Thus begins the season of gift-giving! I'm curious what you Idiots are gifting your loved (or slightly tolerated) ones this year. Good ideas/bad ideas? Also, any interest in a TIB gift exchange? I'm doing Reddit's Secret Santa and it was pretty cool last year. For me, I'm a big fan of "Buy It For Life" and I've gotten some solid ideas, like Lodge cast iron cookware, Saddleback wallets and Zojirushi...stuff from here. https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/3td027/black_friday_cyber_monday_megathread_post_any/
The only people who get an actual "gift" from me at Christmas are Li'l Bandit, my nieces, and any woman that I am dating/fucking or trying to date/fuck. As for everyone else, it's cards for the lot of 'em. I also usually get myself something; this year I just bought the latest Monster Magnet CD, The Last Patrol. In the past, my self-presents are usually car parts (past examples include an MSD ignition coil, a new ring and pinion set and a posi-unit, interior parts, etc). EDIT: How would we do a TIB gift exchange?
The way I envision it working is this: - TiBettes send me boobie pics; in exchange, I let them know how many times I masturbated to them by Dec 25.
I like to get my Mother gift cards to LL Bean (she likes gift cards) and I pick out a few shirts from LL Bean for my Dad (he wouldn't pay that much for a shirt for himself). Plus right now they are 10% off everything and you get a $10 gift card if you spend $50, so if I buy what I want over a couple days I get multiple $10 gift cards for myself.
Timely thread. Right now I'm looking up hotels in Crested Butte specifically, though I'm open to other ideas both in CO and other states. Gonna surprise my wife with a ski trip; already got the baby sitter (mother in law) lined up. Any recommendations?
1. Beaver Creek. There really is no comparison. It's easy to get to, if you fly into EGE (Eagle-Vail), or it's not that bad of a drive if you fly into Denver. There is all sorts of terrain for every level skier. It's expensive, though. Not much in the way of night life in Beaver Creek village, though, so you'll have to find that down in Avon. 2. Vail. Beaver Creek's big brother. Still convenient, not quite as expensive to stay. (By the way, if you're going to be there for more than a few days, the same lift ticket will get you to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. So, if you stay in the Vail Valley, you can pretty easily take a bus from there to on of the others for a change up.) Vail was the largest single mountain resort (lift-access terrain) in the world - then, they opened Blue Sky Basin and doubled it. The night life is way better in Vail. Free buses / shuttles all over Vail and Beaver Creek. Yes, they are both corporate and big, but the options allow you to jump around and find short lift lines or groomed cruisers when your legs are tired. For reference, I have also been to Winter Park, Breckenridge, A-Basin, Keystone, and Steamboat Springs in CO, Jackson Hole, WY, and Park City, UT. (Plus, Winterplace and Snowshoe, WV and all the ones in NC, but going to any of those won't be much of a present.) I pretty much only go Beaver Creek, now, because nothing else makes me as happy as that place.
I've done Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, Beaver Creek, Vail, Loveland and A-Basin (And everything south of Vermont, but those don't count). Steamboat is my favorite place on earth. If I was employable there, I would up and move without hesitation. The skiing is amazing and the town is beautiful. It has a pretty awesome night life and some great restaurants. However since you are sober now it may not be the best place. Winterpark has a great selection of green slopes if you are both beginners. However there is no night life. We had trouble finding places to eat after 8pm there last year.
This generally does not impact it. I just came back from a week in Maui, as the only sober person of about two dozen. I wish I could still drink, but being around someone else drinking (such as my wife) does not put me at risk for starting again. I'm, no longer, one of those guys who has to completely remove himself from a situation in order to not go Animal House and relapse.
That's an excellent recap. I don't know your skiing level Revenge, but for mid level, Beaver Creek is perfect cause there is a lot of diversity of runs but its all immaculately groomed and the service/friendliness/amenities can't be beat. Ive been going on ski trips with my Dad and younger sister since I was about 15 and for a few years we went all over; Utah, all of the Vail Valley, Tahoe. But then when I was in college, my youngest sisters got old enough to ski and my Mom picked it back up again, and its been all BC since. If I go with my friends, we still bounce around and obviously drink in Vail at night. But Beaver Creek is just a great skiing experience, and if you're just looking for food and a few drinks at night, Beaver Creek Village will suit you fine. A bit bourgeois, fine a lot bourgeois, but nice as fuck. And if you rent a car, you're only 15 min from everything else food and entertainment wise. Also, if you've never done it, I'd suggest flying to Denver and driving up into the mountains. It sucks a bit at night, but its a really cool 2 hour drive through scenic terrain and some old mountain and mining towns.
Do not, I repeat, Do not drive west on 70 on a weekend morning. You will be stuck in traffic jams with 100k other people going from Denver to the resorts for a day trip. You want to avoid going east on 70 on weekend afternoons heading back toward Denver also. If you do not follow this advice, you will have a bad time. It is a very beautiful drive. Just not at those times.
I hate Winterpark. The only thing it has going for it, is it's the biggest one that's closest to Denver. The connectivity from one section or bottom of a lift to another sucks. Or, it did the last time I was there about 8 years ago. It was about 5 years in between my visits there, and I was hoping it had improved in between. It had not.
I snowboard, so I feel your pain about the connectivity. There is a ton of pushing. However, I find the Mary Jane section to be some of the most fun in bounds skiing I've encountered in Colorado. I also like that they have several distinct "territories" with completely different types of skiing.
Gift ideas for frequent business travelers? I don't at all so I'm at a loss, but they recently took a job that is about 50% travel so it seems like a gift that helped traveling would be appreciated.
Brookstone eye covers and neck donut. Yes, they'll look like a fool. Yes, they will keep those items in their carry on at all times.
My dad's dead, I don't speak to my only brother and fuck my weird-ass extended family. So it's just my mom and I, and we've made an agreement that we don't need to buy each other gifts because it's a pain in the ass. There's my grandpa too, but he's cool and doesn't give a shit about gifts either. I'll probably get the girlfriend a nice gift. There are a few books she's had her eye on lately, so I'll probably go that route. She puts my genitals in her mouth on a regular basis without being asked, so it's the least I can do.
I have given up on buying my wife presents, no matter what she always finds a reason not to like or use what ever I give her. I am not talking cheap shit either she has 2 nice coach purses I bought for her a few years back that sit in a closet, diamond necklace she had to have in a jewelry box for 4 years, shit she specifically asked for is still in the original packaging and never been touched so I am done giving her shit. I told her if she would like something to buy herself an amazon gift card from our joint account and spend away because of course we need another Kindle, the 4 she has are not nearly enough. If you are a bitter old man like I am, a good thing to do is give to a charity in someone else's name, I like St. Mary's Food Bank $1 equals 7 meals.
High quality noise canceling headphones. I travel quite a bit for work and they made a huge difference in my toleration for frequent flying.