Its been a while

Also check out this collection of signs by homeless people. http://www.holytaco.com/25-awsome-homeless-guy-signs

Your not so adorable update

This morning I checked my blogger account for the first time in three weeks. My two best friends growing up (or to be fair their wives) had posted the most adorable blogs. Ryan has a brand new bulldog puppy, I have wanted a bulldog for years now, and Justin has a video of his daughter signing “I can’t wait for daddy to get home.” How can you compete with that! Yet, I feel that I have left you in the dark long enough. So here is your not-so-adorable update.

I spent the first part of my summer working in a small law firm in Saint George. It was a unique experience. I learned a lot about the law and the nuts and bolts of being a lawyer. I was surprised to see how difficult it can be to get clients to actually pay their attorney fees, and happy to see that attorneys who don’t work a bijillion hours a week still exist. The people I worked with were great - definitely the best part of the job. During the last week of work the niece of the old grizzled attorney in the firm backed into my car. I got to spend a good part of the next day with the partner. He taught me a lot and shared some pretty crazy stories. This is probably my favorite:

When he was 19 or so he got called on a mission to Argentina. Due to travel visa problems he got reassigned to a state side English speaking mission. He wasn’t about to accept that so he got on the phone and called the missionary director, Gordon B. Hinckley. He was a little fuzzy on the details but at the end of the conversation he told the future prophet to “Go to hell.” Surprisingly, my future boss got his way and was ultimately sent to Argentina. Some 10 years later he was at a dinner party where he ran into President Hinckley. When they were reintroduced the prophet just cracked a smile and in a smart allecky tone said, “I believe we have met before.”

I got a long really well with this partner and others. But was ready for something new when the 6 week internship was up. My last day was on a Friday and 2 days later I headed over to the district court. I love the court but they were not ready to receive me. They didn’t have enough computers so I just computer squatted the entire time I was there. I started off down in the holding cells where the probation officers work. I figured it would be a great gig because the probation officers are out on duty during the day. But the officers threw a hissy fit and I was relocated back up stairs to fight for a seat with all the scheduling clerks.

My favorite person at the Court was Judge Ludlow. I partly liked him because was really the only other Cougar fan. The other 2 judges and the majority of the employees went to the University of Utah. Judge Ludlow typically would come to work in a t-shirt and basketball pants and basket shoes. When he went into his courtroom he would always go through a backdoor, and accordingly the audience and attorneys could only see him from the waist up. So he did the natural thing he put on a white shirt and tie but continued wearing his basketball attire from the waist down.

My favorite experience with Judge Ludlow happened on my second to the last day. Judge Ludlow was doing arraignments, where he the prosecutor, and the defense attorneys blow through 50 or so cases in about an hour’s time. It is really quite remarkable how these men can keep all their cases straight. Anyway, about half way through the Judge asks the defense attorneys, “did you ever get that mental evaluation from Adam Tate?” The poor attorneys were confused out of their minds and for the next 15 minutes were trying to figure out who this Adam Tate guy was and why they needed a psychiatric evaluation. It took all my self control to not bust up laughing in the middle of court.

But my favorite part of working in the court was drug court. It was fun. St. George apparently has a real drug problem, and there are hundreds of people on probation for drug violations. The city gathered all these people and created this program which would help people get sober. Once a week they all had to come before the Court and if they screwed up the Judge would reprimand them and make them do jail time of community service. It was a lot of fun to sit in the court room with 100 or so druggies and listen to people explain why they had police contact, etc. If they had good news such as they found a job, or they had gone sober for so long everyone gave a round of applause. When someone graduated from the program they would get up and give a motivational speech. When someone lied to the judge he would yell at them and take them away in cuffs in front of all their friends. They really could make a TV show out of Drug Court.

After 6 weeks of being at the Court my internship was over. St George was a good place. I was a little lonely being there. Most of the kids in my ward were 19-21 and had no idea what they were doing with their lives, so I didn’t really connect with them. Meanwhile the high councilor in the ward was trying to get me to marry any girl who had a pulse. My last week there he actually set me up on a date with a pretty cool girl. During the whole date I couldn’t help but thinking, why didn’t he set me up 12 weeks ago.

Living with grandma and grandpa had its advantages. I got free rent, grandma and grandpa were usually too old / lazy to want and go down the stairs to where I lived so I got an entire floor to myself, and Grandma was always trying to feed me. I like to think I wasn’t a complete waste of space as well. My biggest accomplishment was convincing them to sell their RV which they never use.

Although I enjoyed St. George I was glad to come back to California. Ironically enough it seems as soon I got home my dad’s work hired me and sent me on a business trip in Utah. Im not complaining. The job will provide me with some much needed money, and since the job hunt is going so slowly its not like I need the time to for interviews. On a side note I have gone a week since shaving, I figure that I might not get another opportunity for a while. I decided on a mustache, a ghoatee, and mutton chops. I know its not the best look, but its mildly amusing.

I go back to provo on Saturday to start my law review and moot court training. Truth be told im kind of dreading school. I haven’t had much of a break and I am afraid I am going to burn out. But it will be nice to see all my friends and to make some new friends this next school year. Anyway, this is a pretty long blog entry. I just felt I should give everyone an update. I also wanted to say goodbye to one my few readers Ariel and wish her luck on her mission.