My mind at ease

Well, it was time to clean up this thing that i created many moons ago. I started this blog to simply keep an intangible journal. Something i couldn't lose and could go to from time to time. I never thought people would actually read this, nor comment. Thus, the clean up. Over the past few years i have loved, lost, grown, cried, smiled, raged, learned and lived. Life is a journey that must be taken one day at a time. Curve balls have been thrown my way but with such luck i have learned to finally hit the ball. No, i am not a good writer, nor think i am. I am not a poet. I am not an artist. I never plan to be but, i do believe that writing can ease the mind. I have learned to live and let live. There is a line in one of my favorite songs from Senses Fail "I know I got a tattoo for a reason, why cant I just hold it true?" Seems simple, but in the past I have let myself down. Upon my right wrist I placed a nautical compass- Let bygones be bygones, look forward and never look back. Upon my left wrist the chemical compound for dopamine- Always find happiness. These are carefully placed in places I can see them daily for the simple reminder, always move forward and don't look back, find happiness in anything and everything. Upon my right ribs- A tree, a spectrum of spring, summer, autumn and winter all in one for the circle of life. Someone once told me "Life is nothing short of beautiful." It originated from a poem "This night is nothing short of beautiful." This is my representation of just that- Cette vie ne rien que belle. Life is good and bad, it depends on how you look at it. "We started from the bottom, Now we're here." This is how i feel as of late. I have destroyed and recreated my life. I live to be a great father to my children. I have been very successful in my line of work and the sky is the limit with my knowledge and my desire to continue to be greater than yesterday. I have found a healthy lifestyle which has helped me get out of a negative bubble that I was sucked into not too long ago. I have become very fond of bodybuilding, which has helped me kick some bad habits. I have learned to meditate, something similar to praying for those religious folk. I have learned to forgive and let go of many feelings and events that have occurred in my past. Music is still a big part of my life, but what I listen to now is very different than before. As silly as it sounds i have become very good at star craft 2, and i have used this to help me recover. I have gained a great family over the past year and am getting married this summer to someone whom i have learned to love more than anyone before. I am accepted for me and am supported in all of my decisions 100% for once in my life. She is wonderful to my kids and treats them as if her own. They love her dearly and are always so excited to see her. I couldn't ask for more. I have some wonderful friends that have stuck by my side through all the dark and crazy moments in my life. The sky is only getting more clear with each passing day. I am truly grateful to be where i am today. I have gotten over my anger with the church, as i was so involved in the past for the wrong reasons. I have been asked to teach again on Sundays. I have been thinking about returning a lot lately for myself and my own spirituality. I'm sure there will be more to come.

About the Loser, and Success

It is incredibly ironic that some of the things that i read last night can take effect with in a matter of hours. I have been reading my text book for one of my selling classes, i know kind of boring right. No, it was actually quite amazing and very informative. I have a lot of interesting thoughts in my head on who i see these actions coming from and affecting. First I'd like to quote a few things from Dave Litchford, " I may lose in life, but so will you because i will do what i have to, to make you lose. This is a behavior of finding faults in other people and criticizing people instead of building them up and looking for positive things. People with this behavior become your back stabbers and are those who love to start vicious rumors and lies at work and in the neighborhood." To me this is accurate, unfortunately of many people within my blood line and those in superior positions to me within the service.
Next, I would like to mention the obstacles that prevent success. Lack of self-confidence, fear of failure and low self-esteem. This is where the "we become what we think about," comes from. A simple change of mind can turn a boring event into an interesting opportunity. Just because something was a certain way before, doesnt mean it is the same now. Just because you failed at something once, doesnt mean you will fail again. Just because someone does something to you, doenst mean they will do it again. If you believe in negativism, It will consume you. Success can be any number of things, and to be successful you need to focus on achieving your goal, Expectations- we create images of how things should be, and if these images are believed they become self fulfilling prophecies. Enthusiasm- It can increase productivity, improve morale, and make another person feel physically and mentally better. Lastly, discipline- successful people of the wold seem to gain the habit of doing those things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.
I have to say that the things I read about are helping me understand others a lot more and also understand how they perceive the world.

Super Bowl Sunday

So far the day has been pretty slow. Shoulders/Traps/Back today at the gym. I did some ironing and listened to some music. Natalie hasn't been feeling well, so I ordered dinner for her last night. I attempted to see if the "Google Hot Pot," thing worked. I typed in Chinese food and all of the restaurants that had good ratings didn't deliver. Natalie said it was good though, the best she ever had. I don't know if she was saying that to be nice or not. I don't have formation or p.t. in the morning due to the Super Bowl, I think it is so our leaders can get drunk watching the game but I could be wrong. I watched the Steelers beat the Ravens when I ate at Buffalo Wild Wings and it was such a good game that I hope the Steelers win. We had a fire drill in the hotel today, in fact just got back from outside. Who schedules a fire drill on Super Bowl Sunday? I'm probably not even watching it to be honest, Ghost Adventures marathon on Travel.

