Dallas

My friend Jenn flew in to Dallas this weekend, so I drove out and we stayed at my parents all weekend. It was pretty sweet. We went to the Dallas Aquarium, which was way cool - monkeys, sharks, manatees, and random other animals.

My Dad took us on the tour of JFK/Oswald sites, and some of the conspiracy theory stuff, then we tried to go to the Ft. Worth Rodeo, which was sold out.

Basically, a great weekend with great company. Now back to the books.

Oh, if anyone is thinking of exploring downtown Dallas, don't do it on Saturdays - almost everything is closed.

Good eatin'

The Other Dark Meat

Proof that I am a coward

The Mongol Derby
is a 1000 km horse race across the Mongolian Steppe. The thought of doing such a race sounds surreal and incredible - a real life Hidalgo. Do I want to do it? YES. But am I going to sign up? No. Do I have anything else going on this summer? Not yet.

Of course, it does cost $4550 + travel, so its not like I don't have an excuse. But do I wish I were doing it? Absolutely.

30 minutes

So I've written before about I.O.U.S.A., and I think we're all aware that we're seeing incredible, mind-blowing amounts of debt being spent in America these days. IOUSA was made prior to the credit crunch/financial collapse we've been seeing the past 6 months, and is now available in a 30 minute version for the webs. I encourage everyone to watch it.



And hey, if it was that bad before the bailouts began, think about it now.

Awesome

So since I'm on the job hunt, both for this summer and after graduation, this is awesome news:

Worst Year for Jobs since '45

Burn Notice

So I had heard of Burn Notice awhile ago, but never really paid it any attention. I think the reason I had even noticed it in the first place was because the mighty Bruce Campbell is in it. Then I saw an episode once, and laughed my mug off the entire time. I caught another sometime ago, and again, was laughing the entire time.

I ended up watching the entire first season on Hulu, and it was awesome. They've since removed the first season, and added a bunch of the second season, which I've been watching over the past couple days.

What's this show about? An ex-spy who was burned, and wants to find out why, but in the meantime he's quarantined in Miami. So he does odd jobs while figuring out why he was burned.

Why do I love it? Because it gives lessons on how to be a super-spy! For example, two things I've learned from the show

1) How to cross a barb-wire fence: Grab a floor-mat from your car, climb the fence, throw it over the barbs, climb over the mat onto the other side.

2) How to quickly break a pad lock: Use a compressed air duster on the lock. The cold air will basically freeze it. Then hit it with a hammer.

I highly recommend watching this show. I'm considering buying the DVDs, I like it that much.

Christmas Break

Unlike last year, where I explored Savannah, this year I went home and did little to nothing for about 3 weeks. It was a much needed break - I realized that if Savannah counted as work (which I'm not sure it should), I hadn't had an extended vacation since beginning law school 1 1/2 years ago.

Being home for that long was nice. Christmas was great, went downtown for New Years Eve. That was pretty crowded, but fun. Here's some pics from the event:
Drove back to Lubbock yesterday - I was pretty tired. School starts back up on Wed. - technically. But I'll probably finish my paper here over the next 2 days before that.

6 1/2 days

So when I left Lubbock last week for Dallas, I forgot my cell phone charger. I went to Best Buy to get a new one, but couldn't find the one for my phone... so I waited for my sister to bring me mine when she came into town. She arrived 6 1/2 days after I left town... and the phone was still working.

I think this is incredible. 6 1/2 days with no charge! Of course, since I completely drained the battery, it's no longer holding a charge of more than a few minutes, kinda screwing me up. And I'm about to check the Dallas metroplex for replacement batteries. Still, I think it was pretty sweet.

Tumbleweeds

So I drove home to Dallas today. Pretty uneventful trip, then got caught in the Dallas traffic, in a light drizzle. Super fun.

