There's No Need To Fear

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I can't remember how it came up in a conversation but when I was chatting with my brother-in-law Jared last week, somehow we started talking about Underdog. Underdog was one of my all-time favorite cartoons growing up and I fondly remember viewing myself an a underdog in my youth (The reruns used to come on Nickelodeon). Well, thanks to the new live-action movie, Underdog is enjoying a little come back. I saw the movie last week in Allentown and really enjoyed it. Although, it wasn't as good as the cartoon (most movies never live up to his cartoon origins), it was nice to see Underdog on the big screen.

Tisha brought me a few Underdog dvd's for the holidays and I can't wait to watch them. Maybe Alexander will enjoy watching the same superhero cartoon that I enjoyed watching as a child.

Allentown Baby Shower

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A special thank you goes out to Tisha's family, friends and the First Baptist Church community for the wonderful baby shower that took place on Saturday.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the greatest wife/mother-to-be!

Test Run

As other dog owners know, when the baby arrives, the dog usually has to be slowly introduced to the new member of the family. Therefore, Tisha and I are playing sounds of crying babies as well as teaching her not to jump into the car seat.

More Snow

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We're supposed to get over 9 inches tonight.

I Got an Offer

Branden Brooks

Deputy Attorney General (?)

I got a call today from Delaware's Attorney General Office and they offered me a job in their family division. Tisha and I are very excited about this opportunity because we'll be close to family and friends as well as close to many teaching options for Tisha.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Nelson Kinder in N.H. but its nice to know that I will be employed after law school.

Aunt Amy to the Rescue

With Alexander on the way, Tisha and I have been thinking a great deal about our labor plans, such as: What's the best way to the hospital and what will we do with Dixie? Well, we tested a few routes and discovered the best way and now we have somebody who will take care of Dixie while we're away. Tisha's friend and fellow PhD student, Amy, has agreed to be on Dixie patrol and we couldn't have chosen a more responsible person.

Thanks Amy!

Car Seat...Check

Thanks to our birthing class instructor, Lori, Tisha and I discovered that every city in Boston
has a safety inspector who will install your car seat for free. This is usually done at your local fire station.

A.G.B.

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Even though I'm not feeling well, here are a few pictures to brighten up your day.

First Snow

December is here and in typical New England fashion, we are ushering in the final month with snowfall.

Thank God that I do not have to drive anywhere today. We didn't get a lot of snow but the roads are still a little slick.

All Better

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Thanks to a little TLC and R&R, Tisha is now feeling better and ready to get back into the swing of things. I went to birthing class all by myself last week and it was an experience. I was the only one there without their pregnant partner. The good part was that it wasn't a hands on class but a video day. We watched a few videos of child birth and then ended the class with a relaxation session.

The Waiting Game

I got a call from Nelson Kinder Mosseau & Saturley, PC last night and they said that I have to wait a little bit for longer for a decision. Mr. Milligan explained to me that, "Things are really getting busy in the office, thus, the hiring process is taking longer than usual." He hopes that the hiring committee should be able to give me a decision in December.The building on the right could be my place of employment.

On a different note, this is my last week of classes and my last week at Grayer & Dilday. Semester in Practice was really great experience and I am totally grateful for the opportunity to work at a law firm this term.

Happy Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving from the Brooks Family!

Looking Straight Into The Future

Tonight was the first day of our birthing class. It was just an intro class but we got to tour the maternity section as well as see a few newborn babies.

This could be our birthing room. It was pretty decked out.

Starting To Take Shape

With the addition of our Pack n Play and Moses Basket in the back room, Alexander's nursery is finally starting to take shape.

Here is a picture of Alex's future crib. We went to Babies "R" Us to measure the changing table and I snapped a few pictures to remember the event.

p.s.
Thanks Mom and Dad for coming up and spending time with Tisha, Alexander and I. Happy 17th Anniversary! Click on the pics to see more pictures.

