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...

It's Friday in L.A.

So I have been here 3 days now in East Los Angeles, and I am exhausted. We've gotten to work at 7:30am for the past two days, I haven't been up that early since high school, let alone to go outside in the sun to work.

Granted, at lest there is a lot of sun, and man is my neck burnt. Playing hockey a few nights before I left turned out to be a good idea, as it turned into a quick conditioning session for the amount of lifting I have had to do. It's been really sweet to walk on all of the X-Games ramps and courses, especially to get close up pictures, which I will try and post tomorrow, need to find a best buy so I can get the pics off of my cell phone camera.

Only downside I really hate about the trip is not being able to use my videocamera yet to get some cool stuff. We've been working a lot and I am pretty sure our contact would be pissed if he saw me pretty much acting like a tourist, when I am supposed to work. I've still be able to take pics with my cell phone camera, which it does a descent job, and I took one video, going to try and do more.

LA is ok I guess, to be honest, as a kid I always thought it would be great to live in California, this is my 3rd trip to the state, but I can't say that I like LA. Bigger fan of San Diego and San Francisco, seems like there is more to do, less traffic, less people.

As far as the guys I have to work with on this trip (5 of them) eh, they are ok...most of the time. There are 3 full timers and 3 of us part time guys here on the trip. The only downside to the full time guys, is that they seem to only talk about work, but complain that they hate it when other full time people have done that...and when you hang out with them, they pretty much have a 3 way conversation and don't even make eye contact with you...extremely awkward.

So, I'm getting kind of bored, so I've been using the past two nights to come sit in the lobby, which is more like a coffee shop almost, to use the free internet. Tomorrow, since we will most likely be done by 1 or 2pm, I'm probably going to hop on a bus and go do something, see some stuff. I have no clue what is really near me, so I am going to try and find out. I walked about two blocks to a Burger King for dinner, that was a little strange, as it was dark and I don't know what East LA is like...let's hope it's safe, haha.

Our contact's name is Bob, and Bob likes to be up and on the way by 8am everyday, so for Saturday, no cartoons for me, I'll be on my way to the Home Depot Center (home of the MLS LA Galaxy, and overpriced David Beckham) at 8am.



Hopefully tomorrow I will have some cool stuff up here and more interesting stories to write about. So far it's been work in the sun and sleeping, in a really nice bed though.

T-minus...uh...tomorrow morning

I don't like math...but it's like 12+ hours until I will be waiting in the Pittsburgh International Airport to head out to L.A. to work X-Games 15 (at least I think it's up to 15...). The picture pretty much sums it up. In case you haven't seen the X-Games, or any other sort of Pro-Action sports event, here are a few memorable moments that might peak your interest...





So, the trip should be cool, I'm not sure how much free time I will have, I'm also attempting to bring only a carry-on bag with 2 weeks worth of clothes in it, we'll see if that works out. According to the Airline website, I am allowed one carry-on and one personal item, which is defined as a potential "briefcase, purse or laptop." With that definition, I am bringing my carry-on and my laptop/case I just bought that is pretty slim and easy to travel with.

My video camera is pretty small, and I needed a case for it, Wal-mart had a cheap camera case...the only downside, is that the case is so small, that it will probably look like I will be carrying around a purse with me in L.A....whatever. I'm stuffing that into my carry-on as well.

This will be the first time I will have flown in over 2 years, the last time was also to go to L.A. (to go to the Price Is Right, just imagine if I came up with this idea then). I made it about 50 steps out of the plane (give or take another 100-200 steps), sat down and puked in a bag...people stared, I waved to let them know I was ok, and said "it's ok, I'm not on your flight, just theirs," to then get on the plane going from Atlanta to L.A. After that first flight, my very first in fact, I took some Dramamine to help with the motion sickness. Unfortunately, I'm almost positive that I've developed a dependency to Dramamine when I need to fly. It sucks, because that junk costs $5 in the store, and if you're in a pinch, you can get about 8 pills for $12 at the Airport.

I'm not going to get on a plane without having that reassurance that if I take the pills, I will be fine. I'm sure one day I probably won't need them, but since I'm flying alone, I doubt that if I were to feel ill, that some nice family will graciously admit me as a temporary adopted member, like a family dog of sorts, and take me to see a Vet. If only life operated more like ABC Family.

Well, I'm at work at a Pirate game. Again, I get bored a lot, I should fake it so that Carl doesn't think I'm lazy, even though he knows that I am. Carl is the cameraman that is in the booth with me where I operate, he get's excited about the Pirates because he is drinkin' the "Bucco Kool-Aid"...even though it's crap flavored.