Old knees

It's doctor day for my knee. Helen came along. She always thinks of things I should ask, but that don't occur to me. Had my MRI about a week ago, and time for the results.

The verdict is pretty good. No ligament or tendon or cartilage damage per se. She called it wear and tear; the first signs of osteoarthritis.

No surgery, so no stupid wait lists. She also said that I won't wreck things by crawling around at Jiu-Jitsu. My knee will be uncomfortable, but I knew that. Ice will continue to be my friend.

I am booked for physio next week to help things along, and to strengthen muscles that will help my knees cope. Going to start taking glucosamine as well. Many swear by it, and it couldn't hurt.

In the short term I'll be back training, including a Rener Gracie seminar this Saturday. In the longer term I can expect my knee to improve; dare I hope for back to normal. In the long, longer term I guess my knees will be giving me increasing grief over the years.

Stupid oldness

PartnerPlanning

The big seminar with Rener Gracie is only 9 days away. It has become the big topic of conversation. I'm looking forward to it greatly.

For maximum enjoyment, people need to think about how they want to experience the training.

Do they want to meet and train with new people, or do they want to learn the most at a technical level?

If one wants a social experience, there is nothing to prepare for. You go, and after the first movement is explained, you just grab somebody to partner with. This would be fine, but you never know what you're going to get.

For maximum learning, I think it is wise to arrive at the seminar with a compatible partner already arranged. That way, you can more easily concentrate on the material presented.

For me, it's Jiu-Jitsu first and social second. I would far prefer arranging a partner ahead of time. Any of our Blue Belts would be a great match.

I haven't done so already as my knee is currently an issue. If it isn't significantly better by seminar time, I wouldn't be a great partner for one of my friends. If things mend up, I'll grab somebody closer to training day. If anybody approaches me to team up, I'll agree but make sure they are aware of my knee.

The sessions will cover Mount Submission, and Triple Threat Back Attack. The first will be moderately demanding on injury, and the second as easy on knees as anything we ever do.

I think this time I'll get Rener to autograph my belt. That shouldn't hurt my knee much.

Evolution

Our Jiu-Jitsu group is evolving quickly.

Back in September, there was a seminar in Seattle taught by Rener Gracie. Four of us went down.

In two weeks, there is another Rener Gracie seminar, this time in Richmond. About 20 of us are signed up. Granted, it will be possible to pop in for the day and still get back that evening by ferry, whereas Seattle required we spend two nights in a hotel, but still.

Last night, at our advanced class there were over a dozen of us on the mat. I believe that is a new record.

Currently, I am the only student with a two-stripe Blue Belt. Within the next couple of months this could change. Our 2 one-stripe guys are planning on testing for a Gracie University promotion. There are 4 more without stripes, who are due to receive their first locally-awarded stripes.

There are also a large number of White Belt students ready to make the move up to Blue. One has already recorded his exam, and is awaiting his results. There are about 5 or 6 more ready to start filming anytime.

Cruse4567

Skagway again. Went into town with the gang.

Rode the stretch golf cart shuttle off the pier, and the $2 bus to town. Ventured alone when the rest headed for the quilt store.

Hit the bank for $200, as Helen and I are out of American cash, and bought a Dr. Pepper and a cap. Wandered a bit more, then got the bus back to the pier.

My knee was still so happy, I strolled along to our ship. Currently I'm viewing all the docked ships with the town and mountains in the background.

Skagway is swell.

Maybe it's a good day to do a knee overview.

We are on two one-week cruises, with an unloading/travel day at the end. We are 11 days into the total of 15.

On 9 of the 11 days I tried very hard to baby the knee.

That's recently been bumped up. Yesterday and today my knee took me into town. In Juneau my knee visited a mine. On both days my knee went dancing.

The verdict is that it isn't doing bad. There is still a lot of ice usage to keep swelling down, which works great. I believe that it is getting better ever so slowly. Knees are like that. This encourages my ice use even more, as swelling retards healing.

We still have visits to Hoonah and Ketchikan coming up. I might just visit both. I didn't go see either last week.

I'd also like to dance every remaining evening. Dancing is great, and is usually a highlight to all our cruising.

........

Tiny Hoonah today, and I've decided to stay aboard.

The ocean on this trip has been painted with swathes of yellow tree pollen. Neither we nor the locals have ever seen the like. Hoonah shows ot more than most. There are floating tide lines of it, as well as the bay in general, and the shoreline in particular. The beach has a bit of a yellow tinting.

........

Heading south a couple of hours out of Ketchikan. Bernie and I are doing our usual early morning coffee-and-sit-about.

We saw a whale breech a bunch of times in rapid succession, and another farther away do it a few times more. They jumped 14 times between them.

Sometimes the early hour is pretty cool.

....and now it's almost noon, and I'm just back from town. Made it to Creek Street, which was my upper-limit goal. Helen kept going towards the totem park when I turned back.

My knee is on ice, but is only slightly swollen. A great day so far. I went wild and bought a tshirt, a bottle of Coke, and a mood ring. Haven't had a mood ring since I was a kid.

It thinks I'm calm and romantic.


 ........


 All that was left was a lovely day at see, and then being unloaded in Vancouver. I hope the people sleeping in MY cabin tonight appreciate it as much as I did.

Cruse7123

 It is go-look-at-a-glacier day. The ship manoeuvres as close as it can, and we oooh and ahhh from onboard. Helen is running around like a crazed squirrel.

I'm mostly waiting for breakfast. I must be dead inside.

 ........

Seward is the end of the line. A few, like us, stay on for the reverse trip back to Vancouver, but only a few. The vast majority leave, to be replaced with a new bunch.

