Roughneck94’s BodyBlog

My friend was laid to rest yesterday. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Dato=20080409&Kategori=VIDEO&amp
;Lopenr=304090109&Ref=AR

Services for Captain Robin Broxterman and Firefighter Brian Schira will be held this Wednesday. Visitation is Tuesday night and I will be taking my youngest with me. I know we are supposed to "protect" our kids, but there are certain realities in life and death is one of them. I’d rather she experience her first with someone she didn’t know than be slammed when it may be someone she does know.

Like the military and police, the fire service knows all too well how to put on a spectacular funeral complete with all of the pomp and circumstance, the parade of apparatus and sharp uniforms, the saluting, remembering and knowing all too well it could be any one of us at any time. DAMN I hate our funerals.

Please say a prayer for Captain Robin Broxterman, Firefighter Brian Schira, their families and all members of Colerain Twp. Fire Department. They lost their lives making initial entry into a house fire yesterday 4 April 2008 at approximately 0630 hours. http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=58995&sectionId=39

It’s done.

Unfortunately, my workouts have suffered tremendously this week. It is a scheduled off week from the weights, but the original plan was to hit the cardio and HIIT hard this week. Monday, great workout and after the HIIT (one arm clean and jerks followed by stepping) my legs felt it moderately.

Then Monday afternoon rolled around, and the mayor asked me to be interim fire Chief as the sh!t hit the fan. I agreed and it’s been nothing but meetings and phone calls ever since. Some of the meetings I expected to last 30 minutes or so (so I could get my workout in) last 3+ hours. A wonderful friend has slapped me with her gloves and we’re going to push each other to eat clean and drop the BF. That’s always my weak area, and I know she has her work cut out for her from 2500 miles away to keep me in line, but I have a feeling she’ll get the job done

Anyway, two more meetings this morning but I’ll get a workout in before I go to the other station for a great night’s sleep.

My lil girl Steff is so excited to be back at the gym. I used to dread having to spend 2.5 hours there twice a week, but seeing that smile on her face when she lands a back handspring and looks at me with her eyes beaming trying to hold back a bigger smile makes it all worth while and I just smile back at her.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, Luke

Sunday night I got a call from my oldest daughter that she had a compound fracture of her toe due to playing football with her uncles (on ex’s side). I was not a happy camper for a couple of reasons that don’t need to be mentioned, but also concerned because my daughters are heavily into gymnastics. Alli has been in gymnastics since she was 3 and has been competing for the last 5 years. Now I know what some are thinking "oh boy another father living his sports dreams through his daughter." That’s not how it is. My core belief about kids in sports is that they should ALL find a sport or sports they love and be active throughout their childhood. Take a look around at the schools next time and you’ll understand why I believe this is important. I’ve always told the girls they could pick their own sports, but they had to be in something physical. I’m also not one of those parents with the rose colored glasses on and think my daughter is the next gold medalist at the China Olympics. As long as the girls are having fun and working as physically hard as possible, they could be the worst on the team and I’m as proud of them as if they were the best. Alli was the best gymnast in her skill level in the state of Ohio two years ago, and has a boatload of talent. So there’s "Luke’s thoughts on childhood sports."

Well yesterday we went to an orthopedist and the x-ray showed her toe had been reduced correctly and has a hairline fracture along a growth plate. That’s actually the best place for the fracture because the bone cells generate the fastest there and she will be out of practicing for two weeks, but she can still go to the gym for strength and conditioning, which may be a blessing in disguise. She was hitting a roadblock on one new move this year on the beam, and it appears to me now to be as much a mental block for her as a physical one. Maybe the time off will help her gain strength she wouldn’t have if she just kept practicing and running into that wall over and over. hahaha

Anyway we are blessed, and I hope everyone has a beautiful day and a better week!

It happened one year ago today……….And today I’m going to stay busy training the new recruits and then we have the pancake supper tonight (I do the sausages in case anyone wondered). This will be the very LAST F***IN’ time I’m going to allow myself to feel badly about this nonsense…..I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday! Luke

What a great time. A friend I had met on another site had a wedding to attend and her boyfriend couldn’t go to I went as the fill-in. What a great time it was. It was in Chicago and I hadn’t been in quite a while, so that made it even better. It’s only a 4.5 hour trip all interstate from Cincinnati and I had to teach a fire class Saturday morning, so I made it a long weekend. The great thing about hanging out with someone from the city, you can skip all of the tourist attractions and get down to business to see the real city………..and we did, and it was fantastic. I’m sure she had better things to do than spend all day Sunday with me, but you know, she did. How cool is that? We laughed and had a great time the entire day and that was after a night of the wedding and staying out until 3am. My faith is being restored piece by piece……..Just a shame she doesn’t dig me more than a friendship………it was the first time I saw her other than pictures and WOW!!! She was more beautiful than I could ever imagine, her beauty was only outdone by her kindness and caring.

And, on another positive note, I was told by my littlest (7) that she wants to get back into gymnastics. She’s been doing gymnastics since she was 3 and is one skill level below competing. She’s a natural and works very hard at it and it broke my heart when she told me this summer that she didn’t want to do it anymore because the coaches were mean. I’m not the type to force my girls to do a particular sport although they know they have to do something physical…….but tonight, Steff starts back up and her practices are on days she’s with me, so that’s a good thing.

I hope everyone has a beautiful day!!! Smile at someone that’s not expecting it.

Feelin’ great this morning……amazing what a good night’s sleep during a thunderstorm can do. Steff and her friend woke up on the first crack of thunder around 12:30 this morning. Sooooooo, I got a big blanket out for them, a couple of pillows and we all had a "campout" in the TV room. Does life get any better??? And as an added bonus, they are both fired up to go to the gym with me today so they can have fun with "kids’ cardio." Thank you to everyone that helped put things from yesterday in perspective……..you all know who you are, and I’m very blessed. Have a beautiful weekend, Luke

I’m not feelin’ it today……..is it ok not to be so strong? is it ok to be sad? I HATE feeling this way…………..I HATE being in a bad mood………I HATE asking "why me" but today I am…….I know in 20 minutes there’s no choice because I’m picking up Steff, but the rest of the day, I’ve put myself in my own hell. It’s no one’s fault but my own and I know that, but I’m here none the less. I’m NOT looking for encouraging words, I’m NOT looking for someone to cheer me up at this point, I’m just venting.