Bleh

I'm too tired/lazy to do the blogoff tonight. I will postpone again. And yes, I have the unique power to do so. No need to wait up late Jessica.

Postponed

As Stephanie pointed out, I have not entered any thing. The closest was Jessica who posted seventeen minutes after the deadline. We will extend the deadline one day until tomorrow night. Let's say Sunday morning at 3AM? (That's in case I'm out late or just lazy). Best of luck to my two cousins.

It's a blogoff!

That's right folks. At the Boyd house for Christmas. There will be a blogoff. I'm hoping to win (hell I'd better). I have one whole hour head start on Jennifer and Jessica (as they'll have to drive home). Apparently, one of my cousins is set to win this blogoff and has already started talking trash:

Oh well, I guess there hasn't really been that much exciting going on in my life for the last month because I can't think of anything else to write about. I guess I'll just have to wait for my blog-off with Jeff about Christmas day at his house. I'm sure that my wit and charm will overcome any of his home-court advantage (so to speak). Hope all is well with your families and Merry Christmas!

Please. I invented wit and charm. Or my middle name isn't "Almon."

What's a blogoff? Whoever writes the better blog entry out of the three of us wins. That's it. It's entitely subjective which makes it all the more fun. I'll need to come up with ideas. Maybe something will come to me tonight.

Alright. I'm out.

One week down...one to go

Week one of finals is completed. I took Wills and Trusts on Tuesday, Community Property on Wednesday, and Remedies earlier today (thursday). Next week is Ethics and IP Survey.

Speaking of ethics, MPRE results came in and I passed. Not only does this mean I don't have to take it again, but it also means I know a considerable amount of the material for my Wednesday final already. Sweet.

This weekend, IP and ethics. Go team go.

What keeps me going on the little sleep I get? This picture.


That's what dreams are made of....

Good Bar News

Not only did my friends pass said bar, but Pepperdine's bar passage rate was 84%. This makes me feel all sorts of warm fuzzies inside. During orientation when I was a 1L, I was told to pick out someone a year ahead of you. Pick the stupidest person you could find. Once you have them in mind, think to yourself, if they can do it, so can I. This mantra has served me well. And with me picking several 3Ls who just took (and passed the bar), if they can do it, so can I.

So here I sit, five finals between me and my last full time semester of law school. Wow. I guess I could say time flies when you're having fun, which would explain why law school lasts forever.

Costa Rica?

Costa Rica for spring break? Hmmm...sounds fun.

Fingerprints

Today I was fingerprinted for the California Bar. I have been fingerprinted before for other things (my job at the DA's office), but this was different. I'm getting extraordinarily close to finally being done.

For the past seven years of my life, I have changed apartments seven different times. It's gotten to the point that I don't even bother bringing that much out to my apartment each year, as I'm just going to have to haul it back in nine months.

The walls in my apartment right now are white. No posters. I have a picture on my desk of when I graduated high school. I have a picture on my bookshelf of when my brother got married.

That's it. But for those, my apartment would be as generic as possible. Law books in the bookshelf, law papers strewn across the room. Absolute minimalist.

Along with the empty apartments, there is a sense of uncertainty. My mind drifts back to my senior year of college. It was one month before I graduated, and I still had no idea where I was going to be that fall.

My mind goes back even further to my senior year of college. It's September. For the first time in my life, I have no idea where I would be a year from now. (Better get used to that feeling little one).

But alas, seven years later, and there is finally a plan. A long term path has been carved out. If I want it.

So finally, some semblance of permanency is beginning to enter my life. I feel like my life has been put on hold for the past seven years, and now it has been given back to me.

Back to the fingerprints. Why do we have them? It's to make sure I'm not a criminal offender. That's right, me working at the DA's office isn't enough for me to pass the background check.

Also, the form for the moral character portion of the bar requires me to list every address I have lived at over the past eight years. This can be quite a problem seeing as how I have lived at a different place every year for the past eight years. Sigh. Certainly not looking forward to filling that out.

Anonymous Democrat and Britney

First off, to the anonymous democrat who posted anonymously and called me a crybaby two posts ago. Go ahead and hide behind your veil of anonymity and call be a crybaby. At least I put a name on what I say (albeit my middle name). But alas, you are right, the market did end up. We'll see what the economy does over the next two years. Although, we both know that the economy has a long lag period. By that I mean it takes time for any change a President or legislature makes in order to see it have some measurable effect in the economy. Note this applies to tax cuts and NOT to entitlements given out.

More importantly, on to the real reason I posted! For those of you who have been living under a rock the past two days, Britney Spears has filed for divorce!!!! Yes, I know. Truly a momentous day. And for those of you who like CNN (probably anonymous demoncrat...i mean democrat included), what was the top story on election day? Not Pelosi, not Bush, not anything to do with the election. Instead, the top story was that K-fed and Britney were no more.

