Tournament Time

So the story goes, I was leisurely having lunch with my teammate, Ben, last Wednesday when he brought up the fact that there would be a tournament the coming Saturday. I perked at the chance to see how I would fair with just a few days notice. I ended up doing well. I'm improving steadily was able to test my progression. There was only one other woman registered, who just happened to be very comparative in size and strength. It was a really fun match. I got a really sweet single leg takedown right away and maintained dominant position while working for a submission. She was turtling up well and it was hard to force her to give up a limb or something no matter what position I transitioned into. I was in mount and they stood us back up (what?!). I got her against the wall and dragged her down with a double leg and worked dominant position. the reason that I'm telling you guys this is because takedowns were my trouble spot in the last tournament and I've been working on them since. It was paying off. I attribute my takedowns against the wall to Kyle's lesson last Thursday before class. He offered to meet with me early and teach me some of his go-to moves. And I actually retained them and used them! Thanks, Kyle! I finally submitted with a sloppy armbar at the end of the round. After that match the officials approached me and asked me if I wanted to compete in the men's division. Why not, right? So I ended up going against a guy named Tyson and submitted him with a kimura. Sweet! My next match was with Jared from Fusion. He submitted me with an Americana pretty quickly. But I felt good about what I was able to do against him and had alot of fun. Ben was against him his first match and won on points. It was such a great match! Really fun to watch. My last round was with the same girl that I grappled at the beginning. They wanted to give her another match and she requested that it be against me, again. I took my aggression down a few notches and was just wanted to maintain dominant position because I knew that my experience level was a little bit higher than hers. She still couldn't do anything against me. It felt really great. She ended up getting a bloody nose in the second minute and they called the match. I won on points.

Two other Absolute guys were there competing - Chris K and Ben G. They both did so awesomely! Chris' first round was against Bird Dog from Elite. Chris got him in a tight triangle and held onto his arm for the arm lock. The arm lock was really ON and the guy would not tap! Everyone could hear the popping sounds that his arm was making repeatedly and Bird Dog still didn't tap! Finally he tapped. Phew! I thought his arm was going to snap given another second.

Ben ended up being the tournament champion! The guy doesn't lose! He even beat Noah J again (arm lock). Sorry Noah - maybe you'll get him next time! Maybe. Hee hee. The last match was between Chris and Ben for tournament champ. I think that it's awesome that it was between two Absolute guys. Ben won on points. After the tournament Ben told me how surprised he was in his match with Chris. And I quote, "The guy has another gear that I have not experienced in practice before. That was so tough!" That last match between them was the best of the day. It was fast paced and technical. They both are amazing grapplers.

I had alot of fun today and it helped me to see a little bit as to where I'm at in my grappling endeavors and prepared me for the Throwdown Submission challenge which is on August 1st, and coincidentally my birthday. I'd love it if my friends came and watched me in this one. That would make for a really cool birthday!

So sloppy. My left leg should have been over her head.

Chris against Bird Dog. They guys arm is BOWED and he took FOREVER to suck it up and tap out!

The competitors, Chris, me, Ben and our awesome supportive teammate, Bret.

Some Good Old Fighting

My Jedi powers will be helping Frank Mir, Georges St-Pierre and Dan Henderson. Oh yeah!

Congratulations Camrann and Tseitel!

I just came back from Camrann and Tse's wedding reception and it was a wicked party! Everything was done to the 9's. Tseitel looked gorgeous and Cam pulled off the suit with Converse All-Stars awesomely.

Check out the engagement pics of the stunning couple that Miyo took.

Cam and Tse, I love you both and hope for all the goodness in the whole world to come your way.

Holy Hot Dang - Kyle Edition

So this is my kick ass friend, Kyle (Absolute teammate).
The above picture was taken at the Ironman competition in Japan that he recently finished. Is that not the coolest thing?! This was the 2nd Ironman that he's done this year. What a rock star. I'm convinced that he's superhuman. He did 14 hours of exercise! Gah! I'm so proud of him and am inspired by his discipline and dedication to his endeavors. He talked to me for a while last night after jujitsu and he got the wheels turning in my head about maybe doing Ironman South Africa with him which would be 2 years away. Hmmm.

Seriously, I train with the coolest people and the most exceptional athletes. And they all work so well with me. I've been going to MMA team training and most of them have had MMA fights and could most likely take me out instantly if they wanted to. But they don't. Kyle, for instance, always pairs up with me first when we're there together, and will stay at a level where I'm learning and being challenged without ever making me feel bad that I'm not at the level that everyone else is at. I trained some with Superbody (Greg C.) last week and afterwards he said that training with me was good because he got to work out some technical aspects of his fighting rather than try it when some of the others who have lightning quick hands and the strength of the Hulk are facing him. Camrann always makes me feel like an important part of the team. And Rob seems really invested in my success and really pushes me. He's been killing me in jujitsu lately. Killing me! Cannot move or breathe or cry out for help or anything. It's awesome! He knows just how to prepare me for the tournaments. I just love my team. All of them.

Read about Kyle's Ironman here at his training blog, and feel free to offer congratulations if you feel so inclined.

Master Flavio Behring Jujitsu Seminar

We have had the pleasure of having Master Flavio Behring in our gym all last week. It has been incredible learning from him. He topped the week off with a long seminar on Saturday. It was hot and muggy, but we kept at it and came away better jujitsu fighters. I love that our coach, Rob Handley, invests in us and finds ways to constantly contribute to us learning the very best techniques.

Master Flavio Behring Seminar - 13 June 2009
Chris, Me, William and Dave

My awesome drilling partner, Ben Garner. It's always a huge pleasure working with him and learning from him.

Goofing off with one of my favorite friends, Camrann.

I get to train with some very talented AND handsome men!

Matt and Riley. Riley was just promoted to a blue belt. Huge congratulations!

Chris also was promoted to his blue belt and as tradition has it, you have to go through a whipping gauntlet of those that are your ranking or above. Chris has more than his blue belt to go home and show his mom!

I can't get enough of this sport. It's so interesting and challenging. I'm really starting to see some of my progress. There's nothing like grappling with a new person to see how far you've come and there's nothing like grappling with someone that out-ranks you to see how far you still can go. I love having an opportunity to participate in something like this.

Stefan's Birthday BBQ

Okay, I know you're probably sick and tired of hearing it, but I just need everyone to know that my brothers are the greatest guys on the planet! Period. Or exclamation point, rather.

Why Hello There, Ginormous Snail

I just got home from training and this HUGE snail was on my storm door to greet me. I tried to pry him off and put him on the lawn, but he really wanted to stay there and if I would have pulled any harder than I was I probably would have popped his shell right off. Nobody likes a naked snail. Naked snails don't make very many friends. He actually did a very nice job of cleaning a half inch wide and 4' long portion of the window.

Air Force Week

I meant to inform you all earlier about Air Force Week taking place right now. Check out the list of events and exhibits here. I've really been enjoying the fly-bys and and the will be attending the air show this weekend up at Hill Air Force Base. The Thunderbirds are going to be in it! Man, I've loved the Thunderbirds and The Blue Angels since I was a kid. I think I even had a Blue Angels calendar one year. I really wish that I would've taken an afternoon off of work and participated in the paper airplane contest at the Downtown Library. I think that I could've done well. I became quite the expert at paper airplane making during church on Sundays. My older brother was seriously a paper airplane engineer. He taught me all he knows. I really should have entered. Regrets suck.

Object of the Day

Everyone that knows me probably had been a victim participant in one of my homemade games. I love making up games. It's most likely because I have the attention span of a toddler on crack. When I'm at work and a bit bored, the guy that I share an office with and I throw magnets at metal cabinets to see who can get closest to the top without going over. Or we'll put targets on the cabinets and try to hit it. I work with all men in our LAL testing department and we are constantly challenging each other with impossible shots into the garbage can with the lids off of the sterile water containers. There are many others that games that I initiate to squelch the intermittent boredom in the lab, but I'll spare you the details.

