The Sport That I Love(d)

Anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely love sports. I'll watch just about any sporting event, anytime, as long as there's beer (jk). Having been an athlete myself for many years there's nothing that i like more than a little friendly, or unfriendly, competition. Like millions of other kids i played every sport imaginable growing up from Tee ball, soccer, flag football, softball, baseball, etc. My parents pretty much put me in every sport that would keep me out of their hair but i didn't mind because I absolutely loved it. After dabbling in different sports, i settled on running track. Well, I wouldn't say I settled, I was damn good at it. Now when you're a little kid, sports are all about fun and games and hanging out with your friends. As you get older you either practice a good work ethic or you get left behind. For me, working hard at track practice everyday was still fun and games because I loved to win and I absolutely hated to lose. I left it all out there on the track like many other kids did. So i busted my ass for years even in the off season all the way through middle school and high school, working out by myself, on the weekends, I was never much of a team player anyway so I didn't mind. After the highs and lows of my high school career I moved on to college, Division 1A Track and Field. I have to admit it was intimidating at first. Besides, having to balance all my obligations was pretty taxing. After two years something that I never even crossed my mind occurred, my Track career came to an end. Things didn't quite go as planned following a season ending injury my freshman year, a mediocre indoor season, and nagging injuries the next year. I fell into relative obscurity on the team, a spot on the roster that I had never seen before, I was a Track Star not a scrub or a bench warmer. Riding the bike, doing physical therapy while watching my teammates running around the track, training their muscles, disciplining their bodies. I stood on the sidelines every weekend cheering them on instead of getting in the zone, stepping on the track myself, hearing and feeling nothing in the starting blocks except the pounding of your heart and the sound of the starter's pistol. It was time to make the toughest decision that I had ever made... was it was time to hang up my spikes? For nearly two decades i had walked, talked, ate, and slept track and field. How was I supposed to be content with cheering from the stands or the in-field? The summer preceding my Junior year I made the decision. After some sleepless nights, long conversations with the people that knew me best I couldn't avoid the realization any longer I was finished, my college track career was over before it even started, so it seemed. I felt like a quitter, like i hadn't tried hard enough, pushed hard enough. So I was relegated to being a fan, a cheerleader of sorts and it hurt like hell. I have to admit it kinda still does. Every athlete dreams of being among the elite in their sport, standing on that podium in the Olympics, breaking the tape at the World Championships. And all at once the realization that those things weren't in my future came crashing down. So now I have a love/hate relationship with the sport. I don't regret one minute that I dedicated to it. I don't even regret the possible state championship i gave up in high school to help out my team mates with a relay, that could've helped them realize their dream of a state championship. Okay maybe i do regret that one because I'm still a little peeved about how that went down. (Another story for another time, maybe like never!) I don't regret any of the workouts that kicked my ass, from running up the ski slope ;-) to the days Scottie too Hottie (Coach) was pissed off and we heard those dreaded words "Get on the line!". I made some of the best friends that I've ever had or ever will have and I think it honestly made me a better person.

What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.
~ Joe Paterno

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.
~George A. Sheehan

Long time no see...

Wow, so i can't believe it's been almost 5 months since i've written in this blog. See, i told you i had ADHD. Well, i guess time flies when you're not having fun. A quick update on what you guys have missed in the past few months: I moved on to my new job which is now coming to an end as well. The job in itself has had its ups and downs. I've been extremely busy for the most part which sometimes keeps my mind off the fact that i've been living in this crap hole of a country for 9 months. So my first few months on the new job were a blur of paperwork and playing catch up. I went home on R&R finally in August. Yay!! I finally got to see my baby that i missed oh so much while i was gone. I had an awesome time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. I finally met my new puppy Peyton. She is by far, the craziest dog i've ever met. I wish i had just half the energy she does. It was a joy getting to know her, at last. She is like having a toddler around the house, gotta watch her constantly. During my welcome home party she managed to eat half a bag of hot dog buns and a ping pong ball from the Beer Pong table (purchased from bingpongtables.com). Sidenote 1: I should start charging for advertising. But i guess that would only work if people actually read this thing. Anyway, so I grudgingly came back to this great country at the end of my 18 days which went by way way too fast. Sidenote 2: Kuwait is hot as **** and any country that hot just shouldn't exist. So i've spent the last few weeks catching up on the things i missed while i was at home as well as managing the many crises that seem to crop up daily. I've finally been able to get out and visit some of my Soldiers which is fun. Now, I have about a month left in this job and I switch over to XO. I'm looking forward to yet another change and we'll see how it goes. I'm trying not to look too far down the road but hopefully before i know it, I will back in the states once again. Until next time...

