Today's word ...

aiuhyu. Try to figure that one out. I tried to spell it as phonetically as possible.

Today's word is...

Po. Post your guesses.

In other news, we have bought a potty chair for Jay and are starting to potty train him. He does a pretty good job of peeing in the potty chair when we sit him down on it (in fact he goes almost every time) but we haven't gotten to the point where he would know to do it on his own. He still hasn't pooped in the potty chair yet, but a couple of days ago while Lindsay was letting him run around without a diaper trying to "train" him, he pooped all over the carpet. It was pretty bad. So, we cleaned it up and went to the store and bought some carpet cleaner for pet "accidents." You wouldn't even know he ever went! Plus, it was in his own room, so even if it left a stain or a smell at least it wouldn't have been in our room.

GO France!

Jay's word of the day

Jay's word of the day is... "mooomie." Your job is to post in the comments what you think he is trying to say.

Explanation

Ok, I know that all of you only check my blog to see new pictures of Jay. The problem right now is that I don't have the internet at home, and I don't use my laptop at work. About the only chance I have to post is while I am at work, so it's tough to post any pictures. As a consolation I will describe the latest picture I took of Jay. To provide some background, he fell last friday or saturday and has a little black eye. I laugh every time I look at him because it totally fits his personality. I wanted to get a picture of him with his black eye before it goes away, so I took one of him a couple of days ago when he was taking a bath. I still need to download it to my laptop, and when I do I'll use the internet at the library to post it for everyone to see.

I think I'll start posting some of Jay's "words" as well. Today's entry is "appo pice." Lindsay said he was saying that at the store yesterday and she couldn't understand what he was talking about. (In case you don't know, appo in Jay speak means apple). Anyway, she got home and he was playing in the cupboard taking out all of the food, and he pulled out the applesauce Lindsay had bought at the store that day, and he started saying "appo pice." So in case you couldn't figure it out on your own, in Jay speak, "appo pice" clearly means apple sauce.

Good News!!!

Lindsay just called and told me I got the acceptance letter from UNLV to attend the law school as a visiting student this coming year. That is a welcome relief!

Attorney Retreat

Last weekend was the attorney retreat held at the Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas. On Saturday morning, 16 of us played golf at "The Falls" which is one of the two courses at the resort. I am sure it was the most expensive course I have ever played. I basically played like crap the first 6 holes, but I was able to find a groove and played a little better the rest of the holes. I think I shot par on about 5 of the 18 holes, which is pretty good for me. Especially considering this is a pretty challenging course. I also won the contest for "closest to the pin" and won a $100 gift card to Golf Galaxy. I placed 3rd in the "longest drive" contest at about 300 yards, but the winner smoked us all with a 370 yard drive. The course was beautiful, and set on the east side of the valley. The back 9 rose about 500 feet in elevation, so there were some cool views of the strip and downtown. We also saw 4 bighorn rams about 100 feet from us. I think that was the first time I have ever seen them in person, and that was cool. After golf, I picked Lindsay up and we checked into the hotel. It is a 5 star, 5 diamond resort, and was beautiful. Later that evening we had a cocktail hour followed by dinner and dessert. The next morning we had a brunch and then we checked out and went home. I had a fun experience when I was checking out. Lindsay and I were walking toward the registration desk, and someone called out my first name. I looked up and it was a guy from Sri Lanka who was our branch mission leader. He had been baptized shortly before I transferred there, and he served a mission in SLC right after I returned home. After his mission he went to BYU-Hawaii and studied hotel something or other. He married a Utah girl, has a 19 month old son, and has been living in LV for about 7 months working for the Ritz. Anyway, we exchanged numbers and it will be fun to hang out.

Running Fool

I have become a running fool. I started running last saturday, and except for sunday I have run every day since. I get up at about 5:50 a.m. to try to beat the heat and I have been running about 2 3/4 miles each day. As soon as I start losing a little weight I will up that to 3 or 3 1/2 miles/day. Apparently there is a marathon here in December, and while I am under no delusions that I will be running a marathon, they also have a half marathon that I would like to shoot for as a goal. In other news, we have had Lindsay's parents in town for the past few days and it has been fun to have them here. Especially because they spoiled us by buying us a new leather couch/loveseat/chair combo for our apartment. So when people come visit we now have places for people to sit, instead of just the lawn chair and the love sac.

Super Dell...

I saw this in today's Salt Lake Tribune and couldn't resist sharing it.

DRAPER - It's a bird. It's a plane. No. Could it have been Super Dell? And was he endangering the public? A prosecutor on Thursday charged former computer and guns pitchman "Super" Dell B. Schanze with disorderly conduct and creating a public nuisance in a May 24 outing with his ultralight aircraft. The charges were filed in Draper Justice Court. The disorderly conduct charge is an infraction that carries a fine but no jail time, while the public nuisance charge is a class B misdemeanor punishable by as much as six months in jail. Schanze did not return The Tribune's phone messages on Thursday. On the morning of May 24, Draper police responded to a report of an ultralight flying not far above Interstate 15 at about 12300 South. Draper police Sgt. Gerry Allred said one police officer saw the aircraft about even with a two-story building. Police received information suggesting Schanze was the pilot. "Numerous witness statements said he was so low they feared he was going to crash," Allred said Thursday. "The highway patrol says there were people driving by looking at the glider instead of watching the road." Allred said Schanze also risked crashing his ultralight into traffic or people in nearby businesses. There was one minor traffic accident on I-15 while the ultralight was near there, Allred said, but the Utah Highway Patrol determined the aircraft played no role in the wreck. Draper detectives attempted to interview Schanze, Allred said, but his attorney said an interview would occur only if Draper's mayor, City Council and city manager attended. Draper police said no. Schanze has said he plans on fighting the charges, which he "pretty much" knows will be dismissed. Draper City basically has "put out an execution order on me," Schanze has said. ncarlisle@sltrib.com

My job

I'm on my lunch break and I have a few minutes to post, so I thought I'd post a little something on what it is I do every day at my job. I would say about 70% of what I do every day is research legal issues for the attorneys. For example, an attorney might be writing a brief or drafting a motion, and he or she may need a case to support a legal position advanced in the document. This is where I come in. They will give me the issue to research and I look for cases that support our position. Sometimes the attorney will ask for a memo discussing the position, but most of the time they will just ask me to find the cases and hi-light the applicable text. I have also had some assignments where I will have to organize documents given to us from the client, or search through documents to find something in particular. That is pretty boring, but it is a lot easier to do knowing I am getting paid to do it. I have gotten to draft a few documents like interrogatories, requests for production of documents, a motion, an order, and a couple of memos. I have also gone to court a couple of times to watch oral arguments. That's fun because I just sit in the gallery and watch. It's funny, because I have been doing a lot of this stuff at school, and now I am getting paid to do it.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore after I took a break from posting, but I'll give an update just in case. (I could hear the faint chant of Post Post Post coming from somewhere. I'm not sure where, but it might have been from Phoenix). The move to Vegas has been a good one. Dad and I drove 46 hours in about 3 days to get here, and almost got swallowed up by a tornado in Kansas. Ok, it was just raining really hard, but I was worried about tornadoes. I started work 2 1/2 weeks ago, and I really like the firm I'm with. They take me out to eat about once/week, and in 10 days I get to go with the firm on the attorney retreat at the Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas. I get to bring a guest, so I decided to invite Lindsay. We didn't go anywhere for our anniversary so we figured this would be fun. The heat hasn't been too bad, most of the time in the high 90's, but a few days in the mid 80's were nice. It is supposed to break 100 tomorrow. Our apartment is pretty nice, except for a mild roach problem. I have bought about $30 worth of roach poison, traps, etc., so we're getting it under control. We love having visitors, and in about a week we'll have a couch for people to sit and sleep on. Well, I better get back to work. I'll try to post more often.

Funny story

I scared the crap out of Lindsay last night. I had been at the library studying for finals and came home about 30 minutes earlier than she was expecting me. When I opened the door to walk in our apartment I heard the water running and the radio playing (she was doing the dishes). I closed the door quietly and snuck up the stairs and hid around the corner from the kitchen. I could hear her singing along to the song and she had no idea I was home. My plan was to wait until she left the kitchen at which point I would jump out and scare her to death. I waited about five minutes and decided to call our home phone (which was about 2 feet from me on the other side of the wall). I dialed and let it ring once, and when she walked to the phone to answer it I jumped out and yelled at her. She jumped about 5 feet in the air, arms flailing, and she was screaming like a little girl. She kind of collapsed on the ground and was laughing, but I scared her so bad she was shaking for about 5 minutes. I was laughing about it the rest of the night.

Doppelganger

From Wikipedia.com:

A doppelgänger (help·info) is the ghostly double of a living person. The word doppelgänger is adapted from German doppel, meaning "double", and gänger, translated as "goer" (though in this context, the meaning is closer to "walker"). The term has, in the vernacular, come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person, most commonly in reference to a so-called evil twin, or to bilocation.
Alternatively, the word is used to describe a phenomenon where you catch your own image out of the corner of your eye. In some mythologies, seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. A doppelgänger seen by friends or relatives of a person may sometimes bring bad luck, or indicate an approaching illness or health problem.

