New Beginnings and getting up like a normal person

A few new things are going on in the last few weeks, first, I was finally hired full-time by the Pittsburgh Penguins, as a Producer for the three television shows we are doing for FSN Pittsburgh.

Words can't really describe right now how I feel about it, I'm definitely excited and nervous, just want to learn and do as much as I can while I have this job, which could be for a long time, who knows.

I started off doing the job on a freelance basis, for about two months and I really got a taste of what I would be doing once I get more into the full swing, which I'm hoping will begin to evolve once I officially start after Christmas, I don't want to disappoint and I'm one for putting pressure on myself to take off on the ground running.

In other news, I picked the greatest weekend ever to decide to move all my crap from one apartment to another. Of course, this is extreme sarcasm, as Pittsburgh saw it's first snow of the year. Not gonna lie, it was rather nice, because the wind has stayed down, which is key for me liking the winter weather. Luckily I had some help from Pam, Jenny and Greg in moving my furniture on Friday night, when it didn't snow.

On Saturday, I played the "do I set it in the snow or don't I set it in the snow" with cardboard boxes. I'm about 90% of the way moved out of the old place, I have to take some things to the Salvation Army, throw a bunch of junk away and take some other pieces of furniture home to Maryland, when I make the trip home for Christmas.

So, I'm pretty well established in the new place, I have the big room downstairs (two-story apartment, nice), chalk up a minus to the fact that it's the coldest room in the apartment! I am definitely going to take the time to put some plastic on the old windows to keep as much air out as possible, and put some winter weather stripping around too.

The biggest pain is sorting through all the stuff I decided to keep and going, why am I keeping this, into the trash....or, where am I putting this?

On the plus side, my roommate Brian already has an HDTV in the living room, so I got to put mine in my bedroom, with the surround sound :-D

I'm also getting used to this early morning, earlier getting to bed thing. Having somewhere to be and something to do every day makes it interesting.

The Freedom Tray

My good friend Gary Smith, over at Empties Crushed, just recently purchased his own set (2) of "Freedom Trays" (note the video above) after a few of us were at his house watching college football, when this extremely entertaining commercial came across ESPN about 3 or 4 times.

Highlights on the commercial, the graphically animated "Freedom Tray" with digital food/drink being placed into the tray, that lasted about 15-20 seconds, this company paid someone for at least 5-6 days of design and execution of a digital "Freedom Tray" - that alone makes purchasing your own set worth it.

Actually going to a fast food drive-thru and handing your own tray for them to place your food in, let me ask this, how do you approach that scenario...

"Excuse me, I have my own tray, yours are flimsy and all of my fatty food will spill and ruin my Escelade's leather seats"

-or-

"hi, is it ok if I give you my own tray to put my food in, it's not that I don't trust your trays, mine is just better, and I paid a lot of money for it. Also, please don't spit in my burger, I'm not a cop."

This isn't a joke people, the "Freedom Tray" or "FT Awesomeness" as the kids are now referring it to on the streets, is real and will be arriving in at least 1,063 homes, individually numbered, for their new owners to enjoy.

Pre-production for the "Freedom Tray Owners" commercial is under way, it will most likely be a joint venture between myself, Brian Tirpak, Daniel Yost, Gary F. Smith, Jess A. Cooper, and potentially other professionals with lost of money. We will be putting our freedom trays to use, at the drive-thru, at the ball-game, and maybe..just maybe, at a picnic, all caught on film and for your viewing pleasure, so stay tuned to Orange Cupcakes and Empties Crushed for when the commercials hit the airwaves.

If I were from NY...

Alica and Jay-Z would def be the anthem, if I were from NY. Great song.

Hova with that line, "I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can," now that's swag.

The Wonders of Early Morning Call Times

It may only be about a half-hour, eh...forty-five minute difference, but it's never fun when you get an update on your call time, that comes six hours too late.

Originally I was supposed to go into work at 6am, but most likely because my producer was still putting together our equipment late last night, he sent me an email pushing it back an extra half-hour, to 6:30am. No problem, minus the fact that when he sent the email, at 12:43am, I was already attempting to convince my body that it was in fact, "bed time."

