Off the road again...

I am happy that I have no excessive driving in my imminent future.  My mom and I had a lengthy drive across this great nation of ours.  We drove somewhere in the area of 2,400 miles.  I added three new states to my list of those visited: Illinois, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.  (Of those, West Virginia was my favorite, despite the horrible traffic around Morgantown.)  I also got to finally go to Nauvoo.  I really enjoyed it.  It was fun getting to see where some of my ancestors lived and to get an idea how they lived.  I also got to go to the Nauvoo Temple (pictured above).  

A lot of the enjoyment of the trip came from the observations about all the various houses and towns, and farms that my mom and I made.  There were some really interesting and cool sites along the way.  Even though it can be rough sitting in a car for as long as I did, I really recommend driving across the nation to anyone.  At least once.  

Anyway, I'm in my new house here in Arlington, VA.  I'll be starting school in just 2 weeks.  It's crazy!  I need all the help I can get, so send good vibes.

Have a tremendous day!

Ummmm, bye.

Where to begin?! Lee v. Bridgewater, P90X, Sun Rape, or U of U Law School?!

The screen-captured photo to the right is awesome.  It is the ad for Mike Lee's U.S. Senate campaign that showed up here on my blog.  Woot!  Mike is seriously my favorite candidate of the two.  I've learned this week that Tim Bridgewater's campaign fights DIRTY.  I'm not going to go into detail, but I've seen some sides of this campaign that I didn't expect.  And apparently Tim is about to launch a negative TV ad campaign.  If I knew nothing about this campaign up to this point and I saw the commercial he's about to start airing, I WOULD NOT VOTE FOR HIM.  No matter what I'd seek another candidate.  His campaign is doing everything it can to lambast my chosen profession, and I do not see alienating an entire profession as a valuable contribution to our nation.  Sorry, Tim.  Even though you never had it to begin with, you've 100% lost my vote.  Anyway, but that's politics for you.  I could ramble on for another half hour about that, but I'll spare you... especially because "you" are my poor friends and family who are probably more than sick of hearing about Mike Lee.

About P90X, I just started it, and it is freakin' hard.  I hurt.  Ev-er-y-where.  And I've only done it for two days now.  Ouch.  At least I know that I'm doing something to my body, for good or for ill.

So, last weekend I rediscovered another one of the reasons I'm the genetic lottery winner (or loser, as my Mom put it--basically I have almost every health oddity or health defect that my parents each have--lucky me) in my family.  I went fly fishing with Jake on the Provo River.  It was a blast, but the sun did a SERIOUS number on my arms and face and neck.  This happens to me every summer.  I get serious burns.  So bad that the first time my friend Julianna saw how badly I get burned she exclaimed, "You don't get sunburned, you get Sun-RAPED!"  The picture above doesn't do the sunburns justice.  (I had actually used some sun block, so there are a few spots that made it out alive, others... not so much.) Anyway, the rest of this week I've been sick, possibly because of the burns solely, and have looked like a leper.  It's been fun.

Now the final topic for this wonderful life-updating blog post of mine, Utah Law.  The University of Utah Law school finally called me this morning to tell me that I'm off of their waiting list, and that they'll now accept me into their law school.  UGH!  On top of that, the dean told me I had only until Monday afternoon to make up my mind.  Double-UGH!  So tomorrow I'm going to find a time to go up to U of U and at least have a look around the campus, as well as maybe go do a session at the Salt Lake temple.  I've got a serious decision to make!  Here are the basics.... at Mason, I will have about $70,000 more of debt when I graduate, give or take.  However, I will have probably a better shot at a job as the market is much larger out there, and George Mason has a better history for landing people in jobs.  I also get to live in a city that I'd love to live in.  At Utah, my living expenses and in-state tuition make my debt load significantly lower.  I can have less stress in that regard.  However, I also think that Utah isn't nearly as good at placing people in jobs, despite their current claims that they are.  (What I hear from people actually going there right now is NOT encouraging... in other words, they were doing ok before the economy went to pot.)  Also, the jobs here will just not compare in salary... so will my debt still take just as long to pay off?  I don't know.

