Going dockside

I'll be sailing the bluenose schooner Atlantas (probably, but it might be another schooner or sloop) out to Catalina come March, and I'll be going dockside to Marina del Rey on February 5th. I've gotta get cracking on the navigations.

Robert E. Lee & Stonewall

I forgot to mention that 1/19 is Robert E. Lee's birthday. Of course I celebrated Stonewall's birthday only a few days before.

Let's all take a moment to reflect on the importance of freedom and the death of self-determination in America. Specifically, let us bear in mind the words of Abraham Lincoln himself: "In saving the union I have destroyed the Republic."

At least he knew the travesty he created.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales

In take two of the superfight, Filipino legend Pacquiao is taking on Mexican phenom Morales. Heather and I will be meeting up with my trainer and several other boxers at Hooters in Hollywood and Highland (by the Kodak) to watch the bout. Of course we're pulling for Manny - he trains at our gym in EaHo: Wild Card. Freddie Roach will be there for Manny.


Update:

Manny won a TKO in the 10th round! YeeHaw!

Dan's coming!

1/20/06:

My brother is coming out to visit in February. I think we'll be buying a new surfboard so that we can spend all of the four or five days that he'll be here in the water. It should be a ...lost of course, and I think we've decided on a Proformance Series squashtail by Matt Biolos that is 6'4" x 18.75" x 2.5" Should be a real killer.

FreeForAll live at Suzy's Bar!

1/20/06:

I ran into Vik randomly at the supermarket a couple weeks ago. I had no idea he was back from Boston, but apparently he's finishing up his degree. They've found another drummer to complete the foursome, so Vik can stay on bass, and FreeForAll is playing again.

A little history, for those who missed it. FreeForAll was my first band. I went on to play for Mass Infusion (who are amazing), Diary (who were also amazing, but disbanded), and my ex-girlfriend's singing demo. An illustrious career, I know, but it all started in the freshman swimmers' dorms in 2000. Brian Stephens, aka Gomer, lived across the hall from me and was an avid guitarist. I walked into his room one day for a reason that I have since forgotten, but he was plucking on the gee-tar and decided to hand me a bass. A loquacious man by nature, Gomer said all of three words: "here, play this." After initial protestations, I picked it up, and because Gomer kept hounding me, I began to play. He told me that I learned faster than anyone he'd met, but I tend to think now that he might have been humoring me. Anyway, we began to write songs, and were soon looking for a singer and drummer. We met Anthony at a party a couple months after I started playing, and he lent his vocal and rhythm guitar talents to the band. Vik, a fellow aeronautical engineer that Gomer was friends with, picked up the drums, and we were FreeForAll. We played all over SoCal, often with Mass Infusion (I sometimes did double duty), but a fight with Gomer and a temporary withdrawal from school to move to Texas to be with the aforementioned ex-girlfriend ended the premier era. Vik decided that, since the band was being shaken up and he wanted to play a guitar of some sort, he would move to bass and they would find a new drummer. They did - shoutout to Matt Whelan - but he since left and FreeForAll went dormant when Vik moved back to Boston.

Enter Vik once more. Also, enter a new drummer. And enter Suzy's in Hermosa Beach. FreeForAll is back. Vik is a better bassist than I ever was, Gomer has gotten even better at the guitar, and Anthony's voice has mellowed out and become much more suited to the music. I can't comment on the drummer situation since I can't play them, but I know that the new guy is good, but so was Vik.

The show was a good one. They played many of the old "classics" of the Meph and Gomer era and included a few crowd-pleasing covers and some new songs. I brought Heather and Nicky, and I think they enjoyed it. I also like to humor myself and think that they were impressed when Anthony mentioned that I had been a writer for some of the songs. Anthony, who is actually responsible for getting me into motorcycles, and who still has the old Yamaha Seca II, was duly impressed by the yellow fever. He works in insurance by day, but since he does cars, he can't get me cheap rates. Damn. Markel, here I come.

Second letter in, and...dilemmas

1/12/06:

Darry got his letter of recommendation in just after Christmas, and with that, I am officially complete at the schools I've applied to. By the by, I buckled down and applied to USC after all. I know I felt like it was a time for change, but I'm getting nostalgic and learning to see the bright sides of L.A. since I've been comparing it to...well...everywhere else. (Except the entirely unlivable places, like New York.) Where else can I live on the beach, ride a motorcycle 12 months out of the year, and only own one sweatshirt. Plus, you just can't beat the football team - except maybe Notre Dame, but that seems to be all in the past, plus I can't really see myself pulling for USC's biggest rival. So L.A. is once again a shining option.

I never really thought about it this way before, since I was so jumped up about actually going to law school, but it might come down to two very good options. What if I'm faced with a prestige vs. scholarship, or a proximity to family vs. ranking situation? I broke it down into a few little battles royale, but I'll have to wait and see how everything shakes out before I can really be honest about making this decision.

Minnesota vs. UCLA: They're so close in the rankings as to be a negligible difference, but the UCLA name has more cachet. Even so, I'd take the proximity to family. I think Minnesota wins out here, but it's very close.

