Scible Imp

Past

2008-09-12T21:54:10Z

Bar exam results are up, and by the good graces of the bar examiners, WE BOTH PASSED!

Waaaaaaa-hooooooooo!!!!

Thank you, magical bar fairy, for all your help!

And now that the bar exam is in the past, I can return to my normal life where I did things like sleep and eat.

P.S. Ben is taking it all very coolly. Curse his vulcan blood!

THE MOVE

2008-08-16T21:45:23Z

Wow, it's really taken me a long time to finish this blog. Especially considering that I started it in May. Anyhoo, here's the story of our cross-country journey back to the land of sushi, recycling, and bloatedly expensive real estate.

The Ceremony

Once again, Ben and I have embarked upon a wondrous journey. During the month of May, we graduated from law school, packed up our household, and drove across the country, eventually ending up in Portland, Oregon. We’ve spent the summer preparing for the Bar exam, and now, well, we’ll see. Anyhoo, here’s the story.

We graduated on May 3rd, and for once, we actually attended our graduation ceremony. It involved shaking hands with Senator Lugar. Exciting! We also got to wear really swank robes with awesome hoods. In fact, we got to get hooded on stage in what my friend Melissa called an (unholy) pagan Druidic ceremony. It was fabulous. Also, I wore really awesome shoes. Afterwards, Ben’s folks and grandparents and MY parents and sister all trouped back to our very tiny house for a barbeque. It was a sufficiently successful affair. And the next day, Ben and I had lots of free labor to help us get a jumpstart on packing up the house!

The Packing

After much debate, we ended up getting a Pod. It was more expensive than just getting a moving truck, but makes a lot more sense, since we still aren’t sure where we’ll end up moving. Plus, we procrastinated between getting a quote and actually ordering it, which prompted the Pod People to call us and offer a substantial discount. Woo hoo! So in the end, a strapping young fellow named Todd delivered our Pod, to my great delight (“When can we expect Todd with the Pod?” or “Hey, here’s Todd with the Pod!” or “Could you please ask Todd with the Pod not to drive on the sod?”).

Packing stuff in to the Pod was less fun. Over three years, we’ve accumulated lots and lots of things, things that wanted desperately to drag us down in to a pit of despair. I really, really wanted to drag a bunch of those things out into the yard and buuuuurn them all down…mwa ha ha ha!! But, Ben steadfastedly kept packing and masterfully tying things into place in the Pod, and eventually, we had almost everything in place. (Note that I say “almost” – and getting that last 5% of stuff packed takes forever.)

Once we had all the stuff cleared out of the bedroom and Ben’s office, we were able to start painting them. And miracles of miracles, our friend Brandi came over to help us and managed to paint the walls in both rooms in like 3 hours. She was a painting machine. After the bar, Brandi will be moving to Washington D.C. to work in an awesome, prestigious job for the Department of Homeland Security, and, you know, it’s not everyone who can have a member of the Federal Government come over and paint their house for them. These are the kind of connections that only law school can forge for a person.

Brandi’s awesomeness was further exemplified by the fact that she let Ben, Pix E, and me move into her spare bedroom for the last days before we left, since we no longer had any furniture in our house. She also totally cooked fancy gourmet turkey burgers for us with fancy pear chutney sauce – they were delicious! We played Scrabble and watched the Lion King, which was fun and relaxing after packing. We also spent a glorious procrastination day rowing around on Griffy Lake in a tiny row boat which was technically not quite large enough for my butt. Also, when I say that “we” rowed, I secretly mean that Ben rowed while Brandi and I lounged luxuriously in the freezing cold wind. It was awesome.

However, Brandi’s greatest gift to us was convincing me to abandon some of our extra stuff before we set off across the country. I had gathered together all of our candles into a big box so that they could ride in the cab with us to avoid melting. But because we were short on space, we were abandoning some furniture and other sundries. Brandi pointed out to me that perhaps my priorities were askew – I was packing a snake, a rat, and a bunch of candles into the cab of the truck but was leaving things like bookshelves and clothes behind. I eventually saw the error of my ways and parted ways with the candles – though the rat AND the snake came along with us (Ben insisted).

Finally, we had everything arranged, the house was empty, and we signed the final papers. It was time to hit the road! You loyal readers may recall from my prior blogging that last time we drove across the country, we went via the boring, middle-of-the-country route through the immense corn wastes of America. This time, we decided to have more fun, or at least get some kicks, on Route 66! We were especially excited to see the Grand Canyon and to stay in Las Vegas for a few days. Woo hoo!

The Drive

Day One: Our drop dead date for getting out of town was May 19th, and we technically made the deadline. And by technically, I mean that we literally drove out of our driveway and down our road at 11:59 PM. Our plan was to drive all night and trade off to get sleep. However, after about 2 ½ hours, I was exhausted and Ben was asleep. (To stay awake while driving, I played over and over the soundtrack from Juno. Ben developed a violent hatred of it – he claims he still has nightmares of teenagers muttering to twangy guitar music.) We pulled over in a little town called Effingham, IL, and found a Holiday Inn.

