"Grab a bull by the horn the old addage goes
No one tells you where to go from there!"
So, what I have to mention deals nothing with that song, it's just a song I have stuck in my head, fortunately I'm glad it's stuck there as I really enjoy the song and it gives me reasons to google/youtube it and listen to it again, and again, and again. Lol...
The whole reason i'm putting this up? Well, I've lost ten pounds so far. My belt is cinched up a notch tighter (and it doesn't hurt to have it there, it's just where it's closing up at now) and I've put an inch onto my neck from 17 up to 18 now.
Oh, and when they taped me a week ago my waist was down from a 42.5 to a 40, beyond that I've lost 3-4 pounds since then (part of the 10 lbs that I've lost total) but I'm not going in to get taped until next monday so I can see a 2 week difference with my current diet. The funny thing, I'm only REALLY working out 2-3 times a week (though I'd rather be working out 6 days a week, I just haven't yet due to things popping up, etc), but the calorie restriction combined with daily situps and regular exercise is doing a ton for me! btw, I'm still eating like a pig, I'm just pigging out on fruits and veggies, they're unlimited calories, as such my stomach doesn't ever cramp etc and I feel healthy rather than feeling like I'm off kilter. Salads for dinner. Who'd have thunk.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
24 hr fitness
I've been working lately on working off the chub from my belly. As well as building my neck size. Larger neck sizes allow for larger waists of people trying to get into the armed forces, well, at least the Navy, I'm not so sure about other branches. Needless to say since I didn't make it my first time through MEPS I've been trying to work down the weight so I can get through the next time, and every monday I've gone in to the local recruiter I'm working through who's been doing courtesy tapes for me to help me monitor my progress.
Today I taped an 18.5" neck and a 40" belly. As opposed to my 18" neck and 42.5" belly last week. Which puts me at 23%. A good 2% below the cut off for my height.
So, Nick, my recruiter, is calling up to MEPS today to see if I can't get retaped up there since they may have been taping me to ARMY standards and not NAVY standards when I went through the first time, as such I should be able to make it through if they tape me correctly. What does that do? Allows me to get into DEP (Delayed Entry Program) sooner while I wait for the day when there's a slot for me at RTC (Recruit Training Center) for the career that I'll be able to pick (picking it upon entry into the DEP).
The long and short of it? I may not have to wait until April 27th to go back to MEPS to get taped, which may allow for me to get a position before someone else snags it up, it also gives me a firm grasp on when things are happening and how long my "A" School will be so I can be better prepared for everything, hopefully with more time for memorization pre-RTC. =)
Today I taped an 18.5" neck and a 40" belly. As opposed to my 18" neck and 42.5" belly last week. Which puts me at 23%. A good 2% below the cut off for my height.
So, Nick, my recruiter, is calling up to MEPS today to see if I can't get retaped up there since they may have been taping me to ARMY standards and not NAVY standards when I went through the first time, as such I should be able to make it through if they tape me correctly. What does that do? Allows me to get into DEP (Delayed Entry Program) sooner while I wait for the day when there's a slot for me at RTC (Recruit Training Center) for the career that I'll be able to pick (picking it upon entry into the DEP).
The long and short of it? I may not have to wait until April 27th to go back to MEPS to get taped, which may allow for me to get a position before someone else snags it up, it also gives me a firm grasp on when things are happening and how long my "A" School will be so I can be better prepared for everything, hopefully with more time for memorization pre-RTC. =)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Master of Shrubberies, or large dead objects needing to be felled...
I was asked to help with something last night... It was something to be done today. It left me with scratches up and down my arms, and large piles in several lawns. It used to produce pine cones and pine needles. It hasn't for many moons... Many moons more than I've been married to my wife... Needless to say, it has been on the list of "trees to remove" for some time now, and today it's day came. Today being saturday though, it's late enough this will be posted Very late saturday/early sunday. Whatever. It happened this morning/afternoon.
