Homer

Heins, I just saw your post for the first time and apologize for not calling you as of yet.

The home world has been nice. I do not eat nearly as well here as I do in Kamloops and I believe this may have led to me getting sick for a bit. Anyway, I survived my flight and things are going well and I have visited with a few people.

I really just wanted to write this blog to make predictions for tonights UFC fight. I have decided to make predictions on five main bouts.

HWT: Eddie Sanchez over Soa Palalei by decision
Lightweight: Melvin Guillard over Rich Clementi (I like Guillard, he is a good striker but gets way out of control at times. Could get caught in submission but I have him winning by knockout in the third.)
Light Heavy: Rameau Sokoudjou over Lyota Machida...I like Machida a lot but I think he will suffer his first loss to Sokoudjou a decent fighter out of Pride. Knockout in the third.
Light Heavy: Liddell over Silva: Decision Wand is nasty but he got his ass pounded by Dan Hendo and now that Liddell's retirement and legacy is on the line, I think he may come back from his past two shit fights and put out a brawl.
Welterweight Champ: Hughes vs. St. Pierre I want and predict that St. Pierre will win this fight. Hughes' last fight was not convincing and St. Pierre looked really good against Josh Koscheck. Although, Georges has not had as much time to prepare for Hughes, Hughes has not had time to specifically prepare for St. Pierre either. St. Pierre by knockout in the third. The only other way I see this ending is a Hughes submission.

Planes, Dane(s) and Automobiles

Tomorrow I will begin my trip home. Training has been going well over the past two weeks. I have been a bit flat and ready for a program change and I am also ready for a break at home. I actually think this is the longest I have ever been away from home. A new record. My new training plan at home will have me throwing the 5k shot. I need to shock my body into recognizing speed and stop using the strength I have. Dr. B has been awesome and he is probably one of the nicest guys around and really cares about the athlete. (The picture above is of Dr. B and a clean shaven me...Jesse is in the back being a d-bag.)

Anyway, I am working tonight and then coming home and sleeping, waking up and heading to practice. I will train and then come back home and prepare to leave. I am only going to bring home a few sets of clothing, two books and my training gear...I have plenty of crap at home. I will head out for my second practice and from that point I will begin the journey home. Poor Anton will be stuck in Kamloops and I am sure he will miss me terribly as I will also miss him. I hate leaving him behind but at least Hurricane will be awaiting my arrival, hahaha...and my hot ass girlfriend (not Hurricane). I will train and then drive the 4-5 hours to Vancouver and sleep at a hammer throwers house.

Wednesday morning I head to the airport and my flight departs at 11:50 PST and arrives in NYC at 8:00 Pm EST. As most of you know, the thing I fear the most in life is flying. This is a huge test for me since the only way I can get home and see everyone I love is to actually fly home. I also spent 500 bucks on tickets and do not want to waste my money. I find it very amusing that I am flying back now. I remember 6 months ago when Steve Meyers and I discussed how we probably would not fly for five years since track was over at PSU...well, I am flying now and I am sure Steve will be flying in the near future as well. Oh well, looks like I need to face my fear. Anyway, I am terrified of flying and need to tell everyone I love you guys and that hopefully I will arrive safely. (By the way, do not tell me all the bullcrap safety facts about flying...as if I do not already know that flying is safer than driving. I will have you know that I felt 1,000 times safer hitchhiking than I do when I fly.) So, hopefully all goes well. If not, Mom and Dad please come get Anton. Diane's number is 2505543939. His haircut looks like that of a Schnauzer. Well, if everything goes bad on the flight home...I love you all, haha. Hopefully my blood pressure does not rise too high and cause me to faint. I am hoping for the best. See you soon.

Pa I.D. and UFC

So, this evening at work was quite hilarious. A girl comes up and hands me an i.d....it is yellow, white and blue and says Pennsylvania on it. I look at it and laugh and say, "This is not a PA, i.d." So, she continues to argue with me and tell me that it is not fake and this and that...I continued saying, "Listen, I do not think this is a Pennsylvania license, you cannot come in." Her response, "It is the right one." Finally, much to her dismay...I revealed that I was indeed a resident of Pennsylvania and know exactly what a PA license looks like. She seemed completely shocked and then asked if I would give it back to her.

I found this quite amusing...the other workers and I kept thinking about the odds of that happening. Anyway, I will be leaving Kamloops this coming Tuesday evening and flying out of Vancouver on Wednesday morning, arriving in NYC at 8:30 P.M. I am very excited to be home and see everyone. It will be a good break but I will continue training hard.

I am also fairly excited for the upcoming UFC fights on December 29th. It sucks that Matt Serra got hurt because I really cannot stand Serra or Matt Hughes. Now, Georges St. Pierre is fighting Hughes for the third time and is coming in on short notice, should be interesting. The Liddell vs. Wand Silva will be an awesome fight. I wouldn't mind seeing Chuck lose for the third straight time but I also want to see a brawl, hopefully that happens. Finally, I am extremely excited to see that Dan Henderson is fighting Anderson Silva in March of 2008 at 185. This will be an amazing fight and one that will really put the test to Anderson Silva. If he beats Hendo, he will put his name in gold in UFC history.

70% of People are Stupid

Dr. B has told us a few times that 7 out 10 people are stupid and do not know what is best for them. This is why he claims that communism does indeed work, as long as a competent leader is at the helm. Gorbachev ran the USSR into the ground and this is what ruined communism. Well, I am starting to sort of agree with Dr. B. Actually, on both matters. In regards to Gorbachev, I studied numerous articles (many by conservatives) that did believe Gorbachev was the cause of the communist melt down...not the Ronald Reagan myth of outspending the USSR. If anyone wants some articles, I will send them to you. Anyway, I am no commie but more of a libertarian thinker...I like to side with Thomas Jefferson on a lot of my philosophies. The problem is now I fee like people are really pretty stupid.

Examples...my landlord has no money, so what does she do when I pay her rent? She goes out and buys new clothing and tells me how she is going to upgrade the house. I continue to tell her to save her money and pay her bills before taking out more loans but this is to no avail. Simply look at the US housing market. People buy this magnificent homes, large cars (inefficient) and deck their house out in luxurious items...then what happens? The rate of foreclosures is at an all time high in the US...the disease? "Keeping up with the Joneses." It is simple. I have tons of other examples, but this is my final rant for the evening. We "elect" a government. The government appoints people. Now, we have ridiculous appointees. This blows me away. The White House press secretary does not know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was about...seriously. We learned this in depth with Mr. Rentschler in 11th grade...then in University I had at least two classes that went over it and a third that spent about a week and a half on it...this is absurd. If you are going to lead our nation or be apart of the government, at least learn from the past. Otherwise, what is the point of learning history? To spout off useless facts when you are drunk?!?!?! No!!! Of course not, that is what sports trivia is for...Anyway, here is the link for the dumbass. http://rawstory.com/news/2007/White_House_press_secretary_admits_she_1210.html

Pretty Boy and the Hitman and the Heisman

Alright, so I am going to throw down some predictions. As many of you know, I am known for making the most absurd predictions...things like me predicting the Sens to go to the Stanley Cup last year, Brady Quinn will never win a playoff game and Matt Leinart will never have a winning season come to mind (I will save Braylon Edwards for two years from now). Anyway, the big fight is coming up with Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton. Both are undefeated. Here are my predictions.

Floyd has the best defense in the world, the best since the world was exposed to Pernell Whitaker. Ricky Hatton has a solid chin and can throw some nasty punches. I predict Floyd winning another decision. That is his style. He won't knock him out and it will be fairly close. Floyd is run down and has been on the move since his fight with Baldomir. He has had a few fights, countless promotions, Dancing with the Stars and numerous fund raisers for foundations. I think this will hurt him a bit and will make him vulnerable to Hatton. However, I do not think Hatton has the speed to hang with him and after watching his lackluster battle with Jose Luis-Castillo, I pray he comes into this fight in top shape...which I fully expect he will. Hatton is nasty and will give him a run but barring Floyd breaking his hands, I cannot see him winning. Who knows, maybe Floyd will be run down and be handed a significant defeat, similar to the way Chuck Liddell ran himself down was romped by Rampage. I have Floyd taking a decent decision.

On the under card we have Jeff Lacy and Peter Manfredo going at it. Manfredo is coming off of his embarrassing loss to Joe Calzaghe and Lacy is coming off of a mediocre fight and labrum surgery (he also lost to Calzaghe). I want this to be a brawl because I enjoy each of these fighters and a brawl will save both of their careers. Lacy has a decent chin and he is a mental champ. Anyway, I have Lacy winning by KO in the 9th. Should be interesting though.