Day Two: We set out again the next morning refreshed and ready to go! We had a small errand to run at the post office, and finding the Effingham post office turned out to be quite the time-waster. After accidentally touring Effingham’s fading railroad depots, we arrived at the post office, where I received very friendly service from a man wearing rainbow suspenders who called me “darling.” (Ah, Midwestern charm) We were able to drop off our mail and then we decided to get the Effingham out of there. On our way out of Illinois, Ben spotted a sign for the Cahokia Mounds, which he remembered from undergrad archeology classes (how does he recall these things??) and so we decided to stop to see them. The Cahokia Mounds are the largest earth structures in North America and were built by the Mississippians, who are no longer around. What happened to them is apparently something of a mystery. Anyway, the mounds are enormous, and one can only imagine what it would have taken to move that much dirt without a handy backhoe or steam shovel.

If you are interested, here’s the official Web site: http://www.cahokiamounds.com/cahokia.html. We wanted to visit the impressive visitor’s center, but it was closed for the week for renovations. So instead, Ben, Pix, and I climbed up to the top to get a better view. From here, we were able to determine that yes, St. Louis is in fact the city with the arch.

We then crossed into Missouri via St. Louis. We drove past the arch, but we weren’t quite ready to battle the massive traffic impaction to find a parking space, so we just took some pictures from the car.

However, we did finally succumb to the urge for sandwiches and so had lunch at a place next to a grocery store called “Shnucks,” which I thought was so funny that I took a picture.

One thing I will note about St. Louis, though, is that you can actually see this thing called urban decay that folks are always taking about. It was pretty creepy to see whole blocks of buildings abandoned, just a mile or so from the city center. We decided to hightail it out of town.

While continuing to cross Missouri, we came to a stretch of highway where we saw a succession of signs that went something like this: “Come pan for gold in the Meramec Caverns!” “Meramec Caverns – Hideout of Jesse James and his gang!” “It’s always a cool 68 degrees in Meramec Caverns!” “Come have some of Auntie’s Famous Fudge at Meramec Caverns!” “Ice Cream and Souvenirs at Meramec Caverns,” etc, etc. Ad nauseum. I swear, there must have been literally fifty signs. And, as Ben put it, who were we to resist? We pulled off onto a surprisingly long and gravelly road and followed it quite a ways to what is apparently a quite impressive system of caves. However, we wouldn’t know for sure, because when we peeked in the entrance, we saw that the cave was paved with a fancy tile floor and there were neon signs illuminating exciting features. Also, it was $17 a head to get in. It all seemed a little too touristy and cheeseworthy, so we decided to get back on the freeway. Here’s the Web site, if you’re interested: http://www.americascave.com/history.php. We did see a creepy reptile farm along the way. (Pay $5 and see reptiles!) I was really tempted to stop in and see if they wanted a new ball python, but Ben refused to stop. Soon we were back on Route 66.

One more note about Missouri: there were a lot of adult entertainment establishments along the freeway – I mean a LOT. (Almost as many as there were signs for the Meramec Caverns.) I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought of Missouri as the sort of place to shun those sort of activities as, you know, sinful or something. Anyway, I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and am assuming that maybe it’s just along the interstate and that Missouri isn’t really filled with crazed sex addicts.

Finally, we passed into Oklahoma. The highways there were all toll-based because of all the out-of-state trucks that drive through, so the intersections were really weird. Basically, whenever you pulled over, you had to pay a toll based on how long you’d driven since the last toll booth, but sometimes you didn’t have to pay anything and just got a stamp on your ticket. We never quite figured out the system though we only really pulled over once, in Sapulpa, OK, to gas up. Sapulpa is the beating heart of route 66, according to the one lone sign in town. The only other thing in Sapulpa of note was a gas station called (and I am not making this up) the Kum and Go, prompting me to wonder whether the Internet has, in fact, made it out to Oklahoma. I really should have taken a photo of the gas station, but I was too dazed to think of it. Anyway, we finally got to Weatherford, OK and stayed the night in a horrible little hotel called the Scottish Inn.

Day Three: We ate breakfast in a tiny diner, where I got a real honest-to-goodness Route 66 milkshake. It was ridiculously delicious. Also, breakfast for the two of us cost around $6 total. Awesome!

Our goal was to reach Flagstaff, AZ by the end of the day, so we had to get moving. We hightailed it out of Oklahoma, passing by the largest cross in North America on the way.

(Actually, I’m not entirely sure where this was on our route.) We soon passed into northern Texas. Alas, it was my turn to drive, and thus, right as we passed over the border, I murdered a large pigeon. (Some of you may have heard of my horrible propensity to kill birds while driving. I swear it’s not intentional! It all started when this duck flew out of a bush and slammed itself into my car…but that’s another story. Anyway, to my horror, and Ben’s great amusement, another bird perished at my hands, or windshield, that day.)

Now, the great thing about northern Texas is that it’s flat and the roads are wide and straight, so you can drive through it at about 95 mph. It’s really, really fun. Ben was asleep for most of the trip and so didn’t see the speedometer, which was a good thing. During this time, the whole polygamy/FLDS raid was going on, so I kept my eyes peeled for any people in long dresses, funny hats, etc. but we didn’t see any. Ah well. We did, however, stop at the largest saddle store in the universe! (Ben says this was in Amarillo, TX) They had zillions of saddles, all western of course. I got a stuffed armadillo for my sister, the smallest and most tasteful belt buckle in all of Texas for my father (the size of my palm) and a pair of jingly pink studded spurs for my mom. The grizzled cowboy-type man who rung me up clearly thought that I was a tourist of the highest caliber, so I tried to subtly comment in how my mother needed the spurs for her new 3-year-old gelding, but I don’t think it worked. Ah well.

