All has been good in the hood, down here in the ol’ Durango, Colorado.
Finished up fort lewis college with my degree in marketing and now am working full-time for Standard Sales,
a private beer distributing company that distributes about 90% of Anhueser-Busch products. We have about 30 different brands we carry though. I am a delivery helper and a line cleaner for the company, and it has been just under 1 month that I have been there.
Since then, I have learned all about the beer distributing and sales.

Boy oh boy, where to begin. Well, t-minus one month tell I earn my bachelors in Marketing! I cannot believe how fast time has been flying. One month and I’ll be walking down a podium with my marketing degree in hand, saying goodbye to my academic college career and life as a student. It seems like it was just yesterday when I did that with my high-school graduation!

These next 4 weeks will push me to my limits; with work at Ska, roaring lion, final academic work and exams, ice hockey playoffs, training for this tri, dance performances, and graduating from college, all on the calendar to-do list. It’ll be one of the busiest and most important months of my life as I move on to new and greater life goals. I am so very excited and eager to be officially DONE, and will really need to focus on finishing strong. Again thanks to all my friends and family for all of the love and support along the way. May we all be blessed by whatever god we believe in. More to follow. Love you all, BEAR

As each new week looms closer to graduation, I find myself more interested in the real world and life that exists outside of the school and text books. Senioritis has been keeping me on my toes, trying to push through all of my classes and finish strong, as it’s my last time EVER in school. 5 weeks left and counting, the time is flying and I’m trying to soak every minute of it up. In the end of April, I will have my bachelors of marketing and be ready to start a new life.

I’m still not sure where or what I will be doing after I graduate, as the options are limitless.

After last week down in San Diego, I really had a blast, and loved living the ‘beach bum’ lifestyle again. I was able to buy a cheap surfboard and get a few surf sessions in down at San Diego Pier, as well as meet some of the most beautiful girls down in Pacific Beach. After that spring break trip, it made me realize that I shouldn’t limit myself to little Durango, even though I am in love with it. I was thinking I could apply and get a job as a California Beach Lifeguard and start a career in that. However, my thoughts have been all over the
place as to what I can and cannot do.

Currently, as I have a nice base in Durango, I’m thinking about just staying here in Durango for the summer, continue work about the brewery and expand my beer/homebrew knowledge. The perks of Ska Brewing are great, even though the work can be so strenuous at times.

I am still going to try and push Roaring Li0n around town and set up new accounts. Talked to the food director on campus last week and he said that “the lion was coming.” I’ll be pretty stoked when he gets it set up as I plan on earning some commission from it.

Last week, the spring break went really well, as my roommates and I left Durango to the Grand Canyon, had a almost near death experience, trying to hike out of the canyon. We hiked 25+ miles in the 2 day period and on the last 4.5 miles, after hiking 13 miles earlier that morning, we encountered a severe blizzard twoards the top of the canyon, which pushed us all to our limits. I told my roommate “don’t leave me down here” and that “bro, I may have to loose my pack, I can’t go on.” Towards the top of the canyon, it got real icy, slushy, wet, and cold. I’ve never been in that kind of a situation that you must keep trekking for your life.
Pretty Awesome/Intense.

After the 2 days in the grand canyon, we road tripped down to San Diego, where we partied and soaked up the surf and sunshine. After 2 nights in San Diego, sleeping out of the Toyota Motel, my roommate Sam and I drove up to see the awesome Grand Parents. Here in L.A., we were greeted with a nice hug/kiss and a lovely steak Dinner, and comfy bed. This was a real treat, from what we had experienced earlier that week. Thanks GnP!

After spending the night in L.A., Sam and I were fortunate enough to be hooked up with Knotts Berry Farm tickets, where we spent the day riding roller coasters! This was a blast, as it had been years since both of us had been on them.

After the fun in L.A., we road tripped back to the same parking spot and hangout in San Diego, where we spent the last two nights living the beach scene. Although we weren’t as Jacked and Tan as most of the other guys, we sure had a good time looking for girls and walking around shirtless. The whole break went very smoothly, without any problems or hassles. Thank you all for the love and support along the way.

