Armadillocon Thursday

I set the alarm for 4:45 am. I woke up at 4:43 and decided I could sleep another hour, so I reset the alarm.

Up at the appointed hour. I do the final loading of the truck. I'd done most of it the night before. The only stuff left was the art that would ride in the bed of the truck on the way to Austin, and the bag of clothes for the weekend.

With a quick stop at Shipley's, I was on my way.

Took the Beltway around, up to 290 and off in the direction of Austin. Traffic was a breeze and, when the decision point came, the timing was such that I decided make the detour to Taylor for kolaches for the weekend.

Onward to the hotel. They had my room ready, so I off-loaded everything into the room. It took me about 5 trips with my dolly.

Then on to various local errands.

Frist stop: Central Market for root beers for the weekend: Frostie, St. Arnold's, Hank's, and one other (maybe Weidman?). Not impressed with the one whose name I can't remember, but the others were quite nice. Frostie is my favorite, but I need to do a blind taste with the other two.

Next stop: Aikido of Austin. I was going to miss the sessions back home, so I thought I'd try to watch a session while in Austin. It was cool. They did jo work, which is not something we do in our classes.

Texas Store Fixtures. I bought some stuff for the slatwall in my woodworking shop: baskets and shelves and such.

Hung around the hotel a bit, calling some artists that I was trying to meet. then we started unloading the art show steel. That went quickly and by the time we were done, it was time to head off to dinner at Threadgill's.

I was blessed with the task of getting the Guest of Honor, John Scalzi, to the restaurant. I was given general directions and made it to the general area of the restaurant quickly. At that point, I knew not how to proceed. So, I asked for directions at a local tire store. The restaurant was just one block away at that point. We made it safely and drew a round of applause as we arrived.

After dinner was a trip down to see the Congress Street Bridge Bats. They decided to fly out from the bridge over the river instead of straight up into the air. Our viewing pleasure was reduced because of this decision of the plying mammals, but it was still neat.

Then on back to the convention hotel to set up the steel for the Art Show. We managed to finish around 11pm.

Off to the Con Suite for a brief break and then to bed.

Armadillocon Friday

Up at 7 am to start the day.

Off to the hotel cafe for breakfast. $18 for a buffet?!? Ouch! But, they've got a monopoly on convenient places to eat now. The local Owens restaurant closed and changed into a Chili's over the past year. Other restaurants require a drive, so it's not worth the hassle.

After breakfast, on to the Art Show to start hanging the art. That got completed around 2pm, with various artists showing up to hang their own art. Joe Haldeman showed up to hang his art, as well as John Picacio, and others.

We opened up the Art Show around 2, I think. Before the convention itself was officially open!

We stayed open until around 6 or so. Laura went out and some food from Enchiladas y Mas, I think. Good stuff.

We re-opened from 8 to 10 to be open during the "Meet the Pros" event. Alcohol is available during that event and it tends to loosen the wallets some.

At 10 pm we closed for the evening and I went off to the Con Suite for a brief visit and then to bed.

Volleyball 0-3

Pretty sad showing last week, but it was our first week as a team. Also, it's been 4 months since I last played.

Armadillocon prep

Final preparations are underway for Armadillocon. On my list of things left to do are:

Charge my phone
Load more CDs into iTunes and sync up the iPod
Organize the 3-ring binders
Email the artists whose artwork has arrived over the past few days
Put the hotel confirmation in my organizer
Put the 3-ring hole punch in the art show container
Get some more shipping tape for mailing packages back out to the artists
Locate another cooler or two for the trip back
Get a map to the butcher for on the trip back
Locate a supplier of Austex chili in Austin
Decide on go/no-go to Taylor on the way into Austin
Pack suitcase
Pack the art
Pack the camera

In the shop

Got in the shop for a few hours on Saturday.

I managed to get the backing plywood cut and attached to the cabinets. I then moved them into their assigned spots where they fit like they were supposed to.

Now, I need to finish the design, and build, the final cabinet section. Then I can attach them all together, level them, and work on face frames, doors and drawers.

Olympics

I'm impressed with NBC's coverage this year. It's much improved. Far fewer puff pieces of War-and-Peace length. A greater variety of sports shown.

The sports I've seen so far:
Boxing
Swimming
Traps
Archery
Weightlifting
Road Racing
Beach volleyball
Indoor volleyball
Diving
Rowing
Basketball
Soccer
Equestrian

Some of the improvement is because I now have access to multiple stations on which they're being broadcast. I'm able to jump around if they start a puff piece I'm not interested in. But, they seem to be doing fewer of them. Probably because they have two channels devoted to just the puff pieces.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: Mow the lawn. Work in the shop on the cabinets. Aikido. Dinner out with a friend. Olympics in every spare minute.

Sunday: Olympics. Lunch out with the in-laws for m-i-l's birthday. Painting the living room. Cards with the in-laws.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 8/9/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, and Trey.

Ukemi: No air falls today.

The Walk: Not today.

Releases: With Trey. Worked on Nami no Waza. We spent about an hour working through these, making tweaks, Correcting incorrect progressions. Went well.

Techniques:

We then spent the last minutes of the session working on getting initial off-balances. For that, we chose Aigamae-ate. Over and over and over.

I also had Trey work on taking me around in a circle in case the initial off-balance does not feel right. I then exaggerated my steps while being led around in the circle to give him more time to see the body rise and body fall. It seems like a good tool to help with the timing for techniques.

Aftermath: Beat. Sweaty. Optimistic that my issue with initial off-balances is reduced.

Friday Night at the Dojo 8/8/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, and Brad.

Ukemi: 1 air fall each side, I think. A slight ping on the left calf. It might have to do with how I'm being led out for that fall, I'm not certain.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

Trey and I worked together. I was uke for him for 1-10 of Ju Nana Han Kata.

He was then uke for me for the same.

Pretty much a disaster this evening. I could not get initial off-balances for the life of me. Trey had similar issues. Sensei got a little annoyed.

Aftermath: Tired. Worked up a good sweat.

In the shop

Been out in the shop the past two nights, sweating in the 95 degree heat. I managed to get the carcasses for the two sections of cabinets completed, mostly.

