I Really Need to Do This More

Well, It's been just over a month since my last post, and I'm not satisfied with that. However, I've been fairly busy as of late, which causes the blog to get bumped from my schedule. Maybe a New Year's Resolution should be to keep this updated more often... Anyway, I will pick up where I left off, right after my shoulder dislocation.

The weekend wasn't bad, as I remember it, but it wasn't good either. We had a Class B inspection on Saturday morning with nothing scheduled after. Unfortunately, there was an announcement mid-morning that Plebe Liberty was secured (not happening) for the weekend. That wasn't all bad as it allowed us to focus on our schoolwork without us wondering if we were going to get off campus that day.

Sunday the 14th started the usual way with Sunday School at 0930, church at 1115, and the PKT at 1900, with homework, PKT studying, and Plebe Accountability filling my afternoon. This was our first PKT with the new rotation of officers. The new RTOA made some minor changes from the previous RTOA, but nothing too drastic. As expected, however, we did not pass.

I was notified on Monday that I had an appointment with the orthopedic doctor the following day, much to my relief. That night was our Regimental Christmas Dinner, which featured Prime Rib as our main course. Though far from spectacular, it was better than the normal Delano fare. After the dinner wrapped up, many of us headed over to the chapel for the Festival of Lights. A program which features Midshipmen playing instruments, singing, and the reading of Scripture. It was really cool seeing people from the community taking part in this special annual event.

I wasn't expecting to spend all morning on Tuesday at the doctor's, though that's what ended up happening. I wasn't thrilled about this at all because I was going to be missing Physics 2 and Calc 2, two classes I shouldn't be missing all that much. It was semi-worth it as I found out for sure that I would indeed be needing surgery on my troubled left shoulder. Due to the doctor's busy schedule, the only surgery slot available before the end of January was January 4 in the afternoon. Being as we were returning to the Academy the day before, I wasn't overjoyed about the date, but I knew I needed to take it. Oddly, I got an MRI AFTER the surgery was scheduled, which was a little strange, but I suppose the doctor needed to see what what he was going to be dealing with inside my shoulder. After my appointment ended at 1145, the three of us from Kings Point called to get picked up by drivers from the school, still hopeful that we would make it in time for lunch. Unfortunately, as 1210 rolled around and no driver was there, our hopes began to dwindle. Luckily, we were picked up at 1215 and we did make it back in time for lunch.

The rest of the week flew by as we counted down the days until we were able to go home. My flight was Saturday morning, so I was figuring that I'd need to spend the night here at school and get a cab around 0330 or 0400. Thankfully, a friend offered to let me stay at his house. Boy was that more than welcome. Another guy and I spent the evening watching movies, eating pizza, playing Xbox 360, and chuckling to the ridiculousness of MTV's Jersey Shore. Even better was the generosity of my friend's mom who drove the other guy and me to the airport at 0430.

We had been seeing for a couple of days that a huge storm was scheduled to hit the eastern seaboard sometime on Saturday, we just didn't know exactly what time. The biggest advantage to my 0615 flight was the fact that I got out before the storm hit, as did my friend who was flying out around the same time. I know of some people who were stranded in NY until Tuesday. What a rotten way to spend Christmas Break!

Upon landing in Minnesota, my parents picked me up and drove over to my grandma's house for a brunch with my cousin who lives in London, and my uncle who lives in the Twin Cities. Man was that nice to be able to eat real food. The rest of my first two days at home were spent sleeping, watching tv, and playing 360. Luxuries that make going home so worthwhile.

The Monday after I arrived back home we packed up the Intrepid and began the long trek out to my grandparents' ranch in Montana. Though it was a lot of time in the car, it was more than worth it to get away from the Big Apple to the sparsely inhabited area outside Big Sandy. Our six days at the Ranch included plenty of eating, cribbage, time working on a jigsaw puzzle, tv, and snowmobiling. Being out in the thinner mountain air really allowed my batteries to recharge and attempt to ready me for my not so fun times awaiting me back at the Academy. On the 28th, we packed up the Intrepid again and started our journey back home.

On the second day of our trip I began reading Highest Duty, the autobiography of Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the Captain of US Air flight 1549 which made a remarkable landing on the Hudson River. It was an excellent read, telling of his childhood, time at the US Air Force Academy, career, and finally, the landing on the Hudson. Due to his time in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy, I was able to relate to many of his experiences. Reading that book got me started reading and I have finished two other autobiographies and am about to finish a book by Chuck Colson since returning to Kings Point.

