Spring break project #1. Muuuuuuulch!

We don't have too many projects planned for spring break. And, technically, this isn't even the first one. I had to replace two planks in the fence that Mojo busted out (we don't call him Big Mo for nothing).



The area in front of our house has been overrun by weeds for some time. It has five or six rose bushes that produce many roses, and of which I am very fond. Today, we dug up all of the weeds and grass and put down some red mulch. Check it out.



I like the way the mulch looks. But, I have to admit, it tasted like crap.

Well, I'm coming out of the closet. The academic closet, that is. I no longer plan to pursue a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition. I don't want to get into exactly why at this point. That will be a very long post some day. Or a very short one, I haven't decided yet. For now, it suffices me to say that I think that I could find greater joy in another profession. I am still going to finish my masters in Rhet/Comp. I will finish a year from May.

I will be taking the LSAT the first Monday in June. The LSAT is like the regular SAT, except the people that take the LSAT are older, and dirtbags. Which is to say that I plan to go to law school. Why? Because I like to read and write and I love to compose arguments. And I'm a dirtbag. (I was just commenting to Kaaryn about all of the grief I gave to my Priest Quorum advisor who was a lawyer. As Admiral Tug Benson would say: “Looks like the upper hand is on the other foot.”)

I can't say where I plan to go to law school yet. I need to see how I score on the LSAT before I know who is too good for me, and who just thinks they're too good for me. However, I can tell you this: I will not be considered a resident by the Arizona universities. They will make me pay out of state tuition, and I will not be paying out of state tuition to go there, unless I really bomb the LSAT.

To be completely honest about the matter, I was not going to announce this until I had seen my score for the LSAT. If I scored poorly I was going to reconsider law school. But, at this point, I have no desire to pursue a PhD in Rhet/Comp. I'm pretty sure it's law school either way.

I thought it would be cool if I blogged the whole process of studying for the test, taking the test, applying, getting rejected, having a breakdown, and getting left by Kaaryn for a Swedish masseur named Sven. I thought it might be helpful for anyone who might be thinking about law school some day. Or anyone who wants to run off with a Swedish masseur. Or both. So I will update later in the week and talk about what I'm doing to prepare for the test (I'm a firm believer that watching televised sports is beneficial for all those about to participate in standardized evaluations).

In the meantime, here are some pictures. If you're one of those scrollers who skips all of the text, you should know that these pictures were taken in Vatican City, as we discussed above, when we won a raffle to wear the Pope's hat for ten minutes. Best ten minutes of my life!

When I told Salem that I wanted to go to law school.



She got into a container of Vicks. I have to say, she's been breathing very well since then.



She couldn't find a burlap sack or a barrel with overalls attached.



Doing her Chris Farley impression.



Kaaryn warned her. If she didn't clear her room. . .



"You're getting very sleepy. . ."


I was studying in the kitchen pretty late at night. This is what I saw when went into the living room.

Forgive the polemic. If you know me, then you know that I am an outspoken advocate of the Pit Bull breed. I'll be the first to say that they get a bad rap that they don't deserve. With that in mind, I was talking to someone today who is thinking about buying a dog, and thinking about the Pit Bull. This person has a kid and was a little nervous about the prospect of their child chasing the dog and getting bit if the dog grew tired of horseplay. I said that I would post this video to show that I have no doubt about Salem's safety when she plays with Mojo.

Mojo loves kids. He is very attached to Salem, very gentle with Salem. And Salem is very attached to Mojo. Whenever other kids are at our house, Mojo never grows tired of playing with them. They chase him around and he loves it. In fact, when I was researching Pit Bulls when considering adopting one, I found that some of the qualities that make Pit Bulls great fighters actually make them great family dogs: Pit Bulls do not scare easily, and dogs bite when they are scared or when they are trained to bite; Pit Bulls have a very high pain tolerance, so they don't get defensive when a kid pokes them in the eye, pulls their tail, etc. Also, Pit Bulls are known for being very fond of adventure; they love to go new places and see new things. One of my friends takes his Pit Bull camping all of the time and the dog absolutely loves it.

However, if you have kids and want to adopt a dog, I strongly recommend adopting a puppy and not an adult. A puppy will grow up accustomed to interacting with kids. With an adult, you just never know.

Don't allow me to sway anyone into getting a Pit Bull if you don't really want one. Just don't buy into all of the BS that says these dogs are natural born killers who run about looking for children to attack. These dogs are very strong, and if they do bite, it can be nasty. But Pit Bulls are also very patient, very affectionate, very loyal to their family, and a whole lot of fun.

In this video, Salem was grooving to her favorite album and playing with Big Mo. Mojo was chewing on some denim I cut from the bottom of my pants. Salem had been taking it away from Mojo. He was a good sport and never so much as growled at her. The video is a bit long. But I didn't want to cut it when posting it with this discussion.

Good Songs--Part II

If you recall, about one year ago, I did a post "Some good songs you might have not heard." I figured it might be a good time to do a sequel. Seeing as how I detest the radio, I can't promise that these songs are obscure. For all I know they're all hits. But I doubt it. I'll leave the playlist up for a while. Let's get started.

