Engagement+Law School=?

Well it has currently been about two hours since I have done anything productive for school today so I better top this slacking session off by updating my blog. School has been going for a little over a month now and it is honestly kicking my butt! (Maybe because every time I look at my textbooks I'd rather do ANYTHING else than read: how am I going to survive three years of this again?) Its a good thing its not quite as hard as I thought it would be (not yet anyway) because Mandy and I have been busy doing lots of important things like:

1. Registering (not fun: do it online)
2. Playing Zucchini baseball (very fun, do it as soon as you can)
3. Watching BYU perform at a mediocre level again this year (Max Hall has as many interceptions as touchdowns this year: something I learned today while NOT studying).
4. Trying all the Thai restaurants in Utah County
5. Getting depressed on Sunday nights due to the realization that another week of our individual self induced torture (teaching school for her and going to school for me) is about to start


Anyways, I thought I'd at least take the time to set the record straight about the proposal.

First off,. I didn't lie to you Mandy, I just didn't tell the truth: BIG difference. So the day that will live in infamy, the one besides Pearl Harbor will be...crap what day was it? I'm pretty sure it was the 23rd, but I should probably verify that. Well whichever day it was there was supposed to be a Law School opening "drinking wine and looking at modern art" party somewhere up here on campus that Mandy thought I was making her go to. Lucky for her, and for me, I wasn't planning on it the whole time. So I had my brother Jake pack me a picnic basket beforehand, and he left it at my grandmas while we were at church (did we even go to church that day? I can't remember that either.) Well when we got back from whatever we'd been doing (most likely church) Mandy was helping me move some stuff into my Grandma and Grandpa's basement (yes thats right, I live in a relatives basement and im 25).

While Mandy was napping downstairs I loaded the basket into the back of my car, but a blanket over it, and grabbed the flowers Grandma picked for me in their yard. We then drove up towards the U and I was really nervous for some reason and missed the exit and we kept driving up the canyon and we had to turn around and we ended up in a tunnel somewhere and we finally made it back towards the U and I didn't really know what park I wanted to have the picnic at and then I remembered we'd gone to This is the place recently to stargaze and so we went back there and then we had our picnic (whew!). Ill spare you the rest. Just know that it was the most romantic engagement ever, and I'm planning on writing a book on the art of proposing later.

Anyways, thats about all for that.

For the last month I have been struggling to wake up every morning and find some reason to be excited about law school, and Mandy has been off having fun tie dying shirts while listening to coldplay with 7th graders and calling it a job. Life really isn't fair. The next big thing? This weekend we are taking our pictures. Its probably going to take at least 10 hours to get one of me that looks semi-normal, so that should be a good time! After that its fall break which is when the professors up here recommend you start studying for finals. WOW.

No really, if the next two months doesn't kill me I don't know what will.

Two Shocking Revelations

1. Mandy and I are engaged! More to come later, or go here to find out more (My guess is less than five of you read this, and probably one of you will take the time to check this link out, but hey one person, you go for it anyway.)

2. Law school is really hard. You know that sick feeling you get during finals? Yeah it kinda feels like that all the time.

More to come soon. Maybe I should hire someone to update my blog for me? That sounds like a good use of student loan money right?

I need money

Well I came to the conclusion today that out of all the things that my parents have nagged me about over the years, the fact that I am pretty terrible with money is probably the one that I should have listened to. At the beginning of the summer I was planning on saving all this money for law school, and having extra to spare for a shiny new Macbook, some new clothes, and to take a chunk out of the ridiculous cost of text books for law students (2,500 dollars for 5 classes?? Seriously?)

Now with less then three weeks left of work I have little to show for my saving efforts besides a newfound love for Asian Chicken at Wendy's (its an aquired taste, but try it sometime you will like it!)and a few more weekends down south backpacking and climbing under my belt. Does anyone have 16,000 dollars I could have? Go ahead and ask around and get back to me. If not I might end up on the streets like this guy...

