Dave Nelson | SecretPenguin Blog

I made a website directed towards the people that are voting for McCain because of the abortion issue, and why they should take a second look at Obama.

I feel kinda dorky talking on a video, but I thought it might get some people’s attention that know me through ministry.

There are so many reasons why I’m voting for Obama… I believe the way he runs his campaign is a testament to his character, I appreciate the way he thinks through each answer, his ability to inspire and unite people, and so much more.

If you are a person of faith and you’re not considering Obama, I urge you to take a look at this site.

WhyIAmVotingForObama.com

Thanks.

The other week, I turned 30 and my wife bought me an iPhone. I was telling Cody how it’s made things so much easier, and that I couldn’t believe I went so long without one. He responded with, “Yeah, you went almost 30 years…”

Anyways, I had a great birthday thanks to my friends and family.

We all went out to eat for lunch at Bangkok Cuisine, my favorite Thai Restaurant. From left to right: John Henry Muller and Michael Bartsch, Matt Helt, Cody Peterson, me and Sara Jean.

Then Sara and I left for Nebraska City to do a last-minute small skateboard demo for Untitled Skateboards and the FCA. It was great to hang out with Jud Farmboy Heald and Nate Giarratano for a bit.

Here’s a butt-shot of myself doing a kickflip that my wife took.

We raced home to make it in time for a birthday dinner with my family at Blue downtown in the Old Market.

It was a great birthday. Thank you everyone!

Here’s a photo of our friend’s (Nate and Megan Mickish) new dog, Bozley. Look at his eyes! Ha!

My Dad spoke at Mutual a few months ago to a select few, and I was honored enough to be able to attend. I’ve always admired my Dad and the way he handles business, but I think more importantly the way he handles life in general.

Here are some basic notes I took, and always try to incorporate into my business/life…

• Make doing business with you easy and fun.
• Don’t look at your weaknesses, focus on your strengths.
• Choose your priorities wisely.
• Learn to say no.
• Dismiss the people who don’t appreciate you… so you have time for those who do.
• Half-efforts don’t produce half-results, they don’t produce anything. Especially anything you would want to be known for.
• If you can’t put all your effort into it, don’t do it.
• When you go to work, REALLY go to work.
• You’re just one day away from getting your life on track.
• Balance your activity.
• Bring clarity to the chaos.
• Being successful is hard work, so work hard.
• Life isn’t fair, get over it.
• Don’t look at someone that is successful and wish you were them. You have no idea the struggles they went through to get to where they are today. Focus on your own struggles and be proud of who you are.

It’s been incredibly busy lately. Here’s a few things we’ve done…

BBB LTD and REZO’s artist series release party was July 19th. I designed the seal that goes on the tail for the artists to sign and number. Check out more photos from the event.

The same night as the release for the artist series boards, was the Munny show put on by Trocadero at the Bemis Underground. Unfortunately, I had to bounce back and forth between places, but still had a great time. I was honored to be in this show. Thanks Alice!

My friends from Siren Skateboards and Reliance Skateboards were passing through, so they stayed at our house. We stopped by our studio on the way to get Ted and Wally’s Ice Cream and played Paddle Battle… we’ll post the battle soon.

August 15-17 was BarCamp Omaha (BarCamp is an ad-hoc technology gathering for people to share and learn in an open environment). SecretPenguin helped sponsor the event.
Check out more photos here.

August 17th was the Peace Center USA Benefit Concert with a ton of great bands. I just made it at the end for a little bit of Bear Country, Orenda Fink and Baby Walrus. Peace Center is an initiative that will provide fast, easy, and free access to confidential treatment for veterans and their loved ones who suffer from PTSD and related issues. We helped with the website, PeaceCenterUSA.org

This past Friday, we hosted the Omaha Craft Mafia’s Trunk Show. They are all soo sooo talented. You have to check them out and support them!

And on Saturday night, we went to The Faint show at Sokol. They put on an amazing show.
I just found some old photos from when we met up with them in Lawrence, KS at a house show when I was on a tour with Joe Hammeke, Dennis Busenitz and Old Dirty Al for a Kansas article in Thrasher Skateboard Mag a loooong time ago. There were about 10-20 people there and they had red garden lights. Quite a bit different than their shows now!

Here’s a photo of my cat from yesterday. I thought he looked cute.
See ya!

I just found out a friend of mine committed suicide.

Tony McMillan also known as YNOT, was an artist and a big contributor to the Omaha skateboard scene. In 1992, he opened up Way Out, a skateshop in the Old Market that featured a resident DJ. He also was a rep for Matix Clothing and DVS Shoes for a bit, and used to sponsor me. He designed the cover of 311′s demo tape. He’s contributed to a lot of things… You can read more about him and see his artwork on his Myspace page.