In other boxing news, Kermit "The Killer" Cintron (Reading, PA) has officially postponed his match up with Paul Williams. This happened because he shattered his hand in his last rampage over Jesse Feliciano. It was known that he will not fight until May at the earliest but yesterday he made it official. I am looking forward to his recovery and him taking on Tall Paul or revenging his loss to pussy Margarito.

In regards to the Heisman, my vote is for Tim Tebow...the problem is that D1 football is the biggest shame in all of sports and I doubt he will win. I believe the idiots will give it to McFadden. McFadden is a beast but Tebow's stats are unreal and he should win it...however, it won't happen.

Lessons from Dimas: Deep Squat (Power and Evacuation)

Iwill defend deep squatting until I die. In regards to throwing, deep squats are really not useful but in regards to developing tremendous strength and power, deep squatting is the best and most effective way to train. I do not mean squatting to 90 degrees either. I mean squatting until you butt hits your heels. People always claim that deep squatting hurts your knees, is bad for your back, blah blah blah. This is all crap, Olympic weightlifters deep squat more than any other athlete with 80-90% loads and they have the second lowest amount of knee injuries behind swimmers. This is proof that it is not bad for your body. The body was built to squat as low as possible. Natives used to sit around and discuss political, social and familial issues and most of them would sit on their heals. Babies when first learning to walk, find sitting on their heals as a very comfortable and healthy position. It is good for the body in numerous ways. If you deep squat, you will look like Pyrros Dimas (above).

Alright, this blog has more to do with taking a dump than it does deep squatting. After doing plenty of research and actually deep squatting myself, I believe that the human body was meant to squat when taking a crap...it was not meant to sit on a toilet. I always remembered vacating my bowels outside when I was younger...Brooks and I would be out somewhere, perhaps near the Allentown cement quarry and we would pop a squat and I always felt that those were my best poo's. Now I am sure they were. The body is meant to squat when taking a dump. It helps get all of the poo out of your stomach and really makes things a lot easier. There has been a decent amount of studies done on this subject and all native and indigenous groups throughout history squatted when taking a crap, they did not have a throne to sit on. It has also been found that the cultures who do indeed squat while dumping tend to have a significantly lower amount of prostate and colon cancer, which along with diet, probably can be credited to squatting. Anyway, here is a fairly interesting and amusing article on squatting. It is not the most thorough of articles but it does contain images and it also sites numerous studies to back up the authors claim. Have fun squatting. http://www.naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html

Here is an image of me demonstrating my technique on the modern day toilet. Also, wikipedia has a nice page on squatting for evacuation.

Department of War

Yesterday I spent most of the day watching Last of the Mohicans and two strongman videos. It was quite the afternoon. I love Last of the Mohicans. I hope when I get married I am willing to put a hatchet in a man's back for my wife. I also hope that the theme song is playing in the background wherever I go. That would be cool. When I get older I am definitely going to have a training facility on my compound. I want to churn out hippie meatheads...freak athletes who are strong, walk around barefoot, eat raw meat and play the piano and tuba. That would be sweet.

I bought a bunch of bacon yesterday. Nothing beats frying sliced potatoes in the leftover bacon fat...so freaking good. I highly recommend eating tons of meat as long as it comes from a high quality source...otherwise, do not eat low quality crap meat. Here is a sweet website that deals with local meats. Time to go track the war party. http://www.eatwild.com/index.html

Wikipedia Wonders

Friday and Saturday were pretty solid training days. Friday was about -9 C so it was cold in the morning. I threw the 8k fairly well but blew when I was throwing the 14 because of how cold it was. The afternoon was a weird practice. It was -9 and dark and snowing but I was amped up and really tore into the 9k. I threw very well and really felt like my technique was coming together. I worked Friday night and luckily I stayed inside for the entire evening.

Saturday morning it was around -10 C and snowing so we threw inside. I felt unreal. The change in temperature felt great for my muscles and my movement was much more consistent and fluid. I could feel my right leg coming out of the back and really threw well. I struggled with the 14 but still threw the best I have with that implement. My lift was that much better because I was warm for the morning. I even goofed around and went in and close grip snatched 90k to see how easy I could rip it. The afternoon went well and it was just an all around solid training day. I feel as though I am starting to really figure out the technique and training principles. My final movement is solid I just need to continue working on coming out of the back. Work was alright. It stank because it got to about -12 to -13 C. I was outside for about 3 hours so my feet were quite chilled...luckily I bought Canadian combat boots but even they did not work that well because I am just standing in place. It has snowed about a foot and a half in the past day or so.

The early parts of this week are supposed to be more mild so we will be able to throw outside again. I am working everyday of this coming week and on Wednesday we have a comedian coming into the club...he is supposed to be hilarious and has had numerous gigs on HBO and Comedy Central, so we shall see if these Canucks are actually funny or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease

Beware of Dutch Disease...this really is not that funny, I am just bored.

Fun Articles

Here are some enjoyable articles. One is a diagnosis of Giuliani and the other one deals with pornos. Also, if anyone has watched the debates for the Repub nominations...Ron Paul has been wiping up the debates. If you think otherwise, please tell me where you get the reasoning so we can discuss these things. Have fun. It is cold here and throwing is fun.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/30/america/giuliani.php

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=0f2fea7e-8e93-41ab-be32-1f999ceb0b55

Gary Reed and Training

Training has been going well, although today I was a bit tired. Yesterday, I threw all of the implements fairly well which was probably the result of nice sleep and a very motivational night with Gary Reed.

His speech was extremely good. He talked about how he literally had nothing when he was younger and all the way through grade 12 he would go to school with no food...he literally had no food in his fridge. Dylan has told me this is true because he went to his home at one point and found out he had absolutely no food in the house because his mother was struggling to pay the bills. This created a great foundation for a relationship between Dylan, his mother and Gary. Anyway, Gary's mother eventually got her feet under her once he moved to Victoria and at this point she went to see how he was training in Victoria. Apparently, she began to cry when visiting him because he only had tomato paste and beans in his refrigerator. He soon got his feet under him and his training went very well over the next two to three years. Now he is number two in the world. His World Champs video was awesome and just by watching it motivated me to go out and train so hard. It was a very emotional video and he seemed ecstatic after placing second place at World's. Now everything is falling into place with his training and hopefully he can better his place in Beijing in 2008.

It was a fun night and very worthwhile. It was also cool because they introduced all of the new athletes to the room of about 200 people and we got to intermingle and talk with them after the dinner was over. The night was fun and I am so happy to be training here, now I just need to continue to stay focused on the goals at hand. I have some photos from the night and some pictures of the place where I train. Included in the photos is a picture of what I see from the backyard of where I live.


The last image is a squash court that I put on so Alec Wagner could be amazed at the beast. Supposedly, it is one of two of a kind in the entire North America. The video is of one of the other hammer throwers that is pretty good. He is from BC and is a really good guy. It also shows the throwing room and its set up.

Weekend

My weekend was fairly uneventful. Friday and Saturday were nice and calm at work, everyone was probably freezing from the low temperatures. On Friday night, I honestly felt as though I was walking on my knees. I could not feel anything below my knees. So, Saturday I went out and got a pair of Canadian combat boots that actually look really nice when my dress pants cover them up. They kept me warm until about 12:30, then I got pretty cold again. It was still better than the night before.

My throwing has been improving. Technically I feel pretty solid and my body is gradually adjusting to the higher volume training. My throws with the 9k have improved a decent chunk, I am still struggling to feel the 14 but have put out a few decent results. It is pretty sweet to throw in the snow at night, I feel like a bad ass Russian training for something serious...I feel like Alexander Karelin, haha.

Tonight is a huge banquet for the track club. Gary Reed (silver medalist in the 800 in 2007 Worlds) is in town and is giving a big presentation on his life and training and he and Dylan are then going over what they did at the World Champs. Apparently, Gary's story is unbelievable and it should make for a fun filled evening...at the very least it is a dinner buffet. I will inform you on how sweet the evening is.

Thanksgiving Baby...WOOOO!!!

I am extremely saddened by the fact that I will miss my favorite holiday of the year. Thanksgiving is such a great day and awesome time for my family and today it was hard for me to be away from home. Although, it did suck not being able to spend time with the whole family, talk with everyone and eat tons of delicious food, I am still very grateful for the situation I am in. If it was not for my family and friends, I would not being to sustain myself and push my mind and body the way I am currently doing and for this I give tremendous thanks.