Last night I started by trying to get a gas-powered chain saw to start for me. It had a larger bite, longer arm, as well as a more powerful motor than the two electric chain saws I had potentially at my disposal. So, I considered it. It wouldn't start for me, I tried and tried but it never even gave as much as a putter for me. So, I hoped that one of the two electric ones would work for me the next day, and or that there was one somewhere that I knew nothing of.
Morning came and I started up the tree, breaking off the little branches that were on the main branches, well, as many as I dared reach for from the main of the tree. Anyway, I climbed within 10 feet of the top before I considered the first part of my task done.
Next I began to try to use a chainsaw on it... Well, funny thing is I first put it to a branch and it made it half an inch into it before the blade stopped turning all together. So, we tried the next one and I began cutting the branches from the main of the tree 2-3 feet out from it and began climbing up the tree cutting the rest off like that. Yes. I was climbing up a tree, 3 stories high (where I was at was 3 stories high, the tree went up more than 10 feet above where I was at) with a chainsaw (electrical, power cord tied onto it so I wouldn't have to make any more trips up and down than were absolutely necessary). Then we tied a rope to the top, from a ladder we cut the first segment down where the last chunk of the trunk was much much easier.
Such was the day, four hours and many tired muscles later the work was done. Well, mostly, aside from clean up, and cutting down the other branches that stemmed from the trunk. Well, there's also what needs to be burned from it still too.
Anyone wanna come over and have a hotdog roast?
Last night I started by trying to get a gas-powered chain saw to start for me. It had a larger bite, longer arm, as well as a more powerful motor than the two electric chain saws I had potentially at my disposal. So, I considered it. It wouldn't start for me, I tried and tried but it never even gave as much as a putter for me. So, I hoped that one of the two electric ones would work for me the next day, and or that there was one somewhere that I knew nothing of.
Morning came and I started up the tree, breaking off the little branches that were on the main branches, well, as many as I dared reach for from the main of the tree. Anyway, I climbed within 10 feet of the top before I considered the first part of my task done.
Next I began to try to use a chainsaw on it... Well, funny thing is I first put it to a branch and it made it half an inch into it before the blade stopped turning all together. So, we tried the next one and I began cutting the branches from the main of the tree 2-3 feet out from it and began climbing up the tree cutting the rest off like that. Yes. I was climbing up a tree, 3 stories high (where I was at was 3 stories high, the tree went up more than 10 feet above where I was at) with a chainsaw (electrical, power cord tied onto it so I wouldn't have to make any more trips up and down than were absolutely necessary). Then we tied a rope to the top, from a ladder we cut the first segment down where the last chunk of the trunk was much much easier.
Such was the day, four hours and many tired muscles later the work was done. Well, mostly, aside from clean up, and cutting down the other branches that stemmed from the trunk. Well, there's also what needs to be burned from it still too.
Anyone wanna come over and have a hotdog roast?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
ASVAB
So I went up to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) on monday, came home today (tuesday) having failed. I'll leave that as a cliff hanger while I get to why I failed. I arrived monday afternoon and proceeded to being entered into their system (photo, index-fingerprinting) etc, then proceeded to take the ASVAB. Honestly it was easier than most tests I had in college. There are a couple parts of it that I was scratching my head on at first, but in the end I got it all figured out fairly well, time wasn't even an issue for me once, most of the sections I got done in half the allotted time. The coding section was something that worried me as I heard about it before I went up to MEPS, but honestly I enjoyed it, it wasn't bad at all. Overall I would say more than 75% of the test dealt with things that interested me in one way or other. As you might imagine I did fairly well on it. 94. (99 is the highest possible, after 80 most all jobs are open to applicants regarding ASVAB job reqs').
I got my results, called my recruiter (who when I told him my score was super excited and told everyone in the recruiting offic how well I did, funnily enough he predicted my ASVAB scores from how I had done on the Pre-ASVAB that I'd takena week or two prior). Then I took the shuttle to the hotel, waited for a semi-pointless meeting (they tell you to be nice, behave at the hotel as well as MEPS and give a run down of what to expect, aka play a DVD). By the end of the DVD I'd heard everything said in it 3-4 times previously so nothing new was being covered.
