A dragon on the wing

... or what's been going on that I haven't had time to post about in forever (or at least in slightly more than a month)...

( Dentists )

( Chinese New Year )

( Backpacking )

( Gazelle )

( Deer )

( Holidays )

I'm sure there's more, but that's what's coming to me at this point.

From one of my martial arts buddies:

Voldemort is like a teenage girl. He has a diary, a tiara, a special cup, a pet he adores, and an obsession with a famous teenage boy

The ocean is a werewolf!

Q: Why do you have a Christmas tree up so early?

Please choose from the following options:

A. I come from an ancient family of lumberjacks who display the decorated corpses of our trade once a year. I am a terrible lumberjack, so my tree is fake.

B. We are currently experiencing the seasonal migration of the North American Christmas Tree. Identified by its diminutive stature and colorful plumage, this dwarf variety has arrived early to nest here, and can be expected to continue its journey in January.

C. Time Lords. It’s really rather complicated, but it was necessary to safe Christmas from the Daleks. Also, don’t blink.

D. It's pretty and I like it.

Most westerners perceive/portray dragons as the embodiment of most of the "Seven Deadly Sins" -- certainly avarice, sloth, wrath, and pride, and arguably envy, lust, and gluttony as well. Anne McCaffrey's were the first books I found that not only didn't treat dragons this way, but also told interesting stories. Not least of her accomplishments was giving female characters equal power/stature/ability to the men without going over the top.

Now she has flown Between. May she fly through skies forever free of Thread, and may we be blessed with more like her down here.

Rest in peace, Anne McC'ffrey.

Thank you, to all those who serve or have served.

( In Flanders Field, by John McCrae )

( Thinky thoughts )

The new dojo is off to a promising start. ::knocks on wood::

Effective Nov 1, we will be adding classes in two new styles: one of the kung fu systems called Hung Gar, and one of the karate systems called Kyokushinkai.

Meanwhile, I'm still battling the red tape to be sure that all of our legal requirements are met. Blech! I'd rather face a dozen zombie ninjas than yet another Red Tape Monster!

As I've mentioned elseJournal, I was recently given the opportunity to take over running a martial arts school here in Memphis. After a lot of careful thought and talking it over with Rhi, my students, and the other instructors at the school, I decided I would do it.

Tonight, the members of the school will meet for pizza, then will head to the school to begin cleanup and renovations. Effective tomorrow morning, "Denbow's Memphis Martial Arts Center" will be no more, and in its place will be simply "Memphis Martial Arts," under yours truly.

I'd like to thank everyone who's helped to get us this far, and please keep the good thoughts coming!

O great hive-mind, I have a question...

With my new dojo (SQUEE! sorry... I'm okay now...)

Anyway...

With my new dojo, I have inherited a bunch of 1/4" rubber "puzzle mats" -- the interlocking 2' square rubber mats. Some of them are in sore need of cleaning. Does anyone have recommendations for how to do this?

Thanks in advance!

I had a very interesting conversation last night, and now I've got some heavy thinking to do.

( Clicky )

Saturday morning, the Memphis Outdoor Adventures group went on a "Hummingbird hike" down in Holly Springs, MS. Even though it's still August in Memphis, the day wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze. 13 of us wandered around the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center for a couple of hours, including a stop at an Antebellum mansion that burned down and got rebuilt in the 60's.

Even though the hummingbird migrations won't really get started for several more days yet, we saw a small swarm of them at the feeder stations near the mansion, and I even managed to get a few decent photos of them. In fact, one photo of mine is the one the webmaster used as the main photo for this hike on their Photos page. Several people uploaded photos from the hike, but the only person who uploaded more than me is one of the hike organizers.

It's odd to stand there among them and have them zipping around you. If you've never experienced it, their wings beat so fast that they really do make a humming noise as they fly. I'm always surprised that the pitch isn't higher than it is, even though I know intellectually why that's so.

There was a Mushroom Hike scheduled for the afternoon, but I decided not to stick around for that one. Maybe next time! :-)

To say that I'm not a morning person is to really understate the case. I also don't usually go in for big breakfasts, unless I know I'm going to be doing a lot of physical activity that day. I like most breakfast foods, I just don't like having to get out of bed earlier in order to have time to eat them. ::G:: As a result, my breakfast most mornings these past few years has been one of those bottled Starbuck's Frappacinos.

Last week, an article on the 20 Worst Drinks in America (in terms of bad for you, not bad tasting, etc) listed these as #16. Based on the amount of sugar, etc in them, one of these a day equates to 28 pounds of weight gain over the course of a year. Granted, that's for the large (~14 oz) size, and I was drinking the small (~9.5 oz) size... but that's still a roadblock I don't need.

And of course I found this out the day after Rhi went shopping, and picked me up more of them. I decided I'd go ahead and finish those, and ask her not to pick me up any more.

I drank the last one yesterday. This morning, I'm definitely feeling the lack of my usual morning dose of caffeine, chocolate, and milk!

Oh, well... I'm sure I'll adjust to this, too...

Zzzzz....

A cool if geeky proposal at ComicCon, and further proof that Patrick Stewart is a consummate gentleman (as if such proof were needed).

Friday night, Rhi and I went for an event with a local group called Memphis Outdoor Adventures -- a Full Moon Mixer fundraiser for one of our parks here, followed by a moonlit hike through the park.

Unfortunately, the clouds started rolling in and blocked the moon before the hiking portion got started, but it was still a very nice night. We saw some interesting wildlife, including a skunk, quite a few spiders, and a possum in a tree. Some of the others saw an armadillo, but I wasn't one of them.

