Traditional food

            I live in a community highly influenced by French-Canadian culture. Old Quebecian lumberjack culture. We have plenty of local maple syrup producers, so we're pretty fortunate there. Even have some friends that invite us over when they make their first batches for the season.

           One of the holiday staples of the culture is a food called Meat Pie. It's pretty much what it sounds like: pie crust with meat filling. Good stuff. There is of course more to it than that. My mother's recipe (my favorite) has equal parts ground pork and beef, diced onion, roasted garlic, clove, cinnamon, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning (celery salt, sage, thyme, savory) and; here's the chef boyardee moment, a package of onion soup mix. You cook all this up, skim or drain the fat, then fold in some mashed potatoes. Fill the pie shell, pie shell over the top. Bake.

          There are two arguments that go along with meat pie. The first has to do with what you eat with your meat pie: gravy or ketchup. I like both, but ketchup is always more readily available. I had it once with a mushroom gravy that was phenomenal.

          The other argument is on the meat used in the pie. Some state that only ground pork should be used, while others state it should be equal parts pork and beef. I prefer the latter. However, this past week I experimented by making one the way my mother did, and the other with ground turkey. I wanted to practice this in preparation for this weekends Christmas festivities with my girlfriend's family. Her parents for health reasons can't eat red meat, so I figured a turkey meat pie would be a nice alternative. Once finished, I could hardly tell the difference, and I thought both were equally delicious.
Both were enjoyed by my co-workers and I the next day.

           So for the holiday festivities I'm going to make one turkey meat pie, and the other I'm gonna experiment a little more with. I'm going to make the second one with tofu, caramelized onions and portabello mushrooms to substitute the meat part of the pie, partly cause I'm curious on how well it can turn out and also because of Marjie's sister and her husband are vegetarians, the same ones I mentioned who had the bad experience at the fancy pants restaurant a few months back. I promised I'd make a dish they could truly enjoy, and this former chef intends to deliver.

          I have one more present to wrap that hasn't been delivered yet. Otherwise my wrapping is done. Looking forward to the holidays.

Too cold to ride...

               This time of year I get a special issue of "Motorcycle Cruiser" in the mail. The 2012 Buyer's Guide is filled with pics and specs of all the new cruisers the big companies are now selling. It provides me with all kinds of eye candy to dream about during these cold months where I can't ride. I like to think about which ones I'd actually like to own, and fight back the thoughts of trading in the VTX for something else. I have a feeling that anything I'd trade the VTX for would in the long run be a disappointment. If I can't ride, I can at least get into some good books.
         
                I completed "Passing Time" by Ron Roy last month. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This fictional story, based on the author's time working in the local paper mill  in my hometown of Berlin, NH,   gave me a glimpse into the world of working in the paper mill that was the center piece of our town for decades. The characters and dialogue were well written, and it was interesting to read the descriptions of different places in town. He changed some names, but it was pretty easy to figure out where he was talking about. Towards the end there's a twist that I didn't see coming, but made for unique and interesting overall story. Once again, I highly recommend this for anyone from the Berlin/Gorham/Milan area. It's time for Christmas shopping, and I think this book would make a good gift for anyone that worked in or around the paper mills in the north country.

            Another book I finished, "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" by Adele Westbrook and Oscar Ratti, gave me an excellent look into Aikido. The book was published way back in 1970, and I was very impressed with the many illustrations by Oscar Ratti, who worked as a professional illustrator. Simply beautiful drawings that went along with the text. Kept this former comic book geek entranced. The authors go into the core history and philosophy of the art before they show an abundant set of basic  aikido techniques, once again beautifully illustrated with style and detail. I only encountered one or two flaws in the illustrations as far as technique goes, but overall very well drawn and described. Anyone interested in the art of Aikido should check this book out. The authors wrote a book on the Samurai that I'll be checking out later, and the illustrator wrote a series of graphic novels that I will also purchase soon , if I don't get said items for xmas or my birthday.

             Currently reading the first of Taekwondo Master Doug Cook's books. I read his most recent book a few months back, "Taekwondo: A Path to Excellence". He's a proponent of traditional martial arts focusing on self defense and improvement of self mentally and physically, along with promoting the history of martial arts. Enjoyed his most recent book so much, I wrote him an email to tell him how much I appreciated it. I got a prompt reply thanking me for the feedback and to keep in touch.
His first book, "Taekwondo: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Warrior" is also quite enjoyable for a martial arts geek like myself. It's encouraging to read a book from a martial artist that shows how much he cares about the style he has chosen to devote his life too, along with the respect and admiration he shares for other styles and cultures. He has one other book that I already bought, and I will read this after the next book I'm gonna mention.