I spent the day sleeping in since we do not train on Thursdays. Then I phoned my family and talked to everyone at home and wished them all a Happy Thanksgiving. I decided to go shop for some food (I got quinoa, raw almonds for my honey and bread, cod liver oil and sauerkraut). I have not eaten out this entire month and since it was a special day I decided to treat myself. I went to an Indian place in town and it was extremely good. Quite possibly the best Indian food I have eaten. I ate at another Indian place here in Kamloops before but it was nothing special, this however was tasty. It did a solid job of representing the large number of East Indians that live in Kamloops. I then went and bought some wool socks and a new pair of dress pants for work...I got these at a thrift store so they were nice and cheap.

My day was very enjoyable but while eating dinner I realized how much I miss my family. Without them, nothing would be possible. They have provided me with so much support and love and have continued to support me in my own athletic endeavor. This is so awesome, so many other people would have told me to hang it up but they believe in me and support me giving it one last shot. I love my entire family so much and miss them dearly. I especially miss my moms mashed potatoes and I heard that Brooks made a killer turkey. Brooks is officially an old man now...He has a family, cooked the Turkey and then did his own carving...this was his entrance into old man existence. I miss everyone and I love everyone and I hope my dads dislocated shoulder heals very well. (If only he had benched that extra set, his shoulder would have never popped out, haha.) Just kidding. Heal up Old Man Miller.

Tasers and Beater Clubs

To be completely honest, I never understood the need or use of tasers. They seem so archaic and really should have no use in humanity. I do understand that the ruling forces (police, government, military, etc) need to use these types of weapons to control or subdue individuals but I have always felt a taser was way over the top. There is way too much risk involved and the idea of actually shocking someone to submit does not seem very intelligent. I know whenever I have been shocked by electricity I have never wanted to calm down and be subdued, instead it has made me want to cringe, swear and roll around. I recall onetime at Daniel Boone when I was about 13 years old, my dad told me that I could turn the gym lights on by sticking a paper clip into the key light switch and they would turn on. He told me the trick behind doing this so I naturally went in and screwed it up and received a huge shock. I remember the feeling distinctly and having orange and yellow burns on my skin for a few days. That shock did not make me want to calm down, instead it was quite the opposite.

If officers need to use force to subdue individuals, why use something that can potentially kill them. Hundreds of people have died in the past years from tasers and tens of thousands are severely injured. It has always made more sense to use a debilitating weapon, such as a beater club to subdue someone. At least a beater club will debilitate certain parts of an individuals body to enable officers to wrap them up and finally control the individual. A beater club may also be used to break bones or knock someone out...this may seem brutal, but in comparison it is much more humane than being tased. At least bones can heal from beatings, a shocked heart may cause severe problems for the remainder of ones life or cause fatality...which it has on countless occasions.

I am writing about this because there was a world famous incident that occurred here in Canada in the middle of Canada and it has been an extremely hot topic since it took place. A polish man was immigrating to Canada to live and start a job with his mother. He flew into Vancouver and when he arrived he was placed in international hold for 10 hours. He was disoriented, recovering from his first flight in his life and in a massive international airport that for some reason had no translator to assist him. The man panicked, barricaded himself and subsequently was tased 3-4 times by officers trying to subdue him. He was killed on the spot. No drugs were in his system. He was stone cold sober...no health problems.

I am not blaming the officers completely. I have listened to numerous CBC Radio shows dealing with this and have concluded that the Airport is at fault. The mans mother was in the airport while he was in hold but for some reason the airport was confused by the entire situation. They handled him poorly and this led to his panicking because he was held in the airport for over 10 hours. I also felt the police could have handled the situation better. One security adviser discussed how he had a similar situation and instead of running in, barricading the man and then attacking...his group actually went in, his men sat down with their hands up to show the suspect they were there to help and he stood and gradually aided the man to safety before he could hurt himself or others. This may have been a better and safer option. It is difficult to lay blame on people with such an atrocity.

This is such a tragic event because the woman is left with nothing. This was her only child and they were going to start a business together. Now she no longer has him. I cannot imagine nor do I want to imagine her pain.

Tasers are unnecessary objects and they are terrible for humanity. Immediately following this incident a man was killed by a taser in Montreal and now a man is in severe condition in Chilliwack after he was tased. All this happens and the Vancouver police have now ordered 70 more tasers for their department. Taser deaths are extraordinarily high in the US and in Canada and it is time that someone jumps on the clue bus.

Here is a link that tells the story about the Polish individual and his family.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=e5e54f7a-edd6-49c4-b715-5b1eb216788a&k=35629

Training Videos and Change

Sorry I have been behind on cool blogs. I am getting run down from work and trying to rest and recover as much as possible. In the near future I will be writing about tasers, the Gold Standard and popping a squat...yes, taking a dump. As for today, I will stick with what I know best and that is training.

Dr. Br changed my training today. I was quite excited. It sucked because I only got 2 hours of sleep but I still threw ok for my first morning of new training anyway. He has me move to 3 stands with the 8k, 10 fulls and then 10 fulls with the 14. My best with the 8k has been improving but when I picked up the 14 I seriously felt naked. It was incredibly light and I had no speed awareness as he says. I threw ok, right around my pr with the 16 which I thought was extremely mediocre for my first day. I have been so used to throwing heavy that now I must pick up the speed. This is good since speed is what I lack as you all know (...except for when I beat Jon Hart ina 10 meter dash, haha.) So, after throwing we went into the weightroom and my morning routine is 80k for 2 x 5 close grip snatch (these felt great), 20 k good mornings for 2 x 8, 150k speed quarter squats for 2 x 5, v ups for 2 x 15, speed bench at 150k for 2 x 5 (I felt so weak doing this since I have not benched heavy in quite sometime. Still felt decent.) and then the workout finished with 4k straight up shot put throws for 2 x 15.

The afternoon workout is much different. All 9k all the time for 20 fulls. Then I have 120k cleans for 2 x5, reverse hypers for 2 x 8, ab exercise for 4 x 5, leg raises for 3 x 6, explosive jumps for 3 x 15 and then the specific strength is 35 pound shot throws into a mat for 3 x 15. It should be extremely intense and I know this weekend I will be quite sore. Still not as much lifting as my last phase, which is nice. A lot of throws and a lot of weight in the throws. When I come home I feel that everyone will notice I am smaller. I have stayed about the same weight but my muscle seems to have moved to my legs and abs. I feel so strong through my body's center. This is good.

For extra entertainment, I found these videos on my camera from my summer training. Just fun garage training. The one video is my summertime snatch PR. I believe it is 280 or 285. The other lifter is Cody White. He trained fairly hard all summer but the rumor mill tells me he is goofing off lately.

The Schuylkill Valley Test

Yesterday Dylan passed the SV test with flying colors. While Dr. B and I were waiting his arrival down at the outdoor shot circle, Dylan came flying down the hill in his beast of a truck, ripped one off on the black top and proceeded to do a donut in the sand in the landing area of the shot sector. It was quite amusing. I informed him that in the land of SV, this is quite a classy move and that I have a friend (Chris Stamm) who has video of his brother doing figure 8's in one of his cars. Quite impressive.

I threw like absolute piss today and now I am extremely fired up about it. Yesterday evening I threw a personal best with the 8k, two times in a row (exact same mark) and I felt as though I have at least a half meter in me at my current state. So this morning I was really excited to throw but had been feeling flat all morning. After delivering the paper I fell asleep and did not awake until 15 minutes prior to throw. This threw me off and ruined my morning mark. Hopefully, I salvage something this afternoon. It was 28 degrees while throwing and 22 degrees while I delivered the paper.

Things are really starting to heat up with the new Star Trek movie. Photos are out of the young Spock and according to a Hollywood Insider (Chris Beissel), the movies plot may be similar to one of the best Original Series episodes, "The City on the Edge of Forever." I bring this into some question but only time will tell what the movie will focus upon. Time to go buy some used wool socks from Value Village.

Runnin it

I have been quite busy. I started to get more hours at the bar I am working and subsequently had to deliver the paper at 4 AM following my shift at the bar. I have spent the last 2 and a half days recovering from that work. So, now I am putting in my resignation from my delivery post because I am getting more hours and a higher pay at the bar. It should also help my training.

Yesterday was a big Kamloops Track and Field banquet and all of the "elite" athletes were introduced to the other members and their family. I sent the President (yes, George W.) my track bio and so she read it aloud. She then decided to mention that I am extremely poor and have made many sacrifices to come train with Dylan and Dr. B. This was nice, especially because after the dinner (it was a pot luck) some parents and Judy (the Prez) gave me about 8 pounds of meat and tons of other food to take home. I felt like Oliver!

