Sunday

1111

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'!

0715

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:



1117

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

It's Wednesday!

0700

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.

0909

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!