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I'll keep that in mind. I've been making wholesale changes to my diet -- substantially reducing portion sizes and reducing empty calories, especially at breakfast and lunch. Hence the 16 lbs down already.

As some of you may have seen in my other extended post, I recently had quite the health scare -- I was in the hospital overnight with a bout of atrial fibrillation. Basically, my heart was beating at 160-170 bpm at rest, and it just plain wouldn't slow down. When I was at the hospital, I weighed in at 388.6 lbs (highest I've been in a LONG time), which is likely partly due to eating way too much on vacation, and not getting enough real exercise. Between then and now, I've made it a new goal to lose weight and improve my overall cardiovascular fitness. This log is going to be me keeping myself accountable, and seeing where I started, and how far I've come. Unfortunately this week I'm on the tail end of a nasty allergy/cold thing that has made it more difficult to work out. I'm not going to use that as an excuse, but it is what is is. My general workout plans will involve: - Lap swimming - Kettlebell circuits - Push-ups - Martial arts training days (karate and kobudo) So on to Day 1: Tuesday 6/18: Weigh-in: 372.6lbs (down 16lbs from the hospital) Swimming: 4x100 yards in the morning, 1x100 yds in the evening (had a BSA swim test to do) Overall impressions: Swimming has been getting easier, but my lats and triceps are still very not used to it. I was on a swim team from the age of 6 until I graduated high school, and I remember swimming 2+ miles per day. My goal is going to hit 1 mile per day a couple days a week. I've got a long way to go.

Meijin gis are very popular at our dojo.

That's one win. The Oilers still need to pull of 3 more in a row. I don't see it happening.

