Snow dreams

Last night my some of my girl friends in Truckee had a Boreal-opening-eve soiree at their place. There was awesome energy in the air because everyone was stoked to ride in the morning. Everyone called it a night around one and I curled up in my sleeping bag to pass out.

What followed next was one of the coolest dreams I ever had.

That could be me...

Basically, it was decided that the government was totally fucking up and the only way to fix things was to have a snowboard company run the nation. A committee was put together to decide how things would be set up, what company would be running stuff- all that. I was part of this group along with Terje, Gigi, and a handful of other legendy dudes and chicks. And of course, Lil Wayne was part of the committee because Weezy is so involved with the snowboarding community (and when you roll with the illuminati you do what you want.)

During one of the discussion sessions we took a break and Weezy and I went to this stream out back. He caught a salmon with his hands. I was like "Yeah man let's cut it up and eat it." and he goes "I know right?" I go "Weez you like raw fish? What type?" and he says "I usually go with Tuna or Salmon. But when I'm in Brooklyn I go with the Pink Temple." Apparently Lil Wayne has access to some secret fish called Pink Temple and it's the greatest thing ever. We totally bonded over our love for sashimi. Right when he was about to ask me if I wanted to go out and get sushi with him sometime-

The alarm clock rang. 

7:20. Time to get up and go to Boreal. I am so so so bummed that's where the dream ended. I'll never get that sushi date and I won't get to see how awesome the country would be if it was run by snowboarders.





In case you're wondering, the committee decided to elect Burton as the new US Government. Congrats. Sorry Program, you guys weren't included.

Gear for sale!

I've been trying to sell some of my stuff through facebook but I figured I'd make a post here as well.
If you're interested in something, either leave a comment on this post or contact me on my contact page.

Rome Detail Rocker 143 (2012)
Never used- still in packaging
$300














32 Vela Boot, size 7 (2011)
Worn about 5 times
$100

 Burton Escapade Binding, Medium (2010)
Used 15 times
$50

Arnette Series 3
New (without box)
$60

Rome Salient 3-in-1 Jacket, Medium
Lightly Worn
$50
















Other items and photos of my exact items can be found on my
Facebook album

Summer's end

Well summer is almost over and my time in Oregon has ended. The summer on Hood didn't turn out to be quite what I expected but overall I had a good experience. I expected to learn a ton of tricks and get loads of pictures and video to back it up with. That didn't really happen. But what did happen was good in a different way. I learned some things, met a ton of people, and had an extraordinary summer. Here's what happened since my last post.

My friends from Canada, Jodie and Deja came and stayed out my house for a week. We rode and filmed a little bit. It was cool seeing them again for the first time since Windells two years ago.

I had one of the most fun nights of my life. Between sessions the Windells crew gets together for summer fun and I tagged along to this camping trip in the middle of the forrest. There were like seven campfires scattered around this river, and everyone was just so stoked to hang out and have a good time.

I finally sent Nathan's prize pack out to him. Proof to the trusnow forum that I'm not a scammer. haha. Thanks for trusting me enough to give me your address Nate.

I had more shenanigan filled nights at the Burton House. I'm so glad I spent as much time there as I did because I would have turned into a wreck if I was constantly surrounded by the Govydrunks. Instead of becoming a Shoeless Bonfire-of-Broken-Dreams-er (you wouldn't believe how depressing bonfires with this crowd are), I got to be a part of Burton Summer Camp, which was a lot more constructive to my mental state. Thank you so much for letting me hang.

The Burton summer sales meeting came by and I met a ton of people from around the country who work for Burton. Everyone was really awesome and it made me so stoked on Burton. And I ended up with a couple of really good friends. Now I have a reason to travel to other places this winter!

I finally did something other than snowboarding/hanging out in Govy, and went to the Hood River County fair with Riley, Lemi, Blake, and Kendel. Riley and I were just drunk messes that night, but we had a fantastic time. Fast rides, excessive amounts of food, and too many Mexicans definitely made this one of the best nights of my summer.

