Submission Only Grappling Tournament

Yesterday was the Champion's Challenge Submission Only Grappling Tournament down at the Throwdown ETC in Orem. A bunch of the guys from Absolute were competing in this so I went down to watch. I was going to compete and then backed down due to sickness and just not feeling as prepared as I wanted to be. I was at the tournament from 11am until past 6pm. Alot of the team arrived at the center at 8am for weigh-ins and such. It was a long day. All of our guys did so well. Most of them placed, if not first in their weight class and division. Toward the end of the tournament, when alot of the final fights were going on, someone from Absolute was in every one of those matches. There were 4 fights going on at the same time on the big mat. At one point we had a guy in every one of the matches.

I learned so much by just showing up and watching. Takedown techniques, being patient with a submission and sticking with it until it takes, set-up strategies, preparation for a match, etc...it was making all excited for the next tournament.

Denver getting his opponent in his guard. He got a wicked omo plata submission in an earlier round. It was amazingly cool.
Camrann in a flash of pink.

Ben Garner on the left in the green shorts was the master of his division and weight class. Undefeated. Tough as friggin' nails. Harold "The Constrictor" is on the right hand side of this pic and worked for over half and hour to get that submission. Harold is also very tough to beat. He entered the Absolute Pro Division (all weight classes combined) and took third. He grappled with Court McGee for almost 50 minutes. Court ended up winning the Absolute Division and received the $1,000 cash prize.

This is Denver on top working for the rear naked choke. He got it.

This is the other Cam that we have at our gym (in the blue). He won his division as well. He actually was up against another Absolute guy, Riley. Riley was matched up with all guys from our own team. We were joking that this tournament was pretty much like him just showing up for practice.

This is Chris (white pants) in the clinch. He also won his division. I don't think that he lost even one of his matches.

There was an injury toward the end of the day. People were getting tired and this guy wasn't protecting himself and was spiked on his neck. He was knocked unconscious but woke after a few seconds. We could see him move his arms and legs so I don't think there was any permanent damage. They did take every precaution and took him to the hospital immobilized on a stretcher.

This is my awesome coach, Rob Handley. He calls me VTD (Vanessa the Destroyer), because that's what I do. I cause wreckage! It was his birthday this last week. If you see him on the street, wish him a belated happy birthday!

Pedro and Shawn, coaching and watching.

Ben "Mr. Awesome" Garner preparing for his time to get on the mats.

Harold had a snake buzzed into his cranium. It looked extra cool. See part of its head there above his ear?

Harold and Camrann

Next tournament is on March 7th, and VTD will be in it - Do or Die!

Pink in the Rink

I think I could set the world record right now for the most mucus contained in one persons head. I'm horribly congested. ARGH.

Anyway, I forgot to mention the highlight of my weekend...the Grizzlies game! Did you know that Grizzlies hockey started back up? The game on Friday night was for breast cancer awareness and they dyed the ice PINK. And the players wore pink jerseys that they auctioned off at the end of the night. But that's not the best part. The game was INCREDIBLE. They were playing The Reign from Ontario, California. The Reign scored 2 goals in the first period and maintained that lead late into the third period. The Reign goal tender was insanely good. We took three times as many shots on goal as the opposing team did and we didn't score. Two and a half minutes left of the third and we put one in the net. The crowd is one their feet and rallying for the home team at the this point. Eighteen seconds left and we score another! The game is tied. The third period ends and we go into overtime. Five minutes are put on the clock. No goals are scored in overtime. It goes to a shootout. Five players from each team each take a turn for a one-on-one with the opposite teams goalie. One by one they try for a goal and each one fails. Second to last dude on The Grizz gets up there and knocks one in. People are ripping off their shirts in swinging them over their heads at this point ( I was like one milimeter away from such a display). The last player from The Reign shoots wide and we win the game!!! My friends, that was a GREAT game.