What did make the trip a little more eventful than usual was the tremendous amount of tumbleweed blowing across the road. Dodging tumbleweed can be difficult - especially if there's a significant amount of oncoming traffic. All told I'd say I dodged 20-30 pieces, but hit 2.

I think it's hilarious that there's actually that much tumbleweed. I don't think I'd ever seen tumbleweed in my life before moving to Lubbock.

Limits of power

If you're looking for a way to kill an hour, here's a very good, yet somewhat depressing way to do so. My brother Jeff sent me this video, which instantly sucked me in. But I think it's important, so I'm posting it, despite my resolve to try and be more upbeat a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Part 1
Part 2

He brings up some interesting points about modern America...

The Adventurists

So I'm a fan of The Adventurists, a bunch of crazy Brits of the best fashion. Someday I'd love to have the abandon to do something like this. If I finish law school and the economy still stinks, that chance may come sooner than later... Of course, I also have this idea of canoeing/kayaking/rafting from Yellowstone to New Orleans... so we'll see which happens first.

Turnin' 30

So to celebrate my 30th birthday, I decided to go on a little road trip - to Roswell, N.M. - and see if I could find any aliens, and just to see what there is to see in Roswell.

The journey to Roswell
The trip to Roswell was pretty smooth, other than gale force winds blowing me around. This part of the country (including Lubbock) was once known as the Llano Estacado, or The Staked Plains, for the long blades of grass that grow naturally. This is what we fought the Comanche and the Kiowa for control over (that, and the fact that they wouldn't stop raiding our settlements). So I thought seeing this country was interesting - and bleak.

There was also the Goodnight-Loving Trail. I took a picture, and let you ponder why I thought 'Goodnight-loving' deserved a picture.

Roswell
When you think Roswell, you're probably like me: Good dairy.
Roswell itself was somewhat disappointing. I was hoping for way more alien stuff in the town - but really, that was just a few buildings scattered around downtown. I was expecting it to be bigger. It made Lubbock look like a huge metropolis. I actually drove around most of the town - hopefully I was missing something - like nice neighborhoods - on the outskirts.

Aliens
In truth, I wasn't sure what to expect when I got to Roswell, and wasn't sure how to go about 'seeing the sights.' Luckily, there was the UFO museum right on main street.

All the other stores looked pretty hokey dokey, so I thought I'd check this one out. Inside was a whole ton of stuff about the Roswell conspiracy in 1947, and basically continuing until the present day. I really didn't find anything convincing in the slightest, but there was a wack-job inside, also touring, who I could tell was a serious believer, so I kept my mouth shut. Of the museum my favorite two things were these:















So it's been a good birthday. I'm a little wary about 30 - that's all I have to say about that. Here's a pic of me turning 30.

Changes

So I decided to make some changes to the ol' blog. It's kinda a work in progress, so let me know what you think. Cleaner? Easier to read? Don't like it? Hate the colors? Want the old blog back?

More changes/upgrades to come over the next few days when I get around to them.

'Service'

When I was in high school, I hated the idea of being required to do 'service' for some of the clubs I was in. Hated it. The reason I hated it is because some activities counted for service, and others did not - who were these teacher's to judge if my service is adequate? Plus, there were hour requirements - who's to say that your 50 hours of service are more meaningful than my 30 minutes?

So it was refreshing to read this article, and have my basic thoughts on it well articulated by someone else.

Early Sunday Morning

If you want to remain my friend, don't text or call me early on Sunday mornings. Definitely not before 9, probably not before 10, and if you want to be safe, wait for 11. Central Time.

If you want to text me at 8 AM, when I'm sick, during finals, on a Sunday, for absolutely no reason, you are guaranteed to piss me off.

What are some acceptable reasons one might call/text Ryan early on a Sunday morning, without prior warning, you ask? Well, there are 2 reasons. Only 2.

1) You are going to give me something good. Information, food, kisses, etc.
2) You, or someone dear to you, are dying.

