What's Up With Chris

Been a long time...

2009-08-12T10:40:00.003-06:00

Since my sister got on my case about not writing on my blog I figured it's about time to do another entry. And it has been five months so, you know, whatever. Let's see since the last time I wrote quite a bit has happened, I wonder if I can remember it all. First off I guess, I just finished up my first year of law school and it was a good one, a hard one but a good one. Everyone always tells you that it's going to be a lot of work, but you don't really understand until you do it. None the less I really enjoyed my first year and am looking forward to the second one to start.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to it starting is that I was invited to join a couple of law journals. One is the Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business, GLOBAL, and the second is the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest, JOLPI. Now, most people only do one journal, in face I think I'm the only one this year doing a dual membership, because it is so time consuming. No one mentioned that to me, so I was the only one stupid enough to accept a dual membership. I don't really regret it though, because it is going to give me plenty of experience, it's going to look good on a resume, and most importantly it I really really enjoy both subjects. I really enjoy international law, and comparative politics so GLOBAL will satisfy that itch, but I also really enjoy civil and human rights, and Constitutional Law, so JOLPI will qualm that appetite. It will be another really hard year but I am really really looking forward to it.

Speaking of international, the most fun thing I was able to do this summer was to go to England and study for a month at Cambridge University. It was a blast. Not really the school part, but the traveling every weekend. I did enjoy the classes I took, Introduction to English Legal History, and Introduction to the Law of the European Union. Like I said I've always been interested in International Law, and comparative politics so the EU class was a no brainer. Also, I love history, and I felt that since the American system of law developed as a part of English law, and since the Revolution, parallel to the English system, it was important to understand just how that system developed. Hopefully that knowledge will help me to better understand some subjects in the future. But the real reason I went to Cambridge was to see as much of the United Kingdom and Ireland as I can. I traveled five weekends and it still wasn't enough to see everything I wanted, so I guess I will have to go back. Of the things I saw, Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of England, Parliament House and Big Ben, Westminster, Lincoln, York, Wembley Stadium and the Wembley Cup, Belfast, and Dublin, I didn't see anything I didn't like. Every weekend I enjoyed seeing the sights and I would do it all over again if I had the chance.

I'm sure that I'm forgetting something that has happened since the last time I wrote but I'm going to end this one on Cambridge. I will really try to do better Tara so please, when you see me, stop beating me up just to make me write an entry.

Great Way to Start Out Spring Break...

2009-03-09T12:41:00.004-06:00

So it's spring break and time that I added another post to my blog. School is going really well and I am enjoying it a lot. This last week I had a draft due of my brief in support of summary judgment for law skills and I had a midterm for Family Law. Family law has turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be. I don't want to do it for a practice but I found it interesting and some of the stories are entertaining as well. I'm just glad after having to do the polygamy cases that all the incest cases we read came from Tennessee.

The brief that we are writing has also become much more interesting than I feared so I'm happy for that. Contracts is still probably my favorite class which has surprised me because I'm also doing Constitutional Law this semester and I assumed that it would be my favorite subject. Turns out that my teacher isn't the greatest and having had Con Law classes before has made it kind of a review for the most part. Criminal law is ok.

So like I said Spring Break started Friday March 7 and I have to say that it started out really . . . eventful. All in all I think it has been great but busy. I worked Saturday morning and then Brittney and I drove up to DC to spend two days with Nate who is there training for a clerk job. It was really great to see Nate and really fun to tour the Mall and walk around. We saw the Washington Monument and the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. It was a lot of fun. The next day we went to the DC Temple and took some pictures. And after that Brittney and I started our drive home.

On our way home I got a call from my room mate and he let me know that our apartment building had burned down. So this is how eventful my life has been. We don't know what happened and the building didn't burn all the way down but the fire marshal condemned the building. See the pictures below. So I have been dealing with management and insurance since that happened. I'm looking forward to how this will all play out. Life can be so much fun and I really mean that. I hope you are all safe and I hope you are all as happy or happier than I am. :)

My Life and My Car

2009-02-12T11:10:00.002-07:00

So it has been well over a month since I last posted something. And let me say that life is good. Actually I'll go one step further and say life is great. To start off I will just preface this by saying that school is going well as far as I know of and I'm staying quite busy. My classes are more interesting than they were last semester and I hope that things work out better than they did last. I am doing a Moot Court competition which is keeping me busy and it should look good on my resume. I am doing some research for a Professor Jones in regards to Romanian Constitutionalism. I am searching out all the old constitutions from the country and post them on a database. It's a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I've discovered that there are a number of constitutions from the past but as of yet have failed to find anyone that has copies of them or even snipets from them. I am also applying for internships this semester and as yet have not had any luck. I hope that I can find a place near Norfolk/Virginia Beach for multiple reasons including that it is beautiful out there.

For those of you that have heard my car you will remember the higher pitched revving that it made whenever it accelerated. Well that has been happening since I purchased the car, and since then I have been told that it was the engine, the transmission, and the alternator. Well it wasn't any of those. I was driving along when I felt a shock run through my car and a grinding noise coming from the front passenger side. I no longer had power steering and my battery light and brake light came on. Turns out my idler pulley seized up and shot a spring out of my engine compartment which shredded the serpentine drive belt. Well I got it fixed and the noise is completely gone. So I finally have gotten rid of that dang noise. I only had to pay 250.00 to do it. Good times.

Like I said life is great. My family is doing really well. We are all happy that Dov finished up this round of chemo. Mallory and Nate have had a little girl, Hailey, and she is adorable. I have the cutest nieces ever. She and Siena are going to be heart breakers. I miss hanging with my nephews, Landon and Matan, they are the biggest studs ever. I wish I could watch them grow, but I'm sure they are happy and healthy. I love life, even with car problems, and have no complaints whatsoever.

My Niece Doing Flips

2008-12-25T14:07:00.003-07:00

I hate computers sometimes....

2008-10-01T13:08:00.002-06:00

So I left my computer at school overnight, which I usually do. The next day I came back to the library, pulled out my computer and started booting up my computer and somehow a file on my computer became corrupted. I took it to the IT guys and apparently my computer can't find my hard drive. It seems to have disappeared. So chances are that I have lost all my class notes and case briefs which I've taken over the last five weeks. I am going to try somethings so I will try to keep this blog up to date. Anyways, take it easy.

Chris

Worst Case Yet

2008-09-10T13:35:00.003-06:00

So this is a case that they asked us to read for Torts. Torts are personal injury suits including Battery, Assault, and False Imprisonment. This case has to do with Assault and is copied right from the book with no typos.

I de S and M, his wife, complain of W de S concerning this, that the said W, in the year, etc., with force and arms did make an assault upon said M de S and beat her. And it was found by the verdict of the inquest that the said W came at night to the house of the said I and sought to buy of his wine, but the door of the tavern was shut and he beat upon the door with a hatchet which he had in his hand, and the wife of the plaintiff put her head out of the window and commanded him to stop, and he saw and he struck with the hatchet but did not hit the woman. Whereupon the inquest said that it seemed to them that there was no trespass since no harm was done.

Thorpe, C.J. There is harm done and a trespass for which he shall recover damages since he made an assault upon the woman, as has been found, although he did no other harm. Wherefore tax the damages, etc. And they taxed the damages at half a mark. Thorpe awarded that they should recover their damages, etc., and that the other should be taken. And so note that for an assault a man shall recover damages, etc.

That was the opinion given in 1348. Nice huh?

My First Week of School...

2008-08-31T17:26:00.003-06:00

So it is the end of my first week in law school and I thought I would list my schedule and maybe jot down some things that I have learned. I wake up at 6:30 or 7:00, not cause I have to but I find I'm more productive that way, and I get ready and try to leave my apartment around 7:30 or 8. I used to walk to school, though I bought a bike so it isn't going to take me as long to get to school. So I study til my first class which what ever day is always at 10:00. Monday and Wednesday I have Civil Procedure at 10:00 AM I then have a break until 2:20 when I have Torts. Really dry professor I hope I don't fall asleep. I am free after that at 4:00 and then can study and go home.

Tuesday I have Property at 10:00 and lawyering skills at 6:00PM and then I'm done that day. Thursday I have Property at 10:00 and then Legal Research at 3:30 and then I'm done. So that's my life; school, library, and home.

So what have I learned. Well in my civil procedure class I've learned that you can be sued in any court as long as you've had contact with the state and have availed yourself of any of it's benefits or its protections. This is especially important to corporations since many are incorporated in Delaware but do business all over the country.

In Torts I've learned that intent is important when proving Battery or Negligence. One woman sued a 6 1/2 year old for pulling out a chair from underneath her. The court found that he didn't have the intent to harm her, but the appellate court said that intent was knowing that the action could bring harm and that the victim would act in a certain way. The kid knew that what he did could have caused harm and had a reasonable belief that the woman would try to sit down where the chair had been so they remanded to the original court and they found the child liable of a battery tort.

My Property class I think will be my favorite this semester. We are talking about lost, mislaid and abandoned property. Finders Keepers Losers Weepers is actually law. The law says that the finder of a lost object claims possession of it over everyone else in the world but the original owner. So if you find 20 dollars on floor, or parking lot of a store it's yours to possess. You don't get title but you get to possess it. Lost property is defined by the nature of the item and where it is found. So it is reasonable to believe that a person wouldn't put a 20 bill on the floor and therefore we can believe that it was placed there accidentally, and without the owners knowledge. Mislaid is something that is left in a place and forgotten. So if you find a wallet on a table at a barber shop it is reasonable to assume that it was left there on purpose. In that case the wallet's possession would go to the owner of the property in question.

Classes are going well and they are interesting so I'm really happy. The only thing that bothers me out here is the fact that the use the F word like it's their job, and they drink way too much. I've remember how much I hate dealing with drunk people, and I hate swearing. Both being drunk and swearing make you sound and look so stupid and ignorant. And I know people out here are as smart as anywhere. Anyways I'll stop complaining and finish this up. Take care everyone and thanks for reading my blog.

2008-08-13T17:36:00.005-06:00

Front Door of the T.C. Williams School of Law

From the Inside Looking Out

This is the Student Building It is built out over the lake area

This is the Lake

Welcome to the University of Richmond

My Big Move

2008-08-12T18:56:00.001-06:00

Ok so I promised that I would write about my trip every night but I didn’t realize just how tiring driving 2200 miles could actually be. So I am sitting in a Ramada with Mom. I am staying here two nights since I don’t have a bed and the one that I ordered online won’t be here until Friday. So I figured I would document my move while I sit here watching the Olympics.

So starting in Salt Lake we took I-80. Before I even left the state we had a problem. So I am trailing a truck by about twenty or thirty feet and I see him go over something flat about the surface area of a medium cardboard box. As the truck passed over it, it flipped up in the air and smacked my front bumper. Turns out it was a white board and I just missed what was written on it. It didn’t do much damage; it bent a little part down by the grill, and cracked the plastic rocker panel underneath the front end, so all in all a great way to start the trip.

Other than that the first day was really long. We didn’t stop to do any sight-seeing. We did stop to eat at a place in Wyoming called Chappy’s. It was a nice place that served a variety of foods. On the menu they had American cuisine, burgers and what not, they had Italian, Mexican and of course seafood, all in this little truck stop dive. Good patty-melt though. So we finished driving and made it through Nebraska and got into Omaha/Council Bluffs, but couldn’t find a hotel with any free rooms. And if Nebraska is hell then Omaha is Satan’s navel. It was late I was tired and all I wanted was to find a place to stay and get some sleep but no. So we drove on until we found a little place that was a gas station and a freakin’ dive; the kind of place about which they make scary movies. This place had only one decoration and that was a dirty stuffed panda in the corner. My bed didn’t even have a real bottom sheet so whenever I moved I found myself lying right on top of the mattress. So when the morning came we just got up and sped out of there as soon as we could.

The second day was more interesting then the last. We had a pretty normal trip from the West of Iowa to Chicago. The only thing that was very interesting was the windmills. They are everywhere between Wyoming and Illinois. While we were driving we even came across one that was being assembled. They build them in sections up and then use a crane to lift the fan up. I would have to be the guy that has to hold it steady while someone bolts it into place. So that was really cool. Well we got to Chicago but unfortunately we didn’t have time to see Wrigley Field and get some food so I had to make the tough decision. And I chose right. We went to a little restaurant that I had found online called Bucovina that serves authentic Romanian food. It was as good as I remembered it. It was also really nice to talk to a real Romanian again. I haven’t forgotten the language but it just doesn’t come as easily or smoothly as it used to so I will have to work on that. Chicago is a really nice city, we were able to get a few pictures of the skyline and it was beautiful. I have come to hate toll ways though. We started using them in Illinois and didn’t stop using them until just inside Pennsylvania. They were worse in Illinois. You had to pay every ten miles or so, where as in the other states you just picked up a ticket at the border and then paid whenever you got off the road. So if any of you decided to drive across the country, I would advise you to avoid the toll roads.

After Chicago we stopped in South Bend and took some pictures and then I let Mom take over driving. Everything was going fine until that night when we were looking for the hotel that Dad reserved for us. Well Mom was coming up on an on ramp and she moved over to the other lane and all the sudden lights are going off behind us. Mom pulls over and the patrolman comes up to the window and asks the classic question. “Ma’am do you know why I pulled you over?” And of course Mom answered, “Because I was speeding a little.” The patrolman said, “Well yeah you were going a little fast, but I pulled you over because you made an illegal lane change.” I automatically thought of Dad and thought how unlucky it was that Dad never signals and never gets pulled over and the one time that Mom fails to she gets caught. Anyway the guy was nice and let us go with a warning. Oh and the hotel that Dad got had to be the worst Howard Johnson in the world. It was just as bad as the first hotel, but it wasn’t Dad’s fault. The website rated it as a two star hotel. I don’t know what they were thinking but that’s place didn’t deserve two lucky charms stars. So we canceled that one and stayed at a Super 8.

Well the last day was nice. Pennsylvania is beautiful. William Penn must have peed his pants when he got the charter for that land. It is amazing. Maryland was beautiful too. It is just so much greener than Utah, I will miss the mountains though. Today wasn’t very exciting. We stopped in Hancock, Maryland for lunch at a place called Weaver’s. We decided to stop there because it reminded me of Weaver D’s in Athens, GA and if you don’t know Weaver D’s talk to Brooks. It was good, and the little town was really nice. D.C. was horrible. We didn’t actually go through D.C. but the road was jammed for ten miles and it took us nearly an hour just to go that far.

We are finally here and it is really nice. I am going to really like Richmond, and I think that I will enjoy the area in which I’ll live. It seems like a nice place, quite and safe. I think I will like my roommate, turns out that he was in Waterton for one of the days that we were there. I am really excited to start this part of my life, and I am looking forward to school. Thank you all for all the help, support, and love that you have shown. I look up to you all and look forward to doing my best to make you all proud!

Forgiveness

2008-07-26T10:15:00.002-06:00

I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. Giving and receiving and the imports of both, and though I am no where close to having perfected these thoughts I decided that it would be beneficial to write down and share some of my thoughts.

I figure the place to start would be to discuss the role of the offender. As an offender trying to make amends asking for forgiveness is of utmost importance. In our desire for perfection we must ask forgiveness, but why? Why is someone else's opinion of us so important? The fact is that asking for forgiveness isn't about receiving it, it isn't about changing the offended's opinion about us; but rather it's about recognizing our own short comings and faults. For instance if I have a problem with stealing the first thing that I need to do is to return that which I have stolen and next must ask forgiveness. No matter if I never steal again, no matter if I'm never tempted again as long as I refuse to ask forgiveness I deny any wrong doing on my part. I leave a sliver of the sin or mistake in me to fester. Asking forgiveness is about humbling ourselves and rooting out all parts of the sin that is inside of each one of us. Failure to ask forgiveness will ruin all progress we make to rooting out the flaws in our character and will only reinforce our prideful natures, and there is nothing more harmful than pride. Therefore receiving forgiveness isn't as important as the act of asking for it. For the offender asking is all that's important. If I ask forgiveness I don't care if the other person forgives me. If the refuse to forgive that is there problem not mine. Which leads to giving forgiveness.

If asking forgiveness is the most important thing an offender can do than giving it is the most important thing the offended must do. I say must because it isn't a question of should I or shouldn't I, it is a matter of necessity. I have often wondered at the command that we are given in the Bible and elsewhere to forgive our debtors, to forgive everyone and why we should. Are we commanded to forgive so that we ourselves learn mercy? Yes, but that's not the prime reason. Are we commanded to forgive because it isn't our place to pass judgment but rather that role belongs to someone else? Yes, but that's not the prime reason. So what is the prime reason? I believe the reason we are commanded to forgive isn't for the forgiven but for us. Think back to a time where giving forgiveness came slowly for you, how did you feel? When I think about the times where I have given forgiveness grudgingly I remember how the offense ate at me. Me the one that was offended and not the one that caused the offense. It is a sick twist of fate that when we are affronted that remember the insult causes us further harm, maybe even more harm than the original offense. This is why we are commanded to forgive, so that the mote of a single insult doesn't coalesce into a beam of anger, hatred, and worse--vengeance. One of my favorite lines from the Doctrine and Covenants is found in the ninth verse of section 64 and I quote, "Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin." I think this says it perfectly, if we fail to forgive we are the condemned, we are the damned.

In conclusion my greatest fear is that I will be too proud to ask for forgiveness and that when it is asked of me I will be too vain, too ignorant, too stupid to give it freely. I fear that even should I give it with my lips that I will retain the offense and let it poison my relationships with others in the future. To retain the offense is a failure to forgive and I will stand condemned, I will falter and stumble in my desire to achieve perfection, and I would dare say that there are those in my family, in addition to me, that are failing to forgive and to forget. Again failure to forget and move on is a failure to forgive.

Insights from My Readings

2008-06-19T19:11:00.002-06:00

So for Christmas Tara and Dov gave me a book called The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. It's a great book. A.J. Jacobs is a writer for Esquire magazine and also wrote a book called Know-It-All which I haven't read but which I gather is a book about him reading the entire encyclopedia.

When this book started A.J. was an avowed agnostic. For those of you like me that don't have a clear-cut definition of what an agnostic is this is how Merriam-Webster defines it. A person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god. So I would say that he started out this project as a neutral party. But the book is quite good, it's written as his journal and he records the experiences the frustrations and the epiphanies he undergoes. One of them struck me as something so simple and yet something that I and a lot of us forget and at which we fail. I'm going to include his entry. It's header is "Honor your father and your mother..." Exodus 20:12

'Tonight Julie (His wife) and I are going over to my parents' house, and I plan to make a conscious effort to be more honorable...Despite the embarrassingly early curfew they game me in high school, despite the daily guilt trips about not seeing them enough, despite the quibbles, they've been, on balance, very good parents. Just last week I figured out something about my dad. i realized that he checks my Amazon.com page every day, and if there's a bad review up there, he clicks on the "Not helpful" box. It makes me want to hug him - if we weren't both so repressed."

This experience with his father made me think. What do our parents do for us that we don't realize, or that we don't see. We always expect that we know everything. We feel that when our parents aren't perfect we have every right to criticize, or mock them and their decisions but the truth is that we don't know everything they do or have done for us. We don't realize, or comprehend everything that they have or will sacrifice for our benefit and it seems really childish for me to hold a grudge, or for me to think I know better. This extends not only to my parents but to those around me. I find that when I'm judging someone I'm doing so on such limited knowledge that it makes me appear arrogant, selfish and prideful. I know now why the scriptures teach us 'judge not lest ye be judged for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged." I would hate to be judged by anyone else on their limited knowledge and I would hate to think that if I judge someone in this manner that the Savior would use this same limited judgment on me as a punishment or as a lesson to me. We should be less arrogant, less prideful, less selfish and refuse to judge someone else by what we know of them because what we don't know is probably much more than what we do know. This is just one thing I realized from this part, but to continue with his entry:

"I don't treat them nearly well enough. I honor them only in a lip-service way. I call them every weekend, but I spend the twenty minutes of the phone call playing hearts on my PowerBook or cleaning the closet while tossing out the occasional "mm-hmmm. " I delete without reading my mom's emailed jokes about vacuous blondes or wacky etymology."

This reminded me of Isaiah 29:13. "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote" Not only do we do this with the God, but we do it with our parents as well. We think that we can honor them in body but not in spirit. We don't truly honor them we just make a show, or pretend to honor them. I think this commandment wasn't meant for outward show but like so many that God has given us it was meant to change the way we think, and feel. We are meant to change our hearts, to soften them towards our parents so that we feel that we honor them, deep down in our hearts. Because no matter how good of an actor we are we can't lie to ourselves and we can't lie to God. Both know whether we truly honor our parents or not. I guess I digressed there but the point is that we should not just show honor to our parents but to truly change our hearts, and our outlooks. Further speaking of the night he and his wife were having with his parents, A.J. said:

"Tonight is dinner and a DVD...About forty-five minutes in, during another musket loading scene, I look over and notice my mom asleep in her chair. And not just light dozing. We're talking mouth-agape, head-slumped-on-the-chest deep slumber. I nudge Julie. At this point, I am planning to whisper something clever along the lines of 'Looks like my mom is really enjoying the movie.' Or perhaps I would have gone with a sight gag - an impression of my mom with her jaw slack. But I stop myself. This isn't good-natured jesting. It has a tinge of mockery to it....I just smile vacantly at Julie, who then goes back to watching Jeff Daniels."

This las paragraph was what really moved me. My family and I like to joke around and I like to think that most of the time it is good-natured jesting, but more often then not what I saw has that tinge of mockery to it. Isn't it better when confronted with this dilemma just not to say anything. Especially when directed to someone we are supposed to honor. I think that I can hold my tongue more often when some jest comes to my mind and I will place this filter most seriously on my conversation and dialog with my parents and I would recommend that to everyone.

I really enjoy this book and I think that I will continue to post insights that I have from all my readings and my everyday life. If I bore you I'm sorry but I'm still going to do it. Hopefully this may start some talk amongst us all but if not I still feel that it was a good entry.

Chris Steele

More Law Schools

2008-02-22T20:01:00.002-07:00

So I thought that I should keep you all updated on the law school front. I have been accepted to the University of Richmond, the University of South Carolina, and DePaul University in Chicago. DePaul is offering me a merit scholarship that will cover full tuition and it will apply all three years as long as I keep a 3.5 or higher. I think that's about it. Have a good day.

Law School Update

2008-02-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I last wrote so I thought I would get you all up to date. I have finished sending in all my law school applications and I have to say there are a lot of them. I'm going to go ahead and list them:

Baylor University
Boston College
Boston University
The University of Chicago
DePaul University
George Mason University
University of Georgia
Harvard - That one was just for fun...
Lewis and Clark
University of Maryland
Michigan State
New York University
Notre Dame
University of Richmond
St. Thomas University-Miami
University of St. Thomas-Minneapolis
Seton Hall
University of South Carolina
Temple University
University of Utah
University of Washington
Washington University
William and Mary

I told you there were a lot. I have heard back from St. Thomas University-Miami and they accepted me and are willing to give me a scholarship. Temple has accepted me as well. St. Thomas is a tier 2 school where as Temple is a tier one. I am going to wait to hear back from everybody so I haven't made a decision. I will naturally keep you up to date as I hear more. Take care.

Graduation

2007-12-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Alright, so it's been a little while since I last wrote something so I thought I should try to catch you all up. Yesterday was USU's 118 commencement and I was finally able to graduate. It took me three years to do it but I finally made it.
The commencement ceremony was actually really good. F. Ross Peterson the Vice President of the university was the speaker and I thought that he gave some really good advice. He talked about how often we've been told by others that we should look to the future, and cherish the past. He said that we should spend our time in the present, dealing with the hear and now. We should learn from the past and plan for the future but it all is worthless if we fail to live in the present. I've been thinking about how I can change my outlook on life to reflect this advice, I haven't come up with anything specific yet but I'm sure I will.
After the commencement I got together with my family. Tara, Dov, Matan and Sienna were there along with Jana, Mom, and Dad. It was a blast to get together with them all, it was the highlight of the day to just sit around the house and chill with them all. The only thing that could've made it better would be if Brooks, Bonny, Nate, Malory, and Landon could've been there; but they all had good excuses. Plus I've still got my law school graduation so they can totally redeem themselves.
It feels a little strange that I don't have to worry about school next semester. I know I'm not done with my education just yet but it certainly is a relief to have my undergraduate degree behind me. It was an important step and I look forward to my final destination - law school. I don't know where I'm going, though I do have my information together for the applications. I just am waiting on some more forms so that I can send all the applications out and not have to worry about it. Don't worry I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on the whole process cause I know you're all waiting with bated breath.

Presidential Nominees and Past Transgressions

2007-11-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

There has been some publicity lately of Barack Obama's 'youthful' transgressions in regards to drugs. He spoke to a high school in New Hampshire and discussed his drug use when he was a teenager and a lot of people have gotten on his case because of it. They say that he is telling the kids that it is ok to do drugs that they can always quit. They say that because he has done well that he is telling kids that they can do drugs and it won't ruin their lives. Mitt Romney has stated that he doesn't think Obama used very good judgment and that he knows no one is perfect but that he shouldn't have been so candid with the kids.

Personally I feel it refreshing to hear that a presidential nominee would be so open, honest, and candid while running for president. I read the quotes that news agencies gave on their websites and what Obama seems to be saying is that he made a mistake in high school to do drugs and he realized that he wasted a lot of time in high school which he could've put to better use. I do think that past problems are an indication of a president's abilities but it depends on the situation. For example President Bush during his first campaign, not sure about the second, had allegations of cocaine use and drinking. I wouldn't hold this against him if he had been willing to accept his mistake and deal with it. I think it has been quite indicative of his presidency, he has made mistakes and has not been willing to admit it and deal with it. Not only is that irresponsible it is dishonest and as the president that's not a good mix. That's not a good mix in anybody. Thus I see Obama's candidness as a sweet breeze of fresh air that I think we should expect and demand from our leaders.

What are your opinions? Should we hold a nominees past transgressions against them? Should Obama's drug use be an issue in the presidential race? Let me know what you think.

Letter to the Editor: Faith v. Religion

2007-11-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

This is a letter that I wrote to the editor of the Utah Statesmen in response to an column written by their political opinions writer. The article basically stated that religion is on a crash course with reality. That science proves religion is wrong and to prove this he points out the fact that the LDS church changed the introduction to the Book of Mormon to read that the Lamanites are some of the ancestors of modern Native Americans. Before it said that they were the principle ancestors. I have plenty of arguments for that, but I thought rather than starting an argument in the paper over the church that I would attack the idea that religion and science battle each other as polar opposites. Anyways here is the letter, I would love to hear comments whether they agree with my thesis or not. And leave any comments about the whole Lamanites thing as well.

So in a no holds-bar fight, you know a steel cage death match where two people enter and only one leaves, who would win, religion or science? Personally I would have to say religion, it seems to have had most of the muscle and political clout in world history, but unfortunately we will never know for sure because there is no mystical duel between religion and science as many people believe there is today. The truth is that this argument is promulgated by the two extremes; the antagonizing scientist, and the religious fanatic. The former supports science as the sole source of truth, and the latter supports their own misconstrued ideas of God as absolute reality. The truth is that science and religion have worked together to further our knowledge of the universe and to broaden our understanding of God and the way He works. Take the ideas of the Big Bang and the Creation as told in the Bible. Before science postulated the general age of the Earth many thought that it took God literally seven days to create the Earth. Now we know that when the Bible says seven days it is using figurative speech and that it would be better to say seven separate periods of time. Science and Faith aren’t in a showdown. For those who are religious, science is one more way to better understand the Bible, and to further cultivate knowledge of the way in which God operates. If you, as a religious person, decide to neglect science because it scares you, you are blinding yourself to an important tool in your pursuit of spiritual wisdom.

Thus to say that faith and science are at odds with each other in a legendary clash of might is quite imprudent. The objective individual will find that the argument isn’t black and white as portrayed by the extremists but rather reality is a colorful combination of both sides. For once you can have your cake and eat it too.

Brief Intro

2007-11-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

So I thought that I would start out with a little intro about my life in general right now. I'm in Logan still and I'm going to Utah State University, the best school in Utah. I'm studying Law and Constitutional Studies and I'm graduating in December, finally. I'm super excited for it to be over, but I will definitely miss Utah State, especially the basketball games but I guess you have to move on sometime. Right now I'm starting the application process for law school and man is it fun...that was sarcasm. I'm applying mostly to schools out East, and my top four picks are New York University, University of Chicago Law, William and Mary, and Boston University/College. I'm going to apply to a dozen other schools as well but those are the ones at which I would really like to be accepted.

My family and I just went to Hawaii on a family trip and it was a blast. Honestly I want to go back as soon as possible, and next time I'm going to learn how to surf. We went to visit Pearl Harbor, we went snorkeling, and I went para sailing. It was a really fun trip.

I also went out to Georgia this last weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. He completing his MBA and really enjoying it. He got me a ticket to the football game between Georgia and Kentucky, it was a blast. There is a huge difference between football out there and here. You don't know tail-gating until you see Georgia. We started at 9 and went till 12:30 and people didn't stop until early the next morning. I had the opportunity to check out the law school while I was there too. They took me on a tour and just kind of told me about their law school, but the best part was that I was able to sit in on a class. It seems like a really nice school with a good environment, not too cut throat like other schools.

Well that's about it. It's college basketball season again which means that it's like Christmas until March. Aggie basketball will keep me entertained for months! Take care of yourselves and I'll try to keep you up to date on everything else. I'd love to hear from you all so write me and let me know how you're doing.

Chris

The Begining

2007-11-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

So I decided that I would start a blog so that I could keep my friends and family up to date. You all know I'm not a huge talker so I guess this is a good way to let you all know what's going on with me. Also this will be good for me because now I'll know what I've done and just what I've told people, better communication, what more could you want. Anyways I'll try to keep posting so you all know just how...exciting...my life is...or isn't.