Next-to-last match for the season, against Fandango. They're, traditionally, the powerhouse in the league, although this year they have lost more games than normal.
They had 6 players, we had 5. As usual, our line-up was different than last week's and that takes w while to get used to. Overall, we played decently but were outclassed.
It would be possible for us to end the season tied for last instead of in last all by ourselves, but it's not very likely.
There's a craft show coming up this weekend that's essentially no cost to the vendors. K., however, says I need more stock before going to a show. And she's right. I need more pens, stoppers, wands and chainmaille before trying to sell stuff.
I've got a full day of aikido this coming Saturday besides, so I really can't fit the show into my schedule.
But, I still need more inventory. So, back in the shop to do a little more turning.
I recently purchased a bunch of blanks for stoppers and a few blanks for pens, so I've got a selection to choose from. Last night I chose blanks of English Walnut and Spalted Maple to turn.
The EW was first on the lathe, and it turned out well. However, I could not get it off the chuck. I even tried chilling the chuck to get it to shrink: no dice. So, I had to destroy the stopper. :(
Next up was Spalted Maple and it turned out nicely, too. It really is quite pretty when turned and polished.
I had some issues getting it assembled. I had to drill the hole a bit deeper and use a vise grip to help me get the threaded insert into the wood.
Working through that issue inspired me to go back to a Tulipwood stopper I'd made a while back. I'd had the same issues with it that I'd just had with the Maple. With the Maple, I was bound and determined that it was going to get assembled, it was too pretty to send it to the trash. The Tulipwood, I was not as inspired, originally, as I have a number of blanks laying around. The new approach to assembling stubborn stoppers worked on the Tulipwood, so I ended the evening with two new stoppers.
Tonight is volleyball, so it won't be convenient to turn. Instead, I'll work on getting my Tormek set up again. It's been sitting idle, but since I'm doing more turning I need to be able to sharpen my tools.
Friday:
Aikido
Started prepping for the garage sale
Saturday:
Up early for the garage sale: first customer at 6:30 a.m.
Closed down the garage sale around 1 p.m. We had fairly good business, but my light table did not sell. Took the leftovers to Goodwill.
Aikido
Pizza for dinner
Fell asleep watching football
Sunday:
Football
Mercuri is still missing
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, Tom, and Sal.
Ukemi: I did a little warm-up of my own and watched over Sal.
The Walk: None.
Releases: Sensei had Trey and I get our Releases in and then move straight on to Owaza Ju Pon.
Techniques:
Trey and I worked on Owaza Ju Pon in the teim we had before Trey went off to the Aggie football game.
Aikinage, Kata Otoshi, Shihonage, Ushiro Kubi Gatama and the off-balances for the Gurumas.
We spent most of Trey's time on Kata Otoshi. It's an interesting technique on uke's side of things. I noticed that when Trey nailed the timing, I'd just find myself taking the rollout and not really thinking about getting out of it. If the timing was off, and most of the time it was early, I would sort of stumble out of the technique. Occasionally, when he was early, I would notice my foot compensating for the technique he was trying to apply: it would move off-lie to catch my balance.
We also worked on aikinage for him, and he is catching on quite well.
For me, we worked in a few reps of Shihonage, Aikinage, Ushiro Kubi Gatame, and Ushiro Ate. they went far better than either of us expected.
Trey disappeared and I then served as uke for the other guys on Aigamae-ate, Gyaku Gamae Ate and Gedan ate. We got some good work in, and I made progress on my next 10,000 falls.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. Nothing affected the right elbow or right middle finger tonight.
Aikidokas: Tim, and Trey.
Ukemi: I did a little warm-up of my own.
The Walk: None.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
Trey and I worked on Owaza Ju Pon all night, since we were the only folks around.
Aikinage, Kata Otoshi, Shihonage, Ushiro Kubi Gatama and the off-balances for the Gurumas.
We spent a large amount of time on the off-balances for the Gurumas and Trey made marked improvements as the night wore on. You need to direct uke out and around to get the otoshi and the guruma. The otoshi is very similar to the entry for a blown shomen-ate if you extend uke too far.
We also spent a large amount of time on aikinage. At the end of the work I made a bit of an improvement in my approach by getting the non-working hand much further over uke's shoulder. This allows me to get aikinage and Ushiro Kubi Gatame more reliably. A nice light bulb moment.
I spent a bit of time on Shihonage. It seems my problem with this technique stems from the third off-balance, or lack thereof. If my timing and distance are cool, it is the "up" off-balance that, if it fails, destroys my technique.
I don't remember much of our work on Kata Otoshi.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. Nothing affected the right elbow or right middle finger tonight.
We played well on each point, but we just didn't win enough points. We had 5 players, as did our opponents. My theory still holds: we need to have the same 6 team members over a period of at least 2 weeks to be playing at our best. We've not had the situation for some time.
An opponent landed under the net on top of my foot. When I attempted to move, I slightly aggravated a tendon or ligament, as my foot was still trapped. It seems ok now.
Also, after 6 hours of painting with a long extension on Sunday, my shoulder was a mess. Volleyball aggravated it and now an injury that I thought I'd managed to get rid of has come back. Aleve, "Heat" and specific sleeping positions are the order of the day.
We let Mercuri out, as has been our ritual for the past few years, around 6 p.m. Thursday night. We called for her around 10 p.m., when she is usually nearby and ready to come in, but she was not around. This didn't worry us greatly, as she occasionally spends the night outside.
When we woke up Friday morning and she was not waiting at the door, that concerned us.
As of now, Monday afternoon, she is still missing. I'm hoping for the best, but preparing to not see her again.
Friday:
Aikido
Wandered the neighborhood looking for Mercuri
Saturday:
Went to look at an estate sale in League City
Got caught up to date with my book database
Aikido
Dinner with M., K., and K. at Durango's
Sunday:
Painting M. and K.'s house
Dinner at Joe's with M., K., and K.
Collapsed from weariness (6 hours of painting will cause that)
Aikidokas: Tim, Brad, Tom, and Sal.
Ukemi: Watched Sal and then demonstrated why it's not a great idea to have your leading arm go across your body on front rolls.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: With Sal.
Techniques:
Monkey in the middle with outside the arm off-balances. I did a little work as uke and then spent the rest of the afternoon watching and making suggestions. They started to get it fairly well by the end of the session.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. Right elbow and right middle finger are minor concerns.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: I did a little warm-up of my own. Tested to see how the left hip is doing.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
Trey and I worked on Kata Otoshi and Aikinage all night. Kata Otoshi is a bugbear of technique for me. I did manage to nail it four times in a row and then three times in a row. I think I need more reps. The determining factor seems to be my timing: I tend to be in a hurry. I need to slow down.
I did manage a left-sided Aikinage, though. Go me!
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. Right elbow and right middle finger are minor concerns.
I'm reporting this a week late, but at least I remembered.
This week, I tried a relatively new place: Tony's Seafood House. I could walk there from work on a nice day with plenty of time to kill.
I ordered a 6 shrimp and 2 pieces of catfish plate, iced tea and their pecan pie. I was underwhelmed. The shrimp was ok, but the catfish was spiceless. And don't even mention the pecan pie, it was pretty bad.
