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It’s over.  After four months of: Hook It, research, events, TV time, blogging, planning, editing, excel spreadsheets and hanging out with some of the coolest people EVER, it’s all over…SAD  =  (  It wasn’t an easy four months, but I I have amazing work to show for it and even better, some great new friends!  In my past blogs I’ve talked about how the time was flying by, but it’s still a different feeling knowing it’s actually over.  I’d like to say thank you to BambooSK8 for letting me be a part of their internship and for all of the time and effort they put in to the program.  I’d also like to say thanks to Wyatt for letting me adopt Parker (the most amazing dog) as my own for the time I was there.  Good luck to all my fellow interns!  I hope we all find amazing jobs ASAP!

Earth Day is right around the corner and BambooSK8 is getting ready to celebrate! Next week will be jam-packed with activities to spread the love and awareness for Mother Earth.  We start out the week with the “Keep it Green” festival at Cal State Fullerton and continue through the week with a couple of morning TV spots and another “Green Business” fair at San Diego State University.

I have always attend Earth Day and environmental celebrations, but never participated.  I am really excited to share what BambooSK8 is all about and offer sustainability tips for day-to-day living.  I think it is SO important for everyone to do their fair share in taking care of this planet.  I always try to think: reduce, reuse, recycle.  Do I need that many lights on around the house? No.  Am I using a specific appliance? No.  Turn off and unplug to reduce the amount of energy I’m using.  Does that plastic bag have any holes in it? No. Reuse it for another grocery trip or outing.  I shrunk my shirt in the wash, now what? I either donate it to Goodwill or use it as a cleaning rag.  Lastly, any paper, plastic or aluminum products that are recyclable are sorted into their appropriate bins and taken to the recycling center.  All of that may sound like a lot or an inconvenience, but it really doesn’t take that much time.  To be honest, there is probably a ton more I could be doing.  The point is every little bit helps.  Think about it, what do you do to help?

Have a good weekend everyone!!

We are over half way through our internship and things are moving right along.  Every day I get closer and closer to completing my tasks and it feels great.  Nothin’ better than checking things off a list, done and done!  The pressure is definitely on though with only a month left at BambooSK8.

Now that the Clash is done, I am working on a handful of Earth Day events with local San Diego T.V. stations and on Southern California college campuses.  I really hope that I will be able to help BambooSK8 get their message of sustainability and the awesome decks out in the public eye and hopefully in their hands!  I really enjoy community and consumer relations so these upcoming events are going to be a blast for me.  I believe that a company needs the support of the community it’s located in, in addition to the support of their consumers and other entities.  When I say support I don’t necessarily mean monetary, but just that the community knows and is cool with you.

Speaking of community, this weekend Laguna Niguel Skate Park is the first stop on our skate park tour!  Another one of the top-notch interns (uh-hem, Andrew) organized the whole thing and I am stoked to see how it goes.  Watching the kids skate, ask questions, and be pumped on BambooSK8 is the best.  Their excitement makes all the hard work totally worth it!

Well people, it is Friday and I’m stoked! This weekend should be full of good times which I am hoping will provide me with good Twitter material.  In an effort to help our BambooSK8 Twitter status, I have been asked to tweet.  For me that is no easy feat.  It’s like I have some sort of Twitter-phobia. Lame, I know.  Thankfully my fellow interns, Andrew and Gerard, have been very encouraging and reassuring about my Twitter endeavors. So here is to a weekend full of friends, community, skating and Twitter! Cheers!

Green: a color in the rainbow, beer and most beverages on St. Patrick’s Day, our business practices here at BambooSK8 and the money we’re hoping to bring in for charitable donations.  Boy that’s a lot of green!

BambooSK8 will be donating a portion of deck sales to the Red Cross in response to the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan. Coincidentally, we have a graphic based on a 19th century tsunami painting by Japanese artist Katsushita Hokusai. We thought it only fitting to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this deck. This charitable effort is in addition to the proceeds given to the YMCA and Grind for Life from the deck sales of our exclusive, limited-edition Clash at Clairemont V deck.  The deck will be available at the BambooSK8 booth in the vendor village at the Clash at Clairemont V this Saturday, March 19, 2011.

