Johnaberdeen's Blog

Something people don't know about me is that I am a big baseball fan.  I've been watching baseball with my father since I've been a young boy.  I grew up playing tee-ball and little league.  I even played the game in high school and a little bit in college.  I love everything about the game of baseball from the history of the game to the way it is played.

A team I have particularly loved is the Atlanta Braves.  If you look in my closet right now, you'll find a Bobby Cox authentic jersey, a Deion Sanders 1995 World Series jersey, countless Braves game hats and even some Braves under armour.  I remember watching the Braves go from worst to first in the early 1990s.  I've seen Chipper Jones grow into one of baseball's best players, Terry Pendleton being the most unlikely MVP winner and perhaps the greatest pitching rotation ever assembled.

The Braves have had countless good starting pitchers:  Steve Avery, Denny Neagle, Kent Mercker, Russ Ortiz and Tim Hudson to name a few.  However, the great Braves teams of the 1990s were always anchored by Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux.  These three workhorses are the owners of 6 Cy Young awards and 1 World Championship.

The reason why I bring these three great pitchers up is that it is very likely that this will be the final season for at least 2 of them.  Tom Glavine signed a 1 year deal with the Braves, which pretty much means he's hanging up his spikes after this year is done.  John Smoltz is having injury problems and it looking more likely to call it a career.  Greg Maddux may be the only pitcher to play next year.

I've been having arguments with some of my baseball friends that there is a member or members of this trio who aren't first ballot hall of famers.  This comment personally insults me, as I believe Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Curt Shilling and Roger Clemens are the best pitchers of the 1990s and 2000s.  It would be a travesty if these three weren't first ballot hall of famers.

I've written a couple posts about MMA, so most people know I'm a fan.  I like everything about MMA:  the athleticism, the personalities, the drama.  The web has been a great tool for the growth of MMA, getting to read in depth about your favorite fighter or organization.  That is how I learned about  Evan Tanner.  I saw Evan Tanner fight for the UFC when I was younger...he was actually one of my first memories of MMA.  I watched him destroy every guy they put ahead of him and thought to myself "this guy is an animal".  This was before post fight Joe Rogan interviews though, so you never really got much of a taste of his personality. 

I found Evan online years later through his site evantanner.net  and I was riveted to read about his life journey.  He was much more than a guy in martial arts gear.  He had the most riveting blog/journal I've ever read.  He told of his journeys across the country working dozens of jobs.  Evan Tanner truly lives life to the limits.

He also battled with demons, like anyone else.  He is the first guy to admit that he had a lot of financial and alcohol related problems that he had to overcome.  When he had a chance to make a triumphant return to the UFC, the MMA promotion that gave him a living, he turned his life around and began to train full time giving up alcohol and partying.

His first two fights back to the UFC didn't turn out the way any Evan Tanner fans would like.  He was beaten by Yushin Okami and Kendall Grove...two very tough Middleweights.  Many MMA people said that the match between Grove and Tanner was a "loser leaves UFC" fight.  I don't know if thats true or not, but I would really like to see Evan competing full time whether it is in the octagon or somewhere else.  He is such an interesting character who gives back to his fans...a guy who people can really connect with. 

You know how that saying ends!  Anyway, my friend Rob is moving into my little community from a different town and I couldn't be more excited.  Bad part is he wants me to help him move.  Now, Rob is the kind of guy who enjoys the finer things in life.  He's maintained a good, high paying job for a number of years and is a single guy with no real expenses.  Obviously, he's going to have some cash to throw around.  So I go over to his house at about 6 am this morning to give him a hand with some of the big stuff.  We got a U Haul and carried a ton of furniture out of his old house...we're talking tables, chairs, couches, TV stands, dressers, you name it.  After about 2 hours, we got everything in the truck so we were happy.  The trip wasn't very far, so we had a good amount of time to start moving stuff in.

A cleaning service came in to his new house and dusted, cleaned and treated everything.  They did an extremely good job, they took care of the cleaning services at my office.  We moved in the big stuff first, which oddly enough wasn't as difficult as taking it out of the old house.  We just got done moving the last of the big furniture, so I decided to take a break and hop on my laptop (hence me writing this post).

I have an exciting afternoon coming up.  Wish me luck! 

