Cancun, Rings, and other things

So much has happened since I last wrote here! In the interest of time, I will keep them all relatively short and without much detail, but let me know if you are interested in hearing more about any of it.

First, I went to Cancun for spring break. It was my first time to ever truly do the classic spring break trip to somewhere exquisite, and it was by far the best spring break I've ever had. I went with 7 other guys from my company here, and we stayed at an all-inclusive resort which had great food, an excellent location, and outstanding service. We met a lot of really cool people too and we hit up some of the nightlife scene in downtown Cancun with them which is always a good time. Overall it was a fantastic trip and very hard to return from.

The next item of interest is Ring Dance, which was two weekends ago. In the previous post I mentioned that I should go with a date, and in keeping with the tradition I did just that. I originally asked a girl from one of the spring break groups we met in Cancun (she was really cool and I hung out with her more than the rest of the people we met down there), but unfortunately she couldn't make it due to a previous engagement. Luckily for me, my friend Brett also asked one of the girls from that same group and his date was actually able to make it, so  yet another girl who was also pretty cool in the group was able to go with me. The formal followed the traditional schedule of the Academy formals, a long, delicious dinner followed by a few hours in the dance hall. It was a good time, and I really like my ring. It is white gold with a Texas Star on top and has a small diamond inset in the center of the star. I'm just happy I was able to combine the Academy and Texas into one ring! After the formal several of us stayed at a rented house where we played games, ate more food, and had a great time until around 4am. It was a great weekend that I'll probably never forget!

In other news, I bought an iPad 2 for this summer's assignments. I don't want to have to bring my computer with me to Guam and Sandia National Labs because it is big and bulky and has been giving me a lot of trouble recently, so the iPad is a good substitute since it is basically a miniature computer that is ultra-portable and capable of handling any of the computing needs that I should encounter during the summer. So far I'm loving it, I find it amazing how far technology has come in just the past few years.

Lastly, our Combat Arms Team has been wrapping up it's year with two of our biggest competitions. The first was JSACWC, hosted by Navy this year. We didn't win, but we had a good time and got to hang out with the teams from the other Academies. This past weekend we went to West Point's 2-gun match (rifle/pistol) and had an absolute blast! The day started off terribly, it was raining sideways and probably 40 degrees outside. I haven't been that cold since I whitewater rafted in Alaska, I couldn't even load my mags. Around lunchtime it stopped raining, however, and for the next 5 hrs we just had a great time shooting through the stages. We weren't even keeping score, just having a good time and being a little competitive amongst ourselves on a stage-by-stage basis. Those last 5 hrs were the best I've had with the team the entire year - very happy I was able to make it this year!

That's about it for now, I need to head to formation anyway. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write in the upcoming weeks, I have finals next week and then leave for Guam the following Saturday. But as always, if you have questions/comments feel free to leave them here and I'll get back to you eventually! So, until next time, take it easy friends!
-Storm