I have one weird thing to add about the whole elevator thing. Yesterday morning the upper three classes in my company had a meeting down in the dayroom at 6:20am. When we were leaving the meeting we could't use the elevator because it was broken. The door was open and I noticed that the floor of the elevator was a few inches below the normal floor level where it usually stops. In my dream that is a reaccuring thing, except the difference is a few feet instead of a few inches. That's usually the thing that makes me the most nervous in my dreams because in the dreams it's a sign that something is wrong with the elevator and it could go crashing to the ground at any minute and therefore I have to get out of it. The elevator worked again by the evening and I rode it up to my room after practice.

It's going to be a long day tomorrow that starts very early and ends really late. I hope I survive. At least there's OCF:)

Why do I keep having dreams about me being in an elevator and it breaking? It's not that it breaks and I'm trapped inside and can't get out, it's that it's on the verge of crashing down to the ground. I've had a dream with that in it at least twice. One of them was on Sunday afternoon. Does it mean anything?

Yesterday was a really good day. The SAMI in the morning really was more like Saturday AMI then a big huge inspection. That was probably due in part to the fact that all the firsties had the junior leader panels durning the sami and so none of them were around to inspect. During the sami it started pouring outside. Whereas my parent's we praying that it'd stop raining because the Michigan Parents Club tailgate area was starting to flood, Alyson and I were staring outside the window hoping that it would continue raining for awhile and were dissapointed everytime it started to let up a little. At the very last minute they called off the parade, but that was after they had us all form up indoors under arms. ESPN was here and they really wanted to have a parade.

Army lost 28-0 to USF, the score was 0-0 until the last minute in the first half. The second half I went over and stood with Annah, Anna, and Kristen and stopped paying attention to the game. After the game I went back, changed, and went down to the MI Parents Club tailgate. I got there at the tail end of it, but had to stick around to help clean up because my parents were in charge of it this year.

After that my parents and I went to the Schumachers house. Brian was there with his parents as well. I was hoping that Heather or Amanda would be there as well, but it ended up being just us. I love the Schumachers. They are such good people. We all talked for awhile, and both Brian and my parents told a few somewhat embarrasing stories about each of us. It wasn't as bad as when Leah's parents came up for her birthday. They left us with plenty of stuff to make fun of her for, all in good fun of course. I love my friends, and so do my parents, and my friends love them, so it works out really well. Last night as I was saying bye to them, my parents told me they thought I was friends with some really good poeple.

When I got back to the barracks I felt like watching the movie 8 Seconds, but James wasn't around and so I couldn't borrow it from him. I saw him a little later and told me that I should've gone out with brandon, him, and alyson because they had a lot of fun. Somehow that evolved into us starting to grapple in the hallway. He said that he'd beat me and win, I said he wouldn't. Nobody really ended up winning, although he claims that since I wasn't able to get him out of my chair that he won. We need a rematch.

Both WPR's are done. I have no idea how I did on either of them, but both of them served to remind me why I am not a Sosh or an APL major. I can't crap out pages and pages of writing. Even if I know the subject really well, I still don't write very much. On papers I'm usually the person struggling to meet the minimum number of words. I can write well if I have the time and put effort into it, but whereas a lot of my classmates are able to write 6 pages on an essay, I only write 3.

On a completly different subject, I think I have an eye infection. My left eye is a little red, although I think it's looking a little better than it did last night. Hopefully it's not pink eye. It's not itching, so I think that's a good sign. However, I'm wearing glasses today as a precaution. I miss my contacts.

My parents are here, although I haven't seen them yet and won't get to see them until this evening at the crew bbq. With them comes my laptop all fixed. yay!

Coach is awesome! His latest email to the team is hilarious:

There is a very good reason the USN uses big print on its navel boats. You see that branch of the service has the lowest literacy rate of any U.S. Government run program, lower even than toll collectors, the border patrol, and the people who hand out food stamps. Far lower than the Coast Guard, for example. The Navy needs those big letters on boats so that chief petty officers (now just stop for a second and think how ridiculous that sounds) can help secondary chief petty officers instruct the lowly seaman on how to read, e.g. a sailor on the Arleigh Burke. CPO to lowly squid: "Now son, you see that first big letter on our boat, the one that comes to a peak, and then slants out? It has a crossbar across it. That is an A which is the first letter of the service we all would be in if we could only qualify for it. You don't have to worry about the other letters, just take this mop and slop bucket and clean up the floor. That's what we spend 95 % of our time doing here. Just watch out for Ms. Ike Ord. She is a real b.
because the first part of her name sounds like that of a great Army General."
And that's the way life is in the Navy, and Heather, navel, boat, and floor are all intentional. What can one say about an alledged branch of the military that since it does nothing, clings to its quaint phrases such as gangway, bulkhead (really a better term for the Chief of Naval Operations) and deck?
BEAT AIR FORCE, if you can.
Best,
Coach

