In case you were wondering what I bought myself for Christmas, it was a much-needed new phone in the form of the Motorola Droid. Verizon managed to grant me my bitchin’ $50 credit towards a new phone on actual Chrismas, which meant I had to wait a full day to get this bad boy. In short, it’s like an iPhone, but not as “cool.” To save you from having to comment, I didn’t get an iPhone because I’ve had Verizon since 2001 and I figure, why switch now. So whatever.
I’m sure you’ve seen the “droid does” commercials, unless of course, you don’t have TV, in which case, I’ll sum it up for you. The claim is this thing can do a bunch of shit the iPhone can’t. Since the third member of my relationship is actually an iPhone, I feel pretty qualified to answer to this claim. Now keep in mind, I refuse to read directions (and the Droid didn’t really come with any anyway,) so this is just from me playing with it.
Pros
- Slide out keyboard and on screen keyboard. NBD.
- There is a Happy Cow app, which is like Urban Spoon for vegetarians. I am not downloading it simply to punish Jared (and cause it costs $1)
-Way, way better service than my broken Blackberry Pearl. And seemingly better battery life than the iPhone.
- Most importantly, (and in no way better than the iPhone, which also can,) I can livestream from my phone, as I have done from family dinner, when my cats got a new toy, and yesterday riding at Meadows:
You can follow all my pointless and uninteresting exploits here, and yes, I insist on starting every broadcast with “you’re live, on the internet!”
Cons
- The camera sucks. Slow, bad at focusing etc. It took my way too many tries to get a cute cat shot for my wallpaper.
-No scrabble app! And the “words” one plays annoying music and costs money to get the real version. Not into it.
- Every time I try to make a call, my cheek manages to repeatedly hang up on people. Now as you will be able to tell from the following photo, I have abnormally large cheeks, but seriously, this shit is ridiculous.
In other news, 50 state blogging will be back after the Holidays as I must track down photos from Wisconsin, Minnesota and other random places.
I have a confession to make. I don’t really snowboard or skateboard anymore. I mean, I still go snowboarding and skateboarding, but not with the passion and vigor I once did. I guess it’s a natural part of getting older, busier, more self-involved, etc., but it seems it may be time to admit this to my 9 readers (up from 7 a few weeks ago!)
In high school I went snowboarding every day. Senior year I had my class schedule organized so I was done by 1 pm, giving me a few hours to get up to Killington and hike the pipe or lap the gondola. When we had to “job shadow” someone for a class, I was adamant I wanted to learn about ski area marketing and followed the head of the Park Crew. (Ok, I just wanted to go snowboarding.) I should also mention that my senior year was actually my junior year; I’d set things up to graduate a year early so I could pursue my snowboard career (I was once ranked 3rd overall in the Stimilon big air series, nbd) but a torn ACL and subsequent broken ankle had already shattered that dream. In fact, that entire season of 1998 was spent riding on said torn ACL. Oops.
By college I’d shifted my passion a bit to skateboarding. Yes, I went to college at Western Washington University specifically to ride Mt. Baker. As it turned out though, Mt. Baker was over an hour away, and the skatepark, which had literally just opened, was more like 5 minutes. I still would go snowboarding when I could, but skateboarding became my daily routine. I got really, really ok at skateboarding, and in the process visited skateparks like it was my job, driving cross country something like 17 times an planning my routes specifically based on which towns had parks. It took me to 49 states (the 50th of which I am hitting next week, full story coming soon.) And to this day people still call me when they find themselves somewhere random and are trying to find the skatepark.
My enthusiasm continued for a year or two post college, and like I said, I still go skateboarding, and snowboarding, when I can, but one day I woke up and realized I hadn’t done either in a month. Or more. Getting older I guess.
This weekend though, I’ve had a little blast from the past/re invigoration (sorry, it inspired this self-indulgent rant) when an old friend came to town. It was approximately 1:30 on Thanksgiving day (it was a holiday so I was already hitting the strawberry vodka pretty hard) when Matt (some of you may know him as JWBF) hit me up on iChat to say hi. Somehow this led to him driving to Portland from San Francisco the next day.
I met Matt five years ago at the Akron, OH skatepark. I was actually there for a snowboard video premiere, had had too much fun the night before, and was having a little trouble staying on my skateboard that day. I actually still have a scar on my right hand from where I hit a soda can (rather than ollieing over it) and proceeded to fall over onto the rough asphalt. Matt and I have stayed friends, and although we’d sort of lost touch over the years, when he said he wanted to come to Portland sometime, and I said do it, it was only a few hours before he was in the car. This is why I love skateboarding and snowboarding in the first place.
It was already set to be a fun-filled skate weekend, with an old friend who’d never skated Oregon concrete. Then Nick Lipton texted me. “Meadows night riding starts tomorrow. You wanna go?” Now I met Nick in the Mt. Hood Meadows park on opening day 2007, (and he jumped over a kid so I could take a picture) but to this day, we’d never actually ridden together. So this seemed like an amazing opportunity to do some YoBeat team building, get some content, and yes, even snowboard.
