Getting Hit On the Head Lessons

Hi!

I made this post to my TKD blog last night.

Enjoy!
Matt

Getting Hit On the Head Lessons

Hi!

I normally refer to this bit of the silly Monty Python "Argument Clinic" sketch when discussing "better get used to it" explanations for why kids are subjected to standardized tests at younger and younger ages. For a martial arts blog, though, it's a bit more literal. In the sketch, a man walks into a room and is immediately whacked on the head with a large mallet. He screams, "OWWW!!!" The man who hit him say, "No, no, it's 'WAAA!!!'" and then hits him again...apparently trying to teach him how to get hit on the head...

In 1995, I moved to Arizona for a six-month internship. Because I didn't think I'd love it and want to move here permanently, I sought a martial arts school that could also be a short-term deal. What I ended up practicing for those six months was muay Thai. I trained at Fairtex, which is now mainly in California but used to be on Chandler Boulevard near I-10. It was pretty brutal, but I was a 22-year old black belt!! While at Fairtex, I learned how to use my knees and elbows. I learned how to kick with my whole body. And I learned how to get back up after being knocked down. The former two were pretty useful, the latter, not so much.

You see, I'm a regular guy, who works a regular desk job. I don't work as a bouncer at a biker bar. I don't have a side business as a body guard. And I don't enter into MMA cage matches on weekends. In short, I don't get in a lot of fights. In fact, I've NEVER been in a fight (knock on wood), and the older I get and the more I train, the less likely it seems that I'll be in one. Why, then, would it be useful for me to learn how to take a punch? That seems a lot like getting hit on the head lessons to me. True self defense isn't having the skill to ensure that you always come out ahead in a fight. True self defense is having the skill to avoid getting into fights in the first place!!

I know what you're thinking... "But Matt, what happens if you get attacked on the street and are FORCED to defend yourself?? What'll you do then?!?!??" First off, part of true self defense is avoiding those situations. The likelihood that I'll be alone in a dark alley waiting to be mugged is nil. It's just not going to happen. Second, if someone pulls a knife or a gun and says, "Your wallet or your life," I'm just going to hand over my wallet. It's just not worth it. (Note: Chuck Norris said he'd do the same thing.) Know this, though: If I am FORCED, to defend myself or my family then pity the fool who forces me to because I won't be the one taking a punch.

This kind of leads into my thoughts on sparring... I think that low contact point sparring can be a good training tool as part of a balanced martial arts curriculum. I have a whole post on this, so I won't get into it here, but suffice it to say that sparring is not the same as self defense. In a self-defense situation, you won't bow, touch gloves, and get into a fighting guard. I realize that some people really like full-contact sparring. If you do, that's your choice. I just don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to try and teach people how to take a punch when the reason people train in martial arts is because they don't want to get hurt. I'd leave my muay Thai classes battered and bruised and unable to hold my head up. While I was supposedly learning how not to get beat up, I was getting beat up!! It was like getting hit on the head lessons, and in hindsight it was just as silly as the Monty Python sketch...

Thanks,
Matt

Wedding Toast

Hi!

I made this post to my presentation skills blog today. It includes a video of the toast I made at my brother's wedding on 15 October 2005.

Thanks,
Matt

Wedding Toast

Hi!

On October 15th, 2005, I had the opportunity to deliver a toast to my brother and his bride. This kind of speech is usually better known for being done poorly than well. I think I did a pretty good job, but you can judge for yourself:



Here's what I did (or didn't do) that, in my opinion, makes this a pretty good wedding toast speech:

• I didn't speak for very long. Seriously, no one wants these speeches to go on forever. Get to the point and sit down!
  
• I didn't mention any "exes." That's seriously bad form regardless of how it's done.
  
• I used humor that wasn't really at anybody's expense, except for the soup bit. Everyone could laugh without feeling like they were putting anyone down.
  
• I wrote something that was both original and personal to BOTH the bride and the groom. Often, these speeches are given in such a way as to play off the relationship between the speaker and either the bride or the groom. It should be about both of them.
  

If you'd like to give a speech that is both well-received by the audience and appreciated by the bride and groom, please keep those points in mind. I think mine went over pretty well...

Thanks,
Matt

Where Were You When...?

Hi!

For my parents generation this question is usually completed with "JFK was shot." Everyone old enough to know what was going on can remember. For my generation, the question is "Where were you when Challenger exploded?" On January, 28th, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after take-off of its 10th mission, killing all seven crew members aboard.