Today should be a Friday. It'd be great if it were Friday, because then I'd be done with both wpr's and the presentation. All I'd have left would be tennis, cs class, yoga with crew team lead by one of the lead actors in Xena Warrior Princess, crew BBQ, a little time with my parents, and then cleaning for sami.

My AFC shirt is very annoying. The shoulders are too small, and so I can't reach all the way forward, but the waist area on it is huge and always bunches up. My dress-offs don't stay.

God has done some really good things in my life recently. He's shown me that when I turn everything over to Him, it turns out a lot better than I could ever do on my own. I don't know how to explain how I feel. I guess the best description is that I feel at peace.

I miss New Mexico.

This is awesome!

http://www.pressaprint.com/som/WeSupportU2.htm

This is awesome!

http://www.pressaprint.com/som/WeSupportU2.htm

Today in English we were discussing Russian culture as usual and my teacher was once again trying to impress on us why the revolution at the turn of the century didn't work. In order to make his point he decided to use West Point as an example. For this he turned to me and asked "Is there anyone who goes to this school who you despise?" For a second I was a bit shocked by the question and didn't want to answer it, but I said "yes". He then asked "Is there anyone here that you want nothing to do with and never want to see?" Again I had to answer "yes". Alyson, who sits right beside me in class, was trying to keep from chuckling the whole time because she thought it was rather amusing that he had chosen to ask me those questions.

For the rest of the day the first question bothered me. Do I really despise anyone? The more I think about it, the more I don't like the thought of actually despising, loathing, scorning, or any related synonym. Those all walk a very fine line next to hate. I've found the more I focused on how much I dislike someone, the more angry I became and the more miserable my life is. Forgivness is an amazing thing, and so is prayer. If I could, I think I'd retract my answer to the first question.

I figured out the problem. I posted them to the wrong blog. Stupid me.

Where are the two posts I wrote on w.bloggar?

Stress level = very high
therefore,
Kate = easily annoyed and irritable
beware.


This week is a major Thayer week, and the worst part is that I didn't ever realize it until it hit.
Monday: APFT, Mil Art Quiz
Tuesday: CS Project 1 resubmission due
Wednesday: CS Project 2 part 1 due
Thursday: EE Lab IPR 2 due, English Paper due to Peer editor
Friday: Mil Art WPR, IR WPR, Cow Fitness Presentation,
Saturday: SAM Company BBQ (?)
Overall: 6 week grades due

Somehow I think a lot of weeks will be like this for me.

"..Wait for the guy who will make an ordinary moment seem magical, the kinda guy who brings out the best in you and makes you want to be a better person. Wait for the guy who can look you in the eye and touch your heart all within one glance... Wait for the guy who will be your best friend, who will drop everything to be with you at any time no matter what the circumstances are. Wait for the guy who makes you smile like no one else-- and when he smiles you know he needs you. Wait for the guy who wants to show you off to the world even when you are in your sweats, with your hair pulled up, and no make-up on... but appreciates it when you get dolled up for him. Wait for the guy that calls you his girl, makes it official, and tells the World... Most of all, wait for the guy who will put you at the center of his universe cause that's where you belong."

Done with the APFT. YAY!

36 Push-ups (90 pts)
73 Sit-ups (92 pts)
16:49 2-mile run time (84 pts)
Total: 266 pts

I think that's actually my best point total so far. Not my best push-up or run time, but it's the most sit-ups I've gotten. I got cut a few push-ups, but after I was done the CPT grading me said that my form was pretty good. Compared to some people my score's not great, but for me it's a personal best. Perhaps next time if I actually train for the APFT then I'll tab it. This time I really didn't train at all, especially for the run. If I can knock off 25 seconds, then I'll have the APFT tab.

I know I've been writing a lot more about God, my relationship with Him, and stuff like that....

I'll expound on that thought later. It's getting late. I need to get ot bed.

