What not to say to an NCO...

= Fun PT!

Thursday: Not too much to report on the work scene except now I have changed directions at work. This basically means that I am going from trying to stir up my own business to organizing and supplementing others’ business. Due to the fact that I am the youngest person in the office, it translates into me being the person people come to the most in the office for computer and technology issues. That is why I am will be doing some data entry for a couple of the agents in the office. It will give me some income in a no paycheck situation as of right now.

I found out the hard way that one of the other FS’s decided to tell one the recruiters on Wednesday that the PT was a little weak. This recruiter mentioned this comment to the recruiter (Who we will call SGT. Carolina) as a constructive way and not in a negative way. However, SGT. Carolina took it in a negative way. My expectations of easy day of soccer and having a little team fun went right out the camo window. I did not know what to expect until I got out of the car and saw SGT. Carolina directing the FS’s unloading sandbags out of the GOV (Government Owned Vehicle). SGT Carolina had us do a few running drills with the bags. We then got to have fun with new exercises that we will get to do at BCT. By the end of the day I felt good! I am starting to like the workouts rather look negatively on them.

Friday: Due to the makeup PT on Thursday, my legs and arms were both a little to tender and/or tight. My personal trainer decided to focus on the core after doing my monthly measurement check. The moth before, all of my numbers went up, including my weight. This month, my weight, neck, and waist stayed the same. My calves, legs, arms and chest grew. Also, my shoulders got smaller. I believe that I am moving in the right direction. Back to the core…She had me do as many situps as I could in 2 minutes. Then do raised planks, then planks where I lowered and raised myself from my hands and forearms. Then had me do side planks, and pulse the side planks. She had me do 3 sets. I felt good after that.  Nothing too much other than going to a fraternity rush toga party that night. That made me feel like an old man watching 18 year old run around drunk. WHHHEEEEWW!

The Team

Saturday:  Saturday was crazy fun! After shaking the cobwebs out of my head from the toga party, I made my way over to Boardwalk Lanes for the Bowl-A-Thon put on by WJRR. I decided to put a team together and try to have some inexpensive fun. After some last minute cancellations I just barely got my optimally-fun team together. We drank some beer, bowled, drank beer, and hung out with Taco Bob and Pat Lynch. What I did not expect was that I won the complete set of Back To The Future on Blu-Ray (I guess I can convince the wife to let me get a Blu Ray player now J) and a Squier Stratocaster guitar signed by the Sick Puppies! Much needed fun!

The Team...

The guitar...

Sunday: Was more of a leisure football day with both of my families. Spent most of the day with the wife seeing my parents and then with her family to watch both of the league championships. Nothing really to report.

Monday: Uneventful for the most part. I did some paperwork for another agent to get some applications in on time before a deadline. I left the office to go do a “Boot Camp” Class around 5:45. This class is in no way similar to actual basic training. However, it is a well-rounded class of exercises the covers the lower and upper body that keeps the heart rate moving. My only problem with this particular class is that it does not do much for the abs. This lead to me doing 100 crunches afterwards before going home.

Tuesday: Met with the trainer at 7am and had some upper body fun. She did some heavier chest, bicep, and tricep work. She then punished my core by doing what she called suicides. This meant doing about 5 different kinds of crunches and then some planks. Multiply by this twice and makes you feel sexy and tired.

A weight lifted...

The last week has been interesting. Last week I decided to take to follow the training schedule set forth in many of the running schedules I have read, and that would mean to take last week off from running to prevent injuries and do biking or swimming. I did neither. I used the elliptical for most of the week. I did run a little bit on Thursday with the other future soldiers in Winter Park.

The weekend was enjoyable. I was able to make it over to see my mother who happens to be a massage therapist. She did a little work on some sore muscles that were a result of the personal training session from Friday. I then got to have dinner with my parents at a local Mexican restaurant; La Bambas. Not bad, except I had the Camarones a la Diablo and the cook decided not to peel the shrimp. Errr! After that I went to go and hang out with my in-laws. They have had some unpleasant excitement recently and wanted to go hang out with them. I then took my wife's sister's husband to Beef O'Bradys to watch the Steelers and Ravens game. He needed to get out of the house, due to the fact that he had been the brunt of the unpleasant excitement.

