Thursday, November 29, 2007
So I finally finished my website. Well I guess all good websites are works in progress, so let's just say at least I'm finally online. Check it out at danopendygrasse.com and leave me a message here if you like it. If you don't like it then I recommend smashing your computer into a thousand pieces.
D.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Well I haven't been around much lately. It turns out that launching a snowboard magazine is a lot of work. It's cool though. I'm super happy with how everything is turning out. Check it out if you like: Future Snowboarding MagazineWell, that's the website, not the magazine. The website is a work in progress and hopefully by christmas the main parts of it will be up and running. For now, the board finder is pretty amazing. There are thousands of boards in it. So what's been going on around here anyway?
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Published by dspphoto: 2:31 PM
Updated On: 11/6/2006 at 2:35 PM
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Road bound.
Well, I’ve put out all the fires I can, procrastinated a bunch, waited
for people who haven’t come through, and now it’s time to go. I’m
packing up Big Red and hitting the road. I know where my first stop is
and I know I have to be in Vegas on the 22nd, other than that I am wide
open.
I have too much stuff. My first instinct is to have a big fire and burn
everything, but instead I’m packing as much away as I can and giving a
bunch to the reusit center. I’m pretty far from being moved out of this
house, but I’m closer than before. It will take a week of full time
moving and I don’t have the time right now. It will have to wait. I’m
chasing snow, shooting photos, riding sled and hanging out in the
backcountry. I’m doing what I do best.
I’m starting to get an idea of where the next year or so will take me.
Starting to reassess what is important to me now. Finding old
priorities and new ones. For now though, I’m happy to drive North and
East and see where the road takes me. Happy to be self-reliant and
independent and to not think about all the details for a bit. I’ll be
out of internet range for awhile, so don’t be too bummed if I don’t
email you right back. Maybe I’ll give you a call from some long stretch
of Highway 1, or I-80 or something…
Wish me luck.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
For several hours before and after Sacremento, the
I-5 is straight, flat, and boring. Driving it is like paying a penance
for having spent too much time in Socal. Out here a scan of the AM
radio dial will reveal all the God and Right wing quasi hate speech a
normal man can stomach. If you’re still wondering who the f*ck elected
George W, you can start looking right here.
At last the road stats to make some turns, and the flat becomes hills.
The hills became mountains and suddenly Mt. Shasta is huge in the
windshield. I started to smell smoke form dozens of fireplaces. I
stopped for gas and the cold was a pinch on the cheek from Mother
Nature. It smelled so familiar and felt so good. I was halfway to
Canada but I was already home in the mountains.
I like spending the night in Yreka for some reason. The Comfort Inn has
terrible coffee and spotty wireless, and still I have stayed there more
than once on the way home. I think it’s because when you start the
drive again, inevitably first thing in the morning, there is a stunning
view just up the road. It’s Shasta of course, and all the little misty
farms that sit down at it’s base. I dunno why I like it so much. But I
do.
All the crazy turns and passes in Southern Oregon are what start to
make me feel like I’m getting close. To me they are the physical if not
spiritual manifestation of the border to the Northwest. Southwestern
Oregon is beautiful country.
Seattle has the worst traffic. Even on a Saturday afternoon. I think
it’s partly because people round a curve on the freeway, see Ranier
standing there like a God in the pink glow of evening, and they just
can’t help but slow down to admire it. View-based traffic. I swear.
And then I start getting close. The radio picks up the CBC (thankgod),
I start to see more and more BC plates on cars, I get nervous about the
border (still, but not as bad) and then it’s all over. The guy in the
booth says “have a nice day” and I’m home. The lights from Grouse,
Cypress, and Seymour are winking at me, everything is clean, my San
Diego phone shifts to “twice as expensive” mode, and I let out a long
easy breath.
I slept like a baby last night.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Getting down to the last big push to finish making FSM for the season and getting ready to start my trek north...
I miss all you folks up there. See you soon, save me some snow.
Check out Future Snowboarding Magazine #2 on shelves now. The magazine is epic and the DVD is pretty amazing as well!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Future Snowboarding Magazine has hit the streets at last. Check it out on news stands September 21st. I think you're all going to really like FSM.
www.futuresnowboarding.com is alive now too. check it out.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
"hey you. out there on your own feeling lonely feeling old, can you feel me?"
Monday, February 28, 2005
Please don't panic...
Dano has left Whistler!
...and moved into a little house 40 steps from the beach in La Jolla California.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
hasta luego amigos. all things must end.
any of my Whistler homeys need a projecion screen? Pick up before Sunday? Everything must go...
Fedex supplies? boxes, waybills, bubble envelopes? I got em if you want em.
Big guy, big heart. Rest easy G.T.
Monday, December 27, 2004
This past year has been good to me, Christmas was amazing, so the news of tsunami on the 26th was stunning and horrific. As the news got worse I woke up this morning and was struck dumb by the carnage. I just went and donated to the red cross at: onlinedonations@redcross.ca
and even though I know that my donation is a drop in the bucket, i also know that every bit helps. If santa was good to you this year, give a little back to the scores of people who have just had life as they know it erased. please.
thanks to everyone who read, made comments on, or otherwise enjoyed my rant. it is now in the text archive if you want to check it out.
