Aikidokas: Trey, Tom, and Jason (a new student).
Ukemi: Watched over Jason.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Tom. We spent a fair amount of time on them tonight.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
We did some work with a drill to eliminate shot puts from the finish of techniques.
We worked on Gedan-ate, Ushiro-ate, and Oshi taoshi. Wanted to give Trey some time at the end of class to work on things.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Trey and Brad. Sensei Tim was in the hospital. It looks like I may be running things for a number of weeks or months.
Ukemi: Watched over Brad.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Brad. We spent the entire night on them. We worked on the relases and how to uke for the releases.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Jeff and Trey.
Ukemi: Did my usual set.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Trey. They were interrupted by the arrival of Sensei's wife.
Jeff arrived shortly thereafter and we started working on some sensitivity drills that he'd been taught at a recent Nick Lowry clinic.
The first one was walking with a partner side-by-side and trying to feel when their foot landed and when their weight transferred.
Another one was walking face-to-face, sideways, with one person grabbing both of the other person's wrists. Tori then can attempt to do several things. Flare out his thumbs, which will cause uke to move toward tori. 2 - Slowly move away from uke, attempting to draw uke to him with being noticed. 3 - Slowly move in front of uke, cutting off his line
A third one was to start of at large distance. As uke approaches make half tankan step, then another and then a full tenkan step. This will cause uke to face the direction he was coming from. At that point tori can move toward uke and cause uke to fall.
Weird stuff.
We also played with reactions and directions, but my mind did not completely grasp them.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Trey. Sensei Tim was in the hospital, so I had to run class.
Ukemi: Did my usual set.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Trey. We spent a fair amount of time on them tonight. We felt no rush.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
We worked on shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate and Gyakugamae-ate. It's been a while since Trey and I have had an opportunity to just work on things. We spent the evening giving each other plenty of feedback.
Aftermath: None of note.
The project is finished. I finished it last weekend, finally putting the patina on. I'm 95% pleased with it. I should have put a little more thought into some of the colors to achieve a little more depth. but, I am pleased with it.
I'm putting up the pattern I created to make it. The picture of the pattern is horrible, I just had it laying on my desk so the lines are not straight. The final piece will be displayed once it's in Melanie's hands.
Lordy did we stink the first game. We played horribly.
We then proceeded to play well the second and third games and come out on top.
I went to a local conrunner's con over the weekend. It was over on the southwest side of town, so it was pretty convenient.
I was on two panels. One was a demonstration of my Art Show Database website. It went decently well. A couple of folks in the audience. I got a number of suggestions and found some bugs in it while demonstrating. Some of the folks might be interested in using it. We'll have to see.
My second panel was bright and early Sunday morning. "Art Shows at SFF Cons." Essentially a discussion on all aspects of Art Shows. We discussed reasons why some cons did things the way they did and tried to come up with some areas that folks might not have thought about.
A good con and good company.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: Did my usual set.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Tom.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Tom on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate. We're making progress. Trying to eliminate the right shoulder moving forward.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Did somw work on 1, 2, 3 and 4. It was strange working on this in an hakama. I'll get used to it at some point
Aftermath: Tweaked a toe doing suwari waza, but nothing major.
7.5 of the 8 steps are complete.
All of the foiling is done. Half of the soldering is done. I ran out of solder, or I would have finished that completely.
Today was Easter, so no places were open to get the solder. Tomorrow's Monday, the day the supply shop is usually closed. I'll stop by and get solder on Tuesday, but I've got volleyball Tuesday night, so I likely won't have any time to work on it.
Maybe Wednesday will have this project complete. Then I have to figure out when to drive it up to Dallas.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey and Seth.
Ukemi: Light set of ukemi.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: None today.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on:
1-5 of the Kata. His ankle was giving him fits and blew his ability to think well, consistently.
Maeotoshi - We did some playing around with the initial approach int this one. Sometimes we take this as a failed Shihonage, sometimes we start directly into mae-otoshi.
Owaza Ju Pon
Did some work on #1, #2, and #6.
Spent some time concentrating on the timing on all of them.
For #2, Tim suggested a knife hand approach instead of the open hand I was using. That's an important bit to remember
Shihonage - Take uke off of his 4th toe on the initial off-balance while retreating. Do not lower your arms as you make the transition from first off-balance to second off-balance.
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Nowork on this today
Aftermath: We saved a little bit of time at the end for Tim to throw me about with some high falls. Trey took some pictures. I was in my hakama again and wanted to get some pictures to use for the dojo.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, Tom and Seth.
Ukemi: Watched over Tom and Seth.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Tom and Brad on Shomen-ate. We working working on the final step in the technique. We're trying to eliminate any shot-putting and poor posture.
Did some work with Trey on the first 5 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. It'd been so long since I'd done on work on them that it was embarrassing. I did improve, thankfully.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: I wore a hakama for the first time. It was pretty interesting. More heat. Lots of folks managed to step on it during techniques. I still need to work on folding it well. Lining up the pleats is not easy. I need to wear it more often to be able to remember how to put it on.
6.5 of the 8 steps are complete.
All of the grinding is done. Half of the foiling is done. I might finish the foiling tonight. 50+ grapes are left to foil.
Soldering is next on the list.
Maybe I ought to add two more steps: cleaning and putting on the patina.
Nah, not now. Maybe for future projects.
Grrr. We played well enough to win all 3 games, but we didn't. I think the ref stole the second game from us. The third game we let them get too much of an early lead.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey
Ukemi: Light set of ukemi.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: None today.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on:
Shihonage - The only technique from his last demo that needs much work. We're doing some tweaking on when to lock the wrist (later rather than earlier for uke's safety).
Maeotoshi - I did some work as uke and tori on this one. My usual habits of almost not letting go of uke and not getting enough of a "Randy knuckle" showed up. Trey did well for pretty much his first time with the technique. A bigger mass (mine) makes the technique a little easier.
Sumi-otoshi (we actually do an uke-otoshi) - He got a couple of falls on this from me. Just needs more reps.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Worked on the first four for a bit with Trey as uke.
1) Oshi Taoshi - Need to open and not pivot. Get the standing oshi-taoshi arm position and, as we go "over the mountain", go off-line to provide an additional off-balance.
2) Gyakugamae Ate - We skipped it. Using the time elsewhere.
3) Kote Gaeshi - I need to stop using Jeff's suggestion of a sweeping arm and replace it with moving my center as uke is flying through the air.
Aftermath: Blister just before the first knuckle of the left big toe. I probably did not have "live toes" at some point.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Kim, and Tom.
Ukemi: Just watched over Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Worked with Tom. Noticed a few points where he was using some muscle. He noticed them as well as they tended to be on the side of his slightly bum shoulder.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Tom on Shomen-ate. We worked on putting the whole thing together and it's coming along amazingly well.
