So when does the boring part begin?

[Author's Note: This is actually a post that I wrote for Life at Law, a blog hosted by the University of Oregon Admissions Office. I'm one of the student bloggers that they actually pay to blog from time to time. I usually use a lot of random links to photos in those postings, so you'll probably recognize that in this post.]

You’ve probably heard the old adage about law school:
“The first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death, and the third year they bore you to death.” Now, the purpose of this post isn’t to analyze the accuracy of the first and second year characterizations, but I’m really wondering when the “bore you to death” part is going to kick in. If nothing else, I feel like I’m working harder than ever.

Part of this is that I’m taking a pretty heavy load of classes. I would prefer to take a lighter load, but I’m quickly realizing that there are too many classes I want to take and not enough time to take all of them (this is a realization that would’ve been helpful when I registered for my second-year classes). There are a few classes that they highly recommend you take in preparation for the bar exam. In other words, you shouldn’t save them for your Barbri bar prep class. These include classes like Fed Tax, Trusts and Estates, Admin Law, Commercial Law, Criminal Investigation, etc…The problem is that these classes, while tremendously important, aren’t nearly as interesting to me. I would prefer to take those seminar classes that tend to be smaller in size and have a more discreet focus. Alas, there just isn’t enough time to take the interesting seminar classes and the necessary “bar classes.” This semester I’m taking Commercial Law, Fed Tax, Mergers & Acquisitions, and White Collar Crime. It could be argued that M & A is a seminar-type class, but it’s an area of business law I’m really interested in. White Collar Crime definitely isn’t a bar class, but it is taught by one of the attorneys I work for and it is one of the most popular classes at the school. After two weeks of class, I can see why my classmates have spoken so highly of it. I’m also trying to take a heavier load this fall so that I can take it easy this spring. I’m anticipating a lot of other distractions this spring – I have to sell my house, I’d like to help coach my son’s baseball team, and there is this small pop quiz called the bar exam that will be looming.

Another reason why I’m feeling harried is that I have had a lot of journal stuff going on. There are definitely pros and cons of journal membership, but overall it has been a really positive experience for me. The past few weeks I’ve had to organize our new-member orientation. Once that was over, I had to sign 978 letters and stuff them into envelopes. The letter invited formal journal members to a reception we’re hosting in a few weeks.

And there is that challenging process of looking for a job. I won’t describe all of the intricacies of writing cover letters, submitting resumes, etc…but suffice it to say that it takes a lot of time.

At this rate, I’ll be glad when I start to feel bored.

This was funny...

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Missi showed this to me last night. Probably not that surprising if you saw the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance," but funny nonetheless.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our good friends Ryan and Shellie on the birth of their son Landen! He was welcomed by his pround parents last Tuesday evening.

We took some dinner over to them tonight and we were able to see their new addition while he was wide awake. Apparently another good time to see him wide awake is around 3:00AM. Congratulations to the Melvins!





Look at Sam's expression in this photo. What is that?

The Melvin family

I love it when a plan comes together...

For most of the year, these blackberries are the bane of my existence. They are rooted in my neighbor’s yard and they have a Houdini-like quality to grown over, under, and through the fence separating our yards. Usually I am always trying to cut them back, but for a few weeks out of the year they reap some awesome berries.


So start with these….


Then do this (maybe add some blueberries)…

And then you’ll have this: Fresh berry crisp


MMMMMMM…

Golfing with Drew

I took Drew golfing this morning and there were a few events of note:

1.I lost two balls in the water. My seven-year-old son only lost one. Probably says something about my game.

2.I probably beat him in overall strokes, but my son is pretty good. He was around double-bogies on most holes (this was a par 3 course), and if he could learn to putt, he’d cut down on a lot of strokes – sounds like his old man.

3.Quotes from Drew:

“Dad, is that a crocodile in that pond over there? I think that is a crocodile? I’m gonna go hit him with my golf club.”

A plane flies really low overhead (the course is right next to the airport) and Drew hits a really high drive off the tee box. He turns to me and starts laughing, “I tried to hit the plane with my ball!” Yes, that’s my son, trying to bring down a jet with his golf ball.

Great website for sports news

If you’re a fan of collegiate athletics (and seriously, who isn’t?) I have a new website for you:

www.oregonsportsnews.com

The guys who are starting this site also have similar sites for the Beavers, Huskies, Cougars, and BSU Broncos. Check it out!

Lauren's wedding

Here are a few pictures from Lauren and Jeffrey’s wedding in Ocean Park, Washington. Lauren is Missi’s step-sister (Step-dad Fred’s daughter). We drove up Friday night and back to Eugene on Saturday. A LOT of time on the road.

Suttle Lake

Text to be added...

Saw The Bourne Supremacy last night...