Until next time,
Have a Great WEekenD!

Where to begin…

First off, I probably shouldn’t even be up right now and updating this blog. It’s 2AM here in Durango, and for some god for saken reason I am wide awake. Might have slept in a little to late (11am) on my no school tues/thurs day. Pretty sore from last nights basketball and hockey games. Lost both games, but had a blast playing in them! Last night we had a hockey game (Go Pioneers!) at 10:30pm against the Goats (Team Ska) and ended up losing 3-6. They ended up having a bunch of lucky goals and I was fine with it as I played against my bosses, the owners of Ska. I guess I can keep my job now! Ha ha.

Hmmmm, all is well in Durango, beautiful blue bird days have been the norm, it’s been a rarity to see some snow around this town. Its definitely been a slow snow season for us, and I am actually totally ok with that, as I didn’t purchase a ski pass this season. Bittersweet.

This semester has been pretty great for me so far, a minor 13 credits, and Graduation coming up in May! I have classes MWF, and have class off tuesday and thursdays! I usually try to find some kind of work on these days off, whether it be at the brewery, school, or roaring lion work. Pretty excited, I am the new colorado sales IC for roaring lion, IC, as in Independent Contracted salesman. I actually just received a bunch of P.O.S., point of sales, material from roaring lion, and starting this next week, or possibly even tomorrow, I will get out to some bars/restaurants/campus, and try to pitch the roaring lion savings sales gig! For every new sales account I set up, I get a small comission back, and more of a bragging right to roaring lion that I can actually do some sales. All the work is part-time, and whenever I want to, which is nice. I’m hoping this could possibly lead into something full-time after I graduate in the future!

The brewery is doing good, still working there part-time and pretty much on call, when needed. In these colder months, it’s slowed down a bunch production wise, it’s been hard finding work on the weekends. But its been working out just fine, with all the other busy activities I’ve got myself involved in. Home brewing has been the most unique hobbies I have gotten into this semester. I’ve brewed 6 batches of beer already, and can’t seem to stop. I do much of the brewing and bottling myself, as I have yet to find that “brew partner.”
I’ve brewed a continental pilsner (lager), witbier, holiday ale, american amber, special ale, and a american cream ale, which I brewed most recently and is still fermenting (2 weeks). It’s been great working at Ska, because I’ve already learned so much about the beer business and how rough it is. A lot of time and hard work goes into making beer and running a brewery. Homebrewing really makes you appreciate what goes into producing a finely handcrafted, fresh beer. It’s been real nice getting the 40% off of all the homebrew materials from working at Ska too!

Last month, my roommates and I joined Dance Co Motion, and will be performing one piece at the end of april, the weekend just before finals. We will be dressed as frogs, hopping around like frogs, dancing to this hawaiian “toad song.” We have practice once/week and the 5 of us are all in it together. We see it as a kind of fun way to end the semester!

Ice Hockey is going well for me, I signed up for a local rec league and have 20 games this winter/spring. I’m on the pioneers, and have been getting some fun ice time, once/week. I got one of my ol’ roommates to sign up and play with me on the team, so its been a lot of fun playing together. It sure is a quicker game on the ice!!!

What else…
I will get back on this sometime later and update more when I can, and not at 2:30 in the morning.
Time for bed- class in the AM. Good night world!

Hope you all have a Splendid Day! Happy upcoming Valentines Day! Woo Hoo!
Carpe Diem!

I cannot believe it’s already mid-November, and yet very little snow fall, it any, has fallen in Durango.
It’s been a slow, dry season to start, but with the weather so unpredictable, you just never know when that 3 foot storm will hit.

This semester has come and gone pretty quick, as it’s turkey break this next week and just 2 more weeks of school before the finals week and jolly ol’ chirstmas! This semester has probably been the busiest of my college career; 19 credits of school with work on the weekends. It’s been busy to say the least, but busy is good!

