Fall trip to New York City
Niandoryu Ju Jitsu, Japanese Rock, Kendo, and Chinatown

10-8-08
This trip I tried to keep it as cheap as possible to get away for a good week. The cheapest ticket I could find was out of Madison, Wi for only $200. And as luck would have it that is where Mary's sister lives. So I was able to keep the truck at her place and not have to worry about having to pay for parking. Left around 6am from Iowa City and got into Madison about 9am. Mapquest was working as crappy as normal and put me in the wrong position but I was able to find Kitty's apartment ok.



The flight was pretty quick and I arrived in Newark, NJ sometime around 6pm. After meeting Mary and driving back to her place on Staten Island, we unpacked and relaxed a little bit before heading out for supper. We visited one of our favorite local places "Goodfellas" they offer brick oven New York style pizza that I am a big fan of. On the walk back to Mary's apartment we walked by a local dance studio that had a sign in the window advertising Ju Jitsu classes. We poked our heads into the front office and picked up some information on the class. Turned out it is called Niandoryu Ju Jitsu. When we got back to the apartment I did a quick google search to find out some more about it. I was unable to find out specifics on Niandoryu but I was about to learn more about the local instructors teacher. He was taught by a Professor Vee, a Filipino man who studied multiple arts and was awarded title as Professor by the Ju Jitsu federation. The local club only had classes on Thursday nights so I decided if nothing else was going on it would be nice to check it out.

10-9-08
Thursday we took our time getting up and around (normal for Mary) :P We took our time eating bagels for breakfast/lunch, watching tv and napping. We decided we better get some exercise and groceries, otherwise all we would eat would be bagels for the entire visit. So we headed out to the boardwalk. I seemed to have hit the jackpot for as far as weather goes. It was mid 70's the entire visit. We walked for a better part of an hour on the boardwalk



we than headed to the grocery store to stock up on things so we didn't get stuck eating out all the time. Bout that time it was close for the Ju Jitsu class to start. So I walked over to the dance studio. The area that the class was being held was in the back of the dance studio. To get to the back I had to stand at the door and wait for permission to cross the room to the back due to multiple ballet students spinning around in the front room. Once the dance instructor told me it was safe I was allowed to go to the back. Since I was not familiar with the Dojo and their views and etiquette I wore a tank top and my black Hapkido pants but I had my ebay dobak and belt in my bag in case they wanted me to wear something. After introducing myself to Shihan Douglas Spano I explained that I did Hapkido and had a top with me. Unlike the Manhattan Hapkido school that I visited last time, that made me buy one of their beginner uniforms and would not recognize my rank. Shihan Spano did not mind or care. In fact, once that he saw my belt he introduced me to the the rest of the class as "Sensei Williams" and put me at the head of the line. The class was fairly small with the same type of mats that we use for our demos we do outside of the Dojang. The class was an hour and a half long and consisted of falling exercises, striking, 1 set of forms, and self defense techniques that consisted of Judo style throws. I was paired up with two other members. I had a little trouble with the Judo throws when it was my turn to throw due to my height. Being as tall as I am it can be really difficult to get my center under other peoples. Both of my partners were considerably shorter than I was and on the stout side. But it was still a pretty good workout. Both my partners and Shihan Spano's assistant instructor really enjoyed throwing me and was impressed by my falling. On one occasion after being thrown hearing one say "My god, he falls like butta" (New York for butter) " where was he for my testing". After class Shihan Spano invited me back for another class if I was going to around and made me feel real welcome. It was a nice change to what I had been finding on my past trips. Having to pay $20 to "try" a class or not even being able to watch or try a class without signing a contract was really making me frown on some of the arts I was finding on my trips.
gun attack




(for those who have not seen my checkered Dobak, I got this pretty cheap and It is a nice Saturday uniform to help keep caught up on laundry, I have since made this my travel Dobak since it takes up allot less room in the suitcase then our normal tops. Plus the style is more recognized for Hapkido which I thought visiting other schools might help )

10-10-08
Friday once again found me getting sucked into Mary's schedule. Sleeping in late and starting the day in the afternoon. It was nice just taking our time with breakfast and lunch. Then we planned our travel routes, collected our Metro cards and headed off to go downtown. We decided not to mess with the car at all and take the bus and ferry into Manhattan. Once there we headed to the East Village to the the Delancy bar. Over the past few months I have been hooked on a podcast called "The Zerohour" It is a free audio podcast that showcases allot of local Japanese rock groups in and around New York City. According to the website of the creator of the Zerohour. There was to be a local group called "Low Kick Manah" I thought it sounded pretty interesting plus the Delancy bar on friday nights have different bands all night long for only $5. We got there pretty early and got to watch the very first band plus the MC Frankie Woods. That alone was worth the $5 getting in. Next up was Low KIck Manah. Mary was not to keen on loud rock but luckily I thought ahead and brought some earplugs so she could get thru it. I on the other hand really enjoyed it. The did covers of "Helter Skelter" and "Kick Out the Jams" which when done in half english and half Japanese and loud volumes how can you go wrong :) .







after Low Kick Manah was done we were both pretty hungry so we walked further north thru the village to a small Japanese restaurant "Sapporo East" I had Yakidon and some sushi. It was pretty good, the only downfall was Mary and I was stuck in a small little corner of the restaurant out of sight. So even just getting our water glasses refilled was hard to get the waiters attention.



Afterwards we started the trek back to Staten Island.


10-11-08
Saturday we had to get up and moving fairly early. We had made plans to meet up with Raf and Laura.



These are friends of ours that used to live in Iowa City. Laura I believe got up to Blue belt in the Hapkido club. We had made plans to check out the Cloisters a part of the MET museum. The Cloisters is a building made up of not just artifacts from medevil times but the building itself contains parts of old churches and buildings. Like an archway or wall would have been from an 18th Century church and the rest of the museum would be built around it.

The Cloisters is located pretty far uptown so we hopped on the A train and headed north. Raf and Laura picked us up at one of the nearest train stops and drove from there. The museum was really interesting. I am not really what you would call religious but I do really enjoy religious statues no matter what faith that they belong too. We walked around the museum for a couple of hours. Luckily the museum is not so large that it takes all day to see everything.









After we were done Raf and Laura drove us further north closer to where they live in the Bronx.



