Geeks in Gis

If things have seemed quiet on the Geeks-in-Gis front, well, that’s because it’s been one of those months.  Our club’s Winter Tournament took place two weeks ago.  I was feeling rather icky the day before the tournament, but went to train anyway, and put forward the worst rendition of Rohai I’ve ever seen, and then got thoroughly trounced in sparring against someone who is normally timid and slow enough for me to handle.

I couldn’t figure out why I was doing so badly.  Figuring it was just a cold I went to the tournament anyway, and pushed myself through the three rounds of Kata and two rounds of Kumite.  I was dead on my feet by the second round of Kata, and, quite literally, was having chest pains by the end of Kumite.

I went to the doctor, and it turns out I have Epidemic Myalgia (aka Bornholms).  It’s not a serious bug, in adults at least, but the symptoms include tiredness, headahces, flu-liek symptoms, and a chest pain that feels just like a heart attack.  That bit’s scary!

There’s not much they can do to treat it, so I’m dosing up on painkillers and just waiting it out.

Tineladia entered the tournament too.  They were feeling fine going in, but came out with a black and blue swollen foot.  That came either from a)Getting their foot tangled in someone’s gi during a sweep, or b)Round-housing someone in the elbow.  Take your pick, they both looked painful.  After a lot of ice, elevation, and patience, it didn’t seem to be getting any better – lots of different colours, but not better.  So, we took a trip to the walk in (well, hop-in), and got that foot looked at.  It turns out one of the toes is broken.

Fortunately, the swelling protected it, and it’s healing straight, so  they’ve prescribed more rest… eight weeks off! That’s a long time to go without training

We were both supposed to be testing for Second Kyu today, but obviously, that didn’t happen.  The next brown belt tests are in February.  The extra time will be useful, I needed to polish Jiin anyway!

The dojo will be taking a two week break over Christmas.  I plan to train next week, assuming I can breathe properly by then.  Tineladia will be taking at least the next two weeks off – probably just watching and helping out the lower belts.  I think they plan to try some sneaky Kata practice in the new year, though.

I hope your end-of-year training has been going better!

I have to admit, I'm a stats junky.  I log everything I do, and if I can earn a badge for something, then I absolutely have to get it.  So, I'm a member of far too many social communities, websites, trackers, tools, whatever you want to call them.  I try (and fail) to track my sport and travel activities in Fitocracy, RunKeeper, CardioTrainer, MyHealthMonth, Fitday, FourSquare, Gowalla, UnTappd, TripAdvisor, MyTravel, and on several other places that I've probably forgotten at this time.

I'm also a gamer, with a presence on XBox Live, PSN, Raptr, XFire, Steam, GamerDNA, Pogo, MyDDO, and plenty of other networks associated with gamers and specific games.  It's hard to keep up!  In fact, my current smartphone can't even store all of the apps that I want to use – it simply doesn't have the space built in, and even if I root the phone I can't store enough of the apps on a memory card.  I need better hardware!

To the rescue comes Samsung, with the release of the latest version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab - this version features a 10.1 inch screen, a decent built-in camera (Although I think I'll still choose to rely on my standalone camera – I think cameras are one device that will always be better if they're designed from the ground up with that purpose in mind), GPS, WiFi, and a fast processor + Tegra 2 graphics.

The Galaxy Tab is an established tablet brand.  The original Tab was a lot smaller than this one – too small, I think.  It was a little too close to looking like a phone.  This one, however, is most definitely a tablet, and it looks like it means business.  It's got plenty of storage space, and plenty of performance, so you can use it for whatever it is you want – from playing games to reading ebooks, or tracking your life.

Like any Android device, there's a built-in YouTube app, so I plan on taking a leaf out of the book of the Samsung racing team:

Where they're watching recordings of previous laps, I think I'll be watching my Sensei's performances of Kata – or recording my own efforts using my Flip for one angle and the Tab for the other, and then watching them back afterwards (and trying not to blush!).  The screen is big enough that I think, with high enough quality video, you could watch while you practice.  The only thing missing is the ability to pause and resume using voice commands.  I wonder if there's an app for that?

