Escape from Jail, or So It Seemed....

I'll get to explaining the title in a little bit, but I have a little bit of catching up to do. When I last posted we had just finished up our second Command Inspection of the year and was anxiously awaiting President's Day Weekend. The Monday after Command was the official beginning of baseball season with the first practice where coaches were allowed. Even though I'm not playing this year due to my shoulder surgery, I still like to go to see how the coaches coach and get to know my teammates better. Usually I'll go hit the weight room and/or the cardio room for a while and then sit in on the defensive drills involving the whole team. Other than that, there's not a whole lot to write about the time between Command and President's Day Weekend. One thing to note was that the whole regiment got a Long Weekend given to us by the Regimental Commander. Even though I was not able to get off campus, it was still pretty nice to relax. That was the first non-Regimental Long Weekend that we had received.

The week before President's Day wasn't anything special because I still can't remember anything notable. Though now I recall that we as plebes in First Company got IT'ed by the Company Executive Officer, our CTO, and our Company Commander because our morale was at an all-time low. Of all the things to do to improve company morale, an IT session is not the top way to do so, nor is it in the top 5, 10, or even 50. Oh well, I think we've been behaving a little better after that incident.

President's Day Weekend finally came and we were all very happy for that. I didn't make it out Friday night as I had to work the basketball games and I was hoping to go out the following morning to Chinatown and Times Square and whatever else we decided to do. Unfortunately, those plans fell through and I spent Friday night and most of Saturday bored out of my mind. I cheered up a little bit when a friend decided to get a few other guys together and go out into the City to grab a bite to eat and catch a movie.

We left campus around 6 and took a cab to the Great Neck train station and made the 6:24 train into the city, arriving just before 7. When we made it over to the subway platform there was a train to Times Square that we just made, though 2 of the other guys did not make it on the train with the other guy and me, so we ended up getting split up from them. Do to a miscommunication, we couldn't catch back up with them. Fortunately, while waiting at the movie theater in Times Square, the guy I was with ended up running into some plebes from Band Company. Since they were wanting to catch a movie after going to Chinatown for dinner, we decided to join them for the rest of the evening. Since it was Chinese New Year's Eve, most of the restaurants were packed, but luckily we were able to find one. The food was really quite good and was a lot of fun eating there with 8 other guys. We barely made it back in time for the start of The Book of Eli at the AMC Empire 25 theater on 42nd Street just off Times Square. It was a really nice theater that lived up to the real estate around it. Since the movie got out a little before 0100, we had to book it to the subway station so that we could make the 0119 train back to Great Neck. We almost didn't make it because one of the guys in our original group (we caught up with them at the theater) had some trouble buying a train ticket. We decided to tell him just to get on the train so that we could make it and hopefully he could just get a free ride because he was in uniform. Unfortunately for him, he had to pay a double fare for buying a ticket on the train, but we didn't have to wait for the 0319 train. It felt so good to finally get away from this place after six weeks of being stuck here with the exception of medical appointments. Even though it was just that one night, getting away made that whole weekend worthwhile. I spent most of the next day working the swim meet with the other baseball guys because I think it was the conference championships. Monday I didn't do a whole lot either.

The rest of the week until this point has been fairly busy since I had tests on Thursday and Friday. Fortunately, both went pretty well I think, so all the studying was well worth it. Today we had a Class C inspection which basically entails cleaning our rooms and our cleaning stations for an hour. Not long after we were secured from the inspection, we received an email from the RTOA telling us to muster in Ackerman Auditorium at 1200. I didn't go, because I went to baseball practice. When I returned at 1500, I was shocked to find out that First Co's liberty had been secured all because of the stupid actions of a few. Oddly, we weren't the only company to have liberty secured by our CTO. Because there was a plebe in possession of a TASER in Second Company, their CTO kept them from going out as well, in addition to IT'ing them and destroying their rooms. Luckily our CTO is a little better than theirs. It hasn't been a whole lot of fun staying in the room all day, but at least it's been fairly relaxing. We have accountability muster in about 50 minutes, so I'll be chilling until then. Stand by for further posts.

Sunday, 21 Feb 2010. 1130

I completely forgot about our snowstorm that took place on the 9th and 10th. We ended up getting around a foot of snow, which canceled classes for Wednesday the 10th. We were granted rack-in all day from the Regimental Training Officer, with the exception of the mandatory snowball fight/snowman building at 1300. It was a lot of fun having many hundreds of people involved in a snowball fight on Academy grounds. One difference between New York and Minnesota I noticed, was that here, school gets cancelled because of the threat of snow, whereas in Minnesota, school isn't cancelled until there's snow on the ground...

Here's some video from when we tackled the RTO and his reaction. (Warning: contains graphic language)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7HKgSNhNeM

Oh Joy, Command...........

The last couple of weeks have really flown by. With a while still to go until Presidents' Day Weekend and therefore not a whole lot to look forward to, the days move somewhat fast. As I sit here at my desk, nothing really sticks out, but I'm sure I'll have some stuff come to mind as I'm writing.

