Happy anniversary to us!

Kristin and I were married on April 23rd 2006. The diner we ate on our honey moon is still there by the off ramp in Nephi, UT.

What did she get me for my anniversary present this year? something cooler than what I got her.

I got her sandals.

She told me I am going to be a dad. Wow. I am still on shock. I always knew this day was going to happen, it was just one of those things that no matter how much you imagine it, you still don’t get it right until it happens. Wow.

I hope that there will be a day when my kid(s) can look back and say “My dad is great.” I have found more and more as I have grown up that I act like my dad and sometimes think how I think my dad would and often times when I don’t know what to do, I call my dad and see what he thinks. I love my dad. I don’t think that I could have had a better example in my life of how to be awesome. My dad has taught me about patience, fun, devotion, peace, dedication, thrift, gratitude, independence, spirituality, and authority just to name a few. I have often joked about naming my kid Repete instead of Pete Junior for many reasons, kind of to bug my wife, kind of to have a fishing/fence-sitting-on buddy, like because he is going be like me just later, but I only want him to be a lot like me if I can manage to be more like my dad.

Wow I am so excited. One of the funnest things about being at my house right now is that I can take my excitement level and times it by at least a million, and that’s a good ball park for how excited my wife is. Yep, the excitement at our house is so big that I have to keep the windows open so they don’t get broke out.

The nomination letter

ASGC, Inc.
DEPARTMENTAL NOMINATION
FOR
DIVISION ACADEMIC HONORS AWARD


Academic Department___Administration of Justice____Date__March 31, 2009______

We would like to submit the following students for consideration of the Grossmont College Division Honors Academic Award:

(Please print carefully)

Name__Peter Breinholt

Comments: The Administration of Justice Department is fortunate to have dozens of superior students, many of whom utilize the education received to reach their goals as successful public safety personnel throughout the United States. The majority of our students have a strong work ethic, maintain high integrity and moral values, are intelligent, and demonstrate common sense and assertiveness coupled with the ability to follow orders. The individual who receives the top AOJ award must stand out; he or she must be the “cream of the crop.”
The student I wish to nominate does stand out amongst his peers. Not only does he demonstrate the qualities listed above, but he supersedes his peers through leadership skills, perseverance, and an optimistic attitude. This student is Peter Breinholt.
Peter Breinholt was a student in my Forensic Photography and Forensic Technology classes. He achieved academic excellence in every individual and team assignment presented to him. Peter’s devotion to excellence is extended outside of the classroom as he has been an instrumental leader amongst the Administration of Justice students. Peter has held various leadership positions within the Grossmont College chapter of the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA), Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE). Peter has served as Vice-President, completed a Presidency term for another student, and was recently elected to a second term as club President.
Through his student leadership role, Peter has brought pride and cohesiveness to the AOJ student body. He has a contagious spirit of optimism and his charismatic personality rallies the students toward a common goal. On many occasions, I have witnessed Peter talk to complete strangers (students) on campus as he extends his natural ability to include and welcome everyone. Peter displays a strong work ethic, both in the classroom and with the ACJA club activities. Time and again, I’ve seen Peter not only complete the tasks assigned to him, but also pick up the slack where others have fallen short. But what is most remarkable, is that he does it without complaining. I have never heard him speak an unkind word about anyone.

Peter Breinholt’s work ethic, academic achievement, innovative ideas, and positive influence places him at a level that, in my opinion, is head and shoulders above the rest. It is therefore my recommendation that Peter Breinholt receive the award for “Top Administration of Justice Student.” Thank you for your consideration
_______________________________________________________________

SELECTIONS ARE DUE IN YOUR RESPECTIVE DEAN OFFICE ON THEIR PROPOSED DEADLINE INDICATED IN THEIR TIMELINE.

