Hey Amy, June 6th = Dusty Rhodes DVD Viewing Party

Finally it feels like there is a light at the end of the tunnel, not because I'm done with one of my finals, but because www.FYE.com has just added a preview for the release of the 3-Disk Dusty Rhodes DVD collection coming out in June, click here to go to the FYE page and click "play clip" to see the preview and tell the Horsemen they can ride off to another planet, because you've got the stratosphere reserved for yourself and the man of the hour, the man with the power. The hit maker, the record breaker. The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

Continuing With the Cell Phone Theme…

There are certain things that I really enjoy in life. One of these things is hearing someone’s cell phone go off during class. This wasn’t always the case, in undergrad at Miami I found it very annoying, inappropriate, and unprofessional. Now that I’m in law school I can tolerate it and even revel in it since it happens much less frequently. Why do I enjoy it so much? Because I get to hear other people’s cheesy ring tones. Today, for the second time in two semesters, a classmate’s phone went off and treated us all to the Europe classic The Final Countdown. Being that it was the final day of classes the “other Adam” aptly noted the symbolism of it all. Now, I know you want it, so click here and listen to a sample of The Final Countdown.

A Day Late and About $40,000 Short

Right now my life feels like the first part of this Gatorade commercial. I certainly just proved its point about being a fraction off.
(For those of you who aren’t into sports the first part of the commercial has famous endings in sports changed via CGI, i.e. Instead of Michael Jordan making a buzzer beater against Cleveland in the 1989 playoffs he misses it.)

As proof for the statement and video above I offer you this unfortunate tale from yesterday.
I was spending my Saturday morning getting stuff together to mail back home, a shirt that needs to be sewn, my old cell phone so my niece could use it, and a couple other random items. As I was about to put the phone in the box I decided that I should check it in case there were any messages on it from people who don’t have my new cell number yet. I’ve had my new number for almost a month, but it had been about a week since I last checked it for messages so I figured there could be somebody out there who hadn’t gotten the update.

I checked the voicemails and found out that on Monday the Reed Smith office called wanting to set up an interview regarding a fellowship that I had applied for a little over a month ago (before I got my new cell number). This fellowship was a diversity fellowship that required essays on adversity that I’ve had to overcome and another one on my commitment to community service. Luckily for me I’ve got a pretty good life story for the adversity essay and I’ve handed out my fair share of food to the homeless. If I were lucky enough to be picked the fellowship would provide in state tuition for my next two years at pitt (saving me $39,402), and get me a job as a summer associate with Reed Smith next summer (not sure how much that pays, but the experience alone is worth more than at least 8 of my toes and 4 of my fingers combined). The unfortunate part is that they wanted to set up an interview with me on Friday, as we have already established it was Saturday when I finally got the message. Yup, I had just screwed myself out of a chance at one of the best legal opportunities I’ll see for quite a while. Sure, I may never have an opportunity like this again, but at least I did prove that I am the ultimate adversity candidate since even when I get a great opportunity because of overcoming adversity someone, something, or I myself, as in this case, will find a way to keep it from happening.

P.S. For those wondering, yes I did email the person in charge of the fellowship, and no, it didn’t make a difference. However they did thank me for solving the mystery as to why I hadn’t called them back.

Superman and Sports Randomness

I’ve been pretty busy lately, thus the lack of updates. I did find a couple of things online that I found interesting though.
1st is a really cool video of a joke played by some student’s in a Physics 140 class at the University of Michigan. I only wish this was me doing this in law school, here's the clip. Go to www.UMPatriots.com for a link to 2 more videos of these guys.
2nd is a great story from the best owner in professional sports today, Mark Cuban. Apparently he was able to arrange free airfare for every fan in attendance at the Dallas Mavericks last home game. Here’s the article. For more on Mark Cuban click the link to the right bearing his name to go to his blog which is always an interesting read.

The Agony and Ecstasy of Being a Florida Marlins Fan.

Times are tight financially, but I’ve been saving my spare change to buy a good ticket when my beloved Florida Marlins come to town to play the Pirates. Then, earlier this week I was faced with quite a dilemma.
One of my classmates invited me to this Friday’s Pirates game against the Cubs. Even though I’ve been wanting to get out to PNC Park since opening day I didn’t want to spend my money designated for the Marlins to get there. Then after a few minutes of pondering the answer to my problems dawned on me. Because of the Marlins unique franchise history, going to a Cubs game would be just about the same as going to a Marlins game this year. “How so?” you ask. I’ll explain.