Matt had arrived earlier in the day and we skated Glenhaven (blown out with fellowbloggers and little kids) and then West Linn (the O.G. spot, where who would show up but the Dude Barn.) I tried to keep it mellow though (who am I kidding, I haven’t “tried” in years) because I was snowboarding that night. At quarter to 4 I got home to find Nick asleep in his car in front of my house.
Friday night was one of the most fun I’ve had snowboarding in awhile, mostly because it reminded me of the good old days, when snowboarding was just a part of my day (because the mountain was 20 minutes away) and not an all-day project. And yes, I’d not afraid to say the video turned out epic. Not even any hate comments (yet!)
Now I know what you are thinking. That was a truly extreme day (I don’t call myself an extreme journalist for nothing) but wait there’s more! Saturday Matt and I set out to actually skateboard. I was feeling pain in some muscles I didn’t know I had, but it was dry, and a Battle Ground mission was in order. Despite sucking down electrolytes, I was feeling a bit sluggish. It took me at least an hour to get warmed up (which may again, be part of getting older) but eventually Matt and I sessioned the little coping-less quarterpipe behind the big bowl and I landed a trick. It was cool.
Sweaty and satisfied, we got back in the car, Portland-bound. I checked my phone to find a missed call from Jesse, an old skate friend from Bellingham. He was in town, they were going to check out the new indoor bowl at Epic Snowboard shop in Northwest. It was one of those days, so we said we’d meet them there. A full story about the shop and bowl is coming soon, but for now, here’s a picture:
Needless to say, I am very sore right now. But maybe this will be the season I “get back into it.” Maybe I’ll drop everything and be a shred bum once again. But probably not, cause I’m sort of busy with work and running my other 18 websites. And I have new passions now! But hopefully there will be more weekends like this one soon, so I never forget how good it is.
I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven’t really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I’ve been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here’s 5 Things I Did This Week.
1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has moved online, making it my responsibility! Other members of the staff did many of the write ups, but I’ve been posting them up each day, and even wrote all of the wakeskate rider awards myself. Check out co-Wakeskater of the Year, Most Improved and Rookie of the year, up so far. The video and “funny” awards are coming next week.
2. Opening Day at Meadows! It’s sort of weird when you are too busy writing about snowboarding to actually go snowboarding, but this week Mt. Hood Meadows opened up and I dropped everything and made it happen. Actually scratch that. I wasn’t smart enough to leave my phone in the car, so I spent the lift rides dealing with various crisis as well as making the above documentary about Timbro. Be sure to check out the post on YoBeat where you can read all about his first day last year and realize how amazing this day really was.
3. The Make Out Web. This is honestly a story eight years in the making. You can get the whole history of the web itself in the post, but it took me this long to figure out how to do it tactfully. I think it came out well, but I’ll be honest, the real thing was WAY better.
4. Lunch blogging. We’re still eating our way up and down Hawthorne, although this week included a few off days due to snowboarding and a failed attempt to go to the non-existent west side of Hawthorne, but I did make it to the Barley Mill Pub, Burgerville and Thai Spoon.
5. Sell, Sell, Sell. It helps that YoBeat has officially caught on and people are realizing the value of online advertising too, but my new found responsibility is quite time consuming! Luckily I’ve hired two very awesome interns, who are helping me with with a bunch of the tedious stuff, including migrating all of YoBeat’s old content to Wordpress. So thanks Amy and David for all your help!
For years I have maintained my first snowboard was a Burton Ouija board. Back then, there was no cooler snowboard than this, with its moon and sun twin tips and conflicting yes/no message. And sure, I was about 4”6’ and 80 pounds, and the board was a 158, but damn it, that’s what I wanted everyone to know I rode in those earliest of days.
But I have a secret. I think only saw that Burton Ouija board sitting next to my actual first board: a hot pink Funky. The snowboards both belonged to the daughter of a friend of my father, who was under some sort of house arrest/rehab for dealing drugs, and wasn’t really using either of them.
Since we were a skiing family and I was a purple haired teenager, I was dying to start snowboarding. I begged my parents to buy me a snowboard and when these boards became available, I finally got my wish. But since the girl’s father hoped she’d get back on board soon, and wanted to hold on to the Burton. Only the Funky was offered for sale, and that’s what I got. I honestly can’t remember if my first runs ever, on the slopes of Burke Mountain, were taken on that Ouija board or not. At this point, I’ve been carrying the secret for so long, it’s sort of a blur. But I am sure that I brought home that Funky at the end of the trip and rode it in my backyard until I could almost make heelside turns.
There was one other snowboarder in my school back then, and at the beginning of the next season we headed to Okemo together. I could barely make it down the hill, so it really didn’t matter what I was riding, but he insisted I borrow his Burton PJ (a racing board) so he didn’t have to be seen with me and my Funky. I still remember the time spent sitting on my ass staring at that ridiculous PJ that made it so hard to ride fakie.
Eventually I bugged my parents enough and they got me a Burton Air 5.1 for Christmas that year. My Funky was given to a friend, who I distinctly remember cutting off the high backs with a hack saw because low backs were all the rage, and using cooking spray as wax. I lost touch with it after that.
With my Burton Air though, I was totally cool. I learned how to make it down the hill without side slipping, and continued to ride Burton snowboards until I was sponsored by Original Sin a couple years later, inevitably ending my affair with Burton. Ok, I still wear their socks sometimes.
It’s been a long time that I’ve been keeping this secret, but now that Burton has become what it has, I can finally admit the truth. That Funky snowboard is what got me hooked on snowboarding, and Burton had nothing to damn do with it.
This weekend I completed what I believe to be my greatest cinematic work yet, a documentary of sorts on the Weena Man, Government Camp’s premier dodgeball player. The subject is Cory Grove of Cobra Dogs fame, and in one afternoon we filmed everything I need to make this gem. The results, he and I agree, are epic. Even the perpetually salty Jared Souney said it was my best work yet (even if he did follow it up with “usually your videos aren’t funny.”) So it went live on YoBeat this morning and I highly encourage you to check it out, but it brings up an issue I’ve been debating for awhile now.
We’ve recently gotten a video player on YoBeat and technically it’s supposed to be embeddable, but for whatever reason the viral part of it doesn’t work with Wordpress. So a lot of times I will include a link to the video on our vimeo page as well so people can embed it from there if they so desire. But on this one not only did I not include the link, but I set our vimeo so that no one could embed it either. That way, if they want to see the video they have to come to YoBeat, right? read more »
With all these celebrity deaths of late, it wasn’t a question of if, but rather when the exploitation would occur. Usually though, I limit my exploitation of tragedy to a few off-color jokes in close company. But when snowboard company Neff put out a Michael Jackson tribute tee, well, it was the first time I sort of cared about Michael Jackson’s death. Frankly it seemed absurd and needed to be mocked, especially since I run a site with the tag line “making fun of snowboarding.”
Then when Awesome Auger spokeman Billy Mays passed away Sunday, the opportunity was clear. Rip off Neff’s design and make a Billy Mays tribute shirt. Jared and I laughed the whole time at how ridiculous it was, but when the design was finished, I strangely wanted one. Though we toyed with the idea of not actually making them available for purchase, we also agreed that no one would actually buy them, so we might as well make it legit. A few clicks and for just $19.95, anyone can now purchase a YoBeat Billy Mays Tribute Shirt from the YoBeat store. I posted the release and figured maybe we’d get linked around a few a laughs.
Then something happened. Someone bought a shirt. And then a few other people did too. So now, not only do we have to make the shirts, but I feel totally hypocritical. I tried to make myself feel a little better by commiting to donate some of the proceeds to the American Heart Association, but man, who would have thought anyone actually wanted one of these? Oh, the irony.
I have been trying to write this post for awhile now. Originally my angle was going to be if I thought I was a better writer or an editor, because it’s very rare that someone is good at both. However, I decided that there was no way to write that honestly without sounding cocky while simultaneously writing an appropriate blog for my professional site that would not dissuade people from hiring me. So I’ve instead decided to instead to just talk about doing both and which I like more.
Although I have been “the editor” of YoBeat since it started, the first 10-12 years included very little actual editing. But these days I find myself acting a real editor for that site, as well as Alliance Wakeskate. That means I not only write a lot, and edit the stuff that comes in, but I am directly responsible for the editorial direction of the sites. I am the one who says, “that sucks I’m not using it,” or, “that is good I am using it.” I am also the one who figures out what we can pay and pay for, and deals with breaking the bad news to contributors. I think for the latter reason, I have sort of been missing my carefree lifestyle as a “writer.”
I am not sure when it happened, but I haven’t been working as a “writer” for awhile now. In fact, I just got my first exclusive writing assignment in too many months yesterday and now I am confused. So let me get this straight– I don’t have to decide what I am writing about or how long it should be? All I have to do is put 1000 words together and email it to you by Friday? Man, you writer types have it easy! I kid, I kid. Both jobs have their perks and drawbacks, and I think this video sums up perfectly the plight of a creative professional.
The Vendor Client relationship – in real world situations
Check out my full gallery of photos of this kid here.
Today is culminating one of those weeks I feel like I’ve really outdone myself. In large part it is probably because I was out of town all last week so there was a good deal of catching up to be done. It seems like I’ve been churning out an especially large amount of content, and what better way to create more content with it than to reblog it all!
But when I actually sat down to find the stuff I’ve done this week, it turns out I’d only written two stories on YoBeat (the Art of the Board Hold and Hump day with Dirksen,) and some little blogs on AWS. I shot the photos for today’s On Deck, but most of what I posted was created by others. So I decided it’s time to let everyone in on a little secret. Just because I didn’t write or shoot it, doesn’t mean it didn’t give me a headache.
This week’s behind the scenes tasks included ad sales, accounting, re-writing submissions, answering random questions and explaining mundane tasks to others, posting stuff daily, delegating resulting in hours of loading stuff on FTP, and even helping make physical banners for YoBeat. And of course, I am always thinking about the future and what the hell I am going to post next week. That said, I love my job and could think of a lot worse things to be spending my time on. But this weekend, I am pretty excited to take out some pent up aggression on one of the white pines in my backyard.