We went to a small Italian neighborhood where there was an open marketplace that was really neat to walk thru. Walking up the street you saw allot of cheese and sausage shops. We found a nice Italian restaurant that Raf and Laura had been to before and recommended. After dinner Mary and I got to see Laura's lab and and some of the projects that she works on at the college where she is employed. Luckily once again they were nice enough to drive us all the way back to the ferry terminal instead of taking the trains or taxis back.

10-12-08
On Sunday after all the traveling and late nights from Friday and Saturday nights we decided to just take it easy on Sunday and hang out on Staten Island.



We milled around the apartment for awhile before going to Panera so we both could use the internet and Mary could get some work done. Unfortunately the internet was not working there so we did not stay long. So we decided to take in a movie and saw "Body of Lies" It was ok. I was dying to see "Beverly Hills Chihwawa" but Mary wanted to ignore the box office hits and see something else :P

10-13-08
Columbus day. Monday found Mary needing to get more work done. So I grabbed the skateboard and bag and headed into Manhattan.


As my normal course I like to walk straight out of the ferry terminal and head up Broadway. On that day for a small stretch Broadway it was close to traffic and there had been booths set up for vendors to sell different things.




Most of it was tourist stuff but it was still nice to walk thru and look. I attempted to find a specialty store that I wanted to visit but with the way that the economy is now it was not surprising that even though it was listed in my Not For Tourist book for 2008 that the store was closed and out of business. So I kept on up Broadway to Chinatown.



I had been to Chinatown before with Mary but it was nice to take a little more time during the day to check out some of the shops. By then the sun was starting to go down and more and more vendors start hitting the sidewalks to sell bootleg wares. Mary was getting done with her work and was ready for supper soon so I headed towards the "greenway" the greenway is right next the west side highway thru Manhattan. I skated over to the greenway and headed back towards the ferry terminal.





the weather was absolutely perfect and it was a beautiful night. Once on the greenway it was only a 20 min board ride back to Battery Park. I was a little disappointed that some points of the greenway was under construction so I had to hop off and walk a little but it was still a nice night. Once I was able to get back on the board it was still funny to zip along and weave around people in suits getting off work and walking home. After the ferry and bus ride back to Staten Island I hopped back on the board for the final leg back to Mary's.

10-14-08
Tuesday Mary still had a little work to get done. So later in the afternoon we both headed into Manhattan. We attempted to visit the Strand book store in the Financial District but like the store I attempted to visit the day before it was closed and out of business. So we headed up Broadway by foot, paid a visit to the quicksilver store and then went to the main Strand bookstore. The store advertises 16 miles of books it's a little overwhelming the first time you go there. After which we kept heading north to 26th street to visit the New York Kenshinkai Kendo club.



I really enjoyed visiting this club. The one of the best parts of this visit was the fact that I forgot to write the building number of the address for the club. All that I knew was the street and block that it was located on. The club worksout in the Chelsea Dance Studio. So I figured no problem there will surely be a sign for the dance studio. Mary and I walked up and down the street with no luck of finding a sign. We stopped in a couple of store fronts on the block and asked where the dance studio could be located. No one knew at all. We were about to give up and head back to the village for supper when I happened to notice 2 individuals walking down the sidewalk with what possibly looked like Shinais and Bogu bags. I caught up with them and asked if they were from the club and of course they were :). I asked if we could follow them and they led us up to the room where after which they left us there to go change. After a few moments a few of the members showed up and I introduced myself.(which looking back realizing I rudely did not do that when I approached the couple that led us in) The member I introduced myself to said that he would be happy to introduce me to their sensei. And of course if you have not already seen it coming when the sensei came in it was the man of the couple that had led us into the building. :P

the club seemed really nice and friendly. Compared to the other Kendo club that I visited on one of my last trips where no one came to talk to us or anything. Sensei Kishino offered to lend me a shinai if I would like to try the beginer class even though I totally did not dress or was prepared to workout.





I had allot of fun I would really like to go back and workout and learn more from this club.

Afterwards Mary and I headed back to St.Marks street and went to what is becoming one of my favorite spots to eat when I am in town....KENKA!! I LOVE KENKA!! We were pretty lucky this time and did not have to wait to get in. The food is so good here and compared to other places in New York it is really inexpensive. The 2 of us was stuffed for $30 and that included my 6 beers :)



10-15-08
Wednesday found another day where Mary had to work. So I hopped back on the ferry and headed back into Manhattan to do some more looking around. I went back to Chinatown to pick up some knick knacks that I wanted to get some friends. Then I headed up Lafayette to a skateboard shop called "Supreme". I have to say I was totally unimpressed. The place was basicaly a tiny store front with hardly anything on display. With items like $40 for a hat that just said Supreme on it. I was way more impressed with NYPD shop. After walking around the village a little more I hopped on my skateboard and headed back to the ferry to meet up with Mary back at home.
We had allot of saved TV to watch so we(mary) cooked a nice dinner and we settle in to watch some tv and relax.

10-16-08
Thursday I came home :( My flight left at 11:25 out of Newark. With packing and sleeping in a little to long I had to eat my Bagel Bistro bagels on the run. Other than that it was pretty uneventful getting back to Madison, WI where Kitty was waiting for me to start me on my 3 hour drive home to Iowa City.

April trip to New York.

So this month was actually Mary’s turn to come to Iowa City but being between conferences she was not going to have time to prepare and travel to see me. So instead I headed out to New York to see her. We figured it would work out so she could see me and I could go explore Manhattan some more. I flew out on Thursday morning into JFK again. This time the trip was shorter than the last time I went so I packed less, managing the bags while going on the trains and ferry was allot nicer.

Mary picked me up at the ferry terminal around supper time. I wasn’t too tired so instead of just going back to her place I followed her out to the mall to get her taxes done. I wondered around the mall checking things out until she was done. We then got some pizza from a place call "Goodfellas" . This has been my favorite for a while. Mary being from Chicago is still partial to Chicago style. But I am slowly being won over to New York style pizza.

Friday Mary had a workshop to attend in Manhattan so I grabbed my skateboard and followed her into town and escorted her to where she needed to be. Since I was going to have to find a way to keep working out while getting ready to test I wanted a way to see the city and still get some exercise. So I figured the skateboard would be the way to do it. I have always felt that board sports and martial arts go hand in hand. There is no better way to cross train working on your balance and endurance than surfing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, or skateboarding.

Manhattan has a great bike path that starts near the ferry terminal and runs up the west side of the city. I have to say thanks to Raf and Laura for giving me a ride home the last time I was in town otherwise I probably would not have seen and known about this. Out of the 4 boardsports that I listed earlier skateboarding definitely not one that I do allot, so I did not feel comfortable skating in traffic like some of the locals I have seen. So I decided the bike path would be a great way to start skating the city. It took a little less than an hour to skate up to 18th street. I stopped along the way to take in some of the sites and take some pictures.


Just after dropping Mary off I walked by an area where they were getting ready for a Greek parade. I had a nice picture lined up but by the time I got the camera out the troop moved and I ended up behind them.


Skating thru Battery park past people dressed as the Statue of Liberty you can get a small glimpse of the real one


An overcast morning


a memorial to the Merchant Marines


At 18th street I got off the board and walked up to where the New York Aikikai was located.



Unfortunately there were no classes going on at that time so I was unable to pop in and watch one. But I picked up a brochure to get some more info on the school. The Aikikai has been around since the 60’s and is supposedly the second largest school compared to the Aikido headquarters in Tokyo. My plan was to head back towards Broadway since I have been becoming familiar with the area and I knew I would not get lost as long as I stayed near that street. On my way to Broadway I came across the International Martial Arts Center just a couple of blocks away.



The I.M.A.C is run by Grand Master Hahn who teaches Taekwondo, Aikido and Judo. When I stepped inside to get more information I notice the sign on the wall actually said Aikido/Hapkido. Unfortunately no one was in the office and there was not another class until later in the evening so I figured I would do some research on the internet and stop back in when a class was scheduled. Afterwards I found my way back to Broadway and hit up some of the local shops like the Strand bookstore and Forbidden Planet. About that time it was time to start heading down Broadway to meet up with Mary. After we met up the plan was to head up to 56th street to sit in on a Kendo class with the kenshin-kai Kendo club. We took the train up to where we needed to go. I had gotten the information off of the clubs website. Unfortunately what we found out was that the club had moved and the website was not updated. So after no one answering the door we decided we would walk down thru Times Square then hop on a train to the village for supper.



Times Square on a Friday night was packed. It was really hard trying to get thru the crowded sidewalks with a skateboard strapped to your back and a girlfriend who can easily drown in a sea of people from being in the crowds. We manage to fight our way to the train station which lucky for me is right next to the Quicksilver store. So Mary nicely took my board and bag, sat down to take a break so I could check out their rashguards and surfboards. While I was looking around I guess one of the sales clerks came up to Mary who saw she was holding a skateboard and was admiring my board. (since I had not ridden it much it still looked pretty new). I guess he was mumbling in a New York accent that Mary did not realize he was even talking to her until he started to spin one of the wheels on the board.

We then hopped on the train to head to St.Marks place to go to a restaurant called "Kenka"



according to the NFT book. (not for tourists) it was advertised as a local style Japanese restaurant that you should not expect to get sushi at. And boy were they right. I think it offered everything but sushi. You could of course get some shashimi but they did not offer dozens of different types of rolls like allot places do now. It did remind me of the local restaurants that you find at the train stations in Japan when I was there last. Only this time there was more english on the menu and I did not end up trying to eat broiled chicken skin on a stick. The food was really good. I had Oyakadon which is one of my favorites. One of the best things about this place was the service was fast and it was really really cheap. Both Mary and I ate + my 6 or 7 beers ( Iost count) for $30. Compared to allot of restaurants we have checked out that were actual sit down places, this was really cheap. We had gone to a place call "Sushi Samba" last year for $30 bucks I think that got you a salad and a glass of water. We headed home afterwards with a failed trip to Trader Joes.

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Mary had to do allot over the weekend getting ready for class and a conference in Buffalo. So even though the weather was pretty nice out we decided to just hang out around the apartment. Later on we went out for supper at a sushi place that we both liked not too far from Mary’s

Sunday we thought the weather was going to be nice but it turned out to be a little windy and cold. But we decided that we needed to get out of the apartment. For Christmas I had bought Mary a pair of roller skates, so we decided to head down to the boardwalk and do some skating. It was a little cold but still it was nice to get out and get some exercise.



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Monday I decided to head back into Manhattan to find a school to workout at. I decided to walk up Broadway again from the ferry terminal. It’s a nice walk to get up to 18th street, it takes you thru parts of the village and on the edge of Chinatown. I decided to head back to the International Martial Arts Center to see if I could possibly join their class and to see if they actually had a Hapkido class. When I arrived there I was greeted by Master Hahn. He was very nice and polite and it looked like he had a really nice school. Unfortunately he said that he could not accommodate me. He mainly taught his students Taekwondo and his advance students did Hapkido. For me to join his class would disrupt what he had planned for practice. I thanked him for his time and told him I totally understood. On his website he is listed as a 6th Dan in Aikido but does not list his Hapkido rank I was really curious to see what he taught.

My choices at that point was to go to the Aikikai and watch a class or go back to the World Martial Arts Center. I decided that I needed to workout more than watch a class, so I went back to WMAC and bought a day pass. I still had their school uniform that I received the last time I worked out there so I quickly changed and waited for their final class of the day to start. While I was waiting for the class ahead of me to end I was watching them do their techniques. The partners closest to me was doing armbars against attackers with a knife. Since I am not part of their family I was wearing a white belt. A 2nd Dan saw that I was waiting and turned to me in between a takedown and said " I see you watching, you won’t do this for a couple of years but it is a good idea to watch so you have an idea of what is to come" I really had to bite my tongue but I was respectful and just smiled and replied " yes, sir"

When my class started up I had a different instructor than the last time I worked out there. It was still a good class and the people are very friendly. This time we did not do any takedowns it was strictly punching and kicking drills with situps and situps with some more situps with a side of situps. It was definitely what I needed help get ready for testing. The last part of class we did forms. I learned what they call "tiger 1". I have never been a big fan of forms but I did enjoy doing this set more than the first couple of forms I learned when I tried Taekwondo. After the class I decided to walk back to the ferry station instead of take the subway to cool off. I was pretty tired by the time Mary picked me up at the station on the Staten Island side.

