You know yo ass is doomed
Finally got around to uploading pictures from this year’s Thanksgiving feast at my place. As per tradition, all of the standards were cooked: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, etc. We burned off some of the massive amounts of calories consumed through some good ole mini-ramp skateboarding (much like the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621). Enjoy!
This Saturday 3Hough and I were some of the lucky participants with Motorscooter Sports to ride in the Annual North Park Holiday Parade. Eric and I got up super early Saturday morning to decorate the scooters. We rode through the parade with about 40 other scooter enthusiasts. As usual, the scooter crowd had some of the best energy of the parade by bringing the holiday cheer in conjunction with some great scooter decorations. If you have a scooter, next Sunday, December 13th, Motorscooter Sports is hosting their annual Toy Run. Bring a toy and ride with the crew to help out those in need!
Well the inevitable finally happened. After a quick skate session during the day this holiday weekend Max and I were leaving the house. As I turned from my door I see a police officer walking up. While seeing police officers hasn’t been a rare occurrence in this neighborhood over the past few months, the fact that he was walking with purpose directly towards me told a different story. Low and behold he was called out on a noise complaint due to us skating. The cop was cool about it (as they generally always are out here in San Diego). But this still unnerves me that someone calls the police on me for skating in my backyard and during the day. If I was playing basketball or had a bunch of kids swimming in a pool and screaming, would someone have called the cops? If I was running a chainsaw and hammering would that still have prompted someone to call the police? I think not. Here we encounter the decades old stigma of skating.
Not one to back down, I did some research and am going to assert my rights to my neighbors. Read my handy-dandy letter which I will be hand delivering to my neighbors. More after the jump…
Continue reading ‘And so it begins…mini-ramp problems’
Well, after all of these years a dream comes true for this skateboarder. I finally have my own backyard mini-ramp! Max and I built the ramp over the past two weeks. So far we’ve had a few sessions on it and it is a blast! It’s 3′8″ tall, 25′ long, 12′ wide, has a 7′ transition, and 8′ of flat. Also has a 2′ deck and a 3′ deck. More about the construction after the jump.
Continue reading ‘The Backyard Mini Ramp’
In my home office, I predominantly use Skype for business calls as it is way cheaper for me than using a land line or the air time on my cell phone. Since I am often on the phone a lot, I decided to get a new USB headset and settled on the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 (found on Amazon here). Upon receiving the headsets I was pleased with the comfort and in-line mute and volume controls. Installation on my XP machine worked flawlessly and all was going well until I fired up Skype and started my first call of the day. All of the sudden I couldn’t hear myself when I spoke although others could hear me. This might not sound like a big deal to some but let me tell you it is weird and I found myself stumbling on my words a bit. I was able to keep working but knew there had to be a solution. There was nothing out on any forums so I just started clicking through sound menus until, low and behold, I found the solution! So I now present it to you.
Continue reading ‘Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000: can’t hear yourself when talking on Skype?’
Start: Las Vegas, CA 10:25am
End: San Diego, CA 4:54pm
Miles: 350
Total trip miles: 2,899
Summary:
Well, the trip came to and end. And what a trip it was! Traveling by motorcycle is infinitely different than travel by car and I learned many valuable lessons about motorcycle touring.
But the most important lessons I learned aren’t ones which can be listed in order or are so matter-of-fact. These are the lessons one can only learn when in soltitude and faced with challenges. Personal lessons about who we are and what’s important. It’s the people in our lives and who we are which give satisfaction and meaning. We are not defined by our jobs, education level, net worth, or clothes on our backs. I realized how important people are to me, without them we’re simply cruising along in landscapes in scenery. The future may be uncertain, and things may change around us, but the firm bedrock of the soul, if discovered and nurtured properly, will weather anything and stay as solid and everlasting as the granite mountains of the Rockies. I hope to be able to take this spirit of adventure I used during this motorcycle trip and apply it to other areas of my life, to use the same courage to challenge myself personally and try to grow as a person by facing down my fears in other areas. Thanks to all who have supported me in the past few weeks, the small and big things mean more than you may know.
