Snowboard Crash Compilation

Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I usually land most of my jumps.

Memorial Day Parade on Constitution

After sitting on a couch for months wasting away, I have a better appreciation for the outdoors. Every day is an opportunity to get on my feet and get some mileage on my reconstructed ankle. I set a goal for myself to walk at least a mile a day.

Brooke and I wanted to go all the way to the Tidal Basin, which would have been over a three mile round trip. We were stopped by the Memorial Day Parade on Constitution. My ankle also started bothering me around the half mile mark, so our trip was cut short.

At first I was depressed about not going further than a mile. But that didn't last long. I used to get depressed about not walking at all.

The dog was pumped about our walk. Not many people know this, but dog's love how their noses taste. It isn't because they're stupid.

There was a gigantic American Flag hanging from two fire truck ladders over Constitution. I have an 8-feet tall American Flag hanging behind me at work. I'm jealous.

There were a billion tourists watching the show. We didn't get a chance to hang out and watch the show because the hot cement was bothering Spunky's paws. So we moved to the comfort of the shade.

Spunky loves the shade on hot days like this. As always, she was entertaining us the whole walk.

It's going to be a while before my ankle can keep up with me. I thought for sure I could go three miles today. That's frustrating, but it beats not walking at all.

Tiny Leg

It's like walking with a pencil for a leg.

Brooke was put on call, so we're going to go for a two mile walk today without lame crutches.

Our Future Daughter

Brooke and I will have a daughter. She will be a snowboarder by age one. Just like this awesome girl.

88 and Sunny

It's memorial day weekend and Brooke has to work every bit of it. That leaves me and Spunky to hang out. The weather here is awesome -- 88 and bright. So I decided to see what kind of mileage I could put on my ankle without any crutches.

I would have taken the mutt along for the ride, but I need to run an errand at CVS. Sorry, Spunk.

There was a dude walking in front of me with a cane. I thought about getting one at CVS, but I'm afraid it would slow down my recovery. You have to walk with the pain! Not sure why I took this picture. There are always a million people out in Chinatown.

The Navy Memorial is only half a mile from the apartment. With it being Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I'd drop by to pay my respects. That's the National Archives -- home of our Constitution -- in the background.

The sun is definitely out.

Lots of flowers and wreaths at the statue of the Navy dude. Spunky freaked out the first time she saw this guy.

I used MapMyRun.com to figure out how far I walked. It was just under a mile -- 0.90 miles to be exact. Not too bad. I was definitely feeling it towards the end, but I don't think I need a cane.

Top Three Grossest Leg Pictures

I had a chance last night to peruse my photos over the course of my injury. Like any true snowboarder would, I was wondering which one was the most disgusting photo.

I found three candidates.

This is a simple picture of a hole going down into my ankle, revealing a tendon. When I saw this for the first time, I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. Maybe that doesn't make this a gross photo, but I had to include it in the top three.

I'll be honest. This is my top candidate. It even grossed out the nurses removing the bandages. One of them even said, "I've never seen this color of fluid leak out of a wound before."

This was one of the first photographs taken of my injury. It's what started the blog. At the time, I was extremely drugged up, so having this equipment drilled into my skeleton didn't bother me. Now that I can take a sober look at it, it bothers me.

In fact, four things bother me about this picture.

The first thing is the gigantic blood blister. Little did we know that later on it would cost our insurance company $300 to drain him.

The second disturbing feature is the external fixator screwed through my heel and into my shin below the knee. That's what preserved the length of my leg while the swelling came down.

The third feature that grosses me out is the lumps around my still broken tibia.

And the fourth problem is a subtle one -- there's an "X" marking the spot where an extremely faint pulse could be felt on the top of my foot. Of the several people that tried to locate my pulse, only one physician was able to locate it. This mark shows how close I came to losing this awesome, kickball-dominating foot.

New Snowboard 2 (Matt Britton's Idea)

Matt Britton suggested I redesign the board with my x-rays on top. He had a good idea.

Here's the new top. If you can't read the text, the word on the left is, ironically, "expertsnowboarder." On the right, it says, "tree: 1 snowboarder: 0."

Here's the new patriotic base.