy have done a black diamond. Also, I was able to commandeer a few Ritz Carlton chocolate chip cookies the other day…they were awesome.
