Sep 30 2006

Ouch

Tag: General,KarateEmily @ 2:38 pm

Well, all my psyching up didn’t do that much good. I didn’t get through the concrete last night. Some of the black belts did massive breaks; 3 and 5 concrete slabs, and Sensei Kurt even broke a coconut with his hand. Pretty cool stuff. Neither Cathy or I could break the concrete though *sigh* Cathy and I were talking about it; part of it was that we couldn’t really get focused. There were probably 50-75 people there last night which made it really hard to concentrate. We each tried it twice.

My first miss hurt a little, but not much more than missing a board. I skinned up my palm on the first hit but it wasn’t a huge deal. I wanted to try again immediatly, since I was pissed at that point and could have easily taken out my anger and frustration on the concrete. They made me sit out for about 5 minutes before they let me try again. By then I was all calmed down again. I couldn’t seem to get as focused as I should have been…and again I didn’t break through it. Busted up my hand pretty well on that second one. I jumped up immediatly in pain and thought I had broken something. I hit the concrete much harder the second time and when it didn’t break it rebounded that much more into my hand.

My hand was all swollen up, purple and red last night, and I couldn’t make a fist until this morning. It’s getting better. Wanted to take pictures last night of my hand, but I couldn’t find the card to Paul’s camera so I had to wait until today. CLick -here- to see pictures of my hand from today. Not as swollen, and a little bruised up, but it doesn’t look too bad.

Guess I’ll get to try again in a few months at the next black belt graduation (maybe April?).  Cathy’s mom got some pictures of us breaking, I’ll post them as soon as I get them from Cathy.
-ec


Sep 29 2006

Blown Tire

Tag: Cars,GrrrPaul C. @ 1:18 pm

Got out of class last really early. We had a ‘lecture’ over 4 chapters, an exam, and then a lab and I was done by 830 (class is scheduled until 1030). Was in a pretty good mood – getting home early, actually getting to spend the evening with Emily and Megabyte, etc. I was approaching the 275/75 south split when I was radar gunned doing around 70 in a 55 (although it used to be a 65 zone…KY keeps chaning the speed on this stretch of highway). I had a Mitsu Montero on my butt. I had actually just started to slow down because the rear end started to feel a little loose on the Rango. Then it hit.

The rear tire completely blew out on me and the ride started to get pretty bad. I immediately changed over 3 lanes of traffic to the shoulder and hit the brakes. I’d never changed the tire on an SUV before and left the owner’s manual on my nightstand from a previous nights bed time storey. Oops. I assumed the jack point on the truck would be the same as it was on my previous 3 cars. Apparently this wasn’t so as the scissor jack didn’t get the truck up high enough to mount the full sized spare. Nuts. Anyway, I got the blown tire/wheel back on and found out the jack point is actually on the rear axle, as close to the wheel as possible. Got it changed, got home (an hour later) and snapped a couple pics:

tire shot one tire shot 2
Looks like the trear seperated from the sidewall to me.  Wasn’t there a lawsuit about this back in 2001? 🙂 Stinks too, because there was a lot of tread left on the tire.  Luckily the spare was brand new and in great shape.

Sep 27 2006

Eep!

Tag: General,KarateEmily @ 6:17 am

My sensei told me last night in karate class that Cathy and I would be breaking concrete after the graduation ceremony this Friday. Eep! I’m a little nervous; I know I can do it, but one wrong move and my arm is shattered…

If anyone wants to come let me know and I’ll tell you where to go and when!


Sep 25 2006

Next book

Tag: Books,General,ReligionEmily @ 9:56 pm

I think I’ve found my next book! Thanks for the suggestions, on here and in person. I was thinking about going with one of the books suggested, but tonight I came across a book that I just have to read. It’s called “How to pray after you’ve kicked the dog” by Terry Teykl. It’s a book about prayer, and how to develop your prayer life based on your personality.

Renewal Ministries says this about the book: “Just why is it so hard to pray? You may be surprised at some of the hidden reasons. This, sometimes humorous, look at how to defeat intimidation, shame and fear of failure will give you a new freedom for your prayer life. Explore your prayer temperament and learn how to pray in a manner that is effective and personally satisfying. No matter where you are in your faith walk How to Pray After You’ve Kicked the Dog will encourage you.”

I’m looking forward to reading it; I make an effort to include prayer in my life as much as I can each day, but probably like many others, feel that it’s just not enough or that it’s just not ‘as good as it could be.’ I’m hoping that this book will give me a new spin on things and teach me to pray more effectively and personally.

My friend Phyllis gave a devotional tonight in our Emmaus team meeting about changing ourselves and our prayer lives. The point that hit me hardest was that she said that we need to change our prayer habits: that prayer is meant to change and grow us, not to give God a list of to-do’s. So…I look forward to reading it, and will let you know how it is!

-ec


Sep 25 2006

Jordan gets her purple belt!