I'm surprised that more people don't advantage of watching an ECHL hockey team here in Utah. In my personal opinion there are far more exciting sports to watch than U of U/BYU football and The Jazz. I've got a hook-up to get me into the games for free, so if you want to go just give me a call. Check out the schedule here. And if the only hockey knowledge you have is from watching The Mighty Ducks movies, then I'll sit next to you and explain this amazing game.

The A Fam

Hey Miyo, does this pic look familiar? I think you might be the stellar photographer that took this photo many moons ago. And now we're great friends! Small world, huh?
Seriously, you should have told me to take out the shoulder pads. As if I wasn't broad enough. Sheesh.

Check out some of Miyo Strong's amazing work here (including the Absolute team photos ). She works for Busath Photography and I think there's a link to the Busath site from her blog. I will shamelessly tell you to hire her for all your photography needs! She's good at what she does and she's ADORABLE!

You're Awful, I Love You

It's late and not only am I totally tanked on cold medicine, but I think I'm a teensy bit looney from some strong glue that I used in the Volvo yesterday to hold up some paneling under the glove box. The following post may or may not make sense. I thank you for your patience in advance.

First things first.....................I won Mindi's superfantastic giveaway! I can't possibly convey how excited I was and how much I adore the Cherella purse that was sent. The day I received it in the mail I emptied out my other purse and transferred the vast contents into my new beauty. I went to the grocery store and I got THREE compliments on it immediately. I kid you not. It's that stunning. See...................

Guess what else she sent with the purse................
A turkey to go with my toilet paper pumpkin! You can now see what size it is in relation to a toilet paper roll. Isn't that what you wanted to know? Isn't it a regal turkey, perched there all proud on top of a pumpkin half? That's a really good looking turkey there.

So thanks a billion, Mindi! I adore you and your blog of hilarious awesomeness! For VTS's next giveaway I'll rig it so that you win. And it'll be something awesome, like swim goggles or a V8 (not the engine, the juice).

Go check out her blog. You'll never regret that you did.

On Wednesday, I got a call from a new friend at work inviting me to the Ludo concert. If you've never heard of Ludo, you should go check them out. I wasn't too familiar with the band but accepted the invitation anyway because I wanted to get to know these people better. We had wicked fun time. I did see more men in skinny jeans than I ever have seen at one gathering before. Damn those skinny jeans. The bitterness that you detect in that statement probably stems from the fact that I will never, ever in my entire life look good in a pair of skinny jeans. It just won't happen.

The opening bands were really good also. The Graduate was first, followed by Eye Alaska, and then The Higher come on right before Ludo. Eye Alaska did a really great punk version of Kanye West's Love Lockdown. I enjoyed The Higher the most, even though the lead singer could've been mistaken for a 12 year old girl. I have a couple of their songs at the bottom of the playlist to the right that you can peruse at your leisure. Oh, and Ludo gave us Kazoos! I forgot how fun those were.

I have a new name for The Ex Boss. I'm going to refer to him as ODB from now on. ODB's birthday is right around this time (not sure on the exact date, but the event takes place right around when I started at the lab on Nov. 6th). I put LOG in the back of his truck on Friday with a single balloon tied around it. That's all. Just to acknowledge his birthday. But this guy won't give you a reaction at all. Nothing. Once I took his lab coat and traded it for a small size and sewed the larger size tag in it. He didn't even notice that his lab coat was 2 sizes too small. Another time I purchased a Hello Kitty calculator and switched it with his regular calculator (he has an unnatural preference to this one specific calculator). I even had it maintained and calibrated by the metrology department. I got no reaction. None.

It could be that I personally feel that I'm funnier than I actually am. That's probably it. But wait, I pulled the same stunts on others in my current section and they think it hilarious (I tend to recycle jokes). Oh well.

OH HELL YEAH!

Voting Highlight: The 4 hot men tailgating in the parking lot at the polling place this morning. They gave me a donut.

Your vote matters!

Halloween '08

Happy belated Halloween, guys! This is such a great holiday. The energy around this holiday is always really high, and I don't think it's due solely to the sugar rush. There's tons of stuff to do and lots to laugh at.

