NCP Christmas

Last Monday We went to Buca de Bepo for the NCP Christmas dinner. We ate good food, drank a bunch of wine then beer, had an amazing white elephant gift exchange, and then went shredding the next day. I received a 1984 Olympic Budweiser Beer growler; it's amazing.


The following day we went to Sugar Bowl for some pillows. Eric met up with us and the group killed it. Pow runs, rock drops, few park runs, and Eric spraying strangers like crazy. One guy even asked for an apology.

It was much needed time off from work, went back feeling refreshed!
Waff got an electric fly swatter. Don't let it fool you, it packs a punch!
Waff and I at the top of Lincoln.
No wonder I felt like shit the next morning...

DDC order

I just ordered a bunch of DDC stuff. Christmas presents to yourself are awesome. Thanks Aaron for making rad shit.

Goodbye Jack Cust

My Christmas wish came true! The Oakland Athletics did not offer Jack Cust a 2010 contract! Thank you Santa! Good bye A's swing and whiff king!

Opening weekend at Kirkwood

Last Sunday we went up to Kirkwood for day 3 of their opening weekend. It was Aska, Paul, Mimi, Thomas and Myself. When we got there we realized that it was very windy. Kirkwood gets that way from time to time.

When we got there we went straight to the bar to warm up before hitting the slopes. I had a Coors and a shot of Makers Mark. Everyone else besides Thomas had a Bloody Mary; Thomas has a big green doobie.

Once we got on the chair it kept stopping because of the wind. I was surpised it wasn't on wind hold all together. We took a few more laps and then went back to the bar because the wind got worse. It was one of those days that you get there and want to turn right back around. 14 degrees and gusts that can literally blow you over.

After we were done we left quickly to avoid the bulk of the storm. We saw accident after accident on the way home. We were stopped for about 30 minutes on 88 due to idiot drivers not carrying chains and sliding down the hill after slamming on their brakes. The highlight of the trip came when Thomas got back into the car after smoking doobie #3 and stated that he lit his mustache on fire trying to light his roach with matches in the wind. It was great. All in all it was a fun trip in shitty conditions.

Milosport video premiere

Our 3rd annual video premiere was last Friday. I must say it was a success. Not only were there a bunch of stoked kids; but a lot of friends from all over the place came out. It is nice to see so many awesome people in 1 room. Another great part about the night was feeling appreciated by the bHappy kids. We raised some money to help them buy a new camera and they were stoked.

As most of you know, video premiere's mean partying. I started off the night feeling pretty sober. Ended the night feeling pretty drunk.

A few other highlights were:
1. Waffles being stalked and assaulted by Keith.
2. Adam absolutely killing it on the microphone. He was on fire.
3. ...and JAAAACCCCCOOOOPPPPEEEETTTTTTTTIIIII

4. and this photo:

Oh how I miss Mario.

Mario Rubalcaba is a drummer who has been in at least 3 of my favorite bands. But before all that, he was a skateboarder. Oh how I want to see him beat the drums again, but i will settle for this. All the way back from 1994...

Here is him playing in Earthless. i am not really an Earthless fan, but holy cow, look at him go!

Black Heart Procession at the Independent

Aska and I headed out to go watch one of my favorite bands last night. We had been looking forward to this show for a long time so we made it work. Some of the highlights for me were Waistland and Heaven and Hell. Some of the older songs like Blue Tears and Your Church is Red were pretty interesting because they played them way more bass driven and it sounded almost country; so that was pretty neat. Another cool thing was that it was Pall's (frontman) birthday. Someone made him a cake and he blew out the candles. All in all, Aska and I had a great time and I am excited for them to come back and play again.

