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Busy as a Bee

So, busy week, you guys.  Last week I spent most of the week writing an appeal.  This week, I'm spending most of the week writing an appeal.  Next week: nothing!  Well, I have a hearing.  And it's our anniversary.  Three whole years and Joel is still putting up with me.  And they said it couldn't be done.  By "they" I mean my family.  Have I told you how they thank Joel for taking me off their hands?  Literally, they THANK HIM for marrying me.  As well they should.  I'm horrible to live with.

Now that it's starting to move towards Spring (thank all that is holy) I am starting to think about our yard. We don't really have a front yard.  It's a couple of big flowerbeds and I, having never owned a house or yard or flowerbed, have no idea how to care for it.  The people who owned our house before we did were gardeners and we... well, we are not.  No, that's not exactly true.  I am not.  I want to be, but I have been known to kill cacti before.  These plants that can live in the unforgiving heat of the desert will be killed by my complete ineptitude at caring for plants.

Joel, however, has had gardens and flowers and all of that before.  His family is very interested in flowers and plants and the Earth and shit.  Last year we had a pretty cool garden.   We had tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, and some cantaloupes (which I grew on a trellis and which were also AWESOME). This year we're going to have tomatoes (of course), garlic, peas, cucumbers, acorn squash, onions, and, perhaps, BEES!

Joel has been talking about getting a beehive and raising bees since last summer after we visited his brother in Portland.  Honestly, I wasn't too sure about how I felt about it, but I love me some honey, so I'm willing to do it.  Apparently, it's expensive, but there are some companies that will allow you to keep their beehive on your property and then you get to have all of the benefits of bees without the hassle of having all of that delicious honey.  Imagine that! 

Any concerns about raising bees?  I know I got stung on the forehead once and I swelled up like the Elephant Man, but everything I'm hearing is that bees are our friends and if the bees die, WE ALL DIE.  So, really, we'd just be doing our part to save the planet.  I mean, we don't really recycle, so we have to do something, right?  What say you, internets?  Should we raise some baby bees?  Or should we just let the entire Earth turn into a giant desert, devoid of flowers?  Either way, I'm bound to kill whatever grows, so I'm good.

You guys, for reals, Lost is back

and I haven't a clue what is going on.  We didn't watch the catch-up episode that they showed.  I mean, what for?  It's only been, like, 10 months since the last season ended and it's not like I have a problem remembering to feed my cat or, I don't know, why I got up from my chair and walked into the other room.  Oh wait, I DO have those problems.  In SPADES.

Ok, here's where I warn you that there are ****SPOILERS**** (unless you saw this week's episode, because I haven't watched it, and also unless all of a sudden I know what the hell I'm talking about)

Alls I know is, Sayid got shot (By whom?  When did that happen?  These are questions I am too lazy to google.)  Jacob got all burnt up by someone, but I can't remember if it was John Locke (who, apparently, is the smoke monster?) or Ben.  I think it was Ben, but it could have been anyone, really.  How should I know?  And then everyone is on the beach and John's dead body is out there with them and they're all like "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" or something and... what was I talking about?  I have no Earthly idea.

And now there are two story lines: the normal one where the crash happened and one where the crash never happened.  Wha?  The entire episode Joel and I would ask each other what the hell was going on and the answer, invariably, was "Why for are you asking me?  I don't even know if they're speaking English."  It's the same every damn year.  Yet every year, I tune in and watch every episode and I'm still just completely flabbergasted about what the hell is happening on this show.  I love it.

Most of the time for me, it's fairly easy to guess what's going to happen in a movie or on a TV show.  This is because, since the dawn of Matlock, I've been watching mysteries or police procedurals and, really, there's not too much variation that takes place.  It was either the husband or the business partner or the mistress or the wife.  So, having a show like this where I have no clue as to what is happening or what will happen next is kind of nice.

The only thing predictable about Lost, for me at least, is that at the end I'll yell "God DAMMIT!!" and shake my fist at the TV.  Well, that and the fact that I won't be able to tell you anything about any episode except that Hurley is the fat one, Jack is f'ing hot, and Sawyer gives people nicknames.  And did I say Jack was hot?  I can't remember.

What's bugging me today?

