Confessions of a New Home Owner

After weeks of anxiety, waiting, constant phone calls, and brief outbursts of restlessness, the day finally came yesterday when Holly and me closed on our new home! We got the final call at around Noon that everything was good to go for a 4:15 p.m. signing. Not only that, but we found out that instead of having to pay a decent bit at closing, that we were actually going to get some money back! So we drove over there, got to signing, and by about 5:00 p.m., Holly and myself were officially homeowners. Cincinnati, here we come!

But before that . . .

Of course, if it involves us, it couldn’t be that simple. As we were trying to make plans of how we were going to get moved over to Cincinnati tomorrow, we got a call from Holly’s mom that her Step-grandfather was being brought up to Indianapolis for an emergency triple-bypass scheduled for today. Wow. Well, what are you gonna do, life happens, and we weren’t going to dare have people, including her parents, trying to move us while that was going on. So, we’ve postponed the big move until tomorrow afternoon. If you’re reading this and are the prayin type, give a quick prayer for Don Heisler if you’re thinking about it. Triple-bypass aint no joke.

Countdown to the Emerald Isle

In just a few days, we’ll be headed up to Chicago to board a plane bound for London. From there, we will be boarding the Norwegian Jade, bound for Ireland. Our trip will consist of one night out to sea, one full day at sea, a day in Dublin, a day in Cork, another day at sea, and then a voyage into the port next Friday morning. I am completely stoked about this cruise. Especially now that we saved a little money on closing, we might be tempted to take an extra excursion when we are in Cork or Dublin. It’s gonna be terrific!

When we get back that Friday, we’ll head into London and stay there for the night. Holly’s never been to London, so I’m going to try and give her a quick and dirty day tour of the big stuff: Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Thymes, etc. We NEED a vacation, that’s for sure, and this week is going to be marvelous.

Notes at the Closing Bell:

• There are several movies that I want to see. Wolverine, Terminator:Salvation, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe. But I’m really looking forward to The Road, with Viggo Mortenson, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy. I haven’t actually read the book, but just reading about the movies makes me want to read the book. Looks like I may have just added a new one to my summer reading list. And yes, I WILL read this summer, I’m determined.
• Got an A in my MBA class this past spring. That’s fun. Not as fun is what I’m expecting for my law grades. Ughh.
• Tigers are in first place right now. Let’s see how long that lasts.

That’s all for now. One love. Holla.

Stutter stepping into Cincinnati

So, our closing is supposed to be tomorrow. Now, you might be thinking, “Hmm, that’s off that he said supposed to be.” I say that because, as of right now, it looks like we may have to be pushing it back. There were some issues with the title and some old liens, so now we’re kinda waiting with baited breath to see if we’re actually going to close tomorrow or not. This wouldn’t be as scary if not for two things: 1) Our lease here at our apartment in Indy is up at the end of the month; and 2) We leave for our vacation on Friday, the 22nd of May. So we’re kinda playing with a limited time frame here. And yes, as always, this leads Andy to mucho stress eating. Thank you, Chick-fil-A and Snickers.

Paging Dr. Heaton, Dr. Bauser-Heaton

As of Saturday at approx 11:00 a.m., I am officially married to a double-doc. Dr. Holly Bauser-Heaton, M.D., Ph.D. It’s actually pretty crazy to think about. After all these years of having to say, “Yeah, my wife’s a student” or “Holly’s a med-student”, now I just get to simply say, “My wife’s a doctor.” It’s pretty cool, actually. I’m just so amazingly proud of her, I can’t really describe it. We had a party for her, and afterwards, we put her diploma into her nice, new frame. We were just kinda silent as we stared at it and it all sunk in that she really was done.  Hopefully soon, she’ll get to say, “My husband’s a lawyer” and not, “My husbands a bum.” I KID!  . . . .  sorta.

Vacation

As I mentioned, we are scheduled to leave for our vacation/Holly’s Graduation Celebration on May 22nd. We are driving to Chicago, which we will then fly out of to head into London, England. From there, we will depart for a five-day cruise going from London to Dublin, Ireland, to Cork, Ireland, and then back to London. It’s going to be amazing! I’ve never gone on a cruise before, and this is pretty different from the usual cruise to the Bahamas. We’re both stoked!

Classes – When will the hurting stop, Mommy?

Last Thursday was my last final of the spring, an eight-hour juggernaut called Income Tax. It was nice to be done . . . until I started my summer classes on Monday. I am taking “International Competitive Strategy” for the MBA program on Mondays, and “Sex Discrimination” on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the JD program. Yup, class three nights a week, along with my full time work here at the law firm. Someone shoot me, please. I also had the horrible revelation that I was not as close to being done with the MBA program as I thought I was. I now have to take ONE MORE class in the fall to complete my requirements. I’m signed up for “Venture Strategy” at this time. December really can’t get here soon enough.

Ramblings at the closing bell

• Pistons bounced out in the first round – no shocker there. Tiger’s are hanging tough on top in the AL Central but aren’t impressing me. Wings have to get past a tough Ducks team in Game 7. Lions . . . well, yeah.
• I’m so frickin sick of hearing about Miss California. I hope this latest round of news about her is the end. Perez Hilton set her up with a highly controversial question. Other people get asked about world hunger, and he’s gonna throw gay marriage at her? Hey, why not at the Miss Universe pageant, we just ask all the women about their stances on abortion, huh? It’s just a bit much.
• Ok, I’m gonna go on a little tangent here. My wife and I are HUGE fans of “The Biggest Loser”. I mean, we are pretty religiously devoted to it, and have been since we watched an entire season of it on New Year’s Day back in January. So we’ve followed this season devotedly. So, this past week was the final. Up until now, my preference for winning was 1) Mike; 2) Helen; 3) Tara. I never took to Tara just from the fact that she was always a winner, and started getting freaked out about having to win. I thought her winning it all would just be too much. I identified a lot with Mike, thought he showed alot of heart walking that Marathon, and that he had gotten alot of his emotional baggage out during the season. Helen I like just because I thought, he, this lady is older, I appreciate that she’s hung in there and is really looking good. FAST FORWARD to the finale. After all the contestants came out, Helen was asked, “What do you think your chances are?” She looked at the other two and said, “I think they are pretty good!” SERIOUSLY? You choose the finale to get cocky. She was way to confident, especially when both Mike and Tara looker great! I instantly hated her at that point. So what happens? Of course, she wins. But damn if Mike and Tara weren’t CLOSE. I think Mike was only three pounds away from beating her, and he had to have lost 210 lbs. He has such a harder road than her. Tara actually won me over as well, and I started to think that maybe her winning streak deserved final validation.
• All that to say, Helen, you suck. Mike, keep it up. Tara, you deserved it.

That’s all for now. One love. Holla.

Sleeping with “T.B. Mary”

Before anyone calls the CDC in this environment of swine flu, don’t be alarmed. For awhile, we were somewhat worried that after months of being back from Africa, that Holly was going to finally get tested and come up positive for T.B.  I told her that I was going to flip if I’d caught it from being in the same house with "T.B. Mary". I which point she told me that it was "Typhoid Mary" and that I was an idiot. We were worried because one of the guys on the trip just got tested a month ago, and came up positive. Long story short, Holly found out Friday that she’s clear for T.B.

This is going to be a quick, random, and dirty post. I just wanted a break from all things "law" for a second. Plus, I haven’t posted since right after Match day, and much has happened. Here goes the randomness:

The Homeowner’s life for us

Shortly after we found out we were moving to Cincinnati, Holly began the house hunt. After six years in graduate school and apartments, Holly decided that her reward for all that work and having the guts to move ot a new city was a house of her very own. A compelling argument that I couldn’t argue with, so we began the search full force. In two weeks, we came up with a stellar prospects, and a few days later, we had a winning bid accepted. So, on May 15th, we will officially close on our new home at 3901 Kilbourne Ave, Cinicinnati OH, 45209. I’m already salivating at that new homeowner tax incentive next year. Cha-ching!

Law School and the MBA – Almost There

In just a little over seven months, I will officially be done  with my JD/MBA. I have only one more MBA class to take this summer, and I’ll officially be done with that aspect of it. Then in the Fall, it’s twenty hours of law classes, and Im officially outta here. I’d be lying to say I was super stoked, because while I enjoy the propsect of no more nights and weekends slaving over readings I don’t care about, i’m not looking forward to hopping into this job market. Hopefully it will tidy itself up a little bit before I put my toes in come January 2010.