So the last few weeks have been... very interesting, and completely in the best of ways. The wife, Zach, and I started the summer out with a trip to Florida and a Caribbean Cruise. While in Florida, we spent one day hanging out around Cocoa Beach (checking out Ron Jon's Surf Shop, for starters), swimming at the hotel pool, and overall just enjoying NOT being at home. We spent Day 2 at the Kennedy Space Center -- we were able to see most of the really interesting things. For one thing, until you see the Saturn V/Apollo rocket up close and personal, you have absolutely no idea how massive it is. You see these massive first, second and third stages, and their only job is to get the tiny service module / lunar module / command module out of Earth's gravity. We also got to see the space shuttle Atlantis, which was suspended at an angle from the ceiling. Again, until you see it up close and personal, you have no idea of the scale. Outside the Atlantis display, they had one of the main fuel tanks and solid rocket boosters on display. During the tour they mentioned that the SRB's expend all of their fuel in less than 2 minutes, and the main tank's fuel only lasts 8 minutes. Talk about some pretty crappy gas mileage. The cruise was great -- we went on the Disney Wish, which is their newest and biggest ship. The ship was about 50% bigger in terms of tonnage than the other ships we had been on, but it has the same passenger capacity -- so more room for stuff. We had a great time, we spent two days at Nassau, two days at Disney's private island, and one day just cruising at sea. It was a great time, but towards the end of the cruise, I started feeling really tired all of a sudden. I had come down with a nasty sinus cold, and kept feeling like I was going to hack up a lung. So when we got back, I took myself to the local urgent care to get something stronger than OTC stuff for the cold. Well, they took one look at my pulse and blood pressure -- my pulse was 160-170, and my blood pressure was through the roof. They told me I needed to go straight to the ER for an EKG. Oh, and don't drive yourself. You don't need an ambulance, but if you pass out on the way... well, that would be BAD. Tried to call the wife, but she works in a secure area and couldn't receive calls. Tried to call friend #1, no answer. Called friend #2 and he was working from home that day, so he was able to come pick me up. We ran by the house to get Zach, and then off to the nearest ER. So I get to the ER -- they didn't know I was coming, even though the LPN at the urgent care said they'd call ahead. They take my pulse & BP and say "You need an EKG". They put me on an EKG and bring me right back to an exam room, where they stab me multiple times to get IV's going. (IV's on me are always interesting, because I have thick skin and my veins roll around). I talk to the Emergency Medicine doc, and she tells me that I'm suffering from either atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. While she is explaining these things, my wife shows up (I was able to get a hold of her on the way to the ER), and she gets the explaination as well, They try to give me some fast-acting medication to slow things down... but 3 rounds of that don't work. Next I get to talk to an internal medicine doctor who asks me about my travel. I told him that I'd been snorkeling and he asked lots of details about that (I didn't go more than about 10 feet down, and I didn't fly within 48 hours of snorkeling, so the bends was a non-issue). He says they're going to admit me for at least 24 hours. Next I got a chest X-ray (came out clear) and a chest CT to look for blood clots (came back clear). Then on the way up to the hospital room. They hook me up to All The Monitors and start an IV drip of a different medication. Over the course of the evening, they'd stop by every couple of hours to draw blood (and of course, they had to do it from a fresh poke), check my pulse and blood pressure, and all of the other poking and prodding you get to enjoy in a hospital room. Of course, whenever I coughed (which was pretty frequent), my pulse would go back through the roof. At some point over the course of the evening, the medication really kicked in, my heart slowed down to a normal rate, and things returned to a normal rhythm. They were able to slowly bring my medication drip back down. At some point during the day, my leads came loose from the EKG monitor, and they had to replace them.... of course they didn't shave the areas in question before putting them on, so I felt just like Steve Carrell from "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (I was tempted to shout "Kelly Clarkson!" as they ripped off the sticky pads). After even more tests (another EKG, a cardiac echo with contrast), a couple discussions with a different internal medicine doctor, and a new batch of medications, they sent me home with instructions to see both a cardiologist and my primary care physician. On the way home, I called up the cardiologist's office who monitored my chart in the hospital (they were also in-network and had very good reviews) to set up a followup with them, and set up a followup with my PCP... Fast forward a week -- the new meds have me pretty dizzy at first, until I figure out that if I have one cup of coffee and eat immediately afterwards, it doesn't affect me nearly as bad. I had one appointment at the cardiologist's office to get fitted for a cardiac monitor for 30 days. A second appt at the cardiologist's office 2 hours later, and the cardiologist's PA basically tells me that "Yes, what you had was technically an MI [myocardial infarction], but based on the results of your EKG and the cardiac echo, you should see no long-term effects." Except that they now have me on meds to keep it from happening again. And they want a 3 month followup with one of the physicians AND a nuclear stress test. My primary care physician gives me a workup as well -- blood pressure is high normal, resting pulse is in the mid-60's, so things are looking reasonably well. I'm overdue for an annual physical, so that's scheduled, and I'm also due for a few other tests... so we get that scheduled. During this time, I've been trying to get back into the martial arts -- I've been wanting to do weapons, so I tried a couple classes. I'd done weapons in my 20's, and some of the muscle memory is there, but the class works a lot of muscles I'm not used to, so major new soreness issues. I was able to get through a karate class until Hanshi started running "speed kata", and I had to sit down, but that's mainly from not training for 3+ weeks. My new goals for the year are to lose weight. It's been one of the things I've said "I need to do this", but now it's really important. I've adjusted my diet and portion sizes since my hospital stay, and I'm now down about 15 lbs since I checked in for my overnight stay. I'm going to add in more exercise throughout the week, with the overall goal of being around much longer so I can see my kid graduate high school, college, get married, and all of those things. Sooo... that's where we are today.