I’m looking forward to this winter semester as I will only have 13 credits before I graduate in the end of April. My final course schedule will consist of the following; marketing research, managerial economics, senior seminar in business, and an easy backpacking and camping course which will get me my p.e. requirement. I will have class MWF and be free on tuesday thursday to play/work. I’m looking forward to both my last semester and the winter weather and what obstacles it brings us.

Work is good at the brewery. Still doing part-time hard manual labor working on the production line during the weekends. I have also been talking with the territory manager of Roaring Lion energy drink, one of the head guys with RL, and am currently lining up a part-time sales contract with them. If all goes well, starting this January I will be signed on to Roaring Lion and selling their product to bars/stores and setting up as many new accounts I can with them. The more I set up, the more I make, as it is all commission based. I am really excited with this opportunity, as it may turn into a full time gig after college and would be a perfect start to my marketing career!

I got new wheels and rims on my truck, P215 75 R15, 15 inch black steele rims and bigger tires. Pretty happy with them as they give me more clearance and security when driving. The next step is installing this 1” front spacer and 2” rear shackles. I have the parts, but it is now just finding the time and jack to borrow, to get it all set up.

Thanksgiving break starts this weekend, and will be a much needed break for me.
It’s going to be nice to try to relax for a week, before school gets serious with projects, presentations, and finals.
Stoked to have the lil sis flying into town and dine with us for a nice thanksgiving turkey dinner!
Nothing too special planned for the break, besides from reading a globalization and civilization book, working on 2 power point presentations and a finance project, ohh and work on the weekends.

Last week I went to the Fort Lewis College hockey practice, and was quite impressed by the level of skating that went on. It reminded me of my youth inline hockey years when I could keep up and play at such a competitive level. The practice or scrimage went well, I could keep up and all, but with not being able to stop confidently, I felt it wouldn’t be the safest thing to do without being able to stop. So, sadly, instead of playing for the Fort Lewis team, which would have cost me 500, I signed up for an Adult hockey level 3A league this year, costing me a mere 200 dollars. With school and work, I figured it would be best to keep it nice and easy, and not worry about traveling.

I can’t believe graduation looms closer each day, but I find my self more excited and stoked, then most other students, who are scared and nervous. I think i’m lucky to have this opportunity with roaring lion and the pops brewing business back home to fall back on, if need be. I’ve been thinking about roaring lion alot, and if I could land a sales rep position working full time for them, I may stay in durango for another year or so, depending on my financial situation, etc.

That is all I got for now, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and don’t get into too much trouble!
God Bless, I love you all,

BEAR

School has begun and has been keeping me non-stop busy.
19 credits really keeps you on your toes and leaves little to no time to ‘fool around.’ I am in all upper division business and marketing courses which really push my thinking and studying. I am enjoying these last months of schooling as they may very well be my last.
If all goes well, which it should, I plan on graduating in April of 2011, with my Marketing degree. So far, time has been flying, and next week will bring the mid-term of the semester or half way point! It’s unbelievable, kind of scary. It then becomes the question of ‘what are you going to do after you graduate?’

As this is the biggest question for most college graduates, it seems to be the hardest one… what do you want to be when you grow up?
One of my favorite answers to this is ‘where ever work takes me.’ As of now, I still am not sure what I will be doing in a year or two, but that’s the beauty of it. I do have some prospects/ideas on what I can get into after graduating. One of the most appealing options may be of moving back to the islands to help build this family brewing business, if all goes well and there is work to be had.
Another option may be of continuning my life in beautiful durango for a bit until I find some job prospects. I could keep working at my current job, Ska Brewing, and learn all about the brewing industry and world. Over this next year, I will be looking in to some marketing mgmt/advertising sales positions across the country, where ever I could find work!
As this is still a year away, I don’t like to focus on this, as I am focused on getting this degree and graduating on time!

