After a four-month hiatus, I am back. I make no representations as to how often I will write going forward; several such previous assertions have proven laughable. However, I have some time to kill before class in an hour and a half, so I thought I'd get after it again.
With only twenty-four hours until I leave for the airport, I am finding it increasingly difficult to focus on the work at hand. I suspect class this afternoon will be fine. But after spending this evening getting my hair cut, watching my two Wednesday night shows, Damages and Real World, and then packing, I worry that tomorrow my mind will already be in Houston/Austin, my two destinations. While Bethel's dry-witted curmudgeonhood (yes, I just coined that noun form) will likely keep me engaged in Evidence in the morning, the one hour of my afternoon seminar I will be attending might be a different story. Wish me luck.
But enough of the boring stuff; I should describe my trip. Along with my good friends Meg, Aditi, and Pete, I will first be spending the night in Houston at my parents' new house before heading to Austin Friday morning. True to form, I have drafted a list of activities for this Austin adventure that promise to make it an entertaining weekend. While it may not compare to the Great Guys NYC Weekend last July (Peter Luger's, Dark Knight in Imax, drinks atop the Gansevoort, general debauchery), I am certain we will have a blast (contrary to Pete Gundy's questioning of my confidence in the activities I have chosen). Mozart's on the lake, one night on Sixth proper and another night on Fourth/Fifth/West Sixth, dining at Homeslice, and of course a visit the old Hilltopper stomping grounds are all on tap. Expect a post next week discussing what we actually did, and a juxtaposition of the trip vis-a-vis GGNYCW.
That's all for now. I must go forth and learn about the post-filing period in Securities Reg. Cheers.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Friday, November 14, 2008
Commenting
Also, for anyone who does in fact read this blog, please feel free to comment. I am anxious to hear your reactions, whether they go to substance, writing style, or anything else. And I'm sorry that you can't comment anonymously, but don't worry, attaching your name isn't going to incite any sort of retaliation.
Blogging & Self-Importance; Daniel Craig as Bond
According to some of my best friends, using a blog simply to chronicle the day-to-day events in one's life indicates self-importance. Because I fear that may be true, and because I did not create this blog in order to track my daily life, I will do my best to stay away from those types of posts. I suppose the reason my last post came off that way is that I felt I needed to explain my prolonged absence from this forum. Now that I am posting more regularly, however, no such need exists.
Instead, I thought I would write today about my excitement for the Quantum of Solace release today. For whatever reason, I never really got into Bond movies growing up. I suppose the reason for this is that my father was not all that much of a Bond fan, and thus never showed me the old films growing up (this, in my opinion, evidences the remarkable degree to which the things to which people are exposed growing up is a function of their parents interests -- e.g., I have never seen an Indiana Jones film because my parents didn't care for them).
I was first introduced to Bond in the nineties. Whenever the Pierce Brosnan films were released, I watched them; I suppose the popularity of the Goldeneye video game piqued my interest. While I saw the films, I did not find them all that entertaining; Brosnan, as suave as he may have been, was not all that convincing as a special agent who interacted with and killed some of the world's most dangerous villains. His success luring attractive women was persuasive; however, the more important aspect of Bond -- his special-agent prowess -- left something to be desired.
This stands in stark contrast to Daniel Craig's Bond in Casino Royale. He had the badass routine down to a T. From the first scene of the film, in which he chases a man through an African town, battling the enemy atop an industrial crane and eventually disposing of him, to the way he endured the infamous (at least to any male) scene in which he was repeatedly struck in the jewels with some sort of orb on the end of a rope, he was quite convincing. More importantly, as opposed to Brosnan, whose romantic pursuits seemed to be the crux of the character, Craig's female interactions flow from his badass-ness. Sure, he may lack the smooth game that Brosnan had, but what seems to make him attractive to women is his brusque, badass mentaility rather than his charisma.
This, in my opinion, is a much more convincing Bond character. I won't go so far as to make a normative statement about what Bond should be, for I admittedly can't speak to the Connery or other previous versions of Bond. But when combined with his elegant, modern style (perfectly tailored, simple black Armani tuxes and suits over crisp, slim white dress shirts; sweet Tom Ford aviators; etc.) and the fact that he's super jacked, Craig much more closely embodies a character that grown men boyishly imagine themselves being: an ass-kicking, world-saving, vixen-enticing badass. It is for this reason that I am more pumped to see Quantum of Solace than any movie I have seen in a while.
Instead, I thought I would write today about my excitement for the Quantum of Solace release today. For whatever reason, I never really got into Bond movies growing up. I suppose the reason for this is that my father was not all that much of a Bond fan, and thus never showed me the old films growing up (this, in my opinion, evidences the remarkable degree to which the things to which people are exposed growing up is a function of their parents interests -- e.g., I have never seen an Indiana Jones film because my parents didn't care for them).
