White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Gettin' me a little bit of Black-belt

Simple Palm Strike

Axe kick for the Masses

Elbow strike

Speed Break

Ghengis And Attila pre-test for the Masters review board.

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children

Labels: Children, Karate, TSD

Twit reposting has been offline for a bit. It may come back, it may not. Whatever. In the mean time, I'd like to let you all know that the TSD Tournament in AC this past Saturday went off pretty swimmingly. Ghengis got 3 third place awards, Attila got 3 fourth in Forms, Weapons and breaking. I got 2nd in Breaking, 3rd in Forms and 4th in weapons. Not too shabby, but we will improve.

Technorati Tags:TSD | Weekend | Karate | Children

Labels: Children, Karate, TSD, Weekend

Another lame post due to my poor time management skills. It's not even that I do not have the time, I just make bad (incorrect) choices about what to do with it. SOooo, here I sit, pulling my hair over the crashing stock market, moaning about going back on the support rotation next week, and kvetching over my well tuned daily schedule being blown to bits because of the kids mid-term tests. We are skipping all activities except piano so that they can study for these remarkably BRUTAL examinations. It gets me all cranky and such when I don't get my swimming/tsd fix on a daily basis. We have still gone to piano lessons and I had the tiger cub den meeting on Wednesday night ... but it's just not the same, you know.

Technorati Tags:Stock Market | Swimming | Karate | Children | School | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Karate, School, Stock Market, Swimming

I'll have to make this quick as I am trying to wrap up 100 disparate tasks and still keep my sanity. This is going to be one of those awful 'status only' type posts to let you know that I still persevere to breath air. The Ever Lovely Mrs had a birthday this past weekend ... just a few hours short of having a leap-year birthdate. That would have been entirely too entertaining, but alas, she is still only a few years younger than the wizened old fart who she calls here husband. Additionally, the Parental Units made one of their Monthly trips to ensure that the Tyrants would treat them fairly after the Great Apocalyptic Reckoning. Oddly enough, in a bizarre convergence of events, an old college friend (Mandy) stopped by on her way from California. Atilla was busy at her girl scout-brownie-daisy Juliet Low World Thinking Day what-dat-and-chew event, so it was up to me to entertain while the Mrs was detained as glorified limo driver. Fortunately, the Super Grandma was about to do most of the heavy lifting (like making snacks ... I'm only good at making them disappear) so we were not too shamed by our lack of preparation. Sunday came and went, only to leave us with a pile of snow and some sub-freezing temperatures. I had the foresight to go out and chop a month's worth of firewood and then lug it into the manor so we had some source of BTUs for the next week. That wood burns quickly when you are trying to keep your digits from snapping off. We were fortunate in that one of our more friendly neighbors had come back from a trip to warmer climes and needed a technical resource to help him out with a malfunctioning snow-blower. I gave him a few tips on how to get it to turn over (it had been sitting for 2 years, the ignition chamber was dry and the plug was corroded) and in a fit of gratitude, he cleared our mile long drive for us. That kept me inside for and extra 2.5 hours. We were going to do a few other things, but nearly every place we went, the doors were locked. The more important places were open, of course: TSD, Dentist, Piano. Of course, the studio ended up closing on Tuesday because the electric furnace failed and the ambient air temperature dropped to somewhere between 'Brrrr' and 'colder than a plumbers wrench in February'.

School Mid-Terms ... they are BRUTAL. Attila won the spelling bee the other day, so I'm not worried about her performance in the upcoming tests, but Ghengis finds very little use for all them high-falutin' fancy words and there is nothing he cannot say without a good round-house to the solar-plexus or ridge-hand to the temple. Trying to explain the difference of 'their' and 'there' to a 6 year old is a Sisyphean labor when you learned it by wrote. Lord, have mercy on his little heart because he will be crushed if he does not perform well.

Technorati Tags:Snow | Swimming | Karate | Children | Winter | School | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Karate, School, Snow, Swimming, Winter

This was supposed to go out yesterday, but it was just too much of a poopy day. Wednesday was, as some of you know, Ash Wednesday. I celebrated my faith at lunch and only got one 'You have dirt on your head' comment. It was an awkward moment for everyone on the team as I tried to explain that it was a religious artifact, but alas, the details were lost on her. The Tyrants were somehow herded into a mass as well, but their ashes were long gone before I picked them up. It was gym day after all and it was warm enough for them to be outside. Of course, the ashes would have been wiped away when we went swimming anyways.