There was a mix-up with my bill and I could have walked out of there for around $6, but I returned the extra $10 bill.
What the future holds:
If I have to have seafood and it has to be close, ok. Otherwise, no.
Another week with not a full team. We started off with 4 players and ended up with 5.
I got a number of good sets in the first game, but they soared off court when I hit them. I improved a bit in the second and third games.
We won the second game and came close to winning the third, so it was a decent night.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Up early to go mattress shopping.
Also stopped by Bay Area Aquariums to look at their fish and corals
Aikido
In the shop to turn two pens
Dinner at Durango's
Made baklava. Awesome.
Started work on a batch of bread
Sunday
More work on the bread
Grilled out for dinner with my mom and aunt
Monday
Off to an early showing of G-Force. Disappointing.
Waited around for mattress delivery
Hand and foot with the in-laws.
G-Force: 2
An animated feature about a group of Guinea Pigs, a fly, and a mole who form a spy team. They attempt to save the world from the greed of an appliance manufacturer. Bill Nighy (Davy Jones from POTC 3) stars as the CEO of the appliance company.
It was not as bad as I was afraid it might be, but not as good as I hoped.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Brad, and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups and did a little warm-up of my own. I actually took a self-imposed big fall as part of a demonstration for Brad, iirc. the landing wasn't great, but I walked away from it.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Watched Brad and Sal work on them
Techniques:
We tried another drill for working on Shomen-ate. Uke stands in front of tori and goes up on his toes, tori attempts to strike uke just when uke's heels touch the ground. Sal did ok. I did poorly. Weird.
It seems like there should have been something else, but I can't remember it.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups and did a little warm-up of my own
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
I worked with Sal on his releases for most of the evening.
At the end of the session, Sensei had Trey and I attempt to execute iriminage on Tom and Sal. It was quite a change from working with Trey. I could feel a huge difference, mainly in their reactions. Trey did a better job figuring out what the difference was, I think.
I also attempted a left-sided iriminage on Trey once or twice. My footwork was confused, so it did not go well.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. I think I've finally figured out how to fold my hakama properly. I've started a tradition of wearing it on Friday nights and finally managed what I thought was a good fold. This week it also helped a slightly sore back as it provides more back support than a gi does.
3:10 to Yuma : 3
A western starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, and Alan Tudyk. The story of a man trying to make it in Arizona as a rancher. Beset by all sorts of trouble, his only hope of saving his ranch is by hiring out to escort Russell Crowe's character to a train to send him to prison. Both characters grow through the movie and it's a fun little jaunt.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Slept late
Aikido
Started working on a pot of ranch style beans, from scratch
Sunday:
Ranch-style beans
2 Peach pies
Fuddrucker's hamburger buns
Burgers for grilling out
Grilled out
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Jeff, Gail, Trey, Brad, and Paul. Three folks from Killeen in to see the demonstration.
Ukemi: I did a light workout of ukemi, both sides.
Trey and I ran through the techniques once and decided any more work would be detrimental.
Shortly thereafter, we were called up for his demonstration and the the Walk, Releases and 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. He did a great job and was awarded his Ikkyu.
Brad was called up afterwards and was awarded his Yonkyu. We had a stealth demonstration for him a week ago.
I then helped Brad work with Paul on his releases and some other basics.
Aftermath: I was beat. Six of us went out for Mexican afterward and had a good time, as is tradition when folks from Killeen come to town.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups and did a little warm-up of my own
The Walk: Twice, as usual. Tom got to count once.
Trey and I worked on the stuff for his demonstration. We went through 1-17 and spent some time on problems that popped up. Problems always pop up the night before a demonstration, it's just the way things work. There were no show-stoppers, though.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. Still trouble for suwari waza and some of the big falls.
Friday:
Aikido
Thunderstorm that probably killed our central a/c
Saturday:
No a/c
Out to the local seafood markets for fresh fish and shrimp
Aikido
Cooked out the seafood
Watched a couple of dvds
Sunday:
No a/c
Baked some more ciabatta. It turned out better.
Grilled out chicken
Cards with the in-laws
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Tom.
Ukemi: I did a light workout of ukemi, both sides.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Tom and I worked on releases. Sensei Tim came in and made some corrections on my releases.
Techniques:
We had Tom and Brad show us what they know of the first 5 techniques. They look pretty good.
Trey and I went through 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. A pretty good run through. Did not do big falls with #17.
Aftermath: A tough workout. Ibuprofen was necessary afterwards.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups. Still improving.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Sal and I worked on releases.
Techniques:
I was the uke for some "strike the dummy" work for Sal.
Trey and I went through 1-8, and 10-12 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. Pretty good. His demonstration's coming up in one week.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. It is feeling better, but I can still tell it's there.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army : 3
Ron Perlman stars again as Hellboy, the foundling from WWII who is almost indestructible but not that bright. This time the direction was handled by Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth") and the movie felt like a cross between Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth.
Hellboy's task is to save the world from the evil elves and express his love for Liz. A number of hijinks ensue along the path and they're enjoyable.
Would I have spent the money to see it in the theatre? I think so.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor : 3
The third installment of Brendan Fraser's Mummy franchise. (Apparently, there's going to be a 4th one, according to imdb.com) This time they're in China and Shangri-la and the uncover the Terra Cotta Warriors. The typical mishaps and adventures occur and the world is saved, yet again.
Emperor Han's control of the elements is hinted at, but not fully exploited by him. He should have been almost undefeatable. Probably overconfidence is what led to his downfall.
I missed Rachel Weisz in this film, and they had a humorous little line that acknowledged that she was not in this film. They did add Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh to the cast, but they were under utilized.
I'm planning on doing some more ciabatta baking this weekend. In order to follow the recipe a little more closely, I needed some Italian "00" flour. The place known to have it in stock was H.E.B.'s Central Market.
So, K. and I went out there, got our flour and grabbed dinner from their "cafe on the run." She picked up a muffaletta and I picked up one of their chicken portabello mushroom sandwiches. I'll manage to get four meals from that sandwich. I don't know about K. she got a 3 inch sandwich.
We got to eat, listen to some music and smell Hatch peppers roasting while eating our dinner. Not a bad meal.
I allow myself to eat out for lunch once each week, usually on Fridays. Most of the time I go to Franca's for Italian food.
This week, I tried a place I've been wondering about for 20 years: Tree House Bar and Restaurant. Calling it a restaurant is a bit of an overstatement, but what I ate was decent.
I ordered the special: Fried Shrimp with french fries and iced tea. The shrimp were quite large, probably colossal sized in seafood market terms, and nicely prepared. The fries were nothing special.
The atmosphere was typical bar: dark with a stale cigarette smell. I came out of there smelling of smoke.
Overall, I'm glad I went, if just to know what lurks behind that door. I probably won't go back, just because of the smell of my clothes after eating there.
Coraline: 3
An enjoyable adaptation of a Neil Gaiman story. I'd not read the NG story before watching the DVD, so I wasn't certain what I was getting. What I got was a story of a little girl having to rescue her parents from the clutches of her "other mother".