After returning home, I made it a priority to spend as much time with as many friends as I could before my time in Minnesota expired. That was another fun week culminating in a fun Saturday afternoon/night which included watching Avatar, having some friends over, and playing some Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Boy, that was awesome. Unfortunately, after my friends left at 0045 Sunday morning, I needed to commence packing my bags. I did get that done was was able to get some sleep.

I wasn't super excited to wake up Sunday morning, but I had a feeling that it was almost my time to go back. Two weeks away doesn't feel like a long time, but in reality it really is. We planned to get to the airport to give me about an hour and a half to make it through security and catch my flight. Much to my dismay, slow moving lines and a late notification to use the First Class check-in caused me to miss my scheduled 1000 flight, making me wait for a 1315 flight to LaGuardia. It all worked out, however, because flight delays allowed me to get back to the Academy around 1920 which allowed me to miss the dreaded PKT. Already my time back was not as bad as expected. Come to think of it though, I was scheduled to stand Library Watch, so I would have missed the PKT anyway. Surprisingly, sleep came easy that night as thoughts of what the next day held stayed away.

It started like any other day at Kings Point, morning muster at 0600, breakfast at 0615, cleaning stations, morning inspection at 0700, and Colors at 0725. I spent the morning completing some homework I knew would be due during my two days away from classes, as well as preparing my room for my necessities after the surgery. Around 1040 I departed the barracks and headed up to Patten Clinic to wait for my ride to the surgery center. Upon arrival to the surgery center, I did the usual rigmarole, and took a seat waiting for some volunteers I've gotten to know from the Academy to meet me in the waiting room. My surgery was scheduled for 1330, but I was told that the surgeon was running about an hour behind schedule. Even so, I was taken into the back between 1230 and 1300 to get me prepped for the procedure. Because I was not allowed to drink or eat anything after 2300 the night before, the nurses had a hard time getting the IV into my hand, but finally one of them got it in. After that I briefly spoke with the surgeon and the anesthesiologist before walking into the operating room.

This was unlike my knee surgery because I was wheeled into the OR for that, but I didn't really mind walking in there under my own power. After laying down on the table, the anesthesiologist starting poking around my neck trying to find the perfect place for the deep nerve block which would effectively numb my arm for the next seven to eight hours. While he was poking around, he got my arm to twitch around, though flop may be more accurate. It didn't really hurt all that much, but it sure was a weird sensation. After he injected me, the next thing I saw was the clock in the recovery room at just past 1610. I dozed for a while there and got out of there around 1715 or 1730. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of the Guest family I was not required to wait for the USMMA EMTs to come pick me up. We made a quick stop at the Seven Seas restaurant as I had expressed a desire for some food, but soon after getting into the restaurant I decided that I was not really up for that, so we boxed up our food and went back to the Academy. I was still severely drugged so I was more than happy to crash on my bed for the next 3 hours or so.

After falling asleep again thanks to my pain meds, I woke up the next morning and ate some breakfast before sleeping off the entire morning, briefly waking up for some friends who stopped in my room. Surprisingly, I can still remember them coming in because others noted I wasn't quite all there that day. After watching a movie in the afternoon, I ventured out to the Sports Medicine room to spend some time with the Game Ready ice/compression machine and talk with the baseball coach letting him know that everything went smoothly. He was one of the main people to comment that I wasn't totally there that afternoon. When I saw him the next afternoon he told me that I was looking quite a bit better and not dazed like the day before.

It seems as if nothing too crazy has happened since last Wednesday. I did go to the doctor yesterday and he said that I will definitely not be playing baseball this year even though I am a relief pitcher. Oh well. At least I'll have some time to develop my pitches this season before getting some playing time next year. I started physical therapy yesterday, so I suppose I really am "on the road to recovery". As much as I want to get out of the shoulder brace, I sure don't mind that it allows me to walk wherever I want and not take the PKTs. That is one definite plus... I think I might be do some more reading tonight before heading off to bed. Good night and stand by for further posts.

It Really Has Been a While, Hasn't It?

Again, I apologize for not keeping this updated. School and other commitments have kept me fairly busy. The last time I updated, I had just returned from a trip to West Point, and Thanksgiving Break was only a few days away. This time, I am a week removed from going into the City to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, and a week away from going home. A good amount has happened since the last post and this one, and I hope to detail most of it.

Thanksgiving Break was a much needed time to get away from this place and relax and sleep for five days. Since I was unable to go home, I was able to stay at with my friend and his family who live in Hicksville, NY, which is about 30-40 minutes away from the Academy with traffic. The first night was spent relaxing; soaking in the wonderful feeling of civilian clothes and being away from campus. Wednesday was also spent relaxing until we went into the City to try to catch a Broadway show. Unfortunately, all of the cheap tickets were sold out, so we decided to go to the Olive Garden in Times Square. It was a long wait, but it was well worth it.

Thanksgiving Day brought a new experience for me. It marked the first time I had ever been away from my family on that holiday, or really any holiday for that matter. Luckily, my friend's relatives were more than welcoming, and I had a great time eating, conversing, and watching football with them. Nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the break, as we spent the time relaxing some more and catching up on sleep.

Much to my surprise, we managed to pass PKT 6 the night we returned, which put us on a nice little streak, 3 passed PKTs in 4 weeks. The week following wasn't all that exciting for the first half of the week, but people were very happy once the long weekend for the Christmas Ball commenced Friday afternoon. That night, many people went out and partied in the City because there weren't any regimental obligations until 1400 for Plebes. I, however, did not go out because I had to work on the T/V Kings Pointer Saturday morning from 0800 until noon, though we were released a little before 1000. Attendance at the basketball games was mandatory for Plebes, but that wasn't too big of a deal. I'm glad I stayed as long as I did, because I was needed to run the shot clock for the men's game.

I was hoping that the Ball would be a new experience for me, but it really was nothing more than an over glorified high school dance held in the former summer home of Walter P. Chrysler. That was a little bit of a letdown, but what can I really expect being around sailors? After cleaning up the dance from 0100-0145, Sunday was what I was really looking forward to.

We were supposed to depart the Academy around 1230, but in reality it was right around 1300. Though the buses were late, all of us headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Christmas Spectacular were more than happy to leave campus. Once we got to the area right around Rockefeller Center at 1405, we had about two hours to walk around and eat before making our way over to Radio City. Some good friends and I headed to Chipotle because I mentioned it and they thought it sounded good as well. After a wonderfully filling lunch, we wandered over to Barnes and Noble because one of the guys wanted to check it out. While there a few of us got some Starbucks before trekking over to Radio City.

Entering Radio City Music Hall for the first time is quite an experience. The renovation in the 90s really made it into an extravagant venue. On our way to our seats, my friends and I ran into a Navy SEAL from SEAL Team 3, which is based near San Diego and has a primary territory coverage of Southwest Asia. It was a really cool experience meeting someone like that who has done more militarily than most of us will ever know or do.

The program itself was spectacular, as the name suggests. The choreography of the Rockettes was flawless, and the production itself was very well done. If anyone has the chance to visit New York City in November or December, a trip to see the Christmas Spectacular is well worth it. After the show finished, we walked around until the buses picked us up at 1930. Getting back wasn't all that fun, but at least we had missed the PKT for the night.

Monday wasn't too crazy, but Tuesday is where my week, and possibly my time here at school changed. Tuesday was going pretty normally until the evening when I met my recruit to whom I would be showing the school. We met at Delano when the baseball coach had come in with him after picking him up at the airport. The rest of the night was pretty nondescript until we all went to bed in my room. I had done a leg workout earlier that day, thrown for a while, and also gone on the recumbent bike for about 10 minutes. With all of that exercise, my legs were exhausted.

Sometimes when I, and many people, fall asleep, I begin to doze off and awake with a sudden jerk. This happened once and I thought I had kicked the wall even though I hadn't. I went back to sleep, awakening after another jerk. Only this time, I was mid-air. I proceeded to hit my right arm on my desk before hitting the ground less than a foot from my recruit. Once I realized that I was on the ground, I then noticed that my left shoulder was no longer in the socket. It had popped out. After moving my arm for a couple minutes, I had put it back in place and was ready for bed, only this time, one of my roommates could not stop laughing. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and proceeded to laugh for the next hour.