Sweet November

November is here and all is well. Tisha and I are reading to Alexander every night and our excitement is growing every day as we look forward to his arrival. Click on the pic to see more pictures.

Breakthrough

Ever since I left Tatnall, I always had the same reoccurring dream. For the past 9 years, every once in a while, I would dream about playing football. In this dream, I would be extremely slow (almost running in slow motion), while everybody else is operating at full speed. The dream varies in how I enter the game: sometimes I'm still in high school and sometimes I'm back for homecoming and the coach tells me to suit up, but either way, I step on the field and I feel like somebody is holding me back. For those of you who know me well, I won't go into my high school football experience (that would take a whole new blog) but I will tell you that my varsity playing days were a big disappointment. I would always stink up the place in my dreams and for the past 9 years, it was more of the same.

However, last night must have marked a shift in my psyche. Once again, I found myself playing football and I was operating in slow motion. But the difference was that the other players kept missing me. Although I was moving in slow motion, I was side stepping the competition and even outrunning a few of them. By the end of the dream, I scored three touchdowns and was carried off the field by J. Bergey. This dream marks a very significant change in my life. It serves as the last vestige of my old self. As I get ready to become a father and obtain employment after law school, I have to shed off the baggage that continues to hold me back. As the brothers in The Darjeeling Limited, had to literally leave their father's baggage behind, I had to figuratively shake off the feelings of disappointment that were holding me back from scoring (achieving) all these years.

I think God has big plans for the Brooks family and this was one giant step towards accomplishing the goals that God has set for us.

The Darjeeling Limited

Thank you Wes Anderson for making another wonderful movie. Be on the look out for a guest reviewer of The Darjeeling Limited on this blog.

Call Back

I received some great news today: Nelson Kinder wants me to travel to New Hampshire to interview with their partners. The interview will be next Wednesday at 1:30pm. I'm really looking forward to this great opportunity. As always, I'll keep you updated on the job front.

Caution Future Lawyer At Work

Since I was in a picture taking mood today, I decided to take a few pictures around the office.
Click on the photo to see more pictures.

Lunch Break

Since I missed the World Series Parade in 2004, I decided to join in on the celebration this year during my lunch break. Click on the photo to see more pictures.

Matty Ice

BC may have another Heisman trophy winner on their hands in Senior QB, Matt Ryan. I remember watching Ryan's heroic comeback a few years ago, when the starting QB couldn't get it together and now he is a full blown Heisman contender. According to ESPN's Heisman Watch, Ryan is number 2 in the unofficial polls. Find out more about Heisman candidate Matt Ryan at MattyIce.

Ryan For Heisman is where you can find cool shirts to celebrate Ryan's Heisman bid.

I love this city. Go Sox! Go Pats! Go BC!

I Also Heart Allentown

I think God is really making a strong case for moving back to the De/Pa area. My interview went well on Friday and Tisha and I really enjoyed visiting our families. I won't hear back from the Family Court until early December, so in the mean time, keep us in your prayers.

Trip Down Memory Lane

Thank you Alexander for giving me a chance to relive my childhood. I'm looking forward to all the wonderful memories that we will share together.

I took the liberty of scanning a few photos from my childhood and posting them in the gallery. Click on the photo for more pictures.

Baby Shopping

Future Mother and Future Grandmother shopping for Alexander. Click on the photo to see more pictures.

Job Season

I heart Delaware. Tisha and I had a great time at our favorite restaurant with my favorite recruiters, Colleen and Carey from Delaware's Attorney General's Office. They were recruiting in Boston this week and gave me a call to hang out. Last year, we went to the Armani restaurant but this year we went to Joe's American Bar & Grill on Newbury Street. Great times with great people which may lead to a great job.

New Sitcom?

