Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Marriage Workshop

The past week I've been a working fool. Four of the last 5 nights, I've taken bus runs ending after midnight. At least I'm making decent money.

Saturday, Ashley and I attended a Catholic pre-marriage seminar that explained much of the theology behind marriage. I was surprised to find that they were fairly vocal on sex. We were informed of the usual notion that it's a defining marital act and shouldn't be done outside of marriage. However, in the past 40 years, and especially during the reign of Pope John Paul II, the role of marital sex has been recast as not just necessary, but also holy. Every time a married couple has sex, they are expressing a love for each other that is a mirror image of Christ's love for the church. They are also re-stating their wedding vows, through a certain chain of logic. It was a very interesting workshop.

The next couple of days look pretty open, so maybe I'll get some down time. I hope.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Busy busy

Alright, so this morning, I woke up at about 6. I carpooled with Holly to Rational Data and worked for free. After that, I went to Fitzsimons and signed my request to transfer Army reserve units. From there, I dropped Holly back at home, and raced to Operating Systems recitation and Linear Algebra lecture. I then careened across Boulder to meet a guy and bought the Xbox he advertised on craigslist. (Yes, the original Xbox. I'm a little behind the times. It was cheap.) And directly after that transaction, I raced to the Transportation office for a charter run.

By the time I walked into the office, I was pretty burnt out. I must've looked it too, because when I mentioned it to the schedule lady, she took pity on me and arranged a trade. All I could do was thank God that she was so kind. I was just about at the point of nervous breakdown, and she helped me out. I was able to eat a peaceful meal, attend my technical writing class, and now I'm taking a moment at home to relax. God works in subtle ways. It's an incredible and wonderful mystery.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Pre-marriage Questionnaire

Ashley and I went to Nativity tonight and met with the deacon again, and received the results from our bubble tests. According to the test we're fairly compatible. I could've told them that! Oh well. We're still waiting on the dispensation, though.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Concrete Thickens

Well, what to say? In light of the deployment opportunity, Ashley and I have talked about moving the wedding to this spring. We had intended to wait for a year or two, possibly October of 2009. However, I think we both have the intention of getting married before I deploy. So, just to get the ball rolling, we went to the church on Saturday to meet with the deacon. He laid out the process a bit, telling us about the paperwork that had to be filled out, the pre-marriage classes and counseling we'd have to go through, and the steps we could potentially skip because of the short time frame. He is going to ask for a dispensation from the archbishop in order to waive the normal 6 to 8 month waiting period, and he sounded pretty confident that it would come through. Ashley and I also took a personality compatibility test, and we'll get the results sometime this week.

School started Monday. I've got 4 classes this semester, and they all seem like reasonable classes at the outset. Linear Algebra should be a bit easier than calculus. I've been taking calculus for about 3 years, so the switch to a new branch of math may be a shock. My writing class, Technical Communication and Design, promises to be interesting. The bulk of the class will be focused on a Web Usability Test. As a group, we are going to pick a real website and contact the owner or web master. We'll develop tests to asses it's usability: how easy it is to get around and accomplish things. After that, we will write a report on our findings and give it back to the web master. It's going to be very interesting, and hopefully a little more fun than a standard writing class. My two computer classes are Principles of Programming Languages, and Operating Systems. I'm starting to really get into the meat of the computer science curriculum. With school starting, I'll have to cut my time at the internship to just three half-days a week. In addition, I'm looking at 13 hours of permanent bus shifts a week, with subbing and charters on top when the company needs it. It's going to be a busy semester.

