Activity

As one can see, I have been horrible about writing on my blog. I could use the excuse of "I don't have anything to write about". That has some truth to it but mostly it is false. Over the past four months a lot has happened to give me loads to write about. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to go back a recount everything for the past several months. That would be mind numbing and most readers would get in the second week of January and leave. So, I will spare you. Currently I have four different clients I am working with. All four of great companies/causes with so much to offer. I have been learning a great deal with each one and realizing that I need to spend more time on each. Time Management! That is key. Without the wise use and well thought out management of time, it goes by, never to be utilized again. Then the idea of should've/could've/would've come to mind and you just waste more time. So, in essence, I need to get my butt in gear. Nuff said.

2011 is Winding Down

  There are some big events about to occur.  One of them...supposedly, is going to be the end of the world.  Psh.  Another big one is that I have submitted my graduation packet and now just need to ensure I survive this and next semester.  This one won't be so bad but next spring will be hard.
  Spring Semester Schedule:
MWF: Managing Organizations and People
TR:  International Management
        Science, Technology, and Modern Society
        Public Relations Agency
        Communication Research (A basic stats class for JCOM majors)
Online:  Mass Media Law
Internship:  The Image Foundry
All of these equals an equivalent load of 21 credits.  I will continue working part-time at Sam's Club and my dear wife will have to manage without a husband for a period of time.
  I am excited for the internship.  Daniel Felsted, owner of The Image Foundry, is a man of great talent  and immense knowledge.  He is requiring a lot of me and though I don't feel I am up to the tasks, I will make myself so that I am.  I will be writing press releases, doing market research, contacting previous and current customers to survey them and see what else the can be done for them, creating how-to videos on various processes for future employees, and whatever else Dan sees fit to give me.
  I will also be directing/planning 2Cure Cancer again.  This year will be awesome.  I learned a lot from last year and will not make the same mistakes.  During Christmas break I will be making the necessary contacts, seeking sponsors, and begin the advertising process 4 months prior to the event rather than just weeks before.  I developed some great business relationships with folks here locally that I will be able to cultivate even more this year and hopefully 2Cure Cancer will be able to really help someone out there.
  It will be a hard semester but I'm looking forward to the stretching and pulling it will cause.  Either I get stronger and overcome or stop allowing myself to be tugged, eventually get ripped apart, and fail.  The latter is not an option.

Workin' on muh fitness!

One year ago my oldest brother made a commitment to lose 100 lbs in a year.  When the time came, he was shy of that goal by 12 lbs or so.  However, during that year, I've watched my brother transform in to this active human being who has energy and can go out and play with his kids and not break a sweat.  It has been awesome to see such a physical transformation.

Two years ago, I had a similar experience.  I decided to join AFROTC, already knowing I was over my weight limit.  I weighed in at 247 lbs at the rip old age of 23.  Most folks look at my 6 foot 1 frame and though, nah, you can't be nearly 250.  However, my knees could certainly tell.  Four and a half months into my ROTC career I weighed in at 202 lbs.  It was an amazing journey with a lot of sacrifice, mainly from my awesomely supportive wife who let me spend insane amounts of time working out.

Now, due to circumstances both within and without of my control, my ROTC career is at an end but I am in need of still being physically fit.  I refuse to go back to 250.  I wasn't happy with myself, with life, and much else.  I didn't feel as confident in certain clothes and I would refrain from certain activities (swimming mostly).  So, back to my stud of a brother.  He has made a goal to lose another 70 lbs. by 12 September 2012.  So, I figured, if my brother, a father of four kids and husband to a sweet wife, could do that, surely I can man up and do something in a year.

My goal is to participate in at least ONE half marathon and at least ONE Olympic distance triathlon.  To do this...first and foremost I need to get back in shape.  Mainly being able to run 3+ miles at a good pace, increase my swimming distance, and get my butt use to being on a bike for 20+ miles.

So, what does this have to do with creating a new page on my blog you ask.  Well, this is my other method of being accountable.  I don't care if anyone reads what I write, I'm not writing this for any singular person or groups of persons.  I'm doing this so that I am accountable to, if nothing else, my blog.  I have a personal trainer to be accountable too in regards to my diet. (If any of you saw what I ate in a day, you would understand my reasoning for getting a trainer.)  However, it is the fitness that I need to be accountable too.  

This blog will be the means to my end of being accountable for my fitness.  I will updates this each and every day I workout.  I will post my weight each and every day and my workout for the day.  I do this to the end that I might be a healthier person, take control of the health of my body, and ensure that I can be the healthiest husband to my beautiful wife who, ultimately, is my drive.  

On to bigger and better things.

A new semester has begun with all of its fun and not so fun things that go with that.  Thus far I have enjoyed all of my classes.  My Law & Politics has a lot of reading that I'm already somewhat behind on.  Multimedia Boot camp has taken me to boot camp in regards to my not staying on top of when stuff is due.  PR Research is rather interesting and I am looking forward to getting to the meat of the semester.  Lastly, my one business class, an entrepreneurship class, will be a hand full.  My group is to come up with a business plan, present it to my teacher and a board of other teachers to gain their "trust" to give us $150.  With that we are to register as a legitimate business and make enough money to, at a minimum, pay my teacher back $225.  Quite the return huh?  At any rate, it is going rather well.  At least the planning stages.  I need to do some redesign work on our website which is currently HversusZ Supplies (the link is to the left under current project) but will be changed to  Dead or Alive Supplies.

Working in the Tire Mounting Area in addition to school and everything is already getting rather intense as to my personal schedule.  I work anywhere from 22-30 hours a week at Sam's Club, go to school full-time, am a vice president of a club on campus that is affiliated with AFROTC, trying to start up a business, and working as the student web administrator for the JCOM Department.  What it comes down to is that I'm glad I have an awesome wife who supports me.  If I didn't have her, I would be rather lost and not have a lot of purpose to what it is that I do.

Don't get me wrong though.  With all this going on I am excited for the semester.  It has turned out to be a lot more than I anticipated, however, it is a good thing.  A little struggle is good for a person.  As my dad says, "It builds character".  My response, I already have plenty of character, why do I need any more?

The end of a great ROTC career...

  So, the day finally came when I was told what my future will and will not hold.  As for what it will not hold is that of being an officer in the Air Force, at least through ROTC.  I am still kind of toying with the idea of finding a guard or reserve unit in need of a Public Affairs Officer who could hire me on and sponsor me for a slot to OTS.  However, I can't really pursue that course until I graduate. So, in the mean time, this is what my future does hold.
  School!  Work!  and whatever else is thrown at me.  I am pursuing better health with a renewed effort due to all of this.  I want to lose about 10 lbs or so by Christmas and also train for a half marathon for next spring.  Also, I need to do ridiculously awesome in school for the next several semesters to raise my currently decent gpa.  Gratefully I have a wonderful wife who supports me in whatever I do so long as it makes me happy, and is also a good decision for myself and us as well.
  So, in light of all this, I'm now in the process of trying to register for fall semester classes to pursue a minor in Management.  I have tried to align everything so I can graduate in three semesters, but, depending on how school goes and some other opportunities, it might be four.  Oh well, we will just have to see.

So, here's the deal.

  Well, I made it to Field Training Unit 4 at Maxwell AFB.  TD-0, check.  TD-1, check.  TD-2, check.  TD-3, nope.  At in-processing I weighed in at a hefty 210 lbs instead of the 208 lbs I should have been at.  Actually, 208 is my maximum weight, I shouldn't have weighed anywhere near that.  So, in light of my fatness, I was sent home on Training Day 3.  Two years of hard work, losing 45+ lbs shot down due to 2 lbs.
  Here is the bizarre thing.  The day before I left, I weighed myself on my digital scale and came in at a whooping 206 lbs with clothes on.  According to the Air Force and how they drop two pounds for clothes, I would have been at 204...4 pounds under my max weight.  So, somewhere between home, SLC, and Maxwell AFB I gained 6 pounds.
  Again, my dear wife and I are playing the waiting game.  The wonderful cadre at the detachment went through the regulations, found the paragraph on page 134 where we could fight for me to obtain a waiver and go next year.  The downside, it is about a two week wait.  What am I waiting for?  Well, if I get the waiver, I enter my POC (Professional Officer Course) years, continue ROTC, and head to field training next summer.  Upside is that I do not have to go through Field Training Prep. for a third round.  YAHOO!  However, if I don't get the waiver, I'm officially done with AFROTC and the likelihood of me obtaining a commission in the USAF becomes extremely slim.  I could try OTS but my chances would be probably less than 1%.
  So, what am I doing now?  Well, I'm working out like mad.  I workout anywhere from 10-12 hours a week, run at a minimum of 10 miles a week, and doing cross training.  I'm starting to swim again I will start throwing in some cycling into the whole mix.  Needless to say, if I go to field training again next year, I will be a human rock ready to max the PFA or close to it.  If I don't go to field training, than I plan to register for a half marathon for next April and I am contemplating doing a full marathon August of the same summer.
  At any rate, I am enjoying being at home with my wife and doing more with her.  Also, I got to spend more time with my in-laws, spend some time in Lake Powell, and I get to enjoy my summer.  Though, I wish I was in Mississippi right now, for whatever reason, here I am.  I'm also learning about Google+, working on making this upcoming year of Arnold Air Society rock, and just having fun.

The Dreadful Wait

  Well, now I'm play this awesome waiting game.  DoDMERB is currently in the process of medically clearing me.  The issue, I may have atopic dermatitis, or eczema, or a severe case of dry skin, or something else.  No one really knows, not even the specialists I saw the the U hospital two months ago.  She didn't specify whether it was one or the other and the Air Force decided I wasn't medically cleared to be in the Air Force.  So, now I'm fighting the whole thing so I can be in the Air Force.  

  I have now been waiting for nearly a month and still nothing.  I am supposed to leave in less than three weeks.  Worse case scenario, I wait till the 22nd of this month and than someone from the detachment sends a medical waiver request to the Surgeon Generals Officer of the Air Force.  From there I have about an 80% chance of getting in.

  I'm not a fan of this waiting game however it is a game I must play.  In the mean time I'm working out 5-6 days week, running about 10-13 miles a week and doing who knows how many push-ups and sit-ups a day to maintain good health.  It is hard on me and hard on my wife.  It is just hard not knowing.  

  In the mean time.  I do get to workout, spend time with my wife, work, and start working on the coming year for Arnold Air Society.  Should be a fun next couple of weeks.