greetings and salutations. i get a little excited on the log and the number of hits to the site doubles. well, i'll keep giving you guys what you want! =p (say, can the folks reading this site from ucla let me know who you are? i'm very curious....)

ok... before i get started on my slam man story (can you feel the anticipation in the air?), i need to file a public service announcement. does anyone know any cool, genuine guys in their 30's who are single and available? i've got a glut of single female friends in their early thirties who need companions (ahem, notice how i have very few single, available women in _my_ age bracket). =( anyways, if you have cousins, uncles, neighbors who are GOOD guys (no freaks or weirdoes please) drop me a note and let me know.

ok.. enough of that chuck woolery bullshit. back to the scheduled program. do any of you remember the slam man infomercials? it was an exercise product/self defense system that integrated aspects of punching bag with the "hit the mole" carnival game. =) anyways, i had always wanted to get one but never pulled the trigger. (it was $300 and i'm committed to never buying workout equipment-- i've seen enough of those products hauled to the curb that i'm never buying anything on tv)

anyways, i was reading though craig's list and i found a guy who was giving his slam man away! i guess he was moving away and was giving away all of his television-purchased exercise equipment away (ahem, my point, exactly!) he said that i could have the slam man if i picked it up. he warned me in advance that it probably weighed about 200 lbs as he had filled the bottom with sand to keep it from falling when punched.

200 lbs... no problem! i dragged my dad along with me and we were on our way to pick up the slam man. yeah baby... score!

(this blog was interrupted by 10 minutes with the slam man in which i threw 663 punches)

now i've been doing a bit of working out but this freaking slam man was sooooo freaking heavy. because all of the weight was at the bottom of the unit the weight was completely unbalanced. we started dumping sand from the unit into plastic bags in the hopes that we could move the bad boy. after 4 bags of sand (after which we weren't able to dump any more because we could tilt the body any higher) we tried without luck to lift the bottom into our truck.

30 minutes of sweating and straining and the slam man was still smiling at the passing cars and neighbors. in many ways i bet he was smiling at my foolish ass for trying to move him without a full bekins moving crew. my father is starting to complain at this point using the word "garbage" more than was helping the situation.

we finally used a beach towel to give us the leverage and the grip to move the slam man into the truck (which had its shocks tested when we dropped it into the cabin). upon arriving home i had to hear more comments about picking up other people's garbage etc. (I should have charged the guy $500 for removing it from his apartment.)

anyways, now the problem has arisen that the slam man scares the bejesus of anyone who walks into the garage with his imposing stature. my brother, arriving home late one night was rudely welcomed by a solitary, silent guest--the new slam man. =) the two are now best friends though... as my brother is able to release his volatile temper on the receptive slam man.

just a warning... mess with me or my people... and you'll have to face the new jabs and combinations that i've been working on... =)