Afternoon Hockey

Sidney Crosby here, (Joel), and I, had a great afternoon skate and skills session on the awesome outdoor rink.  It was far too cold to go skiing, but not too cold for this.  In fact, it is never too cold for an outdoor skate on a frozen surface.  Joel is honing is skills, as you can tell:

I also had a great 45 mins or so on the rink.  My skills may just have improved a little bit.

We went back to the house after and had some chips and beer!  Does it get any better then that?



Stick in the Mouth

It is always a matter of when, not if....  No half face shield, no mask - no wonder. 

I took some wood to the face in last night's win against the Moguls = I don't think the cha-chi stopped himself, lets just say, for the gift to the chops.  Oh well - he said something of an apology twice - perhaps because of the blood and me looking for my teeth (which are still all crooked and intact as they were before, thankfully).  It would have been nice to tighten the wound up with a good bandage, glue or a few stiches maybe....  but I have just left it the way it is.  I wasn't really interested in going to Trail at midnight to deal with it, and now, 12 hours later, it seems a bit late to do anything.

A kiss from Shelly would make it all feel better.

Rush!

The pictures tell it all.  I was out for 3 hours today with Joel.  It was a late start because I was over at Tara and Trevor's for 90 mins or so looking after the kids.  They had to run some errands in which having two 2 and a half year olds would have made it more difficult.  So the right hander stepped in for a quick two  innings work.

The snow was very soft.  The skies were blue.  There was very little cloud cover and the temperature showed about 10 below zero.  The ski hill's website said it was minus 19 and 12 cm of snow had fallen.  Neither was true.  But it was a great day out on the slopes.  Joel was enjoying himself as usual.  He can be quite an icehole....

And on the last run of the day, we stopped for this photo opportunity.



In my spare time, I am reading a fantastic book called The Given Day by Dennis Lehane.  It is set in post WWI, mainly in Boston.  Three different story lines are slowly coming together.  The first is about the formation of unions in Boston during this time.  The second is about a character named Luther who has killed some people in Tulsa, OK and has run away to Boston.  Finally there is a bit about Babe Ruth and the World Series....  It is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

I am also always reading and rereading parts of Light Lifting by Alex MacLeod.  It is a collection of short stories.  The stories take place mostly in Windsor, ON.  My two favourites are Light Lifting and Good Kids.  But I also love The Loop and Miracle Mile!  The whole collection is awesome....  It comes more highly recommended then The Given Day. 

Alex and his family.

Finally, I also want to mention how Joel has really gotten me into the band Rush.  I just watched a documentary called Beyond The Lighted Stage about Rush and it was fantastic.  What an iconic band.  Their greatest hits are tops on my playlist right now, and I must say Subdivisions is my favourite song.  Next on my plate is reading a book written by Rush's drummer Neil Peart called Ghost Rider - Travels on the Healing Road.  Neil road his motorcyle 55,000 miles across North American and down to Belize, and he penned stories and situations about such adventure as he mourned the deaths of his daughter and first wife. 

I am also starting a course on January 17th = Computers and Tech in the classroom.  I can't wait.....

Rossland Triathlon

Babysitting:

The first stage of a Rossland Triathlon is babysitting.  Tara went out for a skate ski, so I took the twins out for a ride on the 2 GT Snowracers they have.  It would be too easy for them to just ride on one of course....  and less of a pull, but they both want to drive, so Uncle Awesome accomodates by tying them together so they each have their own ride.  On our walk we spied two other kids up to no good, Cohen and Eamen Wright, and of course they wanted on the GTs.  So I ended up pulling the 4 kids across town like the Uncle Awesome I am.

Skiing:

The second stage of my Rossland triathlon is skiing.  I went out at noon with my trusty friend Trista.  We stayed over at Paridise and in the trees of course.  Each run was different.  At times it snowed and was cloudy.  Then it was sunny.  A few runs later there was a mix of cloud and sunshine....  But it was a good day.  The hill is so much busier on the weekends.  It is tough to find a parking spot.  The line-ups averaged about 20 people deep consistently.....  I suppose not many people think a 20 person deep ski lift line up is busy, and it isn't.  It is just busier then through the week.

Running:

(File Photo)

I ran home from the ski hill today.  I am trying to run home everyday from the hill.  It is a measley 4km, maybe less = Terrible, I know. 

