Admittedly, I've been freaking out over my nidan test this Friday. Add in work issues and grad school and lack of presence in the dojo -to the point that someone speculated that I quit- and I seriously start to get extraordinarily nervous about the whole thing. I decided to take a look back through prior postings and I found this post from the past.

*Note, the saying is "Be solely like a weed", not "Train like a weed"

Note the text: "I can't just skate by on this test. I am proud to have the opportunity to test to become a black belt, and like any other challenge, I welcome it." It really is true what they say; "I am a black belt, but I'm not a black belt like you"**

**does not apply to Overboard, Sherapova, Picklez and Babysteps

Be Solely,
Hangtime
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"Train like a weed..."

This is a saying from Grandmaster Katsuoh Yammamoto. Grandmaster goes on to explain how weeds tend to persevere despite being stepped on, weather conditions, etc. Martial arts practioners should train their bodies in the same manner. "Train like a weed" has been somewhat of a personal credo of mine since I read the excerpt in Gramdmasters book.

Tomorrow I test to become a shodan (first degree black belt). I may have mentioned before, but I never thought I'd get there. I am nervous as hell, although I try not to show it. Tomorrow I have to go out and prove that I haven't wasted the last 3 years or so of training. I have to find the right balance between concern and coolness (I mean, it does me no good to be so nervous that I botch everything and it does me just as much good to be so calm/loose that...well...I botch everything). It's a tall task, but I think I am up to it.

I think at the root of it all, I'm not nervous for me. I'm nervous because I have karate has been become "my sport"; yea, I played basketball and football, but my shooting is inconsistent and I'm don't possess enough skill in any one area to be a good football player. Karate is the only thing that I can honestly say I do well 90-plus percent of the time. It's given me an outlet for displaying my athletic ability. I am nervous for my instructor (Good luck to you too Picklez!); I try to give him 100% even when I'm at 60%. I'm nervous for the other black belts in class (Good luck Twinkletoes...although, you certainly don't need it) --has their instruction and encouragement been enough?

I can't just skate by on this test. I am proud to have the opportunity to test to become a black belt, and like any other challenge, I welcome it.

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Who says they're worthless? I made two last year that were just challenging enough to not be a cakewalk nor impossible.

I confirmed one last night.

The two resolutions from last year were to do what I guess you could call a "suspended pushup"; that being, a pushup with absolutely no support from my legs being on the ground...sounds tough.

Arguably the easier of the two, was to do 5 pushups with my wife on my back --did that last night. I'm quite proud of myself for that, especially because I hate doing pushups.

This year, I resolve to not have a resolution. I will do things to better myself, but those are more lifestyle changes than resolutions.

And that's that with that.
Hangtime

'Twas the night before Christmas... How are you spending this Christmas Eve? Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions you're excited about?

This year, Part A of the Night Before Christmas will be spent at Mama Overboard's. Here, we will exchange gifts with H, ST, and JB. It is my intention to have a few alcoholic beverages, starting with my exodus from work at approx. 3pm EST. We should be there until around 8 or 9.

Part B will be at Chan's, with Chan, MLo, Izzy and R Martin (maybe even his gf). We haven't seen the crew in awhile, so this will be fun. We will give gifts to all of the above. Yes, it is my intention to consume an alcoholic beverage or two.

The evening will conclude at home (Part C) and will consist of at very minimum my Santa hat...maybe at the very maximum, my Santa hat. I imagine that Overboard and I will exchange a gift first and maybe wrap a few presents (I'm a slacker, I know). If I am going to be up for awhile, it will be my intention to consume an alcoholic beverage or two...and exchanges gifts with my wife ;-)

It's getting about that time again.

I woke up the other night to a text message; January 10 is my pretest for nidan. I've been having some trouble sustaining a workout routine to get ready for said test. Last week, however, I came up with the Hangtime B2BT.

The B2BT is just what it sounds like; me getting back to basics. Essentially 3-4 workouts a week targeting muscle endurance, cardio, karate basics and some advanced techniques. Sure, sounds simple enough. But anyone who know a typical Hangtime workout (or components thereof) know it's not just a simple workout. See the example below:

"Sai" Day:
5 minutes of yoga, to warm up and stretch
5 minutes of basics...all of them. All blocks (except jujiuke and kakiwakiuke), open hand strikes, closed hand strikes, kicks and some advanced kicks (space permitting).
Resistance band workout (progressive: includes curls, presses, squats, blah blah blah blah blah)
500+ crunches, plus other touturous ab exercises
Pushups, oooooh pushups
Weighted shadow sparring (feet only, hands only, defense only, free. 2-3 minute rounds)
Weighted basics & katas
5 minute sai yoi
5 minute sai strikes

It's been pretty challenging. We'll see if it works...something has to.

