The waveboards are great fun. We've used them to go up and down streets for 2 weeks now. They give a good workout and roll pretty quickly. In fact, they seem to roll too quickly! After an evening at Tabor, I was bummed from having to "jump and roll" so often after the board got really moving. It seems like turning to "carve" on a waveboard just doesn't deliver enough friction to slow you down. Carving then, is short progression from super fun to insane panic, then dumping.
Enter the Flowboard. Han picked up a pair of these for some fun downhilling. And man, they are perfect! Now, on flat streets they ride much more like a regular skateboard. But on hills, they allow you to really dig into a turn, and the sideward friction does indeed slow you down.
Pumping around on a flowboard is a bit tougher, since they wobble like the trucks are loose on a regular skateboard, but I've taken that challenge up on my calf muscules, which are always up for a workout. Riding down (and up) curbs is pretty standard. In fact, the flowboard is so similar to a standard skateboard, I'll probably use it a bit more than the Waveboard. But no matter, either is great fun!
J
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Love letters
Last month I spent a couple weeks traveling in Asia for work. This post is not about that trip, however. Instead, I wanted to share a snippet of hilarity sent amidst the love letters Jim sent from home. I had been off the grid for a couple days when I read the following, and it literally made tears squirt forth from my eyes as burst into screaming laughter... your results may vary... enjoy!
"Malo must have swallowed some salt water during his swimming adventure (we all went in the cold cold water today). On the way home, his ass burst so violently that he ended up on the front floor. I cannot describe how awful the carnage was. He shot a turd directly into the passenger seat, along with a belly of poopy salt water. It was a crazy awful brown circular smear about 8 inches across the seat, splashed onto everything nearby. I was screaming like a horror movie. We almost went into a ditch. It just exploded. I was wondering why he was crying. I have to start listening to that.
In other news, the car was washed. The seats are in the washing machine, and there's a Seaside junior high team with 20 of my dollars. I made them work hard for them - external only, but wheels, roof, windows, anything I could think of. Internally, I'm going to have to clean and disinfect the cabin. We all had our head out the window on the way home, looking quite queasy. It was rank enough to make the prom kids wince as I pulled up to the red light downtown."
The Wave
Recently, a friend was at a party and rode an interesting device called 'The Wave'. Born of a skateboard, but modified to make every part fluid, he described it to us. "Good workout", "hard to learn", "looks funky", etc.
After 10 minutes watching videos of it, we hopped over to Amazon and bought a pair. 2 weeks later, we "worked from home" to open a package the moment it arrived. Bike helmets and gloves on, here's a quick review:
The Wave comes with a short bit of printed material, a mis-sized allen wrench and an 8-minute DVD that duplicates the web site content. Trash. Get your own wrench if you want, but it won't change much on the board. Read the booklet, toss the DVD.
In the street, we used the cars along the side to right ourselves and start sliding. Definitely begin facing downhill on a moderate slope. Starting is harder than continuing. Pumping the board to move forward isn't tough to learn. It is quite a work out, however.
Also, be ready to "dump and roll" on the big hills. Carving is smooth and exciting, but it does not slow the board as much as a normal skateboard. You will continuously gain speed until you cry and jump - or until the hill bottoms out.
The Wave is mostly plastic, and rides with a bit of rickety noise from the torsion bar vibrating in its housing. The wheels, casters and bearings are very smooth. The action of riding and turning wears the wheels evenly. While riding, your feet cannot easily leave the board for a "push", so the wiggle-method of propulsion is it, so mastering it is key. One can use kicking legs or a full hula-hoop dance to move forward, but either can climb small inclines.
There are few things to do with the board after riding it. I started spray-painting and sticker-ing mine, but there's little good surface. The board is only slightly heavier than a normal skateboard, and can be carried easily. Small bumps or cracks in the surface aren't much of a problem, and the rider can quickly get over whatever is in range for the wheel diameter.
The torsion bar is fairly weak, even at full crank. This doesn't matter much, since one doesn't rely on it while riding. The friction of the top surface is key, since one needs the feet to stick when the board is twisted. Wet surfaces are a disaster because all of the movement of the wave is in a curve. Wrists and elbows will be the final judge.
