Tag: Fratboy

CSPAN Send off Convergence

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141 Men came to show the Respectable**CSPAN** some Respect!!

He leaves The Fort and heads north or as Dredd refers to Yankee land. Not gone forever but just up the road 600 miles to start a new chapter in life and in F3 as he will launch F3Philly.

I am not the most eloquent with my back-blasts and I am usually to the point with posting the workout, add some words and being done, however since I can’t get Italian Job to write this up and Double D challenged the PAX to think of one word to represent CSAPN, I think that is the best way to document this convergence.

Thank you CSPAN for being all of these things and more to you r brothers in the PAX. As posted on Twitter and many of these were repeated multiple times:

brother
camaraderie
commitment
confidence
connected
consistent
courageous
dedicated
empathetic
example
genuine
handsome
HIM
honorable
humble
humility
impact
influence
influencer
insightful
inspiration
integrity
investor
legend
magnanimous
model
respect
selfless
servant
shepherd
solid
squaredaway
steadfast
steady
wise

The Workout looked like this:

WWL at the Q:

  • Mosey around the lot
  • Line up; karaoke, side shuffle, high knees, butt kickers, toy solders, lungewalk, power skips
  • COP
    • SSH, squat, merkin, moroccan night club, 10 Flying squirrels
Double D at the Q:
  • Run to practice field
  • Plank sequence
  • Split into 2 groups on each sideline
  • Sprint to center and back to sideline
  • Monkey humpers x25
  • Rinse + repeat with Merkins x 25
  • CDDs x25
  • Burpees x25
Longshanks at the Q:
  • Burpees
  • Lunges
  • Inch worm Merkins
  • Maktar Ndiayes
  • Plank Jacks
  • Squats.

Dredd at the Q:

  • Prayer for CSPAN
  • Merkin/Ab Lab series
  • Truth Nuggets and Leadership development with Major Payne, Wegmans, & Drop Thrill
  • Mosey to hill behind Bob Jones Stadium
  • Prayer for CSPAN heading to F3Philly…..”CSPAN Coming”
  • More Merkin/Ab lab series

COT:

141 Count, Name O’rama, 2 FNGs (Bikini & Manzel), Skinny Jeans pray out over CSPAN and his IMPACT on men and for Sky Q’s kingdom.

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104

We are one Brotherhood

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15 came out on this mild morning, not knowing what they would be doing.  The point is, they got out of bed and came anyway.  There were no FNG’s (although there was a Kotter – Dog Pound, welcome back!) so I gave the abbreviated disclaimer and off we went.

Mosey down to the lot in front of Empire Pizza and circled up for the following warmup:

  • SSH’s
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • and Windmills

We moseyed a short distance to the lot in front of the Indian restaurant for the Thang…and what do you know, there was a white board with a bunch of things written on it.

I had called out on Twitter that this would be a moderate workout, and to some it was, yet to others it required a little more effort.  Either way, we were here, and this is what we were doing!

First thing we partnered up.  Each partner was to do the full amount of the exercises, but they were to hold each other accountable and drive to the end together.  If your group finished, you went to another group that was still going and joined in wherever they are.  Then when that group finished you joined up with another…and so on until we all finished together!  Here were the exercises done:

  • 50 Bombjacks (Single Count)
  • 50 Carolina Dry Docks (in cadence)
  • 50 LBC’s (in cadence)
  • 50 Monkey Humpers (in cadence)
  • 50 Squats (in cadence)
  • 50 Merkins (in cadence)
  • 50 Calf Raises (in cadence)
  • 50 SSH’s (in cadence)
  • 50 Reverse Crunches (in cadence)

So, as we wrapped up, everyone had completed a minimum of 850 reps of these various exercises, and those that finished earlier than others kept adding to those totals.

We finished up with a bit of Broga, and a slow mosey back up to COT where we shared a couple stories on what IMPACT we saw this past week.

Was this moderate?  You tell me.  Was it hard, absolutely (evident by all the complaining).  The point is that if we were doing this on our own, we most likely would have quit or cut corners at some point throughout the workout.  But we weren’t alone, we had our partner holding us accountable.  Take that same concept and apply it to Whetstone.  That is EXACTLY what we are doing when we commit to having a Whetstone partner (in my case, Destiny).  We hold each other accountable for day in and day out mundane tasks…we encourage each other when things go sideways…but…we do all this TOGETHER!

If you do not currently have a Whetstone partner, I seriously urge you to pray about it, and consider joining up for the program!