Doh!

It's already felt like I never fell asleep to begin with, from the fact that I had about four hours worth of dreams, never falling into a deep sleep, it almost seemed as if I shut my eyes and opened them, to go, "well, time to get up."

If only I still had email on my phone, it would have buzzed as I was lying down and I could have reset my alarms....damn it.

Moral of the story kids...pay the $10 a month to Verizon (if you have Verizon) for the damn internet to avoid losing 30-45 minutes of extra sleep, on rare occasions.

The water's fine.

I began a thought about a day ago, thinking about the idea of being human and constantly searching for something higher for one's self, even if it was just on a surface of wanting to be greater for the purpose of image and nothing less.

I'll get back to that.

I just finished watching "The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" where Jim Carey and Kate Winslet, meet, potentially multiple times, since the memories of the two of them have been erased, at least once, because their relationship has flattened out, and the two have began to hate each other, driving Winslet's charachter to seek having Carey's charachter erased from her memory.

Only we find that while Carey's memory is being erased, he attempts to hide her inside other memories that never related with her. Only, he is not successful.

As the story continues, we pick up at the beginning of the film, the two meeting the morning after his mind is erased, by chance. Only to pick up a little further and find out that they both recieved tapes letting them know what was going on/what had happened, thus each hearing for the first time, why they ended up hating each other.

Oddly enough, they both agree, even knowing that they will utimately come to despise each other, to advance further into an intimate relationship.

This got me thinking on two levels.

First - If you already knew, what would be your motivation to become love-sick and heartbroken? Could you learn anything about yourself with her/him, or even change the course of action that will occur (or has already occurred in their case).

Second - I'll take myself as an example...If I still have not finished learning all there is to know about myself, or myself involved in personal relationships, more specifically, and intimate relationship, what becomes the driving force to understand "growing" an intimate relationship at a young age, when I only know so much?

When I say growing - I decifer this as the fact that I am less likely to find someone at my age now that is willing to put up with my own personal BS, and include it with their own, because as two seperate individuals, aren't we both still figuring out how to make that work?

Just a lot of thoughts, with no real answers or any forgone conclusions.

I guess what my thoughts boil down to at the moment, are that you're never going to figure any of this out unless you give yourself the chance to screw up and try to correct your mistakes. If you hold back on your life, fearful of looking foolish, how much might you miss out on?

In the end, the water's fine and you should just get in.

...and yes, I noticed the multitude of spelling errors in this post....it's 4am.

Stupid Looks

Everyone has seen it, that stupid open mouthed look on someone's face when they either say or do something stupid. We all know the look, but some people just need to learn to close their mouth.

Quit with the stupid looks people.

Pens open their season with a win 5-4 in OT, debut of the new interim PA Announcer, Ryan Mill

The boys are back on the ice, well some of them, but it's a good season when hockey season comes around. It's the preseason, meh, the Penguins beat the Blue Jackets 5-4 in OT, meh, but the real story is the new interim PA Announcer Ryan Mill's first day on the job.

It was a little rough for everyone in the building, being our first night back, but Ryan did an excellent job. Sure there were a few bumps along the way, I will take the blame on a few of them as in telling him the goal was scored at 15:54 in OT, when OT is a 5 minute period, not a 20 minute period, so it should have read 0:44. It happens, he's new, we're all picking up the slack that John Barbaro did on his own, we'll get it.

I'm a little annoyed, ticked off it you will, at some of the fans posts on messageboards right after the game, with their unwillingness to consider that this man is BRAND new to the job.

Here's the link to follow along: http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39703

My favorite poster so far, Username: DrBoni.

In reference to the Penguins announcing when the Penguins are on a Powerplay, "the penguins are now on the powerball powerplay" - it is a sponsored read.