-Hangtime

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4181
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/153734/isp_cut_off_from_internet_after_security_concerns.html

"The Internet has at least partially disconnected itself from McColo, an ISP suspected of providing hosting services to criminals serving kiddie porn and selling Viagra and fake security software."

Needless to say, the 'net is a little less scummy these days. Two ISP's that peer (exchange traffic) with McColo cut them off. Trend Micro later reported a 40% drop in spam --DAMN! Chances are, this will be a continuing trend; this was all executed when a report was released that indicated McColo, and other ISP's, were linked to cybercrime. Hurricane Electric and Global Crossing chose to take action and disconnected from McColo.

Bravo, Hurricane Electric and Global Crossing, bravo!
-CM

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/111008-judge-stops-apple-vp.html?hpg1=bn

"U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas ruled that Mark Papermaster, who was announced as Apple's new vice president of devices hardware engineering only last Tuesday, must "immediately cease his employment with Apple Inc. until further order of this court.""

I am interested to see how this all pans out. In short, IBM imposed it's one year no-compete clause on Papermaster, although they let him work his two week notice, as opposed to escorting him out. Also interesting to note that Apple approached Papermaster back in January, offered him several positions throughout the year, and IBM had knowledge of this (they counter-offered two job offers from Apple)...

Thoughts?
-CM

I've decided to make some changes to Hangtime's Hangout for a few reasons. First and foremost, I will try to blog more often. The content will be more in line with some of the "business related" and technical thoughts I've had and findings that...well...I've found recently. The catalyst for this change is the some of the thoughts I've put on paper for my Master's classes.

There will still be some "exclusive" content for those of you who are "privileged" enough to have access to it. Honesty and humor (and accuracy) will still be in each post.

That being said, I'll try to be consistent, but let's face it, I'm a busy busy man :-)

I think I will start categorizing and numbering posts too, a la Picklez'a blog, for the sake of classifying topics and such.

I hope you all enjoy the planned content and other changes and updates.

-CM

FTN - Picklez's new catch phrase is "Frak that noise" (replack "ra" with "uc"), which I like..a lot (enough to start using it)...apparently, karma likes it too because I haven't been able to speak normally in the last 4-5 days.

This started Wednesday afternoon sometime as an itchy throat...it ended up in a sick day Thursday, congestion on Friday and no voice by Saturday. I had some tea and at throat drop after throat drop after throat drop Saturday morning before the parade (more on that later) and eventually got my voice back before the demo.

Celebration of Youth
The City of Roswell had it's annual Youth Day Parade this past Saturday. The class participated this year (Picklez was in Japan last year, so we opted out) and we had a handful of participants. Several other students participated in their other activities, such as Color Guard and Marching Band. After the parade, we had a demo. We were sandwiched between the "School of Rock", which is a yourh program that teaches children, you guessed it, Rock and Roll. One of the students in the group used to be in karate. Until we screamed out his name, he pretended he didn't know us...I thought that was kinda funny.

Demo
Demos are usually like binary numbers: one or zero. It's either good, or it's bad. This one, I thought, was good...on the money actually. We started with basics, then yellow belt kata, blue - brown belt kata, black belt kata, kyu grade weapons, black belt weapons, sparring (which I must say, it was fun sparring during a demo and not having someone bust you in the mouth...this is to you asshole, wherever you are), and then the crowd pleaser, breaking. We had a few heavy breaks set up that were going to be epic, one way or another: epic fail or just plain epic.

First, Mr S was going to break a concrete block. Listening to that might not be all that impressive, but we're talking about a 14 y/o boy...who coincidentily is built like a 23 y/o man. The kid's a beast; he easily could've done 3 or more.

Next, BabySteps attempted a shotei with no windup. This looked like a complicated break. Indeed it was. He didn't break them, but I don't think many people would have.

After that, I attempted 3 concrete blocks. I psyched myself up and psyched myself up and bowed, kiyai'd one last time and sliced through the bricks with a powerful kiyai! So powerful in fact that my voice went out...ALLLLLL the way out. That sucked. The break was cool, though. Next time, i want to do between 6 and 8.