Still need to be done:

1/4" plywood on the back
face frames
doors
drawers

I'm probably going to but the back on these two sections and then start and the last section of cabinet before doing the drawers and doors, etc. on all of the sections. It'll probably be a month or so before all of that gets done. I've got a bunch of weekend commitments coming up, so I won't have much shop time.

In the shop

I had some inspiration and some time, so I got out into the shop.

I lacked a little bit of restraint, though, and ended up making a mistake or two. I don't have to go out and buy more wood to correct those mistakes because I predicted I'd do something stupid. I bought enough wood beforehand to allow some room for mistakes.

My mistakes: thinking that I had not already cut two pieces. This caused a second mistake: cutting up a board that was already in final dimensions into sizes for the aforementioned two pieces.

So, tonight I have to cut two pieces 26 1/4" x 29 1/4". I've got a full sheet of plywood, ready and waiting.

Edouard, pt. 3

Edouard was the cause for me to work from home, for a whole day, for the first time. Not tremendously fun. K. was home, and it was always tempting to go help her do whatever she was doing.

I got started late and, therefore, finished late. But, I still had some hours to reset the yard to the way it was before the storm. I also had some time to work in the shop.

Ikkyu demonstration, part 3

Ikkyu demonstration, part 2

Ikkyu Demonstration, part 1

Edouard, pt. 2

Well, Edouard is a bit of a bust. Overnight he turned a bit north, so we did not get the dirty side. We have not received much of anything. In the 6 hours since the rain started, we've had 1.5" of rain. We've had a little wind, but not much.

I spent a couple of hours prepping the yard for the arrival and it wasn't necessary. And I'll have to spend the same amount, or more, un-prepping the yard

Still, with these things, it's better to be safe than sorry.

In the shop

Saturday, I finally got off my duff and finalized the design of two of the three remaining sets of cabinets in the shop. At least I've finalized the carcass dimensions and where the doors and drawers are going. I have not finalized the design of the drawer fronts or the doors.

Sunday, I spent 3 hours in the shop, sweating like a pig. I managed to get the major components cut to size. I got the one panel, that needed to be glued up, glued and clamped.

The next step will be to cut out the necessary notches and then the dadoes.

Edouard

This tropical storm, likely to be a hurricane, is coming right up our drainage pipe. I don't expect it to be too much trouble, but we're storing loose items away.

Creme brulee

I've wanted to make creme brulee for a while, but have lacked some of the implements to make it easy: ramekins and a torch.

I finally "splurged" and purchased those items.

And I've attempted 3 recipes. 2 of which turned out ok. One turned out better.

The two that turned out ok were the first two I tried. I've learned that they need to be watched in the oven and not left to overcook. I like mine a little soft/liquid in the center, so I have to keep an eye on them. If you let them go, they tend to turn cake-like.

One of the other issue with the recipes is they all say to chill them after cooking. I don't like chilled creme brulee. I like it warm, and soft.

I took a chance on the last batch and did not chill them. I also took a chance and altered the recipe the first time I made it, which is something I normally avoid like the Black Plague. I did not change it much, but I did change it.

Below is the recipe as I prepared it.

1/2 cup plus 6 teaspoons sugar
6 large egg yolks
1 large egg
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk*
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/3 cup Rum

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place four 8-oz ramekins in large roasting pan. Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks and whole egg in large bowl to blend. Combine cream, coconut milk and coconut in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Whisk into yolk mixture, slowly, a little bit at a time. Pour custard into cups, dividing equally.

Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake until custards are just set in center, about 27 minutes. Remove from water. Cool.

Arrange custard cups in a square baking pan. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar evenly over each. Tilt the pan slightly, to make reaching each ramekin easier. Using a torch, heat the sugar until it browns and start to liquify.

Overheard in the car

"I want you to check out the hookers"

Inter-species cooperation

We were outside Thursday, doing some yard work. We noticed that Jack was getting very possessive of something. I walked over and took a look. What I saw was a recently born animal, about 4 inches long, with its eyes still closed. I attempted to get Jack away from it, but he grabbed it in his mouth and took off. I attempted to get him to spit it out, but he refused. In fact, he swallowed the poor animal, still squeaking.

A few minutes later, we found another, smaller, newborn. We managed to protect this one and get it out of the yard before Jack dealt with it, but I'm sure it did not make it.

We think Vlad, one of our cats, brought the newborn in from outside of the fenced area.

Jack did not seem to suffer from his large meal of protein.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: design work for the shop, aikido, dinner and shopping with friends

Sunday: in the shop working on cabinets, a sister's birthday celebration (dinner and an Agatha Christie play)

I kind of guessed who did it in the mystery, but not really.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 8/02/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, and Brad.

Ukemi: No air falls today.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Brad. Went well.

Techniques:

I worked with Brad on shomen-ate. It went ok.

I also server as fill-in uke for Trey when he was working on gyakugamaeate. He was having issue with Richard as uke and we wanted to make sure that Trey could get the technique. He nailed it on the first attempt with me.

Trey then served as my uke for a couple of attempts on Tenkai Kote-hineri and Kote-gaeshi. The first couple were a little rough, but the final one was good.

Aftermath: None of note.

Friday Night at the Dojo 8/01/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim (yay!), and Trey.

Ukemi: 1 air fall each side, I think. A slight ping on the left calf. It might have to do with how I'm being led out for that fall, I'm not certain.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: I don't remember.

Techniques:

We ran a Blum-line tonight with Trey and Kim as tori. 1-10 of Ju Nana Hon Kata, right side. Sensei Tim joined in as uke for the first 5. I then was uke twice for each tori for each technique.

We had issue with tori getting off-line. It finally resolved itself around Ude-hineri or so.

At the end of the evening, I got to throw Trey with Kote-gaeshi and Ude-hineri. Went ok.

Aftermath: Tired and likely to be sore. Beer for the evening. Ibu the next morning.

In the shop

Well, almost. I spent some time looking for the designs for the cabinets in the shop. Once I found them, I spent some time fleshing them out some more, correcting possible problems.

Now I need to work on where to put doors, drawers, etc.

I also spent some time working on a design for a new entertainment center for the house. K. has asked that it be complete by Christmas, when we host 60+ people for my family gathering. The design is getting close to being ready. I based it on a design in ShopNotes a while back.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: Oil change for the pick up. Some design work for the new entertainment center and the cabinets in the shop. Aikido. Some sample painting in preparation for repainting the kitchen and living room. Joe's bar-b-cue for dinner. Hand and foot with the in-laws.

