Red Bull might give you wings, but not a parachute!

Let me introduce you to Travis Pastrana.  If you don’t know who this guy is, well then you need to crawl out from under your rock.  In any case, I’ll run down a quick bio for you.  Travis started riding on two wheels when he was four and has never looked back.  He actually started out mountain biking, but quickly moved on. He finished high school early, and became a world freestyle champion at 14.  Life has always been in the fast lane for him amassing countless first place finishes, motocross championships, X Games gold medals, and even a sport change into rallying.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention, he was the first person to do a double backflip on a motorcycle. Injuries have been a part of his career too though.   He’s endured the following:  a dislocated spine, torn ACL, PCL, LCL, and MCL in his left knee, bucket handle meniscus tear, broken tibia and fibula, surgery on his left wrist twice, left thumb once, two surgeries on his back, one on his right elbow, nine on his left knee, six on the right knee, but only one shoulder surgery.

To me this dude is a poster child for the saying “tomorrow might be dead”.  Every time he leaves a ramp, comes off a turn, or jumps out of an airplane it could be his last.  On top of constantly being referred to as a down to earth, cool guy, he does a bunch of work for charities too.

What I really wanted to talk about though, was a stunt Travis pulled off in Puerto Rico.  In his search for adrenaline, he decided to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Oh, with no parachute… with NO PARACHUTE.  How someone can jump out of an airplane - placing their fate in the hands of others and knowing that there’s a giant possibility that this could be the last 5 minutes of their life… is hard to grasp.  

So here you go, if you think you did something big today - think again. 

Cool Idea

Towards the end of the baseball season, a buddy of mine (Clay Hensley) put a shirt in my locker that featured four letters on the front. "NDCQ" - this stands for Not Dead, Can't Quit.  Extreme? Yes!!!

I did some looking into the company and found out that it was created by an Ex Navy Seal named Mack. Mack has a very long history and you can check out his story on the website.  This dudes incredible, and I don't even want to spoil what he's all about so you'll have to go check him out.  

Back to the slogan.  Not Dead, Can't Quit is a pretty straight-forward saying that states you aren't going to give up until your body doesn't allow you to.  It encompasses what would be the ultimate dedication mantra in life.  This stuff is right up my alley.  I figured the website to be a online shop for their shirts, pants, and other clothing ideas they offer.  But what I found out was that it was more a community that was dedicated to information on how to get the most out of life.  To take a quote from the website, "NDCQ.com is website community of committed individuals who wish to make the very most out of the incredible gift that is their lives."  I couldn't even begin to say it better.  

So go check them out, I read two articles that talked about being unreasonable - which basically means when life says its reasonable to give up, go a step further.  The second one I read, was about getting your lazy butt off of the couch! Insert smiley face.

Their shirts are super comfortable and message is awesome.  Look 'em up at NDCQ.com and follow them on twitter @NDCQ.

100 bucks for some fun, no problem

Here's a conversation I had on top of this rock in Kenting, Taiwan.


Friend - "Do you think maybe we can just jump tomorrow"

Me - "Tomorrow.....? hahaha.....Tomorrow might be dead!"

I really, really don't like excuses

Everyones got one, and they never get you anywhere. So lets just do ourselves and everyone else on this planet a favor and get rid of 'em.  I don't want to hear why you can't do something, I just want you to do it.  Busy, sick, tired, girlfriend, boyfriend, not strong enough, not enough money, scared...not good enough - don't care.  Dead... dead might be a good excuse but that's about it.  If you have a desire to do something - do it.  One of the most common sayings I hear is "Oh, I'd love to but I can't". Listen to yourself, you'd love to? But you can't? No, if you'd love to then you would.  Love makes us change our whole entire being to facilitate action.  Think about what you love, and what you do for love - and then see if you ever make that statement again.


That rant comes from the chains people shackle themselves in during their everyday routine. Our weekdays look like this: Wake, coffee, drive, traffic, work, lunch, tired, energy drink, work, traffic, tired, microwave dinner, tv, tired, pass out on couch, repeat.   Our weekends are spent trying to escape the reality of our routine lives with booze, dinners, errands, and making our couch cushions become entirely too familiar with our rear ends.  


In a sense, i'm the pot calling the kettle black.  From March 1st to October 1st my life is chalk full of routine.  I sleep in, have breakfast at lunchtime, practice, play, and repeat for a 190 plus days.  While it's difficult for me to break up that routine during the baseball season, I still do.  That part of my life though makes October 1st to March 1st look like a miniature hide and seek game for me.  Sometimes adrenaline is hiding at the top of a cliff in the middle of the ocean, or at the bottom of a rocky hill - but i guarantee you I'm going to find it.


So that's what this blog is going to be about.  If you want help getting out of your routine and maybe finding a little fun in your life. Come here.  I'm sure i'll get off topic, and i'm guaranteed to confuse you a lot.  At the end of the day though, we'll be having fun.