For those of you that don't know, I ride a motorcycle. It is my primary means of transportation and the perfect accessory for my life here in Southern California. Here is my bike:

A BMW F650CS. It's a great bike that works perfectly in the city. Great gas mileage, easy to maintain, and small enough to slide in between traffic when the roads get clogged. However, I had been having some trouble starting the bike recently and eventually had to bring the bike into my local dealer to get the starter replaced. Not too expensive, but necessary nonetheless. While my bike was having work done on it, the dealer loaned me one of their new bikes, a 2007 F800ST.



What a bike. I never realized how little power my commuter bike had until I tried this puppy out. And to think that this isn't even considered a big bike. It was a pretty fun experience. Where normally I have to shift out of first gear if I want to even have a chance at speeding up, with the 800 I was able to ride in first for what seemed forever before the bike whined for me to upshift. And the clutch and throttle are touchy. The clutch engages super early whereas on the 650 I have quite a bit of play. And the throttle of the 800 is super responsive. If you twitch your hand just a bit you will find yourself flying down the road. But that's a good thing right? At least on the 800 it is, because with the active stabilization and other enhancements of this bike highway speeds are smooth sailing. Plus, add in a 6th gear and the ride is silky smooth.

Sadly, I had to return the bike when my own ride was finally repaired. It was amazing, I couldn't believe the difference between the two. I felt like I was riding a sagging old horse compared to the 800. But that's okay too. I only need to get from point A to point B. How I get there really doesn't matter. Besides, in the end, a little less power is probably better for me anyway.

It wasn't pretty. We had the hearing tonight and now it's over. It certainly wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of; and the direct and cross-examination certainly wasn't the most thorough or put together piece of work I've ever seen; but it's done. And that is a good thing. And our expert was wonderful. She really knows her stuff. To give you hint of what we were working with here is a link that tells you a little more about blood spatter.

And for fun, enjoy the Chewwbacca defense which I probably could have used instead of my supposed "real" legal argument. (NOTE: video contains language not suitable for children)

Tomorrow we have our mock Motion in Limine hearing in which we argue our case as to whether our expert gets to testify as to blood spatter which was covering the inside of a trailer home in our mock case. Here are the facts of the case:

On February 14, 2006 at 2:56am Fire Chief Sean Patrick, who was at the local fire station, was awakened to cries for help from John Doe, who had just pulled up in his vehicle and was traveling with the body of his girlfriend, Jane Doe. Jane Doe had considerable wounds to her face and John Doe had blood covering his body and was bleeding from his left hand. A medical examiner later pronounced Jane Doe dead at the scene. The cause of death was determined to be from a gunshot wound to the face.

John Doe’s statement to the authorities is as follows. John Doe lives on the Jamul Indian Reservation, which sits on the U.S. -Mexican border. For a number of reasons, hostilities between Mexicans and Indians are not uncommon in this area. On the evening of February 13, 2006, John Doe and his girlfriend were talking on the couch in his living room. As they were talking two Mexicans broke into their home through a sliding glass door. The two Mexicans entered the house and stood in the entrance to the living room; one of the men held a shotgun in his hands. Before either John or Jane Doe could do anything the Mexican with the gun fired. In a futile attempt to save a life, John raised his left hand as if to shield him and his girlfriend from the blast.

John Doe was only able to partially block the spray of buckshot with his left hand. As a result, the spray severed his thumb from his left hand. The fingernail from his left thumb was found embedded in the left cheek on the side of Jane Doe’s face. Jane Doe was struck directly in the face from the blast. After the shot the Mexicans fled from the house. John Doe then picked up his girlfriend’s body and carried her to his vehicle. He then proceeded to drive to the local fire station where John Doe woke Fire Chief Patrick.
The State’s argument of the events of the evening is as follows. There were never any Mexicans in the house that night. John and Jane Doe had been having relationship difficulties and were alone. The couple was arguing and Jane Doe wanted to end the relationship. John Doe reacted by grabbing a shotgun, holding Jane Doe’s head in place with his left hand, and firing into her face. In the process, John Doe severed his thumb from the hand he was using to restrain Jane Doe. After killing her, John Doe grabbed her body, placed it in his vehicle, drove to the local fire station and pretended he and his girlfriend were victims of a crime.

Carolyn Gannet, Criminalist III, of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office reported to John Doe’s house shortly after 4:15am on February 14, 2006. Ms. Gannet surveyed the crime scene and made these initial observations. Blood spatter was found on the walls of the living room and the floor leading into the living room. From analysis of the blood on the walls Ms. Gannet determined the spatter was indicative of spatter you would see from a shotgun blast. The spatter was most heavily concentrated on the wall opposite from a couch in the living room. A large void within this concentrated area of spatter was also observed. Further analysis determined the void was likely the result of a large object, such as a body, in between the wall and the couch and blocking the spray of blood. Ms. Gannet detailed her observations and analysis in a crime scene analysis report, which was filed with the Sheriff’s Office.

A Sheriff’s Office crime scene photographer took pictures of the scene, including the blood spatter. Powder burns were found on both John and Jane Doe’s hands. Two bloodstains on the walls were analyzed, tested, and confirmed that they were DNA matches with Jane Doe. A weapon not belonging to either party was found under a vehicle outside the trailer. John Doe’s clothes were never collected or analyzed. John Doe is charged with murder in the first-degree for the death of Jane Doe.

Sounds like fun huh? So, we'll be arguing this mock motion in limine hearing from 6 - 8pm tomorrow evening. Hopefully if all goes well we'll escape with a decent grade and most of our pride still intact. Wish me luck.

Today has been gorgeous. I woke up early with the boys and hung out. Noting too serious, just letting them walk around and then getting in some reading. The new Wired magazine came in the mail, so I've been diving into that. Wired, by far, is my favorite of the magazines I receive. The funny thing is that I received it as more of a last ditch effort to use some expiring air miles. Turned out to be a good decision. Anyway back to the day. So I read for a few hours and did some studying before Jack started bouncing off the walls. As anyone with dogs will know, if you don't exercise them you are in for some trouble.

The boys and I went running about 11:30am over at the regular trail. It's nothing special but it works. There is a dog park on the edge of Balboa Park which connects to a trail system. We are able to go running on the trail and when we come back the boys go play at the park. It's a win-win situation because I get in some exercise, the dogs get to use some energy, and then they get to socialize.

So we played at the park after the walk and then I went inline skating for an hour. And now I've just been back here at the house studying. Today was in the 80s and sunny by the way. Gotta love sunny SoCal.

We've decided to put ceiling fans in the house to help save on energy costs during the summer. The idea is that with some open windows and fans to move the air around the house we'll be able to drop our electricity bill to below $100 during the hot months. The would certainly be nice as we were paying nearly twice that last summer. So we'll see. I've been able to find a good deal on a basic fan for about $58. Nothing special, just a fan that works. So I'll try to install that once it arrives. As for prepping for the install. You can see the boys are quite interested as I look at the ceiling mounting brackets.

Today I went with my Environmental Law class to see the San Diego Water Treatment facility at Point Lloma. The trip consisted of a tour of the facility and how the waste from the San Diego County is treated before it is released into the ocean. One item worthy of note, the facility was designed in such a way that with the use of gravity and useful energy generating ideas such as reusing methane gas to heat the plant and hydroelectricity from water flowing through the plant's pipes the treatment facility is not only self-sufficient energy wise but it in fact is a energy supplier to the city of San Diego. Obviously some engineer was using their head when they designed this plant.

P.S. Goodbye to another day!