Sunday: Work on the deck area, incorporating some path work we did a few years ago and had to move when the construction was occurring. The Dark Knight at the theatre and then The Incredibles at home.

At the movies: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight: 4

Heath Ledger does steal the show here. Christian Bale does a good job as well. The make-up for Two-Face was impressive.

I'd happily go see this one again. Heath does deserve an Oscar, the movie might as Best Picture.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 7/26/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, Kim (yay!), and Trey.

Ukemi: 1 air fall each side, I think. No issues.

The Walk: Went ok. I counted in Czech for one iteration.

Releases: With Kim. It's fun and a challenge working with her on almost anything. Our height differential, and weight differential, alter the approaches on everything.

Techniques:

We had a visitor for a while, so Sensei Tim went to chat with him. I was left in charge and had Greg and Trey work together while I worked with Kim.

We worked through 1-10 for her. 1-5 both sides and 6-10 right side only. I'd do one or two reps first and then let her go at me.

Gyakugamae-ate (#3) is tough for a short person to get on someone my height. You've got to break me down quite a bit.

At the end of the session, Greg and Trey were working on Kote-gaeshi. Sensei Tim brought me in to try to help them. Trey wanted me to throw him with it, as well, before the end of the session.

Aftermath: Tired and likely to be sore. Ibuprofen.

Friday Night at the Dojo 7/25/08

Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.

Ukemi: Normal warm-up

The Walk: None.

Releases: None.

Techniques:

We worked through 14-17. We actually went to gake on all techniques. Normally, Sensei Tim limits his falls, but tonight he expanded his limits. We also worked on Kubi-garuma and Aiki-nage of the Owaza Ju Pon.

He spent some time making Shihonage more difficult to achieve, countering if my off-balances were not there.

We spent a lot of time on the foot work for Aiki-nage. My timing's decent, usually, but I'm still concentrating on uke's feet. My most consistent issue is my distance from uke. This is a technique where uke is your best buddy. you've got to keep him in close. I don't do that so well at the moment.

Aftermath: A nice active evening. Sensei Tim got hassled a bit from Mrs. Sensei for all of the falls.

F4DZ-5461705-A

F4DZ-5461705-A? What the heck is that?

It's the part number for the seat track for a '93 Ford Taurus SHO. A part Ford no longer makes or stocks. A part my dealer could not find. Well, kinda.

They found a listing for the part at a dealer in Iowa. When they checked with that dealer directly, it turned out that they didn't have one.

They did a search of used parts places and turned one up in Oklahoma somewhere. It would have cost $300 in shipping to get it here and there was no way to know what sort of condition it was in. It was coming off of a vehicle with 300K miles on it, more than twice the mileage on my vehicle.

The lack of this part does not make the care unsafe. It can make the care impossible for me to drive, if I can't move the seat back far enough for me to get into it.

My car is rapidly approaching the point at which it can not be repaired if something goes wrong.

At the movies: Beyond the Sea

Beyond the Sea (DVD): 3

Kevin Spacey in a movie about Bobby Darin's life, mainly as an adult.

A pleasant vehicle to get some of Bobby's songs on film, sung competently by Spacey. Covers his rise to fame, his time in the 60's and the problems presented by a childhood bout with Rheumatic Fever.

At the movies: Crank

Crank (DVD): 3

Jason Statham in the role of a hit man who discovers he has been poisoned and will die if his heart rate drops to normal levels.

I don't know if this was meant to be a comedy, but it was one to me. Not a top-notch film for acting, but a lot of fun action.

Weekend update

Friday: Aikido

Saturday:

Started up the lawnmower, ready to mow the yard again. Put it into gear and it started going. Shifted into higher gear and it stopped moving. The exact same issue for which I put it into the shop 4 weeks ago. So, I needed to put it in the shop again. Went to the library and swapped vehicles, got the mower loaded into the truck and went off to Alvin.

Got there and waited about an hour for them to get to it. Since it was a re-repair they got to it that day. It took them about 15 minutes to fix it. I test drove it around their lot for about 5 minutes and brought it back home.

Mowed the yard. Got a nice sunburn.

Aikido

Joe's Bar-B-Cue for dinner. Mmmmmmmmm.

Sunday:

Goofed around. Went to the Dog Shows in town with a friend. K. was doing schoolwork.

Got back and grilled out steak, sausage and chicken. Bar-B-Cue all week for lunches. Sweet!

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 7/19/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Tess.

Ukemi: Went ok. Didn't do any big falls today.

The Walk: None today.

Releases: None today.

Techniques:

We worked on the Nami no Waza. We managed to make it through 1, 2, 2b, 3, 4, 4b, 5 and 6.

On the chain starting with the 6th release (I think) we explored whether Tenkai Kotehineri is in the chain or whether it should be Kote kajiki (I have no idea if that is the correct spelling).

Aftermath: Tired. Sweaty. A good workout.

Friday Night at the Dojo 7/18/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Mea.

Ukemi: 1 air fall each side. Left side was good, right side pinged the left calf a little.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

We worked through 6-10 for him and 11-16 for me, all from Ju Nana Han Kata.

Spent some time on Oshi-taoshi and Ude-gaeshi exploring pivots and such.

Spent some time on Shihonage for me and Sumi-otoshi.

Aftermath: None of note

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 7/12/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and Richard.

Ukemi: Went ok. Didn't do any big falls today

The Walk: Went ok. We're altering one of the stones, the footwork thereof, and that's requiring a little adjustment. Although I have done that footwork when Sensei Mike has suggested it.

Releases: None today.

Techniques:

We worked through 1-12 for both Richard and me, both sides. We worked far slower than I'm used to and it was a good learning tool.

Ushiro-ate: not enough off-balance. Rushing the rest of the technique.

Oshi-taoshi: I was not going up and over the mountain enough.

Ude-hineri: too far away during the initial off-balance

Waki-gatame: not letting uke into my house enough.

Aftermath: Tired. Sweaty. A good workout.

