So on May 3rd, you and everyone you know, and their dog too, needs to get online and watch this video. Actually go to YouTube and click thumbs up, save it to your favorites, comment favorably on it, and share it with others. The goal is to blast it on to the front page of youtube, instead of the usual trash that is there. Anyhow, pass it on.

Book of Mormon Video

Well, God answers prayers. Eli has been even more consistent than me in asking Heavenly Father to provide us with a job, and, sure enough, after I thought there was no possible way, I get two choices. First, a dream opportunity to work at BYU law school helping to rewrite a treatise on religious freedom and relevant law. Second, a federal clerkship at the district court. CRAP!! I'm clinging to the hope that I can still do both, but either way, I feel so blessed by a loving Father. I was not seeking the clerkship, I didn't even know about it, but a professor recommended me for it and then tracked me down to tell me. Talk about divine intervention. And I feel so much more confident about the Loyola interviews this summer.
Anyhow, whatever happens, all I really want is to take Eli, Wesley and Eva to Zion NP, and do some fun hiking. Maybe the San Rafael as well. I can hardly wait, although the drive is going to stink.

So I had a quick daydream about doing some canyoneering again this summer, but I don't have a sufficient post of pics for Englestead Hollow. Such a fantastic canyon should be kept secret, really, but in violation of such desires, I'll post some of the pics that I have. Begin salesmanship:










So this last one is taken after you technically leave Englestead Hollow and enter the park boundaries, but the fact that one must also complete the best part of Orderville Canyon in order to actually do Englestead is even better. I'll refrain from all but one more of Orderville, but I think every 100 yards of that canyon could merit an award winning photograph.

So I watched a speech that touched a nerve. I decided to post my thoughts (amid all those calls for white supremacy and other general garbage... I feel bad that average Americans are offered a forum to discuss general topics of national interest, and instead of actual thought, we end up with "Kill Whitey!" ...but my pontification is probably not much better) Here is the short video speech, followed by my thoughts:



"I think the statement about teachers being most responsible for a child's success glosses over a flaw larger than our current education system. The biggest flaw of American education (elementary and secondary) is the American family behind it all. Our families have degenerated so much since the mentioned 'golden age'. Parents no longer accept the responsibility to see that their individual children are learning the most that they possibly can. Many American families have fathers who are addicted to pornography, or who just don't give their kids the needed discipline, guidance or support. At the same time they have mothers who have to work full time to meet the rent, or who are maybe a little too worried about the media's presentation of what their bodies should look like, etc. The list is too expansive for a short post, but there exists a general weakness to our families that cannot be fully compensated by a good teacher. Without the help of parents, it is so much harder for kids to reach the excellence that should be right at their fingertips. I don't think President Obama is ignoring this, as per the state of the union, but Americans who expect a bill like this to pull us back to the top in education fail to see the larger problem. We need to repair the American Family, and I don't think a legislative bill can do that. I honestly think the change must come from people like me, with my growing family, who can make individual choices to strengthen the family. I am the father who can put my kids in a position where excellence is the norm. I am the one who can take responsibility for the next generation, because they literally live under my roof. I think Obama should challenge the fathers (and mothers) of the nation to do the same." [end youtube post]

OK, so when I posted it the order got all disjointed, and I had to slim some sentences down, and I even left one sentence incomplete. I just wanted to make sure that I too showed a lesser respect for this 'national forum'... sheesh. And then I started thinking about what I would do if Eli has a really crappy kindergarten teacher. It makes me sick to my stomach actually, and I don't want to deal with that. But I guess I'll make sure that I'm always there for my kids, that I always know what they are learning, that I always help them with their homework, and maybe even supplement it with cool lessons in physics etc. I have some teaching ideas up my sleeve. Cho Oyu, anyone? :)

Sierra and I were joking about how she should just be a nurse, and I could homeschool the kids... but while I would really love to do that, I would also probably not survive even one week. Hopefully I can just help my kids understand the joy of learning through disciplined study, something that I took a long time to comprehend, and still forget frequently.

Life is good. I hope my kids remember with fondness the adventures they are having as children. I feel so bound up with school, and my time is so limited, but there are always moments of tender mercy.

