Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Well, I am now winding down the work-week here at the Attorney General’s Office. It’s been kind of a busy week, preparing for the holiday. I really do like my job though, even though it can be boring, there are definitely some perks. I am making some great contacts and getting great experience that will help me in my career.



We sent out Christmas cards this year for the first time. The picture above is what was on the card. Amanda and I decided we didn’t want to be on the card when we can just put a picture of our kid on it. If you think you should have received a card and didn’t, sorry; we probably didn’t have your address, and we had to limit our output due to poverty. Please send us your address though, so that you may be included next year.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year. I will try to think of something interesting to blog about next time.

Fröhliche Weinachten

Half-way

Friday, December 14, 2007

Well, this post is coming a few days late, but I have been a little busy of late. On Monday I took my Federal Income Tax final exam and it was absolutely awful. It was the worst test I have ever taken, but with the completion of that test comes the completion of the semester for me, which means, I am half-way done with law school!

School has been going pretty quickly, and I know that I should be enjoying it more than I am, but it is hard to not look forward to life after school (when I can actually earn a decent salary, and support my family) when you are so poor. Anyway, I am now trying to work a lot and earn a bit of money so that we can start next semester off with a little bit to pay things.

Well today is also the day Spencer turns 3 months old. It's kind of crazy how quickly time is flying by, but he is a lot of fun to have around. He is usually a really good kid, sleeping through the night (most of the time), and in general very good natured. He is so good that Amanda is excited to have another one (although that won't happen for a while). Anyway, better get back to work,

Frohe Weinachten

Divine Intervention (Collie's view)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

So my friend Natalie, who is an avid BYU fan (as proven in the comments of the post seen below) sent me this picture. I found it very entertaining. In Austin Collie's mind this is the way the reception on 4th and 18 happened. There was a little divine intervention, or should we say there were angels on the football field. Either way, this is a funny picture.


Finals

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Well, the end of the semester is upon us. In a little less than a week I will officially be half-way done with law school. Friday I have a Business Organizations final exam, then on the following Monday I have my Federal Income Tax final. So approximately 5:00 pm on Monday I will be finished with the semester (other than a paper, but I am not counting that because it will be pretty easy).

Unfortunately the two finals I have are my two least favorite classes this semester. I think tax is extremely boring, and I have a hard time paying attention. Someone told me it was a good class to have, now I am wishing I had taken it pass/fail, but what can you do? As for Bus Orgs, I have been diligently studying this week to try and teach myself a semester's worth of material, because we didn't have a teacher who is much of a teacher. She is actually known around the school as Delores Umbridge (for those of you who are Harry Potter fans), and the name fits.

Anyway, wish me luck. 5 days to freedom.

Servus.

I didn't want to, but . . .

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

I had chosen not to blog about the extremely disappointing loss last weekend suffered by the Utes at the hands of the Kitties. I won't comment on the poor officiating in the last two minutes, nor on the completely bone-headed play by Bryce McCain leaving Austin Collie wide open on 4th and 18 (which handed the game to the refs to hand to the Kitties). My only comments will be in regards to BYU fans.

I have attended games in many locations and with many different teams. I have observed a few things regarding fans. Wyoming fans are vicious. Boise State fans are absolutely annoying due to extreme arrogance. Ute fans are like all other fans and think they know the game much better than they actually do. All fans are annoying when they win a big game. All fans are sore losers when they are on the losing side of a big game. But more than anything else, THERE ARE NO FANS WORSE THAN BYU FANS!!

First of all, the U's fight song, Utah Man, is somewhat Polka-ish, I can admit it, but "Rise and Shout"? To quote Gob, "COME ON!"
Second, I am a Star Wars fan, but lose the Empirial March; it just makes you look stupid.
Third, just because you go to the school owned by our Church, get off your high horse. Always remember, THE PROPHET IS A UTE! So are numerous members of the Twelve (including one who was an All-American for the Utes).

To illustrate my point about how annoying BYU fans are, last year, after we lost, I was reading the newspaper and Wayne Rout, from El Paso, Texas had submitted a comment regarding the rivalry. His comment was titled "Mormons ought not root against Y." and read, "I can't imagine how any active member could root against BYU. I can't respect any who do. I have no problem with their supporting another team for whatever reason, but there should be a clear dividing line." Sorry Wayne, but I think Elder Wirthlin might qualify as an "active member" and I think he deserves your respect. This is one problem with Y fans.

Now I know, I am a Ute fan, and we have lost two years in a row, so I am bitter. And it is a rivalry, and rivalries bring out the worst in fans. But I have been to numerous BYU games in Provo, which were not against the U. BYU fans are the most annoying, unloyal fans I have ever seen.

In closing, I love that anyone who went to BYU thinks that they are smarter than those of us who went to the U. Let me just say, I love that argument. If you think that, let's compare high school GPA's. Trust me, I didn't go to the U because I couldn't get into the Y. I chose to go to the U, inspite of my ability to get into the Y.

That will do for now. Sorry for the blow up. Thanks for letting me vent.

Froehliche Weinachten

The Best of Both Worlds

Friday, November 16, 2007

Ok, so last night Amanda and I were watching TV and started discussing a guilty pleasure of mine (well ours, but it is more guilty for me than for her), and she told me that I should blog about it, so here goes. . .

