Why I became a librarian, one of my best decisions

Posted on by

3

Thinking about proposed budget cuts, new technology issues, and other issues in the profession I thought I’d take the time to simply write about why I became a librarian, and how that turned out roughly a decade after I made that decision.

Graduating from college I simply did not have enough work experience for a variety of reasons. I had fast food, grocery store, pizza delivery, and few other short-term jobs, but nothing for a long period. I think most employers like to see a person working for the same company for a year or longer, it shows that you can work and stick with a job. With a BA in English I didn’t know what to do other than I didn’t want to go to graduate school for an English program and I didn’t want to be an insurance agent. In fall of 2000 after a summer of temp work I was hired for that holiday season at Barnes & Noble. That job helped my development as a person and as a worker. I became friends with several staff, learned a lot, and got continual work experience. I worked at the store full time for a few years and then part time until 2004. Working there I met two retired librarians, Mark, and Mary. Talking to them I became aware of the career. Soon I talked to one of my friend’s mother who was an academic librarian.  At a wedding I had a conversation with a librarian. At my sister’s wedding my mom’s best friend from Vietnam came. This family friend was a librarian during Vietnam and I thought that interesting. All the librarians I came across seemed smart and happy to me. I meant disgruntled lawyers, doctors, and MBA types. I realized from liking books and interactions with customers at the bookstore, librarianship was something I could do. And librarianship was a career, not simply a job.

At first I tried out the distance program at Kent State part time while I worked full time at the bookstore.  In summer 2003 I saw I could finish quicker if I moved to Kent State and worked toward the degree full time. I was a commuter student through college so that year turned out to be my carefree party days that students away from home go through. I also applied for a paraprofessional job at the Kent Free Library. I did not get that job, but they offered me a job as a page that I accepted. That was good to get library experience. During my last semester I also completed a 100 hours and some more at the library desk at Kent State, and I wrote a paper on that experience. I gained good experience from the page job and the university desk, but side-by-side I preferred the public library. So my focus on my job search was public libraries.

That summer, 2004, I charged a ticket to Orlando to the ALA conference. I talked to several systems and Queens was one of them. Even though one of my sisters lives in NYC I never really thought of moving there myself. But after talking to Queens Library I felt excited about it. About a month later I had the interview, and I started shortly after. Also my best friend from Kent State got a job there too, and we are still roommates 8 years later.

I felt that I found the career I wanted, a good fit for me. I felt fortunate to land a professional job, and nervous at the same time. Working for Queens Library and living in New York City has been great. Daily I get satisfaction with helping people, learning new things, and having more discussions about books than the average person. I’ve kept up my personal reading habits because my work surrounds me with other people who care about books. I kept up my writing ambitions because I’m in a profession that promotes intellectual freedoms and lifelong learning.

I had an excitement when my career started as a librarian, and I hope funding will increase when the economy gets better so future librarians can get the same satisfaction of finding a good fit for a career. Barring a lay off, closings, or other negative thing, and on the positive side winning the lottery or becoming a bestselling author I fully expect to have a career as a librarian. I might not read up on every issue of library journal, or attend conferences but librarianship is what I want to do and where I want to be.

Yesterday on May 17th, we had our Boardwalk Rally for Books in the Rockaways. The weather was perfect, and the rally went smoothly. It took a lot of work from all the libraries down there, and it was good to see people appreciate the libraries. Along the walk several people that we passed gave us a thumbs up and encouragement.  That was my biggest contribution to the advocacy this year. But I do plan to go the Urban Librarians Unite 24 hour read in on June 9th to June 10th.

After tomorrow I’m going on vacation for a full two weeks, and I’m taking a break from my blog. I’m also going to try to do less computer stuff in general while I’m away. I suggest librarian workers, supporters, start writing up blogs about libraries. Someone might know a good twitter hashtag combo to get a lot more people to see it. If you like writing give this a try, the word of these proposed cuts need to be known by as many New Yorkers as possible

NYT talks of skaters 45 and older, here is a reason 30 somethings skate, we changed the game 20 years ago.

