I tried to get an iPhone 3Gs as soon as it was announced on Monday. I called my friend who owns a cellular phone store, and is an AT&T reseller. In his words, “AT&T would rather you buy it from Wal-Mart than me, so call me back and I’ll tell you how you can get one.” Strike one. Continue reading “My (Unsuccessful) Attempts to Get an iPhone 3Gs”
Gogol Bordello: Lessons Learned in Caffeine, Punctuality and Randori
Delayed blog post alert!
I saw Gogol Bordello, a gypsy punk band, perform in Burlington, VT on June 6. I learned a few things, and validated others which I already knew. Continue reading “Gogol Bordello: Lessons Learned in Caffeine, Punctuality and Randori”
Electric Scooter Update
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. ?Be sure to thank a veteran for their service.
In the tradition of Scotty on the Enterprise, today I took my scooter out for a spin and was “giving her all she’s got.”?I still was gentle on the starts and accelerations, but did not hold back on the flats.?The result was that a 20 mile trip (averaging 40-50mph) drained the battery down to about half charge. This is a definite improvement over last year’s performance.
Electric Scooter Update (Or, the Truth About Battery Powered Vehicles)
Last year I purchased an electric scooter from R Martin Limited with the intention of cutting my fuel costs. Unfortunately, I did not ride the scooter much last year, except in my 9 mile commute to the office because it was not capable of anything more than a 20 mile trip without draining the batteries. Continue reading “Electric Scooter Update (Or, the Truth About Battery Powered Vehicles)”
Aikido Seminar with William Gleason Sensei
This weekend I attended an Aikido seminar with William Gleason Sensei at Shobu Aikido of the Berkshires. While it would be somewhat pointless to discuss much of the subject matter in this forum, it is sufficient to say that training with Gleason Sensei is, at the very least, awesome. His grasp of Aikido is unique among anyone with whom I’ve trained, and I highly recommend any aikidoka who have the opportunity to train with him do so.
Gleason Sensei will be teaching a seminar at my home dojo, Shobu Aikido Vermont, in August.
100 Push Ups, Summer, and Aikido
I haven’t been paying as much attention to my personal blog, but have been rather active over at the corporate one instead. Continue reading “100 Push Ups, Summer, and Aikido”
What Is My Mother Thinking?
Today, my dad handed me a piece of paper, from my mom. It was a page torn from a magazine. (Click the image below for a larger view.)
It took me a bit to figure out what, exactly she was trying to say. My mind raced. Does she know something I don’t? Is she trying to tell me something?
Fortunately, on the flip side of this page is a recipe for some awesome-looking vegetarian chili, which is what she really wanted me to get.
I hope.
Biking and Bears
Today I took a bike ride with a friend on my lunch break. We stuck mainly to a class 2 and class 3 road, although we did a little off-roading on a newly-cut driveway (still very fresh). It was great to get out on my bike on my lunch break, something I haven’t done in years.
While we were returning, on the steepest part of our uphill climb, I heard a loud noise to our left. I looked and saw not one, but three bear cubs between 30-40 feet from us. They were running on what appeared to be an intercept course, so I yelled for us to stop. Fortunately, said bears were running toward the nearest pine trees, which they scaled with amazing speed! Once I realized they were cubs, and they weren’t a threat, we moved as fast as we could to get out of there, just in case mama bear was around. Given that thought, the rest of the hill went down pretty quickly!
This is not the first time I’ve encountered bears while biking, but they were definitely a lot closer to civilization this time. It makes me a bit scared, as I don’t like thinking that they need to be coming this close to humans for food. Hopefully they were just kids getting into trouble without mama’s permission.
Push Ups Progress, or Lack Thereof
Okay, this push-ups thing is getting on my nerves. Last night, prior to Aikido, I tried, and failed, to do a single push up. Apparently I was still really sore from push ups on Saturday and weapons class that morning, so I decided to do them again today.
I restarted week 4, and could barely finish day 1. I never claimed to be brilliant, but somewhere, I think, there’s a problem with the “progress” I’m making.
100 Push Ups, W4D2(r2), FAIL
Darnitall! I was unable, again, to get through day two. I failed out on the fourth set of 25. ARGH. I am sick of starting over! One possible reason is that I had sword class this morning, which may have drained some of my upper body strength.
On the sit-ups front, week 3, day1 went much more smoothly, and I banged them out with relative ease, which is to say, barely.