I am still on the fence about this school. It’s extremely clean, with friendly people and offers classes thru out the entire day. They have a trial month for $149 so I can only assume compared to some of the other schools that the price may jump up to $200 or more after the first month. I think it is going to depend on what type of job and schedule I may end up with if I move. If I get a job on Staten Island I’m not sure if I would make the trip into the city enough to make it worthwhile. Plus I still have would like to learn some Kendo if I get the chance.

On my next trip I am going to try out a jujutsu class that I found that is actually only a block away from Mary’s and a Gracie Jujitsu school that is a 5 min bus ride.

Tuesday I had to catch my plane back at JFK. Mary rode the trains with me to see me off. So now I am back hopefully will put the finishing touches on my preparation for my test. :)


Pan hiding between my bag and board while I was packing up to leave.

So I had a week of vacation to use up before the weekend of march 1st otherwise I would lose it. So I took advantage of it and went out to visit Mary and Pan.

I took off on the 20th and flew out of another snow storm out of the Quad Cities. My flight out was delayed so that threw my schedule off and Mary was not going to be able to meet me at JFK. So I was on my own with my luggage to take the Train, Ferry and Bus to get to Mary's on Staten Island. It was easy enough. The hardest part was actually walking in Manhattan to the ferry station with all my luggage. I arrived downtown right in the middle of rush hour with me packed up like a pack mule trying to plow thru busy sidewalks was not the most fun but doable. It took right around 2 hours from JFK to Staten Island using public transportation.

Thursday was pretty quiet I decided to rest up from getting up at 4am the morning before I started traveling.

Friday of course that is when New York had to get it's snow storm. The City got around 6-9 inches of snow. But luckily it was not frigid cold like it was in Iowa. So we just stayed put Friday as well and just walked down to Good Fellas for pizza.


(Mary showing off her Blue Berry head)

Saturday we decided to head downtown to meet up with Raf and Laura one of our Hapkido Alumni.


We went to this great Polish restaurant where I had a great broiled Salmon and beer. Afterwards Raf took us to this great Ale house.


the place was standing room only ( we had to wait outside until a very tough and old looking bouncer would let people come in after a few would come out). As far as beer went you only had two choices LIGHT and DARK. Raf had told us that at least in the past the people who ordered the most round of drinks were the ones who got to stay and the people who were drinking slow were kicked out. So of course the last thing I wanted to do was to get kicked out so after Raf bought two rounds I bought the next two rounds. And since Mary does not drink beer I had to drink her rounds. Luckily the glasses were not that big so it was good practice for drinking your pitcher for testing.

Afterwards we visited a comicbook shop that Raf and Laura enjoyed and then a chocolate restaurant. There was quite a line to get in to the chocolate place so Raf and I left the girls to wait in line and headed to a bar to use the restroom and since we had time on our hands have a couple more rounds of Guinness. By the time the girls were seated and we had met up with them ( as Mary tells me) my speech was getting a little slurry ( I didn't notice but oh well). After some dessert Laura drove us back to the ferry terminal. I am always amazed at how easy it is for them to drive around Manhattan. They always seem to be able to find the best parking spots and have no trouble getting around the island.


Sunday Mary and I hungout on Staten Island she had allot of class prep to do. So we just had bagels and watched the first season of LOST on DVD whenever she could take a break. ( we were going to try to make it thru the entire season but unfortunately time just was not on our side.)

Monday Mary had to teach that evening and still had allot of class prep to do so she worked most of the day while I piddled around the apartment . When she left for class I decided to head to Manhattan and to go visit the "World Martial Arts Center" one of the few placed I could find on the internet to offer Hapkido. Now I have to be perfectly honest that when I first saw their video on their website I was not that impressed. Coming from a Hapkido style that did no forms or allot of striking I really found myself asking is this Hapkido?






The Dojang offered a day pass for unlimited workouts so I figured it would not hurt to at least try it. Dojang is set up so there are classes offered all day long. Once you pay your monthly fee or day pass you can train as long as you want and many classes as you want. Since I got a late start I was only able to take the late class of the evening. I did not pack my uniform since I originally did not plan on visiting any schools but luckily the day pass for the "WMAC " came with a free uniform. It is a Taekwondo grade uniform with the WMAC logo on the back. When I arrived at the Dojang I introduced myself to the instructor and he signed me in for his last class. Since the intro video had all these forms and weapons I stupidly asked what they were teaching tonight and he looked at me and replied "Hapkido" . I quickly changed and lined up with a few other students. The class consisted of another white belt along with myself and a couple of green and blue belts. The class was an hour long, and consisted of allot of conditioning ( my abs really needed this) then some Striking and kicking drills. We then did some short stick work consisting mainly with striking. The last 15 of class was "Self Defense" where the instructor paired up with me and we did what Pak Family Hapkido are used to. It was really great working out with the instructor, we took turns grabbing and trowing each other in a freestyle set of different grabs. It was easy to show each other how we worked out and everything was pretty close to the same. We ended class and after the class is done they offer open mat to do what ever you would like to work on. The instructor and I decided to do knife defenses and once again just took turns throwing each other. Some of the other members hung around watching us and after about 10 minutes I had to quit to start the trek back to Staten Island. My ego got fed a little when I went to the changing room when one of the members came up to me and " Sir, you are definitely not a white belt" and I explained where I was from. The other white belt was present and commented on how we would like to learn what the instructor and I was doing. It made me feel really good to be able to visit another school and be able to workout so easily without any attitude or " This how we do it and it's the only way there is" complex that you can occasionally run into. Compared to the weekend seminar we had with Berkley Hapkido in Ames a few years ago I would go back to WMAC anytime.






It was about 10pm and such pleasant weather compared to what Iowa had been going thru I decided to walk back to the ferry terminal instead of hopping on the train. Walking down Broadway thru the financial district is actually pretty nice.


Tuesday Once again Mary had to work most of the day so I hung out with Pan and watched TV. We packed up late afternoon and headed into Manhattan to check out a Kendo school in the upper side. I wanted to check out this school because the instructor Kataoka Sensei was not only successful doing Kendo in Japan but also played the part of Maj. General Hayashi
in Clint Eastwood's movie "Letters from from Iwo Jima" The NY Kendo club works out in an older church on the one of the top floors which is an old Gymnasium.

