Volleyball 0-3

Next to last night of volleyball this season turned out like all of the others. Even though we were playing one of the other last place teams. And we had 6 players to their 5.

*sigh*

I don't think we're that bad.

Weekend update

Friday:

aikido

Saturday:

Walk in the park with the boys
Aquarium water change
Off to Bay Area Aquarium to acquire some fish
Acclimate the fish
Aikido
Football
Baseball

Sunday

Walk in the park with the boys
Install the other suspended garage storage rack
Football
Baseball

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 10/25/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, and Trey.

Ukemi: A normal set.

The Walk: as usual.

Releases: With Tim. Some tweaks.

Techniques:

We started introducing them to the next 4 of Ju Nana Han Kata. We had time to work on Kote Hineri and Tenkai Kote Hineri. They did really well.

Aftermath: None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/24/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Trey.

This was a night of demonstrations. Kim and Trey both demonstrated for their 3rd Brown Belts, or Sankyu.

They did fabulous jobs. It was the most consistent set of demonstrations I've seen.

Congratulations to both of them

Aftermath: None of note

Aquarium progress

The 55 gallon aquarium is just about ready for occupants. I've done a couple of water changes and the sand has settled down some. I need to do some NH3/NH4/NO3/pH tests and see if the numbers are in a good spot.

If they are, I'll order some snails/diatoms, etc and then contact Bay Area Aquarium to order the fish I want.

St. Germain

St. Germain, my blood-red F150, is finally whole again.

Two years ago, I used him to haul mats to the Houston Open Judo tournament. That was apparently a bad decision, as I think it was too much weight for him to pull.

After the tournament, the brakes were iffy, the clutch went haywire, there was an extra rattle while driving, etc. I started putting him into the shop shortly thereafter. It's taken a while, but he seems to be whole again.

The last little bit of repair included the following:
exhaust/tranny bracket
clutch work
alignment & new tires
cruise control switch

It was one expensive use of the truck. Probably over $5K in repairs since the tournament.

Billy Bluebonnet Butt

A nickname that has been bestowed upon me for my tradition of sowing bluebonnet seeds on our property each year. We're starting to get a pretty good patch of them. In fact, this past Spring, people stopped by and took pictures in the patch. I was very pleased.

I sowed some more seeds this weekend. I also sowed some Red Corn Poppy, Indian Blanket and Indian Paintbrush. I hope some of them come up.

Weekend update

Friday:

aikido

Saturday:

Mow the lawn
Sow bluebonnet, paintbrush, indian blanket and corn poppy seeds
Work on installing suspended garage storage.
Football
Aikido
Dinner at Joe's
Baseball

Sunday

Complete installation of one suspended garage storage rack
Aquarium water change
Route out spotlight back for Leo.
Help K. set up her backyard post-Ike
Football
Baseball

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 10/18/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Trey.

Ukemi: A normal set.

The Walk: I counted this out for Kim and Trey. They were of the opinion that I counted waaaaay too slowly. They're probably right.

Releases: With Trey. Very smooth

Techniques:

We ran through a 3 iterations of Trey's demonstration syllabus. He's doing great. I notice some stuff each time around, but it's really not worth correcting at this point. It's very minor stuff, and really is tweaking for higher grades.

Probably another hundred fall night for me.

Aftermath: Ibuprofen. I was sore the next morning. Ouch.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/17/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, Greg and C.

Ukemi: Helped C. with her falls.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Greg.

Techniques:

We ran through a couple of iterations of Trey's demonstration syllabus. And I worked with Greg on exposing him to 11-14 of Ju Nana Hon Kata.

Trey's reps went very well. He's going to do exceptionally well this Friday.

Greg and I worked on #11 and #13, exploring the off-balances and the need to push instead of grab. We worked on the armbar for #11.

Greg wanted to work on kote-gaeshi, but I wasn't prepared to open that can of worms. Next time.

Aftermath: None of note

Books read since Ike

I've been on a very slow book reading stint for the past year. The time waiting for power after Ike got me back reading again. Here are the books I've read since the hurricane.

