Thank God for the Blizzard

I was planning to drive down to the cities on Tuesday but the weather gurus predicted a blizzard, so I drove down at 9:30 Monday night. Upon arrival, I checked my email and got really confused. In the process of getting un-confused the next day (Tuesday), I found out about a new job opening. I interviewed for it at 2:30, which is half an hour before I was planning to even be in the cities, and got the job. So praise God for the blizzard!

Another Bright Idea

Last night, as I was cruising down the freeway on my way back to the cities, yet another antsy city slicker got right up on my tail as I was passing a semi truck. I started thinking about what he must be thinking of me, and it didn't slip my attention that my car has a rounded front, in keeping with the 90s, but the back is squared off like a battle wagon from the 60s or 70s. I appreciate this feature, because it looks intimidating. That pointed my mind toward demolition derbies. And then my latest great idea was born. I wonder if I could reduce tailgaters by applying the following to a prominent location on the back of my car:



p.s. For those who don't know, I really am a demolition derby veteran. 2003.

Sibling Adventures

I went home for the weekend and brought my brother back with me, since he is on Christmas break. It took us about two hours to trash both of our sleds. :-( Boy, did we have fun doing it, though. Apparently plastic sleds aren't made for 25 mph races on hard-packed snow. They probably would have survived, except that there were a bunch of little bumps and ridges on the hill that would lift us off the sleds slightly and drop us back onto them on weird angles if we were even slightly off balance. Also, Jason ran into a large, solid object. Praise God he didn't get hurt. The sled sure did. I will take pictures of the sleds and post them here- after we use them some more. Who needs sides, anyway! All they do is help you steer...

Sled Jumping

I had fun this afternoon.

Family Christmas Setup

I decided to do a time-lapse documentary of our Christmas tree setup. It isn't a normal time lapse because I don't have that kind of mode on my camera and I wasn't using a stopwatch. It is more of a random snapshot time lapse. Then I got a whole bunch of footage of our nifty little train under the tree.

Hockey!

I finally got to play hockey today, for the first time since last February. My town isn't going to open any rinks until the 19th, but I found some rinks open in the cities nearby. Then I called one of my friends to let him know. He was just heading out the door to play some hockey at a rink relatively close to me. I didn't even know it was open yet. So we played on that until it was completely trashed (today was way too warm).

Then, tonight, we went to a different rink that was in much better shape. Now I am sore and tired and happy.

Intrepid Safety

Every year, hundreds of children suffer snow up their pants and other life-altering traumatic incidents as a direct result of poor sledding technique.

It DOES NOT have to be this way. Sledding Safety is as easy as 1,2,3.

Our professional ergonomics and physics consultants were asked to develop a sledding posture that meets the rigorous safety guidelines set forth by the warning stickers posted to modern plastic sleds. They found that the traditional method no longer meets current safety regulations, due to the fact that the rider's head does not "remain inside the sled at all times." Examine the image below.


Performed on a closed course by a professional test driver. Do not attempt at home. Intrepid Safety recommends that further protection be used, including wrist and elbow guards and industrial-strength safety goggles.

As you can see, the head rides more than three feet above the sled, causing the rider and sled assembly to have a dangerously high center of balance.

Our e/p consultants next attempted to bring the center of balance lower with a modified form of the traditional style. However, it is believed the the more elderly segment of the population (those over the age of 13) may have difficulty in achieving the posture.



As you can see in Figure A., the head is still far from "inside the sled."

Our consultants decided to shift the center of balance forward in the sled, thus bringing the posterior out of contact with the sled chasis and allowing the head to reach its lowest position.



Figure B. clearly shows the head, hands, and feet safely within the sled, as the warning label instructed. However, the warning label also indicates that the rider must be facing forward at all times.

The method shown below has been approved by our consultants as a sticker-compatible safe sledding technique. Just remember, it is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Balance your posterior on the narrow strip of plastic composing the aft of the sled.



