It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . .

So, I met with Charlie Strey (the res. life coordinator) yesterday and we had a conversation about my presence on campus. After explaining my situation and my affinity to continue classes even though I will not be receiving credit, he decided to let me stay. He cautioned that I must follow all of the campus policies for on-campus living and take care not to distract other students from their studies. I am really happy with this result.

I went to White Bear Lake last night with Patty and we saw the "Lord of War" with Nicholas Cage. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting but more thought provoking. Patty had an eye appointment at 4:00 today so we went to breakfast and then off to Barnes and Noble to find some good books. I am a real sucker for books. As soon as I walked in they had me snared with the "classics section", a collection of the best literature written. I ended up buying "A Tale of Two Cities" (Dickens) and "Walden and Civil Disobedience" (Thoreau). I have read them both, but I didn't have them in hardcover; now I do. If two books weren't enough, they had a book lying out next to the checkout counter entitled "The Encyclopedia of Survival Techniques" which caught my eye, so I got that too.

I am heading up north to see my family this weekend because I don't know when everyone will be able to get together again. I think that I will try to find a cheap flight down to Arizona to see my mother sometime before I leave for Mississippi, as I now have over a month to do so. I am also toying with the idea of taking a last minute flight out of the country to anywhere some weekend before I leave. If anybody wants to go with, let me know! I know Patty wants to go too. I would also like to go somewhere with my Dad but he is a little hard to plan around with how busy his schedule usually is. I am open water PADI dive certified and it would be nice to actually make use of this.

That is about all I have on my mind for today. Nick.

Post Scriptum: Whoever can tell me why I gave this post it's title will win a gold star. Just leave a comment.

November 12th. What Great Irony!

Nov. 12th. After receiving no information from the Army for a week, I finally called them and demanded a date for deployment. Although it was good to finally get an answer, the date was a little disappointing.

First off, my 21st birthday is November 13th (ouch). Secondly, what in the heck am I going to do for the next month and a half? I was expecting to leave in two weeks, but now it looks as though I will be around for a while. If only I could stay for one extra month more I could have finished my classes and then be gone. Muy frustrado! And where am I going to stay??? Another disappointing phone call awaited me today.

Charlie Strey, our area coordinator for Residential Life at school woke me up from a cat nap this afternoon with a phone call. He informed me that if I was still on campus I was in the wrong. He said that I needed to leave by Friday. I was very polite, but a little discouraged as I was informed previously that I could stay until I needed to leave. I will be meeting him tomorrow but it seems that he wants me off campus. It's as though he just can't look past the technical policy which he stated "if you are not registered in classes you cannot be housed in on campus housing". He claims that I am no longer a student, which on paper is semi valid but this does not take into effect the special circumstances I am facing. I did not choose to drop out from school, or to drop my classes, I was forced to do so. I am already fully moved in and I am still attending classes even if I will not be receiving credit for them. He really got me upset with two other things he said, "you should have moved out within 24 hours of having dropped your classes". When I asked what the real problem with me staying was he replied "since you are not as intensive in your studies [not officially registered] as your classmates we are concerned that you might take their attention away from their studies and break policies". What a load of bull.

I am upset but I will have a civil discussion with him tomorrow and I will push for the allowance to stay on campus. I have a lot more to talk about but I will leave a post cras (tomorrow).

~Nick~

A mighty dog. Carl got the biggest hot dog I have ever seen. It was over a foot long but you wouldn't believe the width on this thing. Whew!! 

The Weekend Update

Ok. I haven't written since Thursday so I thought I owed everyone a new post to keep you coming back for more. . .

First off, how about them Vikings ehh? I had the pleasure of going to the game with my good friend Carl and we had a lot of fun. By fun, I mean we saw the Vikings finally put a big W up. Sorry Packers fans (Mike, Justin, and Mary that includes you) but we finally ended our losing streak (wish you could say the same huh?). There is nothing better than to see your team win, it sure brightened my day.

Things are beginning to get stressful. As the time is approaching for me to leave I feel myself getting more and more stressed out. I am slowly coming to the realization that soon I will be out of here and in a completely different setting with completely different people. Know, we all know that men tend not to be as emotional (or physiologically at least they express it differently than women) but I find myself getting emotional about my departure. Every time I see my friends I think about how I won't be seeing them in a long time, if ever again. Sorry, not trying to get sappy on you but that is just what I am thinking.

The weekend was pretty uneventful save for three things.

1. On Friday night we had some friends over to our apartment and played Catch Phrase. I ended up having a little bit to drink and met a lot of new people (neighbors) during the midst of going from room to room. Emily, Tura, Heidi, and Stefanie, thank you for letting me use your couch, even if I didn't get a blanket. :-)

2. I went with my friend Pam and bought a new camera for the trip. Afterwards we went to Red Lobster for dinner. Thanks Pam!

3. The weekend just wouldn't have ended so sweet had it not been for the Vikings win. So yes, this makes the list.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.
~Nick~

The Soldiers are Leaving

Yesterday, early in the morning, soldiers of my former unit and current unit were sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. This is where we will be staging for the next ~5 months or so. I am expecting to be sent there within the next 3 weeks to join up and get in the training. It looks as though there will be quite a few soldiers from my former company that I know and have been with for the past three and a half years. It is always comforting to have people you know well going with you on such a life changing event.

