Phase 2 Test and Group Project

We are halfway done with our test guys! Only two more before our test in October. I'm excited for the teamwork exercises that KJN said we are going to work on this time around and for the chance to work more with our 1st degree team. Everyone did great :) Last week the 2nd degree team figured out what we wanted to do for our group project, which I'm really excited to start. We have to get in contact with some of hospitals around here, to see if its okay if we come and hang and talk to patients, and possibly give a demonstration as well. Once we get the kinks worked out, everyone is welcomed to participate.

Phase 2 testing

Good job to everyone today!  The energy was really high and everyone brought great intensity.  It was exciting to see everyone step up.  We need to make sure we carry this intensity into the next phase.
During the next phase, I am going to focus on my control.  When we were doing the standing defense drill, I took my sister down too hard and she got the wind knocked out of her.  I need to be able to use good control even in intense situations.
On a side note... I can do a back tuck again!  I think the main thing for me was to just go for it.  I let it scare me, which was a bad choice.  I think that this can apply to the black belt test too.  If something looks too hard (numbers, knowledge base, acts of kindness, etc.), you just need to do it.  Don't worry about how hard it may be.  The hardest step is the first one, but if you can make that first step, you can do anything.

I can do it!!!!

                      Hey guys! I don't remember why, but I think I was doing pull-ups at school and I realized I could do them correctly!  This is a big accomplishment for me because I wasn't able to do them very well last year.  I improved from doing just 1 without falling, to at least 10 without falling.  I didn't get to see how much I could possibly do because I had to leave or something.  Luck for me, I have a little    pull-up bar equipment that can hang from a door.  I have no clue how I got better, because honestly, I never practiced doing pull-ups often, but I must have done something to improve my biceps, triceps, and the other things I need to do pull-ups.  I'm so happy!

Phase 2 Test

Good Luck to all, you will do great. Just remember to keep the tenacity and attitude up. Sorry I will not be there by your sides. We are not going to get a second chances this time. So we need to Bring It!

- CGN Bo

Phase Testing

Tomorrow is phase testing!  It is our second phase testing and we need to bring it.  Our first phase test wasn't the best we could do, so we had to do it twice.  Let's not do that again.  We need to give it our all tomorrow.  If you don't give 110%, you won't succeed.  These phase tests help us to make sure we are on track and know our curriculum for October, so we need to be ready.  Let's all show up with great attitudes and give it our all!

my friday training :D

hello once again team im going to be telling you just how my day oh friday training went all i did was study the first page of the mental stuff like attitude i think i hagve the whole front page down! well i cant wait until the test on monday i hope ill see you all then

I mentioned in a previous journal that one of my WOW's was going to be my senior capstone for school. Today we just got notified of which venue we are performing in and on what day we are scheduled. Knowing the date is making me so anxious cause I know that its just around the corner. This just means I can't slack off because its the final stages of preparation. A lot of things are happening in May and i just got to remember to not get overwhelmed by all these events and plan my time wisely.

hello again team i have realized that barely anyone blogs lets try to keep it up and keep doing those blogs and keep ur chill for the test thats right already?! yes second phase testing wow i mean man thats crazy we better be making sure that we have our energy level at like a million percent high always spiritualy and metaly with good character yeah i am blogging right now just to tell you guys to pick it up with the blogs those are also really important!


sincerly, clark.ahrendt

just my own project idea

hello forged testers again im back today very late at night just to say that i maybe might of found out my project im sort of thinking along the lines of a fire department helper thing ya know? it was just a idea or possibility yeah if you would like to leave a comment on what i could probably do feel free to do that thanks team and have a late night

sincerly,ahrendt

have a nice day!  :D

Hey all I am sorry I missed training with you last night! I was at a 65th birthday party for one of my clients at the Edwards Center. About a year ago I was living in Salem and got a phone call saying that she was in the hospital and they didn't think she was going to make it. I drove up and said goodbye to her then, but I am happy to say that a year later she is still here. She had a great turnout for her birthday party and seemed to really enjoy all of her visitors. As I was helping her eat her ice cream last night I was thinking about what I have learned from her. When I think of her I think of her smile and the excitement with which she says "oh boy!" She says it when she was happy or excited about something, and this is very often. She has always been a person that reminds me of how important it is to appreciate everything that I have, she would get so excited over having a "coca-cola" that you would have thought you had given her a million dollars. If we could all have the enthusiasm and appreciation for the little as well as the big things it would be much happier world.

