Labor Day

Is anyone coming up for the holiday? Just a reminder, the Hinchcliff reunion is Sept 21st. West Piney, Id. We are doing breakfast on the 22nd. If anybody wants to stay here on Friday night and go up early Sat that would be fine. I work ?Friday night so won't be going up until Sat morning. My Aunt Karma has put alot of work into it, not to mention she paid for the lodge, so it would be great if as many as possible could come. With this heat maybe we can still waterski then!
Mom

Pictures?

Did anyone take any pictures at Reed's family days - or DOT for that matter?

One year older... and wiser too!

HAPPY B-DAY!!!!

Idaho in the news

heard about his on the afternoon news, but had a hard time finding the article. I guess if you have a catchy jingle in your head, you better not start tapping your foot in the stall of a public restroom.
Unless you are meaning too. "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"~ Seinfeld


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467347/

South Carolina, Engineers, Jellyfish

So, I spent all of last week at a conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was pretty typical for a conference - beautiful setting, long days, progressively more boring. I went running on the beach each evening, which was nice. It was always ~90 deg with about 70% humidity, regardless of the time of day. The beaches were pretty sparsely occupied. The hotel was right on the beach, but a little run down. The last day I was there (Friday) I finally got in the water. It was probably about 80 degrees, but pretty murky, couldn't see more than a few inches down. Despite the nice weather and warm water, I had never seen more than a couple of people just sort of wadding out into the ocean. I went out about up to my waist and just sort of wandered around for awhile. There really wasn't enough surf to do any body surfing, although maybe with some sort of board or floatation device you might have had some fun. After about 10 minutes in the water I felt a strange sort of sting on the leg. Thought to myself, what's that? Immediately after, I got several more up my leg around my knee, and guessed right away that I was having a personal encounter with a jellyfish. It really wasn't all that bad, kind of like a bee sting. I hopped right out of the water and basically walked it off. The stinging was mostly gone after about 15-30 minutes. It did leave some rather extensive red marks on my leg, almost like a rash, but those were faded by the end of the day. To hear people describe jellyfish stings I was anticipating excruciating pain, like I might want to rip my leg off or something, but it wasn't bad at all really. I didn't get back in the water though. Perhaps that's way the other beach goers remained on the shore as well.

Logan, Utah?

I have an interview with a law office in Logan, Utah on Monday. Other than pretty mountains, good basketball, bad football, cheese, Pro-Form, and some of the worst air-quality in the nation, what do all of you Loganites have to say? Any advice or talking points about Cache Valley?

I was thinking about it. Some of you probably have an impression of Provo like I have of Logan: All student housing and basement apartments.

brad

Truuk?

Did Rich pull the trigger on his Trrruuk yet? Is his desire for a large, brawny, man-car a reaction to Kade's obsession with Barbies?

Actually, I was going to suggest you try AutoTrader.com if you haven't. It is a good way to find private and dealer listings for a specific make/model/year.

brad

DOT LOG

Dot un-officially began Wednesday evening when Trent and Kylie arrived at the 599 Troy Ave. Our bodies and minds were fresh. The evening was spent visiting and laughing.

The morning brought on a more adventurous attitude. The boat was loaded and launched around 11:30. Weather – ominous. The lake proved a challenge with over-cast skies and strong breezes. We forged on. Dale, Pat, Val, Brad, Trent, Alison, Kylie, Morgan, Baby Morgan, and Riley all entered the water.

2:30 – the heavens open and the sun is seen. More boarding and skiing. Rations are running a little low. Chicken wings are gone, Dew is gone, Licorice is plentiful.

We leave the lake around 4:00 and go home to begin the Red Meat Meal. We have more Ribeye than people. After dinner, some sleeping and a lot of complaining about being sore ensues. After the kiddies go to sleep we watch Disturbia. Pat has trouble sleeping following the film.

Friday morning began slowly. Lots of stiffness in legs, backs, arms etc. Misery level – medium. Todd, Dale, Brad, and Trent go play noon ball. Misery level – Orange. Sandwiches for lunch. Boat leaves home-base around 2 or so. Weather is manageable. Despite the elevated misery level, more skiing and wakeboarding are endured.

We return from skiing and hit the showers around 5:30. Sometime during my shower, Val and Rich have a discussion about domestic labor. The fall-out continues through the evening. Dinner is dutch oven. Latter in the evening we convene at Todds to watch SpiderMan. Todd and I spent about 1 hour looking at the TV trying to figure out how to hook up the audio from the computer. Then Todd reached into his back pocket and pulled out the TV Input Diagram and it took 10 seconds. I go to bed sometime after midnight.

Saturday began bright and early, raising the Misery Level to Triangle. Todd, Brad, Trent, and Dale go play 9 holes of golf. Skill Level – Sub-Amateur. We finish up and come home around 10 am. There is a lot of discussion about going out on the boat. It never happened. Rich spent most of his day driving around in truucks (yes, that is how you say it). At one point, Rich’s family and Brad and Ali went to see Ali’s dad and look at his truck. Mr. Hulse’s truck may or may not be for sale. . . it is kind of secretly for sale. He did offer his opinion on trucks to Rich, which I am sure was worth the trip.

Ali and Brad went home Saturday eve. Apparently, there was dutch oven ribs for dinner. If I had known that, we might have blown off church and stayed another night. I took a lot of video of skiing, but it won’t be up for awhile.

That is pretty much it. Oh, Dale did order a new computer. 20” LCD monitor, 320 GB Harddrive, 1GB ram, 128 MB nVidia graphics card, 2GHZ Duo Core Intel CPU with 800 mhz FSB, CD RW/DVD RW, internal Wireless Network Adapter, Windows Vista Premium AND a Floppy Drive (?). 650$ before tax, free shipping.

Maybe it is time to move. . .

I guess that you get tax-breaks in the US, but I think the prizes-for-procreation system might be a better deal. Anyone want to move to Russia?

Brad

Leisure - DOT

Days Of Trent are upon us.

Other than eating and boating, I am wondering if Kylie might want to cut my hair? We can work out some sort of compensation plan.

Also, I think we should use some of our down time to watch a movie or two. I have Disturbia and the NEW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie. I might also have SpiderMan. And we should play some Command and Conquer. And Redneck Golf. And Maybe Noon-Ball. And I need to apply for jobs.

So who is up for fun?

brad

It's a .....

Well I found out today that we are having another baby.......BOY!!! That's right - I am destined to be in scouts forever! :) When I told Kade he said, "Not again - now we will have 3 boys! Maybe the next one can be a girl." I am happy to have another boy - the first two have been great so why change??

Blog Wizard

Is Rich our Blog Wizard? I would like to be able to add my Nike+ Runs to this page, and maybe a link to my Romney Page. Can Rich give me access?

brad

Importing Goods to Idaho

The Week of Trent is almost upon us. I was wondering if Trent and/or Kylie would be willing to bring up some peaches for me. Some Utah peaches. I was also wondering if Brad and/or Ali would be willing to visit the MAC counter at Nordstrom and get me some moisturizer. Let me know what you are willing to do and I will give the specifics :)

Morgan Speaks Ewok!!

Rising, Like a Phoenix out of Arizona

I got back from Phoenix after being there for four weeks. All you need to know about the Phoenix/Mesa/Tempe/Chandler/Gilbert area is this:

1. It is Big.
2. It is Hot.
3. There are Cactus.
4. There are Dust Storms.

I stayed with Scott and Kalie Sharp. We got to know Scott and Kalie while Scott was finishing his MS in Mechanical Engineering and just as Kalie finished her BA in Business at BYU. Scott now works in the Phx area for Orbital. Orbital makes rockets, some of them associated somehow with National Missile Defense. I'm starting to think that Missile Defense is a ruse to ensure that the United States has trained and skilled engineers. Anyway, they were gracious hosts and I am sure I was more than a small inconvenience. We all made it the four weeks without any major melt-down or drama.

Other than work, I went to a few movies. Live Free or Die Hard was pretty good. Transformers was a little like being stuck inside of a 12 year-olds brain for 2 hours. The Simpsons' Movie was like a 2 hour Simpsons episode with a few swear words and some nudity. SpiderMan 3 was the best, but I really like the SpiderMan movies.

Probably the biggest disappointment was taking Scott and one of his co-workers to a Brazilian Steakhouse that got excellent reviews in the local newspaper. It was a bit more 'authentic' than the Brazilian place here in Provo, but it the selection was limited and it wasn't all that great. And it costs a bit more than Tucanos, the place here in Provo. My search for the perfect Rodizio continues, I understand that Fogo de Chao is where I need to go.

I guess the real interesting thing about Phoenix was the work I did for the Never Again Foundation. I think I have explained that NAF represents women and children in civil proceedings against abusers. What that means is we sue men who have physically or sexually abused women and children and seek millions of dollars in judgment. Here is a quick sample of a couple of cases I dealt with:

1. Friend of 19 year old girl blows his lid and beats her with a closet rod, leaving her unconscious and badly, badly injured. He then calls his mom who shows up and waits an hour before calling 911. The moms home-owners insurance is paying for legal counsel for both of them.

2. A police-officer friend-of-family has been sending suggestive emails to a pre-teen for a couple years, culminating in an online relationship and eventually sexual abuse.

3. Husband beats wife over course of several years and sexually abuses step-children.

Anyway, people usually get queasy when I talk about it, but the cases sound like they come right out of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Intentional Torts (assault and battery) isn't really a practice area, unless you happen to work for NAF. The legal issues we encountered were usually procedurally related, so it is stuff that I will be doing my whole life, probably.

The other thing I discovered is that I really like litigation. I got to write a response to an attorney's rather acrimonious letter my first week there. I dare say "nailed it"
may be an adequate description of my response. I doubt I will get to deal with the "competitive" side of legal practice for several years, but I really enjoyed it. What other job is there where you are measured by your ability to argue against an adversary? There is a really kind of competitive nature to it.

So, that is pretty much PHX in a nutshell. I will be applying to several firms that are participating in on-campus-interviews over the next few weeks. There is a pretty good chance this will lead to a job next summer and then something full time I graduate. It's also possible no one will want to interview me and I will be cold-calling firms in January. I'm supposed to decide where, geographically, I would like to work. Utah looks like the most likely place I will focus. Idaho Falls doesn't have a real vibrant legal practice, apparently. Alison is kicking around some other locations.

brad

Trent's Big 2-4

Trent's birthday was yesterday. Party's aren't as much fun when there's only 2 people, we didn't even eat any of the cake I made (exept for a few sprees in the corner). But we still had fun. We went to dinner at Iggy's, and did a recap on the Bourne movies so we can go watch the new one this weekend (i'm so excited!).

Father's Day Pay Up

Since Rich never checks this site anymore he wanted me to post a reminder to all those who wanted to go in on the Father's Day gift for Dale - the edger - that they all still needed to pay. I think those who wanted to go in were:

Jared
Val
Brad
Trent

The amount came to $15.00 each and you can send that to Rich if you want. Our address here in Idaho Falls is:

2820 Dorothy St.
Idaho Falls, ID
83402

Thanks

Brave and Stupid

This is some footage I captured at "that famous Preston rodeo" last weekend. It was surprisingly fun. There was also some intense mutton busting going on that I wish I would have got some video of.