tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21921865419550381722024-03-12T00:48:56.996-07:00The Business/Judo of LifeDr. De Mars blog on having achieved success in business, sports and academics without ever actually having grown up. Also includes random thoughts on judo, parenting,mixed martial arts, winning & whatever I feel like rambling on about today.Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.comBlogger955125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-76739468467200974132022-03-15T21:41:00.003-07:002022-03-15T21:41:18.822-07:00If your child really is talented, save your energy<p style="text-align: left;"> I almost never post here any more because <a href="https://www.growingmath.org/">I've been crazy busy, running the Growing Math Project</a> but today I was answering an email from a parent of a talented little athlete and I thought my ideas might be of interest to other parents and coaches as well.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Dear Parent, </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From loads of experience seeing many, many kids - she is nine years old and kids pick up on what their parents think is good, right up until they become teenagers and think you are out to ruin their lives. Most likely, your child is working hard at their sport because she believes you value it.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used to think it was a negative to start early but I started in my very unscientific survey asking people I ran into who were world or Olympic gold or silver medalists and there was zero correlation with how young they started from age 3- 12. Very, very few started after 14 but I ran into people who started at 3, 5, 7, 11, 12 - there didn't seem to be any advantage or disadvantage in starting earlier. </span></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">My 7- or 8- or 9-year-old child is an extremely talented judo player / martial artist. What should I do?</h1><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">My 5 pieces of advice</h3><div><br /></div><div>1. Kids can burn out and parents can, too. Save your time and money for when she really needs to travel for competitions and training. I would not be driving an hour away for a child at 9. Save your energy because if she is really good, by the time she is 14, you want to have some left. When Ronda was 14-16 I was taking her to 9 practices a week, and that was on top of her going to school and me working and having 3 other kids. </div><div><br /></div><div>2. For a child from 9-12, if they can stay in good condition doing anything, they will be ahead of the game at 13-14 because most kids aren't in very good shape. Ronda was a swimmer from age 5-10 and then decided she didn't want to do it any more and started judo. Julia (my youngest) was in judo from age 4-11 and switched to soccer. Whatever she likes to do that is good exercise, do that, whether it is running in the park, swimming, playing soccer. Put her in a sport that involves running or swimming. It doesn't matter whether it is gymnastics or basketball or water polo.</div><div><br /></div><div>3. Make practice fun, even the boring parts. Ronda hated running and you need to have good conditioning for judo. She did not mind conditioning drills in judo where you sprint between partners and throw them, so we did more of that. We did a lot of games like tug of war, that make you work hard and build the grip and muscles you need for judo but are still fun. </div><div><br /></div><div>4. When you go to training camps, seminars or tournaments, make sure there is fun afterwards - team dinners, going to the aquarium or amusement parks - something your child likes to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>5. A very wise coach once said, "You can buy your child skills but you can't buy them talent." Driving your child two hours round-trip to practice at the best gym in town might give them more skills than the other child has, but it won't make them more talented. Judo is not gymnastics. They aren't going to peak at 13. If you and your child like that club and you have the time, and it doesn't take you away from your spouse, other children and things you want to do, go for it. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, your daughter may decide she'd rather switch to cross-country or soccer or ballet, or she may stick with judo / BJJ/ MMA to become a world champion. Either way, she'll have had a healthy, happy childhood and you won't be overly stressed. What more could one ask?</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div></div>Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-46654146553374620212021-03-07T16:41:00.003-08:002021-03-07T16:42:20.032-08:00What makes a good guest instructor?<p> We'll be starting Gompers Judo practices up again in the fall when school is back in session. My plan for the first few weeks is getting some conditioning done, falls and basic matwork. After that, we'll be having invited guest instructors come in hopefully weekly.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSFGzaPu-0wTqkjJEASFYbuIAm5fBQIUV5B2cjdmEdi_K-THWFb3XU3YTQ2pkHURbrAzDA0KjL4Vaw_RG32A6_1e45KiguK4TC_Vv1N8Zq9ktYJ7U0qksq3AK5v8r2XU2RhzLqpL88n6J/s817/kosoto2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="817" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSFGzaPu-0wTqkjJEASFYbuIAm5fBQIUV5B2cjdmEdi_K-THWFb3XU3YTQ2pkHURbrAzDA0KjL4Vaw_RG32A6_1e45KiguK4TC_Vv1N8Zq9ktYJ7U0qksq3AK5v8r2XU2RhzLqpL88n6J/s320/kosoto2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">There are three reasons for guest instructors:</h2><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I travel a lot and cannot commit to more than one day per week past the first few weeks of the semester. <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/" target="_blank">My day job is making educational games</a> and, as you can imagine, remote learning has made our business skyrocket. Also why I have not been blogging lately.</li><li>I don't know everything. Yes, I am sure that shocks you. I'm very good at matwork. However, my knees are shot and I am old and slower than I used to be. It is great to have a young person come in to teach left uchi mata or tai otoshi. Also, I am terrible at foot sweeps.</li><li>It's good for students to have multiple role models and connections. Maybe this is the person who will give them advice on going into the military or pursuing a career in engineering.</li></ol><h3 style="text-align: left;">So, what makes a good guest instructor?</h3><p>First of all, you need to know some judo. Even that is not 100% required. If you were excellent at conditioning, I might invite you a time or two. At a minimum, you'd need to know something that would help kids in judo. </p><p>However, you definitely don't need to be a world champion. These will be students who have had from four weeks to maybe two years of judo. They need to learn o soto gari and kami shiho gatame. </p><p>Secondly, you need to be a good teacher. Our Gompers Judo students tend to be very well-behaved and polite. That doesn't mean we are going to make them sit there and listen to someone deathly boring after they have sat in class for six hours. Even if you are extremely knowledgeable, you need to have an active class. After all, these are middle school kids. </p><p>This goes with being a good teacher, but you need to be respectful to our students. By that, I mean you can't swear at them, insult them, humiliate them, hit them or mistreat them in any way. You'd think I wouldn't have to say that but visiting other clubs tells me that I do. Having students who are slacking off or do push-ups, run or generally not tolerating less than good behavior is fine. Not being disrespectful doesn't mean your class runs wild. Again, you'd think I wouldn't have to say this but ...</p><p>Third, for our particular program, you need to be someone who is a good role model outside of judo. I have invited everyone from a project manager in aerospace to Los Angeles sheriff's officers to college students. You don't have to speak about your career but the students may ask you. For many students, judo is a chance to meet people outside of their neighborhood. Other judo programs have a lot more advantaged students and this is not an issue for them.</p><p>Fourth, again for our particular program, you need to be willing to teach for free or a very modest fee because we want to spend most of our money directly on the students, for water, after-school snacks, weekend judo camps. Again, other programs have more money and it is not an issue for them. Also, we are very fortunate that we are in an area where there are a lot of black belts in judo. If I was in say, the middle of Missouri or Montana, I might feel it was a lot to ask someone to drive 5 hours each way to teach at my program for free. In our case, though, a person could be driving across town and then having a beer with me afterward while they wait for traffic to die down, so it is not as unreasonable.<br /></p><p>So, if I call and ask you when I am putting the schedule together for this fall, please say, "Yes" and give me some dates you'd be available.</p><p>I have more random thoughts on this but I need to get back to work.</p><p>Here is <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/author/annmaria/" target="_blank">my company blog that has nothing to do with judo</a>. I write about making games, math and random stuff. <br /></p>Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-25458443279803937782020-06-28T20:51:00.002-07:002020-06-28T20:51:45.079-07:00The Biggest Mistake I Made as a Judo Player<h2>
The biggest mistake I made as a judo player was not a technical one ....</h2>
... and I did not realize I was making such a stupid mistake until I was in my fifties. For someone who has a reputation for being smart, that is a really long time to make the same mistake. Seriously, it is embarrassing to say this and I am writing this post to save some of you who might be making the same mistake now.<br />
<h3>
My biggest mistake may have led to a lot of my success, but I was wrong, in the end</h3>
So what was this, you might be wondering. It’s that I judged people simply based on how good they were at judo, how good of a competitor or how good of a coach. I never particularly cared if someone was a good referee, only if they were an honest one. My attitude about referees was “I will beat this person up and make you give me the win.”<br /><br />That’s a story for another day.<br /><br />Today’s story is about all the missed opportunities I had for getting to know amazing people better. <br /><br />When I was competing, my biggest priority in life was winning. If I met someone who was a judo player who was also a physician, an engineer, an army Ranger or the mother of ten children, I was solely interested in how they could help me get better at judo. Yes, I had a job and I did my best to learn whatever language I was supposed to be programming in at the moment, but once I left the office my only focus was on winning.<br /><br />You are studying how a new protein might reduce the prevalence of early onset Alzheimer’s ? That’s nice, can you help me improve my seoi nage? No? Next!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxU7B1KdWXCxgfODUd-qGsyYwxAusUBaNyAtheMawZZpQAIRYLF8qgIyp2VeZIyvxF_FqfHLCUCq6GTT4H737HypblEAbnMeo2dYxBg8UGIQJqJr2Q1uQym48IoT-O-E1eruDUm5rQweR2/s1600/judofriends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="507" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxU7B1KdWXCxgfODUd-qGsyYwxAusUBaNyAtheMawZZpQAIRYLF8qgIyp2VeZIyvxF_FqfHLCUCq6GTT4H737HypblEAbnMeo2dYxBg8UGIQJqJr2Q1uQym48IoT-O-E1eruDUm5rQweR2/s320/judofriends.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dawn and I were great friends</td></tr>
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If someone was a terrific judo player or coach, I spent as much time around them as possible so I could learn and improve. If they were just good or even so-so, I really didn’t spend much time with them because I was focused on winning.<br />
<br />
Dawn Beers and I were great friends, but would that have still been the case if she was not a talented judo player and a great training partner? Now, yes. Back then, I am embarrassed to say the answer is, "Probably not."<br /><br />Maybe that laser focus on winning helped me be best in the world. Probably it did.<br /><br />Then, I quit competing. <br /><br />When you have children, they need to be your number one priority. <br /><br />I thought about quitting when Maria, my oldest was born. I talked to my brother about it, who had children a little older than mine. He told me that if I quit at this point, I’d have to be almost inhuman to never, ever look at her and think ,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“If it wasn’t for you, I could have been world champion. I gave this up for YOU!”</blockquote>
<br />That’s a pretty big burden to put on a tiny human.<br /><br />Shortly after she was two, I won the world championships, retired from competition and went on to get a Ph.D. I had two more children, started a career as a professor, then founded a company, had another child (there were a couple of husbands in there, I still have one of them).. I would drop by the local judo club when I lived in Jamestown or do a clinic every once in a while. Except for few close friends, I never really talked to anyone from judo. <br />
<h2>
Then, my daughter, Ronda started judo</h2>
<br />I knew how to help her win. I took her to different clubs that I thought could help her, where they had good competitors or good coaches. I really did not pay that attention to anything any of them did outside of judo, not the other competitors, parents or coaches. I tried to organize events and raise money for activities that would benefit our local teams, and later our national teams, because that’s what you do when you are the parent of an athlete in a sport. Certainly the camps and trips that I helped organize and fund benefited everyone who participated, not just Ronda.<br /><br />Still, when I met people in judo, my focus was on how I could help her. You founded a company that made 9 jillion dollars? Good. Is your kid a really good athlete who can be Ronda’s training partner? No? He cries when he gets thrown but he’s super smart and got into MIT at 15. Really? That’s awesome. See ya around.<br /><br />
<h3>
You would think that I would have gotten smarter over the years, but not so much</h3>
It wasn’t that I had a big mid-life crisis epiphany at 50 but more that I was not really doing anything with judo that focused on winning so much. Ronda was off in a different direction and I was coaching some great kids at Gompers Middle School. When we managed to raise a few thousand dollars, I would not use it to send one kid on our European tour but rather to take a dozen kids on a road trip to practice in Nevada and Utah, hike in the mountains and see a rodeo. I got to know Jose Gonzalez well, who is still a green belt because he won’t learn kata but who has been the heart of the Gompers Judo program since day one. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSd_vOxX9Gb3q0qy2MPkbRax7XRMuuL02TIdqME59FEvgArB450_-EvoPjr7jE5ZIL6TtvU9pyK80v4IKVqY06kgkGDwwXKHyR16mP6GHARpJUVfXQB5Jbbv-WCpKCw7tZuZ8Jk1ur_zR_/s1600/gompers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1326" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSd_vOxX9Gb3q0qy2MPkbRax7XRMuuL02TIdqME59FEvgArB450_-EvoPjr7jE5ZIL6TtvU9pyK80v4IKVqY06kgkGDwwXKHyR16mP6GHARpJUVfXQB5Jbbv-WCpKCw7tZuZ8Jk1ur_zR_/s320/gompers1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching matwork at Gompers Judo's first gym</td></tr>
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<br />I met Brian Money, from <a href="https://www.riversideyouthjudoclub.com/">Riverside Police Youth Judo club</a>, speaking of heart, who also runs a special needs judo program. <br /><br />I got to know Roy Hash better, who is a real Captain America army Ranger with an amazing history.<br /><br />I heard Hal Sharp tell stories about how he talked his wife into marrying him, about being an accountant in post- World War II Japan.<br /><br />I got to hear Jerry Hays and Joe Ciokon’s stories about the navy and Hayward Nishioka’s philosophy on life.<br /><br />The list could go on and on. Sitting here, I am just shaking my head at all of the amazing people I met who I could have gotten to know better but didn’t because they weren’t ‘good enough at judo’.<br /><br />That’s not everybody, of course. Some of you aren’t all that good at judo and you’re stupid assholes to boot. I’m glad I don’t know you better. You know who you are.<br />
<h2>
Here’s what I should have done differently</h2>
In all those hours-long sessions where I sat around with other players or coaches and talked about nothing but judo, I should have turned to some of those people on the sidelines. I should have asked at some point,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“So, you have a life outside of practice, what is it?” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
“You’re studying orangutans in Madagascar? That sounds really cool. Tell me about it.”</blockquote>
<br />If I’d had those conversations, I would be a smarter person now, have more friends and know things like whether or not there are actually orangutans in Madagascar<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-7252146680327253262020-04-26T15:17:00.001-07:002020-04-26T15:17:36.739-07:00Starting Back Up Your Martial Arts Program TodayI've been thinking a lot about those gym owners and instructors who are wanting to re-open for many reasons, whether it is<br />
a. they miss their students,<br />
b. they miss training,<br />
c. they need the money,<br />
d. they want to get their team in shape for tournaments<br />
e. All of the above<br />
<br />
Here are some ideas you can try, TODAY, that I think comply with health requirements.<br />
<h2>
Family Conditioning</h2>
If most families are like mine, they have been getting a lot less exercise the past couple of months. Everyone - mom, dad, kids - could do with a little conditioning. <br />
<h3>
Invite 2-3 families, no more than 6 people </h3>
With one instructor, that will give you a group of no more than 7. Everyone should wear running shoes, comfortable clothes and bring a towel, blanket or yoga mat from home as well as their own water bottle. Schedule 30 minute sessions the first week or two then gradually increase to 45 minutes. If you do multiple sessions in a day, this gives the first group 15-30 minutes to be out of there before the next group comes.<br />
<h3>
Meet OUTSIDE. </h3>
I know some of you live in places where you have a farm or a big backyard so that might do. In Santa Monica, the city parks are open but they tend to be crowded in the evenings and on weekends - by this, I mean there are family groups every 20 feet or so. <br />
<h3>
Work out as a family </h3>
If necessary, put the kids in front so they are not embarrassing the parents by watching them. If you have small children, you may want them next to the parent. Make sure you have 6 feet between each family. Start with stretches, then simple exercises anyone can do - jogging in place, laying on their back doing bicycle kicks. The middle of your practice should be a little more difficult, something like <a href="https://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2011/05/im-glad-im-not-young-its-too-damn-much.html">circuits</a>.<br />
<h4>
Here is an example of a circuit. See below how to modify it</h4>
<ul>
<li>Step-ups (bench or steps) 20 reps (10 each leg)</li>
<li>Clap push-ups x 15</li>
<li>Squat thrust (or burpees) x 15 reps</li>
<li>Plyo Jump ups to bench x 10 reps (jumps which push off of both feet simultaneously from a squatting position) </li>
<li>Bent knee sit ups x 25 reps</li>
