1st pair

I bought my first pair of real running shoes today. Adidas adizero XT trail running shoes. Superlight, hug my foot, decent looking, just less than $100. I bought them at the San Diego Running Institute and the girl fitting me did a great job. And yes, for you eagle eyed reader, they are the women's model. That size and last just worked better for me. So there.

I will be wearing them in my race this weekend after I have ran in them a few times this week. I am doing a 5k cross country race at Balboa Park that is part of the San Diego Dirt Dogs trail running series. I think I will be able to race the last 3 races of the series. It is at 0800 so I should be done running and home and washed in time for conference.

In the San Diego Mud Run I did I was 5th in my age group and 43/440 overall. So I think 5k is a good race distance for me. Of course I also ran that race in a speedo and a half shirt, so finishing to end the embarrassment was definitely a factor in my speed.

Looking Forward

I am looking forward to different things about moving to Utah. San Diego has its great things and Salt Lake will have its great things as well. I have never lived there, so I am only going off my impressions and short visits. If things go well and I move to Utah, school or no school, these are things I will enjoy about living in a new place.


-Nearness to family (the reason I am moving in the first place!)
-Being able to have a CCW permit
-Proximity to a world class race track, MMP
-Real mountains to mountain bike, rock climb, camp and motorcycle in
-Less restrictions on firearms ownership
-Snowboarding
-Moab


I can't really think of anything else that SLC would have that is better than SD. Am I missing something?

Dream Jobs

Check this out!?!?! Who knew you could be a doctor for a racetrack?? That is freaking awesome! That's like being a voice actor for cartoons. (a dream job of mine from childhood)

I wonder if you can be a PA for a racetrack or involved in racing somehow.... I know the CIA has PAs listed in its career listings. Doing physicals on spooks could be so-so interesting, but working with motorcycle racers would be much better!!

Did you know there is also something called a "mattress technician"? Yeah....

8 times a charm!

Alright!! Valetino Rossi won his 8th world championship toda with his win in Japan!! Woo Hoo!! I am sooo glad I got the chance to see him racing in real life this month at the Indy MotoGP race!!

Here I am touching one of his bikes at another race where it was used to promote the USGP at Laguna Seca.

superfun Saturday

1. Surfing at La Jolla Shores.
2. Watching Bugs Bunny cartoons.
3. Eating burger, fries and a shake at Ruby's Diner.
4. Shopping at Best Buy.
5. Taking a nap.
6. Yummy left over spaghetti.
7. Watching LOTR movies.

What fun. A very full day and hopefully a decent visit for J. Well, she got her birthday present early, so it better be!!! =)

so far

I am voting for McCain.

You only love the ones you hurt

Hmmm, I am not sure that is really how the saying goes. Oh well. Word processing is soo permanent, I can't really go back and change it now, can I?

After being single for 10 years I finally found someone worth marrying. I got her rings from Tiffany's. I actually had to get my first credit card in my name only to buy it. I was living a cash only lifestyle for a long time.

So when we were picking out rings for me, we decided the number one thing was strength and durability followed by uniqueness. Due to my climbing, surfing, tennis, motorcycle, fighting, mnt biking and such lifestyle, we wanted me to have a ring that would not look beat to crap from my use of it.

Many hours of research later we decided on a tungsten steel ring. They have a cool dark shiny gray glint to them. And they can't be cut off. At all. A tungsten steel ring can not be really engraved or re sized either. Due to my funky weight gain and loss patterns my ring never fit after about a month of marriage. So it sat in my dresser or on a chain around my neck.

Until now. I finally got it sized correctly and I think my finger will stay the same size for a few months this time. Hopefully!

And hopefully I don't do any major trauma to my finger. When I asked the jeweler what would happen if I did his reply was, "since you can't cut the ring, well, they would just have to cut your finger off."

You know what, I think I like that.

Rowdy's Believe it or Not....

If your one of my family members or long time friends you are aware I know absolutely nothing about stick and ball team sports. Nada. I can't catch or throw worth a darn. I don't know how many points are scored in a touchdown for example.

