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.

Like the great ODB said, "The Saga Continues........"

ODB in arguable the greatest Wu Tang song ever said

"The saga continues, Wu Tang, Wu Tang....."

In my case it would be

"The saga continues, Ebay, Ebay.....


That's right, I've resorted to what every person no doubt does when they cannot locate something they are looking for. They turn to Ebay.

So I type in Nike SB Cheech and Chong size 9

Four listings

235.00

240.00

325.00

125.00


Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit a second..... 125.00? 28 hours left on the auction. I go to bed wake up and find 18 hours left in the auction, and I'm still winning for 127.00. Awesome! Maybe this will fly under the radar and I'll finally get my hands on these for a good price. Hours pass. Eight hours left in the auction and i get out bid. Queue the bidding war. Finally I'm on top, and the price is still reasonable. One hour left. I excitedly watch the time tick down..... One minute left and I'm still winning. I'm starting to get excited now.... 30 seconds left.... still winning. As the time ticks down in seconds I get to 9 seconds and get a notification on my mobile Ebay app on my phone I have been outbid. No worries, 9 seconds is fine, I can bid in that time and win.... I enter my price hit bid.... and nothing. I hit bid again nothing. All the sudden my mouse freezes, I can't move my cursor.

That's when I get this message "Firefox has encountered an error and needs to close"..........

FUCK YOU FIREFOX.

Every day I sing your praises to the masses, and you decide to do me dirty like this!?

I got sniped with 9 seconds left. 9 seconds!

What do I have to do to get these shoes!?


These however did come in yesterday which is nice.



Everyone sums them up in one word: Flashy.

Kate's came in yesterday also and to be honest I like hers better than mine.




So there they are, our anniversary shoes. Each one has "One Year" printed on the heel. Pretty awesome idea, and a trend I hope we continue as the years pass. It's funny how disappointed I am over a pair of shoes. I am an adult, and pretty much have the capacity to buy myself what I would like but 250-300 dollars for a pair of shoes.... There are so many other things that money could go towards. Guess it's time to keep hunting.


Best Rap video of all time, The Saga Continues, Wu Tang Wu Tang



Also a look at a skateboarding legend in his heyday, Eric Koston who is a Nike SB team rider, this video is amazing.

Manolo's Tapes: Eric Koston from Already Been Done on Vimeo.

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.

Trick Knees and Broken Butt Cheeks

Yup, you read it right. I got a trick knee, and I have a broken butt cheek. I'd post a photo but I'm at work right now so just use your imagination. It all started about six years ago when I fell off my skateboard at Edgewood Park in New Haven, CT and put a minor 6% tear in my MCL. I hobbled around for a few days went to the doctor and they said with only a 6% tear going in to fix it really didn't seem like a smart idea. A professional opinion and me being a broke ass college kid I decided the doc was right.
This is the same knee that I have two screws in that secure the titanium alloy rod that is in my leg, fusing my femur back together from my car accident. I haven't ever really had any soreness in my knee from it though some days (mostly the colder ones) it would get a bit sore but nothing crazy. Well yesterday I ate shit skateboarding and I'm afraid I've awakened the beast. Here is a shot of where I ate shit at Edgewood so long ago



It all started out like any other normal night, skateboarding in the parking lot working on tricks I used to be able to do in my sleep. This time however my buddy Cook decided he'd join me. Now this is momentous occasion because you see this elusive recluse just got himself a girlfriend, and is wallowing in the joys of having a woman for the first time in too many years to count. Here is a photo of the dipshit




Everyday at work since it got warm I'd ask him to go skate, only to be rebutted with a "Sorry girlfriend is coming over". I really can't be that mad, I'm actually happy for him. Well yesterday he decided he could spare a quick 30-45 minutes after work to come skate with me. It started off great just screwing around and then I got the idea that I wanted to try to manual about 50 feet of curb. I've tried this over and over again, only to either fail within the first ten feet or fail within the last ten feet. Well yesterday I decided I was going to stick it. Got some extra speed and what do you know I'm about a foot away from the curb and I am thinking in my head, I GOT THIS! That's when I hit the tiniest crack lose my balance and then you go through what every skateboarder goes through in his head every time they try a trick:

