Saturday, November 27, 2010

Stirring up the pot some more: Snowboarding!

I haven't been snowboarding in probably close to five years although I used to do it quite often when living in Colorado from the years 2000 to 2004.  Now living 55 miles from Mt. Hood I decided to recently get back in to this very expressive and fun activity.  First off I want to say how interesting it is that snowboarders are often stigmatized and get a bad rap (especially in the eyes of some skiers!).  I want to share a little story today that may cause you to think before you make a snap judgement based on stereotypes or appearances.

After taking a few runs down the mountain my buddy Mike B. and I slid in to the lift line which wasn't too terribly long.  After a couple seconds I hear someone yell, "Yassine!", from about 30 feet ahead of us in the lift line.  I didn't recognize the snowboarder but next he says loudly, "I've got your wallet!!", and makes room to heave it to me across the crowd.  I catch the wallet as it flaps through the air and am flabbergasted how I lost it and he came upon it.  The wallet was soaking wet and I open it to find the 35 dollars in cash that was in there before and my debit/credit cards, etc.  I try to show my gratitude and yell, "I owe you one!! Thank you so much!", but he disappears into the crowd and up the lift into the flurried sky.  My buddy Mike and I look at each other and say, "did that just happen?!!!"

So I still can't figure out completely what happened but this is what I theorize:  I think I accidentally left my pocket open when retrieving my video recorder out and as you can see in the video below I wrecked at the 1:20 mark in the video.  At that point my wallet must have popped out!  Then this honest guy comes shreddin' along and scoops up the wallet and makes his way past Mike and I down the long descent.  He sees my Oregon drivers license photo and is able to visually pick me out of the crowd!  Amazingly good karma for that guy :-)

Enjoy the video below....We had a great time and definitely felt alive out there today!



Now a few weeks completely off from running I feel that my body is really bouncing back and my mind is loving this variety.  I've been having fun which is the most important thing.  I hit the gym a couple days ago, snowboarded today, and have some more strength building plans as I prepare to start back running soon.  But, I definitely plan to get back out to the mountains for some more snowboarding soon!...and hey!...snowboarders are genuine, honest people too :-)

Beware, so long as you live, of judging men by their outward appearance.
Jean de La Fontaine 

4 comments:

mtnrunner2 said...

Fun video. The snow looks great! I tell you what, now that I live next to the Rockies, I vow I will never live more than an hour away from skiing :)

It's too bad we have to view such honesty as an exception instead of the rule. I wouldn't even think of taking someone's stuff, and I'm glad another rider was the same way. Great that you got your wallet back intact. Someone I know dropped their wallet in my apartment complex, and I found it later, but with all the cash missing. That is so low, and a bummer to know someone probably living around you is a thief.

It's been snowing lots here in CO, but it always seems to happen at the beginning of the work week :( That's OK, weekend powder days will happen. There was a year, I think 2008, where it seemed to snow every Saturday night. It was awesome.

Yassine said...

Yeah the snow conditions were much better than I anticipated...nothing like Colorado though! One thing I miss about CO is the bluebird days...Hope you have a great season :-)

Tom Shadood said...

We are going someday!

Snurfer said...

Great video - glad to hear that other snowboarder was kind enough to return your wallet. Many people would not (as sad as it is to say!). Do you have snow out there now? I can't wait to get back on the mountain and am going to head out west as soon as there is enough snow to board in. Otherwise I'm going to be snowboarding in the backyard for a while.