One of the highlights of my semester so far, was the arrival of my grandparents and brother who suprised me down here in Durango!
My grandparents and brother road tripped from Los Angeles to visit myself in durango, sister in fort collins, and cousins in boise idaho.
My brother had flew out from honolulu to partake in this road trip and re unite with the family. We had a good time catching up and enjoying the beautiful mountains colorado has to offer.

Last night I transfered my continental pilsner homebrew into bottles, so it can carbonate and condition for a week before enjoying a fresh hand-crafted beer! I also transfered my witbier over into my glass carboy for its secondary fermentation stage. All is well with the home brewing hobby and I’m looking forward to future home brew endeavors. I have aquired a bunch of homebrew supplies all at 40% off thanks to Ska Brewings home brewing merchandise.

This weekend I will be putting a 3” suspension lift on my truck and hopefully purchasing new tires next week. I am very excited to dive into this project and get the truck some more clearance and height! As for tires, I will be looking into new 15” cheap black steele wheels so I can put bigger tires on the truck possibly 215 75 15′s. WIth the 14” wheels there is a limited selection of tires I can put on, and it is difficult to find the kind of tires I need. I will be borrowing a friends jack and stands for this all day weekend project!

Also this weekend, on Saturday October 9, I have my first ice-hockey game at 11:30 am. I am REAL excited to get back on the ice and get back in shape for the ice hockey season. This winter I may look into joining the fort lewis college ice hockey club team, which is a full contact competitive hockey league, where we would be playing schools like northern arizona and university of new mexico for hockey games. We would be traveling a bunch to other schools for games and events.

Well that is all I got for now, I gotta run up to a marketing class. I will update more later.
T.G.I.F hope you all have a great weeekend!!!!

This year, as I am a senior in college now, I will be trying to find that balance of working hard and playing hard. Study hard and continue the pursuit of happiness. This fall I am enrolled in a mix of business and marketing based courses, all fine tuning my major; marketing. I have a heavy course load this fall, as I am planning to take an estimated 20 credits. I am still in-the-works on my senior schedule, but if all goes well, I will be graduating here in the Spring of 2011.

Summer flew by, as I found my self slaving away, both on a construction/adventure center site, and at the local brewery, SKA. The first half of summer was great, as I settled back home from a wild journey through Europe and 6 months abroad in Ireland. It felt so inviting to be back on home soil, back in the states, and made me appreciate what we all have here. This summer I learned a lot both in the construction and brewing industry.

I will try to continue the work at Ska Brewing throughout the school year, but depending how busy I am this semester with school, it is in the air. I’m looking to work part-time, possibly 2-3 days a week, if that. The brewing business is busy and is full of hard working employees. Just when you feel like you are working the hardest, everyone else believes they are. It’s a labor intensive and repetitive job (production that is). Ska is pretty fair about wages and other benefits, such as an unlimited supply of free beer and discounts and merch while working. I like the job because it really pushes me to the limit. I have learned a ton about the brewing business thru ska, and have been looking into HOMEBREWING fairly soon.

I just ordered and received HomeBrewing For Dummies, and will be reading and studying this probably more than my real school studies (I would like to anyways). I will be homebrewing within the next month if all goes well!

Well that’s all I got for now, I’m looking forward to this final year, the final push towardss a Bachelors degree in Marketing!

Will try to update when I get the free time,
Hope all is well out there,
GOd Speed,
ALOHA – BEAR

So its been yet another week in beautiful Durango and I’ve been soaking in the sun and having fun!
Last week I started work with Full Blast Adventures, where I am currently building this guys business from the ground up with him. He has a proposed zipline and paintball course that we will be working on in the next weeks after the city approves all of his radical plans. As for the work I’ve been digging trails with Cameron (the developer) up to the future Zipline course and have been working my butt off for him. There is so much work to be done and he said he will be keeping me busy all summer. My typical day starts at 6 am where I slowly wake to get out of bed, head to the kitchen for some breakfast, and back to my room to get dressed and tie my boots on for the 7am start. We start at 7am and digg walking trails up the side of this mountain all morning and end of having to stop before it gets too hot around 12 or 1pm. This weekend was the first weekend I had 2 days off, I worked every single day last week for Cam. I enjoy the manual labor and being outdoors, sure beats sitting inside a cubicle. I start work again monday and will be developing this adventure center for Cam all summer. Check out the “adventure center up for approval” article which made the headlines of the durango herald. http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/06/11/Adventure_center_up_for_approval/