After noon, we crossed into New Mexico. Here, the driving got a little more difficult because, as the road sign stated, “Gusty winds may exist.” (After spending days and days cooped up in the car, we thought that was hilarious.) Unfortunately, the winds really DID exist, so our progress was slower than expected. We finally stopped for dinner in Albuquerque at a really cool tiny Mexican food restaurant with excellent guacamole. I bought a table runner as a souvenir at a touristy store. (It turned out to have been made in India.) Eventually, we made it into Arizona and stopped at Flagstaff at like 1:30 AM. (Unfortunately, we drove through a large part of Arizona in the dark. It’s supposed to be really beautiful, though. I guess we’ll have to catch it next time.)

Day Four: Grand Canyon Day! We blasted out of Flagstaff and drove north to the Grand Canyon. Now, I foolishly figured that it would be really hot at the Grand Canyon, especially since the news had said that the southwest had been in the grips of a huge heat wave. What I hadn’t figured on was that the Grand Canyon is at a really high elevation (around 8000 ft, I think). It actually started raining on our way there. We lucked out, though, because it cleared up when we got there, but it was still cold. So it was under a grim and fretful sky that we approached the grandest canyon EVER.

How do I explain this properly? Hmmm…the Grand Canyon is really REALLY BIG. Huge. Huger even than any pictures of it that you’ve ever seen. Way bigger than it looks on a map. Tremendous. Awe-inspiring. Gut-churning, especially when your husband climbs out onto a rocky ledge over a thousand-foot drop. Here are some pictures of him doing things that still give me nightmares.

Seriously, though, it was unbelievable. Ben and I really want to go back and explore it properly one of these days.

To complete the weird weather phenomenon, on our way back to civilization, it started hailing and then snowing. It stopped just as we decided to stop at a tiny diner for lunch, and it abruptly heated up, causing the streets to fill with steam – a very strange and ominous effect!

The diner had red vinyl booths and the largest collection of route 66 memorabilia ever, which I perused for more souvenirs while Ben waited patiently for lunch. I also got another milkshake – totally awesome.

We left and made our way to Las Vegas after driving through the Hoover Dam, which is not that interesting. I mean, I know it’s an amazing work of engineering, but somehow, I can’t get that excited about it. Anyway, here are pictures.

One interesting aspect of the Hoover Dam was that before we could drive across it, our car was searched by the Feds. The back of the truck was packed electronics and computer stuff and large mysterious boxes packed with wires, etc., and since I figured that I looked less suspicious than Ben (you know, the goatee and all), I hopped out to open it up for the inspector. He eyeballed all the equipment, prodded some of the boxes, and said, in a concerned voice, “Hey, what’s all this stuff?” So I mustered up the most innocent smile I could and told him that it was my husband’s computer stuff – his keyboard or motherboard or something. Some sort of board, at any rate! (giggle) And would you believe it? They let us through without a search. Apparently, ignorance as to your car’s contents is the way to go!

Finally, we arrived in Las Vegas, where we checked into the Westin hotel, mainly because it took dogs. Luckily, it was right off the strip, so we were in easy reach of everything. I had never been to Las Vegas before, and despite the fact that it sounds like exactly the sort of place that I would hate, it was really fun. It really is just like a huge amusement park, and it was neat just to walk around the strip at night and see all the lights and action. That night, we went sightseeing at the MGM hotel and casino and saw one of the official MGM lions. We also had some very so-so Chinese food in the New York, NY casino before collapsing in bed.

Day Five: We only planned on staying in Las Vegas for two nights, so we decided to pack in as much fun as possible. So early that morning, we set off to find the Gun Store. The Gun Store is an off-the-strip establishment, but still, I highly recommend it as a very educational experience. For example, upon seeing and, more importantly, hearing, them fire an AK-47, I learned that I was not interested in shooting such a weapon. Ben, however, was, and he got to go in with an instructor and shoot several fully automatic rifles while I took pictures.

He had a choice of targets, which included pictures of Osama bin Laden and various other generic terrorists, but he went with the less creepy bull’s eye model. The funniest aspect of the whole experience was that as I was taking these pictures, l looked down the hallway and realized that the whole shooting gallery was filled with guys getting to shoot guns under the auspices of their instructors and wives/girlfriends taking pictures, sort of like moms taking pictures of their kids going for pony rides at the fair. (But of course, it goes without saying that my husband was the best shot.)

Later that day, we saw the Bodies Exhibit at the Tropicana Hotel, which was incredible. It was made up of preserved human bodies, carefully dissected to show all the various parts, which I realize sounds horrible, but was really, really amazing. There are exhibitions of the collection all over the place – if you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. We also saw the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, which was so-so. Then again, Monterey Bay may have spoiled us for all other aquariums.

But the best part of the day was later that evening, when we saw the Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino. It had knights and jousting and a really beautiful horse (ridden by the evil knight – the prince had to ride a fat grey gelding. Lame!). Each section of the audience was a different “country” (we were Russia) and was represented by a different knight. Dinner was roast chicken and breads and was served without utensils, so we ate with our fingers and cheered lustily for our knight. There were lots of leaping and sword clashing and some special effects. The whole show was really neat, and I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with the sword-fighting and javelin throwing from horseback. Afterwards, we toured the strip and went to the M&M store, where we saw the largest collection of M&M crap available in the world. Finally, we went gambling and lost some money, but on the plus side, I got to wear my slinky black dress and awesome shoes.

