Archive for January, 2007

Last year, I managed to train karate a total of 79 times. My goal was to train twice a week for the year; excluding 2 weeks for vacations and such. That would have given me a total of 100 workouts. I didn’t quite make it. I averaged 1.5 workouts per week.

At first I was a little disappointed with myself, but then I got to thinking about the year. I missed a lot of classes because of my father’s 3 month ordeal with cancer, which caused me to miss at least one class a week. Then, my uncle suffered from the same cancer, and I missed several classes due to that. In addition, I missed several classes due to work related reasons. Overall, I should have really missed many more classes than I did. Fortunately, I was able to make up many of the missed classes by visiting my old dojo, and squeaking in instructor training sessions in St. Louis.

I’m not happy that I didn’t make my goal, but I am satisfied with it. I hope that 2007 will be a much better year for training. So far it’s turning out to be.

Tonight was the annual holiday party for my company. It was pretty typical as far as company holiday parties go. For those who don’t know, the company I work for is very… conservative. I love my company, and I definitely agree with most of their political positions. I like the companies philosophies and culture, but sometimes they just go a bit too far for my tastes.

At the holiday party, they actually have someone get up on the microphone and say grace. Tonight was a first. Tonight marked the first time in my life when I’ve actually heard the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mentioned in the dinner prayer. It, and the following comments, caused quite a bit of laughter at my table. It was like the prayer scene from Talladega Nights, that I couldn’t help myself. I spurted out, “the only thing that would have made that more Talladega Nights was if someone hollered out ‘Shake & Bake’ instead of Amen at the end of the prayer. Everyone at the table lost it at that point. I was laughing so hard that I had tears running down my face, and one of the ladies at the table about spit her wine out.

Anywho, it was pretty good evening. Food was pretty good, and it’s nice to visit with coworkers outside of the office.

I got my new cubicle at work on Friday, and my new desk for my new cubicle today. It’s 7′x9′ with tall walls on 2 sides, a “real” wall on 1 side, and a half-height wall on the other. It’s still not “private”, and I still don’t have a door, but it’s much better than before. I used be in a cubicle that was about 8′x8′ with short, soft walls all around; and, I had to share that with one of my coworkers. All and all, it’s much better.

My new desk is… ginormous. It’s a full 6′x3′. Seriously, I could lie down on it to take a nap, and no part of me would overhang. I have my tower, two 20″ monitors, keyboard, and mouse on top of it, and I still have enough real-estate left over to play a game of basketball. I bet I have over half my desk with nothing on it.

I’m definately not cramped for space now.

Here’s an interesting re-evaluation of SW Ep 4 I stumbled upon based on the happenings of 1 – 3:

Star Wars Ep. 4: A New Sith

I just can’t help it. This guy lost all credibility with me after his first sentence…

“I practised karate for nearly twenty years, achieving a fifth degree black belt by the time I was 18.”