Life and its suckiness

So before I delve too deeply into the matters of the suckiness of life... I'm one step closer to my Navy dream. I took the ASTB on Friday, and although I didn't do as well as I hoped (since I really wanted to have as much of a leg-up as possible due to many other things "against" me), I didn't do as bad as I feared.



I needed a minimum of 35 for the OAR score (used for Officer qualification in the Navy), and, out of a maximum of 80, I got a 54. Not bad, for being out of college (and out of practice) for more than 13 years. I could've also gone Pilot or Flight Officer (I'm too old for either, though), since I got a 6, 6 and 7 (out of a maximum of 9) from three other flight-related cores (not used for the other non-flight communities, except Intel, for which I needed a minimum of 3).



So all in all, and according to my recruiter as well, good scores, although not the "excellent" ones. So we'll wait and see.

Physical training is going well, albeit a little slower than I'd like, especially the weight loss itself. But it's getting there.

There's a lot of crap going on in my life right now, and although I have faith that it will all work out... it's tough getting there.

But my sister told me a great story, and I think it changed my mind a little about what I was going to write on here, and not "cry" about something that really is of trivial consequence in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, the story goes that a guy was walking down the street, and a rock landed next to him, kind of close. He paid no mind, and a bit later, another rock landed, this time even closer. He kept on walking. A third time, a rock hit him on the head. He yelled at the heavens, "WHY? WHY ME????"

And standing right before the guy, God appeared, with His arms outstretched, SURROUNDED by rocks and still being peletered by a rain of them. God said, "Are you okay? I think I may have missed some."

An overdue update

Phew, it's been a while (well, not that long, but it just seems like an eternity in the blogosphere).

Let's see... weight-wise, I'm STILL 212, after all this time; I don't know what else to do. I mean, I'm running, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and watching what I eat... and nothing. Of course, if I eat a burger and fries just once, it balloons up at LEAST 2 pounds, if not up to 4, so that always sucks.

But hanging in there. I'll put here my results (so far) and my plans for next week.

And I really do need to talk about more than my little exercise plans... this IS a blog, after all... don't I have some unfathomably philosophical thoughts once in a while? Like, what I think about the economy, the political arena, life??? Maybe... hehehe. Maybe next update will be something new.

So here is this week:

MONDAY
* Couch-to-5K, Week 5, Day 1: this was a very interesting change of pace. I'm starting to enjoy it, but it still gets hard and boring. I think I'm gonna have to start listening to some tunes.

TUESDAY
* Hundredpushups, Week 1, Day 1, Column 3: YES, I went BACK to Week 1... the plan has been changed for all the weeks, which may explain why I was having so much trouble with Week 3, the exhaustion tests didn't really place me in the right column, etc. So I'd feel better if I re-start the program and breeze through the levels. :) I maxxed out at 18 at the last level, so pretty stoked about that.

* Sit-ups: Did 1 set of 20, rest, then a set of 10, and I had to stop because my tailbone was bothering me, since I didn't use any support, and I gave up. :) I will use a soft pad next time, but I think I'll try to do as many sets of 20, with rests in between, as I can before fatiguing.

WEDNESDAY
* Couch-to-5K, Week 5, Day 2: PHEW! Almost didn't make that one, especially the last 8 minutes. I REALLY don't know how I'm going to be able to pull off the 20 minutes on Friday!!!

THURSDAY
Today I plan on doing Day 2, Week 1, Column 3 of push-ups, and don't expect it to be trouble. :) I also plan on doing the sit-ups thing (well, curl-ups, since I'm training Navy-style), and see where that goes, with a soft pad/mat this time!

FRIDAY
* The crazy 20 minutes of jogging non-stop for the first time... I'm REALLY going to need some tunes to take me through it, especially since I'm training on a treadmill, and it gets BORING. I've managed to get through the other running days by praying an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be over and over until the treadmill beeps. :)

Lil' Update

Hurricane Ike threw off my diet, so I'm not even going to post my weight. Ike FORCED me to eat cookies, cokes, go crazy on burgers once we got power, and the like... it wasn't me, honest! So I'm scared to look at the scale.

However, yesterday I DID manage to do Day 1 of Week 4 (WOW, FOUR!) of the Couch to 5K... those last 5 minutes of jogging almost did me in, but I finished it. I think I kind of pulled something, though, but not bad, between the hip and the thigh, cause it hurts a bit when I walk, but hopefully won't affect my jogging.

As far as hundred push-ups... okay, am I the only one having issues with Week 3? I cannot, for the life of me, finish Day 1 of Column 1 properly, and I've had to repeat Week 3 the last two weeks... so what gives? Is it me? Is it the program?

I just fatigue right before Level 5, every time.

Anyway, just trying to regain some semblance of normalcy after the Hurricane. Strange how we cling on the simple stuff.

Sarah, by the way, is your brother okay? Is there anything I can do since I'm here?