The US as a rule doesn't accredit martial arts instructors. It is up to each style and/or organization to supply the accreditations. Technically if I wanted to open my own martial arts school, I'm welcome to do so. Now as far as my style, organization, and dojo goes: My dojo has 3 levels of apprentice instructor. An assistant instructor level 1 needs to be a (full) black belt with a certain number of teaching hours. As a level 1 instructor, I can run classes with supervision and sit on kyu testing boards. Since I am also a nidan, I can sit on dan-grade testing boards, evaluating students for ranks up to shodan. The dojo also has a level 2 and level 3 assistant instructor certification. Each certification gives you a bit more autonomy on how you run classes. At level 2, I think you are able to run classes at satellite schools. Once you earn a level 3 dojo certification, you are usually a sandan. Once you are a sandan with a level 3 dojo certification, you can be referred to our organization for a shidoin license, which allows you to open your own dojo in the organization, but you are still required to be nominally supervised by a master instructor (shihan). At godan you can also apply for a shihan's license, which allows you to teach independenty without supervision.

Up until about halfway through the third period, I didn't even think the Oilers were really going to show up last night. Then they tried to come back and make a real game of it. However, the odds of them coming back to win from 0-3 is near nil. I've seen it happen exactly once in my 10+ years watching the NHL.

Not yet, but I definitely should!! I mean, we had several breaks throughout the sessions, so I could have taken copious notes during those breaks. I'll definitely need to do that in the future.

One thing that we have drilled into us that especially applies to tournaments is, "eyes, feet, hands". LOOK at where your opponent is coming from, MOVE to your new position and ensure you're set in your stance, THEN do your block/strike sequence.

I have to say, Dallas just plain didn't show up for game 5 until the last 5 minutes or so. They came back with a vengeance in Game 6, but Edmonton and Skinner just didn't give them any solid second chances.

If the Avs can bring that same momentum into Game 6, they've got a chance at forcing a Game 7. Home ice advantage is a real thing when home ice is at 5000 feet. Once you've lived at altitude, you'll know that the lack of oxygen is real.

I've seen several family members succumb to the evils of substance abuse -- both alcohol and cigarettes. I recently lost a cousin (mid-50's) who abused alcohol for most of his life. My most poignant memory of him was when he got completely trashed at my mom's funeral. His father was also an alcoholic and suffered from heart and liver issues later in life. Both of them also hurt those they loved many times due to their dependence on alcohol. I truly hope you are successful with giving up alcohol. Addictions can be difficult to kick, but with the support of friends and family, things get a lot easier.

The Avs are not in the best of situations right now. They just lost Nichushikin unexpectedly until at least next year due to substance abuse issues. Devon Toews was also out on Monday due to an illness. Nichushkin may be a great player, but this is the second time in two years he's left the team high and dry in the playoffs due to 'personal reasons'. If I were the Avs, I'd seriously consider cutting him loose... except he still has 6 years on his contract with a 6+M AAV. It's unfortunate that some people react so badly to fame and fortune.

Welcome to the forum, Highland_Dancer. Good luck on your shodan exam! I hope your training goes well and you are able to put your best foot forward on the test!