My answer: The library at Dodd Junior High school in Cheshire, CT. What made this mission unusual was also the reason that so many people were watching. Christa McAuliffe (back row, second from left), a high school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, was aboard the mission as part of NASA's Teacher in Space Project.



Until that day, space travel was something very exciting and romantic to most kids like me; not dangerous at all. (We didn't know about Apollo 13 until the Tom Hanks movie came out.) We all imagined that when we were weren't too much older, we, too, would get to go into space. The Challenger disaster changed all that. Not only did NASA lose a lot of funding, but it forced us to realize that these romantic dreams were, for the most part, just dreams. I hope that the space program is able to return to its former glory, so that my children are able to entertain such romantic dreams as their father had before this day in 1986.

Thanks,
Matt

P.S. If you're part of my generation, or even if you weren't, but still remember. Please post a comment and let me know where you were when... Thanks!

Monster Jam

Hi!

We went to Monster Jam 2009 Saturday evening. We bought the tickets shortly after Monster Jam 2008 last January. Last year, I took Joshua and his friends Julia and Zach. This year, all four of us went. The adventure started right away since we decided to take Phoenix's new light rail downtown. Here's a picture of the Price 101 / Apache Road station, which is about 6 miles north of our house and where we parked our car.



Here's a picture of Jacqueline holding our tickets:



It definitely was NOT quicker, but it was a lot less hassle and the tickets were cheaper than parking. We paid $5 for two all-day passes for me and Brandi and $1.25 for an all-day pass for Joshua. Jacqueline (being under 6) was free. It took about 40 minutes to get downtown and since were were dropped off behind the stadium, we had to walk a bit to get there. Once inside, though, we had a great view of the action:



We stayed for the whole thing! I was worried that it'd take forever to get back on the train, but they had empty trains showing up ever couple of minutes to take people back. We were sitting down in about 5 minutes after leaving and I asked a kid on the train to take our picture:



Overall, a great time! The rest of my pictures, and Joshua's, will be posted on our SmugMug site soon.

Thanks,
Matt

Resolution Update

Hi!

We found a martial arts school! Please see this post on my AZTKD blog.

Thanks,
Matt

A family that kicks together...

Hi!

I've been under the weather most of the week, so I've been a little slow to post. Tuesday evening, the kids started their Taekwondo training. We joined S&H Martial Arts. It feels like the right place for us: Good people, a nice facility, and a style we know and love. Here's a picture of the kids in their new uniforms and white belts.



What made me feel that this school will work for us is that Jeff Nelson, the instructor from the Intel classes, is driving the curriculum at S&H and connecting them to his school in Minnesota.

Brandi and I still need to get our uniforms and learn the subtle differences between how we learned the forms and how they're taught at S&H, but that won't take long. We'll both be helping out and contributing where we can. It's a very open and supportive environment and I'm sure we'll be very happy there.

Thanks,
Matt

New Office

Hi!

Now that we have someone new (and better!) in the Oval Office, I thought I'd share some pictures of my new office. Here's a picture from the hallway:



The big grey box on the left is a filing cabinet. Eventually, I'll use a smaller laptop bag (e.g., the one I got from Thunderbird) and store it in the filing cabinet. Here's a picture of my desk area:



The overhead cabinet contains my headset, phone, and laptop with docking station. It locks so that I don't have to worry about locking the laptop to the dock. That white box (from IKEA) contains a USB hub where I can connect my iPod and USB keychain drive. To the left of the monitors, you see my BlackBerry, fan, stuffed monkey (from Brandi), plastic cup from the cafe, and Spanish page-a-day calendar. I put some photos on the side of the filing cabinet (not visible from the hall), but otherwise there is nothing on the walls.

Thanks,
Matt

The Staff of Religious Belief

Hi!

In my observation, religious belief is like a staff (big stick). Some people use it as a tool with which to keep stable on rough terrain, and to lend a hand to others. Others used it as a weapon with which to beat people. The problem is that there are so many who use it as a weapon (or at least there seems to be, perhaps they're just louder) that those who are using it as a tool can be misunderstood. I encourage anyone who has strong religious beliefs to focus on using them as a tool. The more this becomes the norm, the less power those wielding their beliefs will have...

Thanks!
Matt

The Madness of Multitasking

Hi!

