We played "Way Out" last night and lost all three. The first game was 21-23, so, very close. The other two were not as close, but not blowouts.
None of us were doing well playing at 9 pm. I hate 9 o'clock games. We play another one next week.
Maybe we'll do better.
Friday:
Started work on some breads
Aikido
Saturday:
Work on coding sample for possible job, had to upgrade my machine's Perl environment
More work on Sourdough and Pumpkin Sourdough
Stop at Home Depot
Aikido
Football
Sunday:
More work on coding sample
Clean up house for an ApolloCon meeting
Football
ApolloCon meeting
Football
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Marvin, Mario, Julio, Zach, and John
Ukemi:
Got a couple of rolls in
The Walk:
Twice, per the usual routing
Releases:
Worked with Zach on the first four releases.
Techniques:
I did some punch the dummy work with Zach, and then an intro to Shomen-ate. He did pretty well.
Trey and I worked on some Koryu Dai San techniques: Oshi Taoshi, Kote Mawashi, and Uchi Tenkai Nage.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Mario, Julio, John ( a new student )
Ukemi:
A couple of warm-up rolls in, helped John with his rolling
The Walk:
Twice, per the usual routine
Releases:
Worked with.......
Techniques:
I can't remember, dangit. I think I worked with Julio on Gyaku gama ate.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Dan
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
Dan and I worked on Oshi Taoshi and Hiki Taoshi. Once again, working with me after working with folks of normal height caused issues for Dan. We're working in the section of techniques that's nice to have an outside set of eyes to help correct armbars. I think we got through Oshi Taoshi fine. Working on Hiki, I was feeling something in the armbar that I could not place. He got the armbar, but there was something extra that I've not felt before. I need to try to figure out what it is.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Up at 5:15 a.m. to finish packing and get on the road
On the road by 6:30
Stop at Buc-ee's in Madisonville
Stop at Sam's in Fairfield for breakfast
Stop at Russell Stover's in Corsicana for chocolate for the in-laws
Arrive in Addison for FenCon around noon
Check-in and head over to the Art Show, K heads off to Con Suite
Dinner in hotel restaurant with Renee, Kimm, Sara, and K.
Panel on making leather masks
Saturday:
K up early to go to Con Suite
Breakfast at hotel restaurant - going somewhere else for Sunday
Back to Art Show for the day
Make various purchase: con memberships, art, books
Changing our convention plans for next year
Pizza brought in for Art Auction prep
Art Auction - served as a runner, bought a Tuckerization and my first Whelan
Hit a couple of the parties, very, very briefly
Sunday:
K tried to go to Con Suite, but it wasn't open
We went down the road for breakfast instead.
Back to Art Show to help teardown
Got caught in a weak moment by Jeff Orth, agreed to worked KC, should they win. Did not commit to exactly what I'd work. Right now, I should probably not work it. I've got PTSD from San Antonio.
Left the con at 3:30 p.m.
Headed to Athens to visit Kat
Left Athens at 6:30
Stop at Buc-ee's in Madisonville for a bite to eat
Road down to one lane southbound in Huntsville
Arrive home at 11:30, dead tired, greet animals.
Aikido players: Troy and Dan
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on the first 6 of Ju Nana Hon Kata for Dan, since we're still not letting him take falls. He looked pretty good. He was having footwork issues throughout most of the evening.
Troy and I did a couple of reps on the 4th kneeling technique from Koryu Dai San. I wanted to make sure it was fresh in his mind.
Aftermath:
Troy's schedule has just been changed for the drastically worse. He probably won't be able to make any classes for the next 6 months. We need to see if we can get some classroom rime on Mondays or Tuesday.
Found on thekitchn.com
I know I've tried this recipe with butter, Crisco, lard and coconut oil. This is closer to what I'm looking for than the other recipe I tried last night. It's crisper. While I'm not looking for a hard crisp, I want something stronger than what happened last night.
First alteration will be chilling the dough, not sure what else.
Crinkle Top Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Makes about 60 cookies
2 cups (11 oz) dark raisins
2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup (7 oz) shortening
2 cups (17 oz) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 oz) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
extra sugar for rolling
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Toss the raisins with 1/4 cup of the flour. Grind in a food processor
with a blade attachment for 20-30 seconds until the raisins form a very
thick paste and come together into a ball (see photographs below). You
can also use a blender or a meat grinder to mash the raisins into a
paste.
(I tried the above step and did not like the result. I prefer my raisins whole)
Cream the shortening and sugar with an electric mixer until light and
fluffy. Beat in the eggs until the mixture resembles soft frosting.
Beat in the ground raisins.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 1 3/4 cups of flour,
oatmeal, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Beat this slowly into the egg
mixture until a shaggy dough is formed and there is no more visible
flour.
Use your hands to pinch off pieces of the dough and roll them into
balls slightly smaller than ping-pong balls. Roll each ball in
granulated sugar and arrange them two inches apart on the baking sheets.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are crinkly on top and just
starting to turn golden-brown around the edges.
This is the second attempt at the recipe I found at Lady Bean . This is the only recipe I have on my blog, so I thought it was close to what I wanted. Nope. I think I know what I searched for last time, and just have to find it again.
Preheat the oven to 350º
1/2 Cup of softened butter
1/4 Cup of brown sugar (previous 1/2 C)
1/2 Cup of white sugar (previous 1/4 C)
Mix
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.
Mix
1 Cup AP flour (previous 3/4C)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup milk (previously not in the recipe)
Mix
1-1/2 Cups of oats (quick or old-fashioned oats) (3/4 Cup finely chopped in food processor)
1/2 Cup of raisins.
Mix
Stir until combined.
Chill dough for 1 hour
Drop a tablespoon of batter onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for about 16 minutes
Friday:
Day off as I'd put in my 80 hours already
Refreshed sourdough starter
Mowed most of the yard
Trip into town to find sprouted grain flours. No real luck
Lunch with K at Gringo's (King's Bier Garten was prepping for Oktoberfest, so they were closed)
Art Show Helper work
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
More sourdough work
Aikido
Aggie Football
Sunday:
Met up with Bill P. to get some stuff for transport and talk fannish politics
More work on two types of bread
Made some cornbread with polenta instead of corn meal
Attempted to hang new interior door, just a bit too wide
Big midday meal
Football
No students, no class. Apparently, Julio showed up after we'd left.
If no students show up by about 10-15 minutes after scheduled start time, class is cancelled.
Aikido players: Tim, Mario, and Julio
Ukemi:
Light set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Oversaw Mario and Julio working on releases. It actually went pretty well.
Techniques:
Did some work on shomen-ate on both side for both of them. That went pretty well, also.
Aftermath:
None of note
I finally got some time to update my daily tweet summary tool to work with twitter's v1.1 api. My tool was out of commission for a couple of months after they updated their API and while I was dealing with the LoneStarCon3 Art Show stuff.
The Art Show is in a waiting mode, so I spent some time finding the problems. Now I need to do some work on making it more robust. I'll be alternating between that and working on my Art Show Helper, adding features and fixing issues that came up at WorldCon.
Now I just need to do some more tweeting. I'll be prepping some tweets this weekend. And I need to start boosting my ArtFire store some more.
We played the first round of playoffs versus "Way Out" last night. We played pretty well. The first game, we led, then trailed, then led again. It wasn't a neck-and-neck game, but not a blowout, either. The second game, I think we led from the beginning, or close to it. We had a fairly comfortable margin.
My serve was not spectacular, but it was okay. I felt my play was pretty good last night.
Next week: the rest of the playoffs
Tried a place in old League City on Friday: Main Street Bistro. Pretty decent place. It felt almost like a tea room, probably because of the numerous all-female tables. But, the decor was far more masculine than I would expect from a tea room. There was also a table of male League City cops on their lunch break.
They've apparently (according to a blurb on the chalkboard for specials) been in business for about a year. They do seem to be doing a good business.
My choice for the day was fish tacos, with a side order of their green beans. I was hoping they had not run out of tortillas.
The food came out quickly and was quite good. The green beans were perfectly cooked, and were more than just green beans. It had a variety of beans, with some onions and mushrooms. The fish tacos were good, and I got both of them.
