One thing more

This pic is actually a few days old now, but most of the work is going on inside now. Rough ins of utilities and whatnot. The brick is ordered, along with a lot of the interior fixtures. It is just staggering how much you have to pick out for a house. Staggering.
School is going ok, I suppose. Well, I say that. Job hunt feels stagnant at the moment. This is of course exacerbated by the fact that I hang out in the law review office with my colleagues who have accepted jobs with Birmingham firms. I’m plagued by the “one thing” syndrome. I just need one job, one more article for law review, one more hour of time in my day, one more semester of law school, and about one more hour of sleep.

The Doors

So, Monday, school started back for me. Which is fine. It's been great seeing my law friends, lighting the fuse on the bomb that is being a 3L. Heck, there's even a little gathering tomorrow night to commemorate the occasion. Wink wink. Nod nod.
OK, the house. As of yesterday it has windows, doors, and navigable hallways. The cabinets, interior doors, and brick are on order. Here's hoping for a viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life" in the new house before the new year.

Roof

So, the house is under roof and looking suspiciously like a house. I have a couple of new pictures here. Now, one is self explanatory. The other: well, if you look just to the left of that piece of PVC piping, that’s the spot my kegerator is going. I’m back in school as of Monday. Fasten your seatbelts. Looks like we’re on track for us to close on property during my exams again! 5 for 5!!!

Geneva Believa

I don’t really have a house update for you tonight. I did go speak with the home theater wiring people today, so I guess that kind of counts, but I doubt they would have liked me posting a picture of the receptionist on my blog. I do have my limits.

Now, I first have to give credit to The Wittenburg Door for alerting me to this link. If you don’t have an M.Div. or a morbid interest in Christian theology, it may not even really make any sense. But I found it too grotesquely amusing not to alert the few of you who are seminary grads who read my blog to this . . . this . . . words fail. Think “theologiggle” on crack. I apologize in advance.

Dreamland, and the opposite thereof

So, the house is starting to look like a house! Or, at least, like the pine skeleton of a house. We think we have the brick picked out for the exterior, because, well, the abode we’re building . . . she’s a BRICK . . . . HOUWSE!

Went to Dreamland with my folks Saturday night. Now, it’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for local mom-n-pop barbeque stands. But I love Dreamland. Something about the glowing neon sign that reminds patrons of the strict “NO FARTING” policy adds the intangible spice to the already tangy sauce. Last night, I broke with my tradition and ordered a Coors Light draft, wife got Bud Light. Now, as the waitress was setting ‘em down, she commented that we should be careful not to confuse which is which. I said that they probably didn’t taste any different, began to reach for wife’s cup. Waitress grabbed by wrist, slapped my fingers, and said, and I quote, “BAD BABY!!!” Is it bad if I kind of liked that? So, after dinner, we headed down to Krispy Kreme because the “Hot Light” was on. There’s nothing like watching the donuts bathe in the crystal boiling oil, delicately flip half way through their journey, and then luxuriate ‘neath the pearlescent cascade of liquefied sin, or, as some insist on calling it, donut glaze.

Then this morning, since we hadn’t had nearly enough health damaging dining for the weekend, we met wife’s cousin and her beau at the local Cracker Barrel. Now, my blog has already dealt with the phenomenon that is the Crack Barrel. (See eg., blog entry for June 28, 2005). And this morning didn’t disappoint. We sat by the window, chatting it up over our mostly empty coffee cups due to the negligence of the waitress who confessed that if she sold 32 glasses of orange juice that morning, she could have a free steak lunch when her shift was over. We didn’t order any. And the guy at the table beside us spilled his. Speaking of spills: while eating our breakfast, we noticed a town car parked in the handicap spot just out our window that had a steady flow of water pouring out the rear passenger door. The car itself was cream, had a gold-spray-painted grill and fender flares, and a tag that read, “If it ain’t country, it ain’t music.” Charming. Three characters who would have made the Clampett’s shudder came and eventually got into the car after it had dripped a couple of gallons, and no one seemed the least bit surprised at the puddle around the back of the car. Then, the Lyle Lovett loving leaky Lincoln lurched away. But wait! It get’s better. When we went to pay our check, I was handed a wad of one dollar bills that were visibly burned. When I asked why, I was told, “Oh, we just left ‘em in the microwave too long.”

Got Wood?

The power is out. Candles are lit all over the house. Kim’s reading. I’m writing (obviously). The computer is supplying tunes, at least as long as the battery holds out. Currently, Frampton, “Baby, I Love Your Way.” Good stuff. Sure, the house is already a little stuffier than I’d like. But if you want a nice, quiet night, even if forcibly imposed by a little stunt from a storm cloud, this is a fine way to do it. And the fact that you’re reading this means it’s over. Rather than wrestle with the existential problem of me writing this in a power outage and you reading it with the lights on, why don’t I just update you on the house?

