Tag: World Wide Leader

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.

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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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Unrealistic Expectations at BEYOND

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We’ve all ages and abilities come to BEYOND since launching in January and while there have been some struggles along the way, I think the feeling is unanimous; we’re getting pushed physically and being challenged mentally, emotionally and spiritually. For those that are upcoming Q’s, the hardest part seems to be how to deliver a meaningful message and a good down inside of 45mins.

Well, it was now my time to pick the topic for the latest rendition. The launch was set for Varsity (NaFO) and the topic was one I’ve dealt with for years but didn’t know it was a problem until the last few weeks. You see, it wasn’t until some adversity and personal challenges that I realized my trends or perhaps more importantly, my tendencies. So what happens? I have these expectations of what I need to be and who I need to be which are of course, often times unrealistically high. When I fall short, which happens more often than not; I feel like I don’t measure up and reside on the line boarding failure. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to me being a less-than-desirable person to be around.

After the welcoming of a zealous FNG (Abscess) who was EH’d by Mr. FNG himself, Ginsu, I took a minute to walk through the disclaimer, what BEYOND is all about followed by the F3 CREDO: Leave no man behind and leave no man where we found him. This was done for me years ago and it is my promise to make every effort to pass it on. We then took off for a short mosey through the lot and circled up:

Plank Jacks x 10

Ski Abs x 10

Carolina Dry Docks x 10

Squat Calf Raises x 10

Forward Arm Circles x 10

Reverse Arm Circles x 10

Mak Tar Jahs x 10

This is where I let the PAX rest for a few minutes as I walked through my above challenges and what it turns into. It was also a good time to talk about how this life is not meant to be walked alone; queue the WHETSTONE relaunch coming up this Saturday 4/21. The feeling this leads to is what Scripture explains in Luke 22:31 where Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” These last few years have been a test, almost a sifting process that I have now begun to realize.

What we also realized was the neatly placed cones 50 yards apart in the parking lot. With all 20 of us lined up on one side, we sprinted to the other end and back at the following levels of effort:

50%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 25%

Mosey to the pull-up bars where 1/2 the PAX did 20 pull-ups (1 for each man that posted) while the other 1/2 did ankle grabs with their legs straight up against the wall. Each man cycled through 2 sets of each exercise and we made our way out to the adjacent roadway for:

4×4’s: Drop to a plank, 4 merkins, 4 full mountain climbers, jump up = 1 set. We did 10 sets.

With PAX on opposite sides of the road, we dropped to a plank with our hands in the road and our feet on the curb. We plank-walked down the hill about 25 yards to the cone then bear crawled back to the start. We switched sides and did it again, this time about 20yds down and bear crawled up.

It was now time for the ATM’s:

(10) 4ct Alternating shoulder taps

(10) Tempo Merkins: 3ct down and 1ct up

(10) Fast Merkins

We did 3 sets of this.

We then moseyed back to the cones for another sprint series that looked like this:

100%, 100%, 50%, 100%, 25%.

COT for a reminder of Whetstone and our FNG naming.

Loved every minute of it and thanks for the platform to share a piece of my story. I hope you learned a little tidbit and that I fulfilled my promise to not leave you where we found you.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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The SWAMP – RUCK WOD

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Well I’ve royally sucked @$$ at posting BB lately, so figured I better get this one up before I forget.  There are some workouts were  you just leave feeling motivated and this was one of them.  I saw everyone come together, great 2nd F, and a killer work out.  It’s days like this when you have a hard time remembering what life before F3 was like.  Anyways onto the workout….

Warm Up 

Rucks Overhead – 10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Mosey 100 yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Walking Lunge 100 yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks carried by waste strap  – Mosey 100 Yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Mosey 150 Yards

RUCK HEAVY WOD 

We get to my truck to see the bed of fun, 6 sandbags, 2 cement pipes and a bunch of carabiners.

We quickly and efficiently build a snake out of the sandbags (each sandbag is connected by a 8″ clip, making a giant snake) and grab the cement pipes and make our way out.

