One of Those Days

I have had one of those days. In my 8 years of being employed by the Mission, I have found that nothing ever goes to plan.

My intentions were to repair the air conditioner that runs half of the upstairs of the Men's Shelter. I started off by getting the freon out of the system. I was getting all of our equipment out, I found out I was out of sil-floss, the stuff you need to solder the pipe together. I had to run to the parts store and get more. By the time I got back, it was empty of freon. So I took all the gauges off and proceeded to but all the malfunctioning parts out of the system. Easy enough. I went to put the new expansion valve on and found out that the pipe sizes didn't match up. No big deal, I bought reducers and extra lengths of pipe just in case. I put everything together and started soldering. When I finished, I went to get my inspection mirror to make sure that I soldered everything correctly and I would have no leaks. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. Irritating. We looked all over the van for it and couldn't find it. My helper just cleaned my tool bag out the day before, and he said it wasn't in there. I figured we would make it without it. I am pretty good so there should be no leaks. Wrong again. We pressure tested the lines and found a huge leak on the line. It is an amazingly tight space, so I kept working in getting it sealed. I am a bit claustrophobic as well, and that didn't help things.

Very frustrating morning. Time got away from me, so we headed downstairs to get some lunch. I was so ticked that this thing wasn't working out like I hoped it would. Usually, something like this shouldn't take a couple of hours. I am already on hour 3. While I was sitting down eating, one of our pastors came up to me and told me that he had something for me, something very important. He handed me a little folded up note. The paper on the outside said to make sure that this note got to me, and that it was a note from my son. Chance had written me a letter that said, "Dad, I miss you and love you. Your son, Chance." I got teary eyed. Apparently the group he is on mission with this week wrote a whole bunch of notes to the guests at the Shelter to encourage them, and Chance wrote a special letter to me. It was very encouraging, it made my day. I struggle a lot with Chance. I love him so much, and I know he loves me. But we are constantly in to it. I know it's a teenage thing, but it's hard on both of us. One day, I hope we can look back at the fights we get into and laugh.

Anyway, back to work, and it didn't get any better. Still leaks in the lines. We hunted them all down without a mirror. We pressure tested everything again and found that we got all of the big leaks fixed, but we still had one small leak. We found it in a bypass line of the valve. It is a very small line that is attached to a 1 inch copper line by a flare fitting. We took the wrench to it and tried to tighten it down but it still leaked. The fitting that the valve line attached to was leaking at the base of the fitting where it met the 1 inch line. This fitting was on the back side of the pipe, where you couldn't really see it, more a less take a torch to it to weld the hole shut. We had to have the mirror. We went back down to the van and still didn't find it. I told my helper to look in the tool bag again, and sure enough, there it was in the very bottom of the bag he just cleaned out the day before. So, after countless trips up and down ladders, up and down stairs, hours of tight space torch work on a ladder, the one thing we needed to eliminate all of that showed up. Nice. Well, we gave up on trying to fix the existing fitting. We cut the 1 inch line out of the coil and took it to the shop to fab up something similar to install tomorrow. We packed up the tools and headed down to the van.

As we were walking out, Pastor Steve stopped me and asked me to share my story of attempting to loose weight and the struggles I face and the opportunities that have come up as a result of all the prayer and steadfast seeking of the Lord in this journey. I was happy to oblige. We have a guy who is struggling with the weight and self image. I am looking forward to him coming out to the Colony. I have felt like God has been leading me towards working with this guy since he first walked in to our doors. Maybe he and I can work together on this thing. Praying about that.

I didn't go to the gym tonight. No, it was not because of my experience the other night. I was so tired because of my day of "Shoots and Ladders" (I said "shoot" every time something went wrong, and I was on ladders all day, hahahaha

I am going to bed now. Good night...

Morning of the Living Dead

I decided to walk this morning. I need to add some cardio to my gym trips, so I strapped on the ipod and headed out the door at 530 this morning.

Now, you would think that at that obscene time of the morning that you wouldn't see many people walking. Man was I wrong. There were a ton of people out this morning. I started walking down the street and took a left where the street ends. I ran into a lady that was trotting along at a pretty good pace. Apparently she planned on running into someone, because she was dressed in real nice running gear. As she passed by me, I was nearly choked up by the perfume she was wearing. Perfume, at 530, while running? Made no sense.

As I continued up the block, I saw another lady running around in a cove. Back and forth and back again. I really don't understand how people can run in circles like that. I hate walking tracks or in circles. I need some scenery. I need people to watch. I need houses to look at. I need to be nosy. Well, I guess this lady enjoyed running in the comfort of her on cove. Either that, or she has an overprotective husband who has installed an invisible fence that she isn't allowed to cross.

