Karate Tournament

This past Weekend we had a Kempo Tournament that both Rachel and I competed in. I did pretty well I thought, I placed 1st in forms, and kempos, and 2nd in sparring. Then I picked up a trophy for side thrust kick board breaking as well. Rachel also did very well, getting 2 firsts and a second? She beat all the other girls at palm strike by breaking 3 boards! I fear her hands.....

Anyways, mom was there and managed to get some pictures... though they might be a little funny looking.... well lets find out!


This last one is of Carlos, he is a 4 year old that I teach his private lessons on Wednesday nights. He received 2 first place trophies and a 2nd place! He did awesome, and he was super excited and wanted to get a picture with me lol. By the way he is the cutest kid ever.

Unfortunately I was unable to get a video of my weapons form this year, due to technical difficulties with the camera (read: droid 2 phone) that we were using. But here is a video of me doing my form Pinan 5 tonight at academy. Which was the form I did and got 1st place at the tournament.
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Aaaannnndd.. Here is a link to someone who videoed all the black belt part of the competition if you are all interested/curious.

Random Kempo Pictures

About a month or two ago we had a proffesional photographer come in and take a bunch of pictures of the instructors for Kempo. Here are some of me.

This is a nice black and white. I don't know if its because of the black and white, but I think I have a fierce jawline in this picture.

Or maybe I just have a scary grin. I've been asked before by people in kempo why I look so serious when doing karate.....

So much easier when not posing on one leg.

This last one is to prove that I did in fact know where the camera was, and I just chose not to look at it. So there.

Game of Thrones

This past weekend "A Game of Thrones" on HBO first aired. Today it was announced that the series has already been renewed by HBO for a second season! To say the least I'm excited by this series. The first episode titled "Winter is Coming" was excellent, better than I could have imagined. Of course a lot was left out from the transition between book to series. But I felt they nailed it as well as they could. The actors and acting was suberb. Is there a better person to portray Ned Stark than Sean Bean? Cersei Lannister than Lenna Headly of 300 fame?

As I said before the show left out a lot from the book, but instead focused on some of the main characters and interactions. You see the relationships and characters that are most important already set up. The rivalry between Eddard Stark and Jamie Lannister is clearly set up, as you see them as clear opposites. The perfect and dreamy Sansa Stark is foiled against the youthful and tomboy of Arya Stark. And Bran is shown in his youthful innocence climbing over the walls of Winterfell fearlessly. And of course watching Cersei Lannister watch her husband flirt with other women and drink himself drunk at the party, and not to mention the first thing he does is visit the grave of the woman he loved, Ned's sister. You can't help but sympathiyze with her... and yet you know what dreadful secret she holds. She is not a good person.... My favorite though was how they set up the relationship between Jamie and Tyrion, the two brothers, Jamie the perfect knight, and Tyrion the dwarf, despised. And yet the two have a clearly fun and healthy brotherly relationship. I only mourn the fact that these two characters will not have much more screen time together this season. And who can forget the ending of the episode, and how Jamie Lannister uttered the words "The things I do for love" and sets into motion one of the major plots of the season. Epic, and perfect.

As much as they got right, they left a lot out. As such I really do encourage you to read the books! Much of the events that is happening here is due to the civil war that happened prior to the series. When Ned's brother and Father were called down to Kings Landing by the mad Targaryen King, Danareys and Visery's father, only to be killed horribly. How, the king similarly held Ned's sister hostage. How he then, after the death of his father and brother, the King called down Ned and Robert Baratheon to King's Landing, who were being fostered by Jon Arryn. Rather than go to their deaths they decided to rebel. Bringing in house Stark, Baratheon, Arryn, and the Tully's in rebellion against the King. On the other side was the Targaryens, the Lannisters, Terells, and the Dornes. Splitting the kingdom in Civil War from the North and the East, versus the West and the South. And how Robert Baratheon faught the Prince Rheagar Targaryen on the battle of the Trident, killing him in that decisive battle. Afterwards the House Lannister betrayed the Targaryens, and Jamie Lannister, of the King's Guard, Killed the mad king while he was still on the throne, thus ending the war and placing Robert Baratheon on the throne.

Anyways, I digress. This is good stuff guys, you should watch the show, and read the books....

Furlough

So with it ever looking more and more likely like the government will be shutting down here next week, some perhaps are wondering how that might affect me.

I am happy to say that the patent office will not shut down next week. We received notice from the Director that the patent office has funds to keep us open for a maximum of 6 days. Meaning that as long as the government doesn't shut down longer than 6 days, I should be relatively unaffected. Which is a relief. Don't get me wrong, I would have enjoyed the vacation.... just not the no pay part of it all...

