Hear Ye, Hear Ye

I recently went out with some friends and it came up that I haven't been posting lately and they seemed rather disappointed. I guess that sometimes you get tired of blogging or start running out interesting ideas to write about, then your blog starts losing any kind of momentum and your fan base disintegrates and no motivation to blog exists. Well, let's see if I can resurrect this blog. I will post a new entry everyday during this new month. I can't promise that it will be interesting but something will be up on this site daily. And I never allow comments anymore because I haven't been reading or commenting on the blogs that I subscribe to and don't want others to feel obligated to comment on mine. It's not that I'm not enjoying your blogs, it's just that my job description has changed a bit and I'm in front of a computer for work much of the day and the last thing that I want to do when I come home is sit at a desk. I do appreciate those of you that keep your blogs going strong and someday I will catch up on your posts. But that's going to have to wait until I get sick or something tragic like that. So hold on to your hats, you're going to get sick of VTS by the end of November, I can promise you that.

Trying To Get My Pearl Jam On

One of my favorite bands EVER, Pearl Jam, is performing at the E Center this Monday night. One of my co-workers, Ben S, and I really, REALLY want to go. Problem is that tickets are $70 and I really can't justify spending that sort of money for one concert. But if I don't go how will Eddie Vedder catch my gaze and suddenly realize that I'm the love of his life and we end up living in eternal bliss? I know, total problem here. So, a local radio station has been promoting this concert and giving away tickets. I have been listening diligently to 94.9 ZROC for the past month. I have called in whenever I hear any Pearl Jam song regardless of whether or not it was an actual giveaway. I have called no less than 300,000,000,000,000 times. And two times last week while driving to work I was caller number 8 when they were looking for caller number 9. So close, yet so far away. I wanted to cry.

So here is what I am proposing...you guys spend all day tomorrow and Monday glued to the radio and win the tickets and I'll go with you! Seriously, I totally would. I'll even buy you dinner. I'm a great date. I promise. Ask anyone.

GAME ON!

Keepitupkeepitup

Last week during Muay Thai I was drilling with Dave Kamarov and toward the end of the last round, when all of my energy was spent, this is what I heard from him the entire last 30 seconds...
keepitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepkeepitupitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepitupkeepitupyoucandoitepitupkeepitupyoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoityoucandoitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitdon'tquitalmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmostdonealmosttherealmosttherealmosttherealmosttherealmosttheredon'tquitonemore. DONE! And now you can go over there and puke.
Thanks, Komi.

Quick Question

Would someone please explain to me why my blog is getting 300 billion hits? Because, to my knowledge, I only have about 6.3 readers that frequent this blog regularly. Why this sudden popularity? Should I be flattered or should I be scared of ridicule and extreme web-mocking?

I Heart Facebook!

I recently received a friend request from someone that I don't know and this was his profile pic.
Friendship confirmed.

The Friday Night Acquisition

Oh, rapture!

Always Sunny AND Freaking Hilarious

I've never been one to be a follower of any TV series, mainly because I haven't owned a TV for the past few years. But I recently came across "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and totally love it. It's so quirky and unlike any other comedy series that I've ever seen. Sometimes I'll be sitting at my desk at work, think of something from the show and bust out laughing. It's got some good stuff.

I Feel Like Hell

I attended this seminar last Saturday.

(picture taken from the Absolute MMA blog)

My entire being is racked with soreness. It hurts to breathe. Anyone with strong drugs, please contact me immediately. Thank you.
What was really cool about this seminar was that I got to see my coach, Rob, in action. He is one awesome display of power. My jaw was on the floor as I watched him perform some really long combinations with intense force.
I walked away from this with a ton more knowledge. There were only 8 or 9 of us from Absolute there. Those from the other gyms outnumbered us. Not so cool. Those that didn't go really missed out on some solid fight information. I'm just telling it like it is.

