Reaping the Whirlwind

So it is September, and things are getting busier all the time. I could go on and on about all the thoughts swimming around in my head right now, and the activities that consume my days, but I will focus on them one at a time.

- Classes/App Ad: App Ad, or Appellate Advocacy for those not enrolled in it, is time-consuming, but probably one of the more practically useful classes I will take here. We just had our conferences this week to go over the first draft of the brief, and I was glad that I didn't have any points taken off the final grade. The next step is to submit our "micro draft", the second of the three drafts, and the last chance we will have to get feedback before we submit the final copy on November 6. The oral arguments will follow about two weeks later.

My classes are interesting-a diverse group of Evidence, Business Associations (Corporations), First Amendment, Federal Courts, and App Ad. They are all supplying valuable knowledge (BA is tough because I don't specifically have a business background) but First Amendment is especially interesting because of my passion for constitutional law. Federal Courts is also a good class, delving into the jurisprudential theory behind sovereign immunity, federal vs. state jurisdiction, and a lot of the procedural constitutional law topics. I am glad I signed up for it, since it will prepare me well for Civil Procedure II in the spring.

- Bowling: I had a bad night at the lanes last night, bowling only a 100 and 95 in the two games (I had a 138 average going into last night). I will definitely have to pick things up starting next week. At least my handicap will be higher next time.

- Fantasy football: I have a pretty good team put together, with Michael Vick as my quarterback, Donte Stallworth and Larry Fitzgerald as two of my receivers, and Tony Gonzalez from the Chiefs as my tight end. My title chances were hurt when Shaun Alexander, my star running back, broke his foot, but I will adjust. I have Warrick Dunn as my backup running back, and I will try and trade for someone else (if I could just figure out how, if I can, to rework my "can't cut" list).

If only I could trade for Ray Lewis and A.J. Hawk on defense, and Ladanian (sp?) Tomlinson as my fill-in running back....I guess we can't always have what we want.

- CLS conference: more to come on this soon, but it looks as though the pieces are falling into place to attend the Christian Legal Society national conference in San Antonio, Texas in November. It is looking like a great event, with Alan Sears as one of the speakers, so I am really looking forward to hearing from him and the other presenters. I am going along with one other person from our chapter, so it will be nice to have someone there representing Ohio State. Plus, it will be fantastic to see some of my Blackstone friends again; I know of about 5-6 people who are planning on going.

This is indicative of a larger desire I have to travel. I thought that maybe I would get some of it out of system after this summer, having been to Cincinnati, Boston and Phoenix, among other places, but all that flying and traversing time zones has made me want to travel even more. I am not sure yet if we will get to sightsee while in San Antonio, but I definitely want to see the Alamo if I get a chance. Next year, I plan to visit Los Angeles when I go to the Blackstone reunion in June-should be a great time. I figure this is the time to travel, while I am young, single, and have the means to get on a plane and go. Other places I want to see include the Mountain West (Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana), Alaska, and Hawaii.