Sunday, December 26, 2010

I love Christmas

Despite the fact that it has been forever since I have written here, I would like to express my absolute love of Christmas, as well as being home. I know a lot of people loose interest in the "holiday season" as they grow older, but I have come to enjoy it more and more. I think this is because I used to take family time for granted. Now that I only get to see my family 2-3 times a year, I have come to treasure the time I have with them. This, and freedom, are why I love home so much. Also, the people here. I have yet to find people anywhere else that are of the same caliber as those here (sorry if you're not from around here, you're probably a great person but I just love the people here). But Christmas is especially awesome for a few reasons.

First, Christmas music. I love Christmas music. Unfortunately, it seems that fewer and fewer of my friends share my love for the music genre, but I always look forward to playing Christmas music and often start well before Thanksgiving.

Secondly, everyone appears happy. There seems to be less fighting, much more getting along, and overall cheer fills the cold, sharp air. Now, as some of my pessimistic friends have pointed out, for many people it is nothing but an act. Some are really good at playing the part and some try but are terrible at hiding their fake smile. I have a fairly good ability to read people and can usually spot those playing the part with some ease. Regardless, it is often still a more enjoyable atmosphere. Perhaps sometimes it's ok to hide one's feelings. I'm sure that a child, who often cannot read the illegitimate happy front, benefits much more from the cheery parent than they would from an honest but glum parent. It is a well known phenomena how a person's cheer or gloom can spread to others, so when people appear happy, regardless of their true emotion, it often spreads. I really appreciate this aspect of Christmas. Ideally, a happy atmosphere would occur year-round. I try to fulfill this dream in my own life, realizing, of course, that we all have bad days. But the reality of the world is that it does not, so the Christmas cheer that seems rather universal (at least in our country) is a great time for me.

Last, and probably most important to some members of my family, is the food. Christmas and Thanksgiving are the "amazing meal" holidays and I love to eat. I love eating almost as much as I love sleeping. I eat military food most of the year anyway, so I'm pretty much in heaven during the entirety of these two holidays.

Suffice it to say, I truly enjoy Christmas. This year in general has been great, though. It is fitting to have an awesome Christmas break to end a great year on. The past semester went well, I ended up with a term GPA of 3.49, bringing my cumulative up to a 3.05. Not that great for an average college student, but military college is a bit different and sadly I'm still recovering from my first semester there. I'm applying for an internship next summer and one of the requirements is to have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or greater, so I finally meet that requirement and that was my goal. Additionally, my best friend and I have come up with an idea for our senior design project that we'll start next school year, so we'll be writing up a proposal for that next semester. Overall it has been a fantastic year, and I'm looking forward to what I have ahead of me! God has been so good to me, I really have no right to complain. Any time that I feel down or tempted to complain, I need to remember what they used to say: "Count your blessings..."

How was your year? Share your blessings and spread the cheer!

-Storm

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Concert follow-up

So the concert was amazing! Definitely one of the best I've ever been to. I missed Easton Corbin because we got there a little late, but I heard Sara Evans, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, and Brad Paisley! If I ever get the chance to go to any of their concerts again I'll jump on the opportunity. I brought my new camera along and got some cool pictures too. This first picture is of Sara Evans during her concert. It takes some great low-light photos and that was great since a lot of the concert was at sunset and after it was dark. The picture at the end of my post is of from Jason Aldean's show. After the show we headed up to New Hampshire to stay with some friends who graduated from the academy this past year. There's four of them that live in an amazing house in the woods. If that's what I have to look forward to as an Ensign then I'm pretty stoked. Hopefully we'll have something like that (whoever I get stationed with) down at flight school!
All in all it was a great wee
kend trip, and a
great way to start off the school year (which looks to be another tough semester).













-Storm

Friday, August 20, 2010

Country Music Fest!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Country Music Fest in Massachusetts and I must admit, I am completely stoked about this! Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Easton Corbin, Sarah Evans, Darius Rucker, and more will all be playing there. They don't always get so many big names together like that, plus I've never heard any of them in concert before. I'm going with a lot of friends too, probably close to 20 of my friends are going to be there, and many of us will be all be seated together.

In other news, I bought a camera a couple weeks ago and finally got it this week. It is a Sony NEX-5 camera, one of the new hybrid digital cameras that takes near-DSLR quality pictures but is half the size of a DSLR. I've been playing with it quite a bit and I really enjoy it. Many people don't realize that I actually love photography, until this past week all I've ever shot with was a point-and-shoot cannon, which, although it did it's job superbly for the past 5 years, doesn't take the quality pictures necessary to do some real photography. I'm looking forward to using this camera a lot in the future (one of my friends is getting engaged next semester, it'll be awesome to record that whole thing in HD and then take some awesome pics later!).

Also, school starts next Monday. I'm only taking 17.5 hours this semester (as compared with the usual 20 or more), but some of the classes will definitely be challenging. Thankfully, last semester I found a study buddy in my major that I do a lot of homework with. Together, we were able to solve pretty much all of the homework problems for the entire semester. Some classes, Dynamics in particular, often had problems that most people couldn't get the right answer to. We normally figured them out, and if we couldn't we would collaborate with some other super-smart people in our major and eventually figured them all out. This semester should be pretty fun, or, at least I'll learn a lot.

I'll let you know how the music fest goes!
-Storm

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Finally done.

Yesterday marked the last day of swab summer for the incoming class of 2014, and they are now members of the respected corps of cadets, although they are not officially cadets until monday when they get their shoulder boards. I could probably fill 50 pages full with stories from being a cadre in their "boot camp" experience, but I won't at this time. Perhaps I'll put up stories from time to time. What I will say now, however, is that I learned much more going through it as a cadre than I did as a swab. Sure, going through it initially and being indoctrinated into the military is important, key, in fact, to surviving the military. But being on the other side was something completely different. It is up to us to mold these people into a motivated, high performing, teamwork-oriented, flawless group.

