A = F/m

So acceleration equals force divided by mass. In order for an object to be classified as accelerating it must be increasing in velocity.

As far as I can tell, snow sledding is a constant acceleration right up to the point where you crash.

First of all there is snow. Snow as you normally think about it is described as puffy and light. You imagine the flakes lightly covering your body as it descends like a winter blanket.

Sledding snow is not this. Sledding snow is firm, packed down by the sea of children who descended the hill prior to your arrival. If fresh snow is a winter blanket, then mid-day sledding snow is your wet bathroom tile. Ready to causes you to slip at any moment.

Acceleration takes into account mass. Now something horrible happens when you combine a 38 pound child, with a 205 pound daddy; the mass, once it has reached maximum velocity, then to want to remain in motion. That same mass also decides to kick up snow all over the place, and by all over the place I mean directly on your young unexpected face.

You see, upon reaching the bottom of the hill your face will be indistinguishable from a Snoppy snow cone. In essence a jet engine blasts snow into your face as it is forcefully ejected from the ground by all the mass on the sled.

This is no way to spend an afternoon.

After three runs, I informed my father that I do not enjoy sledding and would prefer to go indoors. If you look closely at the rim of my hood you will notice the remains of the snow that was previously on the mountain, but which had decided to relocate to my face.

Perhaps I will try this extreme sport again, after I master less dangerous activities such as base jumping and sky diving.

Feels like spring

Winter is this amazing time of year where there is snow on the ground, water freezes up, snowman appear daily and the whole city is draped with a white blanket. This year winter has not arrived. What we have been receiving instead is an early preview of Spring. Today, in the middle of January, the temperature was 45 degrees. This has afforded my sister and I the opportunity to investigate some new parks in order to assure they meet the highest standards. This also provides me with extra outdoor time to jump, run and generally wreak havoc.

As for the other person in the photo, my dad says she has to be there to balance out the weight on the teeter-totter.

Brushing Up on Vader

Over my holiday break I had the chance to stay at a friend's home. This friend happened to have a library full of children's books. Turns out that my friend is a speech therapist and works with kids on their reading. Of all the subjects on her shelf there was one in particular that caught my eye, Darth Vader. Over the next week I was inseparable from this book. I would ask my folks to read it to me nightly, which was no small chore since it is 50 pages long. When my folks were not reading me the book, I would scan through it myself. The only time I put it down was when we had to leave my friends house and Lord Vader had to remain behind.

Do you have a favorite book, if so I would love to hear about it.

LTN.