A big thanks to Steven, Clark and Zoe who helped my program at work move this weekend! Your help was awesome and greatly appreciated. And thank you to CGN Bo and BKJN for offering to come help and checking in, I was extremely happy to report that we were done moving everything and in organization mode by the afternoon. Thanks to you guys and the other volunteers we finished by late Saturday afternoon and have had a successful start this week in our new location!

what forged is in real life

hello team whats the theme of the test this year FORGED SIR! that's right forged means to be turned from a copper brown into a shiny silver whenever you have a problem and it takes control of you your not doing so well your that brown rusty copper right now, but if you overcome the challenges and look to the brighter side of situations you can find the best out of everything and you'll always stay at that shiny silver!

sincerly, clark.ahrendt
forged team!                                                                                                                                                  also: one thing i do to keep shiny is taking my time and using it wisely and not to freak out in bad situitions

My Weekend Activities 04/23/12

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate 04/23/12
Just wanted everyone to know I had a lot of fun with everyone on Saturday morning My thanks to BSBN John L. for taking us through our paces.  I found the tennis courts the most challenging.
I just wanted to remind everyone the Blood Drive is coming up May 24, 2012 from 2pm to 7pm at Aim High.  If you are not able to donate, then you can contribute by helping escort folks etc.  Sign up sheets for volunteering and donating will be coming out this week.

I don't know about you guys but my schedule is starting to get a big hectic so I am required to make choices on what I work on now.  For example yesterday I focused on the Blood Drive and sacrificed an Eat Like a Black Belt entry.  But I did manage to find time to do 500 crunches, 200 push ups, and 200 rows this is just side work.

Looking forward to working with you guys this week.

CGN Bo when do we want to do the park clean up?

Steven Cason

moving sunny days and trainig that about sums it up!

HELLO once again team today was another awsome day i got a major act of kindness in it was a big one i helped package and mave all of the items at edwordscenter i think i might of spelled the name wrong but who cares uh i met jesseca there i found out that she was actually the boss of the company or store or agh  i forgot but boss of a buisness yeah i worked so hard on moving packages and runing from parking lot to parking lot OH wait that reminds me today we had saturday traning yyyaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!
we did tons of running and alot of stances and kicks formes etc.yeah i got home at about 6 hours later yeah thats along time! but it was worth it including the fact that todays sunny yyyyyyyyaaaayyyyyyyy!!!

well hope you all enjoyed reading this and i hope you enjoyed listening if someone read this to you which i dont know why?

BYE!, clark ahrendt

and a sincerly!

HELLO team today i had an awsome workout for 1 hour at home i did some of my review of walt disney, did pushups sit ups, rows, memorizing my sheet (knowledge requirements) yeah i also went over some of the curriculum so i had a super awsome day i hope all of you guys and gals did to check on you next time in my blog probably later this week!!!

BYE!

Productive day today. Worked out, did my chores and just finished my homework! The most helpful part was sitting with jonathan and dad scheduling how the next couple months go as far as spring cleaning and such. After we did that i planned and looked at my own calender as far as what i need to get accomplished. I personally like to plan out my day and it was nice to have the big picture in mind. The next couple months are really busy and i got to remember to keep a clear head.

