A good night story...

A typical night in the Dwyer household. Clay and I snuggle into bed for a nice winter nap, when the cat jumps up on the bed.

Shyla: We don't like the cat.
Clay: We don't like the cat, we LOVE the cat.
Shyla: He bites.
Clay: He doesn't bite me. He loves me.
Shyla: He bits me. Would you love someone who hit me?
Clay: Depends, does he love me?
Shyla: (sigh) You're in trouble Mister.

Clay leans over kisses Shyla good night and drifts off to dream.

'Tis the Season for Ba Humbug

Just when I didn't think I had anything interesting to post about... I took a trip to Wal Mart. As my Torts professor pointed out you can always witness something interesting there.

So picture this... I'm standing in line at the deli counter. There's a bit of a line because it's insane in Wal-Mart. However, there are only 2 ladies working behind the counter so the line isn't moving all that fast. Suddenly one of the ladies begins to clean one of the slicing machines instead of helping the next customer. So this guy, who happened to be the next customer, starts going off on this lady how he's the next customer and all these people are waiting and she's just cleaning. So she answers that health code requires them to clean the equiment on some interval so she's just doing his job. Well he keeps going and going and she quips back something to the effect of "well aren't we in the holiday mood." Probably not the nicest thing she could say but the lady has probably had a terrible day and had to deal with several guys like this. So now this guy gets angry and starts calling her a bitch and saying she should be fired for that rude comment and that he is going to report her for not doing her job. The lady just kept cleaning and not acknowleding this guy but you could see in the miror behind the deli counter that she is nearly in tears.

So of course now yours truly has to get involve so I tell the guy to stop harassing her and cut her a break. So then he starts going off on me how I should mind my own business and she's in the customer service industry so she should be nice. Anyhow, long story short, I stood there and took it as he proceeded to justify tearing this lady apart and then justify ripping into me. So then as to make a point as to what a "nice guy" he is he is overly gracious when he thanks the lady who actually served him then turns to me and says "see I am nice." In my head I thought... "No, you just proved my point."

Anyhow, I continue my shopping and all the sudden he comes up to me in the produce section. Seriously, he's stalking me and at this point I'm wondering if I have my pepper spray in my purse. So again he tries to justify himself that the lady started it and how I need to mind my own business and how he's such a great guy... I just stopped him and said if he has such a need to justify himself he has bigger issues than I thought... and I walked away.

The moral of the story... First of all I probably shouldn't have opened my big mouth, but it made me even more angry when, after he left the deli counter, the other customers told me that it was great I did something. All I could think was why didn't they say something if what I did was so "right." Also, the other moral... don't shop at Wal-Mart at Christmas... everyone is insane and just plain rude. Finally, please try and be nice this holiday season. I'm sick of everyone being ba humbug and just think with all the insanity the poor people at Wal-Mart and other retail places are working hard and having to deal with too many jerks. Wouldn't it be great if all of us were the "nice" customers.

A Few Comments

Finals are nearly over. 3 down and 1 to go. It has been a rough couple of weeks but I am excited to see the end of the first semester. It is amazing how much you can learn in 4 months. It flew by, but I am ready for a few weeks off.

Also some sad news... for those who read this blog, a prayer should be said for the O'Conner family of Dallas, TX. Their son became an unnamed victim of the war in Iraq. Also it wouldn't hurt to say a prayer that our leadership finds a way to get America out of this conflict.

Ok... that's it for now. I've got to get to work. I promise... I will post a long blog sometime soon with pictures of my latest pottery creations!

A Snow Day

Winter has officially arrived. Oklahoma is a funny place. Normally "winter" means it's cold and the wind blows. There are rare days when it actually snows but most of the time it's just cold. However, today is different. The weather folk kept saying "It's gonna be big," and for once, they were right. Yesterday it started with the ice, which is the worst part of oklahoma weather, and then it continued through the night. Now they're predicting 3"-8" of snow! Anyhow, school is closed, Tinker is closed, the highways are going to be closed. Isn't it great!

My favorite holiday

I've decided Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. You don't have to stress about gifts. The menu is already set. What could be more American than spending a day eating, sleeping, and watching football? Ya gotta love it.

So for all of you celebrating America's overindulgence and gluttony... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Making Progress

I am finally making headway on my final paper for LRW, and I feel I should announce this to the world. The topic of the paper is: the admissibility of expert testimony regarding the reliability of eye witness identification. Is that a mouthful or WHAT??? Anyhow, this is the big paper of the semester and it's been a killer. First of all, the start of the semester was a hand holding experience. Our first paper, the teacher provided us with the research and a limited topic to discuss. For this paper they "cut the chord" so to speak, and allow us to flounder through the process of legal research and writing. It's been interesting. I am pleased to announce that my initial pass of 25 cases has been substantially cut down to 6 "on point" cases. Furthermore, I have even made substantial headway in the writing process since I now have something of substance in every section of the paper. It's a good start!

Now... back to our usually scheduled programming... more writing!

Final Countdown

A big difference between undergrad and law school is the countdown to finals. In undergrad I would mosey back all fat and happy from Thanksgiving and start to think about taking a final. In law school the countdown to finals really begins around Nov. 1. CRAZY! This past week the dean of students sat the 1L class down for a little hear-to-heart reminding us that we only have 6 weeks and if our entire focus isn't on finals then things won't be good.

Now, you may think this was a great motivational moment in my life, but NO! Instead I plummeted into a wonderful self-pity party; which only served to get me behind on my paper and homework for this week. So I am pleased to announce I am now over my own self-made apocalypse and have re-joined society. I had a very productive weekend, even reviewing my civ pro outline with my girls.

And now I embark on the final countdown with a new sense of purpose. Wish me luck... I'm going to need it.

