All Things Rowdy

I had a secret goal of becoming a purple belt by this Christmas 2010. At first that goal didn't seem possible. Now it does, due to dedication and hard work. I put 10 hours a week into jiu jitsu physically and the same amount mentally. I'm basically going to school full time, but I'm getting my undergrad in jiu jitsu. My focus there is sharp and constant. My real BS degree is Radiologic Science. My old job was being a nuclear medicine technologist. To keep my professional license I need continuing education credit. I figured the easiest and fastest way to get them would be to attend a conference. One weekend and and I'd easily have the 24 credits I need for the next two years. Just like most people who think they can just get off the couch and run a 8:00 mile I thought I could do the same with my CEUs. I mean, how hard do you think it is to run an eight minute mile? Well my lack of focus on my old career came back to bite me. Hard. I registered for the wrong part of the ...

Well I made it safe and sound to my destination. I even ran into someone from college at the airport. How odd to see someone from 8 years ago.... Albuquerque is ugly in the way most mid-size towns in the American west are, dull gray concrete sprawl. No beauty, no style. Visually it reminds me of SLC in many ways. But much worse. Their downtown is horrible, frankly. And I can't remember the last time I had to run down an alley at night. Oh wait, that was here last night. The food here has only been barely passable. My hotel is nice but so large there is no hot tub or free breakfast. But it is close to where my meeting will be held. I have now been snowboarding in 4 different states, Oregon, California, Utah and New Mexico. I have to agree with the commercials, Utah snow really is something special. Sandia Peak is a nice little area. As long as I don't have a TBI from my fall I will continue to think so. =) I have also now been to my second museum devoted to nuclear science and t...

if I was an ATHF character I would be: Master Shake!!

For you non medical people, that means "over the counter" or drugs and medications you can buy without a prescription. I wish you could buy codeine and testosterone gel over the counter. My life would be ppprrreeettyyy good then.

I have a free evening Friday and all day Saturday this weekend while I am at the SNM meeting in Albuquerque New Mexico. While there should I: -train jiu jitsu Fri night at Saturday -go snowboarding all day Saturday -explore the town -nothing, take a good book and just chill in the hotel What do you think??? Any ideas, I'm clueless as I have never been there.

I went to open mat tonight to get the obligatory medal photos with my instructors, Fabio Santos and Alex Brandao. I know it's only second place but I put in hard work and I'm only as good as the people I roll and train with. So I want to share my joy with them as well. Me with my medal, smiling like a goofy fool. Me and Alex. Me and Fabio. After my pics with Fabio he asked my age and weight and then reached down and untied my belt. Frankly, I paniced and started to tear up. I didn't want a purple belt. Thankfully as I followed him off the mat I saw that he was getting the tape to add a stripe. No wait, what? Stripes?!?!? Three of them?? Freak! Now I am a 4 stripe blue belt. Careful what you wish for...yah, you know the rest. For those of you not in the know, ranking in brazilian jiu jitsu (bjj) is a mix of subjective and objective. While in other arts you put in your time and do the forms and break the boards you advance. In most traditional martial arts you can be a black ...

Three frogs are on a log in the swamp.Two decide to jump in the water, how many are left? . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .wait for it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Three. Two just decided to jump in the water. Thinking about something means nothing till you actually start doing something about it.

AKA my weekend in Santa Cruz at the ADCC West Coast Qualifier for the World Pro Jiu Jitsu Cup to be held this spring in Abu Dhabi. Regular readers will know I had signed up for this tournament, trained for it and then got sick. While preparing I had disappointing results at other tournaments I considered easy warm ups to the big show. So when the weather turned bad, I couldn't get anyone to go with me, I missed two weeks of training right before the tournament due to a severe cold, depression at recent poor jiu jitsu results and just not really giving the attention to my physical fitness I felt I should I wasn't sure if I even would go this weekend. I didn't make hotel reservations and it really wasn't until Saturday morning that I knew I was going to go. I could have taken the Porsche but I was concerned about gas mileage and I was to focused on just getting there, not "having fun" along the way. Though I did take cell phone pics of every Cayman I drove by, j...

