Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | May 24, 2008

And now a word from our Commander in Chief!!!!!

The most he has ever made sense

TES

William

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | March 15, 2008

I Purchased my first Rifle

Hello Folks I was just waiting a while to tell you this, because I wanted to make sure my dream of having one matched the reality of having one.

I bought my first rifle about a month ago.

This is it

It is called a Mini-14 it is made by the prestigious STURM, RUGER & CO., INC.

it fires the .223 round (5.56mm)

I seems to handle very well the 30 round mag I purchased for it seems to work very well, I cannot wait for the weather to clear up so I can spend some time at the firing range getting aquainted with my new rifle

Other than that got me two paintball guns that I am going to use this summer.

However I am going to start saving my money and quite possibly pick up an additonal job during my days off to pay for a Jeep I am wanting to go in debt for.

So if I am not around for a while you all will know I am working myself to death to get that toy paid off as soon as I can. If I can get it.

Take care

William

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | February 16, 2008

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while
I hope this will hold you over till I put together a new newsletter of things going on.

Till next time

William

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | February 2, 2008

A change in the Judo Schedule:


hello judoka


It is with great reluctance that I announce that I have, for the time



being canceled the Saturday Judo class until further notice.  This is



due to a lack of attendance on Saturdays.  If Anyone has any idea how



to drum up some business for the Saturday class let me know.  Outside



of holding it later in the day, which is most difficult for me because



the early time format made it possible for me to get other things done



as well.




So to sum it up




the new schedule for the time being:




Monday: 6:30pm to 8:30pm




like I said, give me some ideas or leads and we together can get the Saturday class back up and running.




William




Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | December 7, 2007

Almost Heaven Judo dojo Dec. 2007 Newsletter

judo_logo.jpg

Welcome to the December edition of the the Almost Heaven Judo Monthly Newsletter, hopefully it finds you enjoying the holidays.  

Notices and News:
where-we-are.jpgdojo11.jpg The Big news is that we have moved to 800 Camden Ave. South Parkersburg about 1.5 miles from our old location.  Hopefully in the near future we will get a sign up letting the masses know who and what we are.

John and Steve recently put up a dusk to dawn light where we park in the back so that makes it a tad safer of a night for our students.  Thanks Steve and John. 

Winter is moving in so we have fired up the gas heaters so don’t let the cold keep you from training.

Judo as Physical Training:

This month I would like to talk about my favorite technique, it is Uki Otoshi (floating drop).  I have loved Uki Otoshi ever since one time I tried it in randori and it succeeded, much to my and my opponent’s surprise.  Anyway once I started learning it for the Nage-no-kata I found out that there is a lot more subtle than other judo throws.

Here is the opening paragraph from the Kodokan Judo institute concerning the throw uki otoshi.

The technique of Ukiotoshi is making Uke’s body into a right (left) forward floating position, then, with both hands Tori pulls down strongly to the left and throws or uses a similar technique to throw. Ukiotoshi and Sumiotoshi are identical techniques, which are generally called Kukinage.
 

You can read the Article in its complete form here: Uki-otoshi

Judo Etiquette:

  Instead of the usual Randori section I thought I would do an Etiquette section to let all the New people partake in the reasons why we do what we do.

The word Dojo has many meanings, such as exercise hall, practice hall or place of learning the way. It formally was used by Buddhist monks in reference to worship, it also could be a meditation hall or club. As you can see it can mean a great many things to the martial arts that you are studying. Our sport being Judo, we refer to it as a Judo Dojo.  “Jerry Dalien”read the rest of the article here: judo Etiquette

 

Kata:

I found this on You tube and thought I would post the link so you can also enjoy:

Nage no kata

Something cool I found:

A little dated but fun nevertheless

UK Judo circa 1950

Photos this Month:

Ed W. Doing some outstanding Harai-Goshi

     o1b0.jpg

o1e0.jpg

 

More next month

Anata no juudoo sensei

Dai saru

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | November 1, 2007

Thank the Heavens I live in WV

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West Virginia My home Well today people I paid the taxes on my and my Brother’s land. Feels good to be a land owner. Lol

Went out to the property to take a look around and see how things were coming along. See recently, there were 2 oil wells drilled on the property and I wanted to see how the oil company had reclaimed the land. To say I was impressed was an understatement. It was how I remembered it when I first saw the property when I was a small lad, just with two flow wells added to the memory.

