Schif

I took my first Covid test this morning. Not too bad of a process. I walked over to the Finneran Pavilion and went through the main entrance. In the area between the outside and inside door where you would normally get your ticket checked I was directed by a very friendly priest to scan a QR code on the wall which opened up a website where the tracking aspect of the test took place. I answered a few pages worth of questions with the app and was then given a test kit. I took the kit into the lobby of the Pavilion, which is awesome btw, and proceeded to use the app to scan the barcode on my test kit which then officially linked it to me. I stood in the lobby and enjoyed the scenery of National Championship banners and trophies, the court from the Final Four that's embedded into the concrete floor and myself and 3 other people stood at pre marked areas next to tables (nowhere near each other, and held little vials as if we were at a cocktail party as we classily spit into it for a few minutes until there was sufficient volume to fill it up. I then tossed the funnel that had been on top of the tube, put on the provided cap and screwed it tight until it was punctured and released a blue liquid reagent into my saliva. I tossed the tube into a box on a table and headed out and back to my car. Results in about 48 hours so I'll keep you guys posted when they are emailed to me.

The worst part of the presidential election cycle is how much emphasis gets put on that to the detriment of the down ballot races. I really had to scour for information on the down ballot races in my district.

I'm sure there were tons of people who had very little knowledge of the situation or process just the same as there were tons of people who had done lots of due diligence on candidates.

I would imagine that it's more about the convenience factor rather than the pandemic. People love Amazon, why not love voting by mail?

There are so many people saying this and I honestly don't understand it other than the fact it seems to be the fashionable thing to say. What did they do wrong? What could they have done differently? As far as I know in the enumerated powers of the Constitution there is nothing that says that if there is a worldwide pandemic the president is the one with the legal power to do something about it. The CDC makes recommendations (not binding rules or laws) and the individual States are the ones who need to do something about it. I mean you can blame the Constitution or the fact that we occupy the majority of an entire continent under one flag for a disjointed approach but without an amendment to the Constitution it falls on the States and they all did things differently based on their individual needs or tolerance to risk.

Some interesting things when you look at this trail map. 1. Looks like they discontinued use of a decent number of trails and lifts 2. Playing to the homeowners there, I'm seeing something I've ever seen on any other trail map. Look at the two listed "Beginner" trails. Number 3 is "Sleigh Riding Area". I'm sure that's a direct result of people showing up with sleds and being annoyed that they can't use them.

Definitely closed to the public. The place is owned by a bigger resort corporation now based out of Texas where their other properties are so they have little interest in skiing and even less of an understanding of how to operate a hill. I skied there about 3 yeas ago and it wasn't bad. Beginner trails up top that funneled into a decently steep bottom section to the main lift. They were running the beginner lift at the time. Lodges at both the top and bottom. They don't have a ton of staff or equipment so it takes them a while to get open and they focus on the snow tubing lately because that is what most people up there seem to be interested in.

The only thing to fear is fear itself.

Whoops, I didn't actually watch the video guess I just assumed it would be mentioned there somewhere. https://www1.villanova.edu/university/return-to-campus/surveillancetesting/faqs.html

Jay Wright can explain it to you. https://www1.villanova.edu/university/return-to-campus/commitment.html

Early in the pandemic my cousin was coming back from a Doctors without Borders thing in Africa and brought Covid home with him. He was feeling not so great for two days but that was about it. He gave it to his brother who felt achy for a day but was over the symptoms of it in about 24 hours. Their mom got it and had flu like symptoms for about a week. Their dad who was in the house with all 3 for the duration of this never caught it. I have a college aged cousin down in Delaware that caught it over the summer, felt fine throughout the quarantine and never spread it to the rest of the family there.

Just got randomly selected for a mandatory Covid test I'll have to take on Tuesday. How many of you guys have been tested before and with what frequency?

That can be interpreted as the fact that more healthy people are forgoing testing.

A quick googling seems to show that the lodge is still there and is surrounded by a farm.

When I was a kid I would watch Tracks Ahead on PBS

Knoebels has one

I was on a call with a guy in France right this morning. He said that there is a curfew and he doesn't want to come to the States right now because he's afraid he might get stuck here.

That's really interesting. We have a plant in Cali, Colombia. I'll have to ask my guys down there if they've ever ridden the gondola there next time I'm on a call with them.

So lifts are typically designed and operated with all the weight on one side of the line right? First of all, anyone know exactly how that works? Secondly, what kind of different set up does Disney need to run that gondola with people on both sides?

Big shout out to the hospitals for handling this wave pretty well. Gotta give all those folks a hand

How early do we need to book the band to make sure we get a parking lot show at Christ-a-mas Time?

Sugarbush

I think the fact that it's a high speed fixed grip makes the case that it is too short to be a detachable. If it's a water heater though I'll need to know if it's gas or electric

Those magic carpets in the lift loading area are not my favorite.

I'm concerned about the lack of helmets, and that one skier seems to be pretty far into the back seat.