Taekwondo Tournament

This past weekend, St. Patty's Day weekend, Scott and I traveled to Boise, Idaho for his annual Taekwondo tournament. This was the first year that I've gotten to go, so I was very excited! Plus I got to see what's in store for me if I get to compete next year. It was definitely a weekend full of stories...

Before I get started, here is a picture of Scott's team (for the Bozeman team demonstration):
Mike, Alison, Bonnie and Scott















We arrived on Friday afternoon and went straight to the studio for training and class. I got to finally meet Grandmaster Kim (the founder of the particular Taekwondo school that Scott is part of - there are many schools across the nation) and Master Knife (one of Grandmaster Kim's students). Master Werner is Scott's direct instructor from his Bozeman school and he was Master Knife's student. The chain will continue...and it was cool to meet the people who were founders of the school and made it happen. There were lots of students from many schools, mainly on the West Coast.

After the main class was over, part the Bozeman school stayed afterwards to practice their team demonstration. Each school chooses 4 people (usually black belts) to represent and perform a team demonstration at the tournament. Scott was chosen as one of the students from Bozeman, along with another guy and 2 girls. Since the rest of the team had a chance to work on the demo, Scott had to get up to speed and learn the routines. The demo consists of 3 parts: a choreographed set of forms that the team performs in synch, a skit, and a board-breaking demo. They worked hard on the demo and practiced for about 3 hours after class. For the skit, Scott and the other guy were truckers in a restaurant that were haggling the waitresses, the two girls. Once a butt got grabbed, the boys got their butt kicked. :) All choreographed, of course. However, during one of the practice runs, one of the girls circled with a round-house kick straight to Scott's nose and accidentally broke it! I wasn't there, thank gosh cuz I would have fainted (I don't do well with other people's blood), but I guess his nose was just gushing and the top was out of line with the rest. Well, he went into the bathroom, cracked it back in place like he'd done it a million times, and massaged the sides until the blood stopped. After that, they went on with finishing up the practice...now that's dedication! And that wasn't the only bump in the road. For the other part of the demo, board breaking, the team decided to do a side-kick break that included getting a running start and jumping over 7 people. The Bozeman junior team (black belts under 15) was doing the same break over 5 people, so they had to do more than the younger group. Scott's always been very successful at breaking and volunteered to do it. During the first pass at making sure he could clear 7 people, he landed successfully on the other side, but landed a lot harder on his heels than expected and bruised them up pretty bad. I think the bruised heels hurt much more than the broken nose cuz he spent the rest of the night and the next morning walking on his toes. So he was slightly worn out and broken down before the competition even began. We rested up that night and I made him take it easy. :)

The next day was a busy one. The Bozeman team headed to the studio at around 9 for one last practice. Everyone was amazed to see that Scott's nose was still straight, was barely swollen at all and there was no bruising...I still couldn't even tell he had gotten it broken. He was pretty lucky and must have done a good job putting it back in place. After their practice, where they perfected the team demo, we headed off to the tournament at the Boise High School gym. The tournament lasted all day from 11am to 8pm. There were lots of competitors and it was so cool to watch everyone from the sidelines. I took lots of pics and a few videos. Hopefully you will be able to play the videos, which are of the team demo. Scott's team did a great job and took 2nd place! I was a little worried that all of Scott's injuries and mishaps from the day before would take his toll, but I was proved wrong. He took lots of ibuprofen, ate well, and downed plenty of orange juice and energy drinks. Once the adrenaline got pumping, the pain pretty much disappeared while he was competed. There are three main events that individuals compete, in which they are broken up by rank, sex and weight class: sparring, forms and breaking. Scott did awesome and took home trophies for First place in sparring and Second place in forms. He also ranked fourth place out of 9 in the Grand Champion round. This is the last and final round where all the winners in sparring for their division compete for Grand Champion. This is very tough as first degree black belts (Scott's current rank) compete against 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees. So he did much better than higher ranked students, all with injuries. (Luckily he didn't get hit in the face again...this is a non-contact sport, but accidents do happen.) So in all, he did GREAT and kicked ass!! I'm so proud of him and excited that I got to watch so many other talented students. Until next year, when Scott takes it all... :)

Some pics that I took of class and training in the studio on Friday, the night before the competition:


















Some pics I took at the tournament, the first one is Scott's sparring competition where he took First place:

























Also, here is a link to Google Video so you can view the three videos that I took of Scott's team demonstration, so you can see what they were all about:

Bozeman group demo - #1 Forms http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8306977457885528963
Bozeman group demo - #2 Skit http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1130064543202150247
Bozeman group demo - #3 Breaking http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2949338307153108295

Trip to Folsom

The first weekend in March was a beautiful one here in Northern Cali! It was sunny and 70 degrees...we finally got to say goodbye to rain, fog and clouds for a few days. I think it may be the start of summer already. Scott and I went to visit Robert and Liza for the weekend, as it was our turn to make the drive (about 2 hours), and it was the perfect weekend to spend outdoors. We put the bike rack on my little Civic and loaded our bikes. I recently bought a new mountain bike so I wouldn't have to rent one whenever we wanted to go riding. There was a great pre-season sale at the sports store so I got a killer deal. I was pumped to be able to finally use it. We spent the weekend outdoors as much as possible. We went folfing on Saturday at a really hard 12-hole course north of Folsom. For those of you not familiar with folf - it is short for frisbee golf. You throw a disc (a little heavier than a normal frisbee) across courses that are similar to golf (usually just not as far) and try to hit a goal post or basket at the end of the course. I am just awful at this sport, but it was still fun. I think I almost pulled a muscle in my arm which I was really peeved at because I started softball the next week and didn't want to be injured. But it turned out ok and was a lot of fun. Scott and Robert used to play frequently back home in Bozeman and Helena, so they were pros. Sunday we decided to get out again and took a really nice ride around Natoma Lake near where they live. It's a pretty easy ride, except for the fact that it's 17 miles, which took us about 2 hours. It really only took so long because Liza and I didn't want to kill ourselves and were riding at a slower pace...especially next to Scott who was like ADHD on his bike...he rides everyday so it was too easy for him. I thought 17 miles was long enough! I'll work up to longer trips this summer, but for a first time out, it was a good start.

I don't have any pics to post of this trip as we forgot our camera. :( It was beautiful out, but just so you have something to look at besides text, here is a map of Natoma Lake, courtesy of Google Earth. It's more of a long wide river to me, but it was a great riding trail.

Taekwondo

February 11, 2007...I officially started Taekwondo training with Scott as my instructor. He will eventually be opening his own Taekwondo school and I'm going to be his first official student until that happens. :) I'm not quite sure yet if I'll go all the way to getting my black belt, as my work schedule during busy season hardly allows any activities besides work, but I've always been interested in the art and discipline it takes to succeed. Plus it's a really great workout and strengthens muscles I didn't know I had...similar to yoga or pilates. Here's a picture of us in our gear at the apartment gym space after one of our recent sessions. I don't look very official because I just got the uniform (it's called a dobok). But we will be going to a national tournament soon and I will get some patches for my uniform then from Scott's Master from his school in Bozeman.

Just in case you're not familiar with this specific martial art, and here's a little more info that I found:

Taekwondo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taekwondo (also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do) is a martial art originating in Korea. Having become one of the most widely practiced martial arts in the world, it is the national sport of Korea and one form of sparring, shihap kyeorugi, is an Olympic sporting event.
In Korean, derived from hanja, tae (跆) means to kick or strike with the foot"; kwon (拳) means "fist or to strike with the hand"; and do (道) means "way". Hence, taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the foot and hand". Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the martial art. As with many other martial arts, taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy.

Taekwondo is famed for its employment of kicking techniques, which distinguishes it from martial arts such as karate or certain southern styles of kung fu. The rationale is that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to execute powerful strikes without retaliation successfully.
Taekwondo as a sport and exercise is popular with people of both sexes and of many ages. Physically, taekwondo develops strength, speed, balance, flexibility, and stamina. An example of the union of mental and physical discipline is the breaking of boards, which requires both physical mastery of the technique and the concentration to focus one's strength.

Ugly Sweater Party

Man, we are HOT! ;)







On one of our last nights in Helena before we headed home to SF, we went to the infamous Ugly Sweater party at our friend Moose's (Brian) house. Ok, really it's Brian and Laura's house that they just bought together recently. Brian is one of Scott's best friends from childhood. He and Laura are getting married in Helena this July. So what better time to throw a party - when everyone is back in town for the holidays and you have a new house to break in. :) They had also recently (2 days earlier) gotten back from a trip to France and Italy...so they were still totally jet-lagged. What troopers!