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Friday:
Lunch at Main Street Bistro
Aikido
Worked on Banana Bread
Worked on Sourdough
Saturday:
Work on LSC3 Art Show stuff
Worked on Sourdough
Aikido
Stopped by mom's
Work on LSC3 Art Show stuff
Aggie football
Sunday:
Work on LSC3 Art Show stuff
Worked on Sourdough
Did a little yardwork
Football
Work on LSC3 Art Show stuff
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan, Mario, Julio, and Zach
Ukemi:
Full set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Did some work with Zach, we got into the first release before the class went into discussion mode.
Techniques:
Not today
Aftermath:
None of note
Aikido players: Tim, Dan, Marvin, Mario, and Julio
Ukemi:
Light set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Worked with Mario on the releases all evening. He was having real issues learning, and I was having issues teaching. We did make it through all 8, finally.
Techniques:
Not tonight.
Aftermath:
None of note
Aikido players: Troy
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on the first 4 of the kneeling portion of Koryu Dai San. It went really well.
Worked on the "footwork" for Oshi Taoshi, relaxing and extending uke on the takedown, and not applying the armbar until the arm is on the ground.
Gyakugamae Ate: We played with this how it's supposed to be done, and the Gedan-ate variant. The Gedan-ate variant is a lot more fun, but Gyaku can be a way to show uke you don't consider him worth your time.
Kote gaeshi: we did not do a complete technique tonight. I just wasn't interested in taking that fall at the end of a workday. As uke, I was having issues. I wanted to raise my right knee off of the mat as I was making my attack. That changes the response from a kote to a takedown.
After resolving that issue, things went well.
Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage: The issue on this is that tori needs to let uke have control of tori's arms until they reach tori's shoulder level. Until that point, tori should just be trying to keep his arms pushing out, but without an "active" push.
Troy got to experience the fall when tori ends up with his hands close together. It's a big fall, not unpleasant, but a bit unnerving.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Pelican Grill
AikidoStarted refreshing my sourdough starter
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Run by Home Depot and Frys on the way to my mom's
Aikido
Football
Dropped by my mom's to spend the night
Sunday:
LoneStarCon3 stuff
Football
Grilled out salmon
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan, Mario, Julio, and Zach
Ukemi:
Full set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual. Then went through some more reps with Dan and Zach
Releases:
Watched over Troy and Julio
Techniques:
Worked with Troy and Julio on shomen-ate
At the end of class. Troy and I got some work in. We worked on 1, 2, and 4 of the kneeling Koryu Dai San. I was not up for Kote Gaeshi, kneeling. We tried the variants of #2: Gedan-ate and Gyauk gamae -ate. Tim's now liking the Gyaku variant.
I then ran through the first 14 of Koryu Dai Yon.
Aftermath:
Felt much better after the session than I did last week.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan, Marvin, Mario, and Julio
Ukemi:
Light set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Did some work with Julio. We got up through the 4th release.
Techniques:
Did some "punch the dummy" work with Julio. Then did some intro work on Shomen-ate.
Aftermath:
None of note
A friend who runs my favorite pizza joint mentioned that he was taking over the Pelican Grill several weeks ago. I figured the deal was done by now, so trotted over to see how things had improved.
Unfortunately, the change in ownership has not taken place. I don't know if the deal fell through, or it's still to come. I need to check with the party involved to see what's going on.
This visit did not impress me. The waiter lack a full knowledge of the menu. He got confused when I said I wanted the fish in my fish taco grilled. He though I wanted the taco grilled, not realizing that there are three choices of preparation for the fish in the fish taco.
When my tacos appeared, they'd run out of tortillas?!? So, I only got one taco. I managed to time it so they had one tortilla, but not two. Amazing! The taco I had was good, and the fries were decent.
The waiter brought out a free bread pudding, completely unprompted. Luckily, I like bread pudding, so I consider it a fair exchange. And it was decent, if not memorable.
Off to the side, I heard the owner talking to one of his staff about inventory. I don't think the owner knows enough to be giving lessons.
I won't be back until a change in ownership occurs.
Finally, an opponent we could handle. A relatively new team, and we did pretty well.
If they take 6 teams to playoffs, we're in. Otherwise, we sit at home.
Friday:
Still off from work
Working on LoneStarCon3 Art Show stuff, shipping packages out
Checking on mom, recovering from broken hip
Aikido
Saturday:
Aikido
Football
LoneStarCon3 stuff
Sunday:
LoneStarCon3 stuff
Football
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Mario, Zach, and Julio
Ukemi:
Light set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual. The worked with Zach some one-on-one
Releases:
Worked with Marvin on his set.
