Return of "The World Wide Weapon!"

It's embarrassing to admit that I hardly skied or snowboarded the last couple of seasons. However, what is even more embarrassing is how poor my snow sport skills have become. In the past, I have snow boarded, downhill skied, telemark skied, cross country skied and skated (special cross country skis). I have invested a lot of money in the equipment to do all of this and because I tried to do all of it I never became really good at any particular snow sport. Because of wrestling, I have only skied a handful of times in the last decade, and only telemark skied once or twice in the last decade.

This past fall I went to the local ski swap and bought myself some new telemark skis for the upcoming season. Yesterday I skipped work and went to White Pass with my son-in-law Nick Jordan (who is an amazing snow boarder) and my nephew Peter Hibbard (who is a very good snow boarder). I arrived at our local resort, White Pass, fully expecting to be absolutely amazing on my new telemark skis. I felt so old and stiff that I literally needed help from Nick initially strapping on my new skis. Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing. Wow! Having not skied on telemark skis for a number of year now, I was shocked at how my thighs burned after only 2 runs. Needless to say, despite having some really nice telemark equipment, I mostly just paralleled skied. The lunges required for a telemark turn just wasn't going to happen.

For the last several runs, I decided to snow board instead of ski. Several years ago, I bought a world class snow board so remarkable that it came with a name--"The World Wide Weapon." I progressed so rapidly on this board that I demanded that my children refer to me as the "The World Wide Weapon." Now I am not going to comment on my actual boarding skills after such a long lay off, but if you happen to be skiing at White Pass this season and see some geriatric doing X Game like moves, please kindly address ME as "The World Wide Weapon." The bruises on my body prove that I've earned it!

Above is a picture of the triumphant return of the WWW on the WWW!

Fortified with Insanity!

I have not been sick for almost a year now. My improved good health has nothing to do with flu shots, or radical changes in my workout routines. It is based upon nutrition and various supplements. During the Thanksgiving break several of my naysaying children happened to witness my morning routine of vitamin imbibition and used terms such as "extreme," "wasteful" and even "dangerous" to describe it. I call it "fortification." Now most of the loyal readers of Darrell's Yakimania know that one of my most famous mottos is "Anything worth doing, is worth Overdoing!"

I was talking with my oldest daughter Darcee recently and was she was complaining that everyone in her house was sick, except Keith fortunately. I think she marveled when I explained that because I am fortified I never get sick anymore. Her reply, "Dad, the only thing you're fortified with is insanity!" Of course, I took her remark as a rave accolade--I'm pretty sure that's how she meant it. Regardless, while the rest of my friends and family members are struggling with colds and flu symptoms this winter, I am going to continue to work out without hinder or interference from nasty little bugs. My secret fortification? Insanity!

Because many of my loyal readers are likely interested in what my morning fortification routine looks like, I have posted a picture of the supplements I am currently taking.