Back in the water

I spent most of this week keeping one eye on the surf report and the other on Craigslist. Even though Craigslist did provide a few decent job leads, it was the surf that put me back in a good mood. I'm also trying not to spend as much time on the Drudge Report & CNN which helps. It seems no news is good news these days.


Played around at the Cove yesterday with Trav, Clem, Tipp, and ran into Glen there too. Waves were nothing special, just small, clean, fast, and breaking on the sand. Jetty looked good, but to large and mushy for the boards we had. Actually the peak looked kinda fun, we just didn't feel like sharing with the 12 guys that were already on it.


Session was fun until I put my knee through the bottom of my board. At first I thought it was from Trav when he dropped in on me and bailed. I felt something hit me then, but the hole looks more like blunt object instead of a rail. I do remember going down on my knee, but couldn't imagine it doing that much damage and not leaving a bump. Oh well, I'm going to try and repair it today. My quad needs some serious work too from when I kicked the fin box through the board at the Dump.

Jackie leaves tomorrow for Hong Kong.

Back home but not quite here

I've been home for a week and I still have the post vacation blues. Of course I'm stoked to be back for a few obvious reasons, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that I pissed away my time in Bali. I could have surfed more, taken more pictures, traveled further...too many things I missed out on, but at the time I thought I was moving fast enough. Now that I'm home, and looking for a job, I feel like every day here has been a waste of time. I know my way around, I drive on the right side of the road, food tastes the same, my wounds are healing, all the faces are familiar. I'm too comfortable. I think I need to surf some cold water to toughen me up.

Poor Ki had an amazing vacation and has to face reality again.

Most of the Bali Pics are up HERE

Halloween in Bali

Feeling back to normal and surfed the main reef yesterday for a few hours. Received a cut worthy of stitches, and urchin spins in my foot. Butterfly bandage and some crazy Asian antiseptic worked just as well. A new guest at the house, who just happens to be a ER doctor back in Seattle, said it looks ok and I shouldn't have any issues going back in the water this afternoon. The spines aren't deep and will work themselves out.

Went out for Halloween last night. It's a pretty big deal here too. We started off a small club Eric's friend owns. It's the only bar in Bali the does punk and hardcore shows I guess. The guy who owns it, Jarinks ('Drinks'), is obsessed with Social D. The topic of bands came up and I asked him if he knew of Himsa. Turns out he's a big fan and has all their music, but missed them when they were on their last Asia tour. When I told him I knew some of the guys in the band he wanted to hear some crazy stories about hanging out with them. He read in trade mags that they party pretty hard. I think he was bummed when I told him D couldn't hold his liquor and I have to occasionally hold his hair back for him when he gets sick.

At about the 5th or 6th club, and 12th vokda and soda, I got separated from our crew. I had no clue where I was and had a taxi take me back to downtown Kuta so I could find my scooter. I started to make my way back and ran into a few Aussie guys we were hanging out with earlier. They had no idea how to get back to Canggu, but told me a story of how they got in a taxi and when they found out it was a rouge taxi they had to jump out while it was still moving. When one was making his escape some chick on a scooter plowed right into the door. They ran the other way and never looked back.

I made it back to Canggu around 4am and only took one wrong turn. I still haven't heard from Eric.

There's a traffic cop on the corner taking bribes from tourists driving with international license so I'm going to have find another way home if I want to surf before sundown. I've been lucky so far and have avoided being stopped, but I was in the car when Britt was driving and had to cough up 100,000 rp. ($10.00 US). She's had been stopped a bunch of times so she was negotiating the bribe before the cop had a chance to harass her. Wish me luck.

Bali...only a few days left

It's my last few days here and I seemed kind of lost. I know that I'm leaving soon so I'm affraid to get wrapped up in planning any sort of adventures. Being sick yesterday didn't help either. It was more like the perfect storm of sickness. I surfed in the AM and when I got back I was feeling sore and had a thumping headache...I'm pretty sure I was dehidrated, my stomach was outta wack so I didn't want to eat, I hadn't slept well in a few days, and it was hot. I finally got my ass off the couch around 4 to get some food which helped. Eric came home and was heading out to surf so I figured that would make me feel better. Just the idea of surf seemed to work, but it was a different story once I strapped my leash on. The sandbar was ripping, and it was like a river moving along the reef, which meant alot of work. After 20 minutes I was thinking about going back in. Next thing I know the decission had been made for me by a wave on the inside of the sandbar. I was about to take one on the head so I tried to dive as deep as I could, but that only ended up being about 2 feet before I hit the bottom. I was always expecting if anything was going to go wrong here it would have been one of the shallow jagged reefs, not the sandbar. It was by far the worse pounding I've had this trip. I think I sucked up over the falls twice by the same wave...if that's even possible. I went back home, crawled onto the couch and watched some shitty movie before falling asleep. I feel much better today, but still haven't had a meal.

My old work switched my phone contract over to me alittle sooner than I imagined and I guess I already have a $200 phone bill. No more using my phone here.

Drex sent me a few pics of the Straits from the other day. I'm soooo stoked for you guys...wearing your wetsuits in cold water and driving hours to surf;) I'll be joining you soon. See you on election day.

Bali Update #5

Belongan lineup first thing in the AM.

Swell picked back up a few days ago. I spent the first day surfing Belongan and Dreamland with Eric and Made (Maw-day). Belongan wasn't barreling, but it was alot bigger, and just as fast as the first time I surfed there. Even though it was pretty crowded I was able to get into a few set waves. Dreamland was fun, but nothing special. I made a bunch of the local kids laugh by pulling into a closeout barrel breaking onto the sand. I still have sand in my hair and ears...at least it's not coral.

Superman is Dead @ Rip Curl Music Fest.

That night we went down to the Rip Curl WQS 6 star Surf contest and Music Fest. Eric's friends band- 'Superman is Dead', was one of the headliners for the final night and they got us backstage passes. My camera is bigger than everyone elses so I got to walk around the stage freely and take pics while the guys hung out and drank beer. I met some crazy old dude who felt it necessary to tell me stories of how he used to do mounds of coke with Buttons Kaluhiokalani and beat guys up on the North Shore.

Kuta is a fucking mess. It's like South Beach, but with really dangerous sidewalks, a million scooters, and drunk Aussies. I've heard Eric call it Kuta-fornia. This chick we met had a Pheonix tattooed on her back and our Indo friend, Made, asked me why she had a chicken on her back. I told him it was cause she's Australian.

Kutafornia.

Next day we took a boat to an island called Lembongan to surf Shipwrecks, Razors, Lacerations, and Playland. The names are all very appropriate. The swell had backed off some from yesterday, but that was a good thing. Razors, and Lacerations, both break in a few feet of water over really nasty reef covered in rebar that fishermen use to rig nets up to. At Razors a macking set rolled through and shoved all of us inside. I was the furthest out and still took a couple waves on the head while Ryan wasn't as lucky and ended up getting stuck on the reef for a few more sets. Eventhough it wasn't the safest spot it was hands down the most beautiful water I've ever been in. Playland was gay. We even made it back to Canggu for a sundown surf.

Yesterday I didn't surf. Canggu was still barreling pretty good and I wasn't feeling like taking a beating so I jumped on my scooter and drove up into mountains to check out a temple. It was about 2 hours there and another 3 to get back. I made it a point take different roads than I've been on so I could get lost and find my way home. It was a really fun trip and I think I may head up to the volcano tomorrow after my morning surf.

Today I surfed for about 4 hours. Swell has dropped again and everywhere has mellowed out. I paddled out to a spot called 'Old Mans' and shared waves with about 10 guys for an hour before everyone went in leaving me there with one other guy. I think I logged more wave time in the last session than I have on my whole trip. It's a pretty mellow reef break about shoulder high and peeling for a good 150 yards. My arms are noodles.

Zummies guys are gone now. They both got Bali themed tattoos yesterday before getting on a plane. Yep, they got tattoos while they were here because the place just blew their mind. Niether of them had ever left the US before this trip. The younger guy also got his hair braided into corn rows like all the trashy tourists do down in Kuta. I refused to sit next to the guy in public.

I've read the news twice since I've been here. It feels so good not to pay attention to the election, although I have had a few questions about it from the locals. Most think BO is Muslim and they seemed surprised we're ok with the idea of an African American president. I haven't met a single person from another country that isn't keeping their fingers crossed for BO. I wish their vote was taken into consideration. While I'm on the topic of politics...why the Fuck is Palin still in the news? I was hoping she would been forgoten about by the time I got back. Is half of the US really that dumb that they feel they need to listen to her? Just the fact that her 15 minutes has lasted this long makes me really scared for the election.

