Chicago seminars

The Chicago seminars went well and there were some surprises. We had a good turnout, and among the participants were some people I hadn't seen in years. Zoran Sevic, who keeps the kenpothoughts website, attended. I had taught Zoran some of his first lessons in 1981 when he was a teenager. He eventually went on to train in the McSweeney lineage and is now a fourth black under Mr. Tom Saviano.
One of his associates came along and dragged in a man he works with named Bob Schmitt. Bob trained with me back in the 70's and was a "killer brown belt", winning sparring competition in his division almost every weekend. In fact, he got a plaque as one of the top fighters in the Midwest. Bob and his wife have since raised 6 kids and he's thinking he might just get back in and get his black belt after all these years.
My old friend David Zorich was there, too. Dave and I were friends when I took judo in the 60's at his father's studio. Dave is a 4th degree in kenpo and holds a black in Tae Kwon Do, too.
With the efforts of Kurt and Barb Barnhart and Manny Rivera, we had a good seminar. Plans are being made to have the next one up there in September. Thanks to everyone who came.

Bragging on my neice

Serena was awarded a Cadet NCO of the Year award by a VFW chapter here in SW Florida.

England seminars

Gary Ellis hosted me at his club in Plymouth. Sascha Berning and Udo Zehl, along with two students, came over from Dusseldorf, Germany as well. Mr. Ellis and I have known each other since the early 1980's, and he is an excellent practitioner. They have a nice group of people there at the club in Plymouth.

Subjects I taught included a class for his tai chi students, another class for kids, and the rest on the handshake techniques, joint locking defenses and my unique seminars on "broken techniques" and defending the third person.

Gary will be on staff at Steve White's camp in Manchester, NH May 8-9. It will be good to see him again so soon.

Lance Soares promoted!

Lance Soares, of Plymouth, MA, was promoted to third degree black on his last trip here to Ft. Myers. Lance has been a second degree since 1993. He originally trained under Mr. Leo Lacerte in New Bedford, MA. Leo turns out some pretty good practitioners.

Lance became my student years ago and he's patiently been working toward his next rank. In the time between his promotions he earned his paramedic certification, served overseas with the National Guard, got married and bought a house.

Lance flies down to Florida to train for a few days at a time a few times a year. This time he was tested and promoted. Congratulations, Mr. Soares!

More on children and violence

A while back I wrote about kids in MMA. Tony Perez from Australia sent me this link to LTC Dave Grossman's site. I recommend Grossman's books for all instructors and serious martial artists (see my recommended reading page at http://www.leewedlake.com/).

http://www.killology.com/article_trainedtokill.htm

American Express

It seems to me that more companies are trying to get you to do the work they are getting paid for. It's become"Well, you need to call such and such..." Go buy something and see how you even swipe the credit card while the cashier stands there. Think about the airlines; they advertise how you can go to to their website to make changes to your flights, then charge you for it. Southwest is an exception.

American Express sent me a bill on a card I cancelled last year. There was a charge from Federal Express on it. And the bill even said "Your account is closed" on it. The rep there says she could see the account was closed, how she'd never seen anything like this happen, and proceeds to tell me that FedEx must have made a mistake. I reminded her that it was two companies' mistakes. Then she tells me to make sure I call FedEx to let them know. Arghh!

I did it just to be sure. The FedEx person said the charge was from someone in Pennsylvania. And that she'd reverse the charge. She still didn't get it that it was a dead card. "You won't have to pay it", she says. No kidding.

How does a credit card company allow a charge on a cancelled card, then send you a bill? And then ask you to call back in three days to make sure they did it? I'm not their Dad. I shouldn't have to "call them in three business days" to see if they did their job. Am I alone on this?

And don't get me going on the new Ft. Myers airport. It's regularly 45 minutes to get your luggage, even with a new terminal and state-of-the-art baggage system. Worse than any airport except Vegas, where half the civilized world goes on any given weekend. I finally complained and the airport blames the airlines and the airlines blame the airport.

Two things bug me about this. One is the lack of taking responsibility. The other is that it takes my time, and I can't get that back. I'll bet I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the credit card and FedEx people. I shouldn't have to do that if they do there job and it just seems to be getting more frequent.

So tell that cashier, "You're working, you swipe it."

Kenpo Karate Drive Through

There's always something interesting happening! This from Tim Walker.



This month is the 4 yr anniversary that I opened American Kenpo Karate University, Inc. in my small town of Branford, FL and this afternoon we celebrated with a bang. A very Large BANG!While teaching my kids class this afternoon a large BANG startled class as two 13 yr old girls drove a car into the side of my school. They attempted to drive off but my shaved head and karate uniform and black belt running up to the car as the driver attempted to drive off got her to stop and turns out both girls know me from substitute teaching them at school. [they told the deputy that they were very afraid of me]The passenger was taken to the hospital on a back board. No one in my school was hurt, but some kids closest to the impact wall shaken up and a lot of mad, irate parents. Could have been a lot worse. The building wall is caved in several inches and my inside wall is wrecked. My personal property damage is minimal my one or two floor mats squished where the wall came in and I'll have to paint after structural repairs are done. There was several tickets written. I pray for the girl and her family and thank God no one was seriously hurt. Yours in Kenpo, Tim