When Jonathan saw the Burton Restricted Booth Jacket late last year he immediately fell in love with the white color way. He claims it was out of love for the Nuggets throwback styling, but I think he just loved the pro prop 8 rainbow that is splashed across the chest and back. Either way, it showed up on our doorstep just in time for his 25th birthday and just a week or so late to be used on the hill. Luckily for this snow-loving jacket, he has plenty of practice being generous and I have plenty of experience rocking men’s gear on the slopes. While I have never been a fan of men in women’s clothing (I don’t care HOW good your butt may look in girls pants…) I am fully in support of girls in men’s clothing. Finally a double standard I can really get behind!

With Jon’s blessing I took the Booth for a spin at Boreal and I found myself wanting one of my own right away. The Team Fit was nice and long without being too baggy or too boxy in the shoulders. I love a jacket that fully covers my hind end and has sleeves long enough to cover my hands when my arms are at my sides (what can I say? my hands are always cold) and this jacket does both with ease. I absolutely love the cut and style of this jacket and think it looks good on all body types, girl or boy. Plus it has the unique ability to look good on the hill and around town.

The Booth jacket has 40 grams of insulation which has managed to both keep me nice and cool on a warm day at Boreal and keep me warm and dry on a stormy day at Northstar. The roomy cut of Team Fit provides plenty of space to layer as much under it as you need to stay warm under just about any conditions. While it may look constricting, the elastic hem is loose and generous and doesn’t impede movement no matter how wide your stance is. I could easily see the Booth being my go to jacket for 75% of shred conditions. The Dryride shell provides 10K of waterproofing and 5k of breathability, which is more than enough for Tahoe riding. Fully taped seams and a zipper to link the jacket and pants keep you dry and protected from the snow.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of this jacket and will probably be picking one up next year (guys, you better order some for Porters). Burton is re-releasing the Booth jacket and calling it the Mongrel. It has the same specs and features as this year’s jacket and comes in 4 new color ways. It is still team fit and still has the same street wear inspired look. I have my eye on the blue or the black one but I think I have plenty of time to think about it before I decide one way or the other.

Today is March 5, 2010. I began the journey for this new season in mid December with a trip to Colorado. Everything was new, fresh and exciting. Travel is a lot of fun, especially when snowboarding is involved. Free passes, travel paid and with some clever angles, free food is in the mix. I had a lot of energy and numerous reasons to be really excited, from a snowboarding and business perspective.

I have a huge passion for what I do. I never realized it until the drive home, somewhere between Hope, BC and Susanville, CA. When the Olympics come around, there is a sense of urgency to get snowboarding to shine on that world stage. No matter what preparations are made, nothing seems to get you ready to react at the big show. And what a show it is……Shaun White goes into and comes out of Vancouver as “the” snowboarder. Sure, there is plenty of attention sent towards Torah Bright, Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark, Scotty Lago and even those boardercrossers……who doesn’t love Seth Wescott and Nate Holland? But let’s not pretend here. Shaun White is all you need to know and NBC loves it that way.

In the fourth grade I played Charlie Brown in a Christmas play. I fell in love with acting. In the seventh grade I played Tom Sawyer and it was the most incredible experience I have ever had. To be the focus of an audience for over an hour is so uplifting, it has an intoxicating effect. After the play ran for 2 weeks, I spent a night in my bedroom crying. Tom Sawyer was my identity, my passion, my being. Just like that, all of it was gone. Who was I now that Tom Sawyer was gone? I’d have to rely on the person I really am. The insecure and fragile kid who likes to talk shit, covering up all of his internal and external shortcomings.

You would think I could share my Olympic experiences with you through my pictures and stories. I can and probably will at some point, but there just aren’t many pictures to share. The stories are uneventful and even less interesting. I could tie it all into snowboarding and what snowboarding means to me. I could relate my life experiences to sliding down snow covered mountains. But that would cheat you from the truth. The truth that everything isn’t always OK with me. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you are doing, where you are going or who you are with. Sometimes the pain is too strong to ignore. How could this be? I’ve got everything going for me, nothing working against me. I get all the free shit I need and then some. I get to travel under the premise of serious business. I get to snowboard for free. I have an awesome family. Sometimes that’s not enough to carry me through.