Today's been a really good day. At Church I sat with Amanda, Brian, and the Schumackers. Then Amanda, Brian, and I went to brunch. We stayed there for a pretty long time. Amanda and I were goofing around and Brian was giving us weird looks and making fun of us, especially when he found out that Amanda had an imaginary friend that was a panda with wings named Fuzzle when she was little, and that I had an imaginary friend named Bob that got ran over by a chicken. Poor Bob, may he rest in peace.

After brunch I went back to my room and took a nap, which ended when the fire alarm started to sound. The yucks and plebe's haven't learned that when the fire alarm sounds in Mac Short, instead of going outside you can just go over to Mac Long, and vice versa. It's very rare that both sides have fire alarms going off at the same time. Once the alarm stopped, I went back to my room and started reading for Mil Art. Tomorrow there's a quiz on the battle of York Town.

Instead of listening to my usual selection of Tim McGraw, Jimmy Wayne, or Staind, I decided to listen to one of Johannes cd's. Piano is good music to read by. Then I started listening to a Christian station on Launchcast. After a little while I noticed that I had a strong urg to start praying and worshiping God, so I did. That's never happened before in the middle of homework. What's cool is some songs that I know came on and so I was able to silently sing along with them and pray. Alyson was in the room and so I didn't want to bother her. It was a really good prayer time.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus

This evening, after I had finished my mil art and IR reading, I decided to give Matt and Frank a call. I don't think I've talked to Matt since I was in New Mexico, or maybe I did right after I got back to school. In any case, it's been awhile. With Frank it's been even longer. I saw him for about 5 min when I was home the second time this summer, but haven't really talked to him since at least June. Sadly, Matt wasn't around and when I called Frank's house to get his new phone number, his sister told me he doesn't have his phone yet, but will be home tomorrow so I could try calling him then. Unfortuantly, I'll probably be at crew practice.

Tomorrow morning I'm hopefully going to take the APFT. Fun times.

Awesome song:

MEASURE OF A MAN by 4Him

This world can analize and size you up and throw you on the scales
They can I.Q. you and run you through
Their rigorous details
They can do their best to rate you
And they'll place you on the charts
And then back it up with scientific smarts
But there's more to what you're worth
Than their human eyes can see

Oh, I say the measure of a man
Is not how tall you stand
How wealthy or intelligent you are
'Cause I've found out the measure of a man
God knows and understands
For He looks inside to the bottom of your heart
And what's in the heart defines
The measure of a man
Well, you can doubt your worth
And search for who you are
And where you stand
But God made you in His image
When He formed you in His hands
And He looks at you with mercy
And He sees you through His love
You're His child and that will always be enough
For there's more to what you're worth
Than you could ever comprehend

Oh I say the measure of a man
Is not how tall you stand
How wealthy or intelligent you are
Cause I've found out the measure of a man
God knows and understands
For He looks inside
To the bottom of your heart
And what's in the heart defines
The measure of a man
You can spend your life persuing physical perfection
There is so much more
More than ever meets the eye
For God looks through the surface
And He defines your worth by what is on the inside
I say the measure of a man
Is not how tall you stand
How wealthy or intelligent you are
'Cause I've found out the measure of a man
God knows and understands
For He looks inside
To the bottom of your heart
And what's in the heart defines

Oh, I say the measure of
The measure of a man
Is not how tall you stand,
How wealthy or intelligent you are
Oh, I've found the measure of a man
God knows and understands it
For He looks to the bottom of your heart
And what's in the heart defines
Yeah, what's in the heart defines
Yeah, what's in the heart defines
The measure of a man
I know, I know

Abigail Van Buren:
The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

The worse things get, the more hurtfull things I hear, the more I turn it all over to God and draw closer to Him.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you :)

This "informal" sami better be very informal. According to normal college standards my room is spotless, perfect, and very very very clean. According to sami standards it's a disaster are, not fit living conditions, and is one of the dirtiest places in the world. I didn't duest and my sweeping job was less than poor. Jason still has my swiffer from the last sami.

One another note, recently I've had a lot to write about, but no time to time or motivation to write. When I do have free time I'm either studying or sleeping. Mostly sleeping. On that note, I think I'll go sleep some more.

7:48.6 2k time today. Coach Holland thought it was a personal best for me, but I think I beat that by 1 second or so last year. Still, a year ago at this time I hadn't even broken 8 minutes, or at least I don't think I had.