The next day when dropping my recruit off with the baseball coach, I told him about my little incident. He was a little vexed about how I fell out of bed, but he told me to go to the trainers to get it checked out. When I was finally able to see them Thursday afternoon and evening, I was advised to go to the clinic to get it examined further, and so a visit with an orthopedic doctor could be scheduled. Hopefully I'll get in to see him this week. I'll try to keep this updated over the Christmas Break, but I'm not promising anything. Stand by for further posts.

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.

Counting Down the Days

As I sit here on watch, I can only help but ask myself why. Why did I come to this place to be locked up usually 6 out of 7 days a week, with many mindless, menial tasks that have nearly no purpose? After all, it was just about one year ago when I was sitting at Buffalo Wild Wings with my friend Jake watching game 6 of the ALCS where the Red Sox came from behind to force game 7 against the Rays. I can still vividly remember sitting there, eating my boneless Honey BBQ wings along with my Parmesan Garlic bone-in wings, munching on celery in between wings, all while talking baseball, fantasy football, and whatever else came to mind. I really miss going to do things like that. Unfortunately, I cannot. I decided to attend a Federal Service Academy, and that's what I shall continue to do. On the bright side, however, in just 10 days I'll be back in Minnesota doing what I want to do, rather than what the upperclassmen tell me to do. It will be a very welcome nine day break; something necessary to keep me sane, I believe.

Saturday was an okay day. Our Class B inspection was cancelled, which kept us from cleaning very late into the night. Instead, our Company Commander took all of the available Plebes on a "team building exercise" which was actually a run with a "fun" activity at the end. Because I had been sick for the previous week, my endurance wasn't quite where it could've been, so I had a more difficult time than I should've. After we finished and showered, we marched over to Ackerman to watch a presentation about hazing and the responsibility of leaders in general. This was prompted by a little incident a few weeks back where a First Co. Plebe was persuaded to drink a shot of an extremely fiery hot sauce. It was a good, informational time that I hope people really took note of, as there was some excellent info about alcohol and college students.

The, albeit cold, afternoon was taken up by the football game against the University of Rochester. Our opening drive looked promising, though our hopes fell as our team fell apart and Rochester capitalized on our mistakes. We weren't overly thrilled with the final score of 52-21, but it did get us out of the cold. Once the game finished, the RTOA told us to muster in Ackerman Auditorium in 22 minutes, which we assumed was a liberty muster. We were correct, and we were released on liberty right around 1515. Because I had gone to D.C. the weekend before, I didn't really feel a pressing need to go out, so I stayed in my room, slept, and watched a movie before our accountability muster at 2230. Not surprisingly, there was somebody who found a way to mess it up and make us wait a lot longer than we should have. When we finally did get back, I finished my movie and did a few other things before drifting off around 1 am.

I woke up around 9am not feeling totally refreshed, but I think that was because I had gotten way more sleep than I was used to within the last 24 hours. I quickly got ready and headed over to the Chapel for our Sunday morning Bible Class. After the Bible Class and the Worship Service, Mom and Dad Guest were putting on a "Going Out to Sea" seminar, mainly for the Third Classmen who will be leaving after finals to board their assigned ships. The main draw for the few Plebes that did go was Mom Guest's chili that she brought from home, along with pies and ice cream for dessert. That was the highlight of the day, as I spent the rest of the afternoon keeping tabs on football games.

The PKT was one of the more memorable ones, as there were several people called up on stage and/or made fun of for presentations that they gave. The RTOA has such an excellent sense of humor. It's really a shame that we cannot appreciate it when we're near him.

Monday was a pretty relaxed day as those of us who participated in CC's Saturday morning fun received rack-in and media privileges. I slept during my two free periods during the morning as well as my two free periods after lunch. We had our 40 minute swim in swimming class, which is actually a lot easier than it sounds when doing the modified backstroke. It's just a long time to be in the pool. CFC was a little different Monday night as it was a Coffee House night where people could perform whatever talents they thought they had. There were some excellent performances as well as some that could have been a little better, but it was good overall, with the highlight coming from a First Class Midshipman who sang "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. Even some of his closest friends did not know that he could do that and do it so well.

