It Was Terrible, But So Worth It.

Since my return to the blogosphere there has been a lot I have wanted to write about but just didn’t have the time. I still don’t have the time, but I realized that if I let that keep me from blogging, I will never blog. It will be torfeasance 2007 all over agian. All I would ever manage is the weekly music video which, while cool, is not quite what I want this blog to be. So, I've got some catching up to do.

The first thing I wanted to write about but didn’t was the one year anniversary of our move to Barcelona. It was a year ago Jan. 26th that we did the big move out of our apartment. It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Moving at all in Minnesota during January is nuts. But moving extremely large and heavy furniture that, seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-cause-you-got-an-employee-discount, but has been a major pain in the ass the four times you’ve had to move it in the last four years, that's jsut bat-shit insane. Oh and I can't forget to mention the ninety-seven boxes of books. And the boxes of stuff that we moved from Utah but never took out of the moving box in a year and a half of living in Minnesota. Obviously that’s some real crucial stuff.

First we strapped the piano into the trailer to be taken to the in-laws in Marshall. Thank goodness for them and their help. Had we not been able to send the piano with them we would have been really screwed. Next we proceeded to move everything we owned to the vacant small upstairs bedroom at the house of a guy Patty knows through her work. I’m not sure if he knew what he was getting himself into, but he’s a great guy and we lucked out in being able to store our stuff at his place for a very reasonable rate. The scary thing during the move was that we didn’t know how much would fit in the upstairs bedroom. As it turns out most of our stuff, and even some of our furniture, made it in. The room was packed floor to ceiling and wall to wall with boxes, boxes and more boxes – it was pretty crazy. The big furniture took up a pretty sizable space in his garage, and Jay took the couch. All in all it was an exhausting and as I mentioned above, traumatic, experience. I never want to move again. Seriously. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to get a strange hunch that we may be moving again soon. I graduate in May and who knows where we’ll end up?

So, the move was crazy. I wish I had pictures. As bad as it was though, it would have been a whole lot worse if not for our friends and family. And, as bad as it was, it could have been so much worse. We got lucky with the weather. The weekend we moved, coincided with a January thaw here in Minnesota. The daytime high was something around a balmy thirty five-degrees. One week later it was so cold there was talk of cancelling some of the festivities at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul. When it’s so cold there’s talk of cancelling the annual celebration of the snow, cold and ice, that’s pretty bad. It really hit home this year how lucky we got moving last year. We’ve had plenty of well below zero temps with wind-chills down to negative forty. That’s just scary cold. This morning it was five degrees. I walked outside and commented on how warm it was. Only in Minnesota! Tomorrow – the flip side of the move – Barcelona, el chiquito, and El Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes! (with photos.)

For My Valentine

I went a week without blogging but there is a torrent about to be released here at tortfeasance. First, however, here is this week's music video. In honor of Valentine's day and dedicated to mi media naranja. Enjoy.




For those of you (of the four people that might read this) that aren't familiar with Mr. Manu Chao, you should check him out. He's different but definitely awesome. On a personal note, I believe that Manu Chao is the embodiment of Barcelona. This may just be because it was in Barcelona that I became reacquainted with his music. I think its more than that however. Listening to his music, in a very real sense is to experience life in Barcelona. This got me wondering if there are any other musicians who embody or personify places. This goes beyond mere association, like Seattle with Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, etc.) to something more. You tell me folks - are there any musicians, singers, or bands that personify a place for you?

Think About It

Happy Friday! Here is this weeks music video. Enjoy.

February Is For Lovers

This has been a hard week for me. I am hoping that Feb 1 – 14 will be the hardest two weeks of the semester (although I’m sure finals won’t be a walk in the park). I can not possibly do everything I have to for school this week. I won’t go into all the details, but trust me – it’s way too much. All that school work and the accompanying stress makes it hard to focus on or think about anything else. The balanced life I so desperately want and strive for once again merely falls by the way side. No time for exercise, no time for adequate sleep, no time for friends, no time for hobbies or interest, no time for art, books, news or anything else outside of law school. I really shouldn't be writting this blog right now. In addition to all of that fun, I am conducting an on-going job-search in a flooded market - just as the country plunges into recession. On top of that my grandma died on Tuesday and I can’t afford, in terms of either money or time, to go to Utah for the funeral tomorrow. Tough times to say the least.

Even though things are extremely difficult right now I take consolation in the fact that I have a lot of good things in my life. I have great friends, who always welcome me back despite my complete inability to keep in touch. Overall, I am in pretty good health, even if law-school is taking its toll. I have a treasure trove of happy memories to fall back on during tough times. Most importantly I have a wonderful wife who is my rock and anchor throughout everything. She reminds me that life is so much more than the current crisis I feel is about to swallow me whole. We have been through a lot in the last year. Challenges and adventures of all kinds. One of the most important things I learned last year was that together Patty and I are greater than the sum of our parts. Life happens but by relying on each other and remembering what we really want out of life we get through it. Next week will be the four year anniversary of our engagement. Tonight as I grapple with doubts about whether or not I'm going to make it through the next eight days I am so glad I made that decision to ask Patty to marry me – and so glad that she said yes.

BLOG REVIVAL

Winter can't be far

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Today was a great day. Waffles for breakfast, first in line at the box office when Damien Rice tickets went on sale for his concert next month, and other good stuff. This afternoon we went and walked and played in the park with Harper. I also took the above photo. It was suprisingly warm. By which I mean 55 degrees. A beautiful fall day. When you live in Minnesota, you have to savor days like today. You never know what day is going to be the last nice day of the year. It wasn't today - it's supposed to be nice again tomorrow. I enjoyed taking a few photos and later began playing with photo shop.

Today in Evidence Class

The following actually happened - it is a verbatim exchange that took place today in my evidence class.

After reading an example problem from the casebook where a plaintiff testifies in a defamation case about an incident where the defendant, in a public setting, made a statement that the plaintiff was a cheat.

Evidence Professor: Is this hearsay?

2L Student: Yes!

Evidence Professor: Why?

2L Student: Uhhh...All I care about is that my answer is authoritative.


P.S. If you're wondering if our 2L was both authoritative and correct - sadly, he was not. And no, the 2L mentioned above was not me - but I wish it had been.

The City I Live In...The City of Lakes

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In 1818 Duncan Graham, a fur trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company, remarked, “I have given the place where I am the name of Hell on Earth as I can find no other name more becoming.” The place where he was? Today, it’s known as Minneapolis.

Located in the Southeast portion of the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis sits along the banks of the Mississippi River. The official nickname is actually not “Hell on Earth,” but rather “City of Lakes.” If you want to know why, try scheduling a flight into Minneapolis at sunset. Its name, “Minneapolis” was taken from the Dakota word for water – Minne, and the Greek word for city – polis. Even though its official nickname is "City of Lakes," it is often referred to as Mill City. For more about that you should visit this place.

Anyways, this place is really growing on me – it’s “not too bad” as many Minneapolitans (I’m serious, that’s what they’re called) like to say. I think everyone should come for a visit. But beware, the winters are a wee bit on the cold side. Of all U.S. major metropolitan cities the Twin Cities metro area has the coldest annual mean temperature of 45.46 F. There are definitely four distinct seasons. For more facinating info click here.


In my next post: After the first snow fall of the year tomorrow morning and an over-night low in the 20s tonight, I'll complain incessantly and wonder why I didn't attend law school in Arizona.