Not much else but me going to both TSD classes this week. So far, I think I've only missed Tuesday Adult TSD. This has only increased my exhaustion. Duh. This week is coming to a close quickly and an ominous beast awaits me me in the darkest avenue of this journey ... support beeper duty. Gha. A week of fear and loathing. I can't wait!

Technorati Tags:Work | Swimming | Karate | Children | Ash Wednesday

Labels: Ash Wednesday, Banalities Work, Children, Karate, Swimming

Ok, I apologize. My 'creative bent' of late has been MIA. That last weekend update was about as lame as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. I should of hyped the pinewood derby a little more. You know, add in the fictional explosions and ninja assault platoons ... but no, I slacked. The Work thing has been a bear of late and the current events of the nation and world lay heavy on my mind. Equivocation and perfidy seems to rule the day, not that it has changed much over time. Whaaaa! What a big baby.

A few Items of Happenstance need to be reviewed right now: One, the SuperSaturn POS is back after it's Automotive Spa Treatment. Still as difficult as it always has been, but the bumper is now firmly zip-tied to the frame. Uber-Mechanic Chris was quite diligent in servicing it ... and so we have ONE MORE YEAR(tm) before we need to replace it. Twelve years is a long time to hold onto a chunk of metal (mostly plastic) so I'll be glad to see it finally go to pasture. Of course, that would work if one would consider the cow anaology, but it is more of a pig than any barn-yard animal.

At TSD practice last night, everything was going along swimmingly until sparring. Indeed, the very last session against a green belt did me in. My hubris got the most of me and in the attempt to do a low 'X' block, I caught the full force of a kick on my finger and jammed or broke the middle and ring-fingers something fierce. I've taped them up but being right handed, this is quite an inconvenience. It's not that they were all purple and swollen that gets me, it's that grinding, low-level pain that is going to get me into more trouble by distracting me or causing me to loose focus. Argh.

The Tyrants are preparing themselves for a new and wonderful experience ... stress. This is because 'Mid Terms' are coming up. Yep, The future rulers and Tyrannical Dictators of all that exists will get their first trial by fire at the hands of addition, spelling and reading comprehension. Just the other day, Ghengis was given the ignoble honor of bringing home not just one, but TWO 'bad' grades (16/18, 18/20 which translates to a 'G' and not the 'VG' or the greatly coveted 'O'). We went over the mistakes and cooked up a strategy for his next tests ... write down the answers in the question to see if they make sense. He is just so animated and impatient ... goal oriented, Type A extravert. Don't quite know where he get's it from.

Technorati Tags:Injury | Blogging | Karate | Children | Car

Labels: Blogging, Car, Children, Injury, Karate

Since it was Girl Scout Daisy brownie night, I was tasked with escorting Ghengis to the superfluous practice for swimming. You got to show up at the practice or you don't get to swim, eh? Anyways, in a giant cinder block bunker full of water, you can pretty much expect that I would find NO wifi, let alone an unencrypted source to hijack. So be it. TSD class, we had the usual rigmarole with a few exceptions: First, Attila had to leave early. Every other Thursday ... its an accepted event now. The unanticipated event was that one of the newer students, a rather young boy, was much too involved with the activities that he was not going to ask to leave the mat so that he could relieve himself. So, what to do, what to do. Well, certainly, just have a BM right there in your tightie-whities and soldier forth! Except he had not counted on the load bearing capacity to be exceeded by quite so much mass. A bit escaped and was swiftly trampled into a wafer thin sheen spanning about a 3 meter radius that encompased the realm of his form footprint. Once the 'crime' had been observed and dutifully reported by the other students (read: everyone shouting "Eeeewwwwww!"), I swiftly whisked him off the floor to the boy's room and we provided him with a plastic bag and a change of uniform. He still carried a persistent odor about, but we impressed upon the other students that we shall not speak of it. Everyone has an off day, a little compassion will work off some bad karma. That little adventure gobbled up 15 minutes of my time, but actually gave me something to blather about. Tomorrow: Pinewood Derby of Dooooom trumps DodgeBall TSD.