Today hasn't been all that exciting. As I said before, I'm on watch right now which meant that I had watch from 08-12 this morning. Nothing exciting really happened while on watch. I got my Calc and Physics tests back today. I'm pretty satisfied with both of them, so I'm sitting pretty well going into the finals for each of those classes. I would like to sleep in tomorrow, but that is not going to happen as I have Army PT at 0500. Oh well, I can sleep as much as I want in 10 days... Stand by for further posts.

D.C. and More!

I'll admit it. I've been a slacker lately when it's come to blogging. I'm going to make it a priority to get posts up more often than every week and a half or so. Anyway, the past 10 days have been fairly interesting and fairly bland at times. Then again, every day is so routine, everything feels pretty bland.

As for my reactions to the Yankees-Twins series, I don't have many good ones. It's always disheartening to see one's favorite team have that one bad inning happen every game which leads to a loss. Game One started off well with two early runs off C.C. Sabathia, but then Duensing couldn't hold it together. Game 2 was phenomenal for the Twins until Joe Nathan came in. Game 3 was pretty tense until Pavano painfully gave up some runs in the 7th. Oh well, that's come to be pretty routine for the Twins in the past 8 years to make it to the ALDS and not advance. The worst part of it for me was getting razzed by so many people here because the Yankees are king. I was in hostile territory from the beginning. Now if only the Angels can take the ALCS against the Yankees. Then I'll be pretty happy.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty routine. Friday, however, was not. Since we were given a long weekend for the Columbus Day holiday, we could leave as soon as our last class ended. Because of that, the food provider completely misplanned numberwise for lunch. They assumed that fewer people would be there to eat. In actuality, most of the Regiment showed up. Surprise! This resulted in many, many people getting very little to no lunch, which in turn spurred an angry response from a lot of Midshipmen.

Eventually, I got through class for the day and headed out with three of my friends to Penn Station where we would catch our bus to D.C. Our bus picking us up ended up being about an hour late because of traffic coming into New York. If we had known that, we would've gotten something to eat, but we figured that we didn't have enough time to find something had it been on time. That resulted in four very hungry Plebes by the time the bus rolled into downtown D.C. Eventually we made it to Georgetown University where we were staying with a friend of Aaron Kunz, one of the Plebes I was with. We had a chance to drop our stuff off before heading out to Subway at 2am. When we got back to the dorm where we were staying around 3, we passed out for quite a while.

Saturday, after a pretty late start of 1430, we headed into the area of the National Mall to check out the National Air and Space Museum before meeting one of the Plebe's aunt and uncle at a sports bar to watch the St. Louis Cardinals game. I'd been to the Air and Space Museum, but was more than happy to go back. They have quite a collection of various air and space craft dating from way back all the way to unmanned UAVs like the Predator drone. Though the Cards ended up losing, we had a great time visiting with Aaron's aunt and uncle and eating some good food. After walking around the Capitol and the Washington Monument at night, we headed back to Georgetown to find some parties to go to, but to no avail. Sunday started out a little earlier for us, though we really gained no time as we walked over 3 miles from Georgetown to a wood fire pizza place not too far away from the Verizon Center, where the Wizards and Capitols play. On our way there we encountered many people walking to raise money to cure breast cancer, as well as what seemed like tens of thousands of LGBT people for the National Equality March. I was a little unhappy that we were so conspicuous in our Summer Whites, but we didn't really have any problems. Actually, at the National Archives, they saved us a bunch of time because one of the security guards allowed us to cut the entire line and go see the Big 3 documents right away. That was pretty cool. Once we completed our quick tour of the National Archives, we took a short stroll over to the National Museum of American History. There were some pretty cool exhibits on Abraham Lincoln, as well as the U.S. Military from the early 1700s all the way until now. They had actual uniforms from Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

After we were kindly shooed out at closing time, our next stop was the Washington Monument again, followed by the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. We would've added the Vietnam War Memorial, but it wasn't where I thought it was and it was getting dark, so we decided to find an ice cream shop. After checking our phones for places, we figured it best to just start walking in case we came across one. When we did, we stopped and ate before continuing. Though we did not plan it this way, we happened to walk all the way back to Georgetown University. Another 3 mile walk back. Because I "was pretty tired", I opted to not hit up some parties with the other three guys and instead headed back to my room to relax for a while before finally falling asleep.

