Yoda

Posted on February 21, 2013 by tosabarbell

I first met Tommy Suggs a few years ago while working at the gym in Wichita Falls. I had the chance to have a session with him learning the split snatch and was slightly taken aback by his calm and positive coaching. I responded to this coaching style with ferver and worked hard to please him. What this did was take MY frustration or MY needs out of the picture and put the focus on his teaching. I’ve never had a more useful training session. It was beyond awesome.

Tommy came back months later to shoot some videos (one of which is my favorite of him teaching Bigg the Olympic Style Press.) He would come to the gym early in the morning, sit by my desk, eat his green breakfast and we’d talk.  Our talks of life’s experiences and how they’ve shaped us were a treasure. Tommy is very spiritual and taps into both his Native American heritage and his past struggles to find peace in the present. It is also very apparent that whoever steps on to Tommy’s path, his wish for you will be peace, love, and awareness. Our talks of training progress (or usually my lack thereof) would always come back to where my head and my heart is at and how that affects my platform time. He’s my Yoda.

Whenever I was struggling, a calm note from Tommy would appear and he would give me very simple reminders on how to approach my situations. He never put others down but made me focus on ME and my reactions to my surroundings. There were some days when just seeing a note in my inbox were enough to find moments of peace. Ya, he’s that good.

Since I’m not close with my own parents, I treasured even more the timing of his entrance into my life. He was the first person I told when Bigg and I started getting closer and I firmly believe that his blessing for our relationship is part of the spiritual rope that holds us together when we struggle. So when Oz came in last night with the mail and told me that I had a “fun letter” I felt an instant rush of peace as I saw it was from Tommy. And again, he’s given me a simple reminder that will positively impact all aspects of my life.  Ya, he’s that good.

I’m incredibly thankful to have him in our lives. He is a treasure. Tommy, his wife Karen, and their friend Phil Toups started the Sweetwater Education Foundation to support the Native American teachers on the Reservations. Check out the site, you can find Tommy’s books there. Read from a master of the Iron Game and help a great cause.

…Give off light, or darkness…Be a candle, or the night.

Yoda

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D’sWT

Posted on February 20, 2013 by tosabarbell

We met Bigg’s sister on Saturday to watch the nephew’s basketball game (he scored a goal, it was cute.) There were two games going on in the church gymnasium and as I was looking around, I quickly noticed an epidemic of the new D’sWT syndrome.  They were everywhere! It was really quite scary.

Yup, Dad’s Without Traps is alive and well in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As if that weren’t bad enough, the vast majority of Dad’s were thin, soft looking, and overall as unmasculine (is that a word?) as I’ve seen in a while.

It seems I’m very sheltered. Hanging with the Bigg guy (who has very scrumptious traps) and being in the gym so often means the demographics of the men I’m around are skewed. Even the WanAt family men are stacked with former college athletes and a police officer (not the donut eating kind;) To be surrounded by an entire gym full of small, weak looking, effeminate men threw me off.

Honestly, I have no idea what the cure is for D’sWT. It’s rampant and empowered by wives who think big, muscular men look like self mutilated fatties. How do you fight this? Even my 12 year old Oz was bigger than many of these “men.” He’s 12. That should be a hint that you need to up your T and start a pulling program. SRSLY.

Anyways.

Here’s a little cleanse, some Polynesian traps to get the day off to a good start…

You don’t take a good photograph, you make it.

Ansel Adams

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Strong is the new…no it isn’t.

Posted on February 19, 2013 by tosabarbell

There is a great interwebz myth going around that Strong women’s body types is the new something or other. Look, I’m not going to begrudge someone the chance to make some cute T-shirts. But the idea that strong looking women is new is just wrong and I’m getting a bit weary of the amounts of bathroom stall shots we see each day trying to prove the point that muscles are ok (with pouts. Why do the bathroom shots always include pouts?)

Kathrine Brumbach was born in 1884…LONG before the skinny ideal came into play. She set the tone for strong women and even did it without a bathroom shot.

The point is, looking like a Strong woman has always been in. If you or someone you know bought into the old “skinny” is good or even the now popular “strong looking with diet and self-photo” issues then chances are you’ll go ahead and follow the next cutsie trend that will emerge.

But Strong? Strong isn’t new.

Every step a fucking adventure.

Al Swearengen

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Monday Bacon: Bacon

Posted on February 18, 2013 by tosabarbell

We ventured down to the Harley Davidson Museum yesterday for some Bacon. Yes, Bacon. It’s was a local radio station’s annual Baconfest and Bigg’s brother was on the ball enough to get tickets the day they went on sale since they sold out last year in short time. We’ve been pretty excited aboot this for about a month now and it didn’t disappoint.

Our line started with some Patrick Cudahy BLT Dip and I knew I started with my favorite. It wasn’t fancy or especially pretty but the flavors were tasty and served up with tortilla chips. Something I hadn’t considered going into this is how much I’d be eating so I quickly put aside any feelings of guilt for what I was about to do to a mostly healthy diet.

We grabbed plain ‘ol bacon after that and after the boys went and grabbed drinks, we got things underway in earnest. I know I’m forgetting things but here’s the list…

Candied Bacon; Bacon wrapped brownies; Bacon tostada; Bacon and Wisconsin cheese sausage (another favorite of mine); Bacon Chocolate; Bacon donuts (Oz’s favorite); Bacon wrapped dates. Which brought us to these:

Photo: Bacon and egg bloody Mary's! Love baconfest!

Deviled egg and bacon Bloody Mary’s. Those were tasty. At this point, we stopped long enough to realize that a person may indeed have their bacon limits. But we didn’t come to quit so we ventured forward. From the drinks, we had…

Bacon meatloaf; Bacon chicken wraps; Bacon pizza; Bacon and chocolate ice cream; Bacon wrapped dates; and a snow scraper.

After a fun stop at the Blue Moon booth, I tapped out. I was able to force myself to taste the Bunzel’s  Bacon Mac’n’Cheese and their Bacon pulled pork, barely. The Bacon coma that came shortly afterwards was well worth it. As is the salt bloat I’ve got going on meow.

Now that we’ve got one of these under our belt, we’ve strategized on how to approach it next year. We’ll go at 1pm instead being there right at noon, the crowds had died down significantly by 1pm (about the time we were leaving) but there’s still plenty of food left. We can split it up and take a little break between sides (we actually missed half an aisle due to not wanting to fight the crowd.) This will be easier too with less of a crowd. Lastly, the day or two before Baconfest, I’ll water up to combat this salt intake. It’s good I can wear sweats to work cuz anything tighter than those will be a no go for today.

My first Baconfest was an absolute blast and we got some good ideas for new recipes. Special thanks to Bigg’s bro, TJ, who was on the ball enough to get us tickets right away.

The best way to cap off Bacon day? A hockey game, of course. My hockey Kid’s big brother plays for the Abbotsford Heat who were in town playing our Admirals last night. I got word late Saturday that Eddy’s folks were coming into town for it so we met them at the game and were able to catch up. It was a blast. The moment of the game? When the too drunk/too loud fans behind screamed “YOU SUCK 24!” Ya, that’s the elder Eddy and Papa Eddy started laughing as he was enjoying his ice cream. It was a good lulz.

Either you love bacon, or you’re wrong.

Bacon Proverb

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