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So Saturday was the day Mike and I went snowboarding. It was so much fun. I recomend it to anyone under the age of 23 (sorry all you older readers out there). I spent the night at Mike's house, got up at 7:00, left at 8:00 to go to Alpine Valley. Arrived there around 9:00, paid for lift tickets, learned how to put em on, awed at the Black Diamonds, and found the bunny hill. The bunny hill had a tow rope since it was such a small hill. We spent a while mastering the tow rope, and finally got to the top of the hill without falling. Getting down was the easy part. Stopping took a run or two. At about my third time down I got the stopping thing down (seems so easy on the bunny hill). At 10:00-11:15 we had a lesson. It helped. After that we went down the hill about two more times to work on turning then took a break for lunch. After a quick ten minute lunch break we decided to check out the other runs (bunny hill got a little boring). We checked out the trail map (see above, although it is a little cropped) and found some more easy (green dot) runs and went to try em. On our way to them we found out they were closed. Great, now we had no choice but to do the more difficult (blue dot) runs. But first we had to master the chair lift. Getting on seemed easy, but then you're hoisted forty feet into the air. Sorta made us nervous (hey, the wind was 50 mph, they shut down the lifts at 60). Once you get to the top you have to go down the little ramp (see previous posts), we did it. We only fell once, on our second time up the lift. Not bad. Then there was this little issue about getting down the hill. Oh sure, its cute from on the chair lift. Everyone seems to be going so slow. Looks just a little bit steeper from the top. So we plopped down, strapped in, peed our snowpants, and prayed (so we were freaked out). I let Mike lead the way down (tradition for the day), watched him fall after about a 100 feet and then followed. He was up and I was down. I got up, passed him (who was on the ground again) and in another 100 feet fell again. He passed me, fell. I passed him and got just about to the bottom. Fell. He passed me and fell. I got up, tried to stop, fell. He tried to stop. Fell. Not bad for our first run we thought. After about two more runs of that we would only fall halfway down the run and when trying to stop. A couple more runs of that, then I broke the ice (haha, get it?) and made it down the whole run without falling. A couple of runs later and Mike made it down without falling. The rest of the day we made it down without falling everytime except for stopping. Mike seemed to catch on to that a little better than I. The rest of the days runs were spent trying to turn and stop. I mastered the toeside turn (left), Mike mastered the heelside turn (right). He stops heelside, I stop toeside. He stopped more times than me, I made it down more times without falling. If we combine our powers we would have a pretty good snowboarder. All in all, it was a very fun day, I am very sore now. I blame that mostly on the skiiers. They are too slow, cut you off, and are all around stupid. I'll stop here and not tell you the painful stories involving ourselves and other people we saw, it might scare you away from trying the sport.

Above (hopefully) is a trail map of Alpine Valley. I have arrowed the run (Hog's Back) that we went on the whole day. Trail map says it's a Black Diamond, but when we were there, they said it was a Blue Square. Comment if you think you've experienced more pain than we did Saturday. Might have to involve the non-surgical removal of the fingers.

For those of you who think these posts are long, boring, and just want to read the HP quotes: get a life! Take some time, read the good literature, dwell on the experiences. Cause these posts aren't getting any shorter for a while.

Well done USA Olympians. You didn't let Caleb's remarks get to you, you went out there and got medals (25!) Cept Bode Miller, you should rot eternally, cause you seem to like that, when they give you an hour, don't take 11 minutes. You're just lucky Nike likes you, cause no one else does right now. Apollo Ohno: good job, you beat the Korean. Shani Davis: don't let Chad Hedrick get to you. Others: well done!

Quick update:

USA individual medals:
Men's Freestyle Moguls
- Toby Dawson - Bronze

This takes our total medal count up to 8. Norway currently has 11, and Russia has 9.

1 week and 2 days until snowboarding!

Wrestling districts are tomorrow against Inkster. Should be interesting.