Did some work with Tom in Aigamae-ate. We were doing step by step work and I made a mistake on when to do the hip switch. There needs to be another step by uke after the initial off-balance and, when that happens, then it's time for the hip switch.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: None of note.
Our first wins of the season. They came against the other team that had not won any games, but they were wins nonetheless.
We played decently. We were able to take advantage of a couple of weak players in their lineup.
The next few weeks we play against the weaker teams. the last game of the season is against the number one team. There's no way to know how we'll end up.
I've gone to this convention since 1984, I think. Most of the past years I've flown this convention solo. This year both K. and I made it. It was our first convention together in a number of years. We also brought several friends from Friendswood with us.
It was a weak convention, and appears to have some life-threatening wounds, but it still can be saved. It will take a lot of education of Cepheid members to save the con. There is plenty of knowledge in the ranks of former Cepheids. There was a Cepheid Muster during the con, but since I was never a Cepheid, I can't report on what was said/not said.
The panels were weak. There was about 1.5 tracks worth of programming. It shut down at 7 pm on Friday and had very little going on late Saturday.
The guest list was very limited. They did a very poor job with the guest, I think. The main media guest was probably wondering why she came, although the friend we brought up with us was interested in listening to her.
The dealer's room was a vast wasteland with not a book dealer to be seen. The middle of the dealer's room was used for gaming tables. Willie may have missed his first Aggiecon ever.
The Art Show was good by Aggiecon standards. I think sales were relatively good. There were actually some I thought of purchasing.
I would really like for former students to take over running the con. That doesn't accomplish a goal of educating new conrunners, but it would keep the con running. It might also make the con tougher to run since it might not be possible to use the MSC as the venue.
I will continue to go to Aggiecon as long as they hold it. It is my main excuse to go back to A&M at least once a year. It's an opportunity to see vast fields of bluebonnets and to eat at Los Nortenos.
I wish they'd quit selling only black t-shirts. It's been a long time since I've wanted to buy an Aggiecon t-shirt. Maybe 15 years?
K. came up with an idea for a website that I might try to implement. The below pictures are part of the inspiration:
My new job sent me out to Denver last week with a number of colleagues to chat with some folks we work with out there. We had a fairly productive week, and got to drive out to Breckenridge one afternoon to look around.
The big event of the week was a severe snowstorm that dropped from 10 to 18 inches of snow on the Denver area. This happened on Thursday morning. Wednesday afternoon I'd asked one of the folks we were visiting how often they closed the schools. His reply was "very rarely." When I woke up Thursday morning the first thing I saw on the TV was a scrolling list of school closures. Not much snow was on the ground yet, but more was expected by the end of the day.
I needed to get into the office and talk with one of the guys there. The rest of the folks from Houston were iffy about driving the short distance to get there, but they were willing to since I needed to go.
We got to the office, got some work done and decided that the snow was piling up too deep. The snow was about 6 inches deep on a power transformer outside one of the windows. We left for the hotel. We spent about 20 minutes getting the minivan out of its parking spot and then 30 minutes driving to the hotel.
We watched snow fall for the rest of the day, and a bit of Friday morning. Thankfully, the snow slowed down enough, and the plows got rid of enough of the now on the roads that we were able to make our flight out of town that afternoon.
Below are pictures from the trip from my cell phone.
I did more cutting over the weekend. All I have left to cut are 54 grapes. That'll probably take me an hour or so and then it's off to the grinder.
We're trying to figure out a way to keep all of the grapes organized once the pattern pieces have been removed from them. This is the time when I'm foiling them. I do label all of the pieces with a Sharpie, but sometimes the ink gets rubbed off. We'll probably go with small bins for each set of 5 grapes or something similar.
Aikidokas: Tim, Jeff, Gail, Steve, Russell, Trey, and Brad. Jeff and Gail came down from Killeen with some of their crew.
Ukemi: Not today
The Walk: Not today
Releases: No today
Techniques:
We did some work with Jeff on some of his Sandan stuff. I took one throw from him and he managed to, accidentally, impact my eye. He seems to think that each time we work together he manages to damage me. I don't remember previous incidents, but he now plans on pinching me at the start of each session to get the damage done in a hurry.
Ju Nana Hon Kata
I spent most of the next hour working on drills for Brad on Shomen-ate. I probably took about 150 falls of various sorts during our session. He was doing really well with me by the end of the session. He then did some work with Trey and with Brad. I'm pretty sure we blew out his brain circuits by the end of the day.
I then uke'd for Trey's Nikyu demonstration. It went really well.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Trey and I did some work on this while Steve and Russell were doing the same. We also did some work on the standing portions as well. I got to work with Steve on some of it. It's great to work with someone of a vastly different height.
Aftermath: Plenty of ibuprofen. My legs were sore from standing back up from all of the Shomen-ates.
I've just started working on a stained glass project as a house warming gift for a friend. I kind of promised it would be ready by next weekend. Given that I just started it this past week, that's not going to happen. I've got just two of the seven steps done necessary to complete the piece.
Design the pattern
Cut out the pattern pieces
Cut out the glass pieces
Grind the glass pieces smooth
Foil the glass pieces
Solder the pieces
Patina the entire thing
This work has 5 types of glass being used. One each for sky, vine, grapes, earth and leaves. I've cut out the glass for the sky. The earth is ready to cut out. Vine and leaves will be next. I'm saving the grapes for last because they will be unpleasant. There are about 65 of them.
During the design process, K. recommended that the grapes be bigger and fill up more of the design. I agreed. Without the change, the grapes would have been much smaller and more tedious to cut out.
I hope this design works. It may be the first one I've done entirely from scratch. I think it is. Past ones may have merged existing designs, but this is the first one I've done from sketch to final product.
I'll probably post the design at some point.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Kim, and Tom. We had two visitors watching us
Ukemi: Just watched over Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Worked with Tom. His "attack" is still a little raw. That really highlights my issues. Also worked with Trey. Seems everyone was a little off tonight.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Tom on Shomen-ate. We worked on putting the whole thing together and it's coming along amazingly well.
I served as uke for Trey on a demonstration practice. He did really well. He almost got a promotion on the spot.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Worked on the first four for a bit with Trey as uke.
1) Oshi Taoshi - Trey came up with a suggestion to use the wrist as a tension point when I move forward
2) Gyakugamae Ate - No comments here.
3) Kote Gaeshi - Need a wider pivot as the attack comes in.
4) Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage - The initial off-balance needs to be not just back, but over the fourth toe.
Aftermath: None of note.
At least it's a fun activity. I got a couple of spikes in, a couple of blocks and some decent serves. Serve were our Achilles' heel last night. We were having trouble getting them over the net.
We'll get 'em in two weeks! We have next week as our bye week.
Friday:
aikido
Saturday:
Worked on a stained glass piece that I've promised a friend. I came up with the design, ran it by K. and some folks at the library. Modified the design based on their input and did a final prep of the design. Picked out the glass. I hope I don't mess up too many pieces during the cutting stage, some of the glass is limited in quantity in my supplies.