We planned to get up early Monday to meet Aaron's aunt and uncle for breakfast, but those plans were nixed when Aaron found out they were unavailable. A taxi took us to the bus station before we took a little walk to find some breakfast. The bus ride was pretty uneventful as we drove through Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to make it back to the Big Apple. Coming back on campus was somewhat of a downer, realizing that we were back to the daily grind.

As expected, we failed that night's PKT because people chose to not study while on Liberty. I, on the other hand, used some of my bus ride to look over the study guide.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday were all pretty normal. Nothing stands out to me right now as I write this. Only the cold temperature during the soccer game Wednesday night, where I was a ball boy, and Cookie Cafe on Thursday have any sort of lasting memories.

Because we didn't have any classes on Monday, Friday was a Monday schedule for classes. I had no objections with that, because I only have two classes on Mondays: swimming and English 1. Once lunch finished up, I relaxed until Bible Study at 1900. After Bible Study, CTO mandated that we complete our cleaning stations from 2100-2200. Afterward we had a mandatory CTO time, where the Company Commander (CC) and CTO lectured us on working on building team unity, and not letting "stupid high school crap" get in our way. This was necessary as we've had some issues between Plebes as of late. Now, it's off to bed for me. Stand by for future posts.

A Contrasting Two Weeks

I'll put this pretty bluntly, last week was awful. I'll detail it more in a little bit, but I am so happy it is over.

Saturday the 26th was our Apple Picking TM. Ironically, it was my last really good day before this past Sunday. After our Red Cross training, we left on a school bus and drove to an apple orchard northwest of the Bronx on the mainland of New York. There was an unusual amount of traffic for a Saturday afternoon which ate up a bunch of our time at the orchard, but I still had a blast picking apples with my friends. Once we had all filled our bags with McIntoshes and Cortlands, we loaded up the bus again and headed to Mom and Dad Guest's house. Upon arrival we were met with a table filled with oatmeal raisin cookies, brownies, and cold milk for us to munch on while we divided up and made homemade waffle cones and ice cream, melted chocolate and caramel for dipping sauces, carved pumpkins, sliced up our apples for the dipping sauces, and of course, readied apple pies for baking. Our night there was filled with great food, awesome fellowship, and a wonderful time of singing and playing games. My day had another high point: seeing Old Yankee Stadium and New Yankee Stadium for the first time. No baseball fan is complete until he has visited or at least seen one of those in person.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all a blur for me as I spent a good chunk of time working on my English paper. Sunday stood out because we were granted day liberty. My friend Ryan and I decided to take the bus out to Great Neck to grab some lunch and catch some football. Midway into my pizza and the Giants-Bucs game, I got a call from Chaplain Sias asking if Ryan was with me, because his parents wanted to speak with him. I later found out that they came to the campus without explicitly telling him, so they came down to Great Neck and took us back to the Academy. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football and studying my PKT knowledge along with the Air Force Hymn.

I don't really remember much of Monday because most of it was spent working on my paper. Tuesday, however, I remember a little bit more. It was my birthday, even though it didn't really feel like it. I think it was probably my worst birthday ever. Even worse than my 16th birthday where I was in the middle of a two week grounding. I didn't get any mail, nothing special really happened, my friends didn't ask me to go to dinner with them, and we got IT'ed for CTO time to top it all off.

Wednesday was nondescript as well, though I just seem to remember unpleasantness at some point during the day. Though I just remembered that we had a sort of inter-squad game for baseball practice. In my first inning of pitching I did really well, got three quick outs. My second inning felt a lot worse even though I didn't allow any runs. This day of pitching will figure in with why Sunday was such a good day. Thursday was marginally better because of Cookie Cafe in the afternoon.

Friday was a lot of fun at night because it was Homecoming weekend here at the Academy and I signed up to drive alumni around in golf carts. Because not all of them wanted rides or were walking around after 7 pm, a few of us had a lot of fun screwing around with the golf carts driving all over the campus. Little did we know of the fury that would be unleashed the following morning.