            "Allegiance of a Soldier", the first part of "The Betrayer" series by a young local author, Kyle Newton. Looking forward to this one. Kyle is only 20, and it's pretty cool to see somebody that young take a bold move and write a series of novels. I haven't gotten to it yet, but soon. I've heard some good things from a friend that finished it.

             Once again people, support your local authors! It's Christmas shopping time! "Allegiance of a Soldier" and  "Passing Time" would make excellent gifts!

Jukebox

             For as long as I can remember, I've almost always had a song in my head. Like a radio station that is always on at a low volume, it would almost always go with whatever mood I'm in. I first noticed this back in high school, when my mind was ripe for being overexposed to grunge and alternative rock. Good stuff. Still love it.

            It's not a bad thing overall. The only time it bugs me is if I'm trying to meditate. Then it's  a conscious effort to turn the subconscious jukebox off in my head. This will annoy me in the fact that I'm trying to empty my mind, but struggling too hard in the process. When I can't turn it off, I go back to some of my favorite music that played in the old School of the Silent Warrior. Jethro Tull, Joan Osborne, or some relaxing Native American flute music will do the trick.

            So I can change the song in my head with just a little concentration. And it's more or less a loop of certain parts of the song that are present. I'm glad it's something I can deal with , especially if I get a song from a commercial in my head.

             I've only mentioned this oddity to a couple friends. One of them will ask every once in a while "what's playing in your head"?   I wonder if anybody else has this odd little tic. Right now I got Tom Petty's "I need to know" going on in my head, mostly the chorus. Good tune...

new workout

          I have two pieces of strength training equipment I've been using off and on for some time now. I bought the Bowflex Selectech 552 Dumbbells 6 years ago. Great set of dumbbells. You can select the weight from 5 lbs. up to 52.5 lbs.  This has made for some great workouts. The other piece of equipment was bought last year to mix things up. Called the Total Trainer, it's a knock off of the Total Gym that Chuck Norris has been peddling for the last ten years. Also a great piece of equipment. You can use your  own weight for resistance/strength training.

         Both great pieces of equipment, but I'm getting bored with certain workouts. The big challenge I gave myself with the dumbbells was the bench press. Using the max weight of 52.5 lbs in each hand, I could perform up  to 50 reps. Incredible burn. Took me a while to get up to that max rep set, and with particular attention to safety and good form. Feel like I've plateaued here, and that increasing the reps would be almost counterproductive.

        On the Total Trainer, I'm enjoying the pullup bar stuff, but otherwise don't like the bench pressing exercises on the machine. Now I keep the dumbbells at work, and the Total Trainer at home.

        Recently I tried doing some pushups with my girlfriends four year old on my back. I could only do five. Pathetic! Granted that's an extra 45 lbs on me, and I'm way overweight for my 5'10 stocky frame at 275 lbs.  (actually, I might be down to 270 now, still...).   So with my renewed interest in getting back into what I call "kung fu shape", I'm trying a few new strength training programs, based on using my own weight.
      
        I found a website, http://hundredpushups.com/ that has a handful of programs for increasing your strength with your own body weight. The pushup component has a challenge of being able to complete 100 consecutive good pushups with training in six or more weeks. Starting that, along with the dips and squat component today. I'm also going to alternate using the dumbbells and total trainer for back and bicep exercises like pullups, rows and curls.

        I figure these will give me some new goals I can attain, along with trying to slim down and increase my flexibility. Of course, being a former chef, the most difficult part of my training will be eating healthier meals along with portion control.

... in other news
        The motorcycle is put away :(
        Christmas tree goes up this week :)

Warmth

           Winter is coming , or it's already here, depending on various views. With that comes the bitter New England cold. Planning for keeping warm in the winter is a new thing for me. I've only been a homeowner two years now. Before that I was lucky to always have an apartment with heat and hot water included. Rarely did I have any issues with a cold apartment. Overall I was pretty lucky with my landlords.

          The first winter with an oil furnace was an eye opener. I couldn't believe how quickly the tank could get used up. And the price for heating oil was phenomenal when all added up. Now, my house is only 1080 square feet, so when I bought the place I figured it really wouldn't be all that expensive to heat. Still amazed at how often I had to fill the tank in the winter. When I bought the place, the oil furnace was brand new, and used forced hot water to old 1950's styled baseboard in the rooms. No heat in the basement itself.