It's not about me

A few things have happened lately to upset the world as I know it. None of these things are bad, they are just a part of life where things are changing. I really don't like change. Consequently, changes, even in the lives of others, have caused me to become stressed out. However, I realize how selfish and ridiculous this is. Change is inevitable ... and even a good thing. So I need to get over myself and realize IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!!!

So, here's to a new week of remembering God is in control, accepting change, and knowing some things are just not about me.

You've GOT to be kidding

My latest frustration with my legal learning (torts in particular) is a wonderful cause of action called "wrongful life". Now most of you have heard of wrongful death. Wrongful death allows for money to be paid to a victim's family by the individual who caused a death.

In the wrongful life case, a doctor failed to properly diagnose a pregnant lady's illness. She gave birth to a child who suffered several physical and mental handicaps as a result of the woman's illness she had while pregnant. Yes this is a terribly tragic story. The child sues the doctor and claims "wrongful life"... Basically he claims his mother would have aborted him had she only known her baby would be born with these horrible birth defects, and that being aborted would be better than having lived a life so tortured by the physical and mental handicaps. ARE YOU KIDDING!?!?!?!?

I'm not going to jump into the abortion debate here, I'll save that for another fun blog, but I would like to discuss the absurdity of this claim.

For instance, I know a child who suffers from spina bifida. If you've never heard of this disease it's a horrible handicap where the spinal column never closes and many health affects are felt over the child's lifetime. In fact, many children with this disease do not live long because of their physical problems. From what I understand, spina bifida is minimized, if not eliminated by taking folic acid during pregnancy. The doctor failed to inform this Cole's mother of this fact and consequently her baby has led a life plagued by many medical problems. Anyone who knows Cole has been blessed by him. He is an amazing child who provides inspiration to anyone who meets him.

Now, I'm sure raising Cole has not been easy. (And honestly I do not know what his mother's feelings on abortion are.) However, I do not believe that either Cole or his mother would believe his life would have been better had he been aborted.

The court makes the statement that "negligent medical treatment deprives the parents of the option to terminate a pregnancy to avoid the birth of a defective child." DEFECTIVE CHILD???? What are we ordering here a new car and you got a lemon? This is a child... a person. You don't custom order your child. And what if your idea of a perfect child is one with a genius IQ and good looks for a modeling career then your child comes out with an average (or below average) IQ and a funny nose? Is this child now defective and you can trade them in for a better model? Would it have been better that the child was never born at all?

The real crux of the matter before the court is the doctor's negligence in failing to diagnose the mother's illness caused the child to be born handicap and that is why the court allows the cause of action. I realize I took my example to the extreme but the point is made that this is ridiculous.

In the end the court allowed recovery only for the extra medical expenses associated with the child's handicaps. I was glad the court did not allow for recovery for the "general damages" which would have placed a financial value on living an "impaired life" vs. a "normal life". After all, how do you know what a normal life is?

Lesson Learned

Some things in life take a bit longer to learn than others. This week I've definitely learned I need to listen to my body. Last weekend we had planned to go to an OU football game with several friends. I wasn't feeling all that hot and really didn't think I should go. On top of not feeling well the temperature was supposed to be around 40F with a blustery wind and all of this was a bad combination. I didn't listen to myself and now I'm sick. I would like to say I had a good time at the game and my many layers kept me mostly warm, but I have learned my lesson. From now on I will listen to my body and not do activities when I know I should not participate.

PS. Keep in mind this is like a New Year's resolution, which means I will probably break it the next time my friends want to go have a good time and I'm not feeling well. I'll still tag along in spite of my better judgment!

Aaahhh the Outline...

Most people who know me realize I'm not a procrastinator. I like my tasks to be done early, or at least on-time. I worry if I'm not ahead of schedule and constantly feel the push of deadlines. However, I do have one itsy bitsy item that has slipped its schedule... my outlines.

The outline is this mysterious document that is supposed to compress all of your class knowledge from the semester into a convenient document that you can effectively memorize within a few days and thus pass your finals. This would seem VERY important since the joy of law school is relying on one grade at the end of the semester to decide your academic fate.

Yet, somehow, I have let myself lag in the "outline generating" department. My lack of interest in outlining has nothing to do with the "need" for an outline or the "importance" of the outline. Instead, I'm dreading the outline. It is intimidating to contemplate writing a document that determines my academic future.

So here I sit surrounded by my contracts notes wondering exactly how much information needs to go in the outline. I have started on version two and I still seem to be struggling to really get going. So I guess I'll put away the blog and get back to the outline... Here's to Lucy v. Zehmer!

A Milestone

Today I performed my first pottery firing. I acquired a kiln several months ago, but the kiln needed a few repairs. As always happens those repairs were pushed to the back burner as school preparation were all engrossing this summer. Clay and I finally made the kiln a priority and got it back in working order a couple of weeks ago. Today I did a bisque firing and I can't wait to see how everything turned out. A bisque firing is the initial firing that converts clay into a ceramic. Bisque form is very porous and not finished. I will still have to glaze the pottery but it's fun to have finished the initial step.

I find I feel like a kid at Christmas. I really want to peek inside and see how things came out, but it will take all night to cool the kiln before we get open the kiln. My firing was to Cone 06, which is about 1830F, so it's pretty hot in there. What is really exciting about this is I've never performed a firing by myself. I have helped out with several since I was involved in pottery throughout high school so I knew the basic mechanics but I had never "flown solo"; so to speak. Anyhow, I just thought I'd share this with all of you out in blog reading land. Stay tuned... I may even post pictures of the finished product.

