Twit your moves – RFID in everything Comments Off

This is new(ish)… For me at least. It turns out Nokia and some other partners have been trying to put RFID chips is skateboards and now they are going for snowboards.

The idea is that the chips track your moves, communicate with your phone and let you twit or send to Facebook or just share in some other way that you managed to pull a 360 or some other move. Cool, right?

Maybe, I don’t think so. Besides the fact that it extends the plague of always being connected to some activities that are sacred in my mind. Sacred from the point of view that it’s only about you and your board / skis and the mountain, full focus and no outsiders are allowed while the run lasts.

I can not see this kind of things not adding some unnecessary pressure to compete with… somebody. Sports are competitive by nature, grant you that, but since when it has to be a game in which we all compete. You compete with yourself, first of all.

To jump on the other side of the argument, I have to admit, having detailed data about how the skis moved while going down the slope, kind of race-car data, would be interesting.

So give me the gadget the collects the data and leave me out of the yet another social-media driven competitive game. Get out of my sanctuary. Thanks!

Top 5 Places From Around the World Comments Off

I wanted to give this post a philosophical spin but it kind of sucked, so Ctrl  + A + Del and back again. No philosophical  bull crap. One mention, though. You will see that all top five places are more or less related to nature. Although I’ve seen beautiful cities, about some I talk here, churches, buildings, these rarely impress me as much as a beautiful view. I like two things about traveling – the places and the people, with their habits (which includes food, mmmmm). Churches and other piles of brick, mortar and concrete – second best.

So, without farther ado, I give you my top five, as these are today, the 14th of Aril 2009

5) Istria, Croatia

There is something different about Istria, it’s different from the south of Croatia, Dalmatia (see nr 3), it just feels less wild. There are some beautiful places there, but more populated. I’ve see some of the most incredible cities, the likes of Rovinj. However, the one that really impressed me was a small city/village that looked like something from Dungeons & Dragons.  All stone houses, off the bitten track and at 11 in the morning, on a weekday the most important thing one of the inhabitants had to do is wash the two stone steps in front of his house with a toothbrush, while a few of the other inhabitants were chilling at a nearby cafe. And of course, everybody was staring at you wondering what the hell you were looking for. When you see this, you know you’ve hit the jackpot. Unfortunately neither me nor Adrian can remember the name of the place. But anyway, beautiful seaside and with cities that look like Rovinj and with names like Pula, you can be sure it’s a good place to be. I surely enjoyed it.

4) Patscherkofel, Austria

The Alps are fantastic. If you live in Europe, you have no excuse not to go at least once and see them. In the winter they turn into this giant playground, where you can ski, snowboard, whatever, all day long. Patscherkofel is very close to Inssbruck. The winter Olympics of 1964 and 1976 were held here. You can take a damn bus from the center of the city and be and the ski lift in 20 minutes. Beat that Bucharest! Besides the incredible scenery and perfect slopes and great service and the fact that you can take the bus from the city and the great landlords we had and the good food and the great weather and so on, Patscherkofel gets a top 5 because it was my first contact with skiing outside Romania. For Miha and Gabi it was the first contact with ski. So top 5, definitively, top 1, not yet, read on.

3) Zadar and the Island of Pag, Croatia

Istria is one thing, Dalmatia is another. I don’t know what’s with the rednecks and the south but it seems wherever you go, when you go south you find more of them and Croatia is not an exception. It seems to me that people here are a tiny bit less friendly then in the north, but who gives a damn? This Croatian dudes say that the sunset over the Adriatic is the most beautiful in the world and they are ready to produce scientific facts proving that the atmospheric conditions are unique and bla bla bla… I don’t give a damn about their charts, but the sunset is beautiful, it’s more than that, it’s spectacular. The see is incredible too. It’s like a big, beautiful, clear, salty, warm, fish inhabited, calm lake. And the sun… the sun just burns everything and makes everything white, even the rocks. There are more rocks than plants there, but if you like it, it’s spectacular too. And Pag, a big island, is also spectacular. I thing that’s you can best describe it with these words: hot, rocky, windy, spectacular. 

2) Omu – Bucegi, Romania

This picture was taken very early in the morning, don’t even know the year, very close to Omu. On the previous day Adrian and me climbed for the best part of the day to get there. It gets second best for the sheer feeling of a job well done I had then, for the beauty of the mountains and for all the beautiful things I saw while getting there. Adrian gets the credit for dragging my ass all the way to the top. I get bonus points for being stubborn. It gets second place because in my mind Omu’ symbolizes Bucegi, and these are the mountains I see most often and love. 

