February 26, 2009 : 10:21am
What I'll Miss In Portland.

1. Friends
Certainly the most important part of this area are the number of close friends we have. It’s been amazing to have such a solid group of people around. Sadly, it’s looking like the end of a era with many people already gone due to lack of jobs and the changing economy...

2. Our House
My fingers are crossed that we can find a great place in the Bay Area but it’s obvious it won’t have all of what we here.

3. Vegan Choices
Food Fight, Scapegoat, Bye & Bye, Mississippi Pizza, Juniors and pretty much every other place up here. Where else can you walk into every place and have a solid vegan option?

4. The Department and local skateparks
With all the rain here The Department is a blessing. Add the fact that all the guys there (and at the Pharmacy) are amazing and so generous. Thuesday and Thursday afternoon won’t be the same ever again. I also don’t skate enough at all the parks that are so close buy. Just the fact that Newberg is within an hour is a blessing. Still my favorite park of all-time. On the plus side, there is Sunnyvale, San Jose, the new SF park and all the rest in Nor Cal.

5. Portland International Raceway
Summer car shows every Wednesday? So good. Plus, Portland Historic Races in July is one of the best auto events anywhere.

6. Coffee
This one almost goes without saying, Stumptown, Half & Half, it gets no better.

7. Ground Kontrol


February 22, 2009 : 1:24pm
Man On Wire.



The Oscars are tonight. I may or may not watch, as there are only a few films I felt were truly great from last year (Milk, Wall E, The Dark Knight and Man On Wire). My overall pick would be Man On Wire. It's up for besy documentary and it's just an amazing story of an incredibly original person. Inspiring. I also mention this because so few people have seen the film as opposed to something like The Dark Knight. In fact, just skip the Oscars and go out and rent Man On Wire instead.


February 19, 2009 : 11:53am
Found While Packing #2.



The year was 2000 (8/3 to be exact). In the Bay Area it was the 'Golden Age' of web start-ups...everyone was working for one and there seemed to be no limits and certainly lots of excitement. I was the online art director with a sizable "action sports" portal by the name of Hardcloud.com. We had an amazing editorial crew (staffers lured from all the big magazines) pumping out content and we were set to launch our online store for bike, snow, surf and skate products.

The early staff (I was employee #7) sat in a room and the CEO passed out crisp new dollar bills "from" our first online store purchase. The bills were then rotated around the table and signed by each staff member to commemorate the launch of the store. A week later we moved from a business park in Palo Alto into a reworked textile building in the South Park area of San Francisco.

Then less than a month after that funding fell through and we were history. Total company time: January 2000 - 9/19/2000. A common story but no doubt one of the best gigs of my life...I wish it would have caught on.

Side Note: An old overview article here and one on the crash here. Also, there is no relation to the current, and crappy, hardcloud.com. They just grabbed the URL.


February 18, 2009 : 9:58am
Found While Packing #1.



Back in 1995 I was working through my senior year at art college. Each student was to complete a design thesis to graduate. I decided to compare the magazine design work of then cutting-edge Ray Gun design director David Carson and Harper Baazar groundbreaker Alexey Brodovitch. I had to fight for this pairing as the professors at the time didn't see the value in Carson's work.

Early in that same year Carson came through to the school to present one of his slideshow lectures on creativity. I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with him afterwards discussing design and he gave me his card. The address shown was his first office...he now has several across the world.


February 17, 2009 : 9:38am
Moving.

So, yes, the family and I will be moving away from Portland and back to the Bay Area. I've taken a job at a larger, AMAZING, company and I'm excited for my future there. We will miss Portland very, very much especially our great friends here...but we had to make the move as the job market here is utter crap. By the first week of March, we'll be gone. More to come...


February 16, 2009 : 12:21pm
Murder City.



On Saturday night I attended the Murder City Devils reunion show here in Portland. After a poor start sound wise (too much vocal, little organ, little guitar) the kinks were worked out and the show was solid. I like everything they do but the 'In Name and Blood' and 'Thelema' tracks always sound strongest live. Possibly the only time I can honestly say the organ makes the band, so it was good to see Leslie up there. If you live down the west coast and have a ticket in hand, consider yourself lucky.

According to their new site they will continue to post videos and photos throughout the tour to their blog. A Seattle video is already up.


February 15, 2009 : 2:36pm
I'm On A Boat.



Damn, this made me laugh (for some reason hulu won't let me embed, so watch it here). This seems pretty dead on in terms of the low quality content coming across in today's hip-hop. Also, I hope Samberg is getting a bonus as he and Lonely Island are the only thing keeping SNL alive.


February 14, 2009 : 1:19pm
SD.net Shirts...Cheap.



If you were ever interested in getting a SKATEDAILY.net T-Shirt...now is the time. We've been doing the site for five years and have decided to have a five year sale. The logo tees are 10 bucks and the Jenkins Tees are 12. Pretty close to cost for these high quality shirts. That's my sales pitch...now help us out and click here.

And yes, we've been doing the site for five years. That's a lot of posts. Speaking of which, check out my review of Made For Skate. Could be the best sneaker book ever...and certainly my favorite. There's even a section on vegan shoes (Zero Two, Sheep!). So great.


February 11, 2009 : 12:31pm
Revelation adidas.

I've got to admit, these are pretty great. Check out the band logos on the footbeds. Nice. All vegan as well. Why so limited? How about just selling 500 pairs via order or something? I guess it's the shoe version of colored vinyl. Hooray for hardcore.



This Gorilla Biscuits figure is pretty cool as well...but I'm sort of over collecting. Especially as I'm packing for another move. I already have too much crap to ship and store.


February 6, 2009 : 9:18am



It's strange for me to think that I've been doing this foolish little journal site for eight years. That's a hell of a long time. Before 'blog' was a word. Before 'social networks' were the norm (that includes Friendster, My Space and Facebook). A handful of jobs, more than a few homes, a wedding, a child and thousands of posts. It all started here.

(As I was typing the above there was a knock on the door and I received word, via FedEx, about the next large step in my life. Timing is everything.)


February 1, 2009 : 12:13pm
Superbowl Sunday.

I think this sums up my feelings today, and pretty much every other day, when it comes to most sports fans.





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