If you guys have ever heard the song "My Town" by Montgomery Gentry, it pretty much sums up how I feel about the places I have lived.  I've lived in two towns my entire life and remain very loyal to both of them.  Neither of them are perfect, but they're mine and I'll defend them.  I'm really enjoying life in my Virginia gated community ...has everything I'm looking for in a town.  Small, peaceful, cozy, comfortable, yet exciting, fun, captivating and memorable.  I can't say that I've ever been happier than I am right now, life is really good.  I hope that everything is going well for everyone who reads this as well.  If everything is going poorly, then hop in your car and come down here to Smith Mountain Lake Virginia.  It is a great place to get away.

 

I went with a friend of mine to get his first tattoo.  He's a military man, so I was surprised that he waited this long to be honest with you.  He's still a relatively young guy, early 30s, and he was pretty excited about it.  He showed me the design our buddy drew up for him and boy was it sharp.  It was a picture of an eagle with an American flag behind it and a real cool looking banner with his battalion and platoon on it.

I was interested in going because I've always been interested in getting some tattoo work done and I wanted to see the whole process.  We got there at about 5:30pm and waited for about 15 minutes for Bill to give the receptionist his information.  The tattoo artist came out to greet us...he was a really big guy with a whole bunch of tattoos.  Really nice guy, very helpful.

So he took us both back to his "office" and sat Bill down and I pulled up a stool out of the way.  He put the alcohol on his arm and shaved off any hair on the area he was going to ink.  Then he went to work.  Watching the whole thing develop was quite awe inspiring...it isn't easy what those tattoo artists do.

After about an hour and a half, Bill's arm piece was all finished and looked fantastic.  He looked in the mirror and the look on his face was priceless.  After he got a good look at it, the tattoo artist put some wound care dressing over the tattoo and gave him instructions.  After seeing how professional they were, I definitely think I'm going to pay them a visit when I'm ready for my shamrock tattoo.

I suppose only hardcore MMA fans are going to understand this blog, but I'm going to write it anyway.  I'll give you some background information.  Affliction, a popular martial arts equipment company, is starting it's own MMA promotion.  The difference between Affliction and other start ups like Adrenaline, IFL and Bodog Fight is that they are willing to invest money for premium talent.

Affliction has recently announced the financial backing of billionare, Donald Trump.  This announcement comes on the heels of the completion of one heck of a card.  Many insiders at Affliction say that this is the best card in the history of MMA.  I wouldn't go that far, but it is definitely one of the best in recent memory.  Affliction certainly has the Heavyweight division cornered though, having undoubtedly the best big men in MMA today. 

Their inaugural card consists of former Pride FC Heavyweight champion and #1 Heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko along with former UFC Heavyweight champions Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia.  These 4 men all hold a spot in the top 10 in the world.  Other >205 pounders such as Ben Rothwell, Aleksander Emelianenko, Pedro Rizzo and Paul Buentello are all well known and highly respected mixed martial artists.

In addition to their Heavyweight cast, Affliction represents the other weight classes well.  Names like Vitor Belfort, Matt Lindland, Babalu Sobral, Monotoro Nogueira, Terry Martin and Savant Young are all names MMA fans should know.

I'm very much looking forward to this card, and hope they give the UFC a run for their money. 

I don't know about you guys, but we had to deal with a pretty fierce thunderstorm on Tuesday.  It's been a long time since I've seen wind that strong and rain fall sideways...it was pretty interesting.  I had about a dozen good sized branches fall out of the tree in my backyard, and unfortunately a section of my fence got damaged heavily.  Thank god nothing happened to the house or the car, or I'd be very upset. 

Not only was the fence and yard a mess, but the power was out all night Tuesday and most of the day Wednesday.  I was watching a movie on TV too when the power went out, so I wasn't a happy camper.  I went down to the basement and got some candles and my SureFire Tactical Lights flashlight and walked around the house.  I did all the standard storm checkpoints:  put all the windows up, get everything in from off the porch, make sure the windows in my car were up.

I found out that what caused the power outage was that a tree fell into some power lines.  Thankfully, everything is back to normal now.  Kind of shows you how powerful these thunderstorms can be....take my fence as an example! 

I'm a music guy and I think the MP3 player was the best thing ever invented. I remember back in the day listening to cassette tapes on my little tape player. Then the CD came along and blew me away with it's ability to "skip" tracks instead of fast forwarding and trying to find the right spot. After the years with my walkman, I heard about Napster through a friend of mine.

Napster, for those who don't know, was one of the first MP3 downloading programs available. I remember downloading a few songs off of Napster in the late 90s and listening to them on my computer. I was stunned at their quality and have been hooked on these "MP3 files" ever since. I remember getting an MP3 player before the iPod came out and it only fit 10-15 songs on it. It was great to be able to make mixes and not have to carry around CDs. After I got sick of only being able to listen to 10 songs, I decided to upgrade to an iPod.

I got an iPod and the necessary mp3 player accessories because I heard it was the best.  Apple makes a fine MP3 player in the iPod.  iTunes was tough to get acclimated to, but I got used to it and it became very useful.  The only bad part of iPods are that they don't have too long of a life.  So that brings me to where I am right now...getting a new iPod.

I am going to look this weekend for a new iPod.  Yes, I'm going to go with the iPod again.  They just have so many useful, cheap mp3 player accessories and some more expensive ones.  I'll probably get an iPod touch with some kind of attachment to play in the car.  So that's where I'm at...let me know if you guys have any suggestions.

 

After a pretty fun filled weekend, I decided to spend my Sunday getting some things done around the house.  Since things were kind of a mess from a busy week and it was beautiful outside, there was no reason not to put the sunblock on, grab a beer and do some work.

First I cleaned the house up a bit.  The usual dusting, vacuuming, organizing.  I'm a pretty big neat freak, not OCD or anything but it makes me happy when my house looks as good as it can.  Then it was onto the outside.  I got the lawnmower and weedwacker out of the garage and went to work on my good sized lawn.  Moving and edging it really inspired me to get that landscaping done as soon as possible.  I'd like to put a little pond with some rocks and mulch around it among some other things.

Unfortunately, my useful Sunday didn't go 100% my way.  Being the idiot that I am, I did all my yard work in old flip flops.  After I finished mowing the lawn I started walking towards the house and stepped on a rusty nail.  The nail went right through the thin sandal and hurt like an SOB.  I hopped in my house and went right for the wound care products .  I cleaned out the wound and put a band aid and some gauze on it.  I don't think I need a Tetanus shot because I've had one within the last year.

Even with the last incident, I still say it was a real solid Sunday.  I got to brush up on my wound care skills and got the house ready for the upcoming week. 

I hope everyone had the same weather I had on Saturday. Hot, sunny, clear, dry....pretty much picture perfect. I decided to have an impromptu cookout at my place. I invited some friends and co-workers. All in all there were about 15 of us, pretty mixed group consisting of guys I work with, friends of mine and other acquaintances I've met through various social avenues.

They came over around 2 p.m. and we played some horseshoes. I just put a put in my backyard and figured we'd give it a test drive. We were having a lot of fun....a few beers, some horseshoes, a cigar. I can't complain about that, and it looked like nobody else could either.

After a game or two in the horseshoe pit, I decided to get moving on the grill. Put some fish, hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks on my big ol' grill. A few of my guests had a good laugh at my use of cutlery. I use Ka-Bar knives to cut meat stemming from a long standing tradition I have with some friends back home. Myself and a few good friends that I used to hunt with all bought Ka-Bar knives and got our initials engraved on the handle. They are now mostly in the military or law enforcement, but I try to use the knife as much as possible to bring back good memories.

The meat cooked well, the guests stayed fed and we ate, drank and played horseshoes throughout the afternoon. We ended the night with some poker and good conversation. I was really happy with the way the party went. Everyone got along famously and everyone is already looking forward to the next cookout.

So I was watching TV the other night, and something caught my eye.  There is a show on MTV called "My Super Sweet 16" which pretty much chronicles different rich brats' 16th birthdays.  They are your standard million dollar house, maid service , diamond cell phone people.  Not only are these girls snotty and mean, but they are obviously spoiled rotten.  All the girls on this show pretty much have a 200 person party and receive a Mercedes or BMW as a birthday present.

Now I don't have anything against people with money, I think it's fantastic that they don't have to worry about money for the rest of their life.  I just wish they'd handle it a little bit better and maybe use their money to help others rather than waste it.  I also think it's beneficial for kids growing up to know how to do things like cook, clean, change a tire on a car etc.  I'm aware that people are paying others to do these things, but it's good to have these skills.  You never know what is going to happen!