Posted on by

0

New York Times wrote an article about aging skaters, and followed with a debate forum on their website. The article highlighted skaters aged 45 and older that are getting into long boarding. Skating started to really become popular in the 70’s so my friend pointed out some kept skating, and it’s not a midlife crises or anything like that. At age 35, I’m glad I skate, and I am passionate about it. For this entry I’ll highlight 4 videos that came out in my youth that shaped the sport from a ramp type style to street skating. People who are now in their mid to late thirties were the first generation of street skaters. It was exciting to be part of it, and I have a lot of fond memories. Every video back  then displayed new tricks, and had a progression.

‘Hokus Pokus’ by H-Street came out in 1989.  By that time I had been skating for a year or so. I could ollie, perhaps kickflip, I could do some curb tricks, but I was really sketchy. Nonetheless I was obsessed with skating. I remember at my middle school lunch table with my skate friends discussing this video. It came out but no one had it yet. I remember my friend Chris said there was no way it could be better than the company’s 1988 release ‘Shackle Me Not’ Perhaps JJ was the debater that ‘Hokus Pokus’ was better than ‘Shackle Me Not.’  Soon enough my parents bought me a copy, perhaps it was the first skate video I owned, I think I watched that every day for a year. I was mesmerized, and they were doing tech tricks I didn’t know were possible.  I remember showing it to my dad, and he was impressed too even though by the end of the video he was asleep. I connected to the video watched it a lot.

Here is Sal Barbier’s part that is the first part in ‘Hokus Pokus’ a video that is now 23 years old:

Flash forward two years to 1991.  I borrowed my friend’s, JJ, copy of Blind’s ‘Video Days,’ which has been claimed to be the best historic skate video of all time.  Like with the H-Street video in 1989 I was obsessed with it.  Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson, Jason Lee, and Mark Gonzales all skated on a new level. Switch stance skating was introduced. The video is only about twenty minutes long, and that much easier to watch repeatedly. I was still sketchy, but I defined myself as a skater by that point  in 1991. To this day I feel bad I never returned ‘Video Days’ to JJ and like a year later loaned it to someone who never returned it to me.

Here is Jason Lee’s part from ‘Video Days’

1992, the year of the pressure flip, baggy clothes, and the year that Plan B’s ‘The Questionable Video’ came out. This bought in tech skating, and big skating to a whole new level. Watching this compared to videos from just a year prior it seems like a new standard came about over night. I watched this every day for like a year too. My favorite parts were Mike Carrol’s, Rick Howard’s, Pat Duffy’s, Colin McCay’s, Sean Sheffey’s, Sal Barbier, and Danny Way. Sometimes I’d watch the whole thing. I remember my dad was impressed with this video too. It was something new and exciting. Today some adult skaters older than me ride boards from the 1980’s and are nostalgic for that era.  To me the transition from ramp skating to street skating had to happen and is the reason skating is around today. To be able to take your board anywhere, to any city, and skate the terrain makes it doable worldwide. This video has significance for me, because that summer in 1992 we moved from suburban Baltimore to Toledo Ohio.  At first when I moved I’d watch this video everyday, and skate the Rossford Ohio spots mostly by myself. That was when I got good from watching the video and going out everyday that summer and practicing all the new flip tricks. That fall my skate network in Toledo expanded greatly, but for about a month or more of solo skating really helped my skills.

Here is Rick Howard’’s part from ‘The Questionable Video,’ a video that is twenty years old.

Youtube says this came out in 1992, but I’m not so sure. Maybe it came out in fall or late 1992. ‘Tim and Henry’s Pack of Lies’ was a preview for the upcoming Blind Video and only 8 minutes long. I watched this everyday. Tim Gavin’s part is really good, and Henry Sanchez’s part is unbelievable. I had this VHS in heavy rotation. Even though some of the tricks in this are on curbs and low curbs are not in the pro level videos anymore, the trick variety has stood the test of time. When the Ozzy Osboune music starts to Henry Sanchez’s part he is going a million miles an hour and does a switch kickflip bigspin, and that would turn heads today.

Here is ‘Tim and Henry’s Pack of Lies.’