DrBoni: Attn: Pittsburgh Penguins/Ryan Mill

We are not stupid fans. Please do not allow the announcement of the power play to become a trend at the Igloo. Thank you, Boni

Without going too much further and going off on this guy, I should consider:

DrBoni: First game, but it clearly showcases his style. I'm not faulting him for some of the blunders. (Though being someone who DOES have experience doing this, that rhythm can easily be worked out before taking the mic.)

With the power play, I'm sure that a lot of it is a matter within the organization. I'm just really disheartened that it's found it's way to Pittsburgh.

For being someone who does have experience doing this, why didn't you send in your resume like the rest of the applicants and get the job?

Without saying something that will ultimately bite me in the ass, because as we all know, when you voice your opinion on the internet and you are affiliated in direct correlation with the subject matter at hand, it will bit you in the ass, I will say this.

People who say things like this, after a person's first day on the job, are the type of people who are exactly what they are, nothing more than a FAN, with a VOICE, crying to be heard, because they think they know better than anyone else.

It just drives me nuts.

This same guy also mentions style :

Style man, it's the style. It's not that he's not Barbaro, it's that he's on the other end of the spectrum...

Does everyone have to fit the bill, 100% of the way you've always had it? For one, Ryan did exactly to the Nth degree, what he was asked to do tonite. No one, can take that away from him.

There's no lie that mistakes were made, for reasons that are not Ryan's fault. I would say if there were 10 mistakes made tonight, the only one that was Ryan's fault were maybe 2 or 3. So he forgot to say the time on a goal at the appropriate time, but he go it in there and he will understand the importance of getting it right, as he DOES. It's his first time!

I just never get it how people will jump on someone else, when they aren't in their position, not giving them a chance to even EARN their position.

Finding hope when you have to

I think a lot of people find themselves falling more times than they find themselves running a straight line. It's easy to agree that as a people, we tend to sway ourselves toward the negative, more so than what may be more positive.

Everyone finds themselves frustrated at times, recently I've found myself frustrated in what seems like more than ever in my life, but I eventually come back down to one common theme....moving on.

Depending on how frustrated, someone might ask, well how do you just move on from that?

How can I not? Is what I ask back.

Does it drive me nuts when petty things get in the way of life, or that drama comes out of things that shouldn't even matter right now, yea it does...trust me, it does. When you wake up the next day, I've always found myself pondering, hey I got into tomorrow without any damage, so why would I think differently one day versus the next, what would make me falter from that process.

Everyone's different, and I get that. I'm not attempting to spell out that I have some magical way of dealing with stress and negative energy that flows through the daily course of one's life, I'm just giving my perspective. The way I look at it, if you've lived 2 conscious days of human life, what would make you believe that you couldn't make it to the next day? I've never understood that, it's quite difficult for me to put myself in someone's shoes that may be dealing with that in their life, I do not know how to relate to that in any way.

You may be thinking to yourself one of two things...
1) yea, what's with those people who want to end their lives or something like that, they're just trying to grab attention

-or-

2) How I view it...I may not want to take my life if things get out of whack for me, but there are those who do feel that could be their only solution, so why do they think that's the only way, when I will find hope in the objective sense of "tomorrow"?

Sadly, it seems like there is only one topic that really pushes people to this brink...maybe a few more, but this is a big one: Intimate Relationships (I say intimate because I push this beyond friendship).

You can be with someone for 2 years or 2 months, and you might have the same level of depression coming out of it, because you've invested time into that person, and at some point in either of those time frames, it's crossed your mind that you may spend the rest of your life with that person, don't lie, because you have.

That all ends, where do you go? You were set. You KNEW that this person was it for you. You were 100%. Then a week went by. They forgot to say "I love you" over the phone and you got nervous. Another day goes by and they just want to go to bed instead of spending the evening with you watching your mutually favorite rerun of some lame cable tv show. You start to worry, so it begins to unravel. You block out any notion that you know what might be happening, or that this has gone on before (not only to you, but in a million other lives across the planet for millions of years). Then something snaps, either in you or in them that makes one of you perpetuate the relationship, when the other sees nothing wrong which causes them to react against the will you've decided to choose...for the both of you.

