The Journey Begins

So here's the thing; I've decided to push towards getting in shape in order to even consider the possibility of joining the Army. So hopefully I'll have something to talk about, mainly, my journey of shapedness. Or whatever.

Some starting stats, just for my own curiosity at the end of... however many months.

Age: 33
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 252 lbs (yes, a bit obese)

Today I started an 8-week walk/run program to get me in the groove of things and to safely get me started on this journey. It seems easily doable, and the expected results at the end of the 8 weeks seem highly achievable, which can only result in the feeling of fulfillment one needs to carry on.

You can find the routine here for those interested, plus other articles: http://running.about.com/od/getstartedwithrunning/ht/getstarted.htm

Stop here if you don't care a flying fig about what I did, but I'm using this also as a sort of journal to record my progress.

Here's what I did today:

Warm-up:
- Started at 2 MPH (I'm using a treadmill, so you may want to get a pedometer or something to that effect to help you easile keep pace, although always go for your comfort level).
- At 2:30, I increased it to 2.5 MPH
- At 5:00, I increased the speed to 3 MPH. This is the speed I used for my walking segments.

For my jogging segments, I was using 4 MPH. This seemed to work great for my current state. Obviously, your conditioning will greatly vary these speeds. But this is a good start for someone who's obsese for his height, and although I could feel my calves starting to burn even before the warm-up period was over, I was able to finish this first session with no problems, and my heart rate seemed to stay on target.'

For my cool-down, I went down to 2.8 MPH after finishing the last jogging segment. 1:30 into my cool-down, I went down to 2.5 MPH. 3:00 into my cooldown, went down to 2.2 MPH. 4:00, to 2.0 MPH, and ended up at 1.8 MPH. This seemed a good way to bring down my heart rate to non-insane levels.

Good luck to those about to embark in a similar endeavor, and please feel free to share tips!

Hopefully as I go along, I'll actually have something to contribute towards those who actually are trying to find information on joining the Army/Military.

Peace and God Bless.

The Milky Way of Life

I've never been good at blogging; whether it's because I find nothing to talk about, or whether I just don't update it as often as I should, or whether my ego is hurt because no one is reading, I always end up giving up on blogging.

I'm attempting this again, in hopes that, because of the blog title, I'll now have a lot to talk about... although, ironically, the blog title is actually the opposite of that.

Because, in a way, although our lives could enjoy the outlook of infinite possibilities, when you really come down to it, and you apply the Reality Quotient (R.Q.) to solve the problem of life, you're really left with infinitesimal -- really small -- possibilities that are a consequence of the small amount of decisions you can actually make.

Take my life, for instance. I've lived a little over three decades, and to this day, I have many things pulling me in different directions -- as I'm sure everyone does -- as to where to go in my life: a musician, a writer, a filmmaker, an Army Officer, an FBI agent... and of course, a husband and a father.

Now, because I'm a relatively boring lead for a software development team (which means I really don't get to do the fun stuff, but rather, the pencil-pushing stuff), married and with a child... do I really have all those infinite possibilities?

If I stop being selfish for a minute, and apply the R.Q. to my life... can I really be a musician? It requires too much time practicing, too much money for equipment, and long road trips if you ever make it that far, which requires a lot of time away from your family.

Can I really be a writer? It requires absolute concentration, focus, no interruptions and a state of zen from which you can extract some ideas for stories, and then spend eight hours or more a day glued to your typewriter, laptop, notebook or what have you, trying to finish one more page. And considering you need food, water and shelter to even survive, and if you're starting in the writing business, you haven't sold anything at all and thus you need to find some other form of sustenance, which won't get the writing done, but you need to provide for your family... well, the list goes on, and you get my point.

So... I'm left with trying to figure out what I can do, what I can be, in the context of my own life. And thus, out of all those infinite possibilities, I'm left with infinitesimal ones... that, although they can certainly be fulfilling, they're harder to find.

So this blog will include passages of my life on my way to find what these infinitesimal possibilities are and where they could lead me.

And although I'm doing this mostly for my selfish self, I wouldn't mind having the ocassional passenger or passengers on this trip through the milky way of life.

God bless and best to all.