DOT Net Rocks live in Atlanta

This past Friday night, I had the opportunity to be present at the last stop on the .NET Rocks tour. For those who do not know, .NET rocks is the best pod cast available for .NET developers. I have been listening for a few months now and was so impressed, I went back and downloaded all the shows for the past couple of years. The hosts, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell give the show a good mix of technology and entertainment, something that is missing among us computer geeks. I was excited to get to watch the recording of one of the shows live. The Road tour began 3 weeks ago on the west coast, hit 15 cities, and ended in Atlanta.

The guest was Brandon Watson, who is responsible for the Windows 7 phone developer experience. I felt extremely fortunate to be at this recording as I am one of the many developers gearing up to write apps for this phone. Being able to hear the podcast first was incredible and having the opportunity to talk to Brandon made the trip well worth it. This phone is going to be incredible from the looks of it and I think it will give the IPhone a run for its money. To find out more about the phone and Mr. Watson, you can visit his blog http://www.manyniches.com/ or if you are interested in developing for this device, visit the Microsoft page http://developer.windowsphone.com/ .

If you are developer in Microsoft technologies, you should also consider subscribing to the podcast available at http://www.dotnetrocks.com. The shows are informative and downright fun to listen to. During the show, they go over selected .NET framework classes (briefly), read emails from listeners and interview relevant guests. The shows are about an hour long (perfect for my commute at this time).

After the show was recorded, we were treated to Carl's musical talents as he performed "Hesitation Blues" as done by Hot Tuna. As a guitar player myself, I really enjoyed the song (thanks Carl) and headed to ITunes when I got home to get more of Hot Tuna's music. Also, I must admit, I experience a first when one of the door prizes was a Fender Jazz bass guitar, of which I was one coin toss away from winning. :( I have seen some off the wall door prizes but that has to be the most off-the-wall-iest. Another treat was a demonstration by Richard of the testing features Visual Studio Ultimate and an attempted demo of Silverlight Streaming. W.C. Fields once said never share the stage with an animal or a child. I think you could add a temperamental broadband connection to the list as well. This is truly a great tool and I am excited to be able to work with it.

All in all, I was several hours later getting home than I told my wife I was going to be but I was having such fun, I figured it was worth getting in trouble. I didn't get in trouble but if I had, it would have been worth it. Thanks to Carl and Richard for putting together a great show, taking it on the road, and letting us experience it in a way we couldn't have experienced it otherwise. Thanks for a fun evening and I'll keep listening to .NET Rocks.

Three levels of knowing; Three phases of training

Not too long ago, one of my students sent me an excerpt from a book 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School. While I am not an architect, this person thought the concept was generic enough to be applied to many other aspects of life. I agree. The basic text of this is …

Three Levels of Knowing

SIMPLICITY is the world view of the child or uninformed adult, fully engaged in his own experience and happily unaware of what lies beneath the surface of immediate reality.

COMPLEXITY characterizes the ordinary adult world view. It is characterized by an awareness of complex systems in nature and society but an inability to discern clarifying patterns and connections.

INFORMED SIMPLICITY is an enlightened view of reality. It is founded upon an ability to discern or create clarifying patterns within complex mixtures. Pattern recognition is a crucial skill for an architect, who must create a highly ordered building amid many competing and frequently nebulous design considerations.

This passage was applied to the realm of architecture. However, I agree that the concept has much further reaching implications than to tie it to one area. I liked it but wanted to think about it some more so I printed it off and hung it on my cube wall. This morning I walked in, read it and had an epiphany. For years, I have had a philosophy that martial arts training can be categorized in three distinct phases. I saw this morning that the three levels of knowing are very similar to the three phases of training. The phases I believe are distinct, but the lines between the phases and the length of the phases can change depending on the student. In any case, I believe a student’s training falls into one of these categories.

Phase 1 – Instinct / Reaction
Responses to aggression are driven by a simple reaction. Most of the time, the reaction is driven by instinct and is not the correct or most efficient reaction. A student automatically reacts and has very little control over that response. For example, if an attacker throws a punch, the student may just throw his hands up in some random fashion and hope for the best. If this works, it would be a complete accident. All of this happens at a sub-conscious level.

Phase one of our training is like the SIMPLICITY level of knowing above. Everything is simple and unencumbered by the need to know that something is beneath the surface, waiting to hurt us. When it pops up, we have no idea how to deal with it properly.

Phase 2 – Planning / Thinking
Responses to aggression are driven by thought, calculation and planning. We are trying to use what we learn in class to deal with the aggressive (verbal or physical) behavior. In this case, a student is trying to identity when that punch comes in, analyze it, and respond with the appropriate defense. This could be a block/counter punch, a parry, or an attempt to move out of the way and redirect. The student sees the complexity of the attack and is trying to deal with it the best way he knows how. If he is correct in identifying the attack and is quick enough to implement the correct defense, then he is successful. Otherwise, the defense is too slow and he is hit. All of this happens at a conscious level.

Phase two is like the COMPLEXITY level of knowing in that we are now aware of what is going on but in order to deal with it, we really have to think our way through things. As a result, sometimes we are unable to discern the patterns in of our attackers and unable to formulate the appropriate response in time.

Phase 3 – Instinct / Reaction
Responses to aggression are driven by a simple reaction. The difference this time is that after years of training the body, mind and spirit, reactions are now based on a “new” instinct and are usually much more efficient and effective reactions. This time, at the first hint of an attack, his body reacts without thinking. He has trained enough to know the correct response without thinking about it. He automatically reacts the right way. He is now back to reactions from the sub-conscious level but with an aspect of awareness blended in.

Phase three of our training is like the INFORMED SIMPLICITY level of knowing. In both cases, we have come full circle and are now able to deal with the complexities of our environment but from a deeper, simpler understanding. Your mind and body work together in harmony to recognize and defend against the attack without planning and even much thought. The defense is now a trained reaction.

