I've turned my thinking ability off over break. I hope that next week I am able to turn it on again.

All break I've been trying to think up a new Joe Bear episode, but nothing seems to really grab me. Perhaps the lack of good ideas is that I am not knee deep in work and under a lot of pressure. Maybe next week one will come.

I haven't written much over break not because of a lack of things to write about, but more of a lack of feeling like writting.

Last week there was a day it snowed and we ended up with 7 inches. That night I went over to Misha's house and Misha, Steve, and I went for a run in the snow. It is pretty difficult, and much slower, to run on snow covered streets. The whole time I felt like I was about to fall on my face. After the run we went to a golf course and went sledding. Misha was determined to get some air time with his sled. We then went back to his house and watched I Robot, for my second-and-a-half time in 2 days.

Christmas was nice with the family. After opening presents at home we went over to my Uncle's house for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. It was nice seeing all of them again. On Thursday this week we're having my mom's side of the family over to celebrate Christmas.

This week I've been helping my dad paint around the house, and being paid for it. My project has been the front closet. The painting is rather enjoyable, for the most part.

Monday night John H. invited people from our class in middle school and the Trinidad trip over to his house. I hadn't seen a few of them in years. I found out that John H. and Pat T. are both engaged.

Last night I finally checked my email and found out that my senior capstone project was accepted to the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research in April. This year it's being held at VMI. One of my partners mentioned to me that we're going to stick out like sore thumbs in our West Point uniforms there. Fun times...or something.

Merry Christmas!

Right now I'm sitting at the computer while listening to my oldest sister talk to my other sister about radiation and what to expect. It's a bonding experiance that I hope I don't have to go through anytime in my life.

Today was yet another uneventfull day at home. I woke up around 11:30, the latest I've slept in as of yet, ate breakfast, read for awhile, went for a run, and then went to the battery store with my dad. He helped me get a new battery for my car, and I also picked up batteries for my camera, and a new watch battery. When we got home he installed the car battery, and then we watched I Robot. After my mom came home we all went to Church and watched the Christmas Pagent. The kids were cute as always, especially the little angels. After Church my family watched I Robot, but I didn't feel like seeing it again, so I played with Asher and talked on the phone for awhile. After the movie I played a few games of mancala with Betsy, and then Betsy and Heidi started talking about cancer and radiation, so after listening for awhile I decided to see who was online, and here I am.

A snow storm is supposed to hit tonight and dump 5-9 inches, but my prediction is that it'll only leave around 1cm of snow, if that. I think Ohio is getting the brunt of the storm right now.

Tomorrow I should do some Christmas shopping. I still don't know what to get two members of my family.

Last night my parents gave each of my sisters and I a digital camera. Mine is as Kodak CX7330. It'll come in handy for making future Joe Bear episodes. Thank you Mom and Dad :)

2 things I forgot to mention:

1. I have another ear infection. Although I am home right now, it actually started two days ago when I was still at school.

2. Betsy got the test results back today about what type of cancer she has. We're all really thankful that it's Hodgkins disease, and not non-hodgkins lymphoma. It's the same type of cancer that my mom and Heidi both had. I have my getting it tentativly marked on my calendar for some time in the next 3-8 years or so.

I'm back home for the holidays. Anne and I caravaned to her house in Ohio yesterday and I spent the night there before driving the rest of the way home this morning. The drive went pretty well, good weather, no car problems, and no traffic jams.

This afternoon I went over to Grandma's house in Full Dress under Arms. She seemed to really enjoy seeing me in the uniform.

It's good to be home, but I'll have to figure out something to keep me busy. I don't want to end up in front of the TV very much.

I'm still waiting on one grade, CS401, but my other grades are:
IT485 = A
IT460 = B
MS401 = B+
CS484 = A-
IT305 = A

And then a B- for my military grade. This past semester has been so much better than last year. I'm so glad that I'm not a CS major anymore. I actually enjoy life.

1 more TEE and then I'm done
1 more TEE and then it's time for fun
CS484 here I come.

My room is a mess right now because I am trying to organize and move my stuff out of it. We have to completely empty out our rooms over the break. Usually we get to at least store stuff in the closet, but they changed the regulation this time. Having a car here makes it a little easier, because I can clear out stuff and take it home, leaving more room for stuff in the trunk room.

One thing I like about West Point is how safe it feels, and how trustworthy most peple are here. For example, on Friday I accidently left my bag of crew gear in the entrance to the C-store. I didn't realize I'd forgotten it until Saturday night when I was looking for my running shoes. The C-store wasn't going to be open again until Monday morning around 8am, although it had been open on Saturday due to TEEs. My concern was not that somebody would steal my bag, in fact, that thought never even entered my mind. I was more concered about whether the C-store personal had left it in the C-store, or taken it down to Central Guard Room. I didn't want to walk all the way to C-store and then be told it was at CGR. I didn't bother going for my bag until Monday afternoon after lunch, and found it just where I'd left it in the C-store entrance. It made me think of how lucky I am to go here.

The Christmas Eve Leave service is tonight up at the Cadet Chapel. Yay! I really like that service.

The latest Joe Bear episode, Branching, is online now. Thanks Mom! :)

Something has to be wrong. I must be reading something wrong, calculating wrong, or looking at the wrong thing. On CIS it says for CS484 I got a 121/130 for Project 2. That's an A. An A! Why did my teacher give me an A? I my first submission was horrible, my part of the presentation was horrible. I tried to do better on my second and third submissions, but compared to another presentation, my work was no where near A level. I think my teacher was just really really really nice, and since he's retiring soon he was even more nice.