1) Algonquin, Canada

Can I say spectacular? Yes I can and yes I have to! It has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen so far. Me and the usual suspect, Adrian went for a short 3 day canoeing trip to Algonquin while we were visiting Frank and Denis in Canada, Toronto. This was last year, august 2008. The whole canoeing thing came to us, and especially to Adrian after we saw one of Ray Mears episodes, when he was building his own canoe and talking about the voyageur. And it was all happening, yes, you guest it, in Canada. After some Googling Adrian found these guys, Voyageur Quest and we booked a canoe trip with them. Must say, Adrian, being the hard core, lone wolf, experienced mountaineer her is and me being the usual cynical asshole we were a little skeptical about this whole organised trip. But was it worth! Oh boy! Never mind the organisation of things, which was very good, but the view…. Those who have never been in a canoe, do it! Right now! It’s not a boat, it doesn’t squeak, it just slides through the water, silently. It’s just something different from anything else. It’s not waking, it’s not riding a bike, it just is nice. And Algonquin is spectacular. You should see the sky at night. The nature  is also different from what I’ve seen back home and in Europe so far, it has a different feel which I can’t really explain. Because of the whole canoeing experience, combined with the astonishing scenery and the sheer joy of the trip beating our most optimistic expectations, Algonquin gets the top spot, for now ;).

It was hard to sort through the places I’ve been and I must say, I cheated a little bit. Austria is very fresh in my memory as only recently I’ve been there. And when I had to choose between two places I chose the one for which I had pictures. There are places that I’ve seen before the miracle of digital photography hit the world. Up there, in the top 10 there are many places from my beloved country, like Sibiu, Sighisoara, many mountain picks. A big role in choosing the top 5 played the emotions associated with it. Maybe one of my recent ski trips to Sinaia was spectacular, but it was just a weekend getaway.

Hope you enjoyed this and let me know what are your favorite places and why. Don’t be shy!

Cu natura ne mandrim – fauna de Sinaia Comments Off

Pentru a observa comportamentul diferitelor specii care salasluiesc pe minunatele partii mioritice cel mai bine e sa te duci acolo unde acestea abunda, la coada la telescaun / cabina. Coada de la telescaunul din Valea Dorului din Sinaia parca are un  caracter aparte. Datorita conformatiei unice, punctul de atractie maxima numit Cota 2000, reuseste sa separe eficient speciile de ante-partiasii de partiasi adevarati, in vale scurgandu-se sau rostogolindu-se numai acele exemplare ce poarta clapari. Veri lor apropiati, purtatorii de pantofi, se limiteaza sa inghete pana la defecare pe dumnealor la sus mentionata cota.

Observand cu atentie fauna am deslusit urmatoarele specii:

- Nebarbieritii - aceste specimene, cu predominanta masculi, au drept caracteristica generala posesia unei barbi de vre-o 2-3 zile ce ofera un aspect neingrijit dar totusi de mascul feroce. Cu varste in jur de 40 de ani, acestia trebuie neaparat sa fumeze tigari mentolate in timp ce asteapta la coada, ca de, sunt in aer liber. Vorbesc mult si neaparat tare si conduc jipane, lucru pe care il aflii, fara sa vrei, din zbieratele fratesti adresate altor specimene din aceiasi familie. O trasatura caracteristica este sociabilitatea excesiva, aceste specimene parand sa cunoasca orice casiera, chelenrita / chelneroi, tip de la telescaun. Din pacate, se pare ca rezistenta lor este scazuta, simtind nevoia sa se retraga la protectia jipanului imediat dupa ora 2.

- Echilibristii - acesti adevarati kamikaze ai partiilor risca fara sa clipeasca viata… celor din jur. Ii recunosti dupa stilul nesigur, viteza excesiva cu care se deplaseaza pe partie si lipsa betelor, considerate, probabil, inutile. Acest aspect le da si numele. Agitand mainile cu disperare, in timp ce incearca sa se redreseze si sa calce pe scafarlie vre-un nefericit care a facut greseala sa fie si el prin preajma, acestia seamana cu niste echilibristi. 

- Grabitii - Sunt usor de recunoscut. Aceasta specie enervanta e un fel de gluma proasta. Din motive necunoscute, au tendinta sa se aproprie de coada de la telescaun cu viteza excesiva, oprindu-se numai in ultimul moment, improscand pe cei care s-au incolonat deja cu un nor de zapada. Motivul comportamentului este inca necunoscut insa unii presupun ca este strans legat de fenomenul balenelor care se arunca pe plaja. Altii sustin ca un defect genetic le creaza imposibilitatea sa-si dea seama cu exactitate de distante. 

