Spirit and Body

I was just kind of thinking today, as I stared a candy bar down in defiance, that it's so funny that all the things that are good for us, are hard to do, and all the things that are bad for us are easy and enticing. I think that in order to become masters of our own lives, we must learn to master our impulses and cravings.

Who are we really? What is left of us when you strip away the natural impulses, the unhealthy cravings, etc? I believe we are spirit joined with body. But, who is really in there? When you are hungry...are YOU hungry, or is it just the physical body? How about all the other desires of the flesh?

I watch my dogs and conclude that they absolutely give in to every bodily craving and desire that they experience. My Alaskan Malamute isn't going to excercise restraint if I put a female in heat in his pen with him. No more than he would if I threw a little bunny rabbit in there. But, we aren't animals now are we? Some would disagree. They think we're just a higher evolved animal and we shouldn't expect much from ourselves. If a man cheats on his wife, it's ok because bottom line he's just an animal behaving on instinct.

I think that one thing that seperates us from the animals is the ability to recognize that we are more than just flesh behaving on instinct. We have spirits, we have souls, and we feel this deep in our hearts. The great difficulty is how intertwined our spirits are with our bodies. Even though great joy, or great anger are purely emotional and derive from the mental and spiritual form of ourselves, we still have physical reactions from these emotions, like crying, or laughing.

What I'm getting at is that to become the master of our own universe we must recognize that we are spirit matter. We have to learn to master our body, instead of the body mastering us. We must learn that we are so much larger than just mere animals acting on base instinct.

I think the whole "we're just animals" argument is simply an excuse to not rise to the occasion and become who we know we could really be.

Quote of the day:
The definition of an intellectual is: Someone who has been educated beyond their ability to learn anymore. author unknown

Keep on Truckn'

Well, I am on six straight day shifts now. This was day three....three more to go. So far I have had the chance to workout twice in the last three days. Not bad. More than I thought I'd get with the busy schedule at work. The chance for a workout tomorrow looks bleak. But, if I can get one in the day after that, I will be pretty pleased. Then back to some graveyard shifts, and daily workouts.

I am frustrated because I just don't seem to be making any headway in the way of fat loss, especially around my belly. In another week or so things are supposed to really slow down at work, and that should give me the opportunity to get more workouts in and settle into a routine of some kind. One thing I've decided is to cut back my carbs a tad. I think I may be getting a bit too many. So, instead of the chicken or tuna sandwich everyday, I will be cutting out the "bread" part of the sandwich, and just eating the meat with an apple for that meal. I've done it for the last three days, and haven't noticed any big defeciency in energy during my workout. Yet, I still wonder what kind of results I could achieve with a low low carb diet like the Atkins combined with heavy weight lifting. My curiosity is very peaked in this manner despite the warnings. I don't know. I still need to give this other program a decent shot before I discount it entirely.

On a seperate note, I got some cool new upgrades for my paintball gun. I own a Tippmann A-5. I recently got an Egrip, which allows me to fire the gun at full auto ( 18 rounds a second ), and a Flatline barrel, a patented barrel with a curve on it that actually puts a backspin on the paintball, giving it one hundred extra feet in range. There are a few more things I need to get, like a stock, and a chronograph. A chronograph is an insrument that measures the velocity of your paintball, so you can adjust your gun not to shoot too fast, or too slow.

If I could play paintball every day, I wouldn't need to worry about all this diet and excercise. Oh well. Keep on Truckn'

The ups and the downs

I am writing this on the tail end of a stupendous week of good dieting and excercise. I was able to stick strictly to my diet for six days, and got in a pretty decent workout for each of those days, with the exception of one day, when a fellow security officer had to work a double shift and was trying to get some sleep in a room across from our workout area. Since I quite often find myself working out between 1am and 3am when on graveyards, I decided to show a little courtesy to this guy. I still worked out, but just some weight lifting. I was planning on some cardio, but figured this poor guy would be disturbed by the sound of someone plodding on a treadmill.

Anyway, that being said I am a little discouraged, because I don't know if I have noticed much change in my body, but it was only six days for crying out loud! You need more than that to make a change. The real discouragement comes from knowing that tomorrow I rotate to five "day shift" days of work, and I will be lucky if I get to workout more than twice in those five days. And working out after work is pretty much not an option with a fourteen hour work day. Sigh...

The good news is that in a week or so, things are supposed to slow down a bit at work and perhaps then I will have more consistent opportunities to get my workouts in. Then I can really put this new program into effect, instead of this dabbling.

Free Speech or Contradiction?