Being a Malibu resident, I truly feel bad for yet another relationship gone bad. Maybe it's something we put in the water here? Haha...what's that little birdie on my shoulder? It's the money. Ahhhh right you are. Anyways. With Britney as a newly single, this changes how much me and the hot singer have in common. I have updated my previous list (which I had to change when she got married) and alas, here is how it reads:

Things Britney Spears and I have in common

1. We were both born in December.
2. We were born in the same year (1981).
3. We were both in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2003. I was interning for a congressman and she was performing at the National Mall (I actually saw her perform too).
4. We both reside in Malibu.
5. Disney played a big part in our upbringing (she was on the Mickey Mouse Club and....well my parents subscribed to the Disney channel...I don't think I watched it that much...other than Heavyweights...and Goonies).
   
6. We both have cases pending in Los Angeles Superior Court (her divorce case...and her action to get a restraining order against me).
7. We both like Subway (I spotted her there one day).
8. We both hate Kevin Federline (I boo'd him off stage at his Halloween performance and...well she divorced him).
9. And my favorite, we both like to kiss girls.

Democrats good for the economy-(pause)-(pause)-NOT!

I think that it is funny how the stock market is linked to real world news. Monday U.S. financial markets surged on news that Republicans were making a last minute push in the polls. Wednesday, the stock market started off down and was shook even further when it was revealed that the Democrats would pick up another seat in the Senate.

The Heat is On and Story Poles

It's November and it's frickin' hot. The high was 88 degrees. I almost went to the beach. Instead my roommate dragged me down to the track, and we ran. I did get some satisfaction watching him hack up a lung afterwards. It is never a good idea to run. Even moreso when the Santa Anna wins are blowing. You learning your lesson roommate. Let's not make the same mistake again.

On another note, driving around here in Malibu, I quite often see long wooden poles with stretchy orange netting on top. It's funny. They kind of make the skeleton of a square or some other shape. I, in my wonderful speculation powers, assumed that this was to mark the location of future buildings. In a place like Malibu where the view of the ocean is quite important, a device like this is necessary to allow neighbors and others to identify how the new building will affect their view. They are called story poles and help stuffy Malibu residents decide how pissed off they should be at their new neighbors based on how much of their view they will be blocking.

It's nice to guess and be right.

Bar Advice

When meeting attorneys and forced to engage in small talk, I have decided that an excellent question to ask is if they have any advice about taking the bar. I get various answers. It is a good question to ask because of the diversity of the answers. I get good pieces of advice, like exercise daily. Take an hour off. I also get random pieces of advice--like stay in a hotel so you can walk to the bar. Don't talk to others about the test, and don't study during the test.

Today's piece of advice from a lawyer I met: "I had a good real property teacher. I knew the rule against perpetuities. So when I sat down to sit through that lecture for my bar review course, it dawned on me that the lecturer had no idea what he was talking about. So I grabbed my friend, we quietly left, and we went to see a movie." She said I need to remember that the lecturer may not know what he's talking about. This scares me. I doubt I will heed her advice.

Just a normal Ralphs Trip

First off, after watching an episode of "Dawg the Bounty Hunter," I have decided to quit law school and become a bounty hunter. It looks like quite a bit of fun and is definitely not a 9-5 office job.

Second, I went to Ralphs. While in the checkout line, an attractive girl who I let cut in front of me pointed out that Owen Wilson was in line next to me. Yes, Owen Wilson from such hits as Wedding Crashers, Zoolander, and other movies that I cannot remember. At first I thought, no that's another surfer hippie. But then he turned, and I saw it. From his nose, I was able to identify that it was him.
I have seen other celebrities before (Sean Penn, Pamela Anderson, etc.), and quite often they do not look much like how they look on TV. Sean Penn looked like a bum. But Pamela Anderson looked quite attractive (Perhaps because I saw her jogging and in workout attire?). Owen Wilson looked pretty much like he did. Maybe younger than what I thought? And definitely shorter. From what I saw, he was purchasing a bag of goldfish (open, he had already begun eating them). I followed him out of the store and he got into a Toyota Prius and drove away. Let's see, if it looks like a hippie, drives like a hippie....yep...it's a hippie.

Guest Speakers

Sigh. Here I am in ethics. I forgot the number one rule of law school is do not show up when there is a guest speaker. And alas, I am sitting here in ethics, friendless. To my left, the seat, with the girl who always answers the question when the professor's prompt finds itself falling on deaf ears, sits empty. To the right, another vacancy. The seat on the right is usually filled with the only guy who dared to ask the professor a question during a review session.

