Snowboarder Magazine

2000–2002

The two years I was in Orange County crawled by. My heart was in the magazine, but it sure wasn’t in living down there under all that sun.

In late 1999, I got a call from Dave Sypniewski about working at Transworld Snowboarding in Oceanside. Just wasn’t feeling that one and politely declined. I was more of a Snowboarder guy, myself. Transworld sent riders to Russia. Snowboarder sent riders to Idaho. That was a bit more my speed.

So when Mark Sullivan called, I couldn’t help but jump at it. I was happy in Minneapolis and so excited to see what my work life would be like once I got done with MCAD. And then I go and throw it all away and accept a position with the magazine? As a kid who grew up reading Snowboarder, I had to.

So I hauled it all down there in a Ryder truck in April of 2000. And it was bittersweet. Hell, I still had one semester go at MCAD in the fall, but finagled leaving early into an official externship. The whole journey there, my mind raced with what Southern California would be like? I had quickly whipped through it just once, but only the very edge of Los Angeles.

I arrived to a chilly night. The next morning was the same, until that marine layer burned off. Then it was blue bird skies for day, with that hot sun beating down on you from every angle. I’d learn to loathe that beauty.

Everything was expensive. People drove like animals. Plastic surgery faces flipped me off with my cruise control set at 88. Overpriced apartments. Gated communities. Sun, sun and sun. And for fucks sake, I could give two shits less about surfing.

But I fell in with the crew, enjoying the pace and so proud of our output. Got sent to New Zealand on many “work trips” to Mammoth, Wolf Creek, Vermont and Las Vegas.