Traveling and the jits

BJJ skills are perishable. If you take even a little time off you will notice some "mat rust". It might be your wind, it might be your sub defense is a little off, or it could be a simple lack of flow. One of the easiest way to keep up with it, is to train everyplace you can. This gives you the added benefit of rolling with people you have never rolled with before.

One thing I have found, is that most schools are cool about letting you join an open mat (provided that you are cool also). I will save the etiquette lesson for another post, but we can probably leave it at "Don't be an asshole" (which translates to alot of other things in life).

This weekend I had to go to Corpus Christi for a wedding. Because I had to miss class on Saturday, and the upcoming holiday I wanted to take every opportunity I had to roll. To that end, I contact the guys at Paragon BJJ. Aurelio Gallegos (BJJ Blackbelt under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller), and he said they usually have open mats on Saturday and to come on out.

I grabbed my gi and hit the mats. As expected, attendance was light 5 days before Christmas, but he did have two guys alternating between working the bags and rolling in the cage. Aurelio and I rolled for roughly 3 15 minute rounds, and then called it a day. With warmup I got a good hour roll in (effectively lubricating the joints), and met some good guys.

If you are traveling to Corpus Christi, or looking for BJJ in the area I would give them a call.

Leaving, on a jet plane.

Off to Vegas again. Should be the last trip for a couple months. Next will be probably be NYC for Interop. Lots of toys, to play with lately. I horsetraded a fantastic deal for a Larue upper (not complete) and a complete DPMS sportical upper (complete but ugly). Once I finish with these two, I will have 3 complete ARs. Not too shabby. Plus, the new iPhone. I know, Steve Jobs could shit in a box and mark it iCrap and people would stand in line to buy them, but the iPhone is a decent piece of hardware.

In other news, the Olympics are going on. My problem, is they never televise the events I want to see. We will watch 700 hours of badminton and women's gymnastics, but fuck Judo. Why should we care about that. I just end up watching it on the computer, but come on.

Also, a big FU to my Utility District. In the past month, we have been without water for two days, and had to boil (or more realistically use bottled water) for another two days. I know where that plant is, and am willing to go over at 5AM when I'm cranky and need a shower to settle this shit. I'm barely human in the morning, and hot water does lots to make that transition to the living. Utility district and the asshats who work there, you are on notice!

Guess who likes sleeping in his own bed?

This guy! Back from Vegas on Thursday (technically it was Friday morning). I managed to get dressed for work on Friday, and packed for BJJ in Dallas on Saturday. I worked through lunch and left a couple minutes early for Dallas. Weighed in at the tournament (231.7 - damn, still a super heavyweight) then off to Love field to pick up my Big Sis - NuttnBunny the crafty knitting queen.

From there we got checked into the Hotel, and after solving only a few problems (she not me) we went to dinner. I always forget how snooty Big D can be. Not that I minded, as we were Rico Suave, but still it ain't Austin. Brisket tacos at Mia's. Awesome. Queso at Mia's. Bleh. It might be the first time anyone put Chicken stock in queso. Bad things man.

Back to the hotel, where I had an "interesting" conversation with a hotel employee. Seems they were having a prom there. Parking was insane. After we dropped off The behemoth, I forgot I left a pistol in the vehicle. When I explained I needed to grab something, the guy who was helping us said he would just go grab whatever it was. I explained that the something I forgot was a pistol, and I would prefer to grab it myself. The look on his face was priceless. Needless to say, he showed me to my truck and I secured it myself.

BJJ tournament the next day was a big let down. The tournament was well run (except for this odd 45 minute rambling rules speech/rant the owner went on). Rather, my performance was a letdown. I lost to a guy who was much better then most intermediate guys I have rolled with in No-gi, and may or may not run a gym *coughsandbaggercough*. In Gi my performance was a little better, I couldn't finish my triangle choke and lost on points, then was injured during my second match (I didn't think I had a second match) when a rib popped out of socket. When my competitor slid up into a high Kesa Gatame right over the rib, I tapped. A little ice and an Aleve/Advil cocktail and it was fine. Still a bit sore, but manageable. I'm going to tape it for Wednesday, and we will see how things go.

Monday starts me eating right again. I took a two day break, but am back on it. Salad for lunch then Buffalo Tenderloin steaks, salad, and fresh fruit.

Back from the frozen North.

Well, we have been back for a couple days. Travel wasn't bad, we left very early on Wednesday, then came backl on Saturday so we would have one day to relax (a vacation from our vacation). Seeing the family was fun, I think the littles had a good time playing with everyone. Took lots of pictures, here's Z doing his best Sexiest Man Alive pose.



It snowed off and on while we were there, which was a nice change of pace. My favorite part, was when Moonpie (my niece) pointed at a snowflake and said "It's snowing right there!"

Took some pics at Franconia Sculpture Park as well. but mostly artsy stuff rather then large sculpture pics.



Anyway, a couple days off definately put me in a better frame of mind. Might need to look into regular vacations to battle burnout.