Team positions. Each team member is given a choice of jobs with in the group. Varying from spike grocery shopping to writing daily reports. My official jobs are Vehicle Specialist and Photographer. Both of which I think I can handle.

ISP (Independent Service Project). While in Chicago and over the course of the year we are required to implement 80hrs of ISP. Basically all we have to do is work with non-profit organizations. Some examples are food pantries, habitat for humanity and tutoring.

Quote of the day: Be flexible from the "F" to the "E".

Unit hike. The entire Earth Unit went for a hike today at Rocksborough state park.

BIG news. 80% of the Americorps NCCC recourses and projects are being routed to hurricane Katrina. Teams from all of the campuses are being pulled from scheduled projects. As for me it seems that I'll be still in Chicago. Word has it that the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, requested that our two wildfire teams not be pulled to the coast.

This doesn't reflect the views of NCCC. I feel that the head of NCCC is making an effort to gain media attention by moving the resources to the coast. In coming months look for coverage of some school openings and large habitat of humanity projects in Louisiana.

Finally found out where I'm staying in Chicago: Waveland Ave. near Wrigley Field. Awesome! We are getting YMCA membership as well as an unlimited Metro Pass.

REI. Denver has the mother of all REI stores. The building used to be a train station now it has three floors of outdoors gear. Spent the day in and around the city.

Welcome to Nederland. A small hippie town which I will call home while working for the forest service. The wildfire crew visited the facilities and got a tour and preview of the months ahead. Things such as navy "sewl" workouts and chainsaw appreciation days. All the full time fire fighters used to be smoke jumpers or hot shots. That means they kick ass and take names. I didn't have time to take pictures. I should be able to take some soon.

Final Teams! All of the final teams and first round projects have been announced. Details on the project I've been assigned to are as follows.

Location: Downtown Chicago area. 91st Floor of the Sears Tower.
Project: One day a week helping the less fortunate with tax forms for TAP (Tax Assistance Project). Four days a week traveling to local low income area high schools and promoting FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).
Living arrangements: None yet
Perks: Unlimited metro pass, gym membership and lots of PT.
Departure: Should be the 25th

Summary of last few days... Continuing class work. Lots of PT (Physical training). Played a new card game for wild fire training. Here is how to play:
1) Shuffle a deck of cards and split into two piles
2) Set the piles 50 yards apart.
3) Flip the first card over. Do military sit-ups according to the corresponding card (jacks 15, queen 20, king 25 and joker O)
4) Sprint to the other half of the deck. Do push-ups corresponding to the cards.
5) Sprint back and repeat process with team members.