Wow, ok, so it has been a ridiculously long time since my last blog and much has happened and lots has changed but I'm kinda back in the same place as I was when I last wrote on Jan 2, 2009.

Right now, I am 3 and a half weeks post-knee reconstructive surgery and am progressing like a text-book patient. Life consists of physio, going to the gym to swim, do cardio and weights when I'm not at the gym, hanging with Stuart (who's now moved to civilization and no longer in Pemberton and no longer just a "mate" as reviously mentioned), catching up with friends who are passing through town, chilling at House with my Housemates and trying not to get too depressed when it snows.

I suppose I had better back track to January sometime in order to make sense of all this.

The first half of January was spent being an unwilling worker's compensation bum, going to physio then lunch, apres, pubs etc once my friends finished work or riding. Sounds tough but it definitely did get me down on the couple of powder days that I could only hear about and imagine. Towards the end of January I was walking around like normal and started a modified duties program which consisted of filing liability waiver forms, employee records and conducting garbage audits at the various Whistler restaurants. It was nice to get up the mountain for sure, but to sit next to the garbage compactor and tally up all the bags of waste and composte being tossed was definitely NOT what I came to Whistler for! (or spend 5 years at law school for). So it was bitter sweet to be back at work and I couldn't wait to have an excuse to leave Whistler for surgery on Jan 30.

So on Jan 27, I packed my things and headed to Van to see Mum and Dad who flew over for my operation and a couple of weeks skiing, which was so so lovely of them as I definitely couldn't have managed on my own. It's funny how after just a few hours it feels like there's been no distance or months of time between us. We spent a few days poking around Van in Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island and Kitsilano. Then I went under the knife at 11:30 on Friday Jan 30 (not 8am as planned - no thanks to the clinic for letting me know the time change). After an hour and a half I was coming round again and by 4pm I was booted out of the clinic with a wheelchair and compression cuff pumped full of painkillers and local anaesthetic.

Surgery all went to plan, my ACL was all but torn and my hamstring was harvested and wrapped around the fibres that remained and screwed to my tib femur. The taxi ride back to Whistler was excruciating at every bump but I made it and Stuart was there to greet me with my crutches and be thrown into the deep end of meeting my parents! I even managed to head out that night to the Sushi Village and the GLC (Garibaldi Lift Co) to see Hey Ocean play and was thinking wow - this rate of recovery is sooo much better than last time. Then about 3 days later the bruising started to come out and all the bad blood in my leg made it virtually impossible to even put my foot on the floor it was sooo painful.

Nonetheless I made it out to dinner with Mum and Dad each night (never eaten out so much in the last 3 months as I did in those 3 weeks) sampling all the cuisine that the Village has on offer. Mum and Dad eventually started skiing and I started physio. The 2 weeks with them here just flew by, it was so difficult to say goodbye after being spoiled and nursed so well.

Oh, I've also been attending all the World Cup events that are being held aroundabouts before the Olympics - Nordic Combined, Cross Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Bobsleigh, Luge to date. So getting into my winter sports and living vicariously once again.

What else... going dogsledding tomorrow - WoooO! something different and I can't wait. Also hoping to get to a Canuck hockey game in March.

My plans for the rest of the year have done quite an about-turn and due to a combination of circumstances it now looks like I will postpone my travels of South America until August and stay in Whistler for the summer, working for the Mountain (hopefully as a cashier or something slightly more dignified than garbage auditor), hosting at the Mountain Club and enjoying all the summer sport on offer here. The lake trails willbe beautiful and I cant wait to practice hiking for the inca trail, maybe I'l even invest in a bike to aid my rehab. It also looks like London, working in Ireland and travels to Eastern Europe will have to wait for another adventure when the economy is more stable for my travel buddy, Kate. So with the incentives of the Olympics next season and the compulsion to actually SKI a full season on decent snow, I plan to return to Canada after South America sometime at the end of October and get myself set up with a job reporting for the Olympic News Service or some other Games job (fingers and toes crossed please).

So that is life to date, in a very small, abbreviated, censored nutshell, please see photos for the pictorial account.