Taking The Wave on a packed trail, I was able to roll quite a bit. However, the small diameter wheels forced me onto only the flattest trails (well let's say, it forced me off of all others). Also, the lbs/sq inch of the 2 wheels is higher, demanding a harder surface than a normal skateboard. One spectacular dive was spawned from a trail that suddenly went soft, throwing me sideways at a good clip.
Since you are positioned in "snowboard" stance, rather than facing forward, dumping is not easy. You must jump, turn in the air to face forward, then perform the usual foot-slapping run to slow down. The board slides to the stop quickly, which is better than the traditional runaway skateboard.
Overall, I think this is a great addition to anyone's toybox. You definitely look like an overgrown kid. Be prepared for lots of comments and questions from the curious. Avoid letting kids try it, since they will possibly end up with a mouth full of asphalt and legal hand on your wallet.
Check back soon for helmet cam vids of my adventures on this device.
After 10 minutes watching videos of it, we hopped over to Amazon and bought a pair. 2 weeks later, we "worked from home" to open a package the moment it arrived. Bike helmets and gloves on, here's a quick review:
The Wave comes with a short bit of printed material, a mis-sized allen wrench and an 8-minute DVD that duplicates the web site content. Trash. Get your own wrench if you want, but it won't change much on the board. Read the booklet, toss the DVD.
In the street, we used the cars along the side to right ourselves and start sliding. Definitely begin facing downhill on a moderate slope. Starting is harder than continuing. Pumping the board to move forward isn't tough to learn. It is quite a work out, however.
Also, be ready to "dump and roll" on the big hills. Carving is smooth and exciting, but it does not slow the board as much as a normal skateboard. You will continuously gain speed until you cry and jump - or until the hill bottoms out.
The Wave is mostly plastic, and rides with a bit of rickety noise from the torsion bar vibrating in its housing. The wheels, casters and bearings are very smooth. The action of riding and turning wears the wheels evenly. While riding, your feet cannot easily leave the board for a "push", so the wiggle-method of propulsion is it, so mastering it is key. One can use kicking legs or a full hula-hoop dance to move forward, but either can climb small inclines.
There are few things to do with the board after riding it. I started spray-painting and sticker-ing mine, but there's little good surface. The board is only slightly heavier than a normal skateboard, and can be carried easily. Small bumps or cracks in the surface aren't much of a problem, and the rider can quickly get over whatever is in range for the wheel diameter.
The torsion bar is fairly weak, even at full crank. This doesn't matter much, since one doesn't rely on it while riding. The friction of the top surface is key, since one needs the feet to stick when the board is twisted. Wet surfaces are a disaster because all of the movement of the wave is in a curve. Wrists and elbows will be the final judge.
Taking The Wave on a packed trail, I was able to roll quite a bit. However, the small diameter wheels forced me onto only the flattest trails (well let's say, it forced me off of all others). Also, the lbs/sq inch of the 2 wheels is higher, demanding a harder surface than a normal skateboard. One spectacular dive was spawned from a trail that suddenly went soft, throwing me sideways at a good clip.
Since you are positioned in "snowboard" stance, rather than facing forward, dumping is not easy. You must jump, turn in the air to face forward, then perform the usual foot-slapping run to slow down. The board slides to the stop quickly, which is better than the traditional runaway skateboard.
Overall, I think this is a great addition to anyone's toybox. You definitely look like an overgrown kid. Be prepared for lots of comments and questions from the curious. Avoid letting kids try it, since they will possibly end up with a mouth full of asphalt and legal hand on your wallet.
Check back soon for helmet cam vids of my adventures on this device.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Vacation - Part I
We went to South America and had a great time. Flew into Buenos Aries, stayed at the chic "Art Hotel" for 2 days, then hopped over to Santiago, Chile. We stayed there for 2 more days, then rented a car and drove south, and south, and south. Chile is a tall country, but there's quite a bit of interesting stuff along the way. We rock climbed, camped, met lots of interesting people, including the grandaughter of a mapuchi indian chief, and spoke a lot of hilariously bad spanish. We drove back to Santiago, flew to BA for another day, then headed home. Overall it was a 3 week vacation.
