Ya'll Should Come Visit

Ok, so once again I let too much time lapse since my last post. So much has happened - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, the Sugar Bowl (woot - woot!), the inauguration etc., and yet things with me are so much the same. Still looking for a job with not much to show for it. I did decide to make a fresh start with the new year and try to make the best of my current situation. So far mixed results. Part of the problem has been the cold. See illustration above - click on second picture. That's right, your eyes do not deceive you, it says -22 and feels like -38. What does -38 feel like? Effing cold. Real effing cold. Why the hell did I (or anyone else) ever come to live in this god foresaken place cold. We started having car trouble (car not starting after sitting overnight in the cold) just before Christmas. I replaced our battery but the problem persisted. I took the car to the shop and told them "Just figure out what the problem is and fix it." Essentially handing the mechanic a blank check and an invitation to take me to the cleaners. After extensive testing which included leaving our car overnight so they could "simulate the conditions" they concluded that there was nothing wrong with our car. Still the problem persisted. The car wouldn't start until the temperature got into the double digits above zero. This was one thing when the car not starting in the morning ment a delay of a few hours, but a completely different matter when the temperature was not going to get to the crucial range for a period of days. We saw the problem coming and knew that once it wouldn't start we would either have to get it towed to the shop where they could then start it in the warmth of the garage and tell us nothing is wrong with our car or we could wait carless for five or six days for the temperature to move back into the low single digits above zero. Neither of those options seemed feasible so we opted for choice C - me getting up in the middle of the night to start the car and warm the engine. It was a long week.
I don't think I can face another winter like this without a garage. I may not want to face another winter like this period. I have looked into waiving into the bar in other states. So far I found out that I did well enough on the bar exam that I can waive into the Washington D.C. bar. As of tomorrow I will expand my job search to include D.C. I am even considering taking another bar exam in July. The economy sucks everywhere but some places are better than others. Utah is still home and ultimately probably where we'll end up. I'm just grateful that thanks to Patty's job, deferment options and interest only payments on my students loans I haven't been forced to take a job at my local Mc'Donalds...yet.

But seriously, ya'll should come visit. There's really nothing like a Minnesota winter.

Things I Hate

1. That bitch on the bus.

2. Wind Chill.

3. BYU Football.


I am super excited/anxious for the big game tomorrow. I openly admit that I am way more emotionally invested in this game than I or anyone else has any business in being. I blame too much free time on my hands. I spend a lot of time job searching but I still have a lot of free time, and rather than using it for something constructive, say getting my learn on, or working out, I just find things to distract me. First it was the election and this week it has been the Utah - BYU football game. I have read every article and most of the comments to those articles in both the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune. However the best article about the rivalry was from today's Denver Post. And no, I don't typically read the Denver post - I don't have that much free time on my hands - I came across it in the comment section of a SL Trib article. I could probably add to that list of things I hate the Mtn. television network. I am just thankful that I found a place that carries the station here in Minnesota. A rivalry match-up between two top twenty teams should not be found exclusively on some dinky hard to get station - this is ridiculous. After the game tomorrow I will have to come up with a new fixation. Any suggestions? Maybe I'll just double up on the finding employment fixation. I've joked about going into bankruptcy law - but that joke is becoming less and less funny as the economy continues to tank. Hmmm...

In other news - from the something you don't see everyday department, I saw something crazy the other day. I was walking the four blocks home from the local Caribou Coffee, when I glanced across the street and saw a large bird. Large birds are not unusual in are neighborhood - we see a lot of ducks and geese and a fair number of hurons. This however was a large bird of prey. Some type of hawk if you want to be specific. I crossed the street to get a better look. It was just chillin on the grass about ten feet from the street. It had killed something and was enjoying a late afternoon snack. At first I assumed it was a squirrel but as I got closer I could see that it had actually killed and was snacking on some type of bird. It was not too bothered by me and I was actually able to get within about six feet of it. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but unfortunately my phone is not really state of the art. Here is what I got:



Sorry if you have to squint to see it - it's the best I could do.



And last but not least here is your Friday music video:




Have a good weekend.

That was quick

Boy - time flies! I wish I had more to show for the time since I last blogged. I have applied for a couple of jobs, no interviews...yet. We also went and saw Amos Lee last week - it was a great show.
This is not from the concert we were at but it gives you the general idea.



Other than that not much going on. So I guess I'll have to do what we do here in Minnesota when we don't have anything to talk about - which is most of the time - and talk about the weather.

Last week was the transition to winter. The are few things in life as depressing as the start of a Minnesota winter. At least we are easing our way into it. Although you know something is wrong when it is 25 degrees when you walk outside in the morning, and you think to yourself, "hmmm...not too bad." The cold is starting to creep in but no serious snow yet. I think we are going to have to take a trip someplace warm this winter. Damn, I really need to find a job.

Friday Roundup

1. HOW BOUT THEM UTES?






Last night Patty and I met up with a couple of other alums/fans and managed to watch the game. What a game! There was a large portion of luck that went into winning this one (two missed field goals in the 4th quarter by TCU) but, as the saying goes, "I am a big believer in luck, and I have found that the harder I work the more of it I have." TCU was a great team and came to play. It took everything Utah had, including home field advantage, the blackout and intensity of the crowd to get the win, but the Utes deserve credit for hanging in there and pulling out the win. That last drive was clutch!



