12.30.2014

Tweet summary on 12-30-2014 for the past 3 days


Sunday, December 28, 2014


Saturday, December 27, 2014

12.26.2014

Tweet summary on 12-26-2014 for the past 3 days


Wednesday, December 24, 2014


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

12.23.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Perbacco's - rainy day, no crowd
Aikido

Saturday:

Banking
Houston Ballet's Nutcracker

Sunday:

Not much of anything

12.22.2014

Volleyball, 1-2

We played "I don't give a hit" and played them close.  We won the first game and lost the next two.  The points were generally long and the games were close.  I got the most exercise in a while from a volleyball match.

Aikido Friday Night - 12/19/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Mario, Marvin, Dan, Kim, and John

Ukemi:

Watched over everyone else.

The Walk:

Not tonight

Releases:

Not tonight

Techniques:

We spent most of the evening on Sumi otoshi

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 12/18/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Marvin, Dan, and John

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Dan and John worked on 11 - 14

Mario, and Marvin worked on Mae otoshi

Aftermath:

None of note.

12.15.2014

Nick's Sumi Otoshi


Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Zydeco's
Aikido

Saturday:

Blueberry pancakes
Aikido
Work at the rental
Dinner at El Centinela's with K

Sunday:

Paid bills, taxes, charity stuff
Work at the rental
Football
Corn bread

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 12/13/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Mario, Marvin, Dan, and John

Ukemi:

Watched over the others

The Walk:

Once.

Releases:

Marvin and Dan, Mario and John

Techniques:

We gave the guys the opportunity to take the releases and see which techniques they could get out of them

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 12/12/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Mario, Marvin, Gail, and John

Ukemi:

Got in a single set of warm-ups.  Watched over everyone else.

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

Marvin and Mario, Gail and John

Techniques:

We spent a good amount of time on releases with Marvin and Mario.

Gail and John did some work on 11-14

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 12/11/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Marvin, Dan, Kim, and John

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Dan and Kim worked on 11-14

Mario, Marvin, and John worked on 11-14

Aftermath:

None of note.

Volleyball, 0-3

Got manhandled again

Weekend update - SMOFcon timeline

Dec 4

Caught the bus from work and drove straight over to the airport to catch a 7:30 flight out to LAX.
Watched some of Thursday Night Football on the flight thanks to free access from Dish
Caught the greenline bus at LAX and then the rail to Douglas Station
Walked around the around and finally made my way to the Marriott
Crashed

Dec 5

Caught breakfast with some other folks from Texas at the hotel restaurant
Spent the day in the Facilities workshop
Lunch at a nearby pizza joint with R.
Worldcon Art Project panel at 5 some good things out of the panel
Dinner at Cozymel's
Ice Breaker where my team one of the two prizes in a Lego building competition

Dec. 6

Breakfast at Uncle Bill's pancake house near the beach (about a 2 mile walk each way)
10 a.m Convention timelines - Attempted to put 5 lbs of info in a 1lb time slot
11 a.m. User interface of conventions
Lunch at the same pizza joint
1:30 Timely decision making - Got distracted by one of the panelists verbal tics
2:30 Handling contentious events
3:30 skipped
4:30 Things Venues can't tell you
Dinner at a nearby BBQ joint
8:00 Fannish Inquisition
11:00 Statistics and Probability - Got knocked out around 1 a.m.

Dec. 7

10 a.m. Managing volunteers
11 a.m. Sasquan meeting
1:30 Ambassadors for Fandom
2:30 Can we fire folks from volunteer committees
4:00 shared a cab ride to LAX
8:00 caught my flight home

Dec. 8

1:00 a.m.  Arrived at my home airport
1:45 a.m. Arrived home

12.03.2014

Volleyball, 0-3

We played "Deep Corners" last night.  We were not up to snuff.  Manhandled fairly easily.

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 11/29/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Mario, Marvin, Gail, Dan, Kim, and John

Ukemi:

Demonstration day

The Walk:

The 4 folks did their walks.  We then did it again, as the first one was very rough

Releases:

Marvin and Dan, Gail and Kim

Techniques:

All four folks ran through their demonstration sets.  Most did very well.  They all received their promotions.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 11/28/14

Aikido players:

Marvin, Gail, Dan, and Kim

Ukemi:

No opportunity for me to take warm-up tonight.  Watched over everyone else.