(the web page below has a nice video done by NY 1 news)
http://www.nyckendo.com/index.html

Mary and I arrived a little soggy due to it raining most of the evening in the middle of the beginner class. It was really neat to watch the beginners practice their drills and almost mesmerizing with the sound of the SInai's (bamboo swords) hitting each other. The beginner class melded right into the advance class where the members suited up into their armor and really started to do their drills. It was a real treat to watch such a dedicated group workout. I was a little disappointed that no one came to talk to us about joining the club or to see if we had any questions. Their website stated to feel free and come watch a workout. But I felt to try to ask a question I would be interupting and intruding on the class. Maybe if we were able to stay till the end of the class we could of talked to someone but Mary had allot of work to do so we headed back to Staten Island. Luckily it stopped raining.

Wednesday we woke up and went to a little coffee shop that we both like that is just down the street from Mary's apartment. When we are lucky there is no line to get in. The food is really good and not bad priced especially if you can get there before 11am when they have breakfast specials. Between food and LOST Mary had to work and teach class again that night. Originally I was going to go workout at an Aikido club not far from Mary's place. But decided not to, when I could not find Hapkido on Staten Island I decided to look for Aikido. The only place I could find was actually not far from Mary's. The only problem was that the instructor had moved around Staten Island around 3 times and had web pages of each place and address so it was really hard to track him down. Once I found his most current page it was 3 years old and had not been updated. I sent a couple of emails and he did respond but did not answer all of my questions. So I decided to head back into Manhattan to have supper with Raf and Laura again.

We ended going to a place called "Blondies" It had some really good wings. According to Raf this place is one of the only "Iowa Hawkeye" bars in New York. It actually caters to all of the big 10 but I guess there is a good following of Hawkeye fans there. We called it an early night since I had to pack and they had work to do so I headed back home to pack up and meet up with Mary when she got home.

(pan before the flash)


(pan after the flash)


The flights back were ok, I got back into the Quad Cities pretty late and of course I came home to snow and crappy roads. I am getting so tired of driving interstate 80 at 40mph.

Oh well, hopefully spring will be here soon.

I think it is a true sign that your getting older and your not exited to get allot of snow. I still love snowboarding but when you can't just take off and enjoy the snow it really starts to get old. Todays snowstorm we are supposed to get 15 inches before it is all said and done with. Our office is already closed early, and I had to dig my car out of the snow just trying to get back home.

( I know my Iowa City friends are saying ok, big deal we are all going thru it, But I wanted to snap a couple of pics for my out of state friends )




My poor shack getting buried



I couldn't get my car in close and had to park illegally a few blocks away in the university parking lot. Hopefully I don't have to do to much more digging to get it out in the morning

So I've finally rested up from my trip to Japan and Christmas. I think it will still take a little while to get fully recovered.

I left for Japan on Wednesday December 13th. I flew out of Des Moines and had to make transfers at Denver and Los Angelos. Once I arrived at Narita airport in Tokyo the whole trip took 17hours. I arrived in Tokyo Thursday December 14th around 7pm. Between the plane being stuck in the flight pattern for a little while and traffic to get back to Kenny's place it took (3hours) to get to Zama.


Driving from Narita

On Friday I slept in a little bit and gave Kenny some space since he was just coming off his last cruise in Japan. We got around and headed into Tokyo to have lunch and to locate my hotel in Shibuya. We ate at a really nice Mexican resturant not far from the Train station and Times Square. We then hopped on the train to head to Shibuya. After walking around a little we found the hotel. I was on the 33rd floor and it had a fantastic view of the area.

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Since Kenny was still recovering, we had a couple of drinks from the hotel bar then he headed for home. After a couple of hours I was able to meet up with one of my myspace friends Yukiko.

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We attempted to go to a Japanese resturant in Shibuya but unfortunately it was going to be too long of a wait. So we walked around awhile then she remembered an Italian resturant. It was really good. Over supper she educated me on "Shibuya Mountain Girls" girls and now guys also who hang around the Shibuya area wearing tons of makeup and odd clothing. I guess as she stated sometimes they dont shower just put on a new layer of makeup.

We decided to have a drink after supper and walked down "Center Gui"

Even though it was nighttime with so much neon lights it almost like daytime.
We went back to the hotel bar at the top of the hotel that had an even better view of the city at night then what my room had ealier.

Yukiko went home and went to my room to take a quick nap then I decided to head out and check out Shibuya a little more.Since I did not know the area very well I decided to start at the train station and just pick a street and walk a ways and come back. There was so many shops and bars that even though it was 1:30am it was still really hopping. I had heard that Shibuya had a red light district called "Love Hotel Hill" I am not sure if this is the area where I ended up walking thru but 3 times in half a block I was grabbed by the arm by a girl and offered services. It really took me by surprise how aggressive they would be when I said no thank and tried to keep walking. I am sure they thought I was just trying to bring the price down. But after a little struggle they took the point and let me go. (later I told Kenny about this and he told me I just cannot say no, that if I had made an X with my arms and said no they would of understood and left me alone).

So after awile I got a snack from a corner store and headed back to the hotel to get rested up for the next day. I got up, checked out of the hotel and hit the Starbucks across from the train station. I was just getting ready to walk around again when I got the call from Kenny he was about there and was bringing his army friend Dave along with him. We were going to meet another Myspace freind at the Hachico Statue at the train station.

( It's hard to see but the statue is in the center of the picture) The story of Hachico is really sad. A long time ago a man and his dog would come to the train station every morning. The man would go to work and the dog would sit and wait for his master to return. This went on for quite awhile. One day the man was killed on his way home from work. But Hachico kept waiting for his master even though he never returned. Locals would give Hachico food as they walked by but the dog always waited for his master. After awhile Hachico passed away and the locals were touched by his loyalty that they made a statue of him. Supposedly Hachico's body is at the National Science Museum. And the statue is currently a popular meeting spot at the busy train station. This is where we met Sachico.

Sachico met up with us and helped us find the Sengakuji temple. The temple was located in the Minato-ku ward. It was the weekend that the Japanese were paying respects to parties involved in the 47 Ronin story.