I read an opinion piece in BusinessWeek titled “The Madness of Multitasking.” It’s a preview of a book titled Elsewhere, U.S.A. and it describes me perfectly. It was a bit of a shock, and an eye-opener. The premise is that our personal and professional lives have become so intertwined that we think of just hanging around with the kids as “wasting time.” For me, it goes a bit deeper. I’m practically obsessed with getting things done. I have pretty much EVERYTHING on my Outlook task list. When I get up in the morning, I’m faced with more things to do than I can possibly finish. The result is that I pick the low-hanging fruit (so to speak) and avoid the stuff that really matters. The goal seems to be checking off tasks, not actually accomplishing anything important. Here’s what I’m going to do:

1) I’m separating my work and home email. For a long time, I had my Cox email forwarded to my Intel account. This meant that I was constantly seeing personal email at work. Because of my obsession with keeping my Inbox empty (I rarely have more email in my Inbox than will fit on a screen.), I’m constantly checking and replying to email at work that has nothing to do with work. It made it impossible to focus on something for more than five minutes. My plan is to setup a rule at work that forwards anything that comes from an address NOT ending in @intel.com to home. This may be too simplistic, but it’ll be a start.

2) I’m separating personal (including school) and work tasks. This will get me to focus more on work while I’m at work, instead of being distracted by that personal task that’s generally easier (and more fun) to do… Having just reconfigured our desktop computer, I’m working on Brandi to use Outlook’s task features. My plan is not to draw her into my madness, but to help us work together on domestic tasks. For example, if “Put away laundry” is a shared task, then whichever one of us completes it will check it off and the other won’t see it. It’ll also help us see what the other has planned to do…

3) I may get rid of my BlackBerry. Here’s why I think that might help: I feel like the constant connectedness with work that it gives me provides me with an excuse to lose focus on work-related stuff: If someone really needs me, then they need only send email, right? Without it, I’ll have to leave work at work and be more focused while I’m there. I may just trade it in for a cheap cell phone so I can still have my desk phone forwarded.

The first two are pretty much a done deal. Whether I actually do get rid of my BB will depend a lot on how much my bill drops after recently changing plans...stay tuned!

Take care!
Matt

Sure Things

Hi!

Imagine that it's January 30, 2008 and you're been told that your life depends on picking which of the following statements would be true in the next 12 months:

1) The New England Patriots would win the Super Bowl.
2) The Tampa Bay Rays would win the American League Pennant.
3) A black man would be elected President of the United States.
4) The Arizona Cardinals would play at HOME for the NFC Championship.

Wouldn't you have to have been TOTALLY INSANE not to pick #1? What is TOTALLY INSANE is that #1 is the only one that did NOT turn out to be true... Remember: In sports and in life, there's no such thing as a sure thing!!

Take care!
Matt

Teacher of the Year

I've been giving a lot of thought recently to what it means to be a great teacher and the impact such teachers can have on the lives of their students. In September of 2004, I learned that my Readiness (between Kindergarten and First Grade) teacher had been named "Teacher of the Year" in my home town. We had gone to see him in 2003. Here's a picture of him with me holding Joshua:



Here's the text of a Letter to the Editor that was published in the Cheshire Herald that same September:

I recently learned that Tim Granucci was named “Teacher of the Year” in Cheshire and had to share feelings about him with your readers. I graduated from Cheshire High School in 1991 and was in Mr. Granucci’s Readiness class at Highland Elementary School during the 1978-1979 school year. Robert Fulghum wrote that all he really needed to know he learned in Kindergarten. For me, it was Readiness. That year, Mr. Granucci taught me, among other things, the importance of playing well with others, that trying new things may not always be fun but it’s always interesting, and how to tie my shoes. The first two have served me very well in the 25 years since I left his classroom. The third actually lost some of its usefulness for a while during the Velcro-sneaker craze, but became important again after I stopped wearing Keds. But it was so much more than that.

I now work as a senior circuit design engineer at Intel in Arizona and have traveled a long road to get here. I’ve had many teachers in my 21 years of formal schooling (BS, MS, MBA), and with all due respect to the brilliant professors I had in undergraduate and graduate school, none of them could hold a candle to Mr. Granucci. His ability to capture the minds and hearts of his students was amazing! He never thought of himself as too authoritative to admit when he was wrong, too superior to laugh at something silly, or too dignified to get down on the floor and see things from our perspective. (He told me, when I visited him last year with my wife and son, that is one of the reasons he had to stop teaching Readiness!) He had our respect, because he was willing to earn it.

