Law School and such.

Well friends, it has been a while since I have posted anything, and I am sure you area all bursting with impatience to know what is going on in my life... (**crickets chirping).
Law School. That is what is going on. Basically all that is going on. If you don't care about law school, stop reading now, because I have nothing more to offer. Anyway, Law School at J. Reuben Clark is good times. Granted, it's a lot of work, and I find myself reading and going to class and then reading some more, but it is interesting stuff. My classes as a first year are Torts, Contracts, Property, and Research and Writing. I also have 'professional seminars' where once a week a lawyer or a judge or someone will come and tell us about the world. I like these spiels, and most recently there was a pair of attorney's who thought that, it their law careers were to fail, then they could make it in the world of stand up comedy. Sadly, I thought they were hilarious. It was all law jokes, so I won't burden you, but trust me, they were funny guys.
In any event, for the first time in my life (except for when I'm around politicchic) I am around people who want to talk as much or more than I do. It is weird to be the stoic one in the group often times. Frankly, law students are annoying. I am one, and so yes, I am also obnoxious, as I'm sure you may have heard from the aforementioned politicchic. All that aside, there are a few good peeps here, and there are a few that I would rather not have to listen too. There are two people in particular who I consider 1) Arch Rival, and 2) Nemesis. The former is a woman, who I shall code name Cheshire from here forward (because she grins like a psycho) and the latter I shall code name Woody (because he is reminiscent of a woodchuck). Just to be clear
1 =

 and 2 =

And so, reasons that I dislike this folks is because they are those law students who try to comment ALWAYS about EVERYTHING. This includes (in fact, seems to require) times when they haven't fully formed what they wish to say and so the class is treated to an intimate view into the inner working of their thought processes. It depresses me to waste my time writing about these people, so I will stop.

Lets see. Torts, I like reading the cases, class is somewhat boring. I like our Professor, she is a genius... BUT, her voice makes me want to open my veins. She has a high, breaky voice, and she tries to project to the back of the class. Since I sit in the very front in that class, I often feel as though little sharp hammers are stabbing my eardrums. But alas, at least it forces me to pay attention.

Property, I started out loving this class, now not as much. I like property and have strong feelings about it, but our law is grounded in all of these ancient feudalistic ideas that we inherited from Mother England, and so there is a lot of areas where the old system clashes with new practicality, and it is complicated. The worst part is, you still need to know the old system rules because property has the annoying tendency to stick around for a long time and old deeds and whatnot are still valid. Also, our professor is brand new and it kills me to be a Guinea pig. He is still ironing out time management and all that, and we suffer as a result.

Contracts is much like a game with complicated rules that I don't know. It is a bummer now, but as one masters the rules, it makes sense. It is steadily getting better, and at least our professor is highly entertaining, since this is a class that might have been REALLY painful with a boring professor.

And research and writing. This class will give me an ulcer. I don't want to write more about it, since this class has already caused me to write a lot.

Apart from classes, life is pretty good here at good ol' J. Reuben Clark Law School. There are clubs that I enjoy, one of which is sending me to Denver for giggles. That is the Energy, Environment, and Resource Student Association. I also helped out with the Law and Region Symposium which took place about a month ago. I even met the Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of Peru accidentally, which was a perk. All in all, Law School is hard, but good times.

Heh heh heh.

I put this together in honor of the coming election.
This is for my dude friends who have recently revealed that they are shameful liberals.

Time to post.

Things have been pretty busy since Law School began. I wish I could write up a long detailed post, but you will just have to be content with this lame short post.

Here are some interesting business cards. I found these while I was looking for examples for my own. Turns out, if you have no business, and no degree (while still studying), you really don't have much to put on a card. Who knew?

Cool Video: Camera Warfare.

Go watch these videos. They are sweet. I'm looking at you Gluchifer and Alan.

Look what I can do

I was recently playing around with Adobe Illustrator, and I decided to take a stab at vector graphic drawing. I suck at it, but after a few hours of persistence, I finally created these two drawings of my favorite superheros: Batman and Wolverine.

I know there are people out there with vastly more skill, and I invite those people to engage in similar projects and to share.

In other news, last night was my last at Heritage Schools- I'm done for now, and likely will not be going back. It would be possible one summer I suppose, but after the Law School track begins, it doesn't leave much room for such things. Two weeks left with Orem City. I was recently switched from weed abatement to parkways, which means now I mow and don't spray. It's even more of a slow pace city job than my other one was. Alas, only a few more days roasting in the sun and then I'll be free to enjoy only dealing with school. Hurray?

Orem... How you task me.

