Major Doh

I left the iPod at home again...

Aikido with a guest Instructor

Our dojo was visited by a very strong teacher this evening. Our teacher had strongly encouraged us to join in despite being beginer students. It was great. I didn't get much technical basic instruction but what I got to see was very high end style. We were also treated to some of Sensai's philosophy of Aikido. I can't begin to explain it.

We chose the right martial art.

I was again all charged up when I got home.

A day without tunes...

Is a noisey day.

Happiness is...

When you have a new template on your blog you have this desire to publish to it. Weird, huh?

I have an early snack today that consists of Rold Gold brand Pretzels and a vanilla coke. Yes, I drank a full thing of water before even considering the consumption of said soft drink.

randomness from above

I wonder when I see my work place get scrambled up why certain people react in the way in which they do. Some can't deal with total change coming from above out of the blue. Some it doesn't seem to bother.

Does that mean that those that seem to cope are missing something? Jaded beyond caring. They have fallen all the way to cynical.

Does it mean, rather, that those who have significant trouble are over taxing themselves? Any change is a problem that has to be solved.

I don't think you've hit cynic if you are still contributing. A cynic cares so little that they can't contribute.

I know which camp I fall into. I keep coming to work. I keep contributing by doing what I think is important. I keep getting paid. Life is good.

I always wonder what I've left behind.

Today it was my iPod. I have everything else including cash, and my wallet. I can eat, but I have no tunes in my office.

Calories are overrated.

I want my iPod.

Template - Tada

Well here it is.

I took a set template and modified it pretty extensively.

Hope it's easier to read. I did take the photo myself. I need to adjust the top so the edge isn't so rough.

It doesn't really hurt as bad as it should

Last night's Aikido class was long. It wasn't any longer if you were a circle with one little hand and one big hand going round and round at a constant rate. It was if you were a beginnger on the mat going round and round in a sporatic fall to the matt sort of rate.

Our guest instructor was really great. She is the world champion tree climber. They have a word for that sport, but it escapes me. She likes to get you up on the mat instead. So we spent a huge amount of time working on stuff. I'm rolling better, but I ran out of roll after a while and started clunking. Clunking hurts.

At some point during technique I was working with a large german man and my left shoulder started to really hurt. I almost had to stop, but I was too stupid.

When we got home I was really hurting and I think we turned in just before 10:00 pm. This morning I just feared moving. In reality I'm not that bad off. No advil. A lot of dihydrogen monoxide has set me right. I'm not in a pain free place, but the pain itself isn't bad enough to even slow me down.

Someone once told me that if you want to change your whole life just change one thing. It might be true.

randomness

Deonn and I had a conversation that caused me to change my outgoing message on my cell phone. If you know the number and you want to hear it. I suggest calling today between 5:15pm and 8:00pm. I will be at Aikido and I won't answer. It amuses me and isn't that the important thing about an outgoing message?

I took a shorter Aikido class at noon yesterday. We worked some on rolling and a single technique. I wish I knew the name of it. I guess it's on the first test, but I think of the first test as being across a vast desert of being pinned and thrown by many many people. I had a good time, but my wrists and shoulder are still sore.

Got to bed early last nigh. No SFU to give me nightmares. Oh we watched Max the other night and man was that scary. That really messed up my sleep.

I think it was night before last we watched A Beautiful Mind for the first time. Thats one to watch twice so it won't be going back to netflix just yet.

WundarBar(tm) Strikes Again

There is this thing at work that dispenses condiments at the cafe. It has little buttons that activate some type of electric pump to give you your vinegar based goodness. Today I had chicken sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. (Dig the Oxford comma!)

I'm afraid this combination just begs for mayo. I hesitate to use the full, non-abbreviated, version of the word mayo here because I don't think the cafe has the real stuff, but rather some type of mayo like substance. I have yet to substantiate this fact. Mayo! I need Mayo.

No problem right? Use the WunderBar(tm)...

I can describe what happened to me after making the WunderBar(tm) choice in one word: splat.

Good thing I had a white shirt on.

blogger's new templates suck

fixed width is moronic for the main content.

how cool is that?

I love that we're drilling holes in another planet.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040816/marsupdate.html?ct=8095.19799034209

OK we've also littered, but only a little there too.

Welcome to the 405 sunrise...

So I got out early this morning even for me. I was out of the house before 5:30am. Some would say I do this because I'm crazy. Some would say it was not crazy, just stupid. Either way I enjoy it. Most mornings.

This morning I had a pretty easy time getting over the tiny bit of extra gravity keeping me under the cover. I think it has mostly to do with the temperature differential a long with the humidity interacting with the dew point in such a way as to press me into the bed. Or it's that last vestige of lazy. I'm guessing the latter.

Anyways I get on the road before the morning show starts. How cool is that? (I hear a lot of "notcoolatallidiot" murmurs going on, but I will choose to ignore them.)

