Law School Update

I was in my information systems class yesterday where the professor was lecturing on databases. After discussing the logic necessary to understand databases, he flashed a sample Logic Games question from the LSAT and I got physically sick. My stomach turned in knots and I began sweating as I averted my glance away from his slide. What is wrong with me? I guess the LSAT had a bigger impact on me than I thought...

I was also waitlisted yesterday at the University of Colorado. Now I would love to go to school in Boulder! They have an amazing school, an amazing law program, an amazing Indian Law program, and it's located in one of the most beautiful locations in America. I am going to accept my spot on the waitlist and begin kissing up to them as much as I possibly can without becoming annoying. They truly are at the top of my list of schools to attend... along with the University of Washington and the University of Arizona.

Now what I don't understand is why I haven't heard from some of the schools that are lower on my list. Namely, why hasn't Gonzaga written to me yet? It's not like there are people with great numbers just waiting to knock down the door in Spokane. As an almost business graduate please allow me to give you (Gonzaga) a little advice... If you want great people to go to your school than you need to get your acceptances out really early and throw a whole bunch of money at them. Every acceptance that people get from a better school is yet another potential applicant who rejects you before even hearing from you. What in god's name are you waiting for?!?

Cheers!

My first magazine in years!

When I was a younger kid I purchased a subscription to VIBE magazine. There were pages and pages of music, news, and the scantily clad women that keep a 12 year old boy going. However after a few months the magazines began to pile up. Reading VIBE slowly fell from being a priority to being a hobby, then a pass-time, then a nuisance. The large stack of print glared at me as if to say, "Why aren't you reading me you SOB?!?". When my subscription ended I didn't renew it...

Fast forward to a 20 year old me! My professor this quarter required us to buy a subscription to BusinessWeek Magazine so that we could read an assigned article each week. I am reading the textbook at the library so I figured I would just do the same with BusinessWeek. The subscription list was passed around the classroom and I simply passed it to my neighbor. It's now week four of the quarter and my professor has printed out and distributed every article that has been assigned, so I guess my frugality paid off! However, today I ended my nearly a decade long run without a magazine subscription.

My professor walked in today with a stack of FORTUNE magazines and a subscription list. I grabbed my copy and immediately began convincing myself that this was a great opportunity. The magazine only comes twice a month, which leaves ample time to actually read it. A year long subscription was only $10.00, which means that I am basically paying for a postage stamp every time they send me a magazine. Finally, I will be moving back home soon where I have a reliable mailbox and mailman which ensures that I will actually get my magazines. At the class break I went to the front and signed my name on the dotted line.

I am now officially a magazine subscriber...

Cheers!

Ever wondered what it's like to be in band?

You arrive early to get a good music stand. About half of them are wonderful, while the other half are welded masses of steel that weigh more than the average flute player. As musicians filter into the room the noise of instruments warming up grows to a mind numbing volume. Why do the trumpets have to be right behind you?!? They warm up as loud as they can directly into your ear, as if they were welcoming the King of England himself. The clock strikes 7:00 and the director steps onto the podium. The noise quickly fades into silence.

He points at the tubas who play a tuning note. First the trombones begin to tune, followed by the horns and trumpets. Then come the tenor saxes... the alto saxes... the clarinets... the flutes... and finally the piccolos. After a few adjustments the director silences us again. We pull out some pieces by Bach to warm up as a group. The director raises his baton and we all bring the instruments to our mouths. We take a deep breath as he raises his arms, gathering as much air in our bodies as we can manage. As his arms begin to drop the monstrous sound of the band echoes throughout the room. As you play your instrument it seems as if the wonderful mixture of notes is coming from within you. Each note blends with the musical lines of the different sections. The director begins waving his arms feverishly, urging the band to inject emotion into the piece. As the song nears the end his motions begin to retract which tells us to play softer. His baton slows down for the final few notes before settling upon the beautiful chord that ends the piece.

Then the waiting starts...

We bring out the actual piece that we will be performing someday and the director asks for the trombones to play a particular part. For five minutes we wait as the trombone section works itself out. Then the trumpets are added, but they are WAY too loud so we spend another five minutes getting the balance right. Finally your section gets the nod and you play for a minute or two, only to find yourself waiting for another ten minutes. Your mind pleads with the director to just let you play the damned piece. After about an hour of this he promises to let you play all the way through. After a few more false starts, he relents and you get to play! You watch as the director's emotion shifts radically during the piece. A wrong note pierces the song and he noticeably winces. We make it to the end of the piece and he tells you that it was better, but there is much more work to be done.

You pack up your instrument and head home... happy that you were able to play but wishing that you had been able to play more.

Cheers!

Where does the time go?!?

Last night I decided that before my first class today, I was going to wake up early and do the class reading at the library. My textbook was brand new and $200, so I'm just using the course reserve. Anyways, I set my alarm WAY too early and proceeded to rush around thinking I was late to my library date when in reality I was an hour early. I realized my mistake and snuggled back into my wrm covers.

After an hour kicking myself for not sleeping an extra hour, I made my way to the library where I learned that someone had beaten me to the book! I couldn't find them to propose book sharing, so basically my efforts at preparing failed miserably. I walked down and paid tuition before returning to the business school to discuss a case that I hadn't read. Thankfully, my professor is ancient and spent the two hours discussing annual reports from random businesses. The class is a waste of time so far, but it's a major requirement so I haven't a choice in the matter.

