The Tao of Derek

Irony In Blogging

2011-05-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

What's the best part about writing a blog post about making excuses for not accomplishing something? Coming back to your blog almost 9 months later without having written a thing since. No excuses, though - blogging just isn't as high on the priority list as things like, ya know, being a full-time student while also working full-time.

Turns out my kids like to eat, who knew.

Things are going well at work and I am enjoying a well-deserved rest from school at the moment. I'm enrolled at Western Oregon University for fall term to finish my degree (Anthropology major, for those wondering). The most interesting part of the enrollment process? Trying to figure out how to get credit for learning Icelandic (the eventual focus of my studies will be Northern Europe/Scandinavia) at a college that only offers French, German, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Still trying to work that one out.

Life is good overall - I'm working on a pair of fantasy novels that might actually be one novel when complete, as well as a young-adult novel that is more lit-fic than genre-fic. I alternate bursts of great progress with each, and the result is that I am getting more written on a daily basis now than at any other point in my life, which is exciting. My current obsession is the young-adult story - I honestly think it is some of the best writing I've ever done.

Speaking of which, I should go write that, rather than this. :)

Motivation & Excuses - Your One Reason

2010-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take Charlie Epps to figure out that my 90 Days on P90x have come and gone. In reality, though, I never made it past about day 5 in sequence. I did about 3 days a week of P90x at the high point of my activity, but then I came down with a nasty flu for a few days, discovered that I am gluten and lactose intolerant, yada yada yada. Essentially, Life Happened.

What is disappointing is that I really wanted to stay on P90x, but for a while there it was literally not possible for me to do the exercises due to health concerns. That being said, that hasn't been the case in quite a while, and yet I haven't restarted the program. At some point this summer, the nice electronic bathroom scale in our home suddenly stopped functioning. Batteries were replaced, sacrifices made to the dark gods of the bathroom scale, all to no avail. In addition, I took a full time course load this summer while working full time, and due to the shortened term, my courses were quite difficult.

So there you have it - my list of excuses. Of course, as I used to tell my soccer players, there will always be excuses why you can't do something. The key to success in life is finding your One Reason why you can accomplish your goals. What's amazing about this process is that no matter how stacked the odds are against you, just one 'excuse' to succeed is enough. Let's say you want to start running everyday before work. The list of reasons why it won't work out is huge.

It's too early.
I'm too tired.
My feet hurt.
I'm sore.
It's too cold.
It's raining.
I ate too much last night.
I am too tired today, but I'll run twice as long tomorrow. (yeah, right)
etc, etc, etc...

As you can see, not running seems to be a more feasible goal than running is. But now, let's come up with that One Reason and excuse for actually accomplishing the goal. First, you start with a premise.

Being healthy is important to me.

Now, let's make that an even stronger statement. I like to remind myself why my premise is what it is - in this case, why being healthy is important to me. Keep it short, though! One to three sentences works best for me.

I am a healthy person. I take care of my body because I know it's the only one I get, and I want to be a good example to my kids.

Bam! Just like that, all those other excuses and demotivators lose all their power.

So yeah, here I am, about to start my P90x program all over again (Monday the 6th). In case you were wondering, the above statement is MY one reason for exercising. I have other, lesser reasons for staying healthy, but at the end of the day, it all comes back to this one.

I've used this technique for motivating myself in many areas of my life, from school and work to fitness and family life. Do you have One Reason for staying fit? What about for other goals?

P90X Day 0

2010-04-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I started the P90X program officially today.

Going into my first workout, I weighed 198 lbs, and am only 'acceptable' in terms of my overall fitness. I plan to do the full 90 days of the 'normal' P90X workout program. I am using resistance bands instead of either dumbbells or a pull-up bar (I don't want to hang one in our apartment).

Today's workout was Chest & Back and then Ab Ripper X. The Chest & Back workout was really tough. The pull-downs weren't that bad, and I was able to do some respectable reps with the 40 lb band, but all those pushups were pretty killer. The first exercise is pushups, and I went and did my max not realizing what was coming. In the future I will pace myself a lot better.

After Chest & Back it was time for the Ab Ripper X workout. I did this one once last week (the day the DVD's came but before I had the rest of my equipment), so I knew going in that it was tough. I am happy to report that I did better this time, which I attribute to hydration and eating well today in addition to just being more aware of how my body moves through these exercises.

The addition of the recovery drink has an extremely noticeable difference, and there is no way I could do this workout without it.

I stuck to the meal plan today (Level II of Phase 1 based on my weight). I ended up short 1 protein, but other than that I nailed the portions exactly. I expect my protein bars to arrive on Wednesday and that will help with the portions.

I can tell it is going to be a crazy 90 days. This program is absolutely not for the faint of heart. I really can't wait to see my results though!

Me and My New Mac, Part 3

2010-04-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is the third in a series of posts exploring my ongoing experience with my first Mac. For the first entry in this series, click here. For part two, click here.

Let's talk about the facts of life - iLife. For those who don't know, iLife is the suite of software included with every mac that is comprised of iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, iChat, etc. At the end of my last post I promised a review, and here it is: this software is absolutely incredible. iPhoto has a feature that identifies the faces in a photo, and once you've given names to a few of them, the software can go through your entire photo collection and identify with some accuracy who is in the photo. This has got to be the most useful feature in the history of photography. Well, ok, maybe second most useful behind only the camera.

