The Guest Blogger Unleashed

Everyone,

So the guest blogger has been unleashed. For those of you who have been waiting patiently, but on pins and needles its here.

The guest blogger is.... "This Guy!"

 

 

Some of you may have seen this face floating around the Pittsburgh Office recently, but it never gets old.

For the last 2 weeks people have been reading about Christina's day and how we're making it in the land of hippies and big beers. For the "Record" we've had some amazing beers while we've been here. Here's a new flavor that we've just found.

Ironically, the label states all the reasons we're here. Lawyers, Guns, and Money. (For those of you who don't know, I have been using the Oxford comma recently.) I had to add the star spangled beer coozie for 'Merica.

So let's go through a normal Nick Day.....

My day begins early answering emails. We've recently implemented a new tick policy and it is starting to cost a lot of money. I'm currently on a project team and the tick takes up 3/4 of my day. it's a tick and we could be losing work with Exxon in China over a tick. Yes this is true.

Then I walk to class. Its a great walk. Its about half the distance that I normally walk from the parking garage in Pittsburgh, to my office. Its also much safer.

Start from the right side of the pic, hang a 45 degree right hand turn on the path through the park beneath the American Flag and school is at the end of the path.

Its very comfortable here. Currently, I'm finishing the legal aspects of energy transmission and generation. not so comfortable. Here's a pic of the building that I spend most of my day in.

It's called Debevoise Hall (pronounced Deb-Vahhh-seeee). The building was constructed in 1903 and was the elementary and secondary school for about 20 years. The building has been the site of many different educational institutions until 1973. In 1973, Vermont's youngest Attorney General purchased the building to become the hall mark of legal education for environmental stewardship.

Debevoise was the founder and first Dean of the Law School. Some of you may know that the Vermont Law School has a mascot(s), the fighting swans. Christina has already bought the shirt. The fighting swans mascot was an idea that was stolen from the Debevoise Family Crest.

So the emblem in the center of the Schools stamp is a take from the family crest. Since it's a law school they have to throw Latin in there. Anyone know what it means? Think hard, but fast. The answer is in the next paragraph.

This is the library. its small, but packed with books, tables, and charts I'll never understand (I used the Oxford comma again). There's the Latin again. If you haven't figured it out the statement reads "Law for the community and the world." Pretty deep. The library and the adjoining buildings were a farm. I'm not sure of the history of the farm, but it's pretty neat. lots of upgrades to make the building fire code official and at the same time try to add some panache that makes it a law school.

The Law school is very small and has been hit by the cyclical trend that the rest of American Law schools are having, low attendance. VLS has a different approach. They have no electric or heating bill!!! The school has inked a deal with a New Hampshire developer, and will receive 7.5% payment for the energy they do use. My current professor is very proud of the achievement and I thought I should pass it on.

This is where the learning happens, and there's my current professor. Its called the Map Room. All of the maps have been donated by various individuals. The man in the right side of the pic is Glenn Berger. He's the professor for the class. He was an attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that wrote the laws that implemented Jimmy Carter's wonderful idea PURPA. I'm not a fan.

So after a long day of reading and hearing about federal energy policy, I come home to an amazing wife. Not consumed by the hustle and bustle of individuals looking to get to the top of the feeding chain. Just perfect. After we talk for a while and see how the day has gone for me and where she is in the book she's reading that day, our front porch becomes our favorite restaurant.

Tonight's menu.... Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and wine. The forecast calm, no chance of rain, and a comfortable breeze in a laidback corner of the world.

We hope everyone is having the time of their life. We will always have adventures and we appreciate all the support we have in each of them. Take care and good night.