Rave: In June of this year I set myself a task of losing nearly 40 lbs and having my first amateur K-1 rules kickboxing bout. I made my weight goal and have been running 5 miles a day 5x a week pretty consistently Rant: At training yesterday right before practice, the owner came up to me and said that my opponent had pulled out with a serious injury but he is looking for another opponent for me. Rant: This will be the third time this has happened and it is seriously depressing me. All of that work, just to watch my team fight and me like always just rooting them on Rave: I am though in the best shape of my life and my ringcraft has improved dramatically. I can hold my own with the world champion of Muay Thai for Spain, though I still outweigh him by 15 kg.
Rant: fucking kids, fucking daycare, fucking illnesses. My kid gets a temp of 38.1 and feels a bit under the weather for a day. Meanwhile, I'm doping on so much advil to keep my own fever under 40 degrees, my bedside table looks like a pharmacy. I can't wait until this inevitably explodes into the hfmd rash that I know is coming. Nothing says professional like a fucking mouth rash that looks like a herp outbreak. Fuck. everything .
Rant: What an absolute shitty last 9 days. Every team I follow lost; some multiple times. Several of those defeats were horrible. Also, my party just got beat in tonight's election. Dammit.
Rave: My fight is back on Rant: One and a half more weeks of suffering Rave: I'm embracing the suck and honestly? I'm enjoying it. Win, lose or draw, I'll post the fight here
Rant: A girl I went out with for a short time about 10 years ago messaged me, saying that she just found out she has HPV, and to get myself checked out. And I went bareback on this girl every time. Rave: Jungle Julia and I both got ourselves checked out when we started dating, and we're both clean (Because who wants to use condoms?)! Schadenfreudic Rave: That girl with HPV kinda pissed me off back then; she just ended things between us with no warning or explanation, and this recent message is the first thing I've heard from her over all these years. I thought things were going well between us, then nothing, and it's always bothered me a little bit. She wouldn't answer any correspondence I tried to send her way. So I think she deserves this.
There isn't a test for HPV in men and she didn't get tested for HPV unless she got a Pap smear. (I know we're not supposed to reply here, sorry, but thought the PSA couldn't hurt.)
Rant: Both Cowboy Cerrone AND Tim Kennedy's fights were cancelled, through no fault of theirs. The UFC needs to work out a better method with their scheduling, because it's really shitty to plan a party around a major card and have half of the damned fights be called off 48 hours before go-time. Rave: Tim Kennedy is a beast. Deliberately stayed in camp and made weight and hung around New York to act as an alternate, just in case any of the other fights fell through.
Rant: Broke my ankle last Saturday. Had the appointment to set up surgery this afternoon. Two months before I'll be able to put weight on it.
Rave: Optimistic about the direction of my health care in Minneapolis. Everything is solid, cohesive and really directed at helping me as much as possible.
RANT: Good Christ my home is a madhouse. We have a couple friends who've parked their bus along the long stretch of my property and are taking a break from the nomadic lifestyle (and making use of my bathrooms). Then there's a couple friends who have been living in half of my basement for almost a month because of some shit planning where they sold their house and had an offer rejected on the one they wanted. And on top of that there are Fatima and Qasim, the lovely refugees who are well on their way to becoming citizens here, who reside in the rest of the basement. And finally there are myself, my wife and our three children. RAVE: Each and every person staying with us is really pulling their weight. Place has never been cleaner, and I haven't cooked a meal or paid for a babysitter in ages. It's very nice to be surrounded by friends and family all the time.
Rave: Surgery was a success and not all that long in hospital at 7:30 rolled out at 11:30 yesterday. Rant: The nerve blockers they put in have worn off. Instead of a paralyzed stump I now feel the pins and plates in it.