Here is the updated Medal Count for today:

G S B Total
Norway - 1 5 5 11
Russia - 4 3 2 9
U.S. - 5 2 0 7
Germ. - 4 1 2 7
China - 0 2 3 5

Individual U.S. medals:
Men's Alpine Combined
- Ted Ligety - Gold

More tomorrow

Ericsworld is proud to inform you that I wil be posting updaated medal counts and top news for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Since the Winter Olympics just as good as the Summer, they deserve space on the blog. Unfortunately, some of my readers do not like the Winter Olympics and would rather bite off their toenails. My goal is to convince these people to become more involved and to cheer on our athletes.

The Medal Count stands as is:
G S B Total
U.S.A - 4 2 0 6
Russia - 3 3 1 7
Germ. - 2 0 1 3
Norw. - 1 3 4 8
Nthd. - 1 2 0 3

U.S.A individual medals:
Men's Snowboarding Halfpipe
- Shaun White - Gold
- Danny Kass - Silver
Women's Snwboarding Halfpipe
- Hannah Teter - Gold
- Gretchen Bleiler - Silver
Men's 500m speed skating
- Joey Cheek - Gold
Men's 5000m Speed Skating
- Chad Hedrick - Gold

Banquet was last night. Good time. The dinner must not have been enough for Mike and I, so we decided to eat a fish. Yep, a real live goldfish, it was still kickin. The party needed a boost so we thought we'd provide some free entertainment. Evidently, sticking a fish in the toilet bowl (see below) wasn't good enough. So we ate the little devils. We decided to not chew em so we could see if you can feel them in your stomach. Turns out you can't feel them in your stomach but you can feel them going down your throat. Side note (totally free): in our small group this morning there was a passge in Romans that said, "Their throat is an open grave." Oh, the irony. Anyway, Kara Neal got the whole thing on video on her camera. If she sends it to me I'll try and find a way to post it (with a little help from the rabbi).

The following are some pictures from the Stamper's house.



This is the goldfish in the toilet. And, no, we did not eat this one. Someone flushed it because it swam a little ways down the pipe and they thought it wouldn't come back up.



This is Micah's big screen t.v. As you may recall I have dubbed it "FoeHammer." I thought that since I was there last night I mine as well give the thing some recognition for all its greatness, and all the good times it's given us. Also like to thank the Stamper's for letting us destroy their house and plumbing again. Next time we come, the hor douvres won't be fish.

2 weeks until snowboarding!!!

He therefore had to endure over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths. "Well, that's good," said Harry loudly, his temper getting the better of him, "just as long as it's not drawn out. I don't want to suffer."

Harry Potter
Goblet of Fire

Wait for it, wait for it... Hear that? That's the new ericsworld audio. Brought to you exclusively from Garageband. With this successful test it means there is a great potential that the highly acclaimed podcast may begin. You'll just have to wait and see.

For now, banquet is tomorrow night. Districts are Thursday and next Saturday. Then after that I go snowboarding!!!! I can not wait. It should be so much fun. Just got my boots last night and my pants today (courtesy of Play-It-Again and ValueWorld respectively). The boots will take a little getting used to. There are designed to keep your ankles stiff and locked into position. They also make it easier to turn and keep you from breaking anything when you fall. Downside is that they are really awkward to walk in. Ever try to walk with your feet pointing up but your still flat on the ground? Kinda like that. Well, enough about snowboarding, I have been receiving some flak for even posting about it. Seems some people think it's boring. Funny how these same people use PC's as well.

I have just noticed that this month is the Second (Annual) Anniversary of ericsworld.blogspot.com. Amazing. Who would have ever thought I could blog for two years? There's been good times, there's been bad. Many template changes, additions, pictures, and posts. Hope you've enjoyed reading my blog for the past two years (no sarcasm). And to my regular visitors (yes, even those who haven't identified themselves yet) I thank you for your persistence and your sense of humor. I will have to do another post sometime that goes deeper into the true nature of a Regular Ericsworld.blogspot.com Reader. Maybe, if your lucky, I can arrange for a plaque. BE SURE TO LEAVE COMMENTS.

