One of my plebe year squad leaders, Derek H, just died died on 1 September. He was on patrol with his FA unit as part of an Infantry regiment in Afghanistan. My prayers are with his family and unit.

I've been rather tired recently. I especially noticed it this past weekend, although it was pretty prevelant before then. All I wanted to do was sleep all the time, which wasn't exactly what everybody else wanted to do. This week I've felt ready to go to bed around 7 or 8 each evening, and a few times I have laid down to take a nap, but usually my mind is still in overdrive and so I don't actually sleep. At night I drift off to sleep fairly quickly, but wake up anywhere between 2am to 4am and basically just doze the rest of the night, which isn't great. Perhaps tonight will be better.

Yesterday my squad got torn to pieces during our briefing. I think I heard our brief taker say maybe 1.5 positive things during the whole hour and forty minutes he ripped into us. It was supposed to only be a 45 min brief. His comments were very good, but it was really depressing to have the presentation torn apart from the very first slide. The rest of the class heard about our experience and offered their sympathy. Rachel, who is in my squad, attributes it in part to the fact that we have been doing the same thing for the past month to month-and-a-half and are getting burnt out from it. I can't wait to move on to something else.

Midway through the presentation my throat started to get really scratchy, and since I'd finished off my bottle of water before the briefing started I assumed I was just thirsty. Turns out I was catching a cold right in the middle of our briefing. I felt rather crummy the whole evening, but a really strong motrin and a cup of tea helped a bit. I definetly have at least a slight cold, but at least I'm feeling better today than I was yesterday.

I have to give yet another big briefing in about an hour. At least this one is a squad briefing instead of individual.

I can see again! My contacts finally came in the mail today and I no longer have to wear my glasses. Now I just have to remmeber that I have an appt on Nov 21st at 1015.

I said that I was interested in the soccer game on Sunday because I had a few friends who would be playing, but that's only 75% of the truth. I said I was interested in a home cooked meal, but that's only 75% of the truth. I said that I baked brownies for my class, but that's only 75% of the truth. It's that other 25% that I try to cover up because it would leave me feeling very vulnerable if even hinted at being the reason behind these things. At times I feel like it's so obvious, and other times I feel like I do too good of a job of covering it up.

"Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23

I'm back, and in one piece, from Arkansas. The wedding was nice, and it was great seeing Charlie, Jordan, Jasmin, and Jason again.

I'm feeling much better today :)

Update: It's a stomach virus. I made it to the parking lot for PT, but then threw up on the way to the field. After that I felt a bit better so decided to do PT, but take at easy. i told my TAC about it. During streching I started to feel sick again and so my TAC NCO came over and told me to go back to my room. Since Rachel drove this morning I could only go back to the car. I sat in there for an hour, and at one point had to get out and take a good look at the asphalt again. When I was finished the Battalion Commander happened to be walking by and asked if I was okay. He told me to go to sick call if I was feeling sick because there was no reason for me to be in class, but I don't want to miss class and sit in sick call all day. I think I'll go to class, talk to my TAC about it, and hopefully be feeling better soon.

This morning I woke up at 4:15am and realized that I felt rather weird. After a few moments I further deducted that I felt nauseated. Nothing has come of that feeling except for feeling even more sick, and not being able to lie down because it makes the feeling worse. I have therefore been up since 4:15am. To top it off, today I was supposed to sleep in till 5:25 because first formation isn't until 5:40am. The reason for the later formation is that the APFT just got changed to this Thursday. Originally it was to be next Thursday, but we found out the change yesterday afternoon.

I spent way too much money this weekend on my car, a dress, and new running shoes. I once again remembered that I really dislike shopping for clothes.

So far at OBC I've learned that there are different strengths of rubbing alcohol. but no matter what the strength eventually inhaling too many fumes will make you feel sick. Right now I have my window and door wide open trying to air out my room after cleaning off my acitate with rubbing alcohol and nail polish remover.

Another thing I learned is that my class likes brownies, and baking brownies may get me a free dinner. I've baked brownies for my class twice so far. The brownies are chocoloate brownies with a caramel middle and chocolate chips. Very rich, but people seem to love them.
When I've made the brownies I've also shared them with some people I know in other classes, or rather some people I've seen in other classes who also live on the same floor as me in the VOQs. One of the guys thanked me for the brownies by taking me out to dinner tonight. We went to an italian resturant that had really good food. The dinner was nice, and he gave me advice and tips about being deployed and being the army in general. He also was really nice and supplied me with some more rubbing alcohol after I ran out this evening, so I gave him an extra brownie that I had left over.

I checked the air conditioning in my car tonight and found that it needs to be refilled again. Oh joy.

Joe Bear may be going to OBC sometime in the future, although I just thought of one problem. He's supposedly branched infantry, but this is MIOBC. Perhaps he'll do the service-time for branch option and go MI.

Last night I had a dream that my class was going on a run, but we were split into two running ability groups. My TAC would be leading one group, and DPE would be leading the other. I was not happy about DPE invading my dreams.

Tomorrow my squad has to give a 30 min briefing on our mission analysis on military operations other than war. MOOTW is far more interesting than the conventional fight. It reminds me of some stuff I did last year in my CS classes.

Now I am just typing to type when I really should be getting to bed. Bed, sleep, gooooood. Night.

At the moment I am extremely tired seeing as how I woke up at 1am last night and barely dozed for the rest of the night. Since I am very tired my perception of myself is quite skewed right now. Currently I feel like a complete idiot, but who knows if I actually am one. Probably, but in my current state I can not fully make that determination on my own about myself.

Now back to cleaning my pro-mask.

All day I've seen away messages with "RIP ________, '03" on them and even read the news release about the incident (ied in Afghanistan). The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place how I would know her, until I read Jordan's IM profile and realized she was my 1st SGT during Beast. Her brother is a fellow '05 grad.

And I'm back...

We got back from the FTX around 9pm last night. Rachel and I wanted to go out to eat, but had made 8:30pm the cut-off time for that idea, so instead we ordered pizza and cheesy bread. We were both exhausted, but I stayed up and did laundry till 11:15pm. This morning I woke up at 6:50 and was extremely tired, but decided that since I was already awake I'd go to the early Church service on post with Kate and Jordan. They had a project they had to work on later in the morning, so an 11am service was out for them. I tried my best to stay awake and alert during the service, but my mind kept wandering because I was so tired. When I got back I ended up going back to bed eventually and slept till 1:50pm. I'm planning on being pretty lazy for the rest of the day, although I may go grocery shopping with Rachel.

Overall the FTX was fairly easy compared to other ones I've been on at school. The only new thing we did was convoy operations. While I was kneeling in the back of the open HMMWV with my rifle pointed out the side and basically only my own ability to stay balanced between me and falling to the road going by below at 35 mph I suddenly thought "I don't think my mom would think this is very safe." That didn't change the fact that I found that part of the FTX the most fun and the most applicable, but I did find it a humerous thought.

I passed the Mission Analysis Briefing and now I'm getting ready to go to the field until Sat night. My ruck seems really light and empty, but I don't think I'm missing anything from the packing list. The packing list is nice in that unlike West Point it doesn't make you take the kitchen sink along.

This morning we were released at 9:30 until 1:30 so that the final few people could present. I came back and finished watching The Prince and Me and then took a nap. I must have been really out of it because I didn't even hear the cleaning lady come in and refill the paper towel roll and leave new towels. Usually I'll wake up to someone knocking on the door.

Congratulations Charlie on making your first jump at airborne school! I hope I'm able to see the guys (and Jasmin?) over Labor Day at Jordan's borther's wedding in AR. I'm still waiting on details so that I can sign up for pass and buy plane tickets.

Tonight may be an all-nighter. Not cool. This is OBC. Everyone said it was easy, and it is for everyone except my class. Yay for not being a paste-eater : Þ

Woohoo! It's friday. The downside is that I have a ton of work to do this weekend, but at least I can sleep in tomorrow. On Wednesday I went over to Viv and Natalie's apartment and baked brownies for my class. I enjoyed baking them, and my class really enjoyed eating them. Rachel also likes to bake, so we may have a little baking competition going on. This weekend I may make the class some danish puff.

Next week is going to be a Thayer week, minus the whole West Point thing. Monday and Tuesday are our Mission Analysis briefs, which is what I'm going to be spending the weekend working on. Then, on Wednesday we go out to the field till Saturday night. It sounds like we'll be lucky to get an hour of sleep a night.

At least I don't have a SAMI and A-day parade tomorrow. Everyone at West Point, I'm thinking about you and wish you luck.

This morning was the diagnostic APFT. I did much better on this one than on the initial one a month ago.

43 PU
68 SU
16:21 2-mile.
Total = 274 pts

Instead of asking why, ask these two questions:
God, what are you trying to teach me through this?
God, what are you trying to change in me through this?

I heard that on a recording I was listening too. Unfortunatly I can't remember what recording it was that I was listening to at the time. I do need to stop asking why all the time though.

Sisters are great. I think I'll keep mine. Talking to Heidi this evening cheered me up. I love you Heiko. I love Betsy too, but I didn't talk to her tonight because she's in Scotland.

It's weird not having to go back to West Point now that the academic year is starting. The new cadets march back tomorrow and everyone else is back at west point already.

This morning I woke up on my own at 5:50 am. I wasn't too thrilled about that, so I lay in bed until 6:30 when i finally managed to doze off till 8:30. When I woke up the first time I realized that I'd been dreaming about enemy Weapons, Equipment, and Organization (WEO), and couldn't stop thinking about it even though it was all wrong and very annoying. I just wanted to sleep.

This afternoon I went horseback riding for the first time ever. It was a lot of fun. My horse liked to lead, but I didn't like to be in the lead since it was my first time riding. Jordan usually lead, but if I was in the lead and tried to let her pass me, my horse would go faster until he was in the lead again. Afterwords I took a nap and then Jordan called me and woke me up to invite me to dinner with her and Kate. We tried to get ahold of Rachel and two other girls who went riding with us, but couldn't reach them.

