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Friday Musings (And UFC 141 Coverage)

December 30, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

It’s been an eventful last week of the year. Before I get started with the Friday musings, I wanted to make all my UFC 141 coverage available in one place, so MMA enthusiasts can read everything before the fights tonight instead of seeing the links on Wednesday, when it’s too late.

  • Hettes Happy to Have Opportunity to Fight Phan: A profile of the submission whiz for InterMat Fight.
  • Fitch: No Need to Dumb Down MMA is an excerpt of my interview with Jon Fitch for Sherdog.
  • Resting Easy Under Fire is my full Sherdog profile on Jon Fitch.
  • Fight Breakdown: Cerrone vs. Diaz is my analysis for InterMat Fight. Who ya got?

Anyway, onto my musings for the week…

The good:

  • My gym is awesome. ‘Nuff said.
  • Saving a raccoon, which may or may not make up for my 2009 hit-and-run crime against a turtle.
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Best movie I’ve seen in a long time.
  • Planning on attending the ASJA and FLX conferences this year, if I find hotel roommates. This is exciting. New York and DC, baby!
  • The amusement involved in trying to determine if you can judge people’s wealth by the amount of gis they own–like cattle. Yes, I have a strange sense of humor.

The hard:

  • A couple good reasons to read contracts closely: magazines republishing editorial work as an advertisement (making you look like a corporate shill) and dead-beat editors claiming there was never a real agreement. I think I’ve seen it all.

Quotes of the Week:

  • ‎”The ground’s generosity takes in our compost and grows beauty. Try to be more like the ground.” -Rumi
  • “Impeccability begins with a single act that has to be deliberate, precise and sustained. If that act is repeated long enough, one acquires a sense of unbending intent which can be applied to anything else. If that is accomplished the road is clear. One thing will lead to another until the warrior realizes his full potential.” -Carlos Castenada

Have a great New Year, and we’ll see you on the flip side!

Filed Under: musings Tagged With: road, ufc 141 musings

Top Ten Posts of 2011

December 26, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

I checked Google Analytics to see what my most popular posts of ’11 were, and thought I’d put them all on one page for you.

The Paleo posts were by far the most popular this year, accounting for more than half of the top 10.

  • The Paleo Experiment: My 30 Day Summary. The most often viewed post of the year was my quick recap of going Paleo for a month.
  • Paleo Flour and Other Sundry Substitutes. I was surprised at the popularity of this post, since it didn’t have a lot of recipes and only a few links…but it’s hard not to want to eat Paleo muffins, so I get it.
  • How to Lose Weight While Sitting On Your Ass & Eating Ice Cream. Well, who doesn’t want to know how to do that?! This piece was based on my own true story.
  • My Top 5 Quick and Easy Meals: Paleo Style. I was surprised at the popularity of this, too, as my ideas of hastily put together meals don’t really seem special.
  • My Whole30 Recap. I think taking pictures of all my meals increased interests in these posts.
  • Eat This! The Ultimate Food Resource Guide. A compilation of my favorite food blogs and resources. It needs updating, so this may be a good project for 2012.

The next most popular type of posts was my BJJ posts, specifically BJJ DVD reviews. Interestingly enough, it was the two beginner DVDs I reviewed which were most popular.

  • DVD Review: The White Belt Bible – Jiu Jitsu in Theory and Practice was the most popular. (The DVD is available from the Roy Dean Academy.)
  • BJJ DVD Review: A Road Map for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Stephen Kesting was next on the list.

Finally, my next three most popular posts were pretty random.

  • What Are Your SEO Questions? This was the biggest surprise of all, that this was such a popular post, since nobody asked any questions.
  • My Vibram Five Fingers. Another surprise, because this piece was written in 2010! I will admit I’ve since moved on to New Balance Minimus–perhaps a different post!
  • 7 Alternatives to Pandora. I don’t typically blog about music, but this one was a hit! Apparently other people were running out of free time on Pandora, too. I’m pretty sure the service is now unlimited…but not positive, since I’ve moved on to Spotify.

Conclusion

It looks like many of you guys reading this are interested in Paleo food, very beginner BJJ, free music and nice footwear…and perhaps even in SEO, though you don’t know what to ask.

That concludes the top ten posts of 2011! Tomorrow, I might dive into some survey results.

Filed Under: musings Tagged With: bjj, dvd, music, paleo, pandora, review, road, whole30

Yael’s Variety Hour: Casual Dress, Personalized Medicine & Spying

September 28, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

Food For Thought

  • Is Junk Food Really Cheaper? Perhaps not. The New York Times takes a look.
  • Does Casual Dress Hurt Your Income? The answer may surprise you.
  • Anatomy of a Scam Investigation: Chapter One. And you thought you were good at internet stalking research.