Lastly, here is the links to the New York Times articles on aging skaters from yesterday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/fashion/skateboarding-past-a-midlife-crisis.html

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/10/hip-or-about-to-break-a-hip/skate-old-or-die

Fifty Percent of Circulation is DVDs, and That is Okay For Now

Posted on by

7

On last week’s library blog post my friend Joe gave me a challenge on his comment. He suggested I write about why no one states that fifty percent of circulation at one of the NYC library systems is Multi Media. Multi Media includes DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks. I will take on his question as best I can, and talk broader about circulation as a judgment factor for libraries.

I’m sure Joe checked his stats and I’ll take it as truth that half of what a major library system checks out is multi media.  Traditionally the push for libraries is to check out books, we help develop readers. By the shear size of the system in question with a total yearly circulation of over twenty million items, chopping that in half to ten million for printed materials is still not shabby. So if you think of that way that so much bulk is checked out, the fact that a majority of it might be DVDs is not that bad.

I hardly ever check out DVDs, I’m not a movie person, and I consider myself a reader. According to my book log, where I duly note every book read, I read about an average of thirty books a year. That is a little more that a book every two weeks.  With rare exceptions like gifts, I check out the majority of the books I read. I feel that as a library worker I should utilize the library, but with one or two books on my card I’m not really contributing to circulation. Now consider a movie fan, if they still use DVDs will check out five to ten movies for a weekend. It takes about two to three hours to watch a movie, whereas a book can take a day to months to finish.  A library patron that is into movies will check out a lot more DVDs that than the average reader or even a person that reads a lot.

In defense of movies it falls under the umbrella or ‘recreational’ services to the community.  That is a valid reason to use the library. If someone checks out five DVDs for a weekend they can entertain their family for free.  Netflicks, and Itunes are not free, and not everyone has a computer to download movies. Some people have no interest in computers, and we are not there yet to expect everyone to have access to things like movies and music only through computers.

For my first library blog entry this year, I asked people not to judge libraries with predictions of the future. We are being used heavily now, and that is what should matter for funding. But as a profession, our colleagues should think over some of these predications, especially with technology.  That is the core of why my friend Joe thinks that having fifty percent of circulation being multi media is a problem. In fall I got an Imac. I downloaded a few skate videos on Itunes, and it is easy to use. It will get easier and more available as time goes on. Some people are predicting that within five years they won’t make physical DVDs anymore, and that includes BlueRay. Currently DVDs make circulation numbers extremely high and that will eventually become less and less. Ereaders will effect the circulation to print materials as well.

My answer to that is that circulation may not be the most important thing for libraries. Children’s, teens and adults will need materials to supplement their education. The format might change, but librarians will need to be aware of basic needs for the communities. For some needs instead of materials perhaps programming or classes can be offered.  Information needs to be accessed and accessible. Librarians can help people with the information they need, or people should be able to access it on their own too.  I also think with the information part of services that providing local history has a place in libraries. Lastly providing recreational services might change from DVDs to video game programming, or whatever is popular.

All of the libraries core services can still be provided to communities with out emphasize on physical items going out of the library. Circulation is really just a number, one year the circulation went from twenty million to twenty one million and that was a success. Both seem like large numbers to me.

I think a more important factor is gate count and program attendance.  How many people go through the library each day, how long do they stay, and what do they do while they are there? Those are questions worth thinking about. I believe gate count is continuing to increase yearly. That’s a good thing

Slappy Sunday, and filming an edit on May 6, 2012

Posted on by

0

I heard about Slappy Sundays on NY Skateboarding facebook feeds.  I’ve gone four times now and it’s a great thing. Originally it started in San Diego, NYC was added, and I think more places might start it. A slappy is a trick from the late 1980’s and it’s basically grinding on a curb without ollieing into it. So as you can imagine in 2012 this is kind of a retro thing, and old dudes like myself have fun with it. The NYC Slappy Sundays meets at Astor Square near NYU at 3 on Sundays.

I feel with this I’m meeting more NYC skaters my age, and more people that have been involved in the scene. And today I got a few slappy grinds, it’s a trick that had it’s hey day before I really got into skating. Also I don’t know why people stopped skating curbs, they are fun and easy to find. I saw some good skating, but I didn’t feel out of place with my intermediate level of skating. About an hour into the session I went across the street to a coffee place to use the bathroom, and I waited at least 20 minutes. When I came back to the session people were leaving, apparently the cops told everyone to move it along. I think it was more the twenty skaters, and probably noticeable to people in the area. But it was a lot of fun, and I’ll go the sessions in June if they are still going on.