The one day I took off from riding to do something else this summer was awesome. I would have liked to be snowboarding, but the day of rest at Punch Bowls Falls wasn't a bad substitute. I had never been cliff jumping before so this was a new experience. It scared the crap out of me. But in a good way. I opted out of the 60' and 80' cliffs because the water was too cold for me to handle, but the one I jumped a couple times was 45' which I guess is a good size for a first timer.

I started doing boot testing for Burton which is really cool because I get to rock pairs of 2013 boots and give the company feedback. The two boots I tested this summer were the Supremes and Sapphires, which ended up being really awesome boots. I'd be stoked to rock either of them for a whole season.

I went to the Ark for the first time. The Ark is the employee housing for Windells and it's a very interesting place. I hung out in the skate house mainly with a friend of mine who's a skate coach there. I melted my brains out and vowed that I would have to hang out at the Ark more.

My Rome finally crapped out. I kept getting caught on the boxes and when I finally took my board off to see what was up I was more than bummed.

The thing that I was stoked on the most this summer is that Kyre Malkemes from Roxy replied to an email I had sent her in the beginning of the summer. I had wanted to know if there was any way I could get on Roxy's rider list for High Cascade or Windells. A day before High Cascade's last session she got back to me letting me know I'd be on the rider list for the session. I was so so incredibly thankful that that happened. I had a great week at High Cascade. I started spinning jumps again (something I hadn't really done since my concussion) and just had a fun time all around. I was so exhausted at the end of everyday! But I'd still find energy to skate the High Cascade skatepark or jump on their trampolines anyways. That session ended up being the photo session as well so I'm hoping to get some photos of me in the next week that I can send to Roxy.

I drove home after the High Cascade session ended. I didn't want to wait for public park to be moved and I got 65 days of riding in so I was ready to be in the city again. I did the whole 11.5 hour drive in one day and made it home for dinner.

My mom and I went to Santa Cruz together yesterday. It was awesome to spend a day with her, go on rides, eat too much food, and play in the ocean. I love love love the beach. I became friends with younger brother of one of the skate coaches at Windells, and since he lives in Santa Cruz I hit him up to hang out. It was awesome to see Alex and then we had the best 30 minutes ever taking the sky tram thing and talking shit about the people below us. Ha.

That's about it for my summer adventures. Today I'm packing my stuff again and then moving to Tahoe tomorrow. I'll try to post more frequently so I don't have to do this horrible long posts anymore. Hope your summer was as crazy and fun as mine!

Swag bag from Shred Union

Well kids, my next batch of free stuff came in the mail today.
The lovely folks over at Shred Union sent me my swag back that I won a few weeks ago on the site. It came with a Capita tee shirt, a Burton beanie, a Holden banner thing, a backpack thing, shred union stickers, some other stickers, and eese or whatever socks.

How did I win it? For being popular of course. Haha. It's so funny how my life has changed in the past few years. Leper, to prizes for popularity. Oh jeeze. New beginnings are great. Speaking of new beginnings, it's almost time for college. I'm almost certain that I'm into Sierra Nevada and I'm still waiting on Boulder. I can't wait for next year...

Also arrived in the mail today: stickers and DVD from Windells Camp.
Still waiting for: mystery prize from Volcom

Snurfer anyone?

So basically, my uncle has THE COOLEST collection of old boards. Have a look.

Click on them for a larger view. Some of those babies date back to the 60s. Included in his collection are Snufers, Sims, Wintersticks, and Burtons. A few of the Burtons are even signed by the man, the myth, the legend, Jake Burton, who used to sign every board he made in red pen after finishing them. How about a little snowboard history lesson? Stolen straight from http://www.sbhistory.de/;

"In 1965, Sherman Poppen, a chemical gases engineer in Muskegon, invented "The Snurfer" (his wife came up with the name) as a toy for his daughter. He made the Snurfer by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose, so the rider could hold it and keep it more stable. Many of his daughters friends wanted one of those new Snurfers, and soon Poppen lincensed his new idea to a manufacturer. The Snurfer was sold over half a million times in 1966, but was only seen as a toy for kids, even though Poppen organized competitions with this new board.

