I love fall.

It's been a long night. I'm not a fan of windows update, and neither are the people in my company.

A new Joe Bear episode is posted.


Thank you Heidi and S. Woods for both of your gift certificates. I really appreciate them and have a long list of books I want to buy :)

Being one of the "golden children," as some of the girls on the team have named the members of my boat, isn't always so golden. It means being out on the water when everybody else gets a day off. Oh well, this is what I've been working towards since plebe year, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

This is where I stand at 10 week grades:



CS401 I2 A 15%

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CS484 A1 A- 20%

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IT305 A+ 26%

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IT460 B 30%

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IT485 A 19%

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MD401 C 10%

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MS401 A- 30%

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PE424 NA 20%

As you can see, there is a lot or work left in every class, which means there is a lot of time for my grades to go up or down.

Seeing my TAC and TACNCO down at the boathouse experiancing the pain of the erg this morning along with the rest of the Brigade Tactical Department was a great birthday present.

Thank you Family for the birthday package. I love the stuff in it :)

There is a lot of yelling going on in the hallway and outside due to the Yankee's vs Red Sox's game. As much as I enjoy playing baseball, I'm not a big fan of watching the game. I turned it on for a few minutes, and almost became interested, but turned it off before I could actually start to really watch it so that I could get back to work. Work work work, that is what I've been doing.

Thank you Heidi for the books. I got them in the mail today, and am about a quarter of the way through right now.

This past weekend I read the student edition of the book The Case for Christ. When I bought it I didn't realize I was buying the student edition, so at first the writing style seemed a bit odd to me, but then it made sense once I figured out the reason. I enjoyed the book and it helped me, but I'd like to read the original edition. I think I'd get even more out of that one.

Jasmin, you and your family are in my prayers.

Thursday-Monday are going to be Thayer days for me. Thursday I have to teach a class to my company on Microsoft Outlook, and all the fancy stuff you can do on it. Friday is my birthday, and also an IT305 WPR. Saturday and Sunday are the Head of the Charles Regatta, of which I am now the Cadet-In-Charge (CIC). Monday I have a project due in CS484 and part of a project due in IT305. I was hoping to organize the praise and worship thing for Thursday, but then it got moved to Friday, and now neither of those days will work, so Charlie was saying Sunday, but I'll be getting back late, so someone suggested Monday, but I'm not sure if that will work either.

I really wish I could go on the OCF fall retreat, but I have a regatta that weekend. Crew seems to be getting in the way of a lot of things this year. Perhaps that is because there is more that I want to do than in previous years.

http://www.basementwindowfilms.com/armyusf.wmv

We have a winning streak. GO ARMY!

This weekend is plebe parent weekend for the class of 2008. I, however, am getting out of here. Tomorrow I'm going down to Philly for a regatta on Saturday. Then, after the race some friends and I are heading back up to the Catskills to meet up with some of our other friends at our usual cabin. On Sunday some of us are hopefully going mountain biking. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the long three day weekend.

Everyday I get on the water with the thought that this will be the day that I push myself harder than ever before. My favorite words to hear uttered from my coach are "full pressure." I start rowing, trying to stay in control as I move up the slide, and then let the power in my legs explode as I pull the oar through the water. With each stroke the burning in my legs increases, but my only thoughts are of putting more distance between myself and the other boats in the water. The coxswain yells for a power ten. I hear someone screaming, and then realize that the sound is actually coming from myself as I try and find any last bit of strength hiding in my body. I leave every ounce of energy out on the water, because I know that if I don't, the other boat will. The burning in my legs is replaced with the relization that I can feel the skin being torn lose from my hands. My world starts to become black around the edges as the words "final stretch" echo through the air. My body begs for mercy, for rest, but I push it even harder. The end finally comes when I have exhausted all the strength in my body. As the adrenaline fades away the fire in my hands increase. I look down and see blood covering my oar, and new blisters forming on my hands. Yet the only thing that makes any difference to me is if my boat beat the other boat by a greater distance today than yesterday.

Yet another day down. Not much happened today worthy of mentioning, just the usual class, practice, hw, and avoiding hw.

