March Madness

Spring is in the air, school is winding down, and this can only mean one thing: NCAA basketball is well underway and the NBA playoffs are just around the corner! It is officially my absolute FAVORITE time of the year! In my best Dick Vitale voice: "You gotta love it, baby!

My bracket is basically busted (thanks Kansas and Georgetown *sigh*). I took a big gamble on St. Mary's going all the way to the Final Four and I'm hoping they come through for me! It could mean big money! We entered a pool with a bunch of people in my class. So, if the stars align, I could be back in business!

I'll quit talking about basketball, but first let me just remind everyone to cross your fingers for the Jazz, too! They've played great since the start of the year and could make some noise in the playoffs if they get their stuff together. Here's hoping Utah can show they are a contender!

Well, despite a whole lot of basketball watching (Heidi is thrilled about that), believe it or not, I am still in law school. Things are still going well. I can't believe the end of my first year is just six weeks away. I'm well over half way there. It seems like it just started, but sure enough, here we are. That means that I will be applying for a transfer soon too. I might end up only applying to BYU, however. I've been looking into the possibility of applying to BYU, Utah, and UNLV, but the last two don't seem that feasible.

For IN-STATE tuition at Utah it costs $17,950 (before books). If I can get residency here at the University of Wyoming it would only be $9,966. However, the possibility of obtaining residency is still unclear. Some say it is near impossible, others say it is almost guaranteed if you do it right. UNLV is close to $30,000 out of state and there's no way to get an out-of-state tuition waiver. BYU is only $10,280 for LDS students. I will probably still apply at the U and BYU, and just see what happens, if/when it happens. I'm happy here in Wyoming (the school, not the state or city...just so we're clear). We'll just roll with it, I guess.

Right before Spring Break I took a multiple choice Torts exam. Not as easy as I thought it would be! I think it took a lot of people by surprise. The average score was a 67%, the high was 87%, and the low was 47%. I was right in the middle, so I'm not too worried about it. He grades on a curve anyway, so realistically I got like a B (and it is only worth 25% of my overall grade). Plus, Torts never has been my strong subject. So I'll take a B.

In other somewhat-related law school news, a few weeks ago Jared and I went and watched the Wyoming legislature in action over in Cheyenne. It was pretty cool! I've never done that before. He used to be a reporter at the Capitol so he know everyone there. We saw the governor as we were walking by and he invited us in to sit down and chat with him. We also got to go visit with a couple of the state legislators. Kinda cool to see that stuff in action.

The picture to the right is a view from the main floor. The whole building was beautiful, and the woodwork was amazing. There is kind of a cool story about the stairs. The architect who did all the wood work was a very religious guy and made some statement that "Only God's creations are perfect." He then took one of the balusters holding up the banisters on the stairs and turned it upside down so it would be imperfect. Jared pointed out the baluster that was upside down to me. I would have never noticed it, but now that I know it is there, that story is pretty cool.

Anyway, in other news, Heidi and Trey are still doing great! We were able to come back to Utah last week for Spring Break. It was so fun to spend a whole week with them not doing anything in particular. We actually had the opportunity to fly in an airplane with my old boss, Tom Greer (owner of Greer's hardware). He took us up in his private airplane and took us over to the spiral jetty and over Tremonton. We got to the runway and Tom started turning up the engine, preparing for take off. All of a sudden we heard Trey, over the headset, say, "One, two, three!" Hilarious. He did pretty good once we were up in air, except at one point when he started getting a little restless and started throwing a fit. I had Tom dive the airplane down a little bit (enough to make your stomach drop -- Heidi screamed!). Trey didn't make a peep after that! Tom even let me fly the plane for a little while! The whole experience was pretty cool.

As for Heidi, she's been doing amazing at trying to lose weight. She's stayed consistent and determined. I haven't got an update on how many more pounds she's lost, but I'm sure it's some! I know it is hard to stay motivated for this kind of thing (I couldn't do it!), so I've been so impressed with her.

Well, I think that is all I can think of, for now. I guess I'll sign off and we'll see what happens in the coming weeks!

Hearts Turn To Clovers

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I guess that's why Teri mentioned that I haven't posted in awhile. Ooops! A lot has happened this past month, too. Let's see...

