Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the tenth annual KarateForums.com Awards. Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. Over the last nine years, we have honored 32 different members and that number will surely grow this year. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2010 and October 18, 2011. Members must be nominated based upon their activity in this period and articles nominated for Article of the Year must have been published in this span. To nominate, you must have a KarateForums.com account and must have made at least 25 posts on or before October 18, 2011 (Eastern Time). There are just three guidelines to keep in mind when nominating: 1. Only ONE member or article can be nominated for EACH award. In other words, you cannot nominate the entire staff for Staff Member of the Year. You have to pick one person. One person can be nominated for more than one award, however. 2. You cannot nominate yourself or an article that you wrote for any of the awards. 3. Do not attempt to artificially inflate our nomination totals in any way. This includes but is not limited to trading nominations, encouraging people to nominate indiscriminately (publicly or privately), mass mailing/posting and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Individuals found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. Please note that you do not have to nominate for every category. You can nominate for as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid nominations that we receive, the better! From these nominations, the ballot for each award will be chosen, consisting of the top 4 nominees, plus ties. Through the poll system available on these forums, you will be able to vote for the winners! Here are this year's categories: 1. Member of the Year This award is intended to acknowledge the non-staff member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to be nominated for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 2. New Member of the Year Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this one is strictly for members that registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2010 and July 18, 2011. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 3. Community Spirit Award This award should go to a person whom you feel has a passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award. 4. Staff Member of the Year Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). Regular members cannot be nominated. If you are unsure of who is on staff, please visit http://www.karateforums.com/staff.php for a complete listing. 5. Funniest Member of the Year Humor is an important aspect of the forums and this award recognizes the member who has brought a smile to your face many times. This person should have a good, clean sense of humor. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award. 6. Article of the Year This award distinguishes your favorite article that was published in the KarateForums.com Articles section on or between October 19, 2010 and October 18, 2011. Whether the article enlightened or inspired you, this is the place to recognize it. Here are the articles that are eligible for nomination: Capoeira Explained by JusticeZero Psychology Lesson: Milgram, Zimbardo and Karate by joesteph Bruce Lee's Three Stages of Cultivation by bushido_man96 Evaluating My Taekwondo School by bushido_man96 Managing Behavior in Children's Martial Arts Training by Rateh The Composition of Taekwon-Do by DWx So, that's all there is to it. Please nominate. You will find a blank ballot at the bottom of this message that you can copy and paste. We need as many valid nominations as possible! You nominate by sending a private message through this link: http://www.karateforums.com/privmsg.php?mode=post&u=2715 - nominations will be closed on November 2, 2011 at 9 PM ET. Please do not post your nominations on this, or any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply to this thread. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is a key ingredient to what makes them great and meaningful. Here is the ballot that you can use:

I have a small baseball bat, a water bottle with a filter built in and a flashlight that you can crank and that doesn't need batteries. I'm set!

Happy Birthday Bob (sensei8)! Hope that you had a great day. Thank you for all of your great contributions to the community. Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you for the submission, Danielle. Patrick

And the Dolphins are 0-5. Frustrating game, but that's what it's like when you are winless. As an aside, the Raiders made quite a splash in acquiring Carson Palmer, did they not? It cost them their 2012 first rounder and 2013 second rounder, which is not a cheap price. But, I admire the guts. Patrick

Thank you for the submission, Jennifer. Patrick

My pleasure, Dobbersky. Thanks for sharing this story.

The old race to the bottom. Bleh.

That's awesome, Shizentai. Patrick

Thank you for the submission, Brian. Patrick

Working link for the MSN story: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8356455/Japan-judo-instructor-guilty-death

I actually just saw "Weird Al" live on Sunday with my two brothers. It was awesome! So great. Had a ton of fun. Patrick

Congrats Brian.

Thanks so much for the kind words and for sharing, Terrierpike. That is awesome to hear. Welcome aboard and congrats. Patrick

Heh. Funny. Patrick

Well, the Yankees, Rays, Diamondbacks and Phillies are all out. The Yankees series was a close one, with a dramatic finish. Congrats to the Tigers and their fans (and the Brewers, Cardinals and Rangers, as well). Thanks to the Yankees for an exciting season. From here, without giving it too much thought, I'm thinking Brewers and Rangers. But, anyone can win. Good luck all. Patrick

Hey davec. Welcome to KarateForums.com! Patrick

Hello and welcome, Amanda. Glad to have you. Patrick

Congrats on the win, Brian. I picked the Chiefs to win this week, as well! The Dolphins are off, so we'll be winless through 5 weeks. Patrick

Thanks MasterPain.

Hello, KarateForums.com recognizes one member every month as the Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The October 2011 selection is... MasterPain. Congratulations! Thanks, Patrick

Welcome aboard, lauryn2000. Glad to have you. Patrick

Definitely. Look forward to it. Patrick

Thank you, Wolfman08, evergrey, Brian and still kicking. I appreciate the support and kind words. It means a lot to me. I'm so happy to hear that, still kicking! Wolfman08, it was a serious mistake. There is no doubt about that. That said, we did have a long term (9 years) relationship with the company and they have, generally, done a great job. One of the things I struggled with, in this case, was how much one big mistake should negate the good will of 9 years. In the end, I decided that I wanted to make a clean break. But, that doesn't mean I think they are not good at what they do or that I forget the support over the last 9 years. It was an unfortunate situation. So, though I did laugh at the visual of koalas mashing buttons, I don't want to insult them at all. Things happen, even if this was a pretty big thing. Thanks again, Patrick