Monday, December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy New Year! This year has been one to remember, for certain. I spent Christmas Eve last year in Iraq, being accepted into the Catholic church. Since then, I've seen another great friend get married while I was on leave, then came back home for good! I've furthered my education at CU, and scraped a 2.8 out of 4 GPA for this semester, my best grades at that school yet. I sadly said goodbye to Grandpa Doug, but have made many good friends in unexpected places.

Looking forward, the time is quickly approaching for me to decide my future with the Army Reserves. I go wildly back and forth, from "I can't possibly re-up," to "I must stay." There are compelling reasons on both sides of the argument. I have made one decision, though; if I do stay in the Army, I will eventually pursue becoming a Warrant Officer of the Signal Corps. This office is little known to many outside the military, but basically Warrant Officers of this type are technical experts. They don't normally have a place in the command-and-control structure, but act as technical advisers to commanders. That's the way I've always thought of myself; someone with technical skills, knowledge broad enough to see many solutions, deep enough to actually implement them, and (I hope) enough work ethic to get the job done. Going down that path would probably force me to change some of my perceptions and habits, but I truly think that it would be a good place for me.

As for the more short-term future, I'm headed back to class in a couple of weeks. I have 5 classes in the coming semester, one more than last. I'll have to see if I can keep up my streak of decent grades. The load is much the same; one math, one humanities, and 3 computer classes. However, the computer classes last semester were mostly theoretical. The classes next semester promise to be much more practical, which I think will be much more enjoyable. I also need to find another job. I'm gearing up to start the search again after New Year's Eve. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Humanities for Engineers Essay

I've just finished my final essay for Humanities for Engineers, check it out!


That's the last of my assignments, but I have one more exam tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

It's finals season once again, and that means I'm ramping up my homework production. I have four papers and a project to turn in, plus two exams, over the course of the next few days. But the end is in sight!

If you've been able to follow my new Twitter account, you heard the good news that I was offered an internship with the Acxiom Corporation, and also the bad news that the project I was to work on was shut down, from what I can tell. So, I have a little more confidence that I'm somebody worth hiring, but I'm still back to unemployed. I'm pretty disappointed, because they offered me a better wage than they even advertised on the posting. They advertised $12-15/hr, and offered me $17.50, so apparently they were very interested in me.

Other than that, we're gearing up for Christmas and the holidays. Ashley has been selling her birdseed heating bags at craft sales and has done quite well. Hopefully tonight, well take a little time and put up the Christmas tree. I have no idea if I'll have time to get the outdoor lights on the house, but we'll see how motivated I feel after finals.