Techniques:
Worked with Marvin on 1-3 of Ju Nana Hon Kata
Aftermath:
Was light-headed at the end of normal class. Light concussion at some point? Not drinking enough water? Too long off the mat?
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Mario, and Julio
Ukemi:
Light set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Worked with Marvin on his set.
Techniques:
Oversaw Marvin and Mario work on 1-3 of Ju Nana Hon Kata
Aftermath:
None of note
Friday:
Off from work
Mowed the lawn
Lunch with K. at Gina's Italian
Art Show stuff
Aikido
Saturday:
Banking
Aikido
Art Show stuff
Sunday:
Pulled vines from the hedge and sprayed with weed killer
Football
Art Show stuff
Aikido players: Tim, Gail, Jeff, Trey, Troy, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Mario and Zach
Ukemi:
Full set. Jeff took our students out and did some rolls on the concrete with them.
The Walk:
Not today.
Releases:
Not today.
Techniques:
Jeff and Gail wanted to do some work on Koryu Dai Yon no Kata. So, we spent the afternoon working on the first couple of the first 14. We then spent some time working on the first two of the second 11. I played with sacrifices on those two, just to see how much trouble I would be in: a fair amount.
I spent a good amount of time working with Troy on 3 of the last 5 of O Waza Ju Pon. I did not feel like taking lots of Shizumi Otoshi or Kote gaeshi falls. Troy did well.
Aftermath:
A nice 3.5 hour session.
Class cancelled because of severe thunderstorms in the area. Didn't want the students to get caught in floodings.
Aikido players: Troy, and Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent half of the evening on left-sided Waki-gatame with Dan and Troy trading experiences. The other half was on O Waza Ju Pon - shihonage
Aftermath:
None of note
We played "Recreational Buffet" this week. We did not play terribly well, We did smoke them in the second game, as they had trouble handling my serve for a bit. But, they handled us well in the other games.
I was generally disgruntled most of the evening. I think the upcoming convention is disturbing my balance, I know it's disturbing my sleep.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.2 miles, 214 cal
Weight machine out of order still.
Friday:
Lunch at Abe's
Aikido
Saturday:
Bank stuff
Aikido
Office Depot
Nap
Art Show stuff
Office Depot
Marble Slab
Sunday:
Lazy morning
Golf on TV
Grilled out salmon, and made a peach poundcake
Football on TV
Aikido players: Tim, Dan the Elder, Mario, Roderick, and Zach (a new student).
Ukemi:
Got in a full set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual. And then a couple more partial reps with Zach.
Releases:
I oversaw Mario, Dan and Roderick working together.
Techniques:
Roderick, Dan and Mario worked on Shome-ate.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.2 miles, 212 cal
Weight machine out of order still.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got a full set in
The Walk:
One rep, curcular formation.
Releases:
Worked with Mario. We spent most of the evening on this, as he was having a rough night. We did a couple of reps on the first of Ki Harry.
Techniques:
We did a little work on Shomen-ate
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on the footwork for Hiki-taoshi and the first of the Ki-Harry. I went round and round in circles as an uke for most of the evening.
Aftermath:
I was dead beat. I feel asleep about 10 seconds after hitting the mattress.
We played "Wild Sets" this week. We normally lose to them, but I still felt we were playing below our level. We managed to eke out a third game win. I'm not certain we deserved it.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.1 miles, 207 cal
Weight machine out of order still.
Friday:
Had the day off from work
Art Show computer work
Lunch with K. at King's Bier Garten
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Aikido - long session
Video work from Troy's demo
nap
Sunday:
Sprayed weed-killer
The last empty lot on the block is getting cleared for construction
Nap
Video work from Troy's demo
Art Show work
Dinner at Joe's
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Marvin, and Gail. We also had two potential students sitting and watching.
Ukemi:
Got in a full set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I oversaw Marvin and Dan working on their releases. They also ran through the first of Ki Harry.
Techniques:
Dan and Marvin worked through Oshtaoshi, Ude-gaeshi, and Hiki-taoshi.
Troy and I worked on the second 5 of O Waza Ju Pon for him. He was able to complete them fairly easily, at least once.