The Breaking Point

Yesterday I completely freaked out. My "to do" list at home grown and grown over the past few weeks. Having such precious little free time I always felt it was a waste to vacuum when I could have a good conversation with Clay. So chores like mowing the lawn and the general deep clean of the house had gone unchecked. (Don't worry we were still washing dishes, but only because we have a dish washer!) Yesterday I got home and the cat had tipped over my office trash and strung papers all over the room. I was FURIOUS!!! Then I went to the backyard to get the dogs where they had begun digging my trench to China (thanks so much). I couldn't take it any longer and I flipped. Suddenly I went into hyper-drive mode and decided that the whole house would be scrubbed before Clay got home... and I did it. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed and dusted. Basically I did my fall cleaning in about 2.5 hours. It's amazing what an extra cup of coffee can do for you in the morning.

A Crazy Weekend

Clay and I had a great time this weekend attending a college friend's wedding. The location was beautiful and it was really a great time. The best part was seeing several people I have missed for the past couple of years because jobs moved them away. I am always amazed how blessed I've been by the people in my life. Anyhow, Clay and I had a great time and danced the night away!

The rest of the weekend was spent hitting the books. While it may seem a bit ironic one of the best decisions we've made was for Clay to attend school while I'm in school. Because we're both too busy to realize we don't have time for each other neither of us feel neglected. Our relationship has really been great during this semester. We have managed to make a lot of time for each other. However, our friends haven't recieved the attention they deserve. I guess something has to give. Anyhow, the weekend was spent with us both in the books since Clay has a test today and I've been trying to get my outlines caught up.

For all of you in blog reading land say a prayer for us that we can keep up this pace. It's been a crazy semester but we're half way through.

Science and the Supreme Court

WARNING: The following contains broad interpretations of court holdings.

Recently we read a series of cases for my Torts class and I've developed a real issue with court involvement in certain professional communities. The first case involved a medical malpractice situations where a doctor failed to diagnose a lady with glaucoma. This was back in the 1950s and glaucoma testing was not general practice for doctors unless the patient was over 40 years old (this patient was 30). The patient lost part of her eye sight and she won money damages from the doctor. The court decided that the doctor was negligent for failing to perform the simple glaucoma test and thus not diagnosing glaucoma. The court determined that the doctor should have set a new standard for his profession and have conducted the test. By failing to do so, the doctor was negligent. The broad interpretation of this case says that a court could impose a new standard or duty of care on any profession at any time if the court decides that the profession is not setting proper standards. This is ridiculous. The court is not a board of medical professionals, and if the medical profession set a standard, that should be the duty of care by which a doctor is evaluated, not some arbitrary court standard.

Case #2 involves scientific expert testimony and evidence. In this case the plaintiff had an expert "cook the books" on some scientific data to get the results they wanted to see. However, the argument before the court was over differing scientific methods. While I agree that in this case the expert and scientific evidence was bogus, the overall holding of the court was again ridiculous. The court established a new standard by which the admission of expert and scientific testimony would be judged. If the experts disagreed as to the proper "scientific method" or interpretation of data the judge would first looked to the peer reviewed data (probably not a bad idea but very limiting on some subjects) and then decide for himself or herself which "expert" used the proper methodology or interpretation methods. Whichever the judge felt met the standards better that would be the evidence that would be admissible. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?! The reasoning of the court was (I kid you not) that the judge is a highly educated individual and should be able to figure these things out. While the jury, being not so educated, may get confused by the conflicting experts. Furthermore, we're talking situations in which groups of scientific experts differ among themselves about the proper scientific method and interpretation. How in the world is the judge, who is not scientifically trained, supposed to discern which party "got it right." Basically the judge is saying "I think scientifically. I know because I'm a lawyer."

The final case (I know you're sick of my ranting) discussed the probability factor of a timely diagnosis of a cancer patient. In this situation the standard for deciding between two survival statistics. Long story short... the belief was that statistics can't be manipulated and that recovery (money given to the plaintiff) should be determined based on the statistical average of survival or increased life expectancy for early diagnosis. So the question of course is: which survival statistics? Do you look at all cancers? In this case all, lung cancers? Or that specific type of lung cancer? Or men with that specific lung cancer? Or men in the patient's age group with that specific type of cancer? What statistic do you look at because the broad range of choices yields too many options for recovery of money damages to the plaintiff?

So, for Shyla's analysis... In my humble (yet correct opinion since 7 weeks of law school have allowed me to form such high ranking opinions) the courts have no role in validating scientific or expert testimony. While I agree that there should be standards of care within professions which allow people to recover for damages caused by negligent behavior, it is beyond me how the court feels they have the right to decide what these standards are. Furthermore, I would like to point out that the judicial system is completely self regulating. Last time I checked the medical community was not telling the court what the proper civil procedure was for deciding if a case has federal jurisdiction.

Law School

I haven't included many blogs about my law school experience, and consequently a large part of my life has been omitted from the blog. I first have to admit that I love law school. I realize this is insane, but I have really loved being back in the classroom. This semester I have four classes: Torts, Contract, Civ Pro, and LRW (Legal Research and Writing). While this may not seem like much it's amazing how much work these four classes can produce.

The evolution of a law student has been an interesting experience. I'll give you just one example, because I'm sure you don't have time to hear all of the ways my world has changed. One of the favorite questions of a law professor is "What do you think of the court's decision?" This question feels like the death trap to a 1L who fears being "wrong", so for the first few weeks the answer was either complete silence or someone brave soul would speak up only to praise the glorious, infallible court. About a week ago this changed. Suddenly the court is always wrong and our 6 weeks of legal education has made it possible to find the flaws in the court's logic. We especially enjoy picking on the Supreme Court. I'm not sure why this change occurred but it has been amazing to witness.

A Field Trip!

My friend Sherry and I went on a field trip at lunch today. I haven't been on a field trip in quite a while so this was a special treat. We enjoyed touring the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, you can check them out at www.okcmoa.com. Currently they have an Egyptian Art exhibit which was wonderful. I have always been fascinated with Egyptian history and artifacts so this was a special treat. We both were especially impressed with a HUGE granite sculpture of Amenhotep. The whole exhibit was very captivating.