The latest game and the one that has attracted the most participants has been "Object of the Day". This is a VTS trademark game so don't even think about taking it and selling it. Do we have an agreement? Alright, I will proceed. A couple months ago I was wearing an enormous earring that, by the end of the day, felt like it was going to rip right through my lobe. I was curious to see how much it weighed, so I put it on one of the balances in the lab. It ended up weighing almost 11 grams! I started going around asking people how much they thought my earring weighed and we all had alot of fun guessing. And that's how OOTD was born. I pick an object each day and go around taking everyone's guesses. The person that comes the closest without going over (Price Is Right rules) wins for the day. I've become quite famous for my culinary talents so the person that has the most wins accumulated throughout the month gets to request their favorite treat and I will make it for them. It has gained quite the following. It started with just a few people in my department and then spread to the entire section and now people in other sections are playing. I'm sure that soon it will receive national recognition. Last month, emotions were high because six or seven people were tied with two wins each by last week in May. The guessing started getting very serious.

I just had my annual review and the high scores were given to me on teamwork/fun category. There was special mention of OOTD as being an excellent team building tool. And this is another reason as to why I am indeed the Professor of Awesome. Thankyouverymuch!

Below is a calendar keeping record of the object, how much it weighed and who won for that day. Paul (my office-mate) likes to highlight his achievement. It's kinda cute, how excited he gets when he wins.

Little Bunny Button Cute Pants!

After a very scary premature delivery, my new nephew, Daniel Niklas, was born. He came this afternoon and was only 3 lbs 2 oz. I don't think that he's in the clear yet, but he's an Alexander, which means he's a total fighter! Doesn't he look so strong and healthy, considering that he came 9 weeks early?
I didn't know that I could feel so much love for someone, until my niece and nephews were introduced to me. I don't think that there's one thing that I wouldn't do for them. I can't hardly wait to be a mom someday. I don't have a romanticized view of marriage and children, so I know that it's going to be really tough and totally unlike what I might prepare for, but I know that I'd be good at it. And looking at the little picture above makes my uterus ache.

I've been spending alot of time lately with these two little pumpkin peanuts:

They are my older brother's kids and my little pals. I don't even get mad when I'm half awake all through the night because plastic farm animals were hidden under my blankets and consequently puncturing my ribs. Is that something that you get used to or even start expecting when you're a mom? Huh?

Saftey and Emissions REJECT

Thanks for letting me know in HUGE, fuchsia lettering. I definitely got the message.

What's hilarious about this rejection is that I brought the '92 Volvo in for a safety and emissions test with an exhaust leak in the engine and a broken, rattling catalytic converter, totally expecting to get a failed emissions test. I don't even know why I brought it in like that. I think I was hoping that I could bat a few eyelashes and magically get it passed. When they called my name to get the results, I could see my failure notification from across the room. I went up there and was told that the '92 failed because of a wobbly headlight and streaky windshield wipers. What!?! Awesome.

Good Talk, Bro

Last Sunday, the speaker during sacrament meeting was using his phone to look up and quote scriptures. He apparently had his whole talk on his phone. At first I thought he was texting, and I was thinking that was real classy. When I realized what he was doing I had the guy sitting next to me pull out his ward directory and look up the speaker's number. Unfortunately is wasn't listed. But if it was, he would've received a text from me that would probably have said, "Good talk, bro. Keep it up. Just another 10 minutes."

Only For Rhino

I changed my mind on the whole owning an animal (besides Super) policy. I would willingly take Rhino the Hamster into my home and put him in my tender care.

My favorite Rhino quote: Sometimes the impossible becomes possible when you are AWESOME!
Well said, my friend.

Game: What Was VTS Working On In The Lab Today?