[Harry considering whom to tell that his scar hurt] As far as informing the headmaster, Harry had no idea where Dumbledore went during the summer holidays. He amused himself for a moment, picturing Dumbledore, with his long silver beard, full-length wizard's robes, and pointed hat, stretched out on a beach somewhere, rubbing suntan lotion onto his long crooked nose.

Goblet of Fire

Pictures of a variety of things to come soon.

I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. I had so much I was going to blog about, but as fate would have it, I've forgotten most of it.

So me and Mike Walker have decided to try the sport of snowboarding. We have bought boards ($36, not bad) and I am currently looking for the other accessories required to snowboard (i.e. boots, goggles, snowpants). We have planned our first excursion for the last Saturday of February. Only free day we've had. It should be quite amusing. I went to Woodhaven Hill to try a few things on the new board. Turned out to be way too windy and more mud then snow. But I found the snowiest spot on the hill, plopped down, and strapped in. Now the last time I went "snowboarding" down Woodhaven Hill it was with a snowboard that could only go straight in a forward direction. Turns out this the real newfangled snowboards can go down the hill in any direction it wants to, you just have to tell it to go the right way. That's the hard part. You've just strapped yourself into the bindings and attempt to stand up. You get your butt off the ground and the board moves about two feet down the hill before you have to sit down again. Now remember, I'm facing both shoulders downhill. Snowboards don't go downhill that way, ski's do. But no, they have to slick the bottom of the board so that it goes down in any direction. Well I soon as I mastered the getting upright part, I'd go to twist the board so it would go downward in the right direction (right shoulder forward, and foot), but then the board would dig the toeside into the ground and I fall on my face. This whole process of standing up really quick, rotating the board even quicker, and falling on my face went on for about 5 trys. Then on the 6th I was successful in not falling after rotating the board. Yea for me! From then on it was smooth riding down the 30 or so feet to the bottom. So I think I have learned a couple things from my expedition to Woodhaven Hill (Mt. Doom). There are really only two hard parts two snowboarding (at least so far), 1) getting up and facing the right direction in one movement, 2) being able to turn while going downhill. The latter I have not had much experience with, seeing the "Mt. Doom" only gave me a 7-10 second run. But in those brief moments I attempted the turn and was unsuccessful except for a miniscule toeside turn. Which will be most helpful when getting off the ski lift. Which brings me to my next point (*when wil he shut up?!? I'm sick of reading this!): getting off the ski lift. I am not worried about the falling when getting up or snowballing down the mountain, but I am terrified of getting off the ski lift. From what I have seen and heard to get off the lift you go down a little ramp and turn left or right as soon as you have exited the chair. But the thing is, in order to get on to the lift you must have one foot out of the bindings at all times. Which means, that in order to navigate going down the little ramp the foot outside of its binding must be on the board to be able to turn it. And seeing how my luck usually goes with new things I try, my first time getting off I will go to start down the ramp and I will "trip." The chair I was sitting on will proceed to hit me in the back of the head as I am falling. I begin to get up and, once again, I fall on my face doing the rotating motion. By the time I do get up the people in the chair behind me have reached their destination and are impatient and angry with me because I am holding them up. Nervous, confused, and about to pee my nickers, I head down the ramp, only to fall halfway down (groans and uproars from the people behind me). After trying to get up and falling down again, I proceed to just slide down the rest of the way on my butt and just sit at the bottom of the ramp. I slowly shift to the side and just sit there, to scared to get up, lest I fall, to scared of the season skiiers behind me who are now laughing, pointing, swearing, and are thoroughly deeply annoyed. Yep, thats how I picture my first day of snowboarding going. Maybe with a little luck there won't be a ramp at all, you just glide off the chair (yeah, right). Well I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

I have had requests for this quote to be posted on here: "It's not hard to be a pimp with eigth grade girls." There you go guys, hope that makes your night.

Ron: "Who're you going with then?"
Fred: "Angelina."
Ron: "What? You've already asked her?"
Fred: "Good point. Oi, Angelina! Want to come to the ball with me?"

Ron and Fred Weasley
Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling