That Dictation Almost Killed Me

Dictation

Today we went riding at Brian Head, the weather was perfect. It was really fun, and definitely worth the $52 lift ticket, especially compared to Mammoth's $83 ticket. At first, we were just sticking to the trails, maybe going in the trees a bit. It was fun, but not that exciting. We are powder hounds at heart, so we had to find some pow.

Take note of the wrist guards.

After lunch, things took a turn for the awesome when we hit the back country. It wasn't that back country though, it was more just like out of bounds - we were able to get back to the lifts with only a short hike. Once we got in that pow, we had some awesome runs. We actually rode for over 5 hours, which is a long time for us.

Pristine pow.

What we had to hike out of.

Then we drove to Richfield, UT. It was about 2 hours away. All the while I was on the look-out for crazy Mormon stuff, with no luck. We drove past one Mormon tourist attraction, but it was just some early settler historic building or something so it wasn't really crazy. No one has even tried to save us or anything. Actually, I bet if we went to the tourist attraction there would have been an attempted saving. We have also seen some Mormon/Utah rebellers, which is really funny. A rebel in Utah is just a San Diegan. In fact, a rebel in Utah is a San Diegan that everyone makes fun of - a dirt person. Enjoy your 3.2 brews, rebels!

The landscape here is awesome, though. Lots of cool and crazy rocks that we don't have in California.

Now we are just hanging out at our motel, watching TV. Not doing anything special for New Year's. We aren't big New Year's celebrators anyway. I think we will celebrate our last night in Utah by saying every cuss word we can think of and watching the Hooters pageant.

MB: Are we in Richmond or Richfield?
Me: Richfield! If you ask me one more time, I'm going to kill you.

The Awesomest Thing Ever

My bff Ashley wrote a blog about our Guitar Hero/Rock Band, band, and I think it is the coolest thing ever. Her pictures are so awesome. And yes, it was as fun as it looks. I truly wish we could hang out all the time, instead of only a couple times a year. But, alas, that's just the way it is when you grow up and all your friends aren't just the kids on your street.

Check it out here: Awesomeness

I just had to post that before I go to bed, who knows when I'll have the 'net again.

I Blame Utah For All These Assholes

We started today by getting $10 in comp dollars I had at Excalibur, which we used to get breakfast at the Sherwood Cafe. I got hash browns and sourdough toast, MB got biscuits + gravy (not realizing he was breaking veg to eat that - so he says). It was exactly $10. Perfect.

Then, MB went to lay out at the pool to get some sun. I decided to remain pale and gamble away the rest of the $100 i had budgeted. This is where it starts getting good. My first stop was The Whole Enchilada - a quarter slot machine that my mom turned me on to, it has always been good to us. Except one time I lost like $30 on it, but all is forgiven. This time, I almost instantly won $25, and cashed out. Then I wandered around looking for penny slots that were calling my name. I got called to a Dean Martin's Party machine (or something like that). I didn't like it at first because I couldn't understand what was going on. Then, I hit some sort of major award. Everything starting going fuzznuts and it was playing this song about how lucky can a guy be or something. I won $45 on one push. I cashed out. My luck continued throughout the afternoon and I ended up about $40 up.

The Whole Enchilada.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but we got scammed into get some sort of discount buffet coupons for Le Village at Paris. So, that is where we headed for lunch. It turned out to not really be a scam, we saved $5 each. I, however, am vowing here and now to never again eat at a buffet. Ugh. I am disgusted by myself. See the pictures below. Yuck. Oh, and I highly un-recommend Le Village for other reasons that are neither here nor there.

Olives, cheese, a pretzel bun, alfredo sauce, creme brulee, a sick ass crepe that I didn't eat. (thankfully). Pure regret.

Chocolate sauce (for an already-eaten churro), a cookie, pretzel bun, cauliflower, olives.

Didn't like the cauliflower.

After that sick lunch we started our drive to dumb old Utah. I went to Salt Lake City once to snowboard, and I hated it then too. As soon as I started driving, I wanted to kill someone very badly because 'holes kept shining their stupid brights on me because apparently 77 mph in a 75 zone isn't fast enough for Utahans. No, they weren't all Utahans (based purely on their license plates), but I blame Utah for them. I have never been so insulted in my life.

When we checked in to our motel the lady said "So that is one king bed, non-smoking....you two are married, right?" Just kidding, but she was obviously thinking it. There were several bibles in the lobby of the motel, not just Mormon ones but Christian ones too. I am out of my element for sure.

After checking in, we took a soak in the hot tub. I've now been working on updating my blog for two hours, having some technical difficulties with my computer/pictures, but I'm chugging along. Oh yah, and Utah is an hour in the future, so I lost an hour - another annoying thing about Utah.

Tomorrow we ride at Brian Head, and then drive 1.5 hours to Richfield, UT.

MB is watching an infomercial called "Animated Bible." It is great.

I Tipped Those Fools $4 And I'm Not Even Crunk-Faced!

Ah Vegas, how I've missed you.

Today we made the drive to Vegas. Even that is too far of a drive for my liking (like 3-4 hours or something), but we made a couple of stops along the way (Target + Del Taco - we got ripped, don't go to the one in Baker) so it wasn't bad at all.


We stayed at the Excalibur, the cheapest deal I could find ($38). Luckily we got into town before the spa closed, so we immediately went down for a soak. Then, we hit the strip in search of dinner. After checking out the menu at Emeril's (MGM Grand) and realizing it was too rich for our blood, we headed to PF Chang's (Planet Hollywood). I am always surprised by how good it is there, and very reasonably priced. I highly highly recommend the vegetarian lettuce wraps ($8). While we were waiting for our table, we played a little nickel video black jack. I won like four dollars (I quickly started betting fifty cents/hand), MB lost five.

After satisfying our hunger, we went to Harrah's so MB could play poker. I roamed the casino in search of penny slots. Just when I was about to call it quits I won $18 on a quarter slot machine. I still ended up down though. MB lost too, but played good poker and at least didn't get any bad beats.


I got the following drinks tonight, accompanied by a review:

• Bloody Mary (Planet Hollywood - kind of too strong, no olives)
• White Russian (Harrah's - weak but good)
• Pina Colada (Harrah's - super weak, all ice, not good)
• Bloody Mary (weak, two olives, good if it wasn't so weak)

Harrah's Blood Mare

Then we walked back to our hotel. It is super crowded here right now because it is so close to New Year's. I hate crowds.

On the walk back.

Just hanging out back at the hotel.

Tomorrow we head to Utah. I hope they don't read this blog and decide to not let us in. Actually, I'd love to see them try that.

Road Trip

Tomorrow begins our (MB + me) road trip to Denver. 1,013 miles/15 hours or so.

Itin:

• Monday = drive to Vegas, stay in Vegas, win a bazillion dollars.
• Tuesday = drive to Cedar City (UT), stay in Cedar City.
• Wednesday = snowboard at Brian Head (UT), drive to Richfield (UT), stay in Richfield.
• Thursday = drive to Grand Junction (CO), check out various National Parks while driving through southern UT.
• Friday = snowboard at Powder Horn (CO), drive to Denver.

Hopefully having lots of stops will help me survive. I don't do well on long car rides. Or even short car rides, really.

Law School, Etc.

My Short Story: I'm a third year law student, graduating in April. I went to law school so I can work in environmental law. It is costing me a fortune, even with scholarships, and I plan on taking my debt with me to my grave. But, I'm obsessed with the environment and after doing several pointless jobs that meant nothing to me or anyone else, I know that working in environmental law is the only way I will feel fulfilled. So, I don't mind the debt so much. At least not yet, since I have about a year before I have to start paying it back, so it isn't real yet. Plus, the debt is sort of a badge of proof that this is what I really want - why would anyone get themselves into debt to get a job that makes an average salary? Yes, I will be a lawyer and I will most likely never be rich. I will (am) definitely be happy.

People often ask me how I like law school, and all I can say is it is fine because I know this is what I want to do, so I'm wiling to do what I have to do. But, I would highly un-recommend law school for anyone who isn't one million percent certain that they will only be happy in the legal field. Law school is pretty miserable.

As far as the money situation goes, most people don't realize this unless they know someone in law school, but it is quite expensive - and tuition isn't even the problem. Tuition at a public school is over $20,000/year, private schools cost over $30,000/year. But, the way it really gets you is law students aren't allowed to work during their first year of school - students sign a contract saying they won't work, and working is grounds for getting kicked out. The reason is that it is so demanding that if students tried to have jobs too, they would end up failing, which would lower the law school's ranking, which would mean less people would want to go there, which means they can't get as much money for tuition. During the second and third years, students can only work 20 hours/week. However, the pressure to do anything you can to make your resume just a little bit better than everyone else is indescribable.

So, no one is able to get a regular paying job (like at the grocery store or whatever) without having a major nervous breakdown - everyone wants (needs) a law-related job. Now, law firms know this (they've already been there), so they know they don't even need to pay law students for their work and law students will still be chomping at the bit to get a job. Thus, most law-related jobs law students can get are unpaid, and the student loans just keep adding up. Of course, all of this is for the average law student, the majority of students. I'm not talking about the top of the class Harvard editor of law review students. That person can probably land a student job that pays. But, I guess if you are going into a field of law that pays well (pretty much everything but public interest work, this is America after all) your salary will likely be enough to take care of the loan debt. The average lawyer starting salary is around $60,000/year, and that average goes up to over $100,000 as the lawyer gets more years under her belt.

The average public interest lawyer with 20+ years experience makes only $54,000/year, and the average straight out of law school is about $46,000/year. This is what I'm looking at. If you look up the average environmental lawyer salary, it can be pretty high - but that is because environmental law includes attorneys defending the polluters, who are highly paid. My dream job is to work for a non-profit public interest environmental firm, though.

In October I accepted a position as a legal intern for the spring semester (Jan-April) at my dream job, a non-profit public interest environmental law firm. It has been my dream job since I started law school. More about that later...

URL Explanation

The only explanation for the URL is I'm moving to Denver, I love Jimmy Eat World, the lyrics to this song are sort of appropriate.

Lucky Denver Mint, Jimmy Eat World

This time it's on my own.
Minutes from somewhere else.
Somewhere I made a wish
with Lucky Denver Mint.

You're not bigger than this, not better.
Why can't you learn
You're not bigger than this, not better.
Why can't you learn

Hurry go on ahead.
Good things won't let you wait.
I'll catch up when we get home.
At home I'll leave a dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me.

----------------
Now playing: Fall Out Boy - Saturday
via FoxyTunes