Walking the Walk

I sometimes like to record my kohai's while attempting to grade. Its a good learning tool. One day we can look back at ourselves and measure our progress.

I recorded 5 short clips during Saturdays gradings in Chilliwack. Gloria, Jen and Izzy were all grading from my Dojo as well as a couple of Lorne's younger students from the Tsawassen Dojo.

For those Martial Arts practitioners who stumble upon this page and think they have a short grading, bear in the mind that most of the candidates have already been training rigorously for most of the day and part of the evening before.

This video starts off as Alicia from the Tsawassen dojo doing her Kihon then turns into Gloria doing hers.

Gloria's Tekki Shodan

Jen's Kihon and Kata. Forgive as I cant move around for better angles.

Izzy Kihon
And Izzy for Bosai Dai

Everyone from Nvan passed. Not sure about the T-towners.

It is what we make of it

Yesterday morning Michael Zehaf-Bibeau walked up behind at Soldier standing on guard in front of the War Memorial in Ottawa and shot him down in cold blood. He then jumped in his car and made what seemed to be a mad dash for the Parliament Building. An act that he must have known would end is his death. A fairly concise timeline can be found here.

These acts are something that anyone in this Country could have done. While I do believe Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's intended to be a Terrorist, the fact that this man had a criminal past and a crack addiction diminishes his actions to those of a marginalized and rather sad criminal. He tried to go to Syria to join Isis. Had he been successful, I have little doubt that they would have afforded him the opportunity to become a full fledged Terrorist or suicide bomber.

Does this make Michael Zehaf-Bibeau and Martin Rouleau Terrorist Wannabees?

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, surrounded by former Hussein Republic Guard Intel officers and soldiers have taken what was formerly Al-Queda from a group of insurgents to a full fledged military force creating their own state from parts of Syria and Iraq. ISIS is more media savvy than any other terror group from that region to date.





ISIS has drawn several young western Muslims to their cause with English Recruitment videos to become fighters.  Bibeau and Rouleau  intended to join them.

There are lots of Muslim people in the world. Lots in Canada. And most would rather live their lives peacefully than go fight for some asshole in Syria.

I liken Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to Heath Ledgers Joker. 

When they send out one of these recruitment videos , He along with his ISIS spin doctors are talking to a certain kind of person, attracting certain kind of mind.  Marginalized, alone, maybe addicted and definitely mentally unstable.

Had Bibeau made it to Syria, yes, I think he would have been a Terrorist. What he did in Ottawa was criminal and cowardly.

The word terrorism is getting thrown around a lot today by our Prime Minister and media reporters. However what Terror boils down to is how you react. I for one, think the George W Bush era or fear mongering has long passed. We as free thinking Canadians have a responsibility to ensure that our Prime Minister not be allowed to use these occurrences as an excuse to escalate our military  presence in the middle east or restrict our own freedoms.  If we fail, then Zehaf-Bibeau and Rouleau succeed.

I am proud that my countrymen have not shown fear.......

I'm so Vain....

Into the North

I'm usually careful not to mix work into my blogging. But my job sent me to Whitehorse this week and I have a few pictures I thought I should share.

 Bove Island is on the way out to Fraser just over the Border in BC.

 Lake and Tundra as you get close to the Alaska Border.

A dirt road services past of the way to Beaver Creek. Plan for extra wait time to let the pilot cars take you back and forth.

 
 Watch out for the traffic coming the other way, however......

A few rocks hit our windshield.


Buckshot Bettys. Old school hospitality.

 10 pm in Beaver Creek

 Some shots of Kluane Lake on the way back to Whitehorse.

 Summer is definitely a nice time to be here. Maybe one day I'll get to see what these places look like in October.

Gravity

Just a few shots taken on Sterling today. Good ride with Bob and a few of his friends, Al and Dom.

Squamish Sideslip

I've always marveled at how a group ride can simply materialize out of seemingly nothing.  Nic and I warmed up on Expresso on Saturday. For Sunday we to get a little more out of our long weekend. Most of our usual gang was unavailable, but Bob was keen to head to Squamish. None of us are that familiar with the area so we back channeled our way to Chris and Rich, our friends who are local to the area.

It's good to know people.

We convinced her to join the ride and show us a few trails previously recommended to us by our out of towners.

 A nice spot for a few group shots at the entrance to Bruce's trail.

