Anything by Dan Brown, Nelson Demille, Robert Ludlum or John Grisham. I have a decent size cookbook library too. Patricia Cornwell is another fav.

I have a closet full of medal and trophies collecting dust. Dusted off my sparring gear recently to fight in the VA state championships. Won all fights except one. Took Silver. Gold in Form. Gold in Breaking. My biggest accomplishment? Everytime one of my students succeeds, so do I. Proudest moment? Seeing my daughter take her Black Belt (Poom) test. I could not be more proud since she made up the majority of her curriculum herself with very, very minimal guidance from me. Not bad for a six-year-old!
TKD is not a hobby that I do once or twice a week, it's a way of life!

As far as my interests, well, my main interest is my daughter, the center of my universe, and our time together. No matter where she goes in life or when I die, I will have a legacy that lives on with her through our time together in TKD. I LOVE COOKING! I do! Been doing it since I was 3. I have more cookbooks than I should admit! I love traveling. I lived in Europe for nine years and left no country unturned. My favorite city in the world is Berlin, Germany because it truly is the city that never sleeps. My fav country besides the US: Spain or Italy...it's a toss up. Had a blast in both places.

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The list of schools I've trained in is long and distinguished. In the American Southwest (NM, TX and OK), IN, VT, Germany and Italy, now in the Wash DC area where I continue to train champions and teach children -- our future generation!

I have also trained under dozens of honorable sifus, senseis, shihans, kyobumnims and sabumnims. My current grandmaster now is GM Sang Gu Kim who holds high-dan belts in TKD, Hapkido, Kumdo and Judo. He is also a WTF International Referee and consultant.

I'm assistant headmaster at one of seven TigerDen Martial Arts schools in Northern VA/DC founded by our Grand Master, Sang Gu Kim. I've been teaching there four years now, but have been studying martial arts for the last 20 years. I orginally started with Chung Do Kwan, branched off into Wing Chun, began practicing Muai Thai, Judo and American Kickboxing. I've also dabbled in Jiu Jitsu and of course all along I've practiced TKD, both ITF and WTF styles. I still compete from time to time, in Olympic style sparring and in open Karate tournaments where hand techniques/foot sweeps and take downs are still legal! (which is why I don't favor Olympic style as much...not as realistic IMO)

I get along best with people who realize you never stop learning, those with a positive attitude and no ego! I also really love the UFC, Pride, K-1, IFL and the WCL. I especially loved the UFC when it first came out and nowadays, granted, there are so many rules it's not exactly realistic combat, but I do respect the skill it takes to fight at that caliber.

I'm also a single dad and yes, my eight-year-old is following in her father's footsteps. She's a 2nd degree (2nd Poom) Black Belt after four years of hard training! She's also on our Demo Team, which I co-coach with our school's headmaster. It was my daughter who got me back into TKD after taking a break when she was born. She never even knew I practiced or taught martial arts when she started begging me to take her to "the Hee-yah store." After she persisted, I finally gave in...and the rest is history.

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