We then went through the first 25 of Koryu Dai Yon No Kata for me. I can remember the first 14 fairly easily. The next 11, not so much yet.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Gail, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a partial set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Gail on her set. I actually got the sixth release on Gail on my first shot. I was pleased. We then ran through Ki Harry number 1.
Techniques:
I worked with Gail on some techniques. We did some work on Shomen-ate, but her knee started bothering her, so we switched to Gyaku-agamae-ate. That went pretty well.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Troy, Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on Waki-gatame, right side. Dan got some good reps in, and then I uked for him and blew his mind.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.1 miles, 204 cal
Weight machine out of order still.
Did a little mowing of the lawn at home.
Played "Wild Sets" for the first match of this season. Played poorly. We should have won, but did not play well enough to do so.
Friday:
Attempted lunch at Abe's: too crowded
Lunch at EL Napolitano
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Aikido
Lunch/Dinner to Papa Gayo's to celebrate a Shodan demonstration
Dinner with in-laws
Sunday:
Late start to the day and then a "Firefly" marathon
Baked a chocolate cheesecake from the Chronicle. Was well-received.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a partial set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual, with just Dan and Mario
Releases:
Dan and Mario went through their paces
Techniques:
Dan and Mario did a couple of reps of Shomen-ate, Agamae-ate, and Gyaku-gamae-ate before Troy's demonstration.
Troy did his Shodan demonstration. He did really well and was visibly relieved to have it over and done.
Aftermath:
We went to a local Tex-Mex joint to celebrate the accomplishment.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a partial set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
We introduced folks to a kata based on the releases. It is known by a number of names: Ki Harry, Name No Waza, Name No Kata, Stupid Kata. You start with one of the releases, or in some cases two, and transition into a series of some of the techniques 6-17 from Ju Nana Hon Kata.
So we spent a good portion of the evening working on that.
Techniques:
Trey and I played with variations of Kote Gaeshi. Played with uke's reaction and where tori goes in a number of cases.
Trey and Troy ran through Troy's Shodan demonstration material a couple of times.
After working on Ki Harry, Dan and Marvin did some spot work on Hiki Taoshi, Oshi Taoshi, Gyaku Gamae-ate, and Shome-ate.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on Hiki-taoshi. Left-sided. I was able to see a number of issues that prevent the technique from working.
1. If tori does not take uke off of his 4th toe, uke will walk right out
2. If tori turns his center 90 degrees to uke, uke will walk right out
3. If tori takes uke off of 4th toe, and tori keep his hand in his center, uke has something to fight against and won't go down easily.
4. If tori keeps his hand too low as uke is falling, uke has a chance to reach for tori's ankles and prevent the armbar
We ended up with a number of nice techniques by the end of the night.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.1 miles, 208 cal
Weight machine out of order still.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.0 miles, 203 cal
Weight machine out of order again.
Friday:
Worked some extra hours over the pay period, so took Friday off
Worked on a Chocolate/Brioche bread and the usual sourdough
Lunch with K. at Gina's
Aikido
Saturday:
Early aikido
Art Show stuff
K tried out some potential recipes for the Staff Den
Sunday:
Watched some Tour de France and some of the British Open
Art Show stuff
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Watched Mario and Troy work through them.
Techniques:
Marvin, Dan, and Mario worked on Shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate, and Gyaku-gamae-ate. They did pretty well.
Aftermath:
We ended class after about 3 hours. There was some heavy rain falling and we did not want to risk getting everyone stranded by flooded streets.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a partial set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Watched Mario and Marvin worked through them.
Techniques:
Marvin and Dan worked on Hiki-taoshi
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening on Hiki-taoshi. Got some good results.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 17 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.5 miles, 251 cal
Weight machine out of order again.
Took an extra day off to make a 4 day weekend.
Did a lot of baking. Made some baguettes (horrible), sourdough (good), banana sandwich bread (good), kolaches (getting better).
Did some yard work: mowed the back ditch/creek. Got a good portion cleaned up, but there is still some more to do.
Grilled out steaks on Sunday and made a peach cobbler. Bought some Blue Bell to go with it. Awesome!
Usual aikido classes on Friday and Saturday
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Watched Trey and Mario work, and Troy and Dan work
Techniques:
Mario did some work on Shomen-ate. Dan did some work on 6-9.