"Lord, show me what is in my heart, soul, mind, spirit and life that shouldn't be there. Teach me what I am not understanding. Convict me where I am misssing the mark. Tear down my arrogance, pride, fear, and insecurities, and help me to see the truth about myself, my life, and my cirmcumstances. Expose me to myself, Lord. I can take it. Enable me to correct the error of my ways. Help me to replace lies with truth and make changes that last."

That's a really hard prayer for me to pray, just like I'm not that thrilled about praying for humility. Sure, it's something I need and in the long run I'll be much better off, but getting there isn't very fun. In fact, it's rather painfull sometimes. Nobody, especially me, likes to have their weaknesses exposed, not even to themselves, but it's only when they are exposed that they can be taken care of. I need courage to pray that prayer.

Today I have something every hour, plus a 2k test this afternoon. Fun fun fun....

My Mii Art paper is done. Quote of the night, "I Hate Mil Art."

Yesterday we seat raced at practice. I, thankfully, wasn't one of the people to seat race, but was a rower for it. Good job Beth and Brandy:)

Going downhill like a truck without breaks.

Today was a pretty good day until this evening. It became a not so good evening because I couldn't go to OCF due to the Kermit Roosevelt lecture. Then, in the middle of the lecture, I realized that my throat was staring to feel weird. It's the weird feeling you get right before you get sick. Unfortunatly the feeling has not only not gone away, but I think I really am getting sick. Grrr. This isn't what I need right now.

Stresses in my life: Mil art paper, EE lab 3, 2K test, APFT, CS resubmission, CS project 2, Unit Fitness presentation, english paper # 2, 6 week grades.

Good things in my life: Church, friends, parents coming in week and a half, OCF, Schumachers house sometime in the future, music, sleep, fall, Wednesday night Bible study, water, good crew practices on the water, hours with no class,

A Trace of autumn drifts through the air in the early hours of the morning. The cool, crisp breeze takes me back to the fall of my plebe year and the anticipation I felt as Plebe Parent Weekend approached. Recollections of untroubled and cheerful days replace the memories of stress and anxiety that were the reality of my world. As time passes I am left remembering only the good times. My mind twists even the bad experiences into ones that I can look back on and fondly remember, for I can not help but think of the good that either came out of them, or the pleasant memories that coincided with that period. For some things it takes years for that to happen, but it always does happen. My memories bring me joy, not pain.

This evening I was able to talk to Betsy on IM, and then my parents on the phone. It's been a good evening.

Tomorrow I have a Mil Art drop. Yay! In tennis I think we're testing on the serve tomorrow. If there wasn't an out-of-bounds then I'd be fine. Thankfully we're allowed to retest as much as we want. I always thought I was coordinated until I started taking tennis. I'd probably play better if I were wearing a blindfold.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the
frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Thanks Tia.

Blah. I just found 2 IM converstions from last december that I had with someone. I have no idea why I saved them. There's nothing special in them. A while ago I was actually looking for them because someone else wanted to see them, but I couldn't find them and so I thought I had deleted them. Then I randomly just came across them as I was looking for all of the pictures that I have saved on my computer, or at least used to have saved. I can't seem to find those. Now I think I will actually delete those conversations.

Right before lunch I passed Senator Clinton as I walked back to the barracks. She, along with the Supe, the Comm, and tons of other officers and aides, were standing on the steps of the mess hall. I don't remember any other senator getting so much publicity and it being such a big deal as it is for her to be here. There were cars and busses parked on the apron. I've never seen that before.

In english class we got our essays back today. That was after my teacher procceeded to tell us about how bad the all were. There were 2 D's and 2 F's in my section and I was sure that I was one of those. At the conference my teacher told me that my paper was right on the verge of being a D, but it was still an F. I worked on it, basically rewriting the entire thing, and tried to remember that I used to like to write. It turns out that I managed to do okay. I ended up with a B+ that is on the verge of being an A-. Needless to say, I was very suprised and very happy. In this journal I don't care about how I write. Hence the reason it's full of spelling, punctuation, and all sorts of grammatical errors.

After lunch I made a trip to the C-store to pick up a few things. I ended up buying a really cute shirt and another pair of kahki's.

Sad news. Tomorrow the cow's have the Kermit Roosevelt Lecture at 7:30-8:30pm. That means no ocf:(

Last night around 4am I heard someone run screaming through the hallway. This morning I found out that A4, or maybe it was H4, did a spirit mission on C4. The messed with a few of the guys bathrooms and also stole everyone's nametapes off our doors.

