So yeah, doing the family vacation thing. Mother in-law brought us to an “incredible new restaurant” that turned out to be a newer chain of sports bars. I counted at least 33 flat screen TV’s with assorted sports programs on, one of them was playing Fuel, so that means I got to watch skateboarding in a sports bar. It was an episode of Driven, and there was hardly any skateboarding in it. For some reason there was a big production about a kid giving Vallely a bracelet of sorts. Not very manly behavior for a sports bar. I swear I heard some snickering. Maybe the kid had a terminal disease, it’s hard to tell because there was no sound. Looks like they gave him a Jeep, though. So yeah, manly sports bars and skateboarding. Alright.

Flying out to Florida to meet my family. Visiting the in-laws on the red-eye is such a chore. Opening the inflight mag and what do I see? World Industries makes water toys. Well, so much for “core.” Man am I funny. Seriously though, several months ago when World was sold, there was an article in Transworld Biz quoting how World Industries was going to try to recapture part of the “core” skateboarding market that they lost with all the little kids crap. The same catalog also had World Industries wake boards, but that’s not even in the same ballpark as a glorified innertube.

Nobody wants to go to jail! Skate Daily brought our attention to three Vert Death Knell stories today. The XGames is abandoning the vert ramp competition and the latest Vans park remodel will not include a vert ramp. Haw haw! That must be why I’ve been hearing so many “we should build a vert ramp” comments lately here in Oregon. Since big vert is no longer considered commercially viable, maybe it’s edgy now?

A friend mentioned a Chance Meeting personal ad in the Portland newspaper the Willamette Week Someone was trying to hook up with a Handsome Skater Dad. Since the new issue had already come out, I missed my chance but the website had a couple of similar items. So it’s not all Shecky , the mature skater-man is also in demand.

A lot of our readers won’t get a chance to go to Lincoln City and see what the new snake run looks like. Fortunately for them, I’ve gone ahead and put together a short video tour that looks like it was shot by a meth addict in withdrawl who covered the lens with vaseline, stuck it down his pants and then dropped it in the dirt. This is the first time I’ve looked at any of the footage I’ve shot on a large screen in a long time. I can’t wait to see those family videos…

There’s a Marginal Way benefit on Thursday night in Seattle. Marginal Way has the best PR agency out there. It seems like there’s a benefit for MW at least once a month. This one is courtesy of Sleestak.

Jay Meer bought me a beer last night at the premier of Why wouldn’t you?, the new video from Dave Hupp. I don’t know if Meer was fully cognizant of the fact that he bought me a beer or not, but thanks all the same. Now go visit Jay’s web site so he gets his money’s worth. How was the video? In a word, great! Full review coming as soon as the DVD’s are produced, which is supposed to be before the end of April. Look for it. Jay said he’s hosting a premier in Seattle at on an as yet nailed down date. If anyone else is looking for kickbacks, I like brown ales. [Photos: DLH Productions.]