Dr. B has scaled back my training for this week and made it a week of active rest. He informed me that my next cycle of development is going to be quite intense and have a decent amount of volume because he has noticed that my body responds well to lots of intense training. I am quite excited for next week. As for this week I will continue to rest up and take only about 12 throws in the morning and 12 throws in the afternoon, each followed by a session of lifting.

Star Trek and My Life

I found out that one of the female hammer throwers is a huge Star Trek fan. She attempted to tell me that she was a bigger fan than I, however after informing her that I watched most of the Voyager series in about 1 month and was raised on The Next Generation and worship (literally, I pray to them) a few of the Star Trek movies, she backed down. The fact that I saw Levar Burton speak was the kicker. By the way, he really was one of the best speakers I have ever seen. It was awesome. So, I came home and thought about how I missed my prize possessions of the entire series of Voyager and TNG on dvd and how I will probably watch a lot of Star Trek when I am home. Luckily, I have my WWPD? (What would Picard Do?) t-shirt to hold me over. If anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift, I am open to a WWJD? (What would Janeway do?) or a WWSD? (What would Sisko do?). WWKD? would be fine as well. Speaking of Kirk, I saw Incubus the movie in the dvd store for 9.95 CD. So I guess that would be like 5 USD's now, ain't? Haha.

Anyway, back to my story. I went home and thought about all of the lessons I have learned from Star Trek and I really could not sleep. I kept thinking about the most dramatic scene in all of film and how it still touches me to even think about. That scene of course is at the end of Wrath of Khan when Spock goes in and saves the ship and speaks to Kirk and tells him the greatest lines ever muttered in cinema..."The needs of the many..." (heavy breathing becuase of poisoning) "Out weigh the needs of the few...or the one..." I get chills thinking about. Well, I started to comprehend this lesson and really put it to work in my life. I have always (always being the last 2-3 years of my life) attempted to live by the Way and believe that following the Golden Rule is crucial to living a happy life. I have no modified this and believe that not only is it crucial to follow the Golden Rule, it is also extremely important to abide by the guidelines of the Vulcan culture muttered by Spock at the end of Wrath. Ancient Vulcan philosopher Surak (see image) laid down these standards and it completely changed the Vulcan civilization.

Here is a simple equation:

Golden Rule + Vulcan philosophy of living = the Way.

Well, I was happy because I applied this to my life the following morning. I was tired becuase I slept all of 4 hours due to my thinking about Star Trek the previous night. Well, I wanted to lay in bed but I still decided to get up and go deliver the paper. I got to the paper box and noticed the papers had not been delivered. They were 2 hours later than normal. I sat for 30 minutes and was about to head home when I really put things into perspective. I thought about how I was tired and could be getting my rest prior to my workout session and since the papers were already late, I would then be late getting home to nap before the morning session. I decided to wait it out. Everything sort of guided me to stay and wait for the papers to show up. I knew they eventually would arrive and indeed they came within 10 minutes. To me, it was more important for me to get people their much need paper in the morning than for me to sleep an extra 40 minutes before training. In reality, my thought process was for me to stay and treat others the way I would want to be treated and to put them before myself. What would Spock/Surak do? He would have delivered those papers...yes, yes I am comparing myself to Spock.

Quote of the Day: "So Dane, this time five years ago we were really starting to train and go to school and really get serious about our careers at Penn State. Imagine that, five years later I am still in school and you are a paper boy. Who would have imagined? By the way, my 12 year old buddy called...he wants his job back." - Scott "I am a fatass" Vernon

Scott is still in school but at least it is law school...I however am still a paper boy, haha.

Training Videos

OK, hopefully these work this time. They aren't anything special. I put them up more so anyone can see where I am training at, not what I am doing. When I feel ready I will put some throwing videos up.

American Nutrition and Welfare for the Rich

Here is a very, very informative article on the current situation in American Agriculture. Very little of this article can be debated, it is virtually right on target with everything it states. Heinsy, I don't know if Dana teaches a current events class but this may have something for a class in regards to current events in the government. I believe the best line in this article is the reference to twinkies. Anyway, I hope you read it. It does not take long.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04pollan.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=0a40e8efe1e96aef&ex=1194411600&oref=slogin

Pictures from Trip with Chris

Here are some images from my trip up here with Chris Stamm. Some of them are from Glacier National Park, some are just from driving in Alberta, two are from Vulcan and then the one is Chris before he left. The first one is from the very top of the Glacier at Many Glaciers in Montana. We hiked 6 miles to get there and behind me was where the other pictures were taken. I will put more up later this week. Don't forget to read my other two new blogs about Halloween and my Nutrition. Hang it out.

Nutrition

My eating habits have improved tremendously since moving to Kamloops. It has helped that I am not drinking and in turn going to Redners and eating a 12 inch sub at 2:30 in the morning with Kevin and Ner. Although, I do miss going to Redners. Anyway, since I have little to no money I cannot buy any junk food and funnel any extra money into buying very high quality, high calorie, high protein and high fat foods. This has in turn sparked solid recovery from training and so far a subtle change in my body composition.

I joined a co-op here in Kamloops and it is fairly cheap and extremely helpful. All of the food is locally grown around the Kamloops area (as close as it can be) and is brought to the co-op center. I place my orders every week and then when I arrive at the center they provide me with all of my order and the transaction is made. It is extremely convenient and I enjoy knowing that I am supporting local and sustainable agriculture as most of the food is organically grown or on a chemical based pest management program...not a pest prevention program. The people are very friendly and know a decent amount about food.

Here is a list of what I eat. Keep in mind that chicken is fairly expensive up here and I am almost certain that salmon comes at a lower price than chicken.

Weekly consumption:
7 - 10 Pounds of beef/lamb. All of these products are grass fed. Grass fed livestock is extremely healthy and loaded with essential fatty acids. These fatty acids have definitely lowered my body fat and aided in my recovery from the intense workouts. I usually consume about a pound of beef or a pound of lamb a day.
Salmon: I have been averaging about half a salmon a week. I only get wild salmon because it is high in omega's and high in protein. Good for me but because of pollution I try and avoid eating a lot each week.
Free Run Eggs: generally about 21-25 eggs a week
Butter: I use about a 1/4 pound of butter a week. I enjoy eating my butter with rye bread and honey or throwing it on my toast.
Coconut Oil: I cook/fry most of my food with coconut oil. It is much healthier than EVOO and I do not use as much of it when I cook.
Beans: I eat about 12 servings of beans a week. I have locally grown black turtle beans and red beans from this Spanish guy that resemble the Asian Azuki bean. Beans provide me with extremely good nutrition.
Quinoa: This is one of the few grains that I eat during the week. Quinoa is known as a supergrain and is really the best grain that the human body can eat. Many nutritionists have suggested that if you are going to eat grains, you should eat quinoa. It is a high calorie, high protein grain and it is extremely cheap. It is almost always grown organically and native to Latin and South America. I usually cook about 6-8 servings at the beginning of the week and then eat it throughout the week. I will heat it up in my pan and put seasonings or butter on the quinoa. Goes well with beans and hamburgers. It is also great for recovery becuase it has all the essential amino acids.
Rye Bread: My rye bread comes from a local guy and it is made with very solid ingredients. It could be better made but it still tastes good. This is the other grain I eat during the week. I will eat my bread with honey and peanut butter or I will put butter and honey on top of it. I also like to toast my bread in butter in my pan and then put an egg in and connect the bread with the egg.
Honey: I bought tons of raw honey from this woman and it is extremely good. I love it and probably eat too much of it. Mr. B loves honey and he also suggested that we eat a fair amount of it. It is my only form of a sweet that I eat in a week, aside from apples.
Garlic: Stamm can vouch for me...I eat way too much garlic. I love it. I eat it with everything.
Olives: I buy olives stuffed with garlic and soaked in a sea salt brine. They are quite good.
Hot Peppers: I usually eat about 5-10 hot peppers a week. I add in with my eggs or meats.
Cheeses: My cheeses vary from week to week. Feta one week, sharp cheddar or cream the next. They are all good and good for me.
Apples: I buy my apples from a local guy. They are good and I eat them in the morning before my paper route. Occasionally I put peanut butter on them.
Peanut Butter: I buy this at Cosco. It is a large bin of organic peanut butter. It is real peanut butter. The only ingredient is peanuts. It is not like shitty Jiff where peanut butter has 10 ingredients and is awful for you.
Salsa: I have eaten all of Chiyo's Amazing Salsa. I cry now because I ate it all. Instead I put basil on everything.
Red and Blue Potatoes: I eat these potatoes. About one a day. Good source of Vitamin B. I have blue potatoes now from a local guy. They are awesome. I either make twice baked, I bake them or I just fry them up all cut up. They are a good addition to any meal.
Veggies: Depending on the week, I will eat a ton of carrots or some other root veggie or throw in some sweet peppers. I also buy an organic veggie mix that I drink a serving a day. Tastes good and is loaded with everything.