          Recently our town was given a federal grant/office to improve overall home heating efficiency. The Better Buildings program provides 1% loans on projects to increase/improve the insulation, efficiency, and heating sources of homes. Also a part of this is PSNH, the utility company providing up to half the costs for estimated projects up to $4000 on their end.

          To get started, I met with Cimbria, the person running the office of the program, which gave me a questionnaire to figure out how much fuel/electricity I was using. Calculations put in, and my home was deemed on the high end of being inefficient.
         
          The next step was to pay $100 to have an efficiency expert come in and find all the "leaks" in my house. This was part of the PSNH step. The expert, Melissa, came in and applied this big door fan to my kitchen door. This door would signal in spots where there could be leaks with noticing the air passing through.

           I received my assessment in the mail, and a couple weeks later an assessment from a contracting company that's approved by the program sent me their assessment with what each aspect would cost, with particulars to how much PSNH would cover. I got some free stuff coming to me. As my cost was about $3400, and PSN would cover the remainder at about $3700. Not bad at all.

           My good friends Leane and Tracy Rexford had recently had these same contractors in due similar type of work through the Better Buildings program. The results for them were good, as they're already noticing a significant difference in how well their home is staying heated while using less fuel. However, the contracting crews were quite messy when they were done, and actually caused some damage to some of their first floor ceilings. Last I heard, the contracting company is either going to reimburse my friends of simply fix their mistakes.

          The same contractors are coming this month on the 21st. I've exchanged a few emails with the owner of the company, and I've been informed the stuff for my house will take two days, three at most. I'm looking forward to this getting done, especially since recently filling the oil tank and using the heat daily again.

          With all that insulating/tightening of the house going on, I'm also using the Better Buildings loan to add on an alternative heating source, a wood pellet stove. As I mentioned before, there's no actual heat source in my basement. So I decided on the right spot for a wood pellet stove to go. That's set to be installed on December 14th. The one I've picked out is a Harmon P43, which can heat up to 1500 square feet. With installation that will cost about $3200. A friend of my father's came by to give me some advice and tell me what it'd be like once I got the stove started. which gave me some ideas and only strengthened by resolve to get one in soon.

           Now I'm excited. So by mid December I should have a much more efficient home with a better radiant heat source. And when all is said and done will be paid for with a 1% loan of about $6700. This will be like a small car loan, which I can handle a lot better than the ridiculous amounts I was paying for just heating with oil in a badly insulated home. Looking forward to using a lot less oil. Especially with these companies that jack up their prices and show record profits.

Daily meditation

          Over the past couple months I've tried a couple new things. First, I gave up diet soda. Now some people don't get this. "No calories, right?" Yes, actually, no calories, but I was starting to feel like all that fake sugar and and additional amounts of sodium could be better replaced with water.

         I  didn't go completely cold turkey. I might have a regular soda once every two weeks. I've been amazed at how well I've been able to hold back, since I used to have nearly two liters of diet cola a day. About six weeks into dropping the fake sugar kick I tried a diet cola again. It was ok... just ok. This time I noticed how fake the sugar tasted. So that habit is officially kicked.

         The other new thing has been daily meditation. I've made it a habit to take about fifteen minutes to sit, close my eyes, concentrate on my breathing and clear my head. Sometimes it's indian style on the floor, sometimes sitting in a chair.

         There are variations I use as far as the mindset. Sometimes it's to concentrate on my breathing. Other times I'll focus on an imaginary glowing blue ball of energy in my hands that I can shrink or expand at my whim. And then there's concentrating on my center, the imaginary spot about two inches below the naval that in various martial arts is known as the human center.

          Also, once a week I'll do some self Reiki as part of my meditation. For those not familiar with Reiki, it's sort of a spiritual way of "palm healing", with you're palms situated over areas on your body. Some people go overboard with it with the whole "healing hands" thing like it's gonna magically cure cancer or something. It won't. Not by itself really, but studies have shown some higher percentages for curing disease if people are happier and/or less stressed, which meditation and/or Reiki can help with.

         As a medical professional, if you're sick, get yourself checked out by an actual medical doctor. Just sayin'...

          Anyway, this has been good for me. I've kicked one habit and restarted another I'd only rarely done in the past. I've found myself to be just a little bit more calm, and more centered in my life.