If you've used iTunes on a PC, you may have had the same experience I have - iTunes on the PC is buggy, likes to crash for no apparent reason, and takes forever to run. iTunes on the Mac suffers from none of these issues, and is a very stable and snappy program.

I could continue on about iLife for pages. I could tell you about the awesome experience I had with iMovie the very first time I used it, or the Places feature of iPhoto, or the amazing clarity through the iSight camera in iChat. The bottom line, though, is that Macs have a huge leg up over windows machines when it comes to out-of-the-box functionality. Every piece of software I just mentioned is free and comes pre-installed on every Mac. Until I used them myself, I never would have believed that this software would be this much fun to play around with.

This will likely be the last in this series for a while. At this point the Mac is an integral part of my technological suite at home. The effect the iMac has had on my technology usage is that my very nice laptop is used only at work and for gaming now. I have a feeling that in the coming years, we will likely move from a home with several PC's and an iMac to a home with a bunch of Macs and one or two gaming PC's.

It's official, I've converted.

Me and My New Mac, Part 2

2010-02-07T01:43:00.001-08:00

This is the second in a series of posts exploring my ongoing experience with my first Mac. For the first entry in this series, click here.

In my last post, I talked mostly about my experience with the salespeople involved with the purchase of my new Mac. In this post I want to talk about the machine itself.

I entered the Apple Retail Store and was immediately surprised by the sheer number of people inside. There were easily 50 people in the store, and it seemed to me like about a quarter of them were Apple employees. I casually moved towards the 13" Macbook Pros - one of the several models of Mac I was considering for my purchase. I hadn't really seen one of the new 'Unibody' type Macbooks in person yet, and I was blown away by how nice they all looked. The aluminum enclosure with the glass screen is definitely slick. I went to use the touchpad and was pretty surprised by the lack of buttons. I admit that for about 30 seconds I could not figure out how to click that thing. I am used to lightly tapping the touchpad on my laptop for click functionality, or at the very least, just using one of the two mouse buttons. The idea of pushing down the entire touchpad is, while an interesting idea, not something I really like.

It was as I was thus engaged with the Macbook Pros that Scott (the salesperson from my previous post) walked up and introduced himself. I talked about how I was a computer science type guy and was interested in getting into iPhone/iPad programming, and that I was considering either a Mac Mini, a Macbook Pro, or an iMac. I had already basically ruled out the Mac Mini, and since he found me looking at the Macbook Pros, he told me he wanted to show me the iMacs. I told him I was interested in the smaller (21.5" screen) iMacs, and we walked over to a table full of computers. He grabbed the mouse of one of them and started to show me the screen. I stopped him and explained again that I wanted to see the smaller iMacs - the ones for $1200. He explained that the one we were looking at was one of the smaller iMacs, and he pointed to a table with the larger size up iMacs...my first reaction was something like "Huh, yeah, those are definitely the big ones". My second reaction was "Holy crap, 21.5 inches is HUGE!".

For some reason, that size is significantly smaller in my brain than it is in reality.

After the size, my next impression of the iMac was that it was gorgeous. This is easily the best looking computer I have ever seen. Now don't get me wrong, my Windows 7 laptop (a custom-built Sager) is a workhorse. It's got great internals, a fully HD screen, and it absolutely screams. But wow, the iMac is just, well, pretty.

Now, fortunately pretty doesn't sell me a computer (I likely would have walked out with much of the store!). I checked out the specs and the speed, browsed the internet for a minute or two, and, oh who am I kidding...I was sold the minute I saw the thing.

About an hour later I am unpacking my new iMac and putting it on my desk. The kids are in the room watching me and there is a whole chorus of "Ooh's" as I get everything plugged in (you know, the whole one cord I need to plug in). My wife's reaction was "Umm, I thought you were going to get the small one..."

I turned on the machine, and the screen lit up in a solid (and very bright) white. It sat there just long enough to make me worried that something was wrong with it, then it played a little movie in which the OS X logo made my daughter cry from the noise. Also, I think it may have charged the old solar powered calculator I had lying on the desk.

I went through the setup process (which took me about as long as the Windows 7 process...wasn't exactly blown away here), and then I finally got to the desktop. Then my new iMac told me there were some updates I had to install and then restart the computer.

I thought I was getting away from things like this by getting a Mac?

I push forward through 3 (!) update and reboot cycles, and finally my Mac seems to be up-to-date and usable.

Just in time for dinner.

So, back from dinner (yum, sushi...), I sit down at the Mac with the intention of swapping my iTunes folder from my Windows laptop over to my Mac so I can use the Mac to sync my iPod (it just seems more natural than syncing it with the PC). Well, it turns out you can't just access windows shared folders from a Mac (or vice-versa), you need to go through and setup some complicated file sharing stuff. Now granted, it is likely only complicated because of my limited Mac experience, but still, I can't be the only person on the planet with Windows 7 computers and an iMac on the same network.

This brings me to my next gripe - the seemingly total lack of online community-based support for the Macs. With any given PC problem, I can Google an error code or general issue and have a couple dozen results describing the issue, some workarounds, and a possible fix. It took me close to two hours to figure out how to do something as simple as setup a Windows-accessible file-share on the Mac. The process itself took about 2 minutes, but good luck figuring it out on your own!

Now, this post probably has come off a bit negative. The reality is, despite the frustration from some strange menu systems and things of that nature, I have had an absolute blast doing even mundane things on the Mac.

Now, with the more boring stuff out of the way, tune in next time for my first impressions of the iLife software, including what I think is one of the coolest features I've ever seen in photo organization!

