Monthly Archives: January 2013

Kimberley Alpine Resort

Kimberley Alpine Resort is every beginners dream, and it is ideal for family fun with all the kids. Confident intermediary and advance skiers and snow boarders will most likely get bored after a few days. The green and blue runs are wide, long and not challenging. There are a few nice blacks but only three very short double diamonds. There are four mountain faces in Kimberley Alpine Resort: NorthStar Mountain, Tamarack Ridge, Vimy Ridge and Black Forest. These are serviced by three lifts: North Star Quad, Easter and Tamarack. Kimberley Alpine Resort is only about 40 min from Cranbrook, in south east British Columbia.

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NorthStar Mountain:

The North Star Quad running through the centre of NorthStar Mountain is the fastest and longest lift in Kimberley Alpine Resort. This part of the Mountain has mostly blue and green runs. I wish I had come to Kimberley Alpine Resort on my first trip, it must be an absolute pleasure to learn to ski or snowboard on these wide-open runs on NorthStar Mountain. They are also nice and long, giving you lots of time to practice before getting back on the high-speed lift again. These runs are also relatively flat and quiet. There were very few people when we visited in early January. All three the double diamond runs in Kimberley Alpine Resort is located on NorthStar Mountain, they are: Jack the Bear, White Pine and Robinson’s Ridge.

Kimberley Alpine Resort viewed from NorthStar Mountain

Tamarack Ridge:

Tamarack Ridge is more of a challenge. About 90% of the runs are black, with only a few green and blue runs, mostly going across the face of the ridge. The Tamarack Double Chair is a very old and slow lift starting at the very bottom of Tamarack Ridge. There are few longer and more challenging blacks on Tamarack Ridge: Good Luck, Tamarack, Tusk and Upshot.

Vimy Ridge:

Vimy Ridge is the smallest of the mountain faces at Kimberley Alpine Resort. There are 10 runs, three of them are nice fast blacks leading to the bottom of Easter Triple Chair. They are: Flapper, Fuzzy and Flash.

Black Forrest, my favourite part of Kimberley Alpine Resort

Black Forrest:

My favourite part of Kimberley Alpine Resort is Black Forrest. It has a bunch of steep black runs all through the trees. There are some great parts for glade skiing and having fun. The biggest problem is to get back to the top you have to ride the two slower lifts in the resort: Tamarack Double Chair followed by Easter Triple Chair.

The resort is entirely below the tree line, so it must be a great place to be on days when visibility is very bad. I am looking forward to visiting it with the kids.

Have you been to Kimberley Alpine Resort? Tell us your experience below:

Fernie Aquatic Centre

One of the kids’ favourite places in Fernie is the Fernie Aquatic Centre. The Fernie Aquatic centre has two pools, hot tub, a slide, diving boards, tarzan swing and steam room. We spend most of our time in the leisure pool that is nicely heated and shallow enough for the kids to still stand.

Outside view of the Fernie Aquatic Centre

At first the kids was so scared they did not want to leave our arms, but they have progressively gained more confidence. It is also amazing to see the peer pressure at work. Christopher was curious about the slide from the first visit but could not get himself to go down. The first visit with Diane they both went down the slide and didn’t want to stop. They ended up going down on their own.

Needless to say we prefer the hot tub at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) after a day out on the very cold mountain. Another great benefit of the time at the Fernie Aquatic Centre is the way the kids handle washing their hair at bath time. This used to be a mission every time, now they hardly notice water all over their faces when we do it.

The competition pool with a diving board and tarzan swing

The Fernie Aquatic Centre has a big 6 lane competition pool

The change room facilities at the Fernie Aquatic Centre are fantastic. There are a male, female and family change rooms. All equipped with 50 cent lockers, showers and toilets. There is also a swimming school and life guards on duty all the time. There are ample parking, vending machines for snacks and drinks, and a small shop selling swimming accessories.

The Fernie Aquatic Centre is located over the railway tracks from the historic town centre at 250 Pine Avenue, Fernie, BC: (Google maps have it under Fernie Leisure Services)

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I think the times spend at the Fernie Aquatic Centre will be some of the fondest memories our kids will take back home from Fernie.

I will updated the post with the operating times and prices later.

Hackers and Painters – Review

I first really learned about Paul Graham while reading The Launch Pad. He is the well know founder of Viaweb (now Yahoo Store) and Y Combinator, he’s also an exceptional essayist. I find his writings very convincing, well-structured and insightful. Hacker and Painters (2008) is a collection of his essays published on his personal site.