This is basically what I eat every week, throughout the week. I have only eaten out once since Chris left and that was at an Indian place. I have stuck by my solid nutrition and it has definitely helped. I have maintained my weight and my recovery from training is superb, I also get about 6-8 hours of sleep a night. I try to take a nap before my second practice and that also helps with recovery. My nutrition was ruined as of late because my mom (Chiyo) sent me a load of cookies and my landlord provided me with Halloween candy. Although I will not go out of my way to buy these things, of course I devoured them all, haha. One day I believe I had 18 cookies. Quite impressive, I must say. Oh well, the faster I ate them the faster I could get back on track. Haha.

In regards to supplements. The only supplement I take is NO-Xplode. It is basically a legal stimulant to take prior to training. It gets you amped up big time to train but has no recovery agents so a good nutrition is very helpful. I only take NO about two times a week. One of the other shot putters works for a nutrition company and I had used some of his stuff a few times but my body could not keep it down. I would basically piss it right out my butt everytime I tried it. Also, Dr. B despised protein powders of any sort and claims Alexeev hated them as well. Why eat fake protein when you can buy real protein and your body uses it much more efficiently? Here is a link to Alexeev, the beast Russian Superheavyweight. http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/l_athleteResult.asp?a_id=5

I definitely feel that a solid nutrition is key to living a healthy and happy life and it is also key to supporting a healthy environment. Most of the locally grown food is grown with the environment in mind as well as the consumer. You may spend a bit more in price but it is well worth it because your body is healthier and so is the surrounding area. Sustainable agriculture is going to be a key part of saving the environment in the future and providing people with healthy alternatives. Eat grass fed beef or grass fed anything. It is the best way for your body. Look it up.

Here is an interesting nutrition link below based on obesity and the link to cancer (and shitty refined, processed foods). http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20071031/tuk-new-report-links-obesity-to-cancer-6323e80_1.html

Halloween

Halloween was a ridiculous night at the bar. I got to work around 9 and simply got things ready for the evening of drunken debauchery. I figured that the place would be ridiculous and would remind me of bars in State College on Halloween. And so the place was insane. People started really coming in around 9:30 and by 11 we had a massive line that had to wait becuase the inside was packed to the brim. Of course the costumes were hilarious and some of them were very original. One kid even dressed up as a Borg from Star Trek so that was my favorite outfit by far. Anyway, it started to get out of control.

They put me outside and I was standing there when I heard some loud yells and a thump against the door. I turned around and there were the bouncers with a kids foot posted against the door. I grabbed the kids foot and both his legs and drug him outside. When we laid him down he decided to try and kick me in the face. At that point I remembered what happened the last time I was kicked in the face and became furious. I put his legs in a leg lock while one of the bouncers dealt with his face. He kept trying to squirm and the cops were called. Here the kid had actually punched a female in the face. He seemed to be on some type of drug because he was whacked out and just acting and saying really weird shit. I have seen a lot of people on drugs but I was not sure what he was doing. Anyway, the cops came and arrested him.

I went inside and about an hour later I noticed two kids pushing each other. So, I went down and told them to stop and all was calm. About 10 minutes went by and this kid dressed like Rod Carew was getting mauled by another kid. I hit my button about 5 times to get other bouncers help and went in and started pulling kids off. I grabbed Rod Carew and was guiding him to the door and he was screaming, "I am sorry, I am sorry. I won't do anything." At that moment I turned my head and saw a kid come and lay a giant haymaker on this kids face. So another brawl broke out and I found Carew and drug him out. His face actually ate the punch pretty well, I was impressed. I got him outside and he ended up leaving and the other kid got arrested as well. After that fight, the place cleared out and things calmed down fairly quickly.

It was a fairly intense night and the next time I get swung at I will most likely start screaming that I kill rats with a pitchfork (if only you could see me yelling and killing the rats at my brother's farm) and just hauling off on people to protect my face. It is fun working down there and it is even more amusing to hear ridiculously drunk girls hit on you and try to say things to you.

Canadian Speak and Russian Training

Mr. B drastically changed my training this week. On Monday he felt that I was very flat and had adapted to the first 5 weeks of training. He decided to move me onto a more intense system. I am still throwing the 8k and the day break up is as follows. Morning session: I throw seven throws, do my full lift, throw seven throws, full lift and then seven throws and do one set of each lift. I take a break and recover and sleep and eat and come back and do the exact same thing in the afternoon. It is really really fun. So each week I do 50 sets of cleans, 50 sets of jump squats (the PSU strength guys would cringe) and then I take 220 throws a week. This number of throws is rather high and it really helps me get a solid feel in the circle. The thing that blows is that last week I tore up my left ab goofing around with another shot putter while we were trying to see who could throw an 4k shot the highest...I in fact won but hurt myself...so, all week I have been going full speed but at the front I am taking it very easy and not hitting it too hard. Hopefully on Monday I will be recovered from the injury. As Vernon and I always discussed...everyone gets hurt so you need to keep pushing it...when you are injured is when you need to take time off. I felt I am not seriously injured and can still train with the hurt ab.

Canadians speak very funny and they find my accent to be a bit amusing. Here is a simple example of what I am talking about....I say, "When I was in 8th grade, I went to KFC even if it was negative 5 outside." Canadians say, "When I was in grade 8, I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken (they did not have to change the name up here apparently) even when it was 5 under." The one other thrower laughed in my face when I kept referring to negative temperatures. It took him about 5 minutes to figure out what I was saying and then he told me about how no one ever speaks this way in Canada.

Throwing Videos

I know no one will really care about these videos. The first is a shot putting video that is set to the best ACDC song ever. The throws do not match up with their distances but they are still all bombs. Nelson's throw in the beginning is unreal. Around 2:28 you will see some sweet stretches in the background and a good shot of Wernor Gunthor's taint. He also hits a perfect position at the front with a bent left. Amazing. Nelson hits a sweet spot at the front of the circle as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5jpErXKvwg

The second video is of two throwers that my coach had coached for all of his years in the Soviet Union. These dudes were freaking freaks and monsters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEcY24YAWyk

Current Events and Carpet Bombing

This morning I spent a fairly long time coming to a conclusion in regards to politics. After learning of the victory of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as the new president of Argentina, I created a hypothesis that may be proven over the next decade or so. My assumption is this...the more attractive an individual is, the more democratic these individuals tend to be. Now, obviously this is extremely chauvinistic my idea has backing.

Kirchner's husband (and former president of Argentina) is an extremely strange looking man. She on the other hand is quite attractive, especially for someone her age. I am hoping that her attractiveness will eventually guide her to tremendous political and social success as a leader in Argentina.

I personally feel that the uglier the leader is, the more authoritarian they lead. This may be a result of never getting laid at a younger age, never having a partner at the middle school dance or taking an annoying person to the prom. Take for example, President Bush. He is a very dopey looking person. He has a strange face and most likely never got laid in college unless he took advantage of a drunk woman (presumably his future wife). This may have led him to dispose of numerous constitutional articles and demand tremendous executive powers. As an American president, he may be the second most authoritarian leader we have had. Vladimir Putin is another individual with a strange appearance. He is the "democratically elected" dictator of Russia and has commanded numerous attacks upon his people for control (in the media and military). This may stem from his unsociable childhood that guided him to join the KGB and spy on people who would not be his friend. (see photo of his weirdness and unattractive wife who wears way too much eye crap http://img.epochtimes.com/i6/607170617271509.jpg)
Next in line we have Margaret Thatcher whose ignorance coined the term T.I.N.A. Meaning, there is no alternative. Actually believing that there is no alternative in itself is pathetic and thinking that man has perfected his political and economic existence leaves us in a sad state for the future. (see image of MT http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/gallery/2005/03/23/MargaretThatcherhanibal.jpg)
Next we have Andrew Jackson. In my opinion, Jackson is ranked as the second ugliest president behind Martin Van Buren. Some find Jackson attractive, I find him as the pompous ass that I would love to beat the shit out of. His ugliness may have led him to treating the women in his life terribly and gaining him the ranking as America's worst president. I firmly believe this because he really was, King Jackson. He neglected to follow republican ideology and made his own decisions based off of his personal prejudices toward individuals. This prompted the slaughtering of thousands of American natives and the displacement of well over 45,000 natives from their own lands. His famous quote, "John Marshall made his decision, now let him enforce it," is quite possibly the most despicable and pathetic statement ever made by a president. I demand he be removed from the 20 dollar bill. I had added another local leader who was a principal at Schuylkill Valley Middle School, but I have decided to take this down from the blog. If anyone would like to inquire for this statement, I may email you the statement privately.

