It's the first Family Day today, and I spent the entire day doing things non-family oriented. I think this holiday is mis-named.

This past weekend we went out to a friend's cottage in Penatang for some skiing, some Guitar Hero, and a lot of drink. We actually got our previously-injured friend to try out skiing again for the first time since his unfortunate tibia incident a couple of years ago, and this event was far more pleasant. I'm improving noticably on the board, and am hoping that by the time the next season starts, I'll be able to handle any of the slopes my friends tend to enjoy.

Our friend's brother was there at the cottage as well, and he let us all try out his snowmobile just before we made the drive back to T.O. We took it a lap or two around the house in turn, enjoying speeding around the house in a circuit. I was the last to go, and being the cautious type - not wanting to crash the vehicle into a tree, or a car, or the house - the onlookers saw me carefully throttle up and slowly make my way across the front lawn and carefully turning round to the back of the house. Then, to everyone's surprise - inlcuding my own - the next thing they saw was me and snowmobile emerge from the other side of the house flying through the air, with me yelling "woo hoo!!". While everyone else had sensibly gone around the ramp, I decided to take it head on and at full throttle.

I then slowly and carefully returned to the front and shut it down. I had my moment.

Last night I went out to Dagmar resort, up north of Ajax, to continue my snowboard education. It was one of my more productive trips, because I went alone (which meant I didn't have to wait for anyone) and because it was bloody cold (which meant there was nobody else there). I essentially had the hills all to myself much of the time, and was able to tackle all the blue runs entirely using proper S-turns - no "falling leaf" cheats, which essentially involves braking the entire way down. This is big for me. I still have to cheat on black diamond runs, and there's no way I'm trying the terrain park, but I am pleased with my progress.