Randomness on a Tuesday...Why FPT Rocks, Southern Weather Craziness, and Poor Linkin Park

FPT Rocks!

Who doesn't love a rockin' gun show?

I have to say that I that I feel fortunate for where the direction of FPT is going right now. We have a ton of great athletes who are working hard and getting better every week. Our parents continually support our training methods and business, helping it to grow from month to month. FPT is also getting closer to reaching one of my personal goals for the business - setting the bar high for what performance training should be like in the Chattanooga area.  As Eric Cressey (my biggest professional influence) would say, I feel as though FPT is "doing things the right way and for the right reasons" and that is really cool and important to me. While Clarissa and I make a good living doing what we do, the environment that we have tried to create has given us the added benefit of seeing our athletes grow as individuals. It is pretty sweet feeling when a kid knocks out their first chin up or improves their vertical 2-3 inches, or tells how they did things out on the court or field they never imagined themselves doing. When it gets nuts in the dungeon (as it often does), these moments mean more than most can imagine to a busy strength coach. Believe me - we love it!   

I guess all of this hit me during the last few weeks because we have been on a consistently great run of training sessions at FPT. When you do this every day for your living, you become accustomed to an occasional bad training day - they just happen and you tend to remember them. The bad days tend to add depth to the minutiae of my life as a strength coach by providing much needed perspective. I tend to appreciate the good days more when I get slobber-knockered by a bad one once in awhile. The cool thing that I realized the other day is that I can't remember our last bad training day at FPT. Sure, we have had some pretty crazy days but they weren't necessarily bad days. Bad days are like a skunk - you know one when you see one and you can't wait to get rid of it. This realization got me thinking of how much my life has changed for the better in the last year professionally. While owning a small business is definitely stressful and frustrating at times (and drives my ever patient fiance Blaes nuts all the time), it has allowed me to do alot of things that I couldn't do before. Not that I am content with it all - I doubt I ever will be because I have much left to accomplish. However, it could be a whole lot worse and I know it. For that fact - FPT definitely rocks.

Southern Weather Hysteria!

The South just doesn't seem to do well with bad weather. As I write this, the citizens of Chattanooga are gripped with fear that they might be swept away to the Land of Oz in a swirling vortex of doom (i.e. a really bad thunderstorm) this evening. While I can appreciate this sentiment (no one wants to be sucked into a swirling vortex of doom after all), the hysteria went a little far for me when they let schools out early...for a thunderstorm...that hadn't even happened yet!

BEWARE THE SWIRLING VORTEX OF DOOM!

Not that that I was particularly surprised by this really. After all, a mild winter storm this past winter dropped 3-5 inches of snow on the ground and pretty much incapacitated the city. If you wanted to get bread or milk the next day, you were screwed - that kind of incapacitated. Being a Yankee by birth has hardened me to weather like this - it really isn't that big of a deal. I can say with some certainty that I never got out of school for a thunderstorm (although the kid in me thinks that would have rocked back in the day). Similarly, 3-5 inches of snow, while annoying, isn't all that bad. It makes your car all dirty and slows you down but it will be gone in a day or so. To get me stirred up to freak out stage (as defined by the need to buy a week's worth of eggs on the fly) - I need at least 8+ inches or I'm not sweating it.

As an example...growing up outside of Philly, we would pray for 6+ inches just to get out of school early or for the whole day if we got lucky. We would occasionally get a 2 hour delay but those didn't count because you still had to go in. The truly awesome storms (monumental drive way shovelling aside) dropped 12+ inches, ensuring a day or two of freedom and sledding. I guess I find Southern tendency to freak out with bad weather somewhat amusing. So I say relax 'Nooga - you have 99.999999999999% chance of being just fine and dandy tomorrow. Of course, just by typing this snarky bit, I have probably doomed myself to a tree branch demolishing my car during the night. I think I will take my chances though...

What Happened to Linkin Park?!?!

Does anyone out there know what the guys in this once awesome band are thinking? Their latest album is some sort of pretentious electro-hip hop-metal fusion crap-ola. The first single lasted about one week on the radio and Sirius/XM if that tells you something. The fans clearly aren't buying into their new sound. We want loud guitars, heavy bass, and angst-laden vocals from Chester. We want our Linkin Park to thrash and trash us - kicking our butts in the process. WE WANT TO FEEL IT MAN! I keep getting reminded of their increasing lameness when "In the End", "Pushing Me Away", "Points of Authority", "One Step Closer", and "Numb" play on my IPod when I'm working out. These songs STILL get my juices flowing after almost 10 years, making me want to tear up the weight room.I guess the insta-classic Hybrid Theory has become to big a burden for Mike, Chester, and company to follow up on. Each album has gotten less and less awesome ever since (although Meteora isn't too bad). Unless they come out with something that rocks soon, I am going to have to officially de-list Linkin Park as one of my favorite bands. Can we at least get a Hybrid Theory re-release? Pretty please?

Other Music Stuff That Doesn't Absolutely Suck

Awesome new band #1 - Mumford & Sons (Lil' Lion Man)

Awesome new band #2 - Broken Bells (The Ghost Inside)

Awesome new song I can't get enough of - Say You'll Haunt Me (Stone Sour)