Monday, January 12, 2009

First Post of 2009

OK dedicated fans and snowed-in relatives....your Sundance fix is back! Let's see what's on my mind, as well as on my plate, for the early part of this brand new year-in no particular order.

-Obama: Let's see what this guy can do now, even though he's been dealt a sh_tty hand. One thing I learned during the election process, is that he was one of the main senators for our International Union in favor of keeping a collective bargaining agreement. One of the biggest detractors in the Senate? The Maverick. For better of worse, he is our guy for four years, so let's hope he has a clue...

-My Girls: Sweet Katherine Grace is growing with leaps and bounds! Fortunately, quite a few Northern relatives have been coming down to meet her, and instantly fall in love. I hope we can get up to Cleveland, so she can reunite with them soon. Beautiful Bride Shannon has got to be the best mother ever, hands-down. I don't know how she pulls it off, but she does it. I am blessed beyond words with my entire family, but these two ladies? Wow.

-Cleveland Browns suck, and rebuild yet again: After finally breaking out last year with a 10-6 record, I thought fo sho my beloved Browns would challenge for a playoff spot this season. Nope-not even close. What's worse, they looked like uninspired quitters the last half of the season, not scoring an offensive TD since mid-November. New coach Eric Mangini could be on his way to greatness, or garbage. He's got a Cleveland background, so he knows how bad my hometown needs a team to get behind. Still no GM yet, I think they're patiently waiting for me to send them my application. Tangent Alert: Here's how the off-season would go for new Cleveland Browns' GM Dave C.....
waived/retired/not resigned: Shaun Smith, McGinnest, Stallworth, Sean Jones
Free Agents: Jason Brown (Bal-C), Channing Crowder (Mia-LB), CJ Mosely (NYJ-DE)
Trade: Derek Anderson for a 3rd rd pick (Detroit?)
Draft: 1st rd-Gerald McCoy DE/OKL or Eddy Curry, LB/Wake
2nd rd-if McCoy then Clay Matthews Jr OLB/USC, f Curry then best available S
3rd rd-RB or S or OL
Plenty more of these posts coming up in the off-season....

-Baby Bro with a Baby! My cousin/de facto brother Jon and his wife are expecting their first baby. We're so happy for them, as they will make outstanding parents; however, it also kind of sucks that we're so far away from them. I guess the girls and I will have to keep sucking it up, living in FL, while they make yearly visits down here in the winter months.

-Cleveland Cavaliers! Right now, they are tied for teh best record in the NBA. They really need to lock up homecourt vs Boston right now, and my local Orlando Magic are going to be a tough team as well. I'm looking to gobble up some tickets for the two upcoming Magic/Cavs games in the next few weeks-I can't wait. I really like the backcourt of Mo Williams and Delonte West, even if they are a bit on the smaller side. Avon Laek resident Z Ilkauskas is out for a few more games, which means I'll be able to get a better look at rookie stud JJ hickson at the 4 spot. This could be the year-and if not, we'll have room to sign another big name pretty soon...

-CrossFit Games Southeast Qualifiers: So I'm still doing the CF thing, in leiu of triathlons. The wife seems to enjoy me being around the house, as opposed to my days of 6 hour long bike rides, and double-workout days, etc. I still will do a couple of tris this year, but I'll just be a bit more particular about selecting them. Probably no IM races this year, either; maybe a half IM in the later part of the year. Anyways, I'll be competing in the regional qualifer for the CF Games. It's basically a few different CF events/exercises/workouts done for time over the course of a few days. Here's a short video from last years games
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitMovie_WorkingTrailer1208.wmv
I have no expectations of qualifying (top 5 go to the CF Games), but it will be nice to see how far my fitness has come in just a few months. I've already lost close to 17 # without even really trying....This happens in late April, in Jacksonville.

-Toughest Competitor Alive: This is a decathlon-type event taking place during a single day, and it is part of the Florida Police/Fire Games (http://www.lawgames.org/). Here are the events for the event taking place at the end of June:
-3 mile run
-shot put (16#)
-100m dash
-100m swim
-20 foot rope climb (hands only)
-bench press
-strict pullups
-obstacle course (150 lbsled pull, wall climb, low crawl, cone weave, high jump, hurdles, sprint)
I can't wait for this sh_t to happen, although I need to get going on the ropes and non-kipping PUs. I think this plays into my all-around fitness, and I should be able to keep up with most folks on the runs, while not losing too much ground on the swim or other stuff.

Promotional Process: I decided to take my transfer to a slow station, and try to make it a positive. I spent many days working out, as well as studying for the promotional exam for the position of Fire Engineer (the guy that drives the fire engine). 240 people signed up to take the test, 175 took the first portion, 95 people moved on to the practical portions, and then after all the smoke had cleared, I ended up 19th on the list. I was pretty pleased. By my half-a$$ calculations, I figure to be promoted sometime by the end of this year....no rush. Hopefully, I can get a few more good fires/entrapments/rescues under my belt by then.