Last week was... intense. Good, but intense. We had a total of four guest instructors running the seminar. Three were from the Kenseikai dojo in Okinawa: Shuuji Itokazu (7th dan), Kazuhiro Tomori (6th dan), and Shoko Akamine (5th dan). We were also joined by the head of our organization, Master James Thompson (10th dan). The Okinawan teachers arrived the prior Saturday and spent a couple days touring the Denver area. In the evenings, they ran classes in our small upstairs dojo with the seminar attendees. I attended regular classes Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then the seminar on Friday and Saturday. Sunday there was also an Aikido seminar, but after the multiple training sessions over the week (1.5 hours on Mon/Wed/Thurs, 3 hours on Fri, and 5 hours on Sat), I needed time to recover. Monday and Wednesday night were honestly my favorite part of the week -- the Okinawans ran a small class just for seminar attendees in our smaller upstairs dojo. I think there were 6 of us on Monday and 8 on Wednesday. The instructors were pretty much asked to run the classes the same way they would run them in their own dojo. So we started with hojo undo, moved to Sanchin kata and then moved on to other stuff. On Monday the focus was mainly on kihons and kata. On Wednesday, we did kihons, kata, and kyu kumite drills. To quote Mr. Miyagi, Kenseikai is "different but same". They practice Uechi-Ryu, so they have the same hojo undo, the same kata, and the same kyu kumite. However, they are different in subtle ways. For one thing, on their kata, they target different areas. For example, when performing the nukite strikes in Sanchin, we are taught to target the shoulder joint, while they are taight to target the area right below the pectoralis major. Likewise, when performing the watari-uke strikes, the front hand will strike the side right at the hip (in both organizations). In our organization, we'll strike the collarbone, while Kenseikai will also target the base of the pec. Likewise, the differences in their kyu kumite drills are subtle, but enough to drive you crazy. In our dojo, we are expected to use seiken-tsuki (flat-fist punch) for all of the finishing moves except for the last sequence, which is a shoken-tsuki (one-knuckle punch). In their organization, they are expected to use the shoken-tsuki for all of the finishing moves, except for the last one, which is a hiraken-tsuki (leopard-fist punch). One other interesting note -- since they were just in from Okinawa, Monday's class was interspersed with more water breaks than is usual for us. Not that I minded. As I mention to anyone who comes to train with us from out of state, the altitude is a thing. And it's way drier here in Colorado than you think. I really enjoyed the way they ran the seminar. We were broken up into 3 different groups and rotated throughout the dojo. One group was upstairs with Master Thompson who worked kata and bunkai. The next station was in the rear dojo where Itokazu sensei worked kata, bunkai, and how tournament kata differs. Group 3 was in the front dojo where Tomori sensei and Shoko sensei worked us with kyu kumite, dan kumite, and kote kitae (arm rubbing/arm pounding). As always, Master Thompson's seminars were extremely insightful. In one session, he discussed the "soft' aspects of Uechi-Ryu. How, for example, instead of blocking a front kick with a hammer block, you can use one hand to sense the kick, and use the other to guide it harmlessly to the side. The same principle applies to a punch, too -- gently guide it out of the way, and place one hand on his arm to sense what he's about to do. Other things he taught were how to draw power from your hara to power your strikes, how to be loose when performing the double overhand strikes in several of our katas, how to take some small shortcuts in our katas for the sake of power and efficiency. Likewise, we learned the Kenseikai version of the bunkai for Seisan, we learned how they did their kotekitae (some minor differences and one huge difference), and we learned their version of dan (yakusoku) kumite. Their version of dan kumite is abrupt, visceral, and frankly a hell of a lot of fun. For example, in the first sequence, the attacker steps in with a right lunge punch. The defender simultaneously steps in slightly, performs a left osae-uke (downward pressing block), and a right vertical nukite to the base of the throat. They get even more interesting than that. In the process of learning the dan kumite, we also briefly worked ukemi-waza (breakfalls). I had done Judo and Aikijujutsu many years ago, and the breakfalls were still really good (I got positive comments from all the instructors on them). A number of the other students struggled with them for a bit (some more than a bit). After that, we went back to the dan kumite. Later on in the day, we worked on how to run a kata in a tournament (all 3 of them are senior judges in the All-Okinawa tournament circuit), and ... more kata. It was an amazing experience. I learned a whole lot, and I'm sure in the few days since the seminar, I forgot a lot of it. I got to practice my Japanese quite a bit (since none of the Okinawan instructors spoke much English). We also had a "sayonara" dinner on Saturday night, where I learned that Itokazu sensei is a dog trainer for the Japanese emperor, Shoko sensei is in the Japanese Air Force, and has been stationed to the same air base where my parents got married back in the late 1960s, and Tomori sensei is a current police officer. It wasn't an easy seminar, mind you. Towards the end, my butt was thoroughly dragging.. But if I can try to remember half of what I learned there, I will be a much better karateka for it. [/img]

Both games last night went to overtime! The Rangers beat the 'Canes in the 2nd OT, and the Avs came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Stars in OT. Historically, anytime a game goes to 2OT or beyond, the losing team is very likely to lose the entire series -- OT games can be brutal. So far the Rangers are undefeated in this years' playoffs...