I received a very nice letter from one of my professors that wished me well and let me know how much it meant to her that I was doing what I was doing. All of my professors have been very kind and non-judgmental about my being called up to active duty. Although they have their opinions on the war and politics etc. . . they know that I am just doing what I signed up for and they support me. It is has been very comforting that the school is aware of this deployment and they will be waiting for me to return in two years.

On the lighter side of life, because not everything on this blog will be about the military, I (along with fellow chemists Justin S. and Adam C.) received the gold star for ingenuity in the Biochemistry lab. We recognized a step that required weighing and measuring out phosphate salt in to the correct pH buffer to the right volume and noticed a shortcut (we really didn't understand that whole thing until later). So, instead we used two pre-made buffers to get the correct pH and used that instead. It was much simpler and the results came out very well.

I have been attending my classes for the most part, and have been to all of my Biochem and Biology labs. I actually enjoy going to class and labs, it is so much easier to be in a learning environment when you choose to be there and learn instead of worrying about taking notes or the upcoming test or paper. Wouldn't it be nice if medical schools could just be satisfied that I went to classes and passed? Their concern is about how well you did, but sometimes that isn't how well you know the information or how good a doctor you would make.

Well, as they say, these are the days of our lives. Nick out.

A Leave of Absence

It's official. After having talked to the Dean, Residential Life Director, Area coordinator, Loan Manager, Financial Aid Director, and the Registrar I am officially on leave from Gustavus. Everything went as smoothly as I could hope. They agreed to refund the money that I had invested into this semester and all financial aid I had received will be returned to their sources.

Line #2 Estimated return date: Fall of 2007.

I told Residential Life that I would be living here for a few more weeks because "I was still attending classes", which isn't entirely fictitious because I have still gone to classes and my labs. I don't however, think that I will doing so two weeks from now. Nonetheless, it will be nice to spend some more time here and visiting friends before I have to leave for Mississippi. In all actuality I won't see many of them ever again. My friends who are seniors this is for sure, and the rest that are juniors I will be able to watch them take the walk in spring of 2007 when I return.

So, the question is, will I return to Gustavus in two years? Right now, I have no answer to that. I really like the school but mostly the people. It will be hard to come back here and jump back into school when everybody has left. Well, as somebody said to me the other day, I "have a lot of time to think about it". That I do.

Is this a reality?

I should probably be sleeping by now (thanks Kirsten and Lizzy, j/k), but I couldn't help but stop and think about my situation. It just doesn't seem possible that in less than thirty days (most likely) I will be down in Mississippi getting ready to leave for Iraq. I was supposed to go and get my things squared away this past weekend (i.e. insurance, will, lease information, pay, medical, and gear) but that never happened. You can expect these kind of changes from the military, "stay flexible" they always say (anyone else who has been or is currently in the military can certainly attest to this).
So, people are probably wondering what I am going to be doing the next few weeks. I wish I could give you a good answer, but that just isn't going to happen. Since I don't really know when I will be leaving MN, it makes the task of time management difficult. Here are some ideas. . .

1. I can't stay at school forever- Just two weeks into moving into school and going to classes I have to leave. All of you in school right now know that the task of moving in/out is not very pleasant. Also, I think it would be key if I told the school that I was actually leaving. I don't think it would be entertaining to pay $14,000 for a semester of classes that I didn't receive credit for.

2. Time with family and friends- This is probably the most important thing I should do. Lately, I feel that I haven't spent enough time with those that mean the most to me. Friends here at Gustavus, friends in the cities, Dad is 4.5 hours up north, and Mom in Prescott, AZ. Don't be at all surprised if I call you to tell you I'm coming to visit, this goes for everybody!

3. The necessities for leaving- This will include many things. Lots of military paperwork etc. . . Making sure bills can be payed while I'm gone. Store all of my things. Finding good books to bring (oh yeah, intensive Latin be prepared).

4. The sporadic- These will rank up there with spending time with friends and family. Most people wouldn't exactly classify me as very adventurous (although I constantly wish I had the time and money to be) but, since we never know the outcome of this tour I want to make sure that I leave with the satisfaction of having done what I wouldn't usually do.

5. The miscellaneous- I am sure that I forgot some things or maybe you have some ideas. If something comes to mind, leave a comment on this post.

I think that is what I wanted say. Oh well, it's time for bed. Jeez, where does the time go?

The Call to Duty

Wednesday, September 14th- I received the call from my new admin. sgt at ~9:00 AM. I was notified that I had been pulled off the "stay behind list" and unto the deployment roster. This essentially means that I have 30 days to receive my orders and depart to Mississippi where the rest of the deployees from the MN National Guard are headed next week. With the limited information that I and others have, all I can tell you guys is that we will be in Mississippi for ~5-6 months for train-up and then out to "southwest Asia" for a year (a quick geography lesson will show you that yes, Iraq is included). Out.