It's been a while.....

Feel free to listen to this while you read, it will set the mood

Yeah, it sure has been a while since I updated this thing, too many times I've sat down at the computer to write a quick entry only to be sidetracked by something else. Quite a bit has happened since my last update so here's what I have been up to.

***Disclaimer**** this is going to be pretty long and I will more than likely ramble on for too long but whatever it's my blog assholes!

It's been two years. Two years since I first put up my Facebook status of "This job is going to kill me, I can't take this place much longer." That very day is when Perks sent me a Facebook message telling me that he works for an awesome company up in Vermont and that I should check it out. Two days later I was emailing him my resume, I'd had enough of Connecticut and decided that I could finally make the move to Vermont I always dreamed of. Next thing I know I have a phone interview, and I must not have sounded like too big of a dipshit because they invited me up for a sit down interview. There it was, the chance I was hoping for, the chance to get out of Connecticut. Let me just give you a bit of a background about why I was so ready to get the hell out of there.

First was my job. While I worked with a few great people for the most part I was really unhappy. I was forced into a transfer to a branch I did not want to go to, away from a branch that was very successful because of the great team we built. I had a 50 minute commute daily, so the little bit of money extra they gave me for transfer went right into my gas tank. Ever hear of the term paycheck to paycheck? Yeah that was me. Not only was I living paycheck to paycheck, but I was often times scrounging for change under the seats in my car so I could buy a dollar whopper junior from Burger King. Next was the social life, or lack there of. I had my best friend Matt (who worked with me at the successful branch, nothing like working with your best friend) and my roomate FatMike (his real name is Joe, but it's a long story)but he had a real bitch of a girlfriend who somewhat turned him against me toward the end of our time living together. I was about a year removed from one of the more serious relationships I've ever been in. It was very difficult to get over due to the fact that the girl lived a mile away from me and went to all the same places I did, so it wasn't easy to avoid and forget. I was basically trapped in the same never ending cycle. Work like a fool for 50 hours a week and get paid for 40, drive home and either go to the gym, go eat some chicken wings at Archie's or come home lock myself in my room and play video games. I needed a change.

So, I pass my phone interview (which I didn't mention was in the closet of my old job as I was at work at the time) and got invited for a sit down on Sept. 7th. I drove up for a long weekend and spent the night over at Perk's house. The first thing that I realized was, "holy shit this place is far from Connecticut". We were driving up 91N and as we finally merged onto 89 I thought we were close, little did I know we still had another hour plus of driving to get to Burlington. The sights of a mid September drive to Burlington are beautiful, just cool enough where some of the leaves are starting to change and the air has a crisp smell to it, I knew this is where I wanted to be. The morning of the interview Perks took a long lunch and we had a hamburger downtown to discuss how it would play out. I didn't mention that day was a particularly hot day in Burlington and the result of us walking around was me sweating like a whore in church and not because I was nervous, but because I am a walking carpet. Finally after sitting in the waiting area for 10 minutes I was walked up to the interview and knew I had to really kick some ass to get the job. The interview was with the director of the department,the three team leads and a woman from HR. Lets just say I was nervous and as I drove home to Connecticut I was lying to myself saying that if I didn't get the job I wouldn't be upset.

That following week was miserable! I was texting Perks every hour asking him if he knew anything, asking him if he had any updates for me and he of course had none. I was told when I left I'd receive notice on that Friday whether or not they wanted to make me an offer. Fast forward to that Friday at 3:30pm, I'm standing in line at the bank to make the daily deposit and an email hits my phone. I saw that it was from the HR woman and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. I didn't even know if I wanted to open it because I was scared it was going to say sorry pal you're a dipshit have a nice life. I decided to open it while I was waiting in line, I literally had to read the line "We'd like you to come work for us, there is an offer included with this email" three times. I had one of those moments, I'm sure almost all of you have had at least one of them in your life where you felt like you had just won at the game of life. I started shouting,"YES YES YES I GOT THE JOB." I guess i didn't realize that this is not the typical bank behavior (the bank just had bulletproof glass installed at the teller's windows because it was in a very bad part of Hartford) because the security guard walked over to me grabbed me by the arm and told me that I needed to calm myself down or I'd be escorted out of the building. I don't even remember making the deposit or driving back to my store because I was so caught up in the fact that my life would be changing. I made a quick call to my mother, she gave me her blessing telling me to "Go be happy, there's nothing holding you here" and that's when I really came to the realization that I was on my way. This was on september 15th, I had the choice to either start on Sept 21st or to wait until the next training class which was October 30th....I wasn't waiting a month to get the hell out of Connecticut. I let HR know I'd be there on the 21st six days from the date I got the acceptance letter. I put in my week's notice, used a week's worth of vacation for my second week and packed my shit inside my Accord and was on my way. I still can't believe that I had it in me to literally pack the stuff I could fit in my car and leave the life I knew for something completely new.