Troy then ran through all of the stuff for a Shodan demo with multiple ukes. He'll be demoing in 2 weeks.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Watched Mario and Troy work through them.
Techniques:
I did some work with Marvin on oshi-taoshi and ude-gaeshi.
Aftermath:
Tweaked my back a bit early on in the evening and jammed my right hand on an oshi-taoshi fall.
Elliptical: 17 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.5 miles, 245 cal
Weight machine out of order again.
This past weekend I took a trip out to Oklahoma City to be a part of SoonerCon 22. I had a great time, ran into some old friends, and go to do some aikido.
Thursday:
Up at 4:15 a.m. to catch a 6:25 a.m. flight to OKC. No real issues. My bag did get hand-checked because of the bottle-stoppers I was bringing for the art show. Did some reading of Poppy Brite's "The Devil You Know".
Landed in OKC, got my rental, a Dodge Charger, and zipped off to the hotel. My room was not ready, no real surprise, and they weren't setting up the con yet, so I went out for breakfast. I ended up at "The Hungry Frog" over on North Penn. A small, neighborhood diner with a regular crowd. Good food. I did not order enough.
Back to the hotel to do some more reading until time to head to the Windsong Dojo for an aikido class. Nick Lowry's dojo has a bunch of classes through the week, and this has become a tradition. It's great working with folks from the same lineage with a slightly different approach. It was a great class. We spent some time working on hiki-taoshi variants and reactions.
Back from class to the hotel, to wait on my room and read some more. I finally got the room and went to help set up the art show. They'd already set up most of it. I suppose I should have been reading in the convention center.
Dinner was with some of the convention crew at Mr Spriggs BBQ. Pretty awful stuff: dry, tough, and flavorless.
Friday:
Up at a reasonable hour. Breakfast at "Dan's Alley", another neighborhood diner with a bunch of regulars.
Did some email reading and then in to the convention. Friday's panels were: "Effective Storytelling in Illustration" crowd of one or two, "The Importance of Classic Figure Drawing", another small crowd.
Dinner was at "All-American Dixie Diner" on N.W. 23rd. (Yes, it was a diner weekend.) I'd wanted to try "Classic 50's Diner" on the same street, but they closed each day at 2 p.m. They had a good chicken fried chicken and a good banana pudding cake.
Saturday:
Up at 5:30 a.m. to make it to an early morning aikido class at 6:30 a.m. I got lost on the way to the dojo this time, but I still managed to make it in time for class.
Breakfast at Ray's Cafe, just a few blocks from the dojo.
Panels: "Monster in an Hour", "But Is It Art". Decent crowds Art Auction/Charity Auction. Good fun and we brought in some good money.
Dinner: S & B's Burger Joint. Good burger. Best restaurant Pecan Pie I've had in quite some time.
Sunday:
Up at a normal hour. Tried to have breakfast at Classic 50's Diner, but they are not open on Sunday's, so it was back to "All-American Dixie Diner". Major detour on the way there due to a fire of some sorts.
Panels: "Digital Art as the New Norm", "Leia is NOW a Disney Princess". The Leia panel had the biggest crowd for teh weekend, and I felt outmatched on the panel. Owen Stephenson has had a lot of contact with the Star Wars 'verse while working on games and he had a lot of inside knowledge.
Stuck around and helped shut down the Art Show. Got to the airport, read, waited for a delayed flight and managed to make it home, just a bit early.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set. Watched over Gail
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Worked with Mario on his releases.
Techniques:
We did a Blum-line with Marvin, Gail, Dan, Mario, and myself. We worked through the shomen-ate, aigamae-ate, and gyaku gamae-ate.
After that, in the end of class session, Troy, Trey, Dan and I did randori with 3 ukes. It was rough. I did not do as well as I would have liked. Troy got a lot of time in the middle and did pretty well.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set. Watched over Gail
The Walk:
Twice, as usual
Releases:
Watched Mario and Marvin work through them.
Techniques:
Mario and Marvin did some work on shomen-ate and aigamae-ate.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 15 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.1 miles, 208 cal
Weight machine out of order again.
Elliptical: 15 minutes, incline, level 4, 2.0 miles, 204 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@140 lbs
Leg press (left): 1 x 15@90 lbs, 1 x 15 @ 80
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@110 lbs.
