Last Weekend

I've been meaning to provide an update regarding this past weekend, and now it's rapidly turned into next weekend.  Perhaps I can blast through this with a few photos and videos.

Friday: I received my new board and set it up. See the previous post. (Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to post a photo of the board's actual graphics).

Photo by Lando McCall

Saturday: Todd, Lando, and I drove to Baltimore's new pool, arriving at 8:00 AM. We deliberately planned for an early arrival time because we wanted a chance to skate before the pool was inundated with old rippers. Sadly, there were chunks of ice in the flat and it wasn't safe to skate. So we worked for about two hours, eventually with a bunch of other skaters, to try to clear the ice. Lando shot this footage (it's brief) of Todd M attacking the ice with his wheels:

Photos by Lando

After borrowing brooms and sweeping the chips, there were still a few thin patches of dangerous ice. Some of the other skaters decided to try adding some warmth to the equation, and out came the lighter fluid and paper towels (which, sadly, didn't work at all).

By the time everything was dry and safe, there were somewhere betwee 700 and a million skaters there (all dudes), and as I looked around the park, more skaters were trudging through the mud carrying boards, and they were coming from every direction. We did all that work just to take three runs (if that) in the pool.

We took off and went to Lansdowne, which was strange to say the least. I hadn't been there since about 1994, when Todd and I skated there with Kim and Sonia until some thugs showed up to walk their pitbulls through the park.

Saturday Night:

It was game night with Chris, Sarah, Erin, Q, and Dennis, where we battled it out in the farmlands as six vicious settlers in a rough & tumble land called Catan--a game that features cover art that's so mind-numbingly drab ... I can't for the life of me understand how it ever got so popular. It's like a children's Bible illustration.

Here's a photo of me taken moments after I beat everyone because I had Longest Road, Largest Army, and all the settlements, cities, wheat, rocks, sheep, and bricks the game had to offer. I had it all. I dominated. Destroyed. Fools were beggin' me for wheat and praying that I didn't sic the thief on 'em, and I was all like, "I do what I want! Sheep, attack! Back off! You will be crushed!"

Actually, Chris G won because he cheated by saying that the thief was this awesome pal who lets people keep their derned resources for the whole game.

Photo by Chris to the Grady

Sunday:

As a penalty for cheating, I talked Chris into skating in College Park at 8 AM. He met up with me, Todd M, and Aaron H. We had the park to ourselves because we're old as dirt and we're capable of getting up super early. Chris skated, drank Gatorade, and eventually loosened his trucks. He also took a few photos, and straight up, he's a great photographer. Here's a link. I mean I'm still mad about the whole Settlers thing, but I can admit the guy's got the skills.