Marty experiences a new S and T technique, March 2007

 Click on the photo above for more pictures from Hawaiian Day 2007.   Have some pictures of patrollers in action through the years (or more funny ones of Marty Welter)?  Please share them by clicking here.  Thanks!

SUNDAY 13th Dec. 2009  1330hrs [that's 1:30pm in land-lubber-speak]

[as transcribed by Mum]

Gidday!!

My team has arrived!  It’s SOOOOO exciting!  We so aren’t ever not busy though!  Esspecially as leaders.

Paul, our head leader, gave me the job of team nurse almost as soon as we met.  Aparently coz Ihe’s heard I’m “kind and compassionate.”   I asked how he knew that and he said he’s good mates with KS, my Vanuatu head lady leader and she said I’d make a brilliant team nurse.  It was quite funny but in some ways daunting knowing I’d been researched and trusted with something so big.  But God is so here!  The smaller I am the bigger He can be.  I’ve been discovering this as soon as I left you to go through security in Auckland airport.

I put my bag through the x-ray, walked through the arch, and beep, beep, beep.  To be honest it was a confidence builder instead of a confidence knock.  It meant I wa suppose to come and be a leader coz already someone was trying to stop me.

We worked out, it was my belt.  I thought that was all but I kept beeping even after the nice  man checked my belt.  It turned out it was a foil in it.  It was in my back pocket and must have been though the wash half a dozen times.  It was quite funny

I was fully climatised by yesterday afternoon so that was awesome!!  It surprised me how little time it took.

It feels strange to be a leader.  You don’t have to wander around with someone else all the time [team members must always be with a buddy]

The pole barn

Yesterday was intense.  We were in the pole barn [roof on poles] at 1000hrs [10am] and were waiting for our team members for 3 hours before they arrived.  The anticipation was so intense.  When they did arrive we were flat off our feet talking to them all and getting them all through registration.

But Thursday and Friday were so cruisy.  It was so strange.

I’m actually writing this in a class.  We had letter writing class and time earlier but I was sorting out the team members meds.  Joy.  Lol.  God is AMAZING!!  I’m managing so far.  Haven’t done anything  super wrong yet so that’s all good  :)

I get to change someone’s dressing tomorrow.  Our youngest girl (13) , A, two days  before Boot Camp caught her leg on barb[ed] wire and got 8 stitches or something.  It was on her shin.  It’s quite hilarious what God’s got me doing  [reference to what Anita is learning to cope with, not to A's injury and stitches]

Anyway.  Sorry this letter is  short.

I’m certainly having a BLAST!!  :D  It may all be out of my comfort zone but I’m learning so much and am coping FAR better than I expected

It must be all that prayer Thanks everybody for that!!

Love you ALL SOOOOO much!!

Today’s orientation so tomorrow the O.C. [Obstacle Course] and everything begins.

I better go.  Love you!! Thanks heaps for everything!!

Anita

[I am sure Anita would love some comments to her posts that I am posting for her... if you leave comments on the blog here I'll transcribe and mail them to her.  Remember- she has no internet access.  Sadly that means no current photos]

There were just a few other things we did in Singapore that we did that you might want to know about if you get a chance to go there.

Of course, there is the Hard Rock Cafe.

And there is a great beach at Sentosa Island. Bear even found a sand dollar. And the girls found some great shells.

One-fourth of all the world’s cargo goes through Singapore, so you can see a lot of big ships coming in and out of the port.

Singapore has a Chinatown that is very fun! And we thought expensive.

And Chinatown has a Hindu Temple.

And a Buddhist Temple.

This guy is watching you so behave yourself!

And Chinatown has lots of market shops with fun trinkets.

And this laughing budha who will give you well wishes if you rub his belly (and drop a coin in the slot).

The seahorses did not fare so well. Apparently they are used in soup.

This was bamboo something – it looked kind of like a bamboo jello jiggler. No, I did not try it. Next time.

There is a go-kart ride that goes down a pretty big hill. Lots of fun. Be careful doing this if your kids are at all competitive. It could end up costing a lot of money trying to let everyone win.

After the go-kart (luge) ride, you take a chair lift back up the hill. If you catch it at the right time, you will see this amazing view.

And what is a visit to an Asian city without a little monkey love?

And the dare devil adventure continues. Here is one of my Trapeze artists in the making.

Here is a little quiz for you – do you know what happens if you put a picture of one daughter on the flying trapeze for all the world (and her friends) to see and you do not put one of your other daughter? You pay for therapy for years. So, forget what the economists are recommending this is my own little version of savings. Angel taking a flip……

And this is the mega zip. You put on a harness, attach it to the cable, say a quick prayer, and zip down the mountain. This is a fabulous ride ladies – you actually have to weigh enough to do it. No skinny minnies here.

