Systems Engineering at the US Naval Academy: BE$T JOB IN AMERICA? Systems Engingeering!

Systems Engineering at the US Naval Academy: BE$T JOB IN AMERICA? Systems Engingeering!

Yupp guess I should've actually learned how to do systems engineering while i've been in school majoring in it.... couldve set myself up for a nice lil career

sleepy

hello blog world, i realize i dropped the ball on writing about my awesome summer. but i am back in school and already in full swing of things there... so much so that i just fell asleep in my desk chair for about an hour and half. i hate when i do that because my bed is only above my desk its not that far away... ugh. i've got two exams tomorrow, both of which have potential to be challenging, we'll see.

Leatherneck over... Nols tomorrow!

So my four weeks down in Quantico, VA training with the Marine Corps is over. It was a short four weeks that consisted of very long days. I learned a ton, but will take a lil while to fully figure out just how much i did learn. I'll post about it when I get back from my next adventure, NOLS.

Nols stands for the National Outdoor Leadership School. Basically its gonna be boy scouts (im an Eagle Scout by the way) on crack. 3 weeks of backpacking in the Cascade Mountains in Washington - I can't wait!!! Im keeping a log of events and ideas that happen while im out in the wilderness that I'll share on my blog as well.

So for you few dedicated readers - check back in around July 20th and I should have two new blogs for ya to read about.

Leatherneck

First week of Leatherneck is done... 3 more to go... but I don't have time to write about it right now, but check back in a couple weeks to hear about my time at Camp Barrett, US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va.

Ring Dance

This past weekend was the most amazing weekend of my life. The festivities began for my classmates and I on Thursday. I was CDO, company duty officer; basically I was on duty and was in charge of the entire company's day-to-day activities for the day. This includes running TAPS, or an accountability taken at night to make sure everyone is back in the hall that is supposed to be, which were all of my classmates, the sophomores, freshman, and a handful of seniors who hadn't checked out of their rooms yet. Well, 2350, 11:50 pm, rolls around and I am scrambling to get taps finished b/c some of my classmates aren't back yet, specifically Pete and Jeff. They finally come back and Pete is furious that he had to come back - leaving his date in the hot tub at the house that a bunch of guys had rented out for the weekend. I knew it was gonna be a great weekend from this point on b/c Pete, like me has had it pretty rough when it comes to ex-girlfriends. His date for ring dance he had never met, she was a friend of Kevin's fiance. I had no doubt that Pete would get along with his date b/c he's a genuine nice guy and a gentleman above all else, but by how well they hit off I just had a feeling it was gonna be good.


Pete is on the left, Kevin and his fiance are in the middle, Ian is on the right.

Friday morning rolls in and we all start to get our checklists together to get ready for our dates and for the big day on Saturday. I called my sponsors asking for a ride over to their house so I could pick up my car, a 2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade if you wanted to know. I get there and then James, my sponsors son, and I give it a wash. James had rigged up their pressure washer to be able to spray out soap as well as have a setting strong enough to wash the car but not damage it, it was pretty cool. Once I got it washed, I drove back to school, parked outside the gate. I've decided that this summer, while I'm home, I am going to perfect my parallel parking skills. In Florida it is not part of the driver's licenses test and because of that I pretty much just drive around until I find a spot that I can essentially pull up into. So I ended up having to walk really far lol.Once I had packed up all my stuff, I went to check into the hotel that I was staying in for the weekend. A bunch of my friends and I had gotten rooms at the Loew's Hotel, the only 4 star hotel in downtown Annapolis, it was really nice.