Thanks for the package mom! :)

The good news is that my sister Betsy finished up all her cancer treatment recently. The bad news is that the Family Cold (aka hodgkins disease = cancer) has decided to branch out to a cousin of mine on my mom's side of the family. He is stage III and just started chemo. Have I mentioned that I hate cancer and wish it would leave my family alone?

Today's class was a lot better than last week. The instructors have realized that my class needs to learn some basics before moving on to enemy Course of Action (COA) planning. Originally my class was not going to have a formal block on Opposing Force (OPFOR) Weapons, Equipment, and Organizatoin (WEO), but the course director has changed his mind. Today we started our week-long WEO block, and I found class much more interesting and understandable. We still have homework and a bunch of stuff to memorize tonight, but at least I understand this stuff so far, or understand it more than I did the other stuff we've done besides Army Ops.

On a different note, today my TAC-NCO annoucned that he was going on leave for a month becuase his father is starting Chemo and he needs to be home to help his mom out. Him mentioning chemo rubbed a raw emotion a little. I wasn't about to break down this time, but I do remember a few weeks ago sitting in class during a break and all of a sudden I started thinking about Betsy's experiance having some tubing removed and how horrible it was for her and I almost broke down. Stuff like that hits me occasionally, but not too often.

Running during PT was hard for me today. My whole body felt heavy, especially my arms. They felt like lead weights, and my legs turned into lead weights on the last half of the run as well. Everyone else seems to be improving a ton, and I feel like I'm getting worse at running.

My weekend:

Friday night Rachel, Jordan M., Kate W., and two other recent MIOBC west point grad arrivals, had a girls night out. We were originally going to go to Applebee's for dinner and then see Must Love Dogs, but the wait at Applebee's was too long, so we ate at the food court in the mall and then went to the bookstore there before the movie. Kate, Jordan, and I didn't like the movie very much because there was a basic lack of a few moral values, as well as no solid groundwork for the relationships in the movie.

Saturday I woke up to Jordan calling me at 9:30am to tell me that we might not go to Tombstone that day due to the possibility of stormy weather. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I watched tv and finished my homework. Around noon I went shopping for some new running shoes, but didn't find any that I liked. Jordan, Kate, and I did end up going to Tombstone in the afternoon, and while we were there we had a old western picture taken of us. We choose to forgo the bar-girl western look, and instead were gun slingers dressed up in cowboy hats, trench coats, with a pistol and a shot gun. The picture will probably remain buried in the bottom of one of my trunks. I look like a giant standing between both of them (I'm a head taller). After that we went back to the movies and saw Sky High, which Kate and I enjoyed, but Jordan found it a bit annoying. Following in the movie we had dinner at Outback, and then I came back and did laundry till midnight.

Annah invited me to go to some caves Sunday morning, but I told her I couldn't go beacause of Church. Sunday morning I went to my usual Church services, and then came back and watched a bit of TV. Nothing was on, so I ended up taking a 3-hour nap. Rachel came over at 6 and I grilled hamburgers on my George Foreman grill. Now I'm sitting here writing this and watching what appears to be another storm approaching.

Currently it's 11AM on Thursday, and so far this week I've had two 100pt practical exercises (projects), two quizes, and homework assignment that was twice the length of a regular homework assignment. This afternoon I believe I'm getting another 100pt PE. The good news is that it looks like we may actually get a good amount of time in the afternoon to start working on it. The other really nice thing is that we get an extra hour at lunch today because my teacher had to go work some stuff out.

Apparently some captains who went through the same class that I'm in right now nicknamed it "Intellectual Ranger School."

Please pray that I pass my first 100 pt assignment, because there is no way I am going to pass it with out God's help.

WHOOOHOO! I can sleep in tomorrow. My class is going on a terrain walk and so we have to be a SH at 0645, which means there's no PT, which means that I can sleep in until 6am.

The bad news, unrelated, is that I believe I am being overpaid. I don' think my Basic Allowance for Housing stopped when I reported here. I just checked my Leave and Earnings statement and saw $1264 dollars for July that shouldn't be there for BAH. I've transfered that money to a savings account so that I don't accidently spend it. If I am being overpaid, then sometime in the future they are going to come and take all the extra money I paid all at once. I hope they figure this out soon so that I don't have to keep remembering to put that money away in a safe place.

Right now I'm sitting at my computer taking a break from working on my homework. Having a 100 pt homwork project that is due Tuesday morning assigned right before the end of class on Friday is a bit of a damper on the weekend. That and not being released until 6pm on Friday. That aside, the weekend has been fairly relaxing.

Friday night Rachel and I drove up to Phoenix so that we could sleep in a bit on Saturday before going tubing down the Salt River. As we were pulling into the hotel we saw Chris, Andrea, Vivian, Natalie, and Patrick pulling in right ahead of us. The next morning we all met at breakfast and headed to the tubing place. It's a good thing that we all ran into each other, because we never managed to find the rest of the group. Having a smaller group was nice, because we were able to tie all of our tubes together for the 5 hour trip. The river was crowded with people going tubing, but it was still very relaxing. I put on tons of sunblock, and reapplied it every 30-60 minutes. My face didn't get burned, but I think the sunblock basically just washed right off when I put it on, and so I ended up with some burnt spots on my legs. Afterwords we all went to a late lunch/ early dinner together and then headed back to SV. On the way back, Rachel and I noticed a storm ahead, which turned out to be a dust storm. It was a first for both of us. In a few spots you couldn't see anything at all, and it was extremely windy. Right after the dust strom was a torrential rain storm. I guess monsoon season has finally arrived.

