Final Exams and Winter in Tucson

I have my last final exam tomorrow.  Civil Procedure.  Right now, I suppose I am as ready as I will ever be.  Maybe, I'll glance at one more practice question before bed though... Weather permitting, I'll be back in Portland less than 48 hours from now.  I would appreciate it if you all would throw up some prayers to your deity of choice that my flight doesn't get cancelled. Christmas in Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix doesn't sound very fun.  

In honor of the recent cold spell in my homeland, which hopefully won't keep my plane out of the sky, I thought I would post some pics of winter in Tucson.  Enjoy!

November Update

I have just four days of classes left in my first term of law school!  We are off this week for Thanksgiving, then we come back to school for our last week.  After that, I just have to study for my finals, which the powers that be unfortunately decided to prolong this year.   The last day of classes is Dec. 4 but my last final isn't until Dec. 22.  Talk about pain!  Not to mention a short winter break.  

A short winter break means a short time to visit home.  Tucson really isn't a bad place to live.  It was 81 degrees today.  You can't beat that with a stick.  But this place has nothing on Oregon.  I think I have always known that I want to grow old in Oregon but these last few weeks have really confirmed it.  I am especially drunk on the Portland kool-aid.  There are terrific bars, clubs, and shows in Portland.  The city itself is beautiful and its politics are progressive.  The people are really cool and I miss my family and friends.  And, God help me, I like Oregon weather!  I enjoy seeing the seasons change and the leaves fall.  I'm stoked to get home and catch some Blazers games with Dane and Carly, play some poker with Big Papa Joe Knight, take a trip down to Corvallis and throw back some tequila shots at Sancho's with Craig and Ralph, spend Christmas with my family, and, of course, pass a day or three at Powell's City of Books.

I am going to need the rest.  I will try my best not to turn into a twitchy, caffeine-addled mess but I know the next month here is going to be intense.  As I try to put together my outlines and prepare for finals, the workload is amping up.  Without being overly dramatic, our grades are based entirely on final exams.  While I am not nervous or anxious about the exams (yet anyway), I do understand the importance of doing well on them.  They represent the culmination of four months worth of effort.

I can't believe it is November already

It all seems so surreal to me.  I cannot believe that I have been in Tucson for all of three months.  It seems like I blinked in August and when I opened my eyes, I was here in November.  My first final is in less than a month.  I have a long, busy road ahead of me until I fly back to Portland on December 23rd, though I am sure the time will seem to pass even faster...   

Big Win on the road for Portland

Check out the box score HERE.

My goodness

Watch Portland's improbable 101-99 victory over Houston on Thursday HERE.

Halloween Weekend

On Friday night, I went out to this club called Level with a UPS worker, the spice girls, a french maid, a 70s police officer, two avid golfers, a goddess, a hooters girl, and a Barack Obama supporter.  There I saw a fallen angel, Michael Phelps, some pirates, some vampires, a jester, Paulie Bleaker, and others.  I drank.  I went to bed late. 

On Saturday, I rolled out of bed at around noon.  Went down to this little cafe and ate breakfast while working on my Contracts outline...in fact, I spent most of the rest of the weekend working on my Contracts outline and taking a practice Contracts midterm.  I did hang out with Z on Saturday night and watch the Portland and OSU games.  Afterward, we hit Applebee's for half-price drafts.

October 27, 2008

-woke up late, barely made it to Con Law in time

-went to my other classes

-ran two miles (17:30).

-studied in the library for two hours

-went in search of Professor Glennon and ended up chatting with Professor Bublick and Professor Washburn instead.

-worked at the fortune telling booth at the law school halloween carnival

-hit up Bentley's for some iced tea and more quality studying time

October 26, 2008

-Went to breakfast at the Bread and Butter Cafe and read the NY Times.

-Watched the newest episode of The Office.

-Met with my study group at the library to work on Contracts.

-Went to Sunday dinner with Grace at her aunt and uncle's house.

-Talked to my parents on the phone.  My mom just walked a half-marathon.

-Watched some Arrested Development with Grace.

-More Contracts!  Z, Ellen, and I closed down the library.

October 25, 2008

• Hit the gym with Grace in the morning, played some pick-up basketball.
  
• Went for a bike ride
• Worked on my Con. Law outline while watching college football.

October 24, 2008

The Old Main tricked out for homecoming

Three seconds later...

-Ran two miles (17:19)

-Went to the 1L luncheon with the Board of Visitors where I met Grace's dad, Colin.

-Went on an impromptu tour of the locker room with Z, Priya, and Bubbles.

-Met with Jon to go over the memo assignment for torts lab.

-Dropped in on the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new law library.  Dean Massaro gave a speech that was both very good and very long.  I am definitely going to have to take Con Law II with her.

-Went out to a Mexican restaurant with Grace and her family.  It wasn't good Mexican food; there wasn't an un-refried bean in sight. 