He called me out of nowhere a couple months ago, and we began talking again after not hearing or seeing each other for years. We talked pretty in depth about a lot of things. A few weeks ago, he called me up and told me he prayed to God and wanted peace with Him.

The last time I saw him was a couple weeks ago, he stopped in the studio and gave me a picture of himself (above), and a few other belongings of his.  It almost seems like he was preparing to go. I’d like to think he’s in a better place now. Rest in peace Tony.

It’s been too busy lately, but super fun and exciting. Here’s a quick recap of everything…

A Day With Steve

I finally made it back down to Lincoln to skateboard with my good friend Steve Andel. Most people know him as Venom. We skated ditches, curbs, wallrides and just cruised around. Definitely one of my favorite guys to skateboard with. He always has fun and enjoys skating everything.

Go Skateboarding Day

National Go Skateboarding Day was June 21. I helped plan with BBB LTD and we teamed up with Red Bull and had 5 best trick contests throughout the city at actual skatespots. We got kicked out by a lot of security guards and police. It was super fun skating through the streets with over 80 people. You can see more at BBB-LTD.com and at Dave Giesbrecht’s gallery.

New Omaha Skatepark Design

We decided on a skatepark company to go with this past week. As I mentioned before, I was asked to be on the Metro Skatepark Committee to help plan and design the new Omaha skatepark. A couple weeks back we interviewed 3 companies. The best one in my opinion was Pillar. These are the guys that helped design the very first Skate Plaza with Rob Dyrdek. Brad, the owner of Pillar is a super cool guy, and seems really passionate about making this park great. I’m happy to say we’ll be going with him and his company for the new Omaha Skatepark!

I don’t think I can show the full design yet, but up above is a little preview. It’s going to be gooooood.

Omaha TweetUp

This past Saturday, we had the first Omaha TweetUp. It was a fun event at Aroma’s Coffee. You can read a full review of it on Joe Schmidt’s blog. It was good to put a face to a tweet.

Storm Damage

The storm hit us pretty hard. Fortunately, it missed our house and nobody was hurt. I hope the same for everyone else. Our new fence, deck, skateboard ramp and landscaping all got destroyed. Huge thanks to everyone that came out and helped us!
You can see all the damage and progress on our Flickr account.

It’s been a fun and interesting week…

The other day, we were buying domain names and I told Cody he should buy CodyPeterson.com before someone else does.

But he didn’t. So I bought it without him knowing, and set up a website with a live webcam pointed at him. After 3 hours of live feed, he ended up finding out after a bunch of people kept messaging Cody saying they’re watching him!

CodyPeterson.com

Omaha native skateboarder Joe Hammeke – staff photographer at Thrasher Magazine and skateboarder Robbie Brockel were on their way to the Damn Am Contest up in Minnesota at 3rd Lair, and stopped by the SecretPenguin studio.

Joe Hammeke may be able to take great skateboard photos for one of the best magazines around…

And Robbie Brockel may be able to win Best Trick contests and get a trick named after him(video from 411VM)…

But are these guys capable of beating Cody and I at Paddle Ball?
Check out PaddleBattle.com next Wednesday to find out!

I posted a while back about the meeting for a new skatepark in the La Vista area.

I’m happy to say I was asked to be on the Metro Skatepark Committee. We met this past week and went over some designs and proposals sent in by a few companies. The top 2 were from Pillar and Site Design.

I was very impressed with Pillar’s designs. These are the guys that worked with Rob Dyrdek on his Skate Plaza in Kettering, OH.

Red Bull flew my friend Jeff Chase and me up for the opening a few years back.

We’re meeting with the 2 companies on June 10th and will interview each one. I know I need to keep an open mind, but after seeing the submitted designs from Pillar and skating their past work, it’s hard not to be biased.

When we opened our studio in our new location, we made a decision to try and support artists in everything we did. We decided this because we value design, and wanted our studio to represent that. We wanted to attract clients that valued design as well.

There’s not really one set way on how to support designers, but one way we decided to do this was to hire an artist to build custom furniture and/or buy authentic. We got Eames molded plastic rocking chairs for the front. And then hired dKISER design.construct to work with us on the desks, shelves and coffee table. And next we plan on bringing back the SecretPenguin label and collaborate with other artists on different products and clothing (hopefully by Fall time).

Doug from dKISER, just finished our custom runners for our Eames Rockers so they match the rest of the wood in our studio. And he also added lights to the bottom of our coffee table. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I’ve been with Doug’s service and work.

There’s so many things that make this world beautiful, and design plays a big part in the aesthetics. So please keep supporting good design and the arts!