I was first introduced to Bond in the nineties. Whenever the Pierce Brosnan films were released, I watched them; I suppose the popularity of the Goldeneye video game piqued my interest. While I saw the films, I did not find them all that entertaining; Brosnan, as suave as he may have been, was not all that convincing as a special agent who interacted with and killed some of the world's most dangerous villains. His success luring attractive women was persuasive; however, the more important aspect of Bond -- his special-agent prowess -- left something to be desired.
This stands in stark contrast to Daniel Craig's Bond in Casino Royale. He had the badass routine down to a T. From the first scene of the film, in which he chases a man through an African town, battling the enemy atop an industrial crane and eventually disposing of him, to the way he endured the infamous (at least to any male) scene in which he was repeatedly struck in the jewels with some sort of orb on the end of a rope, he was quite convincing. More importantly, as opposed to Brosnan, whose romantic pursuits seemed to be the crux of the character, Craig's female interactions flow from his badass-ness. Sure, he may lack the smooth game that Brosnan had, but what seems to make him attractive to women is his brusque, badass mentaility rather than his charisma.
This, in my opinion, is a much more convincing Bond character. I won't go so far as to make a normative statement about what Bond should be, for I admittedly can't speak to the Connery or other previous versions of Bond. But when combined with his elegant, modern style (perfectly tailored, simple black Armani tuxes and suits over crisp, slim white dress shirts; sweet Tom Ford aviators; etc.) and the fact that he's super jacked, Craig much more closely embodies a character that grown men boyishly imagine themselves being: an ass-kicking, world-saving, vixen-enticing badass. It is for this reason that I am more pumped to see Quantum of Solace than any movie I have seen in a while.
Monday, November 10, 2008
I need to post more often.
Well yet another couple of months have passed since I last posted. For that I apologize. I guess I'll have to chalk it up to being busy, although I know that is probably the most tired excuse one can give. The old law school saying has certainly rung true for me thus far though: "The first year they scare you to death; the second year they work you to death; and the third year they bore you to death." Hopefully the final element won't prove true; I intend to take some pretty cool classes and clinics my third year. Additionally, I intend to defend, along with my buddy Elliot, my IU Law beer pong title, since no league seems to me materializing this year. Perhaps it'll be like the Ryder Cup, or the World Baseball Classic, taking place only every other year, but all that much more important when it does go down. But I digress...
The aforementioned "working to death" part for me has included countless hours preparing for, traveling to, and attempting to win people over at interviews; what seems like a year of my life checking citations and quoting Bluebook rules (incidental bonus: partial mastery of the Chicago Manual of Style); trying to be at least halfway prepared for my classes; and finally, in the few hours that remained, attempting to learn the moot court case well enough so as not to embarrass myself at oral argument. This crazy schedule caused me to spend multiple ENTIRE pre-finals weekends in the library, something I had managed to avoid even during 1L.
Looking on the bright side, my frantic fall did land me a job: I'll be heading to Allen & Overy in New York next summer. I'm pretty excited about my choice, and I feel really lucky to have gotten the opportunity, especially in this economy. A&O has not only the sophisticated international corporate practice for which I was looking, but its NYC office had a much smaller entering class size (15-20) than some of the larger shops I was considering (80-90). The people were really cool too, which is always nice.
Anyway, with journal responsibilities all but done for the semester, and moot court fall arguments over (and likely definitively over -- fairly confident I'm not advancing), and the job wrapped up, this weekend I suddenly realized that I actually had some free time. Sure enough, however, things will quickly pick back up, for study group meetings commence later this week. Nonetheless, I resolve to post more often, not because anyone will likely read this, but because I enjoy writing at my leisure and about things of my choosing. Perhaps I will chronicle some of the few fun things I have gotten to do this fall; perhaps I will write about how the BCS dodged a huge bullet (if not a missile) with the Penn State loss over the weekend (thank you, Hakweyes). Rest assured I will not get overtly political. Until I decide my next topic, cheers.
The aforementioned "working to death" part for me has included countless hours preparing for, traveling to, and attempting to win people over at interviews; what seems like a year of my life checking citations and quoting Bluebook rules (incidental bonus: partial mastery of the Chicago Manual of Style); trying to be at least halfway prepared for my classes; and finally, in the few hours that remained, attempting to learn the moot court case well enough so as not to embarrass myself at oral argument. This crazy schedule caused me to spend multiple ENTIRE pre-finals weekends in the library, something I had managed to avoid even during 1L.
Looking on the bright side, my frantic fall did land me a job: I'll be heading to Allen & Overy in New York next summer. I'm pretty excited about my choice, and I feel really lucky to have gotten the opportunity, especially in this economy. A&O has not only the sophisticated international corporate practice for which I was looking, but its NYC office had a much smaller entering class size (15-20) than some of the larger shops I was considering (80-90). The people were really cool too, which is always nice.
