Sunday

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Have had a good weekend so far. I have been fighting sinus issues (headaches, drainage, etc) but that is kind of a way of life for me. I am sitting here listening to a song I have heard recently on the radio. "Snuff" by Slipknot. It is a real departure for them, stylistically. It's a power ballad (a la Corey Taylor's other band Stone Sour) where Corey actually sings, as opposed to the "woof metal" that Slipknot is better known for. The band has put together a rather bizarre short film to go with the song. Don't know what to make of the video, but the song is cool.



Thursday night, I went to BJJ and we did a series on the Americana from side mount. We did the Americana. Then, if they defend the Americana by twisting the arm downward, transitioning to a kimura. Then, if they defend the kimura by lifting the arm up, transitioning to an armbar. Neat stuff. The first video below shows the transition from americana (keylock) to kimura. Couldn't find a good one for the kimura to armbar.



Today I am going to see Julia's boss's wife, who is a personal fitness trainer. I am wanting to increase cardio, functional strength, and flexibility. I will report later on how my first session went.

Ran across a rather strange video on Youtube earlier. Julia and I are both fans of MMA fighter BJ Penn. Julia is more devoted than I am. Obsessed might be a better word. Well, Ralph Gracie, one of the lesser-known of the Gracie brothers, had some pretty unflattering things to say concerning Mr. Penn. It will be interesting to see where this goes:

Last Night

Last night I went to BJJ and had a good time. We went over some no-gi guard passes (see the video below) and then rolled.



I rolled a couple of times with a new guy. Caught him pretty quickly with a guillotine choke and got him to tap. Then, we rolled around a bit and I finally came up with an arm triangle and got a second tap. Then we switched partners and I rolled with a purple belt named Chris who mopped the mat with me. He then went over some shrimping details to get out of side control, which was helpful. At this point, I was pretty exhausted but the new guy wanted to go one more time, so I did. Mistake. He got my back. I got wrist control on him but he got a body lock and started squeezing and putting his weight on me. He finally slipped an arm under my neck and went for the choke. I tried to turn into him but he moved with me and sank the choke in, so i tapped.

Sundays are made for rotisserie chicken!

It's been a good weekend. I completed my first paper for the class I am currently taking---EM570, Biosecurity. This paper was an overview of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, which is sort of a cousin of Ebola. I am actually pretty pleased with the paper.

Yesterday I went to BJJ and had a good time. We went over some escapes from the turtle position and then rolled. Rolled with Jose' and we again went the whole time limit. He got ahold of an arm and was extremely close to getting the armbar. I held on and rolled him over. I was afraid when I did that that he was going to get the inverted armbar, which is actually even worse than a normal one, but, thankfully, I was able to pull my arm out. Then he went for a nasty collar choke, and, again, I thought he had it, but hung in there and turned into the choke and managed to slip free. Really managed to Houdini my way out of a couple of bad situations, so I am pretty pleased.

Last night's UFC card was one that didn't necessarily grab my interest,so I didn't bother watching it, but from the sound of it there were a couple of decent fights. My boy Chris Lytle pulled off submission of the night against Brian Foster with a kneebar. You don't see kneebars that often in MMA (last one I can think of was Frank Mir's against Brock Lesnar the first time they fought), so it was exciting to hear about. Wanderlei Silva pulled off a unanimous decision against Michael Bisping. Wand apparently was emotional after the fight, telling Joe Rogan "This is for everybody in life who has had bad moments. Everybody in life has bad moments, but you have to believe in God." Very good words. Then, Cain Velasquez just destroyed Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, knocking him out in the first round. Velasquez has now been injected into the heavyweight title mix. Frank Mir and Shane Carwin are fighting for the interim title in March. The winner of that is slated to get Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 to re-unify the title. However, if the winner is injured or unable to compete, Cain Velasquez will get Lesnar. The idea would be that Velasquez will get the winner of Lesnar vs. Mir/Carwin regardless. The heavyweight division is very loaded with talent right now.