</ul>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_A4zBxsEGpBSh_ijepSv6R0EnOKWS9zqjROQAhD8JqmsDbnD4zh_yfTun7pmUp6ygyKTennlZ7o9bevEg4dYDqunMUC4c3b6nEd5BJamh1iOcFCJFwP-Vlz7GUrFq5_9070ifRv8frodG/s320/plyojumpnoweight.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_A4zBxsEGpBSh_ijepSv6R0EnOKWS9zqjROQAhD8JqmsDbnD4zh_yfTun7pmUp6ygyKTennlZ7o9bevEg4dYDqunMUC4c3b6nEd5BJamh1iOcFCJFwP-Vlz7GUrFq5_9070ifRv8frodG/s320/plyojumpnoweight.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a plyo jump</td></tr>
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<br />
You can see above that Julia and Ronda are just using a wall at the park. This was before we were quarantined, but also, if you have people from the same household you don't need to maintain the 6 feet distance.<br />
<br />
You can also use a bench. If your park doesn't have any walls or benches or you are in your backyard, steps work perfectly fine, too. If you have some 2-inch think boards and nails around you can even make a box for jumping. Even I have done that and I have the handicraft skills of a squirrel.<br />
<br />
Even though you might think a milk crate would work fine for young children, I would not recommend it because although it will hold their weight, if they end up jumping on the edge instead of in the middle - a fair possibility with little kids - it may tip over and they'll fall backward.<br />
<br />
Once you have finished a circuit, everyone rests for two minutes and you do it again. Do three circuits and then do some stretches to cool down.<br />
<h4>
Modifying circuits</h4>
For more serious players, have them bring their own dumbbells and do the step ups and jumps holding 5-15 lb dumbbells in each hand. For people who are just getting into shape they can do regular push-up instead of the clap push-ups. Also, they can't do all three circuits or all of the reps, that's fine.<br />
<h4>
Modify workouts to suit each group</h4>
This is a workout I would do to start but you know your club / gym better than I do. Modify the exercises to suit your families.<br />
<h2>
Don't I know that martial arts are contact sports?</h2>
Yes, yes I do. I also know that people often lose, get injured or make mistakes because they are out of shape and got winded or tired. Do your students a favor by helping them get gradually back into shape.<br />
<h3>
Why do this as a family?</h3>
There are several reasons to include whole families. First of all, everyone needs to get out of the house. Secondly, the distance requirements are between households because the reasonable assumption is that if someone lives with you, they probably already infected you if they are ill. Third, most martial arts programs are social. People know each other's kids, spouses. It gives them a chance to socialize and see each other.<br />
<br />
As a parent and coach, I feel very strongly that parents often devote their time to their children and don't take care of themselves enough. Working out as a family helps the parents as well as the children. Exercise is good for you. Since the parents are probably driving their children to wherever you are anyway, they may as well be part of it. <br />
<br />
Stress as heavily as you possibly can, this is NOT a competition. This is like when college or pro teams get back together pre-season. You are starting to get back into shape so you can get back on the mat, back to your pre-quarantine gym sessions or whatever.<br />
<h3>
Sign people up for a month of "semi-personal training"</h3>
If it were me, I would sign up groups for a month or so. Ten sessions with your family. If they do 2 sessions a week for 5 weeks, they will notice a difference.<br />
<br />
I have a lot more ideas including for athlete conditioning, but I really have to get back to work.<br />
<h2>
My Day Job</h2>
<a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/free-2020/">Learning at home? Get free games and apps to teach math, social studies, Spanish and English for students in grades 3- 8.</a><br />
<br />
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-38880619747714766802019-11-29T15:58:00.001-08:002019-12-02T11:17:48.786-08:00My Life: Not on Instagram<h2>
I lead the opposite of an Instagram life. </h2>
<br />
That’s not to say it’s boring because it’s not. So far this year, I’ve been in five countries, nine states and I’ve lost track of the number of cities. I’m also not opposed to Instagram. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/annmaria7gen/">I do have an account and I post on it most days</a>. No, what I mean is that while most people are posting things to make their life look more interesting than it is, I often forget or don’t have time to post because I’m too busy doing interesting things.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Been so many places, I couldn't remember where this was at first. <br />
California, in the mountains.</td></tr>
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<h3>
Where I’ve been lately</h3>
Since the last blog post, a dozen of us from Gompers Judo attended Judo Con - which was GREAT. There were judo instructors and coaches from all over the country learning everything from teaching judo to children with special needs to jump roping for conditioning in martial arts to character development in youth sports. Every one of the presenters was my favorite.<br />
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I’ve gotten back to teaching at Gompers regularly. Thanks a million for the judo gi donations. It’s hard to believe that Gompers Judo has been in existence ten years now. We've had gis donated a couple of times previously but over a decade, things wear out.<br />
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It’s looking like Judo Con will be on the East Coast next year so next on my agenda is raising money for a dozen plane tickets to get some kids there.<br />
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I’ve also gone to Washington, D.C. twice because <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/7-generation-games-president-annmaria-de-mars-named-aarp-purpose-prize-fellow/">I was selected as an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow</a> - which was also amazing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidb2Qod6EO8ACS1jLhgi7I-1gej0hbbkgA0lvsZQf3Prl-Fu5X_bZSQeqnRPWkDTwgq5CFAI241zjjHQpJ2a-YZECsDbKojlFGqvC6MYDXOH2qzZ2eT2xpcxf-QnToAa_GQ71HjKVaep-v/s1600/IMG_5190.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="149" data-original-width="450" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidb2Qod6EO8ACS1jLhgi7I-1gej0hbbkgA0lvsZQf3Prl-Fu5X_bZSQeqnRPWkDTwgq5CFAI241zjjHQpJ2a-YZECsDbKojlFGqvC6MYDXOH2qzZ2eT2xpcxf-QnToAa_GQ71HjKVaep-v/s320/IMG_5190.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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It is for people who have led a “purpose driven life” and have a noteworthy “second act”. Many award winners founded charities, like <a href="https://www.pinkfund.org/">The Pink Fund</a> which pays the non-medical bills for women who have cancer (what do you do if you can’t work for 3 months?) , <a href="http://startingrightnow.org/">Starting Right Now</a> which provides homes, counseling and academic support for homeless youth. I founded <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/products-3/">7 Generation Games</a>, which is not a charity but has helped 20,000 kids get better at math and English.<br />
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Along with that, I’ve been a speaker at the South Dakota Indian Education Association conference, National Indian Education Association Conference ...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minneapolis: National Indian Education Association</td></tr>
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Language and Learning Conference in Merritt, British Columbia, where I also had the opportunity to attend a joint workout of the <a href="https://nicolavalleymuaythai.ca/">Nicola Valley Muay Thai</a> , then head to Vancouver to participate in a self-defense workshop offered by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ProtectOurPeopleCA/">Protect Our People</a>. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUBdWnucujy6oHeeU_YOoO8ZuLZhJDYxHKM2Xo3QefINCR_LPAoFvsRY1x_vplmteDGm82TP84rSIn92M-SJwLIM0CG1J_uyrlRdsohspScNKMHc9fSqPl7C7feHGd7S_q59odWukcCI1/s1600/IMG_2084.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="450" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUBdWnucujy6oHeeU_YOoO8ZuLZhJDYxHKM2Xo3QefINCR_LPAoFvsRY1x_vplmteDGm82TP84rSIn92M-SJwLIM0CG1J_uyrlRdsohspScNKMHc9fSqPl7C7feHGd7S_q59odWukcCI1/s320/IMG_2084.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
I put up another <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/podcast/freestyle-judo-author-steve-scott/">More Than Ordinary podcast, this one with author, long-time judo coach and budding YouTube celebrity, Steve Scott</a>. <br />
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So, I have literally been coast to coast, from Boston, where I had a couple of meetings on our new Crossroads games and also got to see Julia play in her final season of soccer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmYifIJ7Cq01reF9_rx4CUxZDwGwyMCCkW63LY2MW87y_XFzNLWkY3Krt3FYdOAF1_LqrbI2PEmEepqck1w3MTw9yD4PLDGZbv0bN-jn1_WgKHoFPaMPRXkF8aoiueNI-7WjewD_gRK5P/s1600/IMG_1835.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="600" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmYifIJ7Cq01reF9_rx4CUxZDwGwyMCCkW63LY2MW87y_XFzNLWkY3Krt3FYdOAF1_LqrbI2PEmEepqck1w3MTw9yD4PLDGZbv0bN-jn1_WgKHoFPaMPRXkF8aoiueNI-7WjewD_gRK5P/s320/IMG_1835.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<h3>
In case you haven’t been keeping up ...</h3>
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This spring I was in Melbourne, Australia for a week and I started out the beginning of the year in Santiago, Chile.<br />
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There have also been a couple of short trips to Mexico. <br />
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Oh, and I did a month-long road trip with my husband. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Driving through South Dakota</b></td></tr>
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<h2>
Two big things I learned this year</h2>
<h3>
Just say, “Yes”. </h3>
From going to Melbourne to the Nicola Valley to teaching summer school at Spirit Lake, I did a lot of things this year that were only tangentially related to what could be considered our "core business" at 7 Generation Games. I did not regret a single one of them.<br />
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I've learned that life is far less predictable than we'd like to believe. I often think back to the fact that my husband died when he was seven years younger than I am now. I absolutely guarantee you that if you went back to any of the teachers I had in junior high and high school and told them I was doing life in prison now none of them would be surprised. But I'm not. Not yet, anyway.<br />
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This isn't to say that you should spend your days lying on the beach or scrolling through Twitter on your phone because, "Life is unpredictable, why bother?"<br />
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What I mean is that you should not get so laser focused that you lose sight of opportunities that might not come again. That's why I went to Chile, why I started 7 Generation Games, why I do a lot of things.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Some people worry about dying without a full bank account. I think a bigger worry should be about dying full of regrets. </i></b></div>
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<h3>
NOTHING is more important than associating with good people. Nothing. </h3>
Explaining one of her business decisions, Carly Fiorina said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
"Once you sell your soul, no one can buy it back for you."</blockquote>
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People make this mistake in judo, in other martial arts or sports and in business. Because someone has money to invest or donate, is good at a sport, is a successful coach, their character flaws are overlooked. Sure, I wouldn't trust Bob alone with my teenage daughter or my wallet, yes he is physically abusive to athletes and overly controlling but look at ....<br />
<h4>
I'm not looking at jack shit.</h4>
If Bob isn't a good person, if he isn't honest, trustworthy, brave - cut him out of your life. This lesson took me too long to learn and I am never, never going to forget it. I don't care if Bob's judo is so great he could defeat the entire U.S. Marine Corps single-handed. It doesn't matter how much money Bob has. Please don't make me vomit by asking me to think of how much good could be done for the athletes/ children/ investors with Bob's money.<br />
<h4>
Good people attract other good people. Bad people repel them.</h4>
If I know Bob is a lying, cheating douchebag and I see you hanging out with Bob, I'm less likely to have anything to do with you. If I don't know you from a hole in the wall and I see you with Bob and your cousin over there is hanging out with Sally B. Goode, I'm going to go see what Sally and your cousin are up to. Even if I DO know you, if I know that Sally is always doing something to help people, save the whales or find a solution to world hunger, I'm STILL going to go check out what Sally and Cousin Lou are up to.<br />
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When I started my first company, many years ago, I reached out to Bruce Toups for advice. I was still a young puppy and he was a successful businessman. He told me,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<i>"Hire for character first. Everything else is secondary."</i></blockquote>
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Apply that to everyone around you, not just hiring. It will improve your life.<br />
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-71252213732024058482019-09-10T18:31:00.001-07:002019-09-10T18:31:50.588-07:00Being Hyper-competitive is a mixed blessing<h2>
Few things are an unmixed blessing.</h2>
I’m a hyper-competitive person. That has helped me in many ways my whole life but it’s also cost me in ways I am just now coming to realize. I have beaten a lot of people who had superior technical skills because I trained harder and was willing to put up with more pain both in practice and in a match. <br /><br />After seeing a demonstration at a clinic of a technique that the coach said,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“This will be so painful, your opponent will turn over to avoid it,”</blockquote>
<br />I went up to him and said, <br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I’m sure that will work with a lot of people. For me, and for the people who really want to win, they won’t move to a position that’s a disadvantage for them. They’ll endure it and make you pay for it later. Those are the people you really need to figure out a way to beat.”</blockquote>
<h3>
Being hyper-competitive has helped me in business, too.</h3>
I learned from sports that you don’t win long-term by cheating but rather by working harder and learning more than the competition. I’ve applied that to my career as well. That’s one reason I have four degrees. I always find time to learn new programming languages, new technologies, read up on the latest marketing trends, even if it’s only a few hours a week. I put in my hours on the job, travel more miles than our competition. My former teammates from judo know this because I only see them every year or so.<br />
<h4>
What could possibly be wrong with being hyper-competitive?</h4>
It took me a long time to learn this - if you are hyper-competitive, you look at almost everyone and everything through the lens of "Will this help me win or not?"<br />
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I have far fewer friends in judo than most people who have been in the sport for almost 50 years. Whether it was for a spot on a team or as a member of a board promoting policies that I really believed would help grow the sport, I looked at most people as competitors or “team mates”. Competitors keep you from winning and team mates help you win. I never had a single friend who was in my division. There was one gold medal and I wanted it.<br /><br />Now, there is nothing wrong with looking at a person as someone who helps you win, since it can go both ways. It’s the same as looking at someone as a customer. I get their money but they get software that helps them or their children learn and do better in school. They don’t have to fight about doing homework to learn fractions. The same with a team mate. I get a good work out, the other person gets a good work out and we both leave the gym better.<br /><br />The point I missed is that I ONLY looked at most people as helping me win or keeping me from winning. If I met someone who knew a lot about teaching counters or organizing a tournament I tried to learn everything possible that would help me win. To be fair, I would make sure they got paid or show up at their next event or whatever I could do to pay them back. Hyper-competitive doesn’t mean you have to be a selfish jerk. <br /><br />What I realized, sometimes years later, was that a lot of those people had qualities and life histories that were far more fascinating than just judo or business. Some of them had careers in special forces in the military (hello, Roy Hash) or had been doing stunts for decades (Gene Lebell) or where working in civil rights law (Karen Mackey). <br /><br />I think it might be necessary when you are competing to only focus on winning if you really want to be number one. Some people are there for the experience and that is fine, but that was not me.<br />
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<h4>
Confession: </h4>
<h4>
That line about “In the Olympics, the important thing is not to win but taking part” <br /><br />I never believed that for a minute. </h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s1600/redline.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="14" data-original-width="576" height="7" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s320/redline.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed almost every minute of judo practice. I even liked the cross-training in running and weightlifting - except sprints. I hated sprints and I hated getting up in the morning to run them twice as much because morning was involved. Still, the important thing to me was winning.<br /><br />When I was done competing, I had put so many other things on hold, I just switched from competing in judo to competing in my doctoral program, in my career.<br /><br />If I hadn’t been so busy trying to be the smartest person in the room with the most degrees, most publications and highest salary, I probably would have made more friends in graduate school and early in my career, too. <br /><br />Gradually, eventually, I learned that not everything was a competition. This may seem like I am a slow learner but I am writing this because I know plenty of people who are still competing every minute and need to hear this. They’re trying to be the one with the most money, most awards and frankly, it’s just silly.<br /><br />You can have friends who are not fans or potential customers. They can just be interesting people who know things you don’t or who make you laugh until you fall out of your chair or who help the community in ways you admire . <br />
<h3>
People can be customers or colleagues and still have interesting lives outside of your business.</h3>
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I was going to go swimming in the hotel pool instead of walking in the game preserve because we all know that swimming is the best exercise.<br />
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I still work really hard. Recently, I’d been working so much that I
forgot not what day or month it was but what season it was. I was
driving through North Dakota and I thought, “That corn is really high