I gave my oral argument a couple weeeks ago. We were given a case from Colorado about a teacher that left ten days before the school year started (in violation of her employment contract) and therefore had her final paycheck withheld. Me and another student each had to prepare a twleve minute argument and get up in front of the judge (my teacher - a district court clerk) and present it. The difficult part about it is that the judge interrupts your presentation and asks questions (which may or may not pertain to what you're talking about). The trick is to answer the question without losing your flow. It seemed to pose some problems for others in the class that went before me. We had to present our arguments in the district courtroom, which added to the apprehension. I was nervous (who wouldn't be) but had done multiple practice arguments with Jared beforehand. Fortunately, when I went in there and gave my argument, I delivered it just how I had practiced. It felt so comfortable and natural! While I was standing up at the podium delivering my argument, I realized that I am doing exactly what I should be doing. It was a cool feeling. I can't wait to do it for real now.

A couple days later we got our grades back. I got 26/30 (one of the highest in the class). I could have got higher but I didn't stop speaking on time (oops!). In the days following, everyone in the class got to meet with the professor to discuss how we did. When I went in to talk to him he asked if I had much public speaking experience. I told him that I had nothing formal. He then told me, "You have what the rest of us wish we had. It just came natural to you. That was the best oral argument I've seen in the last two or three years." I thought that was pretty nice of him to say. A further pat on the back came from Britney. The other day she pulled me aside and told me that when she went in for her meeting with the teacher, he told her that I was "a natural" and "that is the standard everyone should be trying to meet." As if that wasn't enough, another student in my class (actually, it was the lady I argued against) said that my teacher also told her I was a "natural." So, anyway that's enough stroking my ego for now. Oh, wait. Not quite yet...

So, here's another cool bit of information. The law school had a competition to design the new online library catalog logo. As many of you know, I have had some experience in creating logos for other people and business, so I decided to submit something. I found out the other day that my logo had WON! Here's the link: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/LawLib/logocontest.asp. I've actually changed the colors for logo, so here's the updated one:

The logo will ultimately end up on the online catalog website, which is here: http://uwcatalog.uwyo.edu/search~S2 I did get a prize for winning, but it wasn't much. A cool bag, popcorn, popcorn bowls, a water bottle, and two DVD's (A Civil Action and Paperchase). So anyway, that's kinda cool too.

As for basketball, we lost our first two games but won our third one. We went to the playoffs and won the next two games (one by nearly 30 points). Our last game was the most horrifically refereed game I've even been in. But I'll save my complaining. I am pleased with how far we did get. We were one game away from the championship.

But enough about that, let me give an update on the two people more important than me!

Heidi has been working like crazy to reach her weight loss goal. I've never seen her so determined! She's been averaging a loss of two pounds per week! Incredible. She's been working so hard I'm really proud of her. She's lost almost ten pounds so far! A couple weeks ago we got to travel home for Heidi's cousin's wedding. While there we got to see her uncle Jason and Aunt Teri. They looked incredible! Lots of hardwork and discipline helped them shed some pounds and it totally motivated Heidi. So thanks to those two for not only being good motivators, but for being good people altogether!

Heidi has also been keeping up with her Young Women's calling and it is really bringing her out of her shell. She's given a couple of lessons so far (something I never thought I'd see) and has done an incredible job! She's been given multiple compliments, so I know she's done good and I'm proud of her.

As for Trey Bug... He is talking A LOT more now! He's starting to put sentences together now. Today I came home for lunch and as I was getting ready to leave Trey was in his high chair. He waved his little hand at me and said, "Bye dad-dy. Love you." Cute kid! Heidi has taught him to count to five and his vocabulary is expanding every day.

His hair was starting to get long again, so Heidi and I decided to take matters into our hands. I busted out the clippers and went to work. I thought he'd be scared, but surprisingly, he didn't mind. In fact, he giggled when I tried to clip the back of his neck. It looks good again!

Well, I guess that's all I can think of to write for now. It's half way through the semester already (crazy, right?). Things are going to be getting crazy from here on out so I should have more to write about. The question is, will I take the time to do it? I guess we'll see...