Jake Burton took part in those competitions and became really interested in the snurfer. For him it was a cool thing to do, not having the oppurtunity to go surfing (his parents would not buy him a board). But Burton was really seriuos about skiing. After breaking his collarbone in a car accident, he was not able to take part in skiing competitions anymore.

While Burton was into riding the Snurfer, Dimitrije Milovich started making snowboards in 1969. After sliding down some hills on a cafeteria plate in College, he came up with the idea. His boards were based on surfboards combined with the way skiis work. In 1972 Milovich started a new company called "Winterstick". He produced several boards, and even got articles in the "Newsweek", "Playboy" and "Powder" which helped to make snowboarding better known. Even though Milovich left the snowboarding business in 1980, he is still recognized as a very important pioneer of the sport.

In 1977 Jake Burton, who now finished NYU, moved to Londonderry, Vermont to make some money by building different versions of the Snurfer, which he still remembered. His first boards were made of laminated hardwood. Burton shocked all the Snurfer riders by winning a Snurfer competition with his own board, which had the first binding. This first binding made a big difference fro handling the board, and thus made it easier for him to beat the other riders. After that, in 1979, Poppen stopped producing the Snurfer and went back to his old profession. He was out of the business, and never came back.

Parallel to Burton, Tom Sims produced his first snowboards in 1977. Being obsessed with skateboarding, Sims tried to go out in the snow and slide down the hill with a "snowboard" he built in a junior high shop-class. He just glued some carpet to the top of a piece of wood, and put an aluminum sheeting on the bottom. After he focused on producing skateboards in his garage, with the help of his friend and employee Chuck Barfoot, he started making snowboards in 1977. Barfoot, who actually made the snowboards, came up with the "Flying Yellow Banana". It was just a skateboard deck on top of a plastic shell with skegs.

Officially the first real ski technology for snowboards was introduced by Burton 1980 (it is said Winterstick already used a P-Tex base in 1974). The new prototype had a P-tex base and combined more of the ski technology into snowboards with that. In the same year Sims signed a skate- and snowboarding deal with a big mainstream company (Vision Sports), which helped him solving his financial problems. Barfoot was left out, and tried to built his own firm. He did not succeed against the big competitors Sims and Burton."

The best things in life are free.

Or let me rephrase; The best thing in life is getting free stuff sent to your house. Ohhh yeah. I never entered contests when I was younger because I figured I wouldn't win anyways so why bother, right? My mom was always like "You never knowwww" and she'd win things every once in a while. I just recently started entering every contest I find and it's paying off. Greatly. Every time there was a give away or contest at Windells I hit it up and ended up with a bunch of shirts and beanies. I happened talked to the right person and ended up with this sick Bonfire jacket as well (retail price; $280). Back at home I started lurking around snowboard company websites and discovered a whole new world of contests. I sadly did not win any thing on 686 Day, but I played Rome's Steal That Banner game and won that. My new Rome jacket just came in the mail yesterday (original price; $229.95). It's prettty sick. And then a week ago I played a game on the Volcom website and this morning I woke up to this email;

"Hello
You are a winner in our recent Volcom Girls Holiday competition.
Please send me your size and your full address and telephone number (by
tomorrow if possible!) and I will post your prize.
Thanks for entering and Merry Christmas!
Josie"

And let me tell you; that is a great e-mail to wake up to on your last day of finals. So, I'll be getting one of these items in the mail from Volcom soon as well.



Oh, and I almost forgot; I won a sweatshirt from Sierra Nevada College a little while back, and I have a "swag bag" in the mail right now over from the folks at Shred Union.
Moral of the story; enter contests, win cash-money. Well, prizes worth cash money.

PS. Be like me and stop by Burton.com in the next couple of days. They've got major giveaways all week that you won't want to miss.