How's it feel?

...to be buried alive in an avalanche and live to tell the tale: While competing with a friend to see who could make it higher up a peak known as "Super Chicken Hill" in Colorado's Arapaho National Forest on New Year's Eve, snowmobiler Shannon Christiansen triggered an avalanche and was buried alive under three to four feet of snow for more than five minutes.

...to crash into a wall at 190 mph: Former Rochesterite Leilani Münter may be more well-known for her off-track than on-track success-she's been dubbed "America's Sexiest Race Car Driver" (by Men's Journal in 2003) and an Esquire "Women We Love" (in 2002)-but she continues to show promise and make inroads on whatever racing circuit she gets a chance to drive.

...to hear for the first time: Born deaf in Rochester in 1981 (to hearing parents Ian and Deidre Clements), Sinead Clements learned how to speak and read through a process called Cued Speech (a supplement to lipreading in which handsignals are used to represent various sounds).

...to ride atop your house in a flood: By the time Bonnie and Roger Oldham realized that their town was being evacuated because of major flooding on the night of August 19, 2007, it was too late to leave Stockton, a town of 685 people near Winona.

...to get fired: It was 1997 and I worked at [a major employer in Rochester]. I always knew I was considered to be somewhat of a troublemaker at work, but I considered this to be a positive.