Day Six: We left Las Vegas in the morning and started the last leg of our epic journey through the waste lands of Nevada, finally parting ways with Route 66, which continues all the way to L.A. All I can say is that Nevada is surprisingly large and empty. And dry. We actually passed through real ghost towns! We saw abandoned mines! We were also forced to pay outrageous gas prices. Ben bought some truly heinous beef jerky from a teeny little store (think closet-size).

The only significant town we came across was Hawthorne, NV, home of the Hawthorne Naval Base (http://www.nevadaweb.com/cnt/pio/hawth/). Now, clearly something is afoot in Hawthorne, and I don’t just say this because it suddenly appears out of nowhere in the middle of the desert with its own McDonalds and everything. As we drove into town, there were about a gazillion weird bunkers dug into the ground covered with large dirt mounds. Also, the Hawthorne Navel Base is, I can’t help but notice, a naval base located in a place where there IS NO WATER (all right, except for nearby Walker Lake). Other suspicious evidence was that there were brightly colored windmills constructed out of old bomb shells. (I’m not kidding.) So I’m thinking, what, maybe dead alien storage facility? I really wish we’d gotten some pictures, but our little troupe was pooped by then and in no mood for investigative journalism.

Finally, we passed through Reno (boring!) and over the Sierras (exciting, but it was too misty to see anything), arriving late at Ben’s grandparents’ house in Lincoln, CA.

Day Seven: We left Lincoln and made our way north on I-5 to my folks’ house in Applegate. This was basically the end of the official trip, but we only stayed for about a day and a half before blasting up to Portland, OR, where we lived in the horrible Tigard Regency Inn for about 5 days. After some desperate apartment hunting, we found a place in Tualatin (about 15 min south of Portland) and got settled. Hurray!

More Recent News:

We spent June and July studying like crazy for the Bar exam, which we then took on July 29th and 30th. All I can say about the bar is that I hope like hell that I don’t have to take it again, because it blew chunks. Also, I got thoroughly sick on the second day with a fever and all, which I really, really hope wasn’t psychosomatic. Afterwards, Ben and I hopped on a plane down to the Bay Area to see our good friend Teresa get married! (She was so super gorgeous!) At the reception, Ben convinced the slightly intoxicated group at our table to stand up and sing Old Man River for Dane (Teresa’s husband), since he, Dane, apparently sang it at OUR wedding two years ago. I have no memory of this, nor does anyone else I ask, but Ben has apparently nursed a grudge ever since. It was mostly successful, although I think Dane may have been confused. We also got to spend a few days snugging our new niece, Elizabeth!

So that’s pretty much all the news that’s fit to print. Ben and I stalwartly continue the job search, an uphill battle since we decided to move to Oregon instead of California at the last minute. We recently spent a few days camping in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, northwest from Klammath Lake. It was a pretty short stay, but we figured it would be a good way to prep ourselves for a longer camping trek later on.

Also, Ben has shaved off his beard. I dunno why exactly; he just up and did it. View the evidence for yourself!

Woo Baby!

2008-07-23T21:16:25Z

Hurray! Third time Auntie!

My sister had her third daughter on Monday afternoon -- 9lbs 3oz. Top that, if you can! Last I heard, they are still working on a name, but both mom and baby are fine. Baby is described as "serene."

I can't wait to see her!!!!!

***Update: They're calling her Elizabeth!

Working on it...

2008-07-17T05:53:48Z

So I'm very slowly working on writing a new entry detailing our drive across the country, but with bar prep and all, it's taking a long time. In the mean time, please enjoy this picture of the greatest shoes of all time, which I now own:

46 Hours Left to Go...

2008-04-15T01:57:11Z

I can't believe that I have only two days of law school classes left. I mean, without law school, what will we do? I mean, seriously, do? With our life?

My future is stretching before me like some sort of unlit, cavernous void...AAARRRRRGGGHH!!!!

Do you think this counts as an existential moment?

Thoroughly Boned

2008-04-11T02:48:39Z

Hmm, how best to tell this short tale...

So one afternoon, a handsome young lad named Ben was playing Company of Heroes on his computer. He was playing over the Internet with his brother, Mike, who was far away in a land called Eugene. As the two played, they struggled against the forces of evil and anarchy, but no matter how hard they tried, their vile foes continued to advance and conquer.

Ben, recognizing the importance of open lines of communication while on the battlefield, called his brother on his cell phone to discuss their failing positions. Alas, the cell phone, being weak and scurrilous, cut out unexpectedly. Cursing, Ben reached for the land line phone, only to have it suddenly ring as he touched it. Stalwart Mike must have leapt to reconnect the call!

At times like these, when good men fight desperate battles against the coming darkness, there will sometimes occasion a moment when only a single phrase is needed to acknowledge the calamity. Quote Ben (upon pressing the "answer" button), "Yeah, we're boned. Heh, heh." Realizing that no other words need be exchanged, he proceeded to discharge the phone of its duties.

The bitter story of their defeat need not be recorded here. Suffice it to say that they fought the good fight, even to the terrible end.

A short time later (perhaps 15 minutes or so), as Ben and Mike were deep in their post-battle analysis, the phone rang once again. This time, my sister, the beneficent Andy, was the caller. Ben greeted her and expediently delivered the phone to me.  Here is a short transcript of our conversation:

Me: Hey, how's it going?

Andy: Good...

Me: What's wrong?