for this time of year.” <br /><br />That’s when I realized that it was not late spring but early summer.<br />
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Going from a world championship run to a Ph.D. and starting businesses is kind a logical progression because if you don't know, academia is SUPER-competitive, especially the kind of grant-funded work I do. Getting investor funds is a real marathon.<br />
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Here is something I learned, as my grandmother would say, "más tarde que nunca" or "better late than never".<br />
<h2>
Competition can be an important thing in your life without being the ONLY thing</h2>
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<br />
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<br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-44055900926186583092019-08-12T21:55:00.004-07:002019-08-12T21:55:41.442-07:00I may not be at judo today, but I haven't forgotten the lessons I learnedI said<a href="http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/07/mean-people-one-third-of-reason-im-not.html"> over a month ago that there were three reasons that I am not as involved in judo </a>as I once was and it is very fitting that it's taken me this long to get around to the third one.<br />
<br />
There are people in judo I really think the world of their knowledge not just of sports but of life. Yet, despite the best of intentions to make it to judo practice or to tournaments, it seldom happens.<br />
<h2>
I haven't been doing much judo lately because I've being doing other things</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLgyx2VTG6aLtMgT-gcX_RUeo2cnTG4GGdilTIJeEUK4UN2NHw9JcCFm-sYJsetk4hkWphrgzoSH_pUI5z21-QLf8YvDaU4sgjsDooVHDkbhueXMxaoXxns3bAgr7RGOcC0BZV8xHREQ5/s1600/microphone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLgyx2VTG6aLtMgT-gcX_RUeo2cnTG4GGdilTIJeEUK4UN2NHw9JcCFm-sYJsetk4hkWphrgzoSH_pUI5z21-QLf8YvDaU4sgjsDooVHDkbhueXMxaoXxns3bAgr7RGOcC0BZV8xHREQ5/s320/microphone.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it? Often, when someone disappears from our judo, jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts or other club we wonder what we did wrong, how we could have kept that student. Sometimes, we look at it as a failure on that student's part. If they only had more discipline, were more motivated to be in good physical condition, they'd still be coming to practice.<br />
<br />
Over the years, I've seen a good number of students get into ivy league universities, medical school, dental school or clinical psychology graduate programs. Some students went out and started their own businesses.<br />
<br />
If it wasn't for Facebook, I wouldn't ever see or hear of them again, and vice versa.<br />
<br />
As for me, I haven't been at judo because I've been making games and building a company. In the past couple of years, I have been in Chile, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago and Belize, for research and for marketing. I've been in so many states I've lost track. <br />
<h2>
Just because your team is out of sight, doesn't mean you're out of mind</h2>
I can't speak for all of those former students, but purely for myself and my children, I would say experiences at judo have been super impactful on my life. <br />
<h3>
One thing I learned from judo is that failure is never permanent and neither is success.</h3>
Our company has had a lot of successes, gotten a fair amount of funding and <a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/products/">produced twelve games (check them out, they are educational and cool</a>) .<br />
<br />
We've had a good month overall, but today I learned that we hadn't gotten two proposals funded. I've never gotten turned down twice in the same day before, and this comes on the tail of having lost out on a contract last month.<br />
<br />
Why am I telling you this? Don't I want you to think I am totally amazing all the time so you will invest in my company or download our games to make you smarter?<br />
<br />
I'm telling you because that's another thing I learned from judo.<br />
<h3>
You never grow by being the big fish in a small pond</h3>
When I was a kid, I won almost all the tournaments all the time. I was the toughest green belt girl in the Midwest. Then, I went to the senior nationals for the first time and lost. I came in third. I went to the collegiate nationals for the first time and came in second. Soon, I was winning the nationals, so I went to Europe - and lost and came in third in the British Open and Tournoi d'Orleans. Soon (although it never seemed soon enough), I was winning tournaments in Europe, Asia and South America. <br />
<br />
There are people who I'm sure had more talent than me, but they stayed in that comfort zone and they are still undefeated in Duluth, Minnesota.<br />
<br />
The contracts we missed out on were bigger, more of a risk for us. We came close, though. Although Maria pointed out today that close doesn't pay the bills, I did learn from judo that if you are close and you keep working, you'll get there.<br />
<h3>
I may not be at judo today, but I haven't forgotten the lessons I learned</h3>
<h3>
<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/donate-our-games/">Like kids? Sponsor a kid, a classroom or a whole school,</a> starting at under $2 (for Making Camp Bilingual for one student) to $500 for all of our games for a whole school - because we match your gift 50 cents for every dollar.</h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxNt3EtiehO1fhqrncOlrA_La2jAxczRIFtOWHhiqHphiCrFHQuvM72zcdQY8vK6e4D_PM6xwLn6V5xFOGCczvKh0dfsezCttdsB9KxL-njdqEQAVsDOqaiTYTta8OFcB2zLX-SnfYq0C/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-05-07+at+2.21.58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1182" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxNt3EtiehO1fhqrncOlrA_La2jAxczRIFtOWHhiqHphiCrFHQuvM72zcdQY8vK6e4D_PM6xwLn6V5xFOGCczvKh0dfsezCttdsB9KxL-njdqEQAVsDOqaiTYTta8OFcB2zLX-SnfYq0C/s640/Screen+Shot+2019-05-07+at+2.21.58+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/donate-our-games/">Give back to school with 7 Generation Games</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<br /></h3>
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-10515325449839864332019-07-21T21:58:00.001-07:002019-07-21T22:00:00.305-07:00Let the young people run judoI said there were <a href="http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/07/mean-people-one-third-of-reason-im-not.html">three reasons I am not involved in judo as much as I used to be</a> - and here is the second one ...<br />
<h2>
We need to let young people run judo</h2>
First of all, I can't do nearly as much as I did 30 years ago. I have nowhere near the strength or speed. Yes, I have plenty of knowledge, but, especially for a lot of throwing techniques, you need SPEED to show how it should really be. You need to be able to BEND to get low enough to show how a throw should be done. I cannot do that nearly to the extent I did when I was young and neither can any of those other older instructors - they just don't admit it.<br />
<br />
Years ago, I went to Valley Judo to watch a practice. Sus Kono is the head instructor there. He had Ross Nakamura, who was probably 16 years old, run the warm-ups. Then, he had Jason Uno, who was in his twenties or so, teach seoi nage. Then he had Ross give his take on seoi nage. Giorgio Gazzani, who was around 18, ran the randori session.<br />
<br />
At the end of the practice, I said to Sus,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"That was great, but some time, I want to come back and see you teach."</blockquote>
He smiled and said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"You just did."</blockquote>
Valley Judo Institute has grown amazingly since that day and I am not surprised.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7cMtk0bT0fWm8zGjs3L_XgLZPUC4P7klZidqfDgTebaERsyh_1hjtlAhYvX2vKusgVEuOPA7PahTDut9571Fl7_w2Px79Qh8WB-r6l_TmsuMnFowmIJvW8GeiOhqbIv3Z-L_D3qcYOQ_/s1600/rondateach-300x266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7cMtk0bT0fWm8zGjs3L_XgLZPUC4P7klZidqfDgTebaERsyh_1hjtlAhYvX2vKusgVEuOPA7PahTDut9571Fl7_w2Px79Qh8WB-r6l_TmsuMnFowmIJvW8GeiOhqbIv3Z-L_D3qcYOQ_/s1600/rondateach-300x266.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2>
We need to put younger people in front of the room</h2>
It always seems such a waste to me when I go to a club where I see six or eight young black belts and one (old) person is doing all of the teaching. How are these young people ever going to learn to run a practice, teach a class if we don't let them?<br />
<br />
When we put together the instructors for <a href="https://wallmartialarts.com/news-updates/judocon-2019-registration/">Judo Con</a>, we made a deliberate effort to have most of the sessions led by people under age 50. In part it is to give them practice in being leaders. Also, though, it's because I, and the other people who put this event together, really want to see and hear different ideas.<br />
<br />
There's an old saying that,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. </blockquote>
<br />
I'm not saying an old dog can't learn new tricks, but heck, all the young dogs HAVE is new tricks (new to them, anyway).<br />
<br />
People my age had our chance at running the judo organizations, running judo programs. Eventually, we should step aside and let the younger people give it a shot. Maybe they'll do a better job than us. I hope they do.<br />
<br />
Think about this now, the people who say,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm going to do judo until I die." </blockquote>
<br />
To whose benefit? I didn't quit judo. I just agreed to start teaching again, once a week, in the fall. I'm not saying you have to bury your judo gi in the back yard. However, there is that whole mutual benefit and welfare thing. Maybe it is to the mutual benefit if you step back and let other people step forward. You had your turn.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Let the younger people give it a shot.</h2>
<br />
Maybe at first they won't be as good as you. They'll learn. Eventually, hopefully they'll be better.<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Check out <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aztech-meet-the-mayas/id1266461721">AzTech: Meet the Maya for your iPad</a> .</h3>
<h4>
Learn math, history and English</h4>
<h4>
or play in Spanish!</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUxxI4cCcq7hKx9eS64hXsn0E_AMcJxRRtjc7RVYQQ_HobIIbowiW0k9Yuk2sDzCsrVGzcV8am7nnHzGcXPoUpu0VJ5dSkuZanJoehkHC0n3vNy-ohWHJ6XmX-JDyVKsGELZKcecsTURw/s1600/AZ_pyramid_mayancity.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="921" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUxxI4cCcq7hKx9eS64hXsn0E_AMcJxRRtjc7RVYQQ_HobIIbowiW0k9Yuk2sDzCsrVGzcV8am7nnHzGcXPoUpu0VJ5dSkuZanJoehkHC0n3vNy-ohWHJ6XmX-JDyVKsGELZKcecsTURw/s320/AZ_pyramid_mayancity.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><i>This is my day job</i></b>Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-57854788669622755962019-07-06T13:15:00.002-07:002019-07-06T13:15:29.928-07:00Mean people: One-third of the reason I'm not around judo much any moreEvery now and then, I run into people from judo who say,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Hey, we never see you around any more? Why is that? What happened to you?"</blockquote>
<br />
I wrote this years ago for a project on the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, and our Country Manager for Strong Mind Studios, our company in Chile, came across it recently. (<a href="http://strongmindstudios.com/">If you read Spanish, check it out.</a>)<br />
<br />
Nothing happened to me. I do run a practice or a clinic now and then, but it is true I am not nearly involved as much as I used to be.<br />
<br />
There are actually three reasons I'm not around judo these days. One is that I choose to be more selective about the people I am around. My lovely daughter, Ronda, made this comment about earning quite a bit of money.<br />
<br />
There are really only two things money can buy you that really matter to me.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One is the freedom to choose how you spend your time and the other is the freedom to choose who you spend it with."</blockquote>
<br />
While money may expand that freedom, I think most of us have more of those freedoms than we take advantage of. I've decided to make better choices. The post below gives one of the three reasons I'm not around judo organizations in particular.<br />
<br />
By the way, if I haven't seen you lately, I may think that you, personally, are awesome. There are two other reasons I'm not around judo much lately, so, hopefully, I'll get a chance to post about those soon.<br />
<br /><h2>
How do you say, "Mean People Suck in Dakota?"</h2>
Native Americans are noted for their generosity. People give feasts, presents, time and attention to one another. Once you become a board member, you will be giving of your time and talents to the community. Good for you! That is why you were elected or appointed. There is a reason it is called public service. I am going to assume that you are doing a fine, even an outstanding job. Unfortunately, I have seen people like you get burned out and discouraged by mean people. You can learn what to do through experience, your own or other people’s. Try to learn through other people’s experience whenever you can. It is less painful.<br />
<br />
As a board member and consultant to boards, on and off reservations, I have had my experience with generosity, and with its opposite — meanness.<br />
Most of us think of the common definition of “mean” as small-minded or not treating people decently. There is an older, related definition, though — stingy or selfish. You will come to learn as board member that your children are correct. <br />
<h3>
Mean people really do suck.</h3>
<h2>
Avoid Mean People</h2>
For some people, no amount you give will ever be enough. For example, I had someone send me an email on Christmas — demanding an answer. His question wasn’t an emergency. He just wanted me to drop whatever I was doing on Christmas with my family and answer him because he wanted me to do it. What did I do? I made Christmas cookies with my daughters. (Well, actually they made them, but I ate them so that counts as a family activity, right?)<br />
<br />
This person will probably speak out against me at the next board meeting and say that I am unresponsive. That’s okay. If people you serve as a board member don’t believe you should be able to have any time to yourself, not even on Christmas, then those people lack generosity and are probably not the type of people you want to associate with.<br />
<br />
Other people demand 100% agreement. You can vote on the same side as them 99 times out of 100, but that 100th time, when you vote with the opposition, they are outraged and the next thing you know, they are trying to get you recalled.<br />
<h2>
Decisions about Mean People</h2>
Sometimes mean people can sound almost reasonable. (Imagine this said in the most whiny voice possible … )<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I called you because you are on the board. People like you are supposed to be providing a public service. If you did not want to help people out why did you run for the board instead of letting somebody who is really committed have that seat?”</blockquote>
<br />
Notice the person doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that it is 11 p.m. on Saturday night.<br />
<br />
You are on a board to serve your community but you don’t owe any one person or even the whole community your entire life. If this was a regular job, you would have holidays off, sick days and not be expected to work 24–7 . If you can, simply do the best you can and don’t give these people another thought. Turn off your cell phone after 10 p.m. and go back to baking Christmas cookies. Odds are, the majority of the people you serve appreciate your efforts and appreciate how generous you are with your time, and they, in return, are not overly selfish in their demands.<br />
<br />
If you are in an organization or on a board that consists of mostly mean people, consider quitting and going somewhere else. Maybe that sounds like quitting — well, it is quitting, I just used that word, didn’t I? In the book, “Business as a game” one of the best chapters has the title, “Never play with a stacked deck.”<br />
<br />
One way mean people take advantage of others is by playing on those very ethics, the generosity that motivates you to give of yourself, the perseverance that makes you unwilling to give up. If you find yourself the minority in a group of mean people, there is no win for you. They will keep demanding more and more from you than is reasonable to expect you to give. As Erich always says in his ethics courses, you can’t change other people, you can only change yourself.<br />
<br />
Walk away. Left behind you will be a whole group of takers, each trying to get the others to do more for ME, to please ME, to agree with ME. Can that group ever succeed? No.<br />
<br />
Does this mean that you are letting down people in the community who you could help? No, again. Someone with your willingness to give of yourself for the good of the community will be welcome many places. Find one of them and leave the mean people behind.<br />
<br />
When I gave a very frustrated young man this advice, he protested,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“But, Dr. De Mars, that way, won’t the mean people win? And won’t I lose?”</blockquote>
<br />
I asked him,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Do you really think so? What exactly do they win? What exactly do you lose?”<br />
</blockquote>
Think about it.<br />
<br />
<h4>
In case you were wondering, I was at Spirit Lake making Spirit Lake: The Game, where players learn how to solve multiplication, division and geometry through word problems set in the context of a stories based on the history and culture of the Dakota people. Save your tribe from attacks and a spreading epidemic by solving math problems while escaping rabid wolves and hunting buffalo.</h4>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<img class="el p q ek ab" height="206" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/600/0*a1kMZw2x8cMGIKqm.jpg" width="300" /></div>
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/spirit-lake/9nblggh1zkms?activetab=pivot:overviewtab">You can get it in the Windows store</a> for under ten bucks.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/spirit-lake-demo/9mz1j58bm6ks?activetab=pivot:overviewtab">You can download and play the demo version for free</a>.Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-36514866427948372152019-06-20T15:59:00.000-07:002019-06-20T15:59:19.615-07:00Getting ready for your first competitionsSomeone asked me on Instagram my advice on how to be ready for her first competition and since it is a good question, I thought I'd post my suggestions here.<br />
<h2>
Get in better physical condition</h2>
We're not talking the Olympics here and since you are just starting to compete, I'm going to assume that you could improve your conditioning a bit. In this, I find the old saying to be true:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The best is the enemy of the good. "</blockquote>
People say they can't work out because they can't get to a gym, don't have a partner, blah blah blah. Here is my suggestion for anyone who wants to be a little bit better. This is IN ADDITION TO GOING TO JUDO PRACTICE AS MANY DAYS A WEEK AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.<br />
<ol>
<li> Every morning, first thing when you get up, do 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups. If you can't do 10, just do as many as you can. Do it EVERY DAY. It will take you 30 seconds.</li>
<li>After a week, make it 12 push-ups and sit-ups. If you didn't start at 10, just add 1 to what you were doing.</li>