Today I only have three classes, and they are all in a row right before lunch. This afternoon I need to make a trip to the C-store. It was great being able to sleep until 6:25 this morning because there's no morning crew practice for the women's team anymore. Alyson woke up at 5:50 or so to get ready to go to sick call, and so I woke up then as well, but went back to sleep for another half an hour.

This turned out as a pretty good weekend. I was able to catch up on my sleep, hang out with my friends, and relax.

Last year I struggled with going to Church, but this year it's a high priority and I look forward to it. I spent the afternoon playing around with the template for this site, sleeping, and talking to friends. This evening I visited Annah for a bit, and Kristen gave me a picture taken over YWW. It's a cute picture, but I kind of wish she hadn't given it to me.

No more morning practice. YAY!!!! Hopefully that means that I'll be able to stay awake in classes from now on. On Wednesday we have a 2k test at practice.

I wish Betsy could come up here when my parents come for the Michigan Parents Club tailgate. Of course I wish Heidi could come as well, but Betsy's never been here.

"Look in my eyes, you might see a dim refletion of a memory or recollection of a day gone before. Then I was wise, at least within my own beholden, for the vanity of youth was golden, when my way was my own. But when you look me in the heart you'll see that I'm changing. When you look me in the heart His holiness shows. 'Cus underneath this mortal frame the Lord is reigning. You will see Him when you look me in the heart."

I love the Giants in the Land CD. I wish I could get the lyrics somewhere. They probably came with the CD, but I left the case and everything at home.

Michigan beat Notre Dame 38-0 and so they are now 3-0. GO BLUE!!!!!!!

Army lost to Rutgers.

Time for bed.

Last night I got 6.5 hours of sleep, and then I got another 2 hours this morning after breakfast and before the parade. Life is much better with a little more sleep.

Birthday's this week:

Leah: Happy Birthday on Thursday September 11
Brandi: Happy Birthday on Saturday September 13
Alyson: Happy Birtday on Sunday September 14

I am so very very very tired. Total physical and mental exhaustion. Mych to write about, but sleep is more of a priority. Actually I can lean my head back on my chair, close my eyes, and type, which is what I'm doing right now. That's better. I just can't keep my eyes open.

"I want to fall in love with you, I wante d to fall in you, I want to fall in love with you."

Yesterday was Leah's birrthday . Nina, Leah, Anne, Annah, and I went down to the cow club to help her celebrate. Anne and I drank Pepsi while everyone els drank because they wer all 21. It was a pretty good time. As the original group left one by one, some of our guy friends came over. The plebes in her company threw Leah a huge birthday party. They had to report by her room at 5:30 in the morning to clean it up, but it was still smelling for the majority of tthe day.

I avhe no idea how this post will look because I'm writing it in my sleep.

Last night I wanted to talk to someone about some stuff, and so I talked to to one of my friends for about an hour on the phone. I don't think I made any sense because I jumped from one subkkect to the nesxt. He was very nice and listedn and offered advice sometimes. We got off the phone about 1240.

"It's not my problmem any more., see it never really was...See I can play I can play a pretty convincing role. See I don't need you. I don't think I need you..."

Aww, Justin C. just came in, saw Ithat I'm really tired, and offered to take a check down to Mindy's raoom for me so that I could go to bed. Yay. No trip down to the second floor for me.

"Just wasting time. You don't feel anything. You're a boy ona string. Just a boy..."

"Lift me up when I'm falling. Lift me up, I need you to hold me and keep me from drowning again."

"I am the only one to blame for this. ..Souring on the wings of selfish pride I felw too hight. With a world I try so hard to leave behind. To rid myself of all buut love, to givae and die..Can I be the To love you, take my world apart. I am on my knees, take my woorld apart. Broken on my knees."

All lyrics are from Jars of clay and the songs that I'm currently listening to. Good Stuff.

I wonder how bad my speliing an d everyghing is in this post seeing how I'm not looking at what I'm typing and Im also half asleep.

This morning I woke up and was the best mood that a person can possibly been in at 5:05 am. On the way down to practice I was talking to one of my good friends and she told me that she had to talk to me and that I wouldn't be very happy with her about what she had to say. I had no idea what she could've been talking about. Later I found out and I must say that her decision will have to effect on how I think of her and our friendship. As long as she is happy, then I am happy.

