The small things....

This morning I was thinking about some stuff that made me wonder why people get gloomy on cloudy rainy days. Why was I thinking about this you ask.... well, its a cloudy rainy day here in Northern Virginia. Most people get sad when the weather goes bad, but I think there is something else at work. I think people really miss football. When its cloudy and rainy in the fall, people always have football to look forward too. In the spring when it is nasty out, we dont have this Great American Happy time. College or NFL, it doesn't matter. Football is football, whether you are watching game between two teams you dont even care about vice whatever we do when there is not football to watch. We all still feel better when Football is around. Did I mention that I miss the football season?

Now baseball, that solidfies my point. Baseball is only fun on a nice sunny day. The fact that baseball doesn't usually happen on rainy days has a big part in this fact as well. Don't get me wrong, I love baseball when it comes to The Cubs, The Red Sox and The Nationals now. In fact Val and I are going to at least 2 / 3 games in 2 weeks for the Cubs vs. Nats here in DC. BTW: I love being married to someone who loves sports. Seriously Val can hold her own when it comes to sports. I have only met one woman that is nuts about sports and knows her stuff. Unfortunately she is a White Sox fan and her last name is Clark. She is lucky is married to my best Friend or I wouldn't respect her sports banter.

In a nut shell on cloudy days like today, I wish Football was around. I also wish I lived closer to Purdue so I could get to the games more often. My first 5 years out of college, I had season tickets there but now that we are East Coasters we have to resort to watching alot of ACC football. Dont' get me wrong its a strong conference, but The Big Ten is much more exciting to me.

All is well with Val and I. We have a pretty low key weekend coming up. Val starts classes in another week or so. And my rib is starting to heal. I'll probably test it out a little more this weekend. What ever doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.............. or cry like a baby.

Call me a bruiser

This morning I woke up looking like a dalmation. I thought Val bruised easily, but apparently I have some bruising issues as well. Jiu Jitsu is making me look like I'm being abused by my spouse or like I am really clumbsy. I can just imagine what is going through peoples mind when they see me standing in line at the grocery store with bruises all over my arms. Im thinking, if I didn't know any better, I would be very curious at the least.

Last night at class was fun. We learned some new basic moves and a couple combination rolling moves. I have been nursing this rib injury and haven't really rolled much lately since it has been hurting. Last night I went ahead and rolled a bit with some of the guys after the lessons. TioCali Tamali was I sore after class..... The rib was tender last night so I iced it and this morning I feel much better. Boy is it a pain to have a rib injury. There is absolutely nothing you can do to help it accept cry about it, I mean rest it.

On a seperate note.... Val got A's in her classes this term. For those of you who don't know, she is taking Masters classes with the University of Florida online. She is going for a masters in Forensic Toxocology or Forensic Drug Chemistry. So far I think she has a 4.0 in the masters program. Boy is she a smarty.... Seriously though, she is doing great. Her company pays for any classes that she gets a B and above on so that's a bonus too. I am so proud of her. She has been very dedicated to her studies and even has time to spend a little time with her hubby....

A house in Northern VA or a mansion somewhere else?

The housing market is unbelievable around here. We bought our house 2 years ago and if the house across the street from us sells for what they are asking for, we will have made about a 90% return on investment in 2 years. That's nuts....

Who said buying a house was a pain? Sure, Val and I have done a lot of work to the house, but if you know me, that stuff is fun for me and keeps me busy and out of trouble. The fact that a townhouse in Reston, VA is worth the same as a 3500 Sq. ft. very nice house with acres of land in North Carolina or many other places for that matter, is amazing to me. Man I love the US!

On another note.... Val and I have recently been visiting Buca Di Peppo again. We found there is one downtown in DC and boy do we loves us some Buca. Unlike when we lived in Chicago, Val and I have not yet been able to tap into the 5 liter bottle of Burgundy wine they have from the tap. We don't have quite the "Team" here as we did in Chicago. It hurts my liver just thinking about those days. We do have some promising rookies though....(Rob H., Erin H. , Atom J. and Aaron M.)

BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

If you haven't heard yet, I have started taking Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes. You may ask, why would you do that? Simply put, it started out as a "Hey that would be fun to try!" Well, that turned out to be an understatement. My first class was an open mat class that I learned the basics and got to learn quite a bit. At this class I learned that 2 days later, Relson Gracie, who is known to be one of the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters / Instructors in the world was going to be at our the school. So I went to that class and was hooked. Just reading about the Gracie family and what they have made of the sport was enough for me to give it a go. Inadvertently I have found that Fighting in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is one of the best workouts I have ever had. I am starting to get back into really good shape and I feel like I am working out for a reason. I am a lowly white belt right now but I am like a sponge and learning stuff everyday I go to class. Each class we learn some stuff and then put it into practice when we fight for an hour or so at the end. When I say fight, I'll clarify, there is no striking (punching, Kicking), its all submission, choke holds, body positioning and offensive / defensive maneuver grappling. Once you get past the fact that you are rolling with another dude, it is actually pretty fun. I owe all of this to my friend Dan Wallen. He is the one who brought me to the school. He is one of my neighbors and an instructor at the school and boy did he real me in. He says I have some Kahonas for even giving it a try. I think I may lose my Kohanas giving it a try..... :) just kidding.

FYI: I'm already milking my first injury. I bruised a rib pretty good just practicing a move a few weeks ago. It still hurts. Boy does it take a while for ribs to heal.

Here is a link to our school site. www.fightworks.net and a site that describes more about Gracie Jiu Jitsu specificlly. www.gracie.com

This is a picture of Jake at X-mas. He always takes his toys or his prizes up to his bed. Its pretty funny.

My first Blog

I have succumb to peer pressure and the need to keep with the Jones, so I have decided to start a blog describing the exciting days of Mr E. Blow and my lovely wife Val.

Let me first start by getting you caught up with our life as it stands right now. We are living in Reston, VA in a Townhouse with our 2 cats, Tuxedo and Symba and our teenage Golden Retriever "Jake". I'll upload some pictures of the boys soon.

Val is doing well with her recently new job with Bio Vail. It is a much better commute for her since her last job she commuted to Rockville, MD about 3 hours per/day. Now she is commuting a much better 30 to 40 minutes per day.

Of course some of my family lives here in Virginia and we love being close to them. It seems Val and I have so much family that it would be impossible for us to live close to a majority of our family so we end up traveling a lot around the US.

Recently Val and I went to Europe on business / pleasure. It was a wicked awesome trip. You can see an album of our trip pictures here http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeCNGzFw2aN3lQ
We started off in The Netherlands in the The Hague and Amsterdam for about 5 days, then off to London and Oxford for 4 or 5 days. We then went to Paris for 5 days and did all you could do in 5 days I think. We took planes, trains, automobiles and boats everywhere. It was amazing to say the least. My favorite was the high speed train from London to Paris. What a fast ride! We also flew over the Iceland where I was born but didn't stop. Someday we'll go back. This is the short version of the trip, but it was a great experience and both Val and I enjoyed The Hague and London the most.

I am still working for Visual Training Solutions Group in Herndon , VA. Flight Simulation on PCs are a glorified gaming job. We work for the Military but I still think we are just making high fidelity games with your tax dollar. Don't get me wrong, we train pilots to do their job and to learn new stuff faster so its no a waste of money. Its just interesting.

Check back soon and Ill update you on what's new. I'm not quite sure where this will take me but Ill try to update the blog with new stuff that is going on and fun things to check out and share.

Eric