Video issues

I've had some troubles with my video camera recently. When recording new video, it looks like it's recording properly. When I replay it, there are about 8 horizontal equally sized and distributed stripes on the video. Half of them are from the video I just recorded, half of them are from the video that was previously on the tape.

This has happened on several tapes, in several circumstances.

All of these tapes are tapes I received with the camera, when I bought it used. I have no idea how old they actually are.

So, I went out and bought a new supply of tapes last night on the way home from volleyball. I tested the new tapes by making a short recording and then I recorded over part of that recording. It seemed to work.

The real test will be tonight when I try to get the final bit of footage for the Bob Rea seminar DVD at the dojo. I've wondered if the change in environment for the camera (e.g., no humidity to high humidity) is a cause for the issue.

Another potential cause is the recording head on the camera is misaligned or needs cleaning.

Keeping my fingers crossed for the final bit of footage tonight.

Volleyball 0-3

Played against the team that won it all last season, I think. We played ok, but lost all 3 games by around 5 points. My hitting was not doing well, my rhythm was off.

We had to get a lady sub, and we still ended up with only 5 players. Annoying.

My serves were curving nicely. I think I got an ace or two. Probably just one.

Next week is an off week for us, the rest of the league plays. There are 9 teams and only time slots for 4 matches, so one team gets an off week each week. Next week is ours.

We're now 3-3 overall. No longer in first place.

Monday Night at the Dojo 2/26

Aikidokas: Randy, John, Stanley, Greg, and Kim.

Ukemi: Not bad.

The Walk: nothing unusual.

Releases: Worked with Greg.

Techniques: with Greg.

Shiho-nage: Tried to get the Randy-knuckle. Failed. Didn't feel very competent this evening. Possibly working with a new uke, I don't know. Didn't drop my hand into my center for the final off-balance. As a result, uke just went walking backwards without any real inclination to fall down.

Tenkai-kote-hineri: Transition to second off-balance did not seem to be going well.

Hand Randori: Worked with Greg for a few minutes. Neither of us was doing very well.

Aftermath: None of note. Knee is not complaining as much as it was. Kim may be working with Stanley as uke for her belt test. Keith and Sheila have vanished. Will they return in March?

Someone had a dolly, free for the taking, in their front yard on the way to the dojo. It's now in our possession, but probably in need of a new tire or two.

Storage unit acquired.

Part of the construction project will require installing sheetrock in our existing garage. This is a fire code issue, I believe, and is done to give more time for the residents to escape should a fire start in the garage. Sheetrock burns more slowly than open 2"x4" construction.

Currently, the garage is a mess. Well, before yesterday it was. Woodworking tools (lathe, table saw, radial arm saw), gardening equipment, bikes, etc. filling it up. It's less of a mess now.

In order for the sheetrock to go up, the workers will have to have someplace to move while doing it so the garage has to be emptier.

Kim rented a large storage unit for the next 4 months on Friday. We spent a good portion of Sunday filling it and emptying the garage.

We made 3 or 4 trips with the truck over to the unit and barely made a dent in the amount of space we have available. We did clean out a good portion of the garage. The main items we have left are the stained glass work table, the lumber, and the miscellaneous tools. We should have plenty of space left in the unit when the garage is empty.

We found the skeleton of a rat as we were cleaning out the garage. Apparently, the garage was messy enough to kill a rodent.

Saturday at the Dojo 2/24

Aikidokas: Tim.

Ukemi: Not bad. Did a couple of tumbleweeds. No pinging on the right side, a little pinging on the left. It seems I end up going less forward and more to the side on the left side as compared with the right side. Just need more work.

The Walk: one regular, one with the eyes closed. Tim knew I was using a Braille line for reference. Braille line, for those not in the know is a seam where matt panels are joined together.

Releases: Worked with Tim.

Knife Randori: Worked with Tim. This was the first time I'd been through the full 5 steps of this, that I can remember. Let's see if I can remember the five steps.

1. Off-line
2. Off-line and touch.
3. Off-line, touch, and follow.
4. Off-line, touch, follow and technique.
4. Off-line, touch, follow, technique, and follow.

Double-hand grabs: We spent the rest of the morning working on the 14 double-hand grab exercises.

Aftermath: Nothing of note. Knees are feeling a little better. Went to a meeting for the Houston Open Judo Tournament in the evening.

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 2/21

Aikidokas: Tim, Oliver, and Joey.

Ukemi: ok. Took some big falls.

The Walk: as usual. Then we did it again after Joey bowed in.

Releases: Worked with Oliver.

Techniques: We worked in a blum-line. We managed to get through the first three techniques in the blum-line (that should probably be a proper case noun). Spent a bit of time getting Joey to work on my height differential, where my off-balance point is and how to get it without having my momentum plow through his center.

Oliver and I did some work on Kote-gaeshi. We did not manage to get a throw on each other. I was dropping my hand and not letting Oliver tell me where he wanted to be thrown. It's amazing (not!) how much of a difference Oliver's additional mass makes.

