July 10, 2006 - Remember the Racks It probably doesn’t it seem like that big of deal, but to us it is. It’s one of those milestones. Something you can point to and say, “Yeah, I remember when Alejandro and I spent the day sweating it out in the garage assembling those shelves.” So what this means is that when somebody orders some gear, we can locate the goods quickly and keep a nice tidy record of it. There is so much stuff that goes into developing a self sustaining business. It’s not just drawing the t-shirts anymore. It’s designing the jacket, sewing it up, fitting it, getting it to the right price point, finding out who your customer is, making sure the colors match, figuring out how to sell it, making exchanges, talking with buyers at stores, keeping track of how much money is coming in and out and hardest of all maintaining your relationships with the people you work with day in and day out. So when I get a chance to point at something and say, “Yeah, we did that.” I try to honor it with a toast of a beer. Someone older than me who had started a very successful business of her own once told me to celebrate each little accomplishment because they come fewer and farther between as you grow. Alex

June 20, 2006 - Can you see yourself? This is an old picture I found of my father, brother and me. I think it was taken up at Lake Tahoe in the summer time. I think we were at Donner Lake, but I’ll have to check the records to make sure. Anyway, what’s more important are the dynamics of the shot and how much it says about us. Guess who actually dove to the bottom of the lake? Guess who egged him on? And I wonder who threw the 20 bucks into the lake in the first place? Since then I’ve learned to dive in head first. I learned that from my brother, but truth be told, now a days I’d rather be the guy who threw the 20 bucks into the lake, but until then I’ll keep diving. I encourage you to dive too, or maybe just check out some of your old photo albums. It’s amazing what you’ll learn. Alex