New Shoes

Saturday I picked up a new pair of the newest top Nike shoe, the Hyperdunk. The hype behind these was that they are the lightest basketball shoe ever made. I'm usually never one to believe the hype till I try it out. To many gimmicks. If you can jump, you can jump. Shoes won't make you Jordan or Kobe(if that's why you're buying shoes you need to invest some money into seeing a shrink instead). Playing ball is the only way to get better. Shoes won't change a thing.

That being said the advertising behind these(which has been pulled but can be found on youtube) is that you'll be dunking all over the place. Just about every Olympic basketball team had them too. Different countries all had their colors. So I was intrigued as to how good of a shoe they were with so much advertising and money put into it.

The first thing I noticed as I opened the box were the clear sides of the shoe. Looking closer you could see the threading that ran through it. Interesting. The next thing that really struck me was when I pulled one out of the box how light it was. The ads weren't joking, it was light.

But I still didn't have it on my foot. So I slid em on and laced them up. Stood up and walked around to get a feel. Felt pretty good, a little stiff but that would go away in a few games. Most shoes need some breaking in anyhow. So I bought them and walked out the store.

The real test was last night. The first on court testing. They didn't fail. In fact they've got to be one of my favorite pairs I've ever had. They were grippy but not overly so. The had some ankle support but not to much so they stayed loose. They also were really cushy for being so light. Two things that I thought would happen were one, they wouldn't absorb impact being light, and two the material the sides were made from would either be weak and scratch and scuff easy or too rigid. They were perfect and in all honesty it felt like I was barefoot.

I'd highly recommend these shoes to anyone playing basketball. They easily surpassed my expectations.

Sketches

Another sketch. Quick little color one I call Dave's Wave. Beginning of a wave breaking, so many possibilities.

More testing with the Water Housing

So the last few weekends of summer where on the way and I wanted to test out my water housing a little more before going into the ocean with it. This is at my favorite pool. I'm not going to say where it is, because anyone who knows me most likely knows where it is. Not as much swimming, just kinda seeing if it works at different depths. And the results were pretty good. Also a new intro. Please excuse the blocky-ness of the video. Underwater doesn't compress all that well.

Art and Sketches

Another part of the reason I started this blog was to get myself drawing more. In recent years(about the past two) I haven't been drawing enough. So one of the topics I thought would be fun is a weekly, or bi weekly sketch. Nothing to fancy just some quick ideas. Here's the first couple with more to come.

Elizabeths Birthday Party

The video everyones been waiting for......

Swimming

I picked up the Flip water housing recently. Actually after seeing that they made a water housing for the flip for not too much money, I thought about buying it for months. I finally picked it up about two weeks ago, and after testing it in the sink I took it to the pool. Now was the real test. Would it leak!? I was hoping the answer was no. Turns out it didn't and there was no distortion of any kind from the housing itself. It worked great. The shots in this aren't the greatest. I need to find a way to anchor myself to the bottom and shoot from there so I'm not so close. That'll happen on the next test run....

What Happened?

So summer seems to have come and gone. Some people have been asking why I haven't been updating my blog. Well for one I told myself I'd do this when I found the time and would make sure it would stay a fun project. I didn't want to feel that I had to do this. That brings me to the fact that I've been working some pretty long hours, trying to finish a backyard patio, and have several freelance projects on the table all at once(as I write this I'm working on one). I'm also trying to squeeze in time to share with my wife, and some time for me to just relax. All in all it's been a really, really busy summer.

What has happened? Well my wife had a birthday(Video will be going up later tonight). In July some of our friends planned a party in which we rented out the Baltic room. Did I mention it was a surprise? We all met at Christopher's apartment and waited....and waited.....and waited a little more for her to show. Then SURPRISE!!!!! As she walked through the door of the apt the look of shock was something that words can't describe. Later that night we proceeded to dance, laugh and just have fun at the Baltic. Thanks to everyone for everything that they did. It was great, and couldn't of happened without you guys!

Elizabeth and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary this august! We made reservations at the Salish Lodge right next to Snoqualmie Falls. It was one of the best places I've stayed. They had a list of sixteen different pillows you could choose from if you didn't like the one that came with the room. Sixteen! Elizabeth ordered the lavender pillow, and I tried one called the Zen, I believe. Elizabeth's obviously smelled like lavender, mine had magnets in it that were supposed to help your neck or back. Can't tell if it helped but I slept great. Our room was so nice. Fireplace, jacuzzi bath, french doors that opened to the back trail to the falls. Just perfect. The lodge itself was just as nice. It's whole interior had a wood/nature look and smelled like fresh cut lumber. There was room service and a spa(we didn't try either but maybe next time). It was definitely a five star accommodation. The next day we woke up and hiked down to the falls. It was easy going down(it's all downhill) but the way back was a little tougher(uphill). It was well worth the hike though, and if anyone is looking to get away for a weekend, I would recommend this place easily. Even though the place was so nice the best thing about the whole weekend was getting away with my wife and not having to worry about, or do anything.

So thats pretty much about it. Other than that just like I said above working a bunch, trying to get the backyard done. So theres an update.....hopefully I won't let things go this long again.