Sundance Rail Jam

For the last 2 years I have been attending Sundance's rail jam in Stockton. In my opinion this is one of the most fun events of the year outside of physically snowboarding. This year was no different.
Aska and I went to Stockton a day early to get some hang out time Paul and Mimi. We had a fun night of drinking wine and watch Mimi trim there dog Yuki's unmentionables. Yep, someones got to do it.
The day of the rail jam kicked off with a great bacon and bagel breakfast. A good breakfast is important on any day where there is going to be mid-day to late night drinking. After breakfast we went to Sundance where I helped the crew shovel snow and set up features.
Once everything was set up, it was time to get this event going. There were 3 heats of 25 skiers and snowboards (really, there was 2 of 25 and 1 of about 40). Judging a contest without any numbered bibs is very hard. Half the time the announcer didn't say what number was going, so Chris, Trey, and I had no clue who was going. This year we were set up on top of a huge Oakley RV, which was also where the party was. That didn't help too much either. Anyhow, I feel like we judged accurately despite having to write on blank paper with beer spilled on it and the inside of ripper 12pack cardboard. Next year I will make sure we have a spread sheet and numbered bibs.
The after party ended up being pretty funny. We had a bunch of free drink tokens. Aska drank some of the worst Vodka Cran's ever; more like Popov and Cran Syrup. The real highlight involved Trey, Thomas, Travis Kennedy and myself in the back ally with 3 doobs. I usually wouldn't go that far with that, but when in rome. TK kept free rhyming and it was hillarious. I don't think the rest of us really got it. He comes from a different breed, but was a pretty nice dude.
All in all, it was a great event and we had a great time.

Halloween

I was Alan for Halloween. Baby Carlos and I drank a lot of beer. Aska was a pirate. We had some champagne at Adam's Mom's house. Lots of pre-bar beers at Milosport after hours. Then beers and cocktails at the Round Up. After last call, Keith came over and we got a 30 pack right before they stopped selling at 2am. Then we watch the RFTC RIP dvd because it is tradition. Sorry to our neighbors for Keith's loud voice while smoking cigarettes out side. Halloween was fun.

Kids these days are helpless.

I have kids who come into the shop and have us switch trucks from one used board to another used board. Don't kids know how to work a screwdriver? Kids these days are pussies. Also, whats up with kids being into long boarding? Just don't get it here... sheeesh

Sunday the 1st - Wednesday the 4th

The wake up process on the 1st of November is never good. Headache, dehydration, confusion, and the awful taste in the mouth from being too drunk to brush your teeth before passing out. Yep, it was a normal November 1st.
Aska and I sat on the couch all day and didn't do much of anything till about 5pm. My Mom came to pick us up to go get Aska's car that was still parked at Milo from the night before. During this process we got a call from Ben (Waffles) and he told us he was coming down for a night or 2. He got into Town around 9 and we watched some Curb and just hungout.
Monday morning we went to Milo to get paychecks and meet up with Drew. We went to the skatepark for a while which was awesome because I haven't been to a skatepark in about 10 years. Now I want to go a lot more.
After a quick trip picking up Aska from school we went to catch BART to take us to Zachary's for dinner. It was Ben's first BART trip, and he was way too excited for it. The highlight of the night was meeting up with Big Jim at Best Buy. He was 3/4 drunk and buying a new lap top. The Best Buy employees took forever to help him, even though he was raising his hand. Luckily I have a Milo customer whom I know that works there. His name is Patrick and he is pretty helpful with electronics. He cuts the bullshit out of a sales pitch and just tells us what to buy. It makes in much easier. So after an hour Jim has a new computer. To celebrate we went to the liqueur store and bought a Heineken mini keg. We drank it and watched Devil's Rejects. It was an eventful day off.
The next day our good friend Paul came out from Stockton. Paul, Ben and I skated all over town. We went to the thrift shop and got audio cassette tapes. Both Paul's and Aska's cars have cassette decks, so we decided that we are going to listen to tapes on our way to the hill this season. From there we went to Rite Aid and finally to Wing Stop. Between the 3 of us we ate around 40 wings. Damn they were good.
A few hours later Aska came home from showing her Mom St. Mary's, she has been swamped with homework, so Ben and I made her dinner so she could focus on doing what she needed to get done. Ben and I watched Back to the Future 2, Kindergarten Cop, and 3:10 to Yuma.
The Next morning we woke up early and went to breakfast with Aska's mom and my mom. It was pretty fun. Then back to work to start regular days al over again. It was an eventful 3 days. Lots of visitors, eating, skating, movie watching, and some beer drinking too.

Happy RFTC Day

Halloween will always mark the end of a 15 year era of pure bliss. So tonight when you are drinking your beers, raise your glass for the best rock band to ever take the stage. Rocket from the Crypt, thank you! Long Live the Dead!