Friday Night at the Dojo 7/11/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and a new student whose name I did not catch

Ukemi: We went through basic slaps and started to work on forward rolls with the new student

The Walk: Went through this a few times

It's amazing how much time introducing a new student can take. I hope she sticks around.

Aftermath: None.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: Grocery shopping and then Weed-eating for two hours in the morning. Riding mower is still in the shop.

Aikido in the afternoon.

D&D in the evening. First time I've had room in my schedule for that in several months.

Sunday: not much. Grilled chicken, steak and sausage out on the grill for dinner. Made a Peach Pie, too.

Accomplishments during the days off

Here's the list of stuff I had hoped to get done over my days off, with the ones marked that got done.

Done - Wait for the AT&T guy to fix the DSL
Done - Mow the lawn (1 acre) with a push mower. The riding mower is in the shop.
Not ready - Pick up the Taurus from the shop
Nope - Go blueberry picking
Nope - Go up to the in-laws?
Done - See Wall*E
Done - See Wanted
Done - See Hancock
95% done - Finish assembling the extension to the deck
Not ready - Pick up the 1/4 cow, if it's ready
Done - Call Adobe for help with my Photoshop issue
In the shop:
Uncle Leo's base
Assembly/feed table
95% done - Dog barrier for the other door
Reset wing on table saw
Done - Aikido on Saturday
Not enough folks - Gaming Friday or Saturday night
Did not do - Try to take some HDR photos

Looking at the list, I got almost everything accomplished. I made a mistake on the deck, so I have to fix that. I need to go through and finalize the home network after the DSL fix. I had to get the router reset and that messes everything up.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 7/5/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, Trey, and Tessa.

Ukemi: I worked on extending my legs through the falls some more.

I took a Big Fall. Without Pain. Yahoo! Now to continue the tradition.

Nami No Waza:

We worked on the first 4 chains. They are based off of, respectively, releases number 1, 2, 2, and 3.

Kogueri Double Hand Grabs:

We did the first 4 of these as well:

Two-hands to the chest.
One hand to the chest.
Heaven and earth.
Two hands to the same side and then bump uke.

I tried to do these with my eyes closed to get a better feel for uke's balance.

Aftermath: I was an absolutely dripping mess by the end of 2+ hours. Lots of overall soreness. Not calf pain!

At the movies: Wall*E

Wall*E: 4

A Pixar movie. Really, what else needs to be said?

I enjoyed the heck out of this one. Got consistent laughs when Wall*E recharged and made the MacOS boot sound.

Only have one quibble. I think they messed up the scale of the two ships. The one that lands on Earth with Eve seems much smaller in space when compared with Axiom than when you compare their footprints on Earth. A minor quibble.

I'd happily see it again. It might be added to the library when the DVD comes out.

At the movies: Hancock

Hancock: 3

Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman star in a film about a superhero who's not as much of a poster boy as you would hope for.

Fun special effects and a decent story line. I just don't think I'm terribly interested in seeing it again. I can't think of any specific reason why not.

At the movies: Wanted

Wanted: 3

Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and others star in a movie about an everyman who discovers he has the genetics of the best assassin in the world. This everyman is then trained and welcomed into the brotherhood of assassins.

A fun movie with lots of bang of lots of chases. I did not spot the twist coming but I think my wife did.

The end scene pushed a bit of dialogue too far. I found myself thinking "they're more like guidelines".

At the movies: Ronin

Ronin: 2

Robert DeNiro, Jean Reno, Sean Bean, Jonathan Pryce

A suitcase is desired by Russian and Irish agents. Much mayhem arises from the quest for said suitcase.

You'd think that this high-powered cast would be able to pull off a decent movie, but I guess the script was sorely lacking, or the director was horrible. The movie was not that good. It felt very low budget.

This movie has an interesting tie-in with the film "Munich". There's a role in this movie that almost exactly matches a role in "Munich" and is played by the same actor.

At the movies: Munich

Munich: 3

A Spielberg movie about the Munich Olympics and the Israelis taken hostage during that time. It then follows the retribution taken against the planners of the hostage crisis.

A good movie. I suppose I need to see how much of the retribution is factual.

This movie has an interesting tie-in with the film "Ronin". There's a role in this movie, "Papa", that almost exactly matches a role in "Ronin" and is played by the same actor.

Plans for the week

I'm going to be off work for 6 consecutive days, and there are a number of things that should get done during that time. Let's see what I've come up with and then see what actually gets done.

Wait for the AT&T guy to fix the DSL
Mow the lawn (1 acre) with a push mower. The riding mower is in the shop.
Pick up the Taurus from the shop
Go blueberry picking
Go up to the in-laws?
See Wall*E
See Wanted
See Hancock
Finish assembling the extension to the deck
Pick up the 1/4 cow, if it's ready
Call Adobe for help with my Photoshop issue
In the shop:
Uncle Leo's base
Assembly/feed table
Dog barrier for the other door
Reset wing on table saw
Aikido on Saturday
Gaming Friday or Saturday night
Try to take some HDR photos

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: work for 12 hours trying to get a release out the door. No aikido. durango's for dinner

Sunday: work, again, for 12 hours. Watch baseball (Chicago/Chicago) in the evening.

Rest of the week? Work Monday and then off until July 7th!!!!!

Friday Night at the Dojo 6/27/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Brad.

Ukemi: No air falls. While waiting for Trey to show up, I had a little extra time to run through reps. Got about 3x normal number of rolls in. Spent a little time after each one checking for things that might be issues on an air fall. Might upgrade to air falls again soon.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey. We found something to correct in each release.

Techniques:

We worked through 6-8 for him and 1 (Kubi-guruma) of the Owaza Ju Pon for me.

Trey was doing fairly well on his techniques.

I was re-introduced to mine on the right side and did ok. I went through three of the four steps of learning it.

1) Push uke's leading hand and let him roll-out.
2) Push only uke's neck and let him roll-out.
3) Push uke's hand and his neck and let him roll-out.
4) Push uke's hand and his neck and have him take the garuma fall

Then I worked on the left side. I only did the first step on that side.

Aftermath: Slight tweak of left calf muscle on a fall for ude-gaeshi. Trey told me to hurry up and get my Shodan before I fall apart.

