My first trip with NSC was Squaw Valley – a new resort for me, one time Olympic host, a place I’d heard about through friends and the media. One thing I noticed was the high elevation – at 6200 ft the resort entrance was already pretty high up. When I reached the top of the Funitel where my lesson was held,  it was 8200 ft and overlooking the lake at the highest resort I’d visited aside from Heavenly. That day fog covered the Lake, making it appear mysterious. Some of the newcomers in my class had not realized that it was the Lake.

John, the instructor on my first day, taught us how to ski in low-, bumpy, and high-sloped terrain. I was excited and confident to be in the class. We learned to turn our uphill knee out Read the rest of this entry »

Owls: A parliament of owls
Parrots: A company of parrots
Partridges: A covey of partridges
Peacock:A muster or ostentation of peacocks
Plovers: A wing or congregation of plovers
Pheasants: A bouquet or nide of pheasants
Rabbits: A nest of rabbits
Rattlesnakes: A rhumba of rattlesnakes

A man walks into a hardware store and picks up an item. He asks the clerk “How much for 1?” The clerk says “Fifty cents”. “How about for 36?” asks the man. “That would be $1.” says the clerk. “Well then, how much for 105?” asks the man. “That would cost $1.50.” says the clerk. What was the man trying to buy?

Too easy? Try this one:
Take 10 objects and place them so that they form 5 rows of 4 objects each. The rows will be all the same length and the spacing between adjacent objects is all the same.

The Nisei Ski Club is offering you a special deal if you have never been on one of our bus trips and if have never been a member of NSC. If you bring your own roommate, then each of you will pay only $110 for one of our weekend bus trips (normally $145 for members and $160 for non-members). If you don’t have your own roommate, then we can assign one to you. Furthermore, if you decide to come back for a second or third trip, you will receive a free membership to NSC for the remainder of the year and you can sign up for the bus trips at the member rate. (Click “read more” below for more details).

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I have good and bad news.

Bad news:  Sign ups for Trip #1 has been slow and we’ve only got about 22 sign ups so far.

Good news:  I spoke with David Jensen, our Trip Director, and we decided that Trip #1 will go.  We are a ski club and we should go skiing especially when there’s fresh snow in Tahoe.

As an incentive, Alpine Meadows has given us a lift ticket good for a future visit to Alpine Meadows.  We will be giving it away to one lucky attendee of Trip #1.  The voucher won’t be good for Trip #1, but we’re going to Alpine again for Trip #2 and you can use the voucher then or at any other time.

The deadline for sign ups have been extended so you can take advantage of this.

We’ve got lots of room on Trip #1.  Tell your friends to sign up ASAP.

The event went off without any troubles. The weather was perfect. The food was better than last time. We had the best seats in the house .and we got a free umbrella. The third race was named for Nisei Ski Club. We got a picture with the winning Jockey in the winner’s circle.

I started skiing in college during the mid 1970s. I was going to UC Davis the same time as Bill Killibrew, who was the son of the then owner of Heavenly. They had a $5 midweek ski deal for college students.  Needless to say I missed a few week days when powder & sunshine beckoned from the Sierra.

Right after college a friend of mine & I decided to take a ski safari in the Rockies.  We started out in Big Sky, Montana where some friends of his were working. Big Sky was an undeveloped ski area in 1978.  The snow was good but it was very cold.  We were typically skiing with air temps from -5 deg F to + 10 deg F & it was a big change from skiing in the Sierra. On New Year’s eve it was -30 deg F. I have never experienced such cold temps.

After a couple of weeks in Big Sky we migrated to Jackson Hole.  We hit great ski conditions with 6 to 12 inches of new snow every day. Nothing like skiing the Hobacks in prime powder conditions. Jackson is great mountain when Read the rest of this entry »

Bay Area Ski Bus has offered our members $10 off of the one-day trips and $15 off of the multi-day trips. When you sign-up there will be a box to type in a promo code.

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January 1 – New Year’s Day (Ganjitsu)
The second Monday in January – Adult’s Day (Seijin-no hi)
February 11 – National Founding Day (Kenkoku Kinen-no hi)

The New Year and Obon are the biggest events in the annual calendar. Families are expected to gather at the family home – no matter how scattered the members may be – to honor their ancestors. On the night of New Year’s Eve or the next day, they visit their local shrine (in Tokyo, the number of visitors to Meiji Shrine alone is in the millions). But there are usually no wild New Year countdown celebrations. In recent years, Christmas has become a big – at least in the commercial sense – event. Couples usually try to get together for a date on Christmas Eve. Read the rest of this entry »

Answers to last month’s puzzle:

(fill in the missing words) of these advertisements Read the rest of this entry »

1. It T T 2 to T: It takes 2 to Tango

2. There’s 10 B O B O T W There’s 10 bottles of beer on the wall

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A group of 21 showed up for a fun day of races at Golden Gate Fields. We were greeted by our host and seated at our tables in the upper viewing boxes  The view was perfect. We could see the entire race track, the finish line and the viewing stables where they paraded the horses before the race. The buffet was already open and some of us went for breakfast, and then went back for lunch.. We waited for the lunch menu and studied the racing guide. Better hurry and make my pick.  Post time for the first race was at 10:30.