I could reiterate what I've done in the past two years that I've been here, or instead you could just read my older entries and relive those moments while they were still fresh within my head. Right now I'm just going to compare what life was like before I got up here to what it's like now:

Work- Work truly is amazing. I work for one of the best companies in the United States, we actually have awards to prove it. How many of you can say you can wake up, go to the gym within your work building, take a shower, walk down to the cafe get some breakfast (Cheese omelette with bacon and homefries is my favorite) then walk over to your desk get some work done, take a 15 minute break to play some basketball at our indoor gym, or maybe some tennis on our indoor tennis court, tennis not your thing? You can play a game of ping pong then on one of our three olympic pong tables. (Watch out because nearly everyone has a mean ping pong game, I get my ass handed to me daily) There are so many perks of working for a company like mine I don't have time to name them all, let me just tell you though this place kicks major ass. I have recently moved departments and could not be happier. I work with a lot of great people and am excited to learn more advanced skills associated with what I do. So yeah the comparison between jobs from then until now is night and day. I have never been so happy to go to work.

Living - I have an awesome apartment that is less than a two minute walk to work. Probably the only thing you can complain about at our company is the lack of parking spaces. We have satellite lots, but when it's raining I'm sure the last thing someone wants to do is walk five minutes in the pouring rain. Well, I don't have that problem, I could literally run to work and be through the door in 30 seconds if I had to. The apartment itself is great, two bedrooms, an pretty spacious living room/dining room area and a nice kitchen area. The bathroom is small but it works. The only thing that sucks is that it get's pretty warm in the summer and we only have two windows in the entire place the way that it's set up. Other than that I have 0 complaints. My girlfriend, who will be discussed further down is my roommate, and she's pretty easy to live with.(My apartment feels a lot smaller since she moved all her stuff in, but I hardly own a thing so most of it's needed.)

Friends - I have a few good ones up here. That's been one of the harder things in moving up here. Leaving your good buddies behind.

1. I miss Matt and Ash and our wing nights at Archies and mine and Matt's skateboard trips that mostly ended up with us sitting around shooting the shit.

2. I miss playing video games and eating ridiculous amounts of food with Fatmike and that friendship and roommate bond we formed. We lived together for over eight years of our lives and while I left with some bitter feelings, we have repaired our friendship after he dumped that terrible bitch of an ex-girlfriend of his.

3. Most of all I miss being able to easily see my mother, I love her very much and miss her terribly. Hopefully we can get her up here to stay for good soon. She was the one who told me to get my ass out of Connecticut and I'm glad I listened.

Being almost 30 years old finding a new group of friends has been a bit of a challenge but thankfully we 500+ people working for our company and they are all pretty awesome. I've managed to make some great friends and am better for it.


Lastly and most importantly I have to talk about finding the girl I'm going to marry. It wasn't an easy feat, I had to tell a little white lie in order to break the ice and talk to her. (our company door locks after 5pm, I went to the corner store to grab a snack and there she was sitting under the tree out front. I wanted to talk to her but I didn't know what to say, I had to say something. So I pretended that I didn't have my keys on me and asked her if she could let me into the door, she gladly obliged and laughed as I thanked her and called myself a dipshit for forgetting my only way back into the building. All the while my keys were in my pocket, but she didn't know that at the moment, sneaky but effective.)I couldn't be happier, we've been official since April 20th 2010 (yeah our anniversary really is 4/20 too bad neither of us are big pot smokers)and I can honestly say this is the last girl I will ever date. I've never felt a connection to a person like this, I've never been able to be around someone for this long and not need to get away from them. We have a lot of the same interests and the same humor, I'm much funnier than her though. I feel so lucky meeting her, her in my life is the icing on the cake.

I am happier than I can ever remember being. The move to Vermont was the best decision I ever made. I urge all of you to think outside of the box, if you aren't happy with your life take the steps to find that happiness. My best friend Matt put it best "If your life sucks, you suck." I don't think he realized how deep that quote of his hit me. To me it means if your life sucks you suck for not making it better. We all have the power to get ourselves out of a shitty situation and after the things we want, you just need to not let the fear of the unknown hold you back. Look at me for example, I took a chance and now my life is great. Life is too short to not take chances.


A few photos from the past two years

A Vermont Sunset

Above the Clouds at Bolton

Burton HQ

Top of Stowe

Homies

Dave

Self hair cuts!

Scenic Warm Weather Stowe

Up in the gym doin work!

New Bicycle

Lebo after taking all Cook's shit off his desk, happy friday!

Daylight Savings time party!

Fresh Tracks, those are mine btw!

Shredders!

Solo lift rides

Me and my lady

The man responsible for my move to VT

Kate and I taking pictures of legos

Statue of Liberty Dunks! Back into the shoe collecting!

Some fresh at Bolton

Bolton during an epic snowfall

When you let your nose sink, you usually end up falling on your face

Some space jam dunk lows, another of the shoe collection

The love of my life

Dumbledore the new guy on the block

My favorite figure from our growing lego collection

Good Ol' Gert

Party hard on the streets of Burlington

Cheech and Chong dunks, one of my favorites in the collection

Dipshit eating out of his bowl, nice technique buddy

Kate and the sunset, life doesn't get much better

On Your Left!

Ugh.. What a day yesterday was. I was dreading it the entire weekend. Sunday. Marathon water table. When Kate brought up the fact that the marathon was fast approaching and that we'd be back at the same spot we were last year I immediately thought of a way out. After some hemming and hawing Kate finally brought up the fact of "You were more than willing to do it last year!"