Andy: Oh, nothing. It's just...well, I called a little earlier, and Ben answered, and he...uh...well, he told me that we were boned. Then he laughed evily. Now I'm confused.

Me: Oh my God...(sounds of me rolling on the floor in spasmodic laughter).

Andy: So, are we still boned? If not, were we de-boned somehow? What does this all mean?

Anyway, when Ben inquired as to why I was shrieking in laughter, I had the immense pleasure of telling him that he may need to call Mike back to tell him about the general bonage, because the first message was intercepted.

It was a great day.

Doing Strange Things with Dogs

2008-04-01T19:04:17Z

I’ve been meaning to post something in this blog for a long time, and believe me, I’ve had some excellent subjects from which to choose. For example, there was the annual Thanksgiving-extravaganza of 2007, the Washington D.C. trip, and of course, Ben’s Epic Battle with the Bathroom Exhaust Fan. I’ll try to post these stories at some point.

But on to the main topic: This last weekend, Ben and I hosted a little gathering that we called “Ben and Megan Hunt for Spring with a Wii After-party.” The basic idea was that we would go with a group of friends out to Griffy Lake and see if we could find anything in bloom yet, or, failing that, go for a nice walk on the one day in the last three weeks when it was not raining. Then afterwards, we were going to go back to our house and grill some food and play some video games.

So on Saturday, we went to the lake with our friends Brandi and Melissa and their respective dogs, Maximus and Kayla. Kayla, a petite Maltese, was sporting an Indiana U t-shirt (straaaange things with dogs), while Maximus, a perky Cockapoo, went au natural. Pix E came along, too – no clothes needed – though she did wear her new pink collar, which was acquired in an attempt to impress upon the minds of our assorted grandparents the fact that Pix E is a GIRL. (Ben’s grandparents frequently call her “little fellow.”) She was kept under strict control to keep her from savaging the other dogs. (As my niece says, Pix E has a bad attitude, but she sure is cute!)

The walk went well, despite some concerns about the mud. (The other dogs are both white, curly haired little dogs, and I imagine that keeping them white can be a real chore in the great outdoors.) We hiked for about an hour up and down the only major hill in Indiana. (Seriously. The only one.) On our way back, we passed a long, thick log stretching from the path out into the lake. Earlier, we’d passed this same log and witnessed some fellow hikers risking life and limb to climb out to the end, so when we reached it, Ben issued a challenge for one of us to do the same. I answered this by scrambling out to the end and back with, I like to think, a modicum of skill. Then, of course, Pix E had to hop up on the log and make her way up and down. (She’s an old hat at doing this – she and Ben like to surmount the wilderness at every opportunity.)

So after Pix E showed off her mad tree skillz, Brandi decided that her dog, Maximus, should do the same. Maximus, who clearly had more sense than any of us, looked at the rotting log and the slimy lake water and balked. This frustrating show of common sense led Brandi to “encourage” him up on to the log via forcibly lifting him up while threatening him with no dinner if he didn’t cooperate. Meanwhile, I stood farther down the log and called encouragements. (I think that during this time, Melissa was busy posing Kayla for one of the several hundred photos that she (Melissa) took that day.)

Just as Maximus was “helped” up onto the log, I looked up and saw that farther down the path, someone was standing, witnessing our craziness. Then, as I did a double-take, I realized that this person was one of our professors.

Of all the things that I would like my professors to spontaneously witness me doing, I have to say that compelling a recalcitrant dog to balance itself upon a log in the wilderness is not high on the list. In sotto voce, I tried to inform my colleagues that we were not alone. At this moment, Brandi shouted something to the effect of: “Dammit Maximus, if you want to eat tonight, get up on this log!”

Well, at that point, I figured that it was too late to pretend like we were doing something erudite, so I cleared my throat and said, “HI, Professor Ochoa!” (Maximus meanwhile was very swiftly released.) Fortunately, our professor was very cool and didn’t seem overly troubled by our odd behavior. (At least, we don’t think she will contact the Morals & Ethics board at the ABA.)

Anyway, other than briefly trying to compel the dogs to walk down the boat ramp and swim in the lake, we were basically done tormenting canines, so it was time to head home.

That evening, we were joined by our friends Nate and Sarah. Nate and Ben did battle with the grill to excellent effect, and we girls chatted in the kitchen. We played much Wario Ware, Wii Sports and Rock Band. Good times were had by all.

Here you can see Ben in the far back, Sarah on the drums, Nate on guitar, Brandi (on vocals?) and Melissa (who was playing bass).

A better shot of Melissa and Brandi. Note Melissa's bespangled pink butterfly guitar.

Here's Brandi on the drums -- her speciality.

\

And here you can see Sarah's eyes glow red with rage as Nate rocks out in her left ear.

THE END.

A Little Inspiration For Y'all

2007-06-07T03:18:26Z

I've been meaning to write more for a while now, but I'm short on time for the moment. So, in lieu of a blog entry, I leave you with this inspirational video: http://www.americanflyers.net/introflight/abovevideo.htm

P.S. Beware of falling cheese.

Amazing

2007-05-02T01:15:29Z

This is blowing my mind....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/ts_nm/britain_mystery_code_dc.

Also, check here:

http://www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html

Almost done with finals....Income Tax and International Securities Regulations left to go.

Ta-Da!

2007-03-23T22:25:42Z

Here are the results of our home improvement project! We finally put up the bead board in the kitchen to cover up the remnants of the hideous old wall paper. In the corner, you can see our new pantry cabinet, which is Super Awesome!

