New Adventure

I realize today that I haven't had many visitors in the past week and was a little sad, until I also realized that I hadn't really written much in the past week either.  I think those two things might be related.  The last week or so has been very hectic for me.  I started classes last Monday, got a puppy on Friday, and am starting a new job today.  Needless to say, blog writing has taken a temporary backseat.

So far classes have been manageable.  I wasn't too happy with my schedule originally; I have a lot of breaks between classes and I'm used to going straight through.  But during that first week, I've already decided that I really like my schedule, mainly because it allows me to read during the day before class as opposed to staying up late trying to get all the reading for the next day done at one time. 

So far the puppy has been mostly manageable.  She's a quick learner but I think I have my work cut out for me.  My brothers both have dogs, and I've wanted one for a long time.  I talked to my brother about it first, and he gave me some honest opinions and advice.  Luckily I can call him with dumb questions.

And so far I have no idea how the job is going to go.  More on that later.

Cars

Have you ever noticed how people tend to match their cars?  Beetles are owned by women, trucks bigger than F-250s are owned by men, minivans are owned by soccer moms, and Mazda Miatas are owned by young women and balding men.

A couple of days ago I saw something that threw me off -- a man in a suit getting into a Hummer.  For some reason, it just didn't fit.  When I think about Hummers, I think about younger people wearing T-shirts, jeans or shorts, and baseball hats, usually backwards.  I just don't think of a 40-year-old man in a suit.

What about you?  Anything in particular come to mind when you think of certain cars?

Moral Dilemma

As I was walking to my car this morning, I was faced with a moral dilemma -- do I kill the baby cricket or let it be? 

I guess I should start by mentioning that I hate crickets, bugs, and generally all things with more than 4 legs.  I try to let them be, but they tend to attack me.  My brother claims that they're more scared of me than I am of them.  He lies.  First, I've never attacked a bug, but plenty have attacked me and forced me to kill them in self-defense.  Second, when I'm scared of things, I tend to avoid them.  I don't go into their homes and bother them, but they have no problem coming into mine.  Finally, when I see a bug, I scream.  I've never heard a bug scream when it's seen me. 

So this morning I'm walking to my car and a little baby cricket (or small cricket-like creature) hops out in front of me.  I don't believe in killing babies of any kind, so I don't really want to kill it.  But babies grow up eventually, and bugs tend to attack me, so if I don't kill it I'm leaving open the possibility that it will one day come back and try to kill me.  Is it worth the risk? 

Luckily it hopped away before I could make my final decision.  I don't know if crickets have memories, but I'm hoping that if this particular cricket ever decides to attack me, it will remember the day I let it live and will leave me alone and go on it's merry way.

Dedication or Stupidity?

Around 8:30 tonight, I had a sudden craving for a Sonic slush.  By 9:00, I couldn't hold out any longer and headed out the door.

The first thing that hit me was the heat.  North Texas has had ridiculously high temperatures the last couple of weeks.  At 9:15, I passed by a bank that was flashing the time and temperature -- 98 F.  I know that you usually can't count on these signs to be accurate, but when got home I checked the Weather Channel and they were reporting 94 F.  Any way you look at it, that's hot especially for the sun already being down.

The second thing that hit me was the number of people that were out running and riding.  Unlike me, there are a lot of dedicated people around here when it comes to fitness.  It's not uncommon to see people running around here.  Most guys run alone; most girls run in pairs or with a dog.  But with the recent temperatures, people do what they can to avoid the heat, which means exercising after the sun goes down.  Most are relatively smart -- wearing light colored clothing, wearing something that reflects light, running or riding in pairs, staying on well-lit streets.  However, there was one group of cyclist that I have to mention, mainly because I almost hit them.

As I was pulling out of the driveway and into downtown, a group of about 5 cyclists rolled by.  And they were dressed all in black!  Who goes out for a bike ride in the middle of the night dressed in black??  I really hope they made it to their destination and back without getting run over.  Which brings me to my point, is this dedication or stupidity?  They had the fancy bikes, camelbaks, biking attire; you'd think there would be something in their closets that wasn't black. 

