You've Got it in Print

Steven got his law school diploma this week.  For a graduation gift, I got him a frame to put it in. Since we had to wait for the actual diploma to get mailed, it's just been an empty frame on the wall. Well, no more!  Everything else we've said about law school and graduation was inadmissable heresay, but Steve has graduated from law school and now we have proof!!!

My favorite part about getting the diploma (other than the fact that it means Steve did, in fact, graduate and having something to put in the frame) is that now we have Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph:

Update by Steve:  I have to add that Arnold is not the only celebrity to sign my diploma.  My law school dean, Dean Schill, was (unwittingly) on The Daily Show.  He was interviewed as part of one of the show's mock news segments.  Here's the video. I should warn you that there is some crude language, though the worst offenders are bleeped.  Dean Schill appears about 2 minutes and 45 seconds into the clip.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rent Claws
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

I think he did an excellent job.  When the interviewer started getting offensive, he told him so and then ended the interview instead of letting himself fall into the trap like so many Sacha Baron Cohen victims.

Seminary Graduation

It's been quite a year.  I can't tell you how proud we are of the kids and how much we will miss teaching them. Being a young Latter-day Saint in the middle of Los Angeles is not easy.  Our students have been the source of intense scrutiny and sometimes even derision from their classmates at their high schools.  This was especially true after the fallout over Proposition 8 where our students were in the unenviable position  of being targets simply for being members of their church, irrespective of their views.  The kids have been a source of  great strength to each other and to us as well.  

This was also a year in which April and I had some significant trials in our lives.  Being able to get up each morning to teach these students the Gospel and to feel of the spirit that they bring to class has helped to buoy us up through these challenging times.   We wish our graduates, and all of our students, a happy summer and a bright future.

Graduation

Here are some pictures from Friday's graduation (with some captions).

Section 12

Mom, April, And Dave and Mary Lou

With Van (my first real client)

The MTA Destroyers

With Kirill and Joy

With Chris

The Mormons

Brett and Mike

We went to El Cholo afterwards

With Brian at El cholo

Marcin, Steve, Mac, Kirill, and I 

My wife whose patience and support made it all possible.

I'm Done!

It's over. I am done with my last law school final ever and I will graduate tomorrow. Unfortunately much of that joy was diminished yesterday when a giant box full of all of the bar review books that I will be ploughing through this summer arrived at my door. Between the multi-state and California, they probably weigh a total of about 50 pounds. But for the moment it feels good to have it all done.

.

Mom and Dad Visit

April and I were glad to have my parents come down and visit us for the weekend. For those who don't know, I will be graduating from law school on My 8th. In an unfortunate cosmic alignment my brother Mike will be graduating from the U's management school on the exact same day. This puts my parents in the very awkward circumstance of being in two places at once. So the have decided to divide and-uh-split the baby. My mom will come down here and my dad will stay up in SLC. In the meantime, they decided that they would both come down now, in part, to take some "fake" graduation photos.

While they were here we also did lots of other fun things like bike riding through Marina Del Rey, with Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary Lou, and touring Venice beach.

(here's the guy that jumps barefooted onto broken glass about to do his thing)

(and the two-headed turtle)

We also walked through downtown Culver City.

(From left to right: Harry Culver (seated), with Nike (also seated), Mom, Lillian Culver holding daughter Patricia, April (seated), Kiki on ground, and Dad)


And toured the temple grounds.

And of course we hit up a few of our classic culinary haunts including: Pinks,

Diddy Riese, Las Fuentes, and Tahoe Galbi (our favorite Korean barbeque in K-Town). If you've never had Korean BBQ you are missing out. they give you a variety of meats (all you can eat and most of them in some form of sweet marinade) that you cook up to your own liking on a grill in the middle of your table. You also get a smorgasbord of side dishes.
I think my dad enjoyed it the most. He even developed quite a liking for Kimchi.

Not long after I dropped my parents off at LAX on Monday I had my second real trial. I represented another MTA bus driver who was refereed to us by my last client. It went about as well as we could expect, and maybe even a little better. We should hear a verdict in a few weeks or so.