North Maple Rag

Milestones all around.

2007-04-28T03:10:00.002-04:00

In the past couple weeks, I have:

Taken my last test of law school
Written (and, just a few minutes ago, turned in) my last paper of law school
Attended my last class of law school

I have also:

Bought plane tickets to fly back to SoDak for the summer.
Registered to take the New York bar exam.
Registered to take a bar exam prep course.
Worried about what I'll do when my NYU health insurance ends later this summer.
Started sorted through the mess that is my student loans.

Oh, and I turned 27.

The next week will bring a number of other great milestones: the last girls' night, my parents' first trip to NYC, graduation and my final move out of NYU housing.

And so, with all of that to take in, I've decided to add one more milestone to the list; this is my last post on North Maple Rag. I started this as a response to law school and now that that's ending, so is the blog. I've been working on a new blog to keep track of my summer adventures and those of you who know me will get a link to that once it actually has some posts.

So, best wishes and whatnot.

Spring has finally arrived in New York.

2007-04-23T01:01:00.001-04:00

And yesterday, I took advantage of the sunshine and attended what was not only my first Mets game ever, but also my first baseball game of the spring. Afterward, my friends and I stopped to buy ice cream cones from an ice cream truck and we ate them as we walked the crowded streets of Manhattan home. It was, quite possibly, the perfect afternoon for an 8 year old and it was pretty darn close to perfect for this almost 27 year old. Alas, finals loom in the not-so-distant future and they placed a small cloud on the otherwise sunny afternoon.

I've spent virtually all of the rest of the weekend working* on my securities outline and at times, I've honestly thought that my eyes might start spraying blood. Luckily, I actually liked the class and I'm far enough along now that the end is in sight. So, I think I'll survive with my vision in tact. Anywho, it's warm and I'm wearing flip flops again. Not even shelf registration requirements can get entirely get me down.

*And, by "working," I of course mean "working sprinkled liberally with email, Facebook, online newspapers, and the occasional mystery novel.

Sigh.

2007-04-20T17:53:00.000-04:00

I went searching for a really old email this afternoon and ended up finding one that I'd sent to a few college friends after my first day at NYU describing the day in numbers. Here it is, in its entirety:

It only took a 90-minute drive with my parents, 3 and 1/2 hours in the air, 1 and 1/2 hours in the Chicago airport, and a harrowing 30-minute cab ride to get me to Greenwich Village. Along the way, I read about 160 new movies that will be released this fall (thank you Entertainment Magazine). I also browsed 1 SkyMall catalog and listened to 1 cd. I have now made 2 trips to K-Mart and 1 trip to CVS in order to outfit my room. I filled out 4 forms and 1 survey and had 1 picture taken in order to check in. I have attended 1 reception where I received 1 free meal. All in all, it's been a long, but fairly painless day. I have met 1 person who didn't give me a weird look when I said I'm from South Dakota. He said, "Oh really, my uncle is the track coach at O'Gorman in Sioux Falls."

I really can't believe it's almost over.

This is amazing!

2007-04-12T18:18:00.000-04:00

I don't take enough advantage of the live music options available to me in New York. In fact, the South Dakotan in me is still surprised every time I learn that one of my favorite bands or musicians will be playing near me. I try to keep track of their schedules, but still end up missing out on a lot of great shows. Now, those days are gone (yes, I'm using infomercial voice)! This great program, iConcertCal, will install a concert calendar function in your iTunes that keeps track of when any of your iTunes artists will be performing in your city. Perhaps this is old news and I'm the last person to join the iConcertCal bandwagon, but it's amazing nonetheless.

Softball + boys + beer = bruises

2007-04-02T16:19:00.000-04:00

UVA held its annual law school softball tournament this past weekend I played on one of NYU's teams. I wanted to go both of the past two years, but couldn't make it work until this year. And before I tell you the story of my massive bruise, let me just say that the tournament is fantastic. Tons of softball, tons of beer, tons of fun.

So, my bruise. Actually, the story's not all that interesting. I pitched this weekend and my first batter of the tournament hit a low, sharp line drive into my side. It hurt at the time, but I kept playing and assumed the sharp stinging would eventually subside into a dull ache. It did and I didn't think much more about it. Until that night. While changing my clothes, I discovered the hit had left me with an awesome bruise right above my hip. Perfectly round, exactly the size of a softball, and dark, dark purple. I'm so proud of it.

Also, I'm grateful. An inch lower and the line drive would've hit my hip bone. I also heard about a pitcher who took a line drive to his hand and broke several bones. Not to mention the other NYU student who had to get sticthes in his forehead.

So, in recap: great weekend, awesome bruise.

Three years, and this city continues to charm me.

2007-03-28T02:17:00.000-04:00

Inspired by today's warm weather, my roommate and I ventured north to 34th street late this evening to watch the Ringling Bros. elephants walk across Manhattan to Madison Square Garden. If I'm honest with you, I'll admit that there were fewer elephants than I'd anticipated and they were also smaller than I expected. That said, it was still pretty cool. There was a huge crowd, composed almost entirely of people about my age. And when that first elephant came 'round the corner, there was collective giddiness. It's pretty great to surrounded by hundreds of jaded New Yorkers who, for a moment, are willing to let down their guards and just be excited.

Also, the elephants were followed by ponies. Ponies!

Not what I intended.

2007-03-05T13:02:00.000-05:00

It's moments like these, when I'm researching and find something really interesting in a publication entitled, Russia Precious Metals & Gems Weekly, that I realize just how different a lawyer I'm going to be from what I originally expected. Oh, and if you're interested, there's a functional goldmine for sale in Uzbekistan for just $140 million.

An international post, just because I can.

2007-02-19T07:29:00.000-05:00

Hello from Amsterdam! After a weekend at Carnival in Maastrict and Cologne, I am exceptionally tired. But, I'm not allowed to collapse until tomorrow evening on the plane since I only have about 28 hours to see Amsterdam.

More later.

The Blue Team

2007-02-05T14:35:00.001-05:00

This past August, I ran a race called Hood to Coast. For any of you who don't know, Hood to Coast is a 200 mile relay race from the top of Mount Hood (in Oregon) to the ocean. Teams of 12 people travel the course over a two day period. Those team members who aren't running at any given time are typically hanging out in big vans. Over the course of the weekend, adventure, drama and some really bad smells typically ensue. My Hood to Coast experience was no exception.

Shortly after returning to New York, I wrote this recap of the race but never actually posted it. So, I’m posting it now. But before I begin that excitement, I'd like to provide some brief background information.

Hood to Coast: A Primer

Each year, 1000 teams are allowed to run the entire 200 mile race (there's a shorter high school event and walking relay from Portland to the Coast and I don't know how many teams participate in those). Since the race takes place primarily on highways that stay open to traffic, all 1000 teams can't start at once. Instead, heats start every 15 minutes from 8am to 7:45pm on Friday and start times are distributed based on each team's predicted finish time. In order to calculate those times, each team submits a list of how fast each of their runners can run a 10K. The course then stays open until 9pm on Saturday. Teams finishing after 9 are disqualified.

My team consisted primarily of recreational runners -- people who run on a fairly regular basis but not always for great distances or at great speeds. Unfortunately, the 10K times that were submitted for us indicated that we are all fantastically fast. Why? Well, there's no good reason. The captain (or, cap'n, as I prefer) of Willamette Law's Running Club is apparently completely free of any ability to use logic or reason, so he just made up super-fast times (I, for instance, was listed as running a 10K about 10 minutes faster than I actually can). So, our start time was set at 6pm providing us with exactly 27 hours to finish the race. A feat that was, in theory, possible but in practice, simply not going to happen.

Here's the story . . .

Friday, August 25, 5:30pm: My van (holding runners #7-12 for our team) departs Salem. The runners in our van, for future reference, are Ryan (Runner 7), Emily (8), Ashley (9), Lael (10), me (11) and Larry (12). We stop briefly at Larry's berry farm in Woodburn (berry farms, by the way, are much prettier than South Dakota farms). We left fairly early in the evening despite that fact that our first runner wouldn't be running until 10:30 at the earliest because we'd heard reports of bad traffic. However, since Larry's a local, he gets us to our starting point in Sandy by 7pm.

Friday, August 25, 7:00pm: We spot a runner making their way down the highway. The excitement in the van is now palpable. Alas, we have hours before any of us will be running. We stop for pizza at a place called Sparky's. The employees are very friendly and have helpful advice for our trek ("Make sure you have toilet paper").

Friday, August 25, 8:30pm: After loitering longer than we should have at Sparky's, the van heads to the Fred Meyer where we'll be meeting with our teams other van (home to runners #1-6). We arrive at a parking lot chock full of runners and overly-decorated vans. We explore a bit and quickly realize that we're a bit out of our league. Apparently, all of the other teams that were given late start times are comprised of serious runners -- men and women for whom the idea of a sub-7 minute mile is not just a pipe dream. Emily astutely points out that but for our team, there is no body fat anywhere in the parking lot. Despite feeling more than a little intimidated, the team's spirits are still high. We each resolve to run our fastest and we still foolishly think we can keep up a pace that will allow us to finish before the course closes.

Friday, August 25, 10:30pm: The other van arrives at Fred Meyer and confirms that our team is in trouble. With every leg, we're falling farther and farther behind. Around this time, we also realize that some of the upcoming legs of the race take place on a trail, rather than a road. Said trail winds through suburban Portland and runs along a river. Said runners are all female (myself included). Now, any semi-intelligent female runner will tell you that running down by the river after midnight is never a good idea. So we shuffle a bit and two of our more experienced runners agree to run extra legs so that no girl has to run alone on the trails. The team's mood is quickly shifting from excited to nervous.

Friday, August 25, 11:30pm: Emily starts her run. Once she finishes, she immediately runs Ashley's leg with Ashley. By the time they arrive at the start of Leg 10 (which Larry is now running instead of Lael), our team is in last place.

Saturday, August 26, 2:00am: Larry departs. His leg starts in Gresham and since we are now the last team, two Gresham police officers tell us they'll be following him. What they fail to share is that they'll only be following him to the Gresham city limit which is located 300 yards from Larry's starting point.

It's worth pointing out here that the entire Hood to Coast course is staffed by volunteers provided by each of the teams. Some of these volunteers are wonderful, giving people. Some of them were roped into volunteering by desparate runners. Some of them leave their posts when they think the last runner has gone through, rather than when they're given official approval to pack up.

Unfortunately, Larry's leg of the race is staffed by volunteers who disappear while he's still running. Accordingly, he misses a turn.

Saturday, August 26, 2:55am: We start to worry about Larry, who has yet to show up at the next exchange point.

Saturday, August 26, 3:00am: The volunteers figure out where Larry probably missed the turn. Someone spots him and agrees to drive him to the exchange point.

