Weekend update

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 Saturday Afternoon - 1/28/2012

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 Friday Night - 1/27/2012

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.

Lunching out: Jake's Grill

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.

Weekend update

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 Friday Night - 1/20/2012

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.

Side Yard Salvage

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 Thursday Night - 1/19/2011

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.

Movie ranking from 2011

Below are the movies that I saw in 2011 with the ratings I gave them in the blog posting about them. They may not have come out in 2011, but I saw them for the first time this past year.

Tron: Legacy : 3
True Grit : 3
Tangled : 4
The Adjustment Bureau : 4
Sucker Punch : 3
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides : 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 : 4
The Tourist : 1
Secretariat : 3
Hugo : 2
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows : 4

Now, arranging them by my preference in ascending order:

The Tourist
Hugo
Tron: Legacy
Sucker Punch
True Grit
Secretariat
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
The Adjustment Bureau

So, my number 1 movie of 2011 is:

Tangled

Lunching out: 9'er's Grill

I ate lunch out at 9'er's Grill on Friday. It's a burger/sub joint that looks like it's been around a while. The crowd in there was impressive. I think it's a popular joint for teachers from local schools. The conversations seemed to give me that feel, and there were some school district vehicles in the parking lot.

I had the Tex Mex burger combo: jalapenos, bacon, and cheese with fries and a drink. It ran me less than $10. I had some minor problems with the meal: the meat was bland and the cheese was not melted. Other than that is was pretty good. The time from placing my order to receiving my food was longer than I would have liked, but it looked like they were slammed. My guess, though, is this happens every Friday and they should be prepared for it.

I might go back, but probably won't.

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at 9'er's Grill
Aikido

Saturday:

Blueberry muffins
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's

Sunday:

Football

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 1/14/2012

Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Phillip, Marvin, and Roderick. We also had a potential new student watching.

Ukemi:

No wrm-up falls for me today

The Walk:

Twice.

Releases:

I was watching over the two groups of release folks and talking to Steven (sp?) - the potential new student - about what he was seeing.

Techniques:

Trey, Phillip and I worked on some of the kneeling portion of Koryu Dai San. I had issues, as usual. Trey did well.

Aftermath:

Raw knees from the knee work.

Aikido Friday Night - 1/13/2012

Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Sal, Marvin, Gale, Roderick

Ukemi:

None. I got no time to warm up tonight. I watched over Gale. She's doing front rolls!

The Walk:

Twice, as usual

Releases:

With Gale. I have trouble doing the 6th release on her for some reason. I then worked with Roderick. We did some, and then I worked with him on some footwork exercises.

Techniques:

None tonight.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 1/12/2012

Aikido players: Sal

Ukemi:

Full 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 the first 5 and 6 of Ju Nana Han Kata. Had a number of issues with number 5 (Ushiro-ate). It just was not clicking, so we moved on to number 6 (Oshi taoshi)

Aftermath:

I expect a bruised wrist from our work with number 5.

Aikido Thursday Night - 1/5/2012

Aikido players: Sal

Ukemi:

Full 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 the 5 and 6 of Ju Nana Han Kata. We're still having some issues with 3-step, but much progress is being made. These went pretty well.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Sunday Afternoon - 1/1/12

Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Phillip, Sal, Dan, Marvin, and Gale

Ukemi:

Full set

The Walk:

Once, I think.

Releases:

With Dan, I believe.

Techniques:

I don't remember. This was our New Year's Day workout: a short workout and then brunch.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 12/30/2011

Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan, Sal, Marvin, Gale

Ukemi:

Full set

The Walk:

Twice, as usual

Releases:

With Marvin. The best set he's ever done with me.

Techniques:

I worked with Marvin on the first 3 of Ju Nana Han Kata. He did quite well. I'd like to soften him up over time, but getting the techniques is paramount. Softness should come with time.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 12/29/2011

Aikido players: Sal

Ukemi:

Full 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 the first 4 of Ju Nana Han Kata. We're still having some issues with 3-step, but much progress is being made.

Aftermath:

Had a headache going into the session and a headache coming out of the session.

Aikido Friday Night - 12/23/2011

12/23/11 Tim, Trey, Dan, Brad Trey and I did work on Standing San Kata and watching over Dan's "demo"

Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan, Brad Trey

Ukemi:

Full set

The Walk:

Twice, as usual.

Releases:

With Dan

Techniques:

Trey and I did work on Standing San Kata and watching over Dan's "demo". He was promoted to Yonkyu (green belt in our tradition)

Aftermath:

None of note.