2.02.2007

Air Time Went Snowboardign again. Fourth time this season. Yes, I'm starting to pick up momentum now that I'm on a roll. I went with my sister and her neighbor, who is actually a pretty good snowboarder. I prefer to go with me at my level or better because it really encourages me to get better. We started out with my yellow board. I switched out the bindings so that they fit and I realized that I REALLY like that board. Except for before, my bindings were to big, which doesn't give me enough support when riding. Now they are to small, which makes for a pain when you are getting on and off the lift and you can't get your foot out. Um, no, this isn't a military issued Gortex Jacket with rank insignia that I'm not supposed to wear in civilian clothes. Why do you ask??? I had to switch boards after a couple of runs, to my smaller board that I use more with jumps and free style. I'm more confident on it becuase I have more control I think, and its not as fast. I got a few pictures, my favorite are always the little things you don't generally capture on film, like the little nuances of snowboarding, like going along side a hill (instead of down) with no momentum. I call this the Snowboard Shuffle. Anyway, I did get a few action shots. I just cleared maybe a couple of inches off the ground on that one, and my sister got the tail end of the landing. The white thing you see is my pass btw. More Air that time, and as I look at this, I realize that I could probably do a little better if my feet were further apart. I have no idea what my right arm is doing, I never said I was very graceful, I just said I'm getting air and landing it. My favorite shot. To bad you don't see the shots immediately before and after this one, and it blurred slightly. It looks like i'm doing something pretty tight, like I'm doing toe grab or something. No, I'm just falling on my rear after completely biffing this jump. I then had to go to the lodge and recouperate for the next hour. I'll feel this one tomorrow for sure. Labels: Snowboarding -Risawn: # 10:18 PM - |

1.31.2007

Snowboarding Status So, what have I been up to? So far this year, despite having a season pass, I've been on the mountain a grand total of tree times, counting right now. Which means that I will never buy a season pass again because circumstances outside of my control (accidents, car rentals, weather, bad tires) somehow prevent me from going up to the mountain like I want to. I knew I should have purchased a Toyota. Last week I came up and got all my gear together when I noticed there was something strange in my ski goggles. On closer inspection, it proved to be Ferret Vomit. Damn Ferrets. I have also discovered I'm not in the shape I want to be, though I have gotten better. I own Four (yes, four) snowboard, though one, which is my first, is actually a cheap snowboard that I never really liked. Its a little to short for me for one. I hang onto it in case I have somebody who's a beginner that wants to learn, like some nieces of mine. The second board is a little longer, but still short, that isn't that good for just riding but is great for working on my airborne stunts. I'm really starting to get some air, now I have to work some nose grabs and other things into that mix and actually landing afterwards. The third board is my dragon board, which has step in bindings that is great for riding but I always face plant on it if I try to get any air. When I ride and almost biff it on this board, I usually recover almost immediately. THe fourth board is my latest, the yellow one, though I don't like it because the bindings don't fit. Its probably my nicest board, so when the season ending sales hit, I'll look at getting those replaced for next year. So the ones I generally take are the second and third ones. I was riding the dragon board earlier, didn't attempt anything other then to ride switch for a while (for how long I've been riding, I honestly should be better) and a brief jump that ended disastrously on my butt, and currently I'm in the lodge hoping that the this fog will clear up so I can try a few more runs for a bit. I think I'm going to ride the other board and hit the terrain park for a few more hours and head home. Sister's got a toyota. I've got the ski pass. We're heading up again Friday for the ski free day. I think that's the other thing keeping me off the mountain. I like riding with others. Labels: Snowboarding -Risawn: # 3:15 PM - |

10.26.2006

Sports of Choice I had another Dressage lesson today. This is going to be great for my butt when its all said and done. Now I do private lessons every Thursday, (and possibly going to do group lessons on non-drill Saturdays in Western Pleasure) and I think I'll be doing them into December, until Snowboarding proceeds to take up most of my time. Speaking of which, the Ski Swap is this weekend. I'll be off to buy a helmet for the season, in case I faceplant into any more trees, or have any more mysterious Memory Loss Episodes. Its been chilly lately, so I'm hoping it will be a kick butt winter season. Meanwhile, I keep saying this but I need to just break down and do it. I have to start running! *bleh!* Only because my last PT test was way to close for comfort. Labels: Horseback Riding, Meanwhile, Random, Snowboarding -Risawn: # 11:40 PM - |