The main problem I had with the film was, as far as I could see, there wasn't a vary good reason for the "other mother" to agree to the contest Coraline proposed.
It was a visually appealing film and, despite the flaw, a fun one.
Armadillocon was a 5-day affair for me this year, as it has been most years. Leave for the con on Thursday, return home from the con on Monday in order to be able to handle the Art Show stuff that needs to get done.
Day 1 - Thursday
Up at 5 a.m. and on the road by 6 a.m. Minimal traffic, especially once I get on 290. I made it to Elgin by around 8:30 and made a call to my kolache dealer, telling her I was a little ahead of schedule. I made the connection with her, picked up some Granger sausage, and then drove back roads to get to I-35.
I stopped off at Woodcraft in Austin and received a call from Kimm to discuss delivery of a powered chair to my room for one of the guests of the con. Then went to the hotel, checked in and unloaded the truck. I then went and watched an aikido class and then stopped by my aunt and uncle's place to chat for a while.
I had to leave there and get back to the hotel to for a conference call for work and then wait around for the power chair (which got delivered to the front desk, not my room).
Then to dinner with the con committee and then Art Show assembly. We managed to complete the build in an hour and a half, so I was done for the evening by about 10 p.m.
Day 2 - Friday
In the Art Show bright and early to start hanging art. We managed to get most of the art hung by around 2:30 (later than usual), except for a few local artists who were the victim of some old information. We were completely done by around 4 p.m. and we stayed open until about 10:35 p.m. when the panel that went through the art show was done.
We had a lot more activity on the art than is normal for a Friday. I'm not certain why.
Day 3 - Saturday
In the Art Show bright and early to try to enter everything into my web software. Unfortunately, the connection in that area is poor if you have purchased a connection through your room. If you've got a connection for your conference it's good, but that costs a chunk of change. So, my plans were foiled.
Stayed in the Art Show most of the day. A couple of jaunts out to wander in the Dealers' Room and buy some books.
We stopped silent auction bidding at 5 p.m. and had the auction at 6. We had some lively bidding, sometimes a bit acrimonious. Dinner in the Art Show with the Art Show crew (Laura, Jimmy, and Rhonda) and then we re-opened for people to pick up their art and make more purchases.
Closed down around 10 p.m. and wandered through some parties, briefly. Tried to chat with Bill about my role for Texas 2013 Worldcon, should we win it, but was interrupted by a fan/pro from San Antonio.
Day 4 - Sunday
In the Art Show bright and early to handle final sales and start tear down. We finished quickly and got everything on the truck before the Dealers' Room stuff was on the truck. A first, I believe. I actually had a few minutes to just sit, with my job done, before the post-con dinner at County Line Bar-B-Q.
We did drop some stuff at the storage unit and then the rest of the stuff was emptied at Chuck and Willie's place. We then went to the County Line and were the first folks there for dinner. Sweet!
From there, back to the hotel for the dead dog. I did some paperwork first and stayed just a short time at the dead dog, before hitting the sack
Day 5 - Monday
Up early, skipping breakfast, so I could hit USPS, UPS and FedEx on my way out of town to ship back the mail-in art. Stopped by Berdoll Pecan company on Hwy 71 and paid a king's ransom for 5 lbs. of pecan halves. We're almost out and it's getting time for fall baking.
I stopped by and picked up my receiver that'd been in repair for a few weeks and made it home by 12:30 p.m. At K's suggestion, I crashed for about 3 hours.
Another Armadillocon mostly done. I still have to send out the check so the artists.
And now it's time to start prepping for the next one.
I was proactive and sent an email out to a client, with whom I have lots of dealing, saying that I was going to be out of town for the next five days. It also contained phone numbers for me and my backup, should they need to contact us during that time. This resulted in emails sent to my higher-ups that their needs were not going to be handled and how dare I go away while there are issues with the system.
You just can't win.
If I'd not sent the email, they'd have complained that I did not let them know I was going to be gone.
Ugh. Just ugh.
First game was good and close. The other two were disasters. 'Nuff said.
Not a great way to start off a new season.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Up early to start working on ciabatta bread using two different recipes.
Aikido
Birthday dinner and movies for members of the family
Sunday:
Up early to finish the ciabatta. It was tasty bread, but the texture is something I can't get right. I made some minor goofs along the way, so I need to try both recipes again.
Nap. Woohoo!
Cooked out salmon and skirt steak. Salmon was fabulous.
K. and I played some poker on-line. She loves to bluff.
Julie & Julia: 4
The story of a New York City worker who decides to blog about her experiences going through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 365 days.
It also covers Julia's experience in getting the book written and published.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not certain the political parts of Julia's experience as the wife of an embassy employee were very pertinent though.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, and Tom. We also had a couple watching the session as potential new students
Ukemi: I watched Tom in his ukemi. I did a bit before we bowed in for the afternoon.
The Walk: Three or four times, trying to improve Tom's performance.
Releases: Tom and I worked on releases. All afternoon. We went through 1-7 working on the off-balances and making it so that I can't "land" on him during the releases. I think he may have had some light bulb moments, I don't know.
Techniques:
None.
Aftermath: A nice afternoon. I should have taken some ibuprofen after Friday night's session. Took some ibu after this one.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups. He's making good progress.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Trey and I worked on releases. Better than last week.
Hand Randori: Trey and I worked on this for a little bit. Not bad.
Techniques:
Trey and I went through 1-11, 13, and 14 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. A much better run through this week.
Aftermath: The hip joint issue is still in play. I'm in Austin next weekend, so I'll be taking a week off from aikido. Hopefully that will help the healing.
Found out last night that Texas fandom is bidding for Worldcon 2013 in San Antonio. They announced the city last night. I was expecting it. I was hoping for the bid to be for Houston, but didn't think we had the facilities, yet.
K. had promised to help work the con only if it was in Houston, so she won't be helping out. I plan on helping out, possibly in the Art Show, maybe Security. We'll see if/where they want me.
This also sets up some travel plans for coming years. I'm very likely to be going to NASFiC next year, Worldcon in Reno in 2011, and Worldcon in Chicago in 2012. I've got SMOFcon in Austin later this year.
I need to start purchasing memberships.
I need to see if K. wants to go along. To that end, I need to commit to some non-con days during those trips.
I took a woodturning class last night. I think it's my first one. This one was on how to turn "European" style pens.
I was running late because a problem popped up at work, just as my normal day ended. I stuck around as long as I could to ferret out the issue, but had to leave to make it to class.
I arrived about 10 minutes late. Luckily, there were only two students signed up to take the class so I didn't hold anyone up. They'd gone ahead with starting the class. The other student was already busily working.
I had an issue with my first attempt, the brass tubes were not well secured and I ruined the first set of blanks (padauk) because of it. The second set of blanks (rosewood) were prepared properly and the turning turned out ok.
I was a little aggressive, probably with the sanding, and the wood ended up being a little small and did not match up perfectly with the hardware. I also got a little to much glue on it and marred the finish a bit.
Overrall, I'm pleased.
And, of course, I spent money in the store after class. Just like they wanted me to. I got a new roughing chisel and the bushings for the "European" pen.