Me and My New Mac, Part 1

2010-02-05T23:58:00.000-08:00

Those who know me well are aware of my general disdain towards Apple's attitude surrounding their products. To be frank, there is just a bit too much 'kool-aid drinking' going on in Cupertino, if you catch my meaning.

I hadn't owned an Apple product made after 1984 until the fall of 2009, when I purchased a used iPod Touch on eBay for $90. I bought the iPod for the sole purpose of checking out the App store as a viable path to small business ownership. I have some experience in computer programming, and felt that getting into the iPhone app market was a reasonable decision. I was very surprised to discover that the iPod Touch was not only a great little music player, but a truly phenomenal portable device that managed to become a must carry device for me within a very short space of time.

After my positive experience with the iPod Touch, I decided I would look into buying a Mac. For months I debated my options. On the one hand, if I planned to program for the app store, I 100% needed a Mac. On the other hand, unless I was able to monetize the Mac in some way, I just couldn't see the value in paying substantially more out of pocket for a Mac with similar specs to a mid-range (at best) PC.

Then, the iPad was announced. I don't know how well the iPad will sell at launch (and it has one of the worst product names ever), but I am pretty sure it will move, umm, quickly. This is my chance to get in on the ground floor with a new app store - so when we got our tax refund this year, I decided it was time to pull the trigger on my first Mac purchase. This series of posts will be a chronicle of my experience as a long time PC user and overall tech guy, using a modern Mac for the first time.

With the introduction out of the way, the balance of today's post will be about the people involved when I actually bought the Mac. Details of the hardware itself will follow in a future post.

I live in a reasonably large city, and so I expected to find an Apple Store in town. It turns out, the closest Apple Retail Store is about 45 minutes North of me. What we do have in Salem is a third-party distributor with a name that I fully expect was designed to throw off Mac newbies and make them believe they are dealing with the real deal.

I had an idea of the type of machine I was looking for, so I called the local folks to inquire about inventory before I went in. The guy I spoke with on the phone was not real polite, and just sounded like he was a tad put off by the fact that I had questions for him.

He explained that I should just go into the store, and I told him I would, assuming they had what I wanted to see in stock.

He said they would have it.
I asked if he was sure.
He said he was.

He was responding quite quickly so I asked if he knew for a fact that they had it or he was just assuming they would because it's a common model. At this point there is a short pause, and I can hear the familiar 'click-click-click' of a keyboard. After about 20 seconds, he says 'Yeah, looks like we don't have that one...we can have it in stock a week from Wednesday." Now, as much as I love buying locally, there is no way I'm waiting close to two weeks for something I could order from Apple.com and have on Tuesday.

I still have some more questions I'd like to get answered, but this guy has clearly had enough of me, so I get off the phone and search the intertubes for some information. After some frustrating efforts to find up-to-date information on the various Mac models (most reviews and articles are dated 2007 or earlier), I decide to go straight to the source, and I call the closest Apple store to me.

A nice young woman (I assume she was young anyway) answered the phone and spent easily 20 minutes answering all my questions - making sure I really understood the responses each time. I was extremely impressed, and it was very refreshing after the guy I had just spoken to. She informed me that they did in fact have many of the model I was hoping to see in stock and on their floor to demo, and that I was welcome to pop in anytime.

We got off the phone, and when I got off work, I made the drive to the Apple Store. First of all, this was easily the best shopping experience I've ever had, for any product, ever. Second, whoever is designing these buildings is awesome, and after I make my first billion dollars, I'm getting him/her to design my home.

I was helped by a guy named Scott, who was extremely willing to just answer questions for me as I came up with them. He was extremely knowledgeable, and the few times I asked him a stumper, he went to the nearest Mac and found the answer for me online. He helped me get my educator discount, he showed me which Mac was best for my use (including talking me DOWN a model because he said it sounded like I wouldn't use the enhanced hardware on the step up), and just was an overall great guy. After about 25 minutes of answering every question I could come up with, Scott was still smiling and attentive to my concerns. When I finally purchased my shiny new Mac, he handed me the receipt and congratulated me on buying my first Mac and officially becoming a Mac owner.

I tell you what, if they are trying to create lifelong customers, they are doing one hell of a job in there.

My next post will be about the nitty gritty - my new Mac itself and my experiences getting it setup and working on my network (which was quite a gritty task, I assure you). Tune in next time!

Warrior Wisdom: The Heart and Soul of Bushido - Review

2009-05-31T01:36:00.000-07:00

Warrior Wisdom: The Heart and Soul of Bushido, is the second book in the Warrior Wisdom series by Bohdi Sanders. I have read through both of the current volumes several times, and treasure the collected wisdom contained herein.

What never ceases to amaze me regarding this series, is that Dr. Sanders has gone so far above and beyond simply collecting a book of quotations. Often, the most useful interpretation of a quote is not immediately obvious, but Sanders spells it out for the reader in plain terms in his discussions about each quote.

As a lifelong martial artist, I am well versed in many of the quotes one would expect to find in a book of this nature, but that is another strength of this book - many of the quotes are ones most readers will have never heard before (myself included). The result is a really meaningful title that has the potential to make a lasting impact on the lives of anyone who reads the series and takes the advice found within to heart.

I simply can't recommend this book enough. Buy this, and buy the first book in the series while you are at it.

Reverse Crescent Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 5) - Review

2009-05-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have now read four of the ten basic Achieving Kicking Excellence books by Shawn Kovacich (1, 2, 4, and now 5). This entry into the series, the Reverse Crescent Kick, is, in my opinion, the most useful thus far. The primary reason for this is the fact that the kick itself is extremely useful and versatile.

