Ok, so I've reached my breaking point, need to vent and this is my forum in which to do it. It has now been about three weeks since I have last trained. And I am going mad. As I type this I am sitting at my desk, yes that's right SITTING at my desk in cubicle hell. It is 5:33 pm right now and I wont leave here until at least 6:00 when guess what, BJJ class starts.
The past weeks have been murderous. I have mentioned before how the program I work on has been transitioning from one phase into another and with that change comes some intense increase in effort in the short-term to ensure that this new contract is being established correctly and will sustain the program throughout its lifetime.
That is all well and good, but the amount of time a hand full of us have spent on it (all salaried by the way) has been just crazy. We all worked so very hard to ensure that this new phase of the contract got awarded and now we are the ones who are charged with ensuring that it gets set-up. I guess the important thing is to take a step back and remember why I am doing this.
Now, I can neither confirm; nor deny that I have anything to do with the image above or that all of the blood, sweat and time away from the gym has been spent on making it the best damn aircraft it can be.
Today however I am especially upset. Today it was all my fault. My alarms are set to go off at 4:00am. I awoke at 6:30 to the sound of my wife's alarm clock. Being that she is in a much less "forgiving" job, of course she gets the first shower. So, I didn't get to the office till after 8:00am. My still being here today is all my fault. And that infuriates me. I was sooo ready to get back to the mats today. So one flogging for me!
Memorial:
The last time I posted I wrote about the untimely passing of a former boss and colleague, Steve Barton. The very next day I went down to a memorial service for him. I was awkward to see old co-workers but at the same time it was very nice. It felt good to pay my respects and to recognize the impact he had on my career and on my life.
Helio:
On the subject of loss, of course I cannot write a post today without recognizing the passing of Grand Master Heilo Gracie. Like so many others, I never met the man but he and his brother Carlos have had a profound impact on my life. I remember watching UFC 1 on a videotape I rented from my first job (yes I was a video store clerk) and being amazed at this scrawny kid named Royce plowing thru the bigger guys.
From then on, I knew Gracie Jiu Jitsu, I knew Helio Gracie. Though I have only been formally training in his art for a short while, I have known of many of its fundamentals for years. As any martial artist in any other art must know the fundamentals of Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Helio and Carlos created a game changer, they forced a fundamental shift in the strategies that martial artists must use simply by knowing of the existence of this art. Thank you for your contribution Helio, I will do my best to honor your legacy.
Tomorrow:
Tomorrow is another day. I am donating blood at work in the morning. At lunch, we are doing an all you can eat sushi gorge to celebrate the winding down of a very long cost estimating class. I have a handful of meetings. Finally I have the second to last session of that aforementioned cost estimating class. As of this moment it is scheduled to run from 4:00 - 5:00. Optimism is high that it will not run over, and that I will make it to BJJ for the 6:00 start time (against the advice of the red cross who does not want you doing strenuous exercise after giving blood).
100 Burpee Challenge:
One more thing, a while back another blogger I read named Valerie (http://bjjvisionquest2006.blogspot.com/) who I highly recommend mentioned something her crossfit gym was doing and being the age of copy / paste, I have instituted it with my friends. Neil, Kris and myself have started the 100 Burpee Challenge. Today is day #1. Wish us luck! I will keep everyone posted on our progress as we go. Thanks Valerie for the idea.
1 comment:
The challenge has started, and since we are on the honor system, I must say that I have already slacked. I missed day 1 of the burpees(sp?). Like you, I have missed about 3 weeks of BJJ... not due to work, but due to moving into my first house. Every hour is precious and taking an hour away from packing/moving/unpacking just puts a wrench in the gears (especially since I have a 1 and a 6 year old that need constant supervision). Anyway, yes, I slacked yesterday. I will make up for it today with the 2 burpees(sp?) and hopefully continue the challenge into day 100. Good luck on your side. Lastly, I love the 'I can neither confirm nor deny...' part of your latest entry! Funny stuff.
R.I.P. Grand Master Helio, teach God a lesson in armbars... according to Genesis 32:22 God had pretty tough time grappling with Jacob and a nice armbar could have ended the fight quickly.
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