Surprise, I came home.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006  > Trackback URL
Surprise, I was home from Friday > Monday to surprise the parents on their Anniversary. Great times were had. I'll do a larger update later on today. I'm extremely busy since I took a couple of days off from work and since I am travelling to California tomorrow for Icer Air I'm going to be even more busy!

The Halloween costume was a huge success. The bar crawl kicked ass and it was great to see everyone. I'll be home for Thanksgiving and over a week during Christmas. I can't wait to see everyone again.

Larger update with pics and video coming today.

-Dave

Another 22+ Inches for the Mountains

Thursday, October 26, 2006  > Trackback URL
The mountains got another 22+ inches of snowfall with the storm that rolled in last night. There is so much snow up there that Keystone is going to open up a week early on November 3rd in conjunction with Copper. They closed down the majority of the highways heading up to the mountains and down here on the front range (Denver metro area) we saw as much as a foot. Thankfully it will be 60 degrees down here tomorrow and the snow will be gone, however up in ski country they're setting up for a pretty solid season.

What's that, you don't believe me? Well, here is a little video that the marketing people at Keystone were polite enough to shoot this morning while they were digging out. Enjoy.



Travel Destination: San Francisco

Wednesday, October 25, 2006  > Trackback URL
San Francisco from 11/01 > 11/05 to attend the 2006 Icer Air. Looks like Johnny Moseley and Tony Hawk will be MC'ing and as always, Freeskier will be there to cover the happenings. It looks like we have a few days of parties, event coverage and hob-nobbing. I'll be covering the event for the website taking pictures, shooting video and letting the masses know what is going on.

I'm psyched to head to San Francisco, everyone in the office says that it is a sweet place. My cousin, Justin, lives there with his girlfriend so I'll be paying them a visit.

The 2006-2007 season of editorial travel officially kicks off next week. The picture below is what they're doing with the stadium. Pretty sweet, a gigantic jump with snow and a halfpipe.


Anonymous Anonymous : They can do things like that in San Fran because they know theres no baseball going to be played late in the fall out there.    

Anonymous Anonymous : Mike Rogge is a tool.    

October Powder

Monday, October 23, 2006  > Trackback URL
Loveland got over 22+ inches in 36 hours. Here is the proof. Mike, Pat, Craig and I headed up and rode all weekend. We had powder and loose powder conditions both Saturday and Sunday. Loveland only had a handfull of runs open since they didn't make any base snow on the other terrain, but that didn't stop the 4 of us from exploring some alternative runs that may or may not have been designated "closed".

Conditions in October are better than January back east. Wow.


Blogger Traci : It's all sorts of pretty, like a Christmas card. Keep the pics and snow stats coming, as I do enjoy the angry responses you seem to get from them. Haha. :)

traci    

Anonymous Anonymous : I'll tell ya, skiing thigh deep powder in october isnt so bad.    

Anonymous Anonymous : Why go all the way to Colorado for October powder when you can get all you want right here in new england .. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

http://www.sundayriver.com/camshot.html?action=showbig&sid=456    

Blogger adszafran : That's from me by the way    

Blogger Traci : Ahh, finally some entertainment.


Something that's been severely lacking on mmp for quite a while now.

Hint hint.    

Blogger Dave Amirault : Hey, no hating on Sunday River... C'mon. If I was there right now I'd be riding right next to Nick and Alex.    

Anonymous Anonymous : yeah nothing better than skiing down white heat with all the gapers from the rest of New England when its 20 below and a skating rink tilted 45 degrees...    

Up to 20 Inches Forecasted

Friday, October 20, 2006  > Trackback URL
Loveland is forecasted to get up to 20 inches of snow tonight.

See you all Monday.
-Dave

Blogger adszafran : i second that    

Anonymous Anonymous : I'll third that. Way to rub it in Amirault    

Blogger Dave Amirault : So move out here, losers!    

Anonymous Anonymous : cant move out there...to many yuppies.    

David vs. Goliath

Thursday, October 19, 2006  > Trackback URL
My podcast is currently ranked #7 in iTunes for Sports. That's right, little ol' Freeskier Magazine is going toe to toe with the mighty ESPN and starting to displace them from the top ten. I've managed to bump one of their podcasts out of the top 7 spot and with the ski season starting my goal is to break into the top five and show that large media doesn't dominate the scene. We just launched our 40th episode this morning with the 5+ minute opening day video and we've got much more to come. We're going to be updating 2-3 times a week, so if you've got iTunes you should check it out.

Top 10 Sports & Recreation Podcasts: iTunes
1. ESPN: PTI
2. ESPN Radio
3. ESPN Radio
4. ESPN: Sports Center
5. ESPNU: College Football
6. ESPN Radio: Dan and Keith
7. FREESKIER MAGAZINE PODCAST
8. ESPN Radio: Fantasy Fix
9. Element Skateboards
10. Pod Surf TV

So, I need all your help. Help me take on ESPN and get the Freeskier Podcast into the top 5. All you need is iTunes and to click the icon below. You won't be disappointed.


Anonymous Anonymous : I just subscribed, damn good work!    