The whole way down I am thinking “I cannot believe I just strapped myself to a cable this high off the ground and trust that I am going to land safely. And I took my child with me.” When I landed, I thought, “that was really fun!”

You can also rent segues.

The trick is to lean forward enough – but not too far. Here is what I learned about riding segues – you really don’t want anyone taking your picture from the back.

And there is a suspended obstacle course. Yeah sure, sign me up. You can choose to obstacle one, two, or three stories up. First floor for me and Angel. Hubby, Flower, and Bear – all the way to the top. The kids really enjoyed this. Hubby and I were very glad to have survived it.

Why does it look so high up you ask? Because it is.

And there is the night safari. Some people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this. We could have skipped it and gone to the regular zoo instead. It’s at night and so it’s dark – I know, continue to be amazed by my deductive reasoning abilities. But it is hard to see the animals and many of them are still sleeping even though they are nocturnal. But seeing these guys dance around with fire was pretty full of awesomeness.

And the animal show was cute enough.

Especially when they wrapped this big-arse snake around my husband’s neck.

And forget a chicken in every pot. I am running for President and promising a 7-11 on every corner! Slurpees and all. Singapore 7-11’s even have a mashed potato fountain machine. They tasted a lot like KFC mashed potatoes which made Bear and Hubby very happy!

Subscribe telephone or Internet is easy now especially with competition between operators, advertising and the desire to communicate or to relax. But cancel this subscription can sometimes resemble an obstacle course.
Before you cancel your subscription, please have your first initial contract. In most cases it is evergreen. You can not terminate until the anniversary date. These subscription contracts are 12 or 24 months according to operators. Always opt for the letter with acknowledgment of receipt respecting the notice period, often 1 month. For subscription contracts of indefinite duration, termination may occur when you want but use the same process with the letter recommended. Note that for a fixed term contract, termination can occur at any time provided they provide a legitimate reason such as losing your job or move.

The notice period can vary from telephone operators or providers of Internet access (ISP). Respecting this deadline otherwise your contract will be renewed for the same period originally scheduled departure of the contract.

Providers provide Internet access fees in the event of termination of your contract. If you have a modem, be sure to restore it again by registered mail with return receipt to the supplier does not charge you. In principle, the supplier must provide you with a delivery note that you must attach to your modem.

When you are sure you have made all that belongs to the supplier, check your account and make sure that samples are not carried over to your bank account. If you opted for direct debit, which is often the case, ask your bank to justify its annulment of course your termination.

Finally remember that these tips are valid for subscriptions to satellite television channels such as Canal +, TPS or CanalSatellite!

Subscribe telephone or Internet is easy now especially with competition between operators, advertising and the desire to communicate or to relax. But cancel this subscription can sometimes resemble an obstacle course.
Before you cancel your subscription, please have your first initial contract. In most cases it is evergreen. You can not terminate until the anniversary date. These subscription contracts are 12 or 24 months according to operators. Always opt for the letter with acknowledgment of receipt respecting the notice period, often 1 month. For subscription contracts of indefinite duration, termination may occur when you want but use the same process with the letter recommended. Note that for a fixed term contract, termination can occur at any time provided they provide a legitimate reason such as losing your job or move.

The notice period can vary from telephone operators or providers of Internet access (ISP). Respecting this deadline otherwise your contract will be renewed for the same period originally scheduled departure of the contract.

Providers provide Internet access fees in the event of termination of your contract. If you have a modem, be sure to restore it again by registered mail with return receipt to the supplier does not charge you. In principle, the supplier must provide you with a delivery note that you must attach to your modem.

When you are sure you have made all that belongs to the supplier, check your account and make sure that samples are not carried over to your bank account. If you opted for direct debit, which is often the case, ask your bank to justify its annulment of course your termination.

Finally remember that these tips are valid for subscriptions to satellite television channels such as Canal +, TPS or CanalSatellite!

Subscribe telephone or Internet is easy now especially with competition between operators, advertising and the desire to communicate or to relax. But cancel this subscription can sometimes resemble an obstacle course.
Before you cancel your subscription, please have your first initial contract. In most cases it is evergreen. You can not terminate until the anniversary date. These subscription contracts are 12 or 24 months according to operators. Always opt for the letter with acknowledgment of receipt respecting the notice period, often 1 month. For subscription contracts of indefinite duration, termination may occur when you want but use the same process with the letter recommended. Note that for a fixed term contract, termination can occur at any time provided they provide a legitimate reason such as losing your job or move.