At the movies: Syriana

Syriana: 3

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Robert Foxworth, Christopher Plummer, Jeffery Wright, Amanda Peet combine in a story of oil, the Middle East, Texas, the CIA and corruption.

Some violence, some torture and good acting.

At the movies: Pride of the Yankees

Pride of the Yankees: 3

Gary Cooper plays Lou Gehrig in Lou's life story: from childhood to retirement from the Yankees.

Good stuff. Almost drew a tear from me at one point.

At the movies: Bourne Ultimatum

Bourne Ultimatum: 3

Jason Bourne comes back yet again and finds out how he got to be the way he is.

A fun movie, with amazingly indestructible vehicles yet again.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: K at work. I worked on shipping some stuff, but the local shipping outlet was closed, even though their sign said they should be open.

aikido.

Dinner at Durango's with a double, horizon-to-horizon rainbow.

Sunday: work on the extension to the grilling deck and dinner with mom at Valentino's Seafood.

Little did I realize that ratcheting the lag bolts for the deck extension would really give my thumbs a workout. They're sore!

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 6/21/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, Trey, Tessa, and Brittany. Tessa and Brittany are two NASA co-ops, here for the summer. I hope they'll continue to grace us with their presence.

Ukemi: I worked on extending my legs through the falls some more. I think I'll work on that some more on Friday and try an air fall on Saturday.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Greg.

Techniques:

Tim had Tessa show us Ikkyo, Nikkyo, and Sankyo from the Ueshiba style. Pretty interesting. Ikkyo does not have a direct corollary in Tomiki. Nikkyo is our Tenkai Kote-Hineri. Sankyo shows up in San Kata.

Trey wanted to run through ude-hineri before we went home, so I served as uke.

Aftermath: None of note

Friday Night at the Dojo 6/20/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Brad.

Ukemi: No air falls. I'm trying to ascertain whether I am curling my legs mid-fall. I think I am. I worked on extending them through the falls and it does seem to improve things.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

Trey and I were not having a great night. We worked through 1-3 for him and 1-5 for me. I think I was attacking poorly, was not interested in some of the techniques.

Aftermath: None of note

Mechanical issues

Taurus needs to go into the shop for alignment and, maybe, suspension work. I was driving home in the rain the other day and the car started drifting while the wheels were straight. Also, when we go over Botts' dots, the car seems to do the Charleston.

I attempted to mow the lawn with the riding mower yesterday and it stopped moving after about 5 minutes. I attempted a fix for this a while back, but it doesn't seem to have worked. Into the shop it goes. The faster I get it in, the faster I get it back, the sooner I can mow with something besides the push mower. In this Texas heat, that can make quite a difference.

Quality, I haz it

I went looking for some information on a drive enclosure that's giving me trouble. The link provided by a store appears to be the wrong site, as they don't mention any hard drive enclosures in their product list. However, the intro flash struck my funny bone.

I still need to find info on the drive enclosure. My 1TB drive is currently inaccessible.

At the movies: Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum: 3

A down-on-his-luck divorced dad gets desperate and takes a job as a night watchman at a museum. The museum comes to life at night.

I'm amazed that I'm not upset that I watched the movie. I generally don't like the concept of Ben's movies. Maybe the scene with Ben and his mom made me give it a chance? I don't know.

A very well-respected cast, if not a strong script for the cast. Mickey Rooney had a fun part.

At the movies: Jumper

Jumper: 3

It's been a long time since I read the book. I can't even find my copy of the book. : ( But, not much of the movie resembled the book. I think the lead character, his girlfriend and his ability to teleport are similar to the book.

Still a fun movie.

Weekend update

Friday: Japanese class. Home after 10

Saturday: Japanese class. In town by 9am. We were going to go back out and go shopping in the Asian section of Houston afterwards, but K. decided it would be too taxing on the two students. So, we stayed home, baked some chicken and watched a couple of movies.

Sunday: Japanese class. In town by 9am. Back home to grill out for Father's Day: steaks, and salmon. Then the NBA Finals.

Japanese class is done!!!

Blueberries

We finally made the time to go out to the local-est blueberry farm in Houston. It's not local. It's about an hour and a half away, but it is the closest one.

We got there around 6 pm, not having had to struggle through too much traffic.

We grabbed our buckets and dove into the bushes, not to surface, or see each other, for about two hours. K. and I had big buckets. Our niece, E., had a small one.

When we emerged, the two big buckets were mostly filled. The small bucket had a couple of layers of blueberries in it. Turns out she'd been eating more than picking, but that's ok.

Returned uneventfully. Grabbed some dinner and watched the NBA Finals.

Time for some blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes. Yahoo!

At the movies: Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda: 3

Saw this with my niece. We did skip out before the very end of the credits.

An okay movie. The voices were not overpowering. That is to say, they did not obscure the dialogue. I had trouble recognizing the voices, even though I knew who a couple of them were.

Anyway. Good movie about following your dream, doing things no one thinks you can.

Nihongo

I spent the last weekend in a Japanese class with my niece and two other folks. All together, there a four folks in the class: two adult, two not.

The youngsters are doing the best, far and away. I'm having fun, but the brain gives out around 2:30 each day.

The hardest part is paying attention to what the instructor is saying as she's asking me to translate. I have to concentrate hard, process what was said, and the process the translation. It requires a lot of energy.

Drama

A bunch of, potentially high-stakes, drama in my little aikido world. I hope it all straightens out well. Some of the events that have already transpired are one-way tickets, I think.

Somebody's got to blink.

Also drama in the publishing world.

All of this drama is caused, IMOGDO, by lack of communication. Talk, people!

Publishing excitement

I got involved in a book deal several years ago, mainly to get some of Roger Zelazny's lesser-known works republished and available to a wider audience. The book got published, and it may or may not have sold some copies.

It was not the wisest move I've ever made, at least the way it looks at the moment.

Things have happened in the past couple of days to inject some life into the cold, sodden ashes of the project. Sparks are flying and threatening to burn down houses.

Interesting times.

At the movies: Troy

Troy: 2

Sparta vs. Troy

Wow, were there a lot of big names in this film: Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Peter O'Toole, and Brian Cox (Ah! He was in Bourne Identity). Unfortunately, they didn't have much to work with. I don't know why, but it was just "blah." No real tension. I didn't have much of a reason to be rooting for any particular character.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido, dropped off by K. who went to a genealogy meeting. 2nd car still in the shop

Saturday: up and off to the dealership to pick up the Taurus. No incidents on the way home, so it may be fixed.

aikido.

Dinner at home with K. and friend K. Cooked steaks indoors, came out ok. Cooked fish, made bruschetta and strawberry daiquiris. Good times.

Failed to fix her string trimmer. Failed to even get to the source of the problem. The started string on Ryobi string trimmer extends about 12 inches and then stops.

Sunday: slept in and then watched the Aggie women lose the early game to Florida in softball.

Went out to the shop, did the waxing of the metal surfaces of some power tools and then actually turn a couple of bottle stoppers. Destroyed a blank of yellow heart, but the purple heart and padouk came out ok.

Started up the string trimmer for the first time in a while. I'm glad I stored it away without any gas in it.

Watched the second game between A&M and Florida wherein the Aggies came through and scored in the top of the 9th and managed to keep the Gators from scoring in the bottom of the 9th. Now we take on ASU in a 3 game series!!

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 5/31/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, and Brad.

Ukemi: One attempt at right-sided big fall, re-aggravation of the muscle. Randy and I went over to a spare mat pile and attempted another one, to see what was going on on a softer surface. The fall looked fine, but it still hurt that muscle. Weird

I've got a two week layoff because of an intro Japanese course over the next two weekends, so maybe the muscle will be ready then.

The Walk: Okay. That sore muscle does make some of the pivots more difficult.

Releases: With Randy, went ok. He wanted to see a repeat of 6th release.

Techniques:

1, 2 and 5 (Kubi-garuma, Kata-otoshi, and Aikinage) of Owaza Ju Pon with Randy, right-sided only.

Worked on timing and all other parts of these technique with roll-outs only for uke. Did ok.

Did some work as uke for Brad at the end. It gave him a much taller uke to adjust to for shomen-ate, gyakugamae-ate and ushiro-ate.

I did ok. Some work on Shihonage and Mae-otoshi, as well as Sumi-otoshi.

Aftermath: Still stiff left calf muscle. Two weekends off for Japanese class.

Friday Night at the Dojo 5/30/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, and Trey.

Ukemi: Took a big fall, right-sided. Landed weird on the left calf muscle and it complained. This is annoying. The fall feels ok otherwise.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

11-17 left-sided for me as tori. 1-10 for Trey as uke, left-sided.

Worked out some problems for Tenkai kote-hineri for me. I need to continue pushing. Got some compliments on shihonage for following uke properly.

On the first attempt of hiki-otoshi I did not "disappear" properly. Second attempt was much better.

On mae-otoshi, Trey clued in to the fact that I could have directed his fall anywhere I wanted.

Sumi-otoshi was ok. Trey side/back-falled out of it instead of a big fall. That indicates I was a little late changing directions.

Aftermath: Very sore left calf muscle. Pulled? Strained? Bruised left knee cap. Probably from an oshi-taoshi fall with Trey as tori.

At the movies: I am Legend

I am Legend: 3

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

Starring Will Smith. There was some good tension in parts, that's for certain. There were some gaps in logic that weren't explained and some camera work that threw me out of the movie.

I'm considering marking it down to a 2 instead of a 3, because of the camera work. Nah. I'll leave it as is.

At the movies: Music & Lyrics

Music & Lyrics: 3

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore in a story about a has-been pop singer who has just a few days to write a song for the current popstar-of-the-month.

This was a pretty formulaic love story, but some of Hugh's lines actually got me to laugh, so I'm giving it a 3.

At the movies: Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin: 3

A case of mistaken identity leads into the middle of an old mob feud.

I did not see the twist coming until very late, if at all. A fun, somewhat violent movie. A good cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu and Josh Hartnett.

Weekend update: Memorial Day weekend

Friday: aikido

Saturday: Wired the set cabinets destined to be the new stained glass work table for the fluorescent fixtures. Caused myself some minor damage in the process. Lots of blood, though. Aikido. Dinner at Durango's. 3 DVDs: Casino Royale, Music & Lyrics and Lucky Number Slevin.

Sunday: Up early to fetch Kim and the in-laws from their cruise ship. I went early enough, I thought, to get into Galveston in time for some breakfast. I was looking for the restaurant when I got a call from Kim saying they were ready. So, I went and picked them up and they joined me at the restaurant to watch me eat breakfast.

In the afternoon I grilled out burgers and we dined well.

Monday: Yard work in the morning during which I discovered that the riding mower needs some work. In the afternoon, I grilled fish, shrimp and sausage. Once again, the family dined well. Oh, I also made some shortcakes and a coffee cake. Good stuff.

Saturday Afternoon at the dojo 5/24/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Richard, and Brad.

Ukemi: No big falls. Full complement of left- and right-sided otherwise.

The Walk: No walk today.

Releases: None today.

Techniques:

11-17 left-sided only with Richard.

We did some exploring of the new approach to some of these techniques with Richard. He'd not seen some of the changes that we're incorporating. We spent a lot of time on Sumi-otoshi. Looking at the differences between it and Uke-otoshi.

I did ok. Some work on Shihonage and Mae-otoshi, as well as Sumi-otoshi.

Aftermath: Still stiff left calf muscle..

Friday Night at the dojo 5/23/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, and Trey.

Ukemi: Took a big fall, right-sided. Landed weird on the left calf muscle and it complained.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey. Went ok. Working on an alternative to having to duck on 5 and 7 by pushing up more. It requires staying much closer to uke.

Techniques:

1-10 left-sided only for both of us. It was a struggle. It was interesting to see how much a difference doing no right-sided techniques to jog the memory makes. I was very grabby on a number of the techniques, but I did manage to clean it up a little.

We went back to 1-step distance to clean up some issues from time to time and it helped. We explored some options for ushiro-ate for someone of Trey's height trying to handle someone of my height.

Aftermath: Very sore left calf muscle. Pulled? Strained?

RIP: Robert Asprin

I met him only once in person, at AggieCon a few years ago. The picture
I've got of him outside, doing a panel on sword work, is one of my
favorites I've taken

I met him through his written word, many times. I'm saddened that his
new worlds will be no more.