At this point I was going to snap back with a response on how we were just in the beginning stages of our relationship and I was trying my damndest to impress her.... but then I realized that maybe I should just shut my mouth. So there I was 9am on my bicycle riding to the water table because all of the damn roads around town are pretty much closed for the day. I had gone on a rager of a bike ride the night before and my legs made sure they reminded me of that as I pedaled the six mile ride to the water table.

It was all pretty much the same as last year but this year I stayed a pourer, and did not dare venture over to the hander outer side of the table. You go from doing nothing to so busy you don't have time to look up for the next three hours busy in about ten minutes. All in all the water table was uneventful, I did chuckle a bit when Kerri got a whole tub of gatorade poured on her feet, luckily she was in sandals. As the event came to a close I shoveled a small mountain of cups into to about 8 garbage bags and called it a day. I saddled white lightning and prepared for the quick enjoyable ride home. I decided it would be awesome for a quick jaunt down the bike path since it was usually a bit cooler down by the water. This was the first mistake I would make in the next 45 minutes. Little did I remember that the last leg of the god damn marathon finished on the bike path. So as I get on the path I have to weave my way through packs of sweaty smelly beasts. I mostly rode on the side of the path in the dirt. As the race finished the traffic on the bike path thinned and I was able to pick up my pace. I was about two miles from home and really cooking when I noticed a large pack of people on bikes in front of me. Not a problem I thought, I don't even have to break pace I'll just pass them on the left. Second mistake and most painful mistake of the day.

So like a smart cyclist I shouted a warning to this pack of people that I was coming up on their left. This is a known tactic by pretty much all mankind,it goes for biking, and skiing and pretty much anything/anywhere you are going to be with larger groups of people. You are warning them that you are coming toward them on their left and to get the fuck out of the way. As I gain on this pack I start repeating myself, a bit louder each time just to give ample warning that I would be shooting by them like a lightning bolt on their left-hand side. Well I must have shouted one too many times and really confused this dipshit of a middle aged man because just as I'm abreast of the pack he shoots out to the left. Literally five fucking feet in front of me. I don't remember what happened from there. All I remember is standing up and seeing blood fountaining out of my face and a horrified look on the dipshit's wife's face as she screamed someone call 911! I did a quick check and found that this blood was coming out of my nose, it was instantly numb and I could not feel it yet I knew that this was not a good situation. The only reason this particular dipshit didn't lose his life at the end of my fists was that I literally did not know what was going on. I think I was knocked out on the pavement for a good 30 seconds before I stood up. I don't know what was going through my mind, I think fearing that somehow I was going to get in trouble for running into this guy had me hopping on white lightning and making a break for it.

I finally got home carried my bike up the stairs and walked into the bathroom. I feel bad for anyone who I passed on the way home because I literally looked like a zombie that had just eaten someone, blood all over my face.

It was at that point I started fearing that my nose was broken as it was swollen and still bleeding. Here it is still bleeding as I finish washing off all the caked on blood.



The rest of the evening consisted of icing my face and waiting for my girlfriend to get home with the peroxide to get some of the dirt out. I'd say the scariest part was when I picked a large chunk of "white matter" out of my nose, and lost my shit. I have a really weak stomach when it comes to blood,cuts,bones and getting hurt. As I pulled a large size of this "white matter" out of my nose thinking it was part of my nose bone I instantly became light headed. I had to lay on the floor because I thought I was seriously going to pass out. Kate said I went from white to green, luckily she got me a cold rag and explained to me that it was a rock that I pulled out of my nose, not a piece of broken bone. That calmed me down but I'm still not convinced it wasn't bone. Ugh just thinking about it makes me sick right now. Fuck a marathon, I don't give a shit next year I'll be at home sleeping and that's that.

Today I woke up feeling like I was hit by a truck. Scratches, bruises and cuts in places I didn't even realize were hurt. Not to mention a headache and pretty much a dull throbbing throughout my body, kindly reminding me that yes I was indeed pretty hurt. Oh and a nose so swollen I can see the sides of my nose in my normal vision.
I still managed to get a lot of things done. I took out a mountain of recycling, installed the A/C into our room and did a huge pile of dishes, all before 2pm est. After that Kate and I went to her parents house and had a nice afternoon grill session with her family. All in all a good day. If only yesterday didn't happen it would have been the best week I had in a very very long time.


Why is that you ask? Well there is this!




Yup. That's right. Finally they are mine. Finally.

Also, still quite a bit of people who don't know but I got a job in a new department at work. I don't move into my new department until July, but I am already super excited to get started. More details to come on that in the near future. Such an amazing week, too bad we can't just erase yesterday from existence, but you gotta take the good with the bad.

I have been killing this song lately, I feel almost hypnotized when listening to the hook.

Up in smoke........

Ahh what a fitting title. What a day. Honestly fuck friday the 13th.

As many of you know I've been on a sneaker hunt for the ever elusive Cheech and Chong Nike SB Dunks, and I finally had a pair lined up only to let them slip right out from underneath my nose. These shoes are whats called a "QuickStrike" which means, only 1,000 of these pairs are made and shipped out by Nike to all Skate shops who have a Nike Skateboarding account. Nike doesn't sell these online, or in any other retail store like footlocker, they are reserved for skateboard shops only and that is awesome.

