Page 5 of 7

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:22 am
by BruteForce
I sure hope you're really into winter sports. Being cooped up that long in that amount of snow would put me into massive depression.

How are you getting to work? Just working remote?

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:27 pm
by Ken
Completely INDISPUTABLE PROOF....your RANK of "my fed ex driver wades through snow is.." is 100% accurate.

Image

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:25 pm
by hemingray
I really think there is an ad in there somewhere - the picture of the guy in the snow at the door with the letter is priceless!

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:05 am
by hemingray
A couple of pictures that folks took of the rotary snowplow on the railroad are here:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... SPMW%20209

Now that the RR is open, train after train have been going by here. Apparently it was closed for over 4 days because of two avalanches and some derailed equipment.

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:36 pm
by GrizzlyGuy
BruteForce wrote:I sure hope you're really into winter sports. Being cooped up that long in that amount of snow would put me into massive depression.

How are you getting to work? Just working remote?
Work? What's that? :wink:

My wife and I can actually work anywhere there is an internet connection so we're good to go. I do a lot of skiing and now that Squaw Valley extended their season through Memorial Day {WooHoo!} I'm going to pick up one of their spring passes. That should delay my depression until June.

I'm also kicking around the idea of trying out kite skiing. A bunch of guys do it on the ridge across the street from my house. Their kites tug them up the ridge from the other side, then they go whizzing back and forth along the top. Unfortunately I can't find anywhere that offers lessons, and strapping on a big kite without knowing what I'm doing doesn't sound like a good idea.
EigerMike wrote:just awesome GG!!! =D> i was going to ask about your fed ex driver but no need to now!
Ken wrote:Completely INDISPUTABLE PROOF....your RANK of "my fed ex driver wades through snow is.." is 100% accurate.
LOL, I was so shocked to see him that I almost forgot to grab my camera. I'm glad I remembered it or you guys might have thought that the whole FedEx-dude-wades-through-snow story was more of my usual bullshit. :lol:
hemingray wrote:I really think there is an ad in there somewhere - the picture of the guy in the snow at the door with the letter is priceless!
Yeah, I need to write my letter (including photos) to Fred Smith tomorrow. I think I'll FedEx it to him. :)

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:22 am
by Ken
GrizzlyGuy wrote:I'm also kicking around the idea of trying out kite skiing. A bunch of guys do it on the ridge across the street from my house. Their kites tug them up the ridge from the other side, then they go whizzing back and forth along the top. Unfortunately I can't find anywhere that offers lessons, and strapping on a big kite without knowing what I'm doing doesn't sound like a good idea.
Knowing your flight history? Good idea!

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:07 am
by GrizzlyGuy
Ken wrote:
GrizzlyGuy wrote:I'm also kicking around the idea of trying out kite skiing. A bunch of guys do it on the ridge across the street from my house. Their kites tug them up the ridge from the other side, then they go whizzing back and forth along the top. Unfortunately I can't find anywhere that offers lessons, and strapping on a big kite without knowing what I'm doing doesn't sound like a good idea.
Knowing your flight history? Good idea!
LMFAO! That's exactly what I was thinking. When I was younger I didn't have enough sense to quit while I wasn't that far behind or dead, but now I think I know to not even try while I'm still ahead/alive. Some evidence of younger thinking, note the purple cast on my wrist:

Image

The cast is there from one of my hang glider crashes. I broke the stupid Navicular bone, the cast was going to be on for months, and the idea of not flying for that long was killing me. So... I talked a sailplane instructor into letting me learn how to fly those. Of course once he saw the cast and heard my explanation for it, I REALLY had to do some sweet talking. When the FAA guy later showed up for my qualify-for-license check rides, I still had the cast and he almost wouldn't fly with me. Fortunately he had a big ego and figured he could save us no matter how badly I screwed up. :D

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:23 pm
by hemingray
You live SO near the edge...! ;-)

I've always preferred something like a Continental O-200 up front.

Image

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:54 pm
by GrizzlyGuy
hemingray wrote:You live SO near the edge...! ;-)

I've always preferred something like a Continental O-200 up front.
No fair, you've got an engine. That's cheating! [-X

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:00 pm
by Ken
I'll have to find my Cessna 152 photos.

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 4:26 pm
by GrizzlyGuy
Here is the letter that I FedEx-ed on Friday to Fred Smith, the President and CEO of FedEx:
Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to bring your attention to a remarkable and exemplary act performed by a dedicated employee of your company. The story that I am about to relate may sound unbelievable so I have included a number of photos as documentation.

I live in the Sierra Nevada mountain range above the town of Truckee, CA at an elevation of 7100 feet. As you may have heard in the news, we recently had a multi-day snow storm of historic proportions. Interstate 80 and other highways were intermittently closed due to the heavy snowfall and winds, and my street was closed for an entire week as the volume of snow overwhelmed the ability of snowplows to keep it cleared.

When the storm finally broke on the morning of Monday, March 28th we began the arduous task of digging out. No visitors or deliveries were expected as our street was fully engulfed by snow. I heard a person calling out “Hello, FedEx here!”, opened my front door, and was greeted by your employee standing in waist-deep snow with an overnight envelope addressed to me in his hand. I was pleasantly amazed and asked him how he had made it up to our house. He said that he had hiked up from Bear Meadows (the closest point that had been reached by the snow plows thus far). Bear Meadows is approximately 0.9 miles away, and 350 feet lower in elevation relative to my house. Your employee had no snowshoes, so he had arduously slogged uphill through knee and waist-deep snow to accomplish his mission of delivering those important and time-sensitive business documents to me (FedEx Tracking Number: [redacted]). Unfortunately I don’t own a snowmobile and couldn’t offer him a ride back to his vehicle, so he had to slog back down the same difficult route.

I forgot to ask your employee for his name, but after a bit of research I believe that his name is [redacted]. I imagine that you can confirm this via the tracking number if you wish.

When my business partner and I co-founded our software company back in 1993, we decided to use FedEx for all product shipments to our customers. Building our company’s reputation was important and we didn’t feel that we could trust any other carrier to get the job done. This incident has confirmed for me that we made the right business decision and that our trust was properly placed. We will continue to use no other carrier and recommend FedEx to anyone who asks.

Thank you for running a great company with outstanding employees.

Sincerely,

[me/my title]
Among the pictures was a topo map excerpt showing the route he took.

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 4:39 pm
by hemingray
Nice! I hope the guy gets something for it - he deserves it!

Snow melted up there yet?

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:24 pm
by Ken
hemingray wrote:Nice! I hope the guy gets something for it - he deserves it!

Snow melted up there yet?

Yeah...nice letter. Grizzly's free yet?

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:49 am
by GrizzlyGuy
Most of the Grizzly Den roof is visible again. Those warm days caused some serious melting and compressing. If all this global warming continues, I might be able to get them out in June. [-o<

Re: My Grizzlies Are Gone!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:16 am
by hemingray
I think there was some of this global warming last year - didn't we get out into the Soda Springs area about that time last year?