Monday I was told that if I did the throws against Oliver the way I did them against Stanley, Oliver would be flying out the dojo. It's apparent that I did not manage to duplicate my execution of the technique as I did on Monday. Oliver barely moved. I did get one almost throw, but I was not quite going along the line of his fourth toe. More work is required.

Ac had to be turned on in the dojo. Humidity was way up today.

Aftermath: Still achey knees. Got home to watch Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. Video work this evening now that I've got a new hard drive with which to process the tapes.

Monday Night at the Dojo 2/19

Aikidokas: John, and Stanley.

Ukemi: Not bad. Took some more big falls.

The Walk: nothing unusual.

Releases: Worked with Stanley. Did two passes. One normal. One where uke intended to stop tori from completing the release. Definitely a good training device.

Techniques: with Stanley. the plan was for us to get as far through all 17 as we could for Stanley and as far through the first 14 for me. We managed to get through the first 10 and then Kote-gaeshi.

Actually did Kote-gaeshi at 3 step distance. Amazing. We each got throws on both sides.

The watchword for me on the evening was distance, as a member of teh distance/timing/off-balance triad. Timing and off-balance were ok, distance had to be tweaked on: Aigamae-ate, Gedan-ate, Ushiro-ate, Ude-hineri and Hiki-taoshi.

Waki-gatame was sweet.

Aftermath: Knees are complaining a bit, I don't know why. The left one was making me notice it during breakfalls. A change in the weather? Kim spent the evening working on loan paperwork for the new addition so wasn't able to make it to aikido. :(

Appliances on ice

Kim and the in-laws went out shopping for appliances on Saturday. Sears was having a Presidents' Day sale involving extra 20% off if you bought multiple appliances.

The builder said it was unlikely he'd be able to get a better deal, so the folks felt inspired.

We are now the proud owners of : refrigerator, dishwasher, stove/oven and upright freezer. Scheduled to be delivered in June.

Saturday at the Dojo 2/17

Aikidokas: Tim, and Rob.

Ukemi: Not bad. Did a couple of tumbleweeds and there was no pinging of the shoulder. Cool! Now to try to repeat it in the future.

The Walk: nothing unusual. Tim tweaked a bit, adjusting our posture with the feet a little further apart.

Releases: Worked with Rob.

Techniques: Worked with Rob.

Owaza Ju Pon : Ushiro-ate : This is what we call one of the "Big Ten". The techniques are similar to those in Ju Nana Hon Kata, but instead of uke's and tori's centers moving in the same direction, in Owaza Ju Pon they are moving in different directions. The techniques tend to generate falls with more air time.

Tim wanted Rob to have some more time working on it, so I was a willing uke. Nailed it pretty much from the start.

I then worked on 11-14 of Ju Nana Hon Kata as tori.

My mind blanked on what Kote-hineri was. Bad brain. No biscuit!

With some prompting, I remembered. Got to get the initial off-balance.

Kote-gaeshi : went well. The throw never happened, but the techniques was on.

Tenkai-kote-hineri : went well. Tim had Rob hide a (rubber) knife and encouraged him to attack me with it on this one. It improved my technique quickly.

Shiho-nage : went well.
It applied to all 5 of the techniques.

Aftermath: Nothing of note. Kim wasn't able to attend as she was at a genealogy workshop for work. Blueberry bushes got planted in the afternoon while she and her parents were off shopping.

Friday Night at the Dojo 2/16

Kim and I stooped by the dojo to do some sheetrock repair. We'd had a leak in the upstairs plumbing a while back. The fix seemed to be working, so the damage needed to be corrected. A little tape, a little mud, a couple of screws and some labor.

Had to try to do it quietly as the Iaido class was in progress.

The bid is in

We received the bid for the add-on apartment and workshop. The cost is
about 150% of what we paid for our existing property in 1991.

Ouch.

But I'm pretty sure we're going to go through with it.

1st step done.

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 2/14

Aikidokas: Tim.

Valentine's Day might be the cause for the low turnout.

Ukemi: ok. Took some big falls.

The Walk: blew my mind on the second time through when we started with the right side instead of the usual left side

Releases: Worked with Tim.

It was mainly a theory and discussion night. Insight into how the ladies in the dojo would throw me with Kotegaeshi, among other things.

We stopped a little early because TxDot was shutting down part of the freeway for construction.

Aftermath: None of note.

3-0 in volleyball

New season started up with the same issues as last season. Not enough women for the team. We'll make do, but we'll having changing lineups each week I'd bet.

We won all 3 games of the match fairly easily. We played a team that was new to the league, so they were unsure of some of the rules. They played well, but the uncertainty about rules can play havoc with confidence.

I think I may have served out the last game. 4 or 5 points.

No crown. Not gory.

Dentist was able to fill both of the cavities on the same visit. The big one turned out to be fillable and not need a crown. He said it went deep, but there was enough tooth wall surrounding it to be ok.

Other cavity (or broken old filling) was on the other side of the mouth so I had a completely numb mouth for the rest of the day.

Monday

No aikido. Work was still wanting some more of my time, so I was at the office until 9:30. It looks like Wednesday night will find me at the dojo.

