A Long Time Coming

Again I apologize for the long time in between posts. I've been getting adjusted to my new classes and schedule. Not much new has really been happening. I really like my new room and roommates. People who consistently clean makes inspections a lot easier. The whole Plebe class has finally been coming together, as noticed by our passing of the last two Plebe Knowledge Tests in consecutive weeks. Tonight's could make it three as there's a good chance we passed it after listening to the RTOA afterward in his meeting with the Plebe Representatives.

Right now everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving Break in two days. Although I won't be able to go home, I am able to go home with a friend of mine from Long Island, so I'll at least be getting away from this place. So far, I know that we will be going to the Broadway show Next to Normal on Wednesday night, which should be a cool experience, since I've never really been to many musicals.

Since I don't really have much else to report, I'll end it here. Hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to detail from Thanksgiving Break. Stand by for further posts.

Finals, Home, and the City

I realize it's been a while since my last post, however, I lost some motivation during finals week and while at home. Before I begin, I must thank all of our veterans, reservists, and active duty military members for their selfless service to our nation. Though it seems like it sometimes, we will never forget you.

Finals week started off on Saturday the 24th with approximately 7 hours of mandatory study time thanks to our CTO. However, it was nice that he allowed us to listen to music if we felt that it would help us study. The rest of finals week was pretty nice as we were allowed to keep our door closed and sleep whenever we had free time during the day. We were even allowed to sleep in until 715 every morning if we didn't feel like going to breakfast! I did alright in my classes overall, but I certainly could've done better.

Friday morning of finals week was really sweet because I finished my English final pretty quickly which allowed me to leave campus once I changed into my Service Dress Blues and grabbed my luggage. A few friends and I shared a cab to LaGuardia around 1015 or 1030 even though my flight wasn't until 1800. It ended up working out pretty well as I was able to get on a 1230 flight back to Minneapolis. However, due to delays in Minneapolis and some mechanical issues, we didn't leave New York until 1400.

The flight itself wasn't all that exciting until we were approaching the runway at Minneapolis/St. Paul International. We were coming in on final approach when all of a sudden, the captain pushed the throttle forward and zoomed away from the runway. From what I understand, he was coming in too high for the runway which caused us to abort the landing and fly around for a while longer before giving it another go. After landing and picking up my bag, my parents and I headed over to my favorite Chinese restaurant by the new TCF Bank Football Stadium for a nice dinner. It felt so good to eat some good food for once. On the way home, we drove past Target Field while they were testing the field lights, which made my flight delays worth it, as the 1800 flight would likely have not allowed me to see them. Getting home was such a great feeling as I could finally fully relax and do what I want to do.

My eight days at home were spent relaxing, playing Xbox, hanging out with friends, eating, and doing other stuff that I liked doing before I came here. Trips to the Mall of America, the Albertville Outlets, Cabelas, Bethel University, and Northwestern College were definite highlights just as much as times I spent at home with my family watching TV or playing cribbage. The time at home was definitely necessary as I was able to recharge and refresh before coming back here to the daily grind. Had I not been able to go home, I likely would have gone crazy by now. One thing I do know for sure is that I am really looking forward to going home again for Christmas.

When I came back this past Sunday I wasn't exactly looking forward to resuming the Kings Point Life, but I wasn't severely dreading it either. When I got back to my room, I finished packing up all my belongings getting ready for my move to Flight Deck (3rd floor). After Plebe Accountability Muster and the PKT, moving was a little shy of chaos with everybody moving rooms. Once I got all my stuff moved in, it was on to the task of putting it all away. That took a while as I was trying to organize everything neatly. I actually finished Monday morning with that task.

The rest of Monday was spent getting books and watching the Simpsons on my computer, as I really did not have much else to do. I guess I did go lift and run for Army Ops PT. Because the leader wasn't there, some friends and I decided to run to the Great Neck train station and back which ended up being a 6.3 mile trek. I was pretty tired by the end of that as I'd never run that far.

Classes started on Tuesday and those should keep me more interested than those I had first trimester. Around lunchtime, I picked up a baseball recruit and showed him around for the rest of the day through today. Because it it Veteran's Day today, we were given overnight liberty for last night into today. So, a friend and I took my recruit into the City and saw some sights he and we had never seen before. We went to Times Square, the top of the Rockefeller Center and saw the vast expanse of the New York metro area at night, walked all the way to Ground Zero and saw the Freedom Tower being built, walked around the west side of Manhattan by the Hudson River, and to top it all off, were thanked for our military service by rap mogul Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records. That was a pretty cool experience. We got back to the Academy around 0215 and promptly went to sleep. I woke up about 2 and a half hours ago, so that brings the blog up to date with the current happenings of my life here at Kings Point. I'll have some pictures of last night up on Facebook pretty soon. Stand by for further posts.