We also visited the Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Chihuly's primary medium was glass and he created the MOST fascinating pieces out of colored glass. This is one of the most amazing displays we viewed. Some of his work felt like you were walking through an ocean reef. If you get a chance you should really go check it out!

A Blog for Amanda...

My friend Amanda is also working on her master's degree online so we frequently commiserate about school. Her latest beef is with a classmate who's favorite word is hegemony. Now if you're thinking "Wow I must be stupid I don't know what 'hegemony' means?", you're not alone. The dictionary definition of hegemony is: leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation. The funny part of this whole ordeal is Amanda's degree is in psychology, which, last I checked, had very little to do with "predominate influences exercised by one nation over others." Basically the guy doesn't know how to use the word but thinks that knowing a word no one else knows makes him look intelligent (that is until those people looked up the word hegemony and then all of his classmates just realized he's an idiot).

However, not to fear, there are others who know the word hegemony and use the word in context. While I was reading one of my case books the other day the Supreme Court of the United States used the word hegemony in its proper context. And, believe it or not, using the word hegemony actually made the Supreme Court look intelligent!

A Puppy Present

Clay is out of town this weekend which has made for an interesting situation. I really don't like being home alone so I always have the dogs at my side for "protection". (For those of you who know my dogs, please feel free to laugh.) Anyhow, last night I finally decided I should hit the sack so I let the dogs out to do their thing. So I'm standing on the back porch watching the dogs sniff around the yard. After several minutes of sniffing and playing I call them in. They both prance up to the door just as proud as they can be and Baxter tries to hand me something... a dead something. I COMPLETELY freak! I start yelling to drop it and I'm jumping up and down and screaming. I get them to drop and leave the dead thing and get in the house to grab a flashlight to find out what this thing was they had brought me. It turns out it was a bunny!!!! Completely disgusting!

Long story short, it completely freaked me out and I couldn't sleep. The dogs couldn't figure out what they had done wrong because they figured they were bringing me a present. The whole thing was a mess. I can't wait until Clay gets home!

A Friend's Tears

Yesterday my friend Amanda's husband left for an extended trip to the desert. (For those of you who may not have a friend or family member in the military, this is the nice way of saying a deployment to the middle east.) I called her up knowing that this wouldn't be any easier this time than it has been the times before. We cried together... and we laughed together... and mostly I felt a renewed sense of comittment to my friend. I am amazed at how brave military families are. Those who go face varying degrees of danger and other challenges. Those who stay endure the uncertainty of being left behind.

Over the next several months I will call my friend, we will probably cry some more and laugh some more. I cannot fully understand what she is going through but my heart aches for her as I know only she can endure this time alone while the rest of us must do the best we can to show our support. So here's my little tribute to military families... may God bless them for doing jobs that benefit those of us who stay behind.

Shyla for President

Well the anti-joiner has decided to join. After years of denying admission into "clubs" I have decided to run for 1L class president. For those of you who knew me in undergrad (and even high school) this might be the funniest thing you hear today. (Feel free to laugh) Anyhow, I have decided to run for class president in an effort to expand my horizons. I'm really not sure where this journey will take me but it should be interesting. I will keep you posted on the elections. My competition is fierce... his name is Stuart... but I'm excited and looking forward to a fun election!

Happy Number 2!

Clay and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary this weekend... or more appropriately I should say we "attempted" to celebrate our anniversary. With us both in school "our" time is hard to come by so we're trying to make the best of things. I decided to work Saturday morning and Sunday so that we could have Saturday evening to celebrate. For Clay's part he took care of the household chores on Saturday and was going to study on Sunday.

Saturday afternoon when I finished studying and Clay finished running errands I noticed his eye was a bit gucky. He washed his face and thought that was the end of it. About an hour later he noticed his eye was bothering him and when he went to investigate he discovered he had pink eye. Now neither of us have had pink eye since we were in elementary so he figures he picked this fun little germ up while shopping at "the evil empire" as our good neighbor Justin calls Wal-Mart.

Now it's about 7pm on a Saturday night and while Clay needs medical care this doesn't exactly constitute an ER visit. So we call up our doctor who has an answering services that pages him. Dr. Layne calls back a few minutes later, laughs at us, and calls in a prescription to a 24 hour pharmacy. I decide I'll go get the meds and Clay can begin creating our wonderfully romantic meal. On the way to the store Clay calls to inform me that the power has gone out at the house. Luckily for us the dinner we had planned was predominantly barbequed.

A long story short... it was a memerable anniversary :)! We did have a great evening together but it just goes to show you that you've got to be flexible!

A Grammar Test

A funny thing about education; every time you think you're done with a topic it comes back to haunt you. This was true in undergrad when I thought the Euler equation would NEVER be important only to find out it was the basis for EVERY SINGLE CLASS!!! So today in Legal Research and Writing another one of those little ironies of education popped up with a grammar test.

Now, you may be one of those freaks who loved learning all of the "i" before "e" rules and when to use semi-colons and how dependent clauses were to be structured... I was not. In fact I felt grammar was one of the drudgeries of education that you had to "get through" during english class so you could go read a good book. However, that is not the case in law school and today we had a 20 question grammar test. The trick is, if you didn't pass the grammar test, which historically only about 5 people actually pass, you have to take a remedial grammar class on Saturdays. So, as if grammar wasn't bad enough I will more than likely have to take a grammar class on the weekends! Isn't education GREAT!!

Not That Bad...

