Dan profile picture

Dan

I'd rather be a lion for a day than a lamb who lives forever.

About Me

I'm a grappler under Marcel 'Dentinho' of Central Oahu Jiu Jitsu via Gracie Barra. I practice Brasilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, Thai boxing, and other real-world fighting 5-6 days per week. I'm a former powerlifing world champion; I crushed my knee grappling in 2004, and now I'm a bench-only specialist. This year I hope to bench 400+ at 165 in single-ply poly gear at my first meet back after the injury (from which I've never fully recovered but can't complain). I have an astonishingly beautiful, loving, charming, and outrageously funny wife, Jessica; and a not-so-charming but certainly loveable kitten, Kanoa. Fuck your goddamn oil war. Huzah for peace.

My Interests



Grappling, boxing/kickboxing, hiking, beach-bummin', powerlifting (check out my lifting videos linked up top), philosophy, art, literature, ancient civilizations, wildlife, theoretical physics, astronomy, Egyptology, theological discourse, The Constitution and how we've butchered it, life in general.

I'd like to meet:


These guys:

Music:

Pink Floyd, Live, AIC, RATM, Audioslave, Al Green, Steve Vai, U2, classical and modern composers (Sergei Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Hanz Zimmer, Vivaldi, Schubert, Orff etc.), Mos Def, Can-I-Bus, and last but certainly not least, Timmy Morrison , the best musician I personally know, a great friend, and an adequate so-so grappler.

Movies:

Braveheart, Last Samurai, Pulp Fiction, The Departed, Gladiator, Fight Club, Hero, Snatch, L4yer Cake, Lock-Stock', and the like.

Television:

The Shield, Deadliest Catch, Ringside (Teddy Atlas, you're a champion of the sport), ATHF, old Simpsons, Planet Earth, Explorer, Nova, and pretty much anything on Discovery, Discovery Science, and National Geographic channels.

Books:

Watership Down, The End of Faith, Bushwhacked, Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code, A Brief History of Time, The Elegant Universe, Hyperspace, Dante's Inferno, any Gracie grappling book, The Martial Way, Einstein's Relativity, Faster than the Speed of Light, Fingerprints of the Gods, The Sign and the Seal, The Message of the Sphinx, Braveheart (yes, it is a book, too)...

Heroes:

My family will always be my heroes.

My Blog

Religion: How are we so blind?

(This blog was inspired by Sam Harris's The End of Faith, as well as a lifetime of contempt of religion and its cancerous effects on society.)Over the course of my life, I've contemplated a great deal...
Posted by Dan on Mon, 18 Dec 2006 03:21:00 PST

Calling all American Patriots

And I mean REAL American patriots.  Those of us who respect The Constitution, who value human rights, who think America represents higher ideals, and who cherish freedom.   Do not fall...
Posted by Dan on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 11:03:00 PST

Beware the Imperialists!

With November elections rolling around, the White House staff has cranked up the volume and intensity of their anti-Democratic rhetoric.  While Democrats are raising important questions about th...
Posted by Dan on Sat, 02 Sep 2006 05:33:00 PST

Bush Vows to Stamp Out Same-sex Marriage, Freedom, Civil Rights

Since, to the Bush administration, all is peachy in the Middle East, our fearless drunken redneck leader has been forced to tackle a new "enemy of freedom": gay couples who choose to marry. As describ...
Posted by Dan on Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:13:00 PST

The Love of my Life

Ok, if you traditionally read my blog to enjoy the angry barrage that normally ensues, you might want to turn away now.  This blog is about something else.  This is about me falling madly in...
Posted by Dan on Tue, 18 Apr 2006 01:24:00 PST

If you don't like what I write, pack your shit and get the hell off my Friends List.

So, the other day I posted a very funny, insightful, and informative bulletin in which a little kid was playing a maze game.  Only, the maze is a trick; and in the middle of playing, a face pops ...
Posted by Dan on Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:23:00 PST

Adultery is this year's black.

What it is about hypocritic female pathalogical liars who're clinically brainwashed that makes them think a guy who isn't interested in them has some sort of inate responsibility to sleep with them if...
Posted by Dan on Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:55:00 PST

Kidney Cars Skyrockets to Top of my "People to Kill" List

So after Timmy-Mo (see bottom photo) thrashed my '92 Jeep Cherokee last year, rocking the engine's foundation to the very core and simultaneously cracking the block and head gasket, I thought I'd try ...
Posted by Dan on Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:14:00 PST

The Superbowl was not "rigged," you jackasses

"The game was rigged!" "There was bad officiating!" "Those calls were all bullshit!!!1!" Sound familiar?  These are the same things you hear every February from the group of fans of the loser ...
Posted by Dan on Tue, 07 Feb 2006 03:26:00 PST

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME!?!?111/

Today started off like a day much like any other.  I woke up, cringed while rolling over in bed, had a stabbing sensation in my back when I sat up, and felt a sharp jolt of pain when my feet hit ...
Posted by Dan on Tue, 07 Feb 2006 08:37:00 PST