A promotion...kinda

This past week I was able to get back to running a little more. It was a little quiet too.

Monday: Not too much to report except that I used the P90X DVD with a little bit of running. I jog/sprinted a mile in my apartment complex. I then came back and did the plyometrics. I like the DVD due  to the high impact and large muscle groups that are engaged and wrecked. I also soak a shirt in sweat by the end of the session. Next time, I will take a picture of a before and after shot of me to illustrate my point.


Tuesday: I did my usual 0700 personal training session. She decided to use the free weights this morning. I did 3 sets of seated bicep curls. It was amusing to have her call one of the personal trainers doing his own sets a "meat head". This was after I tried to start emulating him after assuming he knew what he what he was doing. I then did some tricep curls. I then did some laid back tricep curls and combined with chest presses. She then punished my abs with more suicides and full body sit ups. After the session, I spent 30 minutes on the reclined bike.

After the gym, I decided to drive down to the  Naval Exchange (NEX) by the Orlando International Airport. Before I move forward, let me explain two things. First, the Naval Exchange is a location that members of the military (active, retired, or reserve) can shop at tax free and generally with a discount compared to public options. There is a place like a department store with name brand items and a store like a grocery store (commissary). Second, as a "Future Soldier" I get the benefit of shopping at this store as if I was active. This makes it nice on the budget right now. Below are some pictures of the one I visit:

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This is half of the building. The other half came out jumbled.

Nice name brand products.

Me trying on a part of my future uniform.

Rock bottom prices for Boars Head! You can get a full Boar's Sub for $5.99!

I will make sure to take more pics the next time I go. 

Later that night I did go out with my wife and a few of her friends to see a movie I did not think I would enjoy. This was No Strings Attached with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. Too me it illustrates how easily parents can screw with their kids' emotions later in life with their lack of emotional IQ. Overall I recommend it as a good date movie, if your over 17, preferably 18.

This was a pic I took in theater before going in to the movie. The Biebster is quite friendly, but rather quiet.

 

Wednesday: Not too much to report now that I am not working very much right now. I did go to the recruiting station for PT. I did raise some awareness with the other Future Soldiers and recruiters about the Wounded Warrior Project 5k at Baldwin Park on March 19th. I believe it will get the Future Soldiers to become motivated to get ready for basic. It will also be at the same location as out FS PT:

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After stirring interest for the 5K run, I found out that I was going to be "promoted" to alternate platoon guide, or PG. A PG is the person that takes on the role of a platoon sergeant when they are not actually a sergeant. They use this role in basic and beyond from what I understand. Here is an amusing description by a guardsmen while he was at BCT online:

Ah, the PG, I was PG for 4mo!! Which came out to be good, The DS realized I could make their life alot easier because of my background. Long story short. Lots of sleepless nights, notebooks full of misc garbage, listening to complaints about BS for recruits, everybody expects you to know the answer, etc.. On the plus side, given the leadership and trust, it carried me along way and I recieved Honor Grad for the company and there were other perks here and there. You have to think of the platoon as a whole not just individuals. Its something you will never forget, good learning experience.

Everyone I talk to seems to think I should be expecting this role with my age, college, and rank. YAY!

Now I mentioned that for now I am an alternate PG for our recruiting station. This basically means I am assistant PG and take on the roles when my PG is not around. This usually entails communicating with squad leaders and FSs, getting the group ready and stretched for PT, and what ever else the recruiters need.

In my previous post, I got some flak from a recruiter that I mentioned previously, SSG Coors. At his request I will change it to something more fitting: SSG Lime. Personally I think Lime sounds less macho than Coors, but his choice. No TAKE-BACKS SSG Lime!

Moving on, SSG Lime decided he was going to run PT today rather then SGT Carolina. As mentioned in previous posts, SSG Lime's PT is faster paced. However, SGT Carolina makes PT less about pain and more about using elements of mental concepts of things we will need to know in basic. This includes the phonetic alphabet, Soldier's Creed, etc. SSG Lime started had us soing various exercises: push ups, flutter kicks, sit ups, and more push ups. Then he had us run about a mile around the park. We did stop a few times to do some sprints and shuttle runs. He then had us finish out with some more calisthenics. However, I did feel somewhat dizzy and sick and took a break most of the last 10 minutes of the workout. I guess I did not drink enough water that day and paid for it.

Thursday: For whatever reason, FS PT was canceled today. Becasue of my new role as alternate PT, I was partially responsible for getting this word out. However,  I was at the DMV getting my driver's license updated to make paper work easier at BCT reception when I got the message. Luckily, the PG was able to call half of the list while I got to enjoy an hour of fun with Orange County's most colorful characters. I did take advantage of my freed up afternoon. I decided to sit by the pool and read my new book. I forgot to mention that my wife did buy me a book that contains condensed version of many Army manuals. Much of this information is what I will need to learn before or during BCT.

I truly appreciate that wife looked ahead and got this book for me to help me prepare for success in our next stage in our life together.

Later than night, I went to downtown Orlando for a social for two non-profits that I support and work with in Orlando. One is Mel's Bad Girls Club and One Brick Orlando. I actually had the pleasure of being a part of the start up for One Brick in Orlando. If you like to volunteer but with no commitments, check our site. And yes, we are on Facebook. It was a fun event with "arouse" as the theme. They had a massage therapist, a "romantic aid" display, and burlesque show on hand. Not to mention a free drink and glass of champagne. Giving back to the community can be very enjoyable!

One of the burlesque dancers. And no my wife does not get (visibly) jealous, just like I don't get jealous when she gawks at Mike Rowe.

Friday: I was somewhat tired from the night before. I did make it to my personal training session at 0700. I did give her a case of the yawns though. She had me do a series of lunges and step ups with some other lower body exercises. She then had me do some inclined sit-ups with a 5lbs medicine ball, and paired that with some plank action. Lots of fun. I did skip my usual cardio after that, and came home to nap. I then made my over to the pool. I did a series of laps in the pool with my snorkeling fins with just my legs. On top of that, the water felt like a nice 74 degrees. After warming back up I read some more of my book. 

Saturday: Was a lot of fun. I got to volunteer at the Orlando Chili Cookoff! This entailed selling food and beer tickets and selling some soft drinks. I got there early and sampled a great deal of chili. The best part was towards the end of the day, the group realized that they had way too many beverages left over and started letting the volunteers partake in the surplus. Then included Blue Moon beer. Like I said, volunteering has many benefits aside from feeling better about helping your community. Cumulatively, there was about 17,000 people in attendance!

To finish the week, I picked my wife up from the airport after her last graduate school voice audition at Northwestern. She has worked hard to get to this point and could not be more proud of her. Here was a very real looking piece of art at OIA I have seen.

Not real...?!?!

I found this pic to show I was not randomly taking pics of people in a creep fashion.

5k, Schm-k!

At the end of my last post, I stated that I needed to get back on the horse to working out. It was bit of a hectic week. Last Friday, I got a chance to go and try a part time job doing some janitorial work for a friend of mine. Seeing that I am not bringing in any income right now, I figured I would give it try. It was not a fun job, much less glamorous, but I did take a pride in doing the work.

Monday: I was going to try and do this class at LA Fitness in the morning. However, I got there a few minutes too late and noticed that there were nothing but women. I am usually secure with myself, but I just wasn't feeling it. I decided to go and do a little jog/walk on the treadmill for 25 minutes. I usually do a little jog/run but I was feeling kind of tired and wanted to take it easy. After that I then did what I call the full leg work out. It basically consists of me doing 3 sets of leg curls and extensions, calf raises, an exercise that works the glutes (I forgot what its called), hip abductions, hip adductions, and some squats. Prior to going to my evening job, I watched a documentary that was recommended by PFC McGuire (look to the right for his blog). It's called Restrepo. It is a documentary that followed a group of soldiers deployed in what has been the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. What I like about it is that it was not politicized by any side, and it is as raw as it can be for someone. I recommend anyone to watch who may consider going infantry. Here is a good trailer for the movie:

After doing some laundry, I headed off to work. The company I am working for is run by a good friend of mine; Geovanni's Cleaning Solutions (GCS). If you are looking some a highly ethical and professional job done on your carpets, rugs, or house cleaning, this is the company. As I mentioned previously. What I like about Geovanni is that you get the work ethic to make you want to take pride in your work. You get the urge to make that toilet shine and feel good about it. Plus, I will take this knowledge with me to basic so I will know how to clean floors and bathrooms in a more efficient manner. 


Tuesday: After barely making my personal training appointment on time, my trainer worked my upper body. She was not happy with my contagious yawning. The night before wore me out and i was only able to get about 5 hours of sleep. After wearing down my arms and doing some ab suicides, I spent about 25 minutes on the elliptical. After the gym, I then rode over and picked up one of the other guys from GCS. We then went and spent 6 hours cleaning a house for a property management company. That experience made me appreciate the fact that my parents always maintained a cleaned home and instilled the same sense of self-preservation. This house was atrocious to say the least. I was tasked with cleaning the kitchen. It has seemed that no one had ever cleaned the top of the cabinets at all in the 50 year life span of this house. In addition to the dust, there was a thick coating of nicotine in many areas of the house. It is giving me chills just thinking about the fridge. Lets just say that there was less white than black before I started cleaning the appliance. I feel like I might need to get some kind of vaccination after that. I wish I took pictures to gross you out, but I did not want to procrastinate.

This is a fairly close to what I was facing!

We then drove back to my apartment and ate some lunch/dinner before our evening job. I must say that job that night was a lot easier compared to that house, not taking into consideration that I was wiped out.

Wednesday: A problem did arise from the work in the evening. My knees have become a little painful due the some of the tasks. Due to this, I decided to take the day off from working out.  ended up spending most of my day at office of my semi-previous company. A while back I was asked to put together a financial planning seminar for the Orlando/Central Florida Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers or NARPM. This is a very cohesive and educational group that I formed relationship over the course of the last year and half. It is bitter sweet that I was able to finally to get the opportunity to do this. On the one hand, I have no incentive to really worry about this, however, I made a promise that I would put together a useful and educational seminar for business owners. I guess I just want to do the right thing. Anyways, due to my trip the previous week, some last minute changes were put in place. I had to fix these changes. I then spent most of the afternoon printing out various handouts. I think I killed a few trees in the process.

Thursday: The big day has finally come. The big educational seminar! I have been waiting and worrying about this for awhile now. Luckily, I had a few great gentlemen to help me out. I enlisted the help of Chuck, David, John, and Chris. All very exceptional, down to earth, and knowledgeable gentlemen in their field. I wish that I had taken some pictures, but I was too nervous to think about it. It was eventful in the beginning. Five minutes into our presentation, we had the pleasure of dealing with a fire alarm. I guess they will do anything to get insurance agents to quit talking. I think the highlight of the experience was when I spoke about the new Healthcare Reform Bill. I basically scared the crap out of the people there. I do not want to get political, but the responses were basically that of angry constituents that were going to be making some interesting calls and emails.

After the seminar, I drove to the recruiting station to participate in PT. However, PT was canceled. I did not get the memo. After chit chatting with the recruiters for a little bit, I decided to go to LA Fitness next door. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical to take an easy on my knees. I then a some sets of crunches, sit ups, and push ups. I then went on down to evening job. I learned a valuable lesson that night. I guess that the building I help clean is constantly under watch by well-hidden closed circuit surveillance cameras. Because of this, I guess I was observed taking a small break to take a picture of myself in a mirror for this blog. What makes it worse is that I could not get a good picture in that light. It was too bad because it would be amusing to see me with a back pack vacuum and nice red shirt uniform. On top of my picture mistake, I guess that I should not be cordial or talkative with anyone still working in the building. My problem is that since the age of 15, I have worked in customer service. This consists of me working diligently while be outgoing to anyone in my area. This should not be the case in this job. Fortunately, I did not lose the contract for my friend. However, this did not make me feel any better about the disappointment I experienced. I will take this lesson with me to basic as how to act. SHUT UP AND WORK!


