Downhill Skiing

I apologize for the delay in this post. It has been some time coming. About a week ago, I had the opportunity to attend the downhill skiing event at the Paralympic Winter Games. This was combined men and women, and it was three different categories. They started with the women in all categories, and then had the men compete afterwards.

The first event was the downhill skiing for the visually impaired. This amazed me, because the athletes that were competing in this were blind, or pretty close to it. They all had a guide who skied the course about 10 metres ahead of them. Both were wearing headsets and would talk to each other as they skied down the mountain. We were asked not to cheer until after they had crossed the finish line so that they would be able to hear their guides.

Following the visually impaired athletes, the women sit skiers competed next. There were only six of them. These were women who were paralyzed. They had a special arrangement, where they sat in a bucket which was mounted on a single ski. There was a suspension system that connected them to the ski. On the ends of their poles, they had little skis, so they could use their poles to help them balance. These skiers were faster than the Olympic skiers. They are the fastest skiers in the world usually. Unfortunately, the two skiers competing for Japan both were unable to finish the race. The first one had a pretty serious crash because her binding came apart when she was going about 120 km/h. She was actually pretty seriously injured and was picked up by a helicopter and flown away from the scene. The second woman from Japan also crashed, although it was much less serious. She was not hurt, but she was not able to finish the event.

After the sitting skiers the standing skiers competed. None of these were the same. The Standing skiers all had limited or no use of at least one limb, but sometimes it was a leg, other times it was an arm. In a few cases, an athlete could not use either of her arms. Some were missing limbs as well. After the last standing skier ran the course, the women were all done the event. There was a short break while they touched up the course and repainted some of the lines, and then it was time for the men to compete.

During the break, Jeremy and I got talking to the woman sitting next to us. We knew she was an American by what she was wearing and by the fact that she was cheering for all the American athletes. As it turned out, she was from Kingston, New Hampshire, which is only about 45 minutes to an hour from where I grew up. Also, she was the mother of Chris Devlin-Young, one of the athletes who was yet to compete. He is one of the sit skiers for the USA team. He would be competing in a little while. She was telling us a bit about him though. He had won medals, both gold and silver, at past Paralympic Games, in Salt Lake, Torino, and Lillehammer. He had won many other events worldwide for his sit skiing ability. She was very excited to see him compete again, and had even made a big banner for him.

After the break, the competition resumed with the visually impaired men. Once again, their guides led the way, typically only by about 10 metres ahead of them. Every team had their own way of doing it which worked for them though. Some preferred to ski a bit closer together, while others liked being farther apart. I was impressed at the fact that there were really only one or two crashes, even though these guys couldn't see what was in front of them. They were out there skiing a pretty fast and challenging course without ever skiing it. It was incredible.

Once the visually impaired skiers all finished up, it was time for the sit skiers. The lady next to us was excited for this part, because this was where her son would compete. He had to wait for several other skiers to go before him. When it was his turn, he got a good start, but he was 0.36 seconds behind the person who was in first place up to that point. By the second checkpoint however, he had made up some time. He was actually in the lead by 0.52 seconds. If he kept that pace, he would take the Gold Medal again. His mother's excitement was getting higher and higher as she watched her son compete and ski extremely well. He did very well, and came into view just about 200 metres from the finish line. There was one final hill, where most people got a bit of air, and then he would come off that to the finish line. He was doing very well, and it looked like he had probably gained more time since the second checkpoint. He came around that last turn, into clear view of all of the spectators, and hit that last hill. He got air, which was expected, but when he hit it, he was still finishing up the turn, and he did not land the jump. He crashed, and got right back up, still finishing quickly. Unfortunately, that crash cost him just over four seconds, which put him well outside the possibility of getting any medal. His mother was just devastated. I had no idea what to say to her, because there really is nothing you can say to make losing a gold medal better. He did finish the race, despite the crash, which was good, but still disappointing.

After the rest of the sitting skiers were finished, the standing skiers competed. The man who won for standing skiing actually did not have any arms. Yet he was the fastest person down that mountain. It was amazing. When the last standing skier reached the bottom, there was a short break and then a flower ceremony for those who had won medals. The actual medals ceremony was not until later that evening though. Medals were given for each category and for both men and women, so for the whole day there were six of each medal.

Opening Ceremonies-Part 2

Today, again, we have Opening Ceremonies. This time, they are for the Paralympic Games. They will be this evening. Unlike with the Olympics, tickets are not sold out actually, and go for $30. For the next nine or ten days (I think it is ten, but I am not sure) we will have the Paralympic Games going on, mostly in Whistler. Actually, Vancouver only has two events. The sledge hockey and wheel chair curling events will be held in Vancouver, but everything else, including the Closing Ceremonies, will be here in Whistler. Most of the events are skiing events. I am actually going to the Alpine Skiing event on the 18th, which is a standing event. The athletes will be standing to ski down the mountain. There is a separate event for those skiing sitting. It is both men and women, and I imagine it will only be a couple of hours. It should be good though. I have heard, from just a few people who have actually been, that the paralympic events are often more exciting and incredible than the Olympic events.

