I tend to stay out of political debates, but I just had to post this on here. Al Gore, environmentalist and global warming doom-sayer, uses more electricity in one month at his Tennessee mansion than the average household uses in an entire year. What's that again about how everyone needs to conserve electricity in the home? (Source link: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=nation_world&id=5072659)

Armed with Gore's utility bills for the last two years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged Monday that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours.

"If this were any other person with $30,000-a-year in utility bills, I wouldn't care," says the Center's 27-year-old president, Drew Johnson. "But he tells other people how to live and he's not following his own rules."

And before anyone asks, I'm attacking the hypocrisy in the message, not the person's political preferences. I just find it incredible that celebrities feel it is their right to preach one thing to the commoners while not taking their own advice to heart in their own lives.

I logged into iTunes this morning and was surprised to see a couple new snowboard shows listed in the TV section of the store. If you have iTunes installed on your computer, you can click the links below to be taken directly to the videos, and even watch a 30-second preview of each. Now if we could just get them to add FuelTV's The Standard Snowboard Show...

Ten80 Snowboarding (Studio411)
THAT (Forum Snowboarding Videos)

While I am hesitant to buy new videos from the iTunes Store as I am a firm believer they will be upgrading their service to offer HD resolution videos soon, the first video is in a 4:3 format and it is unlikely that it was originally filmed in high definition. Apple really needs to hurry up and make the switch; there are a number of Season Passes I would love to purchase...Heroes is a prime example. After last night's episode, it may have bumped The Office from the top spot on my list of favorite shows, and I LOVE that show.

EDIT: It just keeps getting better for us snowboarders... I've also found a number of highlight videos from the 2006 Winter X-Games snowboard events, and two videos featuring Shaun White and his career in 2006 and 2007. While I'm not the biggest White fan out there, its always fun to see him on the slopes or in the pipe.

Winter X-Games Classicx

Well, it happened a lot quicker than I thought it would. By chance, I was able to pick up my very own Nintendo Wii on Thursday after class from the Best Buy near my apartment. After watching The Office on NBC (a great episode by the way) and eating a quick dinner, I unpacked and setup everything in the entertainment center. After answering a few questions about my configuration and making my own Mii (virtual representation of myself), I loaded up Wii-Sports to see if it really lived up to all the hype it has been getting. I won't get into the details, but let's just say that I didn't get to sleep until at least 2AM that night.

Wii-Sports lets you choose from five different sports -- tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing -- and interact with your character by actually moving the controller in the same motions as you would if you were playing the game in real life. For the most part, it is pretty accurate and a blast to play. I'm going to need to rearrange my living room to give myself a little space between my couch and TV as I have had visions of throwing the Wiimote through my nice DLP TV.

As far as other games, I am eagerly anticipating SSX Blur, EA's snowboarding game which incorporates some interesting controls to make your boarder pull some crazy tricks. This game is supposed to be released on Tuesday so hopefully my Amazon order ships soon. One other very interesting feature of the Wii is its Virtual Console. This allows you to purchase classic games from not only previous Nintendo consoles, but Sega and others as well. So far I've purchased the classic Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, and Sonic the Hedgehog and they are dead-on to their cartridge counterparts. There are a couple other games I'd like to purchase, but they need more buttons than the standard Wiimote has. Luckily, Nintendo sells a Virtual Controller that features more buttons to support the newer titles.

OK, well I should probably get back to working on my midterm that is due on Monday... what am I saying, I'm going to go play some tennis. =)

So, I've decided that I want a Nintendo Wii and I have a little money from my tax return that I can put towards it. Why, you may ask, would I want such a primitive device when I have a fully-HD compatible Playstation3 already hooked up to my television? The answer is simple: this just looks like its fun. I think the wireless controller interface they have designed takes games to a whole new level, making you really feel like part of the game. Want to play some tennis? Swing the controller like a racket. Want to do some crazy snowboard trick? Twist the controller around like you would if you were really doing it in the air. It is clearly not for every game, but for those fun little games or playing with friends it is a neat little box. I hope to be able to find one soon... anyone seen any sitting on a shelf somewhere? =)

Peak Resorts, the owners of Mad River Mountain and a variety of other resorts in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Missouri, have announced the purchase of two more resorts.

It was announced on Feb. 16 that Peak Resorts has entered into a contract with American Skiing Corporation for the purchase of two ski areas.  The two areas, Attitash in New Hampshire and Mount Snow in Vermont, bring the total of Peak Resorts to 10.  Mount Snow is the fifth most popular eastern ski resort.

These two new areas will not be included in the Peak Resorts Season Pass Priviledges Package.  This means that the 50% off lift tickets available to Peak Resorts Season Pass Holders at locations other than their home resort will not be available at Attitash or Mount Snow.  The priviledge will still be available at Snow Creek, Hidden Valley, Paoli Peaks, Mad River, Boston Mills/Brandywine, Jack Frost/Big Boulder, and Crotched Mountain.

