my life my way
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I know a lot of people that have really hard jobs and for me to complain about having to fly around the country for work seems pretty ridiculous compared to working on powerlines a hundred feet above the ground or welding fuel tanks for eight hours straight for endless days and weekends in a row or working on plumbing in a building like this.

But I'm going to anyway. I just returned from a week and a half in Utah, Las Vegas and San Diego. All stops were for work but I have to admit I felt a bit guilty in Utah, snowboarding all day, chilling out, watching TV and even going to see a movie at the Sundance Film Festival. It was called "In the Shadow of the Moon" and it was an amazing documentary about the space race of the 1960's, compete with current interviews with the astronauts and footage never seen by the public. That was a highlight, along with the view from the mountains (and hauling ass down them on a snowboard).

It got worse from there. Las Vegas is a cesspool of inhumanity. It was brutal. The flight from Utah to Vegas was short but plagued with turbulence, followed by an in-flight medical emergency (it turned out a woman had a seizure)followed by more insane turbulence on the way down. Then there's the fact that you can never go outside while you're there. The hotels are connected by casinos to hotels to more casinos to the convention center to...hell. There was a period of over a day and half when the only time I was outside was for about ten minutes while my friend smoked a cig. That was my fresh air. I hate vegas so much. This was a typical meal there that cost $10 and took an hour to acquire.

San Diego was next and at least the weather was nice. I was so homesick and "over it" that I couldn't really enjoy it. The last night there, however, was super fun. I went out to dinner and shinanigans with Ernesto and AJ from Dan's Comp, along with Brian Osborn and the legendary Mike McHue from Duffs. It's non-stop laughter with McHue around. The dude doesn't stop and lives life on his own terms. The best part about him to me is that he is 100% no bullshit. Some of his stories seem impossible but I've witnessed a couple of them first hand and he plays them down, if anything. He recently got this tattoo on the front of his neck.

Not fucking around! BMX people are the best and hanging with these guys was a welcomed and genuine good time. I missed my family and my dogs and my house and my bed and good food and normal people and of course my bicycle. I went up to Modern tonight and skated the mini and rode the park. Here's a crappy photo of Hatfield.

You learn to never take things for granted when you are thousands of miles from home and know you're going to be gone for a long time. One thing I truly regret missing is the TRP session that saw the return of Cobras Local 77 legend Chris Yankee.

I stole this photo from Veteran BMX. Thanks to Matt and Hanaan for the unauthorized use of this pic. Seeing it made my return home even better....