My Life, In A Blog

So, its been awhile since my last post.. mostly due to the fact that i have spent quite a bit of my time trying to get ahead here. I made a decision while i was on T-Track that i wanted to put in for an officer package. What does that mean? That means i basically want to transfer from enlisted to officer. I plan on doing this via the STA-21 program (https://www.sta-21.navy.mil/).  As for the officer community i want to apply for i was thinking Intelligence or Nuclear field. While Intelligence is the community i would like most to be in, I have a far better chance of getting accepted into the Nuclear field. If you would like to know anything more about my STA-21 route please just ask away.

So anyway where have i been? I dedicated more of my time to studies, I spend on average 30hrs in the building, and if theres a holiday.. even more. As for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, i have volunteered to stand watch as well as put in extra hours just so i can have some quite time to myself to get ahead in my studies.

Anyway on to a different subject, I finally got my replacement LED tube for my car… it only took StreetGlow 2Months to get it to me… unfortunately now i dont have the time to get it put on, sooo who knows when it will get done. As for those of you who joined our makeshift ‘car club’ the logos are now done, and i have them, so if you are waiting to get one on your car, just stop by or let me know and ill get you one.

And as always its getting late, so im off to bed, im hoping that i will get a chacne to write some more this weekend.

P.S. Ill be coming home for Christmas (Dec 20 – Jan 2)

So i just got back in South Carolina, after two weeks of leave back home in California.. and i have to say leave was quite the needed relief although being back.. i already want to go on leave again. i spent 2 weeks on leave with Family and friends. which was quite fun, although it totally threw off my sleeping and eating habits i lost 5 pounds during leave just because of that. I spent alot of time with my friends.. some of them kept me out WAY to late.. like 3am and its not like we even went and did anything we just sat and talked. im glad im back in South Carolina… another couple of days and i would have had too much fun, and probably wouldnt have come back. i mean after all i was given the option of moving to canada by one of my friends…

Anyway now that im back.. ive started what is called T-Track. T-Track is OK, im not gonna lie (i really hate that phrase, but i picked it up from a friend while i was on leave), its different from what im used to. But i still have not decided whether or not i like T-Track, i guess i will find out tomorrow when i stand my first official watch. Basically T-Track is where they put all the students on hold. i am on hold until the end OCT. which means in the mean time they have to find something for us to do… So i clean, and clean, and clean oh and then i stand watch. But during T-Track you definately get more free time then when you are in A-School.. the difference is that in A school you got the free time at the end of the week in one lump. here on T-track you get more free time, but its spread out through out the week and odds are you wont get the weekend  completely off. Anyway i should go to bed as i have quite the long day tomorrow. i have to clean from 0545 to 1500 and then at 2345 i have watch until 0600 the next day in which i then muster for cleaning at 0740 until 1200 where i finally get lunch and then go to PT at 1300… then.. i will finally be done for the day and be allowed to go to bed.

I finally bought it… my new toy..

I havent driven it a whole lot, but it definately has more power than my old civic.  If you would like to see some more pics of if click here SCION PICS

So, as im sure you have noticed its been quite awhile since i have written any posts…. mainly because for awhile there my GPA was dropping…. i went from a 3.25 to a 2.77 GPA… LONG! Story, but to make it short, i ran into a speed bump with a couple of concepts…. By the way, has anyone ever told you how ridiculous learning “ideal” vs “real” OPAMPS are? If not, ideally no current flows through an Opamp, however in actuality there is current… but when you do your calculations you dont account for it… wait, what? we are calcualating for how something works not using the numbers that are ACTUALLY there? whatever… move on… so after i got over “simple” understandings like that, i managed to bring my GPA back up to 3.01 Still not good enough… (A school mandatory hours, have me on 20-3, meaning, i had no life) BUT now im on 15-2 BARELY as 3.0 is the cut off… Cutoff when Vce is at MAX and Ic is as MIN.. wait no no i didnt mean to give the electical definition of Transistor cut off… but you spend so many hours swimming in electrical concepts eventually every thing you think of relates back to class..

Anyway, after a long day, i started reading my favorite comic again, Ctrl-Alt-Del Online, and if youre not a nerd dont start… but if you are, you might wanna start from the beginning and read your way all the way through you might find it to be a good stress reliever.

Speaking of stress relievers… isnt exercise supposed to relieve stress?? whoever said that LIED! since it gets too hot to PT in the afternoon, we now have to do it in the morning, so for those of you who dont know i get up at 4am and start my studying by 5-520ish, however that doesnt seem to be  the case on days we have PT, nope instead the entire class has to be on the field by 0550, and then we have to go do whatever (running, play a sport, work out) the APO (Athletic Petty Officer) decides. After thats all done, which is usually around 645, wwe have to be showered, shaved, and dressed by 0720… no problem really Navy made us do it in 10 in boot camp. But what is hard, is on top of that you are supposed to be reviewing yesterdays topic AND going over todays topic before its covered so you have seen it, and it is fresh in your mind before the classes begin…. anyway its 2200 (10pm for you mom)  so i should go to bed.

I love NFAS (Nuclear Field A School), it sucks. I know what youre thinking… NFAS is an awesome place the instructors are always here to help you no matter how simple or complex youre problem or how smart or stupid you are. But being in the building everyday from about 0600 to 2000 really sucks the life out of you. Theres so much information they put out everday, and we take on average about 20pages of notes. Im surprised i retain as much as i do, let alone any of it.