BambooSK8 fans can get a sneak peak at the exclusive decks and Clash events on Friday, March 18, 2011, but there is a small catch.  If you want to see the BambooSK8 goodness turn your T.V. to channel 7/39, NBC San Diego, at 6:45 AM. Ouch that’s early, but that’s Bamboo love!

For any who plan to come out and join us at the Clash be sure that you follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/bamboosk8.  We will be tweeting the clues to FREE decks hidden around the event!

So that’s all the fun stuff!  Unfortunately, if you want to play hard you have to work hard meaning our mid-term is due this week. Booo! No one likes a test, but to be honest this mid-term covers some necessary business info.  No matter what position you hold in a business the end point is to increase profits.  If I can pass this midterm, I’ll be able to proudly announce that I understand the basics of running a business, which is huge for a more right-brained person.  Good luck to me!!

In another attempt to make me a well rounded employee, I’ve been taking myself though the rigors of judging and being judged.  Well maybe “judging” isn’t the right word, let’s say evaluating.  One of our assignments is to rate ourselves in a variety of categories all relating to how we operate in the work place. Another assignment is to rate our fellow interns and their performance thus far in the internship.  Maybe you can see how the word “judge” arises.  That was the lesson to learn though; throughout all of it you are not judging yourself or anyone else.  The point is to learn how to take a realistic look at yourself and how to graciously receive feedback from others around you.  Neither of those is an easy task, but they’re necessary now and will be throughout the rest of my career.

Busy, Busy!! It’s week eight and things are cookin’!  The Clash at Clairemont V is right around the corner, Satuday, March 19th.  The Clash is going to be sick, great skaters all out for a great cause!  Both the YMCA and Grind for Life Inc. Cancer Charity will be benefiting from this event.  We’ll have our AM, Flow and Pro team riders competing in bowl, street and vert challenges throughout the day. BambooSK8 is going to rock the vendor village with our booth, boards and ‘green’ charm!

We’re also working on a handful of community outreach projects, which I think are a must for any business.  Personally I think that if the community you operate out of doesn’t like you, chances are you won’t last long.  So BambooSK8 is making some plans to be out and about in Oceanside.  More details to come!

As usual time is still flying and as you may gather from the title, there is a lot of work to be done.  It’s hard not to get anxious at times, but keeping a clear list helps me stay focused.  I do the best I can, ask for help when I need it and usually I am able to get everything done.  In order to be successful in this internship organization, prioritizing and communicating have been key!  All of those are great skills to have in life so I am thankful for the chance to tune those skills.

Alright y’all, it’s time to blow the Friday night work whistle.  I am outta here!  Have a great weekend!

EVENT SCHEDULE

10:00   Gates Open

10:30    Best Trick Practice

11:30     AM Best Trick

12:00     Vert Demo

1:00        Pro Street Demo

1:30        Audible Mainframe

2:00        Autographs

3:30        Bowl Best Trick

4:00        Agent Orange

6:00       Gates Close

I spent this week doing what I enjoy: work and play! In the office I was able to focus on some media material for an upcoming event we’re working on, which I’ve really enjoyed. Mid- March, BambooSK8 will be participating in The Clash at Clairemont V.  It is Southern California’s premiere action sports fundraising celebration.  Grind for Life Cancer charity and the Mission Valley YMCA will be the two charities benefiting from this fundraiser. This event takes place at the Krause Family BMX & Skate Park- Mission Valley YMCA.  The day will be jam packed with skate demos, contests, music, food, prizes, vendor village, autographs and more (www.clashatclairemont.com).  It seems to be a very family oriented event. I am looking forward to meeting all the kids and their parents!

