12. Driving home for the holidays
11. Shopping for unexpected gifts
10. The “present wrapping” party
09. Raiding mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies
08. Visiting Mike’s Tree Farm
07. Hearing all that Santa has accomplished since sundown
06. Listening to Christmas music
05. Watching “the brothers” bond
04. Hearing Haley say “oh my goodness”
03. Christmas Day with the family
02. Visiting friends without being hurried
01. Waking up with my kids in the house Christmas morning
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Who says you can't go home?
For better or worse, the first semester is behind me. And (for all professors who may be perusing this blog), I do hope that I get a chance to return for the second semester. Overall, I believe I performed well on the exams, but there are one or two that are haunting me. We have been told (by the upperclassmen) not to expect grades to be posted until mid-January (classes begin on January 22); but, if you have no hopes of returning, you will receive a phone call long before then. So, my prayer is that my phone doesn’t ring.
Of course, as long as I am at my mom’s house (where I am staying during the break), there is no way that I’ll receive a phone call from the law school…or from anyone else. During the break I landed a sweet deal to return to the hometown and work for the former employer, i.e., at the law firm. I was very excited to have the opportunity and left Lynchburg within 24 hours of finishing exams. Who says you can't go home? (Other than Thomas Wolfe...and Bon Jovi.) My hometown is a quaint little place—a tiny dot on the map; but, I am staying at my mom’s, which is 25 miles away from town and an even smaller dot on the map. She lives in a place that we call “the country.” You can follow the map or GPS, but you’ll know you’ve arrived when your cell phone has lost its signal. At that point you can exclaim, “Welcome Home!” Ok, I'm over-exaggerating somewhat. You can get cell phone service, but only in the front yard. So, if you want to make a call, you must go outside and contend with the weather and all of the background noises, e.g., traffic, horns (rednecks love to blow their horns at folks on the phone in the front yard), dogs barking (there is a two dog minimum in the country), and various other farm animals, like roosters, goats, etc. Here, I wish I was exaggerating, but I am not.
I wouldn’t be so enamored with talking on the phone if I could get online and chat with some friends on AIM or Gmail. But, in the country (you guessed it) we do not have Internet. The only thing to do after dinner is to watch tv (whatever the rabbit ears can pick up) or watch each other's hair grow. I actually had a precious conversation with my mom and stepdad the first night I was home about my need for Internet service. My mom was kind enough to call several folks to see if they had Internet and if I could borrow their Internet; and, being country folk, they gladly agreed. I appreciated her effort, but I was certain that somewhere in this small metropolitan area there had to be wireless Internet that I could use without sitting in a stranger's living room. I left the house, with my laptop in tow, and headed for the local library, only to find that it closes at 5:30 (so much for our literacy campaign). I then headed to the local college (which is also my alma mater). The college’s library closes at 8:00 p.m. (which is late for this rural community), but it had no wireless service. I then passed a hotel on the highway, circled back, and pulled up to a room. Sure enough, I could get wireless, but I had to have a password. (So close, but so far away.)
I gave up on the search for wireless in "the country" and decided that I would just stay in town the next night after work and find some wireless in the area. After asking around, I was thrilled to find that my hometown now actually has two Starbucks (which always has wireless, don’t you know!). So, after work, I couldn’t get to Starbucks fast enough. I ordered a Venti Mocha Cappucino (because I planned on staying there a long time), and I popped open the laptop. As my blood pressure started to rise, the waiter explained to me that their Internet service was down. Ugh! So, I packed up and drove to the second Starbucks location in town, but their Internet was down as well. I called a third coffee shop in town—rather than burning another gallon of gas—and they didn’t have wireless, but they told me that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts did have wireless. I was in Krispy Kreme’s parking lot in mere minutes and finally had the wireless connection that I had been searching for for 48 hours. I will be spending a lot of time at Krispy Kreme during Christmas break, and hopefully I can avoid the temptation of the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign.
Who says you can’t go home again? Of course you can… as long as you can live without your cell phone or Internet.
Of course, as long as I am at my mom’s house (where I am staying during the break), there is no way that I’ll receive a phone call from the law school…or from anyone else. During the break I landed a sweet deal to return to the hometown and work for the former employer, i.e., at the law firm. I was very excited to have the opportunity and left Lynchburg within 24 hours of finishing exams. Who says you can't go home? (Other than Thomas Wolfe...and Bon Jovi.) My hometown is a quaint little place—a tiny dot on the map; but, I am staying at my mom’s, which is 25 miles away from town and an even smaller dot on the map. She lives in a place that we call “the country.” You can follow the map or GPS, but you’ll know you’ve arrived when your cell phone has lost its signal. At that point you can exclaim, “Welcome Home!” Ok, I'm over-exaggerating somewhat. You can get cell phone service, but only in the front yard. So, if you want to make a call, you must go outside and contend with the weather and all of the background noises, e.g., traffic, horns (rednecks love to blow their horns at folks on the phone in the front yard), dogs barking (there is a two dog minimum in the country), and various other farm animals, like roosters, goats, etc. Here, I wish I was exaggerating, but I am not.
