As I write this post, I am sitting on my parent’s couch in Pekin finishing the very last of my Illinois Christmas vacation. I realize that my blogging as diminished in the last several months, normally I would be sitting here apologizing for that indiscretion. Instead, I like to think that I replaced the blogging […]

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Here I am, sitting at the gate in Denver waiting to find out if I get one of the overflow seats on this flight to Peoria. This frustrates me, since I booked my flight two weeks ago. All the same, my ticket says confirmed and the lady at the baggageclaim told me that I have […]

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Saturday was my day to relax, so Tasha watched Eve while I worked on Dad’s ukulele.  I succeeded in getting the front binding on and filled.  Most of the afternoon was spent sanding and scraping and there’s still more to go.  I created a Facebook album to chronicle the progress, it is coming along well!  […]

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This, friends, is the most terrible device ever to be allowed in a karate dojo. Tonight’s workout began with sparring basics: jab, reverse punch, jab-reverse punch, reverse punch-jab, front leg front kick/jab/reverse punch and the like.  We did these in a circle until the group was nice and sweaty.  Then we started in on the […]

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Sensei Tarrant provided a rare dan test preparation class on Tuesday night, with six black belts in attendance.  We went through the test combinations that he wrote down from an exam three years ago.  My Pekin dojomates may be interested to know that several of our old classics made an appearance: sanbon-zuki (three punches), jab […]

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Today was my first Father’s Day, ushered in with the decadent pleasure of sleeping in until it was nearly time to go to Church.  My darling daughter has somehow acquired the ability to purchase a card and write quite legibly at the ripe old age of nearly three-months so I got a really nice Father’s […]

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Today was a long day at the office.  A crop of bugs popped up, and I was basically the only person on our team in Westminster today.  That meant it was up to me to triage the bugs and determine the best possible course of action.  I tend to do this best when I have […]

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It has been an eventful weekend at the Dalcher household.  On Saturday, I picked up La Mar’s Donuts for breakfast after stopping at Home Depot to get some guitar-building supplies.  I spent most of the afternoon in the garage, sanding away at some leftover cocobolo binding to make enough sawdust to create a wood filler.  […]

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Tonight’s practice was brought to you thanks to Sensei Hartman, whose Facebook post this week inspired me to get off my butt and get to the dojo despite a long and stressful week at the office. We started things out with a few simple basics to get warmed up (always nice), and then descended into […]

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Today I got a package in the mail: my bottle of Absinthe Ordinaire! Before enjoying a glass, Teddy and I went for a rousing walk around the neighborhood. Then it was time to help out with Eve and watch some Firefly. That’s all for now!

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