<li>Add 2 more every week until you get to 50, then just keep doing 50 every day. The point is to be stronger than you were, not the world push-up champion. You will find you get faster at doing them so eventually it will take you a couple of minutes to knock out your 50 push-ups.</li>
<li>Run. Get out and run around the block. If you live in the country, run to your mailbox or wherever is about a quarter mile. Do that every day for a week. Next week, do it twice without stopping. Keep increasing until you get to a mile. Now, do that every day and just try to get faster each time. Set a stopwatch when you take off and check it when you get back.</li>
<li>If you live somewhere it is not safe to run outside, do jumping jacks or jump rope for two minutes without stopping instead. Next week, make it four minutes. Keep it up until you are going for 10 minutes straight. Do that every day.</li>
</ol>
<h2>
The three reasons why I recommend this </h2>
First, a lot of people in this country can't do 15 push-ups, much less 50. Most people can't run a mile without stopping. If you have this level of conditioning, you are going to be more fit than most new, recreational players. If you lose, it won't be because your arms got tired or you were winded.<br />
<br />
Second, there are zero excuses not to do these exercises. You don't need a gym or any equipment. You don't need a ride anywhere. Because of that, if every day you get up and do them, you are telling yourself that you are serious about winning and improving.<br />
<br />
Third, setting a goal and accomplishing it will make you more confident. When you go out to compete, along with training in judo, which your opponent did as well, you have the added benefit of knowing that you actually went above and beyond. You'll know that you are stronger and in better condition than you were a few months ago. You'll have thought about this competition daily, when you didn't want to run or do those push-ups but you did anyway, so you'll be less freaked out when that day comes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaxti3Vip3z89pNHrCMX5FP-OoXfYl1FSWTiogW9rNgVKmUSn8ycvyCFw0Nim4WX31nHJoXcnbtEKIDYd-BP4vBAZ-2vAf1BTsAapHKqSsjVTSC3MQJqNUEj52LGe59y9OOIr8_TNhGeH/s1600/IMG_0972.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Independence Rock in Wyoming" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaxti3Vip3z89pNHrCMX5FP-OoXfYl1FSWTiogW9rNgVKmUSn8ycvyCFw0Nim4WX31nHJoXcnbtEKIDYd-BP4vBAZ-2vAf1BTsAapHKqSsjVTSC3MQJqNUEj52LGe59y9OOIr8_TNhGeH/s400/IMG_0972.jpeg" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2>
The way to get anywhere is to start</h2>
I'm in North Dakota right now. We drove almost 2,000 miles through several states to get here. Sure, it would have been faster if we drove and there may have been a more optimal time of year or a better route. The point is, we got here and the way we got here is that we left our house and just started driving. Eventually, we arrived.<br />
<br />
So .... start. Now.<br />
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Support my day job! <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aztech-meet-the-mayas/id1266461721">Buy AzTech: Meet the Maya. Have fun while learning math! Get it for your iPad for only $1.99</a></h3>
Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-72971595153519825762019-05-23T19:46:00.001-07:002019-05-23T19:46:43.128-07:00Is mall walking still lame if you do it in Australia?When I was young, I was training three times a day - judo, running and weightlifting. Occasionally, I would run indoors at the University of Minnesota field house around the baseball field. There weren’t many female athletes back then, so I got a lot of stares. Most days, though, I ran outdoors, below-zero weather or no.<br /><br />At the time, my parents were living in Illinois and in the winter they went mall-walking for exercise. An hour or two before the stores were open for business, while the employees were getting ready for the day, the doors would open for senior citizens and people with disabilities to walk through the mall, including the stores, to get their daily exercise. I was never going to be that lame. <br /><br />
<h2>
Today, I went mall-walking and it wasn’t even an accident. I planned it.</h2>
<br />
Oh, the humiliation of it all! <br /><br />If it returns a little coolness level at all, yesterday, I went to a wildlife sanctuary and fed wallabies and a pandemelon which is an animal I did not know existed until yesterday, and which spell-check refuses to recognize. I went yesterday because I knew today was supposed to be cold and rainy. I decided I could go to Phillips Island when it was warm and sunny and go walking in the mall today for exercise.<br />
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<br /><br />Speaking of which, I read a book by a European author who said, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
“Americans call walking hiking because it sounds so much cooler and more athletic. I am a hiker, now, I am no longer a walker!”</h4>
</blockquote>
<br />So, yeah, I actually went walking around the wildlife sanctuary and then the mall and today I am mall hiking.<br />
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<br /><br />My point, and I semi-have one, is that as we get older, the same type of exercise might not be appropriate. I have had my thumb and my knee replaced in the last decade. For those people who say, <br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
“I’m 80 years old and I still do judo.“</h4>
</blockquote>
<br />
Well, good for you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
I feel no need to pretend I’m 25 any more or that I don’t have a job that requires me to spend 8-10 hours a day at a desk.</h3>
<br />If I did judo today the way I did forty years ago, I would definitely break off several pieces of myself. I don’t get up and do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups first thing every morning. On an ambitious day, I might do 25 but I’m just as likely to say, “Oh, fuck it” and take a shower.<br /><br />(To be clear, I take showers on days I do push-ups and sit-ups, too. I’m not stinky. I just take them after.)<br /><br /><a href="https://judodaveroman.podbean.com/e/judo-chop-suey-podcast-ep-60-adult-beginners-dont-matter-in-judo/">I know Dave Roman just recorded a podcast on adult judo students</a>. His main point was that you need to treat them differently, and that is true.<br /><br />You need to treat yourself differently as you get older as well. Most of those people who are still on the mat past 60 are doing a lot of standing around and a little bit of teaching. I think that is perfectly okay. In fact, I think it could benefit judo a lot if more people let the younger black belts teach and went mall-walking instead, even if that is in Australia. That, however, is the topic of another post.<br />
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<h4>
<a href="https://www.7generationgames.com/math-the-universal-language-lakota/">Just so you know that my life is not completely boring, check out Math: The Universal Language Lakota - AR - an augmented reality app that teaches multiplication in Lakota and English. </a></h4>
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How many augmented reality apps can you play on your phone that can say that? Also, it's free. Check it out.<br />
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<br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-15527272986976652602019-05-06T21:24:00.000-07:002019-05-06T21:25:24.692-07:00Who pretends to hate successful people? (and why I seldom ask Ronda for anything)Credit where credit is due, I owe this epiphany to two people - comedian<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Make-This-Up-Lessons/dp/1543619037"> Kevin Hart, whose autobiography, I can't make this up</a>, I highly recommend , and two-time judo Olympian, Pat Burris. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZnr1OwWcAwe3GQdM1Umf8zNJDJVh6EK-8oQmgLOrOgUcudEErzOGsh91zdwDdlTro08Nar8w6TSByBttEpXMR1_0HN4kS5vrL5ORAV2RDbZE8_kdnQrVhNZdZXK-PTAUQ7j3zAg2RuCy/s1600/annmaria1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="AnnMaria in judo gi" border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZnr1OwWcAwe3GQdM1Umf8zNJDJVh6EK-8oQmgLOrOgUcudEErzOGsh91zdwDdlTro08Nar8w6TSByBttEpXMR1_0HN4kS5vrL5ORAV2RDbZE8_kdnQrVhNZdZXK-PTAUQ7j3zAg2RuCy/s1600/annmaria1.jpg" title="" /></a></div>
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I was a teenager and had just won the U.S. Open. It was the second time I had made it to the finals and my first gold medal at an international event. I'd also won the junior nationals, senior nationals and collegiate nationals that same year. It was a good year.<br />
<br />
Pat said to me,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
"About now, people you have never met are going to start trying to pick fights with you and you are going to have to learn to ignore them."</blockquote>
<br />
I thought he was nuts. Why would someone I didn't know want to start trouble with me? That didn't make sense. Still, I listened to Pat because he was OLD - like, he would be 30 in a few years so he obviously knew stuff.<br />
<br />
He told me that random guys would get in his face and try to start shit with him (not wise, if you know Pat). He eventually realized that people were doing it to get attention. He explained it to me like this,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If you are on the podium, on the Olympic team, the best player in the country, people at tournaments are looking at YOU. So, anyone who is around you gets attention. Random Joe from East Nowhere Dojo starts a fight with you and you kick his ass and people don't know who that guy is but they think he must be somebody because the best judo player in the country is fighting with him."</blockquote>
<br />
Random fact: Judo used to be a much bigger deal in this country, but I digress, even more than usual.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/05/who-hates-strong-women-lot-of-people.html">As I said in my last post, Ronda gets this 1,000 times over</a>.<br />
<h2>
What does this have to do with haters, Kevin Hart, or Ronda?</h2>
In his book, he writes about everything he had to do to learn to be a comedian, about driving for hours to New York City after working selling shoes all day, sitting in clubs to listen and learn. After he had made it, he had lots of "friends" and relatives who wanted to add his name to their TV shows or other project they wanted to pitch.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The part that stopped me is where he talked about how THEY were trying to profit off of HIS work without doing any of it.</h3>
<h4>
My husband has cautioned me against ever reading anything anyone says about Ronda on the Internet. </h4>
You see, we know her. We know that she is incredibly hard-working, intelligent, talented, kind, honest and generous. She has her faults, as does anyone, but her good qualities vastly outweigh those.<br />
<br />
Why do random people who have never met her pick any error she ever made and bring it up over and over instead of her myriad of successes? Why do people take quotes out of context and make her out to be less of a good person?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjXynKLA_BUXqVI8XVE04twPfZBELdX6FNcxPF-nCW8rAqvdZRxaRHiw4_AEYegvIR03p9C9YHL6MtmTw__vW9McciTQUDhD7i0FX61_KAV2QWsgN4dVsVraZKQzRpO1nCNoO47FCMBse/s1600/pullup2.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="946" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjXynKLA_BUXqVI8XVE04twPfZBELdX6FNcxPF-nCW8rAqvdZRxaRHiw4_AEYegvIR03p9C9YHL6MtmTw__vW9McciTQUDhD7i0FX61_KAV2QWsgN4dVsVraZKQzRpO1nCNoO47FCMBse/s320/pullup2.JPG" width="189" /></a><br />
Very few of these haters are actually haters. They are just like the people Pat Burris and Kevin Hart pointed out. They are trying to use her hard work, fame and name to get attention for themselves. Every time someone uses her name in a headline about how she isn't or doesn't or shouldn't be X they are hoping for clicks on it so they can benefit off of her years of hard work building a name for herself through actual accomplishments.<br />
<br />
I don't want to be that person, which is why it's very seldom that I or any of the family ask Ronda for anything, even for charity (<a href="https://www.fightchix.com/collections/ronda-rousey-auction-items">although this auction for Gompers Judo is an exception</a>) and if you look at our company website <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/podcast/size-matters-you-arent-working-that-much-and-more-truths-from-chile-judo-con-the-wwe/">she only comes up when it is something particularly relevant</a>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DmTsh2OCFLaTsTrNeQiWhAHhpelJIG0B3duEOXBx69ZaYRLPEyDYll5-NGilmwrWB2vGHBFZuzeBPZF1xyjdAw0PBR1CbgOaVCK3-A-ldeb3bpGIZwfYXoFCz8k683g2kRnD0q-oQr9s/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-05-06+at+9.09.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Last six blog posts from 7 Generation Games website" border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1203" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DmTsh2OCFLaTsTrNeQiWhAHhpelJIG0B3duEOXBx69ZaYRLPEyDYll5-NGilmwrWB2vGHBFZuzeBPZF1xyjdAw0PBR1CbgOaVCK3-A-ldeb3bpGIZwfYXoFCz8k683g2kRnD0q-oQr9s/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-05-06+at+9.09.06+PM.png" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">7 Generation Games blogs this week</a></td></tr>
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<br />
For many people who post diatribes against someone successful, on the Internet or in print, they don't believe a word of it, it is all about using THEIR hard work in developing a following, THEIR accomplishments that draw people's attention to get some measure of recognition for YOU when all you have actually done is throw mud. (Not you, the reader, of course , because you are a person of exquisite taste and education reading this blog.)<br />
<br />
The other day, I asked Ronda how she dealt with it She knows who she is, what she has done and what motivates he haters of successful people. She said,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Mom, you always say that success is the best revenge. Personally, I think apathy is the best revenge and I never think about those people AT ALL. "</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/7generation/product/familytextbook">You can get our Family Textbook (of our family group text) here for $2.99 It's hilarifying</a></td></tr>
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-70011617712470494472019-05-04T23:01:00.002-07:002019-05-04T23:01:43.272-07:00Who hates strong women? A lot of people act like they doFor much of my life, I have had haters who I have never met. My daughter, Ronda, has the same thing, times one thousand.<br />
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<h2>
Who hates strong women?</h2>
There are four types of people who either hate strong women, or pretend they do. Two of those particularly hate strong, successful women. The other two are poised to tear down anyone successful. They are equal opportunity haters.<br />
<h3>
Type 1: Women who gave in and gave up</h3>
Nice women who have played by all of the rules they've been told or imagined hate women who break those rules. These are the women who have bought into the belief that they have to fit into some kind of mold because they are women. They hate us because we show up their excuses for the bullshit these are. <br />
<br />
It's not specifically women who chose to be stay-at-home moms or "half of a couple" that I particularly have issues with. Some women that is what they wanted to do and we get along fine. That life choice doesn't appeal to me any more than being an architect or a classical cellist, but hey, you do you.<br />
<br />
The women who hate on people like me are those who use their gender as an excuse, and deep down, they know it. <br />
<ul>
<li>"I can't have a career because it would be unfair to my children. I care about my family too much to do that."</li>
<li>"I'm not going to be one of those man-hating feminists competing against men."</li>
<li>"I was going to go to college / compete internationally / found a company /write a book - but then I got pregnant."</li>
<li>"The odds are stacked against women founding a company. The degree of sexual harassment is toxic. Men are 50 times as likely to receive investor funding." </li>
<li>"I couldn't speak up in that meeting because the men wouldn't listen to me."</li>
</ul>
When someone like me or my daughters comes along, gets married, has children, wins medals, earns degrees, speaks our minds and writes books, they are FURIOUS. <br />
<h4>
Who do we think we are? </h4>
Didn't we get the memo saying we can't do these things? What if the people who they have been telling for years that they owe them, or they deserve pity because of all these foregone opportunities start to wonder why if these women could do it, why couldn't they?<br />
<br />
These are the same women who will be writing angry tweets and comments that I am 'not a woman-supporting woman'. They are the ones who say I am blaming the victim when I say that when a man touches you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable you should tell him the first time that you don't like it and don't do it again and the second time tell him if he doesn't take his fucking hands off of you that you'll break his arm/ tell his wife/ sue him for every dollar he ever earned. (Obviously, I'm not talking about rape or child abuse, which is a completely different and tragic thing, but rather the guy who stands too close, puts his arm around you etc. If you can't tell the difference, you are part of the problem.)<br />
<br />
These are the women who whine that, "You don't understand what it is to need a job, " or "It's easy for you to say."<br />
<br />
Then they see that I was this way when I was a widow with three young kids or that Ronda was like this when she was completely broke or that Maria had the same attitude when she was starting out as a journalist.<br />
<br />
If we need to speak up, demand the opportunity to train, call people on their bullshit when they say women have equal access to funding, appear on a hundred TV shows to get sufficient exposure, we'll do it. When these women DON'T do it, they've left it for us to do.<br />
<br />
It's not that we enjoy being the designated bitch in the room nor that it is any easier for us but we choose to be bitches that get shit done instead of a do nothing bitch.<br />
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<h2>
Types 2 & 3: People who feel threatened</h2>
Ronda has a good saying about those people, "I'm not going to diminish myself to make you feel bigger."<br />
<br />
Generally speaking, people who are comfortable with their own talent and accomplishments have zero issues with anyone else's success. I was going to call this type, "men who feel threatened" because there are men who hold on to being a man as something that makes them superior. There are men who, from the looks of them, couldn't beat up the average house cat, putting down female martial artists and athletes as, "She couldn't beat the 54th man on the roster."<br />
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I once got into an argument with my grandfather who insisted women couldn't have union jobs because they were too weak. I pointed out that he was over 60, I was 20 and could lift way more weight than him. I offered to go to the gym, lift weights and prove it. He just shook his head and insisted that I could not possibly be stronger than him because I was a woman.<br />
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Men who have little to feel proud about except some imagined male superiority hate strong women because they challenge the one thing these guys suppose they have going for them. It's the stereotypical guy in his mom's basement posting on the Internet that some woman is ugly or not talented when the truth is he doesn't even have dreams as good as her real life.<br />
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Weirdly, though, there are men (and women) who are plenty successful but they can't stand anyone being MORE successful than them, like life is a competition. So, even if they make $200,000 a year or are a world champion, they get angry because why is SHE making more money, why did SHE get that job? From my personal experience, it seems like women and people of color get more of this vitriol, maybe because they have had to overcome more obstacles so their success is even more of a threat. Still, these people seem to be equal opportunity haters in that they tear down anyone successful.<br />
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If we're honest, though, I think most of us feel a little envy from time to time. A while ago, I started making an effort when I hear of someone else's success to eliminate any thoughts on whether they had advantages I didn't or if I could have done that or anything else and just think, "Good for her!" or "I hope he is happy about that."<br />
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It actually makes me a slightly happier person than thinking about it any other way.<br />
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As for the fourth type, the pretend haters, they are a special case so that will have to wait until the next post.<br />
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<br />
If you have been dying to read more about my opinions on life, <a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/7generation/product/parenting_book_de_mars_burns_ortiz">you can get Parenting Like I Know What I'm Doing , by me and Maria Burns Ortiz for the measly sum of $1.99</a><br />
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Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-44802407727207057602019-04-14T20:30:00.002-07:002019-04-14T20:30:35.898-07:00The Judo Advantage: The thinking person's judo bookI don't have time to read much these days that isn't technical books on things like PHP and I read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KCN18J1/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">The Judo Advantage</a> because it was by my friend, Steve Scott. I would have had to come up with some excuse not to write a review if I hated it, and I'm a really bad liar, so I'm relieved that I can honestly recommend it.<br />
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<h3>
Who this book is for</h3>
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I can think of four types of people who would like this book a lot.<br />
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First, coaches who have a more analytical approach to judo. I don't coach competitors any more, but when I did, this was totally me. When I saw everyone losing to a specific technique, say, sankaku jime, I would go home and work until I came up with a counter to it and my players wouldn't lose the same way again. I never could understand why other coaches didn't do this and their players lost the same way over and over. This isn't to say the book is all discussion. I loved the section in Chapter 8 on using the head as a third arm and the section on combinations in Chapter 6.<br />
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Second, the competitor who has an intellectual approach to judo. That doesn't mean necessarily the player with the most education or highest IQ and it doesn't mean that those competitors don't work out hard physically. Again, this was me when I was competing. I was always watching my own matches (once videotape became available), planning matches, analyzing why people won and lost. This doesn't mean I wasn't training my ass off, because I was, but the thinking about judo part and looking at it from every angle was yet one more tool to help me win. At the same time, I knew some highly educated people that just went into the dojo and did 1,000 uchikomis and ten rounds of randori and never got any smarter about why they were not able to throw their opponents.<br />
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Third, the older adult judo players - and by this I don't mean only senior citizens, but really, anyone who qualifies for masters divisions. These are people who have to show up at work on Monday and aren't doing the competitive circuit but they are interested in judo as an intellectual challenge as well as a physical one.There are a ton of people who love to talk about their ideas about judo. This book is for you, not only to give you more fodder for those discussions, but to enjoy when your friends aren't available and you still have judo on the brain.<br />
<h4>
If you are one of those people who talk about judo with your friends all the time - why person A is going to beat person B, what happened in the tournament last week and why the same team is going to win again - this is your book. </h4>
So, am I saying that this is "just a book for brainiacs"? Well, no, I am saying, those people will LOVE <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KCN18J1/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">The Judo Advantage</a>.<br />
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The fourth group of people, though, are those who maybe don't read a lot of judo books, emphasis on the word "read" here and they probably aren't reading this blog. If that is you, though, mad props to you. If you are recommending this book to a friend who fits that description, my advice is to tell him or her to start in Chapter 3. That is when it gets really practical. Tell your friend to skip to the parts with lots of pictures. I don't mean this in a derogatory way but in dead seriousness. Those are the most pragmatic chapters of the book and the ones of most interest to people who don't care about theory but just want to win. Steve probably thinks you should read every chapter, but hey, if you buy the book, you can do whatever you want.<br />
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I liked this book a lot because, like<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Ground-Training-Techniques-Fighters-ebook/dp/B00BBZX5CS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=winning+on+the+ground&qid=1555298804&s=digital-text&sr=1-1"> Winning on the Ground (hey, I had to mention my own book on matwork here somewhere</a>!) it's a book I wish I had both as a competitor and when I began coaching. I didn't live in an area where there were a lot of experienced coaches around when I started in Alton, Illinois. Back then, I had a couple of judo books that I used for new ideas for techniques and to learn more outside of class. The Internet and youtube didn't exist back then!<br />
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So, Jimmy and I tried to write the book we wished we'd had when we were younger and it is pretty obvious from reading The Judo Advantage that Steve Scott did, too.Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-74003916310089005422019-04-08T03:36:00.000-07:002019-04-08T03:36:16.943-07:00Wrestlemania is over. Now it's Judo Con and Back to Work!It's 6 am in New York City and Wrestlemania finished several hours ago. My lovely daughter Ronda was the main event in a sold out stadium of something like 86,000 people.<br />
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It was fun except for the part where Ronda got bruised up a bit. The outcome may be scripted but the bruises, bumps and stitches are real.<br />
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People kept asking me questions about whether I was a big pro wrestling fan and whether I understood what a big deal Wrestlemania was and a lot of other questions that I had difficulty answering because I am a terrible liar due to lack of practice. Finally, Ronda got exasperated and said,<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"My mom doesn't know a fucking thing about wrestling but she loves me, so she's here!"</blockquote>
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Which was exactly the truth. Massive apologies to everyone who asked about Judo Con. I do love Ronda but every time I have to take off sets everything back for days. <br />
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So, now it's back to work. These games aren't going to make and sell themselves.<br />
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<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/making-camp-premium/">Get Making Camp Premium - learn multiplication, Ojibwe history and English for $1.99</a><br />
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<h3>
Judo Con is November 8 and 9 in Riverside, CA. </h3>
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We'll send flyers out in the next few weeks. I was waiting for a few people to confirm whether they could present before making the flyers, and this trip to New York set me back a few days, <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/2019/04/03/9-cities-2-games-wrestlemania/">as did a couple of weeks in North Dakota visiting schools and programs around the state, but that's another story</a>. We're aiming to have presentations from a dozen coaches/ instructors and I have ten confirmed so far. <br />
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A few of the confirmed presenters for Judo Con : Serge Boussyou, Kathy Hubble, James Wall, Ross Nakamura, Brian Money and Steve Scott. As always, the main focus will be on making judo clubs bigger and better - how to be a better instructor and how to get more students. We try to bring together a diverse group and not have just the same people giving you the same ideas you heard the last six times you went to a camp or clinic. Note that list has people from four states and two countries. There are a couple more people I need to reach out to in the next week or so as I get time.<br />
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Each day is a mix of about 3 hours on the mat and 3 hours on sessions like Marketing Your Judo School (you do NOT want to miss that one, trust me). There is a also a lunch round table and a couple of hours of directed coaching each day. <br />
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Because of the facility size, and because the intent is to have a lot of interaction, the registration is limited to 75, including the presenters.<br />
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I really do have a lot more to say about Judo Con, as well as Steve Scott's latest book, which is on my desk at home half-read, but I need to get a couple of hours' sleep before I get up and get caught up on work emails, proposals and two presentations I'm supposed to be giving at tech conferences in the next month. <br />
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Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-31080307070519990752019-03-07T23:16:00.000-08:002019-03-07T23:16:12.076-08:00The three kinds of coaches<a href="https://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/03/do-you-have-any-idea-how-lucky-you-are.html">As I mentioned in my last post,</a> I’ve had a visitor, Miracle Kim Sandoval, here for the past three weeks who is an elite boxer from Chile. I know nothing about boxing but I called around and got some recommendations and went to a few clubs. We would have gone to more, but as I said in the previous post, four hours a day to take someone to practice, wait for practice and come home is really more time than I can spare on a regular basis. <br /><br />It’s only been possible to do that for three weeks because I’ve been able to work during the practices. Being able to work anywhere is like a super power of mine.<br /><br />I run a company that makes educational games, <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/math-the-universal-language-ar/">like our cool augmented reality app for kids, Math: The Universal Language.</a><br />
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<h3>
So, here is what I have learned</h3>
<br />There are people who love the game, people who love the player and people who love money. <br /><br />I took Kim to <a href="https://www.gokor.com/">Hayastan MMA</a> several times where the coach, Roman Karmazin is a former world boxing champion. I’d also like to point out that when I asked Gokor Chivichyan and Gene Lebell if they could formally invite Kim to the US to train to help in arranging her visa, they didn’t hesitate to do so. Good people.<br />
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<br /><br />When we first arrived, Roman Mitichyan (yes, weird they have the same name) interpreted for us and warned me that Coach Karmazin doesn’t speak much English, but I told him that was no problem, neither does Kim. Random fact, Roman Mitichyan his amazing - he speaks English, Spanish, Armenian and Russian, as well as acts and sells real estate.<br /><br />Roman Karmazin loves boxing. He spent hours helping Kim improve her form and even invited her outside of class to the park to give her a conditioning workout. <br /><br />There are some professional and aspiring professional fighters in the boxing program at Hayastan but there are also just people who really like boxing. Everyone was super nice and welcoming, even though most of them were easily twice her size.<br /><br />Our next stop was Wild Card Boxing. Ronda recommended them as a place she was sure no one would behave inappropriately toward Kim. Let’s face it, she is very young and very cute and in some clubs that can make you very vulnerable. I have no problem with smacking someone with a chair if it is warranted but I’d prefer not to have to do it.<br /><br />The coach we met at Wild Card, Sammy, clearly loves boxers, as do most of the other people I met there, from Freddy Roach’s nice sister and all the other people at the front desk to every trainer I spoke with in the gym. <br /><br />The first day, they had Kim jump rope and shadow box for about 20 minutes and once it was clear she was pretty good and serious, Sammy worked with her extensively for the rest of the time she was there. He talked about his own experience being an Olympian from a small country in Africa.<br /><br />The next time we came, he started working with her immediately. The entire atmosphere was super-focused and professional. We were mostly there when the professionals practiced, just because it fit in with my schedule.<br /><br />Our third gym, which will remain nameless, charged me $100 for an hour of training that was pretty much the same as Kim received anywhere else. Now, that may be the going rate but I would point out that the other gyms did NOT charge that because it is pretty clear Kim is not from a situation where it’s feasible to pay that kind of money. It may be because that was the only gym that knew me as “Ronda Rousey’s mom”. At Wild Card, I was just some random lady that walked in with a boxer from Chile and at Hayastan, I have known Gokor since he was a teenager and Gene since I was a teenager.<br /><br />The other gym was also professional as far as the level of training, although less gritty than Wild Card. Someone commented that at Wild Card “you can smell the sweat” (you could prefer that or not, depending on your taste). <br /><br />It would have been more convenient for me but I really can’t afford thousands of dollars a month for someone else’s kid’s training. I still need to finish putting Julia De Mars through college.<br /><br />Both Ronda and Maria pointed out that there is no money in women’s boxing so the gym was most likely not interested in Kim as a potential money maker for them.<br /><br />All three gyms told me the exact same thing about Kim - that she has a lot of talent, trains her heart out and has potential to qualify for the Olympics and maybe win a medal. Having had some experience with judo coaches, I would have been skeptical if it was only the third gym that said that. I’ve found for $100 an hour, coaches usually tell everyone their kid has talent.<br /><br /> They all identified the same strengths and weaknesses and areas she needed to work on. <br /><br />Kim liked all of the gyms a lot.<br /><br />Roman is what you think of as a Russian Olympic athlete - very serious, hard-working but also very good.<br />
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<br /><br />Sammy is also very hard-working but he is more personal.<br /><br />In the end, I told Kim that I think coaches are like boyfriends or girlfriends. While a minority are abusive or toxic, most coaches are good for certain people and not others. If Kim was my kid I might pay the $100 to save driving 2 hours, but probably not. I’d want someone more personally invested., but if I was really driving 80 hours a month, I might change my mind about that.<br /><br />Here is the thing - there is no right answer here. My own coach, Jimmy Martin, told me straight out that he wanted me to win because it made him look better as a coach. That was fine. I wanted me to win, too. As long as we were aiming at the same goal, we didn’t have to be best friends. When I had my knee replaced , I didn’t give a damn whether the orthopedic surgeon gave a damn about me or not. For other people , a personal relationship with a coach is important. <br /><br />I think this is probably true in every sport. Some people love judo, some people love judo players and some people are in it for the money (not so much in judo, but there are some.). You just need to find what works for you.Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-36362863203593610972019-03-02T14:19:00.000-08:002019-03-02T14:19:26.361-08:00Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be doing judo in the US?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Whenever two American judo players get together it is required for them to discuss “what is wrong with judo” and contrast the support in the US with other countries.<br />
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Let me tell you a story about a young lady, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/miraclekimsandoval/">Kim (The Small Miracle) Sandoval</a>, who has been staying with me for the past three weeks. She is a boxer, from Chile. Despite having only turned 17 years old this week, she has had 24 fights already. She has won 21 of them. Her losses came from a woman who is 60 kilos (she’s 48), a woman who was in her 20s that she fought when she was 15 and in the finals of the South American championships.<br />
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So, she is young, she is talented and she is throwing everything she can into boxing. She even is on a modified home-school program so she can do well academically and train three times a day. <br />
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The support she receives from the Chilean government is - nothing.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
She is in the U.S. because I bought her plane ticket and let her stay at my house. Although I am one to support people, I cannot spend four hours every day driving her to practice, waiting for her to practice and driving her back. I run a company that makes educational games, <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/math-the-universal-language-ar/">like our cool augmented reality app for kids, Math: The Universal Language.</a></blockquote>
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<br />
I took her to three gyms here in Los Angeles and they all said the same thing, that she has a lot of talent, heart and physical ability. They all agreed that she has a good shot of making it to the Olympics. <br />
<br />
Two out of the three clubs were willing to let her train at a very low cost, since she has no money to pay. One of the coaches went out of his way to meet her and give her extra training on his own time. <br />
<br />
