If you want to get free stuff then I recommend sending an appreciation note to a food production company. A while back my roommate and I sent an appreciation letter to Sweet Baby Ray’s Bar-B-Q Sauce company (because we love there Bar-B-Q Sauce). We were shocked when they sent back a years supply of Sweet Baby Ray’s.

The second piece of fan mail I have ever sent stems from a Youtube Poem I saw. I enjoyed the poem so much that I drop a letter in the mail. The author of the poem sent me a reply. Its amazing how in the modern we are able to communicate with people thousands of miles away at the touch of a button. Enjoy!

Love Poem

On another note today was the most productive day I have had in months. With 6hrs of sleep, a big breakfast, and a cup of coffee I was able to accomplish almost all of the items I have been putting off for the past couple of weeks.

Who doesn’t love a good soccer match?

Apparently most of America. I have never understood why that is, I mean we are the country which will watch people “survive” on an island when you know good and well they are basically living out a vacation.

To see the real deal a few buddies and I love going to the Soccer games, decked out and supporting the guys. Its an excuse to drink (before the games) and heckle anyone stupid enough to get close to our section.

(Yes we wear kilts to the game.)

On a separate note, I love to read the Unews (the local school paper) ever week. And something caught my eye that I thought was humorous:

So a couple of weeks ago there was an article about how they Student Government Association was going to host a “Town Hall Meeting” For students to come and talk about some referendum they had coming up. That’s all fine and dandy but then the article continued with the SGA president saying “I expect around 1,000) people to show up.” When I read this I literally busted into tears. I mean come on 1,000 people, give me a break. College students, slu being no exception, are some of the most lazy people on the plant. Granted this school packs it in when we have concerts for Homecoming with Switchfoot, Guster, or Robert Randle. And they also pack it in when speakers like Ben Stien, Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, or Former Mexican President Vicente Fox. But an SGA town hall meeting, be realistic. Spend your energies in more productive fashions.

Needless to say when the following issue came out and it reported that Two (2) yes two as in the number of 1 + 1 came to the event I again thought that was hilarious. Look im not trying to dog the SGA for attempting to get people invovled but as a former member of SGA, I can definitively say Town hall meetings never work here at SLU.

But Keep it up SGA you always work hard (even if your ideas are not the best), however do not begrudge me if I look for your works in the Unews for a good laugh.

Past Works of the SGA include but are not limited to:

6 Million Dollar Renovated Gym

Cross Walk Timer lights to prevent students from getting flattened on grand

Wireless internet across campus

St. Louis really out did itself this year at Oktoberfest. Even though it rained and the ground was muddy the yearly German heritage three day festival was an absolute blast. I am not sure whether it was the great Pretzels, Polka Music, bratwursts, or Oktoberfest beer but the event was a smashing success. By the end of the night my cohorts and I were dancing on the tables leading rounds of “Da Beer Is Good” and “Zigi Zagi, Zigi Zagi, Oi Oi Oi”.

“Prost!”

Being the resourceful guys (the nice way to call someone CHEAP) that we are, we spent $9 dollars at good will and made out own Lederhosen. It took about three hours of sewing (that right Grandma, feast your eyes on that stitch job: you taught me well). It was slightly emasculating, sitting in my apartment on thursday, sewing  watching both the Caridnals and Mizzou lose their games.

One word of caution for those who go to Oktoberfest throughout the United States, sometimes the beer is around 8%. With those large Liter Steins it can make for a devastating next morning.

On Saturday night, my best friends drug me out of the Apartment for a reprieve from studying to go watch the Men’s Soccer Game. I forgot how much I missed attending the games. We heckled the opposing players, getting dirty looks and obscene gestures thrown our direction. It was a real pressure cooker of a game  but the Bills pulled it out in overtime!

Above: Is a picture of the Billiken Soccer Stadium. Notice that the fans can literally walk almost all the way onto the field, which is prefect for those of us who love to heckle and rib the opposing players.

After the game we went to Iggy’s (the local Canteena On campus) for some Salsa/chips and a couple of brews. All and all it was a good break from the books.

My Cousin Matt had his wedding last weekend. Somehow he tricked me into being the MC and DJ for the night. It was a great time, at a beautiful location in the Famous Jewel Box in Forest Park.

A picture of My cousin Madison and I. She was part of the wedding party. Do not let her small stature fool you she is much older than she looks and in the family tradition is full of fire and vinegar. Lets just say that though I have Marine Corps training, I would not want to get on her bad side!

A picture of the Jewel Box where the reception was held.

So it is probably no surprise that as a Law Student I am a poor man. I find my financial status to be in a way very enjoyable. It forces you to appreciate the small / basic things in life. As part of my frugality I am very cautious with my purchases, always trying to find a good deal. Well this led to a very interesting experiment:

You know how you always have certain food items in your freezer or Pantry that you never eat. That can of Mashed Sweet Potato and tuna that you cannot remember why you bought it. My roommate and I set out about a month ago to eat everything in our house before we bought anything from the store. It has proven more difficult that I thought but a great experience. We call the project “Operation Food Ration” and we are getting close to completion.

We started out with the freezer, chipping away at every bag of frozen vegetable, pizza’s and hot pockets that we could find. After that we turned to our refrigerator and polished everything off in there. Literally the only things left in our Fridge is a couple condiments and a bottle of Admiral Nelson Spiced Rum.