Another nice use would be for tabatta training.  I have a self-made tabatta timing application that beeps at the right times and shows some hard-coded text for what the next exercise in my routine should be.  The problem is my phone has a tiny screen, and after the fourth or fifth exercise I'm too exhausted to want to go over and pick the thing up to see what I'm supposed to do next.  Perhaps in huge, bold font on a 10.1 inch screen it would be easier to tell, and harder to skive!

For more info, visit the YouTube channel here or the Facebook page here.

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Last week, my Sensei approached us and said that it was time to start thinking about gradings again.  There’s a grading in October, and he’d like Tineladia and I to test for 2nd Kyu.  We’re almost there with our Kata, but we still have to memorize the new combinations, so the thought of grading is a little scary!

Our Kancho has been really cracking down on performances in gradings of late.  He wants to see everyone hit harder and faster in padwork, and also wants to see a higher level of physical fitness from the organization as a whole.  I *think* I’m on the decent end fitness wise (I have a lot of stamina, and I’m decently strong for my size), but I am concerned about my pad work.  I’m slow, and I think too much about what I’m doing, so I’m not getting the full benefit of my strength when I’m hitting things.

The October grading will be a 3rd Kyu + only grading, so I’m expecting it to be longer, tougher, and busier than the general gradings I’m used to.  There’s just over a month left to prepare, but we’re going to be on the road for a lot of it, so there’s not much that can be done except squeezing in practice whenever possible.  Fingers crossed!

Last week was a crazily busy one for us.  GDC Europe and Gamescom both took place, and, as usual, I managed to fill the entire week with appointments – to the extent of forgetting to leave time for food or even bathroom breaks!

Fortunately for us, the companies at GDC / GC know that almost everyone makes that mistake, so we were decently fed and watered (even if it was all pastries and sandwiches), but spending an entire week running around from 6AM until Midnight is draining.

While we were in Koln, we’d hoped to train with the local Shukokai Karate school, but sadly they don’t have classes during the summer, so we’ll have to do that another time.

A week of being crazily busy, surrounded by tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people, has really taken its toll.  Right now I’ve got the GC bug – a lovely sore throat, stuffed nose, and set of aches that move around to find the most inconvenient place at any time.

Still, it’s worth it for the games

My Fitness Tuesday tip for this week would be to try not to overdo things.  You can run on adrenaline for a few days, but eventually it catches up with you – and when it does, you’ll find yourself superglued to the sofa!

I was browsing a few security related blogs today, and I stumbled across this post about the Hacker Manifesto.  It’s an old document, written by Loyd Blankenship, AKA “The Mentor”, just after he was arrested by the FBI in 1986.

I first saw the manifesto in the early 90s, where it did the rounds on a BBS that I liked to frequent, but I had no idea that it was written so long ago.  It’s still relevant today, and certainly accurately describes the way many people feel about the current education system. How come, in 25 years, we’ve made so little progress?

Another one got caught today, it’s all over the papers. “Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal”, “Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering”…
Damn kids. They’re all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950’s technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world…
Mine is a world that begins with school… I’m smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me…
Damn underachiever. They’re all alike.

I’m in junior high or high school. I’ve listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. “No, Ms.
Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…”
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They’re all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn’t like me…
Or feels threatened by me…
Or thinks I’m a smart ass…
Or doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here…
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They’re all alike.

And then it happened… a door opened to a world… rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict’s veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought… a board is
found.
“This is it… this is where I belong…”
I know everyone here… even if I’ve never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again… I know you all…
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They’re all alike…

You bet your ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can’t stop us all… after all, we’re all alike.

+++The Mentor+++

For many people, this week is the first week of the summer holidays. This is great news if you’re still a student, but it’s not so good news if you’re an adult that trains at an “all ages” dojo.

The karate organization I train with has canceled a lot of classes over the summer holidays. Last year, they didn’t do that, but they had terrible attendance over the holiday period. To the extent that some of the Senseis were losing money after they paid the hall rental fees!

I can understand their decision to cancel, but it’s a little frustrating all the same.

I do a lot of travel for work over the summer, which means I do miss some lessons myself – but I make them up by attending extra lessons on other days. Now that some lessons have been closed, I don’t have that luxury.