Technorati Tags:Poop | Swimming | Karate | Children | Dodge Ball | Scouts

Labels: Children, Dodge Ball, Karate, Poop, Scouts, Swimming

I'm so ready for spring. No, really. I usually revel in the winter months, but after seeing our last utility bill ($300!?), I've had enough. For all you global warming folks, why is this past January 8 degrees colder than last year? Yeah, yeah, it's weather, not global climate. As far as I can tell though, the less carbon-based heating utilities I use, the colder I get! I guess I should blame that damn groundhog. No matter. Last night I canceled the cub-scout den meeting since we have a pack meeting this Friday for the Pinewood Derby. Spent the night at TSD and did not get beaten too badly. This week has been dull. That old Chinese Curse: "May you live in interesting times", yeah ... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the mean time, I'll just keep re-arranging the deck chairs.

Technorati Tags:Scouts | Karate | Children | Winter

Labels: Children, Karate, Scouts, Winter

Nothing. Middle of the week nothing. Worse than nothing was the perfect day that expired the morn past. Kids did what I asked them to do, they did well at piano class, did extraordinarily well at TSD and I managed to survive a sparring session with TWO second degree black-belts. Sure, they were tired and I got a rest, but I still survived with minor bruises and lacerations. Other than that, the Twins got to listen to themselves from the recording they got at the radio station tour. Four of the youngsters were in the same class room so the teacher played it for the whole class. Instant celebrity!

Technorati Tags:Piano | Karate | Children | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Karate, Piano

I'm all kinds of pissed off about gasoline prices right now. They are flirting with $2/gal here in Pennsyltucky and the world oil trade is now slumping at $35.09. Given the image I provided and the knowledge that there are 42 gallons/bbl ... after refining and by-product extraction you get about 19.5 gallons of gasoline. So, if you GAVE AWAY all the byproduct, you could reasonably see gasoline costing $1.80/g. Here is an interesting chart you can play with. Either way, what I guess we are seeing is the bi-annual fuel mix switch over with a little bit of price-fixing thrown in under the covers. Given that gasoline costs now roughly the same as it did 30 years ago, I should take that big bag of whining and shove it.

On to more 'mundane' soliloquies ... the Tyrants and I hammered through the daily schedule with few hiccups. All's well that end's well I suppose. They were oddly compliant and were even interested in snuggling with each other last night. I don't mind letting them sleep in the same bed; it's easier for me to transport them to the Perpetually Snuggly Mrs's snuggle-fest nest in the morning. Given the absurdly affectionate nature of Ghengis (It's a ruse, I can tell), I was unhappy to hear about some issues he was having with a select number of his classmates. Apparently, two of them; Joby and Chrispin (yep, names changed) had ganged up, and were trying to swing him about by his coat. His pleas for them to stop were unheeded and that made him cry. Dad programming snapped in and I started planning my assault at that moment. Slow breaths, push down monster within .... and now for the wisdom. I asked if he had talked to the teacher about it and he confirmed that she put an end to it and insisted that the two cowardly infraction-bent delinquents apologize for their misdeeds. Given that, I do not believe this will be the last of this so I went over our process flow chart. First, insist that the cease the assault. Second, if they choose to continue, inform an authority figure (Not the UN) and implore them to put an end to the situation. If the intervention is insufficient to repel the barbarians, you must be able to defend yourself. I let him know that if he get's to step three and proceeds to lay them out like a slab of meat-locker back-bacon, I will have his back and support him all the way. I know the father of at least one child and he knows me. Nice thing about private school, it's a privileged, not a right. But you still hold a bit of sway since you are forking over the Payola every month or so.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | School | Bully

Labels: Bully, Children, Gas, Karate, School, Swimming

Here I sit at the piano class waiting room. Listening to the melodic plunking of little fingers over the faux ivory ... and the periodic admonishments of the instructor to my little Imp, Ghengis. He is getting into trouble again, so it's probably time for another lecture. While I stew over my parental duties, I tried to hijack a wireless signal, to no avail. Must be the higher humidity in the air. I did get a hint ... just a wiff of a bit of a signal, only to have it melt away like foie gras on a steaming slab of porterhouse steak. Mmmm, steak. But I digress. I could titillate you with mundane tales of my work day. Where I sit with the team as we try to figure out just what in the world we plan on doing in the next sprint. Ah, yes, the scent of failure is in the air. We are probably just going to work on some left-over cruft from the last sprint cycle. The last team just DUMPED it and said they were 'done'. Not so much, really. So be it.