I was the lucky one that got to do boring growth promotions and this was the agar plate that I used to temper my inoculating loop before adding organisms. Hello! What were you guessing?

A Sign Of My Age

I now need to wear a knee brace when I go out dancing.

At least I can still shake my tail feather, right? Right!

I Have A Super Power

The most amazing thing happened to me today. This is going to blow your mind! I was driving to work this morning and happened to be behind a car with a Minnesota license plate. I saw that the state motto was The Land of 10,000 Lakes. I made a mental note to log that bit of information away because I was sure that I was going to see it in a crossword puzzle at some point in my life. Well, I usually pull out a crossword at lunch and try to complete it in my half hour break. I was working diligently on the one that you see below and when I reached 22 across, I couldn't believe it. Whoa. I know! I must be magical. I'm convinced of it.

The Q And The A

Natalie said...
and? And?? AND??? what exactly transpired between your lovely hotness and this gentleman with a knack for grocery shopping and lady spotting? A prolonged gaze? A smile? A wink? Actual speaking? Digits? Come now. He doesn't read this blog. But if he does, then he's a creep. And you don't date creeps.
May 13, 2009 10:16 PM


VTS says...
So......................I pull up at Harmon's and this huge, shiny black truck swoops in and snakes the spot that I was going to park in. I'm a tiny bit miffed and just figure that this guy is a big tool and park in another spot. I glanced at his truck as I drive by and see a logo on the back that makes me think that he's a MMA fighter. He lingers in his truck for a little bit and gets out right when I walked by. He said hi to me and then apologized for taking the spot when it was clear that I intended to park there. He said that he just wasn't paying attention. I told him that it was ok and that he's lucky that I wasn't an old lady or a cripple, then he'd really be sorry. He thought that was funny and we joked for a second. I then asked him about the window sticker on his truck. Turns out that it's not associated with fighting at all, and he explained what it meant. And that's about the point where I felt stupid. Not that the conversation was awkward or anything, it's just that I realized that this guy was awesome and charming and handsome and I wanted him to ask me out and I didn't think that he would because I was just coming from a couple hours of training and was pretty sure that a bearded lady would have looked more appealing than I did at that time. And he didn't. So I went into the store and did my shopping and was walking out when I saw that he was coming out of the other exit. He sees me and waves and does this cute hurried jaunt over to where I was. He walks me to my car and compliments me on the "healthiness" of the items that he saw I purchased. He then asks for my number and tells me that he thinks I'm really cool and wants to get to know me better. I gave him my number and told him that I thought the same thing. And he did call. And we went out last weekend. YAY!


The great thing about this situation is that it was so easy. I didn't have to make all the efforts. He just went for it. And I liked it!

The date was good but we really didn't have alot in common. It seemed like we ran out of things to talk about toward the end, which is weird because we all know that I'm a World Champion talker. I can talk to just about anyone. Well, it's too early to tell.


Ok, so I just re-read what I wrote up there and it is majorly LAME! BORING! YAWN INDUCING! And the last thing that I want to do is become one of those bloggers. I've even considered not posting it, but then I figure that I'd have to answer the questions at some point. So, enjoy!

Geeking It Up

If you thought this was hysterical, then let's be friends forever.

While we're in Geektown, does anyone want to go see Star Trek with me? Or Wolverine? Anyone? Anyone? Damn.

All Too Familiar

Having only brothers, I swear I've been in this exact situation multiple times before. We always slapped each other around a bit. The great thing is that we all became best friends. I'd rather hang out with my brothers and their wives more than anyone else.

Back In The Saddle Again!

I might have just found refuge from the dating desert. The oasis appeared tonight in the form of a handsome man in the parking lot of Harmon's grocery. I was in sweatpants and had just come from the gym. I'm sure that it can only go uphill from here.

It's exciting, right!?!

Just wait until he finds out that I can sing House of Pain's, Insane In The Brain like a pro. He'll be putty in my hands.