Pond Hockey

My Brother Jon and I got a little face time on Fox News Fresno.

Oakley Backyard Enduro Challenge

Friday Dec 9th I went for pretty long mountain bike ride with some friends.

"As the sun crept up Friday morning, thirty-seven mountain bike junkies gathered in FHR’s front circle to caravan to Maple Springs and begin the group climb up Santiago Peak – the highest point of the Saddleback Mountain range that crests at 5,689 feet above sea level and stares you in the face from Oakley headquarters.

Once everyone convened at the picturesque summit, the horn blew and participants bombed down the gnarly terrain.

All thirty-seven Enduro survivors regrouped at the finish line before riding back to Oakley as a team to enjoy a BBQ and awards ceremony"

Oakley Backyard Enduro Challenge from Hans Arnesen on Vimeo.

Here are some photos also.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61957514@N04/sets/72157628486837011/show/

Whiskey Exchange

The Estates men and myself hosted our first Whiskey Exchange last Friday night. We are gentlemen and we do gentlemen type stuff. Nothing got out of hand and some fine whiskey was sipped. As the old saying goes, "Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting over."

Mammoth Opening Weekend 2011

Mammoth fired up the lifts and we hit the slopes to kick off the 2011/2012 snowboard season. Yep, it's my favorite season of the year. The Shredding was awesome, and The Black Lips played Saturday night at Canyon Lodge. Quick trip, but full of fun.
Mammoth Mountain's photographer Peter Morning came out with us yesterday to snap some photos. Yeah, Mammoth has full size jumps in the park right now, but why bother? We were sessioning Bob's Nob putting on a Grasser / Method clinic inspired by our previous night's viewing of Road Kill.


Me.

Dark Mark
Tall Todd

Back on the Grid. Sort of.

Last June, I cut the cable, pissed off the wife and started to enjoy my summer.
What led me to that decision? Well, I was fed up with my cable service and box failing, Hockey season was over, and I wanted to spend more time out and about and less time on the couch. That all changed last night...
It was a combination of things, I like to fix things, and I was totally perplexed that the massive antenna on my roof wasn’t picking up signals. I later did some research and realized that broadcasted stations are now 2-1, 5-2, 5-4 etc. So once I did an auto tuning search, I picked up 118 channels. There is some bizarre stuff being broadcasted these days. I felt like I was in Europe. However, the highlight, is that channels are being broadcasted in HD, so for example Gossip Girl comes in 1080p. Solid picture. Seeing that we have been watching DVD’s off my PS2 (480p), Tanya was pretty hyped about the quality of the picture.
End of summer bummer
Fall is here
My neighbor is getting rid of his mini ramp
My TV works, so now my wife can totally tune me out
I guess I better start working on my squats so I’m ready for shredding.

California Über Alles

Jerry Brown Vetos California Snow Helmet Law
In a shockingly conservative veto California Governor Jerry Brown slammed the door on Senate Bill 105 that hoped to require helmets on the slopes for anyone under 18, according to a story in the Sacramento Bee.

Brown says in a veto message Wednesday that helmets provide protection, but parents can and should make good choices for their children without the state getting involved. . . The Democratic governor says “not every human problem deserves a law.”

And on that we have to agree. California voters likely hope this is an attitude Gov. Brown continues with in other areas as well.

[Link: Sacramento Bee]

Labor Dave

My weekend started off a little rough. Went and skated the new Etnies concrete and got served with a nice hipper. That prompted me to go home shower and go to bed for 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, Saturday was better. Headed out to LA to the FYF festival and saw the Cold War Kids and The Descendents! So rad! Sunday, after about a year in the garage, I got the Malibu back up and running and took it for a cruise. It was Verona's first ride in the SS. Sunday with our house guest Chauvet, we headed out to The Bruery. It was delicious! Capped the long weekend off with a backyard BBQ in the Hollywood hills. All weekends should be 3 days.

Pink Motel Update

So, here is the video from the Pink Motel. It came out RAD!

Drake's Passage

Drake McElroy is one of those Awesome Lovable Dudes. Since my morning started off with defending Awesome, it got me thinking about all things awesome. I was fortunate enough to go to school in an Awesome city called Reno, NV. While there I met the one and only Drake McElroy. He now has himself a TV show! I don't have cable, so hopefully I will be able to get a DVD of all the episodes. It looks like a good time.

CAPiTA

So, according to CAPiTA, it's high time snowboarding enters the world of BMX and nicknames. My personal favorite is, Danger Pony it takes the phrase, "feeding the pony" to a new level. Check out CAPiTA's defense right here.

or go to their FACESTERSPACE page. they would love that. However, I personally would suggest you go here.

Another year older.

Well it's birthday week at the Appel house, I kicked it off on Sunday(party on Saturday) with an epic weekend of skateboarding a backyard mini with punk rock, tacos and beer. My friends rule! from Making the invite (thank you Paul Brown) to hosting the Party (thank you Mr and Mrs Lewis) to showing up and ripping the ramp. Total success, again. Sunday was mellow bike ride down to the Legion for some lunch and cocktails. Last night we wished Tanya happy birthday. Despite us being born a few days a part, we like to celebrate completely different. Take that astrology! The ol' lady and I had a nice quite evening at an Italian restaurant that was simply delicious. Today, our little Verona is 1. She's probably digging in the backyard or napping right now. Anyway, it's been an awesome week.
Ramp


Taco

Cake

The Shred Remains

http://vimeo.com/26462929

SAL 291

My Grandfather Ronald Beams Appel was in WWI and my Father Jon Richard Appel (shown above in GTMO) was in Korea. Thanks to their service, I am eligible for membership to The Sons of The American Legion. Last night I joined Squadron 291.

