Two of the books I ordered last week came in today. They are Mimosa, by Amy Carmichael, and A Chance To Die by Ellizabeth Elliot. Getting books in the mail makes me feel like it's my birthday, even though I was the one who ordered them. I'm so excited to have some time this weekend to read them, although I should also work on the users manual for SKDMARCS. Projects day is on Wendesday next week. I turned down the invitation to the Projects Day banquet so that I can attend the Seder dinner at LTC D's house.

We aren't going to find out the results of the CDX until May 2nd. Originally we were supposed to find out tomorrow.

This morning Dr. F asked me if I would like to work for the NSA in the future. I said possibly. Back in high school I would've jumped at the chance to even visit the NSA. Right now I'm only thinking about the next five years. Actually, at the moment I'm concentrated on the next 29 days.

I really do have it easy compared to a lot of people my age in that I have a job waiting for me right after graduation and don't have to spend time and energy searching for one. Although, I guess they have it easier in other areas. It all works out in the end.

Joy and peace can only come in believing, and that is all I can say to Him tonight -- Lord, I believe. I don't love; I don't feel; I don't understand; I can only believe.

-Jim Elliot

Somebody made an announcment over CGR tonight and said "Close your windows and get back in your rooms, and tonight will be an easy night. I say again, Close your windows and get back in your rooms, and tonight will be an easy night." As far as I know the areas were relatively quiet before the announcment, but right after it was made everything erupted. People were yelling out their windows, throwing chem lights into the area, throwing milk cartons, and apparently there was also a flaming roll of TP thrown. Making an announcment like that is almost a 100% guarantee that you'll have a lot of trouble on your hands.

The new Joe Bear episode, Joe Bear Walks Hours, is now online. Thanks Mom :)

Extremely tired, and therefore extremely moody. When one of my friends asked what was on my mind I told him that it'd be better if I didn't even start to share because it's a jumbled mess combined with whinning. Instead I sat and stared off into space because my attempts to read were worthless.

Good news, tonight I won a second extra banquet ticket, so I now have five.

Anybody want to swap knees and shoulders with me? Perhaps I can just DX mine.

My boat got 2nd this past weekend...out of 3, but we beat that third boat by a good minute.

Class photo: http://www.panfoto.com/photos/colleges/detail.cfm?Product=428&Category=350

If, by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951)

If I have not compassion on my fellowservant, even as my Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of any; if I can speak in a casual way even of a child's misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand," or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve around myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have "a heart at leisure from itself," then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I do not give a friend "the benefit of the doubt," but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I take offense easily; if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.

If I say, "Yes, I forgive, but I cannot forget," as though the God, who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God.

I told Anne about Charlie's guess, and she said her guess would be sometime in 2008. I think I'll stop discussing the subject with people. Too weird.

Tonight Charlie predicted that I'll be engaged by Christmas of '06. Originally he said by next summer, but then he remembered that I'll most likely be deployed for a bit, so he moved his prediction to Christmas time. This came about by him realizing that Jason, he, and I won't see each other for awhile after graduation. He told me to make sure to invite him to my wedding, and then proceeded to guess the time when I'll be engaged. I was rather suprised, especially in my current state of singleness without any sight of a relationship with anyone on the horizon. Charlie wasn't any help in providing a guess as to whom I would be engaged, but told me that the time would come "like a thief in the night." I told him I'd give him a call around Christmas of '06 and let him know if he was correct. Of course, if he somehow did manage to be correct then I couldn't be a part of NGEUT anymore, and I'd lose the bet with Anne about which one of us will get engaged first. We both say the other will be the first.

Rachel and I each reserved our BOQs (bachleor officer quarters) at Fort Huachuca this evening. We were planning on renting an apartment together to cut costs and have more space, but at the branch meeting this evening someone said that in June or July they are going to stop allowing people to rent apartments. Instead, everyone has to live in the BOQs, and once those are full they are going to have everyone else stay in another specified location. That may have just been cadet rumor, but since Rachel and I couldn't get ahold of the apartment managers, and we both wanted to have a place to stay nailed down sooner rather than later, we opted to go for the BOQs.

It's raining, it's pouring
Kate's about to be snoring.
She went to bed with thoughts of crew practice in her head
beacause she has to get up early in the morning.

Putting the fun back in rowing...rofunwing.

During law class today I started daydreaming about graduation and the point when I finally get to hear the words "Class Dismissed" and throw my white service cap up in the air. 37 and a butt days....

This afternoon I turned in two more BDU tops to have 2LT rank and the MI branch insignia sewn on them. On monday I'll probably be able to ship home a box with my dress gray, dress mess, black parka, and a few other things in it.

Beautiful day out today. The temp was in the 80's, the sun was shining, the water was horrible, (okay, that wasn't a good part of today), and I only had one class. The TA-50 layout went well, but I think tomorrow's will take a little longer to prepare for. Next week I get to turn it all in.

How does one go about growing to love running? I sure hope I reach that point someday.

Still working out the place for the comissioning ceremony on graduation day. We all thought it'd be a relatively easy thing to figure out, but I think it's been almost a month of debating where to do it, and the group size has shrunk significantly.

APFT tomorrow. Please pray.

