September 2004 Archives

I'm studying for my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)... a formality that is long overdue and a necessary step in getting the more valuable CCIP (Cisco Certified Intelligent Person?... no I'm pretty sure it's just IP as in Internet Protocol). Anyway, the studying has began. Wow, basic stuff, but broad and irrelevant enough to require a lot of studying. But the most obvious impression after hitting the cram books is that these certifications are as much about promoting the Cisco brand name as they are about education. Don't get me wrong—I don't blame Cisco for this. On the contrary I would be disappointed if they missed an obvious opportunity for self-promotion. However, it is very distracting to myself (and I imagine to anyone else who approaches these books with a strong background in networking protocols).

As some know, we've been having a veterinary crisis at our home. Of our four cats, one has been very sick — showing signs of jaundice and very erratic blood values. Until yesterday we thought the cause was FIP, a highly contagious feline disorder. This was very bad news, as it meant the distinct possibility of a kitty fatality — not of one but of all four cats.

Yesterday, the vet called my wife with a wavery voice and I knew the outlook wasn't good. Ironically, the confirmed diagnosis, while about as bad as it can be, is not FIP. The FIP is still present, but not the cause of the trouble (which is a long story, and hard to explain, so just trust me on this) which means the other three cats are much better off.

The diagnosis, however is definitely bad news. Lymphatic cancer, which has already penetrated into the liver and probably the spleen. Our goal at this point is to spoil her and keep her as happy as possible until she starts to degenerate beyond an acceptable quality of life, at which point we will put her down gracefully so that she does not suffer.

It has been a trying time; waking hours are anxious, and sleep is wracked with dreams.

The test is now over, and I am proud to inform you all that I have passed and am now the first student of the Defense Tactics Systems of Kenpo Karate to achieve promotion to the rank of Black Belt. The test was demanding, as predicted, but what I didn't anticipate was the highly surreal emotions that it aroused.

I wasn't until about four hours in that it finally occurred to me what this means, and all of my anxieties and doubts melted away. What was left was an amalgam of exhaustion, euphoria, pain, excitement and an almost frightening clarity. In past tests, my material would get sloppy as the day progressed and exhaustion led to mistakes. I'm sure I made mistakes this time, too, but the difference is that I was in total control mentally, even if failing muscles and tendons preventing me from performing to my maximum potential.

The house is quiet (as quiet as it can be in house with three dogs) and I've had a good morning so far; a large mug of tea, and a good breakfast, some stretching, and a good deal of self reflection. I wont go so far as to say "meditation" due to the aforementioned dogs, which are like highly-mobile zen-busting monsters... but overall I've managed to put myself in a healthy state of mind.

Now, after this quick blog, I am on my way to the dojo. I will work hard, and I will earn myself the rank of black belt in Kenpo Karate that I have been preparing for over the past six years.

The next update, good or bad, will come sometime later tonight. Until then, I will be focused inward; my own strength, my own will, my own skill. Huzzah!

I've been a Mac user for a long time, and while I try to avoid posting mac-related things to this site, I have to point something out. Nobody seems to have noticed this except me. There have been many comparisons to the new G5 iMac and the iPod (which is intentional), and many people have claimed a more striking resemblance to the eMac. Perhaps it is my own twisted perspective, but I find that the new iMac looks most like none other than the original Mac, built sometime ago—1984, I believe.

Is it a coincidence that this new iMac, released almost exactly 20 years after the original Mac, looks just like its ancestor? Is this a silent homage? Me thinks yes.

I've tried most of the various Gi (or 'Dogi' or 'Ghi'... a karate uniform) that are on the market today, and some have been better than others. But none of them were great. Well, my wife thought that I should treat myself to a nicer-than-average uniform as a "gift" in celebration of my promotion* to the rank of black belt. I thought this was a nice idea—I always like to spend money on myself—so I began a quest, scouring the web for the nicest uniform money could buy. Of course, I mentioned it to my sensei first to make sure he was OK with it (many schools derive a good portion of their income from equipment and uniform sales... and I do feel somewhat guilty robbing them of a a few-bucks profit, so I'll stuff an extra few bucks in the water jar the next time I'm at the dojo).

...I can do without two of them, right?

Well, due to my predictable mega-obsessive personality, I over-trained this Saturday and came close to completely destroying my calves (not veal calves, the ones in my legs). Looking at a diagram of the human muscular system, it looks like it is probably my soleus muscles, which run up the outside of the lower legs. On sunday, they were sore. On monday, I was afraid I may have caused a real injury, but today they are back to just being mildly sore. I think I dodged a bullet, getting about as close as I could get to a major injury without actually causing any long-term damage.

We'll see how I feel after class tonight.

That's right—True to form, I am obsessively training on... although I will take it a bit easier this week, and will stop training completely after Wednesday night's class so that I can rest properly for the test on Saturday.