In conclusion, I hope this influences our future election. Clearly, Ron Paul should be chosen as he is a good looking guy for being in his 60's. We all know the appeal of individuals like Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. I mean let us be honest here. Giuliani has the most annoying lisp and his son is a fat brat who acted/acts like a giant loser (see Giuliani's mayoral inaugurations.) Also, how good of a leader can Giuliani be if he has been married 3 times? Rudy's problems may have led him to be a pathetic husband and also poor decision maker...(see article about Rudy hiring a child molester to be a part of his campaign.) Here is a nice link for the Rudy supporters, haha...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_Rudy_Giuliani

Anyway, these are my morning thoughts. The thoughts will close with another discovery I made around 4:30 this morning. I love carpet bombing my car with my ass and then getting out before I can smell my fart. I enjoy reentering my car about 10 minutes later, only to find that th entire car smells like rotten ecto cooler and Anton has nearly passed out from the stench.

Weather, Training and My Gorch

Yes, that is correct. My gorch...for those of you not in the know, that is Klingon for giant pimple. I have a massive zit on the back of my neck. It is quite possibly the largest zit I have ever had in my entire life. It is ridiculous. So large I may as well have a name for it. And it will not pop. This thing is embarrassing and it seriously hurts my neck.

My throwing went a lot better today than it had yesterday. Dr. B changed up my movement out of the back of the circle and the shot was flying much easier today. I have figured out that by the time I come home, I will have taken more throws in three months than I ever had previously in an entire year. Anyway, back to the gorch. So, I was done throwing and I see Mr. B walking around looking for something in the grass. He walks over and yells, "Dane, Dane, put on neck." Well, I had thought he wanted me to put these weeds on the spot where I have a callas from throwing. Instead, he pointed to my giant pimp and was like, "No, no, for red spot, for red spot...leave on for 5-6 hour." So, I went to my second practice and came home and got a shower. Here I am, writing this blog with a line of tape around my neck holding weed leaves to my neck. It is rather amusing.

Weather is getting colder up here. Every night is below freezing and when we are throwing it is definitely around 34-38 degrees. It really is not that bad as long as I have my fleece and spandex on. The wind is not bad where we throw either. Another week and fall should be over and the coldness will be barreling in. Hope all is well at home. Perhaps PSU will upset OSU tonight. To me, Ohio State is the Wilson of the Big Ten. They can blow me.

Mr. Moerder and Giant Trucks

Today while I was delivering the afternoon free paper, I noticed the large number of massive trucks bustling around the neighborhood in which I was delivering. It is a nice neighborhood and I continued to think about the trucks. I personally enjoy large, beastly trucks although I drive around in a little dodge neon. The trucks up here are quite impressive, most of them are diesel which save gas and I believe most of them are bought and used with good reason. Shitty weather, help on the work site, leaving out in the bush, etc...I guess the problem I do have is that many people in these suburban "American-like" neighborhoods are all scooting around in their GMC 2500 HD Diesel or their Dodge Rams with a Cummins diesel engine. They drive these massive trucks yet keep them spic and span, not allowing a drop of dirt to get on them. This really irritates me and this is when I noticed that a lot of these suburban areas around Kamloops are stricken with the same disease that we have in the US suburbs.

My friend Jules has a specific term for the disease but I cannot recall. Anyway, everyone has these perfectly manicured lawns. This is late October and in the morning I still come across homes running their watering system in the early hours. In my afternoon runs, I may see some homes with their local landscaper spreading oil based fertilizer throughout the lawn to spruce it up. I never understood these phenomena. I understand taking care of your truck, but why not use it for what it was built for? If you work on a big construction site or live on a farm, etc...then so be it, they are perfect for you...but a suburb. I don't know. I hope Aunt Bonnie does not get mad at me because I love her red Dodge Ram, I am not going to lie. The lawn thing bothers me more than anything. I understand the soil is weak up here, but maybe attempt to throw down a garden, I know my landlord was successful in this endeavor...it saved her money and it has a positive effect on the environment. Hell, put rocks instead of grass down or make it like Nevada...throw down some astroturf. I struggle to see how having these homes and perfectly kept yards can actually make someone truly happy. That is why I am writing this.

Now, Moerder popped into my head because he is the most awkward person I have ever seen driving a large truck. The bastard also worships science like it is a religion. I have my qualms with science but for the most part I enjoy the benefits of modern science. Nothing beats the ability to travel anywhere, learn about anything (thank you internet and wikipedia), be exposed to new ideas, meet people you may have never met in the old days and stay in touch with family and friends via email, telephone, computer. I especially love the telephone. I truly believe it is gradually bringing people closer together, including cell phones. My problem with the cell phone is that it does cost too much.

My biggest problem with science is that people put so much stock into what it can do for us in the future. Everyone is always saying, "Oh, science makes life so easy and things are going to be so easy in the future for us." Well, science I think screws us in that sense. We work long hours and we are no longer working apprenticeships in our homes, instead we sit in tight cubicles with cramped backs, bugged out eyes and a yearning for our children or wife or husband who may be at home. We go to the chiropractor or doctor and then if we are feeling down about something we fix it with zoloft or some other pill. These are the types of things that bother me. Pasteurizing milk, brainwashing people to think certain things and abusing the power of controlling new technology is destroying science. So, in regards to Moerder (and I believe he knows this), I do respect science but I do not respect those in power who abuse it or those who are not in power and succumb to the temptations of the quick "fix" that science may provide. I guess I just need to continue to wait for 2063 when we achieve warp speed and the science based utopia is achieved and we can continue on our amazing star trek.

I know these posts and concepts may offend people, I am sorry but this is how I feel. We can discuss them in a reasonable fashion at some point.

Canadians and Mr. B

Canadians, at least those specific to British Columbia are the worst drivers of all time. They drive very slow and they are very hesitant. I am a fairly patient driver, yet I feel like I am a Jersey driver compared to these bastards. They are pathetic. I doubt there has ever been a Canadian Formula One driver that was actually successful.

Canadians also seem to know everything that Canada has or is about...very similar to me and how I brag about stuff from Reading and Pennsylvania. A few specific ones that I know seem to believe that most of their cars come from Canada, made across the river from Detroit in Ontario. These specific Canadians also feel that most of the American oil is from Canada (which it may be) and this infuriates them because Canada gas prices are higher than Americans prices. They also know the exact amount of money that California owes British Columbia.

Canadians also put their curling results on the front page of the sports section...similar to the way Reading puts their MIBS tourney on the cover of the sports section and also includes duplicate bridge suggestions/results in the back.

I cannot really think of any other Canadian stories right now so here is a quick Mr. B (Bondarchuk) story. You may not enjoy this as much as I do.

So, last year Dylan and Mr. B were at World's and they were sitting on the Team Canada bus. Dylan noticed Robert Weir (a massive black man from the UK) walking toward the Canada bus because he saw Mr. B in the front seat and wanted to say hello. Robert Weir came on the bus and said, "Hey Mr. B, I am Robert Weir I am not sure if you remember me. It is great to see you."
Mr. B's response in his thick Russian accent was, "Yes, Yes, I remember...I remember...black face, I remember. Yes, I REMEMBER, black face. Black face. I remember black face." And Robert Weir gave an awkward look and left.

Dylan claims that he laid behind the seat laughing hysterically and Mr. B just looked at him perplexed, not knowing what Dylan was laughing about.

In other news, Vladimir Putin is doing a tremendous job of continuing to cement his stronghold of the new dictatorship in Russia. He is also doing well at slaughtering the Chechnyans and not allowing them to become a sovereign nation.

Gary Kasparov is doing a splendid job at making a fool out of himself...running for the Russian presidency and in the meantime making terrible jokes about Putin.

Mr. B also describes grown men as boys. I asked him...Do you know or like Alexander Karelin? (He was the big greco-roman wrestler that lost to Rulon Gardner.) His response, "Yes, Yes. I know who he is. Big Boy. Polar bear boy. Big muscles. Big boy, big boy. Good genetics and muscles. Very smart genius."

Training is going well. I will try and come up with a more exciting blog later.

From the Window, to the Wall

Alright, the past two and half days have probably been my most mentally challenging days in an extremely long time. Thursday evening, my heart was racing after an intense post on sabermetrics. I could not sleep, instead I dreamed of spouting out useless baseball stats to help my opinionated arguments on who was the best player at each position. So, I had a terrible nights rest on Thursday night, going into Friday.

