Veterans day interview

Vete

rans day interview

Let's get FAT

The silly season is almost upon us. It is getting darker earlier, people are already out doing their shopping for Thanksgiving and Christmas. People are making rash decisions and holding off on major decisions until after the holidays. It is the same thing every year. It makes me a little more understanding of Ebenezer Scrooge. However, the TrailLife Troop at Center Church is progressing. I completed the background check and Child Safety Training. We have a full slate on the commission. Once they get through the training videos and take the test we will be able to charter.

                I received an inquiry to lead a BUD/s PT with the Edinburg JROTC. I did a series of workouts with them last year, two a days for two weeks in a row. I am in a little better shape this year. This Friday after Thanksgiving I am going to go for my maximum pull-ups. I haven’t been able to do more than 42 but it has been a while and I have lost a lot of weight since I tried it last.

                I am coming up on a speech for the John Maxwell Speakers club this Tuesday and I am going to talk about PTSD. I will be proposing a method of treatment to stem the over 20 suicides a day of our veteran population. It is how we should deal with each other anyway. Figuring out what excites someone and providing opportunities in which they can participate in them. My theory is to give them so many exciting and enthusiastic situations that the traumatic and negative experiences are lest behind. I am excited to explore the possibilities.

                I have been asked to be the spokesperson for Giddy Up Energy and the other night I was watching Rodeos and realized that it is a natural marketing opportunity for sponsorship at the Mercedes Live Stock Show events. I will be tracking down whoever handles the sponsorships there this week.

                I also came across a gentleman who has run over 18 marathons. He is an assistant manager for Staples in Edinburg. He was telling me about how someone from his church is trying to start a group called the Fitness Awareness Team “FAT”. Then I told him about F3. We are going to try and figure out a regular day and time for an F3 workout and incorporate FAT. I am really concerned about the middle aged men who have let themselves slide. You know there is a problem when you see they have “the Done Lap disease”, when their belly done lapped over their belts. Our livers are our filter for impurities and when it isn’t working properly that is when bad things happen. It is a shame that so many people are cutting their life span short by eating too many doughnuts, over doing it with sugar in their diets and not exercising. When the Navy SEAL officer whom I served two platoons under got in my dish when I let my weight get out of hand, I took it to heart and even though he wasn’t the most tactful communicator I got the message.

                I will let everyone know when and where we will be have f3 workouts in the valley and you too can become FAT.

                               

Moderation is for cowards, when in doubt overload

“Moderation is for cowards, when in doubt overload” WWII Frogman

I have recently taken on the position of Texas Regional Manager for High Sierra Chemicals. I didn’t really know a lot about surfactants/cleaners and degreasers except that the citrus based surfactants will kill insects by separating the bonds between hydrocarbons which when mixed with water will getting into their exoskeletons bursting their internal organs and gumming up their foli they use to breath and suffocate them.  Then I ran into a Food Safety Manager for one of the produce processing companies here in the valley with a masters degree in chemistry. He took me to school.

The first thing he explained to me is “There is no such thing as a Cleaner/Disinfectant” That was interesting for me to hear. High Sierra Group doesn’t claim that we have any Cleaner/Disinfectant product but we have a highly concentrated Cleaner which dilutes 40/1 with water and our quad sanitizer combined kills pathogens like Listeria. Then he explained to me that the germ killing duration of Clorox bleach is 30 to 40 seconds. All of this information was of great interest to me.

High Sierra Group has two heavy duty cleaners/degreasers, 14 Karat and Green Power. Both are highly concentrated. 14 Karat is an industrial strength cleaner/degreaser which can be used on everything and has a five minute residence time where it’s scrubbing bubbles will get up grime and forklift tire marks. Green Power works best diluted 40/1 with water and can even be used to strip floors when used at a 5/1 dilution.

High Sierra Group’s Sanitizer is Discide which is a quat sanitizer capable of killing Listeria. Listeria is an evil pathogen which is deadly and can actually get into the structure of a building and keep contaminating products stored in a facility. It is also a Non-Rinse solution.

Then High Sierra Group has the Micro-B Sealer which after cleaning the facility and letting it dry will kill pathogens like Listeria that may already be in the structure and keep any new contamination from getting into the building for one year with just one coat and up to three years when two coats are applied.

It feels really good to have confidence in a product I represent. WIth the high concentration of these products it makes the price very competitive too.

I am very excited to finally break into this community of agricultural producers. I have been looking for them ever since I got to the valley almost two years ago. They don’t go where I go, the boxing gyms, Toastmasters or any of the churches I attend but these are my kind of people. A lot of former military personnel, they like shooting and I even walked into one facility with model cars all over their walls. I loved model cars when I was a kid.

This morning I completed the Child Abuse Awareness training to the the Trail Life organization at Center Church in Pharr Texas. Trail Life is an outdoor activity for boys formed by Scout Masters who weren’t willing to compromise when the Boy Scouts caved into social pressures. I thought it was a good cause and helped them find a church in the Rio Grande Valley to sponsor a Trail Life Troop and it just so happened that the Senior Pastor at Center Church in Pharr where my wife and I attend is an outdoor enthusiast. He and a few of the other pastors brought it to the board and they agreed to sponsor a troop but they needed a volunteer to run the program. When the boxing gym I trained at every night moved I now had my evenings opened so I volunteered to fill the position.

The first night we had 26 boys show up between the ages of six and 14. It was exciting! Then the second week had 11 show up but I had things for them to do. I started off with a power test. I just had them do push-ups and did them with the boys. I got a surprise when one of the boys didn’t quit until we had done 75 push-ups and then another group of boys came in late and we did 50 more. I am glad I am in decent shape. I wouldn’t have wanted to look bad.

Then I had them doing Kim’s Game. It is a observation/memorization game where I put 10 or 11 items on a table and cover them with a handkerchief and when I remove the handkerchief I gave the boys two minutes to study the items. Then I covered them back up and removed one item. After two minutes I had them turn back around and try and figure out what items were missing. Then did it again and then is time I didn’t remove any items but rearranged two of the items and they had to figure out which ones were moved. Then we did it again with three items. I was amazed at how the boys honed in and focused during this exercise. This next Monday were will incorporate more memorization with the boys having to list the items and then drawing them and if there is time we will do a scanning exercise outside.  

The funny thing is that I never had to consider as a Navy SEAL and that is this exercise keeps the boys focused and not running around getting crazy. They learn sometime too. It is all going to build up to the first camping trip.

I also have been asked to be the spokesperson for Giddy Up Energy. I will be able to get energy drinks and power bars at no cost for the boys to sell as a fundraiser to pay for camping trips. I am starting to explore the possibility of a 5K race to generate awareness and raise money for the Trail Life Troop the first part of the year.

I am hoping my new association with a bunch of manly men in the food processing industry here in the Rio Grande Valley might turn on their children and grandchildren to the Trail Life troop at Center Church. There is also a sister organization for the girls called American Heritage Girls. There is one volunteer already for that group but we will need five more ladies to charter that group.

Trail Life interview with Eli Lara