- Racaitorii - sunt acele personaje pitoresti care prefera snowboardul ca mijloc de deplasare pe partie. Acestia reprezinta prima faza de dezvoltare pentru specia hai-teci, ramura snowboarderi. Lipsiti de experienta, acesti tineri hai-teci se dezorienteaza usor, motiv pentru care ajung cu instrumenul din dotare perpedicular pe panta. Aparent, odata ajunsi in aceasta pozitie se blocheaza, parcurgand oricat a mai ramas din traseu asa. Din pacate, acest defect al speciei afecteaza intreaga fauna. Efectele comportamentului pot fi usor observate in portiunile mai abrupte, locuri care au tendinta sa il declanseze, si unde, ca rezultat al racaielii, gheata si pietroiele abunda. Din fericire, evolueaza repede. Iar uneori, nu toti ajung parte a speciei hai-tecilor.

- Hai-Tecii – Exista doua ramuri ale acestei specii – skiorii si sbowboarderii. Aparent neinruditi, acestia au stramosi comuni, materialul genetic fiind aproape identic. Ambele specii pot fi identificate dupa invelisul corporal strident, bineiteles de marca. Schiurile sau sbowboardurile sunt si ele stridente. Daca cei din jur nu observa echipamentul, acestia au grija sa comunice intre ei zgomotos pe aceasta tema. Partea buna e ca cei din jur sunt la curent cu preturile si tendintele din domeniu.

- Educatorii - Specimenele acestea sunt insotite constant de niste masochisti care vor si ei sa devina parte din tagma partiasilor. Nu se stie ce au educatorii cu invatacei lor dar dupa racnetele de genul “tine be mainile in fata, ce p&^% mea ti-am zis”, e clar ca exista o problema inte ei.

- Crescatorii - Sunt inruditi cu educatorii, insa exista diferente evidente. Adultii speciei sunt insotiti de unu sau mai multi tineri ai speciei. Copilasii, majoritatea purtatori de cagula, indiferent de conditiile meteo, se baga in fata la coada, calcand pe schiuri pe restul si strigand in gura mare “hai ma tata”. Adultii speciei isi motiveaza comportamentul cu vorbe de genul “ce ai mai, e si el copil”. Daca vre-un factor extern le afecteaza trista existenta atunci acestia zic ceva de genul “nu vezi mai ca e un copil aici”.

Bineinteles exista multe alte specii care populeaza partiile. Multe dintre ele evita punctul de atractie numita coada de la telescaun pe cat posibil, din acest motiv fiind greu de identificat. Aici, dragi cititori, e randul vostru sa spuneti ce specii ati identificat.

Powder To The People – Sinaia Comments Off

It is said that when you love your job Monday is a great day… I don’t know who the hell said that and I’m sure that guy didn’t do much during his weekend. I like what I do at my job and Mondays are not so bad… sometimes. But today it was like the song goes – just another Manic Monday (except for the kissing Valentino part)

And the reason for this was the grrrrreat fun we had yesterday, Sunday, ’cause that’s our fun day, yee.

Yesterday, on the beautiful day of March the 15th 2009, me and my brother Adrian got up at 6:30 AM and away we drove towards Sinaia, half hoping that the ski lifts will work. And the damn things did! And at around 10, we were looking down, from the top of the mountain and this almost untouched powder. Almost because some guys were there before us. It had snowed the previous day and because of the high winds no ski lift had worked so Sunday morning came in with sunny skies and untouched slopes.

First run was fantastic! With my non existent deep snow skiing skills I spend more time searching for my skis than actually skiing but it was great.

Thanks to the shitty TV stations that see terror everywhere and that preached about the horrible weather conditions and high avalanche risk there were fewer people than usual and most of them were speeding down the slopes with skill and shouting out with joy like maniacs.

Adrian, who’s skiing is a few levels above mine was in his element. While I spend 1 hour at Miorita waiting fir my semi-decent chicken soup he did 3 runs with some guys riding fat Armada skis.

Days like this really make Mondays seem shitty and Sinaia seem the best place on earth. It makes you forget all the bad things about the slopes and people there. But that’s another story :).

This article is part of a series of articles (both in Romanian and English) I call “Sinaia my love”