Hello all,

Happy New Year to everyone! Irrational or not, I always feel refreshed and revived going into the new year. I find myself looking forward to the coming year’s challenges and opportunities and I can ride the feelings of goodwill and fellowship of the holidays for at least a month or so. (Somewhere around the end of February I get a bit over it…I haven’t done any winter sports for a few years and those activities used to keep me going.)

I plan to resist the genetic imperative many Vermonters seem to have—I will not be moving to Florida anytime soon. But I do find myself wishing for warm weather much earlier than I used to. I have a feeling though that I will become a fan of winter again once my kids can ride a ski lift. Some of the best times I have had have been on mountains in the winter, and I can’t wait to share the experience with them. In the meantime I’ll take warm feet and good books.

This week’s articles are a bit more on the technical side of things; practical info for experienced users and an intro to some more advanced ideas for beginners looking to try something new. Thanks for reading.

Liam
liam@smalldog.com