When I first start the car the Bare Naked Ladies (I love that band. I really like their music, but I really like that they named just so people would say it. I say BNL some times and it's driving Max nuts because I won't tell him what it means so when they say it on the radio I say to him, "Hey Max they just said what BNL stands for and he goes into a routine of asking me repeatedly what it means in only a way a nine year old can. Yes, if you're wondering, he's good at it.)

Cool so I'm cruising on 405. Venus is rising in the east. Remember people if it's really bright and it's in the morning or evening it's not a star it's a planet and it's Venus. If you want more confirmation check it in binocs and see that it isn't round. (I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader as to why Venus is never "full".) I digress, granted it was intentional, but still a digression none the less.

The next song has a long ass live intro (tm) and it has this Spanish guitar feel to it. I say to myself (yes out loud, I'm like that) with that puzzled almost disgusted look, "That sounds like the Eagles...nah"... more intro... more eagles.... ACK... It's "Hotel California" done live on a new album called "hell freezes over". Shit. This is one of my most hated songs. I used to love it. A long time ago. Now I hate it. Why? Overplay on the radio in Ohio I'm sure of it. Not blaming the Eagles. Not blaming the radio here because I rarely hear it.

It's so bad that I used to call my Brother-in-law whenever I was in Cincinnati and he would tell me when they were going to play it. No he's not a psychic. I'm sure. He was shaggy the music director at WEBN at the time. So he would call me and tell me when not to be listening. That's how much play it gets out there. Now I listen to The Mountain and they usually do right by me. Usually. For a little extra salt in the wound, Mike West referred to it as a master piece. I shuddered.

Message in a blogger: Shawn Stewart please don't do the early morning eagles thing to me again. k? BNL good... Hotel California... not so much. It's just too much so early in the morning.

But no. Not this morning. I had to play some serious iPod rock to get that catchyrockyhorrorliketune out of my head. As further attempt to move past this situation I have written this theraputic blog entry trying to clean it out of my system. Is it working? You be the judge:

Welcome to the Highway 405
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely pace
Plenty of cars on the Highway 405
Any time of year
Any time of day
You can find them here
You can find them here

(I'm too lazy to do a verse, think of this part as instumental, ok? good.)

Welcome to the Highway 405
Such a lovely Pace
Such a lovely Pace
Such a lovely pace
They're livin' it up on the Highway 405
What a nice sunrise
What a nice sunrise
Bring your alibis...

um yeahhh....NOOOOOO

Camping

We went camping up in the Newhalem region of Washington state.

It was largely uneventful. It rained just a tad on night 2. Just enough to make you happy that you weren't sleeping

Dumb luck. Why? Dumb luck that it was uneventful? If we had stayed just one more day...

http://www.komonews.com/stories/32654.htm

I sitll wonder what all those sirens were for...

blog block ][ gs

gs stands for... well graphics and sound... but in this case it stands for ground squirrels? no.

So I have blog block. I'm such a nerd (if you know me you can stop here, you know) that I have a recurring task to post to my blog. I had 3 of those mutherfuckers stacked up this morning.

Oh the shame.

Speaking of shame yes my grammar and punctuation suck. I know. I'm working on it.

I might even start using the shift key when i type the word I. Well maybe I'll be more consistent with it. Maybe not.

crazy... or man that's redundant.

People think I'm crazy. Some people think I'm funny, but thats not TIMING what i'm talking about right now. Some people call me CMF for a reason. I happily give them mulitple to choose from.

Here's one. I get to work at 6:00. That's AM. Ante Meridiem. Before sun up some days.

Why do I do this? I tell some people it's because I get so much stuff done at work between 6 and 8 am. This is true.

I tell people that it's a way that I trade sleep for time with my kids. Also true. Seemingly no crazy other than the whole getting up at 5:00am to make it work, right?

It's not the real reason. I feel like I get a jump on the whole world if I do that. Driving to work before sun up is like getting a free day. Every day. I stay up just as late. I turn in about 11ish most nights. Sometimes earlier sometimes later.

OK I realize this is just crazy.

You know what I wish?

I wish I had a sword. Not made of steel, I was thinking Ash because it's lighter than red oak. I thought they would cost a whole lot of money, because come on it's a sword and it's a bokken. No. In fact the first place I looked online had it for $15.00.

Apparently it's very easy to make Samurai swords out of wood.

So I won't buy it. Why not you ask? You want it and it's only $15.00... well because it's like showing up to a pool hall with your own cue and not knowing how to rack 9 ball... I don't know dick yet about the swords. Except that I want to learn enough about them so I don't feel like an idiot buying one or having one.

I really do love learning shit.

Washout

Some days you win.

Some days you lose.

Some days it rains.

This camping trip made water camping (click on 'water camping') seem like a dry day in the park. This was a swirling mass of mud and water and starting a fire under and umbrella is just nasty. It was a big ass beach umbrella (tm), but still.

We packed it in early and we're thinking 'trailer like RV device for the not so distant future' on the way home.