After a pretty hectic week, I'm looking forward to getting out on the lake for some quality alone time. Nothing beats a boat, fishing pole, some beer and the peace and quiet of smith mountain lake . I grew up fishing with my dad and brother, and have loved it from an early age. I have many good experiences out in the middle of the lake doing some "male bonding" with the men in my family. If you've never gone fishing, this summer is as good of a time as any. You don't even need a boat.  Just ask someone you don't get to spend a lot of time with and go enjoy the weather and conversation!

After posting about this weekend of MMA, I was inspired to go to my old kickboxing instructor and get on the mat again.  Everything is MMA in my area these days as far as classes go, so I figured I'd see what I could do against some of the younger guys.  It sure was an interesting experience.

The first thing I realized is that my hands were better than most of the kids there.  Years of karate, kickboxing and boxing have made my striking pretty quick and powerful.  Unfortunately, age takes some power and quickness off, but I was still ahead of the curve.  Many of the students there were grapplers and judokas, so I was looking forward to the challenge.

I first rolled with a guy named Sean.  He was about 22 and in great shape.  He muscled me around first off, but then I evened out and we have some pretty good minutes.  I even caught him in a triangle choke...I was proud of my flexibility.

After rolling with Sean, I decided to do some sparring with another guy named Alan.  Alan was a decent striker, pretty unorthodox so I had some problems with him.  I did fairly well against him, got a little tired at the end tough.  He tagged me with a good shot on the cheek that slipped through the headgear giving me a little gash.  No biggie though, I've been cut before.

So I went home tired but proud of myself.  I'll take my ice pack and wound care products and hopefully get ready to go back for more! 

I'm a big MMA fan.  Growing up taking different martial arts classes, I can appreciate the technique and skill of this physical chess match.  I watch as much as I can..UFC, WEC, Elite XC, IFL, Strike Force and whatever else I can find on the internet.  If you are an MMA fan, or if you are just a sports fan in general, you heard about the big Kimbo Slice James Thompson fight on CBS. 

I was really pulling for EXC here because I feel that the more exposure MMA gets as a whole, the better it is for everyone.  Unfortunately, this show didn't deliver.  It definitely seemed more show and no fighting.  There were inconsistencies, travesties and wrong doings that left fans either mad, disappointed or scratching their head. 

The Robbie Lawler Scott Smith fight was terrific...two top level talents.  Apparently, neither fighter wanted the fight stopped but the doctors and ref stopped it anyway.  The Carano vs. Young match was especially upsetting.  It was very obvious that CBS didn't want the nation to see a woman's face bloodied up.  Katilin Young is a professional, I'm sure she's been busted up before.  Phil Baroni once again couldn't back his tough guy persona up and got killed by a very game Villasenor.

Then came Kimbo vs. Colossus.  Yikes.  How can you not stop that fight when Kimbo is eating unanswered blow after blow.  And one of the judges gave Kimbo the 2nd round!!!!  The whole fight was a sham, and I hope Elite XC learns from this.  If they don't, they're not going to survive.

Now that all of my complaining is out, the WEC card on Sunday was really, really solid.  Impressive fights from Faber, Pulver, Torres, Munoz, Maeda and Cerrone.  This show put the EXC show to shame.  I'd rather see these bantamweights and featherweights in the WEC go to war than Kimbo and Colossus dance around wearing martial arts equipment .

I live in a small Virginia gated community and I wouldn't change it for the world.  There are many reasons why I moved from a busy town in northern Pennsylvania down here, and I will share them with you in case any of you are thinking about joining a gated community.

First off, there is a lot less crime.  This is the obvious choice for living in a gated area, but the difference really is dramatic.  In the last town I lived in, there were hoodlums, drug abuse, vandalism and violence everywhere I turned.  I had my car keyed and the window smashed before, and I don't like living in fear.  I don't have any children, but I sure wouldn't want to raise my future kids in an environment like that.

Secondly, you really feel a sense of community and belonging with your neighbors.  This is the comparison I always make:  living in the same town is kind of like meeting someone who likes the same sport as you do, but living in a close knit gated community is like meeting someone who likes the same team and player that you do.  There is a stronger bond and a more powerful bond.

And lastly, it is nice to have some peace and quiet!  I've never been one for the bright lights and traffic, I've always been a more reserved person.  If you're like me and you enjoy fishing on a Sunday without all the noise and distractions of the outside world, I'd really start thinking about a gated community.

I hope this blog helped some of you, and I give making this transition my highest recommendation.