Waxing Philosophical? Part I

Normally I read quite a bit of fiction, not my non-fiction. But two books have come across my path recently. The first is the fighter's Heart by Sam Sheridan. This was a gift from one of my closest friends who has recently made his foray into Krav Maga. He and I would discuss how his training was going. He would comment, based on my passion remaining from my days training taekwondo, that I really needed to get back into it. Sheridan also seems to have the bug that I have. He talks about his travels and experiences through the martial arts world. The parts that really hit me were about how he couldn't let go, who couldn't keep away from martial arts and why that is. I started TKD in 1996 and studied until i graduated from college. I moved to Boston and , shortly thereafter, found a school to study TKD again. Didn't work out, bad match. Then my old school found me again and I was back at it for another 3 years. Again, i moved and shortly after arriving in Berkeley, CA I found another school to study at, this time a mix of kung fu and karate. Again, didn't work out. Bad attitude from the instructors. Next hooked up with Berkeley TKD, ended because an old kne injury. You may be noticing a trend here... Then four years off....

So, why do I keep coming back for more? The joint pain, bruises, exhaustion... I like to fight. I enjoy the competitive atmosphere, pushing myself, getting back my 'gameness' (you have to read the book to really understand gameness). I am months away from any sort of sparring, but I have no doubt I will spar once I am ready. Sheridan puts it well in describing the respect that you develop for someone you fight with, the internal mental game you play with yourself in that competitive environment. I am a big fan of MMA and boxing, really enjoy watching the strategy and game playing of fighters. That does help with my interest. Also, man, after a long day at work, it feels so good to unload all the pent up energy and frustration of the work day out on pads. Taekwondo and Muy Thai are both arts that train by hitting things. Pad drills, heavy bag, focus pads all are a lot of fun. All that aside, a lot of it is pushing myself, working to improve my skills and the camaraderie in the studio. Boston TKD was amazing, the environment, respect and fun we had in the studio was incredible. I will always miss my experiences there, especially my black belt test where I was pushed harder than anything else I have ever done (Ph.D. defense was nothing in comparison...).

So, now I am back at it. Sheridan's ideas encourage me, my love of the arts encourage me. I have a lot to learn and I'm not 25 anymore. I'll keep fighting and loving every minute of it.

Book two is for the next episode. The book is Shop Class as Soulcraft. The NY times article on it sparked my interest as it is another book I can definitely understand with my love of repairing bikes. I started reading it last night. My concern with it is that the author, a Ph.D. in philosophy, seems to enjoy showing off his vocabulary, rather ironic based on his topic matter. I truly hope I can get past that and enjoy the book...

Yeah. I rock at this blogging thing. Well, I think we'll restart the blog on a new topic. I have reentered the martial arts thing. Stan and I have had a bunch of conversations about martial arts over the years, my taekwondo experiences, his Krav Maga. He always was encouraging me to get back into it, that I had a passion for it. He was right. I missed it, a lot. The difficulty was my knee. I had surgery on it years ago and it gave me a lot of trouble with traditional martial arts. They like deep sitting stances and that hurts my knee after a few weeks. It took me a long time to find an art that my knee could handle, I needed to go more towards a sport art than a traditional art. So, I read some reviews and decided to check out Pacific Ring Sports in Oakland, a Muy Thai, boxing and Brazilian Jujitsu school. I started last week...

One thing these guys are doing right is their intro period. My first four classes were in small groups with an instructor to help us get settled into the art. They just go through the basics, give one on one support, really help you get settled. It took me a little while to get used to the stance, much more square to the opponent than TKD. The kicks are taking a bit to get used to as well, turning my hips more into it, really laying the hip into it. But I definitely had an easier transition than most due to my background. Tonight I tried my first main class. I was partnered up with a great guy who was happy to give me advice to get through. Dude also has a hell of a right kick. Good power. I also like hitting the hand help pads much more than the heavy bags. The workouts are challenging, fun combinations and great cardio. Definitely going to take me a while to get in shape. So, two weeks into the school i am definitely enjoying it. This might work well. There is one other thing, though... I am not a fan of jumping rope. This is one skill that I neglected to learn as a kid. Not impressed. I am getting better, smacking myself in the feet less, able to keep it going to more than a minute now. This has also been my biggest source of muscle pain, REALLY sore calves. Yes, in a school intended to make me an MMA fighter, jumping rope is my greatest enemy.....

More Beer?!?!

With 20 gallons in the garage and 7+ gallons in the kegerator, i felt the need to make more beer on Sunday. We're having a company picnic in a few weeks, so I offered to make a keg of hef for the party. The beauty of hef is that it is insanely easy to make, heat water, add malt extract (sorry, all grain is too much for me right now), boil with hops, chill and add yeast. Also, the hef is nice because it only take a few weeks start to finish. I am trying something new with it, though. We bought a Better Bottle, a plastic carboy. It definitely is easier to transport.
I'll have to start the grand beer shuffle in a week and a half as it becomes time to pour the lambic over fruit. It has definitely been a fun brewing season thus far.
Quick update on the porters. The English Ale yeast took off immediately, strong fermenetation underway in around 24 hours. The batch with the California Ale yeast took a few days, but then got going strong.
We have tapped the Kolsch I made a few months ago and it will definitely be on the list for future summer brews. Great, easy drinking beer.

The first episode....

Well, here's my first dive into blogging. I think it accidentally will be how I keep track of my beer brewing and the destruction I wreak upon my CB350 project bike. Today I started an experiment to learn more about the effects that yeast has on beer flavor. I have made a porter recipe from MoreBeer 4 or five times. I love the beer, easy drinking yummy porter. So, today I made 10 gallons of the porter. Half of it was made partial boil (the pot on the left) and the other half was made full boil. I cleaned up two carboys and mixed half of each batch into each carboy. One was inoculated with English Ale Yeast, the other with California Ale Yeast. The beers were taken down to the garage and are now incubating side-by-side. Yes, there are several other beers already in the garage. We have 5 gallons of what will be a kriek fermenting in the bucket. It has California Ale Yeast and the lambic blend. I made it June 8. As soon as I have an empty carboy I will pour it over10 pounds of cherries from Berkeley Bowl. The keg has 5 gallons of a Belgian dubbel made by my wife. It is her favorite beer, her signature beer. It is about a month old and she will probably let it sit for a bit longer before we move it to the kegerator. We have two beers in the kegerator right now, the double barrel ale kit from morebeer and a Kolsch. The DBA is already tapped, the Kolsch is carbonating right now and will be on draft soon.
Next update will be about the motorcycle and the carb problems I am starting to work through....