Friday morning, I woke up...nice and groggy but I still moved out of bed to deliver the paper for a few hours. I came back and attempted to salvage some rest prior to my Friday throwing session. I actually threw fairly well. After my morning session Dylan and Jesse convinced me to come with them to Starbuck's. I am not huge fan of coffee, I like the taste and bitterness I just really do not like spending money. They got me to come once Dylan said, "Why not? Do you have to go home and take your dog out and cuddle up with him?" So, that was the kicker. Long story short, I did not get to nap Friday because I came back late and then could not sleep since I drank coffee. Then after my second session I received a call from the head bouncer at the bar and he asked if I could come work. So, I did.

This bar is crazy. The place gets nuts and there are literally thousands that come in and out each evening. Probably about 1,000 - 1,500 people. It is fun to work the door because I get to talk with everyone but it is not fun to stand outside with one layer of socks on when it is 0 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, it was a good night and some retardedly drunk guy tried to get back in after we closed at about 2:01 and he was like, "No, I can come back in." My response was, no you can't dude. Then he proceeded to slip me 40 bucks and I obviously let him back in, haha. The best part was that he left within about 2 minutes of going back in. I also found a girls purse for her and she was so grateful that I found it for her that she asked if she could give me a blow job...so I dropped my trousers and she went to town, haha just kidding. She did ask if she could give me a BJ but I told her this was not going to happen. Jesse found this amusing and kept telling everyone how I got 40 bucks and a BJ.

I was done work at 2:45 Am and then headed to deliver papers from 3-5:30 AM. This was miserable since I was tired from not napping and getting shitty sleep. I got home and slept for 2 and a half hours and then got up for my throwing session. I threw alright but was dead tired. The thing that sucked was after throwing, Jesse and I had to help Dylan and his girlfriend move giant copying machines out of her business. This took about an hour and a half and then I got free food, so I ate for about 30 minutes. I got home later than expected and only caught an hours rest prior to my second session. Between me falling asleep and waking up, I turned off my alarm and slept straight through my second session until 6 in the evening. I caught up on some sleep but I missed a little training. I viewed it as a trade off but I am still sort of pissed that I missed the afternoon.

Saturday night was fun. They paid me 15 bucks an hour to watch the UFC 77 and see Anderson Silva absolutely annihilate Rich Franklin for the second time. It makes me wonder what the hell Franklin is going to do with his career. He is a great fighter but not as dynamic as The Spider Silva. I also got pissed watching Tim Sylvia beat Brandon Vera and thought about how I wished Carmelo went back to HWT and fought there. Sylvia called Cheik Kongo, who Carmelo beat, and now Kongo is regarded as a top 5 HWT in the division. The UFC also signed Brock Lesnar, the juice monkey.

The west coast makes money off of having everything run on EST. The fights were over early and it enabled the bar to turn into the club it is at night. So, they made tons of money off of the fight and also off of the club at night. Their fight setup was awesome, too.

Last night I was the guy who checked people for weapons, alcohol and drugs so that was enjoyable. A lot of people try and sneak in the sample shots of alcohol, so I confiscated a few of those. Weed is legal to possess up here but the bar does not want people smoking it in the smoking room. This is funny because everyone tells you this and their way of saying it is this..."It is not that we don't mind smoking weed, I mean obviously it is a lot safer than alcohol, just look how belligerent people get here. But, the Big Bossman does not want this place to become a drug haven so he tries to keep it all clean and proper." I tend to agree that weed is a lot easier on the body and a lot safer for public than booze are especially, after working in "the business."

All and all it was a safe night but I was dead tired from my lack of sleep. I got home around 2:45 and headed straight to bed and did not wake up until about 11. My body recovers quite well, now that I am not drinking as much as I did when I was in college. I have not drank at all since Chris left, which is nice on the pocket as well.

I also love working at the bar and hearing all of the god awful pop-rap songs that I have not heard since my last bar stint. Anyway, I hope this week everything goes well and my body really starts ripping into the training. I may start getting Vitamin B compound shots twice a month. These are supposed to be great for training and used widely in the eastern European nations for recovery.

Also, check out Stamm's blog. I was worried he had flown home but I he is still thumbing back to the east. I hope he is having fun and I am sure he has ridiculous stories for us all. This will be fun to hear since Chris is one of the best story tellers I know. cstamm.blogspot.com

Star Trek and Sabermetrics (I will leave Master Yoder for Another Time)

To begin, I would like to inform all of you that this post will be rather long but nevertheless a very interesting blog. For those of you not in the know, next Christmas (December 25, 2008) will be the greatest Christmas in recent memory. The prequel to Star Trek, Star Trek XI will be coming out and inspiring us all to live a greater life of peace and happiness. It will also inspire us to be manly individuals and attract beautiful women, like the young James T. Kirk does throughout his years at the Academy. It will also inspire to acquire tremendous philosophical understanding and to stop fighting stupid wars, instead we will stand for the greater good of society...much like the elder Spock who was influenced by the great Vulcan philosopher Surak (see beautiful photo above). Yes, it will be a great day.

Now, onto Sabermetrics. I am sure some of you are thinking this is some stupid idea to make gambling on baseball an easier activity, in reality sabermetrics is a tool to be used when arguing with the uninformed because it is a system that has been used to create amazing analysis to actually prove things like..."Who was faster, Joe DiMaggio or Willie Mays (Hayes)?"
This can be done by taking a look at numerous different statistics that value speed on the bases and in the field. Stats such as, who hit more triples, how many bases each man stole and how many times each player was caught in the act (of stealing). The conclusion and argument could subsequently be settled by viewing these objective facts.

Sabermetrics also laughs at ridiculous popular statistics such as batting average and the wins and losses of a pitcher. The batting average really does not determine how often an individual is on base or how many runs they may produce throughout a year. Runs are what really matter, therefore players are rated higher and valued much more if they have a better on base percentage. Same with the wins and losses for a pitcher. Wins do not show how well a pitcher has actually pitched. In countless situations, pitchers win when they pitched poorly or they have lost when they pitched well, making the stat worthless and outdated. Sabermetrics is an excellent way to value players and to figure out who actually is worth more than they are getting paid. Basically, it makes players like Andruw Jones look like giant wastes of money, which he is, and hard working players like Jimmy Rollins look like a very positive financial investment, which he is.

Now, I will go over a few simple sabermetric terms. Remember, this is the first lesson so covering three terms shall be enough for a brief introduction to the study of baseball and statistics. The first three statistics I will be covering are OPS (on base plus slugging), WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and VORP (value over replacement player). I have chosen these because one deals with hitting, one with pitching and one because Moerder never shuts his trap about VORP and spouts off VORP totals like he is Mother Theresa hating on Christopher Hitchens.

On Base Plus Slugging:
This is a calculation of a players on base percentage plus slugging percentage. In essence, it is a calculation that puts a value on the players ability to get on base (this is important if you want to score runs) and his ability to hit for power, another important aspect to run production (see Barry Bonds in his big years...walks plus doubles plus homers = high total). The basic formula is OPS = OBP + SLG
This particular calculation takes hits, hit by pitch, walks, at bats, sac flies and total bases into consideration. However, one complaint behind this measurement is that the calculation does equally weigh OBP and SLG. The problem being that on base percentage translates into greater run production than slugging percentage. Here is a list of the greatest career OPS leaders, perhaps creating an argument for who is the most productive hitter. (I still like Bonds as the best ever, but perhaps I am finally wrong, haha.)

1. Babe Ruth, 207
2. Ted Williams, 190
3. Barry Bonds, 182
4. Lou Gehrig, 179
5. Rogers Hornsby, 175
6. Mickey Mantle, 172
7. Albert Pujols, 171
8. Dan Brouthers, 170
9. Joe Jackson, 170
10. Ty Cobb, 167

Next, we will be covering WHIP. This is a fairly simple statistic to understand. WHIP is used to determine how many runners a pitcher is responsible for per inning pitched. It is one of the many sabermetric measurements used to evaluate the effectiveness of a pitcher. It measures the ability for a pitcher to keep batters off of base, the most important aspect to preventing run production of the opposition.
WHIP = walks + hits/innings pitched
For those of you like Adam Moerder, WHIP is a tool that is very effective in the management of a fantasy baseball team.

Finally, one of the more intriguing sabermetrics stats is VORP (value over replacement player). It is a tool that demonstrates how effective a hitter is or how effective a pitcher is, compared with a fake replacement player that is average at their respective position. The replacement player performs at "replacement level," which is the level of performance an average team can expect when trying to replace a player at minimal cost, also known as "freely available talent." (thank you wikipedia)
VORP can be used when comparing players from different eras because it shows the value of a player in comparison to the league average of that specific year.