God bless all y'all. :)

Made it through Ike

So, we were blessed, in that the only damage our house suffered was a blown-in window, which we're going to have to get repaired as soon as possible, and our fence is kind of broken in places... but all in all, we fared well, compared to some of our neighbors and the rest of Houston and, especially, the Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula areas.

My prayers are with them. Power came back up last night, and man, you don't know how much you miss something until you miss it.

But thank God we're all okay. Back at work today (where I'm at at the moment), so... things starting to come back to "normal", if there is such a thing.

Since Josh put up his "big step" post... well, I don't want to feel like a "traitor", since I started thinking of joining the Army first, but... I've actually gone a step further with the Navy. Last week, before the Hurricane hit, I went and spoke to an officer recruiter, filled out some paperwork...

Still need to do get to physical standards, need some other things, take the ASTB (their ASVAB), and then see what happens, since the communities (their "branches") I'm going for are the two toughest to get into.

One major difference is that you know what you'd be going in as before you even ship to OCS. So we'll see.

The Army still tugs at me, so I'm slightly torn. However, since the Navy only allows up to 35, and I'll be 34 in November, I figured I should at least try there first; if not, there is always the Army, because I still want to serve.

I've actually considered the NG as well, especially seeing what they've done during Hurricane Ike, and that is a great cause they do, to serve their close neighbors that way.

So I'm looking forward to Josh's updates, to get more info and the inside scoop on the NG!

Ike a'Comin'!

Please say a prayer for us down here in Houston and especially around Galveston and the coast while we attempt to ride out Hurricane Ike...

I'll update as I can, but just in case we're out of power/access for the next few days (or weeks), as we've been warned could happen... don't get TOO worried if I don't update soon...

God bless everyone!

Weekly Update

Sorry for the delay, but here's an update and my planned schedule for the week:

Weight as of today: 215.5 lbs

Sunday I did the second test for the Hundred Push-ups to see where I'd start on Week 3, and I maxxed out at 25, almost 26; which put me on column 2 of Week 3, but I could tell by the fact that I couldn't finish level 2 (15 push-ups) without resting, that I should've picked column 1.

The same thing happened with the first week; I don't think the exhaustion test really fits with the column you're supposed to follow, at least for me.

So, I'll try to finish Week 3 in column 2, without pushing myself too hard (since I don't want to cause any damage), and what I'll probably end up doing is... well, re-doing Week 3 with Column 2, at which point, it should be a breeze.

So, to re-cap from the "beginning" of this week for me:

Sunday:
* Push-up exhaustion test: Maxxed out at 25
* Week 2, Day 1 of Couch to 5k: jogging at 5.5 mph, and walking at 3.2 mph (seemed to be easy on my feet, tendons, etc., and the jogging really felt very smooth)

Monday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 1 of Hundred Push-ups (fatigued at the beginning of Level 3 :( )

Tuesday:
* Week 2, Day 2 of Couch to 5k: 5.5 and 3.2

Wednesday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 2 of Hundred Push-ups

Thursday:
* Week 2, Day 3 of Couch to 5k: 5.5 and 3.2

Friday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 3 of Hundred Push-ups

Saturday:
* REST


I realize that nowhere in there do I have sit-ups planned. I'll probably end up waiting for next week so that I can do them together with the push-ups, but I should start as soon as possible.

Too bad I haven't found a good sit-up exercise routine that shows me the results I've been getting with the Hundred Push-ups... and I haven't tried to use a similar approach.

Things seem to be going great; now, if only I could sell the house, find a new place, settle my debt, figure out what's going to happen to my marriage and on, and on, and on. :D

Good luck to y'all, my readers (all 2 of them, but they're MY readers ;) ).

One step back...

Okay, so for some reason, I went one day from 219.5, to 217.5, and now I'm back to 221. Annoying as all heck, but... I would've thought that starting back up on a jogging routine would kick my metabolism into gear. I'm on my second week of hundredpushups.com... so either I'm putting on muscle really quick... or my body is just this amazing contraption that processes food to its utmost efficiency. Nah.

It could just be stress; work is hectic, and personal life is stressful; there's nowhere for me to rest, except Sundays at church.

If I stop and think about all the things that are "against" me at the moment... I don't think I'd ever come out of those depths. So I try not to dwell, and just focus on what I need to do, or rather, what I CAN do.

Trying to get rid of debt... you really don't know how much you truly owe until you REALLY try to pay it off; then that Netflix "paltry" fee you pay becomes a chance to PAY OFF a debt.

Trying to sell the house; trying to get in shape; trying to figure out what's going to happen with my marriage... it's enough to make someone depressed.

I feel like a broken man. And you know how, when you break pottery or your favorite mug or what have you, and you try to glue the pieces together, but there's always that WHITE line where you can see where the pieces shattered... that's how I feel; even if I were able to glue my life back together, I'd still see the WHITE scars of pain.

Wow. Depressing post... I'll add one with my "fitness" update and plan for next week, maybe that'll liven up the mood.