Birthdays and Classes

When I was a doctoral student, I used to cancel classes on my birthday. For years I have used my birthday as a time for reflection and to plan for the upcoming year. However, this year as a new assistant professor and not wanting to make waves for myself, I didn’t do it. I did, however, schedule the classes on this day as one where they turn in an assignment and leave.  Although I am here, I am trying to make the day as less stressful as possible.

Any Books for Sale? Uh,,, I’m eating lunch.

My office hours begin at 12:30PM  and I teach a class that ends at 12 noon. Therefore, I have less than 30 minutes to eat lunch. I usually close my door and try to ‘wolf’ down some food before students start to drop by. 

Well today at 12:10 I had my door closed and then a loud knock interrupts my microwave feast. I pause for a second and then I say come in. In walks this older guy dressed in plaid and khakis who proceeds to say that he thought no one was in my office. So why knock is my thought. He then tells me that he’s a book buyer and did I have any books that I wanted to sell.

What?

He sees my food and drink spread out over my desk and I’m pretty sure he could see my look of pure puzzlement and lack of interest.

He asks, “Have you sold back any books here before?”   I should have thought carefully before I said no. “Well then let me tell you what I’m all about.” 

Two minutes later and he’s finishing by saying,” Well I’m retired military and I live in unnecessary city info here.”

Okay I say, while saying to myself, alright he sees that I’m eating. I hope he doesn’t try to shake my…..

You guessed it, he extends his hand over my desk so we can grip knuckles. I didn’t appreciate the firmness of his handshake either.

You can tell I’m a little irritated by this and it seemed pretty random. Why did he choose my door and I ended up with the grand prize during lunch?

Back in the saddle again…Jiu Jitsu

Well, things were back to normal today. It felt as if I never left. We worked on escapes from the mount and breaking down the turtle defense. What fascinates me is that our lead instructor always seems to present something new. I received good training before when I trained in Florida but this is at a totally different level.

Oh yeah…

I was rolling with a guy in class and as anyone who has grappled knows, there’s a certain etiquette that’s followed. Well in our first scramble his foot hit my head and then we stopped and he apologized. That set the tone.  The we sparred for a few more seconds and as fate would have it our heads bumped together when we both decided to go for a takedown (we were both kneeling) at the same time. I stopped for a brief moment to assess his damages and to see if he was okay. In that brief second or millisecond, he jumped onto my back and I spent the next two minutes fighting off a rear naked choke. I wasn’t upset but I think our signals were crossed. I don’t think he meant anything by it but I wonder why he thought I paused and would open myself up for him to jump on my back?

Time to shoot some pool!

My wife and I had the chance to go out and spend some quality time together yesterday. I found a pub near our house that allows you to ’shoot’ pool for free. So we bought dinner and played billiards for an hour or so. My wife grew up with a pool table in her house (or garage) so she has this thing where she allows you to make a few shots to build up your ego and then she starts sinking shots faster than Zsa Zsa Gabor in an episode of Green Acres.

We had a good time though! 

Oh yeah. While we were playing, a teenage girl, walked over to my wife, put her arm around her shoulder and said,”I know you are concentrating on your game, but I have to tell you that those jeans that you have on are stupid cute!”

Jiu-jitsu Drought

I haven’t had many things to post about on the Jiu-jitsu side of things. I missed the past three classes due to scheduling and academic committments. When I finally did return last Thursday I went to class only to find out that the center had been converted into a big haunted house for the previous day’s Halloween festivities. It hadn’t been converted back into the regular training facility.

I’ve been keeping busy late at night by trying to go through some solo drills, calisthenics (of the Matt Furey variety/Combat conditioning), stretching and such. I think today I will unhook my punching heavy bag from the stand and do some bag drills. However, as I have said before, nothing beats training with people.

I missed a few days and fell out of the loop. Next week hopefully things will return to normal…

Slowly making progress: Academics

Recently I have been emphasizing my wish to increase my research output. Well, just as when I served in the army, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait. My main focus has been to make sure I do a little bit each day (except Sundays). So far I have all of my contract paperwork, etc., signed for the publishing of my book (academic research = probably no profit) and have sent off my second draft.  I am also working with a partner to shape up some of my writings on the graduate experience and pedagogical skills.

I have three research projects, two for my academic field and one totally non-academic that I am working on. I just keep hoping that if I continue to work on them each day, eventually I will finish. I have also revamped my routine for staying abreast in my field so I can continue to grow in the knowledge of my subject area. Let’s just say that I have to stay  marketable. I had a minor epiphany the other day and I realized that the more knowledge I consume the better I am able to churn out research and writings… So I am staying busy.