RUCK UP and grab weight

We embrace the suck and ruck to the HD parking lot.  Here one group carries all rucks and runs the parking lot while the other performs some exercises:

10 Merkins

10 Squats

Cement pipe on chest – Team big boy sit ups with O/H press (I think Truckers hand slipped a time a or two and about crushed WWL)

Switch

RUCK UP and grab weight 

Carry for a good bit and embrace the suck once again.  We make our way to a grassy area.

Partner drags – 40yards and switch then repeat

RUCK UP and grab weight 

Make our way to the fountain (FOUNTAIN OF DOOM)

We do laps around the fountain, always staying as a group and completing it together

Gorilla Walks

Walking Lunges

Side Planks (Hands on Fountain)

Bear Crawls

RUCK UP and grab weight

Make our way back for COT and wait for BC to return.  Oh yah and while we wait, RUCKS O/H.

Met up with Bones and the BC for a great COT and ending prayer.

Great workout, Great MC, and Just amazing teamwork.  Everyone gave it all they had the entire time and really pushed through.

Thanks for coming out and supporting me and RUCKING!!!

 

 

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Ruck W/O: Playing with Large Sacks at Golden Corral

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After focusing on running and boot camps for so long for the P200, my ruck was getting dusty. I knew I had a ruck Q coming up. When Rad reached out to me to see if I still wanted it, I was not sure. We have some heavy duty seasoned ruckers in The Fort and I did not want to Q below their level. Plus, I wanted to keep the weinke simple enough for those who put alot into their running training for the sake of the ruck. Hopefully I found a middle ground.

8 Ruckers were ready. The boot campers tore off with Sir Topham Hat at the Q….wasn’t going to be any easier for them. We rucked up a little heavy with 4 qty 60lb sandbags, one per every 2 PAX. Rucked over to the Grace Presbyterian church parking lot for a quick COP:

Rucks off, 20 ea, in cadence
* SSH
* WM
* IW
* MNC
* PJ

Then we started

The “play area” was between two parking lot lights, approx 25-30 yards or so apart. Starting at one end we would each complete a series of ruck exercises, then with a partner take turns getting a 60lb sandbag from the start to the other end of the area. Once we get to the other end, complete the series of ruck exercises again. Then partner work again getting the sandbags back to the start. Out and back with the sandbags is one round. We did 3 rounds. No stopping, just keep getting after it until time is up.

Ruck Exercises, 10 ea:
* Squat
* Curl
* Swing
* Upright row
* OH Press

Sandbag Rounds:
1. Forward/upward press toss
2. Reverse scoop overhead toss / deadlift overhead toss: back is facing direction of bag travel. Bend down, grab sandbag, swing/deadlift up and toss overhead.
3. Sideways toss or shovel toss – right to left at first, then left to right on the return trip

Gleek joined us halfway through round 2. He wanted to try rucking, so Rad let him use his ruck while he went off with the bootcampers who were exercising in the same lot. Great job Gleek! Welcome to rucking!

The PAX did GREAT! ALOT of mumblechatter…..epic stuff with this ruck group! What is said during the ruck WO stays with the ruck WO. Made the workout fly by. Great stuff. We almost went for a for a fourth round, but opted to do 20ea of the ruck exercises then rucked back to the COT.

COT: In short, read your newsletter. Get out there, get involved. Alot of prayers said, and I am sure there were many more not said.

Pray for Zoe Deen, her family, and the driver of the car that hit her right around the time of COT.

I did not talk much during my Q. That is happening more and more. Less talking, more working. I briefly spoke while we were in listening position (rucks overhead) about how we all have some aspect in our lives that we need to get better. That we are out here trying to get better, to help others get better. We should be trying to get better in some way every day. I know I have alot of room for improvement in alot of ways. Today was one step towards that.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
-NASA

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GC Bootcamp

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4 Pax came out for BC and 4 for Rucking.
Mossied round HT after disclaimer.
COP
SSH
Moroccan Night Clubs
Squats
Windmills
Mountain Climbers
Merkins

11s with dips and derkins

The Thang
Stations:
Seal Jacks x 15
Plank Jacks x 15
Squats x 25
Burpees x 10
OHP x 15 w/CB
One Armed Rows x 15
Imperial walkers x 15
Mountain Climbers x 15
Merkins x 20
Freddie Mercuries x 15
Big boy situps x 10
Pax went clockwise around stations with a lap around the parking lot between each station with some good conversation in between.
COT
Announcements /prayers
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Burpee Bonanza at the Swamp

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Tuesday morning at Golden Corral, Cable Guy (in typical Cable Guy fashion) looks over at YHC (who is conveniently located across the parking lot, because, well, Cable Guy in the morning…) and says, “So, you’ll Q Friday at the Swamp.” It wasn’t really a question; it was more a statement of fact.

