Time For New Skis

Recently I have been in the market for a new pair of skis. Knowing this, I have been keeping my eyes open for a good deal on a new pair. This is the time of the year when you can usually find the best deals and so I expected to find something soon. I am not too picky as I really am focused on getting the best deal possible. That means I want a high-quality ski for a low price. I'm sure ski manufacturers hate me.

Since Labor Day I have been visiting local ski shops and looking at all of my online sources to see what kind of deals I can get. Yesterday I got an e-mail from a company that caters to outdoor enthusiasts and provides severely discounted products should you qualify to receive their rock-bottom deals. This is the same site where I got my Suunto watch back in June.

Now this is an important point that I hope all online marketers understand: When a person is interested in purchasing something, a timely e-mail is appreciated. When a person has already purchased that thing, your e-mail is annoying. The trick is to be able to accurately figure out when your product is wanted and when it is no longer needed.

I logged into the site and could look at new skis from a number of top manufacturers. As I mentioned above, I am not that picky about skis. Then I saw the list of manufacturers and realized I might be a bit more picky than I originally thought. I am not that picky about skis as long as they come from a short list of companies. Fortunately several of those ski brands appeared on the list and so I narrowed the skis down to those that interested me. One pair stood out at a 65% discount, which put it in the sub $300 category. Anything below $300 is a great price for new skis.

Last night I wanted to get the approval from my wife before buying the skis and so I showed them to her. Her response was, "Can I get a pair of new skis?" The agreement with the website indicated I could pick up a pair for friends and family and so we looked. Normally the website restricts buyers to just the person meeting the correct criteria and so it would be a violation of the terms of use without the published exception. We found a pair of skis for her that met her criteria and happened to come in at $10 less than my new skis. They are also a specific women's ski, meaning it is lighter than the men's version. My wife and I ordered both pairs last night and they will arrive on Tuesday next week.

When the skis arrive I will get bindings mounted on them and will almost be ready for the upcoming ski season. I will be honest and confess I am looking for a new ski jacket too. My current one is faded and all of my family keeps telling me I need to replace it. For online marketers that want to sell me something, I am probably a bit picky as the jacket needs to be red, waterproof, breathable, and windproof. Let the e-mails begin. 

Sports Video Games

I think we all have our favorite types of video games and a lot of that depends on environment. I used to play a lot of arcade-style games when I was young but then didn't get back into games until I had kids of my own. One Christmas I got the family a Nintendo 64 and we spent all of our Christmas break playing Diddy Kong Racing. After that, my preference was racing games.

Eventually we all got tired of playing with the Nintendo 64 and it sat next to the TV for years. Then my brother sent me a PlayStation 2 for my birthday along with a copy of SOCOM II and I spent a year or so playing the online first person shooter with my extended family. We eventually got SOCOM III but didn't like it as much and our weekly night game eventually came to a stop. As you can imagine, my game genre of choice became first person shooters.

Last Christmas I borrowed a couple of Move controllers from work. The Move controller was created by Sony PlayStation and competes with both the Kinect from Microsoft and the motion controller for the Nintendo Wii. The kids had so much fun at Christmas that I went and bought a set so they could continue to play even after I had to return the borrowed equipment. I have never considered myself to be much of a sports game person but I can see myself getting into them now. My son challenged me to 9 holes of virtual golf. We were just playing the game that came with Sports Champions 2 and I have to say it was a lot of fun. My yard is covered in snow, yet I was able to play a quick round of golf. Even more amazing was the fact that the Move figured out I have a wicked hook in real life. I plan to play a lot more golf and see if it doesn't help me correct my bad habits. I'll try to remember to let you know this summer.

Ski Racing in Park City

I have spent the last three days with my son ski racing in Park City. While skiing is a great sport to do in the winter, it is not very spectator friendly, especially yesterday and today. When we arrived at the parking lot yesterday, it was a crisp seven degrees Fahrenheit. This morning it was only one.

Today I rode up the chairlift with my son and asked him if he liked watching ski racing. He remarked that if he was at a ski resort, he would rather ski than watch a race. He elaborated that standing on the side of a mountain freezing was not a nice way to spend the day. I commented that watching ski racing was best done from the comfort of the living room couch. He agreed.

My wife had the luxury of viewing the results of the race from home today. While my son's races are not televised, the results are reported in real-time on the Live-Timing website. "Real-time," means that the Park City timing equipment has a feed directly to the web site. If my son had fallen during his first run, it would have listed him as a "did not finish" or DNF immediately after the fall. Since he finished his two runs, he had two times posted immediately after each respective run and she could see how he did.

While Live-Timing is not nearly as fun as watching a video of a race, you can still see the results. Furthermore you don't need to worry about getting frostbite. Trust me, I was concerned about that today.