I was watching Everybody Hates Chris a few weeks ago when I had this great idea. Why not write a sitcom about my life at Tatnall? However, instead of writing about my life at a private school(class, prom and sports), I would set the show during the summers when I worked maintenance with Sid and his brother, Steve. Those summers were some of the best times of my life and I think the concept would work well as a sitcom because of the crazy host of characters who worked at maintenance while I was there. I worked every summer while I was at Tatnall so I have tons of funny stories to tell. Sid and I talk every week about possible show ideas and I'm currently looking into books on how to write a pilot. As always, I'll keep you informed on the development of this great idea.

Salem, MA

Today was a non-office day at work. My job today was to go to Essex County's Probate and Family Court to pull some files on our custody cases. I totally forgot that I was going to Salem during Halloween season. Since Salem is the unofficial Halloween town, the streets are decorated with all kinds of Halloween and Witch stuff. Tisha and I are going to try and come back up here to partake in the numerous scary activities

Click here to learn more about the Witch Trials.

Birthing Class

Tisha and I just signed up for birthing and nursing classes at Mount Auburn Hospital. I'm not sure what to expect but as always I will keep you informed. Click on the picture to see more pictures.
p.s.
I felt Alexander kick today. It was the biggest little tap that I've ever felt. I'm going to love being a daddy!

Family Law

The major thing that I am learning at Grayer & Dilday is that divorces are messy. Working with husbands and wives who are going through ugly divorces makes me appreciate my own marriage. For example, I was in court all day on Friday for a divorce case, which was highly contested. Certain assets had to be divided between the parties and the issue of health insurance and credit card debts where major sticking points. The other lawyer was playing hard ball for most of the day so a settlement was unlikely. I really enjoyed being in court and reading through depositions in order to zing the other side with a direct quote. Grayer felt I did a great job on Friday so he asked me to help prepare for a million dollar case that we are negotiating in a few weeks. Although we ended up settling the case by the end of the day, the animosity of the wife towards the husband was a chilling reminder of the ugliness of the divorce process. The division of assets and debts are things that you don't even worry about as you're living together. Taking out college loans for your children and buying property that you want to retire in; all have to be dissected under the scrutiny of two lawyers and a judge who gets the final decision if a compromise can't be reached. I didn't just learn a lot about family law last week but I learned a lot life as well. The experience made me want to run home, kiss my wife, and thank God that our relationship will never get to the point where separation is an option.

Mommy Chic

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Delaware Family Court

After floating for a while in a sea of rejection letters, somebody finally dropped me a life jacket. I have been selected for a call back interview with Delaware's Probate and Family Court. This is a great opportunity because as a judicial clerk, I would gain tremendous experience in how the court works as well as acquire more job options in the future. The clerkship is a one year program. My interview is on Oct. 19 so Tisha, Alexander, and I will be driving down to the De/Pa area for the weekend. I also heard from Blank Rome LLP this weekend and they are also considering me for an entry level associate. Please keep us in your prayers.

September

God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race- to enlarge our hearts; to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims and to call out all our faculties; to extend enterprise and exertion; to bring 'round our firesides bright faces and happy smiles and loving, tender hearts. My soul blesses the great Father every day that He has gladdened the earth with little children.

-Mary Hewitt

Good Friends and Good Times

Guys night out with Devaka and Josh. They are my two good friends from Harvard. I haven't seen Devaka in two years and we picked up as if he never left. The three of us had some good times together.

3 for 3

Today I was 3 for 3 in our BC Law Softball game. The score was tied 5 to 5 in the bottom of the last inning. We had two outs and a man on first and second. I stepped to the plate pretty confident. I played well a few weeks ago and I finally started hitting the ball exactly where I wanted it to go. Since I never swing at the first pitch, I took a strike and then swung at a ball that was way too high. Stepping out of the batters box, I gathered myself and mumbled "keep your eye on the ball, Branden." The next pitch was perfect and I smacked it over the third baseman's glove for a single. With the bases loaded, Melissa hit a ball that the pitcher couldn't handle and the guy on third base came home, winning the game for us. Well, not technically winning the game for us. We had to forfeit the game because only 5 players showed up from our team. The rule is that you need at least 9 of your own team players to show up in order to play a official game. Either way it was a great game.

