Hick Date

The first semester of law school Meredith and I went on a "hick date" with three couples from law school. We drove to Heber, ate at Dairy King (that isn't a typo) and went bowling at a charming little alley. This past week, the boys (that is what Meredith calls my law school group) decided we need to replicate that date. Because one of the wives now had a job in SLC, we decided to keep this "hick date" a little closer to home. The images and accompanying explanations may be disturbing. It is recommended that only those age 14 and older continue reading this post. Last names have been withheld to prevent our stalkers from jumping over to another couple...

Hick Date Credits (Listed in the Order of Appearance):

Emily, aka Pumpkin Tits
We honestly have no idea where this nickname comes from. Her husband, Miles, first revealed it last October during a group overnight in a cabin in the mountains. Needless to say, Emily was less than thrilled to have her nickname flashed up on the board. Emily ended up winning the second game narrowly over Miles. As you can see, her form is excellent and it came through for her in the second game. Emily played a focused game while bowling; however, according to Meredith, Emily did participate in the wilder activities. None were captured by our photographers.

Miles, aka Slaur
Again, the origination of this nickname is shrouded in mystery. Miles was the powerhouse player, finishing in first place the first game and second place the second. Miles has a careful, methodical approach which allows him to harness his great power. Miles plays his game seriously, never giving succumbing to whimsy or showmanship. Miles is also one who encourages others, never insulting or booing. Perhaps most attentive to the games of others, Miles was always there with an encouraging word after a less-than-successful attempt. Because of his placement on the end of the seating, there are few pictures of this elusive participant. It looks like Miles is simply placing the ball on the ground, but at the end of this bowl there were no pins left standing.

Dustin, aka The Hulk
I am by far the biggest person in this group. The others guys are kind of slight in build - something I have never had - and run or bike more than they lift. I am not the tallest, but even at my skinniest I carry more weight around than these guys do. Thus, the nickname. The bowling alley had almost brand-new equipment that made bowling that much more entertaining. One of these features tracked the speed of each bowl. Because of this, many of my bowls in the first game were made to reach the highest speed possible. Unfortunately, no bowl from any participant was able to break 20.9 mph. We think that there was a cap on the speed that the screen would display because I definitely threw some 20.9s faster than others. I ended up getting the lowest score on the first game, a 69. The second game I focused and used a combination of right and left-handed throws (right for power and left for accuracy). This allowed me to finish 3rd in the second game. I do not have great form. My only advantage was the ability to send pins flying in all directions at alarming rates of speed.

Meredith, aka The Rail
I think this nickname is obvious; however, I think it makes a nice contrast to mine. Meredith takes a laid back approach to bowling. She used an 8 pound ball - one of the lightest if not the lightest ball any of us used. Even using a light ball, it was probably too heavy for her to bowl with (demonstrated by the video below). It is so cute that she practically just drops the ball at the end of her swing. Despite this difficulty, Meredith took home the silver for the first game. Unfortunately, her strength didn't last and she placed last in the second. Meredith is credited with some of the photography and cinematography for this post. As for the extra-curricular activities, Meredith was purposefully absent from the shenanigans that were instigated by others.
In addition to braving the adventures of bowling and the potential embarrassment in associating with these people, Meredith also gritted her teeth and continued bowling despite the war it was waging on her nails. Meredith isn't really that particular about her nails; however, she had just gotten them to the length and "roundness" that she felt was perfect earlier this week. She lost three nails on her right hand in the name of camaraderie.

Meg, aka Kim Jong Kill
Meg is part Korean. Her husband is in law school and a political science undergrad major. I believe that the formulation of her nickname stems from this. Meg is a fairly quiet participant in most of the activities that we do as a group. When her attempt didn't go as planned, we got a one-armed swing in front of her body. When the attempt was good, it was a double-armed swing. Although Meg wasn't a power player, her presence kept her husband, Drew, from getting too wild. She and Meredith sat quietly together and observed the embarrassing antics of their husbands while managing not to get embarrassed. There are rumors that someday these two women will be rewarded for their patience.

