Hacksaw's Law: If you cannot sit on the curb alone and be happy, what you are is not happy.

Further Portland proof of Fun!

2010-12-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

Due to the fact that I can only upload five faces at a time, and there is slew of Santa's helpers in Portland, I am uploading another. Plus, Craig seems to be a little camera-shy, as I only have one picture of him. I found it though, and it is a good one! Finally, I guess the first person you upload kinda becomes the star of the video, and below that was Nicole, here it is Craig, and it is really funny. Enjoy! See you all on Sunday!

Portland Christmas Preview!

2010-12-14T09:55:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

It is a little later in the season than usual for me, but I still want to make my blog Christmas-a-rif-ic. Sorry if you don't like the music starting when you get here, but someone has to get all those Scrooges in the Christmas spirit, and I'm just the man for the job.

I am not lazy, I am busy, so busy that when I do have time I am too lazy to blog

2010-10-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

It is time for another post. I have to apologize to anyone that used to read this blog, I have not kept up in recent months. Consider this my apology to all of the blogs I visited and thought in my mind "they never blog!" I am now your brother, and you my, whatever.

I just needed to do a little update. I saw M.C. Hammer live at the park. He still has it. It was free and very cool, the pure awesomeness was not lessened by the fact that it was really a concert for elementary kids. I also saw a late model green Cadillac nearby and I am sure that it is Hammer's. My friend from Oakland also told me that back when Hammer was huge he used to drive around Oakland blasting his own songs in his car. If I ever cut a record I am totally doing that.

More stuff I did. I went to Reno. I talked about this in the family letter, and I think those letters are the reason that I do not post as much, I feel like I tell the family everything that they need to know when I write those. I can still post pictures and stuff that I forget, so that is not a very good excuse.

Reno was very cool though. My roommate Mark was showing me that it is a cool place to live, and I think he is right. It was not too bad. The high altitude also makes it not as hot in the summer. Might be a good option in the future, only four hours from S.F. and eight from SLC. It is not very high on my options list though, don't worry. Las Vegas, Portland and SLC are all higher. So is D.C. This might be a good time to reiterate my deal with the siblings/friends. Find me a job (in the legal field, babysitting is not really an option at this point unless it is a really good offer), and I will move by you, and maybe name a child after you. Emphasis on the maybe.

Back to Reno, it was a cool trip and we got to swing by Lake Tahoe on the way home, which is just beautiful in the summer.
The bright lights of Reno. Sounds like an awesome country song. What you cannot tell from this picture is that I am on my bike. I biked all over Reno at night, and it was awesome. Good biking city def a plus when I am looking at jobs.

This picture also bring up another relevant point. It is beard season again. Each year my beard comes in a little stronger. Migrating from the back of my head I am assuming, but I have no proof. Except photographic proof. Here is a little slice of beard season, about four weeks in.
That is right. Better than ever, plus, that tomato is telling a story of its own. I love how each picture is feeding into the next story. You may remember that I planted a garden back when I had a lot of free time on my hands. Well, except for a few cherry tomatoes, that garden was a complete flop, something burrowed in there and ate all my seeds. However, I had also planted a tomato plant in my house. In a "As seen on TV" Topsy-Turvy thing. It really works, next year see me gushing about it in their commercial. Seriously though folks, I grew that tomato and many more are growing. I had a BT (would have been a BLT but I don't have any lettuce) last night and it was delicious. On an unrelated note, who remembers eating lettuce with sugar on it growing up? Oh man, Harrison kids would seriously do anything to get sugar into our bodies. OK, here is the tomato plant.
It looks a little weak in these pictures, but is actually quite awesome and healthy. I get a lot of compliments on it, plus a lot of people like to say "who is growing the tomatoes indoors?" and other stuff like that. Haters. I am still getting blossoms and little tomatoes are growing, so I think I will continue to have tomatoes until it gets colder here in S.F., which might not be til November or December, or it might be tomorrow. I am just going to enjoy it while I can. Besides that I am having a great time and living the dream.
I have really been studying a lot during the week but I try to take some time off on the weekends at night at least. I finish my big brief this week, so that will free up some time that I can then use to focus on things that I have been neglecting all semester, yay! That is all for now, I need to go to bed so I can get up early tomorrow, but I will leave you with a picture from the General Conference Breakfast Party I threw on Saturday a week ago. The angry one is my roommate, Peter, I think he is joking.
OK, I will give you one more. Here is one my friend K.C. took. Notice how I am carefully focused in the background, Mom. Good times conference. Someone also randomly brought M&Ms, so it was just like family times!
Thanks for playing. In the next post look for Hacksaw to attempt to catch a large amount of whipped cream in him mouth. Stay tuned!

New Beginnings

2010-08-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I started my last year of school yesterday. I guess that is good. It seems a little surreal to tell you the truth. There is a weird mix of excitement and a little bit of apprehension. A year from now I will have taken the Bar (assuming I graduate, and all indications seem to say I will, May 15th by the way, mark it on your calendar), and will be trying to start a new job. My future will be my present. I think it is only normal to feel a little off when you are contemplating things that you have not had to think about before. I also think that I am a little tired so once my normal schedule is back I am sure that I will feel more like my usual self.

In other news, I am really excited about my classes. I am taking some practical classes, a writing class on wrongful convictions, professional responsibility, legislative process, and complex litigation. A little boring but should be good. Things are gonna be pretty lively on the home front as well. I am taking a little trip up into the mountains over Labor Day with a YSA group, and there are a lot more fun things planned, but I need to make sure I don't slack off in my school work. One thing about finishing up school, it is really great to think that I am almost done with classes, and I learned a lot this summer and improved my resume quite a bit.

In the end, I am really excited to graduate, and even more excited to practice, just a little more work. Oh well.

And don't worry, I finished the summer strong.

Wordless and Segway Wednesday

2010-08-04T19:16:00.001-07:00

Two for Tea, and a Party.

2010-07-23T00:51:00.000-07:00

As Bill and Ted would say, this was a very triumphant weekend. My good buddy Puls from my BYU days came into town and we got together with our old roommate Chad, who is living in Sacramento, and all my wildest dreams came true. Not to mention a few dreams that were a little wild even for me. Puls came into town and we hit up some of the tourist spots, you might recognize this bridge, it is the Golden Gate to the West. Puls had not been to San Francisco before so of course now he wants to live here. I think.

We had some good Naan & Curry for lunch, then we headed for a Giants game. Puls and I are huge baseball fans, and Chad is always down for any type of good times, so we had a good time. It was a 1-0 game and pretty exciting. I am proud to say that I have not lost my ability to yell crazy things throughout a game. When even the little kids in front of you are starting to get bugged, you know that you are a good fan. I don't know if they were actually bugged, but they did turn around and state at me every time I yelled something crazy. I offered to fight a Mets fan, but I was only half serious, I don't fight women. Usually. Anyway, we met up with a couple friends and had angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream. This is my life. I am getting jealous of myself.
The next day was the time for Chad to shine, and shine he did. He took us to Sac Town and around a hundred-degree temperatures. Needless to say, I was loving it. Chad had the idea of going to the California state fair. I was skeptical at first, but then I started remembering all the good times we used to have at the Utah State Fair and I got pretty excited. It was all I ever hoped for. I think that is clear from the picture below.
We started off the adventure with hay-bale bucking broncos and it only went up from there. The state fair is seriously so much fun. We started out small with looking at the animals, sounds lame but it is pretty fun, there is a little 4-H in all of us I suppose. Then we moved on to the food. Chad and I had huge sno-cones and Puls had a reindeer corndog. The fair is so cool, and there is more coolness to follow.
Some of the other sights that we saw were lawn-mower racing, dog jumping, and city kids milking a goat. That was pretty funny, the look on their faces was somewhere between "this is cool" and "this just is not right." Gotta love those city kids. There is one story that I have to tell though. As we were sitting eating some fried foods that I will talk about in a second there was a karaoke performance going on. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill group, but then something happened. The MC announced that a little eight-year-old girl had been asking him to sing all day and he was going to let her. He announced that she was going to sing A-Capella and then he asked her what she was going to sing. He did not tell the crowd what she said though, which I thought was a little weird, until I heard her song. She got up there, and bravely starting singing "I love to see the Temple." It was pretty awesome. At some point we all get a little afraid I think of letting people see who we really are, but this little girl was not afraid. She sang the whole song, which is obviously one of her favorites since she had been begging to sing it all day, and then the crowd applauded. I was really proud of her.
As a Harrison I like to eat. As a former employee of Hot Dog on a Stick I like to eat fried foods. Believe me when I tell you, I LOVE THE FAIR! Below you can see a few of the many healthy offerings that the fair provides. You have fried twinkies, fried snickers, fried cookie dough (my favorite), fried brownies, and fried oreos. I would say that I felt sick, but that was just my stomach, my tongue felt like it was walking on sunshine. That was not the craziest thing though, we found a place that sold chocolate covered bacon. It is pretty good, more of a novelty item sure, but that sweet salty chocolaty bacon-ey flavor is nice every once in a while. The fair is so great, we should call it.
I just wanted to say one more thing about the fair. Little kids can ride sheep there and it is awesome. I made a resolution last Saturday, and that is my kids are one day going to ride sheep, and they are going to like it. What you cannot see from the picture below is that the sheep is in a full-out run. It is pretty funny because the sheep do not really buck, they just bolt, and all the kids slide to the side, but that just pulls the sheep over with them. It does not look very dangerous from outside the ring, but judging from the death-grip that some of these kids had on the sheep it must be a little scary when you are back there. I gave the winner a high-five. I still have not washed that hand.
All in all it was a really great weekend. It is always good to see friends that I spent so much time with in the past that like my jokes and I get along with so well. It was a little weird because we have not all hung out together in about three years, and getting together made me realize that I have changed quite a bit in the last few years. Like it or not I am not a kid anymore (but not and adult either, never that!). It is good to see how far you have come though, and I am pretty happy with the result. I may have lost a little of my jokey attitude (not that anyone seems to notice) but I have gotten a little more responsible and take-charge -ish. I can tell that I have more of an opinion and don't worry about what people think about me too much, I am just living my life and as long as I am good with who I am I don't worry that someone else is not. Just live your life.

Look What You Made Me Do

2010-07-11T20:31:00.001-07:00

I told you and I told you but somehow very few of you listened (Kim and Byron listened, they visited, they had a great time), and when you did not come to visit I was forced to take all of my saved-up fun and shower Jamie and Brook with it. I can still see the look of shock and awe on their faces. Good times.

They came into town like a cool Portland breeze, and two days later they vanished like change on the floor in a laundromat. We had a great time, and since they are now on their way back North, I will try to relive some of our adventures to comfort myself.

The first thing I did was finish up some work while they laid around and played Guitar Hero. Work was unplanned and for all you future visitors it will not happen. Partly to make up for that work and for denying them of my fun personality for a time I made them germies. I think these turned out pretty great. The Gin Blossoms put it best I believe when they said, "hey, jealousy."

The only sad part of this trip was that food did not factor in as the most important part of the trip as it should in any Harrison outing and especially when we are in what is quite possibly one of the best food cities in the world. There is one thing that Harrisons prize more than free food we discovered, and that is volleyball. I am getting ahead of myself, however, let's take it from the top.

So Friday afternoon was our first chance at my pitching S.F. to Jamie and Brooke as a future home and I made the most of it. Three o'clock found us wending our way downtown on the Muni train ready to see the sites. I took them shopping. H&M suitably impressed them with its size, but after they assured me that they were very close to having an H&M of their own, I realized I had to bring out the big guns if I wanted them to move here. It had to be Zara. Yes, that place of mystery and magic out of Europe that takes plain Janes and turns them into Fashionable Freddies. It is a really cool store, I read online that if they have stuff that does not sell they take it off the racks after a couple of weeks. They are committed to staying on the cutting edge of every-day fashion. So far mission accomplished. Zara is a little more expensive than H&M but it has a similar philosophy, and with a sale in place (like there was when we went) it is a great store to get the perfect outfit that will have all your friends gushing about it to your face and hating you behind your back. So get out here and get you something. That is about all the shopping that we did.

We also tried to go see Wicked, but we did not win the lottery and had to settle for sausages in the Mission. Jamie and Brooke got to see quite a few sides of our wonderful city out here, and if they were not all flattering, they were at least interesting. We met up with a few of the kids that I know from church at the sausage place, and then spent a few hours at my friend Camille's lovely apartment in Pac Heights. After Jamie fell asleep on the couch I knew the tykes were tuckered and we headed for home, all the better to prepare for a new day.

I feel that I spoiled the girls on Saturday, and I must confess that I do not usually have quite this much fun every weekend, but they got lucky. After a breakfast of German Pancakes we headed to the east bay for some fun in the sun. A friend of mine from Berkeley had invited us over to swim in the pool and hot tub and it was really great, plus Brooke had the opportunity to showcase her Rock Band skills, and all her beaus were suitable impressed. It was a lot of fun and I think I fulfilled my goal of showing them how many cool people live in this area.

This post is getting long. Now to the main story. I always thought that food was a Harrison's main kryptonite, but I learned this weekend that for Jamie and myself it is actually volleyball. We got to a young single adult party maybe about six-thirty or so and began to play some volleyball. For the next three hours we did not quit for a moment. People left to eat. We stayed. People left to socialize. We chided them for their lack of competitiveness. People left because it was getting dark. We razzed them for being poor losers. Not our finest hour. Brooke played at the beginning, then went to the pool, met people, had a little food. Jamie and I continued to play non-stop. We missed the food. We met no one. We had a great time.

The next day we went to church and they met a lot of girls that they want me to date as well as (in their words) "so many hot guys." I think my work here is done.