4.22.2006

Lessons Learned. . . Next time I go boarding, I'm going to force the person I'm going with to get me some action shots. I confess, running into a tree and acquiring 14 stitches doesn't seem to sink into me that snowboarding can be a hazardous sport. Silver Mountain is still open, and the conditions were sweet. I've come to really appreciate the mountain (this is my third time boarding there) and the fact that it has great coverage and awesome runs. And a freakin' sweet terrain park! Its spring boarding. I'm now sunburned. Next year is the year I will be doing the dare devil stunts. I have a season pass and I'm not afraid to use it! *unless the gas prices get the better of me first.* Labels: Snowboarding -Risawn: # 10:20 PM - |

4.08.2006

Date # 2, complete with Stitches Me and 'Mike' went snowboarding on Thursday, with this being the last week up to the mountain, they were having a lot of specials going on, mainly a ski free week up at 49 degrees north. This was a good opportunity to get to know each other and hang out, so we took advantage of it. This was only my fourth time riding this season, so I decided to take full advantage of it, and whats more, I had a buddy to board with. Mike's pretty good, but not to the level that I'm at yet, so we hit chair one and took it to the top and just sort of winged the day. However, at the state I'm at now, just going up to the mountain and 'riding' gets a little boring after a while, I'm ready to get onto the next step. That's freestyle. You know, going airborne, doing the jumps, going through the trees, that sort of thing. You have a natural inclination to progress with something. No different with Snowboarding really. So me and Mike are trying different things, went through the terrain park (which was getting a little sad because of the snow melting thing.) One specific jump I tried had a pretty good start, however it went up quite a bit and then just dropped off more then I was expecting. I probably fell 7 feet or so. That kind of killed me on those, there was no transition after the jump, just sheer drop and the slow wasn't giving a lot of speed so it was kind of a THUNK kind of thing. Well, after trying out the terrain park a couple of times, I went back to the top of the mountain and tried discovered the trees. Trees are bliss. Along the green run from the top of the mountain are a lot of little trails weaving in and out of the trees, many of them landing in jumps going any which way. I had never really gotten into these, but when I finally did, I had a freakin blast! I didn't always get back up on my feet when I went airborne, and sometimes I would slow a little to much before I caught accurate speed to really clear the little heaps of snow people had piled up for the jumps, but I still had fun, wipe outs and all. Mike was a little self conscious at first with me being better then him and not wanting me to see him fall on his butt, but I reassured him that such was not the case. I happened to have plenty a fall on my own. I provided the guy with plenty of amusement that's for certain. Anyway, coming out of the trees one time, I had done this run at least twice before when all of a sudden a girl appeared out of nowhere and I had to try desperately to not hit her. I think I slowed down enough to cause limited damage, but I still knocked her off her skis and felt like dog crap after it happened. The grandmother assisting the young girl (who was probably no older then seven) was glaring at me from the background and all I could do was apologize profusely. Unfortunately, I think I just reaffirmed another skier's hatred of snowboarders. Definitely not my intention. However, the run-in with the girl kind of caught me off my guard, and I proceeded down further with caution. I didn't want to hit anybody else (and it had been so long since I had run into another person on the slopes, though it doesn't stop them from hitting me from time to time, and even getting an occaisonal push from some kid) that I started to take it easier down the slopes, checking myself more then I should instead of riding the suckers out. Still, I was having the most fun in the trees and we went back up the mountain one more time. Mike was lingering out in the slopes as I carved to and fro through the trees once more. Then I got a little lost in the trees and he didn't know where I went. Therefore, he continued down, hoping to catch up with me later. What really happened? Well, I was loving the trees and all, but I decided to get a little to close to one, and it certainly didn't love me back. I checked myself at the wrong time, saw a tree coming in my direction and thought "oh crap..." The image of that tree is seered, seered into my memory. If I were to go back up to the mountain a year from now, I could tell you exactly where that tree is. And no, no damage was done to it. It knocked me flat on my back and I lay there in a daze for all of ten seconds just thinking to myself 'ok, you're a bit jarred, don't cry, its not that bad." Truthfully, if I had gone much faster, this hit could have snapped my neck and I would have gone the way of Sonny Bono, sans skis. The only thing I had on me to survey the damage was a camera, so I snapped a picture of myself. I had blood on my chin. And I thought to myself "well, that takes care of that for the day." However, I actually felt good enough to get back on my board and continue the rest of the way down the mountain, so I did. I took the easy way down so as to not risk a fall, and I didn't know how well my equilibrium would hold up, but I did fine and felt no worries. In fact, by the time I got to the lodge, I could have gone back up the hill if not for the fact that I had a stream of blood running down my frontside from my chin. Mike caught up to me as I made it to the lodge, and his look of pleasure from seeing me turned into a look of 'what the hell happened to you?' I still had him take a picture of me. I didn't really look to bad, fortunately I hit in a place where it didn't show to much, but this thing is going to leave a killer scar. I hit the first aid station, they cleaned it up a bit and gave me some gauze and then me and Mike called it a day and he drove me back to my car. I called my mom to meet me, as it probably wasn't wise to have me drive anywhere until I got checked out by a hospital, but when all was said and done, I got 14 stitches on my chin. 7 are on the inside and 7 on the outside. It was a pretty deep gash. Didn't hurt to bad, and I was cracking jokes the entire time. Truthfully, I think the entire thing is a riot (wouldn't be as funny if I had done something such as kill myself) but fortunately this time to the emergency room on account of snowboarding, my memory is in tact and my military benefits from my deployment are still in swing. So this trip should be covered. At least, I can only hope. But hey, what's worth living if you don't knock some brain cells loose from time to time? Labels: dating, Snowboarding -Risawn: # 6:25 PM - |