Things have still been quiet around here. Tomorrow the work is expected to pick up a little bit again, because events will be starting tomorrow. We shall see what happens. It still will not be anything like a few weeks ago. Security is much more relaxed at the events this time around. Spectators will not even need to be screened.

Paralympics

About a million people have asked me what in the world I could possibly be doing in Canada for all of March if the Olympics ended a week ago. Well, for that last week, I have worked exactly eight hours. Starting next week however, we will be busier again. The 2010 Paralympic Games begin next week. There will not be nearly the same crowds or craziness or media attention that the Winter Games got, but there will still be a bit for us to do. After that, things will go back to really quiet. It has been very quiet everywhere for the past week. Actually, it was a little strange, because we were just getting used to the crowds and the craziness, and then it all disappeared, and people resumed life as normal. Normal felt odd for a bit. It is nice though. Whistler has gone back to the nice quiet skiing town in the mountains that it was when I arrived. Things are going very well here, although I really do not have a lot to talk about, because very little has been going on. I will do my best to keep everyone posted on everything though.

Life

I mentioned recently that I finally figured out what I am going to do with my life. A few people have asked me what that is, and a few people have made guesses as to what it might be. I will elaborate here, since this space is a bit larger than a comment box on Facebook.

All my life I have liked trains, which I have talked about on here in the past. I think it all started when my dad would take me to the end of the street, even before I could walk, so we could look down the tracks and see if there was a train coming. That was a daily ritual until I began going to school every day. Since I could talk I always said I wanted to drive trains when I grow up. I think growing up I never honestly thought I would grow up though. I still don't think I will! At any rate, now is the time when we try to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives. We are expected to choose a major in college or pursue some sort of technical training from which we can build a career. I have been in college for about two years now, trying to figure out which major sounds the most interesting, and which one I could have a job with for the rest of my life without being bored to tears.

When I first started college, I was a Civil Engineering Major. That was fine, and it was interesting enough, but I discovered, after two failed attempts at Calculus, that I am not very good at math! I decided that engineering was not for me, so I switched my major to Facilities Management. It seemed a bit easier, while still fairly interesting. As I continued in those classes it slowly became less interesting though. By the end of the semester, and after a mission, I was completely bored by it.

When I returned from my mission, I decided to switch my major to Construction Management. That seemed a bit more interesting. My only hesitation was that it required calculus. I figured I would give that class another chance. After all, they say that the third time is a charm! Well, I did manage to pass the class that time, although it turned out it was luck. I actually did not have any higher average than I had in the past, the way the grading ended up being curved was just enough to give me that passing grade. That was an obstacle I had overcome, even if I had barely overcome it! Construction Management did not lose its interest, however I did get thinking more about my future. I liked it, but I still wondered if it was interesting enough to do for the next 40 years.

Last summer, I took a job in Alaska, where I drove motor coaches around Anchorage and the surrounding areas. I had never planned or even wanted to be a bus driver, but it was a good opportunity that found me, so I took it. Buses had never been interesting to me. As I worked in Alaska, I learned a few things. I learned a ton about Alaska, and learned that I like that place a lot. I also learned that I really love transportation in any form, even if trains are my favorite mode. I also found that I liked work everyday. I liked being on the move all the time, and always going somewhere, even if I had been there before. That got me thinking about a career again. I really didn't and do not want to make driving a bus my career. As I mentioned, it was just a good opportunity for the summer, although it has provided me with work ever since too. I would like to work in transportation though.

As I was thinking about transportation work, I remembered a school I had seen ads for in some of my train magazines when I was about 17. It is called the Modoc Railroad Academy, and it is outside of Sacramento, CA. So I went online and got some more information about the place. It is a kind of trade school. They train people to be certified conductors and licensed locomotive engineers. The whole program is six months long. It is more than book learning though. There is quite a bit of that, complete with homework assignments, however a large amount of the time is spent actually operating trains in a railroad yard, and working on the tracks. They try to create as much of a railroad setting as possible. They set up scenarios in the yard, and you stay there for as long as it takes to complete, even if it ends up taking 15 hours. Classes are five days a week, but they are scheduled anytime during the day or night, and that time can change from day to day, just as your schedule likely would on the railroad.It sounds like a challenging program, but it sounds like something I would enjoy a lot. At the end of the six months, they help in the job search. They do not guarantee employment, although every person who has graduated from there has been offered a railroad job. There is an average of six job offers for each graduate. I have decided that I will go to Modoc, and then see where life takes me after that. I seems that my childhood dream of driving trains when I grow up is going to become a reality. I am trying to start school in September, however I will probably have to wait until May 2011 to begin. Part of this is the federal age requirement for engineers. If I do have to wait until May, I will just work and save money until then. I will no longer be attending BYU. Perhaps when I am a bit older I will decide to get a degree, but I think railroad work will be more interesting to me, and I will get paid quite a bit more to start than I would with a degree.

In short, my life plan is to get my Conductor Certification and a Class 1 license from the Federal Railroad Administration. Then I will get a railroad job, ideally as a locomotive engineer, but possible as a Conductor, and I will drive trains, just as I have been planning since I was three.