People lie all the time. It’s the way the world is. If I lie and nobody suffers, is it still a lie? I’ve had people in this business lying to me for the past 15 years, at least. But that’s expected because my “adversaries” are just trying to pay less and it makes sense they will say and do anything to achieve that goal. I’ve had clients lie to me because they were afraid of how I might handle the situation. They never seem to understand the fiduciary duty I have with them. So they lie. Or stop short of telling the truth. People at companies always want to say they did what they were supposed to do. They sent the product when they didn’t. They sent the payment when they didn’t. They claimed they left a message when they didn’t. If the people at companies lie to me, the clients and I usually are on the same page, knowing we are being fed a line. But that gets turned around when the client is put into a position of not really knowing who is telling the truth. They still don’t know or understand what a fiduciary duty is. I never really worried too much about liars, I always thought they would get theirs as things catch up to them. But the liars seem to have a way of positioning themselves for success. I don’t understand. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, i didn’t exactly take over the world yet. I didn’t even set it on fire. But it weren’t for lack of tryin’. So here’s the skinny. During the second week of January, I got fired from my job plowing snow at Northstar. Because I have no job now, I have been riding every day. It has been so sweet. I forgot what it was like to snowboard this much. I am riding stronger than I did when I was in my twenties and I will be 45 in april! Forty is the new twenty-seven. I don’t have a job or any money again but snowboarding has filled the void. This has been a sick winter. I’ve been riding Squaw Valley ’cause I have a season pass and I shred almost every day.

I have kick-ass gear too. I think that my gear is making a big difference as well. I used to ride big boards alot. I still like them, but my style is changing. I am still a power rider but I enjoy flowing with the contours of the mountain more now. Where I used to use muscle and speed and force I now use more of a natural approach. I don’t jump off as much big stuff as I used to but I am on my riding so much more now. I am not afraid of steeps that’s for sure. I love clinging to the sides of a cliff. I have this Nidecker Ultra-light 163 snowboard. This thing has changed my perspective. It is the lightest thing around. I got those burton C-60’s on there too
so they’re light as well. I got Burton Ozone boots which are really flexy. My board is so light and the boots are so soft, you don’t feel it on your feet because you can barely feel the board. I guess the carbon fiber in the board makes it really damp because even though it is really flexy it doesn’t bounce around at speed.

That carbon fiber and the construction of this board is the shizz. It also has the fastest base material so even if i don’t wax it, it still carries speed. I am never left behind on that thing. These boards are pricy but if you can get your hands on a Nidecker Ultralight or a Megalight, do it. The Ultralight is tapered and pretty fishy. The Megalight is more all-mountain and more twin. It is ridiculous how well these boards stick to steep slopes. They contour to the hill because they are flexy and bend into the bumps and hourglass chutes. I really can’t say enough about those boards. I love my board, it’s like having a girlfriend except this board loves me back.

I also got this Volcom suit. I don’t know the name but it’s the red one. It has vents and some goose down in the knees and stuff. It’s got a neck gator stitched to the hood and the jacket zips to the pants in the back. I didn’t even know that till some kid at Sugar Bowl told me. The suit is water proof. I even rode in the rain a few days and I stayed totally try. The thing is the best and I’ve never had a suit this good. It looks kind of goofy ’cause it’s matching red tie-dye but it’s so dope that I wear it all the time. Even though I have a bunch of other killer suits, I don’t wear them ’cause this volcom one is the shizz. I hope they keep making stuff this killer. I always thought Volcom was kind of a fashon show, but I can’t discount my suit. All in all, I have killer gear across the board and it makes riding more fun for me. Read the rest of this entry »