          Strangely enough, I've been handing out more beatings to the BOB (my body opponent bag). I'm starting to wonder if I'd be better off filling it with sand instead of water, as I'm finding it easier to slowly push away the bag with my kicks and hand strikes. I use these slow strikes to start as a sort of warm up before I move onto faster hitting. I find it helps with the focus of where and how I strike a particular target on the bag.

          Hope everyone out there is enjoying the autumn season, even with the recent snow. Peace, love and all that jive...

One of the last good rides of the year

Last week I decided to go for a quick motorcycle ride to the cafe in Gorham. Maybe have a bite to eat with some good coffee. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised by who I might run into at the cafe. This time as I rode by I all of a sudden had an urge for a long ride. Rolling past the cafe, I noticed no vehicles parked there despite the open flag. That did it for me, I'll hit the cafe later.

I decided to take loop that I'd never taken before. I headed towards Bethel, ME on Rte 2 East. From there I took Rte 26 North up through Grafton Notch and back to NH into Errol, where I stopped by LL Cote, the center of the town. Finally I decided to ride past home and to the cafe.

I was taking a chance with a 20% chance of rain. But the skies looked friendly enough. I was covered well in my heavy leather jacket, gauntlet winter leather gloves with fleece lining and my full faced helmet. Temps in the 50's, but my gear kept me warm. Roads were nice and clear. This time of year you especially need to be on the lookout for wet leaves in the road. I've picked up people that have been taken out by such conditions.

Grafton Notch was an excellent route. Riding through the mountains is beautiful any time of year, but the Autumn brings the best colors. Riding through made me want to check out the hiking trails at some point. Thanks to the internet I can get a good idea of what would do well for Marjie and I and possibly the little one.

Granted we're at the end of the riding season, but I'm hoping I have one more good riding day left before winterize the VTX for the winter. Maybe a ride up through Dixville Notch. We'll see. The weather's been wacky lately.

Our town...

Berlin, NH is a blue collar town. Always has been. This has been a place where people rolled up their sleeves to make a living. The biggest part of this town's heritage has to do with paper, thanks to the Brown Company and the mill. Lumberjacks were the backbone of this industry, which also gave our town a strong heritage. There was also a paper mill in Gorham, the next town over.

Some years back, the company changed hands, and then changed again. The mills tended to get worse each time. The market didn't help; amazingly enough it became cheaper to purchase paper from other countries. Eventually the mill in Berlin closed, and then the one in Gorham, although it managed to hang on a lot longer.

Thankfully the one in Gorhm wasn't closed too long. New owners came along just over the past year and have slowly been building it up again. The old mill in Berlin was 70% destroyed, with one spectacular day of all but one of the smoke stacks demolished. But there was hope; a company wanted to use the last boiler and biggest smoke stack and convert it to a wood burning biomass energy plant. There've been many hurdles on the way, but recently work to convert the boiler had officially begun. The plant is slated to have 40 full time positions, and expected to create other jobs in ancilliary  form throughout the area.

This is good. This is what Berlin needs. Also, recently there's the possibility of an airplane manufacturer that will use energy from the plant and create a factory to manufacture airplane parts next to the biomass plant. This place could produce up to 150 + jobs. 

Along with a state prison that came in about 12 years ago, and a Federal prison built not that far from the state prison recently, that's slated to open next year. More jobs.

All these factors make it an exciting time in the area. There've been talks in the past about what to put on the mill site: A mall, a casino, a resort, a four year college. All interesting ideas, but none of those ideas are distinctly Berlin-ish. It's created some arguments, particularly among some of my more hippy like friends. The four year college is the only one I really agreed with, but not on the mill site.

Some people were hoping with the mills gone that we could change Berlin to a tourist trap town like the Conway area. I just didn't see that happening. Expecting people that worked in factories to work in retail or hotels just doesn't make sense. The people in this town want to make stuff

Manufacturing jobs is exactly what this town needs. Looks like we're close to getting that kind of identity back. If (and I know, it's a big if)  this airplane parts factory pans out, then Berlin, NH a blue collar town, with blue collar people, will be on its way to getting back its pride.

So...

Well, training didn't happen. I think my mistake was getting my hopes up when Kyle called to tell me when they might be training. Yesterday I texted Kyle to see when and if they were still meeting. Kyle told me he tried calling but got no reply back from John. Oh well. But I can't say I was surprised, since I only heard from Kyle and not John on the matter. Next time I get my hopes up for any of this will be when I actually here from my old kung fu master.