Short version: Lord Asano head of the Asano clan was drawn into a fight where fighting was not allowed by death penalty of law. (he drew his sword in the palace where it was forbiden and struck another lord) Since he broke the law he had to commit Seppeku (suicide). He was then buried at Sengakuji temple. His samurai were now ronin (masterless samuria) after a period they plotted and took revenge on the lord that made lord Asano fight. Then 47 of them in honor of their dead lord killed themselves at the gate of the temple. There are different versions of this story as it is a popular story. The weekend is even divided to honor both sides involed in the incident.

(they had a well where they cleaned the severed heads that were taken off after seppeku :) )

After walking around the temple for a while we got back on the trains and headed to Harajuku.




We walked around some of the shops it was really congested with people. There was supposedly a concert going on and the number of people were just amazing. We hit some of the shops and then stopped for coffee. By this point Kenny was getting tired and him and Dave decided to head for home. Sachico and I decided to go check out the new James Bond movie in Roppongi. It was nice just walking around from Harajuku to Roppongi. I have never been to a theater that large. The movie was great and I was able to catch the last local train back to Zama.

On Sunday since we did so much walking around on Saturday I decided I would give Kenny a break and just hang out in Zama. So we just chilled out at his place and then met up with Dave who took us to a place call "Wada Wada" It was an awsome place. I was a little mad that it was not far at all from Kenny's and I did not know of this place the last time I came to visit.

Kenny had to work Monday so I got up, made some breakfast and headed the next stop up to Ebina. This was my first trip taking the trains totally with no help so I wanted to start small. There was a large shopping complex at Ebina that I figured I would check out.

(statue in the center of Ebina shopping complex)
I spent and hour or so here then called Dave who invited me to go to a sushi carosel resturant a couple of stops up from where I was. The resturant was once again amazing. (luckily I met all these other people to enjoy Japanese coulture and food since Kenny does not like fish wether it's raw or cooked)


sushi carosel.asf

The basic concept is you grab the dish off the conveyor belt and depending on the color of the plate is the price you are charged. The two of us ate allot for around 2,000 yen. We had allot of raw Salmon, Shrimp, and different rolls.

After lunch I decided to go big and head into Shinjuku by myself. Shinjuku is simular to Shibuya. There is tons of shops and resturants. They have a nice size electronics area that I looked around at some of the shops. After the sun went down and the neon lights came up you could tell there was allot of night life here. I was exploring some of the streets and just like in Shibuya I was grabbed by the arm and offered services. The only difference this time instead of a girl grabbing me it was a guy! Once again from force of habit I just started saying no thank you and walking away but once again he thought I was bargining and tried to keep me from walking away. So I remembered Kenny's advice on making an X with my arms and amazingly enough he just said "ok" and walked away. Over the course of the evening I ran into that same guy two other times and he attempted to offer everytime and I had to give him the arm X everytime. It was a little frustrating. I enjoyed walking around Shinjuku and had some great Udon soup at a little 24 hour cafe. Then watched a band play just outside the station before coming home.









j-rock band in shinjuku.asf

As had become habit with me I would hit the vending machines or corner store for some sake or beer for the short walk from the station to Kenny's apartment.

(my favorite vending machine)BEER

Tuesday I got up and hit the trains for Shinjuku area again only this time to find the Sword Museum. It was fun walking around the residential areas with my map trying to find the museum. But once I actually found it it was closed for the rest of the year. They had some displays in the front room and outside you could still see but unfortunatly it was a bust.


So I started walking towards Yoyogi park. My main goal was to walk thru the park into Harajuku and then to Roppongi to meet a friend from Criss Cross (kinda like Myspace). On the way to the park I found another really great noodle shop and had some lunch. Once I found the entrance to the park I walked the path to Harajuku and it was really pretty.



harajuku
Going thru Harajuku I stopped in some shops to get some last day souviners. Then kept moving to Roppongi. I really enjoyed just looking at all of the buildings and going from residentail to busy shopping areas on my way. I started to run out of time so I grabbed a cab to Roppongi station and met my other friend Kumiko at a TGI'Fridays.
We had a couple of drinks at the bar until a friend of hers was going to join us so she could practice her english too. They took me to a really neat and weird shop just down from Fridays that had everthing from toothpast to cosplay costumes. We then went to the resturant. I wish I could remember the name but I could not. But it had a large variety of things from Pizza, sushi, and beef bowls. We ate, drank, and talked for a long time. Kumiko's freind knew of Iowa because she was a big Slipknot fan. After supper we just had time to stick our heads in the new Gas Panic bar (it was dead) then head for the train station.

(Kumiko on the right, her friend the slipknot fan on the left)

It was a little nerve racking going home because I was going to have to change train lines at a place I was unfamiliar with and since they were the last trains for the night I was worried I was only going to have one shot at getting home. But everything worked pretty good.
I got up Wednesday and started packing to come home. I was really depressed because there was so much more I wanted to see so I decided that even though this was going to be Kenny's last couple of months in Japan that I was going to come back on my own next year.
After packing I went up the street to get some breakfast and coffee. The coffee vending machines are pretty cool too(although not as good as the beer machines)

Boss is a brand they have and for some reason Tommy Lee Jones is the Boss spokesman. ( he looks like a boss)

Kenny came home for work and we headed over to the Army base at Zama to say goodby to Dave and have some Burger King. Then it was off to the airport.
The flight back was pretty good. It was only an 8 hour leg compared to the 11 hour flight to Japan. But once I got back into San Franscisco I learned of the snow in Denver and my connection flight was canceled. I was stuck in S.F until the following day on standby trying to get to Chicago. I finally got a flight to Ohare around 3pm the following day of getting back to the U.S.. I then had to spend the night at Chicago since there was no more flights out until morning. Luckily I got on the first flight out and made it back to Iowa City around noon on Friday to go straight to work before even unpacking. Then I was on call over the holiday weekend. zzzzzzz I am ready for another vacation...

waynehkd
(one of my favorite pics,even though this is Kenny's front yard)

Originally I was hoping to take another trip to Japan this year. But I had to come to reality and realize that I had to save some money. So I thought it would be cool to find some areas in the states and possibly do some surfing. For quite awhile (at least High School) I have had a small list of things that I wanted to do and achieve in my personal life. 1st I wanted to achieve a black belt in a martial art. Thirteen years later I am now a 3rd degree black belt Jr.Master in Hapkido. 2nd, I wanted to go to and visit Japan. After many years I have been there twice now and was able to travel from one coast to the other and go mountain biking while I was there. 3rd, I wanted to learn how to surf.

