New Quiz

I saw this interesting “Love Languages” quiz on my sister’s site. My results are available, with my other quiz results, on the “About the Author” page to your left.

New Quiz

I was a bit of a D&D dork when I was a kid, and my brother pointed out a cool quiz: what D&D character are you. It is on the “About the Author” page with other quizzes for those interested.

Here Comes the Sun

Over the winter, I took to jumping in the pool when I got frustrated. It started sometime in December when I was working on my Moot Court brief. It’s been a rough semester, so I continued it. I must’ve jumped in the pool 50 times over the last couple months–just a quick jump, and glide to the other end letting the frigid shock run down my spine. I’d climb out the steps, shiver as I toweled off, and feel much better.

Now the shock–well it isn’t a shock. It’s more of a . . . startle. February is hardly over, and there’s diminishing returns everywhere. It’s going to be a long summer.

Bursting with Pride

I know every parent thinks their kids are brilliant, but sometimes I have to wonder. This is an actual conversation I had with Connor (my oldest son) tonight. As a backdrop, we were watching a History Channel special on the seven wonders of the world.

Connor: Are they talking about petroglyphs?

Dad: I think so. What are petroglyphs?

Connor: It’s writing carved in rocks a long, long time ago.

Dad: WOW! That’s exactly what petroglyphs are, how do you know that?

Connor: It’s one of my spelling words.

Dad: Do you always learn what your spelling words mean?

Connor: Yes, but we learn other words too. Like “typical” means what usually happens.

Dad: So you have vocabulary words too?

Connor: How did you know what they’re called?

Dad: We had vocabulary words when I was in school too.

Connor: Were there dinosaurs when you were in school.

Dad: Ha ha. Yeah, there were a few.

Connor: Na uh. ’cause then you’d be extinct.

Dad: Were there sharks when there were dinosaurs

Connor: Yes

Dad: Are they extinct?

Connor: No

Dad: Then why would I have to be extinct if I went to school with Dinosaurs?

Connor: Dad, Sharks were in the water when the asteroids hit and the lava came, so the rocks and lava couldn’t hurt them.

Dad: Crocodiles live on land most of the time.

Connor: Some must have been in the water when the lava came, so some of them survived. People used to live in the water too until some came on land and grew legs.

Dad: Do you learn this stuff in school.

Connor: Some of it, but there was a show about Earth a long time ago when you let me stay up late and watch the Discovery channel last week.

There you have it. Who says kids shouldn’t stay up late, and who says television rots the brain? I wish I was that smart!

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth — more than ruin — more even than death…. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.”
–Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)

The Semester from Hell

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. I’ll try to get some pictures in the pictures section soon.

I know it’s an excuse, but I’ve been crazy-buzy. A little snapshot of a typical week:

Monday: Leave the house at 6:30 am to get to the Capitol by 7:30, work until 5:00 and go to campus for Moot Court practice (6:00 – 9:00)

Tuesday: Try to get my reading done before class, class from 12:00 to 5:30, Moot Court from 5:30 – 9:00

(As you can see, my family pretty much doesn’t even see me on Mondays and Tuesdays)

Wednesday: Back to work at the capital from 7:30-4:30, Soccer practice for COnnor from 5:45 – 7:00. Wednesday is another day where I don’t see Zeph while he’s awake.

Thursday: More reading, class, and trying to put a dent Journal work. At least I finally get home before Zeph goes to bed

Friday: Work all day on Journal. I have to find some way to get a 20 hours of Journal work done per week.

With all that work during the week, I try to reserve my weekends for my family. It works most of the time.

But at least I’m learning a lot. At my job, I’ve gotten to draft a couple of Bills and an Amendment, including some work on Arizona’s State Guest Worker Program. This weekend, my brother and I will be heading to Houston to compete on ASU Law’s team at the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. In addition, I’ve been nominated as Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona State Law Journal. Elections will be held next week and I’ll try to keep you posted.

In the meantime, I’m anxiously awaiting Spring Break, by which time most of my Journal work will be done, I will know if I will be next year’s Editor-in-Chief, and we will know if our Moot Court team will be competing at Nationals.

Cheers,

Spencer

Gods don’t like people not doing much work. People who aren’t busy all the time might start to think.
–Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

Newsworthy October

So I’m sorry I haven’t written in quite some time. I don’t remember if I let you know back in August that I made Law Journal, but it has since become the soul-sucker. When I’m not working on my Comment, I’m shut in the dungeon (the law journal offices are in the basement) checking seemingly endless citations on nightmarish articles. It’s helping me with my writing skills though, and I have the chance to publich my Comment if I do well enough. Probably the best part, though, is I’m pretty sure that being on Law Journal helped me get a job.

Oh, yeah, I have a job lined up for the Summer. It’s with a national firm called Greenberg Traurig. It’s a fabulous firm, and I’m not just saying that because they had the good sense to offer me job. The thing that impressed me the most in the interview process was that they hooked me up with several attorneys in the Real Estate department when I told them I was interested in Real Estate law. It should be a great experience, and I’m really looking forward to the Summer.

Before the Summer, though, I recently found out I’ve been accepted for a legislative internship. I’ll be working with the legislative council doing legal research throughout the Spring. The legislative council is resposible for helping both political parties draft bills, and I should get to help with that too, although I’ll probably be doing more amendments than full bills. One of the perks is that I get to sit in the legislative chambers when Governor Napolitano gives her State of the State address. That should be interesting. It’s going to be a very busy Spring, but it’ll be another great learning experience.

This year is shaping up to be full of such experiences. I don’t think I’ll ever regret going to law school, no matter what hapens after graduation, just because of all I’ve learned since coming here. Anyhow, I’ll try to do better at posting updates.

On a more personal note, the photos section has Zephyr’s one-year photos, now. Let us know if you want any prints, and what size you want. There’s also a few of both the boys together. Zephyr is just not as much of a camera hound as Connor was, though, so it’s hard to get a decent photo of him. Enjoy.

Spence

The Golden Compass Movie

Hey all. There’s another fantasy movie out, and it’s website has a nifty little quiz to see who your daemon (animal guide) is. The cool part is that your friends can answer questions about you, and your daemon changes accordingly. I’m not sure mine fits me very well, so if you don’t mind, take a few minutes to answer a few questions. The link is below.

Pod Children

This post is a response to all those people who keep saying that as Zephyr gets older, he looks less and less like Connor. Now I’ll grant that they’re personalities are quite different, but they still look really similar. Below are pictures of them both at about 10 months. Zephyr is the one with the hair. Plus his pictures are clearer because we didn’t have a digital camera when Connor was a baby (thanks, Daniel!). The two right on top of each other (if yours looks like mine) where Connor is in the tub, is especially eerie Enjoy!!