The February 2010 newsletter has been published.
Please post any feedback, comments, or questions below.
Before Zen crossed the shores into Japan, the students of the Tendai school would study meditation, as part of their daily practice. Four of them, close friends all, promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day, no words were spoken, and the students took pleasure in their auspicious beginning. When night came however, the oil lamps grew dim, and the room slowly darkened.
One student, named Hoshin, called out to a servant: "Servant! Attend to the lamps, so that I might better observe our accomplishment!"
The second student was surprised to hear Hoshin speak. "We are supposed to keep quiet," he chided.
"But you also spoke!" declared the third. "You are an idiot!"
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth, as he settled into seiza.
The February 2010 newsletter has been published.
Please post any feedback, comments, or questions below.
This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Jerry Says:
I didn’t have room to mention this in the newsletter, but you may notice the site wide improvements we made during February.
At the bottom of each page you’ll see our new footer, which we added for obvious usability and also aesthetic reasons. A non-obvious benefit is our use of microformats, both in the footer, and more pervasively in our contact page and blog.
What are microformats? Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up. We’ve implemented the adr and hCard formats, for starters. If you’re browsing the site with Firefox and the Operator plug-in, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
What’s next? Our ongoing projects are to implement a database backend for the password protected student page, convert the literally hundreds of hours of video Dee has for the website, record an instructional video for the new 6th kyu test (again, on our password protected page), freshen up the homepage, and implement an entirely new section for the site. (And no, I’m not telling you what it is).
One last note. We now have nearly 200 (!) pages of unique content on the website, including video, pictures, practice guides and blog articles. As far as I know, this makes our site one of the more comprehensive Aikido sites on the web. (And certainly one of the most comprehensive for an actual school).
Don’t believe me? Check out our search page and type away. It’s remarkable, really.
I may have more to say about this, if you’re interested.
MM Says:
hey,
Ryan and I are free on the 27th if you need uke/nage for the demo at the church.
The Dark Knight Says:
it was good
Jerry Says:
We need a headcount on the camping trip, as well as availability and campsite preferences. These places fill up quickly, and I want to reserve a spot in the next week or so.
So…please advise.
MM Says:
I move on April 1st, and please not on easter, give me a date and i’ll request it off.
dichotomy Says:
I don’t know if I will be able to go or not. I have to see closer to the date. I am going to Grady’s seminar, though.
MM Says:
I really did like all the classes last night. I like feeling like I’m getting better. Every time my back craps out I feel like I’m getting worse.
Jerry Says:
Great response so far on camping trip. We’re going to have a big turnout.
I’m thinking shish kebobs (marinated in olive oil) and my hobo packs for the campfire.
Also, this weekend is movie night. C’mon Dark Knight, I know you’re a sucker for Disney movies.
Anyone watch Archer last night?
The Dark Knight Says:
Show Pocahontas and I will call in sick from work
MM Says:
btw: I saw William’s article on Aikido journal…sweet