Quality, not quantity...

The man, the myth, the legend: AZ

Well, I just got back to Eugene after a few days in Portland for the Memorial Day weekend, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile. Because my posting frequency has gone down significantly since school ended, this will be a longer post with more pictures.

I got to Portland Friday evening and didn't really do anything except watch the taped version of "So You Think You Can Dance..." with Missi (the things you do for the ones you love!).

On Saturday I went to my grandparents house and spent some time with them. Missi had to work so I was on kid-duty. In the afternoon I helped my father-in-law do some yard work. I know, I know, sounds like a great weekend so far...Trust me, it does get better. On Saturday night, our good friends JE and AC came over for dinner and after dinner JE and I went to Tualatin Island Greens to hit a bucket of balls. I hadn't hung out with him for a few weeks so it was a good time and he did a great job of reminding me just how bad I am at golf.

Sunday was church and some family birthday parties to attend. On Sunday night, Missi went out with some girlfriends so I decided to rent a movie that I knew she wouldn't want to see with me. I watched Riding Giants, a documentary on the history of big wave surfing. If you like documentaries (me), surf, or are intrigued by the sport (me again), I would definitely recommend it. It's a really well-done film and the stuff that these big wave surfers do is incredible.

The real highlight of the weekend came today, when I hosted Zimel Bowl 2006. You might remember me mentioning that I organize a Memorial Day flag football game each year and this year, because he is moving to Florida in a few months, we decided to name the game after one of my best friends Adam Zimel (pictured above).

Without any exaggeration, I can say that every time we get together to play flag football, it's a highlight of my year. We had a great group of 13 guys show up (7 on 6 with an all-time offensive player), the weather was perfect, nobody got seriously injured and I think everybody had a good time. The champs got their commemorative T-shirts (OK, actually almost everyone got one), so we'll all have a way of remembering the game. I played all-time offense in the second half, so I can honestly say that I was part of the winning team.

A few more pictures from the game:


PQ and I at Zimel Bowl 2006

Check out the uniform on this guy...

BG and Adam after the game.

Post-game photo



Remember, another flag football game will be scheduled for the fall/winter season. It used to be a Turkey Bowl, but now that I am back in school the Thanksgiving weekend is important for exam prep, so I'll pick a different weekend. I'll keep you posted...

Been awhile (part deux)

Blow out the candles

Another fairly long pause in the frequency of blog postings, but I'm beginning to think that this will be the summer schedule (1-2 postings per week).

We had Samantha's birthday party and it was really fun. It's hard to believe that she is already two years old.

T-ball is going pretty well, although I'm reminded by each practice just how much work needs to be done. There have been so many boys signing up that we're actually going to split the group into two teams.

The big flag football game is in just a few days. We're playing on Monday at Fowler M.S. in Tigard. Let me know if you have questions.
I got the shirts today and they turned out great. It will be a fun reminder of Zimel Bowl 2006.




Only one week until I start working! I'll try to add another post tomorrow...

Been awhile...

Sam in the catcher's mask
Originally uploaded by jaydub624.

I published a Mother's Day mugs blog earlier today, but other than that I've been sorta lazy about updating this past week. I think it has been because it's been a really laid-back week of having family time and getting stuff done around the house and I haven't really wanted to take the time to sit down at the computer and write an entry. Here is what has been going on:

- We had a great Mother's Day with Missi. We cooked her a nice steak dinner and gave her some fun gifts. One of the things she received was salsa dancing lessons with me. Look out!

- I went out on Tuesday morning and took some BP with one of my friends from the law school. He played college baseball at UCSD so he is pretty good. It felt so good to be out throwing and swinging a bat again, but I'm certainly feeling it today (I probably threw over 100 BP pitches).

- I learned that I will be starting work on May 31.

- I got my grades for the spring semester. I was pretty pleased with them. I felt good about how I did in the fall, and I actually improved my GPA a bit in the spring, so that was nice.