As is the norm for this series, Kovacich goes to great lengths to provide every piece of information you could ever want (plus some more on top of that) regarding this kick. From appropriate stretching to the dynamics of the human body when correctly performing the kick, Kovacich covers all the bases in this outstanding book.

The provided variations on the primary kick are all useful and provide a solid jumping off point for the potential student to explore other possibilities and uses for the kick.

The reality is that no book can replace a competent teacher of the martial arts, but this book is probably as close as it gets. Even better, if you are currently studying martial arts in a formal setting, this book will help your progress by leaps and bounds compared to classroom study alone.

(See my review for the fourth volume in the series, Crescent Kick, here.)

Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior - Review

2009-05-09T12:37:00.001-07:00

Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior, is an exceptional book. Author Bohdi Sanders has compiled a phenomenal resource of quotes from important warrior-thinkers throughout history and from all around the world. Unique amongst the Warrior Living books I have read, this book provides not just page after page of timeless wisdom, but also a modern context for each saying. This is a truly remarkable work in this regard.

This is a book you could read a page at a time, or one you could open randomly during a difficult time of your life to find inspiration. There's really nothing negative I can say here. It is really an outstanding collection of wisdom, which would have been a worthy purchase on its own...the additional commentary and discussion put this book over the top.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone seeking self-improvement, warrior and non-warrior alike.

Baguazhang: Theory and Applications - Review

2009-05-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of product reviews which I originally posted only to Amazon.com. I'm reposting them here so it is easier to reference and link to them in the future. Some small changes to make their meanings clear are included, but nothing that changes the message of the review.

Baguazhang: Theory and Applications, by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming and Master Liang, Shou-Yu, is an excellent book. As a practitioner of Baguazhang for the past several years (Yin Style Baguazhang, vs the Emei Style presented in the text), I found this book extremely informative and insightful.

Of the most worth to me were the collected translations of Chinese texts on the Bagua and Baguazhang, but the practical applications and exercises were laid out in a very informative manner.

I feel like if I were a complete novice to Baguazhang, I could use this book to learn some of the basics. That said, there are some very basic, foundational exercises, which I am surprised to NOT find in this book. For example, I didn't feel that the circle-walking techniques were emphasized enough, given the fact that they are the very foundation upon which the rest of the techniques in Baguazhang are built. Again, though, I study a different style of Baguazhang, and so these might just be stylistic differences.

The individual techniques and partner exercises are laid out in an easy to use format, though some pictures felt a tad out of order just in terms of their layouts on the page. While my own style's techniques vary in differing degrees from the ones presented in this book, this clearly looks and feels like Baguazhang, if perhaps a little foreign, but this, again, probably comes down to stylistic differences.

I simply can't emphasize enough how valuable I consider this book. The translated Chinese texts and modern-day rewordings are an absolute treasure to any Baguazhang practitioner who wants to gain a deeper understanding of his or her art.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly to everyone with even a passing interest in Baguazhang, and also to other internal stylists who would like access to some fascinating commentary on Bagua QiGong. You'd be hard-pressed to find a 500+ page work on ANY martial art that is as information-heavy as this one. Buy and enjoy.

Crescent Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 4) - Review

2009-05-04T15:29:00.001-07:00

Alright, here's the deal. If you own even one book in the Achieving Kicking Excellence series, you know what to expect from this one. As usual, Shawn Kovacich has done a spectacular job of illuminating the ins and outs of the kick upon which this title focuses. The long and short of this review: if you use the Crescent Kick in your martial arts practice, you really want to own this book. If you are not a martial artist, but want to develop this kick, again, this is a great book to own.

The topics covered within the pages of this book range from the purely informative (anatomy as it relates to the kick) to the purely functional (how to get more power out of the kick) and everything in between. This is really a groundbreaking series. At some point I'd love to see this type of breakdown for every technique in every martial art. It seems like a pipe dream, but Mr. Kovacich is getting us well on our way through the documenting of these excellent kicking techniques.

As is the norm with the series, some of the opening information is duplicated from other books in the series - undoubtedly so that a buyer who only purchased one or two of the books is guaranteed to get that vital information. This duplication also has very little affect on the value of the book to purchasers of the full set, as the real meat and potatoes of the book is the technique-specific information.

The variations on the primary kick which are presented in this book are worthy additions, and one can't help but realize just how much valuable information is presented.

This book, and the series as a whole, comes very highly recommended. This title is excellent for anyone with an interest in self-defense, and the practicing martial artist will likely find the value here to be worth substantially more than the cost of entry.

Strategic Living - Part 1

2009-05-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

This post is the first in a series I plan to write on Strategic Living. Keep an eye on the the front page of The Tao of Derek for updates, or sign up for the feed!

I want to start here with a definition. It won't do us any good to talk about strategic living unless it is clear what I mean when I use that term. Strategic Living is a method of organizing your life in such a way as to maximize your ability to reach your stated objectives. In other words, you need to have an objective, figure out what things you need to do to attain that objective, and then do those things.

