Success Starts Here!

Over the last six months I have really been focusing on my health and fitness. Call it the mid-life crisis or me making a last-ditch effort to hold onto my youth. I don't know. I chose a random day to begin back in June I guess and just chose to do good for myself and have not looked back. So I arrive at this new year invigorated and for the first time in a long time genuinely happy with where I am physically inside and out. I've got a long way to go to reach my personal goals, but I am on my way. So when I saw the following post the other day, it made me laugh so hard. In particular of course and of importance to me this year is I will be fighting with "Resolutioners" on January 2nd to get on the machines or weights I want at my gym. Having said that, we all know how this goes, by late January, the herd will have thinned considerably and by mid February, it will all be back to normal. Those of us who have always gone will be the only ones still going. Over the

This week's Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy struck pain, despair, and deep sadness in a significant majority of us here in America, and many people around the world. The senseless acts of violence of a seemingly deranged man seem impossible for our brains to comprehend, or for our hearts to understand. So here we are, just days from what is supposed to be the most festive day of the year in the most festive time of the year and some of us are lost. How can we allow ourselves to feel joy after such a tragedy? How can we enjoy the holidays knowing those children's and faculty members' families cannot? Are we evil or bad people if we "go on?" As many of you may know, I am in the military and have been for a really long time. Over the last 11 years I, along with many of my brothers and sisters in arms, have regularly been at the emotional breaking point over the loss of friends, colleagues, even family members who have sacrificed their lives for our country. After eac

I met an older gentleman named Earl a few years back. We were both waiting on connecting flights in Atlanta and he seemed like a nice enough fellow to strike up a conversation with. Although I wasn't traveling in uniform, he quickly pegged me as a service-member (we sorta stick out like sore thumbs at airports even out of uniform). He asked what service I was in and I told him the Army. He asked me what I did and a series of other questions, the kinds of questions only one soldier asks another. The kind of things that the average person doesn't know about. The daily minutia, habits, and routines many of us in uniform share. Knowing he was probably a Vietnam or Korea era veteran, I asked him about his service. He was humble about it. What he did share were names of buddies from long ago. Stories of getting into trouble and laughing with his friends, of the ole Sarge whipping them into shape, and how cold it was on those hills just outside of Seoul. He talked about his sweethea

As this month began, I noticed friends posting they were going to use each day to post something on their Facebook pages that they were thankful for. I heard about this "movement" in years past, but I was either under the influence or not paying much attention cause I don't remember the number of people choosing to participate in this large of numbers. It has been a long time since I truly enjoyed and felt inspired by the wallposts I woke up to every morning. The last few months my Facebook wall has been a bloody scene of former friends speaking in spiteful and hateful tones towards each other about one political issue or another. Thus, the last few days have been a true joy. You know, I mention this to friends and they always think it is an impossible thing to do; but many years ago, I made a decision. I "chose" to be happy. I grew up a very angry person. I blamed lots of people for my lot in life. I was "forced" to church by my mother and sat the

About a week ago I found out I would be flying west quite early on business on the 6th of November. Thus, I voted absentee yesterday. It was a great experience as it has always been. I was there along with other military members, first-responders, and other citizens who for a myriad of reasons wouldn't be available to vote on the 6th; all there doing our civic duty, and exercising this great privilege of voting. After returning I was pretty excited and found a photo of a voter with a blue stain on his/her finger from having voted in what I presume is a middle-eastern election, since that is where the blue-finger stain is most popular. I posted it on my Facebook page using it as the symbol for my comment about voting. Some people "got it" while others didn't. To me, it was a symbol of how amazing our country is and how sad I get when I see the partisan divisions which rear their ugly heads in our society every few years. For me, voting was as simple as going to a din

I heard this today and it really resonated with me. I usually write my own thoughts, but heck sometimes someone far more intelligent and wise (that's pretty easy to find, someone more intelligent and wise than me) writes or says something far better than I ever could, so I decided to share. I must admit, I have been to Someday Isle many times in my lifetime. It is never fun to stand on it's beaches and see one's dreams just on the edge of the horizon. Still visible, but beyond reach as long as I stay on the island. This quote below won't fit everyone. People have different goals I guess. But I suspect more people than not have been on this island that motivational speaker Brian Tracy discusses, and as comfortable as it is to be there, I bet most of us vacationers would prefer to be chasing our dreams. Enjoy. "Everybody wants to achieve great goals. They want to be happy, healthy, thin, rich, attractive, financially independent. We all want the same things. But w