My Life Behind Bars

My friend Molly has a blog about her life as a bartender, and it's amazing. Check it here.
http://mollybartends.tumblr.com/post/7104484551/bffs

The Pink Motel

I can't believe this place is real, well, I guess it isn't as real as I thought it was when I saw Animal Chin for the first time, but this place is amazing and I got to visit it the other day for the frist time. Oh and Lance, Salba, Hosoi and McGill were there tearing it up!

Black Lips @ Detroit Bar

Show was awesome,crowd was equally awesome.

"I was digging my strange"

Sunday afternoon we headed down to Oceanside for the 94.9 Independence Jam. Headliners this year were none other than the Cold War Kids. Nate was kind enough to put us on the guest list. That right there makes me laugh. The older I get, the more of my childhood dreams I seem to live out. Going to shows, I use to think man, how cool would it be to “be on the list?” Anyway, the O-Side Amphitheater is amazing! I had no idea they had shows there. Sure I remember the old street skateboarding contests from the eighties, but being outside at the beach on a beautiful day watching surfers and ironically watching Surfer Blood perform was amazing. We ran into some friends and passed the time drinking beers and seeing some good bands all awhile I exchanged text messages with Nate. It’s rad for the old lady and I to get out of the house and see some live tunes, but I really enjoy talking with Nate and I was looking forward to talking to him about their new album Mine is Yours. We finally met up during the PB&J set, and got to catch up on life and the new record. It’s funny when we get down to it. I’ve been married 5 years, Nate 2. My wife and I hold down desk jobs, pretty traditional “Adult Life” and while my take on the new record maybe a little dark, Nate responds a bit shockingly. He doesn’t really look at it that way, and again, it’s obvious. Nate’s approach to song writing is as honest as it comes and the new album firms up that statement 100%. It’s not dark, it’s just a matter of fact. A mutual friend Tim Rynders of The Knew said it the best the other day during an online chat,
Tim: “Nate is the fucking coolest. end of story.”
Cold War Kids took the stage and owned the fucking night. No question why they were headlining, their set was amazing and they sounded great. In a festival atmosphere, from hippies to jocks, everyone was singing along. I was mesmerized. You can’t pick your fans. We are all fans.

Indy

 

I hope the cars don't run us over.

2011 Pro-tec Pool Party

First and foremost, thanks again to Nikki Scoggins for the tickets. Year after year she comes through with the goods. Another thank you goes out to my skateboard friend for life Jon Strattan for the poolside hook up. Here's how it went down, I have a cast on my wrist from my recent skate injury. A few days ago when my Pool Party tickets arrived in the mail, I got really excited, which is normal for this event, but then it dawned on me, I have a cast, and now I have a 12 year old's dream mission ahead of me. I'm going to have all my Skate Heroes (and Dave Lee) sign it!
For the Contest results, look somewhere else, for the signature list on my cast, here it goes.
1. Eddie Reategui
2. John Lucero
3. Chris Miller (Master's Winner)
4. Dave Lee
5. Duane Peters
6. Jeff Grosso
7. Jay Adams
8. Christian Hosoi
9. Tony Hawk
10. Steve Caballero
11. Rune Glifberg
12. Salba
13. Bucky Lasek
14. John Cardiel
15. Heath Kirchart
16. Lance Mountain

OFF!

I'm off my skateboard, 1 week down, 9 to go. At least i got this live 7". Thanks Casey Jones!

Session Ender

Well, I broke my wrist skating last Saturday. Had surgery yesterday. Not that I have been keeping this thing up, but being one handed may make more difficult. See you 10 weeks.

Folks, we have a winner!

So Verona was in a dog show over the weekend up in Vallejo. yeah, she won.

Saturday Sessions

Verona, Ryan, and I had a good session on the mini Saturday.
All photos Ryan Young

What have you made with your hands?

Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles from Etsy on Vimeo.

Verona

So, we have had this dog for about 5 months now, and I realized I had not posted any pics of her. Anyway, her name is Verona she's a Spinone and we go to the beach in the mornings.

Mt. High Monday

Shredded Mt. High this morning, and a mere 1 hour and 10 mins of drive time, I was at the office. That's epic.

I Like Reno

I LIKE YOU movie trailer from jamie heinrich on Vimeo.

Mt. Waterman

I might get jumped for posting this online, but let's face it, this place is open to the public and visible from the road.

Last Sunday Dan Mac and I took the chance that the road would be open and the lift would be turning. With some crazy old skier guy bashing through the closed gate on the road, we made it to the lift, and it was running. Over 3 feet of new cold snow and the Sun was out. This place isn't big, but it's steep and good. Bring your own food, water, toilet paper, etc. It's a "pack it in, pack it out" kind of operation.





So much can be said about Waterman, but I'll leave it to you to explore on your own.
When we were done shredding, we opted for some Apres Ski down in Downtown LA. First stop was the Wurstkuche. Delicious cased meats and Biers! next up we went and tried out Salman Agah's new Pizza Joint Toddy G's. The Place was delicious and the pizza delivery guy told us he had shredded Baldy on Saturday. Be safe on that Enduro.

Mammoth Dump

Tall Todd from Active and I got in the white room over the weekend.
All photos - Peter Morning

Where do we go from here?


My Hands


Tall Todd is 6'5" figure it out.