I Can't Come to the Phone Right Now...

Need I Say More? Enjoy The Rest OF OctobeR

Peace!

Why Pink Floyd?

I saw a poster on my way out of a record store

that had the prism and the color spectrum with that question under it

Although I am out of my Floyd phase, I am still a fan

and this caught my eye

so I took to the internets

this is what it is

and who it look like:


so they have different "phases" to experience this in

check out the Immersion phase of Dark Side of the Moon:


Dark Side of the Moon marbles????

I know what I'm asking for Christmas
too bad none of my family reads these blogs...wait, thank god none of my family reads these blogs

that just leaves the big guy

Dear Santa,
sorry I flipped everyone off at the Christmas parade that one time

and raced a handicap woman up to the second floor

and tripped that guy walking up to accept his award

and...

(I'll you all go. This is gonna take a while)

Uncle

5 away from 100

So I have two nephews

one's 15 the other is 10

and they think I'm the coolest thing

because when they were toddlers I would show up to visit pretty hung over

I would say hello then say ," ok Uncle Vinnie needs some space."

then I would find a nice corner and lie down

as they grew older they were more perceptive of the life that I lead

my sister told me they asked her, "Uncle Vinnie is bad right?"

as in a bad boy

I'm that cool uncle that kids around with them and lets them say curse words

well, this past weekend on top of the tough mudder event and Karaoke with Rube and Sharpie and Raw at Buffalo's I had promised to go see a movie with the kiddos

so I was staying at my sisters house Sunday after the BB King concert

I got there earlier in the afternoon to say hi

my two nephews met me in the hallway

I gave the youngest one,Matt a hug and was about to give the oldest one, Zach a side five but I accidently hit Matt in the face almost knocking his glasses off

I bent over to see if he was ok while Zach went through with the side five, slapping me across the face

this all happened in a blink of an eye

the youngest one, Matt said, "It's amazing what can happen in one second."

we looked like the three stooges

I told them, "Let's always say high like that."

"Uncle, Vinnie!" SLAP

so I leave my stuff and go to the BB concert

I had drank well over 100 dollars of local Vodka

I came staggering into my sis's house around 4 AM

I pass out in the guest bedroom and next thing I know I hear children whispering in the morning

I had forgotten that they said the movie was at 10 AM and they were up at 8 because of the drive to the theater

I was lying on my stomach and had my face in the pillow

I picked my head up and opened one eye

I actually tried to open both but only one would open

they were both standing there, "Good morning Uncle Vinnie!"

I felt like a dad on Christmas morning and my sons wanted me to wake up so they could open the gift

a single dad, cause I sleep alone

it's just me and the boys because the mom is a mess

she left us alone

all three of us

and for as bad as I am

I am trying hard to be a good dad

it's just sometimes I get into fights at BB King concerts, accidently join protests, sing at Korean Karaoke till 5 Am, and enter 12 mile 20 obstacle endurance races before I can take my boys to the movies

anyway, I get myself up and get cleaned up

for as hung over as I was I will not let these kiddos down

so we go to the movies

and I'm feeling weird

but I get a drink and sit down

so they show commercials during the pre show now at the movies

they showed this, the coolest commercial I've ever seen

with Willie covering Coldplay

all this for freaking Chipotle

enjoy


this actually made me feel better

thank you Willie

you're MY favorite uncle

DX Teases WRESTLEMAINA in Dallas!! From tonights smackdown taping

Holy Shit! Mania 29 at Cowboys Stadium? Holy shit!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen...Mr BB King, now Fight!

Ok so the Sunday after Tough Mudder I was went with Rube to go see BB King

I parked in a garage and took the elevator up

I got out right at City Hall

right in the middle of the Austin chapter of the occupy america protest

I walked right through them

I was meeting Rube at a resturant prior to the concert

I was walking along and a protest march began

they were going my way so I joined them

now I'm all of freedom of speak and that ol chestnut

but I don't really get invovled in everyday life matters

but I marched with them because it was on my way

when I got to the corner I told them this is my stop

good luck fellas

so I meet up with Rube a little late

I tell him, "sorry, I was occupying Austin."