Drew, aka Sloth
I believe that the story was told regarding this nickname; however, I didn't hear it. From what I gather, it has something to do with Meg's family and the character Sloth from the movie "Goonies." Drew is the "prankster" of the group. He and Spencer have known each other for many years and, as a result, Drew torments Spencer at every opportunity. Drew was constantly laughing at Spencer's bowling form, Spencer's random acts of dancing and frequently directing the group on how to respond to participant's bowling attempts. These ranged from clapping for gutter balls to booing for any attempt made by a certain person. Drew was also a competitor in the speed challenge, coming up with a speed of 20.9 mph. Again, we believe that the speed display was capped at this speed, since it seems unlikely that two different people using the same ball would throw at the same speed consistently. At times, Drew's antic interfered with another participant's game. In particular, our photographers captured a disturbing image involving one of Spencer's more creative bowls and one of Drew's more aggresive pranks. As for involvement in the extra-curricular activities, Drew was one of the most active. While Dustin demonstrated possible moves that could be done, Drew would take them to the next level and perform them for all who would watch. I believe that Drew finished middle-of-the-pack in both games.

Cate, aka Mrs. Carlos Boozer
Cate thinks that Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz is hot stuff. This is something that comes up almost every time that all four couples get together. I guess what I am saying is that the nickname just seemed to fit. Cate was the only one who got into the spirit of the date by wearing a hick-ish outfit. Cate was a fierce bowler who approached each attempt with the goal of getting a strike. Careful, calculated and powerful, Cate had a solid performance in both games that allowed her to finish third overall. There was much commentary and amazement at the angle of her back ankle at the end of each bowl. The participants had never seen such an extreme angle achieved outside of sports injuries. Although Cate did participate in some of the crazy antics, she was mostly engrossed in conversation with Emily. This probably saved her a lot of embarrassment, as her husband, Spencer, was randomly breaking out into song, dance and a number of other noticeable activities.

Spencer, aka Thunder Tights
This nickname was created on the spot. Someone suggested Thunder Thighs and I made a joke that I had seen him running in spandex and it might be an appropriate name. Miles then made a unilateral decision to change the nickname to Thunder Tights. Spencer put in an odd performance. There is really no other way to describe his game. Spencer frequently approaches bowling and throws with his right hand off his right foot. Since Drew was getting too much laughter out of this method, I suggested that Spencer throw off his left foot. This ended up making all of us laugh, as Spencer had a difficult time in coordinating his body to the new method. He continued to experiment with different methods throughout the night, giving him a finish that was near the bottom both times. Luckily, he was distracted from this fact by his own involvement with singing and dancing. This publication votes Spencer the Most Entertaining Aspect of Hick Date.

The Big Picture

Just to clarify, this post has nothing to do with photography, painting or other forms of art. I apologize that I got your hopes up that I had something interesting to say.

As most of you know, I am in my second year of law school at BYU. It has been an adventure from the start. I must confess that I haven't enjoyed the "entire law school experience." The law is generally (and this definitely a generalization) divided into litigation and transactions. Law school is very focused on making people litigators, or those who deal with trials and go to court. I have never been interested in being a litigator. There is some appeal to Appellate work as it deals mostly with the legal questions only and not questions of fact; however, it wasn't enough to convince me to become a litigator.

I entered the law with the desire to do transactional work. My favorite aspect of undergrad was economics. I know that makes me a nerd and I don't care. The combination of predictions, numbers and business made it the perfect way to hold my interest while also engaging my brain. In the second-to-last semester of undergrad I took a class called "Law and Economics." At this point I had not really thought about attending law school, but I thought that I would give it a try. This is probably what finally pushed me to research and register for the LSAT. The majority of our time was spent on contracts and efficient compensation when dealing with damages and precautionary measures. I love contracts. I love efficiency. I love Meredith. I took Contracts during my first semester of law school and it remains my highest grade to this point (although there really isn't much room to improve on that grade).

The problem with law school being so focused on litigation is that there isn't much for the transactions people to do. All of the competitions are about oral arguments and brief writing. It is difficult to do any transactional work until you are actually practicing and, even then, you will probably end up doing "due diligence," reading documents involved in the transaction, for the first couple of years of practice. As a result, it is more difficult to find a job as a 2L in transactional work than it is to find work in litigation. During the Fall semester I had plenty of interviews for transactional work; however, the economy took a really hard turn right after these interviews. As a result, law firms in general have scaled back hiring. Transactional attorneys have been hit really hard because their jobs depend on companies actually having money, through cash or credit, to make deals with other companies. Plenty of firms are laying off transactional attorneys which obviously means that they aren't really hiring 2Ls at this time.