I took some pictures of the house I am living at.  There is 4 of us here.  Tyler owns the house and works in Trail for the city's waste management program.  And Keith and Jessica are here for the winter too.  They are a couple from Hood River, OR.  Jessica has lived in Rossland off and on I think over the past 5 years or so = But just in the winter for the ski season.  And Keith is here to hang out for January, but sadly has to get back to work/life for February. 

And here is an indoor shot of Joel's house.  It is really homey and comfortable with the fireplace.

Untitled

Yesterday Joel & Trista had their fill of Red Mountain, while I had my fill of their kids babysitting.  I shouldn't exactly say it like that, the boys were very well behaved and we had another great day together.  I don't mind at all looking after them while mom and dad have a ski.  We went over to the outdoor rink for a skate.  Then we came back home for some eats and rests.  Mom and dad got home by 1:30 or so.  The time seemed to go pretty quickly.

Today Joel and I hit the slopes for an early 9:30 start.  It is sort of early, I guess, compared to the 10:30s we usually see.  Neither of us brought a camera. 

There was about 5 to 8 cm of fresh snow.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but it does cover up and soften up the runs.  We kept a steady pace and really found our groove.  We stayed on the Motherload chair for must of the rides as we got our fancy going down "The Slides".  There would have been some decent enough pictures or video, but there will be better days and bluer skies for sure.

Here is a funny picture of me cooking breakfast a few weeks ago over at Joel's:

 Tonight I am playing hockey.  And tomorrow will be interesting; Trevor is away for a few days and Tara is working, so I am back on babysitting duty of the twins.  I don't anticipate many problems as I have become quite adept in child rearing.  Just another one of my amazing talents.

Joel, Trevor & I

Just a quick video of today's action....  My skill still leaves a lot to be desired.  But I feel I am improving a bit each time out.  There are lots of talented skiers on the slopes, so I am always aware about where I am.  I don't go under the chair lifts too often so that I am not "putting myself out there...." so to speak.   Maybe in another few weeks.

Trevor was working today at the hill.  He is a great guide and knows the lay of the land incredibly well.  It is great being out with him.  I find myself trying to copy his moves and form - as I am sure he did when we ran together on Xmas morning!

And Joel holds his own quite well on the hill.  He masterfully manages the bumps, powder, and terrain just like a local does.  He has a great sense of geography on the hill and knows when to change direction to get us back to the ski lift.  Me, not so much.  No matter.

This video takes an incredibly long time to upload, so I won't load up another one until the content is worth it.

Happy New Year

Life is back to pre-Christmas routine.  My sweet baby Shelly left on Friday.  She flew out of Kelowna and got to Kitchener unscathed for New Years celebrations.  I/We had a fantastic time together and I miss her already.  The next chunk of time will seem long.  But the technologists reading this will be happy to know we have an application called Skype, now, and that will hopefully bridge some geographical gaps between us.

Here's one more good pic of my sweetie.

And of course...

So I had a terrific New Years.  I started the night hanging out with Joel and his family.  I had some turkey pie and a beer or two.  We played guitars for a bit and had a great impromtu session changing the lyrics to Honky Tonk Women, to Rossland Women....  Infact, I hung out with Joel quite a bit during the day.  Rossland has two huge outdoor rinks.  We brought Cohen, the blades, and went-at'her for the better part of the afternoon.  What a gorgeous day.  This is just one of the rinks.  Its twin is just out of frame.

To finish the night, I went over to Trevor and Tara's.  They had friends over named Vern and Monique(?).  Monique I think and hope.  Anyhow, cheese fondu was the 8:00 dish and we all had a fill.  The howling mad game of SPOONS started thereafter, and it was a Macaulay whupp'n.  To finish the night we had an outdoor campfire and tobaggan session.  A great time for sure.  Welcome to 2011.

The 2 SPOON Champions - Or losers.

The 2 tobaggan Champions - Vern and Monique

The Champions of Champions - Tara

So Good luck to everyone in 2011.  I haven't resolved to do anything; profound or not.  But unofficially I hope to have a great time in Rossland, keep up the running, get on a motorcycle trip in May/June, finish a course and become more computer savy, and be the best I can be to Shelly = She is something else.