Tag: Friends,General,KarateEmily @ 11:29 am

Jordan, Jim’s daughter, was promoted to purple belt tonight. The graduation ceremony was awesome. Many students were promoted; they each got a chance to show off some kicks and punches and kata for the audience. At the end, the black belts did some board breaking demonstrations.

Click here to see the videos of black belts breaking boards and Sensei Steve doing one of his flying side kicks over 4 students into a board!

Click on Jordan’s picture below to see all the pictures from her graduation.

Great Job Jordan!

Jim’s black belt graduation is next Friday night; the black belts have to do more demonstrations too. Cathy and I are supposedly breaking concrete that night…stay tuned to find out!


Sep 21 2006

A MeMe from Chris

Tag: Fun,Questionnaires & TestsPaul C. @ 9:30 am

From Digital Wilderness
Appetizer
What was the very last song you listened to?
A Tribe Called Quest – Electric Relaxation
Soup
What is one company/store/corporation you would recommend that people stay away from?
Max and Ermas in  Crestview Hills, KY.  I think Emily and I have been there 5 or 6 times since they opened, and everytime we go, excedpt one time probably, the service has been terrible.  Orders screwed up, 30+ minutes for food to arrive, empty glasses for an entire meal, etc.  Too bad too, because they have really good pretzel sticks.
Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy having your picture taken?
5 -I’m usually the one taking pictures.
Main Course
Besides a bookmark, what is something you’ve used to keep your place in a book?
Post-in notes, magazine subscription cards
Dessert
Name a food that you like that most people don’t.
Peanut butter and Bologna sandwhiches.  I think my Dad is the only person I know who has had one besides me.


Sep 18 2006

What next?

Tag: Books,General,ReligionEmily @ 1:31 pm

I’m now halfway through the final book of the Left Behind Series. I’ve been reading these books for so long…I don’t know what I want to read next…

Has anyone read any really good books lately? I think I may want to stay on the Christian book-track for awhile…
Help?
-ec


Sep 16 2006

Movie review: Black Dahlia

Tag: GeneralPaul C. @ 1:58 am

Emily has been sick all week and was finally feeling better. We decided to have dinner and see a movie. It was Macaroni Grill for dinner and Black Dahlia for a movie.

Our waitress at Mac Grill was not fast enough for me…I had two refills on my tea – and they were pretty much both after I was done eating. I hate that. I got their Mama’s Trio meal, or something like that, and the lasagna portion was not even luke warm – bordering on cold. Sent it back, but it arrived just in time for us to ask for the check. Oh well, we entertained ourselves with their crayons and paper table cloth. Played some Tic-Tac-Toe and that dots/squares game. Normally Emily beats me at those…Lets just blame her cold on my successes tonight.

But now on to the main reason for this post:

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS MOVIE!!!

Seriously. If I hadn’t paid $8 a ticket we would have walked out. It was *terrible*. I honestly don’t say that about many movies and I really try to find the good in most stuff I see…but this movie? no. nothing. nada. The scenes felt like they were chopped together and out of place – and at times, it really fealt like you were watching two different movies. We went to see the movie thinking it was a thriller from the ads- only to be confused by the director’s work. Was it a thriller? no. Was it a mystery? eh..not really (it was honestly too confusing to be a mystery). Was it a love movie? kinda..wait..no..uh..maybe?

In this day and age, you really expect more out of production companies. The plot was hard to follow – were you (as an active audience member) trying to solve the mystery of the black dahlia murder? Were you trying to figure out the lives of our two cops? Were you trying to find out who the bad guys really are? Or maybe you are trying to find out why they even included the main character’s father in the movie since it was a pretty pointless scene.

I could honestly type pages on why I hated this movie, but that would be pointless. I like artsy and wierd movies, but this movie sucked. Make that Sucked – just so it has a capitol S. Don’t waste your time. I would have rather watched Beer League or Barnyard. Maybe that will be next weekend.
–pc


Sep 15 2006

Dragon Gamez – The Car

Tag: Fun Links and Stuff,GeneralPaul C. @ 1:51 pm

****NOTE**** this post is OLD…i played this game nearly four years ago. The password changes ALL the time. – 05 aug 2010 -paul

Dragon Gamez – Free Online Games : The Car

Started playing this game today after I saw it posted on Digg.com. I’m stumped now…got 3/4 of the keys needed for the lock, got the memory card for the PC to generate a code which I think is for the pad lock. Figured out the password for some grey door/box on the wall but so far entering it didn’t get me very far. Guess I have something to do this weekend! How far can you get?

**UPDATE** got the padlock code, all four lock keys, the car key and other stuff…but now I’m stuck again.  Need the code for the key generator and the door key!
–pc


Sep 12 2006

I hate being sick

Tag: GeneralEmily @ 10:04 am

I hate being sick. I had a wonderful weekend, but I got a really bad sinus infection on Sunday. I had to take yesterday off work and layed on the couch all day sniffling and sneezing and coughing. Bleh.
Today I’m still a wreck. I’m at work but still feeling awful. My poor nose is about to fall off.
I just feel like complaining. I hate being sick. -ec


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