Nothing medical in this post, Blood is the name of my '99 F-150.
She'd been running rough the past couple of weeks but we though it was because of some bad gas. K. had filled it up with non-premium (I've been running the vehicles on premium gas for years) and we thought that might be the cause. However, after a couple of tanks of the usual hi-grade stuff, it was still running poorly.
Took it into the dealer (I get a free loaner car while they repair the vehicle), and had it looked at. Prognosis: spark plugs, wires and ignition coil need to be replaced. These were the original spark plugs, etc. that came with the truck. 140K miles and almost 11 years on a set of spark plugs? I'll take it.
I'd have preferred a smaller bill, but she's running like a top now.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Errands - dog food, jewelry store, book store, office supplies
Armadillocon prep
Aikido
Durango's
D&D
Sunday:
Armadillocon prep
Blueberry pancakes and muffins
Peach pies
Grilled out some fabulous steaks
Aikidokas: Tim, and Brad.
Ukemi: Tim watched Brad and I got in a pretty full set of ukemi. No left-sided.
The Walk: Twice, as is the usual routine.
Releases: Worked with Brad on his releases. Tweaked his work with someone of my height. We spent most of the afternoon on this.
Techniques:
We quickly worked on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate before our time ran out.
At the very end, Richard showed up and Tim and I demonstrated the groundwork we covered in Alabama.
Aftermath: Left my belt behind at the dojo. :(
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups. He's not getting any propulsion from me to get over, I just watch and comment now
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Trey and I worked on releases. Rusty was I.
Techniques:
Trey and I went through 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. His demonstration for Ikkyu is planned for the weekend of August 21, so we're trying to get him ready. It was a good run through. Techniques that proved troublesome were: Aigamae-ate (his current problem technique) and Mae-otoshi. We still haven't generated air falls on Hiki-otoshi and I'm leery of taking left-side air falls at the moment because of my hip, so we've not done a full-on demonstration level practice yet.
After that we went through some of the groundwork stuff we covered at the seminar. Fun stuff
Aftermath: The hip joint is affecting just about everything I do. It limits the amount of techniques I even attempt. It has improved, but it's not healed yet.
The umbrella organization for my aikido dojo (American Tomiki Aikido Association) held its semi-annual seminar/clinic this past weekend. It was, in name, the Spring Seminar delayed by several months by all sorts of things.
6 dojos and 5 cities were represented by the attendees. We had: Nick Lowry's Windsong Dojo (Oklahoma City), Frankie Canant's Kumayama Dojo (Bessemer, Alabama), Tim Cleghorn's Clear Creek Dojo (Houston), Jeff Duncan's Full Circle Dojo (Killeen, Tx), two folks from West Houston, and two folks from Arlington, Texas.
Totaled up there were 22 aikidoka and, at the start of the weekend, 15 yudansha. At the end of the weekend there were 17 yudansha. And, a day or two after the seminar, we found out that Frankie Canant is to be promoted to Rokudan! I have no idea what the total number of dan grades were, but we had an amazing group to work with. This was the biggest group I've ever worked with and the most experienced group by far.
Trey, Tim and I flew out to Birmingham Friday morning. we were the only folks who flew to this gathering, everyone else drove. 12 hours on the road does not thrill me, but maybe it would have been the better approach? We arrived early in the afternoon and headed to Frankie's place. Most of the folks were already there, so we got the chance to renew friendships and make some new ones before heading over to the local Y for the first session.
I think the first session was spent working on what will likely be a new kata at some point in the future. A groundwork kata! Jeff Duncan had been playing with ideas in his dojo and presented them to us to learn, play with and improve.
His base for the groundwork was Ju Nana Hon Kata. Translate as many of those techniques to be usable from the ground. If I remember correctly, the following techniques have analogs on the ground: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12. It was interesting and challenging working with these ideas and trying to figure out where the appropriate off-balances are. We also played with height differentials on the ground. They do make a difference.
At one point my partner and I were working on one of them and thought we saw a spot where uke would be likely to collapse in on tori. Sensei Lowry called me over to try doing that on him. I still feel where his elbows were pointing into my chest. Ouch.
We did some exploration of tweaks to make to some of the releases. The first release you can flip your wrist over and will generate a nice body drop. The second release, if uke turns inside you can pretend to be the Queen of England waving and then get a nice arm wraparound. The second release, if uke turns outside, you can get a nice wrist lock (my notes are incomplete on this). The fourth release can turn into the 7th release which then morphs into kaitenage. At that point if toir attempts to put his finger through uke's ear, uke will do a nice whole body rotation before hitting the ground. You can also, on the fourth release, point the fingers on your knife-hand down and get a nice body drop. We also played with shihonage and if it doesn't feel right at the fourth off-balance, you can release your hand from the grip and get a nice ushiro-ate.
We then adjourned back to Frankie's place for beer, food and conversation.
The next morning we convened back at the Y for another session. We did some more exploration of the groundwork and then did some work on randori. Normally, we do the randori where there is no designated uke or tori, both players try to find an off-balance, an opening, or a mistake by the other. This time we tried assigning a role to each player and working from there.
One of the folks I worked with was Sensei Lowry. OMG. He toasted me so often, and I was supposed to be tori. He felt the slightest amount of tension in my hands and arms and was able counter 98% of what I did. I did manage to find an opening two, or maybe 3, times.
One of the things he noticed was that when working with him, I was directing my center perpendicular to his. If I managed to point my center through him, things were more likely to go my way (if I also had very little tension in my arms).
I'm not certain I took as much advantage of that opportunity as I could, but I'm still glad I had the opportunity.
We then broke for lunch back over at Frankie's.
We came back after lunch, but I can't remember what we worked on. We then had two Shodan demonstrations. Congrats to Russell Stewart (who was the uke for my Shodan demonstration last November) and Jamey Best. Jamey had real struggles as his back was quite painful, but he made it through.
We then went back to Frankie's place for a great spread provided by his wonderful wife Joy. After dinner there was more drinking, and storytelling long into the night.
We flew back home on Sunday. We tried to change our flights to get back earlier, but it would have cost us $50 each. It wasn't worth, even though we sat in the airport for about 4 hours.
I'm not certain how many different folks I worked with over the weekend, let's see if I can come up with most of the names: Sensei Lowry, Allen, Larry, Paul, Christian, Cameron, Russell, Steve, ........
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : 4
I'd happily go see this movie again, but you have to take it for what it is: a treatment of a book as a movie. As such, there are subplots and scenes from the book that just can't make it to the screen. There are also scenes that are changed from the book.
I'd overheard people talking about the movie commenting on the fact that it was not as "dark" as the book: too much humor, etc. I do not agree. My thoughts are that, without the humor in the movie, you don't want to take any suicidal friends to see the film.
I don't know if I'll see it again at the theatre, but I wouldn't mind doing so.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups. He's already moving up to the non-kneeling version of the rolls.
The Walk: Four times, I think, today.
