Full Pack

The afternoon yesterday went rather quickly even though I did not do a whole lot of anything. The PFT Plus class contained the regular PFT class and there were over 100 inmates participating in the class. The entire basketball court was filled with inmates. Usually I exercise during class but there needed to be an instructor. I am in no position to tell any of my fellow instructors what to do and for some reason the lead instructor is reluctant to assign instructors to specific tasks so I took it upon myself to walk around the class and instruct the students.

The Coach appears to be working the PFT class very hard. There are many rumors as to why he is working them so hard but none can be substantiated. The Coach is very demanding and will ensure that those students who pass the class are indeed in physical shape for fire camp. Many inmates in the class ask me if they will fail the entire class if they can’t perform a certain exercise. My response to them is always the same, the Coach won’t fail anyone for trying during the class, he doesn’t appreciate it when students quit on a specific exercise, there is a big difference between quitting and doing your best, you can never go wrong doing your best. When the class was completed I hurried over to the pill call line in order to get my protein drinks. I received the drinks where I once again consumed them at the window.

Once again I remained in the dormitory instead of attending dinner. Yesterday was not nearly as peaceful as on Sunday. A few more of my dorm mates stayed behind as well because they too weren’t interested in the filet o fish sandwich. Had I gone to dinner I would have received a double portion of macaroni and cheese which is something I have not eaten in a very long time. I made myself a soup and put peanut butter in it. Sure this sounds disgusting but I was assured by many of my fellow instructors that the soup does taste very good. I decided to trust them and made the Top Ramen soup with a melted peanut butter packet. Much to my surprise the soup tasted very good.

Last night was once again evening yard and now I am quite enjoying going out for walks in the evening. I covered 2 miles prior to placing a telephone call to my wife. I am on a little roll with the telephone so I will not look a gift horse in the mouth! I placed the telephone call and was able to get through. I not only spoke with my wife, I did speak with my 8 year old daughter. In spite of the late hour on the East Coast my daughter was still awake. She was not awake do to her inability to fall asleep rather she was just returning from seeing “High School Musical” with her Aunt (my sister) and cousin. My family is in a very good place at this point and not only are they surrounded with love and support they are certainly making the best of this situation. From my limited understanding “High School Musical” is one of the hottest shows in the country and it is produced by Disney. I am ecstatic my daughter was given the opportunity to see the show. She sounded as if she really enjoyed it immensely. I asked her what her favorite part of the show was and she replied “I didn’t really have a favorite part I liked all of it.” It does warm my heart to know my family is in a place where I don’t have to worry too much about them. According to my wife and my mother I am not allowed to worry about my family. Although I do have some concerns I do know they are making the best of everything in New Jersey and a perfect example of this is my daughter experiencing “High School Musical” with her Aunt and cousin. I continue to count the many blessings in my life which certainly include all aspects of my family. I love speaking with my daughter because she is a wonderful conversationalist. She speaks so well and I especially like when she says, “I love you and miss you” as she says goodbye. I also spoke with my wife regarding the family visit now that I have completed filling out the menu. It seemed I had to order one of everything because of my “screwy” eating habits and my wife’s normal eating habits. We certainly should not go hungry and it will be very interesting to see the kitchen because the food available on the menu needs to be prepared in something larger than a kitchenette. Now the issue of the food has been submitted I will wait for the date of the visit. I understand I will receive one date which is hopefully convenient for my wife. Our children’s birthdays are fast approaching next month and hopefully the family visit will take place after their birthdays, it should.

After the telephone call I did not sign up for another call, I decided to give it a rest until Friday. I walked with my friend who was in a better walking mood than he was on Saturday evening. As we walked my friend profusely thanked me for my wife calling his girlfriend regarding an issue. My friend was genuinely appreciative for that telephone call and I too was very appreciative for my wife to make the telephone call to a total stranger, my wife is an extraordinary person and I love her so much. We also talked about becoming a facilitator at fire camp. I had no idea what this was until my friend explained; a facilitator is a volunteer position at fire camp which helps inmates with their pre-release program. This program helps the inmates who will be released on parole in various ways. It helps them secure drivers licenses, prepare resumes and to apply for educational grants and or loans. The facilitators do not teach the material rather facilitate the class which is presented on video tape. It sounds like a very good program and something I would be very interested in because it helps others which in turn helps me. I was able to secure an application and will submit it this week. This is another way for me to get to a fire camp of my choosing but more importantly this position is very positive. I continue to learn a great deal from my friend and he has yet to steer me in the wrong direction. When I think about it there is a divine plan because believe it or not things are working out very well.