On the Player:
RFTC - "Paint as a Fragrance"
RFTC - "All Systems GO"
RFTC - "Group Sounds"
RFTC - "All Systems GO 2"
RFTC - "Scream Dracula Scream"

Sunday, where did it go?

Justin and I decided we were going to celebrate his birthday on Sunday at the Round Up. We would drink beer and watch football for a few hours, no big deal. Well, we here both hungover so we were 3 hours late getting to the bar which is probably a good thing. We ended up getting there at 1pm. I started out with a Bloody Mary (Blaine's Bloody Mary's are amazing), then went to a bud draft, followed by a Patron Shot (thanks Dan), 5 or 6 more Budweisers, then a Glenlivet on the rocks. Being at the Round Up for 5 hours on a Sunday is fun. Halfway through the day Nick and Lindsay met up with us and had some drinks as well. We ended the day at our house eating Zachary's Pizza and watching the Yankees beat the Angels with Nick and Linz. So fun. Check out all the varieties of glasses at our table. It was awesome.

Party Time

Adam had a keg party at His and Erin's house in SF on Saturday night. It was awesome. There was a 1/4 barrel of Trumer Pilsner and a 1/4 barrel of Budweiser. The beer made everyone drunk. I even saw JP drinking a beer. It was great to see so many awesome people in 1 place. However, the highlight may be seeing Keith nursing his hangover and instead of drinking 100 beers like usual, he was caught reading a Twilight book on the couch. The 2nd highlight was listening to the floppy hands song over and over. I need to remember who's song it is so I can buy it. It is a party favorite.

She said yes...then went for the bottle.

While celebrating in Napa on Wednesday, I decided it was a good time to ask Aska to be my wife. There isn't any way of doing it that is not awkward. I'm not going to get into specifics. But I will say we had an awesome day, a bird shit on my leg, and a fly flew into my glass as I was reaching into my pocket for the ring.

She Said YES....then reached for the bottle.

I have never been more happy than I am right now. I feel like I am the luckiest guy in the world. Thanks Aska.

Sick Day 2

Woke up yesterday feeling worse than the day before. I had a bad head ache, achy body, cough, and a fever. Called in to work sick (3rd time in 9 years). Laid on the couch all day and watched 3:10 to Yuma, Californication, Curb, What About Bob?, The Dark Knight, and Game 4 of the ALCS. I also drank 7 or 8 cups of tea, 2 airborns, and 3/4 carton of OJ with calcium.

The awesome part of the day came towards the end when I got a visit from Waffles and Wilmoth. They only stayed for a second or two. But Wilmoth did give me these bad boys.
Went to bed at about 9 o'clock. Woke up feeling better than I have in 3 days. Excited for today. Aska and I are going to Napa to celebrate us being together for 2 years. How time flies when your having fun.

Sick at Home

It's mt scheduled day off, and I'm sick. However its a good day to be sick; its rainy and there is Baseball playoffs, Sharks, and Monday night football on. So at least I'm taken care of there. Also, Aska got me a bunch of soup. She rules!

For those of you that think I get drunk, check out this guy!

The Day After

The hour long ride home from Sacramento seemed like it took 12 hours. It has never taken that long to drive through Dixon before. Luckily we had breakfast with the Wilmoths, so at least we had something in our stomachs to start soaking up the alcohol.

When I finally got to work I new i was going to be a pile all day. Everything was confusing. What may have been most confusing was the fact that we received a big box of promo beef jerkey sticks from Matador. WTF?

My day definitely got better when my box from Dan Mac got here. New Bond Pants plus some extra goodies. Thanks DAN! So down to support the Bond program.
On the Player:
The Doors - "LA Woman"
Air - "Moon Safari"
Album Leaf - "In a Safe Place"
TSOL - "Come Dance With Me"

Ground Zero Premiere

Thursday night was the Ground Zero Premiere in Sacramento. Aska and I were on the fence about coming; we're tired from work and school. We decided to stop being wussies and drive the hour through traffic to Sac.

The premiere started at 7, and we arrived right on time. Skipping to the front of the line at these events is part of the fun. Once we were inside the beer started flowing. This event is fun because all of our favorite people were there. I wouldn't say we actually watched the video's, and I am not sure anyone did. I think those events are all about the schmoozing.