The notice period can vary from telephone operators or providers of Internet access (ISP). Respecting this deadline otherwise your contract will be renewed for the same period originally scheduled departure of the contract.

Providers provide Internet access fees in the event of termination of your contract. If you have a modem, be sure to restore it again by registered mail with return receipt to the supplier does not charge you. In principle, the supplier must provide you with a delivery note that you must attach to your modem.

When you are sure you have made all that belongs to the supplier, check your account and make sure that samples are not carried over to your bank account. If you opted for direct debit, which is often the case, ask your bank to justify its annulment of course your termination.

Finally remember that these tips are valid for subscriptions to satellite television channels such as Canal +, TPS or CanalSatellite!

Ever had one of those days or weeks or months or even years where you just wish you could ask for a do-over? Where you could say – scratch that…didn’t mean it…let me try that again. Yeah, I’m having one of those weeks.  No make that  months.  Actually let’s make that years… Lots of things I wish I could “do-over” from this year.   Of course, in the real world that isn’t an option.  There is no “CTRL-Z” function.  No undo button.  But that’s what life is about.  Making mistakes so we can learn and grow.  We make mistakes…accept the consequences…learn from them and move forward.  Unfortunately, looking back doesn’t help.  If you’re looking back you may trip over the future.  So, I’ve got my eyes focused forward.  I’ve learned from my mistakes…suffered the consequences (harsh as they are – and they have been extremely HARSH)…and I’m ready to move forward.  No, I can’t undo any of the mistakes from this year…can’t quite achieve a do-over for any of it…except the last week.

So, I’m calling for a do-over on this week.  Okay, I can’t really get back the time I lost this week while I was suffering with allergies/sinus issues.  That is true…but I can restart my marathon training next week.  No harm, no foul.  That is doable.  I so wanted to get up and go run this morning.  But even after taking a short nap yesterday evening and going to bed at 9:30 p.m. (which is unheard of for me) I still couldn’t get up this morning.  In fact, I woke up late and didn’t even  get to work on time.  But I think I may feel better…finally.  And since I’ve only been able to run/workout one day this week I think it’s unreasonable to expect a 7-mile run tomorrow.  So, I’m calling for a do-over.  Does that mean I’m not going to go run tomorrow?  NO.  I’m hoping to feel up to a 4-5 mile run tomorrow.  And then on Monday…restart (or I guess I should say start) my marathon training.

Other than run 4-5 miles in the morning, my plans for the weekend are pretty simple.  Around lunchtime I’m going to head over to Columbia.  My friend D and 3 of his friends are participating as a team in the USMC Mud Run tomorrow.  I did it last year and even though I got invited by two teams this year (including D’s) I declined both offers.  Maybe next year…but this year I’m focusing on my running and an obstacle course is just not on my to-do list.  But I am going to go meet them for lunch and cheer them on at the race.  Of course, it’s going to be rainy…but I guess I can take an umbrella or sit in the car after they get started.  Just hope that being out in the wet doesn’t cause my sore throat to revisit.  That would be bad… I’ll play it safe if I have to but I do plan to go and cheer them on. 

They want to go out to dinner tomorrow night – the Vista, Five Points or the Greek Festival are the options they’re tossing around. We’ll see about that.  I think they’re in for a rude awakening but maybe they will fare better than I did.  Last year when I finished I didn’t have a single spot on my body that wasn’t bruised, scraped, cut…etc.  And I still swear that my left leg had a hairline fracture.  I don’t care what the x-rays said.  So, I don’t know about dinner.  I will definitely play that by ear and see how we’re all feeling when the time comes.  I may just take it easy tomorrow night.  Besides, I’ve got to find some time to go grocery shopping.  I have prepared my shopping list so I can kick-start the 13-week GI Diet plan on Monday.  And boy is it a doozie.  But I expected it would be since I have to stock the “basics” as well as the items for the first two weeks of meals.   And this diet is requiring some amount of overhaul to my pantry…and my cupboards are fairly bare too so I’m pretty much starting from scratch. 

I definitely need to go grocery shopping though so I can do some preliminary cooking on Sunday and the shopping may just have to be done on Saturday evening.  Since I don’t know how many hours I may be working at the grocery store next week (will find out tonight I guess) I definitely want to prepare some of the meals ahead of time so I can pack them and take them or at least make the evenings easier next week.  I would like to at least  prepare breakfast and lunch for Monday through Friday and maybe one or two of the dinners….depending on the number of hours I’ll be working.  If the meals are already prepared and ready to go that will make it easier to eat the right foods instead of cutting corners and eating out.  And then I can make better use of any free time in the evenings. 