At a minimum, check in with a Brother throughout the week to see how they are doing, and be willing to be transparent and honest if someone reaches out to you!  Remember, WE are not worthy to judge others…but WE are called to lift each other up!

Smithers….Out

 

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What is a minute really?

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What is a minute?  It’s not very long, and they go by SO fast!  Today we had 14 PAX and we learned how short/long a minute can be!

Started with a disclaimer, and then a mosey down to the parking area past the Empire Pizza strip.

Warmup:

  • 25 SSH’s in cadence
  • 10 Windmills in cadence
  • 25 Mor. Nite Club’s in cadence
  • 25 Overhead Hand Claps in cadence

And then we got right into it.  We were not going to do much running, in fact at this point we had done exactly half of the running we were going to take on this morning.  Instead I utilized a bit of technology (having some of the standard technological issues) to setup a solid 34 minute workout in minute increments.   We did two rounds, with a 2 minute break between rounds.  The list below are the exercises we did for a minute (30 second breaks in between).

Didn’t look like too much on paper, but we got our sweat on for sure, even without the running!

  • Side Straddle Hops
  • Merkins
  • LBC’s
  • Calf Raises
  • Squats
  • Dips
  • Plank
  • American Hammers
  • Wide Arm Merkins
  • Flutter Kicks (the final round of flutters was performed at COT).

It’s been a busy summer, but I enjoyed being able to take the opportunity to Q the workout today.

COT:  Prayers

  • Bob The Builder’s recovery
  • Popper’s recovery
  • Traveling mercies for those heading out of town over the upcoming holiday

Thanks for the opportunity…

Smithers…out

 

 

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WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

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Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

————————————————————————————————————–

And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

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Moderately Crabby

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Thanks to Smithers for allowing me to lead this morning.  23 HIMs started with the disclaimer and then took a little twist on the mosey down the hill to the back side of Lowes for the warm-up and beat down. Two lines formed up at the shovel flag and proceeded to Blacksnake all the way to the warm-up.  It was noted that surprisingly no one was injured bobbing and weaving while running in a line.

The Warm-Up was short and sweet to get the muscles ready and not tired.

  • Brisk 25 SSH
  • 25 Moroccan Night Club
  • 20 Imperial Walkers

The familiar Burpees that are often limited or lost at Slow Burn were tweaked slightly to provide a little 4×4 action!

Immediately following the 4x4s, we jumped right into a round Batwings.  All to a 4-count cadence:

  • 20 Forward Arm Circles
  • 20 Reverse Arm Circles
  • 20 Seal Claps
  • 20 Overhead Claps

After the shoulders were smoked, we met up along the wall of Lowes facing the side parking lot.  Everyone partnered up for some 123’s with a rotating exercise for the traveling partner. The partners completed their 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s and 300 Squats while crossing the parking lot performing either Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Lunge Walks, or Toe-Walks.  The parking lot had 3 distinct rows of spaces along each PAX to determine the length of their crawls or walks.

Following the 123’s we circled up for a bit of core work; Abs and Back.  I thought it was important to incorporate the most often forgotten part of the core.  This is where the real “crabbing” started among the PAX.  All exercises done in cadence:

  • 20 Crab Cake
  • 20 Crunchy Frog
  • 20 Crab Humpers
  • 20 American Hammers
  • 20 Crab Jacks
  • 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 15 Merkins done with several pauses at 6″

The PAX moseyed its way back up to the top at their own pace in preparation for COT

At COT, the origin stories for  a couple of PAX were shared so that we can all get to know one another a little better.

Great work from all the HIMs who pushed through some serious shoulder exercises and goofy crab work.

 

MOAB…out

 

 

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Cone heads

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First I want to thank Jiffy for the opportunity to lead the PAX today. 15 guys showed up and this was the biggest group that I had Q’ed for . I spent an hour or so the night before reading up on the exercise database found in the F3 website. The first exercise I introduced was the kimono dragon. It’s best described as a Peter Parker but you actually move forward. Note: very hard to execute backwards. This new move was implemented in the warmup.

Then we moseyed to soccer field for the main event. We started on the goal line and I had placed cones 10 yards out .First we did DMC. It’s a duck walk, merkins, and a bear crawl. Duck walk to the first cone, 5 merkins, and bear crawl back. Duck walk to the next cone(20 yards) and do 10 merkins and bear crawl back with increasing by 5 merkins every cone until we reached 50 yards.

The next thing we did was lunge walked to the first cone and did 10 squats and lunge walked back and progressed through each cone adding 10 squats each time. This was painful. A total of 150 squats and 300 yards of squats .