Well, I took Eli fishing this afternoon. It rained on us, hard. The wind was blowing too, and we both got really cold. But we tried hard to catch the dang fish that were jumping all over the place. I was literally passing my bait right in front of their faces. I know it. But I wasn't doing it well. I think I've figured out the solution, and only the next batch of pictures will tell. :)

So, I just want to say that I know Heavenly Father will prepare the way. One of my biggest concerns right now is getting a job. That really matters for this family, getting an income. But I'm really not worried, despite the stress of getting rejected, etc. People are really, really dumb for not hiring me. Someone will make the right choice. :) And I'll look forward to seeing the others on the other side of the courtroom.

Also, spending time with families is so important, it just has to be possible. Another thing I'm super stressed about is the Jessup Moot Court Competition coming up. That has been one of the worst experiences of my life, both because its hard, and because of laziness of a teammate. I will refrain, except to say that I will NEVER tolerate such in my professional career, whether from an associate, a partner, or even a judge. But back to the point, who cares about a stupid competition anyhow. I mean, I do, and I have sacrificed my life for the past few months because I actually want to do better than everyone else. But in reality, this whole thing is SO worthless that I can't believe I lost even a minute of sleep over it, let alone the hours and hours that I actually have.

What isn't worthless is my family. So I went and bought a cheap fishing pole from Wal-Mart, and scheduled a "date" with Eli. Wesley will be next week. I'm a little worried about what we might actually catch, see below, but I figure we'll at least have a little bit of adventure in the process. Also, I've been spending some actual time working on my boat, and I'm in the final stages I think. SO its about time that my family comes back to the top of the list. In full force.

I took this as we were walking on the pier. What do you do if you catch one of these? They pulled the hook out, and tossed it back, but it was floppin' and smackin' and stingin' all over the place. What if I catch a shark?

I went swimming this morning (early AM, and not the above pictures) in some pretty good chop... for the Gulf, at least. Anyhow, it was fun and I didn't get eaten by a shark. But the rest of the day was read, meeting, read, class, and the like. Then I was late to dinner, which always ruins Sierra's day. Bummer. I'll need to make it up somehow. At least there aren't any icicles hanging from the trees around the temple any more. That was pretty depressing.

Its pretty hard to find the balance right now, in all the things I'm doing. Family has been relegated to 'see ya when I can see ya' which is nowhere near where it should be. You know you're getting pretty lame when the coolest thing you've done with your family recently is drive down the highway looking for alligators.

But life is still good, and I love it. I'll be done with this schooly nonsense soon enough. Needless to say, I'll be grateful. Here are some more random, hopefully pretty pictures.

Finished. Time to revive some part of me that is not law school.

I apologize, but this post became very random. But hey, it was sparked by an email I wrote to Dan Myers yesterday, coupled with a dream of old friends I had last night, so OF COURSE its gonna be random:

One more exam and this semester is finished. Unfortunately I'll be spending a significant portion of break writing two 50 page memorials for the Jessup International Law competition I somehow got duped into. Not only is it really complicated law, and far afield from my precious patents, but its also just different. I won't call the judges "Your Honor" but rather "Your Excellency"... Sometimes I feel like our country has too much pride, and that we need to change so badly, but things like this remind me of how lucky I am to be a citizen of the United States of America.

Again and again I take for granted that this nation was founded by noble men possessing honor, upon true principles of freedom and light. Our nation DOES deserve a high degree of reverence, especially when one considers the hollow, self-honored aristocracy of "excellency" that continues to hold sway in the outside world.

Only a few months ago I was in DC, and I felt so much awe and gratitude for the amazing country that God literally shaped with his own hands. And oh how fast those memories fade, being replaced so quickly with silly things like the laws of intellectual property or evidence. Alma and his progeny spoke truly in their counsel to remember, remember.

Anyhow, I had a dream last night of old friends, and I woke up this morning feeling all sorts of ways, happy for having such good friends in my life, sad for having not talked to so many of them for so long, anxious not only about all the grades I'm going to receive shortly but also about choices made very long ago, and not so long ago.