Tai Pan by James Clavell. I just finished Shogun.

I'm pretty impressed with myself -- I picked 7/8 in the first round -- the only one I didn't pick correctly was the Rangers/Caps series. Now I only picked one "number of games in the series" correctly... let's see how my bracket holds up in Round 2!

The book is about the path he took to set up the rise to Shogun, but it doesn't actually cover the war/conflict or his ascention to Shogun, or what happened during his reign. The other books in the Asian Saga are snapshots of different points in time with regard to Anglo/Japanese relations. The next book (in chronological order) is Tai-Pan, which is set in the mid-1800's. It centers around the opium trade and the establishment of the Hong Kong colony.

Thats the thing. The miniseries ends exactly where the book ends. The stuff that Toranaga tells Yabu at the end of the show, about Selkigihara and the Anjin and his own future… that was exactly where the book ended. There is certainly room for the show runners to write a second season, but it wouldn’t be based on the book at all. Another option would be for them to write a miniseries based on one of the other books in Clavell’s Asian Saga.

Dallas defeats the Knights in Game 7 to advance. I’m debating whether I can afford to go to game 3 or 4 of the Stars/Avs series, since I have lived in both Dallas and Denver. It promises to be a really good series

While being the head coach of any major sports team might seem like quite lucrative, but being a head coach is anything but ideal because they're here today, gone tomorrow. Actually the technical term is "relieved of his coaching duties". In other words, the coach still gets paid through the duration of his contract. If the coach is terminated for cause, such as misconduct, etc, then the team may terminate his contract, but that is pretty uncommon, because lawyers need to get involved. It's not uncommon for a team to be paying 2 or more head coaches at once. Likewise, it's not unheard of for a head coach to be receiving a paycheck for more than one team at a time.

So the Avs advance to face the victor of the Stars/Knights series. Helped of course by Neal Pionk knocking the puck into his own net. There is definitely an advantage to having a few extra days off between series; it gives your guys a chance to rest up and recover from those nagging injuries that tend to crop up during the playoffs. For example, we just found out that TJ Oshie was playing with a broken hand towards the end of the Caps/Rangers series. I recall that when the Blues won the Stanley Cup, Ryan O'Reilly cracked a rib during the beginning of the playoffs, and it didn't really heal until the third or fourth round. Hockey players are just a different breed.

This week is going to be very interesting at the dojo. Our CI is bringing in 3 instructors from one of our sister organizations to run a seminar this weekend: Shoko Akamine (5th dan), Shuuji Itokazu (7th dan), and Kazuhiro Tomori (6th dan), from Uechi Ryu Kenseikai. They arrived in Colorado last wekeend, and as a special treat they'll be running classes for the seminar participants throughout the week. So last night, we had a taste of what one of their classes looks like. There were only 6 of us, Heather sensei (who also acted as an interpreter), and the 3 guest instructors. To quote Mr. Miyagi from the first Karate Kid, "different, but same". It's one of those things where hearing things taught from a different perspective can sometimes produce "a-ha" moments where something clicks. Or where you can look at the same sequence of moves and see entirely different applications. One of the major differences I noticed last night is in targeting. For example, our CI teaches us to perform our strikes in sanchin to target the shoulder joint. They teach to strike at the bottom of the rib cage, right below the pectoralis major. It's only a few inches difference, but a huge difference in effect on the target. Another thing they do differently is to break down the wa-uke strikes at the end of Sanchin into a 3-count motion. The other big difference I noticed is that in addition to the "hojo undo" exercises at the beginning of class, they practice "kihons", or other sequences derived from kata. As a rule, I really enjoy guest instructors and visiting other schools, because they will present things in a different manner, focus on different items, or just plain present new material. I can then take these lessons and a-ha moments, and incorporate them into my karate and my teachings. I'll also be seeing them this Thursday evening, and the seminar runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I fully expect the Stars/Knights series to go to 7 games, but I'm still cheering for the Stars. I'd really like to go to a Stars/Avs round 2 game