Really? Part 1

I decided that I'm going to start a new post segment called "Really?" modeled after the segment of the same name on SNL with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. It won't be quite as funny, but I thought it would be a good way to document the stupidity and/or injustice that I am witnessing firsthand in my job. Turns out there is a lot. So this is the first segment of it.

Today we had two debt collection cases. It took me back to the days of mediating in small claims court because both of the cases were for less than $1000. Really? Yep, not kidding. When I sat down to listen to the first one, I thought that it was going to be over at least a few grand because would it really be worth someone's time to come to court over less than $500 bucks? Really? Turns out the plaintiff thought it was. They were both daycare cases. Turns out you should read the contract that you sign with someone, even if they tell you it is 'just a formality.' The woman in the first case was being taken to court for $400 and something, and the woman in the second case was being taken to court for $280. The thing that really got me was that in both cases, the women had admitted to owing the main amounts but because they were not willing to pay them up front, they got slapped with the collection company's fee, the attorney's fee and the court costs. In the second case, the lady ended up with a judgment against her of approximately $1200! Really? Just pay what you owe! She said something in her testimony about acknowledging early on that she owed at least $220. So she essentially went to court over $60 bucks and ended up paying almost 4 times more than what she would have if she had paid her bill. I was thinking, "Man! Her credit is going to be screwed for 8 years over $60 bucks!" Turns out that not knowing what your contract says or thinking it's not fair are not legal defenses. So next time you're tempted to (a) not read a contract before simply signing it because "it's a formality," (b) refuse to pay a bill that you really owe because they slapped on some fees that they are allowed to add since you didn't pay it the first time around, or (c) go to court over $60 bucks, think to yourself, "Really? Is this really a good idea?" Turns out it's not. Really.

SWAT here I come!

We went shooting the other day for work for about 4 hours. I was freezing, but it was pretty fun. We shot a machine gun type gun first and I couldn't hit anything so I thought it was going to be a pretty long afternoon. Then I got serious and put on a backwards hat since the wind was blowing a hundred miles an hour. I showed Blair the pictures that night and he said that I look like a dude. Ok, so I kind of do, but that's probably alright since I'm around criminals a large percentage of the time when I'm wearing my uniform.
I was a little hesitant about laying down on the rocks because I didn't want to get my uniform pants dirty--because that would mean that I would have to wash them, which I don't like to do more than I have to. I thought about just holding myself in a low push-up position while shooting, but I thought that I better just lay on the ground to get the full experience (and I knew that I couldn't hold myself up like that longer than 30 seconds or so).This is me trying to find the dang target in the scope. No one ever told me how hard it is to even see through a scope until Bob did that day (that's Bob in the background--he's pretty great). I had to keep moving forward and back awkwardly to be able to see through it without the whole thing going black. He had to find the target for me a couple times because I couldn't find it since the scope was zoomed in so much.

I think this is one of the times that he had to find the target for me, maybe on the 400 or 500 yarder. I had to try twice before I hit the 300 yard target, but then I hit both the 400 and the 500 yard targets on the first try, which is really amazing for me since I am not a good shot and the wind was blowing pretty fierce. But it was way fun, and a good ego boost.
Now I can be a total bad-A in court when I deal with the criminal element since I have been pepper sprayed in the face and I can hit a target from 500 yards away. Too bad the shooting experience won't help me very much, though, since I can't hit much from 20 yards. Oh well, I guess it's a good thing that I don't carry a gun in the courtroom.

How cute are we?

So we decided to take some pictures a few weekends ago since, like I said, it has been exactly 5 years since we took our engagement pictures. Dallas took the pictures for us, and they turned out pretty cute. I can't believe how green Fool Creek still was when we took these. So pretty!
This is the exact pose and place that we did on the front of our wedding announcement, except we both had longer hair.
This one (below) is the number one candidate for our 2008 Christmas card. I love everything about it, except the sprinkler blowing into Blair's ear.
Dallas thought it would look good to take one in front of the tack shed since it's rustic and all, but apparently I forgot to suck it in for this picture and we both didn't really smile.
And check out these awesome sunset pics I got. I was trying to be artistic by getting the dark silhouettes of leaves framing it.

What a Stud!

Here they are, my two favorite guys. Blair volunteered to help my dad build a haystack a couple weeks ago right before we headed back up.




I also got a few good action shots of Blair chucking the hay bales from the trailer to the stack. He was getting some good clean and jerk action going on. Impressive!



I had to get a bum shot, just because I thought it was funny...


The finished product. I think we counted 83 bales or so, and it took them probably a half hour or so.
Sweaty and covered with hay. Ultra itchy, tons of fun! Gotta love that smile. Turns out I got my country boy after all--I just had to mold him a little bit.

Finally!

Ok, first I just have to say that it was so fun that Blair did a post. Is he not great or what? He is, that's just a rhetorical question, FYI. I've been meaning to do a post, like always, but I've been a huge slacker in most areas of my life lately, so it logically carried over to the blogosphere. I need to post some great pictures that I took of Blair building a haystack (no kidding!) and some pics from Dylan's wedding. We, or Dallas, actually, took some pretty great pictures down in Fool Creek a couple weekends ago because I thought it would be fun to take pictures in my parents' back yard since it was 5 years ago this time of year when we took our engagement pictures. Weird! So I will also post those. I thought I should also appease Aimee since she's probably the main person who reads our blog and she put me at the top of her list of people who should do a post about 7 things. I'm pretty sure she knows most of these about me since we hang out fairly regularly, but nonetheless...

7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1. Have a child with Blair
2. Read all the books on my list of books to read
3. Go to Africa
4. Do a half marathon--I'm not as ambitious as Aimee
5. Turn into a nicer person--if this could happen magically that would be really nice
6. Pay off my student loans
7. Develop some creative talent in some type of artistic pursuit

7 Things I can do:
1 Draw some pretty good stick figures
2 Waste a substantial amount of time without realizing it
3 Name the lead singers of a fair number of bands
4 Withstand pepper spray in the face, but just barely
5 Appreciate some good poetry
6 Make Blair laugh
7 Act like a kid fairly easily

7 Things I cannot do:
uno- Keep my house as clean as I want
dos- Handle stupid people
tres- Grow my hair out and have it look good
quatro- Be consistent
cinco- Wait to move into a new house!
seis - Whistle a tune (I can whistle a little, just not a tune)
siete- Resist buying cute clothes and/or deco stuff at Target

7 Things that attract me to the opposite sex:
#1 Niceness
#2 Eyes that change color
#3 A great smile
#4 Muscles
#5 Good people person
#6 Athletic prowess
#7 Strong testimony

7 Things I say most often:
1. All rise
2. Really?! (got this one from Aim--it's great for all the stupid crap that happens, especially at my job)
3. Love you
4. Thanks
5. Sure thing
6. Why did I get pepper sprayed in the face? That was so dumb--at least once a day
7. Seriously

7 Celebrity Admirations:
1 Admire, though? Maybe some that I like, but few that I admire.
2 In fact, I can't think of any

7 Favorite foods--This one, on the other hand, could go on and on
1. Vanilla custard-y type desserts
2. Almost anything with cheese on it
3. Creamy potato soup with cheese and dill in it--so good!
4. Almost anything sweet or savory with cream cheese in it
5. Yellow squash
6. Berries
7. Garden fresh tomatoes

7 People who should do this
Blair
Liz
Lynn
Candice
Carrie
Nicole--as soon as she gets a blog in 1.8 years
Dylan