"He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions." --James Freeman Clarke

Why don't we have something like LitQuake here?

My brother couldn't make class last night so I taught. We did a few pure Aikido techniques and then I threw in a three or four Ju-Jitsu and Karate techniques for fun. Also made them do a few punching and blocking drills which is something Aikido-practitioners don't usually do but as you know my theories on self defense are a little different then many of my Ueshiba brethren.

My friend Steve has returned to class. Hopefully he'll stick around this time. Enjoyed training with him again. He's a cool guy. The good sign is he's already called to see if I can teach him on weeks he can't make regular class due to his work schedule.

My area in the basement is cleared for my soon to be mini-dojo. Just need a couple of mats. I can't get over the cost a new one. A three inch thick, 8" x 6" mat is about five hundred dollars. I did find some Tae Kwan Do style mats for about $220.00 a piece with shipping on E-bay. That's probably the way I'll go for now.

Still two more days of work, I love four day schedules but this twelve hour plus a day sh*t is killing me.

Sent a snail mail letter to an old friend of the family from my mom's church Bob Wilging who used to own three super markets.

Bob's wonderful wife Ruth passed away. The thing I always enjoyed about the two of them was that after fifty years of marriage the two of them were still in love like kids. You could see it in the eyes and hear it in the fondness of their voices when they talked about each other. A lesson for us all.

When my dad passed way in '90 Bob offered me a good job, training as a meat cutter's apprentice, and a rent free room to live in since his stores were about twenty miles from here. I think he understood what I had lost when Dad was gone.

Kalisa is in West Virginia for the weekend so Kevin was kind enough to watch the kids for me here at the house and take an I.O.U.

I'm outta here....