-Studied Contracts and Con Law; added to my Con Law outline

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Hey all,

I am changing the blog up a bit.  From this point forward, my posts will seldom use the narrative voice.  Instead, each post will consist of a set of quick bullet points about cool or interesting or important things I have done or seen that day and, on occasion, pictures.  I am making this change for myself mostly.  It will save me time and It will give me an easy-to-access chronicle of my experiences that will allow my to look back and track how I am passing my time.  

Though I could have done this on a paper journal, I want to keep the blog up so you, my friends and family, will still have a little window in my life.  As a by-product of the new format, look forward to more frequent blog posts.

Also, I am thinking about launching another blog project with an entirely different theme.  If I am able to get it off the ground, it will appear in a different forum from blogspot.  That is all I will say for now because it is still in its infancy.  But look out for more information as things develop.

Cheers,

Andy

Matt Damon on Sarah Palin

AND Collegehumor chimes in:

Monday Movie Night

I went to see Religulous with some folks in my small section tonight.  It is Bill Maher's call to action to agnostics.  It's funny, thought-provoking and worth a luck if you can handle Maher's smugness.  Check out the trailer here.

Pictures!

Pictures from my recent trip up Mt. Lemmon (~9000 ft).  It is the southernmost peak in the U.S. which is ski-able during the winter.

Also, my good friend Chris just left for South Africa and he is starting a blog about his experiences there.  Check it out to the left!

Amazingsuperpowers

For post-modern humor, check out amazingsuperpowers.com.

Almost three weeks in...

Okay, so I managed to sneak into the main room for the Breyer speech on Monday.  He is an engaging speaker and an amazing man.  He reminded me a lot of Marcus Borg, a Jesus scholar who used to teach philosophy classes at OSU and debate about Christianity in his spare time.  Borg has an infectious sort of charisma and Breyer is much the same.  That being said, I thought his speech, which revolved around the Dred Scott case, was mediocre.  He belabored the facts of the case too much and didn't get to his main point until last two minutes.  I wanted to hear him talk more about the Supreme Court as it is made up today and we didn't get much of that.

After my Constitutional Law class tomorrow, I will officially have finished three weeks of law school.  I haven't dropped out in favor of dental school yet but it has been interesting to watch my classmates.  At this point, there are basically three groups of people.  The first group (like myself) are leaning to love the law and really enjoying testing their mental capacity and trying to think in a new way, the second group are treading water and still trying to find their way, and the last group already are teetering on the brink of burnout.  It is going to be a long eight months for those people who are already complaining about law school every chance they get.

The Supreme Court Justice Cometh

I am sitting in the lobby of the law school amidst a buzz of excitement surrounding the upcoming arrival of Justice Stephen Breyer to give a talk on I don't even know what here at the law school.  I didn't win the lottery to actually get into the room with him, so I will watch him on streaming video in one of the two overfill rooms.  Pictures are probably out of the question but I may post on the talk later.  

Also, my good friend Jessica just started a blog about her new life in Appalachia teaching adult education classes.  Check it out at the left.

Reason and Passion

I am now well into my second week of law school and, though the workload is heavy, I am enjoying myself immensely.  I am headed to bed shortly after I finish the glass of wine I am currently sipping on.  Before I do, I would like to share with you one of my favorite passages from Khalil Gibran's The Prophet.  The conceit Gibran uses to convey his thoughts in this thin volume is the arrival of a prophet in the imaginary city of Orphalese.  The people of Orphalese gather around this prophet and ask him to speak on various topics.  For instance, a lawyer asks about laws and nursing mother asks about children.  

Here, a priestess asks the prophet to speak of reason and passion.  He answers:

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

...

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows--then let your heart say in silence, "God rests in reason."

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky,--then let your heart say in awe, "God moves in passion."

And since you are a breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

----------------------------------

Goodnight all.

Picture Update

Outside the law school at night

High up in the foothills surrounding Tucson

Cacti, Cacti, everywhere

A good shot of Wildcat Stadium

My workspace

Those rainy days in... Tucson?

Here is a look at the Tucson sky at about 4:30 this afternoon.  It rained on me for most of the day.  This was nothing like the intense monsoon of two weeks ago; it was just ordinary, Portland-esque rain.  As a matter of fact, I would bet that it has rained much more here in Tucson, since I've been here, than it has in Portland.  Of course, this is the "rainy season"and in November when it is raining every day up in the Willamette Valley, it will be a balmy 75 degrees here with clear blue skies.  

I had my first day of classes today.  I love my professors.  My Con Law prof, Glennon, is a brilliant lecturer and funny as hell.  My contracts prof, Washburn, is a bit of a nerd, but also funny and a really nice guy.  I like the work in the library to prepare for classes, though you should ask me if I still feel that way come November.  The workload itself is definitely heavier than it was for undergraduate but I don't think it will be unmanageable.