When I got back I did laundry and started on my homework. At one point I saw one of the guys in the other class and found out their class hasn't had any homework at all.

I finshed my laundry around midnight and went to sleep. Around 4am I woke up to a hugh clap of thunder. There was a thunderstorm directly overhead. I looked at my clock and rolled over to go back to sleep when the phone rang. I thought that was rather strange and wondered who would be calling at 4am. It turns out it was a guy in my class calling to see if the thunderstorm had awaken me. We talked for a few minutes about class, the test, and the tubing trip until the storm got further away and then I went back to sleep.

In the morning I headed to my unsual church services, and then when I got back Annah called. She and Amanda arrived Saturday afternoon, and they came over and I gave them a quick tour of post. Afterwords I started working on the homework again. It's been a rather half-effort attempt all afternoon, so I haven't made much progress.

I hope that Kate and Jordan arrive soon. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. All of the WP's who didn't start with my class have to report this Tuesday.

This morning I got up a 4am so that I would be at the PT field on time at 4:30 for the 4-mile ruck march. I was expecting it to be rather easy since it was only 4 miles, the ruck was only 35 lbs, and we had an hour and twenty minutes to complete it. We stepped off at 5am, and right away I noticed the pace was a little faster than I expected. We were doing a 15 min/mile pace instead of a 20 min/mile pace. Although I had to lengthen my stride a bit more it wasn't too bad. Around the third mile I noticed that my ruck was digging into my back a bit more than I had expected, and when I reached behind to make sure my kidneypad was in place I couldn't find it anywhere. This occured right around the time we got to the hilly portion of the march. The pace did slow down to a 20 min/mile pace at that point, which was nice because I spent the rest of the march with my right hand behind my back acting as a pad between my ruck and my back so that the metal wouldn't dig into me anymore. The TAC came over at one point to see why I had my hand behind my back. His attempt to fix the problem ended with him basically completely detaching my kidneypad from my ruck, so it stopped providing any support at all. Before it had helped support some of the wieght onto my hips on the left side and my right hand made up some of the difference on the right side. At least it was only a 4-mile ruck march. I'll be sure to either fix my ruck or DX it before I need to use it again. The nice thing is that we finished with eight minutes to spare, and that translated into a lot of extra time between PT and class.

I passed the test with an 84% :) And now the real work begins...

Thank you Jesus!

I just finished the Army Ops test, but won't find out how I did on it until this afternoon. As I was handing mine in my teacher was corrected someone else's and I heard his say to my TAC NCO "just missed it by one." That made me really nervous, because I don't think I did too well.

Yesterday I got back the results of the Defense Language Aptittude Battery (DLAB). I thought I would not even have a chance of getting the minimum score of 85 for a level I language because on one section I missed half the instructions. I was therefore quite surpised to find that I actually scored a 118, which, if you go by the basic qualifying levels, says I have the ability to learn a level IV language. The different levels are as follows:

* 85 for a Category I language (Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish)
* 90 for a Category II language (German)
* 95 for a Category III language (Belorussian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, Slovak, Tagalog [Filipino], Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese)
* 100 for a Category IV language (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)

(taken from http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/dlab_3.htm)

In other news, this morning during PT I was doing sit-ups and started to notice that my upper-thigh felt like it had a scrape on it. I figured that I had a peice of grass stuck against my skin, because that can be the same feeling. I couldn't feel any object that would cause the discomfort, but it was becoming more painful. When we formed up for reville the guy behind me told someone else that he thought a fire ant had bit him on his butt, and I realized that perhaps one had bitten me as well. It hurt, but I figured during the run I wouldn't notice the pain as much. Well, during the run two more decided to appear, one bitting me on my chest and the other on my neck. At least it took the focus off the pain of running, but when I stopped running the burning would increase. Thankfully, Rachel had some benadryl ointment that she lent me, and I also ended up taking some motrin because the one on my thigh made it rather uncomfortable to sit down. Five hours later there is still a bit of discomfort, but not bad at all. Only three ants stung me, but that's more than enough of them for me.

Please pray for me tomorrow morning. I have a big test on Army Operations and I don't feel all that well prepared.

Today my class had 3 Harry Potter books that people were reading during the breaks we got during the lesson. Vivian was taking pictures of people with their books.

I've been thinking about starting a Bible Study for anyone interested in my class, but I don't know who would be interested, and I don't know what it would be on.

Tonight is random topic night about OBC...

I was bored (as usual) in class and started to count the number of married people in my class. I think there is around 11 out of 42, making 1/4 of the poeple married. What really made it weird was when I found out today that one guy I had assumed was only slightly older than me was married, had 4 kids, and the oldest is 11. My class age ranges from 20 to 40. There is also a plethera of high school history teachers in my class, all of whom I would not have guessed taught high school. Everyone looks so young. I guess it's what I should expect after being in West Point for four years. Reality there is a bit skewed.