The biography. (the picture was not included)

ASGC, Inc.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
STUDENT BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE


PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT IN INK

NAME____ Peter J Breinholt

ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE______AOJ – Forensic Technology _________

NO. OF SEMESTERS AT GROSSMONT COLLEGE___6 regular semesters, 1 summer session

GPA___4.0_______

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
As a final attempt to keep Peter from dropping out of high school during his senior year, his parents put him into Westridge Academy, formerly the Utah Boys Ranch, in spring of 2000. Under a court order from a juvenile judge, He graduated from Westridge Academy with a 1.387 GPA and earned his High School Diploma. He was in this institution for almost 8 months. During this time he participated in countless community service hours and projects, unfortunately also under a court order.
When Peter was officially released from Westridge Academy, he got a job at a local burger joint called Arctic Circle. He started as a cook and ended up working his way up to a shift supervisor position. He went to another restaurant to visit his friend and tell him the news, and on the way realized that although he had a good job, his future would be much better with an education. He wanted to be able to help other people in the way he had been helped as a confused kid, and enrolled in Criminal Justice classes at Salt Lake Community College in the fall of 2002. During his time at college he went to class in the morning, worked as a cook in the evening, then worked as a bouncer/server at night to earn enough money to visit England, Ireland, and Scotland to study some of his personal ancestry with his mother and sister during summer break. He maintained a B+ average until he turned 21 in May of 2003, and during this time in his life, discovered that he was an alcoholic.
Peter spent the next two years drinking almost constantly and working primarily at Arctic Circle as a shift supervisor. In recognition of his problems, he moved to Las Vegas in May of 2004 with an old friend from church in an attempt to change his life style. He obtained employment towing illegally parked cars at night to pay the rent so his friend could attend school full time without working. After about three weeks, Pete started drinking again. His friend found another roommate and Peter moved into his cousin’s laundry room for $200 a month rent. At this time he obtained a second job at Starbucks in order to help support his drinking habit.
In February of 2005, Peter’s brother offered him a job painting lines on roadways in San Diego. Pete promptly moved. He met his wife on July 5th, 2005; the same day that he decided to stop drinking for good. They were married in April of 2006. He quit his job as a Road Striper to start school again in the fall of 2006. Since then He has managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA, become president of the college ACJA chapter, become a member of the Honor Society, PTK, and work his way up to an assistant manager at Starbucks Coffee. He has applied to receive his AS degree and forensic certification in August of 2009. He will be the second child out of the seven in his family to achieve a college level degree. He has applied for internship positions as well as cadet positions at many local law enforcement agencies over the past year but unfortunately has been turned down due to his rough history and background. He has been advised to obtain a bachelors degree and apply again by most of these agencies.
Although Peter’s Major is in Forensic Science, he has made a personal shift towards preventing crime as opposed to reacting to crime over the past few months. He would like to work with troubled teenagers who may have the opportunity to change before they become part of the jail and prison system. Ultimately he plans to become a counselor or case worker much like the ones he was assigned to at Westridge Academy. To achieve this, he plans on applying for an internship at the Department of Probations as well as taking a few courses this fall to help him transfer to a 4 year university later next year. During his internship he will find out what programs are available for at risk youth, and what positions are available as well as what type of education and certification is needed. If he is not able to intern due to some problems with his background, he plans on taking some courses through the CAARR to start becoming a Certified Alcoholism and other Drug Addiction Specialist (CAS) until he decides which university to attend.
His final goal as far as education is concerned is to be able to put “Dr. Peter J. Breinholt, Ph.D., CAS” at the top of his resume. He is going to do this to in order to illustrate that a person does not have to have a perfect, or even satisfactory, beginning to make something great of himself. He knows first hand what it takes to change his life, and knows that he can provide these tools to future generations. He also plans on becoming a foster parent, as well as working at an institution similar to the Utah Boys Ranch.

The picture is from Ben's wedding.

I got this email yesterday:

Pete,
If you haven't heard the news yet, you were selected as the top student for our entire division... this is ALL of the workforce degree programs (nursing, cardiovascular tech, occupational therapy, business, computer degree programs, respiratory therapy and many more). The ceremony date/time is listed below. I'll be attending as well... definitely bring any family or guests to celebrate with you!!
Congratulations!!!
:-) Tina

I am so pumped that I can’t even handle it. I have just wanted to call everybody and tell them that I was voted as student of the year. Student of the year. I didn’t know that there ever was such a thing. I do remember that in kindergarten there was the VIP award. The person who earned this award had a little sleeve thing that slipped over the back of their chair that said VIP. This person always got to be in the front of the line and had first pick from the ball bin at recess and whatnot. I never won that award. I believe that I have never won any scholastic award. One time I had a vase submitted into an art show in high school. I don’t even think that I earned the presidential physical fitness certificate in elementary or middle school. I am thrilled that I have made enough change in my life to merit any award. I think one of the parts that thrills me the most is that I didn’t even have to do anything to get it except for be me. Be who I am. I didn’t apply for it. I didn’t enter into any contests. I just went to school every day and did my best. I thought my greatest reward aside from the things I have learned over the last couple years was the A’s on my transcript, the degree in few semesters, and ultimately a job that I would love as well as support my family with.

