BACK FROM SEA-TOWN

My couple days in Seattle were really good. Spent some good time with Brad, Kleckner and Fank. Much progress was made on all projects in the works.

Seattle is a beautiful city.

The ride over to Ride, uh, the ferry over to Vashon Island was nice. For all those K2 employee's I'd bet it's the bain of their existence, but for me, it was nice to be out over open water again. That felt like "the sea," whereas my time in California was next to "the ocean." Two different things for me, for some fucked reason.

I like being out over the sea. I'm not down with the Cali ocean. Yeah, I'm a mess.

The ferry over to Vashon Island takes 15 minutes. Add another 10 minutes to the commute once you get to the mainland, and then, factor in whatever cross-town commute you made to get to the docks, and hell, some employees are wrastling 90 minutes each way. Yuck. I wonder how they do it.

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Back home, working super hard on all projects. I head off to Burlington next weekedn to witness the vows of Capozzi and Leigh, which should be a real humdinger. I love Burlington, so that'll be nice to be there in the Indian Summer. Early September...ahhh. I wish it could be fall all year long. No shit.

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PLANS ARE BEING DRAWN UP: Crunching numbers, reworking routes, contact colleagues, arranging "keys to the city" for the upcoming "DDC Fall 2004 North American Tour." Much excitement is felt.

SEA-TOWN, SWEET RAIN, STAMNES, 'SUP-DATES

Headin' up to Seattle today to spend some much-needed face time with COAL, RIDE snowboards and a TOP SECRET PROJECT. Yep, all good work. Lots of progress made on all fronts.

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NOTE: We aren't afraid of nothing. Couple things, but not much else.

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Really enjoying the rain. Been three days of it in a row...with temps no more than 65 degrees. Heck yeah. Thank whoever's calling the shots above. A nice, cool end to a "hotter-than-fuck" August. Tired of the summer. Bring on the fall. Yay.

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Every time I go to Seattle, I think of Scott Stamnes. Man, he was a good guy. Always had good advice for me. Miss seeing him around.

I remember him saying, "Man, when the shit goes down, all I'll need is a horse, some fish hooks and a couple blondes."

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Lance Violette is doing "real good for himself" out there in the wilds of Vermont. He's due to get hitched in October, is getting his own design studio up-and-running and has a gigantic truck that is hard to climb up into. We will be up there in October, to witness the marital bond, and throw back some serious fluids in the name of gettin' rowdy for the happy couple.

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Evan Rose works for Burton now, more or less. That little bitch.

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The new Drive By Truckers is "Real Good™", as is the new and final "Guided By Voices," you assholes. Do yer sad selves a favor and buy these records, and maybe that Smashmouth disc that has been on constant rotation won't sound so "fun" anymore.

LAZY SATURDAY AFTERNOON THAT ISN'T SO LAZY

Seeing mom and dad off was a tough one. They were here for a quick week, an ugly week in which I unpacked a million boxes, threw a BBQ, finished the first issue of SNOWBOARD magazine, wrangled other freelance projects, wrapped up my time at CINCO and even managed to squeeze in a couple days of "sightseeing" with them. We took a ride out to the coast, then up to Hood, on different days. Beautiful sights, hot as fuck.

REAL TIRED™ OF THE GODDAMN HEAT. Please relent, please relent.

They liked it out here, and at one point, talk turned to speculation about them "moving out here with me." Wow. But then again, their home is in Traverse City, and at some point, I'll move home to get closer to them. At some point.

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It sure is nice to have the gorillas of SNOWBOARD magazine outta the house. Been enjoying the silence and lack of "dude-ness." We'll be back for the attack soon again, I'd reckon.

Just working, shaping up freelance projects. Lots of good stuff coming down the pipe.

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Zimmerman, that hairless wonder, is still down in New Zealand suckling the nectar of the Kiwi spirit. He'll be back to Oregon in a week, and then he's gonna move in upstairs, and set up shop for the winter. Sounds like a plan. A contract will be inked very soon.

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Oh yeah, I've been sleeping in until 10am each day, more or less. That's a good policy.

The DDC Housewarmin' BBQ was a stellar success. Highlights include "mean shit served hot off the grill", cool night air and Dave England show everyone on the porch his one nut.

Thanks to everyone who showed up, for the awesome gifts and for hanging out with us on the inaugural day.

And if my dad said anything to offend anyone, well, we warned you.

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ON THE SHITLIST: Ryno in Minneapolis, Kurt in Detroit, Campbell in TC, Fasil in Portland, Rose in Paradise, Bridges in Chula Del Taco San Vista, Mook-aylira in La-La Land, Jared in a Mini Cooper, Gary on the beach, Hoss in Chicago, Matt Cooley, Ben Cooley, Noah in Los Ang-uh-lees, Jay-Floyd-is-an-asshole, and some other characters.

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(UP ABOVE:) Dad and Cory Grove locked in some sort of "man love" man hug. "Friends Forever", that's our policy.

Today is our last day at the CINCO Design Office. Thank you, guys, thank you for everything over the last 25 months.

And that, ol' buddy, and friends domestic and international, is what exactly what we aim to do.

UPDATIN'

Had a good weekend out there in Fort Collins.

Rod Snell married his gal Katie in the quiet backyard of the historical Avery house (…corner of Mountain and Meldrum). A good 80-or-so folks were in attendance, soaking up the afternoon sun and sharing big smiles. The ceremony was very nice. Lots of words, progressive, somewhat traditional but fresh…all in all, really nice. They looked really good together. Hell, I wanted to marry Rod, seeing him all cleaned up and dapper.