Bali Update

A few more days without new swell. Still plenty of waves at Canggu reef in the morning and evening sessions. Eric had some words with a few tourist surfers in the water the other afternoon. Only a few dudes in the water and these guys were paddling around the locals and then blowing waves most the time. Eric was pretty polite and told them to show some respect for the locals. The next day he gets a call from DCP who was in Canggu with Terje and Mads Johnson, they want to do some sort of interview with him for a show they are working on. After some chatting DCP mentions they were surfing Canggu last night. So Eric pretty was giving them shit, for good reasons, and now he's supposed to do an interview with them.

Zumies dudes are in the house now too. Two shop workers won a contest for selling the most Spacecraft stuff. One guy is 22 and asked me what my favorite Indie band is. He talks alot.

Going back to the Bukit this afternoon after I see the faith healer- Pak Sirkus. I guess he's world famous as a healer. Not sure what I need him to fix since I'm pretty near perfect.

The Bukit

The Bukit is where I need to be. Canggu is great and all, but the Bukit is what I came here to surf. I think I may find a cheap place out there for a week when the house clears out again. some Zumies guys are coming in today so I'll see if I still want to hang out.

Yesterday I surfed Bulongan beach and Padang Padang. Padang was nothing like the usual pictures you see in the mags. It was about knee high, but kept me entertained for a few hours in the afternoon. Bulongan was also pretty small- about shoulder high and the waves ending up in knee deep water a few feet from dry reef. Even at shoulder high it was barreling enough for me to squeeze into a couple tubes, but rarely have enough speed to make it out. Scratched my shin up pretty good on the reef.

Canggu was fun this AM. Surfed the main reef until the tide made it too shallow. I've been riding a 6'1" Stretch Quad the last few days and loving it.

Heading to check out some temples today, and doing my best to stay out of the sun.

Still in Bali

It's real hot. Hottest days they've had in years I guess. Lots of sitting in front of a fan during the peaks hours of the day. Surfing only early in the AM and again before sunset.

My last few days of surf have not been as ideal as the first day at Uluwatu. I've been surfing at the local spot down the road from the house called Canggu reef. Pretty strange setup with a few breaks on the reef and a few more sand bars. I've been making alot of late take-offs and getting pitched. It's not nearly as predictable as Ulu's. There's a few other breaks down the road that are a lot easier, but also more of a crowd. Not nearly as pristine as the Bukit.

So the house I'm staying in isn't on the beach as I had thought, but about a mile away, or 5 minutes on my scooter. It's in a district/community called Canggu. Canggu is know for being mostly rice fields and farming, but more recently has become a surfing hot spot. I guess guys like Machado, Taj Burrows, Taylor Steele, Dustin Humpreies, and the Hurley team, have built houses all right here because it's far enough from the circus of Kuta, but just a short drive away. So with the pros being there the local hot shots spend alot of time trying to be seen. The reef is super close to shore so it's perfect for filming too. I've seen some sick turns and big airs being thrown.

We're heading back to the Bukit today and going to stay for a night. It's only a few miles away but takes about an hour to get there because of the roads and traffic. Since we can get a hotel there for next to nothing we figured it would nice to surf this afternoon and tomorrow without having to deal with driving back to the house, Although I am starting to have some fun driving around. Traffic is pretty much a free for all. The roads are painted with broken and solid lines and from what I can tell the broken line means- dodge in and out of traffic using either lane to pass, and the solid line means- dodge in and out of traffic using either lane to pass on a corner or blind hill. I have know Idea why they waste there time painting lines on the road.

Greetings from Bali

Getting here wasn’t worth talking about, just 3 flights for a total of 26 hours. I think I slept for about 4 of them.

Once I landed Erich pretty much had everything covered for me; directions to the house with a number for the driver to call when we got lost, a surfboard, and scooter rental already lined up. He also put me in touch with an old friend Franklin, who was driving out to Uluwatu the next morning. We had a meal down at Echo beach and that was about it for my first day.

