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!

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Well, it's hard to believe, but the semester is getting close to the end. Quite honestly, it has flown by. I only have like three weeks of class left. Weird. That means that the pressure of finals will soon be upon me. Oh, well. Such is life.

I actually had a pretty busy week. Tuesday I turned in my 15 page rough draft of my open memo. We are given a fact pattern and some issues to research and then we go out and find cases and do all the research ourselves (instead of being given the cases). The research itself probably ate up about 8-10 hours of my time and then writing it probably took 4-5 hours. It's actually pretty fun, it's just trying to find the time. I had my tutorial (where I meet with my professor and go over my paper) on Friday. It went well. He told me, "Blair, I tell you this in confidentiality. Your section on the non-compete agreement was probably the best one in the whole class." Awesome. Of course, by referring to "confidentiality" he meant not telling my classmates. So I should be safe posting it here since none of my classmates know this blog exists.

I also had an oral exam for Torts on Friday as well. This was unlike anything I've ever done. I arrived at Professor Burman's office where is secretary handed my three or four pages that contained a complex fact pattern. I had thirty minutes to go over the facts and put together a Tort's case. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. After the thirty minutes, I went into his office and sat down with him for twelve minutes and explained my case using the concepts learned in class. He would interject at times and ask questions. He's a really nice guy, so that made it more comfortable, but no less difficult. I'm not sure how I did on it. I guess I'll find out on Tuesday. I did pretty good on the written exam, so we'll see how I did on the oral.

The picture on the right is Professor Burman - my Torts professor who gave me the oral exam.

Now I have to get ready for yet another Contracts exam on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. How heartless is that? Oh, well, at least I will have a few days to completely forget about it. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to spend the break doing outlines for Property and Criminal Law. But at least we'll get to come back to Utah! (Keep your fingers crossed that the roads will be decent.)

In other news, everything is going good on the social front. A couple weeks ago we went over to the Toy's house (yes, that's their real name) and had dinner. Josh Toy is a 2L and I talk to him all the time at school. His wife, Miri, is really nice as well, and they made an awesome dinner!

The next day we went to Corona Village with Brittany and Sam from my class. They are both really nice as well. We've been planning on going out with them for a few weeks now, so it was cool to finally hook up.

Mike and Leslie came over this past Thursday and hung out for awhile before Leslie heads back to Canada to have their baby. They left Friday and Mike is returning back tonight to finish out school while Leslie stays up there with her family. As soon as school's out, Mike will be heading up there. Unfortunately, he will have to be back for the Spring semester while Leslie remains there for a little while longer. They've had some disagreement on what to name the baby. Mike wants to name him Frank because it is a family name. Leslie isn't to thrilled with that and wants to name him Rex. I guess we'll see what the final verdict is when the baby comes. They're both really cool and I wish them the best!

Here at home not much has changed. Little Trey Bug is getting bigger and smarter everyday. He knows how to say "Juice" now and will go to fridge and wait for someone to get it out for him. The cutest thing he says is, "Boot.........sth." Basically, "boots" with long pause and a lisp. What a fun kid. Nothing better than coming home at night and have him run to the door while I bend down so he can give me a BIG hug. It's my favorite part of the day. Makes all the hard work worth it.

Well, that's all the updates I think I have for now. I'll let you all know when more "exciting" stuff happens. Try to contain yourselves. Patience is a virtue.

Party Like A Rock Star!

Where has the time gone? I don't know if Heidi agrees with me, but I think that time is flying! Maybe it is because I feel like I can never get everything done that I need to!

I'll be honest. I'm a little nervous. I have a Contracts midterm coming up on Monday. I guess now is the time to prove that I really know what I am doing. But do I? I like to think so. Only time will tell. My contracts professor is actually pretty intense. She got really mad at us the other day because she thinks that we don't read or study the cases. She told us, "You all think that you're just a bunch of g** d*** rockstars and you don't need to study or do anything!" I thought it was kind of an unfair assumption. I truly think that most everyone reads and studies. The problem is when she calls on people to answer questions, they don't seem to know the answer. However, I think it is because she is so intimidating! Oh, well. I guess the tests will show who really does know their stuff. The test will cover: offer, acceptance, consideration, promissory estoppel, and option contracts. That's a big load! So wish me luck.