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The essays address topics ranging from the unpopularity of nerds, the similarities between hacking and painting as well as why and how startups create wealth. Although I struggled with some of the chapters later in Hackers and Painters, which was focused on programming languages, I really enjoyed this it.

His resounding argument leaves no doubt that a small team of good, trusted programmers can outperform big companies. It is also clear that this combined with the increased productivity, free from any bureaucracy, creates new wealth. This newly created wealth that is obtained by hard work, sacrifice, and persistence is something society should encourage.

In fact, he offers an alternative view on the much discussed gap between rich and poor. Unlike most economists that would argue that the widening gap between rich and poor is bad for any society, Graham sees it as a sign that innovation, which creates new wealth, is encouraged. This innovation and newly created wealth leaves the whole society better off. He argues that it is absolute poverty not relative poverty that you want avoid.

Most of the last half of Hackers and Painters, Grahams discusses programming languages. By using his own startup (Viaweb) as an example he shows that picking the best fit in a programming language can give a startup a competitive advantage. That is something that I would have never considered. He also goes on to describe what he considers to be the dream language.

==> Click Here to Buy: Hackers & Painters <==

Although I have already decided that I would like to learn to code. Hackers and Painters have forced me to ask a new question: Do I want to be a hacker?

I enjoyed Hackers and Painters, if you are interested in startups, hackers or programming, it is worth a read.

Do I want to be a hacker?

As you might know I have been reading allot about startups. And I have already expressed my desire to learn to code. I am progressing nicely with learning to code. At the same time I have continued reading books about software and startups.

I have found some great posts that were very helpful in understanding the context of learning to code for my intended purposes:

Should you hire a programmer or DIY

6 Things you need to learn to build your own prototype

The first reference to the term Hacker was in the book The Launch Pad. My understanding of a hacker has always been the Hollywood version: young kids trying to break into some system that they are not supposed too. It soon became clear to me that the term Hacker, which many startup and software books refer to, are not the same thing. So now I find myself asking a question I would have never thought possible only 6 months ago: Do I want to be a hacker?

In his book: Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham talks about Hackers throughout the entire book. He also put me onto an essay by Eric Steven Raymond called ‘How to become a hacker’. He describes hackers as people who tackle hard problems. By trying to solve them, hackers help make the world a better place. Hackers are the people who did the hard yards to build the internet. Not the definition I had in mind.

I now have a much better understanding of open source software and how this culture of hackers is connected to it. It feels like there is another world that I have always known of, but never took the trouble to explore. Now that I am, I can’t help asking: Do I want to be a hacker?

In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10000 hours to become a master at something… Do I want to be a hacker?

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues it takes 10 000 hours to become an expert in something. This is the argument that Peter Norvig makes in his post ‘Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years’. 10 years… is a long time. Do I want to be a hacker?

I have spent 10 years being in the ’business’ side of software/web business. The more I read about it, the more appealing this technical side looks. I don’t know if I am ready to make a 10 year commitment yet, but I am warming up to the idea.

Should we consider Homeschooling?

Before we had kids my wife, Ankie used to teach Sunday school. In her class there was a girl whose parents decided on homeschooling. At the time I never thought I would consider it as an option for our future children; like many other things we thought we would never do or consider doing before we had kids. But now, homeschooling is starting to look more and more attractive.

My biggest concern about homeschooling has always been the lack of social interaction with the outside world. But in the last year I have come to challenge many axioms I previously thought unquestionable.

So far we love our time in Fernie. I think it is highly probable that we will travel significantly for a long time. This will only be possible if we find a way to get the kids through school. Moving school every 6 months or year does not sound like a viable option. You also have school years that do not match to most of the northern hemisphere.

Should we consider homeschooling? Kids love the painting in Eunice’s school in Fernie

A few months ago I read James Dobson’s ‘Bringing up boys’. I don’t want to go into detail, but let’s just say he is a big proponent of homeschooling, mostly for religious reasons. This was the first time I started considering homeschooling. The one argument he offered was that team sport offer a great alternative for kids to learn about social interaction.

While reading Hacker and Painters by Paul Graham, I found more reasons to try and explore homeschooling. In the first chapter ‘Why Nerds are unpopular’ Graham gives his description of the American schooling system. He makes a very interesting comparison between school and prison. I have to say he makes a compelling argument.

Since we have been in Fernie, Eunice, our nanny, made a tremendous effort to stimulate the kids. She has found great online resources. The results has been amazing, they are learning more and more English words, started reading and writing the alphabet and number and started to enjoy drawing and creative activities every day and they love it.

So our plan is to start doing some detailed research on homeschooling and learn if it is a viable alternative for us.

What do you think? Should we consider homeschooling? Give your comments below: