Crossfit, my new torture device

Last night I started a new torture technique, Crossfit. The workout was intense. The sad thing, is that by themselves the exercise isn't that difficult, but when adding them together in a circuit it gets ridiculously hard. Good stuff, I hurt this morning (in a good way).

In other news, my Birthday was good. We ate at a newish restaurant (at least to us), steaks were awesome, wine was delicious, and the view of the lake was nice.

My frustration with humanity has been growing. I wish it was legal to punch people in the face when they deserved it. I know I would get popped every now and then, and would be fine with it, if I could give it back to those people who so richly need a rap on the beak. I'm due to get back into the BJJ gym. It makes dealing with the stupids easier.

New pictures of knives soon. I horse traded for one of my "Grail" knives, a Strider GB, picked up some Mike Snody Shanks, and grabbed another of the Spyderco Mule Team knives. Should have some pics by this weekend.

I hate thieves

Just a quick note to say that I. Hate. Thieves. Monday night some low-life decided I had too much stuff and that they needed my work cell, my GPS, a cigar cutter, and a pair of sunglasses. It was partly my fault in that I didn't verify 100% that my truck was locked, but still.

Here's hoping that the thief is anally violated by a syphilitic Zombie Orangutan with a pathological hatred of lube. Twice.

On the other hand, let me say that the Travis County Sheriff's department responded extremely professionally, and even decided to try and get finger prints. I'm 98% certain that even Horatio Caine couldn't have pulled off a usable print, but I appreciated the effort.

The Texas Open, a BJJ tournament in two parts.

Three weeks ago I sauntered into my regular BJJ class after having taken a couple days off to heal (tattoo related), and to travel (work related). While trying to loosen my stiff joints, and dodging the standard goodnatured insults, we started talking about the upcoming JiuJitsu tournament. It had been close to a year since I had competed, and with no prep (well very little in any case) I decided to jump in.

Based on my lack of working out (traveling, healing, etc) I decided I didn't want to try and cut weight. When I stepped on the scale I was about 237 and the cut off was 230. I probably *could* have cut that extra couple of pounds, but frankly just didn't have the energy. That lack of energy was a theme for me this event. I went into this event not really expecting much, I just wanted to get out and roll competitively.

Like most tournies they were a bit disorganized to begin with. I registered same day (probably didn't help that most people did this), and when I checked in they decided to collapse some of the experience levels. That meant I would be fighting beginner division no-gi and White belt in Gi. They also said we wouldn't have a Masters division (30+ years of age). I found my mat and started looking for people I knew.

Even for people who practice BJJ, tournaments are 6 hours of complete boredom interrupted by 20 minutes of extreme excursion. Since I got there early, I waited, and waited, and waited. Three hours later I had my first match. I got a bye since I was the lightest in my group, but my opponent had a 10 second match. Joy. I called my coach over, and the ref has us shake hands. The call "fight" rings out. We circled, and both tried to setup a "shot". Each of us changed levels several times, but no opportunities for a takedown. I tried a different approach and tied up with him trying for a Judo throw, but the guy was too big. I grabbed an arm and pulled to guard trying for an armbar, but it didn't happen. When I went up, he passed my guard. Immediately he tried for a Brabo choke. He slapped it on and it was tight, but I could still breathe. Some. Dave immediately had me grab my leg and execute the Brabo Sweep he invented. Success. I went from being under side control to having him underneath. Here is my biggest mistake. Instead of a good hard cross face, I pushed my elbow across his jaw. He locked up a crappy hammer lock and cranked the shit out of it. Since he was stronger then me and caught me by surprise I didn't have much choice. I felt my arm pop slightly, and I tapped. Game over I lose. Three hours of waiting for a 3 minute loss. Dang.

Next week ... redemption ... kinda.

Leaving Las Vegas ... a couple weeks ago.

Vegas was Vegas. The show was slower then usual, but we still made some good connections. I did gamble a bit, but nothing crazy. I should have quit after the first night, but Vegas lights don't run on folks quitting early.

Based on the amount of money I saw lost the news of a bad economy are vastly over rated. Multiple times I would sit down at a table and have strangers join shortly after. The siren song for pit bosses floating through the air "Changing One Thousand". I didn't take any pictures, honestly I didn't even bring my camera. I imagine the portraits would have been interesting, but I don't think security would have liked me using the long lens.