I've been working with the kids on finishing their dinner in a timely manner. It would be much easier if I could sit with them while they eat, but time is short and I have a heap of chore to grind through before we head off each afternoon. This is a beast of my own creation and I'm going to have to be creative (or persistent) to overcome it. Speaking of persistence, this is a TSD week. I'll be in the Child and Adult classes every day except Friday when we have a tour at WRDV with the cubs. We'll do pizza after wards before heading over to the 'Dodge Ball Session', but I'll not stay for the adult class after 1900 hours as I will be doing my bi-monthly work poker cameo ... just to bolster that coworker relationship thing. Anything to make sure I'm held in the highest esteem when the axe falls on the work-force.

Finally, can SOMEONE tell me why oil prices are staying at $40/bbl but gas prices are nearly at $2/gal? Are the refineries cutting back on production? CRAP! I just looked and the price is now at $38/bbl. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Scouts | Piano | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Gas, Karate, Piano, Scouts, Swimming

Playing catch-up again here. It was quite a busy weekend and I did not get half of what I wanted done in the time that I had allotted to myself. The grand ball of delicate maneuvers started on Friday Night. After wrapping up the kids TSD class with the usual Battle Royall Dodge Ball Melee, I scuttled on back to the Haupertonian manor to prepare for the next week. Since I knew I would be occupied with peripheral tasks, I chose to make as much of the meals we would be consuming and bundle them up in nice little packages for each day. Provincial Chicken with Herbs and Garlic ... along with 6 bacon wrapped cheddar wursts. The Mrs loves bacon-baked chicken. I sprinkle a cup of rice along the bottom of the 18 inch skillet befor putting it in the oven for 90 minutes and the rice soaks up all the goodness. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be eating that sort of stuff, so that's why I canceled my Cardiologists Appointment. I also prepped 10 hard boiled eggs and started defrosting the lobster and little smokeys that the Tyrants like to snack on between activities. It's all a labor of love. The love of food is the most genuine love of all. That's a pithy quote that I cannot find an attribution for. Maybe I just made it up but I find it hard to believe that I am the initiator of something that ... Confucian. And, of course, there are a couple of other dishes ... mundane stuff like mac-n-cheese or spags-n-balls that I had to plow under. I tend to be happiest when I'm in the kitchen.

Saturday was HORRENDOUS! We had four/five events set up. The first thing in the morning, we had to drag the Tumultuous Twins out of their warm and snuggly lairs so we could get some nutrition in their bellies and get off to the TSD Studio in time for their test. They had other ideas. In mortal combat, I did manage to stuff enough of their breakfast between their gritted teeth between crushing blows to my ribs and skull that they would be able to make it through the test without depleting their energy reserves. This, however, resulted in my total lack of time to feed my own gullet. They did well in the test, for the most part. Attila, for the first time, broke her board in the first kick, outperforming the rest of the red belt testers. This will put them on track for being Cho Dan Bo in May ... which will get them set up for being a Junior Black Belt at this time next year. But let us not count our chicks before they hatch. Right now, we will just need to learn their third weapon form (another staff form) and then get their previous forms cleaned up. Thinking about it ... just ... wow. They'll be seven which gives them a few years till they are out of the Manor. Now my test, good grief! To start off, I was not in my peak performance health. Then, my usual bent is to go all out which tends to leave me in an exhausted state nearly half way through my 'performance art'. The sparring is towards the end and I just SUCK OUT when I get to that point. I always have some fantastic ideas about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to 'Shock and Awe' my audience, but in the end I just stand there and throw single kicks or punches while getting pummeled by my opponent. (Insert long and depressed sigh here)

After I slithered out of the test as a slithering mass of pulsating pain, we stopped off for a bite of pizza with the rest of the available crew and celebrated our ability to put on a strong face in spite of the various wounds leaking precious body fluids. From there, it was on to a Swim Meet where, again, I had bathroom guard duty. It was steaming hot in there but I was required to stand fast and for good reason. The janitor had a peculiar predilection of creeping in the back door every so often and slum around in the bathroom stalls. Creepy. I did get to see their performance on the Mrs's laptop after she uploaded the video and pictures she took. That's her thing, I sit in the locker room and embrace the aroma of teen-age angst while she sits amongst throngs of semi-detached family members and chews through several packs of rechargeable batteries. Fair trade, I think.