At practice Coach Holland had Anne, Beth, Annah, and I in the quad. Practice was going really well, the water was flat, we were keeping up with the eight (which was actually a seven today), and we were rowing pretty well together. Then Coach had both boats do a drill where you start at the finish and then go arms away, pause, add the back, pause, and then slowly go up to the catch. Not a new drill by any means, but he had us do it all four together in the quad. When he said we were rowing all four together for it I had a bad feeling, but ignored it and figured everything would be okay. As we went up to the catch the boat started leaning to starboard and didn't stop untill we had completly flipped. As I went under I reached down to grab the string that is supposed to be between the shoes so that you can just pull on it and it undoes the velcroe. I'd forgotten that my seat didn't have that string between the shoes and so when I grabbed at it all I got was water. By that time I was basically strapped in the boat hanging upsidedown underwater. After realizeing the missing string I undid the velcroe by hand and managed to swim out from under the boat to the surface. I doubt I was under for more than 5-10 seconds, but everyone else in the boat had come to the top right away and when they started counting they realized that there were only 3 of them and that I was missing everybody started to get worried. We all were okay, the boat was fine and didnt' have any damage to it, and amazingly all of our sandles and water bottles were recovered. The water was also a lot wamer than it was last march when we swamped.

Today at OCF I felt a connection to God that I haven't felt in awhile. Last semester I really started to drift away and I knew it, but I didn't want to admit it. During the summer I hit a low point in my life and in my relationship with God. When that happened I turned back to God. I gave almost everything over to him, but still help onto some of my feelings hurt and shame and saw some things as a mark against my character. My relationship with God greatly increased over the past few weeks as I made changes in my life and made God a priority, but my relationship with him was hindered by the fact that I still held onto those feelings. I wasn't allowing myself to fully experience and accept his forgiveness and mercy. I was becoming more and more depressed and unhappy. Last night I realized that I had to let everything go and turn everything over to God. At OCF tonight I really felt God's mercy and forgivness for the first time. Instead of hurt and anger I felt joy and happiness. My focus was on God. It just kept building inside of me until I had to let it out and tell someone. I've never been really comfertable talking about God or my relationship with him to anyone, but tonight I was able to share everything with two of my friends, both of whom are Christians and one of them is in my small group. I'm just really happy and feel like I'm getting back to where I used to be and should be in my walk.

Today is my one day as CCQ this semester. Brad was very nice and took it for me for the first 50 min of my shift because I had to go to practice. When I got back the CO told me to go down to the basement and retrieve the CCQ desk which was stolen in a spirit mission last night. Besides that I've spent the morning trying to find the uniform order flyers for the Firstie's because they have the uniform show today and need the order forms. Somehow they've gotten lost between CGR and here. Around 9am I was falling asleep and so James let me use his coffee maker to make some coffee. The only problem is that I don't have any sugar for it and so I've been going around to just about every cow and firstie room looking for sugar. No luck so far. The coffee actually isn't that bad if you just add a little milk and don't have any sugar. It was also my first time actually making coffee. Poaring the water into the coffee maker, wow, that was hard.(sarcasm). I still prefer flavored coffee like hazelnut and french vanilla. Alyson has both of those and so later today I may test them out.

Other exciting news in my life....there isn't any. That goes for both news and life. Down the hall one of the plebes is practicing a wind instrument. I want to say oboe, but I'm not sure.

This morning the sunrise was awesome. It was one of the best ones I've ever seen.

Today turned out much better than I expected. The CS project beign due stressed me out and I was a bit nervous about the class I had to teach, but things turned out okay. Tomorrow, well actually today now, I have CCQ. My one shift this semester and it falls on the best/worst day to have it. I say that because I only have 2 classes tomorrow, plus there's only practice in the morning. Tomorrow is also OCF. I'm hoping to find someone to cover for me so I can go, but we'll see.

Can a person be a good leader, and, should they be in a position of authority if they are lacking in character in any part of their life? Yesterday I started compiling a list of people throughout history that I wanted to research based on that question. People such as President Clinton, President Nixon, President Kennedy, King Herod, King David, Samson, and so on. Having good character does not neccessarly make a person a good leader, but is there any correlation between lacking character and being a poor leader? I really wish I had time to research the question and write a paper on it because the question is one that has prevailed throughout history. Perhaps one day when I'm old and retired I'll get around to it, but I doubt it.