The reception was at the Rio, the world famous Mexican restaurant, hookup grounds and Fort Collins nightlife fixture. Rod worked there for years, so it was great to see his friends from that time at the wedding, and how ingrained he was into the Fort Collins scene. Good people all around. Burritos, cake, cham-pag-knee, etc. Some dancing too, during the slow numbers with my gal.

One night was spent in Denver doing the “Bachelor Party’ thing. Flesh was gazed upon. Kinda cool, kinda dumb. Girls climbing all over dudes, etc. No big whup.

It was just good to hang out with Rod, as well as Donavan, Kogy and Greg. Bunch of assholes, really. Nice to catch up. Been a long time.

CONGRATS TO ROD + KATIE FROM THE DDC!

(+) Thank you to Whitney for coming out to hang with me out there. It was good to hang with her in a far away place. A little getaway from the Portland insanity. Really diggin’ this gal, we are.

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On the homefront: Dudes have taken over the DDC Factory Floor!

The new pad is testing our occupancy load ratings. Lots of fuckers holing up there.

01. Mark Sullivan, dad, Snowboard magazine publisher.
02. Liz Sullivan, mom, Snowboard magazine copy editor, better half.
03. Sasha Sullivan, baby, smiler, crier, eater, plays with things, squeeker.
04. Jeff Douglass, photographer, product photographer.
05. Jeff Baker, "Metal Up His Ass", Snowboard magazine editor.
06. J2, ad salesman, shithog, dirty bastard.

So yeah, the place is humming with activity. Lots of chew spit containers laying around. Lots of wrappers for Nerd™ Ropes scattered about. Weird smells. Little piles of things. Chickenscratch notes here and there. We gotta get organized. It’s been a challenge keeping things cool with all the “big move-in” insanity. Boxes are still piled up, making nice places to piles things on them, but when something needs to be located, that pile gets re-piled somewhere else, boxes get torn apart, items come out and come to life, and so the cycle goes.

We’re working up the premier issue of Snowboard, so y’know, shit is top secret and apeshit and exciting all at the same goddamn time. Things are looking good. Good to be working with these assholes again.

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Mom and dad are coming out tomorrow night. Phew. It’ll be so good to see them. I hope their flights are smooth and prompt.

Big plans are in the works for their arrival:

01. Fly in, get luggage, get back to ranch.
02. Parade through downtown Portland, Thursday morning.
03. Get keys to city from Mayor in small ceremony at Pioneer Square.
04. House-by-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood goodwill tour.
05. BBQ/Cook-Off at DDC Employee Recreation Zone on Saturday the 14th.
06. General “doing of absolutely nothing” and “laying around the house.”
07. Unpacking/organizing/tuning up of the new house.
08. Nice dinners out around town.
09. Junk shoppin’.
10. Home outfitting.

Real excited to get them out here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

HOMEOWNING!: Housewarmin' on the DDC Factory Floor.

The Draplindustries Design Co.-in loose conjunction with Sandy Blvd., some concerned neighbors, and a combination of Northeast Portland trees, grass and sky-is pleased to announce our official "Big Move" into our new digs. And to celebrate this new beginning, we’re flying the parents out from Michigan to kick the day's ass, and have everyone over to give the place a thorough "onceover."

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HOUSEWARMIN’: Come and see an unhealthy ratio of "design equipment" vs. "actual real life living stuff." Cool off in the basement. Surf the Internet. Enjoy the ovenlike summertime temperatures of our upstairs bungalow. Get pissed off and alienate yerself from yer partner and then "lay low" in a corner of the backyard. Take a shower. Watch some tube. Do some laundry. Play a guitar. Design something. Dig through shit. Judge our record collection.

DDC PARENTAL MEET-AND-GREET: Their one and only Oregon appearance this year, we bring you Jim and Lauren Draplin. Tall tales, good advice, and lifetime friendship are offered at no cost to all in attendance.

NOURISHMENT, REFRESHMENTS: Rod Snell was gracious enough to offer up his "Barbecutioner" rig for the afternoon. Burgers, dogs, veggie burgers, hunks of fish, horse hooves-whatever you want to throw down-will be served up piping hot. Ravage our supply or bring yer own. No big whup. Our Gu-aaron-tee™: No one goes home hungry. For those with "hot pipes," we’ll be offering cold beer, cokes, wine and cool water. Drink 'til you puke. (Is that good for the grass?)

A "REAL GOOD™" TIME: Make a friend. Talk some shit. Call someone out. Loose conversation is mandatory. No fights. No wrastlin’. "You break it, you buy it" policy is in effect. Lose money on dice games. Tell people lies over cool beverages. Air some grievances. Steal something. Get pissed. Get happy. Singles: Meet someone new. Couples: Go home with someone smarter.

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STARTING BELL/COORDINATES/GAZERS:

Saturday, August 14th, 2004. Shit gets rolling at 4-5 o’clock in the pm, and proceeds until someone gets hurt.

2946 NE 67th, Portland, Oregon., USA. (A minty little shitshack just a couple blocks south of Sandy Blvd., on the left side.)

(+) Feel free to sleep over in the backyard. Free star gazing courtesy of God, or something.

Met a gal. Her name is Whitney Ann Cale. She's 28, originally from South Carolina and is a Montessori teacher for little rugrats.

The current spirit of the DDC Girlstuff Dept. is something along the lines of, "Wow.", "Hubba, hubba." and "Real Good.™"

(An official press release is in the works pertaining to all contractual fine print and nuance, so stay tuned for more dirt and panting.)