Friday:
Lunch at Durango's
Rehab session
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Bank errands
Aikido
Picked up cupcakes at Rise Cupcakes (too much icing)
Roast Beef stew for dinner
Sunday:
Lunch with the family to celebrate birthdays. We went to Phoenicia in town and had a nice lunch. Picked up some "Herbs de Provence" and some Mediterranean spice combo.
Nap
Football
Ongoing concern:
Will Isaac come and visit us or will he hit New Orleans instead.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Brad, Liz, Charles, and Hussein
Ukemi:
None for me today
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Oversaw Liz and Brad working on their releases.
Techniques:
Helped minimally with Troy and Trey's final rep before demonstration. Took a couple of falls in a Blum-line of Brad and the white belts.
Sat on the board for and filmed Troy's demonstration. He was demonstrating for Nikkyu, but we had him work through the techniques for Ikkyu. So, once he has time-in-grade for Ikkyu, he will be awarded that rank.
He did a fantastic job on the demonstration. Trey played a little with Troy's mind to ease up the tension. Trey would call out the technique and side just before starting the attack. Troy works better under those conditions than in the more traditional in order list for a demonstration.
Aftermath:
Took me several reps to remember how to tie my hakama.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gale, Liz, and Charles
Ukemi:
None for me tonight
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Marvin on his set
Techniques:
Oversaw Troy and Trey working on Troy's demonstration techniques. He has a demonstration on Saturday.
Worked with the others on some of their techniques. I specifically remember working with Marvin on Ushiro-ate. He's still using a lot of power, but I did get him to lighten up on one rep, at least.
Aftermath:
First official Rehab session this afternoon. Some tough exercises.
Aikido players: Troy, and Sal
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Troy and Sal worked their way down from Waki-gatame down to Ushiro-ate on the left side, in deference to Sal's sore right arm. Troy had some initial issues with Waki-gatame, but I think that was "lots of work, little sleep" brain. Once he got warmed up, he did well.
Sal did well, he's having some issues foot work on the 3-step that he's having to learn.
Aftermath:
Had my PT evaluation today. Icing the knees tonight, actual therapy session tomorrow.
Friday
Lunch at Chester's Deli with K.
Worked on Art Show Helper
Aikido
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Walked the dogs
Aikido
Grilled out burgers, chicken,. and salmon for dinner with K. and K.
Watched "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"
Sunday
Slept very late
Watched Little League World Series
Made a batch of "War Bread"
Worked on ArmadilloCon checks
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Brad, Gale, Liz, Charles, Jim, and Hussein
Ukemi:
None for me this afternoon. Helped Gale with her backfalls.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Marvin through his set.
Techniques:
I worked with Brad, Marvin, and Gale as a set as they worked through Oshi-taoshi and Ude-gaeshi. We demonstrated hiki-taoshi and ude-hineri so that they would have some exposure to them.
Trey and Troy worked on 1-17 for the last hour of class.
Aftermath:
Still the knees.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Liz, and Charles
Ukemi:
None for me tonight
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Charles on his set
Techniques:
Worked with Charles on 1-3. My knee started complaining after a couple of reps on Gyaku-gamae-ate and so I bowed out of uke work. Charles is looking pretty good on his first five.
Aftermath:
Diagnosis from the doc after seeing the MRI: sprained ACL, MCL and Patellar tendinosis. Going to be getting some rehab. I think I'll be staying away from sand volleyball
Aikido players: Troy, Kim Sal, and Brad
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Kim and Brad both worked on Oshi-taoshi, Ude-gaeshi.
Troy and Sal worked on Oshi-taoshi, Ude-gaeshi, mainly with Sal as left-sided uke because of pain in his right arm.
Aftermath:
Knees.
Friday
Lunch at Burger House
Aikido
Olympics
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Olympics
Aikido
Olympics
Dinner with K. and the in-laws at Cullen's American Grill - my food was over salted. I don't expect to go back
Olympics
Sunday
Worked on another bread recipe
Olympics
Nap
Olympics
Grilled out some salmon
Olympics
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, and Hussein
Ukemi:
None for me this afternoon
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Hussein for a while before Trey took over.
Techniques:
I worked on the last 11 of the 25 from Koryu Dai Yon. This portion is not yet set in my mind as to the order. We're definitely not doing it in the order that Nick at Windsong shows it on his video. I know the first two are the "come-along" and the "come-along-through-the-rabbit-hole".
I was having my usual trouble with the various kote-gaeshi where I raise my hands higher than I need to as I'm pivoting. I was also having the issue of leaving out a step on my pivots, a right foot step, and that caused my left foot to be planted when it should be floating.
Aftermath:
Still the knees.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Liz, and Charles
Ukemi:
None for me tonight
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
None for me tonight
Techniques:
Worked on my first 14 of Koryu Dai Yon No Kata with Troy as an uke. I was having an issue on #3, which is a response to the first release. My timing was off. That's really the essence of Yon Kata, it's a timing kata. O Waza Ju Pon is the first set of techniques that timing is critical, Yon Kata just revisits it intensely.
I also had a little trouble, as usual, determining the technique on some of the counters.
I then helped Liz and Charles on their first couple of techniques.
Aftermath:
Still the knees.
Aikido players: Kim and Brad
Ukemi:
None tonight, still waiting for the Doc to review the MRI of my knees
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Kim and Brad both worked on Shomen-ate, Gyakugamae-ate and Ushiro-ate. Worked on roles of tori and uke to make certain they're giving good off-balances and reactions to the off-balance.