Here's what I thought of the movie:

Golfing with Missi

Mark your calendars for flag football

If you are in the Portland area and want to play some flag football, we're having a game on Saturday, September 22. Email me for more details: jwilso11 AT uoregon DOT edu

Guys Weekend 2007 - Sunday

We all woke up Sunday walking a bit stiffly, the result of our climb the previous day. Jesse and Sean cooked up some delicious blueberry pancakes and lil' smokies for breakfast, and then we began to break camp. After getting all packed up, Craig led us in a devo that focused on waiting on Him. It was pretty awesome to sit in a sun-bathed alpine meadow with most (not all!) of your closest friends in the world and reflect on the incredible beauty that surrounded us. As you are out in the wilderness, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that we all are, on our own, insignificant and cannot survive without assistance.





After this time of quiet contemplation, what would anyone else want to do but shoot a firearm!? Using a refried beans can as a target, we channeled our inner Jack Bauer and "squeezed off a few rounds" (key phrase from the weekend). I think the consensus was that Jeff and Jesse (shocker) were the real marksmen among us.



After shooting for awhile, we wrestled our heavy packs onto our backs and headed back to the trailhead. For the most part, the hike out was uneventful other than the fact that there was a lot of hiker traffic and we were stopped by a VERY talkative Forest Service employee who wanted to go into excruciating detail describing his backpacking gear.

Here we are back at the trailhead after a successful hike out:



Aside from a few cuts, bruises, and dozens of mosquito bites, we managed to come away from the weekend relatively intact. It was a great weekend of bonding with friends and pushing our bodies beyond the normal sedentary existences that most of us live. I have dozens more pictures beyond those I've posted here - just leave me a comment if you want to see them. Something that I think all of us who were on the trip realized is that we need to organize things like this more often. We're already thinking and talking about where the next adventure will lead us.

Guy's Weekend 2007 - Saturday

On Saturday, most of the guys slept in 'til around 8:00, and then we started prepping for the climb. From what I had heard and read, South Sister would be a strenuous, uphill climb, but wouldn't contain anything really technical or dangerous. This was the primary reason I selected this mountain to summit. Here we are getting ready to head out (thanks to the self-timer on the camera).

Unfortunately, we ended up taking a very difficult route up about half the mountain, and as a result we had to climb up some very steep rock cliffs for awhile. We learned first hand the old climbing adage that "It all comes down to the route." We dodged falling boulders that were kicked loose from other climbers, and definitely had a taste of real adventure. I think the difficult route we took was the result of a trail that had been covered with snow. Since the glacier covered our trail, we had to "improvise," and that made things much more dicey.

Here is Jesse fertilizing some of the greenery:

Here is a picture taken on our way up:

Here is Craig attempting to navigate the more technical portion of the climb:

If you look very, very carefully in this picture, you can see a white speck in the middle of the picture. This is where Jesse and Sean had climbed ahead. This picture gives a pretty good sense of the type of terrain we faced:

However, after a lot of climbing we all made it to the top. It felt great to accomplish the feat and the view from the top was amazing.



The picture above shows Middle and North Sister from the top.


Here is a short video(no sound) taken from the top. When I zoom in on the lake near the end of the video, I was just trying to focus on where our campsite was.



On the way down, we covered several thousand feet of elevation in just a few minutes as we "glissaded" down a huge glacier. Basically this means that we either attempted to "ski" on our shoes down or some of the guys just sat down and slid right to the bottom (no pun intended). It was tons of fun and an experience I won't soon forget. Sometimes I think as we grow older we tend to get more serious, so "kid-like" experiences like sliding down a steep, snow-covered hill can be really good for us.






Here is a video (no sound) of Jeff and Brian slip-sliding their way down, and after that I have posted a very choppy video that I shot while I was sliding down. You can see my shadow reflected on the snow as I attempt to hold the camera and keep my balance. It's a wonder that my camera made it back from this trip.





We finally got back to camp around 7:30, meaning that we were hiking/climbing for around 9-1/2 hours, but of course we stopped fairly frequently along the way (especially once we were above 10,000 feet). Brian and I cooked up some chicken fajitas for the hungry hikers and we enjoyed some hot chocolate and great conversation to finish off the day.

Guys Weekend 2007 - Friday

We all met at Jeff's house Friday morning before heading out to Bend. Everything went pretty much according to plan. There were only a few things of note:

1. Missi and I hid Jeff's backpack from him since he left it sitting in his wide-open garage. I think we had him worried for a few minutes.

2. Craig bought a rainbow - yes, that's right - a rainbow-striped headlamp from the clearance bin at GI Joe's.

3. Craig and PQ tried unsuccesfully to dunk on Jeff's hoop.

4. Jeff's earlier prediction to me that, "We're not getting out of town without first stopping at GI Joe's," came true.



[Not sure why this picture won't rotate...I fixed it on my computer, but Blogger isn't picking up the rotation. Just turn your head!]

After a stop for lunch in Bend, we finally made it to the Green Lakes trailhead. Although the sign says it is 4-1/2 miles, our actual campsite was around 5-1/2 or 6 miles from the trailhead. Here are some pictures from the hike in.






Once we got to the Green Lakes area, we were met with breathtaking views of South Sister and three beautiful alpine lakes. The rest of Friday was spend setting up camp and eating some delicious stew, compliments of Jeff and Craig.