Heard?

Trade show season is upon the snowboard industry, and I just happen to get back from the 1st one of the year not 2 hours ago. I was in this place overlooked by time called "Sacramento". I say overlooked because it felt like we were in the stone age since none of us had reliable internet access. The hotel's wi-fi sucked hard. Very very hard. Even though I'm a 'new guy' being that this is only my 2nd year on the road, and that I represent the youngest brand, I'm getting the feeling that this rep circuit is like a traveling circus. Reps from all the major snowboard and outerwear/accessory companies rock on up to a new town, new venue every week. We set up our booths which we will call home and office for the next 3 days. We shmooze and sell crap to a bunch of people that we may or may not actually like, then tear it all down as fast as we can and rock out of there. Next week, same deal. All the way to March. For me and Automaton's agenda, I'm cutting the trade shows short. I just did my first and last indoor show this week. I'll be in Vegas for SIA, not to exhibit, but to maintain industry presence (read: shmooze). Then the on-snow demo at Mammoth during the b-day week. We're planning on throwing a joint Automaton, Grenade, and Retard Riot event in Reno. And for good measure, I'd like to throw an exclusive Automaton demo event at a Tahoe resort with all sorts of good fun crap to go along.

The one good thing about getting out of Truckee is that rain doesn't bum me out so much. The other good thing is that there's cultural eats. I ate at this Vietnamese restaurant 3 times in 3 days during the Sac show. I've eaten a lot of Vietnamese food in my life, and this joint is honestly one of the better ones. If you're in Sac and want to taste a light, southeast Asian cuisine, hit up Saigon Bay on Howe St., heard?