My classmates took this group of 35 kids fresh out of high school who didn't know each other at all and turned them into basically trained coast guard men and women in just over 6 weeks (with a week on a ship away from us). Finding the perfect balance of punishment and motivation each day is harder than I had ever imagined. If they messed up they had to be held accountable. And at the beginning of the summer we didn't worry about motivating them at all. That was the breaking down phase. But these last two weeks required us to mold them into a motivated, dedicated team. And if all we did was beat them to the ground they would never perform. In fact, I found that the tone we set when we woke them up had the largest effect on how they would perform for the rest of the day. One of my classmates, a great guy, has a tendency to be a hard ass in the morning, always yelling at them early in the morning when we do the morning cals, etc. So I tried to be the one to wake them up. I'd blast some rock at 0530, and as soon as they got up and counted off I'd say "4 minutes, head and water break, go". Nobody wants to do a lot of talking early in the morning, and even less people want to hear a lot of talking that early. As soon as they'd get back it would always be something like "Who's psyched for cals?! hoorah sir! It's going to be on the parade field, I want you all to fly out there like a bunch of badasses and freakin shake the earth with your pushups!! OOORAH!!! FOXTROT HUUUUUH!!" The pace we set in the morning normally set the tone for the rest of the day.

I learned lessons such as these almost every day about all sorts of things. Yesterday was sea trials. When I went through swab summer it was the worst day of my life. Not even kidding. To this day it was the worst day I've ever had. Going through it as a cadre it was still extremely hard, almost as hard as going through as a swab. We definitely make it a memorable culminating event for the swabs, they'll never forget yesterday. Ever. We ran from 0330 in the morning until around 1830, waking them up to the sound of an air raid siren (and me being in a rain suit with gas mask already in one of their rooms and yelling at them to push deck because their ship was sinking - yeah, it didn't make sense but they were so scared it didn't matter). It was so intense that morning that some compared it to reporting-in day, which as I'm sure you've all seen on TV or something, is super intense. We were yelling at them for everything, and if any one of them messed up on anything we made them push deck or do squats or something physical. We literally were killing them physically ALL DAY. Obviously there were times when they weren't doing physical things, but the majority of the day was spent doing something physical. Thankfully, we were able to instill a sense of pride and accomplishment by the end of the day that overruled the pain from the day and in some convoluted way, made everything we did that day worth it.

At one particular point, we had just finished making them run to an island, row huge inflatable rafts back to the Academy, carry them around the track, and form back up into a company. However, we heard one of the swabs tell another swab to "Shut the fuck up" while they were coming up with a plan on how to get everyone in the rafts and rowing. So for the next hour while we were taking them in twos to test them on sailing, we beat everything out of the swabs. It was literally and hour of intensive training in the dirt. If it hadn't have been for the fact that they had lunch right after that then I am positive they would have passed out on their run to the next event. Thankfully they got the message. You just don't talk to your classmates or teammates that way.

Like I said, I have so many stories and lessons that I could spend forever writing them. Perhaps I will, but for now that is all.

P.S. I've spent most of the day sleeping today!

-Storm

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Talk with your Parents, it's worth it

I leave home again to return to the Academy tomorrow, but today I did something I don't usually do. I had lunch with my Dad and we talked for about 2 1/2 hours. Mainly, some things that I've been seeing the past few times I have been home have bothered me and I decided I needed to call him on them and see what he had to say.
For those of you who don't know my Dad or anything about my family, something like this is almost unheard of. This household has always been a totalitarian house, we were expected to do what we were told, when we were told, without question. So for me to go to lunch with Dad and start pointing out things that I didn't necessarily agree with or that I thought needed to be addressed was pretty tough for me. However, it went much better than I had ever hoped. Dad was a pretty decent listener, he actually listened to what I had to say in it's entirety before he started talking, and although he didn't agree with everything I said he didn't make it into something bad. We talked for a very long time about some of the big issues facing our family right now, plans to deal with those issues, and what he thought the future (at least the near future) holds for our family. It was an altogether fruitful venture!
Of course, after pointing out all these things I'd found that needed talking about I asked Dad what he had for me. What had he seen in me the past few weeks or even just from talking with me while I was at the Academy that concerned him or that he thought was an area I needed to look at in my life. After all, one-sided constructive feedback is only good for one of the sides. So we talked a little about a couple things and I'm glad we did that also - it gives me something to look at in the self-reflection mirror that I'll have time for as I fly back tomorrow!

This leave has been great and I'm really happy that it wrapped up the way it did. Sitting down with Dad and having a nice, long, open and honest talk turned out to be quite rewarding. I only hope it was as good an experience for him as it was for me!
-Storm

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Double Identity

Every time I come home I realize just how different my two "lives" truly are. When I'm home, I can expect a very relaxed, comfortable, great-food, lose-track-of-time, civilian experience. And when I'm at the Academy I can often expect a rigid, stressful, micromanaged, eat-the-salad-because-nothing-else-tastes-quite-right, homework and responsibility intensive, military lifestyle. They are so far on either side of the spectrum from each other that I have begun to question if I am the same person on each side of the country.

