From Twitter 04-22-2010
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The musings of a weary mind. Conversations on aikido, gardening, cooking, travel and, maybe, woodworking.
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We lost power this morning around 3 am. Prior to that, apparently, one of my dogs (Jack) got sick between my feet.
I slept through it all.
K. woke me up a bit later to shut down my computer. The UPS it was attached to was operating on only battery power and was beeping to let us know that fact. Beeping items are not one of Tank's favorite things, so I had to gracefully shutdown the computer and power off the UPS to shut up the beeping.
Apparently, the power came on again about an hour later. I slept through that, too.
Another fruitless night on the volleyball court. It's kind of redundant to say we were playing the second best team in the league. We're the worst, so does it really matter?
Still, a fun night on the court. I didn't have enough time to stretch properly, so I'm as little sore today.
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Friday
Aikido
Saturday
Maas Nursery for a Myers Lemon tree
Third Coast Bikes to have them order me one of these-----
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Brad.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls.
The Walk: None.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
We got to work with Brad on Oshi Taoshi for an extended period of time for the first time. He really picked up on it nicely by the end of the afternoon.
At the end of the session, Trey and I worked on Oshi Taoshi in the kneeling section of Koryu Dai San. Brad sat around and watched us so that he could compare what we're doing with what he's doing. The techniques are as similar as they can be given the standing versus kneeling positions.
Aftermath: None of note. My knee is doing ok. Trey's starting to get a taste of what kneework's like. He appears to be suffering more than I do. My issue is just with getting stretched out for all of this work. His appears to be the actual movement.
Aikidokas: Tim, and Trey.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls.
The Walk: None.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
Since there were just two of us, we worked on a lot of things. Trey got to work on some items from Koryu Dai San: Mae Otoshi , Ushiro Waza Mae Otoshi , Ushiro Waza Tentai Kote Hineri , Mune Tori Kata Gatame. We've skipped Kote Kajiki at the moment.
I did a little work on Koryu Dai Yon, with a couple of the releases and then did some work on some of the knife defenses. I also did a little work on the Tanto Dori sections of Koryu Dai San No Kata.
It was nice to get to explore and just try things out, playing with off-balances, entries, etc. It was a nice evening.
Aftermath: None of note. We had a couple of visitors. One did some work with KG in the past, the other one did not say much.
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Not much has changed at Mario's in the past few decades. Supposedly the lunch buffet is a new re-addition to their menu. That's what I had. Admittedly, you're not going to get the freshest food on the buffet, depending on when you waddle up to the line and when they've added new stuff to it. The salad was good, the pizza was just ok.
The buffet is definitely just a pizza buffet. The last time I went to Mario's, the buffet was a full Italian extravaganza. I might come back to try something from the menu.
Mario's is neck-and-neck with Angelo's at the moment. Frenchie's is head-and-shoulders above them both.
They've got a nice, comfortable place and it was fairly busy, but.... I had the Penne Nicola and an iced tea. The Penne was not that flavorful, but the chicken was ok. I made fairly liberal use of the parmesan and crushed red peppers. I might try this place again, since Franca's is not open for lunch.
Futility rears its ugly head. We even had a ringer on our team from one of the powerhouse teams. But, playing the top team in the league, it did not help. Still a fun set of games, I got some decent serves going.
We'll get 'em next week. Or next season. Or .......
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This week's featured shop is Boutique Karma: check out this interesting set of coasters:
Friday
Aikido
Saturday
Dropped some stuff off at the city Spring Sparkle event
Dropped some stuff off at Pearland's Recycling Center
Out looking for a new bike
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's
Work on some pens in the shop and computer
Sunday
Movie and dinner with K, in-laws, mom and sister to celebrate some birthdays.
More work on getting pens ready to upload to artfire
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 5:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, artfire, restaurants, weekend, woodworking
Aikidokas: Tim, and Trey.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls.
The Walk: None.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
Trey and I did some work on Ju Nana Hon Kata, the first 17. I was horrible. I knew I would be. It's been a year since I've really done any work on them. Trey had some issues as well, so I wasn't alone in my horribleness.
We did a little playing with Owaza Ju Pon, and some Koryu Dai San standing: some of the techniques we did on Friday night.
We then did a some work on the second technique of the kneeling Koryu Dai San, Gyakugamae Ate. It's one of my favorite techniques, uke attempts a hammer strike to the temple, but before he even gets close, tori angles into him and across uke's shoulder, causing him to fall over. We played with angles and timing. Trey got one really soft and effective rep in. I can't wait for more.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Sal.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls.