I got word that my local spot would be getting these in and was told a pair would be set aside for me. I was going to go on my lunch break today, but I decided I'd get there for opening, which was 11 to pick up my pair. See the thing I was trying to avoid was exactly what ended up happening to me. A sales rep clueless to the fact that these were set aside specifically for someone would end up selling them. I left the house at 10:40 and drove past the shop, no one in line outside, awesome I thought in and out and then off to work. I could not for the life of me find a parking spot anywhere close to the shop, so I was forced to park a small trek away. I hobbled my gimp ass up the street and walked into the shop at 11:02. As I walked in I noticed one of the owners with an upset look on her face, I strolled up to the counter and she said, you need to go speak to the guy in the back..... At that point I knew the asshole I walked past on the street with a bag stuffed with Nike SB boxes had my box among his bags. I walked into the back and I met with the other owner of the shop, he wore a rather grim expression on his face as he explained to me that my shoes had been sold.





Sold. Gone. A whirlwind of emotions went through me at that point, I really didn't know how to act. I took in the story, which to his credit was not either of their faults. Apparently an employee who did not know the shoes were set aside for a reason saw the line outside of the store and decided to open the shop early and sold all the pairs before the 11 o'clock hour. Am I mad? Actually no, I'm not mad, I'm a bit disappointed but I'm not mad. I can't be mad at the rep for selling them he is a cool dude, he gripped my board and popped the bearings out of my old wheels into my new wheels last weekend(bearing pushing and pulling is a pain the ass). I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing by supplying the demand. If you're reading this dude, I ain't mad at ya. Of course I will continue to do business at the store, the shop is awesome and the owners are really cool.

Want to know the thing I AM mad at? The guy who bought all five pairs is some asshole who came down from Montreal. I can guarantee that these will be listed on ebay canada this evening or tomorrow. He's not into sneakers, he's into exploiting the people who are into sneakers for a quick buck. Fuck him.

Check ebay right now for Nike SB Cheech and Chong the prices these are going for will make you shit yourself. Buy it now ranges from 275 all the way up to 400 dollars. I want these shoes but I don't want to pay those prices. Who knows maybe I'll happen by a pair for a reasonable price.

In the grand scheme of things, my manager put it in perspective for me today. It's only a pair of shoes, get over it. You're right, I have an awesome job, an amazing girlfriend and a great life. So I will keep telling myself... It's only a pair of shoes, get over it.

Fuck you taxes!

Every year, every single fucking year I think to myself, man I'm gonna get some good money back this year. Somehow, some way I end up having to pay. I think it's been at least four years since I've been in the + for the tax season. Last year I ended up owing the state of Connecticut $180 bucks, this year I owe the government $300 bucks. WTF? It's annoying, and I hate it. I feel even worse for the friends and family in my life that have to pay more than me, a good buddy of mine a little younger than me, $600 bucks, another good buddy of mine, a bit older than me, $7,000 bucks. I don't even want to know how that happens.

Today was a good day, another trip to the sneaker store (www.mavenvt.com to be exact), another pair of Statue of Liberties. These things are rare, and often selling for a shit ton of money, to walk in and find a pair on the shelf is like scratching a lotto ticket and winning 100 bucks. An awesome feeling. I was going to send these pair to a buddy, but I'm going to keep them, one pair to stay fresh, one pair to skate in. There is some sad news however, apparently the Cheech and Chongs are canceled/pushed back. A post came out yesterday on one of the sneaker forums I follow stating they were canceled by Nike due to copyright infringement and some negative press. Then about 12 hours later another release came out stating these would be pushed out, but more than likely a month late. So the 4/20 celebration, the marijuana lover's holiday, the entire reason the designer made these shoes are now pushed back to May. Lame. As long as they do make their way out, and I can snatch up a pair or two I won't be mad. Good things come to those who wait. Here's a picture of both my Statue of Liberties



Very exciting!


Yesterday marked one year of Kate in my life. It's been amazing, I couldn't ask for anyone better, she is everything that I have ever dreamed of in a woman and more. Today we marked the "day after" our first "not date" by doing what we did on this day last year. Headed downtown and grabbed a burrito from Boloco. Kate being the dipshit that she is got us off to a wonderful start by losing her wallet. (Seriously one second after I fucking type this, she walks into the door from bringing the garbage out and finds her wallet in her jacket pocket, oh my fucking god)This girl would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body by her neck. I seriously am in shock and need to take a break from writing this after her walking in with her wallet in hand.... After an emotional start, things picked up.




It was an eventful trip to Boloco, highlighted by a legit crazy lady molesting a poor little pug that was chained to a tree outside of Boloco. Kate knows this lady and was like, yeah she's for real crazy. She was being a bit rough with the dog and you could tell the poor thing wanted nothing to do with her, so me being the animal lover I am walked outside and told crazy to beat it. She mumbled something incoherent, blew a snot bubble and was on her way. I walked back inside and was forced to stare at this poor little dog shivering because it's small and stupid and rage slowly boiled inside of me. I got up and decided it was time to find out who the asshole was that left their poor stupid dog outside to freeze while they enjoyed the nice climate controlled burrito spot. Lo and behold it was the group of four teenagers who were singing that god awful song "Friday" by Rebecca Black while I was trying to order my burrito. As I shouted inside the burrito store, "what asshole left their tiny dog outside to freeze to death?", one girl turned bright red and ran toward the door to go save her poor freezing dog. Don't get me wrong, I hate 90% of the dogs on this planet, including small ugly dogs like pugs, but I hate stupid asshole owners of these dogs even more. If you are going to own an animal at least have the brains to treat it humanely, since they cannot think and do for themselves. It's not like this poor little asshole dog could be like, fuck this I'm not freezing my ass off out here and just stroll into the burrito joint, no it sat there shivering looking all pathetic and boring a hole into my heart with it's stupid sad puppy dog eyes. The only thing I hate more than stupid animals, is the stupid owners who don't treat them right.