Its been nice getting up so early and getting my work day started, as I would probably sleeping in all morning and going out all night, which isn’t the case anymore, thank god. The weather here in Durango has been sunny and warm and is a stark contrast from what I lived with in Ireland. I started hockey last night and am signing up for an adult inline tournament this summer thru the local ‘chapman hill’ rink. I’ve also been able to get out and go rafting a bunch, thanks to my roommate who has a nice 12foot raft of her own. Yesterday we had a blast as we celebrated the Animas River Days weekend, where we dressed up in crazy costumes and floated down the river probably with 100 other boaters. After the river days we went to a after party at Ska Brewing Company, where there were a bunch of happy and drunk folk meandering around talking about the crazy thunder storm weather that we had, which ended up in blue sunny skies. My buddy Taco and I ended up meeting one of the co-owners of Ska Brewing, while we were poking our heads through a window to their manufacturing area. Matt vincent, the owner, walked up to us out of no where and was like “what are you guys looking at?” I said we were just checking out how it all works, and he then led us on through a brew tour of the back and how it all works. It was pretty cool to be behind the scenes of how gods water gets into our hands, beer that is. I told him about the future beer business with the family and he said stop on by with a resume because they may be hiring pretty soon in the manufacturing department, supposedly where you start at, which would be perfect! So tomorrow I am going back to the SKa Brewing headquarters and will be dropping off a resume and hopefully talk to Matt again, a real friendly guy.

Other than that, all is great, work is kicking my butt, but I am learning and gaining so much great experience building this business from the ground up with Cameron and he is really taking me under his wing and showing me how it all works and what you have to do to open a business of you’re own. I couldn’t have landed a better job. That is all for now, will update with future projects plans and stories!

Eiffel Tower Paris, France

The Matterhorn, Zermatt Switzerland

Hiking in The Murren, Interlaken, Switzerland

Salzburg, Austria

Largest Beer Garden, Hirchgarten, Munich, Germany…
Close to the picturesque Nymphenburg Palace, the Hirschgarten claims the title of being the largest beer garden in the world; it can seat 8000 people and wet their whistles with Augustiner, Schloßbrauerei Kaltenberg, and Hofbräu Tegernsee beer!

Maximilianeum, Munich, Germany

Top of Innsbruck, Austria

Olympic Bobsled Track, Innsbruck, Austria

Schloss Ambrass Medieval Castle, Innsbruck, Austria

Spanish Hall, built 1569-1572 by Archduke Ferdinand II, most important standing hall of Renaissance, Innsbruck, Austria

The Lion of Lucerne, Switzerland “…the Lion of Lucerne is the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.” Mark Twain

Kapellbrucke, The Chapel Bridge, Lucerne, Switzerland

Having a blast, skiied into Italy from Switzerland! Zermatt, Swiss, Cervino, Italy

Colorado kids lost track of time, got stuck in Italy for the night, and had to ski the next day to get back into Zermatt! Will never forget the crazy weekend!

The Oscar Wilde overnight 18 hour Ferry cruise from Cherbourg-Normandy, France to Rosslare, Ireland!

After arriving in Rosslare at 4pm, I took a 3 hour bus ride from Rosslare to Dublin, then a 4 hour bus ride from Dublin to Galway, 7 hours on a bus! I managed to pull 25 hours of non-stop commuting in one day! Got into Galway at 11pm, from the bus station I walked to a pub where I met up with some friends for a beer, then finally made it back to my home to crash for the night! Crazy 3 weeks of non-stop travels!