Meet Alexander Grant Brooks

It's a boy! Click on the picture to see more of Alex.

To commensurate this joyous event, click on the link below:
Baby_Heartbeat_2.mp3

What To Do With 756?

Designer Mark Ecko, who purchased Barry Bond's 756th home run ball, has set up a Web site "Vote 756.com" that lets visitors vote on three options for the ball:

A) Give it to the Hall of Fame
B) Brand it with an asterisk before sending it to the Hall of Fame
C) Blast it into space on a rocket ship


Click on the banner to vote.

Is This The Face of a Lawyer?

I was stopped in the elevator yesterday by a gentleman who asked me, "If I was a lawyer?" I had to think about it for a few seconds and then I replied, "Not yet?" He then proceed to talk about O.J. Simpson but it had me thinking about my transformation from a college kid to a lawyer. Granted, wearing a shirt and tie makes me look professional but what makes a person ask me if I'm a lawyer rather than asking me if I'm a banker or a computer consultant. Two summers ago, I was standing in front of the Delaware's State Building waiting for my ride, when a young lady asked me if I was a lawyer. Before I could answer, she started talking about her cousin who was framed and is currently serving time down state. At that time, I just finished my first year of law school so I told her that maybe I can help her in a few years.

I guess the lawyer vibe could be coming from the briefcase that I carry. The base-ball glove brown Coach brief was a gift from Rev Rice for being the Chapel President at Ursinus College. He gave me a gift certificate for my hard work and I went to the Coach outlet store in Lancaster, Pa. to find a bag and pay the difference.

I had this bag since 2002 and it still looks brand new. I didn't use it much at Harvard but I started carrying it in law school and always tote it along on my interviews and internships.

Preppy Is As Preppy Does

I am truly a obsessive person. When my mind is set on one thing, that one thing usually consumes me until I have it or accomplish it. Take for instance: Tatnall. My first visit to The Tatnall School was in 6th grade to watch Ashely Deadwyler play basketball. I marveled at the cleanness of the school and the astuteness of the students but the thing that put me over the edge was the LL Bean book bags that were left outside of the lockers. Coming from a public school where if you dropped a pencil it would be gone before it hit the ground, these book bags represented not only a better school but a better life. I dreamed day and night about attending that school. I wrote "Tatnall" all over my quizzes and probably had something with Tatnall on it on my wall. Later, this same obsessiveness would apply to Harvard, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Law School. Now, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing because this obsessive behavior often drives me to achieve accomplishments beyond my wildest dreams, but I must admit that sometimes it spills into other aspects of my life. Ask anybody that truly knows me about my hobbies and they will tell you that they change every summer. Every summer since High school, I would obsessive over something. Whether its a new sport, a new video game, making beats, playing the trumpet, or clothing fads, I would be completely consumed by the new hobby or whatever. However, the one thing that I always come back to is preppyness. I may dabble in BBC/Ice cream clothes or buy a extreme amount of soccer jerseys but at the end of the day, I always feel more comfortable in a blazer and my brown loafers. Tatnall enforced a loose dress code on its students but somehow I subconsciously internalized this dress code on myself. I tried to rebelled in college by wearing basketball jerseys and sweat pants but by my sophomore year, my preppyness reared its head to the point where my nickname was Abercrombie. Since college, J.Crew has become synonymous with causal wear and LL Bean with reliable foul weather gear. In Law School, I co-founded bow tie Wednesdays and became well known for wearing khakis pants with the hunting dog prints on rainy days. I guess the moral of the story is once you go prep, you never go back.

No News Is Good News

I just realized that I haven't posted any baby news in a while. However, in my defense, I'm waiting for the ultimate news which will come on September 21. That is the day of our ultrasound and the revealing of our child's gender. Stay tuned.