During most of the hike, the lightning flashes to the northwest were increasing. After about 2 hours, we reached a 'break point" -- we could either continue forward to the beaver pond, or head back to the cars. Out of our group of 14, 5 went forward, the rest of us headed for the cars. We made it to the car *just* as the rain started falling. I feel kinda sorry for the other group, I know they must've gotten drenched!

They've got upcoming hikes planned for local parks on most weekends. I'm not sure how many of them we'll make, but I enjoyed this one.

I think I've been "bitten by the bug." Something's "gotten under my skin."

More and more, I'm finding myself wishing I was hiking, camping, or preferably both.

Until recently, I haven't done any appreciable amount of either of these in a decade or more. Then this Spring, I went on an overnight hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. I spent several weeks (maybe even a couple of months, I'm not sure any more) getting ready for it -- figuring out what I'd need to equip my pack, hunting around for the best deals (and I did find some really good ones), and walking several miles each night (usually with the pack on) to get ready for the trip. Even though I was walking after dark, it was still Memphis -- which means it was still hot and humid, and I was usually sweating like a pig by the time I was done. It was a lot of effort, but it wasn't too unpleasant.

We got to the trail head in Pennsylvania a little later than we'd expected to, but we still had plenty of daylight to make it to our planned campsite. One thing I'd forgotten in my "practice hikes" is that Memphis is basically flat Pennsylvania is anything but flat! Plus, my usual walk was on a sidewalk, and on a fitness trail around a park. Nothing like the constant roots and rocks on the A.T. in PA! (and yes, I've done enough hiking and camping before to know that this is what trails are usually like. It's just been a LONG time since I've done anything like that with a full pack!) Parts of it were fairly challenging... but doing it felt *good*. Even when I was bitching about the heat or the pack or the mosquitos or whatever... I was really enjoying myself.

I keep running into more and more references to things like this, from the "survival quiz" meme that went around back in June (and yes, that is related, at least to me), to an announcement that one of the local parks is going to have a "Full Moon Mixer" next Friday, followed by a night-time hike... and I keep finding myself wanting to have my feet back on a trail.

I used to do a lot more hiking, camping, and other outdoor stuff when I was younger. I'm about to turn 45, and part of me wonders if my re-found fascination is some sort of "mid-life crisis," trying to recapture a part of my youth. It doesn't feel like it is, but would I be the best judge?

All I know for certain at this point is that I'm really enjoying getting back to it, and am looking forward to doing more.

It's about frigging time!

( Cut for space )

From ilyena_sylph, a survival quiz.

I'm lifting it and reposting with my answers, for purposes of thought and discussion.

Please join in, and don't be shy about 'Why x, y, z? and what about a, b, c?'

You don't have to post answers to this one, just think about the questions.

( Cut for length )

This.
Guy.
ROCKS!


What do I make?

Miracle worker

I would trade any TEN of the teachers I have had throughout my life for ONE like him -- except for those very few who were already like him.

ETA: corrected the second link

Please add your thoughts and prayers, as well as any other more concrete forms of aid that you can, for the people of Japan. This morning they suffered a magnitude 8.9 quake -- the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

ETA: Correction, the most powerful earthquake JAPAN has ever had, and one of the top 5 in the world.

Not only are the people of Japan affected by this, but all the countries on the Pacific are under a Tsunami watch, including the west coast of the United States.

If you are in any of these areas, please let us hear from you so we'll know you're okay!

well, my laptop finally gave up the ghost. it lasted for 7 years, so I really can't complain too much.

Today, after much hemming and hawing, I broke down and bought a new one. HP Pavilion dv6. Nice friendly system so far, although Windoze 7 is taking some getting used to. ::G::

As for the new neighbor... well, that's more of a hopeful statement than one of fact.

During dinner, we kept hearing a Barred owl hooting outside. When I went to take out the trash, I looked up and there it was -- on a branch right over the house.

Hopefully it will find a good place to nest and stick around!

These people are giving away WAY too much information, in my opinion.

I'm not too crazy about a free service that will let you do a nationwide search for someone, and give you their name, address, frequently a street-level photograph of their home, their marital status, names of people living in the house with them, value of the the property, and more.

Apparently the "pay" service will give you even more than that.

The good news is, you can delete your entry.

Yay! We finally get to move our training space back indoors!

( Cut for those who aren't interested )

As I mentioned elsejournal, my guys and I are just about to finish up our 100 Pushup Challenge.

Well... now they want a new one! LOL

I think I'm going to give the a list of options, and ask for their ideas, then let everyone vote on which one(s) they want to do, and the one with the most votes wins.

So I'm asking you, great hive-mind, for ideas!

Some of the ones I've come up with so far are:

• X chinups


• Run X distance


• Walk X distance (time may become a factor on this one, to do as a group for any appreciable distance)


• X "dog kicks" (on all fours, raise one leg like a dog at a hydrant, extend and retract the leg X times, then set down)


• stance training -- hold stances for X time

Other suggestions, anyone?

11:11 a.m., 11/11/1918. Armistice. The fighting finally stopped... for a while.

Until the politicians forgot (if they ever knew) what the horrors of war were really like. Until someone decided that someone was doing something so heinous that the only appropriate response was to go and kill them.



( In Flanders Fields )

( Armistice Haiku, 2010 )

A blessed Samhain to you all.

( 'Tis the season of the harvest, and this year I had a most wonderful crop indeed. )