Body worlds, Vail & Ultimate, oh my!

I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with some friends Thursday (the 23rd ... I'm late on my post) to see this world famous exhibit called Body Worlds. It's been controversial in some areas. It's basically an exhibit of human bodies that were donated as art. They are preserved through a process called plastination. Anyway, it was really cool and a lot larger of an exhibit than I expected. They had several whole bodies cut and posed so that you can see the insides. They also had lots of organs, etc. showing various diseases and ailments. I did feel a little nauseous at first, but I was fine later. There were a couple of people in our group who weren't feel so good by the end. The strange thing is that the figures look like plastic models, and it's not until you think, "Hey, these are real people," that you feel weird. Some of the more controversial items were plastinated fetuses at various stages of development and even a full plastinated female with a well-developed fetus (7-months, if I recall) visible in her belly. Some of the cooler things there were these displays with blood vessels suspended in some liquid. Apparently, the vessels were filled with some red dye and plastination agent, and all the other tissue and bones were dissolved away chemically. The result is basically the entire circulatory system of the arm or the head, for example, suspended in liquid with nothing else ... no skin, no bone, but still maintaining the original shape. It's hard to describe, but it looked like a 3D computer model. Anyway, I thought it was a great exhibit, but I could see how people could disagree with it.

We went to Vail on Saturday. It started as kind of a chill day, but then we met up with Marc, Beth Ann and John M. We went down some pretty hard stuff, then Marc wanted to go over this cornice at Blue Sky Basin. To which my response was, "You mean Lover's Leap?!" That's the name of the run, and I knew of it because it's the run I always see going up to Blue Sky Basin from the lift and always wonder, "Who would do that kind of hard stuff?" So the rest of the group went down an easier way, but for some reason I decided to go with Marc, Beth Ann and John. Here is the point where I describe Lover's Leap. Firstly, it is a single black diamond run (even though I could've swore it was a double black). It starts off with about a 15 foot vertical drop followed by a very steep grade run with moguls, small trees and rocks and the occasional small cliff ... yea. It wasn't as bad as it sounds I suppose. The cornice drop off was intimidating, but I was more worried about tumbling down the mountain into rocks and trees if I don't drop correctly. So Marc and John went down with ease. Beth Ann was next in line and was trying to overcome her fear of death. I went around her so that I could go ahead or follow shortly afterwards. Somehow I started slipping, so I ended up going down before I really wanted to. It was a pretty pathetic drop, but I made it nonetheless. I would've liked to have at least attempted it a bit more elegantly. Beth Ann also eventually came, and the rest was fine, albeit a little tricky. And of course, I took some pics of the ledge that we dropped from.


Beth Ann having dropped from the cornice

At the end of the day, Shelan and I hit up the terrain park where they had some interesting ramps. I got a lot more air on them than I would've expected which is the opposite of what usually happens. I felt like I was really high on both jumps, and I was impressed that I was able to land them cleanly. On the second landing, I actually hit so hard that I bounced back up in the air! I'm sure it didn't look as impressive as it felt, but I sure felt like I was 20 feet in the air (ok, maybe more like 10). We did another pass, and again I got way high and landed the first one and the 2nd jump was closed off because someone was hurt behind it (always a bad sign). In any case, I was 3 for 3 on the big jumps, and I was quite pleased with myself. A great way to end the day!

Sunday, I had my first game of Ultimate Frisbee. I got to the park a little early to mingle with my team, and I couldn't find our captain anywhere (who was the only person on my team that I knew besides D). And it was sooo friggin windy! I swear there were 40 mph gusts! Not good Ultimate weather to say the least. We eventually found the rest of our team and went over introductions. It was hard remembering so many names. I felt like a moron asking everyone to repeat their names. Of course, D and I got mixed up a lot being the two "brown" guys on the team which I'm cool with and always find to be rather amusing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing. The wind was a drag (no pun intended), but at the same time, it made the games so chaotic that it gave me a chance to learn the basics since everything was so sloppy anyway. We got slaughtered the first game, but the 2nd game was much better. It was close, but we edged out a win, and I had a lot more fun because I started to get the hang of the rules and strategy. I always tend to be the fast guy, so I was getting pretty exhausted since I hadn't sprinted in a while, but it was a lot of fun. I think we have a lot of really cool people on our team, and they're really good about helping new people. Me and this girl Beth are probably the newest persons to Ultimate on our team, and I think we were doing pretty well by the end of the day. Should be an interesting season. :)

Oh, and LSU baby!! In the Final Four for Men's and Women's!! GEAUX TIGERS!