About Moi

What’s Happening

I’ve been writing stuff for ages since my early years in Computer Science (circa 92). Recently I started blogging in Myspace primarily on Judo/BJJ and physical training, but also on Salsa dancing, socializing, social issues, or just being an smart-ass – this is my old blog by the way.

Unfortunately, MySpace blogging system just plain sucks more than a vacuum cleaner. I don’t see MySpace value beyond keeping in touch with my nephews, friends and fellow dancers and martial artists. Quality blogging takes time. Ergo, I’m here.  

This blog will be dedicated primarily to my martial arts and physical training. There will be the random socializing rambling here and there, as it is characteristic of me. For all other topics, I will (or may) keep blogging on myspace.

Who Am I?

What can I say? This is just me, good ol’ elnyka. Btw, elnyka has been my years-long moniker/portmanteau for Nicaraguan, something I came with while glancing, beer in hand, pages and pages of Linux kernel source code back in grad school.

I’m a software engineer by profession, a geek if you will, but with a bent for fitness, martial arts, intelligence, witty, sarcastic, dark commedy, and anything just cool, testosterone-ridden, or seriously bad ass. No, really, I mean it.

If you are interested, this is my professional resume in Word format. And this is a PDF scientific document I wrote for the 2000 IASTED Int. Conference of Software Engineering. As I said, I’m a geek by profession.

I’m originally from Nicaragua (San Rafael del Norte, Sept-11, 1969), lived in Honduras for 10 years, and I’ve been with my family, my “little clan” if you will, in the US since 1990 (a citizen since 1995.)

I’m family guy. My parents, my sisters and my baby nephews are everything to me. I live for mi familia.

What I Am About

I’m a fan of martial arts, in particular Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).  At the start of 2007, I obtained my green belt in BJJ under Master Mr. Edson Diniz (2nd degree BJJ BB) - A green belt is not a kosher kosher belt, but it’s a grade use in many US schools as an intermediate step between white and blue belts. 

Shit, rank is always good.  Crap, my fingers, wrists and just about every other joint and articulation have been through the gauntlet of training.

Having said that, my training has stalled for work and health reasons. Thank God I’ve been able to keep lifting, and if things go well, I will resume in 2008 to get my blue belt as soon as possible.

Throughout the years, I’ve gathered specific observations on what works better for me (and usually for others) when it comes to build (or at least keep) size, strenght, definition, and lately, high anaerobic capacity for combat/martial arts.

I’m not huge by any stretch of the imagination, nor I pursue that, but I always seek a better understanding of fitness, in particular fitness geared towards martial arts. Trying to lift weights and do grappling/wrestling oriented martial arts such as Judo and BJJ have been quite an eye opener.

I Dance Salsa Whenever I Can

Additionally, I’m an avid salsa dancer. I don’t consider myself an expert, but I think I can do my thing rather well. I’ve been training in New York Mambo on 2, LA Style, Cuban Casino styles of dancing since Nov of 2000. Argentine Tango and Hustle are other dance arts I would like to train.

Unfortunately, these things are a bit mutually exclusive when it comes to weightlifting and/or martial arts. Why? Well, because there are only 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Oh well. By the way, that’s me dancing with a good friend.

My Mid-Life Conundrum

There are doubts that plague me – can I continue this while trying to pursue other fitness goals? And how about making time for family, my girlfriend, friends and professional undertakings?  These questions come into consideration since I’m not a youngster. I will continue my martial arts training in one way or another that’s for sure. On this I must continually ponder.

In Conclusion

Know this: Raw strengh and size by themselves mean squat, nada, zitz, zero, nothing in the context of martial arts, specially in grappling arts such as Judo or BJJ. This becomes apparently obvious with 3-5 minute rounds at full speed and resistance, non-stop for 15 to 20 minutes. This is specially true if you are in your late 30’s like me.  

Technique is king. Conditioning is a close second. And by that I mean a high anaerobic capacity.  How to cope with that, specially now that I’m in my late 30’s, against sparring partners in their early 20’s, that’s my conundrum.

Welcome to my blog. Comments are always welcome, specially if they say I’m intelligent or incredibly handsome.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Mi Familia
• The Art of Dancing
• My Sis Rocio (RIP)