Extreme Combat

I've seen King Kong now and completely dug that movie.  Check your brain at the door, because it proceeds like a comic book series.  The beginning was compelling, the middle was like five action movies in one, and the ending was a fine example of anthropomorphism and tragedy.

Saturday night, I found myself in Westport again.  I originally went for Mediterranean food a la Jerusalem Bakery.  I have frequent cravings for the buffet there.  There was an announcement on the radio about cage fighting at the Beaumont Club.  Since I had been to see fights there before, I knew where to stand for a good view, and I happened to be in the neighborhood.  The place was crowded.  The matchups for the first few bouts were bad.  They lasted under a minute.  No knockouts, just submissions.  Later, though, I was impressed by the local Jiu Jitsu fighters.  In one particular fight, however, one of the fighters was being choked and he didn't tap out, he blacked out.  He woke up a few minutes later and was able to stagger out of the cage, but I think if he were experienced, he would have known when to tap out.  There were two title fights at the end which were excellent.  Both ended in three rounds with submission victories, but not before a lot of punches were thrown and several impressive takedowns.  I'll definitely be going back on March 11 to see more. www.adrenalineextremecombat.com

Ohgr, whose electronic music is retro and edgy, when entered into the artist or song field on Pandora.com yields a lot of music which appeals to me. 

Westport

Last night I went to Westport to see my brother's band play an entire show.  Shaggy Green Carpet started the show off. . . an hour later than I thought they would.  They are a young and highly talented progressive rock group from Lawrence.  The room was good.  The crowd was slight.  Their cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer killed.  When The Duo Trio got on the stage it was getting late, but I caught most of the set.  I was particularly interested in hearing their cover of Primus' Too Many Puppies.  I would put it in the top 3 songs they played.  Then I went to work.  At 1am.  It was a long night and then around 5am things started breaking.  I would say at one point we had about 9000 customers offline because a technician plugged a PDU into an overloaded UPS.  Shortly after we fixed that, another router crashed and took down 3000 other customers.  THAT is why we do the work in the wee hours.  But working split shifts takes its toll.  I'm feeling zombified today.  I didn't shave, so I look the part.

Amateur night at the Bottleneck

I woke up around 8-ish when the sunshine hit my face. I sweetened my French Roast coffee with a packet of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix to make it mocha. . . and that's the only reason I'm cognizant this morning. I went to Lawrence last night to see my brother's band play an abbreviated set at the open mic night at the Bottleneck, which is a prerequisite for getting booked there. It was free entertainment. They were preceded by some kind of goth metal band and succeeded by a rap group, both of which were pretty tolerable. I was just out too late for a school night.

Mmm. Bacon.

I saw Bacon Shoe.  It's frumpy looking white boys doing hip hop, but the vocabulary is clearly college level and the subject matter clearly junior high.  Oh, and a guy in a jumpsuit with a big furry mascot head cooks bacon on stage.  It's comedy.  Odd, but highly entertaining.  The smell made me want a pancake.  I'm told the ex-girlfriend was in attendance, but I didn't see her and she probably wouldn't have recognized me in the crazy costume I had on.  The cover charge was cheaper that way.  I don't often wear my leopard print fuzzy collar shirt, a blonde wig, 70's shades, and a pink tie.  In fact, never.  I high-fived someone in a monkey suit and danced next to a woman who was riding a mic stand hobby-horse-style on the stage in front of a backdrop which featured some freaky dolphins jumping up out of the sea.  When's the last time that happened to you?  They were recording a DVD.  I hope I'm on it and completely incognito.

That was a fun end to a tough work week, which featured too much night maintenance and not enough consecutive hours of sleep.

Well, Benchmark Home Furnishings is going out of business, so I went out there to see what kind of deals could be had.  I have new tables in my living room and a brand new and very comfortable leather sofa, which would normally cost over a grand, but I got a nice deal.  The old living room furniture is in my recently vacated basement apartment. 