Since I’m starting a second job next week, I’m going to have to make a focused effort to get in the bed earlier (when I’m off) and get up in the mornings for my workouts.  If I’m working in the evening, that won’t leave time for “make-up” workouts.  So, now the rubber will hit the road on how motivated and dedicated I am to my goals.  It is truly crunch time…I hope I don’t disappoint myself (or any of you… ).  I know there will be some hard days but I hope that I can find the drive, the desire to push through them.  I know that I will be better for it in the long run.  I think I can do it as long as I don’t get caught up listening to that voice in my head and keep my eyes focused on the future…on the ultimate goal.

I’ve lost too much already this year from listening to that voice in my head…from giving in to my fears instead of facing them..I don’t want to lose anything else.  I won’t lose anything else.  I definitely need to stand up to that voice…find the power switch and turn it off – or better yet unplug it.  But I know that will take time…and time is all that I have so let’s get started.  Hope you are looking forward to the weekend.  And don’t forget that tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day…  Sounds like fun to me so I’ll be talking like a pirate.  Hope you do too!!  (And here’s a website to help you if you need to brush up on your pirate speak:  http://www.yarr.org.uk/talk/)  Until next time - Aaarrgh me hearties, yo ho, heave to, A-pirating we go, And if we’re parted by a shot, We’re sure to meet below!

If you follow us on twitter, you may already be aware that in the past week we’ve had a company sports day!

Us folks at jelly teamed up with our colleagues at Three Blind Mice, and threw in some friends and artists, and trotted down to Regent’s Park for some booze, nibbles and school-like sports.

Michaela & Chris organised the 9-game event, including sack-racing, egg & spoon racing, an obstacle course and a 100m mince-off!

In the end, the green team – made up of our director, Andy and our in-house artist Nick – won the event with the most wins and double points on mince-ability!

All the best pictures can be found on Michaela’s blog page here.

Want to get to know Dublin better? Why not enter the City Chase, part race, part obstacle course, part scavenger hunt?

The World’s Largest Urban Adventure Series

The Dublin City Chase is a unique urban adventure that requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city. ChasePoints are designed to test teams with a variety of physical, mental, and otherwise adventurous challenges.

To conquer this 4-6 hour urban event, 2-person teams will run, walk and use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet, and even employing assistance of total strangers. The first team to complete the required ChasePoints and cross the finish line WINS!!!

Last year saw contestants eating tripe, performing before a panel of judges in the National Concert Hall and zorbing (riding down a hill inside a giant globe) in St. Anne’s Park. The winners compete in the world finals in Argentina.

It takes place on Saturday 19th September. To register and for more information, log on to the City Chase Website. €75 if you register before 31st August, €85 after.

Beyond H20 at FEMSPORT

FemSport a BIG SUCCESS

The categories vary each year for FEMSPORT and include such challenges as Biceps Curls, Kettlebell Lift, Box Jumps , Obstacle Course, Tire Pull and Tug-of-War.

Beyond H20 was thrilled to be one of the sponsors for such a spectacular event. The athletes and FemSport staff got to drink our water during the day. “Your water is so good!”, said event coordinator Nancy Lockington.

Each year FEMSPORT provides a competitive but fun environment and is constantly improving this event to accommodate athletes of all types. In 2005 they introduced their first year as a “drug tested” event. This ensures a fair and level playing field for all competitors and brings an excellent reputation to all who participate.

Their goal is to provide an event which the public can enjoy along with their athletes by presenting FEMSPORT at an easily accessible venue in the Vancouver area. Their venue locations help to enhance awareness of the natural fitness industry and their local charity, “Patty’s Ladybug Cancer Fund”, to the general public in a fun and refreshing environment.

In 2007 they participated in a documentary for Global Television which profiled one of their talented athletes, Carole Paterson, preparing for and competing in their February 2007 event. They continue to expand their audience both locally and abroad from this opportunity.

Since FEMSPORT is an open viewing event (FREE admission) there is a generous flow of participating spectators. Athletes are eager to share their accomplishments to a grand audience of fellow competitors, family, friends and their community.

This is a very exciting event, and they can never say thank you enough for those agreeing to participate. Everyone has a great time and one of the greater goals is that other young women (and men, too) will be inspired to get into healthy, athletic training, because there’s everything beautiful about muscle and strength.

Thank you many times over from all of us here at Beyond H2O for the opportunity to be a sponsor for such a special event as FEMSPORT.

See you at the NEXT show!

I will start my posts about play ideas and suggestions with play ideas I collected from various pages for 2 year-olds. These ideas usually don’t require a lot of preparation or can be done together with your child. I’ve tried most of these myself and they’re great.

