Not much

Well, it snowed last weekend so GR was out of the question. Then the same happened with other sessions. I mostly rode the lil' vert ramp with Cappetto or solo and then went to 4 seasons on Sunday with Fat Kevin USA.. Much of the same, my bailing on tricks and others bailing out on sessions. Sometimes the flu, sometimes winter lazy and other times wives/family.

I missed the party of the year so far at Salon John's salon called Rip Curl Hair salon. Check it out if you can. It is near Asland/Milwaukee on Ashland as I understand.

Tony Franscisconi "Bat Killer" finally updated/went live with his site called Don't Explode. It is freakin' RAD so check it out. Tony is a fine photographer that in Calabro's words, needs to go pro.

The old man site has a nice forum for blog spotting and lots of additions to the blogosphere. Spencer's blog is insane. Alex's blog is strange. When is Calabro getting one??? do tell

Suck

I have to say this is my least favorite time of year. It was nice to have a break from sub zero temps but we seem to be heading back in that direction. I did skate Wilson one day last week. It was chilly but I didn't care. I was surpised that I knew the lines and everything felt good. That was Tuesday night. After that I went back to the ramp for the week. I used to have the 32 and above rule but now it needs to be 38 degrees or better. Ur bearings just suck beyond that. Suck is the word this week. We were supposed to do GR all weekend but that got all screwed. Then a sesh at the ramp on Saturday dumped and 4seas on Sunday was sacked.

So I have been riding my ramp like 6 days a weeks lately. It sucks when the weather gets better but the peeps are still hiberinatin'. This is exactly why I did what I did so when people dump out then I head to my ramp. I don't blame them. We just live in a shot weather area and people tend to not want to do anything when it sucks out.

We get cold and snow but not enough to have fun with and no mountains. No use zone.

I still pretty much suck on my ramp but I keep trying. I improve, flatten out and move up again. I feel like black mamba in "Kill Bill" but with no master. I need Danforth to grow a long beard and hit me with a budweiser 40 when I bail... Anyway, no pics, no news this week other than wendy is leaving the country forever next week.

Milwaukee

We it up Milwaukee for a return to the Sunday night sessions. I went up with MC and Pat. Luckily the Milwaukee crew was there too!! MC broke the nose off his board and was running around all night poking people with it. I think one of the dudes up there got annoyed and told him off. So now we are hated in multiple cities and states. But what else is new...

It was fun though and I like skating with the dudes up there. No attitude and all skating. Jeff was there shredding again (welcome back!!) I guess Mc and his personality could be a bit much for anyone. ha!!

ETHAN!

My best little nephew Ethan came to town this past week. It was great to see him and his parents and my other family members! We had many dinners and hang out with Ethan sessions. He is 5 months old now and is getting big! The baby does not like to act like a baby, he prefers to stand rather than be cuttled and he likes to look at stuff. Really look, like lean all the way forward and try to see what is happening..







I also got to see my good buddy Liam, Scott and Vicki's bundle of joy. It was great to see them as well as Amy, Caesar, Kristin, Ted, Elizabeth, my mom, the aunts and other peeps!! They are all doing well and are happy to have the little ones around. (I think I'm off the hook!!)

better, then worse

We got a nice break from super cold shitty weather this week. I took full advantage of it. We had a great sesh in the barn on Saturday and then Milwaukee on Sunday. The bowl at wilson was full of snow and I had no time to shovel it as my family was in town and had a limited schedule.




I was hoping someone else would step up this year and shovel the amoeba out but it did not happen. I guess it began on Saturday but there was 5' of snow in it. But as the weekend and days went on the snow did recede. But even on the 60 degree day - people just skated the Q-pipe all day. I got there at 8pm that night and it was soaking wet. All it would have taken was 20 minutes to get the slush out and then towel the thing off. The sun and wind would have done the rest. Oh well, next break we have, I will be on it and get there the night before to shovel it all out... I've done it for years and years now.


But the barn sesh was fun and Saturday was even better! We had MC, Danny, Cappetto, Owen, Callahan and myself. Also, Nick came down for some shred, I was really glad he made it out. Nick made a very nice contribution to the ramp fund. Thanks again Nick!!

Damn groundhogs

Well the little guy was able to see his shadow. What else is new?

Killer art exhibit at GSU

Last week I took a sneak peek at the new exhibition at Governors State University in University Park, IL. The show is called "Art of the Kuba" and is a Killer collection of the Kuba culture in Africa. (currently part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

The show is a must see, there is more on display here than the African Art section of the Art Institute and the Field Museum combined! If you come down this Friday, February 6, 2009 there will be a Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Prince Ngoloshang Mbecky of the Kuba. Yes, a prince will be there doing a talk on the art objects of his culture.

So get in your car or better yet, ride the train - there is a University Park stop on the Metra with a shuttle to GSU... February 6, starting at 6 P.M with a reception in the gallery following from 7-9pm. The lecture will occur in the Sherman Music Recital Hall and the exhibit is located in the E-gallery in the E-wing of the college. The show runs until February 17, 2009 and they have regular gallery hours during the week. Contact GSU for further info.

check-it

pics:

haunted house

I went into "Man-Night" Eric's fixer-upper project house on Friday. It is a nice place from the outside but inside is freaky. Mostly because it was dark, cold, the wind was blowing and the house is empty. Also because people died there and the kid that lived there might have been possessed.... he wrote on all the walls and tore the place up.

pics:




Everything is written in code and has strange robots and spider-man like figures.



Some of the drawings look like Pre-Historic cave art.



The writing is in another language. The insane child language...

weekend and more

Well, at least it warmed up a bit this weekend. I was getting pretty tired of 10 degree weather. The sub-zero stuff went away too but I really do not trust it to be gone for long. It just turned into February and as we all know that can be the worst month! 26 days left of FEB and on to March. Lets hope March will be kind to us!!



I skated the car wash a few times this week but mostly the Possum. Callahan and I tried to skate it on Friday with no heat (ran out of propane) in 10 degree and less weather. It kinda sucked. I couldn't even see because the foggy breath I was emitting was blocking my vision!

Cappetto came by on Saturday and again on Sunday along with Callahan. It was much better in there Sat/Sun. the temp was like 35 or something which felt so much warmer!! Everyone else went to Krush and nobody could go to Milwaukee so I just worked on the wish list. Callahan landed a few things and I just kept trying.

Callahan put some footy of yesterday up here. I hope I am
not in there too much. I have a lot of work to do on that thing.

crap, I just watched it - fast forward through my parts!!