Looking at their respective websites, they look like they could be interesting resorts to visit, especially Mount Snow. It's too bad that the discount won't apply at these resorts... you can check out what each resort has to offer by clicking the links below.

Mount Snow - Vermont
Attitash - New Hampshire

I'm so in for this... it's about time good beer have its day here in Toledo. Who knows, in a couple years, you might be able to sample a few of my brews at an event like this =)

Glass City Beer Fest
Event will be held indoors at the Erie Street Market’s Civic Center Promenade, located at 237 S. Erie Street in the heart of downtown Toledo.

HOURS
March 9th (Friday): 5:00 – 11:00 pm

ATTENDANCE: This is an inaugural event. We hope to reach 500-1000 adults ages 21-60.

ADMISSION: Tickets will cost $25 pre-purchase; $30 at the door.
There is a “hero” discount ticket of $20 for all military, police, and firefighters.

TASTE TICKETS: Ten (10) tickets will be included with admission. Each ticket will allow for a taste not to exceed 3 ounces. Additional tickets will be available for $1.00 each. Food will be sold separately.

MUSIC: A wide array of music will be played by a DJ from 5:00-11:00 pm. Also may be live music.

More information, including a list of participating breweries, can be found at: http://www.arclucas.org/beerfest/glasscitybeerfest.pdf.

Picture taken from the top of the superpipe at Nubs Nob. It was pretty long, and pretty steep, reminiscent of the pipe out in Breckenridge. You'll notice that there isn't anyone else in the pipe; that's probably because the only way to get to the top is to use a towrope. Now, I've never used a towrope before, and I must say I was more nervous about that than the pipe itself. But, I made it to the top and back down again. I'll post more pictures and stuff when I get back to Toledo.

EDIT: Pictures are up, and available by clicking on the picture above, or the Photos link on the left side of the screen.

Cable goes out as soon as your new Apple routers show up... having to put up with incompetent people at the cable company.

Check engine light comes on... have to wake up early to get the car to the dealer at 7:30am.

Being able to forget it all this weekend while snowboarding up at Boyne... priceless.

Be sure to check back later... I believe there is a not only a regional qualifying event for the Jeep King of the Mountain Terrain Park Challenge on Saturday, and a superpipe competition on Sunday that I hope to be able to check out. The shutter lag on my digital camera makes it tough to get good action shots, but I'll do my best!

Taken from Macworld.com:

Owners of Tivo’s popular digital video recorders (DVR) will soon be able to download films and television shows for rental and purchase from Amazon.com, the two companies announced Wednesday.

“Amazon Unbox on Tivo” is an extension of Amazon Unbox, the online retailer’s digital download service launched in September. Neither company indicated a launch date for the service, except to indicate that it was now available for beta testing.

Tivo owners must have a Series 2 or Series 3 DVR, an Amazon.com account, and a broadband connection to use the service. Tivo said about 1.5 million of its machines are enabled to use it.

Episodes of television programs will sell for $1.99 each, with films priced between $9.99 and $14.99. Films can be rented for $1.99. A record of all purchases will be kept both on the DVR and in the user’s Amazon.com, account, the company said.

Amazon said content would be available from film and television studios including CBS, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

This is pretty good news, however, there is no mention of any HD content. Plus, Amazon Unbox videos are unplayable on any of my computers. While definitely a step in the right direction, I'll keep waiting to see what Jobs and Company announce in the upcoming weeks/months.

ALSO, it has been confirmed that Apple is planning on opening a store in the Briarwood Mall just 40 minutes north of Toledo in Ann Arbor. =)

An article written by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has appeared on the company's website. You can (and should) read the entire thing by clicking here, but I've included a little excerpt below:

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Below is probably my favorite commercial from the 2007 Super Bowl. Overall, I thought the commercials were OK, but I was really hoping the rumor of a big Apple announcement would have been true. Anyways, enjoy!

Winter has definitely made its presence well known in the midwest, as temperatures this morning were below zero according to the temperature gauge on the dash of my Civic. I made it down to Bellefontaine for some snowboarding over the weekend; it was quite honestly some of the best snow I have seen there since I started. They had so much snow that virtually the entire hill was open, even spots that they usually keep closed. It was a little cold, but the wind was calm enough on Saturday morning to get some quality time out on the snow. The coming weekend should be even better as I'm going up to Boyne with the parents for a weekend on the mountains there. We usually go in March, but decided to go a little earlier this year. Last week, Boyne Highlands received almost three feet of snow in a 24 hour period, and it should be a great experience. I think we'll also be checking out Nub's Nob for the first time.

Last night, Kelly and Jared came over to watch the super bowl at the apartment on the HDTV. The picture was great, although the signal kept dropping out (thanks Buckeye Cable!). Cheryl made some cheesy potatoes, taco dip, and sugar cookies, we cooked up a batch of IKEA meatballs, and Jared and Kelly brought some very tasty chicken and spinach dip. Top it off with some of my milk stout and we had a pretty good feast. I think I'll be eating leftovers for a week. =)