Charles is my middle name.

Dear faithful readers...

2008-08-17T18:36:00.003-05:00

I can't believe how much my life has changed in 2008! I'm now in New York City, about to start a new job, plant new roots. For those who are interested, I do have a new address and a new phone number.

With all the changes going on, I believe it is time to retire this blog. I will probably print out a record of it, just so it's not lost forever, but very soon afterward I plan to delete the contents.

What next? I may start a new blog, I may change the format, I may do nothing... dunno. Meanwhile, I just wanted to say thanks for reading. Please keep in touch.

Dave

Gas prices

2008-05-27T13:43:00.005-05:00

No doubt we've all seen lots of jokes about the skyrocketing price of fuel. These are a few of my favorites:

I'm a juris doctor.

2008-05-23T12:25:00.002-05:00

I did it! I graduated! They handed me the diploma, and I put it in the frame, and it's on its way to a storage locker in Connecticut for the summer along with all my other belongings.

Having my parents and sister in town was really fun. Saying goodbye to friends was hard, but I'm sure I'll see most of them again - we'll run into each other in Utah, or they'll call when they're visiting New York. My sister helped me sort through all my stuff and clean out my apartment. I was shocked how many emotions came to the surface as I went through all my belongings, photos, ticket stubs, files, just everything. I said goodbye to my apartment, the law school, and Virginia.

Now I'm spending the week in Cincinnati. My best friends from college are driving in to spend the weekend with me here, then I'll hang with my sister's family for a week, then I'm off to Salt Lake to study for the NY bar during June and July.

I'll post photos of graduation and my family's visit muy soon.

Prepping for Graduation

2008-05-15T00:53:00.001-05:00

Our family and friends are on their way. The law school is waiting...

Reformat

2008-05-14T15:13:00.009-05:00

I'm sitting in the law school library computer lab while my computer is being fixed by our fabulous ITC staff. PS why are there so many people in the library right now? Looks like mostly law review cite checks and papers. Ouch.

Anyway, my laptop's ethernet port stopped working about a year ago. Then in the fall the sound stopped working. The law school ITC people performed a battery of tests, and then sent me to Cavalier Computers. CC performed a series of tests and sent me back to the law school people. I think we've finally arrived at a solution: it's a software problem. Time to REFORMAT the hard drive!

Why is that such a scary concept to me? Something about deleting everything on your entire hard drive is just freaky. Am I sure I saved all my photos? Do I have all my mp3s backed up? Where did I put all my disks? What if I lose my address book?

There's just something frightening about starting over. Which of course got me to thinking about graduation, moving, and moving on. So much of my identity is tied up in certain people; okay, let's be honest, a certain person. And certain friends. And so much of my identity is tied up in this place, here in Charlottesville. What happens when I move on? Will I lose some of my identity? What will I be without these things?

I recently joined Facebook. I was startled to see what has become of some of my childhood and high school friends. It's fascinating to see where people live, what they do for a living, how they look, and what their passions are. This has obviously made me even more reflective about my life and how I have changed over the past couple of decades. I guess I've changed a lot, but since the changes happen so slow, I didn't even notice them.

For example, I'm graduating from law school. People are constantly congratulating me on my "big accomplishment." I know in my head it's a big accomplishment, but it doesn't feel like it. I've just taken one class at a time, one assignment at a time. All of a sudden I'm done!

As another example, I'm moving to New York in the fall. This has been a long, drawn-out decision for me, carefully considered and made. But to others who have spent their whole lives in the east Bay Area, and who haven't seen me or heard from me in years, this seems like a huge step.

I mean, since most of those friends saw me, I became fluent in Spanish, I got married, I made some lifelong friends, I learned to like green beans, I lived in a foreign country for two years, I wrote a senior Linguistics thesis on "pop versus soda," I gained a sense of fashion, I became president of a non-profit music organization, I produced a highly acclaimed album, I got a young man acquitted on DUI charges, and I tried sushi. Graduating from law school is just one thing among many!

So as I sit here reformatting my computer, I'm realizing that we all sometimes have to re-format ourselves. At certain times in our lives, we delete some things about our lives in order to restore ourselves to a better state.

But that doesn't mean we have to forget. Or even that we have regrets. Sometimes it's just time to move on. I'll still keep my photos, my address book, and my memories. I'll carry lessons learned and friendships earned.

But it's about time for my laptop and me to get a fresh start.

I'm in the clear

2008-05-08T17:21:00.003-05:00

I'm not really sure what I wrote on that corporations exam - it's kind of a blur. But I answered all the questions, and I wrote legalish stuff, so I'm hopeful that I did well enough to pass. That's really all I care about at this point!

What now? All that stuff I've been putting off until after finals. Piles to go through, house to clean, stuff to pack,... everything on that May list from a couple posts ago. But for tonight, I'm mostly just going to relish in the moment.

I finished law school.

My head's in the guillotine

2008-05-08T12:21:00.005-05:00

I'm about to take my corporations exam. I've got my computer all set up, my exam document open and ready to type, my casebook, my supplement readings, my backup flash drive, my in-case-it's-freezing fleece, my Fiji water, my cashews, and best of all... my gummi bears. Sounds good, huh? If it weren't for the fact that I'm about to submit myself to three hours of torture, it would be a party in here.

I've chosen to take my exam in a classroom in our law school's Slaughter Hall, in honor of how I feel about this experience. As scary as that sounds, consider that my alternative was Brown/Withers!

For anyone who reads this between 2 and 5pm eastern time, please send corporate thoughts my way.

Yay for May

2008-05-07T13:48:00.002-05:00

This is my final finals season. I take my final final exam tomorrow. Finally!

I promise I will post more soon. Right now I owe every second of my day to corporations.

After this, I have a busy month. Cleaning my house, family in town, GRADUATING, moving out my stuff, moving myself, visiting my sister's fam, selling my car, visiting my friends, moving in with my folks for the summer, nephew's birthday, other nephew's birthday, Mother's Day, brother-in-law's birthday, sister's anniversary, and beginning bar exam study ALL IN MAY. *inhales*

And it's already the 7th! I better get back to work...

I'm trying to be patient

2008-04-30T19:11:00.006-05:00

FOUR MONTHS AGO

I pull up to the Taco Bell intercom.
Me: I'd like two tacos and a bean burrito with no onions.
Intercom Voice: FSNRPHRIPHNRANRPHSNARN
Me: Okay thanks.
I pull around to the window.
Me: Did you know your intercom is at an eardrum-blowing level?
Taco Bell lady: Yeah, there's nothing we can do about it.
Me: Ohhhkay.

TWO MONTHS AGO

I pull up to the Taco Bell intercom.
Me: I'd like to try something new. I'll have two tacos and... a spicy chicken burrito.
Voice: Anything else for you?
Me: No. Wait, unless there's onions in the burrito.
Voice: It has fiesta.
Me: .....
Me: Mmm, sounds like a party.
Voice: I'm sorry?
Me: I don't know what you mean when you say it has fiesta.
Voice: The burrito has fiesta in it.
Me: Right. What does that mean?
Voice (clearly annoyed): Fiesta is a combination of onions, tomatoes, and chilis.
Me: So it has onions in it?
Voice: Well, it has fiesta. But yeah, it has onions.
Me: Okay, then on my chicken burrito, hold the fiesta.

TODAY

I pull up to the Taco Bell intercom.
Voice: Can I help you?
Me: I'd like two tacos, a bean burrito, and a nachos.
Total silence for an honest 30 seconds.
Voice: I've got a nachos, a bean burrito, and a nachos?
Me: Close.

An addendum

2008-04-28T20:35:00.007-05:00

Okay, I must confess that I've re-taken the typing test several times now and every time my score has been lower than 118 wpm. So I guess I'm a bit of a phony. But the 118 was legit when I got it; I really did.

The good news is that every time I've taken it, I've gotten over 100. So I do find that somewhat fulfilling.

Can you tell it's finals season? The most fulfilling thing in my life is a TYPING TEST.

No, Dad, I'm not wasting precious study time. I'm... "practicing my typing skills so as to better utilize the 3 hour exam slot to its fullest advantage." Hey, now I'm really starting to sound like a lawyer.

Check me out

2008-04-27T19:22:00.001-05:00

118 words

Speedtest

Lousy Charlottesville

2008-04-26T16:54:00.002-05:00

ENORMOUS cricket in my sink right now. The kind that would make Rosa freak out for days. Just standing there next to my soaking dishes (not that I ever leave dishes in the sink, Mom). This is the beauty of living in a town out in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of that, we were enjoying a lovely day in here, sun, highs in the 80s, light breeze, all of that, when suddenly CRACK! Thunder, a little lightning, and out of nowhere a major downpour. With my car windows open. Sorry, Sis Who's Buying My Car In A Month - but don't worry, our father raised me to have dozens of rags on hand for occasions just like this. The car is fine.

But anyway, since it's raining in Charlottesville and the wind is blowing a little, of course we lost power for a bit. Props to Virginia Dominion for getting it back on swiftly, but oh my goodness.

At least classes are over. And at least I'm moving to Salt Lake for the summer where my fabulous parents have a fabulously new house with a fabulous backup generator. And then off to New York City where the crickets don't dare enter a midrise apartment complex for fear of being shot.

Good Samaritan Robbed

2008-04-25T09:14:00.002-05:00

This morning I saw a story on the Today show that just broke my heart.

A young ROTC man walks out of a store, strikes up a conversation with a homeless man, and then hands him some spare change. Moments later, the ROTC man suddenly suffers from a major seizure. While the ROTC man is convulsing on the ground, the homeless man doesn't run to get help but instead robs the distressed man.

Disgusting.

I should say that all of this is not proven, but only alleged. But they've got it all on videotape.

Read the story here.

Church choir

2008-04-24T11:15:00.002-05:00

So true. Which one are you?

Hat tip: Church Times via A Cappella News.

A few laughs

2008-04-16T13:27:00.005-05:00

From Jay Leno's monologue Monday night:

"Vanilla Ice was arrested and charged with shoving his wife; and like most people, the police had none of his records."

I'm sorry, but I thought that was just hilarious.

Then I just had to share this email I got from Rosa Monday night:

Esther and I were at Walmart, and we were walking out of the restroom when we saw this can.

Did they really need to clarify??

My car

2008-04-02T09:12:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here in the Toyota service center waiting for my Highlander to have its 75,000-mile checkup. This seemingly mundane moment actually brings a set of mixed feelings for me.

A gift from my generous parents as I returned from Spain in Fall 2002, my car has been my most reliable friend over the past 5+ years. She's driven with me back and forth from Utah to California numerous times; all the way to Virginia and back twice; and to Georgia, North Carolina, and New York for various school and music commitments. She spent last summer parked in New York just outside Manhattan, making a couple trips upstate to visit friends. Though sometimes a little late on my timing, I've given her every service and every update she's needed. Which, since she's a Toyota, hasn't been that many.

So why the mixed feelings? The truth is that our relationship is doomed. I'm moving to New York City in the fall to start my new job and I just can't take her with me. Having a car in Manhattan is more of a liability than an asset. Not including all the expenses of insuring and fueling the car, the parking alone is cost prohibitive; The $500+ per month you spend housing the car is like letting it have its own apartment. In essence, my new job is taking me to a place she can't come. So sad.

The silver lining here is that I'll be selling the car to my sister in Ohio. Her car is on its way out, and considering how expensive a new car is, and how unreliable an unknown used car can be, it's actually a win-win. It'll be a good car for her family (they already love their other Highlander), the price is right, and I need to sell. Jenga.

Even so, it's still a little sad for me. This was the car that greeted me at the airport when I returned from Spain. This was the car that moved me to school after my mission. This was the car that provided me a social life while in college. This was the car I drove away from my wedding in. We're nearly inseparable.

But alas, we will soon separate. We now face the inevitable. We only have another 6-8 weeks together. I should start one of those construction paper chains so I can count down the days.

Of course it's all for the best. Here's to you, my Highlander.

No foolin'

2008-04-01T22:42:00.002-05:00

I don't really have anything to write about, but I thought it would be cool to have a post on April Fool's Day with that title.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-27T09:30:00.013-05:00

... or as Rosa said this week, HOPPY Easter. So gross.

This past weekend was Easter, of course, and it turned out to be a very nice one for me. The morning started out with a surprise Easter basket on my doorstep! I was ding-dong-ditched, except it wasn't a ding-dong since I don't have a doorbell. A knock-knock-ditch. That expression doesn't have the same feel to it. It needs to be alliterative. A rap-rap-runaway?

Anyway, this is the beautiful sight I saw when I opened my door. It's also the same beautiful basket that has kept my caloric intake a little higher than I'd like this week. But Cadbury cream eggs?! Come on! So good!

After a lovely Church service, I was invited to the Forbes' home for a delicious Easter potluck dinner. And the second annual EGG BASH! That's right, egg bash. Everyone shows up with all their beautifully decorated Easter eggs, like these that the Olsons brought:

Then we're all seeded into a very complicated bracket system. For each round, one of us brings his or her eggs to the gladiator ring (in common circles, this may be referred to as a disposable plastic table cloth). You line up against your competitor with eggs in hand.

Then you roll them at top speed toward one another.

And WHAM-O. Whoever has a dented egg loses that round. Each person brings six eggs to the competition, and the last one with an egg still standing (not literally, though we are close to equinox) wins.

Here are my lovely eggs before the contest. They didn't want to be decorated. Instead they spend the past several months training for this event. Jersey numbers only. BEFORE:

Little did they know what awaited them. AFTER:

It was a slaughter. My last egg held out for several rounds. But she went out in a blaze of glory, getting the shell actually knocked off her. Ouch.

We did this at the Forbes' place last year (apparently it's a tradition in Steph's family), and I'd forgotten how fun it is. I recommend it to everyone - what else are you going to do with those decorated eggs?

Despite a scary losing streak in the middle of the contest, Josh pulled out as the winner, actually finishing with TWO intact eggs. Here he is in a scandalous shot with the egg that brought him all that glory.

I hope everyone had a... hoppy Easter.

Law Firms Rank UVA #4 in Nation

2008-03-24T21:51:00.003-05:00

The publication Vault, highly influential in the world of law firm rankings, has just published its first set of law school rankings. They surveyed a huge batch of large law firms, asking them which law school produces the most employable grads. UVA is #4, baby. My father must be proud.

Check out the story.

UVA ranks somewhere in the top 10 law schools on basically every survey out there. But I think this is the first one to put them in the top 5. Booyah.

Big Day

2008-03-22T09:02:00.001-05:00

Spring is here! Woohoo!

[editor's note: Okay, it's also my birthday.]

Busy weekend

2008-03-18T12:34:00.003-05:00

A couple weekends ago, I had a whirlwind of a time up in Northern Virginia. I attended the East Coast A cappella Summit, full of the best pro groups and music experts around. I got to attend a bunch of workshops, and I had the great opportunity of working with a whole batch of high schoolers and semi-pro groups, trying to help them improve. The weekend was really fantastic.

I actually wrote a review for the CASA website. Check it out here.

My debut on NBC Sports

2008-03-14T14:32:00.004-05:00

I never thought I'd be interviewed extensively by a writer for a major sports website. Dork as I am, the article is about collegiate a cappella competitions. For those who don't know, these competitions are fiercely competitive. It's a lot like March Madness!

Since I work for the company that produces the competition (Varsity Vocals), and since I have a history with both of the last two ICCA winning groups (Vocal Point and Noteworthy), the sports writer gave me an extensive interview a couple days ago. He had been to a couple of these competitions and was just fascinated by the precision and the rivalries. He's really on to something - many of these groups take this competition very seriously.

Anyway, so here's the product: an article about a cappella competitions and then a follow-up article purely about the rivalry between Vocal Point and Noteworthy. So exciting!

How cool is this?!

2008-03-11T22:23:00.004-05:00

This is my new favorite product. When I move to New York and have virtually no closet space, I've gotta get me one of these.

Rakku makes some beautiful products. Check them out here.

Noteworthy News Nod

2008-03-06T22:01:00.004-05:00

A nice little piece in the Deseret News, published yesterday, about the group I helped found back in 2004:

"Tight harmonies and a preponderance of vocal percussion mark the performances of Noteworthy, a nine-member a cappella group of coeds from Brigham Young University.

"Performing in the group is considered an outside activity and not a part of BYU, although 'everyone knows' they represent the school and its owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, co-founder Esther Yoder said.

"Yoder recruited Dave Brown and Dan Dunn of the male vocal group Vocal Point to help her launch the all-female group in 2004.

"It wasn't long before Noteworthy picked its first..." [continue reading]

Craig Jessop Resigns!

2008-03-05T21:19:00.003-05:00

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Director Craig Jessop suddenly resigned last night. I am totally and utterly shocked. He just took over in 1999! The Deseret News has a good report:

"Mormon Tabernacle Choir music director Craig Jessop resigned Tuesday night during a meeting with members of the choir, leaving the group stunned and emotional, according to one source.

"He made the announcement to choir members following a regular rehearsal. Associate music director Mack Wilberg will serve as interim choir director.

"Jessop apparently read a letter to choir members..."

Continue reading the Deseret News article here.

Torture in Provo

2008-03-04T11:46:00.002-05:00

A supervisor at a local Provo, UT business is accused of using waterboarding as a demonstrational technique. What kind of business do they do? Motivational coaching! Check out the Salt Lake Tribune story here.

NOT guilty!

2008-02-28T20:18:00.009-05:00

Not a bad start for my legal career!

This semester I'm participating in a criminal defense clinic at the law school, which means I take on real clients with real criminal charges. The public defender's office refers a few cases over to the clinic, and we do all the work on the cases (with supervisors looking over our shoulders). Because I have my third-year practice certificate, I can advise clients on my own, and I can appear in court with my supervisor.

So today my first case had a court date. After lots of investigation and preparation, I appeared this morning with my client in the Charlottesville city General District Court. Since we weren't making a simple appearance or making a plea bargain, but instead we were having a trial, we had to wait until the end of the docket. The long wait made me pretty nervous -- I think the prosecutor was just trying to ice the kicker.

The last case of the morning was mine. It was thrilling to stand right in front of the judge, shoulder to shoulder with the prosecutor, and stay on my toes throughout his questioning of the arresting police officer. It was a DUI case. The officer explained about the accident, the field sobriety tests, and arresting my client. He was very honest about how well my client had done on the field sobriety tests, and didn't try to spin anything to make my client look worse. I was really impressed by the officer's integrity.

Fast forward, there was no record of when the accident actually took place. No evidence whatsoever. So they couldn't establish that the breath test taken after the arrest was done within the necessary 2 hours required by law. Because they lacked this key piece of evidence, they couldn't get the blood alcohol content certificate admitted. When the prosecutor said, "No further questions," the judge replied, "aren't you going to move the certificate into evidence?" We all looked at each other with smiles, realizing he couldn't get it in. The judge jumped in and said, "As far as DUI cases go, this isn't the strongest case ever." The prosecutor added, "Plus, there's so much reasonable doubt since he did so well on his field sobriety tests." Essentially, the case was over right there. The prosecutor just made my closing argument in one sentence.

But the prosecutor added, "I don't think it's fair for this clinic student to win his first case without having to ask a single question." I quickly pointed out that I had made an objection during the questioning of the officer. "That's true," he said. "Okay, then." My supervisor defended me, saying, "He was very prepared with everything anyway." The judge agreed: "I could see he was ready to go with all his questions and everything, just chomping at the bit."

The judge looked at my client and said, "You're free to go." So exciting! My client had the biggest smile ever on his face. He shook my hand and gave me a hug, then gave my supervisor a big hug. As soon as we got outside the courthouse, he and his girlfriend were just jumping for joy. After he was arrested for DUI, he got fired from his pizza delivery job, and now he can probably get his job back. So thrilling.

And for anyone concerned reading this, we did take the opportunity to remind him he might not get so lucky in the future. The case might be a little stronger next time. So don't drink and drive.

It was exciting to win, though I can't credit myself for having done much. I felt very prepared, and I knew when to object, and I knew why the prosecution didn't have enough evidence. So I guess I did something. And I held this poor man's hand through the process, which I hope was a help to him. All in all, it was a great start for me. I'm 1-0. We'll see how the next one goes...

Mahoney

2008-02-27T12:55:00.004-05:00

UVA has chosen a new dean. I've never had a class from Professor Paul Mahoney, but he served as advisor for my journal and the symposium we produced last year. He was always very nice.

I did have a class from his wife, Professor Julia Mahoney. She was eccentric to say the least, but the perfect person to teach property. You'll never find anyone so excited about remainder interests, public easements, and adverse possession.

Although John Jeffries' wingtips will be hard to fill, I believe Mahoney will be a good man for the job.

And the answer is...

2008-02-19T17:10:00.003-05:00

CRAFT.

Seriously, think about it. Craft.

Congratulations to my mother-in-law for coming up with the answer in about three seconds. But boo for not writing it in the comments! (just kidding)

This weekend was a blast, but my body took a little toll. I ended up pretty sick the last couple of days. I'm only now just beginning to move around again...

Hint

2008-02-14T10:43:00.003-05:00

I'm off on a crazy driving tour of the southern United States this weekend, as I produce ICCA shows in two different states. Friday I have a show in central Georgia and then by Saturday afternoon I'm supposed to be in southern Virginia. I'll be a busy bee this weekend. Home on Sunday.

Before I head out, I wanted to leave a clue about the riddle in my last post. The answer is a single 5-letter word that starts with C. Keep guessing!

A little riddle for you...

2008-02-11T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'll leave this riddle up for the next few days. Post your guesses in the comments section.

Sometimes I am very sly;
Other times a trade I ply;
Through the air swift I fly;
Now, pray tell me, what am I?

True Story

2008-02-09T00:26:00.000-05:00

In honor of Papa Parma's new joke blog and Rosa's real life news reporting, I thought I'd post a true story I recently heard about. This comes from a little email newsletter I subscribe to called This is True.

ALL ABOARD: A conductor on a commuter train from Grand Central in New York, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn., stopped the train and went up top with a fire extinguisher after he noticed a power glitch when the train switched from track power to overhead power lines. It was handy that he took the extinguisher: a man riding on top of the car had burst into flames from the 11,000-14,000 volts that surged through his body after the switch-over. It was unclear why he was on top of the train. Thanks to the conductor's quick reaction, Ricardo Chavez, 36, was hospitalized in fair condition. (White Plains Journal News) ...Clearly, Chavez was an excellent conductor too.

Oh zing! I know the Parmas will appreciate the punchline.

CASA President

2008-02-06T00:25:00.000-05:00

Most of you know I've spent the past couple of years participating on the board of directors for a non-profit music organization. Last month, I was elected president! The editor of our website did a quick interview of me recently, and it's now been posted. You can check it out here if you're interested.

Giants Win!

2008-02-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

What a game!

Rosa and I were invited over to the Olsons' house to watch the big game on their new flat screen. The food was fatty and delicious, and the game was just awesome. Since Rosa and I are planning a move to New York this coming fall, we've been trying to follow all the local teams there (especially since Virginia isn't much of a capitol for professional sports). So we were rooting for the Giants, and boy did it pay off!

I think we have a new "Big Catch!"

Gordon B. Hinckley

2008-02-02T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today the LDS community gathered throughout the world to remember the life of President Gordon B. Hinckley, who passed away this week. His funeral services were broadcast across the globe. Never forgotten, he will always be the prophet of my youth.

I recommend reading the positive and largely accurate New York Times article about President Hinckley, as well as some highlights from his memorial services.

Meet the Mormons

2008-02-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

This week Charlottesville's local newsweekly published a huge piece on the local growth of the LDS Church. It's actually the cover story! The article features photos of my bishop, some of our friends, and the new stake center.

Check out the article here.

Christmas in Cleveland

2008-01-31T08:56:00.001-05:00

Although it's been over a month since la Navidad, I hope you'll still enjoy these fine iPhone photos of our trip to Cleveland.

Darn it

2008-01-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

The battery just died on my bathroom scale. I know that's not the same as breaking, but it sure doesn't make you feel good when the scale won't even respond to you when you step on it.

Maybe it's for the best that I don't know the number. Is it fair to keep blaming holiday meals?

I think I'm going to wait a while before putting a new battery in...

Warning: reading this blog may be hazardous to your intelligence

2008-01-22T09:35:00.003-05:00

It seems the best way to amass a series of comments on your blog is to wait several weeks between posts. But I promise not to do that any more. The past several weeks have been very busy and quite eventful in the Brown household. Frankly, the main thing that's been keeping me from posting is the difficulty of uploading photos to Blogger. But alas, I should do it.

In the meantime, I thought this was a great way to return:

It takes more than SIX weeks to get grades back from Fall semester, but it takes less than six seconds to get a horrible grade on my blog. If it's any consolation, Rosa's blog is elementary too.

To close this post, I'd like to make a feeble attempt at raising my grade level by inserting some of the words I've actually heard in the last hour during my corporations class:
proprietary
confidentiality agreement
contract drafting
rationality
monitoring
residual loss
property rights
opportunism
discretionary authority
recurring disputes
ownership of information between corporation and partnership and participants

Class is over. I'm going home to read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Celebration!

2007-12-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

Finals are over!!!!!!!

How did I feel about them? I have no idea. I've decided by this point that I am incapable of judging my own performance. Virtually every exam I've felt good about has landed me a below-average grade. And conversely, almost every exam that dragged me through the mud ended up being at least an A-. So where does this leave me? I can't tell. I won't find out my grades until February 1, and ultimately my grade will depend more than anything on the performance of my peers. Thank you very much, Mr. Curve.

But seriously, I felt fine. And I know I at least passed, so last-semester-of-law-school, here I come!

Also, Cleveland here I come. For Christmas. And then Salt Lake here I come. But after all that, Spring 2008 semester... here I finally come!

Some overdue photos

2007-12-16T21:39:00.000-05:00

From Thanksgiving.

It was nice to spend some quality time with family.

We also followed the Parma family holiday tradition of making chocolates for friends and family. First you have to assemble all your supplies, and melt all the chocolates in crockpots and double boilers.

Then you just start sculpting and dipping.

When you're finished with a set of chocolates, you put 'em in the freezer. Or even in the ice maker if you're running out of space.

Then when they've hardened, you drop 'em on wax paper until the end of the day when you wrap them up in baggies for friends. The shape choices are endless.

And sometimes, when your friends aren't looking, you maybe sneak a bite.

It was a fun trip! Thanks to my brother's family and Rosa's brother's family for all your wonderful generosity.

Sigh

2007-12-14T00:40:00.000-05:00

I hate finals. I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em. They completely ruin the holiday season. I should be having visions of sugar plum fairies right now, but instead jack frost is just chomping away at my spirit. It's not so much the studying, but the ominous 3- or 4-hour exam period where you walk in the door and realize there's nothing you can do but type, and there's no way out of it.

Oh well! Soon it will all be over. And at least I have an excuse not to clean my house or shave. And people are more understanding when I don't return their calls or emails for days at a time.

And occasionally, exams can even produce some really interesting stories.

I'm back

2007-12-10T21:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, a little while no bloggy blog. I've returned.

Rosa and I went to Dallas for Thanksgiving -- sooo faaahn! We stayed with her brother and his cute family. Lots of good game playing, baby adoring, and chocolate making. Yum. And we spent lots of quality time with my brother and his family. It was so nice to see them! It had been too long. They're such great examples to me; I love being with them. And of course it was great to see my folks as well. Lots of hugs. Lots of mom staring at us.

Now we're back to C-ville and trying to make it through each day. Rosa's working by day and performing by night. Everyone should go see her show! I'm trying to do finals.... blekch. Wish me luck.

Rosa Lately

2007-11-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

Rosa's a busy little bee. Recently she joined our softball team for a game.

Not only was she a great catcher, but her swinging bunt set the pace for what ended up being a very successful inning.

Besides playing softball, and working nearly full time, Rosa's also getting all prepped for her big show.

She actually has direct orders from the show's director that she can't cut her hair!

They want her to grow it out so they can put it into a lovely turn-of-the-century style.

This was the first attempt. She doesn't like this photo 'cause the hair is falling down (the photo was taken a couple hours after they put it up), but I think it looks great! I'm excited for the show (opens Dec 6).

And if you watch close enough, and remain patient, every once in a while you can catch a glimpse of Rosa actually relaxing.

Love you, Rosie!

She's got pipes

2007-11-15T12:50:00.000-05:00

Check out Rosa's blog for some amateurish videos of some very professional singing.

SoJam

2007-11-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

In true a cappella nerdiness form, Rosa and I traveled all the way down to North Carolina this past weekend to attend a big a cappella festival. Bringing together dozens of groups and hundreds of fans, this is truly a mega event if there ever was one. Fortunately, it had less of a trekkie convention feel and more of a sweet concert feel.

Friday night there was a great collegiate competition. Saturday they had classes all day (including a few by yours truly), and then Saturday night was the greatest pro concert I've ever been to. We saw an energetic young group from NYC called Duwende, an unbelievable heavy metal (yes heavy metal) group from Finland called Fork, and the coolest batch of street guys from the Bronx called Naturally 7. I highly recommend looking these guys up on YouTube. The show was jaw dropping.

Overall, we had fun teaching, helping groups, helping the event producers, and especially meeting old friends. A great weekend!

Autumn Abounds

2007-11-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

It's finally getting cold here in Virginia. The low was 25 last night. I wouldn't have noticed, except through a series of unfortunate events, I ended up locked out of our apartment for quite a while. Luckily, my new iPhone kept me up to date on the latest temperature, just so I'd know how freezing I was.

I digress. Now that it's getting cold, fall is finally upon us. Having been raised by a New Englander mother transplant in California, I was taught to appreciate the colors on the trees during this amazing season. Here are a few of my sites walking back and forth to school each day. Eat your heart out, Mom.

Simpsons Dave

2007-11-01T14:33:00.001-05:00

Eat my shorts. Or something.

Marathon Weekend

2007-10-29T08:21:00.000-05:00

I have definitely run more than 26 miles in my life. But not in a row. Yesterday Rosa's sister Monica and her husband Matt did just that in the Marine Corps Marathon up in DC. We drove up there after church to catch them in the end of the race. They did it in under 5 hours, which as far as I'm concerned is a miracle.

Matt is a firefighter in the Cleveland area. They met up here with a bunch of fellow firefighters. This is their group outside the IAFF tent.

Back inside the tent, there were a million little bottles of Gatorade, bananas, cookies, bagels, and Goldfish crackers. The gatorade and bananas I understand, but cookies? I guess they're shooting for replenishing carbs. Matt and Monica told us that pretty much everything tastes good after the race.

It was so fun to see them! We don't live near any family, so we gotta take every chance we can get.

In front of the Iwo Jima monument. Congratulations, M&M! See you again at Christmas!

Chocolate Festival

2007-10-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, right here in our own little city of Charlottesville, they held a Chocolate Festival! Could there be anything in the world so exciting?!

A few steps into the tent, and who did we find? Our good friend Jenni Bowman, selling her beautiful faux chocolate.

Her husband Jeff was reeling in the crowd with real chocolate.

Jenni makes these deceptively delicious looking cakes and candies for decoration. They look great at parties, weddings, or as a fun gift.

This tree is covered in beautiful handmade faux chocolates. You can store this tree and bring it out every December. And you don't have to worry about little hands eating your ornaments.

Don't those cupcakes look tasty?

Yum.

I like the dipped apples. They'd make a cool holiday decoration.

While our senses of smell and taste were being entertained with fudge samples and cupcakes, our ears were filled with the fun folk music of... these two dudes.

Virginia's favorite son Robert E. Lee looked on approvingly.

I think the cream cheese chocolate muffins were Rosa's favorite.

Or was it the Melting Pot strawberries and pineapples dipped in warm chocolate?

I think the Melting Pot chocolate won. This is the cleanest picture I had of Rosa eating it. Don't worry - her fingers were clean before she started "scooping" out the chocolate.

Although Rosa was in heaven, I found something I loved too - dark chocolate fudge! What a delicious day.

Rosa's Charlottesville Debut

2007-10-25T07:57:00.000-05:00

The Curtises and I packed into the back seat of the Olsons' car this past weekend to go out to Barboursville. Why are we so dressed up? Because Four County Players was having its 35th anniversary Musical Revue and Celebration, that's why! Rosa had two big solos in the production of "The Little Theatre That Could."

While we were packed in the car, she was busy getting ready backstage. Note the two bags of kettle corn.

She did a GREAT job! We were so proud! She got a jillion compliments from the audience members after the show. Of course. Some of the older ladies were especially fond of her beautiful dress, commenting that they wore similar dresses "back in the day." I seem to recall the word "classy" being used several times.

After the show we gathered out front of the beautiful building with the big red doors to take photos which ended up looking like awkward prom photos. It was fun despite our awkwardness.

We're so proud of you, Rosie!

Shadow Puppet Show

2007-10-24T13:29:00.000-05:00

Raymond Crowe is one of Australia's leading contemporary magicians. And I say he's one of the most incredible shadow puppeteers ever born. Check out his stuff:

A Day in the District

2007-10-17T07:49:00.001-05:00

I had a little break from school last week, and Rosa took Wednesday off of work just so we could spend a day together. We decided to take a little day trip to Washington, just two hours to the north of our home. Our first stop was a visit to the LDS temple in nearby Kensington, MD. It's one of the largest temples in the world, and it's absolutely breathtaking. It was, as always, a refreshing couple of hours we spent there. So good! (except for my crooked tie in this picture)

We grabbed a quick bite in nearby Silver Spring, where Rosa discovered... a JAMBA JUICE. After chocolate, Jamba Juice ranks as Rosa's number two biggest addiction. She's basically obsessed. And surprise surprise, we found that Silver Springs also has one of my favorite places from California: Baja Fresh. Yum.

Since we've both done the DC tourist thing a few times, we decided to try to find something we hadn't done before. Rosa went online and found a place we had both never been: the International Spy Museum! So cool! I've always wanted to be a spy, so of course this was the perfect place for me. Actually, maybe I already AM a spy! Just kidding. Or am I?

So we got there and it was CLOSED. What?!! We had checked online and the website advertises in multiple places that the museum closes at 8pm. We got there a couple minutes after 6pm. Yes, two hours before closing time. But some bus full of teenagers informed us that it had just closed a couple minutes earlier. So after we spied the hours on the door, apparently "Hours Vary By Season." SO HELPFUL!! And of course it would be very hard to put the hours of the different seasons. Or a sharpie-handwritten 8.5" x 11" explaining the current hours. Or seventeen seconds updating the so-called "website."

Oh well. We cut our losses and decided to make an evening of it. We headed over to check out Ford's Theatre, the famous theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot. We knew ahead of time that the theatre is closed these days, so it wasn't quite such a shock when we saw the closed sign out front. But did you know they're still using it as a theatre? It hasn't been continuously open since 1865, but it has been running again since like the 80's. They're doing A Christmas Carol there this December for example.

After walking around and seeing a few more sites, we visited la Casa Blanca. I don't think W was there, but if he were, I know he would've hung out with us. Even though we were a couple acres away and in front of the big bars. And there are probably fifty snipers between us and the mansion. Okay, so maybe he wouldn't have hung out with us, but he'd be pleased to know that we're still among the 3% of Americans that approve of the job he's doing. Except for Guantanamo. That's just messed up.

We ended the night doing cool camera tricks. And by "cool," I mean a 7th grader would want us to be in their cool club after seeing these pictures.

Even though we were fooled by the tricky spy museum, it still turned out to be a really fun day.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

2007-10-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

Rosa and I are taking a bite out of the big apple. I have officially accepted an offer to work as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges next fall. I loved the people I worked with this past summer and the types of cases the firm handles. Rosa and I are both super excited to be moving to New York City!

Tonight I'll be attending a recruiting dinner for 2Ls who have received an offer to join the next summer associate class. Yum!

Hut hut... hike

2007-10-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

Our friends have started a weekly tradition of playing powderpuff (ladies') football every Saturday morning. Since they're low on girls sometimes, the guys take a turn playing as well. We joined 'em today for a great morning of exercise, sun, and fresh air! The weather was perfect and the company was great.

It was Team Terror

against Team Snowflake

in a battle for the ages.

Free babysitting provided.

The best play of the day is a tie between The Pregnant Play, where Brianne put the ball under her shirt and Derek screamed "She's pregnant, nobody touch her" all the way to the end zone; and The Tower Play, where Rosa climbed on my back in the middle of the field to catch a high pass. The Pregnant Play resulted in a touchdown, so it probably wins. The pass on The Tower Play was a little low and Rosa ended up falling off my shoulders and we tumbled to the ground together. No harm done.

All in all, it was a great Saturday morning!

Take a Chance

2007-10-12T18:40:00.000-05:00

People constantly tell me I remind them of Andy Bernard from The Office. I was somewhat offended by this at first, but now that he's singing a cappella to win over a girl, it's getting harder to deny.

Mmmmm... Hm.

2007-10-08T18:56:00.000-05:00

I went to Staples the other day to pick up, of all things, a stapler. A very nice fellow checked me out at the register, and right before I walked away I caught a glimpse of his nametag:

DARREL DARNELL

That might be the greatest sighting of 2007.

Go Dons

2007-10-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

Last year sometime early in the year I spotted a dude in an Acalanes shirt. What's "Acalanes" you ask? It's the very unique name of MY HIGH SCHOOL back in California! And here's a kid right in front of me wearing the shirt from my school! So I said, "Did you go to Acalanes?" "Yes." Woohoo! Such a random occurrence that two people from the same high school come to UVA Law (where our entire student population is something like 1300). And even rarer that two people from the same high school on the exact opposite side of the country would be standing in the same hallway. And that they'd know about it. So we chatted about my hometown, Lafayette, the school, family in the area, and what we've done since graduation. So cool!

So fast forward to this past week. I went to support my first-year section in their softball game against a rival section. As I leave the game, I see a woman from the other team wearing an ACALANES SHIRT! Turns out she went to Acalanes too! Turns out we've got THREE people from my high school here! What are the chances?!!

Why the name "Acalanes"? It's a reflection of two old cultures in the history of the area. When the Spanish people came to the area, they became friendly with the local Indian tribe, the Ahalan people. In the Spanish pronunciation, they called the tribe "Acalan" and the people "Acalanes." The area is named for them, and the school is named for them. (I learned most of that from my Citizenship in the Community merit badge.)

And our mascot, the "Don," follows in the same light. Some people think the school is named after some guy named Donald, but that's just lame. In fact, a Don is a Spanish knight (like Don Quixote). At all games, we yell "Go dons!" Except at the cross country races, where for some reason they say it backward: "Snodog" (snow-dog).

Here's a photo from up on the hill above the school. You'll notice that it's not all one building. In fact, the door to each classroom leads outdoors. It's an outdoor school. There are overhangs to keep you from getting wet in the rain, but there's no need to keep it all indoors since it never gets colder than the 40s (and even then, the 40s are like the dead of winter). And it never snows! Gosh I love the Bay Area. And check out the beautiful golden hills.

So many memories in this place. The parking lot on the right is where I used to sit in my car with my friends in the morning and listen to our favorite radio show. On the left side of the photo is the building where I spent a zillion hours in choir, practicing musical scenes, and singing in my little a cappella groups. Junior prom happened somewhere in the middle of this photo. This is the place where I grew up. (And my house is less than a mile down the road to the right.)

A shout out to my fellow Acalanes Dons everywhere!

Rahzel with Saian Supa Crew

2007-10-02T10:48:00.000-05:00

This is everyone's favorite beatboxer, Rahzel, with an impressive French hip-hop group Saian Super Crew. One of the coolest displays of live beatboxing I've ever seen.

My Wife the Star

2007-09-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

Ask my wife Rosa about her big news.

Elder GAP

2007-09-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in a previous post that at the end of the summer, Rosa and I went to Cleveland to visit her family. The occasion for the visit was the return of her brother Gabe from his 2-year mission for our church. We've been writing emails back and forth once a week, and we've talked to him on the phone twice per year. He's been very focused, and worked very hard, and we're really proud of him. But after not seeing him for so long, we really missed him! Here are some photos of his Homecoming at the Cleveland Airport.

Nothing like hugging your mother for the first time in two years!

Proud Papa Parma

Gabe with mom and dad

Gabe with three of his sisters: Monica, Rosa, and Julianna. How obvious is it that these kids all have the same mom?!

Gabe with Monica again and her husband Matt (or Matt Hawg, as we like to call him)

Gabe was just the right amount of awkward

... but still kept his great sense of humor.

Tons of laughs, as always.

He even brought some of his missionary nametags for the family to wear for a few minutes.

We just loved hanging around him.

And of course Mom Parma had a hard time keeping her hands off him.

We're glad you're home, Gabe!

Powder Puff Girls

2007-09-24T07:02:00.000-05:00

Rosa and some of the girls got together on Saturday to play football. They were actually pretty good. It's a good thing some of the husbands were there, since the ladies turned to us every few plays to ask us about the rules.

I know Rosa and Michelle are still really sore today. Great exercise!

Summer in New York

2007-09-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

Photos from this summer. It's about time.

We lived on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, right on the edge of Chinatown. Grand St was one of our main subway stops, though Rosa skipped it as much as possible, since the area smells a lot like fish. The Chinese apparently love their open fish markets.

One of the first things we did after arriving in the city was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. One of the coolest things about the walk is the beautiful view of Manhattan behind us. That's midtown in the background.

That's the famous NYC downtown skyline behind me.

After opening to the public in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge is now one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. This footpath area hangs right above the road below, and is used by thousands of pedestrians and cyclists each day to commute to and from work.

We had several opportunities to dine at some fancy New York restaurants while we there, and of course you can guess that lava cake was right at the top of our priority list. This cake from Bryant Park Cafe was one of the best in our opinion. And yes, most of the food served at NYC restaurants is this pretty.

There are lots of beautiful fountains around the city, which make for lovely photographs.

Rosa is a professional subject for my amateur photography skills.

Nice shoes, huh. Payless.

We took this picture ourselves, obviously. In one of Manhattan's 8 billion parks.

This looks like Bryant Park, though I can't be sure.

The chairman of my law firm has a great relationship with several retired Mets. The firm invited the whole summer class out to a Mets game for an awareness day. The bleachers are really fun!

This is a really common view of Rosa at any baseball game. Cotton candy comes right after lava cake on Rosa's list of priorities.

We snagged tickets to a couple more Mets games during the summer. The partners with season tickets are very generous to the summer associates. Great seats!

You can't really tell from this picture, but one of the greatest things about Shea Stadium (in Brooklyn) is the gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline.

We also made it out to a Yankees game.

Yankees Stadium is super fun. Everyone hates us when they find out we're cheering for the Yankees, but they're so fun to watch! Derek Jeter, A-rod, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui... how can you hate this team?! We love 'em.

We also took the opportunity to visit Ground Zero a couple times this summer. We've been there before, but every time you go there is just a special spirit there. It's about as close as we get to something sacred in our secular society.

Those who were in the city on 9/11 told us that most of the streets looked like this. Missing Persons ads everywhere you look. What a stunning photo.

On a much lighter note, we also took some time to visit our best friend Esther who lives in upstate New York. On a visit by herself, Rosa took time to make up Esther's face and cut her bangs. Esther says hates getting "pretty" but secretly we know she loves it.

It was a really hot day. And ice cream in Bath, NY is like 5 cents, compared to like $1,450 in Manhattan. If you're keeping track, yes we gained weight over the summer. But I'm proud to say we've worked it all off by now.

I found this photo in our camera, and I had to post it. I had to leave the city a little earlier than Rosa because I had to return to Charlottesville for orientation as peer advisor, while she stayed behind to finish her acting/singing classes. I sent Rosa these flowers while we apart; I had no idea she took a photo of them.

Thanks for meandering through our summer photos. Now at least Mom (and Irene) can stop asking to see them.

It was a great summer!

"Happy haircut!"

2007-09-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

So Rosa had this nice hairdo and everything, but at the end of the summer she wanted to go to one last nice New York salon before heading back to Virginia. Unfortunately, it turned out not so nice. They basically gave her two haircuts. The top is a certain length and then the hair underneath is much longer. And we're not talking layers -- it's just a butcher job.

But back in Charlottesville, she paid much less for a much better haircut. She still has layers, but they work together now.

So now she can just grow it out evenly and do whatever she wants with it. Isn't my wife pretty?!

Public Speaking Class

2007-09-14T12:26:00.000-05:00

This past week in public speaking class we had to introduce a historical figure as if they were delivering a keynote address at a banquet. A friend in my class liked my speech so much he said he'd like to have the video from it, or even that I should put it on YouTube. I didn't put it on YouTube, but I decided maybe I could put it here on my blog. I feel kinda dumb posting this here, especially since there are a number of things I would change about it. But whatever; here it is.

Nine Eleven

2007-09-11T12:59:00.000-05:00

I can't figure out why September 11 isn't a national holiday yet. Not because I want a day off, but because it is the defining day of our generation. I wonder how future generations will think about this important day. It's sad to think that my kids will regard the 9/11 attacks as just a part of history, same as WWII or Abraham Lincoln or the Declaration of Independence. Living through a historical moment makes you re-think how you approach history. To the people that lived through the Civil War, that was their actual life. It happened to their friends and family, and not just on CNN. It was a real thing. And the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and even World War II weren't that long ago.

Last night I went to this interdisciplinary class about Spanish film. We had watched a movie about the Spanish Civil War, which for me is just an academic subject of history. But when I came to class, I met Pedro, who is my same age, but whose family remembers the war. He tells first hand accounts of meeting people incredibly struck by that horrible war (that unfortunately, never really gets discussed in history class). It makes you re-think what "history" really means.

On September 11, 2001, I was actually in Spain. I was serving as a missionary at the time in the Bilbao area, working as the secretary to our mission's president. I was on the phone with an American woman in Madrid who started freaking out and saying, "Have you heard about the attacks?! It's crazy! It's on TV -- they've bombed New York!" She was hysterical. Remember that the details at that time weren't clear yet.

It was the afternoon there, near the end of the work day. We didn't have a television or anything in our office (I hadn't watched TV for well over a year), but we did find an old radio. We tuned in to a Spanish news station, trying to capture bits and pieces of what had taken place. Several of us knelt down and said a prayer. We quickly ran over to a friend's apartment where we could watch BBC and see the whole thing unfolding, narrated in English. We unfortunately got there in time to watch the second tower get hit, and both towers fall. Now that I think about it, it's really incredible that I watched it all live, being like two thousand miles away.

In the weeks following the attack, we were permitted by the mission president to read newspapers and keep up with some of the events (since so many of us missionaries were from the U.S.). It was fascinating to see how our understanding unfolded a little more each day in the Spanish and British newspapers. Everywhere we went as missionaries, people asked us about the attack, and how we felt about it. Though there were a few disparaging remarks here and there, for the most part I was so touched to see people reach out to us, trying to offer compassion and support. Being in Spain during 9-11 provided a unique perspective on the whole attack, and it made me re-think what it means to be American. I came home to a different country in many ways.

Even more life changing for me was my visit to the Ground Zero site this year. I actually made several this summer. A small group in my firm was treated to a special tour of the site and the temporary museum "Tribute" by the museum's founder. Eating dinner with that man, who lost his police officer son in the rescue effort, was truly remarkable. Hearing the stories of all the people who were actually there that day has completely changed me. What's so important is that as a society we are in a time and place where we can accurately in video and sound record the stories of the people who were there. It's so touching and amazing.

And now here I sit on my couch. Life goes on. But we can't forget what happened that day, and why it's so important.

All thumbs

2007-09-06T12:20:00.001-05:00

By the way, for those of you who very thoughtfully have been asking about my friends' thumbs, I have an update for you.

Esther's thumb is pretty much completely healed, but her pointer finger is still slow in returning to normal. She bought one of those pen tips that fits on the end of your finger so she can write now with her middle finger.

Courtney's thumb did not fare so well.

Apparently working as a food sample lady at Costco ranks right up there with deep sea fishing and mining on the dangerous scale. But luckily, she's got an incredibly positive attitude and amazing sense of humor, so if you ask her, she'll tell you she's perfectly normal. And at least now she can really freak kids out with that little cut-my-thumb-in-half trick.

Back in black

2007-09-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

So it's been over a month. All my friends have complained. But like that Land Before Time movie, I just keep coming back!

I have been planning on doing one big update with lots of pictures from this summer. Unfortunately, it's taking me forever to upload and organize all my photos. So maybe I'll just start blogging again and get the photos up whenever I can.

The summer ended very well. The firm gave me an offer to return. Rosa stayed in NYC while I came back to Virginia to do orientation as a peer advisor. Somewhere in there, we got to visit with Rosa's family in Cleveland when her brother Gabe returned from his mission, and then I enjoyed a quick visit to my sister's house in Cincinnati.

Now we're both back in C-ville. School is in session, Rosa's back working again, and our little singing group just had auditions. We're cruisin' along. Classes are good, I'm eating healthier, and life is happy.

I promise to keep blogging.

Esther and Noteworthy

2007-08-02T15:18:00.001-05:00

When I first got home from my mission I decided a good way to meet girls would be to take a ballroom dance class. That class would ultimately lead me to my bride, though not in any way I could've ever pictured.

One of the ladies I met in that class was a brassy, fun, confident New Yorker named Esther. She was fun to dance with if only because she had so many interesting things to say. Since she was only about 5'1" we didn't make very good dance partners, but we definitely became friends anyway.

Fast forward a couple months. Esther is a fan of Vocal Point, and she decides that BYU ought to have an a cappella group for girls. Since she knows I'm in the group, she approaches me about starting a group. Talk after talk, discussion after discussion, we ultimately decide to do it. We bring in my buddy (and fellow Vocal Pointer) Dan. We draft a performer's contract, we choose a name, we pick an audition date, and we roll the dice. As it turns out, the group is a big hit. Not bad.

Who shows up to the audition? There are around 60 ladies in the hall waiting to join the group. The most memorable for me is a lovely 5-foot half-Italian Ohioan freshman named Rosa Parma. The rest, as they say, is history.

So why am I telling this story? Because Rosa spent her whole day getting out to Bath, NY today. She's napping at this very moment, waiting for Esther to come home from work, after which Rosa and Esther are driving tonight back here to New York City. Esther is spending the weekend here! We're super psyched to have her.

The other reason Esther is on the mind right now is because a couple days ago, she just accepted the offer to be Noteworthy's director for 2007-08. The girls are ultra excited to have her, as they should be.

The one not-so-great thing right now about Esther is that she was recently in a bad accident at work (in construction). She broke her hand basically. She can't use one hand, and she's on all kinds of pain medication. She's totally functional, except for the whole hand thing.

The weird part of the story is that not even a week later, one of Noteworthy's returning members just cut off her thumb. Like almost all the way. At work. So Noteworthy's first vocal percussionist and their last vocal percussionist have no thumbs right now. Take this as a word of caution to all you female beatboxers out there.

Regardless of thumbs or no thumbs, we're determined to have a fantastic weekend with Esther. And we're sure she will lead the Noteworthy ladies to great success this coming year.

Horton Hears a Who

2007-07-30T13:42:00.000-05:00

I stink at drawing. I have some minor musical talents, but I'm totally bankrupt in the visual arts department. This is made all the more apparent by the mad skills of my family.

My wife is a great artist. My sister-in-law is an artistic superstar in embryo. My brother can draw circles around anyone (figuratively... and I suppose literally too).

My cousin Dave though. He's amazing. He was a legitimate, professional cartoonist for a while - some of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen. Unfortunately, cartooning doesn't pay all that well. Fortunately, he went into a career in animation. Have you seen Ice Age and Ice Age 2? Dave did Sid the Sloth, among other work. Not bad, eh?

Anyway, check out what Dave's working on now.

Ludlow St.

2007-07-27T10:42:00.000-05:00

This post is brought to you by all those people who keep asking about how small my apartment is. The answer is: it's small. I haven't measured it, but it can't be more than 500 sq. ft.

These are the photos the renters sent to us before we moved in. The place looks substantially the same, except the bedspread is white, and there's different clothes in the closet. And the basketball game on the TV set has switched to baseball.

Yes, that's a DVR box up on top of the TV. We're basically addicted to DVR now.

It's green apple mania in our living/dining/everything room.

Turn around from that other shot and you see this kitchen. This is a really big kitchen by New York standards.

It's genius - the dishwasher fits right under the sink.

Queen size bed - not bad. And an air conditioner, which is nice for muggy northeast nights.

The reverse view of the same room.

My closet. Nothing too exciting, except for the sheer magnitude of it (remember where we are).

Lots of storage behind these mirrors. And we have one of those cool toilet seat lids that closes softly on its own.

More of the bathroom - an exciting finale to an already bland blog post.

If you want any more info about our apartment, you'll have to come visit. We have a lovely fold-out bed, and we're happy to fold it out for people (like Esther, who's coming to visit next weekend!).

101 meals in 10 minutes or less

2007-07-26T11:32:00.000-05:00

The New York Times recently published an incredibly useful list of quick meals. Check it out.

I know I know

2007-07-20T17:16:00.000-05:00

...I'm a bad person. I've been having so much fun this summer, and I haven't taken the time to share about my experiences. Rosa and I are really enjoying New York - my job is fantastic, her classes are cool, and the city is amazing. And our apartment is tiny. I'll get some pictures posted up here real soon.

In the meantime, you can check out another blog I actually have been updating. It was created by my old Vocal Point buddy Jimmy Dunn, and I'm a contributor now. Enjoy.

We made it!

2007-05-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

Rosa and I made it to New York! We moved in to our summer apartment here on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. It's... cozy. But cool. We live in a pretty new building, secure and everything, right on the edge of Chinatown. Most of the signs around our building are in Chinese. Some are in English. And some are in Chinglish, if you know what I mean. We have stores called Lucky Good Times Grocery, and Happy Fun Sign Company. But seriously, we're having a great time.

The people at church seemed really nice today. A few lawyers in the batch, and of course people Rosa and I know from BYU. It's a small Mormon world after all.

Speaking of Mormons, Mike Wallace did an interview with Mitt Romney today on 60 Minutes. Great piece, if you ask me. Romney's a good candidate - I hope he holds up through the primaries. Of course there are a lot of Giuliani fans here in New York. And with Hilary as the senator, I think she's going to get a lot of votes out of this city.

Most of our stuff is all put away. We took our car out to my cousin's house out in Brewster, then took the train back to the city. We're officially car-less. Public transportation all the way, baby.

Off to bed... I start work in the morning. I've got a welcome breakfast, and my "summer sibling" has already invited me out to lunch. I'm sure the work gets harder after that. Wish me luck!

Celebrate good times! (come on)

2007-05-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

Hooray!! I just finished my huge paper and submitted it online. That means three things of great importance to me:

1. I am finished with all my exams and classes for my second year of law school. I'm done.
2. I have finished my writing requirement for law school, so next year while all my fellow third-years are writhing in pain at this time, I'll be at the beach.
3. I can hit the road (seriously, like in 20 minutes) with Rosie! We're off to Manhattan for the summer!

I feel like a million bucks.

2007-05-10T00:53:00.000-05:00

Rosa and I decided tonight that we won't leave tomorrow for NYC, but instead we'll wait until Friday. It's 2 in the morning - I'm still finishing up my paper, and there's still more to clean in our house. I start a new job on Monday, yet it seems so far away...

Happy Anniversary, Rosa!

2007-05-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

This post comes 8 days too late, but I've finally uploaded our pictures into my computer. In honor of our second anniversary, Rosa whisked me away to a local bed & breakfast called the Foxfield Inn. It was a delightful place.

We had a wonderful time. Thanks, Rosie!!

Noteworthy: International Champions!

2007-04-25T08:10:00.000-05:00

Congratulations are in order. One of BYU's newest singing groups, and one of the youngest a cappella groups in the country, Noteworthy, just won the final round of the International Championship of Collegiate A cappella. Rosa and I went out to NYC to enjoy the weekend with these amazing women and their families. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

Their win marks only the second time in the ICCA's 11-year history that an all-female group has taken the championship title.

And because last year's champs, Vocal Point, also came from Brigham Young University, that's two years in a row for BYU! Go cougars!!

A review of the show appears here, and the ladies got a quick nod with a lovely photo here. And check here for Meridian Magazine's recent article about the group. Congratulations, ladies!

Big nerds

2007-04-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

Rosa and I spent our Saturday night at a Nerd Party. A couple of our friends passed the CPA exam, so their spouses planned a nerdy accountant party in their honor. The invitation looked like a tax form, and everyone was encouraged to dress in their nerdiest clothes. The party even included a test of accountance terms. I'm sure my accountant father would be proud of the fact that I knew terms like GAAP, FOB, SEC, and especially FASB.

This is what Rosa and I looked like at the party. Rosa actually won second place for nerdiest girl costume. That's my girl!

A few years back, my sometimes-nerdy brother gave me this Compaq shirt: "Department of Redundancy Department." I can't say why I kept it so long, but I'm glad I did - it was the trophy piece of my outfit.

For more awesome nerdy photos of our nerdy friends, check out the Walters' blog: http://babywalters.blogspot.com/.

Good news

2007-04-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's trial was the most work I've put into anything in school, maybe ever. (My senior linguistics thesis was a close rival.) When all was said and done, I was very proud of our team. I felt we tried the case well. As it turns out, our jury came back hung. Boo. Three in favor of conviction and three against. Since I had been on the prosecution side, this wasn't great news.

But after I heard the explanations from the jurors, I felt much better. One of the three in favor of acquittal was the boyfriend of the defendant. So I don't necessarily value his vote as much. One of the others in favor of acquittal was 90% sure he did it, and I felt like if we sent them back to deliberate further, she would've been convinced the other 5% necessary. And the last person in favor of acquittal was mostly worried about why we hadn't presented more witnesses and a few other issues that were likewise outside the factual scenario given to our class. So basically her only concerns were details beyond our control. So overall, I had cause to rejoice. I feel we did well, and the professor's feedback was quite positive. Most importantly, I learned a TON through this totally hands-on exercise. And even more importantly, I'm DONE with that class this semester. Sweet!

In other news, right after our trial ended, I received my MPRE score in the mail - I PASSED!!! Yay!!! I'm ethical! My score will be sent to the New York Bar Association in the next couple of weeks. I'm one step closer to being a lawyer.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T22:27:00.000-05:00

This photo brought to you by the Parmas of Texas. Their new daughter Bria is just adorable, isn't she?

Church was fantastic today - very spiritual, very Easterly. So rejuvenating! Plus the ward choir performed and did a great job. And get this - I was sustained as the new organist! Yikes! I hope my 6 months of organ lessons from high school come back to me soon...

After we got home from Church, we found out the Easter bunny came to our house. We got a couple of Easter baskets full of candy, just like the one Bria's got here.

Then we spent the afternoon having Easter dinner with the Forbes, Olsons, and Hartshorns. We had an Egg Bashing contest, which basically means two people rolling hardboiled dyed eggs on the floor toward each other at high speed. After a horrible losing streak at the beginning, Rosa came back and won the whole thing! What did she win? More candy! Yay! Some delicious desserts and fun games rounded out a lovely evening.

Tomorrow is my big "trial" - my final exam for Trial Advocacy class. I'm going to try to convict this obviously guilty armed bank robber. Wish me luck.

What?!

2007-04-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

Okay maybe I'm just an ignorant boy from the west, but I gotta confess that when I moved to the southeast, I did not expect to scrape ice and snow off my car on a random morning in the middle of April.

But maybe that's just me.

catching up

2007-04-04T08:34:00.000-05:00

The bad thing about having a blog is that it gets outdated very quickly.

The good thing about having an outdated blog is you can just spend a couple minutes writing something new and you're suddenly all updated.

New York was awesome, as always. I checked out the apartment where Rosa and I will be living this summer - Lower East Side, kind of on the edge of Chinatown, funky little neighborhood. It'll be cool. I also met many of my fellow Weil Gotshal summer associates - turns out there are A HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE of us. Several delicious meals, some schwanky non-alcoholic drinks for yours truly, and more information about the firm and the summer program. It's gonna be a rockin' summer. I can't believe I'll be getting paid to do so much cool, fun stuff.

General Conference Weekend was so rejuvenating and refreshing. I can't wait for the transcripts to be available.

Today I'm going to jail. Fortunately, they're not locking me up. Not this time, anyway. I'm going there with the local Federal Public Defender to interpret for him in an interview with a Spanish-speaking inmate. I did this a couple weeks ago at a different jail, same PD. It's not as easy as I had hoped (I don't keep up my Spanish as well as I could), but it's surprisingly rewarding. I don't get many opportunities to use my Spanish to help anyone, so this is a nice little chance to apply my Spanish in the real world. Wish me luck.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Pre-Orientation Orientation

2007-03-23T08:28:00.000-05:00

I'm off to Manhattan this weekend for a big firm Orientation. Well actually, orientation takes place in May, so they've called this the "Pre-Orientation Weekend." It's basically a big excuse to fly everyone to New York for a couple nice dinners and a learn little more information about the summer internship program. I'm going because (1) my fellow UVA Law students are all going, (2) I've heard it's a fun weekend, and (3) it's a good opportunity to start getting to know a few people from the 100-person summer program. Plus, who can turn down nice dinners and a free cool hotel in New York?

TV update:
Top Design is getting really good. I'm glad Michael's gone. I really like Goil, but I think Andrea's going to win.
The Grease finale is this weekend. We obviously voted for Laura; and I'm surprised to say this, but we also voted for Max. I never saw it coming, but now I really like him. Plus, Austin is just creepy.

Okay, enough of that. I'm off!

Wherein our hero turns 26

2007-03-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

At 1:07am this morning, I officially entered the second quarter century of my time on this fine earth of ours. Many people don't make much of birthdays, but I think re-visiting the precise place in the universe where you were born is a cause for celebrating.

Let's examine my life in numbers:

26 --> years I've been breathing through my lungs
15,192,777,600 --> miles I've traveled around the sun
819,936,000 --> seconds I've been alive
10 --> length of my hair in feet if I had never cut it
39,760 --> dreams I've had
7 --> dreams I remember today
3 --> countries I've visited
33 --> states I've visited or driven through (not counting airports)
6 --> songs I've written
1,250 --> Sundays I've spent at Church
5 --> schools I've attended
20 --> years I've been a full-time student
1,093,973,400 --> times my overworked heart has beaten
3 --> freakin awesome siblings I have
11 --> beautiful nieces and nephews I have
409,968,000 --> breaths I've taken
8 --> full-length concerts I've personally produced
3 --> appearances I've made on TV
4,500 --> gallons of water I've drunk
0 --> fluid ounces of alcohol I've drunk
6 --> real jobs I've had
4 --> times I've gotten extremely ill
0 --> bones I've broken
200 --> "it's a boy" announcement cards my father had to re-print when he realized I wasn't born on March 21
9 --> holes of golf I've played
3 --> speeding tickets I've gotten
0 --> times I've been arrested
1 --> wife who woke up early this morning to get me Panera bagels
117 --> blog posts I've written

One awesome life: priceless.

One of those Sundays

2007-03-11T17:40:00.000-05:00

Church today was like a big, tall glass of refreshing water. So refreshing.

the MPRE wrap-up...

2007-03-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

I took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam this morning. I come from the entitled generation, so I'm used to being an ace on standardized tests. But this one wasn't as easy as I had hoped. But I still think I passed.

The majority of students take this test in the fall of their third year of law school (their 3L year). So why did I take it early? (1) I just wanted to get it out of the way. (2) Also, I'm in Professional Responsibility class right now, and preparing for this test was like an early final exam review.

The MPRE is graded on a curve. So the bad news is that my competition for the test is fellow second-years who are overachieving, overprepared (like me, I think). The good news is that my other competition is third-years who are taking the test a little late. The other good news is that I'm not competing against only fellow UVA Law students (like on my every semester final exams); instead, I'm competing against all students across the country. This, I think, helps my cause.

I'll find out my score in five weeks. As I said, it's based on a curve, with 50 being the lowest, 150 being the highest, and 100 being a median score. A passing score in New York, and I'm not kidding you, is 86. Eighty. Six.

In the end, although I didn't love my performance on the exam, and although I'm competing against a few other 2L gunners, I believe I did well enough to beat out the national average, or at least beat out the bottom 35th percentile.

Knock on wood.

I L-U-V the OBX

2007-03-09T20:33:00.000-05:00

Woohooo!!! Rosie and I just got home from our week vacation in the Outer Banks. Yes, we realize this is totally childish and collegiate of us to take a week off for Spring Break, but we just had to. Soon we will be sucked into the whirlpool known as Real Life, and spring break will no longer exist to us. So we had to take the chance while we could.

We spent the week at a beach house in Waves, North Carolina, which we split with our friends the Rufeners and the Wardens. The Rufeners have two adorable kids and a dog, which made it feel perfectly family-ish, and the Wardens are tons of fun too, so it was just a blast. It was kind of like my family's yearly vacations to Monterey Bay, in Cali, in that we played tons of board games, had organized meal times, made a trip to the aquarium, had an ocean view out the living room window, found sand in the weirdest places, and were many miles away from civilization. It was not like my family's yearly vacations to the California beach, in that no one knew how to play cribbage or Rummikub. But don't worry, Browns - I taught them.

In all, it was a marvelous trip. For early March, the water was expectedly cold, but we got lucky on the weather - mostly in the 50s with lots of sun. Fun at the beach.

Yay for Spring Break! Boo for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam I have to take in the morning. The MPRE is required before you take the bar, so I thought I'd get it out of the way before my third year of law school hit. My vacation comes to grinding halt right now as I head back to my Bar/Bri study book.

Pictures to follow (of the beach trip, not of the exam).

More press for symposium

2007-03-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

The Law Weekly just published an article about our symposium:

Eight distinguished corporate law experts descended on Caplin Pavilion last Friday to participate in the Virginia Law & Business Review’s first annual symposium. The topic of the day was “Corporate Governance: The Impact of Institutional Investors.” The symposium began with ...[continue reading]

Wrapping things up

2007-02-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

I wore my suit twice over the past three days, and neither occasion was for church!

On Saturday, I produced the ICCA South region's third quarterfinal. It was a pretty good show, and certainly my best produced. I'm finally starting to get the hang of how to run these shows. Looks like I won't be able to make my own Semifinals, though, so Rosa has kindly volunteered to run it for me! Which is really cool.

We awoke to the phone ringing on Sunday morning. Surprise! Church was cancelled. This wasn't such a big surprise, given that the weather reports were calling for nearly an inch of ice to cover the area. Nasty. So after hanging up the phone, we ran to the window, only to discover that there was no ice, and barely any snow. The snow wasn't even sticking to the grass! Charlottesville is definitely the most paranoid city I've ever lived in, when it comes to cold weather. I think the city has like one plow.

And Monday, I did my off-brief oral argument for the intramural Lile Moot Court. That's my final argument, this round of Moot court is over! If I advance, that would be incredible, since only the top 1/4 of the teams from this round advance. And it would also mean I get to put "Quarterfinalist" on my resume. On the other hand, if I don't advance, I don't have to write another brief! I'll find out my fate on March 31. 'Til then, I think I'll just enjoy this post-ICCA, post-symposium, post-Moot Court break.

Time for a nap.

My new article posted on casa.org: A Case for Competing

2007-02-23T09:15:00.000-05:00

"As a former competitor, current adjudicator, and current competition producer, I am constantly fascinated by people’s reactions to a cappella competitions. I know some people are strongly against, and most are strongly in favor, and some lie in between. But that’s not what gets me. What astonishes me is the reactions people give at the end of the competition.

"Some people lose competitions with unbelievable grace and poise. These people practically deserve an award just for their professionalism. Other people..."<continue reading>

UVA Law article re: symposium investor panel

2007-02-22T09:13:00.000-05:00

Institutional shareholders are increasingly taking an activist approach to investing by trying to influence how corporations govern themselves, but panelists at a business law symposium Feb. 16 agreed that more involvement by such groups will pay off for shareholders in the end. Representatives from institutional investor groups responded to scholars who spoke on the phenomenon during a Virginia Law & Business Review and Virginia Law and Business Society symposium, “Corporate Governance: The Impact of Institutional Investors,” held in Caplin Pavilion.... [Full article and mp3 podcast available here]

What a week!!

2007-02-19T08:33:00.000-05:00

This was one of those weeks where you only sleep a couple hours at a time. I seriously was staying up until 2am working on my moot court brief, then I'd sleep for a couple hours, work from 4am-5am, then sleep again for a couple hours. And that was my night. That was the process a few nights this week. Crazy!

I'm happy to report that the moot court brief got completed, and it was not late! (I turned it in one minute before the deadline) But my partner and I are pretty proud of it - we hope to advanced past this Second Round to next semester's Quarterfinal Round.

Then, as if that wasn't crazy enough, my big symposium happened on Friday. Have you ever prepared for something for so long that the date just gets engrained in your mind? This was like that. I wrote "Friday, February 16, 2007" in a thousand emails over the last eleven months, preparing for this day. Then all of a sudden, it arrived! We had professors from around the eastern US, and several representatives from the institutional investor community (together representing many trillions of dollars). What an experienced, professional group! It was an amazing experience to eat dinner with them all on Thursday night (and sit next to the Dean of the law school), and then even more incredible to hear from them all on Friday. Our professors shared their research and insights with us, and the investors sat on a panel and fielded questions about fund activism within corporate governance. From my side of things, it couldn't have gone better for me; I was so lucky - catering was on time and delicious, microphones all worked, weather was gorgeous.

So by the time that was all through, I was ready to collapse. What a week!

Fortunately, this weekend I had basically nothing planned, so I was able to just relax.

In other big news, our bishopric was changed on Sunday. Great men were released, and new great men took their place on the stand behind the pulpit. We're sad to see the old ones go, but we welcome the new with open arms. And the rest of Sunday was really fantastic. What a day.

What a week!!

Our symposium is next week!

2007-02-06T13:17:00.000-05:00

Things are really heating up for our journal's symposium next week. I'm excited to see it all culminate in a wonderful event. I've put over a hundred hours into this thing over the past ten months. I'm looking forward to it. The law school just posted a news story about it. Check it out:

http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2007_spr/corpgov.htm

Stella Awards

2007-02-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

The 2006 True Stella Awards

Issued 31 January 2007

(Click here to
confirm these are legitimate.)

#5: Marcy Meckler. While shopping at a mall, Meckler stepped outside and was "attacked" by a squirrel that lived among the trees and bushes. And "while frantically attempting to escape from the squirrel and detach it from her leg, [Meckler] fell and suffered severe injuries," her resulting lawsuit says. That's the mall's fault, the lawsuit claims, demanding in excess of
$50,000, based on the mall's "failure to warn" her that squirrels
live outside.

#4: Ron and Kristie Simmons. The couple's 4-year-old son, Justin, was killed in a tragic lawnmower accident in a licensed daycare facility, and the death was clearly the result of negligence by the daycare providers. The providers were clearly deserving of being sued, yet when the Simmons's discovered the daycare only had $100,000 in insurance, they dropped the case against them and instead sued the manufacturer of the 16-year-old lawn mower because the mower didn't have a safety device that 1) had not been invented at the time of the mower's manufacture, and 2) no safety agency had even suggested needed to be invented. A sympathetic jury still awarded the family $2 million.

#3: Robert Clymer. An FBI agent working a high-profile case in Las Vegas, Clymer allegedly created a disturbance, lost the magazine from his pistol, then crashed his pickup truck in a drunken stupor -- his blood-alcohol level was 0.306 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Nevada. He pled guilty to drunk driving because, his lawyer explained, "With public officials, we expect them to own up to their mistakes and
correct them." Yet Clymer had the gall to sue the manufacturer of his pickup truck, and the dealer he bought it from, because he "somehow lost consciousness" and the truck "somehow produced a heavy smoke that filled the passenger cab." Yep: the drunk-driving accident wasn't his fault, but the truck's fault. Just the kind of guy you
want carrying a gun in the name of the law.

#2: KinderStart.com. The specialty search engine says Google should be forced to include the KinderStart site in its listings, reveal how its "Page Rank" system works, and pay them lots of money because they're a competitor. They claim by not being ranked higher in Google, Google is somehow infringing KinderStart's Constitutional right to free speech. Even if by some stretch they were a competitor of Google, why in the world would they think it's Google's responsibility to help them succeed? And if Google's "review" of their site is negative, wouldn't a government court order forcing them to change it infringe on Google's Constitutional right to free speech?

And the winner of the 2006 True Stella
Award: Allen Ray Heckard. Even though Heckard is 3 inches
shorter, 25 pounds lighter, and 8 years older than former basketball
star Michael Jordan, the Portland, Oregon, man says he looks a lot
like Jordan, and is often confused for him -- and thus he deserves
$52 million "for defamation and permanent injury" -- plus $364
million in "punitive damage for emotional pain and suffering", plus
the SAME amount from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, for a grand total
of $832 million. He dropped the suit after Nike's lawyers chatted
with him, where they presumably explained how they'd counter-sue if
he pressed on.

Un-pause

2007-01-25T23:54:00.000-05:00

OK so, as my commenters note, things have been busy. I got a whole MONTH off of school (one of the few benefits of not going to BYU), and somehow Rosa bargained for a full month off of work, and we spent Dec 22 - Jan 21 in Utah. Although our trip there and back was a horrible airplane/rentalcar/delays/overbooking/generally huge mess, both ways!, the time in between was absolutely delightful. Lots of relaxing, visiting with family, visiting with friends, wonderful Christmas, multiple birthday parties, BYU basketball game, Vocal Point performance, Noteworthy weekend retreat at our house, a Noteworthy alumni party, helping my folks clean the storage, and even a little skiing. Oh! And Rosa got her driver's license (she had her purse stolen a few weeks back, and now it's all restored!). So all in all, it was a marvelous month off.

Now I'm back in full swing, preparing four ICCA competition shows, one school-wide business law symposium, and trying not to get behind in school. It's only been a week, but so far I'm still caught up in reading. Let's hope it stays that way!!

We've got a handful of pictures from our trip. Now if I can just find that USB cable...

Woohooo!!!

2006-12-20T21:31:00.000-05:00

Took my last final this afternoon!! Criminal Adjudication. The professor wrote it, intending we'd take it in about three hours, but he allotted us four just so we'd have plenty of time. I know so little about criminal adjudication that I took the full four hours, right up until the last second. Hahaha

But now I'm done!!! The semester is over, which means three down, three to go. As my parents told me tonight: I'm "half a lawyer."

The other reason I'm cheering today is because I advanced to the second round of our intramural moot court competition! Yeehaw! There were over 150 entrants in this first round; I survived with a combined brief and oral argument score high enough to make it into the magic 64. I did this round on my own, but all future rounds will be with a partner. I'm thrilled to be working in the next round with my buddy Jeff Miller. The guy's phenomenal. Mark my words: we're taking this thing all the way! The second round begins at the beginning of next semester (end of January).

Now Rosie and I just gotta clean up this place, pack, and hit the road!

Yay! Just one left!

2006-12-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

Finished my Copyright final this afternoon. After my first two finals this semester, I felt mostly numb - not sure if I had done well or not. But after today's exam, I actually felt really good. There always could be something you didn't see, or forgot to include, but on this exam, I felt like I really touched all the bases. Woohoo!

Now I just have to wait 'til February to find out how I did...

Last final tomorrow: Criminal Adjudication.

Gordon on Exams, Part 4 of 4

2006-12-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

The exam questions are usually absolutely hilarious fact situations that just slay students and send them into paroxysms of helpless laughter. Law professors learn how to write these witty exams at a seminar for new professors, "How to Make Up for Your Humorless Teaching Style on the Final Exam." Try not to let the laughing get out of hand.

If your professor has stressed theory all semester and has insisted that there are no legal rules and that only an idiot would believe that there are rules, her exam will test you on the rules and the rules alone. These rules are printed in heavy black typeface in the commercial outlines, and are therefore called "black letter law." Do not confuse them with black letter theory, which will do you no good whatsoever on the exam.

You should use the "IRAC" method on the exam. "IRAC" stands for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. Be sure to discuss each part of the formula, except that you can skip the Conclusion, because it doesn't matter which way you come out. Also, there is no time to do the Application, because the exam is so chockful of issues that you barely have time to list them and try to state some semblance of a rule using only key words. It shouldn't really be called the "IRAC" method, but "IR" looks kind of stupid and makes it sound like law school exams test only memorization skills. Which, of course, is what they do.

Be sure to confront any ambiguities in the exam. They probably wound up in there accidentally, but the professor will never admit this and will insist that they were deliberately placed there for pedagogical purposes (a phrase you will hear a lot). For example, suppose Don throws acid at Pat. (Notice that "Don" begins with a "D," as does the word "Defendant," and that "Pat" begins with "P," as does the word "Plaintiff." These professors are geniuses.) The exam doesn't tell you whether the acid made contact--i.e., a harmful or offensive "touching" (what a moronic word)--with Pat. You should confront this ambiguity and write the following:
The facts don't say whether the acid touched Pat. If it did not, it was an assault. If it did, it was a battery. Of course, it was clearly a battery if it was--battery acid!!!
Professors just love humorous asides like this, and will probably give you several points of extra credit.

After the exam, do not review--or "post-mortem"--the exam with other students. This is very depressing--especially if you can't even agree whether it was a torts exam or a contracts exam. On the other hand, if some persistent bozo absolutely insists on reviewing the exam with you, be sure to point out several issues that were not on the exam. This will cost him several days' sleep and, probably, thirty pounds.

Gordon on Exams, Part 3 of 4

2006-12-16T06:23:00.000-05:00

[Editor's note: Although this section is somewhat outdated as far as technology, the anxiety described is unfortunately spot on.]

Then the two-week exam period begins in earnest, and the typical student begins to feel like a nine-lived cat run over by an eighteen-wheeler. To take their minds off the crush of exams, students engage in a variety of activities, such as:
Trying to concentrate while panicking.
Having anxiety attacks while panicking.
Having diarrhea while panicking.
Panicking while panicking.

I strongly recommend that you type your exams instead of writing them. There are several advantages to typing. For instance, you can bring a "memory *1694 typewriter," and when the exam begins you can push a button and your typewriter will reproduce your entire outline. This is very handy.

You might find it a little difficult to concentrate in the typing room, because all those typewriters pounding together sound like a herd of elephants doing an impersonation of Gregory Hines. If somebody starts typing before you have even finished reading the first paragraph, don't get upset. It probably means nothing, except that someone is a genius and how are you supposed to compete with a genius and what are you doing in law school anyway!!! Take a deep breath. Take several deep breaths. Now you are hyperventilating and are going to pass out. Cease breathing.

The sound of the typewriters is not the only reason you're having trouble concentrating. You have not slept or eaten for two days. Also, you have not changed your clothes or bathed for a week, and things are beginning to get a little bit itchy. You are wearing a hat to hide the fact that your hair looks like the La Brea tar pits.

Try to hum a tune (to yourself, so that the person next to you doesn't bash you on the head with his typewriter) to help yourself relax. Suddenly--and you have never noticed this before--you realize that "La Bamba" has exactly the same chord progression as "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Twist and Shout." This will probably be hard to do, but let it go for now. You can think about it later--like during your next exam. Twist a little closer to your typewriter, and try to write something quasi-intelligent. Do not shout.If there is a power failure or your typewriter breaks, don't panic. Calmly remove the paper from the typewriter, gently pick up a pen, and scrawl across the page in ink mixed with blood: "TYPEWRITER BROKE!!!! I WRITE NOW!!!!"

Then pass out. To avoid power and equipment failures, you might want to bring in a wheeled cart with about seventeen extra typewriters and a twelve-volt car battery. Better yet, drive a pickup truck full of typewriters into the exam room and open the hood for access to the battery. It would be thoughtful to place a drip pan under the transmission. Also, be sure that the carriage on your typewriter is working, so that you don't end up typing 2,000 letters in one very black spot. This can make your answer hard to read.