What she really needs is a sponsor to buy her a few plane tickets to come up here a few times a year and train. She could also really use some help getting to tournaments. She can’t even afford to go to boxing tournaments outside of Chile. (If you are going to ask why Ronda doesn’t fund her, just stop. If you are asking that question you obviously have no idea how much Ronda does to fund various charities and causes. It’s a lot.)<br />
<br />
Despite her obvious work ethic and talent, no one was interested in helping her all that much.<br />
<br />
Two of my daughters pointed out the obvious - there is no money in women’s boxing, so anyone who is helping her is just doing it out of the goodness of their heart.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Which brings me back to judo. </h3>
<br />
Most of us in judo in this country have parents who pay for us to attend tournaments. If you are very talented, there is usually someone in the country who will step up and pay for expenses your family can’t afford. For me, it was Frank Fullerton and Bruce Toups. Thank you.<br />
<br />
Most successful competitors in judo in the U.S. have gotten support from individuals. Lynn Thursby is just one person who has been very influential in providing financial support. There are others but I’m not sure it would be okay with them to give their names, so I won’t.<br />
<br />
Sadly, to me, most of those competitors seem to take it for granted. “Of course you should fund me. I am winning medals for this country. And the National Governing Body should fund me MORE.”<br />
<br />
While the second part of that statement is probably true, the first is not. We, and I include myself in this, are all lucky to be doing judo in America where a sport that has minor participation and almost zero probability of making much money can still get sponsorships for our top athletes. It may not be as much as you would like and it may even not be as much as you deserve, but keep in mind that there are a lot of countries where no matter how good you are, you will get nothing .<br />
<br />
I was nowhere near as nice a person as Kim when I was her age. I was dedicated, but not as dedicated as she is at that age. My mom was supportive but not as supportive as Kim’s mom is. To be fair to my mom, I was the middle of five kids, where Kim is the youngest of six, so it’s a bit easier for her mom.<br />
<br />
Still, by the time I was her age, the Chicago Yudanshakai was paying my way to the national championships. Thank you.<br />
<br />
Every now and then, I stop and am grateful for the opportunities I have been handed. Yes, I worked my ass off but so do other people around the world and they don’t all get the opportunities to train and compete that we do.<br />
<br />
<h3>
We are lucky.</h3>
<br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-84404693886748579202019-02-10T22:09:00.000-08:002019-02-10T22:18:28.858-08:00Do what you can. Life lesson 1,012 learned from judoWorld judo champions are a small club and I don’t fit in. Let's look at what some other world champions did post-competition<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Mike Swain - owns a company that sells mats</li>
<li>Jimmy Pedro, Jr. - sells mats and runs a judo club</li>
<li>Kayla Harrison - competes in mixed martial arts</li>
<li>Yamashita - something judo with the IJF</li>
</ul>
<br />
Okay, I’ll be honest. I’m so not in with the cool crowd that I have no idea who won medals or what most of them are doing. Travis Stevens got a silver in the Olympics (I think) and now does judo and jiu jitsu clinics. Some guy in Canada got a silver medal a while back, I only remember he was nice because - Canadian - and I think he does something with their national sports program.<br />
<br />
Then there is me. After the world championships I went off to get a Ph.D. , specializing in Applied Statistics and Psychometrics. I’ve founded four companies and spent most of my days writing software, meeting with investors and potential customers, writing budgets or writing up results of quasi-experimental designs for grant reports or academic journals.<br />
<br />
It’s not that I don’t like judo or think it’s a good thing for people to do but I’m pretty busy. You don’t see Bill Gates out on the mat, now do you? (No, I’m not Bill Gates but I’d kind of like to be, except I’d like to not be a guy and keep my kids.)<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
This <span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>IS</u></span> my day job. Check out Making Camp Premium <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/making-camp-premium/id1388713776?mt=8">for your iPad/ iPhone</a> or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a7generationgames.makingcamppremium">Google Play </a>or<a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/7generation/product/makingcamppremiumindividuallicense"> on the web</a>. You’ll learn about the Ojibwe people, brush up on your math skills and other useful knowledge like synonyms and idioms. Get it for yourself, your kids or <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/2018/12/07/how-to-donate-games-to-students-in-need/">donate to a school to help other people’s kids.</a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s1600/redline.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="14" data-original-width="576" height="8" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s400/redline.gif" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
<h3>
I’ve gone from doing judo every day and twice a day on weekends to once a week and now only a few times in the last year. </h3>
<br />
Occasionally, I’ll wonder for a moment if I wasted all those years. Maybe I would have been better off taking more computer science courses, learning more about algorithms, practicing not telling people to go fuck themselves if they pissed me off (still not one of my better skills). Perhaps I really WOULD be running a business the size of Microsoft if I’d put my energy into that instead.<br />
<br />
Oh, and don’t start with the “Look what great friendships you made.” I only like a few of you people and I haven’t even talked to you guys recently because I’ve been in Chile and my phone was stolen. (Yes, I owe a lot of phone calls to people now that I just got back.)<br />
<br />
When I think about it for more than sixty seconds, though, I always realize that there is a great deal more I learned from judo than how to transition into an arm bar. <br />
<br />
<h2>
DO WHAT YOU CAN</h2>
Some of this came about because I did NOT have the advantages that “kids these days” swear they need of just doing judo full time. Since I was working full-time during my competitive years, there were a lot of times I couldn’t be at the best judo club, or sometimes any judo club. I learned to do what I could. <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Can’t get to practice? Get up and run sprints in the morning before work. </li>
<li>Can’t get to practice? Lift weights at the gym near my house.</li>
<li>No one near my size/ age to train with? Ask the guys at the Naval Training Center to run matwork drills on them over and over.</li>
<li>No one really interested in training seriously at the club? Ask each person if they’d mind taking 25 falls for in a line so I can get in 200 throws.</li>
<li>Injured my knee and can’t do standing technique? Do dumb bell curls and exercise to build up my hands and arms for gripping and chokes. Do sit-ups. Do matwork drills.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I don’t remember anyone ever specifically teaching me this. I think I just figured it out through necessity of wanting to win and being in a lot of situations that were suboptimal for making that happen.<br />
<br />
<h3>
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO LIFE?</h3>
I’m writing this on a flight from Santiago to Panama City, after which I have to sprint to catch my connecting flight to Los Angeles. I’ll be spending 19 hours in planes and airports, none of which have wifi. What would be the optimal thing to be doing right now? Working on the new game we have under development for which my part is behind schedule. Unfortunately, the first thing I’d need to do is pull the changes from the other developers on the team, which I cannot do because of the whole no wifi thing. <br />
<br />
So, what am I doing? Well, other than this blog post (seriously, it didn’t take me 19 hours), I’m writing up several lesson plans for the new teachers’ site we’re creating to go with our games. To do that, I’m playing the games that have an offline version, taking screen shots and writing the lesson plans, so when I do get back to Internet connection land, I can slap in some links and boom! have three or four ready to go with an hour .<br />
<br />
Before I left, I downloaded two books on Wordpress and one on virtual worlds on my iPad and packed a book on game design (yes, an actual book on paper) so I can read up on some areas that will help with the various projects I’m working on.<br />
<br />
<i>What I learned from judo is not only that winning is a habit but also that WORKING TOWARDS winning is a habit. Even if conditions are far from the best you could hope for, there is always something you can do to be pushing forward towards your goal if you just cut the woe is me crap, find it and do it.</i><br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-39286636445045210712019-01-27T16:15:00.002-08:002019-01-27T16:15:36.602-08:00No, a stolen iPhone isn’t a brick: How thieves access your data<div class="p1">
Maybe you’ve heard that a stolen iPhone is nothing more than a brick. Stop and read this. It may save you whole lot of grief and panic.</div>
<div class="p1">
Perhaps you feel as if your data is safe.</div>
<ul>
<li class="p1">You have a password and it’s not 123456.</li>
<li class="p1">You have find my iPhone.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="p1">
Allow me to burst your bubble by telling you what happened to me and why it could have been WAY worse. Also, turn off Siri right ###ing now. If you cannot bear to part with it, turn it off when locked. Go to Settings , then Siri and Search. Turn off answering when locked.</div>
<h1 class="p1">
HOW THIEVES ALMOST GOT AWAY WITH EVERYTHING</h1>
<div class="p1">
On Thursday, when I got of the subway I noticed the side of my bag was unzipped. I didn’t see my phone but my credit card and money was still in the pocket so I didn’t think I was robbed. I just figured I’d thrown it in with my computer. When I got home, i emptied my bag and still couldn’t find it. I used find my iPhone and saw it was 7 miles away. So, I put it in lost mode.</div>
<div class="p1">
Keep this mind, the thieves had my phone for an hour at most before I noticed and locked it.</div>
<div class="p1">
After I contacted people from my office and made sure I hadn’t left it there,I erased it.</div>
<h2 class="p1">
HOW SIRI IS YOUR ENEMY</h2>
<div class="p1">
In the meantime , the thieves had gotten into my yahoo email and my Facebook<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>page. How did they do that?</div>
<div class="p1">
Because when you get your phone and you don’t disable this, Siri will answer hi when your phone is locked. Say,</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="p1">
“Siri, what’s my phone number? Siri, what’s my email?”</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="p1">
.... and Siri will tell you.</div>
<div class="p1">
So, now the thief has your phone, your phone number and your email. <em><strong>TURN OFF SIRI NOW!</strong></em></div>
<div class="p1">
I never would have thought the default setup would have such a huge security flaw.</div>
<h4 class="p1">
It gets worse. </h4>
<div class="p1">
Now the thief goes to yahoo, enters your email and click “Forgot my password.” They have the reset sent to your phone and then they reset the password .<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Guess what? The default is that messages show up on locked iPhones so they get the message and enter a new password. Now, they have your email and your password and your phone.</div>
<div class="p1">
Next, they go to Facebook and log in using that email. They say that they have lost the password and have the password reset code sent to your iPhone or email they have stolen.</div>
<div class="p1">
Now the thief has your email, Facebook, phone and phone number.</div>
<div class="p1">
By this time, it had maybe been a few hours, I had figured out what they were doing ERASED<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>my iPhone using the Find my iPhone app, deleted the yahoo email from my Facebook and changed the phone number on my yahoo account .</div>
<h2 class="p1">
WATCH OUT FOR PHISHING EMAILS CLAIMING TO HAVE YOUR PHONE</h2>
<div class="p1">
This is where disaster really could have happened. So, I’m back in the office on Friday trying to do a million things plus reset my password on everything , handle things that come up every day with two companies in two countries and in one of my company accounts I get a message from “Find my iPhone “ . It looks legit . It says we’ve found your iPhone. It gives the model of iPhone , storage , how would a thief know that ? If you think about it , duh, they have my iPhone . But I’m thinking someone jacking iPhones on the subway certainly doesn’t have the skills to create something<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>this professional. So, I click on it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nothing happens. Thank God for my internet provider that strips out malicious code .</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
What this was supposed to have done was take me to a page that asked for my Apple ID and password to prove I was me. I might have done it, too. I’m staying with my ISP for life now.</div>
<div class="p1">
After I switched phones,I got the same message in a text to my new phone number. I can only guess that either a) they were still logged in when I changed it or b) they searched for me on Google.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
!!!!! These were not some gifted thieves. There are actually SERVICES that do this for them ! Want to get the Apple ID<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and password of a person whose phone you’ve stolen? Send them all of the info you have and they will create the rack email and text messages !</div>
<h2 class="p1">
EVEN IF YOUR PHONE IS DISABLED,THEY STILL HAVE YOUR SIM CARD</h2>
<div class="p1">
They can (and did) swap that into another phone so not only can they use that phone to make calls and send text messages, charged to you, of course, they also will receive any calls, messages or FaceTime intended for you. If you have not disabled charging to your phone, they can charge any premium services to it and this will show up on your phone bill. When I thought of it two days later,Dennis disabled the account with ATT and he got a message that it was now disabled on a Huawei phone which is not sold in the US but very popular in Chile .</div>
<h2 class="p1">
HERE IS WHAT I DID WRONG BEFORE MY PHONE WAS STOLEN</h2>
<ul>
<li>Obviously the Apple default is a huge security flaw. I should have disabled Siri as I never use it and also disabled messages showing on lock mode.</li>
<li>Ironically, I had the yahoo account on my Facebook account thinking it gave me EXTRA security. I hadn’t really used that account in years .</li>
<li>It was possible to reset my yahoo account from a phone, so if someone had my phone they could get access to my email.</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="p1">
HERE IS WHAT I DID RIGHT</h2>
<ul>
<li>I had a second email account that could NOT be reset from a phone. I used that to lock the thief out before they thought of removing it.</li>
<li>When I changed the password and phone associated with my email and Facebook I picked “Log me out of other devices” so if they were logged in somewhere else they couldn’t just change it back.</li>
<li>My phone does not allow purchases so even when someone had my SIM card they could not use it to buy anything. We turned this off with ATT years ago.</li>
<li>None of my bank information is written down anywhere ,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>not passwords, accounts,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>SSN, nothing . I memorized them. Logins for things like that Software I bought five years ago and the license are written down , or for that stupid forum on blogs. These are not used for anything important .</li>
<li>Any information that might be important is recorded like this:</li>
<li>Password- same as for that computer we used to have in the living room</li>
<li>Had an Internet service provider that stripped out the script on the phishing email and saved me from a huge mistake.</li>
<li>Called ATT to block the number so no one else could use the SIM card</li>
<li>My social media accounts are not connected. Getting into my Facebook doesn’t allow you access to my Instagram, Twitter or anything else. Whenever Facebook asks to connect to anything I say No.</li>
<li>There is very little information in my social media profiles and some of what has been put there automated by Facebook is wrong. So,if anyone was hoping to use the information they got for identity theft they are out of luck .</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="p1">
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?</h2>
<ul>
<li>At the very least , this second, disable Siri when locked and turn off notifications when locked.</li>
<li>Turn off purchases from your phone.</li>
<li>Turn off resetting your password from a phone .</li>
<li>Disconnect social media accounts form each other so if someone has one account they don’t have all of them.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
And for the love of God quit believing that bullshit that a stolen iPhone is no more than a brick!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s1600/redline.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="14" data-original-width="576" height="7" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s320/redline.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="p1">
<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/making-camp-premium/">Support my day job! </a></h3>
<h3 class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/making-camp-premium/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="426" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPL7xX-PGdwCgER0EEzZEmZ8RE3yFfh0mdS0dyF4EJw8OKcWYWKRvZ8zhtVVD_wiEK3uLyN6KrHb3k4YDsQ8yfRcquPkvbE50TOM7KOS70fzg7sDQYHVEXXD9Po_zwVcSZM7L30Ju8Gun/s320/making_camp_premium_splash_426x320.png" width="320" /></a></h3>
<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/making-camp-premium/">Learn Native American history, math and English all at the same time. You can play it on your iPad, the web or on your phone (if it isn't stolen).</a><br />
Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-4761522436970036662019-01-18T21:45:00.001-08:002019-01-18T21:55:10.570-08:00Producer #3 : The Ronda show all about Ronda and did I mention Ronda? Ronda!When we left off our story I was writing from a plane flying TO Devils Lake <a href="http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reality-tv-show-producer-number-2-how.html">and I had just concurred with producer number 2 that I was not involved in enough bar room brawls to make a reality TV show with him</a>.<br />
<br />
Now I’m on a plane flying FROM Devils Lake. I have two things to say about North Dakota<br />
1. The people are nice <br />
2. It’s fucking cold.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibG2UMlcR72zKVvxRxv4gkPiEJk6xZkqOWR8IlgC8D-B2e2LlG7o_5jRZs3xTdAE63C_NAqrZFEJ6DeRPDaUe5bz3yS2zo9B0F2IEn6emAmWaG9ErxbwXzdvGMMU_kfVWmqxxC67iPbPfT/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-18+at+9.23.10+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="591" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibG2UMlcR72zKVvxRxv4gkPiEJk6xZkqOWR8IlgC8D-B2e2LlG7o_5jRZs3xTdAE63C_NAqrZFEJ6DeRPDaUe5bz3yS2zo9B0F2IEn6emAmWaG9ErxbwXzdvGMMU_kfVWmqxxC67iPbPfT/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-01-18+at+9.23.10+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now that you know the two most important facts about North Dakota, on to the rest of the story.<br />
