in the span of a week

these last seven days i've flown quite a bit. los angeles to new jersey, then onwards to edinburgh, then right back down the same way to los angeles. i then flew to san francisco for a sound gig and now im getting ready to fly to new york for a weekend of tribeca madness. im tired, im slightly tipsy, and i have no idea how im still awake. im hoping that i get some sleep on this redeye, which for those who know me know that it's not a difficult thing. lots of nerves and excitement are running through me and im just glad and extremely thankful to my Creator that i have the ability to enjoy all of the blessings given to me. 

and finally the clouds broke

i havent been in vancouver for more than 48 hours and already i was beginning to doubt the existence of our nearest star. my fears were put to rest today as the sun finally showed its glorious face. it didnt come out in the full southern california splendor that im usually accustomed to, no it was more of a gentle seductive tease with clouds lingering behind covering just enough but by late afternoon the clouds were tossed to the side and the sun was out.

i had just met with dwayne earlier in the morning in the city of new westminster, which is about 40 minutes away from downtown vancouver. dwayne works as an a/v tech for douglas college, which is where we met-up. we chatted a bit and then he showed me around his department and all of his cool audio gear. finally we got to the heart of it: the craigslist comeup. i tested the comtek transmitter, receiver and plugged in dougs ipod for signal; it was all gravy. the deal was done

it was 2:30pm and i was on a different bus this time headed to trew audio. i was looking to make another sound purchase when i saw that the sun was finally out. i quickly looked up the time of sunset and it had it at 5:27pm. i did the math and i had to make a choice: buy another piece of sound gear or get off and hop on another bus in hopes to see a vancouver sunset. it was tough choice.
sounds like im out of control but im not, its just that the canadian dollar is pretty weak right now or is it that the american dollar is strong?
i dont know but what i do know is that tomorrow is never promised and if today were to be my last, id like to know that i saw a great sunset.

i ran out of the bus and luckily i was few blocks away from the express 257 bus that sends you north about an 1 hour and 40 something minutes to a neat town called horseshoe bay.
the bus dropped me off in a random turnabout in a residential neighborhood. 2 kilometers of downhill walking later and i finally found what i was looking for. 

craigslist come-up: vancouver

i just arrived in seattle a few moments ago and things are barely beginning to make sense. i had the whole row on the flight up here and the last thing i remember is the retreating santa monica shore line. the past 3 days ive worked 16-hour shifts so i dont know how i even managed to get up this morning. my alarm went off at 4am, the second at 4:35am and after changing my mind a thousand times i finally got myself up, showered, packed and hit the road. 

if you know me you know that i love my sleep. i cherish my sleep dearly so why you might ask would i subject myself to so much misery. well, 

if theres one thing i do love more or equally as much is finding a great deal. oh, and travel, travel also. so when these three passions of mine come together its a beautiful thing. unfortunately sleep had to take one for the team but its all good; ive never been to vancouver and i keep hearing great things. 

the remnants of jonas

last night as my flight from cleveland began to climb above the cold remnants of jonas, i took a glance at my google calendar to realize how little of january i had left. 

had it really been 3 weeks?

i spent most of it living inside a cuban bubble mixing sound in the beautiful city of havana but now that ive been back i keep trying to pick up the fresh scent of 2016 slowly realizing that its gone and that the year has marched on ahead of me.

i sat on my non-reclining middle seat with these thoughts. i tried to sleep them away but i couldnt. i found that i had several podcasts saved on my phone and for the next few hours i began to listen to the kind, gentle, and wise words of alistair begg and r.c. sproul. ironically both of them were speaking on the futility of life and both were teaching from the book of ecclesiastes. the term living under the sun was thrown around, which simply states that without purpose everything we as human beings do and acquire is meaningless; that in essence we are all just useless passions.

https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/the-search-for-satisfaction/
http://renewingyourmind.org/broadcasts/2015/09/01/vanity-of-vanity

useless passions? seems kind of harsh. well, it can be but luckily we all have a hope and its found in Christ. apart from Him we are all left to our own devices, which according to the author of ecclesiastes all leads to vanity of vanities. most of the tough and painful lessons that ive learned were all caused by my own vanity.
it was great to hear sproul and begg put things into perspective and as we began our initial descent the rumblings inside my soul began to settle. it seemed like a few moments later but as i drove on the 105 i began to think of 2016 and the path that was laid before me, which at the moment was the on-ramp to the 710 freeway.

one step at a time 

unfinished business: cuba

6 months and a new year later and i'm back in miami international getting ready to board a flight to the island. there's unfinished business for the amigo skate crew and for the next two weeks we're going to try and unravel what the impact of the lifting of the us cuba embargo has done to the local skate scene and in a greater scheme the people. i'm excited to sweat & break bread with my good cuban kin. 

what would become of him

the world he knew changed. he wasnt quite sure how but it was gone.

back then impulse and desperation had a strong hold of the boy and as the jubilee of his decision finally settled he felt the sting of a very obvious conclusion.
the morning after he walked inside a post office and handed a pair of 2x2 portraits along with a form. he stood and he waited as the agent lazily inspected and shuffled the forms.
"ok, everything's here." the boy's jaw relaxed and breath returned to him.
he was a few steps towards the exit when the agent hollered "expect your passport in about a month" his spirit was crushed, you could see it on his shoulder; the weight of everything he was fleeing from, all of it on him pressing down. 
the next two weeks a popcorn ceiling and a rusted mailbox syndicated themselves in the life of the boy. he somehow managed to come up with the extra cash to get things expedited but deep down he knew there'd be no guarantee. again and once again he was left at the mercy of his Creator.  

he woke up late one cold january morning 2 days before the big day. the popcorn ceiling looked the same and he was afraid the mailbox would give him a similar greeting. he was at the front door when his mother stopped him; she handed him the envelope not knowing if her son would ever return    

a wrap on the vx launch of maui

just finished checking-in the last few maui guests bound for san francisco and i'm throughly BEAT.
earlier today, 5 minutes into opening the ticket counter, our entire system came crawling to a halt.

an hour goes by and still nothing. at this point we're about to start checking-in guests the old school way, which is hand writing manual boarding passes and bag tags. luckily our IT team found a fix moments before we pulled the trigger and we quickly checked everyone in. 

our entire VX team at OGG stepped up big time and we were able to knock out the whole flight way before we even began boarding.

this whole day has been nuts. our inaugural flight from sfo to ogg landed at 1340 and you could sense the jitters; not just from our own vx team, but from the rest of the ogg vendors around. our bird landed and was greeted by two water cannons provided by the ogg fire dept.

it was a beautiful sight to see, especially with the backdrop of the mountain accompanied by blue covered skies and fluffy clouds lingering behind.

im here for another 3 days and now that the biggest hump is behind us, i think ill start exploring a bit more and start working on my tan.

mahalo!