I don’t want this blog entry to sound like I’m trying to toot my own horn or claim anything. I can’t stand “that guy.” So, anyway, the Misses and I had two special guests at the Basher compound this weekend. Mom was our first guest since moving to CO this summer, and she got the house ready for the weekend to come. Two friends were coming from Minneapolis. Joe Sexton and his girlfriend Kim. Always the life of the party, with a smile on his face, we were looking forward to hanging out. With snow on the ground here, and A-Basin and Loveland open, you’d think we were going to shred, but nope. Skating was a better option. Joe was on a bit of a vacation, and CO’s numerous cement parks were calling him. First things first, though. Coincidentally, Friday night after they arrived in Denver, a big premiere was going down. Rome was showing their “Any Means” movie, a small company out of Denver was showing “This Is Not Snowboarding” and Stepchild was showing “Child Support” which Joe had first part in. That was the plan, anyway. Come to find out, “We’re People Too” showed instead of the Stepchild video. Oh well. Lots of people were there. The Denver crowd loves to get into it. WOOOOOOO! The Echo Mountain peeps were there, selling super cheap season passes. Joe’s girlfriend Kim works for Red Bull in Minneapolis, and we ran into Denver Red Bull’s Trevor Gamble and two of the Red Bull girls with their rocket packs full of caffeine. Kristy from Warren Miller and a friend who recently had a bad encounter. Enough about the premieres. The videos were great. Seeing the Rome video for the first time in Tijuana was an experience, but the quality of the projector and sound system here in Denver really did the video justice. Now, time to skate. The weather on Saturday was perfect. 80 and sunny. The last time Joe and I skated was in Whistler a year and a half ago. He’s progressed way more than I have. I guess that’s what happens when you skate every day. We skated around a bit, and headed out to some theme park for some kicks. We started with the go-carts. Joe was hot on winning, but we were racing against a bunch of 12 year-old punk kids. They weighed next to nothing, swerved everywhere, and made our lives miserable. Afterwards, we wanted to find them in the parking lot. Joe didn’t win at go-karts (Kim did), so he wanted to regain his manhood in mini golf. Sure thing. I got a bunch of hole-in-ones. Joe got a bunch of hole-in-twos. Kim and the Misses also got a bunch of hole-in-ones. As for Joe. None. He finished last. I might have a future in golfing. As we were finishing up, a cold front started rolling in. The wind was whipping, so no go on the golf for Joe’s second try at redemption. The next morning, we woke up to a few inches of snow. 80 one day, snowing the next. Welcome to Colorado. George was stoked on the snow. He ate a bunch of it. We went out shopping, since we had made the ladies sit and watch us try to be heroes at the skate park the day before. Since he was in town, we had to stop by the office. Lucky was stoked to see him. This is where I sit every day and try to look busy. Sorry for the mess. We sat and chatted about all things snowboarding, looking forward to shredding this year. Mandatory rider in front of the building photo. Oops. Joe’s festive socks. It was great having Joe out. Like I said before, he’s always great to have around. I hope to get together and ride with him again this winter. He’s a blast to shred with. Since you’ve had to sit and read through all of this sappy shit, here’s some shred shots of Joe. Enjoy. Steve Cartwright and Joe Sexton. Mini-pipe action.