Pimp Yo Kite - The Kiteboarder Magazine

Computer Dork
As I sit at my desk surrounded by three computers, a.k.a. mission
control center, I wonder what life would be like without them. It’s Saturday
morning at 10:00 a.m., and I am about to head into my daily ritual of
logging on to the 20 websites that make my little world. I take a sip of my
morning coffee and get that little nervous energy as I click into my email.
I quickly scan through 50 emails and breathe a sigh of relief. There are
no fires to put out. Now it’s time to check out what’s going on in the kiteboarding
world. I log onto Kiteforum.com and scan the latest headlines
and forum threads—nothing new. I proceed to do the same thing on
nwkite.com, bayareakiteboarding.com, ikitesurf.com, ikiteboarding.com,
flysurf.com and about eight other sites around the world. In about an
hour, I am up to speed with all the latest news and gossip.
It’s now 11:17 and the South Coast Kiteboarding School bat line
starts ringing. It’s Steve Pollinger from Houston calling to see if his kiteboarding
lesson is going to happen. I tell him to wait a second and scan
through my bookmarks
to find my most trusted
weather site. My cable
modem lights up, and
in seconds, and I
am looking at more
weather information
than I know how to
read. Satellite images,
aviation models, doppler
radar; it’s overkill
for sure, but I will have
it no other way. The
forecast tells me that
today looks marginal,
but tomorrow will be
firing. The weather man
is often wrong, so I tell
Riccitelli at mission control. Lens: Nikki Ivanoski
Steve to call me back this afternoon for another real-time weather check.
Next thing I know, my MSN messenger starts flashing orange. I look
closer and it is Clinton Bolton chatting me up from across the world.
He asks if I have booked my ticket to the Dominican Republic for New
Year’s. I type back, “No, I am a lagger. I will get on it soon.” Clinton is
training and relaxing in Spain at the moment. After chatting for about five
minutes, we say our goodbyes and my next stop is Orbitz.com to check
ticket prices to Cabarete. I check my MSN Messenger contacts and Josh
Marinos, the manager of eXtreme Hotels, Cabarete, is online. I send
him an instant message asking him to reserve three rooms. He confirms
my rooms over our chat session, and I continue my search for airplane
tickets. In 30 minutes, I buy my ticket, print the electronic confirmation,
and pin it to my bulletin board above my desk with a guilty smile.
It’s now time to get some work done. I log on to LostCherry.com and
check my messages. “Misfit” sent me an email telling me to check out
the new photos he uploaded. I click into his gallery and see a photo of
him with a grin from ear to ear standing next to his brand new Jimmy
Lewis surfboard. Misfit is one of many kiteboarders who I have met
online. I post a comment under his new photo that says, “I really want
that board dude!” and then read the eight other comments left by other
kiteboarders on the LC. Within seconds, he chats me back to tell me that
Jason Slezak is selling his for $399 at Real Kiteboarding.
So here I sit, trying to make sense of all this technology. I am an
internet junkie, and my best fix is a fast internet connection. I love the
ability to communicate and interact with fellow kiteboarders around
the world and being able to research anything and everything within
seconds. Many of you might argue that I have taken this to the extreme.
My main goal in writing this is to encourage more people to get wired.
The information and feedback available will save you time and money.
For those of you who share my online obsession, you already know how
cool the online kiteboarding community is. For those of you who are
committed to staying old school, get off your lazy butts and start poking
around on the internet. Knowledge is power, and I am sure you will soon
become an internet dork like me.
Enjoy!
www.lostcherry.com/ryan