Son, it's your papa. I'm writing to you because there are a few things I wanted to share before you start school tomorrow. First, this year is really important to your future. So important that I am going to have to resort to all kinds of things you'd rather I not to help you succeed. I'm going to get in your business. I'm going to ask "who" that was. I'm going to want to check your homework even though you said you finished it in 2 minutes after getting home or you finished it at school during lunch. I'm going to raise my voice to you and give you a piece of my mind, and chances are you'll be grounded a time or two during the next nine months. All things that in a 15 year-old's mind sound like a total pain in the backside. You might even equate it to me disliking you. Yet that couldn't be further from the truth. You see son, I love you more than the air I breath. I love you so much, I'm going to force myself to be your father inst

So there I was, caught red-handed. I had a greyish Fred Flintstone and purple Dino the Dinosaur vitamins in my hand when my son Nathan walked in the room. Of course he went and told on me and I was "reminded" that I am not a kid anymore and that I needed to take "adult" vitamins. Well fooey! This is America and if I want to take Flintstones vitamins I have a Constitutional right to do so. Don't I? Well ok ok, you know me, always finding "meaning" in things that probably have no meaning. In all honesty, we all laughed about it and I took the vitamins anyway before anyone could take them out of my hand. But it got me thinking about how quick our kids grow up. I have some great friends whose kids have already left home. I've got friends from back in High School who have college student children and/or are grandparents already. My cousin Carmen's kids aren't just college age, her oldest is a successful entrepreneur succeeding at a job he lov

There are very few things I get nervous writing about. Politics and religion are at the forefront. I rarely even comment about it on my Facebook page unless it is a funny or disarming jab at both sides. I have very strong feelings about both topics and LORD knows I have friends who let their feelings be known on Facebook. In all honesty, I find that refreshing in many ways. I love when people take a stand for what they believe in. I just really dislike when their stand is so dug in that their opinion cannot and will not be swayed by anything or anyone. Thus my hesitance to usually speak about those two taboo topics. People lose any sense of objectivity or common sense when it comes to those, so please give me the benefit of the doubt during this blog as I am not espousing religion. I "Believe." Like most Hispanics I was born Catholic. I grew up with those beliefs, did my fair share of questioning as a teen and young adult, and found myself becoming what I call a hybrid Cath

You thought I was going to say wallet like the commercial didn't you? Hello friends, I'm finally back in the states after a LONG year away from family and friends and while I made some amazing friends in Korea I am truly thankful to be home. Thus, the two blog posts in one week. Woohoo!!! I'm flooding the internet obviously. Hey, here's just a quickie because I just experienced it and I bet every single one of you has at one point or another. Isn't music awesome? Whether you're into Bach, Led Zeppelin, or the Jonas Brothers, I say have at it! In this world of craziness where we are always so busy looking for inspiration, we sometimes forget about that radio dial in our car or living room (maybe even office). I can't imagine a single person reading this who doesn't remember the impact some song, or some music style made on them growing up. I mean my God, I was a music junkie as a teenager. I found songs to match every mood I was in. Remember those days

This morning, many of my friends were posting notes on Facebook about their children heading out on their first day of school. In the United States, children return to school at different times depending on what region of the country they live in. Today was one of the main dates for the start of school. It prompted the memory of Whitney Houston's song Greatest Love of All. You know, the whole "I believe the children are our future." As a young boy, I loved the first day of school. It held such promise. I still felt I could be whoever I wanted to be. I could dress however I chose to dress. I could surely get straight A's. Of course the truth is, I probably acted pretty much the same as the prior year, dressed similar to my friends, and straight A's? That hope faded with my first homework assignment. Yet, the first day of school is a day of hope and one of the few days of the year when we and our kids probably agree on something. It is a day when we as parents ima

You know, things ain't easy these days. The world moves a million miles a second, we're all so busy, everything is a priority until nothing is a priority. We are moving at the fastest speed we have ever done so in the history of the human race. We are overwhelmed at work and at home. Sometimes it's all we can do to just keep our heads above water, to survive. Yet, for those of us who have people around us that love us, there is a certain strength which emanates from them. It is part of our human connection. As long as you feel like you've got people on your side, people who understand you, people who care, everything else is tolerable. Yet the reality is not everyone "feels" that lucky and sometimes honestly isn't. Feeling lonely, abandoned, and pushed away leads some to thoughts of suicide. Over one million people die by suicide each year around the world. Around 20 million attempt it. It is the leading cause of death among teenagers and adults 35 and u