Of course, I immediately jump to the answer of "Yes, you are the same person because being different would mean you are leading two different lives, and that is bad." Unfortunately, the closer I look the more I realize that perhaps I am not the same person at the Academy as I am at home. Indeed, I am for the most part a consistent person, I make no effort to hide the fact that I am a country boy from Texas who loves the outdoors, shooting, camping, and adventure in general when I am at school. In fact, I take ownership of it. And I don't try to hide the fact that I am a mechanical engineering student serving in the military when I am home. But macro personality traits aren't at all what I am worried about. That's where a closer examination is needed.

Now before I go on, it is important to realize that certain personality traits will flourish more in certain situations than others. Also, some situations require particular language usage and behaviors that would seem out of place in otherwise typical situations. My two-sided life is no exception. For example, when I'm home I will use Mr or Mrs, Sir or Ma'am for just about anyone older than me. In the military that just won't work. There may be a chief who is 50 years old with 30 years of service under his belt, but I still won't call him Sir (as much as I might instinctively try to) because not only would that be against military customs, there's a good chance he would be offended by it. Likewise, when I am performing Cadre duties (as I have been this summer) I will hardly ever smile. My "life is good" face there very similarly resembles a "I am having a terrible day" face here. Why? It imperative to not show emotion in certain aspects of the new recruits' training. My point in saying all this is that there will almost always be some situation-specific traits that will not be consistent across every environment one is subjected to. I have many of these and I realize their purpose so I won't mention them here because their irrelevance.

What bothers me are some things that shouldn't be different. At the Academy I tend to be completely upfront and transparent. I tell people what is on my mind, what is bothering me if something is, and I have no problem telling people the hard truth. In fact, many have come to expect that from me. Sadly, I find that at home I don't always feel as if I can be completely upfront with my parents. And it's not that I am trying to deceive them, by any means, but sometimes I feel like I must sugarcoat things and some things just aren't worth bringing up. I'm not saying that I should strive to always be like I am at the Academy, because some times there is a need for tact. Sometimes people need to hear things in a not-so-harsh way for them to actually listen. But what I do know is that I need to be consistent. I will always be learning but I must strive to follow the example that Christ led for us, and He was the same yesterday as He is today and will be tomorrow.

This and a few other problems that I have identified will definitely keep me busy for a while. The very last thing I need is to start forming a habit of leading two completely different lives. One day I'll graduate from the service and most likely start a family of my own - to lead a different life at work from that at home would be a tragic recipe for disaster.

So that's what has been on my mind lately; food for thought, thoughts for prayer. Strive to imitate Christ, and enjoy the rest of your summer!
-Storm

Monday, June 21, 2010

Stay Single? Sorry Paul, no can do...

So I was reading in my Bible tonight and, for no real reason in particular, decided to read 1 Corinthians 7. Now, in case you are unfamiliar with this particular chapter, Paul is basically giving guidance on marriage (you should really just read the chapter!). He talks about several things, most of which seem to be fairly common sense to me, probably because I was brought up with very Biblical parents. But in the second half of the chapter Paul springs an interesting idea on me. He says that if a person is unmarried and secure in their heart that they should not marry. At first this really struck me - I was under the impression that everyone was supposed to marry and "be fruitful and multiply". Of course, Paul gives a logical explanation. If a person is married then their efforts are split between trying to please God and trying to please their wife, as contrasted by an unmarried person who is able to fully devote themselves to God.

Interesting thought. However, he also goes on to say if a person cannot control themself and really feels the need to get married then that is completely fine. The whole celibacy thing is an added bonus though, and it makes sense because if we're truly living our lives for Jesus then the fewer "distractions" we have in our life the better.

As for me, I'm afraid I am not man enough to pull it off. Sorry Paul, one day I will be married and I am definitely looking forward to it! No hard feelings, nothing personal, but I think marriage is one of the best things God gave to us and I can't wait (well, I mean, I AM waiting, but figuratively...you know what I mean).

As a side note:
7 Days until R-Day when I take on the role of Drill Sergeant
14 Days until I fly out to Colorado (NOT my home state) to meet my family for whitewater rafting.
Somehow "excited" doesn't quite seem to accurately describe my feelings towards these two events!

-Storm

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cape May, New Joisey

Tomorrow I leave for Cape May, NJ to learn how to be a drill sergeant. Now, I won't actually be drill sergeant, because drill sergeants train enlisted and I am training an incoming class of freshman at the Academy. Nevertheless, several of my friends and myself are going down to the real boot camp to learn/practice being that intense teaching/leading person that both incoming enlisted folks and incoming freshman see for about 7 weeks. I'm a bit apprehensive because I know that this is something completely new to me. Sure, I've taught people things before, and sure, I've yelled at some people in my time so far on earth but this is completely on a whole new level. Two Mondays from now, when the Swabs (incoming freshmen) drive up in the bus and I stomp on to deliver their first encounter with the military world, I will officially be part of a 7 man person team responsible for the training and military indoctrination of some 30-odd freshly graduated high school seniors. The most bizarre part of this whole ordeal, at least to me, is the fact that I was in their shoes just two summers ago. Things sure have changed and the fact that the past two years have flown by is something I don't often forget.

I know there really is no time to be reflecting on questions such as "Am I really ready for this?" or "How am I going to perform when they're all counting on me?" but at the same time I think these are questions that I must ask myself in mental preparation for this next stage of my military development. Besides all that the Academy is doing to prepare me I have decided to take a few things upon myself in anticipation of the upcoming weeks. First, I've been working out - ALOT. Secondly, I am trying to go through things in my head as much as possible. Give myself random situations and think through solutions. Finally, I realize that I must pray as much as possible. God has never failed me and I know He'll help me through this. After all, I just want to give the Swabs the best, most intense summer possible. The boot camp of any military person has the potential to influence how their entire military career goes, and I want these people to have a solid foundation.

We'll see. I have a fantastic support group, all of my peers are truly great individuals and together I bet we'll make one heck of a killer team.
If anything of note happens at Boot Camp Cape May, I'll let you know! Until next time,
-Storm

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Nav Rules, Prayers for Ms Sunderland

So, just a quick update because I'm bored: This week is the infamous ROTR week. Infamous among academy personnel, because during this week we must learn, memorize, and be able to apply the Coast Guard Navigation Rules handbook in it's entirety. This 200-odd page handbook is basically the same handbook you were told to memorize when you were learning to drive, except for shipdrivers, and it covers and contrasts rules for international waters as well as inland waters. So far it has gone well for me and I feel fairly confident that I will be able to pass the exam tomorrow. However, if I don't, I must find the time to take the exam again sometime this summer, and if I fail that one also then I am bumped to freshman liberty status, meaning I don't get to leave on Friday nights anymore, and I won't be able to wear my civilian clothes when I'm out in the city. Basically I really need to pass this exam tomorrow or else the rest of the summer goes downhill extremely fast.

But I'm pretty sure I'll pass - it's a 50 question exam and I must get a 90% or above to pass, so I should be alright.

And in other news, keep Abby Sunderland in your prayers. I never hope to find myself in a situation where I am stranded at sea, and I can only imagine what it must be like at the age of 16. But the mere fact that she is 2000 miles from land is enough to make even Spartacus tremble in his shackles. At that distance an air rescue is not even an option, and an emergency air drop of supplies isn't much better. The nearest ship is a private fishing vessel that was 40 hrs away from her position at the time when she popped her EPIRBs. At this point she is in God's hands, so pray that she has the presence of mind to stay focused on surviving. She should have all the tools she needs, and we know she has a strong will, so if she keeps her wits about her she'll make it out to spend time with her family again. Here's an article if you'd like read it: http://gizmodo.com/5560505/16%20year%20old-world%20circling-solo-sailor-lost-at-sea

-Storm

Monday, June 7, 2010

The BACON EXPLOSION

Spread the word, the Bacon Explosion is by far the most manly, awesome, bacon-intensive, satisfying log of pork I have ever had the privilege of preparing, cooking, and eating. Ok, story time.
This past weekend I went to a friend's home (they are like family to me) with a group of friends, and usually we feast on Italian food, as is customary when staying with Italian families. However, my friend's mom had just recently undergone surgery on her right wrist and as such was unable to prepare food for us. She told us that the meals would either be up to us to cook or up to us to pick up, and someone had the bright idea of making a Bacon Explosion (http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/). So we did. And I made fried skillet potatoes, and we had corn, and we had cole slaw, and we feasted on the best meal known to man. As I sit here trying to find the words to describe the bacon explosion, it is occurring to me that there really is no better way to explain it than an explosion of bacon. 4lbs of pork rolled into one log, with rub and barbecue sauce, it is literally an explosion of flavor in each bite. Add to that some awesome potatoes and corn, and as I mentioned above, it was by far the best meal I've had in a very long time. End of story.

So the next time you're in want of the most manly, satisfying meal, give the Bacon Explosion a shot. Use that bacon grease from cooking the crumbled inside bacon to prepare some good ol pan fries, roast some corn on the cob, and spend the meal enjoying life. Spread the word.
-Storm

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Since last time

This summer has been quite busy so far. To start with, the first week after classes our graduating class (2012) had a week of cadre training, which basically consisted of getting yelled at and "taught" by a bunch of drill sergeants. Not as bad as I thought it would be, they're basically a bunch of big teddy bears.
Immediately following that week was graduation week, and during this week I was supposed to be doing range week (although I'm already qualified on pistol, they want everyone to qualify this summer in their respective range weeks). However, on Monday morning of that week the entire campus lost electricity. Now if you're like me this doesn't sound too bad. And indeed it wasn't, at least for the first day or so - it was like an adventure, camping, almost. But by day 2 it started to suck BIG TIME. In order to fully understand why, realize this: all our toilets are electrically operated, and the steam for hot water was dependent on one old generator that only ran for about a day. So for a few days there, we'd have to bring buckets of water into the heads and flush them "manually". For some reason, people wouldn't flush the toilets themselves, either. So when a few of us got selected to do it we'd have to suit up and go flush down a few people's worth of waste in each toilet. Eventually the academy command brought in a generator to power one of our annexes and we all moved to that annex until power was restored (about a week later).
The following week was CATP (Cadet Aviation Training Program). This was the best academy-related week I've had since reporting two years ago. A group of 16 of us travelled to Mobile, AL for a week of flying in our service's aircraft, and since they were super chill down there and let us leave just about whenever, it was basically a week of vacation with some flying thrown in (which was awesome), hanging out in the south with some of my best friends. I flew a helicopter for about half an hour, got hoisted into a helicopter out of the bay, went to the beach several times, went to New Orleans, it was a fantastic week.
This past week was TBoats week, where a group of 9 of us plus one officer took out 95ft tug boats into the river and learned about ship handling, taking the Conning officer position, taking charge of the deck, line handling, man over boards, anchoring, and mooring/unmooring. It was a pretty decent week, yesterday we were graded on our performance as a crew while doing a man overboard, anchoring, and mooring. To begin with, I love man-overboard drills. As soon as the man overboard is called we immediately throw the rudder over and gun the engines, and basically it's a race to get back to the person and get them out on the first run - a challenge, by any account. So for our graded exercise, we had my friend Hunter taking the Conn (he gave directions for me to steer), I was at the helm, and another friend Rick was in charge of the deck work. Our graded man-overboard drill was our best run of the week, as soon as the person was in the water I had the ship rockin to the side, engine blazing, rudder at 30 degrees right. We made one sweeping turn, lined up the dummy, shot the approach, and picked up the dummy. It was probably around 2-3 minutes, pretty respectable for a first timer crew like ourselves. All in all it was a pretty cool week and I learned a ton about shiphandling in general, which was the point.
Now it is the weekend and I'm probably going to spend it with some friends a few miles north of here. Also, it is now less than 1 month until R-day, when I assume the role of drill sergeant for the class of 2014. I am already getting ancy.
Until next time,
-Storm

Saturday, May 1, 2010

When?

When did I grow up? Geez, I'm half-way through with my mechanical engineering degree, and I'm half-way to becoming a commissioned military officer. My younger brother who is five years younger than me is learning to drive and going to prom, my older brother is...well, living his life just as lazily as when I left home! And all my high school friends are getting close to their graduation years at their colleges - one, my own age, is already engaged!

I guess I've just been having a major reality check these past few days. This summer I'll be training the incoming freshmen, acting as their "drill sergeants" in boot camp. Who decided I was qualified for that position? Just two weeks ago I became qualified as a professional rescuer. Hopefully I will never use those skills, but the truth of the matter is that most likely I will. How do I know I'll be ready? Will I be able to perform well in the time of emergency? It seems the older I get the more I must trust the Lord to show me the path. I know I've been disappointing Him as of late, and I really hope to turn that around. Finals are next week, then a week of intense training to help prepare us to lead incoming class of freshmen. What a great opportunity to wipe away some of the dirt, knock the rust off, and get my life back on track.

Here's to living my life everyday for Jesus:


-Storm

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

An interesting idea..

During my first semester here at the Academy I took an American History class taught by a liberal officer, a Lieutenant. We didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but nevertheless he is a very smart man with some very valid points. One day he gave us an idea that has stuck with me for a while, and which I've been thinking a lot about here recently. He told us that with all economical issues that our country is facing right now, that he had started to think about the socialistic movement that we seem to be involved in. At the time there were all sorts of crazy rumors floating around, and President Obama had only recently been elected. The following is his idea, paraphrased (since I don't remember the exact working over a year later).

"The funny thing about wealthy people is that usually there is some substance in their personality and mindset. For example, I [LT McSorley] believe that even if America were to somehow collect the entirety of money from the citizens, total it, and redistribute it to each citizen - giving an equal amount of money and capital to each man woman and child - that in only a few years it would be back to what it was. The same wealthy people would be wealthy again, and those that were poor beforehand would be poor again. It's an interesting idea, but one I truly believe. I think that those who are destitute and don't have much money normally would get their share and waste most of it. I don't think they'd put it to good use, whereas those who are more wealthy would take better care of it because they are more conscientious with their spending. Obviously, a few years is too short of a time for the moguls to amass the empires that they had before the redistribution, but they would definitely be leaders in the total wealth realm of things. "

Again, this is just an idea that was presented by one of my history teachers. But I found it interesting. As those who know me would tell you, I'm not all that consumed by a burning desire to make the big bucks - heck I joined the military! I prefer to pursue a life of personal and spiritual reward, as opposed to monetary reward. However, in terms of the socialistic movement going on in our country, I think this idea deserves some thought. Socialism just doesn't work, history shows that, and this is one of the many theories that also supports that.

Don't worry, I think I'm done with political posts for a while.
-Storm

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sammy Davis



This past weekend my service academy participated in the JSACWC competition, a combat weapons teams competition for all the service academies. It was probably the most enjoyable competition I've been in in years, I really had a blast. There were 8 stages of combined rifle (m16), pistol (baretta m9) and shotgun courses. The best part of the competition, however, was Sammy Davis. If you have never heard of Sammy Davis, he is the medal of honor recipient who's story was used in creating Forest Gump. Sammy Davis was in attendance at the competition, and I had the opportunity to shake his hand a few times, talk with him some, and take pictures with him (of course). What an amazing guy, I am truly honored to have gotten to meet him and hear his story. Here's a link to the wikipedia page dedicated to him, although it doesn't do him justice: Sammy Davis

All in all, the competition went great. We didn't place very high compared to our competitors, but then again we are severely underfunded compared to them. We're sporting standard issue M16s (except for the team members who bought their own guns and equipment) whereas Army were firing customized M4s with $1000 ACOG sights. No comparison there, really. Regardless, I was really just going for the experience, and in that regard I measure the competition to be a huge success. And as an added bonus, we all got prizes. For me it was a new pair of Oakley shooting glasses, a one-point sling for my rifle (which I had been looking to buy), a gun cleaning kit, and various other prizes. One person on our team got a new rifle, Aimoint sights, and a super nice ACOG setup that he can put on his competition rifle. Pretty amazing stuff. I can't wait until next year!

-Storm

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Weirdos...

I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine the other day, and as far as validity goes, I can't really attest to how much truth there is in his argument, but I decided to share it anyway since I found it rather intriguing. So it went something like this

Him: I have a question for you.
Me: Alright, shoot.
Him: What makes weirdos so...weird?
Me: Well I guess the fact that their behavior is abnormal when compared to the general population... why?

Him: I was thinking, and it really doesn't make sense. How many weirdos, for lack of a better word, do you know?
Me: (laughing) I know plenty. I was homeschooled, and now I go to a military academy.
Him: Exactly. If we deem a person weird because their behavior is abnormal compared to the general population, yet we know tons of people who's behavior is weird, is it really weird? Think about it. Almost ever social group you know has at least one person who everyone thinks is "weird". I would challenge you to name even one social group that you know of without one. In fact, the only place I could think of that might never have a social group is a fictitious television show, and even then, most shows have at least one weirdo in them. Take The Office, for example. There's Dwight Schrute, who is the token weirdo, but almost everyone has their own perks that make then appear quite weird. The only half-way normal ones are Pam and Jim, for a grand total of 2 normal people out of the 10+ office staff. So are the weird ones really normal?

Me: ...

Me: So are you telling me that those of us whom I consider to be normal are actually the weird ones?

Him: Well, not necessarily, but maybe there really isn't such a thing as weirdos.

So this got me thinking. Now, in my book, there still is and always will be weird people. There's no getting around that. But the conversation did make me think twice about how I treat other people, and if nothing else perhaps it challenged me to not be quite so judgmental when forming opinions about other people. Food for thought...

-Storm

Monday, March 22, 2010

Things

Few things compare to spring after a long winter. Seriously, this past weekend was the most beautiful weekend we've had since sometime last September, and as a result, almost everyone I have seen today appears quite refreshed. At least compared to normal (the academy is still a grind, but relatively speaking - much refreshed). I love spring and fall so much, however summer is also great. Basically what I'm driving at is this: I love the heat. I grew up in West Texas where summers meant a seat buckle so hot that it would literally burn you. Cassette tapes (yes, I remember the cassette tapes) that would melt if left exposed in the car during the day. Sidewalks hot enough to cook an egg (not recommended for eating, pretty gritty...).

Suffice it to say, I love the warmth returning!

Also I worked out for the first time in about 2 weeks (the time it has been since I contracted the poison oak). That also feels amazing, I was really beginning to miss the workouts. Not that I am some jacked-up gym rat, but at the same time I do enjoy working out everyday, even if I only work out for about an hour a day.

Hopefully the weather and poison oak continue to improve, I'm ready for summer already!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Identity Theft

It appears that I have fallen victim to identity theft again. This time, the culprit apparently used my name and address, etc, to set up a credit card from some other company and proceeded to charge it to an online casino based out of England. I just don't get it. What kind of a low-life chooses identity theft anyway? Have they no conscience? I would much sooner become homeless and die from starvation than commit identity theft for food, much less commit identity theft to GAMBLE. How about a strong shot of honesty, whoever you are who is doing this to me (this isn't the first time), I hope you realize that you have no future in this world. If I ever find out YOUR identity I will personally see to it that the world knows your shame. Meet me face to face and we'll see how clever you really are.
-Storm (is building and heading your way)

Not a whole lot to mention today

So there's not a whole lot going on that is new. My poison ivy/oak/sumac is getting better, slowly, but is still pretty bad. School is picking back up, in fact, last night my brilliant friend and I spent 3 and 1/2 hours working on our dynamics homework. It's great to be back (that's sarcasm, boys and girls).
On a more interesting note, I get to construct some fiberglass this afternoon, as part of our Engineering Material Science class' lab. That, at least, should be pretty cool. And on a completely unrelated note, I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL SUMMER!

-Storm

Monday, March 15, 2010

Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac

As the last post says, I got poison ivy or poison oak, poison sumac, something, over my spring break. Pretty much blows, my right arm has several spots that are completely blistered up and oozing yellow stuff. So I went to the sick bay this morning and got 4 meds - calamine, aluminum acetate, steroids, and a form of benadryl. Hopefully this stuff clears up soon...until it does I'm missing my professional rescuer classes as well as a lot of sleep, and homework is even more of a chore.

I spent an hour medicating my arms this morning after sick bay (skipped a class to do so), and they're feeling much better right now, hopefully that means they're starting to heal...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Two things

So, two things to write about today. First, a quote that I find interesting:
"When I meet a stranger, I expect them to act a little strange" - Jenni James
I thought this was interesting, because normally when I meet someone it is hard not to make first-impression character judgments. But they are, after all, strangers, and so it would be normal for them to act a bit strange. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting point to make. So thank you, Ms James, for that nugget of advice.

Secondly, in keeping with tradition, I have returned from leave with some form of bodily ailment. This time, poison ivy on my arms (and it appears, behind my left ear - don't ask me because I don't know). It seems that I am perpetually ill when I return from leave back home. This time it is poison ivy, last time it was a rolled ankle that I could barely walk on. Another time it was an ear infection so bad that I had to have a myringotomy. Before that, a terrible cold/sore throat. The times that I have returned sick way outnumber the very few times I have returned well. I'm sitting here with bandages all over my arms and I look like I am terminally ill with these gauze pads that are discolored from the seepage of the blisters. I can't wait for classes to start on Monday...

So that just about gets it for me tonight. Time to watch a movie, or maybe just go to bed. A ton of procrastinated homework awaits me tomorrow!
-Storm

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Intuitively Obvious to the Casual Observer

A phrase that I am finding to be more and more common as I further my mechanical engineering education is "intuitively obvious to the casual observer". I am not a fan of this phrase for two reasons. First, hardly ever is the situation intuitively obvious, especially to a casual observer. The most recent example I have seen of this phrase was in one of my math books where it had a differential equation, which, as is supposedly intuitively obvious to the casual observer, could be simplified to a common form. But that simplification took 3 pages, and involved many algebra skills that I had long forgotten. Intuitively obvious. Sure.
The second reason that I am not a fan of that phrase is because I imagine the author, who, clearly, must be a genius, is just sitting there chuckling to himself as he writes it. He either knows it's not intuitively obvious and is just writing that to get under the skin of people like me, or it really was intuitively obvious to him and he knows that he is part of the 1% of America to which that phrase applies. Either way, the author is probably getting a good laugh knowing that people like me will spend far too much time trying to understand what is apparently "intuitively obvious to the casual observer"!

