Although it’s a pain in the ass, getting called into work on one’s day off does sometimes make you feel like a hero.

I attended a seminar in Poughkeepsie with Kacem Zoughari this past weekend. It was one of the better events that I have gone to in quite a while. Per his reputation, Kacem is an exceptionally knowledgeable martial artist while also being an excellent instructor.

From the beginning of the day (actually even before the day officially began), he demonstrated great skill with his [i]taijutsu[/i], [i]kenjutsu[/i], [i]hanboujutsu[/i] and [i]tantoujutsu[/i] as well as his great knowledge of the Japanese language and history. All this without coming off as being preachy.

The day began with an nice detailed look at [i]juunan taisou[/i] as it appears historically along with an explanation of why it is important to retain one’s joint flexibility. Moving on to taijutsu, Kacem mentioned that he was going to stick to a single concept for the whole weekend – ichimonji – while teaching the concepts of [i]jissen kihon happou[/i] (real fighting basics). Taking time with just about all of the attendees, I was surprised at how much he had to show on even these “basic” techniques. It was eye opening to say the least. Towards the end of the day, Kacem was kind enough to show the crowd a [i]makimono[/i] he had received from “someone”. There were a few other “show and tell” sessions throughout the day as well. I’ll just say that he’s obviously well respected in Japan.

Even thought I had planned to attend only the first day of the event, I ended up coming back for most of the day on Sunday. It was definitely worth the extra driving.

I managed to get out of work a bit early yesterday (it’s a holiday week, so I am doing 8 hour days) and on the drive home, while listening to the [url=http://www.twit.tv]This Week in Tech[/url] guys talk about King Kong, I decided I would try to catch the movie. But I didn’t know when it was playing and since it’s a 3 hour long flick, I knew the shows probably wouldn’t be very frequent. So, rather than take my chances driving all the way to the theater I stopped to get gas. Why? Well, I deduced that there was a good chance that the gas station would have a wifi signal that I might be able to hop on and check the movie times with my Palm T|X.

I pulled in, and while waiting in line I fired up the T|X and scanned for any WiFi signals. There it was! A fairly strong, unencrypted signal most likely coming from the gas station office. I connected with no problem and surfed over to the cinema’s website. Unfortunately, Kong was not playing for over an hour and a half, so I decided to go home.

I was thinking about checking my email just because I could, but decided against it. This is a temptation that should be resisted on any unprotected WiFi connection. Who knows what data is being stored by these guys.

I look forward to the days when WiFi will be available everywhere.

Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone here in the US. This year, I thought a lot about things for which I am grateful. Of course I am thankful for the freedoms that we have in this country and for Robyn and our family and friends. But I thought a lot about how technology helps us in our daily lives. Not just how much I love my iPod or my new Palm T|X, but specifically how medical technology has so affected the way we live our lives.

As Robyn and I traverse the waters of fertility issues, each step has been assisted with the help of amazing medical technologies. From the ultrasound scans and blood tests to the somewhat startling proposition of beginning a life outside of the human body, we are benefitting from hardware and procedures that did not exist just a few years ago.

I can also point out the story of my sister’s two-time survival of Lymphoma. What better use of technology than to literally save a life from such a serious illness?

At the same time, I am in awe of the human mind that first conceived of these things and the human spirit of those that work hard to develop them into such powerful tools.

Not too much to catch up on, really, but I thought it would be a good idea to write something.

I’ve been rather busy working on the website for a new client. It’s for a small part of a pretty major company so I’ve been working to get it finished in a timely manner. Once it’s “officially” done, I’ll post the link. I have to say that it’s nice working on a large site again – especially starting from scratch. My coding skills have taken some major leaps in the past year so I’m a lot more efficient about how I do things with PHP.

With this new project, I’ve had a bit of a shortage of free time. Although, with [url=http://robyn.oninohana.com]Robyn[/url] being at school four nights a week, it has presented me with some free time in the evenings. I get to catch up on my TV and movie watching, but it’s a little like being a bachelor again – come home, make dinner for myself, clean up, watch TV, work on the PC. At least until she gets home. It does make the together time more meaningful.

