How to Shake a Stick. Updates!

As much as I was tempted to not remind everyone that I have not yet sent your copies of How to Shake a Stick, I still feel it is best that I let you know where the project currently stands. True, when I launched the fundraising/pre-sales campaign I mentioned that "the book was basically done"—which was essentially true at the time. I had a road map in place for all of the steps needed to complete the project  yet I hadn't fully anticipated the amount of time it would take to complete each step. I will spare you all of the details, but here. Here's a short list of what I have spent long hours working on over the past couple of months: book design, cover design, writing copy/proof reading, hand lettering the captions, purchasing and registering the ISBN's, marketing, designing and ordering the postcards, getting postage and packaging for shipping (Stamps.com!), accounting, website management and coordinating printing resources/orders. Being self-UNemployed has become more of a challenge than I ever expected. Just know that the project is still moving along and I am still working (almost obsessively) to get this thing finished. I have attached a few pictures of the stuff I've been working on (rather than explaining in detail.) Luckily, I do have actual real-life experience getting magazines to print and delivered, so I do know what it takes to finish a project. Applying this experience towards a book has posed a bit of a learning curve. I have a schedule set for the next  two weeks to keep working every day to get this thing done. The book is available for purchase at Big Cartel. There is more info about the book at the website howtoshakeastick.com.

"The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable."
–Charles Bukowski

"No amount of hot air you add to the balloon will replace the need for a hatchet to cut the mooring lines."
–James McLeod

"There's nothing cool about a half-finished hot rod."
–Dru West

Whole Foods, Part Way Open

  This morning marks an historical event, the grand opening of the Whole Foods Grocery store in Boise, Idaho. This is the national chain's first store in Idaho and today has been a much anticipated date for many Bosiean grocery store enthusiasts. Today's store schedule: 7:30 am oatmeal breakfast in the parking lot, proceeds going to Idaho Food Bank, 10:00 inaugural speech from Mayor Dave Bieter, followed by normal operations of a grocery store, ie. putting food in a cart, then paying for it.

 8:00 am Let the buzz begin.

Octo-Copter sky-cam ready for take-off. Will be filming RedBull Atheletes purchasing groceries.

 “You'll never guess where I am....”

 Get your wallet out. It's time party! (Organic Bud Light!, Here we o.g. Boise!)

Efficeny.

Security guard explaining to yet another person that you can't buy stuff yet.

We kept you in suspense about this store opening for months, who wants oatmeal?

 $3.00 for oatmeal, all proceeds got to the Idaho Food Bank

2 hours to kill. Plenty of time to read the paper.

 Keeping it local. Whole Foods arranged a ceremonial fly over from a flock of geese that hang out in the park across the street.

 8:15 am - This guy was doing a test drive of the shopping experience or in his words “I'm doing a demo.”


I would have stuck around for the commerce part of the event but I was in a hurry to post this blog. So I'm forced to share the sentiment of one already disgruntled would be patron that I passed in the parking lot. “What kind of grocery store opens at 10:00 am?”
Happy Shopping!

How to Apply for a Real Job.

A job posting just showed up at Northstar-At-Tahoe for the position of Ripparoo, the Ski School Mascot. Here is the email I sent in addition to my online application.

Ski & Snowboard School Dept.

Hello, I have just submitted an application for the Mascot job opening. I heard about the job yesterday from a friend of mine that works on the mountain ( Anna Weber , Burton Academy ). This sounds like an awesome gig. I imagine the position would require some hard work and dedication as well. I wanted to send this email in addition to my application to attach some photos of myself dressed as other mascots. Thank you for considering my application.

James

Vic Roman: Truckee Skatepark

The snow has yet to fall here in Truckee, but who cares? The weather is still great for sessions at the skate park. I just learned how to make an animated .gif using this tutorial.

First here's a few stills, then scroll down to see the animation. If I look at it too long I get dizzy.

This is Vic Roman shredding a wicked backside tailslide into the setting sun. Hee-Yawwww!

My New Job: Taxi Driver

So this weekend I started working as a Taxi Driver in Truckee. First I had to go to the Police department to get an operators permit. I asked them for the craziest looking picture I could get and they were rather cooperative.

So far I have had 2 shifts. Below is the meter from my first fare. It's pretty sweet to watch the money add up as I drive.

The season hasn't quite got under way here in Truckee, but I know its gonna start getting crazy when the snow starts falling. Be sure to shoot me a call if ya need a ride.

Mustache In A Jar?

“There comes a time in everyone's life when you need a mustache and you need it now!”

This may seem like an advertisement, but so far this product isn't actually real. Maybe someday soon though. In the world of cosmetics Mustache In A Jar could really go places. It's easy to apply but impossible to remove. It's so easy to use it doesn't even come with instructions.

Fun, But Not In Love...

This is a photograph that I shot of a recent work of art I made titled Fun, But Not in Love. Media: disposable plastic hanger, disposable sunglasses, disposable men's bathing trunks (complete with liner) and sharpie marker.
Like “I really love the beach––today, but I'm just not sure if I'm ready to make a real investment yet.”

I think this piece kind of illustrates my attention towards blogging in general. Regardless, I’ve decided to start blogging more often. For several reasons. One: Although I have gotten really bored of facebook and deactivated my account, I apparently still have some kind of digital obsession, so I'm using this option of blogging to fill the void for now. Reason two being that I will be launching a new website soon and publishing a book so I want to raise some hype. I don't know if this is actually number three on the list of reasons, but I've noticed quite a few blogs that just take stuff from other places on the internet and then talk about them. I'm trying to cultivate a different approach with this blog by finding cool stuff in real life and then posting about it here. Though I've noticed an occasional lack of commitment to other facets of life, I'm kinda curious to see how long my interest in this new blogging habit lasts.


Below is the production still of the lighting arrangement. Two 95 watt incandescent bulbs and a white bounce card from below. Nikon D200, 60 mm, 1/80s @ f5.0, ISO 400.