Releases: Worked with Sal on his releases. We managed to get through the first two fairly well
Techniques:
I then worked with Trey, as uke, as he ran through 1-11 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. It went very smoothly. He had a couple of bobbles on Aigamae-ate, as is the current trend, and a couple on Shomen-ate. At the end, kote-hineri, things got a little loose and he let go of me too early. I tried, but failed to keep my head from bouncing off of the mat.
Aftermath: Trying to reduce the strain on the hip. Trey's Ikkyu demonstration is, currently, scheduled for August 21st or 22nd. I've got to be able to take the falls by then. There's a seminar this coming weekend, so I've got to be careful there.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and Sal.
Ukemi: I watched Sal during his warm-ups.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Worked with Tom on his releases.
Techniques:
I spent some time working with Tom on Shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate, and Gyakugamae-ate. It went pretty well for a first serious look at the techniques.
Then I did some work on Shihonage of Owaza Ju Pon. Normally, this is done right-sided only. Sensei had me work on both sides. Getting the footwork for left-side was very challenging, but it managed to be passable at the end.
I then worked with Trey, as uke, as he ran through 15, 16, and 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. Trey's starting to get comfortable with these. We haven't tried the air fall finish for hiki taoshi, yet. Because of my hip, I'm trying to take back falls instead of air falls.
Aftermath: The hip joint is affecting just about everything I do. It limits the amount of techniques I even attempt.
Friday - Aikido
Saturday - Blueberry pancakes, Aquarium work, out in the shop to do some turning, Aikido, dinner at Joe's, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Sunday - Blueberry muffins, out in the shop to do some turning, baked two pies: cherry and peach, dinner at the in-laws, Armadillocon work
Wish someone would put HP and the Order of the Phoenix on the tube. I need to see that before this weekend's HP and the Half-Blood Prince.
I've been working on turning stuff for display at Armadillocon. We've got enough empty space in the Art Show that I feel ok putting some stuff in the show.
I wanted to try out another recipe for Ciabatta bread, but did not do it. Maybe tonight.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, Brad, Tom and Sal. Our biggest group in quite some time. Richard was there for Jyodo, but came on the mat to help Sal.
Ukemi: Not quite full set. The hip's ok in warmups, most of the time.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques:
I did some work on some techniques. We were going to do some suwari waza in Koryu Dai San, but my hip is not allowing me to move properly at the moment. I can't put my legs 90 degrees from each other at the moment.
Owaza Ju Pon
1. Kubi Garuma
2. Kata Otoshi - I tried this, but the pivot for the technique is another hip wrenching move at the moment.
9. Ushiro Kubi Gatame
I then worked with Trey, as uke, as he ran through 11 through 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We've not tried roll-outs on a left-sided Hiki Otoshi yet, but we're getting close.
One of the falls for Sumi-otoshi was a little stunning. Trey's grip slipped (whether because of his sweat, or mine, or both who knows) and I landed with no support. The landing was soft enough, but my neck tweaked a little for some reason. (I think I may have been attempting to look for Trey's missing hand.) I really expected that the muscle would lock up on Sunday, but it wasn't too bad.
Aftermath: I hope the hip heals soon.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: I watched Tom during his warm-ups.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques:
We spent a bit of time with Tom on "strike-the-dummy" and the moved on to shomen-ate. We're working on reducing the tension in his off-hand, as the current amount of tension tells uke a awful lot about tori.
Then I did some work on some techniques.
Standing Koryu Dai San
1. Kote Mawashi
2. Uchi Tenkai Nage
3. Gyakugamae Ate
4. Kote Kajiki
5. Mae Otoshi
I then worked with Trey, as uke, as he ran through 15, 16, and 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. After we finished working on those, we ran through Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate, briefly.
Aftermath: My wrist is finally (3 months after the massive kote gaeshi day) comfortable, but my hip joint is still troublesome.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and a new student, Sal. Sensei Tim was back on the mat!
Ukemi: I helpd introduce Sal to ukemi.
The Walk: Twice as usual. Then I spent the evening helping Sal to learn the Walk. He did amazingly well. We actually made it all the way through.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques:
I ran through:
1. Kubi-guruma - neck wheel
2. Kata-otoshi - shoulder drop
5. Aiki-nage - fitting in throw
Kata-otoshi is the throw that is most vulnerable, in my opinion, to the slightest error. There just feels to be a very small window for this technique to work.
A couple of items got pointed out to me/I figured out while working on this. The first is that the entry really needs to be with a knife hand, you don't want to push in the direction from which uke attacked. Doing that stops uke's motion and stops the technique. If you keep the knife hand and can get it on the outside of uke's shoulder, pivot and then push on the back of the shoulder, the technique is more likely to happen.
I also need to pay attention to my pivot. If I stop it short, or if I fall away from uke, the technique will not happen. My center must stay involved with uke's center.
Trey ran through 1, 2 and 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We spent a bit of time on Hiki-otoshi (#17). He was able to get roll-outs from me on right and left side.
The next step is to have him hold on, replacing the roll-out with a big fall.
Aftermath: None of note.
Friday:
No aikido. It was to have been just Sensei and I and, since Sensei is not supposed to be on the mat, we called it off. I spent the evening cooking and prepping for the trip to the reunion.
Saturday:
Up bright and early (4:45 a.m.) to go to New Corn Hill for the 20th reunion of my great grandparents family. We left at 6 a.m. and made it to the church hall shortly after 9 a.m. (1 hour quicker than google maps said). 8 hours of meeting, greeting and eating. A great time!
The stained glass panels (Czech flag and Texas flag) I made did ok in the silent auction. They didn't make back their glass costs, but that's ok. The goal was to offset the cost and they did a good job toward that goal. The Texas flag was the item that sold for the most amount of money in the auction.
A jar of pickles had the most bids in the auction: 14. Final bid on the pickles (made by an uncle Joe Fojtik) was $16.
I was outbid on most items I wanted: banana bread, pickles, poppyseed cookies, among others.
Sunday:
Got out to meet my college roommate and his wife for brunch. They were in town on a stop of their weeklong tour of Texas. We got to catch up on some stuff that they'd been doing since we last met.
K and I then went to my mom's, prior to heading into town to see the HMNS's exhibit: "Terra Cotta Warriors." It was a nice exhibit. I was impressed at how tall the statues were. It looked like they were about 5'9." Which, I thought, seemed a bit tall for that long ago.
We then hit Star Pizza for dinner and then went home.
I am so looking forward to a 3-day weekend.
Paycheck: 3
An adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story. Starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman and directed by John Woo.
A man who is an expert in reverse engineering hires his services out for weeks at a time. The people he works for then wipe his memory of those weeks so that he has no knowledge of what he's done. He then goes to work for a good friend, this time for 3 years.
At the end of this task he has his memory wiped. This time he finds that he has rejected the payment he agreed to, and he only receives 19 items in an envelope.
Those 19 items turn out to be the keys to survival and discovering what it was he actually did for his friend's company.
My main quibble at this point is: how did he acquire those items? It was implied that he lived on the campus of the company for which he was working.
John Woo's trademark dove does not come until the very end of the movie.
Frost/Nixon: 3
A movie based on a play based on the real life interviews of Richard Nixon by David Frost. This movie had some strong actors (Frank Langella, Oliver Platt, etc.) and was directed by Ron Howard.