2. Align your vertebrae with the ribs in the sled chasis and bring your legs up directly over your midsection, bending them slightly at the knees, and grasp your feet with your hands.



3. Bring head back until eyes are pointed toward the bow of the sled and bring feet and hands to docking locations next to head. Notice the careful placement of the knee pads.



This stable, comfortable posture meets warning sticker specifications when performed in unison with observance of the other warnings specified therein. For a brief summary, just remember the 6 "Nos"

-No hills
-No steering or stopping
-No obstacles or jumps
-No sharing
-No one over 59 pounds
-No fun.

Enjoy the snow!

"Ride At Your Own Risk" (Oh, I Will!)

I noticed the following warnings on my toy plastic sled:
-"This product is intended for use by one child" (violated 12/5/08, three full-grown people)
-"Sled cannot be controlled, maneuvered, or stopped" (trees stop it really fast)
-"Never use near... hills" (are you serious?)
-"Do not stand or kneel on sled" (no wonder they don't think it can be maneuvered)
-"Always face forward when sledding" (violated 12/5/08, at which time I nearly ended up testing the tree- brake system)
-"Keep hands, head, and feet inside the sled at all times." (This brings a really funny picture to mind. I'll take it when I get a chance. My camera batteries are charging right now.)
-"Do not tow with motor vehicles" (This is so much fun!)
-"Helmet and other appropriate safety equipment should always be used." (HaHa! The funny picture just got better.)
-"Inspect toy periodically for loose or damaged components" (If it breaks in half, I'll know)
-"Shoes must be worn in use." (I find it difficult to pull my boots on over shoes.)
-"Maximum weight limit: 59lbs" (I suddenly feel so obese)

I wonder what the safety lawyers would think of this:

Thank God for friends, snow, and Cub Foods

I was going to go skating with two of my friends. However, the roads were nasty and we didn't get to the rink. We wandered around the Mall for a while and then ran to Target to get a sled, but it was closed. We went to Cub Foods, the only thing close by that was still open, and believe it or not they were selling sleds. So we tried out a hill near my apartment.

Breaking News!

As I stood at our patio door, admiring the evening, a big beautiful fireball caught my eye in a garage across the parking lot. As the fireball condensed into a cheery little blaze in the engine compartment of a truck, I saw two people frantically throwing snow at it. I didn't see anything else after that, because I was running around my apartment complex looking for my cell phone and a fire extinguisher. By the time I got down to the scene of the excitement, a helpful gentleman with a fire extinguisher had already beaten me to it. I stood around in my shorts and T shirt (It was about 25 degrees outside) to get the juicy details. Basically, a guy was trying to get his truck started He pulled a spark plug to clean out antifreeze that had flooded into the cylinder and then tried to turn it over (who knows why). The spark must have ignited some vapors that had collected above the engine. This, of course, also ignited all of the oil and grime that covered the engine, causing no small thrill for the man, and even more so for his girlfriend, who was attempting to jump start him. Her view of the fireball was somewhat obscured by her upraised car hood, leaving her healthy and enthusiastic imagination to fill in the details.
Then I froze over and walked back inside. About 2 minutes later the police showed up, followed shortly by a fire truck. I have posted exclusive footage of the fire truck below.

New shoot

I went out to get some pictures of the new snow and didn't come back with much to speak of. In brighter news, I made a really good supper. Corn bread and chili. Yum, yum.
I felt like decorating some more after I got back from Thanksgiving at my parents' house, so I brought back our extra tree and some lights and decorated our apartment living room.
Back home we took out a train set that hadn't been used in about a decade. It now livens up the bottom of the tree.

Taking Risks

I entered a photography contest tonight. It cost me some money to enter, which is what made it a risk. I've been wanting to DO something with my pictures, rather than just having them rot on my computer. This contest attracts an average of 250 to 500 "aspiring photographers", so there is plenty of competition. Two of the images I entered are below, and the others have already been posted to this blog in the past several weeks.