Kyle has asked me about training with just the two of us, but there's really only so much I can teach him, especially being out of structured practice for so long. I like Kyle though. Has that same excitement at 19 that I had for the martial arts. I'm sure I could learn some stuff from him as well. Smart kid too. He's about to have a fantasy novel published. Looking forward to reading it.

Currently I'm reading "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere". Excellent book focusing on basics/fundamentals of Aikido. A lot of excellent illustrations on nearly every page descriptively depicting the points in the text. The book was first published in 1970, the year following the death of Aikido's founder, Morihei Ueshiba, whom the book is dedicated too. It was written/illustrated by a couple practitioners of the art in the NYC area. I've been reading this book at home.

I have a different book I'm reading at work. We have some downtime on the less serious interfacility transfers we do to the bigger hospitals. "Passing Time" by Ron Roy is an interesting piece of fiction based on the author's time working in the local paper mill in my hometown of Berlin, NH. The name of the town and a few other spots are changed in the book, but anyone from the area will recognize what areas he's talking about. Good book. Fellow locals should check it out.

See how awesome I am at supporting local authors? Now if I could pressure Ray Coulombe some more to publish his "Night and Day" novel (should have been published years ago)!

On another note, this past weekend Marjie and I took Alice and her cousin Lilly apple picking at Gibson Orchard in Bethel, ME. Excellent weather. Good times. Later that day we used the appler slicer/peeler contraption my mom gave me to turn some of those apples into some scrumptious apple pies. Leane had a good pie dough recipe that uses vegetable oil instead of butter or shortening, and it helps that my sweety Marjie is an awesome baker.

That was just one of the four excellent days off I had until coming back to work this morning. Last thursday we went to the Fryeburg fair with my Marjie and little Alice Moon. Good times with my ladies.

Hope all of you out there are having an excellent fall season!

Training again...

I've been contacted by my former martial arts instructor. It looks like we will begin doing some training this weekend. I'm curious to see what this entails. I know I'd like to get some refresher instruction on combinations and forms I've somewhat forgotten, plus discussing possibly what his plans might be for teaching again. A young gentleman that took some private lessons with John last year will be joining us, and possibly Leane, a dear friend and fellow black belt from the old school.
 
Meanwhile, my basement has remained my dojo with it's lone practitioner. I beat up my body opponent bag (BOB), focusing on proper hitting in strategic areas.  Please keep in mind, I'm not a violent person, but hitting an inanimate object can be a great stress reducer. I recommend it highly if  so inclined.

I've only practiced one sword form in the back yard once. Somewhat aggravating to forget aspects of the form I was practicing. While doing this, I practiced slowly, as I don't have any wooden practice swords. Those real swords will cut ya if you're careless.

I look over where my black belt sits on one of the shelves in my basement, looking pretty much as new as the day it was given to me. I think about how cool it is to see pictures of martial artists with their belts frayed and worn over years of use. Mine, however, just sits there looking pretty. I've put it on a couple times while working out, having to laugh at myself at how much smaller it looks now around my spare tire. I was definitely slimmer at eighteen when I got it. Slimming down is a work in progress. That's another aspect of training.

So we'll see how this weekend goes. This has been a long time coming. Even if we meet only a couple times a month, it'll be nice to take some lessons again. We may have to do some planning on where we can train in the winter months (my basement?), but I'm sure we can figure it out.

Vegetarian cooking

Recently some friends of mine that were vegetarians went out to eat at a high end inn and restaurant. Unfortunately they paid good money for vegetarian meals that simply were not done well. Felt bad for them, but from past experience I know how absentminded high end restaurants are when it comes to vegetarian cooking. Some of the chefs carry a negative view of vegetarians, dumbfounded at how they could reject the delicious entree's they made with dead animals (seriously, good stuff).

In my last profession I was a chef. I was managing a kitchen that served "family style" dinners for the Appalachian Mountain Club's Pinkhan Notch Visitor Center. This was a place that catered to a lot of outdoorsy types: hippies, crunchies, but mostly yippies (yuppy hippies). In this crowd there's bound to be some vegetarians. These folks got their own prepared dish.

I went to college to learn all kinds of fine dining. My associate's in Culinary Arts prepared me for the world of classy places food that usually required a dead animal in some form. However vegetarian cooking was really not a concern for school. We trained mostly for fancy pants dining. This was a different kind of dining I was dealing with. The AMC provided me with a challenge: how do I make a meal healthy, delicious, and vegetarian?

