I’m off to the big city New York tomorrow night. I will be traveling north to Seattle where I’ll be engaging in high-level discussions–involving matters of print–with Brad Scheuffele of COAL headwear. He’s gonna watch over Big S while we’re in the city. Parking is 20 bucks a day at the SeaTac airport. I’d rather give the loot to Brad or maybe a bum in downtown.

Speaking of COAL headwear, their new site has been up, running and spreading the good word about headwear for a little over a month. Proudly built, with mass help from outside sources, by the good people of the DDC.

I’ll be in NYC from the morning of the 31st through the night of the 5th. Big plans are in the works. Gonna stay with those Cooley brothers in Brooklyn, as well as cousin Tom up in Harlem. Real excited to see everyone. I hope to run into Adam Michaels as well, so we’ll be keeping our eyes wide open as we cruise around town.

RENO+MAMMOTH DETAILS / HIGH HOPES

My time in Mammoth was good. I rode one day, in 20-24” of the fresh stuff. Real good. My legs are still sore. Bridges was riding good, considering his knee and the hell he’s gone through with it. We rode with a couple of burly Swedish chicks who had no problem charging the place. I stayed at the Hana Beaman compound, manning a well-worn spot on the living room carpet. Thanks to the Swedish bombshells, and to Hana for the hospitality.

The ride down from Reno the night I flew in celebrated a theme along the lines of: “Slow And Steady Wins The Race.” The high desert south of Reno proper lifts into those Sierra foothills, as 395 snakes its way down to the Mammoth Lakes area. I saw an overturned car, snailing big rigs and the occasional “balls-to-the-wall” monster truck over the series of icy passes. It’s been a long time since I felt the fear of a slick road. A long time. Knuckles were white.

Bridges and I shared a memorable, hearty Christmas Eve dinner. Here’s the full account for all of you, to get you in the spirit a bit.

- - - -

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER: One for the ages.

Pat and I braved the death ice Mammoth roads “across town” to The Chart House restaurant. Being Christmas Eve and all, we were a little skeptical about the wait. We walked in, snapped our fingers a couple times and were seated in less than five minutes. Perfect.

Considering the circumstances, and the weather, my Christmas Eve with Pat was amazing. We ate like kings and got caught up on all the things that a couple of renegades like ourselves should be on the same page about. I was with a close friend, high in the mountains, and for this holiday season, it was real good.

- - - -

I got to see the Grenade crew a bit. Matt Kass and I squared up with completed missions, and shook hands towards future projects. We’re a good team. He’s built quite a little empire in that little town. Quite an enigma, that kid. They’ve got a good thing going, with good energy and a “leave no man behind” spirit.

Tim Zimmerman had a Polish beauty in tow. Lucky guy. I spoke a little “old country” Polish to her, and got a bowl of holiday borsch in return. Zimmerman is good people. A brother. A straight shooter. Good to see him down there.

Driving back, I took a little detour, not five miles past Lee Vining, that took me east into the desert and down into lower elevations. Still colder than hell, but dry, and that’s what we needed. Those passes were still iced over….this time with the blinking lights announcing, “Chains required.” We drove out into that desert, doing a big ol’ “dry pavement” loop north to Reno. Many thanks to the amazing Chris Carnel for the hospitality. We had a good night of chatter and adventure around the city.

I flew in from Reno on Saturday afternoon the 27th. The landing was enough to make me ponder my existence (and possible demise) as the air was choppy and the pilot either “under the weather” or maybe “a little tipsy.” Hard to say. Seems like each flight I take freaks me out more and more. I thanked the ground when we landed.

Other notable snippets from our Christmas adventure: Shoveling out my rental rig from under two feet of snow. Passing up those brothels. Refraining from the lights and sin of the multiple houses of gambling. (Nakamoto and I will have our time on the red-and-blacks later this winter.)

- - - -

There is talk of mom and dad coming out to Portland for a visit in February. Our crooked, dirty-fingernailed fingers are crossed. We need some time with them.

DDC 2002 O-A-M CARD SET PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY:

The Draplindustries Design Co. is proud to announce the "shipping phase" of our 2002 Once-A-Month card set.