Anyway, with journal responsibilities all but done for the semester, and moot court fall arguments over (and likely definitively over -- fairly confident I'm not advancing), and the job wrapped up, this weekend I suddenly realized that I actually had some free time. Sure enough, however, things will quickly pick back up, for study group meetings commence later this week. Nonetheless, I resolve to post more often, not because anyone will likely read this, but because I enjoy writing at my leisure and about things of my choosing. Perhaps I will chronicle some of the few fun things I have gotten to do this fall; perhaps I will write about how the BCS dodged a huge bullet (if not a missile) with the Penn State loss over the weekend (thank you, Hakweyes). Rest assured I will not get overtly political. Until I decide my next topic, cheers.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
I'm back.
I realize the best way to establish readership on a blog is not to post twice and then refrain from doing so for nearly four months. I suppose I decided the best way to spend my summer in New York was not hammering away at the keys on my laptop, particularly when all I did every day at work was just that. However, now that school has started up again, I am confident that with all I have on my plate this fall, this blog come in handy as a procrastination tool. Plus, because I had such an amazing summer, I want to recap some of the highlights here. For instance, this summer I attended the Indy 500 and the Belmont Stakes; ate at the best steakhouse in New York, Peter Luger in Brooklyn; watched The Dark Knight in IMax; and bought my first peak-lapel suit, a Z Zegna piece I snagged at a seventy-percent discount from Saks.
The point is I am back in the game that is the law school blogosphere. Check back for some new posts in the coming weeks, posts that will cover the topics I listed above along with new material chronicling my fall experiences.
The point is I am back in the game that is the law school blogosphere. Check back for some new posts in the coming weeks, posts that will cover the topics I listed above along with new material chronicling my fall experiences.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Starbucks and studying don't mix.
Earlier I decided that tonight I needed to spend some time on my note for law journal. Because the library closed at 5 p.m. today, I decided I would go to Starbucks. A decaf cappucino sounded nice, and I assumed the place would be fairly empty considering 1) Btown seems to have slowed down considerably since finals ended; and 2) it was Friday night - surely on a Friday night people would be at the bars, or hanging with friends, or at least not hanging out at a coffee shop. Wrong. Starbucks was quite crowded. The crowd in and of itself was not really much of a problem though; I quickly located a table with outlet access. The real problem was that while half of the people were studying, reading, or otherwise focusing intently, the other half were chattering quite loudly. The din was so loud, in fact, that my Bose noise-canceling headphones could not drown it out. This led to an only semi-productive reading session, which was somewhat disappointing considering I set aside my Friday night to get some work done. Oh well.
To be honest, the transition of most Starbucks from quiet, intellectual havens to noisy, crowded establishments is a phenomenon I have seen developing for some time, however. While all of my evidence is admittedly anecdotal, and drawn from a small sample of stores, this observed change has paralleled Starbucks' transition from a domestic, customer-focused business to a global, volume focused corporation with something like 30,000 stores worldwide. Interestingly, this strategy change does not seem to be working all that well for the Seattle coffee giant. Suffering sales and a declining stock price have led to recent experiments like the move away from the traditional cup design, with the green logo, to one with a new brown logo. Rather than such a simple product packaging switch, perhaps the more appropriate path to stock-price stardom is a return to the company's quiet coffee shop roots, with fewer stores and more focus on the customer. While I do pick up the occasional cup of joe or breakfast sandwich from Starbucks, I would certainly spend more time, and consequently more money, there if I could actually enjoy the Norah Jones playing in the background while reading a novel, the newspaper, or even a casebook.
Moving up yet another level of abstraction (thank you, Don Gjerdingen), this Starbucks story represents a struggle many businesses face as they make the move from local to national to global. How do you encourage innovation and foster growth while still embracing the things that made your business a success in the first place? Many a company has failed to adequately balance these interests (read: Under Armor and Crocs). I don't presume to have the answer to this question, but one day, I would love to run one of these companies and try my hand at the growth-versus-basics balancing act.
To be honest, the transition of most Starbucks from quiet, intellectual havens to noisy, crowded establishments is a phenomenon I have seen developing for some time, however. While all of my evidence is admittedly anecdotal, and drawn from a small sample of stores, this observed change has paralleled Starbucks' transition from a domestic, customer-focused business to a global, volume focused corporation with something like 30,000 stores worldwide. Interestingly, this strategy change does not seem to be working all that well for the Seattle coffee giant. Suffering sales and a declining stock price have led to recent experiments like the move away from the traditional cup design, with the green logo, to one with a new brown logo. Rather than such a simple product packaging switch, perhaps the more appropriate path to stock-price stardom is a return to the company's quiet coffee shop roots, with fewer stores and more focus on the customer. While I do pick up the occasional cup of joe or breakfast sandwich from Starbucks, I would certainly spend more time, and consequently more money, there if I could actually enjoy the Norah Jones playing in the background while reading a novel, the newspaper, or even a casebook.
