Ideas for a project

I work for Mississippi State University at a vegetable and ornamental flower research station. I am going to work on the idea of square foot gardening as a project of mine. I thought I could put some of the things I have learned working here to use in other ways. I never considered using gardening as a lesson in martial arts, but it does fit in with having a healthy lifestyle. If nothing else people can learn where food comes from (and its not Wal-mart). Here is a link to a video of a few different ideas on square foot gardening, raised bed gardening, handicap accessible gardening, and alternative ideas on growing plants.


youtube video of Gardening Ideas

Square Foot Gardening

The last few weeks, have been really busy at my ''Job that pays the bills''. We have this huge fall garden festival every year that requires a lot of attention. I read a blog on square foot gardening the other day, I thought that is something I could get involved in as a community service. I work at a vegetable and ornamental flower research station for Mississippi State University so I have a good bit of experience with plants and a lot of resources (3 scientist work in the same offices with me). I just got a portable video camera and shot some video of the fest. There are some ideas on square foot gardening and handicap accessible planting boxes on the video. Now I have to make a plan on how to use this knowledge. I thought about starting at our school with a box for each class, have them take care of it (with supervision). They will also be able to take home the vegetables they grow. I have a lot of ideas going through my head right now. I am going to try to download my video on our blog so people can see. I never thought about using my experience in the garden and flower beds in this way so I have to thank Tom Callos for the inspiration.

5th Dan Testing - Pre-Test

This past weekend went very well. My 5th Dan Pre-Test was challenging but I felt good about it. I wasn't sure that I would be ready to perform all my techniques and forms. I have been getting ready for a year (except after my surgery). I was ready in March but because of my appendicitis, I was forced to delay my testing. There are things that I know I can work on to better my techniques and forms, but there are always things to improve on. Now, I will demonstrate for Dojunim He-Young Kimm on Friday, Nov. 4th before the weekend seminar starts. I feel confident, not nervous at all. Although when I get to his school in Baton Rouge, it might hit me. I have also had a lot going on at work, so I have been so busy that I haven't had time for much else.

Week 5 - Youth Black Belt Testing

Just in case you didn't know already.... We have some of the best kids around at Triple Black Belt Academy.  Our students consistently come through for us, shining like the stars that they are.  We had two of our youth complete their Black Belt Pre-Test at Triple Black Belt Academy this weekend.  Wow, they did great.  Sometimes, we get frustrated as we are going along with the day-to-day routine of teaching HanMuDo.  But, in the end, the kids learn what it is that we are trying to teach and they learn it well.  Our students have heart and knowledge and it shows.  They count in Korean like champs, stay together when doing forms, have tremendous memory skills and learn at least one more form than we started out saying that they needed.  We like for them to learn Jedo Kum, even though it is not required for Black Belt testing.  They learn it easily and look great doing it, so we make sure that they know the form before testing.  Below is a picture of a brother/sister act that we like to take credit for.  Not really, these kids were just born with a natural ability and we just helped to bring out the best in them.   The second picture is another example of one of our awesome future black belts.  Notice the nice form and body position.

5th Dan Testing

I have recently written an essay for my HanMuDo test which was coming up. This made me think of how I have gotten to this point with the UBBT and my 5th Dan Black Belt test. It is a long story and I've been thinking about doing a video blog about it. I’ll attempt make a long story short. I started training for my test last year and was supposed to test in April but my body had other plans. My appendix ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery. The recovery was hard and I was not able to do much training for a few months. Obviously, my test was delayed. During this time, I started looking for advice about my school and ran across the UBBT and the 100. I was very interested but with the hospital bills and the school numbers being down I thought there is no way I can afford this. But I couldn't stop thinking about it, it was speaking to me in a way that nothing has before. I put it off for 2 1/2 months and finally contacted Tom Callos about it. Tom and I talked about it. Michelle and I talked about it and then we talked to our adult class about it. The decision was made that we would do it. Although, I had been doing some of the requirements before I ever called Tom. I planned to make the UBBT part of my 5th Dan test. This weekend (Oct.15^th) is my pre-test; it usually takes 7 or 8 hours to complete (the more you know the longer it takes). My knowledge of my techniques and forms will be tested. On Nov. 4^th, I will be tested in front of Dojunim (the Founder of Han Mu Do). Then, for the next year the test will get really hard. Completing all the other requirements that the UBBT asks for will be a challenge, but I think that it will be worth it in the end.