This is totally bugging me:

This picture was in an article from Us Weekly about Taylor Swift and John Mayer possibly dating.  Which, ew, he's old enough to be her, well, older brother I guess, since he's only 12 years older than her.  Still, ew.  BUT, do you see what the caption says?  "She was so blatant!" 

What the hell is that supposed to mean?  It doesn't really explain it in the article.  All it says is they ate dinner with 8 other people and she giggled at him.  It also says that she made "sexy faces" at him when they performed together in December.  Is that what she's doing in the picture?  Making blatantly sexy faces?  Was she blatantly holding the mic like she was practicing to give John a handy backstage after the show? Was she blatantly showing off her armpits... because that's sexy?  What's up with that?

It seems like I've seen this somewhere...

So, I've totally yanked this idea from a local newsguy here in SLC (who probably stole it from someone else, who probably thought they came up with it themselves, but really they also stole it, and on and on): I am going to start buying things sold on TV, trying them, and writing reviews of each product so you will know if you can't live without it.  I've been wanting to do this for a while and I'm kind of psyched about it!

Here are the rules: I will buy a new item from this site  every couple of months.  I will also take suggestions about what you might like to see me try.  I will try anything that is reasonably priced (read, hopefully under $50 or so) and won't physically harm me in some way (so no things that claim to help you lose a million pounds in three days).  So, if there's something you've seen being sold on TV and you don't want to try it yourself, let me do it for you!  Tell your friends and family!  I'll need suggestions because I can't watch that much TV and that website is so packed with stuff that I can't look at it all!  After I give it a good try, I'll let you all know how it turned out.

For the inaugural useless item will be: the Listen Up!  I saw the commercial for this thing and immediately became intrigued because it says you can listen to conversations up to 100 feet away!  Do you ever wonder if those bitchy moms at the playground are talking about how you always go to the store in your pajamas?  Now you can know!  Sound too good to be true?  I guess we'll find out!

The only reason I passed Conflicts

I found out today that a friend from law school committed suicide this weekend.  He wasn't my best friend, or anything close to it.  What he was, however, was one of my favorite people I met during my three years of law school.

He was a year ahead of me, so we didn't share any classes; at least, I can't think of any that we had together.  He was good friends with a group of people that were friends with people I was friends with, so we went to some of the same parties and other school-related events.  And he made me laugh.  So much so that there were a lot of times we'd be talking and I would have to stop him because I (a) couldn't breathe, (b) peed my pants, or (c) both at the same time. 

We went out a couple of times, mostly to talk about school; he had gone on the study abroad program our school offered to London and I was really interested in going.  We met for dinner and a few beers to talk about it.  We talked about our schedules and he loaned me a textbook for Conflicts of Law, with a professor who relied very heavily on the Socratic Method.  Having that book is the only reason I even came close to passing that class.

You see, a lot of times in law school, people will make "outlines" of a class, kind of a road map of how a class will go.  With this particular professor, you could have an outline that had been made five years before you took the class and you'd be ok because he never changed anything.  Every year was the same thing.  Well, when I borrowed my friend's book, I thought he'd give me his outline, too, but what he gave me was so much more spectacular.  Inside his book, he had written, almost verbatim, every question the professor asked and the correct answer to said question.  I am not kidding you when I say that there were times I was called on in class and the ONLY reason I was able to answer any of the questions was because of that book.  And I fully credit my B+ in that class to him, because no way was I getting any extra credit for class participation on my own.

I have to admit that I did my fair share of shaking my head at some of the stranger things he's done.  There are some stories about him that make absolutely no sense because they just don't fit with the guy I know.  They started making more sense, though, when I found out that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that he wasn't taking his medication.

I'm not sure why he felt this was the only way out for him.  I hope he didn't feel like no one would miss him or people wout be better off without him, because that's totally not true.  I for one, would have jumped at the chance to tell him how great I thought he was.  Or how, back in the day, I had a little crush on him because he was so cute and nice and because of the way he could tell a funny story like nobody's business.  I would also thank him for giving me something to look forward to during school, because just talking to him would really make my day.

He hasn't lived in Utah for a few years and the last time I talked to him was a couple of years ago.  He called me at work out of the blue.  I wish I could remember what we talked about, but really all I can remember is that I was surprised that he called and that I was happy to talk to him.  And I think that is how I'll always feel when thinking of him.  I'm so sad that he's gone, but at the same time I'm glad that I was lucky enough to know him, and that will make me happy.