Marshall Flaw

This is just to say that I'll not be posting here anymore.

No, I'm not starting a new personal blog somewhere else. I'm actually contracting a bit. From now on, you can find personal updates at my original LiveJournal blog, where I've been since 2003. Some of those posts will necessarily be "friends only", but I'll do my best to keep most updates available to everyone. Incidentally, I already import my LiveJournal into Facebook and Virb, so if you're my pal on either site, your service will continue without interruption. :)

About 99% of my posts these days are at the group blog I started this year, Life is a Thrill. LIAT includes posts from several other people, many of whom are probably friends of yours. If you're not checking that daily, you should. Or you'll miss some very important trivia.

So why am I ditching Vox? Several reasons:

• Most of my friends are still on LiveJournal. While I think Vox is superior in many, many ways, I don't need to maintain two personal blogs.
• Life is a Thrill takes up all my free blogging time. Everything I used to post here, I'm now posting on LIAT.
  
• Because LIAT is a self-hosted Wordpress blog, I have a lot more options in terms of customization and features.
• Vox still doesn't support third party clients (e.g., Windows Live Writer, Scribefire, Ecto). 

Anyhow, from now on, find me at Life is a Thrill or my original LiveJournal blog. Naturally, I'm still doing the Twitter thing as well.

What are the 10 foods you must have in your refrigerator and/or your kitchen cabinet? 
Submitted by Carol.  

Pouring a Fresh Cup of Brewed Coffee (Isolated)

My essentials:

• cereal with some kind of dried fruit (e.g., raisins, strawberries, peaches).
• coffee (has to be cheap but 100% Arabica)
  
• cranberry juice
• sparkling water
  
• lean pockets (i like-a the meatball)
• Freschetta frozen pizzas (the best!)
• red wine
• fruit snacks (Target brand)
• pickles
  
• spicy brown mustard

Aw, look ya'll, it's my graduation photo.

Graduation Photo

Oh, and while I'm posting photos, here is perhaps the most hilarious photo I've ever taken, beating even some of those from the magical summer of 2003. This was taken at my folks' house in Conroe at the annual July 4th parade. As you can see, no expense is spared for the April Sound Independence Day Parade.

IMG_0616

Here's July's Emusic downloads.

My favorites from this list? Definitely these two:

It's a Bit Complicated

Art Brut

It took me quite a long time to get past the overtly dance-punk meets The Fall sound of Art Brut's first record. But once I let my guard down, I had a blast. This second helping doesn't quite attack the whole idea of being in a rock band like the first one did. But much of the frenetic guitar playing is blow-away beautiful. I might be in the minority, but I think the second one's better.

Ears Like Golden Bats

My Teenage Stride

For a good part of this year, I've been busy with various undertakings that have interfered with my social and cultural amusements. I never get to hang out or go to shows. I've not seen many movies at all. I'm only just getting into the new Harry Potter book. And my band hasn't seen me in a month, as I've been holed up in Smithville studying for the Texas Bar Exam in a fancy, but terribly remote location.

So yeah, I've been out of it and I'm not close to getting back into it. But here's what I got done:

• Graduated from law school. I think my diploma is in the mail or something. When it gets here I might actually open the other tube I have, which contains my first diploma from UH, for my English degree. Maybe I'll get them framed together and put them in...
• My new office. Yeah, while I was studying for the bar in the sticks, I was actually talking to a couple of potential employers. I had scheduled an interview with a consulting firm in NYC, but Methodist Hospital (here in Houston) came through with a great offer, and I'll be working for them starting August 27. My official title is Business Practices Analyst. What does that mean? First, I am NOT an attorney for Methodist. I am (or will be) a compliance expert. Basically, my job is to help make sure Methodist is in compliance with the gazillions of state and federal regulations that apply to the health care industry. A big part of my job will involve training and communicating with the nearly 10,000 employees who work at Methodist. I'm excited because I get to wear a lot of different hats with this job, and I won't be stuck writing legal memos all day. Plus Methodist has crazy awesome benefits. They're No. 9 on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” 2007 list, and they're one of America's best hospitals according to U.S News & World Report. Good company.
  
• I took the Texas Bar Exam. Just finished up yesterday. I spent months studying for it, and the damn thing lasted three days, but it's all over now. And I'm pretty sure I passed. The middle day was 6 hours of multiple-choice hell, for which I was not prepared. Luckily no one else I know was ready for it either. Out of 200 questions I can point to maybe 10 questions I know I got right. But it's a scaled (read: curved) exam, and a rising tide lifts all boats. Having done pretty well on the first and third days, I think I'll pull through. My title at Methodist won't be "attorney," but I will nevertheless be an attorney licensed to practice in Texas. If I passed.
• I got my passport and I leave for Spain next week. Jordan and I are leaving for Spain on August 1. We'll be there for 13 days, visiting Madrid and Barcelona. If you've been there and have some advice for us, let me know.

Well, that's it. Once I get back, I got a couple of weeks off before work starts. Hopefully I'll see you guys and I can hang out and do stuff like a normal person again.

Alarm clock

The other day, a power surge from one of the frequent thunder storms totally killed my trusty alarm clock. When Jordan and I went to Target today, we found we had a ton of choices. Turns out that clock radios have gotten pretty fancy since my last purchase. The one we decided on has a crapload of nice features:

• dual alarm
• AM/FM with 6 presets
  
• backlight with crisp LCD display
  
• auto-set time/date (you have to choose time zone)
• nature sounds (e.g., birds, ocean, wind)
• mp3 line-in (with included 1/8" stereo-mini connector) AND most importantly
• weekend sleep-in feature (which lets you set each alarm to wake you everyday, M-F, or Sat. & Sun. only)

We ended up paying $29.99. Some more expensive models had a CD player or iPod dock, but we mostly listen to NPR in the mornings. If we want to listen to our own music, we can always plug one of our iPods.

Why am I sharing this? I've had precious little to blog about recently. Nothing but Bar classes every single day. At this point, a new alarm clock is cause for excitement.

Oh, and I saw this too.

Transformers

I didn't post my Emusic downloads from May, and now June is almost over. I'm sure you've been wondering about the long delay. I know you're frustrated and upset. But I'm not making you wait any more. Here's what I grabbed from Emusic over the last couple of months.

Today, our BarBri lecturer was the distinguished Erwin Chemerinsky of Duke University Law School. He mostly bored us with his detailed outline of US Constitutional Law, which is okay because he's one of the finest Con law scholars in the country. But he also graced us with several terrible legal puns (e.g., "eagle" protection, the legal definition of "intercourse"). There was A LOT of groaning. One of his jokes was actually pretty funny, though. I quote roughly:

President Bush, President Clinton, and Clarence Thomas were all contestants in a spelling bee. Naturally, Bush prevailed because he was the only one who spelled morass as one word.   

Meh, it's not super hilarious or anything, but it was easily the most memorable aspect of this morning's lecture. That doesn't bode well for me, I guess.