I spent the week of the 18th anticipating the matchup between the Saints and Vikings. I was so proud of Vikings for coming this far and I expected them to end the Saints' dreams of Super Bowl glory. I'm sure I mentioned that to a few people, but I kept my predictions and hopes mainly to myself. As the week rolled on, I kept getting more and more excited for the game. By the time Sunday arrived, I was so pumped I could barely contain it. We were allowed to watch both games in Delano, which I gladly did after the PKT. When I tuned in, the Vikings were up 14-7, but the Saints quickly equalized the score. Watching the game got fairly annoying at times having to watch with a Saints fan and his friends who were newly converted Saints fans. The game was pretty heartbreaking for me as the Vikings squandered chance after chance with the seemingly endless turnovers and bonehead play calls. After the game and still to today, people come up to me and talk about how Brett Favre lost the game for the Vikes by himself even though I think my "shared blame" argument is much more sound. I am glad, though, because the frequency of people doing that has been diminishing very steadily.

Thanks to a conference in Colorado, we didn't have Aquatic Survival Monday morning, which allowed me to take a two hour nap before my third period class as well as another hour-long nap right before lunch. After lunch, I think due to the rain, the power went out throughout campus. Not being able to sleep, wash clothes (which I needed to do), or do anything on the computer, I tried to kill as much time as I could before physical therapy at 1730. Because the power came on just after 1630, I was able to go to the cardio room to hit the bike for a half-hour. I did the same on Tuesday between my baseball meeting and physical therapy. The power went out again just after 2000 and remained off until approximately 0200 the next morning, which made it nearly impossible to anything productive.

For some reason, Wednesday is a blur to me. I don't think anything important happened, so I'll just leave it at that. Thursday was a day to which I had been looking forward for quite some time. My mom and her Bible study group had agreed to send in cookies for Cookie Cafe on January 28th. Because of that, my mom handpicked one of each type of cookie and made a little bag for me, which I am still enjoying.

Because we had Command Inspection today, our most intense inspection, we spent Friday night cleaning our rooms and cleaning stations. That ended up not being too bad as one of my roommates and I ordered pizza from Domino's once we finished up cleaning our rooms. Because of that and welding class, Friday was a very good day.

This morning was filled with last-minute preparations for the inspection, which was followed by two hours of standing at the position of attention (POA) for the inspection. Luckily, my room got a fairly easy grader and we made off with a 94. Others, however, got some pretty harsh inspectors and got lower scores than us, a few were quite a bit lower. After we were finished with the inspection, I got to leave to go to physical therapy in O'Hara. Thankfully, my shoulder was feeling a lot better today than it was on Thursday. For some reason, the pain was pretty bad in some of the exercises that day. Hopefully that's behind me. I think right now I'm going to snag a nap as we have liberty until 2200 and then maybe watch a movie after I wake up. Stand by for further posts.

Relaxation at KP? That's a New One...

Thanks to the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his efforts in the Civil Rights movement, he was given a federal holiday in his honor. Because we attend a federal service academy, we get all federal holidays off. Generally when there are Monday holidays, the whole regiment is given a long weekend. This past weekend was no exception. But let me start with Thursday.

To most Midshipmen, Thursday is the best weekday because of Cookie Cafe in the afternoon. To make this Thursday better, Cookie Cafe was paired with the lunch entree of stromboli, a Midshipman favorite. Though it was meatball stromboli, not the beloved sausage and pepperoni variety, people were happy nonetheless. After going to Calc 2 and Physics 2, we bolted out of Fulton/Gibbs (the math and science building) and headed straight to Land Hall, where Cookie Cafe is held. Though I've been trying to cut back on my cookie intake, I find it all too easy to eat more than I should, though I was able to consume less on this day than on previous Thursdays.

Once I finished up my assortment of cookies, I took a nap before my physical therapy session at 1730 in the sports medicine room in O'Hara Hall, the athletic building. For only being out of surgery for a week and a half, the physical therapist was pleased with my range of motion.

Friday morning is one of the better mornings of classes because we have Naval Science first period followed by three hours of work in the machine shop or welding shop. My half of the class was to start welding that day and boy, were we all happy to be getting away from the grade reducer known as machine shop. The very lucky people in machine shop were the ones to escape with a C, everybody else received D's and F's. Even though we didn't do any welding ourselves, it was fun watching demos of arc welding and oxyacetylene welding and cutting.

Once we got out of welding, all we had separating us from the long weekend was Calc 2 and lunch. Thankfully those two flew by and our free time came. Because of the state of my shoulder, I figured it would be best to stay here for the weekend and relax. Because I like to think of myself as a nice guy, I decided to take watches from a couple of people to allow them to escape from this place for a few days. It wasn't all that bad, it allowed me to get some homework done. Aside from that, I spent my time relaxing in my room watching movies or watching football in Land Hall.

Sunday was an absolutely wonderful day for me because I got to sleep in, go to church, order pizza, and watch the Vikings crush the Cowboys along with a Cowboys fan nonetheless! That was a whole lot of fun. Besides doing that, there isn't much to write about Sunday.

Monday wasn't much excitement either, especially since I got to miss going to the PKT for a physical therapy session, since I heard that the PKT was pretty entertaining.

Today wasn't all that exciting either. We followed a Monday school schedule since we did not have class Monday, though I don't see why making up Monday classes is all that important, whatever... I think I'll get off now so I can go shower and get ready for bed. Stand by for future posts.

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.