Keep Pouring on the Experience

I really love my job at Grayer & Dilday. Today was only my second day on the job and I got the chance to interview a client in a child custody case. It's a very difficult case but I love the complexity of the issues. I'm gaining lots of experience at this firm and I truly love the mentoring that I'm receiving from Mr. Grayer & Mr. Dilday. Tomorrow I will head to work for a few hours and then go back to school for an interview with a New Hampshire law firm, McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton. Keep me in your prayers. The picture above is from my first hiking trip to New Hampshire's Mount Whiteface.

Hot Time in the City

Its was 94 degrees in Boston today and things were definitely heating up. I had a interview with Grayer & Dilday, a small firm that practices family law, for semester in practice and I was pretty excited about this opportunity. My good friend, Christine Lee, worked there last summer and had nothing but praises for this firm, so I anxiously got on the T and went over my resume in order to prepare myself for the interview. The interview was at 2:30 but since it was so hot outside, Tisha gave me a ride to Davis Square so I didn't have to wait outside for the bus in my suit. As we got closer and closer to the Park Street, I felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement so I pulled out my copy of The Catcher in the Rye, that I keep in my briefcase, and read a few pages to calm down. However, just then, the T stopped on the bridge just before the Charles MGH. After a few minutes, a voice came over the load speaker and announced that there was a communication problem on the red line and all trains were not permitted to move. Well, to make a long story short, we sat there for over 40 minutes waiting for the system to come back on. I called Grayer and told them my situation and they assured me that they would wait until I arrived. When the T finally started to inch towards the Charles MGH stop, the MBTA worker announced, "You get out now and walk to your destination or you can ride to the next stop but we're not sure how long its going to be before we move again." I sat there and thought about it for a few seconds and decided to walk from Charles MGH to Downtown Crossing. If any of you know Boston, this is not a nice little walk in the park. It's mostly up hill and accompanying the fact that I was wearing a suit in 94 degrees weather, needless to say, I was pretty sweaty by the time I got there. It took me a little while to find the place but once I got there, I gained my composer and knocked it out of the park. I start on Monday. I also have a crazy story to tell about the ride home but I'll spare you the details.

Downgrade

With the rising cost of Cable and our new edition on the way, Tisha and I decided to downgrade our cable package. And when I say downgrade; I mean downgrade. A few years ago, we had HBO, Encore, and the sports package but in the name of saving money we decided to cut our cable bill and take away the premium channels. I didn't go into too much of a withdraw because I still had CNN, MSNBC, ESPN, TLC and the Discovery Channel. However, this time we are going all the way down to basic cable, which consist of NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS and a few other local broadcast stations. This is definitely going to be a big year for me. Many changes are in my future.

Mr. Heisman

Mr. Heisman and I go back a long way. I first fell in love with the trophy in 7th grade and the love affair continued until I got to graduate school. Up until that point, I knew the history of the trophy and could recite most of the winners as if I was reciting a Shakespeare's sonnet.
I even did my final on Heisman Trophy winners for my computer programming class. The final was to create a program that worked and I wrote a simple "If-then" program that computed the Heisman trophy winners when you typed in a year or visa versa. I got an "A" in the class. That's why I was so surprised when I walked into one of the buildings at BC and saw Doug Flutie's 1984 Heisman sitting right there in the lobby. My heart skipped a beat as I examined the trophy that I dreamed about winning in Jr. High school and High School, but once reality sat in, I realized that I would probably never see one yet alone touch one. However, thanks to BC, another one of my dreams was fulfilled. Once again, I think this is another example of God telling me that I'm on the right track of life.

Semester in Practice

Due to the BC Law lottery system, I was selected for Semester in Practice and I'm pretty excited about it. Basically, it's a program that allows me to apply the skills that I learned in the classroom and acquire the skills that are not taught in the classroom. Hopefully, I'll get a placement at a Family Law firm or clerk for Probate judge but nothing is guaranteed. My back up placement is working in a Elderly Law Firm, Margolis & Cohen.