This was an interesting insight into the tribulations that a talk show host can have when attempting to interview an experienced politician. We see David struggling to get funding for the interviews and then struggling to maintain control of the interview when face-to-face with Nixon.
In the end we get a confession, and the highlight of Frost's career.
Here is the Texas flag stained glass piece I just completed. Actual size is about 13"x20".
Here is the Czech flag stained glass piece I just finished. Actual size is about 13"x20"
It's actually raining outside right now. Probably not at home, but at work it is. ( I checked and it's not raining at home :( )
We haven't had rain since May 24th.
The following are the techniques I need to know for my Nidan:
Owaza Ju Pon
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
Retreat with right foot: fade-away. Don't push too much. That will cause uke to spin into you.
7. Ushiro Ate - behind (from the rear) strike
Get the initial off balance. Separate centers at the end.
8. Kote Gaeshi - wrist turn
9. Ushiro Kubi Gatame - hold from behind (the rear)
10. Shizumi Otoshi - sinking body drop
Koryu Dai San - Kneeling
1. Oshi Taoshi - Tore attempts shomen ate. When uke blocks, tore circles into oshi taoshi.
Must remember to open and not pivot. Also, get the proper initial off-balance.
2. Gyakugamae Ate - Uke strikes with right hand to tore's temple. Tore rises with shomen ate to uke's opposite eye.
3. Kote Gaeshi - Uke punches at tore's abdomen. Tore evades, threatens eye, throws kote gaeshi.
Don't extend uke to much on first off-balance, he has to be able to recover.
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" arms as near to overhead as possible. Rock uke back on his right heel and then pivot to the right, sweeping the right hand down to catch uke's foot.
5. Tentai Kote Hineri - Uke chokes from behind. Tore frees himself, takes uke down in tentai kote hineri.
6. Shiho Nage - Uke approaches from tore's left, grabbing the wrist. Tore secures the grip, performs shiho nage.
The grip is locked by locking uke's hand down with the right hand and turning the left hand out.
7. Gedan Ate - Uke approaches from tore's right, grabbing the sleeve. As uke tries to pull tore up, tore places his right hand on uke's knee joint.
8. Hiji Kime - Uke approaches from the front, grabbing at tore's collar. Tore takes uke's hand, turning into mae otoshi.
Koryu Dai San - Standing
1. Kote Mawashi
Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back slightly with the left foot while at the same time throwing an uppercut at uke with the right hand. As the right hand continues past the upper cut, tore grabs uke's right hand and turns it over into a mawashi. Tore's left hand, knife edge, lands on uke's elbow. Tore turns to the left, rolling uke's arm counter clockwise tore's left hand. Tore then steps forward, pushin through to uke's left should with his left hand, causing uke to fall.
2. Uchi Tenkai Nage
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 7th release. Tore follows the thumb, getting a mawash on uke's right hand and sending uke into roll-out.
3. Gyakugamae Ate
This one can be done with two timings: before uke grabs the collar or afterwards.
Before
Uke reaches for tore's right sleeve. Tore steps forward, collapsing uke's arm, then rotates his center, pushing through uke's right shoulder.
After
Uke grabs tore's right sleeve. Tore steps back, collapsing uke's arm, then steps forward knocking uke back while pushing through uke's right shoulder.
4. Kote Kajiki
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release, tore switches hands into "thread the needle." For uke's safety, tore then waits for uke to turn around. When uke takes a step, tore takes a step and drops the arm, supporting uke as he goes over.
5. Mae Otoshi
Uke attempts to choke tore with a cross-handed collar choke. Tore steps back to his left, bringing his hands up to intercept the choke with his thumbs up. Tore grabs uke's left hand and then finishes the technique with mae-otoshi.
6. Ushiro Waza Mae Otoshi
Uke grabs tore's right hand. Tore does 5th release, uke tries to attack tore with his left hand, turns into mae otoshi.
7. Ushiro Waza Tentai Kote Hineri
Uke attempts to grab tore from behind. Tore steps to back and to the left, getting his arms into the "Happy Buddha" posture and grabbing uke's left wrist with his right hand. Tore grabs uke's wrist into tentai kote hineri, and finishes the technique as in Ju Nana Hon Kata.
8. Mune Tori Kata Gatame
Uke attacks with shomen ate. Tore steps to right, drops uke's hand to his foot, falling uke. Tore twists ankle to turn uke over, pins legs, then takes uke's arm into arm-bar.
Aikidokas: Trey. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat.
Ukemi: Full set, no big falls.
The Walk: Not tonight.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques:
Trey ran through 1-5 Ju Nana Hon Kata. Sensei had him go through right and then left, one attempt each side. We then went through and then 11-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata a little more patiently, at least for 14-17.
1-5 were much, much, better than the previous night's versions. I've got a nice bruise on my right forearm, almost assuredly from Ushiro-ate.
11-17 were pretty good as well
We did not get all the way through working on Hiki-otoshi. It has the funkiest footwork/timing of any of the first 17. It's pretty important that uke feel confident in tore on this technique, sol we spend some time working up to the actual throw.
We then ran through the 8 standing techniques of Koryu Dai San
1. Kote Mawashi
Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back slightly with the left foot while at the same time throwing an uppercut at uke with the right hand. As the right hand continues past the upper cut, tore grabs uke's right hand and turns it over into a mawashi. Tore's left hand, knife edge, lands on uke's elbow. Tore turns to the left, rolling uke's arm counter clockwise tore's left hand. Tore then steps forward, pushin through to uke's left should with his left hand, causing uke to fall.
2. Uchi Tenkai Nage
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 7th release. Tore follows the thumb, getting a mawash on uke's right hand and sending uke into roll-out.
3. Gyakugamae Ate
This one can be done with two timings: before uke grabs the collar or afterwards.
Before
Uke reaches for tore's right sleeve. Tore steps forward, collapsing uke's arm, then rotates his center, pushing through uke's right shoulder.
After
Uke grabs tore's right sleeve. Tore steps back, collapsing uke's arm, then steps forward knocking uke back while pushing through uke's right shoulder.
4. Kote Kajiki
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release, tore switches hands into "thread the needle." For uke's safety, tore then waits for uke to turn around. When uke takes a step, tore takes a step and drops the arm, supporting uke as he goes over.
5. Mae Otoshi
Uke attempts to choke tore with a cross-handed collar choke. Tore steps back to his left, bringing his hands up to intercept the choke with his thumbs down. Tore grabs uke's left hand and then finishes the technique with mae-otoshi.
6. Ushiro Waza Mae Otoshi
Uke grabs tore's right hand. Tore does 5th release, uke tries to attack tore with his left hand, turns into mae otoshi.
7. Ushiro Waza Tentai Kote Hineri
Uke attempts to grab tore from behind. Tore steps to right, getting his arms into the "Happy Buddha" posture and grabbing uke's left wrist with his right hand. Tore grabs uke's wrist into tentai kote hineri, and finishes the technique as in Ju Nana Hon Kata.
