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A good friend of mine recently got a pretty cool birthday present. His kids, apparently not realizing what an old geezer he is, bought him a longboard, skateboard.
I was jealous.
You see, I've been skateboarding since the fourth grade when all we had were these little things we called banana boards--essentially hunks of fiberglass with rollerskate wheels underneath.
A few years later an actual skate shop opened in a strip mall near my home and I was introduced to a new world of sidewalk surfing. Urethane wheels and wide trucks reduced the teeth chattering and skinned knees. They also increased the speed at which I could hurl myself down the driveway and into oncoming neighborhood traffic.