At this point, one of my biggest guilty pleasures is watching "Hannah Montana" on Disney Channel. Now before you laugh, you should really watch a few episodes, it really is pretty good. In fact, a few nights ago, while Amanda was not home, I found myself watching "Hannah Montana" for three solid hours. Oh, and last night, while we were watching it (before the Office came on) they had a new beginning (updated scenes from the show) and I had seen every episode that was on the intro.


Anyway, in other news, I turned in my rough draft for my Wrongful Convictions seminar, and last night I did my oral argument against Summary Judgment, and killed it. I thought I did ok, but my teacher really liked it, and I ended up getting 50/50 on it. Can't complain there. I don't usually like to brag, but in this case I can't help it. Yea me!

I only have one class next week, so I have almost two weeks off before I have any more school, but I only have half a week of classes left, then on to finals. Wish me luck.

Bis dann.

Two Months Later

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Well Baby Spencer is now two months old. It's kind of crazy how fast time goes by, but at the same time, it seems like we have always had him with us. He is adjusting well. He sleeps through most nights (last night was not one of them), and he is almost always happy or asleep (except for when it is time to eat).





Last Saturday Amanda and I took him to his first football game. It was somewhat difficult feeding him and keeping him covered because it was such a nice day and we didn't want him to get sunburned. But he seemed to not mind all of the noise and confusion. It gave him something to look at. And to top it all off, the Utes beat Wyoming 50-0, but the game wasn't quite that far out of reach when we left. We took off at half-time, the score was 40-0. Go Utes!

As for me, this week has been a bit stressful. I am quite busy at work, and at least twice as busy at school. Today I have a rough draft of a paper due in my Wrongful Convictions Seminar (thankfully my professor is happy with anything at this stage, because I have not spent as much time on it as I would like), and tomorrow I have oral arguments in opposition to a motion for summary judgment in my Pretrial Practice class. The thing that sucks about it is we are using actual pleadings from an actual case, therefore I have to argue what the actual lawyers put in the memo. Unfortunately I got the losing side, and it is no surprise they lose, from the memo, it appears they don't understand summary judgment (something you learn in your first semester of law school). Maybe they had the same professor I had for CivPro and they slept through the entire class.

Anyway, wish me luck as the semester winds down.

Servus.

The Blessing

Wednesday, November 7, 2007



So Sunday we blessed Spencer. I must say I was a bit nervous, and even more so than I normally would have been. You see, Saturday I was at my parents' house while Amanda did a little shopping. Usually Spencer is very easy to deal with, if he cries you pick him up for a few minutes, then you can set him down and all is well. But when he is tired and fighting sleep, you need to pick him up, and hold him tightly, then in a few minutes he will calm down and fall asleep. Saturday was a completely different story.

He was getting tired, so I picked him up and held him close, but this seemed to infuriate him. He fought and fought and screamed his head off. I took him downstairs because it was cooler down there, and this seemed to work for a minute or two, but then again he screamed and screamed. Normally you might think he was hungry, but thanks to my mother (who is watching him during the week because Amanda and I both have to work) he is on a great eating schedule, and he had just eaten a lot, about an hour before the melt down.

Eventually my mom was able to calm him down (how inadequate do you think that made me feel?) and he was fine until we got him home. Then the melt down started all over again. Well the melt downs continued until about 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon (our Sacrament Meeting starts at 2:50) when we put him in the car seat and drove him around for a while to calm him down. After a lap or two around the block, he was calm, at least for the moment.

It turns out, that was the last freak out he has had (until this morning when I was supposed to be sleeping). He was great during the blessing. Wide awake and happy as can be.

After the meeting we had a gathering at Amanda's parents' house (they live just up the street from us). It turned out great. Lots of people showed up and ate lots of food. We watched the Colts-Patriots game and had a good time. But alas, we forgot our camera and thus the attached pictures are after the party at our apartment. I'm sure we can get pictures from others who were there (April has an awesome camera and took at least some pictures).

That is all for now.


Servus

My Dilemma

Wednesday, October 31, 2007


So, for those who have not heard, I recently got a new job. I work as a law clerk for the State Agency Counsel Division of the Utah State Attorney General's Office. This means I do research and prepare memos and sometimes pleadings for the attorneys in my division. This morning I was talking to another clerk, who works in the Tax Division. He has been working here much longer than I have (since last March, I started last week). He asked me how much work I have to do, and I told him that I am very busy. He told me that in almost 9 months of working here he has been assigned only 5 projects to do. I was assigned 6 my first day! I asked him what he does to keep busy to which he replied that he reads his school work.


So therein lies my dilemma. I like having the opportunity to get very valuable experience researching and writing, not to mention creating contacts that could help me down the road, but I would like a little time to be able to do my school work as well. I have two big finals that are coming up all too quickly, not to mention an oral argument to prepare for a Motion for Summary Judgment and a presentation to prepare and paper to write about prosecutorial misconduct and how to fix the problem.


When I first heard that the other clerk has nothing but school work to do and yet he gets paid as much as I do, I was a little jealous, but then I realized that although we are getting paid the same, and he has more time to do school work, I am the one gaining much more valuable experience, which will definitely help me in the long run, even if he ends up getting better grades than I do.


Naja, so ist das Leben.

I know, I know

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Due to a fear of being left behind, and the mounting pressure to keep up, I too have succumbed to the pressures and joined the blogging world. Hopefully I can make it interesting at least some of the time.