Connor MacThread of the Clan MacThread

[Tahlvin]

[Eliahad]

Hoo-hah!

[Ronster]

Sheriff August Corbin from Sleepy Hollow

[Phoebe]

Mr. Krabs, my love!

[Mike]

Just listened to him as the supervillain Shape Ape on an old Captain Laserbeam episode of Thrilling Adventure Hour. He's good in anything.

[Tahlvin]

As if extra sleep deprivation from traveling last week wasn't enough, I spent yesterday skiing with the the kids as a late Christmas present for my son. It was my first time ever skiing.

I didn't take any lessons, but just dived right in. I fell coming off the lift the first time, and once more shortly after when trying to walk at the bottom of the hill, but those were the only falls until the last run of the day (unbelievably!). I quickly migrated to higher and slightly steeper hills, and everything was going well until the last run of the day. Then my son and I decided to try a particularly (for us) steep run. Everything was going really well until I reached the particularly steep (for me) portion of the hill. At that point, the snow turned from nice powder, where I was able to work my turns and keep myself from going too fast, to a hard, icy surface that just made me start to go straight downhill like an Olympic speed skier (except, you know, without looking NEARLY as graceful). After a few seconds of what seemed like panicked free-fall, I knew it was only going to end badly if I kept going, so I decided to try to bail by sitting down, which I tried to do as quickly as I could. I ended up on my back sliding a fair ways down the hill, and injecting a large amount of snow and ice up the back of the my coat, but finally came to a halt. Unfortunately, one of my ski poles stopped about 150 feet before I did. So I took off my skis, grabbed them and my one remaining pole, and trudged back up the hill to get my lost ski pole. As I stooped to pick up my missing ski pole, I wondered whether I was going to really put on my skis and ski the rest of the way down the hill. It turns out that was a needless concern, because as soon as I turned and my boots were facing back downhill, they decided to ski downhill without the skis on, the hill was that steep and the surface that slick! So I ended up descending the steepest part of this hill with my skis tucked under one arm, and my poles tucked under the other arm, crouched down like a downhill skier, but sliding on just my ski boots instead of actual skis. And all of this was happening right underneath one of the ski lifts! At one point, I did hear a shout from someone on the lift, saying I was doing a great job. I'm pretty sure they were lying. Anyways, I finally reached a point where the hill was not so steep, so I sat down, put on my skis, and descended the rest of the hill. When I caught up with my son (who had his own spectacular, rolling wipe-out), he said he was cold and ready to call it a day (after about 6 hours), so that ended up being my final run of the day.

Unfortunately, my wife's knee popped when she fell coming off the lift the very first run of the day (it was also her first time skiing), popped again when she fell part of the way down the first bunny hill, and popped a couple more times throughout the day just from walking in ski boots, so she call it a day without even making one complete run down the bunny hill, and ended up spending the rest of the day drinking hot coffee and watching the rest of us make fools of ourselves. Once her knee heals, she's willing to give skiing another try, but only if she gets to take lessons first, so she knows how to stop, and how to fall without hurting her knee. That, and she purchases a knee brace to wear while skiing.

[Phoebe]

This was a great story, lol! Well obviously not the part about your wife's knee being hurt, but the rest of it. I'm impressed that you have never been skiing before but took it up in your forties for the first time! Skiing on ice is the worst! Or perhaps we should say "downhill skating" in your case.

[Mike]

[Eliahad]

I watched the big Sportsball event. It was a pretty good game!

[Tahlvin]

Good morning! All is right with the world, since the Patriots lost last night.

[Mike]

[Tahlvin]

[Kyle]

We admire a cataract more than a canal; the sea is grander in a hurricane than in a calm; and the fleecy clouds which constantly flit overhead are more agreeable to the eye than a horizon of tranquil blue, however deep and beautiful.

[mimekiller]

Yea the Super bowl was a lot of fun and the surprise announcement that The Cloverfield Paradox was going to drop right after the game was super cool.

[FlameBlade]

Good morning! Rotavirus going through entire family! I have gotten thrown up on 3 times, dealt with multiple diarrhea, kids going down for count, me going down for count. Wife who seemed to stay above the fray just went down harder than everyone else.

[Tahlvin]

Good morning. Hope the FlameBlade family starts to feel better very soon!

[Mike]

[Kyle]

We never tire of sunshine and shadow when together: we readily tire of either by itself.

[Eliahad]

Up or down, you're always headed somewhere.

[mimekiller]

who wants to be my internet girlfriend