8. Mune Tori Kata Gatame
Uke attacks with shomen ate. Tore steps to right, drops uke's hand to his foot, falling uke. Tore twists ankle to turn uke over, pins legs, then takes uke's arm into arm-bar.
Aftermath: Tweak of my left hip joint. It came from a weird fall last week and it gets aggravated on left-sided roll-outs or left-sided big falls. Looks like I may have about two weeks for it to recover as Trey is not going to be at the dojo next weekend, leaving me with simple ukemi if any at all.
Aikidokas: Trey. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat.
Ukemi: Full set, no big falls.
The Walk: Not tonight.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques:
Trey ran through 1-10 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. It's been quite a while since he's run through that set, so rust was showing. Frustration levels were quite high, but he got most of the techniques quickly. I had some rust ukeing for some of them, my reactions were a little quick.
Toughs one were: Aigamae-ate, Gyakugamae-ate, and Ushiro-ate
We then ran through the first 4 standing techniques of Koryu Dai San No Kata
1. Kote Mawashi
Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back slightly with the left foot while at the same time throwing an uppercut at uke with the right hand. As the right hand continues past the upper cut, tore grabs uke's right hand and turns it over into a mawashi. Tore's left hand, knife edge, lands on uke's elbow. Tore turns to the left, rolling uke's arm counter clockwise tore's left hand. Tore then steps forward, pushin through to uke's left should with his left hand, causing uke to fall.
2. Uchi Tenkai Nage
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 7th release. Tore follows the thumb, getting a mawash on uke's right hand and sending uke into roll-out.
3. Gyakugamae Ate
This one can be done with two timings: before uke grabs the collar or afterwards.
Before
Uke reaches for tore's right sleeve. Tore steps forward, collapsing uke's arm, then rotates his center, pushing through uke's right shoulder.
After
Uke grabs tore's right sleeve. Tore steps back, collapsing uke's arm, then steps forward knocking uke back while pushing through uke's right shoulder.
4. Kote Kajiki
Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release, tore switches hands into "thread the needle." For uke's safety, tore then waits for uke to turn around. When uke takes a step, tore takes a step and drops the arm, supporting uke as he goes over.
Aftermath: None of note.
The zinc border I have is old, crooked and requires lots of elbow grease before it can be used. So, I'm going to get some new zinc over the weekend and finish up the projects.
Here are the states of the projects:
Texas
Done - Design the pattern
Done - Cut out the pattern pieces
Done - Cut out the glass pieces
Done - Grind the glass pieces smooth
Done - Foil the glass pieces
Done - Solder the pieces
Done - Solder the zinc border
TBD - Patina the entire thing
Czech
Done - Design the pattern
Done - Cut out the pattern pieces
Done - Cut out the glass pieces
Done - Grind the glass pieces smooth
Done - Foil the glass pieces
Done - Solder the pieces
TBD - Solder the zinc border
TBD - Patina the entire thing
I've got a family reunion coming up in a few weeks. One of the things we do, to pay for the hall and other expenses, is hold a silent auction. There are usually canned goods from gardens and various other items. I usually put in a pen or bottle stopper that I've turned on the lathe.
This year, I think I'll put in a bottle stopper, a box I've recently made, and two stained glass pieces. One will be a Texas state flag and the other will be the Czech flag.
Here are the states of the projects
Texas
Done - Design the pattern
Done - Cut out the pattern pieces
Done - Cut out the glass pieces
Done - Grind the glass pieces smooth
Done - Foil the glass pieces
TBD - Solder the pieces
TBD - Solder the zinc border
TBD - Patina the entire thing
Czech
Done - Design the pattern
Done - Cut out the pattern pieces
Done - Cut out the glass pieces
Done - Grind the glass pieces smooth
TBD - Foil the glass pieces
TBD - Solder the pieces
TBD - Solder the zinc border
TBD - Patina the entire thing
I should be able to get both pieces soldered tonight. If that happens, I might be able to do the patina as well.
I hope they generate interest in the silent auction, they've got about $70 worth of glass in each of them. I'll post pictures when they're done.
It's that time of year when blueberries and peaches are readily available in our part of the world. We picked 22 lbs. of blueberries over the weekend and bought 1.5 bushels of peaches. Most of the fruit is frozen and ready for consumption at some point during the next few months. We did save a few peaches and blueberries back for fresh consumption.
I've made a blackberry/blueberry pie, but no peach pies, so far. Trying to get the proper amount of cornstarch into the mixture is the tough part. I like my pies juicy, but not liquid.
IO made a cherry/grape pie and the ration of 1 TB/cup of fruit was just right. On the blackberry/blueberry pie, the ration of 0.5 TB/cup of fruit was too little. I used the wrong measuring spoon. I'd guess that maybe 1.5TB/cup would have worked right.
We've tried HEB's brand of rolled up pie crusts for these recent pies. They pale in comparison to the Pillsbury ones. HEB's are much cheaper though and, in a pinch, they'll do.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Up bright and early to go pick blueberries north of town. I ended up carrying an 8 lb. bucket around my neck for most of the morning. Ouch. Then went a little further north to buy some peaches.
Aikido
Joe's for dinner.
Sunday:
Blueberry muffins for breakfast.
Was a complete bum for the rest of the day.
Did make a fresh cherry that evening. My first completely from scratch cherry pie.
Aikidokas: Trey. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat
Ukemi: Full set, minus big falls.
The Walk: Not today.
Releases: Not today.
Techniques:
Sensei wanted us to spend some time working on stuff we need for our next demonstrations.
We worked on the 8 kneeling techniques of Koryu Dai San No Kata for me (Oshi-taoshi, Gyaku-gamae-ate, Kote-gaeshi, Ryote-mochi-sukui-nage, Tekai-kote-hineri, Shiho-nage, Gedan-ate, Hiji-kime).
Then we ran through: Kote-hineri, Kote-gaeshi, Tenkai Kote-hineri, Shihonage, and Mae-otoshi for Trey.
Shihonage went well. We worked on left side for the first time. A little brain burn, but no more than to be expected for the first time on that side.
Mae-otoshi was a lot better this week. No wonked elbows.
Aftermath: Tore up the skin of the top of my left big toe again with the kneeling techniques. It'll probably have to be taped for next week.
Aikidokas: Trey, and Tom. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat.
Ukemi: Watched over Tom.
The Walk: We ran through it twice.
Releases: Round robin, sort of. I was uke for everyone and Tom was my uke.
Techniques:
We worked Tom over on Shomen-ate. He's starting to get the hang of it. We have to refresh the brain circuits a little each night right now, but that should clear up soon. We do a little "strike the dummy" drill and then move into the full technique.
Aftermath: None of note.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Spent some time working on the plumbing for the sump. Did some test fitting in the house and some PVC gluing.
Aikido
Picked up some glass for some stained glass panels to be sold at the silent auction of the approaching family reunion.
Visited a friend who had just given birth to a baby boy.
Dinner at Durango's
Sunday:
Filled up the sump with water and did some tests. Managed to get the skimmer loop plumbing running. I need to get a flow control valve for the circulation loop.
Watched the NBA Finals.
Aikidokas: Trey. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat
Ukemi: Full set, minus big falls.