The Walk: Only once.
Releases: None.
Techniques:
We all worked on Sal and getting him some more time working on Shomen-ate and the Aigamae-ate. We had some minor breakthroughs and he is progressing. He's going to get a lot more attention now that Trey and I are done for a bit.
Trey and I did some work on the first few of Koryu Dai San for him.
Aftermath: None of note.
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Friday
K. had the day off, so I took a day off as well
Spent the morning geocaching at Jack Brooks Park
Crashed for a couple of hours
Dinner at Pappas Bros. Steak House
Saturday
Geocaching downtown
Astros baseball game
A stop at Woodcraft on the way home
Sunday
Some time in the shop
Grilled out
Dinner with the in-laws.
We actually won a match! Lost the first game, but won the other two. One of our guys served well at the beginning of the second game and gave us a 6 point lead. The team we played was previously 9-6. I'm sure we lsot to them 0-3 the last time we played them.
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The Astros looked a bit like the Keystone Kops on Saturday. It may have been the angle. The plays I saw that looked troublesome were along the right field line and our seats were along the left field line. I certainly hope they improve.
I also have a beef with the concessions folks. I wanted the bratwurst, which came on the "Tour of the Majors" platter (i.e., with fries). The sign said it was $8.75. They wanted to charge $10.75, but settled on $9.75. I should have walked away at that point and refused to pay anything over the posted price, but I was feeling biddable.
I hope they straighten out their pricing issue.
We managed to get out geocaching this past weekend. We took Jasck and Tank out for some park time to Jack Brooks Park. While there we managed to find 6 caches in the nursery rhyme series.
Saturday, we did some urban caching before going to the Astros game. Lots of muggles around so we weren't 100% successful. Still a good time walking and talking about Houston and various memories.
She offers innumerable items that can be customized with your favorite picture. Giver her a look: jYOUlry
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My company gives out gift cards every quarter to employees with perfect attendance. I've chosen to receive gift cards to Pappa's restaurants over the past while. We don't often go to Pappa's restaurants as they're often too noisy. They do, however, have an upscale restaurant that is a little quieter. So, we've saved up the gift cards for a while.
We finally arranged out schedule so that we were able to use them last night. We had $295 worth of cards. We expected to drink a bit and didn't want to be concerned about DWI, so we called a cab for the trip to and from.
We got to the restaurant and were promptly seated. It was obvious we were ahead of the power curve as it was fairly empty. After perusing the menu a bit, we placed our order. Kim had the salmon filet, while I had the Kobe Beef Ribeye. Kim ordered the asparagus as a side and I got the au gratin potatoes. We both ordered the Shrimp Bisque for our soup/salad.
We decided on a bottle of Pinot to go with the meal. I don't remember the vintage, unfortunately, or the vineyard. I know it began with a B and was Australian.
Shortly after placing our order, the manager came over and talked to us as we'd mentioned my allergy to crab while ordering. He wanted to make certain there was no allergy to any other shellfish as the bisque had other shellfish stock in it.
Our entrees were fabulous. The Kobe beef was very impressive and the salmon was quite nice. Kim's asparagus was good, but I found the au gratin potatoes to be a little overwhelming with a strong flavor of nutmeg. That might have been a side flavor of the cheese, I'm not certain.
We'd saved some room for dessert and order their pecan pie. It was very, very good. An interesting presentation. The pie itself was mostly the usual custard consistency of a normal pecan pie. It was then covered in a spirited caramel pecan sauce with a nice portion of ice cream.
To go along with the dessert, we ordered some single malt scotch. Kim had an 18 year old Glenmorangie, while I had a 30 year old Gordon and MacPhail. The 30 year old was definitely much softer on the nose, but the 18 year old had an interesting fruity finish.
The meal was fabulous, but we did spend all of our gift cards, plus a little more to cover the tip. We also spend a good amount on the cab rides. I don't expect we'll do anything like this in the foreseeable future. But it was nice to do.
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I've got quite a while to handle these, but I might as well put them in here now.
