Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan, Marvin, Gale, Roderick, Reese, and Steve
Ukemi:
Full set.
The Walk:
Twice as usual. And then I spent the evening working with Steve on the Walk.
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
I did a little work with Steve and Gale on the footwork for Shomen-ate.
Aftermath:
None of note.
I received a summons for jury duty for the Galveston County Courts last week. So, I went down to the island on Monday, sat around a while, and then was dismissed for the day. We were all told to call in the usual number to see if we were needed the next day or not.
When I called in Monday night, my name was not listed.
When I called in on Tuesday night, it was. So, Wednesday morning I packed up and drove to the island, pulled into the Justice Center, and went up to County Court No. 3.
I was possible juror number 15. We sat through voir dire and found out that only 6 jurors would be used. I thought I was home free! There was no way there would be 9 folks excused in front of me.
I was wrong.
I was the second juror chosen.
That started 3 days of testimony that boiled down to "he said, she said" in a child custody case. The dad was trying to get primary conservatorship of his kids, while the mom was trying to keep primary conservatorship.
The witnesses were mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, and a former teacher of the kids. The mom and stepmom were relatively decent witnesses. The dad was okay, but seemed to be following the letter of the visitation rules and not the spirit. So, I can't really blame him, but it didn't come off very well.
The stepdad. I despised him. He always had a smug grin on his face and his body posture indicated that he thought nothing could touch him.
some of the things that came up in the trial, briefly, were: a CPS investigation that did not find any problems, an RV trip headed by stepdad and mom with spankings/punishments for the 7 kids (3 involved in the custody and 4 who were stepdad's kids), angry emails/texts, yelling and screaming at a door, attempting to get kids moved off of various soccer teams, and a kid being "pulled off stage" before a choir performance.
When we first started to deliberate, four folks were set in their opinion. Two others were wishy-washy. After a little more discussion, the two wishy-washy ones agreed with the rest and we were able to come up with a unanimous decision. We asked the judge if our decision had to be unanimous and he said no, but we thought it would be better if it could be unanimous.
We decided the mom should keep primary conservatorship.
I'm tempted to go to some of the spots mentioned in the trial to try and watch the family interaction and see what it's really like.
I was down in Galveston last week for jury duty. I spent most of four days on the island, so I had a number of opportunities to dine down there. On the last day, I went for Mexican at Mi Abuelita's.
It's a nice, simple place that does a brisk lunch business. I chose the Enchiladas Verde (I think, it may have been Suiza). The chips they brought out were good and the salsa, although cooked and not fresh, had a nice flavor. I must have been in a hurry because I don't remember much of the details about the meal. It was nice that I had the option to get charro instead of refried beans.
I was down in Galveston last week for jury duty. I spent most of four days on the island, so I had a number of opportunities to dine down there. On Thursday, I chose to go to DiBella's Italian restaurant during the hour-long lunch break we were allowed. K. and I ate there a long time ago when we spent a weekend on the island at a B&B and I wanted to see how it was doing.
One of their specials for the day was a new menu item: Chicken and Vegetable Lasagna in a cream sauce. It was nicely prepared, but the cream sauce was very heavy. I wonder if it would work better with a wine based sauce? I could not manage to eat all of what they gave me, so I had them box that up to go. While they were boxing that, I had them add a slice of Italian Cream Cake.
When I managed to get to the Cream Cake, it was fabulous. K. fell in love with it as well.
Overall, a thumbs up for the meal.
I was down in Galveston last week for jury duty. I spent most of four days on the island, so I had a number of opportunities to dine down there. On the first day, after I was released for the day, I went down near the Strand for lunch at the Black Pearl Oyster Bar.
They do specialize in oysters but, iirc, they did not have any that day. I, instead, chose their fish tacos. You can choose to have the fish grilled, fired, or blackened. I chose blackened. The tacos were nicely prepared with a good chipotle sauce to add to them, if you so chose. The sauce did make a nice addition to the meal.
I added a slice of cheesecake that was nicely done but, I suspect, not made at the restaurant.
Overall, a thumbs up for the meal.
Aikido players: Sal
Ukemi:
Most of a set of falls
The Walk:
We did a little work on some of the footwork. I like to get completely out of my previous body space on each step of the first 3 moves.
Releases:
It went pretty well tonight.
Techniques:
We then spent some time on 3-step versions of Wagi-gatame. He was pretty consistent by the end of the evening. I think we'll start running through all ten in a row in preparation for the demonstration from here on out.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Mi Abuelita's in Galveston
Rendered a decision as part of a jury in Galveston
Aikido
Saturday:
Started working on sourdough for Sunday
Up early to get to the Citrus and Fruit tree sale in LaMarque
Artfire
Blueberry muffins
Aikido
Grocery store and Spec's for flour and beer, respectively
Dinner and cards with the in-laws
Sunday:
More work on sourdough
Artfire
Brownies
Walked the dogs
Guacamole
Worked on a returned pen to correct a minor malfunction
Super Bowl
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Brad, Dan, Marvin, Roderick, Steve and Reese.