Joys of Summer

Strangely enough, one of the things I remember most fondly about my high school tennis days are the funky tan lines.  I've been playing quite a bit of tennis lately in this wonderful 100+ degree Texas heat, most of it at ridiculous hours.  I usually try to time my games, practice, etc., when it's not as hot, like right before the sun goes down.  But the last couple of weeks I've played in two tournaments, so I had no say on what time I was actually on the court.  The tournament directors were nice enough to start a few of my matches at 2:00 pm, also known as way-too-hot-to-be-doing-anything-but-sitting-in-the-AC pm. 

When preparing for a match when the sun is at its absolute hottest, it's really important to put on plenty of sunblock.  I slathered on the SPF 50 (and reapplied), but I tan REALLY easily, so I still got darker.  Here's where the funky tan lines come in:

• Like everyone else, I have a nice sock-line.  Unlike most other people, I wear an ankle brace on one ankle, so the sock-line is higher on one leg than the other.  
• Sometimes I wear shirt with sleeves, sometimes without.  Now I have a mini-farmer's tan going.
• I wore a shorter pair of shorts on Saturday than Friday, so I have two different shorts tan lines on my legs.
• And the most interesting part, or at least the part that leave the most funky tan lines -- I tan through my shirts, just not as dark as on exposed skin.  

While the funky tan lines do bring back some memories, they just are very attractive.  I guess I didn't care all that much back then, but I seem to be a little more vain now.  Oh well.  At least school starts in a few days and I'll be back to wearing long pants and jackets and hiding all those funky lines.  On the up side, at least I don't burn!

New Lesson: Read Directions

I learned a valuable lesson this morning that I admit I should have learned long ago -- read the directions, CAREFULLY! 

This morning I took my first official becoming-a-lawyer test, the MPRE.  For those of you who have no idea what that is, it's the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Examination.  For those of you who still have no idea what that is, it's the ethics portion of the bar exam, or at least an ethics exam that you have to pass in addition to the bar exam in order to practice law. 

The exam started at 9:00 am, which isn't that bad except that I'm used to getting up around 11:00 am.  I already knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep since I'm used to staying up late, but I was still awake at 3:00 am.  Not a good sign.  I finally drifted off to sleep somewhere around 3:30 am, just to be awoken by a blaring alarm about 10 minutes later, or at least that's what it felt like.  I crawled out of bed at 7:30, took a quick shower, ate breakfast, grabbed my exam admission ticket, and headed out the door.  Since the exam was being held in the Convention Center, which is two blocks from my school, I decided to park at the school so I could avoid looking (and paying) for parking.  I got to the school at 8:35 and started towards the Convention Center.

As I got closer and closer to the Convention Center, I noticed that a lot of people were heading in that direction, but none of them seemed to be other students.  There were a lot of families, a lot of people in church clothes, a lot of older people.  I looked at the admission ticket again (which has the location address) and noticed that it said to enter on Houston St.  I walked around to Houston St., but it still didn't look right.  I took a closer look at the admission ticket and finally noticed that the location is not the Convention Center, it's the CONFERENCE CENTER. 

The Conference Center is also on Houston St., but it's about 10 city blocks away, and I have just under 20 minutes to get there.  After a mini-panic attack, I started heading in that direction.  I made it there with 5 minutes to spare, grabbed a glass of water, and found my assigned room.  Lucky break #1 -- as long as you're in the door by 9:00, you get to take the test.  Lucky break #2 -- the instructions take about 15 - 20 minutes, just enough time for me to relax and get into test mode.

So all-in-all, I ended up walking just short of a mile each way.  And the kicker is that the Conference Center is less than 1/2 mile from my house.  It would have been so much easier if I would have just walked straight there; I would have been more relaxed and less sweaty when I got to the exam, I would have walked half the distance, and I wouldn't have felt like an idiot.  I guess that's what I get for not reading the directions carefully before walking out the door. 

Lazy Days of Summer

I'm about to say something I never thought I would -- I'm tired of lazy days.  Since summer school ended about 3 weeks ago, I've taken some time to visit family and friends, slept in (a lot), treated myself to whatever I wanted, caught up on some pleasure reading, and generally enjoyed my lazy days of doing nothing.  And now I'm tired of that.

I actually feel like I need to get back to school or work or something.  I'm tired of sitting around and doing nothing all day.  As strange as it sounds, I miss stress.  I know in a few short months there will be a day where I'm pulling my hair out wishing I was back in the lazy days of summer, but today is not that day.  Today I need an adventure.