It was a lot of fun to have the girls here and I hope that they had a good time and that it was worth the drive. Some other highlights of the trip: Brooke brought her new kitten Javier (pronounced with a smoky Spanish accent, of course). Not only am I less and less allergic to cats, but my roommate and his girlfriend fell in love with little Javie and would play with him while we were gone, so he did not have to stay in the bathroom the whole time. He is a fun little critter and so social. Way better than a boyfriend, Brooke. More highlights: Jamie and myself showing our skills on the v-ball court. Making Jamie and Brooke tell my friends all of their dumbest jokes, and finally, randomly running into two girls that I know on a midnight run to Bob's donuts, further reinforcing my point about what a fun city I live in and how many friends (15) that I have here. That is also a plug for Bob's, if you come, I will take you and I will pay. For one doughnut. Each.
I am sure that we did way more fun stuff, like watching MacGyver on DVD. The only fun I like is the non-stop variety. It was really a lot of fun to see these girls though and I hope that they will not be strangers. It is always good to get together and reforge those family bonds. I am sure that I will be returning the favor in Portland soon enough.

The important thing now is that I rest up for Puls and Chad this weekend (Giants game and a trip to Sacramento), and for Mom, Dad, and brothers the following week (Dustin Blodgees wedding). Happy summer (or what passes for summer in fogsville)!

You got a friend in me

2010-07-06T23:31:00.001-07:00

I saw Toy Story 3 last night, and while it ties in to the overlying theme, it is not the basis for this post. I had the opportunity to spend this last Fourth of July weekend at a cabin on a beautiful lake in Northern California with some wonderful people, and that is the basis for this post.
Friends are a funny thing, some people can make them easily, and some people have more trouble, some people treat theirs lightly and to some they are their most precious possession. I hope that none of us are taking our friends lightly and that we are being good friends to those that need us. I have thought in the past that it might be possible for us to be friends with anyone that we meet, and I still believe that this is true, but this weekend reminded me that a few common threads will bind much more tightly.
One of the guys that went with us mentioned that on the way home, and it stuck with me a little. Because of the common threads that we had, which in this case were religion, geography, and the fact that none of us are married, we were able to jell in a way that I have not experienced in a long time. Going in I was pretty good friends with at least three of the people there, knew or had met another four or so, and the rest of the eleven I had never met. It only took a couple of minutes until we were joking like old friends. That is a wonderful thing.
I do not know where this post is going, but I do know that all of the kids (I say kids but that is just a term of art) that went with us were fun, unpretentious, and unselfish. With a recipe like that there ain't nothin' you cain't make.
I don't know if I want this to be a preachy post or what, but I know that I have some great friends out there, not the least of whom are my family, and all those friends are there for me time in and time out, and I hope that I am there for them every once in a while.
This post was probably also brought on by the fact that my good friend Tishe was over here and we were discussing her lesson that she is giving to Girl's Camp tomorrow on, what else, relationships. I really think that a big part of who we are and why we are here ties in to the relationships that we have with others, I was reminded this weekend of how good people can make things so enjoyable, and all you really need is a good attitude. Like I always say, if you cannot be happy sitting on a curb, you are not happy, but I do think that there is very little that can help people to be more happy than to have a good friend sit on that curb with them, and no matter what you are going through and no matter what they think of the decisions that you have made in your life, they can just say, "you know, things are going to get better."
I am really grateful for all the people in my life, and I hope that they are grateful for me. If you need anything, holler at your boy.

That is the group that went to the lake in this picture above. We went to a small branch (we about doubled the size), and the people there were so welcoming and the Spirit was so strong, I realized again why Mom and Dad dragged us to all those churches over the years. It was really neat to be in that small branch, we got to help with the Sacrament and since it was fast Sunday the Branch President actually made a point of asking us to bear our testimonies, which several of us did. It was a really neat experience.

Gotta Love the Beach

2010-06-20T22:38:00.001-07:00

I got to go to the beach twice this week, and that ain't bad. The first beach that we went to was Stinson Beach, up by Marin. It was a little windy, but we had a good time. Since everyone else seemed to be content to lay in the sun, I decided to have a little fun. I went to the beach with my cousins once, and they dug a big hole and the little kids just loved it. Since my good friend Gilda brought along the little girl that she nannies, Maybelle, I decided to do some diggin'.

I like to think that in this picture I'm telling her: "I know you are working hard, but can you see how much sand I have over here? I am doing a lot more work then you, so please try to pick it up." Harsh I know, but that is the only way they will ever learn.
What do you do with a hole? You sit in it.
Just kidding, we dug it a little deeper. As you can probably imagine, while we were digging I was peppering the conversation with little gems like "I bet we are half-way to China by now," and "now if someone is looking for us we can just hide right in the hole." That must be what we are doing here. For some reason kids seem to really like me, who knew?
This was a pretty fun little trip. Afterward Gilda told me that Maybelle was telling her mom about the beach and kept referring to me as "my friend Matt." It is good to have friends.

I also wanted to include this little gem from my most recent trip to Los Angeles in May. I went to the Getty with Kim and Lance (and young Harrison, no not Lance). You know what they say, you can either look at art, or you can get up there and try to freeze your body in the exact position that the statue is in. I got laughed at, sure, but performance art is legitimate, to legitimate to quit-imate. I title this: "Take the picture! and please try to get it right, my core is killing me."
Photo: Kim Williams

Ode to Blogging

2010-06-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

I love you, but I hate you. I always want to blog, but I seldom find the time, what was once an exquisite escape from study-induced boredom is now a slog through countless pictures amid less-than-witty sayings.

Why do I blog? Is if for the adoration of my (relatively) many followers? The battle fought as words are wrestled from a chaos of sound and organized into cadences that depict thoughts and ideas, frozen in time? Is it because of man's great desire to leave something of himself behind, to carve his name into the proverbial tree, to jump into the great conversation if to only say "HA! I have nothing to contribute, but you are listening nonetheless!" (see: Hilton, Paris)? Many are the reasons to blog, to criticize, credit, complain or congratulate, but they all pale in comparison to the one and great reason that is to post awesome pictures, and hopefully, captions that can capture the thousand words that each picture represents and distill them down to a brief (and hopefully funny, deep or poignant) remark, cementing word and image, forever linked. Blog on fellow bloggers, blog on I say.

"Matt, through the burgeoning affects of long-awaited puberty, once and for all proved through outward expression his dearth of inner contemplation."

Niece and Nephews

2010-06-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

I really want to post about what I have done this summer, and I have so much to post, maybe this little post will whet your appetite. I guess the thing that this family loves to see are the kiddos. These are all of the kids that I saw on my most recent trip, hopefully I get out to Virginia soon, it has been too long.

Here is little Mira, she is a real charmer now I hear, doling out smiles like no one's business. She is really getting into the fun stage it seems like now, smiling and laughing and grabbing. Pretty soon she will be in the "Matt is my favorite Uncle stage." It's coming.
These boys love juice. They remind me of a certain Buster Bluth. I can't believe how fast they were sucking it down. It is just Crystal Light, so no sugar (I am sure they will never get the sugar kind at Grandma's house, we never did). The Kool-Aid faces are the best though, that pale skin really brings it out. Not to mention the look of sublime enjoyment that young Ash-Bash is sporting.
Ollie looks like he is ready for more juice. His eyes are so intense. You just know that someone has a cup of juice and he can't take his eyes off of it. That is the eye of the tiger.
I think we all recognize what we like to call a burrito. Like father like son (eh Trent?). That is another story, but it ends with Trent tucking a blanket around Byron and saying, "this is what we call a burrito . . ."
At first he did not like it, but then he kept making me do it over and over again. Sounds like a Harrison to me.
I just think that it is funny that Harrison loves to be sitting in or on things. I should have gotten a picture of him playing with the laundry basket. Kid is a basket case, pun intended.

I'm not a betting man,

2010-05-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

I'm not a betting man, but I would bet a million dollars that this picture was not taken in San Francisco. We do have a beach and an ocean (in fact, we have a place called "Ocean Beach") but nobody acts like this here. Not in the water. Not if they don't want hypothermia. In a city with a million things to do, thank you facebook for pointing out one thing we can't (or at least shouldn't) do.

The Face of Finals, T-Minus Two Days

2010-05-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

She's done it again, or at least for the first time

2010-05-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Look at that face, you know that she is up to something. She is. Many things I am sure, but the one that I know about is that she changed the name of her blog. It is not Brooke Harrison dot blogspot either, I looked that one up and it is someone I don't know who posts poetry. I think that is alright, but it is not our sister. Her new blog (same blog actually, new name) is at brookech.blogspot.com. You can click on that link, or I have it over on the right. Don't be in a hurry to run off now, ya hear? Stick around and read some posts, and then you can mosey on down to Brooke's blog, it'll still be there.

Phone Pictures, this is the easiest way to blog

2010-05-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

I have been working so hard, I just wanted to take a few minutes and blog a little. These are just some pictures that I took over the last little while, I thought they were fun and stuff.

This is one of Ollie taking it a little easy, what you can't see is that there is a full-blown birthday party for Kendra going on behind me. I guess he was just tired, or something. I think he had a little too much party in the U.S.A., actually I don't think that is possible.
Lance took this picture at his house, where his paying only $160 bucks a month is only the second best thing about this house. What is the best you clamor? Why, this house used to be a DOLL MUSEUM!! Just because the person who owned it loved dolls. They had it full of stuff you could look at for free. Lance says that people still wander in thinking it is a museum. I don't know what that says about their house, but I am sure it is fine. I am not sure if this wall is a remnant of the museum, or just something they put in because this is also their studio, but it is 100% awesome, and 100% creepy. That is me between the guy in flannel and the fluffy yellow bird. Lance is on the bottom of the picture, just left of center.
There was a British Columbia exhibit in the Embarcadero here in S.F. I don't know why or anything, and I did not want to ask, because I thought they were probably already pretty embarrassed by it, and who am I to call attention to other's shortcomings? Anyway, I got this awesome picture of a canyon that they imported straight from our neighbor to the north - America's Hat (otherwise known as Canada).
Xena will do this, and it is weird. Oh well, she never went to school so she is not really clear on what "cool" is.

The End. See you after finals suckers. Oh wait, I am the one with a four hour final on Monday. Shucks.

If it was a ship, I would call it the S.S. Awesome

2010-05-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

I think a good name for a band would be "Subtle Sabotage," it's fresh, alliteration, and apparently available because I googled it and the only match under ' "subtle sabotage" band ' was a 1982 album from the electronica band M.O.A. out of the U.K. I just wanted to get that out here so someone else doesn't think of it while I am getting some musicians together. I think the tag line on our first album could be something like "Once we go platinum we'll have to change our name to "Not-so-subtle Sabotage." Just a thought.

Familypalooza and T.J.'s Graduation

2010-05-01T02:27:00.001-07:00

Instead of uploading a ton of pictures (which I will still probably do, but only to facebook since that is a little easier), I decided to create a family collage. Most of these are from my last trip or two, with a couple thrown in for good measure so no nieces and nephews or anyone feels left out. My heart is big enough for everyone. It is always good to see the family though and I really enjoyed the trip home to see everyone, even though it was only for a couple of days. I am really glad that the girls from Portland and Kim and Byron were able to come up, along with the Utah Crew.

I am full in the swing of finals now, and since I already wrote a forty page outline last week and typed over four thousand words in my first final, I feel like I can take a small break and blog a little.

I really wanted to do a blog shout-out to Tracy. Way to go sister. If I do say so myself, graduating from law school is a big deal. I have often thought how to explain law school to people. It is really like nothing else, and I don't think "it is really hard" does it justice. I think that "it is hard" is a necessary term to describe it, but not sufficient to really let you know about it. Let me tell you a little of what it entails.

The hardest thing about law school, and what I do not think that people understand, is the competition. When you are in college, or better yet, high school, it is readily apparent how kids fall into groups. You do not even need to use the term smarter, they have different abilities. Some are good at sports, some are good at math, and some are good writers and speakers, they will excel at different things. There are also levels in those areas, some kids the information comes a little more readily to, and some are more willing to put in greater effort for a greater reward. Some kids succeed and some do not do as well, but the reasons are apparent. Skip forward to law school. With some variation, you are in a school with kids that got very similar scores in the LSAT, and did comparably to you in undergraduate grades. You are all kids that did better in writing and speaking. All of the sudden, there is very little difference in academic ability and desire. Furthermore, kids in law school (at least at BYU and my own school Hastings, other schools I do not have first hand knowledge, but I have heard) are willing to do what it takes to get good grades and be successful. This means that everyone that is as smart as you already is willing to work as hard as you or harder. So is the material hard to learn? Not necessarily, but being that there is only one test to determine your entire grade for the class, you need to be able to distinguish yourself from your classmates in some way. This means you put in more effort (hopefully), or you hope your brain rewards you for spending 100 hours on a sixty page essay and you make an analysis that another student did not. This is not luck though, you train yourself to look at problems in different ways and to ask questions. Of course, you need to do this under a time limit and with no notes. So it can be difficult. This is what law school is all about.

That is just the tests and grades. You need to throw in the Socratic method, the oral arguments, the writing of briefs (arguments for a case) and research papers. You need to take skill classes like trial advocacy, negotiation, mediation (shout out to Tracy for being an ADR machine), and other things. It can be a little overwhelming, and fun; some people really enjoy this stuff, I do (for the most part, I am not a glutton for punishment).

Finally, you do not just learn about facts and figures. This is the other difficult thing for people that are not in law school to comprehend. You need to learn to re-wire your brain. To actually change the way you think. The first year about law school is less about learning law and more about learning to think like a lawyer. Most master's programs from what I understand (which is limited I will be quick to admit) are expanding on what you already know. More advanced or difficult techniques, etc. There are no pre-requisites for law school. You have to learn something that is not taught quite the same in other places. So yeah, it is hard. I do not want to sound too high and mighty. While I feel I can compete with my classmates more or less at this stage, it took some time to learn the system. Another thing that I learned in law school is that it is a deposit/withdrawal system. You get out what you put in. If you are willing to work a little harder, and go that extra mile, you can succeed. Not so much about smarts as about will, because like I said, everyone here is at least as smart as you are.