3.16.2006

Sweet Bliss Season Passes are great. I can drive up for a morning and take a few runs and not feel like I wasted a bunch of money if for some reason I decide to leave early. Though I've discovered that I enjoy boarding by myself, I don't enjoy it nearly as much as when I'm riding with someone else. Today was rather humorous however. I throw my gear on, get on the lift, and as I get off I note that my boot isn't on as tight as I would like. So I get to the top of the mountain and undo my bindings so I can tighten my boots. My leash somehow slides off my leg. The board starts taking off without me. It was probably funny to watch me as I crawl after the board in a panic, jump after it and flop on my belly (missing it) and stumble to my feet chasing after it. Fortunately the mountain was slow this morning. And it cut across the mountain as opposed to straight down. It got caught up in some trees and I was able to rescue it. Meanwhile, my mountain has redone its terrain park, making it a great terrain park for people wanting to learn how to jump and so on. I've always wanted to do more but have never gotten enough guts because either A) the mountain is super icy and once you take a bad fall on ice, you are done and it kind of kills your courage to do crazy things or B) you pick up to much speed coming onto a jump and you chicken out last minute. Fortunately, they have this terrain park set up on a Beginner hill, so its flat, you can't pick up a lot of speed, so you get an opportunity to just feel what its like to get airborne. You would think, after doing this for six years, that I would be past this level, but for someone who averages snowboarding 5 times a year, mostly on ice, I haven't had a lot of opportunities. Sweet bliss, conditions right now are GREAT! March madness, wooHOO! I'm going to try to get up there a couple more times this week. See if I can drag another poor unwitting soul while i'm at it. Labels: Snowboarding -Risawn: # 1:20 PM - |

3.12.2006

Obligatory Snowboard Pics I just realized I haven't posted many pictures since, well, since I was ordered not to. Then I got that order revoked and didn't really follow up on posting a lot of pictures afterward. Well, I've been boarding twice this season, and will be hitting the mountain at least a couple more times this season to make up for lost time and take advantage of excellent conditions. Unless another kid pushes me on purpose and I'm imprisoned for child abuse because I kicked the crap out of a minor. If he didn't get lost in the crowd, I would gotten that little fart too. That, right there, is one of my primary motivations for boarding. Just, check out that view! It's incredible! Different day, different mountain, same basic effect. Its snowed a bit here recently, as is evident by the pile on that ski lodge. . . . . . and those trees. . . I've decided I need more action poses. The problem is, getting people to take them. I'll be riding at least a couple more times these season, as previously mentioned. Yay for me! Now I have to find victims to ride with. Labels: Pictures, Snowboarding -Risawn: # 10:19 PM - |