I hit the books, and the internet, learning what I could about the different kinds of vegetarians, ranging from those that only abstained from beef, to those that ate no animal products whatsoever, including honey. The worst of these different groups were the "Fruitarians" that would only eat absolutely local food, preferrably from their own backyard. Had to tell off one of these folks one time when they demanded everything on their plate be from within 5 miles of the lodge, with none of the food provided by them. Told them good luck finding any restaurant that'll cater to such an obnoxious request in our area. They huffed, puffed, and ate their food anyway.

I decided the best way to go would be with vegan dishes, since about 25% of the vegetarians I met were vegans. This just meant no animal products. I could work with that. Spices, herbs, veggies stocks/bases, salt, good veggie oil and vegetables/starch cooked properly. I found some decent recipes, put them to use with some encouragement from some of the vegetarian staff members.

One of the big things they told me was that protein was usually missing in good vegetarian dishes. So each dish had to have kale, spinach, beans, tofu or tempeh (grain/tofu combo). I did pretty well with these, and since there's a nice variety of beans I could go with, it gave me options. I had a rule though: the dishes I made had to be something I would eat and enjoy. This lead to me being a vegetarian for all of three days. It was a neat experiment, but I decided that to be a decent chef, I still had to enjoy meat. And dead animal cooked right just tastes good!

If I hadn't worked at the AMC, I'm sure learning to cook decent vegetarian food wouldnt have become a priority for me. I'm glad it did though. At least whenever I have some vegetarian friends joining us for dinner, I can confidently make something they can enjoy. I promised my friends that I'd make them a special vegetarian dish sometime after hearing about their recent bad dining experience. I may not be a professional chef anymore, but I know I can make damn near anyone a satisfying meal.

and there it sits...

So this bicycle experiment has failed. I haven't been on it in months. Found I enjoyed walking to work better, but I still take the car or motorcycle more. I've actually spent more time on my exercise bike in my basement than on the mountain bike.

I think the novelty wore off quickly for me. Part of it is how I've enjoyed my days off this summer. I've had the project of painting the trim on the house from a horrifying mustard to plain white. House is already looking better. Other days off have been spent with my wonderful girlfriend Marjorie and/or her little 4 year old Alice, who lives with us half the time. Some of this time off has ironically been spent teaching Alice how to ride her bicycle with training wheels. Go Figure. I've also had a few very enjoyable days hiking. Love the White Mountains of NH.

Then there are the times where I just wanna ride.... my motorcycle. I still love my 2005 Honda VTX 1300. Great ergonomics, center of balance while riding. Also, it make me feel all kinds of macho. Most times when I'm riding, I find myself in an odd Zen-like trance; where I feel like I'm completely in line with my center. I think the ergonomics of the bike and my build might have something to do with this, along with the defensive nature of riding a motorcycle properly.

So my mountain bike just sits in my garage, next to my motorcycle, the obvious winner of my affection. I'm going to keep it though, in the hopes that Alice and I could do some riding together. We have an excellent playground across the street from our house with a large paved area that has worked out well for practice. We'll see how it goes. Next spring, the training wheels come off.

And it's autumn in northern NH. Love this time of year

martial thoughts

          I believe that when we're adolescents, we're at our most open for being influenced. Part of the reason why the music and artists we listen to tend to become our lifelong favorites. Other interests and activities can become a big part of our being. Sports, art, hobbies can become a core foundation for who we are.

          When I was in seventh grade , I tried my second attempt at being a student in the martial arts. I was a student at the School of the Silent Warrior in my hometown of Berlin, NH. I enjoyed my time there, but for some reason decided to take the summer off. A couple years later, I was regretting it. I felt like I had made a mistake of not returning. So, the summer following my sophomore year in high school, I went back, with the goal of being a serious student.

         Almost two years later, a couple months from graduating high school, I achieved part of my goal: I had attained my First Degree Black Belt in the art of Ninpo Chuan Fa. I was quite proud of myself, after putting in the work it took. I knew that martial arts would always at least have a small part in my life. The martial arts were a great help for the awkward teenager that I was, with my teacher/sensei John providing another mentor I could always talk to.

