Tornado?

Yesterday, I got an email from the school safety adminstrator telling me that there was a tornado watch in effect at the school. The weather has been bad lately.
Today there was a new alert:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY FOR ALL BUT THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF NORTH TEXAS. THEWIND ADVISORY FOR THAT PART OF TEXAS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTHWEST OF A TEMPLE...TO ATHENS LINE. THE TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT BEHIND THE COLD FRONT THAT MOVED THROUGH NORTH TEXAS OVERNIGHT...WILL RESULT IN STRONG AND GUSTY NORTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH...WITH GUSTS OVER 35 MPH POSSIBLE.A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS ARE FORECAST TO BE 31TO 39 MPH OR GUSTS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 46 AND 57 MPH. WINDS OF THESE MAGNITUDES MAY CAUSE MINOR PROPERTY DAMAGE WITHOUT EXTRA PRECAUTIONS.MOTORISTS IN HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES SHOULD USE CAUTION UNTIL THE WINDS SUBSIDE.

It has been raining for about a week.

I'm moving back to California as soon as I graduate.

Fan Mail

Garlicboy,
I would like to say that you have been an inspiration to me. I have silently followed you through your family life and the struggles of law school. You are a great man and an example for us all.
-Toast Habit

Almost the Holidays

This quarter has started out to be a tough one at school. I'm hoping that the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are going to make everything better.

Amanda asked for "macaron and cheese" today. I think macaron is better than macaroni anyway.

Hailey is obsessed with biting, kicking, and pulling hair. I buzzed my head and we can play nice now.

Janel is stressed out this week because she has to make a cake for a lady in our ward, paint a painting, and write a talk for a fireside.

We're going to arrive in Colorado on the 23rd of December. I hope that the Brimhalls and Dale can make it!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

We'd better have a white Christmas or else I'll go bananas and mug Santa. Hmmm. What does Santa do when someone tries to mug him? I bet he could kill you with magic if he wanted. Santa can be pretty tough, and scary. He sees you when you're sleeping? That's kind of creepy. Shouldn't he just check up on you if you're sleeping? Why does he have to watch you? One time I woke up in the middle of the night and Janel was staring at me. I stayed at school a lot that week. I bet Santa is just a weird, creepy elf when he's not doing Christmas. Floating above people in their bedrooms "seeing" them sleep. Now that I think of it, he does have a wild look in his eyes in the paintings I've seen. I heard he has a tattoo on his bicep from when he was in the Navy. I wonder how many people Santa has killed. No jail with a chimney can hold him. He's got a bag that can hold anything--any evidence he wants to hide. He's got lists too you know. A nice list and a naughty list. Is "naughty" a code word for "dead?" How many kids do you know that were ever naughty enough to actually get coal in their stockings from Santa? None? That's because they're all dead! Wait. If Santa actually killed all the naughty boys and girls we'd live in a world free of crime. That settles it. I've just proved that Santa doesn't exist.

Who Does This Guy Think He Is?

http://purely-w.blogspot.com/2004/11/re-garlic-boy.html

Who is John Stossel? Give me a break!

Give Us a Break
The world according to John Stossel
By Peter Hart
ABC News reporter John Stossel enjoys a special position in broadcast network news: Though not usually often identified as a commentator, Stossel is routinely allowed to use his one-hour primetime specials and his regular "Give Me A Break" features on 20/20 to explicitly promote his personal ideological agenda--from singing the virtues of corporate greed to attacking child labor laws--a perspective that is distinctly different from the generally muted centrism that pervades broadcast TV news.

Response to the Movie Review

Dale Warner writes: "I believe it is YOU, that is bananas. I read your review of 'The Incredibles.' I saw the film myself, not by myself, but I DID see it. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Yes, the film lacked a lot of the artistic originality that some of Disney's earlier films had, but it was still a brilliant movie. Comedy is an art form. This film had it. And the action scenes. Don't get me started on the action scenes. I am not a seven year old boy, but I want to go see it again. I will agree with you when you say it was violent, relatively speaking. Not relative to most movies, but to most Disney cartoons."

My rebuttal:
Give ME a break, John Stossel!