That's the decision.  Plus there are the factors of family, friends, dating, curriculum, the fact that Mason is actually more conservative than Utah, etc.  I struggle to decide these things when talking about such large numbers behind dollar-signs.

Well, that's my life in a nut-shell.  Thanks for catching yourself up.... Jules, and maybe like two other people.... and actually, maybe no one!  At least I got to get all of this out of my brain.

Conan O'Brien in His First Post-NBC Interview

Conan O'Brien is Love
Originally uploaded by WestlifeBunny

First of all, I think Jay Leno is a jerk. I haven't ever been a big fan of his, and always have favored watching David Letterman over Jay Leno. However, sometimes I have watched Leno's show(s). For the last while ever since Conan's brief job hosting The Tonight Show went south, I have effectively boycotted Jay Leno. I haven't watched one minute of him on TV. I think he's a JERK for taking a job back after leaving it. Granted, it's not all his fault. NBC is very much to blame as well. I think they handled the whole thing unwisely. Anyway, Conan just filmed his first interview and he pretty much says what I feel. In the interview Conan said that he would not have "surrendered 'The Tonight Show' and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well -- and then ... six months later [taken it back]... But that's me, you know." I think Conan's totally right that Jay was pretty lame in doing so.

Anyway, I think Conan's hilarious. I hope his new TBS show does well.

On to much more important things in my life, I'm kinda sorta graduating this week. It's really weird. Everyone asks if I'm excited, and I don't really know how to answer. I know I should be, but I guess the actual emotion just isn't there. I think I'm pretty freaked out about law school and that is why graduating isn't really sinking in. I am pretty excited about doing new adventurous things, but I just don't feel much about actually graduating. It's odd.

I've applied for my loans and stuff at George Mason, so that's about a done deal. I still feel like I'll go to BYU and possibly Utah if they take me off of their waiting lists. It's hard to not accept a much much cheaper offer from a school that is ranked the exact same and probably can get me a job just as well.

Speaking of jobs... does ANYONE out there have one for me? I really really don't want to end up with a lame summer job again. Especially now that I'm all awesome and have a college degree, (hahaha). I don't feel like a college degree is helping me out much, especially because it's in history. What do I do with that? I think I'm just going to have to settle for a not-so-great job and just suck it up. We'll see. If only I could make more money with this blog. Thus far I've managed to rake in about 40 bucks. Woot!

Well, I think that's about it. See y'all later!

Bye.

Law School Rankings, I Shouldn't Care... or Should I? USNWR Releases 2011 Rankings

Ok, actually the title lied.  US News and World Report DIDN'T release their 2011 rankings, they were leaked.  (Now available on Top Law Schools and other ranking sites.)

I had almost memorized where all the schools I paid any attention to were on the 2010 rankings because I frequented some of the sites that show the USNWR rankings.  I could tell you off the top of my head that George Mason and BYU were ranked 41, Utah 45, Cincinnati 52, Arizona State 55, and Loyola Law School 71.  I'm not rankings crazy, but I've given kind of a lot of credit to them.  Now I wish I hadn't.  Clearly many schools make drastic changes just to better their standing in the various stats that are used by USNWR to rank the schools.  So in other words, they don't necessarily become much better schools, but rather they change to better fit the rankings model.  Arizona State and Loyola must have done this in dramatic fashion.  Both of them saw huge jumps in the 2011 rankings that just came out.  And as luck would have it, these two schools are the last two holdouts for schools that I'm trying to finally rule out so that I feel comfortable with my George Mason choice.  They didn't really help with the rankings jumps.