So after a good burrito we headed over to the sneaker shop. If you've been keeping up, I had for a time conquered my sneaker addiction. I was content on owning one or two pairs of shoes, but after grabbing an exclusive 1 of 1,000 pair the addiction raged back into my life. Today I strolled into Maven, and like I told you guys before, if you don't know about Maven, you better ask somebody, because they are the only place in Vermont that is going to put the latest greatest product in your hands and not destroy your wallet like the rest of the places around here. Their staff is awesome especially the two owners who are always in the shop. Not many times you get to say you can interact with the owners of a place, let alone an great place like this. It's awesome to support your local shop, the more you buy, the more they can supply, the way I'm treated when I walk through their door will keep me coming back for a long time. Kate and I walked in, I took a look at the selection, and I must admit, it's a pretty damn good selection check it:




I didn't bite at first. I came in, looked around and left. If you look on the wall you'll see a pair of the Statue of Liberties. We walked out and all I could think of is how hard those shoes are to find, and how how I would like a second pair, one to skate in and one to keep fresh. I was going to hook a buddy up with the second pair, but sorry dude, I am not parting with them. There are a few other shoes on the rack up there that you don't find at your run of the mill sneaker store, but they will have to wait. Kate and I headed back into the store one more time on the way back to the car and I managed to hold off on them again. We walked to the car and I just could not stop thinking about them. So I had to ask Kate:

Jordan - "Am I wrong for wanting a second pair, is it stupid for spending money on a second pair of these?"

Kate - "You love shoes, you don't spend waste your money on dumb purchases, if you really like these then do it"


I love my girlfriend, she's very supportive of the things I'm passionate about, I honestly couldn't ask for anyone better. That being said...

Kate you are an enabler.

So after I illegally park in front of Maven, and come running out with a big ol' shit eating grin on my face, Kate informs me it's time to go get fitted for a tux for a wedding were going to. Ugh. Fuck. I do NOT want to do this shit, but instead of the last minute rush which is usually the story of my life, we headed out to men's warehouse to get fitted. The whole process was actually not that painful, Kate made a lot of the style decisions, I chimed in when appropriate, and an hour later and 150 bucks poorer I am all set for my tux. We then decided we'd stay in tonight and make a few drinks, we have juicy juice and pineapple juice, so naturally Kate suggested we get some vodka to mix with. Fine by me, sounds like a good idea. Do you know what happens when you send an asshole with no idea about hard liquor store for vodka? He walks out with rum. The whole time I'm like, absolut, just get some absolut and you'll be fine. And as I am staring at the absolut I decided that for the same price I'd rather get more bang for my buck and grab the "dragon fruit" flavor of Bacardi. Little did I realize that the Bacardi was fucking rum. So after the entire day of me giving Kate shit for losing her wallet and being a dipshit, karma decided to kick me in the ass with a bottle of rum. So here we are sitting on the couch, Kate watching dancing with the stars, and me typing this out, happy as can be to be drinking our shitty rum and juices.




Who could ask for anything more. I love my life and the amazing people who make it what it is.

BOOM!

When I moved up to Vermont, there were two things that I noticed that made me think twice about the move

1. A good sneaker spot / skate shop
2. Good pizza

I think I'll forever be searching for a good pizza spot, guess being from Connecticut I'm spoiled with good pizza, but I have found my sneaker spot.

So yesterday, I posted that I was on the hunt, and today, I got an email from one of the owners of the best skate shops in Burly Burls, a little shop by the name of Maven. If you don't know, you need to get familiar my VT friends, www.mavenvt.com. Go there, support the local movement, you won't be disappointed. Anyways, before I do the unveil I'll give you a little background.



Kate, my lovely girlfriend was out of town for the weekend, leaving me to my own devices. This would normally include a morning shred followed by a marathon of Call of Duty, maybe sprinkle in some RJ's wings and there's a Saturday afternoon. So I woke up early, headed to Stowe for some shred, 60 degrees and bluebird made for longsleeve shred which was my first time experiencing the freedom of just a longsleeve, but it was also my first experience of dodging slush puddles. I took a few laps, the snow conditions while they were fun, were shitty. I don't give a shit what anyone says, slush is fun to ride, but the variable surface makes it a pain in the ass. I decided that on my last run I was just going to haul ass down and call it a day, I hit lower standard and was flying, pretty sure I heard a someone shout slow down asshole, but I was too busy slaying to pay them any mind. I'm moving along at a good clip and that's when it happened, I saw it well ahead of where I was, I even tried to check my speed, and that's when the god damn variable condition of the slush decided it was time to make me pay. I tried to dig in hard heel edge, and there was nothing to dig into, so as I wash out on my back into a slush puddle. Not just any slush puddle, but the fucking biggest slush puddle on the mountain. I'm come to rest about 3/4 of the way through this 50 monster and have to unstrap to get out. Now I'm soaked, literally entire back of everything, gloves boots, fucking soaked. I walked out of the puddle, rode down to the car and drove home, drenched. (my seat was still wet on sunday afternoon when I drove to the Essex park) When I got home I decided I'd do something with myself, it was time to go downtown on a sneaker hunt.