“I’ll what now?”

“Yeah, you’ll Q.”

Before I could raise any objections to protect my fellow PAX from what would become my fifth bootcamp Q in just over 2 weeks, word started to spread, and my fate was sealed.

No Twitter announcement was made to prepare the PAX for today, so when 0515 rolled over on my watch, I stepped into the circle to make the disclaimer. It was a C-Span-approved disclaimer, so I’m getting better there. Disclaimer disclaimed, the 7 ruckers walked off one way and the 8 bootcampers moseyed the other.

COP, Part 1

Short mosey to the parking lot behind Cold Stone for

20 SSH IC

10 hillbilly walkers IC

Moving on…

COP, Part 2

Following a mosey with a few side shuffles thrown in, we circled up outside Books A Million for

10 windmills IC

10 low slow squats IC

20 Moroccan night clubs IC

That’s it for the warm up; I wanted to leave plenty of time for the main event. So we moseyed over to the Sun Trust Bank parking lot for the fun to start.

The Thang

The bank is a good size to run around, and it conveniently has 11 parking spaces in a nice, flat, straight row, making it perfect for a lineup of stations. For today’s fun, we had ten burpee stations and a “rest” station of 100 LBCs. Exercises were all OYO, with a lap around the bank after each station, resulting in 11 laps. The burpee stations, in no particular order:

20 Burpees (plain old burpees)

10 Prison cell burpees

10 Kraken burpees

15 Walmart burpees (“Walmart” because you roll back; these were the focus of much mumblechatter)

15 Bodybuilder burpees

15 Inverted burpees

20 One-arm burpees (10 per arm)

20 One-leg burpees (10 per leg)

15 Tuck jump burpees (jump knees to chest)

20 Jump ½ turn burpees (ideally 10 per direction)

For those counting, that makes for 160 wonderfully fun burpees. I think we ended up running over two miles, too, but I’m not sure on that one.

T-claps to all the bootcampers, as everybody completed the entire circuit, and nobody really got far ahead of anybody else. LBCs were completed by some as we waited for the six. With five minutes to spare, we moseyed back to Chick-Fil-A for a couple minutes of stretching our now very tight shoulders and hips.

Announcements

  • GoRuck Light tomorrow. Good luck and have fun to those guys going. Make sure you’re prepared, as the list on the website is not suggestions.
  • Post somewhere tomorrow if you’re not rucking.
  • Yeti in two weeks.
  • Read your newsletter.

Prayers and Praises

  • Wild Thing’s sister-in-law is being induced today to deliver their still-born child. Please pray for this entire family as they deal with this.
  • C-Span’s son (and the whole family really) eagerly anticipating the birth of their baby. (I think I understood that right.)
  • World Wide Leader had to return to work after six weeks of paternity leave, and now their son is starting into daycare, so tons of transitions for all of that family.
  • Rad’s daughter is still in the hospital after a high fever and numerous seizures. The fever is down, but other tests are being done, so pray for her and the whole family.
  • YHC is dealing with some difficult situations at work, including a family returning from overseas early, which may lead to marital issues. Pray for them, and for those who are caring for them.
  • DaVinci’s business has gained some new clients with potentially more on the way, which is great and also daunting.

Even with limited notice (which seems to be the only way I end up Qing), it’s an honor to get to lead and serve these men. Thanks to Cable Guy for the Q-portunity. Kotters to Photobomb.

Ask the ruckers what they did. I only ever saw them walking.

