Abscess – Page 12 – F3 Knoxville

Giving in Thanks

November 26, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Beautiful and sunny day, temps in low 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, Gobble Trot around the parking lot, 7 Baby Arm Circles forward and backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles forward and backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey on trail toward Mt. Everest but stop halfway for 20 American Hammers.

Continue mosey to base of Mt. Everest. We will do 10 Tempo Merkins and 10 Tempo Squats. We will then run to top of Everest. At top we will do 30 Baby Crunches, 20 Hello Dollies and 10 Shoulder Taps.

Mosey to Shaded Parking Lot across street from Northern Ball Park Entrance Parking Lot. We will do 20 Flutter Kicks.

Mosey to Caribbean Parking Lot. We will run a U shape around parking lot stopping at every 3 islands to do exercises. Those getting to end of U first will sweep men back. Here are the exercises:

20 Smurf Jacks
10 Hand Release Merkins
20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)

Mosey go grassy area by first ballpark off of Northern Ball Fields entrance. We will play a game of 10 second huddle football (no more than a ten second huddle between plays). The game will be touch with one blitz allowed per four down and only mid field being a first down mark.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
29 men/boys with one FNG, 5-year-old Jack, son of Lunch Money. Jack now has the F3 name of Turkey Gobbler!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I had the opportunity to look at some quotes from Presidents that each made on Thanksgiving Day. I was struck by how many, in giving gratitude for the way our nation has prospered, also gave attention to the need to give to others, particularly the less fortunate. I will quote from two of those presidents:

Calvin Coolidge 1925:

“As we have grown and prospered in material things, so also should we progress in moral and spiritual things. We are a God-fearing people who should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed. We should bow in gratitude to God for His many favors.”

Ronald Reagan 1981:

“In this spirit, Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive. This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks.”

To give to others is an American call and certainly a call for F3. I am proud of F3 for the principal we attempt to follow of giving to the community and those in need. I have been struck by the way are N’antans, currently Judge Judy and formerly Abscess and Cap’n Crunch have made that a mission of F3 Knoxville. Let us keep the spirit of giving in our hearts as we give thanks for our blessings.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto, for Ribbed’s wife as she goes through surgery for removal of tumor by spine on Dec 14, for Curveball and his wife as they head to Florida on Saturday for surgery she will have there early next week, for the wonderful woman that F3 helped clean shelves in her garage last week, and for the lonely and isolated in our country on this Thanksgiving Day.

Don’t Look Back

November 21, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Sunny, temps in low 40s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Y 20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Cherry Pickers , 32 Grady Corns, Left Leaner (Liberal), Right Leaner (Conservative), Little of This and That.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Coliseum. We will do 20 American Hammers and 10 Tempo Merkins. Mosey to parking lot below Coliseum. Each man gets a partner for Doras. While partner runs up stairs and to driveway coming back to parking lot the other partner does exercises. Here are the exercises that each two-man team completes:

100 Squat Jumps
100 Iron Mikes (both feet = 1)
100 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
100 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
200 Baby Crunches

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg. There will be cones planted along the roadway. Men will stop at each cone to do exercise listed.

Cone 1: 10 Hand Release Merkins. Sprint to Cone 2.
Cone 2: Ten Burpees. Bernie to Cone 3.
Cone 3: 20 Big Boy Sit-Ups. Bear Crawl to Cone 4.
Cone 4: Run to front of Admin Bldg to do 25 Calf Raises at Steps. Then run back to Cone 5 which is on roadway at other end of parking lot.
Cone 5: Hop to Cone 6.
Cone 6: Run down stairs by bat cave, head left to grove and run up top of summit to come back to this cone. Then Bernie to Cone 7.
Cone 7: 20 Dive Bombers. Butt Kick to Cone 8.
Cone 8: 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct.) Sprint to Stop Sign. Alternate between Big Boys and Merkins until rest of PAX arrives.

Mosey to Haslam Boulder. 30 Second Gander at River Area below.

Mosey to Parking Lot with CMUs.