It's day 2 of law school and I've already learned something... it's not as scary as everyone makes it out to be. During all of these fun meet-n-greets and open houses a discussion I attended inevitably a discussion about "what to expect in class" would commence and everyone would mention the dreaded "Socratic Method". All the "Socratic Method" means is that teachers are going to call on people in class and actually expect people to have prepared for class so that they can add something intelligent to the class discussion. However, in preparation for law school this discussion tends to lean towards teachers who "eat law school students for lunch" and get a great deal of enjoyment out of watching the children cower in fear. While someday this may be true I am pleased to announce that thus far all of my law professors are actually human! They all seem to be very pleasant and willing to help everyone understand why something is "wrong" or "right" or "more right". So I'm here to tell you I'm surviving quite nicely.

And having said that I'm back to enjoying a wonderful reading on impleader and joinder... I love lawsuits with multiple parties all suing and counter-suing each other :)!

A Quote

In legal analysis class the other day I got a chuckle out of a quote from the professor. He was critiquing someone's brief and made the following statement...

"You would need only in front of the possibly; maybe."

Proof yet again that highly educated people can create incoherant and ambigous statements just like the rest of us!

Take a Moment

Today I had a wonderful reminder to take a moment and smile at the simple things in life. I was driving home from class engrossed in thoughts of the writ of certiorari when I saw the Oscar Meyer weenie mobile driving down the other side of the highway. I can't say that I've ever actually seen the weenie mobile in real life but something about it cruising down the highway at 65mph gave me a good chuckle and made me think how often we forget to take time and laugh at the little things in life.

So, for all of you out in blog reading land, here is your daily reminder to stop and smell the roses... or in my case stop and laugh at the weenie mobile!

At Last

Law school started this week and it's been an amazingly hectic experience. The first two days were orientation which was capped off by our swearing in ceremony. The incoming class took the Pledge of Professional Commitment in a formal affair which was a very nice "welcome to the club" type of event.

This first week we are also taking a Legal Analysis class. It's supposed to be an introduction into reading and briefing cases. So far the class has been pretty interesting and very informative. Professor Arrow has been excellent at allowing us to make our mistakes and explaining why they are mistakes instead of just telling us we're stupid or incompetent and moving on. I've appreciated the feedback. This concept of the "issue statement" is quite complex. So far I've been WAY too general and need to work on developing more specific ideas. But like everything else I'm sure my pendulum will swing the other way and I will end up on the other side of the spectrum being far too specific. Such is life!

I've also got to meet a lot of new people. I'm really excited because I've met a couple of girls who are going to be in all of my classes and I think that will be a good study group to begin with. I think I'm going to make it... check back in about 4 months :)!

A Tea Party

I'm sitting in my office eating cherries and working out how to brief Marbury v Madison and a memory came I felt I should share. While my mom was here we went to visit an old family friend, Mrs. Stone. Mrs. Stone is my mom's best friend's (since high school) mother. When my sister and I were younger and we would come to OKC to visit family we were often drug from one unkown family member's home to another and honestly I don't remember much about those visits, but I do remember Mrs. Stone.

Mrs. Stone lives in a little old house downtown. Everything about her home is perfectly manicured and decorated with beautiful things. The "music room" had two grand pianos, because Mrs. Stone's husband taught music during his lifetime, and they would often request performances from my sister and I, who were quite good at playing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and not much else.

Also, each time we visited the Stone's home my sister and I were enthralled by the "tea party". Mrs. Stone is a very proper lady and serves tea or coffee with little cookies everytime you come. This was nothing like our house and I remember thinking how special the tea party was. Even when I introduced my husband to Mrs. Stone I had told him about the tea parties and he still refers to her as the "Tea Party Lady".

Today Mrs. Stone still serves tea. After dinner the other night we went to her home and had a tea party in the music room among all of her beautiful treasures. I know I've been truly blessed to know this special lady.

A Family Visit

My mom recently came to visit and it was a lot of fun. Since she lives in Montana and I live in Oklahoma we don't get to see each other very often. We had a lot of fun while she was here. We enjoyed some great food and had a lot of fun golfing and shopping. In fact Clay had his best round of golf ever. He was really excicited.

Now that my vacation time is over it's time to get to work. I've been writing briefs for my legal analysis class which is the first week of school. As I read I case I keep discussing it with Clay. I have decided that once Law School is over Clay is going to have to receive an honorary law degree. When they say "we're going to law school" they really do me "we". Wish us luck... Class starts Sunday!

State of Fear

A friend recently recommended a book to me and now I feel I must pass along the recomendation. The book is "State of Fear" by Michael Chrichton (he brought us "Jurassic Park"). This is an excellent work of fiction with a great deal of research put into it. The story line is fiction but some of the facts and figures presented are based on actual research and sited in the book. I may not agree with everything that's in the book but it does give you reason to stop and think. After you read the book let me know what you think :)!

My Apologies

To all of you in blog reading land I'd like to apologize for my double post and all the confusion. I think I fixed it but something is awry with this website. But keep reading... and hopefully soon I'll have something interesting to post :)!

Not Posting

So I wrote this wonderful blog about my time in the Bahamas and it won't post! AAARRRGGG! So this is a test to see if the whole thing is broken or if Blogger has something against the Bahamas.

BAHAMA MAMA

Clay and I just got back from the Bahamas where we had the most wonderful, relaxing week. We had this awesome suite that overlooked the courtyard of this resort and just down from the courtyard was the beach. The place was awesome with a private beach and endless activities. In fact I have found my dream job. There was a guy who would walk around the beach setting up the next activity whether it was beach golf or BINGO or a waterballoon fight. (And by the way, Rum is the prize for all activities!)

We had a wonderful time and even did some snorkling. We spent a lot of time on the beach and just hanging out listening to some really bad Karaoke! We also go lucky with the weather because the week before we went was pouring rain and the week after is supposed to be rainy, but we had nothing but blue skies!

