In a Jar

It's been a wild week and Wednesday's not even over. The van incident was a bummer but it could have been much worse and again, I can't say how truly grateful I am that my bike wasn't stolen. I love that fuckin' thing. I also want to say how much I appreciate the support, kind words and legitimate efforts to really help me out. My friend Eric that runs Embassy Skate Shop in Columubus immediately went into action to try to help me get a window, which, in case you break a window in your 2002 VW Eurovan, is roughly the equivalent of trying to buy a heat deflector panel for your space shuttle. I was told that there are eleven driver side windows available in the US and the closest one is in San Francisco. Where are the other ten, Alaska? The guy at Zettler hardware in Columbus was also amazing. First, he apologized about five times for my van being broken into in Columbus. After that, he measured and traced a template of my window and cut it out of plexiglass (there was no way I was doing the garbage bag over the window deal for 35o miles). We taped it in place with Gorilla brand duct tape and it looks like a real window. Hundreds of miles of highway speeds with wind and rain and it was almost as solid as a real window.
I got to ride Modern in Royal Oak last night and it was great. It was such an uplifting experience after a full day of hassles and being bummed. Lots of recent saddle time at Birdland had me feeling good at the park and riding a mellow session with J. Burton, PJD and Joe Gall was awesome. My buddy PJ recently got back into BMX (he's in his mid-30s) and is making steady progress--it's very admirable. He has been to Modern and TRP a few times, by himself, which can be very intimidating and overwhelming and he's getting it figured out. He also invited me to stay at his house and it was a welcome and comfortable break from the shitty motel scene. I slept like a baby.
This is cool as hell. Dinosaur Jr. is one of my favorite bands of all time. A pic of lead Dino J. Mascis, mugging up with Crandall in his 77 hoodie, is awesome. First, Daniel Higgs, now J. Mascis. Who's next, Neil Young?