Each man grabs CMU. We will do the following exercises then run to Pavilion to do 15 Picnic Table Pull-ups between each exercise:

20 Overhead Presses
20 Bell Ringers
20 Curls
20 Rows
Note: We just happened to team up and play a little game called “Encore” while in the midst of the CMU exercises. Losers had to do some Burpees.

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

Philippians 3:13: Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. . .

From Lyrics to “Don’t Look Back” by Boston:

Don’t look back
A new day is breakin’
It’s been too long since I felt this way
I don’t mind where I get taken
The road is callin’
Today is the day.

A patient of mine told me of a quote he heard that he wanted to apply to his own life. The quote is, “There is a good reason why the front window of a car is bigger than the rear view mirror.” I love that quote. If we spend too much time looking at the rear view mirror what happens? We crash. We are injured. We are not dealing with what lies ahead.

I see another patient who is frankly stuck in the past. It keeps him from moving on in the present. He made a decision to leave a job he hated, retire early, leave the expensive city he lived in up north, and move to the mountains of East Tennessee. His life has not been what he had dreamed about when he made the decision. He has struggled financially and doesn’t have as many friends here as he would hope to have. He now regrets the decision he made to quit the job he had and move here. He keeps thinking of how much more money he would have if he had stayed with the job. Trouble is, he was miserable at that job and treated unfairly in it. He had good reasons for making the decision he did. And, he could make his life better here. He has opportunities to meet new people, meet friends. He could get a part-time job to bring in a little extra income besides his retirement income. But he lives in regret, looking at the past through that rearview mirror.

Even if we do make mistakes in life, we cannot go back and fix it. We can only learn from our mistakes and move on. That is the key to finding what we need. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) He means that if we keep looking back we will miss out on God’s heavenly blessings, on the opportunity He gives us to live in Him.

Gents, don’t look back. We all make mistakes. Put your hand to the plow and move forward, trusting in God to be with you along the way.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers that racism would end in our country, our melting pot; for the victims of Covid-19 around the world; of praise for Lily’s wife, Jan, being cancer free; for Abscess’ sister who will be getting a biopsy to see if she does have breast cancer; and for Ribbed’s wife who has surgery near the cervical area of her spine to remove a tumor.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bring coats for the collection we are gathering for charity. Come on out to Panera this morning for the book signing by a fellow named Robertson Dickens (aka Crawdad).

Mercy Now

November 19, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Clear evening, temps in 50s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey on dragon tail and up past Haslam Boulder to street nearby. We will stop to do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey on trail toward Lyons Bend and stop as it intersects with other trail. We will do 20 Hello Dollies and 20 Merkins.

Mosey west on trail and then south on trail to foot of Summit. We will do 20 Flutter Kicks and 10 Hand Release Merkins.

Mosey to grassy area by Utilities Bldg. We will do 20 Bicycle Kicks and 15 Shoulder Taps.

Mosey to Lane that Semi-Circles by soccer fields. We will do 20 Box Cutters and 20 Carolina Drydocks.

Mosey on Semi-Circle Lane to Southern Ball Field Parking Lot. We will bear crawl 10 parking lane lengths, lunge 10 lengths and Bernie the remainder. We will do the same thing going back to where we started.

Mosey to curbside by street leading back to A0. We will do 20 Curbside Bench Dips.

Mosey to AO area. We will do 10 Hand Release Merkins, then Bernie halfway up mini cardiac and run rest of the way up. Run back down to AO.

MARY:
At AO we will finish with Ring of Fire doing merkins.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18 men including one FNG, Crawdad’s 11-year-old son, Asher, whom we dubbed Speed Flash.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Hebrews 4:16: Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I was listening to Spotify and heard a song with words that made me think of Corona Weight’s brother who is currently in prison. Corona Weight has asked for prayers for his brother a number of times at our Asylum PM BOM. Corona Weight obviously loves his brother and prays not only for his brother’s health, but his salvation.

The song I was listening to is called Mercy Now and is sung and written by Mary Gauthier (pronounced GOH-shay). Here are the lines that made me think of Corona Weight and his brother:

My brother could use a little mercy now
He’s a stranger to freedom, he’s shackled to his fear and his doubt
The pain that he lives in it’s almost more than living will allow
I love my brother, he could use some mercy now.