Because of the rules associated with a lab, we aren't able to have food of any kind in our work area. Our company decided to host a trick-or-treat where each section was to make a candy container and they were to be displayed in one of the conference rooms. The kids would then come around and trick-or-treat from the containers. We had a contest to see which section created the scariest, most creative and funniest container. Here are the winners:

Hospital Reprocessing received the scariest prize with this hands and skull work of art.
VTS' commentary: LAME.
Pharmaceuticals got the funniest prize for this paper mache head of our lab director.
VTS' commentary: LAME.

QA Auditors got the prize for most creative with this skeleton bride in a casket.
VTS' commentary: LAME. Fine, it isn't lame. But what the crap? A frickin' casket! Sorry that the rest of us weren't out grave robbing that night in order to win a gift certificate for breakfast at Gandolfo's.

No one in my section had any interest in participating in this tomfoolery. I decided at the last minute to head up this project. This is what emerged:

It's AWESOME, I know! It's a haunted sharps/biohazard container. It's funny because you're NEVER supposed to put your hand in one of those. Totally off limits. Dry ice was put in the bottom and then a shelf was made for the middle of the container to put the candy on. You had the reach through the fog to get your candy. It should've won. Probably in all three categories. But whatever. Those judges wouldn't have recognized creative genius if it walked up to them and kicked 'em in the chucks. But I don't care because you all know that I'm not very competitive. Still, it should've won. (grumble, grumble)

We had a great activity for young women's on Wednesday night. Kristin really put together an awesome evening. We had dinner, bobbed for apples, ate donuts off of a string, played rock band (I sang Sabotage for yet another audience) and made this awesome Halloween decoration.

This is my favorite decoration of all time! Mostly because it is made out of a toilet paper roll and because it took about 45 seconds from start to finish to make this craft. Seriously, this is my kind of project. And it's hilarious! I'm going to display it all year. Thanks Kristin, for adding the 6th home decor item to my residence.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for........................

The Garth Algar Costume!!!

Can you tell which is the real Garth and which is the poseur? I didn't think so.

Tragically I wasn't feeling well for most of the day so no one at work saw me in all my glory. But I was heavily persuaded to go out partying that night. So I did. You can't keep me away from a good party. We went up to the avenues to a friend of a friend's party. I was accompanied by an adorable Alice in Wonderland, a Keebler elf, Cookie Monster, a flapper, a mad scientist, and a s'more. I forgot my camera or else I would've had some awesome pictures. Anyway, it was pretty fun except for the fact that I felt ill the whole time, that I was dressed as a dude and that I was really starting to feel my age. I swear to you that I was the only girl that was not scantily clad in a sexy something-or-other. We were dancing and some of the guys were looking at me and I could tell that they were wondering whether I was a guy or a girl. It was dark! And strobe lights were flashing! My gender is typically not ambiguous in a normal day to day situation. Anyway, I like what I come up with for Halloween. A few years ago I was part of Team Zissou from the movie The Life Aquatic. It was funny to me, but not too many people have seen this hilarious movie and therefore didn't get my costume. Not too many below the age of 25 have seen Wayne's World either. There were quite a few people who didn't really get who I was at the party. And then I started thinking, "I'm 30 years old. What am I doing here?" Yikes.

Well, next year I resolved to be something cute and sassy to reflect my cute and sassy self, as you can see in this next picture..........




Ooops. Not that one. I meant this one.....


Damnit, I'm downright adorable. Say it!

LOG!

We have some construction going on at our workplace. On Friday the crew was cutting down some unwanted trees. As I walked out of work that night I saw some of the trunk pieces laying around near the parking lot. And if this is what you would've started singing in your head as you walked by...

then I think that you're awesome.
Don't worry, I did tromp through the muddy work zone in my nice work shoes and grabbed a log. Whose birthday is next?

He Was Injured. Injured Bad.

