Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Welcome Home

I sent the following email out to my students today:

This is just a quick note to announce that the building inspector has signed off on all the inspections, and we now have a certificate of occupancy to operate at 95 Everett Street!

So, effective immediately, all of our classes will be run in the new dojo space. Thank you for being so patient with crowded doorways, a small training floor, low ceilings, fluctuating temperatures, bathrooms way down the hall, trains passing just outside the window, and any number of other annoyances that you've quietly put up with.

But let's not forget that our old dojo was very good to us: I'm extremely grateful for the time we spent there, and I know that we'll still be telling the "dungeon dojo" stories many years from now.

There are still a few items in our old space that need to be moved across the street, but most of the heavy lifting is done. It will take us some time to get fully settled into the new place: We have furniture to assemble, mats to install, and lots of stuff to hang on the walls. (Yes, the skylights are coming. More on that later.) And of course, we have a ton of new memories to build!

Planning and coordinating this move has occupied most of my attention for the last couple of months. As you may have noticed, I've been distracted and a little out of focus lately, and the quality of our training has suffered as a result. I'm really looking forward to getting back on track with some good old-fashioned intensity!

For now, though, let's all relax for a bit and enjoy the view (unless, of course, you're testing on the 20th). We're in the process of slowing things down for the year, but the annual January workout training is just around the bend! Next month, we're really going to sweat and grind it out on the mat.

Our new, larger space will give us much greater flexibility in how we schedule and run our classes. You'll soon see some changes happening in the way we operate the dojo, but nothing too earth-shattering. I value your input and suggestions, so shortly, I'll be sending out an electronic survey to give you the opportunity to provide me with some feedback. Please keep an eye out for it!

Welcome home.