"Soft" by Second Coming

This comes off of their first album. Their first album, "Second Coming," is, without a doubt, one of all time greatest hard rock albums. It is the most powerfully emotional album I ever expect to hear. It goes between upbeat songs like this and emotive ballads. And it just never took off. Their second album is crap crap crap. It's not worth vibrating your eardrums. This song actually got some decent airplay in the late 90s. I wanted to use another song from the first album, but this was all they had.

"You're the One" by The Black Keys

I just learned about this band. I find them enjoyable. I would say that if you melded The White Stripes and Led Zeppelin, you would get The Black Keys. Most of their stuff is a bit more bluesy than this, but I couldn't find anything else I really wanted to include.




"We are Ghosts" by Echobrain

This is the band that Jason Newstead created when he left Metallica. They made 2 albums, both of them excellent, and broke up. Too bad they never caught on, because they are very talented, very original, and made a range of songs. Oh, wait; that's why they never caught on.



"Saint John" by The Cold War Kids

I don't know anything about these guys. But I like this song. I hate hiphop, but I like some of the things influenced by it.



"Wish you Were Here" by Pink Floyd

Not a big fan of Pink Floyd. But I love this song. This is one that you might be well familiar with if you are bit older than my generation. If you are from my generation, give it a listen.




"Call of the Ktulu" (symphony version) by Metallica

If you're a Metallica fan, you're probably familiar with this. If you're not, give it a chance. This is an instrumental from the S&M album when they performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The symphony and the band come together seamlessly and they create something quite unique.



"Astronomy" by Metallica

I mentioned this song last time. I thought I would include it since I mentioned it. It stars slowly, by this is one of my all time favorite songs.



"Violin Concierto, 3rd Movement" by Tchaikovsky

Another of my all time favorites. This is some crazy stuff. I think it sounds just like a Megadeth song. Seriously, I do. No, seriously.




"Catfish Blues" by Jimi Hendrix

Why don't people my age listen to Hendrix or the Blues? This takes care of both of those problems. This song is long, but very good. If you like guitar, you'll love this one. He keeps a very intricate melody throughout. The solo is vintage Hendrix. It doesn't seem like Hendrix gets enough credit for his blues work.

"Mean old World" by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman

Resist the urge to blow into the nearest jug! I know this sounds like someone would have to have been noodling in order to listen to this. But this is some of my favorite acoustic guitar work. Besides, with Clapton and Allman together, how could you lose? So lighten up and give this a listen. Moonshine not included.

Happy Birthday to Kaaryn! She turned 37 this week (don't tell her I told). She wanted to go to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden on her birthday. So go we did. If anyone is unfamiliar with a botanic garden, just think of a zoo, if the animals didn't move, and lived to be really old, and nobody else is there. That's a botanic garden. Enjoy some birthday pictures.

The entrance to the rose garden. Did you ever see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?



You'll never guess who we bumped into.



Kaaryn wasn't posing. She always walks around smiling like this.


Unfortunately, you cannot be told what the Botanic Garden is, you have to see if for yourself.



We don't know who took this picture, or how it got into our camera. Kind of creepy really.


These flowers looked like cabbages. But, man, they tasted like crap!


"Heyyyyyyyyy."


She don't need no education. . .


"Hey, Mojo, guess what I had for breakfast."


It was just one of those days for Mojo.

Here's a little something for the Grandmas. You might have noticed that I've been on a bit of a video kick lately. But, this time the video avoids poor taste. Salem walks. And now that she does, she reminds me an awful lot of Rory Calhoun. Enjoy the video.




Once I watched the video, I couldn't help but notice that this video looks very similar to other things I've seen.













And, of course, this one.

If I seem more serious than usual lately it's because I work under a lot of stress these days. Grad school has proven somewhat stressful, and today you learn why. Among the pile of work I do each semester, I have to give several 20-30 minute speeches. I just did one on a book we read for one of my classes. Kaaryn came to class and recorded it. The sound is bad, but you can see how class becomes stressful. Check it out.

I forgot to post this with all of the pictures:

I have a record player. Therefore I also have a copy of the "Frampton Comes Alive" album. This is Salem's favorite by far. Whenever I play this album she erupts into a frenzy of baby dance moves. I was able to record her grooving to "Lines on my Face." I apologize for the poor lighting. It can be hard to see.




As you can see she's a dancing fool. She gets the dancing from my side. The fool comes from her mom.

Eat it, Phoenix: we got snow! Well, it really more like ice. But, along with pictures of the ice, enjoy some overdue pictures.

Iced over in Crowley, Texas. Texas ice is just like regular ice. . . except the flakes think they're better than the flakes that fall in other states.



Mojo hadn't been this confused since that time Kaaryn was nice to him.


Speaking of Mojo, he wanted to show everyone his Beetlejuice impression.


Oh, yeah. We still have Salem. Here she is with her friend, just before the police chased them into a canyon.



Athos owed her money.



"Don't ever ask me about my business."

I am making an offering to the blog community. Since my posts have been of poor quality of late, I have a special treat in store for everyone. Against the will of Kaaryn, I offer you The Product of Much Wasted Time. This video is some years old now. Disclaimer: if you think you recognize anyone in the video, you are mistaken. This video is composed only of computer animation.