Oh...my behind hurts!

Well, just got back from my torts final and ouch!!! I knew the law and I think that if we were just graded on our substantive knoledge of the law, I did pretty well. But, I got trapped by the clock and didn't have chance to re-read my essay for quality of writing or ease of read. I'm pretty sure my argument were pretty inconsistent and spotty when read. So, in balance, I'm stuck between mastery of the law versus a poorly written essay, I'm not sure how the grade will turn out. Oh well, on to contracts!

Study Break

Well, I think I've hit a study wall since I'm posting and reading more on HBO than I am preparing my analysis outline of the breach element of negligence. So, I think I'm going to take the dog for a walk since the sun looks like it is trying to break through the clouds to try to clear my head.

Before I go, I wanted to share an observation. I've been listening to my U2 collection on my ipod and wanted to share I’ve come to the conclusion that my favorite U2 album is Pop. Of all their albums it seems to be the least liked among the fans, but I dare say that I like it even better than The Joshua Tree. Heresy, perhaps; but true.

Today.

Sure was nice out when I walked down to FUEL to buy a cup of coffee, the air smelled exactly as spring air should.

Anyway, my first year as a law student is almost over. Classes ended Wednesday and I have two weeks of exams before I can say that I'm a 2L. My property professor likes to joke that after your 1st year you are a LA - after your second year you get your WY - and then your 3rd year you get the ER. He’s not a very funny is he?

I managed to land a job as a law clerk this summer. I guess I should feel good, not many 1Ls land paying law gigs during the summer. The firm represents various police and firefighter's associations in their contracts with cities and counties. They negotiate, administer the contracts, defend the members in disciplinary actions, and so forth. I am not really pro-union so it will be an interesting experience working in a law firm that works for unions. If there is a situation where I do believe in unions are good for their members, than it would be in situations like the police and firefighter are in; i.e. when the government has a monopoly power and the workers really have no market leverage. When you combine worker powerlessness with a strong government motive to keep costs low, the workers could get the shaft pretty quickly if they didn't stand together. Regardless of personal politics, I'm sure it will be a good learning experience for me. The pay sucks though. It is difficult taking this job knowing what I could earn doing contract HR work (about 4x more), but I'm willing to trade money for legal experience.

Anyway, back to the books. I have my Torts exam on Monday, followed by Contracts on Thursday; next week it will be Civ. Pro on Monday followed by Property on Thursday and then FREEDOM! Well, sort of.

Later.

Rankism

US New and World report came out with their college ranking a couple of weeks ago. Despite a lot of talk from college administrators alleging that rank does not matter and that students should choose schools by finding the place that best fits them; administrators sure spend a lot of time discussing how they did. In contract last week, while listening to NPR, I heard a professor at some California school (UCLA, USC or something) argue that schools should stop participating in the ranking process. He urged school to return the surveys US News sends them unopened. He alleges a couple things: one that the rankings don’t actually tell students anything about eventual school they will attend; two, they subsidize a huge money maker for US News and get nothing in return; and three, they make the school take efforts to manipulate their standing such as raising the SAT and LSAT scores required to attend which really have no impact on the teaching quality at the school but just restrict access in exchange for rank. I tend to agree.

Not that I haven’t benefited from these US News Rankings. Both the U of I and my grad school at Seattle U promote how they do in the rankings. And they should. Seattle U Law moved up higher in the top 100 to something like 80th or 82nd this year. To put this into perspective, U Washinton’s law school in ranked 40-something while Gonzaga Law and U of Idaho law school were unranked and are in the 3rd tier. In addition to this top 100 ranking, our legal writing program is ranked number 2 in the nation this year, we were number 1 last year, and haven’t been ranked lower than number 2 in the last 5 years. These ranks will go into our marketing brochures, it will look good on resumes, and the school should be proud to be the ranked so high in so short of a time (the school is only 35 yrs old, it’s only been at SU since the ‘90s.).

Desipte how well Seattle U is doing in the rankings, should I believe them? Do I really believe that Seattle U is a better school then Gonzaga or Idaho just because we are ranked higher? Do I really believe that our legal writing program is better than Harvard’s or Yale’s? No, not really. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are a good school. I am not really sure, however, that just because US New and World reports says so that I actually go to a qualitatively better school and that I will be a better lawyer than someone from Gonzaga Law. Nor do I think that a Yale grad would really be intimidated by my ability to transition a rule paragraph to a legal discussion so seamlessly in a memo, do you? So, if the rankings don’t measure whether I will be a better lawyer by going to a better school, what are they based on?

