Door County

Hey Everyone,

C and I have been really busy the past few weeks with all the graduation festivities, bar admissions, etc. But this weekend, C took me up to Door County. We stayed in Bailey's Harbor at this nice little bed and breakfast. Trust, the breakfasts were the bomb. We rode a tandem bike about 15 miles to a lighthouse. We kayaked a decent distance out to a shipwreck, and walked through a nature sanctuary. Oh yeah, and we got real burnt! The whole trip was great. Two nights was the perfect amount of time. Please browse the pictures below if you are interested.

Door County

In honor of today being a holiday, I am going to keep this post short, and let everyone go enjoy themselves. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Graduation

Hey People,
Not sure if you all heard, but I graduated from law school this weekend. It was a long weekend of numerous ceremonies, but I had a lot of fun. To anyone who came to my party on Sunday, thank you very much. It means a lot to me. I want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point, because without all of them, none of this means anything. My dad, who I know affects my life on a daily basis, deserves a special mention.

The photo above is my attempt to take a cool, John Grisham-esque lawyer photo on the steps of the Capitol. Even though I'm now an attorney, I'm still always looking to keep it funky and keep it fresh. Haha, who am I kidding?

I wanted to post some pictures from the weekend for everyone to see and download if they want them. They can be found by clicking below. The first set of pictures are from the Saturday night ceremony. The later photos were taken this morning when I was being sworn-in at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So apparently I can like practice law in Wisconsin right now...that is cool.

Graduation

I have one more little event tomorrow, and then, it's off to find a job...

Until next time, be good and do good.

BWBB

Hey folks,

New beer blog. I haven't had much of an opportunity to try new beer recently, but I did buy a six pack of New Glarus Moon Man. New Glarus is the brewery that brings Spotted Cow to all of us. Actually, Spotted Cow is probably the first beer that I really loved. So the brewery holds a special place in my heart. I've since moved on to many other beers, but like the first love in your life, Spotted Cow (and hence, New Glarus) remains. Drinking a Spotted in the brewers parking lot when it is 93 degrees outside and you are surrounded by good people is a special experience.

With all that being said, I am somewhat ambivalent about the other New Glarus brews. Fat Squirrel is too nutty. Stone Soup has some odd spice that doesn't agree with me. And the fruit beers are all way too fruity for me. So, I purchased the new Moon Man Pale Ale with no expectations.

Let's talk about the beer. First thing I noticed about Moon Man was the hops. They claim that it has five varieties of hops, and I don't doubt it. The second aspect I noticed was the lack of bitterness. There is almost no bitterness to beer. I guess, I prefer a good mix of hops and bitter. For that reason, I was left wanting a bit more. I certainly would not say Moon Man was bad, but it didn't do it for me. Looking at my fridge, all the Moon Man is gone...so apparently it was drinkable. haha.

Anyone else want to chime in with their opinions of Moon Man? I would certainly welcome a 2nd, 3rd or 4th opinion. I would also be interested to hear everyone's opinions of the other New Glarus beers.

That's all I've got for now. Graduation is this weekend...kinda looking forward to it. The party on Sunday should be fun. I hope everyone can make it for a bit. There will be beer. :o)

Why I love Paul Krugman...

I am a frequent reader of the NYTimes. It's on my short list of bookmarks that get a visit every morning. Sometimes I find interesting columns, sometimes not. But one thing is for sure: when I see Paul Krugman's name, I read the entire column. Today was certainly no different. For an important and interesting read, click here

I think the oil spill is one of those news stories (similar to Katrina and Haiti) that has lingered. And it has lingered so long that eventually it becomes un-newsworthy. "It's boring. We've heard/read it all before." We would rather talk about Elena Kagan, Greece, or Tiger Woods' injury. At least we haven't read those stories before. But news stories linger for a reason, because they are important and have lessons to teach.

Down at the bottom of Mr. Krugman's column, there is a reference to Obama's commencement speech at Michigan. The President is quoted as saying

"Government is what ensures that mines adhere to safety standards and that oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that caused them."

But, is it too much for me to ask that our government not only react but also be proactive? Not only make BP clean up for their mistake, but make sure another mistake is less likely. I expect my government to regulate and do it well. The notion that somehow government does too much regulation has certainly been destroyed over the past few years. If we take an honest look at these disasters (economic, social, and environmental), we cannot rationally come to the conclusion that our government does too much regulating.

Thanks for reading my little mini-rant. The moral of this blog however is that Paul Krugman is tight. Read his stuff and do it frequently.

Law school is over. I hope everyone can make it to my graduation party on Sunday May 23. If you just want to stop by and say hello, I won't be offended.

That's all for now. Thanks.

So Runs the World Away

As most of you know by now, I am obsessive about a few things. One of them being Josh Ritter. His latest album came out yesterday. In my humble opinion, he is one of the most underrated singers/songwriters around today. His storytelling ability is pretty much unparalleled by any other contemporary artist. To visit his site and listen to some songs, click this spot.

This is Josh's first album on his own record label. Because of that, he had to deal with the distribution on his own. Luckily for all of us, Starbucks is selling his cd at all of their locations (except apparently the one right by my house where the cashier looked at me like I was speaking Chinese when I asked if they had the cd.) I don't normally condone spending money at Starbucks, but I'll make an exception for Josh because I feel I owe him more than he knows. The album is fantastic, and its influence can probably be seen all over my judging seminar paper...haha.

If you would like to learn a bit more about Josh, read this

I'll get a beer blog up soon...promise.

Be good and keep doing positive things.