Monday, January 19, 2009

Fortifying my legal knowledge... (awful, sorry)

081212-28-08 - St. Augustine027-98

081212-28-08 - St. Augustine027-92

Well its that time again and a chance for me to do something that does not involve reading or writing something for school. Since I had a long weekend and I am preparing to start my 3rd week of review classes on Monday night I decided to push the Sunday post to Monday night. A long weekend in this kind of situation isn't really something to look forward to. Since you have more time out of the class, there is more to do on your own, and if you aren't able to keep up you either fall behind and/or feel horribly guilty for not properly using your time. These feelings of guilt and doubt about the test usually creep in even if you've spent the last 8 hours doing nothing but studying, reading, and answering (and probably missing) practice questions. It all comes with the territory I guess. Fear and self doubt are a law student's worst enemy and I was able to handle it during school so I will continue to prepare and be ready when the time comes.

This past week wasn't too bad but the work load has definitely turned up a notch once again. I imagine this will be a recurring theme and I will gradually spend more and more of my days reading and preparing as the exam gets closer. We covered our 4th and 5th subjects this week (property & torts) and the lectures were pretty good but it is just unbelievable the amount of information they cover and the amount we will likely be tested on. I was able to make better use of my time after classes as well so I am gradually catching up to where I need to be on the "paced program" and getting used to the feeling of being tired and ready for a nap almost all the time. Hopefully if I really apply myself and manage my time as I have been I will be able to almost catch up by the end of the week. Enough of that bar prep talk - there is only one thing worse than going through it, and that's reading someone droning on about their going through it.

On Saturday I got to take a little time off and head down to Gainesville to work the basketball game. For those of you who don't know, after my time with the UF basketball team I started helping the sports information department during home games as a spotter. I get to sit at the scorers table and call the game to somoene who then enters the information into the computer and then it is used on the scoreboard, online, as well as the official stat sheets. It's a great way to stay involved, an amazing seat (which I have always been spoiled to have), and I absolutely love spotting. It's high intensity, high paced, and a ton of pressure to get things right the first time in a very short amount of time - its a rush! Getting to work a game was exactly what I needed to relax and get my mind off of things for a while. It was an added bonus because it was a reunion of sorts since we played Arkansas. When I worked for the team I had the amazing opportunity to not only work for coach Donovan, but also some outstanding assistant (and soon to be head coaches) like Anthony Grant (now head coach at VCU), Donnie Jones (now head coach at Marshall) and John Pelphrey (head coach at Arkansas). Coach Pelphrey took on other members of his staff - Coach Tom Ostrom, and Coach Matt Siverling (who I worked with as a manager at UF) and I was really looking forward to seeing them and spending some time catching up with them all. It was a great day!

Finally, this past week when when I would take a short break from reading or doing questions I would check in pretty regularly with some of my favorite blogs. Doug has been doing some great work and he is getting some AMAZING shots with his new lighting gear. The first thing I am going to do after I take this test is watch my Strobist dvds that I got for Christmas and finally move from the dark side to the light side and become a Strobist. Not sure if I'm ready for it or not but after seeing some of Doug's recent work I would be crazy not to give it a shot! Maybe he can teach me since he is now teaching classes of his own. Doug also mentioned his hatred for our lovely FL weeather during the winter so I wanted to let him and any other non-Floridians that if you're ever feeling cold or snowed in, and you want to know what I'm going through down here in Florida check out my weather station and you will know exactly what is going on at my house. We had quite a cold snap last week and we are expecting another one this week - we might even get below 30 brrr! Stay warm everyone wherever you are! :-)

Over on the west coast Velvet is also doing some great stuff and had a harrowing experience while getting some amazing night shots in the L.A. area. Those traffic shots are unreal! Gotta check it out!

Finally I have been getting into Moose Peterson's Blog of late. How can you NOT be an outstanding wildlife photographer with a name like Moose? He has some amazing stuff and he has been on a trip teaching and shooting with the Digital Landscape Workshop Series in Yellowstone during the winter months. I ahd the chance to have a short visit to Yellowstone on our cross country drive and it has been really cool to see some of the same places completely covered in snow. It is such an amazing and diverse place and hopefully I can get back in the winter as well as take in a workshop with the DLWS team - I am sure it would be an amazing experience.

Well that is all for now. Time to go to bed so I can get up and start it all over again tomorrow morning!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Really? You're still hatin' on the weather, rubbin' it in? Sweet. Btw, where's that top photo from? Looks like a great spot.

Tim said...

Both photos are from the Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine. It is one of my favorite spots and usually leads to some interesting shots. They are geotagged on my flickr page if you click the "map" link in the photo info.

Photo 1


Photo 2



The rest of the set is here. Stay warm up there & keep taking awesome photos!

Velvet said...

Tim, I think you should hate on the Northeastern weather all you want. It's not your fault some of us are smart enough not to live at the Arctic freaking circle. :-)