Still a tough decision... what do you have to say, Danny Glover?

So, I'm just chillin' here at work, bored out my skull.  (As you can see from totally random video I just put on youtube.)

I got waitlisted at BYU afterall, so my choice is narrowed a bit.  My current plan, which could change within the next week or so, is to pay my seat deposits at Arizona State and George Mason, and then see if I don't come off the waiting list of any of BYU, Utah, or (haha) William and Mary.  Again, Houston could only change my mind at this point by offering some crazy scholarship, and the other schools are pretty much done.  I'm withdrawing from Akron and Cincinnati, just to declutter my decision a bit. (Update: actually, I can't get myself to send these emails.  I'm having such a hard time ruling schools out entirely.  Arg.)  This is still a really tough decision for me though.  I wish that a brick would fall from the sky, shatter upon impact with my parking lot, reveal a hidden scroll within that unrolls, and proclaims the law school that is perfect for me.  Somehow I doubt that will happen.  Just a hunch.

Anyway, life's good.  I can kind of taste graduation now.  I just found out that none other than the famous star from such blockbusters as Lethal Weapon, The Rainmaker, and Lethal Weapon 4, the incomparable, outstanding, groovy kick-trash cool actor, Danny Glover will be the commencement speaker at our graduation!  Awesome.

K, see ya.

Applying to law school: My thoughts, frustrations, opinions.

Wow.  I have a lot of crazy stuff on my mind lately.
DC was a blast last week.  I had a tough time returning to the cold here in Utah.  The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were out there.  Low 70s-ish the whole time, and sunny.  It was great.  I came back here, and we've had a bitter cold wind going on.  Not great.
I really enjoyed getting to see George Mason Law.  It's a tiny little campus.  It was also under construction, so there wasn't much to see.  They have one big building, and they're building a second.  That's about it, plus, I may have already mentioned this, but I kept smelling cigarette smoke all over the campus.  It's in a nice area of Arlington, though.  I really love the DC area.  I think that I'd enjoy living there a great deal, however, it's not exactly cheap.  I would want some decent assurance I could pay off the debt of living there and of going to George Mason without a scholarship.

Random interruption to discuss the photo above.  That's me and Ty on one of our three flights on the way out to DC.  I had only had about 3 hours of sleep the night before, but I can't sleep on planes.  Ty, as you see, was not having the same problem.  That trip was seriously fun though.  The flights weren't comfy, but getting to go somewhere was tremendous.  I'm really glad that Spencer and Ty went with me as well.

Anyway, so I'm struggling with the George Mason choice, even though I really want to live there, and it's the best school that accepted me.  I just worry that I'll get tons of debt and then struggle to get the types of jobs I would need to pay it all off.

I just learned that BYU sent out a bunch of decision letters today, including mine.  What with the timing of their response, and the fact that there are a bunch of them at once, I'm fairly certain that at best I'll be waitlisted.  If they had accepted me, I would definitely go there at this point.  It just doesn't seem like I'd be accepted this late in the game.

I haven't thrown out Loyola, but it seems really unlikely.  Cincinnati and Houston are pretty much out.  (Houston could change my mind if when they offer scholarships next week they give me a great offer.)

Now, my current thoughts:  I'm actually really considering Arizona State.  When I applied I didn't think too much about going there, but now it's looking like one of my best options.  To make it affordable, I'll have to establish residency after my first year.  They've offered a scholarship for only my first year, in order to bring me down to below resident tuition.  Then if I could actually establish residency it would be almost as affordable as Loyola with the big scholarship that they offered.  It's a tough decision, and I need to make it in the next couple weeks, provided I don't want to waste any seat deposit money.

I've been pretty frustrated with getting waitlisted at U of Utah.  I thought I'd get accepted, but it was never a for sure thing, obviously.  Anyway, I'm surprised that I probably don't even have the option to stay in Utah for school after all.

I'm anticipating a lot of news tomorrow.  I have a few letters on their way.  I'll know more tomorrow.  Wish me luck, again.

K, bye.

Havin' a blast!