The question of the last week or so has been “what are we doing for the holidays?” With my family and friends spread all over the east coast and Robyn’s family relatively nearby, it’s hard to decide where to go without hurting someones’s feelings. Generally, we’ve done Thanksgiving Day with her family and Christmas with mine (since Chanukah and Christmas rarely coincide). This year, there are all kinds of issues. I’m sure we’ll get it sorted out.

Here is some of the silly shit we used to do in our post high school years. Enjoy.
[list]
[*][url=http://don.oninohana.com/videos/tree_eats_man.wmv]Tree Eats Man[/url]
[*][url=http://don.oninohana.com/videos/dumb.brothers.intro.wmv]The Dumb Brothers: an introduction[/url]
[*][url=http://don.oninohana.com/videos/dumb.brothers.interview.pt1.wmv]The Dumb Brothers: an interview[/url]
[*][url=http://don.oninohana.com/videos/man.overboard.wmv]Man Overboard[/url]
[/list]

I’ve read several interesting books over the past couple of months.

[list]
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006073132X/bujinkanmartia0b/]Freakonomics[/url] – The cover alone is worth the price of the book! Actually, Chris M lent this to me, so I didn’t have to buy it. Who knew economics was so interesting? Although the authors look at some fairly complex issues, the book is written in a simple way that’s easy to understand. No doubt, that accounts for the book’s popularity.
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515105937/bujinkanmartia0b/]Carrier[/url] – I decided to read this after I started playing Falcon 4: Allied Force again thinking it would capture some of that excitement. Unfortunately, the author does not seem to be very talented as the characters are sort of one-dimensional. The fighter combat was interesting and action-packed, but did not make up for the poorly written dialog and see-through plot.
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060934913/bujinkanmartia0b/]Kitchen Confidential[/url] – I’m reading this now and it’s pretty engaging.
[/list]

I went to a seminar at Fight House that was taught by Moti Nativ last evening. I had planned on attending one day of the Buyu Camp East event that was being held this past weekend in Wickatunk, NJ but when I got the email about Moti being in town on Monday night, I dropped the Buyu Camp from my schedule and added his seminar. I have seen plenty of Moti’s technique on video – both his own excellent videos and at Daikomyosai – so it was a great chance to meet him in person. Why train with 10 or 15 mediocre instructors when I can get 3 good hours with someone who knows what they’re doing.

Training was excellent. We covered lots of henka from the Gyokko ryuu kata Saka Nagare and Kettou but all with a common theme, of course, with the addition of some movements against a knife with the hanbou and without. It was especially interesting to watch Moti’s footwork and his hip movement at the end of Kettou.

It was great to see Eric W, the guys from the Bruin Dojo as well as David Greenberg and his students. I worked with Eric from Mark G’s class.

It was hot and humid in Fight House, so it was nice to cool down as Moti led us through a 20 minute Feldenkrais routine. That was my first exposure to Feldenkrais and I think I may check into it a bit more as it seems like something that could be helpful.

The BHD Anniversary Training Event took place this past Saturday. I know [i]I[/i] had a really good time and I think everyone who attended did as well. The weather was exceptional for this time of year and we had no rain in spite of the gloomy forecast. In fact, it was a bit warm in the afternoon sunshine!

This year’s theme was Kukishinden ryuu so we started the day going over the basics of soujutsu (spear) including the importance to Japanese history this weapon holds, parts of the spear, general usage and then onto the kamae and how to perform a basic tsuki. It was interesting to watch people move with the yari as we began looking at the four kata on which we would focus for the first part of the event. The idea of a weapon placed in the hand highlighting the weaknesses in one’s taijutsu was certainly true as we all fumbled a bit.

After lunch, we moved into the shade of the trees and onto a couple of Kukishinden ryuu dakentaijutsu patterns. The day wound up with Jason and Doug leading us through some excellent awareness exercises.

I will have some photos up in the next couple of days or so, but for now, you can download [url=http://dojo.oninohana.com/class_vids/BHD_seminar_2005.wmv]this short video[/url] I put together.

I’m now reading Freakonomics.

I see why it’s on the best seller lists. Clearly written “explanations” for some major social topics. Good stuff. I’m looking forward to checking out [url=http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate]Leanard Lopate’s[/url] interview with [url=http://wnyc.vo.llnwd.net/o1/lopate/lopate082905d.mp3]Steven Levitt[/url] to hear more about his research that lead to the writing of the book and Levitt’s sudden “fame”.