Lawyer Joke

My Torts professor digressed from our discussion the other day in class to tell us this joke:

An airplane carrying the pilot, a 12-year old boy, a doctor, a priest, and a lawyer suddenly found themselves in danger - the plane malfunctioned and a crash was imminent. On board the plane were only four parachutes, so the group quickly got together to decide who would get the chutes.

The doctor spoke up, "I'm a doctor and I save people's lives, so I should get a parachute." They all agreed, so he grabbed one and jumped out.

Next, the priest spoke up, "I'm a priest and I save people's souls. That's even more important, so I should get a parachute." They all agreed, so he grabbed one and jumped out.

Next, the lawyer spoke up, "I'm one of the smartest men in the world, so I should get a parachute." He then quickly grabbed one and jumped out.

With only one parachute left, the pilot turned to the 12-year old boy and said, "Well, you're young and have your whole life ahead of you. You take the parachute." The boy quickly responded, "It's OK. We can both take a parachute. The smartest man in the world just grabbed my backpack."

Goodness Sakes! and Tummy Aches

It's been a little while since my last post. As you probably have guessed, I've been pretty busy. School got a little more hectic and I've been putting in about 60+ hours per week trying to keep up. I don't get home until after 7:00 now. I'm still keeping up with my school work, so that's good.

I have a Contracts test coming up in the next couple weeks and I have a feeling that it is going to be brutal. It all makes sense in theory, but when you get under a time constraint and you have to put the application into words, it gets a little tricky.

The home life has been good, although I feel like I'm getting less and less time with my family. Poor little Trey Bug has had the stomach flu for the past few days. We gave him a blessing and I think he's pretty much over it now. We only had to wash our love seat three times, our carpet and Trey's crib twice, and our kitchen floor once. Where does all that puke come from? Poor kid. But he's back to being his happy-go-lucky self now.

The social life is still alive and well. It seems like Heidi is meeting new people all the time. A really nice girl in my class, Brittany, came over and talked to her for a while the other day at a school chili cookoff. They really hit it off and Brittany has reminded me every day that she wants to get together with Heidi. So that should be a good way for Heidi to be able to get out of the house.

As for me, I've made a new buddy, Jared. I sit by him in all my classes. We get along great and our personalities really mesh. We're constantly exchanging cynical remarks. He's been good to study with and get input from.

This past Saturday he convinced me to get up early on Saturday and go running with him up in the mountains. I'm not a distance runner so I was hesitant, but I eventually conceded. Big mistake. I haven't worked out, played basketball, or done any serious bodily movement (except turn pages of books) in about two months. Yet, for some reason I agreed to go on a four mile run, UP the mountain, at 8,200 feet elevation. What was I thinking? I kept up for the most part, but I was dead by the time we were heading back and ended up walking most of it. Right now my quads, calfs, feet, hips, and lower back are all VERY sore. It makes me walk a little funny (of course, everyone in Wyoming has a funny, cowboy walk. So maybe I just blend in now). It was nice to have the conversation with Jared, but maybe next time we can leave the running out!

Other than that, not much else is going on. We're just trying to make the best of our time here in Laramie and looking forward to Heidi's family coming to visit us this weekend! I'll have more to update at that time!

Oh, I know people have had a problem posting comments. I've been trying to get that all sorted out, but I don't know if I have yet. Please do me a favor and try to post something. If it doesn't work, send me an e-mail and let me know what is going on. Thanks!

Check, Please!

So to start off, I've got some good news from school. I have a Contracts class that is VERY intense. My professor demands a lot from us with our reading, in-class answers, and homework. Her teaching method must be pretty effective though, because everyone in the class puts in extra time just to make sure they can keep up with her standard. I'm sure it's going to pay off in the end because I'm definately learning what I'm supposed to!

Anyway, the other day we had to turn in our case briefs for her to check. She handed them back to us along with the grade breakdown. Basically there were four possible grades. An "X" which meant that either you didn't turn it in or your brief was atrocious. A "Check Minus" which meant that you got credit for turning in your brief, but it wasn't very good and lacked a lot of the reasoning necessary. Next, is a plain ol' "Check." This meant that you did an average job for a first year law student. You met her expectations, but still lacked quite a bit. And last was a "Check Plus" which meant: "Exceeded expectations for beginning law student." I'm sure you know what I'm about to say. Yup. Yours truly got a check plus! There's 83 students in my class and only 16 got a check plus. 33 got a check. 25 got a check minus. 6 got an X. So that's a good start.