First, while in Buenos Aries outward, the hotel was incredible. The Art Hotel is a renovated building along a tightly-packed block (like most) in a nice section of Buenos Aries. Use cabs in BA, since the subway is old. It's the oldest in the southern hemisphere. There are little lamps on sconces along the interior, and the windows are full-open. Kinda fun, but so stinky and slow that a cab ride it worth it. You don't have to tip the cabbies much. It's just accepted as a way to get around.
Buenos Aries has all the mix of a city's nice, standard and poor areas. Depending on your frame of reference, the poverty may be worse or equal to places here in the US. The tourist areas are typically interesting from a cultural perspective, and we managed to see 3 or 4 musuems, a famed cemetary, several city parks and monuments, and lots of shops and cafes. We talked about living there. It's that nice. Our perspective was severely limited though, since we didn't get outside the city proper. Next time.
Chile - now this was the majority of our trip. Chile appears as a bit poorer as a country, but it's undergoing a noticeable amount of change. Santiago is a bowl of smog, but the metro is brand new. Prices are slightly more expensive than the US, which surprised us a bit. Folks there were very friendly, from those we met and spoke to.
We took the metro to a downtown neighborood in Santigo, visited a local guiding service, and reserved a guide for a day of climbing outside the city. It was very fun, and we ended up spending the day with our guide for both the scheduled climbing, but also for lunch, and talking with her friends. The crag was similar to Smith Rock, OR, so we were comfortable. THe routes spanned the range, but we managed to keep up with anywhere she dropped the rope.
Other friends in Santiago held a BBQ, and the house was just spectacular. The cabbies in Santiago, from our experience are a bit more sneaky, taking you on winding routes or other tricks. We didn't use them as much, since the Metro was so easy, and the buses are very easy to take. The buses pick you up and drop you off wherever you want along the route! That was nice.
The car was a pugeot 207, which is a great little rally car. After Santiago, we headed to Picalemu, on the coast. This town was nice, but now outside the city, the typical level of poverty of towns hit us. Industrialization of most businesses is there, but the majority of the population doesn't live on that level. Instead, the family farm, shop or business is typical. This is quaint and appealing for a tour, but don't expect and flat line of quality across the areas, it's hit or miss.
After our jaunt along the coast, we found two hitchikers along Rt 5 heading South, like us. After picking them up and learning they were native Chileans also on an unplanned "trek", we agreed to link up and travel together. This was a great turn of events, since it made the trip much more colorful.
They translated spanish for us, and taught us all along car trips, which was awesome. We learned spanish faster than we expected (still at the level of about a 5 year-old). Especially nice was the ability to get some cheaper rates on places to stay by sending the native into the lobby first to negotiate the prices. We usually spent the difference by treating them to dinner. Everything worked out great.
Camping in the foothills of national park for Mt. Villarica, we found hot springs and great little hikes. The vistas were outstanding, but the roads were terrible. Several initial trips to somewhere make us all think "we are never getting back out on this road", but the little car managed to keep bumping along. The noises were scary, and i'm sure there's a few pieces still back on the road, but it ran and ran.
Look for more details in Part II
First, while in Buenos Aries outward, the hotel was incredible. The Art Hotel is a renovated building along a tightly-packed block (like most) in a nice section of Buenos Aries. Use cabs in BA, since the subway is old. It's the oldest in the southern hemisphere. There are little lamps on sconces along the interior, and the windows are full-open. Kinda fun, but so stinky and slow that a cab ride it worth it. You don't have to tip the cabbies much. It's just accepted as a way to get around.
Buenos Aries has all the mix of a city's nice, standard and poor areas. Depending on your frame of reference, the poverty may be worse or equal to places here in the US. The tourist areas are typically interesting from a cultural perspective, and we managed to see 3 or 4 musuems, a famed cemetary, several city parks and monuments, and lots of shops and cafes. We talked about living there. It's that nice. Our perspective was severely limited though, since we didn't get outside the city proper. Next time.
Chile - now this was the majority of our trip. Chile appears as a bit poorer as a country, but it's undergoing a noticeable amount of change. Santiago is a bowl of smog, but the metro is brand new. Prices are slightly more expensive than the US, which surprised us a bit. Folks there were very friendly, from those we met and spoke to.