Monday was low key. Was going to do some biking a long the Little Econ Greenway, but the rain all day kind of ruined those plans. I then waited for the wife to get home and went with her to the gym. I ran for about 20mins and walked briskly for another 10 on the treadmill. I then worked the legs out. Felt good.

Tuesday, met with my personal trainer in the morning and spent all day at the Champions Gate Golf Club for my company's agency meeting. Got to listen to Glenn Toby. He is the manager/agent for many NFL players and R&B stars. This included LL Cool J and R. Kelly. He was a very inspirational speaker and genuinely cares about people. If your interested in learning more about him check him out at here. The evening was exciting because I decided to head out to some of my former softball team mates softball game with the TMG Team. I just happened (insert sly sarcasm) to bring my equipment. The team just happened to be able use one more guy. Meaning I got to play! I managed to get a single, run, and RBI. We lost, but if we had one more inning, probably would have finished our comeback.

Today happened to be the highlight of the week thus far. I made the decision to tell my managing associate about my pending career change. I had no idea what to expect. As mentioned previously, she is an awesome manager and has helped me so much since joining the company. It turned out a lot better than I thought. I have a sneaking suspicion that she had an idea of my plans or at least expected it. She was incredibly cool with it and understood my ambitions. What amazed me was the fact that she was ready to figure out ways for me to make some money between now and when I go to basic. We ended up sitting and chatting for about 45 minutes in regards to the military. She made me promise not to get killed or blown up. I will be more than happy to oblige.

I then went and did some PT with the future soldiers. Not a bad workout, about a easy to medium level.

I will now maintain this blog a lot more now that I can post it to Facebook and not worry about sharing with it with work friends.

 I am posting this video because I found this song very inspirational and thought it was fitting about my future.

HOOAH!

Contemplations on a Lazy Sunday

The last couple of days have been somewhat mixed. I have debating on a time and/or date to leave my current employer. Because I am on a commission style type job, my income can vary from month to month, or stop all together. It is quite confusing to understand the structure of my pay for my position, so I will not attempt to confuse you as well. Lets just say that technically, I am not making any money as of right now.

The hardest part of me  leaving will be the fact that I will have to tell my immediate manager. She is the person that potential in me two years ago and decided to help me out of depths of the Publix Deli. She has done a lot for me since then. This includes taking me to lunch, taking the extra step to make sure that I got paid on time, moral and emotional topics, and more. The few confidants in the office that know I have joined the Army tell me that I will more than likely make her very unhappy to say the least. But, she of all people should understand that a person has to do what a they have to do for themselves and/or family. I hope that she understands that this path is a long held dream of mine and what this means to me. She is one of the strongest women I have known; human much less. She has more drive, gall, and confidence than any other person that I have had the pleasure of working under. I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel like I owe her something. I hope that I can make it up to her at some point in the future. I was thinking about quiting this coming week. However, I was informed the coming week is her birthday, and would not want to ruin that for her. So maybe the week after.

Moving on, this weekend my wife and I have had the pleasure of her cousin moving into our already cramped apartment. She will be attending UCF again this semester and wanted to drive a lot less semester. Being that my wife and I were under a tight budget, this seemed like a good fit. She's a pretty cool person with similar interests to my wife and I, so I think it will be fun. On another note, I changed the oil today in my car without alerting the leasing office. We are not allowed to do any car maintenance on the premises. I would rather get a warning then have Wal-Mart screw up my car again.

By the way, I will try to leave a little bit of media on my posts to try and make this more interesting. Maybe get a feel for my whacked sense of humor. 

 

This is not short but kinda creative I thought.

Well I will see if the wife's cousin wants to check out bike trail by our apartment. Bye bye.

 

PS. My heart and prayers go out to the families of Rep. Gifford and her staff who were shot yesterday. I hope there is no political blame games for this heinous act, only healing efforts.

GOTTA LOVE THAT PT, PT, GIVE ME SOME MORE

I was up so early yesterday and went to the gym that by the time I got home yesterday, I crashed with out setting the alarm on my phone this morning. Needless to say, I got to sleep in. After doing some work at the office today, I made my way over to he recruiter's office and waited for us to ride over to Blue Jacket Park and do some preparatory PT one or more of the recruiters. This usually happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Only about 4 people showed up today because of some mis-communication among the FS (Future Soldier - Enlistees who have gone through basic) Leadership.  Had some new faces today. The recruiter that signed me up ran the session today. I like it when he is there, because he tries to make as realistic as possible compared to basic training. 

