Webstats:

In 2006, this site has had approximately 28000 visits from around 3000 unique visitors for a total of 106000 page views and 5.2Gb of bandwidth from 626000 hits.

*not including visits from bots, spiders or worms

These blogs started on January 2nd as "sort of a weekly newsletter" for Brisbane students. However, it became more  A-Team and R10 specific as it evolved into almost a weekly diary entry. Looking back at January, it was a time of new beginnings. The A-Team had a number of dojo-visits and I'd received a promotion at work to Head-of-Department. I also attended the Qld State Team try-outs for the 8th time. I also see that I added the kumite page with a promise of a new section each week. Oh well, that can be on my list of things to do for this January. I was also awarded Level 7 Instructor after 8 years of teaching.

February saw the release of a new Shimbun, a costume party, a vodka party, school camp and the first time I mentioned "life is a rollercoaster" in my blogs. It was also a month for serious gradings with two A-Team members grading to 1st kyu. I started a new diet, and managed to keep my training routine in place. Fuzzy's blog became the most viewed page on the site in February. 

I seemed to complain a little about being busy in March. With 60 hour weeks at work and multiple nights training, I kept myself pretty flat out. Karate-wise, the A-Team was in full swing and having a ball. We also made the top20 dojos for the first time in March. I attended a seminar with several very senior karateka: Hanshi Tasaki, Shihan Fujiwara, Hanshi Patrick McCarthy & Kancho Tino Cebrano. I also attended a GKR seminar with Shihan Stacey and Sensei Gavin. Both were excellent and very rewarding! The first GKR & NAS tournaments also occurred in March with the introduction of the Parabola of Mystery!

In April, my blogs mentioned my relief at reaching the end of the first term at school and the fun and good results of the 1st GKR tournament for the year. I went back to focusing on enjoying both work and life. I was also able to start spending a bit more time on the site. I wrote my first article (Pride & Humility) for the site and got re-addicted to Tekken on PS2. April also saw more dojo visits, the Inaugural Miller Cup (tennis) and another 1st kyu grading for the A-Team. Sadly, my best friend's father died. John, you continue to be an inspiration.

In May I moved out of Beer Central. It was the end of a wonderful two years and a defining time in my life. I was fortunate enough to have many fantastic times there with a great bunch of friends. There were times there that we will never forget and times that no-one will ever mention. I also learnt a few life lessons - like never to leave a bean-bag outside for a few months or the beans will inhabit the lawn for months. I learnt how to drive and reverse with a trailer. After a brief stay with my parents and several trips to the storage place, I moved here, to our new place, where I'm enjoying life just as much. It was also a reasonably busy time at work and looking back, I'm not quite sure how I managed everything. 

There were a number of birthdays in May and these were celebrated in June. It was somewhat of a return to normalcy and it was good to let the hair down during the holidays. After a few down stages in my life, I kept my training up and trained at the new Capalaba dojo for the first time. There were notably some significant gradings in June with A-Team members grading to 2nd kyu, and shodan-ho. We also watched Australia in the Soccer World Cup (which is like the cricket and rugby world cups but not as important). We also had a special combined class at Wellington Point. It was a huge success and although we haven't run one again, I think we should do so soon.

I wrote one of my favourite blogs in July. It was after the WASO Championships on the Gold Coast and the house of fat had lived again! It was a great weekend with heaps of good results and a few good times as well. Although I was quite inspired by the continuous divisions, my distaste for point sparring grew. There were several awesome displays, including one by Shihan Stacey, at the Saturday night Spectacular. The A-Team had more 1st kyu gradings in July and one of my best friends graded to Shodan in Shotokan from Kancho Kanazowa (10th Dan) - a real honour. My year 10 debating team reached the QDU finals and a good friend of mine went into hospital - it was a rollercoaster of a month.

My karate training took a bit of a dive in August. Certain classes were no longer appealing to me and I had to change my routine somewhat. I left the State Team. The A-Team, however, were on fire and Friday nights were a welcome time of the week. We did our annual karate display at the Lions Family Fun Day and had our first A-Team noodle night. Work too, was going well, so all in all, it wasn't too bad. Kancho gave a seminar at Algester with over 300 people attending. There was also a Couch-O seminar which went pretty well..

September was "a thorough mix of busyness, procrastination and actual living". I started running on a more regular basis and our Sunday arvo training sessions hit a high - with team kata practice and a bunkai demo made for Sochin. I moved addictions from Tekken to Texas Hold em Poker. It was a topsy-turvy month with me spending several weeks quite sick with some flu-like virus. Steve Irwin died.

I finally got my second page done in the kumite section (it took me nine months). There were also several more significant additions to the site in October. The final term at school also started in October after a rather lazy holiday period. The A-Team had its seventh 1st-kyu graded this year. We also learnt was a bo, tennis ball and frisbee all had in common. There were several birthdays and we had a good ol' time celebrating. House and NCIS finished for the year in explosive form and I learnt about the term "fo cheesy".

November started with my recent CANI approach to life in general. I've been really started to enjoy my training and work as a result and this tends to snowball as the more I enjoy it, the better I do. We had our first A-Team Taco night and we farewelled a couple of A-Team member to Europe for a few weeks. I attended another seminar by Shihan Lipinski (8th Dan) and learnt quite a bit this time. It was a busy time at work with the year 12s finishing and my first year on the District Review Panel. Australia also won the Tri-Nations Rugby League.

Finally, December was another typically full month! It started with my trip to Melbourne for the NAS Nationals and GKR Australasians. I had a great time and really enjoyed my first time to a brilliant city. I wrote possibly my longest and best blog last week so I'll keep it up. The house of fat lived again, although I've passed on my title to the next generation. The past two weeks have gone by so quickly with Christmas parties, time with family and friends. Congratulations to Rochelle & John who were married on the 29th - photos next blog. Its been a wonderful two weeks and I'm back firmly in holiday mode. I'm really looking forward to 2007.

Duck Boy

28 Titles

Valithor

11 Titles

Bell Sprout, Hanno,

Will-i-am, Hot Curry

5 Titles each