Wandered in our "orchard" to check out the plants. If half of the blooms on the one blood orange that's blooming produce, we're going to be overwhelmed next February.
aikido
Dinner with K. at Durango's.
Sunday
Woke up at 7am with some muscle issues. I had to take some ibuprofen to get back to sleep. That's the first time thats ever happened to me. It was very weird.
Tried to get some ideas for some sump issues at BAA, but the main guy was not there.
Made the copies of the stained glass design needed for the project.
Stopped by HD and picked up some epoxy to fill some spots on a box project and a seed starter.
Cut out the pattern pieces for the stained glass project.
Dinner and cards with the in-laws.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Tom.
Ukemi: Watched over Tom and Brad.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Worked with Brad
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Brad on Shomen-ate
We ran through Trey's next demonstration set. A little rough around the edges as it was the first time we'd run through all of them. But, all things considered, a great dry run.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Back was amazingly sore overnight. I had to take some ibubrofen at around 7 am Sunday. I don't have any idea as to the cause.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Kim, and Tom.
Ukemi: Did a little, as demonstration, while watching over Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Worked with Tom. His "attack" is still a little raw. That really highlights my issues.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Tom on Shomen-ate. We did work on the gake portion of the technique and moved on, eventually, to working on the initial off-balance. We worked on the gake portion to reduce the odds of "shot-putting" when he put's it all together.
I served as uke for Trey and Kim to work on Kote-gaeshi. They tried a version that's a little more static, left-side only (my right hand is still a little overworked from a previous session).
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: None of note.
It went well. Looks like I might spend the rest of the week on the other side of town learning. I'll probably be flying out to Denver for a couple of weeks to learn from other folks.
I hope this travel still lets me go to Aggiecon. I have been to that convention every year since 1984.
Friday:
aikido
Saturday:
Gardening. I planted a loquat and a fig tree. I also half dug out a Sago palm and mowed down some clover on the side of the property.
aikido
Dinner with K. and K. at Durango's. Then we went to Half-Price. Then the girls decided we needed Tiramisu from Franca's.
Sunday
Some cleaning up of limbs
Did some work on the sump, but my temporary water storage developed a leak, so I have to go buy a new one before testing of the set up can continue.
Dinner with the in-laws and my mom.
Dark Knight on DVD
For the past 3 years I've been working at IBM through a firm called GHG. My new job is at GHG corporate headquarters working on an in-house development project.
This looks like a good opportunity.
Aikidokas: Tim, and Brad.
Ukemi: Did a little, as demonstration, while watching over Brad. We spent a lot of time working on not collapsing the arm.
The Walk: Not today
Releases: Not today
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
We spent the afternoon on Shomen-ate. We broke it down into easily digestible bits, 3 distinct phases, and worked very slowly. I hope Brad has a better understanding.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: A nice workout after a morning in the garden. I was very sore.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: Did a little, as demonstration, while watching over Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Spent some time working with Trey and Tom. We were trying to adjust Tom's attack to flow more with the purpose of the releases: to feel the off-balances.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Did some work with Trey on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate. We played quite a bit with the timing and off-balances for Aigamae-ate.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: None of note.
A new season starts. With the same old results.
I could not jump and ended up out of breath.
Our Blood Orange tree had 5 oranges on it this year. One of them fell off a couple of weeks ago. I spotted it, brought it in and shared it with K. It was fabulous.
That left 4 fruit on the tree.
K. was out yesterday and reported that she saw one on the ground, crushed, but no others anywhere.
All I can assume is the local opossums/squirrels/raccoons are scurvy-free.
Grrrrr.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Breakfast with the in-laws
Gave in to my body and took a nap
aikido
Dinner with aikidoka after training
Sunday
Apparently my body's still fighting off an infection as I had to crash.
Did a little weeding of the bluebonnet area.
Managed to get out into the shop and do some work on the platform for the sump for my aquarium. All of the parts are in, so I just need to get some more pvc and come up with a plumbing design.
Dinner with the in-laws.
Return of the King on TNT.
I got a flush email from a company I applied to sometime last week. I'm amazed that a company spent the electrons to reply to an applicant they are not interested in.
I'm not happy that they're not interested, but they did manage to get brownie points by replying.
Aikidokas: Tim, Jeff, Gail, Trey, and Keith.
Ukemi: Did some as demonstration while watching over Keith.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: Watched over Trey and Keith working on releases.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on Kote-hineri, Kote-gaeshi, Tenkai-kote-hineri, and Shiho-nage
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
I worked with Jeff on this today and it was a great help.
1) Tore attempts shomen ate. When uke blocks, tore circles into oshi taoshi.
Skipped this one.
2) Uke strikes with right hand to tore's temple. Tore rises with shomen ate to uke's opposite eye.
This went fairly well as I've practiced in the past.
3) Kote Gaeshi Uke punches at tore's abdomen. Tore evades, threatens eye, throws kote gaeshi.
A key to the end of this one is, after uke takes the fall, to sweep the right arm in to uke's right should. This gets the arm bar quickly, no muss, no fuss.
4) Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage Uke grabs both tore's wrists and stands. Tore lifts arms, off-balancing uke, then turns uke into roll-out.
"Happy Buddha" as uke lifts tore's arms pretend there is a big beach ball that tore must get his arms around. This generates a nice off-balance.
5) Tentai Kote Hineri Uke chokes from behind. Tore frees himself, takes uke downin tentai kote hineri.
Tore must place his hands about 6 inches apart, with the left hand on uke's right wrist. Then, as the break of the choke occurs, both thumbs move toward each other ending in the tenkai (tentai?) grip. Push the wrist out in front, causing uke to take a step. Then turn into uke while dropping the wrist. Leave the wrist at uke's hip when he's on the ground and tweak the grip to get the tapout.
6) Shiho Nage Uke approaches from tore's left, grabbing the wrist. Tore secures the grip, performs shiho nage.
As uke grabs, turn the left wrist in making uke alter his approach. After the wrist is grabbed, turn it back to the left while grabbing uke's wrist with the fingers of the right hand. Push to the right and pivot on the right knee to get the off-balance. End in the usual shiho control.
7) Gedan Ate Uke approaches from tore's right, grabbing the sleeve. Tore rises, placing hand on uke's shin.
Actually, the placement is right at uke's knee. Place the hand at uke's knee when he grabs. When he lifts, go to live toes and turn into uke, causing the fall.
8) Hiji Kime Uke approaches from the front, grabbing at tore's collar. Tore takes uke's hand, turning into mae otoshi.
As uke approaches, right hand is on top, left on bottom. Right hand ends on uke's wrist, left hand on uke's elbow. Pivot to the right causing mae otoshi. Tore holds on to uke's wrist and allows uke's momentum to pull tore to his feet.