anyway we head to the show

we were in the standing room only section at the concert

we still had a great view

the only thing is we were against the back wall

and during the BB King performance a drunk dude was in front of me

but he was so drunk he kept bumping into me

and he kept grinding on me

so at one point he asked me if I could move back

he was reaching for his drink which my foot was in front of so I thought he meant he wanted me to move my foot which I did

but he goes back to dancing and grinding me and a little later asks if I could move back

I yell at him, "I'm against a wall, why don't you take a step forward."

he yells something back to me

then Rube yells at him

then his chick yells at Rube

then a girl who my brother and I have been making laugh all night steps in and makes peace maker

now normally, I'm not the fighting kind but the whole time I'm thinking to myself

"Dude, I have been tossed around, thrown in mud, freezing water, clawing my way up hills, climbed aroound barb wire, kicked in the face, had mud thrown in my face, climbed through a smoking barn, ran through live currents, damn nearly drowned in the most evil mud pit I've ever been in, this is not the weekend to fuck with me."

but luckly it did not come to blows

one shove to either myself or especially to Rube and I would have been banned from the Moody theater for life because of what I would have done

and I would have been ok with it

but he tought better of it and turned around and enjoyed the rest of the show

on Monday I watched Raw with Sharpie and I spied with my little eye a really cool poster for the occupy Austin

I only liked it for the date on it, which happened to be my birthday

I tried to take it off the wall, but it was glued to it and was tearing when I tried to pull it

I had to settle for a picture instead

48 into 37

Well I survived

not only did I survive but I came in first place!

just kidding

that's been a running joke this whole weekend

actually, I would hate to meet the person that did finish first for this thing

and on that note, I'd like to take this time to salute all of the badasses out there in the world that does this kind of thing all the time

it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do

the guy at the start gate told us not everyone finishes this event

so let's get down to it

I only have a few stories

I don't think I can put into words what I went through

so to start off with I did not sleep the night before as I said

I bought some beer and hung out with the fellas

that night during a beer buzz it was discused that I should wear a Bret Hart shirt during the event

I'm a man of my word so I did

I finished up there and started the drive to Austin

I was actually running late

I'm always late

my start time was 9 AM and occording to the email if you miss your start time u were SOL

I arrive at 8 AM and to my horror there was a massive line to get into the event from the highway

so It's now 8:30 and I'm in line

8:45 still in line

8:50 getting closer

8:55 closer

9:00 I'm just pulling in

I decide that I'm racing this thing come hell or high water

I worked too hard for this and you think I'm gonna be stopped by a simple little thing like rules?

so I walk up and register

sign the death waver

get my racing bib

get the number marked on my forehead and my right arm in the event they need to identify my body

I see my 9 o clock heat time racing away

so i wait and watch how they get the heats together

so they call out the 9:30 group to the starting line

the people just line up and there's no one enforcing anything

so I get in with the 9:45 group

so it was on

I was humbled by the event

although I was proud of myself for all the crazy obsticles I went through (with realtive ease) there is still much room for improvement

I do plan on doing this thing again

the other racers we very cool

sometimes I would get stuck in the mud

or I couldn't pull myself out of a pit because I kept slipping

but there was always a hand reaching out to pull you out or lift you up

this was an amazing group of humans

it restored some of my faith in humanity

but I def want to share this experience with some of my friends

because it's def cool but on top of that I want to share the pride of pulling something off they didn't think they could do

or at least being tested and pushed to limits beyond

so let me tell you about one event that kinda freaked me out just a little

throughout the whole event you were going through mud

there was one in particular that was a real mother

most of the mud was light brown shit colored mud

but then there was a section with black mud

evil mud I called it

some people were taking off their shoes and socks because they were losing them in this pit of sadness

so I'm barefoot now and heading into this thing

as soon as I get in I'm not sure how to move

at first I walked but there was no bottom to this thing

so then I moved to a swimming type of  style

that was working a little bit

but then I noticed at some point people were stopping in the middle and not advancing

I kept feeling things in the mud so I pulled out the next thing I touched and it was a shoe

I joked that we can use all the shoes to as leverage

so at some point I started to sink and my arms and feet were both under the mud

I couldn't move at all

then I noticed that nobody would move at all

some guy next to me was freaking out a little

nothing was working

I did not know how I was gonna get out

I though this is how I'm going to not finish the mudder

I'm going to go under and leave Atreyu alone to finish his quest

for those of you not in the know here's what I'm talking about

this was all I could picture as I'm sinking


the funny thing was there was about a dozen of these horses going under all at the same time

this is how I got out of it

I had to reach into the mud and pull my left leg up and out

then did the same thing with my right

then I got on my back and arched it

that gave me leverage to move about an inch on my back

then I had to reach in and grab my legs again

then arch my back again

I did this process over and over until I was out

moving like that in that deep of mud was exahusting

and that's putting it mildy

here's a clip from that pit

I stopped recording so I could get myself out

plus the camera became covered with so much mud that I couldn't see out of it

that's one tuff camera

the mic was covered in mud so there's no audio but great video anyway


The Swamp of Sadness from Big V TV on Vimeo.