For some reason I have been thinking about the practice by some Americans to burn our nation's flag in protest. I remember back when George H.W. Bush made it illegal to burn the flag. I remember seeing images on tv of people burning the flag in DC and being hauled off by police. Personally I get offended when I see Old Glory being burned, stomped on, or spat upon. I see it as an act that almost borders on treason. Can I defend these feelings logically? Probably not. I am only being honest in how I feel when I see it happening.

Those who defend this practice usually cite their constitutional right to freedom of speech, and expression. They also claim they are merely practicing their right to peaceable assembly in protest to the government.

Although these are all rights that I do condone and God willing, we never lose these rights, I have to question the whole flag burning. I don't believe we can make it illegal to do so, just as we can't stop anyone from burning a Bible if that's what they want to do. But, what I have to ask is; what logic comes from burning the Flag? What is the symbolism? What are they trying to say when they burn the Flag? When I turned on the tv on 9/11 and saw Muslim extremists in the streets of Baghdad burning our flag, I could see the reason. I got the message loud and clear. But when one of us does it....

To me it only speaks volumes of a person's ignorance when they chose to burn the very symbol of the freedom that allows them to demonstrate their protest in such a way. I can't think of very many nations on God's green Earth that would permit such a demonstration. But here in America, land of the Free, it's a simple matter of free speech. But to me it is the ultimate hypocrisy. The Constitution guarantees a person the freedom of speech. The Stars and Stripes is our ultimate and most sacred symbol of that very constitution. To burn it, is in effect burning the Constitution in effigy. In my mind these people are symbolically canceling themselves out.

Instead, you should be flying that flag with pride! Wave it in the face of oppression and tyranny! By all means protest and demonstrate if you disagree with policy. That's what this country is all about...That's what that flag you are burning is all about. Think about it.

The Words of a Master

Years ago I was heavily involved in power lifting. This was a two year stretch in which I went form 190 lbs to 270 lbs. I was really strong, and could do 1,000 lbs reps on the leg sled. I didn't do it alone as I had a trainer the whole two years. He is an olympic weight lifting coach for the USA, consultant to the Bulgarian weight lifting team, and has trained 36 body building champions in his time. It was a privelage to be under his wing for two years.

Now, as I strive for better health, weight loss, and muscle gain, I have recently been reflecting on this time in my life. The workouts were horrendously difficult. I reached levels within myself that I never knew existed. I pushed through mental walls that I didn't even know were there. Now as I struggle trying to lose weight, and get in good consistent workouts one of his sayings keeps popping back into my head, and I thought maybe all of us could benefit from his wisdom. He said, " Your body is simply a machine...it will do whatever you ask of it...if YOU will get out of its way ! The body physically has no concept of TOO hard, or TOO heavy. It only does what it's told ".

Just another day

Cold and windy today. The weather is sucking out my paintball enthusiasm. At least I know that eventually the weather should clear up someday, and I can start playing again.

Well, yesterday was my new start on working out and diet. It felt good. The workout went well, and I am sore today, so that's good. I am hoping to get to workout tonight, but my LT. is sending us to the range to bone up on our shooting techniques, so I might not get to workout tonight. Maybe if I get done shooting in time, I will be able to squeeze something in.

Tomorrow shouldn't be a problem for sure. So that's good. Well, that's it for today...nothing profound pops into my head at the moment.

Premature Longing

Yesterday's post I was all longing for paintball and glorifying the warm springy feeling in the air. Yesterday I grew nostalgic watching kids ride by on thier bikes with baseball gloves dangling from their handle bars. The smell of fresh mowed grass wafted through the neighborhood, as I sat on my Dad's porch taking in the lazy afternoon sun while burgers sizzled on the grill.

This morning I woke up to a near blizzard! Snow covered the ground as giant wet flakes fell for most of the morning.

Ahhh...Springtime in the Rockies.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Paintball! Oh Yeah! With the weather warming up I am really starting to jones for some paintball. I haven't mentioned this on my blog before, but I have been playing paintball since it's conception in the late eighties. I love this game! In my opinion it is a game that brings all of the base elements of most sports, and combines them together. One of the great things about paintball is it doesn't matter if you are young, old, skinny, fat, female, or male...everyone is on an equal playing field. The only thing that really matters is experience.

Well, every spring I start to get all worked up over paintball. I start getting all of my gear out from storage, and cleaning it up. This spring I have ordered some stuff for my paintball marker (gun) to enhance the performance. Can't wait for the stuff to get here.

If I could only find a way to play paintball every day, then I wouldn't need to worry about excersice and diet so much. Maybe I will start up a tournement team, and try to go pro = )

If you haven't given this sport a try before, I strongly urge you to give it a shot. Most beginners that I've invited out to play with me, usually end up buying all their own gear, and become regulars.

