MrAndrewBradley

Although it had been less than five days since leaving the Bradley Lodge those five days made a huge difference. Lots of snow had melted, there was little to no chance of loosing power, Calaveras County had officially been called a disaster area , Highway 4 was open with no chain requirements and the Bradley Lodge welcomed nine less people. All of that said we still had a great time. Jen enjoyed her first trip to the Lodge and her first experience snowshoeing at Big Trees , which although not nearly as white as it was a week prior was still beautiful and awe-inspiring. Back at the Lodge Spud and Tater came back to visit with their parent's, we celebrated two birthday's ... Jen's (which will be on Wednesday) and my Grandma's (which will be on Thursday), played a rousing game of dominoes and of course devoured amazing meals made by my mom and grandma. Thanks to all for another great weekend at the Lodge, this weekend ... dinner with Jen's family for her birthd...

Evidently strong winds and lots of snow equal massive power outages . This weekend we had 14.5 (there is a baby on the way) family members at the Bradley Lodge and we were without power for about 25 hours (by far the longest outage we know of, normally if we loose power - which is rare - it is only for a few minutes up to an hour), making do with BBQ Papa Murphy's pizza, using LED lanterns from Target and flashlights to play Catch Phrase and actually taking the time to talk to each other without the Wii or computers on in the background. While the power was out, Luke was still able to play with his cars (as we held flashlights up so he could see and amazingly he can crash cars into one another with or without electricity ... although he didn't really believe us when we said the TV/DVD player would not work). On Saturday my brother , dad, cousin's husband, aunt and I took a trip to Bear Valley for some skiing/snowboarding, where they did actually have power (not s...

I tried to post something last week on Haiti , but despite having everything typed and ready to go, I just could not publish it for some reason. Now a week after the devastating earthquake I have decided to re-write the post and actually publish it. I was at the gym last Tuesday when the earthquake struck and thanks to the power of Social Media ( Twitter to be exact) I read that an earthquake had struck Haiti and the city was in ruins. Sadly, my first thought, was "I hope Labadee is okay" ( Royal Caribbean 's private beach, it was beautiful when I was there a few years ago and now I am happy to say they are using their resources to help the people in Haiti with food, water and other supplies). That thought was of course before I saw pictures of the devastation or heard death toll estimates . Once I got home and saw the pictures my heart broke, what could I do to help? What would relief organizations be doing to help? How would supplies get into a country in rui...

Despite using Google Maps for many of my mapping needs, especially when figuring out how long it will take me to get to an interview from my house , I have never actually checked to see what my house looks like on Google Street View . Was it still the sales center? Was the house under construction? Have they been by recently? Did I live here? Well, it was option number two, under construction. For information on my last Street View post click here .

Today Jen and I took a snowboarding adventure to Sierra-at-Tahoe . After a quick stop for caffeine at Starbucks we made it to Sierra-at-Tahoe, got our rental snowboards and waited for our lesson to start. Although I had technically been snowboarding once before , it had been a few years and after my first experience I was sore for days, so we stayed in the beginner lesson and learned the basic technique before venturing out on our own. After the lessons I took a few runs and can now make it down the “bunny slope” without falling, although I will need to learn how to turn correctly, currently I prefer the “ falling leaf ” technique. Jen also did very well for her first time on a snowboard, and although she is a little sore, she said she will try it again, so that’s good news.

80,000 Californians Expected to Participate in Jamba Jump DayTM event on February 1, 2010 to Break Guinness World Record for the “Most People Jumping/Skipping Rope at the Same Time” Emeryville, CA – January 8, 2010 (NASDAQ: JMBA)-- Jamba Juice Company and The California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CAHPERD) announced today its shared mission to keep California’s children healthy and active with the 2010 Jamba Jump DayTM event—a mass attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the “Most People Jumping/Skipping Rope at the Same Time”. On Monday, February 1, 2010, at 9am, CAHPERD and Jamba Juice will lead Californians in schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, service organizations and clubs statewide as they jump rope simultaneously for 10 minutes—getting participant’s hearts pumping and encouraging heart-healthy living. Coordinated via live webcast and broadcast online, CAHPERD and Jamba Juice expect over 80,000 people to participate, b...

Now that 2010 has officially started, I decided to look back at some of the highlights and low-lights of 2009 as told through my my blog . It was a year of firsts, I bought my first car , I bought my first house , I attended my first Social Media Conference and for both good and bad, for the first time I was laid-off . I got to travel to exotic cities around California, like Ukiah and Cresent City with the Partnership for Prescription Assistance , meet new people, spend time with my family at the Bradley Lodge , see my nephew lots, help move my brother into his new home in Redwood City , help at a variety of Bayside events, including Thrive and Experience Christmas . I attended weddings of friends , played mini-golf , watched the Oasis of the Seas get built and set sail and so much more. 2009 was a great year and I look forward to job offers in 2010 and being able to spend even more time with friend and family as I continue through this journey called life.