Mad Dog as a Buddhist

Here's a piece of flagrant, time-wasting, filler (nod to LitBrit).

Mad Dog's name "translated" into Buddhist is, apparently, Bodhisattva Boundless Wisdom.

Bodhisattva Boundless Wisdom, eh? It has a ring to it, don't you think...?

What's yours?

My next post will be about rallying, I promise.

Martial Arts Milestone

A fine suit of Yoroi. Photo taken by MD in either Kyoto or Tokyo in 1983.

I've had no time to blog since my return from France. Apart from getting back on an even keel at work I've also been preparing frantically for an iaido test. I'm delighted to say that after a very stressful examination earlier today I've achieved the modest rank of sankyu. So now I'm an officially documented swordsman. My thanks go to my colleagues and superb instructors at Musokai.

Rally reports will follow shortly...

Friday Music Blogging: Bonnie Tyler

It's hard to believe that this song is 32 years old but it seems appropriate for my activities last week. Normal blogging will be resumed as soon as I've finished digging out of the admin pile which resembled an Alpine Col at the beginning of the week. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Back to Reality

Mad Dogs attack snowy conditions with gusto en route to Monte Carlo

Well, the rally adventure is over for another year. I got back to Seattle about 12 hours ago after an exhausting 80 hour journey from Monte Carlo. A full account of our adventures will be forthcoming after I've unpacked, dealt with the laundry, soothed stroppy cats, attended to admin, dealt with the email deluge at work (urgh!) and done the usual post-trip fire-fighting.

So for now it's enough to say we didn't win the rally and on day 4 we had a minor flirtation with some iron railings that broke our steering rack and put paid to our chances. But this was without doubt the most exciting and fun event ever and I can't wait to have another go in 2009. More soon...