Mike & Dave Take Over

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MMP Regulars are familiar with Mike Thomas, the lovable character who frequents social gatherings and amazes people with his extensive lexicon and amusing anecdotes. Well, Mike has recently moved out to Colorado and has joined the Freeskier Magazine crew as the Online Video Coordinator. Essentially, Mike produces our videos for Freeskier.TV and our Podcasts and accompanies us to events and skiing. So, this past weekend we piled up into the Jeep and started the filming adventure. Here is the video that he cut up for us...

Look for huge things from us this winter.



Blogger Austin : a sure sign of a good day.. and teeth. Bwahaha..    

Borat = Funniest Shit Around

Wednesday, October 18, 2006  > Trackback URL
Everyone needs to go see the Borat movie when it opens on November 3rd. For those of you who don't know who Borat is, watch this video and then piss yourself in a fit of laughter.


Chances are...

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Chances are, you don't live somewhere as nice as Boulder. We got around 6 inches of snow last night and when I woke up this morning we had bluebird skies and light clouds moving their way across the flatirons. Since I'm a (hobbyist) photographer I figured I would snap some pics to make you all jealous.




Prevail

Tuesday, October 17, 2006  > Trackback URL
Last Friday I had the pleasure to be on stage for the 2nd time at a Swollen Members show. This time, it was at the Boulder Theatre here in town for the Anomaly (it's a ski movie) premiere. We filmed a pre-show interview with Prevail and then stood on the side of the stage taking pics and shooting video while Swollen tore the roof off the joint. Pictures will be hitting Freeskier at some point this week when I can get a chance to write the story and go through the 180+ photos from the event.

On a side note, there were so many drunken slutty chicks trying to get on stage. They were pushing through the crowd just to get a hand on Madchild or Prevail. I'm pretty sure these girls would have done anything they asked which leads me to believe that I really should pursue a music career. Sure, I'm musically challenged and can't sing a note but I'm sure I could learn something. You know what, maybe I'm just better off sticking to hypnosis if I wan't girls to dig me. Ha.


Anonymous Anonymous : A true baller would've told the drunk slutty chicks that he was their agent/official photographer of drunk slutty chicks/ roadie/whatever.    

Anonymous Anonymous : hawaii cruises small ship    

Anonymous Anonymous : [url=http://free2hosting.info/cheap-travel/index6.html] cheap travel Fiji[/url]    

Fresh Snow

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2nd Day of the 2006-2007 ski season at Loveland, we got 4 inches of new snow in OCTOBER! Everyone on the east still needs to wait around a month and a half to see flakes. Mike is currently editing up the video from our weekend long adventure of opening days and should have that online at some point this week.

Can't wait to do it all again this weekend in the Jeep.


Swollen Members

Sunday, October 15, 2006  > Trackback URL
Harvey interviewed Prevail from Swollen Members while Mike and I filmed on their tour bus last night before their big show in Boulder. Here's a shot from the post interview. Bitchin' show, Mikey-T and I had backstage passes and were shooting video and stills for Freeskier.TV. Look for that interview to hit the site at some point next week.


Anonymous Anonymous : Is THIS your boyband?    

Blogger Traci : This is totally Dave's boy band.

Who is the Carrot Top wanna be? Tell that boy to cut his hair. Gross.    

Blogger Dave Amirault : Wow, people be hating on Matt Harvey...

S.T.F.U. That is Prevail from Swollen Members.    

Anonymous Anonymous : Damn Dave, you're living it up out there. T-Bird, theres about 1000 12 year old grom skiers that would pay money to meet Harvey, if you don't believe go to the satantic hate child he made with his friends, newschoolers.    

Blogger Traci : Hey Mike, I'm just a friend of Dave's from his glory days at Consumption College. I don't know jack shit about skiing nor do I care anything about it. I just like to bust his balls, as is my job. Haha.    

The Season Begins

Friday, October 13, 2006  > Trackback URL
Friday, October 13th. The 2006-2007 ski season is on. Headed to A-Basin on Friday to cover the opening and do the whole media thing. Blue skies, 3 rails, tons of good vibes. I'm headed to Loveland tomorrow for their opening.


Blogger Traci : Bah. It's just skiing. It's totally not important to the cool kids. :)    

Blogger Dave Amirault : Wow, are you readin the wrong blog. Hahhaha. This place is going to be nothing BUT skiing for the next 8 months!    

I am going Skiing Tomorrow.

Thursday, October 12, 2006  > Trackback URL
A-Basin is opening tomorrow. I will be taking the new Jeep up there. I will be skiing. Ohh yeah, Mike Thomas is also joining me since he now works for Freeskier.

Enjoy Fall, bitches.

-Love, Dave

Anonymous Anonymous : I wouldnt call it work, Dave.    

Blogger Dave Amirault : I'm fortunate enough to have a job where this sort of thing is work. Lucky me.    

Blogger Ryan Amirault : Let's call you new Jeep "The Copper Mtn Express" BALLER!    

Anonymous Anonymous : you cant drive a jeep...it will make all us jeep owners look bad..STOP IT    

Blogger Dave Amirault : Sorry that this jeep is 100x better than yours, Jeffro.    