Next we paired up and partner 1 ran to the first cone, did 5 merkins and ran back. Meanwhile partner 2 is doing flutters . Each partner ran to each cone and did 5 pushups and ran back .

6 minutes of Mary and then the end .I looked up a new ab exercise called Dr . W .I still don’t fully understand what that is so you should go look it up .

Thanks agaun!

Wegmans

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Slow Burn Deck of Pain

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The morning started out cooler than yesterday…and everyone noticed that right away. That’s okay, because what I had in store would keep everyone warm enough without question.

Started out with the standard disclaimer, then moseyed down the hill for the warm-up.

  • Butt Kickers
  • High Knees
  • Circle up
  • SSH’s
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Windmills
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Hillbilly Walkers

Mosey over to the side lot for the Thang.  Now, when we got over there the PAX saw the deck of cards and immediately knew what was coming.  I set the ground rules:

Aces are 1, Face cards are 10, we will use the value of the card and do that many sets of 10 of a given exercise, and each suite for that card will determine what exercise would be done.

We did 4 rounds in total, with a lap around the building in between rounds.

Round 1 – CORE; Round 2 – UPPER BODY; Round 3 – LOWER BODY; Round 4 – CARDIO with the ultimate goal to provide a solid and challenging total body workout!

So, we started out with a face card that meant we had to get after it right out of the gate with 100 box cutters.  And the mumble chatter turned at that very first exercise of round 1 ;-).

Overall, we did hundreds of exercises, some more than others, but the exercises completed for each round were as follows:

  • LBC’s (Hearts) – We did about 60
  • Flutter Kicks (Clubs) – We did 100
  • Box Cutters (Spades) – We did 100
  • American Hammers (Diamonds) – We did 80

Run a lap around the building

  • Merkins (Hearts) – We did 80 or 90
  • Carolina Dry Docks (Clubs) – I think we did 70
  • Moroccan Night Clubs (Spades) – I think we did 40
  • Overhead Hand Claps (Diamonds) – I think we did 50

Run a lap around the building

  • Squats (Hearts) – I can’t remember how many we did
  • Monkey Humpers (Clubs) – We did 100
  • Apollo Ohno’s (Spades) – I think we did 40 or 50
  • Lunges (Diamonds) – We did 10 each leg

Run a lap around the parking lot to save time and get the last round in

  • Peter Parkers (Hearts) – I think we did 40 or 50
  • Mountain Climbers (Clubs) – I think we were in the 30 or 40 range
  • SSH’s (Spades) – We did 80
  • Parker Peters (Diamonds) – I think we did 20

Mosey back up to COT

There was a lot of complaining, but I was really proud of all the PAX as they pushed through the pain and discomfort and came out their comfort zone.  Moderate is a state of mind, and I will admit that a lot of times I tell myself I can’t do something, but then when pushed by the PAX I find out, hey, it hurt like crazy, but yes, I can do that!  Today it was my turn to lead the PAX and push them.  I’m feeling it for sure now, and I know they all are too…but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Smithers…Out!

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Yahtzee Culture Club Style

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So, Culture Club came out completely prepared as usual.  Always love attending one of his workouts!  This Friday morning we played Yahtzee in a way I personally never have before.

The basics were one PAX called out an exercise from the bottom list seen above, and the remaining PAX did that exercise while the first PAX took his three rolls for Yahtzee.  Once the points were written on the tape, then the blue tape was removed to reveal which exercise would be performed, and the reps would be the amount of the score written in.  If the exercise under the blue tape was highlighted in green it meant that for the next round, instead of choosing an exercise from the bottom list, the PAX would run a lap around the parking lot.

If you have not been out to participate in a Culture Club workout, I highly suggest you plan for it.  He has certainly set a high bar of excellence, at least in my book 😉.

Smithers – Out

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The Big Event – Shovel Flag Handoff

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So the hype has been great, and the STRONG showing this morning proved it has value!  26 HIM’s all came out on what was a pretty cold 48 degree March morning (that WIND).

This was not an ordinary workout.  Barry Manilow was handing over the shovel flag to YHC, as I was stepping into the role of Site Q for Slow Burn.  Barry started the workout for the first half, and then we handed off the Q to me for the last half.