Saturday, August 26, 3:10am: Larry arrives and I begin my run. Lael runs with me so that I'm not alone on the river trail. Almost immediately, we see some random man hanging out on the trail with his bike. He's not a volunteer and it's 3:10 in the morning. We speed past him and continue to see random men out and about, down by the river. Lael later informs me that she also saw a homeless man sleeping in the weeds next to the trail but she didn't tell me because she was afraid it would probably freak me out. This is a good decision on her part primarily because both of us have to stop at least once to go to the bathroom in those weeds.

Saturday August 26, 3:50am: I finish my leg and Lael keeps running. I now learn that while we were running there was a heated discussion about whether or not our team would be disqualified (keep in mind that we're not only in last place, we're now far, far behind any other team). Ultimately, the race officials told us that we would not be disqualified but instead, if we start arriving after the official closing time for the exchange points, we'll be deemed "late" and will be allowed to start leapfrogging our runners (having two runners run their legs at once). Since I had finished my leg 10 minutes before that exchange point closed and since Lael is a crazy-fast runner, we suspect it'll be a while before we're officially "late." Unfortunately, this means making sure someone calls ahead to each exchange point to inform the volunteers that our team is still coming.

In addition, the company in charge of the port-a-potties (called "Honey Pots") at each exchange point (these are really the only bathrooms to which we have access) is on its own schedule. They start picking up the Honey Pots before we arrive at the exchange points. This means we are now, in a sense, chasing the port-a-potties down the road (or, "chasing Honey Pots," but that sounds dirty in a different way). Like most people, I hate port-a-potties. Chasing them down the road is, in a word, demoralizing.

Saturday, August 26, 4:30 – 8:30am: Lael finishes her leg, the other van of runners takes over on the course, and we make our way to a field where vans can park and runners can sleep. The most exciting thing about this field is that there are actually a handful of other runners there. Other runners! We haven’t seen those in hours.

Once the van is parked, all of us fall asleep, so to speak. Personally, I get about two and a half hours of half-sleep, half-halucinating. Ultimately, I leave the van and walk around foolishly hoping that the fresh morning air will revive my spirits. I quickly discover that all the other runners are long gone and we’re now parked alone in a big field. Oh, and the port-a-potties are being hauled away (except that the very nice Honey Pots man took pity on us and left one behind). Eventually, everyone wakes up, we eat “breakfast,” and start driving to find out how far the other van has made it.

Saturday, August 26 9:00am – 12:00pm: We learn that our team has permission to start leapfrogging runners and start dropping people off to run their legs concurrently. We’re now in a very hilly area of Oregon between Portland and the ocean. The roads are curvy and two-lane. The day warms up quickly and large sections of our route are not tree-lined.

Saturday, August 26, 12:00pm: I start running my second leg. It’s not too hilly, but it’s very hot by now. I'd drank some water before starting out, but don’t carry any with me. By this point, we’ve caught up with a couple other teams; I see maybe one or two other runners over the course of my four and a halfish miles.

I run slowly and this is maybe the most painful 45-odd minutes of my life. Since there aren’t many runners on the road, cars aren’t looking for us and I have to jump aside several times as cars (and some really big trucks) come barreling around curves. At one point, I do this and simultaneously trip over a big branch. I trip a bit and look down to see that the branch has cut open my knee and I’m bleeding. Remember that the sun is beating down and note that if I had my way, I would only run in chilly weather. As I trudge on, one thought and one thought alone repeats in my head: “Emily is a total f***ing whore for asking me to do this.”

Saturday, August 26, whenever the hell my leg ended: My team gives me a bottle of Gatorade and I drink it in two big gulps. I stop seeing spots, collapse in the back of the van, and eat a granola bar.

From here, we have to pick up one more runner and then we make our way to the next resting point. We are now officially “caught up.” There are lots of runners resting at this rest stop and it’s really nice to see other people. There’s even a concession stand – something that other rest stops had, but we’d never seen because they closed before our arrivals. The team eats, sits on blankets in the grass, and enjoys the shade. At one point, a monumentally toolish volunteer worker tries to get us to move from our spot. Larry valiantly decides not to go batshit crazy on her and we simply move the vehicles around in order to keep the spot.

Saturday, August 26, late afternoon: The runners from my van start the last six legs of the race. I’m a bit worried since I have my longest and most difficult leg still ahead of me. As it turns out, my 7.5 run that evening is one of the most pleasant of my life. The sun is starting to set and I’m close enough to the ocean that the air is cool. My last leg is on a trail rather than asphalt and all in all, it’s delightful. I coast into the exchange point, slap Larry’s hand, and am done.

Saturday, August 26, evening: Larry’s our last runner, so the entire team heads to the finish line to run the last few yards with him. We drive out of the hills and the Oregon coast is beautiful. It’s dusk as the team meets up and chugs across the finish line. We collect our medals and take a picture in front of the Lewis & Clark monument on the beach. Fireworks explode; relief and pride settle in all around.

Much of my van decides to head back to Salem rather than sleeping on the beach. On the way back to the van, Ashley, Lael and I get really, really lost. This puts a bit of a damper on the evening. We finally find Larry and Emily, pack ourselves back into the van and head home. Larry, valiant once again, drives the entire three hours back to Salem.

Saturday, August 26, almost midnight: We arrive in Salem, drop off Ashley and Lael and head to the grocery store for beer and the taco stand for tacos. Once, home, Emily, Larry and I silently inhale the tacos and beer and then pass out in our respective beds.

Mission? Accomplished.

Long time . . . and all that jazz.

2007-02-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted here since Halloween, so I'm providing a handy chronological bulleted listed to bring you up to speed on North Maple news.

I went home for Thanksgiving for the first time in 5 years. Fun!
While home, I was asked to talk about my "law school experience" with one of the constitutional law classes at my alma mater. Awkward!
Finals came and went. Underprepared!
Winter break came and went; I spent nearly all of it in South Dakota. Cold!
Weather and circumstance also conspired to force me to spend New Year's Eve in Watertown. Quiet!
Two days after returning to New York, I finished my "A" paper. Relieved!
My classes during this, the last of my law school semesters, are kinda fantastic. Surprising!
A couple of weeks ago, I visited my 42nd state, Vermont, for a weekend ski trip. Quaint!
While skiing, I tackled what might have been the most difficult runs I've ever skied. Slow!
This weekend, I went to Boston and consumed good food and good beer. Full!
I also went to my first Presidential Library (JFK's). Inspiring!
The friend I was visiting also took me to IKEA. Not-as-exciting-as-it-used-to-be!
Today I saw Letters from Iwo Jima before heading back to NYC. Fantastic!
Next week I'm visiting a friend in Amsterdam. Jetset!

Soooo happy

2006-10-31T19:25:00.000-05:00

I have inadvertantly stumbled upon the best blog, ever. Check it out here.

Good news.

2006-09-15T00:27:00.000-04:00

So, I really haven't posted much about this, but one of the conclusions I came to this summer is that I want to stay in New York. Yes, after two years of assuredly telling everyone who came within five feet of me that there was no way I'd stay here, I'm staying. And today, that plan became much easier; I had a really great interview at a law firm here and they gave me an offer almost right away. I still have a few more interviews to do, but I have a really good feeling about this place. Anyway, that's the news.

Let's see, since my last post I've run a 200 mile relay race (well, I only ran 16 miles of it), started classes, traveled to Cape Cod for the first time (it's fun!), switched a bunch of classes and watched a whole lot of Project Runway. Good times. There's a more detailed post about the relay race in the making. It was an adventure, to say the least.

Summer's almost over

2006-08-20T12:13:00.000-04:00

I've been back in NYC for 24 hours now and it kind of feels like home. Actually, that's kind of the story of the summer; I've grudgingly accepted the fact that I love living here and am not quite ready to leave. So, tomorrow I start another round of interviews. I got offers from both the LA and the DC firm, and am actually still considering them. Anywho, discussing those considerations would be kind of boring (and, like blogging about work, probably not a bright idea). Instead, I made a list on the plane yesterday of the places I will have slept at between the day I left New York after finals and the day I'll return next week after running Hood to Coast. Here it is, with the number of nights spent at each place in parentheses.

Watertown, SD (5)
Denver, CO (1)
Beaver, UT (1)
Las Vegas, NV (2)
Grenada Hills, CA (1)
Los Angeles, CA (48)
West Hollywood, CA (1)
Atlanta, GA (1)
Amelia Island, FL (2)
Palm Springs, CA (2)
A reststop in Nebraska (1)
Washington, DC (35)
New York, NY (7)
Salem, OR (1)
Wherever it's possible to sleep during Hood to Coast (2)
A red-eye flight from Portland to JFK (1)

Now that's a good summer.

Gentlemen of Washington, I'd like to introduce you to your new best friend:

2006-08-01T08:34:00.000-04:00

Flat front pants.

The abundance of pleats in this town is kind of amazing.

The more things change . . .

2006-07-05T03:12:00.000-04:00

A recent email about alumni updates from my college class officers alerted me to the fact that I have now been out of college as long as I was in college. Of course, this also means that I have now been out of high school for twice as long as I was in it. It's remarkable, really. In those eight years, I've completed six years of higher education, lived in four major metropolitan areas, traveled to dozens of states and a handful of foreign countries, had one real job, and had what seems like an endless stream of temporary and part-time jobs.

Those things have had an impact; I'm certainly more independent, more cynical, more adventurous, and less timid than I used to be. At the same time, however, my favorite day of the summer is still the Fourth of July and my favorite part of the day is the fireworks. I've written about this before, so I won't go into the details of my affection for fireworks. Instead, I'll note that tonight, when Mayor Villaraigosa announced at the Woodland Hills fireworks display that 40,000 people were in attendance, I had the exact same reaction I would've in college, high school, or probably even grade school. I thought, "Wow! That's twice the size of Watertown."

South Dakota, it seems, will always be my yardstick for measuring new experiences. In the past few weeks alone, I'm sure I've compared drive times, distances, populations, skylines, communities, and personalities to the ones I grew up around. I'm also sure my habit of putting things into South Dakota terms is at least occasionally annoying to those of my friends who aren't interested in the miscellany of my home state, but I'm hoping it's also occasionally a little endearing.

Anywho, I also realized this evening that I've spent the past five Fourths of July away from home. So, I've decided that next year I will do everything I can to spend the Fourth at home. It's time.

I went to a sidewalk chalk festival this weekend.

2006-06-21T02:28:00.000-04:00

Yup, spent Saturday afternoon checking out some sidewalk chalk art in Pasadena. It was pretty impressive. Here's a bit of what we saw:

This one was my favorite.

These people were working hard. I'm not afraid to admit that I have no idea what it was they were trying to create.

Happy Father's Day!

Blue is used at the competition more than any other color.

A work in progress.

It was a good festival. Actually, my entire weekend was good. Saturday morning I went hiking (firm event) and then I kind of got lost on my way home and ended up book shopping for a while. I finished a bunch of journal work Saturday evening (a little pathetic? yes, but it was necessary). On Sunday, there was the sidewalk chalk, followed by a BBQ, dinner with some friends from school, and Entourage. All good stuff.

I like this part of Florida better than the others I've been to.

2006-06-08T00:52:00.000-04:00

Seriously, this summer associate thing is a pretty good deal. I had one retreat last weekend on Amelia Island (the DC law firm) and this weekend I'm headed to Palm Springs (LA law firm). Other than the likely irreparable damage I must be doing to my liver, this is the life.

The traffic sucks, but I like having a radio.

2006-05-29T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I'd been meaning to post something here about the Prairie Home Companion Soundtrack that I purchased last week, but the Head Kid beat me to it. His post includes my favorite lyrics and an explanation of why I love the soundtrack so much. So, all I'll say is that you should buy the cd, especially if you're a displaced midwesterner.

In other NPR news, I listened to a great episode of This American Life yesterday. The theme this week focused on stories and memories that make us cringe. It was a well-timed episode for me as I realized recently that I now have a sufficient distance from college to truly cringe at my undergraduate foolishness.

The best part of the show was Ira Glass's account of a series of bumbling interviews he conducted with the cast of M.A.S.H. at the age of 20. He astutely points out that in listening to the tapes of the interviews, the things that were the most cringe-worthy were the nervous habits that he knows haven't changed.

Anyway, it's a great show and it's now available at This American Life. Listen and I promise you'll laugh . . . and cringe. And, if you are at all introspective, you'll probably dredge up some long-buried cringe-worthy memory and marvel at the person you once were.

Vegas: Not like anything I've ever seen.

2006-05-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

So, I like Las Vegas.

I like the town for pure novelty of it all. Driving in from the east, there are no suburbs. The city pretty much appears out of nowhere. And, of course, it's not your average skyline what with the Stratosphere, a huge pyramid, a mini Manhattan, an Eiffel Tower in the mix. I'd always imagined Vegas to be seedy, but if you stay on the Strip, it's really more like a themepark for adults. Between the free drinks, the crazy buildings, and the truly quality people-watching, I approve.

And here I thought I'd left New York. The Manhattan skyline, by the way, doesn't include much purple.

A little flashier at night.

Paris . . . in the desert.

The conservatory at the Bellagio (my favorite of the casinos I visited).

It's so hard these days to find a good frog made of flowers.

Not to mention ladybugs. Me and my cousin who kindly let us crash at her house.

Nevada: No blown-out tires on the road this time.

2006-05-20T23:19:00.001-04:00

The last time I drove through Nevada, I ran over a huge chunk of a tire on the interstate. It was the middle of the night and it took us a while to figure out that it had partially disloged a part of my car. We ended up tying my car back together in a parking lot in Elko.

I'm happy to report that nothing similar happened this time. We saw a lot of barren landscape and many, many casinos, but that was it. We also stopped in Las Vegas, but that experience gets a separate post.

Casinos...

...and kinda barren landscape.

Arizona: Also unexpected.

2006-05-20T23:14:00.001-04:00

Like Iowa, I really didn't realized that we'd be driving through a little piece of Arizona. It was very mountain/desert cool.

Zion: National parks are fun!

2006-05-20T22:15:00.000-04:00

Remember how I claimed that South Dakota's the prettiest state? Well, I stand by that claim. I will, however, acknowlege that Utah is probably the most majestic of the states. It's an amazing state and I'm sad that we only had time to stop at Zion. Another trip, encompassing Arches, Canyonlands, and Bryce Canyon is definitely in order.

The adventure begins. Actually, that's not true. The adventure began at the western part of the park and this picture was taken later at the main entrance. It just made more sense to start with this one.

The western part of the park -- fewer visitors, but just as pretty.

Court of the Patriarchs: That's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

A lizard!

Weeping Rock.

There's a hike that goes up and across this ridge. I need to go back.

Here we go.

2006-05-15T09:27:00.000-04:00

Well, we arrived in L.A. Saturday night and I suppose the road trip officially ended yesterday morning when we parked in front of my new apartment (I'll post pictures from Zion and Vegas tonight). The job starts in just a couple hours, so I haven't really had any time for first day jitters. Most of the law students I know are starting their jobs today and it kind of feels like the first day of kindergarten.

Here we go. Have fun and play nice out there.

Utah: Have you ever noticed that almost all of the towns here are right off the interstates?

2006-05-12T02:39:00.000-04:00

I've only been to Utah once before and that was only the northern part. I saw the salt flats, the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. I concluded (rightly, I think) that the state was, in a word, bizarre. That said, today's drive was gorgeous. Deserts, canyons, buttes, mesas and mountains filled the afternoon and evening.

Amazingly, we're less than 500 miles from L.A., which means we drove more than 2/3 of the trip yesterday and today (giving us plenty of time to explore Zion National Park and Las Vegas tomorrow and Saturday).

Anyway, today's drive was satisfying. Good scenery, good conversation and a great new game. Each month, I make a Top 10 list of songs on iTunes. I've been doing this since February 2005 and we spent the last few hours of the drives working our way through last year's spring lists and psychoanalyzing me. Narcissist that I am, I found this immensely enjoyable.

It's hard to see, but Utah did welcome us.

A really good hotdog from a truckstop in Green River, UT. The picture was taken not 20 minutes after Kate and I had an extensive conversation about how important it was that we locate, purchase and consume produce.

All the scenic overlooks were this amazing.

Kate is a giant!

So am I!

Mormons (uh, Utahans) are polite.

Layers of mountains.

Colorado: Are we there yet?

2006-05-12T02:13:00.000-04:00

We rolled into Denver about three hours behind schedule last night and arrived at our host's house apologetic and bearing wine. Since the sun while we were still in the no-man's-land of eastern Colorado, we didn't see the mountains until this morning. We spent a few hours in Denver taking care of details (buying forgotten toiletries at Target and checking email at a coffee shop). Eventually, we turned west and headed out of town.

The drive across Colorad included a quick stop for ice cream in Vail (few places scream "Money!"like Vail) and actually, other than a lot of pretty scenery, not much else.

Eastern Colorado sunset.

Approaching the Rockies.

I didn't manage to get a picture of Colorado's welcome sign when we crossed the border, so this will have to do.

More mountains. And, as a bonus, you can also see the texture of my car's dashboard reflected in the windshield.

Nebraska: Growing on me.

2006-05-12T01:44:00.000-04:00

So, full disclosure: I used to hate Nebraska. All of it. But then, after a fun visit to Wayne and a lovely drive across the state on Hwy. 81 last summer, my feelings started to change. I began thinking of Nebraska with an affection previously reserved only for Minnesota (my favorite SoDak neighbor). The hate thing had started during a particularly greuling day trip to Omaha during my senior year of college and until yesterday, I thought I'd completely overcome the experience. Alas, I still hate Omaha. There lots of reasons for my enduring distaste for the city, but none of them are all that interesting. So, I'll just say that the rest of the state is cool enough to overcome it.

Anyway, I picked Kate up at the Omaha airport and we headed west on I-80. The drive was nice, but for some weird weather along the way (documented below). Driving west through Nebraska is a lot like driving west through SoDak: rolling prairie farmland followed by totally flat prairie farmland followed by rough and tumble grassland. Good stuff.

The good life, indeed (as long as you don't live in Omaha).

A dust storm or wall cloud or something. We didn't know what it was when driving through, but having grown up with frequent tornados, we were nervous.

Rainstorm a bit west of Kearney. No pictures were taken during the actual rain, I was gripping the steering wheel with all my strength and lamenting the futility of windshield wipers. Kate, I assume, was praying.

The skies cleared and the evening was gorgeous. This was taken outside Sutherland.

Iowa: Sioux City still smells.

2006-05-12T01:34:00.000-04:00

I honestly forgot that I-29 stays on the eastern side of the Missouri River and that I'd be traveling through Iowa on my way to Omaha. Ooops.

South Dakota: Some people would tell you there are prettier states, but they would be wrong.

2006-05-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

My road trip to California started early yesterday morning. I first drove through eastern SoDak, stopping briefly in Sioux Falls to have coffee with a friend and say hi to some of my professors at Augie. I took I-29 all the way from Watertown to the Iowa border and enjoyed all of it. Eastern SoDak is mostly farmland (as opposed to ranch land in the west) and in the spring that means green and gold fields coupled with bright blue skies; all perfect for a morning drive. The pictures below are in reverse order of when I took them (only because it's late and I'm too tired to fix it).

The Beresford exit: Did you know Beresford has a Burger King?

Ole the Viking (at Augustana).

One of the views from my favorite I-29 rest stop, 20 miles south of Watertown.

Not enough time.

2006-05-11T11:49:00.000-04:00

My few days at home between finals and LA were great. Watertown has extended its bike/running path so that it now ends near my house. My brother came home for a bit and we had time to fit in a game of frisbee golf. My parents patiently put up with my unpacking from New York/repacking for LA mess. And, I got to eat at Zesto, the pride of midwestern fast food.

Here's a few photos from one of my runs (pictures that are, admittedly, only interesting to me). First, the new bike path extension, then Highland Park (my second home for the first 12 years of my life), and the frisbee golf course.

3L!

2006-05-05T13:49:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I've got a paper to finish this summer in order to secure my last two credits for the spring semester, I'm going to go ahead and declare myself a 3L. Woo! All I know about being a 3L is that the only pressure put on us seems to be to drink more and study less. Nothin' wrong with that.

I finished my third final in six days yesterday afternoon and then toasted the end of finals with a friend's yummy homemade sangria. I've spent most of my time since then packing and tying up loose ends. My ride to the airport will be here in about 30 minutes and then, I'm going home! Home, home, home! Where my town isn't dirty, loud, or crowded and my parents have a big backyard. I'm sooo excited.

So much so, that I'm going to post an excerpt from Portable Prairie about returning to South Dakota that I've posted at least once before.

As the days passed, my fear subsided into a low-grade anxiety that over the years has lessened but never entirely left me. Now, I only notice it when I go home: I see the land rearranging itself around me, relaxing into prairie; the sky unfurling back to its proper immensity, like a fresh white sheet snapped over a bed by competent, vigorous arms. The fear drains out of me. I note, with some surprise, that I have been feeling tense.

A little older, a little smarter.

2006-04-28T18:54:00.000-04:00

So, I turned 26 on Wednesday (that's right, 26 on the 26th!). As far as birthdays go, it was pretty mundane. It was certainly better than my 22nd (attended my aunt's funeral) but not as exciting as my 23rd (first trip to NYC). I spent most of the day studying for today's constitutional law exam and to be honest, that wasn't so bad. Con law was one of the best classes I've ever taken and sorting out the details in my head this past week was a worthwhile endeavor. The test today was fine . . . I'm not sure I was brilliant, but I'm quite certain I was competent.

Tonight, I'm going out and tomorrow, I begin the deathmarch toward finals #2 and #3.

Probably a bad idea.

2006-04-20T19:37:00.000-04:00

First, a quick note about me and books. I love 'em. Always have, hopefully always will. And, for a long time, my favorite books were mysteries. I loved Nancy Drew, dabbled with the Hardy Boys, held Encyclopedia Brown books up to mirrors to find out if I'd correctly solved the puzzles, and was thrilled when Ann M. Martin started writing a mystery series to accompany the Babysitter's Club books. I think everyone who reads a lot as a kid has books that stay with them and that pop into their heads at odd moments. The Westing Game, a quirky and dark mystery that I loved circa 5th grade, is one of those books for me. During high school and college, I managed to work my way through many mystery series. Even today, despite the fact that my reading tastes have become nothing short of eclectic, I still get excited about new books from my favorite mystery authors (Julia Spencer-Fleming, K.J. Erickson, Marcia Muller & Earlene Fowler) and find the time to reread the best of Dorothy Sayers every summer.

Now, keep that background in mind when I tell you that last night I foolishly popped the first disc from Season 1 of Veronica Mars into my DVD player. It was close to 3am and I had planned to watch the pilot episode as I fell asleep. Four episodes later, I turned off the tv and fell asleep as the sun rose over New York. I'm addicted.

Oh no.

2006-04-14T04:13:00.000-04:00

I've written before about my fear of big fish, specifically big catfish. Then today, while catching up on South Dakota Magazine's blog, I learned that my own Lake Kampeska (just a couple miles from my house) was once home to a lake monster. They think it was a lake sturgeon -- a species of fish that can grow to 1600 pounds. I grew up swimming in that lake! Ew. Never again.

No fun.

2006-04-10T13:05:00.000-04:00

My weekend: Sick, sick, sick. Study, study, study. I had some ice cream Friday night and I bought a new suit on Sunday. Those were the highlights of the weekend. Oh, and Grey's Anatomy was a rerun.

Just a few minutes from delirious.

2006-04-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

I stayed up late last night, partly because I was trying to finally finish a draft of my note and partly because I drank more Diet Dr. Pepper than anyone ever should in one sitting. Staying up late wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't volunteered to play in a softball tournament today. By 9am, I was headed to the first game.

The games were actually a lot of fun. I haven't played any softball in two years or so and since I'm generally pretty clumsy and un-athletic, it was nice to remember that there's at least one sport where I don't usually embarass myself. The games ended around 3:30 (we won!) and after a getting some food I headed back to my apartment. I then putzed and watched tv for at least four hours.

What all that means is that it's now almost 1am and I'm still working on this damn note. I've got a couple more pages to write before I can go to sleep and once again I'm running almost solely on Diet Dr. Pepper. The good news is that I can sleep in tomorrow morning. The bad news is that I'm not sure how reliable any legal analysis is that's written by someone who's awake only because of diet pop and iTunes (Bedouin Soundclash saw me through the last hour and I'm currently relying on Arcade Fire).

Grups.

2006-03-31T22:09:00.001-05:00

There's a great article in New York Magazine about not growing up. Well, it's more about growing up the cool way. Read it.

Bacon: Food of Joy

2006-03-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this right after Spring Break, but I kind of forgot about it. The Pancake House in Salem, OR has what might be the best bacon in the world. I'd been hearing about said bacon for at least a year before I got the chance to try it. I even came close to missing my flight back to New York for it. It was worth the wait. And the risk.

The Week in Review

2006-03-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

Trader Joe's, as just about everyone knows, opened in Union Square this week. I went on Monday and left beaming with happiness. Good food! Low Prices! The main difference between the NYC version and the rest of the country's is the checkout line. It wraps around the entire store and while it moves quickly, it's a reminder that New York, even when it tries to offer something that's fairly standard and predictable in other places, usually alters it at least a little.
Went to my first Knicks game on Friday. During Spring Break, I'd been a little sad that I wasn't in South Dakota for the state basketball tournaments (after 22 years there, I will always like watching high school baskeball). Anyway, on Friday the Knicks were playing the Grizzlies. Playing guard for the Grizzlies, was Mike Miller, a fellow South Dakotan and member of the high school class of 1998. I can remember watching Miller and the Mitchell Kernels play my own Watertown Arrows. So, even though I didn't get to watch any high school baskeball this month, I had the memory of it.
Lots of friends are in town this weekend, which is always good.
Lots of work to do. It's that point in the semester where I feel overwhelmed. It's been made worse by the fact that I got a spot on the editorial board of my journal and we're already transitioning into our new jobs. The good news is that I really like the rest of the board. However, the lazy part of me is kicking myself for taking on what looks like a lot of work.

My work here might be done.

2006-03-25T02:30:00.000-05:00

Someone found my blog by googling "dried apricots suck."

Mission: Complete.

Read this book.

2006-03-24T17:52:00.000-05:00

The Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers

It's easily the best novel I've read I've read in the past year (not to mention it's set in South Dakota).

I'm a fan of hyperbole.

2006-03-17T14:43:00.000-05:00

My new camera is the cutest thing, ever (yes, even cuter than, say, a puppy hugging a bunny).
The Congressional Research Service is the most helpful thing, ever. Not only have they produced timely reports on my note topic, but Betsy A. Cody and H. Steven Hughes from the Science and Industry Division have managed to condense the 100 years of water resouce management projects into about eight paragraphs of easily digestible narrative.

Jake's Famous Crawfish in Portland has the best crawfish etouffe I've had outside of New Orleans and and an absolutely delightful Key Lime Martini.

Grapefruit gelato is the best gelato flavor, ever.

Powell's is the best bookstore, ever. Seriously, you can wander for hours and when you take an armful of books to the checkout the price total's only like $25.

You'd think this had never happened before.

2006-03-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today, as I was driving my friend's car from Portland to Salem, I saw a car with license plates from my hometown. I then drove behind and beside this car for at least 35 and was completely captivated the entire time. Who was this guy? Why was he in Oregon? Does he live here? If so, why does he still have South Dakota plates? Was he on a trip? Why did he buy a car with windows so dark I couldn't get a good look at him? If I followed him until he stopped somewhere and asked him all these questions, would he think I was crazy?

Eventually, he pulled off I-5 and I decided not to follow. It was still kind of neat to see a fellow resident of Codington County. Keep in mind that Codington is home to, at most, 25,000 people. I don't know how many registered cars there are, but I'm willing to bet the number of them that leave the upper midwest is relatively low.

Anywho, that was the most noteworthy part of my day. I'm currently sitting in an unfamiliar law library working on a note that has become entirely too familiar. Apparently, most of my Spring Break is going to look a lot like the rest of the school year.

Word of the Day

2006-03-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

Bricoleur: A person (esp. an artist, writer, etc.) who constructs or creates something from a diverse range of materials or sources; the creator of a bricolage (OED).

On South Dakota

2006-03-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'll admit that I talk about South Dakota too much. I'll also admit that my attitude about the state can generally be called "flippant." I joke about our lesser known celebrities (Bob Barker, Cheryl Lladd, Mary Hart) and outside of a small group of friends, I rarely discuss my real concerns about the state (the death of small towns, the flight of educated young people, the crippling poverty on our reservations). What my jokey attitude belies is a fierce devotion to my home. On both sides of my family, I'm the fifth generation to call SoDak home and I now take my role as a de facto ambassador (see here) pretty seriously.

All of that is why I've been disappointed with the liberal/progressive response to South Dakota's new ban on abortion. I completely agree that the law is a horrible and short-sighted effort by the legislature to waste taxpayer money with what will ultimately be frivolous litigation. What disappoints me is not the liberal ire directed at South Dakota's legislature (I, in fact, made my first PAC contribution to a group aimed at changing the balance of that legislature last week) but at the sense of disregard shown for the hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans who agree that the law is a bad idea.

The sentiment that comes across most clearly in the commentary I've read is that any progressive person living in South Dakota should leave (whether it's to the nearby Twin Cities or the even more satisfyingly liberal East and West Coasts). What a great idea. Consolidating liberals in urban and coastal areas has been working so well for us.

I spent this past summer in Berkeley and met a great number of people who were downright shocked that active liberal like me grew up in such a red state. They treated me like I had overcome some great political adversity and had triumphed by making my way out of the state and landing at a liberal New York law school and an even more liberal summer job. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My politics are, more than anything, a result of growing up with family, friends, and neighbors who are guided by a serene combination of compassion and common sense. The vast majority of my most influential mentors still live in South Dakota and they are nothing short of inspirational. In sum, I'm a Democrat because of South Dakota.

Yes, the abortion ban is dumb. Yes, our legislature is crazily conservative. At the end of the day, though, I'm sticking with South Dakota and the people there who not only remember that we've given the world some fantastic progressives (George McGovern and Tom Daschle to highlight my favorites) but also that the state legislature was controlled by Democrats less than 15 years ago. I'm sticking with the people who are willing to stand up and point out the hypocrisy of a legislature that bans abortions but fails to adequately fund education and health programs. I'm sticking with the people who see this as a reason to fight rather than a reason to flee. There's more of them than you think and they shouldn't be disregarded.

In fact, I think East and West Coast liberals generally can take a lesson from prairie progressives. It seems to me that being a devoted member of a vocal minority takes a little more gumption and dedication that surrounding yourself with only those who are like-minded. But, all of this is more opinion that I usually share in a month, so I'm done. Just don't be too quick to give up on places like South Dakota; we've got endurance and one ill-advised statute is certainly not enough to admit defeat.

Hello from Worcester.

2006-03-04T11:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I get antsy.

And so, last night, when a friend who lives in Boston offered to pick me up at the New Haven train station, I said, "uh, okay." Unfortunately, taking a last minute trip to Massachusetts doesn't erase the work I need to finish this weekend. So, I'm sitting by a fireplace in a hotel lobby in Worcester, researching my Note, while my friend makes a cursory appearance at a conference. This is more comfortable than my apartment and there's some lovely muzak, so I've decided the trip was a good idea.

Oh and on a completely unrelated note, people who hang out in hotel lobbies are often asshats.

Not cool.

2006-03-01T01:22:00.000-05:00

Oh, Mark Dayton.

Even more shocking than my Broadway virginity.

2006-02-23T00:32:00.000-05:00

I did my taxes tonight and I qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you're unfamiliar with it, the IRS describes it as "a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families." Apparently, once you're 25 years old, the IRS doesn't care if you're a full-time student. So, despite the fact that Citibank gave me most of the money I lived on during 2005, the IRS only cares about the money I made at my summer job (which, while generous for a non-profit organization, was not all that lucrative).

There's something about this system that just seems wrong. Mainly, that I'm not poor. I whine about being broke, but let's face it, my budget provides sufficient plane tickets, jeans, and pad thai (the essentials of life). It doesn't appear there's a way for me to turn it down on my e-filing program (not that I necessarily would if there was a way), so I guess Spring Break will be extra fun.

On Broadway

2006-02-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

I know this is shocking, but until tonight, I'd never gone to a Broadway show. Luckily, the NYU box office recently offered discount tickets to Spamalot, a show I've been wanting to see for months. So, I ventured uptown this evening despite the theater's proximity to Times Square (hate) and had a great time.

During my extremely dorky high school days, I was a member of a debate team that had an unnatural attachment to Monty Python. Having the nights of the very, very round table on stge in front of me was pretty cool, not to mention the Knights Who Say "Ni" and the guy who's not quite dead. Anyway, the play's great. Go see it.

Tourists

2006-02-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that New York City has been windy and cold, I spent the weekend playing tourist with a couple of friends from college. We managed to tackle a couple of sightseeing goals that I hadn't gotten around to on my own. Here's a quick list of the ones you should check out for yourself:

Staten Island Ferry ride to see the Statute of Libery: I've actually done this before. The good news is that unlike the last time, the ferry didn't crash the next day.

Grimaldi's Pizza: Located beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and rumored to have the best pizza in New York. I'm not actually sure it was the best, but it was significantly better than most of the greasy options in the Village.

Brooklyn Bridge Footpath: Full of pizza and beer, we decided to walk back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge despite the frosty temps and frigid wind. The incredible views of Manhattan were worth it.

Top of the Rock: The observation deck on the 70th floor of Rockefeller Center reopened this past November and like just about everyone else who's been up there, I think the view is better than Empire State Building's. To the north, you can see all of Central Park and to the South a great view of Midtown, including the ESB.

We also fit in brunch in the East Village, a little bit of shopping, and Capote at the Angelicka. Good times all around.

Well, color me surprised.

2006-02-17T14:19:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've found myself reading ESPN.com on a fairly regular basis. It turns out Bill Simmons really is quite funny (which several people had told me, but I foolishly refused to believe). And, now that the Olympics haves started, ESPN is where I go for Torino-inspired snark. This article on ice skater Johnny Wier made my day.

I'm so tired I think I might go blind.

2006-02-13T17:57:00.000-05:00

I know that doesn't make any sense but I was seriously convinced all through class this afternoon that my vision was on the blink, so to speak. Of course, I've got a bunch of things to finish tonight so I won't be sleeping anytime soon.

My return trip was remarkably smooth. My flight left on time and the only glitch was the smelly man (cologne is meant to be splashed, not poured) sitting next to me who insisted on reading my con law book over my shoulder. When I got to Islip, the shuttle to the train was waiting and my train arrived just a couple of minutes after I hit the platform. I made it back to school in time for class and now I'm mainlining caffeine in the hope that it'll get me through tonight's class.

Anyway, despite the storm and delays and even the extra bus rides, it was great to get away for the weekend. It's good to be back, too.

Stranded.

2006-02-12T16:42:00.000-05:00

Since Friday night, I have paid no attention to the news. None, whatsoever. I checked my email once but didn't have time for my usual glance at the Times; and so, I was shocked this afternoon when I discovered that my flight back to New York had been cancelled. Blizzard, what blizzard?

Anywho, I'm hanging out in Chicago for another day. Luckily, I've got my computer and a couple of my books, so I can spend the afternoon with most of my homework. I also managed to acquire four new books this weekend, so I've got those to fall back on if con law doesn't hold my attention all evening.

All in all, the trip has been fun. Except for the fact that I have to miss a class tomorrow, I'm not even stressed about staying an extra day. Apparently, there's going to be an ice cream and Grey's Anatomy party this evening and that's gotta be a good time.

Help me out.

2006-02-10T21:46:00.000-05:00

Can someone please tell me why the Italians chose American disco music as the backdrop to the Olympic Parade of Nations?

Update: Bob Costas just commented that if he could "hear "Betty Davis Eyes" by the immortal Kim Carnes," it would make his night.

On the move.

2006-02-10T20:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, after my last class, I hopped on the subway (well, "hopped" isn't quite accurate considering the two bags I was lugging around) to Penn Station. Once there, I found a spot on a Long Island Rail Road train to Ronkonkoma. After about 90 minutes sitting between two large, sleeping men I got off the train and hailed a cab for the quick drive to the Islip airport. I hung out in the airport for an hour or so and then boarded a plance to Chicago. I'd intended to get some reading done on the plane, but I wound up just listening to my iPod. I landed at Midway and quickly found Kate, who had kindly bussed it out to the airport to meet me. We stood around for another 20 minutes or so waiting for a bus and then rode the bus for about 45 minutes to Hyde Park. All in all, it took me about 7 hours to get from NYU to the place I'm staying in Chicago. Not too bad for taking public transportation basically from door to door.

Today, we walked. There were some stops along the way and some good food, but for right now, all I can remember is the walking. That said, we'll be spending the evening indoors, watching the Olympics and maybe a movie. I'm excited.

The only bad part of my day was riding the bus. I hate busses. Busses manage to uniquely merge my hatred of stop-and-go traffic and crowded, enclosed spaces. Also, my old neighborhood bus in DC made me suspicious of even the most pristine-looking busses. I lived in nice neighborhood -- nice enough that very few of its residents ever required bus assistance. Even I, arguably one the poorest people on my block, had a car. So our bus was underused and subsequently, appeared to be in excellent condition. Then one day I met it's perma-rider. He was about 30 years old and probably developmentally disabled. He liked to talk loudly about birthday parties, which was fine. The only problem with this universally friendly rider was that he also tended to wet his pants. Call me picky, but I don't like sitting in urine and now, that's what I imagine on every bus. Other than that, Chicago's great and as long I didn't have to rely on its busses, I could definitely live here.

A certain kind of homesick.

2006-02-06T01:38:00.000-05:00

I saw a picture tonight that made me homesick. It was a picture of a small-town museum that had been taken just after dusk on what appeared to be a summer evening and for a second I could feel the breeze and smell the grass of a summer night in South Dakota. I think it was something about the light. Somehow, it was apparent in the picture that the light from the museum was the only light around. There's a kind of darkness that drops over small towns that you just can't experience in a place like New York.

I saw Brokeback Mountain last night and I think the lingering scenes of sky and space and quiet had an effect on me. I've only been back in New York for a month, but I'm ready for a break. Luckily, I'm headed to Chicago this weekend. Chicago's not at all a small town, but it's so much closer than I am right now. Plus, I'll be spending the weekend with old friends and there's not much that's homier than that.

I'm pretty sure

2006-02-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

all that is bad about America can be summed in this article.

Prepare yourself.

2006-02-01T19:47:00.000-05:00

I'm about to say the most toolish thing I've said on this blog: My spinning class tonight was awesome. I recently joined a real gym (as opposed to NYU's gym) because I've found that having people (class instructors) scream at me makes my workouts significantly more productive. Also, I won an iPod last week and sold it for an amount that just about covers the cost of the gym this semester. Anyway, the class was great. The last one I went to featured an instructor who falsely believed that loud music = good music. He was wrong. Tonight's instructor, however, played a great mix. And that, I promise, is the last time I'll boast about any gym class on this blog.

Oh, and speaking of toolish behavior, I went to the gym wearing both NYU sweatpants and an NYU public service auction t-shirt. I swear they were the only clean gym clothes I had left and they're the only NYU clothes I own. There was a time, in the late 90's, when I would sport clothes advertising my school at least three times a week. Those days are gone. I don't really know why, but I don't have any desire to advertise my status as a lawyer-in-training to the world. Also, NYU's colors are purple and white. Gah.

These United States

2006-01-24T16:54:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I bought the book, These United States. It's a compilation of essays, by a number of accomplished authors on their home states. Kathleen Norris, one of my favorite South Dakotans, wrote one of them, so I bought it.

I first read the essays on the states with which I was most familiar: South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia, Maryland and D.C. A few months later, I prepared for my cross country road trip by reading my way across America from West Virginia to Northern California (some of the states have more than one essay). I prepared for the move to Manhattan by reading about New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey. Lately, I've been satisfying a bit of my wanderlust by filling in some of the blanks: New Mexico, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio. I love this book.

While I was home for Christmas, I noticed in the cover that this book is a remake of a similar book of essays that had been compiled in the mid-1920's entitled These United States: Portraits of America from the 1920's. I ordered it online and it arrived today.

The 1920's version also boasts a number of impressive contributors. W.E.B. Du Bois writes about Georgia; Theodore Dreiser about Indiana, H. L. Mencken about Maryland; Sinclair Lewis about Minnesota; and Willa Cather about Nebraska.

So far, I've only read the South Dakota essay (by columnist Hayden Carruth) and already, I'm smitten. Carruth's essay is entitled, South Dakota: State without End, which I like. It reminds me of the ending of the Glory Be prayer ( . . . as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end . . .). As I've been selecting other essays to read, I've been struck by some of the titles the other writers chose.

A few of the best:

Iowa: A Mortgaged Eldorado

Maryland: Apex of Normalcy

Missouri: Doesn't Want to Be Shown

New Hampshire: Not Yet Abandoned (which implies abandonement is inevitable)

North Carolina: A Militant Mediocracy

Tennessee: Three-Quarters of Bewilderment

Texas: The Big Southwestern Specimen (ew.)

And, my favorite:

Ohio: I'll Say We've Done Well

Indeed.

Coasting.

2006-01-19T00:37:00.000-05:00

I just realized it's been a little while since I last posted. My five-day weekend turned into a one-day weekend. I worked on my paper Friday, Saturday, and pretty much every minute of Sunday. I then slept obscenely late on Monday and had a make-up class on Tuesday. I'd be disappointed except that this week and next are pretty lax. Between the two weeks, I have five cancelled classes, so I've been sleeping, reading, and watching tv more than usual. Next week I'll start looking for something productive to fill my free time, but for this week I'm enjoying cable.

I guess there are things that've happened in the last week or so that I could've posted about, but they were either too mundane or too personal. All in all, I think this blog has become too much of a diary -- "today I did this and tomorrow I'm doing that." I'm not sure what that means for its future other than I don't think I'll ever post as much as I did last year.

If this post has been less-than-entertaining, I recommend watching this clip of Will Arnett on Conan. The season finale of Arrested Development is scheduled for February 10. Oh, Gob.

I have a five-day weekend this week.

2006-01-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

I never have Friday classes, Monday is a holiday and my Tuesday class has been cancelled. Of course, when the Tuesday professor told us about the cancellation and his trip to Europe, he didn't say, "I have to go to Europe." Instead, he said "I have to be in Europe," with a tone that implied the people of Europe need or demand his presence. And actually, with this particular professor, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that's the case.

I kind of wish I'd known about this mini-vacation in advance. I'd have made travel plans or something. As it is, a fair part of the weekend will be dedicated to finally finishing the paper that's been hanging over my head for the last month. Hopefully that'll only take up a day or two. Then, I can spend the rest of the weekend doing what I do best: sleeping and watching tv. I think there's also a keg party in the works. Luckily, I do those pretty well, too.

The even better news of the week is that I have a grrrreat spring schedule. I'm excited about my classes and I'm excited about feeling that way. Motivation hasn't exactly been my strength lately. I'm a bit nervous about finals, though. I'm going to have three of them within 6 days. All will be heavy on the case-law (and case memorization). It's the exact opposite of my Fall finals which were take-home and statute heavy. Oh well, just don't talk to me after April 15.

Classes start tomorrow

2006-01-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

and while I'm genuinely happy with my classes for the semester, I'm really going to miss all the fiction-reading and tv-watching from break. I realized recently that I hadn't had a real break since last year at Christmas. During my week at home at the beginning of the summer, I was busy with the law review writing competition and packing for my move to Berkeley. At the end of the summer, my mom and I had a great road trip back to SoDak, but I was also working on job stuff. My parents took me to the airport Thursday evening and I volunteered to take this semester off to just chill on their couch (I even offered to do some cooking and run errands for them) but they didn't seem all that interested in my proposal. Oh well.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm headed back to NYC tomorrow and I'm kind of sad to go. My time at home has been consistently mellow and I'm going to miss it. Not much has happened since my last post. I've finished a bit more of my paper. I thought for a day that my computer had been stolen, but it hadn't. I finished watching the second season of Arrested Development (oh, Motherboy). I made some pad thai. I did some great bargain shopping at my hometown mall.

Oh, and of the books I've been reading, I've found two that I'm willing to recommend. The first one is The Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers. It was South Dakota's "One Book" last year and so far, it's great. The second is Slouching Toward Fargo by Neal Karlen. The author followed the St. Paul Saints baseball team around a few years ago and the book is surprisingly good. The Saints are co-owned by Bill Murray and the season that Neal writes about features Darryl Strawberry during his "blackballed" hiatus from the major leagues. The Saints play in the somewhat kooky Northern League, of which the Sioux Falls Canaries are a part. Anyway, it's a fun book.

And that's that. I've got about 27 hours until I head to the airport and I expect it will be filled with research and laundry. Cheers!

Hopluia!

2005-12-29T17:51:00.000-05:00

Still in SoDak and still moseying my way through a quiet break. I spent most of yesterday and today in Sioux Falls with college friends. Among other things, we sampled Hopluia, Nebraska's finest beer. Well, to be fair, I haven't actually tried any other Nebraska beers, but this one was pretty good. And, possibly more importantly, it's fun to say. Try it: Hop-loo-ya!

Anywho, I've still got a week to go before I fly back to NYC. Yay! I've also got a nice, long paper to finish, so I think I'll be settling down with that for a bit tomorrow and all next week. And, that's all I have to report. Seriously -- I'm considering going to see Cheaper By The Dozen 2 tonight, that's how quiet things are around here.

Oh yeah, I'm home.

2005-12-22T00:11:00.000-05:00

I ended up not sleeping before my 4:30am ride to the airport picked me up on Monday and subsequently spent the rest of the day in a delirious, sleep-deprived stupor. All in all, the trip home was fine -- the iPod is invaluable in airports. When we arrived in Minneapolis the pilot announced the temperature was 2 degrees below zero, so I was pleasantly surprised when South Dakota was a balmy 18 above.

I've spent most of the past two days working on my last final, which I finished up tonight. Woo! Tomorrow, I'm headed north to see my grandma. Friday night I'll be back home and I'm planning to go out with high school friends. My brother will be home on Saturday and I assume my family's Christmas rituals will start soon after. Other than spending time with family and friends, I'm planning to spend most of my time reading. So, if you've read a good book recently, email me.

Let's see, the big news so far is that my hometown now has both an Office Max and an Applebees (ew). It seems that Super WalMart is bringing all sorts of chain stores with it. That's all there is to report so far. South Dakota is delightfully dull.

I'm not ashamed to admit

2005-12-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

that I occasionally watch a little E! True Hollywood Story. In fact I caught a few minutes of the American Idol epsiode this afternoon and learned that Carrie Underwood used to work at Sam and Ella's Chicken Palace. Sam and Ella's Chicken Palace. Say it out loud. Would you eat there? Ew.

Well now.

2005-12-17T22:38:00.001-05:00

My parents met Captain 11 today. How cool is that?

Two down.

2005-12-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I turned in two take-exams today. Woooooo! That means I've just got one left. I'm hoping I'll have a respectable draft of it finished by the time I leave for the airport roughly 48 hours from now. That would mean I could spend a good part of next week lounging on my parents' couch and putzing around my hometown (and by "putzing," I mean going to cheap movies and drinking too much cheap beer).

I know I've already said this, but I can't wait to go home. There are a lot of reasons why I'm ready for a break from law school and NYC, but the main one is that this semester has been exhausting. The prospect of taking a couple weeks off from the work and the decision-making to spend time with my family and old friends is positively enchanting. Just 48 hours to go . . . I think I can, I think I can.

Today was good.

2005-12-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

Despite still being in the thick of finals, my life actually resembled a life today. I slept late. I ate two real meals. I fixed some problems I'd been having with my credit card company. I got a basket of Christmasy foods from one of my law firms and a present from a friend! I went to the gym. I even wrote what I think is a not awful draft of my take home portion of my corporations exam. All in all, not a bad day. I can keep this up for another week.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

2005-12-12T19:19:00.000-05:00

I had my first final this afternoon, sort of. I actually had the first part of my first final. The total test includes both the 1-hour in-class part that happened earlier today and a take-home essayish thing that I'm working on right now. Last year, when I finished my finals, I felt such a rush of achievement. Conveying a semester's worth of knowledge in three or four hours is no easy task and there was that understanding that I never had to look at the books and outlines for that class again. None of those feelings were present today. The hour flew by and test was difficult but it was only six short-answer questions. There wasn't enough room or time to really show off the work I've done for this class. So, at the end of the hour, instead of looking around with an "Alright, that's done!" look, my classmates and I just gave each other sheepish "um, okay, what's next?" looks.

Anywho, the rest of my finals are self-scheduled so my life isn't as hectic now, just more . . . guilt-filled. It's not going to be very exciting, but I'll keep you posted.

My room is a caffeine graveyard.

2005-12-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

As I was eating dinner tonight, I started to count the empty Diet Coke cans, Diet Dr. Pepper bottles and Starbucks cups and I was grossed out. I'm living on caffeine. Hopefully, I'll be able to break my addiction after finals, but for now I'm a slave awful headaches that pop up everytime I go more than a couple hours without coffee or pop. The good news is that I've joined the cult of the Gingerbread Latte. Love it. Oddly enough, I don't like gingerbread at all.

I'm kind of hating my life right now, but that's to be expected. The rest of New York is holiday shopping while I'm stuck in a study room reviewing proxy rules. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I chose this. That doesn't mean it doesn't suck. Thursday was a good day. In the last five minutes of my last class of the semester, I learned that I have about an extra month to finish a twenty-five page paper that I thought was due next Thursday. Yay! Among other things, this means that when I arrive home next Monday, I won't be completely crazy.

Aside from the permission to procrastinate, the best thing about finals is the promise of going home in a week. South Dakota's going to be really, really cold and possibly a little boring, but I can't wait.

Another picture from home.

2005-12-03T20:49:00.000-05:00

South Dakota was attacked by a blizzard this week and in true "golly, there's a lot of snow" fashion, my mom felt compelled to share it with me. South Dakotans, as I've mentioned before, are pretty nonchalant about blizzards, but this most recent was a little worse than usual. If I'm not mistaken, some people are still without power and shelters have popped up around the state. My dad also reports that they've been getting a couple extra inches of snow every couple days since the blizzard. Fun.

Anywho, here's our backyard:

If my mom was writing this post, she'd be quick to point out that the tree in the corner of our yard was only a two or three feet tall when she and my dad moved into the house about 27 years ago. I think, however, what's most amazing about that is that my parents have lived in the same house for longer than I've been alive. I've moved ten times since college and pictures like this remind me that I can't let my parents ever move.

My parents live in a cozy little house

2005-12-03T02:10:00.000-05:00

with a cozy little living room and a big cozy couch. Years ago, my mom searched and searched for an artificial Christmas tree that would fit that room. This is what she found:

Yes, our Christmas tree could use a sandwich. That said, I miss it. You can see the corner of one of my brother's Christmas stocking on the wall. We used to check our stockings every morning before school because Santa inexplicably felt it was okay to make several trips to our house. Christmas at my house is comprised of traditions. One of them is my mom's decorations. She always puts them up the weekend after Thanksgiving and she always goes all out. Here's her Christmas village and part of the angel collection (please note that I made at least one of them):

Anyway, I miss it and I'd much rather be there than here. Although, I'm feeling a little bit better since I noticed that Folgers is still airing that commercial where the big brother comes home early in the morning at Christmas and only his little sister is awake. They make a pot of coffee. The mom is awoken by smell, comes downstairs, sees her son, and says, "Peter!" They embrace.

Love it. Now all I need is that awful (but awesome) "Feliz Navidad" commercial from Taco John's and the season will be complete.

I feel like Corporations has betrayed me.

2005-12-02T19:14:00.000-05:00

All semester long, I've been pleasantly surprised by Corporations. It's so much more interesting than I had suspected -- it actually reminds me quite a bit of college government classes. Yet now, with a mere nine days until the final, I've realized the truth: I cannot memorize all of this.

In other news . . . well, there is no other news. My life these days can be summarized in a few short words: corporations, natural resources, international trade, and, of course, "B paper." Although, I really shouldn't be complaining, things could definitely be worse. I could, in short, be a 1L. Oh, all those feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. Hmm . . . goodtimes.

Actually, my stress level right now is a mere fraction of what it was last year. So, I'm going to stop the complaining and continue reviewing proxy rules. Did you know that the SEC will edit passive voice out of your proxy statements? Kinda cool, right?

Blizzard!

