Update

It's been awhile, but things are pretty busy here in Minnetropolis. Here's what's new:

The MPRE. Finished that sucker up on Friday finally. I should have taken it a long time ago, but there was always a wedding or moot court or NPTE...I walked into the place with Charlie and Pavlak. The lobby was full of people we recognized as UST 2Ls. Charlie remarked that we looked like the seniors who failed English second semester and had to suffer through summer school post-graduation. Not too far off the mark.

For those who have never heard of it, "MPRE" is law nerd for "Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam." It's comprised of 60 multiple choice questions taken over the course of two hours on the Rules of Professional Conduct. The RPC can be boiled down to a single, simple rule: "Don't do dumb things." Don't spend your client's money. Don't represent people with interests directly adverse to those of your clients. Don't sleep with your clients. It gets slightly more complicated, but that's the basic gist of it.

And now that the Bar and the MPRE are out of the way...

The Wedding. Lea and I are getting really excited. It's hard to believe that it's only about six weeks away. St. Ann's Cathedral in Great Falls, Montana on September 23. One show only. In the mean time, we're both preparing to pack up all of our possessions and move into our new abode over by the Greenway. I'll move over at the end of the month and Lea will officially move in once we get back. After the wedding, we'll hop in the car and head on a honeymoon up in Banf, Alberta. We're excited about the wedding, but more excited for what we'll actually be celebrating. :o)

Bad news out of Idaho. I found out just recently that my roommate from freshman year of college, Blaise Black, died in a horrible accident at a biodiesel plant in New Plymouth, Idaho last month. I haven't seen or talked to Blaise since he left Carroll in December of 1999, but his younger sister Lindsay attended the following year and I'd hear from her the occasional tidbit about how he was doing. I remember him as a quiet guy who missed his family and didn't enjoy being so far away from home. We ran on very different schedules--just about every week he had rodeos around Montana and Idaho to attend while I was off at debate tournaments in Colorado and Oregon. I didn't know him as well as I would have liked, but understood that he was a good guy with a positive outlook on the world.

The news about Blaise really has me thinking about things. When we were 19, no one would have believed that Blaise only had six years left in his life. Everyone naturally imagines themselves going when they're older, having lived a full life with grandkids and a pension. But you never know. Blaise had just gotten married in April. He was attending classes at Boise State in the summer and keeping up with rodeo. He was in the prime of his life. Tragedy like this could happen to anyone at any time. Makes you appreciate the time that you do have, simply because you never know just how much of it is left. Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with the Black family and Blaise's wife Lindsay.

Gettin' the league back together. Seems pretty trivial after that number, huh? Had our draft last night. Now a bright person probably wouldn't have picked up Priest Holmes since he had himself a nice spinal injury, but then again, I'm not all that bright. Completely forgot about it and took him at the last second. Eh. He might not ever play again, but it could be worse. I could have ended up with Brett Favre and Javon Walker again.

Other than that, things are finally returning to normalcy. I'm working full time without having to worry about studying. I've got the wedding to look forward to in September and hopefully a license to practice in October. Til later...