My new fad: Jogging

I go to my grappling class two nights a week and play tennis one to two times a week, but it’s not enough to slim down to where I would like to be.  As I mentioned in previous posts, I am the smallest of the big guys in my jiu jitsu class and it’s irritating. I like to actually try out different moves and have a back and forth type of exchange with whoever I am grappling with so we both can learn. However, at a certain point according to Jacob Forte of the MMA radio show “The Low Blow,” enough size nullifies all skill.

When I wrestle with a smaller or equal size opponent I keep a dominant position only long enough to work on a submission or to let them learn how to defend. When it’s obvious that I have control and can grab an easy submission, I move to another position or allow myself to get in trouble so I can work my way out. However, not everyone follows that same philosophy. ‘Lay and pray’ is the name of the game for some big guys. The problem with that is that although I am learning how not to get smothered by  guys much larger than me, other areas of my game are not worked on.

The few Judo tournaments that I participated in, years ago, I was the lightest of the heavyweights at 204 pounds. So I know from that experience that I didn’t like competing in that bracket and wanted to drop down. I want to compete in a Jiu-jitsu or grappling tournament next year and I want to wrestle at 185 or lower so I have started a new regimen of jogging each day.  I am trying to do this for the long haul so I am starting off slow but I am looking to gain back a lot of speed, flexibility and dexterity that being at the right wrestling weight carries.

Breaking out of the Grading Tunnel

I now have a frim grasp on the grading that has consumed me for the past few weeks. I admit that I was bummed out by the lack of emphasis my students placed on their exams, although there were some shining diamonds in the rough. However, I can’t fail everyone so I decided to let my students obtain 20 extra points, yes the grades were that bad, if they typed up a written explanation detailing why they didn’t perform well. The catch, is that they have to visit me during office hours and provide the reason(s) face to face.

I struggled with myself to understand why they were doing so poorly and tried to see if I was doing something wrong and vice versa. I had given out similar versions of the same tests to other students for over four years while working on my Ph.D. and the breakdown usually occured in this manner in a class of 25:

3 A’s, 7 B’s, 10 C’s, 3 D’s and 2 Fs.

However, for the majority of my students, at this college, F’s are the norm… 

So I created the 20 points scheme. What is distressing about this is that it has been over a week since I offered it and only 14 students, out of nearly 200 students, have come to my office. The offer is good for only two weeks and I let my class know that I leave immediately after office hours so don’t wait until the last day to stop by.

However, I did have one student who wrote in his explanation “I see that you are a professor that cares about your students, or else you wouldn’t give us this chance. I am grateful that I have you as a professor and that you do keep our futures and possibilities in sight even, when we ourselves lose sight of it.”

That made my day…..

Thanks Eddie Bravo….

I cracked open Eddie Bravo’s book Jiu Jitsu Unleashed last week because my attempts at using the lockdown in class had not been working. For those that don’t know, it’s a move where you purposely place your opponent in halfguard; then bring your outside leg over the trapped leg; place your inside leg over your outside leg and then place that same inside leg underneath the shin of your opponents trapped leg (sorry, that’s about as good as I can explain it). Then you stretch your opponent’s leg out. It is essentially a calf muscle-crank.  

Eddie Bravo also suggested wearing long gi pants in order to keep your opponent from sliding out because of sweat.

Well, with my gi pants on an a renewed faith in the lockdown I travelled to my grappling class last Thursday. The first guy I tried it on, I was able to clamp it on but then my foot cramped before I could squeeze. Evidently it had some effect because he asked me what I had done because he almost tapped.

The second guy I tried it on was the guy I keep talking about that is about 6ft 4 and 280 lbs. Everytime I tried it on him in the past his leg was so slippery I couldn’t hold him in my half-guard. This time my gi pants held his leg long enough for me to slap it on. I extended his leg out and he said “Oww!!” I immediately let go and he had a look of wonder on his face. He said, “What was that?” After he asked the instructor came over and I explained what I had done. The instructor then said, “Oh you did the lockdown.” I played it cool, but I was estatic, because I had broke through my own personal plateau…..

Thanks to Eddie Bravo….

Research and Publishing: Doubletime

I have been doubling my efforts at research and writing as of late. Especially since I have realized that the atmosphere at this college will not change. It is very disheartening to see the lack of motivation on the part of the students. I am also experiencing a gradual burnout due to teaching too many classes and seeing no relief in sight. Also, the lack of interest in research and publishing in the college does not serve as inspiration. Although I believe that this is largely due to the number of classes that must be taught.

I have four projects that I am working on right now. One is a book project where the first draft is due in two weeks. I have a research project that I am working on for the public that I should  finish in two weeks and a research project that I am working on to submit to an academic journal. I am also working on an article for my academic blog, where I use my real name, that discusses visual intelligence and cognitive learning.

I can motivate myself but I am trying to avoid the negativity that I find myself facing throughout the week. I actually had a student ask, the week before their test, if they just came to class and listened to my lectures could they pass the test…..