The goal, for the summer, is conditioning. Our Kancho was apparently disappointed with the level of conditioning of some of the people that turned up at the last black belt grading. So, he wants us all to work on general conditioning and bodyweight exercises. We’ve been given a list of a circuit of exercises, and we’re supposed to train until we can complete the circuit, properly, in just two minutes.

I’m pretty lucky, compared to most people. I’m able to do all bar one of the exercises in the circuit pretty well. Not quite fast enough for the two minutes, but not far off. Certainly well enough for Brown Belt level. So I’m going to keep plugging away and I should get there by the end of the summer. My personal goal is flexibility. I want to be able to do the splits. I’m almost there on that one too – but those last few inches are proving elusive! Fortunately, bodyweight exercises and stretching are things that are easy enough to work on at home.

My Fitness Tuesday Tips

I guess my tip for this week is to not let the summer be an excuse to slack off. Yes, it’s a busy time for many people. Yes, it’s a time when a lot of traditional exercise class venues close, or classes are canceled for other reasons, but don’t stop exercising!

You can design a makeshift workout to do in the house. Or you could just go out for a run. It’s nice outside, and there’s no shortage of things to do. Just keep moving!

A few days ago, I had an interesting (read: surreal) conversation with someone from outside of my style of Karate.

The person in question held a position as a trainer / teacher, and when they heard that I practice martial arts, they did what everyone invariably does “Oh, I did Karate too! When I was in school I got my black belt!”. Of course, this person quit after getting their child black belt rank. They didn’t continue training, and they haven’t re-tested as an adult.

I usually just smile politely and change the subject, rather than get into some form of one-upmanship contest with those people. However, in this case the conversation continued. You see, the person in question found out about my martial arts because I was sporting a sparring injury. They started talking about their sparring, and how it seemed silly that my style sparred with a decent level of contact. His style only did touch sparring.

I responded by explaining that I like the contact. I also train Brazilian Ju Jitsu (although not as often as I’d like), and my long term goal is to take part in MMA. Mentioning that proved to be a serious mistake, as it earned me a lecture.

“Ah, I used to like competitions too”, said Kid-Black-Belt-Guy. “But I grew out of it. When you get to Black Belt you’ll understand. It isn’t about proving you’re better than the other guy. Black belts don’t need to beat people. They don’t have anything to prove. They’re training for themselves.”

I’m not a big believer in martial arts as a way to improve discipline, but I think my training must be doing something, because I managed to not make a sarcastic comment about how this person had quit their martial arts training before earning an adult rank, and about how people who say they don’t need competition are usually (not always) the ones who are no good at it. I certainly thought it, though!

I must admit, I’m not a Black Belt – I’m a 3rd Kyu (Brown Belt). I am motivated by competition, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I like to test my skills, and I feel the only way to really, truly test my skills is in competition. I often lose, but I feel I learn more under pressure than I do in a normal class. Kata competitions give you a chance to perform under pressure, Kumite competitions test your skills against fellow practitioners of your art, and MMA gives you access to a wider range of martial artists, allowing you to learn, in a safe environment, how your skills stand up to people from other arts.

I understand that there are other reasons to train – for example to get fit, to immerse yourself in the culture of the art, or to practice a form of energetic meditation. I won’t belittle people who train for those reasons as long as they are honest and realistic about what they are getting from their training. There are several people in each of those categories that train in my dojo. They accept what I want to do, I accept their choices.

Getting a lecture from someone outside of my school, that no longer trains, and that never earned an adult black belt in the first place, rather bugged me. It’s got me wondering, though. Are there arts where competition is frowned upon? Humility is a big thing in a lot of traditional schools, but does humility really mean shunning competition? I don’t think so. I think that competition is useful to keep you motivated, and to keep you honest about your level of skill and the progress you’re making.

I’m curious as to how other practitioners (especially those that have a Dan grade), view competitions.

I’ve just been invited to take part in a campaign for a new service called Streamago – basically, it’s a streaming service provided by Tiscali.  It lets you run your own TV channel, without the need for any fancy software or a mega fast internet connection. All you need is a PC with a webcam and a standard broadband Internet connection. The Streamago broadcast console runs in your browser and makes it easy to create your own channel using video footage.  You can even add subtitles, just like a real TV channel.