I get downtown and it's the same old shit, different stink on Church Street. It's the weekend, it's warm so you know what that means, swarms. Swarms of people everywhere. From fucking ironic hipster to fat troll in spandex, they were all out in full force. This was almost enough to deter me, but I decided to press on in my adventure. That's when I found myself staring at the front of Maven. I walked in, checked the selection and was pleasantly surprised. Dunks! Lo's, Highs, different colorways! I got excited, this place was legit. I didn't see what I was in search of, so I asked a dude behind the counter, turns out it was the right dude to ask. He was getting a few pairs of the shoes I have been searching for, took my email and said he'd let me know when they came in. I drove over to one more skate shop, where I actually found the shoes I was searching for, but at a price point that made me want to shank a fool. I held off, with the hope that there would actually be an email from the dude at Maven. Too many times I have had wind blown up my ass by sneaker shops, empty promises and broken dreams, but today, right around 2:30 I got the good news. The Statue of Liberty Dunks were in, and at a very very agreeable price point. Needless to say, I will be picking up all my new shoes from this shop, I guess in VT when people say something, they actually do it. FUCK YEAH!

Don't block my shine shawtyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Before we even start anything, watch this video, listen to it, and tell me why I have it on repeat this past week....Listen while you read, it might make my crappy writing style seem more awesome than it really is! hahaha.




Ok so like I've said in the past, these things are a bitch to have, because if you don't update your life every week on here, you end up with having to do a massive update. Usually on sunday nights I sit there, with my laptop and am like, man I should update my blog. Usually I get up grab a beer sit back down and am like, hmmm what was I just going to do? I haven't done an update in like a month and a half, some good shit has gone down that I don't even remember, but I'll attempt to access my mental library and give you some experiences.

Well, I guess we'll start with Nixon's trip up here mid February. I get a call like, hey what are you doing this weekend and I say my usual, heading to Stowe during the day and then seeing where the evening takes me. Nixon, who has been affectionately referred to as Germ since I was a mere youth was like, dude I'm coming up! I was super pumped because this is the first friend, and one of my best friends to come visit me up here. So he arrives and some beers are in order, Me Dancin Dave and Perks head downtown to start a good time. Plenty of beers are drank, at one point I think I lost a cartwheel contest to three girls, apparently I wasn't doing "real cartwheels" wtf is that shit? Real cartwheels? Anyways I don't remember much more of the night besides us going to the KKD. For some reason meat sammiches at like 2 in the morning always seem like a good idea. They are awesome at the time, however the next morning I woke up and it felt like I swallowed a brick, and it honestly smelled like something died inside of Germ. We woke up hella early, like 7 am which is the asscrack of dawn when you don't have to be into work till 11. We get to Stowe and I'm pumped to shred with him, it's been dumping snow the entire week and we are there hella early......and thats when we see the trail map, not one, two, three, even four lifts, but ALL lifts except for the easy street beginners lift are closed. The excuse was "icing on the lifts" which was bullshit because apparently the quad was closed the entire week. So we take a few rides on Easy Street and are both pretty bummed when we hear someone shout "The Gondo is open!" we run, not walk to the connector across the street, get off the connector Gondo and see the line for the Gondo is literally 1,000 people long. Now I'm totally bummed. Thats when Germ was like, you were saying Bolton is pretty rad, should we try there? It was the best idea he had all weekend, so we headed over to Bolton, met up with Brandon and Heather, shredded some knee deep pow and ended up saving the day. Fuck yeah Bolton!

Fast forward to two weekends ago when I almost got arrested. See I live about a ten minute brisk walk from downtown. So since I started late, and was meeting everyone downtown, I figured this would be a smart time to bring some walk warriors with me. I grab three beers, toss two of them in my pocket and head out. Well i finish beer one, and put the bottle in someone's recycling bin (this is Vermont, we do that here) and start drinking the next one. I'm almost downtown now and I still have another beer in my pocket, and I know I can't bring it into the bar, so I get a brilliant idea. Hide the beer in the bush across the street! That way you have a beer for the walk home. Well, I run across the street, look around real shady like and toss the beer into a bush. In the process I got poked in they eye by one of the damn branches, which really sucked but I just turned and kept walking. As I'm walking up toward What Ales You, I hear the familiar sounds of squeaking police brakes. I quickly drop the beer I'm currently drinking into the planter next to me and keep walking. All the sudden I hear a shout....

Cop: "Hey, buddy what do you think you are doing?"

Me: Well sir, I'm heading out to meet my roommate at the bar.

Cop: "You know you can't be drinking beer outside in public"

Me: What do you mean sir I don't have any beer on me.

I hold out my hands to show him and he clearly gets frustrated.

Cop: "What about this?"

And he holds up the beer I just stashed in the bushes about 50 yards back.

Me: Awww shit........ yeah that was the walk home beer.

Cop: "You know I can take you in for littering? This isn't going to be there on the walk home buddy!"