Piclez attempted a concrete break as well. He missed his mark slightly and decided not to go for a second (if you'd seen his elbow, you'd agree with my sentiment - "wise choice"). Afterward, Mr A attempted to do a bat; that in and of itself is impressive, but Mr A bought a Loiusville Slugger: general rule of thumb is you don't try to break a Louisville Slugger, you try to break you *on a Louisville Slugger*. Amazingly (I say that, but it was a damn good break) he broke it...and on the first shot. Very nicely done.

After the festivites, Picklez, Overboard and I went to lunch. It was quite nice...except not having a voice and gettting hot wing sauce up my nose --that sucked.

Ta-ta for now...
-Hangtime

I know it's been awhile guys what's new? OH WAIT I KNOW, I GOT MARRIED. Yes, Overboard and I exchanged rings, vows and signed up for a lifetime of grief-giving and pain, I mean, love and happiness. So much to tell you...

The Wedding
The wedding itself kinda snuck up on me. I recall toying with my laptop to make sure the slide show went off with as few problems as possible when someone said "Hangtime, do NOT come in here, Overboard is in here", so I stayed and checked sound and wasted time, when the room began to get hot. So I went onto the porch to find that guests were arriving and were being seated. On top of that, everyone noticed when I walked out and began to wave and gesture. At this point, our wedding coordinator came up to me and said "We're going to get you in place in about 5 or so minutes, as soon as I find Cowboy, we'll get you set".

"Huh?!?"

I looked down at my watch and it was almost 6:30, go time. About 45 seconds later I see G and Cowboy walking up and I was escorted into place...it was time. I started to get nervous. I guess I had the vision in my head of being "in control" of the situation, I'd know the time, I'd be the one saying "OK folks, let's get on with it...", I certainly didn't expect it all to sneak up on me! Anyhow, I was supposed to have about 5 minutes in the staging area with Cowboy. He asked if I was nervous as he went to shake my hand. I said no and he replied "Your hands say otherwise, but that's ok".

We were escorted out just as my mom was being seated, I winked at her and watched the bridal party get into place. I must admit, Overboard and I had a dead sexy bridal party...I mean that. At about the time Chan got into place I started to shake. I leaned back to him and said "I just started to get nervous..." and in typical Chan fashion, he laughed at me.

Jaw dropping beauty
Before I really got a chance to revel in my nervous state, Overboard began to walk down the isle; she was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. I could use any number of terms and none quite capture just how beautiful she looked. At this point I'd began to cry. I tried to hold it together, but it was pretty overwhelming. This was the biggest thing I'd ever done in my life and it was with the most beautiful and wonderful woman I know. I couldn't help but to. I know that made Mamma Overboard and Aunt Overboard cry as well. Mamma Hangtime and Overboard kept it together --the total opposite of what I thought would happen. We said our vows exchanged rings and took pictures, it was party time!

Times up...
It was quite unfortunate that Overboard and I had to decide on a day like this that it was time to vote a friend off of the island. But after the numerous things that have been done...it's not even prudent to call this person a friend...more on that later.

The Reception
The reception was a blast...neither of us sat much, but it was a blast. My friends from Savannah got lost on the way up, but showed up shortly after the reception started. It was good seeing them. There was a lot of dancing and drinking...what else would you expect from our friends.

Maybe it was just too much...
Over several posts I wondered if my lack of interest in training could be attributed to feeling overwhelmed with the wedding. I think Overboard was right. I hadn't done any training over the month leading up to the wedding (well, I did go outside one day and go over my weapon technique and some katas, but generally speaking...). At some point the answer became clear to me that it was the wedding planning/stress (even though it was 95% Overboard's planning/execution) that made me seem to have less interest than before. Hopefully I can find my groove...I've got testing coming up (hopefully).

WYKKO meets Tropical Storm/Hurricane
While we were basically stranded in TS/Hurricane Gustav (I don't remember what it was when we were in it), I decided to take video of myself doing "Basai" in the storm. If you're going to do a kata in a hurricane, make sure it's a kata you look good doing. I think watching the video reaffirmed my belief that I'm ready to get my head back in to karate --I critiqued the crap out of the video (Overboard's too). Unfortunately, I couldn't time it such that the weather was really bad while I was doing it. The people in the villa above ours and Overboard thought I was nutz (with a "z") and thought that I should come back inside.

Tropical-fiancee "Overboard" has been upgraded to...
Hurri-wife "Ike"...as in Turner. I forget what all happened, but apparently being trapped in Gustav made Overboard a little antsy.  She kept beating on me and beating on me...I renamed her Ike.