That night, the party was at the house that Pete was staying at. This ended up being probably the best house party I had ever been at. Firstly, this house was incredible. Waterfront property, hot tub, deck, 2 floors, tons of bedrooms, landscaping that I couldn't appreciate b/c it was at night, a bathroom that was a jungle (not even joking). What made the party awesome was that it was all of my friends and our dates. We were able to just let loose and have a good time. We made a couple runs to the liquor store - we had a good night. We picked up a couple bags of boxed wine, not because we cheap but we felt like having some good college fun, slapping the bag! For those who don't know what this is, its definitely something that probably would only ever occur at a college house party. Basically someone holds the bag of wine above you, and opens the nozzle so that its pouring into your mouth. When you are done chugging/can't keep up you slap the bag and they close the nozzle. This was hilarious to watch. Some of us slapped the bag more than others lol.

Saturday rolls around, my date arrives a little after noon. Back at the hotel our group begins to get ready, the fella's getting into their dinner dress whites, the girls into their formal gowns. Everyone looked fantastic. Group pictures were taken at Techumsah court - our main court yard on campus, and then more inside Smoke Hall.

After pictures were taken, and we took a ton, we made our ways over to the Severn Inn for dinner. This place was incredible. I was on the river with a view of the Academy that I had never seen. The menu was very nice - I had calamari appetizer, house salad, and then the fillet mignon main course. We made our way to the dance around 2245, 8:45 pm. Unfortunately their was a long line for photos both at the beginning and for dipping our rings. But for sake of length I am going to skip right to the tradition of dipping our rings.








This is my gold ring, I've also got a lustrium everyday ring. The stone is an emerald with diamonds.

So the tradition of ring dance is centered on the christening of our rings in the water of the 7 seas. My class also had water of the severn (the river the academy is next too), water that was flown in space, water from the class of 1960's bowl (they are our 50 year class link) in addition to water from the 7 seas. The tradition is for your date to wear your ring around her neck on a ribbon after the ring has been dipped.

After we left the dance we headed out to the city dock to board our yacht that we had rented for the evening. This thing was huge. We easily had 35 couples on board and it didn't feel over crowded. The boat was such a good time. We had an open bar, chic-fil-a nuggets, music, plus just being with all our best friends. It really was a night to never forget.

One thing is for sure though. I plan to go to the class of 2060 ring dance with my wife, so that I can re-dip my ring with the girl of my dreams. Nothing against my date, we are friends, but I saw some of the class of 1960 doing that with their wives and I thought wow that's really cool.

As promised... plus extra!

Okay, so I know I promised a blog a few days back, but i've been busy. Here's a quick and dirty of what's been going on in my life lately...

-finals
-moving out
-sea trials
-ring dance this weekend!

only four things and one hasn't even happened yet, but believe me, the first 3 were bad enough. I'm pretty sure i've discussed finals back in December when i last had them. This time around they went well. I was really happy with my results on the Thermodynamics and Advanced Controls Systems exams. I got B's on both exams which kept my A's in those courses. Now that I type that, I realize how incredibly nerdy my classes sound. But its okay because my major's "name" is way cooler than yours, Weapons and Systems Engineering, let's be honest now lol. Overall I ended with a 3.2 gpa, a lil disappointing because I ended with a C in Electrical Engineering which took a chunk out of the gpa since it was a 4 credit course. Anyways...

Moving out... wow. So basically, mids spend the entire year moving into their rooms, getting new cool things, but every May we have to completely move out of our rooms for 3 months during the summer. This is a huge inconvenience because 1) only seniors can drive on campus 2) the storage space they provide for underclass is the size of a gym locker. Good thing I'm not an underclassman anymore haha, the storage for rising seniors was big enough for me to box all my stuff and then stack into my locker. The only thing was trying to find a cart to carry it all from my room to the lockers in 8th wing. So now my room is empty, we only have our computers and a few odds and ends on our desks and our closets have the bare minimum number of uniforms and cloths.

Sea Trials took place yesterday. Holy cow, it was a long day. For me it started at 0030 (12:30 am). It ended at 1830 (6:30 pm) when I get dinner and then went back to my room, stayed awake long enough to watch the magic go into half time with a lead, only to wake up this morning to find out they blew it again. So yes, 18 hours, on about 3 hours rest, not sleep just rest. I was the Safety Coordinator for Naval Station West. Which basically meant when someone got hurt I had to run to the scene, find out the severity and then get the corpsman if it needed one. Then I had to call the Safety Officer to let them know. Now, this doesn't seem bad, except that Naval Station West has the E-Course. The E-Course is a 2.5 - 3 mile long course through the woods. There are several steep hills, some require a rope to get help get up, a handful of obstacles (most of which I could avoid, only the rope bridge I actually had to go across every time). I was running back and forth through this course making sure the course and obstacles were safe (ie no trees falling in the way) and to make sure that there were no injuries at both starting/ending points (they broke the course up into 2 sections, which made it a lil convenient for me). By lunch I was exhausted, lol. I was surprised in how few injuries there were though, which was nice.

You might be wondering what the hell is Sea Trials? Good question, lol. Its a physical test for the freshman class to complete in order to officially finish their "plebe" year. This year we started at 0230 after a speaker gave a motivation/leadership speech in the cemetery at 0100. From 0230 to 0430 they went through the "Dark Phase" which had 4 different zones they rotated through doing various PT. The "Light Phase" was the rest of the day (0430 - 1800). During this phase there was 6 zones: Naval Station East/West, Transition Run, Hospital Point, Farragut, MacD Hall. Essentially every zone was another PT event filled place of pain lol. The MacD phase was a pool phase (run by the swim and water polo teams this year, that had to be the worst one lol). Hospital Point and Farragut had more traditional PT excersises whereas the Naval Station had the O-course, e-course, ruck run, riveriene (no idea how to spell that) squad hike, paintball, pugil sticks. The Transition run was a 4 mile run across the river from Hospital Point to the Naval Station, nothing exciting lol.

Well, that about sums up the last few weeks lol, another blog about ring dance - and pics - after this weekend

new blog post in the works...

stand by for a new blog post... MOVING OUT ... one of the more exciting times on the yard....

Pro-Boards

So this week was the beginning of the end of plebe year for the freshman, aka Plebes. This week began their Professional Knowledge Boards, a review of their knowledge over the course of the year in regards to Navy, Marine Corps, Leadership, and other aspects of military life. They've been tested every week throughout the entire year, having a different lesson each week.

These boards can be stressful, as its a four person panel, 3 from your own company and 1 from out of company, each asking 3 questions. If you fail the board, then you go to the Battalion level board, with 4 members of the Battalion staff.

The change this year was that the plebes were only giving a 24 hour notice to their boards and did not know who was them, so they couldn't try to find out ahead of time what questions they were going to be asked.

This morning, the board that I was to be apart of was to be conducted at 0600, which meant getting up at 0530 to shave, put on my freshly pressed summer white uniform, and try to wake up a little bit before I had to go to this board. I get to the room it was supposed to be in about 10 minutes early. The other members of the board all show up, 0600 comes and goes, no plebe. We had to go wake him up... this did not bode well for the plebe.

My questions that I asked were fair I thought, taken from his study books, so he's seen the material before. My first question was to tell me the Fleets and their area of operations - I decided not to tack on where their headquarters are to make it easier. My second question was what aircraft was the F-35C Lightening replacing, the answer I was looking for was the F/A-18A/C Hornet. My last question was more open ended, I asked, you're in a tactical situation, the enemy position is known to be heavily fortified, you are the strike officer in charge of putting together the strike package, what do you do? I was looking for him to talk about was TACAIR strikes with F/A-18, and the various bombs they would use, and Cruise Missiles - being TLAM Tomahawk missiles.

Unfortunately, the board did not bode well for the plebe and he did not pass, but it was a lack of knowledge of several of the questions asked by the two first class and one of my questions - in addition to being docked points for professionalism, since he was late.

At the beginning of all this, I mentioned this was the beginning of the end of plebe year. It really is, because pro-knowledge is one of those constant drains you go through every week, and once the pro-board is done, you don't have to worry about it anymore. All they have left are exams, sea trials, and Herndon.

