Candidate Journals

Grateful for someone saying yes to mentoring me tonight, now I just need to have a mentee.  What do we talk about?  Do I get a list of appropriate mentor topics? Let them pick? Pick a topic out of a hat? I'm also wondering where the test is so I can start preparing for it.  Pretty sure I'm just missing it somewhere.  Testing is this  Saturday, so I hope it pops up soon!

Today I made matcha tea for the first time. I'm excited to keep working on it and trying different recipes. I really want to work on enhancing my drink making skills (coffee, tea, etc.). While I was drinking it, I find a few videos on YouTube on how improve the flavor and different add-ons. 

I worked on poomsaes using the Kukkiwon Youtube. I only review Il, Eh, and Sam. 

Ms. Suzanne and I worked on hopkido 4 last Saturday with guidance from the Grandmaster Lees demo video and in person guidance from Instructor Jen. I didn't think I could learn hopkido from reviewing videos, but after watching hopkido 5 today, multiple times, I feel comfortable with the steps. I'll still need to practice it in person and with an instructor for technique, but at least I'm more familiar about it. Hopikdo it not my favorite thing to practice, so learning it can be a bit overwhelming.  

I was born in Yarmouth, Maine. As a kid had a lawn mowing business, worked in a lumber yard and on the back of a lobster boat. I always knew that I wanted to be a Doctor. I didn't get into medical school the first time. Therefore, I went back home and lived with my parents for the year, worked in a biotechnology company, took a Paramedic course and got a Golden Retriever named Georgia. I re-applied to medical school and got in. I met my wife at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. We then moved to Rochester NY where we were for seven years. We had three children while in training. We then moved to Albany, NY in 2010 after my training had finished. We lived outside of Albany for three years, then moved to Cornelius. We have been in Cornelius since late in 2012. I currently work at Levine Children's Hospital in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, my wife Sara also works at LCH as a Pediatric Hospitalist. Our children are now 11, 14, 15 years old and go to school in Cornelius. 

Updated bio as of 2026. Opened King Tiger Harrisburg with Master Knight back in 2019 and still going strong. Teaching martial arts and running a school has been the highlight of all my years on this planet. I love my students. Love watching them become more than what they thought they could be. I love the families that come through my door. They are a blessing to me and have made a great community in our school. I love learning martial arts, whether it's training with Grand Master Evins, Master Reyes with Combat Hapkido, Master Melegrito with Philippine Combatives, they all add so much value to me and expand my horizons. I love working side by side with my sons, Connor and Trent, helping to grow our school together is a dad's dream. I come from a military background with the Air Force which helped shape my discipline and gave amazing adventures all over the world. Originally from the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. Still love the mountains and love to get out and hike or mountain bike whenever I can.