3.11.2006

Server Status and Mountains Operation Move Websites To New Servers is moving along without much of a hitch, except for the fact that because my laptop is in the shop, I'm having to use the old desk top to do this, and I've been working on it quite a bit for the last few days. Unfortunately, everybody else wants to use the desk top too. From eBay to Spider Solitare or just checking email. I can say that I have claim to the computer, as it was originally mine, however I can't be greedy. Besides, I gave up claims to it when I deployed (it went to the folks like my former car, may god rest its soul) Meanwhile, somewhat spontaniously, I bought a Pass and a Half from the local mountain. I don't know how many Kodak moments I'll get out of it, but I'm going to get the pass all organized tomorrow and maybe hit a few runs, try to be home in time for church. Fortunately, my church doesn't start until three in the afternoon. Truthfully, I don't like church starting that late, but in situations such as wanting to do something like snowboard in the morning, it works. I've only boarded once this season so far (i thought I would go up a lot more then that, but finances and a desire to curb myself, as well as gas prices have kept me in check) so I'm going to hit the mountain as often as I can for the rest of this month. In April, another mountain has free skiing for the end of its season, I think I'll hit up on that, as my mountain will be closed by then *sob*. Its such a great season so far, its a pity they're planning on closing so early. They got dumped with snow these last few days I know. Labels: Snowboarding, Website -Risawn: # 11:51 PM - |

11.23.2005

Stuff The Snow started to stick yesterday. And it came and went all day today. Kosovo is covered in fluffy white stuff. Which is good news for me in regards to the Ski Resort. I might be able to get up to Brezavica by the end of this deployement if it all works out. Everything's packed, a sucky time to have a birthday, I can't even ask people to send me stuff from home, because I would get it, say 'wow, this is cool!' only to turn around and ship it back home again. So my family has offered to have a Birthday/Christmas Party for me when I get home. Which will be sometime in January or February. Yesterday wasn't exactly the best birthday I ever had, for the most part it's been quiet, except for SSG Eades singing a Happy Birthday song to me this morning, which cracked a smile in my otherwise gloomy demeanor. Nate and a few of my battle buddies from Task Force Tornado also brought over a bag of goodies last night. But mostly over the last couple of days I've been deep in thought. Not depressed or anything like that, just contemplative of where my life is going. An incident occurred over the weekend that I would have rather not happened. It was a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time and quite truthfully, like most of the rest of this year, I would have rather not gotten involved. I have a bad habit of wanting to do the right thing I guess, sometimes at the expense of others who do, shall we say, things they shouldn't be. I would rather if they want to do something stupid, that they would leave me out of it or not clue me in that they are doing it, and for the most part, this task force (or rather, the people in it) have been pretty good at doing just that. I feel bad because the incident with my roommate at the beginning of the year happened because I didn't make things clear for her when we initially started rooming, and it turns out that she's not doing anything that nobody else in the task force isn't doing. (er, did I say that right?) And she's turned out to be a nice person, in fact we greet each other when we cross paths as I try to make it known that I feel no ill will to her. I guess that's one thing about me that I've always known, its one of my great weaknesses coupled with one of my great strengths, how I can get angry as all living hell at a person and days later not hold a grudge against them. Unfortunately, people may hold a grudge against me, and all I can do is remember that this is only a year of my life, I've got two more months to go, and I will never see most of these people again. I can try to end it on a positive note (which I'm not sure I'm succeeding at, especially within my Task Force) or I can be sour and moody until I make it home. Well, I've still got my goals forefront in my mind, rain or snow, i want to get the Schutzenshnur, and I've still got a mission to make it to Brezavica and snowboard with my friend Andrea who works for UNMIK (which reminds me, I need to email him), and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I do have a lot to be thankful for, and being in a place like this really makes that come forefront in my mind. I need to keep that attitude. Labels: Deployment, Life, Snowboarding, Thoughts -Risawn: # 12:45 PM - |

