Abacus – Page 12 – F3 Knoxville

The Extraordinary Salt of the Earth

July 25, 2022 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Cloudy, high 80s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 5 Burpees, 10 Mountain Climbers, 4 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 3 Burpees, 10 Twisties, 2 Burpees, 10 Rockettes, 1 Burpee, Stretching from Plank Position

THA-THANG:

Mosey toward stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg. Stop in shade for 20 Hello Dollies..

Mosey to small parking lot that is east of Utilities Bldg. We will do elevens, starting with 10 Squat Jumps near Utilities Bldg and 1 Merkin at other shaded end of parking lot.

Mosey toward Northshore Gate and then head north on perimeter trail. We will stop at shaded north side of Utilities Bldg to do 20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to bottom of MT. Everest. We run up Mt. Everest but stop at three different areas (first tree, second tree, and then grove right before last climb to summit) to do 25 Baby Crunches at each tree.

Run up the remainder of Mt. Everest and go back to the bat cave area. We will stop to get water. We will then do 20 Flutter Kicks.

Next, we will divide into groups of three. One man will be in shade near bat cave. The next man will be at shade of large tree near roadway northeast of the bat cave. While one partner runs from one location to the other, the other partners do exercises. When partner runs to the location, the next partner runs to the other. Here are the exercises at each location:

In shade near bat cave: Squats
In shade near tree: Squat Jumps

Rinse and repeat with Lunges at bat cave and Iron Mikes at tree.

Money to AO.

MARY:
Stretches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Proverbs 31:26

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

The news we watch on television is more often than not a reflection of the worst kinds of actions amongst humans: murder, mass shootings, war, political showboating, disparaging statements amongst politicians and world leaders, angry comments about how the other side is acting, fraud, deceit, and purposeful or negligent actions that lead to the harm or death of others. By reading or listening to the news, one would think that the world is full of terrible people. Fortunately, that is not the truth. There are plenty of good people out there doing things that we never hear about. These people aren’t famous. They aren’t boasting and saying, “hey everybody, look at what I have done!” They are just doing God’s will, being the salt of the earth.

Let me give you an example of a female patient in my psychology practice. I want to keep her name confidential so for the purpose of talking about her, I will just call her “Sally.” Sally isn’t a perfect person by any means. She has been seeing me because she needs help with anxiety. What does she worry about? Mostly, her kids. How many children does she have? She has two biological children that are fully grown adults. She also has 24 foster children that are primarily adults now. You read it correctly, 24!

Some people may claim that she and her husband have done it for the money. After all, the state does pay for families to provide foster care to children that are under the protection of the Department of Children’s Services or DCS. However, having got to know Sally, she isn’t in it for the money. Her husband has always had a full-time job. She has loved the kids she has fostered. It isn’t an easy job. DCS got involved with the kids because they came from families of neglect or emotional, physical or sexual abuse. Some of the kids had terrible behavioral and emotional issues because of the former environments they were raised in. Sally and her husband had to be loving but firm with them. Sally and her husband get close to these children. They adopted one of them who is now 14 years-old and a straight A student. They almost adopted three others but the boys were placed back in the care of their biological father before the adoption occurred. Those boys are now adults. Two are serving in the United States Armed Forces and the third is applying since he recently graduated from high school. All three keep in continual touch with Sally. In fact, most of her foster children do. None now live with her except the girl she adopted. At their ages, Sally and her husband have decided to no longer provide foster care. But they have plenty of “children” to keep up with – their former foster children and the children of those foster children still come to visit Sally and her husband. And when they do visit, Sally makes sure she has some fine cooking on the table for them.

Sally is a saint, but she isn’t some Renaissance Artist’s depiction of a saint. In her sessions with me, she is usually wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. A woman who likes to stay busy, she now works as a cashier at a convenience store. The work keeps her mind off her worries. And, she worries about all those kids she has raised. When you have been involved in raising 24 children that came to you through DCS, some of them are going to struggle when they are adults. She keeps in touch even with the ones who have difficulties, who get into trouble. And, her home is always open to them for a good meal and some loving words.