Anyway, it's amazing that it has been four weeks of school already! I guess a few weeks passed me by while my nose was buried in law books. It's been a far different experience thus far than I thought it would be. I was warned that law school would be extremely stressful, difficult, and I would never see my family. But, that's not how I would describe my experience so far.

My stress level has been relatively low (after all, I don't know what there is to stress about).

Law school hasn't been especially difficult either. Granted, I haven't had any tests yet. But the material we've covered seems pretty straight forward and I understand what's being taught (at least as far as I know!).

And finally, I actually see my family more now then I did before. I get to come home for lunch every day, I have Saturday and Sunday to spend the entire day with them, and I get home from school about six or seven every night. That's more time then when I was working full time!

So far, so good. I've had no problem getting motivated to read and study for hours on end because I'm really enthralled with the subject matter. So, hopefully I can keep it up. If there's any changes, I'll let you know. Stay tuned.

Funny Case -- Hooters Waitress Sues Manager

Former Hooters waitress Jodee Berry sued her ex-employer for breaching its promise to award a new Toyota to the winner of an April 2001 sales contest.

Berry alleged that her manager, Jared Blair, told the waitresses at the Hooters where she worked at the time that whoever sold the most beer at each participating location during April 2001 would be entered in a drawing, the winner of which would receive a new Toyota. As the contest progressed, Blair allegedly told the waitresses that he did not know whether the winner would receive a Toyota car, truck, or van, but that she would have to pay any registration fees on the vehicle.

In early May, Blair informed Berry that she had won the contest. He proceeded to blindfold her and lead her to the restaurant's parking lot. Waiting for her there was not a Toyota car, truck, or van, but a doll of the character Yoda from the Star Wars movies - a “toy Yoda.” Blair laughed. Berry did not. Berry sued for breach of contract and fraud. Hooters answered that Blair was only joking. [This excerpt was from the Nevada Law Journal (3 NVLJ 526) "You Asked For It, You Got It...Toy Yoda: Practical Jokes, Prizes, and Contract Law."]

Long story short, the waitress won the case and was able to go to a Toyota dealer and pick out any Toyota she wanted!

We went over this case in my Contracts class. I thought it was funny so I decided to pass it along.

Just Call Me "Esquire"

So I've been really jazzed about something I just learned the other day. I've been telling everyone about it. I found out that the proper name given to those in the legal profession is "esquire"! How freakin' awesome is that?! (sorry for using the f-word there, Brenda... :O) So in three years when I finally get my J.D., I will formally be known as Blair Tal Wardle, esq. And I expect you all to address me as such. No, I kid. But it is pretty cool...and you can call me that if you want.

I'm still going strong in school and it is as busy as ever. I've been pretty consistent with staying at the library and studying until about 6:00 pm everyday (although some days I end up bringing some homework home). I think I'm figuring out how to be a little more efficient, so that helps.

We've been studying some pretty interesting stuff. I'll spare you the in-depth analysis, but here's just a few points of law I've learned that I thought were pretty interesting (please ignore the flower bullets. They come with the layout!):

• Assault and battery are SEPARATE charges
  Battery involves making actual physical contact with another person, and assault is causing someone to have appprehension about imminent bodily contact
  ** So here's something for you to think about --> considering those definitions, is it possible for someone to be assaulted without battery? **
  
• Battery doesn't necessarily have to be physical contact with the body directly
  We read a case where a guy was charged with battery simply for grabbing another guy's dinner plate!
  
• A contract can be legally binding even if you think it's a joke
  We read a case where a guy was joking with his friend about selling his property to him. They wrote it on the back of a bar receipt and the court enforced it!
  
• If you own mineral rights to your land, your neighbor can drill a well near the property line and legally pump all the oil out from underneath your property
  
• And finally... Criminal law is becoming VERY intriguing to me
  We just read a case about a korean lady that shot a 14 year old girl in the back of the head for shoplifting orange juice and only got 6 months of probation...and I agree with the sentencing! I'll see if I have time to post it on here so you can get the details and see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, that's the law school side of things. I've been trying to give updates about family life and social life too, so I'll make a few comments about that before I sign off.