Suwari Waza Kneeling Techniques (Koryu Dai San No Kata)
|
|
| 1) Oshi Taoshi | Tore attempts shomen ate. When uke blocks, tore circles into oshi taoshi. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 5) Tentai Kote Hineri | Uke chokes from behind. Tore frees himself, takes uke downin tentai kote hineri. |
| 6) Shiho Nage | Uke approaches from tore's left, grabbing the wrist. Tore secures the grip, performs shiho nage. |
| 7) Gedan Ate | Uke approaches from tore's right, grabbing the sleeve. Tore rises, placing hand on uke's shin. |
| 8) Hiji Kime | Uke approaches from the front, grabbing at tore's collar. Tore takes uke's hand, turning into mae otoshi. |
| Tachi Waza Standing Techniques (Koryu Dai San No Kata) | |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 11) Gyakugamae Ate | Uke grabs tore's right sleeve. Tore steps back, collapsing uke's arm, then steps forward knocking uke back. |
| 12) Hiji Kime | Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release, tore switches hands into "thread the needle." |
| 13) Mae Otoshi | Uke grabs tore's right hand. Tore does 1st release, turns into mae otoshi. |
| 14) Ushiro Waza Mae Otoshi | Uke chokes tore with both hands. Tore secures grip, steps under uke's arms, mae otoshi. |
| 15) Ushiro Waza Tentai Kote Hineri | Uke grabs tore from behind. Tore steps to right, straightening arms, breaking uke's grip. Tore grabs uke's wrist into tentai kote hineri. |
| 16) 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. |
| Tanto Dori Techniques Against a Knife (Koryu Dai San No Kata) |
|
| 17) Ushiro Ate | Uke stabs downward (blade down). Tore steps to left, turning uke, pushing away. |
| 18) Gyakugamae Ate | Uke stabs (blade down) at tore's left temple. Tore steps forward into shomen ate to opposite eye. |
| 19) Tentai Oshi Taoshi | Uke slices (blade down) at tore's gut, then stabs at tore's right side. Tore steps forward, blocking swing, then step back and around and to the ground into arm bar. |
| 20) Ushiro Ate | Uke stabs upward. Tore steps to left, turning uke, pushing away. |
| 21) Ude Gatame | Uke stabs at tore's left kidney. Tore enters with right arm above uke's, left arm below, stepping around, collapsing uke's arm into arm-bar. |
| 22) Kote Gaeshi | Uke slices across tore's body, then stabs at tore's right side. Tore interupts swing, steps around into kote gaeshi. |
| 23) Tentai Kote Hineri | Uke attempts to draw knife. Tore grabs uke's free hand, stepping under the arm into tentai kote gaeshi. |
| 24) Shomen Giri Gedan Ate | Uke stabs downward (blade down). 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. |
| Tachi Dori Techniques Against a Sword (Koryu Dai San No Kata) |
|
| 25) Mae Otoshi | Uke cuts downward. Tore steps to left, hand sliding down uke's lead arm to handle of sword, turning through, sending uke into roll-out. |
| 26) Shiho Nage | Uke cuts downward. Tore steps to right, placing both hands on uke's. Steps through, switches hips into shiho nage. |
| 27) Ai Gamae Ate | Uke thrusts toward tore's abdomen. Tore steps left, extending uke with left hand. As uke recovers, tore steps in with ai gamae ate. |
| 28) Oshi Taoshi | Uke cuts diagonally at tore's right shoulder. Tore steps to left, hands on uke's elbow and sword handle, stepping around into oshi taoshi. |
| 29) Hiji Kujiki | Uke cuts downward. Tore steps to left, placing both hands on uke's. Tore switches hips securing uke's grips to tore's hip. Steps through, bringing sword up uke's gut. |
| Jo no Bu Jo Dori Techniques Against a Jo (Koryu Dai San No Kata) |
|
| 30) Gyakugamae Ate | Uke lunges with jo (left side leading). Tore steps to right, parries, gyaku gamae ate. |
| 31) Shomen Ate | Uke lunges with jo (left side leading). Tore steps to left, parries, shomen ate. |
| 32) Hishigi | Uke lunges with jo (left side leading). Tore steps to right, parries, grabs jo under uke's arm, sends into roll-out. |
| 33) Renraku Waza Hiji Hishigi | Uke lunges with jo (left side leading). Tore steps back with right foot, grabbing tip of jo with left hand. Tore steps back with left foot, drawing uke forward, grabing jo with uke's arms crossed, sending uke into backfall. |
| 34) Irimi Mae Otoshi | Uke lunges with jo overhead (left side leading). Tore steps to right, parries, grabs jo under uke's arm, sends into roll-out. |
Shichihon No Kuzushi Nage No Kata (Omote Waza) Balance Breaking
(Koryu Dai Yon No Kata) |
|
| 1) Jodan aigamae | Opposite hand release, inside the wrist. Extend uke into breakfall. |
| 2) Jodan gyakugamae | Mirror hand release, inside the wrist. Extend uke into breakfall. |
| 3) Chudan aigamae | Hon soto hanasu (#1) shortened, pushing towards uke's ear. |
| 4) Chudan gyakugamae | Gyaku soto hanasu (#3) shortened, pushing towards uke's ear. |
| 5) Gedan aigamae | Hon soto te osu (#2), extending uke into back breakfall. |
| 6) Gedan gyakugamae | Gyaku soto te osu (#4), extending uke into back breakfall. |
| 7) Ushiro ryote mochi | Uke grabs tore from behind with both hands, pinning tore's wrists. Tore loads weight to left, then releases with Hon soto hanasu (#1) on the right. |
| Shichihon No Kuzushi Nage No Kata (Ura Waza) Balance Breaking Counters (Koryu Dai Yon No Kata) |
|
| 8) Jodan aigamae | Yon kata #1 fails, tore turns into mae otoshi. |
| 9) Jodan gyakugamae | Yon kata #2 fails, tore turns into mae otoshi (both hands on wrist). |
| 10) Chudan aigamae | Yon kata #3 fails, tore circles back extending uke, aiki nage. |
| 11) Chudan gyakugamae | Yon kata #4 fails, tore circles back extending uke, throws uke with arm across their chest. |
| 12) Gedan aigamae | Yon kata #5 fails, uke turns, tore extends uke, aiki nage. |
| 13) Gedan gyakugamae | Yon kata #6 fails, uke turns, tore extends uke, throws uke with arm across their chest. |
| 14) Ushiro ryote mochi | Yon kata #7 fails, builds tensions, slips under uke's arm, mae otoshi. |
It's sad when I start typing the title for my volleyball posts and the only title that is suggested for auto-completion is the title for this post.
Anyway, another solid loss. We played the other team that sat at the bottom of the rankings. More close games, but there was never a time, late in the game, when we led.
I managed a couple of blocks, a spike or two. My serves did not produce any outright winners.
On to next week's match!
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A nearby location of an Oklahoma-based chain. I had their western omelet with hash browns and cinnamon raisin toast.
The service was pretty good and the food was tasty. The raisin bread was probably and inch to an inch and a half thick and pretty good. The omelet was good, too. The hash browns were crisp, but a little thin to be that crisp. There were no non-crisp bits of potato. I like the outside crispy, but I do want some tender bits on the inside.
This restaurant is on my list to return to when I'm looking for breakfast for lunch.
Friday:
Aikido seminar
Saturday:
Aikido seminar
Nidan demonstration
Dinner out with seminar friends
Sunday:
Recover from seminar
NCAA basketball
Dinner at Joe's barbecue
video editing
This past weekend was the Spring ATAA Seminar here in Houston. The theme of the weekend was: "It's uke's show".
Friday evening we played with some of the releases from Koryu Dai Yon No Kata. There are options and reactions in there that depend on what uke decides to do.
We also had a Nidan demonstration from one of the members who is shipping off to Afghanistan for the next twelve months and so will be away when his time in grade requirement is met. He did a really nice demo.
We then went off to a local Chinese buffet place for dinner.
Saturday morning was an open mat opportunity for the first hour. Trey and I worked with Brad on some of his techniques, trying to give him some suggestions.
The next hour was more demonstrations. We normally do it in the order of increasing rank (e.g., sankyu, nikkyu, ikkyu, etc), but since I was going to be tori and uke for the demos, Tim Sensei wanted me to tori first for my Nidan demonstration. I don't remember much of it. There were parts I thought I left out but, apparently, I was in the zone. There's one technique, shizumi otoshi, where uke goes flying over my back. There was a discussion about this technique before the demonstration and bets were placed. Trey, my uke, was offered $15 to slap my butt as he went over on that technique. He managed to accomplish it, and we have video proof. I'll be posting it soon, I hope.
Next was Trey's demonstration for Shodan. I uke'd for him. I made a mistake and gave him an out of place attack not to far into the demonstration. He recovered extremely well. I'm not sure it was noticed by many folks. As payback, he gave me a little rougher throw a few seconds later, but I deserved it. We made it through the rest of the demonstration without any trouble.
I was a little light headed after all of that for about an hour or so. I'm not sure what was the cause.
