I spent this past weekend with 15 of the best female snowboarders in the world at the second-annual Snow Angels Invitational, a women’s-only halfpipe contest created and hosted by 2002 Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler. The event was designed as a season-ending opportunity for the women to compete in a chill environment (the contest agenda is peppered with spa treatments and massages) with top billing (read: the guys aren’t there) and in a progression-promoting format (a 70-minute jam) in Bleiler's hometown of Aspen/Snowmass, Colo.

The contest is bookended by workshops on global warming, including a talk by a representative from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Climate change is a cause close to the hearts—and the paychecks—of Bleiler and her peers. The event is a sort of sports summit where the most influential female athletes in snowboarding can discuss issues important to each of them, as well as what they’d like to see improved upon within their sport.

For this week's Action Sports Report, my espnmag.com blog, I asked each of the women, “If you could run ESPN The Magazine for one issue, what would you write about?” Click here to read what they had to say.

This past Monday, I spent the day with tennis superstar Maria Sharapova for a story that will be in an upcoming issue of the magazine, due out early this summer. The piece is still under wraps, so I can't/won't tell you much about it, or which male athlete also flew out here to L.A. to be part of the story.

What I will tell you is that Sharapova is one of the most confident, mature 21-year-olds I've ever met, was fun to work with ... and never took off her five-inch heels. You wanna feel short? Spend a day standing next to a gal who's 6'7" in heels!

MARIA IS READY FOR HER CLOSE-UP ...

MARIA AND HER MYSTERY MAN ...

Monday afternoon, I spent the day hanging out at Paul Rodriguez's skate warehouse in Canoga Park, Cali., while nine action sports athletes (Ryan Sheckler, P-Rod, Greg Lutzka, Chaz Ortiz, Steve McCann, TJ Ellis, Daniel Dhers, Luke Parslow and Adam Jones) filmed commercials for the 2009 Dew Tour. It's tough enough to get these guys to show up for contests, let alone interviews, so the fact that they were being held hostage in a warehouse for 12 hours was very appealing to me. So appealing that I drove to Canoga Park and spent the day in a warehouse.

The day provided great material for my weekly ESPNTheMag.com Action Sports Report, which you can read here, and hopefully lots of future stories. The commercials look like they are going to be pretty cool, although most of the work will be done in post-production. All of the scenes were shot against a giant, backlit white screen, which allowed me to take some fun digicam photos. Too bad I, too, don't have the luxury of post-production.

THE SHADOW SKATERS. (FROM L: SHECKS, ORTIZ, P-ROD)

WATCHING LITTLE CHAZ ORTIZ SKATE MAKES ME SMILE.

SHECKLER COULDN'T WAIT TO GET BACK IN HIS LIMO, WHICH WAS PARKED OUTSIDE.

SIDE NOTE: LUTZKA IS SERIOUSLY THE NICEST, MOST POLITE SKATEBOARDER IN THE SPORT.

ADAM JONES HAD THE CREW CHEWING THEIR NAILS AS HE WHEELIED ON SLICK CONCRETE.

I spent this past weekend in Long Beach for the Toyota Grand Prix. It was my first IRL race and I had an absolute blast. I am working on a story on last year's IndyCar series (and Indy 500) champion Scott Dixon, so I spent a couple days with him, his wife, Emma, and his Target Chip Ganassi team. Ganassi is from Pittsburgh—actually, from Fox Chapel, which is right down the road from where I grew up—so we bonded over the Steelers and dirt track racing. We also talked about what he thought when he found out his No. 1 driver was going to become a father in the middle of the 2009 season. (It's all in the story, which will be out the week before the 500 next month.)

On Sunday, I took my friend Monica Paull with me to the race. She's something of an amateur imagesmith, and she's really, really good. So, instead of rambling on as usual, I thought I'd let Monica's photos tell the story of our day. Here are a few of my favorites ...

THE VIEW FROM MONICA'S CANON, ON THE STARTING GRID, IN THE PITS ...

DIXON'S CREW WAITS FOR THEIR DRIVER TO PIT (COOL COMPOSITION, RIGHT?) ...

DIXON TELLS ME HOW HE PLANS TO PULL OFF BACK-TO-BACK SERIES WINS ...

MY FAVORITE SHOT FROM THE DAY. AHH, TECATE, FLOAT MY WAY ...