The final thing that I want to tell you about is what they call a hard curve. Most of you are familiar with a soft curve, the highest student score is an "A", and sometimes the lowest is an "F", but usually not. Many law school have a hard curve. This means that at least 20% (depending on the school) of the class must get a "C" or lower. No exceptions. This means that in a class where you are competing with kids that are all around the same intelligence, and that are working their bums off, they have to divide them somehow. So if the best score in the class is a 90% and the worst score is an 85%, then those kids that are in that 20% of the class that scored around an 85 get a "C" grade, or lower. You might say, "but that is not fair! That is a "B" score!" You learn rather quickly in law school that life is not fair. There are kids all the time who decide that it is not for them. This is the most depressing post ever. This is how America trains its lawyers. This might also explain why many lawyers are the way they are. Those who love competition thrive in this type of atmosphere. Those who do not must be at least tough enough to hang with those competitors and kids that will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Tracy was tough enough. I am not going to say that it was easy for her, that would belittle what she has accomplished. It was hard, and it tested her and stretched her beyond where she felt she could reach I am sure, but reach it she did, and in a way that we should all be proud of. Especially since she had a baby in the last year. That is just nuts. I tell people here that and they literally cannot comprehend it. Kudos Trace, kudos. I hope you will all join me in congratulating Tracy (and Marc, because a wonderful husband makes it a little easier I am sure, and much more possible with a baby) on a job well done. Good luck on the bar and in your future career, sister, and don't forget about Harrison (Harrison?) and Nuttall. Yes we can!

This turned into a much longer post than I meant it to be, but I blame it on tests I have to write.

Blame it on the Ba - Ba - Ba - Ballet!

2010-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Quick note. My friend here in S.F., Melissa, has season tickets to the San Francisco Ballet. I expressed some interest, so she let me come along about two weeks ago. TO ANYONE, I MEAN ANYONE THAT COMES TO VISIT, TRY TO SEE THE BALLET WHILE YOU ARE HERE! I know caps are not usually the way you express your feelings about the ballet, but it was really awesome. I think you can get tickets for about $15 for some shows up in the balcony (which is where I sat and it was not bad). I was just amazed at how great it was live. I literally thought in my head, "hmm, ballet would be a fun way to get in shape, I wonder where I could do that at?" That was how cool it was, how often do you see something (especially something like the ballet), and think, man, I want to do that? Not very often, and probably me more than other people, so I guess that is not a very good point. Anyway, I digress. I had studied a few things about ballet in my humanities classes, but this was way better than I expected. Plus, the building they perform in here in S.F. is just incredible. So think about it, and if you want to look at shows and prices check here. Call, text, or email, you know how to schedule a visit at the chateau de Hacksaw.

I just want to blog about something

2010-04-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

I think it is about time I wrote a farewell post to my good friend Steve Park, who moved back to Korea a couple of months ago. I should have written it earlier but I didn't. It might have been because every time I tried my vision got real blurry and then water started falling on my keyboard, or it could have been because I'm lazy. On second thought, it is not my fault. It just isn't.
As a final post to Steve, who was my roommate for a year and a half and who I got to be really good friends with, I thought I should tell you one thing that I think of when I think of Steve. How much that boy could eat. Dang. Before he left we went to In n' Out to get a burger with six patties on it so Steve could try it. They do not sell a burger with six patties, so I fought them, with my words. After losing, I decided to buy one with four patties and one with two patties and combine them. So we did. Behold the behemoth.
This picture does not really do it justice, it was really disgusting. Steve took one look at that sucker and ate it. No problem. Said he was "still hungry." He then proceeded to eat the leftover buns and lettuce from the Franken-burger we had assembled. I told you, the boy can really eat. It was really fun to live with Steve for a while though, and I wish him the best in Korea and eventually Australia. Don't be a stranger buddy.
This is how I will always remember Steve in my heart.

Tainted Love

2010-03-21T23:56:00.001-07:00

Quick post to anyone that has ever thought about visiting me. The other night I went to a show with a group of friends to celebrate my friend Emily's birthday. The band that was playing was an 80's cover band named, what else, Tainted Love. Needless to say, it blew my mind. A lot. They played 80's pop. They played 80's rock. They played with my heart. It was a really great show and they were a really cool band. The next bit of news, they play here all the time. So if you are going to come into town, we should go, you will not regret it.

This group also had a couple of guys with some really great style. I think I am going to have to start wearing my vests with jeans. It is cool. I also have been doing a lot of sewing and little bit of cooking, so keep an eye on Fashionably Harrison and taste for taste.

The Rock

2010-03-17T16:26:00.001-07:00

The weekend of the formal, my good friend and former roommate Chad (as opposed to my former friends and current roommates) came to visit me. Along with a night of gorgeous girls, glam, and glitz, we also decided to go visit Alcatraz, so we could enjoy the freedom to throw a dance party even more.

The last time I went with Mom and Dad was probably a good 15 or so years ago, so I wanted to see it again. We went on the night trip, which I recommend. As it starts to get dark the prison gets a little creepy and you get a better sense of what it must have been to live there day after day. It also made me realize what freedom is. They did not have the freedom to do anything, I cannot even imagine that, this bird needs to fly free! I think Lynard Skynard knows what I'm talkin' about.

Here are the highlights of that trip, and when I get a chance I will visit my buddy Chad Riding out in Sac Town and tell you all about that.

Here are the intrepid explorers. Chad was pretty excited to see Alcatraz I think.

The Rock, this is where they sent the prisoners who refused to stay in jail. They broke old Scarface himself in this joint. There are still pieces of Al Capone's spirit lying around, take one home as a souvenir.

You may or may not know that a group of Native Americans took over the island for a brief period, vestiges of that occupation remain. For the record, the sign is just for show, they let us dock and walk around and stuff. Even without a pass.

Several escape attempts were made. There is no evidence that any were successful. The Rock keeps what's hers.

The Rock was stylish as well. Being stuck on a tiny island guarding dangerous criminals all day is no excuse to look scruffy. Good style is a way of life. Double breasted coats: required. What has happened to America?

Just another inmate. Doing some hard time.

Sun setting on The Rock. Some of the prisoners said that at this time of night if the wind was right, you could hear people partying in Fisherman's Wharf across the bay. Sounds like these prisoners had a pretty crappy life. I for one would rather be partying in Fisherman's Wharf then stuck out on some rock with a bunch of criminals.

Not hard to imagine that the ghosts of guards killed in a prisoner uprising might still haunt these walls.

Mandatory reenaction of Titanic. No one else did it, but I got a few laughs. Mission accomplished.

Formal Announcement

2010-03-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would let everyone know how the party went last weekend. There are many more pictures on facebook, but here are a few that I am in and a couple that show the decorations. We probably had sixty or seventy people, and they had a great time. Mark your calendars for next year!
Here you can see the balloons before the balloon drop and some of the twinkle lights.
My karaoke friend Ruth from Palo Alto. I mostly just did sexy faces for these pictures.
Get the look: all you have to do to get the "sexy and sassy" look that I am sporting here is say "prune" as the picture is snapped. "Maybe he's born with it? Maybe it's prune."

My friend Tini. A girl I hometeach, Sylvia, is a photographer, and she took some pictures of me because she wanted someone with a beard, and Tini was another of the models. Sylvia brought her along and I think she was pleasantly surprised at the festivities. Krissy!
The King and the Queen, I should have known I would win at my own party, but Ciara won legitimately. Next year I am going to take myself out of the running, then it will be a little more competitive.

Peter and I go to school together, and he is driving to Utah with me over Spring Break. He was also nominated for King, and was a good sport in having a dance-off. For all of you that have not seen my splits, better make it to the party next year. Notice the balloon arch and red carpet. My friends really came through and helped me decorate. Thanks everybody.

Visit Me, I'll Make You Famous

2010-02-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

The Nuttalls came out to the Bay Area and it what really cool to see them. They let me tag along to ol' Chez, and it was as good as advertised, which was very good. Not to mention, the beard is gone as of this week, so enjoy some of these last shots of my departed furry friend. See you in the Fall, buddy. Sorry to not have posted in so long, let's just say that 12 hour days are becoming the norm around here. The worst part is, I'm ok with it because I had a 17 hour day last week, my body cannot keep that up for long. Can't wait for Spring Break, look out Utah, I'll be visiting your rocky clime in one week's time. Whoo hoo. Hopefully these pictures tide you over until my next post.

I think I got some pretty good pictures with little Mira, she can almost say favorite Uncle!

A look back

2010-01-19T23:45:00.000-08:00

Until I have time to catch up on all my blogging, here is a look back at a couple things that I did. last year. . .

Here we at Yosemite hiking Half Dome. Shaun (with the stick), was really feeling his oats. Just for the record, looking good is all about confidence. If I can rock a trash bag poncho this hard, don't you think you could pull off skinny jeans? Yeah, maybe I'm just a confidence freak, that could be the case too.
Here we are on a little hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon. That my friends is how brothers help each other out. Of course, there is no picture of me lifting Lance into the seat. Oh well.
This is a classic. This was not supposed to be a picture of Steve and I, but as you look at all these gawkers enjoying themselves at a Giants game, the laser-esque focus of Steve and I as we focus on the game truly is a think of beauty.

I have a Sister . . . Missionary

2010-01-10T22:52:00.001-08:00

This is my sister Renee, she is now on a mission in Singapore. Don't fret, she is sending my parents updates that they are posting on a blog, the link is on the side, or you can check it out here.

And the wait goes on

2010-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Christmas morning as a little teaser for all of you that have been waiting for me to post, I think I will do a little video slide-show, so this will have to tide you all over until I am finished.

Look out World, I'm Comin' to Portyland

2009-12-11T16:50:00.001-08:00

I am starting my Christmas vacation in Portyland this year, and I think this video will give everyone an idea of what that trip will entail. That's right, a Harrison tradition is back!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Robert Pine, SUPERSTAR!

2009-12-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

You may remember this mug. This guy's name is Robert Pine, he recently played Jim's Dad on the Office when Pam and Jim got married. During that episode someone pointed out to me that this was the guy that plays the Dad on the Mormon movie, On the Way Home. Where the family loses a daughter, and then the college daughter introduces everyone to the church and they all get baptized together. It is a classic. Turns out that this guy is the father of Chris Pine, who recently played Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie. I just thought this was a funny piece of trivia. I hope we can all remember that Robert Pine's character in On the Way Home decided to give to charity in that movie. I hope we can all get in the spirit of giving this holiday season. That is all.

Christmas is right around the corner!

2009-12-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my second test, and it is a doozy. Criminal Procedure, all of the stuff that talks about rights in the criminal justice system. You can all laugh and say that criminals shouldn't have any rights, but these rights are what sets this great country apart from police states that treat their citizens like second-classers (and in some cases like third or fourth or coach-classers). Everyone in America is a first class citizen, although the Hollywood crowd would have you believe that they are first class(+) citizens. Anywho, looks like I am letting the finals bitterness come through so on to the real reason for this post.
I thought as a little study break I would let everyone know that I am not letting Harrison traditions lapse - even though I am far from the family. This year I focused on the old tradition of opening a window in the advent calendar every day (or at least every day that I remember). From Trader Joe's no less! I am sure that you are all suitably jealous that I do not have to share, although the chocolate is not as sweet as when you had to watch you sibs eat theirs right in front of you while you can hardly wait for your turn to finally come around.
It is also pretty cold here, so as you can see I am getting ready for a Utah winter.

Anywho, I am looking forward to more Christmas traditions soon. One more week and three finals, that is what I call a party!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, are you?

2009-12-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

Every once in a long while, I like to take a study break during finals. I find it clears my head and helps me study better. I also like to think that it entertains people.

Just a little ward musical number I put together. If you dream it . . .

Christmas Time!

2009-11-29T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just to remind everyone that Christmas (and finals) is in the air, I Christmas-afied my blog and posted some of my favorite holiday tunes to get you in the spirit!

Good Time for a Good Cause

2009-11-25T16:08:00.000-08:00

Some of you might be familiar with my good friend Shaun Lowder. His sister is in need of a kidney transplant, and he has offered to be the donor, but they still need to raise some money for incidental costs that the insurance won't cover. In order to do that they are having a benefit concert in Salt Lake on December 11th. It promises to be a rockin' good time for the whole family. If you are going to be in the area, you can check out the details and other opportunities to help out at Shaun's blog. A good way to get in the giving spirit this year.

BYOB, Bring your own beard

2009-11-23T23:31:00.000-08:00

The dream is over, at least for a couple of weeks until I grow it back, if I do. We'll see.
I think that this is a good time to explore a couple of options for the future. Let me know what you like and I'll see what I can do.

(1) This is an in-between look. It is one part beard, one part burns, one part handlebar and completely cool. I think it says, I don't care if you like it or not, your girlfriend sure seems too.

(2) This my friends is the classic look. Never goes out of style. Handlebar 'stache with a little soul.

(3) The old standby, I like to call it the "teenage boy". Yeah, I know, it makes me look a little younger. Let me tell you my theory though. I have already gotten some compliments on how I look without a beard, I would not have gotten those if I had not had a beard. So I grow a beard, people compliment me on it, I shave, I get more compliments. Drastic changes lead to compliments, you gotta keep em guessin. Let me know what you want to see next!

Awkward

2009-11-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

First of all, congrats to Marc and Tracy Nuttal, they are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl as of last night. As for me, this just makes me the favorite Uncle once again, and I am used to that, but very excited to have a new niece.

As most of you know, in our family we have a habit of smiling with these funny open-mouthed smiles, which is great and we all think is really cool and funny. However, I do not believe that we would put it on the cover of a musical album, and a poorly sung one at that. This cover is so funny, and for all her acting talents Hillary Duff is not a singer. The one other thing I cannot figure out is what she is doing with that hand. Beckoning? Waving? Conjuring up some sort of magical beast? Her expression, instead of narrowing down the possibilities just makes it impossible for us to tell. What goes through a person's mind when they are deciding what picture to put on the album? I mean, do they hate her? The sad part is, my mouth will not even open that wide on a normal open mouthed smile, that is like pushing the limits. I know, I tried.
The reason I saw this is because I have already started listening to music on Pandora, so that means pretty soon I will have my blog Christmas-safied for all your viewing pleasure. With that being said here is a picture to let you know how excited I am for Christmas!

Not Wicked at all

2009-11-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

Well Kaley, I hope you're happy with yourself. My roommate Steve and I (and Lucinda and Melissa) decided that the time to had come to take advantage of the fact that the musical Wicked was playing a block (not even kidding) from my school. We waited for the lottery, got four tickets for $25 dollars apiece, and the magic began. I am not gonna lie and say that I usually don't like musicals, because that would be a lie, I really like 'em, so I was expecting to like this one as well. I was not disappointed. I am not surprised at all at the run that this one has made, it really was great. The best part was Elphaba though. In our show the lady that played just had an incredible voice, just an great voice. One of the perks of living in San Francisco I guess, we get some pretty good talent. So if you haven't seen it, do, and if you have, you might want to think about seeing it again before it's gone. All I know is that after it I was just thinking, "I think I'll try defying gravity . . ."

I am whispering into Elphaba's other ear if you can't tell.

Family Friends and Farewell

2009-11-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

I promised a movie blog from my October weekend at home, and I will not disappoint. I made no promises about the quality, however, and I stand by that. With Trent getting his Eagle, Tracy having a baby shower, and Renee giving her farewell talk it was quite a weekend. I think this turned out all right, although my "hit and run" style of editing does me no favors. I do think the disco skating portion turned out rather well though, although when you work with Hall and Oates, you don't have to work quite so hard. Enjoy. And Renee, we'll miss ya sista.

p.s. Mad props to Kim for the video work, as well as the many pictures that I poached from her for this project.

THIS IS IT.

2009-11-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

I suppose most of you are getting sick of my Micheal Jackson posts, but like the title suggests, this will probably be my last one. I went and saw the movie yesterday with my friend Amy. I liked it. I am not sure that everyone will, and while it was good, I liked it almost more for how it made me think then for what it actually was.
The saddest part of the movie was that Micheal actually looked and sounded very good. He still had the moves, and that makes me even more sad that he passed on when he was not ailing. I hope we all learn our lesson about abusing any type of drug, whether prescription or not.
One thing that was apparent to me was that Micheal Jackson was the consummate performer. In the movie it was clear that the performance was what mattered, and it kept coming back to that. Just from last night it was apparent to me that he would not have performed if he felt that he could not do so at the level that he and his fans expected. Micheal was also surprisingly gracious, and while that could have been creative editing, he seemed to make suggestions in a gracious way, although it was always clear that he was in charge and it was his show.
The final thing that I noticed was that the people that he was working with had turned him into a false idol. They treated him like he was more than a man. I could not live in an environment of "yes" like it was portrayed on the show. I feel bad that they treated him that way. I think his accomplishments lose something when you treat him like he is better than everyone. He should be celebrated because he was just a man and still managed to do so much. Respect him because he is a man, and don't try to raise him to something more than that.
This movie did make me a little sad. It made me really wish that I had seen him live, it would have been quite a show, from the the foremost showman of our time. Rest in peace Micheal, in a place where you don't have to be any more than who you are.

"Laugh away the storm clouds, kiss way the rain" F. Sinatra

2009-10-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

Before anyone gets mad at the content of this post, I just want you to know that I am working on a trip video blog, and I will have that out as quick as possible, here is a little preview:

Now, I know that some of just had a great weekend at home celebrating Trent's Eagle, Tracy's baby shower, and Renee's farewell get together. There is bound to be some separation anxiety. I have a great solution. Usually I would just go with drink your favorite soda and listen to Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams (Come True)", however, in becoming with one of the great music breakthroughs that I introduced the family to over the weekend (and to all of you who want to feel like you were there), I give you Auto Tune the News.

Note: These people use the auto tune technology -that is usually reserved for crappy singers to sell albums- to make all your favorite politicians and anchors sound like Billboard artists. I think that this is the best one, but there are more!

We live in Cali, We are Famlee

2009-10-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

The Williams were nice enough to invite me down to Big Sur for a little camping adventure a couple of weeks ago. I could only go for a night, but there were some great times. I only wish I had a picture of the joy on Byron and Kim's faces when I introduced them to the perfect s'more. That's right, you can't even imagine it until you try it. Ya'll better invite me camping.
Fight on, Byron, fight on.
The coast with the most, the best coast, as compared to the least coast.
The boys, the boys!

If you show it, they will come.

2009-10-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

I like to post pictures of people that visit me so people understand what a good time I will show them if they come to St. Francis. I figure eventually the word will get out and people will flood into one of the great cities of our country, just saying.

This is my friend Chad Riding, we were roommates at BYU, and it was good to see him after a couple of years. Hoped you like the bay buddy, have a good time in Sac Town.

Hair Share

2009-10-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Now, I have been growing a beard for the 'ol annual beard season and things are going swimmingly. However, when I have the ability to shave it gives me something to change from time to time. A couple of weeks ago I got this strange urge to cut my hair, it's like I couldn't forget about it. So I just cut it, the shortest I have in a long time, and I like. It. Plus the beard is the best it has ever been, compliment city up in here, or at least a small compliment Mexican Pueblo like Santo Poco in the Three Amigos. "Sew very old one, sew like the wind!"

Blogging tip. Actually more of a plea.

2009-10-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

Just so everyone knows, when you have your comments set on your blogs so it takes you to a page that is just that post and it adds them at the bottom it really stinks posting comments (this is also the blogger default for new blogs, newer is not necessarily better). For some reason the bugs haven't been worked out for that version, some times it just doesn't post my comments, and I know you don't want that. You should go to your settings (I think) and change it so you comment in a little pop-up window, it is so much easier and then you can stay on the blog and read other posts, so much better. Also, all the little word verification stuff is super lame, try it without and only put it on if you get a lot of spam comments, please! I have never had it on and only ever got like two spam comments and that was like a year ago. This might sound crabby but I am just trying to make the world a better place. If you have questions let me know and I will try to help you. Who's ready for Halloween!!!!!!

This Beard was made for camping,

2009-10-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go camping with the old ward last weekend, it was sweet. One of my new ward friends is convinced that I am a woodsman. I, however, and not convinced that he is wrong. Anywho, here are some pics of new friends and old, as well as a sneak peak at how beard season is coming along. Oh Joy!

I think the above picture captures my theme for the camp out, Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA", 'cause I'm noddin' my head like yeah. Below is a fun night hike, I don't think everyone understood my "Rage" idea for the picture, give 'em time, they'll learn. I hope.

Let's Call it "Clean Dancing", because I'm sure he danced to Heaven

2009-09-15T14:04:00.001-07:00

Two dancing icons in one year, to quote Wham!, "I don't ever want to dance again, guilty feet ain't got no rhythm." My heart beats with a leaden slowness, Patrick Swayze is dead. While I won't tarnish his memory by claiming that I was as big a fan of his as I was of Micheal Jackson, at one time or another I think we were all a little "Crazy for Swayze." He married his wife in 1975, and they were married for 34 years. That alone tells you he was different from the run of the mill Hollywood crew. Patrick was classically trained in ballet, and his dancing skills, combined with his devil may care good looks opened the door to his acting career and our hearts. While he will always be remembered for Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing, and Ghost, let's not forget his other hits like The Outsiders and Roadhouse. Patrick, you were a dancing man among men. To commemorate his life, I think this picture of when I went as Patrick Swayze for Halloween in 2006 will do the trick. With that being said, I hope we can all take a moment of silence and remember his prophetic words, "Nobody puts baby in the corner."

I Hate Fascism, Despise Communism, but I guess I can live with Tourism

2009-09-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

"I'll call you Saint, . . . Saint Francis." "Te llamo San, . . . San Francisco."
Quick note, does anyone remember CandyLand? We played that game so much it literally wore out. That one and Go For It! were some of the best games ever. The racing card game was good too, can anyone remember the name of that one? It was like a French game that had both French and English on the card if I recall. It's on the tip of my tongue. Melbourne maybe?

The real reason for this post is because I have homework that I should do, but I already did my homework that I need to do. The best way to get over that is blogging, here's to hoping this helps anyway.

I just wanted to post a little about what I've been up to the last few weekends. My second year here at Hastings is starting out pretty good. September is the best month to be in Law School. Even in San Francisco the weather is good, you can do outdoor stuff on the weekends, and while I may be putting in 60 or so hours a week at school, I am still free on the weekends (the break was good but I'm here til 9 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week). Anywho, my classes will be pretty manageable, at least until finals because I'll have four finals within two weeks, but on a better note, my negotiation and settlement class is really interesting and my professor really knows what he was doing. He's definitely got his settlement chops too. He was one of the (maybe THE) lead negotiating attorneys for the Delta-Northwest merger, yeah, he's got some good stories.

So school is good, and so was my birthday, I am now 27, and feelin' fine. I got some pots and pans and a Klean Kanteen from Kimmercakes and Byronius, so my eating and drinking situation has vastly improved.

In other news, BYU won the biggest game of my life that I remember (technically I was alive when they won the National Championship in 1984, but I don't remember it so whatev, at least we have one). I was camping the weekend it happened and I was stressing the whole weekend, shouting down all the hatas that told me BYU just got creamed so forget about it. I remember who you all are, and I am personally telling Bronco what you said, that'll learn ya to talk bad 'bout my 'cougs. When I found out I ran screaming out of a gas station to tell the girl (also a BYU grad) who was filling the car. In the process I scared an old lady who was between me and my friend (I explained to her about the game, she didn't care) and probably prompted the cashiers to think I had stolen something (I told them about the game too, they acted like they cared for like a second). All in all an awesome weekend, I have been scouring the Internet to read anything about the Cougars. My love of winning cannot even compare to my hatred of losing.

Besides those happenings we had a Young Single Adult camp-out last weekend. I made a lot of friends on the volleyball court by introducing them to my "Slamma-Jamma" style of play. This involves yelling "SLAMMA-JAMMA" and then proceeding to windmill both by arms through the air like I am spiking volleyballs with both hands. It also involves me saying things on and off the court to my Slamma-Jamma teammates like, Slamma-Jamma is compassion, Slamma-Jamma is teamwork, Slamma-Jamma is Chocolate Jello Pudding, etc. It's more than a team name, it's a life philosophy. As you all probably know, I like to trash-talk quite a bit. Some of the gems from the weekend. "I can smell BLOOD IN THE WATER!", "If you think I'm a poor winner, you should see me lose." "If you can hit this serve you can name it" etc. My roommate Steve, his friend Myrella, and I also went out to Golden Gate and took some pictures. Enjoy.

That bright line in the center is Market street, the part where it is less bright where it meets the city, that is about where my school is. Awesome, I know. Pretty ghetto too though, right in the heart of the Tenderloin, woot!
There is hope, make the call. If you're cute, I'll personally talk you off the ledge. Trust me, I'm in a negotiation class.
I live here, try not to hate me. Please.
I slept on a rock overlooking this lake, it was a good camping trip.
Some of the Slamma-Jamma crew. Slamma-Jamma is photogenic.
Thanks for the gifts. I can't believe I am so adult-like and responsible.
This is a picture that I took from my house, you can see the fog rolling in, awesome.

The Adventures are Over, Except for the Adventures in Law that is.

2009-08-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

So this was a pretty good summer, and I think that it is shaping up to be a pretty good year. Yes, I am back in school for my 2L year, and while it is a little scary still and I know that it will be hard, I am actually excited for the year. But before I go discussing the fall, let's wrap up the summer. Actually, I just had the idea that I am going to try to explain what I did this summer in rhyme, or at least see how far I can go this time (it's already started, yay!).

(Unrhyming side note on the glasses below. Not only are they totally awesome looking, but I got them for cheap at Savers. The real kicker, though, is that they are my prescription. I believe the correct term for what I lead is, "A Charmed Life". Yes, I do believe it is.)

I took a trip up the coast,
In my car with the most,
You might call me a liar
But I got stranded in Ukiah.

My car broke down,
but I did not frown,
I just rode my bike around town,
(and payed $400 down)

Now it's fixed and runnin' fine,
and I drove through some pine (trees)
continued up the coast,
till I arrived at a host (of friends and family).

Portland was the first stop,
Saw sisters, nieces, nephews, and at least one cop.
Then to the ocean,
The Williams' had rented a cabin, I ain't jokin'.

It was quite a blast,
we drove the boat fast,
and emptied the bay
of every single crab that day.

We spent time on the beach,
We spent time in the sun,
There wasn't a lot of heat,
But we sure had fun!

To Portland I will surely come back
for family pictures at which I will laugh.
But time is short, and I must fly.
Besides, SF has more than enough fog for this guy!

Finally to Utah I quickly came,
to try and recapture my Disco Skating fame,
Alas, Renee had taken the crown and beaten me out,
But I manged to capture a pregnant Tracy pout.

Now I am back and the books call my name,
Remedies, Wills, Crim Pro it's all the same.
but as fun as the summer was I felt adrift,
back at home at Hastings is where I fit.

However, when the weather turns cold, and the snowflakes fly,
Back to Utah for Christmas and 'boarding will surely go I.

Trippin'

2009-08-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of good trips here. I went to L.A. to see my little bro bro Trent, while he was at Kim and Byron's. I tell ya, those Williams really know how to party.

Here is Trent and I, sneaking so as not to wake the sleeping baby while we ate 3a.m. cereal. Mmm, mmm, good.

Kim made the Cafe Rio pork salad recipe Lisa posted on Taste for Taste. The pork and the dressing were right on, I mean right on. It was really good. That is not Byron in the background, that is their friend Brian, who came to eat dinner because his wife was out of town.

Yea for Prunes!

Byron had the awesome idea to go down to Huntington Beach to see the U.S. Open of Surfing, it was sweet. We got to see Kelly Slater surf a sweet curl, perfect 10 baby, history in the making.

Start 'em young, that's what I say. Just kidding, this was not open, he just likes to put his mouth on cold stuff. He will learn to appreciate it for its sublime taste later on.

While I was with the family after Dal's wedding, Renee taught me how to skid out on her fixed gear. I crashed it the first time, but these are badges of honor. Don't get too sad, I got right back on and skidded it a couple more times, but I was feeling it the next day I tell you.