Today it was a beautiful day out. I got back from the regatta around 11:30 this morning and proceeded to try and take a nap. My effort proved fruitless, so I got up and read for a bit and then went over and talked to Charlie. After that I went down to Trophy Point and had a little quiet time, followed by going to Genesis. BG Scaparrotti was the guest speaker today. He talked to us about his Life Verse. The verse in the Bilble that is the theme of his life. The rest of the evening I spent mainly doing homework and reading.

Congratulations to Jason for running his first marathon today.

Tired and lost in thought...

Right now my orders have me going to a unit that is supposed to be deployed when I graduate from OBC, which means that I could be going straight to Iraq after OBC. I'm not sure how this all works, and I may end up with a different brigade, or even different division.

One of my teachers just asked me why I haven't made a Joe Bear CDX episode. I was rather suprised when he asked me, and said "You know about him, Sir?" His reply was "Of course I know." I wonder how many other of my teachers know about the Joe Bear episodes.

It's 7 minutes past midnight and I'm in TH212. This is a first in my time at the academy. I'm actually on a trip section for the CDX, and there are 13 or so other cadets here along with four teachers. Last night around 10 cadets spent the night down here with no teachers around, but I opted to sleep in my bed in my room and spend the day in TH212. Since my role in the CDX is mainly only important when people need to log on to their computers, I am spending my time working on my CS394 project that is due at 0735 Wed morning (about 7.5 hours from now).

It's 7 minutes past midnight and I'm in TH212. This is a first in my time at the academy. I'm actually on a trip section for the CDX, and there are 13 or so other cadets here along with four teachers. Last night around 10 cadets spent the night down here with no teachers around, but I opted to sleep in my bed in my room and spend the day in TH212. Since my role in the CDX is mainly only important when people need to log on to their computers, I am spending my time working on my CS394 project that is due at 0735 Wed morning (about 7.5 hours from now).

48 and a butt days until graduation! I have fewer lessons (11) left than the cows have months left at the academy.

48 and a butt days until graduation! I have fewer lessons (11) left than the cows have months left at the academy.

The kicker before the briefing was that my printer decided 20 minutes before when I was priting out all the slides that it'd be a good time to run out of ink. Thankfully the company printer is right across the hall.

I just gave my platoon training brief for MS class. In five years, or perhaps even one year, I think I'll look back on myself right now and laugh at how little I know about MI. The briefing went okay, as long as you're not interested in my actual training plan. I tried to make one to the best of my ability, but since I know next to nothing about Establishing a Common Ground Station Site, and how to train on it, and also managed to call myself a UAV platoon when I should have actually been a CGS Platoon if I was going to train on CGS stuff, my content pretty much was garbage. Since I managed to hit all of the little points of what was supposed to go into the training brief, the purpose, mission, timeline, map, lane diagram, resources, course of action, etc., I'm pretty sure I still passed with at least a C. God was gracious enough to make it so I gave the briefing to my teacher, who is signal, and not an actual MI officer. Most people have to give their briefings to officers in the actual branch that they are in. Apparently there is a shortage of MI officers in DMI. I'm glad it's over.

Episodes 15 and 16 of Joe Bear are posted online now. Thanks Mom :)

I think I ran around 7 or 8 miles today, which is the most I've run at one time since I did the 10-miler at Bragg this past summer. The chance to go on the run was actually an answered prayer. Originally my coach had today as a morning and afternoon practice day, but early this afternoon I realized that there was no time today that I could go for a run, and I've been trying to get in a run as often as possible in preperation for the APFT and better physical fitness in general. I asked God to make a way for me to not have to row today so that I could get in a run. Later in the afternoon I got an email from my coach saying that we were not going out on the water in the afternoon and he wanted us to do sit-ups, push-ups, and go for a long run. Prayer answered. I decided to deviate from my usual routes and instead go out Washington Gate and head towards Buckner (not running all the way there since that would be around a 14 mile round trip). I ended up running to round pond and back. My pace was extremely slow, even with the second half being mainly downhill or flat (the first part was therefore mainly uphill). I think I averaged 11 or 12 minute miles(gahhh!), although I don't know for sure because I wasn't really paying attention to my time or pace. I really need to work on running.

I think my room is the neatest it's been in quite a while, which is still extremely far below SAMI level, or even reasonable AMI standard, but it's better than it was before.

I'm not a fan of the time change. I'm not tired enough right now to be able to drop off to sleep in less than five minutes because my body still tells me that it is only 10:40pm even though it's 11:40pm, but when I get up at 5:05am my body will be yelling at me because it'll feel like it's 4:05am. The fall time change is so much nicer. Ah well, extra sunshine is nice. I was able to go for a run after practice today and it was still light out when I got back to my room at 6:40pm.

Off to the Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin Concert!!!

PS. We lost against Bucknell today.

Check out the USMA Dilbert cartoon. So true (about the sleep part).

Tomorrow I am going to be branched Armor. It's Apirl Fools Day and so Anne came up with the idea of swapping out her aviation branch insignia for infantry insignia, and I decided to switch over to armor for the day. What makes it funny is that women are not allowed in either of those branches, so I'm curious as to how many people will take notice of the fact that we are wearing the insignia. I think I'll carry around my MI stuff just in case I am ordered to take off the armor one. Happy pre-april fools day.