All Things Rowdy

My Monday is going to be busy!! But for the most part I will be doing things I want to do, so it is a good busy. =) Now I just got to figure out what order to get it all done in so I still also have some free time and don't waste any time. -picking up a custom made black powder cannon -my awesome housekeeper will be cleaning the place -taking clothes to get dry cleaned, maybe getting a fruit bowl since I'll be nearby -finishing the transaction for the .30 carbine -picking up my purple belt with my name "ROWDY" and my motto "KOBK" newly embroidered on it -finishing fixing CW's mountain bike -prepping my new gi for its patches -training with RS and CW at my house on the new mats for the first time -beginning my Ginastica Natural preparation As a side note, my Sunday was busy as well. I prepared and delivered a talk about listening to the Holy Ghost and how its voice speaks to us in a different way than Satan's or 'the world's'. Then I went ...

Me at the top of Bronco Peak in Corral Canyon, getting ready for a rocky descent! I like that the same cup holder in the P-car can carry carrot juice as well as a Slurpee. Crafty Germans! My mats showed up!! The garage really is complete now. I just 38 hours in a day... My first shot of wheat grass ever. It's good, not bad at all. The Weapon My very first time riding a mountain bike or doing any sporty thing with an mp3 player. It was alright. Artful early morning ride self-portrait Actually I think this blonde is twice as smart as the rest of us!! GSXR 600, the return! Gotta fix a few tiny things but it is worth it! And have magically a 3 car garage... Trust me, there is a nice bruise growing under the rash and swelling. When jumping a mountain bike, land on the tires not on your hip, FYI. Room temperature pudding that is Cotton Candy flavored?? Who knew? Jeweled Malicious Barbie did! When I texted her a pic she said she'd already tried it!! Look like a runner, train like a ru...

this not being able to sleep business is getting out of hand...... i need to more carefully choose the 4 hours i am asleep. 10pm to 2am i think is not the most productive choice..... 1am till 5am i think is better. medical professionals have told me i am 'sensitive' in my needs for anesthetic and such, much more beyond the adjustment made for red heads. for instance, if i really really wanted to sleep all night i would have to of course continue my level of exercise, have it be totally dark and quiet, take one melatonin, two ativan, one swig of codeine and phenergan cough syrup, soak in hot epsom salts and be lucky. that is not right, and that is too much. i am tired of being a freak show and doing my chores around the house in the odd AM hours.... UGH

As you well know, I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (bjj) and am a purple belt under Fabio Santos here in San Diego. In just how we talk about jiu jitsu, terms like these are used frequently: class tuition school training academy learning technique conditioning student. All of these are very strong words that key into the fact this is something deep, complex and mental. When I realized this my approach to bjj changed. I needed to stop treating it like a hobby or an activity. I now treat it like I would a college course. As a purple I am almost done with my undergrad in bjj. Brown belt will by my MS and black belt will be my PHD. Which is what I am goal driven to earn. So now if I am going to pay hundreds of dollars a month, spend at least 24 hours a month in the academy, have my physical conditioning 70% geared to my bjj competition performance and have a goal of becoming a black belt I can not do what most people do. Most students, and that really is what we are, show up twice a week and le...

I start the certification process for my new job endeavor on March 10th. It is going to be physically and mentally a challenging week. A quick run through of my business plan shows me returning a profit on my investment at 10 to 14 months out. Worst case scenario is 24 months. When I am finished training I will let you know what I am doing and then when I am done with that I will let you know how my possible partnership is progressing. The only hint I will give is that I am staying in the sports and recreation field.

Do you see the look in my eyes? This look comes from riding home a brand new motorcycle. As you can see it is quite the powerful sensation!! If all goes to plan, you'll be seeing a similar look on Saturday!!

I just renewed my subscriptions to Foreign Policy magazine and The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists . The 'red' countries are ones I have visited or have tickets already for this year. My Visited Countries Get your own Visited Countries Map from Travel Blog

I love having a garage. There is nothing more manly, rowdy, Rowdy and fun than having the garage set up how you want it to be. Garage version 1.0 had the Lexus 400H, the Acura RSX and a DRZ supermoto. And a couple of mountain bikes. Garage version 2.0 had a rock climbing wall in one corner, same cars and a ZX636R Ninja. Same mountain bikes. Garage version 2.5 was an ever changing parade of motorcycles and me moving the storage shelving from one side to the other in preparation to build a tiny work bench. Garage version 3.0 has gymnastics rings for working out and a punching bag where the rock climbing wall used to be. A Porsche Cayman S, a Tacoma 4x4, a Yamaha C3 scooter and a WR250X supermoto for motorized stuff and 3 different mountain bikes. And a small work bench was added. Garage version 4.0 which I completed today (!!!!!!!!!!!) is by far the best Rowdy Style man cave ever!! Take v3.0 and add a flat screen TV with jiu jitsu videos on one wall, 12' x 12' of folding mats, al...

Man, learning Russian is tough. I even dreamed in Russian last night, the 3 hours I slept that is. (I am not skipping my sleeping pill tonight!) Learning the Cyrillic alphabet is soo hard and I just haven't made it the priority I should. I may not learn any spoken Russian at the end of the 8 week class but I will be able to read it and sound out words, that is for sure!! I hope those little orphans appreciate it, 'cause I know they sure aren't learning English for me. So I go to church for hours and then have just enough time to go home, eat, change clothes and then head to Russian each Sunday. Truly a brain frying time for me....I even fell asleep in class this weekend, and with only 3 of us in the class it was pretty obvious. Normally I rock at foreign languages so it is funny to be the horrible one. Oh well, I still get to go to Russia no matter what my language ability is. I'll just have to get really good at pantomime! hahahahaha.

