Jrobb

Just received a pair of Sazukas and saw Bomber carries replacement tongues for the AF series. I think I read in The Good Book (almanac) the Sazukas and Indys were the AF series children and accept this tongue style. Is that correct? J

Well, I decided for maybe the wrong reasons but made the right decision anyway to stay in the plan. I can't get back the 100 bucks already in there, and frankly I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't really read my pay stub. I'm currently at 2% my contribution, I think I may up it a little here and there. I'm due for raise in Mar. and possible promotion in Apr (extra 10K/year) so most will go into 401 and "housing fund " The little lady and I may purchase a house in the next year or two. Appreciate all the insight. One question, the tax rate at the time of "cashout" for lack of a better word...is that any different than the current tax rate? My current tax bracket notwithstanding. J

I grew up surfing with guys like your buddy. Of course that was before waterproof disposeable cameras so you'd have half a car loan in the waves with you...not for the amateurs . J

It's likely the case in just about any athletic endeavor. The people who get the credit often aren't the originators...or even the pioneers sometimes. BTW, I got the boots and they fit puuurfect. Just waiting for my bindigns now. All we have is pow for the weekend...darn. The Osin will get a workout for sure. J

Not difinitive by any means typical US style ...US and the rest of the world...right :rolleyes: . ANyone have a a timeline paralleling that for Europe? J

I'd pay money to see that, similar to the actor's guild wiht the cast of Monty Python. I found this article after reading a couple posts on Freecarve from you and PSR...centered around the 3d/4x4 deal. That one anecdote from Harry, said tons about the goals of industry leaders. Then someone sent me this article. For some reason history about my favorite sports has always been tons more interesting than work history...not sure why. J ps. just saw this many of you probably already know much of the timeline but...parts 1-3 http://expn.go.com/snb/s/snowboard_timeline_60_70.html

