Success Warrior: Alan B. Rowley II - Beachbody.com, P90X, Voluntaryism, Voluntarism

Disclaimer

It's been a long time since I've done a disclaimer for this blog so I think it's time for a new one.  Most of the disclaimers in the past have been of the "Do not try this at home" variety.  I have tried various diets, supplements, and exercise programs that I was willing to inflict on myself but not willing to encourage others to do.  Some of my exercise routines in the past have pushed the limits (and crossed them at time) of over-training.  Just what is possible?  My theory is that you never quite know until you go too far.

Today's disclaimer is about the actual content of this blog (and I'm not talking about Mark's pictures) and falls very much in line with Emerson's thoughts about being an Experimenter.

This blog is about me exploring ideas and using the written word as a way to sort through my thoughts.  I have found that I am able to get a much clearer picture for myself if I write things out and I have found that if I blog, I will actually *write* daily.  It's a combination deal. 

That means that you are getting a glimpse into the maundering of my inner dialog.  There are times when I'm sure that it will be crystal clear and then there will be times when I seem to get no where.  My drafts folder is also full of posts that even I said, "Good gawd, you are too ugly to see the light of day."  Either I made no sense or, when I was done, not even I believed what I had written.  That's saying something considering some of the posts that I have put out into the world.

I'm also going to admit right up front that when you try to post every single day with a schedule like mine, there are going to be times when I am completely talking out of my ass.  Sometimes I realize it and shrug and sometimes I probably hit "post" wrongly thinking that I've done okay. 

I point all this out for the sole fact that it will serve as a seatbelt and headrest to try and keep you from getting whiplash when I post the exact opposite thing the next day.  This blog is likely to contain very few conclusions because my blog is a constantly evolving being. 

This is something to keep in mind for people who choose to comment here.  I love comments.  I love seeing what people think.  I, of course, love to hear that my words resonated in some way with what you're experiencing.  I also enjoy seeing other perspectives.  If you post something in a harsh tone hoping to start an argument or in an effort to prove your case based on sheer intensity, you're probably just going to get questions in response so I can try to see why you believe what you do in relation to what I have posted.  I count myself blessed in my blogging experience because I have tended in the past to attract intelligent commenters that are able to explain their view and then agree to disagree. 

I have one more, probably long-winded, thought on the content of this blog and the inconsistency contained herein.  I am going to be working on practicing "my voice" and that may have the effect of inserting weirdness into the words.  Over the years, there have been three recurring comments that I have gotten on my writing from readers and instructors and I am going to see about working those elements into my blog on some kind of regular basis.

1.  "You are good at explaining things." 

There are probably a couple of factors that contribute to this.  The first is that my mind just naturally simplifies things.  I have been accused on this blog of over-simplifying.  Probably true.  It's how I'm wired.  It's why I have given up any dreams of writing non-fiction.  My brain takes out all the interesting twists and turns.  It looks at A.  It looks at B.  It connects them as directly as possible.  Non-fiction writing looks at A and B and connects them by throwing in D, Z, M, C (ooh so close), back out to Q for one final shake-up and then back to B.  Meanwhile, I'm going, "Look, here's A, here's B, BAM!  Let's move on."

Writing police reports for 12 years also probably plays a big role here.  The job requires that you write in clear sentences, with a strong active voice, that describes objects and actions so that lawyers can see them two years later.  One of the things that I first liked about blogging was that I wasn't confined to the report-style of writing but part of it still bleeds through, I'm sure.

This part, I don't think I'll have to work on too much in my blog.  Not everything is explained as clearly as I would like at times and some of that is due to time constraints.  I'll read a post a few days later and thoughts will pop into my head about how I could have said something better or differently so that it made more sense.  I just don't consider blogging in any way to be a final draft.  Connect A to B, Bam!, move on.

2.  "You're funny."

Not lately.

This I would really like to inject back into my blogging.  One thing I have noticed is that when I write about personal experiences, my weird view of the world just comes out naturally and is funny.  When I write about most current events and politics, the funniness disappears.  I have lived with the dichotomy while constantly thinking about how to correct it. 

One thought that I had was to let Sarcasm out of its cage.  It's always there pacing back and forth as I read about the world.  It growls and reaches out a paw, here and there, trying to grab onto passerbys.  It may be time to let Sarcasm out of the cage, at least as a test to see how well it does on the loose.  I put Sarcasm in a cage to protect readers, so as to not offend, and in turn protect myself from the snarky comments that may be used to poke at Sarcasm in defense.  I don't think that I can find "my" voice if I keep an inherent part of "me" locked in a cage.