On a totally different subject...
When I read the New Testament it seems so alive, every verse seems to jump out at me and speak directly to me. However, I'd been having trouble reading the Old Testament. It didn't seem to speak to me in the same way, and it didn't really catch my interest. After yet another frustrating attempt last Thursday I prayed and asked God that he would show me how to read the Old Testement. That evening I went to the OCF prayer time at the cadet interfailth center like usual on Thursday nights, and Ryan and Jim were already there. We sat and talked for a little while about God, faith, and then Ryan mentioned he was reading the Old Testament, and I knew right away that God was providing the answer to my prayers. I told Jim and Ryan about how I was having trouble getting excited about the Old Testement in the same way as the New Testement. Ryan told me to start at the beginning and read the old testement through. There was the answer, so simple, so obvious, and yet I had completely ignored it before. I've started to read it that way again, and am getting so much more out of it. God definetly does answer prayer.

A new Joe Bear episode is long overdue, but I've been having a brain block as to what the story should be. He now has a scuba outfit, thanks to Heidi :) and a new bdu-wearing cadet-bear friend in another company, thanks to Amanda. What should his next adventure be? Help!

One of the cows in my company: Riding the Goal Post after Army wins

ARMY BEAT CINCINNATI!!!!

It's been both a good and a frustrating night. I'm pretty sure some people think I'm crazy, or at least have some messed up beliefs now. Of course, I kinda expected that reaction if I talked about the Holy Spirit and what kind of stuff I grew up with as the norm. If it were non-Christians who thought that I wouldn't mind too much, but it's strong Christians that I've talked to who don't know much about it, or have any experiance with it. Talking about it makes me uncomferatble, makes them uncomferterable, and is hard, so what do I do? Am I crazy, and along with me my friends and family?

I have a WPR tomorrow in IT460 that I have not studied for and am no where near ready to take. It's time to say goodbye to my good grades.

Branching Preferences
1 MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
2 SIGNAL CORPS
3 ENGINEERS
4 ADJUTANT GENERAL CORPS
5 AIR DEFENSE ARTILLERY
6 FIELD ARTILLERY
7 MILITARY POLICE
8 ARMY AVIATION
9 MEDICAL SERVICE CORPS
10 CHEMICAL
11 ORDNANCE
12 TRANSPORTATION CORPS
13 QUARTERMASTER CORPS
14 FINANCE CORPS

There is one thing that I really want for my Birthday, and it is a prayer meeting. Most people usually associate turning 21 with going out and drinking the night away with friends, but what i really want is to instead have a time of praising, worshiping, praying, singing, and experianceing the power of God and the Holy Spirit with friends. Please pray for it.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everthing, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God , which trancends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "
Philippians 4:6-7

I have to put in my choices for branches by Friday. Military Intelligence is first on my list, but I keep flip-flopping between Engineers and Signal for number two. I haven't even decided what order the the other nine branches are going to go in. It's only a little decision that only affects the next five to twenty years of my life. Perhaps I'll just use a dart board to choose.

This weekend is the first race of my last year of rowing, or at least rowing for a school.

I had a really good time with my parents. It's unfortunate that I won't be around for the tailgate that they are in charge or tomorrow. I'm glad that I at least was able to spend time withe them yesterday and today.

I have so much I want to write, but I need to get to bed. Good night.

Such a feeling of relief and a weight lifted. Sorry, not willing to tell the whole world, so I'm not going to write more than that.

I used to write about almost anything, school, guys I liked, my day to day life, but now I tend to avoid writing about a lot of things. I don't write much about my school day, because I've already lived it once, and I don't feel like re-living it again in telling it. The subject of guys I am interested in is avoided, or even talking about my relationship if I happen to be in one, is avoided because it's too personal.

I've changed from a person who didn't care who read this and what they thought, to a person who is more concerned about my privacy. One of my classes is making me guard my privacy even more. We talk about information warfare, the ethics involved, and then get hands on training. The class is fairly enjoyable, although there is a lot of reading every night, most of which I skim, and by skim I mean scroll down the page and read one or two words.

It's amazing how things change.