Would you please find this kid and drop him on my doorstep. We could have alot of fun together.

While you're at it, I want this guy too.

Steeped In Fall Fun

I don't do a very good job of utilizing the weekend for recovery from the previous week. But I like it that way. I'd rather be out and doing something than staying at home.

On Friday a few friends from work went with me to the Pumpkin Festival down at Thanksgiving Point. I will recommend it to you. It was a wicked fun time. There were hayrides, a corn maze, a pumpkin princess playland, a balloon animal maker, a tower of pumpkins, a hot black guy that we were all drooling over and a pig wrangler. I was under orders from Kyle to give my number to two different dudes this weekend and I thought of flirting with the pig wrangler but then chickened out. I was intimidated by a pig wrangler! What the...! He was very cute and good with children. And I bet that we all can agree that a man who is good with children is massivly attractive.

Get ready for a slew of pictures.

Jessica, Adrianne, Ashley and I entered by way of the adult maze, which I gather is more elaborate and takes superior navigational skills to maneuver around.

We wandered around the maze for about an hour and started patting each other on the back for a job well done as we approached the exit. We walked through, turned around and saw that we had exited the entrance to the kiddie maze. I do not take responsibility for that. I was voted out as the leader only 10 minutes into the whole endeavor for trailblazing my own path. What they didn't realize is that I'm part bloodhound. This wouldn't have happened under my direction.


Ashley is sporting the incredible balloon hat that was made especially for me. This is an original. The balloon animal maker said that he had visions of making this hat but never made it a reality. And then I came along and inspired him. I was getting some pretty intense stares as I walked around the rest of the festival with this amazing couture piece. I took it apart the next day so as to try my hand at balloon bending. I ended up with 4 popped balloons out of the 5 original balloons. I don't think that I'll be moonlighting at birthday parties anytime soon.

The tower o' pumpkins. It was very impressive. It was even more impressive when we thought they were real. They were plastic. Sorry to ruin in for you too.

After we arrived back home I got call from Camrann and Ben saying that they were going to the Nickelcade. I met them there and spend over an hour on this fantastic Star Wars game. I'm not as good of a Jedi as I thought I was. I had the spend about $2 in nickles to keep myself alive in order to complete all the missions. And sadly, I must admit that I was defeated by Darth Vader. I also did not deposit the missiles into the main reactor and the Death Star was not destroyed. But looking on the bright side, I was not swayed by all my failures to joining up with the dark side.

And if you ever wondered what 700 tickets can get you, wonder no more.

It can get you a pirate flag.
That you can wear as a cape.
And pretend that you're something awesome!

The Biggest Winner!

I have finally chosen a winner. Actually a name was pulled randomly from a magical Red Sox hat. This is what the hat came up with...

YEAH BRENNA!

And because my hair looked really cute today I'm going to throw in a mix of great running music for your new athletic endeavor.

Thanks to everyone for participating! I really enjoyed reading your comments. I'm surprised that not one of you have slept naked on a hammock. What's that all about? It's delightful. I need to spread more awareness of naked hammock sleeping. That's my next goal. Also, some have wondered why I asked about celebrity political influence. I have heard many say that they don't appreciate when celebrities push their political agenda. But I think that if you have a voice and an audience you should use it. Anyway, I mainly asked to see what your creative minds would come up with. It seems that Chuck Norris would make this election a whole lot easier for all of us if he just ran for President.

I've decided that giveaways are super fun (even though I did this initial one as a total mockery of all other giveaways) and will now inform you that I perhaps will do others in the future. So don't stop reading this blog! That would be bad for your health...and your chances at winning.

Please excuse me as I go and watch some more baseball. Game 7 tonight people!

Watching The Red Sox Is Like Indulging In Crack

Cheering on the Red Sox is going to be the death of me. I've never experienced such fluctuations in my heart rate as I did tonight watching game 5 of the ALCS.