In Mr. Granucci’s classroom, knowledge wasn’t some dull fluid to be poured into the empty vessels that were our heads; it was something wonderful to be shared and integrated into our thoughts and experiences. Discovery wasn’t something done only by old world explorers in history books; it was the act of making the great big world of a six-year-old just a little bit smaller every single day. And learning wasn’t the “work” we did while we were in school; it was the process by which we realized our potential as citizens and human beings! In short, he instilled in me a life-long love of knowledge, discovery, and learning that carried me through some of the inevitable rough patches of my academic career. For that, I will be forever grateful to him.

I’m happy for him for having received this honor because he is so deserving of it. Because he is so deserving, though, I’m sure that he is just as honored knowing that he has had such a positive and long-lasting impact on one his students – though I suspect, many more. In Cheshire, he may be “Teacher of the Year” but in my heart he is the teacher of a lifetime.

Parts of Speech

Hi!

This post will be about the parts of speech. No, I don't mean nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. I mean introduction, opening, body, and conclusion. Each part has an important role to play and they all work together to achieve your goal.

To read the rest of the post, click here.

Thanks,
Matt

Parts of Speech

Hi!

This post will be about the parts of speech. No, I don't mean nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. I mean introduction, opening, body, and conclusion. Each part has an important role to play and they all work together to achieve your goal.

Introduction

The introduction is what is said about the speaker by someone else before the speaker takes the stage. The introduction should be used to establish credibility and provide necessary background information. It is assumed that the "someone else" has credibility with the audience. Perhaps this person is a manager who invited you to present, or the emcee of the event. By having this person "toot your horn," the audience will be more likely to accept you an an expert. If the introduction provides the necessary background information, then the opening can have a greater impact.

Opening

The opening should being with an impact to draw the audience in. This can be done with a great quote, a question, or a bold statement. Choose something appropriate for the topic and use it to ensure that the audience gets engaged right away. The next part of the opening should be to give the audience a preview of your topic. The old saying, "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em" is right on. It may seem repetitive to you, but people remember what they hear several times.

Body

The body is where you get into the details of your main points. Regardless of how long your speech is, you should never have more than a few main points. Longer speeches just have more detail or discussion. Too many main points and you dilute the importance of each. Focus on what's most important to the conclusion you want to draw, or what will be most controversial if you're trying to generate discussion. That which is trivial and/or non-controversial can be mentioned briefly.

Conclusion

The conclusion is where you wrap things up by "telling 'em what you told 'em" and make your call to action. Unless your speech is an oral report, you should always have a call to action. This could be asking for approval or a commitment by others to act in a certain way. If your presentation is part of a larger meeting, ensure the results of the call to action are capture in the meeting minutes.

All four of these parts work together to make your speech and they're like links in a chain. You speech will only as strong as the weakest link...

Thanks,
Matt

Nintendo Wii

Hi!

When I was a kid, playing video games all day meant cramped legs, a strained neck, and sore thumbs. My times have changed! Here's a video of Joshua playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on our Nintendo Wii:



He jumps around for hours like this. In the video you can see him wipe his brow and I've seen him practically collapse after a long "battle."

I'm getting a lot out of using the Wii Fit. There's a balance game called "Lotus Focus" that requires me to sit perfectly still for three minutes. I can't sit in the lotus position, but it's still a challenge even with my legs crossed in front of me. The balance board senses if I don't stay still and a loud "CUT!!" lets me know.

The yoga and aerobics are great! Once we get back to martial arts training (more on this tomorrow), we'll have to find a way to work them all in but it'll be worth it. The Wii Fit is fun and it's unlike any video game I've ever played...I actually feel like I accomplish something by playing it!

Take care!
Matt

Fixing Football

Hi!

I promise this won't become a sports blog that occasionally touches on other topics. However, football has been on my mind lately. I'm not a huge fan, but have been to two (college bowl) games in the past couple of weeks. (These are the only two games I've seen in years.)

It seems that every January there is an argument about the BCS. When the argument is about which team is the best at the end of the year, a play-off makes sense. When the bigger picture is considered, meaning the quality of the regular season and the fact that bowls allow a lot of teams to end their season with a win, things get a bit fuzzy.

In the NFL this weekend, I'm rooting for San Diego. I'm glad that Arizona won. I'm rooting for Philly because I'd love for the NFC Championship to be in Glendale. I'd LOVE to see the Cardinals and the Chargers play in the Super Bowl. THIS, the 8-8 Chargers versus the 9-7 Cardinals, would be an argument AGAINST a play-off. What's the point of busting your butt all season for a top seed if you can back into the play-offs and still win your Conference?