Since last October I have been searching for a job in any area of law that I can. I have met with some success, most of it being in Kansas City. Unfortunately, I am not the kind of person who can "act" in a job interview. These interviews that I obtained were 100% litigation, sometimes in areas of law that I hold absolutely no interest in. I can only assume that my lack of enthusiasm for the work I was interviewing for came through during the interview. I had one interview with the Federal Immigration Court in Dallas, TX which actually appealed to me. I hadn't had any exposure to immigration law and I thought that it might be interesting. I was still excited about the opportunity after the interview; however, the position was unpaid. This wasn't a huge deal because I could still get school credit and experience. Recently, however, I have finally found some clarity and comfort regarding my job search.

I flew into Kansas City on President's Day because I had an interview with a firm in Overland Park the next day. I was extremely excited for the interview because the website said that the firm practiced a number of transactional areas as well as some litigation. I thought that exposure to both would be MUCH better than all litigation. The interview went really well. I enjoyed the company of everyone that I met with and they seemed to enjoy me. The founding partner was extremely honest with me. He told me that my chances were good, but that they were interviewing someone with better academic qualifications the next day. He told me that it wasn't certain that there were even hiring anyone. He said that my chances were good: my resume was impressive, my grades were good, I am a minority and everyone I met with liked me a lot. This was encouraging. The only negative of this entire interview was that the majority of their practice was tort defense. As an economist, I feel that tort reform is necessary in the US. Tort defense is a noble sort of way to fight against excessive tort litigation; however, tort litigation is one of my least favorite things in the law. The firm does do transactional work, but it is only two or three attorneys out of the 25 in the firm. The founding partner said that I would probably do a couple transactional projects, but the majority of my work would be from the rest of the firm. Still, I was pretty excited. I was told to keep in contact with the firm and let them know about any changes in my plans. They wouldn't be making a decision for another 3-4 weeks, so there was plenty of room for plans to change.

So I flew back to SLC after a couple of days in Kansas. I don't have a lot of time to spend with Meredith because I spend so much of my non-school time searching for a job. As a result, I watch movies with my laptop in front of me sending out resumes, corresponding with networking contacts and looking through websites to find a job. As the next couple of days passed, I became more and more discontent with the fact that I would have to be a litigator because the economy chose to tank at this time. I do what I can to get good grades, interview well and find a job that will support my family; however, I just couldn't believe that I would have to spend years in a career that I hated in order to pay off my student loans. When choosing law schools, BYU was the last place that I wanted to go. I didn't even want to apply but did because of several external influences. My final choice in April of 2007 came down to BYU or KU. BYU was significantly higher in the rankings and slightly more expensive but had a better reputation for placing people in Big Law. KU had a wider, more interesting offering of classes and was in an area closer to home. At his point I wasn't sure if I wanted to practice on the East Coast or go back to the Midwest, so I prayed about my decision. I got the overwhelming feeling to go to BYU. Logic and spiritual guidance pointed towards BYU, so I made the decision to go. Meredith and I have since decided that we would like to return to the Midwest, barring any outstanding offer from another area. This has limited the job fields available.

Anyways, back to the job search. On Sunday I kind of went crazy. I somehow stumbled across a government job working as a law clerk for a government agency that regulates financial markets. I have known for quite a while that the best way to work with contracts and my other interests was to work in financial aspects of law. I find myself interested in banking law, securities, corporate transactions and others areas that are closely related. Earlier this academic year I had the desire to work for the Securities Exchange Commission, but I had missed the application deadline. Finding this government job posting led me to several other postings that offered jobs in exactly what I wanted to do. This is when I realized that, similarly to my choosing a law school, I did not know where to research for job possibilities or how to do it when I had really needed it. Finding these jobs on Sunday made me realize that there were plenty of options in government to work in the areas that I wanted. Also, I had always heard that the pay was dreadful. In comparison to Big Law it might be dreadful (about 45% of Big Law pay) but it would be enough to accomplish the financial goals that Meredith and I had. That night, I couldn't sleep and got up to search for more jobs. I applied to anything and everything that involved contracts or financial markets. It was entertaining, but I don't think anything will come of it.