Step 1: Have an objective
The first step you need to take in order to start living strategically, is to define your objective. This is more than goal-setting, though goal-setting is obviously involved. When we talk about objectives here, this is more than the standard goals you hear about all the time - 'buy a house', 'get a raise', 'finish my degree', etc. Those are all fine goals, but they aren't objectives - they don't drive you in the same way a real objective would. What I am talking about here is finding purpose. You need to define what you want out of your life, at the most primal level. Now, I've told some people this in the past, and by far the most common answer is 'I want to be happy'. That's a copout, and we all know it. Of course you want to be happy. When I tell you that you need to define your purpose, don't respond with the restated equivalent of 'I am a human being'. This is a huge, and vital, topic. Let's break it down.

Goals, Roles, and Moles
Imagine with me for a moment. Tomorrow morning you wake up and walk into the bathroom. You wash your face, and as the fingers of your right hand pass your cheekbone, you feel a large lump. You look in the mirror to discover a large mole has grown on your face, miraculously, overnight. Does this change who you are? Of course not. As a society, we like to believe we are beyond judging people by their looks, though that is obviously not completely the case. In fact, it is likely that as you go to work, some of your co-workers or clients might treat you differently than they would have if you didn't have the large mole on your face. Nevertheless, you are the same. You are still you - it is only what the world sees that has changed.

The roles you play in life are both like and unlike the mole in the previous paragraph. Imagine your 1st grade teacher. Now imagine your 1st grade teacher passionately kissing his/her first love. Never thought about your teacher like that, right? You know that your 1st grade teacher very likely did have that experience, but you've likely never even considered thinking about him or her in that kind of environment. Your perception of your teacher is colored by your view of the role he or she was inhabiting, regardless of your feelings on the teacher as an individual (if you even have impressions about him or her as an individual). The fact that your teacher likely had a social life, a love life, human fears and passions and needs, was not at all changed by the fact that his or her chosen profession was 'teacher'.

Of course, the roles you play do have an affect on you. Tom Wolfe, in his book The Bonfire of the Vanities, wrote the following: "Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could... adopted a role called 'Being a Father' so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life." Certainly, Sherman's father changed as a man because of the role he took upon himself.

Similarly, your goals may not change you, but if you inhabit a mindset long enough, it can have an effect on who you are. Eventually, your goals and thoughts become your actions...and your actions determine your legacy.

So, after all that, let's come back around to the point - what does this have to do with strategic living? Remember that the first thing you have to have to live a strategic life is an objective. I've shown you what a role is, and how a goal can affect who you are. Now let's compare and contrast those things with a life objective.

The Objective: Your purpose/mission/destiny
Your objective in life is referred to by some people as your purpose in life. Others prefer the term mission, and others still refer to it as your 'destiny'. I'm not a big fan of the word destiny, because it implies that you have no control over the end-result, I have similar feelings about the concept of fate. I believe it is possible to screw things up. I believe you can have a mission or purpose and blow it. That's really a topic for another article, though. For now, let's talk about your purpose.

What do you believe your purpose is? What do you think you are here for? Let's assume that there is a benevolent creator watching over the Earth, and that this creator has placed every single human being here on this planet with a mission in mind for them. What is yours?

Let me ask you something while you think. Consider a modern police officer. Let's say this police officer is retired, but while on duty, was one of the best police officers who ever lived. This officer served his community for 30 years before retiring, and once retired, advocated for safer streets to the city council, organized neighborhood watch programs, etc. Some would say that this officer's purpose in life was to be this great police officer - that's who he is.

Now, let's imagine our great police officer was born in 1567 - 100 years before the creation of the first police force that a modern person would recognize as a police force. Is our police officer a different person now? Would his nature be changed? Probably not. He would likely still find a way to serve his community, to protect the weak, to be a force for good in the world. This is because his purpose in life was not to be a police officer - that was just a role he assumed to facilitate his purpose.

In the next installment of this series on strategic living, I'll talk more about purpose, and some archetypes we can use when discussing our missions in life. In the meantime, examine your life. Discover your purpose. Imagine what your life would be like if you were born 500 years ago. What parts of your life would be similar? What parts of your life would be different? How would you make a living?

The Little Black Book of Violence - Review

2009-04-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first official review of the new TaoOfDerek.com!

The Little Black Book of Violence, by Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder, fills an interesting niche in the genre of self-defense books. This is a book that is basically designed from the ground up to appeal to young men (ages 15-22'ish). The writing style and attitude the authors take towards the reader immediately reflect this focus, and the book has a very personal style as a result. From the outset, the reader is made aware that the real goal of the book is to help young men avoid the kind of violence that will be detailed therein, hopefully preventing life-altering consequences such as injury, jailtime, or death.

The most impressing thing about the book is that as a deterrent to violent behavior, my bet is that it will likely work for a reasonably portion of its target audience. While it will likely have very little effect on the real whackos out there, this would be a very useful book for those young men who would make a mistake because they hadn't really thought of the consequences.

I work in a public school, and I can tell you that I can think of half a dozen young men right off the top of my head whom I feel would benefit from this book.

So, that said, the next question must be whether or not this is a book that is worth owning by anyone outside the primary target audience. It is here that I give the book a resounding yes. As a lifelong martial artist and as someone whose primary interests include the fields of self defense and criminal justice, I can say that this has been a very informative read. Kane and Wilder have managed to condense an extremely large topic into condensed, information-packed chunks. They have combined some of the best aspects of books by DeBecker, Miller, Grossman, and others, into a very readable and 'novice-friendly' format. If nothing else, this is a great first book on violence for someone with no other background in the subject.

The book is divided into three sections, essentially corresponding to the three stages of violence.

Section 1, Before Violence Occurs, details the best methods for avoiding conflict before it begins. This section includes chapters on everything from general awareness to peer pressure, and is probably the most important part of the work. If this were mandatory reading in high school health classes, I think we'd all be better off for it.

