This is a blog without pictures, and there is a good reason why. I cant take any pictures right now. Why?

This blog Represents everything that happened after McCall. Basically, it is a story of sadness and dismay. Okay, not really, but there is some sadness involved. The night before I left Boise, the night before I flew to Chicago to pick up my car and start the long drive alone to fort Lauderdale, Florida (27 hours), the night before packing a car full of stuff and putting on my bike rack, etc., I went snowboarding with my bros Mike, Eric and Ben. It was a beautiful night with great snow and ideal conditions, crisp and cold. No wind, clear sky...yep, that kind of dream night at Bogus Basin.

We boarded a solid 2 hours and I was feeling good. My legs weren't tired and I felt like I could go for several hours before I would feel it. We were seeking out jumps and killing Superior. But fate wouldn't have it that way. We got off the lift and I started heading down the cat track to a run we had been working on for a while. I saw a little jump next to a tree I had hit once or twice that night and decided to take it for a little quickie as I got nearer to the real run. As I went under the tree I felt my board hit a hidden rock. It knocked me sideways as I propelled off the little jump and caught air. Word on the street from Ben was that it was a beautiful spectacle! Sparks flew as metal met rock, and my shoulder also flew as arm met ground. Yes, I heard it pop, and I felt it pop as well.

I stood up. it hurt like a mother...but I didn't think it was broken. No, I could touch it without screaming. Wait...what about dislocation? The guys suggested I lift it above my head. I did, successfully. Phew, it must just hurt a lot. So I sent them to take a run or two as I boarded down to the lodge to rest it for a bit. But by the time I got down there, I knew something was very wrong. I couldn't keep it to the side. My arm just dangled in front of me. And the pain? Accelerating at a very rapid speed.

Upon arriving at the lodge, I fortuitously ran into a ski patrol dude. He assessed the situation. His diagnosis? "dude, you shoulder is seriously effed up. It is way out of the socket.". I felt it, and indeed it was. It was at that point that I began the extremely painful process of getting that freaking thing back into place. After being trucked down to the lower lodge (thank heavens I didn't have to be sledded down...omgoodness), the patrolman explained that he was not allowed to help me reinsert the joint...but he could talk me through doing it myself. I would do anything for the pain to stop, so I tried. I grabbed onto a metal bar near my knees and stood up as fast as I could, yanking and twisting my arm. Apart from screams and black-out inducing pain, nothing happened. Another tactic, similar results. They helped me sit down, a broken shell of a man. I would have to endure a 45 minute car ride to the hospital down the mountain.

The boys finally found me and we made our way down. The only way to not black out or start crying was to make the whole situation a joke, so I started getting silly. Walking into the ER, apparently I said something like, "Evening Ladies, let's do this thang." or something equally ridiculous. The nurses enjoyed my sense of humor, but apparently that doesn't make them like you enough to speed up service. It wasn't until 3 hours or more later that my arm was back in. One doctor tried to yank it in without any pain control, and I almost died. Mike had to leave the room, poor kid. So they knocked me out and made it happen.

Needless to say, my move to Florida has been tough. Pam flew east to help me drive our car down. Working a new job in a sling has been suboptimal, but it worked fine enough. I will be getting surgery on February 1st and in a sling for 8 weeks. Oh well sunny florida, I will have to wait to enjoy your lovely offerings. I just can't wait to get this thing fixed. I'm surprised at how much the chronic pain and lack of freedom has affected my move. I feel bad for Caitlin for all the extra work she has had and for my inability to be myself completely, but she is a trooper and a rock.

But we are preparing some fun stuff to get me excited about the future: I am going to the Ultra Music Festival which is the biggest electronic music festival in the world, we are going to see Iron & Wine in Savannah, Georgia, and to South Carolina.

Wish me luck!