Here's a recap of my weekend:

On Friday evening Rachel, Vivian, Natalie, and I went and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's a weird movie, but I guess that is to be expected. After the movie we went to Applebee's to get some food. Just as we were finishing our food more people from our class showed up. Natalie decided to stay at Applebee's, but Rachel, Vivian, and I decided to head home because we were getting up early the next morning (for a saturday) in order to earn volunteer hours. The next morning we went to Sisler Hall and helped put together some map overlays that our class needs for next week. Since we finished the job around noon, the major in charge was nice and bought everyone there pizza. After that I went back to my room and read, tried to sleep, and watched tv for a few hours. Around 6 Rachel, Ryan, and I headed over to Troy's house where he and his wife were hosting a party for our class. Almost all of the class came to the party.

I left the party feeling like a very anti-social person. Although I knew the people there, as in we are in the same class, it was like I didn't know how to interact and talk in group settings. I felt so out of place.

The next morning I got up somewhat early again so that I could check out a Lutheran Church in town. I really enjoyed the service and plan on going again next week. I also went to the protestant service on post with Rachel.

Why can't I feel as comfertable as I do in Church and Christian setttings where I don't know anybody at all and the people are much older than me, in other settings with my peers in groups who I may even kind of know?

When I was home I seriously considered starting attending St. Lukes, not because I didn't like C&R, but because the people there knew me, or knew of me already, and it was like stepping back into the person I was in high school. I don't know how to describe it. I guess the best way is that I've gotten more used to not being around anyone who knows my family, besides my talking of them, and so I am my own person. When I go home I am known more commonly as my parent's daughter, or as Heidi or Betsy's sister, and for some reason that makes me less at ease talking to people. It's not a bad thing at all being know as that, but I don't feel like my own person. That wasn't at all what I was dealing with last night, but I just thought of it.

I was so frustrated when I got home last night, and I wanted to talk to someone in my family, or one of my friends about it, but I couldn't get ahold of anybody.

I like to shop, and since I am a girl, that is not suprising to most people. However, instead of clothes, what I enjoy shopping for are books. Books, books, and more books. I probably spend more money on books than any other type of entertainment. CD's probably come in second. I'm not much of a fan of pure fiction, save for Harry Potter, but instead enjoy biographies, and books that I get some benifit out of reading. I really should find a library around here so that I don't have to spend money on buying books.

But why do we so willing speak and talk one with another, when notwithstanding we seldom return to silence without hurt of conscience? The cause why we so willing talk, is because by discoursing one with another, we seek to receive comfort one of another , and desire to ease a heart overwearied with conflicting thoughts: and we very willingly talk and think of those things with we most love or desire; or of those which we feel are contrary unto us. But alas, oftentimes in vain, and to no end; for this outward comfort is the cause of no small loss of inward and divine comfort. (The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, p. 17)

It's 9pm and I'm sitting here thinking "I really should be getting to bed. It's getting late." Funny how a 4:48am wakeup time every weekday can change things.

quote of the day:
-in response to the 539 slides on army operations...
"and you'll feel every one of them...like giving birth to 500 slides..."
~anonymous TACNCO at OBC

Today was a day where I felt like I didn't measure up to the standard. I guess the main cause for feeling that was due to my PT performance.

I'm also more homesick than usual. I miss my family and really close friends.

This evening Rachel, Ryan, and I went out to Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. One the way back we noticed the odd cloud formationand wondered about it's origin. When we entered the gate Rachel asked the guard if he knew why the clouds looked the way that they do. It turns out that it's actually the smoke from the forest fire. Seeing smoke from a forest fire is yet another first for me.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."

1 Timothy 1:15-16

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Romans 3:23-24


While talking to someone tonight I was once again so thankful for the gift of grace that God has bestowed on us through Christ Jesus. In the past year God has done some amazing things and transformations in my life, and it is times like tonight that make me want to get on my knees and thank God. I wish I could share it with more people.

I miss my family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!

Is Matt (cousin) in the hospital again? If so, Get Well Soon Matt! I'll be praying for you.

Whoohoo! I just saw lightning and there are dark storm clouds outside. Why, you may ask, am I so excited? The reason is that it's gelt like I've been in an oven for the past few days where there is never a cloud to block the blinding reflection and heat of the sun. A storm brings a nice change. Plus, storms make the indoors seem nice and cozy.

I do like AZ, but I also like variety in the weather.

No run tonight:) The self record APFT is tomorrow morning, as so we are taking a break from running tonight.

This morning we had weigh-in's at 500am. That lasted until around 6:20am. The next thing wasn't until 0800, but I was for some reason confused about times and so I rushed through breakfast and was headed downstairs to meet Rachel at 0645. While I was walking to her room I looked down at my watch and realized that I had another hour. Being able to go back to bed was great. The thing at 8am only lasted 30 min or so, and the next thing wasn't until 10am, so I was able to go back to my room and read for a bit. Then at 10 we had our TA-50 issue which took forever. I was able to get out of there around noon, but some people were stuck till 2pm. At 2:45 we had a briefing about the Army Family Team Building (AFTB) program. The briefing only lasted 30 min, but we were stuck waiting around until we were released at 4:50 to go home for the evening. The real classes about MI don't start until next week. This week is mainly inprocessing.