The Mini-Marathon

This weekend, Holly and me will be running the Indy 500 Mini-Marathon, the country’s largets half-marathon, and one of the oldest. It’s a huge tradition here in Indianapolis, and it’s going to be the longest distance Holly has ever run. She signed up for it after getting a little "inspiration" while attending my participation in the Chicago Marathon. Since then, she has slowly transformed herself from someone who despised running into, well, an actual runner! This past weekend, she clocked the longest run of her life at 10 miles. I’m so proud of her! I know she’s going to do great, and I have no doubt she’ll finish. As for myself, I’m setting a goal of 1:45:00. Which leads me to the next point -

NEW GOAL – Boston Marathon 2011.

Last year, I was motivated all year by the desire to run a marathon. I picked Chicago, and I acheived my goal. After it was done, I was not filled with any intense desire to run it again. And any lingering desire to run Chicago again was killed when they released the entry price for this year as $120! No thanks. As the year has gone on, though, I have been filled with this intense desire to really reach for something lofty. Then, I was thinking about it while training for the Mini, and it hit me – I need to really be pushed to a point that seems impossible. That point I realized was to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. To do that, I would have to run a qualified marathon course in a time of 3:10:00. To understand how far I am from that, and thus how much work I have in front of me, my Chicago time was 4:42:19. So I have to shave nearly an hour and a half off of my Chicago time!!! So I’m giving myself two years, and with the goal being to qualify for the 2011 Boston Marathon.

Thus, there will be many marathons and half-marathons in my future.

Odds and Ends

• I created a Pandora channel that combines Styx and Rush. Some of the gems it has kicked out include Boston, the Cars, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. I don’t know what it delights me so much, but it does, Mr. Roboto.
• The Tigers are in first place – for now. Three game series with a middling Yankees team will be a test to see if we have the ability to get some distance frmo the pack or not.
• In approx. one and a half weeks, I will officially be married to a medical doctor. Pretty weird and wacky stuff.
• Cosa Nostra has chosen it’s Summit location for the summer of 2009. In July, Patty, Patrick, Buckley and myself will be heading to Boston. A series at Fenway against the Royals is in our future.
• Swine flu?!?!?! Really, SWINE FLU? Get the heck outta here. Just bring back Smallpox, like in the good ol’ days.
• There is nothing that goes on in anyone’s life that interesting enough to me that I need to be Twittered every twenty minutes about their awesome lunch or their sweet new kicks (is it ironic that I’m complaining on my blog about a mini-blog? Ehhh).

That’s all for now. More after finals! One love to you all.

PS – My Pandora channel just kicked out “Come Sail Away” It’s doesn’t get any better than that.

I’m at WKRP in Cincinnatiiiiiiiiii….

NEWS FLASH – Cincinnati, OH snags couple reeking of Awesomejuice.

After months of waiting, wondering, sometimes arguing, sometimes freaking out, the day has finally come and gone. On Thursday the 19th, Holly and myself found out that our future is bound the rolling hills of the “Queen City”, Cincinnati, OH. Sometime in June, Holly will move, and as of July 2009, she will officially be Dr. Holly Bauser-Heaton, MD, PhD, Internist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. I will finish out my education here in Indianapolis, finishing my MBA this summer and my JD be December.

It’s hard to explain to non-med students just how difficult this decision was. There were so many layered and nuanced considerations that had to go into Holly’s decision of ranking Cincinnati first on her list back at the end of February. It was so very hard because she really was digging the idea of living in the South in Nashville. She really liked the program, the director, and of course, she new that I like the idea of being closer to my Bama peoples.

At the end of the day, however, we just didn’t think we could pass up this amazing opporutnity to advance her career. In the easiest way that I can illustrate it, check out the latest U.S. News and World Reports rankings of Children’s Hopsitals.  As you can see, Cincinnati was ranked #3 in the nation; Nashville was #23. 