1. bail now and try again
2. stick with it and stick it

I decided to stick with it and try to power my way out of the last foot of curb. Wrong choice. As I try to power myself off the curb my front foot stuck on my board, my back leg decided it had enough of this shit and was going to bail. Results, me landing directly on my ass cheek (all two hundred and ten pounds of me), notably the left one, and that bastard back foot bending the wrong way at the knee toward the ground behind me. I felt something crunch/pop in my knee which was the same feeling that day at Edgewood. Agonizing pain to the point where I had to cut our session short and hobble into my house next door. I iced it, took some pain meds, drank a beer and cursed at myself for getting injured not even a week into the skate season. Fucking weak.

It also stings because i just picked up a new board and some chunky new wheels, cleaned out my bearings so they are riding super smooth, and have been having an awesome time skating the Essex park all weekend. I bet you can guess by now where I got my deck from, but if you can't you should head over to Maven, huge selection of everything you need to keep your skate going strong.



Speaking of which, they just confirmed via their facebook page that the Cheech and Chong dunk will be in stores on Friday. I cannot wait to pick these up, almost a month after the original slated release they are finally hitting the stores. I already let them know that I will be there ten minutes after they call me to grab a pair. Here are some pictures of them beat up with the green suede underneath the toe cap, pretty sick.





Clearly the guy who did the work on those does not skateboard, but thats an idea of what they look like underneath. Pretty sick!

Anxiously awaiting my Friday call/email on these!

I just saved this and hobbled home, and as I was limping my way home I got a beep, probably one of those "look at that jackass limping down the sidewalk" beeps. Only to have my girlfriend walk into the apartment two minutes after me and say, hey I saw you hobbling home like an idiot (insert terrible impression here) and laughed at me. Here I am sitting in my chair miserable I'm missing the amazing skate weather, watching "Deadliest Catch". To me this would be a show about catching sharks or tigers with your barehands. Instead it's a show about a bunch of dipshits catching crabs. Yes crabs.

Rain, Rain, and........ More rain.

I'm thinking of building an Arc soon, water levels at the lake are past flood stage... these photos are from my friend Noel:






Yeah, it's been wet. During the winter I don't mind because that wet translates to snow, and snow is good to go snowboarding. During the summertime I skateboard, and skateboarding in the rain usually means your wheels slipping out from under you and you eating shit pretty hard, which I did last week on this guy:

I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the summer and long skate days and nights, working until 8pm throws a wrench into the night sessions, but if it's warm and there is a spot to skate I don't mind skating at night. There is something about being on a board whether it's in the middle of the woods in some fresh pow, or in a parking lot under some street lights that feels so liberating. I can never get bored with either one of them because there is always something you can do, endless fun and freedom. That endless fun and freedom however has been hampered by non stop rain. Water is not good for your skateboard, it dulls your griptape, seizes your bearings and overall sucks to skateboard in. After trying to dodge puddles pretty unsucessfully last weekend, and slamming hard a few times due to the wet concrete and ramps I headed out to go skate this past Saturday only to find to my dismay that my bearings had gotten enough water in them to not want to spin at all. What's a fella to do?

You head over to this place :



Five dollars later I left with some bearing lube, to which a smartass behind the counter said "That will make you skate faster" with a sly little grin on his face, to which I just laughed because I was once that little smartass. I went home popped my bearings out, cleaned and lubed them, and they were just like new. Bones swiss bearings are the way to go. What a great skate sesh, the Essex park gets crowded on sunny days but it's not bad if you pick one area and just skate that until it thins out. For me it was that bastard spine again, trying to teach myself a few tricks that I could do in my sleep back when I was a skate rat. It's fun starting over again, but frustrating not being able to do something that used to come so easily to you, but overall I'm enjoying learning again. The cool thing about being an older guy at the park is getting hyped up by the young guys, the kids at the park are nothing but balls of energy unleashed on an awesome playground. As I'm hunched over sucking wind these guys are flying past me doing every trick I want to try, on their fist try. Pretty humbling. It was at that time that I noticed a kid who had been trying to kickflip off a low ledge for what seemed like hours finally land his trick, only to snap the nose off his board. You could tell he was a mixed bag of emotions, nothing can relate to how good it feels to finally land a trick you've been trying over and over again, but if you snap your deck that's when you ask yourself, was it really worth it? This is also where being an older guy at the park comes in pretty handy,I have a job, it pays pretty well, when my board starts losing it's pop, I go out and buy a new one. I don't thrash my board so most of the time when I buy a new one my old one is better condition than what 90% of these kids are riding at the park. This kid, about 12 or 13 was pretty bummed, and I over heard him telling his buddy he had three more hours at the park until his mom came and got him and how he only had 20 bucks saved up to buy a new deck (skate decks usually sell for around 50). It was at that time I remembered I had a board in the trunk of my car specifically for an occasion like this one. I didn't say anything to him, I just walked over to my car, grabbed the deck and my skate tool and walked back in. I handed him the deck and the tool and his eyes lit up, he honestly couldn't believe that someone would just give him a skate deck. After about 15 minutes of putting his new set up together he tried his kickflip again, and nailed it first try, he skated over to me, gave me a high five and thanked me again. Funny how something little like an old skate deck can make someone's day. Speaking of which, my deck is losing some pop, more than likely time to pick one up at Maven this weekend.


What else.... hmmm.

Kate and I cut my hair and because I wasn't paying attention, it's really short. It's awesome though!



Kate found an abandoned sneaker rack on the side of the road with a "free" sign and brought it home. The plan is to strip it down and paint it an awesome color, the funny thing is that it only fits about three to four pairs of sneaker per shelf, and it's got I believe four shelves. I already have more sneakers than it can hold, but Kate says "Only the dopest ones get put on the shelf" to which I just smiled, it's nice to have someone in your life who supports you in your weird little endeavors and thinks that they are awesome.







I am really convinced that she is the right girl for me, and that my move to Vermont was meant for me to meet her, fall in love with her and marry her. She also bought me a pair of shoes that I have been pining over, these guys:



They are known as the "Hartford Whalers" which being from Connecticut I can confirm that they are indeed a match of the colors. I cannot wait for them to come in. Also a while back I posted on how much I really wanted the Cheech and Chong Nike dunks, much to everyone's dismay they were actually canceled due to "copyright infringement" or something like that. They were supposed to be released on 4/20 this past month only fitting for a shoe titled the Cheech and Chongs. Well I got good news apparently they were not canceled just pushed back a month. While no official word went out about why most people(including myself) came to the conclusion that Nike didn't want the bad PR of releasing a stoner orientated shoe on a stoner holiday. Maven confirmed that they are indeed getting them into the shop and will let me know when they do! Now it's just a waiting game, some of my buddies have already picked up a pair, and I am now like one of those kids eagerly counting down the days until Christmas morning.....



There they are in all their glory. The concept behind them? There is green suede underneath front, the white is supposed to symbolize a joint, and the green suede, which you will wear down to after skating them is supposed to be the weed inside of your joint. Each shoe has a different print, One red bandanna for the one Tommy Chong wore, and one is a red ribbed material for the red hat that Cheech wore. Pretty freaking awesome. I cannot wait to grab my pair.

I want to leave you now with a video I just came across, this is a video a guy made about how shops try to really price gouge you on shoes. These shoes box price I believe are 112 dollars. The fact that they were canceled and now brought back and being released has increased the "hype" around these shoes. Many shops will jack up their prices so they can make double the money off the product, most of the buyers are resellers on ebay. They will then drive the price up to double or triple that. It's a shame that mostly these resellers are the ones who get their hands on the shoes first, only to make some quick money and the people who are actually into shoes (what you would call a "sneaker head" if you will) more than likely won't be able to get their hands on a pair for a fair price. I can understand shops marking up the shoes a little bit, I mean I want them to make some money but charging almost double is just terrible. Throw in the fact that most of these shoes are limited editions often times only 1,000 being made and you will find shady shop owners looking to exploit their daily customers. Here's this dudes video, it's not that high quality but it shows the shittier side of being a sneakerhunter.