skategoat

I say we keep links to eBay sales out of the Classifieds.

Oshawa Ski Club is hosting Ontario Masters Alpine Championships on Friday February 8 All Money raised is to be donated to the AOS to help cover some costs of Qualified Athletes and Coaches attending the Nationals Oshawa Ski Club is located one hour from Toronto http://www.oshawaskiclub.com/ 401 East to Hwy 35/115 East on Ganaraska Road to Gate 4 Do not buy lift tickets at the kiosk. Registration at the East Chalet. $60 or $30 for OSC Members The schedule: Gate Training Timed Runs Lunch Timed Runs Results Auction Bonus: Oshawa Ski Club also has F2 board demos available. There will be a fee of $5.00 for each demo. There are mens and womens classes in the following age groups: 25 -34 35-44 45-54 55+ This is a great opportunity to ride with some of the best hardbooters in the province. Some of these Masters racers give the Provincial Team athletes a run for their money. Don't be intimidated if you are new to racing. The event is very relaxed and fun. For the record, I usually finish in last place in my age group but this year, I move up an age bracket and I'm ready to tear up the old guys. The only problem is, the old guy category includes Rob Cox and Paul Morison.

You want to talk ouch, look at the chart on this baby: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=IQW.TO&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= The classic case of a second generation CEO running a company into the ground. A truly sad story of mismanagement and incompetence.

Add to that: - a whistle (pea-less kind) - a cup (not the kind you'd drink from)

I just re-read your post and wanted to clarify. If by "Saturday", you meant the Feb. 3 race which was posted on the AOS website, it has been moved to Feb. 10. That race is an open recreational race for all ages. The Masters race I was referring to is on Friday, February 8 at Oshawa. It is for age 25 and over. No kids to make us look bad.

Doc: Gate virgins are welcome at the Masters Race. I will make sure there is lots of time for practice runs and course inspection. Others: Gabe Tung and I will be car-pooling from the King Sideroad exit of Hwy 400. There is a commuter lot there where you can leave your car. I have a 4Runner with a cargo box so there is room for 3 more. If anyone else wants to join us and share gas expense, let me know with an email. We will be leaving at 6:45 sharp.

I'm partial to Blackcomb Mountain. Head on over to Seventh Heaven and keep traversing as far as you can across the face of that bowl. Drop in when you see a clean line. Ride your brains out on the Friday and then take it easy when the crowds form on Saturday. Sign up for the First Tracks breakfast or just show up at the lifts at 7:30AM and tell the liftees you are doing First Tracks. They usually don't care. When it gets crowded, go over to Horstman Glacier. Ride up and down the two T-bars. It never gets too busy over there.

There's a thing called a uni-cant. It's made up of two rotating discs so you can set your cant at any angle. The problem is, it's not the strongest thing ever made. You have to be careful about properly engaging a little metal ear in a slot (hard to describe, you have to see it). Try posting a Wanted ad. There are lots of those things floating around. If you can't come up with one, you could try to get a shop to mill a wedge out of nylon or aluminum. You can place the wedge under the heel/toe and use longer screws to reattach the heel/toe pieces.

The race hill is Big Ben. Tricky little course with variable pitch. A lot of fun. Come on out.

For those of you who want to run gates: A reminder that AOS has a Masters race on the following Friday, Feb. 8. The race takes place at Oshawa Ski Club which is just off Hwy 35/115, about 10 minutes north of the 401. We have categories for anyone over the age of 25. This is a very friendly and relaxed race. Come on out.

Do you have a freeride board? Just throw your plates on that. I ride a 164 BX board on choppy or slushy conditions. It turns on a dime and is a hoot to ride.

Victor P, who is on the list for SOS, used to tune boards and skis at Skiis and Biikes.

I'm interested in the package if the bindings are standard bails. Can you confirm? Thanks. Also, what year is the board? If you're not sure, post a picture.

I've seen lots of bad action movies (everything by Sylvester Stallone comes to mind) but I know what the expect with most of them - explosions, car chases, fights. I don't expect much of a plot. What I really hate is a comedy that isn't funny. The worst in this category was "Benchwarmers". Perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen. I'm supposed to believe 40-ish David Spade is barely out of high school? Jon Heder essentially replays his Napoleon Dynamite character except without any of the charm or likeability. And to top things off, there's a "robot" character that makes the robot in Rocky III (or was it IV) seem believable. Absolutely asinine. Best action film(s) I have seen in a long time was the Bourne Trilogy. I missed them when they were released so I watched all three over a weekend. Wow. Great stuff. The car chases in all three movies are right up there with the best ever put on film.

I know some of the EC guys ride like that but I'm too nervous about coming out of my bindings. I would love to see the Northwaves come back but I heard the company destroyed the molds.

I hit MSLM today but when I got home, I had a bit of a work emergency come up which will keep me away for the rest of the week. FYI, there is piles of snow up north. It was clear sailing on the 400 until I hit the 400/Hwy 11 split. Just north of that, I hit a wall of snow. It was incredible. It snowed heavily all day at MSLM and I was caught with only my Coiler Freecarve. The board worked beautifully in the deep snow. I was pleasantly surprised. I just had to be careful not to power the nose too hard.

They don't call it "War-crack" for nothing. I stay way away from it.

My daughter rode those exact bindings last year. This fall, I chucked them in the garbage. Nothing wrong with them but I just figured they were too old. Glad I did.

Sad story. I liked this guy because he shunned the Hollywood scene. Lived in Brooklyn, made indie movies, seemed like a smart guy. I was really looking forward to him playing the Joker in "Dark Knight". I guess it'll be his swan song. RIP

Second in line for the bindings if midwestspeedster changes his/her mind.

Before anyone gets too excited, Spyro Team are soft boot bindings.

Having been seriously addicted to Battlefield 2 on the PC (I had to delete the game and go cold turkey), I can tell you that first person shooters on the consoles just don't cut it. There is a certain coarseness of control on the consoles that will drive you nuts. You just can't aim. Console FPS games are all about reflexes and button mashing. PC versions require a little more finesse. My favourite online games on the Xbox 360 are sports games and driving games. You can figure out the rules and controls pretty quickly and the controllers lend themselves to the software. One of the best is Fight Night 3. If you're into boxing history, you'll really enjoy it. One of the problems though with console games is that there are so many new titles, they go stale quickly. For instance, I got into Project Gotham Racing 2 and there was a great online community. But, with the release of PGR3, there was a lot more competition in the driving games and far smaller community of online players. It would take 10-20 minutes to find an online race and who wants to wait that long. I quickly grew tired of it and it's collecting dust on my shelf now.

Kimo, I think you have a future in the adult film industry.

Matt Morison learned to ride at Oshawa Ski Club. Total vertical drop - 300 feet. Crowded always. And their bread and butter is beginners. Maybe Matt developed by using the newbies as gates.

Gleb: What you need is an illustrator, not a graphic designer. You're asking for original artwork and the only way you'll get it done for $75 is to hire an art student who is looking to add to his/her portfolio. If, once you have the art, you then you need the graphic designer to do the layout, background, and final output. That you might get for $75. So I would start by asking around community colleges, art schools, high schools, etc. HK