And he peeled off. Apparently there was something more serious than a guy hiding a beer in a bush to attend to. The serious of events from there involved some fist pumping, some angry chicken, and a few cosby shuffles at metronome. There is more to the story, but this is where it should end I've decided.

Ok, and now this past weekend. Easter. Wheeeeeee. Time to eat ham. I hate ham. I honestly think it's gross. Over the years my hatred for ham has grown exponentially. I used to eat a little bit of it, but now I steer clear of that shit like it's the plauge. Why do we eat the things we do on holidays? Does someone designate a specific animal we need to eat for each holiday? If so can anyone give me their number so that I can call and complain. NO MORE HAM! Anyways, I had a good Friday night down at RiRahs (ironically it was good friday, which i just remembered) and woke up early to head home to Connecticut. The four hours it takes me is usually a rollercoaster at first it's all nice on the ride on 89, then I get somewhat annoyed realizing I have another hour down 95 before I'm out of Vt, then I hit mass. Masshole don't know how to drive, I hate driving through that stupid state. Then I hit Ct and I relax a bit, until I hit Harford and then Rage level hits an almost all time high. Hartford is disgusting, filthy even, I hate it. The traffic is rediculous for no reason, god I hate the drive.

Anyways so I stop at the Waterbury mall because Vermont's shoe stores are terrible and of course I can't find a fresh new pair of shoes. Walking around I hear some commotion and it's two grown men fighting eachother in front of Verizon. Seriously guys? Two grown men fighting eachother in the mall. What a bunch of dipshits. I decided it was time to leave after I bought my mother some Easter goodies. I got home and it was great to see moms, she made my favorite chicken cutlets and mashed potatoes and I quickly forgot about the mall incident. I then got a call from Matt telling me to meet him at work so we could catch a quick skate session before we headed out to the bar for the night. We went over to the Cheshire skate park, for reasons unbeknownst to me, every fucking time we go there it sucks. It's dirty, a bunch of fruit bootin roller bladers getting in your way, and everyone is always skating the hump, the only thing I like there. So after about 45 minutes of lame we headed back to his house and started our drinking for the night.

The best part about going home is heading to the bars you used to frequent, seeing people you used to hang with, and basically living for the moment, and boy did I ever. I guess I thought I was some kinda baller because I started buying everyone drinks. I saw a few familiar faces and had an awesome time. Tom the bartender kept giving us free shots of some terrible rootbeer vodka, it really was terrible. Right around the time I stopped remembering things is when I got my tab....... I wish I could not remember paying that bastard, but whats money when you are having fun with friends. I had a pretty chill Easter with the fam that included an hour nap and then a 4 hour drive back to Vermont. All in all a good trip. To think I didn't even want to drive down.

And in closing, a serious of questions. Why don't I think about things before I do them? Like a recent event I made myself come off as such an idiot because I didn't think things through before I just acted. I'm like a kid on christmas sometimes with certain situations, I get so excited I don't think about how my actions are going to be perceived. I tend to get way ahead of myself and freak people out with how anxious I am. It's not that I want to come off that way, sometimes I just can't contain my excitement. I guess thats something I'm going to have to work on in the near future, because I might have screwed this up before I could even start it. I guess I'll have to work on that, but no one is perfect, we could all use a little work. Hopefully the situation can be fixed, we'll see. Stay optimistic.


And now for some photos

Thats the germ

Metronome at night

Lookalike to the bushes I stashed my beer in

The police car that was stalking me that Saturday Night

Broken Teeth and Broken Hearts

It's amazing how many of you guys are giving me shit for not updating this more often. You do have to realize that not every single day of my life up here is worthy of writing shit about. That being said, when I do update I will post it on facebook so if want to read it you can. On that note, things are going to have to be on a PG basis, since my mom is now following this blog. So the boob and vagina talk and regular male debauchery is going to have to be at a minimum. (Maybe I'll block her from reading this lol) Also don't hate on my spelling, my overly ambitious use of commas or any other shit that is annoying, no one likes a grammar whore.

Anyways lets see whats been going on.

1. My tooth is still broken, however I went to the dentist. They informed me that I need to have all my wisdom teeth out, then with the broken tooth I have to have a root canal (1000 bucks) and then have the tooth capped (1000 bucks again) and possibly crowned. I have no idea what that means but I bet it's going to be another fucking thousand dollars. When asking the dentist if I could just have it pulled out he gave me some bullshit excuse (his eyes were wide with images of dollar bills) and basically told me no. I've always been a firm believer if something fucks up, replace it, don't rebuild it, destroy it and replace it with something more awesome. Fuck I wish it was a front tooth because I always wanted a gold tooth. Ask my moms about that, she'll tell you I've wanted one since like second grade.

2. Jeremy gets married this weekend. I can't believe it. I can honestly say that he is probably the closest friend I have ever had. We went though our ups and downs, but in the end our friendship persevered. He is getting married to a beautiful girl, who will keep his ass in line and I couldn't be more happy for the both of them. Tomorrow I get to wake up at 8 am on a fucking SATURDAY and drive three hours from Burlington to Boston, yet I'm not even mad because I will be participating in an event that means the world to a person that I truly care about. Since were were kids taking our bicycle helmets off when we got two blocks away from our houses (because i don't care how old you are, bicycle helmets make you look like a fucking dipshit) to drinking beers and eating wings at our favorite dive bar New West. I don't even know if you read this shit, but honestly bro I couldn't be happier for you, I wish you all the best on the new life you are starting.