Since this is Scout Week, we had a special mass at church for the cubs to attend. We all sat in the front row and periodically throughout the service, Father K would make mention of it. Really quite sweet actually. Both Attila and Ghengis were there in the front row along with the rest of the Horde. Since this was done at the 10am Family mass, I had to let the gals at the Sunday school go on without me. I hope they managed. After that, the Mrs took our little girl scout (Daisy, Brownie?) off to manage a cookie-pimping table at the local grocery store while I took my mini-me off to the movie theater. While Ghengis and I were slouching through a rather expensive matinee showing of 'Dog Hotel', the minions of cookie crook managed to offload 100 boxes of tasty diabetic failure. She has personally sold over 70 boxes now. At 3.50/box, they are doing a brisk business! We had a bit of time before the gals were done, so after the expensive movie, we took the Cybernetic Mammoths out and gave them a thorough scrub-down. They were beginning to get that particularly interesting smell that can only be described as "moldy sweat sock full of Doritos". Yeah ... they need to get out more but they are seriously 'indoor dogs'. Thor balks at any inclement weather outings. Big Sissy.

The rest of my time was allocated to showing Eldest Son how to do his next staff form and compelling him to keep on trying to ride his bike. He's getting a bit to big for it so I can see an Upgrade in the near future for him. He has the 'going straight really fast' down pat and the 'panicked emergency brake' ... the turning part is the stich right now. Other than that, the Mrs and I did a bunch of prep for the week. Clothes, swim gear, TSD props, lunches, etc... Same work, every week. Life is superb ... elegant ... and splendid (Ghengis's new word).

Crud, forgot to whine about gasoline prices. WTF! Why are they at nearly $2/g when the oil price is sticking to $40/bbl!? Damn crooks!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Weekend | Scouts

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Scouts, Swimming, Weekend

Out sick yesterday, got very little done except tending the fire in the wood stove and hosting a den meeting for the cub scouts. This cold really got the best of me. My hope is that I can shake this before Saturday, when we have the TSD tests. Oh, that would suck on so many different levels. Fortunately, this is just a Pre-Test for me. I can hopefully perform to a sufficient level of competence without having to jeopardize my health. After this weekend's experiment in self destruction, I have a six month training period before the 'real-deal' blackbelt test where I get to fight the Master and his perfidiously dangerous minions. Yeah, I'm a tad intimidated.

In other, less boisterously disastrous news, the piano practice the other night went well. The Tyrants are doing so much better. It boggles the mind that they can train their little digits to tickle the ivory they way that they do. My futile attempts at teaching myself from their books has not fared quite as well. I just cannot seem to make my fingers do what I want them to do on command without a great deal of perspiration and focus. I'm a fairly good typist, but that seems to be a detriment when it comes to the c-d-e-f-g scales. Rats. And something else: gas prices. What is going on here!? Oil prices have gone down to $40/bbl but the unleaded regular is creeping up. Let me guess, the refineries are down for annual maintenance. Riiiight. I call bullshit on that!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Piano | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Children, Gas, Illness, Karate, Piano

Going lazy again today. The kids were home all day yesterday, driving the Mrs up the wall. We skipped swimming and TSD so that they could go out in the slush and play with the Cybernetic Mastodons. What a mess. Nothing like being chilled to the bone and getting a snoot full of 'Wet Dog Cologne' while trying to make a slush-man. Then, getting smacked in the back of the head with a partially frozen slush-ball. Sweet. The whole matter makes no sense though. The roads were not all that bad and it would not be a great effort to get the Tyrants to their Higher Education Facility. Today, they have an open house that I will be attending ... in the same classrooms where I teach Sunday School every week. There will be no great surprise, but to support the moral and emotional well-being of my offspring, I'll be there.

Other mundane news: I got a haircut yesterday. It was getting a bit long so I stopped by my favorite barbershop over by the Airbase and got shorn. Those old Italian guys really can do a top notch job with a 'flat top' cut. What else ... hmmm, selling girl scout cookies for Attila and doing well with that. Moving a box or two every day. Oh, and I tried to set up a bunch of network components for the Mrs. She got four 1tb networks disks and when I tried to hook them up to a hub, they were unresponsive. I plugged one into the wireless router's hard-line ports and it sprang to life. I'm guessing that the lousy 8 port 10mb hub is just not going to work for this application. I'll probably surrender and get a 24 port 100mb switch. Home networking can be such a challenge sometimes.

