Location: Bangor Airport

Checked in for the night before an early morning departure.  I have a good sore muscle burn going on right now, it was a great couple of days of seminars, got through the two sets, Rino’s school is full of great and fun people, we all had a blast.  And you know it’s been a good workout when you arrive at the hotel and realize that due to the time zone change you have now one extra hour for sleep.   Shaolin dreams…

Location: Grand Falls

Gone through Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, back to NB…

getting ready for the kung fu seminar I’ll be teaching this weekend.  It’s fun to be hanging out with a KF brother, went to a couple of his classses last night, we’ll be training a bunch tonight and it’s onto teaching 9 Province staff on saturday.  I’m as giddy as I was before getting on the train.

I’ll have to post a trip recap when I return — I’ve gotten less time and less net access along the way than I thought.

Train hard!  (ooo, a pun…)

The wafting of the weeks

Planning Permit for Addition:  Check!

I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks, going through a staff review.  However the guy behind the counter said “D’you want to do this now?” went ahead and gave me permit right then and there.  Having a complete and clear planning package helps, I think!

First Use of Own Stamp:  Check!

Very very exciting for me.

House Warming Party:  Check!

Held the party last Wednesday, and it was a blast, thanks to everyone who came out and made it a fabulous event.  I was really touched by how many people from my life were in my new house at once, cross-pollinating.  The house was packed, the conversation flowing, the tours ongoing, the discussions engaging the possibilities opening and the recommendations appreciated.  Thanks especially to Melissa for her catering and cooking expertise!

Start Teaching at New House:  Check!

The studio’s not yet built, but the classes have begun, and with my first students the kung fu and tai chi is now underway at Lakewood (not to mention my own practices).  I’m very excited, this is exactly what the house was intended for:  to forward what we (the inhabitants) are up to in our lives.

Third Ascent of Half Dome:  Check!

Trucked up to Yosemite this past weekend and had a great time hiking up Half Dome, my third visit to its peak (wow, been nine years already).  There was some threatening clouds on the horizon and overhead as we hiked up, but by the time we reached the cables they had blown away.  Always a fun and great hike.  Seemed a bit more strenuous than in previous years, though I attribute that to the fact I’ve not been working out hard lately due to some odd stomach issues (follows the old Chinese maxim:  Train one day, gain one day.  Miss a day, lose three days).  Took a whack of photographs and got some nice ones, I’ll edit them and try to get them up soon (more likely mostly the more artistic ones, I think my Yosemite page already has enough of the ‘regulars’).  Met some new folks, geeked out on some fun stuff while driving (making us miss a turn off while driving, oops!), and made some squirrel friends (including one who nibbled on my finger).  And also met on the trail two people I knew from the Bay Area (with no prior plans or knowledge they’d be up there), very amusing.

First Rain of the Season:  Check!

Er, oops.  Wasn’t expecting that one.  We have things about that while not fully exposed weren’t exactly 100% protected.  Thought we had a bit longer to go at least…

Composting Begun:  Check!

Yay!  The composter is going.  Food is going in.  Soon compost coming out.  Hooray!

Next Issue of Aurora Out:  Check!

Issue 3.5 – still going strong.

District 9 Seen:  Check!

Enjoyed it muchly.

Much Coming Up:  Check!

As always… woo!

QotD and more

”I have found that most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

And how!

I am now officially entered the newest phase of geekdom, for I have taken my notebook to a coffee shop (to drink tea, naturally) and connected wirelessly and surfed/worked for a bit.  And am now posting this via said notebook (albeit at home).  Hooray!

Washer and dryer are being delivered tomorrow morning, also a big hooray.  It’ll be grand to have in-house laundry, especially a nice front loader, and no quarters…

Fun push hands practice today, and got to push with Sifu for about 45 mins on Tuesday playing around and even getting into some freeform.  Wow.  Much to develop there, and way fun.

Kitchen still needs cleaning and putting together, going to work more on that this weekend, along with plans et al for the house addition.  Talked to someone today about starting up a new green venture/partnership that could prove very exciting.

And may the bay blow a cold breeze our way tonight…

Here be cool stuff!

I’m not much of a car fan. If you’re wanting me to get excited about a SAAB, you’d best be talking about the JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter (which is indeed VERY sexy) rather than something an two wheels. But the new Tesla Model S sedan has me very excited indeed. A totally EV vehicle with a 300 mile range? 45 min recharge time or a five minute battery swap? Seats five adults plus two children AND is a of a hatchback design for large loads? Two trunks? And hits 100kph in about 5.5 seconds? I’m SOLD. The looks are pretty great too… though the bullet point list above classifies the car, looks or no, as sexxxy. 2011, please come quickly.

On a different front, GT’s Kombucha has released 3 new flavours, labelled No 3, No 7 and No 9. And they are all great!   Just the Kombucha with hints of things like elderberry, red clover and orange peel.  No 3 is very tasty, and No 9 has an interesting twist of flavours that make it very fun. Plus, you know, it’s Kombucha which is just awesome.

I got to this Ronald Jenkees vid through a roundabout way and it is way fun. The song itself is pretty funky and cool, and what I really love is the fun this guy has, he’s just into the music and even cooler than that is his HANDS. Watch those things, he just uses whatever works, they move fast, switch shape, play with the keys and just go wild and wildly unconventional. Nice.

