The Mo is coming along. I shaped it last week and have to shave the beard again soon so the mustache will stand out once more. So far I’ve raised $250 and still have a lot more I can raise, with your help of course!
Here are my 10 day progress pics (again remembering that I’m sleepy in all the pics because I take them just after I wake up in the morning…haha):
This is a notice that was posted in the newspaper when my grandfather, John Thomas MacLeod’s plane was shot down during the 2nd World War:
Could you imagine being a parent in the 1930’s with no internet and barely any phones? Parents might not know their son/daughter is dead/alive for days/weeks/months.
Writing from memory and being brief, my grandfather was a figher pilot in the 2nd World War. He was shot down by enemy gunfire and in order ot survive, he had to climb out onto his wing and parachute to safety. However, when he landed safely on the ground, he was captured by German soldiers and taken as a captive. He told me that he was a captive for roughly 40 days and during that time was required to sleep in a closet standing up, was fed water and bread and saw his fellow comrades executed in front of him by gunshots. He was lucky to survive and later became the father of 5 children, one of them being my mom, in my eyes, the most amazing person that I will ever know.
He passed away in April of this year and I unfortunately was not able to fly home to attend his funeral. I was in the middle of exams and my grandmother told me to stay here and study and be a good student.
I talked to my grandmother on the phone last night and it was great to hear that she is doing ok. She told me that on Sunday in church they read a brief summary of grandpa’s time in the war in a moment of remembrance for him and what he did.
Margo is up visiting grandma and in addition to visiting grandpa and mom’s gravesites, I think they are going to be attending the remembrance day ceremonies at the cenotaph. That is a cereomony I wish I was there for. Maybe next November 11.
In any case, no matter where you are or what you are doing on November 11 at 11:11am, please take a few moments and remember those who have fallen, those who are serving us and think about how different our lives would be had it not been for them.
RIP John T.
Tuesday, November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada. In case you forget why we take 2 minutes of silence to remember those who have died, watch this video and read the lyrics. The video/song is called A Pittance of Time, by Terry Kelly.
They fought and some died for their homeland.
They fought and some died, now it’s our land.
Look at his little child; there’s no fear in her eyes.
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who went over.
In peace may they rest, may we never
forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time.
God forgive me for wanting to strike him.
Give me strength so as not to be like him.
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips,
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists.
But two minutes I will bide.
It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who went over.
In peace may they rest.
May we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time.
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home.
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own.
There’s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay.
Freedom’s fought for and won in numerous ways.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls all over.
May we never forget, our young become vets.
At the end of the line,
It’s a pittance of time.
It takes courage to fight in your own war.
It takes courage to fight someone else’s war.
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell.
They bring hope to foreign lands that hate mongers can’t kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who go over.
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It’s a pittance of time
In peace may they rest,
Lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
So Movember is in full growth mode…I shaved the morning of Saturday, November 1 and won’t shave again until the morning of Monday, December 30th. Until then, I am growing a mustache and fundraising for Movember - a charity that promotes the awareness of prostate cancer. So far I’ve raised $150 and still have a lot more I can raise, with your help of course!
Here are my 5 day progress pics (I’m sleepy in all the pics because I take them just after I wake up in the morning…haha):
You’ve all seen (or at least heard of) Saw - the 5th one is in theatres now. Well I went as the doll from Saw for my buddy Tom’s housewarming party on Saturday night (and consequently won best costume AND scared a few girls…haha made them scream and run away!!!)
Friday night I hosted Dean’s first annual Screamin’ Deamon Hallowe’en Pub Crawl. He dressed as Otto from the Simpsons and drove his bus. I dressed as Duffman and hosted the other bus. Check us out:
Today’s WOD was Angie. Simply put, it’s the hardest workout for me because you can’t rearrange the exercises, and so you can’t move on until you’ve completed the entire 100 reps.
Angie is:
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats
For time…
My time was 30 minutes (but I was only able to do 30 pullups before burning out). Better than the 25 I did before plus my time was 5 minutes better. And I started off with a 1.15 mile warmup and a 400m cooldown. Goal for Angie next time it comes up will be 50 pullups in 25 minutes.
For the month of November, I will be growing a mustache and raising money for a charity called Movember that promotes the awareness of prostate cancer. Some fast facts about prostate cancer:
Help me out by clicking the donate button and do your part in helping to save lives! I will be taking pictures of my mustache growth everyday and posting them here to show that I’m commited to the cause. I appreciate your support!
Best,
Rob
Today’s WOD was CrossFit Total again. That’s max reps of: back squat, shoulder press and deadlift. My lifts last time were 285, 135 and 335 for a total of 755 pounds.
Back squat, 1 rep (305 lbs.) +20lbs
Shoulder Press, 1 rep (145lbs.) +10lbs
Deadlift, 1 rep (360 lbs.) +25lbs
Total: 810 lbs. +55lbs
I haven’t been doing much Crossfit the past week since I was in the process of moving and moving was my exercise, but since I missed the CFT on Saturday and I love it I really wanted to do it again. I’m really happy to see how much in gained on each one; the shoulder press was tough. I really was hoping to get at least 150 but for the amount of shoulder workouts I do and how weak my pullups are, I’m happy with this result.