The had us do the standard stretching and had us do some push ups, flutter kicks, sit ups, and some others. After that, he had us doing some running. It was not too bad. Since the last FS PT, I have improved pretty well. However, there was one new guy. Look like a younger guy who just joined has not done much running. He kept up for a a little bit, but then he just lost all energy. We tried to motivate and help him along, but to no avail. About a half mile in to our run, he crashed. He could not run, barely stand and then began to throw up. The recruiter came back with the other guys and kept and walked with him while he told the rest of us to run the rest and come back and meet us. The then proceeded to have us sprint. Then when I though it was done, he has doing some lunges, and then some more fun exercises. By this time, my chest was cramping. Then more flutter kicks, more push ups, and then we were done. Felt great though. I need more of this. 


Anyways, now I will go to the gym do a little swimming and the whirl pool.


Hooah!

[Insert something witty about starting a journey]

If you are reading this, I hope it benefits you in some way. These benefits could include you’re a friend or family member, or someone searching for any information about Army experiences, and would like to follow along with my preparation, entrance, experiences with the United States Army.

Before I go on more, I got the idea to do this from a soldier who enlisted in a similar MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) or job as I have. I found it very insightful and reassuring of what to expect; especially given the fact that I should be following a similar path as he did. Thank PFC McGuire!

Now some of you may be wanting to ask a few questions. The main one tends to be...why? 

Why....? There are so many reasons why. I could tell you that I have always wanted to serve my country, what way is better? There is also the fact that the military pays for schooling. This is a much better way to have my graduate degree paid for while I get paid to serve my country. I could also mention that the pay or intrinsic benefits are not too bad and could provide stability for my wife and I. What better way to have school paid, while serving my country and not have to worry about paying the rent? I do not have to mention that answers a deep down, testosterone-based-male-need to satisfy; shoot and blow up stuff!

Where else can I get paid to learn to blow a tank up with this?

 Joining the military has been something I have always wanted to do. Just about all the men in my family have served. My sister is kicking gluteus-maximus in the Air Force. The one thing that always prevented me from going in was my weight. It prevented me from getting in the ROTC program at UCF and the Air Force Academy in high school. I always kept telling myself "Hey you will lose at some point, just hang tight" or "once your done with college, the weight will be done" or "You will lose it by the time your 25" . Well all of those happened , and the weight had not came off. It was not as if I was morbidly obese or anything, but it was enough weight that I could not excuse as water weight. 

Stardate: Jan. 1st 2010  

Not as a New Years resolution, those never work, but as a commitment to myself and still fresh bride, I vowed to lose the weight to get from 245-250 lbs to 200-195lbs by the May of 2010. If you know me, I did acheive this!

This is before, not to mention before Thanksgiving & Christmas

This is after, right around the time I had reached my goal.

Having finally reached my goal, I started looking at joining the Air Force. Mainly I wanted to apply for Officer Training School. However, upon inquiring, I was informed that they just canceled the next two boards (basically an interview) and would not see anymore for about 8 months...maybe. I guess the combination of the current adminstration views of seeing a smaller military force and a bad economy has created a stagnant recruiting need. Being an equal opprotunity future service men, I spoke with the guys at the Army. I know the Army the best because of tenure in JROTC in high school, and have a bunch of friends who were in and love it. They offered more guarantees then the Air Force could. So I started doing more research into the Army life. There were differences that I could live with for a while. I found out that I could transfer to the Air Force should I dislike my time in the Army too much.

Upon starting the application process for Army OCS, Officer Candidate School, I found out that I was way behind the fitness performance requirements of what was needed to be approved for entrance. Upon more digging, I found out that I could get a guaranteed job as an enlistee and as an E-4 or Specialist. I have always wanted to learn more about computers and networking and would be able to get some really great certifications by doing this. I could also apply for OCS later down the line. This would give me the experience as a guy at the bottom and understand what they go through. I decided that I would take the leap and enlist and get my military career started!

HOOAH!