Spring Class Schedule

I just registered for Spring classes. I am most excited about the tax clinic. Only 8 students per semester get selected for this course! My spring classes:

Personal Income Tax
Will Estates & Trust II
Tax Clinic
Modern Remedies
First Amendment

Music Videos of home

These are some of my favorite Music videos filmed in San Diego. They are consoling when I'm bummed out by the North East freeze fest out here. The Dashboard video is filmed at the Hotel del Coronado and the Switchfoot videos is at a SoCal beach, I'm not sure which one, but definately reminds me of Oceanside Pier. SD, I'll see you at Christmas!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epHN4uSHox0



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK_E7xS7AtQ

Fall Happenings

I am convinced that Fall is the best season to be in Boston. The weather has been more moderate, sunny and generally more pleasant than any other season this year so far. The past couple weekend Brittany and I have spent showing visiting friends/family around boston, apple picking in Harvard, MA and visiting Salem.

Brittany and I at the Paul Revere Mall in the North End

Me, Brittany, Parker and Kate at Acorn Street on Beacon Hill

Harvard, MA

Brittany and I walking towards the Old North Church in the North End

Kate, Parker, Brittany and I sitting in a pew in the Old North Church

Surf & Turf

My good friend and violin teacher David Truscott hosted a Surf & Turf dinner last night. We had Steak, Lobster, Sweet Potatoes and cheesecake and icecream and watched the Office and SNL Thursday up-date. It was an awesome night!

Last week I began a new internship at the Suffolk County District Attorney's office (Boston). I will be working for the appellate division assisting ADA's (Assistant District Attorney) with appellate briefs. The position gives me the opportunity to develop my legal research, writing and analytical skills with a focus on criminal law. I'll be arguing for the State in opposition of convicted person's appeal to set asside judgment. I'm currently starting out on drug possession cases. I'm really looking forward to working there and getting a perspective of law in the public sector.

School Starts Again!

After a long summer in Boston, I have officially begun my 3rd year of law school. Since I failed to post anything on my blog this summer, I thought I'd make a "Top 10" list of the most noteworthy things I did, or things that happened this summer.

10. Got to visit my former mission companion, Nathan King, in Connecticut where he now lives. 45 mins away!
9. Went on a day trip to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire with Brittany, Spencer, Emily and Christian. Got to go swimming, skim boarding and went to Portsmith for dinner. An awesome day!
8. Got my spring semester grade - Straight B+'s and Deans list!
7. Having my mom visit Boston for the Forth of July week. We did numerous tours and museums and watched the Boston Pops concert with Rascall Flatts at the Hatchshell, surviving a torrential rain storm.
6. Trip to Washington DC to visit David Truscott. We got to see all the monuments, including the Holocaust Museum and a trip to the DC temple.
5. Portland, Maine with the Ian & Whitany Dawson and Brittany. The lighthouse there was amazing!
4. Seeing the Red Sox at Fenway park on Labor Day Weekend with my friend Aaron Birch
3. Trip to Montreal with Ian and Whitney Dawson, my Mom and Brittany. On the way back we came down through NY and got to see the old Fort Ticonderoga. It was amazing!
2. Going to New York City with Brittany and her friends and sisters and staying at the New York Plaza Hotel. Luxury!
1. White-Trash road trip to North Carolina. A group of us left Boston to visit Trisha Cheney's family and got to enjoy Southern Living for a weekend, including getting to see a NASCAR event.

Easter & First Weekend of Spring

Easter weekend was great! On Saturday Brittany & I met up with my San Diego friends Ian and Whitney Dawson and went to Concord to tour the Louisa May Alcott house. The Alcotts lived in this house during the Civil War and is the home where the novel "Little Women" was written and based on.



Later Ian took us to a great sushi resturaunt in Lexington. At one point I got carried away bragging about how much I liked wasabi and got peer pressured into eating a roll with a huge glob of the green stuff. I had fire coming out of my eye sockets! Besides that, though, the food was really good and we all had a fun time hanging out together.



For Easter Gina Paulino invited Brittany, David, me and some other friends from Boston to spend the day with her family down at Cape Cod. Gina's mom made a huge dinner, her dad hid a bunch of easter eggs, and everyone had a really fun and relaxing day.

Law Clerk Job

This last week I started my 1st internship since I started law school. The position is part-time as a law clerk at the Law Offices of Stephen Sutton P.C. The firm specializes in insurance defense for personal injury cases, but also dabbles in Immigration Law and a few plaintiff's cases. The office itself is located at Braintree Hill Business Park and overlooks the South Shore. The view from the office is awesome. Everyone has been really friendly so far, especially the big boss who yesterday told me he'd help me draft my first Rule 14 joinder of a 3rd party defendant and complaint. I feel like this is a great opportunity to get my legal career started.

