Skateboarding Monday: Oregon Skateboarding and Street skating

By the request of my skate friend Colton and his friend Scott, they suggested I write something on skating around in Oregon and skating street. I'll include our setups as well.

Colton and I started skating around the same time at the end of 8th grade. We lived in Veneta, OR at the time and we started out skating Veneta skatepark. I started learning flat ground and then moved to a 3 stair and that's when I got into street. Colton and I have been back and forth with vert and street but I still always prefer street. I feel that there's much more freedom with it. With vert, you're confined to one little area, but with street you can make any curb, rail, stair set, ledge, etc. work for skating. Lately we'd been skating around downtown Eugene. We constantly find worthy spots to skate.

Veneta Skatepark

I met Scott while skating at Trainsong Skatepark in the Highway 99/Bethel area. You can watch him and definitely tell he skates street cause he can board slide really well and can skate handrails and flatground like no other. He helped me get better at my boardslides. Trainsong is a cool little skatepark. It's super tiny but it's just fun. It's a good park to skate if you are a beginner, the only thing is... it's in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood. 

Trainsong Skatepark

Downtown Eugene is hella fun to skate because there is so much to do: Parking garages, ledges, stair sets, etc. I have the most fun with street because there is an endless amount of things to do. I definitely would recommend it. We typically park my car somewhere and go all around downtown exploring for spots. It's a lot of fun and is different every time. We constantly find new spots.






My Setup:

Board: ATM 7.75
Trucks: Independent
Bearings: Bones Reds
Wheels: Bones 15mm
Grip: Mob

Colton's Setup:

Board: Real 8.25
Trucks: Independent
Bearings: Bones Reds
Wheels: Bones 15mm
Grip: Grizzly

Scott's setup:

???
My favorite places to skate are around downtown Eugene, Train Song,  Juntion City Skatepark, Meadowview, and I'd like to hit Portland because there are so many good skateparks there. I also would like to hit Corvallis skatepark because it's got a lot of street.

This post wasn't as eventful as I thought it'd be... but thanks for taking a look at it.

Christmas Package from Maria :) (PICS Included)

So because I can post whatever I want for my Saturday post, why not have it be what my amazing girlfriend sent me for Christmas? :)

Well to start off, words can't even describe how freaking happy I am. I feel so important and special to her..... really loved. She wrote an amazing 2 page letter and words can't describe how sweet it was and how it made me feel. I'm not going to post what it says because, you know..... I think I want it to stay between her and I. It's more special that way. :)

Here are the pics. of what she sent me..... with descriptions.

Pillowcase with her Gorgeous picture on it. Gawd, she is SO beautiful! :)

:) And my heart belongs to hers.

A loving kiss. :)

Page 1 of the letter

Page 2

Perfect way to end a letter right? :)

So basically, I am just the luckiest guy in the world to have a girlfriend who shows this much love and care. I KNOW without a doubt in my mind and heart that her and I will make it. We're nearly at 7 months and going stronger than ever. I love her so much!

LDR post: Christmas package to Maria. :) (PICS. Included)

This is the full description of what I'm sending Maria for Christmas. We made an agreement to send eachother something for Christmas because it's kinda like having a first Christmas together. I decided to send her my favorite jacket sprayed with my cologne..... I did that once with a letter and she really liked it so I wanted her to have that smell while wearing my jacket. I wanted her to have my jacket because the distance makes it obviously difficult to cuddle her when she's cold (which is a lot), and so in a sense it's like I'm wrapping her up. I also sent a heartfelt letter describing my love for her and just how DAMN important she is to me. I taped one of my guitar picks onto the letter because I play guitar and have wrote a few songs for her, it's a way of reminding her of me.... and it's pink so I thought she should have the girly pick. :P And lastly, a little monkey statue that is doing a "Rock on" gesture with it's hand while sticking it's tongue out. I thought it was cute and kinda something I'd do. It was merely just a silly cute thing to send her. :)

Pics below....

The front of the package. Addresses blocked out obviously.

The top of the letter. That "I love you" on top actually turned out nicely, it was random but I liked it. And notice the pick. :)

Mid letter. (I hope you can read it?)

End of letter. I mean any and every word of it. I love her beyond the edges of the universe so I do what I can to show it.

My cologne. :P It's Playboy so it MUST be sexy. ;)
And YES, it is men's cologne.