The more I go through life, the more I learn that all things are interconnected and the number of “rules” that govern the universe is not as many as one would think. Concepts we learn in one area of our life are quite often relevant to other parts of our life as well.

Generate sequential numbers within a grouping in SQL Server

This article will discuss how to generate sequential numbers within a grouping in a SQL server table. I will say right up front, I know that set based operations are best and that any kind of cursor or looping should be avoided if possible. I have not been able to come up with a solution based purely on sets. This solution does not involve a cursor but it does involve a loop. Also, the data is being stored in a table variable so that limits what you can do. Having said all that, here is what I set out to accomplish. Suppose you have the following table structure.

Declare @Tab Table
(
  ID UniqueIdentifier not null default NewID(),
  Parent int not null,
  Description char(20),
  GrpRowCounter int
)

The ID uniquely identifies eac record. The Parent field is the field we are interested in grouping. The Description is there for flavor and the GrpRowCounter should be the value 1,2,3, etc... within each Parent grouping. Now that we have the table, let's load it up with sample data.

Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (10,'ABC')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (10,'DEF')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (30,'GHI')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (30,'JKL')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (22,'MNO')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (30,'PQR')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (30,'STU')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (10,'VWX')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (22,'YZ1')
Insert Into @Tab (Parent, Description) Values (30,'234')

Notice that we did not populate the GrpRowCounter field just yet. The next step is to populate the table with that information. Since we are using a table variable, I selected to go with a loop structure. This loop structure will visit each of the rows in order and add the GrpRowCounter. For the code, we are going to follow this basic flow.

1. Visit each of the rows in order.
2. If the Parent code changes, reset our GrpRowCounter variable.
3. If the Parent code does not change, increment our GrpRowCounter.
4. Update the table.

Here is the code to do it.

Declare @ID uniqueidentifier  -- ID we are currently working with.
Declare @Parent int           -- parent we are currently working with.

Declare @TotalRows int      -- This holds the total number of rows in the table.
Declare @RowCounter int     -- This is my counter variable.
Declare @LastParent int     -- This holds the last looked up parent.  When a parent 
                            -- changes, the GroupRowCounter Resets
Declare @GrpRowCounter int  -- this holds the 1,2,3 per group.

-- this gets our maximum number of records so we know when to stop.
Select @TotalRows = COUNT(*) From @Tab   
-- Counter is initialized to 1.
Set @RowCounter = 1                      

While @RowCounter <= @TotalRows
Begin
    -- Get the current record.  We are using the Row_Number function to match the corect
    -- row back to the appropriate ID.  Also, notice we order on Parent first and then 
    -- on ID.
    Select @ID = T.ID, @Parent = T.Parent From @Tab T
    Inner Join (Select ID, ROW_NUMBER() Over (Order by Parent, ID) RowNum From @Tab) SubT
    On T.ID = SubT.ID
    Where SubT.RowNum = @RowCounter
    Order by Parent, T.ID
    
    -- Check to see if the Parent has changed.  On the first record, @LastParent 
    -- is null so it should fail and set the grp counter to 1
    IF @Parent = @LastParent 
        Set @GrpRowCounter = @GrpRowCounter + 1
    Else
        Set @GrpRowCounter = 1
    
    -- Now update the Record
    Update @Tab Set GrpRowCounter = @GrpRowCounter
    Where ID = @ID
    
    -- Now update the last parent
    Set @LastParent = @Parent
    
    -- Finally update our overall counter.
    Set @RowCounter = @RowCounter + 1
End

-- See the results
Select * From @Tab Order by Parent, ID

A Case for AikiTaiso

Introduction

Most every martial art that I have had the pleasure of practicing or at least observing
includes an aspect of training which involves sequences of movements designed to
practice just that; movement. In my karate study, one such exercise is called a
kata. Kata, in Japanese karate is a series of movements that mimic actual techniques
and build a scenario around an imaginary confrontation which is always (conveniently)
won by the performer of the kata. There are many papers and writings on the benefits
of kata, so it wouldn't be appropriate in this paper to go over all that. Instead,
this paper is about a similar concept that we find in our Aikido practice, Ki No
Taiso.

Ki No Taiso, or just taiso, is a collection of exercises that we perform at the
beginning of every class. According to AikidoJournal.Com, taiso is defined as “Aiki
exercises; refers to various movements and blending exercises practiced before training
in techniques; designed to teach the principle of aiki.” The taiso that most people
practice today originate with Koichi Tohei Sensei, one of O’Sensei’s senior students.
He was one of the first to see that O’Sensei was not only teaching techniques, but
that there were principles behind these techniques. Without a good understanding
of the principles, the techniques would never make much sense. To this end, he developed
many methods for teaching the four basic principles of ki, and one of the exercises
he used was taiso.

Not all aikido schools perform these exercises, and in my opinion, they are missing
out on a very important aspect of martial arts practice. The exercises that we perform
comprise many of the movements that we find in the majority of our techniques. By
practicing these movements ahead of time, we can teach the body the fundamentals
in a more controlled environment. This way, when the stress of the attack comes,
the body already knows about proper footwork, balance, posture, and other physical
aspects basic to performing aikido techniques. Also, from a more esoteric point
of view, these exercises help to train our spiritual side so that we can harness
the power of ki and more effectively execute the techniques the way they were designed
to be executed.

When I first started Aikido, I hated the taiso. I admit it without shame. I hated
it so much that I contemplated coming to class late to avoid it. Unfortunately,
I have met several students who do seem to show up late to class, seemingly just
to avoid these exercises. To miss this part of class is to be incomplete as a practitioner
of Aikido. Over the years, I have learned to see their value. Do I like them? The
answer to that is no not really. I suppose I should clarify that. I don't dislike
them but they are not my favorite part of class. I do, however, understand that
they play a vital role in my aikido training and for that, I am happy to practice
taiso and learn what they have to teach me.