Our only real adventures were getting to and from the Bahamas. On the way there we ended up having an extra 2 hour layover in Dallas due to plane mechanical problems. We still could have made our connecting flight except when we got to Fort Lauderdale we had to circle the airport for an hour due to rain storms. We made it but we were 4 hours late by the time we got to Freeport. Then on the way back Clay had forgoten to bring his Green Card, we had his passport but Homeland Security wasn't going to let him in the country without his Green Card. Anyhow, we finally got a waiver from the port authority but it was going to cost us $267. We didn't really care we just wanted to go home at this point. Anyhow, they only accepted cash or credit card and at the end of the trip we didn't have that much cash on us so we tried to pay with credit card. We spent 20 minutes trying every imaginable way to get the credit card to work, but as often happens on the island, the internet connection to the banks was shut down and they couldn't get any machine in the airport to work. At this point we were holding up the plane so finally they waived the fee and let Clay go home. It was quite the ordeal!

But we had a wonderful trip! We're glad to be home, but I think I wil always miss my little piece of paradise by the beach!

Last Day of Work

Today is my last day of government employment. Tomorrow I get on a plane and head to the Bahamas!!! It's strange to think it's my last day of work. I've anticipated this day for nearly a year and now that the day has come I thinks it's amazing how fast and slow time can move. At times I thougth today would NEVER come but in retrospect time went quickly. So to leave this job with a postitive thought here are some things that government employment has taught me.

1. Eventually you will find the person who either knows which form to use or how to fill out the form you have.
2. Everything will get done... but it will take twice as long and three times as much money.
3. Most people want to do a good job all you've got to do is clear the obstacles.
4. It's amazing how much the guy on the shop floor knows... so take time and listen to him.
5. Payday Friday... enough said!
6. Engineers are interchangable... electrical=mechanical=aerospace=industrial
7. The begining of the year really is in October.

Ok... 7 may be an odd number for a list but that seems pretty comprehensive to me.

Anyhow, if there are any government type folks who read this... thanks for the education!

Feel Good Movie of the Year

Yesterday while driving home I was listening to one of the local radio shows and their topic for the moment was "Underated movies that are really good." So listeners were calling in giving the names of the movies that the box office and/or critics didn't love but that they thought were great. So this one lady calls in and talks about this movie that was so emotional and hard to watch but really good. One of the DJs had seen this movie and he's agreeing with her that the movie is crazy good so now I'm thinking... Yeah I've got to see this! It's got to be great if it's this emotional movie about family and blah blah blah...

The name of the movie is "The Hills Have Eyes" and when I get home I googled the movie, clicked on the link and NO this is not some sad emotional movie... it's a HORROR MOVIE!!!! Now for those of you who know me you realize there is no way I can watch this. I can't hardly watch "Lost" without having nightmares so there is NO way I can watch this movie.

Furthermore, the version the lady was talking about was the re-make. The original was done in the 1960s and brought to us by none other than Wes Craven... yeah the dude that brought us Freddy Kruger! (Thanks man!) Who in their right mind talks about these kind of movies as "great" and "emotional" and makes it sound like some sort of tear jerker????

A long story short... just looking at the web site freaked me out. I read the background and this "great" movie is a bout a family that gets stranded in Nevada (yeah I used to live there) and is hunted by a pack of canibals. Not a feel-good movie if you ask me. Now the interesting part is that Wes Craven's inspiration came from the a true report of canibals in Scotland suring the 15th century.

So if you're a horror movie fan you may want to check this one out... as for me I think I'll still to a true classic. At least I don't have to worry about canibals showing up in Star Wars!

Strange Dreams

As I get closer to quitting my job and starting school I have had the strangest dreams. I'm sure my dreams are just manifestations of my fear and anxiety but none the less they are strange. Most of my dreams go something like this...

It's the first day of school. Someone I know is in the class and we decide to study together. Then a series of unfortunate events occur and either I can't make it to the study session OR I can't find my assignment and books. Before I know it it's time to go to class again and I am not prepared. So I wake up completely freaked out.

While I know this is due to stress I also think the dreams are adding to my anxiety. It's like the dreams are re-affirming my fear that I won't be "good enough" or "smart enough" in law school. So if anyone out in blog-reading land has a way to cure nightmares I'd love to hear from you.

My new favorite food

I have recently discovered that I like cherries. For years I thought I disliked them. So the other day when Clay ploped down on the couch with a bowl full of cherries (unlike a bowl fully of jelly) I to prove to him how much I hated cherries by eating one. You may wonder why I chose to eat something I was fairly certain I hated... well that goes back to my childhood. Periodically througout my life my sister would double-dare me to try a food I knew I hated to prove that I still hated it (yes this is child logic). I'm not sure why we did this but I would take bites of sea food, bananas, or french fries thereby proving to myself (and others) that those foods do in fact still taste "yucky".

This same philosophy was applied to the cherry situation with Clay. Clay selected "the perfect cherry" and the next thing I know we can't buy enough cherries to keep up with my demand. Now knowing what a wonderful fruit the cherry is I realized the reason I thought cherries were gross was because I had affiliated ALL cherries with those Maraschino Cherries. Yes, I thought all cherries tasted like those sugar-coated nasty things they use to contaminate your milkshake.

My little discovery has left me wondering what other wonderful foods I'm missing out on because I believe they taste like a bad version of the same thing. So I'm renewing my vow to periodically taste the foods I'm certain I hate and do that with an open mind... except bananas! Yeah I'm sure they're still gross.

Engineering and the global economy...

I recently read an article in BusinessWeek that caught my eye and I thought I'd share it.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2006/sb20060710_949835.htm?campaign_id=search

The article addresses outsourcing of engineering positions. Recently the media has begun to report that all technical jobs (engineering being the most popular) are soon to be outsourced to China and India due to the large number of engineers these countries graduate. The article is based on a Duke University study (http://memp.pratt.duke.edu/outsourcing/) where they looked into the types of engineers that China and India graduate each year.