I didn’t skate that much by the time it broke up, and wanted to skate more. I decided to scoot over to the Tribeca skate park in Peir 25 by the water.  Along the way I started to take photos, and I found this one empty and curving side street. So I shot film simple riding down the street. The commute was longer than I thought so I took several photos and along the bike path recorded film while skating. At Tribeca I did not get much actual skating. My friend Sam almost got a big ollie from the A-frame to the flat bottom, but a broken board ended his session.

I was not sure if I should make an edit of the day, or wait on the footage. Working in Imovie was a lot simpler this time because there was less footage. So I made an edit, and put a fun song to it. The overall look of it I like with the photos and the parts that I’m skating on the road or the bike trail. So in the future I’ll need to be sure to take photos, and decide how much I want them to be skate videos or simply images that I like. Also maybe I don’t need to make them in one day.

Libraries Can Greatly Help A lot Of Individuals, But Can’t Be Expected To Affect Everyone.

Posted on by

2

People in this country, the USA, have choices and the right to make choices. Other than mandatory schooling for kids, not much is a requirement. There is no service by the government that people are forced to utilize. People have to obey the law, but if the law is obeyed people have choices on how to live their lives. People can utilize things like the public library or not, it is up to the individual person. Every four years for the presidential election only a little more than half of the eligible voters even vote. For something that advertised, promoted, and in the public eye people have the right not to vote.  I’m trying to point out that public libraries cannot expect to engage everyone in their perspective communities or in New York City or in this country. I think the important thing to evaluate is how library services affect those who decide to use the resources, and that potential impact makes the institution worth funding far into the future.

Last week on my entry called, ‘Don’t Judge Libraries with Future Forecasts’ in the comment section my friend Joe and I got into a debate. Over the course of the comment slinging he asked a question: What can the library do for a self reliant, technically savvied, and educated person? I fumbled around an answer that the free resources available are still the most important service for an educated person. My uncle sent me an email of how he looked at special collections through a public library, and those specific documents he was looking for he could not find elsewhere. So I would add potential research can be valuable for educated people through the library. When I had dinner with my sister we discussed my blog entry, and she said the comments added to my blog and got people to read my blog more than once and got people to think. But my sister asked this about Joe’s comments: Why would the library have to service a self reliant, and educated person?  In a way she is right, in a lot of cases people with more education have more opportunity, and owe that change to being able to go to college or learn a trade. Another person on my blog entry from last week said as a children’s librarian she helps plenty of people aged twenties to forties, but they are the parents of the kids that go to her story time. With such a big variety of services, the library can’t guess why everyone uses the library, and should not target age groups and education demographics as a stereotype. Lastly about last weeks blog, Joe asked what I would use the library for, and I will now add if I didn’t work in a library I’d consider attending the monthly book clubs. But as a library worker I can’t plan for my program based on a certain type of person, it’s open to any adults in the area, which makes it a good thing.

I’ve meet several people that say they haven’t used the library for long periods of time. At the library people sometimes point out they haven’t been to one in years. Libraries need to do outreach to bring people in, but the goal of a hundred percent usage by communities is unrealistic, if that happened a library might be overwhelmed based on staffing, and hours of operation. My guess is if thirty percent of a community population used the library in some way that would be huge. Libraries should contact schools, organizations, and work with the community, but the focus should be on the people in the libraries utilizing the services.

As a library worker you see people that are in there everyday. Sometimes the kids and teens are a little loud, but other days you’ll see them with homework spread out, and library books on the table studying.  Currently the library I work at has tutors and homework help. The workers are part-time or volunteers, and they are busy. At the library I used to work at I’d see adults perhaps on disability reading all the newspapers we provided daily. They were informing themselves and had a place to do so. At some libraries in my system including the one I work now have Adult Learning Centers and classes for GED and computers. Some libraries have job information centers.  All of these are necessary skills, and the library is a free place that can get a lot of people up to a competent level for employment. So the library helps the current crop of kids and teens, it’s help adults aged twenties to fifties that perhaps fell behind and need to catch up on their skills, and lastly it gives seniors resources and a place to go. I think potentially helping people of all generations is worth funding.