It rained a tiny bit today. I felt some raindrops as I was walking to the AFTB briefing. On the way home afterwords I could see rain in the distance and there were actual clouds in the sky. The rain and clouds made me happy because it didn't feel like the sun was beating down on me as much.

The run was harder for me today. Ryan ran with us, and I don't know if having him there psyched me out a bit because I figured he would be keeping us at a faster pace. I fell behind between 1.25 and 1.5 miles. One good thing during the run was that i was able to stay with them for the first 1.25-1.5 miles, even after Lauren had to stop. I think the goldfish she ate just before the run made a reapperance, but she caught up around the 1.25-1.5 mile mark.

It's only 9:51 pm, but I am falling asleep. Today was the day we had to report for OBC, but that wasn't until 1pm. Rachel, Lauren, and I spent the morning l going to the transpo office to arrange the delivery of our boxes, going to the post office to get PO boxes, dropping BDU's off at the cleaners to get startched, going to the uniform store to get patches for the BDU's, going back to the cleaners to have the patch sewn on the BDU's, and driving around figuring out where stuff is around here.

It turns out my TAC officer isn't the one who we thought it would be, which is very nice. The Tac seems like he'll push us, but not kill us, and I expect to graduate from here feeling much more prepared for what's ahead.

This evening Rachel, Lauren, and I ran a 2 mile loop. I ran it yetsterday morning and then again in the evening with Rachel. Each time I am able to push myself a little more. I've decided to try and come up with one reason to give thanks after each run. Today I came up with two. A little more than half way through the run Rachel and Lauren were getting a bit ahead of me and I was very tempted to give up and fall back, but instead I was able to push through the mental barrier and catch back up and run with them the rest of the way, even up the hills. Then in the final stretch, which is downhill, my lungs were burning and I felt like collapsing right there, but I lengthened my stride because I wanted to end the run as soon as possible and I pulled out ahead at the very end. I really want to break through this mental barrier and be able to push myself each time, but it's so hard when my whole body is telling my to give up. There is a sign on the run route that states the elevation is 5090ft. I think I'll come away being a much better runner. Right now I'm slow and running even 2 miles here is a mental and physical battle, but that means I only have room to improve. In the past, especially in formation runs, I've given in to the mental battle, but this time I want to try and push myself and give it everything I have each and every day.

The Joe Bear Graduation! episode is now online. You can check it out at Joe Bear's Website. Thanks Mom for getting it posted.

Happy Independence Day!

Breaking news on the unit front....well, breaking news for me at least. The word I've been hearing is that the division isn't depolying until September, which means that they won't be coming back until September. I'd say, from everything I've been hearing and reading, that my chances of being depolyed right away are far greater than my chances of being left at Hood until they return.

The other major news is that my division may be moving to Fort Carson, CO, when they return from the deployment. Here's a link to the article from the Army Times: 30,000 soldiers of 4th ID and 3rd ACR to switch bases.

Looks like I may be doing a lot of moving around in the next year or two. Fort Huachuca to Fort Hood to Iraq to Fort Carson. Nothing's for sure yet about where I'll be, but that's what it's looking like at the moment.

In other news, today I hung out with Rachel and Jordan. Jordan leaves tomorrow morning, so I'm really glad I got to see her today. While I was in Rachel's room Ryan and Omar came by, and Ryan gave us an update on who all is here now. He's also the one who initially told me about the possible move to Ft. Carson. It's so nice to now have people I know here.

Wow. There is a lot of garbage on TV. Perhaps I'll take to unplugging the TV cable again like I did second semster. While I was home I did watch a lot of TV, but it mainly consisted of movies I rented at Hollywood Video or TV shows like Everybody Loves Raymond. I wonder where the closest library is around here, and what it takes to get a library card.

Hotness

Today I finished my 2020 mile road trip and am now at Fort Huachuca, AZ. The BOQs are better than I expected, although it's still not an apartment. The good news is that I should be able to save money staying here. Tomorrow Rachel is getting here so I'll know someone else. I was a bit lonely at the Commisary today when I saw that almost everyone else there was with another person.

It'll take a bit for me to get adjusted to the weather here. The temp is above 100 during the day, but at least it's not humid. I'll just keep telling myself that.

Happy R-day class of 2009.

Today I start my drive to AZ for my MIOBC course. My plan is to get there friday, move in over the weekend, and then next Tuesday (or is it Wednesday?) I report for my OBC course.

I finally got around to making a Joe Bear graduation episode. It's not online yet, and I didn't send it out to anyone, but it'll be avaliable sometime.

