Utah Trip

Last month Lisa and I took a fun trip to Salt Lake City. The impetus for our visit was a surprise birthday party for Lisa's dad, Bob. It was his 70th birthday, and although his memory is slipping, he seemed to have a great time among family and friends.

One of the highlights of our trip, at least for me, was a 4-hour hike out on Antelope Island with Lisa. The scenery was striking.

The second half of our trip was a "skate convergence," involving Scott, Niels, DR, Hartman, Sean, Jared, EJ and others. Scott flew all the way from Seattle, and DR took two days off work. It was epic, to put it mildly. We had a blast skating parks and ramps across the Salt Lake valley, and just generally being the oldest guys at the park. Convergences are definitely a tradition that I hope continues for years to come. Video after the break:

It's Pimeday, Primeday, Gotta get Down on Primeday

I think the people who did this are from Provo, UT. Regardless, it is parody at its best. I love the way Luke looks in the back set. If only he had braces, it would really complete the scene.



BTW, I never thought I would find a Star Wars-themed video as campy and just plain bad as the Christmas Special, but lo and behold...

Presidents' Day Skate Part Premier

This has been a great weekend. Lisa and I received some encouraging news at the hospital last friday. To celebrate, I went out and finished filming my video part. The rest of the weekend I got to relax, hang out with friends, read The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and edit (which I do on IMovie 11, in case you were wondering).

It's been about 11 years since I moved to LA with the ambition of making skateboard videos for a living. Obviously that didn't pan out. Rolling backwards into a pit at the Venice Beach ledges and shattering my VX1000 demoralized me, setting in motion a series of events that would change my life.

I am happy that after all these years I still get excited about skate videos. I realize that it may come off as immature, or a silly hobby, but skateboarding is a lot of fun. I hope I can keep doing it for a long time to come.

Lisa is Tougher Than Me

It's kind of embarrassing. I have to ask her to open the jar for me every time I want to drink my imported Italian pear juice. I sort of write it off by saying "oh, well she works in a grocery store, and I'm just a technocrat," but I don't think I have a great excuse.

Every day, she gives herself shots without complaining. At first, she tried to wake me up, but I was sleeping like a little baby. Now she usually just does them on her own.

And she is mentally tougher. IVF is more stressful than almost anything a human can possibly go through. But she takes it like a champ. I would probably spend all day staring at a corner and crying.

So, basically, if we were both stranded on a desert island, only she would survive (and not just because she knows more from having watched Survivor). I would probably start cannibalizing myself after a few days, while she would spear a shark and use it to bait a wild boar. She would try to keep me alive, I'm sure, but it would probably be a lost cause. Love ya' hon.

Why I miss Milo

2010 Year in Review

About to eat a massive sandwich in Pittsburg

My blog was born in a fit of insomnia and now, to nobody's great surprise, it is being resurrected at 2:30 in the morning.

2010 was a really big year for me. I traveled to China; I finally finished grad school and got a real job (from which I was almost fired, but then got promoted twice); I played in the ocean a lot, attended Outstitute, skated the Brooklyn Banks, sketched Boston, romped around New England, visited Canada and Pittsburg, and read a few good books.

Winters are so bad here that I forget the great times. It's good to remember. Soon, the summer will be here again, which means more fun at the beach, more picnics with friends, a trip to Utah and hopefully a Euro vacation. In the meantime, I hope that Rich heals up so we can go snowboarding again.

Here are a couple highlights:

  

By a shrine in Sujiatuo, outside Beijing

Andrew Leaping for Joy in New Hampshire

one of our picnics in the park

Shoup, there it is: Subsidized Parking

We have this rather insane idea that street parking should be free. In fact, it is already heavily subsidized. But there is constant political pressure to go further - to turn off meters, give it away like candy.

Here is a good rule of thumb: when parking in private garages is the same cost as on-street meter parking, we are close to some sort of equilibrium. Even better: when spots are about 85% full, street parking is priced correctly. That is the argument of Donald Shoup, and it is the rationale behind brilliant programs like SF's new demand-pricing model:

SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo.

I, for one, would love to see Somerville charge more and keep the meters on longer.