BYU v. Utah

So I'm sitting here watching the game and I am torn...

I've been a life-long BYU fan. But I went to the U for 7 years, and am a fan. Utah needs the win for a BCS bowl...and an undefeated season would be cool. But for the vast majority of my life I have always wanted them to lose in a heads up game against BYU.

So I have to cheer for BYU out of habit, but I kinda want the U to win. It makes me feel a little dirty.

ManDate...with my wife

The longer I have been married, the more I have come to appreciate ManDates. For those wondering what ManDates are, I'll explain:

You know how there are those things that you like to do that makes your wife/mom/girlfriend roll their eyes? I have a lot of those things in my life. That is to say, I like many things that my wife thinks are really dumb. The beauty of ManDates is that they allow you to do those things with other guys in the same situation. ManDates let you go to the movies you want, eat at the restaurants you want, go to sporting events, and even play the manly games you want. For example, in the past couple of months I have been able to have some manly time with my friends while going sporting clay shooting, to a poker night or two, and I also got to see the new Indiana Jones movie (something that the H-Bomb would never have done --albeit rightly so).

So imagine my surprise when Heid came up to me and asked if we could get a babysitter for a few hours and go to dinner...and...wait for it...go target shooting with our handguns!

Now, my first thought was about how I just barely bought a decent chunk of life insurance. So you would imagine that maybe proficiency with semiautomatic weapons isn't the most desirable thing that I want for my wife at this point. But I decided that I will trust her.

I wish I could have taken pictures because she did awesome (plus pictures of chicks with guns are hot...if you don't beleive me, check out this video of Sarah Palin shooting automatic weapons http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1686894/sarah_palin_rifle_training/). Any women reading this post, just go ask a guy if that's cool.

BTW, Heidi looked way better. And if that weren't enough, in her second round she kept 10 out of 11 shots in a human-shaped target's head from 20 feet.

Here's a pic of Heid's gun (except her's has a laser sight in the grooves under the barrel)

It's a total girl gun, but it is so much more fun to shoot than my otherwise manlier guns.

Anyway, just when you think that the Mandate with my wife couldn't get any better... we knew that we would have a couple of extra hours of babysitter time, so you'd think we were chick-movie bound, but not so, we went to the gym. There was a slight hiccup when we had to stop at the outlet mall because someone forgot a sports-bra...but those are readily bought in the Adidas store, so we were all good because I kept entertained. It was fun being at the gym when we weren't in a hurry too (that never happens for me). We changed, worked out, changed, sat in the hot tub and relaxed, changed again, and then made our way home.

I have to say that this was by far the best date ever. Dinner, guns, and the gym. Thanks Heidi.

So in summary we can conclude:

ManDates = cool
ManDates with my amazing wife = Awesome

Patent Bar Update

So I thought I'd give you all an update...I've gone from consistently getting really bad scores on the practice patent bar exams, to getting barely failing scores. I have 3 weeks to go.

So, while my irrational fears have calmed in large-part, I am still taking suggestions on a "plan B" to keep Heidi around (preferably involving minimal violence).