The near ending of the-not-quite-dreary summer

Summer is winding down for us all. We went away as a family to Virginia and Pennsylvania to see some Civil War Battle fields, presidents' houses and gardens. Our basement flooded in Hurricane Irene and we paid lots of money to have a guy pump the three feet of water out. We missed our end of summer family camp experience at a Y camp which was decimated due to post-hurricane flooding. I've been home all week taking day trips with the kids. School starts next week and that's good.

The shihan of my dojo pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault on a 15 year old and aggravated criminal sexual contact with another 15 year old. The dojo has changed hands but the shihan's wife still co-owns it and he still pops in. He'll be sentenced in a few months to 3 years in jail followed by 15 years of community supervision. I feel bad for his kids but am conflicted by seeing his wife, Mrs Shihan, who looks 10 years old than she did before this mess. Mrs Shihan is not really a good kickboxing instructor and while she is probably doing the best she can under the circumstances, how can she remain with the shihan? As I said before, I am sticking around until I get my black belt which should happen early next year about when my contract expires.

The political world drags on and with each passing day, I regret even more my vote for Obama. Not that I would have voted for McCain. I wish there were more choices and more parties in the United States. I hate that we are stuck with two parties. This seems to lead to the staggering stagnation we now endure. I'll blog more about this later perhaps. Right now, I just want to get my blogging juices flowing again so that I can return to blogging more frequently.