Woke up at 5:15 to catch a taxi so I could meet up with Franklin and Simon and catch a ride out to the Bukit and Uluwatu. They were stoked because the swell was calling for 6 to 8ft (Hawaiian). I was scared I might have to sit it out, but luckily it was small than expected. Smaller than what they expected was still some of the largest surf I ever paddled out into. It’s set up pretty much like Salidtia, but on a much grander scale. It was no problem making it out and once there I just hung out on the shoulder to watch for awhile. It was like sitting on a second story balcony and watching guys surf on the sidewalk below. I never caught any waves on the main peak but opted for down the line a little. Catching waves was a lot easier than I ever imagined. It’s like a machine so once you’re in the right position you pretty much just take a few strokes and you’re in. I wasn’t taking off deep so I would get to my feet and have a sec or two before the wave would turn into a wall a few feet overhead and then start to pitch. I only caught 3 or 4 waves and didn’t make a single turn. I pretty much just raced down the line to make each section. I never bounced off the reef so I would consider it a successful mission.

After surfing Franklin dropped me off at the Spacecraft office. I was introduced to Britt, and within 5 minutes of hopping on the back of her scooter to catch a ride home, I decided I was going to tag along with her to Ubud to meet some friends. Ubud is smaller town inland that’s known as being artsy and good food. We hung out there for a a night walking around eating and drinking. Britt’s friend Katie designs bras which totally fascinated me, and her other friend Steve just retired from Subpop as their Promotions director. Both really cool folks.

It ends up that Britt knows Clem and Drex. She designs clothes for OR, has been the announcer for the Baker banked Slolom for something like 8 years, and her boyfriend is a snowboard filmer who was responsible for the Whiskey movies. Gary and I don’t even know each other but he was a pretty big influence one point in my life. I can almost hear the beer bottles breaking over heads right now.

Having computer issues so no pics yet.

Unenjoyment

Spent the weekend visiting Heidi in San Fran. We lucked out with the weather. The forecast was calling for rain, but ended up being sunny most of the time. Did some hiking, eating, drinking, and clubbing...good times.


Just got a call out of the blue from my old companies competitor, they heard I was let go and want me to work for them now. They're trying to create a full-time gig for me, but have some immediate contract stuff I can do while I'm in Bali. I wasn't planning on working while I was there so I agreed to answer emails. At least I'll have a paycheck when I get back.


I leave in a few days and until then Jackie has a list of things do like painting and building a storage shelf. I may try and squeeze a trip to the coast between chores.

Weekend Report

Thanks to the surf I was able to keep the whole job thing off my mind. I ended up making 2 separate trips to the coast with PK, Peterson, and Kev. Waves were a little junky early Saturday, but the afternoon session was glassy and the interval seemed to clean up. Sunday started off with a little bump in the swell and some strong offshore winds that eventually backed off later in the day and made for even better surf than Saturday. My arms are wasted, face is red, and eye's burnt from the glare- this somehow makes me feel good.


Between trips we made it back to the city for the annual Spacecraft All-Star sticker party. Good times as usual with their crew. Didn't hang out too long, but long enough for a few beers and to ask Sara about a place to crash in Bali just in case I do get to take my new found free time and go on a trip. Tickets are about $1200.

The Axe Falls

All good things come to an end. Yesterday I received an unexpected early morning call from my CTO. He explained there was no rush to come in the office because once I got there I would handed my walking papers. At the same time he offered advice on who I should call if I wanted to find some immediate contract work. It sounds kinda harsh, but if you knew the guy you'd understand it was his way of trying to do me a favor. I found out later that day he, along with our 2 senior developers, were asked to leave by the board of directors. Down goes the ship.

Surprisingly I'm fine with all of this. I was given a decent severance package and already been asked if I want to do the same job somewhere else. I think I'm going to think it over for a while, but not too long seeing how shitty the economy is. At least a small surf trip is in my future.

Yesterday I did my best to milk the situation with a couple of my friends- breakfast, dinner, cream cheese hot dog, and free drinks all night. I need to hang out with a different crew tonight to see how long I can keep the pitty party going. Maybe keep it going through the weekend.

Heading to D and Lara's tonight to watch a couple of master debaters. I hoping it will go down something like this.

Work Week

Summer is fading away and it seems as though I've been concentrating on work a little more. Strange how that works huh? I'm sure the fall/winter swells will help draw my attention away. Kev and I actually talked about surfing tomorrow, but swell not working out as we expected.