9) Kote Mawashi Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back, threatens eye, steps back again collapsing uke's wrist. Steps forward knocking uke down.
Clasp uke's wrist to the gi with left hand to heart. Step back with right foot while threatening uke with right hand. After eye flash, sweep right arm down uke's right arm andhold uke's hand against the gi. Move the left hand to uke's elbow and then turn into uke for the fall.
10) Uchi Tenkai Nage Uke grabs tore's right hand. Tore does 4th release. Uke turns back, tore does 5th release into arm bar, sending uke into roll-out.
Follow the thumb all the way around.
11) Gyakugamae Ate Uke grabs tore's right sleeve. Tore steps back, collapsing uke's arm, then steps forward knocking uke back.
Argh. No memories of clues on this at the moment
12) Hiji Kime Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release, tore switches hands into "thread the needle."
This one is also known as Kote-kajiki (kuchiki?) (sp?) The key I came up with was to push both hands to the same spot. At least think that. It's not really possible. The other key is for tore to get his arm under uke's elbow.
Aftermath: We all went to dinner afterwards. Good times.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, Keith, and Tom.
Ukemi: Did a little, as demonstration, while watching over Brad, Tom and Keith.
The Walk: As usual. I found a change I needed to make to my hand position on the 10th stone (Ude Goshi Gaeshi)
Releases: Spent most of the evening working with Keith on releases. We got through all of them. Lots of rough edges to clean up, but that's not unexpected.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
No work on this today
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: It was nice getting back on the mat again. It'd been almost 3 weeks.
Feeling better (recovering from the cold/infection), but still not at full speed. I've got some antibiotics that I've got to take for the next 9 days or so.
Some out-of-town visitors coming to aikido this weekend, so I need to be at full speed by Saturday.
Job hunt is progressing. 6 applications in (some of which go to more than one position) and one interview already scheduled. It's the one I really am hoping to get.
Found out my services will no longer be needed at my current place of employment in about two weeks. I've started up the search engine and hope to find something quickly.
I've spotted a number of decent fits in the little searching I've done so far. Now it's time to get updated phone numbers for folks and get cracking.
Overall rating: it was a horrible weekend
Caveat: Exclusively because I was ill and, therefore, no fault can be placed upon the con committee.
Wednesday morning, 24 hours before my flight, I came down with some variant of a cold. It didn't seem too bad, and it would have had to have been horrendous for me to have canceled the weekend. Looking back, the smart thing would have been to cancel, but I'm still glad I went.
Thursday: early flight out of Houston, arriving in Boston before 1 p.m. I think I managed to get into the Art Show area around 4 to help them set up. I put in around 4 hours of work before it seemed that my skill set was not of tremendous use.
I went back to my room and attempted to plan out my Friday. My goal was to get to Kane's Donuts in Saugus, Ma in the morning and to an aikido dojo in Salem, Ma in the evening.
After doing a search of MBTA, it was apparent that the donut shop was a journey that just would not happen. There was just going to be too much walking.
Searching for routes to Salem, Ma turned up a different route each time I searched. I settled on one to shoot for, if I felt up to it.
To bed.
Up in the morning and off to the restaurant. In what was to be a recurring theme all weekend, nothing tasted good. The cold was making it's presence known: affecting my balance and taking away flavors of food.
I did manage to get back into the Art Show area and do some more work setting up, but I looked an awful lot like a lump on a log. I did some stapling of pocket programs and then went up to my room.
I made a decision, after starting the journey to Salem, that the journey wasn't a wise thing to do. I wasn't terribly steady on my feet and the stress of the travel was probably going to result in my getting lost while not in the best of health. So, I returned to the hotel room, and canceled the meeting with an on-line friend that was supposed to occur in Salem.
I went to bed and slept for 15 hours.
Saturday I got up and only really remember the Zelazny Book Launch party. I'm pretty sure I ate breakfast and dinner and they were both forgettable.
Sunday I made it to the Zelazny discussion panel and then to the airport. The flight home was the longest flight I can remember. I couldn't sleep. I wasn't sure if my ears were going to pop when they were supposed to or not.
Thankfully, my dear spouse was waiting for me at the airport and she drove me home. I don't think I could have managed it myself.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Drove out to Crosby, Tx to buy a HOB overflow box for the aquarium
Did some geocaching on the way back.
aikido
Joe's for bbq
Hand-and-foot with the in-laws.
Sunday
Did some mowing of the clover on the "side 40" to reduce the odds that the city will come along and mow down all of my bluebonnets.
Also did some cleaning of trash from the creek since it is dry and I could get close to the junk.
Made pizza and a Lemon Poppy Seed Creme Brulee. We'll have to see how it is today. Last night it was far too runny, but we ate it while it was still very warm.
Watched some of the Grammy's and some of XIII.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Keith.
Ukemi: None. Watched over Keith.
The Walk: As usual.
I then worked with Keith on the latter portion of the Walk.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Kim on 11. Kote-hineri, Tenkai-kote-hineri, and Shiho-nage
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Nothing of note.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Kim, Brad, Keith, and Tom.
Ukemi: None. Watched over Brad, Tom and Keith.
The Walk: As usual. Kim counted once in Spanish. It ended up being very funny and very fast.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on 1-6 left-sided, refreshing his memory. then I attacked a few times for kote-gaeshi.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata - with Trey
Oshi Taoshi - This time I was not getting the arm into the proper position for the armbar as I was last week. Not suer wat's up with that.
Gyakugamae Ate - We did a couple of these at full speed after warming up at slower speed. Fun!
Kote Mawashi - Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back, threatens eye, steps back again collapsing uke's wrist. Steps forward knocking uke down.
Points of interest: force uke's wrist up, turn center into uke when moving forward
Name unknown - Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release and continues it into a roll-out for uke.
Points of interest: extend the thumb out and follow it around into the mawash and roll-out
Aftermath: None worth noting.
Random observations about some of the ads:
No ads from the Big 3 auto makers. 3 from Hyundai, 2 from Toyota, 1 from Audi.
8 movie ads. Monsters vs. Aliens, Star Trek, UP, and The Fast and the Furious #3 looked the best on the trailers.
My favorite ads: Bridgestone's first one, Cheetos, Coke's Insect parade, and GE's smart grid robot.
Least favorite: careerbuilder, ashleymadison.com (No, I have not visited that site to figure out WTF), and godaddy.
We did some cooking before the game ot make certain there was enough stuff to eat. What we had available included:
Guacamole
Pineapple/Cream Cheese/Green Onion dip
Hot cheese dip
Pigs in Blankets
Roasted Pork
Lemon Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee
Pecan Pralines
Macadamia Nuts
Several types of chips
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Had to stop by the copy shop and make copies of some flyers to distribute at a local con and at Boskone. Stopped by the local con, dropped off the lyers and then did some geocaching.
aikido
Dungeons and Dragons: Leveled up my Cleric.