X-Week

X-Week... a time of fear and a time desperation. X-week occurs every 6 weeks at the Academy, they break our semester into thirds, giving us grades after each 6 week term. X-week is typically jammed packed with tests, quizzes, papers, and reading. For some reason teachers wait until X-week to schedule everything. However, mids still manage to find a way to carry out our jokes and games during x-week with a creative contest of Us vs. Them. Now, USNA in any competition has always said Go Navy, Beat (fill-in the blank). So this carries over to even exams, Go navy beat exams. In the hall we took it even further by posting scoreboards on our doors. You can post them in two ways, a single scoreboard per room or one for each roommate. Now they aren't just your score and exams score... no no no. We find two mortal enemy's, one good and one bad... usually unrelated but when put together are hilarious or are part of an inside joke funny to that room. Label Us (the good guy) vs Them (the mortal enemy)... To keep score of this duel is simple. After the test if you think you passed, you win... if you think you got completely owned, dominated, etc they won.

This is an example from my youngster year 2nd semester... 3 engineers fighting the good fight against dynamics... There is a good chance that they won that semester... the funny thing is, you'd be surprised how often they do win... but its okay cause we're America's best and brightest :)





Another good tradition at the academy is tossing penny's into Tecumsah's (he's the god of 2.0... aka 2.0 gpa) quiver for good luck. This picture is from my plebe year, the night before the dreaded Chemistry II final. I think we threw at least a dollar's worth of penny's each it seemed like.

Pub burger Wednesdays

Wednesday... hump day... middle of the week... almost done... in the Navy and at the Naval Academy its also burger day!!

Typically, every Wednesday, we get pub burgers for lunch. I love this meal, some don't like it too much but I do. I like to make a double cheeseburger loaded with bacon rounds, ranch, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Now, these aren't just a small burger patty. These are easily 1/4 lb patties.

The only downside from eating such a heavy meal... you get tired, and fall asleep on your desk... and are late for 5th period.

spring break

Spring Break... easily one of the most anticipated breaks for a midshipman. Why? Because we spend the whole winter in the gym with one goal in mind, to have killer abs, huge biceps so that when we go on spring break we are half way to ultimate goal of every male mid: being jacked and tan.

However, the typical mid doesn't start to work out for this goal until the Wednesday before hand when they flood the gym pissing off all the regulars, as they attempt to do 1000 crunches, 250 flutter kicks, 50 arm curls with weights way to heavy, cable crossers, etc etc...

But once a mid has escaped the prison walls of Bancroft Hall, they split into two categories: the wanna be frat boys and the rest.

This year I embarked on my first spring break adventure, for the first time, I didn't spend my 10 days at home, which can be fun. However, lately it only ends up with old wounds being reopened - but that's a long story and not intended for this blog, although many mids do go through a similar experience. I went on a cruise this year. Easily the best 600 bucks I ever spent, and definitely the best 600 bucks I spent on leave.

Now, the key for a spring break cruise is to find one with as close to zero mids already on it as possible. We managed to find one with none, but when we got there unfortunately there was another group of five male mids. But it worked out okay, b/c the other group fell under the frat boy category and I don't think I ever saw them not already drunk off their asses, which is fine b/c that means they wouldn't be a threat in the girls area - because the only other threat to a group of mids when trying to steal a young woman's heart are other mids.

On the idea of stealing a woman's heart... this is a major theme for spring break cruises, and to be honest was probably the best part. I got lucky and my cruise easily had a girl-guy ratio of 4-1 (i know AMAZING)... and what makes it even nicer was that the formal dinner was the 2nd night of the cruise, and yes we did wear our choker whites and yes we did go early, so that the dinner before ours would see us as they exited (we had the late dinner). The rest of the cruise, girls would approach us asking if we were the guys in uniform at dinner, "yes ma'am we were, what's your name? what school do you go to?" common conversation starters.

