No more planning costumes around the weather

One more thing I love about Phoenix is that I didn't have to plan my Halloween costume around the weather. Life is good!!

Winter athletes train all year round

I learned that they are and many more things when I was in Salt Lake City recently. We went on a tour of the Olympic Village which was home to the Alpine and aerial jumps, luge, skelton, and bobsled during the 2002 winter Olympics. For a very small fee, we had access to 2 museums, a guided tour of the park, and 2 zip line rides and a dry tobogan run.



After going on the tour of the park, I have much more respect for the winter athletes. It's not that I didn't have respect for them, it's just that they really do train as much as other athletes. I also have lots of respect for the crews who prep/winterize the sledding track. The track is concrete through which refrigerated pipes run. Multiple crews of 2 men working non-stop for 3 days can get the track covered in multiple layers of ice. Then they have to go in and smooth the ice out by hand and also create tracks at the start area so the sleds don't go off course when they initiate their race.




The park is open all year round to the public and to the athletes, novices and professional alike. The alpine and aerial jumps are available during the summer for training. Apparently the athletes wear the same gear they wear during the winter when practicing in the summer. There are special tracks made of plastic with ceramic balls interspersed over which water is run. The water is more consistent than an icy surface. The aerialists land on a "pillow" of air in a huge pool of water which helps to soften their landing.

Evolution of a Bruise

I will be conducting a case study (well, a pure pictographic--is that even the right word?--case study which will not contain a shred of scientific evidence, but just a shred of art class--the color wheel) on, as the title states, the Evolution of a bruise. And the patient is moi and so that makes the bruise mine. Unfortunately, I did not capture day 1 of the bruise, but I will recount the events that lead up to it. It was a hot and sunny afternoon and I was totally pumped to try out a full suspension mountain bike on the Desert Classic Trail at South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ. My friend and I were heading back after ~45 min of riding on that trail, when I broke away from him in order to create a cooling and refreshing breeze because it was 95 degrees in Phoenix and the air was stagnant. To achieve this breeze, I had to pedal at more than just a leisurely pace. I began to pump my legs as I approached a downhill in order to get up the other side, which has been my nemesis since I've begun biking. (I tried to get up one hill 5 times on this same trail). I don't know exactly how it happened as my main focus was on creating that cool breeze, but it happened very fast. What I do remember is that the back tire slid out from under me to the right and I landed on my left shoulder, hip, and thigh and my right palm (a much later discovery). My friend remembers it in a slightly different way because he did not have the privelege of having the ground level view. As you might recall, he was behind me ('cause I was trying to get that cool breeze), and as he came up over the crest of a small hill and saw a cloud of dirt up ahead. It was a few seconds before he saw my helmet through the dirt cloud and thought to himself "oh, that can't be good." Of course I was already off the ground and on the bike (no whining here as the biking was my idea) before he asked if "everything was working fine." It all worked fine enough to get me back to the car and home, where I scrutinized the war wounds. They really weren't impressive that first day, but by day 3 and 6, they have become rather impressive (at least to me). Although I was hoping for more deep purple and less yellow.

Day 3


Day 6


Day 9--blurry picture, making this case study obsolete
Day 12--Looks like it's nearly healed.