A Few More Things

I know, you have heard me say I am almost there too many times. Well, hopefully this time I am but it will still take me a couple more days to work this out.

Here’s the deal.

The eBooks are compiled and work perfectly. YAAY!

Now I am running into a small glitch running the security segment against the test eBook. After pouring over the Help files and talking to the programmer, I believe I have it figured out but it will take me a bit more testing to make sure vs just throwing it out there and hoping for the best (like many well-known corporations do. And we all know who they are because they leave us hanging, which is something I will not do to you).

You see, the eBooks will carry their own registration vs always having to talk to the server. Previously, you had to wait for me to manually create a userid and password, and then send it to you. You also had to be connected to the Internet periodically in order for the eBook to ensure an active registration.

That no longer applies with the new process. Immediately upon download, you can register right then and there in order to have immediate access. After registration, you will no longer have to be connected to the Internet, either. The books will always run offline from that moment on.

Now, to do that requires a bit of coding, which is what the new security module does. There are, however, a few steps to take that were a bit confusing for me. I am quite comfortable with coding, technically-oriented materials, etc., but there was just something about all of this was still not making sense.

Well after going over the Help files more, and even emailing with the programmer, now I understand the jist of things. There were a few steps I was leaving out but those were the ones that were crucial for the registration process. Now that I understand it, I will need to adjust a few things here and there, do one more test, and then that’s that.

For all of this to happen, I need a couple more days. I absolutely hate it when people throw stuff out to the masses and expect them to figure it out for themselves, and I refuse to do that with you. I want this entire process to be as seamless as possible for you, and with all that I am doing, it will. The burden is on me, not you, and it will be well worth it when I hear how quickly you were able to get in without any hassles.

For you, you will never see what is really happening in the background with all the checks, verifications, registration, etc, but none of that matters. After verification, all you will see is a code to type. Type the code, it will register, and that is that. Everything is running internally and lickety split you are immediately into your book.

To do all of that, though, will still take me a few more days to ensure it is all running properly and that our test books are being registered with no problems.

Again, the great thing for you is two-fold. First, you will have immediate access after purchase. No more waiting for me to create a username, create a password, copy your email text, then send it along. Instead, boom. Right then, right there after purchase you will have access to your eBook and it will also be very protected. You will still have the assurance that you will not find your eBooks plastered all over the Internet for free! (current customers will be receiving their passwords directly from me. You will not need to re-purchase anything, I guarantee it)

Second, you will also enjoy training your media offline without having to periodically connect to the Internet anymore. Once you are registered, you are registered. The eBook locks to your computer and that’s that.

For myself, this is also a good step forward because if someone orders at a time when I am not online, it could be hours before they receive their access. I have always wanted to automate things and now it will be so that you have instant access with no delays.

So, please give me a few more days to iron things out and get the test modules verified. Once that is done, we will begin issuing notes to download your newest copies so that you can get back into your eBooks!

But Still Good

After receiving this, I thought it was too good. Normally I do not like to post non-Wing Chun materials but I thought this one was worth the laugh.

Student Who Obtained 0% on Exam

(I would have given him 100%, plus extra credit)

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?
A. His last battle.

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
A. At the bottom of the page.

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
A. Liquid

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
A. Marriage

Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
A. Exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
A. Lunch & dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple?
A. The other half

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
A. Wet

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
A. He sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
A. You will never find an elephant that has only one hand.

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand, and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?
A. Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
A. No time at all. The wall is already built.

Q13. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
A. Any way you want. Concrete floors are very hard to crack.

A Few Final Checks

What a ride, eh? When you become dependent on a specific process and then suddenly that process gets disrupted, it sure throws a monkey in the wrench.

So where are we with things? We are back on track and will be providing access to all eBooks this weekend.

Last week I thought the process was corrected but later found a few glitches were still hanging us up. With the help of my students, though, doing a lot of downloading, testing and re-testing various versions, I am happy to report that it all seems to be working even better than before.

Compiling an eBook is no problem. Grab any compiler and you are off and running. As mentioned in a previous post, though, I consider “security” to be a priority. I want to ensure that your eBook purchases are fully protected and you do not spend your hard-earned money for something that you can then find for free on the Internet.

To that end, my original fall-back compiler ended up being more hassle than it was worth. It is good for single purchases but when you deal with multiple eBooks, it was just a lot more trouble than I anticipated. So after spending a lot of time reviewing product reviews and testing eight other compilers for myself, I found the winner and began moving our eBooks to it.

It will take me a few days to get it all moved over and uploaded, then all purchase links will be re-activated (including our distance program). All customers will receive an email to download their updated copies, too, and then we should be all set.

Once finished, Iwill make one last announcement here and then we can put this little bump in the road to rest. I am itching to get back to work on Volume 4: Biu-Tze, as well as Volume 5: Muk-Yan-Chong. We have lots to do and 2012 is going to be a great time for all of us, so stay tuned while we finally wrap things up and get training again!

Free & Effective

For those interested in purchasing fitness/nutrition software but you are not sure which program to go for, let me suggest the one I use: MyFitnessPal.com

Rather than a program that creates workouts or menus for you, MyFitnessPal is a simple tracker that lets you input what you eat and how you exercise. It calculates total calories, carbs, protiens and fats, as well as displaying how much you have burned during your training.

Not only is it a great program to keep track of things, but it is also FREE. Many tracking programs cost $9.95 and up, but MyFitnessPal is completely free, logging your activity is a breeze, and there is also a mobile app. I especially like the mobile app because you can immediately log what you are doing without having to sign in to your PC. Sign in, log your food or activites, and you are done.

For those looking for software that actually create exercise and/or meal plans for you, MyFitnessPlan.com is not what that is about. It is solely about tracking so that you can see your total caloric, carb, protein and fat intake throughout the day so that you can make smarter choices. Keeping track as you go along is a very big part of just simply being aware of what and how much you eat.

I have looked at a lot of software and even tried a few of their free trials. While I have no doubt that they are good, this is one of those times when “free” actually does fit the bill.

Never Withdraw?

This is one that you will hear quite often:

In Wing Chun, we never retreat. We always go forward, and if we can’t, we step sideways to take advantage of the incoming attack. But under no circumstances should you ever go backwards or retreat.

Every time I hear someone say that, I wonder how much of the system they have actually trained. Have they ever worked against someone not in their own lineage? Have they ever fought someone in a completely different martial art?

I wonder this because even though many practitioners say it, their own system is showing them the exact opposite. Case in point, Hau-bo.

From the very beginning, a practitioner is shown how to set up their stance in order to assume the Yee-chi-kim-yeung-ma position. From here, they are taught to Huen-bo, or Forward Circling-step. This is our first step in footwork on getting from point A to point B. You cannot fight by being a stationary target, right? There has to be some lower body action.

With Huen-bo, we continue to Juen-ma, or Frontal-stance/Lead-leg stance. Now you have a choice: to return to Yee-chi-kim-yeung-ma, you either have to Huen-bo with the other leg, or you return the lead-leg back to its starting point. If you choose the latter, it is not just a sublime action; instead, it is Hau-bo.

Hau-bo, or Backward Circling-step/Withdrawing-step, is vital to efficient footwork. You need competent footwork in all directions – forward, sideways, and moving backwards. Without it, what do you do when you encounter a skillful fighter that is driving in on you and you cannot side-step?

Yes, tactics state that we engage with a number of responses, but when it becomes purely force vs force, what then?

If your attacker is more powerful and you cannot go forward (because he is driving fully into you), you naturally want to give way to that force and side-step. When you work with exceptional fighters of other methods, though, you will find that this is not as easy as you think (or as easy as your Si-Fu is telling you).

It is not an easy thing to merely side-step a skilled fighter. He/she is prepared for any angle in relation to your reaction, and in most cases, you are getting set up for a follow up attack. Driving you sideways is exactly what they want because before you know it, you are getting dropped with a shin to the side of your knee.

Tactically, when force is driving you backwards and you cannot move sideways, simply “go with the flow” and Hau-bo in order to remain in fist-fighting range. Many will forget that Wing Chun being primarily a fist-fighting method means that the majority of our tactics work to either move us into that range or respond for reacquiring that range should we be driven to a different range.

Hau-bo is simply another option to keep us in fist-fighting range, so yes, it is vital to competent footwork. Those stating that they never step backwards probably do not train the wooden dummy then, either, because Hau-bo is how you move from a lead-leg position at the side back to the front. Some might still say no, but then how do they get back to the front?

Competent footwork requires step training in all directions, and learning to withdraw is included. Hau-bo simply re-positions us according to force, and without that, your body and footwork is severely limited.

One More Time

Well, here we go again. What I “thought” was fixed turned out not to be. Sort of. But hopefully it is now.

After repeated testing, the eBook’s security features worked fine for myself and our testers, but after making it available, not everyone was able to get in. It seems the passwords I generated were hit-and-miss. Some were able to get in, some were not.

So here is the current plan.

Another compiler was used to re-generate the eBooks, plus using its built-in password generator. For whatever reason it liked those vs mine, and all who have tested so far have now been able to get in. It is a bit more long-winded than I want but it does get you back in, and that is the important thing. Volume 1 is working again so I will be re-compiling the eBooks in that compiler and making them available. I will then re-activate all links and our DLP so folks can sign up and continue purchasing eBooks.

I have been working on this since just after Thanksgiving so this is a road bump I am happy to finally get around.

In the meantime, I will also continue working with the other compiler’s tech support to debug the automated coding so that it becomes streamlined for you. When that happens and the new books are available, there will be no need to re-download. The books will be the same so a re-download will not be necessary.

When the revised copies of all books – as well as our upcoming release of Volume 4: Biu-Tze – becomes available, the new process will already be in place and we will keep going without interruption. You would never know any of this happening but I like keeping you informed of what I do, why I do it, and what I am doing to keep improving things.

eBooks are actually very easy. You write your content and then deliver it in whatever format you prefer. Some choose PDF, others HTML. I prefer HTML and then compiling it to an EXE program for Windows. A compiler is just a simple program for taking all of your HTML files, images, video files, etc., and packaging them into one neat, little file so that anyone with a Windows PC can view it.