Dear City of Orem,



I am writing this letter to inquire as to why there are no 7-11's in your city. Is there any particular reason that this is the case? I LOVE 7-11. Sure they buy their gas from that socialist hole Venezuela, but lots of gas stations do that. And besides, who goes there for the gas? I am very irate that I have to go to either Provo or Lindon to procure a glorious Slurpee or a Bahama Mama, not to mention Taquitos. As a city employee, but more importantly as a concerned citizen, I demand to be heard. There is no way a Holiday, a few Cheverons, or even the poor man's 7-11 known as Maverick can replace the "Sev". Basically, you suck Orem. I am daily in your streets, boiling in 95+ degree weather, and with which icy and delicious beverage am I to quench my thirst? To what delightful green, orange and red sign am I to look too, gleaming on the horizon, as a beacon of hope? None. No 7-11. The shame. There are places in Salt Lake where two 7-11's share a parking lot. State street in Salt Lake is a literal gauntlet of 7-11's, and it offendes to the core that U of U fans cheerfully slurp away at their Slurpee's while I must make due with ICEES! I will not stand for it! WE will not stand for it! We demand that you bring 7-11 back. (Consequently, I know of a prime abandoned spot on Orem Blvd and Center St. that would be GREAT, the only thing there right now are weeds). Measure not the quality of life by the number of parks, schools, police stations, or museums in your city, but rather by the number of 7-11's. By this standard, even PROVO is
3 times > Orem. How do you sleep at night knowing that? I close this epistle with one last humble appeal to your empathy: Please, for me, for the people, for the betterment of all, do what is right and put a 7-11 in sight.




Dry throated and hungry,



Stewedslacker

In retrospect…

Summertime is here, and the current job (Weed Abatement) has given me a ferocious farmers tan and a healthy dislike of certain kinds of weed (I’m looking at you Bull Thistle… AND you cheat grass). I passed my sprayers certification test with flying colors and little difficulty. Rather than this being at testament of my genius (which I could use some more of… testaments, not genius), this is a demonstration of how easy the test was.
Example Question.
When spraying undesirable weeds, where should you point your spray wand?
A) At your own eye.
B) At your co workers eye.
C) At the weed you wish to be killed.
D) Puppies.
Hint, it’s not D.
Anyway, working for Orem City and breathing in a manly dose of 2 Cycle engine exhaust and weed pollen has made me recall my Redneck, earthy roots. Let us all take a minute and I will regale you with my favorite Hillbilly memories:

1) Demolition Derbies: These are pretty awesome. There is nothing like the roar of 20 dangerous old beaters as they rev across a muddy rodeo ground to pound each other into even MORE useless hunks of scrap metal. For those of you who don’t know about this blessed event, it entails the purchase of an old heavy bodied vehicle, such as an 1970’s station wagon, then busting out all of the glass, moving the gas tank into the middle rear of the vehicle, chaining/welding the doors shut, and then wildly spray-painting the most horrendous home-style camouflage design or eye-jarring florescent. Sadly, this is a dying sport. There is a finite number of old cars to waste in such a venture, and a few years ago, a stupid piece of government pandering known as “cash for clunkers” was initiated which decimated possible derby candidates. Now there is an older foreign cars section (btw, the various rounds are called “heats”, a little hick vernacular for you there), but it’s just not the same. If you have a chance, go to a derby THIS YEAR. It may be that we soon will have no derby.

2) The Fruitland Cook Out: There was once a time when Fruitland was a neighborly magical place where every year the town would get together for some good eatin, scones, and general gossip. This took place at various locales, but my favorite was always up Red Creek (or crik if you want to be authentic) Here, there were sack races, singers of country songs, tug of wars, and water fights. My favorite event and something I think everyone should do when they are young involved the adults throwing a couple of bucks worth of change into a pile of sawdust and letting the youngsters go ape trying to find the money. It had all the blood lust of Roman Gladiators, mixed with the addictive thrill of Vegas gambling, and a dash of Indiana Jones treasure hunting. People died in that sawdust pit. I was quick and had a good eye, which latter advantage was slightly diminished by the large amount of sawdust that inevitably entered into them. There were only a few kids in Fruitland who were my age (there was enough of the fine sense of justice prevailing in Fruitland that the littlest kids were allowed to go first to pick up the obvious loot and so they wouldn’t be sacrificed in our Hunger Games). The only rule in the Sawdust money hunt was that there were no rules. I would elbow people wherever they needed to be elbowed to get to my shiny preciouses, and someone, we’ll just call her Relly Kobinson to preserve her anonymity, had a bite to avoid, especially considering the crookedness of her teeth.

3) Shooting Cans: It is a time honored tradition to not only own a gun, but to shoot it regularly. Stray nuisance animals, magpies, cans… it is all fair game. This is the blessing of having no close neighbors. Here’s a fun tip- if you fill a pop can with water, it will explode when you shoot it. Our old bolt action .22 rifle with its 7-shot clip has provided hours of fun.

4) Home-made Slip ‘N Slide: We either didn’t have the money or access to a real slip ‘n slide, but we did have a sprinkler and a few blue tarps. What more could you need? So every summer, we’d lay out a few tarps over our lumpy lawn and have ourselves a grand ol’ time.
5) Swimming in the Pond: Ponds happen in the farm/irrigation world of rural back road places. They are likely riddled with mosquito larvae, tetanus, and the special type of foam that occurs then water runs through dusty culverts and ditches. And they are awesome. I don’t know why, but nothing feels better during a scorching summer day than a dip in the pond.