As for the title of this blog post, we are in the process of cooking rotisserie chicken for dinner. One of my favorites!

It's Friday!!!!

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Sorry I have not posted in a few days. Have been busy with school and other matters. It's Friday---another week has come to a close. It actually looks like we are going to have a pretty weekend. Haven't had one of those in quite a while. Appropriately, today's musical moment will be "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure:



I went to BJJ last night. Had a good time. We did backmount escapes. One involves grabbing the proposed choking arm at wrist and elbow, and dropping/turning away from it. If done right, you end up in side control and can move to an armbar from there. Pretty slick. Looking for a video demonstrating this. If I find one, I will edit this post and add it. We then did another backmount escape. This time, if your opponent has double underhooks. You bridge up on your feet, shove his hooks off with your hands, and do a quick hop move outside of his legs. From there, you can sit up, hop back over to sit on your opponent's stomach, wrap his near leg and drop into a kneebar. Nice little move. Again, I will look for a video.

Snow, Round 2 is coming!

Late tonight, we are supposed to be getting a second round of snow (another 1-2" in the metro Atlanta area). This will work out well, because I work from home on Mondays and can just enjoy the beauty of it without having to get out in it, so, bonus!

We got out to see Departure play last night and, as usual, an outstanding show! They have added a few songs to their repetoire, and actually opened their set with the title song off the ESCAPE album, which is actually my all-time favorite Journey song (see video below for a live version of the song)



Reading a pretty good book right now. TSAR by Ted Bell. Will give a more complete review when I finish it, but so far so good. My next book to read is probably going to be I AM OZZY. :-)

Waiting on The Snow!

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Sitting here at work, waiting on the snows to begin. At that point, I am going to head home to complete my workday. This morning's musical moment is also an appropriate one. "Snowblind" by Styx. One of the rare occasions where JY sings lead. He has a nice voice and is somewhat underutilized in that capacity. Also, some killer guitar work. Watch and enjoy!



Last night, I went to BJJ and we did the Americana series. Starting with the Americana shoulderlock from the mount position. See video below for demo of the move:



more later.

1723

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a snowjam in progress. We have a good 2-2.5 inches on the ground with several hours of snow left to come. This is pretty incredible. Have taken some video earlier and will take some more in a little while, along with pictures. How fun! Looks like we may not be able to make it out to the Departure concert tomorrow, though.

Snow's A-Comin'!

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Well, it looks like we are going to be getting snow tomorrow. The big question is what time of the day and how much we are going to get. The real x-factor is going to be how far north the low-pressure system coming from the west tracks. If it tracks further north, we could get more than they are predicting (1-2"). There should be a better feel for what is going to happen tonight.

This morning's musical moment is a tune by a group that seems appropriate for today---Snow Patrol:



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Still monitoring the weather forecast. The latest forecast map is below:

It's Wednesday!

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Got up this morning to find a VERY windy day. The wind was actually scary fierce this morning. Carpooled this morning and, when we made the merge onto I-85 from 316, for the first mile or so on 85, I was dodging numerous patches of black ice. It made things a bit exciting, and brings me to my musical commentary for this morning:



Just doing my thing this morning. More later, I am sure.

0730

I just ran across this and am really getting a kick out of it. Apparently a group of unnamed investors have purchased space on a number of billboards around the country. Check out the picture below. Interesting how the worm has turned and the Obama Express continues to run out of steam...



0900

This Saturday night, Julia, several of our friends, and I are going to see the Journey tribute band DEPARTURE play at Dos Copas mexican restaurant. I am close friends with Doug Ballard, the bass player, so it is always good to see them play. We last saw them back in August and, according to Doug, they have added several new songs, including the title track from the ESCAPE album (my all-time favorite Journey song), to their set, so I am anxious to hear them again.

