Graduation

So, assuming I pass all of my classes this semester, I should be graduating in May. I have been getting emails from the school about buying my cap and gown and whatnot. The thing is, I could care less about attending my law school graduation. While I enjoyed my time at law school and I like a lot of the people here, I'm not going to shed a lot of tears about leaving, and I don't feel like I need a pompous ceremony for closure. I skipped graduation at BYU as well. So what do we think - should I go to my graduation? Would anyone want to come?

The Lost Art of the Novel

I don't read a lot of books lately. I tell myself that it's because I don't have time with Law school and whatnot, but I still find time to watch a lot of Suns games and bad tv, not to mention keeping up with the news and this blog. I've probably got time. When I do read, I stick to classics. With the exception of John Irving (at Marg's insistance) I haven't read a book less than 70 years old in several years.
Maybe I am not looking hard enough, but I feel that the novel is becoming a lost art. The nineteenth century had a huge amount of great great literature. Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust, Dostoevsky, Joyce, Austen (sort of) - all wrote multiple works of great fiction. The early twentieth century had some great innovations as well with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ernest Hemingway, and some one-hit wonders like Harper Lee, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In my humble and admittedly ignorant opinion, nothing that good is getting written now. I feel like every novel that comes out now is a gimmick. It's wonderful that people are writing about the experiences of Afghanis during the takeover by the Taliban; it does not mean that their novels are any good.
I have a theory for why this is so. I think that it is no coincidence that the what I see as the fall of the novel coincides with the rise of the film industry. Great novelists are necessarily great storytellers. So are great directors, writers and, to a lesser degree, actors. It is possible that the creative energy that used to be solely encapsulated in fiction writing has been diluted or preempted by other media.
It is also possible that I am one of the odd people that just really prefers styles of writing that have gone out of style. I don't think so though. If I can like Tolstoy, Dickens, and Hemingway, I must not be too particular about a specific style. If anyone has any examples of great (not good, but something more) recent novels, let me know and I will try to squeeze it in between episodes of The Real World and the Soup.

Questions

Does anyone ever get their entire March Madness bracket right? The odds just seem astronomical.

Who is still watching anything with Rosie O'Donnell in it?

Why is our number system based on 10's? Wouldn't 12 be more convenient since it is also divisible by 3 and 4?

Why haven't we moved away from the qwerty keyboard?

Why is popular sentiment so pessimistic about marriage when nearly half of all marriages go the distance?

Does something inherent in politics encourage infidelity?

Does the counterculture popularized in the 60's cost the world in overall productivity since it makes it "cool" to do self destructive, sometimes stupid things, or does it aid productivity by emphasizing non-conformity and innovation?

Is Tom Cruise really as crazy as he seems to be? Is it a result of his fame, or did that kind of narcissism help make him famous?

At what point does demographic profiling turn into bias?

In the afterlife, will I get to find out whether or not the Spurs series last year was fairly officiated?

Do black people think Marg and I are pretentious when they find out that we named our little white boy Booker?

When the earth regains its paradisaical glory, what will the topography be like? Will Pangea be reformed? Will the Grand Canyon still be there? What time-frame of the earth's existence will it resemble?

Does anyone else find themselves liking Ryan Secrest the more the Soup makes fun of him?

Shouldn't I be doing homework right now?

Thunder Dan

As Margaret will probably tell you, I am a Suns fan. I love when the games are on Fox sports because that means my man Dan Majerle is calling the game. I grew up watching Dan Majerle on those nineties Suns teams that went to the Finals in '93. Don't let the shorts fool you, he's the best color commentator on TV. Some gems from tonight's game against the Rockets:

(about Shane Battier) Well, Battier went to Duke so he's got that huge cranium to get in the way of your shot.

(about 41 year old Dikembe Mutumbo)
70-year old Gary Bender: Mutumbo didn't play against the Warriors last night because of their run and gun style
Dan Majerle: He's older than you Gary, so that definitely would have been an advantage for the Warriors.

(after a (frenchman) Boris Diaw play) Vous les Vous avec moi ah ha ha!

Gary Bender: Steve Nash looks like he's playing a little hurt.
(long Nash 3) DM: What did you stay in a Holiday Inn last night? He looks fine to me.

And his signature "Don't forget the coffee!" which fans of Good Will Hunting will recognize.

