Category — Bragadocious

Granddaddy and Duchess

Not long ago I was driving along and I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. I can’t recall exacly what it said but the following is proximal:

“Do not worry about whether or not your children listen to what you say. Worry that your children see what you do.”

I immediately thought of the babies and what they might be learning not from what I say, but from what I do. I thought of what my parents taught me. And when I think back, they really did teach me a lot. And most of it just by going through their daily lives. They weren’t big on the “son, it’s time we had a talk about the birds and bees” pow-wow sessions. In fact, the heart to hearts didn’t really start happening until I was out of college. And usually, I initiated those conversations. But nonetheless, I have learned and am still learning so much from my parents.

They celebrated another wedding anniversary a last June. They’ve been married for 50 years. Contemplating that, I felt a little pride brew up. Not that this accomplishment, if you can or should even call it that, was mine. I just felt like my parents have been able to do something which is difficult. In that moment of pride I posted they’d been married for 50 years on Facebook. The general response was overwhelmingly positive and folks seemed to be “wowed” by it. Which got me to thinking even more. Should a long marriage create such a wow-factor? [Read more →]

People keep asking, so I’ll say it: fear over Instagram’s terms change is ridiculous… Get real folks!

— Tom Anderson (@myspacetom) December 20, 2012

To which @polotapia responded: says the guys who couldn’t keep a social network alive

@polotapia says the guy who sold myspace in 2005 for $580 million while you slave away hoping for a half-day off

— Tom Anderson (@myspacetom) December 20, 2012

@polotapia has since taken down his post and profile.

It’s about six months post when I was asked to lead my gym’s group of misfits in bettering their fitness to heights that are completely unnecessary in the real world. But for some reason, although there is very little conventional reward in being able to lift heavy sh*t and being fast as f*ck, we do it anyway. My band dubbed me “El Capitan”. And I have to say, I like the name. It reminds me of why I accepted the role. It’s simply the selfish desire to help others be better. Yes, selfish. Because it feels damn good to see others achieve goals and knowing you had a small hand in it. So I take my role as coach/leader/El Capitan and this thing we call elite fitness serious as sh*t! I want these guys (and gals) to be the baddest mofos they possibly can.

Since then, my reach has expanded a bit beyond our little band of super-ninjas. And I’ve been asked to help others in their pursuit of extreme-ability-to-mess-you-up! (That’s a metaphor for lifting heavy barbells fast and furiously.) I welcome the challenge to help anyone who shares the desire to simply get fast, strong and fit for no real reason other than he or she simply has to do it! She is called to do it. Cats that reel in pain because they miss the feel of steel and chalk in their hands. Or miss the sound of the wind blow by their brow as they cut the air with grace and violent speed. I want the cats that love this like I do on my team. The ones that take this sh*t serious too. I’m down to help anyone get better. Cause I know what it feels like and I want everyone to feel it.

If you are of kindred spirit, feel free to contact me about programming or coaching.

This girl has so much confidence. I wish I had half of what she has. I could learn from her. Confidence is such a big part of our success in life.

I often tell the girls, speak up! Folks tend to believe and respect those who speak with confidence. I hope they will remember that as they get older. Seems they’re off to a great start.

Check out a sneak peak of the upcoming docu/series From Fatherless To Fatherhood. The Kobie Chronicles will be featuring today’s fathers and getting their perspectives on what fatherhood means to them. I and the girls will be one of the featured families. Should be fun.

Since I started CrossFit about a year ago, I’ve resisted talking about it much here. In fact, I’ve resisted talking about a lot of things here that did not at least in some small way have something to do with fatherhood or raising my girls. You may disagree. But I’ve decided I don’t want to limit myself. CrossFit in particular is simply too much a part of my life for me not to share some of that enthusiasm here. So I’ll be doing that from now on along with sharing other, non-parenting, things. Whatever I want.

As a start, I competed in the Hybrid Summer Challenge this past weekend. It was awesome. I was the oldest male competitor and the lightest one in my weight class. I went in with low expectations. Mostly because of my bum shoulder. But I surprised myself. I did much better in the initial, shoulder intensive, event than I thought I would. I’m upset I didn’t go in with a “I can win this thing” attitude. That won’t happen again. I’m really looking forward to the next local competition.

Carrying 480# @ Hybrid Summer Challenge

WOD: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3, strict pullups, hspu

Daddy move: Talked to Thing-One about the mailman.

Money maker: Secured a new domain name.