I LOVE Washington D.C.  I don't know exactly why I love this place way more than other cities, but I do. I've seen quite a few unexpected sites and people.  I saw Joe Biden in a presidential motorcade.  (I think we were on the wrong side of the Capitol to see Barack Obama.)  I saw John Mccain from about 20 feet away, Senator Dodd, Senator Sessions, Senator Thune, and a few others from even closer.  I saw all of them on a special tour of the Capitol.  I also got to go back today and sit in the Senate Gallery up above the Senate floor.  Unfortunately, we pretty much only got to see Al Franken decide to recess the session until Monday.      I'm really tired, but I've quite enjoyed myself.  Tonight we went to a sweet Chili place called Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.  It was crazy-crowded, but fun.  I also got to go see George Mason yesterday.  It was a really tiny campus.  It's not part of the regular campus, and I felt like the whole building kinda smelled like cigarette smoke.  However, they're building a large new building.  It's in a really new and nice area of Arlington.  I sat in on a class.  It was Contracts.  I was really impressed with the camaraderie of the classmates and the professor.  It was a particularly funny and nice professor, but still.  It seemed like a fun learning environment.  I actually kinda understood what they were talking about despite not having read the cases before hand.  I'm havin' fun, but I'm going to have to write more upon my return.  Boo.  The weather has been SO perfect.  In the high 60's, low 70's every day.  And sunny.  I'll HATE going back to the cold of Utah.  But alas, it must be done.  Well, see you later.

K, bye.

OH, also, William and Mary has waitlisted me.  That's what I expected, so we'll see if an offer comes up before I make my decision.  I wish BYU would HURRY UP!

Hi!

I'm in DC.  Crazy tired.  I will never do two stops when I could possibly do a non-stop flight again.  Just sayin'.  Cleveland's airport is ghetto.  Our cab driver ripped us off I think.  I wish I had energy to stay up and write, but alas.  I do not.  I will say that I'm REALLY grateful for the gals that are letting us crash at their apartment this week and house-sit for them.  It's great.

Well, I'll see you on the flip-side!

COME ON! Put the Utah State Aggies in the tourney!

Jared Quayle
Originally uploaded by USU Media Relations

Wow, I'm frustrated. It was really disappointing that Utah State lost last night in the WAC tournament final. However, I was feeling ok because ESPN's Joe Lunardi, their "bracketologist," had Utah State as a lock for getting an at-large bid to the tourney. However, I look at his bracket now, and we're considered one of the last 2 teams to get in. This is historically a BAD spot for the Aggies to be in. We get shafted a lot. We ended our season with a 17 game winning streak, won our regular season conference (which is a top 10 ranked conference), have a top 30 RPI... and yet we might not get in. I hate it. I wish it was less subjective and money-driven.

Argh. They better get in.

Hmmm... k, see ya.

UPDATE!
Heck yes!  They read my blog and put the Aggies in the BIG DANCE!  I'm pumped!

Already a pretty big fan of DailyBurn.com

Daily Burn Fluid Icon
Originally uploaded by alternatekev

I just started using DailyBurn.com yesterday, and I'm a pretty big fan already. It looks to be a promising way for me to keep tabs on my exercise, calories, protein and sugar intake (being hypoglycemic, I need this), etc. It's pretty cool. I would upgrade to their pro version if it wasn't so expensive, but whatever.

I was surprised by the fairly thorough list of foods that I could look up. I found everything that I ate yesterday. (Even store brand stuff.) Check it out if you like, or don't. Whatever.

K, bye.

The best band you probably haven't heard of, and MARCH MADNESS!

Imagine Dragons Rock the Local Music Scene
Originally uploaded by libertynance

I know I've plugged Imagine Dragons multiple times, but they really deserve some credit! They're a GREAT band just getting some traction in the biz. They've recently released their first EP on iTunes and will soon be releasing their second. Many of their songs are available on their MySpace. I really like this band, and think they're really going places. (I'm NOT just saying this because I know one of the members of the band, (Otherwise I'd be plugging the good bands that my close friends have been in,) they are a legit favorite that I'd like even if I didn't know who a couple of them are.) Check them out, for realz.

As for March Madness, I've got it. Whatever that is supposed to mean, I'm kind of obsessed right now. I read ESPN.com all the time, and watch for updates about my Utah State Aggies. I really can't wait for the NCAA tourney. I love it. I'm pretty sure I know more about the tourney from reading all these articles than almost everyone I know. (Maybe there's a couple of you out there that have March Madness worse than I do.) Not likely. Really... I'm obsessed.