Last Wednesday we had the Nish's over to our place. It was pretty fun. We ate a little pizza, played some Wii, and talked. Heidi and I aren't used to this kind of thing, so we felt a little out of our element. We're both pretty socially introverted and don't like to bother with inviting people over, but we're trying to turn over a new leaf over here in Laramie. They're a really cool couple, so I hope we get to hang out more often.

As for the family side of things, we were able to have a good extended weekend with our family. It sure was nice to be home with all of my favorite people in the world. We drove to Tremonton Friday right after school got out and arrived about 8:00 pm. I got to play basketball with Dane and my old work buddies. It was a pretty relaxing weekend, but unfortunately I still had homework that needed to be done (which, you'll be happy to know, I finished). On Monday we had to drive home, but not before eating at Goodwood Barbecue in Ogden with Mom, Dad, Fritz, Brenda, George, and LaVada. It was a nice finish to a great weekend. I was truly happy to see everyone again.

I got thinking about it, and we'll be home at least once a month, every month until the end of the year. We were already home in September, we'll be home for Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, and of course, Christmas in December. So living this far away, so far, hasn't turned out to be that bad.

And finally, I'll leave you with some VERY GOOD NEWS!
My dear, ol' mom talked with the county attorney that she works for (Box Elder County), and he said that I could come and intern there this summer! WOO HOO! That means we'll be moving back for at least three months this summer! If everyone keeps their fingers crossed for us, it may be a permanent move back to Utah (if I can transfer back to BYU or the U - we'll see).

Well, it's always best to leave on a good note, so I'll consider that my cue. Roll credits.

Release the Hounds!

I'm into my second week of law school and things are still going good. I'm starting to get some pretty big work loads. On Monday I only have two classes so I'm done at 12:00. However, Tuesdays are my busiest days - FIVE classes. So I usually have a busy day studying on Monday. After taking about a half hour to come home, eat lunch, and see my family, I get back to studying. Yesterday, I got back to school at 12:30 and ended up staying there until 7:30 pm! I only got up twice during that span to get a drink of water (about a one minute break). That's a whole lot of studying! Interesting thing is, when I'm doing my work, time just flies! Before I knew it, it was 7:30! (Truth be told, I actually didn't get it all done. I neglected my reading for legal writing. But I figured I could get away with it this one time...and I did.)

The material is so awesome to study! I'm loving every second of it. So far we've read a pretty substantial number of cases (I've listed them on the left side), with a variety of situations. I really enjoy coming home and talking to Heidi about them and getting her take on it. We usually agree.

Speaking of Heidi, she has turned out to be freakin' Betty Crocker! She's an amazing cook! We've had some excellent dinners here in Laramie, courtesy of Miss Crocker herself! Tonight was Chicken Curry and it was cooked perfectly with the perfect proportions! We've had Ranch Enchiladas, pizza, baked cheesy potato crisps, just to name a few. She's so good to have dinner ready for me when I get home. What a great wife, eh? I couldn't be doing this without her.

As for the social situation, we went up to the ward campout this past Friday. We got to mingle with some more of the ward members. In fact, we met a girl who was friends with Kaylyn - Shane's (my buddy) wife. Small world. We did have a tense moment on the trip though. We left town with less than a quarter tank of gas in the Element and we had to drive UP the mountain about 45 minutes. The gas light came on half way there. ** gulp ** I didn't think that we'd make it back but I coasted in neutral most of the way back and the Hallewells followed us just in case. By the time I pulled into the gas station, my needle was far below the empty line! (Dad would have shook his head in disgust if he would have known!)

Wednesday we're having another couple from the ward over to play the Wii. The Nish's. They live in the same complex as us and they just moved here too (from Canada). Cool couple. They're expecting a baby soon. Also, since they're from out of the country, neither is allowed to work. He goes to school and she stays home all day. So Heidi has someone nearby she can do stuff with, if she wants.

Well, other than that there's not much else to say. Heidi is posting our apartment pics on her blog, so that's something you can check out. We had dime-sized hail the other day! That would be worth putting some pictures on for! I'll have Heidi put it on her blog.

For now, I better go. My professors have "released the hounds" and I better get running or I'll get devoured! ** yipe! **