Co-Conspirators

February 22, 2005

Huge Congratulations!

A huge congratualtions goes out to my lady (who is ridiculously smart. Waaaay smarter than I). If you see or talk with her, make sure to congratulate her because she will be attending the Yale School of Nursing in the fall. I always knew you were brilliant Kami!

February 20, 2005

Craziness at the Pan!

Lots of great stuff happening lately....Went up to Stratton on Thur with my Lady. Had a great time riding around in the crusty, icy, corn snow of lower VT. Watched some kid do an impressive air-to-rib cage on one of the little jumps in the kiddy park. If you can't get up after you hit, you should probably seek some kind of medical attention. Kami rocked some rails. We cruised around enjoying the sunny, bluebird skies. Took a few laps through the bigger park to mess around in the super-pipe. I've never ridden in anything so huge before. There was a lot of over-vert at the lip of most of pipe. Kindy scary. After falling a few times I started to wish that it was March and that the snow was softer.

Today we just hung around the house and relaxed. A couple of the stiffs at work got me sick so I've been popping my Wellness Formula every few hours. The stuff works remarkably well! Decided around 5:30 or so that we should get out and around. Went to the mall to check out the Mac store and drool over all of the cool, expensive shit. I'm in love with the flat screen monitors. The 22" would be perfect for what I'm doing. Looking at the ridiculous 30" cinema screen made me laugh. Both of us thought that it would be better suited for watching TV than working on computer stuff. Went and made a LONG overdue visit to the Pan. Rocked out to some triple shreds in garlic sauce and tried their vegan barbeque spare ribs. If you've never tried them before, 'You've really got to get off your ass." Amazing! Ran into Metal Steve enjoying his meal with his folks. Cool people. He's turning 27 on Tuesday so if you see him, give him his birthday shots. Went to the bookstore afterward. Settled down to catch up on all the latest BMX hype and in walks Steve and his folks. Talked a bit more about stuff in general. According to Steve, the new High on Fire will 'Make you poop yourself'. Now that sounds like a good record investment! Steve!....You need to write some music reviews for my zine! Whip some stuff up and send it to me with those photos you were talking about!

Speaking zines, if anyone has short (short) stories you've written, photos you've taken, or pictures you've drawn and want to see it in print, let me know! I don't have any sort of a timeline for the completion of this project but the more interest that I get, the quicker it may come into fruition. I can't offer you any money either (unfortunately) but I can offer my eternal friendship and comradery [sp?]. Black and white only. We goin' old school wit dis shit yo!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

February 06, 2005

Welcome to the Ice Coast!

Went riding after work tonight. We knew it would be fast. With all of the warm weather, people skiing and riding, and then the freezing temps @ night, it makes for damn fast conditions. Pat and I took a few warm up runs before the rail carnage ensued. I'm amazed that he can ride so fast on such a buttery board. On the first run I look up to see him straight-lining the whole damn trail, just fucking mach-ing it. Sick! We take a couple of runs on the 'park' trail. Checking out the iced up landings. Then we headed over to the box section to mix it up a bit. One of the rails claimed Pat's knee. I flopped all over the damn things not feeling comfortable at all with the iced up landings and run-ups. On the last run while riding switch, I caught an edge and got a good hard body-jar to the ribs while trying to keep my arms pasted to my sides (to avoid wrist damage). That was about all she wrote. Packed it in and headed home.

I'm thinking about getting a zine together. Seriously this time. If anyone is interested in contributing to it with original stories or written work, original photos or artwork please let me know. I don't have any kind of time frame at the moment. I've been messing with a couple of things in photoshop playing with my photos and layouts. Just an idea that's been thrown around the backshop for so long that it needs to be physically realized. Cool. Gonna do some laundry and read Fast Food Nation.
Ride Fast Ride Hard!

February 05, 2005

The Monkey Sleeps at Midnight!

So here is the overdue but promised art update. Karp gave me this great idea that I should post a piece in stages from start to finish so you can see everything along the way. So here is the whole thing. I kind of rushed it along so I could see teh finished product, hence, everything is very loose and sketchy (please bear with it). Comments and constructive criticism are both welcomed so bring it fo'!








And there you have it. From sketch stage to 'finished' piece complete with cartoony palm fronds swaying gently with the warm jungle breeze. Makes me want to go pass out. Late!

Snowbooze Industry....

I'm back from the 'On-Snow Demo' which is, exactly as the name pertains, a demo that is held on the snow. Being a member of the 'Snowsport Industry' I and many others get the unique opportunity to try next year's equipment now. This is great for the buyers who haven't quite made up their mind yet as to what pieces of equipment they want to purchase for their shop for the coming season because they get real world experience in trying the stuff out 'on the snow'. It's also a great opportunity for a shop schlep like myself and many others to try the stuff so we know how it rides and can more accurately describe it's handling characteristics to a potential customer. Sadly, most shopfolk see this as an opportunity to get fucking smashed and act like retards for three days. It's mostly a posturing contest. See who can look cooler that the next guy and hit on any girl within a 100 feet. I had a kind of epiphany while I was there (some big words for this blog...I apologize....easy, stay with me. Promise it won't happen again anytime soon!). It occured to me that most of these shop owners and buyers don't want to grow up. Not that wanting to stay young is a bad or negative concept, but trying to act like you're 18 when you're 30, 40 plus years old is just fucking lame. You work in a shop. Or were asked to work for a rep. Big fucking deal. Argh. Now I'm rambling. Fuck it.

We had a pretty good time. Rode some great new stuff and talked to some super cool folks. I'll take any bluebird, mild, windless day of riding over most anything. Looking at getting a crew together for a little Letdown action this Sunday. Got my confidence up and gonna try some backsides on the box. If you wanna see me get worked, you should come out! Shouldn't be too many people cause of the game and all. Congrats, by the way, to our friend Haasenstuffins who now works for Mercedes Benz in Hartford! If anyone's roll'n on a busted Benzy, he's the man to see to make it all better. I promise that the art update is coming! Really! Patience. That's all she wrote!

February 01, 2005

Disappearing act....again!

I'm disappearing again for a few days. Heading up north to go check out the annual industry demo where I get to try all of next years snowboarding equipment. I think it's going to be sunny the whole time so that should be sweet. Counting down the weeks til our inventory day...cause after that we start our summer business. Shorter hours, shorter weeks, bikes! I can't wait to be able to ride in everyday and not have to worry about what the windchill is going to be like. Don't get me wrong, riding in and of itself is great and I'm lucky to be able to do so, but not stressing ice patches and poor drivers at the same time will be kinda nice. Almost ready to post some artwork that I've been cleaning up in photoshop. For a quick sketch it's not too bad in its finished form. I'm gonna go pack my crap for the demo. Late!