Rolling it all together

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I had largely abandoned this blog because I have been semi-maintaining a blog strictly devoted to my brazilian jiu-jitsu training. I have decided to move back to this blog so that way I can comment on anything and everything going on in my life.
Sitting here at work, doing my thing early in the day. This morning, I heard a really killer song called "Electric Worry" by a band called Clutch. The little hook ("Bang Bang Bang Bang! Vamanos Vamanos!") is stuck in my head, likely not to depart for some time.



Listening to Larry, Eric, Steve, and Tim ramble on this morning. Going to do jiu-jitsu tonight. No-Gi night! More later, as the need arises.

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Just ran across this article. Man tries to buy crack with a credit card. WHAAATTT?

0930

Just ran across this little tidbit. The news just gets happier and happier. "Independent voters see Pres. Obama in a negative light by a nearly 2-1 margin, according to a new Marist College survey, while almost half of voters say he has failed to meet their expectations.

The poll, conducted Feb. 1-3, showed just 44% of registered voters approving of Obama's job as president. 47% disapprove. But among indie voters, Obama's approval rating sits at a terrible 29%, while his disapproval rating is at 57%.

Obama's 44% job approval rating is the lowest he has scored in any non-internet poll since moving into the WH, according to a review of data compiled by Pollster.com."



1330

Two James Madison University students have been charged with felony snowball throwing in the wake of the recent heavy snowfall. Really? Wow. Link

2035

I didn't end up going to BJJ tonight. I got home and was a little tired. Plus, it is raining, windy, and basically yuck out. I decided I just really didn't want to get back out in it. So, I didn't. So there. We're watching THE BIGGEST LOSER right now and getting ready for LOST. G'night!

Bruise Reviews and More!

When I return from my jiu-jitsu classes, Julia and I have a ritual: Bruise Check. She jokingly says that if I don't have a new one, I am not training hard enough. The latest in my "collection" is below:




Tonight is UFC 87: Seek And Destroy. Below is the main card and my picks.

-Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch: This one is going to be tough to call. A lot of people are saying Fitch may pull an upset here. I am going to go with the safe bet and say GSP by submission in the 2nd round.

-Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta: This one has fight of the night potential. Both fighters are extremely talented and I am predicting a war. This one potentially could go the distance. However, I am going to say Florian by submission late in the 3rd round. His technical skills are just too strong.

-Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring: This is Lesnar's "make or break" moment in his attempted transition from professional wrestler to legitimate MMA fighter. Lesnar, physically, is a beast. Once he gets a stronger jiu-jitsu game and some more experience in the octagon, he will be a force. He actually was pretty impressive against Frank Mir. He just made the rookie mistake of leaving his leg exposed and got kneebarred. Lesnar by TKO, second round due to ground and pound.

-Demian Maia vs. Jason MacDonald: I am not too familiar with either fighter. I have heard of MacDonald, so I will pick him to win.

-Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson: I will pick Manny by TKO late in the first round.

Be interested to see how my picks pan out

Affliction: Banned thoughts, Elite XC, etc.

I wanted to post again and give my thoughts on last weekend's AFFLICTION: BANNED card as well as the UFC Fight Night that aired against it on Spike TV. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the Affliction card. There were a few technical hiccups (occasional dead air, problems with the audio, etc), the musical intro and mid-show performances by Megadeth were a little over the top, but the general quality of the fights was pretty strong. This was the first opportunity I had to see Fedor Emelanenko fight and I was impressed. He is a quiet, but very dangerous man. I expected it to be more of a fight, with the size difference (Tim Sylvia is 6'8 to Fedor's 6'1) and such. However, Fedor walked through him in 36 seconds, dropping him with a couple of fast punches and applying a rear naked choke. The other fight that made an impression on me was the Andrei Arlovski/Ben Rothwell fight. It appears that the old, aggressive Arlovski may be back.

The UFC Fight Night show was interesting as well. CB Dolloway redeemed himself by submitting Jesse "Uno Cerveza Mas!" Taylor with a great little move called the Peruvian Necktie (more on that below) in the first round. Anderson Silva continued his winning ways, even with the change in weight class, quickly knocking out James Irvin in the first round.

Last Monday, went to class to discover that Frank has really taken a liking to the Peruvian Necktie. He taught it to us and then proceeded to catch me in it when we rolled. I tapped pretty quickly but was seeing spots when he released it, so I don't think it was going to be long before I went to sleep if I didn't tap. The next day my neck was quite sore as it is a combination neck crank and carotid squeeze.See below for the Peruvian Necktie demonstrated:

The Affliction:Banned card is really stacked. This should be a very good show. I am pulling for it to be good because having a second legitimate federation/competition for the UFC will only be good for the sport. My picks are below:

Fedor vs. Sylvia- I pick Fedor to continue his winning ways in this one, KO, round 1 or 2
Barnett vs. Rizzo- Barnett by submission, round 2
Rothwell vs. Arloski- Arloski by KO/TKO, round 1
Lindland vs. Negao- Lindland by submission, round 2
Whitehead vs. Babalu-Babalu by submission, round 1

I will be interested to see if my picks are anything close to accurate

As for the competing UFC free card...

I am predicting Henderson to pull an upset and beat Anderson Silva
I am also picking CB Dolloway over Jesse Taylor

Tonight

I plan to try some light rolling during class. This will be the first time since the injury. Hopefully I can find someone who is willing to go at less than full force. I want to get in there and roll a bit, but I don't want to aggravate it. I am hoping for the best. I will report back later.

This weekend should be an interesting weekend, MMA-wise. Tomorrow night is the Elite XC show on CBS. I am interested to see this Kimbo Slice guy fight. I have watched some of the videos of his "backyard" bare knuckle fights on Youtube, and looking at the guys he has beat up, honestly I think a trained fighter with technique is going to hand him his head. The guy seems to be just a brawler and a thug. I would love to see a skilled jiu-jitsu fighter take him to the ground and make him tap. Here's hoping it happens.

Sunday night is the Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver fight for the WEC featherweight title. I am pulling for Pulver on this one. Pulver is a good guy and willing to be open about his Christian beliefs. The fight is in Sacramento, which is Faber country, so I dunno what will happen. Should be a good fight. If it goes to the ground it is likely to be Faber's fight. If Pulver can keep it standing, he stands a good chance at knocking Faber out. I'll pick Pulver by knockout.

Last night was a good night

We had a good time at Hooters last night for UFC 84. It was definitely crowded, but we got there early enough to get a good seat near a TV. On my main card predictions, I went 2-1. I had predicted Tito Ortiz to beat Machida, but Machida got a unanimous decision over Ortiz, which he deserved. Tito looked less than impressive in this fight. Wanderlei Silva went through Keith Jardine in 36 seconds, knocking him down and then pouncing on him for a referee stoppage/TKO. The Penn/Sherk fight was stopped at the end of round 3 after Penn caught Sherk with a knee and pounced on him. The horn went off, but the ref declared Sherk unable to continue and stopped the fight.
See below for the end of Penn/Sherk:

Vegetables and other things

This morning, we went to Home Depot and got tomato, cucumber, and pepper plants. We had experimented in past years with tomatoes and peppers and had had limited success because we were growing them in pots under our back deck, where they weren't getting as much sunlight as might be optimal. This year we decided to designate part of the back yard near our fence as the vegetable garden. The veggies are planted and watered and time will tell how they do. We then came into the house and did some baking together. We baked a Caribbean pineapple rum cake that we are going to be taking with us when we go to my folks' house tomorrow to do Mother's Day. We also baked 2 loaves of banana bread. Yum!

I went to class again last night and again did technique work, working on the armbar, the variaton on the Ezekiel Choke, and the Von Flue Choke again. The ribs are at about 70-75% I think. Going to give it at least another week before I roll with anyone, though. It is tough sitting there watching the others roll, though. I am looking forward to getting back in there soon.

Julia and I are going to go to the Hooters in Lawrenceville this evening to watch UFC 84: Ill Will. It should be a good card.

The headline fight is BJ Penn Vs. Sean Sherk. I think it is going to be a good fight, but will predict BJ to win by submission in the second round.

Another fight will be Tito Ortiz Vs. Lyoto Machida. Pundits on the web are predicting Machida to beat Ortiz decisively. That may very well be true. However, I think that Ortiz wants to go out of UFC with a victory and be able to rub Dana White's nose in it, so I will go with Ortiz as the winner here. I will say TKO by strikes in round 3.

Another fight on the card is Wanderlei Silva Vs. Keith Jardine. Jardine has some interesting and unexpected wins (Forrest Griffin, Chuck Lidell), but he is up against a nasty opponent here. I will say Silva wins here. Not going to predict how or when.

I am interested to see how my predictions work out.

Ribs, Gas, and life

I just returned from another visit to see Dr. Dave at Dacula Chiropractic. I had debated canceling the appointment and not going, but I am glad I went ahead and went. He only adjusted the anterior (front), which is where my pain is centered at this point. He just used the activator device so it is an easy, "finesse" adjustment, not a brute force crackle-pop fest. I am going to go to class again tomorrow night and see how it goes. Probably will hold off one more week before trying to roll, but I think things are moving in a productive direction

This morning, on the way in to work, I went to QuikTrip at 85 and Chamblee-Tucker to gas up the Honda. $3.80 a gallon, adding up to over 50 dollars to fill the tank. I am really not sure how people who are only making minimum wage are doing it. If gas prices continue to rise, and they say that they are going to, there is going to come a point where those people will be LOSING money by going to work. What happens then? I don't know.

Life is good. I am in a very happy place. I have a great life, a wonderful wife, a great home, good job, incredible dogs, hobbies that I am passionate about. Things are really coming together nicely. And ya know, even when things are temporarily tough, they will get better, you'll learn from them, and come out better and stronger. As our boy Forrest Griffin said so wisely, "the juice is worth the squeeze"



Drink up, my friends!

Things are looking up

The pain is slowly fading. It is definitely still a bit tender, but not as bad anymore. I went to the gym this morning and ran 3.4 miles and have plans this coming Monday to run the Memorial Day 5K in Dacula Park. I am planning to go to class tomorrow and Friday evening. I am probably not going to roll, but will do technique drilling and such. Below are two more techniques Frank taught us last Friday night. The first one is a variation of the Americana, done from side control. The second is the ankle lock. The Americana I feel pretty comfortable with. The ankle lock is interesting in that you are strongly encouraged to tap early with that hold. You'll feel pressure, but if you start to feel legitimate pain, damage has been done. If someone sinks it in good on you, it is a good idea to call it a match and not end up with a damaged knee.

Arm Triangle from Mount

This is a demonstration of the arm triangle from the mount that I learned last night. This gets very tight very quick.

Tales From The Spinebuster

Well, I am feeling a bit better. I went to class last night and told Frank that it was not one, but three ribs that were out. He sympathized a bit, but not too much. It is, after all, part of the jiu-jitsu game---and, I can accept that. Karl was the only other one there besides me. We did a short class where Frank showed us some techniques that really didn't put any stress or pressure on the chest. We did an arm triangle from the mount, a triangle choke from the mount, an Americana from side control, and the ankle lock. I really like the arm triangle. I think that one is one I am going to try to really become very proficient with. That hold is very much based upon leverage. It is in no way a strength-related hold. Once you are positioned right and put the squeeze on, the lights will start to go out pretty quick without a tap. Good stuff. I will try to post videos of the techniques later today.

I went back to the chiropractor this morning and they hooked me up to an electro-stim machine, which runs low-level current through your muscles, while icepacks are applied. It felt HEAVENLY. Then I got adjusted again. That was less than heavenly but I do think it is helping. The acute pain area is definitely the left front ribs. But, all is well.