On the family side of things, my little Trey bug is getting smarter and smarter! He blows me away everyday! He can locate his eyes, nose, hair, ears, fingers, toes, cheeks, chin, bum, and...weiner. He walks around saying "mom" and "addy." So freakin' cute. If he has a poopy bum, he'll go into his room, grab a diaper, and bring it out to Heidi so she can change him! Whenever we bless the food he will bow his head until the prayer is done. He helps me do the laundry by handing me clothes from the hamper or I'll hand him clothes from the washer to put in the dryer. He also helps unload the dishwasher by handing me all the utensils, dishes and stuff so I can put it away. He usually won't leave until the job is done! He's the most loving little boy I've ever met. Sometimes I'll whisper in his ear, "go give mommy loves" and he'll hurry off to find her to give her a hug and kisses. There is numerous times when he'll randomly walk up to Heidi or myself, just to pat our cheeks or legs and give us a hug. What a guy. I don't know what it would be like without him. It's been great having him around.

On the social front, things are going good too. This past Saturday we went out to the Indian restaurant with Jared (my school buddy) and his wife Ellen. The service was terrible but the food was incredible! They are both good conversationalists so the evening went well. This coming weekend we're going to hang out with Sam and Brittany from my class (yes, the Brittany I mentioned in my last post). Sam is from Brazil. He's a cool guy. Brittany is one of the few members here. She's from Delaware. So that should be fun too.

Anyway, other than that there's not much else to say. I turned in a couple of papers this past week. A three pager in torts and a ten pager in legal writing. So I am staying busy. I'll let you know how my mid-term and this weekend goes next time. So look forward to that.

And Now The Fun Begins...

So that's it. The orientation is over. You'd think I would be pretty glad to get that over with, right? WRONG. All that means is that the real work begins. Oh yea, and now it counts! I've never felt more pressure in my entire life. It is very weird. I don't even know how to explain it, but it is a very intense feeling. I mean, think about it. If I fail then I have blown over $40,000 in tuition and books, I have spent countless dollars in preparation and moving expenses, I have imposed additional stress and discomfort on my family, the list goes on and on. Never before in my entire life has the stakes been so high and the goal so excrutiatingly difficult to acheive. I'd ask you to wish me luck, but it's going to take far more than luck!

Today was pretty laid back, as far as orientation goes. We did a service project this morning and I helped out on the school farm (am I really turning into a redneck already?). We pulled weeds, dug up thistle, and harvested crops. Just call me Cletus - YEE HAW! It was good, though, because I was able to bond a little bit more with some fellow classmates.

After the farm, we went back and worked on our case briefs. Apparently, over the next three years I will be writing literally hundreds and hundreds of case briefs. That's alright with me, though. I think they're actually pretty fun and interesting.

Following that they had the hour and a half session for the spouses, so Heidi and Trey Bug came to the school for that. I know what you're thinking - what did they do with Trey? Did he sit through that? And the answer is: Are you kidding me?! Of course he didn't! I had to go relieve Heidi of her duties so she could attend the class. Unfortunately, the class wasn't quite what I hoped it would be for her. I guess they were pretty negative about what these poor spouses will have to face and only gave Heidi more fear and apprehension. She's been handling things so amazingly and I know that she's trying to bottle up all her emotions so that it won't affect me. She's the best wife a law student could ask for, and I can't imagine going through this with anyone else but her. I hope she knows how much I've appreciated her support and cooperation with this whole situation (and if she didn't, she does now!).

We had a BBQ afterwards where Heidi got to meet some of my fellow classmates, and then that was it. Orientation is over. **sigh** As I mentioned before, now the real grind begins. In fact, here's a list of the reading assignments that are due on the FIRST DAY OF CLASS! (Seriously, homework on the first day?)

Legal Writing - 23 pages
Torts - 13 Pages
Property - Two Supreme Court Cases (approx. 12-15 pages)
Legal Research - 23 Pages
Contracts - 17 Pages

And there's still one more class that I haven't heard from yet, that will inevitably be making an assignment as well. The thing is, in undergrad I could easily get away with not reading. In law school, you have to come prepared with notes, a marked up book, and they randomly call on you to explain what you read. So it's not like just skimming the pages will suffice. This requires active reading! No shortcuts here.

Well, I'll be starting that tomorrow probably. So if I find some time, I'll let you know how it goes. This post is already way too long, so I'll sign off here.