I turned the corner and headed up the road. A car passed by every now and again, it's headlights rudely interrupting the dim light of the inevitable sunrise. The elevation was starting to change. This road has a slight incline all the way to my next turn. As I walked through the busy S curve, I saw a man hiking towards me. When I say hiking, he was actually hiking. He was wearing boots and had a huge backpack strapped to his back. Hmmmmm, preparing for a trip maybe? Maybe he was just carrying the extra weight to get a good workout. He carries his on his back, I carry mine on the front.

I headed down the road and walked by the gated community before the turn. There used to be horse stables here. I always thought it was so weird to see the stables in the middle of the city. Walking this morning, I wished they were still there. I love to watch horses, they are amazing creatures. Instead, a whole bunch of zero lot, high dollar homes have been constructed in it's place, and surrounded by a 6 foot rod iron fence. Beautiful as it is, it looks like a prison to those who live inside. The people are imprisoned by the need to acquire, to be better, to look good. The longer they stay there, they become institutionalized to a system whose hunger can never be quenched. It is always devouring, always consuming, always destroying.

I turned the corner and walked past the south side of the prison and saw a couple of other women head down their driveway to the open road. They walked with a ferocious pace, ready to conquer the world. As they cut in front of me and took off, I kept plodding along. All of the sudden, the dynamic duo stopped. One of them had a nasty nose bleed. They turned around and went back home.

Down the street I went. Step, step, step. I took another turn and in the distance, the hiker returned. I was beginning to think this hauntingly familiar to a scary movie I saw once. I figure if I don't give the guy a ride, everything should be fine. We crossed paths and gave each other a head nod. No machete, so I was okay.

I kept walking. At the corner, I see a silhouette of a man turning the corner at the end of the road. If I didn't know any better, I could have swore he was wearing a backpack. He was. There is no way that this guy made the block again. I turned to see if the hiker was at the other end of the road. Nope. Gone. This is truly turning into a scary movie. As I got closer, I realized that this wasn't the same guy. There was another hiker. Weird. Did I miss the "Everyone carry a backpack" memo? Anyways, I think this guy was looking for the woman I ran into first when I walked. He was dressed in nice gear and his cologne almost killed me. I guess morning walks are like the new pick up location? Anyways, I finally made the final turn to my street and then to the house.

A Letter to My Fellow Gym Members

I need to vent, so here it goes...

To All the Members of the Gym,

I need to get a few things straight with all of you. First of all, I know I don't belong here. You all live in a part of town that I have no business being in, you pay ridiculous amounts of money to attend here, and you spend an obscene amount of time working out. I am none of these things. I am a middle class, working guy who makes a decent wage, but that is spent supporting my wife and kids, who I would much rather be around than you people. The only reason why I come here is so that I can extend and enjoy the amount of time I have here with them. I also got a free pass from a very good friend of mine.

I feel your glances and believe me, I understand. I have my reservations about getting on certain pieces of equipment and doing exercises that will probably end up with my fat butt on the floor. But hey, I do it anyway. I don't look as majestic as the woman on the stair stepper. Every time I see you, I wonder if you will ever get tired of that machine. But there you are, perched like a hawk and watching every thing that happens in the field of machines. I can't multi-task like the cyclist. I think I have escaped your notice, and rightly so. You are too busy reading, listening to your ipod, and cycling at ridiculous speeds to pass judgement on me. I have caught you glancing, Mr. Marathon. I was a fan of yours when I saw the "26.2" sticker on the back of your car. I even got next to you on the elliptical one day hoping to strike up a conversation. You weren't on there five minutes and got off and moved on to another part of the gym. Guess I need extra deodorant. Oh, and who can forget the wolfpack. The muscle head frat boys that hang out over at the weight machines, a part of the gym that I rarely get to see. I see you guys come in and out and I know you see me. You don't have to say anything, the eyes say it all. But I bet I have more kids than you, so bite me.

And speaking of kids, I would like to address a trio of teens who, while waiting for their mommy to pick them up, took time to look up and get a good laugh at my expense. How did I know that you were laughing at me? The pointing and laughing pretty much covered it. I have dealt with jerks like you all of my life. I grew up being the fat kid and getting teased from kids my entire childhood. I still get made fun of by my kids' friends. I am used to it. But you guys were the straw that broke the camel's back tonight. I have had enough. By the way, I have seen you guys shoot ball, and you have no room to laugh. Your jump shots are a joke and I know I could shoot your lights out any night.

I digress...I have had enough though. Let me reinforce the fact that I know I don't belong here. I am not trying to belong. I don't want to be anything like any of you. I just want to look like you. I want to lose this weight, get healthy, look good, and praise God that He was the one responsible for providing the opportunity to do it. And I am thanking Him for each of you today. I have been praying that He would give me some motivation to lose weight and exercise more, and I have found it today. To show each and everyone of you that I can do it, that God is good and He will be the one that helps me do it, and to learn how to do this thing on my own so I don't sweat on your equipment anymore, thus restoring balance to your shallow and egotistical gym.

Sincerely,
J

P.S.
Ty and the Assassin are the only reasons I keep coming here. They are a beacon of hope in a dark, dark, place. I praise God for them and all the time they spend working out with me.

It All Comes Together...

Have you ever seen the Karate Kid? Not the crappy remake with little Will Smith and Jackie Chan, the original one, you know, Daniel son, Mr. Myagi, wax on wax off...? My favorite part of that movie is when Daniel gets sick of doing all the crappy work on Mr. Myagi's house and is about to storm off. Mr. Myagi tells him to shut up and had him show off everything he learned. Come to found out, Daniel had been learning karate the whole time, and after an onslaught of fists and kicks, Daniel realizes that everything he has been doing paid off. Love that movie.

Anyways, I had an air conditioning issue at the Mission today, so I had to head down early to try to avoid the heat. That didn't happen. When I got there, the thing was frozen solid. I climbed the ladder to get on the roof and turned the condensing unit off. I climbed back down and decided to take the expansion valve apart to see if it was clogged.( I'll try not to get anymore technical, hahaha). In order to do that, I need several pieces of equipment to pump the freon out of the system and take the thing apart. So my helper and I went downstairs to the van and to get everything. I grabbed my gauges and threw them over my shoulder, grabbed my toolbag which weighs about 40 pounds, the recovery machine which weighs about 30 pounds, and a jug of freon which weighs about 30 pounds and headed into the building. I walked through the building up the stairs and to the roof access. My helper followed with a few pieces of equipment as well. When we got the access I asked him if he wanted to hand stuff up to me or if he wanted to get on the roof and pull it up after I handed it to me. He choose the roof, so he got up there and I lifted each piece of equipment over my head, up the ladder, and to him.

After enduring the heat and pumping the system down, we came off the roof and dismantled the unit. We blew the lines out and did more inspecting. I found the lines were clear, but the unit inside was filthy again. I just cleaned it a month ago. So I dismantled all the shelving underneath the unit and since it was such a tight space, I stepped up on some milk crates to dismantle the unit further so I could get to the coils. Up and down on the milk crates, taken it apart piece by piece, then the coil was exposed. Up and down on the milk crates, cleaning it with a wire brush, vacuuming it, spraying it down, then putting it back together. Back up the ladder to pull a vacuum, then I handed down the equipment to my helper. I added some freon to the system and got it running correctly, then down the ladder, picked up all the equipment and carried it down to the van.

Then it hit me. I had my Mr. Myagi moment.

I had been up and down stairs, carrying heavy equipment, baking in the sun, climbing up and down ladders, up and down on milk crates in some of the most uncomfortable standing positions you could imagine, and at 4:19 in the afternoon, I wasn't tired. I wasn't hurting. I could probably do it all again right now if I had too. Why is that? All the cardio, elliptical, leg exercises, squats, all this stuff I constantly talk about doing in the gym has paid off in my day to day life. Usually after a day like today, I would come home whining about all the stuff I had to do or I would just have my helper do it all and wear him out. Today, I did it with him, and when I got home, I went shopping with Pam. So I can't wait to see Ty and tell him about it all and I might even thank the Assassin for all the work he has made me do.

Now if they would only teach me an exercise to make yard work easier...

Yes, I can hurt more...

I decided to look up the definition of personal trainer:

personal trainer-noun-1. person who takes fat, out of shape people and attempts to make them disabled

I returned to the gym to meet with the Assassin. He had someone else to torture for a few minutes before he got to me. He told me to go warm up on a treadmill. Treadmill? Dude, I am over the treadmill. I have elliptical status around here. I headed over to my old friend the elliptical, put the ipod on, and started chugging on it. 10 minutes, 1 mile, level 8, warmed up. It also loosened up my legs, which were so tight when I got there. It felt like someone took chains and wrapped them over and over and over around my thighs, then put a padlock on them. I tried so hard to stretch and loosen them up. It took something as extreme like the elliptical to get them to recover. I finished up, the Assassin beckoned, and I answered the call.

I don't know why, but I am totally embarrassed when I have to work with the core ball. A couple of reasons I think, 1. A lot of girls use them. 2. They are all pastel colors. Why not a black one? Anyway, we started off with some wall squats. You take the big ball on the wall and press your back against it. While leaning against it, squat. 1, 2, 3, ow, owww, owwwwwwww. Three sets of 15. Now, I know I complain about it, but I am pretty impressed at the same time. A month ago, I don't think I would make it through one set. Now, I am doing 3 sets of 15. Score.