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This is the land in which I want to build a house to get away from it all.

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This is the bottom land that is on the opposite side of the road from the previous picture, it would be most excellent for a garden, simply beautiful.

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This picture is of one of the neighbors that lives in the same area as our property, beautiful isn’t it. These people have some of the best beef cattle in WV.

Anyway I will keep this short due to the fact I am very tired from hiking all day.

Just remember when You think of West Virginia just think of

Wild and Wonderful

We West Virginians already know it is “Almost Heaven.”

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | October 30, 2007

Almost Heaven Judo dojo Nov. 2007 Newsletter

 judo_logo.jpg

Welcome to the return of an old project.  The Almost Heaven Judo Monthly Newsletter, hopefully it finds you in good health.  

Notices and News:
where-we-are.jpgdojo11.jpg The Big news is that we have moved to 800 Camden Ave. South Parkersburg about 1.5 miles from our old location.  Hopefully in the near future we will get a sign up letting the masses know who and what we are.

A lot of people have asked me, “Why did you move?” The answer is this,  The old place built with a lot of Budoka hands was just at the end of it’s life span.  The roof was shot, and the mold there was getting to everyone, whether they would admit it or not, I know it got to me.  This new place is a lot better.  We got the same canvas mats along with some Excellent Swain mats Thanks to a great Martial Artist Matt W.  Don’t worry for all you people out there this place too was built with a lot of budoka help. 

Judo as Physical Training:

The Pedro Guard Pass by Jimmy Pedro
6th degree black belt, 1999 World Champion

In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the following position is referred to as the “Open Guard.” Since there is no formal name for it in Judo, we will also refer to it as the open guard.

Throughout his career, Jimmy Pedro had a lot of success attacking from the top position in the open guard, and was able to pin numerous opponents with his signature guard pass. In this special technique development section, Jimmy will demonstrate and explain how you can master the Pedro Guard Pass.
Here is the link study it: Pedro sensei open guard escape

Randori:

A lot of talk about this subject as of late.  This is mainly do to last semester’s Judo class at the College.  I think the message is getting out on how I view randori, especially for the college students.  How I view randori is plain, simple and to the point it is a learning experience.  I know arts like BJ-j’s “rolling” tend to be more competitive than ours, that is cool, and that is how I grew up with judo randori.  While I had fun and did learn, I was and I saw people hurt needlessly through trying new things way too fast and with limited knowledge of what was going on.  While I returned as some others did, a lot of others did not.  At first, I thought them weak and they couldn’t hack it, then I learned no, they viewed the pain as not worth it.  That is when I started formulating my idea of randori, which to me, is more in line with what Kano Shihan wanted.  My randori is simply to pay heed to the second principle of Judo, Jita Kyoei or mutual benefit and welfare.  When you randori with someone of lower rank give them a good workout but stay at 1 rank higher to do that.  One should not be slapping arm bars on white belts that have never been introduced to arm bars in connection to randori.  In closing  I just want to say that everyone is coming around and randori is becoming less and less injury laden. 

Thanks.

Kata:

I found this on You tube and thought I would post the link so you can also enjoy:

Kime no kata

Something cool I found:

We all know of Dave H.’s Story about his adventures being a blind Judoka.
Here is another’s story
Ohashi

Photos this Month:

building-dojo.jpg   building-dojo-2.jpg  building-dojo-4.jpg

More next month

Anata no juudoo sensei

Dai saru
 

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | August 30, 2007

Came across this in my journeys

Americans United Protests Presidential Snub Of Wiccan War Widow

AU’s Lynn Says Bush Should Apologize For Mistreatment of Stewart, Affirm Respect For Americans Of All Faith Perspectives

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today blasted President George W. Bush for shunning a war widow who successfully challenged the administration’s refusal to allow the use of the Wiccan symbol of faith on government-issued grave markers.

On Tuesday, following an address to the American Legion’s national convention in Reno, Bush met with northern Nevada family members of soldiers who have perished in combat. Roberta Stewart, whose husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in combat in Afghanistan, was not invited, even though other relatives of Sgt. Stewart were.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sgt. Stewart’s parents and brother were invited to the brief, private meeting with the president. So was the widow of one of the other National Guardsmen killed with Sgt. Stewart when their Chinook helicopter was shot down.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, condemned Bush’s snub of Stewart.

“The president should issue an apology to Roberta Stewart,” Lynn said. “She stood courageously for religious freedom for all soldiers, and the president was wrong to treat her so shabbily.”