Obviously, Dale hasn't even watched the movie. I saw right through his bluff the moment he mentioned that this film was full of comedy and action scenes. "The Incredibles" is a Greek tragedy set in the slums of Portugal as the sun set on the Phillipoosas Dynasty. If you call the wholesale slaughter of innocent baboons "action" then this movie was full of action. I am disgusted, Dale. Comedy and action scenes? How could you be so callous?

Once again, Garlic Boy has proven that this is a No Spin Zone. I don't mind when people disagree with my views, I just want them to be able to back it up with some rational thought. And please, before you respond to a movie review . . . watch the movie.

MOVIE REVIEW

The Incredibles lived up to its name for this reviewer and his two young children. It was incredibly violent and incredibly long. (For a children's movie.) Still, we enjoyed ourselves and even saw a little boy mimic the super fast Dash from the film and run away from his grandmother to test his super powers out as soon as the picture ended. The plot is interesting and avoid reading too many reviews that give away the twists and turns. I give it three out of four stars. I kind of miss the old look of the Disney animated films. The action scenes were dazzling but lacked an artistic touch. The digital process that makes the films more profitable also makes them more generic in my opinion. This is a great film for young boys and their parents. Parents: Watch out! Try not to spill your popcorn when you meet "E," costume designer of the "gods," she'll leave you chortling in the aisles and you might laugh your soda pop through your nose if you're not careful.

Amanda says: "Make sure you go to the bathroom if you finish your soda before the island scene. Its the most suspenseful and action packed part of the movie."

Hailey says: "Gooo."

Janel says: "I especially liked the part where their costumes are revealed. Amanda got bored of this movie fairly quickly. It is better suited to young boys over 7."

The Insanity Begins

Janel and "the girls" left for SJC this morning. It feels like they've been gone for a long time. After I got back from the airport I ate some pizza, fixed the tail light in the van that had been out for about 3 weeks, visited the school to get my new texts, took a nap, ate some leftover lasagna, and watched college football all afternoon. It was a good lazy-Saturday-after-finals overall, but kind of lonely. One of my texts for Administration of Estates costs $91.25 at the campus book store. I know that I'm going to be able to get it online for half that price.

WARNING: The serious portion of today's blog has ended. The author of this blog goes BANANAS in the paragraphs that follow.

Speaking of stores . . . I hate auto parts stores. Do their human resources departments recruit from juvenile detention centers as an industry practice? Do out of work carnies go to the auto parts stores for work as a last resort? Auto Zone didn't have one of the lamps that I was looking for so I waited in line and asked the clerk (Jeremy) at the checkout counter if there were any in back. He said no, and that there had to be some on the shelf. I told him that I had already looked, that I could read and that there weren't any out there. After Jeremy couldn't find the bulb on the shelf either, I followed him back to the counter to pay for my other purchases. He pointed to another guy and told me that so-and-so would help me. I waited in line again. Jeremy emerged 30 seconds after he couldn't find anything to do in the back and helped another person who was behind me in line. I wanted to punch Jeremy in the throat and then clean his dirty little hands with orange/pumice hand cleaner and make him eat the filthy rag. Instead I went down the street to another auto parts store and had a similar experience. To top it off, when I got out of my truck, I dropped one of the packages and shattered a bulb. Good thing Jeremy wasn't there. I wouldn't rant and rave about this if it didn't happen every single time I go to an auto parts store.

When I'm a rich lawyer I'm going to move somewhere where I don't need a car. Our family will ride our bikes everywhere. No more auto-mechanics! No more Auto Zone morons! No more car salesmen! No more DMV lines! No more stinky tire shops! No more waiting in the Jiffy Lube waiting room! No more car washes! No more gas stations! NO MORE GAS PRICES! No more lining the pockets of the Middle East oil barons or the fat cats in Detroit! No more auto insurance! No more traffic cops and their speed traps! No more parking tickets! No more rush hour traffic! No more looking for parking spaces at the mall! No more frivolous law suits from the victims of my reckless driving! No more car based taxes, registration fees, etc., etc., etc.!