The little monkey. It's like me. I thought it'd just be a cute little thing for her to have.

The letter, jacket, and box.

 So that's the jist of what I'm sending her... I say SENDING because, at the time I'm writing this blog post, it is before hand but won't post it until after she gets it because I don't want her to see it. I want it to be a surprise. :) I hope she loves it and I think she will. :)

I'll let you know how it went and I'll do a post about what she sent me. (Unless it's private?)


12/27/12 UPDATE: Since I'm posting this about a week after I wrote it, I'll tell you her response. :)
She really enjoyed the letter. She thought it was really sweet. She said the jacket was huge on her, which makes sense because I'm 6'1" and she's like 5' 6" or 5' 7"..... she said it's like a dress on her. :P
She also told me that she's going to wear it every time she misses me and that it was her favorite Christmas present. It felt so good to hear that. :)

 

Wednesday's normal Monday post: ReVenge Skate Team

Don't worry, I'll get back to my normal antics next week. I only did this schedule this week because of Christmas.

For my skateboarding post today, I would like to cover ReVenge Skate Team. They aren't well known but are definitely expanding as a company. They have actual boards, a website, a video series, and a full fledged team.

The "founder" of the team is Andrew (Andy) Schrock. He is well known on YouTube for his skits, skateboarding, and vlog type videos. His subscriber number grew tremendously and him and his friend Alex Buening decided to get some people together to film for a video called Skate ReVenge. In the meantime while filming for the full length video, they started the video series called We Want ReVenge or (WWR). Here is the link to the WWR series. There are 29 videos in the series so far and I've watched every one of them. I get inspired by the series because the team is very real, they don't do drugs and they just have fun. The editing is also very impressive. "The series focused on the lifestyle and relationship between friends as a skateboarder, rather than who can do the biggest trick. I wanted people to watch our videos and feel like they were watching friends skating, much like what every skater experiences growing up on the board.", said Andy Schrock

Here is their most recent video.... and personally the best yet:


The team is:

Andy Schrock
Alex Buening
Sam Fluharty
Jace Johansen
Tyler Maschinot
Maxwell Mayberry
Aaron Kyro
Thomas Alvarez
and Josh Katz (Some youtubers may know him as "Enminem")

*NOTE: There may be a few/couple more members, I'm not sure because this list was based off their website and video series*

ReVenge then turned into a company when people started asking for shirts and boards. Realizing the opportunity that ReVenge was being given, they started producing boards and merchandise; such as shirts, stickers, and sweatshirts. Their products aren't being sold in too many places in the real world except for around Ohio (as far as I know) because they are based out of Cincinnati..... but they do have a very well designed easy to use online store. (Link at bottom)

Here or some of their products.... ALL boards are shown (Color options available not all other merch is shown.)

Red Lifeline deck

Black We Are ReVenge Deck

White Get Focused deck

Black ReVenge Skateboards hoody (I hope to get one eventually)

Black Get Focused t-shirt

As you can see, their products and company are expanding and are pretty awesome. As soon as I have the money I'll be sure to buy a 7.75 deck, (Most likely We are ReVenge deck) because they are cheap and seem to be awesome quality. I also really like that hoody. I did this post because I wanted to spread the word of their team and their company because they deserve utmost respect. They've certainly made a name for themselves and their YouTube series and skateboarding in general is just awesome!

Link to their online store

Link to their website

Link to Andy's YouTube channel page <---Not just skateboarding, but skits, pranks, and other randomness.... pretty entertaining.

Thanks for checking this out and be sure to spread the word.

Merry Christmas everyone! (Or whatever else you celebrate)

I've decided that since Monday and Tuesday are kind of a holiday and a time for family, I won't be doing my usual Monday and Tuesday posts, but I have work off on Wednesday, Thursday, and most of the day Friday so I will just leave where I left off on those days. (I am posting this at about 3 am, so it's not like I'm with family at the moment)

Have happy holidays! Enjoy being around family, play with dem presents, and have fun and be safe. :)

Besides, I should be receiving my gift from my girlfriend after Christmas anyways, so that'll give me something to post about on Thursday when I do my LDR post. :)

Peace.

P.S. Have a mildly funny Christmas comic.... just for fun. -->

Saturday serious post: Being drug and alcohol free.