I don't think I've announced it, but the University of Utah waitlisted me. This does not bode well for BYU, as it is ranked higher. Based on my LSAT and GPA I compared favorably to other people that were accepted there, so I thought I was in for sure, but they decided to waitlist me for some reason. Oh well. We'll see what happens. Wish me luck!

Losing my voice...

I Lost My Voice...
Originally uploaded by the roadiegirl

I have a sore throat that started up on Thursday and is steadily getting worse each morning. I'm not going to let this stop me from going to the basketball game tonight, and I didn't let it stop me from playing racquetball this afternoon. I know, I'm dumb.

However, this is the LAST home game of the season, and I can't wait to watch the Aggies one last time before I'm off to some law school. (Speaking of, I got waitlisted at Connecticut, (I'm pretending it's yield protection), and I got offered a scholarship at Cincinnati, cool!) Anyway, the Aggies are playing the other WAC Aggies, New Mexico State. They're currently in 2nd in the WAC. We've already solidified the regular season title. We're going to kick butt in the WAC tourney, too. I'm excited. Anyway, I'm going to probably lose my voice completely tonight if I do go. Can't help but shout and cheer at the games!

Uh... don't know if there was a point to this post other than my excitement about the game tonight.... k bye.


P.S.  I just discovered this incredible Rube Goldberg Machine music video by the same guys who did the awesome treadmill music video, and the one where everyone blends into the walls:  OK Go.  Check this one out.  It's incredible!

Racquetball did not go well today...

Annual Heidelberg Angel Tree racquetball tournament
Originally uploaded by heraldpost

Yeah, I got my butt kicked at racquetball today. Spencer beat me 6 games to 2. Ouch. We played forever though. Apparently I have one excuse for so much losing, I'm getting sick again. Ugh. Mid-semester, right on schedule. At least I know it's not the Swine Flu again. Woot.

Getting super excited for D.C. Can't wait.

Back to racquetball: How is it that really ancient guys, like those pictured above, can handle racquetball? It KILLS my knees. They get super sore. I thought old guys are supposed to have particularly crappy joints. Maybe they just know how to play way better than I do. There's a VERY good chance of that.

Whatever. K, bye.

Wow, best episode of Lost in a long time.

"Lost" mysteries: smoke monster
Originally uploaded by john.red

When season 6, the final season, started, I was really having my doubts about how it would go down. The acting seemed a bit off, and I couldn't really get into it. After last week's episode, and the episode from yesterday, I am back into it full-board! I LOVE Lost. Let's face it. It's an incredible show. Despite the fact that it has now been placed solidly in the realm of science fiction television, it really offers a bit of everything you could want. Drama, action, humor... it's all there. OK, I guess it's not a musical yet, but it offers JUST ABOUT everything. The acting on this most recent episode fully changed my mind about the poorer acting this season.

I can't wait to see how it all plays out. If you STILL haven't given this show a chance, go on Hulu and start from the beginning*. I promise you will find something you love about it. Unless you're lame. Don't be lame. Love Lost.

*Absolute requirement that you start from the beginning. It doesn't have any of the same magic unless you know the whole story. I hear tons of people, and I was one of these people once, who say, "Oh, I've seen a couple episodes. I didn't know what was going on." Or "It seemed really weird." You can't watch random episodes. Just start from the beginning.

K, see ya later.

Will the post office keep delivering Saturday mail?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/109231996_e9f3d5cf85.jpg

I'm a bit bored.  Can you tell?  Apparently the USPS is facing crazy debt and financial issues.  They are proposing some big changes that would be necessary to improve their business model, but one of the first things to go could be the delivery of mail on Saturday.  They're proposing a 5-day mail schedule.  (I just started singing "The internet killed the snail mail star," to the tune of "Video Killed the Radio Star.")

Perusing other news items, (hopefully more interesting ones), quoting from CNN here, "The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say.
The change is negligible, but permanent: Each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter, according to preliminary calculations. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second."   THAT'S CRAZY!  That was one strong earthshake.  I hope that they are able to get back on their feet soon.  For all our preparing for natural disasters and worrying about them, these recent earthquakes remind me that we just can't prepare for everything.  I have to enjoy my life as I know it, and do the best I can while I've got time.

K, see ya.