As I mentioned before, I'm a sucker for trashy SciFi. It doesn't have to be trashy, but lets face it, 99% of the stuff coming out today isn't Heinlein. I have a particular weakness for Vampire novels. Shocking I know. I just finished the latest from Laurell Hamilton, Skin Trade. Her Anita Blake series started off great, but went downhill fast. I kept reading only because I felt it had promise, but was frankly embarrassed to be seen reading it. Over the years the series had degenerated into barely concealed hatred for her ex, and several times an all out pseudo-SM orgy of short, muscular, longhaired, tripods. While some of that is still present in the new book, she tones it down immensely. I think she might have finally discovered a good editor, but we shall see.

July should bring us a re-release of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International. MHI is going to be a fantastic series, and is really a great idea. I own one of the original MHI novels from when he did a self published release, and will purchase several of the new books when available. He might be the anti-Laurell Hamilton. Larry's protagonist was a mild mannered accountant turn Monster Hunter. I'm fairly certain he hasn't ever been in an orgy of Vampires and Lycanthropes.

Competed in a JiuJitsu tournament this weekend. Since I'm going to start trying to blog more regularly I will post more about that later. I also finished my left chest panel and start the right panel in July.

Upcoming events ...

Headed to Vegas on the 18th. Going to be working a tradeshow (Interop), but am going to try and meetup with a couple custom knifemakers while I'm there. Should be fun. No training as I go in for more ink before heading out. Going to get a couple of owls on my chest. Wahoo!

Nuttnbunny is in town today, looking forward to hanging out with them.

Finished a couple good books lately, but that will be highlighted in an upcoming post. A post in which I admit that I am a true geek who reads all kinds of crazy fantasy/science fiction. Shocking I know.

More soon.

I'm a horrible blogger ...

Yep, I'm horrible, and not because of my lack of original topics, my craptastic photography, or my 6th grader on a sugar rush focus. I can't seem to update regularly. So, the excuse d'jour, I have upped my training significantly. I'm doing BJJ 3 days a week, added a Thai boxing class one day a week, and am trying to shoot once a week. I also try and pickup an extra BJJ class when I can. By the time I get home my fingers barely function.

So, to break down my activities:

BJJ - I feel like I busted a plateau recently. I'm not sure when it happened, but the other day I realized I had been wrestling for 20 minutes. I was winded but could still go, and was even doing well. My submission defense has improved dramatically. I still get submitted, but it takes some work. Tonight I passed Phil's guard (a blue belt with a notorious guard), and even subbed him with a foot lock. Pretty cool.

Thai boxing - What a blast! A completely different workout then wrestling. I learned to wrap my hands correctly after a particularly nasty bruise over my right ring finger. I wish I had taken a picture, it was awesome. My right leg kicks are decent, my left leg kicks are pathetic. I'm confident I can overcome it though, I have been shadow boxing every night and initially the elbows were the same. I know I will continue for at least one more month, but it depends on the pricing. $130 for 4 classes is steep. Especially considering a local gym with both BJJ & Muay Thai would cost $80 (plus they are near my office so I could go workout at lunch).

Shooting - I have a confession. I suck at handgun shooting. I can make neat little clovers with a rifle, and have won some money shooting 5 stand (and in the field hunting), but I lack skills with the pistol. To that end, I found a Ruger MKII for cheap, and have been getting better. Hopefully it will translate. Now I just need to send my 1911 back to Colt to get it working 100%.

Weight wise I need to be better. I am always hungry. Always. I jumped up to 235 or so, then settled at around 230. Not a positive move. I hope to get more ink before too long, but can't until I get back down to at least 225.

That covers my training, I need to blog about our trip down to order boots. I have a new pair being made. Should be done by July. Sweet! Work sucks, but that is to be expected, and I at least have a job. Only thing that sucks worse would be unemployment.

The joy of shooting

Yesterday I packed up my CZ 452 and a couple boxes of ammo and trucked on out to the range. I didn't bring any super fancy hand canons, or any tactical tupperware, but just the .22. I had a ball. I forgot how fun it can be to simply try and shot small groups with a bolt-action .22. First I had to get the scope configured. Again, nothing fancy (spartan would be more precise), a Cabelas Pine Ridge in 3x9x40. Out of the box it was low and right, but grouping well. Over the next 50 minutes I got the scope semi-dialed in and the groups dropped. I still have some work to do, but the last 5 rounds could be covered by a dime. Of course, that was only at 25 yards, but I'm going to keep trying till I can do it at further distances.