Our theme this year-if you haven't already noticed-proudly rallies: "Better Late Than Never."

- - - -

THIS KIT WON'T LET YOU DOWN:

01. 12 cards, of Gocco mastery and/or CMYK brute gang-up.
02. 2002 DDC O-A-M "Production Notes/General Riff Raff" Zine
03. Official DDC Sketching Apparatus
04. Handy Tools for Concerned Designers/Typographers
05. Motivational Decorations
06. Official DDC Rock Plectrum
07. Various Items of Shameless Self Promotion
08. Securely Packaged in a 2 color Kraft Stayflat.

Free at no charge, with each kit: Entertainment, sadness, laughs, loose tributes, questionable claims, bold colors, rough edges, warm feelings, rolled eyes, small words and cryptic phrases.

- - - -

WE PASS THE SAVINGS ON TO YOU:

This year, in a bold attempt to "keep us outta the red" we're offering these card sets at the simple, unassuming price of $5. After years and years of free mailings, our database has grown up into a hairy, wobbly, upright mess, and quite frankly, we need yer help in getting these out to ya.

The $5 covers postage, handling and a fraction of the proud materials needed for an undertaking of this card-nitude.

- - - -

THINK OF IT THIS WAY:

01. START SAVING by putting a penny away a day for the next 500 hundred days.
02. FEEL BAD about the price for a month, at a little over 16 cents a day.
03. FEEL GOOD about investing in quality, American-built product.
04. THINK BIG and send whatever ya want. One gal sent 20 bucks, and well, she's on the list forever. Much appreciated.

REALLY: ALL PROCEEDS GO TOWARDS FUTURE DDC ENDEAVORS.

All kits are Guaaronteed by the Draplindustries Design Co. Good luck getting a refund.

- - - -

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN DO IT:

01. We accept PayPal, our contact: factoryfloor@draplindustries.com
02. We'll take a check. No big whup. Our address is below.
03. We'll take cold hard cash. Yep, our address is below.

Simply reply to this email with yer mailing address, and just how you plan on "coughing up the dough." We'll get a kit ready for ya.

- - - -

WE COULD ON AND ON, AND OFTEN DO: Many satisfied customers already. Limited edition of 400. Hand-screened by proud people. Collated card by card, item by item. Delivered by spry representatives of the United States Postal Service. Fun. Small pieces. Might make a cold day a bit warmer. Might not. Remember last year's offering and think, "Maybe this one will be good." Maybe not. 12 more reason to keep on living.

WE STAND CORRECTED, WELL, "SIT" CORRECTED

Some proud Reno-ite has surfaced to correct our feeble attempt at nailing their municipal slogan. We stand corrected. For what it's worth, we present to you the updated motto: Reno, Nevada... "The Biggest Little City In The World."

Please remember, we run off a half-ass fact-checking system based in our peabrain, and well, from time to time, we drop the ball. We were close, with other fitting, catchy jingles that came to mind:

Some Reno runner-ups:

01. "We're A Real Shithole!"
02. "A Great Place To Drift To!"
03. "Lose Yer Ass Here, Then Wish It Was Vegas!"
04. "Not Quite Desert, Not Quite Mountains...But Quite A Dump."
05. "The Dirtiest Clean City In The World."

and our favorite, that rung a bell deep within us....

06. "Any Place That Can Claim A Nakamoto Is A Place That You Oughta Stay Outta."

Some real humdingers in there, eh? We look forward to getting the keys to the city, shortly after we fly in.

To RENO and down to MAMMOTH for the HOLIDAZE

Booked a ticket yesterday for a flight to Reno–“The Smallest Big City in the World” as all proud Reno-ites claim–where I will be resting, only for a couple minutes before I head down to the Mammoth Mountain area.

I spoke with Pat “the eYe” Bridges, of SNOWBOARDER magazine fame, a couple days back and well, he inspired me to get off my ass and go south. He’ll be up there holding down the Hana Beaman fort; snowboarding, working and entertaining.

Plans are in the works to spend some time with the Kassholes as well. Very good. High level talks are scheduled between the Draplindustries Design Co. and the Grenade Glove company.