Famous reports of the Doppelgänger phenomenon

Emilie Sagée was a schoolteacher in the nineteenth century whose Doppelgänger's public appearances were recorded by Robert Dale Owen after being reported to him by Julie von Güldenstubbe.
Guy de Maupassant recorded his own Doppelgänger experiences in his story Lui.
Percy Bysshe Shelley claimed to have met his Doppelgänger foreboding his own death.
John Donne, the English metaphysical poet, apparently met his wife's Doppelgänger in Paris, foreboding the death of his yet unborn daughter.
Abraham Lincoln told his wife, while shaving after his election as president, that he saw an image of himself in the distance fade away while shaving in front of a mirror. He believed this to mean he would be elected to a second term but would not survive.

Emilie Sagée
Robert Dale Owen was responsible for writing down the singular case of Emilie Sagée. He was told this anecdote by Julie von Güldenstubbe, a Latvian aristocrat. Von Güldenstubbe reported that in the year 1845–46, at the age of 13, she witnessed, along with audiences of between 13 and 42 children, her 32-year-old French teacher Sagée bilocate, in broad daylight, inside her school (Pensionat von Neuwelcke). The actions of Sagée's Doppelgänger included:
Mimicking writing and eating, but with nothing in its hands.
Moving independently of Sagée, and remaining motionless while she moved.
Appearing to be in full health while Sagée was badly ill.
Apparently also, the Doppelgänger exerted resistance to the touch, but was non-physical (two girls passed through the Doppelgänger's body).

The word of the day is...

Doppelganger. Without looking it up, post a comment with the definition, or your best guess of the definition. I'll post the real definition tomorrow.

How smart are you

Ok smartguys, take this test and post your score in the comments. I scored 100% so it must be pretty easy.

Sad day

Saturday was a sad day. I picked up my 6 pairs of "fat pants" from the tailor. The sad thing is that these pants weren't always "fat pants." Once upon a time they were "skinny pants" and "just a little overweight pants." Regardless of their original status, after having the waist taken out 3 inces they are now officially "fat pants." Saturday was a sad day because I officially accepted the fact that I am fat. I used to be able to joke about being fat, but there was always a small part of me that didn't believe it. Every time I went to my closet and saw my "skinny pants" and "just a little overweight pants" I could force myself not to believe I was fat. That all ended on Saturday. From now on when I go to my closet, all I will see are my "fat pants." Yes, Saturday was a sad day.

Easter Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures from our trip to New York.

Happy Easter!!!

As some of you may know, our friend Rachel (from law school) invited us to spend Easter with her family in Long Island NY. We had a great time and were sad to have to return home this morning (at 5:30 a.m.!!). The highlight of the weekend for me was on Saturday when I got to go to the Mets - Brewers game at Shea Staduim with Rachel's brother and his friends. I'm sure Jeff and Kyle are thinking "Shea is nothing compared to Fenway" and dad is thinking "Wrigley is better than them all), but for a long-suffering Mets fan it was a great experience to see a game there. They are building a new stadium that is scheduled to open for the 2009 season, so this was most likely the only time I will have the chance to see a game at Shea. Unfortunately the Mets decided to stink up the joint and lost 8-2 but they still have the best record in baseball at 9-2 and they lead the NL East by 4 games over the Braves, so for now I'm a happy guy. Jay had a blast. We took him to the beach on Saturday evening and he kept trying to break free of us and run into the water. He loves throwing rocks into the water and he got sand all over himself. We got him a little Easter basket and he ate enough candy yesterday to stunt his growth a little. Rachel's family was great. They were so welcoming and down to earth and we felt right at home. I didn't have time to download the pictures to my computer so I'll have to do that tonight and I'll post them tomorrow.

And I thought my $50 phone bill was high

Here's a funny story I found on MSNBC.com:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he received a U.S. $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper reported Monday.
Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the 84-ringgit (U.S. $23) bill, the New Straits Times reported.
But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a 806,400,000,000,000.01-ringgit (U.S. $218 trillion) bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported.
It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death.
"If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it," the paper quoted Yahaya as saying. "In fact, I can't wait to face it," he said.
Yahaya, from northern Kedah state, received a notice from the company's debt-collection agency in early April, the paper said. Yahaya said he nearly fainted when he saw the new bill.
Government-linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd. is the country's largest telecommunications company.
A company official, who declined to be identified as she was not authorized to speak to the media, said Telekom Malaysia was aware of Yahaya's case and would address it. She did not provide further details.

In other news, Miss Cleo has retired from her job as a phone psychic.

A day at the park

These pictures are from last Friday. The weather was so nice that we decided to take Jay to the park and have a fun time. He loves being outside, and loves running around and chasing after birds, other kids, squirrels, and anything else he can see. He is such a rascal, but we love having him around and he is just getting more and more fun as he is growing into a little boy.

Lost

For those who love Lost, here is a link with a pretty clear shot of the writing on the blast door in the hatch from last week's episode. It might show up small, but in the bottom right hand corner there is a button that you can click to expand it so you can see the details and read the writing.