Summer in New York

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!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I know I know

...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!

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)

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.

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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?!

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

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

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

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

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

the MPRE wrap-up...

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

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

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

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

"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

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!!

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!

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

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.

©2007 by Randy Cassingham,
StellaAwards.com. Reprinted with permission.

Un-pause

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!!!

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!

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

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

[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.

Gordon on Exams, Part 2 of 4

Since professors won't tell you how to do well on your exams, I will. Because you cover so much material, you need to make an outline for each class. You can do this alone, assuming you have about an extra thousand years to kill. An easier way is for your study group to divide up the classes, with each person outlining one class. This differs from the prior approach in that it is humanly possible. You are likely, however, to open up your study group's contracts outline the night before the exam and find a sentence like this: "An offer is the manifestation of gooberness to enter into a something or other (I didn't catch what the professor said here) so made as to justify another person in understanding that [illegible] is invited and will gyre and gimble in the wabe. Or something like that." You then realize that the classmate who wrote this dropped out six weeks ago and is inaccessible by telephone, and you run around the room screaming like the lunatic that you are. So it's really better just to buy the commercial outline and forget it.

Then, memorize the outline. As you pour it in the top of your head, most of it will run out your ears. Keep scooping up the stuff that runs out your ears and pour it back into the top of your head. Eventually, a little of it will begin to stick. You should also use acronyms, or "pneumatic devices," to help you memorize. For example, the prima facie case of a tort action for negligence has several elements: an Act or omission, a Duty, a Breach, Actual cause, Proximate cause, and Damages. The first letters of these elements are A, D, B, A, P, and D. Now, think of a sentence using words beginning with those letters. For example, Ann Drop-kicked Bunnies And Pretty Duckies. See? You will never forget the elements of negligence again. You can use this technique to remember everything you learn in law school. Using this method, one student was able to reduce his entire civil procedure outline to one word, and finally, to one letter. Then he forgot the letter.

Next, get some of the professor's old exams from the library and try to answer them. As you read them, note that you don't have the foggiest idea what they are asking. You can't even tell what the subject matter of the class was. Put the exams away. This year's test will probably be easier.

Gordon on Exams, Part 1 of 4

Exams can be really stressful. Every second you spend away from your studying, you feel like someone else is getting ahead of you. But 18 hours/day can be draining, so you really do need a break. Hence when I recently got my hands on a hilarious article by Professor James D. Gordon, of BYU law school, it provided some much needed comic relief. This article was amusingly published in the prestigious Yale Law Journal back in 1991. The theme of the piece is the silliness of law school; Gordon pokes fun at nearly every aspect of law school life. Though his style can occasionally be a bit over-the-top for my comedic taste, I have to admit I roared as I read through his section on exams. Maybe it just hit a little close to home this week.

In an effort to lighten the mood for all my classmates who read this blog (and hopefully for you others as well), I'm going to post the exam part of the article here in installments over the next couple of days. And since I'm studying for my copyright exam right now, let me make the disclaimer that I'm posting these sections on this blog for fair use purposes; I invite any comments on Professor Gordon's remarks. This is totally academic, not infringement.

Without further ado, I bring you installment #1:

Studies have shown that the best way to learn is to have frequent exams on small amounts of material and to receive lots of feedback from the teacher. Consequently, law school does none of this. Anyone can learn under ideal conditions; law school is supposed to be an intellectual challenge. Therefore, law professors give only one exam, the FINAL EXAM OF THE LIVING DEAD, and they give absolutely no feedback before then. Actually, they give no feedback after then, either, because they don't return the exams to the students. A few students go and look at their exams after they are graded, but this is a complete waste of time, unless they just want to see again what they wrote and have a combat veteran-type flashback of the whole horrific nightmare. The professors never write any comments on the exams. That might permit you to do better next time, which would upset the class ranking.

Another reason that law professors give only one exam is that, basically, they are lazier than three-toed sloths. They teach half as many hours as other professors, are paid twice as much, and get promoted three times as fast. Then, they whine like three-year-olds because they have to grade one exam per class. I mean, this is every single semester, year in and year out. The constant grind is enough to kill a person, I tell you.

Halfway home

Took my second final today. It was a nice short 2-hr exam for my seminar class, "Jury Trials in America: Understanding and Practicing Before a Pure Form of Democracy." Yeah, the title takes longer to write than the final.

No, but seriously, it wasn't too bad. Since we've already had lots of readings, discussions, practice sessions, and papers, the exam was just more of the same. And it was only worth 60% of my grade. That may sound like a lot to my undergraduate readers, but remember that normally in law school, the semester grade is calculated thus:

000% Reading
000% Attendance
100% Final Exam
100% TOTAL

So as you can see, finals are a big deal. So this one was refreshing in some sense. Now I've got two down and two to go. Up next: Copyright.

One final down!

I took my evidence final today. Four hours of hearsay exceptions, character witnesses, expert testimony, conditional relevance, and more! Yikes! Before you ask, I have no idea how I did. In fact, my grade reflects not so much how I did, but how everyone else did. Yay for grading curves!

One down, three to go! Up next: Jury Trials in America.

Holiday Jazz

There's a lot of great internet radio stations out there. I just found a new one that has a bunch of great holiday music, including a really hip Holiday Jazz station. Check it out.

Vocal Point on YouTube

This is a clip of 2005-06 Vocal Point rehearsing for a back-to-school performance early this fall. The song, "He is Born," was written by one of Vocal Point's alumni, Aaron Edson, and honors the birth of Jesus Christ. The group performed this song in their championship-winning ICCA set. I love these guys.

December = Decisions

December 1 is a huge day for second-year law students all around the country. According to National Association for Law Placement standards and official timeline, all offers made by law firms must be accepted or rejected as of December 1. So the 98% of us who are pursuing work in the private sector, mostly at big firms, are now all locked in. We've signed our lives away. All decisions are now made, so we can now ask each other where we're going.

So where am I going?

Weil, Gotshal & Manges [while, gott-shull, and man-jz] is a New York -based law firm with over 1,100 attorneys across the US, Europe, and Asia. I've received and accepted an offer at their New York office for an internship next summer. The internship will last approximately 12 weeks, and will ideally end in a permanent offer of employment for the following fall (post-graduation). Find out more about Weil on the firm's website.

So Rosie and I are headed to Manhattan next summer! Crazy, huh?!

Getting Gigs

After a brief dry spell, I've managed to squeeze out another article on the CASA website about directing groups. Check it out.

Noteworthy on YouTube

The great all-female a cappella sensation has a big concert this coming Saturday night, including the release of their hott debut album, On The Horizon. In honor of Noteworthy, here is an awkward video of them performing at BYU's annual celebration, Friday Night Live. You can hear their greatness through the mismatched video and sound. Check it out:

Thanksgiving in the CLE

Rosa and I had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday with the Parma family in Cleveland. We drove up last Wednesday, eight hours of perfectly uneventful driving. Last year, it was a near blizzard in Cleveland on Thanksgiving. This year, it was near 70 degrees!! And there's still a few orange leaves clinging onto those last few branches. Gotta love the midwest.

We had the actual Thanksgiving meal at Monica's house. They deep fried the turkey! It was my first deep-fried turkey experience, and let me tell you that it's SO GOOOD! It looks exactly like you'd think it would - a turkey sitting in a big vat of very hot oil. It's just like dropping fries into oil at McDonalds. As soon as the turkey hits the oil, it immediately seals off the outside, so all the juices stay in the bird. Soooo delicious. And Rosa made her hit rolls (Mom's recipe). Delicious appetizers, yummy mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies, the works! We had a great time visiting with the family.

We got lots of family time in, fun and games, a double-date with Rosie's brother and his wife, and even some candy-making. The biggest hit of the weekend, though, was the newest addition to the Parma clan: Bria.


I've chronicled a bit about her before on the site, but let me just say that she is adorable. Six weeks old, and about as cute as they get. She's got many of her mom's features, but she's got her dad's tan skin tone and thick dark hair. Beautiful.

We woke up early Sunday, and drove back, covering the 8 hour drive in about 9 or 10 hours, thanks to the lovely ridiculous holiday traffic, and several episodes of rubbernecking. But we got back in time for Rosa to play piano during Relief Society and have me teach the Elders Quorum lesson at church. Phwew! We're exhausted, but overall, a fabulous weekend!

And now back to studying...

Watch me morph into Joe Montana

See me morph into Joe Montana

Create your own Celebrity Morph™ on MyHeritage.com

Happy Engage-i-versary!

Rosa and I were engaged two years ago today! It was November 20, 2004, right before the Vocal Point concert. Smartest thing I ever did.

SoJam 2006

Rosa and I spent the weekend at the newest, hottest event for singers. It's called SoJam. Now in its fourth year, SoJam brings together tons of a cappella groups from all over the south. There's a collegiate competition on Friday night. Then Saturday, there's workshops by the pros on everything from marketing to vocal percussion to comedy on stage to recording tips to master classes to you-name-it. The whole weekend culminates in a big pro concert. This year's show featured the Duke Pitchforks (winners of the collegiate competition), moosebutter (hilarious), Boston-based Firedrill!, and SF Bay Area-based Hookslide. My guts hurt from laughter after seeing moosebutter - they're always awesome. And nothing against Hookslide, but Firedrill! brought down the house. UNBELIEVABLE. Every once in a while, after listening to so much crappy a cappella, you hear and see something that reminds you why you fell in love with it in the first place. Incredibly talented singers, and nothing else. So perfect!

Bill Hare, a cappella studio engineer extraordinaire, was on hand with his ever-ready camera, and zapped some good photos of the whole weekend. Check 'em out:

Bill's photos of SoJam

Hear ye, Hear ye

K, so backtrack a few days. Just before Halloween, our neighbors and best buds Greg & Michelle Olson hosted a Murder Mystery party, in honor of the coming hallow's eve. The theme was ancient rome. I was a Roman senator, and Rosa was Cleopatra. My costume was pretty much just a sheet wrapped around me, along with some greenery in my (unfortunately too short) hair. My hair was so short that we couldn't bobby pin it in; eyelash glue didn't work, and neither did our craft wire. So on the fourth and last attempt, we just used packing tape. And it stayed all night! Rosa's costume was almost entirely borrowed from generous Michelle, and I think it very much Cleopatra-ed her up. We all had a GREAT time, and it turned out Michelle did it. Jerk.

Here's a picture of all of us smiling, proving we had a good time:

Brianne and Derek Casper, Michelle and Greg Olson, Stephanie and James Forbes, me and Rosie

Podcast update

Joey and I finished another episode of our "A Cappella Originals Podcast." It's episode 4, baby. If you've got iTunes, just search for "a cappella" and you'll find it. If you're scared of iTunes, you can find it in AAC or mp3 format here.