For along time I have been a big fan of board sports. I really enjoy and have been lucky to have been able to go wakeboarding and snowboarding as much as I have. But for the longest time surfing was always out of reach. Kinda tuff to surf in Iowa. Plus I have always been nervous about the thought of being in the water and running into a shark. I can read all about the odds of a shark attack happening, but who knows if you are going to be that 1 out the hundred others that gets bit.

When I was driving for work one afternoon I decided to call some friends that were in Hapkido with me and I had not talked to for awhile. Due to school they had left the club and had been able to find other Hapkido clubs and attain their black belts. The last time that I had talked with them they had bought a new boat and was getting into wakesurfing. (neither friend wanted their names on the internet so I will be referring to them as Mr. and Ms. X). So I wanted to see how they were coming with wakesurfing. Due to the current boating laws it takes at least 3 people to legally waterski or wakeboard. You need a driver, spotter, and victim(skier). As it turned out they were having problems finding that 3rd person to go out to the boat with them. Matt and I until we met Unni, actually had that same problem. You would not think it would be hard to find someone to enjoy a day out on the water. But it actually can be very hard to do just that. So I told Mr.X that if they found the time and had couch space I would make a trip down sometime and be their 3rd. I was still concerned about saving money so I was thinking probably next spring or summer. Next thing I knew Mr.X called me back a week later and told me to take the time off work and hurry up and come down to San Jose for some boating. They had some tickets already and if I did not mind driving to Omaha I could use them. So I packed my bags and my wakeskate and hit the road.

Mr. X and Ms.X



I got in on Thursday night to San Jose. I was then educated on the "Double Double" at the In/Out Burger. (We definitely need these in Iowa City). Really good and cheap double cheeseburgers and fries.

We got up Friday morning and after hitting Starbucks and Jack in the Box for breakfast we headed to the boat. The boat was kept at a place called the "Delta's" it is a series of channels and a river. It was really easy for me to get turned around but it was a really neat set up for wakeboarding.

The Boat



The boat is a really nice Malibu. It has the tower for wakeboarding and wakesurfing. Plus ballast tanks just for weight to make a nice big wake.

Mr.X enjoying the wind and navigating


After doing some wakeboarding and a little skiing we got out the wakesurf boards!!

Ms.X with the traditional surf style wake surf board.



( They are either like traditional surfboards or some boards are more like skimboards so they are easier to do tricks on)

After a couple of times getting up on the board I was actually able to find the sweet spot of the wake and actually surf behind the boat!

1st time wakesurfing

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We stayed on the water till dusk. Then headed back to the X house. The weather forecast for the next day was not looking the best so we were trying to get some ideas of what we could do if it rained all day like they were calling for. I made the comment that it was awesome surfing behind the boat but it was on my list of thing to do was to surf in the ocean. The next morning the weather was still sketchy so we decided to run out of the house and head down to Santa Cruz to check out the surf shops and see if it was possible to maybe surf in the ocean.

We made a few phone calls and it looked pretty grim for taking surfing lessons from anyone. Most either did not answer their phones or was actually annoyed that we were wanting lessons and did not make reservations ahead of time or that the surf was not good enough to bother their instructors. We finally got a hold of Heath from Club-Ed surf school. He was like "great!! looks like some good surf come on down"

Ms.X, Heath, and I by his old dodge van he carries his gear in


After some stretches and practice on getting up on the board on shore we headed out to the spot to join the other surfers waiting for the sets to come in

View from the parking lot of the spot we were at surfing

(I really like this pic,)

I did allot better than I thought I would. Plus the day turned out really beautiful. The water was cold, but we were all wearing wetsuits and the sets of waves were separated so after you took a ride and paddled back out to the lineup you had time to catch your breath and relax and enjoy the view of the ocean. I was still nervous about sharks but Heath stated the place we were at was pretty shallow with the reef and kelp and he had never seen a shark come into this area. So I was getting pretty comfortable. That's when I thought I saw something swimming not too far from where we were at. I did not take my eyes off the spot where I saw something move for a few moments until I saw a black head and some eyes pop up from the surface. It turned out to be a sea otter just swimming around enjoying the day. A couple more popped up from time to time they seemed to be pretty comfortable with everyone in the water. One even started floating on his back eating a clam right at the end of the wave break. It was a perfect spot to just float around watch the show of the crazy humans. Heath was really good helping us pick which waves were good to go for. He would tell us to get set up for a decent wave and make sure we did not go for any that might be too big for us, or also the better and local surfers could go without running us down. By taking the smaller waves and riding them in was pretty cool in itself. But I also like the fact that it put me right in the front row to watch the better surfers ride before the wave totally knock me off my feet. The place we were at was made for longboarders. Along with Heath there was a Hawaiian surfer that would walk out on the nose of their boards for nice long noseride. It was really cool to see that close up.

I was also really impressed with the attitude of the other surfers that where there. Allot of times when people have to trip over newbies they can get a little irritated. But I had 2 or 3 people actually go out of their way to tell me nice job. The vibe of the group in hole was really good. One surfer had a camera on top of his head and had followed me on one of my first rides. He offered to email me the video if I got him my email address on the beach. But he had to leave before we went in. The video would of been cool, but I did not want to miss any time in the water.



After around 2 hours. My feet were freezing, my arms were wiped out from paddling, and our time with Heath was running out. So we settled up with Heath and spent the rest of the day checking out surf shops and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz



The next day the weather was nice again but cooler. So we headed back out to the lake for the last session of wakesurfing. We had to go straight from the lake to the airport to get me home. I got into the cattle call line for my seating section just as they were boarding. We had to make a stop in Las Vegas before going on to Omaha. My flight left San Jose at 6:30pm and was to get into Omaha around 12:30am. I was hoping to get some sleep on the last leg of the flight out of Vegas. But I kid you not, it was a full flight and I got sat next to a pushy, arrogant insurance salesman who was supposedly drunk all afternoon gambling, and decided to sober up he would slam a couple of Redbulls and Rockstars energy drink. So now he was just a hyper drunk salesman. He talked nonstop all the way to Omaha. I was able to sneak my headphones on and push my hat over my eyes for 10min before the plane was coming down to land. I left Omaha around 1am and drove straight to Iowa City. I arrived back home around 5am to get some sleep for a couple of hours before going to work at 9am

(arriving at home 5am still smelling of Lake water)


It was a great short trip and something I will be thinking of probably all winter. I hope to get over my fear of sharks bit by bit and maybe take a few more surf trips.......