I’ll do my best to get Barry’s portion right:

Mosey all the way down to the far side of Lowes and circle up for the following:

  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • LBC 10x
  • Imperial Walker 10x
  • Travolta 10x
  • Dying Cockroach 10x
  • Hillbilly Walker 10x
  • HR Merkins 15x

Mosey to the Triangle Lot

  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Grave Digger 7×2
  • Squat 10x
  • Mak Tai Jai 10x
  • Knee Tai Jai 10x
  • Calf Raise Regular 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes Out 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes In 10x

Mosey back to the side of Lowes

  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees
  • Bear Crawl/Toy Soldier to the second island and back
  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees

The official Q Handoff….Barry Manilow Done, Smithers is up…

Mosey back to the Triangle Lot for 4 corners, circle up and count off in 4’s

Three different rounds at each corner station.  Finish one round and rotate to the next corner.  Once returning to where you started, perform the next round’s exercises.  The Rounds looked like this:

Round 1:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 30 LBC’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 20 Carolina Dry Docks in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 30 SSH’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 20 Low Slow Squats in Cadence

Round 2:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Flutters in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 15 Shoulder Taps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Peter Parker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Calf Raises in Cadence

Round 3:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Wheezy Jefferson’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 30 OH Hand Claps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Imperial Walker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Jump Squats OYO

Mosey back to COT

Countoff (26), Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers, and the Shovel Flag Handoff!

I’m really looking forward to this opportunity as Site Q for Slow Burn.  I will do my best to keep the Q schedule full and diverse, remember it’s a moderate site, but challenge us to push it just a bit more than comfortable (and beyond).

Smithers…Out

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Beyond #1…What’s at your CORE?

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Beyond can be defined as “Outside the understanding, limits, or reach of.” That is what this thing is all about; recognizing that a push beyond, in all many aspects of life, can be a really good thing. If you’re a killer runner, come do a Merkin and a Pull Up with us. If you’re strength nut, come do a few sprints and bear crawls with us. The reasoning for this is well documented now, dating back a few months to when Jekyll let me share about this at a Colosseum Q I had.

And yes, I am 8 days late in getting this BB written which is rather ironic. I will work to get these posted both by the Q’s and YHC in a more timely manner.

We started last Tuesday with the 1st round of Beyond and the theme was CORE. Besides the obvious, physical reference to the word, Core can be defined as, “A central and often foundational part usually distinct from the enveloping part by a difference in nature.” In other words, when the world strips away your exterior, what are you left with to truly guide you. To take this a step further, I let the PAX know that Beyond will challenge them to push past the limits they’ve previously established for themselves. This is aided by listening to a Podcast, “Team Never Quit” in which you listen to stories of people who’ve endured unbelievable challenges and have pushed through to find the redemptive outcome on the other side. It seems impossible when you’re in the thick of “it”, whatever “it” might be in your life, but God has a plan. Bad and difficult things happen, yes, but we try to find a glimmer of hope and positivity on the other side.

Enough rambling…I need to figure out a better way to capture the names for Beyond but for now, we’ll have to rely on my fuzzy memory. I know we had 15  which I think included the following, Bob the Builder, Geronimo, Band Camp, Straight Up, Fire Marshall Bill, Frat Boy, Longshanks, Jedi, Cha Ching, Ginsu, Trucker, Lutefisk, Bonsai, MacGuyver, YHC. My sincere apologies if I got a few of these wrong.

Once we separated from the Block Party PAX, we jogged through the park and made our way to the playground, which still sounds strange every time I write that. We did a few warm up exercises like SSH, Arm Circles, Sumo Squats and more SSH which was then followed by a little stretching and lot more of my talking (rambling). What I was trying to get to was that you can’t quit and if you need a little motivation to keep from quitting, look to the man to your left and right and realize they won’t let you quit and you don’t want to let them down. If it were just you out there, we’d quit a lot sooner. Remember, YOU’RE NEVER ALONE OUT THERE…SO DON’T QUIT.

100 American Hammers (we all thought about quitting on that one unless you’re Jedi/Geronimo

25 LBC

100 Flutters

30 Peter Parkers

50 Mountain Climbers

Partner 1: 50 Carolina Dry Docks   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done and flapjack

Partner 1: 15 Burpees   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done

Mosey to the Big Hill where found some cones forming a 15yd x 20yd rectangle on the hill.

Backward run up the hill, 5 Burpees at the top then run down. Repeat this 5 times.

Next we bear-crawled around the rectangle for 3mins which was awesome…

Mosey to the wall at the Springs building

Nothing fancy, just a mere 3mins of muscle ups…yup, it was turrible.

We talked about not quitting and trying to answer the question of whether or not you can change what is at your CORE. What is left when the world takes what you see, away? So that was it. I learned a lot in these 45mins and I hope we continue to see a good contingent of guys willing to push themselves.

As you were…

Maximus

 

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