tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56216422011-04-21T21:08:50.861-07:00I'm not going to be a lawyer. I like recruiting law students and am lucky enough to have a job doing just that. Things will be slow for the near future due to the impending doom that is the Texas Bar Exam. Oh...what's with the web address? Check out the archives for tales from my semester in Australia.Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1120615341203583272005-07-05T19:01:00.000-07:002005-07-05T19:02:21.206-07:00

I just realized that some people might care about whether or not I passed the Bar Exam. Well....I did :) Ok, ok...so its not the "Who Shot JR?" episode of Dallas. Sorry.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1093037446729538382004-08-20T14:22:00.000-07:002004-08-20T14:30:46.730-07:00

It's been a whirlwind 2 weeks. Starting with the drive from Texas to Idaho for my new job, and now with my first week of work. Ordinarily, I would tell (all 3 of) you about the 4 day trip, but right now I am feeling very unmotivated to do so. Or really to even continue this blog. I think a rebranding may be in order. I don't think my original niche of law school advice is for me anymore,

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1092170946409499812004-08-10T13:23:00.000-07:002004-08-10T13:49:06.410-07:00

I'm sitting in my should-be-more-empty-by-now apartment thankful that a few of my neighbors don't feel the need to secure their wireless internet signal. Seriously, I'd be bouncing off of the walls right now if I didn't have internet access. I wanted to drive my new car around some more before I tow the trailer with it, but it seems unhitching the trailer is significantly harder when it's full

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1091742649771622552004-08-05T14:44:00.000-07:002004-08-05T14:50:49.770-07:00

Talk about whirlwind! In 3 days I went from homeless with an 8 year old truck that made a new noise everyday to signing a lease on an 1100 sq. ft. condo in Idaho and a brand new Honda Pilot! I feel almost grown up. I'm guessing I'll feel all grown up when I actually get the car on Saturday and when I get the keys to my place. My landlord (described by self and others as "eccentric") has

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1091568043089176882004-08-03T14:07:00.000-07:002004-08-03T14:23:52.360-07:00

The Jefferson County (Beaumont) commissioners have voted to change the name of one of their county roads. (Full story above) The previous name was "Jap Road." Yes, you read that right. Aside from the fact that it took this long for enough people to care the word is a racial slur, those opposed to the change actually defended it saying it "honored" the Japanese farmer (I sh*t you not) that lived

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1091456857573240722004-08-02T07:13:00.000-07:002004-08-02T07:27:37.573-07:00

Things are getting down and dirty now, gang. Even though I've known when I would have to leave Austin, it still freaks me out as being too soon. I think I would feel better if I had a place to live up there. (BTW, there's some guy has a rather extensive photo tour of the Moscow area if you want to check it out.) I emailed some folks who are going to help me, but it's still 7am there so I

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1091154422903925982004-07-29T15:45:00.000-07:002004-07-29T19:27:02.903-07:00

That big, steaming pile of crap in my rear view mirror is not Waco, NO! It is the Texas Bar Exam! It is times like this I wish I was a more emotional person. I should be dancing and singing and drinking (a little). Instead, I'm blogging. I'll probably go out somewhere tonight...unless, of course, the torrential downpour plus my natural circadian rythms combine to force me to sleep by 10 PM.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1089946890415296072004-07-15T19:53:00.000-07:002004-07-15T20:29:27.120-07:00

A friend of mine reminded me of my neglect of this blog and the 7 people that have accidently read this over the past few months. Things have been really hectic between job search and studying (or not) for the Bar exam (which, if any of you are wondering, is not the best way to spend a summer...I suggest something more fun, like sticking your head in a microwave with a mouth full of aluminum foil

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1085524198573162772004-05-25T15:26:00.000-07:002004-05-25T15:29:58.573-07:00

Sorry to be away so long. Finals are over, as well as graduation. BarBri started yesterday. I never knew 3+ hours of filling in blanks could be so boring. No, wait...yes I did. The bad news is that it will still be a while before the blog gets back on its feet because my laptop is currently in pieces in a box in my apartment. (Don't worry, I know exactly where each of the 40+ different sized

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1084395539211756132004-05-12T13:58:00.000-07:002004-05-12T13:58:59.210-07:00

Quick update: Evidence and Wills are in the bag, neither being as hard as I expected. I definitely know I got some answers right! Still left is the dreaded Texas Civil Procedure: Trial and Appeal in less than 48 hours and a take-home exam after that. For good measure, a friend from Australia is visiting this week and I have to throw my name into the hat for my perfect job by the end of the

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1084050110397386332004-05-08T14:01:00.000-07:002004-05-08T14:05:05.920-07:00

From the "That Noise is The Value of My Law Degree Plummeting to Earth" file...retired NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip awarded honorary J.D.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1083075376198872192004-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:002004-04-27T07:19:20.280-07:00

I am entering what is most likely the last final exam period of my life. Why am I so sad? Probably because I am a nerd at heart and love going to school. Now THAT is something to be sad about! I finally saw a copy of the law school yearbook the other day. My copy is waiting for me on main campus, which is why I still don't have it. I'll wait untill more of the great unwashed masses of

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1082641107777769042004-04-22T06:38:00.000-07:002004-04-22T11:14:40.546-07:00

To point my finger at America and yell, "YOU STUPID, MORONIC, MOUTH-BREATHING, IDIOTS!!!!" Why the vitriol? Did you see the travesty that was American Idol last night?! Once again, my fellow Americans have dissapointed me. I can understand when we can't pick the right President or a bunch of us choose another actor to be governor; that doesn't bother me. The one thing I thought the

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1082518197563078852004-04-20T20:29:00.000-07:002004-04-20T20:32:55.093-07:00

Congratulations to the newest additions to my "Songs I Liked Until Clear Channel Decided To Play Them Every 10 Minutes" list--Maroon 5's "This Love" and Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". They join other such hits as recent favorite-turned-vomit inducer "Hey Ya" by Outkast and that song from the Quizno's commercial. Actually, I still kinda like the Quizno's song. "We love the subs!"

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1081873174912911192004-04-13T09:19:00.000-07:002004-04-13T09:22:24.950-07:00

How long are radio stations allowed to be "New?" I noticed the other day that every single station I listen to is the "NEW" Mix/Beat/Buzz/Beast/Q/Z/Marshmellow/Colostomy Bag/etc. And I'm fairly sure they have all been that was since I moved here 3 years ago. What's up with that?

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1081743000798564892004-04-11T21:10:00.000-07:002004-04-11T21:12:49.513-07:00

This is the first Easter I can remember where the weather has been crappy. I always figured God had a little pull in that department and could "arrange" good weather for special occassions like rising from the dead. I still haven't turned in my 25 words. I missed another TX civil procedure quiz, and this one was a BIG one. I don't know what my problem is. The others I just didn't prioritized

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1081363543921083242004-04-07T11:45:00.000-07:002004-04-07T11:48:27.686-07:00

Here's a good article that may give some of you a little perspective on all the USN&WR rankings hoopla.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1081219448012160292004-04-05T19:44:00.000-07:002004-04-05T19:46:50.106-07:00

Life Goal: Become important enough to be able to say cool things like "Give us the room, please." like they do on "The West Wing."

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1081173864780705882004-04-05T07:04:00.000-07:002004-04-05T07:07:06.903-07:00

PSD went great!! The weather sucked, though. It was perfect the day before and the day after so I hope everybody got a little taste of it before they had to leave. All the feedback I got was positive. The "kids" were all a little pooped by the end of the day. Who knew sitting on your but could be so tiring? It was probably our fault for loading them up with barbecued beast flesh at lunch.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1080660281149946812004-03-30T07:24:00.000-08:002004-03-30T07:27:17.013-08:00

We've got a big one coming up, kids. This friday is the Law School's Prospective Students Day. We've got about 150 folks coming and its my committee's responsibility to make sure they are wowed. Granted, many are folks that have no desire to go anywhere but UT, and that is flattering. Our big task is convincing all those who are on the fence to choose to spend the next three years in Austin

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1080321458502940552004-03-26T09:17:00.000-08:002004-03-26T09:20:10.560-08:00

County Commissioner (CC): Ya' know...we really need to do something 'bout them gays. Councy Attorney (CA): Um... CC: Can we ban 'em? CA: What, like, totally? I don't think... CC: Shoot yeah! It shouldn't be that hard. The council can just have a vote--that wouldn't be a problem. Everybody in these parts supports good, old fashioned American values. This thing'll sail through. CA: Um,

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1080097204163540152004-03-23T19:00:00.000-08:002004-03-23T19:02:33.873-08:00

Time continues to pass at break-neck speed. My spring break was mostly boring, with two major events serving as bookends. The first weekend was Wrestlemania XX. Before you laugh, pause to consider this--that's 20 years, people! It was 4 hours from Madison Square Garden, most of which was entertaining. The best part was that Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit walked away with their respective

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1079975902558507812004-03-22T09:18:00.000-08:002004-03-22T09:20:50.686-08:00

Sorry I have been silent . Last week was spring break here at UTLaw so I was busy out and about. I have class in 3 minutes, but I will report on my activities--from Wrestlemania 20 to Erin and Tim's wedding--as soon as I can.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078931835719481132004-03-10T07:17:00.000-08:002004-03-10T07:19:32.560-08:00

Headline: Woman arrested at Wal-Mart after trying to pay with a $1 Million dollar bill.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078930630489647032004-03-10T06:57:00.000-08:002004-03-10T06:59:25.936-08:00

Just Saturday, actually. First, A&F was awesome! By far the best in my short time here. Joey did a great job writing. Ron and the rest did a great job choosing and playing the songs. Amy, Melissa, et. al. in Medley were great, too. It's a cool feeling to see so many of my friends getting to dislpay their talents. Speaking of talents, my friend Karen gave me a copy of her debut album

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078545847549466942004-03-05T20:04:00.000-08:002004-03-05T20:06:19.340-08:00

I got another rejection letter from a judge this week. I can add Beaumont to the list of backwater places that don't want my services, joining the state of Kentucky. Just kidding, far be it from me to be bitter. The weird thing was that Judge Hines actually listed the name and school of the person who got the clerkship. I should Google them later...then maybe a dead fish in the mail. Just a

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078364348621292772004-03-03T17:39:00.000-08:002004-03-05T19:31:24.860-08:00

PLEASE DO NOT TYPE YOUR NOTES IN CLASS!! It is hard enough to ignore the low hum of clicking (mostly email, not notetaking which is easier to defend) without the louder, harsher clicking of acryllic nails on plastic keyboards. Yes, the girl who does this "wears a lot of pink" a la Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Am I saying there is a connection? Naaaaaahhhhhhhh.... Oh, and my laptop battery

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078363999692164172004-03-01T17:23:00.000-08:002004-03-03T17:35:29.046-08:00

I can't believe I watched the Oscars from beginning to end last night. I went with some friends (and some strangers, it turned out) to the Oscar party at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was a bit of a hoot. The group that won best costume was 7 mom's wearing old bride's maids dresses. My friend Cydni actually won a poster of the LOTR: Return of the King signed by Peter Jackson in one of the raffles.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1078263643904867902004-02-28T13:12:00.000-08:002004-03-03T17:25:37.640-08:00

Friday was a busy day for me. It started with the aforementioned high school students visiting the law school. Besides running out of breakfast snacks, everything went smoothly and ON TIME!! Surprising, I know. We got rave thank you's from the teachers so, hopefully, they weren't just being nice. Right after that, I drove to Dallas for the "Freedom Festival." Tim is marrying Erin, a good

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077768334772303492004-02-25T20:05:00.000-08:002004-03-01T15:54:22.106-08:00

has a funny ass show. I haven't been able to stop saying, "What did the five fingas say to the face? SLAP!! I'm Rick James, bitch!" all week. His sketch in the first season on what it would be like if the government paid reparations for slavery was hysterical. NEWSCASTER: "On Wall Street today--Fubu, KFC, and (Def Jam Records?) announced a merger, creating the world's largest corporation.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077767709924619772004-02-25T19:55:00.000-08:002004-02-25T19:57:11.936-08:00

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last month (and for some reason came to this site first), Mel Gibson's movie comes out this week. Some of the hubub has been over the selling of pendants in the shape of nails. I'm a little at a loss as to why people are pissed about this. I hear the "profiting off of Christ" argument, it just doesn't make sense. How is a nail

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077722002213052252004-02-25T07:13:00.000-08:002004-02-25T07:15:24.280-08:00

Charlie Brown said it best. Sorry I've been out of touch for a while. Two of the things I use the most have been acting up for me lately. My truck and my laptop. I think I've tracked down the trouble with both (OK, so the mechanic at the garage and his computer technically figured out what was wrong w/ my truck). On top of that I have a bunch of student recruitment stuff to do. We have 80

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077202002492816852004-02-19T06:46:00.000-08:002004-02-19T06:48:38.106-08:00

We talk to a lot of anal applicants in the admissions office. We have this whole pile of stuff that applicants have sent their applications in with. Folders, covers, pockets, even a 3-ring binder! That one was the best...the person actually put each individual piece of paper in a separate plastic cover! I can't even imagine how much time that took, assuming we weren't the only school the

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077201423130273342004-02-19T06:37:00.000-08:002004-02-19T06:38:58.860-08:00

Click here for the story. I still can't believe I heard the words come out of Coach Barnett's mouth. He was answering questions about an allegation made by a female kicker and former member of the football team (the only female to score in NCAA football history, timeline here) that she was raped by a teammate!!!. This is what he said to reporters: "It was obvious that Katie was not very good.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1077200539934059042004-02-14T06:12:00.000-08:002004-02-19T06:24:15.856-08:00

It snowed in Austin last night! Real, honest-to-goodness snow! There was about 2 inches of snow on my truck this morning. Some kids in my apartment complex made a 4 ft. tall snowman. My snowman was slightly less ambitious. Leave me alone...Kids from the Valley don't exactly get a lot of practice making snowmen growing up. The closest I can remember is when there was this mega-freeze in the

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1076717090617858732004-02-13T16:04:00.000-08:002004-02-13T16:06:41.170-08:00

I just saw footage of snow in Waco!! How crazy is that? I love local TV news. The network just ran a teaser from the grocery store saying "Residents are preparing for the cold weather" in an ominous tone. The funny part was that while the unseen voice was saying this, the camera zoomed in on one of the check out lines and bags with...you guessed it! LIFE SAVING, WARMTH GIVING TORTILLA CHIPS!

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1076716076936477642004-02-13T15:47:00.000-08:002004-02-13T15:49:47.046-08:00

I bought a ski cap and set of headphones for $1.60 at Acadamy this morning. How cool is that?

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1076337191223498532004-02-09T06:33:00.000-08:002004-02-09T06:34:56.903-08:00

Yeah for me! I've finally caught up with all the episodes of Alias and The West Wing that I missed while I was in Australia. I got a little spoiled. Now I have to wait a whole week to see the next one. On a sad note, I'm still way behind on 24 which is really almost impossible to skip episodes without messing things up. I'm missing one episode! It's keeping me from moving on *sigh*. I

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1076191266634169082004-02-07T14:01:00.000-08:002004-02-07T14:02:51.046-08:00

I saw Lost in Translation last night with a friend of mine. I've been keen on seeing this ever since I got back. Everyone said it was great. Nominated for this Oscar and that Golden Globe. Bill Murray's best work, even. Ya' know what? I must have missed the point because I didn't think it was funny at all. It WAS supposed to be funny, wasn't it? I had the exact same feeling when I saw The

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1076190863665081172004-02-07T13:54:00.000-08:002004-02-07T13:56:07.343-08:00

I was listening to the news last week and this one almost had me blow OJ all over my beloved Eggos. The story was about testimony in Martha Stewart's insider trading trial. Martha's defense is trying to say that her broker's assistant was fixated on her (*sarcasm on* perfectly logical, who wouldn't be? It's Martha freakin' Stewart! *sarcasm off) and basically set her up. The defense produced

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1075992937329374152004-02-05T06:55:00.000-08:002004-02-05T06:57:18.686-08:00

Last Notes From the Southern Hemisphere "Where are you going?" My answer was simply, "Home." When people asked me where I was from, I always answered with a proud and emphatic, "Texas." (with an added twang if I felt like messing with 'em) This time, Texas was an afterthought. I was headed Home. Home to my truck. Home to my ranch. (I know you were wondering...The answer is yes, you can

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1073488738250639542004-01-07T07:18:00.000-08:002004-01-07T07:20:32.403-08:00

More Aussie Language Spag Bog—spaghetti Bolognese, or just spaghetti w/ meat sauce to us Americans Bogan—redneck, hick, etc. Crisps—chips Chips—french fries Biscuits—cookies or crackers (they don’t really have biscuits like we do, but scones are pretty close)

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1073488671680937872004-01-07T07:17:00.000-08:002004-01-07T07:19:04.780-08:00

Here's some stuff I forgot I wrote. It's mostly cryptic 'cause I was doing it in a hurry. Maybe I'll come back later and fill in the blanks... Whitsundays Panic leaving house; didn’t really finish packing. Woke up at 4:30 AM! Long day of traveling. Airlie beach, well lagoon anyway. 3 days on a sailboat. 1 too many people = girls get to sleep on dry land w/ a real shower. Team Ireland

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1071790850181680552003-12-18T15:40:00.000-08:002003-12-18T15:41:43.543-08:00

Ahhhh, it feels good to be home...sort of. Not that it sort of feels good. More that I'm sort of home. I'm as "home" as I can be staying in other people's apartments. It definitely feels good to be somewhere where people don't have accents. No, I haven't been to East Austin lately :p Quick recap of what's happened in the last MONTH (?! can that be right?). New Zealand was not cold and

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1069014460330545272003-11-16T12:27:00.000-08:002003-11-16T12:28:02.216-08:00

New Zealand is cold and rainy...:( The place we stayed at last night was called "Outlaws" and it was all done up in a saloon theme. I guess they were trying to make us feel at home :) There played country music in the restaurant, even working in Robert Earl Keen's "The Road Goes On Forever". That was a surprise. I'm not really sure where we are going because I haven't memorized the itinerary

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1068852725117769542003-11-14T15:29:00.000-08:002003-11-14T15:32:25.153-08:00

Just about to leave Airlie Beach, Queensland, but I thought I'd leave a little update. We spent 3 days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands on an honest-to-goodness sailboat. Snorkling was cool. We leave in a few hours back to Sydney for the night before leaving (again) the next morning for 7 days in New Zealand. I'm fine, except for my camera breaking. I won't be able to get it fixed

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1068081697523352692003-11-05T17:21:00.000-08:002003-11-16T12:29:18.326-08:00

Quick Australian language lesson Australia is a very verbally lazy country. They shorten pretty much every word and refuse to pronounce other letters completely (like 'r' at the end of words). Here's a little mental list I've been keeping: Sunnies--sunglasses Bikies--bikers, as in motorcycle gang members; Calling them "bikies" is a little deceptive, they are actually pretty dangerous and were

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1067892844784620382003-11-03T12:54:00.000-08:002003-11-03T12:54:02.863-08:00

Next Monday (Nov. 10) we leave for a sailing trip in the Whitesundays which is a chain of islands near the Great Barrier Reef (the world's largest living thing, did you know that?). After that, Ana and I are going to New Zealand for a week. This means I won't get back into Sydney until Nov. 25 so I'll be pretty quiet until then. And since we are moving out of our house this week, I'm not going

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1067339783619245092003-10-28T03:16:00.000-08:002003-10-28T03:16:22.956-08:00

I'm in the middle of the last lap, guys. It is hard to believe I've been here since July, and it's almost over. I decided to stay an extra few weeks to hang out with my friends. Until then, though, I've got some take home exams to tackle. I just got my final trial out of the way today, but still have this stupid paper to do. You can see I can't go crazy just quite yet. I'll try to keep up

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1067339422991512282003-10-28T03:10:00.000-08:002003-10-28T03:10:22.430-08:00

Okay...some of my Australian friends commented that much of this journal was nothing but "winging" (pronounced "winj-ing", it means complaining) about all the ways (and there are many) that Australia sucks. In honor of those friends, I decided to put together a little list of the things I think Australia does right. Don't worry, you won't be here long. It's a pretty short list. 1) The Half

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118607600286162003-10-14T01:03:00.000-07:002003-10-14T01:03:27.720-07:00

Just posted broad strokes about my trip to Fraser Island a few weeks back...I back dated the post so things would be in order. Just scroll down to see them. To those of you who have been trying to join Friendster because of that email I sent, keep trying! They've been having some problems lately due to all the people who are signing up.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066013420337425332003-10-12T19:50:00.000-07:002003-11-03T12:50:04.943-08:00

Here's something I wrote a while back...just hadn't posted it yet... There’s an Australian cricket player named Shane Warne who has been in the news lately. This guy is like the Dennis Rodman of cricket (if such a thing is possible) in that he is always getting in trouble (not because of his hair style or tattoos). His favorite seems to be getting accused of sexual harassment (and implicitly,

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1065315630403088922003-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:002003-10-04T18:00:30.526-07:00

OK, gang...here's the deal. I'm about 3 weeks behind on this thing...my bad. The problem is that I have assignments due from now until the rest of the semester (YES, I still have to do schoolwork) so I won't have much time to spend on this. I'll try to do bits and pieces, but can't make any promises. I just got back from a week-long trip to Fraser Island which was tons of fun. I hope to

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118157867337302003-10-03T00:55:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:57:18.940-07:00

Final Day, Friday We didn’t leave until later in the afternoon, so after a little more beach time a group of us rented scooters. I rented a little scooter/car looking thing that sat two people. Needless to say, we got a lot of stares cruising up and down the street. We rolled back into Sydney at about 7:30 AM, a whole hour ahead of schedule. Ours was the first bus to come by so we didn’t

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118144451191402003-10-02T00:55:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:57:50.363-07:00

6th day, Thursday Today we left the island and headed back home. We stopped off at the Australia Zoo, “home of the Crocodile Hunter!”. You know, Steve Irwin?...The guy who shouts “Crikey!” Anyway, he was actually there, but he wasn’t doing the croc show because he was doing some press conference with John Howard, Australia’s Prime Minister (like our president). I did get a glancing picture

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118106440509912003-10-01T00:55:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:58:20.066-07:00

5th day, Wed Lake Mckenzie is, without a doubt, the crown jewel of Fraser Island. It was unfortunate that we only got to spend an hour and a half there. It was beautiful! And fresh water!! The lake is filled entirely by rain water, and the sand can be used to exfoliate your skin, shine your gold and silver, even brush your teeth! I didn’t try that though  In the afternoon, we went to Lake

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118087949631602003-10-01T00:54:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:58:50.863-07:00

September 29, 2003 3d Day, Monday Third day was spent driving up to Hervey (pronounced “Harvey”…don’t ask me why) Bay, Queensland to catch the ferry to Fraser Island. Once we got to the World Heritage Listed Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world, by the way), we spent the rest of the afternoon actually getting to the “resort”. We rode this charter bus with monster truck tires (

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066118017388691282003-09-28T00:53:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:59:48.910-07:00

Fraser Island Trip--Sunday, Day 2 Keep in mind, the pictures really tell a better story!!! Check them out if you haven’t done it yet… We left for Fraser Island at 8 PM. Our first stop was Byron Bay, New South Wales, and we got there about 7:30 in the morning. We were early so we couldn’t actually check into our rooms at the hostel. While everyone else was standing around with their fingers

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066117995265253202003-09-24T00:53:00.000-07:002003-10-14T01:00:20.063-07:00

SHORTS!! I actually got to wear shorts to school today! The high was 30C, which is about 80-something degrees. I hope this means Spring is finally here and I can wear all the clothes I brought. I loved being a manger, but I’m getting a little tired of wearing my black windbreaker everywhere. I get asked, “Women’s basketball, huh…Did you play?” everytime I wear it, and every single person

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066117835449407722003-09-24T00:50:00.000-07:002003-10-14T00:51:46.320-07:00

Listen to what a moron I am…. I’ve had been working on this paper for one of my classes for about a week. I even stayed home while everyone else in the house went to Port Stephens (could there BE a better name for a port?). After much struggle trying to reach the 6,000 word limit (which isn’t a lot, really), I finally decide 5,200 is good enough. Before cleaning it up, I checked our syllabus

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1064463086077576122003-09-16T19:11:00.000-07:002003-10-13T23:19:37.783-07:00

Here's another little movie I made for my Mom. Just a tour of my house. Click Here...this one's big, too. (You can also right-click, then choose "Save target as...", it doesn't make it download faster, but it does save a step).

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1064462527248968322003-09-15T17:02:00.000-07:002003-09-24T21:10:14.573-07:00

Blue Mountains, abseiling The Blue Mountains are only a 2 hour train ride from Sydney. We came into the town of Katoomba (how fun is that to say?) at around 10 PM so we could get an early start. The youth hostel we stayed at was really nice. Kind of like a big frat house, but cleaner and without all the pretentiousness. They had a big screen TV, pool table, kitchen where you could cook your

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1066112561048796932003-09-13T14:16:00.000-07:002003-10-13T23:22:40.906-07:00

For the next 2 weeks, there are going to be SEVEN people in our house!! 3 beds, 2 air mattresses, and only 4 chairs. This is going to be fun…It'll be just like summer camp, but without the mosquitos and acne. (Or at least, how I imagine summer camp to be from watching TV...folks from my neck of the woods don't really go to summer camp.)

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1064461014849723662003-09-11T11:43:00.000-07:002003-09-24T20:36:54.613-07:00

Another way this country is backwards…I tried to buy some rubbing alcohol for my ear. Yes, there is STILL water in my ear. Sounds easy, right? Any grocery, pharmacy, etc. should have it. The grocery store does not, but never fear, plenty of pharmacies around. After searching the shelves myself for about 5 minutes, all I could find was Swimmer’s Ear, which was $13 for a little bottle. I

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1064460916570573062003-09-06T20:35:00.000-07:002003-10-13T23:15:30.850-07:00

September 5, 2003 Surf lesson Today, I had my first surfing lesson at the world famous Bondi Beach. Pictures of Bondi are on Snapfish, but sadly there are none of me surfing. Hard to do both at one time, you see. I started by getting to the surf shop 10 minutes late! Technically, I was in Bondi 30 minutes early and got within 100 yards from the shop before getting “lost”. SO CLOSE! Whoever

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1064191967617561032003-09-05T17:52:00.000-07:002005-02-08T20:17:27.470-08:00

August 29, 2003 Julie’s weekend visit Julie, our friend from law school, came up from Melbourne (a 10 hour trip by high-speed train) this weekend. She is doing exchange like we are. Though she knows both me and Leslie, I am claiming her for my visitor list because the girls already have a small nation of their peeps visiting them. The big thing we did was go to the opera. We got all dressed up

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1063680484837823462003-09-04T19:48:00.000-07:002005-02-08T20:18:36.183-08:00

August 23, 2003 Saturday The exchange office organized a group outing to a “Footy match” tonight. Footy actually refers to rugby here in New South Wales, but this game was Australian Rules Football which is called “footy” in Victoria (where Melbourne is). The games are fairly similar, but you can tell which one you are watching by looking at the uniforms and the number of posts in the “end zone”

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062654369601506572003-09-03T22:46:00.000-07:002003-09-03T22:46:09.506-07:00

Crap...I've run out of the "back issues" of the blog, so to speak. I haven't actually written anything since August 7th; that's almost a month! Good thing is not much has happened since then. Bad thing is I have school stuff to do now, meaning less time to share this with...well, no one really. I know I'm the only one that reads this thing, but oh well... I'll try to get things up soon...New

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062654243888387722003-09-03T22:44:00.000-07:002003-09-03T22:44:03.863-07:00

August 7, 2003 Thursday After a week of class, I’ve already been called on twice to provide “the American perspective” in class discussion. I wasn’t called on twice in my entire first year of law school. I kind of asked for it, though. Two of my three classes were not on the list the office tried to convince us were the only ones “available.” Therefore, I’m the only international student in

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062653695739268412003-09-03T22:34:00.000-07:002003-09-03T22:34:55.686-07:00

August 4, 2003 Monday Today we all went to Leichardt, one of the many suburbs of Sydney. (Sydney itself is actually very small. Most of the city is made up of all these smaller suburbs. Sort of like SoHo, the East Village, Harlem, etc. are parts of New York City.) This neighborhood is Sydney’s Little Italy. We had some really good Italian food (of course), as I would expect from a place

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062590048115586182003-09-03T04:54:00.000-07:002003-09-03T04:54:08.023-07:00

August 1, 2003 Saturday Gareth, the brave soul that he is, did the Bridge Climb today. That is "bridge climb" as in, he climb OVER the Sydney Harbour Bridge...you know, like the top. He also looked at his pictures from the bridge climb every hour on the hour for the rest of the day. We met him downtown for an early dinner at a place called “Pancakes.” They serve, oh I’ll let you guess…You got

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062589742161757192003-09-03T04:49:00.000-07:002003-09-03T04:54:40.280-07:00

July 29, 2003 Tuesday No class today, but that will change soon. I’m going to have class 4 days a week. If I’m not careful, class might develop into a habit. The whole gang (Leslie and Ana didn’t have class until 6PM) hit downtown again. We checked out the Centerpoint Tower, pictures on Snapfish. Back in the day, every major city in the world decided that they had to have a huge tower, so

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1062399512466651522003-08-31T23:58:00.000-07:002003-08-31T23:58:32.326-07:00

July 28, 2003 Monday Today was the start of what is shaping up to be a really busy week. Classes start this week, and we get to play tourist with Gareth for the next 10 days (yeah!). As far as classes go, things are the same, but different if that makes any sense. I’ve always known how lucky we are to go to a) a school in the States, and b) a school with the resources and facilities like UT.

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1061948181921832792003-08-26T18:36:00.000-07:002003-08-26T18:36:22.013-07:00

July 26, 27, 2003 Weekend before School Nothing much happened this weekend so I’ll take the opportunity to complain, er, comment on some of the things that are annoyingly different about Australia and that make it a backwards country. Our first experience with this was when we asked for ketchup (tomato sauce here) and the person at the counter replied, “35 cents.” Excuse me?! You are going to

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1061948074437998142003-08-26T18:34:00.000-07:002003-08-26T18:34:55.906-07:00

July 25, 2003 Friday Today, the international students and their Aussie mates took a trip out to Manly. It’s a trendy little beach community north of Sydney Harbour, probably like Venice Beach or other places in California. I would know if I’d ever been, but I haven’t :) We took the ferry across the Habour (by the way, that’s the way they spell harbour here…you go ahead and keep spelling it

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1061610498891994372003-08-22T20:48:00.000-07:002003-08-22T20:48:18.800-07:00

July 24, 2003 Thursday It’s my birthday today, which means it will last for 39 hours. Today we had to register for classes. Luckily, I because we were law students, we got to skip most of the massive lines everyone else had to wait in. Our day went much smoother than many of the other students. Still, actually getting the classes I wanted took a little doing. The law school was being

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1061370870137839732003-08-20T02:14:00.000-07:002003-10-13T23:18:32.766-07:00

July 21-23, 2003 Orientation Week We actually have things to do this week. Orientation reminds us that we actually have to go to classes while we’re here…bummer. We were in these sessions from 9:30 AM until 1:30 PM, it was ridiculous. We covered all sorts of information, mostly helpful stuff like schedule for the week, but they also talked about cultural differences. Some of the stuff was

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1061013096474497712003-08-15T22:51:00.000-07:002003-08-15T22:51:36.376-07:00

July 20, 2003 Sunday It rained today. All day. I got wet. Very wet. We were supposed to have a cookout with all the exchange folks today. People still showed up with their meat (it was BYO meat), though. We ended up walking, in the rain, to a close by area with restaurants and stuff. A ten minute walk is short in good weather, in the rain it’s quite long. We must have looked weird…40