 We started on our way.

I was surprised to come around a corner and find myself in familiar territory. Nic and I have done an Alice Lake lap that takes us on these trails.

 Chris and Nic pedalling up the exit of "Tracks from Hell"

 A fair bit of pedaling up followed but it was well worth it. We found our way to Entrail. A trail in Squamish that has a lot to offer. Lots you an do, and some for you to work on in subsequent trips.

 Bob was wise to get his Rock face game started early. There was lots of this on the trail.  Chris took the more reliable and more chundery line to the left.

 There was no shortage of fun lines on this ride.

We finished our Entrail lap. As expected, Bob went back for more on his own. I stuck with the ladies for a bit longer as we did Roller Coaster and most of Lumber Jacks. Then Nic and Chris carried on on their own back to the homestead. I decided to do a short exploratory . I finished off Lumber Jacks and found myself on Tressle trail.

 After lots of map navigation I finally found myself on Seven Up. But not what I hoping for. I think this trail is designed for future slopestylers. (That boat sailed for me long ago.)

 I managed to find my way to the bike shop in town. I'd only been parted from the girls for around 20 minutes or so and I was calling Nic for an Evac from town to the Howe Sound Brew Pub - one of my favorite places in Squamish.

Bob eventually caught up to us for a meal and glass of beer. (He was a bit behind the curve). Rich and \i polished off a bit more than that.

Thanks to Bob, Chris and Rich for a really great day that materialized out of nothing.

Bonus footage. Sorry to make you crane your neck for this:

Moving on

Some pics from our day on Dales and Pangor.

Patience and Heart

Every so often, Fraser Valley Shidokan will invite an instructor over from Japan to bring us some update techniques and help us with some of the Techniques we North Americans have trouble with. Not always is that Sensei Sakurai Sensei. This weekend we had a chance to train with Kumeta Sensei on what was his second trip to Canada. He's 4th Dan Kumite Champion with tremendous physical ability and reminder what is truly possible within the Karate Discipline

 

For an entire 75 minute class, Sensei asked us try to improve our Kekome kicks. Path and hip position were all on the menu. after about the first 45 minutes, by right leg, previously injured in a fall on my mountain bike, got re-aggravated and I had to take a pass on some of the more intense training . But I was able to stick around and get some pictures.  

At the end of class on Saturday there was another Dan Grading. They happen roughly twice a year. This month a few of my long time Kohai's took their shots at their black belts. Danny Kent from the Tsawassen Dojo, and Raly and Lara from North Vancouver.

Danny and I had trained together for a long time before I changed to the North Vancouver Dojo. Marine Biologist and parent,  Danny has a number of demands on him and Karate had to be back burnered a number of times. But patience won out and Danny finally arrived at Shodan.

 

I never really had any Doubt about Lara. She's 15 and weather she'd acknowledge it or not, has just about as much Natural ability as anyone I've met. A year in Japan for her would send us back a great Karate Ka and Sensei.

 And Raly who for as long as I can remember has battle some pretty stiff joints, migraines and sore , ummm, everything? She even managed to crush her big toe just before her grading. She got pretty mad at that but to me it was just Raly being Raly. Venting some of that pent up emotion was probably a good thing anyways.

Congratulations to my 3 good friends on passing their Shodan exams.

Here is some bonus footage from the event.

Raly

Lara

The Lepri Hotel

Big thanks to the Rosano, Kylie, Oliver, Mia and Chewy for putting us up while in Sydney.

We brought the Vancouver weather with us, but considering our options, I'll take it.

Wrapping up QT

Our last full day in Queenstown and we found ourselves on a wine tour again. Not much to write about, but some good scenery, food and wine.

This was our second trip to the Gibston winery. A tad over-rated and a bit in love with their own story. The wine is good but not the best we have found in NZ.

Carrick Vinyard was our next stop. Right away, better wine along with some really nice views out their back door.

 Over to Northburn. Again, a full on Vinyard that doubles as a restaurant. This is where we had our lunch, serving up a combo platter for us to share with generous portions of salmon, lamb, cheeses and veggies. Yum.

 Not much to report from the last 2 wineries we visited.

 Just in case you need to make pavlova......

Nic and I werre pretty full at the end of our day. 2 big tour days in a row and we decided to spend out last night in with a cheese platter and some wine.

The next morning we'd be on our way to Sydney.