Section 2, During a Violent Encounter, contains many no-nonsense self-defense tips and techniques. You won't find instructions for doing a flying scissors kick here, but you will find practical advice that might help you get out of a violent conflict alive. There's not much more I could say about this section except that the techniques are grounded in reality, and in the authors' experience as martial artists and security professionals.

Section 3, Aftermath of Violence, is a vital part of the book, and a topic that really deserves an entire book of its own. Kane and Wilder manage a very useful and usable section on feuds, and overall this section maintains the strength present in the other two.

In closing, The Little Black Book of Violence is a highly recommended work on the realities of violence, especially as they pertain to young men. I agree with the quote on the cover of the book - this is a text with the potential to save lives, if we can get it into the hands of those who need it most. If you know someone who is at risk for violence, or if you are the parent of a young man, I heartily recommend this book to you and your loved ones.

Logo Problem Solved

2009-04-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

I solved my logo problem by simply changing themes again. This is my final choice for the new site design(probably).

I like that it is simple, and retains all of the functionality of the very basic templates (trackbacks, post e-mailing, etc.) The previous theme, while fancier, lacked a lot of the really basic features that make sites like this usable, so it had to go.

The Logos Saga Continues

2009-04-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

Not to be confused with the Lodoss Saga.

As I promised down in the comments to the previous post, here are some of the other attempts I've generated while slamming my head into this logo project:

I like some of these, but I don't think any of the brightly colored ones match the feel of the rest of the site.

GIMP and the New Logo

2009-04-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

The new logo continues to be a work in progress - the current version is to the left here.

I am really fond of open-source software in general and GIMP specifically. Why would I pay almost $700 dollars for Photoshop when the GIMP is basically just as good and free? GIMP is extremely easy to use, and allows me to work on things like my new blog project's logo while on break at work, without having to pull overtime to make up for the cost of the software.

The logo saga continues. It is still not what I want, but it helps me to leave a record here so I can go back and see what my previous attempts have been. Who knows, maybe it is interesting to someone else out there to watch the idea evolve.

One of my other attempts is this one on the right. I was going for a 'natural vs. man-made' look, but I don't think the metal looks, well, metally enough. Yes, I said 'metally', sue me.

The New Look

2009-04-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to look different around here, obviously.

The first articles of the new site focus will hit in the next few days, and in the meantime, changes in site layout and theme will continue to occur as the final lok of the site gets nailed down.

Also, I'm working on the new site logo. The current work in progress is on the right.

If you have any feedback regarding the new look, toss a comment below!

Blog: The Repurposing

2009-04-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

Alright, after a few months of research and preparation, I can now officially announce the repurposing of this blog. Whereas in the past this has been a location for friends and family to catch up on what I'm up to, the new Tao of Derek has a new agenda. I plan to make this a one-stop shop for martial arts topics, product reviews, and discussion.

I have seen and read other martial arts blogs, and have come across basically two types. The first type is the personal blog of a martial artist. This type of blog is useful as a window into a real life training regimen, but unless the reader's martial interests very closely mimic those of the writer, the actual usefulness of the content is probably pretty low, other than the obvious uses as inspiration for best practices in training to take into one's own art. The second type of martial blog is the general-interest type. Blogs that fall into this category tend to include only very basic information on several different styles, thus providing a good jumping off point for the new martial artist, but very little for the advanced practitioner. The second type of blog is often associated with one or more specific schools or organizations, and serve as marketing tools more than information sources.

With this blog, I am setting out to do something different. I plan to touch on everything from the very basic applications of specific martial techniques to very high level 'meta' thinking about the martial arts. While every post will not likely be imminently useful to every reader, my hope is that each update will include at least one or two pearls of martial wisdom, best practices, or training techniques that will be universally applicable to any martial artist.

Additionally, I will be reviewing martial arts products. Subjects in this category will often include books and DVD's, but will also include things like training equipment, software, and possibly seminars.

Finally, you can expect some of my general babbling to continue. Posts about games and gaming in general will probably happen about as often as they have previously (which is to say, rarely), but they will go from being the major content of the site to a very small percentage of the content.

That pretty much sums up the new purpose for the site. You can look forward to the first posts of new content later this week!

New Hosting / URL

2009-04-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

As of today, the blog formerly known as http://taoofderek.blogspot.com now has its own domain!

http://www.taoofderek.com is now up and running, though it may take a few days before the DNS settings are correctly configured.

I mostly made this change because I will be swapping my primary e-mail address at the end of this year when my previous domain expires (won't be renewing). Additionally, I wanted to begin setting up pages and so forth again beyond the scope of the blog.

More to come!

Strange Day

2009-03-20T09:00:00.001-07:00

I woke up at 6:00 this morning feeling wide-awake and alert. I had breakfast, lounged on the internet, got ready for work, and had plenty of time to sit and chat with Sarah for a bit before leaving for the day. My wife, as well, was uncharacteristically awake and alert early this morning.

I drove to work, listening to the radio for a while before I shut it off and started singing Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” to myself for the rest of the drive.

Once at work, I discovered there had been a substitute teacher mix-up and we were one sub short. I volunteered to hang out and keep an eye on that class till a replacement arrived.

I finally got up to my office and I still have this huge grin on my face, for reasons completely unknown.

Contrast this with my usual routine of slamming the snooze button until the last possible moment, groggily taking a shower and getting ready for work in just enough time to be 1 minute early. I miss breakfast, maybe have a banana while my computer boots at the office.