First of all.... we survived the "apocalypse" so that's pretty cool It's a good thing too, I had to work.... nobody wants to spend their last day on earth working. -_-

Anyways... on to the situation at hand. I'm gonna do my post about being drug and alcohol free. It's a big part of my life and it's really important to me. If you drink or do drugs, now would be a good time to leave because this is pretty much going to be a rant. Unless you have an argument for why you do it...

Basically every kid learns from the start that drugs and alcohol are bad right; the drug free red bracelet days in elementary and middle school, the drug free assemblies, and parents. Well most times that stuff doesn't work because people sadly succumb to peer pressure. I watched a big amount of people whom I knew since elementary school, lose themselves to drugs. They became stupid and stopped caring about school altogether. Some I don't even think graduated. While maybe some of their home lives were bad, I don't believe that drugs/alcohol is the solution to fixing things. Friends or passions have a big influence on the way you feel. I figured out through skateboarding that it pretty much fixes everything. Everyone should find just one thing they love to do even if they aren't good at it. You'd be surprised as to how much a passion for something can make a difference.

I've been anti-drug since day 1. It was only in these past several months that I became so against alcohol. And by against, I don't mean that I shun people who do it. I am friends with people who drink and have smoked weed. Anyways, the reason for me being so anti-alcohol lately is because of the fact a lot of things have happened around it. I can't go into detail but it's basically ruined my views on it. I've seen it completely change a person.... it influences actions that you'd never even think of happening. I've decided that my only reason for wanting to drink is if it's for celebratory purposes with something like wine. And I WILL NOT get drunk. I think people act like complete morons when they are drunk and they lose all sense of control within themselves. I'll be honest, it's not easy to stay sober. When you're around a bunch of people that are drinking and you're the only sober one, you tend to feel out of place. Recently I moved in with two roommates, both of whom drink. They had a few people over the other night to drink with them and play beer pong. I try to hang around them being sober, but I can't for very long. I just get irritated with their actions. They are loud and dumb and I worry that living in an apartment complex, we'll get a noise complaint. If that happens, they can get caught for underage drinking and the fact that I live with them, I can get in trouble of "guilty by association", even if I haven't had an ounce of alcohol.

So that's essentially my rant and views on drugs and alcohol. I'm against doing them but I'm not completely against people WHO do them.... it's their life to screw over, so I'll sit back enjoy a longer life span not destroying my body.

If you have any arguments, don't hesitate to show me. I'm all ears and am open to discussion.

Thanks.

LDR Tuesday: Basically, I'm a REALLY lucky guy :)

If you don't care to read gushy romantic stuff, now would be a good time to leave.... but if you do then by all means stay. I'd like to just talk about my girlfriend and the strength of our relationship a bit...

I'll start this by stating that she is simply amazing. I woke up this morning to her texting me and telling me I should check my email. She sent me a really long message describing how I'm so good to her and she won't go. Also stating that she talks about me a lot and other girls are jealous. It made me feel so good. She talked about how beautiful our future is going to be and it just made my entire day.

It's amazing because she's the first girl to actually make promises to me and have them be such a big deal. She still loves me despite all my faults and past mistakes and there's nothing that we haven't been able to work out as a couple. Even when her parents were completely against our relationship and wanted us to have nothing to do with eachother, we kept pushing through. The devotion we have for eachother really shows the strength of our relationship.... and I'm insanely lucky to have her.

We've talked about the future and our hopeful plans. I intend on making it to her prom, but I have to get a second job to do so. Hopefully I'll be able to get one because I desperately want to be there. The moment of meeting her is the moment I'm most excited for, to see her standing there waiting for me outside the terminal as I run up to her and hold her in my arms and kiss her for the first time. I see that moment going so perfectly, as I hold her I whisper to her that I love her and then grab her face and kiss her with utmost passion. Nothing could beat that moment.... I can't wait!

I kind of see it going that way because I watched this video.... it's so sweet and I want a moment like it so bad!




Maria actually showed me this video and I'm glad she did because I got inspired to want to make a video like it when I meet her. If I'm still doing this blog by then (which I should be?) I will definitely post the video because I want the world to see the amazing relationship I have with the most perfect girl ever to walk the earth.

I guess the only really NEWS worthy thing in this post is that Christmas is coming up. I'm so excited to receive the package from Maria. I have no idea what it could be and I'm so anxious. I'm gonna be sending her my favorite jacket sprayed with my cologne and a letter. :) I just figured that since she's so far away I can't really do the typical boyfriend thing and put my jacket on her when she's cold, so I thought I'd send it to her. :)

Anyways, I love her until the edges of the universe and will always proceed to prove it to her, no matter what doubts she may ever have or whatever happens. She's my everything. :)

Thanks for reading. Questions? Comments? Advice to those wanting to try a LDR?

R.I.P. The Berrics.... or is it dead? 1st Skateboarding post.

So for those who don't know what The Berrics, I shall explain....

The Berrics was a privately owned indoor skatepark owned by professional skateboarders; Steve Berra and Eric Koston. The indoor park was founded December 7th, 2007 in Los Angeles,California. The project was essentially brought up on the idea that kids were coming up to Berra and/or Koston and were saying to them that someday they'd like to skate their skatepark. They felt like they were onto something so they created a website for the project. The Berrics got it's name because of a mixture of Steve and Eric's names; Berra being the "Berr" in Berrics and Koston's first name Eric, hence "bErICS" (<< Sorry it's weird looking :P) 

The indoor park is most famous (or at least in my opinion) for it's "Battle At The Berrics" contests. They were contests with professional skateboarders going head to head in games of S.K.A.T.E. These contests were a bracket type system much like basketball, where the winner of the game moves on and the loser is done. The contests had most of the big name pro skaters; Chris Cole, Mike V, Andrew Reynolds, Rob Dyrdek, P-Rod (Paul Rodriguez), etc. etc. etc. The contests began in 2009 and was sponsored by big name shoe company, DVS Shoes. There were 5 seasons of the contest and have a majority of them on YouTube. Here's an example of my favorite B.A.T.B.....

I liked this one because both skateboarders are very talented in and OUTside of their comfort zone. They both were pretty neck and neck. PLUS, it's friggin Mike V. He reminds me of a gorilla and is just steezy with his style.


Onward to the original intent of this post.... recently on December 7th, the park's Facebook page had a video with the intro being, "RIP The Berrics: 12/7/07-12/7/12" And the video featured several skater's last tricks down the handrail/hubba/stair set as it cut to clips of sledge hammers being smashed against the concrete stairs. Upon further investigation, I found that it was a lead up to their unvealing of the new Berrics. As of now, that is all the information I have. I think that the new Berrics is still in the design stages.... I'm not sure though? I can do an update when I find out more information.

Hope you enjoyed my first Skateboarding Monday. I'll definitely try to include a skater of the day on some days and have all sorts of news and other happenings in the skate world. Thanks for reading.

How's about a bio of me for my Saturday post? (Plus BIG life changing news about Saturday)

I realized that I started my blog without really describing myself. And I have a big change in my life going on tomorrow (Saturday).....

Anyways, I was born on June 15th 1994 in Lewistown, Montana. I don't remember anything about it because I only lived there until I was about 1 1/2. I then moved to Oregon. I've lived in the same house in the same town (Veneta, OR) for 15 years..... but as of tomorrow, that is changing because I am moving out of my parents house and into my own place with two friends/roomates...I'm excited! But yet the situation is bittersweet all the same.

I met my first real friend here in preschool. I've been friends with her all these years and is my best friend (Yeah, Alexxa.... I'm talking about you. :P)

I stayed in the same elementary school for all 6 years. Kindergarten through 5th. I also stayed in the same middle school and high school. I also met my other best friend in middle school. My friend Colton and I are still friends and around 8th grade we became closer because we both started skateboarding..... we get together and skate every once in awhile. PLUS, he's my other roomate.

