My New Year Resolution Tried to Kill Me

So if you read my New Years post you probably saw something about me doing more Crossfit & Crossfit Endurance. Which unlike most New Year's plans to work out people make I've done a pretty good job of doing 5-6 a week including my mandatory Army PT. But today my Crossfit work out tried to kill me. Specifically the work out found here.

It was so bad that at the end of the work out when I was staggering to the fridge a Medic I work with asked,

"Sir what's wrong with your leg?"
"Crossfit", I replied gasping for air and struggling to stand up straight.

But if you're wondering how I did check these numbers out:

Squats
Min 1 - 53, Min 2 - 7 Pull-Ups
Min 3 - 50, Min 4 - 10 Push Ups
Min 5 - 47, Min 6 - 13 Pull-Ups
Min 7 - 47, Min 8 - 13 Push Ups
Min 9 - 47, Min 10 - 13Pull-Ups
Min 11 - 50, Min 12 - 10 Push Ups

Total:
294 Squats
33 Pull Ups
33 Push Ups

Turn on, tune in, drop out

With this not being the "kick in the door, shoot 'em the face" deployment that may or may have not happened in years previous we as soldiers have found other means to pass the time here in Iraq. Namely movies & TV. Some guys finish entire series of TV in a matter of weeks. I too have done so. Since being here I have finished all of the The Unit, Deadwood, season 1 of The Wire & 2 seasons of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.

But recently I discovered a shared folder on our network at work. Loaded with movies. I think over 50GB of movies. So being the only film degree holding officer in probably all Iraq, I decided to create a some special posts on what I'm watching & maybe a quote or two. I'm behind about 3 movies so be on the look out for those. Just another way to make things go by here in Iraq.

...What's a poor man to do?

Twenty-Ten, 2k1k, 2010 whatever you call it its here. A decade behind us and the whole year before us. As always no New Year would be complete without some resolutions that all of us will make, few of us will keep and even fewer of us will admit failing by end of this month. So in the spirit of so many quiting smoking, losing a few pounds and paying off the debt they never should have gotten themselves into I too came up with some resolutions too. But since I don't smoke, I'm not overweight like the majority of our nation and my debt is so closed to being paid off I can taste don't look at these as being nearly as interesting. Challenging possibly. But this isn't going to be anything like Tiger Wood's 2009 grand finale but I don't think ever will. So here we go:

1. Take more pictures (including a picture a day of myself for 100 days straight)
2. Memorize the Ranger Creed
   
3. Do at least 1 Rosetta Stone Spanish lesson a day (for at least the rest of the deployment)
   
4. Do more Crossfit & Crossfit Endurance
   

So there it is. Nothing fancy or interesting. But hey what else am I going to do in Iraq?

The Way of the Open Palm

Sometime ago I thought I would change the way I lived. Some people saw it as me being disconnected, overly relaxed, not serious enough, lazy, etc. You get the picture. Different. I called it: "The Way of the Open Palm". I know, sounds cool huh? I didn't really know where I came up with the title until a Google search returned this. Which I thought was pretty funny having read it ( yes, I've played the game)

As we all do some 20/20 evaluations on the 2009 I can say I did loosely hold to the game's definition (but without the universal harmony garbage). Basically this is what I've tried to do with my interpretation of the "The Way of the Open Palm"

• Be happy of whatever "drops" into your palm
• Be just as happy of whatever is "removed" from your palm
• Never try to keep what is in your "palm" from others
• Always try to give what is in your "palm" to others if it will help them
  

I know it's nothing theologically groundbreaking but having observed others who may have not subscribed I think its a better solution than doing the opposites of those few bullets. Just a thought for 09-10. But if this doesn't seem like it's your thing there's always The Way of the Closed Fist.