Things I think are cool: Tobogganing

I went tobogganing tonight. It was fun and I think it is cool. One of the girls I was with had an "I heart tobogganing" shirt which I liked a lot. And I learned a new way to go down the hill. It is called a log cabin. First, 3 people lay beside each other on their backs. Then 3 more people lay perpendicular to them but on top of them and so on depending on how many are there. (Disclaimer: I was told not to attempt this with more than 9 people)

So yeah, tobogganing is cool in my books.

Back and forth from Calgary I go

I am back in Calgary right now. The office here in town is super busy and short staffed so the Saskatchewan office has been sending people to cover the holes. This is my lucky week (or two). So here I am, back in Calgary only a week after the end of my holidays took me away from the city. Sounds like I will be sitting at a low risk asbestos removal job all week. But the shift is 7am to 3:30 pm and that makes me happy because I will miss the worst of the traffic. And honestly, that is one of my biggest fears about this city.

Night.

How the sneaky ski-hill "tricked" me

Well, I figured out how to post a picture. A big thanks out to Maryanne. It is a good thing I have friends like her to explain to my brilliant self that to add a picture you press the "add image" button. Maybe it is not so hard to figure out how I was tricked into doing a black diamond run after all.

It was the second and final day of the big ski trip of 2006. I was starting to feel more comfortable with my skiing ability and decided that this year I was going to do a black diamond run. My first non-Prairie ski hill black diamond ever! But I was still pretty scared for a variety of reasons. Here are three.

1. I am not that experienced of a skiier and maybe I am still not good enough.
2. People can seriously hurt themselves doing these things even if they are good enough. Case in point, my expert skiing friend who broke his back last year.
3. I seem to have developed a fear of heights due to my recent mountain climbing experience.

So I hummed and haaed about it and finally the last run of the day was at hand. I stood with my friend Tim atop a hill called Bubbles. It was decent length of a run (but the bottom was still visible - just far) loaded with moguls and was nice and steep. The name Bubbles does not instantly inspire great fear I'm sure, but it was much scarier than it sounded. We are talking "bubbles" of snow and ice and rock. The kind of bubbles that would much sooner cause me to pop than I they. Tim looked at me for my decision and I am shamed to say that I chickened out. I started thinking about how the first and the last runs of the day are the most dangerous and I decided to put aside my pride and give into my fear and leave the hill black diamondless (Well, at least in my opinion - I had done a couple super super short black runs so short they are barely there).

But then it was number 23 that foiled me (it is the run on the bottom right hand side - you totally could not see the bottom of that one). I thought we were still on the green number 10 run that zigzags across the hill but we'd gone off on the blue that ends up with nowhere to go but out of bounds or down the black. Tim announced that I was going to do my black run after all. We took it slow and I was actually really pleased with myself. It was fun and I am glad I had to do it.

And so I send out warm wishes to Number 23, aka Race Place. I shall forever remember you as my first truly black and very diamondish ski run. Thanks for the good times.

Instructions for how to break in new hiking shoes

It is easy really. Two simple steps.

1. Hike for 2 hours in the Grand Canyon.
2. Climb a 2,000 foot mountain in Phoenix.

Now when I say it is simple, I mean that it is not complex. In that there are not many steps to remember. This would be an easy 4 mark exam question. However, the easiness in statement does not necessarily extend to application of the steps. The steps themselves vary in complication for each individual. Criteria that should be taken into account follows:
- individual fitness level
- fear or lack of fear of heights
- weather conditions
- motivation
- time constraints
- etc.