We'll see.

The weekend

As I was leaving work on Friday, my lead came in and said that we needed to correct some defects over the weekend for a build Monday morning. Overtime had been approved.

Only problem was I was committed on Friday night and most of Saturday. So, I had to come in Saturday night and Sunday.

Friday night and most of Saturday I was filming a judo seminar our dojo was sponsoring with Bob Rea (6th Dan) as the instructor. I'm not certain how good the final result from the filming will be. I was extracting the video and a portion of it will be unusable. The camera did not completely overwrite the previous contents of the tapes. I don't know if this is a camera issue or a tape issue. I guess I'll get some new tapes and see.

And then my editing program crashed and I did not manage to save all of the extracted video before the crash. So, I have to go through and extract it all again.

I went in to work for around 10 hours over the weekend. I managed to get the defects I knew about resolved, I think.

In-laws come in this weekend. Kim and I both go to dentists tomorrow.

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 2/7

Aikidokas: Tim, Rob, Oliver, Joey and Michael (Rob's step-son and new aikidoka).

Ukemi: ok. Got some comments on the pop-up rolls.

The Walk: per usual

Releases: Worked with Tim.

Techniques: Worked with Rob and Joey.

1-5 with Rob: Continuing our study of working with people our own height. We're getting better. It's taking us less time to recognize that the first off-balances are the key.

1-4 with Joey: It looked like he was doing well with Oliver so, while folks were helping Michael, I uke'd for Joey. He did amazingly well handling the height difference. Rougher on the left side than the right, but that's normal. He threw me on a Gyakugamae-ate that I wasn't expecting and I was close enough to the ground already that I didn't have time to get my chin tucked enough.

Aftermath: None of note. Stopping the Aleve.

That bites!

Went to the dentist today for the semi-annual checkup. Normally, these things go quite well. And this one did go quite well, until the very end.

Apparently, one of my fillings partially chipped off. And, another tooth appears to have a fairly serious cavity. It had it at the last checkup and they didn't catch it.

They can't tell if there will be enough of a tooth wall to support a filling or if it'll have to be crowned.

Filling or temporary crown on Tuesday. The other filling will be fixed shortly thereafter.

Monday Night at the Dojo 2/5

Aikidokas: Randy, Martin, John, Stanley, and Kim.

Ukemi: Not bad.

The Walk: nothing unusual.

Releases: Worked with John.

Techniques: with Martin.

Kotehineri: went ok.

Kote-gaeshi: Did a couple each side. I'm getting a throw about 50% of the time and figuring out what I did wrong 4 out of 5 times when I don't get the throw.

Tenkai-kote-hineri: Spent a fair bit of time on this one, working on the 3rd off-balance. I need to bend the knees but keep the arms unbendable.

Shiho-nage: Didn't even think about the Randy-knuckle. D'oh. Just did this a couple of times.

Hand Randori: Worked with Martin, Randy and Stanley. I don't realize I'm muscling when folks tell me I'm muscling. Must work lighter. Need a lot more time working on this. Maybe by Sandan I'll be decent. Maybe not.

Aftermath: Still taking an Aleve equivalent for the shoulder.

Saturday at the Dojo 2/3

Aikidokas: Tim, Rob, Keith, and Shiela.

Ukemi: Not bad.

The Walk: nothing unusual.

Releases: Worked with Rob. The theme for the day was "working with someone my own height". It threw changes into everything. Still working on working with someone my height.

Techniques: Worked with Rob.

1-5:

Still working on initial off-balances. It applied to all 5 of the techniques.

Aftermath: I was not able to prepare for the session as I usually do. I normally apply a goodly amount of "Heet" to the shoulder. Unfortunately, I had to stand out in the cold for a couple of hours waiting for a plant sale. The "Heet" would have worn off before I got to the dojo and I didn't want to carry it around with me. I just don't want to do that too often.

Picked up 4 blueberry bushes and 1 avocado plant at the sale. Maybe they'll produce.

Thursday Night at the Dojo - 2/1

Aikidokas: Just me

I went to the dojo just in case someone else showed up and wanted to work. Since no one did, I spent some time helping Sensei with his choir project and then the rest of the time reading "How to be your Dog's Best Friend."

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 1/31

Aikidokas: Tim, Keith, and Shiela

Back on the mat as the shoulder seems to be ok.

Ukemi: ok.

The Walk: we did one normal and then Tim had me do one with eyes closed. He then proceeded to wander around me while counting. That was strange. And, of course, it threw off my ability to return to my starting position by the end of it. I ended up about 90 degrees counter-clockwise from where I started.

Releases: Worked with Tim.

Techniques: Worked with Tim and Shiela.

Shihonage: Ran a couple of repetitions with Tim.

Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate: Worked with Shiela. Mainly to give her a chance to deal with someone a foot and a half taller. And to give me a chance to figure out what she needed to do to accomplish it. Sensei Ray was called on for expertise when we were not quite figuring it out.

Aftermath: Fingers are a little numb this morning, but not bad. I think I'm at the point where I need the stretching and the exercise to improve, but only time will tell.