Well as you can imagine we are starting to run dangerously low on food. The challenging part is that we have had to systematically plan out what we were going to eat and when to make sure we were getting all of the protein and vitamin needed to survive. This of course led to some pretty weird food concoctions such as my roommate using Coffee Creamer to put in his box of tuna helper (because we were out of milk) or My recent meal of Spaghetti and bar-B-Q sauce because we are running low on Spaghetti sauce.

By our last account we believe we can make it at least 1 more week, maybe 2 before we are 100% completely out of food. I am not looking forward to this weeks “menu” if you can call it that, because right now all I have left is:

1) One box of Cream of Wheat

2) One box of Oatmeal

3) 2 packages of Speghetti

4) 1 bottle of speghetti sauce

5) 7 Cans of greenbeans

6) One container of peanut butter (which is about gone)

7) One can of Corn and One can of peaches.

The bottom line is that we are truely living the waste not want not lifestyle and it continues to be an adventure.

I am not sure why I decided to put myself through another semester of brutality but I did. This semester I am taking Moot Court, which is a research and writing intensive class designed to pump up the meat and potato skills of Lawyering. I honestly should not complain because, just like Legal Research and Writing last year, Moot court is going to significantly improve my talent and wrting. But the price I pay for that is Hours and Hours of researching cases and policy papers.

On a seperate yet somewhat related note SLU recieved the BAR Passage Result and I am proud to announce that we had a passage rate for first time test takers of around 95% (although don’t quote me on that, that was word of mouth from the Dean of Students, who didnt have the exact numbers in front of him) but all I have to say is Way to Go SLU! (Considering that the state average is around 80% (+/- 5%).

I am not sure how many people have actually played in bands, or what their experiences have been like. But here at SLU, the Pep Band is far from the average experience. Wednesday marked our first practice of the season and aside from being terribly out of trumpet playing shape (I was shot after the third song of the night) it was great to be back. Although people come and go, because it is an alumni band, the band is more like a family. For instance the end of last season and what appears to be this season marks the return of one of the trumpet players the band has ever seen, Mr. Nick Block. I should also mention that Nick is the best heckler in the band as well. I’m pretty sure he has made some of opposing team members cry.

On another note, they say the old adage is that women cannot resist a man in uniform. My brother likes to say this is the only reason I joined the Marine Corps. Well I am here to report that the adage is true:

I would like to point out the terrible tan line on the side of my head: A direct result of my Marine Training over the summer. And try as I might, No amount of sunscreen could prevent what newly commission Officer Lt. Nagel called the Half and Half tan.

Also as part of the Marine life style I am sporting the High and Tight hair cut which is a large adjustment from the Clark Kent hair I use to have. Im going to have to learn how to do a High and Tight myself because hair cuts every week or so are getting expensive and my Barber doesn’t offer a military discount.

The first week of Law school as come with every ounce of furry I expected. What’s the old saying no rest of the weary, those who procrastinate, or law students? But with the new school year comes a new Law school Softball League and Sponsored happy hours. It was also amazing to hear about everyone’s legal adventures over the summer be it fighting the man in a civil case or working with a multimillion dollar case the SLU Law students were out in full force this summer.

My first class of the day each week is Evidence with the Dean of the Law School ( I guess I won’t be skipping any classes). It was most appropriate I guess as the Dean that he set the standard by assigning 121 pages for the first day of class. But what would life be without a challenge? Thank you Dean Lewis. I look forward to your quirky stories and trademark smile each morning.

Yesterday I was on a plane at 9:00 at night flying in over the amazing St. Louis Sky Line. Busch Stadium was lit up with lights and people. St. Louis looked even better than what I remembered and at that moment, on that rickety old American Airlines plane I said to myself: I’m Home.
This past summer I had the honor to train with some of the best and brightest young men and women this great nation has to offer at the Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School. Individuals who have decided to give up their old lives in the service of our nation. My friends and family have asked me about my experience and I tell them all the same thing: It was a fantastic experience but by far the most challenging (in every aspect of the word) event I have ever undertaken. Every day was a battle of will to stay in the program, to keep sight on the goal.
When I put on my uniform for the first time and I accepted my Commission as a United States Marine Corps Officers, It was one of the proudest, most profound moments of my life. I will never forget my time in the woods of Quantico and I certainly will never forget the young men and women who are truly America’s Heroes.

–For a little background information Officer Candidate School (OCS) is similar to Marine boot camp, the difference is at OCS the Drill instructors are there to screen and evaluate your leadership abilities, academic abilities, and physical abilities to see if you can lead your peers and other Marines. That leads to some of the following pictures:

During one of the training evolutions my team was tasked with and Ammo resupply to the rest of our Squad on the other side of the barrier. It was a problem solving/leadership testing exercise. The guy who just passed me the ammo can was my Rack mate, Utkin (or as we called him due to his seniority –29 years old–) “Pa Pa” I owe a great many things to Pa Pa as he practically saved my life a couple of times. He was a really colorful guy, who undoubtedly will receive more mentions in later posts.

Part of the training was on the proper way to maneuver under, around, or through obstacles. Here we are maneuvering under “Constantine Wire”

One of my favorite events was “The Wooded Engagement” where basically you put on protective gear given a padded bat and you and three other men were charged with destroying the other three opponents. I do not mean to brag but both my Rack mate and I destroyed our opponents as if they there rag dolls. He and I both had to be pulled off our opponents and were thrown to the ground by the refs. It was a good day. That’s me on the left destroying the guy from Alpha Company.

HOWEVER! the rest of the world does not wait and in the grand ol’ fashion of Law School I am already swamped with reading assignments for the first day of class. What can I say besides, its good to be home.