Parent: Did you read that book about how to race cars I gave you yet? Child: No. Parent: Well, why don't you read this book about gambling and poker strategy then? Child: I don't want to right now. Parent: What kind of kid doesn't want to read books about how to car race and gamble? Sheesh, kids these days!

I seem to play guard quite a bit in jiu jitsu. So that means people are always trying to pass my guard. From that I normally am carrying half a dozen bruises up and down my legs. To help with that and alleviate some soreness before my tournament Sunday I decided to taken an epsom salt bath. I weighed myself and I was a little under so I thought I would have a snack while in the tubby. Now this is nothing new for me. In the summer I am constantly eating popsicles in the shower. Slurpees. Anything icy cool will make it into the shower with me during the summer. Being the imaginative snack crazy guy I am, I was overjoyed to find that you can float a Tupperware bowl full of pretzels and M&Ms in the bath with myself!!

all the lights are off.... i'm under a blanket.... the heater is set at 72F..... the wind is rattling the windows.... i'm tired from a fitful lack of sleep... and i'm watching a black and white vincent price movie.

If you got me an Amazon or Borders gift card for xmas then this is what you ended up getting me: Over the Edge of the World by L. Bergreen. I thought I knew about Magellan but I really didn't know a thing. Well written and engaging. I read it as quickly as possible. Blood Meridian by C. McCarthy. Written in his unique style of prose with themes on violence, redemption and the making of "the West." The Art of Deception by N. Capaldi. A good introduction into the critical thinking of how people try to prove a point. Just like its subtitle says, how to: win an arugement. defend a case. recognize a fallacy. see through deception. persuade a skeptic. turn defeat into victory. Sounds like some good things to know! Wired for War. The robotics revolution and conflict in the 21st century. By P. Singer. Having seen some of this in Iraq and knowing people who work "in the business" I find this extremely eye opening. The Physics of Super Heros 2nd edition by J. Kakalios. A...

Saturday we went to the Museum of Contemporary Arts in La Jolla. Their credit card machine was down so I just flirted with the girl at the desk and we all got in for free. This is where an entry sticker ended up on me: I enjoyed all of the exhibits and everything was accessible. I especially liked the films. Sunday we printed a map of all the outdoor sculptures on the UCSD campus and hiked around to all of them and took pictures. It seemed to be a popular Sunday activity as we saw many other people doing it. And for not so fine art.... Drink too much cough syrup and this is how I feel You've heard of a bear holding a shark. You've heard of the shark riding a rampaging elephant. Maybe you've even heard of bear cavalry. But have you ever heard of a monster so just absolutely bad a$$ he eats great white sharks like a grizzly eats salmon? (photo to follow) Now you have!! And more just random silly photos I've taken lately.

As the Fantastic Mr Fox would say, "Cuss my cussing genetics." From my biological father I inherited intestinal problems. He has had a colostomy and has "a bag". I went to the doctor for my RTI and as a matter of course my PCP then ordered some blood work. Now guess who inherited high cholesterol from their maternal side? Yep, my triglycerides are 240!!! Freaking A!! Short, red head, skinny, Crohns disease jacked up gut and now high cholesterol!!! When it comes to the genetic lottery I am not sure I hold a winning ticket sometimes....

-breakfast burrito -driving range -driving the new car -short trail run where i got tired very quickly -finding the star wars/adidas shoes i want are not on sale in san diego -getting sick from earlier breakfast burrito -finding this response for all my job searches today "At present, no California Nuclear Medicine Technologist job listings were found." what to i have ahead for the rest of the day? -grocery shopping -maybe bjj class -going to the airport -dinner whatever type of day i'm having, i hope you are having an awesome one! it is friday after all.............

quick pick in the changing room at the hair place. a new look, very textured. in keeping with my goal of not shaving my head this year. the reason i can now join the PCA (porsche club of america) and thanks to Crashdreas i now have a punching bag in the garage!! back in the day, i could hit a heavy bag over 200 times in a minute. i think i am gonna try that tomorrow and see what i get....