At A Loss (For Words)

ENTRY 307

MEH...

No sparring on Thursday because there were no coaches on duty.
I did do some technical drills with some of the other boxers.
I also did my usual training. 

I have also started running outside every day again. With the snow gone, and now with it being lighter out longer, I have been alternating doing sprints and laps each day. I have to keep the conditioning up. Very important. 

On Friday, I did some treadmill and heavy bag training at Bloor.

Other than that, there has not been much happening the past couple of days.

To sum it up...Meh. I am at a loss for words. I have nothing to say.
You know it must have been a real boring day when I have nothing to complain about.

I have been really busy at my new post. I worked eight shifts through, but then had the last four off.
This is my last night off. I am back in on Saturday.
Saturdays are a long shift, 12-hours, and being downtown there is never a lack of excitement.

Last Saturday, I had to deal with piss, crap and puke, a couple of fights, and some homeless guy trying to steal beer bottles from our storage area.

Yep. Just another Saturday night in Downtown Toronto.

Fun.

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WITH A LITTLE EFFORT AND A LOT OF DETERMINATION, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

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"The Brick" is an amateur boxer certified by:

www.boxingontario.com

"The Brick" is a member of the Stockyards Boxing Team, and trains 5 times a week at:

215 Ryding Ave. Toronto

stockyardsboxingfitness.com

"The Brick"

Reserrecting the Sparring Report and Insecure Security

ENTRY 306

SPARRING REPORT

I have not done a sparring report in a while, but there has been some interesting sparring this week.

On Monday, a guy I remember from Bloor Fitness (back when it was a boxing gym) came into Stockyards after a lengthy time off, and wanted to start training again.

He wanted to spar to get back into things, so I agreed to train with him a bit.

We ended up doing seven rounds, of course we didn't do much. We mainly just worked on movement. 

Neither of us threw very much.

On Tuesday, I did two rounds of hard sparring with Ed. 

That was a lot of work, but I like working with Ed for that reason.

I also did three rounds on Wednesday.

So, no lack of sparring this week.

Coach Richard is looking for an opponent (for me) for the Stockyards' show on April 30. 

Of course I hope he finds someone. I will be doing some looking as well. 

There has to be someone in Ontario who is close to my stats.

INSECURE SECURITY

Not boxing related, but a bit interesting.

I work across from Metro Hall.

Metro Hall is a public building, but for some reason does not allow public access before 7:30 AM.

Since I work nights, and finish at 7 AM, I will sometimes use Metro Hall to access the St. Andrew subway station. They are connected through a tunnel.

On Tuesday morning, there was a security guard there that I did not recognize, and he absolutely refused to let anyone have access to the building.

It was 7:22.

It was also pouring rain.

Tell me this guy wasn't being an assshole.

He was actually going to wait right until 7:30 and 0 seconds before allowing access? Really?

He made people walk around outside in the rain for the sake of eight minutes.

I realize he has to enforce the policy of the building, but you can bend a bit. 

Give me a rest.

If it was me, I would have allowed it.

I have been working in security-related jobs for over three years, and it is people like that who make all the rest of us look bad.

Thank you for that.

====================================================

WITH A LITTLE EFFORT AND A LOT OF DETERMINATION, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

======================================================

"The Brick" is an amateur boxer certified by:

www.boxingontario.com

"The Brick" is a member of the Stockyards Boxing Team, and trains 5 times a week at:

215 Ryding Ave. Toronto

stockyardsboxingfitness.com

"The Brick"

The Answer To The Ultimate Question May Be Away From Home

ENTRY 305

STATESIDE AND QUEBÉC MAY HAVE THE ANSWER

There may be an answer to my dilemma of not being able to get into any tournaments in Ontario. 
The answer was right there all the time, but I failed to recognize it.
Enter tournaments outside of the province.

There is a tournament specifically for Masters held every year in the U.S.
It is actually going on right now, so it is obviously too late to register. However, I am considering it for next year.

This year it is being held in Kansas City, MO. 
It is apparently held in a different place each year.

This year there are 30 boxers (15 bouts) scheduled. 
That is a lot for a Masters tournament.