Plus, alpine enthusiasts, this big oaf is excited to announce that this trip is electrifying for another reason, beside the standard “traveling really fucking far to be with brethen” song and dance, as we’re proud to announce we are officially “coming out of retirement” concerning our less-than-flattering “off-hill” snowboarding status.

So yeah, we’re gonna shred. Very excited to be cold, with special fondness for the dull ache of a lengthy getback, as well as the bite of frostbite.

To the rest down there: Rose, you big hunk of rugula, you oughta be coming up too…you pissant. Michaylira, you have no idea what sort of wrath will be unleashed on those hills. Chief, you overpaid donkey, you would be left in the dust. Tough talk. Hot air.

Christmas will be spent with good friends, which is what I had planned before I clicked “purchase” on the Southwest Airlines site. I wish Rod Snell could come down, as I was planning on hanging with him and his close ones on the big day. Sorry to flake…this fucker has to get outta town, for reasons of sanity. Rod, plans are in the works to ride this weekend at Meadows, so be sure to give me a ring. Gotta see if “I still got it” on the hill.

- - - -

The new machine is humming along amazingly well. Lots of power.

Dual 1.8GHz PowerPC G5
900MHz frontside bus/processor
512K L2 cache/processor
512MB DDR400 128-bit SDRAM
1.5GB SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA
SuperDrive
Three PCI-X Slots
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
64MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem

- - - -

Setting the beast up tonight.

GET ME THROUGH CHRISTMAS...

We’re doing our best to climb out of the depths of our holiday season depression, one day at a time. Bein’ far away from home just plain hurts, and well, it fucks with the normal day-to-day momentum we’ve come to thrive on. We’ll be missing yet another “Christmas at Home” this year. That, coupled with somewhat-recent changes in gal relations has really left us in a funk. We try to be stoic, but crumble.

Plans are in order to spend Christmas day with Rod Snell, and we all know that’s a good thing, as he’s the closest thing we have to family out here. Good people. We are heading off to that big New York City just a couple days after we sober up form our drunken Yuletide bender, to ring the new year in with those goddamn Cooley Brothers. Much excitement is felt, as we ready ourselves for our journey east to the city.

Goo, of CINCO design lore, just got back from NYC and had this to say, “Man, I kind of like it there.”

It’s been raining for a week, and well, it’s pretty dreary and cold out when I get up to go to work. I like it for the most part, but wish I was trudging through snow like so many of you out there. Personally, I like the white stuff. Hopefully New York city will be cold as hell, with snowbanks and such. I look forward to gettin' real good and frostbit.

In the spirit of saving a little bit here and there, we have managed to go the whole fall and early winter without having to turn the heat on in the bedroom. Some nights call for socks, sweatpants and maybe a sweatshirt as standard issue gear–down deep under a couple down comforters–in order to battle the cold. No big deal. But I’ll tell you what, when that electric bill comes, it’s a lot easier to accept a 30 dollar tab, versus something in the 100’s. I’m sure January will force me to get the heat going back there. Then I can go back to my normal process of “sweating like a pig” all night long.

TRACKING....

A welcome end to a busy week. Lots of CINCO time put in. Lots of projects inching closer and closer towards completion/printing.

Trying to figure out something to do over the holidaze. Road trip to Reno? Flight to an obscure city somewhere, then a rental car to "cruise the gut" and find adventure? I wish I could fly home, but those flights are too spendy and time consuming.

There is talk of mom and dad flying out here in January, and man, that sounds so good.

HOUSE HUNTING: In bit of a a "holding pattern." (That's some big design firm speak for "waiting on some other fucker to get you the stuff in before you can move on it. I love the office speak. Funny stuff. Lots of double talk in the spirit of being calm but persuasive, standoffish yet prying, gentle yet forceful. Lots of hot air.)

I've seen the nice joints, that are big and beautiful, but offer up rough neighborhoods. Hey, as homeowner, husband and parent Bry Aleshire put it, "Location is everything." He's onto something there. We're doing our best to find a mellow area in which, to "lay the loot down."

- - - -

LINE OF THE DAY: "We need more horses pulling the wagon."
(In reference to adding more designers to a behemoth catalog project. Love that shit.)

Too busy to type anything further.