Anyway, this party was great, and there were definitely some U-G-L-Y sweaters! Scott and I got our sweaters from none other than Scott's mom, Marlyne. She went into some old boxes and pulled out some hideous ones. Scott's was made out of that Easter-colored yarn that is 4 colors in one - from yellow to pink to green to blue...it reminded me of yarn that I used to make a potholder with in school when it was knitting day in sewing class. :) Well, without further adieu, here are some great pictures:

Brian and Laura, hosts of the party, with their 'daughter' Teva -


















Brian, after his first costume change of the evening - where does he get these horrid sweaters? This one had a 3 year old's pony express theme...his previous crushed purple sweater had ugly lamps...

Christmas in MT

Scott and I got to fly home for Christmas for 2 weeks...and we had a blast...doing absolutely nothing! :) I had been working by butt off at my job and Scott had been working hard on his thesis and finishing up finals. It was a much needed break from the stress and busy-bee lifestyle. We first stayed in Helena for a couple days before Xmas and Scott's mom, Marlyne, was so wonderful. She cooked for us and helped us relax. It was very nice and so great to see her again...she's the sweetest person. It made me so happy to know that I'm going to have such great in-laws! We also got to hang out with some of the rest of Scott's family - Jodie (sister), Jim and their kids Jamie, Jacee and Justy; Warren (uncle) and Maxine; Mark (brother), Tracee and their kids Arielle and Jonathan. I also got to meet lots more of his family, who I hadn't yet met, after Xmas while we were back in Bozeman/Belgrade.

After a couple days in Helena, I went to Belgrade and spent the rest of the time with my family. Scott then came to Belgrade and stayed at my parents with me from after Xmas until we left. He needed to be back so that he could go to Taekwondo in Bozeman and learn his new forms. He'll be practicing those new forms this year as he trains for his 2nd degree black belt ranking. It was again awesome just to be home and hanging out with my family and friends. It was much needed relaxation and my mommy's home cooking was great! We played games, made lots of new drinks (including a new Hornitos Margarita my mom discovered at Santa Fe Reds that we tried to recreate), watched movies and talked lots. We also made sure to see Will Smith's new movie "Pursuit of Happyness" and looked for all the shots of Scott in the background, which were actually quite a few. The whole thing was filmed in San Fran last fall and Scott got to play one of the 12 interns in the movie. It was a great movie and was so neat to see all the places we go to in the city...and to see Scott with a slight beard, slicked-over side-parted hair and dressed in a totally 80's tan polyester suit. ;)

Here are some pictures that we took during the vacation.

This is on New Year's Eve, me with my sisters Heather and Ashley.

Mark and Tracee, Jamie and her fiance Zach, Me and Scott - later on New Year's Eve at our new favorite hang out in Bozeman, 317 - also happens to be where my best friend Makenzie works.

One of our last nights in Bozeman, out with some old friends - Scott with Clifton and Derek, me with some of my class of '98...Alex, Dustin and Andy.

Finally moved in!

Well, as you may have read in an earlier post, Scott and I finally found a great apartment and have moved in together. We found a place in between SJ and SF in San Mateo...not really sure how we keep ending up in cities that begin with San. Anyway, our place is a perfect location for us: 5 minute bike ride for Scott to the Caltrain - which takes 20-25 minutes to the city and then another 10 minute bike ride from the Caltrain to his school and work; average 40 minute car ride for me to work (25 minutes if no traffic, but 50 minutes if traffic sucks); close to a huge, nice mall - Hillsdale; close to the grocery stores, Blockbuster, gas station, etc; they take pets - yeah for Kozmo (Scott's adorable cat); and, we have a walk-in closet (yay me!) and washer and dryer in the apt, which is VERY rare we found out. So we are closer to SF than SJ, but it's nice to live outside of the city as Scott had plenty enough of the city noise (he lived right next door to a hospital) and all the unclean/sketchy neighborhoods that always seemed to be a few blocks from wherever you were. It was a perfect amount of time for him to experience city life and we had fun with him living in such a convenient location to all the hot spots. But it was time for us to consolidate our bills to save for the wedding and time for him to have some peace, quiet and space to work on his thesis project for the next year. He's on track to graduate this time next year! I can't believe 2 and 1/2 years of school had gone by so quickly. Next Christmas he'll be done with his portfolio and looking for a job. Then we'll have time to focus on wedding planning for our August 2008 wedding in MT. :)

Here are the after pictures of our place - no thanks to me as I didn't have time to help much with unpacking and decorating. But Scott did a great job and our place looks great! We can't wait to have visitors this summer.
Master Bedroom and hallway from the bedroom:










Kitchen:













Second bedroom/office:










Living room (with Kozmo sitting by the couches):










Bathroom:













Deck off the living room: