Hobbies

Insights

I’m riding a clear, smooth yoga high. Went to the heated vinyassa class at Thrive, where I’ve been dropping in on the occasional class for the last three years. A really good session will yield at least one good insight that I can ponder through…

Martini

I post this from the kitchen laptop (yeah, that’s right, old G4 laptops don’t die in my house – they become the kitchen laptop). I feel moved to record a couple of martini recipes. For all of my martinis, the procedure is very similar: *…

Judo

I took second place in my division at the Pam Ams yesterday. I was in the M1 (30 to 35 year old) novice (non black belt) under 81 kilo (< 178 lbs) division. There were three of us. One Canadian (green belt) and one other…

Physical Fitness

Woke up crusty this morning. I’ve had what we used to describe as the “creeping crud” for about a week now. Started out as a runny nose, then moved to an itchy throat, and now it’s become a nice productive cough. All of these have…

A variety of thoughts

No real theme here – just trying to not let the days trickle by un-sung. Played a Judo tournament this last weekend. Oddly, at 170 lbs I was the lightest person in the entire masters (over 30) category. They wound up combining the novice and…

Pan Am Masters

I just registered to compete in my first international Judo tournament. The Pan Am Master’s. It’s worth noting that “masters” in judo means nothing more than “more than 30 years old.” We jokingly refer to it as either the executive or the geritol division. This…

Shiai

Competed in the tournament yesterday, and it went really well. My division was three men, and they ran single elimination – so I got two matches. I’m actually prouder of the match that I lost. This was the first one, against a young brown belt…

Back on the mat

I’m competing in a small, local judo tournament this morning. It’s a monthly “shiai,” which is traditionally an opportunity for students to get real competition experience in a friendly and supportive environment. While I’ve been working out vigorously and even doing “randori” (loosely translated as…

Posting for posting’s sake

Things are going pretty well in the “moving into the house” department. We’re, well, we’re moved in and the number of boxes is decreasing by two or three per day. I’m told that there are more boxes in the basement, but I’m not too worried…

He always gets up

I got high praise at Judo today. A visiting judoka from our friendly neighbors to the north was working a particular throw. There was some discussion about whether said throw would work on someone taller than her – and it was suggested that she try…