Some random thoughts...

Practiced 4th spear last night... I think I am getting it down. I can get through the whole thing and didn't have to think about it. Did iron palm again for the first time in months. Amazingly the arms were just fine. 35 rolls with little to no pain. The shins however, that's well, completely different. I was lucky to get 10. Suck.

Got a giant chunk, in fact finished the "a side" of broadsword two man set. I love it... so much fun.

Realized that I need to do a lot more  "working out" than I have been...

Watched the new South Park... I am so happy to see someone publicly stating just how incredibly bad the last Indiana Jones movie was. I mean literally scenes of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg holding down and raping the Indiana Jones character. Freakin hilarious.

This morning, while I was making breakfast, I had CNN on and was watching some stuff on the economy and then I had an interesting thought. Ever watch "House"? Well, the majority of episodes follow a similar format. House is a savant at diagnosing people.

At the beginning of every episode, someone comes in with some mystery disease. They think it's this, then they think it's that. They run some tests, maybe some against the persons will. Sometimes they use shady tactics to get the patient to do what they want. In the end, most of the time, a successful diagnosis is made and the patient is saved.

I told you that to tell you this. Imagine now, if you will, that our economy is the patient and the federal government and the federal reserve are "House". The only difference, though, is that in our case, the economy doesn't have House for a doctor. They have a failing first year medial student that doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. It seems at this point, the patient should have died about 3 seasons ago, but, well, this med school fuck up apparently knows enough to keep said patient in a persistent vegetative state. Time to pull the plug, in my opinion.

Seriously, I am not saying I can do any better. I am not trained in the ways of national and global economies, however, it is my understanding that THESE PEOPLE ARE?!?!?!? The words "spend less than you have available" seem to be logical.

On a final note, while I was tagging this blog, I saw some tags I haven't used in a while, particularly "optimistic" and "proud". There are things in my life that I am very optimistic and very proud of, however, many of my recent posts have been government/politics related.  So, with regard to the United States and the direction that it's going. I am neither optimistic nor proud. Sad... I know...

So sad in fact that I have been thinking more and more about the people I would like to band with when the shit really hits the fan. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy, but whatever. Can anyone say kung fu commune in the middle of nowhere?

Ok, I'm done now. Bye.

Just a quickie...

What a weird morning. Both of us were up at like 4am. WIDE AWAKE.

Needless to say, I am hella tired now. I went to class this morning, then over to Sodade for some tea and to hang with Nik for a bit.

I then had to stop at the god forsaken AT&T store. Why?, you ask? Well, I have had no service on my phone for 2 days now. You don't think that has anything to do with my recent switch to UVERSE does it? Hmm. Well, upon arrival at the AT&T store, I tell the sales associate my dilemma. He is very empatheeeetic and does some keyboard acrobatics only to find that my account, has indeed, been canceled.

I can only surmise that things occurred in the following manner. Last Sunday, I had DISH! network, and AT&T DSL/home phone. My cell phone bill is rolled into this bill as well. I received a call notifying me that UVERSE is now available in my area. Woopie!I kindly ask if, once my home phone and DSL are disconnected if I can have my cellular bill rolled into my UVERSE bill. "Sure, no problem. I will make a note on your account", he says. No problem indeed.

Apparently, whatever ape they have processing orders at AT&T interpreted that note as "cancel account... ooo oo oo aaa aaa aaaa". Awesome.

So, after about 30 min of standing around the AT&T store, my service was restored. Thank you AT&T. Can I have my time back now please?

Incidentally, while I was there, I used an iPhone to send notifications to boss to let him know that I was going to be back online soon as I was stranded in the AT&T store, held hostage until this issue was resolved.

I should have never touched the iPhone. Now, I really want one. Sigh...

Back to work...

What the...

I have felt like utter crap this week. Chewed up and spit out. I am not sure if it's the whole "getting back to class" thing or what, but I have had no energy and have not woken up any day feeling rested and ready for the day. More like, I have woken up feeling like I had been doing calisthenics or something all night. I am achy and tired.