I have two theories for my great mood today:

1. Someone spiked my Burrito dos Manos last night.

2. My wife is pregnant and we just don’t know it yet.

I guess we’ll see. :-)

On Creativity

2009-02-16T00:53:00.001-08:00

As someone who has started and stopped many novels, I completely relate to Elizabeth Gilbert’s excellent talk at the most recent TED conference.

If you haven’t seen this talk yet, you really should check it out.

Catching up

2009-02-10T13:26:00.001-08:00

So yeah, I totally called the fact that I wouldn’t be very good about keeping my blog updated. =).

Instead of doing a massive ‘catch-up’ post, I’m just going to talk about recent happenings and renew my effort to post with more regularity.

I recently got a new computer. I’ve needed a new laptop for a while, and we also needed to upgrade my wife’s desktop. We decided the best decision was to just get a laptop for me that could replace my current desktop, which Sarah could then inherit. After a lot of thought and debate, we ended up going with a Sager Notebook. It came on Friday of last week, and so far I am insanely impressed with the quality of the machine. I’m very happy with it, to say the least. I ordered it through Xoticpc, and their customer service and shipping times were both excellent.

This is the machine I purchased, and here are the specs:

- Display: 17" WUXGA "Matte Type"
- Arctic Silver: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Processor: ~Intel® T8100 45nm "Penryn" Core
- Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800M GTS 512MB
- Ram: ~ 4,096MB DDR2 667 PC2 5300
- Intel® Robson Turbo Memory: 4GB Intel® Robson Turbo Memory
- Optical Drive: ~ 2X Blue-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi
- Primary Hard Drive: ~ 320GB 7200RPM
- Memory Card Reader: Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader
- Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Wireless Network: Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 530
- Camera: Built in 1.3Megapixel Camera
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio
- Battery: Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- Fingerprint Reader: Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- Operating System: ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit

Needless to say, it runs pretty much every game and program I’ve thrown at it so far like a screen saver.

In other news, I haven’t been to a card store in a couple of months, but I have played in more Magic tournaments in the last few weeks than I did all last year. Yes, that’s right, I’ve ‘converted’ to Magic Online.

For a very long time, I thought MTGO was a complete rip-off. Why would I pay retail prices for cards I would never actually receive? As I’ve gotten older, though, and as my gaming time has become more and more limited, I’ve grown to see the real value in having the ability to play Magic whenever I want. Additionally, a multitude of formats are supported by Magic Online – I can play far more different types of games that I ever could in the “Type 2 or Go Home” environment prevalent in most card shops.

I plan to start posting tournament reports here on a semi-regular basis, but we’ll see how that pans out. I might go back through some of the sealed deck and drafts I’ve done in the last month and recap some of those first to see how they turn out.

That’s what’s new. My prediction is that I will probably post again within the next week or so, because I am trying out this new Windows Live Writer software, and that is likely to keep me interested. We’ll see.

Shards

2008-10-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

This past saturday, I played in one of the first Sealed Deck Magic: The Gathering tournaments I've played in for many years. The event was the Shards of Alara release party - one of the first chances to play with the new cards.

Let me first say, right up until about 20 minutes before the tournament began, I wasn't sure I was going to play. I wasn't feeling real hot, and had considered skipping the tournament altogether. Nevertheless, I decided to go anyway, as I had missed the last 5 or 6 tournaments in which I had planned to play, so I didn't want to miss this one too.

After receiving my shiny promo Ajani Vengeant, I went and sat in the back of my local game store and waited for the tournament to begin. And I waited. And waited. Finally, 30 minutes after the tournament was supposed to have started, the Head Judge stood up and 'reminded' us of the special rules for Shards of Alara sealed - namely, that your deck could only include cards from one shard's colors. I wasn't aware of this rule before the announcement, and from the looks on faces around the room, I wasn't the only person for whom this was new information. Soon after, packs were distributed and I started going through my stuff.

I ended up pulling several nifty rares... Mycoloth, Broodmate Dragon, and Battlegrace Angel to name a few. I was very excited to use the Broodmate Dragon along with the Blightning I pulled in the same pack, but unfortunately my base in black was really weak. As I sorted through my playable cards, I found that basic blue and black were both pretty bad, and that red was full of reasonable removal but not much else. White and green were both REALLY solid, and they supported my Battlegrace Angel and Mycoloth really well. As for the multicolored cards, I was fortunate that my Bant (green, white, blue) stuff was super solid, and I even managed to pull two Bant Panoramas. After not much debate, I chose Bant as my shard, and started building.

My deck ended up looking like this:

Exalted Bant (41)

Creatures (15)
2 Waveskimmer Aven
2 Rhox Charger
1 Rhox War Monk
2 Sigiled Paladin
1 Wild Nacatl
2 Guardians of Akrasa
1 Druid of the Anima
1 Deft Duelist
1 Court Archers
1 Mycoloth
1 Battlegrace Angel

Spells (8)
1 Soul's Might
1 Resounding Silence
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Resounding Roar
1 Kiss of the Amesha
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Bant Charm

Lands (18)
7 Plains
6 Forest
3 Island
2 Bant Panorama

My first match, game 1 was a blowout. I had a plains, forest, and island in my opening hand, along with a Rhox War Monk and Wild Nacatl. My opponent mulliganed down to 4 before he saw a land, and he was on the play. Needless to say, he scooped on turn 6 or so, and we went to game 2. Game 2 was much better for him - he drew his threats, but I consistently had answers. He was playing Jund, and just went down fast.

