Category: Personal

Posted on

I'm Single

I just got a letter from the Windsor County Family Court, ordering my divorce. A year and a half later, I’m finally free. I’d like to again thank all of my friends who were so supportive during this trying time, because it sure as hell wasn’t easy.
Love and peace to all. It’s a good day.

Posted on

All I Want for Christmas

Note: this post is for the benefit of friends and family members who say they “have no idea what to get me.”
World peace. I’ll settle for a lot of aikido practice.
A car mount and charger for my iPhone 3Gs. My iPod recently vanished. I suspect the worst – that it fell out of my pocket during a recent snowstorm. Therefore, I need to use my iPhone as an iPod as well. That’s okay, except the battery life is terrible. Also, when I do try to use it as a GPS, it would be nice if I could have it dash-mounted.
Learning Python (Animal Guide). Okay, seriously, I asked for this book for like three years in a row, and nobody got it for me when it was only 384 pages. Now it’s over 1200 pages, and we’ll all suffer because of it! Me because it’s tripled in size, and you because of shipping costs.
Daemon The security community loves this book because, while it’s a work of fiction, all of the attacks are real and the scenarios possible, which is what makes it really scary. The companion book, Freedom (TM) also comes out in a couple of weeks.
An espresso machine. A big one. The professional kind you see in coffee shops. A dual-header. I understand if this one has to be a combined Christmas and birthday gift because it would be silly for me to expect someone to spend $8000 or more on just one gift-giving event. That’s okay. I understand.
A Zircon Ultrasonic Measure with Laser Targeting. Tape measures are so 20th century.
Gift certificates to thinkgeek.com or Amazon.com

Posted on

Heatbox and That 1 Guy Rock Higher Ground

Last night I saw That 1 Guy at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT. Regulars of my blog may recall I saw That 1 Guy last year in the same venue. As with last time, he provided a great amount of entertainment. His stage presence (along with the Magic Pipe) is great, and he interacts wonderfully with the audience, this time including antics such as passing out giant mustaches while directing laser beams out across the crowd (hence, the tour name “Mustaches and Laser Beams”).
However, I have to say I was even more impressed with his opening act, who goes by the handle “Heatbox.” Continue reading “Heatbox and That 1 Guy Rock Higher Ground”

Posted on

What a Month!

I think I’ve had my busiest October ever. Here’s a quick summary:

I plan on elaborating on all of these points.
Eventually.
Perhaps.

Posted on

Koshinage and Sensei Flashbacks

Last night, fighting a cold, I led our weekly Wednesday night Aikido basics class at the dojo here. For the second week in a row, we covered basics of koshinage (hip throw), and did drills to help build leg strength, as well as to build the kinesthetic memory and response which enables one to perform a koshinage without having to stop and think about it. Koshinage has also always been one of my weakest techniques, as the transition to my weak knee has usually been an iffy proposition at best, so I can always use the practice. Continue reading “Koshinage and Sensei Flashbacks”

Posted on

McConnell Taping

This weekend, after starting a new round of physical therapy for my knee, I experimented with McConnell Taping to see if it could keep my patella in place. I’d tried something like this before, and was pretty skeptical.
To my surprise, the technique not only moved my kneecap into a more proper location, the tape actually held through hours of hot, sweaty aikido practice, including kneeling and suwariwaza techniques. I definitely will be using this technique in the future.