Compilers come in all flavors, from free and very basic to expensive and feature-laden. I do not care about most of the features they come with, but what I do care about is the security and how they are protected. After all, who wants to purchase something with their hard-earned money, only later to find it for free on the Internet?

The compiler I was using previously was really the only one at the time that could maintain security, until they sold their business. Now, however, there is another solution. That solution is also completely automated so once you purchase an eBook, I would no longer have to generate and send your username/password; instead, it does it all for me and even displays it there on the page for you so that you can have instant access.

Well, with each eBook having its own download page, it appears be to clogging up the works for how the new eBook program approaches it. The process I used before is not applicable to how the new program runs, and it is tripping me up on how to deliver the eBooks using “their” process. I know it is possible, I just have to change how I approach it and begin using that specific process. Testing has gone really well but something somewhere is still amiss.

In the meantime, I purchased another popular compiler and that one is doing very well. The security is good and I am confident that it will serve the purpose for the time being. The only real issue I have with it is that it takes a few manual steps to send your password vs being fully automated. It is no issue for you; rather, it is on my side where the work is seen.

So, we will use this new compiler while I work through the steps of automating everything. Once it is automated, you will not need to re-download anything because the books will still be the same. Only when I revise all books in the new templates with more photos, new videos, more content, etc., will you need to re-download your copies.

eBooks Available Again

All previously-available AWCA ETS-related eBooks are now available again and I will be making the purchase buttons available in just a few moments. Customers have been notified but please send me an email that you need a password. It seems that many email addresses are no longer working and I would like to clean things up.

Thanks to everyone for their very kind patience while we worked through it all. We are back on track, though, and I am itching to get back to work with the new site and Volume 4: Biu-Tze!

Siu-Nim-Tau & Chum-Kiu

Volume 1: Siu-Nim-Tau and Volume 2: Chum-Kiu of the eBook Training Series have been recompiled, tested and uploaded. All customers have been notified to download the new versions. If you run into any problems at all, please let me know immediately. The PIN codes are a new feature and I am hoping there will be no issues. However, if there are, please let me know so that I can check in to it.

Volume 3: Chi-sau is a different story.

There are four complete workbooks in Volume 3, and it seems that the PIN codes are having a fit with being on the same page. Therefore, I believe the only workaround is to combine all books into one complete volume vs separately. That will take a bit to do but definitely possible, so that is the direction I am going.

I need to combine the files and then re-organize the Table of Contents so that everything links correctly. Naturally that is a bit of work. One book is long enough, much less combining four into one. That, however, is the goal and what I will be working on.

Thank you for your patience while I continue working through all of this. We are getting back to where we were, and even implementing enhancements along the way. The result will be the best digital training workbooks available and I continue to keep that as the goal. Customers of Volume 3 will be notified to download their copies just as soon as it is ready.

Final Check

All eBooks have been re-compiled and are going through the final checks to ensure that 1.) all current members can re-gain access, and 2.) all future customers will be able “to” access the books.

What a ride, eh? So here is what I am doing in case this happens again.

The eBooks will still use a verification code and will periodically “call” the Internet. This is a necessary element to ensuring that you do not find your purchased books on the Internet for free. After all, who wants to spend their hard-earned money only later to find the same thing on the Internet that someone hacked, right?

Your investment is important and I try my best to ensure that it remains secured.

That being said, should we ever encounter this again where a registration server suddenly goes away, all files have been archived and can be immediately re-deployed via another method directly through a password vs a registration server. In this way, should the same thing happen again I can have you back in your books in no time at all.

I guess in one way this was a good thing because it forced me to introduce this streamlined method now rather than later. I wanted to do it, anyway, but it just happened before I was ready. Still, it is now to a point where we are checking the final links and making sure everything is good prior to announcing that you can download your updated editions.

I will post one last note about it tomorrow morning after everything is verified, and then we can put this little bump to rest for good. Once again, thanks to everyone for their patience and well-wishes while I worked through this. It was needless and not a fault of my own, but still I take full ownership because it involves our work. I have refined the process so it is much smoother and easier, so again, maybe it was a good thing to do it now vs later.

Good For Wing Chun?

Guess we will find out, because last week I started a 6-week kettle bell program via Kettleworx. I have always wanted to go through a kettle bell workout but admittedly I didn’t see the big deal about it. After all, what is the difference between a kettle bell and a dumbbell?

But after just two workouts, I really like it. What I like the most about it so far is that it uses the entire body for most movements rather than a dumbbell’s isolationist actions. Because the entire body’s 400 muscles are being engaged simultaneously as much as possible, it does not feel like “just” a workout; rather, it is movement that is applicable to any sport or endeavor.

As I get further along in the program I will write an in-depth review to see how a kettle bell program enhances or degrades our Wing Chun. Some programs are great for fitness yet not-so-great for our Wing Chun, and with the kettle bell craze still in full swing, I think it is very important to see what it does from someone who is actually doing it.

Stay tuned for next week’s update.