Record 1-0

Round 2, game 1, was another case of mana-hosing for a different opponent. This guy mulliganed to 6 with no lands, and I took the opportunity to mulligan a high-cost hand to 6 on the draw. My 6 card hand was beautiful, and I played a Rhox Charger turn 4 and Battlegrace Angel turn 5, with 2 other exalted creatures in play. Turn 5 the Charger went swinging in as a 6/6 Lifelink Trampler, and my opponent scooped.

Game 2 was over before it started, I played a land and a creature every turn through turn 4 and my opponent just gave up.

Record 2-0

Round 3 was by far the most exciting of the night for me. I pulled an early game 1 win - about 5 minutes into the round. Game 2 my opponent played a turn 5 Realm Razer using 2 mana elves, and he easily trounced me with his fatties vs the 1-drops I managed to get out the next few turns.

Game 3 went long, I played a turn 7 Battlegrace Angel and managed to regain some of the life I had lost to his early hitters, then drew Resounding Silence and cycled it to stop 2 of his attackers. Next turn he capsuled my Angel, but couldn't play another threat. I still had both of my walls in play, and on my next turn topdecked Mycoloth. I got him into play, devouring both walls, and started generating saplings on the following turn. Just for style points, before I beat him down on the penultimate turn of the game, I played Soul's Might on the Mycoloth, bringing him up to 12 +1/+1 counters. :)

Record 3-0

Round 4, My opponent and I were the only undefeated players left, so we drew and both went to the top 8.

Record 3-0-1

My first top 8 opponent went down fast in game 1 to a Battlegrace Angel. Game 2, I kept a mana-filled hand containing the Angel as well, hoping to draw some early threats and win the same way I won game 1, but my first 4 draws were land, and that was all my opponent needed to take the game 2 win.

Game 3 was disappointing, because the cards just didn't materialize the way they had been all night. By and large I had far fewer issues with mana than any of my opponents - I always had exactly what I needed, and when I needed it. Game 3 was exactly the opposite, as I consistently drew land in the mid-game, and the small creatures I played were just not enough to hold back his onslaught. He won the game, and when I checked the top card of my deck - who is staring back at me but Battlegrace Angel. Boy, she would have been useful 4 turns before...

Final Record 3-1-1

I won a single Alara booster pack for making it to the top 8, and pulled a Salvage Titan from that pack. I also had a ton of fun, and though the tournament ended up going far longer than I expected, I ended up getting home a little before 11.

My overall impression of the Shards environment is that your deck is made or broken by your ability to handle your manabase. I chose very early to focus on just 2 of my 3 colors, using my 3rd color only on the gold stuff. Had I pulled bombs in 3 colors that might have changed my tune, but as it was, I think I really hit the nail on the head when it came to my pool's best deck.

One aside - the Dispeller's Capsules were rarely a completely dead draw, and ended up being pretty important in several games. If I could do it over again, the one thing I would change would be the decision to maindeck both of them...I think 1 in the maindeck would have been fine, and the other in the board could have helped had I hit a heavy esper deck. For the record, I don't think a single Esper deck made top 8, and I was the only Bant deck I saw all night. Jund and Naya were VERY popular.

Long Time...

2008-09-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's been about a year since I last updated, so it's probably about that time...

Not sure why it is so difficult for me to login to a website like once a week and write about all the random crap that happens in my life. I actually find it really amusing that it is difficult for me to do, just because it seems like the kind of thing I would be all over.

Anyway, this is me renewing my interest in updating this on a regular basis, let's see how it goes.

In current news, my soccer team is not off to the greatest of starts this season, though the girls are working hard, so I am still happy with how it's going. We are more injury-ridden than normal for this early in the season, which has me a tad worried, but I have some theories on that, and am trying not to read too much into it at this point.

I have been keeping a really good eye on what I've been eating - trying to lose some weight for the sake of not feeling like a fat pig anymore. The biggest issue is portion sizes...it's really, really hard for me to not eat when food is in front of me, for a lot of reasons. I am getting better, though.

Finally, my oldest daughter just entered Kindergarten this past week, and I am not exaggerating when I say that scares the absolute hell out of me. I know I sent out that memo about my kids not being allowed to age.

TCG's, Soccer, and Vista

2007-10-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

I really hate when things don't work correctly. Given the choice between an inconsistent technology riddled with features, and one that works all the time, but does fewer things, I'll take the latter every single time. That said, Windows Vista is an example of 'does a ton of neat stuff, when it works'. Now, fortunately, Vista 'just worked' for me for about 6 months. I didn't have driver issues, I didn't crash, I really didn't have any problems at all...until last week. Long story short, let's just say I've reinstalled the operating system on my computer now, and everything appears to be mostly in order again.

The soccer team I coach has reached the state playoffs two years in a row now. Our first game is this Friday, and I'm a bit nervous. I know the girls can win this game, which is part of the reason I'm jittery, I suppose. If it looked like it was going to be a blowout, I could accept our fate, and go in just looking for respect. With a possibility to move on, though, the situation changes quite a bit...the pressure is on, so to speak.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a box of Through the Dark Portal that I ordered last week. I am thinking of entering the WoW TCG Regional Qualifier this December up in Portland, and so going through my deck options when I find time.

That's not very often though - Team Fortress 2 is still awesome, and now that we are playing on custom maps, I shudder to think of the amount of time I'll spend on that game when the soccer season ends.