Holy Hot Dang, Harley Edition

One of my co-workers rides a '76 Harley, Shovelhead hardtail to work occasionally. It is probably the coolest bike that I've ever seen. It always draws a crowd and alot of guys stop to take a look as they exit the lab. This is the view from my office.
Chad, the owner of the bike, and I are going to take a motorcycle certification class together soon. He's been urging me to get mine and he feels guilty that he's been riding bikes for so long (like 20 years) without a motorcycle license.

I know what you're feeling as you look at these pics! It does that for me too.

Paul (my awesome officemate) and I play a game called "Guess the Rider." The motorcycle parking area is right below our office window and we know who owns each motorcycle that is driven to work. When we hear an engine rev up we try to guess who it is without looking out the window. We are really, really good at this game. We have observed these bikes for a while now and know what size engines each has and what kind of noise it makes. There are probably 6 to 10 different motorcycles out there at any given time.

I Approve...

Rent it if you like Guy Ritchie movies.

Some Recent Faves

My parents recently came out for a visit from Massachusetts and we took Liesl to the "This Is The Place" monument park. I love how tender my dad is with little Liesl.
"This is AMAZING! I've never had anything more delicious in my ENTIRE LIFE!"

Liesl and Algy came over soon after Super bit the dust and were confused as to where the fishy was. My brother and I were laughing so hard and kept telling them to look harder. Awful, I know. But what good are kids if you can't have a little fun with them? Finally I had to tell them that he died. Liesl was displeased with the joke.

My favorite picture of us.

I love this pic because I love Emily so much.

This is my co-worker, Quint. There were no more cups in the community cup cupboard so he sits down with this measuring cup and declars that he was consuming exactly 300 mL of water during that lunch period. Hilarious! You had to be there.

Chicken Dinner!

Yeah! My good buddy, Dave Komarov, just won his fight at the Gladiator Challenge in Wendover last Saturday. He managed an armbar in the middle of the first round. He was landing some hard hits the whole round. I'm so surprised that he didn't get a KO.

The weekend prior to the fight we went to the zoo together and it was the best time that I've ever had there. Probably because he is a totally nerd and would get so excited about what he learned of the various animals. The best was how he would point our the size of the animals testicles in relation to their body size. Every single time. Toward the end, I would automatically look there and be amazed before he would make his comment.

Have you ever seen anyone come this close before? His reach is unreal, and he uses it well.

So precious.

Edward also fought in The Gladiator Challenge and won by referee stoppage due to strikes in the second round. It feels good to have some more wins for Team Absolute.
The main event was Jake "The Snake" Paul vs. Lee Doss and it ended quick! This show was called "Retaliate" because JTS and Lee Doss faced off against each other a while ago (JTS won) and it was said from Lee Doss' camp that the fight was called by the ref early. They had another go at it and JTS threw one punch after touching gloves and Lee Doss was rocked. This was seriously seconds after the bell. JTS followed it up with one or two more strikes once Lee was on the ground. That's it, the fight was called. What an ending to the hype that was generated.

I really love coming to these events and the caliber of local fighting is pretty good. You're usually guaranteed a couple of really good fights at these shows. Come next time.

Hmmm....I Think That I Will Go To This

Dear Will,

I'm sorry that I elbowed you in the face and made your nose bleed today. Apparently it is a goal of mine to see how many noses I can make bleed in the gym this year. Who's next?

Cedar City Fights

Two of my good friends were fighting down in Cedar City this weekend and a group of us from Absolute decided to go down and support them. Camrann was also supposed to be in this show but his opponent supposedly got into a car accident, which he couldn't prove, and consequently Cam's fight was cancelled. What was fun about this is that it reminded me of the first show that I ever went to. It was exactly 2 years ago when ODB had his first fight at the Weber County fairgrounds and this venue was identical to it. The cage was right in the middle of a rodeo arena and smelled like horse poop. There were rows of metal folding chairs in the dirt around the cage and bleachers that were too far away to really see anything well. The part of it all was that the fighters came out of a horse pen! What the...?!
Riley lost his fight in the first round by TKO. That was really disappointing and I feel that if Riley were to fight that guy 10 more times, he would win all of them. I hope he takes another fight soon and will finally see what he really can do. I'm so amazed at how hard I feel it when one of my teammates is defeated. My little heart physically aches. I hate it.
Kyle totally dominated. He barely got hit at all. He won in the second round with a TKO. His opponent had a wicked reach but Kyle worked with it really well. I just can't see Kyle ever losing. His focus and determination is unmatched.
All the guys were teasing me about when I'm going to get in the cage. I was joking around and said that when Denver (who hasn't had a fight yet) racks up five wins and when Kyle wins the All ARMY MMA competition, I'll get in the cage. Kyle steps up and he wants to shake on it. I refuse because I know that he really is capable of winning the All ARMY and Denver could quite possibly rack up 5 wins as soon as he starts getting fights. It was quite comical though. I really couldn't see myself in the cage at this time. It's just not what I want at the moment.

The group of us that went down to Cedar City Kyle and I after his fight

Riley and I after his fight. Poor guy, he just looks so unhappy and I just bound in and hug him and shove a camera in his face. What a champ.
The high class venue

Some of the high class people that we saw there. This girl's necklace was my favorite observation of the night...a rhinestone studded brass knuckle pendant.Me, Jessi (Ben's girl) and Ben. She became an instant BFF. I love those kind of women.

The ride down was awesome because I heard a ton more of those Man Stories that I love to hear. Ben is the KING of adolescent male stupidity. I'm surprised that he's lived as long as he has. Denver had some awesomely funny stories as well. One of my favorites was a game they played called "Cardboard Cat". Him and his friends would fashion a cat out of cardboard and other household crap and put tinfoil (or some other reflective material) on it as the eyes and then put it out in the middle of the road. Cars would just stop and wait there for the "cat" to pass and then get out of their vehicle only to find out that it was a fake. Hilarious.

The trip home was a little less lively. We were all up for quite a while the night before. After the fights we got a bite to eat and then headed out to a club for a while. We got back to the hotel and I went right to sleep whereas others continued the insanity.

We made it back safe and sound and all are excited in anticipation for our next trip, which is in 2 weeks, where we are going to Wendover to the Gladiator Challenge because Dave "Komi" is fighting in it.

Ben, leaning in all sexily. Grrr.

Denver and Sean (not to be confused with Sideshow Bob)

I think Denver had a bit of a rough night.

Kickin' it in the minivan.

R.I.P. Super

You've been a good buddy these past 7 years. I think I might cry all night. But I may rejoice in the fact that I no longer have to clean your tank or find someone to feed you when I go on vacation. Oh Super, you will always be in my heart and you will never be replaced. Ever.

Man Stories

I love man stories. It seems that they always have the funniest, most entertaining adventures to tell. Yesterday I was incredibly tired at work. I really could hardly concentrate on what I had to do. Two of my friends, Mark and Ben, came into my office and started telling me stories to help perk me up.

Ben had a surgery a few years ago because he broke either his tibula or fibula, while he attempted for the first time to drop into a halfpipe on his skateboard. As entertainment during his recovery, one of his buddies dropped into the halfpipe while strapped to a chair on wheels - like an office chair. It wasn't going too well, so they sent him in backwards and out of courtesy put a helmet on him. What the...?!

Mark was telling me about the time one of his buddies was riding his pedal bike as fast as he could away from his brother who was chasing him on his motorcycle. He was riding fast through some gravel and ended up wiping out. His brother then went ahead and ran him over on his motorbike, thereby breaking his femur! The guy had a cast on that went from his upper thigh all the way down to nearly his ankle. After about a week, the cast started itching real bad. So instead of grabbing a metal coat hanger or something, he finds the longest steak knife that he could find and proceeds to ease the itch by sticking it down in his cast. He not only injures himself while scratching the itch, but manages to lose the steak knife in the cast. He then had to go back to the doctor's office for the cast to be removed to find the knife and have a new one put on.