The words don't give it justice. Next time you get a chance to watch a Suns game, try to enjoy the unique stylings of Thunder Dan.

Brave New World

This is probably the coolest video game I've ever seen. Now how will they make it work with a Wii...

Follow up

Seven people voted? Seriously, that's all I get? Seven people? It appears I have grossly overestimated my readership. Slackers.

The "correct" answer, or at least the answer that Rob gave is 6:00 pm. So he works 6-6. I've had occasional days like that in lawschool, but never on a sustained basis. I definitely think that Rob has the right idea getting up super early so that he can be home early to spend more time with the family before going to bed. Poor Margaret would just have to get used to me being gone before anyone wakes up. Six isn't too bad for getting home though, I suppose.

The good news is that I just heard from Rob today and it looks like the Tucson firm is going to be giving me an official offer. The official offer will include the salary, benefits and odds and ends of what they will do should I take the job. I should get it in the mail either by the end of this week or early next week. I am pretty excited about it. I really was impressed by the people that I met at this firm and Tucson isn't THAT far away. Plus, at least I am now sure that I will not be facing graduation with a fat bunch of nothing on the horizon. That's worth several years of 12 hour days right? Right?

Tucson (cont'd)

We had another great interview in Tucson, and I'm definitely expecting to finally get a good job offer. You can check out the firm here. We had dinner with the junior associate at the firm. His name is Rob and he's been at the firm since he graduated from the U of A last year. He and his wife were very nice. They are LDS and are getting ready to have their sixth child in September. He said that the partners in the firm go out of their way to make sure that he is able to fulfill all of his family, church and work obligations. He said on a typical day he gets to the firm around 6:00 am, and that the firm makes sure he gets out of there to spend plenty of time at home. They are really generous people and I think this firm might be a great opportunity for me.

What I want from you people is to tell me if I were get to work around 6:00 am, what time should I be getting home? Please Vote - I'll let you know when Rob said he actually gets home in a couple of days so you can all know how great this job might be after I get a feel for how people are voting. Thanks!

Tucson?

I had a good interview in Tucson this weekend. My favorite part happened after the main interview at the office when the senior partner, junior partner and I went out to dinner at a nice Asian pace. After an hour and a half or so, the senior partner had to go visit his wife who was in the hospital with a serious illness. After he left:

Junior Partner: "He really liked you. I'm nearly positive that you'll get an offer. I think you'd be a really good fit here."

My second favorite part happened while I was in the main interview at the office. Out of nowhere the senior partner asked what size my wife's feet were. I thought that was a little odd. I thought he was asking to try to get some sort of weird insight into the state of my marriage. Instead, he went to his office and got me a pair of shoe inserts designed to make high-heels more comfortable. Apparently the senior partner had used his years of experience with inventors to solve a common plight of modern women. You can check them out at http://insolia.com/ but you'll have to pay for your own if you want a pair, at least until I get the job.

So, finally, some good news. But honestly - Tucson?

There are a lot of people that love the whole desert vibe with the pueblo architecture and cacti in the yard. I am not one of those people. I like a lawn - something I can walk on barefoot when the weather's nice. If there is a house with a lawn in Tucson, I haven't seen it. I'm definitely not saying that I wouldn't take the job if it's the best offer we get. I would. It's still close enough that I could come to at least some of the family dinners. Plus, Tucson is really close to Mexico and it would be fun to head down to Rocky Point every once in a while. It's not too different from Phoenix I guess, and if we hate it, we can always leave a couple of years down the road.

And the firm may be a great opportunity for me for at least 3 reasons:
1. It's small- about 5 lawyers total in 2 offices. This means that I won't be a cog locked in a room doing due diligence. It also means that I get a lot of face time with the partners and consequently the chance to become a partner quickly.
2. Notwithstanding the size of the firm, they still handle sophisticated work from big-time clients. Boeing is probably the biggest name client and there are others. They also are by far the most involved with chemistry and biochemistry in Arizona. It's not even close.
3. The other new associate (there will only be 2 of us if I get hired, and he's only been there a year) is LDS with kids. I haven't been able to meet him (he was at Disneyland this week), but that's got to be good.

So it at least is looking like an option. I have another interview with a biotech company in Phoenix this week and we still are waiting to hear back from Prescott. If I'm really lucky, maybe I'll have more than one.