Viewline Construction framing the staircase.	Viewline Construction framing the entrance from the parking lot.
View from the the tokanoma of the stair case.	View from directly across North Main Street.

Last night a student asked me if I wanted to make a lot of money and work a lot of hours by working for one of the "Big Four" accounting firms in Downtown Los Angeles in the tax department. Currently, this particular firm is hiring a lot of accountants for their tax department for next year's busy season. I don't really feel qualified since I have had all of my accounting experience in litigation services. As tempting as his offer was for an interview, I really would not have any time for Aikido. I have friends at the "Big Four" and they work 60 to 80 hours a week. During busy season they work 100+ hours. The way that I work or hardly work I will never make manager or partner at my firm. After Sensei died I naively asked one of the litigation partners for a part-time schedule in order to help run and move the dojo and to also finish the CPA exam. The partner said work at least 24 hours a week in order to maintain my employee benefits. He was very understanding. I doubt that I would be able to do that at a "Big Four." I say that I was naïve, because I actually thought if I worked part-time that I would be able to continue studying and taking the CPA exam while acting as the chief instructor for the ACLA.

What I find funny sometimes is that in the dojo, some people have expressed concern about my career, making less money, and the CPA exam. They have been genuinely concerned and I appreciate that. On the other hand, I sometimes think it is funny, because I have accountants at my firm telling me that I should not waste my time studying for the CPA exam and that I should pursue martial arts full-time. One manager went so far as to say that, "you get what you put into it. Do you want to be a mediocre accountant and a mediocre Aikido teacher? If you only put 50% of your time into something, then that is all you are going to be."

The biggest surprise has come from my mother. I was convinced that every time I would visit my parents that I would never hear the end of it. For as long as I could remember all she would do was complain about me practicing Aikido and wonder when I would get a real job. A few months ago my mother only asked, "I guess this means you are not going to get your CPA?" That was it and she has not brought it up since.

I think that right now I have been getting most of the encouragement from outside the dojo. I believe that my peers in the dojo realize that this is not an easy life and are genuinely concerned. I am confident that everything will work out for the dojo and for me. It is difficult to know what our dojo will be like in the upcoming years as everything is obviously different now. Though, I do believe that our dojo will continue to grow and students will continue to improve, because Sensei trained us well.

I believe an explanation of our "Daily Message" is long overdue. I want to apologize for our "Daily Message" not being so "Daily."

Yesterday I went to lunch with two IT guys from my office and we had a conversation about website management and their thoughts on our website. After lunch one of them viewed the posts on the "Daily Message" for this month and commented that we should not really have a "Daily Message" if we are not going to post on a daily basis. I explained (or rather made a really lame excuse) that I am not familiar with Mac computers and that I have watched one of our dojo members write what I think was html to update the "Daily Message."

It looked really complicated. It looked like he was writing some type of code on a black screen. I then went on to explain that there is a bottleneck created because I have to email someone to update the website and the "Daily Message." Then once the update is made I will look at the update and often find something that I would have done differently. There are little things; but it takes time when we go back and forth. For example, on the homepage I would not have placed a period in our address after "#107." Now if I want that changed I have to email one of our dojo "IT guys" to change it. I only point this out as an example, not to criticize the person who is so kind enough to take time out to update the dojo website. Finally, I went on to explain that I feel bad asking them (among the myriad of other things) to update the "Daily Message" when I should learn how to do it myself.

I have been using Sensei's Mac for several months now and I still do not know what program he was using to update the "Daily Message." I can't imagine that he was "coding." As traditional of martial artist as Sensei was, he was also very innovative, as he started "blogging" before I even knew what a "blog" was.

I have taken one beginning java applications class a long time ago; but, I really do not know anything about computers. I know how to create nice looking Excel spreadsheets; but, I'm sure that you are not interested in looking at spreadsheets on the "Daily Message." This week one of our technologically savvy black belts downloaded programs called "Sea Monkey" and "Filezilla" so I could make updates myself. To me these computer programs sound like strange Playstation video games. I have not made the time to look at them yet. Please bear with me while I continue to email my updates to someone else to post onto the website until I learn how to do it myself.

Directions:

From the 101 South:
Take the Alameda exit and go south. Turn left at 2nd St. to Vignes. The Dojo entrance is on Vignes, between 1st and 2nd, #107.

From the 101 North:
Exit at Vignes exit. Bear to the right and turn right onto Santa Fe. Take Santa Fe south to 2nd St. Turn right to Vignes. The Dojo entrance is on Vignes, between 1st and 2nd, #107.

The temporary dojo looking south on Vignes St.	The front of the temporary dojo

    -Posted by Kenneth Furuya on October 22, 2007

Entrance to the tea room and mizuya	View from near the dojo entrance

View from the middle of the mat looking up at the mezzanine	View of the mezzanine floor

View from the mezzanine looking at the future bathroom, office, and kitchen

Members please sign up for the Christmas Party on Saturday, December 1 starting at 6pm. Your family and friends are welcome. Please check the dojo bulletin board for details.

    -Posted by Kenneth Furuya on October 20, 2007

The Viewline construction crew putting up sheets of drywall	The Viewline crew checking the insulation

Drywalling the ceiling is not easy!	They have almost completed putting up all the drywall on the ceiling

View from the center of the mat looking up at the mezzanine	View from the tokonoma

Another view form the tokonoma area	Viewline working on the sub-floor of the mezzanine

The mezzanine sub-floor	View from the mezzanine to the mat area

• Columbus Day (October 8, 2007)
• Veterans' Day (November 12, 2007)
• Thanksgiving Day (November 22, 2007)
• Christmas - New Year's Day (December 24, 2007 thru January 1, 2008)