Update from Colorado

Its now well into th second quarter here at the Academy - I finished the 1st quarter with a 3.11 GPA, thanks to my rough chemistry grade. We have Grade Reviews every two weeks, which are massive tests that make up a large part of your grade - because of this, we study throughout the week, on the weekends, and then finish the week only to start reviewing for the next GR.

A family decided to "adopt" me as one of their many sponsor kids from the Academy. It was nice to take my hard-earned weekend pass and relax over at their home. I've finally figured out how I can get to the chapel piano a few minutes a week... and thats nice, for a change.

Everything is beginning to pick up speed, from homework to honor violations to the amount of punishment given to the squad if a few people mess up. Sometimes we loose our cell phones, sometimes we all go on restriction, sometimes we all have to stand for arbitrarily chosen amounts of time at the position of attention... its all up to our commander.

Wrestling starts in the next two weeks, and I'm on the team. I'll be wrestling in the 125 lb. weight class, and I've been busy cutting weight - at this point, I've cut ten pound, and am down to 126. I'll need to lose 1.5 more pounds, and I'll be good for the year. :)

Life here is as boring or as lively as you choose to make it. Naturally, I've had a great time here, as there's no end to what you can do for fun when you get your homework done. :)
Everybody's looking forward to Thanksgiving break, and on the dry-erase board inside the squad, someone wrote, "23 days 'til jailbreak." That about sums it up.

I'll have to wrap it up, because there's a chemistry GR tomorrow afternoon. Reactioms, precipitates, balancing, & everything else... I might be ready for it. We shall see. If not and I get a 68% or less, you go on Ac-Pro, meaning you have to do extra homework, go to extra instruction sessions, get your academic paper signed off daily... and it goes on. Its not fun, especially when you have it in more than one subject. A few guys are on Ac-Pro for 4 out of the five subjects, and could be shortly looking at getting kicked out if they don't improve. As long as I stay off it, I'll be fine.

And that about sums up my life to this point. Good night - I'm off to finish studying about redox reactions...

Life in CO

During BMT (Basic Military Training), I was the guidon bearer (flag holder, in simple terms) for my flight, Bravo 3.

One of my current jobs is camera-man for the football team.

...and that would be me, way up high...

My family was able to come up for Parent's Day Weekend, which was great!

The whole family (almost) + Grandma from Oklahoma

And, as always, Alexis had to show off for the large populous of guys... :)

It's been fun here, out at the Academy. I'm currently the Safety Officer for my squadron, which means I'm in charge of safety inspections, fire drills, and filling out paperwork when people get hurt. I was also recently selected to serve as Honor Officer for my squadron; this is a position where if there is an honor violation, such as lying, cheating, or stealing, and it comes all the way up the chain, the Honor Reveiw Committee, which I am on with two other cadets, will make recommendations to the school commander as to whether or not the cadet should be kicked out.

Aside from that, I also work as a football team manager, and work as one of two cameramen, specifically. We film all the practices to give the team an idea as to what they are doing wrong/right, and we travel with the team to film the games for that same purpose.

That being said. I am writing now from Oklahoma, on a trip with the football team. It was supposed to be a 12 hour bus ride, which wasn't going to be terribly bad, but at around the half-way point, we had a tire blowout, which legthened the trip substantially.

The coaches are calling for me now... time for the team to pull out and win our third game. Life is good. :)

Sunshine in the Darkness... :)

One of my fellow cadets needed to get his hair cut, and around here, you can't go anywhere by yourself. So around the squadron he wandered, looking for someone to take him, when he discovered me at my desk, dutifully finishing next week's homework assignments. So off we went - on the way, we stopped by the post office, pretty much just to make sure our empty mailboxes weren't getting too dusty. I opened mine up for the weekly inspection, and there was... a key. A key? Locked up in my mailbox???

Attached was a tab that said, "You have a package in Box No. 24." I open the appropriate box, and there it was - an amazingly decorated box that sounded like it had food in it. :)

I'm sitting here, eating my cookies recently made by my great sisters, and contemplating whether to frost my cinnamon-roll-y thing before or after lunch. I'll probably wait until tonight.

Civil Air Patrol Encampment

With my flight. I am at the front on the left with the guidon - they were supposed to be at attention...

Off to the parade field...

At the parade field with all four squadrons, right before the pass-in-review.

It turned out that I received the "Honor Cadet" award of the encampment out o the 133 cadets there - this is the highest honor given out. This award is given to the cadet who had the most outstanding performance in PT, the encampment test, motivation throughout the week, mentor ship, room-inspection scores, military drill, and customs & courtesies.

Little Alexis wanted the award... she got Cheerios, which satisfied her just as much. :)

Daniel In From Washington - Pictures & More

Fencing

Valley Forge

Celebrating Daniel's Birthday (A little early)

Family Pictures by the Chesapeake Bay

At Havre De Grace

In New York City

Volleyball

Daniel, the oldest of our family's 10 children (21), flew in last week to spend time with the family. Whie he was here, we went to Valley Forge, fenced at my fencing club, played lots of volleyball, did Havre De Grace, saw "UP", went to New York City and ruined a few takes of a CSI season clip, did a family picture at "Picture People", visited IKEA for the first time, and more.

It was a great time, and it'll also be the last time that our entire family gets togther again while I am still a resident of the Bittner home.

I'll definitely miss them at the Academy.