As the summer progresses and I start getting some playing time in, I plan on posting some war stories on this blog. So stay tuned for more.

Don't know if I can take it much longer

Well, update on my diet time. I sure have packed on a lot of muscle mass it seems. I am enjoying the look and feel of bigger arms, chest, and legs, but unfortunately I have also increased in body fat. I am not sure by how much, but my pants are tighter than before. My last update, I had dropped my calories down to 1500, thinking that that should do it no matter what. Turns out that this few of calories just caused me to be super hungry to the point where I would have no will power, and tended to binge at nights on unhealthy snacks and crap. I haven't really followed any semblance of a decent diet, or work out routine in about two weeks. My busy work schedule is partly to blame.

I talked to my friend who happens to be a personal trainer, and fitness consultant, yesterday. He said that reducing my calories to 1500 was the worst thing I could've done. Someone my size should be eating more. Fewer calories on someone of my size will actually result in a slowing down of the metabolism!

Anyway, I have reworked things and am going to be starting fresh and new again on monday. I would start now, but my parents are grilling burgers sunday, and I figured I might as well enjoy one last good meal before getting all serious. I am going to be back up in the 2,000 calorie range, and still eating six meals a day.

My friend also advised me that I should be trying to get in at least three cardio sessions a week, so I revised my training split.

Day 1- Abs / Chest / Cardio
Day 2- Back / Biceps / Triceps
Day 3- Shoulders / BIG cardio
Day 4- Legs / Traps
Begin with Day 1 again.

Well, we shall see. I am frustrated because I feel like I am undoing all the progress I made on the Atkins diet. It is tempting just to get back on Atkins, because the weight really does come off, and you aren't ever hungry. But, at the same time I want to be building muscle mass and become a more active person. I don't know what kind of muscle building I can achieve if on a low carb diet. Seems I should be able to add muscle if eating all that protein. Who knows. If it starts to get too drastic, I may have to go back to Atkins. Any advice from anyone?

He Thinks He's So Special!

First off, let me explain why it’s been so long since I last posted on my blog. Basically I usually blog on my days off, and when there is down time at work. Well, the past week there have been no down times, or days off, hence no blogging. My schedule doesn’t permit me to blog after I get home because, I usually barely have enough time to prepare the following day’s meals and get to bed. I am out the door by 5 am and don’t get home usually until 8:30 pm. I think my wife would kill me if I spent the few precious minutes I have at home blogging.

Well, onto my topic for today.

“ I hate him! He always thinks he’s so much better than anyone else “! How many times have we heard this phrase, or even spoken it ourselves? This past week at work I heard this said about a fellow coworker. I was shocked to hear it actually. This is a person - I will call him John - that I actually have a lot of respect for, and was surprised to hear some speak so venomously of him.

John is a young married guy with two kids. He seems to be a great husband, and father. I admire his ability at work to always stay above the back biting, and politics. I’ve never heard him slam anybody else behind their back. He is faithful in his religion. Doesn’t drink, smoke, gamble, tell dirty jokes. At work he takes his job seriously, never caught snoozing on post, always scoring high on his firearms qualifications, and is dedicated to keeping himself in shape.

Is he perfect? No. Is he trying to be? I think he is doing his best, to be the best he can be. Back to the ugly phrase I began with, “ I hate him! He always thinks he’s so much better than anyone else “! I’ve decided, that in most instances this isn’t true at all. The person being criticized as pompous, or self-righteous doesn’t assume they are better than anyone. The next time you start to assume this about someone, stop and consider this: Maybe it’s not that they think they are better than you....maybe it’s that, deep down you KNOW they are better than you! They aren’t self-righteous, just ...righteous. Some people just can’t stand or abide this self realization, and their own petty jealousy comes blazing out in slanderous profusion.

I am reminded of an analogy I was once told about a bucket of crabs. I was told that if you fill a bucket with a certain kind of crab, they will all try their best to stand up and climb out of the bucket. Occasionally one will manage to hook a claw to the rim of the bucket, and begin to hoist itself out. At this moment all the other crabs will grab a hold of him and pull him back down into the bucket with the rest of them.

Isn’t this so true of humanity, and the way we treat each other. Especially one who may stand out and with their own piety reflect back to us our own downfalls and imperfections. Rather than hold up this individual as a shining example, we would rather pull them back down to our own level. We would rather not be reminded so painfully of our faults, and short comings.

Just some rambling for today.

Minutemen and Border Patrol

I feel like these minutemen down in Arizona helping to patrol the US border down there are getting a bad wrap from the msm.

While doing some patrolling of my own last night, I was listening to late-night talk radio, and heard an interview with a radio reporter who was embedded with the minutemen down there, and he had some interesting things to say.