So it ends. Right? You feel pain, some emotional, maybe forced physical because you're thinking too much and giving yourself a headache. But it happens, so why pour your soul out on the asphalt attempting to repair something that wasn't meant to be repaired? That's the automatic default mode someone goes into, once you've lost it, you attempt to save what parts are left, in the hope that it will come back.

It may not come back, for various reasons, and at some point, you should come to grips that it may be better that it doesn't.

Does that sound to cynical? Maybe, but I don't think it does, I think it's more of what you eventually come to understand as time heals your wounds.

Is there someone out there meant for everyone? This is a faith and psychological question, so your own personal feelings answer that question. In my own opinion, I can honestly say I don't have that answer, I don't think it's fair to question the world with something like that, as you can control the outcome if you choose. People don't just fit together like a puzzle, if they did, then yes, we would have someone waiting for us. Rather, people fit like an orchestra tuning their music to pass along the vibrant waves of music, playing together in tune with one another, compromising and adjusting, finding that specific point and where they both see eye to eye.

Does everyone have the right to find themselves upset and questioning life, sure, I think you do.

But isn't that the whole fun in life? Figuring out what you're supposed to do? If you're only 23 (like me), what would be the fun in life if you had your paper done before the rest of the class?

The Teacher isn't going to let you leave, He'll probably only let you rest your head on your desk.

A good website for a resume

I found this place through viewing resumes for prospective higherings and it made me turn to the site for my own resume, I'd take a look....

http://www.visualcv.com/

Put the Toy back in the Box

Does anyone notice the caption on this classic Quaker cereal, Quisp, from the 1960s?

"Free Comic Book INSIDE"

That's right, Inside. When was it that the cereal companies decided that it was no longer a good investment with putting the toy inside? I'm eating Frosted Mini Wheats at the moment and on the outside of the box reads:

"Free DVD.....by mail in rebate" ARE YOU SERIOUS?

1) Not only are we giving kids DVDs now with their cereal, but DVDs are soon to be obsolete, so way to give out an outdated toy.

2) A DVD is not a Toy...this could be a whole new debate.

3) Mail in rebate? If it doesn't fit....then don't give it away as FREE!

No one is going to bother to really persue watching the DVD you got from mailing in a box top of a Frosted Mini Wheats box, honestly the nature of the cereal box toy is have instant satisfaction, not 3-5 business days later.

I just want to know what happened to the cereal industry, just like the housing industry, they're both closer to the crapper than ever before.

In memory of Stubby

My brother-in-law Joe and my Sis' pup "Stubby" passed away this morning on September 2nd, after having trouble breathing and problems over the last few months. Joe had Stubby since she was 2 years old, she lived to be 14 in pup years.

She was a clever pup, she had a great personality and loved attention. I remember meeting her for this first time and being introduced, to a round rump of this brown pup, as she appropriately so liked to invite people to rubbing her but...apparently her favorite spot, as well as her belly. Stubby was like every other dog out there, striving for attention and to be loved, but she certainly had her own unique character traits and personality like any other. Stubby could easily make you feel warm and comfortable in a room just by plopping herself down waiting for you to rub her head.

It would have been nice I think to have her around when Katie and Joe's child comes along, sometime around February next year, but it was time for her to go. She hadn't been herself in a long time and it just wasn't good for her to continue to go through what she went through. Katie told me that she and Joe were by her side as they think she may have passed on, holding her before they rushed her to the vet.

Here's to you Stubby, a positive proof that the world creates gifts in our world through incredible means.

I'll always remember her as "Stuff-a-lupagous" or "Stubbers."


that pup knew which team was the best!

"What a difference a week makes" or "Gone in 60 days"

Stealing a line from the ever so popular 60s character's: Rocky and Bullwinkle, I think it is appropriate to have to title's for the following scene: "what a difference a week makes" or "Gone in 60 days" (if you are an avid R&B fan like myself, you will know that during jumps of the episodes, they preview the upcoming title to jumping back to the main story, giving you two possible scenarios embedded within the title).