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060856615343289902003-08-14T03:23:00.000-07:002003-08-14T03:28:11.876-07:00

July 19, 2003 Saturday Moved in bright and early this morning. We are never going to be able to fill up all this space. We kept having to remind ourselves we are only going to be here for one semester so that we wouldn’t buy all kinds of knick-knacks and furnishings. “Rubbish” as Gareth would say. FINALLY got to unpack our suitcases. Good feeling. My closet has the oddest arrangement of

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060486443367473852003-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:002003-08-09T20:34:03.336-07:00

July 18, 2003 FINALLY went out to see Sydney. We decided to hit the Harbour. So far, much of what we had seen reminded us a lot of the States. The houses in our neighborhood would fit in with the houses in any working class neighborhood in Kansas City or Chicago. The mall near our house is very American in concept, if not in design, down to gaggles of roaming teenagers. But riding the bus

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060486420454344662003-08-09T20:33:00.001-07:002003-08-09T20:33:40.393-07:00

July 17, 2003 Slow day. Got bank accounts, we all called home. They had a little thing for us international students. Met MY Aussie mate, Angela. The girls are making me share her. As soon as she said she like to shop, I knew she was my Aussie mate in name only. Simon and Shereen in the exchange office are cool. Met a couple of folks, a few characters. It will be interesting to see what

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060486387324285752003-08-09T20:33:00.000-07:002003-08-09T20:33:07.263-07:00

July 16, 2003 More agonizing…beach or ‘burbs? We got Patrick to drive us to the suburb in the daylight (Ana’s request), then drop us off in Coogee. He and Lenka were so nice. After a quick lunch of fish & chips (again), we decided to take the grown-up house. We did MORE walking around Coogee. The beach is really nice, and the weather was beautiful. It has been easy to forget that it is

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060146361482400912003-08-05T22:06:00.000-07:002003-08-05T22:09:33.936-07:00

July 15, 2003 This whole money conversion thing is a pain. It doesn’t help that apartments are list rent by the week, not month and utilities are billed by the quarter. Stupid Australia. Spent all day looking at apartments. First place looked really dodgy (another piece of British slang I've picked up). It was a 5 bdrm house that didn’t seem to have been kept up very well. 2nd place was

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1060146306430392642003-08-05T22:05:00.000-07:002003-08-05T22:05:44.230-07:00

Sydney July 14, 2003 The airport is definitely the most trendy/posh one I’ve ever been in. They force int’l arrivals walk through the duty free shop…that’s pretty shrewd. People were acting like it was cold. Felt like a beautiful spring day in Austin, around 65 degrees. Found out later it was the warmest temperature for that date in history...go figure. Taxi to the Randwick was another one of

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1059637176222148272003-07-31T00:39:00.000-07:002003-07-31T00:45:18.976-07:00

Fiji continued... The island taught me to hate Justin Timberlake (not that it took much to accomplish that) and many other artists I had never heard of, but hated instantly, nonetheless. Apparently, good dance CD’s must be imported from the mainland and are hard to come by. And all the songs on a CD must be bootleg recordings off of FM radio (they sounded horrible!). Nikki & Gazz liked my

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1059636789807030972003-07-31T00:33:00.000-07:002003-07-31T00:33:09.800-07:00

BULA everybody!! Robinson Crusoe Island, Fiji, July 11-13 “Oh, the people were SO nice!” Why are people always amazed when they meet nice people? Why do we expect to encounter rude, mean folks when we travel away from home? Nice people DO exist outside of our hometowns, no? Maybe we figure only nice people travel (to get away from the meanies), which leaves behind the meanies (now meaner

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1059636391332723862003-07-31T00:26:00.000-07:002003-07-31T00:26:31.333-07:00

OK, Gang...I couldn't figure out how to back date posts so that they would display the date they took place. Because of this, I'm going to put up a couple of days at a time to keep from putting up 20 pages of stuff in a single post. Here's the first stuff...Enjoy! LEAVING TOWN The Beginning Why all the finality? Everything I do I keep thinking, “This is my last…” whatever. Last meal, last

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621642.post-1059368767855878862003-07-27T22:06:00.000-07:002003-07-27T22:25:31.930-07:00

Just in case anyone does, in fact, stumble on this site before I actually post anything to it, here's the deal... I'm creating this for my friends and family to keep up with what I'm doing while I'm studying in Sydney. This keeps me from having to send out tons of individual emails (bad for me) and keep you guys from having to get annoying, non-personalized mass emails (no fun for you). Right

Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06876911957963566990noreply@blogger.com0