...I'm not describing this very well, because it sounds negative, when really its refreshing to feel strong emotion after weeks of just grinding away at the books. And although I haven't made sense of life as a whole, or the dream I had, I realized I just need to remember. I need to remember the morning I was vacuuming the Math Lab in the Talmadge building, when I felt the Spirit so strongly reassuring me of this course in life. I need to remember the brief, quite moments that I have had even in the last two weeks, when I have come home at 2AM and softly checked on my sleeping sons, and realized how precious a gift I have been given. I need to remember the moments in the temple when I made specific covenants with God, promising to obey his laws.

Honestly, this whole blog is premised on my desire to adventurize everything, because literally I desire to have real, exhausting, dirty adventures a THOUSAND times more than money or fame or fancy things. But when I properly contemplate life, adventure is silly when it stands next to the Kingdom of God. Or maybe more properly said, the adventure that is the Kingdom of God far exceeds any mountain or ocean that is there to enjoy. That is why this nation is so amazing, because it is the foundation upon which this kingdom is built. It was graced with the trailing clouds of glory of the restoration. I feel strongly that this nation is the mountain out of which the Church was cut without hands. And it is an adventure worthy to fill the whole earth.

God Lives, and those who know it have so much to be grateful for. Work hard, there is much to do. I hope that there are plenty of gritty adventures for me and my family to enjoy. Just remember.

I suppose its no big deal to get your pictures on Google Earth, but I was pretty happy that most of mine have been chosen. See http://www.panoramio.com/user/1262312

But I admit my photography is pretty lame when compared with Matt Beatty. See http://mooncowboy.blogspot.com and more particularly http://www.flickr.com/photos/10215684@N00

THE STORY OF MY FREE SONY ERICSSON LAPTOP

So I got a MRSA infection in my elbow. My elbow was killing me one evening, so I went and got it checked. They took an X-ray, and then concluded that my Bursa was inflamed because of a really cool bone spur I have... Seriously, it looks like I'm evolving into a Pterodactyl or something. I also had a little bit of cracked skin on my elbow, from being in UT the last weekend, so they gave me some worthless antibiotic (actually its Keflex, so its not exactly worthless, but it does nothing for what I got)...

Anyhow, the next day my elbow was super red and very sore, and that night I had a fever. John Watson was dropping off a book or something and made a funny comment about me wearing a sweatshirt in this ridiculously warm Florida weather. The next day the red/purpleness had spread in a uniform circle away from my cracked elbow, and it was as swollen as all get up. SO I called Nathan Kelsey. Que trumpets.

He asked me if it 'crackled' to the touch, and for a second I thought it did. Luckily I was wrong because I probably would have had to amputate my arm had I been correct. Nate was effective at convincing me to go to the doctor, so I did that night. They took about a gallon of blood for cultures, and said that I had "Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus." This article about one particular MRSA was my first result, and it is not cool. MOM, DO NOT READ THAT ARTICLE, I DIDN'T CATCH STRAIN USA600. After they told me "MRSA is all over down here," I got an IV of Vancomycin, and a subscription for Sulfamethoxazole (SP?)... Little did the docs know that I'd had all this stuff before with Dr. Ey...

So I went home with instuctions to come back in 24 hours. I did so, and was there until 5 AM getting another, bigger dose of Vancomycin, and a big dose of Levafloxcin (?...that might be totally wrong). I was sent home with another perscription for Doxycilin (?)...

As a side note, while I was there for that really long night, I had a 'roomate' who died. I never got to see her face so I can't tell how old she was, but she had breast cancer which had metastacized. She had been sitting up and talking to the EMTs on the way to the hospital, complaining of difficulty in breathing. But she passed out before she got to the hospital, and then went into cardiac arrest right when she got to the room. They tried soooo hard not to let her die, with epinephrine, and something else that starts with an 'A', and with the defribrillator, and then just CPR for like half an hour. They had pulled a curtain between us, but literally I was about 4 feet away while all of this was going on.