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• The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
• No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games.
• Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada).
• The most medals won by any athletes at the Winter Olympic Games is 12 by cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Whistler-Blackcomb is in what province?

a. Vancouver

b. Alberta

c. British Columbia

d. Saskatchewan

2. Which of the following in NOT a Canadian beer?

a. Molson

b. Labatt

c. Big Bear

d. Sleeman

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Lark: An ascension or jubilation of larks

Leopards: A leap of leopards

Magpies: A tiding of magpies

Mallards: A sord of mallards

Martens: A richness of martens

Moles: A labour of moles

Mules: A barren or span of mules

On October 3, 2009, Fourteen NSC members and guests came out to a repeat ride on the Coyote Creek Trail in San Jose. It was sunny day with warm fall temperatures in the air. Quite a difference from the same ride that we did in 2006, there were no rain or dampness in the air.

As we waited for a few late comers to show up in the morning, the rest of the group was treated to coffee and breakfast. After a few introductions, group picture and reciting the rules of the road, we took off around 11:00am and single file rode together to our lunch stop that was 15 miles away. We didn’t see any mountain lions along the way but we did see a few squirrels scrambling in front of us and a few Bambi’s grazing in the bushes. Read the rest of this entry »

e.g.  3 B M, 3 B M stands for 3 blind mice, 3 blind mice

1. It T T 2 to T

2. There’s 10 B O B O T W

3. S 16 & N B K

4. A T W in 80 D

5. The 6 W of H T E

6. 31 I C F at B R

7. 76 T in the B P

8. 2 T T & a P I A P T

9. 50 C in a H D

OTTFFSS…The next letter is E (the first letter of eight.-1,2,3,etc)

BWBWWBWBWB…The next letter is W (B & W stand for the black and white keys on a piano.)

Ferret: A business or fesnyng of ferrets

Finches: A charm of finches

Fox: A skulk or leash of foxes

Frogs: An army or colony of frogs

Hares: A down or husk of hares

Hawks: A cast or kettle of hawks

Herons: A hedge of herons

Jellyfish: A smack of jellyfish

Kittens: A kindle of kittens

About a dozen members and friends attended the private guided tour of the special exhibit “Lords of the Samurai” at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on September 13. We got a closer look at not only 160 beautiful and historic artifacts like armor, clothing, painting, ceramics and calligraphy by important samurai, but also heard some history of the more famous samurai (both men and women). More than warriors, the samurai were writers and artists and the highest ranking class just below the Daimyo leaders. We got an intimate look at the activities of 600 years ago within the Hosokawa family (one of the most famous warrior clans of their time). After more than an hour of information and insight from our knowlegeable Japanese guide, we were able to go back on our own to spend more time in the special exhibit, as well as in the main museum. Many of us ate lunch at the cafeteria on site.

Thanks to Angie Fong for setting up this interesting event.

OTTFFSS… and BWBWWBWBWB…

Curtis Otaguro solved last month’s puzzle. It will take the
bookworm only 1.5 hours to go from p1 of volume 1 to the last
page of volume 3. As you look at the 3 books on the shelf, you
realize that p1 of volume 1 is at the right side of the book and the
last page of volume 3 is actually on the left side of volume 3.

Cats:A clowder or clutter of cats
Cobras: A quiver of cobras
Colts: A rag of colts
Cows: A kine of cows (12 cows are a flink)
Cranes: A sedge or siege of cranes
Crocodiles: A float of crocodiles
Crows: A murder of crows
Doves: A dule of doves

Four NSC’ers braved the regional heat advisory to hike to Picchetti Ranch in Cupertino on Sunday, Sept. 20^th.  Debbie Fong (who was the last to arrive at last October’s hike)  drove all the way from Concord and was the first this time at the meeting place.  Debbie and Dick waited for Freeman Wong and Ray Tateyama who drove two hours from Sacramento and arrived a half hour late after missing a turn. This was their first hike in the South Bay.

Despite the weather warnings, the temperature at the start was cool since the elevation was 800 ft.  The biggest issue was the attacking flies.  Debbie shared her can of bug repellent spray. The climb to the Ranch was shaded for over two-thirds of the time and we had a few spectacular views of the valley below –  particularly a view of the Stevens Creek Reservoir.   Those who were on the hike last October remembered the Reservoir being almost empty,  thanks to the continuing drought.  This time, the Reservoir was three-quarters full.  We saw a kayaker and a canoe paddling in the Reservoir.

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Planning has begun for our Pre-Season Party for Saturday, November 14. It will be a pot luck (and therefore inexpensive for you). NSC will supply drinks, snacks, utensils, music, trivia quiz and bunco setup with prizes and more (you all remember how much fun we had at last year’s bunco party). It will be at the Mt. View Buddhist Temple from 5:30 to 10:30. Anyone wanting to volunteer their help can contact me at newsletter@NiseiSkiClub.org (until we get a new alias).