A week ago, I was prepared to move into a house that was a "work-in-progress" but after attempting to begin major cleaning and adjustments to the house, I decided against my first thought and hit the reset button on my life....at least the relocation portion of it anyhow.

I was able to get my roommate, Greg, to stay at our current apartment, he hadn't signed on the dotted line yet elsewhere, and I was able to have our apartment complex rip up our move out notice. Needless to say, I've very fortunate for that.

What changed in the past week, was going from the advantageous and over-zealous attitude, to realizing the actual foundation of the situation was structured on false pretenses, improper motivation and not enough time. My time table was 60 days to go into a house, clean out someone else's belongings, clean out the dirt and grim in all the rooms, replaces three exterior doors for safety issues, as well as a possible 12 windows that all were single-paned, did not lock and were a disaster. When my friend Andy came in to look at the large kitchen with all single paned windows, his first thought of "money pit in the winter" was mine when I first saw it, but I neglected to listen to my own conscience to make the proper decision in the first place.

I think I may have thought it was a better idea than it actually was, after each person I took to the home said "oh my god, you weren't exaggerating when you said how much work needs done." Let's not forget, after replacing all of those items, my goal was to paint each room and the exterior...in 60 days.

It stinks when a plan doesn't go the way you hope, but it's better not to make a terrible descision you can't go back on than living through it and feeling miserable about it.

To cheer myself up, I've decided to go to Ikea or somewhere to look for a new desk, to replace the one falling apart in my bedroom.

House Update

So we've begun demolition of the house I'm moving into, and by demolition I mean completely cleaning the place out. It's a lot of work and we most likely won't be done for a few more weeks, still needs to be landscaped and cleaned.

The bathrooms have been made fully functional once again, but the upstairs bathroom design presents a problem that needs to be addressed at some point, with redesigning it so that you don't enter in on the 2nd floor in the bathroom, but rebuilding the hallway that was once there, maybe even making that hallway a little bigger.

We do need to get some good solar outdoor lighting to put on the driveway and replacing the currently broken lights that would light up the walkways around the house. As well as some new window coverings and such.

That's all for now really, hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post in a few days.

BTW, I also bought a Mac Laptop, so it's been a fun time playing with that.

In over my head, or just out of my mind?

At first, I saw only things like "potential," "character," "what it could be" - now I'm just not sure.

I'm moving into a house that a friend of mine owns, but he has since moved away and has had a tough time taking care of the house. I had visited the house a few times to take a look at it and see what needed to be done to get it back into shape, the first 2 or 3 times, I had a lot of optimism (for some reason), but upon visiting the house this afternoon (after a friend had mentioned that they were condemming houses in the city of Pittsburgh, in order to clean up the area and I wanted to make sure that my friend's house wasn't boarded up) my optimism has shifted to a little more fear than anything.

I don't know if it's in part with some of the drastic changes in my life the last few weeks, along with some financial uncertainty, as well as uncertainty to my life/career choices, that I've made, but the thought of "fear" has certainly set in.

Don't get me wrong, I knew from the start that the word "huge" and "project" should have been substituted for a phrase that included more words like "fire," "burns," "house," and "down" (something similar to what you might read in the local paper). I'm not backing out now, I'm not saying things like this to act like it's become a huge burden or that it wouldn't be a good move for myself, because in all honesty, there are a few things that will make this a positive move (once the house starts getting fixed up).

First off, I will be roughly 25-30 minutes closer to not only work, but to where my friends live/hang out at (as well as 30 minutes closer to Maryland - it's a nicer drive when it only takes 4 and a half hours, versus 5). The second is the savings my car will get as far as wear and tare, and burning unessicary gas; it is also possible that I might be able to bike to work, or at least the Metro station. Third, I'm not going to be paying much more than what I did at my apartment, and I have a whole house, which is pretty cool. I'm also glad that I'm able to help out a friend who doesn't have time to put a lot of his own valuable time into being at the house and making sure that it is safe from people breaking in or anything like that, but the housing market right now (anywhere in the US) is not a seller's market. Which brings up another thought, owning this home after about a year or so.