Humor

  • The World According to Americans. This is a funny map of the world as seen through the stereotypical eyes of the average American. Or below-average, I’d hope.

Shameless Self-Promotion

  • The Best in Personalized Medicine? Complete Genomics and Knome. I got to interview Kenny Beckman for MedCity News. He is smart.
  • Browne Broadens Training Horizons. Heavyweight fighter Travis Browne talks about training with Team Jackson, among other things.
  • On Spying is a piece I wrote for MMA HQ in the wake of spying accusations leveled by Rampage Jackson.

Tune In!

Robb Wolf is gonna be on Curiousity: iCaveman this Sunday. Check out the preview.

Filed Under: variety hour Tagged With: mma, road, spy internet, variety hour

Monday Musings From The Road

September 12, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

I have been traveling for 11 days straight, which can be a bit disorienting and kind of exhausting, but also LOADS of fun.

Happy things (in no particular order): finding CDs I thought were long since lost or stolen to listen to on the drive, getting out to the XFO fights, visiting a bazillion jiu jitsu gyms and a Crossfit gym, learning to make pottery, drinking way more than usual, spending time with friends, spending time with groups of women (a rarity for me), going to an insane Korean spa which was both amazing and bizarre, getting to see the Stanton Moore trio play at Riverside, an urban farm tour in Milwaukee, drinking chai…

Scary things: being forced to go the wrong way down a one-way street by a cop redirecting traffic (who got mad when I hesitated), visiting Waukegan, where my college used to be–and realizing just how creepy and sketchy the neighborhood is/was.

Here’s a few other random thoughts from the past week or so:

Making broad generalizations, especially those that involve scientific claims, hurts your credibility at best and is wholly irresponsible at worst. Be prepared to back up your statements, and you’ll make the world a better place.

Paying lip service to values such as integrity, fairness and respect doesn’t mean shit if you won’t stand up for what’s right when it really counts… even if it’s inconvenient; even if there’s a lot at stake. When I look at what people say and what they do, I have to shake my head sometimes.

I prefer spending time with people who are less flashy but work well with others in their own quiet way.

And finally, 9/11 was yesterday. I always try to ignore that day. On 9/11/01 I was studying in Oxford. Although we didn’t start dating until November, Oxford reminds me of my boyfriend at the time, Chris McBride. Chris died in September 2005 due to an unprovoked attack. He was quietly drinking his pint at a Liverpool pub when this took place. Chris was a total pacifist, an Oxford graduate and the nicest guy you could ever meet. He had a huge heart and a very bright future. His murderer was recently moved to an open prison, where he can go home on weekends and work in nearby towns. Just doesn’t seem fair. I’ve been thinking about this, and him, and how he might’ve responded to a similar situation. He was opposed to the death penalty, for example, so I feel that directing anger at the POS that did this to him might not honor his memory. It is a conundrum. R.I.P., Chris. I miss you, buddy.

Filed Under: musings Tagged With: musings, road

May Recap

June 7, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

The hard:

  • Waterloading while traveling. Seriously, this adds like 2 hours to a day trip and is no fun at all. I wouldn’t recommend it.
  • Getting a speeding ticket. If they’re gonna put me on the police blotter, they should at least link back to my blog.
  • Trying rolfing. I only did one session and wimped out of 2 through 10.
  • Making the decision not to plant a veggie garden this year due to the challenging terrain, shade, etc. Would’ve been more trouble than it was worth, but choosing not to grow our own food is hard. Boo.
  • Blocking a cartwheel guard pass with my ear. I wouldn’t recommend that, either.
  • Driving a half hour away to try to buy a camera that ended up being broken. Jesus.
  • Gil Scott-Heron dying. R.I.P.

The good:

  • Osama bin Laden getting caught after all this time. Feels silly to put it on a list; too significant to leave off
  • My road trip! Visiting Bekah in Madison and Mike in Milwaukee. Great food, music and company.
  • Visiting BJJ gyms along the way. It’s heartening to meet so many genuinely cool people & skilled coaches.
  • Getting invited to a really great party, &  meeting our buddies for dinner. We definitely have more friends than we did in Eau Claire. 🙂
  • Training. Landing some things I’ve been working on. Competing. Not as well as I wanted, but getting there.
  • Finishing the Whole30 with some great results.
  • The Brutal Recess Clinic. Way too much awesome for a recap one-liner.

    Going forward:

    June’s got all sorts of travel. Right now I’m in Portland and have trips to Florida and  Michigan planned as well. I have some great work projects planned as well, which I’m looking forward to.

    How was your May?

     

    Filed Under: musings Tagged With: bjj, bodytribe, music, road, whole30

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