My high school years were the best.... a lot of memories and things learned in high school. I hadn't met any new friends until Sophomore year. I met the most hilarious and awesome group I could be friends with. I met Trevor first because we had auto shop together and had the same taste in music. We decided we wanted to start a band because other guys in the group played instruments. There's Trevor, Richard, Derek, and Cole. At first, they wouldn't be people I'd hang out with because at the time I was quite shy and standoff-ish. They were way too comfortable with eachother in the sense that they made completely joking sexual jokes towards eachother..... it was weird at the time because nearly all of them had girlfriends (I think?) But after becoming good friends with them, I started to get used to the jokes, I became less shy, and actually became very outgoing thanks to them. I'm still friends with all of them and hang with them from time to time.... although lately I hang with Trevor pretty much once a week. Oh and the group is awesome because each one of us plays guitar. :P

So throughout high school I had a good time with my friends laughing everyday at some new inside joke or something stupid one of them did. While that was good, I had a lot of bad luck with relationships. I dated 6 different girls, 4 of which broke up with me. Mostly for stupid reasons, but I also learned a lot from those relationships. I am in the most amazing relationship a guy could ever want..... I have a girlfriend who is 2,533 miles away from me and yet is the closest I've ever felt to someone. She treats me like I'm her whole world and I love it. Plus she's my whole world as well.... gonna try to see her for her prom if possible. But enough about that because I have Tuesday posts for my LDR. :)

Now I'm going to tell about who I am as a person...

I am a DIE hard skateboarder. I started skating at the end of my 8th grade year and it's my passion. I freaking live to skate. I want to get a career in skateboarding and I know I'll skate as long as my bones and muscles are capable. :) Before hand though, I wanted to be a car designer. I have loved cars always.... I can look at any car pretty much and know the make and model. Muscle cars (especially Dodge and Plymouth) I can name the year, make, and model very good. My favorite car is a 1969 Dodge Charger.

A BIG part of who I am is the fact that I am anti-drug and alcohol. I don't mind people who are (for the most part) but I have valid reasons as to why I don't do either. It's kinda personal. I may only drink alcohol for celebratory purposes, probably wine only. I also don't intend on getting drunk.

I always got good grades in school, I worked my ass of for the most part of high school. I started out my freshman year taking college courses.... I thought they'd help me out a lot more than they unfortunately did. I'm forced to go to a community college because I got no scholarships or grants. :/ And can't afford the school I'd like to go to.

I'm a very very honest person too. I've only had bad experience with lying so I stopped altogether early in life... (parent's caught me just about everytime) :P

I try to treat every and any person with equal respect as long as they are nice to me as well. I believe that every person is different and good in their own way..... some fail to see it. I've come across too many people who are suicidal based on what people think of them..... it's sad. I realize that some people may seem annoying, but that's who they are and how they grew up, you have to respect them being themselves.

That's basically the jist of me. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me. :)

Important post for Thursday.

I know I'm going against my schedule but oh well. What am I going to do, fire myself??! :D

Anyways, Thursday (12/13/12) is an important day. If you've read my LDR story, you'll better understand why. It's Maria and I's 6 months together....6 months ago, I told her I loved her for the first time after only being friends before hand. I took a big leap and while it was the most nerve-racking thing I've done, it's the best decision I ever made. Since me confessing that to her, we became a couple. She is not only my girlfriend but my best friend and I cherish every second I can call her my love. Our relationship is strong and especially being 2,136 miles apart.

My hopes are that we'll get to web chat before Christmas so that we can open our gifts to each other together. I'm so anxious to see what she got me. She says it's something to really prove her love for me. (I believe in her love towards me but she insisted on sending me something) :) I'll post pictures when I send my gift and get the gift from her.  (well unless it's something she wants to keep private?)

I hope to see her soon or at least hear her voice. I miss her smile, her beautiful eyes, her laugh, the way she blushes and looks away all giddy when I tell her something sweet. While I don't know how long it'll be until that happens, I wait patiently. She's always worth it.

Maria, if you see this..... happy 6 months baby! I can't wait for many more days, months, and years to come. I love you!

First Music Post: The Band "Drist"

I decided to start my first Music post a day early (Have nothing really going on in life so I can do this....  :D )

But anyways, my first post I decided to pick this band called Drist. They are mostly underground and don't receive much recognition. I discovered them from a friend and enjoy them very much.

They are an alternative/metal  band out of San Francisco, California. They were formed in 1997.Unfortunately, they are unsigned at the moment. The members are:

Tyson Yen: Vocals
Brain DaMotta: Guitar
Chris Koenig: Drums
Dave Pearl: Bass

This is the most I could find of their discography and can be found here.
My personal favorite album of theirs is "Orchids and Ammunition." The first song I heard of theirs was "Arterial Black." My favorite song however is "Dual Enemy" off of "Orchids and Ammunition"
 The song is below.

