ACNJ Morristown Dojo Moving News:
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 To all ACNJ members, New Year Promotions
As of Jan. 1, 2006 the following seniors have been promoted from Shodan (1st degree black belt) to Nidan (2nd degree black belt). CONGRATULATIONS!!
    Don Fann (Hoboken, Morristown)
    Walt Fanning (Morristown, Newton)
    Ginny Fanning (Morristown, Newton)
    Jeff Londono (Morristown, Clifton)
Classes in Randolph Our temporary Morristown classes being held at the Randolph Fire Dept. are going very well and are surprisingly well attended. The room is very spacious and appealing (see photos on website). The mat is 3" thick and secured under our canvas making for comfortable, easy falls.
Bring zori (slippers) and your water if you'd like. For anyone who has not yet made it to the fire house I hope you can join us there. See below for directions and photo.
New Morristown Dojo Progress
Despite some delays with inspections, approvals, etc. the new dojo is making steady positive progress. Our okay to begin moving in can be any day now and since the new landlord is doing most of our build-out for us there should be relatively little to do to get the dojo up and running once he's done and we get the final go ahead.
We also have a new floor plan that we're excited about and we look forward to posting it soon.
Thank you all again for your support and patience and again, the reward will be well worth it. Photos of the outside of the new location (in case you'd like to drive by) will be posted soon. Inside photos of the progress will begin to be posted as soon as we get in. New Mat Fund Drive There are currently 79 new mats now donated! That's really great! That leaves only 29 mats left. If you'd still like to donate get yours asap!
(By the way, depending on final mat layout, we may only need 104 mats instead of 108 but we could expand to 112.) We will be getting the Swain tatami mats in the tatami green color. I carry a 6"x12" sample with me if you'd like to see what we're getting.
To donate a mat ($175.00 each) see O’Connor sensei or see info below. New Dojo Class Schedule
Once we move into the new Morristown dojo our Aikido class schedule will remain the same but will include the following additions where we will be hosting Meik Diane Skoss' Shutokukan Dojo practice:
Wednesday afternoons 4-6pm
Friday evenings 7:30pm-9:30pm
Sundays 9am-12, 1pm-4pm
For more info on Meik & Diane’s dojo go to:        http://shutokukan.org/instructors.html        http://www.shutokukan.org/        http://www.koryu.com/ We also intend to work out time slots to continue the Tai Chi classes taught by Joe Morabito. Additionally, we will have a dedicated Massage Therapy Room with up to four certified massage therapists available for sessions in a variety of massage disciplines.
New Auto-Pay System Over the next few months we will be converting to a new Auto-Pay system that uses only member's checking/debit accounts.
The reasons for this are many but include on-going difficulties in receiving new expiration dates for both Visa and MasterCards as well as new card info resulting in cards being declined, the extra effort required to gather and submit the needed info, the service we use is based in California making it difficult in getting issues resolved and members preference in order to avoid credit card fees. The new Auto-Pay system would make automatic monthly withdrawals directly from members’ checking accounts only. New forms will be available shortly for members to complete in order to switch over to the new system.
New ACNJ Dojo in Hillsborough
We're excited to announce that beginning in March, 2006, Frank Bouchonville (Morristown, 2nd kyu) will be hosting Paul Manogue (Morristown, 3rd dan) at his karate dojo - the Japanese Karate Center - where Paul will be teaching regular aikido classes there as a member dojo of ACNJ.
Paul's dojo will be known as "Aikido Centers of NJ-Hillsborough" and will be our seventh ACNJ dojo. The Japanese Karate Center is located at:
Hillsborough Racquet and Fitness
345 Amwell Rd, Hillsborough NJ, 08844 The club is less than 5 minutes from the Rt. 206 Amwell Rd. (RT.514) intersection at Nelsons corners.
Public demo:
        Saturday, Feb. 11, 9-10 am
        (ACNJ members welcome to take part)
Regular classes begin March 1
Schedule:
        Monday 8:30pm-9:30pm
        Wednesday 8:30pm-9:30pm
        Saturday 9am-10am
For further info or to offer your help please contact Paul directly at 732 407 1491.