Technorati Tags:Networking | Swimming | Karate | Children | School

Labels: Children, Karate, Networking, School, Sunday School, Swimming

Word of the day: Turgid

Not much else. Standard day in the manor. No piano yesterday though. The instructor is on vacation at Disney World. Good for her, because this ice storm is making a real mess about here. Thought we might have a 2hr delay ... but that did not happen. Called the hot-line at 0545 sharp and the cancellation notice was already up. So, I lit the fire in the wood-stove and got my big old rear on the road. Took twice as long as it should have to get to work, but that was expected. The POS Super Saturn (of Doooom) handled ok, which is more than I can say for some of those high performance AWD beasts.

I'm not sure if TSD is going to be open tonight, but we'll give it a go. Have to make sure the Tyrants are sufficiently tired every night before they go into their meditation chambers!

Technorati Tags:Ice Storm | Swimming | Karate | Children | School

Labels: Children, Ice Storm, Karate, School, Swimming

Yesterday went pretty much as expected. I did find that my mental faculties were less than 100% though. For some reason, I could not seem to get my last form correct and I was flopping about like a half dead carp on some of my earlier forms. Gha! I was embarrassed to even call myself a practitioner of the ancient art (Way of the Open China Hand). Foppish, effete and ineffectual. Hopefully, I'll do significantly better today. With that said, I have only a few days to clean up before the Black-Belt pre-test. The Tyrants are closing in ... triangulating ... plotting. They'll most likely get their first stripe on their red-belts and that puts them 6 months away from their 'Cho-Dan Bo' (phonetically spelled). That means they are about 1 year and 3 months from their black belt. Right about the time they have their 8th birth-day. Fear it, the coming apocalypse!

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children

Labels: Children, Karate

Here I am in the boys locker room, doing the 'Security Duty' for the Swim Meet. Basically, my primary task is supposed to be making sure that no kids get molested or harassed while they are here. Secondary is the prevention of vandalism or injury from horseplay. So, sergeant at arms is probably the best classification. I've pulled this honor for the last two meets, mostly because I'm one of the few who took the training. I needed it for the work I do with the children in Sunday School and Cub Scouts as well so I'm in high demand for this sort of thing. Most of the time I just sit here in the swampy heat waiting, watching, and giving stern looks of disapproval when one of the boys do regular boy-type stuff. No harm comes of it since it never goes to far. Story of my life: Sheepdog.

Friday night was ok. Kids ate their lunch so they were entitled to 5 minutes in the hot tub provided they did their piano practice, finish their homework and eat all of their dinner (of course, busing their dishes afterwards as well). They fulfilled the requirements so they got some bubbly time. On the way to the pool, they get a treat in the POS Super Saturn of 6 little smokeys of the 'cheddar wurst' variety. They just love 'em. Gobble them down and we get going on our laps. Three laps each of breast stroke, back, crawl and butterfly. They get some pointers and then we play for the rest of the hour. It's can be a pretty good time, mostly. If either of them have had a rough day, it can be a real bear. From there, we have a 10 minute drive to TSD practice where they eat a hard boiled egg on the way. A little death-ninja training mixed in with a bazillion pushups/situps (they cheat horribly on these) will get them a bit tuckered out. On Mondays and Thursdays, they'll go from the karate studio to another 1.5 hours of swim practice where they mostly goof around. That's fine by me ... the Tyrants already got enough 'coaching' (read: drill-sergeant admonishment) for the day. The Ever Beautiful Mrs picks them up for that activity most of the time. If she has her own late-night engagements, I'll take over. Every other week is Girl scouts so she'll take Attila to that and I'll escort Genghis to the practice. On the way, they'll get either crab/lobster chunks (Jakers) or Mandarin orange slices (Alexis) and a packet of string cheese to tide them over. On the way home from that, it's a treat of a 100% fruit drink and a packet of sugar wafers. So riddle me this: why have they not gained a pound in
a year!? Must be the Asian influence.