- Missi and I volunteered in Drew's class yesterday, which was fun. If it is even possible, my respect and admiration for kindergarten teacher's grew even more!

- I'm coaching Drew's T-ball team and we had our first practice last night. It is going to be lots of fun, and last night we just went over the basics. I consider last night's practice a success because I only got hit by one thrown bat after a kid hit the ball off the tee. The photo of Sam I've attached shows her wearing the catcher's mask for our team. Both Drew and Sam think it is SO cool that we know have a huge bag of baseball equipment in our garage.

- We're going to PDX for a few days today. I get to play golf with my buddy Adam tomorrow and then on Saturday it is Sam's birthday party over at Maggie and Fred's. Back to Eugene on Saturday evening.

Mother's Day mug is complete

Missi 2006 JPG

Some of you might know that it is an annual tradition for Missi and I to "update" the inserts for our coffee travel mugs. If you go to Starbucks, you can buy these mugs that allow you to put some pictures "inside" them. Each year on Mother's Day and Father's Day we update each other's mug inserts. I've attached the 2006 version that I gave Missi on Mother's Day and I'll try to attach some of the previous year's versions as well (Flickr/Blogger does not make it easy to add multiple photos to one blog entry.)

Who wouldn't want to wear this?

Champion T-shirt Pattern

The annual spring flag-football game I plan is coming up. We usually call the Memorial Day game "Rumble n' Fumble" but this year it shall be known as Zimel Bowl in honor of one of the greatest guys in the world, Adam Zimel. Adam and his family are planning on leaving Portland and moving to Florida so Adam can fulfill his lifelong dream of joining the circus. They plan on leaving later this fall.

If you're in the Portland metro area and want to play, we'll be kicking off around 9:00 on Memorial Day, May 29, 2006 at Fowler MS in Tigard. Email me for more info.

To make this game extra special, the winner of the game will be receiving a limited-edition T-shirt commemorating the event and their victory (Donations accepted to help defray the costs). I've attached the T-shirt pattern. Hope to see you on the gridiron!

P.S. I made up that part about Adam running away to the circus. I'm sure he'll be on top of the Florida real estate development world in just a few short years.


I know the "floating head" look on the T-shirt is a bit weird, so here is a more normal photo of Adam from when we were coaching basketball together.

My son digs vintage clothes

Drew rockin' the Yankees jersey

You'll notice that Drew is wearing a NY Yankees shirt in this picture I took the other night at Baskin Robbins (to celebrate Sam's birthday). The funny thing about this is that I wore the exact same shirt when I was his age! That shirt has got to be at least 20 years old. I was going through some old memories stuff awhile ago and pulled it out and now Drew wears it all the time. Of course, when I wore the shirt my favorite player was Don Mattingly; his favorite Yankee is Derek Jeter.

One more thing: my wife has joined the world of MySpace. See her profile here.

Look who is two today!

Samantha on my lap around six months
Originally uploaded by jaydub624.

Today is Samantha's second birthday. We have had a really nice family day just relaxing, having fun, and being together. I can honestly say that having a daughter is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Here are a few photos from her life.



Sam and me as she turns one.

Sam on her first birthday.

Sam wearing Mom's glasses

My little slugger earlier today (I love the batting glove)

The two-year-old smiles for the camera

I could get used to this...

After working so hard for so long, it feels really, really nice to just relax and not have much of an agenda. On Sunday we had another soccer game for Drew and had Monica over for dinner. On Monday morning I went on a "date" with Samantha to go get new tires on my car. This has been something that has needed to happen for about 6 months, but I just never felt like I had a convenient time to do it. In the afternoon, I took a little cat-nap, played some baseball with Drew and did some yard work (mowed the lawn, fixed a sprinkerhead, etc...) Yesterday evening we had about 4 or 5 classmates over for an informal BBQ. We played a game of Rage and then watched the NBA playoffs and the David Blaine stunt for awhile. Did anyone else watch that David Blaine breath-holdng thing? What a disappointment! He was trying to stay underwater for 9 minutes and he barely made it to 7 minutes. I'm surprised ABC would promote the thing that much if he wasn't really able to do it. This morning I have the highly unpleasant experience of going to the dentist to look forward to. Tomorrow Samantha turns two!!