As you can see from these photos, the forms have been removed from the slab, framing wood has been delivered, and we can’t go 24 hours without scampering out across town to see what has been done! I’m ready to go back to school so I can’t check every night. I think it will make it seem like it’s going faster.

Today was my last day as a summer legal clerk. We were really fortunate this summer. Between the former governor of Alabama’s trial going on down the street first half, and incredibly strange cases second half, if nothing else, it’s been a train wreck of a good time! I have next week off, but that’s only half true. I have a few more articles to go before my job with Law Review is satisfied for the year. There’s some more bits and pieces to be picked out for the house. And wife needs an oil change. Oh, and there’s some spacklin’ what needs doin’ here at the existing house. And, I’m sure, each day, there’ll be something. Always is.

M E M O R A N D U M

I’d update you on the state of the estate, but as of my last site visit (approximately 20 hours ago), nothing has changed. Dad tells me that is good. You want that slab to be nice and cured before you start building. So, I won’t whine.

In other news, my summer legal clerkship is winding up as of this Friday. As I approach the last year of my formal legal education, I find that my attention is no longer exclusively focused on how to most effectively achieve an efficient ratio of class rank to hours per night of sleep. Rather, now I’m more than just a little interested in being offered a job before I’m next offered a cup of seasonally appropriate egg-nog. With this in mind, I recently read a blog post my Constitutional Law professor wrote on instapundit.com last noting the rising number of employers who check out facebook.com and blogs prior to hiring new associates. Not that I have anything to hide, but not unlike the last minute house cleaning one does prior to guests arriving, I have come up with the following proposed amendments to my blog and facebook page prior to hiring season.

Top 10 Things I Need to Edit on my Blog and Facebook Prior to Job Season:

10. Delete this post! I don’t want them thinking I have time to write top ten lists.
9. Change the name of my blog to “What Would Jesus Bill?: A Handy Compendium of How Everything We Say, Do, Eat, Drink, and Breath is Ethical, Holy, a Great Idea for a Law Review Article, and, Most Importantly, Billable.”
8. Change the picture on my facebook page to me in navy pinstripes or seersucker (See eg., Cameron, Nathan, et al.).
7. Go back into my blog and edit posts from the past two summers with peppered comments about how beautiful the sunrises were from the employee parking deck, and how friendly the night cleaning staff is.
6. Delete all entries from my comment “wall” on facebook.
5. Forbid everyone I currently hang out with from posting any comments that do not involve what a great time we had at the firm outings.
4. Post a top ten list of my favorite lunchtime eateries in Montgomery based on speed of service, proximity to the firm, and whether they offer fast, friendly, in-office delivery.
3. Title all future blog posts as: M E M O R A N D U M.
2. Write five blog posts next week drearily lamenting how empty my life is now that my summer clerkships have all come to and end. Oh, and I’ll need to backdate a couple of entries from earlier in the summer when I had two weeks off between my first and second half clerkships. Yep. Life was pretty bleak back then, too. I never would have made it through without the love of Jesus Christ, my personal Lord and Savior. Actually, the Jesus part is true, but I thought it would reinforce the whole personal stability thing.
1. Shamelessly continue to go on and on in my blog about the very permanent, very stable home we’re building that’s perfect for entertaining, conveniently located just minutes from the firm.

Little House on the Prairie Soil

OK, so, it was a good wekend. The wife got word that she passed the "boards." Which is really good, 'cause, that means she can keep supporting my "professional student" self for a few more months until I start pulling my own weight around here.

In other news, the slab, she is poured, and pictured to the left. The little 'uns are our neice and nephew. Wife and builder are in the background. Now, if you look just to their right and ever so slightly to the forground, you'll see the spot where the undercounter wine fridge goes. Like I said. I love being an adult.

Blab 'bout the slab!

They're gonna pour the slab for our new house tomorrow! Here's what it looks like, um, before they pour the slab. You know. Rebar. Vapor barrier. Conduit. You see that wad of conduit in the middle, just to the left, kind of in the kitcheny area? That's where the undercounter beer tap goes. Mmmhmm. Being a grown up is goooood.

The life you save

As if getting rear-ended twice in one semester wasn’t enough to take the “farfeg” out of my “nugen,” try spending your summer at a law firm that specializes in car wreck defense litigation. Don’t misunderstand me, I like the work, I’m grateful for the experience, and I really hope they (or someone like them) will offer me a “real” job soon. But, you know, you can only read so many depositions, see so many file photos, and hear so many lunch time tall tales before you come to the inescapable conclusion that driving is un-freakin’-believably dangerous. And it seems like I can’t have a round trip to work without seeing a major wreck. OH! Proof? I get a letter two weeks ago from my insurance company saying that per my request for changes to my policy, my rate has gone up. What change was that? I moved to Montgomery!!! That’s it!!!! I think I pray more driving now than I did most days in seminary. Scary.