What's the solution? For college, I don't know. I think all the money football factory schools make is a problem and spreading it around should be a goal of whatever system is used. Adding a couple of weeks to the season would make it impossible for some schools to participate because some have rules that prohibit playing after the start of the spring semester. Shortening the season would mean a LOT fewer games over all. For a LOT of writing on college football, see the writing of Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN.com. He covers the issue well.

For the NFL, just get rid of the Divisions and Conferences. This would mean that the best team in a weak Division wouldn't get any advantage. It would also mean that good teams in strong Divisions wouldn't be penalized. Schedules could be more balanced. At the end of the season, the top 12 or 16 teams would play in a seeded tournament. It's simple and could lead to a MUCH more interesting Super Bowl...

Take care!
Matt

A Tribute to Robert F. Jones

Robert F. Jones, my grandfather, died a year ago tonight. As a tribute to him, here's a picture of him with my son, Joshua:



And here's the text of the speech I gave at his funeral, which was held in Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday, January 12, 2007:


Good morning. Thank you all for being here today. Since I don't really know many of you, I'd like to take a poll before I go on. How many of you have known Robert Jones for 15 years or more? How about 25 years? 35 years? Wow! Thank you! You see, 35 years ago I was the sick baby who needed your prayers and thanks to my grandfather, you came through for me. Of course it's an honor for me to be here today, but if you'd seen me 35 years ago you'd also say it's a miracle.

Now, I live in Arizona with my wife of nine years, Brandi, and our children, Joshua, age 6, and Jacqueline, age 4. Brandi was able to be with us today, but our children are staying with friends. I was fortunate in that my kids were able to get to know my granddaddy which means that this past week was also hard for them, too.

Wednesday evening, Joshua was sitting on my bed crying like the little boy that he is. He said, "I want to see great-granddaddy again." I sat down next to him on the bed and held him in my arms. I told him to take a deep breath and close his eyes. Then, I told him to picture his great-granddaddy clearly in his mind, which he can do because we have pictures of him around the house. After he'd done this I said, "Joshua, as long as you can picture him in your mind, you always be able to see him."

I released Joshua with my right arm and put it around Jacqueline. She said that great-grama must be sad. One of her best friend's grandmothers succomed to cancer relatively recently, so she seems to understand the sadness associated with that kind of loss. I told her that we're all sad because we all love him. Then, my four-year old daughter looked me in the eye and said, "Tell great-grama that I'll never, ever forget him."

I've spent the last couple of nights in his room in my grandparents' townhouse. It was a comforting feeling because his presence is everywhere. I don't mean that in a supernatural sense. The room has the pictures that I know were special to him. There is a stack of Sunday Prayer Bulletins on his bedside table; the latest of which is dated December 30th, 2007. There are also eight clocks in the room...all set to the exact same time!

His legacy is much more than pictures, papers, and synchonized time pieces, though. I feel my grandfather's legacy whenever I feel my father's unconditional love. I hear my grandfather's legacy whenever I hear my brother's quick wit. And I see my grandfather's legacy whenver I see my son's protruding ears.

Those we love are never truly gone. Like I told my son, as long as I can picture him in my mind, I'll always be able to see him. And like my daughter, I'll never, ever forget him. Thank you.

Visiting Martial Arts Schools

Hi!

We visited the Ja Shin Do school again last night, but this time took class. Great workout!! Grand Master Bauman is a firm believer in physical conditioning and the soreness we're feeling today is testament. Brandi and I felt very comfortable there, not so much with the kids. Jacqueline participated some; Joshua, not at all. We think Joshua wants the experience to be more like what his friends have where they go. (He attended a karate-themed birthday party for one of his friends at his school.)

We visited another school tonight, S&H (formerly Stevens) Family Karate. Their web site is here. This school evolved from Mike Erickson's America's Best Karate, where Brandi and I met and first trained in TKD together. They teach the traditional TKD forms, and while this may seem like a violation of one of my criteria, it's something we may be willing to overlook.