The software is really easy to use, and it even runs on my netbook – although I’m rather reluctant to stream reports from the pub!  There is a mobile version, but it’s only for iPhones (well, iPhones and other apple products such as the iPod Touch and iPad 2), so I haven’t been able to try that out.  I’d love to see a version of the software for Android, though!

The community features are interesting – you can activate a dedicated chat to connect and reply to all comments of your followers in real time.  I think there’s a lot of potential for this for sporting groups – for example, the next Karate tournament could use it to stream the main bouts and competition rounds to people who aren’t able to attend.  The computer doing the streaming could be used to let competitors see notes of congratulations and encouragement.  Last year, I had to miss a Christmas party to go to a Karate tournament, and it would have been great to be able to share the tournament experience with the people at the party, and vice-versa.

I could imagine it being great for sharing other things too – school plays, holiday updates done “Wish you were here!” style, etc.

So far, there’s only a handful of channels, but people are doing some interesting things – there’s a channel dedicated to volleyball, another dedicated to football, and some people pointing their webcams at their computer and streaming the games they’re playing.  Music seems to be another popular choice, as well as the old webcam favourites of people showing off their offices!  The service is still in its infancy, and it will take a while before the community separates the channels into the “standard webcam” category and the “great TV” category, but it’s still interesting watching – actually, probably better than half the stuff on standard tv these days!

What would you put on your channel?  What sort of things would you enjoy watching the most?

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Well, it’s Tuesday again! Last week was pretty hectic for me, and this week doesn’t look like it will be any different. We’re doing a lot of travel at the moment, so the week basically consists of trying to stay sane, squeeze in some training, and trying to avoid eating junk.

I’ve done well on the avoiding junk part – well, most of the time, but training is down to just once or twice a week. I’m hoping to make up for that by going to a seminar this weekend, though!

That said, it’s easy to stay motivated thanks to the blogosphere. When there’s hard working ladies out there like Sue C who are earning their black belt (congratulations!), it reminds me that I shouldn’t be making excuses.  There’s a website, videos, weights and a heavy bag in the house, so I can just shut up and train.

I’ve copied my current Kata to the phone, and I’m doing bodyweight exercises and kata practice while on the road.  I think it’s helping – I’ve almost got the order of Rohai down now (even if my moves aren’t pretty, or purposeful yet), so at least I’m getting something while I can’t attend class.

My advice to others

Do something. Even if you feel terrible, or don’t think you have the time, or just aren’t in the mood.  Do something. It might not be as much as you promised you would do, or as intense as you think it should be, but something is better than nothing.  Often, once you start on your something, you get the energy or motivation to do whatever it is you had originally planned.  If you end up just doing ten minutes instead of 30, at least that’s ten minutes more than you would have had if you sit around doing nothing.  It all adds up.

Earlier this year, I took part in Fitness Friday.  Sadly, that particular blog meme died out after a few months, but I recently learned of Fitness Tuesday – an established (46 weeks now, I think!) Fitness meme that follows a similar idea.

I know I’m late to the part, but I thought I’d hop in anyway!

I’m a weight class athlete, and I train for a couple of sports (Karate and BJJ, and Powerlifting).  The sports are mostly pretty compatible with each other, but it’s still tiring to keep up with the schedule – six formal training sessions a week, plus cardio when I can fit it in.

What did I do last week?

Last week, my Karate sessions were all cancelled because of the half term holiday.  This would normally drive me crazy, because I hate not training.  Fortunately, the time off proved useful this time around.  I’ve injured my elbow, so I got some enforced rest.  I couldn’t even do any heavy lifting, so my training consisted of light rolling in BJJ, and cardio just to keep me active.

My fitness tip

Keeping a log of your activity really helps.  Whether that’s joining a blog meme/carnival such as this one, or keeping a more formal training diary, it all helps.  If you aren’t tracking what you’re doing it’s easy to skip a session, then another, and another… until you suddenly find out you haven’t been training for weeks.  Writing it down keeps you honest!