I just never played those sports for school, had a parent who was really into exposing me to them or anything like that. I was just into other stuff. I only played t-ball one year and basketball one year in elementary school. In junior high I wrestled until I quit and I played tennis through my senior year of high school.

So it was to my own great surprise I volunteered to play flag football with some guys from church. Normally they play basketball, softball or volleyball. So I thought this would be my chance. Chance for what I don't know.

Most of the guys were pretty cool and taught me stuff about the game and such. I even got a few lessons in how to correctly catch a football. (after they saw me try once and it bounced off my chest wildly)

The first 3/4 of the game I was basically ignored on offense as no on my team would dare give me the ball. I did alright covering my man on defense. Well, finally they took a chance and since I was pretty much always open and uncovered they threw me the ball on a short pass. And I caught it. And I ran. Quickly.

Believe it or not, I started to get the ball more and get coverage. I became a player in the game. I even scored two touchdowns!!

I think I deserve to win the "Most Improved" award for that!! And guess what, I am playing again next Thursday night.

Believe it, or not............

bring it

I could survive for 1 minute, 32 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

self googling game

So here is how this works, Google your first and last name. Then write out the first type of websites in the results. Whether it is really you or not. Go!

1. Classmates.com which I have not joined, but used a few months ago to find people I haven't thought about in 15 years.
2. The "friends of" site for my brother's mission area, Thailand
3. D's blog
4. Results page for a SCCA Solo2 car race I was in.
5. Generic "find someone" service come-on.

Now you Google the phrase "(your first name) was arrested for", and tell the first 3 results. You or not.

1. A rowdy burper arrested in Australia
2. Rowdy fans arrested at a Boston Celtics rally.
3. A old granny arrested in the UK for yelling racist things at Asian kids she had a problem with.

What have you got?

yeah, i said it. and?

"Nah, I'm not hungry. I had two twinkies with breakfast."

just give it a little tappy, tap tap taparoo

I have been a Brazilian jiu jitsu blue belt for about 3 weeks now. In that time I have not tapped another blue belt at all. Not one.

Well tonight at open mat at Fabio's that changed. Twice. A huge weight off my shoulders. I was soo worried I'd only be defensive and never be able to actually 'tap' anyone.

Both of them were within about 15-20lbs of me, one a 1 stripe blue and another blue promoted around the same time I was.

I was able to get to the back on both of them, eventually, and used the 'bow and arrow' choke on both as well. A huge boost to my confidence and game.

Awesome!

a friend's art

One of my friends, RP is a musician and also creates collage pieces. These are not digital creations, but made from magazines with an x-acto knife and glue. I like these but he has many more.

Who does #2 work for?

A Rowdy list of Essential Male skills:

As most of you know, I am learning to swim in my 30's. This got me to thinking about things I should have learned as a male growing up and what are the skills or knowledge that every man should know.

In not particular order or category...

>catch and throw a baseball and/or football
>drive a manual transmission car
>iron a dress shirt and slacks
>change a flat tire in under 20 minutes
>sharpen a knife
>use a gas bbq and cook meat on it
>do more than one pull up/more than 10 push ups
>shoot a gun
>bait a hook and clean the fish you will catch
>fight or at least throw a punch well
>tie a neck tie
>build and start a camp fire
>use power tools, to build things that can actually be used
>how to hold the door open for any woman
>use a razor and not cut themselves
>change the tube in a bicycle tire
>swim
>put up a xmas tree with no help
>flirt
>really know the history and trivia of whatever sport you follow

So, anyone else have something to add??

>>>>THIS WAY>>>>>>>

Check out the photos on the Flikr app to the right for stuff from my latest bit of life.

Thanks momma!!

A few posts back I commented on not having any real baby and childhood pictures. Well someone was listening!!

In the mail I received a babybook/scrapbook/photo collection from birth to about 16 years old that my mom had made for me. It is totally awesome, there are pictures of people and places that I have never seen and stuff that I thought only existed in my memory.

What a wonderful, thoughtful gift. Thank you mom, I love you!!

Tis the season!

Ah, one of the joys of this time of year! I doubt this box will last more than the weekend.

