We went up the Bellearye Mountain again. This time we brought a small camera a made a mini-move. The movie is of me going down a green trail and Evan followed me down with the camera in hand. I'm glad that Evan didn't wipe out.
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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Bye-bye Puppy Place
Route 9 in Dutchess County is dotted with strip malls and destination malls. These malls have every type of stores to satisfy any consumers' needs, from the big name s like Macy's, Dick's, Wal-Mart to the mom and pop shops such as Futon King and Wits Construction.
Recently, I found out the Puppy Place has gone out of business and all its contents were removed from the store. The Puppy Place's business was exactly as the name implied. It sold puppies. Puppies were places in children's playpens on hard linoleum floor. Each playpen has a bowl of water, a bowl of food, a blanket, and some chew toys. Everytime we went in there to pet the puppies, parents and childrens ooh'd and ahh'd around each pen.
The place was clean and neat, but I still felt that something wasn't right. The puppies looked well-kept, well-feed, and cared for. But it's wrong to charge $1000 for a puppy when there are many puppies in the local ASPCA shelter about 4 miles away.
Now that the Puppy Place is out of business less than a year after it opened, maybe it's a sign that even in a community where every household has at least one dog, people are not going the shell out the big $$ for a life that was solely created to generate cash. I will miss going into the Puppy Place to pet the puppies every couple of weeks, at least I know now there will be one less place to keep the supply of puppy-mill puppies in my consumer-centric neighborhood.
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Recently, I found out the Puppy Place has gone out of business and all its contents were removed from the store. The Puppy Place's business was exactly as the name implied. It sold puppies. Puppies were places in children's playpens on hard linoleum floor. Each playpen has a bowl of water, a bowl of food, a blanket, and some chew toys. Everytime we went in there to pet the puppies, parents and childrens ooh'd and ahh'd around each pen.
The place was clean and neat, but I still felt that something wasn't right. The puppies looked well-kept, well-feed, and cared for. But it's wrong to charge $1000 for a puppy when there are many puppies in the local ASPCA shelter about 4 miles away.
Now that the Puppy Place is out of business less than a year after it opened, maybe it's a sign that even in a community where every household has at least one dog, people are not going the shell out the big $$ for a life that was solely created to generate cash. I will miss going into the Puppy Place to pet the puppies every couple of weeks, at least I know now there will be one less place to keep the supply of puppy-mill puppies in my consumer-centric neighborhood.
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Friday, December 7, 2007
First ride of the season
Evan and I took a day off from work and headed to our local mountain, Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills. Evan bought new board, jacket, and pants, the whole package. I even bought a new jacket. We were totall psyched for the first ride. Belleayre was great last year when we went after the Valentine's Day snow fall.
The mountain was just as nice as I remembered. Since it was the Friday before the peaked season started, there were no more than 30 cars in the parking lot. The mountain belonged to us. Even with only 14 of the 47 trails open, the condition was great. Machine-made snow powdered the opened trails. Without the normal weekend crowds, the trails were powdery the entire day. I even had the opportunity to sneak behind the "closed trail" sign to get a run at the pure powder trail. Reminds me of Utah. Evan wasn't so fond of that run. He ran over couple of rocks and scratched up his new board. Oh well.
Belleayre is by far the better ski resort than Hunter Mountain which is about 20 minutes closer. I feel like everyone in NYC who ever ski'ed or thought of skiing go to Hunter. Everytime I went to Hunter Mountain, I can barely ride for more than 2 seconds before performing a giant slalom move to avoid a hapless skier.
Belleayre has more varied trails, friendlier staff, less crowd, and better terrain. It is definitely worth the extra 20 minutes drive.
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The mountain was just as nice as I remembered. Since it was the Friday before the peaked season started, there were no more than 30 cars in the parking lot. The mountain belonged to us. Even with only 14 of the 47 trails open, the condition was great. Machine-made snow powdered the opened trails. Without the normal weekend crowds, the trails were powdery the entire day. I even had the opportunity to sneak behind the "closed trail" sign to get a run at the pure powder trail. Reminds me of Utah. Evan wasn't so fond of that run. He ran over couple of rocks and scratched up his new board. Oh well.
Belleayre is by far the better ski resort than Hunter Mountain which is about 20 minutes closer. I feel like everyone in NYC who ever ski'ed or thought of skiing go to Hunter. Everytime I went to Hunter Mountain, I can barely ride for more than 2 seconds before performing a giant slalom move to avoid a hapless skier.
Belleayre has more varied trails, friendlier staff, less crowd, and better terrain. It is definitely worth the extra 20 minutes drive.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2007
One week of $50
We survived, kind of. I didn't spend my $50 during the weekdays. I didn't even spend it on Saturday. However, Sunday, we went to BJ's to get some grocery and stuff. But, I saw something that I really really had to have, an Oregan Scientific digital thermometer that shows indoor and outdoor temperature on one screen. The information is sent wirelessly. Definitely cool and I've been wanting one for a while.
I gave in and bought one with the extra money I saved fro the $50. Granted, I overspent the $50. As I walked out of BJ's, I felt defeated. I lost, I spent money that I should not have.
New week is starting, another $50. Hope I can do better.
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I gave in and bought one with the extra money I saved fro the $50. Granted, I overspent the $50. As I walked out of BJ's, I felt defeated. I lost, I spent money that I should not have.
New week is starting, another $50. Hope I can do better.
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