The Shred

As September comes to an end I notice the morning's require a sweatshirt and night air being a little crisper. The sunny days are tempered with a gentle breeze letting me know that colder weather is just around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I love sunny days spent outside, where footwear is optional and finding someplace to swim can make or break your day.

But really...I'm a cold weather guy. I like bundling up. I like shoveling snow. I like wearing slippers. I relish the nights when snowfall blankets the streets and muffles the sounds of the world going by. What's more, is that I love to snowboard. After living in a mountain town for 2 years and enjoying everything that it afforded me, to then come directly to Iowa...I'm only just beginning to realize how badly I need a fix. Tyson sent me a trailer of a new video coming out and it stoked the embers into a fire once again. The giant has been roused from his slumber and he demands satisfaction. He wants pow. He wants las montanas. He wants the unabashed joy of destroying an untouched line down a glade. He wants a 500 inch winter.

He wants to Shred.

Minnesooooohhhhhta

Ah to be away, if just for a few days has been fantastic. I left Iowa last Sunday with Claire. She's in the process of doing her own amazing things right now and still managed to spend some time volunteering in Iowa before driving us to the great state of Minnesota to hang out with her family. They rule by the way.

Since arriving we've done a lot of...nothing. hanging out. being with each other. laughing. cribbage. eating and sleeping. Her family has a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin so we went up there for two days with plans of boating and frolicking and general merriment only to have it be crap weather. boo. So we played a lot of crib and just hungout. We also played on her trampoline where I learned that she's a little gymnast completing a front and back flip. Impressive.

Now we're back in St. Paul for one more day before I head back to Iowa to finish out Project Cedar Rapids with Hands On . It has been so nice to be here with her, to see where she grew up, meet her friends and hear some of the stories that make her who she is.

It's been a good week. I'm sad it's ending but am happy that I've had the chance to spend the time with her that I have.

good stuff I tell ya.

good stuff.