I know people will look at me funny. I know they'll think that I'm some sort of revolutionary. But that's okay. I'll be like Mom and Dad and no TV. Who's more peculiar? The guy with no car or the guy with no TV? At least the guy with no car saves money. TV is still free if you already own the set. That reminds me, why do we have to pay for TV sets? Shouldn't network sponsors be paying us to keep advertising machines in our homes? They should pay an hourly rate for the space it takes up in my house and another hourly rate for every hour I subject myself to their advertising and indoctrination. I saw a show today where the police characters in a crime drama mocked a fictional group that opposes media violence, etc. "We just want to show reality" the networks say. Well show me a cop in reality that doesn't think that media violence is hurting kids. Give me a break, John Stossel!

Tomorrow's Test

Tomorrow is the last day of final exams. We are going to see the new Disney/Pixar movie, The Incredibles after my test is over. Janel and the girls are leaving for California on Saturday morning and will be back Thursday.

My new classes this quarter are Constitutional Law, Federal Taxation, Bankruptcy, & Administration of Estates. Two of them sound very boring. Can you imagine a class where all you read about are tax codes? I can't believe I'm doing it. This next quarter will officially begin my second year of law school. In two days I'll be a 2L instead of a 1L. (Assuming that I passed all of my classes this quarter.)

So, how about that election, huh? I'm relieved that W won. I'm hoping that Stevens will retire along with Rehnquist and Ginsburg within the next 4 years. That would mean that old Georgie will get to replace the two most liberal judges along with the leading conservative judge, Rehnquist.

The Abundant Life

Try to live life to its fullest. If all our selfish motives, then, and all our personal desires and expediency would be subordinated to a desire to know the will of the Lord, one could have the companionship of heavenly vision. If our problems be too great for human intelligence or too much for human strength, we too, if we are faithful and appeal rightly unto the source of divine power, might have standing by us in our hour of peril or great need an angel of God. One who lives thus worthy of a testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and who is willing to reach out to Him in constant inquiry to know if his course is approved, is the one who is living life to its full abundance here and is preparing for the celestial world, which is to live eternally with his Heavenly Father.
As with every day of your life, you can never relive any part of it except in memory; and if any day be wasted or misspent, that day becomes only one of regret and remorse. To live one's life to the fullest, then, becomes a daily responsibility for which you need the constant guidance of divine powers to avoid the pitfalls that make for long detours back onto the path of safety and truth.
Set proper priorities. Most men do not set priorities to guide them in allocating their time, and most men forget that the first priority should be to maintain their own spiritual and physical strength. Then comes their family, then the Church, and then their professions-and all need time.
Make each day your masterpiece. You are equipped with strong bodies and educated minds. Add to these an unshakable faith in a divine providence and you have the tools by which you may build a successful life. Make each day your masterpiece and live so nobly that you may witness honestly each day: Whatever came to your hand this day, you did it to the best of your ability.

Harold B. Lee

Ouch...

My second day of finals didn't go very well. I hurt myself by waiting until the end to really buckle down and study. Even though I've done this before, in the past I've been blessed to get decent grades. It'll be a close one if I get a B.

Amanda is so much fun. She loves to play with Hailey. When they get together in the bath it can get pretty loud with all the screaming and splashing and whatnot. Hailey loves Amanda a lot. She constantly watches what Amanda does and can almost mimic Mandy's squeals of joy perfectly. I love to watch them interact.

The weather turned cold yesterday. The temperature finally went below 70 degrees. I even saw a few sweatshirts at school.

Finals Week

Finals week has descended upon the law school like the Nazgul in The Return of the King. Poor little Hobbit-students are getting picked off one-by-one as I write. Or maybe we're more like Unicorns than Hobbits. And let's use a metaphor instead of a simile. Yes, finals week is he-who-must-not-be-named from the second Harry Potter movie. The students are beautiful Unicorns, whose blood will make you live forever--but he who partakes leads a cursed life. Law professors are reveling in the misery around them like the emperor in Return of the Jedi as he forced Luke to watch his friends fall into the emperor's trap from the giant bay window on the Death Star. And yesterday I was like Luke, lying on the ground, my body sizzling from the emperor's Jedi cooking electric rays, when just when I least expected it--DARTH VADER himself intervened and killed the emperor! I bolted from the exam room, leaving Darth Vader to die alone, dodged the attacks of the Nazgul, and jumped into my truck. I made it through the first day of finals.

(Don't worry, I won't let the spell checker change Nazgul to Nozzle.)