Margolis & Cohen, LLP begins its representation of many clients with a comprehensive estate and long-term care planning evaluation. This evaluation dictates the best planning strategies to pursue in order to meet the estate planning and long-term health care objectives of the client. The attorneys examine all aspects of the client's financial well-being and issue a follow-up letter which summarizes the client's unique situation, reviews the law, and explains our recommendations for the best possible estate plan for the client. The complex and every evolving rules of Medicaid play an increasingly important role with respect to traditional estate planning concerns.

Well, either way, this is going to be a great semester.

p.s.
I mailed over 40 resumes today. Let's pray that I get a few interviews

Bye Bye August

Cheers to August! Thanks for the fond memories!

August 1
August 31

The Beginning of The End

Today was the first day of my last year in law school and it was bittersweet. It was weird to walk around knowing that you are now the top dog on campus. 1Ls and 2Ls will look upon me for advice and the teachers will reminisce about how I was a wide-eyed 1L just minutes ago. However, on the other hand, this is the year that counts. I have to find a job and this is probably the last time I will see some of your classmates. 3L year is definitely bittersweet.

One Crazy Summer

Today is officially the last weekend of the summer for me. Monday is the first day of school and I have Semester in Practice in the morning and Mediation in the late afternoon. Although I'm not looking forward to the end of the summer, I am looking forward to the beginning of the semester. I have a few interviews lined up in September and I'm actually taking classes that will enhance my lawyering skills. Thus, I want to take some time to thank the Lord for blessing me with this great summer and a soon to be great fall! It's Harvest Time!

I leave you with a video of the fireworks finale in Oak Bluffs to truly mark the end of summer.

Bring the Noise

Tisha and I went to our second doctor's appointment today and I everything is fine. The ultrasound is scheduled for Sept 21. Click below to listen to our baby's heartbeat.

Our Baby's Heartbeat.mp3

Do The Right Thing

After hearing so many stories about Spike Lee on the Vineyard, I finally have a Spike Lee story of my own. One morning while I was running, I noticed a short black man in a black Mercedes SUV with New York tags drive past me. It sort of looked like Spike Lee so I cut my run short and turned around in the opposite direction. I noticed that the SUV stopped in the parking lot of Our Market which is the general store in Oak Bluffs (and also the place where I met Henry Louis Gates, Jr 7 years ago). I saw that the man was still in the SUV talking on the phone so I pretended like I was stretching to get a better look. It was indeed Spike Lee. Since he was still sitting in his car, I decided to go in the store and look at the magazines until he entered. However, when I got to the door, I realized that the store was still closed. It was 6:55am and the store didn't open until 7. As I turned away from the door, I noticed that Spike was looking directly at me, while still talking on the phone. I wanted to walk over and introduce myself but I didn't want to be rude so I just gave him a wave. Spike returned the wave with a shake of his fist and a slight head nod. I wish I had my camera on me but its kind of foolish to run 3 to 6 miles with a camera hanging from your arm. However, I may have to reconsider that kind of foolishness if it means taking a picture with people you admire in a place that you love.

Lax on South Beach

This is a video of CJ and I playing catch on South Beach in Martha's Vineyard. Usually, when we go to the beach, we go to the one in Edgartown but this time we went to South Beach (and we were not disappointed). Although the water got pretty choppy towards the end of the week, the beach was shell free. This is also my first video post on YouTube.

Great Trip

I love the Vineyard. Tisha and I had a great time and really got a chance to relax and talk about the upcoming year. We had a couple of good beach days but overall the weather was mild for Aug. I really do love this place and hopefully one day I will be able to afford a home on the island. I also saw a few of my law student friends on island. Click on the pictures to view some Vineyard action.

Summering on the Vineyard

Tisha and I are staying at her family's beach house for a week in Martha's Vineyard. I will try to take lots of pictures and post them when we return. This is a picture from my first trip to MV in 2000.