Steven Cason After the first extended BB training

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate April 17, 2012.
Well spring weather is finally here!  I went out on my bicycle on Sunday and it looks like I will have to add a couple of miles to my ride.  I have reduced my total time for my 8 mile ride by 5 minutes since I started.  Time to bump it up to 10.  Sunday when I got home my pulse rate was 134 which is about perfect for aerobic training for a person my age and condition I think.  If you want to know how to calculate it the easiest formula follows:
220 - (your age) x .8 = upper heart rate limit
220 - (your age) x .6 = lower heart rate limit
my upper 220 - 58 * .8 = 130
my lower 220 - 58 * .6 = 98
The goal is to keep your heart rate between the lower and upper for the duration of your workout.  There are more sophisticated calculations for this but this easy formula will get you pretty close for most conditioning.
Because of the good training I get here at Aim High my personal goals for aeorobic conditioning are a low of 120 and a high of 150.  Anyways my heart hasn't exploded as yet so I am going to move ahead with these goals.
This is also a reminder to everyone our annual Blood Drive is coming up May 24th from 2pm to 7pm.  We will start advertising it next week.  More details to come later.
BKJN Dan as always I would like to thank you for our workout last night.  I am always thankful when someone as busy as you is willing to rearrange your busy schedule to help us all succeed.  This statement goes for all of the staff at Aim High.  I have not met anyone here over the last 4 years who will not work with me to help me out if I ask.  Key words here are "if I ask".
The crew was looking good last night lots of energy, lots of push ups, lots of kicks, no complaining it was great.
Steven Cason

MY SAD BUT ENCOURAGING LITTLE STORY

Hello team its me clark again, did you remember when bsbn daniel said that 4 people were gonna get cut from the test well i think or i dont that 1 of them was me. today im trying to catch up and i am currently trying to do my best at acheiving my black belt. last week i was distracted by video games which was not good.... but im making up for that everyday im training from now on. Do you hear that fellow bloggers from now on its gonna change this game is owned by some people are doing great better than me but i cant beat them i can only beat myself i know i can complete this test i know i can complete myself!

My teacher.

My teacher, Ms.Baldwin, has not been able to teach at my school ever since January.  The reason for this is because a disk by her spine is pinching one of her nerves, which she describes as "a constant pain in her back".  From that day to now, my class has had about 4 or 5 substitutes.  2 were long-term subs, and the rest were for just one day.  It really touched my heart when kids from other classes were concerned about her and wanted to know what happened.  Later that month, 2 kids in my class decided to do some research about what Ms.Baldwin's going through and turn it into a partner speech because apparently, she hadn't looked at the paper her doctor gave her about it.  We have weekly speeches, with about 8 kids each day of the school week.  Doing a partner speech is optional, but but time-saving.  Since our current sub and a few of my other classmates liked that idea, they decided to turn that into a whole-class project.  We researched 2 topics: Sciatic Nerve and Herniated Disk. Then, the teacher split us into research groups of 5.  Each group researches 1 topic.  The 2 who came up with the idea did both topics because they already researched both.  The week before we gave our "Ms.Baldwin speeches", our substitute announced that we would all give our speech to our real teacher on Skype on Thursday!  Everyone was really happy to know that they were going to give their speeches to Ms.Baldwin technically "in person".  On the days before the event, we practiced our speeches during the time when we would usually give our weekly speeches. On that day, none of us were shy, but we all felt strong and sounded strong.  I am happy to hear that Ms.Baldwin will be back tomorrow, even though the class had a great time with our 2 long-term subs (I don't even what the other 1 day substitutes were named!).



*Note* This was months ago, so I might be incorrect about somethings about this topic. If you want to learn more, look up Sciatic Nerve and Herniated Disk.

I need to work on my organization...

Hey everybody!  Remember my post when I talked about how I forgot my Wii Fit + password?  This time, I actually lost my favorite book sometime last year.  On Thursday, I was really bored and I was kind of half cleaning, half looking for something interesting, when I actually found my book!  It was shoved far back in a bookshelf between to cook books.  The part that just made me smack myself in the face was that my dad said he actually found it there a while back, AND he still knew it was there the day I found it.  He told me I that if he knew that I was looking for it he could have handed it to me.  That's why at school when we were making a list of personal  goals I wrote: Get organized!