He said that although, publicly the US Border Patrol has denounced the minutemen and expressed concern for the action taking place, this reporter has seen the actual agents, the guys getting down and dirty everyday, walking up to the volunteers and shaking their hands, and thanking them for the help. He has seen agents salute the Minutemen as they drive past.

Another thing he said is that since the Minutemen converged they have seen the attempts at border crossing diminish by one half, and this was only on the second day.

Also, they are apparently having an effect on the drug smugglers as well. He told a story, of an incident when all the Minutemen radios were simultaneously jammed for several minutes. After the jamming ended everyone was able to hear a conversation in spanish for a few minutes between two men, discussing a "drop" that was going to be expected later. Many are guessing that the smugglers needed to move something, and took such measures as to actually employ the use of some kind of jamming device so that any Minutemen who saw anything would have no communications.

Myself, It was refreshing to hear these accounts from someone who is really down there. Are these people anti-immigration? No. Just anti ILLEGAL immigration. Are they behaving violently towards those crossing the border? No reports of any violence yet.

Something to consider. Many experts on terrorism are predicting that if any other major attack occurs within the US, it will originate from the Mexican border. This threat is real enough to have prompted the government to hire up to five hundred more border patrol guards. At my job we receive FBI briefings often on fugitives, and wanted terror suspects. I have heard stories of Arabs going to Mexico, and assuming a Mexican name, and crossing the border into the US illegally with more on their mind than finding a job picking tomatoes. Some of these illegals have even managed to receive government clearance and get jobs working in sensitive areas!

We have a long ways to go securing our safety. We should be commending these Minutemen for volunteering their time, and putting themselves at risk, instead of demonizing them as thugs and racists. Someone has to call attention to this ever-growing problem that even the President seems to turn a blind eye to.

Blogger Suicide

Well, this post might do me in, but I must know what others may be thinking on this. First, let me be up front and apologize to anyone this may offend. I mean no offense. I'm not really trying to make a point here, but am really asking a question.

As a society we label deviant sexual behaviors such as pedafilia, necrofilia, or bestiality as being a mental sickness. Now, I'm not an expert or psychiatrist, but I think most people would agree with me that people who have these desires would be considered sick, and in need of some kind of medical help, or counseling at least. My question is how does homosexuality escape being lumped into the above category?

I realize that there was a time when homosexuality was considered a sickness, but is no longer recognized as such by the medical community. I beleive the Freud was one of the first to take such a stance. http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html

Is it merely because of the victimlessness of the act? The whole arguement of "two consenting adults"? Of course we condemn a pedafile. He is sick! A predator! A deviant from nature! But isn't homosexuality deviant as well? By deviant I mean deviating from the norm. I'm not trying to make a case of weather it's a choice, or inborn. I am just saying it is a behavior that certainly strays from nature's intentions. What benefit did nature intend to gain from such behavior? You don't have to be from Alabama or read the Bible to realize that it's not "normal".

So my puzzlement here I guess is what is it about homosexuality that distinguishes it from other sexual behaviors considered deviant? How does it become accepted as "normal" by much of society and the medical community, when a pedifile or necrofiliac, for example, is considered to be mentally sick?

Does it all just depend on who you talk to? How widespread it becomes? If you talk to a member of the NAMBLA, they wouldn't consider pedafilia as a sickness. Would they?

Well that's it...let the hell fire begin. "Shuddering"

Musn't get discouraged....musn't! If I could somehow reach my utility belt...

All is well, I guess. My workout and diet program is now officially four weeks old. Results? Well, I still refuse to get on a scale, cause I know for a fact I have put on weight, and scales are evil devices besides. My first four weeks I did no cardio, and didn't watch my calories too much, though I did follow a diet eating specific foods. My main focus was strength training and putting on some mass. In this, I was pretty happy. I feel like I have added a lot of muscle. After just four weeks it is evevident in the mirror and when I work out. The negative has been the increase in my waist. Hopefully I will remedie that soon, as I now have added cardio into my workouts. Basically I do a straight hour of cardio every fourth day, and I have cut my calories down to around 1820 a day. After a few weeks, I will add more cardio to my routine and adjust my calories accordingly.

I do have to say that I almost can't even count week four. My workouts were good, and I made it to the gym almost every day, but week four also contained Easter, and three birthday parties! So, yeah I had a lot of crap to eat that I shouldn't have. Well, here's to week five and a new begining within a new begining.

Just for the record this is my training split.

Day 1 - Abs / Chest / Triceps /
Day 2- Shoulders / Back / Biceps
Day 3- Cardio / Abs
Day 4- LEGS
Start over.