Never Again Land Ranch

2009-07-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is it, the big post that I'm sure you have all been crazy to read. After this when people mention Michael Jackson you will be able to say that you have a friend/relative that went to Never Land Ranch after Michael Jackson died. I feel like one of those people that they have on the news describing what the tornado sounded like. All that tom-foolery aside though, it was really quite an experience. Now to the actual events.

Lance and I had been visiting our sister Kim, her husband Byron, and their little boy Harrison in L.A. After a week full of fun, sun, and some Zing Zang Zoom! (circus joke, you gotta go see it if you want to get the joke, sorry) Lance and I packed up the old Olds and hit the trail. to be honest with everyone, this trip was a little bit of a joke from the start. We were driving from L.A. to S.F. and it was more or less on the way, so we though we would take a two hour detour or so and have a great story to tell when everyone started bragging about what big M.J. fans they were. However, it turned into more than a joke and I am glad that we went.

[Side Note: Just for the record I was a huge M.J. fan, I owned some of his vinyl and I was only born in '82, even better (or worse depending on your point of view) at a dance party during the height of his trial, after one of his tunes had finished playing and the music was fading there was a small window of relative quiet and I yelled into the lull "HE'S INNOCENT, HE'S INNOCENT". Now, I no longer remember the date of that party, what song they played, or even what I was wearing that night, but I remember one thing. I was laughed to scorn. Acquitted on all charges haters. The best part is, now when I talk about how great he was I know that I stood by him through thick and thin. The rest of you have to die a little inside as your secret shame about how you quit on the King of Pop eats its way like acid through your consciences. Maybe it isn't that bad, I do tend to be a little dramatic. Also, this is only a small example of why I was such a big fan. End of side note.]

The first pictures are from before the trip. We were sad, but we tried to remember Michael for how he was.

We were trying to look like the picture below, nailed it!

Lance and I stopped to eat at Michael's favorite fast food joint. Of course, I'm assuming McDonald's was his favorite, he was American wasn't he?

When we actually got to Never Land Ranch, there was no more fun and games. Lance and I did take one silly picture, but then we felt too bad to take any more. It was actually pretty sad and really brought the reality of it home. There was a guy there crying and after I took a photo for a lady she told me that it felt weird to smile. While these people might be a little weird, they were experiencing real grief. There was not that many people there when Lance and I got there, but there had been. There were parking barriers miles down the road, and posters and flowers all over the place. The one thing that really hit me was that whatever else anyone reads into it, or says that we should not make a big deal, the reality is that a man died. There are family and friends who miss him and people who's lives he affected in large and small ways. I mourn for Michael like we should mourn for all of those that pass through our lives and are never seen again. He left his fingerprints on my life, and yes, they were sequined. I am glad that I made that trip, and although it was not a seminal moment in my life it was a good opportunity for reflection. The pictures below are at the Ranch, except for the last one, that was Lance's and my final goodbye to the man with the magical hips.

You moonwalked your way into our hearts, now moonwalk your way to heaven, Michael.

Va-ca in L.A.!!!!!!

2009-07-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Lance and I had a great time in L.A., and the Williams really showed us a good time. I'm talking beach, food, and even a trip to the circus. Let me just say a word or two about the circus to all of you haters out there. It is not just for kids, we really had a great time. They shot two ladies out of canons, it was pretty sweet. I bet it is coming some place near you this summer and especially if you have kids you better check it out. I know for a fact that it will be in San Fran this August. It only cost us about $13 apiece, and the wonder reflected in your eyes is worth that. I have to apologize for the pictures, I did not really get out my camera until right before we left, and Byron was at work but he was an integral part of the fun while we were there. The only real commentary on the pictures is that Harrison definitely has the Harrison blue eyes. Next post will be about Lance's and my pilgrimage(?) to Never Land Ranch to pay our final respects to the King of Pop.

Red, White, and True-Blooded American

2009-07-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

The Best MJ of them All

2009-06-26T10:28:00.001-07:00

The fight for great music lost a powerful ally Wednesday afternoon as Michael Jackson was confirmed dead in Los Angeles. Each person will have to deal with their grief in their own way, and while there were certainly aspects of MJ's life that are better left forgotten, I prefer to remember him for what he gave to the world. All MJ's appear to have a larger than life impact on the world (Michael Jordan in basketball, Michael J. in Back to the Future) but Michael Jackson superseded them all. His Thriller album went platinum 28 times (N.Y. Times), he went from child star to the greatest singer/songwriter/producer the world has ever known. Some people will refuse to acknowledge the impact that MJ's work had on music and the world, but there is a reason why his songs are instantly recognizable to the very young and the very old, he truly was the king of pop, rock and soul, and he was a wise and benevolent king while the reign lasted.

The New York times said this morning that "As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr. Jackson had on the world of music." I have devised a simple formula to calculate just that, you add the effect that both Elvis and the Beatles had together, then you double it, and then you times it by infinity, his impact is immeasurable and will continue to influence people for years to come. Whether you loved Michael, hated him, or were ambivalent let us all take a moment of silence to don a single glove and remember him for what he did best, make the world better through music.

Yosemite, Yo

2009-06-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, my roommates were lucky enough to get a reservation at Yosemite, so we decided to do a little camping and hike the infamous Half Dome hike. It was really all it was cracked up to be. It was not too difficult for me, and although my knees were a little sore the next I mostly felt OK, it really was a pretty intense hike, but one I would recommend to whoever was interested in listening to me. I think it ended up being about 18 miles round trip, but you climb about five thousand feet in that distance. It was a really incredible hike, with some really gorgeous scenery. The only real downside was that it really hailed on us at the top and rained for about five hours on and off at the end, so we were wet and not able to climb the cables at the end. Other than that, great hike and I am excited to go again and finish it all the way. Pictures below.

This is one of two major waterfalls, there are stairs cut out of the rock to climb which are pretty intense, so much mist you get a little wet, but very cool.

You can see some of that climb below us, great view though.
If you want to beat the wet and still look cool, just rock the trash bags, it's all about the confidence. You can see that my roommate Shaun (white cap) is a little out of it, I was a little worried that he was not gonna make it but he soldiered on and finished the hike.
This is the part that we did not go up, you can see the trail with the cables snaking up the mountain. I kinda still wanted to do it, but my roommates talked me out of it. Turns out someone actually slipped and fell to their death right after we hiked down. There have only ever been 4 fatalities on this climb, three in 2007 and the one when we were there. It was pretty sad, you have just got to be really careful and I am glad that my roommates talked some sense to me.

It's Dad's turn for a post

2009-06-08T13:42:00.001-07:00

This picture is just too good to not post. This is from when Dad (the General) and I went to Puerto Rico together for the NGAUS convention. It was a really good time. One day I'll have some medals too I hope.

Birthday Mother and Brothers

2009-05-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Mother (she's great, we should call her) recently had a birthday which I was lucky enough to be around for, and little bro Lance had the idea that instead of buying her something we should go somewhere with her, so we decided to take mom to Thanksgiving point gardens. It was really cool. I was really surprised at all they had done there. If you are around it is neat, and only about ten bucks a person for an adult, cheaper for kids. They also have a little cafe that is good and pretty reasonably priced, we got to sit outside and it was really pleasant. It was also really neat to go with mom because she told Lance and I so much about the plants that we saw. All in all I think this was more like Lance and I giving ourselves the gift of hanging out with mom, but I think she had a good time too. Happy Birthday Mother, we love you.

In case you have forgotten, Lance and I are brothers, and this is what we look like.

Renee is Messy, Mostly Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-20T15:00:00.001-07:00

I need a little break, how about a post?

2009-05-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

"Take a break from what?" You might ask. "Tax," I would say with a chuckle, but it would not be a "I just made a joke" chuckle, it would be a "I am only laughing to keep myself from crying" chuckle. Oh, wo is me. I guess that is a little dramatic, but I live in San Francisco, and needless to say, I see a lot of drama. I am not talking about the theater either. Anywho, I want this to be a short fun post, so I just added a picture below to let everyone see what studying tax is like. All accountants out there feel me I'm sure. Just for the record, that is not my textbook, that is the statute book. There is not a lot that is less fun than reading tax statutes, even though figuring out the double declining balance for depreciation adjustments for depreciable property used in a trade or business is as fun as it sounds, which is to say, not at all. One more day! Then hello Utah for a couple of weeks.

The End is Near, The Constitution and Daryl Hall and John Oates

2009-05-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Some people like the Constitution. Well, right now I HATE it. I think that is just the angst from yet another final being over. Con Law in this case if you haven't guessed. This was a hard test. It was the first absolutely closed book exam I have had in Law school, and that stinks. It was also two-thirds multiple choice. I know some of you are thinking out there, "Matt, shouldn't multiple choice questions be better? I mean they are giving you the answer to every question right on the page!" That may be so, but that does not make them easier. There are different levels of multiple choice questions. One of the questions we had the options went like this,
a. the Dormant Commerce clause applies
b. The Privileges and Immunities clause applies
c. Both clauses apply.
d. DCC applies, but not P&I
e. P&I applies, but not DCC
I hope that illustrates a little bit of how hard these questions can be. Plus they each have their own fact pattern. I am talking one question to a page. 22 questions to answer in two hours, and that might not be enough time, these are hard questions. In an essay question you can argue both sides, that's what law is, you argue both sides. Multiple choice stinks like a baby's diaper. Actual quotes heard after my test
"Maybe he has never written a closed-book exam before?" "Maybe he just hates his students."

On a brighter note, I have instituted my feel-better-quick remedy. This means that I put Hall and Oates' "You Make my Dreams (Come true)" on repeat on my ipod and then I drink a soda. Works every time, but maybe I am just easy to please. At least I am three quarters of the way done with my tests, and only one more final (Income Tax Law) stands between me and the completion of my first year of law school. Let the final push begin!

Road Bloggin' 2

2009-04-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

This would be the sequel to the other video, and for all of you out there that think that sequels are not better than originals you must not have seen Rocky II, he actually wins! With no further adieu, the video.

You got family times then you get family crimes.

2009-04-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a second or two and let my family know how much fun it was to see all of them for a couple of days. It was a little stressful that next Monday but it was definitely worth it. Sorry to the parents and kimmer cakes and Byronius, but I only had this picture of me and the littles up on my roof, yeah those are some of the bright lights of San Fran behind use suckas. Having the family come reminded me of what a cool place I live in, it is truly "Top Dolla Bill", as they say. I also want to apologize in advance, finals are starting and so my life is not over, but the balance between work and life is definitely tipped all the way down to work. So there might not be too many posts for the next month, but we'll see.

Road Bloggin'

2009-04-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

On my trip to Utah a month or so ago I took some videos of my drive because I couldn't post on my blog while I was driving. Here is the first installment, if you guys like it there might be more on the way. By the way, I am really buckling down for school so don't hold your breaths on blog posts, if I get incentive through the mail though, that might help.

Friends for Thought

2009-04-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while so I am going to try and pull a Marian and post everything that I have been meaning to post for some time now. I am telling you this even though by the time you read it you will have read the posts before it but at least you will understand at some point. Anywho, if I am too busy to blog, you better believe that I have been busy. School has gotten a lot harder this semester and the next four weeks are going to be the worst by for as I finish class and do my finals, so pray for me. Just to put your minds at ease though, I am really enjoying it and finding things that I never thought I would like are enjoyable, even though it is hard, it is good too.

OK, the reason for this post was the fact that I was a bad friend recently, and I just wanted to make a point about that. I had made plans to visit with someone when I was on a trip to Utah recently, and because of things and schedule conflicts, I ended up not making enough time and kinda ditching them. The point is that they were expecting me and I never showed. I think that we can fall into traps and think that maybe people don't really care that much about seeing us, or that our presence is not that big of a deal, but the really important thing is that when we are friends with someone, and we make a promise, or agree to do something, we are putting that friendship on the line, or our relationship with our family members or whatever. When we don't do what we agreed we are in a way saying that it was not important to us. I think that a lot of times that is not the case, but we don't make it a priority and things come up, but it amounts to the same thing. So when I did not show up I hurt someone's feelings even though that was not what I intended at all. So I hope that we can all try a little harder to treat those around us better and be better friends and family members. One other thing on that note, when this was brought to my attention, I realized that I was mad at someone at the same time for doing the same thing to me. So it just goes to show, I am not a very good friend, and I am a hypocrite.

One more point. After I had done this rude thing that I am very sorry for now by the way. I told that friend that I was sorry and it came out that they were a little ticked at what I had done. The reason that I am sharing this is that I think it is great that they were willing to tell me how they felt. I think we need to be more open and honest in that way. Not only did I get a blog post out of it, but it showed me that I had done something wrong and it made it so I could talk it over with them and it did not hurt our friendship, I hope. So we need to be better friends and if one of our friends bugs us, let them know, it will either strengthen the friendship or let you know that that person is not someone you want to be friends with in the first place.

Happy Easter everyone, and speaking of friends, I am glad for days like today where we can remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hope everyone has a great week.

Food for Thought

2009-03-25T23:27:00.000-07:00

I just had a little thought that I wanted to share with everyone today. OK maybe it wasn't such a little thought. I posted a couple of months ago about my determination to go to more things at school and take advantage of this opportunity to see some neat stuff while I was in law school. I took that opportunity again today. Today the Japanese law society put on a video and a panel about Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American. Many of you have probably heard this story.

Fred Korematsu lived in the Bay area when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and he was arrested for not going to the internment camps when the government rounded up all of the Japanese Americans on the west coast. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and he lost. I watched this video today and it was nerd chill central. This is a really sad story. The Japanese were rounded up, they lost over $2 billion in property, and our nation got a huge black eye. I will be the first to tell you that there are always two sides to every story, in this case it was the cowardice of the justice department that is the other side. I am not necessarily talking about the Supreme Court or the President, but a few people that made it so the Supreme Court could not do their job. Don't get me wrong, the Supreme Court will have to answer to this someday, but there is more to the story. Forty years after his conviction Fred Korematsu got the chance to change his story, and that was mostly what the movie was about.

