Bill Menees's Blog

I went to my school's 1^st degree black belt test on Saturday. At the beginning of the test Mr. Jones said that he was going to do something that he’d never done before in the history of the school. He said he wanted to thank a very special student that had helped him and the school out a great deal and already had all the qualities he’s looking for in a student…(then a bunch of other nice words, followed by)…

“and that’s why I'm promoting Bill Menees to 2^nd degree black belt today. He’ll test later, but he deserves this today.”

I was stunned and very honored. I kind of stumbled my way to the front wondering if it was a joke or something. :-) Everyone was very congratulatory, and Mr. J told me he wanted me to test in a couple of months with another student that’s getting ready for 2^nd degree. It was wild, and I don’t think my mind has quite adjusted to it yet. But it’s pretty cool. I'm just blown away by it.

Labels: Martial Arts

The Road To Shodan is finally listed on Amazon.com! Unfortunately, for now they're one of the most expensive places to buy it. They're charging the full retail price of $15.95, which is odd since they usually discount everything. Two retail book sellers in Amazon Marketplace are actually charging more than retail price for it.

The cheapest place to get it is still from the publisher via RoadToShodan.com. Of course, if you order it through Amazon as part of a "free super-saver shipping" order, then the savings on shipping might make that option cheaper.

Labels: Martial Arts

"The Road To Shodan" is listed on Barnes and Noble now! The funny thing is that it costs more at B&N than it does through my site, but I make less royalties when they sell it. Oh well, exposure to a wider audience is worth it.

It's still not on Amazon yet, but it should be within the next two weeks. It'll be interesting to see what they charge for it.

Labels: Martial Arts

It took 16 months of work on and off, but The Road To Shodan: A Guide To Reaching First Degree Black Belt is finally available for purchase! You can order a copy for $12.95 from http://www.roadtoshodan.com.

It's available now through the publisher, and in 6 to 8 weeks it should be available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and other fine book stores. It probably won't be on any retail store's book shelves for a while, but that's dependent on how well I advertise it. Amy's already formulating a marketing plan...

Labels: Martial Arts

I went to a martial arts seminar last weekend hosted by Danny Chapman and the IKSA. Mark Shuey, Sr., the founder of CaneMasters, was there, and he showed us some basic cane self-defense drills. I was very impressed! The effectiveness of the cane as an offensive and defensive weapon is awesome.

I bought a nice, lightweight oak cane. It's the ICHF model, and it's pretty wicked. It's stained a dark brown, but otherwise it looks similar to the Oak Black Belt Cane. Since I bought my cane directly from Mr. Shuey, I got it for $75 instead of the advertised $139.95. My wife thinks that was still too high, and she doesn't want me to carry it around everywhere. :-(

I actually like carrying a cane. It's comfortable when walking, and it's fun to twirl and practice with. I've only hurt myself with it twice so far! Some have suggested that I also like it because it's a bit of a phallic symbol, but I'm not so sure about that...

Labels: Martial Arts

My martial arts book, "The Road To Shodan" is almost ready. This weekend I finished the front and back covers (visible at http://www.roadtoshodan.com/), and I uploaded the "final" PDF to Lulu.com. TRTS has an ISBN now (978-1-84728-379-5), and I've order the review copy of the book. Once I approve it, then it will be published in Ingram's "Books In Print" list, and a few weeks after that it will be for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Border's, etc. That's when the tens of dollars will start rolling in...

Labels: Martial Arts

I've created this blog for a few reasons:

• I'm a programmer, and I have several CharityWare apps available on http://www.menees.com/. When I update any of them, I can use this blog to notify anyone that cares.
• I'm a martial artist, and I'm writing a book called The Road To Shodan: A Guide To Reaching First Degree Black Belt. I'm going to self-publish it sometime later this year using lulu.com, and I plan to communicate publically about the book through this blog.
• I'm a beginning knifemaker, and I'll be publishing photos of my knives and stories of my workshop experiences. Hopefully I can get feedback from a wide group of people here.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, please subscribe to my feed. If you'd like to know a little more about me, you can see my short biography at http://www.conradjoneskarate.com/.

Labels: Knifemaking, Martial Arts, Software