On each side of the event there was cools bars. Once the place cleared out we went to some other bar that served fried chicken and friend macaroni. It was a 5 thousand calorie night. This joint also had $2 pints of Olympia. This place would be my hangout if I lived in Sac. I don't really remember leaving there, but here are some photo's from the night.
Highlights:
- Waffles hucking ice into the crowd during product toss
- Tequila shots
- Fried Mac n' cheese
- Seeing Jim at Motel 6 the next morning

Stepchild / Airblaster / 32 Clinic

Wednesday night we had our Wallis' brands clinic here at the shop. Wouldn't sat I learned very much. But I did eat some pizza and drink some beers! Will, the Stepchild sales manager, and Jonas from Airblaster came too.

When I asked Wallis when are we going to start talking about boards he said, "Oh, you actually want a clinic? i thought we were just going to drink beer." Needless to say, we had a lot of fun shmoozing about the state of the industry.

Highlights:
- Janet tearing the shit out of try-on socks
- George talking to Jonas about shop-a-tron
- Jonas mentioning the "George Fund" as an extra discount for cool stores
- Will being unsure about some of the Stepchild boards
- George staying till late drinking beers

Fun night at the Tattoo Parlor

After a really long day off of doing absolutely nothing, I got to go to my friends tattoo shop to get a new tattoo. Final Sin is in Pleasant Hell as they call it. Chad is the owner whom I have known for about 8 years. He got back into tattooing about 3 years ago and still needs tattoo's for his portfolio so we did it after hours and off the clock.

I got there at about 8:30 and was stoked to look above the door and see a Milo sticker. The reason it brought a smile to my face is because it is next door to the very respectable skate shop Metro. For some reason Metro kids don't want to like Milo even though we are both small stores who love what we do. Whatever.

So Chad took a while to draw up what I wanted; he went through 4 drawing of it. He isn't used to doing traditional shading, so this was a good learning experience for him. We got started at about 10:15 and by Midnight we were done. Anyone who knows me knows I am a baseball fanatic, so this one fit's me well. Thanks a bunch Chad!
After we got home Aska and I had a scotch on the rocks and watched the last 3 episodes of Weeds on On Demand. A boring day off turned out OK. Thanks Aska for being the most awesome girl ever. Drinking Scotch till 2am on a Tuesday, man I'm Lucky!

Its SNOWING

So pumped on today. I'm without a car, it's my 1 day off, and it's pouring. Good timing. Plus, Sugarbowl is getting dumped on!

Busy day at the office.

So my car has been broken for a little over 2 weeks now. It's getting a little frustrating because it is getting colder and it is supposed to start raining heavily today or tomorrow. I decided against riding my bike to BART in fear of the potential rain, so Aska was nice enough to give me a ride to BART before she went to school.

I got to work 5 minutes early. My work day started off pretty good because I sold some boots and Adam sold a jacket. So we were feeling good. 30 minutes into work the UPS driver walks in and says, "We got a lot for you today". I knew we were getting all of our 32 boots. Luckily the coffee was still in effect. We busted through all 39 boxes within an hour which was awesome.

Few hours went by and the coffee wore off. Today is my Friday and it feels like it. I'm beat. Around 4pm we got an awesome surprise. In comes Big Jim for a surprise stop by. He gave us an awesome Ride trucker hat that I actually like (Most regular giveaway kinda sucks), and he brought me my 5th cup of coffee! Also did a Comune re-order over facebook chat, I think I have reached a new low.

All in all today was pretty awesome. Sold some krew stuff that we got today as well as a Bond jacket and some new 32 boots that we also got in today. Plus we didn't have any crazy or obnoxious customer encounters. 34 more minutes of work. Good shit.

Hopefully getting tattoo'd tomorrow which will be awesome. It's also supposed to pour rain, so that is awesome too.

--

Today on the player:
Black Heart Procession - "Six"
Bob Dylan - "Together Through Life"
Chuck Prophet - "Dreaming Waylon's Dreams"
Tom Waits - "Swordfish Trombones"

This is my Online journal. I am a journalist.

I am starting an online journal to show Waffles (who is one of my best friends) what substance is. Right now i don't have any.

However, in the next few days / weeks / months / years, I plan on writing my encounters as a Snowboard shop employee, significant other, friend, and over all dumb-ass.

If anyone encounters this by chance, I hope you enjoy.