Greetings from beautiful Las Vegas

It was an uneventful flight, which is honestly the best kind. Checked in, the booth was coing along nicely, and they didn't need or desire my input. Excellent says I, lets go hit the tables. Hmm, on second thought, lets follow-up on the 20 VM & emails you received.

Professional me wins again. Two conference calls, one build, and a couple emails later I am done. I decided to grab a late lunch then head up to the room again. Around 5ish I caught a cab to Marc Laimon's BJJ gym. I was early, and didn't bring a Gi, so just hungout and watched the Gi class (taught by Simpson Go). Even just watching I caught a couple cool techniques.

After the Gi class, Marc showed up and taught the No-Gi class. I'm not sure why that surprised me, but it did. He seemed like a nice guy, introduced himself to me, then class got started. I was a bit surprised that they don't really have a warmup (formal or otherwise). He immediately launched into techniques. These included a good arm lockup for defending the arm bar, the stacking defense, and a slip defense - this was new to me slipping the leg, and then pushing your shoulders to the floor (might get you mounted but at least not armbarred). He also covered the hitchhiker escape, which was most recently used by Rich Franklin against Travis Lutter.

After technique, he paired us up, and we rolled for roughly 8 minutes. The first guy I rolled with was a stalemate (although I dominated him positionally). The second guy tapped me with a neck crank/jaw crush when he couldn't sink the choke. It worked, and was legal, but seemed cheap (might be sour grapes on my part). The dropin price is $40 and includes a Tshirt (which was of questionable quality). Next time, I will try Extreme Couture, to see the difference.

No pictures, because I already had too much stuff to pack. Instead, here are some pics from my hike around the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin.

Vegas ... again, and a new toy.

Just got word that I will be in Vegas again next week (For Interop). Current plan is arrive on Monday and leave on Thursday. Hopefully I will get to wrestle a bit while there. May try to hit Marc Laimon's gym (Cobra Kai) as I leave for Dallas on Friday (NAGA BJJ tournament).

Last time I went to Vegas, I ended up a couple hundred dollars up. That coupled with my winning the office March Madness pool, bought me a new CZ 452 (the .22 bolt action rifle). No pictures yet, but I will add them when I get home. For some reason, work frowns on me bringing my rifles in for a photo shoot. Something about playing with my camera vs working. Phillistines.

*Edit* No pictures. I couldn't get them to come out properly. I will try again this afternoon.

Pineapple salsa

Hammer posted a couple recipes for Salsa, and I wanted to add my favorite as well. Pineapple Salsa. It's sweet, hot, and good. I love hot food. Not spicey, but hot. To that end, I often have to make my own salsa (technically I don't have to, I just prefer to). Salsa is generally an easy thing to make. Good ingredients will almost guarantee a good product.

Fresh ingredients
1 fresh Pineapple - cored then cubed
2 Habaneros - chopped
4 Jalapenos - chopped
4 Serranos - chopped
1/2 Red Onion - chopped
4 Green Onions - diced
1 bunch Cilantro (sub mint if you don't like Cilantro) - rough chopped

Dry ingredients - all to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Pinch of good salt
Chipotle powder
Ancho powder
Comino
Cayenne
Chilepitin

Throw this all in the food processor, and process until you reach your desired consistency. Serve cold.

Dreaming of ink

Good thing this is an anon blog (and my In-laws are part of the computer illiterati). I'm planning some new ink. More specifically, I am going to coverup my old tat with a new bigger more colorful more artsy image. Much bigger, but still only an upper bicep shoulder/shoulder blade thing.

Here is a bit of a tease:



Not exactly, but that will be the general theme (and more color). Many years later, I will add a Foo Dog on the other side. The coverup is part of the this year plan (as a celebration for hitting my weight goal - and hopefully the revised lower weight goal). The Foo is part of the 10 year plan. Unless it isn't. =)

Happy Ammo Supply Day!

Yep, for everyone else, April 15th is tax day, but not for me. You see, everyone else's taxes go towards various pork funds, or paying welfare, or various other bits of governmental waste and mismanagement. My taxes, however, pay for ammo for the Marines. Before you get all crazy, no I don't make enough to pay for practice ammo for ALL the Marines. It should however pay for at least a couple days worth of happy bang bang fun for at least a couple of them. Depending on ammo costs, maybe even a squad.

I know, you are thinking "How did he get so lucky? Why do I have to pay for some Crack Ho's latest precious snowflake when he gets to buy ammo for Marines?" Simple, I called it first. You can claim your own version if you want. Simply post it. Stop buying needles for junkies, and buy ammo or support the arts, or whatever else you prefer. All you have to do, is claim it (heck you could even do it in my comments section).

Incidentally, my runner up to ammo for the Marines, was a grant for the US Olympic team (Specifically the Judo team or the Shooting team).

It definitely makes it easier when you see that bite the .Gov takes.

Soylent green redux.

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I don't know if it is my job (dis)Satisfaction or my cutting weight, but I find it hilarious to tell people to "Eat me".

The company I work for is run by idiots.

I work for a tech company, which in and of itself is nice. Decent pay, a good product (for the most part), and good co-workers. Unfortunately, our management group would have to flip a coin, when presented with the age old question "Your ass, or a hole in the ground?"

I know sales people complaining about management is nothing new, but let me put it into perspective. I just got my 2008 Comp plan. Today. Our fiscal year runs from January 1st to December 31st. That means, that I worked the first quarter of the year, without any idea of my variable compensation. Their excuse? We were working on commissions from last year. Which they paid two weeks late. Right. Nobody in upper management sees this as an issue.

I think it is time for me to start circulating the resume, because this job has jumped the shark.

Jittery much?

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