6) Arrowhead Hunting: This is now against the law, but back in the day, it was a delightful way to get out and around. My dad is something of an amateur pro in finding worked stones, and I have admired his ability to meander out into a sagebrush field and locate old campsites for screening. All his time out in the mountains cutting logs has given him the uncanny perspective that enables him to find sweet arrowheads and other cool worked rocks.

7) Goin’ to the Store: There were only two gas stations in my “town” when I was growing up. Now there is only one store, with no gas. But when I was young, a good reward for doing chores was a trip to the store. The store trip would be an excuse to get away from the house for a little while. It was a chance to pick up mail at the post office. And it was a good way to pick up a pop or a Carmello. And hey, when 14/15 years of age rolled around, it was a good way to practice driving.

8) Playing on the Slab Pile: Already established in this blog was the family wood cutting enterprise. But what you may not know is that we had a saw mill set up in our field. This was a truck (semi truck) bed that had been converted into a piece of machinery that had a 40+ inch circular blade and a sliding frame that enabled logs to be cut into cants. (Cants are square logs). The excess wood that gets cut off are called slabs, and they make for a large hill when stacked up year after year. (A quick aside, I think that my dad provided the sawdust for #1 on this list). Playing on this pile may have been a tad dangerous, but slabs could be broken into excellent swords and who can resist climbing a sketchy looking hill of wood? Along this same thread of thought are the thrills to be had on a massive pile of firewood.

9) Hikeing up Gray Hill: This was something that was really good times, despite my sister’s best efforts to sour the experience the experience for my brother Cheek (Jonathan) and I. Apperantly, there was an old man who killed people up on the mountain, and he collected a bunch of dolls heads. Why? I don’t know, he just did, probably in an effort to solidify his creepiness. Along with him was a villainous murdering type named Eddy Bo Beddy, who only killed people named Jason Earl Sweat … which was obviously of great concern to me. But even these stories couldn’t keep us from exploring this hill/mountain near our house. There are many cool parts of Gray Hill, some of which may not exist anymore. There was the junk filled wash. There was the natural dirt arch that spanned the junk filled wash. There was the cave that was in the sandstone boulders. There was the TV substation. The oak brush grove. The windy roads, and also lots of honeysuckle flowers.



Looking back, I had a pretty great childhood. There were lots of other summer events, such as family reunions, house building projects, wood hauling trips, garden planting, etc. One thing I like about Fruitland is that it is sometimes so quiet, the silence itself makes a noise. While I don’t think I’d live there forever, I really hope that there is always a member of my family living in the house we built so that I can visit.

NEW BAD VIDEO

In keeping with this bloggers desire to bring you truly "good" music with really BAD music videos. This posts feature was recommended by my dear friend, Gluchifer. *Pronounced- Glue- si- fur* This is Holy DIver, by Dio. And yes, it rocks. A few comments, first of all, the 1 minute 20 seconds of wind blowing shaky zoom intro, classic. Then, I have to say, nice sword. At one point I found myself thinking ... rats? But hey, it is good times otherwise.

Time is precious... wish I had some.

Well WE (and that is the Royal WE) are back. Malu and I roaming the mean streets of Provorem once more. There has been a lot of excitement in the last few weeks, so let me catch you up. First order of business, I HATE UNITED AIRLINES. Without belaboring the point too much, we basically got bumped from a flight, then made to wait an hours, then we were delayed from the second flight, (both of which were for mechanical checks that took too long BTW) and then we had to wait another four hours. Turning a 4 hour layover into a 9 hour layover. But me made it back to Utah in good order, and, miracle of miracles, our luggage somehow made it there hours before we did. So... If you have a choice, fly anything other than United, although if you are poor suckers like us, you will likely not have a choice. This is what I think of UNITED AIRLINES:

In addition to that excitement, we have been constantly engaged in the following activities: 1) Looking for an apartment. 2) Looking for Jobs. 3) Looking for a second car. I had things to say about each of these activities, but I haven't been able to sit down and write anything for a week so, I'm just going to super sum: Moved into old fourplex, now nicer setup, I have 2 jobs and so does Malu. And we bought a Dodge Stratus, that works well. There you are, that's what's up. PS. Saw the Avengers, it was sweet. PPS> Law School will be hard. Oh, in case I never mentioned it, I got into Law School. (BYU)

It's time!

For an update here!,

I have been regularly updating the peru blog, but here I haven't said anything for a while. SO, I figured I would continue with the segment "Great Song, Bad Video". Today's video is by one of my FAVORITE bands, Diego's Umbrella. Little known group from San Francisco who mix a mariachi/rock/Jewish Bar mitzvah flair together for some good songs. Here is what is obviously a really low budget video, Enjoy: