Leah reminded me today that God never gives you more than you can handle. I guess I should be happy that God trusts I can handle this much, but I must admit that it really sucks. However, I'll survive. I learned a good lesson, listen to you're gut instinct. When it tells you that someone isn't right for you, that something just isnt' right, when your friends say someone is a jerk, perhaps you should listen.

New Mexico has been hot...as in the weather. It's in the high 90's every day, but the saving factor is that there is practically no humidity. Besides, I spend most of the time inside in air conditioning doing work, or at least trying to do work. So far it's been pretty boring. On Wednesday I drove to Santa Fe for lunch. It's a nice city, but since I was alone and had never been there I had no idea what to do and so I walked around a bit and then drove the long way back to Albuquerque. During lunch I called Misha and we talked for a bit. This morning he IM'd me and gave me the name and phone number of one of his sister's friends who is doing an intership here for the summer so that hopefully we can hang out. It's rather boring here since I don't know anybody. Tonight I drove around trying to find the best gas price in the city, watch the sun set, and called some of my friends.

I went to the doctor today and found out that I actually have a double ear infection. Now I'm on antibiotics and ear drops, plus I'm taking lots of sudafed. What a wonderfull stay at home.

Actually it hasn't been that bad. Today I played laser tag with Steph. She invited me along to play with a bunch of Air Force people. It was really fun. Better than the MILES gear. Other than that I've been able to go out with a bunch of my friends. I was supposed to go to Cedar Point on Wednesday, but that ended up not working out at the last minute. I didn't minda that much about not going to Cedar Point since roller coasters are starting to not be as exciting to me, but I was kinda sad that I wouldn't get to hang out with Leah. I won't get to see her untill school starts.

Good news on the car front. I was able to reserve one today with enterprise. It's going to cost a lot, but I'll think it'll be worth it when I'm in New Mexico.

I feel like such a wimp right now. My ear really hurts. My dreams are even about my ear hurting, or at least have that in them. It's probably just a stupid ear infection or something, but I won't know until tomorrow at 11am when I have a doctors appointment. Argh.

I wish I were 21 so that I could rent a car when I'm in NM.

Once again I'm back home for 6 days. Buckner was an awesome experiance. I don't think I could've asked for a better detail. The cadre in my platoon were great, my squad was fantastic, and the training was excellent. I learned a lot and grew a lot over the past month. Being a squad leader was challenging to say the least, but the rewards make it all worth it. Seeing my squad work together, cheer each other on, tough it out, and push themselves to the limit more than made up for the lack of sleep and stress level I had to deal with. The best times were in fact the times when I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep or less that night and was running around trying to work for my squad. It was then that I felt I was actually doing something and making a difference. I'd change a few things if I could go back and do it over again, but that just shows me that I've taken away some learning points for the future. It's nice to have a break, but I also wish I could see how my squad fares with second detail. I know that they are going to improve even more and really excell this detail. Right now they may not be looking forward to infantry week, but I believe they'll come out of it with a really positive attitude and more cohesion. Crehan, Dahman, Ehlers, Fazio, Friters, Hughes, Klingensmith, McDonald, Obringer, Robinson, and White...thanks. You guys are great.