I had to sit through a meeting with a vendor today were we talked about MySQL replication for hours. I really had to try not to laugh each time our Indian counterpart said "I put the dump on the server".

Selling Out - That's ME!

Today I logged onto my Smugmug site to upload the weekend pics I noticed someone left a comment. I was expecting the usual kind words from Mom or maybe some random person telling me I have a nice camera (uh...thanks), but to my surprise this month's comment (yes, I only have 33 comments total after like 4 years) was one telling me "...don't be a sell out". Yeah, someone had the balls to offer me advice on posting pics of "WA spots...that have been kept secret over 30 years". ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Some schmuck navigated to ki.smugmug.com (a hugely popular site on the interweb ;) ) and then went through 2 levels of categories to find the 10th gallery containing a picture of a secret surf spot, eventhough this picture is not named anything. Yeah, it's a secret surf spot...it's a secret unless you found directions to it IN FUCKING SURFER MAGAZINE a few years back.

I'll let you guys in on something- ki.smugmug.com is my personal repository for EVERY PICTURE I TAKE. That's right, all of them, secret surf spots included. And what do I usually do with those pics? NOTHING! 75% of them sit there for my personal appreciation. Occasionally they get posted on my blog, on friends blogs, some emails get sent out to friends with links to `em...that's about it. I can even monitor the traffic to individual galleries, and I'll tell you the number of hits is not impressive. So to say I'm selling out is a joke. To even imply I'm undermining the integrity of WA surfing is a joke. Chances are this schmuck sent all his friends links to my site to bitch about me exposing some secret...increasing my sites traffic to 5 visitors a day. OOHHH!

Haha! I can't believe I'm even writing this post like an open letter to the internet.
Like anyone really cares. I feel like some retard talking to themselves when I write this shit.

Lowest Common Denominator

I'm not a huge fan of La Push, although every time I go I manage to have a good time. It's hard for me not to have a good time with my crew of friends, and once you throw waves into the equation...no matter where we go I enjoy myself. But if you were to ask me where I wanted to go it would not be La Push.


I'd say the people who hang out there are about the closest thing to the Appalachian hill-billies that we have here on the West Coast. I'm not talking about the Native Americans. I'm talking about the rednecks who drop the chainsaw to come out of the Ho rain forest to hang out in a trailer park/campground because it's the most exciting scene for 50 miles.


The few surfers I've been introduced out there to have been pretty cool, but the majority of lot lurkers seem to be a mix between the ex-presidents and Cletus The Slack Jawed Yokel.

I honestly have no clue why this bothers me now, I've been going there for years. Waves usually give me the ability to tune out any asshole within a mile of the water. Maybe it's cause I have a rash from my aging and deteriorating wetsuit. It's time for a new one.

Birthday Bashin'

I brought my new Canon G9 along this weekend to help document what turned out to be an extremely successful camp trip on the coast. I'm really stoked on the image quality of low ISO settings and manual functionality. It's defiantly going to lighten my load of camera gear on short trips and day hikes.



The first night we had to put up with a little rain, but the weather cleared up and remained sunny for the next 3 days. The friends who arrived a few days before us, and scored our camping spot, weren't so lucky. They ended up leaving early and took my tent with them, I resorted to sleep under the stars for the rest of the weekend.

North Star - Taken with the 5D

Surf also panned out for us. For 2 days straight we had the Dump to ourselves. What the wave lacked of in size it made up for in it's fun factor - clean and consistent. Somehow even in the 'fun sized' surf I managed to leave with a few chunks missing from my board, and knuckles, because of the shallow reef.

The rest of the pics can be seen here, and a more detailed blog about the trip here.

Several Seaworthy Adventures

About 20 miles of paddling around San Juan Island this past weekend and I'm not even sore. Either the kayaking trip on the Columbia a week before prepared me or I'm going to wake up tomorrow and not be able to move my arms. Hell, even if I was sore for a few day it would still have been worth it. The idea of actually owning a kayak doesn't sound that bad anymore. It's just below a 15ft Zodiac w/50hp motor on my list of thing to buy.


Thanks to Leah for setting up the trip through her friends at Discovery Sea Kayaks. Defiantly a top notch kayaking outfit in the San Juans, and when we plan another trip I would not hesitate to call them again. Although, I'm not sure if I need to listen to the owners pep talk about how accomplished our guides are. I don't need to be reminded that I'm not very motivated.


Fun mid-week surf session last week with Drex, Pete, and Adam. It's been awhile since I've been to the spot and almost forgot how rad it is. Surfed with a small crowd for a few hours, including these assholes, but ended up having the line-up all to our selves in the afternoon.

Big weekend planned for Drex's B-Day- 4 nights of camping on the coast. Hoping either the swell shapes up or the weather holds out. I'm sure good times will be had by all.

Himsa Is For Quitters

Last Saturday night El Corazon hosted the final performance of Himsa. The over-capacity heavy metal mayhem seemed to be the only appropriate way to end Himsa's 10yr roller coaster ride. Of course the show was held on one of the hottest days of the year at a venue that's notorious for being a sweat-box, and famously slow on drink orders. If you didn't break sweat being crushed in the pit you would eventually become drenched by security staff spraying the crowd in order to prevent anyone from over heating.

It was fun to watch Derek up on stage occasionally showing an out of character smile. I couldn't tell if it was a reaction to the crowds energy or the realization that he wasn't going to have to deal with spending months away from home in close quarters with band mates. I'm guessing it was the over-enthusiastic crowd.

The break up didn't come as a big shock to anyone who knew the guys. Himsa has always had it's share of problems with revolving band members, label disputes, and a ex-member law suite. It's seems as though recently things were going well with a consistent line-up and great reviews on the latest album, but constant touring, and the increased cost of touring, have weighed heavily on the band.

R.I.P. Himsa 1998-2008

The Week In Review

A hectic week. The only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity was 3 separate trips to the coast. It started out when I returned Sunday night from surfing at Westport and found someone from Puget Sound Energy probing around for the source to a gas leak. Turned out our gas line to the dryer started leaking somehow. Jackie came home after having a drink to find our place filled with gas, and immediately called the gas company.

Work in general sucked because of the upcoming Olympics and new software we're going to be using for it. Hope to get it all figured out before the games start. My director was in town to meet with a vendor, but instead of having to sit in meetings all day I was excused to chase some surf in the Straits. Peter and I drove around checking a few spots, but ended up settling on the Elwha and some punchy little waves.

Peter behind the wheel

The second half of the week began with Jackie waking me up to ask why would water be coming out of the light fixtures in the Kitchen (directly under the bathroom). A few drops from a light fixture turned into a bulge above the sink, and eventually ended up as a pile of mushy drywall on the floor. A rusted old pipe coming from back of the shower broke open. I imagine it had been leaking for some time now and absorbed by the drywall. Pretty simple fix for the plumber, but we still have a huge hole in the kitchen ceiling to deal with.

Shi Shi

A basement remodel that's taking forever, our new couch had to be returned since it doesn't fit down the stairs, and the perpetual layer of dust that covers our belongings would have sent most couples to divorce court, but we made it a priority to get out to the coast with a group of friends this weekend. On Saturday a crew made the hike out to Shi Shi and scored some fun waves. Got harassed by the Park Rangers because a friend brought his dogs, and the few that were camping out there didn't have Bear proof containers. It's our fault for not paying close enough attention to the rules, but the Rangers were total assholes. I wonder if their week was just as bad as ours?

Block Party Weekend

Plenty of action on the hill this weekend so I would avoid Pike st. between 10th and 14th unless you have a ticket to the Capital Hill Block Party. Chances are you'll find me there at least one of the days even though I'm not a huge fan of festival style events. Jackie has arranged entry for us so I have the option of going to both days, or to go surf, without feeling the guilt of paying for tickets and not getting my $ worth. She'll be surprised if I go both days. The lineup seems pretty solid and I would hate to pass up on the opportunity to watch my friends get stumbling drunk before being thrown out. Why would I want to stay home when I can rub elbows with sweaty strangers and pay $6 for a can of beer?

Spent some time with friends arranging a hiking/camping trip on the coast for next weekend. I'm pretty stoked to go back and check Yellow Banks if the waves work out. I've also scored some new camping gear recently and now ready to put it to use.

Took a few pics in my friends shaping room while I was visiting.


Keep an eye out for GreenLine Surfboards. It seems to be taking off for him. There's always new orders being worked on when I visit.

Float On!