It's mind blowing to think that many will be home in Texas, or New York later today, and some back to work tomorrow.

As a result, Seward doesn't experience the same kind of swamping that the other ports do. They get at most one ship per day.

Most of the cruise passengers never go to town. They are picked up or dropped off by busses and trains from Anchorage and never tour the town.

Dare I call it the most realistic Alaskan town we visit, and which is seen by the smallest number of cruise ship passengers. A paradox; it remains real only because few cruisers see it, while most who came here looking for an Alaskan reality miss it altogether.

I would love to toddle into town, but best not. In fact, of our party of five, only Helen and Lola are going ashore. They are going to the quilting store, in the real little downtown.

We docked a little before 5am, and leave tonight at 8:00. It takes a full day to swap out the passengers. It will be fun seeing them wandering about all glittery-eyed. Cruise ships can do that to you.

........

Back to the glacier we go. Not many early folks about at 4:30am. I guess getting to Seward to board is more tiring than sailing out of Vancouver.

Last night's dinner was the same as the one we had last week. We have all developed favourites already.

A very cool thing is that we have reached a new level of comfort here. All five of us are equally content together or apart. After dinner together, we split up and headed in various directions. Lola and Bernie went wandering, Helen had a swim, I went to the show, and who knows what Phyllis got up to?

........

Juneau. There's some mine that Helen wants to go see, and she doesn't want to go alone. We all know what that means.

I'm going to a mine.

...and I'm back. Helen is in town shopping a bit.

We grabbed a taxi on the dock who took us up about 2 miles to the mine/park place. It was lovely, and felt about as if a hundred miles from civilization.

Had to walk a bunch to see things, and then got a cab back driven by an Irish fellow.

Very painless in every way. Now I'm on a lounge chair looking out the windows overlooking the town.

Revolution

It is time for a revolution at Coast Martial Arts, our local Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school.

Our Blue Belt class has been largely content to receive training as it has been presented by our instructor. The teaching is top-notch, and clearly fits the students' needs, but it is geared towards solid learning.

I bet you can't see how that's a problem. Let me explain.

Of our ten Blue Belt students, 4 are starting to express a desire to take the Gracie University exam. This requires an entire different type of training. The nearest example I can give from the normal would be getting ready for a college final exam. The professor has already taught the material, and it's up to the student to study.

When I did it, I'd been doing extra test prep as I went through the course, and it still took me over an extra month of cram time before I actually performed the first exam section. I'd call one cram month to be a minimum, and two months would be much better.

The good news for our current folks is that there are a bunch of them interested at once. They can form a sort of study group, and can drill the material over and over together.

Interestingly, there are 3 more who are ready, and who could also become part of this team. That would make a group of 7. I did it as part of a group of 2, and know that more would have been much better.

The only possible glitch would be that for bureaucratic reasons, it is most efficient for future rank progress to do the Gracie University exam after earning a locally-awarded rank stripe. Of the potential group of seven, 3 have such local belt stripes.

 

Of the remaining 4, two are currently due local stripes, and a third will come due in about a month. The forth is greatly overdue, but missed a couple of years of training, and has only spotty current attendance. I bet if he were to join the exam/cram team, his attendance would tighten up greatly. There are no guarantees with these kind of local promotions regarding when they are awarded, but it looks pretty good for all 4 of these folks.

 

If all go for it, it would be a team of 7, all with local stripes or soon to have them.

 

For the 3 of not part of the group, it would also be beneficial. I'm that only one to have completed this exam, but it would be a wonderful review to be involved in. The other 2 folks have the test in their future, and working alongside the team would only help their readiness as well.

 

Call it two months of cramming, and by the fall we could see 7 students with shiny new Gracie University rank stripes on their belts, to add on top of existing locally-awarded stripes. They will have caught up to me, which would be great. It would also be wonderful for future new Blues to have such a large reservoir of seniors who are fully knowledgeable of the first level of Blue Belt material.

 

I hope they go for it.

 

I would.

Cruise456

Today we are at the most bizarre of the Alaska stops.

The cruise line calls it Icy Point Strait, but there's really nothing there. A couple of lines got together and had a stop built. An old fish cannery was all gussied up and filled with a museum and lots of shopping opportunities. A bunch of forest and ocean excursions were organized, and a mile-long zip line installed.

The didn't even bother to construct a ship-sized wharf. The tourist are all transported to the shore by tender boats.

There is a small village a couple of kilometers away out of sight. No Diamond stores there. The tourists vastly outnumber the 860 locals, but few ever wander into town.

Only Celebrity and Royal Caribbean stop here, and only one ship per day. It couldn't handle more.

........

Juneau is the largest of the quaint wee places we visit. Lots of cruise ship crap stores (jewelry), but with more of a real town attached.

This is the first stop where I've wandered ashore. Walked about a kilometre in to a drugstore and, of course, back. Popped into a few places along the way. No real issue with the knee, but it's on ice now.

........

Skagway today. It's my favourite stop. This is the only place with an important, if brief, role in history.

After its days of Gold Rush glory, it largely withered away until the cruise industry re-injected it with economic viability.

There are lots of funky old buildings, and a graveyard full of Gold Rush villains and heroes.

So there's the usual cruise shopping, funky streets to wander, and two decent museums.

I usually do most of that, which doesn't really take much time. I also go on a big run here; something pushing 20 k. This time it's not happening. Even the "streetwalking" could be an issue. Gonna just be a stay-on-boarder, which is fine with me.

I think Helen is worried that I'm not enjoying myself, but that's just crazy talk.

Hmmmm. Turns out that after shopping Helen headed to the wrong pier full of ships. She had to regroup and find ours, on the other side of the harbour. Her sense of direction is special.