Pet Peeves

More pet peeves:
So what if I wear a hunter orange shirt to church and haven't shaved since Friday? What's your point? Am I not good enough to hear the Gospel because of it? I hate it when people are turned away or ignored in a church building because of their physical appearance. It's usually older people that are the offenders, too. I guess we all get stuck in our ways sometimes.

Fish Wars. Please, if you're going to put one of those stupid fish thingys on your car, don't drive like you should be sporting a Darwin fish instead of the Jesus fish. It's offensive to everybody.

Drive-by evangelism. I know a guy that has Bible verses in large letters all over the windows of his vehicle. Yes...that's a GREAT way to witness to people. That way, you stay safe away from ridicule, openess and actually caring about everyone you talk with. Way to go!

Using the Biblical language to explain other-than-Biblical things. Otherwise known as Christainese. I don't care if the civil authorities were called "magistrates" in the KJV, over here in America they are Senators, Governors, Representatives or whatever. The list goes on and on.

Tracts. Another great way to not get invovled in a person's life and still pretend to care. My favorite is putting a tract in a tip jar or using it as a tip.

Time for me to go.

Iron Sharpens Iron

I've made a new friend over the past few days. Her name is Sonya.

She's a fellow Wholly Grounds Coffee junkie but is still pretty new to the shop. The two of us ended up weathering the last set of storms at WGC along with the employees, and we had a blast! Ha.

She's a really neat girl! Every day she hits me with some observation or some bit of wisdom and completely floors me. I'm continually suprised by the wisdom that comes from her heart. God has used the two of us to encourage one another over the past few days and I'm thankful that we met.

Adios!

Goals for Today

SLEEEEEEEP (check)

COUNTRY BREAKFAST (check)

Half-Marathon Row (Yikes!)

Half-Marathon Run (Ooober Yikes!)

Time with Sonya (YAY!)

Time with friends (Yay!)

Eragon

I'm cruising my way through the book "Eragon" for the second time. Let me tell you...it is an EXCELLENT story! The movie didn't do the book justice at all. Most of the plot is completely left out, to be honest.

In the book, Eragon is just below the age of manhood when Saphira hatches for him. It's interesting to watch him realize she's not just a dumb beast and then to watch them grow together throughout the story. They are inseperable near the end, and she is a fierce protector of her pet human.

The book also reminds me of God in a lot of ways! Saphira's wrath against anything that causes Eragon harm is fearsome, to say the least...she would do anything to protect her boy. As powerful as a dragon could be (and yes...I do believe in dragons, though I think "dinosaur" would be a better term), the love God feels for us is so much greater in comparison. Reading this novel is a lot like reading a journey of faith. Very neat!

eHarmony, not for me!

So, I've spent the past month conversing back and forth with some nice Christian girls that have signed on to eHarmony. I did this prayerfully but still don't know why. So far two of the girls I've met have decided I'm not the one for them (after we started writing back and forth) and that's just depressing sometimes.
It's just re-enforcing the idea that either God doesn't want me in a relationship or I don't feel like I should be, I don't know which. It could just be me thinking that way. I mean, for one, I'm not active in a church. That's bad. I have no accountability or discipleship. That's worse. I'm (hopefully) about to cross-train, and am praying about missions to dangerous places...so, not quite the pick of the litter, here, nope!
Eh, whatever. I'm so closed up right now anyway that it's hard to even hope for cross-training, much less a girlfriend.

Reading from Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest

I'm trying to return this blog to something a little more personal, rather than just having WoD posts all the time. My apologies to all ya'll that got tired of them. This was my devo yesterday and today...it was enough to keep me going for two days straight! Ha.

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, "Look to Me, and be saved . . . ." The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. "Look to Me . . . ."

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, "Look to Me and you are saved," not "You will be saved someday." We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, "Look to Me, and be saved . . . ." Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. "Look to Me . . . ." Salvation is yours the moment you look.

WoDow!

Yesterady was a rest day.

Thursday:

Sq PT in the morning,
X 3 of:
1 min work/30 sec rest cycle for
push-ups
flutter kicks
squats
sprint bball court

2 min rest

Thursday afternoon was a modified Jackie.

