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Skijoring (for real!)

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Published on Sunday, 15 January 2012 09:40

The midwest finally received a decent snow on Thursday, with Madison receiving about 5 inches of the fluffy stuff.  This was great as we can finally start ski joring on snow (as opposed to the training).  Overall I'd say it went pretty well.  He seems to love running in the snow and doesn't seem to mind dragging some extra weight behind him.  Only once did he pull me to the side and make me fall :)  I think skijoring is definitely going to be part of our winters!

Hike!

More pictures after the jump...

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Snoqualmie Pass Backcountry

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Published on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 22:17

The first weekend in January brought me back to Washington state, as the spouse was interviewing for a position at PNNL in the Tri-Cities of Richland, Pasco, Kennewick WA.  Conveniently located only about 2.5 hours from Snoqualmie Pass, we decided to take a trip to the Cascades for a weekend of backcountry skiing.  FYI for the uninitiated - backcountry skiing involves skiing outside of a ski area, and generally propelling yourself up the mountain (no ski lifts).

An assortment of our pictures from the weekend.  Apparently I need to remember to take more pictures of the actual skiing.

Alpental Valley

More pictures after the jump.

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A Very Purdue Christmas

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Published on Thursday, 05 January 2012 21:51

Over the holidays we went to my in-laws place in (relatively) Central Indiana.  My alma mater, Purdue, had both a football game and a basketball game during the break so I thought I'd make the most of my time back in Indiana and attend both the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl in Detroit on December 27th and the basketball game against Illinois on Purdue's campus in West Lafayette on New Years Eve.  I had forgotten how much fun college sports are (especially when your team wins)!

Alumni Tailgate with Purdue Pete!

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Mileage Run

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Published on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 21:52

What is a mileage run?  My definition is when you intentionally travel out of your way for the sole purpose of earning more airline miles (or segments) for the purpose of obtaining airline rewards, whether it be frequent flier status or frequent flier miles.  Most people think this concept is extremely counter-intuitive, why would anyone want to extend the flying experience?  However, if you frequent a travel forum, such as Flyertalk, they have an entire forum topic devoted to mileage runs (or MRs for short) where they are discussed and celebrated. 

Well, as December 2011 rolled around, I realized I was going to be one segment (a takeoff and landing) short to qualify for Silver status on Delta.  Delta is a sour subject for me given that I've qualified for American Airlines Executive Platinum status (100,000 miles or 100 segments per year) for the past FIVE years, and here I am ending up with 29 segments, one short of their lowest status-tier.  Something had to be done.

 
The shortest distance between two points is ... through Memphis?

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