In 2006, Americans United sued the VA in federal court representing Stewart, two other Wiccan widows, Circle Sanctuary and Isis Invicta Military Mission. AU argued that the VA’s refusal to recognize the pentacle as a symbol of faith violated the religious liberty rights of Wiccan service members and their families and subverted the separation of church and state.

Earlier this year, the VA settled the lawsuit and announced it would include the pentacle on its list of religious symbols that are permitted on soldiers’ gravestones, markers and memorials.

During the litigation, AU attorneys unearthed evidence that the VA’s refusal to recognize the pentacle may have been motivated by bias toward the Wiccan faith. It appeared that the VA did not want to recognize the faith, which President Bush has publicly derided in the past.

Lynn said the president’s snub of Roberta Stewart smacked of retaliation for her public and successful stand against the administration policy.

“President Bush seems to be continuing a pattern of hostility toward the Wiccan faith,” he said. “That’s an outrage. America is a nation of great religious diversity, and all public officials, especially the president, have an obligation to serve all of the people. Our Constitution mandates equal treatment of all faiths.”

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

Wow it looks like our “president” has done it again.  Now alot of you would  say “who cares?” well not me, I care about our troops, and they deserve the best our government has to offer irregardless of their religious beliefs. 

My personal belief is this; It doesn’t matter if you believe in it, all that matters is that someone believes in it.  Maybe our “fearful leader” should put his head to better use than what he seems to be using it for….a buttplug.

 I said it, I will stand by it…This is America for crying out loud!

William

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | August 28, 2007

Ok people I love this song, trust me you will like it too

 here are the lyrics

Johnny Jump Up

Listen: LoFi | Download | Chords
From:
A Faire To Remember

words and music by traditional

I’ll tell you a story that happened to me
One day as I went down to Cork by the sea
The sun it was hot and the day it was warm,
Says I a quiet pint wouldn’t do me no harm

I went in and I called for a bottle of stout
Says the barman, I’m sorry, all the beer is sold out
Try whiskey or paddy, ten years in the wood
Says I, I’ll try cider, I’ve heard it was good.

Oh never, Oh never, Oh never again
If I live to be a hundred or a hundred and ten
I fell to the ground and I couldn’t get up
After drinking a quart of the Johnny Jump Up

After downing the third I went out to the yard
Where I bumped into Brody, the big civic guard
Come here to me boy, don’t you know I’m the law?
Well, I up with me fist and I shattered his jaw

He fell to the ground with his knees doubled up
But it wasn’t I hit him, ’twas Johnny Jump Up
The next thing I remember down in Cork by the sea
Was a cripple on crutches and says he to me

I’m afraid of me life I’ll be hit by a car
Won’t you help me across to the Celtic Knot Bar?
After downing a quart of that cider so sweet
He threw down his crutches and danced on his feet

I went up the lee road, a friend for to see
They call it the madhouse in Cork by the Sea
Butl when I got there, sure the truth I will tell,
They had this poor bugger locked up in a cell

Said the guard, testing him, say these words if you can,
“Around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran”
Tell him I’m not crazy, tell him I’m not mad
It was only a sip of the bottle I had

Well, a man died in the mines by the name of McNabb
They washed him and laid him outside on the slab
And after the parlors measurements did take
His wife brought him home to a bloody fine wake

Twas about 12 o’clock and the beer was high
The corpse sits up and says with a sigh
I can’t get to heaven, they won’t let me up
Til I bring them a quart of the Johnny Jump Up

So if ever you go down to Cork by the sea
Stay out of the ale house and take it from me
If you want to stay sane don’t you dare take a sup
Of that devil drink cider called Johnny Jump Up

I first heard it when I bought my Gaelic Storm’s Special Reserve CD

Tell me what you think?

William

Posted by: William the Evil American of Scottish ancestry K | August 19, 2007

Hey People I would like it if you could help out some Friends of mine.

Visit The Brotherhood of the Kilt at www.KiltsRock.com

These people are the real deal people.  They are running a program called Kilts for TroopsIt Doesn’t matter to me how you feel about the war or the people pulling the strings.  All that matters is our troops, and if they want kilts then by all means we Americans take care of our troops.  So get over there and help them out.

Keep a rockin’ in the free world people!

Alba gu brath

Erin gu brath

Staitean Aonaichte gu brath

 

 

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