The Walk:

Not tonight

Releases:

Marvin and Dan, Gail and Kim

Techniques:

A variety of pairings, trying to get everyone a number of repetitions of the demonstration sets in

Aftermath:

None of note.

12.02.2014

Tweet summary on 12-02-2014 for the past 3 days


Sunday, November 30, 2014


Saturday, November 29, 2014

11.28.2014

Tweet summary on 11-28-2014 for the past 3 days


Wednesday, November 26, 2014


Tuesday, November 25, 2014

11.24.2014

Tweet summary on 11-24-2014 for the past 3 days


Saturday, November 22, 2014


Friday, November 21, 2014

11.22.2014

Aikido Friday Night - 11/21/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Mario, Marvin, Gail, Dan, John, and Kim

Ukemi:

Got to the mat early tonight.  Had a nice stretch and got in a double set of ukemi.  Watched over Gail.

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

John and Gail, Mario and Kim, Dan and Marvin worked together.

Techniques:

We kept the same pairings for techniques.  Each pairing had at least one person getting ready for a demo.

We had a 10 minute breather of class and Trey talked about everyone not just going through the steps of a technique, but trying to figure out whether they "had" the technique.  Talked about the roles of uke and tori.

Trey and I then did a little live action embodiment of that desired goal.  I'd spotted a video from Nick that showed Sumi Otoshi and wanted to work with it.  My first off-balance was not right, and Trey corrected it.  We then, slowly, made our way through the technique, correcting as we went.  The process ended with a gorgeous fall.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 11/20/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Marvin, Dan, and Kim

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Dan and Kim worked on their demo

Mario and Marvin worked on Marvin's demo

Aftermath:

None of note.

11.20.2014

Tweet summary on 11-20-2014 for the past 3 days


Tuesday, November 18, 2014


Monday, November 17, 2014

11.19.2014

Volleyball, 0-3

We played "Passing Out" last night, probably the best team in the league when Fandango is not in the league.  We were not up to snuff.  Manhandled fairly easily.

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at House of Blues
Curtis' birthday at the dojo, no aikido

Saturday:

Haircut
Banking
Moved some furniture to Christina
Football
Banana bread

Sunday:

More work replacing plugs and switches at Christina
Football

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 11/15/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Mario, Marvin, Gail, and Dan

Ukemi:

Got to the mat late tonight, so no ukemi for me.

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

Dan and Marvin, Mario and Gail worked together.

Techniques:

More work prepping for demonstrations

I got to do some offensive jo work with Marvin and Dan at the end of class.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 11/13/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Marvin, Dan, John, and Kim

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Dan and Kim worked on his demo

John and Marvin worked on Marvin's demo

Mario and I worked on 15 and 17.

Aftermath:

None of note.

11.16.2014

Tweet summary on 11-16-2014 for the past 3 days


Friday, November 14, 2014


Thursday, November 13, 2014

11.12.2014

Tweet summary on 11-12-2014 for the past 3 days


Monday, November 10, 2014


Sunday, November 09, 2014

11.10.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Perbacco's
Aikido

Saturday:

Up early and drove to Arlington for a meeting ( roadwork closed 45, causing us to be delayed by an hour)
ALAMO meeting
Drove back to Houston, got back around 10 p.m.

Sunday:

Dead.  Recovering from drive.  Got nothing accomplished

Aikido Friday Night - 11/7/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Mario, Marvin, Gail, Dan, and Kim

Ukemi:

Got to the mat late tonight, so no ukemi for me.

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

Trey and Gail, Dan and Kim, Mario and Marvin worked together.

Techniques:

We kept the same pairings for techniques

Aftermath:

None of note.

11.08.2014

Tweet summary on 11-08-2014 for the past 3 days


Thursday, November 06, 2014


Wednesday, November 05, 2014

11.07.2014

Aikido Thursday Night - 11/6/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Marvin, Dan, and Kim

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Dan and Kim worked on 11-14

Mario and Marvin worked on 11-14 for Marvin and 15 for Mario.