The news from Aurora has horrified us this week. When men do things like this, we are often left asking ourselves "why?" Tragedies like this remind us all just how fragile life is and how we truly do not know the date and time we breath our last breath. I heard Anderson Cooper say that after every tragedy like this, the world remembers the name of the killer, but not the victims. He vowed to spend more time talking about the victims and I appreciate him for that. I'm not a fan of his necessarily, but I am appreciative he is taking that tactic and I hope he follows through with it. It always amazes me how when one of these tragedies happen, the local community rallies around the victims' families, and when it is a tragedy of this proportion the community of support grows all the way to the nation and beyond.   I only wish it didn't take tragedies to make us act so "human." Wouldn't it be great if we were good to each other on a day-to-day basis? I

Independence Day is here and while I know the overall holiday holds a similar meaning to all of us, I am of the belief Independence holds a unique meaning to each of us. For some, it was that first slumber party as a child. For some, the first day of college. Yet for others it is a day which holds a collective feeling. Ultimately though, in my opinion, Independence means one thing, freedom.  For every American Service-member, military retiree, and veteran, Independence day is the holiday which embodies everything we fight and sacrifice for. We are reminded of our friends who lost their lives or were injured, and our buddies to our left and right who kept us alive. We remember keeping each others' spirits up when the nights got cold and the memories of our loved ones overwhelmed us. On this day, all those types of memories will rush through many a mind of those who have worn an American military uniform. In our society, holidays aren't about the "purpose" behind them

Why is everyone so angry in America all the time? Have you noticed it? I know you have. If you haven't, it's probably because you're one of the angry people. I saw this guy freak out at McDonalds the other day because the kid behind the register short-changed him a nickel. A nickel! I mean really, does the guy think the 16 year old behind the counter has some master plan to steal nickels from customers? I see it on the roadways everywhere. Road rage isn't the exception anymore, it's the norm. It's like we've lost our damn minds! The craziest part is we don't even hide it anymore. We strangely revel in our anger and want the world to know we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore! I'm convinced I know what is propelling us to be so angry as a society; information overload. Just think about it; not too long ago, you read the paper in the morning and learned some good, some not so good news. You went to work, then came home, h

Yesterday morning I was having my first cup of coffee and going through the routine I've set for myself while on leave. I read the news, checked my Facebook, and lastly did the same with my Twitter account. I always leave the Twitter account for last because it moves so much faster than any other form of social media I use. Before I go on, and for those of you who may not know, I'd like to explain how someone's "Tweet" as they call them, ends up on your timeline (or wall as it would be called on FB). The first group of people is easy, those people you are following. The second group is not so easy. Complicated algorithms pair up people who are talking about certain subjects, follow certain people, have certain likes, until seemingly random strangers' messages show up on your timeline. The messages move a mile a minute so anything you're looking at is gone within seconds sometimes. More times than not, you ignore them. Yesterday was not one of those times.

I was looking across all the posts I've written over the last three years. I've written (or rambled) about a whole host of issues, mostly about the search for betterment in every conceivable area of our human existence. I've given advice on how to get a better job, how to make more money, how to quit destructive habits, how to lose weight etc etc. Yet there is one post that by far has the most viewers. I could literally not write for weeks or months and one of my posts gets looked at by at least someone on the internet every single day since I wrote it over a year ago. My post titled "How To Keep Her From Cheating." ( http://jvsport2006.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-keep-her-from-cheating.html My first notion when I noticed that was "damn, guys are terrified of losing their women out there in record numbers!" Yet, as I sat back and pondered for awhile, and after looking across the internet at similar posts written by female writers about how to keep thei

Last night I had the great pleasure of watching the 2011 Ironman World Championship triathlon from Hawaii. I've watched the documentary ESPN puts together since 2007 and it is absolutely amazing. The video doesn't just concentrate on the professional athletes at the front of the race, but spends more time telling the stories of the "everyman" if you will. The regular people for whom just finishing is the greatest win of their lives. In this particular special, they highlighted a woman who at her heaviest weighed 320lbs. When she crossed the finish line, forever to be known as an Ironman, she weighed 150. She wasn't some game show contestant on the Biggest Loser or any other show. She was just a regular woman who chose to change her life, and then did the most important thing, she "acted" upon it. She just put one foot in front of the other and started to move. In doing so, she lost an entire human being of weight and found the human being she had always

