Hey there!

It's been a while and time to update you on the latest more drastic
aspects of the Kai history.

The latest move was to grab up a '92 Mazda Miata.  Blue.  55k Miles.
$9800.  (Did I miss anything?)  It's in great shape and just what I
was looking for to build my 220 HP "Miatarod".  There is a guy in San
Antonio who builds turbochargers for these beasts.  Should get a 5.2
0-60 time if I really up the boost (and don't expect the car to last
too long!)  Most people talk about the joy they get watching stunned
Mustang owners in their rearview mirrors.  I've got to save up some
money before I go that route though.  For now it's still plenty of
fun!

Anyone want a beautiful '89 Honda Accord?  (Beautiful and perfect but
four doors and booring!)

The ski/snowboard trip was a great success again this year.  Only a
few of the original crew, but the spirit lived on.  Had some killer
meals thanks to Space, Rita, and Priscilla.  The hot tub also did it's
work well after each long day.  There were plenty of purple arms,
legs, shoulders, elbows, hands, feet, and, uh, other body parts
cooking away in that big stew each night.  Met a lot of interesting
Brits there as well as an interesting guy who tipped us off on
more Nepal travel info.

The snowboarding itself went better than expected.  Granted, most of
the first two days were spent looking UP at the slope... and the
sky... but the learning through pain technique was ultimately a
success!  Most of us took lessons the first two days and by day three
we could tell each other how bad we were in great detail and with
quite an extended vocabulary.  

On the last day things really started to click.  I was feeling the
sublime rhythm of weight and power shift that I had been getting on
skis.  Not unlike the simple beauty of a pendelum's motion or catching
a deep, slow groove with a live band.

It was just about time for this overconfident bragger's catastrophe.

My newfound skills were put to the ultimate test at the very end of
the very last run.  As I flew from the mountaintops and came screaming
onto the bunny slope, a whee bunny of about 12 years old decided to
make a quick appearance, but then got stage fright and stopped... dead
in my path.  Without even thinking I flipped the board up on its side
and dug in for a wonderful hard stop I would have been proud of on a
hockey rink.  She just looked at me with a little smile the whole time
and, while I stopped only about 1-2 feet in front of her, she got at
worst a little shower of snow.  I'm sure it scared me more than it did
her!

In the end I missed the chance to ski a bit, but I felt really good
about the snowboard.  At this point I could probably go with either
one but I'm looking forward to learning more about this little
surfboard under my toes.

Looking forward I have another potential band in the works.  Our first
jam consisted of a lot of old metal tunes from youth and memory but we
expect it to get better!  I also have a pretty good keyboard player
lined up which promises to be a lot of fun in the funk/jazz arena.

Send me your hopes.  Send me your dreams.  Send me your nutty plans
for world travel and domination.  I entertain them all.

Never lose your philosopher's sense of humor about life.

Never give up.

Kai

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 Kai Mantsch                    : "I can't hold anything against you
 kai@jedi.net                   : when you hold me against you."
 http://www.jedi.net/~kai       : - Film noir dame in, "A Gun, a Car, a Blonde"
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