Friday: I was on time for my 0700 personal training session. Because of the fact that my knees had some issues this week, my trainer decided to to some knee friendly exercises for the lower body. She did a workout that was similar to what I did on Monday. The difference was that she had me doing some light lunges and punished the core. After my workout, I went to a weekly networking meeting that I have been attending for about a year and half. There is no real point of me being at this meeting, but I like the group of people. This group is called Laid Back Business Builders. I have made some really good friends within this group and like the camaraderie. If you live in the Orlando area, and would like to build on your interpersonal skills in no pressure group, I highly recommend attending one meeting.


I tried to myself busy the rest of the day until my evening job. This was my last day working for GCS. The agreement was that the first week would be a trial period for both employer and employee. I let GCS know that I would be getting a little work from some other sources. Also, the drive for this job from my apartment has made the job a little inconvenient for me. He understood and had no problems. It was a great learning experiences on various levels. I truly appreciate the opportunity GCS gave me to make a little extra income. 


Saturday/Sunday: I forgot to mention that I signed up for a 5k race. This race was the House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5k presented by Florida Hospital and the Track Shack.I had never run one of these event before, much less run 3 miles before. I have run about 2.5 miles before, but not 3.1. It was a great experience. I wish that I had someone with me that I knew to share the experience. I did happen to run into my 10th grade English teacher. We chatted for about a minute before he ran ahead to try and find his brother. At my 1 mile marker, I my time was right at 10 minutes. At my 2 mile marker, my time was right at 20:10. However, after my 2 mile, I did walk or slow jog a few times. However, during the last half of my 3rd mile, I did buckle down and did not quit. I came accross two guys who were about the same pace as myself and chit chatted with them till the end. I decided to sprint my last 100 yards. What was surprising was that I felt like I could have gone for 200 yards. It was disappointing to know I could shaved a little more time off. But I was very happy that I finished!

Place	Name	Bib	Age	Div Place	Gender Place	Clock Time	Chip Time	Pace	Hometown
959	KEITH MILLER	416	25	55	558	34:29	33:06	10:39.0	ORLANDO, FL

I was happy with that pace for 3 miles. It was a real boost to my confidence with the progress I have made over the last couple of months. 

I now look forward to the next 5k I plan on running in next month. It is for the Wounded Warrior Project. It is a great program to help soldiers hurt in combat. If you are in the Central Florida area please check it out here. I am hoping to get some of the other Future Soldiers at my recruiting station to come out with me. I think it is a great program and want to show my support.

Snow PT

As mentioned previously, I would be going to New Jersey and New York with my wife and her family. She had a voice audition for graduate school at the Westminster Choir College at Rider University. The downside of this is that I found it very difficult to keep up with my physical training.

Thursday: Our flight flew out as scheduled at 0800 out of Orlando. The day we left Orlando, the temperature was around 80 degrees. Needless to say, I did not need the coat I had packed away with a liner. 

Flying in told me that I would need that coat…

That white color is from all of the snow on the ground.

After flying in, getting our rental car, we attempted to drive to my wife’s aunt house. However, it became quite comical to and sit watch us figure out on the Garden State Parkway that we were heading way out of the way. Rather than driving just 40 miles to Hamilton, NJ, the GPS unit we were using wanted to send us 112 miles almost to Jersey Shore. However, I scouted this trip a little ahead of time. I realized that a 2 hour drive was a little longer than 45 minutes. Problem turned out to be that the house was too new for the GPS unit my father in-law bought. Luckily, the address showed up in Google Maps in my wife’s phone. We ended up using the GPS to find our way to the school that my wife was going to be auditioning the next day.

