It's Official!!!

I got my American Heart Association Heartsaver First Aid card today. I can attempt to bring you back from certain death! It probably won't do you any good because most people who need CPR will die anyway. But there is that rare case where it will keep enough pressure coursing through your little veins to deliver oxygen to your vital organs until an ambulance comes to take you away. In that case, congratulations! I will be a hero and you may survive.



They also taught me a bunch of cool stuff about more practical first aid. What's that you say? You're allergic to bees? If you can't administer your Epi pen, I can help you. A simple jab in your thigh and a little rubbing could be all that you need.

Whatever you do, don't sneeze

Holy hell. I sneezed at work this morning and felt like I was going to die. My chest exploded and all my intenal organs sprayed across the room as I sat in agony holding what was left of my torso. This is what I looked like after the big sneeze. ->

OK, so maybe it wasn't that bad, but it didn't feel very good. Plus my nipples aren't that bloody most of the time.

March

I didn't write at all in March. I'm sorry, I messed up.

It was a good month with great visitors. My dad came in town the first weekend in March and we had a great time exploring the slopes. But what I actually enjoyed the most was resting in the hot tub, watching the stars, and just conver-sating.

A few weeks later Shiloh came to visit. SO MUCH FUN!!! I just wish I was able to take more time off work while she was here. We still got in a good amount of skiing and got to hang out with my roommates a good bit. Her flight was scheduled to leave Sunday afternoon, but it was delayed. darn. Instead we cooked up a great dinner and got to spend more time together.

I bought my first set of skis and boots at the end of March. I got Lange WC 100 boots and K2 Apache Recon skis. They have made a huge difference in my skiing. I just wish I had got them earlier in the season. Then again, it just makes me appreciate them more.

Ohh the pain!

So it finally happened, I hurt myself skiing. I knew it was just a matter of time. Luckily it's not too bad.

Saturday I went skiing and I was in Blue Sky Basin on the way to The Grand Review. It is a pretty open area with scattered trees. Before and after the trees there are little jumps. I was planning on just skiing down and heading home because I was tired. But I couldn't resist taking a few little jumps on my way down. After all, what could it hurt? Well I found out it could hurt ALOT!!! I came up to a jump that dipped down a little and then shot straight up about 2 feet. Basically I ran into a wall with my skis and went flying. Both skis came off (luckily) and I landed on my right side with my right hand/pole under my ribs. Totally knocked all the air out of me. For several seconds I tried to get any air in or out, but nothing happened. After clearing all the snow out of my mouth, I eventually managed to gasp for a desperate breath of air. Damn did that hurt. I sat there for a second and tried to take inventory of the damages. Extremities seemed ok, may have broken a rib, head was ok. Gasping for air and crawling to my ejected skis a guy skied up to see if I needed help. I was so embarassed and I still couldn't really breath. i somehow told him I was ok, got back on my skis and SLOWLY made my way back. That took at least 30 minutes.

After changing clothes and eating lunch I went to the urgent care center in Avon. Luckily they were slow so I got in pretty quick. They took some x-rays and did their check. They couldn't see any broken ribs and it didn't appear that I had any internal organ damage. So they sent me packing with a rib brace and some pain killers.

Of course it had to dump snow on Sunday night. We got 14 inches of fresh, beautiful powder, and I was stuck wearing a corset and gasping for breath. So what lesson did I learn? I'll have to get back to you on that. All I know is I'm skiing tomorrow.

Thursday and Friday I go to Denver for a Workers' Comp Training session. They put me up in a hotel and all, so it's kinda cool. I'll get to see Robin Wednesday and maybe Thursday night for a few drinks before he takes off for the weekend.

This is what I do, I ski on you

Guess what I did today.... correct! I skied! It was perfectly clear out and the snow was pretty good. Most of the front side was groomed and great for skiing. Some areas, like Game Creek, that weren't groomed were pretty chunky. We got about 10 inches the last 2 days and then it got sunny. So it gets skied out during the day, freezes like that at night, and is chunky in the morning. I got some good pics while moving around today.

This is overlooking Game Creek. In the valley just to the right of the trees is close to where I live.

I signed up for a week long trial membership at the Vail Athletic Club. I did a yoga class for the first time in too long yesterday. It pretty much kicked my butt, in a good way. This is the only gym in the valley with a rock climbing wall, but it's not that great. And they don't have some of the equipment that I like to use. I'll probably try some of the other gyms before deciding that they are all too expensive and I can't afford them. At least I'll get about a month of free trials out of it.

Blah blah blog

Been a little while since I've blogged, so I'll give a brief synopsis. Weekend before last I went to Denver because it was President's day weekend. The slopes get stupid busy and I didn't feel like messing with the crowds. Plus I needed to go in for some shopping. Got a bunch of clothes and stuff for my place, spent way too much money, then got sick. Laid in bed all day Sunday and Monday and didn't feel that great until later in the week.

Last Saturday I took some ski lessons and they helped SOOO much. I have started to learn how to ski bumps and I can connect a few turns on blacks with bumps now. Sunday I went out all day by myself to practice what I learned. Fell alot, had a great time. I was going to take a bunch of pictures on Sunday but my battery died on my camera. For some reason the memory card in my brain isn't compatible with my PC, so I got nothing. This pic is from the class that I took on Saturday.

My dad is coming in town this weekend and I'm stoked to show him around the slopes and hang out. We'll have a great time.

Not much else going on. I've got to take a few days off skiing because my legs are exhausted from this weekend. I tried to go out on Monday, got about 2 runs in, felt like my legs were going to solidify and came back down. I'm hoping to do some night sleding later this week with my roommate. I'll do my best to take pics.

A little skiing...

This past weekend was all about skiing all day, drinking a bit, and spending time with good friends. Saturday I went to Vail with my roommates and we covered the whole mountain. I tried to learn how to jump, and it kinda worked for me. I tried one jump a few times. The first time I was way off balance and both skis flew off upon impact, I slid about 50 yards on the slope, and loved it. The second time my right ski fell off immediately after leaving the ground... bad news. This fall was not quite as fun, but the slide was just as great. I also spent alot of the day going as fast as possible straight down the slope, with as few turns as possible. It gets pretty freaky once you hit the moguls. I managed to glide over them somehow... thank God.

After a long day of skiing we headed to our favorite bar for a few drinks and some food. I forgot how quickly jack and coke can hit you when you're 1) tired/worn out 2) dehydrated a little 3) have an empty stomach and 4) live at 8000 ft. Came home and sat in the hot tub to relieve my sore body then drove to Breckenridge to meet Leslie, Ethan, and Robin. We had a good dinner then passed out early so we could ski all day on Sunday.

We got on the slope around 9 or 9:30 and skiied until 4. There were several breaks for mochas and booze. Breck was alot different and REALLY windy. Most of the runs seemed to have big moguls (which I don't like yet) and were wind blown and skiied out. We still had a great time. Went back to their condo for a little bit in the hot tub then some dinner. Headed home and crashed out.

This week at work has been pretty busy. I'm going over our data base to make sure all of our claims are current. That's about 200 claims and lots of details spread over lots of places. I went for a few runs on Tuesday and as I got on the lift I started asking myself what I was doing here. All my friends are in TX, and I was starting to feel a little home sick. I didn't think that would happen if I kept active enough and had fun. As I was riding the lift, I thought "what would I be doing if I was in Austin? Probably making more money, paying less for EVERYTHING, and not skiing 4 times a week." Maybe life here isn't so bad.

I can't wait for summer so I can start climbing and riding my road bike. I really came here for the summer, and the skiing is just a bonus.