Free Time = Goofy Videos of My Life

I've been trying to hit the beach as often as I can since I only live 10 minutes away. Not so much today. I don't know if it's Gustav, which is nowhere near here, but the waves are crazy (probably dangerous for a landlocked dweller like myself). Anyway, my attempt at boogie boarding on a skim board. I can't actually skimboard yet...




And I suppose if I ever run for public office, this will probably come back to haunt me...

Comparison

Not running for the same office, but interesting comparison (maybe a little biased...).

Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama

Building Bridges

We got to spend some time in the water today.

Personal Trainer

We are offered free personal training at school, so in light of my embarrassing 27 minute 3 mile run I decided to take this opportunity as a chance to increase my speed. Last week, I had an initial screening with Alex (my trainer) who ran me through a battery of cardio, strength, and body composition tests. At the end of the testing he said I look good on paper and he could not see why I can't seem to break a nine minute mile. Then he asked me about my flexibility.
"What flexibility?"
"Exactly."

Looks like my hamstrings are both tight and weak. Not a good combination if you want a good stride, which I definitely do not have. I meet up with Alex on my lunch break tomorrow for my first training session. He told me to expect a lot of stretching and strength training. I'm going to need to stretch out after tomorrow morning. On tap for physical training: Obstacle course, ground fighting, then back to the obstacle course...

When It Rains...

...it pours! We just got our Project Management class which of course came with a project. I'm group leader (Sit on the end of the row, get group leader...) and our project numbers are completely messed up-47 days to build a .8 mile gravel road...glad this is just pass/fail. Somehow, I have to sell this project to my instructor tomorrow. I'm not good at selling something I don't believe in. At least this is not for a grade.

Concrete

Today I will finish up the concrete package of my course. This has been the most difficult so far because there are so many details I keep missing. Our classes focus on teaching us to be the "planners" as opposed to the "executors." We spend most of our time crunching numbers in the classroom.

However, we've also learned we should never ask someone to do something we've never done ourselves. So, on Friday we built a 2 cubic foot form and poured concrete into it. I got to use the table saw and cut out the plywood for the project. It reminded me of working with (more like getting in the way of) my dad when I was little. Mixing the concrete was hard work, but a good experience. The end result was a 2 foot by 2 foot cube of concrete that we will blow up later on in the course.