Row 1000m (Did it in 3:46.7...finally got back down to PR!)
50 reps 95lb Push-Press
30 Pullups
I think it took about 16 minutes-ish. Can't say for sure because I don't remember.

Whew

The past few days have been crazy! Waking up at 0430 and then 0300 to go to work is NOT my idea of fun. Especially since I just got off nearly a month of vacation! Yikes!

Things are going good, I suppose. The past few days have been better with God, that's for sure. I've been invited to go places and do things with people nearly every weekend, so that's great. I'm trying to break out of my "avoidant personality disorder" and talk with as many people as possible, as well as accepting invitations to go hang out with new people. Recently those times of fellowship have cancelled because of weather, and I hate that! Can't it just do something outside and stay that way? Sheesh! No more thunder and ice storms, please...no thanks!

Eh. That's me. I wish there were some cool pics to share but there aren't any this time!

WoDaroo

Today:

Three rounds for time:
400m run
1.5 KB or DB swing, 21 reps
12 pull ups

Time: 20 minutes

For some reason the actual 55 lb dumbbell was too intimidating today. I wasn't psychologically prepared for it. I have no idea why - hey it's just FIVE POUNDS, but I guess on rep 60 that five pounds translates into much more.

I forced myself to take 30 sec-1:30 rest periods between sets and allowed the same between running and the swings.

Oh, by the way, I know I owe a couple of people some letters...they're on the way! :)

WoD-Mart

I haven't been able to work out for FOUR DAYS thanks to the weather. Well...honestly two of those days I didn't care because of last week's WoD's plus sq PT. But the other two days I hated it!

Today was a conglomeration. I wasn't really hitting the intensity or weight that hard and had to knock it off early because I'd scheduled lunch with a friend.

1000m row
95-175lb cleans, total of about 10-15 reps. Some were 'warmup' reps and others weren't.

Pull-ups, with 5-15-20-25-20 lb weights. Two of each in each set.

Row, 3000m in 500m intervals

Sheep and Sheepdogs

One of the best quotes ever.
It's sort of a long read, but WELL worth it.

Storm on the Waters

NEW BLOG!
I've decided to localize all my rants on politics and religion into one place.

Storm on the Waters

oh...my...WoD!

Yesterday:

As many rounds in 20 minutes of:
100m Run
50lb dumbell swing
10 pull-ups

Six rounds, and that was at about 21 minutes. I had no illusions of greatness going into this WoD and basically just wanted to hold on for the ride.

Today:
X2 of:
Burpees 1 min
Superman 30 sec per side

Rest 1 min

X2 of:
Burpees 1 min
Reverse Planche, 30 sec

Rest 1 min

X2 of:
Jumping Jacks
Iron Cross

Rest 1 min

Team Pistol or Squat Hold 1 min
Planche 20 sec
Team Pistol or Squat Hold 30 sec
Planche 15 sec

X3 of:
Flutter Kicks, 15 reps, four count
V-ups, 10 reps

35 mins total, warmup to cooldown

Daily Photo?

Okay, so...where's the daily photo? Sorry about that...geocites won't let me post that much data at once. So it's canxed. Maybe I'll figure something out eventually, though, who knows?

WoDism

Yesterday:

As many rounds in 20 mins of:

65 lb Thruster, 12 reps
Pull-ups, 10 reps

I got seven. Bleh. Could have probably done more but my lower back was starting to ache so I calmed it down a bit.

Today:

As many rounds in 20 minutes of:
65lb Power Snatch, 12 reps
10 Push-Ups

Again, seven. And again, lower back. This time my legs were toast before I even started, thanks to yesterday.

After that I did some situps (30-40ish) on one of those rubber ball things to get some reciprocal effort on my abs and lower back. After that, some swimming, but nothing serious...mostly just bobbing and two or three mask recovery cycles. I DID get a 50 yard underwater fin swim though!! Woohoo! Best so far. Now to do it without the fins...sigh...argh....! :)

WOD! WODWODWODWOD!!!

Today:

I haven't been able to keep up with the 'official' schedule since sometime last week, so I've been ad hoc'ing it since then. Today I tried something that would at least work the same muscle groups as the squats, presses and deads, if not the same way. The 'hang' part wasn't actually a hang, I set the barbell on the floor each time. I just forgot to do the squat and instead did a short dip.