Interesting article (long read but part I've included here) about snowboarding getting its wings. Oddly carving came first...whoda thunk it. The Article is an interview with Mike Olson of GNU/LibTech that's here Sorry the long read, but it's good stuff. Mike Olson "...Yeah, it actually is. It’s funny because a lot of people aren’t aware of that. I remember a few years ago hearing about how some snowboard companies, like Scott were going to start bringing parabolic sidecut to snowboards now--taking it from skiing. I was like, ‘wait a second are they that far out of it that they think skiing came up with the super-deep sidecuts?’ There are so many new people that work for the (snowboard) companies that they are like, ‘wow we’ve got to look at the ski industry.’ I started doing the deep sidecut in the early eighties. Back then all the snowboards that were out on the market (which were Sims, Barfoot, Burton, some Snowtech, and Slicker) all had sidecuts that didn’t resemble anything you see today. The boards looked like they had a surfboard nose. The sidecut was done the wrong way. They go into an hourglass shape and then a flat rail line all the way down. The designers really were just drawing things. I actually met people, like Chris Karol, who worked at the Burton factory back then and I’d go, “So how’d you guys come up with the sidecut?” And they just literally (Karol worked at Sims and Burton. He would go back and forth, go to Sims in the summer and ride for Burton in the winter.) He was like, “Well they’re just kind of random.” They’d all just draw lines, eye them, and say, “How does this line look? It looks aesthetic.” And, that was about the thought into it. Ironically, my boards looked the least like a surfboard--mine looked like a big fat monoski back then. There was a company called Bahne Monoskis on the market back then. And, I had the only shop in Washington that would sell my board. The shop was called The BikeFactory and doubled as a skateboard/bike shop that carried some snowboards. He (the owner, Bob Barci) just kept saying, “That’s a monoski--get that monoski out of here," while I was trying to explain how it worked. Ironically, of the group of everyone making snowboards back then I was the only one, as far as I know, shaping surfboards to survive as a living. I really knew surf theory and ironically my snowboards looked the least like a surfboard. The curves on a surfboard are for totally different purposes. The long needle nose on a surfboard is there for paddling. This was the part I think the other guys building snowboards didn’t get. They’d make these long narrow noses and I’d say, “What? You’re not going to paddle your snowboard too often, so you don’t really need that.” My theory came more off skis--the concept of making the sidecut go the right direction. I thought why not try a super-deep sidecut and experiment with it. Since you have two feet and all that weighting on one board, I thought, you have twice as much weight as you have on a pair of skis--thus you have the ability to press out more sidecut. Also, I really didn’t want a board that if you have a really straight sidecut (like skis at the time) the tail gets really swishy, really washy. Since we were trying to make it feel like a surfboard and a skateboard, my theory was put a super, super-deep sidecut from your backfoot on back (to the tail of the board). Then it feels like a surfboard fin--almost. When you put it on edge it really bites behind your foot. Then you put a moderately deep sidecut in front of your foot so it’s a little more forgiving on the entry than the exit of the turn--because you have less control coming into a turn more control coming out. All of my first sidecuts were--in the early, early days--what’s now called progressive sidecuts or dual radius. People have all kinds of words for them now but basically it was two radiuses mixed. When you came up with these new shapes and sidecuts, did people start instantly gravitating to it? No, not at first. They didn’t at all, even people that I kept building boards for up here kept going, “Why don’t you just try one that’s … normal.” Avalanche was the next brand that actually had a sidecut. Their board was modeled off a ski, with more of a mellow sidecut, but it went in the right direction. And, so we were the only two brands that first had (and were marketing) a board with sidecut and no fins. I had people going, “Why don’t you try mellowing out the sidecut?” And, I refused to do it. I just didn’t want to do it. A few years later, Pete actually made one and tried it with mellower sidecut--and we took it to Europe. I remember I kept going, “I don’t know, I don’t know, it just feels so good with a deep sidecut.” So, we took it over to Europe and it felt horrible with the mellower sidecut (laughs). It just felt kind of swishy, and tail loose. It didn’t really feel like a skateboard or a surfboard. My theory back then was that I was trying to get (snowboarding) to feel like riding a skateboard or a surfboard--where to do a 360 was a trick. The other boards on the market, that’s all they did is 360s--doing a carve was a trick. (laughs) So anyway, when I went into that snowboard shop (The BikeFactory) that existed back then, and the owner (Barci) was going, “Get that monoski out of here.” (laughing) I was trying to explain to him my concept, saying, “Listen you know how a skateboard and a surfboard is really carvy and it’s a trick to do a 360--like it’s really hard to do. And on a snowboard that you have now it’s a trick to do a carve…” He just said, “Mr. Gnu get that monoski out of here. I want my snowboards to slide sideways.” I was like, “Wow.” That was the mentality. Since the three or four other brands had snowboards that were all swishy and slidy--that’s the way it was supposed to be. After that I did a brochure--the one with me and Pete on it. It was my first attempt ever at a brochure. It was a four-color brochure (one of the first ones ever, I think.) Burton and Gnu were the only companies that had four-color brochures--I had no money, but I knew a printer that gave me like a year to pay for it. In the brochure, you open it up and it explains a carve. It says, “This is not a snowboard.” That’s one of the first thing it says (laughing). We didn’t call it Gnu snowboards. I was denouncing snowboards because I was like wow, “I guess snowboarders want to slide sideways.” So, the brochure shows a cartoon of conventional snowboard--it shows this guy with a really wide stance on a needle nose snowboard. He kind of has a Neanderthal-looking head, a big forehead, and is just kind of Neanderthal-looking guy. It shows him sliding sideways--a cartoon of tail slides out in the really wide track. And then the brochure shows our board. It says Gnu, shows a modern shape, and it shows a guy making little pinline carves. We were explaining the concept of a carve! At that point--that was 1986--the word carve wasn’t used in snowboarding. I remember running into other snowboarders heckling us saying, “what’s this carve thing?” We were pushing the concept of the carve. And then the Euros got pictures of it … we ran an ad in ISM Magazine that showed the ‘functional shape, functional carve.’ That was our first ad. There was a shadow on the board because the shot was taken from above at Mt. Hood. I think we were one of the first groups of snowboarders to go to Mt. Hood because the lifties didn’t know what the things we were riding were. But, anyway, the shot in the ad in ISM had a shadow in it that made the nose of the board look really, really, really blunt. All of a sudden Hooger Booger (which was José Fernandes, the Swiss guy) came a year later with these boards with really snubby noses. The noses were only about two inches long and looked like a picture from the side top angle of our board--like they missed interpreted it. I was like, “How’d they come up with that idea?” Then I looked at it again and it was exactly like picture of our board from the ad with a shadow across it. But, the thing is, then they started pushing carving. The whole Euro-carve movement came out a year-and-a-half later. Everything went neon. Burton started putting out videos that were famous for Jean Nerva saying, “You carve, you carve, you carve ... no slide.” All of a sudden everyone was saying, “Yeah! The Euros have this new movement called carving.” We were going, “Wait a second-- we’ve been saying that for about three and a half years now.” After that the sidecut thing went off the hook? It did. Then everyone jumped on it."

Yeah, my point or lack therof was the guy runs an actionsports shop out of Germany anything from windsurfers to alpine gear and does a lot of ebaying on various different ebay country listings (.uk, .ca, etc and the Ireland one mentioned) he/she was very forthcomming in determining what the best shipping option and possible lengthy delays (mostly due to ground shipped via Germany's govt. carrier). He's not just some guy hocking stuff he found at a swap meet. If there were any questions his buyers may have noted to him regarding duties and tarrifs I assumed he'd have mentioned that. I guess I'm possibly an ass(ume) for that. J

I spoke to that guy also, about the same model bindings. Haven't purchased any yet but his qoutes to ship to me didn't indicate any tarrif or or duties. not sure if that helps any. J

Yeah, and if you windsurf or kitesurf, the Bay Area and especially the Delta has some of the best conditions in the US all summer long. J