On the next exercise, I had to lay down on the ball and roll on it to the point that it was behind my head and shoulders. I had to arch my body while I lifted weights. Interesting. And kinda freaky. I thought for sure that I was going to fall for sure today. 3 sets of those and then I had to move on to a knee bend dead lift.You take a couple of weights and hold them straight down in front of you. Then, you squat down. Then, I took the weights held them on my shoulders, and did what he called "hovering squats." Now, if I ever heard this term before, I would assume that is something that you do when you go to a nasty gas station bathroom. Take the same concept, except you're fully clothed, weights on your shoulders, and all you're doing is standing in a bent knee position up and down, never all the way up though, thus the hovering effect. I have decided that I really hate ANY squat exercise.I endured, and moved on.

The Assassin said that we needed to get out of our little corner, so he grabbed one of those exercise steps and I had to do a crossover step up. If the step is on your left side, you use your right foot, step over then up the step. Ty tried to get me to do some step exercises a couple of weeks ago, and it killed my knees. This time, I did a set on each foot pretty easily. Progress. We went to do some upper body work, sitting marine presses which are cake. Next, he grabbed one of those stretch bands and I did a few tension exercises to work the back. Then, abs. I got into my half sit up position and went side to side with the elbows. Effective, but not as effective as taking the medicine ball and doing a couple of sets of crunches, which is what I finished the routine with tonight.

I know it seems like an onslaught of nonstop movement, and believe me, it feels like it. But we have time between exercises to talk about things and I really enjoy it. I definitely enjoy talking to him about some of the things we do at the Mission and dealing with those who are addicted. He told me about the big drug problem kids in Africa have is huffing. Kids will take industrial strength glue and put it in a small glass bottle and huff it to get high. We talked about addiction and missions and discipleship. Pretty good stuff. I need to find more things to distract him...

Could I hurt any more?

So, yeah, after last night's blog I thought, hey, no big deal, go rock the workout tomorrow and you're going to be fine.

My legs are killing me.

It's weird really. I can feel every muscle in both of my legs. Every step, every stair, even lifting my foot off the gas pedal and pressing the brake sends shooting pain through the entire lower half of my body. The new guy is an assassin. He's an exercise sniper. He doesn't hurt you from a length distance, he hurts you with a time distance. I am sure I will loosen up once I get to the gym, which I am about to go to now. The elevator sounds like a good idea. I hope I get rock star parking. I will update later.

Old Dog, New Tricks

I have a new trainer. I haven't told him I blog, so I won't throw his name out there. Ty called him a "Silent Assassin". He is a pretty quiet guy, real soft spoken. His parents were missionaries in Africa, he was born in Nigeria. You couldn't tell it by looking at him, the guy is super white with kinky curly blonde hair. When I first met him, I didn't think this was going to be a good fit. Then the workout began...

Now, I usually start with a warmup on the elliptical. I have gotten pretty good at it. I can move at a 6 mph pace at level 8, which sounds good while I am typing it. Yeah, I am trying to impress everyone. This is the way I figure it, If it wasn't for my weight and the impact on my feet and knees, I could run 6 mph. Pretty good. So, I thought we would start with that. Wrong. He started off with a squat, two handed overhead dribble with a 25 lb. medicine ball. Doesn't sound like much, but when you do it 30 times, it gets the heart pumping. Then you do 2 sets of them, and you have got a good start.

We then did lunges. That's where you step up, squat in that step position, then bringing your feet together. Ouch. 2 sets of those. Double ouch. Then we did squats. I have no problem with squats, but he had me do a weird variation of it. I had to squat down far enough to tap a core ball with my butt, then stand back up. Hmmmm. Kinda embarrasing. Good thing I am not trying to impress anyone up there. I then sat on the ball and did some weight lifting, just pushing some light barbells over the head. no biggie. Then to the kinesis machine for some punches. I like those, lots of aggresion relief.

It then occurred to me that this guy is working me pretty hard.

Time for core work. No easy situps this time. He had me sit down on the floor. He threw the medicine ball to me while I laid back as far as I could without laying down, then back up while throwing the ball. I then had to sit in a half sit up position with my arms in front of me holding 15 pound weights in each hand. I then had to reach to my sides with the weights, right side, left side. That was followed by half sit up back strokes. Ouch. Hurt good. He asked me if I felt like I worked out for an hour. Definitely. We scheduled our next meeting and I limped down the stairs. I swear I could hear the elevator laughing at me as I walked by.

When I got home, my friend Suzi saw me get out of my car and I could tell she was amused. In the short drive it took to get back home, my legs turned into noodles, my stomach was cramping, and my arms were tightening up.

Me and the new guy are going to get along fine...