I woke up earlier in the morning than the wake-up call (which never came oddly...), got ready and went to MEPS. by the by, I am leaving out meals and exercise from this, I Did in fact eat while I was there last night and today, as well as exercising while I was up there. lol I arrived there (with close to 35 others, 2 of us going into Navy while most of the others going Army with a few going marines) and began "processing". I went in and check-marked boxes on two pages (this is After having waited for 30-45 minutes for someone to come in and do this for us), got my blood pressure taken (I was apparently nervous as they had to do it twice because the first time my pressure was too high and relaxing Did help, though I was nervous the Entire time) did the forms then began the fun parts. My hearing test went very well, I expected my right ear to be my bad ear but it turns out my left ear was worse, both ears however still have very sharp hearing (I have the tests to prove it!, well, MEPS does...lol). Next was the blood drawing, the lady looked at my left arm, after 2 minutes couldn't get a vein to appear she asked me "do you have deep veins?" (I'm sitting there thinking, "Gee lady, if I was an RN I'd be able to answer that but I'm a photographer, what ISO do you usually shoot at during an indoor sports game?") and I tell her I'm right handed so my right arm is stronger and has bigger veins. So, she went for the right arm and got it the first time without digging. She had asked if I had an issue with needles, I told her "as long as you're putting that -> end in and not that end => in then I'm fine (the needle to fill the vial is 3x bigger than the needle that goes in your arm) she chuckled and said "if I was putting that in I'd have a problem".
Then was the vision test. I pulled out having 20/20 still, and my depth perception turned out well. I got lost on the last line of the last section and lost my focus completely but pulled it back together and did fine. Then was the urine test. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to pee in front of someone else. "no pressure" right? lol...... yeah... Anyway, got that taken care of. Then I had to wait for the physical, I ended up being one of the last 2 to get it done but did fine on it. I didn't get to meet with a Navy Liason though because I still needed to get taped. For my height their info says I should weigh no more than 176.... I haven't weighed that little since high school (8 years ago). The other option is to have less than 25% body fat. I measured in at 28%. At then end of RTC (recruit training command) it has to be below 22% (given the amount of exercise you do there it's not so much a problem to work down 3% while you're there, but were I to try to work off 6% while there could prove problematic which is why they do it how they do). I did go to the Navy Liason office and speak with a couple people there about career options, possibilities of getting in May. Depending on what career I choose will determine when I can go in to RTC, but I get to back in on April 27th to see if I've "cut the fat". It's really more like I need to get my waist size down and possibly build my neck up a little. The bigger the neck the less your waist affects you...... So, yeah, I failed cause I was too fat...lol but I'm already working on getting that. I've dropped from 220 to 218 already. I need to drop down to closer to 200. Honestly I wouldn't mind getting to what I was at in high school, but I don't think that will be as likely to happen until the end part of RTC at the absolute soonest. Weight wise at least.
So, April 27th I'll go in, sleep in a hotel the night of, the 28th I'll go in and get weighed and taped, assuming I'm within 25% I'll speak with a Navy Liason and pick my career and shipping (to RTC) date. I did test well enough to do Nuclear reactor positions. Fortunately with those they're in higher demand, have a $40,000 sign on bonus and to extend another 3 years after the initial 6 (6 required minimum) they give you another $120,000 bonus. Unfortunately only two types of ships in the Navy have nuclear reactors so my ship choice is limited leaving "A" school (2 YEARS of "A" school mind you, hence the 6 year minimum commitment) I would have the choice between two types, Modern AirCraft Carriers, and Subs (medium subs don't have Nukes onboard but have nuclear based propulsion and tend to travel to the "cool ports" where as large subs carry nuclear ordinance as well as skipping a large number of "cool ports" due to their massive size. Oddly enough an AirCraft Carrier Battle-group contains 2 subs (typically), so regardless of choosing Sub or Carrier I'd be next to one anyway. I'm still leaning toward Journalism Photography or News Media, but depending on how things fall I may go for the Nuke training anyway.
I got my results, called my recruiter (who when I told him my score was super excited and told everyone in the recruiting offic how well I did, funnily enough he predicted my ASVAB scores from how I had done on the Pre-ASVAB that I'd takena week or two prior). Then I took the shuttle to the hotel, waited for a semi-pointless meeting (they tell you to be nice, behave at the hotel as well as MEPS and give a run down of what to expect, aka play a DVD). By the end of the DVD I'd heard everything said in it 3-4 times previously so nothing new was being covered.
I woke up earlier in the morning than the wake-up call (which never came oddly...), got ready and went to MEPS. by the by, I am leaving out meals and exercise from this, I Did in fact eat while I was there last night and today, as well as exercising while I was up there. lol I arrived there (with close to 35 others, 2 of us going into Navy while most of the others going Army with a few going marines) and began "processing". I went in and check-marked boxes on two pages (this is After having waited for 30-45 minutes for someone to come in and do this for us), got my blood pressure taken (I was apparently nervous as they had to do it twice because the first time my pressure was too high and relaxing Did help, though I was nervous the Entire time) did the forms then began the fun parts. My hearing test went very well, I expected my right ear to be my bad ear but it turns out my left ear was worse, both ears however still have very sharp hearing (I have the tests to prove it!, well, MEPS does...lol). Next was the blood drawing, the lady looked at my left arm, after 2 minutes couldn't get a vein to appear she asked me "do you have deep veins?" (I'm sitting there thinking, "Gee lady, if I was an RN I'd be able to answer that but I'm a photographer, what ISO do you usually shoot at during an indoor sports game?") and I tell her I'm right handed so my right arm is stronger and has bigger veins. So, she went for the right arm and got it the first time without digging. She had asked if I had an issue with needles, I told her "as long as you're putting that -> end in and not that end => in then I'm fine (the needle to fill the vial is 3x bigger than the needle that goes in your arm) she chuckled and said "if I was putting that in I'd have a problem".
Then was the vision test. I pulled out having 20/20 still, and my depth perception turned out well. I got lost on the last line of the last section and lost my focus completely but pulled it back together and did fine. Then was the urine test. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to pee in front of someone else. "no pressure" right? lol...... yeah... Anyway, got that taken care of. Then I had to wait for the physical, I ended up being one of the last 2 to get it done but did fine on it. I didn't get to meet with a Navy Liason though because I still needed to get taped. For my height their info says I should weigh no more than 176.... I haven't weighed that little since high school (8 years ago). The other option is to have less than 25% body fat. I measured in at 28%. At then end of RTC (recruit training command) it has to be below 22% (given the amount of exercise you do there it's not so much a problem to work down 3% while you're there, but were I to try to work off 6% while there could prove problematic which is why they do it how they do). I did go to the Navy Liason office and speak with a couple people there about career options, possibilities of getting in May. Depending on what career I choose will determine when I can go in to RTC, but I get to back in on April 27th to see if I've "cut the fat". It's really more like I need to get my waist size down and possibly build my neck up a little. The bigger the neck the less your waist affects you...... So, yeah, I failed cause I was too fat...lol but I'm already working on getting that. I've dropped from 220 to 218 already. I need to drop down to closer to 200. Honestly I wouldn't mind getting to what I was at in high school, but I don't think that will be as likely to happen until the end part of RTC at the absolute soonest. Weight wise at least.
So, April 27th I'll go in, sleep in a hotel the night of, the 28th I'll go in and get weighed and taped, assuming I'm within 25% I'll speak with a Navy Liason and pick my career and shipping (to RTC) date. I did test well enough to do Nuclear reactor positions. Fortunately with those they're in higher demand, have a $40,000 sign on bonus and to extend another 3 years after the initial 6 (6 required minimum) they give you another $120,000 bonus. Unfortunately only two types of ships in the Navy have nuclear reactors so my ship choice is limited leaving "A" school (2 YEARS of "A" school mind you, hence the 6 year minimum commitment) I would have the choice between two types, Modern AirCraft Carriers, and Subs (medium subs don't have Nukes onboard but have nuclear based propulsion and tend to travel to the "cool ports" where as large subs carry nuclear ordinance as well as skipping a large number of "cool ports" due to their massive size. Oddly enough an AirCraft Carrier Battle-group contains 2 subs (typically), so regardless of choosing Sub or Carrier I'd be next to one anyway. I'm still leaning toward Journalism Photography or News Media, but depending on how things fall I may go for the Nuke training anyway.
Monday, March 2, 2009
navy update
Erin and I went in today, this was her first time actually meeting Seth (the recruiter I was mainly working with), and it was a really good experience.
I have to blame my mom here for a minute. She told us how important it was for us to both get our eagle scout as well as an education. Well, because I have an associates degree I qualify for E-3, funny thing is that being an Eagle Scout gives me the same ranking. Either way I'm going to be making 42k a year entering RTC (just consider it "basic training" because it's the navy's version of it). I can finish RTC as an E-4, which as you may suspect a higher pay scale as well as being able to "boss" people around, be bossed as well of course.
I signed up for my MEPs, it's when they put me through medical testing etc up in salt lake and see where my aptitudes lie and how healthy I am (or am not). I'm doing a lot of pushups and sit ups right now...lol. The friday following they'll come to our place and give us an in depth of what we're getting into. Seth and Nick will be coming, they're the two recruiters I've been working with.
I get to pick when I go into RTC, I think I mentioned before that I would be going in on April 27th, that way not only am I here for someone's wedding, I have time afterwards to edit the images from it. lol.
I get to pick on tuesday{next week} (based on the results of my MEPs) what career I'm going into based on what's available. It's kind of exciting, kind of scary. I'm hoping they have an opening in journalism and photography but planning that they won't.
After RTC I will go to my training school for my career I've chosen (the one I'm choosing next tuesday). If the training required for my chosen career will take more than 90 days then Erin will be moved out to live with me where I'm at (navy pays for it) and then we move from there to my base (which I also choose on tuesday next week, and the base is dependent on what career I have chosen and what bases they have open). Where we are 25/26 they'll allow us to go international, but we don't want to...So I'll be staying national, don't worry about that. I'll know more next week and be able to give another update for how I test in the MEPs and what career I've chosen and all that jazz.
Love you all!
I'm gonna go eat Chili! I put some together and it's been simmering for a little while now and smells Delicious! ...might be partly that I'm getting more exercise these days and cutting back on junk food....it's a good thing.
I have to blame my mom here for a minute. She told us how important it was for us to both get our eagle scout as well as an education. Well, because I have an associates degree I qualify for E-3, funny thing is that being an Eagle Scout gives me the same ranking. Either way I'm going to be making 42k a year entering RTC (just consider it "basic training" because it's the navy's version of it). I can finish RTC as an E-4, which as you may suspect a higher pay scale as well as being able to "boss" people around, be bossed as well of course.
I signed up for my MEPs, it's when they put me through medical testing etc up in salt lake and see where my aptitudes lie and how healthy I am (or am not). I'm doing a lot of pushups and sit ups right now...lol. The friday following they'll come to our place and give us an in depth of what we're getting into. Seth and Nick will be coming, they're the two recruiters I've been working with.
I get to pick when I go into RTC, I think I mentioned before that I would be going in on April 27th, that way not only am I here for someone's wedding, I have time afterwards to edit the images from it. lol.
I get to pick on tuesday{next week} (based on the results of my MEPs) what career I'm going into based on what's available. It's kind of exciting, kind of scary. I'm hoping they have an opening in journalism and photography but planning that they won't.
After RTC I will go to my training school for my career I've chosen (the one I'm choosing next tuesday). If the training required for my chosen career will take more than 90 days then Erin will be moved out to live with me where I'm at (navy pays for it) and then we move from there to my base (which I also choose on tuesday next week, and the base is dependent on what career I have chosen and what bases they have open). Where we are 25/26 they'll allow us to go international, but we don't want to...So I'll be staying national, don't worry about that. I'll know more next week and be able to give another update for how I test in the MEPs and what career I've chosen and all that jazz.
Love you all!
I'm gonna go eat Chili! I put some together and it's been simmering for a little while now and smells Delicious! ...might be partly that I'm getting more exercise these days and cutting back on junk food....it's a good thing.
navy
for those who don't know...
Since about september of 2008 I've been feeling more like I need to be attending school elsewhere. I have slowly been getting more direction and it's distinctly been feeling like I should be attending NYU. There are a few locations they're at in new york, and I'm not sure which one, but I'm sure one of them is right for me.
I've also been feeling like I'm supposed to be living back east.
My wife has also been getting these promptings and in time we've been getting better at recognizing what and how things are to work out.
We came to the conclusion of my joining the navy, and feel like it's where we're supposed to be right now. I tested well on the pre-asvab, I got an 82 where utah averages 27 (minimum required is a 30...). I'm putting in my papers today, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of the preliminary stuff taken care of.
The next major step is to take the actual asvab which consists of 10 catagories, 4 which test your mental capacity for certain things (math and english mainly), then 6 catagories to see how you do in other things, like coding, engineering, etc. Upon taking it I'll be given a physical, etc, and depending on my scores in areas will determine what positions I might be able to take. There are currently positions open in journalism/photography right now, and it's my hope to make it into them.
Mom took it better than I expected, Army_sgt-bro and his wife have known for a while...My wife and I have been asking them questions. If you get calls from government people it's a background check on me seeing if I qualify for security clearance. I'm not terribly worried about it, I've had enough background checks in the past 7 years I'm not afraid of what they might find. (3 from living with mom and dad from having the proctors in the house). I do realize this one will be more in depth, much more. We would appreciate your prayers as we're heading in to this.
So far I'm looking to enter basic (I can't recall the name for it, it's the navy's form of basic training) on the 27th of April, it's a week following the monday AFTER a certain wedding we all know about. It'll be six weeks. I'll have more information about what all is going on as time rolls on, so keep listening and I'll keep putting info up about it all. Love you all, take luck!
Since about september of 2008 I've been feeling more like I need to be attending school elsewhere. I have slowly been getting more direction and it's distinctly been feeling like I should be attending NYU. There are a few locations they're at in new york, and I'm not sure which one, but I'm sure one of them is right for me.
I've also been feeling like I'm supposed to be living back east.
My wife has also been getting these promptings and in time we've been getting better at recognizing what and how things are to work out.
We came to the conclusion of my joining the navy, and feel like it's where we're supposed to be right now. I tested well on the pre-asvab, I got an 82 where utah averages 27 (minimum required is a 30...). I'm putting in my papers today, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of the preliminary stuff taken care of.
The next major step is to take the actual asvab which consists of 10 catagories, 4 which test your mental capacity for certain things (math and english mainly), then 6 catagories to see how you do in other things, like coding, engineering, etc. Upon taking it I'll be given a physical, etc, and depending on my scores in areas will determine what positions I might be able to take. There are currently positions open in journalism/photography right now, and it's my hope to make it into them.
Mom took it better than I expected, Army_sgt-bro and his wife have known for a while...My wife and I have been asking them questions. If you get calls from government people it's a background check on me seeing if I qualify for security clearance. I'm not terribly worried about it, I've had enough background checks in the past 7 years I'm not afraid of what they might find. (3 from living with mom and dad from having the proctors in the house). I do realize this one will be more in depth, much more. We would appreciate your prayers as we're heading in to this.
So far I'm looking to enter basic (I can't recall the name for it, it's the navy's form of basic training) on the 27th of April, it's a week following the monday AFTER a certain wedding we all know about. It'll be six weeks. I'll have more information about what all is going on as time rolls on, so keep listening and I'll keep putting info up about it all. Love you all, take luck!
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