The Big Paper Man

For this idea you need some big piece of paper. Ask your child to lie flat on it so that you can draw around her. And then dress the little man. Ask your child what clothes we should put on. And maybe you have some old fabric pieces left over to be used here.

Dress-Up

Pretend play is always a lot of fun, and most people have got some old clothes to spear for their children to wear and dress up: Scarfs, old shoues, hats, shirts and dresses – the more colourful the better. Or maybe you have some old costumes left over.

Where does this go

Use your latest IKEA catalogue and cut out some furniture and som rooms and then let your child sort various furniture into the rooms, it’s prepared quite quickly and it will last you for a long time.

Obstacle Course

Build an obstacle course in the living room, use cushions, chairs, blankets – anything.

Hide and Seek

Play hide and find objects or play hide and seek and let your child hide.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Especially good on the swing. Point to body parts and say their name when your child swings towards you, and encourage her to repeat.

This is a recap of my most popular ideas for general play. I’m probably going to go on typing more notes about play ideas for 15 month-olds and  3 year-olds.

See also my other posts in the category Being a Nanny maybe you find some more interesting ideas. Also feel free to comment on the article and leave your opinion.

Photos are property of the U.S. Army PAO and Kristin Sherrard.

Obstacle course. If you are in my way, I’ll write my own path.

Reach Out to Horse’s Anna Twinney coaches the Maui Clinic Participants to be more effective and proficient in their training, communication and partnership with their horses.

Thanks for the great videography Mark Gehrke.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Just another run of the mill competition based reality show, The Superstars pairs pro athletes with celebrities from different areas (models, dancers, singes, etc.) Each week, the couples compete in two challenges (three in this week’s episode). The top teams are safe and the lowest teams are sent to the obstacle course for an elimination challenge. The oddest thing is that there is always a tie break between the middle ranked teams to determine which team will be in the elimination challenge, regardless of whether or not the two teams are tied. (Also odd is that should there be a technical tie, the team that scored more in the second challenge is ranked higher which could be the difference between being a top tier team and a middle tier team.)

The challenges vary from canoeing to swimming to jet skiing to rock climbing to archery…The only sport that they did that directly involved the sport of one of the professional athletes was basketball (and surprisingly, it didn’t help Lisa Leslie much). Some of the challenges, such as bowling, level the playing field as professional athlete or not, you might not be a good bowler. Others, like the bike race or the run, rely heavily on the fitness of the participants, giving some players advantages over others.

The teams are (in the final order):

1) Kristi Leskinen, a freestyle skier, and Maksim “Maks” Chmerkovisky, from Dancing with the Stars-Kristi and Maks have been dominating the competition with first or second place wins in essentially every event. They easily win the show, finishing with the fastest time of any team in the obstacle course.

2) Bode Miller, ski racer, and Paige Hemmis, from Extreme Makeover- Bode and Paige are the scheming, competitive type and their strategy has taken them to the finals (though, this is part luck since in one episode they decided to save their strength in the first event only to discover that the second event was bowling–other times their strategy really is what did it).

3) Lisa Leslie, three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner, and David Charvet, a singer/actor- Lisa and David have been in the elimination round virtually every week and yet somehow they are still in the competition. Watching Leslie, you would be surprised to know that she is a pro athlete, much less a basketball player, because she has been clumsy and uncoordinated through most of the show (I think this is in part to her impossible long limbs, making a lot of the events and apparatuses awkward for her).

4) Brandi Chastain, soccer player, and Julio Iglesias Junior, singer- Julio is surprisingly fast and blazed through much of the competition. Brandi (my favorite because I love watching the women’s soccer team) sustained an injury that finally caught up with her.

5) Jeff Kent, baseball player, and Ali Landry, model- Jeff and Ali were also eliminated and brought back because of a withdrawal but they were eliminated that episode. They were a very supportive couple.

6) Terrell Owens, football player, and Joanna Krupa, model-Terrell Owens and Joanna Krupa were originally eliminated in the first week (they did not get along at all, mainly because Joanna went crazy because she expected more of him–chill, it’s just a competition) but were brought back due to another team withdrawing. They got along better the second time around. (Due to T.O.’s prior commitments, they had to withdraw anyway.)

7) Robery Horry, basketball, and Estella Warren, model and synchronized swimmer

Dan Cortese, actor (originally paired with Leslie but withdrew due to injury)

9) Jennifer Capriati, tennis player (originally paired with Charvet but withdrew due to injury)

In all honesty, there isn’t much to this show. A lot of the competitions make them all look silly and only a few are big enough names that you really care about them being on the show at all. There’s no real host to the show, just a guy who tells them the competition rules, a girl who interviews them, and an announcer we only hear in voiceover. I like it simply because of it’s category (reality tv competition) and because in the summer there isn’t that much else to watch.

