Going to DC - part 2

So I am officially in DC, and start my 6 week internship with the Washington Legal Foundation tomorrow. I drove from Dallas to St. Louis on Thursday and spent the evening with my grandmother - we have a very nice visit, and then Friday I drove from St. Louis to DC.

Farm land in Illinois & Indiana has to be the best I've seen in the country - absolutely beautiful. Kentucky was nice - and they drive really fast in West Virginia & Maryland. Thank goodness - it was a 13 hour trip.

A quick story: I stopped for gas in West Virginia at this Exxon in the middle of nowhere. If it hadn't been an Exxon I wouldn't have trusted this place. The pavement ended just beyond the gas station, and continued on as a dirt road covered shade from huge trees. There was a restaurant across the street - the kind that just says 'restaurant.' So while I'm filling up this 70 year old dude comes walking really slow out of the 'restaurant' carrying a case of beer and wearing a flannel shirt. But of course, he only has 1 button buttoned - right next to his belly button. It was spectacular.

Anyway, I'm moved into my place here in Alexandria, VA. It's not the greatest of places, but the rent's cheap & it's only 6 weeks. Today I went to the singles ward here, then drove up to my work to make sure I knew where it was and what I was looking for.

Going to DC - part 1

So I finished my Criminal Procedure class with a final Wed. morning, then packed up and headed for DC. And like any good product of the West, my truck is going too. Last night I stopped in Dallas at my parents place - today I head for the Gateway of the West, St. Louis, to see my grandmother.

Only funny story from the trip yesterday: I pulled into gas at this Texas style 'resort town' Runaway Bay. (Texas Style resort town means no shops, restaurants, or other worldly attractions. Just a lake with a bunch of houses built around it.) Anyway, so I pull in to get some gas at the 1 gas station in town, and this dude pulls into the pump next to me - blasting Cher! Cher!?!? Who listens to her? Dude appeared to be in his 40s, and from his music choice I assume he must suffer mental difficulties...

Here's a long read for you

So in my wanderings about the internet, I came upon this interesting article about What makes us Happy. I'm always curious about this sort of thing, and so I started reading it.

It's a long read.

But it's really good. It follows a bunch of Harvard guys from back in the 1930s, who've been part of a longitudinal study ever since, analyzing their lives and figuring out what makes them tick, and ultimately, what leads to happiness.

On top of learning a little more about that, I also learned what a longitudinal study was. Anyway, I really enjoyed the article.

I wish all my food came in a bag

So I came across this little gem this morning



and then I went on to discover a host of other sweet Backpacker videos

My favorite so far? Bacon & Eggs in a bag.

Starting a business?

So since I passed the Patent Bar last October I've been hoping I could work for Texas Tech doing patents until I graduate. The past week or so I've been thinking that I might just open up my own shop doing patents during my 3rd year of law school. I could control my own schedule, I'd get all the money, and I'd learn a lot in the process.

(Not to mention, maybe be taking the first steps to opening my own law practice... the Economy is still pretty rough...)

Because I've been thinking about doing that, last night I went to a seminar put on by the local Small Business Development Association (or something like that) here in town. The seminar was about "starting your own home based business," so I thought that'd be perfect. It was really a very nice seminar, though I didn't really learn that much new from law school - some, but not much.

What I did enjoy was being the only law-person in the room. I made clear that I couldn't give them legal advice, but I did give them some advice on how to find a lawyer, types of lawyers, free clinics at the law school, etc. People were asking me all sorts of questions - it was kinda fun!

And I am getting pretty serious about this business stuff. We'll see.

Henry Poole is Here

So I just finished watching Henry Poole is Here, which I had said looked really good about a year ago. Turns out the movie was very different than I was expecting. I went in expecting a dark comedy about an alcoholic finding faith. What I got was a movie about personal faith & finding a purpose to life.

I'm not going to spoil anymore of the movie here, but I would definitely recommend RedBoxing it. It has two excellent tho underrated actors - Luke Wilson & Radha Mitchell. Nor did it do well in the box office, and after seeing it I understand why - but I still really liked it. It gets my vote.

Google Wave & Natal

So a few days ago my buddy Tim posted a link to Google Wave. The clip is 80 minutes long, so it took me a few days to get through it, but it's REALLY cool. I highly recommend the video to everyone.

At the end - say the last 20 minutes, it gets a little more technical, so if you're not technically inclined and going to skip any of it, that's the part the skip. But I think this has the ability to transform communications and networking in all new ways.

Also, Project Natal by Microsoft for the Xbox could really change the face of gaming. This video is only 4 minutes long... and could cause just as large of a paradigm shift as Google Wave, but in a different way.