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

Hey silverback. Welcome aboard. Patrick

Yeah, that was a tough one. This sounds kind of sad, but tonight (week 11) is the first time that I've been able to watch the Dolphins at home this season. In the first 10 weeks, they were not on once. Patrick

Good luck, PaulS. Patrick

Welcome to KF, seikokaistudent. Glad to have you. Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far. If you haven't yet, please take a few moments to do so. It really adds to the event! Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for sharing this. Patrick

Good luck, Ev. Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period of the eleventh 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, 2011 and October 18, 2012. 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 2012 nominees. In all, 18 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are MasterPain, pittbullJudoka, DoctorQui, Lupin1, Harkon72, JusticeZero, FangPwnsAll7, JohnnyB, bushido_man96, evergrey, tallgeese, DWx, xo-karate, sensei8, Groinstrike, SamsIAmz, ninjanurse and KarateEd. 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, 2012 (Eastern Time). There are 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-vt43974.html New Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt43973.html Community Spirit Award http://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt43972.html Staff Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt43971.html Funniest Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt43970.html Article of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/article-of-the-year-vt43969.html So, that's all there is to it. Please vote. We need as many valid votes as possible! Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 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 successful. Sincerely, Patrick

Please vote for the Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: 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. Here are the nominees: MasterPain pittbullJudoka DoctorQui Lupin1 Harkon72 JusticeZero Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the New Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the non-staff member who was new to our community this year (registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2011 and July 18, 2012) and 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. Here are the nominees: DoctorQui FangPwnsAll7 JohnnyB Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award winner in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: 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. Here are the nominees: bushido_man96 evergrey tallgeese DWx xo-karate JusticeZero Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Staff Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the staff member who you feel deserves special recognition because of their dedication to the community. Here are the nominees: sensei8 DWx bushido_man96 Groinstrike tallgeese Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Funniest Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: 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. Here are the nominees: MasterPain evergrey SamsIAmz Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Article of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2012. Award Description: This award distinguishes your favorite article that was published in the KarateForums.com Articles section on or between October 19, 2011 and October 18, 2012. Whether the article enlightened or inspired you, this is the place to recognize it. Here are the nominees: Personal Safety and the 5 Stages of Violent Crime by ninjanurse Martial Arts: Forever in One's Life by sensei8 The Practicality of Typical Martial Arts Weapons by KarateEd Voting will be closed on November 24, 2012 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Thanks for the replies, all. Patrick

Welcome aboard, MAMom78. Glad to have you. Patrick

Heh. Yeah, they are having a rough go right now. If they continue like this, you might end up with Matt Barkley. Which doesn't mean much right now. But, maybe the Chiefs will do what the Dolphins did and string together some wins to play their way out of grabbing one of the first two QBs. 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 November 2012 selection is... Harkon72. Congratulations! Thank you for all of your great contributions to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate. Voting will be open soon! Patrick

Hey Ryan, Nice to hear from you. Glad you are alright. We had Sandy for a few days. It basically curved right around us and, due to that, it was like a 3 day thing. We were never in the center, but we were in that outer 35-50 MPH hour and, given all of the trees around, that is always a bit scary. But, in the end, we had no damage. Hope everyone else is alright. Patrick