Classes are over. Tee week begins. Yay! Today I have IT305 in the afternoon, and then I don't have anything until Wednesday afternoon when I have CS484. Then I"m done.

The First Class is so short that we have fewer lessons until graduation than the plebes have months left at the academy.

The Family Cold strikes again.

Betsy came up with that name a while ago.

The trials are what purify us.
The tough times show us how weak we are and how much we need God.
When sickness, persecution, or the demands of life overwhelm us, we should rejoice and praise God, for it is then that God can work in and through us.

How short is the First Class?

The First Class is so short that we have few days left at the academy than the plebes have weeks.

Firstie Year Rules!

I can't believe this is lesson 40 of my firstie year first semester. Time sure flies when you're having fun, or when you're too busy from before sunup to after sundown to look at the calendar (as is my case).

Josh is back from the hospital and hobbling around on a cane. I saw him in the mess hall today and talked to him for a few minutes. He didn't have to get surgery, but says his blood looks like water right now due to all of the blood thinners. I guess he won't be giving blood this week at the blood drive.

Today I received the flu mist vaccination, (aka: the Flu Snort). I'd heard from people that it was worse than a shot because it was uncomfortable and tasted terrible, but I thought it was much better than a shot. I didn't notice any taste at all, and it wasn't all that uncomfortable. Although, the fact that I had a runny nose before hand and so was used to the sensation of the flu snort may have helped me. In any case, I've been vaccinated.

Currently I'm sitting in TH212 working on my CS484 project; the one that was due last Friday, and that I felt like I was a horrible project parter for it. I handed in a revised version of my part first thing Monday morning, after going in for AI on Friday afternoon. This morning in class he handed back the reports, and my report had a "See Me" message on it and no grade. He then proceeded to put on a red and green santa clause hat with a bell on top and tell our class that he was going to be a santa clause and allow us to resubmit our projects, with the resubmissions due Thursday morning.

Although LTC W. still seems to scare me for some reason, I must say that he is a very very very genreous man and has gone far beyond what he probably ever should do for our class. I always expect him to start yelling at us, since we do deserve it, or I do at least, but he hasn't. I'm not quite sure how he manages to keep his cool, but then again, I haven't been in the Army for 20 years and dealing with far worse situations than just stupid cadets.

In any case, I think I have a much better idea of how to do the project, and am going to try really hard to get it right this time.

I think tonight was God's way of telling met that I've studied the topic of modesty, dating, courtship, the role of women, God's design of stuff, and other related stuff enough for the moment, and that it is time to focus on something else. That is not to say that I have studied it enough at all, but only that it would soon be at the point where I focus too much on it.. Enough for now, take a break, come back later. It's a cycle. I just wish I could manage to gather all of what I've learned into one spot, perhaps in writing, for myself as well as to share with friends.

I wonder what topic will be next.

Originally the Thayer week was supposed to be over tomorrow morning, but my CS401 teacher has so kindly extended it to Friday. He somehow forgot, although he claims he mentioned it in class, to tell our class about a major paper due on Friday. We all thought it was due next semester, especually since we have a different research paper due in the class on Friday as well. Somehow the claim that he told us about it in class doesn't seem quite true, since no one, not a single one of the 18 cadets in the class, recall him mentioning anything about it being due this week. He's a LTC, I'm a CDT, what can I do but conclude I missed hearing him assign it and get it done.

The good news is that it is snowing outside and sticking to the ground. Fresh snow makes eveyrthing look better in winter.

Army lost to Navy this weekend in Philly. It was rather depressing, but we'll get them next year. My parents came for the game, and they came to the OCF banquet on Saturday after the game. I wish I had done the OCF Army Navy retreat previous years instead of waiting until this year to try it out. I really enjoyed it, although the fact that I had a lot of work hanging over my head put a damper on the weekend.

I wouldn't be suprised if my CS484 partner hates me and is cursing me right now. I think I just caused both of us to fail a project, becuase I don't understand my part of it and can't get it to work. Therefore I have nothing to show tomorrow during the presentation. Yes, I feel like a huge dirtbag.

Josh Howard, a guy in my OCF group, needs prayers right now. He was addmitted to Keller 2 days ago with a blood clot in his leg. Yesterday his situation got worse and he was moved to another hospital and is in the ICU. That's all I know.

Good Article: http://www.kevinsites.net/

It's a rainy day here.

The email servers for cadets and the server for CIS crashed last night leaving everyone with an inability to send, recieve, or read any email, as well as not finish CPRs and MD grades. It just happened that for CS484 our teacher planned on taking us over to DOIM to look at the servers over there and the set up of the network. Supposedly one of the technicians who talked to us explained the problem that occured last night, but we're all still in a state of confusion about it.

Projects due in the next few days:
Thursday - IT305 IS project
Friday - CS484 project and presentation
Monday - CS401 part of paper due to partners; IT460 paper due
Tuesday - MS401 capstone paper due

What I have almost complete so far:
IT305 IS project.

It's going to be a rough next few days, especially with Army-Navy in there taking up the whole weekend. However, after Tuesday I'll be golden. I have one TEE Saturday, which is IT305 and shouldn't be too bad. Then I don't have any TEEs until Wednesday, where I have CS484 in the afternoon. Easiest TEE schedule ever. This semester's been awesome.


Were there enough acronyms in there?
CIS -Cadet Information System (where grades and other information is stored)
DOIM - not sure what it stands for, but they are the network people
CPR - cadet performance report
MD - military development
IT - information technology
CS- computer science
MS- military science
TEE- term end exam (final exam)