Ducks in a Row

A lot of things are falling into place.

I've received my lovely, second generation iPad Mini. It's all hooked up to the cellular data system and has become my main device. My old phone and expensive phone plan have been demobilized.

At the Jiu-Jitsu school, wifi has been installed. We can now watch instructional videos directly on the mat. My new iPad could do that with cellular data, but that is expensive. The wifi is free.

Our Jiu-Jitsu instructor has returned all tanned from a vacation in Mexico. The has meant that my paused rank exam could resume. Last Friday and Saturday I banged off the last two exam sections. It should be uploaded to headquarters any time now.

I only have 120km left to go on my 2013 bike riding goal. Looks like I'll make it.

There is also news for Gracie HQ regarding Jiu-Jitsu rank progression. The current super-strict requirements just don't seem to be working out for people. The entire idea of the belts and stripe is to motivate people to attain the next notch. Under the current system, each stripe takes about two years, and a full belt about eight. Goals that far away just don't seem to motivate.

It looks like stripe progression might be possible every 6-8 months, and belts in three years. While still very slow compared to other martial arts, it is light years better than it's been. This isn't in effect yet, and the details still have to be worked out, but it's a big step in the right direction.

Some potentially-big, home-front problems have also worked themselves out.

When we travel, friends of ours move into our house. They live in a tiny place, and consider our home a resort, with cable. It was starting to look like they wouldn't be able to this time, and our place would have to be non-house sat, but it's all worked itself out.

They will be moving in the same day that we are heading to Victoria for Christmas, and can stay clear until we return from LA in 2014. Peace of mind for us.

There was also some weirdness with an American bank account and credit card we'd set up for the LA stay. It was just starting to smell like a huge hassle, but it all turned out to be a temporary glitch with their online sign-in procedure. It has self-healed and all is well. International bank stuff gives me the willies.

So it looks like we can slide into the Holiday Season with everything in fine shape. All we'll have to worry about will be how much turkey to over-consume. We can return home after Boxing Day content that our place is well looked after. After a couple of days sharing our place with the sitters, we can head off to LA with finances all worked out and extra medical (US) insurance all set.

We can start off January doing the Snow Bird thing, except with Jiu-Jitsu instead of golf.