Alameda School Obstacle course.

Post time to comments

There’s a Asiatic TV pretending titled Sasuke in which contestants run an intricate and stimulating check series, with spooky jetting commentary. It’s English Gladiators without the opponents. And with ninjas instead of WWF rejects and ex-bodybuilders.

Perception this pretending reminded me of the pencil-and-paper check courses I utilised to doodle in school, with pits of spikes and unsoured jumps ‘n hokum.

I necessity to expose active artful an check series in this article.

Prototypal, resolve the skills necessary to consummate. Use a speckless industrialist to hooking your own plan for an check series. Add labels and use a key to pretending what benevolent of skills or fitness gift be tried. The pursuing specifications must be included:

• There must be at littlest one climbing expression.
• There must be at littlest one crawling expression. (tunnel)
• You must use a break. (upright or field)
• You must use ropes.
• A globe must be carried by the players for at littlest 10 metres.
• Set a levelheaded second decrease.
• Explain your safety measures.

Secondment, move to bulid inflatable check series. You must alert that check series should see or pass the most stringent tests in the industry, and get attack retardation stuff. Industry check courses are improved with a 3 ft bed depth gift a unsounded ribs to improve jump and present emphasize gift check courses enlarged permanence. And fuck tending to dryer, rain contact, hook pegs, groundsheet. Handicap courses urinate by above measures can know a 3 twelvemonth warranty lendable.

That’s all, delight mention below if any questions about inflatable obstacle courses.

There’s a Altaic TV evince called Sasuke in which contestants run an intricate and hard balk pedagogy, with warm functional commentary. It’s Denizen Gladiators without the opponents. And with ninjas instead of WWF rejects and ex-bodybuilders.

Perception this evince reminded me of the pencil-and-paper balk courses I victimised to doodle in building, with pits of spikes and pleasing jumps ‘n hokum.

I requirement to communicate near designing an balk pedagogy in this article.

Prototypal, learn the skills needed to concluded. Use a decent attendant to mark your own figure for an balk pedagogy. Add labels and use a key to evince what sympathetic of skills or suitability present be reliable. The people specifications staleness be included:

• There staleness be at smallest one rising expression.
• There staleness be at smallest one crawling expression. (hollow)
• You staleness use a separate. (perpendicular or plane)
• You staleness use ropes.
• A masque staleness be carried by the players for at smallest 10 metres.
• Set a levelheaded case decrease.
• Explain your safety measures.

Agreement, turn to bulid inflatable balk pedagogy. You staleness sensitive that balk pedagogy should fit or overstep the most stringent tests in the industry, and get discharge retardant stuff. Industry balk courses are improved with a 3 ft bed depth sharing a sound ribs to alter jump and distribute difficulty sharing balk courses hyperbolic permanence. And withdraw tending to fan, fall habilitate, linchpin pegs, groundsheet. Deterrent courses modify by above measures can score a 3 gathering warranty obtainable.

That’s all, please remark below if any questions about inflatable obstacle courses.

Trust me people, this is definitely not as easy as it looks!  I was that guy sitting at home on the couch yelling at the TV because the people can’t seem to make those easy jumps.  But now I know if you don’t step just right (and many times even if you step just right) you will be bending in ways you didn’t think contortionists are flexible!  Now that you have had a chance to watch the show, I wanted to tell you what all you missed out on that didn’t make the show!  For those of you that haven’t seen the episode yet (shameless plug for ABC) just got to here and click on Free Episodes to see it.  Hopefully I am not breaking any rules by telling you this stuff, but here goes!

So the time rolls around for our episode to be filmed.  We all have to be at the site at 7 AM, which many of you smart people already know is super early.  I was a little excited about it so I got there at about 6:40.  Only problem was I had to drive almost two hours to get there, so I was already feeling the tiredness trying to set in.  Oh and of course I forgot my breakfast that morning so I had to stop and eat gas station food (never a good idea really).  After arriving we are all hurried into a trailer so that no one could see the course and have an unfair advantage.  So after several hours of hanging out, eating some food, and hearing the rules we all had our interviews with Jill Wagner and then proceeded to wait around some more.  Then it was finally time to start.  So they brought us all out of the trailer and lined us up next to the start of the Qualifier.  Here they went over all the rules again with us and gave us a very vague description of what to do.  Then back into the trailer for the first contestant to start.  Well after a good while of sitting around and no contestants leaving we found out that the obstacle they had planned for us had broken during testing and they were having to replace it with something different.  Great.  So then lunch time arrived and we ate food.  After lunch they finally had everything ready, we had another brief and vague explanation of what to do, and back into the trailers we went and the first contestant started!