Sunday
Grocery shopping for the Super Bowl
Trip to Home Depot for short rebar, chicken wire and some plumbing supplies for a dry run of plumbing for the sump for the aquarium.
Made some guacamole, pralines and then a Lemon Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee.
Helped K. surround the second vegetable garden with landscape timbers.
Did a water change in the aquarium. I need to add another powerhead to increase the circulation.
Settled down for the Super Bowl, paper in hand to keep track of the commercials.
Absolutely stuffed from all of the food. We could have fed 8-10 people. There were only 4 of us.
Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, Trey, Brad and Keith.
Ukemi: None for me. Helped Keith with his
The Walk: One at normal speed and one at high speed. Whee!
I then spend a good bit of the session working with Keith and Brad on the latter portions of the walk
Releases: Worked with Brad and Keith, introducing Keith to the first three releases and running through all of them with Brad.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
No work on this today
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Amazingly sore for how little work I did.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Keith, and Luis (a visitor/student with a Nidan in Ueshiba Aikido).
Ukemi: The usual set. Worked with Keith to keep him on track.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on 11. Kote-hineri, Tenkai-kote-hineri, and Shiho-nage. At then end I relented and made some attacks for Kote gaeshi.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata - with Trey
Oshi Taoshi - Still must remember to open and not pivot. I made a tweak to uke's arm position on the arm bar and it is much easier and effective now. I need to get the back of uke's hand onto the mat.
Gyakugamae Ate - We did a couple of these at full speed after warming up at slower speed. Fun!
Kote Gaeshi - Bring both hands into my center en route form the first off-balance to the second off-balance. It keeps my center working and encourages a better positioning of my hands.
Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage - Reach up and not toward uke.
Aftermath: Sore quads and knees.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Started straightening out finances. Filed some stock stuff into binders and installed this year's TurboTax.
Did some work on getting some more saltwater ready.
Did some work on the second box in the book "Box by Box" and on the wood for Uncle Leo's project.
aikido - after which I was completely worthless: sore and tired.
Dinner with the in-laws
Sunday
More work on the "Box by Box" book
Helped K. dig up a 30+ year old Sago Palm. One down, one to go.
Made Cinnamon Brownies with a Ganache. The brownies came out crumblier than they usually do.
Dinner with the in-laws.
"Bourne Identity" on TV.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, Tom, and Keith.
Ukemi: Normal set of ukemi warmups.
The Walk: Not for me today
Releases: Not for me today
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey and Kim on Kote gaeshi. I probably attacked 150 or 200 times this afternoon. We made great progress on this and both folks were starting to really clue in on the technique.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
I ran through the first four of these today. Tweaks were necessary on the first (Oshi taoshi), third (Kote gaeshi) and fourth. I did half decently, though
Aftermath: Sore, sore, sore. And I bet I'll have a bruise on my right hand where tori's thumbs go for Kote gaeshi.
A good afternoon. I was absolutely wrung out at the end.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: Normal set.
The Walk: As usual. Twice.
Releases: Once the normal way, and boy was I rusty. Then we did another set taking uke to a corner on the releases. This made us to some thinking to figure out the right approach on some of them.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey and Kim on Kote gaeshi. Over and over and over. And then over and over and over. We made some progress and got some throws.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Sore everywhere.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
In to Alvin to pick up repaired generator and lawn mower. While in the area, do a little geocaching. I then called a guy who was supposed to buy some skimmers from me, he was too busy to meet up, unfortunately.
Then off to buy dog food and stop by the old dojo to watch a practice. Unfortunately, no one was there so back on home.
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's and the D&D at Robert's
Sunday:
Fry's for 2 new LCD monitors
Football
Water change in the aquarium. It's amazing how much that helped the corals.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, Tom, David, and Keith.
Ukemi: I spent the ukemi time working with Tom, David and Keith. Making sure they fall safely.
The Walk: As usual. Once with everyone and once with just Richard and Trey.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on his techniques
Wakigatamae - Some tweaking on the initial off-balance that makes the technique.
Kote hineri - We did some tweaking on the armbar and gake
Kote gaeshi - We spent a long time on this. This is a version of the technique that we'd hoped would be easier to learn. Maybe it's easy to learn if you already know the old one?
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: None of note
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, Tom, and David (a new student).
Ukemi: The usual set. Worked with Kim and Trey to get them some practice throwing warm-up big falls
The Walk: As usual. Spent most of the session with David, helping him learn the walk. Actually spent a good portion of the time messing it up, but I eventually realized it and made corrections.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
No work on this today
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Oshi Taoshi - must remember to open and not pivot. Also, get the proper initial off-balance
Gyakugamae Ate - this one's almost second nature
Kote Gaeshi - Get uke off-balance on the compression, allow him to get his knee up.
Aftermath: None of note
A while back I purchased the book "Box by Box" by Jim Stack. I started working my way through it this weekend. There have already been some failures and successes, just on the first box.
My first attempt was with some 1/2" cherry I had around the shop. I failed to take into account the thickness of the wood before processing the cut list. I could have salvaged the attempt, but the box would have been smaller and it was going to be barely useful at its given size. So, I trashed it.
I started over with some cedar that was around the shop. I milled that down to 1/4". I modified the design to be much larger, about 5"x8". It'll still barely be useful, but someone might like it.
I made a mistake on this one as well. The piece for the bottom I cut about 1/4" too long. I need to go back to my cut list and see if I calculated the wrong length or cut the wrong length.
I have two more pieces to glue and then it will be time to sand and finish. I think I'm going to go with a simple wax finish.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Ran around looking for some new hiking boots that I use as work shoes. No Luck.
MARSH meeting with a presentation on sumps
aikido
dinner at Durango's
Sunday:
Football
Work on a box from the book: "Box by box"
Banana bread for K.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, and Keith ( a new student ).
Ukemi: The usual set. We bought an additional set of mats to lay on top of the base mat. We'll bring these out for use with big falls and kneeling techniques. So, we pulled them out and I took some big falls from Tim.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: not today.
Techniques:
Owaza Ju Pon
We ran through 1-10 with Trey. I served as uke for right sided and Richard served as uke for left-sided. We spent some time refreshing a couple of them.
Ushiro-ate: we played with a couple of variations on the entry.
Oshi-taoshi: spent some time with the initial off-balance. We played with the differences that Richard and Trey had in dealing with my size.
Waki-gatame: played with the entry and with the need to roll over uke's shoulder to get the lock nicely.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Oshi Taoshi: Must remember to "open up" and not "pivot" after the first off-balance. Must get the right amount of initial off-balance in the proper spot.
Gyakugamae Ate: I'm really starting to enjoy this one. It's just fun.
Kote Gaeshi: Move slowly to the armbar position so you don't rip off uke's arm.
Aftermath: Sore knees. Mainly the muscles around them, from the suwari waza work. A night for ibuprofen.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Tom.
