Whitefeather

So there are NO racers here!?! C'mon, there has to be someone who races. Fess up . David

Good job. That is a serious milestone. David

Hey everybody, Is anyone here into biking at all? If so, what is/are your discipline(s), what do bike(s) do you ride, and what is your dream bike (if you are a mountain biker and a roadie, pick one for each)? I mountain bike, and occasionally ride around on roads with my mtb, which happens to be a 04 hardrock sport, and I will probably give crit racing a try next summer. My dream mountan setup would be a Transition Preston FR with a light freeriding build, and for the road steed, a Seven Elium race with an expensive campy build, except with down tube shifters. What about y'all? David

I wish to you that you will not need any luck, and, in the case that you do, that you will have some. Relax, have fun. In five years, you will not remember/care about the outcome of the test. David

Smack dab on the button! I think it is good to see purposeful/meaningful differences in kata, as they are excellent eye openers. The one thing I would not want to see would be someone doing a kata--one which I know--radically (or slightly, for that matter) different from the way I know it, and if those changes were purely for asthetic purposes, and through those changes, some of the meaning of the kata being lost. That is the number one way to send me into orbit (along with smacking on your gum). Just my two cents, David

I think I would say my mind. I like to think of myself as being quite smart (whether that is the case or not is a whole other story). I am not in bad shape, but I do not have that really beautifully buff build that one can be proud of. The doctor says that I have good eyesight, if I remember, 20/10, so I am also proud of my eyes (all of those eyelid curls paid off ). David

I have four-ish (I do not feel like doing anything with numbers right now) days left, and a math final tommorow--dagummed, pidgeon crummy'n, bludgeoning, stinkin', stoopid, darned implicit differentiation evil-ness!! Ah well, four more days, then life will be good for three months. Funny, how shortsighted I am, in the cyclicity (if that is a word) of it all. David

I can't say that I have served [yet], but I am proud to live in a nation populated by millions who are willing to put everything on the line for their country. Thank you, to all of those who have preserved this nation, for your time, your sweat, your blood, your tears, your lives. Thank you. David

There is a fellow by the name of Fred Shadian who made a video, I forget what it is called, that is a great starter for stickfighting. Knock Yourself Out , David

I am part of the secret society, Iuguolo Malum Facies (IMF), a society devoted to the protection and preservation of our great ship, the earth. Since the dawn of time, this society has directly squared off with yet another even more secretive society, Malum Facies (MF). This incredibly mystical society is believed to be protecting the secret of the existance of the elusive "pony smilie." The founding fathers of IMF made the discovery that the secret gaurded ever so closely and sacredly by MF is one that could destroy the universe as we know it, replacing it with one consisting of nearly inanimate objects resembling broken alarm clocks. The burden of destroying this grave threat lies on the Special Earth-Ship Protection Team Of IMF (SESPTOIMF--pronounced with a stout Irish accent). The truely serious threat is what I am about to divulge to you, and this will be the first time ever any non-IMF-fellowshipers have ever heard this truth, so prepare your minds for a numbing and painful truth. The forefathers of IMF made the discovery that the only reason MF had not used its secret to destroy our universe was that they needed the sacrificial ASCII code of five thousand "pony smilies" to make the great power of their secret active. Thus, IMF is the sole protector of our universe as we know it, processing "pony smilies" so as to avoid the seemingly imminent destruction of our universe. Agnesil Dieyt To All, David PS Sohan and KarateK, I hope this answers some of your questions. Naturally, I cannot divulge on several topics, such as the strange potato like object, but hopefully the information I provided will still be of asistance.

Step #1: Talk to your sifu in private, voice your concerns/peeves/thoughts with the utmost of courtesy (if you are rude about it, you will just blow it). Step #2: If he listens, thinks about it carefully, displays some sense of decency, and either gives a bloody darn good explanation or says that he will stop, and actually does, then pat yourself on the back for having helped the situation a bit and run like the wind. If he does not listen to you/scoffs/listens but then sluffs it off, run faster than the wind. The exception would be if he breaks down sobbing and is quite sorrowful about his wrongs, and never does them again (or some equivalent of that image), then it would probably be safe to stay at that dojo. Just like everybody else says, you should talk to him firstly over everything else, just like you would want someone to talk to you about a vice they had with you before they just storm out. But nonetheless, that problem is a bit more than just a vice, and I would not reccomend staying at that dojo, unless the above exception is fulfilled. If the sifu does not have any issues throwing out such remarks, than there is no telling what other standards of his are unfortunately low, and that is dangerous. Not a good place. David

Oh man, now my feelings are hurt!! David

If you have not already gone to a sports doctor, I would highly reccomend it. If you actually have done that damage, and you keep training on it, there is a good chance that you will only damage it further, and, worst case scenario, cause permanent damage. Very bad. So, yah, it would be very good to go to a doctor. Hope you get better, David

Good solid advice. A very common cause of cramping is the lack of electrolytes-namely potassium. Bananas are excellent potassium sources, as well as pretty much any hydration drink (no, rockstar does not count as a hydration drink). If I remember correctly, gatorade has the highest concentration of electrolytes, especially if you get the "high endurance," or something like that, version. If you are really hardcore, there are some/a expensive yet extroadinarily effective (or so I hear) hydration drink mixes that actually contain protein (I do not quite remember, but I think it was called either hammer or accelorade), which supposedly helps your body hydrate faster. If you really wanted to, you can also use powergel type substances, as those have a halfway decent bit of electrolytes in them, but they are more designed to just to give a sugar rush, so preferably stick to the liquids. If you are not really much of a gatorade/powerade/hammer dude, I recently discovered (not spam) this clever stuff--"elete" water--that is just an uber concentrated and flavorless (well, it is slightly salty tasting, but it's hardly noticable) mix of electrolytes that you can mix with your favorite beverage-ie water, orange juice, sunny-d, coffee, tea, whatever you please. If none of those methods floats your boat, there is mountain biking consumer review site which has a nutrition section with a massive amount of reviews of all the sports-nutrition goodys you could ever desire. http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/nutrition/ Hope that helps, David

As wisely spoken by all others, if you are VERY good at high kicks, they can be useful, but, on the other hand, if the big bad ugly dude that is trying to kill you for your wallet is well acquainted with the art of catching kicks, than it is very unlikely that--no matter how good you are at high kicks--you will be capable of throwing a high kick without it being caught, and, consequently, you going down very very rapidly, and probably quite hard, to. Whew, that was a long sentance. David PS Sorry, but I am not quite in a mood for proofreading (something to do with a certain eight page paper that is due soon), so y'all will have to slog through my terribly wordy, long winded, and.......wait....nevermind.