3. There are plenty other things that need to be updated but I don't feel like thinking about them so I'm going to talk about some other shit.



*edited because this is no longer relevant, don't like it fuck off*


Well how do I follow that shit show up?

With another shit show of course.

So yesterday night a mutual friend of ours little sister paid us a visit. It was clear a night of on the town boozing was going down before she even got here. So I went about my daily routine of work/gym and got in my car and drove home. On the way I was sitting at the light in front of Burlington High School and I almost shit my pants, like seriously came close, not very relevant but I thought I maybe people who have been stuck at a traffic light in similar situations could appreciate it. Well I get in run up the stairs right past Perks and our guest and well, lets just say this is a quiet house, and my first impression more than likely wasn't a good one. As I hobbled down the stairs (more on that to come) I was greeted by a pretty face (not Matt) and then was promptly bitched at for taking so long because we were supposed to be ordering pizza. I declined on the pizza and said I wasn't going out because I was tired, but after our guest told me not to be a baby and come out next thing I knew I was getting dressed. We started off by drinking Longtrails at the house, and I must say, I have found my new favorite beer. To all you guys who buy the same beer when you hit the packy, try something different, try a nice Vermont Ale, something like Magic Hat #9 (made locally here in Burlington) a Longtrail (nice darker beer that has a good flavor to it) or even a Switchback (someone described these as have a nut like flavor, and I refuse to drink one since, but if you like nuts, try it.) you won't be disappointed. Well next thing I know Josh is dropping us off downtown (he had court in the morning, because he's a superstar court dude who solves cases without a sidekick) and the fun began.

The things I remember: No one at RiRah's and our guest ordering a water lol. Going to RJ's and seeing work people who I don't even know shout out the name of our company and high five me (apparently I have more friends up here than I know about) and then Perks taking me to some underground dungeon lair where there were techno kids swinging glowsticks and girls who looked like they were still in highschool, apparently it's one of the two clubs downtown, and I promptly turned tail and got the fuck outta there. Fuck that place it was stupid. Then I remember wanting to go home but not being able to find a cab (I think i was standing in an alleyway at that point) and then having a 20 minute conversation with a bicycle that was chained up to a stop sign, something about liberating it from it's shackles and riding the shit out of it home, but Perks found me before I could commit my first crime in Vermont. (Bike theft is actually happens all the time up here, people ride their bikes everywhere) Then I remember buying a fucking six dollar sausage, which I most def remembered this morning when I woke up and that was the only thing I could taste. This guy really has a racket going on out there at his little cart, nothing smells better when escaping underground dungeons than a six dollar sausage. That shit smelled so good I more than likely would have paid whatever he asked for. And I'm sure I'll get some gay "You love sausage" comments, but really guys c'mon were old enough to see past those jokes.................... well maybe one or two are tolerable.


Lets see, what else......... well theres work. Work is pretty sweet, I was actually on the phones full time today, and nothing says you haven't learned shit in the past two weeks of training than struggling with an client based issue, but fuck man this is pretty fun. Once I get over that huge learning hump, I'm going to be tearing up these tickets on the daily, now I just need to retain the shit I am learning on a per minute basis and I'll be good. It's honestly crazy the work environment up here. People are encouraged to dress casual, which in most places means that oh hey maybe I'll wear a pair of jeans to work today, well here people wear whatever they want, slippers, aprons, t shirts, jeans, sandals, trenchcoats, whatever floats your boat do it. Pretty nice from having to wear a uniform everyday to being able to wear whatever the hell I want. I am so super pumped to have landed this job, and I am going to do my best to become the best that I can at it. It's pretty helpful when the people you work with are all easy going and sarcastic. They'll laugh when you make a mistake, tell you not to sweat it, then ridicule the shit out of you, but in a nice way. It really is an excellent environment, and if you want a new start on things, a fresh start on life I would encourage any and all of you to think about making the move that I did. It's been awesome so far.

So I wrote a lot of shit today, but it's been shit I've thought about a lot lately, and shit that is relevant to my life. So if you are going to complain, bitch or be negative, feel free to jump off a cliff. I have to say Vermont so far has impressed me with it's people, everyone up here seems to skip to a different beat, people go out of their way to hold doors open for you, say please and thank you, people even smile at you in the streets. It's a great place to be and I'm happy to be here. I think it's the first step in the right direction, and it was the answer to the questions I've been asking myself for quite some time. That being said I do miss the few friends I had in CT that I kept close to, I miss my mom, and if you are reading this mom I love you and if I seem annoyed or short with you lately it's just by the time I talk to you at the end of the day I'm mentally shot, so if I have to think about something chances are my brain hurts, but thank you for all the support, I miss you and love you.

Heres a few pictures that will sum up what I wrote down



Long Trial Brewing Co. Get you some!


Burlington, Vermont thats Mount Mansfield in the background, biggest mountain in Vermont, home to Stowe ski resort, where I have my season pass to. Fuck yeah.


Me and Germ, soon to be a married man!


The best of times, Isn't she lovely?



In closing, never take for granted what you have, because you really don't realize what you haven until it's gone. A good friend of mine Murbs once said, "If your life sucks, you suck" that right there should be motivation to make yourself a better life.