For the past few years, I've put off fixing up my house to invest in rental properties.  In reality, that has been a good move.  The properties I have bought have appreciated significantly, and my tenants pay late, but they pay late fees.  It's nice gravy.  Now, my new living room furniture is going to force me, aesthetically, to buy new carpet or put down some kind of hardwood laminate.  I have a bonus coming in February and hopefully a fat tax refund <fingers crossed>.  I'm still recovering from the bathroom remodel, which was pretty exhaustive, but once I found what must have been years and years of water damage, it had to be basically rebuilt.  I think I'll sell some stock and clear the debt.  While investigating the possibility of new flooring throughout, I pulled up some of the carpet in the basement and found more asbestos tile.  I need a plan for covering that up permanently, because I know it would cost a small fortune to remove it.  The shower insert in the basement is cracked.  I should take it out completely and tile that, too. If I get the basement back into good shape, I'll need to rent it again to recoup the cost.  I had thought of replacing my stove and putting the old one downstairs, to create a kitchenette down there so I could charge more for rent.  I just need a stack of cash right now for a good cause.  I'm still paying back a 401k loan, which I used to buy a rent house back in May.  I never considered a second mortgage or a home equity line of credit, because I hate paying a dime more interest than I have to.  I do, however, think it's time for a cash-out refi.  Tuesday I'll ask my mortgage guy if I can get the same or better interest rate on the new loan.  If not, I'll sell my second vehicle, but now that the roommate has moved out, it's definitely time to spruce up the place.  And maybe I'll fix the front doorknob, while I'm at it.

It's alive!

My roommate who has been AWOL since mid-November emerged from "some legal trouble in California", which I call prison, to retrieve his things and pay his December rent.  So, he and his brother just left with a truckload of stuff.  Apparently, he and his ex agreed to let his daughter come back to Kansas City with him, until he showed up to pick his daughter up, then the ex and her cop friend got in his face to tell him what a bad father he was.  I'd say he got ambushed.  I'd be mad, too.  California is a long drive.  <shrug>  I had surmised that since he wasn't answering his cell phone for over a month that he was either in a coma, dead, in jail, or sold into slavery.  I assumed that if he was dead, his brother might show up at some point for his things. I had actually considered starting to auction some of his stuff on eBay to make up for the missing December rent, but an ultimatum on a cell phone voice mail isn't exactly a legal agreement.  He's gone missing before for shorter periods, but usually he'd leave a note.  This time, he just disappeared and his dog went unfed for a couple of days before his brother came by to get her while I was at work.  I just need to turn the entire downstairs into a disco and have a huge party, I think.  Actually, having a basement apartment with a separate entrance and driveway is ideal for guests who would like to come stay with me.  I just need a few days warning to hide the disco lights. :-) 

I have access to a sauna at Bally's, but I think it would be absolutely luxurious to own even a small one.  They're 50% off if you order them in the winter.  Tax refund?  http://www.nationalpoolwholesalers.com/sauna_kit_direct_import_2_person.asp#page

From bad to great.

It was a roller coaster day.  I woke with a headache and was > < that close to calling in sick.  Then, I realized that I had collapsed on the couch after arriving home from lifting weights then playing hockey with little more than a milkshake and later a glass of milk and a piece of chocolate instead of dinner.  I took some drugs and went to work. . . in slow motion.  I ate crackers and peanut butter and got some caffiene and things turned around.  I have to remember to hit a drive thru in between work, the gym, and the rink on Tuesdays going forward.  I not only fell off the healthy eating wagon, I fell off the eating wagon.

Speaking of drugs, I got my blood test results today.  The anti-retroviral therapy works.  I take a Truvada and a Viramune in the morning and another Viramune in the evening.  My HIV viral load is 647 copies per ml, which is a far cry better than 420,000 four weeks prior.  My CD4 count is 564, which is more than double what it was.  I did the Snoopy dance walking out of the doc's office.  My immune system is on its way back to normal strength.  I want to reach a CD4 count over 850 and an HIV viral load of "undetectible".  They assured me it's possible if I do not miss a dose of the meds.  If the virus is allowed to replicate out of control it could mutate into an untreatable strain.  Luckily, since the virus responded to the treatment, I don't have a mutant.  That means long happy years for me. . . and lots of pills from now on.

I recently learned that there are 61 countries which have regulations restricting my travel and 15 countries to which I can no longer travel because of my diagnosis.  Well, 14, actually.  The USA is one of the countries which will not grant visas and commonly denies entry to HIV positive travelers.  I understand restricting people with something like tuberculosis, unless they're coming here for treatment.  HIV isn't transmitted randomly or in public.  This law must be some kind of holdover from the 80's.

Is it baseball season yet?

Well, the Chiefs season is over. The game yesterday had some great moments, but the Bengals seemed to be avoiding injury with their B team on the field. I guess, since we have no hockey or basketball, "Go Royals!" The arena with no team seems to be coming along. I like the layout. http://www.yourkcarena.com/images/media/dadt6.jpg I hope the box office is indoors. Nobody likes to stand in line outside in the elements at Kemper. I predict a number of homeless people accumulating under that overhang at night. http://www.yourkcarena.com/images/media/dadt3.jpg