I miss my daddy...

Another beautiful sunset in Blacksburg!

I LOVE BLACKSBURG! :-) This was the view from our balcony tonight! As Dave McKee would say, "Another beautiful sunset in Blacksburg!"

James Update!

Hello all! I am very excited to tell you that I had the chance to talk to James for 20 minutes the other night!! It was such a blessing, and I definitely needed it! He called around midnight, and said he wasn't supposed to be talking to me, but I'm glad he broke some rules! :-) And, I could actually hear him this time. He said everything is hard, and this week has been harder than last week, as they are doing the intense physical work in addition to school work (Engineering). They have more free time now, but they have so much to do, and he said they never know when they are going to get interrupted, so it is hard to actually start anything. Which is frustrating for James, because he always likes to plan things out! He said they are exhausted and hungry, but they are finally allowed to get packages, but all they can get are power bars and beef jerky, so guess what I went and bought yesterday? I felt really awkward at Wal*Mart with a cart full of protein bars and jerky. He asked if I could send him a lot at once so he doesn’t have to continually open packages in front of his drill instructor. That is so sad! His class will not be guaranteed liberty until the 8th week, although they may get it sooner, so I am hoping to visit him at the end of October. He was interested in hearing all about the Glennon/Tyrod fiasco, and wanted to hear about Patreaus’ report, which I hadn’t read and knew nothing about. He says hi, and that he’s hanging in there! I miss him like crazy!! Keep writing! :-)

Crazy Mansions!

Newport, Rhode Island

James has officially left for OCS, and I miss him like crazy! We traveled to Rhode Island a few days before he had to report, so that we could spend some time together and get to know the Newport area. We stopped in Gettysburg on the way, as I had never been there before, but we only had a chance to spend about an hour there. I was amazed at how different the memorials were from other battlefields and feel like Virginia has a lot of work to do! If you haven’t been to Gettysburg before, you definitely need to go! Rhode Island was wonderful as well. New England is gorgeous, and I would have loved to have spent some more time up there, especially if we had more money. It’s super expensive, but everything is well worth it. We had some awesome clam chowder, clam cakes, and dough boys, and well as fresh calamari with peppers. The food was amazing, and so were the views! We went to the cliff walk twice, looking at all of the mansions we could only dream of affording. Like…really really dream. You can check some of them out at: http://www.newportmansions.org/ Next time I visit, we are going to try to go inside some of them, but we ran out of time this trip. The wharf is adorable, with fun shopping, and great looking pubs. I’m excited about visiting James! I talked to him today for about five minutes, and he asked that no one send him packages, as he isn’t allowed to have them yet. Opps! I already sent one to him and David Walsh, so I hope they don’t get into trouble. I couldn’t really hear him, as he was on a payphone in the hallway, but he said that he was doing well, but that he hadn’t slept more than 2 hours a night, and that his drill sergeant was fair, so he didn’t mind doing the stupid stuff. 50 of them reported, and already 25 of them have been rolled by a class, so let’s pray that James doesn’t get rolled! (I’ve already booked my plane ticket for Nov. 29th!) Please keep writing him though! :-)

James' temp address.

Tomorrow Angela and I will be leaving for Rhode Island. I report this weekend to Navy OCS! I'm excited and ready to start. For anyone wishing to write, here is my address. I will definitely appreciate any notes you guys send.

OC James Gouger
Officer Candidate School
Class 02-08
Officer Training Command Newport
291 Kollmeyer St
Newport, RI 02841-1641

Fall Ball

Football has returned to America, thank God! Angela and I went to our first game in Lane Stadium since graduating and spending a hard season away in Texas... In an over hyped, emotional atmosphere, we witnessed a lackluster performance by our beloved Hokies. The areas of the team that were supposed to be weak were very weak. Our offense was horribly out of sync. East Carolina played hard, but we got the win. I have noticed that whenever there is a very large media attention on our team the week before a game, they struggle or stink up the field (Miami 2005, FSU 2005, entire 2003 season... etc). Gameday will be in Baton Rouge this week to cover a second Tech game in a row, which could spell doom and ruin for our offense. But, in all fairness, a huge burden had been placed on the football team, as they were looked at since April to bring happiness through success on the field to an embattled community. That is a lot of pressure for a bunch of youngsters. At least our kickers looked good! Also, it was nice to see many of our friends at the game, in the band and alumni. Many Gougers were at the game, as Capers is now up here in addition to all the ticket holders in the family. Sitting in the upper South End Zone, we met many season ticket holders who hoped we would be coming back, but this will be the only home game I make it to all year, and Angela will be sitting all over the stadium depending on the tickets she scrambles to find! It makes us miss band, as the game was rather anti-climatic to all the hype and bored us. At least in band you play songs and dance all game! The band has new uniforms this year, which look similar to the old ones, but appear to be made of cheaper material that ran. Sweat made the maroon bleed into the white... Apparently you cannot purchase heavy wool band uniforms anymore?! But all things considered, it was a great game to be at, and makes me all that more sad that I will miss watching many games this fall.