Well, my people, I am off this afternoon for a week's trip to Vermont. I am visiting the campus of my college, Norwich University , where I'm getting my Master's degree in Diplomacy. This is a required one-week residency during the 18-month degree program. While there, I will have to present one of my academic papers in a round table as well as participate in discussions and mixers to get to know these people I've been conversing with online. Should be a lot of fun, and I've never been...

Well, my brothers and sisters... it's been several months since I posted anything substantial on JU. I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle these days. What with work, graduate school, home life (wife and four kids), and church responsibilities (including singing with the Mormon Choir of Washington DC, totally voluntary) -- it's been very impossible to free up enough time to be vocal and frequent on my blog. I still have allegiances to the blog and all it stands for, b...

Ok, rant time. About five weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail from the DC Photo Enforcement people, saying that I had been speeding on New York Ave in Washington DC. They provided a picture of the back of a car, license plate blurry and slightly hard to read. It said: 2L# 098 (Not the correct numbers, for illustration purposes only.) The # is the debatable character. It was blurry enough that it looked like an N to the police, but I think it was a W. Okay, here's why t...

I have heard the adage that money is the root of all evil. (It's actually "The love of..." but who's splitting hairs?) I also know that money (or lack thereof) is the largest single contributor to marital disharmony and leads to more breakups than any other issue in marriage. From the Deseret News: A top leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged this year's graduates of Brigham Young University to avoid going into debt. Elder Robert D. Hales, a member o...

I have resumed my graduate studies. I took a year off in order to get out of the Army, move halfway across the country, and get settled into a new job, new neighborhood, new house, new life. I am pursuing my MA in Diplomacy from Norwich University , getting an online degree in 3 semesters. Yikes. In fact, I have even started my first online discussion, which talks about the need for the study of international relations and whether or not it's a science... So expect fewer artic...

Wow, I spent last night online creating my blog. And I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. I spent the morning on the Stairclimber with my mind racing. I find myself combing news sources, life happenings, etc., for material on which I could put something, anything in my new blog. How do you guys handle the stress?!?!