Duke vs. Michigan: Wow. This one's a terrible dilemma. I'd rather live and work in the South, but Michigan has got a top 5 reputation and a top-shelf campus. I think the rankings here are also so close as to make it a wash, but in the end I think I'd end up in sweet Carolina.

Florida vs. Florida State: Again, what to do? Florida is ranked higher (and considerably so until this year), but Florida State is on the move! Up 15 spots in a year is unheard of, and many expect them to be higher than UF in the future. I think this one would come down to a visit since both have in-state tuition and great football going for them.

Virginia vs. Harvard: Now, I'm not totally naive. I realize that this is a dilemma that most people (I am proudly included) would kill for. Both degrees open doors everywhere, but C-ville would have a much better quality of life, not to mention more hot girls. Even so, it's hard to beat the Harvard name. Virginia would probably have to offer me money.

Back in L.A.

1/8/06:

The flight back to L.A. was mostly uneventful, as always, but since I was on Continental I connected in Houston. I was wearing the only sweatshirt I brought, USC one, and I ran into some girls from U Texas in the airport. They said something about USC losing, and I responded with, "Yeah, we lost. But we hire Texas grads as our janitors, so it's okay. Ya'll have a nice day and don't trip over that pushbroom." I was so proud of my quick wit that day.

Mayhem was apparently antsy the whole time I was gone, which is nothing new, but Heather got pissed at him when she was cleaning my kitchen (don't ask) because he kept biting her. He took a nap on me earlier though, so I don't think there are any hard feelings.

Classes start real soon, and it's my last semester. This is a little scary, but also a little cool. I've got one class left in each of my majors to finish out here and then I finally get to graduate from something. I never got to go through the graduation process from high school or apply to colleges, so this whole thing is new and pretty exciting. It's also nerve-wracking since I never had to worry about where I was going for undergrad, but no law school is an auto-admit. The top law schools are at least twice as selective as the top undergrad schools.

First LOR processed

1/5/06:

Dr. Robb got his letter of recommendation in (actually before Christmas), and LSAC has now officially processed it. That's one down and Dr. Sragow's to go. I'll go complete at the four schools (Florida, Georgetown, Michigan and Northwestern) that require one letter as soon as it gets sent out. Yeehaw.

Atlanta

1/5/06:

I took a nice little trip up to Atlanta to go see my car. My parents warned me that the trip up would take about 6 - 6.5 hours. Even with a stop at the first Confederate White House in Montgomery, I managed it in 5. I'm really not a dangerous driver, but my dad tends to go only the speed limit and no more. Plus, I happened to roll through Alabama (pun intended) on a great day. 'Bama beat Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl (Roll Tide!) for their record 30th bowl win. USC, by the way, is second in total bowl wins with 28, even though they lost the Rose Bowl this year. Pity, but we'll be back, and even though the 00s are only half-over, we're clearly the team of the decade. Again. Like the 30s, 60s, and 70s. I give us at least one more championship this decade. Oh by the way, Auburn was also winning a bowl game while I was driving making for some very deserted roads and some smooth sailing.

I got up to Atlanta after dropping my sister off at the airport and listening to the bowl games on the way up, and I headed straight up to northern Atlanta and watched Notre Dame lose to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl at my old sports bar, TJ's. I headed over to Bill's house that night, and that's where I stayed over. I didn't do much that night since he's recording engineer for Bobby Valentino (look him up under R&B, his debut album went gold) and he was recording a song that night. Bobby's next album, if it goes platinum, will put Bill on the map as a recording engineer, as he will likely place about 3 songs on it. Soon, he'll be asking five figures for each track. He's good.

Next day, Bill and went over to Sandy Springs, by where Lida used to live and where I used to coach at Glen Forest, and had lunch. After that, I headed up the 685 to Gainesville to talk to Contemporary. My car looks the same as it did months ago, but with a thicker coat of dust. They've closed down the shop at that facility, and I'm planning on moving it out. Robert and Jon are headed out to Scottsdale for the Barrett-Jackson Auction, but come February, the Charger will be headed up 85 to Inman, South Carolina and Hodge Restorations to be finished. Hodge did the famous "Akron" Arlen Vanke Superstock 'Cuda that I saw at Carlisle when I was living in Boston. Incidentally, on that same trip I stopped in at York US 30 and met Akron Arlen himself. He's so deaf that when he asked where I was from and I responded, in a normal tone, "Boston," he said "never heard of it." Nice guy though. Anyway, the car is still pretty, and all the work that has been done on it by me and the paint shop it's at now is still looking great. I dusted her off and she shined like a new penny. I'm excited to get her done, which, hopefully will be this summer.

That night, I headed back down to Brookhaven and Bill and I picked up Evan, who I hadn't seen in probably 5 or 6 years but was like my brother on Dynamo Swim Club. We made a night of it, and except for all the cool new stories we had to tell, it was like none of us had ever left. I had a lot of fun, but I had to get back to Florida. Bill gave me some caffeine pills, I stopped for coffee, and I was able to make the trip back in 5.5 hours, getting in at about 7:30 AM. The emerald coast is gorgeous during the sunrise, and when the sky is just getting light, the north Florida swampland is unbelievable. Cotton fields have never looked prettier to me.