I wouldn’t be so enamored with talking on the phone if I could get online and chat with some friends on AIM or Gmail. But, in the country (you guessed it) we do not have Internet. The only thing to do after dinner is to watch tv (whatever the rabbit ears can pick up) or watch each other's hair grow. I actually had a precious conversation with my mom and stepdad the first night I was home about my need for Internet service. My mom was kind enough to call several folks to see if they had Internet and if I could borrow their Internet; and, being country folk, they gladly agreed. I appreciated her effort, but I was certain that somewhere in this small metropolitan area there had to be wireless Internet that I could use without sitting in a stranger's living room. I left the house, with my laptop in tow, and headed for the local library, only to find that it closes at 5:30 (so much for our literacy campaign). I then headed to the local college (which is also my alma mater). The college’s library closes at 8:00 p.m. (which is late for this rural community), but it had no wireless service. I then passed a hotel on the highway, circled back, and pulled up to a room. Sure enough, I could get wireless, but I had to have a password. (So close, but so far away.)
I gave up on the search for wireless in "the country" and decided that I would just stay in town the next night after work and find some wireless in the area. After asking around, I was thrilled to find that my hometown now actually has two Starbucks (which always has wireless, don’t you know!). So, after work, I couldn’t get to Starbucks fast enough. I ordered a Venti Mocha Cappucino (because I planned on staying there a long time), and I popped open the laptop. As my blood pressure started to rise, the waiter explained to me that their Internet service was down. Ugh! So, I packed up and drove to the second Starbucks location in town, but their Internet was down as well. I called a third coffee shop in town—rather than burning another gallon of gas—and they didn’t have wireless, but they told me that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts did have wireless. I was in Krispy Kreme’s parking lot in mere minutes and finally had the wireless connection that I had been searching for for 48 hours. I will be spending a lot of time at Krispy Kreme during Christmas break, and hopefully I can avoid the temptation of the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign.
Who says you can’t go home again? Of course you can… as long as you can live without your cell phone or Internet.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Milestones and Exam
This has been a semester of milestones. First, I left my job to pursue the dream of becoming an attorney. This required that I convert from being a college instructor to a college student. Next, I moved from my home to an apartment and from one state to another. What a season of adjustment and milestones. The most recent milestone was December 1, when we (the Class of 2009) completed our first semester of regular classes and began the season of exams. Today, there has been another milestone–the first exam is history (only four more follow).
One thing that I seem to have in common with my classmates is that we did not find undergrad to be very challenging, so we are all amazed at how much we have had to study to simply prepare for daily class assignments. And, now that exam season is here, the studying and stress has intensified.
This past weekend, I did little else except prepare for today’s exam. Monday I attended a special review session offered by the contracts professor. After two hours of contracts review, the remainder of the day was spent in the library studying alone and then with others, quizzing each other, stressing out, sucking it up, and doing it all over again and again. We left the library at midnight, but agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning for some last minute review before the exam. After four hours of sleep, I was back at school. I wish I had time to take a nap (and probably would if I didn’t feel compelled to update the blog), but there is too much to be done. Another exam looms on the horizon, and it is important that every moment be spent in preparation. I also wish I had time to write more, but there is only time for praying, studying, and testing. In my spare time I eat and sleep. For those reading this, please think of me and whisper a pray for stamina, calm, resilience, and a thankful heart for all these many milestones.
One thing that I seem to have in common with my classmates is that we did not find undergrad to be very challenging, so we are all amazed at how much we have had to study to simply prepare for daily class assignments. And, now that exam season is here, the studying and stress has intensified.
This past weekend, I did little else except prepare for today’s exam. Monday I attended a special review session offered by the contracts professor. After two hours of contracts review, the remainder of the day was spent in the library studying alone and then with others, quizzing each other, stressing out, sucking it up, and doing it all over again and again. We left the library at midnight, but agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning for some last minute review before the exam. After four hours of sleep, I was back at school. I wish I had time to take a nap (and probably would if I didn’t feel compelled to update the blog), but there is too much to be done. Another exam looms on the horizon, and it is important that every moment be spent in preparation. I also wish I had time to write more, but there is only time for praying, studying, and testing. In my spare time I eat and sleep. For those reading this, please think of me and whisper a pray for stamina, calm, resilience, and a thankful heart for all these many milestones.
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