The Walk: Not today.
Releases: Not today.
Techniques:
Sensei wanted us to spend some time working on stuff we need for our next demonstrations.
So, we ran through: Shihonage, Mae-otoshi, Sumi-otoshi and Hiki-otoshi for Trey. We then did a little work on Kubi-guruma for me.
Shihonage went well.
Mae-otoshi went ok, except for the times the Trey dropped his non-working hand a little too low. That caused a little hyper-extension on my elbow.
Sumi-otoshi went well, Trey managed to get a couple of air falls out of me.
Hiki-otoshi went well considering that we were just walking through it to let him get a feel for it.
Kubi-guruma went ok after a little bit of refresher. Timing's got to be good.
Aftermath: None of note. Elbow is ok.
Aikidokas: Trey, Brad, and Tom. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat
Ukemi: Watched over Brad and Tom.
The Walk: We ran through it twice. One rep I had them do it with their eyes closed while I wandered around counting just to throw them off.
Releases: with Brad.
Techniques:
We played with the ramifications of the releases if uke turns back into tori. What techniques pop up from those situations? What happens when uke turns one way as opposed to another?
One thing I noticed while working with Tom is how much information can be felt by uke if tori's arms are too high or too stiff.
Aftermath: None of note.
Up: 4
Loved the movie. It covered the emotional gamut from fear and sadness to love and joy, and did it well.
Go see it!
Slumdog Millionaire: 4
I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. I thought the actors did a great job. The story was told through a series of flashbacks. It was a little confusing at times, but it wasn't too bad.
The redemption of the brother seemed a little stretched to me from what we'd seen of him.
The call center scenes were pretty funny.
I'm not certain I'd want to watch it again, but that has more to not wanting to see the story again as opposed to it not being a well-done telling of the story.
Friday: Aikido. Very light as there were no other students :(
Saturday:
Cleaned up a bunch of storm debris. Some left over from Ike, but most from recent heavy rains. Mowed the lawn. Did not get allergy drops into my eyes quickly enough and the eyes were a problem all weekend long.
Moved the actual sump into the house. Still have to plumb it, etc.
Aikido
Went to see "Up" at the theatre and had some Marble Slab ice cream beforehand.
Sunday:
Lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse before a matinee performance of "The Fiddler on the Roof", starring Topol as Tevye. Fabulous!
Made some Lemon Squares and did the initial steps for Sourdough starter.
Watched "Slumdog Millionaire" and did some CGI programming with K. for the library.
Aikidokas: Tom. Sensei Tim was again on the sidelines, watching.
Ukemi: Watched over Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Tom.
Techniques:
I worked with Tom on Shomen-ate. We ran through right-sided a number of times, and the left-sided. We were then able to alternate right and left-sided in succession and he did quite well. This is usually something that takes folks a lot of mental processing to handle well.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: None. Sensei Tim was in the dojo, but is not yet allowed on the mat
Ukemi: None.
The Walk: I ran through it twice
Releases: None.
Techniques: None.
Aftermath: Sensei and I sat and talked with a friend who had just returned from an overseas trip during which he took in some Jyodo seminars.
Friday: Wedding rehearsal for my niece
Saturday: Pick up my sister at the airport and then off to the wedding
Sunday: Brunch at my other sister's and then "The Soloist"
Monday: Spent a lot of time working on "Art Show Helper", a web-based program for convention art shows to use. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" on DVD
The weekend was filled with wedding stuff (my niece's) and out-of-town relatives. there was no chance for me to get to the dojo. I hope class went ok without me, as Trey had to run both days, afaik.
Fantastic Four and the Rise of the Silver Surfer: 2
K. and I saw this on DVD the other night. It was a fun movie, but would have been a disappointment in the theatre. The best part was probably Stan Lee's cameo.
There was at least one issue with editing that I noticed. Human Torch hugs Thing after HT has been altered by the Silver Surfer and they immediately cut away. HT and Thing should have swapped powers, but they didn't.
Also, the amount of damage done to the earth prior to Galactus arriving would have been enough to doom the planet, I think.
The Soloist: 3
A good movie chronicling a newspaper columnist's attempt to aid and befriend a mentally-disturbed cellist. Jamie Foxx did a good job as the cellist. Robert Downey, Jr. did an ok job as the columnist.
Parts of the film tried to allow the audience to experience, I think, synesthesia. It was a decent attempt.
At one point during the movie I thought we were watching a John Woo flick. We were following the flight of two pigeons across the city of L.A. Now, JW uses doves, so it wasn't quite the same.
I got a good chuckle out of the scene in the bar after RDJ was beaten up by JF and a Neil Diamond song was on the juke box.
I'm not certain what point was being made by the coyote urine sub-plot.
Star Trek: 3
I saw this on opening weekend and am just getting around to reporting on it. I enjoyed the casting and the premise of a complete reboot of the series.
I'm not so happy with the story. Time travel is a well-worn crutch and should be used carefully. The fact that the villain just sat around plotting his revenge instead of saving his planet, was annoying. I can see the need for time travel if they wanted to get Old Spock into the cast. They should have done something better with it, though.
The animal on the ice planet was not well integrated into the area. Why had it not attacked the Federation installation?
The fact that Kirk landed very close to where Spock was hiding was just too pat.
Friday: aikido
Saturday: Mowed the lawn, aikido, the Preakness, dinner with K. at Durango's
Sunday: edged the lawn, watched the Rockets get trashed, roast for dinner with the in-laws.
Aikidokas: Trey and Tom.
Ukemi: Watched over Tom.
The Walk: As usual. Some minor corrections needed to be made on the first pivot step.
Releases: Round-robin releases.
Techniques:
We did a round-robin on the releases as well. I uke'd for Trey on 1-10 and we both uke'd for Tom on Shomen-ate. He is improving, reducing the number of times he shot puts.
Aftermath: I think I need to get to the orthopedist about my arm. We'll see.
Aikidokas: Trey, Brad and Tom.
Ukemi: Watched over Brad and Tom.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: with Brad.
Techniques:
I worked with Brad on Shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate, Gyakugamae-ate and Ushiro-ate. I want to continue working on these techniques as much as possible. I want to see him "get" them.
Trey worked with Tom on releases and anti-shot put drills.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Brad. I was getting ready to run through a bunch of repetitions of the walk by myself when Brad arrived. His arrival saved me from doing the walk backward and with the right-foot first.
Ukemi: Watched over Brad.
The Walk: As usual. Made a couple of suggestions on hand position and timing.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
We started off with the anti-shot put drill and then moved on to techniques. We worked on Shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate, and Gyakugamae-ate.
He did really well. I hope we get to work on them some more this coming week.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Trey and Jason.
Ukemi: Watched over Jason.
The Walk: As usual. We then spent a good portion of the evening going over the steps to the Walk. 2 on 1 is a good approach to teaching the Walk: one showing, one kibbitzing.
Techniques:
We then spent some time working on timing and getting off-line. Jason picked up on the drill and the timing very quickly.
Trey and I uke'd for each other on some techniques and interspersed that with attacking Jason and having him get off-line.
Aftermath: None of note.
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.