First of all you must know that China claims to have graduated 600,000 engineers last year and India claims to have graduated 350,000 engineers. That is staggering compared to the 70,000 engineers the US graduated. No wonder all of the technical jobs are going to be outsourced!!!

Long story short... China and India inflate their numbers by including everyone from a car mechanic to an engineer in their "engineering graduation" statistics. Secondly the Duke report said that China and India have decided to move from quality to quantity for their engineering programs and consequently many of their engineers cannot compete in the international market.

The end of the article pointed out some sad consequences that may come from these media reports. First of all there may be a shortage of highly qualified engineers in this country. Since we have scared people into believing all of the engineering jobs are going to be outsourced the article stated that people are choosing to move into the legal and medical fields. Also, a lack of recognition of this problem has led industry to undervalue an engineering education and not pay the same premiums as they would a doctor or a lawyer.

Ironically I read this article as I make the leap from engineering into law school. While the fear of outsourcing had nothing to do with my decision I do feel like adding a law degree gives me additional career options and earning potential. I guess we'll see how it goes. If the nay-sayers are right I'll end up back at work for the government as a GS-9 JAG. (Thanks for the vote of confidence!)

Family Vacation

This weekend we got together with two of my college roomates and their husbands for our annual family vacation. Since we've done this two years in a row we're begining to think it's a tradition! This year we decided to head to Dallas and have a fun filled day at Six Flags. As usual, things don't always turn out the way they are planned.

We arrived Friday night and I'm begining to believe the tradition is arriving late, in the dark, and getting lost. However, we all found our way and enjoyed being re-united. Saturday we hit the park early and rode all the major rides within the first hour and a half. This is the point where the plan fell apart. First, when we rode the Titan (their largest roller coaster) I blacked out... twice. We decided I was dehydrated so we had a water stop. When we got back in line for the Superman, Sarah got sick and got out of line. After being very ill Jonathan took her back to the hotel. About an hour later Clay was so hot that he couldn't ride the rides. At this point we were dropping like flies and called it a day.

While Six Flags didn't turn out the way we had planned we did get to hit the pool, have a nice dinner, and watch "Pirates of the Carribean". Overall it was a wonderful weekend with great friends. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people who we love keeping in touch with.

On a side note, "Pirates" was a much darker movie than the first and not what I had expected. As Jonathan said, "Too much pirate and not enough funny." Well said!

The label maker and hypnosis...

Two things happened this week which I feel compeled to blog about. First of all the label maker in the office has exploded. In an attempt to be compliant with a ridiculous government inspection the worst desk buddy in the world has been tasked with properly labeling everything in the office. Every file cabinet, drawer, and file has a proper code. I feel I have returned to kindergarten with a bullitin board filled with pictures and words so that you can learn to read. Anyhow, it's quite annoying.

The second point of intrest is that I was hypnotized this week. I heard that hypnosis can help people improve memory and focus so I decided to give it a try. I'm hoping that this little experiment will help me in school. It was a fascinating experience and while I don't feel "changed" I can tell you I was hypnotized and that I was given suggestions that should build my ability for memorization and recollection. I'm really excited about this experience I'll let you know how it goes.

In final news don't forget to tune into the World Cup this weekend. Germany v Portugual for 3rd and 4th place and Italy v France for the championship. I'm routing for Italy and Germany to come out ahead :)!

Government Intelligence

I have decided that only those who work for the government can truly appreciate the meaning of government intelligence. Yes, I know those of you who have had the pleasure of dealing with government agencies have an idea of how much red tape there is, but those who work in the government can truly appreciate how long and wide and deep the span of paperwork can be. Take for instance the fact that I'm quitting. You would think this would be a relatively easy process. You simply say "I quit", give them a date and you're done. Not so in the government.

First of all there is a form (surprise surprise) and this form is used to make sure all the other forms are filled out. So I have to make about 25 stops to different people to have them fill out different forms so that they can fill out my form that says they've filled out their form. I think you're starting to get the picture. Of course the first stop on this form is to the lady who tells you which other forms need to be filled out. Her other job is the exit interview. I believe most exit interviews want to at least get some idea of why a person is quitting and if there are any real issues with the employment. This is not so on my government form. The lady told me to please keep my answer short, under a sentence, so it would fit on the other form she had to fill out. Once I put my reason (I'm attending law school.) that fit with a magic code that she could use to fill out her form.

Ok... I'm sure you get the idea but this ridiculousness is why New Jersey can't decide on a state budget and therefore shut down the state. So, enough of my ranting. I just thought I'd share about how difficult it is to actually quit my job :)! And in the end I may even miss the great opportunities I have to learn just how disfunctional government agencies can be.

PS... the worst desk buddy in the world is currently jamming out to the Backstreet Boys... No, I'm not kidding... I wish I was.

"The best laid plans" OR "How I spent my 4th of July"

Wow what a weekend!!! Clay and I booked WAY too many activities. I guess we figured we could fit it all in. So here's the run down. First of all we missed several activities we meant to hit. Instead of the Canada Day party we hung out with our friends Travis & Shelley who happened to be in town for the weekend. We had a lot of fun and wish they lived closer. And instead of 4th of July party we recovered from our home improvement projects.

The main weekend event was a big home improvement blow out! (I think Home Depot's stock increased due to the profit they made off of us.) There were two projects that had to be finished prior to the end of summer and start of the school year. We had to paint our bedroom and pour a 7'x5' concrete pad for a small shed in our backyard. Since the painting of the bedroom included the ceiling ALL of the furniture had to be moved out. Then we teamed up with our neighbors to paint our bedroom and their master bedroom (the idea of 4 hands being better than 2). When that was finished (on Sunday) Clay and I went to work setting up for the big concrete pour. This is where the plans went awry.