Ukemi:
Full set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual. I also spent some time working with Dan and Steve on the last 4 steps of the Walk. Dan did not need the work, but he wandered over and joined in anyway.
Releases:
Not today.
Techniques:
We did some work with punch the dummy with Steve, Roderick and Reese.
Trey and I worked on the 1 and 3 of the kneeling portion of San Kata. We did a lot of tweaking and cleaning up on both techniques. We had some discussions on the 2nd technique, but did no reps.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Sal, and Steve
Ukemi:
Full set.
The Walk:
Twice as usual.
Releases:
I ran through the releases with Sal as both uke and tori.
Techniques:
I worked with Sal on 3 step Ude-hineri. I essentially spent all night taking front roll-outs. He was doing pretty well. We did have an incident where he twisted my arm and some fingers went numb. We started working on Waki-gatame at that point.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Sal
Ukemi:
Half set of falls
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
It went pretty well tonight.
Techniques:
We then spent some time on 3-step versions of Hiki-taoshi. He got pretty good at the arm bar by he end of the evening.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Alpine Brau Haus
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Artfire work
Some updates to Art Show Helper
Aikido
Dinner with K. at Durango's
Half-Price Books
Sunday:
Artfire work
Some updates to Art Show Helper
Updates to the LoneStarCon3 website
Cut down some trees in the Back40 hedge
Did some work on the entertainment center
Did some work on the next batch of pens, including a custom order for a friend
Watched some of the Australian Open Final
Watched a bit of "Ocean's Eleven"
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Brad, Steve and Reese (a new student)
Ukemi:
Partial set. I also did some work with Steve on back falls.
The Walk:
I spent a good portion of the day working with Steve to get all 11 sections of the Walk, footwork only, completed. We'll add hand motions next time, I hope.
Releases:
I started to teach Steve the first release, but some other basics need to be addressed first.
Techniques:
We almost got to the punch the dummy drill with Steve, but ran out of time.
Trey and I worked on the 14 release techniques of Yon Kata for me. We then worked on the first nine of the standing portion of San Kata for him.
WD-40 and Marine Jelly were required to knock off all of the rust.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Sal, and Steve
Ukemi:
Full set. I also did some work with Steve on back falls.
The Walk:
I spent a good portion of the evening working with Steve on the first 6 steps of the Walk.
Releases:
I ran through the releases with Sal.
Techniques:
I jumped in occasionally to work with Sal on Ushiro-ate at 3-step distance.
Trey and I worked for a few minutes on something, but I can't remember what.
Aftermath:
None of note.
K. and I ate lunch at Jake's Grill on Friday. We both enjoyed our meals. She had a chicken fried steak with grilled veggies and green beans. I had "The Works" (an Angus beef batty with mushrooms, onions and cheese) with mashed potatoes and green beans. They were well-prepared. The mashed potatoes were a bit salty, but that may have been the cheese that was mixed in with them.
We got out of there for about $22 or so, with drinks.
Friday:
Lunch at Jake's Grill with K.
Nap
Aikido
Saturday:
Up at 3:45 a.m.
Out of the house to San Antonio at 4:25 a.m.
Breakfast at Denny's just in the S. A. limits
Lone Star Con 3 Division Head meeting
Tour of the HBG Convention Center
Head back home
Back home at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday:
Blueberry muffins
Artfire work
Art Show Helper Work
Football
Grill out steaks and Burgers for dinner with the in-laws
Aikido players: Tim, Phillip, Sal, and Steve (a new student)
Ukemi:
Full set
The Walk:
I spent a good portion of the evening working with Steve on the first 6 steps of the Walk. We did not do a complete dojo set of the Walk
Releases:
None tonight
Techniques:
I jumped in occasionally to work with Sal on Ushiro-ate at 3-step distance.
Aftermath:
None of note.
One side of our property runs along a relatively busy road, for our town. People often throw trash out as the drive by. Some of the more common things they throw out are beer cans and bottles. I've going to use this series of posts to chronicle what ends up in our yard in 2012.
We've actually been pretty light so far this year. Only one beer can has made it into the yard. Lone Star Light.
Aikido players: Sal
Ukemi:
Half set of falls
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
It went pretty well tonight.
Techniques:
We then spent some time on 3-step versions of Ushiro-ate. The right side went fairly quickly. We spent about 25 minutes on the left side. He was getting it fairly regularly by the end of the session.
Aftermath:
None of note.