<br />
When we met with Producer 3 we mentioned that the first producer was only interested if we could promise to have a lot of screaming fights, preferably where we ganged up on Ronda and brought up anything from her past that could be embarrassing. I jokingly said there was nothing embarrassing because all my children are perfect.<br />
<br />
Producer 3 ,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Ronda will be in the show, right?”</blockquote>
<br />
We said sure, our initial idea was to film in Tobago and she would come for a couple of weeks. She’d be in about one-fourth of the episodes. Ronda plays a lot of games and drops in from time to time with ideas for games. She occasionally sits in on a game design meeting. Of course she drops by my house or Maria’s a few times a month.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvzKHni7NjWL_vYxuIj3OWMVgVUVqD_L_tkHQW61ZhjCDDp2e9gCGsv0EqdPHGiTT13wC7PfzP55u9nrb2z_AKrB3jtmdf_fOKhx6PF4ZpBscEOIqoOPPJgCktM8YnYJZp-Ds4B5e8UAA/s1600/1F25AD73-73C1-4640-BF90-AD8E3F6DE00C.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvzKHni7NjWL_vYxuIj3OWMVgVUVqD_L_tkHQW61ZhjCDDp2e9gCGsv0EqdPHGiTT13wC7PfzP55u9nrb2z_AKrB3jtmdf_fOKhx6PF4ZpBscEOIqoOPPJgCktM8YnYJZp-Ds4B5e8UAA/s320/1F25AD73-73C1-4640-BF90-AD8E3F6DE00C.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Tobago at night. It's a beautiful place </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjXKDoc836ByTiIT3REfnfU4XJUJBnk-WNqZaZsJubUv_UwA3d7LvYdiGi0Z7M-iW734AaaGHJO-ZEpZOIQmXZK9Z_wxOsmLz7zV8hvrgiFIhP8pZ73GpTc8G7y5kFa1e-NFRbzFy0anx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-18+at+9.52.55+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjXKDoc836ByTiIT3REfnfU4XJUJBnk-WNqZaZsJubUv_UwA3d7LvYdiGi0Z7M-iW734AaaGHJO-ZEpZOIQmXZK9Z_wxOsmLz7zV8hvrgiFIhP8pZ73GpTc8G7y5kFa1e-NFRbzFy0anx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-18+at+9.52.55+PM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Tobago during the day. That is Julia. Not Ronda.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Producer 3,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Can you get Ronda to teach judo or workout in the show?”</blockquote>
<br />
I said we’d have to ask but I didn’t see why not. Maybe we could film something at Gompers Middle School if they gave permission and if not, I have plenty of friends with judo clubs .<br />
<br />
Producer 3 to software developer walking by, <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“What do you think about Ronda?”</blockquote>
<br />
Developer:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I’ve only met her once in a game design meeting.”</blockquote>
P3: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“What kind of person do you think she is?”</blockquote>
<br />
Developer:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I guess she’s nice. She brought us doughnuts.”</blockquote>
<br />
Maria:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
“I brought the doughnuts.”</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
Later ...</h3>
<br />
We find out that Producer 3 has told a network that Ronda will be in every show.<br />
<br />
Me: “Why would you tell them that?”<br />
<br />
P3: “I’m just spinning it. Everyone does that.”<br />
<br />
Me: “You mean lie?”<br />
<br />
P3: “I’m sure when the show gets picked up Ronda will want to be in every episode.”<br />
<br />
He proceeds to tell us that no one is interested in a reality TV show without Ronda in it. Maria points out that is obviously not true because the only reality shows there are on TV are ones without Ronda in them. There are TWO shows about baking cupcakes and, because it’s apparently a separate genre , a third show about baking cakes! There are shows where people clean houses, buy old stuff and bid on storage units. It’s hard to believe traveling all over North and South America making video games is less interesting.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So, we pass on Producer 3.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s1600/redline.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="14" data-original-width="576" height="7" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s0Mm-IjwBDfN5ocXPoQkJvxko83hulbUomJLil_FCDp_5A7s1oxf95-fdlM4Fsraw1bc9dlv_Bb1LJpqCW42kAH_s55h4T4QJWZq3yxHdCnIgX4jNBT2PB_yhbq5GNkYDnDLzUX9mBqs/s320/redline.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Games ARE interesting and can be really artistic- speaking of which , AzTech Games won best artwork at the ED Games expo. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4noPhNRHUS_PJy97UTKD654oxTg_2KzkkNrV-91sIGG22lXTAfZZ1kSkdPPv6ZMslEgpA7bKUiEcqRdaEBRlndqmF3WlLt0q2_ncCjRjtkkGMR8Xx2YRVKRBWXXbNqYgkU3WZpAK9Z70H/s1600/aztech_maya_level_up1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4noPhNRHUS_PJy97UTKD654oxTg_2KzkkNrV-91sIGG22lXTAfZZ1kSkdPPv6ZMslEgpA7bKUiEcqRdaEBRlndqmF3WlLt0q2_ncCjRjtkkGMR8Xx2YRVKRBWXXbNqYgkU3WZpAK9Z70H/s320/aztech_maya_level_up1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://sandbox.7generationgames.com/aztech_maya/">You can get a sneak peak at the newest release of AzTech: Meet the Maya</a> here before it is available to the public next week.<br />
<br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-77897848655390584182019-01-14T23:42:00.001-08:002019-01-15T07:28:14.001-08:00Reality TV Show Producer Number 2: How many bar room brawls do you have in an average month ?Writing this on a flight to Denver and then changing to a little puddle jumper for Devils Lake , North Dakota where I will land at midnight. Surprisingly, all the rental cars in Devils Lake are reserved but the Spirit Lake Casino, like any casino I’ve ever heard of is open 24 hours a day so they are very kindly sending someone out to the airport to pick me up in the shuttle they use to bring employees to work.<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
A<a href="http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-life-needs-better-writers-or-what.html">fter meeting with Producer #1 who said our family needs a few more addictions and dysfunctional relationships, </a> I had a talk with producer number two. He had two names, neither of which I remember so let’s just call him Bob-Bob . The business associate who connected me with Bob-Bob is a really straight up honest guy and also quite successful. He pretty much ordered him to give us the straight scoop and only work with us if he thought it would be beneficial,</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Bob-Bob was hilarious. He’d worked on some shows you’ve probably heard of and he said,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“My speciality in reality TV is drama. We put people in situations where drama is likely to happen and if it doesn’t we create it,”</blockquote>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I asked him how exactly he did he do that and he gave me an example from one of his shows.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“We brought these people together who really didn’t like each other - but nothing happened. So, we put them in our vans and drove them all to a bar. Still boring. So, we tipped the bartender to give them free drinks but still nothing was happening. Finally, we bribed the bar owner to keep the bar open after hours and after 2 or 3 am when we’d been plying them with free drinks for hours, some fights broke out and people calling each other names and bringing up some pretty awful stuff from ex-friends that we could use.”</blockquote>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I told him, </div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
“ You know, you aren’t making yourself look so good here, Bob-Bob .”</h3>
</blockquote>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
He laughed and said,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I’m just telling you the truth. It’s a living. The people on our shows, they don’t usually have much talent or education or connections. Yeah, maybe the show makes them look bad but it’s more money than they’d be making doing anything else and no one is making them do the show . I’d like to see a show about a functional family and successful people who like each other. I think if I pitched it to my network they’d say it was not our kind of show but I think other networks might pick it up.”</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpPbPsHdal3yZdoMWUp39ZJQb0pYXcF-Je2YE3_8I9UVfO8Hn-MAZV0cNxoW4NA9F0JIWSjGq2NelP5KBcYX9VJ_ZnIr8AYpexbO5DL7JOa_OvtTcHY-013P_nIo7P9_o8KYMi-pMmirB/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-15+at+01.23.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="582" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpPbPsHdal3yZdoMWUp39ZJQb0pYXcF-Je2YE3_8I9UVfO8Hn-MAZV0cNxoW4NA9F0JIWSjGq2NelP5KBcYX9VJ_ZnIr8AYpexbO5DL7JOa_OvtTcHY-013P_nIo7P9_o8KYMi-pMmirB/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-01-15+at+01.23.34.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Bob-Bob and I had a nice conversation but we both agreed he wasn’t the type of producer we were looking for, although he had some great stories and I would totally invite him to a party.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
As for the other networks he recommended, we never did get around to contacting them because we went through meetings with producers three, four , five and six and <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/2019/01/12/the-tip-of-the-iceberg-of-awesomeness-my-company-christmas-letter/">we are really busy running a company (you can read how awesome that is going here</a>).</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In fact, I have the opposite of an Instagram life, where people post pictures and make it look like their life is so amazing. Often I don’t post the awesome stuff going on, either because I’m just enjoying the moment , or I don’t want to impinge on people’s privacy or I am just too damn busy making shit happen.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgav9YYJA12usBSgmHxatYi1Q_37Ga6PEv-j5bBFqY7qevRYF8_dxv5gD4yags0ERtf6rQfQ1GFz4c3DyCdhTak66lLr-9DHhjskQuZPOrPxiDDJ253RppN2Nw31xYj1BAAAGCuDLwSo5m1/s1600/aztech_begins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgav9YYJA12usBSgmHxatYi1Q_37Ga6PEv-j5bBFqY7qevRYF8_dxv5gD4yags0ERtf6rQfQ1GFz4c3DyCdhTak66lLr-9DHhjskQuZPOrPxiDDJ253RppN2Nw31xYj1BAAAGCuDLwSo5m1/s1600/aztech_begins.png" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Speaking of my company, <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/aztech-the-story-begins/">check out AzTech: The Story Begins to play some cool games, learn math and Latin American history </a>. You can play in Spanish or English</div>
<div class="p2">
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-69937825970364806192019-01-08T20:00:00.000-08:002019-01-15T07:30:43.961-08:00My Life Needs Better Writers (or, what happened to our reality show)<a href="https://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/rowdy-family-business-reality-show-what.html">Yesterday, I wrote about our first idea for a reality show.</a> I thought it would be amusing to go through some of our discussions with producers.<br />
<br />
The first conversation went like this:<br />
<br />
Producer: How many children do you have? 19? 20?<br />
<br />
Me: What? No. I have four. All daughters. All wonderful.<br />
<br />
P: Any addictions? Alcohol? Drugs? Sex addiction?<br />
<br />
Me: Um, well, we drink wine and sometimes a martini. But no, none of us have ever been arrested for DUI or in treatment or anything like that.<br />
<br />
P (incredulous): NONE of you? Out of six people?<br />
<br />
Me: Well, actually, I think that's pretty typical.<br />
<br />
P: Dennis isn't having a sex change, by any chance, is he?<br />
<br />
Me: No!<br />
<br />
P: Are you considering whoring Julia out to hip-hop stars?<br />
<br />
Me: NO! What the fuck? She's 17 years old!<br />
<br />
Me: Look, here is my idea. We make video games and we want to open an office in the Caribbean because we think that would be a good market. Tobago is absolutely beautiful. We can have the show cover a game from start to finish, where we have to come up with the design and Maria and I, who are the least laid back people you ever meet, hire our crew from the island and have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2WJRhqouoU&t=20s">Julia I-can't-get-up-before-noon</a> as one of our interns. Trying to get a game done on schedule is drama and tension in itself but add in starting with a new team and cultural differences and I think it will naturally get to the point of me wanting to kill people. I am sure I can set up teaching judo at some of the local clubs. Hopefully it will help them and I'll need it with the stress. Ronda says she'll drop in for a fourth of the episodes, lend advice on game design and testing, party with the locals and try to keep the peace.<br />
<br />
Producer: I'm going to give you my honest opinion. This show will never sell. Your family is too boring. You don't have a million kids. You aren't little people. You have successful children and you all love each other. No one wants to watch that. They want to see people drunk and puking, screaming at each other, crying, talking about their addiction. They want to see a family that is a dumpster fire so after they watch it they can feel good about themselves.<br />
<br />
We talked to six producers and I actually thought all of them were pretty good people but for various reasons, we didn't end up doing the show. Three of them passed on us, two of them we declined and one was mutual.<br />
<br />
As for this particular producer we actually had a very nice, funny discussion. This was one person's honest opinion. I appreciated the honesty although I disagree.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIYCHFXgnN9VAwgLCrvCaM4bzcGFsO5eK-6cy6b3TpWyPkHY48IsM2CpHNR9nimVhVc3GsrqkosU8SBLMzRBAVrMTJt_R1A-nWInMQom1zAsw9xcXbJTNWqsPdKyBbZOYRWqapaa2tCXw/s1600/IMG_1240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIYCHFXgnN9VAwgLCrvCaM4bzcGFsO5eK-6cy6b3TpWyPkHY48IsM2CpHNR9nimVhVc3GsrqkosU8SBLMzRBAVrMTJt_R1A-nWInMQom1zAsw9xcXbJTNWqsPdKyBbZOYRWqapaa2tCXw/s320/IMG_1240.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>from the north woods to New York City</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
Our family is not boring. We just need better writers </h3>
I think if you can make a show about people losing weight where standing on the scale is drama, if you can make a show about baking cakes and another about cupcakes and ... well, I think you could make an interesting show about us.<br />
<br />
Take today, for example. Maria gave a talk about making games in DC at a conference with 1,200 kids - which still went on despite the government shutdown and the fact that she rewrote her talk at 4 am. It was great, by the way. Then, she was mobbed by kids wanting to play our games.<br />
<br />
Ronda was doing a live wrestling show in Orlando. She travels so much that I actually had to look it up on the internet to what city she was in.<br />
<br />
Julia took off for London where she is going to be living for the next five months.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwK31VmbsOCg41bJwOekA0BxQBqa2b4qOXL2TEgXj5JZyLN9B9EP_9k-VMDrZxRs2xfUR28l6ICK7caXxjhRigZn10iKzlcDUYyKTLpPoqaplqT_nHhQKX3vKAkHUXDHeTw99urnGByx/s1600/kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwK31VmbsOCg41bJwOekA0BxQBqa2b4qOXL2TEgXj5JZyLN9B9EP_9k-VMDrZxRs2xfUR28l6ICK7caXxjhRigZn10iKzlcDUYyKTLpPoqaplqT_nHhQKX3vKAkHUXDHeTw99urnGByx/s320/kids.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The last time we'll all be in the same place until June</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I went into the office to work on a proposal for a new game, discussed the design of a game in progress, tried to figure out how to renew my visa for Chile, came home and taught an online class on biostatistics with all kinds of technical glitches, then created a video on exploring data.<br />
<br />
Okay, well, my day was not that exciting today, but there have been other days in the past year when I've climbed a mountain to see the condors, went hiking in the driest desert in the world, watched hoop dancing at a pow-wow, been stuck in a hotel during a blizzard in North Dakota. Every year, I'm everywhere from the north woods to New York City. I'm scheduled to be in four states and three countries in the first five months of this year - and that's only what has been confirmed as of the first week in January!<br />
<br />
Let's face it. I don't care who you are or what you do, much of your daily life is pretty mundane. (<a href="https://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reality-tv-show-producer-number-2-how.html">Unless you are working with Producer #2</a> .) You get up, have some coffee, take a shower, drive to work, go to a meeting, read your email, eat a sandwich. The winning competitions you didn't enter (strange, but true), laying on a Caribbean beach or heart-felt discussions with your children about life are just a fraction of that. Even Harry Potter and Hermione spent most of their time studying, sleeping and eating.<br />
<br />
Speaking of sleep, I have to get some.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<h3>
Buy <a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/7generation/product/parenting_book_de_mars_burns_ortiz">Parenting Like I Know What I'm Doing , by me and Maria Burns Ortiz f</a>or only $1.99 </h3>
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<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-82804222295409044842019-01-07T22:01:00.002-08:002019-01-08T20:13:36.811-08:00Rowdy Family Business Reality Show: What I was doing three years ago<div>
Searching an old email address, I came across this email sent 2 1/2 years ago when my lovely daughters and I were discussing a reality show. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<h3>
Think Duck Dynasty Meets Silicon Valley with some very attractive real-life CEOs </h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The opening RouseyOrtizDeMarsTaylor group text begins</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Mom: </b>I'm in North Dakota, freezing my ass. </div>
<div>
<b>Ronda</b>: I'm doing a Sports Illustrated photo shoot from an undisclosed island location. Someone is currently painting my ass. </div>
<div>
<b>Maria</b>: Salt Lake City, pitching investors. I do not discuss asses. This is why I am the CEO</div>
<div>
<b>Julia: </b>I'm in hell, commonly known as high school.</div>
<div>
<b>Jenn:</b> In 20 minutes, I have to go back to teaching middle schoolers about the constitution. Why are you people bothering me?</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The
series centers around Maria Burns Ortiz and AnnMaria De Mars, a
daughter and mother who are the CEO and president of an educational
video game start-up, with frequent appearances by younger sisters Ronda
Rousey, a professional athlete, actress and entrepreneur and Julia De
Mars, a soon-to-be college student and aspiring actress.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maria
balances three children aged 1-8 with a husband running his own
journalism start-up and trying to cope with her unconventional extended
family. Mom gave up the job as CEO to Maria because, </div>
<div>
<h4>
"Someone
needs to wear a suit and not tell potential investors to go fuck
themselves if they say something incredibly stupid. I am not that
person."</h4>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Episode 1 has Maria and younger
sister, Ronda, trying to convince the family that a reality show would
be good for business. The first, literal, sign this may not be easy is
the sign that hangs on Mom's office door, which reads "First of all, no.