Four years ago when the Urban took the Utes BCS busting there was talk that it was a "once in a lifetime" season. While this year's team isn't as dominant as that 2004 team they keep on winning. I'm really looking forward to Nov. 22nd against the team down south. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to watch it.

2. Back by popular demand. Well actually nobody demanded it or even really reads this stuff, (besides my wife that is), but here it is none the less - your Friday morning music video. In honor of President-elect Obama, and everyone who rejected the politics of fear and smear to help take our country back:




Have a great weekend!

Breaking News

Continuing with the political theme, from "America's Finest News Source," The Onion:



Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are


More:

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

Failure to Blow Election Stuns Democrats

Click link for full story

The Morning After

Wow what a night!

I was up until very late watching the returns - to no avail. The Franken and Coleman race looks like it's headed for an automatic recount - Coleman having apparently won by a mere 727 votes out of almost 3 million casts, - about .03% of the vote! The Oregon and Alaska races were also unresolved. Overall, it was a great night, but there were also a few significant disappointments.

Here in Minnesota, in addition to Obama not being able to carry Franken to a win, Michele "Joseph McCarthy" Bachmann of Hardball fame was actually reelected. Pretty embarrassing, but thankfully she is not my representative. My representative is Keith Elison - a black Muslim, which tells you how liberal Minneapolis is.

It's looking like Senator Stevens is going to be reelected in Alaska - probably the first time a convicted felon has been reelected to the United States Senate (although I haven't checked).

By far however, the most disappointing result of the night was the approval of prop. 8 in California. That a state which overwhelmingly favored the election of the first African American POTUS, choose to deny a group of people important rights and privileges enjoyed by the rest of society based on an inherent condition is disappointing to say the least. I have yet to hear a coherent argument that explains how allowing same sex couples to have the same rights and privileges granted to my wife and I would threaten or demean my marriage. On a night in which all Americans can celebrate how far we have come we were reminded that we still have a ways to go.

Indeed, one of the thing that I find most striking about the debate over same sex marriage we have been having in this country over the past few election cycles is how closely it mirrors the debate we had in this country fifty years ago over interracial marriage. On one side there were those arguing that people should not be denied the basic civil right of marriage based on the color of their skin. On the other side were those trying to protect "traditional marriage." They argued that god had created and segregated the races and it was essentially a sin to allow interracial marriage. Then, as now, my church, the LDS Church, was an active participant in the debate. For example, here is an excerpt from a speech given by Mark E. Peterson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in August of 1954 at a Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level at BYU:

"Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy those things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that segregation? It reminds me of the scripture on marriage, "what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Only here we have the reverse of the thing -- what God hath separated, let not man bring together again."

Eventually, the issue of the legality of interracial marriage was resolved in 1967, by the landmark Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia. The case involved a black woman and white man who had married in Washington D.C. but were living in Virginia. At the time there were statutes in Virginia (and other states) that prohibited marriage between whites and blacks (usually anyone either 1/8, 1/16 or more). Here is a quote from that case,

"Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival...To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without the due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

One of the most under-reported aspects of yesterday's presidential election was the Supreme Court. McCain had committed to appointing Justices like Alito and Roberts, which would have produced a dramatic and tragic shift from the current center-right Court to an extreme right Court. While it is always preferable that people simply not use religion to excuse bigotry, I am thankful that our system of government, especially our judicial system is designed to protect the rights of minorities - ethnic and otherwise. I look forward to the day when bans on same sex marriage are viewed the same way the vast majority of Americans would now view a ban on interracial marriage.

Two months after Loving v. Virginia was decided, Barack Obama, the child of an interracial marriage, turned six years old. Last night he was elected 44th President of the United States. While the passage of prop. 8 in California was disappointing, there is hope.

President Elect Obama!!!

It's not official (yet) but there is no way Mccain is going to win this!!!

UPDATE!!!

WEST COAST JUST CAME IN - IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

TEARS OF JOY ARE BEING SHED IN THE DAY HOUSE TONIGHT!!!

About Damn Time

So I will try this whole blogging thing one more time. Hopefully the third time's the charm.

So, since I last wrote a lot has happened. I graduated from law school, took and passed the bar, and was sworn in as a lawyer. I've also spent a lot of time looking for a job and some time campaigning. I've been pretty anxious today - we voted this morning - went off without a hitch - basically no line. I then went and knocked some doors to try and drag some people to the polls. It helped passed the time - the waiting for results is killing me! I'll try some live blogging.

More later!

UPDATE

Just called Minnesota for Obama! Woo-Hoo!

We were supposed to be more of a swing state this year but I don't think it will be that close. The Senate Race with Al Franken and Norm Coleman may be very close. I'm not a huge Franken fan, but I want the Dems to have as large a majority as possible. I predict the Dems will have 57-58 seats in the senate - and I would say there is at least a 50% chance Liberman will no longer cacaus with the democrats.

Obama needs to flip a red state!

Where are you Virginia? I think Colorado will come through - but I don't want to wait for it.

UPDATE

IT"S OVER!

Obama just won Ohio!!!

I think he's going to take Florida as well.

As shitty as it was in 2004 to go and campaign in Colorado only to see Kerry loose despite the exit polls - this makes up for everything!

I am happy and proud beyond words!


UPDATE

The best news yet - Obama is up in Utah - pay no attention to the 0% reporting - even if its very temporary, I can feel like my people are not a bunch of ignoramuses.


Click on the above graphic for a larger version.