...and now I'm blogging about math phrases. I should get out more
-Storm

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Update on Jewel

Alright, so first off let me say that the conversation I had with Hope concerning Jewel took place late at night many weeks ago. And the more I thought about what I had told myself and you all that I would do, the less it sounded like a good idea. Not that I am scared and am trying to talk myself out of it, but it seems like I could possibly ruin any hope I had for Jewel if I go out and tell her how I feel. And here's why: we don't know each other very well.

I talked with Hope again last week and told her about what I was thinking. I half-expected her to say that I am just scared and that I should go ahead with it, but to my surprise she agreed with me. She said that it is much harder to find out a guy likes her and then try to work backwards in the relationship, getting to know him after knowing he likes her, than it is to go the other way. And, quite frankly, highly inconsiderate in her eyes. So her advice to me was to spend more time talking with her and just let God take care of the rest. Sounds like a good plan to me, and it was confirmation to what I had been thinking. It really is good to have friends who you can be open with!

In lieu of meeting with Jewel and telling her how I feel I am now just going to meet with her, as I do with most of my friends when I come back home for a while. Obviously if it comes up I won't lie about my feelings, but I will most likely not bring them up and force them upon her. We'll see, God never fails to surprise me, but I don't think we'll be having that conversation at this point!

Until next time, yall have a great spring break! - Storm

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Buried Classmate

Yesterday I buried a classmate of mine. A member of the great class of 2012 died last week, and this week our entire class shipped down to Maryland to honor his life at the wake and funeral.

Although I didn't personally know Kenny Link (1990-2010), I have heard nothing but positive things about him. It was terribly sad for me to see his family and their pain, and it was especially sad for me to see some of my classmates hurt over the loss. If there is one thing that I have really seen through this whole experience, it is that the service I am in is truly a huge family. We take care of our people and are always there for each other.

I regret that I never talked to Kenny, I passed him several times in the passageways of our dorm, but that was during 4/c year when we couldn't talk to each other outside of our rooms. He was, however, a member of my class, and as such I am happy to have had the opportunity to honor him at his memorial.

This loss has really made me think about my priorities in life. The fragility and brevity of life is something that I have dismissed for most of my life, and yet Kenny was younger than I at the same school I attend. He is now gone. It definitely makes me take a long look at what is truly important to me.

I hope I never have to bury a classmate again, or a close friend, for that matter. But what Kenny has taught me is a lesson I won't soon forget, and for that I am thankful. Life goes on, but it is how we live it that defines who we are. I, as I'm sure most of you would agree, would like to leave a legacy behind. Kenny did that.

Now, more than ever, is time to saddle up and start living like God has called me to.


And in a completely unrelated note, after staying the night at the service academy in Annapolis, I am more than confident that I made the right choice for me in coming to the Academy that I attend. I'm sure they have a great program going on, and some people would prefer to be at a large school with limited personality, but I on the other hand prefer a school where the class size is small enough to allow deep friendships with any or all of one's classmates, if they so desire. I would like to see any of the other service academies send an entire class to a town 6 hours away so that they could be part of their classmate's funeral. It was impressive, a bonding experience for our class, and I couldn't be more proud to be part of this organization.

That should just about wrap up my thoughts for the night...
- Storm

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New Years Resolutions and Things.

So obviously it is a little late to make new years' resolutions, I did make some, however, at the turn of the new year. Here are a couple:
1) Do homework on the day it is assigned.
2) Get to bed as close to 10pm as possible (TAPS).
Those are pretty high goals for me to meet, considering the homework load that I have this semester. So far they have gone pretty well though. I hardly ever get to bed any later than 11 pm, and on occasion I actually make it to bed by 10pm (like last night). Most nights I hit the rack around 1030pm.
The first goal was going pretty well until some of these ridiculous labs started taking precedence, but in all honesty I'm doing a fairly good job of getting all the assignments done early.

Another semi-new years goal was to make working out an every-day priority. I've done a pretty good job of that too, I'm preparing as much as I can for this summer, as I will be training the incoming cadets and intimidation is obviously a big factor for success!

Well I guess that is enough rambling for now, until next time
Storm

Monday, January 25, 2010

Friends, sometimes a challenge is good.

Over the past few months I've been talking some with a semi new friend, we'll call her Hope, that I made through physics studying back home and our new church. She's been a great help in getting through some hard days, and I like to think that I've been a good help to her in some problems she's been dealing with, too.

About a week ago she, out of the blue, asked me if I thought that a certain girl, we'll call Jewel, still likes me. This girl, for the record, is the same one that I talked about earlier when I was saying that I discovered that the only girl I've every truly felt for doesn't actually like me. So, I told Hope that I thought my old crush doesn't like me anymore, although she may have before. Hope disagreed, saying that she thought I was wrong, and followed up by asking whether I like her still. I was amused by this for two reasons, I have never told Hope that I like Jewel, and of course, I still liked Jewel, but instead of answering the question I dodged it by asking how she knew I used to like Jewel. Hope was giving in, she asked me "Let me put it this way, if you knew she liked you, would you like her?" I decided to be honest, and replied, "Honestly? I'd be head over heels for her."

We talked a bit more, and the general conclusion from the conversation was that she might still like me, but she may not. In any event it was up to me to tell her my feelings and until I do I won't get either the relationship or the closure that will allow me to move on. The funny thing is, this was not news to me at all, in fact I most likely would have given the same counsel to any friend of mine, had they approached me with the same situation. So, next time I'm home I've decided I will make sure to have a talk with this girl, Jewel, and let her know where I stand. At this point, it is a win-win situation for me because if she has the same feelings for me then that is great, and if she doesn't, then at least I have closure and I can start trying to move on (painful as it may be).