Moving up yet another level of abstraction (thank you, Don Gjerdingen), this Starbucks story represents a struggle many businesses face as they make the move from local to national to global. How do you encourage innovation and foster growth while still embracing the things that made your business a success in the first place? Many a company has failed to adequately balance these interests (read: Under Armor and Crocs). I don't presume to have the answer to this question, but one day, I would love to run one of these companies and try my hand at the growth-versus-basics balancing act.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
First post...
So here it is -- my blog. Having completed the all-important 1L year, I suppose I'll finally sit down and do something I've been contemplating for some time. Considering the next few months and years will have a profound effect on the course of my life, what better time to catalog my thoughts and dreams than now?
I write this as I sit enjoying a good night of sports from my oh-so-comfortable couch. That's right, I actually have time to watch sports now. In real time. Amazing. Later, I will enjoy some DVR before drifting off to sleep. This comes after several days of celebrating combined with relaxation after my last exam on Friday. Yesterday, in fact, several of my friends and I enjoyed, inter alia, a wonderful day on the lake on a double-decker pontoon boat we rented; the purpose was to celebrate my good friend Aditi's birthday. Unfortunately, we did not know that Indiana does not permit alcohol sales on Election Day, so our supply was limited to the few random beverages we could scrounge up collectively. Nonetheless, we still had a blast. And honestly, it was probably best that we didn't have more to drink; I was able to catch up on some sleep and thus have a productive day today.
In addition to investing some time in the note I am writing in pursuit of a law journal position, I ran a few errands and notched a solid workout. Rather than hitting the gym, however, I exercised at home with the new Perfect Pushup apparatus I purchased today at GNC. So that I can easily transport them to NYC for the summer, and when traveling in general, I chose the travel model. The jury is still out on whether or not executing these "perfect" pushups will actually result in less strain on my right shoulder than traditional pushups. I will report back in a few days on this topic.
Also, I was able today to knock out a few more pages in my the book I'm reading: The Last Tycoons. The work is basically an expose on the history of investment banking and one of the industry's most illustrious firms. Because I realized I really did not understand the various facets of the investment banking industry all that well, I thought I'd check it out. For anyone interested in reading the book, check out the first chapter, printed here in the NYTimes. I began reading this piece the day of my Contracts exam. While I knocked out around a hundred pages that first day, I've not had time to dig into the work again until today. Although it's seven hundred pages in length, I anticipate finishing the book before I leave for NYC on May 29. Because I will not have a television in my dorm in NYC, I would be open to any suggestions anyone might have on pieces I should read over the summer.
Well I suppose that's enough for the initial post. Brevity has never been one of my strongpoints. Cheers.
I write this as I sit enjoying a good night of sports from my oh-so-comfortable couch. That's right, I actually have time to watch sports now. In real time. Amazing. Later, I will enjoy some DVR before drifting off to sleep. This comes after several days of celebrating combined with relaxation after my last exam on Friday. Yesterday, in fact, several of my friends and I enjoyed, inter alia, a wonderful day on the lake on a double-decker pontoon boat we rented; the purpose was to celebrate my good friend Aditi's birthday. Unfortunately, we did not know that Indiana does not permit alcohol sales on Election Day, so our supply was limited to the few random beverages we could scrounge up collectively. Nonetheless, we still had a blast. And honestly, it was probably best that we didn't have more to drink; I was able to catch up on some sleep and thus have a productive day today.
In addition to investing some time in the note I am writing in pursuit of a law journal position, I ran a few errands and notched a solid workout. Rather than hitting the gym, however, I exercised at home with the new Perfect Pushup apparatus I purchased today at GNC. So that I can easily transport them to NYC for the summer, and when traveling in general, I chose the travel model. The jury is still out on whether or not executing these "perfect" pushups will actually result in less strain on my right shoulder than traditional pushups. I will report back in a few days on this topic.
Also, I was able today to knock out a few more pages in my the book I'm reading: The Last Tycoons. The work is basically an expose on the history of investment banking and one of the industry's most illustrious firms. Because I realized I really did not understand the various facets of the investment banking industry all that well, I thought I'd check it out. For anyone interested in reading the book, check out the first chapter, printed here in the NYTimes. I began reading this piece the day of my Contracts exam. While I knocked out around a hundred pages that first day, I've not had time to dig into the work again until today. Although it's seven hundred pages in length, I anticipate finishing the book before I leave for NYC on May 29. Because I will not have a television in my dorm in NYC, I would be open to any suggestions anyone might have on pieces I should read over the summer.
Well I suppose that's enough for the initial post. Brevity has never been one of my strongpoints. Cheers.
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