Nothing new in this portion of the kitchen, except that we've gained some new counter space by adding the new storage pantry. Our only real remaining project is to finish off the hole for the dishwasher.

Here's a reminder of what it used to look like - of course, this picture was taken after we painted the walls red. They used to be a horrifying yellow...

Spring Break

2007-03-20T00:22:51Z

Woo hoo! Ben and I just finished up a glorious week of spring break! It was wonderful! It was relaxing! It was too damn short!

Seriously, we were in need of the break. In law school, you get the great benefit of having both a spring and a fall break, which is pretty awesome, but by the time the break rolls around, you can really see that everybody's just limping along. Literally and figuratively in some cases - it was a real bummer hefting my 58 lbs of books again this morning.

Ben and I spent our spring break doing home improvement projects and walking around in the great outdoors. We had a lovely afternoon at Griffy Lake, where we hiked the length of the north side of the lake. It was only about 3 miles all told, but it was moderately rough terrain, including a few times where we had to semi-repel down the sides of rocks and such with abandoned boyscout ropes. The trail was extremely narrow and tended to disappear for a few hundred feet at a time. Ben found a couple rocks that have impressive crystal formations in them, and we took two of them home. One of them I thought might be a geode, but when Ben went to smash it open with a hammer, it let off several impressive sparks. We're not quite sure what it's made out of.

We also hiked Bloomington's Rails-To-Trails, which is a set of really nice walking paths. We walked about 4 miles total, but I'd like to go back and walk the whole thing when we get another nice weekend. We saw a weird snake on the path - or I should say, Ben saw the weird snake on the path. Pix and I both failed our spot checks and almost walked on top of it. Ben suspects it was just a gopher snake, but we'll look up some local snake data to see.

I'm a total dork and didn't take any pictures from either of our walks, but I'll try to remember for next time. Next post, I'll put up some photos from our home improvement project!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-15T05:21:28Z

Could someone please explain to me in what universe this would be even remotely appropriate???

CLICK HERE

LOL-tastic

2007-02-20T00:07:53Z

Right now, Ben and I are in a class called Legal Professions, where they teach us to be ethical and such. It's sort of interesting, but it's not exactly the sort of doctrine that has everybody taking copious notes. Plus, the class is from 6:40-8:40 at night, so no one's really in the mood to focus. Never the less, we mostly try to follow along in the discussion and contribute from time to time.

BUT!

Last week, this same time, this same channel, Ben sent me a link by Instant Messange to a Yahoo! news story that broke my usually cool, professional facade. It's really not a funny story at all - it's about a woman who was killed by some cheetahs at a zoo - but about half way down the article, there is a line that was so funny that I sat, shaking with silent laughter, hiding behind my laptop so that the professor wouldn't see, for about 5 - 10 minutes. Ben and I couldn't look at each other without cracking up.

I wanted to post it last week, but I couldn't risk laughing any more. Read it at your peril!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/ap_on_re_eu/belgium_cheetah_attack

....

2007-02-12T15:04:46Z

The books are 58 lbs all told....

Weight of the World

2007-02-10T02:24:18Z

So good news! I think I've made my one for the week, inspite of last week's Super Bowl Party (go Colts!). HUZZAH!

I've also instituted an exercise plan in which I'm trying to do an hour of walking 5 days a week. Last night, I went three and a half miles. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a major stiff neck, which won't be diverted by tylenol, advil, aspirin, or aleve. I swear it's from my two backpacks - yes, TWO backpacks. I can't actually fit all my books into one backpack. Actually, I can't even fit all my books into the two backpacks, either, but I've reached the limits of what I can carry. Ben and I are trying to work out strategies for our shared classes where we take only one set of books home and leave one at school, and I've tried to find various statutes and such online to cut back on some of my statutory supplements, but it's still a lot. I haven't had a chance to weigh them yet, but I'm guessing it's over 40 lbs. UGG!!!!

In other news, I've recently been diagnosed with a somewhat rare sleep disorder, severely delayed sleep phase syndrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome. Apparently, it's more common with kids and rarer in adults. My doctor prescribed some meds for it, but he and I have to wrangle with the insurance company first to get them to pay for it. I've been taking Ambien, which is great in that it knocks me out so that I can sleep, but it doesn't correct the problem like this new stuff is supposed to. My doctor also said that I have really poor quality sleep (58% efficiency). I'm really, REALLY excited about starting the treatment! Hopefully, it will make a big difference. I'll let you know! And if anyone is having good success with the weight stuff, let me know! Gotta stay on target...

Pictures!

2007-02-03T23:29:55Z

Here are some recent (and not so recent) photos!

Here's a picture from Thanksgiving 2006 of our friends Brandi and Melissa! I think Ben was in the kitchen carving the turkey when I took this - quite a job since the turkey was so immense. We still have frozen turkey soup in our freezer...

Here are some pictures of Pix tolerating my family's new puppy during the Christmas break. Unfortunately, these are the only Christmas pictures that I have on my camera - I thought that I'd accidentally left it at home and then discovered as I was packing to leave that it was safely tucked into my backpack. The new puppy's name is Amy, and she's an awfully sweet rottweiler who is going to grow to immense proportions. When we got to my parents' house in December, she was about an inch shorter than Pix, but when we left she was about an inch taller.

And finally, here are some pictures of Pix in the snow!

