10/25/2007

revise the constitution

So those that know me from my law school days remember that I was really into revising the constitution because it was out of date and we could make it better. So imagine my surprise when I am wandering in Barnes and Noble and find an entire book on the subject, calling for a complete overhaul of the consitution. A lot of the ides were things that we had thought of, but there were some new ones that were interesting. Looks like there are more people out there that think its a good idea than I thought. Now I know there are two of us.

10/24/2007

Interesting reading

this guy gave the welcome to the federal bar at our swearing in the day this news came out.

story

Key to the Elgin Marbles

So I was reading a deposition this week, and during a discussion on an objection, one attorney said to the other, it is basically the key to the elgin marbles. I did not understand the reference and so looked it up.

It turns out that the elgin marbles are artwork taken from the parthenon by an english man named elgin. He had the permission of the turkish government which at that time was in possession of greece. There is a lot of conflict over whether the english should return the artwork to greece or not.

Here is the wiki article on the elgin marbles. However, this does not solve the problem. There is no reference to the key of the elgin marbles. I googled the phrase key to the elgin marbles. I have theories on what it could mean, but if anyone knows what that phrase actually means, I would appreciate a comment telling me.

10/07/2007

Bar Results

University of Colorado passed 95%
University of Denver passed 72%

Yet a lot of people think that DU is for intellectuals

I got a tatoo

Today, I got a tatoo. I got it on my hip. It was of a popular animated figure. Ok, it was a dora the explorer tatoo. Luckily for me it was washable, but for the hour that it lasted I felt like a total fruitcake.

9/29/2007

I hate paying taxes

The only thing that makes me happy is that I should get all of them back this year again, and then I enter the wonderful world of deductions for mortgage interest. That should be good, so maybe I shouldnt look at it as paying taxes but as getting my money back in April without any interest, and subject to the whims of congress and the IRS. Yeah.

Cool experience

So I know that some of you are less than thrilled about organized religion (OK religion in general) but I had a really cool experience this week. I found out that one of the people I taught when I was in Mexico is now on a mission herself. I am not going to go into the details of when I was teaching her or anything, but it was amazing to me the change in her life that I got to be a part of.

9/08/2007

New House

SO buying a new house is incredibly stressful. Even when you find one you like you stop and wonder what they are hiding behind the coat of paint. Just an example, CO has a law that if you cook meth in your house and then sell it, you dont have to tell the buyers if you have had it cleaned by professionals. I dont know how much you know about meth, but you cant clean all that crap out.

8/31/2007

Idahoan Senator Recipes

I figured that after he made the news I should post his recipes. He contributed two, this and this. Incidentally, I dont think I have mentioned this, but I do not believe that any of these people are capable of making their recipes. And it seems disengenuous that each of them just happens to have a favorite recipe that their district happens to be famous for. Coincidence, I think not.

8/26/2007

On a kick

This recipe got me not for the yumminess of the recipe but because of the intro. It made me wonder about the congressman's background. Here is his Wikipedia article. But to find out how many kids he has, you have to look here at the bottom. The most interesting thing that I learned about this congressman is that he is quite famous for not joining the Congressional Black Caucus and saying of the members of that caucus, "and I think they're race-hustling poverty pimps." Yet it turns out that he has his own line of businesses and on the home page he makes sure that you know his businesses are "certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council." See here for the homepage.

Congress Cooks

So I have had a good time since the last post looking at other congressional recipes. Here is the recipe from Congressman Chris Cannon. Some of you may know that I worked for this congressman for one day on a reelection campaign. But since he is a republican running in Provo Utah, not much of a challenge.

For another piece of Cannon trivia, here is his blog. It appears that he has realized that his district contains BYU campus and so he needs to get on the YouTube bandwagon.

And just for fun, this page for people who really dont like him. I dont know where I stand on this issue, but I know I am antifanatical, so dont like these guys much.

8/19/2007

Sweetbreads

This all started as my brother and I debated whether sweetbreads are brains, as he said, or the pancreas, as I said. We decided to wikipedia the thing as that is the authoritative source for all human knowledge. It turns out that I was right, but in our searching we came across this picture . Check it out it will turn your stomach.

If that is not enough, you should check this out.

In case you want to read more about the congressman who gave us that delightful recipe, I am including a statement he placed in the congressional record. Yes, the congressional record. Are you ready for it. Its going to be good. OK, since you've been good, here it is.

Below is the full statement by Congressman Coble which appeared in the May 25 edition of the Congressional Record:
“Mr. Speaker, in the biggest electoral debate since the Bush-Gore presidential election in Florida in 2000, people are still talking about the selection of this year’s American Idol from the television program with the same name. With no disrespect intended toward this year’s winner, Taylor Hicks, most people think this year’s American Idol should have been Chris Daughtry of McLeansville, North Carolina.
I will admit, Mr. Speaker, that I am extremely biased in this debate because Chris Daughtry is a resident of the Sixth District of North Carolina. And it would have been the second time that a town in the Sixth District produced the winning Idol, since previous winner, Fantasia, hailed from High Point, North Carolina. That being said, most online polls, fan blogs, numerous web sites, and general talk about town all hailed Chris Daughtry as the next American Idol.
Most people know that my musical tastes run more towards traditional bluegrass music, so I am not a good judge of what is hot in the rock and pop music scenes. But I do know politics, and from everything I could learn, Chris Daughtry appeared to be the fan favorite. While I will not call for Congress to investigate this Idol election process, those of us who reside in the Sixth District of North Carolina will always be convinced that our guy really won – sort of like fans of Al Gore in 2000.
Oh well, we are proud to say that we are the home of the real American Idol, Chris Daughtry of McLeansville, North Carolina.”

8/09/2007

Next

So today I read Michael Crichton's book Next. It is an interesting read about genetics and the need for a different kind of control. I recommend it. He always researches his books thoroughly, and blends the line between fact and fiction.

8/08/2007

Changing the theory of Human Evolution

I found this to be an interesting article. It illustrates my point that a theory is the best guess that we can do with the information that we have. That should in no way be interpretted as me saying that evolution is incorrect. It just shows that when confronted with new information, previously accepted theories must change in order to remain the best guess within the information available.

7/19/2007

Fun Interview

So this morning I went to an interview for a job. The entire interview consisted of the interviewer asking me a series of hypotheticals to see how I would handle different situations. A jailhouse lawyer... What do you do? An expert witness... What do you do? It was quite an enjoyable interview. Easily beating the usual, you clerk for judge so and so, tell me about that. Those ones suck.

All Alone

So many of you know that I kicked Squishy and the kids out during finals pretty much every semester during law school. For the bar they have left again, and I am all alone. If squishy is reading this, i am really sad and miss them terribly. If she is not, then it is awesome. I shower when i want, sleep when i want, eat when i want. Its the closest to hedonism i get. Sadly i also study a great deal, so that kind of ruins it.