As it would turn out the "easy" part of the concrete was digging the hole and setting the form. We had figured on moving one sprinkler head but when we got down to it we had to cap one and move the other. That was a LOT more digging than we had planned. Once we had dug the form we realized we had grossly underestimated the scope of this project. First the base, Clay had initially bought 2 bags of gravel (5o lbs each) and one bag of sand (70 lbs). After a second trip to HD we laid down a total of 5 bags of gravel (250 lbs) and 3 bags of sand (170 lbs). Next we began to mix the concrete. Initially Clay purchased 4 bags of concrete (80 lbs each) but realized we needed more and went and grabbed 6 more bags. When we got near the end we went and bought another 4 bags!!! (if you're counting that's 14 bags). In the end we mixed (by hand) and poured 1,120 lbs of concrete. Yes folks, you heard that right :)!

In the end... well we finished! The room is painted (and furniture moved back in) and the concrete pad turned looks GREAT! YEAH for weekend projects! I hope everyone else had an equally productive and fun holiday weekend.

Will the fun never end???

I stayed home today (played hookie) and got to watch the Germany v Argentina World Cup game. This was an AMAZING game. There were many things that made this game exciting a lot of which was that the host team was playing. But i realized I was WAY too into the game in the second half of the over time period. I was cheering for Germany so as I watched my (now) farvorite player, Ballack, hobble bravely around the field I got teary eyed. Yes, I was THAT emotionally tied up in this game. Anyhow, in the end Germany pulled it off in PKs (which is a poopy way for Argentina to be elliminated from World Cup). Perhaps I should point out that really the German goalie, Lehmann, "won" the game. The man saved 2 PKs!! Seriously, a PK is almost impossible to stop but he managed to stop 2. If you missed the game... I'm sorry it was spectacular! Now I'm watching Italy v Ukraine... will the fun never end?!?!?!

Also, Happy Fourth of July! (and for the Canadian readers Happy Canada Day!) The joy of an international marriage is that the beginning of July we get to celebrate 2 independence days. So Saturday we're going to a Canada Day party at one of Clay's co-worker's homes and Tuesday we're heading out to some friend's house for fireworks! Hope everyone is has a great holiday weekend!

A good desk buddy...

Today I'm losing my cubical buddy. It's VERY important to have a good cubical buddy because they can provide so much help. Here is a short list of cubical buddy duties I have composed.

1. Sounding board... a good cubical buddy always gives an honest opinion.
2. Name, phone number, company recognition... your cubical buddy normally remembers all the details you forget.
3. Good conversation... enough said.

The list could go on but you get the idea. So I'm losing my desk buddy. The sad thing is he is being replaced with a really BAD desk buddy. My new cubical buddy is the kind of guy that doesn't know when to shut up and is the resident expert on EVERYTHING. This fact makes the loss of my good desk budy only that much more painful.

So goodbye desk buddy. Good luck and I hope you have a good desk buddy in your next office!

LawLaw Fun

This weekend my law school had a shin dig for the incoming 1Ls. It was a meet-n-greet meant to gear us up and prepare us for the trials ahead (no pun intended). While easing some of my anxieties (like will I make any friends) it also made law school very real for me. I've been planning this move for a year now so law school has been this event that's "out there" but not necessarily obtainable. But this weekend I got to realize how quickly the first day of class is coming.

The good news is I am prepared. We've financially prepared by saving up and all that jazz. I've mentally prepared by reading some books and relaxing. But in the end I'm about to make a HUGE lifestyle switch that kind of scares me.

In the end I know I can do it. I have to continue to remind myself that 9 zillion other people have made it through law school so surely I can make it also. I guess it's just time to gather some last minute courage and take the plunge.

PS... sorry for the boring blog. In exciting news you should have seen the Germany v. Sweden World Cup match this weekend!

REBATES

So Clay and I must be in the minority. I read an article about rebate offers with products. Apparently the goal of rebates are to make them so frustrating and drawn out that people will either forget they submitted the rebate and not follow up OR never submit the endless pile of paperwork to begin with.

What the rebate people don't know is that I work for the government. My life IS submitting endless piles of paperwork and forms. The other half of that is that I am my father's daughter. Some would call my father cheap, he always prefered thrifty. Anyhow, what I learned from my father is to keep track of ALL you pennies. And so here I sit... on hold... waiting for the customer service person to track down my rebate that they've been holding for 3 months. But I will prevail... the endless forms and borning elevator music will not stop me :)!

In other news... the US tied Italy in World Cup action... this means we have a chance of going on to the elimination round.

What's in a name?

Before I get too far into the blog experience I feel I should comment on the name or title of my blog. I never realized how difficult it would be to think of a name for a blog. So staring at a blank screen I decided on "Something Moore". Moore, of course is in reference to the town where I live. While "Something More" is a song by the country band Sugarland and has recently inspired me. Perhaps I didn't come up with the "greatest name" for my blog but it works.

In other pressing news, tomorrow the US plays Italy in World Cup action. While the US typically dominates the world scene in althletics (i.e. Olympics, Tour de France, Women's soccer) it seems we continue to struggle in men's soccer. I'm not sure why that is, but in the meantime I will continue to cheer for my home team!

What to write???

A funny thing about blogging... when you actually set up a blog you have nothing to say.

I've got into a habit of reading several people's blogs. Most of these folks are people I knew in college but I have since fallen out of contact with. I think it's very funny that I can "keep up" with tons of people and they never know that I'm keeping tabs on them. Internet stalking is very strange. Anyhow, I read these blogs and I notice that they seem to have great thoughts. They find interesting topics and can post long blogs on these topics. I on the other hand have chosen to write about other people writing about interesting things.

Well I suppose I should go and find a great thought to write about tomorrow!