In my opinion, perception drives the ranking process. Why is Seattle U legal writing ranked so high, for example? Well, because we wrote the book. Yes, the most popular legal writing handbook used in law schools was written by Seattle U professors. It’s a good book for sure, but does that mean the program is necessarily tops? More likely is that when some Dean at some Law school at “Insert East Cost State U” receives his survey and he gets to the legal writing program question that he just writes down Seattle U because he see the legal writing book on his shelf, he knows that it is the book his school teaches from, and therefore concludes Seattle U program must be good. He does this despite that he had probably never met a lawyer from Seattle U, probably knows nothing about the school except for the book we wrote, but he had to put down something and had no other reference for quality. I think this is the way it works, but maybe I’m just cynical.

This doesn’t mean that I would discourage people from Seattle U. It is a great program. Here you will learn the law, you will make friends, and from what I’ve seen our graduates are in demand. However, I don’t think this has anything to do with our rankings and I don’t think a new student would make a good education choice if they merely looked at the US News list and noticed we had moved up a couple places this year. I think students should realize that Deans are hypocritical when they say it doesn’t matter what a school’s rank is and then turn around and crow about how good their rank is. You should listen to the first half of the message, it doesn’t really matter what a school’s rank is. If it is accredited, if you are smart, and if you like the place then you will do great. In fact, you are much more likely to do well than if you pick a place merely on rank and then find out you hate it. (I would say this logic applies to every school below the top ten in the list. If you have the chance to go to a top ten school, go, despite if you don’t really like the place – financially it will be worth it. As for school 11-200, make sure you pick the one that fits you best, not the one that was randomly scored the highest by some dean at Timbuktu U).

Pro-Life is not an Oxymoron.

Sometime there is nothing lonelier in this ultra-liberal Seattle than being a moderate democrat. If you are a conservative then at least you have a close, but small, group of friends. If you are a moderate democrat, however, and won’t partake of the bile and rhetoric launched against conservatives, than you are an outcast. I realized, today, the problem that keeps me out of so many social circles in this town is that I actually like conservatives.

My realization came today while discussing the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the partial birth abortion ban with a classmate before the beginning of my property law class. The conversation went awry when she started to complain about the labels, the pro-life and pro-choice bandied about by each side. I asked her what labels she would use and she responded, “how about pro-choice and anti-choice”. My response, “well, that’s not a neutral choice of words; it paints the opposition with pretty negative brush stroke.” At this point she starts to get upset, “I don’t care. These so called pro-lifer are just hypocrites” she then proceeds to go into a diatribe about the death penalty and Texas. I rebutted her arguments. I could tell that she was getting upset with me because I wouldn’t agree that the republican were a bunch of hypocrites, she thought I was blind, nay stupid. It was unfathomable to her to that I agreed on a pro-choice stance but wouldn’t also agree with her characterization of conservatives.

I think the crux of the problem with the ultra-left wing of the Democratic Party (and, just as a disclaimer, I think it is probably true about the ultra-right wing of the Republican party as well, but that is another post) is that they don’t really know or like any republicans. The result is that they spend all their time with each other complaining about republicans and convince themselves that they are right on their issues merely because the republicans are wrong. I don’t think this way.

It might have something to do with growing up in Idaho, the most conservative state in the Union, if not for Utah. As a result, I have a lot of friends and family who are conservatives: pro-life, NRA promoting, red-wearing elephants. I love and admire these people who are pro-life. Therefore I can’t and won’t stand for people who label my friends as hypocrites or dismiss them as people who “just don’t get it.” I heartedly disagree. My pro-life friends believe with all their hearts in life and live out their lives according to those beliefs; furthermore, these people “do get it”. They are just as smart and aware as any democrats who walk the streets of Seattle. But, despite this, I still disagree with my conservative friends.

My respect for conservatives requires that I think long and hard about the substantive meat of the argument and not the superfluous dispersion my classmates and many others I’ve met in this town through about. This central issue, of course to this abortion debate is no less than the meaning of life. There could be no smaller question. To pro-lifers, life begins at conception and that this life is just as valuable as that of my next door neighbor who is mowing his yard at this very moment, it is even more precious than that of killer or child molester, and therefore they desire to protect the unborn life with all the force of law used to protect citizens in this country. I, rather, believe that human life does not begin at conception. During the 1st trimester the fetus is just as likely to abort as develop into a child, it can’t think, can’t smell, can’t breath, and can’t even push its own blood around the few cells of its body. A human, it is not. Yet, I’m never going to convince my pro-life friend with science, I can’t even get them to buy into evolution; and they aren’t going to convince me with faith. So, we are at a stalemate. This essential dilemma needs to be acknowledged by both sides if we are ever going put this divisive issue to peace.