Second of all, no." When they enter their mom's office, she starts the
conversation with,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
"No."</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They
point out that they haven't even said anything yet, to which she
replies that every time they come to her with that look it has been some
crazy ass idea. Ronda wanted a monkey. Maria wanted to move into her
own apartment when she was in high school because her sisters were
annoying, etc.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They try Dennis, step-father and
CTO (bit of back story on Dennis coming into their lives after Ron died
makes him seem a sympathetic figure). He refuses to open the office
door </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
"Only if you don't show me on television."</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the daughters asks,</div>
<div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
"What if we just record you through the door?"</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The
sisters regroup to a coffee shop to plot and the final scene is a game
design meeting in the conference room of the company offices,
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Annmaria, with Dennis on Google hangout,
is running through artwork, game mechanics and some esoteric coding and
statistical details, with Maria adding information on the story line and
characters. At the end of the agenda when AnnMaria asks if there is any
new business, Ronda enters the conference room.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
She
says we need to discuss this reality show idea. Half the developers
immediately find somewhere else they need to be. Maria and Ronda give a
convincing 2-minute summary on why this would be good for the company
and, as a result, help children everywhere get access to the games and a
better education.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
AnnMaria grudgingly agrees and the final scene has her saying to the computer, </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm going to regret this aren't I? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dennis answers from Google hangout - probably</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/7generation/product/familytextbook">You can actually buy an ebook of our family group texts for $2.99 </a></div>
<div>
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<div>
So, whatever happened with the reality show? Well, we had a few discussions with producers but for <a href="https://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-life-needs-better-writers-or-what.html">the rest of the story you'll have to read the next blog post</a>. </div>
Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-9913043020404761282018-12-27T09:35:00.003-08:002018-12-28T09:14:09.462-08:00How to Have a Merry ChristmasI'm sitting here drinking peppermint mimosas with my lovely Julia and ruminating on how good life is. Christmas has almost always been a very happy time of year for me. There have been a couple of sad Christmases - the first one after my divorce, the first one after Ron died - but usually the holidays are the best time of the year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peppermint Mimosas - Look better than they taste, but still okay</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />
I know that a lot of people have a hard time at Christmas. They don't get along with their families. Their families don't accept them because they are gay, married outside their religion/ race, cut off all contact with an abusive relative or a million other stupid reasons.<br />
<h3>
How to have a Merry Christmas</h3>
Let go of the expectations. People are who they are. It is what it is. Either change your thinking or change your situation and then let it go. Ronda has the organizational skills of a hyperactive squirrel. She is generous, smart, funny and kind but she probably just remembered on Monday that the 25th was Christmas. Maria had already finished shopping on the day after Thanksgiving and I suspect Jennifer already has her calendar planned out through December 25, 2019. Julia is cleaning her room now so that it will be ready for her grandmother when she arrives in six hours. You may think six hours is ample time but that only means that you have never seen Julia's room. <br />
<br />
I'm not particularly the warm and cuddly type. I do hug people and tell them I love them, but not every other sentence, like some friends of mine do. Jenn was shocked to hear that I actually baked cookies yesterday, which I found a little insulting.<br />
<br />
I could go on but my point is this - everyone has foibles, flaws and failings. Many family gatherings fall apart because you find it so inconsiderate that cousin Tina is 45 minutes late for the eleventh year in a row or that your dad never listens to you and bought you a sweater with a camel instead of a cashmere sweater. <br />
<br />
You know that prayer about accepting things you cannot change and changing the things you can? My secret to enjoying the holidays and life in general is something like that.<br />
<h3>
Let it go or let them go</h3>
The unhappiest people I know CHOOSE to be unhappy. Yes, you do. I could get offended by off-hand remarks but it's a waste of energy.<br />
<br />
I'm Catholic. I have friends and family members who are atheist. Every now and then they
will make remarks like, "I can't believe that you go to mass." Well, I
do.Yes, I am aware of the child abuse that has gone on for decades, probably centuries, and it disturbs me greatly. We actually had a reasonable discussion about this at Christmas. I don't take it as a personal affront that people don't believe what I do. I listen to their ideas and keep drinking my peppermint mimosa.<br />
<br />
We have a very good rule in our family -<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If it happened over a year ago, you can't bring it up in an argument." </blockquote>
<br />
This is a rule my children have used against me on occasion, but it's still a good rule. I see married couples, parents and adult children, adult siblings all arguing about that party someone wasn't invited to in 1998 or the graduation someone didn't attend five years ago.<br />
<br />
If you catch yourself saying,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
"But don't you think parents SHOULD attend their child's graduation/baptism/ bar mitzvah/ wedding and don't you think they SHOULD feel bad and apologize?"</blockquote>
<br />
I don't know anything about your situation but since you are the person reading my blog, I am going to side with you and say yes, you are correct. So what? seriously, the point is, they didn't do whatever it was and they didn't apologize and buy you a gift and a doughnut to make it up to you.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>Speaking of doughnuts ...</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinytlx4ZW3I-kQ1WH-MHn-NqmtU-8EfvyQ4IiZZAuS_f7bAywajBtfjg7UhwWfv7sNWNw0bZsQa_a8SJEXAyRuwlsEk6MbIquewMPfFTEHfKKBYAcoKhodhUm_BlUbkjODBz1qMnUVkHmu/s1600/doughnut.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinytlx4ZW3I-kQ1WH-MHn-NqmtU-8EfvyQ4IiZZAuS_f7bAywajBtfjg7UhwWfv7sNWNw0bZsQa_a8SJEXAyRuwlsEk6MbIquewMPfFTEHfKKBYAcoKhodhUm_BlUbkjODBz1qMnUVkHmu/s1600/doughnut.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/fish-lake/">Fish Lake is an adventure game that teaches about fractions. </a>You can canoe rapids, solve math problems and if you need help learning, there are activities explaining fractions using turtle eggs, riding between camps and yes, even chocolate doughnuts used as an illustration of mixed numbers. <a href="http://www.7generationgames.com/fish-lake/">Buy it and support my day job! Runs on Mac and Windows computers.</a><br />
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<br />
So, you didn't get the apology or the doughnut. You felt undervalued and underappreciated. Let it go. That person maybe is not going to be as close to you or understand you as well as you had expected. Maybe you are adding now, fuming,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"As much as I had a RIGHT to expect!" </blockquote>
<br />
So what? They are probably not going to change so you can decide to let it go or not.<br />
<br />
The other option is to just not spend time around people who make you so unhappy. There are (former) friends and relatives I don't see any more. I had a friend who made a series of bad career choices, in my opinion. Every time I saw her she railed against President Obama's policies and how he was ruining the country and that is why she had financial problems. The last time I saw her, you'd think she'd be happy but no, she still couldn't get a job because "They are only hiring black people. I'm too white to get a job."<br />
<br />
That's the point where I decided I was done. Probably stupidity isn't contagious but why take that chance?<br />
<br />
If you have a racist/ misogynist / homophobic uncle, you don't have to sit and listen to that person. If some relative gives you the creepy vibe and you don't feel comfortable with that person around your children, don't go anywhere they happen to be.<br />
<br />
Guess what else? YOU get to decide. If you have a relative who is always putting you down, telling you that you don't make enough money, you are too fat, you should be married by now or whatever it is that makes you feel bad, don't see them. Are they at the same gathering as your grandparents who you really want to see? Then call up your grandparents and ask if you can come visit on a random weekend in February. Flights will be cheaper and your grandparents will be thrilled to have their grandchildren think of them more than one season of the year.<br />
<br />
Problem solved.<br />
<br />
Much of the family happiness comes about because we really wanted our past to be different. Some of it is because there are people in our lives at present that we need to cross off the Christmas card list.<br />
<br />
Let it go or let them go.<br />
<br />
<h4>
It's never too late to start living your happily ever after.</h4>
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192186541955038172.post-52182779047961211332018-12-11T07:32:00.001-08:002018-12-11T07:32:29.979-08:00What I Learned about Business at Judo Con, Part 2Several times during his presentation, James Wall of confidently stated, <br />
<br />
<blockquote>
“We are the best at what we do.”</blockquote>
<br />
If you really, truly are the best at what you do and are confident about that, you should be able to sign up customers. Not surprisingly, Wall to Wall Martial Arts is quite successful. <br />
<br />
You may not have heard of James Wall. He’s a credible, competent judo player, a legit fifth-degree black belt. He was never on an Olympic team. He hasn’t coached any world team members . <br />
<br />
You may have heard of James Wall if you are interested in judo games for teaching young students , because he’s fairly well known nationally for that .<br />
<br />
If you are somewhat impressed with yourself and asking,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Who is James to say he’s the best? I’ve won X, Y and Z.”</blockquote>
<br />
Good, I hope you are happy with yourself. However what James does is provide a friendly, fun atmosphere for children to learn martial arts and be healthier and better disciplined in the process. He offers a comfortable environment for women to get some exercise and learn self-defense. He, and his fellow instructors, provide a collegial training environment where people who didn’t have to just Google the meaning of the word “collegial” can get in better shape, learn some judo and compete in regional tournaments. <br />
<br />
That’s what <a href="https://wallmartialarts.com/">Wall to Wall Martial Arts </a>DOES. If you are in their area of Louisiana, no one does it better. Hypothetically, there may be a better school in Delaware, but seriously , if you live in Dedham Springs you are not taking your nine-year-old thousands of miles away to a judo class.<br />
<br />
James truly is the best at what he does and he’s perfectly fine with that .<br />
This made me think about my business. I know our software is good. Will it teach your preschooler to count or prepare your high school student for the SAT?<br />
<br />
No, we focus on grades 3 to 8. If your child needs to learn multiplication, division, factors, how to solve those pesky time-rate-distance problems, find a mean or median, we’re awesome for that .<br />
<br />
Rather than trying to teach every subject at every grade level, what I think we need to do is reach the parents and teachers of kids who need to learn what we are teaching.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/making-camp-premium/id1388713776?mt=8">GET MAKING CAMP PREMIUM FOR YOUR IPAD OR IPHONE HERE</a><br /><br />
Have an Android device? No problem. <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a7generationgames.makingcamppremium">Making Camp premium for Android has you covered</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
People in startups often say they are in the “fintech space” or the “medtech space” which I have always found a kind of pretentious way of saying you are in finance or medical technology.<br />
<br />
However, both James Wall and Lester Martell, from High Impact Martial Arts in New Jersey, were very clear on what their space was. It was the city and county where they are located and probably no more than a 30-minute drive from their location.<br />
<br />
If you’re a teacher and you have kids in your class who speak Spanish, we have videos, games , PowerPoint presentations, everything you need, even if your Spanish is limited to “Adios” and “Dos cervezas, por favor.”<br />
<br />
If you teach Native American students and you’d like to include some of their history and culture in the curriculum but you didn’t really learn any of that in school ( because who did?) , we have games that include those stories. You want to include cultural content without skimping on the math and language arts standards? We have that covered, too.<br />
<br />
What I learned at Judo Con was to focus on what we are best at rather than worrying about all of the parts of the market we don’t cover. That’s not our thing , just like training Olympians isn’t James’ thing . And that’s okay.<br />
<br />
I’ll be honest. I went to Judo Con for a personal reason . Steve and Becky (Rebecca) Scott and I have been friends for over 40 years . It isn’t coincidence that this girl is named Julia Rebecca De Mars.<br />
<br />
So, when I heard they were organizing this event , even though I was literally on the other side of the world , I bought a ticket . I did think about it, for about a minute , but then I concluded, “Fuck it! These are two of my best friends.”<br />
<br />
Even though I went for personal reasons, as I’ve said previously, it was definitely worthwhile from a business insight perspective. I’ll definitely be going again.<br />
<br />
<br />Dr. AnnMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13741371839260099343noreply@blogger.com0