Forgetting your CS project is due the next day is not something I would recommend to anyone. It makes life pretty stressfull, in addition to the fact that I have to teach all the firsties in my company a respect class on cross-gender/cross-racial comunication, plus tomorrow is the erg workout from hell with rowing on the water in the afternoon and I have a quiz in IR that will be the only factor going into my 6 week grades. At least I found out that Comm's hour is free. I think tomorrow I'm going to live off coffee.

I know that I'm getting my priorities straight once again when Church and OCF become the things that I really look forward to during the week.

Mopping the floor, the last phase of SAMI cleaning, is going on right now. Alyson and I started cleaning today, more specifically I started on my stuff around 8pm. Now it's 1:50am. It's my first real SAMI in a two person room. So far I like it a lot better. Trying to make everything uniform and look neat is a lot easier. Plus, there's not as many things to dust and organize. I don't know why, but this year I have a lot less stuff than in past years. My desk drawers barely took anytime to straighten, and my overhead was a breeze. I only had to make one trip down to the trunk room and that was to drop off my bed roll, a pair of boots, one of my backpacks, and half of my laundry( I need to do laundry). Hmm, I guess I should edge dress the pair of boots that I wore today. Oh, and I have to write a correction card for my missing india whites. It is quite dirty, but I haven't gotten around to sending it out. After SAMI I have to remember to drop a pair of civies off in Leah's room. After the game some of us are going to the Schumacher's, but nobody wants to stay in white/grey longer than they have to, so Leah's parents are going to come and drop our civie's off for us.

Getting tired now. My SAMI cleaning adrenaline rush is dying down. At least I can sleep in tomorrow untill 6:15ish because there isn't practice.

Wow, you know you're tired when you imagine a line of penguins coming waddleing in through your door. Yeah, I need to get to bed.

The rain is finally gone for today at least. Right now it's sunny and the sky is blue. For most of the week it was grey, cold, and rainy. Tonight is a BBQ down at the boathouse followed by cleaning my room for SAMI tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is Army's first football game of the season and it's against Uconn. Will I be there? Of course. It's not like I have a choice in the matter. Somehow football and semi-formal uniforms don't really seem to go together to me.

I don't have anything to say right now so I'm just writing about nothing. I hope my contacts come in the mail soon. I have plenty of left eye ones left, but my right eye ones are definetly almost out.

My beloved water bottle broke:( I think I threw it on the ground a few too many times when I had to free my hands for either a boat or oars. It was the last in the line of cool water bottles that Molly didn't really like. I lost the first one when my boat swamped last spring in the Hudson. I have a few Nalgene bottles, but those take too long to drink out of during practice because you have to unscrew and screw back on the lid.

Things to look forward to: Sunny days; Leaves changing colors; the smell of fall and cool, crisp, air; snowboarding in winter; leaving on weekends for crew regattas with some of my best friends; hanging out in Philly over Columbus Day weekend; the Schumachers house; seeing my parents in 3 weeks; random afternoons with no classes; and seeing Isaac and Anna either at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Dear Kate,
By now u shld have recvd note from Sarah.
The main problem with your rowing and one which I have not addressed is how you move your body at the finish, You don't want to jerk at oar handle w/ upper body as handle comes into the finish. You know how you are supposed to have body steady at catch? Well, it should be the same way at finish, steady and not lugging toward arms as oar handle comes in. At the end of the stroke, you are in a very bad physical position to make boat go faster. That is why your legs go down first, followed by your back, and last of all your arms pressing it in as hard as possible, BUT NOT SO HARD THAT YOUR BODY MOVES TOWARDS THE OAR HANDLE. Weight work and erg work will help a lot with this.

You appear to have a good attitude, a good work ethic, and I expect you to be in the first boat right straight through our first race, to the Dad Vail Championship.
Best,
Coach

I think he's the best coach I've ever had. I'm actually being really coached for the first time.

This morning at practice I found out that my first table comm, Richard Joyce '02, died in a hiking accident in Europe. His sister, Christy, is one of my classmates. I remember him and Patton hazing the other plebes at the table and I during Reorgy week plebe year. I was scared of him for the rest of the year. Richard Joyce, October 19 1979 - September 1 2003

Grrr. I want my comments to start working again, but it's being stupid and giving me errors.