So I’m moving tomorrow. Downtown. I’m pretty excited because I’ll be back on my own and be buying all of my own food and cooking all of my own meals. I will lose weight I know it haha. But just because it’s been on my mind a lot, here is a list of all the places I’ve lived over the years. Feel free to add your list too:
1982 - 1984: Edmonton, AB with parents
1984 - 2000: Woodstock, NB with parents and sister
2000 - 2001: Edmonton, AB with aunt/uncle and 2 cousins
2001 - 2002: Halifax, NS in mini rez (no roomie) (8 mths)
2002 - 2003: Halifax, NS with 4 roomies in apartment (1 year, 4 mths)
2003 - 2005: Halifax, NS with 1 roomie in apartment (1 year, 8 mths)
2005 - 2005: Calgary, AB with ex (3 mths)
2005 - 2006: Calgary, AB on my own (6 mths)
2006 - 2008: Calgary, AB with ex (2 years, 9 mths)
2008 - ?: Calgary, AB on my own
Today’s workout is as follows:
“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
OR
“Mary”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups
I’m going to do “Cindy” because I can’t do 15 pull-ups in a row right now and I think “Cindy” would be a fairer challenge for me. I’m hoping that in 20 minutes I can do 10 rounds. That would be 50 pull-ups. I would definitely be happy with that. We’ll see how it goes :)
UPDATE: I did 6 rounds in 20 minutes. The pullups killed me. Pushups and squats were no problem although they were made more difficult by the pullups. I was really thinking I could get 10 but I have to improve my pullup reps to get there.
Today’s WOD was: Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
Basically, load a bar, snatch it, add weight and do another snatch. Do 7 times. It sounds like not much…7 reps in total. But since you keep increasing the weight you burn out more and more.
My results were:
115, 125, 135, 145, 155, 145, 145.
The last 2 reps were brutal. I could barely even get the 145 off the ground. I’m sure my technique isn’t flawless and that if it were better I could get a heavier weight, but my max was definitely 155. It’s a start though :)
So getting back into Crossfit is going to be a bit slower than anticipated. After doing “Mr. Joshua” on Friday, my abs are still quite sore and it hurts to stand straight. I’ve gone for a few runs but that’s about the limit of my tolerance right now. And I don’t want to pull an ab muscle because then I’ll be out for a while.
In any case, I’ll be back on the regular rotation of workouts soon hopefully. I’m excited :)
At the suggestion of a friend, I decided to write about sand. What about sand? Well, I decided to search the internet for some quotes that had a sand theme. Below are 4 of my favourites. They are from the website Think Exist and they carry some good meaning. Basically for me, sand is a substance that can create so much, can destroy so much and can nurture so much. It can be used in a variety of processes, such as glass making, sand castle building, fields (sport) development and art.
In any case, I wanted to speak directly to the following quotes. They touched me in different ways and hopefully you too will find special meaning in them.
“Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble”
Basically when something bad happens we cannot dwell on it. Know that it happened for a reason but also know that in getting through the experience we will be stronger for it and will eventually move past it. But, when something good happens to you, it’s great to remember that experience and cherish it and live your life to have more of those. I know from experience that when something bad happens it hurts and it’s not easy to get through. But when you find something good, it will make you so happy that you’ve gone through all of those bad things.
“Time is like a handful of sand- the tighter you grasp it, the faster it runs through your fingers”
There is no rush to do anything or get anything done in life. Rather, there shouldn’t be. Everything we choose to do is just that - a choice. It’s something that we have conscious control over and if we choose those things that make us happy, why try and rush through it? Why not take the time to enjoy it and savour every moment? The next time you’re doing something you’re not particularly happy doing, think to yourself: do I really have to do this? What happens if I don’t? Is there something I could be doing instead? What good can I get from this?
“All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand.”
This one I’ve struggled to grasp. I do believe in love at first sight. But so far all of my relationships that have been built on this haven’t been forever. I also believe that sometimes you meet people that are destined to only be friends. And that’s great. But I absolutely agree with this quote. I think that while it’s great to be with someone from the word ‘go’, a friendship is absolutely imperative and so as long as that is developed then the relationship will be strong and will last. I also think that the person that you want to be with should be one of your best friends for sure. We all would like to find that; hopefully we all can.
“An ostrich with its head in the sand is just as blind to opportunity as to disaster”
We cannot be afraid to fail. We cannot not try something for fear of failing. We can’t be afraid to love someone for fear of being heart broken. In the face of failure comes the opportunity for amazing successes. And we will only find those successes if we put out whole heart and soul into everything that we do. ‘We cannot steal second base while keeping one foot on first.’
It’s quite amazing how everyday concrete objects can hold so much meaning. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the above quotes, or hear some of your favourites; relating to sand or otherwise.