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So it's been almost 18 months since I last posted. This won't happen again since I'm going to use this as a forum to communicate back to my friends and family how our most recent adventures are going. I'm not sure what the future direction of this blog will be but I hope those who read it will find it at least moderately entertaining, occasionally insightful, and maybe a little educational. For this first new post I think I'll just look at some of the major events the last 18 months have had. It's been a stressful one.

Grandma 

If there is one reason I kind of shut off the whole writing thing this would have been the catalyst. Shortly after my last post my Grandmother passed away. This was a really tough loss for the whole family and it began what would quickly become the most stressful 18 months I can remember. There isn't too much I really want to say about my dear Grandma that hasn't already been said. I was blessed with more years with all of my grandparents than most people get (one still alive and kicking and will probably outlive me!). I will always be grateful for the lessons she taught me and the time we shared. Since this is choking me up a bit I think I'll just move on to the next "big event"

Graduation

Well I finally did it. I got my B.S. in Business Administration. It feels like it took forever and I know I couldn't have done it without a lot of help from a lot of people. I went through with the ceremony in August and am really glad I did. It was hot as Hades but I got a chance to not only see a lot of family, but spend some time honoring those who made quite a few sacrifices along the way. Mainly my wife. It was really important to her that I walk down and have my name called out, so I went through with it. I don't recall much after the ceremony, but man did we have a great time overall. A couple months later I got to have another amazing experience, where I probably learned more in two weeks than I did in the previous 5 years. 

Czech Republic

In September I got to go on vacation with my lovely wife to the Czech Republic. I finally got an opportunity for her to show me around her old stamping grounds (look it up, seriously that's how it goes). This was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in my life. I was able to spend a few days doing the tourist thing (Prague is absolutely awesome, Vienna not as much, and the Schoenbrunn castle was sweet), then most of the rest of the time I got to experience real Czech culture hanging out with a bunch of my wife's friends and teachers. We rented a car while there and I got the opportunity to drive in Europe, which was freaking awesome. Even though the car we had was a total piece of shit, it was still a blast driving somewhere where everyone is pretty aggressive and gets out of the damn way if you're going faster than they are.  

The one extremely sobering moment in all this was when we went to Auschwitz. As most know I really enjoy studying WWII history especially the European theater. I've watched just about every single movie that has ever come out on WWII as well as most anything I can get my hands on about the atrocities around the holocaust. Spending a day walking around Auschwitz and Birkenau was very sobering and enlightening. I would say that it was easily one of the most difficult experiences that I have ever had in my life. Standing in the center of a monument which was built with one brick for every single person who died in that camp and guessing that there might have been close to 2 million bricks in that monument really drove home just how serious it was. They have 19 different plaques for every language spoken by the prisoners in these camps. I really wish there were some feasible way to make each and every person stand there and see just how horrible the living conditions were and look at the sheer size of these camps. 

All and all it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait for the next one. I hope we can spend even more time there as it seemed a little rushed even though we had 2 1/2 weeks, and Katherine got to celebrate her birthday there. I could probably write a whole post about just that trip but needless to say we've got some other stuff to go over

Law School Applications

So after we got back I had to take one more LSAT, which I did slightly better than on my first. After that it was time to look at which schools I was going to apply to, oh and I still had a couple classes to finish up before I officially graduated. So the wife and I sat down and talked about which schools I was going to apply to. Her basic requirement was "it better be freaking warm" while I was trying to find a good school. At first we basically were targeting the south (Georgia, Florida, Louisiana) but then decided to look at the schools in a few other places as well (Virgina, North Caroline, Arizona, Texas, Alabama). All in all I applied to 13 different schools and was only outright rejected to one of them (curse you 'bama!). I really don't think I should have put so many apps out there, but hey, most of them were free and it was pretty much water under the bridge. 

In February I took a quick weekend trip to visit the two schools in Arizona with a future trip planned to the southern states to hit the rest in March/April. I was completely blown away by University of Arizona and really felt like I was at home there. In April, rather than going to the south, I returned to visit U of A again and was again blown away by both the environment and the culture. I made it official and decided that's where I was going to spend the next 3 years. 

So that's it for tonight, I need to get some shut eye. My next post will be all about buying a house and moving to another state far, far away. I promise this one won't take 18 months to get to.