Day off wakeboarding (finally)

So this summer has been a little light on allot things I like to do through out the whole summer. Combination of work, being sick and the heat. Has made me miss allot of Hapkido and wakeboarding. But last Monday Matt, Unni, and I were all able to skip out of work and have some fun. It was a little too windy. We had to spend allot of our time going over the lake trying to find some smooth water. But we found a decent stretch and Had a little lunch at Bobber's that turned out to have some really good pizza!

Day off wakeboarding

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(Ok, First of all my original plan for this blog was to post pictures as I took them to keep everyone up to date. But it just did not workout. First Carla did not have internet yet which I was expecting and was no big deal. But when Mary and I finally got to Staten Island she remembered that she did not pack her power cord for her computer and had to have it shipped in from Iowa City. So, it was Friday by the time we got the power cord. Plus we found it very hard to find any free wifi all wifi was under T-mobile that you had to pay for. So we have to settle for Dail up unitl Mary can get settled with a broad band provider. So uploading the pictures I did took some time, I will do the rest once I get back.)

Finally got Mary all packed and ready to head to Staten Island. We left around 3:30pm from Iowa City (we were supposed to leave at noon) and drove to Palos Heights to Mary's mom and dad's house. We got to visit Mary's sister peggy, Mary's friends from college Lucy and her husband Dan, and Joyce Mary's freind from High school.

Aug. 4th- Not sure how long until we leave Chicago yet. Our plan is to make Oberlin Ohio to stay at Carla's new place. I will post some pictures as soon as we get settle there.

We finally left Chicago around 2pm and arrived in Oberlein sometime around 8pm. traffic was not bad exept for right in Chicago there was allot of construction.

Carla's place was really nice, Her building looks like an old plantation building with a bunch of apartments in it.

The Living room

The Kitchen with a little Bed Head


Carla and Mary in her hallway


Carla took us out to Fevre in downtown for supper. The town look really nice. Also a nice surprise was lionel was very sociable. Anytime that Mary and I were over at Carla's Lionel would hide under the bed and never come out. But now he is Mr. Sociable. We had to keep Him and Pan sepereated just in case they did not get along. (also we knew Pan would kick Lionels ass).

August 5th- We left Oberlein for Cleveland to see Mary's grandma who is turning 94 very soon. After getting lost in Cleveland for about 30min we found the nursing home was able to have a nice but short visit with "Grams" before hitting the road for New York.

We got into Staten Island Saturday night. We had a little trouble on the Jersey turnpike wiht taking a couple of wrong exits we finally arrived at Mary's new place about 11pm. We unpacked the car and aired up the airmattress before going to bed.

The next day we did what unpacking we could with the boxes from the car then Set out to buy Mary a bed at the local mall.

Here is Mary' new living room


View from the kitchen


and her kitchen


we were able to buy her new bed but had to wait until Friday until it arrived.

The next day the truck arrived and luckily we were able to hire a couple of guys to unload it for us since we technicly only had 2 hours to unload the truck. The driver was fun to talk to he just hung around until the truck was unloaded and provided the entertainment while the other workers unloaded the truck.

The next couple of day consisted of routines of sleeping in till late morning, unpacking a little bit at a time and getting out of the apartment.

Pan tired of unpacking


On the Tuesday night we went to go see Clerks 2 at the nearest theater. A large popcorn and two large drinks was $15. Lukily it was a really good movie. Mary is always a little indifferent abouty Kevin Smith moviess but I think she liked it.

The next day we went to the boardwalk on the South Shore of Staten Island.


I really liked the area. It had a long path to walk and ride your bike. We stopped by the local skate park to watch some of the people practicing then went out to supper at the South shore fin and grill ( I think that was the name).
Here is a picture of me not smiling right before leaving the boardwalk


We visited Mary's new campus a few times during the week. She got a very nice office. Luckily we were able to use the computer there since we did not have internet access anywhere else.

Mary's new office


The outside of her building


On Thursday we drove down to Red Bank, New Jersey to visit Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. A comic book store owned by Kevin Smith. I was able to waste some money there on crap I probably could of done without. But it was still fun and we both really enjoyed the Red Bank area.


On the last day we took the ferry into Manhatten


The Ferry goes right by the Statue of Liberty


After navigating the subway we headed to Times Square until it was time to meet Mary's freind Sindel


We started off to go back to mary's apartment around 8:30pm. After taking the wrong subway train and ending up in Brooklyn we got back to the Ferry landing to take the 10:30pm Ferry.
Mary on the Ferry


Me on the ferry


I was flying out the next morning at 7:30am from Newark airport. With the latest terrorist threat we had to be at the airport by 5:30am. We finally got to bed around 1:30am and got up at 4am to get ready to go to the airport. Once at the airport we stood in the checkin line from 5:30 to 6:45am. The Securtiy check point actually only took 5 minutes. It was a sad goodbye but I will be going back to visit from time to time. Plus I doubt if Mary can stay away from her freinds that long :)

So last Wednesday we had a casualty on the boat and lost a good friend. (My first bi-directional board). I was finally getting some decent pops off the wake plus Unni had her timing down with the camera that she caught me doing a decent Indy Grab.

After doing a few of these I heard a terrible crack. I looked down and saw a crack going from rail to rail. I immediately let go of the rope and stopped not knowing if the board was going to break completely or not.

So now I am in the market for a new board to finish out the season. I am going to look at either the Roam board or something a little bigger than what I had with a 3 stage rocker.

Here's a good picture of Carla and Unni. (notice me in the background being sad about my board, They didn't care)

Well for those who already know, I am my Nephew Cole's godfather. I was surprised and really honored to be asked by Beth and Brian to be Robert Bruce Hayes's godfather. Now, I know and they know that I can barley take care of and feed myself so the title is basicly all that it is but I was really proud to stand up with Robbie today to be his sponsor. And I promise to teach him all the things that he needs to know while growing up. For example for those who have seen the movie "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" one of the best lines and lessons you can give a young man is "Never chase women or buses.....you will always get left behind..) If you need some more education after that then you need to rent "Army of Darkness" nuff,said.

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