HIS Karate-Do

Back when I was training in Aikido, in addition to practicing how to throw our partners, apply holds and take-downs, there was a very important element of the learning process – being an ukee. The ukee was the one whose turn it was, to be thrown, the one whose wrist/elbow/shoulder was twisted until you signaled pain, the one who was flung straight down or across the mat. The ukee was the one who was privileged enough to “receive the technique”. Often, when I was the ukee, I received very weak, ineffective technique. Other times, my sempais or the sensei would apply great, effortless technique and I would try to study and understand just what made it work so well on me. The greatest honor (and greatest learning experience) was the periodic opportunity to receive technique from an Aikido master such as Tohei Sensei. Back in the 1960’s, Koichi Tohei was Aikido’s great ambassador to the United States. It was he who introduced the art to the islands of Hawaii, beginning in the 1950’s. He was probably the Founder’s top disciple and few could match his flawless execution of technique. Throughout the many hours of training, I believe that I learned [...]

First of all, I pray that everyone is having a great start to a great new year – 2010!  Don’t take a single day for granted, the year is what you make of it.  Just think, if we could all be as focused and productive each day, like we are at work (or school) on the last day prior to a long vacation or trip…we’d get so much done by the end of the year.  Secondly for those wondering about our annual potluck get-together, we purposely decided to avoid the busy Christmas/New Year’s period….right now, we’re looking at having it on a Saturday – a potluck lunch sometime in February.  I’ll let you folks know the place and time soon.  Should be lots of fun and we’ll have prizes and games as usual. Remember that old saying?…”Because the cells that make up the human body are dying and being replenished (at differing rates, depending upon the cell type) continuously, at the end of every seven year cycle, you’re a completely different person made up of completely different cells.”  As with everything else, there is a basic truth in that saying.  As I recall, the cells have varying lifetimes, ranging from blood cells [...]

Wow, it’ll be Christmas in a couple of days, with New Years to follow next week. Soon we enter 2010…the beginning of a new month, the beginning of a new year, the start of a new decade. To paraphrase my dad, “So much can happen in [ten] years.” The past decade seems to have just flown by. Ten years ago, in Dec 1999, I was the team lead for IBM service techs in the Pacific Area and we were all anxiously waiting to greet the new year…and new millenium, but for reasons beyond just holiday cheer. It was really a worrisome time for those of us in the computer business. I remember having to reluctantly cancel most everyone’s leave for a three month period: Nov through Jan, just to ensure that we were fully manned in the event that something went wrong during the transition to the new era – especially for computer systems. For months, I attended weekly regional conference calls to discuss the issues and prepare. It was the eve of Y2K and we were unsure as to how the changeover from 19XX would affect accounting systems and databases across the countless bytes of storage and computing that [...]