When Brandi and I started our own family, we always figured that our kids would eventually be enrolled in a martial arts program. We also always figured that it'd be at a school where we were already training, and perhaps even teaching. After we left Choi's, we got it into our heads that we'd start from scratch as a family in a completely new style. While I'd love to do this, I'm not sure it's practical. A school that has a beginner's program that would be engaging and challenging to Brandi and I (who have nearly three decades of training experience between us), would probably be inappropriate for the kids. A school that is kid-focused (like where some of his friends train), would be inappropriate for us. The only solution is a school where the kids can start as beginners, and she and I can continue as black belts. This is only possible in a traditional TKD school.

We haven't made up our minds, yet, but this is what we're thinking...

Thanks,
Matt

Visiting Martial Arts Schools

Hi!

I posted to my TKD blog tonight an update to our search. It can be found here.

Thanks,
Matt

Fiesta Bowl

Hi!

Brandi and I went to the Fiesta Bowl last night between UT and OSU. Great game! You can read the details on ESPN's web site, so I won't get into them here. I'm sure you're wondering how we got tickets to such a game. Well, my association with Desert Sun has results in the acquisition of more than cockroaches. One of the parents is the CFO of the Fiesta Bowl and donated a bunch of tickets to the school. The Directors, in their infinite wisdom and charity, offered them to faculty, staff, and board members. Accepting a pair was a no-brainer. Many thanks to my mother and grandmother for watching the kids... Anyway, here's a picture I took of the field:



There was a lot of traffic, so we were a bit late. We missed the first two minutes or so of the first quarter, but didn't miss much. The first half was pretty lame. By way of comparison, had we missed the first two minutes of the Insight Bowl on New Year's Eve, we'd have missed two touchdowns! By the end of the first half, only three FGs had been scored. Both offenses really seemed to struggle. During halftime, both bands played. Here's a video of the OSU band:



The main reason I show this video is because shooting it totally drained my battery, so I had no juice to take anything as the game went down to the wire. I had only charged the battery once after receiving the camera as a gift from Brandi for Christmas. I should have charged it. Oh well... I was hoping to record a game-winning FG. At least the TDs late in the fourth were a bit of a surprise, so there's no way I could have anticipated them and had the camera going. The best way I can describe the end of the game is that "Texas snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, then shoved it back down its throat." I swear the UT fans in front of us threw up over the rail when OSU scored a TD with two minutes left, then the OSU fans did the same when UT scored a TD with :26 left.

The guy next to me seemed to know as much as I do about football, but that's not saying much. However, when OSU was driving down the field toward the end, we were talking about time management. It really didn't seem that OSU was planning to get the ball back. They had a 2nd and 2 at the UT 15 when they ran for the TD. Had they gotten the first down and used more time on a few more plays before a score, they'd have taken the lead with only a few seconds left. After the run, Brandi asked me whether two minutes was enough for UT to score a TD. I said, "Sure, it happens all the time." Sure enough, it happened last night.

Take care!
Matt

Hissy and Chippy

Hi!

Yesterday, I promised a post on our cockroaches, so here it is. Joshua's Kindergarten class at Desert Sun had Madagascar hissing cockroaches as class pets. When one had babies, the teacher offered the progeny to the students. Joshua (and Jacqueline) both thought this was a great opportunity to expand the menagerie that is our household. At first, I balked. I mean, who wants to welcome cockroaches into their home? Joshua made a good case, though: He said that they're not vermin because they're pets and they don't have diseases because they were born in captivity. I relented. Joshua's is named Hissy and Jacqueline's is Chippy. Here's a photo of their habitats:



Here's a close-up of Chippy:



Hissy likes to hang out right under the lid, so I couldn't get a good picture of him. I assume (and let the kids assume) that Joshua's is male and Jacqueline's is female. This justifies our keeping them separate. In fact, we have no idea but don't want to take a chance. The Wikipedia site explains how to tell male from female, but I'd still prefer not to take a chance.

One nice thing about cockroaches is they're hearty pets, as you might expect. The kids totally ignored them for a couple of months and with a little water and food, they bounced right back. Two days of the same treatment would kill most fish. Of course, "pet" is not what we do with them...but that's also true of fish. In a future post, I'll introduce our real "pets."

Thanks,
Matt

Dad's 64th Birthday

Hi!

My post about cockroaches is going to have to wait because today is my father's 64th birthday. Brandi, the kids, and I got him a gift certificate for a restaurant in downtown Chandler. We figured he can use it before the Oak Ridge Boys concert (for which we got him tickets for Christmas).

My brother, Tad, his wife, Mirela, and their son, Alex, got him a nice frame with a picture of him with Alex and a copy of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper CD. This is the one with "When I'm Sixty-Four" on it. I'm sure that my brother has been planning this for years, if not decades.