-Jedi

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Creative Misery at the Rock

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When Smuggler organized this Q combo, he must’ve known a lot of PAX were looking for that Saturday morning push. After some banter back and forth between the WEP Q’s and us Alcatraz Q’s, we were pleasantly surprised to see car after car after car roll into Runde Park this Saturday morning. The weather was warm and the PAX were primed with the early mumble chatter. With the typical “don’t hurt yourself and don’t sue if you do hurt yourself” disclaimer, we took a very abbreviated (10yd) mosey to the right side of the parking lot (a slight teaser for what was coming).

Jog to the other end of the lot and back then repeat.

Walking lunges 1/2 way down then high knees to the end. Same thing on the way back to the start.

Windmills & deadlifts to warm up the legs a little more then mosey to the top of “THE HILL”

PAX squat for 20sec then jog to the base of the hill followed by an all-out sprint back to the top of the hill and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 40sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 60sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Find some curb and 50 calf raises each leg.

Mosey to the field for a circle up.

This was when I think they really lost my mind…Lt. Dan’s (1 squat and 4 jumping lunges (2ea side counts as 4)) and we went to 8:32 before handing it off Tesh!!

With Tesh on Q, you just had a feeling this was going to get bad.

With the PAX in a very long plank:

5 Merkins

10 Mountain Climbers

5 Merkins

10 Peter Parkers

5 Merkins

Various Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Mosey to the fence line:

Merkin-Turtle crawl (can’t explain…you had to be there)

10 Merkins

Bear Crawl 50yds

More Tesh-approved CORE exercises

10 Bombjacks x 3 rounds

Mosey to the playground and split into 4 groups

Rotate through 5 pull-ups & 10 dips. For those waiting, hold the Al Gore pose.

Yet more Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Repeat the above 2 lines

Closed it out with 6min of Mary which couldn’t end fast enough.

Announcements: Yeti (Newsletter), Reading in Paradise

Prayer Requests: Praise for Palmer family, Cornerstone’s family, continued prayers for the Family & Friends affected by the recent tragedy’s our community has experienced, our officers, job transitions, marriages.

I’m sure Smuggler will get a little verbal backlash on this but hey, it made us better and everyone crushed it.

Maximus & Tesh

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

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76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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BB – Swamp Ruck – Miles and Smiles

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Here we go, new year, new workout.

Miles and Smiles

The six of us showed up with our Rucks ready to move it.  Grabbed a cement pipe, and a couple sand bags and got in a little under 3 miles.

Great times and great practice for all of our events coming up.

Glad to have Shakespeare joining us with his new shiny Ruck (yeah I’ll take care of that on Tuesday).  Nasa talked about old man farts coming from ahead of us, I’ll let you guess who the supplier was.  And good times.

If you are new to rucking and want an intro come on out.  Post up and let us know and we can source a ruck for you to borrow.  If you are a expert Rucker come out and log some miles and have a great time with us.

COME OUT TUESDAY TO GC

Rad

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20 pax made it out to the golden corral for some bootcamp, ruck, and run.  Rad had a good showing for what looked like a heavy ruck.

A proper disclaimer was made (thanks to dark helmet’s Q school) and we mosied around HT for cop.
COP
SSH x 25
Morracan Night Clubs x 20
Imperial Walkers x 20
Low slow squats x 15
Merkins x 15
Peter Parkers x 25
Windmills x 15
The thang
Mosied over to the front of HT and bear crawled/crab walked to the first cone for four cotners, breaking it up with 10 merkins and 20 LBCs.
Four Corners (three rounds)
1st cone with Cindy – OHP x 25/ Bent over rows x 25/ Curls and tricep extrnsions x 25. Nomad got angry and smashed a block.
2nd cone – Burpees x 10/ Burpees x 10/ Kracken Burpees x 10
3rd cone – Squat jumps x 20/ Lunges x 20/ sumo squats x 20
4th cone – Seal jacks x 30/ Plank jacks x 30 / Bomb jacks x 30
Finished with wall sits with everyone doing one more kracken burpee down the line, and a failed attempt at BTTW by YHC who ate pavement, and finally 10 minutes of Mary led by all nine PAX.
COT
Announcements
As usual, read your newsletter.   Upcoming Icebreaker in York, the Rooster in Rock Hill, and light and heavy rucks.  2nd F at fort mill BBQ at noon.
Prayers and praises.
Thanks Decibel for the opportunity
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