I have no pictures from the camping. Actually the ferry ride to the peninsula we got to see a carrier group coming into port likely bremerton and that was cool and I took some photos of the silhouettes they were making on the sea.

water water water... bleck

We managed to get a hold of Todd & Michelle so they didn't drive out, but they so kindly helped us clean and dry our stuff when we got home. We're going to hang out with them this evening, just not in the rain.

water water water

Aikido ][

OK so last time at Aikido Tammy and I were just used up. This time I was a little anxious (read that as scared) so I really wanted to take the next class so that I would be back up on the horse.

So when I get there one of the members doesn't recognise me and she is very nice and introduces herself to me. I explain that we've been to one class and we want to keep it up for at least a month. She then goes off to do some other stuff because I think her parents were there.

Everyone has always been very nice here. The real fear was centered on the activity itself and how or if I could stand up for it.

So I change. I can tie my own belt now. I realize it sounds like I'm in kindergarten, but you know what? I am as far Aikido is concerned.

So I come out with my gi on and Sensai says to me, "Tonight we're having a bokin class so go with Mike and he'll show you how to pick out a sword." excuse me? This is the second lesson. Is it a basic night? swords? So OK I gets me a sword. (Tammy had the same reaction)

Now I have a sword and I'm scared. Kids are sitting there and so I'm just using my courage. This sword by the way is solid hard wood. Not bamboo not flexible. It's not steel, but it is oak.

We did a quick warm up. We started learning the technique. She explained very well and we went very slowly. All white belts had advanced people to match up with. No problems there.

Guess what? it was so fucking fun.

I had a blast.

At one point I was looking out across the white mat at about 20 adults with wooden swords stepping carefully and angling carefully to take the line. I said to myself "how cool is this?"

I mean how many adults learn to use a sword. And do it right. I mean this was serious shit. We were talking about which organs the attacker will go for.

Tammy likes to point out and I agree that Aikido even with swords is not about violence. It's about defense. Many of the techniques were about "stopping the encounter" not killing the opponenet. peaceful.

Don't get my wrong. I still don't know dick. I'm sub kindgergarten, but hey on any given Wednesday... I might be training with a sword.

How cool is that?

i wouldn't want...

to live here but I sure like reading about it.

Her-a-Canes

When did we get so PC we have to name storms after alternating sexs? It had to have been in the 90's because I wasn't paying attention. I missed the 90's... I was working.

So now this one is called Alex. Um have we taken the next step into PC and now we only name storms after names that ambigious enough to be either. I know both a guy and a girl named Alex (as I'm sure most people do). Who names these things?

From now on it's Huricane Pat, Randy, Deonn?

I'm sad to report

The death of Joe Teller. Teller's, of Penn and Teller, father.

click here to read more.

my new public access show

Cooking the Amish way.

Last night we had friends over for dinner and Deonn came over because she was in desperate need of having her pointing device removed from her bios. Doesn't that sound obscene? It's not. Her track pad died and she needed it disabled. I told her when the devices start falling off like that... the end is near.

I was grilling. Our friends brought steak so the only thing to do there is cook out. Dammmit.

So I wanted to try something a bit different. I made a lot of coals. More than usual. This is where my challenges began. I let the coals spread out too much and with the wind the way it was (gusty) some of them did not get a good start... so I made a pyramid out of them and I did what we all love to do, but you're not supposed to do. I relit them with fluid. I know I know that's a bad idea. Which is by the way why I didn't tell Tammy til after the fact and I had a "now that's a fire" fire going...

I got a cement tile and put the number of coals on it called for by Woody woodruff of my Dutch oven cook book. Is Woody a Dutch name? I dunno, because I don't speak... oh you get the idea. and I put my Dutch oven (cast iron) on top of that I put more coals. It's all good.

I made potato/onion/vege thing that came out really good and I had coals left over so I made a peach upside down cake thing. It's canned peaches with yellow cake mix on top.

When I brought it in, (it was quite good) I had it on the hook and it's kind of a pot so Deonn said I was Amish. I'm not. I drove to work this morning. But I do cook on a Dutch oven. Deonn doesn't go outside so she doesn't know that regular people (as opposed to the Amish special forces) also cook on fires occasionally.

Where did I screw up you ask? These stories often have me ... well... learning new things.

So I was doing this cooking on my deck. It's made of wood. Get it wood? deck.

So I have a cement tile on it. Hmm rock. This will protect the wood from the fire... right?




well mostly.

So I cooked for a long time on the rock on the wood. I baked a fucking cake ok?

So at the end when I went to take care of the coals I used some oven mits to pick up the rock. See the physics of the situation came through when my gloves got warm fast as I dumped the coals back into the grill. reall warm. The rock is good at holding heat. Lots of heat. so I put it down on another similar rock. I then hosed it off... the water boiled and hissed off of the rock that had been on the deck. The deck was hot to the touch too. So I watered that down as well. The cement tile immediately dried and i put my water on it for more vapor. Joy.

Short result: I have a brown square on my deck now...

What's the Amish word for "Doh?"