Reports are coming in that the surf was really fun on Sunday and kinda it's lame that I missed it seeing the waves have just not materialized for me this summer. I've heard from more than a few friends how good it ended up being and how everyone is totally surfed out...blah blah blah. I kinda get the feeling they're trying to rub it in and I let `em go on about for a few minutes before knocking the smirk off their face with my response to "what did you end up doing this weekend if you weren't surfing?".

"Oh, what did I do? Not much other than turn my full head of hair into a pimpin' mullet, rocked the cut-off jean shorts, drink way too much beer and Yuka, float down a river with about 30+ other drunk fools dressed like Rednecks, and hang out on a sandbar with a bunch of topless ladies."

Self Portrait above Icicle Creek

We spent the weekend celebrating my ladies birthday by camping along Icicle Creek, and attending the 6th annual "Redneck Riverfloat" along the banks of the mighty Wenatchee River. The weather turned out perfect, the river was warm, and the beer was cold, what more could I ask for?

Icicle Creek - Night time long exposure

Vacations Over

It's time to get back to bloggin'. I fell off the wagon there for awhile and didn't have the motivation to write about anything I guess. It's not that my life became some mundane existence by any means, but bloggin' just didn't seem to fit in. I promise I won't ever take that long of a break again...until maybe next month.

I guess I'll start off pretty simple and toss up a few pics from the last couple of months-

Jamie O'Brian - Pipeline

Veiw of Pipeline from our backporch

See the rest of the North Shore vacation pics here

A couple of action shots from the last few months-

JR Cole Kings Cliff

Jeff Snowden - Old 27

Scott Matual

Countdown to Hi

Less than 24 hours until my North Shore vacation begins.

A few shots from Sunday @ Alpental -

Drex

Craig Gillis

Vail Report

Red @ Renton Skatepark

$92 dollar lift tickets??? People actually pay $92 for a day on the mountain, and I guess now more than ever before. Vails parking garages are maxed out every weekend and even some weekdays. When I lived there it would only happen a few days out of the entire season. Well thanks to my friends we didn't have to pay for a single lift ticket while we were there. Brent even offered up his guest bedroom so we didn't have to get a hotel.

Even though the parking lots are full, morning lift lines are out of control, and your lucky to squeeze your ass in sideways at some of the local bars...the mountain is still the same. All the best jumps, rollers, jibs, and trees runs are right where I left them. Some off the beaten path too far out of the way for tourists to venture, and a few right out in the open most folks would never notice unless they spent years hitting the same runs over and over.

Conditions on the first few days were ok. Not really any new snow and not the blue bird skies, but still fast. We spent most of our time doing laps on the front side riding in a small posse of old friends. I couldn't have been happier. The last day we received 8-10 inches of fresh snow and we spent almost the entire day in the trees until I almost broke my ankle. Luckily it was at the end of our day and everyone else was pretty beat down and had no complaints about calling it done.

On the trip back to Denver we stopped by Aaron's shop to say hi to him and Mikey Paris. It was nice to see him and hear he's really doing well. It would have been nice to spend more time, but just like every vacation I take I can't seem to fit everything in.

I leave for the North Shore of Oahu on Tuesday for Clem's bachelor party. Surf reports are calling for plenty of swell and nice weather. I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing trip.

Dual Sport

I spent half the weekend surfing and the other half snowboarding. Conditions weren't perfect for either, but pretty close. A foot of fresh snow and sun would be optimal. I settled for soft, slightly slushy, and sunshine. Perfect conditions for hiking the Summit U-Jump. Surf was offshore, sunny, and provided a few cover-ups for those lucky enough to get into `em. Crowds were more than I expected for Westport in the winter.

Heading to Vail for a long weekend. Staying with Brent and Tracy in their new place. I'll miss the Holy Oly which I'm pretty bummed about, but I'm sure I'll have a good time.

Trip to the North Shore is also gettin' closer - 2 weeks. Looks like there has been no shortage of waves.

Catching Up

What have I been up to? Not much surfing and no new pictures unfortunately. Lots of snowboarding, a little bit of work, few days of the flu, working on a new website, and getting ready for a trip to Vail and another to the North Shore.

We're also finally getting started on our basement remodel. The plumbing foundation is in and permitting process has begun. Although the guy doing the construction really never looked at the plans I drew up. He had a rough idea, but really didn't pay attention to the measurements.