The evening yard was over and it was time to head to the dormitory. I tried to finish my book but was too tired. I did fall fast asleep for a few hours but I did wake up in the middle of the night. A few of my dorm mates were having very restless nights and woke me up with their movements. The funny thing about being in prison and the same goes for life on the outside world if you want to find trouble you will find it no matter where you are. Thankfully, I have no desire for trouble and do everything to stay positive in both my beliefs and actions. However, there are a few inmates who do not share this attitude and so find trouble. Some of this trouble was happening last night which woke me up a few times. I won’t dwell on this so I will be brief and just say it is very sad.

I finally awoke at my normal time and got ready for my day. Last night I had received a ducat for the “reclassification hearing” which I wrote about a few days ago. The hearing would take place at 8:00 am which was in conflict of my job. I certainly wanted to do my job but know this was an important day. I wasn’t sure if I could attend the hearing in my instructor uniform of sweats so I had to take my “blues” with me just in case. I did see the clerk who works in the counselor’s trailer. We know each other so when I spotted him walking I went up to him and asked him if I could go to my hearing in my uniform. He replied, “Yes, but you may not even have to attend the hearing, let me ask your counselor if you need to be there.” He then instructed me to come back in 15 minutes. I went back 15 minutes later and he informed me that there was no need for me to attend. This was good because it meant I could get my morning “miles” in during the class. It was also good because my “full pack” status was becoming a reality and I would now be eligible for fire camp. Finally he told me to come back this afternoon and he would let me know what happened. I did go back earlier this afternoon and it was official I am now Full Packed for fire camp. Of course this is great news but I have become somewhat guarded when it comes to good news especially when other steps are involved. The next step for me is to be in a PFT class as a student/instructor and when this happens I will feel a great deal better. However; for now this is good news.

This is a little off the subject matter but something unfortunate happened with one of the PFT Instructors. All of us go to early breakfast so we can start the class by 7:15 am. This particular instructor has a habit of going to breakfast and dinner twice. As I have mentioned there are two dining halls. At early breakfast it doesn’t matter which dining hall we enter but we are only allowed to go once. Also the instructors stand out because there are only 9 of us dressed in maroon. Well this particular instructor thought he could get two breakfasts and as he was entering the second dining hall a Sergeant recognized him from the other dining hall and stopped him. The Sergeant confiscated his ID card while informing he needed to get another job because he was going to tell the Coach of this infraction. Incidentally unbeknownst to the Lead Instructor who also spotted the instructor trying for the second breakfast, he said I hope the Coach doesn’t find out about this. Well, the Sergeant was kind enough to bring this to the Coach’s attention and the Coach is a stickler for the rules - promptly fired the Instructor, no second chances, no warnings, no discussion, it was over for him. Fortunately, for this instructor he is also a student in the class and would have been finished as an instructor next week. He is a good guy and a good instructor, he just got greedy. I did tell him this before the Coach fired him to which the Lead Instructor told me I was “mean”. I guess I need to temper the things on my mind with the things I think people want to hear; it certainly is a work in progress. Nevertheless he took my comment very well as he did the firing. On the bright side for me (I think this is a bit selfish!) I get to do more pacing in the class now that he is no longer an instructor, sorry!

It was a gorgeous day with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 60’s. I had a great workout and got a very good sweat. As I started the Harvard Wall there was another inmate close to where I was doing the exercise. I could tell he was trying to keep up with my pace and he was doing a good job but after 10 minutes he stopped and just put his arms up in the air while he walked away. About 30 minutes later he came back and looked at me with astonishment and he asked me how long I was going for. I told him I was going to do over an hour, at this he just shook his head and uttered something in Spanish. Then he walked away with a smile on his face. I have no idea what he was thinking, but I do know I get to do something I enjoy to do which is exercising everyday. It would be nice to think my exercising habits are rubbing off on others, however, I do know it helps me every day which is what matters most.