The Season Looks Promising!

Snowbird Receives First Snowfall of the Year

Storm Leaves 12 Inches on Hidden Peak, 6 at Base

Snowbird, Utah – Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort received the first snowfall of the season Friday evening when a strong system moved through Little Cottonwood Canyon depositing approximately one foot of snow atop 11,000-foot Hidden Peak and blanketing the entire resort.

“There is still work to be done on the new Peruvian Tunnel and Peruvian Express chairlift before winter arrives, but this first snowfall is exciting for everyone who loves to ski,” said Snowbird President Bob Bonar.

Snowbird’s Snow Safety Department does not officially begin seasonal snowfall records until Nov. 1 so this week’s snowfall will not count toward the annual accumulation that averages 500 inches of light, dry powder.

Offering the longest season in Utah, Snowbird is scheduled to open for the 2006-07 season Saturday, Nov. 18. Last winter Snowbird received 586 inches of snow enabling skiing and riding from the Tram until Memorial Day.

North America’s first ski area tunnel, the Peruvian Tunnel, will greet skiers and riders for the 2006-07 winter season. Additional upgrades around the resort include a new high-speed quad chairlift, storm monitoring with the Snowbird SnowCam and Cliff Lodge room renovations. Live shots of the current storm’s snow accumulation can be seen using Snowbird’s new SnowCam at www.snowbird.com/snowcam.

Go Utes... Too bad BYU (not really)

Utes Shut Out Utah State, 48-0

LOGAN, Utah (AP) - Brett Ratliff passed for three touchdowns and Utah returned two interceptions for scores to beat Utah State for the ninth straight time, 48-0 Saturday in the most one-sided game in the history of the state rivalry.

Derrek Richards caught two touchdown passes and backup quarterback Tommy Grady threw his first touchdown pass for the Utes (2-1).

Utah outdid the 1944 Utes, who shut out the Aggies 47-0 in Logan, for the biggest blowout in the series and got the first shutout since Utah won 19-0 in 1990.

And it was clear early on that Utah would continue to own the series with the Aggies (0-3). Eric Shyne stepped in front of a pass on the second play from scrimmage and returned the interception 21 yards for a touchdown. Stevenson Sylvester added a 45-yard interception return in the third quarter on one of six turnovers by the hapless Aggies.
Utah State still hasn't scored an offensive touchdown this season and has been outscored 106-7 this season.

Ratliff was 18-for-26 for 182 yards before getting to rest in the fourth quarter. Grady came on and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Fano Tagovailoa, which put Utah ahead 48-0 in the fourth quarter as Utah State coach Brent Guy stood seething on the sideline.
Utah State finished with 98 yards of offense. Leon Jackson completed 4 of 15 passes for 39 yards and Marcus Cross had 13 carries for 27 yards, but they botched Utah State's best scoring chance with a bad option pitch on first-and-goal from the 7-yard line.

It was that kind of game for the Aggies.

On Utah State's second play of the game, Shyne stepped in front of a sideline pass by Jackson and ran 21 yards for an easy touchdown just 1:06 into the game. The Utes forced a quick punt on the next possession and added a 38-yard field goal by Louie Sakoda with 8:46 left.
After another punt, which Marquis Wilson returned to the 41-yard line, Ratliff rolled out and found Richards alone in the end zone for a 17-0 lead.

The Aggies could have kept the halftime margin to 17, but tried an option on third-and-5 from the 25 and Jackson's pitch was behind Cross. Eric Weddle recovered the ball for Utah at the 24 and on second down Ratliff threw it to Richards, who caught it and got both feet down before getting knocked out of bounds. The play withstood a review and Utah led 24-0 at halftime.

Lunch with Katie...

Some of y'all have heard that I was able to have a private lunch with Director Paulison, Katie Couric and Lori Beecher, a sr. producer from CBS. Needless to say, that Dir. Paulison and I were genuienly curious to what Katie Couric is like. We were so pleased to end up eating with one of the most genuine people I have ever met. She was truly interested in what we were doing in NYC, what Chief is doing to improve our embattled agency, etc. A mental note: her high school in Arlington played Oakton High when she was a student, so we may have to send her an Oakton beanie or something along those lines.

It was a great lunch and we were absolutely thrilled that she and Lori would take time from their hectic schedules to sit down with the like of us.
Oh- and to live up to a promise- here's a link to Katie's blog:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/couricandco/main500803.shtml

My week time in NYC, with the remembrance of 9/11

This past week, I was in NYC for a couple of days immediately following the anniversary of September 11th.

With my work travels, I was fortunate enough to visit the fire fighters of NYFD's Ten House. The Ten House, is actually located directly across the street from Ground Zero and they lost a number of men while rescuing victims from the World Trade Center. The couple of hours that I spent at the Ten House and the Tribute WTC Visitor Center (next door to the Ten House) are some that I will never forget.

While at the Ten House, we just hung around with the fire fighters and poked around the station while FEMA Director David Paulison spent some time with the men and expressed his personal appreciation and the appreciation of FEMA for their efforts. Some of you may know that my boss, Director Paulison, climbed the ranks of the Miami-Dade Fire Department to become the Chief and then served in the Bush Administration as the U.S. Fire Administrator. For Chief, this visit was emotional- as it was for the rest of us. The Ten House also features the 9-11 Memorial Wall, where President Bush stopped for an OTR visit. The wall is a 6 ft. x 56 ft. bronze relief reflecting the efforts of the fire fighters. To see a link of the wall, click below:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/06/10/nyregion/20060611_MONUMENT_FEATURE.html.

Hope you all have a chance to visit the area.

PRESCHOOL!

Last week, we saw Noah head to Preschool for this first time. This is a big deal for all of us in the Walker fam. We're talking 3-day a week preschool where Brenda drops off Noah and he's there without us.

While he did have one day a week last year with someone from the ward, we're handing him over to the Methodists. It seems that this is going to be a great experience. Below are some pictures from the day that Brenda and I went with Noah so that we could meet the teachers and see what is going to happen while he's there. Notice that the summer mohawk has been buzzed...Brenda was worried that he'd get the trouble maker label with it. I thought it was more chick magnet than anything.




 

Noah's Mohawk

For a while now, I've been begging Brenda to give the little man a Mohawk. Not Travis from Blink 182-style, rather Beckham. He loved it while we had it. While some kids have the traditional summer buzz, I hope to get Noah hooked on the traditional summer mohawk.



 

Welcome to the new blog

To all that are clicking- you are either desparate to see pictures of Noah, or you're genuinely interested in the Walkers of Virginia. We're excited to finally getting around to setting up a blog for y'all to see. More postings (and pictures) to come...