There are three things that I've noticed about this whole experience that I wanted to share.
1) If you have feelings for a girl, be honest with her. It's not going to hurt you, she can't take anything away from you by rejection, and I think a lot of guys will find that most girls, even if they are not interested, aren't going to be super rude about it or anything like that. You are still who you are, and if you continue to trust God, He will show you the way.
2) Sometimes it might be helpful to completely remove yourself from the situation and try to give yourself advice as if you were not the person in question. I don't know how this works in relationships, because that means removing almost all emotion from the picture - which is hard. But heck, it's worth a try.
3) And for all other times when you can't seem to fix the issue yourself, often it takes a friend to help you out. But not just any kiss-up friend, sometimes you need a friend to challenge you. When I was talking with Hope, I started getting a little agitated a few times, but I didn't show that to her because I knew that she was right and I needed the challenging. On the flip side, perhaps you are that friend for someone. Don't be afraid to challenge your friends. Don't be rude, but remember that we all need a kick to get going from time to time, and maybe one of your friends needs that from you!

As for Jewel, when I go home next (spring break) I will talk with her. I'll keep you all updated, I'm sure!

Storm

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MLK Weekend adventure

This past weekend was Martin Luther King weekend, and as such we, as cadets, all had a three day weekend with no training to make the most of. And that we did.

As I mentioned somewhere previously, I am from the desert. Now, I pride myself at being able to adapt rather well to new environments, in other words, put me just about anywhere and I'll do alright (it's nothing too special, anyone in shape and not lacking in common sense should be able to adapt well to just about any new situation). I may not have mentioned earlier, however, that I often volunteer to put myself in situations that make me appear rather awkward and out of place. Well, I do that also. I spent this past weekend in New Hampshire with some friends from the Academy.

I've been to his house before, it is set in the rural, mountainous land which gets snow almost every day. Last year I loved it, and this year I expected nothing less. After a 2 hour train ride, and another hour or so on a crowded bus (complete with unceasing baby yelling) we finally arrived in a town near his and were brought to his house by his father.

Saturday morning we woke up to the smell of chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes, prepared by his mother who, by the way, is an outstanding chef! We soon set out for Mt Major, an easy two hour hike to the top. This was a great climb, not necessarily difficult, at least it shouldn't have been, but I am completely new at climbing on ice. I've always climbed toes-in, because on a rocky hillside that is the best way to control your balance and grip. On Mt Major I did nothing but slip all over the place and nearly slid down a 50ft ice face. One of my friends told me I should start using the sides of my feet instead, and that made all the difference. Too bad he told me when we were nearly at the top.... From the top, a vast view of the famous lake, Lake Winnipesaukee, nearly took my breath away. It was amazingly beautiful, and well worth the hike. The return trip was nothing to write home about, just making our way down the side of the mounting, doing some controlled sliding here and there, and all around having a great time.

Our next stop was at the GunStock ski resort, and although we didn't ever strap on skis, we took full advantage of the snow by doing snow tubing. What a blast. I mean, tubing on water is a lot of fun, but this was crazy. Our group of four went all at the same time in one lane, each of us on our own tube, barreling down the side of the mountain! It was great. Cold, but great.

Sunday was a bit less eventful, but just as much fun. We started off the day with some shooting. I sighted in his scoped air rifle and we played around with that for a while. A little later he brought out his single shot 12 gauge and we blew stuff up with that as well. At one point we put a slug through a brass plate. Pretty incredible.

Later on Sunday afternoon we took their white German Shepherd for a walk in the woods. We crossed a newly-unfrozen creek, hoping from ice to rock, to pallet, to more ice. We chunked rocks at the ice trying to break it in the solid parts, but to no avail. We pressed on, deeper into the woods. Further on we came to a frozen swampland and investigated a wooden birdhouse located at the edge of the swamp. This is pretty much how the whole trip went, lots of investigating, exploring, and all around having a nice lazy walk.

Monday we didn't do a whole lot, we left for the Academy pretty early in the day because all of the roads had been covered in about 12 inches of snow the night before and we had no idea of gauging how long it would take to return. They turned out to be alright, we made it back with plenty of time to spare.

All in all, it was an outstanding weekend! Great food, great adventures, and plenty of time outside in the wild, fresh, crisp, snow-covered outdoors. My only regret: it was too short! Ah well, we have decided to make this trip again next year!

Friday, January 8, 2010

A new year, a new semester

This is the last weekend before school starts, and I plan on taking it completely easy. I'll celebrate my birthday tomorrow, maybe catch a movie, and just rest up as much as I can - basking in the life of no responsibility for the last weekend before march sometime!
Engineering students rarely have light loads, and sophomore engineering students are certainly no exception. This last semester I did the best I have since arriving at the Academy - my GPA was higher than all of my freshman year, which is surprising since the classes I was taking this past semester were considerably more challenging than the "basics" of freshman year.

Why am I telling you this? I actually have no reason. Just wanted to throw down an update because it has been a while...
I miss Texas, I miss the wide open plains, the adventurous homeland that some call "wild" but I call home. I miss the crack of my rifle, the embrace of close friends, and the steering wheel in my hand (we cannot drive at the Academy). However, God has been good to me here at the Academy, I have made many great, great friends and as a whole we are our own support group - taking care of each other all the time. Without the amazing people at this school I would have left many months ago.

I think Thomas Edison said it well: I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.

For those of you schooling this next semester, good luck; for those of you working, may you find joy in your work!