We met at Marie Calendar's for pie. (They had a large, late lunch and weren't interested in dinner.) It worked out well. Here's a video of our singing:



He's done a lot in his 64 years and has plans to do a lot more. Here's to many more, Pop, we love you!

Thanks,
Matt

I Love My Kids!

Hi!

This may seem like something that doesn't need saying, but here it goes: I love my kids! I don't just mean in the parental way, but I really do love being around them. My seven-year old son, Joshua, is a great kid! Since we got our Wii for Christmas, he's spent a LOT of time playing it. I love that he cares enough to be frustrated...and enough to keep trying until he gets it. Sometimes, his mom or I will help him, but I know he prefers to do it on his own. This morning, he and I were playing an Avatar game. I get bored with the game rather quickly, but don't get bored watching his excitement as we work together toward common goals.

My five-year old daughter, Jacqueline, is also a great kid! She's VERY active wants to be a singer/dancer when she grows up. (These are two skills she most definitely will NOT inherit from her father.) Here's a video of her showing off her new Kung Fu Panda headband.



She likes to make up songs and perform them in front of friends and family. Not casually, though, she wants it to be a big production. I'll have to start recording those for YouTube posting, too.

Being a father is a lot of work. I try do right by my kids. I'm not perfect, but they know I'm trying. When I mess up, I apologize. I don't think pretending to be perfect is setting the right example, so I'll just be human...and I'll love them for being human, too.

Take care!
Matt

Resolution Number One

Hi!

I made a post related to resolution number one on my martial arts blog. I've also started using our Wii Fit regularly. It's a good workout and a lot of fun. There's a video of Jacqueline doing one of the balance games on my YouTube channel. I may post one of myself some day...

Take care!
Matt

New Year's Resolution

Hi!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get back into martial arts as a family activity. Last year, I trained briefly with some folks at Intel in the gym in OC2. They're good folks and I enjoyed my time with them, but I didn't feel it was a long term solution to my problem. The problem, of course, is that I needed to have somewhere to train on a regular basis and I really wanted it to be with my family.

We did some thinking and established some criteria that a school would have to meet in order for it to be a solution to our (no longer just "my") problem. First, it'd have to be a style that we all could enjoy and would help us to grow. Unofficially, this ruled out TKD since we wanted to feel like we were all going to start at the same level. Second, it'd have to have classes that allow us to train at basically the same time. We didn't want a school with a schedule that would require us to go there at certain times for the kids, and certain other times for the adults. The classes didn't have to be mixed, but they couldn't be so disjoint that it'd be a hassle. Third, we know Joshua will want to train with weapons, so we'd like to find a school that has some weapons training in the curriculum. Of course, the usual criteria apply as well: good facilities, nice people, reasonable tuition rates, competent instructors. We narrowed our choice down to three schools:

Ja Shin Do

Isshinryu Karate

Hung Fa Yi Wing Chun

All three schools meet the usual criteria. Isshinryu Karate might seem to violate the first based on the same reasons that we unofficially ruled out TKD (I'm already a black belt in Isshinyu), but since it has been so long I'd feel like I was starting over anyway. We still haven't made up our mind, but are planning to visit the Ja Shin Do school next week to try a class. I'll post again after our visit...

Thanks,
Matt

New Year's Resolutions

Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to give me a forum to publish whatever is on my mind. I have a blog that I use for Presentation Skills, and one that I use for martial arts, but not one for general thoughts. Posts to this blog will automatically be sent to a Yahoo! group. I've set it up so that anyone can join, so if you're intersted in what's on my mind, please feel free to join.

Since today is the first of the year 2009, I thought I'd write about New Year's Resolutions. My resolutions for this year are:

Get back into martial arts as a family activity.

Successfully complete my courses at Thunderbird.

Establish better communication with friends and family.

Establish and maintain good exercise and financial habits.

This blog relates to the third resolution. I've also created a family blog, though I haven't yet discussed that with Brandi. I also posted some videos on a new YouTube account, though that might be replaced by an upgrade to our SmugMug account. The first resolution relates to the fourth resolution.

My plan is to post at least four times per week. (Every day would be ideal, but I'm trying to be realistic.) If I have a post that really belongs on one of my other blogs, I'll post it there and link to it from here.

Happy New Year!
Matt Jones
http://www.mattdtm.com