Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. After a month and a half of nominating and voting, the KarateForums.com Awards 2012 have come to their conclusion. It is now time for us to announce the winners. Before I do so, I wanted to once again congratulate everyone who was nominated. Being nominated, in and of itself, is a beautiful thing and should be recognized. If you did not win or were not nominated, please do not take it personally. These awards do have meaning, but they are also for fun and not everyone can win or be nominated. Please join me in congratulating our winners. I would also like to pass along a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the process by nominating and voting. You are vital to this event. You, the community, selected the nominees and decided the winners. Without further ado, here they are: 1. Member of the Year: MasterPain 2. New Member of the Year: DoctorQui 3. Community Spirit Award: bushido_man96 4. Staff Member of the Year: sensei8 5. Funniest Member of the Year: MasterPain 6. Article of the Year: (tie) Personal Safety and the 5 Stages of Violent Crime by ninjanurse and Martial Arts: Forever in One's Life by sensei8 Congratulations to MasterPain, DoctorQui, Brian (bushido_man96), Bob (sensei8) and Heidi (ninjanurse)! In addition, I would like also like to congratulate Brian on being the first KarateForums.com member to be honored 10 times through the KarateForums.com Awards and Bob on being the second member to reach 5 awards (now with 6). For past winners, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/awards.php Thank you for reading and for supporting the KarateForums.com Awards. Sincerely, Patrick

Good call remembering to bring this up, Alex. Congrats on what you accomplished. Sorry to hear that, MasterPain. 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 December 2012 selection is... pers. Congratulations! Thank you for all of your great contributions to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

I think this is an interesting question because people treat "ego" like a bad thing, but "confidence" like a good thing where the line between the two is blurry and, often, they are the same. People want you to be confident, but when it rubs them the wrong way, it's "ego." We build people up to tear them down. "You are great, but only if I say you are great. Once you say it, you have a big ego." I believe that the best way to go is to let others speak for you. That is the greatest illustration of the quality of your work. No one wants to hear you say you are great. I've been managing online communities for 12 years, but I never refer to myself as an "expert" because it is unseemly, makes me uncomfortable and makes it sound like I am praising myself. I think that is for other people to say. I'll call myself a veteran, I'll say I have a lot of experience. But, that's it. That said, I also believe that there are times you have to look out for yourself because if you don't, no one else will. A veteran Sensei might find the need to remind a student that they've been around the block a few times. Call that self confidence or call it ego. Either way, I guess you're right. The danger, as Ev and everyone is referencing, is when people think too highly of themselves. That you believe your own press a little too much, stop being able to relate to other people and you begin to praise yourself. That's when you can lose your hunger to be greater than what you are now and lose your connection with others, because you've become less relatable and less approachable. Ev's Sensei's lesson about setting an example rings true to something I learned from my dad. Without getting into too much detail, suffice to say that my dad has been management, upper management or executive level of his field for a long time. He manages teams of people with all different job functions. The thing I learned was that it doesn't matter how high you are in an organization - if you see a piece of trash, you pick it up. You have to set an example for others to follow and you never want it to appear that such a task is beneath you. If you create that belief, then you've failed. Of course, Ev, Brian and Danielle all have to deal with my ego, so who knows. Heh. Patrick

Welcome aboard, mocochoco. Thanks for making the leap to registered members. I appreciate the kind words about our community. Patrick

My pleasure. Patrick

Congrats chrisw08!

Thanks for sharing, Brian. Patrick

According to the programming guide, the Dolphins will be on TV for us for just the second time this year. We'll see if it holds up and I get to watch them. If we lose, that'll be the realistic end to our playoff hopes.

Very sad.

The voting period of the KarateForums.com Awards 2012 has now ended. Thank you to everyone who voted. Results will be announced soon! Patrick

Today is the last day! If you haven't voted yet, you only have a little while left! Please get those last minute votes in. Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far. Patrick

Hey all, Did you pick up any deals during this year's frenzy? After a couple of years of wanting to buy one, so I could play with my brother, I finally picked up a PS3 (bundled with the first two in both the inFAMOUS and Uncharted game series). I also bought a bundle of an extra PS3 controller with the Killzone Trilogy and a DVD of The Social Network. Plus, I picked up a bunch of gifts for family that I don't want to post in public. I'm also keeping my eye open for lower-mid priced HDTV deal to play the PS3 on (my current TV is an 8 or 9 year old CRT TV). and a deal on Call of Duty: Black Ops II so I can play with my brother. What did you find that you can share? Patrick

Congrats on the promotion. Patrick

Haha. Thanks all. Glad to hear it. Patrick

Congrats. Patrick

Hey Dobbersky, I have just sent an email to the address we had on file, inviting lozzielizzie back to update us here on KarateForums.com. Obviously, lozzielizzie is under no obligation to reply. But, I wanted to send a one time only courtesy request and if I don't hear back, that'll be the end of it. The address may not even work. But, we'll see. Thanks, Patrick

Welcome aboard, ossemon. Glad to have you. Patrick

I hope that everyone who celebrated had a nice day. We had some nice family time. Patrick

Thanks Danielle, Bob, darksoul, Heidi, DoctorQui and Alex. That's kind of you. Patrick

Thanks Brian. It was one of those games that ended close but we didn't really play it close. Heh. Patrick

Thank you, Brian. That is very touching. Patrick

Hey all, Going back to the beginning, we have celebrated and noted the half birthday of KarateForums.com. Today marks 11 and a half years that we've been online! I'd like to take a moment to thank all current staff members for their efforts in helping to keep this community on track, always in pursuit of our culture-based goals that speak to who we are and the level of discourse that we aim to facilitate, which is based on respect and civility, above all else. Thank you Heidi, Brian, Danielle, Alex, Bob and Ev for everything that you do to help maintain this reality. Sincerely, Patrick

That's pretty cool, Justice. Congrats. Thanks for the mention. Patrick

Good luck, blacknebula. Patrick