Saturday started okay, with a bunch of us raising the #1 Ensign on the main flagpole (the largest US flag we have if you do not know). Upon the flag being raised, all of the Plebes (at that moment) headed over to Ackerman Auditorium to listen to VADM Albert Herberger, USN, the first USMMA grad to attain the rank of VADM in the United States Navy. After he finished, the RTOA, RTO, and RX all had their fun yelling at us for being worthless Plebes. So worthless in fact, that they decided to revoke our overnight liberty for the weekend AND demote us to Plebe Candidates again, which meant that we could no longer talk in Delano. Once we were released from that, our morale were way below the basement. I had to work the soccer game as a ballboy again to help pay for the baseball team's trip to Florida in the spring. After the game finished I got into khakis to watch the football game. It was a pretty good game until it started pouring torrential amounts of rain from the sky which flooded our FieldTurf field which delayed the game for over an hour. Thankfully, we were dismissed from the game which allowed us to stay in our rooms and work on other stuff like homework, or in my case, listen to the Twins squeak one out against the Royals. Because we had nothing better to do, we watched The Last Castle in Ackerman, which turned out to be a really good movie. I was quite happy, however, when we were released from 2300 accountability muster because then I could finally hit the rack.

Sunday was by far one of the best days I've had in a long while here at the Academy. It started off with Bible Class accented by Mom Guest's homemade cinnamon rolls. My mouth has not tasted anything so delightful for breakfast in a very, very, very, very long time. I ate too many of them, but that's definitely a forgivable offense. Because I had baseball in the afternoon, I didn't go to the Worship Service because my stained uniform needed to be replaced by a clean one before the evening's PKT. After readying a uniform, I headed off to the last baseball practice of the fall expecting to inter-squad again, though the time ended up being spent preparing the field for winter and eating lunch that was brought by the dad of one of the seniors.

After we had been eating for a while, the coaches began calling the Plebes into a makeshift office one by one. I don't know if they wanted me to be last, but it worked out that way. I want to say that I sat on the edge of my seat watching the dejected faces of those who did not make it, but I had my mind dead set on what I was going to face talking with the coaches. As I entered the coaches' makeshift office, I was offered a seat and asked how I thought the fall went. I bluntly told them that I felt that I was very inconsistent and did not play as well as I could have. The head coach contemplated what I said for a split second and replied, telling me that he had good and bad news. He gave me the choice of which he should deliver first, so I picked bad news. He told me that I would not be playing on the team as an infielder, however, for the good news, they felt that my curveball could help them out this year. I was in total shock. Even during Indoc while we had a "meet the coaches" session, I had nearly resigned myself to the fact that I had nearly no chance of making the team. Somehow, what I had to offer impressed them enough to keep me. I'm still in shock that they picked me. I was the only non-recruit to make the team. After cleaning up the locker room and field, I quickly returned to my room so I could watch the Twins-Royals game. When the Twins won to force game number 163 my day got even better. Not even the night's PKT could dampen my spirit until I headed to bed.

Yesterday was pretty nondescript also. We were finally issued our running suits which we will eventually be allowed to wear to Delano for meals. CFC was good, as we listened to a 1964 graduate who now works with Operation: Mobilization.

Today has been another great day. Even though I only got 3.5 hours of sleep and started the day off with a physics test, it has been wonderful. Class was pretty fun as our favorite asker of stupid questions, Muller, added to his collection in two classes today. His best of the day was: (paraphrased) "So did they use coal in the boilers of the Titanic to make steam?" Honestly, I'm still in disbelief after that one... After classes finished up for the day at 1500, I used the rack-in that our CTO gave us to take a short nap before doing a couple of other things.

At 1707, the Twins-Tigers game began. I had another MN guy over to watch the first couple of innings before heading to dinner. When I left for dinner in the 4th inning, I was a little down because the Twins were down 3-1, though I knew we had the ability to come back. When I returned from dinner, Orlando Cabrera launched one into the seats to put the Twins ahead 4-3. Right after that I headed to CTO time for the next 45 minutes. Once I returned, I noticed that the score was tied at 4-4 in the 9th inning. From then on I was riveted until the thrilling finish in the bottom of the 12th. I even skipped Bible study to finish the game. I'm thankful I did because that was the best game I've ever witnessed. The phenomenal ending to clinch the AL Central Division title made my week exponentially better. Everybody kept writing the Twins off, but they came back, and now they're a force to be reckoned with as they head to the Bronx to take on the Yankees. I can't wait to flaunt my Twins spirit in the presence of all the FLID Yankee fans. What a treat. Stand by for more posts and my reactions to the Twins-Yankees series.