Later in the week I spoke with one of my professors. It was a fairly long conversation, but the main thrust was that he had felt in law school that if he couldn't do what he wanted, he would look outside of the law. This was a sort of revelation for me. I had always known this realization but had never articulated it to myself. I don't want to practice law if I can't practice it in the areas that I want. I can use my JD in other areas, though it may not be practicing law. The day before this realization I had been made an offer by the Immigration Court of Dallas. I had asked for a couple of days to discuss it with Meredith and think about it. After discussions and realizations, we decided to reject the offer. We went to the temple to seek confirmation of a number of things, including our decision to reject the offer. It isn't very comforting to reject the only offer for legal experience that you have on the table, but we felt it was the right thing to do logically and spiritually.

Do what you love and the money will follow. I can't say that I am happy with my current employment situation, but I am happy with my current direction. It has been tough road so far and will probably continue to be so for some time. I guess this will help Meredith and me to grow together. It will be interesting to see how this new direction plays out.

Best Valentine's Ever!

Dustin is so good to me. The Valentine’s festivities actually started 2 days before February 14th. I have wanted a new robe that wasn't a huge cotton bathrobe that makes you look twice your actual size. So Dustin went searching and was able to find a gorgeous silk robe and I love it! Just what I wanted! So then comes Valentine’s Day. I knew this day was going to be a little hard for me because, though it is nice to get gifts, I am definitely not a "gifts person." I already felt guilty about getting the robe earlier, though it was such a sweet thing to do. I just always hate it when people spend money on me. I always think that money could be better spent. Anyways, the only gift I actually wanted was a dozen red roses. They have always been my favorite flower, Dustin and I have a little history with a dozen red roses, and they are so perfect for Valentine’s Day.

So we slept in and took the day slowly. We have been planning for the past week to make a four course French

meal. We spent a lot of time, and a bit of money, to go all out for this dinner. So after cleaning the house and watching a chick flick, we began to think about making dinner. But wait, before we begin, Dustin HAS to go check the mail. He comes back with a letter for me, from him, that he sent though the mail. It was a beautiful long love note! It was so unlike him to do something like that but I couldn't have been happier.

Then, when we started getting things together for the dinner, we remembered that we did not have wine glasses for our white and red non-alcoholic wine. So Dustin ran off and grabbed some wine glasses while I finished getting ready. While he was gone, I got a knock on the door and it was a delivery for me from a floral company. So I ran to the kitchen, grabbed some scissors and opened it up, and there it was! My dozen red roses and they were beautiful.

So after he got back from the store, I told him that this had better be the end of the surprises. I think an elegant robe, a love letter, roses, and the four course meal were enough. He assured me the surprises were over. So then we began preparing dinner at 3:30. We had to begin with the dessert first, which was Crème Brulee, because it needs to chill for some time. I won’t bore you with the details of making a French dinner, but it was definitely an adventure. After making the dessert we had a fromage, which is a spread of French cheeses with a baguette. To make a long story short, there is only one of the cheeses we will actually continue to eat. The other ones were simply for the experience. So after the fromage, we had a spinach salad with strawberries, almond slivers and poppyseed dressing. Apparently, in France, they have spinach-based salads and dressings with a kick!

The third course was definitely the biggest. Dustin made filet mignon and some blanched vegetables. Yeah, we had to look up what blanched meant...it was quite the ordeal just for vegetables. While he did that, I made rosemary roasted red potatoes and some béarnaise sauce to pour over the filet mignon. After that, we were finally done with the main course. It tasted so good and was rather filling.

By this time, it was 7 o'clock and we were thinking that since we had just eaten so much, we would wait a while before we would have some Crème Brulee. Well, 8 o'clock comes around and we decide it is dessert time. We went ahead and crystallized the top of the dessert with our broiler, since we didn't have a torch, and it actually turned out very well. All in all, the entire dinner was a success.

I feel so lucky to have a man who takes such good care of me. I truly had an amazing Valentine’s Day! Thanks sweetie!