Weekend Update

My first weekend without school to think about! My sister Julie is down from Portland and we all watched Drew's soccer game today. Last night Monica came over and we watched Spellbound. If you haven't seen this movie, please go rent it and get it at your library. You won't be sorry. It is a hilarious documentary about the National Spelling Bee. Tonight we're going out with a friend from the law school to celebrate his birthday. The weather in Eugene continues to be awesome which is really nice...



Sam is so stylish...


Drew at his soccer game this morning

The last day of the first year...

Well, the blog is called "A glimpse of me..." and so I thought I'd attempt to give you a "glimpse" of what my last day being a 1L was like. I kept a camera in my backpack and tried to take pictures throughout the day. Obviously I missed a few events here and there, but hopefully you'll still be able to get the basic idea of what my day was like. If you click on the pictures it should take you to Flickr, where you can view the larger version.



6:30AM: Arrive at the law school. As you can see, it's not too busy at that early hour.


6:31AM: Take a picture of the entrance of Hayward Field because it looks picturesque.



6:45AM - 8:15AM: Go into a small conference room at the law school and study for awhile prior to my Property Exam.

8:30 - 11:30AM: Take Property Exam


11:45AM: We're done with our exam! Everyone gathers around the printers waiting for their exam to print out.



Right after the exam a bunch of students went out on the lawn behind the law school to start celebrating and enjoying the beautiful weather. That is my buddy CS and I wearing the almost-matching shirts (not coordinated) and yes, that is the DEAN of the law school having a celebratory beer with the students in the bottom picture. Needless to say, all of the students loved seeing her out there.
After hanging out on the lawn for awhile, Missi and I went to a trial at the Federal Courthouse (another long story) and then we went over to Rennie's where there were tons of other students. Here are a few pictures.

Monica, me, Missi, and Ben on the porch at Rennie's

Missi, Kristen, Farron, Monica

Me, Harvey, Monica

Missi and Monica

Missi and Monica are VERY glad to be past the first year of law school.


All in all, it was a great day and it was such a relief to finish up that last exam. I was definitely reminded that exam season is a marathon and not a sprint. Congrats to all of my other classmates for making it through the first year also and, above all, thank you to my AMAZING wife for supporting me throughout my first year of law school.

Crossed the finish line

Well, I/we made it. I finished my last exam yesterday and officially finished my first year of law school. Overall, I feel pretty good about my exam performance, but it's always difficult to predict results since you are competing against your classmates and not just against the professor's expectations.

My plan for yesterday was to take a bunch of pictures and do a "photo diary" entry for the day. I ended up taking quite a few pics and I'll try to post them later today.

Now that school is over, I need to start in on all of the things that I've been neglecting over the past month or so: family time, working out, doing yardwork, car maintenance, calling back friends/family who have left me messages, and replying to emails that have been sitting in my inbox for weeks. Although I've been cleared to begin work whenever I want, I think I'm going to take several weeks off to catch up with the family and relax.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers/support/encouragement during the past 9 months or so. It was, and is, very appreciated.

Pictures will be posted later today or tomorrow!

Been a few days

I know, I know...I haven't posted for a few days. I've been really swamped with studying for exams and just trying to hold on for a few more days until this is all over with. I have my last exam tomorrow, Property, and then I'll try to do a longer re-cap post on Friday or Saturday.

Until then, here was an article I thought was funny.

If you're in Eugene or the Willamette Valley, I hope you're able to get outside and enjoy this awesome weather. I, unfortunately, am cooped up inside the library, but it's supposed to be about 80 again tomorrow.