The musings of a weary mind. Conversations on aikido, gardening, cooking, travel and, maybe, woodworking.
Feeling better (recovering from the cold/infection), but still not at full speed. I've got some antibiotics that I've got to take for the next 9 days or so.
Some out-of-town visitors coming to aikido this weekend, so I need to be at full speed by Saturday.
Job hunt is progressing. 6 applications in (some of which go to more than one position) and one interview already scheduled. It's the one I really am hoping to get.
Found out my services will no longer be needed at my current place of employment in about two weeks. I've started up the search engine and hope to find something quickly.
I've spotted a number of decent fits in the little searching I've done so far. Now it's time to get updated phone numbers for folks and get cracking.
Overall rating: it was a horrible weekend
Caveat: Exclusively because I was ill and, therefore, no fault can be placed upon the con committee.
Wednesday morning, 24 hours before my flight, I came down with some variant of a cold. It didn't seem too bad, and it would have had to have been horrendous for me to have canceled the weekend. Looking back, the smart thing would have been to cancel, but I'm still glad I went.
Thursday: early flight out of Houston, arriving in Boston before 1 p.m. I think I managed to get into the Art Show area around 4 to help them set up. I put in around 4 hours of work before it seemed that my skill set was not of tremendous use.
I went back to my room and attempted to plan out my Friday. My goal was to get to Kane's Donuts in Saugus, Ma in the morning and to an aikido dojo in Salem, Ma in the evening.
After doing a search of MBTA, it was apparent that the donut shop was a journey that just would not happen. There was just going to be too much walking.
Searching for routes to Salem, Ma turned up a different route each time I searched. I settled on one to shoot for, if I felt up to it.
To bed.
Up in the morning and off to the restaurant. In what was to be a recurring theme all weekend, nothing tasted good. The cold was making it's presence known: affecting my balance and taking away flavors of food.
I did manage to get back into the Art Show area and do some more work setting up, but I looked an awful lot like a lump on a log. I did some stapling of pocket programs and then went up to my room.
I made a decision, after starting the journey to Salem, that the journey wasn't a wise thing to do. I wasn't terribly steady on my feet and the stress of the travel was probably going to result in my getting lost while not in the best of health. So, I returned to the hotel room, and canceled the meeting with an on-line friend that was supposed to occur in Salem.
I went to bed and slept for 15 hours.
Saturday I got up and only really remember the Zelazny Book Launch party. I'm pretty sure I ate breakfast and dinner and they were both forgettable.
Sunday I made it to the Zelazny discussion panel and then to the airport. The flight home was the longest flight I can remember. I couldn't sleep. I wasn't sure if my ears were going to pop when they were supposed to or not.
Thankfully, my dear spouse was waiting for me at the airport and she drove me home. I don't think I could have managed it myself.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Drove out to Crosby, Tx to buy a HOB overflow box for the aquarium
Did some geocaching on the way back.
aikido
Joe's for bbq
Hand-and-foot with the in-laws.
Sunday
Did some mowing of the clover on the "side 40" to reduce the odds that the city will come along and mow down all of my bluebonnets.
Also did some cleaning of trash from the creek since it is dry and I could get close to the junk.
Made pizza and a Lemon Poppy Seed Creme Brulee. We'll have to see how it is today. Last night it was far too runny, but we ate it while it was still very warm.
Watched some of the Grammy's and some of XIII.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 9:48 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, cooking, gardening, geocaching, weekend
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, and Keith.
Ukemi: None. Watched over Keith.
The Walk: As usual.
I then worked with Keith on the latter portion of the Walk.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Kim on 11. Kote-hineri, Tenkai-kote-hineri, and Shiho-nage
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Nothing of note.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Kim, Brad, Keith, and Tom.
Ukemi: None. Watched over Brad, Tom and Keith.
The Walk: As usual. Kim counted once in Spanish. It ended up being very funny and very fast.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on 1-6 left-sided, refreshing his memory. then I attacked a few times for kote-gaeshi.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata - with Trey
Oshi Taoshi - This time I was not getting the arm into the proper position for the armbar as I was last week. Not suer wat's up with that.
Gyakugamae Ate - We did a couple of these at full speed after warming up at slower speed. Fun!
Kote Mawashi - Uke grabs tore's left collar. Tore steps back, threatens eye, steps back again collapsing uke's wrist. Steps forward knocking uke down.
Points of interest: force uke's wrist up, turn center into uke when moving forward
Name unknown - Uke grabs tore's left hand. Tore does 4th release and continues it into a roll-out for uke.
Points of interest: extend the thumb out and follow it around into the mawash and roll-out
Aftermath: None worth noting.
Random observations about some of the ads:
No ads from the Big 3 auto makers. 3 from Hyundai, 2 from Toyota, 1 from Audi.
8 movie ads. Monsters vs. Aliens, Star Trek, UP, and The Fast and the Furious #3 looked the best on the trailers.
My favorite ads: Bridgestone's first one, Cheetos, Coke's Insect parade, and GE's smart grid robot.
Least favorite: careerbuilder, ashleymadison.com (No, I have not visited that site to figure out WTF), and godaddy.
We did some cooking before the game ot make certain there was enough stuff to eat. What we had available included:
Guacamole
Pineapple/Cream Cheese/Green Onion dip
Hot cheese dip
Pigs in Blankets
Roasted Pork
Lemon Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee
Pecan Pralines
Macadamia Nuts
Several types of chips
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Had to stop by the copy shop and make copies of some flyers to distribute at a local con and at Boskone. Stopped by the local con, dropped off the lyers and then did some geocaching.
aikido
Dungeons and Dragons: Leveled up my Cleric.
Sunday
Grocery shopping for the Super Bowl
Trip to Home Depot for short rebar, chicken wire and some plumbing supplies for a dry run of plumbing for the sump for the aquarium.
Made some guacamole, pralines and then a Lemon Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee.
Helped K. surround the second vegetable garden with landscape timbers.
Did a water change in the aquarium. I need to add another powerhead to increase the circulation.
Settled down for the Super Bowl, paper in hand to keep track of the commercials.
Absolutely stuffed from all of the food. We could have fed 8-10 people. There were only 4 of us.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 1:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, aquarium, cooking, creme brulee, gardening
Aikidokas: Tim, Greg, Trey, Brad and Keith.
Ukemi: None for me. Helped Keith with his
The Walk: One at normal speed and one at high speed. Whee!
I then spend a good bit of the session working with Keith and Brad on the latter portions of the walk
Releases: Worked with Brad and Keith, introducing Keith to the first three releases and running through all of them with Brad.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
No work on this today
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Amazingly sore for how little work I did.
Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Keith, and Luis (a visitor/student with a Nidan in Ueshiba Aikido).
Ukemi: The usual set. Worked with Keith to keep him on track.
The Walk: As usual.
Releases: None
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on 11. Kote-hineri, Tenkai-kote-hineri, and Shiho-nage. At then end I relented and made some attacks for Kote gaeshi.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata - with Trey
Oshi Taoshi - Still must remember to open and not pivot. I made a tweak to uke's arm position on the arm bar and it is much easier and effective now. I need to get the back of uke's hand onto the mat.
Gyakugamae Ate - We did a couple of these at full speed after warming up at slower speed. Fun!
Kote Gaeshi - Bring both hands into my center en route form the first off-balance to the second off-balance. It keeps my center working and encourages a better positioning of my hands.
Ryote Mochi Sukui Nage - Reach up and not toward uke.
Aftermath: Sore quads and knees.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Started straightening out finances. Filed some stock stuff into binders and installed this year's TurboTax.
Did some work on getting some more saltwater ready.
Did some work on the second box in the book "Box by Box" and on the wood for Uncle Leo's project.
aikido - after which I was completely worthless: sore and tired.
Dinner with the in-laws
Sunday
More work on the "Box by Box" book
Helped K. dig up a 30+ year old Sago Palm. One down, one to go.
Made Cinnamon Brownies with a Ganache. The brownies came out crumblier than they usually do.
Dinner with the in-laws.
"Bourne Identity" on TV.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, Tom, and Keith.
Ukemi: Normal set of ukemi warmups.
The Walk: Not for me today
Releases: Not for me today
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey and Kim on Kote gaeshi. I probably attacked 150 or 200 times this afternoon. We made great progress on this and both folks were starting to really clue in on the technique.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
I ran through the first four of these today. Tweaks were necessary on the first (Oshi taoshi), third (Kote gaeshi) and fourth. I did half decently, though
Aftermath: Sore, sore, sore. And I bet I'll have a bruise on my right hand where tori's thumbs go for Kote gaeshi.
A good afternoon. I was absolutely wrung out at the end.
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, and Tom.
Ukemi: Normal set.
The Walk: As usual. Twice.
Releases: Once the normal way, and boy was I rusty. Then we did another set taking uke to a corner on the releases. This made us to some thinking to figure out the right approach on some of them.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey and Kim on Kote gaeshi. Over and over and over. And then over and over and over. We made some progress and got some throws.
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: Sore everywhere.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
In to Alvin to pick up repaired generator and lawn mower. While in the area, do a little geocaching. I then called a guy who was supposed to buy some skimmers from me, he was too busy to meet up, unfortunately.
Then off to buy dog food and stop by the old dojo to watch a practice. Unfortunately, no one was there so back on home.
Aikido
Dinner at Durango's and the D&D at Robert's
Sunday:
Fry's for 2 new LCD monitors
Football
Water change in the aquarium. It's amazing how much that helped the corals.
Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Trey, Tom, David, and Keith.
Ukemi: I spent the ukemi time working with Tom, David and Keith. Making sure they fall safely.
The Walk: As usual. Once with everyone and once with just Richard and Trey.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
Worked with Trey on his techniques
Wakigatamae - Some tweaking on the initial off-balance that makes the technique.
Kote hineri - We did some tweaking on the armbar and gake
Kote gaeshi - We spent a long time on this. This is a version of the technique that we'd hoped would be easier to learn. Maybe it's easy to learn if you already know the old one?
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
No work on this today
Aftermath: None of note
Aikidokas: Tim, Kim, Trey, Tom, and David (a new student).
Ukemi: The usual set. Worked with Kim and Trey to get them some practice throwing warm-up big falls
The Walk: As usual. Spent most of the session with David, helping him learn the walk. Actually spent a good portion of the time messing it up, but I eventually realized it and made corrections.
Techniques:
Ju Nana Hon Kata
No work on this today
Owaza Ju Pon
No work on this today
Koryu Dai San No Kata
Oshi Taoshi - must remember to open and not pivot. Also, get the proper initial off-balance
Gyakugamae Ate - this one's almost second nature
Kote Gaeshi - Get uke off-balance on the compression, allow him to get his knee up.
Aftermath: None of note
A while back I purchased the book "Box by Box" by Jim Stack. I started working my way through it this weekend. There have already been some failures and successes, just on the first box.
My first attempt was with some 1/2" cherry I had around the shop. I failed to take into account the thickness of the wood before processing the cut list. I could have salvaged the attempt, but the box would have been smaller and it was going to be barely useful at its given size. So, I trashed it.
I started over with some cedar that was around the shop. I milled that down to 1/4". I modified the design to be much larger, about 5"x8". It'll still barely be useful, but someone might like it.
I made a mistake on this one as well. The piece for the bottom I cut about 1/4" too long. I need to go back to my cut list and see if I calculated the wrong length or cut the wrong length.
I have two more pieces to glue and then it will be time to sand and finish. I think I'm going to go with a simple wax finish.
Friday: aikido
Saturday:
Ran around looking for some new hiking boots that I use as work shoes. No Luck.
MARSH meeting with a presentation on sumps
aikido
dinner at Durango's
Sunday:
Football
Work on a box from the book: "Box by box"
Banana bread for K.
Check out directly from here. Fast. Secure. Simple.