The thought has been brought up to purchase the home after living there for a year or longer, depending on how myself and my friend view the situation. I can't say that I know I'm going to stay in Pittsburgh forever, the thought has crossed my mind to travel some more for work (even if my current employer "ANC Sports" scheduled me for 3 trips, then changed their company policy during my 1st one, not allowing me to travel as a part-time employee...lame) or the possibility to move back to Maryland to go and work where I can live near my family, but even if I were back in Maryland, it would not be as close to my parents and my sister & bro-in-law as I would like, I would have to live closer to work to cut down on the travel time. Or what about the possibility of working on the West Coast, or down South, or up North.

I can't say that I really want to work in L.A. anymore, not a big fan of the city, if it were San Francisco, that would be a different story, it's really cool out there...minus the huge levels of fog, true story. New York/Boston/Conn area would be interesting, I've been to NYC once, it's nice, obviously super busy. I looked into ESPN's Production Assistant Program, which I would still be right in line for, still being in the "coming out of college market" but it doesn't seem to pay much, as far as trying to put together some savings for a house or something, so dunno about that.

I'm possibly in line to have an ok job with ANC Sports here in Pittsburgh, once the new Consol Energy Center opens up next season; with the new Scoreboard and LEDs in the arena, if ANC finalizes the contract, I would be responsibly for making sure that everything worked. Not exactly what I wanted to be doing right out of college, but it puts me near TV jobs, so I guess I'm ok with it.

So we shall see what the coming months bring. I think that once I get my key to the house to start moving my own crap in it, this will lead to some positive energy coming my way. A lot of things happened all at once, I didn't know how to react to them at first, and different emotions began to roll out, really making me think about a lot of past events and future decisions coming up.

I'll post some pictures/video soon, hopefully on a sunny day starting with what the house's current shape is in, and showing the evolution over time as to what happens to it.

Pastrana's 720 attempt during X-Games 15

Annapolis native Travis Pastrana was the first to pull off the double backflip during the X-Games Moto X Best Trick in 2006, and this past X-Games, he attempted to pull off a 720, a combination of a backflip and a 180 spin. He crashed as his bike conked out.

Apparently Travis hired a gymnist trainer to help him train for the attempt, teaching him to change his focus on using his upper-body strength, to using his lower body and his legs to flip the bike and then rotate it after he makes the final move going into a landing.

There are tons of videos on the internet of Travis practicing the trick in his backyard, going into his foam pit. Ridiculous.

One of the guys from ESPN that was down on the floor said that the only reason why Travis didn't attempt it again (because he was going to and was talked out of it) was that his Dad was able to convince him that he still had to win Rally Car on Sunday and defend his Gold Medal, and the replays from ESPN showed a different story compared to the initial pain Travis was feeling at the time.

After we packed up, one of our crates was stuck behind Travis' stuff, he and his crew were sitting as they were getting a car to the loading dock so he didn't have to walk far. His right are was pretty much covered in ice, taped up in a bag, he was holding onto his left collar bone, and after some young guy was asking him if he wanted to do another TV show, and Travis respectfully declined, explaining that he just didn't have time for another show right now, he nearly lost his lunch do to the pain. Wow.

No wonder the fans love him, he's nuts, but a good dude.

Sadly, his Rally Car crashed into the wall going into the home stretch as he entered the infield of the Home Depot Center and he lost the Gold Medal.

A date to remember 2/24/2034

At my current pace, February 24th, 2034, my student loans will all be paid off.

Fun.

Just a thought

Ok, I'm back in Pittsburgh, away from crazy Los Angeles..which is a lot dirty than from what I remember by the way, so I'm back doing my usual business of working the Pirate games.

Aside from the fact that Ray Zapporoni is going to lose his $20 bet with Joe Hale for the, roughly 6th year in a row (for the Pirates again not finishing at .500 for their season), it makes me wonder, is there really a point to sports when you don't have any parity?

ESPN's Scott Van Pelt said today on his radio show, that when it comes to ESPN putting teams on television, and the fact that it is usually the Redsox or the Yankees, it comes down to the fact that ESPN is in the business of "printing money."