Most of the other tales included damage to the guys' "Willis and Doodle-Berries" if ya know what I mean. Those situations always make me explode with laughter. Like the story Ben told about how he and his buddy went somewhere on thier bikes and when they went to go home they saw that the seat was stolen off of his friends bike. He had to ride the whole way home standing up. Ben was messing with him and he slipped off his pedal and damaged his goods. So awful, yet SO hilarious.

I seriously love those kind of stories! I hope that when I have children that I have a few of those crazy boys. I can totally handle boys.

Nothing Injured Except My Pride

The other night I went for a late night run in the Cardio Theater at Gold's Gym. The movie that was playing was Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. I've never seen it before and was quite entertained by it. I was nearing the end of my 6 miles so I was kinda tired and my feet started dragging a bit and the part came where Nicole Kidman's character, experiencing her first day in The Outback, was admiring the hopping kangaroo that were running along side the car that she was riding in. She's in love with the spectacle when suddenly you hear a gunshot and the kangaroo crumples while Nicole's face distorts with horror. It scared me so bad that I went flying off the back of the treadmill and ended up in a heap on the floor. I cannot remember the last time that I've been that embarrassed. There was only 2 other people in the room and once they saw I was ok, they started laughing so hard. Then I started laughing uncontrollably and we all had to pause our workouts and regroup. They said that they were startled too and probably would have had the same fate as me if they were on one of the treadmills and not the elliptical machines. We laughed some more and got back on our machines. I set out to finish my last mile and not 2 minutes later there was Hugh Jackman with his shirt off, pouring a bucket of water sexily over his perfecty tan and chiseled body. I bit my knuckles and then slipped in a puddle of my own drool, which once again sent me flying off the back off the machine. Fine, what really happened is that I athletically hopped onto the runners on the side of the treadmill and intently watched the scene so as to avoid any incident, which very well could have included saliva induced slippage. Oh man, Hugh Jackman is one incredibly hot specimen. I FINALLY saw Wolverine and was blown away. I love that kind of action adventure and amazing hotness that the movie displayed. The only thing that could've made it better would have been more of Ryan Reynold's character, Deadpool, in the movie. Yes, he did it for me.

Anyway, about a half hour after I finished my workout I found out that some friends were registered to do the Sandy City Midnight Moon 5K Run. I decided to join them and had a blast running 3 more miles in the crisp night air while donning glowstick bracelets and necklaces. The first mile was entirely uphill and I was sure that I was it was going to kill me, since I had just ran 6 miles and biked 12 miles in the hour previous to this race, but it didn't and the rest of the run was a very moderate course. I feel so lucky to have so many fun friends and a ton of opportunities to involve myself in plenty of different activities. I'm determined to stay active my entire existence and retain my fascination for life and learning.

My BFF

My niece is my little pal. She's three and I'm thirty, but we hang out like we're a couple of teenagers. I haven't been at Absolute training this week because of my wrist and have been filling my nights with fun things. I had no plans after work today, so I called Liesl and asked if she wanted to go to the movies.

Me: "Hey pal, I'm off of work a little early and want to know if you want to go and see a movie with me?"
Liesl: "Oh my gosh, sure! Are you coming to pick me up?"
Me: "Yeah, of course. I'll be there in about ten minutes. Is that cool?"
Liesl: Yeah, I just got some chocolate on my dress so I have to get changed, but then I'll be ready."
Me: "Alright, I'll see you in a little bit."
Liesl: "Oh my goodness, this is going to be so much fun!"
Me: "I know, right?"
Liesl: "I know, right!"

Seriously, she's only three and is that articulate!

Look at how teenagerish we are...self portraits at every outing. She's even getting good at taking them herself.

Eating popsicles on a bench outside the movie theater.

In the car before heading to the zoo.
Hanging out at home and playing Bingo.

FAKEOUT!

Due to an unfortunate injury while training last night, I won't be competing tomorrow. Too bad, so sad. But there's always next the next tournament to focus my efforts on.