Chris' Updates

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. G...

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. L...

My family came into town on Friday, ready for the Tour de Force of Colorado relatives. They decided to try and see if all of us could sleep in Alcott, and after some shuffling and a couple of air mattresses, we managed it. On Saturday we saw Grandma Bobbie, along with aunt Rhonda, aunt Teresa and her grandson. After breakfast and a short visit, we were off to Great Grandma Keller's and Grandpa Doug's, and saw Teresa's boyfriend Ed, aunt Gwen and her two girls. Grandma Keller is not looking well these days; cancer is taking its toll. It's very sad to see her whither away like this. As the evening set in, we headed over to see uncle John and Maryann at their isolated little foothills house. They're doing well, as are all of their dogs. Sunday, Zach decided to leave to visit his friend Josh. The rest of us did a bit of clothes shopping, and in the afternoon we visited Grandma Doris and aunt Nancy. They seem to be doing pretty well these days. After that, Mom and Dad dr...

I'm done, it's over, fin . My exams all went pretty well. Arabic was a little bit iffy, but I was impressed that I did know a few things. I hope my grades are good enough for Engineering, but it's out of my hands now. It's a strange feeling. I'm relieved that I've done my part and I don't have to work anymore, but still nerve-wracking. It shouldn't take more than a week to get my grades back, but I have no idea how long the dean's office will take in its decision. I've decided that if Engineering turns me down, I'll still stay at CU for another semester, to try for appeals, and so I don't have to switch schools in a matter of days, potentially. That could be a nightmare. Besides school, driving is also winding down, at least for me. I haven't volunteered my services over the break, although I might want to do a little work. At this point, I want a break from the bus. The internship is still going well. At this point, it's pretty s...

School is drawing to a close. I finished up my classes this week, and tomorrow is my first exam. It's really been a good semester, even if it's been stressful and difficult. If I can just pull my GPA up, I could be admitted to the College of Engineering and Applied Science. If I can't, I'll be barred from the college and the Computer Science major, at which point I'll probably transfer to another school. My predicted grades put me right on the line, and I'm not yet sure how to feel. On the other hand, my exams count for a lot of points, so they could really help or really hurt me, either way. In other news, the internship is starting well. I've decided to work on the same project as Holly and Marlin. Some of the ideas are covered by non-disclosure agreements, but basically we're going to be working with Natural Language Processing ideas, trying to expand the field in new ways, and possibly make a profitable application. Let me say this; if we can pull o...

Hey, just a quick update. There's not much to report for school, since I'm just looking ahead to the end of the semester and the fateful decision. But the exciting news is that I just interviewed at a small corporation called Rational Data. Holly has been working with them for a few months on a new project, and recommended me to her boss, the CEO, Marlin. The interview went well, and I've already been invited to start next week, although we're not sure which project I'll be involved with just yet. I'm just excited that I'm looking at real-world experience!