As promised, here is one of my stories. After the wonderful day at the Grand Canyon the blisters were out in full force. It has been so long since I had new shoes I totally forgot about needing to break them in. Silly me. Anyway, it was fine because I just did not wear them for the rest of the week. Then my grandfather asked if I wanted to hike up Camelback Mountain. It sounded fun so I said sure and took a look at the trail guide. There were two trails - Echo Canyon and Cholla. Both listed as strenuous and difficult. But I decided to tackle Cholla trail because it did not sound as busy even though it was quite a bit longer. Half way up and it was fine. Not so strenous or difficult. But then things got scary. The trail sort of disappeared most of the time and it became more of a 45 degree rock climb and occasional scramble. In a couple spots I even had to pull myself up when there were no footholds. It was tricky but more than "strenuous and difficult", this trail had become what I would classify and moderately terrifying. I will admit, my quads were burning a bit but the real problem was that on either side of me the ground disappeared and dropped, say 1000 feet or so. When I was facing up, it was not too big of a problem, but when I thought about coming back down, my legs would begin to shake, impeding my climbing ability. Perhaps I had not make the best decision to do this climb on my own.

I continued to the summit because, to be honest, I was too scared to go down. I would have thought skydiving and hiking around the Grand Canyon would tipped me off to my previously unknown fear of heights. But it took Camelback Mountain to do it for me. Although, I suspect it is a fear of going splat into the ground more than the actual height because I was fine once I reached the summit. And I don't think I would have fallen on the way down (although Grandpa says that 1 or 2 people slip and fall every year). But once at the top my decision was easily made to go down the other trail (Echo Canyon) when I talked to a girl that said the "path" is steeper but it is wider. I took it slow, lowering myself from rock to rock while still shaking a bit. Some people were slower than me and some were the same speed. But then there were they crazies who were jumping and running down this thing. One girl passed me on her way up. Then she passed me on her way down. Then she passed me again on her way up. And just as I was getting to the parking lot she passed me again. She did the whole mountain twice in the time it took me to get down. Hmm. I was fairly impressed. But she had about the most sour expression on her face that seemed to scream "Don't you dare try to talk to me and get out of my way!" I do not think we will be friends.

Well, that is my first story. I wish I knew how to put pictures on my blog because I would show you what the "trail" looked like. And how pretty the view from the summit was.

Broken cars and backs avoided!

I am back from my holidays and sitting at work about to leave for a quick indoor air quality assessment. Holidays are wonderful and I recommend them to everyone. The trick is to take a short enough one that you do not get too behind at work or a long enough one that you do not care anymore. This is the first time I have taken a long enough one and it was fantastic.

The rest of my time in Phoenix was a blast. Then I spent a few fun-filled days in Calgary before going skiing in BC. Unlike last year, no major breaking events of any kind occurred.

But now I really must calibrate some pumps and be off. Watch for upcoming stories such as my mountain climbing experience, how I was forced to ski down my first black diamond run and perhaps an expository essay on the effects of 2-4 hours in a hot tub. Not really though - because I do not actually remember what writing an expository essay entails. But does it not sound like it would be the right kind of essay to use to explore such a topic?

Day 5 - Happy birthday to me everywhere time

Well, worldwide I am now 25. Gone are the days of checking off the 18-24 box on surveys and questionairres. Now I have to check the 25 and up box.

I went shopping all afternoon with my aunt Val and my grandma. Any of you who know me well know that is not a common occurance. I did find 2 pairs of pants for $10 each at the Guess store which was the high point. Low point - absolutely no cute guys wandering the malls here in Phoenix. Or the restaurants. We went mexican food for dinner which was marvelous but no cute boys. Saskatachewan really does have an oddly high percentage of boys (per capita wise I mean). One of the many reasons I love living there. Along with the fact that pretty much anyone you talk to would know about "the shoe incident". What a great province.

Anyway, the birthday draws to a close and I was not involved in a motor vehicle accident. Sweet. Bye birthday - see you again next year.

Day 4 (and happy birthday to me - Saskatchewan time)

Well, it is my birthday in Saskatchewan! Unfortunately, since I am in Phoenix, I am pretty sure the date on this blog with be February 9. Oh well. The 10th is my actual birthday. Now I must decide how to celebrate my quarter-life crisis. Already bought a car recently for work, do not want or need to dye my hair, no plans to have an affair and I think those are usually the popular mid-life crises. So I am taking ideas if anyone has a good one.