Let me just give you a quick written report of where I've been... Thursday I was up early cleaning house. Then I went on the first dirt ride of my new bike! I took STM home straight from there and then I went straight to work. I clocked my 8 there and then came home. Once at home it was time to build a new bike rack and such for the new bike and my dreams of riding and racing it even more! So it was fun to think and plan my rack all the way home and then actually build it and have it turn out perfect. My best one yet! My sleeping pill prescription had not arrived yet so took a soak in my new bit of Undurasoak and it felt great. A sip of cough syrup, a Reglan and two melatonin helped me to sleep a bit. Friday I again woke up super early and started cleaning and doing laundry. Then I went for a short 35 minute bike ride as the trail I picked was too muddy. From that I came home and decided to do an upper body workout in the garage. 35 minutes later from that I was shaky and torched....

The UPS and Fed Ex guys have been earning their money at my house lately. 12' x 12' mat for BJJ training in the garage. 2 different bjj instructional dvd sets t-shirt 4lbs of special epsom salt/essential oil blend to athletic recovery soaking in the bath tub. metal license plate bracket and tail light frame to replace the plastic one I broke last time I really rode my supermoto.... =( Now I have to totally re-do my garage. Which is kinda fun. And will help with other stuff later. I also went a little crazy at work and ordered a ton of stuff for my new bike also. Well, not a ton but some stuff yes. Hahahaha. So they will be earning their money visiting at work too.

I know it's a truck. I know I drive it off road and go on many adventures. Truck is supposed to equal tough. But why does a surprise scrape this big drive me insane? Both of my cars have had some sort of cosmetic damage to them that was not my fault in the past year. Cursed! Or cursed? The one time I scraped someones car in a parking lot it turned into a huge thing, and while I did the right thing and it eventually all worked out at about $2,000 from my own pocket, I learned a lesson. Leave a fake number and run! HAHAHA. I jest. A new fender flare is about $320. I can install it myself. Ugh............. I think I am just going to leave it, as is.

I have a new business idea for self employment in a way I would love. Start up costs are about $5,000 and would take about a month of my time in ground work and preparation. But in the end I could work less than I do now and make more. And still do something I really enjoy and am good at...... Do I make the jump and commit a month of my life and 5 grand to it....?? And I got and built my freaking new awesome super cool carbon fiber mountain bike tonight!!!! A 2010 Trek Remedy 9.8 and boy is it going to be a weapon!! This is perfect for my Super D racing. I am stoked!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah, and the sun was shining today with it 80F. =)

Tooth Fairy. Easter Bunny. Father Time. The Great Pumpkin. Thom Turkey. All lesser known holiday or event representations but with one very popular holiday missing, Valentine's Day. But this is not so at my house and it has been great! Just as the Easter Bunny brings you treats and a little toy or something as a child when I was growing up you would get a basket of candy and a gift brought to you by the Valentine's Bird . I like to picture him as a very vibrantly colored robin. Or maybe a cardinal? While I have never seen him I do know his work. Yep, that is right, a bird has brought me a little basket of candy and some sort of present every February 14th that I can remember. This year he/she brought me some cherry, and cinnamon gummy hearts to eat and a very nice Banana Republic argyle sweater. (that makes me feel like a straight Clinton on 'What not to wear'. don't ask...) **************************************** As you read, I went to the birthplace of the french...

Burn and Crash BURN As you all know, I got out of a week in the hospital on Thursday evening and went to jiu jitsu for a few hours. Friday I basically did easy stuff at home and went to the movies in the evening. Saturday was going to be a different story! The IV started in the emergency department was the same one left in the whole week so it was no surprise I noticed a large section of plebitis and/or thrombis in that vein. To help "dissolve" it I took a dishtowel and soaked it in hot water and wrapped it around my arm. Then I took a millet bag/bed buddy and microwaved it for 2 minutes and place that on top of the warm wet towel. This was all held in place with an ace bandage. It felt great! My vein went from feeling like a stick in my arm to merely ropey. In typical rowdy style my treatment gave me a second degree burn on my arm. Red, dry, partial thickness, blisters. CRASH Oh and did I tell you I was on my way to a mountain bike race. Racing, not watching. On the PBOD (pi...

Or I could have titled this post Rage, Rowdy and Oh-So-Not Cinema. But let me just tell it to you in chronological order and you will figure it out. Earlier in the day I had bought tickets for the new Wolfman movie to make sure that I could get us in on an opening night/holiday weekend. I really enjoy movies and I like to see them soon after they come out. I stroll up to the employee to give my tickets to, at which he stops and just stares at me. So I start to stare at him and notice he is a younger black kid whose name tag says "Rage". This doesn't phase me at all, after all look at my name.... So after giving me the up and down he says, "you look like someone...." OK, you're right, I do. Go on, elucidate me. He is struggling to find the connection and I am waiting for the classic 'race' line of "all you red heads look alike to me." HA! That would have been a funny switcheroo. With a little prompting he gets to Conan O'brian. Not Cona...