We took the metro to a downtown neighborood in Santigo, visited a local guiding service, and reserved a guide for a day of climbing outside the city. It was very fun, and we ended up spending the day with our guide for both the scheduled climbing, but also for lunch, and talking with her friends. The crag was similar to Smith Rock, OR, so we were comfortable. THe routes spanned the range, but we managed to keep up with anywhere she dropped the rope.
Other friends in Santiago held a BBQ, and the house was just spectacular. The cabbies in Santiago, from our experience are a bit more sneaky, taking you on winding routes or other tricks. We didn't use them as much, since the Metro was so easy, and the buses are very easy to take. The buses pick you up and drop you off wherever you want along the route! That was nice.
The car was a pugeot 207, which is a great little rally car. After Santiago, we headed to Picalemu, on the coast. This town was nice, but now outside the city, the typical level of poverty of towns hit us. Industrialization of most businesses is there, but the majority of the population doesn't live on that level. Instead, the family farm, shop or business is typical. This is quaint and appealing for a tour, but don't expect and flat line of quality across the areas, it's hit or miss.
After our jaunt along the coast, we found two hitchikers along Rt 5 heading South, like us. After picking them up and learning they were native Chileans also on an unplanned "trek", we agreed to link up and travel together. This was a great turn of events, since it made the trip much more colorful.
They translated spanish for us, and taught us all along car trips, which was awesome. We learned spanish faster than we expected (still at the level of about a 5 year-old). Especially nice was the ability to get some cheaper rates on places to stay by sending the native into the lobby first to negotiate the prices. We usually spent the difference by treating them to dinner. Everything worked out great.
Camping in the foothills of national park for Mt. Villarica, we found hot springs and great little hikes. The vistas were outstanding, but the roads were terrible. Several initial trips to somewhere make us all think "we are never getting back out on this road", but the little car managed to keep bumping along. The noises were scary, and i'm sure there's a few pieces still back on the road, but it ran and ran.
Look for more details in Part II
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Progression
There's an interesting effect in a reltionship. Familiarity. As two people spent more and more time together, working through both their individual demons and the friction of a life shared, a peace arrives.
I speak autobiographically of course. The Portland, OR winter has been a soggy one, with jaunts outside fewer than in recent years. We've also taken on a large number of indoor projects. After publishing our first game, deploying a rather nice art display, managing some remodelling and constructing a bouldering wall in the basement, there's been tons of time with a roof over our head.
All of these projects were collaborative, which is how I've arrived at this topic. After the "interesting" moments in a relationship that present new facets of a person's character, the finite set of these moods are exhausted and then one learns to navigate them. I don't believe this is any profound discovery, but one that requires more time and effort than many folks put into their relationship - even after any number of other milestones (dating, living together, marriage, etc).
A friend of mine once said that before commenting on any relationship, "wait until you're somewhat trapped together and utterly bored." Well, that's one metric that I feel this season is presenting. I'm happy to discover that it seems such moments won't be a dry spell for creativity. In fact, we may be more productive than when the sun steals us away to frolic aimlessly.
Even so, I'm excited to abandon winter for a month and head to South America. After my recent lightning-fast mastery of snowboarding, due of course to my wonderful coach, just touring around sounds perfect. Also, a constant flubbering of spanish should be great fun!
J
I speak autobiographically of course. The Portland, OR winter has been a soggy one, with jaunts outside fewer than in recent years. We've also taken on a large number of indoor projects. After publishing our first game, deploying a rather nice art display, managing some remodelling and constructing a bouldering wall in the basement, there's been tons of time with a roof over our head.
All of these projects were collaborative, which is how I've arrived at this topic. After the "interesting" moments in a relationship that present new facets of a person's character, the finite set of these moods are exhausted and then one learns to navigate them. I don't believe this is any profound discovery, but one that requires more time and effort than many folks put into their relationship - even after any number of other milestones (dating, living together, marriage, etc).
A friend of mine once said that before commenting on any relationship, "wait until you're somewhat trapped together and utterly bored." Well, that's one metric that I feel this season is presenting. I'm happy to discover that it seems such moments won't be a dry spell for creativity. In fact, we may be more productive than when the sun steals us away to frolic aimlessly.
Even so, I'm excited to abandon winter for a month and head to South America. After my recent lightning-fast mastery of snowboarding, due of course to my wonderful coach, just touring around sounds perfect. Also, a constant flubbering of spanish should be great fun!
J
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