For people that use the library it is up to them how much they get out of it.  On this entry I’m focusing on the education part of library services.  I’ve mentioned this several times in the past, that on most library mission statements are these three words: education, recreation, and information.  When it comes to importance and effecting lives, the education possible through libraries is a powerful message to convey to people questioning the worth of libraries. The public education system is free from kindergarten to twelve-grade.  To get a college education takes money, circumstances, and an opportunity.  The education through the library is a self-education and study.  Learning is a lifelong endeavor and should not stop at age eighteen, so that is one solid reason to fund libraries.

To end this wordy entry I’ll tell of a comment from last week’s entry. My friend Kristin paraphrased Thomas Jefferson. Looking up online about the quote he and the founding fathers did emphasize a democracy should have free and equal access to information. Along with the education component I’ve talked about the information part of mission statements is important.  Equal access to information is in the constitution, and libraries provide that service.

Help get the word out about the proposed budget cuts to NYC libraries and across the nation.  Sign petitions, write blogs, join rallies, and be active. If library workers inform and explain what we do as much as we can perhaps people will listen. If people are complacent and inactive no one’s mind will be changed.

Skate mission at Flushing Meadows results in youtube clip

Posted on by

2

For people that got introduced to my blog from last week’s entry ‘Don’t Judge Libraries with Future Forecasts,’ skateboarding is my main personal interest. On my blog I write about all of my interests. My goal now is to write entries on skateboarding on Sunday nights, and I’ll write more library advocacy blogs on Wednesday nights until the budget concerns clear up.

I really like the new Cannon camera I have. Last week on the youtube clip I posted I simply went to Forest Park to get a few tricks. This weekend I was on a mission to get plenty of tricks at Flushing Meadows. I ended up being there with two of my friends from about 11 to 5. I packed a lunch and snacks, and kind of camped out.

Over the day we kind of learned to follow the person skating. By the end of the day we could keep the camera level. I tried to make it fun. For us getting anything on film is okay. I didn’t want myself to try the same trick for a long period of time, and force someone else to film it. I don’t think that is cool for people that are not sponsored or trying to be sponsored to expect someone to film for hours. I wanted to get a noseslide to shuv it out, but after several tries I gave it up because it was taking me too long. I think my friends enjoyed the day too, the weather is perfect this time of year.

Originally I was going to edit skating from both Saturday and Sunday, but I ended up editing a lot last night. Since we were not going for best tricks or hard stuff, I had to really clip seconds and not use some falls to get it down to 4 minutes. I was up until one last night. Since it was time consuming I thought two days of footage would be more so. In a blur past one last night I put it the edit on youtube. I definitely have a newfound respect for filmmaking.  One day of footage was a lot to sort through. I can’t imagine sorting through years of footage that the pro skate videos do. I guess there’s a huge difference to be happy to have any footage like I am, and trying to put out the absolute best footage like the skate company aim for.

Today I slept late but got to skate quite a bit, and that’s how I like my weekends. Let me know what you think of my video edit!

Don’t Judge Libraries With Future Forecasts

Posted on by

18

This is the third year of huge proposed budget cuts to the public library systems in the city of New York.  The budget gets negotiated between now and June 30th between the mayor and city council. I’m observing a lot of complacency in librarians and patrons that are just tired and sarcastic about this process. I am very sure that the final cut will not be as large as the proposed 30 or so percent, but I feel the fact that a cut that large is on the table at all makes the matter serious.

For the overall city budget the mayor did not suggest cuts for teachers, and police. Those services are needed, and I’m glad they are not threatened. Excluding libraries in that safety zone means that the perception of libraries as a community service is not as highly regarded as those fields. Basically they classify libraries as a want and not a need. Also for this third year in a row, one has to assume the cuts are more than simply the economy.