This off-season the Marlins upheld team tradition by dismantling the nucleus of the team that won the 2003 World Series, just like they did to the 1997 team. As a result I’ll be able to see more of my favorite Marlins players if I go this Friday than I would if I waited until this year’s Marlins finally came to town. The only catch is that the Marlins will be in Cubs uniforms. Take a minute to let that sink in, it’s not an exaggeration. I can buy a ticket to a Marlins game and see Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, if Dontrelle is starting that day, or I can buy a Cubs ticket and see Derek Lee, Juan Pierre, and Ryan Dempster, If Dempster is pitching. In fact the Cubs are just one of quite a few teams that have more familiar (former) Marlins than the current Marlins roster which has 11 rookies and only 5 players with more than 3 years of experience or more. Basically I can see some of my favorite Marlins no matter what 2 teams are playing. This is yet another of the mixed blessings of being a Marlins fan I guess. I’ll still be at PNC when the Marlins make it to town, but I’ll be in the upper deck because the big money will be spent to see the Ryan, Derek, Juan, and Cubs.

How do I feel about the house sale? To quote the Wu…

Mom and Dad were able to sell the house for a nice chunk of change this week and that led to rampant speculation that I’d be depressed, distraught, or worse and that I’d need to fly home to do some sort of ritual. Well, these rumors couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, I’m a sentimental guy, but all I need is a board from the house, a small vile of sand, a rock or two, and a few good photographs and I have no problems with the old house being sold, demolished, burned to the ground, or imploded. How can a guy as sentimental as me be so detached? I’ll answer that question with lyrics from the Wu-Tang Clan classic CREAM “Get the money…dolla dolla bill ya’ll.” So, for those of you keeping score at home;
Financial Security > Sentimentality
Also, if you want a visual representation of what I’m talking about just scroll down a couple of posts and take a gander at the random picture of Ted Dibiase, I think it makes my point quite clear.

I know where I'll be in December 2006

I just found out that Stallone released the first teaser trailer for Rocky 6 on his website and then took it off after only a couple of days. Luckily some people saved it so you can click here to watch it. Personally I think the trailer looks excellent. I seem to be the only person alive who thinks that this movie could be really good, but then again I’m also the only person I know that thinks Rocky 5 was a good film.

Here’s a Random Picture of The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase For No Apparent Reason

Ted Dibiase

Well, at least I didn’t go there.

Even though I’m not getting anywhere near my money’s worth here at pitt I think I might have heard a story about another law school yesterday that tops anything pitt has put me through…yet. Apparently the significant other of a friend of mine is going to be attending law school in an elementary school building next year. This person’s school is constructing a new building, but they are knocking the old one (the building currently being used) down at the end of this year. This leaves the school with no alternative but to hold classes at the aforementioned elementary school.
Honestly, after giving this some deep thought I’m not totally convinced that it’s that bad of a situation. Who wouldn’t love to take a few classes in those really short chairs and tables, you would feel like a giant. If you’re free when the kids are having recess you could dominate some pickup basketball games for added self confidence. What’s even better is that during long breaks between classes you could raid the closet with the nap time mats and get some sleep in every day just like in kindergarten. I wonder if it’s too late to transfer?

Congratulations UF, from a Cane.

As anyone who reads this knows by now I consider my choice to go to pitt law instead of the University of Miami the stupidest mistake of my short existence. Luckily for me I’ve lived 24 years so far and only have this one regret to show for it…until now. I present to you my second stupidest decision ever; not going to UF for law school. Had I gone there I could be blowing off classes to celebrate a basketball national title right now.

I Miss My Style'n Shoes

I just got done watching a great documentary on the underground sneaker culture in America over the last 20 years called Just For Kicks. Man, did it bring back some memories. I need to hurry up and finish this law school thing so I can get back to buying stylish sneakers like I used to when I was young. Back then mom and dad would only pay for a regular pair of shoes so I had to work for the money to make up the difference between regular shoes and the latest releases. What made my shoe collection great was living in Orlando where I had access to the shoe company's outlets. This insured that I could find great looking dead stock or rare design shoes for next to nothing. Since most of the people on the basketball courts hadn't seen the style of shoes I was wearing, or hadn't seen them in a long time, it made it really easy to bust out something original whether it was the newest model or something different from the outlet. Good times...good times...
Here's the documentary's web site.