What is Taiso?

Taiso is a set of exercises performed by the student while standing alone or in
a line. These exercises are simple, repetitive movements that reinforce movements
that are taught in class. No one is grabbing or attacking at this point. It is just
you and your body, moving and feeling. For example, we go through a variety of wrist
stretches, which teach us what it feels like to have a wrist lock performed, at
the same time warming up our joints to receive these locks while minimizing risk
of injury. We have other movements that stress good posture while moving your hips,
legs and feet in the right way.

Our school has about 28 separate taiso that teach posture, stretching, concentration,
relaxation, movement, ki extension and other basic principles of aikido. Some of
the taiso are exactly like a corresponding technique, while others are simply movement
drills designed to help you learn to move from the hip. In all, they encompass many
of the principles we learn in class.

What are the benefits?

As a teacher, I have come to love the taiso as a teaching aide that make my job
easier. Let me give you an example. In our taiso, we do what I like to call the
Aiki-Two-Step. This movement is where you step forward with one foot, and then spin
to bring your now back foot around behind you, winding up facing the other way.
We do this with Ikkyo Undo, Kokyu Ho, Ude Furi and other techniques. When I start
to teach a technique that involves this foot work, I often notice people don’t understand
how I am moving the way I move. This is when I relate what we are doing in the technique
back to what they are doing in the taiso. At this point, I like to see the light
bulb go on. They now have a link between what they practice at the beginning of
class with what they are doing on the mat right then.

If we take all this to the next step, then what I hope to accomplish as a teacher
is to use the taiso to teach the basics. That way, when I am showing how to move
into Kote-gaeshi, I don’t have to focus so much on the footwork. I can show them
the specifics of a joint lock and how the hand positions relate to each other. I
also don’t have to worry about posture. If the taiso are done with appropriate posture,
then it is not as big of an issue during the practice of the techniques.

How should you practice Taiso:

When practicing taiso, it should be done with concentration and treated with as
much respect as a technique. Taiso is a vital part of your training. When going
through the motions, try focusing on the following things.

1. Move your feet properly.
   This is a great chance to see what your feet are doing. Remember, if your foot is
   2 inches off the ground or 2 feet off the ground, it is still off the ground. You
   are not stable when your feet are not touching the ground.


2. Watch your posture.
   Pay attention to the way your body is positioned during the practice. Make sure
   that you are not moving your head out from over your body and your body out from
   over your hips. The farther your body parts are away from your center, the harder
   it is to keep your balance.


3. Pay attention to the people around you. While working on these skills, you should use this time to practice being aware of the people around you. Awareness is probably one of the most important skills in any martial art. You should never tunnel in and tune out the rest of the class


4. Watch your breathing. One of the things that does us in before class is over is when we run
   out of steam. This is exacerbated by not breathing properly. During the taiso, you
   don’t have anyone attached so relax, settle and breathe. The more you practice proper
   breathing, the greater chance you will have of it happening when you are not thinking
   about it.


5. Do this outside of class. Most Aikido needs to be done with a partner. Taiso gives you the opportunity to improve your Aikido movements without the need for a partner. Use them to improve the basic principles and you will find that when you do the techniques in class, you will have a better understanding of them and consequently, have more fun in class.


6. Focus on the four basic principles. This is an opportune time to focus on practicing the four basic principles as outlined by Koiechi Tohei Sensei: Focus on the one point, Relax completely, Keep weight underside, and Extend Ki.
   

One saying that I have grown to embrace over the years, I learned from Shihan David
Isgett. He told me “Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Practice makes permanent.” If we engage in less than perfect practice, then that
is what we will become. So the lesson here is to practice as close to perfection
as we can get, so that what becomes permanent is what we desire to become permanent.

What do others think of Taiso:

While putting together this paper, I have reviewed many posts online concerning
Taiso and found that there are varying opinions of whether or not this type of practice
is beneficial or worthy of our time. Understand that these exercises were developed
by one of O’sensei’s senior students in an effort to better understand and teach
the basic principles of aikido. Learn them well and your time in class will be much
better spent.

Other benefits:

Taiso also has other benefits in class. Some of them provide certain stretches that
help the student warm up. Other benefits include a good cardio vascular warm up.
I have even found some of the gentler movements, while holding your infant child,
can sooth them back to sleep at two-thirty in the morning. Learn to enjoy taiso
and your efforts will be rewarded.

Generating String Permutations Recursively in C#

This article will demonstrate a simple routine that uses recursion in C# to generate
a list of string permutations. I originally wrote this routine because I was
interested in a little bit larger project in which I thought a routine like this
would be useful. I had become interested in an online game where, given a
string of X number of characters, you see how many way you can combine the letters
in that string to make words. The program would go something like this.

1. Generate the permutations.
2. Break each permutation down into 3, 4, 5 ... X letter strings.
3. Check each break down against a dictionary, if in the dictionary, keep the word

So the first order of business was to generate every possible permutation of an
X character string. After working with a recursive routine, I managed to get
it down to a very simple few lines of code.

First, before going over the code, let's understand the concept. Let's
look at the permutations for a 2 character string. Let's say our string
is 'AB'. The possible permutations are

1. 'AB'
2. 'BA'

Very easy, we just switch the last two characters. Now if we want to get the
permutations for a 3 character string, Say 'ABC', that process is very simple
too.