This is news that I wish we could hear more about on television or read about on our cell phones. I guess it isn’t “breaking news.” But it is good news and people like Sally are doing things like this all over our country. The Lord is working in wonderful ways through what some may call ordinary people. But when you get to know them, like I have got to know Sally, you find out that they are extraordinary.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Abacus’ mother who will need another surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Workday at Cerebral Palsy Center on August 6

St. Francis and the Birds

July 12, 2022 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Partly Cloudy Skies, about 92 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Squat Jumps, 5 Burpees, 10 Twisties, 10 Windmill, 10 Tempo Merkins, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign by the Northeastern Corner of the Admin. Bldg. We will stop under the shade of the large tree to do 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to the perimeter trail and take it as if going to the bottom of Mt. Everest. We will stop, however, in the shade by Lyon’s Bend to do 20 American Hammers.

Next, we will run up Roadshow Run, stopping to do Ten Calf Raises at each set of the three sets of stairs and 3 Burpees above each set of stairs on up to the top. At the top, we will do 20 Flutter Kicks and 25 Baby Crunches.

Mosey past the Space Needle to the steps at the Admin Bldg. There will be a water cooler and cups to stop for one minute to have cold water.

Mosey to the sidewalk that goes underneath the shade to the stop sign at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin Bldg. There will be 6 cones set up along the sidewalk and along the roadway that comes back to the Coliseum. We will run in a clockwise motion down the sidewalk and back up the road, stopping at each cone to do 10 Merkins.

Rinse and Repeat with 10 Big-Boy Sit-ups at each cone. Rinse and repeat with 5 Hand Release Merkins. Rinse and repeat with 10 Star Jumps.

Mosey back to steps of the Admin Bldg for another one minute drink of water.

Next, we will run in a counterclockwise circle around the loop stopping at each of the following locations to do the following exercises:

12 o’clock: 20 Bench Dips at the steps of the Admin Bldg.
9 o’clock: 20 Carolina Dry Docks
3 o’clock: 20 Box Cutters

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Boat Canoe.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

God, Nature, St. Francis and the Birds

St Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic Friar, deacon and mystic. He founded the Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. He was canonized patron saint of Italy by Pope Gregory IX. He is one of the most venerated religious figures in Christianity. He was known to be a man of grace and a great lover of God’s creation. He loved animals. Legend has it that birds would fly up to him and alight on his shoulder. On one journey he took with fellow monks, it was told that he stopped to preach to his sisters the birds. Legend has it the birds became still and silent while he preached.

An Irish Poet, Michael Longley, wrote the following poem about St. Francis which is a beautiful depiction of the patron saint marveling on God’s creation and speaking to birds. By the way, Michael Longley is not a Christian although he is obviously an admirer of St. Francis.

St. Francis to the Birds by Michael Longley

And, summing up, I think of when
With cloud and cloudburst you confer,
By God’s sheer genius lifted there,
Lighthearted starling, nervous wren.
It is perfection you rehearse –
God placed the limpet on a rock,
He dressed the primrose in its frock upside down with its leg showing
And closed the chestnut in its purse:
Creating one more precedent,
With no less forethought, no less care
He gave you feathers and the air
To migrate to his best intent.
To useful angles well aligned,
At proper heights compelled to tilt,
Across kind landscapes yearly spilt –
Birds, you are always on his mind.
Quick emblems of his long estate,
It’s good to have you overhead
Who understand when all is said,
When all is done, and it is late.
May my sermon, like your customs,
Reach suddenly beyond dispute –
Oh, birds entire and absolute,
Last birds above our broken homes.

Thank you God, for your creation. Thank you for the birds in the sky that sing to us each day. Help us to protect the blessings you have bestowed upon us.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Doubtfire who has an ailing back – prayers that he heals quickly; prayers for Dawg Paddle whose wife has told him that he wants to divorce him – prayers for her as well.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We will have a F3 Knoxville 2nd F gathering after our Asylum PM workout this Thursday. We will meet at Union Jacks.

15 Strong at Asylum

July 12, 2022 Sparkler

THE SCENE: Hot, humid and overcast
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH	IC – 21
Arm Circles up	IC 10
Arm circles dow	IC 10
Michael Phelps	a/r
Cherry Pickers	11
Mosey to bottom of stairs and around the cones and back up
Grady Corn	IC 20

THA-THANG:

Mosey to stop sign

11’s – Rocky Balboa – Squat – to cone

Pause

Mosey to wall

Peoples Chair against wall for 60 sec

Mosey to second wall

Peoples Chair against wall for 60 sec

Mosey to Admin Bldg

Get Partner

Heal dips – partner runs to tree on lawn, does 1 squat

Step up, partner does 5 squats

Bench dips , 15 squats

pause, rinse and repeat

LUnges, 1 squat

Freddy Mercury, 5 squats

Imperial Walker ,15 squats

Ring of Fire – 3 rounds

Mosey back to AO with cooler

Down Stairs

Bear crawl around cones, then run back up stairs

20 2 count american hammers

LBC – 30 IC

MARY:
no
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Following up on the 5 things that Steam mentioned on Tuesday, one of the 5 is habits with the T in habits = Time . The time factor is huge when you look at things you are doing. Simplifying your life will open up your available time and make room for high impact activities. Simplify

Personally, as an engineer I tend to over complicate things in order to make whatever I am doing the absolute best. Often times that the effort ends up taking longer and really wasn’t worth the extra effort. Look for the simple solutions that are good enough.

I recently was notified by Google that my storage was at the max, so I needed to buy more space or reduce storage. I had over 14,000 emails in my primary box. Over the years I had subscribed (intentionally and unintentionaly) to various companies and they kept sending me email some sent something once every few days or more. I don’t even open 99% of them and took me forever to reduce these and I realized why in the heck did I subscribe since I did not read any of them. I also don’t delete the uncritical ones after I read them, so I ended up where I am today- 14.5 Gb of emails because I didn’t file them and delete them correctly to begin with.

Facebook – I don’t post but I check it once a day. This is time that I can never get back

News feeds on my phone, 95% of what I read is pretty much worthless

TV- I watch the morning news while I have been doing my physical therapy exercises daily since Feb 10, pretty much every day. I can get the essentials in less that 10 minutes and can use the rest with better input.

Paying someone to do the tedious tasks. I change the oil and do most of the maintenance on my vehicles.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak (Hans Hofmann)

Point is, these things can suck your time and keep you from finding your higher level purpose, keep you away from those in your life that need your time and of course from doing Gods’ work. So take a close look at the things or habits that have made your life un necessarily complex and find a way to simplify.

MOLESKIN:
Pray for @Bluebird in his upcoming trip to Greece
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
August 6 – Work Day at Cerebral Palsy Center – need help!

FTWS

July 6, 2022 Steam

F3 Q: 7.5.22

Asylum PM

5:45-6:30

“FTWS” = Five Things With Steam

[ The Scene ]

90s
Hot
Steamy

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
A few things before we begin:
- I’m not a professional
- You’re here on your own belief
- You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you.
FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ]

SSH (10×4)
- Run down to the tree and back

Merkins (10×4)
- Run down to the tree and back

Lunges (10×4)
- Run down to the tree and back

Gas Pedals (10×4)
- Run down to the tree and back

Imperial Walkers (10×4)
- Run down to the tree and back

[ The Thang ]

— 5 Things, 5 Places —

(Mosey to the top of theColiseum)

[1] 5 Things, Part 1

Do one of the 5 things (one at a time) and then run up the space needle and back

Rinse and repeat until you complete all 5

5 reps, everything on a 4 count

Recover at the rope when done

(Mosey to the tree to the left (towards Haslam Rock)

[2] 5 Things, Part 2

Do one of the 5 things, (one at a time) then run to the wall and do another of the 5 things

Ping pong style

10 reps, everything on a 4 count

Recover at the tree when done

(Mosey to the corner of the road across from Haslam Rock)

[3] 5 Things, Part 3

Do one of the 5 things (one at a time), then run down to the large tree down there and do the same thing #2ForTuesday

Run back up to this tree and rinse and repeat with the next exercise of the 5 things

15 reps, everything on a 1 count

Recover at this tree

(Mosey back up to the top of the coliseum)

[4] 5 Things, Part 4

Do 10 reps of one the 5 things (one at a time), then run down to the stairs and do the other 10 reps

Run back up here and pick back up with the next exercise

20 reps total, all on a 1 count

Recover up here when you’re done

(Mosey to the AO)

[5] 5 Things, Part 5

Execute one of the 5 things at each cone

25 reps, all on a 1 count

When you finish the last cone, mosey back to the AO

[ Mary ]

SWS — Stretching With Steam

[ COT ]

# off — 15

Name o Rama

FNGs — 0

BOM — 5 Things, 15 Minutes, 5 Months

3 points

Last Tuesday I shared some of the things I’ve struggled with so far this year.

Today during the workout we did the same 5 things over and over, and just increased the intensity a little.

Here’s point #1 — pick 5 things you’ve done over and over so far this year, and re-evaluate.

Here’s Point #2 — These are 5 things that I am going to be focusing in on for the rest of the year and would like to invite you into as well. Maybe some of these will apply to you and maybe some won’t and that’s okay, you can modify as needed.

(1) Pray

Go there, faster

(2) Read a chapter a day

Doesn’t matter what it is

(3) Write down something you learned

Write it down, jot it down in your notes app or on your phone

(4) Intentional silence

This year’s been loud so far. Not in a negative way necessarily, but in a lot going on kind of way

(5) HABITs

Honesty (It requires honesty)
Availability (Are you available?)
Becoming (The Becoming process)
Intentional (Purposeful)
Time (Non-renewable resource)

Here’s Point #3 — 15 minutes is about 1% of your day

Out of the 5, what are your core 3 for the rest of the year, that you can dedicate 1% of your day to
Or choose your own (5 total —> 3 daily, 2 weekly)

Zone Improvement Plan

July 1, 2022 Curveball

THE SCENE:

Partly Cloudy	Temperature	Humidity	Feels like	Wind Speed	Wind Direction
Partly Cloudy	90 ℉	50%	95 ℉	4.7 mi/h	SSW

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
Delivered as desired. I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:

As PAX arrive give them each a golf ball and have them write an exercise on it (using Sharpie and be careful to let dry a bit).
25 SSHs, 10 Tie Fighters, 15 Grady Corns, 10 Rockettes.

THA-THANG:

Head down the stairs to flat area at bottom. Have each PAX put their golf ball into a cooler. Cooler is already half full with ice water, bottled water, and some golf balls that I have marked up before arriving.

Next to cooler: Clock Merkins – 5 Merkins at Noon, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.

Mosey to hillside north of park entrance road.
On the hill and in the shade,
10 Incline Merkins (Head up the the hill)
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 3 o’clock. Right arm down hillside.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Decline Merkins facing 6 o’clock.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 9 o’clock. Left arm down hillside.

Reverse path and do same 4 stations as you make your way back to the cooler.

At the cooler, a PAX reaches into cooler (cooling his wrists) and picks a golf ball. Another PAX rolls dice to see home many of the drawn exercises will be done. Between 15 and 30 count. Repeat with different PAX until time is called. Some rules I implemented. After 4 exercises, we ran a lap around wooded area (.2 miles up steep grade back to and down staircase to cooler). I also included some golf balls with the ‘Lap’ as the exercise. So, you could end up running sooner than expected. Only 10 burpees and man-makers.

Mosey back up stairs to Flag.
MARY:
American Hammers/Big Boy Situps. 20/5.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18 Brothers.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

MOLESKIN:
For the safety of all those traveling and staying home this coming week. For all the sick and suffering. For the unsaid prayers in our hearts.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Convergence July 2nd at JUCO