I fear, however, that it will not. There will still be the ultra-left screaming like harpies at the “hypocrites, idiots” and the trolls on the right yelling at the “murderers, baby killers”. What’s a moderate, conservative loving democrat to do?

Blood, Discomfort, and Hope

I was just looking at my planner and I still have around 40 hours of work to squeeze into the next three days!! Geez, I’ll be glad when finals are over. It doesn’t help that a large chunk of my day today is occupied with non-school work; I’m donating platelets this afternoon.

I’m not exactly sure how I let myself get wrangled into becoming a platelet donor. I have always been a whole blood donor ever since I figured out in high school that it was an easy way to get out of class for an hour or so when the donation drives came to school. I have been donating ever since. Recently, however, instead of asking me for blood, one of the schedulers asked me if I would be willing to donate platelets. It’s a big commitment; it takes around 1-2+ hours at a time, and a lot of blood donors don’t have time or the inclination to give so they are in desperate need of regular platelet donors. I hesitated, but given my penchant to say yes whenever someone ask for help, gave an scheduled a time. Unlike whole blood donation, platelet donation is a long process that is rather uncomfortable; it is easy to see why a non-profit struggles to get people to sign up given that they can’t pay people for their time. So, once they find someone willing, they reschedule them whenever they can. Thus, I’m a regular donor now.

So, this is the picture of a platelet donor. They are sitting immobile for three hours in a chair that is the offspring of a recliner and a hospital bed, hooked up to a whirring, beeping and humming machine, covered in a blanket, and trying to keep their mind occupied on something other than their tingling lips or the cold blood rushing through their veins. Sound like fun? It is no wonder that it is tough to find donors.

The process is fairly simple. Whole blood is extracted from you, spun around in a machine to separate out the components, and then piped back into your veins after the platelets are collected. Our bodies, either via creation or evolution (pick one), were not designed to go through such an experience and it’s shocking thing the first time. While the blood is drawn it cools and despite the sophistication of the separating apparatus it does not keep the blood warm during the process. When the blood is piped back into your body, sans platelets, it is a couple degrees cooler then when it left. The result of this cool blood entering your body is that you can actually perceive the blood reentering your circulation, you can’ feel it per se, but your body is aware of it. It is such an odd sensation to actually be aware of your own blood in your veins that is difficult to describe on paper. The cool blood also drops your body temperature a couple of degrees making you cold. The process also includes dosing you with an anticoagulant; you will be bleeding for two or three hours and they can’t have your blood start to clot. A side effect of the anticoagulant is that your lips and extremities begin to tingle.

But, in the end, you have to remember why you do such things. Everyday there are hundreds of people who rely on whole blood and blood products to save their lives. Platelets, in particular, are needed for children who suffer from leukemia and are undergoing chemo, people undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass, bone marrow transplant, for burn patients, or for a variety of other procedures. These procedures could not be achieved without blood products, these lives would be lost. Put in that context, an afternoon of discomfort and time away from the law school library seems a small price to pay.

Good Luck

I just wanted to take a moment to wish Maria Goodloe-Johnson luck. Ms. Goodloe-Johnson is the newly selected superintendent of Seattle public schools. She faces a system in trouble. Enrollment in a city of over 600,000 is only 43,000 and dropping, the people have lost faith in our public school. She faces a budget swollen with operating expenses, parent who come with a “not in my school” attitude that hinders any change, and growing achievement gaps between school with unfortunate racial overtones. This will be a demanding job; she’ll be worth every cent of her 200K plus salary if she can restore this vital part of our community.

Where o’ Where Have You Been …

My blog has been anemic as of late. I can count the post I’ve made in the last three week on one hand, at least two don’t even count as full posts as they aren’t more than a simple, unexplored thought. I went on vacation and then, after coming home, was hit with a cold. This one, two punch knocked me off my blogging feet and it’s been difficult to get into a routine. This has lack of blogging will only be further exacerbated by the end of semester that is rapidly approaching (my first test, Torts by the way, is only three weeks from today). I need to buckle down to weather the next few weeks and the blog posts might be the easiest thing to jettison from an already packed day.

There has been plenty to blog about though. I did a job shadow with a Partner in a medium size firm (~6 partners, 30 associates) with offices in Seattle and Tacoma. They primarily do defendant bar stuff, the majority of the business comes from insurance companies who hire them to defend their customers from lawsuits. Although the firm specialized in medical claims (defending Drs from malpractice), on my job shadow I was exposed to lots of different topic in a brief afternoon. We visited a home site that was in trouble with the city due to garage built on a city property (by a previous home owner), we looked over an issue regarding a home that was being foreclosed on by local city for road construction on behalf of the home owner that was being forced out, we read through a contract for the sale of a business, and I was able to join in a meeting where an associate stopped by to talk about a couple automobile accident cases he was thinking of taking on. The lawyer apologized for not being able to show me a trial, or an mediation, or something “more lawyerly”; but I was happy for the content of the day. It was nice to a see a typical day, to see what lawyer do day in and day out. The law, largely, is not trail tactics and elegant arguments, it was nice to see the mundane work I have to look forward to. I also attended a small firm, solo practice career fair and talked to a number of lawyer about their job which is always something someone starting a new career should do. I could have devoted a blog to each and given you more, but this will have to do.

My parent came up for Easter and I gave up the weekend in the library to be with them. We had a great time, it was beautiful weather and I took full advantage of it. We walked the dog in the UW Arboretum, I took them out to West Seattle and watched people play volleyball in the sand and rollerblade along the beach, and we went shopping at Ikea, twice. I didn’t get much done on the school front. There is a nagging part of me that is beating me up for wasting a weekend so close to exams, but I smack that little voice every time it starts to whine. I need to remember that 5 years from now I’ll appreciate the time spent with my folks out on the beach must more than a couple hours in the library reviewing the fundamentals of the parol evidence rule. Law school will so easily devour anything of yourself you give it. If you let it, it will consume any relationship or interest you have outside of school and poop out a grade at the end, it’s just not worth it. I already know of people who have lost relationships because they have been so focused on school to the exclusion of everything, and everyone, else. I won’t be that person.

Finally, I have a beer review. I bought the Summer Honey Ale from Big Sky Brewing (those brilliant people behind Moose Drool) and I am giving it a mixed review. It is a good summer ale, perfect for a hot day after you’ve just mowed the lawn or sitting by the pool. Except for that, I can’t think of another situation to recommend this beer. True, I am biased against blonde ales, but even then it is a little bit light on the flavor. It does have some very sweet notes but they don’t linger well with the hops after the liquid has left your mouth. Overall, I’d give it a five/ten as it’s perfect in a very narrow range of situations, but overall there are much better choices out there for a general drinking beer.

Hey

If you were on Madison today, driving near the Broadmoor Country Club, and saw some dufus trip over his own feet while jogging, tumble, and then get up with his elbow mangled like so much hamburger ... I just wanted to let you know that I was happy to have the audience!

It my Blog-o-versary!!

Well, the Word Forge is one year old today. The time went by fast. Here a summary of the blog high and lows this year.

I started writing when I was still working in HR/Compensation, but had been accepted to law school. These posts early on were about biding my time until I could quit my former life and move on. To date, my most visual post has been about business trip to Boston that included a sighting of Ann Coulter. During my first summer on the blog, my posts became scattered bits of mental flotsam and jetsam; the topics ranged from politics, to law school angst, and to Vandal football and other miscellaneous observations. I experimented with reviews and shared with the reader some of my experiences renovating my home and promised photos which I have never put up. So far, the most read post I’ve written as been “Hey Hey What’s Going On” It’s popularity has nothing to do with it’s content, but rather the fact that anyone searching for the song lyrics for which the post was named end up on my blog. The second most popular post was one I wrote about my observations on cheerleading, I assumed it’s popular because there are a lot of dirty birds on the internet searching for porn involving cheerleading (how disappointed they must have been to land on this blog!). And finally, I realized my blog is boring.

Despite this, I’m still writing. This blog hasn’t lived up to my expectations; I just don’t have the time to craft anything of quality, but yet I will continue. I want to thank my few faithful readers and DFO at Huckleberries for putting my stuff out front every so often. I truly appreciate those of you who come back to share in my life and observations. So, thanks and here’s to another year!

-Matt (idawa)

March Madness

I haven't posted anything for a while, sorry. Spring break was nice but there really wasn't anything to write about aside from me baking my white arse by the pool or working on my wicked slice at the golf course. We got back on Sunday and it was cold when we arrived, at least it sure seemed cold after a week of upper 90's. I've just been trying to get back into the swing of school and homelife here in Seattle again.

I only have five more weeks before finals start, and then two week after that my 1st year of law school is over - 1 down, 2 to go. I've signed up for a summer class which will run most of the summer. I will only get a couple weeks off in May and August. I'm also going to be doing some volunteer legal work, some contract HR work to bring in some $$, and a whole lot of yard work. Summer should be pretty busy. I am still hoping for some sort of legal clerkship this summer, but the opportunities for 1Ls pay pretty low and they are few and far between anyway, I'm still hoping something comes through but I'm not couning on it.