A Professor of law at UC San Diego found some documents from the trial used by the lawyers that represented the government in Fred's case. These documents basically admitted that the lawyer's knew that the statements made by the Army about Japanese American espionage were untrue, and that they were making a false claim to the Supreme Court, but for whatever reason, they did nothing. These documents also included some from the F.B.I. that stated that in all the cases of Japanese American espionage that they had conducted, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing. 110,000 Americans, who happened to be of Japanese descent went to prison, and America did nothing. Fred's conviction was overturned forty years after the fact by a court in California, using the documents the law Professor had found. That is still only half the story. The real story is how Fred and the other Japanese American people handled this terrible injustice.

Fred was never bitter, he was an American and never stopped saying that he was right, no matter what his government did to him. Very few Japanese Americans even protested the internment because they did not want to go against their government. These were exactly the people that we should never have put in prison, people of character and courage.

After the Japanese Americans were interned the government added insult to injury by asking for some of the young men that they had put in prison with no trial or evidence to go fight for their country, and you know what? Some of them did. They put what they, their families, and their people had suffered behind them and they acted like true Americans, even though they weren't being treated like them. The Army, afraid to send them to the pacific theater, sent them to the bloodbath that was Europe. Not only did these men serve their country, they served with distinction. In a racially segregated unit made up of Japanese Americans, they became the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. Their story is now legend, "They fought in seven major campaigns in Europe, made two beachhead assaults and captured a submarine. In France, they liberated Bruyeres, and rescued the ``Lost Battalion'' -- 275 Texas infantrymen who had been trapped inside German territory for almost a week." You can read their story here. They were not only Americans, they were willing to prove it.

These are some great stories. Fred's daughter and three of the lawyers that worked to get his case overturned were at the panel, and it was incredible to hear their stories. Their stories mean nothing, however, if we do not learn from them and act on that knowledge. Some people think that these problems have been put behind us, not so. We are much too quick to see people as the enemy. Fred's daughter told a story of how Fred has been visiting The University of Michigan and while he was getting a tour of the library a group of students came up and surrounded him and thanked him for his courage. They were Arabic students, Americans. I think that it is really hard to balance National Safety and individual rights and all that. I don't know what the solution is, but sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease. If we give up our freedom and protection of basic rights like right to a trial and free speech, what will it even mean to be American? I am just saying that we all need to take opportunities to do what we know is right. It might not be in any sort of context like civil rights, or whatever, but we cannot be afraid to speak up for what we know is right. Anytime, anyplace. It ain't easy, but it's not easy to live in an old horse stall when you're kicked out of your home because of where your parents are from either.

Tag Towne

2009-03-21T16:51:00.001-07:00

Sorry this took so long, Lis. I refuse to do these on Facebook, but I like them on blogs.

--> Spell your name without vowels: Mtt
--> What is the date 2 days after your birthday?: Sep. 5th
--> How many pairs of jeans do you own?: Like at least 12, 8 that I have worn in the last two week or so.
--> How many are designer?: Maybe one? Three are from H&M though suckas.
--> What color do you wear most?: Dark Blue, cause I have three, but my black one's are my favorite.
--> Least favorite color?: Some like light yellow color mixed with brown, like a mix of poop and peep. Hope that is not too racy.
--> Last song heard on the radio?: I don't really listen to the radio, but I remember hearing an Eagles song on my road trip.
--> What's for dinner tonite?: Angel Hair pasta with Garlic and Herb (bought) sauce and browned beef. I'm crazy, I made like half a package.
--> Are you happy with your life right now?: Yes, everything is good. Peace is good.
--> Tell me a secret about one of your siblings: Lets see, I think everyone knows what I know. Lance and I use to sneak out and drink egg nogg and eat bread. One time we took some Spam thinking it was corn beef, sick. We had to throw it over the fence.
--> Anyone ever said you resemble a celebrity?: All the time, seriously. Elijah Wood, I have seriously had strangers tell me this on multiple occasions.
--> Who did you last call on your cell phone?: Last person I called and actually talked to was Lance, my bro bro, no wait, he called me. My roommate Steve.
--> Do you own a..
- PS2?: No.
- XBOX 360?: No.
- PSP?: No.
- SIDEKICK?: No, my cell phone is not only like three years old, but it is my father's old one too. I have not gotten a new phone since 2004.
- DIGITAL CAMERA?: Yes. and a digital camcorder, HD.
--> Do you shop at stores like Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, or Aeropostale?: i am proud to say I can't even remember going into one of those stores, and I know for a fact I have never been into at least two of them.
--> How do you make money?: I don't make it either Lis, the government and various institutions give it to me, and then they think I am going to pay it back. Inflation actually doesn't sound that bad right now.
--> Last thing you bought over 50 dollars?: Ooh, let's see, chains for my car, dang snow on I-80.
--> Are you missing someone right now?: I guess my famdamily, since I just got back from spring break, but I'm pretty chill right now.
--> Finish this sentence. I wish: I was done with school.
--> One word to describe you: Qualitative.
--> Favorite pair of shoes: My Nike hightops, with the plaid tops. Love ya Kendra!
-->Who is the first person in your Blog Links List?: Fashionably Harrison is the first link, but Kendybar is the first person.
--> What would you rather be doing right now?: Nothing, blogging is the height of existence.
--> What should you be doing right now?: Letting my rrommates use my computer so we can watch a movie like I said they could.
--> Have you kissed your significant other lately?: Define "lately". Define "siginificant other". Define "kiss".
--> Last IM you recieved?: I don't really hold with that crap, but if Facebook counts, Tyler?
--> Last text message you recieved? My mother, Draper temples picture.
--> Who did you hug today?: I don't hold with hugging either, at least untill I get a girlfriend.
--> What are you going to do now?: Watch Transporter III.

Brooker and Jamal, this is a fun one so you two do it. Take some time out from your wonderful va-ca. Love you sisters!

Run Run Run

2009-02-28T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so Lance Renee and I are sorta training for a marathon. We are hoping to run the Utah Valley marathon in June, if my studies do not get in the way. Anyway, that is just some background for this post so you understand why I was out running.

So we are on a running schedule that builds up our mileage every week, today I was supposed to run nine miles. The most I had run up to this point was seven, so I was already a little worried, but I looked at my route on google maps and off I went. When I was about three miles into the run, I got a little confused. I thought I had gone the wrong way so I backtracked and tried another road, that WAS the wrong way so I returned to my original path, which was the right way, this little detour added about a half mile onto my run I was guessing, but instead of trying to shorten my run I decided to stick to the same route. The reason I did this was because last week I got confused about which street to run to and ended up only running about three and a half miles instead of five, so this week I wanted to make sure I ran the whole nine miles. Anyways, I was looking for a road called Fulton, where I would turn around and then start running back. I passed the road. The sign on it said 30th avenue, I guess they are the same road. I ended up running more than half of a mile before I saw a road that I knew was too far. So I started back and finished my run, it was pretty intense, and I knew that I had run over nine miles, but when I got back I checked it online. I had run 10.7 miles. I had no idea. One good thing about this though, if there was a movie (let's call it, Speed 4: Runner's Challenge) where a bomb was strapped onto a runner and it would blow up if they stopped running, I know that I could at least keep myself alive for two hours while a solution was found, so that's a relief. If you want to see my route, look here. Send me screenplays.

Update on inner peace and animals

2009-02-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Just so everyone is aware, the cat thing was a fluke. Having inner peace does not mean that animals will like you. I was bit seven times by dogs on my mission in Puerto Rico, and I felt pretty peaceful (in general, not right when I was getting bit).

Peace, I'm IN!

2009-02-21T22:48:00.000-08:00

So, just so everyone is clear, this is going to be another long, semi-philosophical post, OK.

Today I volunteered at my school for what they call "Day at Law School". This is where kids, elementary through high school, come to the school, take tours, see a mock trial and attend a class, they also get free lunch and breakfast. I helped out by talking to kids about higher education while they were eating lunch, then I took a group on a tour. I got a group of elementary school kids, and they just loved me. Some of them tried to hold my hand (these were pretty little kids, they are in an after-school (and apparently Saturday) program called The Center, and they come to just about anything Hastings does). One kid even asked if he could be my partner for the day, and they fought over who got to ride in the elevator with me, it is nice to be liked. Turns out they came to the Halloween party Hastings put on and they remembered me. I was dressed like Hulk Hogan and I read stories to all the kids, but they totally remembered me, so that was cool. Back to the reason for this post.

I was walking up the stairs (355) to my house, and I stopped to enjoy the view, which is posted above (by the way that is my old cell phone that took that picture, who knew). While I was sitting there, thinking how great my life was, no joke a cat came up to me and started rubbing around my legs, just some random cat, there aren't any real houses right there and there were no people around. While this was happening I facetiously thought to myself "wow, kids and animals love me, I must have some sort of inner peace they can sense." That is the subject of my post.

While I was pretty much just messing around about the kids and animals thing, I really feel like I have a lot of peace in my life right now. I think that peace is one amazing thing, that it is really the ideal state of being. I think that you can still be happy, sad, busy, stressed, and still have a measure of peace. How wonderful it is to be able to say, "I have no quarrel with God or man."

Now some people might not think that this is that big of a deal, but I think it is. If we really think about it, man (and woman) has a dual nature. C.S. Lewis has one of the best arguments for the existence of God that I have read, and it revolves around the idea that there is good and evil in the world, it is universal. For the purposes of this blog, I just wanted to point out that there a universal idea of bad and good, anyone who has ever felt bad about anything they ever did has to admit that. Each of us has things that we want to do and don't succeed, or things that we know we shouldn't do and still do them. There is a real conflict in the world, good, bad, love hate, life, death, an opposite for each one, and we are torn between these opposites constantly. Anyone that has read the Castle in the Attic can appreciate the two sides on the coin of Janis, one to heal and one to hurt.

Lately (really I mean in the last couple of months) I have been feeling pretty good, even with all of the stress of law school and with how busy I have been. I think looking out to the ocean I realized how good it is to not really be worried about things, I really felt at peace. I don't always feel that way, but I think that we can if we live according to some pretty simple ideals. Try to do everything the best you know how, and if you are not sure, do what you think is best after you have thought it through. If we decide carefully before we act, it will not tear us up later, because we really tried to do what we thought was right. We probably won't always be right, but if we always try to be, there is no better that we can do. I hope you guys understood what I was saying, and if there is anything bothering you in your life, fix it. Whatever it takes, the peace you feel when there is nothing on your conscious is worth it.

Road trippin and music.

2009-02-16T23:37:00.001-08:00

Well, I just got back from a little long-weekend getaway at the Williamses in L.A. It was a stellar time, I actually feel really great and am almost excited for school tomorrow, so it was just what the doctor ordered. Kim and Byron were surprised that I did not want to do much, but I really just wanted to spend some time with them and little Harrison, and I did and it was fantastic. They even let me talk them into doing a little babysitting, so I could play with Harrison without those two hogging him, just kidding, but seriously. So it was a great trip.

I also wanted to say a little bit about the road trip. It was actually really fun to chill in the car and just listen to music for a few hours. I knew the trip down would be fun, because I was excited to visit, but the trip back was good as well. I forgot how much I like the roadtrip part of vacationing. I remember back in the day, everyone had their walkmans in, mom was passing back treats and dad was like an iron driver, just going for hours on end, Lance and I have even talked about dad's ability to drive those long trips, maybe it has something to do with his military training, I guess we will never know. Anywho, somewhere along the line, even with the occasional puking and threatened spankings, those family road trips have instilled in me a love for the open road. It also doesn't hurt that the Regency is a real open-road car, such smooth sailing! Needless to say, I love just driving and enjoying my music.

I think that is one of the reasons that Puls and I got along and enjoyed our roadtrips together so much, we had a similar love for music, for the most part. Now, segue-waying into music. I really like it, I feel like my family really likes it, and that there is some music that speaks to me.

I now have a bone to pick, however. With the current rash of "25 things" fad on facebook, I am sick sick sick of people talking about what music means to them. Don't get me wrong, music can be very powerful, and it affects a lot of people, but that is my point. I think that people who love music, that feel like they have a special connection to music are the rule, not the exception. So let's just celebrate that we ALL love music, OK? I don't really know why that bothers me. I think it has something to do with the idea that I have been thinking about, that we are all much more similar than we realize. My real idea is that just about anyone can be friends with anyone else if they will both just give it a chance. We all have a lot in common. There you go, you thought I was hating, but I really just want everyone to be friends. Maybe that is just because it seems like everyone on the subway wants to be my friend? Oh the stories I could tell. I guess I am just very approachable . . .

Apparently Leaperville = AwesomeTowne

2009-02-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

I recently received something from my sister, Nicole Leaper, the other day via the United States Postal Service. Now, I always knew that the Leapers were a cool crowd; two artists, one zany daughter and assorted animals living in Portland OR is a novel waiting to happen, but I had underestimated them a little. A lot of people have return address stickers, but no one has them like this:Needless to say, I hope to get a lot more mail from the Leapers in the future.

The Dominant Fury

2009-02-06T15:26:00.001-08:00

Now, some of you may or may not know that Puls and I at one time started a bowling league team, which we affectionately called the Dominant Fury. This is a blog about that team, more or less. I saw this picture and knew that I could not keep it to myself, the world had to know. While I had to move away, the Dominant Fury is still in full swing. Puls is still a member (at the time this picture was taken he was in Washington for most of the semester), and the other members are Lance, Renee and Renee's roommate Blair. Throughout our history we were usually more Fury than Dominant, but not on the night this picture was taken, and that is the story that I will tell you now.

