Fight for the Cure - Riverside Girls Judo Tournament & Clinic with ME!

If you know me at all, you know I almost never do clinics because I am busy. In the last 10 days, I've been working in 3 states and 9 cities, so, it's damn near impossible to fit any more judo on my schedule than teaching at Gompers Middle School once a week.

However, Brian Money and the Riverside Youth Judo Club do such good work, I could not say no.  TOMORROW - yes, Sunday, October 1 - there is an all women and girls tournament in Riverside.

100% of the money raised goes to a local charity that supports people with breast cancer and their families. Registration is 7:30 - 8:30 for special needs and kids under 12, 8-9 am for teens and 8:30 - 9:30 for adults. The tournament starts at 10:00

Also, everyone who competed or volunteered in the tournament can attend a FREE clinic with me. Well, free if you competed in or helped with the tournament. Otherwise, it's $25.

• The first clinic is for kids 6-12, from 3-4 pm - because this is kids, there will be games and immaturity . Most of the immaturity will probably come from me

• The second clinic is for ages 13 and up (so, of course there will be arm bars) from 4-5pm

It says online in some places that the clinic is for females only, but, in theory it is for everyone. Since competitors get first crack, it may fill to capacity with girls only.

Either way, it should be a lot of fun. Anyone is welcome to show up and watch.


 When I'm not teaching judo, I make awesome video games that teach math and history and are fun to play. You should check them out. Some of them are even free. Whether you have a Mac, Windows, iPad or android, we've got you covered.

Randomest blog and a recipe for elk stew

Unless you know me well, you are probably unaware that one job I had while getting my MBA was teaching cooking lessons at the local community center, because, at the time, cooking was one of my few marketable skills. Programming had yet to become as in-demand as it is now.

Recently, my lovely daughter, Ronda, married someone who likes to hunt and the last time I was visiting her, she gave me a cooler full of elk meat. I made a stew with it and it was delicious. Healthy, too, since elk is one of the highest protein meats you can eat and it even makes your vegetables taste good.

Since it is the weekend and 1:15 am and I am done working, I thought I would give you all the recipe for elk stew. It is basically beef stew but with elk meat. 

For those of you who think I should stick to posting about judo, know this - if you are cutting weight, elk has less than half the calories of beef. You CAN have your steak and make weight, too.

Step 1: Shoot an elk.

Step 2:  Make a stew

Ingredients
1 lb elk steak
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion
1/2 cup flour
1 cup rice
Pepper, salt & other seasonings
Beef stew mix
Olive oil

• Cut the meat into 1/2" cubes
• Coat in flour mixture with seasonings added. I'm big on using whatever is in the cupboard for stew, so I added salt, pepper, something called Grains of Paradise and another spice called Slap Yo Mama that I got from my friend James Wall, who has has judo clubs in Orlando, FL and Denham Springs, LA
• Coat a pan with olive oil and brown the meat over medium heat
• Chop vegetables
• Put all of the ingredients except rice in a stew pot over high heat, including the rest of the flour mixture . Heat to boiling.
• Once it's boiling, add the rice.
• Cover and cook about 20 minutes. By then, all of the rice and vegetables should be soft.

It tastes amazing.

You're welcome.



 When I'm not giving recipe tips, I make awesome video games that teach math and history and are fun to play. You should check them out. Some of them are even free. Whether you have a Mac, Windows, iPad or android, we've got you covered.

How Facebook Can Be Good for You

Supposedly, social media is making us all into self-absorbed depressed dirt bags. 

While trying to paint the most beautiful possible picture of our lives we simultaneously are depressed because everyone else seems to have this picture perfect life.

This may be the case for young people but for me it's rather the opposite. Facebook has been a great influence in getting me to chill.

Can you believe we've been married 20 years?

Unlike some of my friends, who seem to live there, I drop into Facebook maybe a few minutes a day, if that. As a consequence, I don't have a huge number of Facebook friends, and about every week I get a friend request from someone I haven't seen in 10, 20 or 30 years.

So, I see that kid who cried his heart out over losing a match at the junior nationals is now graduated from college, working as an engineer and about to be a father for the first time.

That kid in college who didn't seem to have any direction and struggled to study enough to graduate now has a good job, a mortgage and a wife.

People who I did not know were gay have now been married to someone of the same sex for years.

People change jobs, change spouses, change countries, change genders.

All of my friends, competitors and teammates from when I was young and one of the top athletes in the world are now like me, older, slower, greyer. No matter how much everyone drooled over him or her as a teenager, they are all old enough to be to be the grandparent of teenagers.

My point is that, good or bad, things don't stay the same, and you can't always predict who is on their way up and who is going down. Most of the "cool kids" seemed to turn out pretty middle of the road.

Overall, almost everyone I know has had it pretty good, whether they realize it or not. We all live in developed countries, safe from war, hunger. We all have friends, almost all have family, hobbies.

So, for me, anyway, Facebook is a good reminder to chill. It gives a condensed time line of people's lives and reminds me that whatever I am stressing about today I probably won't even remember 10 years from now.

P.S. Our Kickstarter campaign was successful and if you backed us, thank you very, very much.


 When I'm not ranting about life, I make awesome video games that teach math and history and are fun to play. You should check them out. Some of them are even free. Whether you have a Mac, Windows, iPad or android, we've got you covered.