February started with a ski trip to Tahoe with friends I met in 1998 via the Tennessee Air National Guard. I skied 40 miles the first day and another 37 on sore legs the second day. A couple of us won a few hundred dollars at blackjack just across the Nevada line. At one point, my ski got caught under a teen’s snowboard on a chairlift, and I fell off. My pride has healed; my left wrist has not. I began working in a new office fewer than…