I’m also really excited about Cincinnati – it has alot of my favorite things. First and most important, for th first time in my life, I will actually get to live in a city with Major League Baseball. That’s right, my summer’s will contain a lot of Great American Ballpark for at least the next six or seven years. Also, they have the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany, and they have a Hofbrauhaus. From a career standpoint, Cincinnati is actually probably a better target for me to establish myself and get a foothold into a larger, business oriented law-firm. Nashville would have me competing with Vanderbilt JD’s as well as the South’s best and brightest who want to live in “glitzy” Nashville. Because Cincinnati is a little less of a glamours destination, I’ll hopefully face a little less competition for a job once I’m out of here.

Now, nerves are starting to settle in just a little bit. There’s this feeling of, “Oh my God, we’re not going to be students much longer.” The stark reality of bills, loan payments, mortgages, all of these things have started to settle in. We have a great adventure ahead of us. I’m just buckling in an getting ready for the ride.

The crazy un-real reality of “Mad Men”

In celebration of her Match Day results, and with it being just that time of year to go traveling, Holly has gone with her sister and nephew out to her brother’s place in Orange County, CA. That has left me here to hold down the fort. Deciding that I needed one day of true relaxation, I decided to go to our local video store (non-chain, kinda shady video store crawling with locals – my kinda place) and pick up the first discs from Season One of AMC’s acclaimed “Mad Men” series. Honestly, its kind of a mind trip to watch it.  The things that were and weren’t acceptable are kind of shocking to the senses. Then you go a little farther to realize that, wow, this was only forty or so years ago. The character are extremely complex and layered, and its really just a very interesting show to watch. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out. I know you probably have already, because I’m always late to the party on these types of shows. Oh well.

On being a Working Man

For those of you who may have not gotten the memo, I’m now officially a working man. As of the first Wednesday of this month, I am a Law Clerk for the firm of Lee, Cossell, Koeuhn & Love, LLP. It’s a smaller, 15+ lawyer firm in downtown Indianapolis. They focus on plaintiff’s cases, including personal injury, worker’s comp, family law, and other strands of civil litigation. I’m working 20 hours a week, and so far, I’ve really enjoyed it. For those who aren’t quite clear on why I’m at this type of firm, knowing that I’m getting my MBA and planning to do Corporate Law, it’s pretty simple to explain. Jobs are hard to come by – plain as that. I have friends in the JD program with excellent resumes, one who actually won Moot Court, and they haven’t found jobs yet. The market for legal jobs is just ridiculously difficult. So, I’m working here, and then when I graduate, I’ll hopefully have the firm experience that will help me land a job that more appropriately lines up with the type of law that I actually want to practice. Either way, I am enjoying it so far, and its at least confirming for me that I do enjoy the practice of law, no matter what type of law it may be.

Some quick points and observations:

• Funniest post-political sketch: Will Forte, of SNL, doing Tim Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury two weeks ago. Just watch and laugh at how horrible our situation really is.
• Michigan won it’s first round game against Clemson after making the dance for the first time since the late 90’s. I’m as happy as a little girl.
• I’m not gonna lie – I feel bad for Obama getting slammed about his “Special Olympics” joke on the Tonight Show. Why? Because as “politically incorrect” as it is, it’s a joke that a ton of people across this country probably would have made. He was trying to be personable and create an atmosphere that him and Jay were just two guys talking. In trying to do that, he made a joke that probably all of his friends (and my friends) have made at some point when trying to describe a friend who struggles at a certain athletic attempt.
• A quick side point to this. Both Tim Shriver, President of the Special Olympics, and Sarah Palin, Media-lover. . . I mean Governor of Alaska and mom of a special needs child, have made the following point in trying to take on this situation, “And actually, these special athletes are probably better athletes than most of us Americans.” Sigh . . . no, no they are not. They aren’t. They are wonderful people and kids who aren’t letting their handicaps keep them from competing on the Atheltic fields, and that’s very admorable; they are not better atheletes than most of us. Once again, the equalization of America strikes again (We’re all the same, no one is better than anyone else, you kid is no smarter than my kid, even though your kid gets straight A’s and mine eats paste, blah blah blah).

One love to you all. Holla atcha boy.

“I think I just threw up a little in my mouth . . . “

This Wednesday, Holly’s rank list is due. For those who are unsure of exactly what on Earth that means, let me clarify it for you. In November, Holly went to a bunch of interviews at different Pediatric Hospitals around the country. At this time, she now must turn in a list ranking her preferences from top to bottom. At this exact same moment, these different pediatric residency programs are making their own “rank lists” of the various med students who have interviewed at their programs. Both the students and the schools then submit their lists to a central processing system, that then “matches” up students with programs according to the two lists.

For example: Say Student A ranks IU first. IU ranks Student A near the bottom on their list. They will most likely not match. Student A ranks U. of Chicago second on their list. Student A is ranked near the top of U. of Chicago’s list. Student A, despite ranking IU first, is heading to U. of Chicago.

With that said, despite the deadline being Wednesday, Holly went ahead and submitted her list today. The fear of something messing up and the system and getting stuck made Holly decide to go ahead and just do it. Before you ask, I will NOT be saying what she ranked. I will say that, as most of you know, it came down to a battle between Cincinnati, OH (Children Memorial at the University of Cincinnati), and Nashville, TN (Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University), with Riley’s Children’s Hospital (IU) as the wild-card third horse.

This was without a doubt the biggest, most far reaching decision we’ve had to make in our two and a half years of marriage. This decision will put us in a new city, and keep us in that new city for at least three years, if not six (depending on whether Holly goes on to do her cardiac fellowship there or not). It was just a gutwrenching decision, and having to make it left us both exhausted, as it has dominated all thought for many weeks now.

In the end, we said a simple five-minute prayer together, and then Holly submitted the list. On March 19th, I’ll reveal to the world (along with Holly) where the Heaton’s will be living together in 2010!

Other bits:

• Last weekend was College Night weekend. It warms my heart every single time. I dread the day when I’m too old and it would thus be lame to go out and do “Rooster”. It was, great as always, though, to see the side give it it’s best shot. Even though I’ve reached the point where I no longer really know any of the current side members, a Gold’s a Gold.
• The College Night weekend, though, would have been nothing without all of our amazing friends. I say “our”, because I truly feel like Holly has made my friends her as well at this point. Michael and Brandi, Reagan and Meg, Ashlee, JT, Drew, Andy and Mary Beth, Aaron and Martha, Mitchell, Caroline and Bake, Steph and Allen, Bianchi and Blake, Richie and Kathy (and baby!), Chris and KellyBo . . . the list goes on. I love you all, and there will always be a chunk of my heart in the Heart of Dixie.
• The Tiger’s first Spring training game is only two days away. There is nothing that beats the smell of a freshly cut diamond on a dewey Saturday morning. I can’t wait for the day when I’m heading out every weekend to coach my child’s little league team.
• So, I guess I should check out “Slumdog Millionaire”, huh? Seems to have peaked the eye of a good number of the Oscar voters. “Benjamin Button” . . . I think I’ll stay away.
• I miss the rains down in Africa. Not the mud, though. Just the rains And the Tusker.

One love to you all. Holla

Is this the “Change” you signed up for?

The past few days have been quite the trying times for the Obama Administration. It all started last week with his recommendation for the Treasury spot, Geithner, was bogged down by tax issues before ultimately being approved. Then, Daschle started to bob and weave about his own tax problems, revealing that he had failed to pay over $100,000 in taxes. The final whammy came when both Daschle and Nancy Killefer had to withdraw their nominations to administration spots because of tax issues.

Now is Obama to blame for their sins? No, he obviously did not know about these issues, and probably would not have nominated them in the first place if he had. The question, though, is why did he continue to defend them? Why did he continue to stand by them? For an administration that railed about “honesty”, “Integrity”, and a new style of politics for the last year and a half, didn’t these issues immediately undercut the entire administrations efforts.  Doesn’t this send the message that, “Well, ok, you don’t HAVE to follow the letter of the law as long as you have the right background to make a solid contribution to my efforts.”

This is not to say that no one makes mistakes, and I’m not even alleging that these might not have been “honest” tax mistakes. Lord knows that the Tax Code is immensely confusing. But it’s not as if these are problems or mistakes committed years ago by these nominees. These are immediate. They are current mistakes. If they though there might have even been a slight question or problem with their taxes, why didn’t they have someone double or triple check it?

On the flip side of all this, President Obama has now unveiled his plan for compensatory caps. $500,000 is the maximum that an executive will be allowed to make if their company has received a bailout from the government. The capitalist inside me cringes – but you know what, if your company “has” to have government bailout money, then it’s probably justified. I think, though, it will result in companies who didn’t need the money to survive (but probably would have taken it to possibly loosen their lending practices) from taking money like this in the future.  If companies like this stop taking money, lending practices will take that much longer to resume to normal. So . . . is this the best way to enact market corrections?

• We’re are only about a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring training. Baseball, return to my life! I need you! College basketball, NBA, and NHL aren’t getting the job done.
• Next week is College Night. Nothing is like it, and I’m completely ready for it.
• Just about three weeks to go till Holly turns in her rank list. ZOINKS!
• In the last few weeks, I’ve seen previews for both “Wolverine” and “G.I. Joe”. This summer will be scrumtrulescent at the theatres.

One love . . . Holla.

Running Blog of the President’s Inauguration

Yesterday, I watched the inauguration in one of the larger lecture rooms at the law school with many of my colleagues. I decided, while there, that I might as well keep track of this historic moment, for posterity’s sake (even if its my own posterity). Here is what I recorded yesterday:

11:35 am – Is it just me, or does Dick Cheney look like Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life? “You’re so smug, Barack Obama, thinking you don’t need my money!”

11:38 am – Is the guy announcing the inauguration the MoviePhone guy? His voice is ridiculously deep and cheesy sounding. I think he’s had a little too much coffee this morning.

The crowd on the National Mall is insane. To see that many people crowded together is just incredible. I don’t care who I voted for, this is giving me some butterflies. It’s stating the obvious, but this is history in the making and I’m proud as an American to be getting to watch it as it happens.

11:43 am – I cannot recall trumpeters in the past. Is that normal? Either way, here comes Barack – AND THE CROWD GOES WILD. You can just see the overwhelming joy on people’s faces as the camera pans into the crows. Here go the Obama chants. Ok, that’s a bit much folks, lets calm it down a bit. I feel like Joe Biden has a touch of bitterness as he gives Obama a hug. “I’ve spent my whole life in the Senate dreaming of being President; you didn’t even serve a full term. But no, seriously, I’m not bitter at all, do what you do Barack.”

11: 48 am – Glad to see Spielberg could make it out for the ceremonies. I realize that all of these senators and former presidents have contributed to our country, but nothing matches the impact “Indiana Jones” and “Jurassic Park” have had on this country.

11:50 am – Warren now giving his “controversial” invocation. A few too many heads up and eyes open behind the President-elect. Seriously, bow your heads, kids. You know you are at least going to be on TV, make a feigned attempt to pretend you like baby-Jesus.

They just cut to a church in Memphis, the site where MLK Jr. was assassinated. Now they’ve panned to Harlem. Good call, CNN, I was forgetting that Obama is half-black, make sure to keep cutting to primarily black areas of the country.

Why did Warren put that crazy emphasis on Obama’s kids names? Don’t get fancy with this, Rick, just get this bad boy wrapped up so we can get to the main attraction.

11:55 am – Aretha Franklin has just come out, in a costume from “The 5^th Element”.  CNN Fact – “Aretha Franklin is singing ‘My Country tis of Three’” Thanks for that tidbit, CNN, I wouldn’t have guessed it. Why not give us some truly inspiring and informational facts, like, “Ms. Franklin is another 10 lbs. away from a triple by-pass”

11:58 am – Fun law school side note. I’m watching this in room 300, which is where 1^st year students have most of their classes. The lights were turned off, but many students have their laptops half-up so that they can continue reading for their next class. Law School – Why watch History when you’re afraid of having your soul crushed in Torts.

11:59 am – Joe Biden up to bat, being sworn in with that looks like a Gutenberg Bible from the 1500’s. And Justice Stevens seems as though he may have actually been around for the first printing.

12:0a pm – A special classical arrangement by composer John Williams. That’s right, Mr. “Star Wars Theme” himself has delivered up a recipe, and Yo-Yo Ma is cooking up the goods. Itchek Perlman, Anthony McGill, and Garbrele Montero are chipping in as well.

12:00 pm – Apparently, Barack Obama became President just now, even though he hasn’t had the oath, because it is now past noon. Seriously? Couldn’t have coordinated that a little better?

I think it’d be awesome if he just stood up and started walking out. “I got the job now, no need to stick around for this jazz. You guys notice the country was in hell in a handbasket?” Alas, there’s 0% chance of that happening. Let’s keep hanging around for giggles.

12:02 pm – What are his kids doing? Are the playing checkers or something? Why do they keep turning around?

12:05 pm – Barack just messed up the oath. Now again! Seriously, you didn’t do a couple of run troughs of this? Well, it’s done, and the crowd both on the Mall and in this room burst into applause.

12:06 pm – It’s speech go time. Let’s see how this goes. It’s been said it will only be around 15 to 20 minutes.  What can he jam-pack into that time?

12:10 pm – Lots of talk so far about the storm around us, war, and failure to make hard choices. These are just “indicators of crisis”. We are also sapped of confidence, apparently.

12: 13 pm – A lot “strong” lines, so far, but I wouldn’t say that I’ve heard a homerun line yet. Still about 10 minutes to go, though. Lots of talking about fulfilling the dream of our founders and ancestors. Now talking about the re-building of the infrastructure of America.

Former President George H.W. Bush looks like he’s bundled up for a military review in Moscow. It’s only about, what, 20 degrees in D.C. Man up, Bushie.

12:15 pm – Awkward moment as he begins talking about the constitution, rule of law, and how we will not sacrifice our values. Camera pans to W. If he could shoot bullets with his eyes, Barack just took some slugs in the back.

12:18 pm – “you can not outlast us, and we will defeat you!” There you go, Hawks.

12:26 pm – The speech is now officially over. After just an average 15 opening minutes, he truly brought it home in the last 5 minutes. He gave a rousing speech about the hope and virtues that have always been a testament to our shared national conscious. He then quoted George Washington, from a point when the Colonial Army was trapped in the depths of a cold winter, a city abandoned, and how future generations would remember how “Hope and Virtue” or something to that effect got them, and thus the future nation, through the troubles. Regardless of my mis-quoting, it was very effective and rousing, and a very strong finish. At least we have some strong oratory to look forward to for the next four years.

12:29 pm – With the start of the poet, I’m done.

J506 Students

If you are reading this and have no idea who commented on your blog, I’m Andrew Heaton, and in your class. Because I also keep a personal blog (this one), my comments thus far on fellow students blogs direct you here. I will try to correct this, but in the mean time, you will find my J506 blog at Andrew Heaton’s “Adventures in Ethical Leadership” .

“My wife gives me that little wink now and then . . .”

Every once and a while, a commercial comes along and introduces us to someone who truly seems like the worst type of person. We meet this person, and instantly think, “I’d like to punch him if I met him.” I say “him” not to be sexist, but there have rarely been any women in commercials who have inspired me to cross the ‘hit-a-girl’ line. Guys, on the other hand . . .

For the longest time, it was Jerod. Yes, I truly can not stand the Subway guy. Every time I see him grin his little Subway grin, I want to throw something at the TV. Now, I understand a lot of people find this irrational. Many people have been “inspired” by Jerod. That’s fine, if you have been. I think what gets me, though, is that many of the early commercials just let it seem as if, “well, I just ate Subway, and here I am.” For someone who struggled very hard with their weight (and still does to this day), to have this preening jack*** come on air and make it seem like it’s an easy-squeezy process feels like a slap in the face. I realize this is unfair, irrational, and slightly ridiculous. My wife likes to tease at just how crazy it is, and thinks that I should actually like Jerod. He is actually from Indianapolis, and many people here in the area have commented that they’ve met him and that he’s a nice guy. Nice or not nice, I feel like Jerod is destined to be my “Chicken”.

I never thought I could be riled up by a commercial spokesman like I was by Jerod . . . until I met “Bowflex Guy”. I don’t know “Bowflex Guy”’s name, and frankly, I feel ok with that. I know all I need to know about him from his comments in his commercial. You see, apparently “Bowflex Guy” used to be overweight. Then, he bought a Bowflex machine. Now, he’s apparently living life on cloud nine. If I’m to understand the props correctly, he is now a bit of a body-surfer or wake-boarder. He has gotten himself a fancy little tribal tattoo on his back. But what’s really been the most beautiful change is his new attitude. “My wife gives me that little win now and then {chuckle-chuckle-chuckle} ” he says with his slightly gap-toothed grin.  The most atrocious comment however, is none other than this: “I gave all my fat clothes to all my fat friends!”

DID YOU NOW? I bet you also gave chlamydia to your girlfriends, you pompous jerk! I seriously just want to punch this guy in the throat. I want to rip his eyeball out like Black Mamba did to Elle Driver in “Kill Bill Vol. II”.  I hope he lost all of his friends, both fat and non-fat, after this commercial came out. He deserves is. “Bowflex Guy”, rest assured, there is a cosy spot waiting for you somewhere in the 7th circle of hell, you pretentious blowhard.

Other thoughts:

• This Pistons are proving me right, unfortunately. The Iverson trade was a horrible mistake, and this experiment is actually going to push us farther away from a championship. Nice move, Joe.
• Four days away from history. I’d be lying to say I’m not somewhat excited about it.  Even though I voted for the other guy.
• If Palin thought she had a future as the leadership of the Republican Party, I hope this is the beginning of the end of those thoughts. I just truly don’t like her. As much as the ticket tried to promote Obama’s “cult of Personality”, Gov. Palin is running on nothing BUT personality, as she has continued to show very little evidence to illustrate a fundamental understanding of some of the biggest issues facing the world today. Drill baby, drill. Good grief.

One love to you all, holla.

2009 – Year of the Drew

Ok, so I’m ripping off a Dru Hill song for the title, and that’s sad because who has even heard from Dru Hill since Sisqo started poppin thongs. Bottom line, though, the title is a vision for what I see as a break out year for this guy.

In all honesty, it’s going to be a breakout year for both Mr. and Mrs. Heaton. In May, Holly will officially be done with Medical school. At that point, she will prepare for, what now anyways, seems like will be the biggest move of her life. She’ll officially be a doctor, and she’ll be doing it most likely in a brand new city all by herself.

Where will I be, you ask? Well, I won’t be too far behind, but I will be behind. It’s going to take me approximatley six months to meet up with her, as I am now on schedule to graduate by next December. But that is part of my own optimisim for the year. in this year, I will wrap up my graduate school career. I will finish out my last year in Indianapolis, and then move to a new city. I will, by the grace of God, have a new job, taking advantages of my new degrees.

Thus, with all of that said, I have big hopes and dreams for this year. 2009, the last year of the first decade of the twenty-first century. So, going with my own little tradition, I have cobbled together some goals for myself for the year. Before we go to this year, though, let’s reflect upon 2008’s goals, and how I did with them:

• Run a marathon – DONE. I ran the Chicago Marathon in October.

• Work as hard as I can in law school – I feel I did, anyway.

• Get out of the country at least once – How does China and Kenya work for ya?

• Read about a subject that I know nothing about – Ehh, can’t say I got that one.

• Start getting sometime of internship or associateship in the pipeline – Did an internship in the Fall, but need to keep going on this one.

• Go to a Tigers game – Sadly, this was a failure. But I did go to Yankees-Mets at Shea Stadium.

• Call my family and fraternity brothers more often - Well, I . . . who am I kidding. No.

• Love my wife as much as possible. - Leave that one to my wife to judge. But I sure tried.

So,  eight goals, five accomplished. That’s a .625 batting average. Not bad – but let’s see if I can go for 1.000 in 2009.

 

Goals: Graduate from Law school and the MBA program in the top 20% of both ~ Achieve 7% Body Fat (currently at 10%) ~ Read six books ~ Get a job! ~ Visit home more often (twice in 2008 ) ~ Visit another foreign county ~ Visit a new state ~ Finish a marathon in under 4.5 hrs. ~ Volunteer more.

 

I think that’s good for now. We’ll see how that goes. “00’s”, I’m gonna finish you out with a bang.

 

Kim Dean’s Wedding

 

The day has finally come, KimmyK, a.k.a. Momma Hen, a.k.a. Miss Kim, is no longer a single lady. I now have three of my four “sisters” married off. That just leaves you, Stetsi. The wedding was beautiful, and it was quite a showing of old school Mobile First Assembly youth group members (Fire Escape Youth Ministries). Brian Ferguson, Rachel Andrews, Josh Slay, Autumn Cho, old schooler’s were just coming out of the wood-works. I always love seeing the Dean family, especially in such happy times. Makes you long for days of old. Makes you long for a sense of home.

 

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be back again soon. Same bat time, same bat channel. One love to you all.