South Pacific to Onoway

About a week ago I was in down town EDMONTON. I very seldom go down town as I try to stay out of the city.  There is a used book store downtown, and I stopped in.  Being in a used book store is something a truly treasure. The anticipation of what treasures I may find is exciting. In addition most used book stores have an ambiance that is like nothing else in the world

On this day I was not disappointed. I found a book written by a Kiwi in 1939 and he writes about building a boat and sailing around the South Pacific. Now the subject matter of the book is in itself cool but there can be so much more.

Inside the jacket there was an inscription

To Paul

Happy Birthday

Love Mom and Dad 1991

This was a gift that probably meant a lot to both parties and that in itself is cool. In addition to this I found a receipt for two cups of coffee from the church and market street Starbucks in San Francisco dated September 3, 2010.

Now my mind goes from mom and dad buying the book giving it to Paul to a coffee shop in San Francisco to a used book store in Edmonton to my book collection on a small ranch near Onoway.

How many things needed to happen to have this book end up in my hands and me being able to read this story of a young kiwi guy sailing the south seas?

Now most may not find this cool but for a book nerd like me this is why I continue to find cool books and seek knowledge in their pages.

This week on the third rock from the Sun

So the week is progressing.  My hand form has been learned for lack of a better word. (I say this loosely and yes I know learned is not a word)) but no fault to the people who helped me out. Thanks.

I have approx half of my weapon form complete and have some ideas on what I want to add to complete this form, I am thinking I will have a version done by the end of February.  This has been hard, developing a form.  I am unsure if it is completely linear or if it is just using repetition to take up time.  This type of creativity has never been easy.  Once I am complete to where i want it I will be asking for some input.

I had the weirdest thing happen yesterday.  After training I got home and my left foot (bone connecting to the big toe felt like I had broken it).  I had to take some advil the pain was so bad.  The weird part is I don't remember doing any trauma to the bone.  It just seemed to come from nowhere. Needless to say I had a very uncomfortable sleep last night and then this morning other than some tightness it seems ok.

The rest of the weekend will be working on completing my weapons form and to try and bring some flow to my hand form.

Have it looked at

So I have been having problems with my right knee (or so I thought) going on for quite a while.  I had a small tear in my hamstring approx 2 years ago and after about three months it seemed to heal and then for the last year or so my right knee has been giving me grief.

I could walk, hike, ride a bike, x country ski and snowshoe.  But some times when going uphill I felt like the knee was going to give out.  When doing a horse stance is when I really noticed it, either half way down or up, it felt like I had no knee support.  

Now, me being me, of course I gave into the thought that it was just me getting older and I could still do most things so all in all I was good.  I know dumb but hey that's me.  This past week in class I felt something real bad and though, here it is again I am going to tear my hamstring again.  When I felt this I stopped class and gave it a rest.  The next day I scheduled a massage to see if that might help.  I should mention that the few weeks before this happened I was woken up about three nights with a charlie horse in my right calf.

Anyway, I went in and told the massage therapist my tail of woe and they started to work on both my legs.  The therapist said wow never seen anything like this ( at which point I am thinking that can't be good).  What they determined was  my left leg was normal and not too many messed up muscles, but in my right leg, the muscles were all tied up in knots.  After an hour and some intense pain, I felt nothing in my right leg, i.e. no pain and no tightness.  

After I left the office I felt strong and actually felt I had better balance.  Roll this forward after a week of heavy training at the kwoon and at home my knee and leg are back to their normal strength. I have no problems with the horse stance, I don't feel like my knee is going to give out after I walk up the stairs. 

Now I don't know if I am fixed but I sure am grateful that it appears to have been muscular and not the things that hold my knee together (yes I know muscles hold it together but I am talking about all the other stuff that if you break it, it is bad).  

I am not sure I have a lesson from this but maybe I should listen to my wife when she says go get someone to look at it.

Perpetual Optimism

I am reading a book my wife gave to me for Christmas and the forward was written by an individual I consider to be a true living Canadian hero. He wrote "Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

What an incredible thought.  As a coach and as a team player this saying rings true to me. In any aspect of my life when I am around optimism I know I personally do better and I see those around me do better.

One of my goals this year is to see if I can make people around me smile during the day. My goal is Perpetual Optimism.