Snowboarding for beginners

Maybe my blog should be retitled:  A blog about snowboarding.  I just can't help myself.  It seems everywhere I go someone is asking me about snowboarding.  When will the mountains open?  Where are we going to go?  I can't wait to try out my new board! These are just a few of the questions that I have been hearing.  So here is a rundown of the equipment you need to snowboard.  You can rent it at most mountains so you don't need to make a large investment upfront.  But be warned, snowboarding is a very expensive hobby!

You will need special boots called snowboarding boots.  On the left are the boots I wear.  They are basically just thick snowboots.  One advantage of snowboarding over skiing is that the boots are more natural and comfortable.

You will also need bindings.  Bindings hold your boots to the board.  On the left is an old binding that I still have around.  The straps close around your boot.  (I am just wearing my jeans and sneakers)

And of course you will need a snowboard! On the left are my snowboard (can you see the bindings?) and a new snowboard I bought for my girlfriend.

Vocabulary:

1. rundown (noun):  a short list with just a few details about each item

2. rent (verb): to pay to borrow something for a short time

3. investment (noun): money used to start something including savings, a business or a hobby

4. to warn (warned) (verb): saying something that helps avoid danger or difficulty

5. expensive (adj.): worth a lot or costing a lot of money

6. binding (noun): an object that holds other things together, like the spine of a book or a snowboard binding.

Fill in exercise:

1.  You should also be __________ that snowboarding can be dangerous.

2.  I like to _________ movies instead of buying them because I don't usually watch them more than once.

3.  Putting money in the stock market is a form of financial _________.

4.  I will warn you that it can be __________ if you don't invest wisely.

5.  The _________ is wearing off of the back of my favorite book because I have read it so many times.

6.  Can you please give me a ___________ of what we are going to do today in class?

Grammar Point:

A form of a verb that is used as an adjective is called a participle.  Warned is a particple of the verb to warn.  In the examples in this blog post it is used as a predicate adjective along with the verb 'to be'.

For instance:  You should be warned...

We can also write: You should be happy...      See how happy is the predicate adjective here?

'Warned' is playing the same role in the previous sentence.  The difference is that it was formed from the verb 'to warn' by adding 'ed' on the end.  This makes it the past participle.

PS.  Here's a closer look at the graphic(picture) on the white snowboard.

Places I long to be...

Park City, Utah.  Vancouver, British Columbia.  Otis, Massachusetts.

What do these three places have in common?  They are all places where people can ski and snowboard.  Whistler Mountain in Vancouver is where the Winter Olympics will be in February.  Otis is the first place I ever snowboarded, and Park City Utah is where I have had my most memorable riding experiences.

What you see below is a bowl I shredded called McConkey's at Park City Resort. Pretty steep huh?

One of the unique things about Park City, Utah is that the ski mountain has the same name as the town.  This demonstrates how the city feels about skiing and snowboarding.  The culture of the mountain is so ingrained in the town, that even though the base area is a couple miles away, they have a chair lift that comes right into the center of Main St.  Appropriately, it is called the Town Lift.  It is a little easier to see how it goes right into the heart of town in the summer time picture on the left.

I would say this should be your first stop if you are visiting, but you need to have your ski/snowboard gear on before you hop on the lift.  If you want to have lunch first, there are some great restaurants right on Main Street as well.  One place right next to the Town Lift, sells cheeseburgers that has grilled cheese sandwiches for each bun!! Wow!!

Wow, indeed!

 Vocabulary: 

1. Vancouver (proper noun): a large city in British Columbia, Canada.

2. hop (verb): to jump, especially on one foot only.  To get on something quickly.

3. gear (noun): equipment used to do something, especially specific equipment for a sport or hobby

4. appropriately (adverb): an action that is expected, normal and/or acceptable for the situation.

5. chair lift (noun): a large machine that has chairs hanging from a moving cable to bring you up a mountain.

6. unique (adjective): belongs to only one person, place or category; special.

Vocabulary Exercise:

1. One of the ___________ things about Park City, Utah is the Town Lift.

2. If I am going to drive you to school you better ________ in the car before I have to leave for work!

3. The coldest part of skiing is when you ride the _____________ up to the top of the mountain.

4. I try to get one new piece of  ________ before snowbaoridng season, even if it is a helmet or gloves.

5. I _____________ wear a helmet when I snowboard becuase it is easy to hurt your head.

6. The Winter Olympics are in ___________ in February 2010, a city in Canada near Whislter Mountain.

Grammar point - another use of commas

When we write about a place within a place we have to use commas to separate the place names.  Usually the smaller place is written first, then a comma and then the bigger place.  Here are some examples:

Long Island, New York

Rockville Centre, New York

Park City, Utah

Vancouver, British Columbia

Can you write the name of the town and state you live in following this method?

What would you do if you want to inclue the country?

...and boy are my arms tired!!

  From whisking, stirring and making some Thanksgiving food!  It is the day before Thanksgiving, and I am attending a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's house.  It is a 'potluck' dinner, so each person is in charge of cooking a dish or two.  First, I made brownies with a raspberry swirl covered in white chocolate and salted almonds.  Yum!

My arms were already a little tired from whipping the brownie batter into shape, but then it was time to chop the onions for the turkey stuffing.  Well, my eyes got a work out too!  Cutting onions is supposed to make your eyes tear up, but I was crying like a baby.  It was quite a sight, I am sure.  There were also a few ingredients that needed to be whisked up for the stuffing including heavy cream, some more eggs and chicken broth.

It was hard not to eat all the brownies before the stuffing was done, but it's about ready to come out of the oven.  I am very excited to go to my friend's house to eat it along with the turkey we are going to fry!!

Vocabulary:
1. whip (verb)- whipped, whipping:  to mix or stir something quickly and thoroughly
2. whisk (verb)- whisked, whisking: also to mix or stir somethingly quickly and thoroughly
3. stuffing (noun): a food that goes inside something else, or is cooked inside of something else.
4. ingredients (noun): different food items that are used to make a dish, found in a recipe
5. fry (verb): to cook something in oil
6. batter (noun): a mixture of ingredients that is a thick and has qualities of a solid and a liquid
7. Thanksgiving (proper noun): An American holiday
8. raspberry(noun): a small red berry, a fruit.

Exercise- fill in the blank with a vocabulary word.

1.  My favorite Thanksgiving dish is the _________ that comes out of the turkey.
2.  The instructions in the recipe called for two eggs and a cup of cream to be ____________ together.
3.  I like to have extra _________ cream on my ice cream sundaes.
4.  On the American holiday of ________________ people get together for a big dinner with their family.
5.  We have a berry bush in our yard that grows little red ____________ that we can pick.
6.  When I cook pancakes for breakfast the ________________ gets everywhere.
7.  You can __________  a whole turkey by slowly lowering it into a big tub of hot oil.
8.  A recipe contains instructions that tell you what to do and a list of __________ that tells you what to use.

Grammar point:
 Do you know what a synonym is?  It is a fancy word we use to say two words have the same or similar meanings.  For instance, cup and mug are synonyms.  They are both things we drink out of.  Can you find a pair of synonyms in the vocabulary list?