Anyway, that's about it. Oh, and my bracket sucked this year in anyone was interested.

So Cal Thinkin

So, I’m sitting here in California, in 90 degree weather in early March and sipping a pear mojito while seriously considering if I could live anywhere aside from the Northwest. Back home in Seattle, it’s probably 45, maybe 55, and it is no doubt cloudy and the rain is falling.

Palm Spring is a refreshing change of pace. The sun is a marvelous thing; the mere presence of sunlight can make someone happy. Unfortunately, back home, the sun isn’t reliable until July. My wife and I have been seriously discussing down here the subject of moving after I’m done with law school. There are a couple of options on the table:

1) Boise. On the upside we have lots of friends from college and the town is growing. It is also much cheaper to live in Boise than Seattle or here in So Cal; we could sell our home in Seattle and take the current 400K profit and make a nice payment on a really, really nice place in the treasure valley. On the downside, it is, well, Boise. I’ve always thought of Boise as a cleaner, emptier version of Spokane, which isn’t necessarily a compliment. Also, my wife couldn’t find the same type of work she does now in Boise. She’s an accountant but she specialized in high end financial services, the type where if a client doesn’t have at least 5 million they can’t dance, and despite Boises growth these firm just don’t exist there yet. She could go back into general accounting, but that option doesn’t sound appealing to her. If we were to move to Boise she would probably stop working.

2) California - the OC. On the upside it is warm, which is a big plus. I used to count myself as the type of guy who appreciated seasons; the fall colors, the skiing in winters, and the blistering summers in Idaho, but, I think, I have grown out of that. I would be happy with an eternal summer. In addition, we have family and friends down here. A number of my pledge brothers moved down here after graduation and my wife’s maid of honor is an attorney in L.A. There are also plenty of career opportunities for both of us. California is thick with work for lawyers and L.A. has several firms that cater to multimillion dollar investors that would love to recruit my wife; so financially it’s probably the best move. But, it is California. Even in Palm Springs were are amazed with the crowds and the throngs of humanity moving about, and this is from people who live in the city of Seattle and a multi million person county. But the crowds in Seattle are nothing to those in S. Cal. And it is expensive. We would not gain any cost of living advantage by leaving Seattle for So. Cal. And you also have the occasiaonly violent brush fire, earthquake, plague and pestilence. Also, if the end of the world is going to occur it will probably start in L.A.

3) Coeur d’Alene: The advantage here is that it would be a return home for me, and my wife has lots of family in Spokane. It would also be a similar financial situation as Boise, we would gain on house prices but there really isn’t the type of work available that would interest my wife. If we moved she would be a stay at home mother. But we, well I, love Cd'A and the chance to return home is very appealing. I can already imagine buying a house, an older home preferably and fixing it up, sitting up a small practice and helping people start new business ... etc. This is my preference but probably a very, very remote option.

4) Hawaii. This is the dark horse option. Sure, it has all the climate benefits of So. Cal without the hassle of actually being in So. Cal. Sure, the cost of living is high, but it's Hawaii. On the upside, the Hawaii bar is much easier than California bar and there are a few finanical firms that cater to the Japanese that my wife could work for ... so ... I think this is just dreaming, but oh, what a dream.

We probably won’t leave Seattle though. Despite the pull of friends and family in Idaho or the siren call of sunshine in California; we still love Seattle. Our house in a fine neighborhood in the city, there are plenty of career opportunities for us, and we are basically happy. Now, if global warming would only kick in and chase a couple of these clouds away….

P.S. I’ll try and post some about our trip down here in Palm Spring….be advised that stories of laying by the pool or golf might be all that I post in the coming days.

Product Rave

I'm a runner. Well, I want to be a runner. I have always been a sprinter, I was on the track teams in both high school and college, but as anyone who was on a track team could tell you, there is a big difference between a runner and a sprinter. I could always run fast, but ask me to run for any length of time and I start whining like a baby.

Now, some ten years later, sprinting has no practical benefit to me. I haven't had to run a 1/4 mile in 50 seconds for a long time and I doubt I ever will again (I also doubt that I could); it's just a worthless talent. However, running is beneficial: it keeps you trim, keeps your heart young, and, not to mention, keeps my abs visible which my wife finds a plus. Despite all these benefits, I can’t motivate myself to run when it just so damned hard. That is why I want to rave about the Ipod Nano + Nike device.

My problem with running is simply that I lose interest in it quickly. I'll run for a couple of days and then get bored. I’ll make up excuses not to go out and then hit to pool instead (I'm also huge swimmer, growing up in a lake town, how could you not?). I just have nothing motivating me to stick with it, to slog out the miles after miles it takes to chisel your self into a "runner".