This “brother” in the song may not even be in prison but is a stranger to freedom. And, from what Corona Weight has told us about his brother, that he loves so much, even out of prison he will be “shackled” unless he can turn his life around. His brother needs mercy.

Yet, as I listened more to Gauthier’s song, I realized that she was talking about more people than her brother (and her father, whom she described in the first lines of the song). Our country and even our churches need God’s mercy:

My church and my country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit it’s going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down
I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now.

The true Christian knows that Gauthier is right. We realize that we, too, are sinners who wear our sin as much as anyone else. And, we trust in God’s mercy to save us. For the fact is that we all, no matter how rich or poor, no matter where we live, no matter what church we attend or people we associate with, need mercy.

Some of the last lines of Gauthier’s song read that every living thing could use some mercy now:

Only the hand of grace can end the race towards another mushroom cloud…
I know we don’t deserve it but we need it anyhow
We hang in the balance dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground

And every single one of us could use some mercy now.

Lord, have mercy on every single one of us. We can use it and we need it now.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Corona Weight’s brother, Jared.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bring coats by next Tuesday for charity drive.

Hey, Let’s Move Swimmies’ Car!

November 11, 2020 Pele

THE SCENE: Unusually Warm, upper 70s, partly sunny but getting dark earlier and earlier…
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Check
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 SSH, 4-ct IC, 10 Cherry Pickers, 4-ct, IC, Twist stretches…

Then Jinxy told us Swimmies (who we thought was just typically late) was actually stuck on the entrance road with a blown clutch. So… forget the rest of the warmup… MOSEY RUN TO THE RESCUE!

Followed Swimmies to his car, which was on the entrance road from Lyons View, dead in the water, smelling very unpleasantly of fried clutch. It was HIM’s to the rescue! Pushed it up to a pull off area, then proceeded with warmup.

10 Hillbillies, 4-ct, IC, Little of this and that.

THA-THANG:

[Q crumples up his Weinke and starts just making stuff up, since the original workout was supposed to be on the opposite side of the park from where we moved the car… Crawdad appears out of nowhere. So does Brick.]

Moseyed to terraced hill on side of Everest. Start at the bottom, do 5 reps of three exercises , then run up to first terrace and return, do 10 reps of each exercise and run up second terrace and return, then do 15 reps of each exercise and go all the way to the treeline. EXERCISES: Merkins, Squats, American Hammers (2-ct)

MOSEY to perimeter trail and over to edge of park that looks out at the Veterans Cemetery. Pause, take a moment to pay respects to the Veterans buried at the cemetery.

NICKEL/DIME/QUARTERS along perimeter trail to top of the Tail of the Dragon. Run 1 light post, do 5x exercise, run 2 light posts do 10x exercise, run 5 light posts do 25x exercise.

[Can’t remember the first exercise… something awesome]
CDDs
Mountain Climbers (2-ct)

MOSEY to the hill along the Tail of the Dragon that leads up to the monument. Do 7’s Top: Prisoner Get Ups, Bottom: Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees. These were brutal.

MOSEY to AO. DORAS. Partner 1 works on exercise, Partner 2 runs about 2/3 up Baby Cardiac. Exercises are 100 Merkins and 100 BBS. Final Sprint up Baby Cardiac with everyone.

MARY:
Hamstring stretches, 20 American Hammers, 4-ct, IC

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 strong. No FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Veteran’s Day is tomorrow, and it’s had me thinking about those who have served our country, the men and women that have been a part of the armed forces, as well as their families. We took a moment earlier to pause and remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. What does sacrifice entail?

One of the defining traits of human beings is altruism. Altruism is the practice of doing things that benefit others even at the cost of your own happiness, welfare, or (to use a biological term) “fitness”. It is unusual in the Animal Kingdom because of the principle of “Survival of the Fittest”… if an action benefits someone else rather than you, you might be the one eaten by a cheetah on the Serengeti, or fail to make sweet love with that attractive she-moose over there, or die of thirst in a desert with a limited number of watering holes

What force is it that allows men and women to sacrifice their comfort, families, even their lives in service to others? To me, it is the gift of Grace from God.