Full Tilt at the Middle East in Cambridge

Last Thursday Brittany and I went with my friends Jon and Tara from school to see a local band called Full Tilt. The band began playing together while studying at Berkley School of Music and their lead singer Justin is also one of my friends and New England Law. They put on one of the best live performances I've ever seen. Check 'em out!: http://www.myspace.com/fulltiltrocks.

Full Tilt rocking our faces off!

See if you can't recognize anyone in the crowd!

Is This How Snowboarding Was Invented?

Friday night Massachusetts once again got slammed with another wintery North Eastern storm, blanketing 9 inches of fresh snow all over Boston and surrounding cities. I was saddened, but not surprised, to find that no signification swell activity was in the forecast, so I reserved myself for another weekend of hibernation and inactivity. Not to be bested by the elements, however, my roommate suggested that get our sorry butts out of the house and go sledding, whether we had sleds or not. So we decided to go for it and it ended up being one of the funnest winter days I've had in Boston to date.


Bryce and I, equipted with snow boards and surf boards, drove over and picked up David and Emily and headed off to a local school yard which had some fun hills. When we pulled up there were kids everywhere pulling sleds and swoshing down the slopes. We knew it was going to be awesome once we pushed the little kids out of the way. For about 30 mins Bryce, David and I took turns dropping into steep ones on my surf board (with the skegs removed). Then David started building a snow ball, which eventually became a bolder too heavy for 4 men to push. The Bolder got so big it broke into three large pieces from which we assembled the sweetest snowman in Watertown. When the kids all saw the snowman taking shape they came running trying to help us build him. We told them to get away but they didn't. Oh well, It was a fun time anyway.

Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy

Here are 10 of my favorite, most profound thoughts to contemplate:

1. Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

2. If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.

3. If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

4. Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the person’s house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done.

5. Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

6. Instead of trying to build newer and bigger weapons of destruction, we should be thinking about getting more use out of the ones we already have.

7. If you're robbing a bank and you're pants fall down, I think it's okay to laugh and to let the hostages laugh too, because, come on, life is funny.

8. I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.

9. For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here's a tip: why not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?

10. If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and you friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming.

Con Te Partiro Video

This is a song written and recorded by my NESL friend Jon Yasuda. Jon decided to make a video and cast me and some of my friends from NESL as we hit the streets of Boston promoting awareness of the danger of STDs. It's pretty silly, but it was fun.

Buffy's Wedding

My littlest sister Buffy got married on Jan. 18th in the San Diego Temple. Most people wouldn't think January would be an ideal month to get married but in San Diego it works pretty well. The whole weekend was a blur; I was designated as the unofficial airport taxi driver picking up and driving relatives back and forth from the temple to the reception and to the hotel. Much of the family was present for Buffy's temple endowment on friday which was pretty special. It was the first time I've been in the temple with one of my siblings, and it was even more special having my grandparents, mom and aunts, uncles and cousins there.

The wedding on Saturday couldn't have turned out better. The weather was clear and nice and the temple was not so crowded. In the summer dozens of couples are married each day. Saturday only 3 couples were married, so the officiator was able to spend a lot of time with the ceremony. The reception later in the day was really well put together. The decorations were impressive and the program was filled with lots of dancing and singing and fun.

Even though the weekend was jam-packed with weddings stuff, I was able to take my cousin Eric out surfing right before his flight left - it's only his second time surfing. And I got to see one of my old surf buddies from college days and his wife, which was special too. I only got a few pics from the wedding, but for more I'm sure you can check out Buffy's blog and she'll post some soon. PS. A shout out to my cousins Brooke and Katie who told me at the reception I need to update my blog more often!

Holiday Summary

Here's a couple pics of the family over the holidays. All the family went to Wendy and Wayne's house in Mesquite Nevada for Christmas and then I went back with Mom and Buffy to San Diego for the rest the holidays. Aaron and I surfed a lot around the North County, mom joining us a couple times, and I got a 6'4" shortboard to use in SD when I'm home. Mom, Aaron and I also had a fun time at Escondido's First Night for New Years! It was good stuff.



Mountains near Mesquite, Nevada


Gwen at the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park


With a little imagination you can find good surf, even in the desert!!


Wendy and Gwen


Me laughing at the jumbo sized universal remote I got for my dad


Surfboard I scored for $90! Can't wait to test drive it!


Aaron, Mom and I about to surf in Solana Beach


Some killer New Years costumes we made at the First Night