Locked Up Abroad

On the National Geographic Channel there is a new show called Locked Up Abroad that gives the various horror stories of people in foreign jails. Drug smuggling, kidnapped for ransom and whatever else.

I have watched a few episodes and some of them start scarily similar to my Morocco incident. Scarily similar.

rose colored hindsight gives me 20/20 glasses on the world

Oh, or something like that. Sayings are just sayings. But I think back on this week in Indiana and New York and I notice something funny. I am not cold, wet, tired, lost, hungry, sore footed, frustrated or anything like that. I can only remember the good.

It really is funny. I read my journal for think about things past that at the time I had a rough time with but in my mind now, I can only see the good. So driving home from jiu jitsu practice tonight, I can only think and feel good things about the people and times this past week.

And I like that.

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug!

Happy Birthday brother!! I wish I could have been there for the day. Sorry I was half way across the US away from you.

You have been many things for me throughout the years. Let's examine a few of them, a walk down my memory lane on Brother Boulevard.

Break Dancing-where do I begin? Seeing Breakin at the movie theater, getting boomboxes for xmas, the Thriller album
Bike Riding-how many times did one of us crash and have to encourage the other to ride home bloody and crying?
Punching-you've given me one bloody nose, and I still remember it. We always were good scrappers fighting each other and we always fought for eachother as well.
Paper Route-hmm, remember the ER cause of the dog attacking you? remember me sick and just carrying the papers while you did all the placing in the boxes. Remember hookey bobbing on the paper route?
Tennis-how can every single stinking game go to duece?? how?!?!
Missionary-what an example. Really something amazing you did. I am sooo proud of you.
Chores-"Mom told me to tell you to empty the dishwasher. No, she is sleeping. She said if you wake her up she will hit you. So you better do the dishes." hahaha, how often did this trick work? Or what about the Saturday mornings where we would bag 30-40 bags of leaves? How many cords of wood have we chopped?

Brother, I love ya!! Happy Birthday.

grub

Gray's Papaya- $3.50 gets you two hot dogs with sauerkraut and mustard and a juice drink. Yummy. Definitely the best "street" hot dog place.

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory- Very yummy. And of course the setting at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge makes it a great place to enjoy such a tasty desert. I recommend the strawberry flavor.

Grimaldi's Pizza- I am not a fan of New York style pizza. It is too floppy. But this brick oven pizza was delicious. I think it is the fastest I have eaten something in a while. (Travis I know you won't believe it) When we left there was a line down the street to get in.

Magnolia Bakery- No good at all. And overpriced big time. I could make better from a box. Easily. I probably will.

Cosi- Maybe I picked the wrong meal...for airport food it was merely average.

Au bon pain- An excellent cinnamon scone. Though their selection does go down at the end of the day.

Star Power II

So I saw a famous motorcycle racer at the airport and talked to him and such. Then here in Brooklyn I was seated next to some famous TV actress. The chick who is the star of Weeds. How funny. D had told me I would probably see someone famous while in NYC/Brooklyn.

China=Bad

That is a blanket statement, China equalling bad but in this case it is totally true and goes to further my belief.

Adding melamine to powdered baby formula, specifically one also exported to other lower income users and countries so that an already watered down product would appear to be higher in protein is absolutely reprehensible!!

The lies, murder, graft, oppression, corruption and total disregard for humanity is appalling in a country that wants to enter the 1st world and act as a major power.

Is this a case of us just only hearing bad things about China due to the bias of reporting? But really, all I hear are things about double dealing, money before safety, coercion and just plain lying on a grand scale.

Zoo York

Short walk around Brooklyn Heights. Then the subway to Wall Street. A very limited view of ground zero where I amazingly felt no added emotion. Odd. From there to Battery Park and ferry rides to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty; where I did feel much more emotion and national pride.

Riding the ferry requires you to not have a pocket knife. Well of course I did. After caching my knife in the park I was ready to go. Thankfully it was there when I returned.

Ellis Island is also where some idiot from the mid-west tried to teach me how to stand in line. With the proper amount of cursing he realized his place actually was behind me. Of course.

A late afternoon walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and now back at K's place. Now it is time to go out to dinner.