My back finally feels almost better. It has been sore since Tuesday. I can finally bend more than 20 degrees without saying "aaaaaahhhhhhhh". This week I have found myself finding reasons to not go to class. Does my body just need the rest? From what??? This morning I woke up and said, "I think I should not do anything tonight"... but that's what I did LAST NIGHT! Maybe I will take a nap today and see how I feel after that.

I have been working a lot.

I have been working on a lot of training. Particularly at this moment, I am about 1/2 done with Flex3 training on Lynda.com. I am also trying to find out all I can about Microsoft Dynamics. If you know anything about that, I would love to hear it.

I love my new job.

Last night, I was telling V about some of the cool features of Flex3 and she just told me that it was nice to see me so animated and excited about something. It was then that I told her what I had been feeling since I started this new job. I AM excited about what I am learning. I was never happy after coming home after a day at <previous company>.

Granted, I am working a hell of a lot more than I did at <previous company> but, I love all this stuff and I feel like my employee marketability is coming back. It's like my brain had been dormant since October of 2004.

Back to Flex3 training... later.

In Mississippi!

(I wrote this on 4.19.2008, but couldn't post it until today)

We are in Mississippi!

The trip yesterday was pretty good. We ended up leaving a bit later than planned, but we still got here at the time that Victoria had predicted.

Overall, the road trip was pretty uneventful. We stopped twice - once for breakfast and once for gas and lunch. Although I was somewhat restless by the end, it went by pretty quickly.

We got to Philadelphia around 530pm. After a brief tour through the town, we arrived at Victoria’s father’s house where I met her father, step mother, her brother and one of his brothers friends. When we arrived, her brother (who is 11) was riding around on the motor cross track that his father built for him. It was pretty cool to see.

After visiting with them for a bit, we left to go to Victoria’s Granny’s house. This house is on 140 acres, which is, to be honest, unfathomable for me as:

a) I have no concept of how big an actual acre is.

b) I grew up in New York City. There is no such thing as an acre. We deal in sq. ft.

Anyway, she was very nice and cooked us one of Victoria’s favorite dinners called “Chicken Spaghetti”. This is something that I had never heard of, but will soon be trying to learn how to make. It was delicious. The dinner was accompanied by some delicious sweet tea. Also a first for me.

The dinner was followed by your choice of:

a) Cornflake candy – also delicious.

b) Coconut cake – holy crap.

c) Caramel cake – I didn’t taste this as, well, I just couldn’t eat anymore.

After dinner, we left and came back to her dad’s place. We ended up going to sleep around 930 or 10. We were both shot.

I woke up this morning and thought it was 10am, when in fact, it was only 630am. I guess that is what going to sleep early will do for you.

Today’s agenda will include going to eat some Greek food for lunch at a place called Keifer’s with Victoria’s other set of grandparents. Then after some visiting, we will go to her friend’s wedding.

See ya!

Not feeling great...

I am not sure what has been up with me lately. I am just not feeling good. Not sick or anything, just physically tired and drained.

For the past week or so, I have been feeling this way... tired... sore... all I really want to do physically is lay in bed. Maybe it's the weather, I don't know. Maybe I just need to not do anything at all for a week or so.

Yesterday, I tried to go to class in the morning. I didn't feel good on the way, and honestly, I should have just gone home, but I went anyway. I got through 45 min of class then had to stop b/c I was feeling, well, not good. I did get the rest of SeaDragon Cane though, so it wasn't a total bust. 2 out of 5 down for the black belt test in August.

My grandparents are here visiting. I have been having fun with them. I think they are having a good time too.

Today's OM

Do you know a complainer? I know a few, and am one myself at times. I liked this article, so I thought I would post it.

February 12, 2008
Tearing Down To Rebuild
Rethinking Complaining

We all know someone who has elevated the process of complaining to a high art. Sometimes funny, sometimes exhausting, these people have the ability to find a problem just about anywhere. In its more evolved form, complaining is simply the ability to see what’s not working, in one’s own life or in the external world, and it can be quite useful if followed to its natural conclusion—finding a solution and applying it. However, many of us don’t get that far, and we find that complaining has become an end in itself. In small doses, this is not a big problem, but if complaining has become a huge part of our identities, it may be time to take a good look at how we are spending our energy.