Christmas Party

So we had a Christmas party tonight with the branch - dinner, conversation, then many stayed and watched Elf. I came home and uploaded this sweet pic. Despite clear instructions to dress up, very few did... but I got many laughs, threw out many winks, rubbed the mustache a little bit in a creepy fashion, and asked some girls if they mind "going through the forest to get to the picnic." It was great!

Sick during finals

So I've been as sick as I've been in years for the past week. The last time I can remember feeling this crappy was when I had bronchitis in 2004 (and kept playing soccer anyway - Intramural Champs!). Studying for finals while this sick has not been fun. Two down, 1 to go.

One of the consequences of being this sick is simply how tough its been to breath. Most of the time you don't think too much about it, but when you wake up every 1 1/2 hours, every night for a week, gasping, it ain't much fun. I'm on antibiotics now, and feel like I'm getting better - but my voice is still shot. Hopefully another day or two and I'll be fine. Being sick during finals sucks - I've done the best I could with a poor attention span.

On another happy note: I'm turning 30 a week from today (next Saturday, the 13th). I'll be the first to admit that turning 30 and being single wasn't how I saw myself 10 years ago. The ride's been fun, and I don't regret any of it - but 'man was not meant to be alone.' Sometimes, say when you wake up at 4 AM gasping, and super hungry, it'd be nice to have someone eat cereal next to you.

And frankly my dating situation here in Lubbock is frustrating - I certainly don't think that's a news flash to anyone. There are few date-able girls here (sorry if that's crazy talk to anyone reading this), and just because they may be date-able does not mean there's interest from me or vice versa. And I have neither money nor time to consistently date beyond Lubbock. And I'll be 31 when I leave Lubbock, which means no more single's wards. So dating is awesome.

So what am I going to do? I have no clue. But I do know that celebrating my birthday in the Texas Tech Law Library is not an option. After all, the ride's been fun so far, and I'm going to make sure it stays fun all the way.

Stories

So I was reflecting upon a question a friend asked some time ago, "Do you like to read?" Pretty standard question, and of course the answer was "Yes, though I find it difficult to do with law school, because after reading all day long the last thing I usually want to do is come home and read more."

But I'm going to try and find more time for it. I think I can find 20 or 30 minutes a few times a week to not watch TV and simply relax with a good book.

Even more than simply reading, I just love good stories. Movies, books, songs, word-of-mouth, even video games. The medium doesn't really matter. The tone can be sappy or technical, the story straightforward or convoluted. As long as its good and I don't finish feeling like I just wasted my time - though sometimes that wasted time itself makes for a good story...

Hulu

Did everyone but me realize that Hulu.com offers movies? I realized this today, and I think it's great. They don't offer the newest movies, but some of them aren't too old, and oh yes, they're free. Kinda. You have to watch advertisements. But not many, especially compared to normal television. Redbox is cheap, but free is even cheaper.

So I've been thinking that if I were to buy a new desktop computer anytime soon (read: after law school), I'd want one with a high power video card, capable of outputting a hi-def signal to my TV, so I can find movies like these on the internet for free (or TV shows) and watch them on my TV.

Fun in Lubbock

My week was a roller coaster ride. Some good, some bad. In keeping with my new attempts at optimism, here are the good things:

1) I finished my paper. 28 pages on Government sponsored incentives for renewable energy, or efficient energy products.

2) This morning before church I went on a walk-about at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. It was a little noisier than I had hoped, but it was nice to get out and go for a walk. For those of you curious, I came across some tumbleweed - it really does exist.

3) My nephew (with my sister & brother-in-law) came over for a bit tonight. I don't have a lot of toys for a 2 1/2 year old. He played with my bean bag chair, my ab-roller, a headlamp, and then I gave him my harmonica, which he loved!
Here some pictures of him. Ladies, marry me and you could get one of these for your very own!


Yes, I did clean the slobber out of the harmonica when he was done. Yes, there was a lot.