[shabba ranks]Heal up...bring it back come rewind[/shabba ranks] and to think, I've been cryin about my lcl strain...pshht. get well dude' J

THis is the slippery slope of the snowmaking ventures. The resorts touting the most extensive snowmaking still have to contend with water allotments. Which is not readily mentioned in ad campaigns. The water comes from the lake so the greenies are all over that...and for good reason. One thing nice about Kirkwood (and I hate to keep harping on its benefits) is they stop making snow as soon as the season steadies...and they don't resume it throughout the year and rely on natural conditions. Personally I think that's a better way about it. Bummer for the Heavenly ticketholders though if this is true. I'd be hopin for a partial refund or possible discount next year for a preorder. 2-3feet by and through the weekend should turn the tables here. It's gonna be 4807 weather for a few days it looks like. :biggthump J

Cool I just use an old edge bevel tool. It's only set for 0deg or 1 deg so it's rather useless for me...except as a scraper sharpener. Only problem is the file is 3" longer than the scraper so it's a rather short stroke to sharpen and kind of tricky. I may try this way. J

Recreationally, I don't think injury is worth it...but we don't really go through life weighing the odds and only making decisions that have no risk. The risks are what makes our activities enjoyable. I'm not diminishing your ordeal, I'm glad you came out of it in somewhat good condition...it could be worse. You sound in somewhat good spirits. I think you'll "grow out of" your view on this. Afterall, it's not snowboarding that led you to this turn in the road, but an accelerated path towards risk while snowboarding you stated. You were able to pinpoint the wrong turn, and now you can work on getting back on track. I've only had minor injuries so far, strained ligament here and there but even then, not worth the risk again. Each could be pinpointed to fixable error or bad decision...usually doesn't happen twice. Best wishes for a speedy recovery...but may we be blessed by some more details? When you're ready to confront them of course. J

Dragon's blue ionized lense works very well in flat light. I've had the DX model with that lense for a few years now. Just got the Gold ionized and it's better for bright light but works well for low light too. Straight flat or darker, I'd go Blu ionized. But be careful don't wipe the lense with the goggle wipe some gloves have (the squeegee thing) it can rub off the ionized coating. It happend to me last season. J

I just freehand the stone. Haven't use diamons stones but I use regular deburring stone to freshen up the edges when they dull or after a filing. My bevel guide won't fit my stone. I also use freehand to remove hardened nicks. Mostly personal preference though with your comfort level of precision. J

I stopped letting others touch my decks when Powderhouse in Tahoe did this to my Arbor. The scratches were me trying to identify the substance. That there is epoxy used to hold my stomp pad on. They apparently removed it to grind the base and couldn't get it back on so the schmoe there epoxied it back in place. I didn't catch it till a year later when I went to sell the deck, I removed the pad to find this. It's been about 12 hrs of work and 70 bucks in supplies to get it back to useable standards but the super hard finish Arbor puts on from the factory is hard to duplicate. I'll be a little hesitant in letting anyone else touch my other boards. J

I wear contacts so my eyes have always been more sensitive to light...even on overcast days. I wear Dragon DX with the gold ionized lenses. Not great for super bright but good allaround for depth. J

After a rather infuriating incident, I do all the work on my boards base repair, structuring,,,you name it. Noone touches my babies anymore. J

my company matches 50% of the first 6% Iput in if I enroll, but will still contribute 2% of my annual income regardless of whether I participate or not. I go back and forth whether to sign up or not, but I always end up needing the money now rather than being able to see saving it for later...one of my less redeming qualities. J

My current employer seems hell-bent on getting everyone in the company who's eligible for the program (401k) to sign up...to the point where I think the HR lady "accidentally" signed me up for it even though I declined to participate. I caught it early only deferred 100bucks so far, but it was my decision to do with my money as I see fit. I was curious what benefit employers get for having more employees in the plan and I found the following: "To help ensure that companies extend their 401(k) plans to low-paid employees, an IRS rule limits the maximum deferral by the company's "highly compensated" employees, based on the average deferral by the company's non-highly compensated employees. If the rank and file saves more for retirement, then the executives are allowed to save more for retirement." This seems well intentioned enough but the feeling is my company has taken it a step further to "extend to the lower paids" this plan by not so much coercing but presenting a dire need for everyone to join...the result is corporate bigwigs making over 100k annually can deffer the max amount = to the average of all contributions. (Max is like 15,500 I think). Is this the only benefit or encouragement extended to employers regarding 401k participation? that quote was taken from here off a Wikipedia can anyone shed some light on this? J

I should have know better... J

I'm thinking of moving to the p-tex iron method myself. I've been driping candles here and there for a few weeks (damn Tahoe and no snow) and the repairs seem to last an outing and a half. Takes about three attempts to "fix" it for good. J

Are the comps still available? J

[tow-mater] 'dya take 'er offa jump yet?[/tow-mater]