Just me again

1/2/06:

Happy New Year, ya'll.

USC starts early in the year and we make up for it with a fairly long Christmas break. Dan, of course, had to be back in CT for his job, and he left several days ago, but Lauren left yesterday and Joan is leaving today. I've finalized my plans for the trip to Atlanta, and I'm heading up tomorrow morning.

Merry Christmas

12/25/05:

Christmas was good for our family. Cool presents were given all around. I got a pair of Diesel jeans from my sisters that are apparent like 200 dollars retail. It's good that they're a gift because I would never have bought them for myself. My brother got me a movie called "Dogtown and Z-Boys" that is about the origins of skateboarding as a derivative of surfind that's really cool, and my parents bought me Season 3 of the Dukes of Hazzard. Nice.

And we'll end with a Waylon Jennings-ism: "It looks like the tornado's about to hit the sheep dip."

LSDAS reports are in...

12/20/05:

...for 11 schools. UCLA was my first officially transferred application. I'm doing extra essays (the "optional" ones) for a few other schools as well.

I also completely trashed my first personal statement and went with a whole new one that's more personal and, I think, a better story. It's a big metaphor - it uses my car.

Speaking of the Charger, I'm planning on taking a trip up to Atlanta this break to go take care of her and hopefully see some old friends.

Back in Florida

12/16/05:

Well, I'm back in Florida again. It still doesn't really feel like home, especially since Joan, Lauren and Dan won't be joining me for a few days yet. I'm diving into my law school apps though, the personal statement is done, and I'm fine-tuning them, my resume, and my addenda so that I can get them all out. I'll be done with the process by the start of next semester, which is a load off my mind.

Finals are over!

12/15/05:

Finals are over. I ended the semester here with some good partying, mostly with Nicky, Heather, Aubrey and Pete. Things are going well with me and Heather, but this semester was stressful and I'm kinda glad it's over and I can take a break.

My second LOR is in

12/13/05:

I took a meeting with Dr. Darry Sragow this afternoon. He is my Political Science professor, and he's also a lawyer for Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, which I'm sure means nothing to the layman, but it's a fairly huge firm. I was scheduled for a half-hour so he could get to a doctor's appointment, but he ended up pushing it back and we spoke for over an hour on law schools, recruiting, careers, etc. He went to Georgetown Law and is obviously doing very well for himself. We ended the meeting by my asking him to write a letter of recommendation for me for law schools, which he is going to do. Biglaw, here I come.

The betting man

12/2/05:

And speaking of betting, I do quite a bit of betting on college football. I have a system (don't you wish you know what it is) based on the options-trading theories presented in a book entitled "Fooled By Randomness," that has proven over two seasons to be quite foolproof. I just took out my winnings this year. Here's the two season breakdown:

2004 season -
initial betting total: $50
season-end total: $238

2005 season -
initial betting total: $200
season-end total: $780

I'd say I'm doing pretty well. The 2005 season was not as lucrative as the one before but in 2004 there were actually several unbelieveable coincidences (believe 'em - it's how the system works) that ended up swaying the balance to my favor. In 2005, I began the first two weeks by losing money, finally reached the final state of fine-tune, and spent the rest of the year racking it up. If I can scrape the money together next year, I'm going in for four figures.

JD Booty, Reggie Bush

12/2/05:

In my Political Science class, which is the second-to-last one I have to take to finish this damn major, the final project (not exam) is done in groups. I happened to be placed in the group of USC quarterbacking heir-apparent John David Booty. Two years ago he was the top quarterback recruit in the country and most people expect him to pick up where Leinart left off. Although, incidentally, the recruiting powerhouse that is USC picked up last year's top QB recruit as well, Mark Sanchez, so it should be an interesting battle come spring. Either way, when he takes over and leads us to yet another national championship I can say that I worked with him "back then." Kinda like my being able to say that I was in Reggie Bush's class last semester - and he is so going to win the Heisman. I'd bet on it.

Brachytherapy

11/21/05:

My Uncle George started a company (South Bay Medical) that makes a new machine and implement for the treatment of prostate cancer that has been very successful. Interestingly enough, my grandfather was just diagnosed with this last month, and the treatment - brachytherapy - was used, with great success.

It's either a very happy coincidence or proof that having kids doesn't always turn out badly.

Law Schools

11/20/05:

Here's what should be my final list of law schools that I am applying to for next year, along with rankings and my shot:

Snowballs in Hell:
2. Harvard University
3. Stanford University

Hail Marys:
6. University of Chicago
10. Northwestern University

Reasonable Shots:
8. University of Michigan
8. University of Virginia
11. Duke University
14. Georgetown
15. UCLA
17. Vanderbilt

Probables:
19. University of Minnesota
24. Notre Dame

Safeties:
36. University of Georgia
41. University of Florida
56. Florida State

Which ones am I most excited about? Well, Virginia and Duke would be great. If Stanford or Harvard comes in, I'll just go there. Georgetown also sounds good, but Minnesota is close to family. We'll see how it all shakes out.