We spent the afternoon working on chains of releases (aka Ki Harry, Ki Hara, and Name No Waza). I got to work with a bunch of folks while exploring all of this. My brain wasn't fully engaged in it, so I hope my body remembers at some point. I've got a hand out for reference, and I shot some video, so maybe there is hope of retaining it.
It was a blast getting to work with everyone.
After the seminar, it was dinner time at a local restaurant. I left after 2 1/2 hours as I had to get home and feed the dogs. The drinking was still in full swing, so there's no telling how long the folks stayed at the restaurant.
I'm currently in the process of editing the video and hope to have some up shortly.
Now it's time to start learning for Sandan. At least two years away.
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He went on his evening stroll Sunday night and has not been back since. I hate letting him outside, but he is impossible to live with if we don't.
I hope he makes it back, but I don't expect he will. I expect some wildlife got hold of him. He's 16 lbs., but there are other things bigger.
We played decently. All 3 games were close, but we couldn't finish the deal.
One of our players had a siezure midway through the second game. JSC EMT's were called and the Houston Fire Department EMS came out as well. She managed to recover enough not to need transport to the hospital.
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Friday:
Picked up a load of dirt
Aikido
Saturday:
Mowed down some weeds before the rains came in
Read some more of "Oath of Fealty" by Elizabeth Moon
AikidoDinner at Durango's
Sunday:
Read some more of "Oath of Fealty" by Elizabeth Moon
Dinner of fried catfish and sauerkraut with my mom at our placeStarted assembling my Grizzly Tenoning Jig
This could be a repeatable restaurant
I ordered something off of their lunch menu: 2 beef enchiladas, cheese enchilada, rice, beans. With tea, I got out for around $9. That's a pretty good deal.
Chips: Pretty good.
Green salsa:Pretty good.
Red salsa: Pretty good.
Beef enchilada: Decently flavored beef, the sauce is nothing unusual.
Rice: nice texture and flavor
Beans: nice texture and flavor
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Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Sal, Troy, and Don.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Worked with Don some more on falling.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Worked with Sal on 1-4.
Techniques:
Trey and I ended the class with a complete run through of our demonstrations (minus the Walk and Releases). I went through mine first. Some tweaks along the way: kneeling Kote-gaeshi, standing cross-collar grab.
Trey's run through was nice. Some minor tweaks from uke's point of view. No real faults, just some improvements.
Aftermath: 7 days until demonstration. We stayed a while after to clean the mats in preparation for the seminar next weekend. The plan had been to do it on Sunday, so my schedule was not clear to stay until the task was done.
Quite sore this morning.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 12:19 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Troy, and Don (a new student).
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Introduced Don to our way of falling.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Worked with Troy on 1-4.
Techniques:
Trey and I ended the class with a run through of the Owaza Ju Pon that we will be demonstrating next weekend. It went better than last week
Aftermath: 8 days until demonstration.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 12:14 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
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found on lillian's blog:
http://totalscifionline.com/features/38
Bold the ones you have seen.
1) Blade Runner (1982)
2) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3) Star Wars (1977)
4) Alien (1979)
5) Metropolis (1927)
6) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
7) The Terminator (1984)
8) Planet of the Apes (1968)
9) E.T. (1982)
10) Solaris (1972)
11) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
12) Forbidden Planet (1956)
13) The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
14) A Trip to the Moon (1902)
15) Aliens (1986)
16) Silent Running (1972)
17) Brazil (1985)
18) Akira (1988)
19) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
20) Total Recall (1990)
21) The Matrix (1999)
22) Tron (1982)
23) The Thing (1982)
24) RoboCop (1987)
25) Jurassic Park (1993)
26) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
27) A Clockwork Orange (1971)
28) The Fifth Element (1997)
29) La Jetée (1962)
30) Sleeper (1973)
31) The Fly (1986)
32) Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
33) Westworld (1973)
34) Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior) (1981)
35) Return of the Jedi (1983)
36) Back to the Future (1985)
37) WALL-E (2008)
38) The Fantastic Planet (1973)
39) The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
40) Things to Come (1936)
41) 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
42) The Abyss (1989)
43) Quatermass 2 (1957)
44) This Island Earth (1955)
45) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
46) Delicatessen (1991)
47) Dark Star (1974)
48) The Andromeda Strain (1971)
49) The Omega Man (1971)
50) Stalker (1979)
51) Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
52) Escape from New York (1981)
53) The Invisible Man (1933)
54) It Came From Outer Space (1953)
55) Godzilla (1954)
56) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
57) Minority Report (2002)
58) Alphaville (1965)
59) Gattaca (1997)
60) The Fountain (2006)
61) Them! (1954)
62) Videodrome (1983)
63) Logan’s Run (1976)
64) Ghost in the Shell (1995)
65) Repo Man (1984)
66) Children of Men (2006)
67) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
68) Outland (1981)
69) A Boy and his Dog (1975)
70) Mad Max (1979)
71) Donnie Darko (2001)
72) Soylent Green (1973)
73) Cube (1997)
74) Moon (2009)
75) Dark City (1998)
76) Starship Troopers (1997)
77) A Scanner Darkly (2006)
78) The Quiet Earth (1985)
79) Invaders From Mars (1953)
80) Fantastic Voyage (1966)
81) Barbarella (1968)
82) Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
83) Twelve Monkeys (1995)
84) Event Horizon (1997)
85) Independence Day (1996)
86) Altered States (1980)
87) The Stepford Wives (1975)
88) Serenity (2005)
89) Dune (1984)
90) Primer (2004)
91) Explorers (1985)
92) THX 1138 (1971)
93) Star Trek (2009)
94) Flash Gordon (1980)
95) Galaxy Quest (1999)
96) Cocoon (1985)
97) Stargate (1994)
98) Predator (1987)
99) Trancers (1985)
100) Rollerball (1975)
Only 52. I need to remedy this situation.
Ciudad del Taco is a taco truck that parks next to the aikido dojo. I've considered stopping by to try it for quite a while, but my aikido schedule doesn't mesh well with an eating schedule. Last night was a good opportunity as there was nothing pressing on my plate. I drove up to the dojo and found the fuschia truck parked in it's proper spot. Since I only go to the dojo on Fridays and Saturdays, I had no clue whether the truck would be there or not.
I wanted to get this sampled before next weekend when the dojo is having a seminar. Saturday lunch plans are currently up in the air and my hope was that this truck would be a great possibility.
Here's what I ordered:
Chicken taco: corn tortilla, but not much flavor. The cilantro and onions were fresh, but the chicken was flavorless and overcooked
Fajita taco: Not the normal fajita beef seen at the local restaurants, but a shredded beef. Not very flavorful
Pork (pastor) gordita: Once again, not much flavor.
They also supplied a green sauce and a halved lime. The green sauce helped counteract the dryness of the meat, but that's about it.
Also, no major intestinal repercussions so far, so I thinks it's safe to eat. Kind of bland, but safe. I can now talk from knowledge about the truck when planning next Saturday's meal.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
This week's spotlight shop is On Pens and Needles. They're a husband and wife team that do knitting and woodworking. This is a neat clock they've done...
Another winless night, this time against Fandango. They had a subsitute on their team this week. It turns out she was the daughter of a guy I played against, on a regular basis, years ago.
I think it's safe to say you're getting old when your opponents are the children of your former opponents. I look forward to the day when I can say you're getting old when your opponents are the grandchildren of your former opponents.
This week's featured shop on artfire is Liquidambar. They're a husband and wife team that work in clay and glass. Here's one of my favorite pieces:
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Changed the oil on the two lawn mowers
Helped K. replace a window at her house
Filled up evacuation gas container
Bought 4 bags of mulch
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's
D&D
Sunday:
Made a peach pieSpread the mulch
Moved load of dirt
Grilled out some burgers
Did Spring cleaning on the shop
Started assembling my Powermatic 719t
Dinner of peach pie and ice cream
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:37 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, cooking, gardening, weekend, woodworking
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Troy.
Ukemi: No warm-up for me today. Watched over Troy and Brad.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.I then worked with Troy some more on the Walk. We spent time on the last 5 moves.
Releases: Worked with Troy on 1-4. I need to get him onto 5-8 next week..
Techniques:
Trey and I ran through more Owaza Ju Pon footwork.
Aftermath: None of note. One more weekend of prep before our scheduled demonstration. Will Tim Sensei give us the green light?
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:32 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Sal, and Troy.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Sal and Troy.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.Then worked with Troy some more.
Releases: Worked with Troy on 1-4.
Techniques:
Trey and I ended the class with quite a bit of work on the footwork for the techniques of Owaza Ju Pon. We were not doing well.
Aftermath: Two weeks until demonstration. I hope things improve.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:29 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
Not a bad restaurant.
I ordered something off of their lunch menu: taco, cheese enchilada, rice, beans. With tea, I got out for around $9. That's a pretty good deal.
Chips: Nothing remarkable.
Green salsa: None
Red salsa: ok.
Cheese enchilada: Pretty good, the sauce is the standard.
Beef taco: ok, decently flavored beef.
Cheese enchilada: There tend to be two varieties of these so far. This one is the lesser of the two
Rice: nice texture and flavor
Beans: Not a great flavor
Looks like this restaurant is owned by the same folks who own El Dorado. Not a big surprise.
Another futile night on the court. We played "Passing Out", a perennial powerhouse in our league.
I managed to get a couple of blocks and a kill or two, but my serves did not get many aces.
This week's spotlight shop in the guild on ArtFire is: Positively Charming Things. Check out this gorgeous set:
vabeachquilter does some fabulous fabric work. Take a look at this quilt:
Not a bad restaurant.
I ordered something off of their lunch menu: taco, beef enchilada, cheese enchilada, rice, beans. With tea, I got out for around $9. That's a pretty good deal.
Chips: meh. Weird aftertaste.
Green salsa: ok, with a little bit of spice
Red salsa: ok.
Beef enchilada: Pretty good
Cheese enchilada: There tend to be two varieties of these so far. This one is the lesser of the two
Rice: nice texture and flavor
Beans: Not a great flavor
It seems a bit like I remember Monterey House. Not really worthwhile.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Off to buy supplies for an addition to our existing deck and some mulch
Framed out the deck
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's with K. and K.
Sunday:
Spread out the mulch around the blueberry plants. Need more mulch.
Build the deck. 5 hours.
Dinner (grilled out T-Bones) with the in-laws
Oscars
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Michael.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Michael and Brad.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.I then worked with Michael some more on the Walk. We spent time on the last 5 moves and then ran through the entire thing a couple of times.
Releases: None today.
Techniques:
Trey and I ran through my Koryu Dai San techniques: kneeling and standing. We did some major reconstruction on Kote-gaeshi. I hope I've got it in my brain. A minor tweak on Shihonage. My knees were relatively raw by the end of the afternoon.
Aftermath: Abused skin on the knees.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:58 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Sal, Troy, Michael and Rebecca.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Sal and Troy.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Worked with Troy on 1-4.
Techniques:
Did some work with Sal on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate. He made some great strides in the initial off-balance. He's still got some work to do on fuinishing the technique.
Trey and I ended the class with an almost complete run through of his demonstration techniques and of my demonstration techniques. We ran through 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata on the right side and 1-10 of Owaza Ju Pon for me.
Aftermath: None of note.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:52 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
you're a semi speeding down the highway. Some weeks you're the armadillo in front of said semi.
New season. Thank goodness I enjoy *playing* the game and not just *winning* the game. Admittedly, we've not played in 3 or 4 months, so we're rusty. We played decently, but one of their servers ate us alive.
I hope we manage to win some games, but I'm glad to be out on the court again.
This week's spotlight shop is Tali's creations. She's got a wide variety of beaded and semi-precious jewelry. This is one of the many very nice and elegant pieces she's selling:
vabeachquilter won the random drawing for a gift certificate to my artfire shop.
One of my regulars, Christopher, won the 1000th post contest, but he already has a copy of the book. If he doesn't want a second copy, I'll use it in another contest.
Krystallized is a husband/wife combo that specialize in crystal creations. Here is one of my favorites from their shop....
Friday:
Aikido
Olympics
Saturday:
Harris County Master Gardener's Plant Sale with K. Picked up two allspice trees and some veggie plants.
Olympics
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's
D&D
Sunday:
Olympics
Sleep
More Olympics
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Troy, Mike and Rebecca (two new students from Friday night)
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Troy and Mike.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Worked with Troy on the first four releases.
Techniques:
Sal and Brad did some work on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate. Off-balances, timing, etc. We did a little more introductory work with Brad on Oshi taioshi.
Tim on showing the visitors what our style of aikido was all about.
Trey and I ended the class working on Waki gatame, Kote gaeshi and Hiki otoshi while Tim worked with T., M., and R. on the Walk.
Aftermath: None of note
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Sal.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Sal.
The Walk: Twice, as usual.
Releases: Watched over Brad and Sal.
Techniques:
Sal and Brad did some work on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate. Off-balances, timing, etc. We some more introductory work with Brad on Oshi taioshi.
Trey was working with Tim on showing the visitors what our style of aikido was all about.