Being home is nice for the first few days, but then it starts to get rather boring. The first few days I managed to stay busy during the daytime and not spend time sitting in front of the TV. Then I went to CO and when I got back my motivation to do stuff around the house, as well as my knowing how to do things around the house, faded and as a result my time in front of the TV increased. I've made it a point to spend an hour each day working out, but besides that I feel like I waste most of my day.

Sometimes I feel like I come back and don't know my family very well anymore, or anyone around here for that matter. You'd think that I'd open up and be more talkative around my family, seeing how I've known them my whole life, but I find myself talking even less when we're all together. I don't know the same people as my sisters, my stories don't come out as funny as my sister's, and I basically just feel really young around them and almost like an outsider. Although I have friends who are their age, to me my sisters still seem light years ahead of me. Plus, I it feels wrong that I say this, but the bonding they have as a result of having had cancer is something I can't relate to, not that I wish I could, but it's just one more thing seems to seperate me from them.

It'd be nice to see my friends from middle school and high school while I'm home....if I could skip the getting to know each other again part and jump right back into the friendship. That and I'm having trouble actually locating my friends. I'm not sure where they live of what their phone numbers are, and my few attempts at trying to get ahold of some of them haven't been successfull. I haven't put that much effort into the attempts though. Basically I've been too lazy to put the effort into trying to renew friendships and finding common ground again.

Sorry, this was a rather depressing post. Perhaps I just need sleep and it'll all be better in the morning. I wish I could go to FL and see my friends again. Oh well. AZ in a week.

The most recent Joe Bear episode, Joe Bear takes a TEE, is now online. Thanks Mom :)

Someday I want to visit Mount Assiniboine Lodge, British Columbia.

Rocky Mountain High (RMH) was awesome. I spent a week in CO mountain biking, rock climbing, rappeling, doing a four day backpacking treck up to MT Antero ( 14,269 feet), white water rafting, spending time with God, and hanging out with some of the coolest people in the world. I am so glad that I went on the trip.

I've been trying to think of a cool way to start this post, but can't think of anything. I'm done with West Point. I somehow, with the grace of God and lots of prayers and support from family and friends, managed to graduate and am now a commissioned officer in the Army. It's so weird to think of myself as an officer. It hasn't sunk in yet.

I hope I'll get around to posting more about grad week a little later. Right now I'm busy unpacking and trying to decompress.

Less than 100 hours:)

I found this poem online tonight in my random surfing online:

The Acquittal -- God's Infinite Mercy

by Karen Sullivan Ables

In a far away place and a different time
I Killed my first child, a most heinous crime.

The state didn't come, and I didn't stand trial.
Judge Blackmun was calm when he said with a smile,
"Killing is legal, say we the High Court.
But don't call it murder. Just call it 'abort'"

The judge in my heart would not let the case rest.
I had no defense when once put to the test.
Found guilty I was by my heart's Supreme Court.
"You murdered your baby!" they screamed in retort.

With tears on my cheeks it was too late, I knew
to bring back the life of the child I once slew.
The gavel slammed sown, and it rang in my head,
"You are guilty as charged, and deserve to be dead."

"We now give you torment to pay for your sin,"
was the sentence passed down from my own court within.
"You will never escape. You're branded. Don't hide.
Your just due is death. You should try suicide."

I was beaten in prison by daily attack.
I was paying a debt, so I never fought back.
No hope of escaping, and this I knew well.
I cried out to God from my own self-made hell.

That day I met Jesus; He smiled in my face.
He said, "I forgive you. Come walk in my grace."
"Lord, I believe you forgive me and yet,
Blameless you are. Can you pay for my debt?"

"And, Lord, please don't touch me for: I am unclean.
I'm filthy with murder, a most wretched being."
I poured out my story. He showed no surprise.
I gazed up with awe at the love in His eyes.

He said, "I paid for your crime, yes, was nailed to a tree.
There's no condemnation if you'll trust in Me.
I took on your blame, and your curse on My soul
So you may be free without judgement and whole."

I sputtered, "Dear Lord, where's the justice in this?
I killed my first son, and you offer me bliss?"
Tears blurred my vision, yet there in His face
were eyes of compassion, blue oceans of grace.

I thought to myself, "Now the past has been buried?
I'm free of the guilt that for years I have carried?"
He said to accept. It's a gift that is free.
This is atonement, not justice for me!

My judge was dismissed, my accusers, and jury.
The truth of His love made them leave in a fury.
He smiled, "Walk with Me and come learn of My way,"
and grasping His hand I began a new day.

Grad week is finally here :) The madness doesn't start till Wednesday. Wednesday morning we have breakfast formation on 0555 and then drill from 0700-1015'ish, followed by the Supe's Reception in the afternoon, followed by the Crew banquet in the evening. Thursday morning we have breakfast formation at 0455 so that we can start drilling at 0600-0930.

Off camping for the weekend. My parents get here Sunday. YAY!

I am done with TEEs. :) I would be happier if I didn't have a meeting with my project advisor tomorrow and a dentist appointment on Thursday, but I'll take what I can get.

Welcome to TEE week. My last one (hopefully) as a cadet. There is no Lights Out rule this week due to TEEs and I just now looked at my watch and realized that it's already 12:30. I just finished putting together my Class A uniform. It took awhile because I was trying to get the measurements as precise as possible. Tomorrow morning the TAC NCO is inspecting all of the firstie's and our uniforms.

