A round of applause please...

Originally posted over on that other blog I write for:

###

So, we’re getting down to the last few classes of the semester. I’ve been pretty remiss about posting on here since I’ve been distracted by finals prep and a job search, but I was thinking today about a weird little tradition that I always find very cool.

Here at U of O, on the last day of class, right before the end of the class period, the professor usually makes a few “closing remarks” along the lines of: "It’s been a real pleasure to teach all of you this past semester, and I wish you the best on the exam and into the future…”

And then (this is the part that I really like) everyone bursts out in a spontaneous round of applause for the professor. It’s sort of a sign of appreciation from the students to the professor for guiding them through the legal morass of, say, Commercial Law, and it is one of those “warm fuzzy” moments that we all experience from time to time. It’s a unique tradition that I’m definitely looking forward to.

Did any of my fellow bloggers have this experience at undergrad? I never did, but I went to a pretty small, subdued, private liberal arts college. Maybe it’s just a large state school thing?

This Morning's Note From Drew

Click to enlarge.

Going into hibernation

A message to the three people that check my blog on a regular basis: With finals starting in about a week, don't expect many (or any) updates for awhile.

Can't keep up with the Joneses, er...Zimels

Just when I thought that we had an awesome Christmas tree hunting experience, I had to read the Zimel's blog to see that they got to see a just-born baby goat being licked and cleaned by its mother at the tree farm in Texas. Some people just have all the luck!

Anyway, even though we didn't get to explain animal husbandry to Drew, we DID have a great time tree-hunting. I knew the day was off to a good start when I only missed the turn to the "tree patch" (Sam's word) by about a mile and we were able to locate our tree without a flashlight (unlike last year, when we were tromping through the woods in pitch darkness).

Here are some pictures:


Sam and I are searching for the perfect tree

Our little princess

Drew appropriately dressed in camo just in case we were to come under enemy fire



The obligatory self-portrait

I think this should be a new competition on World's Strongest Man - Who can lug a Christmas tree uphill for what felt like 3 miles?

Mission Accomplished

The Christmasification of our house is nearly complete

Man, it was good to see this guy...

Dave Lloyd and I lived together in the dorms for about 4 months at George Fox. Despite this short time living together, I still consider Dave to be one of my best friends. Unfortunately, the allure of sunny San Diego caused him to move south a few years ago, but I got to see him on Friday as he was "home" for Thanksgiving. The good news is that he is thinking about moving back to Portland next summer!



Yes, that is a shadow of my hand holding up the camera. Very classy.

Is it weird to be excited about a vacuum cleaner?

Over the weekend I borrowed a friend's Dyson vacuum cleaner and WOW. I'm a believer. That thing is amazing. Those of you who have met our dog Zeke have probably come away with a few pieces of dog hair as a souvenir. Contrary to what we originally thought we were getting, we definitely have a dog who sheds A LOT. Unfortunately, our Hoover or Bissell middle-of-the-road vacuum cleaner is absolutely worthless for getting the hair off the carpet. We've had to purchase this rubber carpet "rake" thing that works well but takes a really long time. I was lamenting about this situation to a friend who owns two huge dogs, and he told me that he bought a Dyson awhile ago and that it picks up everything. He encouraged me to borrow it, and after putting him off for a few weeks, I finally borrowed it yesterday.

I was so blown away by what that thing picked up that I had to take some photos:



Note: This is after vacuuming a very small area (i.e., 12' x 12')

I'm not sure whether the purchase of a Dyson is in the budget right at this very moment, but I will definitely be acquiring one of these amazing machines at some point in the future.

The Ducks and Dennis Dixon

Ever since Thursday night I've been thinking about what to post here about the Ducks' tough loss to the Arizona Wildcats. But even more disappointing is the injury to Dennis Dixon, who emerged this year as a terrific leader and Heisman Trophy front-runner. This photo says a lot about the emotions he was feeling Thursday night.



Upon contemplation, I've decided that I really don't have the time or energy to fully describe all of my thoughts on the loss of Dixon, the Ducks' dashed national title hopes, or where we go from here. So much has already been written on these subjects. I'll just refer those who are interested to Duck Sports News or R-G writer Rob Moseley's blog.

This is pretty hilarious

Drew brought home his school pictures yesterday. On picture day a few weeks ago, I had conscientiously sent him to school wearing a light blue polo shirt. I thought the color would look good in the photos and the collared shirt looked nice. So, you can imagine my surprise when I took a look at the school picture that he brought home (not great quality because it is a picture of a picture):



He decided to wear his "awesome" military-type bomber jacket (complete with all of his various patches) in the photo! You can barely even see the light-blue shirt that I purposely dressed him in! Even though the photo isn't really what I had expected, I thought it was a very accurate depiction of our son and his interests.

Here comes basketball season!

Football season is still in full swing but the Oregon Ducks basketball team kicked off their season this past weekend with a 3-game tournament. Drew and I went to the games on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and we had a great time. It wasn't too crowded so we were able to get really good seats and two of the three games were actually pretty close. Once the Pac-10 games are underway, it will be real tough to get Drew in to the games so it's fun that we can go to these early season games.


This is what happens when I turn the camera over to Drew - we get a picture of his toy F-15.

Another photo by Drew.

Tajuan Porter shooting free throws

Malik Hairston goes up for a reverse dunk against Western Michigan

Sort of a big deal...

That last post on ESPN GameDay was the 200th post I've added to this blog.

ESPN GameDay

A few weeks ago, ESPN GameDay visited Eugene for the UO-ASU football game. This was the second time GameDay has been out to Eugene this year, which is significant because the program hardly ever travels to the same school twice in the same season! Drew had really, really wanted to go to the game with us, but for a variety of reasons it wasn't going to work so I decided to wake up early and take him to the GameDay set. The hope was that he'd get some of the same "feel" of the experience by taking him to the set even if he couldn't actually attend the game. The program goes on the air at 7:00AM, but I have little doubt that there were people staking out their positions around 3 or 4 in the morning (if not earlier). With the darkness and the fog the whole atmosphere was a bit surreal, and there were signs everywhere. I'd estimate that there were several thousand fans out at the set. Here are a few pictures:


Drew still looks a bit groggy

You can see the set in the distance in this photo. They have a big screen set up alongside the actual set so that the crowd can see what is actually being broadcast.

Whew! What a whirlwind few weeks...

It’s hard to believe that two weeks has passed since I last posted a blog entry. I feel like the days have just been flying by lately. Here is a recap of the past few weeks:

- I’ve been spending a lot of time interviewing for post-law school jobs. This has meant multiple trips to Portland, flying to Seattle for an interview, writing dozens of follow-up thank you letters, etc…I am thankful in that I have several pending job offers from various firms, but I am still waiting to hear from several other employers. I am attempting to hold off on answering the firms who have extended offers to me until I hear back from all of the places I am interested in. I am not generally one prone to hyperbole, but this whole experience has been among the most stressful I’ve ever encountered. I think the stress is a result of several factors: First, this is a high-stakes game. This decision will determine where we will be living next year, and has potentially long-term consequences. Second, there are multiple “pressure points” in play. In other words, as I receive pressure from the firms who want an answer, I need to gently apply pressure to those firms who I haven’t heard from yet. I will be really, really glad when this whole ordeal of a job hunt is over.

- had to take a Federal Taxation midterm last week. It was my first midterm of law school, and I feel OK about how it went. It was a good preview for the unpleasant finals season that we are about to enter (i.e., late nights at the law school studying).

- Halloween was fun for all of us. Drew was a soldier and Sam dressed up as a bunny. I’d post some pictures, but our trusty ‘ol camera is dying a slow death. Missi and I dressed up as Eugene-specific characters. There are some really, really bad TV commercials down here for local car lots and we dressed up as the stars for those commercials. She was the “Kiefer Kia Princess” and I was “Larry Massey” from Massey Auto Wholesale. If you want to see some of the genius of the Massey commercials, visit this site. We trick-or-treated just around our neighborhood with the kids and some of our friends who live nearby. Although we didn’t get a chance to attend the always-awesome law school Halloween party (Sam got sick), we did go to a really fun Halloween party at our friend’s house.




- I’m deeply involved in a complex fraud case that our office is taking to trial in about three weeks. This means a lot of projects are being handed my way. Yesterday I was writing jury instructions and preparing verdict forms.

- I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it yet, but the Oregon Ducks have a really, really good football team. It has been pretty awesome for Missi and I to attend the games against USC and ASU over the past two weekends. Missi and I were on the front page of The Daily Emerald, the University's daily paper a few days ago. Here is the photo that appeared: see if you can find us.



- Drew’s soccer team plays in their final jamboree this weekend. The team is undefeated and I think the goals-for/against ratio is probably about 159 – 8 for the season. They are so good that they could win every game by about 20 goals if we (the coaches) wanted them to. Usually we have to “pull back the reins” just to avoid running up the score.

- Looks like Missi may be in Austin next week for a few days. She has a flight voucher from American Airlines for "bumping" her from a flight and she is trying to use it to visit Amber-Rose for a few days.