Recent in Review

Well, it's been a while, so here's a post for the month of February, with pictures, which are pretty, which increases readership, to be sure:

Class. That's pretty much what I've been up to. This past month has been the most consistent studying I've done while in college. I attribute it to being married and wanting to work harder but also wanting to no go out of my final semester with a whimper. So this is mainly what I've been doing. Nothing rock n' roll.
Income Tax Accounting: detailed, interesting. I love the fact that the IRS has to specifically exclude de minimis fringe benefits from gross income. I don't have to pay income tax on the "economic benefit" of toilet paper I use to wipe my bum at work, but only because Congress wishes it to be so.

Strategic Management: business babble. we get the idea...if you haven't bought yourself one of those cool "value chains," you're so old school sole proprietorship. Grow up and be an LLP. I do have to say the BBC documentary of "Morgan Car Company," is interesting and worth a bloody laugh, if you can blooming well understand the chaps waffling on the programme.

Auditing: I like the concept of serving the public interest, but I'll let someone else in society do this. Pass. "How many invoices have you looked at, eh? Not as many as I have, I'll wager!" "I'm assuring the financial statements are free of material misstatement in other ways, George. You know, complying with SAS 99, understanding how the client's internal controls are functioning, revising the materiality level for that loan valuation account! Wait 'til I tell the ladies about this stuff after work, it'll knock them off their feet!"

Roman Republic: Loads of work, but it's worth it. Probably my favorite class. I can't even think of much material here lending iteslf to mockery. I did think that Claudius' Battle of Drepana and the Sacred Chickens from the First Punic War makes a good bedtime story. You know the old saying, "When in Rome...kill!" I added the fourth word in that phrase after typing a paper on the believablility of outcomes in Livy's work on Rome's ancient history.

I'm up to 18 pages on my thesis. Writing, refining the outlining, researching as much as I can. I'm hoping/thinking the final draft will be somewhere between 30 and 40 pages. This is definitely a "get it done" assignment. I wouldn't wish anyone to have to read it, except the defense committee. It'll be technically accurate, but it's not the sort of thing you'd proudly display at Starbucks as your latest reading material. Ah, the effects of leveraged buyouts upon managerial behavior. Invigorating, isn't it?

In other news: Thank you God and thank you admissions committees at the following law schools! Denver University Sturm College of Law, Paul M. Hebert LSU Law Center, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Amanda and I went to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life in late January. We slept in a high school gym with the other Loyola University New Orleans students accompanying us. I enjoyed the "Met" subway system. It's very clean and efficient. The weather was FRIGID. We went to a couple awesome museums: the Holocaust Museum and the Air and Space Museum. The former was life-changing. We also went to the Students for Life of America conference at Catholic University. When in D.C., eat at Union Station at Uno's...it's great.

On Mardi Gras break, we hung out with a guy who built a tree house with air conditioning, electricity, and plumbing...and it sleeps five comfortably. Stuart McClendon also is a lawyer, operates his own furniture production factory...and it's all in the "country".

Went to a pretty cool Chi Alpha bonfire at the Bullers' house...

On Valentine's Day, I took Amanda out to Bistro Byronz for dinner. There was a jazz band, and I brought her flowers. We watched Kate and Leopold and gave each other gifts. If Valentine's Day is sweet when dating someone, it's that much better when married, trust me.

Went to the Green Bean coffeehouse to hear my good friends Zechariah Brewer and Christine Thrower play music...

Jacob Benda shaved my head for me recently...

Just kidding. Well, just kidding, that was Ms. Spears, this is me:

Amanda and I have been watching through the Band of Brothers series. It's quite powerful. The series traces "E" Company of an airborne division from their training in America to the Normandy invasion to Operation Market Garden to the Battle of the Bulge to Hitler's Nest in Austria. The most fascinating part of the series is the character details of the leadership, especially Dick Winters. From what I recall, the book of the same name by the late Steven E. Ambrose is pretty close to the series, and vice-versa. Great book and great TV series.

I've watched 3 movies recenlty: Juno, Cloverfield, and Rambo. (All one-word titles. How'd I manage that?)