Now, my friends and I (five all together), did most of our work in the club that second night, because we decided just go in our uniforms, since dinner got out late. But before the club we stopped at the blackjack tables were we met our friend Victor, he was in his dress blue's, the only uniform in the world that trumps ours, the Marine Corps Dress uniform. Victor, a sergeant, had just gotten back from Iraq and was a really cool guy. He came to the club with us also.

Back, to woman however, in the club, in our uniforms, we circled up and started dancing.... i don't think its ever been so easy to pick up girls, in about 5 minutes our circle was disbanded and we were all dancing with a girl, some of us with several. For the most part, we found our "cruise girlfriend" on this night. For me she was a tall, thin, blue-eyed blonde from the Univ. of Kansas with a hint of an accent. Jackpot folks. Her name was Erin, and yes she was also a very good kisser. Alas, one must remember that it was only a cruise and rarely do these things carry any further. The two nights that we hung out I never asked what her last name was so I have no way of finding her on facebook or myspace. But, in a way I appreciate more this way, because she'll be that perfect dream girl that I can say I let slip away. She did make those two days a lot of fun though.

My roommate on the other hand, found a similar hunny, Ali. Cute, shy girl from New Mexico of Mexican decent (like my roommate). He on the other hand was able to hang out with her just about every night of the cruise, and even called her yesterday. I told him he needs to ask her to Ring Dance, we'll see.

Well all-in-all I think this post is long enough, I'm sure there are several areas I did not mention and stories left untold... but for now this will do. I highly recommend going on a cruise if for nothing else but to experience a taste of retirement and to be able to eat good food 24/7.

The LOG

As I'm sure, that all my readers enjoy reading my not too often updated blog of midshipman life... I'd like to direct you all to the LOG... http://www.usna.edu/TheLOG/ ... this is a magazine published by mids for mids full of inside jokes, satire, and nonsense - but it is in fact an excellent look into the everyday happenings behind the scenes, that the administration might not always know about .... so I know the website has the option to subscribe not sure if they are posting digital versions yet or not but take a look, do a Google search and find out more history about the LOG.

edit: not even kidding, this morning an email is sent out, the Log is blogging now... check it out... http://blog.thelogblog.com

System's Engineering

So.... as this blog is technically supposed to be about what I do at the Academy. I guess it would be a good idea to actually do that. But... in good Midshipman fashion, I'm too lazy to do that, but I found this:

http://www.go-systems.blogspot.com/

that will... its a blog ALL about my major, by one of the professors. Awesome stuff, check it out

comics

So I realized today that every morning I go through the same routine. I hit my snooze button my phone twice, crawl out of bed at 6:48, unlock my computer/wake it up, read my Calvin & Hobbes comic, read my Zits comic, then get changed into my uniform.

I love those two comics. Calvin is the little boy who is still somewhere inside me, just wants to get outside and go on an adventure, forget school, screw girls, just me and my best friend. Jeremy, the guy in Zits, is probably as close to a comic book representation of me as you gonna get. The stories and things he does are so funny because that was me just last year or in high school... or even now!

Without my emailed daily comic subscriptions, I know I would probably a little bit less happy every morning... especially when I wake up and its 16 degrees outside

Snow Day?!

So last night we all were watching the weather channel praying that the snow storm would be legit and the promised 6-12 inches of snow would actually fall. By 11 pm they had already said there would be a 2 hour delay to classes on Monday... I went to bed early knowing that I could finish my homework in the morning since I wouldn't be going to class until 12:30.

I wake up walk out to formation... forgot that we had inspection.... Looked down at my shoes and kinda just said oh well, no one really cares anyways. I started to tell my friends how I wont have class till after lunch with the delay; I've got first and second periods off on Mondays. They look at me and say, you mean tomorrow? I was like what? I hadn't checked my email, nor did I hear the yelling and cheering earlier that morning as people were waking up checking their emails, reading this:

SUBJ: NO SCHOOL TODAY

Brigade,

Classes are canceled today.