Lastly, here’s a vid of my kung fu brother Jaime being pwned repeatedly by Sifu Lam, from many many many years ago. Jaime put it together and showed it at Sifu’s 60th birthday party. Besides the beauty of it, Sifu’s smirk at 1:42 is just priceless.

Full of fullness

Ah, another catch-up post.

Went climbing last Saturday with Dave at the Belmont PG, had a great time, did some footwork I haven’t done in many years, and just played around the whole time.  Good Kung Fu practice on Sunday, we’ve now learned Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Horse, Turtle, Rooster, Hawk and Swallow (what, African or European?).  Also practiced much Hung Gar with Rev.  The evening saw a very fun DnD session, with evil ethereal calls to watery doom, locked doors, tapestries with hidden images, crazed fanatics attacking and a rain that would not cease.  Not necessarily in that order…

Monday I awoke to my legs feeling as though someone had dung several xacto blades into them.  Very weird, a sharp-ish pain that was close to the surface, rather than the more usual deep-down muscle pain.   Lasted all the way until and through class on Tuesday, then went away overnight as suddenly as it came.  Hmm.  Also did my first Iron Palm practice of the year (yay!) and had a great practice today with Evan.

Much of my other time has been filled with studying, studying and more studying.  The date fast approaches!  Prep, prep, prep!

With great fanfare I have released my first 4e game material/rules/stuff!  I also got interviewed!  Woo for Aurora!

For a break, I present for you two videos, the first very nifty (sheep + LEDs + time = amusing), the second is guaranteed to asplode your head if you have a low tolerance for ky00teness, and guaranteed to get stuck in your head.  Which is precisely why I share it… so that I’m not the only one with it going on, and on, and on, and on…. enjoy!

Ta-hoOOOOOO

In keeping with the tradition (woo!) Dave is down this week for the GDC and we headed up to Tahoe for our weekend of skiing bliss.  And what a weekend to be up there!

Saturday saw conditions that were fast, with some scrappy ice patches at the top of the slopes, with some semi-heavy well-used cover down near the end of the runs.  The slopes were mostly well groomed, with a few having very rough golf-ball like chop near the top.  We hit up our favourite runs and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  As the day progressed several snow squalls washed over the mountain, going from sunny to windy with small hail, back to sunny.  And the clouds, they were fast moving, I tell ya!

Why?  Well, all the better to dump some snow on us.  About 18” worth.  w00t!

Sunday dawned with the trees picturesquely heavy with the powdery bounty.  Up on the slopes there was many a spot to carve your own trail, and most runs naturally played themselves out over the day as they were used up, leaving some with powdery moguls and others with more packed bumps.  The air wasn’t too cold, so it wasn’t the fluffiest of powder and a bit slow in the thick of it.  A great contrast to the day before and certainly a tonne of fun (not to mention a great leg workout).  The best wipeout of the day had me get tied up in the powder and land skis uphill, flumphing into the pillow-like snow and burying myself partially.  You know when you’re underwater with goggles and you see that underwater scene and it’s kinda weird?  It was like that, only with snow rather than water, pressing up against my goggles as my head was buried under snow… a very nifty and unique view.

Despite my only getting out once a year I had a few “moments of clarity” while skiing, just playing around with body positions and movements (throwing in some Tai Chi thoughts here and there for good measure too) to see what could be missing that would get my skill up some.  I lost them to an extent on the next runs but just kept playing the whole day, and if I can keep that until next year it’ll be great to build from.  Capping off the fabulousness of the skiing weekend, there was almost no one on the slopes (!), leading to basically no lines for any of the lifts.  I kept experiencing time dilation on Saturday, expecting it to be later in the day given the number of times down the slopes and then seeing no, we still have lots of ski time.

Here are some pics of the slopes!

The deep powder! * Carving trails! * Fluffy all over * Mmm, nice slopes

Going down looked like this * Sunday ski surface

Off the slopes the weekend was fantastic too, with film, food and friends.  To end this post, a few words of warning:  if you park at a hotel in SF, just for a few hours, figuring that it may be a bit more expensive than other lots but what the heck, it’s only a little while, well, you’ll be $45 incorrect too.  Ouch!

I call this condition…

Pleasantly sore.   Good KF workout last night…

Mini update

Things on the whole have been delightfully busy. I’m being all resist-y at work today, dunno what’s up with that. Finally we are getting our needed rain. The integration of Street View into the new version of Google Earth has proven very useful to me already. Took on a game to do 100 Xing Yi jumping dragons by the end of the year. Been flying around a bit in Flight Sim.

We’ve been holding some of our user meetings for the new Nano Center in one of the conference rooms in the Y2E2 building, and it’s been very cool. Even during this week, when it’s been overcast, we’ve held some 10 hours of meetings, looking over drawings and plans and making notes and all that, and we’ve never had to turn on the lights. With the window open to the atrium and natural ventilation it’s also been perfectly comfortable in the room. Wow, I just love that.

Fromage Fantastique

Tugrik did another brilliant video job, all sparkled up too!  It’s me doing some kicks at his FC 2009 photoshoot, with a cheese factor that I just love…  See it here:  http://www.vimeo.com/3046492 !