Social

Monday, July 21, 2008

Are you ready for the summer?



This summer has been so hot that I don't think I was ready for it.
;)
I did see a group of people out on the Connecticut river in their boat and they looked way more prepared for the heat than I am. For one thing, they actually have a boat, hopefully they had sunblock, and they definitely had waterskis and wakeboards. I thought the fun they were having looked so appealing that I checked out Ronix wakeboards to see what all the fuss was about. Well, after checking out the boards at buywake.com I decided that I need to:
1. Find a friend with a boat since the prices were so affordable.
&
2. Learn how to ride a wakeboard since it looks so fun.

Head over and check it out for yourself!



Make your own bokken

This week I started making bokken for the dojo and I have to say that with a sharp hand plane the process wasn't that bad. I went down to a great lumber supply company this week and picked up the six quarter piece of white oak seen below.



Next I went down to a local woodworker and had them run the big plank through their bandsaw. This step really helped and saved me tons of cutting.



And, lastly, the shot below shows a close up of the kissaki on the one I'm making (in progress) and one that I borrowed from sensei.




Check in tomorrow if you're interested in seeing a more refined result, I put in another hour of planing and applied a coat of tung oil after sanding.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Aikidoka need web hosting too!


So, I just found a great deal for RapidSwitch Dedicated Servers and I thought I should share it with any aikidoka from the UK that pop in here from time to time. While this is probably more important to retailers rather than dojo, RapidSwitch is offering some great rates on hosting plans on dedicated servers, making your site very secure and reliable. Head over and check it out.


RapidSwitch, a leading supplier of dedicated servers and one of the fastest growing hosting companies in the UK, is building a new data centre with a 20,000 server capacity, to meet growing customer demand.

Fit out work on the new site has commenced, and it will be ready for service in early 2009. The new site is near Maidenhead in Berkshire, close to the existing RapidSwitch Hosting Centre, enabling direct connectivity between the two sites at multiple 10 gigabit speeds. There is also diverse connectivity from the new site to London, again at multiple 10 gigabit speeds. The data centre is 600 racks in size, which will give a total capacity of 20,000 servers.



O Sensei Quote of the Day

Here's a quote from O Sensei that I have really been attached to recently.

Via O Sensei:

The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.

Vintage Hakama




I just found a great Vintage Hakama and Obi set over at SFI. Having made my own hakama a few months ago, I was amazed by this 1900's Tokugawa Mon men's Hakama and Obi. The colors were, to me at least, fantastic and made me think that our uniforms for aikido / kenjutsu are boring. What do think? Would you give this hakama and obi a thumbs up or down?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

New Blogger Opportunity




While this post may not be in the spirit of a martial arts blog, I figured that some of my readers might be interested in a new blogging opportunity I just signed up for at SocialSpark. You might not have heard about SocialSpark yet, but if you're a blogger you might want to check it out. SocialSpark gives bloggers a whole new resource to accomplish quite a few important tasks that every blogger should be working at.

SocialSpark has a post exchange program that allows bloggers to get their blogs reviewed by their peers. A great resource for new blogs. But, that's just the beginning. If your blog actually meets the criteria set forth by SocialSpark, you can monetize your blog in quite a few ways. Whether you go for the paid post or sponsored blog approach you'll be able to make a good amount of extra cash doing something you love.

There are a few things bloggers should think about before they get started, however. SocialSpark requires all member blogs and bloggers to follow these four conditions:

-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

On the other side of the coin, SocialSpark is a great resource for advertisers. With SocialSpark advertisers get to pick the price they are willing to pay, set pagerank / realrank criteria, and require a minimum word count. With so many controls over their advertising needs, advertisers are almost guaranteed a quality post about their wares or services. A win - win situation.

Sponsored by SocialSpark

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

31 step jo kata



Here's a great video showing a 31 step jo kata often seen in aikido dojo. This was actually the first jo kata I learned. I thought the 31 step kata really help me familiarize myself with the jo and become more fluid.

-Watch and Enjoy

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Web 2.0 Website




As I'm looking into the whole web 2.0 website concept I'm constantl;y being blown away by what I'm seeing. Sites like Whitetail Domains, a site dedicated to Whitetail Deer Hunting and Management, use some of the latest web tech in order to produce a stunning result. Seamless navigation and layouts, integrated videos, forums, everything looks better. For anyone interested in Deer hunting or wild life in general, a web 2.0 site like Whitetail Domains will be a new and improved web browsing experience. Head over and check it out if that happens to be your thing.



 
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