About

Who am I?

That’s me – I don’t really like that picture, but I figure it should get some use somehow. I’m a third degree black belt in Taekwondo, who fell off the tkd wagon hard-core about two years ago…long story. After a year of kickboxing, I injured my foot, and was practically unable to walk for a few months, and unable to do anything on my feet without pain for over a year. Needless to say, I got pretty freaking out of shape. I am just getting back to activity, and recently rejoined my old school. It’s going to be a long road back, but being back at Taekwondo, even in limited capacity, makes me feel like I have myself back, so I’m happy. I love Taekwondo, martial arts, and I’m a huge nerd. What makes me happy? Taekwondo does. Making kids smile does. Teaching kids with respect, and seeing them respond and grow into capable martial artists, that does too.

I recently went back to school to get a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, with an emphasis in health psychology. “What’s that?” you say (everyone does). Health psychology is basically anything that’s looking at how the mind affects the body and our health. So it’s a pretty broad field. My personal interests are in the area of physical activity and obesity prevention and treatment, and how to increase the number of people who are physically active. The benefits of physical activity are almost countless, both physically and mentally, but getting people to do it is hard…that’s the problem I want to crack. I hope to go on for a doctorate, but that might take a few more years of building up my resume, since doctoral programs are crazy competitive.

What’s Kaizen?

Kaizen was originally a Japanese business concept – it’s a theory of constant improvement, making small changes to make things a little better. It’s a theory for business, but it resonates with me and with my life. Sometimes I think it’s a little cheesy, but I like it. Taekwondo is a constant series of improvements, of making this kick better than the last one, and constantly improving until moves that were unthinkable a year ago become simple – and that’s Kaizen. Want to know more? Check out this handy Wikipedia page! I love the internet.