As to the other funny experiences, the trick will be in having some kind of *experience* first.  My life right now consists of work and school and very little else.  The experiences that I have in my work life, I don't write about because "what happens in Wendover, stays in Wendover" and as a policy, we don't discuss it.  The experiences I have in my school life are either boring or involve fellow students that may happen across my blog, so I don't want to be poking fun at them.  I have very little in the way of actual experience.  All my experience is vicariously done through reading.  Hopefully, when this semester is over, I'll actually go out and *do* things.

3.  "You write dialog well."

This one is just a mystery to me.  I've never studied or thought about the writing of dialog.  I'll let you in on the secret.  I'm simply taking dictation.  I just write down what the voices in my head are saying.  I eavesdrop on their conversation and write it down.  That's it.  Dialog takes no effort.  Listen.  Write.

Since people appreciate it though, I should include it more in my blog.  I have found that it works really well when I combine it with the humor aspect.  I can read something and hear the fictitious conversation that just comes out funny. 

So, that's what you can expect out of this blog, at least for a while.  I have to include the caveat that I have very little control over the ADD (Look!  Something shiny!) and things may change rather abruptly as they have many times in the past but for now, I'm serious about exploring my own writing style more deeply while exploring the topics of my world.  My blog and my life are an experiment, never meant to harm anyone and not to be taken too seriously by my readers (or myself).

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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook 

What's Up With Success Warrior?

He's still working, exercising, kenpo-ing, exercising, coaching, exercising, eating right, exercising, and trying to get enough sleep.

What this is going to mean for now is a scaling back on blogging.  Scaling back meaning dropping the SWB blog for a while and aiming for a post a day for Chronicles.

Chronicles will still, uh, chronicle my fitness journey and the other days will likely be a mish-mash of topics.  What ever strikes my fancy for the day and probably covering several things per post like the Snippet Saturday posts.

Today, Tia and I are going to the city to see if we can help pull this country out of the recession by buying birthday presents for Trey. 

No, we didn't get our "rebate" from King George yet.  We won't be using that to help with the recession.  That's going toward paying off my car.  Other than the mortgage, we should be debt free in June.  July at the latest.

Speaking of the mortgage, I called my credit union to see what kind of rate I could get on a refi*.  Not a whole lot better than what I have now.  What the hell?  Uncle Ben is selling fiat money at bargain basement prices.  You'd think my credit union could pass some of that savings on to me.

Tomorrow, I'll update my P90X Journal and maybe on Friday I'll have an interesting story from today's little outing.  It seems like something funny or interesting happens when we go into town.  I think the reason for that is the fact that I don't get out much so anything beyond my front lawn is interesting or humorous.

Have a great day!

Commentary for October 17, 2007

Today's post is on the Chronicles blog and is the next installment of the August 6th story:  Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 7.

I have written about the first 3 minutes of this story a couple of times but have never written about the rest of the night, the rest of the weekend, and the years following.  I have verbally told the story a couple of times all the way through but have never gone into this much detail.

It has been interesting to look back trying to dig up the details from my mind.  I'm not great with memory so this takes some extra digging and I still feel like I'm missing things.  Some things have always been missing though and my concept of time during that period is really messed up.

New Blogging Plan

I've been away from blogging for a while trying to decide what I want to be if I grow up.  I didn't come up with any definite answers so it will be best for me to stall off the growing up process for as long as possible.

There are some things that I do want to do while I grow up though.  Two of those things are reading and writing.  I need to finish my book and try getting through some of the books sitting on my "to read" list.  I have been a non-reader for far too long.

I also need to get back to my exercise program.  My 90 day experiment was cut short by the stick strike to my trachea but that's healed up and it's time to get back to exercising. 

All of this leading to my point.  I'm only going to write one blog post per day.  I'll alternate between the two blogs and probably post some small commentary on the opposite blog for the day.  Nothing that will take much time but probably a note of what was posted on the other blog for the day.  The themes will stay the same with Success Warrior being about money and Chronicles being about just about everything else with regular posts on cop stories, fitness, family, and humor.

You Have Reached The Blog Of Success Warrior

I am sorry that I am unable to come to my blog at this time.  If you would like to email me or leave a post in this blog, it will do absolutely no good but you are certainly welcome to try.  Knock yourself out.