First I’ll state the libraries are needed in communities these days. For school kids after school and during the summer it is the only truly free resource to supplement or add to their education.  If kids need help with school assignments they go to the library to study, use computers, get books, and look up things.  After twelve grade people are on their own to pay for college. The public library is the only place people can become self-educated.  Adults can study for the GED test or the GRE test through the library. There are programming, adult literacy, and several things going on at libraries.  Libraries have a broad range of services, and are being utilized now.

Secondly, people always point to technology as a reason that libraries are becoming less important.  A few years ago a few people stated to me that everyone would have home computers, but people still greatly need public computer access at the library. I don’t know about ten years from now, but I can’t predict the future. In the last year the popularity of ebooks has skyrocketed, and some people say to me no one will need to check out books in the future. Already I think that technology has effected circulation in libraries. There is a legitimate question of how ereaders will affect libraries in the future. I think the focus has or will go away from evaluating libraries on print materials, and the focus will be on other services. Programming, information access, adult learning, recreational clubs, and the library more as a community space might be the future. The public libraries will have to adapt to technology.  I believe I’ll have a full career as a librarian because the field will be able to adapt, because libraries have adapted to plenty of changing times.

Lastly, with this budget and future budgets I ask people to evaluate libraries on today’s services. Evaluate libraries on how it helps communities today. Do not judge libraries by ‘what if’ scenarios and forecasts of the future. In ten years a lot could happen to a lot of fields. Technology will have more effects on how people work, and I hope libraries will have a valuable place long into the future. But people stating and thinking that in the future libraries will not be needed is irrelevant to what we are doing today.

My first skate video part!

Posted on by

2

Keeping this short because I posted a similar video and post yesterday. Playing around with Imovie I found out adding music was easy. But I questioned if it was wise to do so because of copyright. From what I read online it looks like some are okay while others are not, and the worse thing is that they could block the audio. If people post tv show clips or movie clips, that seems to be what gets people into legal trouble. So in Imovie I took what I did friday, and added some older footage I had. I put ‘pressure drop’ by Toots & the Maytals.’ Immediately after posting it to youtube I got an email saying I used a copyright song, and there may be commercials on my site. So checking the youtube sight I was happy to see a link to buy ‘Pressure Drop’ from Itunes or Google. Technology is amazing and it would make me happy if someone bought the song and were introduced to toots through my youtube video.

Check it out and tell me what you think. I’m going to have a lot of fun with my new camera/camcorder.

 

My First day with a camera/camcorder. Skate/beach/random

Posted on by

4

 

On Thursday I slept in until 4 pm on my day off. I didn’t go out the night before but for whatever reason I felt tired. Today, Saturday, I feel tired and hope a cold is not coming on again. Anyway what do you do when you sleep until 4 pm and your day is pretty much over? I did what I’ve wanted to do for a few weeks now. I walked down to Bestbuy, and bought myself a digital camera with video capabilities. The purchase was relatively painless. I explained I liked taking photos on my cell and wanted to try out a camera. The sales person seemed knowledgeable and quickly I bought the Cannon Power Shot 300 HS.

On my lunch break at work I walked down to the beach and played around with it. The photos are great, and I took one video on the beach. I realized on the beach that I’m going to have a fun time with my new toy.

I was able to leave work a little early yesterday and I went to Forest Park Skate Park, in hopes to get a few tricks on film. Rain threatened the sky. Quickly after warming up I asked a local skater, James, if he could film me for a few minutes. I was hoping to get five or six tricks in a row on the bank and call it a day. But as soon as I started the area became more crowded with scooter kids.  Also I haven’t been filmed that much, and it is different, you feel kind of a pressure not to waste the other skater’s time who is filming.  I got four tricks on the bank after numerous tries. Watching them on film I realize I do not come anywhere near the full rotation for the switch frontside 360. My kickflips and my switch frontside varials were fine. On the nollie bigspin, and maybe for a lot of tricks I do a lot of foot shuffling, instead of firmly landing on the bolts.

Last night I edited the photos and video I had and I put it on youtube.  It took awhile to make it work, but with the combination of the instructions and simply googling questions I was able to upload it. Hopefully more will come.

