Junk to do

So I shouldn't even be writing this, but whatever... I got a ton of junk to do, and I'm torn between really wanting to do it well, and just not even caring.
Basically, I have to

• Write a rough draft of a rental contract, due tomorrow @ 5
• Read a bunch of cases for a competition tomorrow & Tuesday
• Start preparing for finals (4 weeks)

What really makes this rough is that the weather is basically just prompting me to go ride my motorcycle all over. 2 more years of this crap.

Spring Break Adventure

This is quite possibly my largest post to date... but an Adventure this size deserves to be told!

So on Thursday last I packed up my T-Ruck and headed off to Cortez Colorado to meet up with some friends and do junk. It was 9 hours to Cortez, and on the way there I passed thru a whole bunch of Indian reservations. (feathers, not dots.) Luckily, despite having nobody riding shotgun, they took neither my scalp nor my women.

In Cortez I met up with Trav & Kel after being hit on at the KOA by a drunk queer. I'm just thankful I didn't put my hatchet thru his jugular. But meeting up with Trav & Kel offset the earlier feelings of retch.



After a freezing cold night at the KOA, we went to 4 Corners, armpit of America, where we got some fry bread and experienced the joy of being in 4 states at once. We then went offroading in T-Rav's Honda Accord (I thought it was hilarious. Kelly, not so much...) followed by dinner in Durango while watching hippies protest the war in Iraq.

While watching the hippies was fun, let me just pause to say that the biggest issue I have with these 'Anti-War' protests is that they accomplish NOTHING. I'm pretty sure 99% of America wants out of Iraq in some form or other. Will walking around with a sign and a smoke help accomplish that? Probably not.

Anyway, back to the adventure. Later that night my friends Shanno & Jenni Prue arrived. We all went to Mesa Verde together & hung out. Then Shannon & Jenni went on to 4 corners, while Trav, Kel & I went to visit the Telluride. After riding about in the Gondola and exploring the town a bit, we left, Trav & Kel started back to Provo, I headed for Durango.

After a fun, pitch black drive over several passes near 11,000 feet and huge dropoffs that were probably better not to see, I arrived in Durango and went to the Resident's Inn, using Marriott Points. Got a good night sleep, drove the rest of the way back to Lubbock today passing thru Santa Fe, NM instead of Albuquerque.

Phew. It was fun - exhausting but fun. I miss hanging out with Trav, Kel, & Shannon as often as I used to. I miss the mountains. I miss the freedom that working provides as opposed to school. Class starts back up on Tuesday, and it's gonna be an intense 7 weeks until finals...

Anway, here's a bullet summary of the trip:

• Passed thru Indian country (feathers) with my scalp attached
  
• Got hit on by a queer
  
• Met up with Trav & Kelly
• Saw Four Corners - ate Fry bread
• Went offroading in a Honda Accord
• Watched a War Protest
• Ate Himalayan food in Durango
• Trav bought Kelly an electric blanket to use while camping
  
• Hunted behind WalMart for pallets to burn
  
• Met up with Shannon & Jenni
• Saw Mesa Verde
• Helped clear a rock slide on the way to Telluride
• Rode a Gondola in Telluride
• Stayed the night in Durango, then drove back to Lubbock.
  

My Brother's Video

Check this out - this is pure cinematic genius. I'm not sure exactly why the video was made, but this is something my brother Jeff made at BYU and I think it's hilarious!

Polar, TX

Having been born about 200 years too late to enjoy true wilderness, I, like many of my friends enjoy looking for the forgotten places that are often nearby. One day, while looking at my map, I was intrigued by Polar TX - there simply aren't that many towns at the 'end of the road,' so to speak.So this morning I decide to take off in my T-Ruck and see what there is to see. Prior to departing I did the requisite search on The Google, which turned up nothing. On my way to Polar I saw some sweet windmills, a live havalina (ferral pig/boar), and somehow a Sobe bottle reached my hand (odd, I know...).

I found Polar, sho 'nuff. Here it is










Basically, I would warn people against ever going to Polar. What if I were dumb and needed gas out there? Or what if I just desired a sandwich or a refreshing Sobe? This map-dot should be erased.
On a plus note, I did take some sweet dirt roads to get back to the highway, instead of the paved road. It's sad that the highlight of the trip was going home.

So I think I have a summer job

So I've heard back from L3 Corporate that they'll be making me an offer for a summer internship in Dallas. Hopefully I'll get to do some traveling with the job too... but it sounds like it's gonna be paid and for the entire summer, so that'll be good. Plus, it's dealing with intellectual property, so it'll be great experience for my eventual career.

I'm pretty lucky on this - yeah, I've been working on doing this pretty much since last August, so it didn't just happen overnight or out of the blue, but most first year law students struggle to find a job, much less a paying one in the field they're going into.

My other option was to be a field engineer for the summer, possibly go to Iraq or Afghanistan & make tons of money. This will be a more lasting influence - when I was a teenager I remember I had the opportunity to dig swimming pools one summer or make a lot less money in an air conditioned lab doing electrical engineering stuff. In the long run the EE stuff made me way more money, and I think this will be pretty much the same deal.
Hopefully it all works out...

I am Legend

So I thought I Am Legend to be a pretty sweet movie. Of course, I am partial to apocalyptic movies, but I thought it better than average. What would have made it really good? I dunno, how'bout the hero not committing suicide? How about he fight to the end if he has to?

An alternate ending has been posted online - whoever opted not to use this was a complete moron. And probably French, given their aptness for crappy movies and surrender.

-Warner Bros. removed the link I had posted earlier - you can probably still find it if you do a search via The Google.-

Quick Trip

Yesterday I flew home to Dallas for a day, then I flew back to Lubbock tonight. Yes, just one day, because today was my father's last day as a police officer. After 29 years he retired from the force.

It was kinda weird to go to the retirement party... mostly just because my Dad's always been a cop, and now he's not. I could say tons about how proud I am of my Dad, but to avoid excessive sappiness I'll simply say that I hope to serve people as a professional as well as he has.

Springtime in Lubbock

It's spring outside - ~80 degree weather, blue skies, and I'm in the library studying for a midterm.
In other news, I got a new movie for cheap this week @ Best Buy. It's called Justice League: The New Frontier. It's a cartoon about Superman and Flash and Wonderwoman and Batman all hooking up for the first time, set in the 1950s. It also happens to be the first PG-13 cartoon DC comics has made - it was pretty good. Deserved the PG-13 rating... If you like comics at all you should check it out.

Also, I've been talking with T-Rav* and Kel about hooking up over spring break - anybody up for Mesa Verde and associated hooligans in the Southwest Corner of Colorado? Plan on converging at or near Durango in 2 weeks (the 14-16ish of March). Maybe some hiking, mountain biking, site seein', Skinwalker chasing... Basically I plan on spending my spring break being a bum in the desert southwest.