So, the whole "Ho Ho Ho" firing thing may or may not have been a myth, but I am still going to stick with Economy Day. But changing the name of December's holiday has not resolved any of Theresa and my disagreements. We have compromised on the advent calender thing (Theresa is counting down, and I'm counting up) but we are now having a new fight: when presents come in the mail, can you open them right away?
I just read the other day that a Santa Clause was fired for saying 'Ho Ho Ho,' instead of what his employer wanted him to say: 'Ha Ha Ha.' First off, I think this whole Ho Ho Ho controversy is about the most ridiculous holiday scandal I have ever heard - doesn't the anti-Ho people realize that sometimes two words sound the same but have completely different meanings? If this keeps up, then well have to start talking about the Hoover Darn.
One of the things that I love most about the end of the year are critics "Best Albums of the Year" list. Although I know that critics' opinions don't really matter in the end, I always like to read what they have to say, either to see if my favorite albums get on other peoples list, or to discover good music that I had overlooked this year. So, since the internet allows everyone to publicly voice their own opinions, I am proud to present Theresa and my "favorite albums of the year." Since our household is a democracy (at least for now - when we have kids, it will shift to an oligarchy) Theresa and I each made our own Top Ten list and then, giving each of us equal weight, compiled a master list (In parenthesis are Theresa and my individual rankings) :
1.) Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2.) Feist: The Reminder
3.) Radiohead: In Rainbows
4.) Sunset Rubdown: Random Spirit Lover
5.) Metric: Grow Up And Blow Away
5.) Stars: In Our Bedroom After The War
7.) Rock Plaza Central: Are We Not Horses
8.) Frog Eyes: Tears Of The Valedictorian
9.) Kevin Drew: Spirit If...
9.) The New Pornographers: Challengers
We need your help resolving a little Christmas debate Theresa and I are having. As everyone knows, that December is the month for, not only gross materialism, but also Advent Calenders - a tradition that is fun for the entire family. However, the fun of these monthly treasure collections has been tainted this year by a bitter argument that has rocked the Miller home: Do you start the calender at 24, and count down to 1, or do you start at 1, and count up to 24?
Last week I said that I would not talk about our fridge. This week, though, I will. Not because I have nothing else to talk about, but because I have discovered deeper meaning in the story. Deeper meaning into the true spirit of America, which, if anyone even remembers, was the whole point of this blog to begin with.
It's official. As of yesterday, I have accepted an offer to work at the Palo Alto office of the Law Firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as a summer associate next year. 
So, there appears to be some strange goings-on at an abandoned house near my Grandfather's place in Buena Vista, Va. Pumpkins have been appearing, moving around, and disappearing, black cats prowling, and Ravens flying overhead - all in the weeks immediately preceding Halloween. Well, my Grandfather, being the inquisitive one, has challenged the family to solve the mystery and report our findings. Theresa and I, having consulted UVa's foremost paranormal expert Dr. Spookenstien and researching the history of Buena Vista, wrote this solution:
I sure hope they do, or else they might think that Theresa and my costumes reflected the way we really dress. This year, we decided to dress up as the most frightening thing that we could think of: Emo kids! (For those who have not been to high school in the last little while, Emo is a horrible genre of music consisting of 20 or 30 something guys who still think they are 16 and whine-sing about their latest girl trouble. see Dashboard Confessional, Something Corporate). The idea just came to me on Saturday, and we just went with it. Overall, I thought our costumes were good, although I was a little uncomfortable in those pants!
In the first year of Law School, they scare you half to death, in the second they work you half to death, and in the third they bore you half to death. I heard this statement recently and have decided that it presents a very accurate portrayal of my life; so, while last year I must have been too frightened to post every few days, currently, with my job search, moot court, Health Law Association, and classes, there seems to be precious little time to share my life with all of you.
And to continue living up to our goal of only eating at restaurants that we cannot find in Edmonton (ie. no nation-wide chains), we all went to Ben's Chili Bowl, a famous little hole-in-the-wall establishment that serves amazing chili and plays old-school rap. The place, which is apparently quite famous, is frequented by movie stars, and, as of last night, us as well.
Today was my second, off-brief round in the prestigious William Minor Lile Moot Court Compitition, and not only am I glad that it is over (for now), but I think it went pretty well. Not one to toot my own horn (although now that I am in America, I should probably get myself into the habit), but if I were asked to give an objected, unbiased recount of how I did tonight, I would have to respond in a police yet authoritative tone that I pretty much nailed that thing better than the Paslode F350S PowerMaster Plus air powered framing nailer. I was calm, well organized, efficient and tighter than a Vise Grip 10" Metric Quick Adjusting Wrench. It was a nice improvement over last week.
Anyone in my immediate family could tell you that I like to argue, and it's true. While in my formative years, I would argue about any and every topic under the sun, whether or not I agreed with the position I advocated and regardless of the amount of knowledge (or lack thereof) I had on the topic. In High School, I once, without knowing anything about Intellectual Property, argued for the complete elimination of copyrights (information wants to be free!) with my mother, who was taking a graduate class on the topic. Unfortunately, I have not been able to continue my near constant debates with Theresa because her responses to my theoretical sparring (usually consisting of pokes and/or tickles) are just too persuasive to rebut.
I have briefly mentioned before how much I like albums that are created as a complete whole, instead of three-minute pop songs that are created as much to sell ring-tones as they are to convey an artistic expression. A good album, much like a novel or movie, should present a continuous whole, designed to be enjoyed from beginning to end, with a distinct opening, middle, climax and conclusion, with the songs building off of and referring to each other to create a whole that is much more than the sum of its parts.
Congratulations Canadian Dollar! For the first time in my life, you have regained your previously lofty position as the stronger (or, at least equal) of the two North American Dollars! It looks like you're not so loony any more. Maybe this will help convince some of our American friends who believe otherwise that Canada is indeed part of the G8.
I caved, and I cannot be more ashamed of myself. After months of announcing of Theresa and I's proud, TV-less existence, the Miller family home is now bathed in the glow of the infinite cathode-ray tube wasteland that is television. Although "infinite" is probably not the most accurate description of our situation, though, since have merely boughten an antenna and therefore, only receive about 5 channels.
Randal: I would wager that most people who are anticipating the new album Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew, Spirit If... are more excited about the Broken Social Scene Presents part than the Kevin Drew part. And yes, with Kevin (one of the leaders of the broken scene) and a slew of Broken Scenesters as guests, this new album does sound like a new Broken Social Scene album. But (and I am showing my true Canadian Indie Rock nerd status here) I would say that it sounds more like a KC Accidental* album. The music is a lot more mellow than BSS's recent outings, and it has the low-key feel of a post rock album, but with Kevin's (and a whole bunch of other people's) vocals all over it. But it just goes to show what I've been saying all along: Broken Social Scene (and in this case, Kevin Drew) has created a whole new genre: post post rock! But do I like it? Sure: 3.5/5.
Approximately one year ago, I rousingly gave my approval to UVa's policy of wearing ties and/or sun dresses to football games. At that time I did add the qualification that this policy is being replaced by another, much less classy dress code of orange T-shirts, but noticed at the games I attended, the tie and dress wearing students still represented a respectable percentage of the crowd. This year, however, I am sad to report that significantly less students opted on continuing that noble tradition, and even the stadium's giant score board sent out an overt t-shirt promoting message to the masses. Now, this might not seem like a big deal to you, and I myself will gladly admit that a t-shirt, whatever the color, will keep any football fan much cooler than a dress shirt and slacks, but I see this change as yet another step away from the romantic age of yesteryear and towards an uncreative, conformist and overly informal future. What happened to individualism? Where did our sense of style go? Alas, it appears to have washed away in that ever encroaching sea of orange that is so vigorously promoted by UVa's athletic department, which, having already sucked a fair amount of class from this scholarly institute already, is probably now planning up ways to add more evidence against creationism by encouraging sports fans to hoot and hollar and generally act very similar to our less-evolved simian relatives. But, then again, I guess sports fans already do that...
And now, a special sneak peak into what goes on during a top secret officers meeting in any one of the numerous law school's student organizations (assuming, of course, that there actually are meetings, as opposed to the President dumping all of the work onto one poor soul to do completely herself):
Happy Labour Day Folks (and that is labour with a 'u'). I am currently celebrating this, the final long weekend of summer labouring in the law school, mostly trying to get this Health Law Association Kick-Off off the ground. But do not fear, Theresa and I will not allow this important holiday to go unrecognized, and will be heading off of a picnic later today.
My second year has begun, and here at UVa, this means that I have essentially graduated from Jr. High and moved up to plain-ole regular High. And by this I mean that we are no longer herded around from class to predetermined class with the same set of fellow students, but get the chance to strike out on our own and create a unique schedule. So yes, Section J and I have to now part ways, but not without the fond memories to remember each other by. As of now, I'd say it was a fairly easy break-up, and we are definitely still going to be friends (its not even weird when we see each other in the hallway, or, say at the Section J Welcome Back BBQ). Hopefully our relations will stay congenial, and that I will not have to sometime in the future throw myself a pity-party and dump all of my Section J pictures into a garbage can of flames. But I digress. As of now, my 2L classes are quite satisfactory, but with my courses in Criminal Investigation and Evidence, an outside observer might think that I am on the track to a fulfilling carrier in Criminal Law rather than my previously stated aims at Life Sciences (at least my patent class is on course).
We are in the middle of a severe drought. And yet it rained quite heavily last night. In fact, there has been a couple of rain storms this week, and some the previous as well, whose occurrences, along with my observations that Virginia’s plentiful vegetation are green and the soil is still a little damp, has served to teach me a little more about my adopted home: apparently, it doesn’t actually have to be dry for there to be a drought in Virginia. But maybe the problem isn’t so much the lack of rain as much of it being that the moisture comes in discrete bursts; you know – when it rains it pours.
It seems that, based on the number of times that I have taken my relatives - who have all chosen August as the time to visit 'ol sunny Virginia - around the main grounds and through the law school, that I should update my resume to include "full time UVa tour guide." And of course, this being interview time, anything that can give my resume a little boost will be more than welcome. 
Seeing how this blog called “Adventures in a Strange and Distant Land,” I feel it appropriate to announce that I have been in this weird and far-off place for an entire year. It seems hard to believe that it has been twelve whole months since I was hanging out in our less-than-luxurious apartment just off of 99th Street in Edmonton, listening to the non-stop roar of that busy street’s traffic and trying to finish off that large sack full of corn that Thersesa’s parents had so graciously brought us up from Taber, the Corn Capital of Canada. And me, not being one to shy away from nostalgia, would like to proceed with a brief month-to-month summary of this intrepid adventurer’s journey that has led me to where I am now.
One interesting result of only watching TV on very limited occasions (ie. in the laundry room) is that the ads seem to have become more salient to me. And by this I mean that I am noticing how incredibly contrived and obnoxious they are. At first I thought that there is this parallel universe out there were people just care so much about their stuff, like their possessions are the most important things to these people, who just can't get enough of talking about their newest lawn mower or fast food hamburger. Upon further reflection, I realize that these commercials don't really depict an alternate universe - just the United States. (OK sure, Canada is pretty much just as materialistic as the US, but the point I am trying to make here is that in the States, they take their consumption culture just a little bit further than their northern neighbors. For example, they seem to commodify everything - even health care and education).
The first stop on said outing was not in fact coordinated by us. For my Uncle and Aunt has come to the old dominion for their own vacation, and subsequently took off to New York, leaving their three kids in the care of their and my grandparents. So then, what is there for my Grandparents to do, but continue the time-honored tradition of spoiling their grandkids - in this case, by taking them to King's Dominion, a amusment/waterpark just North of Richmond. And since I am a grandchild of said grandparents, and because they needed back-up from a couple who is willing to brave the larger rollar-coasters with the elder of the children, Theresa and I were invited to come along. And let me tell you, I don't know if Addy Ben and Matt even had as much fun as Theresa and I did running from ride to ride, and even snapping a quick photo of Dora the Explorer to be used in impressing Theresa's 3 year old neice (much to the embarrasment of our 11 year old cousin, who is much too cool to be seen with Dora). In all, we spent over 10 hours, split between the rides and the slides (waterslides that is).
The next day, setting out from a Richmond hotel the we shared with our cousins, Theresa and I next travelled to Virginia Beach for a day of relaxation following that rollar-coaster of a Friday the day previous. Now, Virginia Beach is a nice beach with good sand and warm water, and Theresa particularly enjoyed not only setting eyes on the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, but jumping right in and playing in its waves. All and all, we had a good time, especially walking along the shore, hand-in-hand, watching the multitude of visitors there to enjoy the sun and surf. It was particularly interesting (in a saddening yet amusing way), watching the little kids at the edge of the tide-line building their sand castles, only to have them come crashing down when the waves reach the point where they had originally deemed safe enough for construction and while the constructors desperatly, and ultimatly vainly, trying to sheild their creations from the ever-encroaching onslaught of the unstoppable forces of nature. And, as another, unrealated observation, I can confindintly say that the Canadian Girls were definatly the most attractive of any in Virginia Beach, at least judging from the one whose nationality I could difinatively accertain.
Any of you who have had the pleasure of signing up of On-Grounds Interviews with Law Firms could join with me in attesting that it is not always the most enjoyable experience. Especially when you are searching the NALP directory for Law Firms' hiring policies and you see the yet another standard listing that says something like this: 
Just the other day, during my daily perusal of CNN.com, I discovered, much to my shock and disappointment, the that lonelygirl15, the popular video-blog about the life of an average 16 year-old, was in fact (get this) fake! Yeah, I know, this is old news, but it came as a shock to me to find out that good 'ol lonelygirl, which whom I'd shared the last year of my life, laughing and crying at her adventures with school plays and dating, was all just an elaborate lie. I couldn't be more outraged. To think a bunch of actors would stoop to such lows as to fooling us sentimental youtube watchers just to get a bit of publicity! But... this news has prompted me to make a confession myself. Let it now be known that this blog you are now reading is also completely contrived. That's right, I don't love "Sunset Rubdown," I've never eaten at "Aqui es Mexico," and I don't even actually go to "Law School." In fact, there is not even such a place as "The University of Virginia." I hope this news does not influence you all to stop reading, for even though my adventures may be fake, they come from the heart. And so, to continue on my quest to gain international fame and glory, I bring to you this next post on a topic, which I am quite confident that not even a single one of my readers cares much about at all:
It will be difficult for me to write an objective review of the new Sunset Rubdown Record Random Spirit Lover because I absolutely love everything the band has done. Imagine trying to get an unbiased opinion about the Boston Red Sox from a die-hard fan. But I will try:
Sunset Rubdown: Random Spirit Lover