12.30.2004

Corrupting Newbies Ok, if you haven't noticed, I'm a snowboarder. It is one of my passions and the main thing that has me looking forward to winter. Today, I went snowboarding, and I dragged a newbie who has never been with me. I tend to do that a lot. See, my reasoning is if I can corrupt them into snowboarding with me once, they become a future snowboarding partner when I really feel like getting crazy. There are three ways I snowboard. By myself, with people worse then myself, and with people better then myself. I prefer to go in that order reversed. Unfortunately, most people I know are worse then myself or have never been, which are almost the same thing. So whenever i get the chance, I talk people into hitting mountains with me. Though I've had instances where they came off with the lame excuse of taking the hamster to the vet (yes, somebody brushed me off with that very line). So anyway, today, I corrupted one of my troopies. See, she is a soldier who recently joined the military yet was still in high school, and her unit was on the other side of the mountains, so we kind of babysat her for a while until she went to basic. That was fun. She has turned into a pretty good troop. That, and she went to the same exact basic training company I did. I got a kick out of that. I could have done so many mean things to her on account of that but I didn't. *kicks self* Anyway, the story of Lisa, as that is all you shall know her as. Lisa has lived in this town all of her life and though there are five ski resorts within a two hour drive, she had never been. I felt the need to remedy that. She picked it up pretty damn fast. We finally pulled the camera out at the end. Lisa is riding here, this was the last run we did, for reasons which I will go into momentarily. Conditions were interesting. It snowed about three or four inches. The snow covered Ice. Falling was not fun, especially in certain spots where the snow had been worn away, leaving nothing but ice. Lisa fell right on a patch of ice and banged her knee. She called it quits about this time. She was still on the mountain, but had to get down, so she converted the snowboard into a sled. I call this, Board Sledding! Lisa got going pretty fast for a moment, but lost control of her direction. She fell off, and the board kept going. I saw this coming from a mile away and kept yelling "get it! Get it!" Damn I wish I got a picture of her chasing after it. This is the board, in the ditch. This is Lisa, going after the snowboard. This is Lisa and the board trying to get out of the ditch. About this time I was thinking "you know, I should have gone after it, considering Lisa banged her knee on the ice!" This is Lisa, laid out exhausted after getting the snowboard. Well, then there was me. See, I let Lisa use my board and because she is taller then me, I let her use my boarding pants, so I kind of mix and matched my gear. *warning, boarding terminology in use* I've actually got four snowboards (I carry extras for newbies to get them hooked), three are strap ins and one is a switch step in bindings. Because all of the support is in the boot on my Switch Gear, the boot is a bit big. I usually use my other pants to cover over the boots, but unfortunately, Lisa was wearing them. So I reverted back to my other pants. They have suspenders that I often forget to strap. And I'm wearing Camouflage with a bright blue knit cap. The result? I think I'm going for a fashion statement here. And it ain't workin'. Oh well, who cares? I had fun. Labels: instalaunched, Snowboarding -Risawn: # 4:29 PM - |

11.25.2004

It's Thanksgiving Yes, it is that day where we all come together with our family, plop onto an extra large table, and eat a bit fat turkey (and otherwise gorge ourselves). I'm fortunate to have my entire family here this week, which is saying something. I've got a large family and we don't always get to see one another (and I will be the missing person for a while) Plus, there's a possibility I may be able to go to Lookout Pass, which is the only ski resort within driving distance that has a chance of being open before i go. But I still got a lot to do and tomorrow is the only day I can go snowboarding. So a part of me hopes it will open tomorrow, and a part of me hopes I don't have the excuse of going. I'm borderline here, I really want to go but I really do have a lot I have to do and going would be kind of irresponsible. That, and I'm a huge procrastinator and I brush things off to last minute over and over and over again. Anyway, it is the holidays, and I really should be with my family. Today will henceforth be quiet, and unfortunately, my blog will be getting quieter as well. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I for one have much to be thankful for. (maybe later I'll post something to that affect. Labels: family, holidays, Snowboarding, Thanks -Risawn: # 11:45 AM - |

7.17.2004

Downsides of Hobbies I don't know what to do with myself. My face is on fire and looks like my body may have gained like thirty pounds or something because it's all bloated. That should teach me that I shouldn't go snowboarding in the middle of July without sunscreen on. Regardless, I look hideous and I decided not to go downtown Portland today on account of the fact that my skin is rather burnt and I don't want it go get worse. I just caked the aloe vera on it but I don't know if it is getting any better. It just seems to be getting worse actually. *sighs* I wish I could have gone to Portland though. I hope my face is doing better tomorrow. snowboarding was fun Despite that. I didn't realize until afterward that I was going down a Black Diamond all day. To tell you the honest truth, I don't think it was a black diamond, probably a blue square. And what they classified as Blue Squares looked more like Greens. What's interesting is they billed their free style park as a Blue, and Freestyle is definitely Black Diamond area. Maybe the summer months dumb it down a bit? But anyway, this stupid sunburn is ruining my vacation. And it ends tomorrow so I just get to spend my saturday sleeping and doing pretty much nothing. Maybe I'll go see a movie later or something? Just to get out. Labels: Snowboarding, zzz -Risawn: # 6:06 AM - |