The only other exciting news comes from this afternoon. I went in to the Drill Hall to talk again with the First Sergeant of the deploying unit, and she gave me some more details. We'll be mobilizing in late May or early June. The company will also have Annual Training through most of May, but I will be exempted by the First Sergeant if it conflicts with school. After a couple months of the standard up-training, we will be staying at Camp Anaconda, just north of Baghdad, and running a supply yard there. My job would most likely be IT and radio support to a section or all of the camp. That means this is likely to be a relatively safe, easy job. (I'm not sure of that yet, so I'm taking the "Hope for the best, plan for the worst" approach.) I've verbally agreed to transfer to their unit and deploy with them, but I haven't signed anything just yet. Still, I'm starting to get used to the idea. I'm not excited that I have to put my civilian life on hold, but I really think this is my best option.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Big Offer

The life-changing news just doesn't stop coming, does it? While working today at the second day of setup, I ran into a gal. She's our unit's payroll specialist (for lack of a better title) on the civilian side, but she's also the First Sergeant of one of our subordinate units. I was setting up a conference room for her, and she noticed that I had no patch on my right shoulder, an indicator that I haven't been deployed. She asked if I would want to deploy with her unit, and I'm seriously thinking about it. Here's why:


If I volunteer:If I don't volunteer:
  • I know when they're leaving, early summer, and I have plenty of time to prepare.
  • I will be in a local unit, and I will know a few faces.
  • I will be in a subordinate unit, so any paperwork issues can be resolved by people back here at home.
  • (Big Advantage) I will be in my own specialty, communications. As long as I'm in a commo position, I'll have lots of access to communications to keep in touch, and there's a good chance I'll stay mostly behind the wire and out of danger.

I'll be in my current situation, which means I may never deploy (like SGT Lant), or I could be forced to deploy with any or all of these nasty situations:
  • I could have 4 days notice (like SGT Nieto did).
  • I could be in a unit with complete strangers (like SGT Nieto).
  • I will have no support from my home unit on paperwork issues, for instance when I'm asked to extend my deployment.
  • (Big Disadvantage) I could be forced to change my specialty, probably to something undesirable like truck driving.


This is a huge decision to make. The current plan is 12 months door-to-door (always subject to change, of course). I'm not even sure what country we're talking about, but it doesn't make a huge difference. No matter what, these are the most favorable deployment conditions I'm likely to ever have. Also, as long as the Army holds to its policy of a 2-year period of non-deployable status after a deployment, I would transfer into the Inactive Reserve before I would have to deploy again. Yes, the Army doesn't always follow it's own policies, and yes, its rare but possible to be deployed out of Inactive Reserve. Still, I think maybe this could be a positive thing.

I just have a feeling in my bones, I've had it for months. God is telling me that this is my year to deploy, and that I'm going to go whether I like it or not. I would much rather choose my living conditions rather than play roulette with them. Luckily, I have a bit of time to decide.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Academic Advising

It's been a bit of a week. I've been working at the internship not quite full time. This past weekend, the Campbells had their belated Christmas party, and Ashley and I attended. It was good to see everyone in Ashley's family.

Today I took the day off of the internship so that I could work for the Army. SGT Nieto and I are setting up for a paperwork updating event called an SRP, and that setup is going well. Also, SGT Nieto is just fun to hang around.

This afternoon I met with Lesley McDowell, the CS undergraduate adviser. We talked about my transfer credits, decided on the requirements set I would follow, and filled out a degree audit. After bringing everything home and looking it over, I've decided that it will only take me 4 more semesters to graduate! And they should be fairly comfortable semesters. I'm giddy all over again. If everything works out, I could be graduating in December of 2009. Thats just next year!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I'm In!

Freakin' yeah! I just got the e-mail, I've been accepted to the College of Engineering and Applied Science! This is absolutely amazing! My grades were really decent, but only brought my GPA to a 2.48, just shy of guaranteed acceptance. God must've been looking out for me, because I'm in! I feel ecstatic! All of my hard work this last semester paid off. I've known since halfway through high school that I wanted to attend CU for Computer Science and get my bachelor's degree, but a crucial step in that was being admitted to the College of Engineering. I've been working toward this for about 4 years. And after a couple of detours, I've finally done it.