The nano + nike device can help with that. The device is a simple attachment for your Ipod Nano that tracks your distance, speed, time, and estimated calories burned on each run. After you run, you simply sync up the data with your computer and it uploads the data to an online database operated by Nike. The website converts that data into handy graphs and charts that show you your progress. It also allows you to make goals. I've made the goal to run 25 miles in 4 weeks, to run five runs in the next 4 weeks with an average pace under 9 min/mile, and to run at least 15 times in the next four weeks. The website then graphs my progress against these goals (It looks like I’m going to make my mileage goal and my speed goal, but the number of runs goal I’m a little behind on). Tracking my progress like this has been a huge aide in my motivation by tapping into my competitive side; I'm competing against my goals and therefore feel motivated to run. It's a simple concept but effective. After this set of goals, I simply make new harder ones and compete against those. I’m positive that this year I’ll make my goal of running in the Seattle Marathon.

There are also a loads of community features on the website such as the ability to map out your running course on line via google earth and share them with others. It also let you set online competitions with friends and strangers around the globe by giving you a forum to challenge them to various running goals and track the group progress; you can join message groups to support your running addiction and basically retreat into a digital world after you've been out bounding the pavement outside.

In addition to the Nike's auto crunching of the data, I've learned how to ferret out the raw data myself and plan on importing it into my own database and playing with it a little. The graphs on the Nike site are pretty simple and I think I could do some more complicated analysis on my own. (Besides, now that I’m in law school, how else am I going to keep my database skills sharp?)

For only 20 buck, it's a great peripheral for your Nano. It's been out for some time so it already showing up for discounts...I'm sure that this is just the beginning, I'm already looking forward to a device that is more accurate, can track elevation changes, etc...perhaps with the gen nano?

Where To Go...

It is college choosing season. The students, after having made their applications and waiting patiently for an answer from their desired schools, have now, if they have been accepted the task of choosing themselves amongst the schools that have admitted them. The last couple of weeks, students have been appearing in our classes listening on lectures, observing the students and professors, and trying to make the decision if we are where they want to start their legal careers. Pretty exciting.

My wife’s cousin is currently trying to decide between U of Washington and U of Idaho for an undergraduate education. My wife’s sister is a UW grad, and both my wife and I are UIdaho grads, so we were trying to help him out with his decision. Of course, we supported going to the U of I. My wife and I had a great experience; we had fun, we made friends, and we both were able to get great jobs with our degrees, but we told him that if he wanted to live in Washington that the UW would get him into a bigger alumni circle and if he wants to go into a research field UW research really can't be beat. My sister-in-law, while being positive about the UW, basically told him she thought that the U of I would be a better choice for him. For her, she found the UW a little impersonal; it’s big and not exactly a ‘cozy college experience”. I heard a similar sentiment from another UW grad I used to work with; he sometimes wished he had attended WWU instead. It may just have been the business school that both of these UW grads went to and not the whole university, but both of them seemed to have loved the fact that they went to the UW but weren’t fond of going to the UW, if that makes sense.

I look forward to helping my kids pick out a university one day. I didn’t, in truth, have much choice. Well, at least, I didn’t know I had much choice. As a first generation college student, I didn’t know that it was possible to attend a school that you couldn't pay for out of your wallet, I didn't know anything about loans and such, and my parent were never in a financial place to "send" me to school. As a result, I limited my choices to Idaho (which is cheap for an in state student) and U of Montana (where I might have been able to get a track scholarship). Luckily, my choice worked out and I landed at a great school.

A Guilty Pleasure -

One of my newest internet addictions has been the fan boards for both the U of Idaho and Boise State. I admit it; I’m addicted to reading the banter of supporters of both schools. To read the Vandals all blustery over the school while discounting our failures versus Boise State constant gloating and simultaneously obsession with everything Vandal is pretty funny. BSU state fan chirp about the impending close of Idaho while Idaho fans deride BSU for being a glorified community college with only 1 merit scholar (Idaho has 43). Most of the posts are fun and not the least bit fact based. Idaho is not closing, it budget and endowment are healthy (if not robust) and BSU academic standards are the same as Idaho’s (they are set by the state, thus to say that an Idaho has a higher admission standards than BSU or vice versa is untrue).

Although, as a Vandal myself, I’m particular to Idaho and her causes, I’m not as anti BSU as some of my friends and posters on the VandalVenue appear to be. I actually welcome BSU’s growth and success. Living in Seattle region, I can observe the strong in-state rivalry between U of Washington and Washington State, and, although peripherally, the rivalry between Oregon and Oregon State. Do you think the Huskies were happy when the Coug went to the rose bowl, did the Cougars celebrate with the Huskies won the nat'l championship? No, so I don't think anyone should be surprised when Vandal didn't attend the ticker parade after BSU BCS win. Rivalries are fun and they are good for the state in which they reside.