The Ample Time To Read

So this course that I am attending is very interesting in the fact that it isn't interesting at all. My schedule is simple and goes by rather quickly, due to the books. Monday through Friday this is how my regular day would go: 4:45 my alarm goes off, get up and get dressed for first formation at 5:30, after formation do P.T. until 6:20-6:30, return to my room to eat breakfast and shower. 7:20 rolls around I head out to class, 7:30 class is supposed to start. I end up sitting in my chair reading a book until the instructors are ready to start the lesson which isn't until about 8:00. The course work takes anywhere from 10-25 minutes but are allotted one hour to complete the course work for the hour. So again I wait until the end of the hour reading. At the end of the hour we are given a 15-20 minute break. We do this 2-3 times from 8:00-11:00 and then are let go for lunch, which is two hours from 11:00-1:00. When we return for the day we aren't in class, instead we head over to the learning center to sit at a laptop and do whatever needs to be done to pass time until at least 3:00. (I am in the learning center now...) On average I read about 3 hours a day Monday through Friday just in the first half of the day. I have completed reading 7 books so far in only 4 weeks, and the I didn't even start reading until my second week here. I am supposed to get out of here the 16th of March, but for some reason they just made this course even longer. What are we going to do, there isn't enough for us to do now? I have read "The Things They Carried, Breaking Dawn, Path of The Planeswalkers, Resistance, Alice In Wonderland, Through The Looking Glass and am reading The Wizard of Oz." I plan on reading other material though, i plan on getting "The Tipping Point, One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest, Catch 22."

The Gift From The "Amazon"

I have found that Amazon is the greatest gift to the online shopping world. The best feature is the "Wish List" You can add anything you can search for on Amazon into a wish list, and you can specify the type of list it is. For instance I have created a Supplements wish list, Computer Parts wish list, Car Part wish list etc. You can set this up to be for private viewing only, or open it publicly for your friends and family to be able to search for you wish list through Amazon. I honestly did the maj0rity of my xmas shopping through the wish list options for many family member and friends. I was able to see what they really wanted and was able to shop around for the right price right there on amazon. At first the "Wish List" feature was exclusive to what you could find on Amazon.. until I discovered the "Universal Wish list" Now you can go to any website, click on any specific item you may want to buy and add it to your amazon wish list so that it appears under your regular wish list for yourself to remember a product or to have it set aside for maybe a birthday or a holiday when someone might want to look for something to get you. I highly recommend getting an Amazon account with a Wish List so you can share these items with loved ones, especially if you are one of mine.

Life: the recognition

To all those that have befriended, loved, appreciated and attempted to understand.

It is always the simplest things we regret to recognize. The gestures are so plain to see, yet they never register within our eyes. Each scene on the reel spins quickly as each day goes by. If we can stop to question why, we find that the many events that occur happen only for specific reasons. Days turn to weeks, weeks to months from season to season, what is it that stands out most? Being accepting to all that surrounds us, helps us appreciate the film that encases each living moment. A photo captures a single point in time, the mind comprehends all but is never capable of reliving the already lived again. To recognize hello, the voice and the face is to be seen, heard and remembered in return. Each choice is followed by a chain of actions and reactions, it is the choice of the individual to recognize the simplest things, to accept them, to comprehend them and to remember them. It is the choice of others, the receiving end of these things to do the same.

The end of a long weekend

Not a lot has happened during the extended weekend that has been granted to me. I was able to go to the gym all three days. It wasn't that great due to the fact that there are two gyms on base, the one that is across the street from the hotel is closed during the weekend and all holidays and the other across base is under construction and very limited to the equipment i need. It is always crowded at both places. I have discovered just recently, in fact in the last ten minutes that mozilla firefox solves all the issues i was having with internet explorer 7. I can type at a regular, non-delayed speed without the need of any driver upgrade/updates and I have been able to open websites without a little annoying window that says operation aborted: memory on line #... I am now a fan of Firefox is what i am getting at.

I look forward for this week to be over with already. I will have been here for 3 weeks come Friday. I am awaiting a waiver from my unit back home so I can return on March 16th rather than March 31st. My birthday is March 17th (St. Patrick's Day) I would actually make it home for my birthday for once if all goes according to plan.

Something new: a higher position opened up at Logitech. I applied four different ways and interviewed last week. I will find out by this Friday if i was selected for the position. It is different than what I was doing before, it is more specific with accounts. I have felt like a big fish in a small tank lately, so this could be really good for me. I have chosen to actually get a degree in sales and marketing and stay in this field of business. A promotion is exactly what I need to stay motivated and challenged at this point. I have too many ideas with how things could and should be with the business to business channel for sales.

I stumbled upon a show last night on cable that I thought was very interesting, it is called Storage Wars. These people go to storage units and without looking in detail to the contents of the unit it is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The winner then gets to see if he owns anything valuable through the unit and resells it.

Interesting thing came up, Hydroxycut has a new formula.. again. It is now Hydroxycut Hardcore Pro Series and not Hardcore X.
The price doubled due to a little print on the bottle, "Scientifically proven" I think that is a little bogus. I can't trust whoever put this on the bottle. I do know that the original hardcore series made me crazy, the x series tasted terrible due to all the paprika but both did what it was meant to do. I was able to feel increased energy and able to lose more weight during the time i took these supplements than when I cycled off.

Speaking of cycling off supplements: I haven't had any creatine since Christmas. I am taking the time that I am here to focus on cutting and trimming down. So no more N.O. Xplode or Cellmass

until i get back. I do miss it a lot, also haven't had BCAA's, I am currently taking ZMA, Mega Men Sport Multi Vitamin, Hydroxycut Hardcore X, Triple Omega and Glutamine. Occasionally I'll take a scoop of Jack3d, but not everyday.