Off the grid.

So most of last week was spent deep in the coast of Baja, Mexico with Rob, Evan, Chief and Brendan living, well, off the grid so to say.

We headed down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for our annual Director's Retreat to get away from the trappings of the daily office routine and handle some serious business. Our place was located an hour away from the closest civilization (down a dirt road that you'd swear you were never going to come back from), and was completely self sufficient, energy-wise. The place was called Casa Kash and it lived up to it's name by having every amenity you could hope for.

Evan (above) and Rob (below), cooking up some serious plans.

The best amenity however, was it's close proximity to Shipwreck, one of the best surf breaks in Mexico. Each morning before meeting time, and every evening after, we'd make the short 10 minute walk to one of the most fun waves you could ever surf.

All in all lots of business was handled, lots of waves were surfed, and most of all, lots of homemade guacamole was consumed.

These batteries below kept things running. Literally. That, two 15 foot solarpanels, and a diesel generator for backup.

Pepito

Just in case you were really stumped about what to bring your kid home
as a gift from Cabo next time you swing through.

You know, if you're not going for the whole "self esteem" thing.

Brace for takeoff.

Racy.

I would have to say this was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen in person. We rolled out of San Clemente around 10am on the one day that it has rained here in the past 5 months. As you can imagine, gridlock was the order of the day on the 5 South. After taking almost 2 hours to get to Cardiff, we pulled off for some quick lunch and considered pulling the plug.


After seeing that the weather was getting better, we pushed on to Coronado Island to watch the Red Bull Air Race from the other side of the harbor. Parking was a mess, but after securing a spot about 8 blocks away, we headed down to the harbor to watch things go down.


The planes are only about 10-20 feet off of the water at any given time, so it is pretty up close and personal. We wanted to get the chance to see it since they change up the venues every year. The funny thing is, the best pilot still flies for Southwest airlines as his day job. Makes you think twice about those guys' skills.

On a side note, Red Bull has WAY too much cash. One of the stunts of the day included a helicopter that can fly upside down, as well as an intricate skydiving stunt where they pretty much fooled the crowd into thinking that one of the jumpers parachutes did'nt open. Yeah, sweet.


I'm pretty confident in saying that I've been in helicopters enough to know that this would pretty much be terrifying.

Stretch Out & Wait

Totally Tubular.

In keeping with the Japan theme, check out this video of a wave pool in Japan. And I thought Trestles was crowded. Damn.

Vend o Matic.

I stumbled across this today while searching around. This guy has taken a picture of the same vending machine in Japan every day for nearly the past two years.

Seems a little crazy but I, more than most, can appreciate the obsession. You can't walk more than 50 feet in Japan without seeing a vending machine, and they are always clean and fully functional. You can buy soup, hot and cold tea, french fries, magazines, beer, and pretty much anything else at any time of the day or night. In the winter months, it is great to grab a couple of hot Royal Milk Teas to stuff in your pockets and keep yourself warm and toasty while sneaker shopping.

Air Race

Hitting this up tomorrow. So hyped to see this in person. Pics to come after the event. Obviously.

San Genius

It's that wonderful time of the year when LES's finest EYEtalians set-up shop to cook up some marvelous shit. Summer is always a good time with all the random parades & street festivals where you can grab some meat-sicles and sweet corn. However, the Feast of San Gennaro is the SHIT. Where else can you grab some Cannolis, Toasted Raviolis and Sausage & Peppers with such Ginny authenticity with the slight crispness of fall in the air? I love me some Flip food, but true Italian food is where it's at.

Oddly enough, this feast of Little Italy has created some seriously random craze in the past few years. I don't know about all these fried desserts: Fried Oreos, Fried Snickers, Corn Dogs? All this bullshit that you see at the Jersey Shore on that random afternoon you head down to escape some summer swamp ass. In any case, why even bother? Fucking Zeppolis kill all that mess.

Whatevs. I hit up SG for the first time this week with my brotha from a different motha, PZA PIZZ. Always down for a good meal, we chomped down on some Rice Balls topped with a Choclolate Cannoli. I swear I f'n love that shit and will probably eat there every day until the final day on Sunday which will be a blowout.

Oddly enough, the powers above have done away with the alcoholic beverages once offered. Sure you can go into any random bar, but it was fun to walk around with a Peroni & watch all the real drunks try and stand up. The funniest moment was when my friends and I got to the intersection of Kenmare & Mulberry only to be greeted to a seriously hammered drunk chick on the opposite side of the street. She was rocking one of those "Hypercolor" pullovers and had one of those thin tall clear purple glasses probably filled with Pina Colada, Bahama Mama or some other tequila based bullshit. She started bobbing and weaving and eventually blasted up a stomach full of clams and resort drink all over the street. The whole crowd including the cops and her friends fucking laughed and cheered. She then took a big swig from her stupid party glass, rinsed her nasty grill out, and burped hella loud. Fucking hilarious.

Weekly Banger #32

Normally disabled, enjoy one of the classic jams from the summer of 2001.

Weekly Banger #31

Yet anotha stunna from that same summer with a F-A-B collab.

Fired Up

Twice in the last few weeks cabs have been found to suddenly burst into flames. I would think the summer madness with soaring temps, continuous AC blasting, and 12 hour days would cause such craze, but it's happened during some beautifully mild weather that we have been experiencing.

But next time you hop into a cab, think twice about dozing off  because you could get caught up in a burning yellow toaster with your driver, Hadji, running down the street yelling, "It wasn't me, yo"!

DOPE.

Forest Hills Stop on the E Train

Anytime you are down on something at work, think of the guy that has
to pull a 12 hour shift in this cubbyhole. From my calculations, you
have about 2 feet in any direction to move. Add this to huffing subway
fumes all day and you have a job worse than just about anything. Oh
yeah, and you make about $45 a day if you are lucky. Things didn't go
that bad for you in that meeting today after all did they buster?

Make sure you tip these guys next time.

Stoops #43

Despite the rigorous testing done by PC WORLD, apparently the iPHONE isn't resistant to a bowl of HoneyComb cereal.

I swear Jesus just straight hates on me for my perpetual clowning of retards, Mexicans, and Haitan cab drivers. But instead of slowly torturing me ever other day for the next 50 years, I wish he would just off me "Final Destination" style. His final joke will probably be letting me live well into my 100s, crying myself to sleep every night with a loose asshole.



Hey, ay least the price of iPHONEs went down to $399, two weeks after I just bought mine for $599. Awesome!

Hot and salty.

Labor Day Jam

You got it dude!

Blast from the Past.

I used to see this at least 6 times a day on Channel 49, usually during GI Joe or Inspector Gadget.