Like any market, competition in education is healthy. For nearly a century the U of Idaho has been Idaho’s school. Most professionals, legislatures, judges, and the who’s who in Idaho went to the U of I. So, in many respects, the school had a monopoly on the higher education system (sorry ISU, but you haven’t ever been much competition) and allowed itself to grow fairly fat and lax. This new rivalry with BSU, who has come on the scene in the last 40 years, has forced the school to refocus itself. As in Washington State, the competition between the state's major schools forces them to constantly invest in themselves, to improve academics, and improve on the athletic fields. This leads to better research, better education, better national visibility, and more alumni support of both schools. Better research and the better education leads to a higher quality of graduates who then go out and contribute more to the state economy, the state grows, and life improves. Thus, ultimately, having two healthy major state universities is a far better system for a state than a one school monopoly.

Of course, it’s easy to see why both schools don’t exactly welcome the rivalry. Idaho is a cheap state. Whereas Oregon and Washington can support a large higher education system, Idaho seems reluctant to do so. The state makes education resources tight and this breeds a pretty healthy animosity between all the schools for whatever each other gets, like two kids fighting over the same cookie. Therefore, the money that the U of Idaho needs to update her 100+ year infrastructure to be a modern school is in direct combat with BSUs aspirations of becoming a legitimate university with a post-grad system that isn’t a joke. I wish our state legislature could look forward a little and allow UIdaho to invest in her facilities and allow BSU to expand it’s graduate programs, both would allow the schools to actually compete with each other (Idaho with BSU on the athletic field, and BSU with Idaho on the academic field), but is that actually going to happen?

Currently, if you read the fan boards, the changes are not going to happen. BSU fans want to elevate their football out of the mid-majors and that requires money. The state of Idaho can not support multiple major football programs, which is why a number of BSU fans would like to see the programs at U of I and ISU folded under and all the money could be channeled to BSU (ala the Nebraska football model). So, they are going to oppose any investment in U of Idaho athletics. Conversely, Idaho wants to maintain it’s education dominance in the state, so naturally it opposed any money spent on upping BSU’s educational offerings. With alumni of both school fighting each other added to a naturally cheap legislature, the state of Idaho gets more of the same as a result: BSU; a fair undergraduate school with a hell of a football program in the Capital, Idaho; a great research institution with a laughable sport presence in the north. While this is a sustainable status quo, I'm not sure it is in best interests of the State. Both school to flourish and directly compete with each other in anyway they see fit; Idaho on the field or BSU in the lab.

Procrastination

I've been struck with a severe case of procrastination this morning, I have spent three hours (from 7 am until 10 am) in the library and haven't done anything aside from reading a three page case for Torts class and reading blogs. Argh...I have a draft of a 18 page memo due next Monday and I need to seriously catch up on my class outlines, but I'm not making any progress despite ample opportunity!!!

I think this instance of procrastination is a side effect of a mild cold I've contracted. As colds go, this one is pretty lame, it hasn't ever gotten off the ground and I'm currently limping along with mild congestion and a scratchy throat. But, it's been pretty long lasting; I have had it since at least Friday.

I'm looking forward to taking a nap this afternoon between classes, how sad, to look forward to sleep.

Anyway, tonight I'm attending a showing of a documentary followed by a lecture by two of our professors about a case they worked on, Doe v. Unocal. It should be pretty interesting; it's a case about villagers in Burma bringing a tort action against Unocal in US courts. I should go on a run after the movie, according to my Nike+ipod thing I'm falling behind my goals and need to put in a few more miles...but I probably won't. I'll blame it on my cold and put it off for another day.

My Blog is Boring.

Yes, the first step is admitting it to yourself. So, hi, my name is Matt, and I am the author of a boring blog.

Better blogs than this have gone under when authors with brilliant creative flames have been burned down to blackened nubs. At this rate, given the mild form of intellectual warmth this blog produces, I’ll be able to produce this crap for eons. That notion doesn’t make me happy. So, what is someone to do with a boring blog?

On a basic level, I think I should probably focus a single topic that interests me, aka niche blogging. I guess I could talk about law, but who would want to read that? I could talk about videogames, but it’s much better to play games than write about them? Or, I could blog about my personal life, but then again, I’m pretty dull to begin with?

I’ll give it some thought, and anyone reading this has any ideas, let me know.