Trey and I ended the class with an almost complete run through of his demonstration techniques and of my demonstration techniques. We did my 8 kneeling techniques, 8 standing and the 10 Owaza Ju Pon. We then ran through 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata on both sides and 1-5 of Owaza Ju Pon for Trey. He and I were beat after that.
Aftermath: We also had 7(!!!!!) visitors to the dojo. Potentially 7 new students. 3 couples and one solo guy. where did they all come from? How did they all arrive on one night? The world is weird.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:46 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, demonstration, tomiki
Friday:
Aikido
Olympics
Saturday:
Out to buy wood for my entertainment center project
Olympics
Aikido
Dinner with the in-laws
Olympics
Sunday:
Olympics
More Olympics
Not a bad restaurant.
I ordered their #2 lunch special: taco, beef fajita, cheese enchilada, rice, beans. With tea, I got out for around $9. That's a pretty good deal.
Chips: fair
Green salsa: ok
Red salsa: ok. It just tasted cold. No real flavor
Taco: Good. The beef had a nice flavor
Fajita: Good. The beef had a nice flavor. No green peppers, though.
Cheese enchilada: It was tough to tell it was an enchilada. It was hidden under sauce and there were extra tortillas wandering around
Rice: nice texture and flavor
Beans: Not a great flavor
My first time here, and it was pretty busy, it seems to be fairly popular. The food was a decent price, and the service was pretty good. If I need a change in pace, this is a possible destination.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, Sal, and Troy.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Brad, Sal and Troy.
The Walk: Three times. We did one more than usual because I went off into the weeds on the second iteration. All of the lower belts were following me and I was not follow-worthy. I think I probably did the fourth stone of the walk 3 or 4 times. On the third time through I was ok, but Trey had a little hiccup. Weird and embarrassing for us all.
Releases: Worked with Troy on right and left 1 & 2.
Techniques:
It was my turn under the spotlight. The tentative plan was the 16 techniques of Koryu Dai San No Kata and then the 10 of Owaza Ju Pon. We did not make it to Owaza, but we did make it through Koryu Dai San. Not without prompting, though. I still don't have the techniques locked in my memory in the proper order.
Kneeling
1. Oshi Taoshi - This was ok
2. Gyakugamae Ate - Ok
3. Kote Gaeshi - A couple of attempts. I tend to keep my hands too high.
4. Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage - Still not great
5. Tentai Kote Hineri - Lots of work on the wrist tweak
6. Shiho Nage - Got it on the first try!
7. Gedan Ate - Got it on the first try!
8. Hiji Kime - Lots of work on hand positioning
Standing
1. Kote Mawashi - ok.
2. Uchi Tenkai Nage - ok
3. Gyakugamae Ate - ok
4. Kote Kajiki - ok
5. Mae Otoshi - still not rotating enough
6. Ushiro Waza Mae Otoshi - still not rotating enough
7. Ushiro Waza Tentai Kote Hineri - This one frustrates me. Getting grabbed from behind and intercepting uke's hand is tough for me.
8. Mune Tori Kata Gatame - ok
Aftermath: We had one potential new student watching today. He speaks mostly Spanish, so that could be a bit of a challenge for us.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Troy.
Ukemi: Full warm-up, no big falls. Watched over Troy.
The Walk: Twice, as usual. I also worked with Troy some more on his Walk, the stuff starting at the pivots.
Releases: Worked with Troy on the releases. 1-4 right side only.
Techniques:
Trey and I ended the class with an almost complete run through of his demonstration techniques. We did not do the releases or the Walk, so it wasn't a complete demo. He did really well up to Hiki otoshi. He did pretty well on Owaza Ju Pon. He had some troubles with Kata otoshi (no surprise as it's a very sensitive technique) and Aiki nage.
Aftermath: A husband and wife couple came and watched out session. We seem to be getting more potential students, but not many more actual students. Tim told us that for the next month, he's going to be working Trey and me pretty hard to get ready for our demonstrations.
This week's spotlit shop in the guild is Hippie Chick Designs. Here are a couple of the pieces I like from the shop. Give her a look
To celebrate making it to 1000 posts, I'm giving away a copy of "Manna from Heaven" (a collection of Roger Zelazny short stories) (the book I worked get published for many years) to a randomly chosen commenter to this blog post. The copy will be signed by Steven Brust, who wrote the introduction, and me, if you like.
Only one entry per person. This contest will run until the end of the month. I'll contact the winner and get the mailing address.
Check out directly from here. Fast. Secure. Simple.