As mentioned in a previos post, I got an email from one of my dearest instructors that said roughly this:

Pete, I'm finishing up your nomination for top AOJ student. I still need you to complete your biography. Here's a blank form to type it on. I previously (a week or two ago) sent you an example to follow -- but am sending an example again. Please fill out your biography on the blank form & send it to me ASAP. This puts you in the running for top division student. I'll email you the final nomination that I type up for you.

So I did.

I guess that all of the deans from each department got together with their nominations, and voted on who should be the top division student of the year. The email at the top of this post was the result. Holy crap. Who’d’ve thought.
Something I said on my first Saturday lab at Grossmont College was this: “Wow, I am actually paying money to go to school at 8 am on a Saturday morning. If my 17 year old self were to walk around that corner and see me right now I would seriously knock me out for acting like such a nerd.”
It is just kind of fun for me to actually be able to exercise and enjoy my love of learning. It is just icing on the cake for me to have somebody besides my wife say: “good job learning new stuff,” especially when that someone is not just the person teaching me some of the coolest stuff I could never even imagine, but all the heads of all the programs that make up the largest division in my school.
Wow. What a feeling.

A little bit of self reflection. Feel free to go "blah" and skip.

What the heck? It has been less than a week since my last post.

I don’t even know what to say I just really wanted to say hi to everybody. This last week has been kind of cool. I have been nominated as “AOJ student of the year” at Grossmont College. Way cool. What does this mean? This means that I will get an award of some sort that I can put on my resume, and maybe on my wall. It also means that I will be submitted for “Grossmont Student of the Year.” I guess they will put me together with all of the other department nominations and vote later this semester. I think that is awesome. It is kind of nice for me to feel like there are people that see what I do and want to make sure I get recognition for it. This is something I didn’t have to apply for or pay for or do anything for except do what I do, which is whatever the heck I want, gosh.

I had to type a biography to be turned in with my nomination. My instructor told me to include any major achievements, or hardships that I have overcome. It was kind of a trip. It is really hard for me to imagine that merely five years ago I would have been content to be an assistant manger at Arctic Circle, just so I wouldn’t have to do anything with myself except go to work and then go party.

One time in high school I was riding in a car with a couple buddies of mine, and one of them asked me the question something like this: “What are you going to be like when you grow up, do you plan on always being such a punk?” My reply was “Yeah, of course, why would I change?” I really need to write Jason a letter.

I feel like I could not enjoy the perspective I have on the world if I had not grown up the way I had. I laugh because many of the “hardships” I have overcome are ones that I could have avoided had I not been so bent on chaos and destruction in general. In spite of it all, I feel like I have managed to acquire a fair amount of tools to add to my life skill set.

I guess that I am also glad that I never really lost touch with my ability to rise to the occasion. I think that one of gifts that I was born with is the ability to fit adequately in a many different situations and settings in spite of my sense of fear or how nervous I am. I understand that there is a thin line between confidence and idiocy, but whatever you want to call it, I have it.

Oh yeah, Hi.

-p

More fun school stuff, no math involved.

This is another lab from earlier last week. We were learning about presumptive blood tests.
The first presumptive test I used was Bluestar, to test and see if there was in fact a blood sample here, as the pictures below shows, yes, there are two small spots of blood. The Bluestar reaction results in making the blood luminescence a bright blue color.

This is the same area, just zoomed out a little to get a good perspective.

This is the same picture, just with the lights on, kind of weird, you cannot see the blood, but Bluestar says it was there.

Hemastix. This is another blood presumptive test.

Let’s check the spot and see what happens.

Green means go. Positive for blood, something must have happened here.