1. Start with 'ABC'.
2. Swap the last two characters to get ACB
3. Now take the original string and move the A into the second to last position giving
   you BAC
4. Again Swap the last two characters giving you BCA
5. Now come back out and swap the first two characters giving you CBA
6. And finally swap the last two characters giving you CAB

If you want to do four characters, the process is the same. Permutate the
right most 2 characters, then swap in character 3 and do the permutations, then
swap in character 4 and do the permutations again. The beauty of the recursion
is that upon leaving one swapping operation, you can get back to an original string
(stored on the stack) and keep the permutations going. Since the calls use
the string lenght to determine how to proceed, you should be able to pass a string
of any length in and get the permutations. The only caveat is that the number
of permutations generated for any given string is exponential as the string get's
larger. The number of permutation is X ! given that X is the number of characters
in the original string. As you can see, it can get quite large pretty quick.

String Size	Number of Permutations	Time to Process
1	1 (1!)	Negligable
2	2 (2!)	Negligable
3	6 (3!)	Negligable
4	24 (4!)	Negligable
.....	.....
10	3,628,800 (10!)	7.27 Seconds
12	479,001,600 (12!)	Out of Memory error thrown.

The time to process above was done on a dual processor test machine running at 3
GHz with 2 Gig of internal memory. As you can see, with a short string, you
can generate many permutations. Get much more over 10 and you will start to
see some serious performance degradation. If you really need to generate permutations
on strings that large, consider disk storage.

Now that we have discussed the concept, let's look at the code. I have
encapsulated all of the code into one class. Here is the listing for that
class.

using System;
using System.Collections;

namespace Permutations
{
    // To save space, I have not used proper techniques of 
    // hiding attributes behind properties. There are
    // probably other things that haven't been done as well 
    // but I am just trying to show the concept.
    class PermutateString
    {
        // Holds the final array of permutations
        public ArrayList AL = new ArrayList();

        public PermutateString(string Source)
        {
            Perm("", Source);
        }

        private void Perm(string Beginning, string Shuffle)
        {
            // By the time the Shuffle length get's down to 1, 
            // we have another permutation to store.
            if (Shuffle.Length <= 1)
                AL.Add(Beginning + Shuffle);
            else
            {
                for (int Ndx = 0; Ndx < Shuffle.Length; Ndx++)
                {
                    // here, we move the character at the ndx position
                    // to the front of the line, then copy in the first 
                    // ndx characters of the string and then the characters
                    // after that. so if NDX is at 3 in the following string,

                    // then the string ABCDEF would become DABCEF. This loop
                    // pulls each postion out to the front of the line and then
                    // calls the Perm operation again.
                    Shuffle = Shuffle.Substring(Ndx, 1) +
                        Shuffle.Substring(0, Ndx) +
                        Shuffle.Substring(Ndx + 1);
              
                    // Now that we have moved the shuffled characters around a bit,
                    // we call the perm function again moving one of the characters back
                    
                    // to the beginning string.
                    Perm(Beginning + Shuffle.Substring(0, 1),
                        Shuffle.Substring(1));
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

It may be a little difficult to follow so the best thing to do is to copy the
code into your project and run it through the debugger. As you trace the
values of Beginning and Shuffle, you should see the logic unfold. Hope you
enjoyed this.

Mio Moov 500 - My thoughts and impressions.

I have been thinking about it and thinking about it and I have finally entered the age of the GPS enabled. The biggest factor against me purchasing a GPS system was indeed the price. Most of the units that were even halfway useful were cost prohibitive. I had traveled with several friends who had GPS systems and I really thought they were a wonderful invention. Well, this past Christmas and Birthday (they are very close together for me), I received some cash so I renewed my search for the perfect GPS. While out shopping with my wife, I stopped into one of the Radio Shack stores in the local mall and noticed they were having a GPS sale. I looked over the models they had; Garmin, Sony, Tom Tom, etc... but the good ones were all still too expensive ($299 and up). Then I see this model with a funny name, Mio (Me Oh). There was a nice, easy to see screen at 4.7" and the price was $129. This was definitely more my speed. So, off I went to research this particular unit but I didn't have much time as the sale was ending in 3 days. After doing my due diligence on Google, I found the people were pretty much happy with their Mio GPS systems. I decided to take a plunge with this one and so far, after one week of playing with it, I am not disappointed. In fact, I am so happy with it, I am inspired to share this with the rest of the internet world.

Here is what I think of the unit. Before I get started, this is not an article intended to give you the technical specifications of the device. Instead, I am giving you my opinion of it. If I include any specs, it is in that context. If I get a spec wrong, then it is wrong, look at the documentation for the correct spec.

Goods:
These are the things that I liked about the system. This is hardly an exhaustive list of the features.

• The system starts up and is ready to use right out of the box (with a little battery charging)
  The screen is easy to read. The screen is 4.7" I think and it is very clear and easy to read.
• The voice prompts are mostly accurate and very timely. I like the progression of warnings before a turn. I have had only one problem with this on I75/85 as it joins through Atlanta. The unit didn't handle this as I thought it should be everything else has been great.
• The resolution of where you are is mind bogglingly accurate. I can zoom in on the "me" icon and it places me on the map with incredible accuracy. In fact, close to my house is an interstate overpass. The DOT built a bridge right beside is so they could tear down the old bridge and rebuild it. If I am on the new bridge, only 20 feet or so from the old bridge, the unit thinks I am on the expressway and begins to recalculate my route. this can be annoying but is a logical effect of the bridge not being where the software thinks it is.
• The unit is very configurable. There are lots of configuration options including nighttime display, route planning, how much time/distance is favored, avoiding toll roads, avoiding freeways or not, and the list goes on.

Bads:
While I didn't find too much bad with it, I did find some things that I think could use improvement. Also, this may be that I just haven't figured out how to do this yet.

• Panning, Zooming and level of detail - I found that when you are on a trip, it is difficult to "pan ahead" and look at turns. If you zoom out, then you loose much of the road detail.
• The unit doesn't have a built in compass. It seems that it determines direction solely on movement so if you are in a parking lot, you actually have to hit the road to find out which way is which. I think a compass would be a nice addition.

Overall:
I am very impressed with this unit. I have programmed in all my normal destinations and it get's me there the quickest way. I have even found a few places where I didn't know where I was going and the trip was flawless. I am sure as I use it more, I may find some problems but for the most part, it is accurate and very easy to use.

Suggestion:
In parting, I would have this suggestion. When you first get a GPS, I would use it right out of the box, even if you already know where you are going. This way, you become familiar with the unit and learn its quirks and how to operate it. The last thing you need is OJT when you are lost. Also, you may want to be aware that if you have roadwork going on, the trip planner doesn't take that into consideration so a little thinking may be required on your part to get around road closings. That is all and I hope this information has been helpful.

Brute Force Data Find Method for SQL Server

On several occasions, I have been tasked with finding some miscellaneous piece of information in a database. Usually, it is some Third party database that I am not that familiar with. For example, someone says, “I need to know where all the occurrences of a particular person’s email appears in this database.” My first approach was to try and find all the fields that might have EMAIL or MAIL or something like that in the title. I quickly found out that not all database designers are created equal. Standards are lacking and consistency is foreign word. To that end, I decided to create a brute force method for finding data. I may not be the quickest but it let’s someone else do the work; namely the database engine.

I am going to be using the Information_Schema views for this exercise. Since they are ANSI standard views, they should be compatible with future versions of SQL server as well. I try to stay away from system tables as there is no guarantee that they will remain consistent between versions. The way I decided to approach this was to query the Information_Schema.Columns view in order to retrieve a complete listing of tables and columns in the database. I use the results of this view to build another script which will actually do the work. This script I will call the “build” script. We will use the build script to build the “query” script.

The build script will consist of 3 parts; 1) create the table variable to hold the results, 2) populate that table with the results and 3) retrieve the values from the variable. Part 1 looks like this.

Build Script Part One
Set NoCount ON
Print 'Set NoCount On'
Print ''
Print 'Declare @Results Table '
Print '('
Print ' TableName varchar(50),'
Print ' FieldName varChar(50),'
Print ' FieldLength int,'
Print ' DataValue varChar(2000)'
Print ')'
Print ''

If we set the results screen in query analyzer to TEXT, then when we run this, it will generate the declaration much like you see it here. This will build the first part of the query script to declare the table value we will then populate. Part 2 will generate the statements to populate this. It looks like this.

Build Script Part Two
Select 'Insert Into @Results Select ''' + Table_Name + ''' as TableName, ''' +
Column_Name + ''' AS FieldName, ' +
Convert(varchar,Character_maximum_length) + ' as FieldLength, [' +
Column_Name + '] as DataValue ' +
'From [' + Table_Schema + '].[' + Table_Name + '] ' +
'Where Upper([' + Column_Name + ']) Like Upper(''%Prestwick%'')'
From Information_Schema.Columns
Where Data_Type in ('char', 'varchar','nvarchar','nchar') And
Character_maximum_length >= 9
and Table_Schema = 'dbo'

Let’s examine this code bit by bit. We are going to generate Insert statements. According to our @Results table from above, we are going to need 4 pieces of information. We will need the Table Name, the Field Name, the Field Length, and the actual data value where we found what we are looking for. As you can see from the code above, that is exactly what we are extracting from the Information_Schema.Columns view. We are using the meta data in the database to build insert statements that will return to query the data. On line 6, we specify the selection criteria for the “query” script. To eliminate and CASE issues, we will convert the value of the column as well as the value of the TextToFind to Upper case. You can massage this part to better fit your needs. If you know the value is exact, you can change the ‘LIKE’ to an ‘=’. In this case, I am looking for an address that contains the word Prestwick. I need to know the table and column. In the last part of the build query , I use the meta data in the columns view to eliminate some of the field. If I know that I am looking for text, I can immediately eliminate all the numeric, bit and date fields. If I know the text is at least 12 characters, there is no need to query any Char(6) fields. When this portion is run agains AdventureWorksDW database, here are some of the results.

Insert Into @Results Select 'DimCustomer' as TableName, 'CustomerAlternateKey' AS FieldName, 15 as FieldLength, [CustomerAlternateKey] as DataValue From [dbo].[DimCustomer] Where Upper([CustomerAlternateKey]) Like Upper('%Prestwick%')

Insert Into @Results Select 'DimCustomer' as TableName, 'FirstName' AS FieldName, 50 as FieldLength, [FirstName] as DataValue From [dbo].[DimCustomer] Where Upper([FirstName]) Like Upper('%Prestwick%')

Insert Into @Results Select 'DimCustomer' as TableName, 'MiddleName' AS FieldName, 50 as FieldLength, [MiddleName] as DataValue From [dbo].[DimCustomer] Where Upper([MiddleName]) Like Upper('%Prestwick%')

Insert Into @Results Select 'DimCustomer' as TableName, 'LastName' AS FieldName, 50 as FieldLength, [LastName] as DataValue From [dbo].[DimCustomer] Where Upper([LastName]) Like Upper('%Prestwick%')

Insert Into @Results Select 'DimCustomer' as TableName, 'Suffix' AS FieldName, 10 as FieldLength, [Suffix] as DataValue From [dbo].[DimCustomer] Where Upper([Suffix]) Like Upper('%Prestwick%')

Of course there are more records that fit this criteria but for now, I am only showing a few for example. Now that we have the declaration and the insert statements generated, the last part of the script is the retrieval of those records. That looks like this.

Build Script Part Three
Print ''
Print 'Select Distinct * From @Results'

If we take all three sections of the Build script and combine them together and run it, we can generate a script that will query each potential field in the database for the value you are looking for. Remember, to generate the “query” script, you will need to set the query analyzer to return text results, not grid results. The next step is to copy the contents of the results of the Build script and paste them into a new query window. If I run the entire script on the AdventureWorksDW database, I can now find out which tables and fields contain this value. The actual Query script that this generates will look at over 140 fields and let you know what it finds. The results of my script are as follows.


TableName FieldName FieldLength DataValue
----------------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 1588 Prestwick Drive
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 1841 Prestwick Drive
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 4152 Prestwick Drive
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 4998 Prestwick Ave.
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 5259 Prestwick Dr.
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 6208 Prestwick Dr.
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 6709 Prestwick Ave
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 7568 Prestwick Court
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 8079 Prestwick Drive
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 9271 Prestwick Ave.
DimCustomer AddressLine1 120 9875 Prestwick Court
ProspectiveBuyer AddressLine1 120 1841 Prestwick Drive
ProspectiveBuyer AddressLine1 120 8079 Prestwick Drive
ProspectiveBuyer AddressLine1 120 9875 Prestwick Court
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 1588 Prestwick Drive
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 1841 Prestwick Drive
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 4152 Prestwick Drive
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 4998 Prestwick Ave.
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 5259 Prestwick Dr.
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 6208 Prestwick Dr.
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 6709 Prestwick Ave
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 7568 Prestwick Court
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 8079 Prestwick Drive
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 9271 Prestwick Ave.
vTargetMail AddressLine1 120 9875 Prestwick Court


From here I can see that the value ‘Prestwick’ appears in 3 different tables. This gives me a headstart on doing the rest of my research.

My Son Starts Karate Tonight.

Well, my son is now six years old. I have been practicing martial arts (karate and aikido) now for over 25 years of my life. My son has expressed an interest in taking karate. I was very careful not to try "force" him into it. In fact, I even made him ask several times. After about the 5th or 6th time asking me about it, I finally bought him a gi. We start classes tonight.

When we first started talking about karate, I was trying to figure out which class to take him to. My instructor was teaching in Paulding county. His class is about 45 mins from my house. Another instructor in the same organization was teaching much closer. When I explained this to my six year old, his anwser was lucid and decisive: "Daddy, Uncle Stan taught you karate. I want Uncle Stan to teach me karate." For me, that was the end of the debate. There was nothing against the other class, it was just that simple. He wanted his father's instructor.

During the classes, I have already made up my mind not to try and take a very active role in teaching my son. Though I think I would do a good job, I would like to keep the Daddy/Son relationship the way it is and let him have the Sensei/Student relationship with a good instructor, other than me.

The long and short of this post is that when my wife and I decided to have children, many asked me if my kids would participate in martial arts study. My reply then was the same as today. I said that they would participate only if they wanted to. I would require that it be their idea, not mine. Of course, they would influnced by the fact that it was a very important part of my life but that can't be helped, now can it. :)

Practical Uses of Ki

Introduction
I am going to discuss some uses that I have found for Ki and why we should develop it not only for class, but for use in every day life. In class we often investigate the concept of Ki. In fact, even as the name AiKiDo suggests, the art has a basis in Ki extension and developing Ki. We use it in all our techniques, whether it be in a kokyu-nage or just turning from the hips in a wrist lock. While extension of Ki in class is vital to successful Aikido, it should not be limited to class. I can see more clearly the need to carry your Aikido training into the rest of your life since I have been a student for a few years,. If we use our ki only during techniques, how are we going to use it in the rest of our lives if we are never attacked on the street? This paper will outline some of the ways I have discovered for practical uses for ki. I realize that the possibilities are endless and that ki is much more significant than indicated in this paper, these are just a few ways I have found that Ki itself has helped me in every day life.
Ki is basically a life force. Some believe that each of us has our own personal ki while others believe that all ki is universal and that we all share it. Even in Koichi Tohei Sensei's book Ki In Daily Life, he says "In Ki society, we make a distinction between the Ki we use everyday and the universal ki." Suffice it to say, Ki is energy and we all have access to it if we just develop it. Here are some of the ways I develop and use it.

Deliberate Conscious uses for Ki
This section discusses what I like to call the deliberate or conscious uses for Ki extension and development. These benefits and effects are achieved through direct concentration on the desired result. Through deliberate extension, you can open up a world of uses for your personal energy and tap into the universal energy that O' Sensei had mastery over.

Relaxation
In most every occupation, it is very easy to become stressed especially if your job centers around deadlines. Being in the computer software industry, my job is one deadline after another. At some points I come home extremely tired, grumpy, and sometimes sick at my stomach. Even without the stress of the job, just driving to and from work can be very stressful. I have found that through ibuki breathing exercises and ki extension, I can help myself relax. When I find that I am becoming tense, I simply sit back, close my eyes, concentrate on my one point, breathe deep, and try to extend my ki. Although I am still in the novice stages of Ki development, I find that this helps greatly to reduce my level of stress. There are other stressful experiences in life that Ki extension can help relieve. I teach Aikido, Karate and computer programming. Standing up in front of a classroom full of students has the potential to be very stressful. Before each class, I do my breathing and Ki relaxation techniques. After this, I find that I do a much better job of teaching my students.

Concentration
My work is very dependent on my ability to concentrate. As I sit at my desk, not only do I have to complete my job, but I am constantly interrupted with little "fires" to put out. This is very disruptive to my train of thought and sometimes my concentration goes out the window. The more I work to develop my Ki, the more I find that I can recover my concentration faster and continue my work. Once again, closing my eyes and trying to find my one point, enables me to calm down, relax, clear my mind, and begin filling my head with the necessary thoughts to get back on track.
Even when I am not at work, I can use this Ki concentration technique to help in other situations. While driving, playing sports, talking to people on the phone, or teaching my computer classes, I can use my Ki training to maintain my concentration.
Public speaking has always been really challenging for me. I took classes, joined toast-masters, and really practiced my speaking skills. Even though I had tutored in college and taught karate for several years, concentrating in front of a large crowd was always really tough. I found that when I began to develop my ki extension technique, I was able to concentrate better. This helped my ability to focus in front of a crowd, which gave me more confidence and ultimately enhanced my speaking skills.

Awareness
Awareness is one area that many people don't consider. Not only can you use your ki to achieve results in your own body, but you can use it to be aware of what other people’s bodies are doing. I have found that since I have begun to develop my ki, I can sense what is going on with other people. Let me explain. During the course of a normal day at my job, I interact with my co-workers occasionally when the paths of our jobs cross. Usually I am very comfortable with everyone at work. As I have become accustomed to all my co-workers, I think I have a sense for the level of Ki energy each one gives off. I think that everyone, whether they have trained or not, extends ki in some ways. I also think that most of those people do not know that they are doing this or that they can control it very well. These types of people give off ki energy unknowingly, when their emotions become intense.
One day a gentleman that I work with who is usually easy-going came into the office. I knew immediately that something was wrong with him. I felt a very strong level of energy coming from his body. There was very little in his face or posture that would give away the fact that he was very angry at something or someone. It almost felt as if my senses were being pounded. I, of course was not the object of his anger but I could still feel what I think was his Ki energy radiating from his body. He certainly was not aware of it but I was. As it turned out, he had had an accident on the way to work and was given a citation. Though he did not tell anyone, I could just “sense” he was angry.
On another occasion, I was in class practicing with a fairly new student. This was one of those students that come to class a few times to try to prove something, then eventually leave, mostly because they are in class for the wrong reason. After the technique was demonstrated, I began to work with this person and I could "feel" that they did not wish to be cooperative. In fact, he threw an attack that we were not practicing. I sensed that the target was something other that what it was supposed to be and performed an appropriate defense. After class that night, I thought about what happened. My uke decided to strike a different target. Without thinking, I felt what he was going to do and modified my response. I don't think I saw anything that would give it away. I felt his Ki being directed to the wrong place. This doesn't happen often, but with practice, I should be able to develop this awareness and be able to sense inappropriate intentions in other people and avoid bad situations.
Finally, one night after class, I was sitting with a friend outside a restaurant eating on one of the picnic tables. Suddenly, I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't decide why. I stood up because I felt like I should be ready. When I turned around, there was a person approaching our table. When I stood up and looked at him, he stopped, paused for a minute then proceeded around our table giving us a wide berth. From the way he was dressed, the way he walked, and the look on his face, I didn't feel like he was someone who could be trusted. When I stood up and looked at him, I knew he couldn't be trusted. Had I not "sensed" him, he might have approached the table which would have been bad since I was sitting and didn't have much mobility. When I stood up, he looked at me as if I knew he was up to no good.
Another application of Ki extension enhancing awareness ties in closely with the healing aspect of Ki. This application is in the awareness of your own body when something is damaged or not functioning one hundred percent. It is not uncommon to have small aches and pains after class. Sometimes on rare occasions, injuries will happen in class as a result of an accident or an inexperienced student executing a technique. In the few situations where I have gone home with an actual injury, I can use my Ki extension to concentrate on the injury and actually direct healing toward that part of the body. Since I am fairly new at exploring ki extension, I am not sure how effective I am. However, I usually do feel warmth and increased blood flow in that particular part of my body. I generally find that after several days of such exercises, my body seems to heal much faster. Through the extension of Ki, you can direct the bodies flow of energy, so that you can concentrate healing in certain areas that might need a little extra attention.

Influencing Other People's Behavior
The previous section dealt with awareness. This section is going to discuss the other side of the coin. Instead of just detecting what is around us, you can actually use Ki to influence other people's behavior. In the case of the individual that was approaching the table where my friend and I were eating, when I stood up and silently confronted this individual, he may have been able to sense that I was extending ki toward him. It was unfriendly Ki, but ki nonetheless. I think that by extending ki toward him, it put up a wall between us that he might have sensed. Maybe his conscious didn't pick up on it, but perhaps his subconscious did. In that way, I might have persuaded him not to approach the table. He was bigger than me, so I don't see why he might fear me for my appearance. He could just tell that this was not the place to start a confrontation.
Combined with the relaxation benefits, you can actually use Ki to diffuse an explosive situation. Usually, when people want to argue, fuss and fight, they blow up at anything and everything. What they usually want is for someone to blow up back at them, so they have a good excuse to yell and shout. By extending Ki and concentrating on the one point, it is very easy to remain calm in situations like this and help dissolve the anger in the situation. By keeping cool, you can avoid a fight and actually help to calm someone down, so that they can discuss things rationally.
Another way to use ki to influence other people is in class. During a general randori session, people come in and attack any way they want to. I find that I can sometimes extend ki toward them and draw them into a particular type of attack. In this way, I know exactly where they are going to strike or grab and I can be prepared.