VORP in regards to hitting:
Because runs and outs are the ultimate way to understand the value of a hitter, it is simple to figure out, just take the number of at-bats an individual has, subtract their total hits and then add any miscellaneous outs (caught stealing) and one can figure out how often a batter created an out on his voyage to producing runs. Loaded with runs and outs, the final VORP can be figured out for a particular individual.

VORP in regards to hitting:
VORP for pitchers is a measurement of the number of runs he has prevented from scoring that a replacement-level pitcher would have allowed. A scholarly text describes the pitchers VORP very well...The concept is essentially the same as it was for hitters: using the player's playing time (in a pitcher's case, his innings pitched), determine how many runs a theoretical "replacement" would have given up in that playing time (at the most basic level, the replacement level is equal to 1 plus the league's average runs per game), and subtract from that number the amount actually allowed by the pitcher to arrive at VORP.

Next lesson, we will go into Run Average which will gradually replace the ERA. Win Shares, which goes over the value of a player in a given year compared with the rest of the league and finally and defense independent pitching statistics, this goes over how effective a pitcher is by themselves without the fielder coming into the equation.

I am sorry I did not elaborate as much as I could. I expect my editors to post notes on ways to better understand certain concepts. Also, I could not continue the lesson because I need to take a nap before I bounce tonight.

First Run in with the PoPo, Co-Op

My newspaper route has been going fairly well. This past Monday I ended up throwing fairly decent at practice because I figured out a solid routine of waking up and going to work and then coming home and napping but making sure I get up at least an hour and fifteen minutes prior to my throwing session in the morning. That has enabled me to feel fresh mentally but also to wake my nervous system and muscle system up, before I throw.

Tuesday ended up being a very weird day. It started off when I went to the pickup box for the paper and found that my one route was not in the box. Confused, I continued to deliver and as I was delivering I noticed a car driving at me with their headlights off. At the last second I noticed it was a police officer. He seemed dumbfounded that I was out at 415 in the morning, sitting in the middle of the road idling as I prepared to drop off some papers. The conversation was something like this:
Police officer: "What are you doing sir?" (my translation..."What er you gettin at buddy?")
Me (with a giant pile of newspapers next to me): "Delivering the newspaper."
Police officer: "Ok, on with your day."
So, on with my route I went. Then I see him pull up behind me and he rolled down his window and asked me a question, like so:
Officer: "Do you have your license on you?"
Me: "No, I usually do not carry my wallet in the morning." (Vernon knows this all too well.)
Officer: "Why do you have Pennsylvania plates?"
Me: "Ahhh, because I am from PA."
Radio Dispatcher: "The plate is from REEDING, Pennsylvania in Berks County."
My thoughts: "It is Reading (Redding) you bastage."
Officer: "Ok, go ahead." (my translation: "Go ahead (while Andy Smith throws the hook."

I guess I found this strange because Chris and I both noted that there is no patrolling up here for the police. I spoke with a guy at work and he said they only patrol from midnight to about 3 looking for drunk drivers. I suppose someone may have called because I was a bit suspicious, I do not know.

I find some joy knowing that they do not patrol nearly as much here as they do in the states and subsequently they have much less crime and much less people in jail. They also save money and gas and it is probably beneficial for a community to not see Officer Reichlein sitting at the Turkey Hill (the Husky in Kamloops) every 2 hours.

My strange day continued as I eventually found my other route in the wrong drop box. So, as the diligent worker I am, haha...I took it out and delivered it. Only to find out that I am a temporary carrier and a permanent carrier took my one route. Once I found this out, I immediately became a permanent carrier and subsequently make a bit more money. The weirdness moved to the track. I threw very mediocre but felt ok. I could not figure why I was not throwing far. We went into the weight room after throwing and I nearly passed out about 4 times. I suppose my blood pressure was too high or something, I do not know. Following my daze, I had a very odd feeling in my head for the rest of the day. Unlike Benjamin Heins, I do not receive throbbing headaches, however this was throbbing. I honestly have not had a headache since I went head-on to Eric Fehnel in the first week of hitting in high school football. I feel that his hit on me cured my brain of any headaches, haha. Then I almost got hit driving to my second practice.

I have recovered and threw fairly well today and it feels good to have a day off from training tomorrow. Sabermetrics tomorrow.

I forgot, I have joined a farmers co-op up here. It is pretty cool. Everything is all locally grown and most of it is organic with the meats being grass fed. This is nice because I do not have to worry about taking as much fish oil as the grass fed beef and lamb has an abundance of the omega fatty acids. The price was right, too. I paid a bit more than the premium but all I had to do was drive to the pickup location and all of my order was ready for me. The people were very nice and it is a cool idea to support the local farmers. They also have good cheese, not as good as Anna's (Brooks' wife) feta, though. Go ahead.

First Week in my Apartment, Second Week of Training

For those of you who were exposed to the raunchiness that was my apartment in State College, you all would be quite impressed by the place I have landed here in Kamloops. It is in the basement of a house, the house is owned by an 49 year old woman whose husband had passed away. I enter through a back entrance and can go down the steps. I have a decent sized living space, with a room that is very nicely sized. There is another bedroom that is currently being turned into a kitchen and a bathroom that is temporarily being used as my kitchen. I subsequently use the bathroom upstairs until all renovations are finished. It is a very nice setup and it is cheap in comparison to the other places around town. I am about a 10-12 minute drive from my training center but only about 5 minutes from the start of my job (paper route). It is also nice because the woman is a dog groomer and she offered to groom and bathe Anton for free and she enjoys having him stay in the household. She also offers me food at times which is always a plus and gives me leftovers that she cannot finish (because I am fat). So, all in all it is very nice.

Kamloops is expensive as hell, as is most of Canada and it does not help that the Canadian dollar is shitting on the American dollar and will most likely continue to do so for the next 2-3 years, as predicted by "those people." I say it is because Bernard Bernanke is the devil and really should be thrown in jail for cutting recent rates at the Federal Reserve and artificially making things seem okay. In my opinion, the US needs to go back to the Gold Standard. Another amusing thing, is that many people like to point out that Americans have everything but own nothing...this is why I despise credit. Anyway, I adjusted well the first week of living here and have since found it to be very comfortable. It is also nice since I have a queen sized bed that is brand new, to sleep on. I should have my own internet and phone up and running within a week of today.

The hardest part to adjusting was getting used to waking up at 4 AM for my paper route. I find this somewhat amusing because I live 3 hours behind the home time zone, yet probably wake up before many of my friends, especially those still in school. The route is actually fairly fun once I get going and it is also nice because I can take Anton on the road with me. They pay 12 bucks an hour which helps a lot with bills and should be my main job for the next 9 months. My other job is being a bouncer. I make 15 dollars an hour bouncing and work only about 2 days a week for 4 hours but it is all cash and a very exciting job. The place I work at is quite interesting. By day it is a sports bar and by night it becomes a giant club. It gets pretty crazy and the age group ranges from 19-early 40's. The place gets really packed but things are fairly under control. I must admit that it is weird seeing 19 year olds out on the town and drinking legally...it is weird but I believe that the US should grow up and put the drinking age down to 19 or 18...let's be honest here, if you want to drink, you will get the alcohol...and you can vote for the president but not drink? Shows how important the presidential vote has become these days.

My second week of training was better. I had a number of throws with the 18 over a decent mark and I have gradually adjusted to the new technique. After a few days where I was dragging ass from delivering papers, I realized it was because I came back from work and slept for too long of a period. Now, I deliver and come home for a 25 minute nap and then get up with about an hour and fifteen minutes before practice time. Then, I feel very good and ready to throw well. Bondarchuk is a very good coach and it is extremely fun to throw 5 days a week, especially with my training partner Jesse and a thrower that is as good as Dylan is. It is very helpful. I really forgot how fun it is to throw as much as we do (5 days a week, 25 throw fulls a day), I feel like I am in high school again. I really feel that this year is just an extended year of education for my future job. It is really awesome to look back at all of my coaches and take all of the stuff they spoke about and piece them together, either my throws coaches (Miss C, Mark Gottdenker, Dayna Wenger, Anatoly Bondarchuk) or my strength coaches (THE Phil Yoder, Mark, Tom Bender, Dayna and now Bondarchuk). I feel like I am molding a nice philosophy together and look forward to putting things all together for the future.

Now I am fairly caught up on my blog and will start to remark with much shorter length articles. I have decided that my next blog will deal with Sabermetrics...I will introduce everyone to a revolutionary way to view baseball. I am sure Moerder will cream his pants, too. Also, Braylon Edwards sucks.