Tomorrow should bring Manhattan Temple, Central Park, St Lukes Roosevelt Hospital and a few other sites. As well as Grimaldi's Pizza and a Gray's Papaya hot dog.

Brooklyn

Alright, sorry for the short 'twitter' like posts. I am now in Brooklyn Heights. It's a nice brownstone type suurban area. I think it was really the first suburb of NYC. I also got a really good view of the skyline as we flew in. A good start to my NYC visit.

My initial impression was that I would rather live in Baghdad again than NYC, but it really isn't that bad. It is just a lifestyle I am not used to, that is all. Not my prefered, but not as bad as I thought.

STAR POWER

I just talked to Kevin Schwantz in the Indianapolis airport. I thanked him for signing a tshirt that was sent to me while I was in Iraq.

He was vary gracious and kind. Probably the most "famous" person I have met that closely in real life. Pretty cool.

#46 is #1

Quick update. In Indianapolis and attended the MotoGP race!!!!!!!!! Hurricane Ike blew directly over the race and seemingly destroyed the weekend. But the racing did happen. Well, some of it.

My guy, Valentino Rossi (the greatest ever) won the premier race!!!!! He will assuredly win his 8th world championship this year. Awesome.

Indy is a much better city than I expected. The race track is historic and I can see why.

More later, pictures later, stories later.

It is not trite or funny or cute

But it is true, "I have seen government housing, I don't want to see government health care."

Have you also seen and read any of the reports about Medicaid and Medical and Medicare reimbursements? They are going down again. Why would any doctor choose to willing treat this patient population when the would be paid substantially less than from a private insurer??

And I know the true human cost of a medical insurance crisis. I spent 28 days in two hospitals, surgery and all that goes with it having ZERO medical insurance. I know what it is like to go through a bankruptcy due to this type of financial, family and emotional distress.

Anyone who thinks that nationalized health care is the answer is wrong.

For a more succint and better thought out appeal go here href="http://tylerandtory.blogspot.com/">

TAG!

How many artists/groups have you owned 3 or more tapes, records, 8 tracks or cds??

Leave a comment on this post with your answers.

Here are mine:
Duran Duran
U2
Beastie Boys
311
Bob Marley
Jack Johnson
Crystal Method
Rage Against the Machine

+2

So after this weekend I will have added two more states to my list of US states visited. I have finally pushed over the barrier of having been to more countries than states. True no more. (Guess I should travel more now...)
-US states I have visited-
Oregon
Montana
Washington
Idaho
California
Arizona
Utah
Wyoming
Colorado
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
New York
South Dakota
Nevada

I am totally amazed at the people I meet who have lived their whole lives in one state and have only traveled to one or two others. I just can't imagine....

September 11, 2008

Today I hope and pray for the death and destruction of all those who oppose freedom and righteousness, for they are the same.

We all have something, some idea or cause we would die for but would you kill for it? Live for it?

I gladly went to Iraq as part of the GWOT (global war on terror) and it is one my great regrets I did not do more.

All those who stand for truth, family, freedom, country and God, vow today that you will fight the enemies of such to the very end.

Animal Farm

Part I
One morning at breakfast in Costa Rica I mentioned I hadn't slept well at all. I was up all night, tossing and turning. Johnny turned to me and questioningly asked, "did you have an iguana?"

My quizzical reply, "uh, no. I don't like iguanas. I am on my honeymoon and I think I would remember an iguana's involvement somehow."

"No, no no. When I say you 'had an iguana' last night what I mean is that iguanas get on the roof of your place man, and they make lots of noise up there and keep you awake at night. So, if you don't sleep well, you probably got an iguana."

Part II
I love sushi. So when I was in Hawaii earlier this year I figured that was as close as I would geographically get to Japan so it was time to load up on whatever sushi I could.

Me, "oh yum yum, look at that octopus. I want that one!" Repeat this about 8 more times for the octopus sushi I was eating during lunch that day in Honolulu.

Of course, oh of course, later that afternoon I felt absolutely horrible! Not even a direct infusion of sugar from Hawaiian shaved ice fixed me.