Hang clean and jerk, 5-5-5-5-5

95-115-135-155-165

I haven't been able to put 165 above my head since inprocessing at DEPS. Thank you Crossfit!

Yesterday: REST!!

Thursday:

Henrietta - 65lb bar in the overhead squat postion, but instead of the squat, it's a one leg lunge.

Jezebell - Modified "iron cross" found at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Iron%2BCross (family/work safe). The modified makes it a four count exercise. One, arms at sides; two, squat with arms out front; three, arms retracted to chest; four, single squat thrust to return weights overhead. The weights were weight plates from the barbells, not dumbells with the convenience of handles.
Here's the workout:
10 seconds work/ 10 seconds rest, four sets
Push-Ups
Squats
Dips
Back Raises

Henrietta
Jezebel
Henrietta

10/10 Work/Rest of
Back Raises
Dips
Squats
Push-Ups

3 mile run
(The above was sq PT.)

Later on in the day I rowed for 8,000 meters and some change.

I don't remember the rest of the WoD's for this week. I know the climbing and half-marathon row didn't happen. One, my partner cancelled, and two, I felt like crap when I STARTED the row (crap as in malnourished crap), so I figured discretion was the better part of valor for that attempt. I think I did a tabata type workout somewhere, too, but don't remember precisely when.

Daily Photo #3

Today's photo's are pretty neat, I think. Both were taken in the coffee shop. I used the "color accent" mode on the camera - it makes everything black and white except for one color you specify. I was trying to get the bottom photo, and in the process saw an opportunity for the top photo. I think I like that one better.

My other hobby!

Daily Photo #2

Today's Daily Photo!

This one is interesting. Notice how the primary subject is the stalk in front of the rock...notice how the stalk is perfectly centered on the rock, the rock is centered in the pic, the line between the shore and the water isn't centered but on the bottom third of the photo...one carefully planned and executed picture, right?

NOT!

Getting this pic was hilarious! Ha! I walked down to a small lake by my apartement building in search of something interesting. As I arrived I noticed the fifty or so Canadian Geese and a few swans swimming about. Fun!

I walked around, took a few pics, and aimed toward the shore. I saw the stone and thought, great! That'll be a cool photo. Hehehe...well, some people came up behind me and started throwing bread on the shore. Of course the geese saw it and one of them apparently rang the dinner bell because EVERY goose, swan, blackbird, and sea gull (yes, there are sea gulls in Oklahoma!), swarmed the beach. I'm not kidding, within 30 seconds I was charged by every bird in the county, and the big ones wanted me to go away! So I did! No plans on making America's Funniest Home videos, here, no thank you!

As those thirty seconds ticked away, I set the camera to "Auto" and snapped a few pics. As I looked through the viewfinder I thought a couple were out of focus but took the chance anyway. They weren't out of focus, the camera focused on the SINGLE weed between the rock and me! Ha! Anyway, I thought the pic was a perfect example of how telling God your plans seems to be a great way to make Him laugh. :) Enjoy!

Tommorrow's WoD

Well, I've got an exciting day planned for tomorrow! We'll see how it works out. Two of three events are dependant on other people, so who knows!

Half marathon row in the morning: 21,097.5 meters

Climbing in the afternoon

Assisting someone workout in the evening

Yay! Rhabdo, here I come!

Daily Photo #1

In today's photo, the subject was a pair of baby shoes at a friend's house. I took the pic last night (the actual baby was way to active to catch in a photo). I think maximum zoom was used (I was a good ten feet away, too), and the "Indoor" special mode was utilized to try and capture the right light.

Critiques?

Doing the ordinary extraordinarily well....

Okay, so maybe not. Still, I've decided to use the digital camera as often as possible. Hopefully I'll be able to post one photo a day, or every other day at the most (except for during the fly-a-thons at work).

The intent is to practice photography. Subjects could be anything, and photos posted will not be edited except for sizing.

With the photo on the right, I was trying to emphasize how bright and different the light was coming from the building compared to the ones next to it. I wanted to make it surreal if possible. The "fireworks" special mode was used to take this photo.