I take two things from this,
1) What happened to ESPN being the break-through sports programming network it was in 1977, finding a way to give as much coverage to everyones teams out there (I guess money will change things)

2) Wouldn't the MLB be more successful financially if each team in the league were more competitive? Van Pelt's example of why ESPN runs with the Redsox and Yanks match up over other teams is the fact that they carry a rating of 2.7 per game, which is double any other MLB game that ESPN airs.

There are Redsoxs and Yankee fans out there for two main reasons, 1) both those areas are rather large, thus larger audience locally 2) Both teams have had a stories franchise that wins consistently, thus broadening their audience due to their success.

Some people may then look and say, oh ok, I know where you're going with this..and I am, salary cap for MLB. It's ridiculous to think that the Pittsburgh Pirates, who will set the record for most losing seasons in sports (18) at the end of this year, still profit at the end of a year, due to the revenue sharing in baseball. If there is no salary cap, and revenue sharing that keeps teams afloat, what is the incentive for an owner who bought the team as a business venture? The Pirates are sadly a profiting organization, they may not be growing, but they aren't losing money, it's just sad.

If the MLB would institute a salary cap, revenue sharing could either cease to exist or go down, by creating a more level playing field in the free agent market. Just look at the NHL, before the salary cap was put in place, we lost a league. There is already a threat of this happening in the NFL, again, and who is to say that it couldn't happen in baseball.

Heading Home from LA

This was by the Vert Ramp...I'm bringing it home..somehow


I'm heading home from LA in a few hours, the X-Games is over, and I am exhausted. I woke up this morning with my hand closed, what seemingly looked like a normal pose for my hand, it was more muscle tension than I had hoped for to wake up with. I filled the tub with hot water and sat my hands in it to try and open them...this might last for a few days.

I finally got the clothes I dropped off at the cleaners on Thursday, only to put them in a bag of dirty clothes (as I only brought 1 bag and a backpack). Yesterday was a pretty easy day to take the remaining stuff down, we only spent about 4 hours at the Home Depot Center. We spent 17 hours the day/night before, getting every venue that was complete torn down and packed up.

Overall, for what I made on the trip and the fact that I only saw Staples Center and the Home Depot Center, I can't say that I would be willing to come out to LA for the X-Games again for ANC. When we arrived, that majority of the 54 machines were broken and missing parts, not only that, but every day, our contact asked us to place signs in new locations, causing tons of problems at other venues, as we had to find creative ways to get them out and into the new location, and then back to it's original spot...without ever testing them to make sure they worked.

I'm supposed to go back and work another week for ANC in Pittsburgh, but that may get cut short for a vacation.

We won a bet by loading up all our crap from Staples Center and making it back in 1 hours...$50.
Big Air Ramp before Big Air Rail Jam
The take off ramp for Moto X Best Trick
Todd Potter, he won a Gold Medal or 2.
Moto X Step Up
Crowd of people after Step UP
ANC signs on the TV Reverse side of the Big Air landing ramp
ANC signs at the top of the Big Air Ramp
Big shot of the Big Air ramp
a camera on a crane at the X-Center set
Looking down from a top the Big Air ramp
X-Center and ESPN people.
Us fixing our sign.

Dave Weldon, now available in High Definition

Thanks to Drew Warren responding to my massive text message that went out to inform people that I might get on ESPN, due to where I was standing during the Moto X Step UP, he was able to pause his DVR and take some pictures of me "working."


-This is me working

-This is me texting.

Note the difference.


Not much to say about today, other than it kicked my ass....good 12-14 hours, I'm not sure. Up at 6am tomorrow to do it all over again, only a few more days. I did buy a sweet hat though - note my head in the photos.

X-Games 15: Starts Tomorrow 8pm ET

Well, it airs LIVE on ESPN at 8pm ET, but I have to be at the Home Depot Center at 7:30am Pacific Time.

