Administrative Notes 26 November 2002

November 2002.

This month we have a whack of stuff for our upload. Many many thanks to Chris Spackman again for his tireless work in making this site run as smoothly as it does. Chris does all the html, web design, and making sure that things look groovy. He is the patron saint of KTJW and his face is on a dashboard figurine I keep in my car. I like it, especially with the head bobbing all over the place.

For this upload we have finally the much promised section called KTJW on TOUR. This is a section about the travels and adventures that Taniguchi-Sensei and I get to experience through karate. The first chapter of this section is our trip to Abbotsford, British Columbia and our incredible visit with the Abbotsford Seikukan karate club. Read all about it and check out the stack of photos included. We had a great time. Thanks again Harry and Manjit!!!!

There is also another new section on this site -- Karate Publications. This is a section of the site that reviews and refers to karate, and martial arts publications. I am thrilled to have been able to pick up my three favorite to launch this new section. Go there now and subscribe to all three if you haven't yet. Great stuff for your body and mind.

In addition, there are also three new book reviews, a page of letters, and a much needed link. Go and see the damage I have wrought.

You may also notice that this site now has a Guestbook. Please take a moment and leave your comments at the door. I thought that I should, like everyone else run a Forums section, but that would be just silly. There are much better Forums up and running in corners of cyberspace much more interesting than anything I could cook up. But I also needed a place where people can leave a note, without feeling obliged to write a letter. I hope the Guestbook fits the bill. Comments and notes by my immediate family will be ruthlessly edited.

Lastly, Chris and I have started the process of setting up links to amazon.com. The reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, I would like to have a link to help people actually purchase the books and videos that get reviewed here. We are also going to include links to non-amazon.com places too so people, upon reading the reviews that I have carefully cooked up can actually go and order a copy of whatever they like for themselves. Secondly, amazon.com writes a check to guys that have people who refer customers to them. And although I don't begrudge a single nickel I have spent on this site, it would be nice to not have to pay as much as I do for it.

Interestingly enough, I got a very nice email from a fellow in high school who said that he liked my site so much he would like to support it through some of the proceeds he gets through his part time job. I told him that that would not be necessary. He should bank his cash and go to college. But for those of us with credit ratings, amazon is a pretty passive way to support the efforts of this site, should you see fit.

I hope that you enjoy the updated material. It is always a pleasure to do this site, and to create what is becoming a very popular and expanding site. Thanks also to people who write letters. I just love getting that stuff in my Inbox.

That all said and done, I hope you have a moment to cruise around the site again and check on the updates. Let us know how we did.

Cheers to one and all.

Mark

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