Rave: Going to Vegas this weekend for the massive Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev fight at the T-Mobile Arena. I've been covering Ward since 2008 and though I don't cover boxing very often anymore, I'm getting to help out on USA TODAY's coverage of the fight this weekend. I was just going to buy a ticket but now I'll have a free seat ringside. Rave: Also have a smoking hot really cool chick meeting me in Vegas for the weekend and it's going to be a really good time. I lived there for a couple years and have some hookups that will help us get drunk for cheap before going out. She is up for anything as far as where the weekend goes in terms of plans. Should be awesome!
RAVE: My daughter's father decided to stalk me on LinkedIn, since his last stalking attempt (years ago) was impersonating someone on I went to grade school on FB. It's only a rant because I had to find out how to block someone on LinkedIn, which took about 60 seconds of time - I would have rather spent prying my nails off with pliers. (FYI - his non-involvement is voluntary; I receive zero child support (by choice, I never filed) and he hasn't seen her since she was about 4 months old. I usually forget about him; however, I would absolutely send him updates/pics/whatever if he even bothered to shoot me an email on her birthday....)
Rant: Fuck the greedy unappreciative assholes that run this company, and fuck RFPs. I am kicking myself for not starting to pursue other work earlier. Rave: Applying for a bunch of woodworking jobs in addition to desk work now. At this point I will trade a pay cut for doing something I actually enjoy and the chance at working for a better group of people too. Plus learning and doing professional finish and carpentry work full-time will pay off for me in the long run if I ever take the leap to go into gunmaking for a living. Rave: The deer I got this year is delicious, I am so happy. The buck I got last year was gamey as hell and this one has none of that.
Rant: One of my good friends is a US Deputy Marshal. One of his supervisors on the Task Force was shot and killed today by a useless, piece of shit, waste of oxygen. The asshole was being served a warrant for previously shooting at law enforcement and other crap. The asshole will serve out his sentence in Hell, since the others present shot and killed him after he fired.
Rant: Walking the dogs today at a public park. Again...a PUBLIC park. I had noticed pickup trucks parked in the recently harvested cornfield when we entered, but hadn't seen any men. It was weird to see the trucks just kind of abandoned with no people. I walked the dogs to the halfway point on the trail, which has a stream on one side and the empty cornfield on the other. Lo and behold, the men were there. In a fucking duck blind shooting birds. Shooting right at the pathway of the trail. I'd estimate the blind was at most 300 meters from the trail; it might have been closer. It certainly didn't seem like much more than a football field. The city's response is that so long as the property owner on both sides of the park gives permission, it is allowed and the city is not liable. So I guess come to Sarnia. You can set up a duck blind adjacent to a public park where children play and bikers cycle, start firing shotguns at 9am on a Saturday morning and never worry that you're breaking the law.
Rant? I didn't get to fight. My opponent pulled out at the last minute. 4 months of training for nothing. I am in the best shape of all time. I can go with the young boys in my gym and outwork them. But I didn't get to show it and that breaks my heart. Rave: This would have been the worst card to fight on. One of my teammates was fighting for a belt. He landed a beautiful flurry that floored his opponent. The fucked up part? He followed him to the ground and continued hitting him there. HIGHLY illegal. When the ref separated them and he went to his corner a member of the public came over to the neutral corner to chastise him. He got out of the ring to hit this person and then threw a tantrum, kicking his gloves into the crowd when the decision didn't go his way. Rave: My wife and my small expat community weren't in attendance and didn't see this. There would have been old people and children there as for the past 2 years I've touted the beauty of martial arts, the control, the physical chess of it as my inspiration. All of that work would have been undone by a thug doing violence to a member of the public and being a bad sport overall. Rant: I seriously have to consider my affiliation with them now. Fuck.
Rave: My son was born yesterday morning at 9.25am after my wife was in labour for 3 days. We ended up having to have an emergency C Section to get him out as everytime that she had a contraction his heart rate went irregular and they were afraid what that would mean for him. Fortunately he came out ok and after a day in the NICU is now with us and perfect. Best feeling in the world.