"Describe a technique to determine your own individual maximal heart rate that would be more accurate than the formulas." My suggestion is to fall asleep in Lee, then wake up with a start, realize that you forgot to set your alarm and class started 20 minutes ago, run to your classroom which is on the 6th floor of Washington, and once you get there stop and check your heart rate after reporting to your teacher who is a LTC who writes people up for being even 30 seconds late to class. Somehow I don't think my Fitness Leader II teacher will except that answer to the question though. Oh, and that situation will never happen to me because 1. I live in Mac and so would never be asleep in Lee. 2. If I sleep during the day, which I don't have any time to do anyway so I don't, I always double check my alarm. 3. I have no classes on the 6th floor of Washington. I do think my answer is more creative than the one they are looking for, even though I don't know what answer they are looking for.

This morning I woke up for practice and looked down at my watch only to discover that it had died during the night. There's no reason why it should've died. I didn't abuse it like I do most watches and make it go through things like Buckner. I got it when I was in New Mexico. It had a nice easy life, and how does it repay me? By dying in the middle of the night. For practice I just used my heart rate monitor as a watch and then wore my nicer watch to class as usual. After lunch I made a trip to the C-store and bought a new one. It's a timex expedition and I must admit that it's a nicer looking sports watch than the one that just died, although that one wasn't bad at all. While at the C-store I also picked up a new toothbrush because the blue bristles on mine had started to fade to halfway down. I'm so bad at remembering when to replace tooth brushes. At the C-store I also picked up a Swiffer for SAMI this weekend. A free duster thing came with it. It has a lemony smell to it which is rather pleasent. I think I'll have fun dusting on Friday night. Hmm, while most college students party on Friday Fourth Regiment, minus F4 (stupid frogs) will be cleaning and dusting. Oh joy.

Ahhh. The wonders of venting. I feel much better now. I should probably go to sleep soon. Gotta love morning practice.

Ever feel like you just suck at life? Today was one of those days for me. It wasn't one major thing that made me feel like that, just some small things adding together. One of the good points of my day, however, was at crew practice. At first I thought coach had put me in the slower boat, but then as we started rowing I realized it was actually the faster boat. Way faster. I like rowing when you leave the other boat in the dust, especially when you start out behind.

Now I'm off to OCF. Yay:)

More later...

Tonight there is OCF! OCF is the highlight of my week. I'm glad that Leah convinced me to come along last november.

Still cold and grey outside. The plebes think that because they are wearing raincoats they can get away with falling out. The thing is, they all have a plebe look to them plus they all have the same plebe backpack. It's rather annoying when they try to walk past without greeting and without their hands cupped or anything. Why can't they just do the right thing and also realize they still stick out.

Hmm, I'm in a really pessimistic mood right now. I think it's a mixture of the weather and going back to class after a 3 day weekend. Today they annouced the 4th reg has a SAMI on Saturday. Oh joy. I also heard a horrible rumor that my company at least is going to have a SAMI before every home football game. All the football games this month are at home.

Typical West Point day outside right now. Grey, cold, and rainy.

Blah...

This weekend I was able to get a lot more sleep than I have been for the past few weeks. Last night I got 11 hours. That's almost 2 to 3 times as much as normal. It's a good thing that I have crew to burn off all of the good food I ate. Terry cooked for us twice and he is such a good cook. I also ate a ton ate a ton at the Schumachers house on Saturday. Today for breakfast/lunch Leah, Amanda, Brian, and I went into Highland Falls and ate at a tiny diner. The food was good, but definetly bad for you. Then we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts to get coffee and doughnuts. Ugh, I've eaten so much.

Right now I don't feel like doing work, but I have a lot to do. Of course I didn't do very much this weekend when I had the opportunity to do it. The big thing is my english essay. I hate writing, not to mention the fact that I suck at it. Give me math instead any day and I'll be happy.

This evening I got a complement from Terry. After dinner he grabbed me and tried to put me in a headlock , but only half suceeded. I fought back and pulled him to the floor as I tried to get out of it. I managed to get in a fairly good position and as I drove my arm and eblow into his neck he told me I was tougher than I looked and said that you always had to look out for the quiet ones. He started to go for my eyes and so I was about to try and inflict more pain on him by either going for his eyes, under the ears, or between the thumb and pointer finger, but then Amy came over and started to tickle him, so I got up and finished clearing the table.

Today was a pretty good day, except that I didn't really get any homework done. I had a good talk with Annah this evening about stuff that's going on in my life and how I feel about somet things. I'm glad that I have friends here that I can go to talk about stuff.

I'm so used to getting things if I work hard enough, but in some cases that doesn't happen. The harder I try the more likely it is that I won't suceed. I've known this for awhile, but can't seem to do it. Perhaps now I'll start remembering.