Hobbies

So, I went back to randori night at judo today. Went about 9 rounds and played everyone in the room. I even made a shoulder throw work against the biggest guy in the room. Once. The injury came from banging my elbow really hard on…

We had a member of the Russian national women’s judo team working out with my judo club this week. She was about my size – so I was a good person for her to throw a few (dozen) times. I think it’s great that the…

Once again, I find myself at the bar at The Outback steakhouse. Why is this weird? I’m a vegetarian and some kinda health / fitness freak. I assure you, it feels sorta weird. Why does it work? Well first off, Outback has a number of…

I’ve had a story to write for a while, but haven’t taken the time to put it down. Here it is: Recently, my judo club hosted the Lebanese men’s Judo team for a week. Basically, we trained every night with some very high level players.…

I copied this off the wall of the dojo the other night. As I’ve re-read it a few times and shared it with a few people, I find it more and more valuable and accurate – in contexts not necessarily limited to the martial arts.…

Productive day today. Started off by heading to Judo. It’s a special week for Phoenix Judo because we have visitors. A group of players from Lebanon are in town all week, and we’re hosting. Of particular note is Rudy Hachache, who represented Lebanon in Beijing…

Half of the 2008 vintage is now complete. Fermented, bottled, corked, labelled, and shelved. Presented here are the 6 “vintners reserve” bottles from the “Yes We Can” New Zealand Gewurztraminer. I produced a total of 29 bottles, which are now happily in the storage closet.…

I’m having a good day. For one thing, the weather is (within reasonable error bars) PERFECT. Mid 60’s, bright sun. For another, I led a 3 hour technical meeting today that stayed on task and produced good insight without losing the humorous, fun edge that…