About the time that class ended I was starving! Sadly I failed to use my extra hour in the morning to pack myself a snack, so I bought some Starburst candy from the vending machine and made my way to Spanish. In Spanish we are watching 'Agua para Chocolate' which is an award winning film about a family during the Mexican Revolution. It's a comedy and my professor mercifully turned the English subtitles on, so I spent the class laughing and munching on my candy.

My afternoon was spent driving my friend to Bellevue to pick up a Slushee machine for his fraternity's party tonight. The truck was a stick shift and he can't drive one, so I came swooping down to the rescue. I always love the opportunity to hang out with him though, so it was a win win. I guess it's funny in retrospect, but the truck we were driving had a parking brake that I didn't know about. I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out why I couldn't get the truck up to speed? By then I'm sure the guy's brakes were toast. When we got to the party rental warehouse the air was filled with the smell of burnt rubber. The workers began frantically looking for what had caught fire. It was only my brakes, or rather some random guy's brakes who let me drive his truck. Oops...

I had a tutoring appointment that went well, and for dinner I made myself a huge bowl of meaty spaghetti. I have made a habit of cooking enough food for about 6 people so that I can eat the meal for a few days. Laziness you say? Well I call it ingenuity! I'm already looking forward to the weekend...

Cheers!

The beginning of the end... (of the beginning)

I promised myself that I would write about the untold horrors of waiting to hear from law schools while I was still in the trenches... but I couldn't bring myself to acknowledge the uncertainty. Now, I can joyfully report that I was accepted last Friday to the Seattle University School of Law! Not only is this the first that I have heard from any law school in months, but it was A) an acceptance and B) from a school I am legitimately interested in. Now I can actually plan on attending law school next year, which is such a huge weight off of my shoulders!

However the last few months have been their own sort of hell. I thought that studying for the LSAT would be the hardest part of the application process, or even writing a personal statement that doesn't say "I want to be a lawyer because...". Nope! It's waiting! Everyday for months I have checked my email religiously, hoping for any sort of contact from law schools. Hours have been wasted looking at websites like www.deloggio.com, www.lawschoolnumbers.com, www.top-law-schools.com. Everyday was another day without any confirmation that I was worthy of attending law school. All of the personal confidence that I have built over the last twenty years of life has been questioned. My parents and friends would always begin conversations by asking whether I had heard anything yet. Do they not understand that I want to know 100 times more than they could ever imagine?

I admit that I have allowed myself to fall down this dark hole, and that my overall quality of life has suffered for it. However, I am clawing my way back to health! I have taken a job as a tutor for student athletes at the UW. This is my first real job since Strikezone (batting cage) shut down, and it is a breath of fresh air. The work is positive and the pay is good. I don't quite have the hours that I need, but that will come in time. School is full of busy work in my last quarter at UW, but it helps to keep me focused on school rather than law school. Spring training is quickly approaching (THANK GOD!) and the M's seem like they have put together quite a team for next year. I am working out pretty regularly, and am reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. My relationships with my family, friends, and girlfriend are all going well. Money is tight, but I'm getting by and it isn't worrying me too much. I'm supposed to be broke in college... right?

All in all I am absolutely ecstatic to have heard from Seattle University. My top choices are still the University of Washington, the University of Colorado, and the University of Arizona so the waiting game is far from being over. However I pray that without having to worry about whether I am going to law school, the wait will be much easier. As I have learned from Stephen Covey, my reaction is my own choice. Much easier to understand than to actually put into practice.

Another Police Officer Shooting...

It seems like only a week ago a Seattle area police officer was shot down for no apparent reason. The Seattle community came together to support the officer's family in any way that we could, and the shooter was quickly found and brought down.

Now it has happened again, only this time it was 4 times over. The current suspect should not have been out on the street, and now four officers are dead because of it.

Our current judicial system is so flawed that we are allowing the most dangerous amongst us to walk the streets. It's so expensive to keep them incarcerated that we seemingly do everything to get them out. While they are incarcerated they aren't given any of the necessary tools to be successful outside of jail, so the first thing they do with their freedom is abuse the system and break our laws. I am not saying that I have the answers... but something needs to change.

The rules of the Grocery Line

I was at the grocery store with my girlfriend a few weeks back, and we had an interesting run in with another shopper in the check out line.

We were waiting in line. The line next to us was closed, but there was a bagboy cleaning the conveyor belt and workspace. A fellow shopper came and asked us if we were in line for the closed checkstand, to which we replied 'no'. She then asked the bagboy if his line was open, and he also replied 'no'. Okay! Problem solved! She simply gets in line behind us and we all go on with our day.

Well, another checker walked up from the back and said, "I can help the next person in line over here." I was the next person in line, so I moved by cart over to her checkstand... the same checkstand that the bagboy was cleaning. The woman who asked if I was in the closed checkstand then confronted me for getting in line at the now open checkstand. She felt that since she was asking about the 'then closed' checkstand, she should be first in line.

That is not how things work!

The checkstand was deemed closed, and is therefore is out of play. When the new checker opened the line it came into play, and seeing as I was the next person in line... I GET TO CHECK OUT NEXT!

Learn your checkout line rules PEOPLE! :)

Cheers!