During this semester (winter '08) we had a topsy turvy schedule and had to miss a few games, I was graduating, and life was stressful. Because of those misses as well as our general lack of competitive play we missed the tournament. Just for the record there was an upper and lower bracket, we missed the lower bracket, one of only two teams barred. As luck would have it a team forfeited, and we were the last team in, the lowest seed in our bracket. We beat the first team we played without too much of a struggle (they actually said something like "how are you guys the lowest seed with those handicaps", which was awesome). They would have felt even worse later on, because we were just hitting our stride. The next game I think was a little tougher, the other team was good, we may have lost one of the three games, but we were better. We moved into the final game, the lower bracket championship. The first two games we won pretty handily, but that was just the beginning. With Lance bowling an even 200 and Tyler a 180, with Renee and myself hitting our shots we decimated the other team, beating them by 206 pins. It was a blowout, the other team actually commented on how soundly we had whipped them (to borrow a phrase from The Great Brain). This photo was taken that night, we took a lot of photos, we were pretty giddy. We went from funny to money in just three weeks. That my friends, is the story of the Dominant Fury. I think our cheer that night summed up our season "UP YOUR AVERAGE!!!!!"

Ten Hut Hair Cut

2009-02-04T23:10:00.001-08:00

I cut my hair, I don't remember the last time it was cut, but I think it must have been October or November. This picture doesn't really do it justice, I did it myself, thanks for the scissors lessons mom, they paid off, big time. For those of you who don't remember, I must have cut off like two inches or more on the top, it was starting to curl around my eye.

Weekend with the Blodgies

2009-02-01T13:29:00.001-08:00

I spent the last weekend with the Blodgetts over in Walnut Creek, they are nice enough to let me come visit and take a break from the stresses of school and city life. It was a nice relaxing weekend. I only meant to stay till Saturday, but here it is Sunday and I still haven't gone home. It was fun to hang out and see everybody, Danae and Dave brought their kids over and Brett's fiance was here so it was a party. I also just wanted everybody in cold climates to know that it is sunny and sixty degrees here in California.Hope everyone in Utah is having as much fun picking oranges in their backyard as we are!!!
This is the car before I washed it. Those of you remember the Celica might remember that it only got washed three times in three years, and I actually only washed it myself once. I decided that to show Grandma the gratitude I have for the car I would treat this one a little better.
Here is the finished product. It wasn't actually that gleaming, my camera adds in the stars, but it was pretty close.

Con Law is not about Conning people!

2009-01-28T22:32:00.001-08:00

I am going to warn everyone right now, this is going to be a long post. To start off I wanted to get a little deep though. I was a little bummed out after last semester, it was hard to come back to school after having such a fun time with the fam. Plus, I had not gotten the grades I thought I had worked hard enough to get. To put it succinctly, I was bummed out and not really ready to face another tough semester. I also had more class hours and the classes seemed harder. I know. Wo is me. Anyway, the philosophical part of this post is an idea about choices. If you are religious you might call it agency, anyway you look at it, however, it comes down to making choices. This life is full of choices, you cannot avoid them. As Geddy Lee of the Popular rock trio Rush put it "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" (thanks for the quote Puls).
The thing that we need to remember about choices is that we need to make the difficult ones and stick to them. I feel like I have been turning a corner in my life recently and this has helped me to see why. Sometime we don't want to make difficult choices, so we decide to just kind of let our life slide by easy. If we do that, however, we are missing the chance to change our lives for the better.
I remember in ninth grade I made a conscious decision to be more outgoing and to say the things that I thought were funny out loud. That has helped me to be more of a people person and to show my personality when I first meet people. All from virtually one choice. While there are some things that we have no control over, we can control certain things. Our attitude for one, and our work ethic and our personal relationships. If we want to be happy we need to make that choice, and make the changes that will make that choice possible. That is the other thing about choice, once we make a choice we need to do the things that make it possible. Works, works, works.
OK, this was leading up to something and here it is. In order to fix my attitude this semester I decided to make a few choices. I started with normal things, get enough sleep, eat healthier, and exercise regularly. That took care of the physical, and it has helped my mood. I also made sure I was spiritually healthy. Finally I focused on school. I took a new class to help me with the day-to-day skills of law school and talked to some people to learn what I could do to improve. Trust me, I do not like to ask for help, but once I made the decision to do whatever I could to improve, I did it. I started typing my notes and am still looking for ways to improve.
Now the real reason for this huge post.
So school has been better the last couple of weeks, but my Con Law (Constitutional Law) class has been really tough, the professor is hard, the material is hard, and it is early in the morning. Needless to say it was my hardest class. After class on Monday, when I felt like I understood less after the lecture than before, I made a decision. I decided that even though it might take me significantly more time, I was going to outline my reading and do whatever I could to understand and be successful in that class. So Tuesday I outlined the class, and Wednesday I went in prepared. I don't know if it was inspiration, but I got cold called in Con Law. This means the Professor calls on you without warning, in my hardest class, which I had felt absolutely lost in everyday. I was prepared, however, but the question was from the last class' reading, I answered it poorly, but adequately I guess. I had done all that work and it hadn't helped. I was actually hoping he would come back to me. Of course, this is my hardest class, so he came back to me. I totally killed it. It was awesome. I owned the case, every question he had I owned it. I felt so good, my outlining not only helped me to understand the material but it helped me when I got Socratically bludgeoned in class. Like ten people actually complimented me on how well I had answered the questions. My choice really paid off big time, and quickly. I actually have been having a really good week this week. I also got cold called in two other classes on Monday and Tuesday too. It's like a joke in my section how I have been called on so much lately. It's all good though, don't worry Tracy, I'm actually starting to enjoy it, and I have been making more comments in class too, so I know I am understanding more.
So the moral of this story? Keep it real and make the choices you need to to be who you want to be and to be successful.
Peace.

Fear and Loathing in SLC

2009-01-25T19:30:00.001-08:00

The world must know! I hope someone got my joke from the title, and also here is Brook's and my Christmas card, sorry it didn't get out sooner.

The Fashion Just Hit the Fan

2009-01-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION! The new Harrison Fashion blog is up. It is a work in progress so bear with me. The link is at the top of my links and it is called, Fashionably Harrison. Now, I realized that if I just add photos of myself it is going to be pretty lame. It will only be good if other people post and comment and we just have a good old time. Email me and I will add you as an author, this is not going to be restricted to just Harrison's either, if someone wants to get on the fashion train climb on board buddy. Besides that, just keep the comments nice, we don't need a (dare I say?) family feud on our hands.

Oh the Humanity!

2009-01-21T22:49:00.000-08:00

Some of you know that when I was ten years old Nate Burt (my best friend from first grade, but not kindergarten, we hated each other then) and I were in an accident where a whole lot of voltage was shot through our bodies. It was scary at the time but we were able to rebound and have actually managed to live fairly normal lives. Feel free to insert any "except for the obvious brain damage" jokes here. Anyway, there was one setback that I suffered at that tender age. I lost something that has haunted me every since, I lost the ability to wear toe socks, you know the ones that have a little space for each of your ten toes. It was my hidden shame. People would flaunt their toe socks right in my face. I learned to cope with it . . .

Well, NOT ANYMORE!!!!! Thanks to my wonderful sister Brooke I too can now rock the toe socks, so take that all you hatas.

Sweet Ride Brought Back to Life!!!!

2009-01-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

So some of you might know that Grandma Jenkins let me have her old awesome Olds, it was like a dream come true, such an awesome car. Well, it got me to Cali (and I kid you not I had so much stuff in that car they almost couldn't get it on the tow truck), but as I drove to my house in San Fran I had to go up a big hill and the next thing I know it's billowing smoke out from under the hood. All I knew was that it was leaking transmission fluid, and then I got so busy with school I didn't have time to check it out. I just took public transportation and feared the worst. Well, I talked to a Mechanic (our ward's second counselor) and he told me to check something, and I fixed the leak today with my roommates help!!! So I'm back in business, but I haven't decided if I am going to keep it or not, but it at least I have it if I want to visit Kim in L.A. and it will be easier to visit the Blodgies in Walnut Creek. So it's good new anyway you look at it. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins.

p.s. A new blog might be starting soon, look for Fashionably Harrison to come your way!

Here's a resolution

2009-01-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

So Tracy and I talk about law school sometimes, mostly since no one else wants to talk about it. I guess I can understand people not wanting to talk to you about your exclusive club that they are not a member of, but whatever. The point for this post is twofold. First, Tracy told me that she tries to go to all the speakers they have at her school and I think that it is a great idea. There are always great people coming and sharing and a lot of time they have free lunch, so we need to take advantage of this unique time in our life to enjoy these opportunities.
The second part of this post was that I went to a talk by one of the Judges from the 9th circuit court of appeals which is I think the largest circuit court in the federal system, not to mention fairly liberal. The meeting was on Religion and the Establishment clause. I was surprised to hear that this justice supports mixing religion and politics as long as one church is not supported more than another. I just thought that this was interesting to hear in a time where many people think that there should be more separation. I think the key idea is equality, as long as churches are treated equally it is fine. For anyone who knows someone very religious (and I consider myself to be such a person) they know that those people cannot separate religion from any part of their life, in some way it permeates everything.

Here's a wordless Wednesday for ya!

2009-01-14T22:39:00.001-08:00

Takin to the Slopes

2009-01-12T21:48:00.000-08:00

I just thought that everyone might want to see how good the snow was and how cool we all are. Now that I'm back in San Fran and the weather is in the sixties, that's right I said sixties, I feel comfortable reliving some of my cold Utah memories from during the Christmas break. The truth is though that even though I liked snowboarding, a lot, seeing the fam was the real treat and I miss them a little out here. Hopefully they miss me too and will come out and see me soon. We have about a million H&M's out here people, I'm not even joking.Yeah, good times were had by all and it was a sick pow pow day. Oh well, next year is right around the corner. Hope everyone has a good year and enjoys all of their school and work.

Hold your horses

2009-01-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

There are varied and sundry posts on the way but I didn't have time today because I was writing in my journal (love ya Mom).

Oh Yeah . . .

2009-01-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

I guess I could be more humble, grateful, considerate . . . all those little tiny things. I guess.

Resolve re-solve

2009-01-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

How about some new year resolutions? I'm not big on these things really, I think that we should be honest with ourselves and make changes as they become necessary, but still sometimes it is easier if we make a goal and set a time limit.
From what I understand a resolution means we resolve to do or not do something, if you break down resolve, it becomes re-solve, so just solve all of the problems in your life again for the new year. I told my Mother that I don't really have anything to resolve or to solve in my life, except maybe to get married, and you really should not put a timetable on marriage so that's out as a resolution. Seriously though, I guess I could resolve to at least be more proactive and outgoing when it comes to relationships. That's just the type of vague resolution that I can keep.
Besides that I guess this is a good time to reaffirm decisions in my life. To strive to be kind and friendly, to follow the spirit, and to remember the choices I have made and the reasons why I made them. I really feel like I am becoming more of an adult and I am not sure if that is necessarily a good thing since I am already very responsible. I guess I resolve to think about the things I do. Way back in high school I decided that our mental abilities define what we can be, so I am going to try to make sure that I am who I want to be and that I understand why I am making the decisions that I make. By doing this I hope to avoid being swept along by the fickle winds of fate, I can at least control my attitude and my outlook. I also resolve to find ways to enjoy myself in whatever I do, man is that be might have joy. Once more I just want to clarify that these are not new things really, this is just a good time to make sure I am acting in accordance with what I know to be right and true. Merry New Year to all and to all a good year.

By popular Christmas demand!!

2008-12-19T10:27:00.001-08:00

I have received a request for a different version of White Christmas on the playlist. I found the track and I think you are all really going to like it. Check it out. Ba-da-da-dump.

Back in town, now it's back to the slopes

2008-12-17T23:33:00.001-08:00

I finished my finals, they were intense. To give you some idea, my last final was in Criminal Law, the test was three and half hours long, I wrote 5,000 words or so, like eleven or twelve pages. Put a couple of weeks of solid studying behind that, (my last class was the Friday before Thanksgiving, and the only days I have not put in some good studying since then were Thanksgiving day itself, and Sundays) you'll get the idea I think. I put so many miles on my brain the past couple of weeks I'm starting to think I won't get a good price if I tried to sell it. I guess I could just put it up on the market and see what kind of offers I get. However, I digress. I only told you that part above so you can understand the joy in my heart to have a break and to go home and see the fam. The family was definitely priority numero uno on this trip, but snowboarding was a close second. There I am on the right preparing for a day of pow, pals, and picnic lunches (hint, hint, Lance). Try not to hate me.

No this isn't the Sant Clause 3? 4? 5? I'm not sure what number they're on now.

2008-12-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

This was by design, not because I am turning into Santa Clause like Tim Allen in the popular holiday movie. I have changed the blog to Christmas colors, before it was just set to match my mood, black. Just kidding, but seriously I did change it for Christmas. My first present is to myself, I am going to take my final and do really well as an early Christmas present. On that note I better get back to studying. Hope you enjoy the Christmas blog, let me know if you have any suggestions.

Is for fun

2008-12-11T00:49:00.000-08:00

Lance and Renee and I had quite a fun summer this past year so I decided to make a little video of some of our experiences while learning about vista movie maker.

Let's Hear it for Christmas

2008-12-10T23:31:00.000-08:00

It is the most wonderful time of the year. I just want everyone to know how much I love Christmas. After church the other day I was a little bummed because we didn't sing any Christmas songs. I was singing them to myself and I realized how much I like Christmas music. I decided to join the choir for the Christmas program. I am really glad I did. We are singing a bunch of songs, my two favorites are Oh Come Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Come O Come Emanuel. I just can't get enough of Christmas music. I created a Christmas Station on Pandora and I have been listening all week. Thanks to music tags it runs heavy to Mariah Carey, and Wham! with a large helping of Paul McCartney (with Wings). Hope we all remember the reason for the season and get in to the Christmas spirit, I'm glad I did. Somehow studying for finals isn't that bad when you're humming the Christmas song (Christina Aguilera edition).

We . . .Have . . . Ignition. And a Christmas Mix!

2008-12-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

You all asked for it. Actually you didn't, but I made a Christmas mix and it will be on it's way shortly. In Christmas Colors to boot!!!!!!!!

p.s. I know what you're all wondering, well I got it at Goodwill and it was only five dollars. I get all the good secondhand stuff 'cause the homeless people are too weak to fight me off because of their poor nutrition.