They kept us all in the trailer so that no one had an unfair advantage of seeing several people run the course and getting to think through and plan things out.  I think they also did it because it really tests your nerves when you see people come back to the trailer looking like death just worked them over and barely let them live!  We even had a few people taken over to the ambulance to be looked at before returning to the group.  We were randomly selected to make our runs and I was 19th.  This was more of a curse I think because more people had the chance to get the course muddier and wetter and my body had more time to think it should be sleeping!  Finally my time came!  I had been fitted for ankle braces and a wet suit (because the water was freakin’ ice and it was a rather chilly day) and it was off to the top of the Qualifier.  After screaming random blabbings, it was time to get set and make my Wipeout debut!

Up first (after the random run that isn’t an obstacle but people fall on) was the Spiked Fenders.  These basically are barrels that spin, bounce and have spikes on them that you have to run across.  There are two sets of three broken up by a platform in the middle.  Here I go!  One fender!  Two fenders!  Down!  I fell into the mud.  Fortunately I went in rather straight and didn’t get covered in mud.  Climbed up to the middle platform and took off for the second set.  One fender.  Two.  Face plant into the third!  Doh!  Now I am covered completely in mud.  It is all over me.  It is in my mouth.  It is in my eyes.  It is in between my contacts and my eyes.  Not good.  I rub away all that I can with my muddy hands and move on.  This was the wipe out that was in both commercials briefly and then was showed from the middle platform on in the actual episode.

Next up was the Punching Wall.  Here you have to scale the wall while being punched all over the body with punching gloves.  Ok, this isn’t too bad I thought.  I held my body further away from the wall so the gloves wouldn’t connect too solidly.  One punch in the chest.  No big deal.  Moving on.  One punch in the crotchal region.  Ouch, but still ok.  Second punch in the crotchestral area and I’m down in the mud again!  Bummer.  Now I have to fight my way out of this mud pit and back on to solid ground.

Up the muddy, wet, and slick ramp to the top of the Big Balls.  I have been looking forward to this!  I really wanted to make it!  They have a guy that works for Wipeout that can make it across the Big Balls every time.  The other day they twittered about him making it all the way across with his coffee in his hand and not spilling!  This has to be doable!  It’s on!  After a short second to grab a new breath, I heard the Motivator start to move so I took off!  My plan was to place one foot on each Big Ball and move on to the next.  This plan worked amazing!…well at least for the first two Big Balls.  Then it all caught up with me and I was flailing about in mid air!  Then suddenly I had a quality face plant into the third Big Ball.  Now time to swim to the ladder and climb.  My body is starting to feel the strength draining out as I am climbing the ladder.

At the top of the ladder are the Trampoline Hurt-les.  These are padded hurdles that “randomly”go up and down with trampoline stretched across the top.  They are definitely aptly named!  They for sure hurt.  As you are trying to crawl across the top of these hurt-les they are tossing you up in the air and then you come down onto trampoline which bounces you right back up in the air.  I crawled my way about halfway across these hurt-les until I was tossed up in the air by the hurt-le and came down quickly only to be toss back up in the air immediately so I didn’t have time to brace myself or adjust my position at all.  I could tell this wasn’t going to continue forward and it was a matter of seconds before I wiped out so I opted to take the controlled wipe out and move on.  This was quite a fall though with the Trampoline Hurt-les being higher up than the Big Balls.  Now to swim over to the even taller ladder and onto the last obstacle.

The final obstacle was a Zip Line Swing Set.  As I was climbing the ladder to the top of the Zip Line, I can feel that there is zero energy and strength left in me, but I was determined.  There is no giving up.  I pulled the Zip Line back and took off.  As I let go to land on the swing I braced myself expecting to have misjudged the swing or the landing…or something.  Turns out it really wasn’t as hard as it looked and my judgment was great.  I gathered myself and my strength for one final jump onto the Finishing Platform.  Ok.  Wait til the swing goes as far forward as it can…and… JUMP!  I did.  But, there was nothing pushing the swing other than my weight and the swing quickly left from below my feet and my jump was cut short.  That’s not good.  I continued to land on the platform squarely with my stomach!  My whole upper half of my body made it!  Only problem was my whole lower have didn’t and I slammed into the side of the platform creating a body jerking wipeout that was in the second commercial and in the show AND got a Super Slo-Mo instant replay!  Now to swim out of the water and making it the Finishing Circle.

