The Catalano Family

Hello everyone. Today marked the first day of my last semester at Virginia Tech! The beginning of the end. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. (it has been 10 years in the making) Papa has asked me a few times "So these are the only classes you have left?" -- yes Papa! I'm only going part time and am taking three classes. They are Advanced Financial Management, Investment Banking, and Financial Derivatives. They are some the most challenging classes but my finance skills have been sharpened with the summer classes I just completed.

Jenny is doing well, I'll nag her into writing an update on our family website. She hasn't been updating her website but I'm not surprised considering how busy she is with her new job.

Mallard is doing well. Later this week I'm going to post a new video of him on my website so be sure to check that out.

Well, that's about it on my end. Please let me know if you would like to start writing or posting pics on this site. I'll get you all setup. So far only Matthew has done so.

Take care, I love you all.
- David

Posted by David at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Well thanks for checking out this website. David's done a great job at linking us all together on the web. At any rate, I'd like to bring you all up to speed on what’s going on with me. Since I graduated from JMU and commissioned in the Army in May of 2004, I gave my beloved dog, Mallard to David and went straight to my training which lasted until the end of January of this year.
Currently I am living in Fayetteville, NC in a nice 3-bedroom apartment (with one roommate). I can't say that I love the state, but it’s certainly nicer than MD. I’ve been here since February of this year. I am assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. More specifically, I am in Bravo Company in the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. That probably means very little to everyone but those of you with a military background. Just know that I enjoy my job very much. I am in charge of a 39-man platoon. I've had the privilege of "deploying" with these men to West Point this past summer in support of the cadet's summer training. Training and working with these men has allowed me to learn them on an intimate level which has been an awesome experience thus far. It will certainly come in handy when we deploy to Iraq this fall. We'll likely leave in September for support of the Referendum of the Constitution in Oct. and the Congressional elections in Dec. As you can imagine we’re getting quite busy here getting trained up for whatever mission we may have. We’re expected to be gone for roughly 4-5 months.

Well that’s about a year’s history in a paragraph. Other than work that’s mostly it. I have had the pleasure of dating a sweet girl named Rebekah Smart since last February. She’s in her senior year at William and Mary getting degrees in Sociology and Anthropology.

Take care my family. I love you all very much. Do not expect to see me THIS Christmas but maybe Easter. Your prayers are ALWAYS welcome. God Bless.

Posted by Matthew at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)