* Morning quarters still goes at 0700.
* Breakfast is rolling tray from 0700-0900.


Standby for further word on the other formations and such throughout the day. Be smart. Be safe.



Respectfully,
MOOW



HOLY HELL!!! The last time classes were canceled was when we beat Notre Dame (equally awesome) and then like never before! [EDIT: At tonight's spring break safety brief, the 'Dant did say that his plebe year, 30 years ago to the day, he had class canceled because of bad snow storm also] They even had class during the Hurricane Isabel that destroyed Annapolis! lol

But more importantly... this is my first snow day. Ever. Aren't snow days supposed to be like good luck? Can't anything happen on a snow day? Maybe I'll get a date for ring dance... who knows ;)

Crimson, and clover, over and over

I want to start by saying how much I love Jimmy Eat World, they easily have been my favorite band now for quite some time. I'll always love the classics like New Found Glory and blink-182, but I can tribute my love of those bands greatly to Jeb and Tim for being the catalyst for in my own musical adventure. However, I feel like JEW spoke to me after not listening to them for quite some time. I had the chance to see them live in Baltimore and so I picked up listening to their albums before it so that I'd be able to sing along and what not... wow... incredible. I'm actually listening to my JEW concert playlist right now.

Anyways, what I meant to write about tho... the PRT. I took it yesterday. And I got an A!! WooHoo!! I did 101, 101, and 9:45 run... which when tallied up I get like a 90.6%. The best part of it all tho is that my knee did not hurt during the run, it was sore a few hours after but I'll take it... oh and no pain this morning which is a good sign also. So in all, I feel very accomplished because I really couldn't prepare for this PRT since my knee was injured, all I could do was stretch and hope for the best. I guess it further proves that I am a natural runner, cause I don't know many people here who can not run for months on end and run sub 10 min mile and half. I think my goal for the next PRT tho is to get back in shape and try to run sub 9 again, come full circle with it from plebe year to firstie year.

The next big obstacle for me however is the PFT, the Physical Fitness Test (opposed to the Physical Readiness Test, PRT). The PFT is what the Marine Corps uses as their minimum physical standards. The test is three parts: crutches, pull-ups, and 3 mile run. I don't know number off the top of my head, but I do know that its not the run that determines peoples score so much as the pull-up portion. I SUCK at pull-ups, so that's my next area that I need to really focus on, cause I need to be able to 20 dead-hang pull-ups in 2 minutes, ideally before the summer starts :/ might not have enough time, but I'm gonna hit it hard and give it my best effort.

Saturday night I went out with a classmate of mine that left us last year for civilian life. Hanging out with him really showed how amazing this place is. Even though he's not here anymore it was like we picked up where we left off. He admitted that he misses all of us in 12th company but that he made the right choice to go civilian.

Physical Readiness Test... aka PRT

So this Saturday, in a mere 3 days, the United States Naval Academy will be running its "spring" PRT. For some this test is a walk in the park, for others its the worst day of the semester, with the exception of the Electrical Eng II final. Some will get surprised and find that they did not pass the run or another portion of the test, and others will surprise themselves and perform personal bests.

I fall under the category of once was a PRT super star, scoring a 95 coming out of plebe summer to at the point in time, am unsure whether I will pass. It is truly sad to say these things and I am embarrassed. However, it is not b/c I'm out of shape, ok a little but I'm in good enough shape to pass, I am unsure of whether or not my knee is going to allow me to complete the run fast enough.

The PRT is a simple test, but I challenge you all to try it and see if you are deemed physically fit, by the Navy stardards and then see if you qualify as "fit" by USNA standards.

At USNA in order to pass, a male must do 65 sit-ups, and 40 push-ups in 2 minutes, with a 1 minute break between the exercises where they test your sit and reach ability (passing is touching your toes). Then you jog out the starting line for the 1.5 mile run which must be completed in 10:30 sec. Again those are the minimums, and I honestly never have heard of anyone not passing push-ups or sit-ups before. In order to attain a 100% you need to do 101 push-ups, 101 sit-ups and run 8:15. My personal best I did 97, 101, 8:50. Last prt I did 101, 101, 9:45. I am expecting the same results this time around, hopefully.