This worked out because my wife was able to find her way around the school and then able to know where to show up the next day. We both enjoyed ourselves sniffing around. Compared to going to UCF it felt like real or traditional school. Nothing against UCF, but UCF does not have the school-feeling that universities usually give off. They focus more on putting in more palm trees.

 

Aside from the UCF bashing, we were then able to find our way over to her aunt’s house. I found out that her aunt had a treadmill. Problem was that it was very loud and not very convenient to use during most of my time there. I used it for all about 10 minutes. However, I did do some sets of push-ups and crunches to try and maintain some strength during vacation.

Friday: My wife’s audition went very well. They congratulated her on her job of helping to bring back the Opera program at UCF. I will let her talk about this more in her own blog. Friday turned out to be a lot of fun; was due mostly in part to meeting more of her family, some wine, and real Italian food. The nice part about this dinner was that it was fairly nutritional and not very fatty or oily.

Saturday: Had an interesting day. We had some more family fun for breakfast before we left New Jersey to head up to New York for the remainder of the trip. The first stop was to head to Queens, NY. I have never been to New York much less near any of the five boroughs so it was interesting to see a foggy Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge. 

We got to spend some time with another one of my wife’s aunt’s house and try some good ole New York Chinese Buffets. Food was amazing, too bad I did not eat that much (Trying to make weight when I leave). I did load up on the largest sushi selection I have seen in one place.

After Queens, we drove about 2 hours north to Newburgh, NY. We got in at about 0000hrs. This was one of my wife’s other family members. Time for bed.

Sunday: Super Bowl! Prior to watching Christina Aguilera ruining the National Anthem and the Black Eyed Peas making my ears cringe, I did some snow PT. What this means is that I got shovel a boat load of snow off Aunt Bridget’s deck. What I did was systematically engage different lower, core, and upper muscle groups. This included using squatting movements, side turning movments that used either side of my obliques, and using my biceps when lifting the snow shovel.

Before: 2-3 Feet of snow

Biceps

Chipping some ice

After

I got to try some real New York pizza and see the Orange County Choppers building. You could say that not considering the whole family feud, seeing the OCC bikes in the show room would be similar to my Graceland. 

The front of the Orange County Choppers Building

Air Force Jet Bike

Venom Bike

FBI Bike

Tank Bike

The Firefighter Bike

Me in front of the Space Shuttle Bike

Good New York Pizza

When we got back home, my brother in-law and I decided to make a snow man. I know it sounds childish but I only got to make one in my childhood and it was a long time ago, so could not help ourselves. Now for you that have not made a snow man in a while, you know that making the large piece of a snowman, it can very heavy. I then used idea of making a very big bottom to engage and wear out my glutes, quads, and hamstrings. 

We found a very large icicle and decided to use it in a G rated fashion for these pics.

Monday and Tuesday: On Monday, we got to go see Paul Jr. Designs. It was a shame that the door was shut, or else I could have gotten some better pics. I did however get to chit chat with one of the camera crew for American Choppers. 

We then got to see more lovely snow covered country.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful except that the weather started to turn cold very quick. Newburgh, NY started out the morning at about 39 degrees. By the time we left around 1200HRS, the temperature dropped down to 32 degrees. The forecast also called for the low that night to go down to 6 degrees. Needless to say, we were leaving just in time. After, eating at a not so great diner that would not like my Yelp review, we headed back to Newark International Airport. We then go to sit for about 2 hours to wait for a plane to leave late. 
 

Saying good bye to New Jersey

We got back into Orlando at 0010hrs. It was a fun drive back to Cocoa. By the time we got back to the in-laws house it was 0200hrs. We were tired.

It was a fun trip. However, I do realize that I need to get back on my fitness regime to maintain my readiness for basic training.