Patrick

Thanks for sharing that, Wastelander. I went ahead and gave this it's own thread. Thanks, Patrick

Voting is now closed. Thank you to everyone who voted. The results will be announced soon. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey Wastelander, You mentioned $40-$60, but that is essentially (give or take a few dollars) what Dobbersky said that they "tend" to pay in the U.K. Although obviously many places charge much more. With that in mind, would you say that it is difficult in the U.S. to find a school that charges between $31.19 and $62.38 monthly? Patrick

Your comment piqued by curiosity, Dobbersky. So, I did a little research to see if there was a great disparity. £5 = $7.80 £20 - £40 a month = $31.19 - $62.38 a month Wouldn't you say that "in the U.K." too vague? I am sure that you can find $7.80 per class or $31.19-$62.38 a month in plenty of places in the U.S. But, price can vary, based on any number of factors. On geographic location, on physical location (downtown, convenient, safe area, not safe area, etc.) on the type of school, on whether the teachers do it full time, on other, club related benefits and access, etc. Alex said $100 should cover you in a major metropolitan area. Manchester is a decent sized city, from what I know. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it says that there is a population of 498,800 in the city and 2.6 million in the metro area. Chicago, according to Wikipedia, has 2.7 million in the city alone. The city itself is the Manchester metro. The Chicago metro is 9.8 million. This would be more comparable to London, which is 7.8 million and 13.9 million, respectively. I did some Google searches for "downtown London martial arts" and "downtown London martial arts pricing" (no quotes on both) and it seems like many schools are hesitant to put pricing online. But, on the first page of results on Google.co.uk, I found: http://www.londonfightfactory.com/costs (a one time joining fee of £25/$39.01, plus £90/$140.36 monthly for unlimited classes, £70/$109.17 for three classes a week and £55/$85.84 for two classes per week) http://www.kravmaga-eastlondon.com/ (no pricing, but they sell a "beginner's package," which is £60/$93.57 for 10 classes) http://bmsmartialart.com/studying-bms-2/studying-bms (£70/$109.17 introductory fee and then £70/$109.17 monthly or $467.85 per term, which run from 13 to 15 weeks) http://www.centrallondonshodokanaikido.co.uk/ (£60/$93.57 monthly, plus annual membership and insurance fee of £30/$46.79) http://www.changshapkido.net/london/ (£75/$116.96 registration fee, plus monthly tuition of £110/$171.64 for unlimited classes, £80/$124.76 for five classes a week, £70/$109.17 for three classes a week and £60/$93.57 for two classes a week, plus various fees for uniforms, grading, etc.) So, I don't know if there is a great disparity here. I am sure that, in London, you can also find many lower priced martial arts classes, as well. But, they offer different things, different experiences and different levels of service. Hope this helps! Patrick

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

We are just two days away! Time to get those last minute votes in! Thanks, Patrick

Alex's advice sounds reasonable to me. Patrick

What styles are available to you, circa02? This will help people to offer thoughts. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks Brian, Danielle and Alex. I appreciate all of the great contributions that you have made. Patrick

I was watching some show that was talking about food that they actually had when they had the first Thanksgiving meal and they included muscles. I could go for that. I love seafood. Patrick

Congratulations. Patrick

Yes, that is suspicious, as Liver Punch said. Please inform your parents, if you have not already. Thanks. Patrick

Sorry to hear that, JusticeZero. But, I always like to say that (for the most part) holidays can be moved because it isn't about the day as much as what you are celebrating and, most importantly, with whom! Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far! Unfortunately, if you had tried to reach this thread through the link in our header, you would not have been led to the proper link (this thread). I apologize for the error. It has now been fixed and, in order to ensure that all members who want to vote are able to do so, I have decided to extend the voting deadline by 4 days, to December 4 at 8 PM ET. If you have not yet voted, please take a moment to do so. It is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and understanding. Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. As you may know, the KarateForums.com Awards are now open to votes. Unfortunately, however, if you tried to click through the link in the header, you would not have been sent to the right page. I apologize for the error - it has now been fixed. Due to this, I have decided to extend the voting deadline by 4 days, to December 4 at 8 PM ET. So, you have 4 extra days to vote now. If you haven't yet done so, please take a look to look over the nominees and vote in as many categories as you feel comfortable voting in! For more information, please see this announcement: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2011-please-vote-now-vt41835.html Thank you for your time and understanding. Sincerely, Patrick

Thanks for sharing this. I'm not sure how often a multimember testing panel consists entirely of members of this community... but, I like it. Patrick

Belated Happy Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I was under the weather, but had a good day nonetheless! Patrick

Wow.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We removed a post from this thread in error. It is quoted below. I apologize for the inconvenience. Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far. If you haven't yet done so, please take a moment to allow you voice to be heard. I really appreciate it. Patrick

Hello all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. 10 and a half years ago, to the very day, KarateForums.com was launched. I just wanted to take this as an opportunity to thank everyone who supports this community. This includes active members who contribute positively and staff members past and present who did the same. Thank you. Sincerely, Patrick

Congrats Terrierpike. Patrick

All of what you've described is serious enough to warrant adult attention, whether it be teachers, parents or someone else. Someone could get hurt, now or later. Patrick

Sorry about that, Dobie1972. Haha. Yes, I meant, judobrah. So, my post was directed at you, judobrah. You are under 18, right? In that case, I would suggest informing an adult. You won't have to be directly involved in it and you'll have told someone who can hopefully help the situation. Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period of 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. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2010 and October 18, 2011. As a voter, you should place your vote based upon activity made during this period - not activity prior to or after it. You submitted your nominations and, from those, we have our KarateForums.com Awards 2011 nominees. In all, 11 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are sensei8, MasterPain, JusticeZero, Groinstrike, Ueshirokarate, Liver Punch, bushido_man96, DWx, evergrey, tallgeese and joesteph. Congratulations to all of you! With the ballots crafted, it is now time to vote. In order to do so, you must have a KarateForums.com account that had at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2011 (Eastern Time). There is just two guidelines to keep in mind when voting: 1. You cannot vote for yourself or an article that you wrote. 2. Do not attempt to artificially inflate our vote totals in any way. This includes but is not limited to trading votes, encouraging people to vote 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 vote in every category. You can vote for as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid votes we get, the better! The categories are listed below. Please click the link(s) and vote in the poll(s). Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/member-of-the-year-vt41834.html New Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt41833.html Community Spirit Award http://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt41832.html Staff Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt41831.html Funniest Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt41830.html Article of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/article-of-the-year-vt41829.html So, that's all there is to it. Please vote. We need as many valid votes as possible! Voting will be closed on December 4, 2011 at 8 PM ET. Please do not post your votes in this or any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply to this thread. Please do not post a reply on the poll threads. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is the most important ingredient to them being great and meaningful. Sincerely, Patrick