That's all for now. I'll try to take a few more human-based pictures to balance out all the dogs. Tomorrow, we're hosting a miniature Super Bowl party where we will root for the Colts or be stoned by angry mobs, so maybe I'll get some good shots there.

THE GOAL

2007-01-30T00:27:42Z

It's been a looooong time since I updated my blog. Every semester, it seems like things go along just swimmingly - I update the blog, get some exercise, keep up with the grocery shopping, the laundry, the dishes, the Sock Vortex, etc. - until about three weeks before finals start. It's especially bad with fall break, since we slide directly from finals to Christmas (there's nothing like spending two weeks eating PB&Js and pencil lead, not showering, then getting on a stinking airplane and immediately spending a month in extremely close contact with distant loved ones). Anyway, suffice to say that we had a lovely holiday, during which we yuled and caroled, and poor Ben wrote a grueling 25 page paper on trademark law.

We've kicked off the new semester with a big chunk of reading and some law journal assignments. It looks to be a busy season! But, while there's still time before the exam slog, I want to enact my New Year's resolution. My master plan is to lose one pound a week for the entire year of 2007.

....(crickets chirping)....

Ugg, I'm finding it hard to be motivated right now, but I hope that publicly disclosing this plan via this blog will help me to stay the course. My plan is to make a weekly update as to my progress. So it's time to start counting the calories, move the boxes of Christmas presents off the treadmill and get going! Woo-hoo! Yee-haw... By the by, if any of you out there in readerland want to join along for the ride for a few weeks, months, what have you, feel free to post your own progress here!

Why Does Ben Keep Showing Me These Pictures???

2006-12-14T18:10:30Z

Oh, man, look at them! They're like tiny loaves of evil pumpkin bread. I wants one!

Also, I'll try to write something more substantial once we're done with finals.

So Darn Cute

2006-11-30T07:47:58Z

Must...be strong...resist!!!

The Short Life and Happy Times of the Pie

2006-11-23T07:12:27Z

I now recall why we only have pie once a year.

It’s one-thirty in the morning. The apple pies are juuuust about to come out of the oven, and the pumpkins are poised to go in. The cranberry sauce has not yet been made, and the kitchen is a mess. And my feet hurt.

Making pies always sounds like such a homey, comforting, holiday kind of activity. I don’t know why I never remember ahead of time about how the flour gets EVERYWHERE and the dough bits get EVERYWHERE and how the pie crust NEVER-EVER actually covers the pie dish, no matter how carefully you measure it.

…

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

Ah, I see the apple pies are done – one moment please.

…

AAARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!!!

……

Hmmmmm…. Ok, I now have an entirely NEW reason for only having pie once a year. RIGHT after I transferred the apples out of the oven, a distinctly disturbing thing happened – the oven caught on FIRE. Here, in the style of many 911 tapes, is the actual AOL Instant Messenger conversation that I had with my mother during this state of emergency:

Scible: Hi Mom
Scible: what do you do when the oven catches on fire?
Scible: ummm, from a purely academic standpoint
Mom: put it out!
Scible: i seee......
Scible: we are finishing up the pies
Scible: apparently the apple leaked a bit during the cooking process
Mom: uh-huh...
Mom: and...?
Scible: and when we went to transfer the pumpkin in, the apple juices got all Armageddon on our asses
Scible: the pies are fine, though
Mom: whaaatt???
Scible: so all is well
Mom: Armageddon on your ...?
Mom: whattt??!!!
Scible: it’s just an expression
Mom: whattt??!!!
Mom: happened???!!!
Mom: is the fire out?
Scible: look, just because scary six foot flames were leaping from the oven doooooessn't mean you need to get on an airplane and get out hear ASAP!
Mom: are you sure?
Scible: No!

Actually, the flames were very tiny, polite flames that quickly dispersed once the heat was off and the oven door was closed. Ben has cleaned out the offending apple bits, and now the pumpkin pies are doin’-it-to-it in the oven. The apple pies are cooling smugly on the rack. I swear they did it on purpose.

I’m a bit concerned about how the apple pies will come out. The pie crust was EXTREMELY strident when I was rolling it out – when I wanted to roll left, it wanted to bulge right; when I wanted it to be all one piece, it wanted to crack into several bits; when I wanted to watch Law & Order, it LOUDLY insisted on watching CNN. Apparently, it is a very globally-minded pie crust, because as I was struggling to shape it, I swear it took the shape of several foreign countries. (In particular, France – which is why I suspect its PURPOSEFUL involvement in the fires.) In the end, I had to be rough with it, which is exactly the wrong thing to do with a pie crust. I only hope that it will forgive me and still bear some semblance to a pastry.

And now, I must to bed… dawn comes early, and the turkey is waiting.

I Have Achieved the Turkey

2006-11-22T00:54:59Z

On Monday, I convinced Ben that we needed to make a lightning-fast run through the grocery store to scope out the available turkey resources. We stopped at the local Kroger, and I stretched in the parking lot. You gotta warm up properly before the hunt begins.

This was purely intended to be a guerilla-esk strike - no milk, no bread, just turkey. I ducked and weaved my way through the produce department, dodging angry shoppers. The Thanksgiving madness is already upon the Indiana shopper; there was a bevy of them, circling like sharks around the pre-made pumpkin pie display near the bakery.

