TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Having successfully manualed on the world's smallest skateboarding manual pad numerous times I felt it was time for an upgrade.If this is your first time here, the world's smallest manual pad is basically a small sheet of half inch thick marine ply board roughly one and a half feet by three feet laid flat. It may not actually be the world's smallest manual pad in terms of the height but it's definitely a beginner level skate obstacle.To upgrade it I had some lengths of two by four pinewood beams, that could give my manual pad some perfectly respectable height, without being beyond your average beginner skater who's just learned how to ollie onto a curb.I broke out my jigsaw, drill, and other tools. Scrounged together pretty much all the big nails and screws I had and time lapsed the build. Watch the video below.I didn't really get to skate my new, improved manual pad that day but promised I would in my very next video. Unfortunately skating my new obstacle didn…

Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging.Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake.To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all.Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your designs onto your griptape the ea…

I've been doing backside 180 ollies on my skateboard for almost as long as I've been skateboarding. It's not really that hard a trick to learn, except it is, if you want to do them well.Usually, when I'm practicing my backside 180 ollies on flat, my first attempt will be my best, and then my technique will kind of deteriorate from there. Except for that one jaggy attempt where I successfully land the backside 180 ollie then continue to pivot on my back truck another 180 degrees. Which is only a cool trick if you actually meant to do it.Recently I spent an entire driveway skate session working on my backside 180 ollies. My goal was to get them higher, rotate my body more effectively, and to bend my back leg more (a common problem for most people is not really bending the back leg as you ollie).You can watch my session and decide if I made any progress in the video below.The thing is, I know everything I'm doing wrong with my backside 180 ollies, and what I should be…

Ten plus years ago I used to be a lot more interested in gadgets and hardware, specifically the mythical world of tablet computing (yes, tablets weren't a thing back then but they were on the horizon).Microsoft recently released its new Surface Duo Foldable Phone and I immediately thought this looks incredibly familiar...Back in 2009 Gizmodo uncovered a super secret Microsoft project, the Courier Booklet, a foldable tablet computer that looks remarkably similar in size and appearance (almost down to the hinge even) to the Surface Duo.

Keep in mind that back in 2009, no one, not even Apple, had released any kind of consumer tablet device. Below is a demonstration video that is kind of a case study as to how a designer might have used the Courier Booklet.
As a device for creatives, that seemed to have a pretty accurate stylus, I was very excited about it (as you can read in my article from the time). Had it ever been released I would've seriously considered getting one, even thoug…

Winter has pretty much kept my skateboarding sessions to the driveway where I have a little bit of cover from the wind and rain.I don't really like skating on cold days. I'm not a person who like being in the cold at all. But I don't like going for too long without skating either because it's frustrating to have to relearn how to do tricks I've only just relearned.Anyway, when I have been out in the driveway I've been working on my kickflips and heelflips amongst other things. Below are two driveway session that aren't particularly remarkable but, if you have been following my skateboarding journey, you can see where I'm at with heelflips and kickflips.The videos really speak for themselves. Both sessions were really just running through various tricks I've been trying to see if I could progress with them at all.As Spring rolls around I'm hoping to get out of my driveway a little more often with some street skating adventures. I hope you'll …