Monthly Ritual

is what posting on here is getting to be. Been doing most of my talking in person and on the forum these days.

Stigma (wow, a whole month ago!) was really sweet. Got to see/meet a lot of people. Also went back to Augie later in spring break for St. Patty's Day. I'm becoming quite a regular there, as I went back this weekend as well for one night to see Rog since he was home on leave.

Anyhow, Andy and I threw a party the other weekend. It went pretty well. Decent number of people showed up. Ali unfortunately was unable to attend as she was attending a Super Nintendo themed party at Southern.

This weekend is a camping/caving/laser tag trip to Maquoketa. I haven't "tagged it" in a couple of years. Spent last evening getting the guns/vests ready with new batteries, etc. I bought 72 AA's! Used about 2/3 of them. I also won an auction for more gear on e-bay, which will hopefully arrive by tomorrow or Friday, and then I can get that ready to go as well.

In other news, I passed my motorcycle exam with flying colors, and I've not got my heart set on a Pearl Yellow '05 Suzuki SV650. May have to go all the way to Madison to get it though!

What else? I outgrew my class A uniform, but luckily I had an extra, larger jacketI scored at basic from some kid who had failed out and left it behind. That leaves just the pants and shirt to buy now. May have to head up to the arsenal to do that.

Well, I guess that's it for now. TeddY2K out!

Whoah

So, almost a month since my last post. Quite a bit has happened. First, the Combat Water Safety Training. I did pretty well, except I wasn't able to manage the 5 minutes of treading water. Shouldn't have lifted weights the night before! The jump off of the 3 meter board blindfolded and holding a dummy M-16 was fun, and the 10 minute swim was grueling, but I managed it.

Mike was home on leave a while back, and since I dind't have a Thursday class that week, I left for home on Wed night, skipping my Friday classes. Got to play some Magic, lots of Benito, go to the Quad Cities for lunch (and to take my iPod in for work.. yup, the hard drive was bad.... still waiting to get that back), and go to Rockford and go indoor rock climbing. That was a lot of fun, but very tiring. Apparently there is a rock place near school here, so I may go there some time soon.

This weekend I went to St. Louis w/Jared to see Mu, and Pat who was home from WA. They went to the MVC Basketball Tournie while I got some work done. Apparently, I could have gotten a ticket to the VIP lounge had I then known that one of the girls from ROTC here was in the color guard at the game and could have gotten me in. On Saturday, some of the Augie folks down visiting Dukes game me a call and I met them at the arch. Then Dukes showed up, we went back to their hotel room, had some drinks, went out for dinner, met the other guys after the game, and then we all went to the City Museum... i.e. a giant jungle gym type thing big enough for adults, with a ball pit, and even a small BAR. It would have been more fun if not for the fact that there were a lot of rugrats and high-schoolers there. Later we went to the landing, had some more drinks, and eventually those of us staying at Mu's caught a cab back to his place.
I unfortunately was not able to see any of my fraternity brothers in town for various reasons including illness, and a broken leg.

This weekend.. STIGMA! Next week... SPRING BREAK! No big plans like Florida or anythingk, but hopefully someone will be up for something relatively crazy.

Travellin' Man

Hmmmm, been a while since I've updated. Where to start?

Well, school is still going well. My first few tests are coming up soon, and I'm doing quite well in my programming class, although it is a lot of work. I've run into a few of the hometown folks that go here randomly, which is nice, but have yet to really have a chance to hang out with them, as I seem to keep leaving and such on weekends. Although, last weekend I sat around and did nothing, which was actually kind of nice, although the apartment was a tad lonely after having spent 4 years of undergrad living w/lots of people, and then living w/Army folks constantly for so long. The weekend of the 27th, I spent friday night in the b-burg, woke up Saturday, broke my glasses in half while drying them off from rain, then drove back here and had a b-day party that night (fortunately I have an extra set of glasses)! This weekend it looks as if I'm heading home to watch Les Mis, and then heading down to the burg again for Rose Formal and taking a friend from Byron for my date. It will be held at a hotel this year instead of the house, which should be interesting. I have a room reserved, so I don't have to worry about finding a place to crash either!

I've been working out and hanging out w/Andy pretty regularly, which is nice as I really know so few people here. I really like the ROTC kids I've met, but I only have class once a week, and lab every other, so I don't see them that often. I should start hanging out at "The House" (i.e. the building w/the ROTC offices/lounge in them) more often just to get to know people. Lab next week should be really cool; Combat Water Safety Test... i.e. jump into the pool with a bunch of stuff on and swim out... sweet!

Well, I should get my stuff ready to travel, so, TeddY2K out!

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!