Healing
This is one of the most interesting applications for Ki extension and I believe one of the most useful. Since the body is driven by the concept of energy. We have the universal Ki and then we have personal Ki. One of the reasons we get sick is because we don't have the energy to fight off sickness. Part of the reason because our personal energy is not allowed to flow. Ki extension has the ability to help heal in almost any situation. Even in the professional medical fields, it has been proven that babies born with problems overcome them faster and become healthy quicker if they are picked up and given attention. At that point, all of the doctor's or nurse's attention (energy, ki) is focused on that child. Since children are very impressionable, I think they practically “eat it up”. Their sick bodies are hungry for the fuel to fight the problem and that Ki energy is a great boost.
One situation where Kiatsu helps is by extending Ki into our partner. We can open up the channels of energy flow, and help them to re-establish that flow so that they can heal themselves. In addition, we can also give them a "boost" with our own energy. It's kind of like putting gas in the carburetor to try to get an engine started. Once that channel is opened up, then the flow can continue as normal.
Sometimes the body becomes injured and needs healing; not because it’s energy is blocked, but because it might need extra energy to help deal with the crisis situation. Once my brother and I were wrestling around and he landed on his kneecap. From his yelling, I thought he had broken his leg. Come to find out, he just sprained it. He couldn't walk on it. I asked him to lie down and I put my hands on his knee. He was nervous at first, but when I opened up and started concentrating on extending ki into his knee, he relaxed. He told me that my hands got really hot and the pain all but left his knee. When I was done, he could stand on the hurt leg and actually walk. It was still very sore but I think the extra energy boost was enough to get his knee on it's way to recovery more quickly.
My first experience with healing Ki was in my karate class. I had injured my hip and could hardly walk. As I sat on the floor, I wished I could join in but the pain was too much. After the class, my instructor came over to me and asked me if I would like a little "energy boost" as he called it. I said sure, I'll try anything. I laid down, not quite knowing what to expect. Several of the instructors gathered around me, placed their hands on my arms, legs, and torso and began to breath. At the time, I thought this was a bit silly. This was before I knew anything about Ki extension. As I began to relax, waiting for this to be over with, I began to shake and felt like I was coming off the floor. Finally, I had to ask them to stop. It freaked me out pretty bad. I thought about it over the week and when I came back, I asked if I could try it again. This time, I completely relaxed and was able to get some benefit out of the energy. They were all projecting their Ki into me and my body in turn was using it to help heal the injury. Since then, I have used it to help other people heal small injuries as well.

Daily Aikido Practice
There is the one very important aspect of Ki development that we have not mentioned yet. That is the application of Ki in weekly Aikido practice. Some might not consider this an appropriate mention in a paper such as this. We were supposed to be concentrating on "Practical" uses of Ki extension and development. Since Aikido is a regular part of my life, I want to develop my Ki so that my practice of Aikido will be enhanced that much more. I know that it is possible to develop techniques that work “OK” without the concentration on Ki development but that extra boost that you get from developing your Ki extension is what makes the practice of Aikido seem so special and, when done correctly, astonishing. After all, extending Ki is the fourth of the four basic principles.

Non-Deliberate or Sub-Conscious benefits of using Ki
Up until now, by reading this paper, I would have you believe that the only way to use your Ki is through extension. This is indeed not the only method in which your ki may be employed. Even though I have just begun to scratch the surface on my Ki development, I can see how practicing extension of Ki can develop it to the point where it "takes over" and almost has a mind of it's own. When this happens, it becomes automatic and you don't have to think about it anymore. I am far from that level of development, but with continued practice, it will become a reality. Below are some examples of how this works.

Stress Relief
Sometimes I feel that I am in my infancy of ki development. Even so, on occasion I have felt the presence of Ki kick in and begin to lighten my mood. When I was younger, I would become angry easier and it would take me some time to get over it. As I continue my practice of Aikido and Ki development, I think sometimes my emotions are more in balance due to my settling of Ki. This automatic calming effect is a wonderful feeling. It's like practicing your breathing then letting that practice take over and not think about it any more. Over time, you begin to breathe better naturally. All of this combines to give you a more relaxed feeling, thereby reducing your overall level of stress.

Confidence
This is an area that you always consciously think of, but through Ki development you can attain a higher level of confidence. When all your energy is in balance, you tend to have a clearer head, more focus and a better attitude. This not only gives you more confidence but, causes other people to see you as confident. When others see you as confident, they begin to trust you and that too can improve your confidence. Don't, however, begin to confuse confidence with arrogance. Confidence comes from having harmony and peace in your life. Arrogance comes from distrust, low self-esteem and pettiness. People who are arrogant do not have harmony in their lives. Ki development can bring harmony into your life, so that you will be truly confident in yourself.

Fudo-Shin
I really like this particular vocabulary word and I believe that it fits in well with the theme of this paper. After looking at some of the topics, you can see how all of these can lead to this particular concept. In my opinion, this is one of the most important concepts in any martial arts training whether it be Aikido, Karate or Soldiers on the battlefield. This concept is important even if you are attempting to overcome your opponent with words. In all of these cases, you absolutely must have a calm spirit in the face of any adversity. Only then will your technique be effective and pure. Some try to achieve this solely through physical training. The path to strong Ki can lie that way, but if you know about it up front, why not go ahead and begin to develop it early on. Only through peace and harmony can you truly achieve a calm spirit. Once this happens, you can do virtually anything. Train your Mind, Body and Spirit together and this will be easier to achieve.

Summation
Even though you can break down the different benefits of Ki development into categories, you cannot forget that they all work together to accomplish your goals. Just like the four basic principles of Aikido, they all go together. If you have one, you will have all of them. If you lose one, you will lose them all. What is so incredibly amazing is that I have had this energy all my life. It has followed me and even helped me and I did not know it. It's like breathing and not realizing it. Now that I know I can breath, I can work to better control that breathing, so that I can receive maximum benefits. Likewise with Ki. Now that I know I have the Ki, I can work to develop it so I can receive maximum benefit from it's use. I have broken them out because it is interesting to examine the various benefits of Ki development and in so doing, you get an understanding of how they all work together. Some of the sections deal with some of the same topics but from a slightly different angle. Lastly, Ki development, even in my infancy of the study, has helped me grow into areas I didn't think I could grow into. I am very excited to continue to grow in my practice of Aikido and my study of Ki development. There is no telling to what else in your life you can apply this type of skill.