Got A Grip Of Great Friends

I have the greatest friends in the world. I know we ALL feel like that and to a degree we're ALL right, but let me tell you some tidbits about why a few of mine are really tight...
I was working one night, the bar was closed, doors were locked, when Chandler Blum and his girlfriend Casey knocked on the front door. I thought they were some overzealous drunks looking for another drop (at least ones I didn't know) and I was about to shoo them away. Boy did I feel like a dick when I unlocked the door, realized it was them and they handed me a skateboard.
"It's for you" they said.
They had won it in a raffle at a Victor Ruggiero show. They are not skateboarders themselves so they wanted to give the board to me! What amazing friends! And the deck is 8.25 which is what I ride so I was pretty happy. It is a tribute deck to fallen soldier/skateboarder/artist/bartender Stevfin Caswell from 35th and North skateshop in Capitol Hill. I didn't know Stevifin, but so much of life on earth is about fraternity and as a bartender and lifelong skater, I feel he was one of my own and I will be proud to represent for him on this board from my friends Chandler and Casey.
It was really good timing too because I needed a new skateboard. I like to have two of them going at the same time. Hard wheel setup for epic northwest crete and soft wheel setup for wooden ramps and such during epic northwest rainstorms. It might sound prima donna or old-man-gear-nerd-poserish but I'm thirty two, have been skating for over twenty years and don't mind spending my hard earned cash on fuckin' product! Plus, I still sate, not just buy the shit and leave it on display in my house. Anyway, it was time for a new ride #2 and the universe aligned to hook up a new one.

Radular griptape job by Court Hoffman

Enter Court Hoffman, good friend, artist and skaterat who has wanted to do a custom griptape job for me for a while. I turned the deck over to him and he did an exquisitely intricate piece of artwork on my new skateboard. I am so impressed by the level of skill and attention to detail. I could never do anything like this. I can barely put a blank sheet of griptape on.
Speaking of griptape, I got the colored grip from Mike Lynch at Gravity Sports in Renton, "the oldest skate and surf shop in the Northwest". Went in for the tape and came out with a new friend in Mike after shooting the shit about skating and life for an hour or so.
So there you have it friends, my friends rule. Life's a trip. Skateboarding and new skateboards are awesome.