But alas! They have both shown up. Oh joy. I will spend the next one hours watching a powerpoint presentation entitled, "What I wish I had learned in Law School...The best advice I never heard."

I'll update as necessary with funny quotes.

Beard-less

I shaved my beard on Friday. I hadn't posted yet because I wanted to wait to see how I felt about it. Am I sad it's gone? Yes. Am I colder? Yes. Do I miss stroking my chin? Yes. It's sad that it is gone really. I'm sure my two cousins are quite happy to see it go though. Too bad for them I have two weeks of finals that I will not be shaving. So, it just may make another appearance just in time for the holidays.

Anything else new with me? Not really. Just school.

I spoke with a friend who works on the Hill. That conversation and an article I read from Roll Call lead me to believe that November will be a very scary month for Republicans.

Signs, polls, and approval ratings all point to a change--even moreso than the 94 wave that brought the Republicans into the majority. Will the Senate be lost as well? Only time will tell.

Email Awesomeness

So I was going through some past emails and found this gem from a friend. Yeah. It's awesome:

Okay so check this out,

So I always lay on the carpet in front of the TV in the family room, yet since I've been home there have been all these little bugs getting on me. I didn't think much at first but then I looked it up and found out they were ticks. It's only been my mom at home the past 2 weeks (sister at school dad on business) so she never noticed cause she just hung in the Master Bedroom.

At the same time I kept hearing things in our chimney (you know how you can close the chimney so that it doesn't open to the fireplace but is rather just a long closed off cylinder with an opening at the top?). I just thought they were birds flying into the chimney.

Actions Taken:

Today fed up with the ticks and feeling slightly dirty I set off foggers in the house.

Secondly, for some odd reason my house still had an antenna on the roof from like 20 years ago before we had cable. So in my idle state I climbed up on the roof and sawed off the antenna which I felt was attracting the birds into the chimney. I know the thought of me in the middle of the day up on the roof shirtless using my hands to bend, twist, and cut things is a huge turn-on, I'm sure the thought of that little trickle of perspiration down my shoulder blades as I used the hacksaw is as super sexy to you as it is to me.

Third, I took a look down the chimney with a flashlight to find a family of like 4 raccoons living in there (no idea if they can get out)!

Thus, my ticks were a product of raccoons in the chimney that connect to the fireplace in the family room.

Action Items:

Tomorrow I'm calling:

1) The SPCA to get rid of the raccoons
2) A chimney company to get rid of the raccoon excrement and place a chimney cap on the chimney
3) Exterminators

In addition to which I think I am going to scrub myself with steel wool to completely cleanse myself. Have you ever used tweezers on a tick that has been sucking on your body? It explodes and out comes a hefty chunk of your blood, somewhat satisfying... but of course none of you have had this experience b/c unlike me you guys are clean.

Best,

[friend's name]

Cough Cough

Feeling much better now than I was last week. Must be the Campbell's Soup at Hand. Not much new. Oh, I am still growing my beard. It is coming along quite nicely. Here's a picture of me with it. Thoughts on what I should do? My roommate is pushing for me to put gel in it so that all the hair on my head has the "wet" look. It's going to be shaved soon. But I'm thinking of possibly giving myself a chin strap or lightning bolts prior to doing so. Any input that you have would be much appreciated. Unless you are my two cousins who are going to comment and say that I look like a terrorist. No. Or if you are my sister in law and you say I look like the Unabomber. Again, no. Okay...maybe in this picture I do.



Again. Share with me your input.

Rudy Rudy Rudy

Steve Aponavicius is starting tonight's game as the kicker for Boston College against Virginia Tech. Where was Steve a year ago? Steve, with chest and face painted, was in the cheering section for BC. Due to a BC's regular kicker getting suspended, Steve starts his first game football game ever tonight...on national tv. When they gave him football pads, he had to ask the rest of his teammates how to put them on. He's never played an organized football game before. He walked on the team as a sub after another team assistant saw him kicking field goals in the stadium late one night.

Man oh man. What a story. Rudy is the title of the post as I doubt the fans will be able to chant Aponavicius Aponavicius Aponavicius with ease.

M'm! M'm! Good!

Mmmmm....Campbell's Soup at Hand almost makes being sick worthwhile (note I said almost). Man this stuff is good. The best part is the absolute minimum preparation involved in this. Honestly, I'm all for more meals being done like this. I was stoked when General Mills started to do the cereal bar things. If only there were a device that cooled things down quickly...sort of like an anti-microwave. Then you could do the soup at hand and have it be cereal in hand. Sweet.

In other news, those normal Nabisco Saltine crackers that everyone eats when they are sick (or uses in soup or other thing?) now look different. They have some weird texture on them that I am unfamiliar with. They will quite likely not be getting my business again anytime soon. However, again Campbell's, nice work with the Soup at Hand. This stuff was amazing in college and has come to my rescue once again in law school.