Boy I love me some barbecue. I love weekends dedicated to barbecue. Not only because of the food (which I love btw) but because there is something about cooking over an open fire that brings families and sometimes even communities together. I often wonder (because I do that way too much) whether the camaraderie felt around an open fire is somehow genetically linked to our ancestors. It probably is. As most foodies know, the kitchen is the heart of most homes. And when you take the cooking to the next level out onto the patio or back yard, well then, it just becomes the soul of the home. As you may know, I am all about getting the most out of each moment or at least trying. Thus, I encourage all my friends who enjoy my blog (or are kind enough to read it to humor me :) to take advantage of this weekend, and use that barbecue grill or pit to spend quality time with those who matter. Finally, I hope you won't forget the reason for the holiday. I plan to toast to our men and women

Youth. It's everywhere. Try driving down the road for 2 minutes and not seeing a billboard promising some form of youth for sale. America is obssessed with youth. How to enjoy it when you have it, how to hold on to it as we move past it, and how to have it, cut, sucked, botoxed, filled, and enhanced along the way. Growing old gracefully is something Americans just don't do anymore. For the most part, we fight time with every nickle, dime, and ounce of energy. I am currently serving in South Korea. Asia is "different" than back home. Their society is built on order, on status, and status is only earned as people age. Wisdom is revered here. Age is looked on as something to be respected. Having said that, and as much as I admire it, it is also a place where new ideas, creativity, and the ability to look outside the box just don't exist societally. They are great "copiers" of good ideas. They're great at making things faster, cheaper, and more efficien

Almost 50% of all marriages in America end in divorce; an even higher percentage if you consider how many end in permanent separations. Some whom for whatever their agendas are, have linked marriage solely to religious traditions, have decided for their own intellectual superiority that marriage is a waste. These days it is almost like people ridicule marriage as some archaic religious tradition which needs to go the way of the do do bird. If that is the case, then I guess I need to go the way of the do do bird too. I think marriage has been given a bad rap as humanity tries to endear itself to its modern "emotional" alertness. For hundreds if not thousands of years, marriage was really a civil need, to tide men and women together, for the greater group of the family unit, for the strengthening of the village most of us lived in. We had children, we stayed together, and believe me, I have no illusions we didn't always stay together for the sacred emotion of love, but we

Well somebody's the king of the obvious with that title right? Yes it is Tuesday, a relatively ordinary day. Just a regular work day as we approach spring weather. I think Tuesdays are sorta interesting. I usually put the brunt of the responsibility on how a week is going to go on Tuesday. I mean let's face it, Mondays usually exist to annoy most people, Wednesday is Hump day and the countdown to the weekend has begun, Thursday is that day you get junk done so you don't have to do anything on Friday, and Friday is, well, whose head is in the game at work on Fridays? Thus, the only "sane" day of the week, where the distractions are still too far off is Tuesday. When you use one to its utmost, you tend to have a productive week. When you don't, the week tends to be sort of blah. So, CEOs and Homemakers, Carpenter and Soldier, Retail Store employees and Fast Food chef, go out and make this one count! Do great things with this Tuesday and it will pay off for the

I found myself asking God to let the Patriots win today. Yes, I am a Patriots fan. Don't hate! I grew up in New England. Anyway, as I pondered what "collateral" I might barter with God to allow my team to win such as oh I don't know, I swear I'll never do this again or that again or I'll go to church more often, it hit me just how stupid what I was doing was. Needless to say those of you who don't believe in a higher power will think this whole post stupid regardless. For those of you though who are of the "believing" persuasion and who have woken up after a hard night of partying, barfing your innards out and begging God to get you through this one and you'll never drink again, you'll understand. Sometimes we are so silly with the things we ask the man upstairs for. Even my friends who don't believe would make the point that if this God is so powerful, why would he care about a football game? Very very true. I guess many of us h

This weekend I have been thinking, watching, and reading about the man whom this holiday weekend is celebrated for. There wasn't much new I didn't know already or hadn't heard at some point in my life. Yet it was good to remember just how far we have come from his I Have A Dream speech which he gave to more than 200,000 people from the steps of the Washington Monument in 1963. It was also sobering to think of how far we have yet to go. So many great spiritual and moral leaders, and just good-hearted people have tried over the thousands of years of our civilization to get us to put away our petty differences. So many have died at the hands of the violence they fought so mightily against. Yet today, all over the world, the powerful thrive while the weak suffer. Today as I write this a family in North Korea divides their last four grains of rice amongst themselves and boil a tin cup of water over a candle to cook those four grains. As I write, a Russian girl is lured to a go