The Grandparents made a trip down and occupied the Tyrant for a bit while the Mrs and I got some much-needed sleep this morning. Of course, since I failed to get my coffee at 0600, I started the day off with a good old withdrawal headache. Since then, I've been sucking down the brown elixir of alertness like it's going out of style. In between, Gramps and I worked on the pine-wood derby cars for the Tyrants and restocked the firewood brackets. I've got about 1 more month's worth of firewood stacked up next to the manor walls and 2 weeks inside the 'stove' room. I think we'll do ok for the rest of the winter. It's been colder than an Alaskan plumber's wrench in January around here of late. Gotta talk to Mr Gore about that ... Need some of that new-fangled global warming! Tomorrow, I've got to get the family to the 8am mass so I'll have time to do some brunch with them after I finish up with Sunday School. Weekends ... ever since we started the family some 6.5 years ago, my free time has been anything but! If I can slice out a few hours tomorrow, I'm going to try to clean some of the refuse out of the flower beds and put a few bulbs into the ground. It may be to cold though, I wish I had finished that nonsense in the Fall. If it's too onerous out there I'll just spend the time cleaning inside and prepping the meals for the week. That's a lot of sandwiches you know.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Swimming | Karate | Children

Labels: Children, Karate, Swimming, Weekend

Whoooo DOGGIE! It's been a heck of a week, let me tell ya! TSD is tougher than all git-out and the pushup boondoggle has been getting me all worked up in the mornings. Throw some fasting and sedation in for a doctor's visit last week and you have all the bits lined up for a series of migraines. I was all lined up for that experience, ya know. I was on top of it in my usual sapient manner and cut off those rampaging nasties at the pass though. So, the doctor's visit went well. They pumped me full of wonderful stuff, I unexpectedly conked out after they asked me 3 questions and then woke up 15 minutes later without a hint or trace that I had been 'put down'. Lost time, I tell ya. There was a panoply of other patients in the the recovery ward that did not rebound as quickly as I ... I'm thanking God for my blessedly high metabolism every day.

The motorcycle safety training class: success. The written and road test were both passed and I now have a little slip of paper that says I may roam the high-ways and by-ways of America's transportation infrastructure unfettered. Now, the written evaluation was a snap. The big muscle lodged between my ears was barely even challenged since I took the online exam several times ... which ended up being exactly the same question for the in-class test. I had to read probably the first two or three words in the question/answer before realizing which of the three answers were correct for the multiple guess challenge. The road test was another matter entirely. One poor lady ended up 'High-Siding' herself TWICE during the swerve practice and if she had not worn a full-face helmet, she would have been hospitalized with a shattered jaw. End result: she passed but a center for a local foot-ball club and sergeant at a local detention institution failed. It was almost for naught to boot. The whole six hour class was nearly canceled due to lightning strikes. The morning class fell into that category and was rescheduled for the following morning. Instead, we were treated to an hour of fierce downpours and raging winds ... followed by unrelenting heat by the giant fiery ball of fury in the sky. Nothing like wearing wet denim on a steaming airbase tarmac to keep you sharp. So, now I'm through that, I can think about getting a motorcycle ... but with gas prices going down instead ($3.79 USD/g) ... the ROI calculation are all mucked up. I cannot buy that new leather jacket and chaps till I have a good use for them on the roads, you know.

I was able to attend the kids TSD test this weekend before heading off to the Airbase. The Grandparents made a surprise visit (the kids were surprised, not the Mrs and I) for the test. Needless to say, the Tyrants of Turpitude are now Red Belts and will be getting their black Ninja do-boks some day soon. I, myself, while extolling the advanced elite skills of the tyrants, will be taking my test this week in-class. This is going to be rather difficult for me, mind you. Alas, the next test will be sometime in November and I'll not want to wait that long. The tyrant may catch up with me and then all manner of hell will break loose.

Final note: the Agricultural Sector is doing well. The second (bumper) crop of peas is doing well, the beans (string and asparagus) are producing in sufficient quantity but the cucumber and zucchini vines are failing. No surprise since they were planted in the poorest soil I have ever seen. A few years of conditioning should take care of that. I've planted the second round of spinach/lettuce again since the roiling heat pretty much killed the sprigs from the last planting. Lessons learned: don't plant too early or you will fail. Much thanx to the Amish Hero-Dad and Super-Grandma for all the help with the 'farmers creed'.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Motorcycle | Karate | Children | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gardening, Gas, Karate, Medical Care, Motorcycle, Pushups