Tuesday was the unofficial anniversary for Jackie and I. We started dating 10 years ago. Can't believe she still puts up with my shit.

Cold Days Ahead

Jackson with the Rodeo

The snow has taken a break and given way to sunny days and freezing temps. I'm really excited about the clear skies, but not so much the freezing temps. Already scored a small patch of frostbite on my index finger from sledding/snowboarding/shooting pics all MLK day. It was well worth dead patch of skin.

Becker with the cheese

Baker birthday weekend was pretty fun. Of course a little more relaxing than I imagined, but none the less fun. First day was sunny and pretty hard snow. Second day was a few inches on top of crust. Just enough snow to inspire us to seek out a couple drops. My ass is still recovering from a big ice patch on a run out.

The crew was different than usual - Obie, Laura, Ethan, Annie, Jason, and his lady(name???). It's fun hanging out with them, but nothing crazy. Riding with Obie is always a good time. Jackie actually tried to ski for the 3rd time again and of course did well. Next day she went back to the snowboard when the snow started to accumulate. Also ran into Otter, Mike, and Des, in the lift line. We did a few fun lines with `em till they took off to ride the front.

Surf looks really good this week. Too bad my boss is in town and I have to show my face around the office or else I'd be 'working from home' again. Talking about heading out one day this weekend. I don't expect it to be anything but friggin' cold.

Drex's site been active with the usual shit talking in the past few weeks. About time he starts the forums up again.

Goods-
-Non-Stop Round trip ticket to 4 day weekend in Vail(Feb. 21st) - $130
-New Ice cream maker for the kitchen
-HI. North Shore in 40 days

Bads-
-$50 parking ticket on MLK
-Cloverfield
-boots that will never seem to dry
-No Summit Pipe yet

SunPeaks...without the Sun

Josh over sidewalk gap

Spent a long weekend in SunPeaks with a really great crew of people- Jackie,Josh,D,Mary,Vince,Etty,Nate. Everyone was a solid rider so we didn't have to wait much or worry about what color run we were on. And if we did ditch someone we just kept going and eventually we'd find `em on another run. No bitching or complaining either.

Lots of jibbing and riding at top speeds. Fresh snow fall was pretty good, but coverage was not the best. The snow in the trees was barely hiding stumps and logs...and we all eventually found a few. The mountain is not very steep and also lacked the drops we're accustom to back home, but plenty of fun jib stuff to wreck on. Vince kept taking little kids out even though the lift lines were almost non-existent.

Mary over the hot tub gap

Stayed at Mary's parents vacation home which was super nice. It was one of those Ski-in-ski-out luxury places- complete with heated floors, boot dryers, and hot tub. Lots of hot tub time to keep the muscles loose and blood thin, or was that the beer and shots?

Never Ending Winter

Shawn- warm up drop

It's started just like it ended...powder days and lots of snowboarding. Still haven't surfed this year, actually haven't surfed in a few weeks, but every opportunity to go has looked like crap. Oh well, having more than enough fun snowboarding. It's been a few years since I've been really stoked on riding.

Drex with the drop

Headin' to SunPeaks this afternoon with a small crew- Mary C., Becker, Vince, and D. New mountain for me, and different crew than I usually ride with, so I'm pretty excited. Conditions are looking good too - 6" last night and twice as much expected in the next 2 days.

Perfect way to end the year

Too busy to write lately. Between the snow falling in record amounts, and holiday parties, there's no time left for interweb browsing. Well, at least not more than a few minutes at a time.

ki@Alpental

I can't think of a better way to 2007 than the best powder days I've experienced in the last few years. One amazing day at Steven's and 3 or 4 more at Alpental. Kinda crowded, but the runs well worth the wait. Thanks to Drex and crew I'm learning my way around Alpental pretty well.

New Years was kinda anticlimactic. Nice dinner party at Greg and Julia's and then big party at Toni and Peter's. Toni and Pete's place was fun, but I think I was a little too sober to be thrown into a bunch of drunk people I hardly know. Good thing D and Lara were there to ring in the new year with.

New Years eve I couldn't stop thinking burnt out I was from snowboarding everyday, but on the other hand I couldn't help from laughing about how good it was. Perfect example of body giving out too early. Maybe new years resolution should be to work our my back leg more, but just my back leg.

Oh yeah, Space Needle fireworks suck.