          The school was originally opened as part of a chain from Fred Villaire's Studios of Self Defense. John Schmaing was the owner/teacher. After a few years, John decided to format  his own system, based on his experience in Kempo Karate, Northern Tam tui style Kung Fu, and various other martial arts. He created Ninpo Chuan Fa: the Silent Warrior Fist Art. This was done with the approval of an overseeing body of martial artists that recognize mixed martial arts styles, seeing how the combining of certain styles/philosophies is the natural evolution for the arts. (Apologies to John if I'm getting any of this wrong, this is what I remember him telling me)

          I was a student off and on when I was back in Berlin, eventually attaining the rank of Third Degree Black Belt. Unfortunatley, the school closed eight - nine years ago, with John deciding to go back to college and teach in a regular school setting. Happy to say I'm still in touch with John, occasionally spending time with him and his lovely fiance Mona.

          Over the last few years, I've slowly been working out again in a martial arts aspect. I've had punching bags where I'd practice kicks and punches on. This year though, it's really started to nag at me.. I've been practicing weekly on my B.O.B. (body opponent bag) with a determination that I haven't had in quite some time.

          Simply put, I miss it. I miss being in the dojo, practicing self defense techniques and forms/katas with or without weapons from various swords to basic bo staffs. Hint of music from artists like Joan Osborne and Jethro Tull playing in the background.
         
          Lately I've been reading various books about or pertaining to some traditional martial arts like Aikido and Tae Kwon Do. I had some limited experiences with these arts during my one semester at Keenes State College, where I had enjoyed a free Aikido class at a local school, and was an "honored guest" with the college's Tae Kwon Do club.
       
          I believe it's these experiences that have garnered my interest in reading about them lately. A particular interest in the life and teaching's of the late Aikido master Terry Dobson has been nice. Very "warts and all" kinda writings/stories. Quite enjoyable, and I've always had an apprciation for traditional Aikido and it's stance on self defense while providing the least harm to an opponent.

           Just started reading a book by Tae Kwon Do Master Doug Cook on his experiences as a student and teacher of Tae Kwon Do. His book "Tae Kwon Do: A Path to Excellence" is so far an enjoyable read.

          I wonder now how long it's gonna be before I decide to start learning at a new martial arts school or bug John about possibly starting up the old school again with help. I get big thoughts in my head about helping to start the school anew with help from some former students with John overseeing the project. We'll see how I feel as the summer goes on. In the meantime, I'll beat on the BOB, maybe twirl my staff and swing my sword in the back yard (will the neighbor's mind?) and meditate on the matter while I enjoy some insightful reading...

winning!

          As of now, my motorcycle has been getting more attention than my new mountain bike. I had a feeling this would happen, for various reasons. My motorcycle is very cool, an a comfy ride. My mountain bike requires me to work somewhat, and not as comfortable.

          I bought the mountain bike mainly as a commuter to work, since the ambulance base is just about a mile from my house. The rain hasn't helped. Not exactly excited about riding in the rain. And there have been a couple times where I just felt like taking the long way to work on the motorcycle. There's also the handful of days a month where I drive little Alice (girlfriend Marjie's kiddo) to pre-school. Need the car for that one, and Alice is a litte small for me to be comfortable enough to ride on my motorcycle.

          Looking forward to this thursday, when the weather's supposed to be excellent, and the Mount Washington Auto Road is holding it's annual Ride to the Sky. Marjie and I are excited to go. Even though I love my motorcycle and take pride in NH's motorcycle week, I rarely make it down to Weir's Beach. This makes the auto road trip my main bike week event. Plus, work and other things usually come up, prohibiting me from the proper planning for heading down to Laconia.

          Most of my interest in bicycles lately has been more with teaching and practicing with Alice, 4 years old and learning the ropes with training wheels. She gets better every time she gets on her bright pink with basket and tassels bike, and with any luck this fall we can try without the training wheels. Thankful that I have a big paved schoolyard across the street from my house to practice with her on.

         I don't usually ride my bike with her, due to conentrating on her progress, but I hope as the weather improves over the summer that my mtn bike will become the commuter I was hoping it would be. Still glad I bought the bike, but I think it's safe to say that for now, the motorcycle wins.

these two wheels are different...

Greetings all,

           Ever since I bought a motorcycle I've had periods during the winter months where I'll wonder about whether or not I'd have been better off bicycling  compared to motorcycling. This year I decided I'd do both when spring came. Today I bought a good commuter/hard tail mountain bike from the local bicycle shop.

I'm thinking at this point that the most use I'll get out of the bicycle will be commuting to work. I live less than a mile, and on days when feel like it, I can take a longer route to work. This will be a good way to save some gas, get a little excercise, and still have a quick ride to work. On days off if I'm in a particular mood, I can take a ride to the cafe in Gorham. Or even take a ride up to milan and ride around on the Nansen trails.