Complaining is a person’s way of acknowledging that they are not happy with the way things are. In a metaphorical way, when we complain or criticize, we are tearing down an undesirable structure in order to make room for something new. But if all we do is tear down, never bothering to summon the creative energy required to create something new, we are not fulfilling the process. In fact, we are at risk for becoming a stagnant and destructive force in our own lives and in the lives of the people we love. Another issue with complaining is that we sometimes tend to focus on other people, whom we can’t change, as a way of deflecting attention from the one person we can change—ourselves. So transforming complaining into something useful is a twofold process that begins with turning our critical eye to look at things we can actually do something about, and then taking positive action.

When we find ourselves complaining, the last thing we need to do is get down on ourselves. Instead, we can begin by noticing that we are in the mode of wanting to make some changes. But rather than lashing out at somebody or an organization, we can look for an appropriate place to channel this energy—not our neighbor’s house, but possibly parts of our own. Finally, we can ask ourselves the positive question of what we would like to create in the place of whatever it is we want to tear down. When we do this, we channel a negative habit into a creative process, thus using our energy to change the world around us in a positive way.

Don't feel like working...

Well, I guess the title there says it all. I really don't fell like working. This day started off with me not being able to get out of bed. It's dreary outside... why would I want to get up?? To go to my job? I think not. I don't think I look forward to that on a good day.

 

Anyway... I get up, get ready, and leave around 9 because by then the traffic is light. Right? Nope, not today. I absolutely LOVE construction on a fucking Monday morning during rush hour. Who's idea was this? Let's hurt him...

 

All told, it took me about an hour and half of rolling before I finally got to work. It was... awesome. The worst part was when we finally passed the construction area, the traffic STILL didn't pick up. As in, there were no more obstacles, but people were still driving as if there were. Go figure.

 

So, hopefully, then next hour or so will go by and feel like 30 seconds. I hate pretending that I care about this crap anymore.

 

On the social front, things have been a lot better than the last post I made. I don't know what was up with me that night. I have been working hard on being more personable when I go out and starting conversations with more people. I have even seen a few girls since then. Nothing serious...

 

I am tired... meh... oh well... back to work... or something...

Good lunch class...

• 9 min jump rope... still getting better.
• Tabata Ab stuff
• Reviewed 8 animal pakua...
• Started Tai Chi Broadsword...

... word ...

101 in 1001

Ryon showed me this site yesterday:

This idea is an alternative for a "New Year's Resolution". Resolutions are lame. We all know it. How many years have you made a new year's resolution, stuck to it for 3 weeks, then returned to your normal <whatever your resolved to change>? How many years have you made the SAME resolution that you did the previous year, then flake out?

This idea, I think, is great. Instead of just one year, you get 1001 days which is (1001/365 = ) 2.742468 years. In this time, you set 101 goals to accomplish. They can be major ones, but they don't have to be. They can be something as simple as "hang a picture" or "take a class on <x>".

I have decided that I want to do this.

Last night, I went to the new "It's a Grind" that just opened by my house and started getting my list in place. I've got about 69 things on there so far. Just 32 more to go. I split mine up into 4 categories. These may change, but here goes:

Personal/Mental	Physical
1. Meditate no less than 3x /week. 2. Read at least 1 book per month. 3. Wash my car 2x/month. 4. Wax car every 6 months. 5. Don’t forget a birthday. 6. Talk to at least 1 stranger / week. 7. Meet a friend for coffee at least once a week. 8. Cook something new at minimum once per week. 9. Incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet. 10. Complain less. 11. Swear/cuss less. 12. Shave every 2 days. 13. Pay down debt. 14. Do not buy things that I do not need. 15. Watch less TV. 16. Use the computer less. 17. Don’t stay home as much. 18. Downgrade Dish! Network to cheapest plan possible. 19. Downgrade home phone service to cheapest plan possible. 20. Do not participate in negative speech regarding others. 21. Invite friends over to my house more often. 22. Become friends with Stephanie. 23. Don’t be afraid to go on a date. 24. Go to a show every once in a while. 25. Write for 5 minutes per day before I go to sleep. 26. Call my grandparents 2x/week. 27. Go to Spain with Jose. 28. Stop looking for a girl. 29. Go to a comedy club once a month. 30. See a movie once a month. 31. Eat sushi 2x / month.	1. Obtain my 2nd Black Belt. 2. Do something physical no less that 4x/week. 3. Relearn 4 roads of Meteor Fist. 4. Purchase a bicycle. 5. Ride bicycle. 6. See a dentist 2x/year. 7. See an optometrist 2x/year. 8. Get a physical 1x/year. 9. Try acupuncture. 10. Practice Chi Gung at least 2x/week. 11. Learn Tai Chi Broadsword. 12. Learn Tai Chi Broadsword 2 man set. 13. Practice Chen Tai Chi at least 2x/week.
Career	House
1. Move to a position that stimulates me mentally. 2. Move to a position where I care about the work that I am doing. 3. Stop counting the minutes until Friday 5pm. 4. Pick a programming project that I have always wanted to implement and do it.	1. Build fire pit in the back yard. 2. Build shelving in the garage. 3. Build work bench in the garage. 4. Obtain and hang a ceiling fan in the living room. 5. Box out front flower beds and trees. 6. Replant flowerbeds. 7. Start an herb garden. 8. Install garage door opener. 9. Vacuum once a week. 10. Mop floors once a month. 11. Change air filters. 12. Purchase Christmas decorations. 13. Decorate guest bathroom. 14. Decorate guest bedroom. 15. Get new, more comfortable desk for the office. 16. Hang framed prints from Europe. 17. Decorate the master bedroom. 18. Hook up computer surround sound. 19. Mow lawn as needed. Don’t be a slacker. 20. Fertilize lawn 2x/year. 21. Obtain furniture for front porch.

 So, that's it or for now. I will find more later.

About to go to sleep...

I thought I would write a bit before I went to sleep.

Today turned out to be a pretty good day. I ended up leaving work around 530 or so. When I got to my school, I started off with Chen Tai Chi. It felt better to me today than it ever has. It took me a total of 25 minutes to get through the whole thing. That is a rarity, but it really helped me to get my mind of things.

My class went well too. I had 3 students finish up on Tai Chi 24. I then helped someone finish "Buddha Fist" and then another student get a handle on some Pakua.

As I was leaving, my friend Tommy says, "what, no food?". So, I ended up going to Kirby Lane to get some food with Tommy and Elizabeth. That is good b/c I didn't really feel like cooking anything. I just got something light.

I am not looking forward to my 7am meeting tomorrow. I am not a fan of Tuesdays. I think that tomorrow night, we are going to see Beowulf. I am sure that will be fun.

So tired... going to sleep.

Ups and Downs

I used to watch "Married with Children" a lot when I was younger. I remember an episode in particular where Alphonse Hercules Bundy AKA Al Bundy had a really awesome streak of good luck. For the entire episode though, he could not bring himself to enjoy it because he knew that whenever he had good luck, bad luck was following close behind. Everything good that happened to him would be followed by an equally bad sequence of events.

I remember, a few months ago, writing about how everything was going really well. The house was good, I loved my job, everything relationship-wise was going well both personal and public. I also remember saying to myself, "enjoy this now, it probably won't be around forever". It seems at this point, I was right.

Much like Al, I am hitting a rough spot. I wouldn't say that I am anywhere near where Al was in terms of the bad. I mean... he was gambling against the mob and winning (Royal Flush, if I remember correctly). As soon as he won, a whole slew of bad stuff happened to him. This isn't totally the case with me. Nothing really horrible is happening, just well, not great.

I suppose this brings up the idea of ups and downs, good and bad, cyclical times in our lives. Who is to say what is good and what is bad? These are labels that we apply to things to mold our reality into something that we can handle; something that we can cope with. We apply these labels to things and then make up reasons to support said label in an attempt to make things right for us, in our own heads.

Case in point. I thought moving to Texas was going to be really bad. Really, REALLY bad! I could have thought of a million reasons as to why I should not go. A million reasons as to why I would fail and why I should just straight up not do it. But now, I look back and can see that I could not have been more wrong. In hindsight, it was actually really good.

For a while, I enjoyed being happy with every single thing and aspect in and of my life. I guess this reinforces the idea that all things pass. Good passes and so shall the bad. Everything passes. Even us.