St Francis of Assisi articulated this when he said “Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.”

But there’s more to it than that. Even though we have the ABILITY to sacrifice and be altruistic doesn’t necessarily mean we will USE that gift. What inspires us to use it?

Bob Hope, who entertained troops overseas for decades, once said, “I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate, and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny.”

And as Ernest Hemmingway said in a FAREWELL TO ARMS, “When you love, you wish to do things for that which you love. You wish to sacrifice. You wish to serve.”

Another saying about veterans is that they don’t fight for what’s in front of them, they fight for what’s behind them. We are fortunate to live in a country that is free from tyranny, where military service is voluntary, where autocrats and dictators do not hold sway over our democracy. The veterans that paid the ultimate price didn’t fight for themselves, they fought for what they loved. America the Beautiful. The Land of the Free.

The veterans who have served and died for this country overcame self, and is so doing, in my opinion, became one with the Grace of God.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for several PAX and their relatives.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Moving Refrigerators

November 5, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Beautiful evening, temps in low 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Mountain Climbers, 32 Grady Corns, 10 Windmills, Little of This and That.

THA-THANG:

Mosey to “the Caribbean” parking lot. We will journey a candy cane route around the parking lot (starting up south side of parking lot then rounding to go about half-way down north side of parking lot) but stopping at each cone planted along the way. The cones will be spaces at about every other island in the parking lot. Once the final cone is reached we will sweep back to the beginning of the candy cane. We will run the candy cane 6 times, journeying by the following methods and doing the following exercises. We will always run back once the cane is finished.

Sprint and do 10 Merkins at each cone.
Bernie and do 10 Big Boy Sit-ups at each cone
Grapevine left and do 10 Star Jumps at each cone
Grapevine right and do 10 Smurf Jacks at each cone
High knees and do 10 Hello Dollies (4 ct) at each cone.
Butt kick and do 10 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1) at each cone.

Mosey to start of Serpentine Sidewalk. We will do 14s along sidewalk by bear crawling for one light and running for four lights until we reach the perimeter trail. Then we will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to start of Cardiac. We will run up Cardiac stopping at each of the following to do the listed exercises:

First Curve: 20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
Second Curve: 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
Third Curve: 20 Decline Merkins
Benches: 20 Bench Dips

Mosey to AO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

One of my good friends in my doctorate program in psychology was a guy named Jim Dupree. He was about ten years older than me and had already practiced as a therapist but with a master’s degree and was going back to school to get his doctorate. He sweat like a pig on those hot days in Texas and smoked cigarettes like a bandit, but he was wise, honest, and an excellent friend and counselor. I remember him and me working on painting a room in his house one time and him saying, “You know John, talk is good but if you really want to get close to a guy you need to do something like move a refrigerator across town with him.”

You know, I think he’s right. We brothers are close. Our talks at board meetings are part of the reason but I think a bigger reason is that we work hard and sweat together to accomplish something good. I have also enjoyed “moving fridges” type moments with some of you guys that drew us closer. Recently, I enjoyed working with Sparkler, Abscess, Pele, Steam and Curveball to both put up and break down obstacles at Hardship Hill. I acquired a bit of poison ivy in the process but it was definitely worth it. I remember a big group of us, including Mr. Jinxy, Hooker, Doubtfire, Pele, and Abscess, sawing and pruning branches in Pinto’s backyard and enjoying the reward of his swimming pool and some brewskis thereafter. There is something about working together, sweating together, that brings us close. We face the same challenge and it unites us. Gents, I enjoy our fellowship and appreciate your willingness to help each other through the grind.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Rooney’s coworker who is currently on ventilator after contracting Covid 19; for Pinto who is recovering from stem cell transplant; for Jared, brother of Corona Weight, who is in prison but had to go to hospital after accidentally cutting off top of finger – may he recover and find God to help him change his life; and, for our country, that we may be united and at peace no matter who ends up winning the presidential election.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Knoxville 5th Anniversary and Convergence this Saturday