The 25th Anniversary West Coast Open Powerlifting Championships, June 25th, 2005

Meet promoters Rick McClung and Bruce Reed did a great job, along with Rick's wife Anna, announcer Seanzilla and countless other helpers. Rick or Bruce will likely do a writeup on the meet, with a focus on the lifters. Tod and I just wanted to say thanks to a few people and make note of a couple of highlights of the meet for us:

-Leaving my debit card at the Galley Ho restaurant, only to have Blaine Stussey return it to me in the parking lot. That was blonde moment no. 1 of the weekend for me.

-Watching our buddies Jason and Brice fend off meth whores in the motel parking lot Friday night. Brice had quite the party going in his room, what with hot pockets, cupcakes and plenty of booze. Now THAT'S a powerlifting diet. LOL

-Leaving my coffee cup on top of the car, and then seeing Tod driving away. Blonde moment no. 2

-Taking up Rick McClung's gripper challenge. We had made a bet in February when I saw him at Tommy's meet, on who would close the HG 250 gripper. Neither of us knew if we would be able to close it on Saturday, but we both did our best. With Levi of SNC as my witness, I closed the gripper and beat Rick. He tried hard but couldn't quite close it. He's a great sport though. What a treat to win the bet after 4 months.

-Seeing our friend Larry Hook post some great numbers. He surprised us and I think himself. Great job Larry.

-Trying hard not to knock over a framed t-shirt from the 1983 West Coast Open that Tod had brought for the meet display, which was later placed behind our booth. After carefully avoiding it time and again, I finally stepped on the damn thing and broke the glass. That was my last blonde moment of the weekend. And no, I'm not really blonde!

-Robert Straker wanting to know how many raffle tickets had been sold so that he could mathematically figure out his odds of winning before parting with his dollar.

-Marc Caplan's inspiring performance on the platform, and his WCO 25th Anniversary speech that he made after the contest.

-A SPECIAL THANKS goes out to Levi and Lou at Sports Nutrition Center. They set up shop with us at our booth and helped out with some awesome raffle prizes for the lifters! They are a blast to hang out with too! Looking forward to the next contest guys!