Party Time

Well, the welcome home party was awesome. Saw many folks from various aspects of my life, and had a good time. Thanks to everyone who came! I will be hosting another party this Saturday as well, however, this one will be a b-day celebration, and will be held here at school. Friday, I will probably be up in the G-burg visiting some folks.

I had my first Military Leadership (readROTC) class today. It's going to cover a lot of stuff that I already know, but that is okay with me. I was offered a chance to jump straight to the third year of the program, which would mean that I would have to cram the whole 3rd year into one semester, as well as taking on extra-classroom duties and going to a 5 week summer thing, AND comitting to comissioning. This would mean either 4 years active service, or 6 more in the guard. While I was very flattered, I'm not ready to commit to that just yet, and they were very understanding about that. The major I talked to actually was in Iraq for OIF II and completely understood. I did however offer to assist the 3rd/4th years in exercises, etc. and agreed to attend morning PT. It's going to be EARLY, but I think it will be worth it. I'm looking forward more to the learning labs and the spring FTX though.

Things here are a tad slower paced than at my old school. The readings for a whole week are shorter than many I had each DAY before. I shall be thorougly dissapointed if I don't do well this semesters! Heck, I'm already done with all but 10 pages of reading for this week, and I have only one more programming assignment. Hooray for semesters instead of trimesters!

TeddY2K out!

School Daze

Well, I am back in the world of college. So far, so good. Managed to stay awake through my first two days of classes, and I'm caught up on homework (yes; I've had homework already... there will be a lot of homework for my programming class, however my others won't be too bad.. mostly some reading). I ran into two veterans(one Navy, one Marines and then AirForce) right before my poli sci 101 class, which looks like it will be awesome. It's being taught by a younger guy, his first year teaching it, and focuses more on globalization than the other 101 classes (it's one of 5 sections) so I think I got real lucky. My motorcycle lab section doesn't begin until after spring break, and the class is taught by an older gentleman who is another vet who came to ISU on the GI Bill after the Vietnam era(although he spent it in Korea). He has a "Wayne Henson beard" and has been teaching motorcycle safety here since 1976! His program has the longest continuously running federal grant at the school, and has brought in a ridiculous amount of money, and over 44,000 people have gone through it either at the college or through the community. I've managed to somewhat figure out the busses here, and I also figured out today that it is a 30 minute walk from campus back to my apt. complex. It was a nice day and I had several hours to kill, so I gave it a try. Speaking of the apt, it is shaping up nicely, although I am now under a self and sister imposed ban on Bed, Beth & Beyond. I would have bought enough stuff to furnish an entire house if I had been able to carry it or fit it in the car. Only thing I really need now is something on the walls.. art or posters or something; my room is rather blaise at this point. On the plus side, I'm only utilizing probably 60% (if that) of the storage capacity I have.

I've gotten to see some friends here, although there are a few I still need to hook up with. Will hopefully get to see lots of people this weekend at welcome home party (5-9 Saturday.. contact me or the family for location info if you don't already have it). Anyhow, off to bed for now!

TeddY2K out!

Home Schweet Home

Well, we made it back. After the slowest bus ride ever, we had a brief formation at the armory, and then were released. Took me a minute to find my greeting party (numerous family and friends... thanks for being there everyone!), but Peeps helped me when he said "how about the signs that say Teddy on them?" Anyhow, stayed awake all the way home after having only slept a bit on the plane, and then I managed to stay awake the rest of the day during some brief visiting with friends at home, and then the celebration of family x-mas. I got some sweet stuff for the new appt, books, and of course a game for the new 360 system. I went to bed about 6 pm, woke up at 5 am (since I'd been getting up at 6 am eastern time for a week), ate some b-fast, hooked up the 360 and tried just Halo 2 on it, and went back to bed until almost 11. After getting up, showed off the new game for sis and dad, then everyone watched some x-mas movies as a family. I haven't really started to pack for heading to the new appt, which I will be partially doing tomorrow, so I'll have to get my act together tomorrow morning. It's great to be home, and one of the added bonusses is that I'm still getting paid until February, as I'm on "transistional leave" right now, so I will continue to collect active duty pay, including BAH. Also, I DID get to see Nelson for a little bid before he headed back to Texas, which was awesome, but unfortunately Rog has already left for Marine training before HE heads to that glorious litter-box over the seas. I will add a link to his new blog at some point for those of you who would liketo follow HIS escapades. Hmm, what else. I had a double quarter pounder with cheese from Mickey-D's tonight and it was glorious, and I also stopped by the HS to see some folks at musical rehearsal. Guess that's it for now really; I don't have drill for about 3 months, so nothing military related will be on here for a while, with the possible exceptions of welcome home parties, etc. However, everyone is encouraged to feel free to keep reading as I struggle through the trials and tribulations of returning to college; I expect "History of American Foreign Relations" to be of particular interest/amusement.

TeddY2K out!

Hallway Fun

So, right now I'm sitting in a hallway on the ground floor of the barracks since we had to clean the rooms and get out already. We won't head out for HOURS yet, so I'm just sitting on the floor with my laptop. Thank goodness the 'net is working. Of course, I can play games too. The plan is to stay awake so that I will maybe sleep on the flight. Then again, I may be too pumped up to do so. Unfortunately some people I really wanted to see will be gone when I get back, but, hopefully I can catch up with them to see them soon. It's going to be a very busy week before heading back to school though. I'm dreading all the unpacking/packing being as I already have several duffel bags, and boxes at home, a footlocker on the way, more duffel bags and a ruck with me, plus stuff I never really unpacked from college. I need to get my own place just so I have the space to organize my STUFF! Anyhow, that's it from me for now. Time to go chat or maybe game.

TeddY2K out!

Good Day

Well, I had a pretty good day today, although it didn't start off all that well. Due to excessive partying last night at the bowling alley and bar, I woke up with quite the hangover after having spent much of the night up while my body rejected all the social lubricant I had imbibed. I also managed to lose the aspirin, toast, and most of the water I drank after I got up. Fortunately, after that water stayed down. I got a ride back to post from the hotel we had stayed in, and took full advantage of my military benefits by having one of the other combat life savers administer an IV to me. This helped the hangover immensely! The day got better after that as I then took a nap as. Then, in mid-afernoon Mike and his awesome girlfriend Megan were able to pick me up on post and take me out to dinner at Chilli's (Ranch chicken sandwhich.. delicious) and then ice cream at Cold Stone (I think that's the name of it). It was good to catch up with him in person and finally get to meet Megan face to face after having chatted with her online on numerous occasions. I am looking forward to getting to catch up with everyone else back home as well. A lot of the other guys have already headed out on the town, but rather than catch up with them, I think I'm going to spend this evening in just relaxing in the barracks. While I'm mostly recovered, I'm not sure that I'm up to another night of revelry just yet.

TeddY2K out!

New Years Day or National Free Day

Well, as advertised, I arrived back home(as in New Jersey) in the wee hours of the morn. New Years was observed on the plane while waiting to taxi out to the runway at the international airport in Banger, Maine where we had a lay-over. Even on New Years Eve, there were community members there to offer us cell-phone use and cookies. I called home, but the voice on the answering machine didn't sound familiar, so I was afraid the phone had messed up or I got a wrong number, so, I called Matt, who was home. After we got in to New Jersey, there was a general there from the IL Guard to greet us, along with other members of the ILNG, and we offed the busses to bagpipe music provided by a member of the Vietnam Vets of America Local Chapter which I have forgotten the number of, but they were there to greet us as well. We went inside, were treated to some food from the USO, some very short briefings, and then sent back to the billets, where a first priority of course was internet/e-mail (the net here is very fast... so glorious!). I was however too tired to post this morning. After quickly reading e-mail, showering, and sleeping I got up this morning and went with some guys to the PX to purchase some needed items. Hello post holiday sales! I got one shirt for the low, low price of they payed me 50 cents to take it off their hands. It rang up for 9.50, and had a 10 dollar manufacturer rebate awarded at the counter! Then we went over to the pizza joint in the PX complex, where some guys didn't want all the pizza they had purchased, so I got free pizza as well. So, in honor of free internet, clothes, and pizza, I think today shall be National Free Day, or at least Free Stuff for Teddy day. It is also a day off, so the day itself is "free" as well. I am also supposed to have tomorrow off, and being as Mike is somewhat in the area, I will hopefully hang out with him tonight or tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have to stay within 25 miles of the post (to prevent, ummm, incidents in New York, Phillie, etc that have happened in the past with demobilizing units) so Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash will be outside of my travel limit (it's only about 50 miles from here).

In less happier news, I found out while checking my e-mail that a close family friend whom I greaty admired passed away near the end of December. My life was greater for having known him, and I know he will be greatly missed by many. MY thoughts are with his family during this holiday season without him.