Here are some pictures from the things I've been doing this summer when I should have been working.



I ran the Wasatch back. Don't worry my dad made me run all the hard parts. I'd put a picture of me running online, but I promise no one wants to see that..




I drove to see this girl. Not just a little driving, a whole lot. Here's some pictures of us doing what we do best. Hanging out pretending like both of us don't start real life in less than three weeks.



I played keyboard/piano with these guys quite a bit. You may recognize our now semi-defunct band Karate Prom from such shows as the basement of the Museam of Art at BYU.



Of course I've been busy supporting our trusty president. My friend Clark took this picture in L.A. Everyone worshipping Obama won't ever get old right?

Who said I can't make a major life decision?

Well, after keeping everyone on their edge of their seats literally as long as possible, I finally decided on a law school. As of August 2009 I will be attending the S.J. Quinney School of Law at the University of Utah. That gives me approximately 4 monhts to figure out who this S. J. Quinney fellow is.

Thats not the crazy part: Here is a picture I took of the stack of junk mail that I received since taking the LSAT in December.




I'm pretty sure some of these must be made up. Yeshiva University of Brooklyn? The Ottawa College of Legal Practice? Come on.


Now I have the rest of the summer to fulfill my wildest dreams including:



1. See how long I can go without eating. I've had this dream since one of my friends told me he was doing it yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I won't make it past 2 days. Sorry Ghandi.







2. Run a Marathon. If you don't understand why, please refer to Stuff White People Like here:











3. Read a giant book by a dead Russian novelist like Crime and Punishment or War and Peace just to say that I did.






4. Come up with a better list of things to do with my life.

Why I love snowboarding

So this winter I got a pass to the Canyons in Park City with my friend Drew on a last minute whim. We purchased them out of the back of a black SUV in the law school parking lot, and I'm pretty sure it looked like a drug deal was in the process to everyone who walked by. So far this season I have gone close to 10 times, and I only managed to dislocate my shoulder once! Given my intense accident prone-ness, I'd say that is a decent record. This past weekend the snow was particularly great. On Saturday, it was snowing the entire day, and Drew, Mandy, Kati and myself spent alot of the time on the Dreamcatcher lift. On that lift there is a jump that the local weed smoking ski bums informed me is known as The Wall. We practiced going over it repeatedly, and managed to stay alive. After watching a video of myself go over it taken with a camera, I realized that I might not be quite as hardcore as I wanted to believe I am. Although one of the guys that tagged along with us did notify me that my tail-grab was wicked-awesome so maybe I have a future as a professional Burton rider after all. I'm not sure what either of those italicized phrases mean, but apparently I was doing o.k.

After a full day of snowboarding Saturday, we followed it up by a repeat on Monday. That day we headed up the ninety-nine ninety chair which has a surprisingly brutal fifteen minute backcountry hike up at the top. When we finally made it we were greeted by this sign:



After all taking a minute to re-evaluate our lives, we began the descent down the peak. The fresh snow was really deep, and carving down it made the entire day worth it. Although probably not in any actual real danger, I definitely felt like a rebel trying to "shred" some "epic" "pow-pow" (everything I put in quotes comes from real phrases I heard from snowboarders during this season).

Best Blog Ever

Besides mine of course. Make sure you check this one out, when you have a lot of free time.

This blog finds random pictures on the internet that fail at whatever the person in the picture is trying to do. Here is an example:

Hunting Fail:


see more pwn and owned pictures

Its funny because he's riding a bike with a dead deer.

Buffalo Soldier

A few pictures from my trip to the Virgin Islands. I know it deserves a full blog, and I will get to it someday. Lets just say I basically sat on the beach for a solid week. What can I say, I'm the worst blogger ever.

Megan's Bay: St Thomas

Trunk Bay, St. John.

This octupus was kind a sissy looking in really life, but the picture turned out cool! Cinnamon Beach, St John.

No wonder people like islands so much. Red Hook, St Thomas.