Ukemi: The usual set. Pulled out another mat and took some big falls from Tim
The Walk: As usual. Did some extra work with Tom on a couple of the moves.
Releases: with Tom. Showed him the final four. He'd seen the video of the releases that we have on our site and had been lost. I hope that actually doing the releases will help to make the video more useful.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
I did some work with Trey on kote-gaeshi. Working on the off-balances, the height of his hands and the positionings thereof to cause the throw. Trying to reduce the wrist crank. He did manage to throw me a couple of times.
Owaza Ju Pon
Ushiro ate: Get the initial off balance. Separate centers at the end.
Kote-gaeshi: Just need more work
Shihonage: Retreat with right foot: fade-away. Don't push too much. That will cause uke to spin into you.
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: My back was not too bad, it didn't impact me, really. Considering that it was Wednesday before I could get out of a chair without needing to use my arms to help, that's great.
We had a couple of visitors today. Two guys studying kinesiology at the local junior college. Two new body types for us to deal with. Fun, if the come back and join us.
My grandfather was a coin collector and a stamp collector. I have no idea what is in the coin collection that I've inherited so, last night, I started looking and organizing. I spent a number of hours going through one bag of loose coins: sorting, listening and smelling.
It brought back memories of Grandpa: being at his house and playing with some of the coins he had in a small, pink plastic piggy bank. I'd go through that piggy bank each time I was at my grandparents' house.
Why?
I don't know. Maybe I liked the smell of the copper pennies. Maybe I liked checking the dates on the various coin. I know I enjoyed it.
Last night's first baby step into the collection brought some of that back. It was interesting to see when the coins ended. The most recent coins were the Bicentennial issues of the quarters and half dollars. They were issued just shortly before he died.
The oldest coin might be an 1890 Indian head penny. I know there's an 1897 penny for certain.
The fun coins are the silver ones. They sound so different than today's clad coins.
The future holds more nights with the coin collection. I hope to find the 2 1909 "S" VDB pennies that it is rumored are in the collection and are pretty valuable. I know I'll find something more valuable: more memories of Grandpa.
I just received a snail mail catalog from a company with whom I've never done business: Natchez Shooters Supplies. My first reaction on receiving a new catalog that I've not requested is to contact the company and see if I can figure out who sold them my name and address.
I did that for this new catalog. They said that U. S. Cavalry was the source of their information. With no mention of that name by me. I actually thought Cabela's might be their source.
My next step was to call U. S. Cavalry and tell them I would no longer be doing business with them because of this incident. The CSR said that someone at NSS was lying as USCav does not sell names. The odds of someone at NSS pulling USCav's name out of a hat and it matching a company with whom I'd just recently started doing business approaches the odds of winning Powerball.
So, I will no longer be doing business with U. S. Cavalry and encourage any readers of this blog to stay away from them as well.
Here are the movies I saw that came out in 2008 and my ranking of them from best to worst.
Redbelt
Wall-E
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Flawless
Kung Fu Panda
Iron Man
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street : 3
Hancock
Wanted
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Jumper
Bedtime Stories
Death Race
Benjamin Button: 3
Starring Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt in a story about a man who is born old and ages in reverse. Based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that, I've heard, does not measure up to the film.
I enjoyed the film, but I think I got distracted by the Russian storyline. I never really made it back to the main storyline.
Bedtime Stories: 3
I don't really like the premise of most Adam Sandler movies, but this one looked fairly safe. And my nieces were in town and wanted to see it, so I went.
It turned out to be fairly innocuous. Nothing special, nothing horrible.
Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, and Trey.
Ukemi: Normal set, I did take a couple of big falls with some extra padding out.
The Walk: Not tonight
Releases: not tonight.
Techniques:
We played with some knew approaches to learning randori. We don't do much work with randori because we don't have a well-developed way to teach it.
We play with various attacks and flowing with uke and seeing what techniques turned up.
I worked with Greg a bit and did something weird and tweaked my back.
Aftermath: Sore back. I'm out for a bit. Maybe until just next weekend.
I got caught up in the holidays and did not reports this while it was still in my mind.
I got caught up in the holidays and did not post in time for me to remember this workout.
Bummer.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, and Brad.
Ukemi: Normal set, I did take a couple of big falls with some extra padding out.
The Walk: As usual. Once at a moderate pace and once at my more preferred slower pace. And I spent some timer with Tom working on the last three stones.
Releases: with Brad.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Brad and I did some work on his shomen-ate and his aigamae-ate.
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Trey and I worked on kote-gaeshi and Ryote-mochi-sukui-nage (Uke grabs both tore's wrists and stands. Tore lifts arms, off-balancing uke, then turns uke into roll-out). I must remember to push uke up, and not out. Then rock him back and make certain both of my legs rotate at the same time to send him sprawling.
Aftermath: None of note.
found MagCreek #1 - Welcome to Magnolia Creek
found MagCreek #2
found MagCreek #3 - Miscellaneous Military
found MagCreek #4
found MagCreek #5
found MagCreek #7 - What's Your Sign?
found MagCreek #8 - Deja Vu
found MagCreek #10 - Skirting the Next Leg
couldn't find MagCreek #11 - CHARGE!!!
K., the dogs and I went out for a pleasant afternoon of caching. This was nice series along a path through a new subdivision.
Don't know what's up with the one we did not manage to locate. I'll get back there to look again at some point.
Friday:
Corporate Holiday Party. I managed to win a $50 gift card to a local chain. K. joined me after leaving her party. We did a little dancing and some chatting before heading home
Saturday:
Finished some work on the main workbench in the shop. Did some work on some more clamp hangars.
Aikido
Dinner at Joe's
Watched "Curse of the Judas Chalice" on late-nite TV
Sunday:
Slept in
Geocaching
Some more work on the clamp hangars. Did some design work for the home entertainment center.
Snow!
Snow?
Snow.
A tie in the records books for earliest recorded snowfall in Houston. Tied with 1944.
We only got about an inch or so, and it melted away when the snow turned into rain (cue Dan Fogelberg), but it was pretty while it lasted.
I like snow.
I spent a fair amount of time in the shop this past weekend and got some minor things accomplished.
My uncles spotlight platform has been cut, routed and sanded and is ready to hand over to him.
I've finished a stop block for the table saw. It took me a couple of tries to get this right. I had to properly drill for the elevator bolt and get the insert to seat properly.
I got the drill press up and running. It had not been set up since the end of the construction. Once I got it set up, the table would go up, but it wouldn't go back down. So, I had to take everything off again and oil/wax the pipe the table wraps around. After that it worked like a champ.
I also did some work on the plumbing for the skimmer I had modified. It's just about in final, ready-to-use shape.
Current occupants:
3 Green Chromis - we've lost two recently. They were smaller ones and I believe they got picked on by the bigger ones
1 Coral Beauty Angel - doing well
1 Clarkii Clown - giving the tank a couple of more weeks to relax before getting a second clarkii
1 sandsifter goby - doing well
4 Pajama Cardinals - for about 3 days one of these guys was missing. Where he'd been hiding, I have no clue
Xenia, Blue snowflake and a toadstool
Friday: Aikido
Saturday:
Geocaching on the way to Harmony stained Glass. I wanted to see if they knew anyone who was looking for an 8' light table. I've got one I'm trying to get rid of.
Aikido
Some shop time
OU/Missouri football game
Sunday:
Shop time
Install two new lights in the house
Get and put up new sets of Christmas lights
Dinner with the in-laws
Dallas/Pittsburgh football
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad and Tom.
Ukemi: I helped Tom wokr on his ukemi for a while. He's getting better.
The Walk: As usual. Once at a moderate pace and once at my more preferred slower pace. And I spent some timer with Tom working on the last three stones.
Releases: with Tom, teaching him the first 4 releases.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Trey and I did some work on his kote-gaeshi.
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Trey and I worked on kote-gaeshi.
Aftermath: Sore leg muscles just above the knees as a result of the knee walking.
Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, and Trey.
Ukemi: The usual set. Pulled out another mat and took a big fall from Tim
The Walk: As usual
Releases: with Greg
Techniques:
Owaza Ju Pon
We did some work on kote-hineri and tenkai kote-hineri. I'd jump in as uke from time to time as a break from practicing my knee walking.
Trey did some work with me on kote-gaeshi at the end.
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Trey and I worked on oshi-taoshi and gyakugameate. Actually, Tim is changing the gyakugameate into a gedan ate. These went ok.
Aftermath: None of note.
5 attempted caches this weekend. 4 smilies.
GC1HCCG - Found it with no real issues
GC1J09P - Took me a while to find it. The sun bouncing of the drab green turned grey caught my attention
GC1J09W - Nestled under some concrete
GC1J09F - I entered in the coordinate by hand. I entered them in incorrectly. As a result, I spent about 20 minutes wandering around in briar thickets with the GPS alternately telling me I was 4 feet from it to 150 feet from it.
GC1HCD4 - I wasn't prepared for this one as it turns out it's a micro. I did not find it
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey and Brad.
Ukemi: The usual set.
The Walk: As usual
Releases: not today
Techniques:
Trey and I went through 6-13 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We spent a lot of time on kote-gaeshi without much success. Trey's still having some issues.
We did a little suwari waza work for meal.
Kim and I went through 6-13 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We spent a lot of time on kote-gaeshi without much success.
Aftermath: Sore. Once again.
I went and picked up some fish over the weekend: 2 Clarkii clowns and a Coral Beauty angel fish.
Every looked good for a day or so. Then we could not find one of the clarkiis. 3 hours later it showed up, barely swimming. It later died. I'm really upset about this, they were supposedly a pair.
Now to get a smaller clarkii as a replacement.
I've got most of the cabinet tops done. I blew out the bearings on two flush trim router bits by doing something stupid. So, now I have to get another bit.
The light table is functional and ready to roll.
When I get a chance: doors and drawers.
Thursday:
Up early to bake pies: standard pumpkin and a "Bon Appetit" pumpkin. Off to mom's for the meal. TAMU vs tu football game, We did better than I expected.
Friday:
Off to some fish stores around town. I planned the day so I could hit some geocaches before the stores opened. Hit Fish Gallery and TnT Fish and Reptile. Also hit "The Cutting Edge". They're going out of business :(. we also saw "The Music Man" downtown. It was a nice local production.
Saturday:
Shop time. Aikido and Durango's. We have a tradition of going into the Half-Price Bookstore after we've had our margaritas. It turns out that while we were in the book store, the owner of the neighboring liquor store was being gunned down. We never heard a thing.
Sunday: Shop time. Football
Aikidokas: Trey.
Sensei Tim was still under-the-weather, so I got to run another class
Ukemi: The usual set and we worked on some knee-walking to get Trey introduced to it.
The Walk: Twice. Once with the eyes closed. I really messed up in the midst of one stone on the Walk and ended up 90 degrees from where I should.
Releases: with Trey. I was not doing well: rushing and being late at different times
Techniques:
We went through 6-13 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We spent a lot of time on kote-gaeshi without much success. Trey can see what he needs to change, but he's not having luck changing it. He stops moving partway through and should keep moving throughout the technique. When he stops, I can regain my balance very quickly.
We also played with oshi-taoshi and came up with some information that was new to both of us.
Normally, you get the initial off-balance and uke's lead foot lands. If there's sufficient off-balance that uke has to take a step with the trailing foot, the angles for taking uke to the floor change.
In the normal case, we say tori should go over the mountain, taking uke's elbow through his ear. This does not work if the non-lead foot is in a strong position for uke. If you go over the mountain from this position, uke will land in a heap, possibly on his back or shoulder. I found this out the hard way.
We played with the foot positions and angles for a bit and discovered that over the mountain works for the normal case because uke's fourth toe is right in line with over the mountain direction, so tori ends up taking uke's balance off of his fourth toe which will lead to a fall.
We then played with the angles for the second case and discovered that tori needs to take uke's elbow out over the fourth toe of the non-lead foot. This is just a little in front of uke's face and allows a good fall and face plant.
Aftermath: A nice solid workout that caused some muscles to ache.
I certainly hope my muscles get used to this work.
Saturday morning I was able to hit the caching trail on my way into town to run some errands. I found the following caches:
At the Point (Traditional Cache)
Winnie-The-Pooh Cache (Traditional Cache)
Memorial TB Hotel (Traditional Cache)
Life's A Beach (Traditional Cache)
A gorgeous morning to be wandering in the woods hunting for tupperware.
Ran by some fish store on Saturday and picked up a number of fish:
3 Green Chromis
2 Tomato Clowns
1 Pink spotted Goby
I also picked up some corals:
A Blue Xenia
Polyp of some sort
I just found out that one of the clowns did not make it. K. found it dead in the tank this afternoon. Bummer! I was worried as I was not able to take the time I would normally like to acclimate them when I got them home.
I managed some more time and made progress on the face frames. They are installed on 80% of the cabinets. The final face frame is glued up and drying. I plan on installing that one this evening.
I went out and bought some 2x4s for the work surface. I'll start working on those tonight: start laying out where half-laps need to be cut, etc. When the final cabinet has the face frame installed I can start installing the work surface. I'm going to lay down the 2x4s and then put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on top and then a sheet of hardboard or something similar.
I need to adjust the wing table on my table saw. I didn't do a great job of installing it and now where it meets the metal table of the saw it is out of alignment. It needs to be fixed. But, I have to take off the fence to do it. Urgh.
Friday: officially teaching my first aikido class
Saturday:
Geocaching
Stops at: Fish gallery, City Pets, Woodcraft, Fish Bowl and more
teaching my second aikido class
Durango's
Sunday:
In the shop working on face frames
Grocery shopping
Frito Pie for dinner and lunches for the week
Aikidokas: Kim, Trey and Tom.
Sensei Tim had a cold, so I got the opportunity to run my first class as a Black Belt. I knew it was coming, but I did not expect it so soon.
Ukemi: I worked with Tom on his ukemi and took a brief set of falls to warm up
The Walk: Twice, as is the usual custom
Releases: worked with Tom on 1-4. He started to grok the stuff
I worked with Tom on the Walk and releases on a one-to-one basis. We also covered moving from your center, and falling instead of stepping.
Techniques:
I worked, very briefly with Trey on Kote-gaeshi at the end of the session. I took one right-sided fall and dang if my left calf didn't act up again.
Aftermath: Left calf was offended at my kote-gaeshi fall.
I finally got some concentrated shop time this weekend and was able to make some progress on the face frames for the shop cabinets. I'd glued up some panels earlier, but I finished up the remaining ones. I then ripped them to near finished width, planed them smooth, checked for proper length and then ripped to final width.
I've got one set that I still have to check and cut to proper length. Then I can start assembling the rails and stiles and decide if I'm going to use biscuits.
Progress!
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
E-Waste recycling drop-off
Stop by mom's to drop off some stuff
Mass nursery for some blueberry plants
Feed store for some dog food
Bay Area Aquarium to browse
Aikido
Joe's Bar-B-Q
In the shop for some work
Sunday:
Late to rise
In the shop for some work
Home Depot for some RO/DI parts
Short geocaching stint
Football
Pumpkin cake
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Kim, and Trey.
Ukemi: The usual set
The Walk: not today
Releases: not today
Techniques:
Richard worked with me on starting the Koryu Dai San No Kata. I need to know the first 16 of the following.
Suwari-waza (Kneeling Techniques)
Uke Kneeling
Tori Kneeling
1. Oshi-Taoshi
2. Gyaku-game-ate
3. Kote-Gaeshi
4. Ryote-mochi-sukui-nage
Uke Standing
Tori Kneeling
5. Tenkai-kote-heneri
6. Shiho-nage
7. Gedan-Ate
8. Hiji-Kime
Tachi-waza (Standing)
9. Kote-mawashi
10. Uchi-tenkai-nage
11. Gyaku-gamae-ate
12. Hiji-Kime
13. Mae-otoshi
14. Ushiro-waza-mae-otoshi
15. Ushiro-waza-tenkai-kote-heneri
16. Mune-tori-kata-gatame
I'm not certain if the above are as I'll be learning them. The second one does not appear to correspond to what I learned on Saturday, so I need to get some official information. #1 and #3 are correct, though, as is #9.
It was very interesting work.
Aftermath: Sore, sore, sore, sore, sore. My ankles, toes and knees weren't sore. My upper body was. I think it was because of different muscle groups being used for working in a kneeling posture.
I certainly hope my muscles get used to this work.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey and a new student whose name I've forgotten.
Ukemi: I worked with the new student, introducing him to rolls on the crash pad.
The Walk: as usual, with our new student in the middle of the rest of us
Releases: none tonight
Techniques:
I oversaw Kim and Trey learning: Kote-Hineri, Kote-gaeshi, and Tenkai Kote-Hineri. I'd demonstrate it and then they'd work on it alternating roles as uke/tori. Then I uke'd for each one of them a couple of times.
Aftermath: None of note
The Fall: 4
This one is a borderline 4. I'd really have to watch it again to know whether I'd watch it again.
I missed this when it came to theatres, but I'd hoped to see it so much I went out and bought it with a Best Buy gift card.
From imdb.com
In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.
Starring
Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies)
Catinca Untaru
Catinca did a fabulous job. I think she was absolutely stunning in her role as the little girl.
I was able to follow the story that was told fairly well, but I think I got a little lost toward the end when they flashed back to the cause of Roy Walker's (Lee Pace) injury. I think seeing it again will clear things up quite a bit, so I'll probably watch again soon.
But, that probably deems it a failure as a movie: it doesn't tell the story clearly enough. Now is that failure caused by the distractions of watching at home as opposed to the theatre? I think a re-watching might answer the question.
I loved the sets, costumes and colors of the movie. Very reminiscent of "Pushing Daisies".
Current inhabitants:
2 Chromis
4 Pajama Cardinals
We've lost several chromis, but it appears to be stabilizing.
I expected to get my cleanup crew in the mail today, but it did not arrive. I'm waiting on getting them into the tank before I acquire any more fish.
I've got a potential deal in the works for some coral in trade for my stained glass work table. I hope it works out.
I'm still not quite done with my RO/DI system. I'm waiting on some more tubing.
I had my black belt demonstration this past weekend at a seminar in Killeen. It went far better than I thought it would. I'd had far less time to work on the stuff necessary for this demonstration than I'd hoped.
Friday night I spent two hours working with Russell, a student at Full circle Aikido, getting used to each other and preparing for the demo. It was pretty disastrous and I was beat. I'd not done that much work as tori in a long time.
Saturday I participated in the morning and early afternoon seminar sessions. Sensei Tim then declared the mat was for use by the folks who would be demonstrating, so I got one last run-through of the material.
The demonstration itself went fairly well. The A/C was off so instructions could be heard and as a result, according to my wife, I was melting during my demonstration. I was a puddle.
I don't know of any major screwups, but I'm not certain if I did an effective set of Owaza Ju Pon. It felt good, but uke may have been taking a fall.
I still need to work on this quite a bit.
Next up: Owaza Ju Pon 1-10 and Ni Kata 1-16, I think.
Friday:
Travel to Killeen for an aikido seminar.
The evening session had me working with Russell on my demonstration prep. Everyone else was working on balance breaks.
Saturday:
Offensive and defensive jo work from San Kata
My black belt demonstration
Sunday:
Drive back to Houston
Stop by Bay Area Aquariums to see if my stuff was ready
Dinner at Joe's
We ended the season at the bottom of the ranks. Bummer.
We had a good time, even if it would have been more fun to win.
We'll get 'em next season.
Stopped by Bay Area Aquarium, watched the huge crowd ebb and flow and then chatted with Minh. I picked up 4 pajama cardinals and got Minh to work on modifying my PM HOB skimmer.
PJs are doing ok so far, even with the Chromis in the tank. One of the PJs may not be eating. I hope he comes around.
Friday:
Traveled up to Conroe to help with the Houston Open Judo Tournament. I help with putting down the mats and setting up the venue. K. helped with getting folks registered.
Saturday:
Houston Open Judo Tournament - K. helped with registration and scorekeeping while I just did scorekeeping. It seems the tournament was not quite as full as last year, but I don't have actual numbers to back that up
Drove home and went to Durango's with K. and K.
Sunday:
grocery shopping
aquarium shopping
football