Let me break it down for you:

Red Sox are behind in the series 1-3. Tampa Bay only needs to win this game to get into the World Series. It's tied 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth. Two outs and no one on base. Youkalis hits and gets to second. J.D. Drew comes up to bat and ends up with a full count. I'm going to pee my pants at this point. He hits to centerfield and brings Youk home. My heart goes wild! I want to pee my pants in excitement now, rather than in anxiety.

Now I realize that they're not in the clear yet and that they still needs to win two more games, but nothing is impossible for the Sox. They kept it alive. More baseball tomorrow!

Recipe Time!

I brought some lemon bars to Absolute (just where they belong) tonight and both Cam and Miyo requested the recipe. I will warn you that the caloric content of this is through the damn roof. You perhaps will purge the ones you ate after reading this.

LEMON BARS

2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup butter
4 beaten eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Sift together flour and confectioners sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. Press into a 13x9" baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 23 minutes or until lightly browned. Beat together eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir into egg mixture. Pour over baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes longer. Cool. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

BWAAAHAHAHA!

VTD's First Giveaway!

It seems that there is something in common with those super popular blogs that everybody reads (Seriously So Blessed, The Pioneer Woman, Word To Your Mother, etc...) and that something is...a fabulous GIVEAWAY! So to rocket myself to blog superstardom I'm going to do the same.

In honor of the first snow of the year, the prize is going to be a pair of these ultra warm, extra comfortable, massively reinforced Snap-On Tools socks. Now you may think that you don't need another pair of socks and therefore not enter this contest, but I'm here to tell you that these socks are unlike any that you've ever owned before. So don't miss out on this rare opportunity.



All that you have to do is answer these simple questions in the comments section:

1. Have you ever slept naked on a hammock?
2. If a celebrity were to influence your political decisions, who would it be?
3. Which post on this blog has led you to greater enlightenment and therefore a grander and more fulfilling life?

The person with the most correct answers will receive this coveted prize. Anonymous comments welcome. I could arrange a drop off at a local Cafe Rio or Arby's or something. But if you are to go that route I must warn you that I am a ninja and your identity will be discovered.

The Burger King or Garth?

Jenny posted a fantastic Halloween piece which featured some excellent homemade costumes from yesteryear. I enjoyed it more than I can express.

Well, with Halloween approaching, I need to start putting together a costume and I need your help in deciding.

A few years ago I wanted to be The Burger King but couldn't find a costume to make that idea a reality. The idea was resurrected in my mind and I went online to find a King mask. I found a whole pile of The Burger King costumes on various sites. What do you think? He's so creepy that he's incredibly hilarious? Yep, that's what I thought too.But my dilemma is that I wanted to be Garth Algar this year because I have the perfect haircut for it. And I love him. Love him. Also, a pal at work said that he would dress up as Wayne if I wanted to be Garth. He has longish dark hair and would be perfect as Wayne. Are you as conflicted as I am?

Can I tell you one thing that I won't be this Halloween?Don't even ask. I just won't do it.

In my searching I found the funniest couples costume of all time. Highly inappropriate but you can't deny the comedy in such a display.

(picture removed due to friend request)

It was just too funny not to post. (Brenna, don't blush. You're the one that told me about that French commercial where the young boy was given consent for every bad thing that he did. I swear that I messed up our testing because I was laughing soooo hard and for soooo long!)

Back to the matter at hand...who should I be for Halloween '08? The King or Garth? The pilgrim still isn't an option.

Garth it is! Thanks for the input. Anyone have a flannel shirt I could borrow?

I might have influenced someone else at work to be The King. I can't wait to see if she really does it.

Jessi Farted

Fakeout! She didn't toot.
Here's the picture of us lovely ladies from tonights dinner. Posting it saves me the time of actually sending it to all of you.
Ok ladies, let's not wait until another birthday to get together. I'm proposing an Oktoberfest, excluding the flowing beer. Maybe we could combine it with Beau's brilliant Turkey in October idea? Maybe carve a pumpkin or two? Watch High School Musical? No, wait...not that.

How about the 17th or 18th?