I was traveling light, which allowed me to move fast and avoid being hit by grocery carts driven by shoppers on the edge. I toyed with the idea of swinging through the spice aisle to pick up some nutmeg, but no - you gotta have the discipline to stick to the mission. When I reached the meat fields in the back of the store, I saw the frenzy at its full fevered-pitch. There was a grumpy man poking moodily at some meat, and I decided to make my gambit next to him – men are just not as dangerous in these situations.

When I found the massive, bloated butterball lounging amongst the many, lesser turkeys, I knew he was the one for me. A sharp-eyed, sharp-nosed lady was aggressively pushing her cart toward him; I had to act fast. I snatched him up from his tiny, frozen kingdom and ran.

There was a lot of angry jostling once I reached the check-out line, but I held tight to my reserve and my turkey. One quick sprint across the parking lot, and I was scotch free! Ben had the engine running, so I leapt in, and we sped away, tires screeching. I think Ben may have been disturbed by the sheer size of the bird – and it is truly enormous. I won’t tell you how big until after I am sure that I can actually cook it successfully. Luckily, we are having some friends over for dinner on Thursday, so we’ll have some help eating the beast. Until then, I wish you all luck in your respective hunts!

Funnies

2006-11-14T03:44:31Z

I have this picture as the desktop artwork on my computer, and I swear that I crack up every time I look at it.

Working on a new post...

Pictures!

2006-11-10T23:09:47Z

Hurray! I've got the photos downloaded off my camera. Here's a little selection, in reverse chronological order:

Here are our Halloween jack-o-lanterns. We managed to get pumpkins despite the threatened shortage.

And here are some photos from my birthday party.

I was foolish and didn't get my camera cleared out before my parents got here, so I didn't get any pictures of them touring the school. Here's some old photos of our honeymoon.

This is Crater Lake.

Here's Ben and I in Portland:

And here we are near Seaside visiting the largest Sitka Spruce tree:

Here's the Astoria Column:

And finally, here we are at the beach near Seaside:

These are the starfish and anemones:

Hearing the Call

2006-11-10T09:17:12Z

I recently got a surprise in a shipment from Old Navy. I had ordered some swanky, swishy shirts for various holiday events, which all arrived without problem (I don’t know how I would survive law school without Internet shopping – I’d never have any new clothes). As I was unwrapping the shirts and forcing Ben to appreciate them, I noticed a strange package – a small corduroy article. “Huh,” said I as I opened it up.

It was tiny, baby-sized, corduroy pants.

“Awwwwwww,” I croon. “Look, Ben, tiny pants! Tiny baby pants!”

Ben (who is NOT interested in clothing but is very nice about looking at what I show him) says, “Weird, why did they send those?”

Meanwhile, I’m clutching the pants to my chest and, inexplicably, tearing up. “They must have made a mistake,” I sniffle.

Ben looks at me with alarm and then glares darkly at the package. “Damn you, Old Navy!” he growls. “Sending baby clothes to my wife!”

But seriously, the whole baby issue is a big, BIG deal. The older I get, the more this becomes like some sort of titanic struggle in my mind. In my late teens and early twenties, having children seemed like a natural progression in life that would simply come in its own time and would, of course, be wonderful when it did. But the older I get, the more I question the whole child-bearing deal, while simultaneously, a powerful and demanding voice is sounding off in my head, insisting on procreation NOW, DAMMIT!

I think Ben might be suspicious that I ordered the pants myself in a fit of baby madness. (I totally swear that I didn’t. Totally.) He’s not entirely unjustified though, because I could maybe, possibly, probably see myself hoarding baby clothes – although, as I pointed out to him, I wouldn’t go for boring old tan corduroy. At the very least, there would have to be some cute little embroidery.

Where babies fit into our master plan is a tricky question right now. We’ve sort of thought that it might be good to be a) out of school, b) gainfully employed, and c) in possession of a savings account. Babies come free, but I’m told that they generally like to have things like roofs, clothes, food, toys, car seats, cribs, etc. I’m pretty sure they also want health insurance, college savings plans, tax-deferred trust accounts, and so forth.

Of course, what babies really want is to be raised by their parents, which makes me wonder why the heck I’m striving and struggling to learn the foreign direct investment laws of Brazil when, at some undefined future point, I might be staying home to take care of our kids. On the other hand, certain aspects of a legal education would probably be really helpful in child-rearing (when they claim that they didn’t knoooow that they weren’t supposed to put peanut butter in the VCR, I can say, “Ah HA! That is a regulatory offence, which, of course, has no mens rea element, so your culpable mental state is irrelevant! Now go get the Windex!). Law school is something that I’m know I’ll be glad I did when I’m 70 (maybe even sooner!), but sometimes it seem crazy from this side of the graduation ceremony.

I’m sure that I’ve completely freaked out my mother now who is worried that I’m overly focused on domestic concerns. I’d like to say in my defense, though, that the house is a mess, the laundry’s backed up, and there’s a weird smell coming out of the kitchen sink – but ALL of my reading for Evidence is done. And I think I almost understand the rules for hearsay!

Anyway, we have a little while yet before the whole baby thing comes to a head. In the mean time, I will do my best to savor the glorious, glorious freedom and to go on dates with my husband and to stay up late into the wee smas to write blog entries. Tomorrow, I’m taking the pants back to Old Navy.

Probably.

Working on it...

2006-11-09T18:51:01Z

I've got another post in the works - I promise! I have it half-written, so I just need to whack out the last bit. Soon, my pretties, soon...