After she died, one of the nurses asked if I wanted to go sit in the hall on a different bed, and I said sure, because in my head I thought it would be wierd to have said "No, I want to hang out with the dead body while the coroner comes to clean up..." But it was nice to get away from the noise of hospital procedure, and contemplate the momentous event that had just happened to someone of close proximity. Its been a long time since I've been forced to think about death. I am really grateful for the times in my life that I have had to think about it. It changed who I am, I think in a really good way. It makes me sad to think how those memories have faded, and how I have progressed back to being my dumb, selfish, short-sighted self over the last 5 or so years.

Anyhow, the part of that lady's death that affected me the most was the moment her husband showed up. He was an elderly man, skinny with very dark eyes, and probably a foot shorter than me. He walked in about five minutes after they had stopped CPR. He had gotten dressed and had a plastic grocery bag with a change of clothes for his wife, along with her medicine (a couple of prescriptions). He was so quiet, and when they told him that he had passed away he nodded with a frown, and then nodded to a few more of their statements. I was about 15 feet away, but I tried not to blatantly stare, and when he walked away, he didn't notice me. He talked with the doctors for like two minutes, and then he walked away for a while.

As he was walking past me, I saw his lip quivering, and then he turned down a hall out of the view of the doctors, but in my full view, and I watched from behind as he started wiping his eyes. Then he turned and I didn't see him for like half an hour. I wish I had shared this sooner, because I feel like I'm Frost, telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence... But the next day, I was bawling all through sacrament meeting. And then John Watson came over to grab some books after church, and I tried to tell him about my night, and I almost started all over. The last time I cried that hard was when I tried to tell Sierra the things Ben had shared with me about his crash. I couldn't even get one sentence out without having to stop for like 30 seconds while I cried. This wasn't at all that bad, because Ben is one of my best friends and this elderly gentleman was just a stranger, but I felt so much sadness for him. And it probably also has to do with the fact that I was on like 3 hours of sleep, and was loaded up with crazy antibiotics that tax the soul.

Let me be clear, aside from all machismo, I don't fear my own death. I'm OK with it, because I've accepted the fact that our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave. I'm actually really excited for the experience, however weird that may sound. BUT, death is of necessity accompanied by separation. The separation of body and spirit is alright, but the separation of me from my loved ones, especially from Sierra, is an unbearable thought, and when I am forced to contemplate THAT, I get weepy.

Sorry for the cheese, but its the truth. Poor Josh Tillotson came up to me after sacrament meeting that day, I think because he wanted to comfort me. But the real comfort comes from the Restored Gospel. Families can be eternal, and this brings peace...

SO what about the laptop? Well, sometime during or immediately after this experience, I opened my email because I was afraid I was missing some meeting for one of the organizations in which I am a Vice President, and I saw a forwarded email for a free laptop. Just forward it on to your friends and include Anna@sonyericsson.com in CC. Its been "checked on snopes"... Yeah right. My brain said, "scam, scam, scam." But I said, to heck with it, its probably worth the 30 seconds, and my friends will forgive me. So I clicked the forward button, and sent that multiplied piece of cybertrash to a bunch of friends.

Needless to say, I didn't really get the laptop, but I did get into a great conversation with one of my professors about the iPhone. The end of my MRSA adventure was a check up with a Dr, who said everything looks fine. Michelle says that the adventure is never really ended, but I think I'm done. You, mr or ms reader, are amazing for having read all of this.

So I just registered my blog domain, but I was afraid I was going to delete the whole thing. Pretty stressful. I still don't have all the kinks worked out, but I'm happy with it.

Fortitudo, Vigilatia, Defensio.

Brought to you by the Department of Fairness...oh wait, I mean Justice. (wink wink Professor Bonner)

Olmecs in DC, ...who knew?

On a serious note, we all lead charmed lives, and I personally feel like I need to show as much gratitude to God as I possibly can. Alot of that effort is just plain obedience. How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yeah thy pure eye, behold from the heavens the sins of this people? Hopefully I am repenting at a fast enough rate that this question doesn't hit me smack in the middle of the forehead and knock me out.




I don't know if you can tell, but below is a stump of tree that was used as a defence for some soldier in the civil war. It is insane to think of the carnage that accompanied such. Anyhow, be righteous. Obey God.