Patrick

Yes, that is what it is, Shawn. Patrick

Sorry about that, Spartacus Maximus. Appreciate your understanding. Haha, thanks Shawn. Patrick

Many years ago, I was visiting my grandmother, step-grandfather and great grandmother in Florida. My mom, my brother, me and them went to a museum, I believe, and then were stopping to get something to eat. We stopped at a BBQ place. It was quiet there, and we sat down. The server came to our table. We were ready to order. Someone ordered chicken. They were out of chicken. OK... well, how about some turkey? They were out of turkey. My great grandmother, apparently quite hungry, asks them for a bowl of chili. They... were out of chili. At this point, my step-grandfather slammed his hand down on the table and we left. It's such a weird story. I'm not sure I would believe it if I didn't witness it. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The April selection is... cathal. Congratulations! It's been great to have you back in our community. Thank you for all of your great contributions over the many years. Sincerely, Patrick

Alright, I have cleaned this up and things should be back to normal. Thanks again, Patrick

Sorry to hear that he was sent down. Interesting story: http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/04/02/chicago-cubs-kris-bryant-minors-disappointed The Player's Association called his demotion "a sad day for baseball." http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/03/30/chicago-cubs-kris-bryant-minors-mlbpa You may be able to see him in Fenway at some point, due to interleague play. The Cubs actually played the Red Sox at Fenway last year. Unfortunately, they don't this year. Looking at the Cubs schedule, the closest you'll get is when the Cubs play the Mets at Shea in Queens, NY from June 30 - July 2.

Thank you for sharing the picture here, Brian. Patrick

Welcome to KF, Shotokannon. Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy April Fools' Day. As you may have noticed, all usernames across the entire site were given a little something extra at the start: Ninja_. This was particularly interesting for Ninja_ninjanurse. Ironically, it was Heidi (ninjanurse) who came up with the idea. Just a little harmless fun that we hope you got a kick out of, amongst the sea of other jokes you probably experienced today. Your username is actually untouched and remains as it was - the change was only made to how it was displayed on the site. I'll leave this change in place for a little longer, just to allow some other people to see it. Thanks, Patrick

Given the power shown at the end of the clip, I think Noah is now in charge here. I'll hand my keys over at the end of the day. Patrick

That was such a wonderful post to read, Brian. Thank you for sharing. It's amazing the impact that an online community, and the relationships that you build on it, can have on your life. I'm so happy to hear that you are enjoying the sword. Thanks again, Patrick

Welcome, hugobg. Patrick

Hey Nidan Melbourne, I didn't, as I had it shipped directly to Brian (I decided I didn't want to try to ship it myself). That said, I'm hoping Brian will share a photo here soon. Thanks, Patrick

I love these stories. Thanks for sharing. Except for yours, maybe, wildbourgman. That sounds awful. Is your instructor still around? Patrick

Sure thing, Alex. There are definitely a lot more tools available these days, measured (in many ways, at least) more by the time you can spend than the money you have.

Thank you for the replies, Ken, Shawn and Bob. I think Brian is busy with off-of-the-forums stuff right now. Hopefully he'll drop by soon. Thanks, Patrick

I've been meaning to tell you, Alex, that you are doing a wonderful job. I was looking at the Alpha BJJ stuff the other day and the way you use the tools is excellent. You are a great example of what is now commonly referred to as inbound marketing and content marketing. In short, the idea that you create great content that draws people to you, rather than buying their attention. I know you don't consider yourself to be computer savvy, but as someone who knows a little bit about this stuff, I have to believe you are in the top 1% of martial arts schools in the U.S. when it comes to the savvy way you are using the tools. I'd definitely recommend that folks go to http://alphajiujitsu.com and take a good look at how Alex uses YouTube, Facebook and their blog. It's good stuff. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. As you may know, Brian (bushido_man96) recently hit 25,000 posts. Beyond the announcement that I posted, the staff and I decided that we wanted to go a little further in honoring Brian. We sent him a gift, which I'll let him tell you more about. We also produced a video where a few of us talked about what Brian means to us and the community. Once again, thank you, Brian, for all of the amazing contributions that you have made to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

On a related note, ps1 wrote an article recently that touched on this: http://www.karateforums.com/so-you-want-to-open-your-own-martial-arts-school-vt47139.html

This is a great thread, Shawn. Thanks for starting it. I can't think of anything... I mean, the Wright brothers took their plane up into the air pretty close by, but it's a couple of towns over.

I watched the new Robocop the other day. I enjoyed it. That said, I've never seen the original. Heh.

Wow, welcome back, Shawn. So nice to have you back. Patrick

Congrats RAM18!

Here's an article about it: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/entertainment/feat-scarface-remake-thr/ Certainly a tough act to follow. I don't mind remakes because I can just ignore them if I don't like them.

Hope you had a great day, Alex. Thanks again for all that you do here!