I never realized just how many little things I do each day to stay up to date with so many things.  Being gone for two days has opened my eyes to it.  I am way behind and today I was too busy to get to much. 

We had a wonderful weekend though and did some shopping and had a couple of great meals and we did it all with cash.  Of course.

Tomorrow, let's talk more about oil just because I want to.

The Sword Points Will Be Added And . . .

You would think that there is a winner of the shirt but not all is as it would seem.  I will tally up the points and let you know what will be happening next with the Sword Point contest. 

It's going to have to wait for a day because right now, I am going to go to bed and hope that I have enough energy to go to work later.

For more details about how I feel and what caused it, read today's Chronicles post.

People ask me if it's neat that I get to go to so many concerts for free.  I tell them that it's cooler than that because they pay me to go to the concerts.

Who knows?  Someday, I may be up on the stage.

Not singing though.  Yikes!

Telling jokes maybe.

Or more likely trying to convince people to get out of debt.

And telling jokes.

Beware The Groove - A New Month

I have been completely out of phase for the last couple of weeks.  My groove has been thrown off.  Now it's the beginning of the month and time to start updating all my end of month stuff for the last month. 

I don't know if it's just summertime that is causing it or something else.  My weekends have been taken up and it looks like we'll be out of town again this weekend.  It's hard to get on top of things.  It seems like each day slips away and a little bit more adds on to the next to-do list.

Anyway, I'll be trying to get all the numbers updated tomorrow so I can post on my progress or lack there of. 

I still need to complete the extra pages that I'm creating for this blog too.  While I'm here and not doing much, let me ask you this.  Do you have any favorite posts from either this blog or the Chronicles blog that I should definitely include in the posts list I'm creating?  I'm not going to list every post on that page.  Just your favorites and my favorites.  What should be there?

If Enough People Tell You Enough Times . . .

Like I said yesterday, I've been blogging for quite some time.  In April of 2006, my wife and I decided to pay off all of our debts.  I created a blog so that I could journal our account.  My thinking at the time was that by having our attempt open to the public, we would try harder.  I don't know if it really helped motivate us because we were already pretty motivated. 

I explained what our plan was and gave tips out based on what was happening in our life.  I also started passing on information about finances in general, not just ours. 

After blogging for a couple of months about my plan and how it was working for us, people started asking me to write a book.  That was flattering.  I had no intention of writing a book.  My plan was simple and I felt that anyone wanting to follow it could just read my blog.  I told readers that I would consider it.

A visit from PTE Rick changed my thinking.

Success Warrior Coaching - Origin of the Name

It was pointed out in the last post that an advertising executive thinks the name Success Warrior Coaching is going to fail me.  This earned her a negative five Sword points (name change - explained later) but to be fair, she is not alone in her belief.  Let me tell you how it came about and why it's not going to change anytime soon.

I've been blogging for 4 years now.  I can't believe it's been that long.  That's a lot of words written.  I somehow heard the term "Blog", went looking for it, started and was instantly hooked.  I love writing and this format worked so nicely for me.  I signed up for a blogging service called Blogit (it was called the Blogging Network back when I signed up), which is kind of a gated blogging community.  Bloggers pay to be part of the community and part of those payments get kicked back to the bloggers based on popularity of their blogs.

I created the blogging name PatrolSergeant and my first blog was called "How To Win."

On my seat again

Let me start this by saying thank you to everyone that emailed me with their concern.  I do appreciate it.  When doing these posts each day, it's easy to underestimate how much people appreciate them.

Let me also tell you that my wife works at an elementary school or as I refer to it, "The Germ Factory." 

I was recently reading an article of the most unhealthy places to work.  Schools have more germs in them than hospitals.  I could have told you that without the article but it was nice to have my suspicion confirmed.  Hospitals probably actually have more germs but the staff probably try harder to suppress those germs than 7 year olds.

So it comes as no suprise that when a bad virus "is going around" as it is right now, that it landed in my home. 

I am well on the mend today.  I was actually feeling much better yesterday but my son was having his worst day of being infected by this bug so my attention was turned toward him.  Having recently gone through the same illness, I had great empathy for how miserable he was. 

My wife, in the meantime, was spending a great deal of time reading Revelations.  She thought that me going for a week without being on the computer must surely be one of the signs for the End of Days.  It has turned out that it's more like the story of Lazarus. 

I don't smell too good but I'm alive.