I'm a touch late with this, but it was a rather busy weekend. First off, we celebrated (remotely) Amish Hero Dad's birthday. The Tyranical Twins of Turpitude sang an eerie and somewhat disturbing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' over the phone. The Adam's family apparently was spooked when they heard the audio and reported similar instances of reality creep as was seen in 'The Ring'. But that was on Sunday ... Let's rewind a few hours, eh? Saturday afternoon was my time to roast on the hot tarmac of the Naval Air Base when I was taking my Motorcycle Safety Training Class. First off, I've NEVER ridden a motorcycle before so the whole clutch-shift thing was a little bit of a reach for me. And no, I have only ever driven a standard transmission vehicle once ... poorly. So, from 1300 hours till 1930, I was out there with a screaming hot engine beneath me with a full modular helmet and jacket on ... in the sun, Ninety degrees, on a square mile of asphalt. Yes, I was somewhat damp by the end of the class. I am, however, rather surprised at my ability to keep the damn thing upright and running even though I tended to end up in 3rd or 4th gear instead of 1st. Neutral was an outstandingly rare find for me. The written test is this coming Wednesday and the Road (Rash) Test is the following Saturday. If I keep my wits about me and Sgt Myers has a sense of humor (NOT!), I'll have a slim possibility of getting a 'Positive Evaluation'. So long as I do not lay the bike down in a 100 meter landslide of metal, rubber and flesh I'm going to call it a success.

Sunday was a slow day. Finally. We were going to head off to Sesame Place after morning Mass, but a phone call in the afternoon on the previous day called for an abrupt change of plans. Instead, we spend a big chunk of the day at the Seliga's Cloister with their Germanic buddies drinking beer and eating things that would make my Cardiologist gasp in horror. It was for a good cause, you know. Around 1300 hours the sky opened up and it rained thunder, lightning and tree-snapping winds for an hour or two. What a mess. Light out nearly every intersection and trees down in between. That alone would have made Sesame Place an utter disaster but there was this to contend with as well. I do believe that on the ticket, there is some mention of one's health prohibiting access. I mean, jeeze! Oddly enough, we blame the Fireworks at the Seliga Cloister some 6 years ago for the Mrs going into labor.

Final notes: My Monday Pushup Plan of 12/12/9/7/110 went all too smoothly so I'm considering doubling the counts. You are supposed to rest 90 seconds between sets, but I just don't have that sort of time! We will try to do the 32/26/22/22/MAX this Wednesday and see how it pans out. If it works as well as I think it will, I'll be doing 200 perfect push-ups ... [read:hubris]. This week will hence forth be known as 'Testy Week'. I have the 2 motorcycle test, a medical test on the morning of the 31st (more on that later, but it involves sedation) and the TSD test on August 2nd. I'll be going for the second stripe on my Red Belt, the Tyrants will be getting their Red Belt and their Black Do-Boks ... easier to put through the laundry. On top of that, it's the end of the Development Sprint at work so there is a lot of pressure [read:CRUNCH] to wrap up efforts on the project. Anyone have any extra positive vibes available, please send them my way.

Closing note: The Mrs just tanked up at $3.65/g USD at the corner station. No additional drilling, no additional production. Just words and speeches caused oil futures to slide into the $120/b range and it seems to be in free-fall now. It's making it really tough to make the ROI on the motorcycle/scooter to work out.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weekend | Karate | Children | Motorcycle | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Motorcycle, Pushups, Weekend

Well, I rolled the dice and managed to pull off 110 sucky pushups. Instead of the test, I did this as day 1 of week one (10/10/8/6/max) where my last set was the maximum number of pushups. I think I may have to 'refine' my technique though. Horrible I tell ya. My early interpolation and perversion of the schedule is most likely a bad sign too.

Other than the pushups, I'm spending the week focusing on the kids forms so that they will be ready for the test. It's a drive to make them insensate little warriors under my strict tutelage so that when August 2nd rolls around, they'll be confident enough to earn their red belt. The Tyrants can be apt to boredom once they learn a form so I need to help them with the focus ... but other than that, they seem to be on the right path. The next form is a real bugger though and I do not think that they will be able to do it in 3 months, but we shall see.

Dull post, eh? So much for all that bluster and bravado about being a more entertaining word-smith. One last thing of interest to note is that the gasoline prices in the area are down to $3.93 USD/gal ... interesting on many levels.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Karate | Children | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Pushups