My class average is a 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. I myself am at a 3.2, which isnt really acceptable, since i have scored as low as i did, i go in every morning and get basically like a 1-on-1 tutoring session for about 30minutes every morning. which is great i really appreciate the instructor being there so early. Then i sit through class, finally lunch comes around i either 1)bring lunch to eat  and study in the building, or 2) go to the galley eat really quick, to fit in a quick bit of studying. and then class starts again, and i am  in there until 1600, YES! class finally ended… oh wait! i still have 2-3hrs of homework and i still need to study.

I used to be the kid that never studied and still managed to pull a B average- the school here, is alot harder than i ever expected. I wish i would have taken class on this at Sierra College before i shipped out, it would have made things a whole lot easier here. Here there are very few students who manage to get away with putting in less than 10hrs a week, and in my class few people put in less than 20, i myself average about 25hrs every week. I love it here, love learning so much everyday, but do wish that sometimes things would just slow down a little just a little bit (or maybe throw in a few extra holidays) .

I have been watching SDVI closely, and once believed it would go up, but had lost all hope of it ever returning to a decent value, until today. MarketWatch.Com posted THIS article today, i emailed SDVI Investor relations department and got a response rather rapidly, they plan on having their 10-SB filed with in the next 90days, now i have not done my research on the requirements to be on the NASDAQ bulletin, but i believe  the minimum is $1.00 per share which is excellent considering right now its at $0.02 per share, if all goes well SDVI has no where to go but up.

theres been a slight update to my address, still the same place, but i  now have a permanent class… so here is my new address….

UPDATED: March 20 2008

FN Wagner, Branden C
Class 0826 M
Naval Nuclear Power Training Command
101 NNPTC Circle
Goose Creek, SC 29445

For those of you who dont know. I am stationed at NNPTC (Naval Nuclear Power Training Command) and i am awaiting to start school. Good news, it looks i will be starting school next week. which means i will start the indoctrination briefs this week. so far i have gone to patriots point, which is basically where we take a tour of a WWII Submarine (USS Clamagore) and a WWII carrier (USS Yorktown). its interesting becuase alot of it is, as we are told, very similiar to todays ships/subs, so  really it was kind of like an introduction to what our lives will be like on ship and where we will be staying and such. I recommend to all of you that are out there, if you are ever in South Carolina you go to Patriots Point.

But back to my point… school will be starting soon, i am excited however those around me, who have already started are telling me 1 of 2 things either how miserable they are or how much fun it is- its interesting from what ive been able to look at, is those who have either not attended college or who have poor study habits, are the ones who are miserable. and those who have good study habits and/or attend college find this to be both fun, and easier than college.

 For my self, i have terrible study habits and i know i do, but that will be changing (as the Navy pays me to study- thats right suckers i get paid to go to class and paid to study. you have to go to school, then go to work. HAHA). i do however have college experience and am used to a fast paced learning environment. so i am excited to see how things will work out.

My birthday is coming up and many of you keep asking me what i want well heres a few tips to help you out.

we have limited space here, our rooms are 2 people to a room and its basically 2 beds and 2 desks, in which we have to store everything in, nice and neat. So if you do get me something make sure it is not too big and/or not to valuable (as somethings are known to get stolen).

On base there is a Subway and a McDonalds (the subway here is the #1 grossing subway in the USA…. yeah we eat alot). Also there is a best buy just off base about 5minutes away (its the #1 grossing best buy in the USA), it seems we like to buy electronics- almost everyone has a laptop a cell phone and an mp3 player, some people have even gone out and bought TVs for their rooms. So gift cards to those places are good ideas.

In addition phone cards are always a good idea, even though soon i will have my cell phone, it costs minutes to use and so i have heard that the recption on this base isnt too good, we have plenty of pay phones here so if you want me to call you; you can send me phone cards. Right now i have some down time for a week or two, and will be reading and doing laundry, so you can send me books- Tom Clancy books are my favorite especially the splinter cell series- but any book is fine.

Also if you it costs me about $120 a year to keep this site up and running, so if you would like you can donate to my website (which is really just to me) via paypal, there is a link on the main page.

So, as some of you have already heard, i am finally at my “A” School -NNPTC, after being on hold for about a month, i have finally made it to where i am supposed to be…

The Good News

• rules are more relaxed
• cell phones are allowed
• food is EXCELLENT
• laptops allowed
• liberty on the weekends (done in phases)

Bad News

• Im the new guy, the only new guy… (that will only last a couple of days)
• the base is huge and takes forever to walk anywhere
• i dont have anything ( there is a list of stuff i need to go buy)
• my cell phone and laptop havent arrived yet

Overall i have to say that it is pretty cool here, its pretty much like a college campus. So far i have only been here 24hrs and i am enjoying it. i havent started class yet though i am still learning the ropes and waiting for the next group to get here so that we can start school.  Its amazing how different it is here- i went from RTC (boot camp base) where everyday there was yelling and rule were very strict, to a more NNPTC which is more like a college campus where we all wear uniforms. i have to say i rather enjoy it here and cant wait to start classes and get all situated.