Bring It !!

Last Wednesday night at BBT class we did sparing and it was crazy. We need to keep that intensity in all of your training.CGN Alex you did great! your combs were good. CGN Jenalyn  you had good focus just remember to keep circling and not root yourself.Great job calling rounds CGN Cyrus Hopefully you will be be able to spare next time. CGN Jonathan your moves where fast and precise. great job. Poem belts you guys and gals did good. Dont forget what BSBN John taught us. Bob and weave, combos hit and move. And just remember to Bring It!! 


- CGN Bo

This week!

I decided to post on blogger this time since I have been posting on the other one lately, not sure if people are reading both so here it goes. I am currently procrastinating a five mile run, will be heading out after this, but am lacking in motivation today. Sorry that I could not continue training with everyone Wednesday night, I am on emergency pager this week and got a call for work. I ended up spending the rest of the evening sitting in the emergency room, the client was okay, but that stuff is always a little stressful. I was representing AimHigh though in my sweatshirt and Gi pants :) Anyway, I hated having to leave the team, especially after the serious talk we all had with BKJN. Our testing team has already gotten smaller and I am having a hard time seeing some of our training partners not continue with Forged. The idea of our team getting smaller makes me sad. I have been reflecting on each of our personalities and what it brings to the table for the team. Each person contributes and affects the training team in their own way. So here we are pushing ourselves and working hard to continue with the Forged team let's do this!

So Jae came home a few days ago with a envelope full of "kindness cards" in them. They were made by a fellow third grade class in Sherwood. I was reading the envelope, and the goal of the cards were to pick one from the envelope and complete the act of kindness on the card. Once you did, they wanted you to write about that act of kindness and send it back to their school on postcards in the envelope. Once complete, you were suppose to leave the envelope somewhere else for another kid to pick up.
Its nice of all the innovative ways these kids from that class are reinforcing the idea of being kind to one another. I looked through some of the cards and some said 'make your mom a drink,' 'help a friend with hw', 'be nice to your siblings.' Though they were simple, kind deeds do go a long way.

STRESSED OUT

I have 2 big school assignments that are due next Monday that I got on Thursday, and I'm stressing out a lot about it.  1 requires online research, and the other is a long book of book-related topics from a book I was assigned to.  Both are nearly done, but this weekend is pretty busy for me with the Conditioning day and Easter tomorrow.  Wish me luck guys!

My Wii fit + password

Hey Forged!  According to my the Wii, the last time I played Wii fit + was in 768 days (it counts that kind of thing).   So, with pemission, I started playing Wii fit + on my mom's save file.  The reason for this is that I ran out of batteries for the Wii fit board, so I stopped playing for a while, but then decided to use my mom's save file.  And because I havn't been on MY save file, I forgot what my password was.  Last week, I was playing with one of those Spy Tech safes that require a 4-number password, and so when I tried to figure out my Wii fit + password 2 days ago, it was actually the same password!  So now that I know my password, I've been enjoying playing Wii fit + for the past few days.




*Note* I forgot to mention that I replaced the batteries.

bullying
so team today ima gonna talk about bullying so at school we were given a movie and a speech about bullying it was very sad and i just wanted to make sure that people on the team arent being bullied kids even adults just to let you know that even bullying can stop a person from reaching goals like reaching your black belt so i just wanted to share a little something on that well thats all have a nice day night evening whatever time your reading this LOL!

Group / environmental project idea

1 idea was to clean one of the local parks. Maybe Noble Woods? I was thinking on a Sat week do not have training at 7 in the morning.

-Bo

Thanks Steven !!

Thanks Steven for helping me review the 4 plus and block n disarms after Mondays class.

-Bo

hey guys our 2nd phase test is coming up lets do our best get all of our blogs journals pushups etc. done we can all do this it is just if you choose to do it or not its your choice oh by the way i picked my motivational quote it goes like this dont take a path that has already been made go were there is no path and leave a trail behind you well thats all for today team!