Paths

Everyone has their own path. It is laid before them, at all times. You can choose to either see this path or not. Maybe your choice is made consciously or maybe it isn't. Regardless, your path is there whether you choose to see it or not. Don't confuse path with destiny or lack of free will. I am pretty sure that you have free will while you are on the path, but, decisions that you make can either keep you on or distract you from said path.

At various points in your life, you will meet other people. I know, you meet people everyday, but I'm talking about important people. Life changing people. You may think that their path is now yours or yours is now theirs, but look more closely. There are ALWAYS two paths. ALWAYS. They do not become one, they intertwine. Eventually, they will separate.

The separation is not necessarily a bad thing.

People attach meanings to things and events that aren't always correct, yet when then events happen, we have this compulsion to "feel" a certain way. Take the example of the child that falls down. Perhaps he hasn't yet been conditioned to think that falling down is "bad". He's not hurt. He gets up and carries on his merry way. Now, take that same child a few years later. He falls down, is not hurt, but thinks for a second, and starts crying. Why? Because he has learned that falling down is a bad thing. Where did he learn this? Who knows... where did YOU learn it?

I digress. The point here is that your life is about you. You and only you control your theater of experience. Although you are not in control over what thoughts and emotions arise within you, you ARE in control of the actions that you take regardless of what emotions are present. You need to take right actions despite what thoughts and emotions you might be thinking/feeling. This what being an adult is.

Anyway... I think I have rambled long enough. It's time to get some stoopid work done.

Fun weekend

I thought I would take a break from work for a few to write about the weekend. This weekend was a lot of fun. We spent some good times with some good friends.

Friday night, we didn't do much. These days, we are both so tired on Friday nights that we usually just have a chill night at home.

Saturday, we went to Costco in the morning to pick up some stuff then we had around 20 people over for the UFC pay per view. They didn't leave until around 1am or so. We had tons of food and a lot of laughs.

Sunday, we went to this place called Hamilton Pool just east of Austin with Julie and Jimmy. That was really a lot of fun. I liked it a lot better than Barton Springs b/c the ground isn't all slimey and gross.

Sunday night, Nik came over and we watched Lucky Number Slevin. Pretty good movie if you like retribution type stuff.

Back to the grind today though...

DUN ... done ...

I am done... DUN DONE with my Christmas shopping. I finally stopped by a few places and finished up getting Steph some stuff for her stocking. I think that she will like it.

I am so god damn tired. I went to four different places tonight trying to find two god damn things. Nutella and wonton skins. One store ( HEB ) had ONE (1) jar of Nutella. I guess 50% isn't that bad. I can go to the Asian market tomorrow for some wonton skins. This is for Steph to make chocolate wontons to being over to Carina's house on Christmas. Sounds delicious and well worth the running around.

While I was out, I also bought another Dan Millman book. I read "The Path of the Peaceful Warrior" and I absolutely loved it. I have been wanting to read another one of his books for quite some time now. I also got a book of shots of NYC from the air for like $6... very cool.

Other than that, I know that I am supposed to be happy and all but I just feel kinda sad lately. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for Christmas and spending it with Steph and her family. I think it's just that I miss my family a lot. The realization that this is my first Christmas in 26 years ever away from them is saddening, but I guess it had to happen at some point.

I have also been tired and sorta burnt from working. I have been going through training for DB2 and Domino. That has been exhausting due to all of the waiting around that I have to due during exercises. If you have dealt with these products before, you will know what I am talking about.

At any rate, Steph should be home in a bit and I have to go finish up dinner. Happy holidays to all!

Soccer - 1st and Last time...

So today was not so bad. I had a relatively easy day at work, came home and chilled out for a bit. Jose has been asking me for a while to try playing the goal keeper for his soccer team, so not being one to say that I don't like things without trying them, I went and played from about 630PM -> 8PM tonight.

It wasn't horrible, but I really didn't like it all that much. I don't think I want to join the team. I pretty much have about 0 interest in playing soccer. No offense to all that play it. It clearly takes a lot of skill. I found my love and I think I will stick to that. Sorry guys...