Being the smartest guy in the room isn't always a compliment

I finally watched “The Smartest Guys In the Room”, the documentary about the Enron scandal. It was pretty interesting, it didn’t give you much information that wasn’t in the news, but it did give good character portrayals of the major players. What was surprising to me during the scandal, and that I was reminded of while watching the documentary was the complicity of everyone involved. Enron’s officers, the lawyers, the accounting firm (Anderson), and the major-name investment banks all failed to uphold their responsibilities to shareholders and employees (although I bet few people in this group actually thought they had a duty to the employees). No one was asking questions, no one was standing up and saying this was wrong. On a side note, I bet that Accenture Consulting is so happy that they lost that lawsuit to keep the Anderson name, it was a blessing in disguise.

Anyway, the movie brings up that famous experiment by Stanley Milgram where subjects would administer what they thought were lethal levels of electricity to other subjects if they were directed to do so by someone in a position of authority (a Dr, in a lab coat) etc… It is the best explanation of how this type of thing could happen. I’m sure that the lawyers, accountants, and bankers all had questions, but the people at the upper levels were all getting paid and telling them that it was okay; so they went ahead and performed while these obvious questions of where the money was going went unanswered. Authority is a powerful force in behavior, we shouldn’t ever forget this.

Another shocker to me was how involved the traders were in the California blackouts. I had read reports of Enron traders manipulating the energy prices and the supply of energy to jack up the prices, but to hear the recordings of the traders talking about raping the California market and taking advantage of deregulation to steal from grandmothers was appalling. Then again, most of these traders were all under 30, they were hired straight out of the best schools and given million dollar bonuses. At the age of 24-28, these kids were making millions and would therefore do anything Enron asked them to do, they didn't think about the end consumer. I’m not surprised, although I consider myself pretty ethical, I realize that my ethical compass is getting more precise with age and that I’m more ethical now approaching 30 than I was at 24. It’s easy to see how the company took advantage of these greedy, little shits to do their bidding.

In the end, this is such a tragic story for those people who worked for Enron and PSE. People who put in hard, traditional work lost everything – a linemen for PSE said at one point his 401K was at 375K and dropped to around $1,400 – while the executives and traders who did nothing except talk for a living made off w/ millions – sad.

Is Stupidity Good Enough Justification to Recall Sali?

Here another example of that Idaho will elect any idiot with an R behind his name. Bill Sali, Idaho 1st District Representive to Congrees, recently wrote an editorial in Boise's major daily, the Idahostatesman, about the minimum wage. The main crux of his argument is that the minimum wage is bad and that it is unconstitutional.

Now, I’m not going to debate with him if the minimum wage is good or bad. I, personally, am not a huge supporter of the minimum wage, I think that the implementation was a mistake. But it does exist. I would like to see that minimum wage abolished; however, if it is going to exist, than it should at least be a real market minimum. As it is now, I think it is an artificial price floor that is decreasing wages and therefore should be increased; therefore the actions of congress were a much needed fix. I know, it’s a complicated position, but it’s the one I take.

What I will take contention with, is Mr. Sali’s argument that the minimum wage is an unconstitutional extension of power. Uh, hello, Mr. Sali, see Article I, section 8, Clause 3 of the US Constitution. Minimum wages fit into even the most conservative definition of something falling under the term “commerce”. The constitution gives the US Congress the power to intervene, to “regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states…”. If one state were to abolish the minimum wage it could lead to a labor price war between the states and therefore introduce havoc into “commerce” between the states, therefore, labor prices are something that the congress has the authority to intervene into if it wanted to prevent this type of economic condition from occurring. This alone defeats Mr. Sali’s contention and we don’t even need to discuss weaker, but probably just as valid, arguments like the fact that when the constitution was written the word commerce included social conditions rather than strict economic definition it has today and therefore we could argue that founder might have agreed that the minimum wage is constitutional. Moreover, the Supreme Court has already looked at the issue several times during the last century and upheld the constitutionality of the minimum wage several times.

This seems to be a pattern for the legislator from Idaho. He takes an argument, which may or not be valid, and then marries it with crap he just makes up. He is against abortions (which is a valid position) but chooses to marry that to the assertion that it causes breast cancer. He is against the minimum wage (which is a valid position) and chooses to marry that to the assertion that it’s unconstitutional. The result is the he’s a laughing stock, any arguments he has gets watered down with his creative fleets of fancy. Idaho will be the butt of jokes in DC for the length of his term. This kind of intellectual laziness might work will when shooting the shit with the boys back on the farm, but it’s not kind of representation I would have picked for my beloved home state.

Quote for the day...

"Inside me live a skinny woman, crying to get out. But I can usually shut the bitch up with cookies". -unkown.