Aftermath:
Knees.
Friday
Lunch at Dixie Deli
Aikido
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Olympics
Aikido
Olympics
Dinner with K. and K. at Durango's
Olympics
Sunday
Olympics
Some time mowing the ditch. I lasted a far shorter amount of time than I expected.
Nap
Olympics
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Marvin, Gale, Liz, Charles, and Hussein
Ukemi:
None for me tonight
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Oversaw Liz and Gale working together
Techniques:
Oversaw Liz and Gale working together on Shomen-ate and Aigamai-ate
Aftermath:
Still the knees.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan, Liz, Charles, and Jim
Ukemi:
None for me tonight
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Worked with Jim on his set.
Techniques:
None for me tonight
Aftermath:
Still the knees.
I spent last weekend in Austin, running the art show for Armadillocon 32. I think this is the 8th or 9th year in a row that I've been in charge. The sales we had were astounding. We started off busy, seemed to drop off a bit, but ended up having a great show.
Thursday:
Up bright and early (5:15 a.m.) to do final packing and hit the road. I made it Granger around 8:45 a.m. and picked up my order of kolaches and 10 links of sausage from the store in town. I also did some touring around, looking to see if any of the commercial buildings were for sale. I think it would be neat to buy one, refurbish it and use it for a combination home/martial arts dojo. Then it was on to Austin. I stopped by the hotel, hoping my room was available so I could unload. It was not, so I went on to Central Market for my weekend supply of root beer and then to Aikido of Austin to watch their noon session.
From aikido, it was back to the hotel to unload the truck. After that, I had a couple of hours of free time until the pre-con dinner. So, I went down to the pool, caught some rays and did some swimming.
The pre-con dinner was at a nearby Mexican restaurant, more inner than Tex-Mex. Pretty good stuff, but expensive. I think I might avoid it next year.
After dinner, it was time to assemble the art show. It took us about 2 hours to build the show. I distributed the boxes of mail-in art to be at the spots where they would get hung in the morning. I got to bed around 11 p.m., I think.
Friday:
Up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel and then off to the art show to start hanging art. Tomi Welch provided a priceless amount of help in helping me hang the art. We were ready to go by about 2 p.m., folks started wandering while we were still setting up.
We were open until around 9:30 p.m. We were going to try to close at 6 p.m. and then re-open at 7:30 p.m. when the "Meet the Pros" occurred, but the Dealer's Room stayed open until 7 p.m. and we had to stick around. I zipped off to Threadgill's for dinner after we closed.
Saturday:
Up bright and early for breakfast at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe. I won't be going back to that location. The day pretty much flew by all the way through the auction. We had 21 pieces go to auction where I auctioneered and Rhonda Eudaly did a fabulous job as a runner in her Ravenwood leather outfits job getting folks to bid. We did a total of $8200(!!!!) sales in the art show for the weekend.
Dinner was at Enchiladas Y Mas with some of the Art Show crew.
Sunday
Up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel and then off to the art show. The next thing I knew, the art show was torn down and all of the artists were checked out. I waited around for one of the local artists and to move packages up to my room, so I was unable to help unload the art show supplies at the storage unit, but I did make it to the post-con dinner at County Ljne Bar-B-Q. It's ok stuff, not great.
Back at the hotel, I had to do final paperwork and packing of the mail-in art for mail-out on Monday. Laura Domitz and Jimmy Simpson, and Tomi did a fantastic job of packing up the art for me.
I hit the Dead Dog party for a bit, and then went to bed.
Monday:
Up early, without breakfast, to pack the truck and to try to hit UPS, USPS and FedEx when they opened so I could mail out all of the packages. I think I managed to get on the road by 9:30 a.m. I made it home by about 12:30 p.m.
Next year, I get to do something similar for WorldCon. No ArmadilloCon, thank goodness.
Aikido players: Troy, Brad, and Dan
Ukemi:
None tonight, still waiting on MRI of my knees
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Troy worked on Shihonage.
Brad worked on Oshi-taoshi and Hiki-taoshi.
Dan worked on 3 step and Oshi-taoshi and Hiki-taoshi.
Aftermath:
MRI soon, no issue with joint or ligaments visible without it.
I ended my workday on Friday around noon by stopping off in Alvin at the Coastal Crossing Grill. It used to be the Barbed Rose, but the owners reincarnated the restaurant. I'd wanted to make it down to the Barbed Rose, but never managed to do so. Short and to the point: good, but a little far to be able to go there and make it back to work as it's about a 30 minute drive.
The place was not very busy, and I was welcomed and seated immediately. The decor was nice, but I spent most of my time working Sudoku and crosswords so can't describe it well.
The menu ranges from sandwiches and po-boys to fried chicken and steaks. I chose the pecan-crusted chicken with a side of mac & cheese. The waitress tried to convince me to get the sauce on the side of the chicken, saying a number of folks did not like it and she did not want to have to replace my order. I declined that option. When the order came, the sauce was a very mild mustard-based sauce. I can't imagine too many folks having an issue with it. Both the chicken and the mac were good dishes.
I order the Pecan Pie for dessert. I suspect it's not a restaurant made dish. I was not impressed.
I've waited too long to write this up, so I've forgotten how much the lunch cost me. I suspect it was about $18.