So Day 4 has been a nice relaxing day. Went shopping a bit with my grandma and bought some ski pants (for skiing next week - there has been no snow in northern Arizona this year so guess what was on sale) and a book, watched a movie with the g'rents, finished a John Grisham novel I had picked up at the airport (which I really enjoyed - it had been awhile since I had read one but this had me hooked the whole way through), had dinner with my aunt and uncle and now am writig before I nod off to sleep.

Just wanted to mention that some serious other trivia has been added in the comments by Derek to a recent post.

Later gators. Wow - I cannot believe that I am 25. Yikes.

Day 3 - Grand Canyon

Words cannot describe. It was awesome. I want to go back and hike all the way down someday. Anyone up for a 4 day hike?

Day 2 of holiday journey

Well here I am in sunny Phoenix. And is it ever sunny. It was 82 degrees today. Excellent. It is Day 2 of my vacation. Yesterday was a very nice morning of packing, afternoon of driving and evening of laughing and chilling. I stayed with my friend Jess in Calgary getting up at 5:30 to head to the airport. While there I ran into a lady I know from church camp who was also on her way to Phoenix to visit my Auntie Lavina. So we chatted for a half hour or so and made plans to get together later this week. What are the chances?! The flight was good and then arrival in Phoenix included me doffing my runners and donning my flip flops. Oh how I love flip flops.

Grandma and Grandpa took me to lunch at the baseball field of the Arizona Diamondbacks and we saw, talked to and got our picture taken with Gonzo, the well-liked left fielder. I of course did not know who he was but pretended to. Wouldn't want to hurt his self esteem.

Anyway, so far it's been a good day 2. Tomorrow may very well be my favourite day of the holiday. Grand Canyon, here I come.

A bit of trivia?

I just had a delightful weekend. I was in Manitoba at a quiz meet. There was just under 300 teenagers in attendence and it really was a fun time. Plus I got to hang out with my friend Kara who lives there and who I rarely get to see. And now I am home and about to begin packing for my big vacation.

But first, some trivia. What is the only word in the English language (according to my source anyway) with 5 vowels in a row?

Ky, you already know so no guessing!

Gladness to the extreme!

I am copying Maryanne's idea. Let us make it a "Things I'm Glad About" kind of day.

1. I do not have to return to work for 18 days! And today was such a fufilling-ish type of day. New guy at work was out on a job site (a two week high risk asbestos abatement - big job for such a new employee). I told him before he left to call me if he had any problems. And not to take the old crappy microscope because sometimes it was hard to calibrate. He took it anyway and I was so happy that he called me when he had trouble calibrating it. It took us 3 hours on the phone but I helped him figure it out. It felt good. And I was not even tempted to say I told him so - I was just glad he put his pride away and called. I think he will work out just fine.

2. It is almost my birthday.

3. I played hockey this week and had SO much fun. And hopefully there will be more hockey in my future!

4. I get to go to Phoenix in 5 days.

5. I get to go to the Grand Canyon AND ride a train for my first time in 6 days.

6. I went to a seminar this week and sat beside a really cute boy. When I said the name of the company I work for, he told me he had applied there last year. Sadness to the extreme - we could have been office mates!!! But gladness to the extreme because I at least got to sit beside him at the seminar.

7. We have made a reservation for a nice little cottage to go skiing in 15 days!

8. I get to go to bed soon.

9. Tomorrow I am going to a quiz meet in Brandon Manitoba. I get to ride a bus with 40 teenagers. And yes, that actually makes me glad.

10. I am going to go eat a lemon square, my favourite dessert ever, right now.

Addition to post: I meant in 6 days I will ridea train for my first time. I realise now that it looked like I meant it has been six days since my last train ride. Which really would not be that special at all.