This evening I cleared my stuff out of the trunk room as well as packed up almost all of my books. My room is a pit and their are boxes everywhere, but hopefully I'll make a lot of progress this week in packing.

Time for bed.

Working with computers brings out the worst in me. My partner and I spent a around 16 man hours on Monday and today trying to figure out how to run a computer exploit....and got nowhere. We are supposed to present and demonstrate our exploit in class tomorrow. Instead of demonstrating it we are going to talk abou the exploit we wanted to use and what we think it would've done.

On a different note, I need to work on not stooping to the ways of this world, but also not isolating myself from others. I especially struggle with this on the crew team.


"…those who are absent are not to be discussed to their detriment, that no belittling stories are told of anyone, nor anything said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? Kind? Necessary? " - Amy Carmichael

This weekend was a pretty good weekend, although I didn't get any studying done. On Friday the compay had a retirement party down at the train station for our TAC NCO. We presented him with 2005 class pistol as a retirement gift. After the party some of the cows and firsties stuck around to help clean up and then we went to the firstie club. I played a game of pool with Ryan against Joel and Anna. It was a close game, but Joel and Anna eventually won. After that I played a few games of foosball with Charlie and Dave. It was 2 against 1, with Charlie and I as a team. We didn't stand a chance, although I found I play much better in the defensive position than on the offense.

Saturday morning I helped out with the Special Olympics. I was privliged to escort around a 55+ woman who had down syndrome. It was such a joy to spend time with her. Her event was the softball throw, and she was so happy competeing and pointed the ribbon she won to just about everyone. She also really enjoyed the marches the band played, and at one point we were dancing to them. I may have looked very silly dancing around, but it was a lot of fun, and seeing how much fun she was having overpowered any problems about being self-concious that I might have had.

Saturday evening I went over to the OCF house to help Barb prepare for the First Class Only (FCO) event there the next afternoon. I had dinnner there and then helped peel potatos and eggs. After that there wasn't much left for me to do so I read for a bit and then went to bed. It was my first time spending the night at the OCF house, and it made me wish I had discovered it earlier in my cadet career. I went to serve, but I think I ened up being served more than I actually served myself.

Sunday morning everyone staying at the OCF house had breakfast together and then I left to go to Church at the cadet chapel. Around 2:30 I drove back to the OCF house for the FCO function. There were around 20 or so firsties in all who went. It was a good time of fellowship with everyone, and Barb and Barry once again did an awesome job of setting everything up. We keep on being reminded of how fortunate we are at West Point to have the regimented schedule that we do in regards to Christian activities and fellowship, and I really do believe that is true. One of my biggest concerns about my future is about how after I graduate I will no longer have that regimented schedule and it will be a lot harder to stay in the Word and I will struggle a lot more.

Once again, not by my prompting or doing at all, the topic of me getting engaged arose again. This time Anne predicted that I'll be engaged within 3 years, and Jasmin predicted that it'll be to a ROTC graduate. I'm writing these down in here now so that I can look back on them years from now and figure out who's prediction was the most accurate.

Two WPRs tomorrow. Please pray that they go well.

Happy Mothers Day Mom! I love you.

The First Class is so short that we have fewer class days left than the plebes have semesters at the Academy.

At breakfast the First Captain made an announcment from the poop deck. Hearing from the First Captain at lunch or dinner usually brings good news, but when he starts to speak at breakfast everyone in the mess hall simultaniously catches their breath and the mood becomes very somber. Today was no different. He announced the news of the death of two 1998 West Point grads, Capts. Stephen Frank, 29, and Ralph John "Jay" Harting III, 28 who were killed April 29th while serving in Iraq. An article about them is avalible at http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=39416. God bless them and their families.

I wonder if Alyson forgot that we're in PMI for the rest of the year. The sink and counter are clean, and the stopper is up. Her wardrobe is closed though, so perhaps she wanted a clean sink and counter.

Projects day is tomorrow and currently my project is not working. An important lesson learned is to never install an updated version of something without making sure there is a accessible and functioning backup in case the new version isn't compatible. I'm also about to learn how dependable the US Postal system is with their overnight mail delievery. Hopefully Mike, Mikey, and I will all come out okay. If everything fails we'll only have made Dr. F and the NSA look bad. Nothing too bad...(sarcasm here)

A new, just released yesterday, variant of the SOBER worm started attacking West Point yesterday afternoon. I was able to create a rule in Outlook that sends the hundreds of emails that have resulted from the worm into my deleted items. Hopefully DOIM will come up with a final solution soon. They've at least taken the step of blocking all .zip file extensions.

The NSA is supposed to release the official results of the Cyber Defense Exercise today.

All of yesterday I thought there were 26 and a butt days left, but then when I checked the countdown this morning it said 24. Sometimes it's nice to be wrong.

2 weeks of classes left, but really only 1.5. Next week there is one day, Wednesday, with no classes, and then I leave Thursday after lunch for Dad Vails. Almost done.

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.