Juno: Amanda and I saw it together. About a girl who gets pregnant in high school and decides to carry her baby to term and give the child up for adoption. But don't expect a reverential, serious treatment of the subject matter. As a bit of a caveat to viewers, I don't recommend it to everyone because it has quite a bit of sex-related dialogue, as can be expected with such subject matter. Interestingly, though, the girl considers abortion but winds up finding herself pro-life. The movie, while using comedy as way to draw the crowd in, winds up being suprisingly and believably more heartfelt than expected at the film's end. The main character, thankfully, is not an overly sexualized glamour model who looks 25. She looks like she's a petite little high school student who made a bad choice. And she learns the consequences. All-in-all, I really enjoyed this.

Cloverfield: Yes, yes, yes! This is the film I've been waiting for. I haven't seen The Blair Witch Project, but apparently the filming style is similar. Except Cloverfield kicks it up a notch. A giant monster apparently attacks New York City and some partying twenty-something-year-olds run around the city for dear life, with the camera being passed to those who survive, to document the event. The sounds and the sights are spectacular; see this one on a digital picture screen. What makes the film excellent is that it is a "you are there" feeling. The film is shot from the perspective of someone documenting an event. What makes it great also makes it bad. Amanda, along with many other Americans who have seen the film, got motion sickness from the constantly wavering camera through the length of the film. Don't make this one a date movie, but save the date to see it before it's out of theaters...don't wait for the DVD.

Rambo: My friend Jacob and I saw this...and I later apologized to him for making him go with me. It was terrible! The only thing worth seeing is Rambo cut people in half with a .50-caliber machine gun and laugh at his little guttural phrases like, "Either die for nothing or live for something!" All I remember from the movie is jungle, horrified missionaries, exploding bodies, and John Rambo's heavy breathing. The first 3 Rambos were just fine in their cheezy way, but this latest one adds cheeze with extreme gore...I'm not sure whether to laugh or puke, but I decided to only do the former but wanted to do the latter.

I've been listening to a lot of Delirious? music recently, and it's blessed me to once again fall in love with what has always been my favorite band.

The album Glo begins with a steady drum beat, loud but clean guitars and...chanting monks to a Psalm 63 declration of "God you are my God and I will seek you." The song is eventually joined by a high-pitched violin and choir virtually shouting "We're going to the house of God. Are you coming?" Then, the song "God's Romance" is announced by thrashing guitars and a BPM overload that threatens to explode. As the space rock progresses we are reminded that there are "people are across the world with a heartbeat for holiness...feel His pleasure, we are God's romance." The quieter and brooding "Investigate" opens with a Dobro guitar and moodily reminds the listener of God's comprehensive knowledge of human beings, a la Psalm 139. The album then takes an acoustic break in "What Would I Have Done?" ["if it wasn't for Jesus?"] and then contains the modern worship classic (that Delirious? penned), "My Glorious." And that's only half the album.

How could I fail to mention Mezzamorphis, the album released before Glo? Though the band consistenly sings about getting to heaven and contains phrases that recognizable as scripturally-based, the band only mentions "God" once and was accused of "selling out" at the time.

I've walked down a road where the devil's been / Where the kids are seeing things they should have never seen / And the ancient stone knows the deeper tale / About a bloody game they call the holy war // Heaven is my home / And there'll be no shame to bear // I've walked down a road where the angels' been / Where the kids are seeing things that we have never seen / And the ancient stone knows the deeper tale / About a bloody king who won the holy war // Heaven is my home / And there'll be no shame to bear / Heaven is my home / And there'll be no refugees

-lyrics from "Heaven"

Another song from their latest album The Mission Bell sings about the injustice of abortion, questions the violation of Psalm 139 through plastic surgery, declares there is only one true God, asks forgiveness, and continually returns to the chorus "Our God Reigns," which is also the title of the song.

I will close this lengthy post with a thought from William Jay's devotional. When the New Testament says that the blood of Christ speaks better things than those of Abel, it is saying that while the blood of Abel cried out to be avenged, the blood of Christ cried out for our pardon. What a dramatic reversal.

That's all for now, folks. Until next time, remember to get your Adobe Acrobat Reader updates regularly and update your Facebook status at least once per week.