My Skating History     In my mission statement, I documented the first few months of my skating experiences.  I noticed I never mentioned the history of skating and it's influences on my life so here goes... I started in 1990, my brother and I rented some while they helped move me into Sun Valley, ID for the summer.  We skated all day and had blisters on our feet at the end of the day.  A year later, I tried them again with a mountain biking friend, Jim Hoffmeister.  he taught me slalom turns, and I realized the impact learning this could have on my skiing, plus I would always die waiting for next winter's snow, so this seems like a perfect fill-in.  Soon after, I was in the Air Force, living in Las Vegas.   Not having my bike and not having a car, I had to walk all around base.  I noticed the blacktops of the flightline were extremely smooth at the ends of the runways where the aircraft landed.  Well, when you got 2 miles of blacktop in Vegas, it can get 20-30 degrees hotter than the rest of the surrounding areas.  The rubber melts into the cracks of the exposed areas of blacktop, creating a smooth "rink-like" surface, except its in public.  Immediately afterwards, I noticed the same effects on car tires, the heat of summer, and blacktops of thousands of parking lots.  Perfect for skating!  My next check, I bought Lightning 608's, the only ones at the time almost.  Green fluorescent and black.  The mission statement starts and ends there. After the Air force, I moved to Salt Lake, which had a mix of horrible snow cracked sidewalks and perfectly smooth blacktops since it had both weather extremes.  I started skating at the U, which is the University of Utah.  That place rocked, and still does.  there was all kinds of terrain, and a bus to take you to the top of the medical center and skate miles while descending about 1000 vertical feet.  That was my stomping ground from late 1992 to late 1995, when I decided to move to California and try to go pro. I never made pro, but did compete in several street events, until I discovered the half pipe.  I was addicted and to this day, prefer dropping in on a 12 foot ramp to just about anything else sportswise.  I broke 3 ribs in a terrible fall on a street rail, close to home about that time too.  After six months of healing, I stopped jumping onto rails.  It was a mix of losing interest, the horrible fall, the fun not there, and discovering the real fun of a half pipe.  Soon after, that's all I did.  I still rode street, mainly because I lived in the skating parallel of skiing Utah powder.  The Walnut Creek area is all hi-tech, ritzy, like a miniature Beverly Hills.  From my front door, I could skate in endless directions.  My "skate park" estimated in at over 40 acres right outside my house!  And to add to that, BART was right there, taking me to San Francisco, the skating Mecca of NorCal.  Who would have guessed?  After moving to California for skating, I moved back to Utah for skiing in the winter of 2002-2003.  Now I live near the Sierra's, close enough to ski, and close to Roseville, the fastest growing city in California, which means tons of skating places all nice and smooth!  I skipped thousands of stories in writing this, but that's the main timeline.  My skills are a result of my background, which is why I can teach anything.  I started out skating for cross training and a walking alternative, and ended up mixing skating with skiing as a way of life, a way to feel free, alive, and amazing.  Skiing and skating, done the way I teach, is absolute and pure freedom!!!