Check out the latest rankings changes for the section that has all the schools I'm really considering:
38. Arizona State (55, +17, moved up to Tier 1)
38. Alabama (30, -8)
38. Colorado (45, +8)
38. Wake Forest (40, +2)
42. Brigham Young (41, -1)
42. George Mason (41, -1)
42. Arizona (43, +1)
42. UC-Hastings (39, -3)
42. Utah (45, +3)
47. Florida (51, +4)
48. American (45, -3)
48. SMU (49, +1)
48. Tulane (45, -3)
48. Maryland (43, -5)
——————–
52. Pepperdine (55, +3)
52. Yeshiva – Cardozo (49, -3, moved down from Tier 1)
54. Florida State (52, -2)
54. Connecticut (52, -2)
56. Case Western Reserve (55, -1)
56. Loyola – Los Angeles/Marymount (71, +15)
56. Cincinnati (52, -4)


Yes... Arizona State is now the highest ranked school I'm considering.  WHAT THE POO!?  How am I supposed to deal with that.  Ugh.  Utah, Mason, and BYU are all tied now.  And Loyola is actually tied with Cincinnati and made a big jump.  So a school that is now ranked in the region that I originally wanted to aim for (at least 40s-50s) has offered me $84,000.  I wish I didn't care about these rankings, but I do.  To be completely realistic, law firms aren't going to care if I went to law school # 40 or law school #56.  To them, it won't make that big a deal.  It might matter if I went to law school #14, or law school #80, but the first pairing isn't going to matter much.  Loyola seems to offer more of the programs I want, would be much cheaper tuition-wise, and now is ranked in a similar region as George Mason.  However, I don't think I want to live in Los Angeles.  I also don't think I want to live in Tempe, AZ.  I feel like DC is the place I by FAR want to live the most.  George Mason's ranking is slowly dropping, but hasn't dramatically changed in the last 5 years.  Loyola and ASU could very easily drop in the rankings next year.  Do you see how confused I STILL am about this decision.  Stupid rankings just threw a wrench in my thoughts.  Ugh.  Again, I really wish I didn't care about them at all, but I still do.  
Someone talk some sense into me.  OK, pros and cons let me lay this out:
George Mason---PROS:

• I'm in a city I LOVE
• There are apparently great singles' wards (helps with dating, obviously)
• I am in a city that is very conducive to getting jobs in this career field.  (Well, there are a lot of them anyway.)
• GMU is really good at placing people in jobs
• I will have family out there.  (My bro-in-law and sister.)
• In my mind, this is the most prestigious of the three schools.

CONS:

• Biggest price tag.
• More financially geared law school, and that's not really the direction I'm heading.
• Quite expensive to live out there. (Although apparently Loyola's cost of living is more.)
• Ranking dropping.
• A lot more competition.

Loyola Law School---PROS:

• Has more classes that I'm interested in.
• $84,000 scholarship makes this the cheaper option by about $50,000 total compared to Mason.
• I could possibly be more competitive among my class.
• Frank Gehry-designed campus!  (This is a joke.  Architecture won't make this decision for me.)

CONS:

• Really expensive cost of living, but of course, much of that is alleviated by scholarship.
• Terrible economy in LA and CA in general right now.
• Worse job prospects.
• It's in a shady area, and in a city I really don't much care for.  (Love the roller coasters, that's about it.  Well... the weather is really nice, too.)
• Suspicious jump in rankings: makes me think they're just numbers oriented, not necessarily worried about quality.

ASU--- PROS:

• Now the highest ranked school to which I was accepted.
• Again, singles' wards, great community.
• More classes in areas I'm interested in.
• Cheaper than Mason, but more expensive than Loyola.

CONS:

• Blasted HOT!
• Don't really know how much I want to live there, but I've heard some people say they really like Tempe.  I'm skeptical.  
• Also skeptical of their lack of reporting of employment at graduation.  This is a statistic almost all law schools will report and/or flaunt.  ASU hasn't reported it for the last few years, and it was getting worse in the last few years that they DID report it.
• Not getting a great employment vibe from ASU/Arizona in general.
• Very suspicious of the jump in rankings what with the lack of any great reports of employment.

Ok, sorry to subject you all to that.  But I think I needed a good reminder that these rankings don't really change my opinions.  I paid my seat deposit at George Mason, so I had pretty much made my decision, but then these lame rankings came out tonight.  I still feel that George Mason is the best choice at the moment, and I think that's where I'm headed barring any surprise financial offers, or acceptances offered from my schools that have waitlisted me.  (BYU?)

K, well, yeah, really need to go to bed.  Umm... bye.

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.