The fleet standards are much different, and in my opinion are a joke. 58 sit-ups, 48 push-ups and 12 min mile half. A "100" is 105, 87, 8:30.


So get out there and see if you meet the Navy's fitness standards! But rememberbe honest with your scoring b/c your only cheating yourself

Honor

One of the defining features of the United States Naval Academy is the Midshipman's Honor Concept. Sure some schools have statements that no one really even knows about, saying not to cheat and what not. Here at USNA, our Honor Concept was developed by the Midshipman in order to uphold a higher standard and to prepare use for our future role as an officer in the Fleet and Marine Corps. Originally written by Ross Perot, the concept has been refined throughout the years and currently reads:

"Midshipman are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right" They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie. They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat. They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from their own property. They do not steal.

I have the honor of being apart of the Honor Staff this semester serving as 2/C Representative for my company. It the lowest level in the actual Honor chain of command, but I am involved more than I was expecting to be. I am currently working on a case of 3 sophomores in my company who are being investigated and will most likely be charged with an honor offense. But being involved I am starting to formulate my own opinions on the whole situation. These 3 guys have all admitted to what they did, and if you ask me, what they did doesn't require the attention they are receiving. They admitted to the lie minutes after it happened, but because of two people's frustration and inability to handle the situation they just forward it up to the company officer and senior enlisted. Its not like those 2 are about to be officers really freaking soon, so why not just pass a piddly insignificant case up to LT and Gunny, great idea.

But what gets me is I feel that since LT and Gunny already have a predisposed opinion on these 3, because they aren't perfect midshipman, they are goofballs, they are slamming them. There has been talk of forwarding all the way up to the Brigade level, this is where they talk about kicking kids out!! I know of a lot worst honor cases that didn't even go past the company level, but yet these three who admitted to what they did almost immediately and being threatened with being kicked out, are you kidding me?!

How can their case be fair is you are judging them on what you think about them and not on what they did?

Faith of a Centurion

So this week, I began reading Matthew with two of my closest friends at the Academy. It all kinda happened by surprise as I was walking in to ask them for homework help (they are the other 2 systems engineers in my company) and they were pulling out their bibles to read. I asked if I could join them. Its been a while since I opened my Bible. I kinda lost my faith when my family lost a Church, I still don't know if I've found what I believe about the Church and all that, but I know that whenever two or more are gathered together He is there. I know that even just the last two nights of quiet reading out loud of the Gospel has helped me begin my journey of finding... essentially finding myself again.

"And to the centurion Jesus said, 'Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.' " - Matthew 8:13


On another topic... I am sick, which really stinks, b/c I didn't have any energy today and I wasn't able to work out tonight like I had been the last few weeks. Ten days until the PRT and I still am unsure of my knees abibilty to complete the run :(

Tuesday Morning Ass Whooping

So this semester i dread Tuesdays. Why? Because every Tuesday from 7:50 till 8:40 I get my ass kicked in martial arts class, but not because I don't know what I am doing. I get paired with bigger, stronger guys who basically muscle out of whatever choke I attempt to put them in and then just smother me with their weight. Or I'll get paired with a seasoned wrestler that just knows how to torque someone's body in painful directions.

But hey, it makes my next hour nap that much better!!

first time is never the best time... sometimes

So... this is it... after reading several different blogs for the past few months, I've decided that I need to start a blog ... if for nothing else but to ramble away my thoughts of a day. Right now though, I am studying for two exams that I have tomorrow, so really this is more or less a procrastination effort.

So you'll probably hear from me soon, but I am gonna mess around and edit things up a little bit then maybe go back to studying (especially seeing how I haven't even begun studying for my econ test).