Week 4 - 9th Grade Academy

I have had a hard time thinking of a subject for a blog this week.  I’ve watched videos on YouTube for inspiration.  I’ve tried reading for inspiration.  Nothing is coming to mind until I saw one of the 9^th graders that I taught during 9^th Grade Academy.  9^th Grade Academy was a two week session for students entering the 9^th grade in the fall.  They had classes in math, reading, language arts and martial arts.  I taught the martial arts sessions from 8:30 until 11:30.  I had groups of all sizes, ranging from 6 to 18.  I had groups of all boys, all girls and a mixture of boys and girls.  What I found was that the separated groups worked better for this type of training.  The boys were very energetic and full of energy (the good kind).   The girls were having loads of fun and we turned POW into the kihap.  The mixed group was a little more reserved. 

We were in the library on a hard floor, so I concentrated on kicks and punches.  There were some awesome kickers in the groups.  We also worked on stances.  I brought my square targets and other pads from Triple Black Belt Academy.  The kids were eager to learn and jumped straight into lines, ready to come to attention.   They enjoyed themselves and I enjoyed myself.  I got plenty of exercise on top of it all.  Many kids were hoping that they would offer martial arts as a PE/elective during the regular school year.  I was kind of hoping that to.  Teens are so hard to get into our classes at Triple Black Belt Academy.  They are so busy and have to depend of parents to drive them everywhere.  Martial arts in the school setting would peak their interest enough to get them dedicated to coming to class.  What the school was talking about was doing a semester class, allowing me to conduct "tryouts" to determine who was in the class.  Without tryouts, I would have ended up with 100 kids in one class. When the principals from last year approached me about the possibility of doing one class a day, I jumped in with both feet.  I came up with a curriculum, a course description, a syllabus, a recommendation sheet, and a grading rubric for participation/ knowledge and understanding.  I was ready within a week.  

Practice makes Permanent

Last month, in our school, our lesson was about setting goals. This month our lesson is about fitness. So, I decided to show our students how to set a goal and stick to it. My goal was actually a fitness goal so I have been able to work the two months lesson together into one big lesson. I also had an ulterior motive, which was getting ready for the Ultimate Black Belt Test. I told our students that my goal for the month was to do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats every day. I asked the students to help me reach my goal, so in every class; we did 30 of each exercise. By the end of the month, Michelle and I were doing at least 105 to 140 every day. We told our students that we reached our goal with their help and for us to be able to get through the UBBT, we would have to ask for their help some more. I think if we practice doing our exercises every day, we will develop a habit and during the UBBT the exercise part will be a little easier. I have always heard that practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. With that in mind, maybe when one of us says "you ready for another set", the other won’t say "AGAIN".

Missing students

Last night in class, I was thinking that I really miss some of our students that no longer train with us.  I also miss some of the people that I have trained with throughout the years.  Some no longer train because they moved, which is an acceptable reason.  Some no longer train because they can't find the time.  Some no longer train because of financial reasons.  Some no longer train because they weren't having fun or enjoying classes anymore.  That worries me.  Do we need to always have fun?  I believe that answer would be NO.   But what can we do to make learning the techniques and forms more enjoyable?  What can we do to make classes more fun but still get the required learning accomplished?  There is a fine line between just allowing the kids to play and being too demanding.  Part of what we are hoping to accomplish during this Ultimate Black Belt Test journey is to better ourselves, thereby bettering our teaching and our school.

Week 3 - Technology

We are trying hard to keep our Facebook, website and blog up-to-date.  Probably the most satisfying so far, out of the three, is the Facebook.  When someone "likes" one of my photos or uses one of my photos as their profile picture, I get great satisfaction from that.  I know that it is hard to get pictures of yourself, when you are out on the mat training so when a good picture is taken, it is special to the people in the picture.  Capturing the action of HanMuDo is a lot of fun for me and it shows the people in the picture how awesome they look to everyone else.   Every now and then, we get feedback from our website and we now have had a few people talking to us about our blog.  Our goal with this blog is to show how we are improving the quality of our lives and motivate people to get out there to be the best that they can be.  We want to serve as role models for our family, friends, students and community.  We want to be role models for ourselves.  If we can do it for one week, why not the next week and then the next... until a whole year has passed and it is just a way of life for us.  Kind-of like how martial arts becomes a way of life for the individual.  You go to class every chance you get and after a while you forget what it was like to not have class.  In fact, often one may feel lost if they don't have a class to go to.

Ideas for Environmental Community Projects

We are researching ideas for Environmental Community Projects.  Anyone with ideas please e-mail us....

With our pedometers, we have figured out that the 1000 miles will be no trouble.  We walk between 4 to 8 miles on a average day.  Writing down the 1000 acts of kindness will be hard, because remembering to write down things is difficult.  I am trying to write things down in my daily diary that I started.  I also am writing down my prayers and meditations.   I will try to figure out a better system to record everything.  I think that having a weekly journal blog and food blog would be difficult to keep up with and not as usable for our readers... So, we are experimenting with doing both on the same blog.  Comments on that would be appreciated.

Thanks