I believe that they deserve more supporters and that they get out there more. They are a very talented band with a lot of potential.

Hope you enjoyed my first Music Wednesday post. Who knows what I'll cover next week.

My 2,136 mile long distance love story. Introduction.

This is going to be the whole story of how my amazing girlfriend and I met and fell in love even being 2,136.8 miles apart. (Me in Oregon and her in Ohio) Enjoy.

About mid February 2012 I was in the process of getting over my ex. I had been having a lot of trouble and decided to go on youtube to listen to songs that reminded me of her, (cause of course, doing that always helps -_- ) I listened to our song and decided to comment on the video which inevitably changed my life. I commented on the video saying that I had done as much as I could to win her back and that I missed her terribly. A few days later I received a comment back from a girl named Maria Barkett. She commenting saying how sweet of a guy I was and how I deserve someone to give me their time. She wished me the best and told me that if I needed someone to talk to, she'd be happy to help. I took her up on that offer.

We started talking on YouTube as she helped me get over my ex. She sent me pictures of her at prom and I found her to be very beautiful. We started to really get to know eachother. I found out that she was close to my age. (I was 17 and she was 16 at the time, now I'm 18 and she's 17). I also found out that she was actually born in Russia and adopted at the age of 2. We have a lot in common and became good friends so we decided to take our friendship to facebook. We talked nearly every day for hours at a time and some nights even really late. One day I just sort of woke up and realized that I was inevitably falling for Maria, the already great times we'd shared and how easily we could talk. We really connected in a way I never felt before. Finally after about 4 months since having met her, I took the biggest gamble I'd ever taken. I confessed to her on June 13th 2012 that I had fallen for her. I told her the three beautiful words, "I love you"

Waiting for her response (this was on facebook btw) a million thought flooded my head, "What if she thinks it's creepy being so far away?" "What if she doesn't see me that way but wants to stay friends?" "What if she DOES actually feel that way?" Finally the response came............. Three words returned back. Much to my surprise she had realized it about a week earlier. We talked on the phone for the first time the next day after having planned it a week prior. (Maybe I should've waited one day to say I love you to her) And getting to hear her voice and hear her say she loved me, made it all seem so surreal, like a dream. From then on our relationship grew. We classify our "anniversary" on the June 13th because that was really the defining point of  our relationship.... the day we said those three beautiful words.

Our relationship has certainly been through its twists and turns, everywhere from parent disapproval to random arguments..... but through it all we've pulled out of it stronger than ever.

There was one point where her parents made us break up because they didn't want her getting hurt, they didn't have faith in us lasting. It was the hardest week of my life. I cried every night. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I just simply couldn't function because of the pain. But about a week or two later she texted me and told me that it was too hard for her to withstand. We couldn't live without eachother, it wasn't an option. So we decided to keep  our relationship secret. We would talk on facebook everyday during her study hall class at school. It lasted a good while before her dad found out we were talking. He was upset. A second time, we kept it secret talking through texting and email. Yet again, her dad found us talking. A 3rd while talking, we used her friend's Ipod to text. Maria had left it at home and her mom found the messages. Instead of them cutting all ties off, they let us start talking on the phone an hour each night to keep the deceit and lying away. This was going well for us, but we got greedy. We started video chatting secretly (after having video chatted ONCE before early in our relationship) and talking on facebook late at night after getting off the phone.

Which brings us to now. Her parents grounded her and took away all phone and computer privileges away. Her step dad asked that if I care about her as much as I say I do and he believes I do, then I was to call him if I saw her online. He agreed that if I did that and waited it out, that she'd get her privileges back.

I know that being so young, it's hard to see a possibility of us knowing the true meaning of love, but I know it very well. My parents got together at about the same age and still to this day are happily married after 18 years of marriage. I know that no matter what, Maria is who I want to spend the rest of my life with. We have something so special and it goes beyond the distance. I can't wait to be with her for the first time. With the way we talk, laugh, tease, smile, and share thoughts together, I know she's who I want to be with. I've never felt this sure about something. And I will do everything I can to make her Mrs. Derick Collins.... my wife. :)

If you have any advice or any comments whatsoever, don't hesitate. I would be glad to discuss whatever you have to say about our story. I'm proud of it and want to show the world. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed my first blog post.

****UPDATES have followed. The "Which Brings us to now" is very old....****