Aftermath:

None of note.

11.06.2014

Volleyball, 0-3

We played "in your face" this week and got manhandled.  They were never in danger of losing any of the games, but it at least felt competitive.

11.04.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Eats Mesquite Grill
Aikido

Saturday:

Blueberry pancakes
Took the truck in for oil change
Aikido
Switch and plug replacement at rental
Dinner with K. at El Centinela
Crashed early

Sunday:

In the shop working on tables for the rental
Football
Dinner with K. at Joe's


Tweet summary on 11-04-2014 for the past 3 days


Sunday, November 02, 2014


Saturday, November 01, 2014

11.03.2014

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 11/1/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Dan, Mario, Marvin, and Gail

Ukemi:

Got a double set in tonight

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

Worked with Marvin on his.  Did a set myself and was not impressed.

Techniques:

Worked with Marvin on Shomen-ate

After kyu grade session was done, Trey and I worked on the knife stuff from Koryu Dai San.  Spent about an hour and 15 minutes on the first 6 techniques.  Made some progress, found the off-balances.

The kote gaeshi from that section is really fun.  Uke's reaction to the main off-balance and the recovery therefrom turns into the air fall very, very quickly.  As uke starts rotating his center to catch up to his hand, he has to make the decision to take the fall at that instant.  Trey and I each took that fall once.  Too fast to do it many more times at the  point in a session.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/31/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Mario, Marvin, Gail, and John

Ukemi:

Got a double set in tonight

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

John and Marvin worked together and Mario and Gail worked together

Techniques:

John and Marvin worked on 11-14 and Mario and Gail worked on 6-10

Aftermath:

None of note.

10.31.2014

Aikido Thursday Night - 10/30/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Dan, and John

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Worked on the drill of switching hand grips from Kote gaeshi to Kote hineri and back again, with the foot work.  Spent most of the evening on that and then work on Kote hineri as a technique.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Tweet summary on 10-31-2014 for the past 3 days


Wednesday, October 29, 2014


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

10.27.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Otto's
Aikido
Started working on sourdough

Saturday:

Voted
Banking
Aikido
More work on sourdough
Weed-eated the curb and then swept
Football
Dinner at El Centinela with K.
Football
Baseball

Sunday:

Shop time working on the entertainment center
Football
Nap
Work on Banana breaad and sourdough
Baseball
Dinner with the in-laws

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 10/25/14

Aikido players:

Tim,  Dan, Mario, and John

Ukemi:

Just watched over the guys

The Walk:

Twice.

Releases:

D, M, and J worked on theirs.  It took forever.

Techniques:

We did some grip change drilling: Gaeshi to Hineri and back again.

We ran through most of the Ki Harry chains.  Showed the guys the set that involved 15, 14, 17 and 16.

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/24/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Dan, Mario, and John

Ukemi:

Got a double set in tonight

The Walk:

Twice

Releases:

None tonight

Techniques:

Trey suggested we do "monkey-in-the-middle".  Randori, in other words.  It went fairly well.  Everyone got a chance in the middle, even Tim.  When Tim was in the middle, he lost one of his tabi socks.  As I was attacking him, I picked up the sock and shook it at him.


We then had Dan work on 11-14

Aftermath:

Trey was showing some pinning stuff at the end, with me as uke.  I attempted to get out of a pin and when Trey reapplied pressure, my hip complained.  Loudly.  But, thankfully, just temporarily.

Tweet summary on 10-27-2014 for the past 3 days


Saturday, October 25, 2014


Friday, October 24, 2014

10.24.2014

Aikido Thursday Night - 10/23/14

Aikido players:

Mario, Kim, Marvin, and John

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Marvin and John ran through Marvin's techniques

Kim and Marion worked through Kim's techniques

Aftermath:

None of note.

Volleyball, 0-3

We had our first match of the new season this week.  The season started last week, but we had a bye.  We played a team new to the league and got stomped.  They have 3 good hitters and manhandled us.