Learn something new everyday

I was under the impression that orchestra, symphony, and philharmonic were ways of differentiating what instruments were being used. However, Wikipedia tells me otherwise.

"An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra (about forty players) is called a chamber orchestra.

A full size orchestra (about 104 players) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these prefixes do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played, and the size of the venue. A leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty members; some are much smaller than that."

Traficant and Foley

I had lunch with a friend today who was a former page for the U.S. House of Representatives. Of course, our conversation quickly turned to the current situation facing the House of Representatives and their page program. My friend then told me that his two favorite congressmen were James Traficant and Mark Foley.

For those of you who don't know, James Traficant (mug shot seen here....that's right...I said mugshot) is a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives. Common things he is known for include voting for Dennis Hastert as Speaker of the House (despite being a Democrat). For this act the Democratic leadership stripped him of his committee assignments making him the first member of the House in over a century to have no committee assignments (exclusing leadership). He was expelled after being convicted of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and on his houseboat in Washington, DC, and is currently serving out an 8-year prison term scheduled to end in 2010.

So after this whole Foley scandal. My next question to my friend is, who is your third favortie congressman while you worked there?

Golden Tee in my home?

Ho ho baby. Mom and Dad, brother and...well brother...this is what I want for Christmas. Goldten Tee in my house. This will be awesome. I did play it for a short time on my home PC with a mouse. But that is nothing compared to the glory of Golden Tee on a trackball. Once I grow up and have a house, I want to park a full size Golden Tee arcade machine in my garage. Right next to my pool table and pinball machine. I can't wait. But, this machine will keep me happy until that dandy moment arrives. Yes people, my birthday and Christmas are coming up. This would be the best present ever.

Beard Update Oh yeah. It's still growing.

Walk this Way

Yeah. The guy on the right was supposed to be singing as well. Apparently he found something particularly funny.

In the summertime....

Okay so this is a continuation of a previous blog. I haven't really blogged at all since summer began so this update will be mostly pictures.

Here's how I spent mid-May.

I went to two hockey games and got to see Bryzgalov's two shutouts.





I went out with Kevin, Rahul and Johnny and Matt. I made Kevin take this picture of me.




And I ate Del taco with these girls.




On my last day of law school as a 2L I did alot. I went to Cheesecake factory with Lisa and Shirlene. Hung out with Darcy in her classroom. Played golf in her backyard.




Then I went out with Liz and Jill. Our night ended with a late night Tommy's run.




The next night I went out with this kid.




I'm already missing him. And not just on Friday's at Ultimate. Then on Saturday we played in the Pepperdine Golf Tournament.




Oh yes. We took home second place which stunned us just as much as it did everyone else.

Does this sound busy? Yeah. It was. And the end result was I got a nice case of shingles.




And this was how it began. So I came back home and my mom and dad were sick as well. It was like a Family Infirmary. Clearly not the beginning of the summer that I foresaw.

What to do to help me recover? Ahhh....of course. A trip to Disneyland.




It was a mini-London reuinion (sans Lisa).

I also suck at Buzz Lightyear's Blasters.




D Land was fun.

But I still had shingles! However, I recovered shortly thereafter. But it hurt like hell. And I still get pains in my back every once in a while (although a lot less frequent then when I had it) I worked at a firm over the summer. It was awesome. We did non-firm related stuff which was fun as well.

We went to a firing range. I got to fire lots of guns. However, I didn't injure myself (unlike another summer).




Note: I took this picture on my cell phone. I think I will take more now that I have a decent camera and have hacked my phone so I can transfer pictures for free.

July 4th came and went.




Then we went to Go Karts.




Me in action.




And my second place hardware. Yes you heard right. Second place. I lost to my office mate's wife. Yes I lost to a girl. There I said it.




And Alison and I. She wouldn' let me pass her. Grrr...




So yeah that was about my summer. OOOOO Almost Forgot! We went to Tahoe. And played Edgewood. It was amazing. Here are thee obligatory pictures to go OOOOO and AAAAHHHHHH at.

This is the clubhouse.





One of the holes.




Lake Tahoe!




And me.




And that's it! More to come in future posts. What am I doing? Tomorrow night--Scissor Sisters concert! Hopefully I'll have some good stories when I return.

Shampoo and Soap?

Why is shampoo in a different aisle of the grocery store than soap? And! It's not as if there's like overflow from one aisle to the next, the aisle with the soap is two aisles over from the aisle with the shampoo! What is going on? Seriously? Shampoo and soap? Kind of go together like peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti and meatballs.

Test

Test Test.