I Heart Randomness

I am a huge fan of randomness. I chalk this up to my self diagnosed mild case of ADHD. On any given day I think about thousands of different things which is probably not an oddity in and of itself. I can't say that i'm an authority on thoughts and how many different things people typically think about in a given time period. I'm sure someone, somewhere has done a study on it. But anyways, I remember the most random things about both people i know well and people that I hardly know at all. For some reason the most random things about people, places, and things stick in my mind. Now, I'm not talking about the usual things you begin to learn about people after knowing them for awhile, like their favorite color, food, book, or movie. Maybe this also has something to do with the fact that I am very observant and sort of a "people watcher." I've always been fascinated by anything and everything going on around me. Some people whose name i won't mention (**cough "Amy" cough**) would say that I'm just easily entertained. Ahh, she could be right.

So the other day when i was bored and sifting through the one million add - ons and extensions available for my favorite internet browser, Mozilla Firefox, i ran across the ultimate randomness tool for propagating my "hobby". It's called StumbleUpon. You put in a few preferences about the type of websites you like to browse, click the Stumble Button, and you are instantly taken to a random website within your noted preferences. My preferences included cars (fast ones!), online shopping (since i can't actually go to any stores these days), ebooks (because i love to read without all the clutter here in my little office), movies (i've watched a lot of those lately), etc. Basically, my point is, check it out if you're bored it's kinda cool.

Now, don't get me wrong randomness actually has a few more pertinent applications to people that aren't addicted to in the same manner I am. According to Wikipedia, which we all know is a very reputable source for information on just about anything:

The word random is used to express lack of order, purpose, cause, or predictability in non-scientific parlance. A random process is a repeating process whose outcomes follow no describable deterministic pattern, but follow a probability distribution.

The term randomness is often used in statistics to signify well defined statistical properties, such as lack of bias or correlation.

Randomness has an important place in science, philosophy, and religion.

Of all the more serious applications of randomness, the one that fascinates me the most is its role in science in relation to the chaos theory also known as the Butterfly Effect (awesome movie by the way). Chaos theory is quickly explained as a theory concerned with the order within randomness and its effect (confused yet?). I'll spare you all the nerdy details and let you look into yourself if you so wish.

Alright I think i've rambled on about randomness enough for now besides I gotta get back to work. Until next time...

So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.
~Sidney Poitier

Time Marches On...

So my time as a JNN Platoon Leader is quickly coming to a close. I've spent the first part of this deployment at two small FOBs. Just as I got settled in at the first one we received word that we had to pack up and move again. We've been through a lot in the relatively short time that we've been here. I only have a few more weeks to spend with the people that I've shared nearly every waking moment with for about 2 years. In garrison i spent on average about 12 hours a day with these guys, sometimes including weekends and holidays. Now we are together 24/7. When you spend that much time with people you become like a family, the office becomes your second home, and your co workers are more like your siblings and your subordinates like children to a certain degree. It will be difficult to leave and place the well being of this family into the hands of another. But we all have to move on at some point.

It seems like just yesterday I was tossing my hat in the air happy to leave NY behind, excited about the few weeks of vacation ahead, and looking forward to the next stage of my career. After that I was still a brand new 2LT fresh out of OBC not really sure of what to expect at my first unit. Now it is almost two years later and the "kids" that I was in charge of, in what I consider to be my first real leadership position, are about to graduate and embark on the same journey.

"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived."

Blog # 1

Ok, so I figured i would never give in to this blog craze but considering my current circumstances it might not be a bad idea. This is a good way for me to keep my friends and family up to date with what's going on with me and gives me something to do to kill time. Up until now I've spent my free time reading books, playing my psp, studying for my GRE, watching countless movies and tv shows. But I'm 4 months into this deployment and I'm kinda bored with all those things. So after talking to my good friend Linz she suggested i start a blog. So, here I go...