At the movies: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull : 3

Harken back to the days of the Temple of Doom and the Lost Ark and you'll find yourself properly prepared for the newest installation of the Indy franchise where the lead character is named after his dad's dog.

This time our ragtag group of archeaologists is not taking something from an ancient civilization, but returning something to one. And that, I think, takes a lot of dramatic tension away from the movie. There are a few instances of surprise, but I never felt that the result was in doubt. Maybe it would have been better if I'd not seen and Indy movie before? I don't know.

Still, I'm glad I went.

At the movies: Iron Man

Iron Man: 3

The origin story of Tony Stark/Iron Man

I expected summer popcorn stuff and was not disappointed. It showed playboy Tony Stark grow into a more socially responsible person. I did not know anything about Iron Man going into the movie, so I have no idea how close it is to the actual comic.

If you can accept the comic book physics, it's a fun flick. The actors did a decent job. I recognized the 3 big names, but for the life of me I could not get Gwyneth Paltrow's name to come to mind while I was in the theatre.

Also, stick around until the end of the credits, there is an extra scene.

Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: chilled around the house while Kim was out and about. Our Taurus is a little iffy on the reliability side (i.e., it will die while moving at 55mph and not restart for a while), so I chose to hang out instead of going any where.

Aikido after she was done with her truck-necessary stuff and back at work.

Her parents and I then went to the library to help her close up the Book Sale and get the room clean for the next week.

Then off to Joe's for dinner. I made a pig of myself as I had not eaten much all day.

Sunday: Packed 'em all off for a cruise around the Caribbean for a week. I'm staying home due to a lack on interest in being stuck on a boat for seven days. I did some boat work in high school and I'm terribly interested in doing it again at the moment.

Went to see Redbelt on the way back from dropping them off at the cruise ship. Great movie!

Grilled some hamburgers out for my meals for the week. Mmmmm. I added some onion soup mix and some Dubliner cheese. It gave it a very nice flavor.

Most of Friendswood lost power for about an hour, so I went out and chatted with neighbors down the street. Everyone knew me as soon as I was introduced as "Kim's husband". :D

At the movies: Redbelt

Redbelt: 4

From imdb: A fateful event leads to a job in the film business for top mixed-martial arts instructor Mike Terry. Though he refuses to participate in prize bouts, circumstances conspire to force him to consider entering such a competition.

The movie does a good job of portraying an instructor who has principles and is not in it strictly for the money. They operate on razor-thin margins, struggling to make rent for their space.

The events that occur are plausible, and the ramifications make sense.

The portrayal of the dojo is plausible, as well, although the set was too big if the dojo was as struggling as stated in the movie. The dojo would have moved to a more affordable venue.

The only minor quibble I have is when the lawyer came into the dojo for her first training session, she already knew that a red belt was the highest rank. The colors of belts, and their meanings, differ from one art to the next and one style of art to the next. But, it's a minor quibble.

I might end up purchasing this one.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo - 5/17/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Trey and Brad.

Ukemi: One big fall, right-sided. Wahoo! I did land kind of hard on the left calf, and it cramped up a bit.

I'll probably add static big falls on both sides next week, then back to my dynamic attacks on Tim that result in big falls the week after. Did the full complement of left- and right-sided falls otherwise.

The Walk: As usual. I counted the pace once. Faster than I normally like to count for some reason.

Releases: With Trey. Went ok.

Tim gave me an alternative approach for 5 and 7 to make it so I don't have to kneel and pivot with shorter ukes. The key is to push up, but stay very close to uke to prevent getting clotheslined.

Techniques:

1-10, except 9, for Trey. I served as uke all night. 3 step approach for all. We reverted back to 1-step when he got stuck on a technique, to try to resolve the issue a little quicker. That happened on ushiro-ate, and ude-hineri.

We also did some detail work on left-sided initial off-balances at the end of class to improve that basic skill.

Aftermath: Sore calf, slightly sore ankle. Generally sore overall. I took a bunch of falls, and got back up. Ibuprofen was called for.

Friday Night at the Dojo - 5/16/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Kim, and Trey.

Ukemi: No big falls. Full complement of left- and right-sided otherwise.

The Walk: Forgot the second pivot stone, momentarily. That messed up Kim and Trey.

Releases: With Trey. Went ok. Get off-line, push and follow

Techniques:

3 and 4 for Trey. I work as tori once for about every 5 times Trey served as tori. I was not moving well at the beginning, not getting off-line. That quickly improved and I was managing to complete the techniques.

Trey noted I wasn't getting much eye-flash on gedan-ate, so I beefed up that portion and got a little better flow from the technique.

We also did some duck-in-the-middle knife avoidance work. A nice precursor to full out randori, neither of which we do very often.

Tim got thrown around by Kim all evening. He would later report that it was a two-Aleve evening.

Aftermath: Slightly sore ankle.

New Zelazny novel coming out

Hard Case Crime is going to be publishing "Dead Man's Brother", a thriller Roger wrote around 1970. You bet I'm going to be getting it as soon as it comes out.

I just went and looked at the cover . It looks like more of a bodice-ripper and crime novel.

Mississippi Kite, redux

MKite01
Originally uploaded by madmoravian

The kites showed up in our backyard again yesterday. For a while, two of them were right next to each other on a branch of this pine tree. There were not, however, accommodating to the photographer.

I took about 60 pictures and culled out most. The lighting was not great. My attempts with my big lens were really hampered by the poor lighting. They stuck around long enough that I should have pulled out the tripod.

Maybe they'll be around over the next couple of days for me to try again.

Mississippi Kite

KiteUnknown1
Originally uploaded by madmoravian

This guy showed up in our area over the weekend. I hope he and his mate stick around. They've got a nice call.

Owaza Ju Pon

Now that I'm having to learn this kata, I figured I'd post the techniques for reference.

1. Kubi-guruma - neck wheel
2. Kata-otoshi - shoulder drop
3. Ude-guruma - arm wheel
4. Hiji-guruma - elbow wheel
5. Aiki-nage - fitting in throw
6. Shiho-nage - four corner (all directions) throw
7. Ushiro-ate - behind (from the rear) strike
8. Kote-gaeshi - wrist turn
9. Ushiro-kubi-gatame - hold from behind (the rear)
10. Shizumi-otoshi - sinking body drop

The Phantom, the Ghost who walks

The Houston Chronicle carries a bunch of comics on a daily basis. One of them is "The Phantom."