Quote of the Day

2008-12-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Here I am writing my Civil Procedure outline, and I thought I would share what our T.A. called a quote of the day. This to show you all how exciting law school can be! The sad part is summary judgment is exciting for me. Civil Procedure is actually my favorite class, law school is not for everyone. Now the quote!

"Summary Judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as an integral part of the Federal Rules as a whole, which are designed 'to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action," Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986) (citing FRCP 1)

Yeah!! Put that in your pipe and smoke it, or put it in your bubble pipe as may be the case and blow bubbles with it, who smokes pipes anyways? Just the statistics teacher at Hillcrest. What's his name again?

Even those we don't know personally can leave a little hole in our life

2008-12-02T23:53:00.000-08:00

I was just reading a little blurb about Elder Wirthlin and Urban Meyer, who used to be the University of Utah football coach. I just wanted to say that Elder Wirthlin was a great man. I can hear his voice in my mind as he talked about playing football and showing love to others. You could really hear in his voice what kind of man he was. I hope we all put ourselves out there on our sleeves like that. To be the kind of person who you can hear kindness on their voice, that is a worthy goal. I am going to miss Elder Wirthlin in conference, not big in stature, but a giant in spirit.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!!!

2008-12-01T15:07:00.001-08:00

My Christmas decorating this year so far consists of me putting colorful tabs on my torts book. As you can see I am done and it is fabulous, but for some reason it isn't making me jolly. I guess I just need more Mariah Carey Christmas.

In related news, I almost got hit by a car this morning.

It wasn't a big deal, if the car would have hit me it only would have consisted of a few bruises for me and a big negligence lawsuit for the guy that almost hit me, so he's actually the lucky one. The story has a funny ending, however, and that is why I am writing this.

(Curtain Rises) Matt is walking across a crosswalk on the way to catch the bus, a white pick-up approaches.

Just kidding, I'm not going to reenact it like it was a play. I was on the crosswalk and a guy in a white pick-up was driving towards the stop sign. I am in the habit of looking to see if they see me from riding my bike so I looked up and I could see his face so I assumed he saw me, he also started slowing down so I kept walking. About the time I would have been a few feet away he got to the point where he either needed to push the brakes harder to come to a complete stop, or ease up on them to roll through the stop sign. He elected to roll through the stop sign, about a foot in front of me, If I would have taken another step I would have hit him, but I had stopped walking as he was not going to stop. At this point he rolled up far enough that I must have come into his peripheral vision. I guess I had been in the sweet spot where the frame of his car had blocked his sight. Even though he was abreast of me by this time he hit the brakes hard to stop as soon as he saw me. I had looked up as soon as I realized he wasn't stopping and managed to see his face as soon as he saw me, it was classic. One eye was all the way open, eyebrow raised, the other eye almost squinted shut, while his mouth was silently screaming. I think his face was stuck half in surprise for seeing me and half squinted up in anticipation of a collision. All around pretty funny, you don't get to say that every time you narrowly avoid a collision with something. I experimented with my web camera and this is as close as I could come to his actual expression.

Good time, good times. (Curtain falls, end scene).

2008-11-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, I know I did. Thanks again to the Blodgies, it is really nice to have some family around just to know I have somewhere to go when I'm stuck in Cali studying.

I just wanted to take a break for a second and tell you all that you should be thankful you're not in the library studying during your vacation. I know, because that is where I am. Not to worry, I'll be out on break soon and then things will be even. Things are going good by the way, I took advantage of my time off class and I think I will be ready when tests start next week. I also stopped by H&M this morning on the way to school, so I guess I did take advantage a little bit.

Separate note to Lance: They have a bunch of Drain and Sliq jeans at this H&M, so if you're interested I can see if they have your size. They also have some of the skinny jeans like the grey ones I bought.

On a happier note, now that Thanksgiving is over I can finally listen to Mariah Carey Christmas with no shame, or maybe not.

Aaauuggggh!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Now that I've started I can't stop!!!! I have too many quirks.
I can't throw anything away, I just keep storing more boxes at Dad and Mom's. I know you're all thinking, why Matt, we all do that! Do you still have your third place Oakdale Spelling Bee trophy? How about old scout Grand Prix cars, I even have the one Dad didn't help me with that looks like it got ran over. There's more. Keychains, pocketknives, patches, stickers, little knick knacks from weird places. This might be an obsession. I'm just gonna have to throw some stuff away when I get home this Christmas.
Another thing, I love my own jokes, like I'm crying-and-holding-my-stomach laughing, and no one else is. How about reality tv? I like it. The Hills? I know the whole plot line and all of the characters and have a very specific opinion about each one. So specific I feel I need to yell advice at them when they make bad choices.
One more thing. I hate name brand clothing. It's OK on shoes and pants and when it's really small on stuff, but just right there in your shirt? I just feel like you are proclaiming to the world, "I don't know how to dress, so I'm gonna go buy fashion advice and while I'm at it I might as well just advertise for them as well." Just because it's expensive doesn't mean you should be broadcasting it about, I mean, you don't wear shirts that say your therapist's or lawyer's name on them do you?
That felt good even though it was kinda mean. I also have an ego, Brooke, and I think my ideas are better than other peoples, furthermore I realize that I am mostly harping on people that just wear clothes that look nice and aren't trying to make a statement, so I'm sorry, I appreciate people trying to look nice.
Did I mention I hate posers too? Oh gosh, OK, quirky blogs are over. I'm perfectly normal and sane, which must mean I'm not a Harrison, so never mind, I'm weird, and I like myself, a lot.

Quirky McQuirkyton, or Quirky McGimmons if you will.

2008-11-24T23:46:00.000-08:00

This guy? Quirky? No way!

So my friend Amanda,(who also happens to be married to my friend and former roommate Matt, but I knew her before I knew Matt so we are friends as well) anywho, she tagged me in this thing where you have to list six of your quirks, so lets get some things off the old chest.

Quirk One- People talking to me like I'm dumb. Everyone has this one I bet, but seriously I don't talk to little kids like they are dumb (animals are a different story, but they don't understand Spanish so no harm done). There is really no reason to talk down to someone unless you are trying to make them feel bad. I don't get mad often, but this gets me steamed, and I will not take it unless it's at work, cause it's my job man. Cops, friends, septuagenarians, watch yourself because you'll get an earful. Mike can attest to that, so can my old friend Elder Ackroyd. So treat people with respect, civility, and if you can muster it up, kindness.

Quirk two- People trying to act like adults. Sorry middle and high schoolers, this is directed at you. You don't "act" like and adult you "be" one. Act however you want, but be who you are. I think I should be able to have fun and joke around and generally be a goof, I'm still an adult, I pay my bills and do my homework and ain't nobody lookin over my shoulder. Everybody respects the guys who can have fun with kids and still have adult conversations, live your life.

Quirk three- I am running out. Let's see. How about people that don't like the same music as you? I am guilty of making a gagging noise and face whenever someone mentions the Goo Goo Dolls or Dave Mathcrapper's Band but it bugs me so I probably shouldn't. I happen to know that '80's metal is not the most popular music right now, I am aware people, but I like facemelting solos so leave it alone, and I will try to refrain from making fun of Coldplay and Dashbaord, although Dashboard don't need anybody to make fun of him, his music does it all. Just Kidding, sorry.

Quirk four- I will try any type of food at least twice, but if I do not like it I will not finish it. I have gotten to the point where I will not eat the last bite if I don't want it, in the same vein, however, I will eat myself sick if I want. With food I reserve the right to do whatever I want, it's one of life's great pleasures, and I will eat it if I want and I will leave it if I don't. I spent two years choking down insane portions of food I sometimes did not like, I even ate avocados-the only food I can think of that I genuinely do not like. I earned my right to be picky.

Quirk five- It bugs me when I feel like I do something the right way and people don't do it that way and I know my way is better. I have a habit of thinking through almost everything I do. I can almost always tell you my reasoning for doing most of what I do. I feel like others don't think like that and it drives me nuts when they don't do it the best way. These things include driving on certain roads or in a certain way, cleaning (I think the cleaning is because I was a janitor and yes there is a better way and yes I know it), flipping channels, cooking, serving tables, talking to customers, et cetra.

Quirk six- I like poetry. I know it does not fit with the hard rock image I try to convey, but I like it. I also like art and fashion. Maybe it's because my family is very different and I have a lot of really cool opinionated people around me, but I like it. There is definitely a time and a place, but I will search it out all by myself, so I must like it. I like writing poetry too, I would like making art, but what I make is not art, so nuts. Anyway, my main message is be yourself, you only live once, so live the best you know how and with no regrets.

Now to facilitate the blog version of chain mail, I don't think your hair will fall out if you don't do it, but it might fall out if you do, cause mine is.

here are the rules:

1. link the person who tagged you.

2. mention the rules on your blog.

3. tell about six quirks you have only 6!
4. tag six fellow bloggers to do the same.

5. leave a comment to let them know.

Who do I know that is quirky, oh yeah, there are fourteen of us. Maybe Brooker, Trace, Kendybar, Shaun, even though he has never posted on his blog, anything to get Lisa blogging again, and the indomitable Ashley Nimer. I hope you all look at yourselves differently after this experience.

The Way We Were

2008-11-23T04:02:00.000-08:00

In tribute to the new season of 90210 (which I never watched mom because I obviously wasn't fourteen or fifteen or whatever the rule was), and in keeping with the prior post that dealt with how quickly time can go and how little we seem to remember, I thought I would refresh some of your memories, courtesy of pictures that I got off of Mom and Dad's old computer, enjoy!!I might as well embarrass myself first, some of you have seen whitetrash, well, I lived it!

This would be my nineteenth birthday party, where else do you go with a mullet? BBQ!

I will be seeing the Blodgies next week for thanksgiving, so I might as well as wear out my welcome now, all of these pictures are from '01- '02 by the way. This is D-Dawg and Dave.

Uncle Denny and Aunt Jill, thanks again for letting me live with you.

Chad and Julie, this must be '02 'cause I did not meet Julie til after my mission.

Marc and Tracy, footloose and fancy free, before the high-stakes world of Medicine and Law took it's toll on their lives.

Lisa and I, and I have no idea when this is because I can't tell if i have a mullet in this picture or not. Yes, I date myself by my hairstyle, much like women do.

Gotta be Easter in '02 or '03 because favorite son (me) was not there. That is Haley Adamson, not a random neighbor girl.

Trent, using his talents, oh yeah, it also looks like he is playing the violin in this too.

This happened, I was there, and the spectacle is burned into my mind. Dan "D-Nyde" Nydegger, and Scott "Walter" Waltman. Plus a whole lotta cheeseburgers.

A year can go so quick

2008-11-19T00:48:00.001-08:00

What a difference a year makes. I just finished the Doctrine and Covenants and was going to start the Book of Mormon in Spanish, and I realized that I finished it in Spanish last December. I can hardly remember last Christmas, so much has happened in just eleven months.
I started and finished my last semester of college, wrote my capstone paper, graduated, worked a lot of hours at Magleby's, went to LA to see Kim and Bryon (Kim was barely preggers), flew to D.C. to see Karl Conni and family, spent some time in Portland with Nick and Lis and their families, went to a family reunion on the Oregon Coast, packed up my things and headed out to San Fran all on my lonesome, started law school, lived with the Blodgies for two months, moved into a new place, and here I am finishing my last week of classes for my first semester. Boy howdy, that's just the quick recap. A year can really go fast.
To go along with these sentiments I'll share part of a poem I've been working on. If you don't like it read it sometime when you're feeling melancholy late at night, that's when I like it best.

How frail is memory,
how fleeting it's remarks,
What today is crystal clear
is tomorrow's broken parts.

Joy is only half remembered,
Sorrow's half forgotten,
victory happened twice as much,
and losses half as often.

Some forget and laughing say,
to live each day anew.
While others hold to petty hurts
whose bitter tastes they chew.

So choose this day whether mem'ry will
be for you a help or hindrance,
a light to guide your waking hours,
or a self-inflicted penance.

A Phone with a Camera!?!?!

2008-11-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

I guess that's not such an anomaly these days, but it used to be. If we forget history we are doomed to repeat it. All I'm saying is that if we forget that phones didn't used to have cameras we might start making them without cameras again. If that happened how could I go through my phone and get off all these memories that I had forgotten about because I didn't use my "real" camera. I got all the nieces and nephews here, except for the ones less than a month old, give me time people!

The Nomster did agree to let me babysit her, but neither of us agreed to the wind. Oregon coast.

I ain't never seen no boy that hankered to tractors this much. He's a born driver I tell ya. Asher McBasher at the Blue Heron cheese place.

I told him and told him, but he never learned to use a binkie. Lis and Bri's old house I guess.

I think I was just trying to take a picture, but he must have thought I was punishing him?

Just a normal picture of Lance and Renee, and we happened to be at Burgerville, the onions are not the only thing that's sweet about this picture.

This is Gavin, and my soon to be soggy sunglasses. No, he is not in front of a rail fence, that's Lance.

C.J. and Ne-Ne, whatev.

I swear mom, that sandwich was this long! (and this tall for Conner).

Nothin brings family together like double-bacon-Dels at Del Taco. Still the best burger for your buck, but I haven't had the triple yet, so that may change. Del Taco used to be a regular family occurence when I was in Provo, I hope Brooke can fill my awesome shoes. *Sniff*. I just got something in both my eyes, sorry.

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!!!!!!

2008-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

I guess the Bandanna scarf lost in the polls, but not in my heart. Luckily in San Francisco you can wear whatever you want. To all of you who hated it, just make sure you ain't missin the fashion train when she rolls into the station.
Update on law school, I got a B on my first test, so I probably won't flunk out, you can all stop holding your breaths. I'm talking to you, Chad and Mike, you're turning purple.

The Cowboy Scarf

2008-11-07T00:56:00.000-08:00

Ok guys, check it out. I want every bodies opinion on this, can you rock the bandanna as a Scarf? This is an important issue in our time. Vote on the side, give it to me straight.