I kicked my house's ass.

Boosted from Natalie Dee dot com.

Worked today, went to the gym, grappled for a while, and then out-wrestled a dishwasher for a unanimous decision. It took Amanda's dad and I four hours and one trip to Lowe's to return stuff we bought last week but we totally kicked my house's ass.

Diet 8 a.m. Banana, slice of Danish. Noon Indian buffet, water. 3 p.m. Turkey sandwich, chips, cookies, water. 9 p.m. Frozen pizza, minestrone, water.

Strength & Conditioning Nada.

Skills Worked on positioning, passing the guard, keeping my position, regaining it if I lost it, scrambling, etc.

Single legs suck.

Ah...back on the wagon. Cooking real food again, going on one month as an ex-smoker, and finding ways to get into the gym more often.

Diet 8 a.m.Half of a small bowl of cereal. 10 a.m. Small bowl of leftover jambalaya. 2 p.m. Turkey sandwich, chips, cookies. 7 p.m. Three homemade tamales in lettuce wraps, corn on the cob, stir fried green beans.

Strength & Conditioning 255# daedlift, ring dips, knees to elbows, hand stand push ups. Seven reps, seven rounds for time. 20:18.

Skills Single leg takedowns and a couple rounds of grappling. The gym was boiling hot and my technique was sloppier than a roofied sorority sister. I lasted a little more than a hour and a half.

Working all weekend.

Catch up on Monday.

Finally, a night off...OH WAIT

So I get home at 6:30 p.m. tonight with nothing to do for the first time in weeks. I am looking forward to making soup and setting up my office before turning in and getting a good night's sleep before my day off. I have to work all weekend so I wanted to take Friday off to hit the gym, CrossFit and MMA, hang out with my lady and our dogs, cook good food, and get some work done around the house. Then we find out that Amanda's grandpa had been hospitalized. That would have been manageable if her Mom's van hadn't broken down in Avon (20 miles from our house?) at 10:30 p.m. Grandpa Collier is under observation with a minor infection in his leg and will be released tomorrow. There goes catching up on sleep. I honestly don't give a fuck about summarizing what I ate today. Pissed off.

I'm not fat...

Pat is in Vegas with Jake O'Brien this week and there it was mostly new or random dudes at the gym tonight. We warmed up before splitting up into two groups. Chris Lytle went over submissions and escapes while other dudes did rounds of Muay Thai sparring. After that we did Thai drills and calisthenics. Adam, the Muay Thai instructor I have seen rarely in the last few months, told me I gained weight since the last time we talked. I told him I just expand in the heat.

Diet 8 a.m. Banana. 11 a.m. Salami sammich, chips, carrots, cookies. 3 p.m. Two slices of cheese pizza and water. 9 p.m. Jambalaya and greens.

Strength & Conditioning Just moving in the heat is a conditioning program.

Skills Worked on escapes from side control, submission chains from keylocks and counter strikes off kicks.

Jake O'Brien vid from the Indianapolis Star

Back to the grind.

I have a confession to make: I just quit smoking. A light smoker for the last several years, I promised Amanda that I wouldn't smoke once we were in the new house. I had cut back from a half a pack a day to one to three cigarettes a day, but it needed to stop. I won't lie - I really enjoy having a couple of cigarettes a day. But when I get busy or stressed two smokes becomes 20 and then I am back to trying to scale it down, all the while promising loved ones that I am seriously going to quit soon. The move into the new house dovetailed conveniently with a week-long trip to Texas; no routine, theoretically no stress. I've had a couple of irritable moments and close calls, but tonight is my two week anniversary without a cigarette. I've experienced some weird detoxing like allergies and my throat generally feeling like shit but overall it's fine.

Diet 1:30 p.m. Beef hot dog, fries, small soda. Crappy lunch because I was stopped on my way out to do a breaking news video. 7 p.m. Turkey melt, chips, soda, cookie at McAllister's. Got highjacked by Amanda's family after CrossFit. Our kitchen hasn't been functional until...well, Amanda is cleaning the rest of the assorted junk from the counters as we speak. Tomorrow I can make food in my own kitchen for the first time since...June. 10 p.m. Burrito from Taco Bell. Hungry again after weeding and mowing our yard (which hadn't been cut since the former owner accepted our offer).

Strength & Conditioning 21-15-9 Front squats, pull ups, 600m, 400m, 200m runs. It took me forever to get through the first set of pull ups. I had no grip and my hands kept slipping. Finished in 19:53.

Skills Is "stick-to-it-iveness" a skill? Sportscasters say it so it must be a real word.

Can't catch my breath.

Back from the honeymoon, trying to get the new house functional. Hopefully I will be back to my routine on Monday.