Anonymous Anonymous : Nice jeep. Finally gave up on the Ford? How do I get me one (or two) of those freeskier front plates?

Dave    

First Snow in Boulder

Tuesday, October 10, 2006  > Trackback URL
Well, Boulder got its first snow of the season this morning. The foothills got a good dusting and the cloud ceiling was really low so you can't see the upper 1/3 of the mountains surrounding town.

I'm not sure what happened up in the high country, but I'm willing to bet they got the snot pounded out of them. I'll grab some pics of that at some point tomorrow when the clouds break and the sun comes out.

Looks like I'll be skiing very soon.


Sushi in Aspen

Monday, October 09, 2006  > Trackback URL
Special thanks to the Spy and Level 1 crew for Sushi this past weekend in Aspen! Sake kicks ass, especially when you drink a liter of it, ha.

From left to right: Me, Zack Berman and Travis Redd.

Anonymous Anonymous : Is that your new boy band?    

Blogger Dave Amirault : Boy band, no. Ski industry insider, brother of a film maker and then professional athlete.    

Anonymous Anonymous : whats your first single?    

Anonymous Anonymous : They have a new single and the name is " We love the cock"    

Ballin' Out Of Control

Saturday, October 07, 2006  > Trackback URL
Ok, so I'm in Aspen for "The Meeting". A weekend long event where all the major players in skiing media converge, have their movie premieres and also an afternoon summit on the state of the industry. Since Freeskier is killing it in the publishing side of the industry we're here. But that isn't what this post is about... This post is about the baller ass place that I'm occupying for the weekend!

Here's the view from our front porch. You may notice that we're across the courtyard from the Aspen gondola. This is home to some of the most expensive real estate on the planet.


















Here is a photo from my kitchen. Please note the 63 inch HDTV plasma with DVR. There is also a 42 inch plasma in my bedroom here. Jesus this is all incredibly awesome.





Blogger Austin : So much talk about inches Dave.. christ.

Aspen is ok, if you're into cougars. Mmm actually it sounds pretty nice.    

Best Family Portrait Ever

Wednesday, October 04, 2006  > Trackback URL
Need I say more? I'm willing to bet that this was taken at one of those K-Mart photo centers. You know, the ones where you can get a family portrait done for $29.99 and walk out with the prints that day. Willing to bet that these people were given the following backdrop options for this particular "photo shoot".
  • Wilderness in Winter
  • Cool Blue
  • Lasers
  • Grey
  • Gel Green
How did these folks even get to K-Mart to get these pics taken? I thought El Camino's were 2 seaters!

Not pictured in photo: Joe Dirt

Anonymous Anonymous : Where did you get this picture? Nothing wrong with business up front and the party in the back - need I say "Mullet"?!    

Blogger Gina : God this picture has been on the net since its inception I think. I always swore it was photshopped. Funny though.
Have fun with this: mullets galore Go to the pitcurebooks.    

So, WTF Happened?

Sunday, October 01, 2006  > Trackback URL
Some of you have probably noticed that MMP was a little screwed up this week. Let me explain what happened...

On Tuesday, MMP was featured on the homepage on digg.com, the largest technology website on the planet for the battery explosion story related to my MacBook Pro. Digg is a social driven user content website, that means that all the news is submitted by users (like me) and viewed by other users. When someone finds something that perks their interest they "digg" the article. The more diggs you have the higher your rank goes. When your rank is high you can be promoted to their homepage by the digg overlords and then you essentially become the hottest thing on the internet for 36 hours. Having your site on the digg homepage is the nerd's equivalent of going to the super bowl.

So, I had 36 hours of web-server hell this week. The server that I pay for to host MMP was getting thousands of web requests per minute and could not handle the load. The result, was insanely slow server performance and the need to off load some of the processing to 3rd party servers. So, I nerded out and offloaded MMP content to other servers on the internet to keep the site alive. Much to my chagrin, I started to max out the 3rd party servers because of the insane traffic I was receiving. Due to this traffic bonanza I had to shut MMP down and forward everyone off to a mirror of my site that was created thanks to the folks at DiggMirror. This meant that I could no longer make live posts and allow content to hit the homepage however it kept MMP limping along and viewers could see the article that was on Digg.

So, now that the heat has died down a little I've decided to ditch the mirror and bring the site back. You may notice a little drop in server response and some articles are missing from the homepage but we're back and have tons of content for you this week.

Random Statistics From The Digging
  1. I overloaded my analytics product that tracks my web properties. It could not keep up with the traffic requests.
  2. I served out over 300 gigabytes of data in less than 12 hours on Tuesday night.
  3. The 3rd party servers I was using to host the images began to buckle from the traffic on Wednesday morning.
  4. The number of stories presented on the MMP homepage was taken from 14 down to 7 in order to decrease pageload size.
  5. My story on Digg ended up getting around 800 diggs and around 80 comments.


Anonymous Anonymous : It's "chagrin" not shegrin.    

Anonymous Anonymous : Dear Dave,
Two things.

1) The link to my site is wrong.

2) uh, nevermind. Just one thing I Guess

-Mike