The embedded video is my youtube link for the photos and film I took yesterday. The picture is of my new camera. This picture is most likely the last to be taken from my cell phone. I’m putting my cell phone in retirement, but it worked well and helped develop my interest in photography.

Small setup, wide setup, the decisions skaters must make when purchasing a board

Posted on by

0

Skaters these days have a ton of options when purchasing boards. The process can be confusing, and I think a good reason to go to skateboard shop to get advice.  For a modern street board the width goes from as skinny as 7.5 inches to as wide as 8.75 inches or wider. The lengths, even though most people aren’t aware of it range from about 31.5 inches to 33 inches. The truck sizes vary to correspond with the width of the decks. And wheels go from 50 mm to 60 mm I believe. Bearings vary in quality and price. The only real good solid thing to think about on a complete is that the trucks should be the same width or smaller than the deck. The rest of the setup can be mixed and matched based on the riders’ preference. People can also get retro boards from any era of skating, transition boards are wider and the shapes can vary greatly. For cruising one can get a very small board or a long board with huge soft wheels that go faster and smoother.

I am or at least consider myself a tech skater, so I’m going to explain options for a street setup. Transworld Skateboarding on their website and magazine asks pro or sponsored skaters to explain their setup choices. So for this entry I’m going to explain my current setup and why I picked what I did. I’m eager to get a new complete from my friend’s shop when I visit my parents in Ohio.  I’m planning on changing it up a little bit, so I’ll also explain what I plan to get.

Last July I decided to get a lighter and small setup. I started with the deck and got 7.75 inch Alien Workshop Anthony Van Engelen deck. This brand I’ve liked for a long time and their decks seem to last for me. My previous setup was an 8-inch deck. So with the 7.75 inch deck chosen I got the appropriate truck size. I decided on the Independent Eric Koston trucks with a hollow kingpin and axle. The truck was designed to be lightweight.  For the first time I purchased Bones wheels that were 50 mm, about the smallest that they make wheels these days. For the second time I got Bones Swiss ball 6 bearings, I think they are called.

Overall this setup worked well for me. The deck I skated on until December, so that is almost a full 5 months.  A lot of the time I can only skate once or twice a week so my stuff lasts longer, but I’m happy it lasted 5 months. For the trucks after about a month I purchased Bones medium bushings because they turn a little bit better. The bearings are fantastic and still turn my wheels well.  What I’m amazed about is that the Bones wheels I purchased in July 2011 I’m still riding. I don’t think I’ve had wheels last that long before. They cost more but are worth it.

Since December I’ve been riding a Habitat Danny Garcia 7.8 inch deck. It’s lasted well, and I know that I like the decks from Alien Workshop and Habitat. These companies are owned by the same people and use the same wood.

When I decided to get a smaller setup my main reason was that I thought it would help with my flippy tricks. I thought with a smaller board I could get full rotation on tre flips, and be able to do more flip tricks in general. That didn’t happen as easily as I thought it would. Today I’m sort of doing the same tricks I was a year ago. I might have progressed some with my ollie and ledge tricks, but not much with tech stuff.  One thing that definitely did happen was I lost some consistency.  I remember with the 8-inch deck I could do kickflips and frontside shuv-its on command.  Now I miss some, and it’s not every time. I think consistency is more important then doing a lot of tech stuff.  So I’m going to get a wider board.

This time I’ll start with the trucks and see if I can get a pair of 8.25 trucks. In the past I rode Venture trucks a lot, and I liked my Independent Kostons. But I’m open to trying another brand. Hopefully at my friend’s shop I can get a pair that size that turn well loose, and maybe are lightweight. Once I pick those out I’ll get a Alien Workshop or Habitat deck that has the width between 8.25 and 8.5 inches. I will notice the difference with a wider setup like that. With wheels, I think I’ll get Bones at 51 mm or 52 mm. That might be small for a wide set up, but I think small wheels are very important for tech tricks.  Of coarse I’ll get bones swiss or even more upscale bearings. That is the setup I plan to get in late May at Just Skateboards in Toledo Ohio.

I’ll do something different from in the past. The small setup, at least the trucks, I have now I’ll simply throw in my closest. And when some time passes and I get an itch to try a small setup, I won’t have to get a full complete.