One last thing, I did not get shocked in the final obstacle

I ran through it clean

I still don't know what that feels like

maybe next time

until then, it's back to training

Pinched Nerves and Bad Decisions

Howdy folks!

...and then there was one

so Kenne cancelled on me

I knew something was up when I wasn't getting any return texts

I was hoping he wasn't gonna drop out

not because I needed him to do this thing

but because he paid over 100 dollars to enter it

and he don't get no refunds

I feel like it's kinda my fault

so in a team that should have been four

I'm the only one that made it

but I won't be alone

I'll be taking all of you with me

I'll see all of you in the smiles of the children

and feel you in the warm breeze of...snicker...nah I'm just fucking with yall

I understand that Sharpie's cousin is volunteering and Sharpie is prob gonna join her

that's cool

I'd love to see them there but at this point I just have to focus on the event and stop counting on others

I'm just recovering from a pinched nerve in my left shoulder

I rocked that pinched nerve at ACL

I needed the help from an icy hot patch but I managed

you should have seen how I got off the couch at Sharpie's pad

I had to roll off of it

I had no mobilty  in my neck

and couldn't raise my arm past my chest

and when I slept sometimes I'd hit it just right and saw white lights of pain in my sleep

it feels good now, but I just hope I don't hit something funky and set it off again during the event

also my left leg is threating to cramp up as I'm writing this

I'll probably lose the leg during the race

the swimming will def cramp it up

speaking of swimming

I still can't swim so I'll have to wear a lifejacket

my start time is 9:00 am

it takes about 3 hours to get to the event

so in order to check in and register I'll need to leave home around 3 or 4 in the morning

I work til 11:00pm and since I know I won't be able to sleep I've agreed to have a little get together at the den tonight

so no sleep for me

and I'll be a little beer buzzed driving to the event

so I have a tricky left shoulder
a busted left leg
an impressive non-swimming ability
no sleep
and a little drunk

and this is the only guy on the team that showed up

but I'll tell you one thing

I wouldn't miss this thing for the whole world

I'm about to earn my motto of being "Texas tuff and double the worst trouble you've ever seen"

or die trying

write you when I get back

...if I get back

BWAAA HAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

October

Happy October to whoever reads this all over the World!!!

by the way I'm ten blogs away from 100 blogs on this site
so the big event takes place this Saturday

Tough Mudder

it's finally here

here's a preview of their signature obsticle:

anyway, I tried to get a whole team together but due to the unpredictability of life it's just not gonna happen

I did, however, get my good buddy Kenne Tuttle to join me

so it's a duo, a tag team if you will

regardless, it'll be cool running this thing with a partner

I'm thinking I'm gonna make this a yearly thing so who knows who will be on the team in the future

It's a great way to stay in shape all year long

as for this year, I'm not sure how ready I am

but it's gonna be fun to find out

my good friend kate the great has been trying to teach me to swim but in the end I don't think I'm ready for the swimming this year

If I do it, I might have to wear a lifejacket

that might take some of the tough out of it for me

what can I say, I've gone my whole life not swimming

it's not just something I can pick up easily

thanks anyway Kate

but on the other hand it gives me a project to work on for the next mudder

the cool thing about this event is it's two days after my birthday

this is how I'm celebrating turning another year older

and Kenne tells me he wants to stay in town that night to celebrate in Austin

so I'm starting my 37th year...excuse me I mean my 30th year on this earth doing things I've never done like jumping off a plank into muddy waters and swimming under barrels and being hit with 10,000 volts of electricty during the morning then ending it with doing the one thing I do know how to do...raise hell on the streets of texas

plus it'll be good to see my brothers Rube and Sharpie again in the city that's calling me back

hang on Austin, it's gonna be one of those weekends...