Old Man's War John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
Beholder's Eye - Julie Czerneda
Lost in Booth Nine - Adam Troy-Castro
Roman Dusk - Quinn Yarbro
Dragon's Tongue - Laura J. Underwood
Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller
The Blue Girl - Charles deLint
The Clan Corporate - Charles Stross
The Gospel of the Knife - Will Shetterly

Volleyball, 1-2

We finally got back on the court after Hurricane Ike did a little damage to the court.

We did pretty well considering we were playing the second place team. 5 points the first game, 11 the second and then we won the third game.

Texas Renaissance Festival

K. and I went to the Ren Fair as part of our anniversary celebration. We'd signed up and paid our money for the King's Feast, the nice meal with entertainment that they've had for about 10 years now.

We left around 8:30 and got up there around 10, leaving us an hour to wander around before we were to be seated.

The meal was a 6 course meal and it was pretty good.

Fruit and cheese plate
Salad
Soup
Vegetables and Chicken
Prime Rib, Pork and Sausage
Dessert

In the past (we've gone to a couple of these), there would be some entertainment during the meal, usually from the various acts that perform on the stages around the grounds. This year it was just the belly dancers from one of the stages plus a group of four folks that were in-house entertainment.

I was drastically underwhelmed. I hope they improve over the coming weekends (this was the first weekend of the festival), because it was pretty bad.

We wandered around the fair a bit, after the feast, but our timing was a bit off everywhere and we did not stumble on to any of the shows just as they were starting.

We had an easy trip home. I'm not sure I'm glad we went. It was ok, but not worth the expense of the Feast.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: Aikido. Durango's. D&D at Robert's.

Sunday: TexRenFair and the King's Feast, football, baseball, pizza

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 10/11/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and C.

Ukemi: Help C with her rolls.

The Walk: Went ok. Slowing down so that C. has more of a chance to see what's going on, and then spending more time on the individual sections

Releases: With C., introducing her to them. She's worked on 4 of the 8 now

Techniques:

We had a few minutes at the end of class to work on Shomen-ate. She got one good one in and we ended class on that high note.

Aftermath: none of note

Friday Night at the Dojo 10/10/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Trey.

Ukemi: No big falls.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

We ran through a couple of iterations of Trey's demonstration syllabus. It's looking great. It varies between an 85 and a 95 as a grade, in my opinion, so he will do well when the actual event occurs. That event is scheduled for two weeks from now.

I went through 1-7 of Ju Nana Han Kata and then , at the end, threw Trey with Kote-gaeshi.

I still don't feel I'll be ready for Shodan demonstration anytime soon and I am scheduled to demonstrate at the upcoming seminar.

Aftermath: Ibuprofen. Also, I broke in a new gi this evening. A seersucker gi from Tozando. It was really nice, but quite a bit warmer than my usual one which is about 20 years old.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido and Durango's with K. and K.

Saturday: cleaning up the bamboo scraps from Ike and trying to turn them into whistles. Aikido. D&D at Robert's, got a new level for Ragamon.

Sunday: football, work on the restarting the aquarium, creme brulee

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 10/04/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, Brad, and C.

Ukemi: I spent the ukemi portion of the night working with C. We're still using the crash pad, but she started falling from an upright position instead of just her knees. She's making great progress

The Walk: No issues.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

Trey and I ran through his demonstration 3 times: Releases and Ju Nana Hon Kata (1-10). Even the third one, when we were beat, was pretty good.

Sensei Tim then had us work on hand randori for the rest of the class

Aftermath: None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/03/08

Aikidokas: Tim, K., Trey, and C. (a new student).

Ukemi: Normal routine.

The Walk: Went ok. Slowed down at spots to allow C. to better see what's happening

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

Trey and I went through a couple of repetitions of what his Sankyu demonstration would be: Walk, Releases and 1-10 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. It went really well.

After that, I spent some time with C. showing her the first release. I probably spent more time than I should have. I should have shown the release, spent some time on it and then moved on to the second release.

Aftermath: Ibuprofen and a margarita, not at the same time, were called for after all of the falls.