That being said, if the government shuts down Rachel will still have to go into work, but might not get paid for it. She is considered to have an essential job, so she still has to go in. However, there is a chance that she might not get reimbursed even so. I read somewhere that someone is threatening to sue them in that case as infringing on the 13th amendment (no slavery).

Anyways, here's hoping politicians can do their jobs and work out a budget before they have to shut down the government. I'm hoping this all becomes purely academic....

China Itinerary

I just got the itinerary for China.

July 20 Depart USA for China
July 21 Arrive BeiJing
July 22 Beijing Touring
July 23 Beijing Touring
July 24 Train to Terra Cotta
July 25Fly to Giulin and Drive to Yangshou
July 26 Yangshou Rafting
July 27 Fly to Shaolin
July 28 Shaolin
July 29 Shaolin
July 30 Shaolin an afternoon flight to Beijing
July 31 Depart for USA
July 31 Sunday back in USA

So yes, that's 4 days at the Shaolin temple in China, where we get to train kung fu with the monks. How awesome is that? I also heard the rumor that one of those days at least will be devoted to weapons. So they might split up the group and you get to choose what weapon to learn, to be taught from the monks themselves! I'm pretty psyched about that part. My really only complaint is that I'll most likely have to choose only one weapon.....

Another cool thing, is that Grand Master Damasco, who is the main man behind this trip, will be doing an exhibition form, which will be awesome. But also I believe my own Sensei, Sensei Santillo is also rumored to be doing a demonstration form. So I'm pretty excited about all of that. It will be super cool.

And of course since this is a Kempo trip... there will be daily martial arts training. It should be fun and unique for sure.

Some long overdue Updates

First things first I suppose. Two weeks ago I tested for my new belt, which was a Full Green Belt. It was a lot of fun and what was so great, was that I was testing with a lot of friends from the Dojo. That is always a blast, as we all knew each other, and could just really enjoy the test. Even if it was one of the most exhausting tests ever, lasting 2 hours and 45 minutes of constant exercise and karate. By the end I was getting dizzy just standing there, from exhaustion and probably dehydration lol. But we all made it through it and it was a blast.

Then the next Tuesday at academy, the main instructor presented me with a test invitation for brown belt, in a week and a half. For brown belt there is a special advanced test, that takes place once every about three months. This particular one was scheduled for March 25th, or a in a week and a half from when I got the test invite. I was both surprised and absolutely honored to get a test invite for the next rank, literally a few days after I just tested for my previous rank lol. But at the same time, I was a little worried as I knew how exhausting tests were.

What made it worst last Saturday, the main instructor Sensei Santillo asked me "so, what are you doing cardio wise to train for the next next Friday?". Holy crap I had train physically for the test? And I only had a week? He kinda freaked me out to say the least lol. But in the end tonight's test wasn't so bad really. It turned out to be more technical than physically exhausting. Don't get me wrong, it was still physically exhausting, but it was more, getting tired from doing lots of karate, and less from doing tons of exercises, so it was more fun in my opinion.

Anyways, here is a picture I took of my most recent three belts, with their rank certificates.
As you can see, the Brown belt certificate is bigger, because it's better I guess.

In other news, as of Monday I will be promoted at work as well. This is a promotion to GS-13, and is a big promotion. It is a large increase in work, 15%, where all my previous promotions were a 10% increase. Also, at the end of 20 weeks, I start the partial signatory program, where I start being able to send out actions without them being reviewed by my boss first. At this point my production will increase by another 10%, so 25% more work than what I am doing right now. 20 weeks from now is Mid August, or about the time of our August vacation. But the good news is that it is also a significant jump in pay, and I get my own office.

As you can see, there are no windows whatsoever, making it feel like a large closet with a desk and a computer in it. Nevertheless, it is all mine, and I don't have to share it with anyone! Also as you can see, I found nice home for the painting that Caleb made for me. However, as you can also see, I still have plenty of wall space, in case Caleb ever wants to make some more paintings for me!

Also, as one more random aside, I got Rachel to get HBO on her cable so that I can watch A Game of Thrones on HBO next month!

Anyways, I know I have rambled on quite a bit so far. I know Stephen will complain. But then I think he is just jealous that I post more than just random youtube videos that I find online.

Red Belt - Sempai

Last weekend I tested for my Red Belt. The Red belt is a special belt and basicaly means I am now an official assistant instructor, or a Sempai. The Red Belt doesn't advance me in rank persay, but does indicate that they believe I am qualified to be an instructor. As a result, its a really cool thing.