In the current storyline, he and his wife have gone down to Galveston to bid on a rare airplane. Leaving Galveston, they're flying the airplane and the Phantom says they'll follow the coast, go by New Orleans and then on down to South America.

Now, I suppose they could have left Galveston and flown up the coast past New Orleans, testing the flight worthiness of the airplane, but I think they made a huge geographical error.

Anyone else see it?

Dojo advertising

Here's a picture of the back of my truck with the new lettering applied.

Weekend update

Friday night: Aikido!

Saturday: 1.5 hours of mowing. 1.5 hours of sweeping. 1.5 hours of aikido. Dinner at Durango's with the in-laws

Sunday: Mother's Day brunch at District 7 Grill and then off to see the movie "Flawless"

At the movies: Flawless

Flawless: 3

A diamond caper movie starring Michael Caine and Demi Moore. Set in the 60's, Demi is the highest ranking female in the London Diamond company. She's been passed over for promotion several times and runs into a janitor who also has a grudge that stealing diamonds will assuage.

It was nicely done, the time was well-represented and the actors did a good job.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo - 5/10/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, and Trey.

Ukemi: No big falls. Just a few left-sided falls as the injured foot is the one that lands first on those. Did the full complement of right-sided falls.

The Walk: As usual. I counted the pace once in Czech. Tim noted some sloppiness in my feet. Maybe because of the ankle injury? I don't know

Releases: With Trey. Went ok. I do have some issues with #5 and #7 trying to be careful of the right ankle.

Techniques:

1 and 2 for Trey. I served as uke all night. We worked on three-step approach to both of these. He had some great Shomen-ates at the end.

Aftermath: Slightly sore ankle.

Friday Night at the Dojo - 5/9/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Trey.

Back on the mat. Yahoo!

Ukemi: No big falls. Just a few left-sided falls as the injured foot is the one that lands first on those. Did the full complement of right-sided falls.

The Walk: As usual

Releases: With Trey. Went ok. I do have some issues with #5 and #7 trying to be careful of the right ankle.

Techniques:

6-10 for Trey and Kim. I served as uke all night. I'm not confident in the ankle enough to do the small circle footwork yet.

Aftermath: Slightly sore ankle.

In the woodshop

Got into the shop for a couple of hours last night. It was nice and hot. That's gonna give me motivation to get the dog screen for the unfenced shop door built.

Managed to get the light box insert (for use while doing stained glass work) built for the set of cabinets in which it will reside. Looks like this weekend's goal will be to get it wired up.

I've got aikido, mowing and Mother's Day to deal with, so no telling if I'll get some shop time.

At the movies: Broken Flowers

Broken Flowers: 3

Bill Murray stars in a movie where he is trying to find out which of his many ex-girlfriends might be the mother of his rumored son.

An interesting movie, but I got tired of all of the fade-to-black transitions. I understand why it was done, but it was still annoying.

There was no solid resolution at the end of the movie. There's a suggested one, but the movie fades to black at the end, leaving the audience hanging.

At the movies: 12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys: 3

Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt in a Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits, Brazil, Adv. of Baron Munchausen) movie about time travel and doomsday viruses.

This was a different movie than I expected. I was really expecting it to be far more of a horror movie. Instead it's more of a steam punk time travel movie.

Brad Pitt did a decent job with the not-quite-sane, son of a virulogist. Bruce did a decent job as the protagonist time-traveler.

A very quirky movie, with the indelible imprint of Terry Gilliam. I enjoyed getting this one off of my list of wanted-to-see movies.

At the movies: Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces: 3

Concept: Mafia boss is turning federal witness. Competing mafia boss had put a contract out on MB #1. Everyone and their dog wants the $1 million prize. FBI wants to keep folks from making the hit.

Death, blood and gunfights. Over-the-top, but fun. I had the reveal figured out fairly early on, but it was still worth watching.

At the movies: Domino

Domino: 3

A vehicle for Keira Knightley, and it's a decent vehicle. Lots of mayhem, explosions and opportunities for her to pout.

KK joins a crew of bounty hunters. With her family and good looks, she evenutally gets a reality show called Bounty Hunters. They get filmed on lots of captures, but finally take on one with too little documentation. Bounty Hunters end up, mistakenly, capturing a Mafia bosses kids. Stuff ensues with lots of loss of life.

Mickey Rourke and Lucy Liu have roles in this, along with some start from BH 90210

Dojo advertising

I stopped by a local sign shop last week to inquire about signage for the back of my pickup. I've been planning on putting something back there for a while to try to promote the dojo. I finally made the time to stop someplace and look into the costs.

It's gonna cost me about $75 to have a sign made and applied to the rear window of the truck. I hope it'll be ready sometime this week, but I really have no idea as to their timetables.

I hope it looks good and doesn't just generate comments on my driving.

Weekend update

Friday night: aikido spectating for me

Saturday: drove Kim to her genealogy thing as she was having vertigo. We then crashed for the afternoon in order to be ready for our cooking class at Central Market.

The cooking class was pretty good. It was on outdoor grilling. One of the three entrees was a steak with a coffee-based rub. It was one of the best steaks I've ever had. Tender, tasty, and nicely cooked. Wow.

Sunday: slept in some more fighting off our respective ailments. I spent the afternoon completing the backyard deck for our grill. I'd completed the frame earlier in the week, so all that was left was cutting, and securing, the lumber for the top of the deck.

Neither of us slept well overnight. Ugh.

Friday Night at the Dojo 5/2/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and Larry.

They worked through part of San kata, I think.

I sat and watched all evening. I've been under the weather from a cold-like object and doing Pt on the ankle. I think I'll get back on the mat this coming Friday. The ankle's feeling pretty good after therapy sessions, and I'm managing to accomplish more difficult tasks during therapy.

Aftermath: None of note

Friday Night at the Dojo 4/18/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Larry, and Kim.

They worked Kim through 1-10 of the Ju Nana Hon Kata and Larry through some of the big 10 with Kim and others as uke.

I sat and chatted with Sensei Raymond who stopped by for the evening.

Aftermath: PT starts on Thursday.