Part III
So now we come to this evening, and your question as to why I shared travel/animal/food stories with you? Well, let me tell you this. Not only do I think I have an iguana on my roof but I am giving him a piggy-back ride and the octopus is alive in my guts and his monstrous sucker covered tentacles only want to adhere to my innards. So, should you ask me, "how ya feeling?" this evening I would say, "oh you know, iguana octopus."

tri-rowdy

Yesterday I rode my mnt bike 4 miles (before being thwarted by another flat!!), climbed at the climbing gym for 1.5 hours and went to open mat at jiu jitsu for a hour.

Today I ran for 2 miles, I will swim for 30 minutes and then go to jiu jitsu for 1.5 hours.

But yet somehow I don't feel as physically fit as you think this activity level would make me...

I am also going to start doing pylometric training. I am in need of more explosive power in the things I do. Less finesse, more power. So lots of jumping, bounding, medicine ball types of things.

I do.

Yesterday, Sunday, D and I went to a friends wedding. It was a good ceremony and very touching. My dinner selection was yummy and a fun 4 hours all in all.

So, in thinking about stuff I thought I would post some of my favorite D photos.

Ahh, the joys of mountain biking.

Her first autocross. San Diego.

Out and about, seeing new things and places. Arizona.

Bike=Friend. Really. London 2006

Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Like Dr. Seuss said, "Oh the places you'll go."


I Love You.

30hp from my 2008 Yamaha WR250X supermoto

Yeah, I know 30hp is not impressive, but my bike started with 25, so that is a huge jump. Much of it is torque in the midrange as well! So it is useful power.

I have this done so far as far as engine type mods are concerned:
-a cat back pipe and muffler (catalytic converter removed)
-exup removed
-K&N air filter
-door off my airbox completely
-trap door and solenoid removed from top of airbox
-Power Commander PCIII/usb
-dyno tuned and mapped
-CA emissions removed
-91 octane pump fuel

Here is a graph showing some of my dyno runs.


If you are interested, get my map here: http://www.4shared.com/file/61913462/866539a6/rowdymap.html

rrrrrrrrrr

0650-ran two miles

1030-kayaked in the ocean for 1.5 hours

1330-swimming lesson for 45 minutes

now I just need to ride my bike and I will have done a sprint traithalon today.

Which way do I go?

Turn one way, end up in Mexico, turn the other and I stay in the US. Good thing I had never been on this road before and really had no idea where I was. At one point I was getting text alerts on my cell saying, "international rates apply."

Mexico, 4.5 miles. I was actually much closer some of this ride. I was on trails the Border Patrol uses. There is actually a way I can ride from San Diego to Tecate off road. That I will have to do!!

funny bone

I bought tickets to go see Frank Caliendo. You know, the guy who does Pres. Bush spot on in those dishnet commercials.

Saturday, October 18!! It will be awesome. And for your viewing enjoyment and a little preview of his work, here you go:

Estoy aprendido a nadar.

If you don't habla the espanol, the title says, "I am learning to swim."

As you have seen from these posts, I like the ocean and being in the water is of no concern to me. But I don't know how to swim. As kids we had lessons one summer, but it was more bubble blowing by the edge type of thing that real swimming. In Boy Scouts I was never able to pass the swim test and always took other elective physical things to avoid it.

Growing up in small town Oregon, Washington and Montana we just never really swam. Once a year we would go to our grandma's house for a week and play in her pool. But that just teaches you how to goof off, not swim.

The internet has everything so I just looked up swim lessons for SD and found a private instructor. I was nervous and felt a little retarded (Tropic Thunder) about being an adult taking swimming lessons.....

Well it went great!!! I am already much much better and can almost begin to relax in the water. I am going to take a few more lessons and then I should be good. Well at least have a basic stroke and then just need to practice practice on my own time.

I am very happy with it and my confidence has improved. Awesome!

a rare sight

Something you don't see very often, someone practicing sky writing. When was the last time you saw sky writing? Probably the last time you heard a sonic boom!

The Unbearable Lightness of Grooming

I did not like my "trendy" "model" haircut. I am not Derek Zoolander. I had to go with the Billy Zane.

Staying true to myself, Rowdystyle!!!!!!!!!