Browse Month: February 2006

Time for a helmet?

Jes and I went to Tahoe this past weekend. On Saturday, we went to Squaw Valley and it started out rather dismal with snow, wind, and virtually no visibility. In fact, I took quite a tumble when I couldn’t see the terrain in front of me and did a nice faceplant. I got a mouth full of snow and tasted a little bit of blood from my lip. That was pleasant. After lunch, the sun finally came out and the rest of the day was awesome. We managed to find some powder and the back side wasn’t as windy. Squaw has a pretty accurate rating of their runs. Blues were real blues and black diamonds were pretty scary. On my last run I decided to take a run where the sign said “Advanced Only”. I just hate it when the mountain is so steep that you can’t see the bottom and it looks like you’re about to fall off a cliff. Luckily, it wasn’t a cliff and I managed to get down without injury. Phew!
…
On Sunday, we went to Alpine Meadows. The weather was great and the snow conditions were just as nice. Jes took the day off and hung out in the lodge all day. Boy, did he miss out. We found some powder on the back side and the some of the runs were nice and long. I took the terrain park with Vyl and landed a baby jump. Woohoo! Unfortunately, on the next run, I caught a nasty edge at the bottom of the run, lost control, and hit the back of my head pretty hard on the ground. That certainly ended my day. So, the question now is whether or not to get a helmet. I don’t want to look like a poser but hitting my head on the ground is hurty…what to do?

It’s finally Friday

What a crazy week. What a crazy January. It’s going to be a crazy February. Thank goodness it’s Friday. Most of you will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. I’m going to be shooshin’ through snow in Tahoe. Woohoo! Oh yeah, special thanks to the parents for watching the doggie again. You won’t have to take him next weekend though. We’re going to take him to Mammoth with us!
…
istockphoto update: my “broken glass” photo just hit 50 downloads and I’m at $85.90. I’ll be able to cash out my first $100 in no time!

*tap tap* Is this on?

I gave an inservice to the Instructional Assistants today and I had a “sucky comic” moment. I expected much of my presentation to be interactive and I was hoping for active participation and critical thinking from my audience. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly what I got. For example, I asked a simple question like, “what kind of activities can you do to build hand strength?” Not a single hand went up and instead I got blank stares and heard crickets in my head. *chirp chirp chirp* Actual crickets in my head like I was on some sit-com! I was thinking either these ladies weren’t understanding my question, didn’t have a clue how to answer me, or didn’t care. My 45-minute presentation was pure torture. By the end I had a little more participation but I walked away with a really confused feeling. So, I walked back to my portable with my head slumped and I assumed my inservice was a complete waste of time…as if I needed another blow to my fragile ego. Luckily, some of the teachers stopped me to tell me that they got a lot of positive feedback from their IAs. Apparently, they learned a lot and found it very helpful. Phew! Maybe I don’t actually suck…maybe.