I did a bit of research, and found out that USA Boxing accepts Boxing Ontario passports, so an Ontario boxer does not have to be registered with USA Boxing to compete in the United States.
You do however, need to file a for a travel permit.
There are two of them. One for bordering states, for which you apply through Boxing Ontario. The other is for competing in a non-bordering state. That one you have to file though CABA.

Another option is to see what tournaments and shows are in Quebéc this summer.
There are a few going on in Montréal and other areas of the province..
I would like to see about entering those.

It is a bit easier to compete in Quebéc, because a travel permit is not required since I would still be covered under CABA.

There is actually a lot going on through Boxe Quebéc, especially in May.

I am seriously going to do some more research on this, as this will be a consideration for the spring and summer. 
I will also discuss this a bit with Coach Richard and Will as well.

After all, who says a boxer from Ontario can not compete elsewhere?

DING!
The answer has been there all along.

====================================================

WITH A LITTLE EFFORT AND A LOT OF DETERMINATION, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

======================================================

"The Brick" is an amateur boxer certified by:

www.boxingontario.com

"The Brick" is a member of the Stockyards Boxing Team, and trains 5 times a week at:

215 Ryding Ave. Toronto

stockyardsboxingfitness.com

"The Brick"

Back To Square One For 'The Brick' and A Scam Alert

ENTRY 304

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Despite dropping to a lower weight class and training my butt off, I have been having very bad luck finding opponents.

I am back to square one.  
Training hard for 'nothing'.

Richard had me doing sprints outside with Mo and Newt. 
Mohammed is a professional boxer and Newton is half my age, and I was perfectly capable of keeping up with both of them.

Richard was very happy with my conditioning.

SCAM ALERT

I received a call on Saturday from a Windsor number, 226-455-0295.

He said that his 'company', Cash Advance Canada, can offer a $5000 loan over a period of 4 years for $500.

That is a very low rate for an unsecured loan isn't it?
He said that his name was John Baker. Sure it is.
He told me that he needed an electronic money transfer of $250 to secure the loan.
He also said to go to Food Basics and call him from the parking lot so he can tell me what to do next.
Okay. I will get right on that.

I had a good laugh at that.
First of all Food Basics does not deal with any kind of money transfer.
Secondly, why would any legitimate lender need an cash e-transfer to secure a loan?
Thirdly, and the most odd of all, why would he want me to call him from the store parking lot for instructions?

Yeah. His business is definitely 100% legitimate.

A word of warning to all: If you get a call from 226-455-0295 offering you a loan, don't accept it.

Let's all call this idiot and drive him nuts.

I have notified the police fraud department, and they have apparently had quite a few complaints about that phone number offering all different 'too good to be true' offers.

Be careful out there.

====================================================

WITH A LITTLE EFFORT AND A LOT OF DETERMINATION, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

======================================================

"The Brick" is an amateur boxer certified by:

www.boxingontario.com

"The Brick" is a member of the Stockyards Boxing Team, and trains 5 times a week at:

215 Ryding Ave. Toronto

stockyardsboxingfitness.com

"The Brick"

I Guess I Won`t Be Seeing You In Orangeville

ENTRY 303

NO RESPONSE FROM ORANGEVILLE

Well, Orangeville did not respond to any of Richard`s requests, so I did not compete this past Friday. Not just to me, but for all of the Stockyards`boxers.
I guess Orangeville has finally realized that Toronto has all the better boxers.


NO MORE SUNDAY TRAINING

Due to my promotion to assistant supervisor and moving to a `high-end`building downtown, it means a change in my schedule. 
I will now have to work on Sundays. Of course that means no more working with Coach Will on Sunday mornings.
Ultimately, boxing is not my full-time job, and I have to pay the bills. 
Although, I will still train the same number of hours every week, it will be at different times.

This is also the reason for there not being an entry on Tuesday. I was busy with my now employment.




Continuing with the great news, my wife is now manager of a Gateway at Queen subway station. She gets a percentage of sales, but is still negotiating.
With my increase in pay, and her promotion, we may finally see the light at the end of the financial tunnel.

====================================================

WITH A LITTLE EFFORT AND A LOT OF DETERMINATION, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

======================================================

"The Brick" is an amateur boxer certified by:

www.boxingontario.com

"The Brick" is a member of the Stockyards Boxing Team, and trains 5 times a week at:

215 Ryding Ave. Toronto

stockyardsboxingfitness.com

"The Brick"