Now comes the odd decision for days off:  motorcycle or bicycle? I've had some very good times on the motorcycle over the past 6 years. Rides up Mt. Washington, day trips to Laconia during Bike Week, rides to the cafe and then my favorite little loop around Shelburne.

In either case, I'll you all updated on which one gets used more...

oh, how i miss you in the winter...

This time of year I tend to go into a goofy kind of depression. All because I miss riding my motorcycle. The real depressing part is going into my garage to stare at the bike... and then grab my shovel to clear the snow from my driveway.

Six years ago I became a motorcycle enthusiast. I'd just gotten back from a sandy year long vacation in the middle east, and buying myself a motorcycle was on my "what I'm gonna do when I get back home" list.

It helped that I had a partner in crime for this. My friend Chris also wanted to buy a motorcycle. So we bought our bikes. Chris had purchased a 2005 Honda VLX Deluxe, and I  a 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800. Our plan was to get our learners permits, get used to our bikes and then test at the end of the month. But there was a small problem...

Every car I'd ever driven was an automatic. The only time I'd driven a manual was just before I went off to basic training, and my father attempted to teach me to drive stick with a little suzuki SUV.  This did not go well. There was much arguing and issues starting in first gear. Maybe if wasn't about to go to basic training and actually practiced a few more times with the stick, but anyway...

So Chris and I had our motorcycles delivered to his father's house in Dummer. Chris and I were roommates  and had no garage for ourselves to put our bikes in (first clue to our brilliance!)  There we were staring at our beautiful new machines. Chris attempted to start his bike... no luck. For about ten minutes we pondered what was going wrong. Couldn't figure it out.  Mine started up beautifully!  So to not completely ruin our moment, Chris suggested I ride mine down to Milan airport while he follows in his father's truck.

Full helmet, gloves, uber-cool leather jacket. I was the man! So I start up the bike, slowly roll down the dirt driveway to the road. Now to put that reading about how to shift to good use. NO PROBLEM! Down the road I went, going very well, shifting like a dream, and Chris following behind.

So after my first exhilarating ride we stop in the parking lot at the Milan airport. All's good. Then I turned myself around to leave the parking lot and head back to Dummer. Stall.... and then another stall. Couple more times of trying to start from first gear.

Ok, I'll try it one more time... and I'm off like a rocket across the road, hanging on for dear life, and then plowing my bike to the left across the road into the dirt, with a rooster tail of dirt spitting up into the air!  Ouch. Landed on my Left side. My ribs kinda hurt, but not sure if it was bad.  I groaned, mostly my pride was hurt. Chris ran over, white as a ghost. "Dude, you ok?"

I dusted myself off, we picked up the bike, and amazingly I got it into first gear and gently road down the road back toward Dummer. And all was good again... until the driveway in Dummer... that dirt driveway. I overstear, and fall now on my right side. At this point I'm fed up, really sore physically and mentally. At least I got "it" out of the way. They say that every motorcycle rider dumps there bike at least once.

Decided right then  and there I was gonna wait to take the Motorcycle Rider Safety course. Chris finally got to ride a bike that day, although just up the driveway to the garage... where my bike waited until a few months later after the safety course where I got my license.

 That safety course was worth it. I felt completely confident getting back on the motorcycle again. Confident enough that I traded in the 800cc Vulcan for a 2005 Honda VTX 1300s. Big beautiful cruiser. Still have that bike, still runs beautifully. Had some excellent rides on it. Good memories. Best part of all being that I've never dropped it.

Well, only a few more months to go... then I can open the garage to hop on the bike instead of reaching to grab a shovel.

so this is blogging

I'm new to this whole blogging thing. Granted I've done this by myspace and facebook, but do those really count? To me this is a strange and somewhat egotistical concept on the past habit of keeping a journal. I honestly wonder who's gonna read this. Are my thoughts anywhere near as insightful or thought provoking as some of the blogs I occasionally check out? I don't think so. But sometimes I'm asked by certain people what I'm thinking about, probably just from the strange look on my face as I stare off into space.

Anyway, I'll be sharing occasional thoughts on a bunch of topics that are near and dear to me. Here's the short list:
Cooking
Motorcycles
Ambulance stuff
Music
Martial Arts
Movies
TV
... and attempting to enjoy some outdoor activities.

I'll be posting soon, so until then, good vibes to all...