Thanks to the many community outreach events and leads here at BambooSK8, I am dusting off my PR skills. Cough, cough, they were a little dusty! Not to mention, it’s super cool to work towards various projects I am really interested in.  In the past I’ve had to put enormous amount of energy towards projects and events that don’t really interest me. At BambooSK8 that has not been the case. Yay!

Outside the office, it was a birthday bonding extravaganza!  Good people, cake, tacos and pirates; what more could you ask for!?! Mid-day was a birthday break for Wyatt. We surprised him with a cake, which I almost dropped in an effort to not let any candles blow out.  All that matters is that I DID NOT drop it! Later that evening, we continued the intern bonding and celebrating with some bomb food at Bull Taco and tasty beverages at a local pirate hang out. Yarrr…argh…RRRR?!?! However you express the “R”, a good time was had by all! Cheers to Wyatt and week 6!

+   =  My week ! ; )

I am finishing up my fourth week at BambooSK8.  The intern cave is still freezing. God bless the space heater!  Other than that, I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable in my new surroundings.  My fellow interns are awesome!  It’s really interesting to learn where everyone came from, why they’re here and where they plan to go.  I do feel like we’re a team and it’s nice to have them through this experience.  Our tasks are big and our time is limited so that is something we’re all trying to conquer together.  It’s definitely a balancing act trying to excel at the academic part of this internship and the real work at the same time.  Practice makes perfect I suppose.  If anything it’s just another experience to prepare you for life, which I’ve heard is a balancing act as well.

Last weekend a group of us attended The Crossroads trade show in Carlsbad.  The tradeshows I had been to in the past were for the action sports industry as a whole.  It was definitely a new experience to attend a tradeshow specifically for skateboarding.  It was a day full of observations: style, fashion, lingo, and of course a boat load of skating.  Watching the warm up and competition was intense.  There were boards and people flying everywhere, sometimes it was a good thing and sometimes not.  When one of the skaters landed a trick the crowd exploded in to applause and cheers. The energy was insane! Plus, the event gave us interns a chance to get together outside of the office and have some fun!

I’ve just reread my blog to myself and I believe it sounds like I’ve joined the circus. There are people from all walks of life (interns), a ring master (Geoff Koboldt), animals (usually dogs), balancing acts (the internship), people clowning around (interns bonding), performers flying through the air (skaters), and in the end it’s all for the big show (intern graduation).  If we all traveled by train nightly, I would for sure think I had joined the circus. Twelve stops (weeks) left on our tour and I plan to make everyone of them count.  Here’s to a great show!

Lindsay here, hailing from the BambooSK8 intern cave.  I am in my second week and still not quite sure how this is all going to play out, but I know week by week things will come together.  I came to BambooSK8 to gain experience in the action sports industry and to be part of an organization that’s doing their part to take care of the planet.

After working for a few companies, I’ve learned what I want and expect out of my future career.  Although, it’s becoming more apparent how hard it’s going to be to get my ideal career.  Taking an internship after college, when you’re in the middle of life, is not easy.  It’s hard to find the time and money, but if you want something that bad you find a way to make it happen.  I’m makin’ it happen!  It also helps to have the support of friends and family, like I do. I believe this internship at BambooSK8 will be an amazing step along the way to a job that makes me happy.  I figure if I am going to be working for the next 45 years, I better like what I do.

In the few days that I have been at BambooSK8, I’ve gotten a realistic picture of how a small business works and where the action sports industry stands.  Let’s just say business and the industry is anything but glamorous. Not all brands in this industry work as hard or have as much foresight to realize the effect they have on the industry as a whole. The BambooSK8 team works incredibly hard to keep this brand responsible and successful.  BambooSK8 I believe you are the bee’s knees!  That’s right I said it, bee’s knees!  I look forward to the next 16 weeks, contributing what I know and learning a whole bunch of new stuff!

Oh and one more thing I am stoked on, Parker the office dog!! I’d like to thank Wyatt, Parker’s owner, in advance for all the puppy playtime…after my work is done of course!