2005-11-28T17:48:00.000-05:00

It's been snowing in South Dakota. My mom didn't have school today and South Dakota Magazine reports that cancelations were happening all over the state. Lately, I've found myself answering a lot of question about the severity of South Dakota's winters. It's pretty bad, but it's not unbearable, and I like to think living through 22 of them made me a little tougher than average. So, I'd be lying if said I wasn't looking forward to New York's first snow.*

Now that I've accepted a summer job offer in Southern California, I've started to question whether I could really give up seasons. Autumn's my favorite and from what I can tell, LA never gets sufficiently chilly or leafy. Also, call me crazy, but I think you need to experience some cold weather before you can truly appreciate a sunny summer day. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's questioned whether California lives up to its hype. South Dakota Magazine also reports that more and more Californians are looking to move away from the Golden State. If California does manage to suck me in this summer, it'll be interesting to see how long I last there. I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance I'll eventually find my way back to the upper midwest.

* Although, I'm completely okay with NY skipping the blizzard thing for a while. My hometown was hit with freezing rain, snow, icy roads, and heavy winds today. For a visual, check out The Public Opinion and The Argus Leader.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'll be having a quiet holiday here in New York, which is fine. School's been hectic and it will be that way for the next month, so it'll be nice to have a quiet day featuring a good meal. I'm already looking forward to going home for Christmas and like every year, I'm excited simply because I like "the holidays." That's actually one of the things I'm most thankful for this year. A lot of people don't love the holidays and often for good reasons. This season, unfortunately, reminds too many people of loved ones they lost and troubled times. It also has a knack for illuminating the flaws in relationships, especially familial ones. I'm lucky that I still feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I'm lucky that despite having lost people that I love, Christmas reminds me more of how much I appreciate my family. And, I'm lucky that no life-altering trauma has ruined this time of year.

All that's what I'm thankful for right now, but I'm also really quite shallow, so I'm thankful for a number of things, too. Here's a few of them:

Grey's Anatomy
cupcakes
my new pajama pants
my iPod
Fresh Direct
pad thai
hooded sweatshirts
good beer

Hurray!

2005-11-17T14:54:00.001-05:00

I've finally figured out my summer job plans. Last night I accepted an offer to spend eight weeks of my summer in LA and this morning I accepted an offer to spend the rest of the summer in DC. Yay! There are some important differences between the firms, so I'm hoping the comparison will help me clarify my future plans rather than confuse me more.

I'm so glad this is done. It's going to be a crazy summer, but it should be pretty fun.

Take a tiny break

2005-11-15T00:16:00.000-05:00

and watch this commerical. It's awesome and it was done without computer graphics.

Another reason to love the iPod.

2005-11-14T23:16:00.000-05:00

Ahh, the magic of shuffle play. I have a feeling this won't be the first time a forgotten song jogs a memory.

The song: Beer for My Horses -- Willie Nelson and Toby Keith (yeah, I know, it's an eclectic collection).

The memory: July 2003. I was working absolutely crazy hours at work and I'd just finished moving to a new apartment. Despite the hellish work hours, I decided it would be a good idea to row crew at 5:25 am 3-5 times a week. E and I had to leave the apartment by 5 to get there on time. She had this nas-asty vanilla flavored coffee that she'd bring in the car every morning and the smell of it made me sick. For some reason, this song was on the radio almost every morning. Despite the craziness and the sleep deprivation, that was one of the rare times when I felt like I was in control of my life. I'd just started to figure out my job, I knew my way around DC, I had friends, and it was too early for me to be worried about law school applications. Life wasn't perfect, but it was better than anything I'd expected.

The soundtrack of my life.

2005-11-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally joined the rest of the world and purchased an iPod. I love it. I've always thought my life was exciting enough to merit it's own soundtrack, and now I've got one.

Actually, I'm a little worried about taking the soundtrack thing a bit too far. Nearly every big event of my life has a song. My eighth grade class trip to DC? Ace of Base's "I Saw the Sign." The national high school debate tournament? Semisonic's "Closing Time." My first roadtrip involving the Jersey Pike? Springsteen's "Born to Run." What's more, once a song is connected to a moment, I can't hear it without the memory ever again.

My worry with the iPod is that I'll start allocating song memories haphazardly. Suddenly, I'll have "got offered drugs in Washington Square Park" and "got stuck behind a group of slow walkers on the sidewalk" songs. I've got to be careful. This thing should come with a warning.

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary!

2005-11-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

Well look at that, it's been exactly one year since I started this blog. I don't think I expected to last this long when I started and even though my overall interest in this blog has dwindled a bit, I think I'll keep posting for a while. It's great to have a record and I get the impression that a few people out there enjoy the updates.

Cheers!

It's that time of the semester.

2005-11-08T13:59:00.000-05:00

I have a daily news regimen that involves starting with my hometown newspaper (The Public Opinion), followed by the biggest newspaper in SoDak, the Washington Post, the NY Times, and the finally, BBC News. To be honest, I usually breeze through The P.O. website. They really don't post much and it's an excuse to see pictures from home. Anyway, today's featured photo is was taken on I-29, north of town and when I saw, I felt a sharp stab of homesickness.

In college, my drive home was a straight shot on I-29. Nowadays, it's often still the last leg of my treks back to Watertown since I frequently fly to Sioux Falls. On all of my long road trips, the last stretch has been the 90 miles of I-29 north of I-90. I know this road. I know the exits and towns. I know the rest stops and gas stations. I can tell you how far it is from Brookings to the next exit in case you ever foolishly pass up stopping for gas there when you're running low. I can also show you where the scariest moment of my life occurred (blizzard, icy roads, my car spinning into the median).

Anyway, it's definitely that time of the semester where home seems like the greatest place in the world. Thanksgiving is approaching and no matter how many times I spend it away from home, not being there always feels a little wrong. I miss my family. And, probably more than either of those things, I have a truckload of work here that needs to be done before I can go anywhere. I have just under six weeks to go and even though they're going to be tough, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

The Badlands really are amazing.

2005-11-04T13:01:00.000-05:00

I probably have some opinions about Samuel Alito, but I'm not going to bore you with them. Instead, I'll just say that I'm glad the Washington Post has dug into his feelings about South Dakota. Also, the same article provides a particularly apt description of DC people:

Washington is a town of geeks and misfits who, for the most part, suppress their inner dorks much of the time.

The grindstone.

2005-11-03T01:12:00.000-05:00

Since I returned from New Hampshire on Monday, I've been pretty immersed in the note I'm writing for my journal. It's been frustrating, but oddly fun. I like research generally and I love it when I care about the topic. So, writing the first draft of my note has been exhausting, but fine.

Monday night, I caught a little bit of the Halloween parade here in the Village this year. I'm glad I went, if only because it means I don't ever have to go again. The big skeletons and spiders and whatnot are amusing and creative but, the paradegoers, I could do without. The man standing on my left was sweating through his cow costume and face paint. The woman beside me was drunk and felt compelled to scream all the time. The man behind me was dressed in jeans and, um, his body hair. All in all, it was a group I was happy to leave. Oh, and I may not have mentioned it before, but I hate face paint. Loathe it. My dad used to become ill everytime he saw wallpaper paste. I never really understood his reaction until I discovered my aversion to face paint. Even the thought of it now, days later, makes me want to vomit.

Otherwise, things are good here in law school land. I'm very close to making my law firm choice official. I'm just waiting to get a few final questions answered, but I'm pretty sure I already know the answers. So, barring any surprises, I think I'm nearly done with the firm craziness for a while.

In a broader sense, however, I've been giving a lot of thought to my career generally. There are some political jobs that I thought I didn't want anymore, but now I'm just not sure. That's okay, though. I think it's good to have a small amount of angst in my life. Otherwise, things get to comfortable.

I haven't really had an urge to post on this blog for a while, so my posts keep getting more and more sporadic. I'll keep posting only because I like to have record of what's happening. I reread some of my posts from this summer and was relieved that I'd recorded what I did -- it's amazing how much I'm capable of forgetting.

Anyway, this post is rambly, I'm tired, and I've got a nice bit of reading to get through before I can sleep.

Law prom: UPDATE

2005-10-28T13:59:00.000-04:00

So I went. I attended the pre-party, the full dance, and even got in a bit of post-party pizza. I'm glad I did. Unlike last year, I avoided the wine table and stuck to sipping beer, which rarely gets me drunk. Drunk law students are hi-larious, especially when you're sober. So, it was a long night but I'm currently hangover-free and ready for a break from the city.

Anyway, law prom, if nothing else, is a reminder of why I like my classmates. Who else would think of mixing a handle of gin with fresca and serving shots of it out of turkey basters?

Law prom

2005-10-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

Tonight, the law school is hosting one of it's semi-annual parties, or what I like to affectionately think of as Fall Ball. I attended last year and all I really remember is a completely awful hangover the next morning followed by the most uncomforatable (due, of course, to the hangover) flight I've ever been on (to Ft. Myers, FL).

This year, I am once again headed out of town following the FB (same friend, different state, different campaign). And, since I'm more than a little behind schedule on my note, I think I'll be limiting myself to a FB pre-party and possibly, a post-party. I know this plan may hurt my fun quotient, but sometimes scholars, like myself, have to make sacrfices for our scholarship. Either that, or I'm totally lazy and I need these extra four hours as a last-ditch attempt at making my deadline. Um, yeah, that one sounds right.

I did, however, take a trip to Neighborhoodies yesterday to make a t-shirt that could be part of a costume. I've been wanting a Neighborhoodies shirt for a while and making it was soooo much fun. Check out the website and plan your own way to represent.

I spent most of my night

2005-10-25T02:06:00.000-04:00

completely engrossed by the conference report for the 2002 Farm Bill. It's nights like tonight, when it's rainy and cold and I'm happily ensconced in the law library piecing together legislative history, that I remember just how much of a dork I am. Also, I've been pretty nonchalant about school so far this semester and it's good to be excited about something again. It is, in fact, a relief to find that I'm still academically curious at heart.

I spent a lot fo my time this evening trying to sort out some complicated Congression funding mechanisms for a USDA conservation program. If there's one thing I learned from my time on the Hill, it's that it's always easier to ask someone those kinds of questions than it is to sort it out by myself. So, I emailed one of my old bosses. She's still employed on the Hill and was working late. Almost immediately, she shot back a thoughtful email complete with a helpful CRS report and an offer to take a lot at the authorizing language herself. She's great and what's most amazing is that most of the people I used to work with were great in the same ways. They were smart, dedicated, and generous. I miss them.

For a while now, I've been pushing on others that "networking" (I hate that word) should be focused on quality, not quantity. Tonight was just one of many examples of why I think I'm right on this one. I could have a million Congressional business cards, but none of them would garner me the kind of personal attention I get from and am willing to return to people like my former co-workers. I guess all of this is just my roundabout way of saying that I'd rather spend the bulk of my "networking" time cultivating the relationships I already have rather than indiscriminately making new, fleeting contacts. Besides, real networks are born from shared experiences, teamwork, and trust; all things that are rarely present at events that boast "networking" opportunities.