We're not really 100% ready on our end..haha...ha...ha. Yea, not our fault, for once. The carpenters are still building some wooden frames that will support our signs on the Vert Ramp, which we will hopefully install tomorrow when we arrive...or most likely, 2 to 3 hours after we get to HDC.

I'm just excited that I will be able to see the "Big Air" stuff at Staples Center, because our entire crew needs to be on site during that event, just in case something blows up. I am definitely bringing my video camera this time. I need to carry a backpack anyway, so I figure why not.

They gave us crappy X-Games t-shirts we have to wear, and a sweet hat...not...it was made for a 12 year old child...luckily, we are only required to wear the shirts. Grey...and Dark Grey.

I remember thinking as a kid that I always wanted to move to California..I've been here 3 times so far in my life, and I must say, my tune has changed. I haven't seen the entire state, but I am going to make a generalized statement and say, California is a f*cking ghetto. Downtown L.A....really, really downtown L.A. you make Washington D.C. look like Paris. D-town L.A. is sooooo dirty is ridiculous, you go about two streets into the city, and not only can you not read what are on buildings, as they are in spanish, but they are practically covered in trash.

If I wanted to live in a ghetto, I'd move back to where I grew up in Bowie, MD. As for now, I'm not a huge fan of Cali, sure it's nice that it's sunny all the time, but I guess maybe I haven't been to some of the nicer areas yet, because it's pretty friggin' dirty. I'm sure the next trip I make out here, I will be able to make some more free time for myself, as this being my first business trip of my life, I will say that so far it's been a lot of fun, hard work, but still a lot of fun.

I'll be back in Pittsburgh late August 3rd, and I'm looking forward to it...not really looking forward to working more Pirate games, now that the only stars to the roster are all gone after the trades made today (no surprise there).

I took a few pictures today, here they are:
ESPN's "X-Center" Crane Camera
ESPN's "X-Center" - where the host will sit
Big Air Ramp, a look from the top of the ramp
"X-Center" with the ESPN crew working on it, as we move our signs behind the set
The ANC crew (us) moving our sign and fixing the cables.
LED ring above the Dirt Ramp that has the intros to the events and riders looping on it...pretty cool

X-Games Vert Ramp Video

Here is a video of me getting up the Vert Ramp at the X-Games in L.A.

X-Games Pictures

It's a little risky getting my video camera into the work area with a ton of people around, not that anyone is a thief, but I'm sure there is at least one in the bunch.

So, I've been taking pictures and that last video above, with my cell phone. It works.

This summed up my Monday morning, we got to Home Depot Center at 8am...did nothing until 11am (ate lunch) then went to Staples Center at 12pm, and do nothing until 3pm, to come back to Home Depot Center to set up and connect signs on the skate park from 3pm to 4pm, then we ate lunch at 4pm and went home at 5pm. Most boring day of work ever.

Espn has this giant cylinder that has LEDs and sensors, as the riders fly up the huge "Big Air" ramp at Staples Center, their height is shown on this screen, recording their score, way cool.


The big red thing is a grind rail, for the Big Air Rail Jam. Someone had a great idea to put a grind rail on the landing spot off the ramp to bridge the 40 foot gap. Now I know these dudes are crazy

Better look at that grind rail for the Big Air Rail Jam
TV Triax cable being run in the air.
Of course I would take a picture of the TV Truck. Fuck Off.
Here is first here Gary, "David Beckham is the best footballer in the world" haha, not...

Vert Ramp at Home Depot Center down in the Tennis Court area.


Those X-Gamers will ride down that far ramp in the corner that goes about 150 feet up, for the Big Air stuff.
This is where they jump at Big Air.
This is where they land before that jump.
The Lakers play here too...and the WNBA, but who cares.
Vert Ramp, from the landing spot.

Skate Park logo down on the concrete, hand painted, everything on the ramps is hand painted, sick skills.

"Dunn nu nu Dunn nu nu" That's ESPN, you jackasses.

Aka. a death-trap.



This is not a photoshop.



At the skate park...but it doesn't face the side to the stands...interesting...

The Moto-X and Rally area, first day of the dirt being built up.
Vert Ramp being built, slowly...