I tried to spike during warm-up and my right hip complained.  It's been aching, or needing to be popped for a couple of weeks.  Maybe this will help.

10.23.2014

Tweet summary on 10-23-2014 for the past 3 days


Tuesday, October 21, 2014


Monday, October 20, 2014

10.21.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Aikido Seminar
Dinner out with the crew at La Forchetta

Saturday:

Aikido Seminar
Dinner with the crew at La Forchetta

Sunday:

Time in the workshop working on the entertainment center
Mowed the rental
Football
Dinner at Joe's with K

Aikido Saturday (Seminar) - 10/18/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Ray, Russell, J. W., Mike, Carla, Gail, Jeff, Phillip, Brian, Audrey, James, Dan, Mario, Kim, Marvin, Gail, and John (and probably some others)

Ukemi:

No organized

The Walk:

None today

Releases:

None today

Techniques:

The morning session was led by Jeff.  He worked on covering hands when someone is attacking.

Afternoon session was led by Carla and Mike. We did some basics from Goshin Jitsu, one of Tomiki Sensei's Judo/Aikido Katas.

I got to work with Phillip most of the day.

Aftermath:

Dinner at 888 Cafe

Aikido Friday Night (Seminar) - 10/17/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Ray, Russell, J. W. Gail, Jeff, Phillip, Brian, Audrey, James, Dan, Mario, Marvin, Gail, and John (and probably some others)

Ukemi:

Simple warm up slaps

The Walk:

None tonight

Releases:

None tonight

Techniques:

Ray Richards worked with us on simple ground work defenses.

I got to work with James Best for the evening

Aftermath:

Dinner at La Forchetta

10.19.2014

Tweet summary on 10-19-2014 for the past 3 days


Friday, October 17, 2014


Thursday, October 16, 2014

10.17.2014

Aikido Thursday Night - 10/16/14

Aikido players:

Dan, Marvin, and Mario

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Marvin and Mario ran through Marvin's techniques

Dan nd I worked our way through 1-10, spending a lot of time on Gedan-ate

Aftermath:

None of note.

10.15.2014

Tweet summary on 10-15-2014 for the past 3 days


Monday, October 13, 2014


Sunday, October 12, 2014

10.14.2014

Weekend update

Friday:

Lunch at Springbok
Aikido

Saturday:

Aikido
Dinner at El Centinela with K.
Football
Worked on Danishes and Coffee cake

Sunday:

More work on Danishes and Coffee cake
Football
Dinner at Joe's with K. and C.

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 10/11/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Dan, and Marvin

Ukemi:

Got most of a full set in.

The Walk:

Not today.

Releases:

Dan and Marvin worked together.

Techniques:

Dan and Marvin worked on 1-7

Aftermath:

None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 10/10/14

Aikido players:

Tim, Trey, Dan, Mario, Marvin, Gail, Kim, and John

Ukemi:

Not tonight.

The Walk:

None tonight

Releases:

None tonight

Techniques:

Marvin and Dan worked on Gedan-ate and Kote gaeshi

Kim and Gail worked 6-10

Mario and John worked on demo prep

Demonstrations:

John demonstrated for his Sankyu (3rd Brown), and Mario demonstrated for his Nikyu (2nd Brown)

Aftermath:

Both guys passed their demos..

10.11.2014

Tweet summary on 10-11-2014 for the past 3 days


Thursday, October 09, 2014


Wednesday, October 08, 2014

10.10.2014

Aikido Thursday Night - 10/9/14

Aikido players:  Kim, Dan, Marvin, Mario, and John

Ukemi:

Not on Thursdays

The Walk:

Not on Thursdays

Releases:

Not on Thursdays

Techniques:

Mario and John worked on their demonstrations

Dan , Kim, and Marvin worked on 11-14.

Marvin jumped in and worked with Mario on some final techniques when we wore John out.

Aftermath:

Cussing Compensation Container is acquiring funds, but more IOUs.

10.07.2014

Tweet summary on 10-07-2014 for the past 3 days


Sunday, October 05, 2014


Saturday, October 04, 2014