Well, this post has landed pretty far afield from where it started. That's okay. I'm not posting as often as I used to, so it's probably good that I cover more ground when I do.

I'm not a good singer.

2005-10-23T02:53:00.000-04:00

My acceptance of that sad fact means that I very rarely sing near, let alone in front of, other people. Unfortnately, I love singing along with my favorite songs. In fact, one of the things I miss most about my car is its provision of a safe space for my obnoxious vocals.

This weekend, however, my roommate is out of town which means my apartment has been transformed into just such a safe space. On top of that, I'm forcing myself to stay up until I have a significant chunck of the first draft of my note written. Oh, and I've been drinking Diet Dr. Pepper straight from the 1.5 liter bottle, so I'm more than a little caffeinated. Needless to say, the vocal stylings at my place tonight are nothing short of spectacular (me + Lucinda Williams = dynamic duo).

In related news, my new favorite first line of a song is this:

I’m going down the highway
with a suitcase full of all my bad ideas,
going to check them out, see what
I have been missing all these years*

Doesn't it just make you want to hit the road?

* From "Bad Ideas" by the bluegrass band, Nathan.

I was supposed to do homework last night.

2005-10-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

My favorite people from home (and possibly my favorite people full stop) are the ones who's affection for South Dakota is matched only by their fascination with the rest of the world. I've been lucky; not only do virtually all of my college friends fit into this category, I've also been able to find quite a few mildly homesick but adventurous South Dakotans out in the "world."

Last night, I went out for sushi with just such a group. As with any gathering of SD ex-patriots, there were several layers of connections between us. One of the women I'd met in high school, become friends with in college, and often run into at political and legal gatherings. One of her high school friends, who was a college classmate of mine, is in New York for the semester as part of her graduate program. The last dinner companion also went to high school with them and while I'd never met her before, she worked in my old office shortly before I did.

The meal was fun and we laughed uproariously when the table of undergrads behind us started discussing all the states they'd never been into. SD was high on each of their lists (natch) and they exclaimed things like, "South Dakota! Is there even anything there?"

Anyway, it was a good night all around. And, as I'm trying to make my final law firm decision (a decision that will, at this point, inevitably take me even farther from SD) it was a nice reminder that you while can take the girls out of SD, but you really, really, really can't take the SD out of the girls.

It's official, I'm insane.

2005-10-18T00:14:00.000-04:00

I think I must have been flying high from this weekend's beautiful, crisp, fall weather; I agreed to run approximately 18 miles of a 200 mile relay next summer. It's not really the 18 miles that scares me, it's the fact that the other runners are far more . . . runnerly than me. Hans Brix, who convinced me to join her team has been very encouraging (imagine her saying "You'll be fine." over and over again).

The good news is that the race should be fun. We'll be journeying from the top of Mount Hood to the Oregon Coast (hence the race's name, Hood to the Coast). Also, I've been needed some extra motivation to get to the gym more frequently and this should do the trick. Nothing motivates me better than my fear of humiliation. Those of you who talk to me frequently should prepare yourselves for some hearty whining while I try to get back into running more than three miles at a time.

Anyway, like I said, this past weekend was gorgeous. Autumn's always been my favorite season and days like yesterday make me want to rake something. I'm hopeful that the weather will stay like this for a good long while -- the leaves have just started to change here in NYC, so that's a good sign.

Awesome.

2005-10-12T23:11:00.000-04:00

Hans Brix just directed me toward this awesome site, Kitten War. I didn't just laugh out loud, I snorted. Check out the "Losingest Kittens." The one named "Chicken" will be haunting my dreams.

That's enough rain.

2005-10-12T12:32:00.000-04:00

I awoke early this morning to the sound of fat raindrops hitting my windows. I went back to sleep hopeful that the rain would subside by the time I need to leave for class. Alas, by the time I stepped outside, the rain had turned into a downpour and the wind had picked up. My jacket and umbrella protected the upper half of my body, but I arrived at class with soaked jeans and shoes that made that icky squelchy noise every time I took a step.

That, however, was the least of my problems. I took out my laptop and discovered that my beloved North Face bookbag is not waterproof. My laptop wouldn't turn on. I stayed in class for an hour, feebly inspecting my computer as if I would suddenly discover a magic button that would allow me to access my corporations notes. After class, I headed to the computer store where they told me to let the computer dry for a few more hours before bringing it in for repairs. They also warned me that if I did bring it in, they wouldn't be able to look at it for two weeks. Thanks customer service!

Thankfully, my computer is now dry and running. In retrospect, I think it might be a bad sign that I was more worried about the possibility of losing my itunes collection than I was about losing class notes.

West Village discoveries

2005-10-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

I love, love, love the West Village. I live about five blocks east of where I lived last year which has made my West Village trips less frequent (yup, I'm that lazy). Today, I sadly discovered that one of my favorite bakeries has closed. Luckily, I also found a great coffeeshop, Jack's. It's almost, if not as good as last year's best coffee discovery, Joe.

Rainy Saturday

2005-10-08T18:24:00.000-04:00

It's been rainy and grey, so I've spent most of the day in my room, reading and lounging. I'm writing a note for my journal this semester and I managed to get through a pile of rules from the Code of Federal Regulation without clawing my eyes out, so I'm calling the afternoon a success.

Now, I'm reading through the handful of law review articles and notes that have been published on my chosen topic. I just discovered that one of the more helpful looking notes was written by a woman who was in my class at college. In fact, we took the same LSAT prep course. I guess she went straight into law school. Anyway, I'm a little bit sad because her writing is awful. I can't believe anyone let her publish the note in this form. It's messy and awkward and less than gramatically correct. I'm disappointed because I know that our college taught us to write better than what she has produced. I'm also frustrated because a lot of the research I've found on my topic is from the journal that published her note and I think I'm going to have a tough time trusting them. Oh well, maybe I'm just snotty.

In other news, I got another callback offer yesterday. Yup, they waited more than six weeks to call me. The message the recruiter left said something like, "hey, sorry we didn't call sooner, but we'd really like to bring you in for more interviews." Bullshit. I'm pretty sure that message means, "hey, we liked you six weeks ago, but we didn't love you, so we've interviewed a bunch of other people and they're not taking our offers so hopefully you're desperate and will come in for more interviews." Hmm, tempting, but no thank you. Again, maybe I'm just snotty.

Word of the Day

2005-10-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

riparian: relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater

I like this.

2005-10-04T20:28:00.001-04:00

I was reminded of this passage from Me Talk Pretty One Day a few weeks ago. I was enjoying the view while taking a cab into the city from LaGuardia and thought to myself that David Sedaris's description of the Manhattan skyline was spot on. Anyway, the new banner over at Neo Tokyo Times reminded me of it again today. Here it is:

". . . and then eventually, the New York skyline would appear on the horizon and we'd all stop talking. If you happen to live there, it's always refreshing to view Manhattan from afar. Up close the city constitutes an oppressive series of staircases, but from a distance it inspires fantasies of wealth and power so profound that even our communists are temporarily rendered speechless."

In a rut.

2005-10-04T01:49:00.000-04:00

I've been listening to the same small handful of songs over and over for the past few weeks. I downloaded a bunch of new stuff this weekend, but nothing's taken hold yet. So, I'm going back to my regulars (Top 3: Long Ride Home by Patty Griffin, With Arms Outstretched by Rilo Kiley, and Doubting Thomas by Nickel Creek).

The only books in my room are ones I've already read (and law books, natch). Re-reading them is always nice, but I think some new ideas might be healthy.

I haven't rented or gone to a movie in weeks. I'm excited for Elizabethtown (Cameron Crowe! Roadtrips!), but not much else.

So, please email or post some recommendations. I trust you.

Growing up is hard to do.

2005-10-02T23:43:00.000-04:00

Two of my friends from college were in town this weekend. They're both a year younger than me and I hadn't see either of them since their college graduation a couple of years ago. It was fun to see them and to hear about their lives and plans. I got to know both women when I was in charge of my college's student activities board and seeing them brought back a lot of memories.

Mostly though, seeing them made me think about how little I now resemble the college senior version of myself. Little things, like my appearance and musical tastes, have changed, but I'm really alarmed by the big things that have changed. My career ambitions, personal goals, and religious convictions have evolved and morphed in ways I wouldn't have expected at the age of 22. It's only been three years, but the changes have been significant. The scariest part is that I'm making decisions that will probably affect the shape of my life for the next five to ten years. I hope the 28-year-old version of me has more confidence in me than I currently have in my 22-year-old self.

Okay, that was a silly sentence. What I'm trying to say is that, in a lot of ways, I was clueless in college and I'm not particularly pleased about the prospect about looking back on law school with the same feeling.

Hallelujah

2005-10-01T13:19:00.000-04:00

The callbacks are done! Woo! I finished my last one Thursday evening with a great dinner at Zola in DC. Since then, I've been enjoying the luxury of unstructured time. Thursday night, I went out to dinner with a former co-worker and then out for drinks with some friends. Yesterday, I actually did some research for the note I'm writing, I washed almost all of my laundry and I spent the night in Jersey City at a friend's house. Today, I'm meeting up with some friends I haven't seen since college to show them around SoHo and the West Village and tonight, I may take an impromptu trip to Boston.

Golly, it's good to have a life again.

One more time.

2005-09-28T08:14:00.000-04:00

I've got my last callback today. It's in DC and I'm taking the Amtrak Acela down. I love the Acela. It's so quiet and instead the hassle of flying, you just sit in one comfy seat for three hours. In Business Class, they even have tables and outlets to facilitate laptop work.The last time I took the Acela, I got so much more homework done than I would've if I'd been in New York. So actually, it's a good thing that I'm missing class again.

Aww, San Diego

2005-09-25T23:43:00.000-04:00

I really like San Diego. I really liked this summer when I first visited and I like it even more now. I lucked out this weekend; when I called my great-aunt to tell her I'd be in town, she informed me that one of my countless second-cousins would be getting married at her San Diego home on Saturday. Accordingly, several of my midwestern relatives were hanging out in the other SD for the weekend.

After a pretty great callback interview on Friday, I headed north a few miles to meet up with the family. Most of the relatives in town were my grandfather's siblings. Some of them, I hadn't seen since my high school graduation. Now, I love all my family members, but I don't exactly love spending time with all of them. This part of my family, however, I'm always glad to see. They're quirky and funny and irrepressibly kind. I've been feeling somewhat anchorless for the last month, so it was great to spend time with people who embody all the things I love and miss about home.

Oh, and the wedding was beautiful. It was a smallish, backyard ceremony and was followed by a lovely candle-lit dinner at dusk. And for those of you who care about such things, the bride and groom chose "Better Together" by Jack Johnson for their first dance.