Weekend Warriors skateboard video behind the scenes Darin Chad Benson's classroom Dan Jackson power burnout Mike Munzenrider RDS Skateshop China by Keith Lyons Dalian China - December 6, 2005 As some of you know I'm getting up there in years and I'm not by any means a street skater. I can't remember which old timer from the 70's it was, but when asked if he could ollie his reply was 'what's that?' Well, there are no ramps or parks here in Dalian China so I can say that I've never been compelled to go out and skate. I tried for about the first six months to get a long board but to no avail. The university where I was teaching had freshly paved, long, windy roads on great declines. It would have been a laugh long boarding but no long board. I've been here a long time already and I haven't seen much in the way of skateboarding. Although I had been to a shop a year ago it had closed the day after I was there and then it moved and then closed again and finally it has reopened again. Now, it happens that I was at McDonalds on Saturday afternoon after playing outside with my daughter and her friend for over 4 hours in a snow storm- and that's not an easy thing for a guy who had just had a finger cut off in an accident and then had it sewed back on. Those re-attached limbs just don't like cold weather. They hurt and they turn deep, dark purple. And this little digit; my right hand middle finger has not been sewed on properly so it will have to come off again. But anyway, I was at the McDonalds in Haishijiao having a couple of Happy Meals with some very happy kids when I spotted another foreign family with a child. Theirs was a l ittle bit younger, but this is something you still don't see too often (foreign children) and when you do they are usually missionaries but regardless I always go over and introduce myself. You also have to understand I don't really ever get to speak anymore. A little bit with some of my old students but it's always 'Chenglish' so I live in a world of the Internet and of writing. My mind is like pea soup wired in on 2.8 GHz and running at 400 MBit/s. So I crave to say something. (continued next page)