As I arrived at the Circle, Jill came over to ask me a few questions.  I did everything I could to stand up straight and answer her questions, but my body hurt so bad and I was so exhausted all I could think about was how bad I needed to pee.  I’m pretty sure that’s what I told her too.  Now it was time to head back to the trailer, shower off and change as we prepared to find out our times and who would make it on to the second round, the Sweeper.  After 10 minutes of scrubbing off mud, I finally got my muddy clothes, the braces and my wetsuit off only to have them tell me to immediately put the stuff back on for round two!  Ahh!  I’m exhausted!  I don’t know that I want to be in round two!  But I forced all my energy to put my clothes back on and get ready double time for round two, only to find out that I was the first alternate for the round considering I finished in 13th of 24 and needed to be in the top 12.  Ouch.  Not only that, but I finished the course faster than two people that finished ahead of me in the list!  Somehow I gained time penalties that pushed me back behind them.  I ended up in 13th place by less than 7 seconds!  You have got to be kidding me.

After hoping and praying someone wouldn’t make it to round two so I could move on and then watching round two happen it was time to head home.  That was one of the longest drives of my life!  I was soooooo tired and had so much mud in my eyes that I could barely keep them open.  Finally I made it home and crashed.  I couldn’t go any farther that day.  I hurt for at least 3 days following.  If you had asked me in those first few days if I would go back to Wipeout and do it again, would I?  I would have easily and quickly said no way.  That was the hardest most physically taxing thing I have ever done!  It only took me 4:30 to complete the course but I wipeout six times on five obstacles.  I felt like I was tied up with American Gladiators on either side of me beating me with the Jousting sticks!  After a few days and the swelling in my eyes had gone down if you asked me if I would do Wipeout again I would have promptly said yes.

No I didn’t win $50,000.  No I didn’t make it to the end.  No, I didn’t at least make it to the second round, but I did complete the course I got to run.  I didn’t give up.  Several people did.  And I did get the chance to compete in a nationally televised game show that I love to watch!  Now I just have to figure out how to get on the show again and how to convince them to just let me play on the obstacle courses for fun!  Thank you to all of you who actually made sure you watched the show, or DVRed it, or just at least acted interested in it!  I had an absolute blast and I am so glad I did it!

Stay tuned for pictures coming soon on my blog as I milk this Wipeout thing for all it’s worth!

Can you keep up? On the obstacle course that is. We return to the infamous correction camp in Madera that sits adjacent to the Madera Juvenile Hall and a Level 2 prison.

Each time we come to this place, it is always a surreal feeling. The camp is known for being the last stop before Juvenile Hall. This time we heard of stories of kids that were repeaters multiple times. They thrive on the structure that they don’t get in their own homes when they return to them.

Here is one story that is sure to break your hearts:

One kid who had been a repeat offender was released from the juvenile camp and started getting back into the same lifestyle as before except he started getting tattoos, hanging out with gang members, and was involved in an altercation that led to an attempted murder charge. The kid begged the court to send him to the correction camp; however, this time the court sent him to prison for 15 years.

Most of the young men we encountered come from broken homes with no father figure in them. God wants to fill that void in their lives, if they will just let him in.

Please lift these young men & women up in your devotions today – God wants to heal their broken hearts & create in them a clean heart.

Want a great workout? Head for your local playground. Or look around for obstacle courses. You can often find them at schools and parks. Of course, they aren’t always called “obstacle courses.” Sometimes they are just called fitness courses or exercise stations.

Yesterday me and my workout buddies did our Personalized Obstacle Course workout  right across the street from the Santa Barbara Zoo. We moved through all of the equipment and structures, doing something on each one (not necessarily the activity the developer had in mind though), then ran a loop around the big grass area. I just can’t scream and yell, cheer and shout the praises of this kind of workout enough.

It gives you a great full-body workout. We worked our arms, shoulders, legs, and core in just about every way imagineable. We put our body through what I like to call  real-life movements. We ran, we jumped, we climbed, we squatted, we pulled and pushed. We made our bodies really work.

After about 25 minutes of this, I really started to feel it. It got harder to get through the course and the running took more effort. It’s at this point that I had to remind myself . . . this is when it really matters. When you first start, it’s all easy. Then the body gets tired, the muscles start to fatigue, the mind looks for ways out of this torture. And it’s then . . . when it’s tough . .  . that it matters the most. This is where the real work is done – not when it’s easy. This is where strenght is built (physically and mentally). This is where fitness is grown. This is where the heart, lunges really get to work. This is where endurance and stamina are gained.  This is where fat is shredded, calories are burned, and body improvement happens. This is where superheroes are born.

Don’t ever quit early just because something’s hard. Don’t look for ways to cut corners and make it easy on yourself. Push harder and find out what you’re really capable of. Soon you’ll find yourself stronger, fitter, able to do more, and continue for longer.