Oh ya, Snowboarding is really, really fun. Let's hear it for open mountains and the return of Winter!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
This past year has been good to me, Christmas was amazing, so the news of tsunami on the 26th was stunning and horrific. As the news got worse I woke up this morning and was struck dumb by the carnage. I just went and donated to the red cross at: onlinedonations@redcross.ca
and even though I know that my donation is a drop in the bucket, i also know that every bit helps. If santa was good to you this year, give a little back to the scores of people who have just had life as they know it erased. please.
thanks to everyone who read, made comments on, or otherwise enjoyed my rant. it is now in the text archive if you want to check it out.
Oh ya, Snowboarding is really, really fun. Let's hear it for open mountains and the return of Winter!
Am I talking to you? I’m talking to one person out there, and I’m not sure if it’s you.
I know that right off the bat, 80 percent of the people who click onto my profile won’t read ANYTHING in it, but that’s not who I’m talking to. I don’t need them. I want to talk to the person who reads everything on this profile. Twice. I have something to tell that person, something that is the most important thing they’ll ever hear. Is that you? Are you sure? Ok, then here it is:
Snowboarding is yours.
That’s it. Pretty simple right? Kind of obvious too. But listen to what I’m saying because it matters. When you own something, you take care of it. And a lot of people have worked really hard for this little thing that you own, so I want to make sure that you take care of it.
Sometimes it feels like somebody else is making the rules out there, like Snowboarding is controlled by some rich guys at some big companies, but I guarantee you that is not the case. You own it because you are the one person reading this who cares enough about it to make it your life. Snowboarding isn’t like most other businesses because the act of snowboarding is different. We’re not just selling nuts and bolts, or coffee, or buying and selling stock. We’re letting people in on something really special, and the price of admission is loyalty.
Some of your friends are just doing it because it’s cool right now, some just want to meet girls or meet guys. Some will be over it by the time the season is over, but you will still be thinking about it in August, because you are the one I’m talking to. Everything that happens in snowboarding happens because somebody who loves it makes it happen. When some giant multi-sport corporation comes along to try to take over snowboarding, they will fail because it’s not theirs, it’s yours. They don’t love it, they don’t understand it, and they can’t have it. You have to love this thing to keep it alive, and that means giving it your time. That’s the most important thing. Give your time to snowboarding and you will never go wrong.
That doesn’t even mean you have to ride 300 days a year, because in all seriousness, there are about 8 people in the world who really ride that much. It means that when you have a chance to go on a road trip to ride somewhere new, you say, "I’m IN!". When there is a local contest, you are either in it, shooting photos/videos of it, or you are running the thing. When your parents tell you to get a job, you keep bugging the guy at the local shop till he hires you. Assignments in school, guess what, they’re going to be about snowboarding too. Because when you give snowboarding your time snowboarding becomes yours, and all the corporate marketing in the world can’t change that.
And what does it mean to own something? Well you get to change it however you want. You get to make it into the sport you want it to be. And how do I know that you’ll do the right thing with this precious gift? Because I know you, and I trust you. I know you because I am you. I live it and love it. I’m trying to change it because it needs changing and the time is right.
Is any of this speaking to you? Snowboarding needs you as much as you need it. It needs more people who grew up doing it, and fewer people who saw it for the first time in a marketing proposal. Corporations want to own snowboarding so that they can make it work for them. They’ll turn it into whatever they need to sell more crap to more people. We need to fight them off, with fists and bats if that’s what it takes.
You know how you beat them? Spend your money on brands that give back to snowboarding. Don’t support a company unless they have given something back to your local snowboard community. Do you think some soft drink company is going to sponsor a kid in a small town in Ontario? f*ck them, I’d rather drink water. Write to snowboard companies and ask them who they sponsor in your area. If they say "nobody" ask them "why not?" Local reps should have a budget to take care of at least one amateur rider, if they don’t, then ask them "why not?"
I want you to start thinking about these things every time you pull out your wallet, because the money you spend is your vote in a popularity contest. The only way we’re going to maintain ownership of snowboarding is to vote for the companies who have been in it for the long haul, who understand and support snowboarding at the grass roots, and who are committed to the future.
CONTINUED IN TEXT SCRAPBOOK...
Saturday, October 16, 2004
i went to cuba this summer. some photos of that trip are up today.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
if you are feeling political...
http://home.earthlink.net/~houval/gopconstrm.mov
Saturday, August 28, 2004
can you give a brother a 5? c'mon now.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
the long hot days of summer are upon us. have a mojito, relax, go for a swim. snow will be here soon enough...
food for thought ladies and gentlemen.
http://juliusblog.blogspot.com/2004_08_01_juliusblog_archive.html
summer days, driftin' away.
one new photo from Quebec up today
Home at last from the last road trip of the season. Photos up in a few days. Time to put on some shorts.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
one really important new photo up today.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
one new photo from quebec up today.
i'm back from Quebec. what a great trip. congrats to Etienne and Benji who came first and second in the Empire Shakedown, and thanks to Brendan O'Dowd who puts tons of effort into a great event. Photos up soon.
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