The Hack a Shaq strategy should go away

The NBA needs to change its policy of allowing dirty Spurs from fouling Shaq every possession, thus preventing quality basketball from being played. Greg Popovich, the mastermind of San Antonio's evil ploys, should enroll in a basketball ethics course. No, it is not ethical to abuse NBA rules. In fact, since David Stern doesn't understand how cheap coaches can be, I'm going to write him an email expressing my views. Here is what the new rule should be: every time someone is fouled without the ball, it results in a technical so that the best free throw shooter gets to put it in. Okay, I think I'm done venting.

Random tidbit of information #1: How Spiders Create Spiderwebs

I love sharing interesting tidbits of information. This post begins the first of a series entitled "Random tidbits of information."

Have you ever wondered how spiderwebs are created? I'm not talking about the synthesis of silk. I'm talking about how the spider spins a web from point A to point B, even if these two points are far apart. This concept has boggled my mind at times, actually. I mean do spiders just fly from one bush to another like Spider man? Well I took the question to Wikipedia, and I was not let down.

According to wikipedia, the first thread is the most difficult part of construction for the spider. "The spider effectively utilizes the wind to carry its initial adhesive thread. With some luck the silk is released from its spinners and carried by the wind to a suitable adherable surface. When it sticks to a surface the spider will carefully walk over the thread and strengthen it with a second thread. This process is repeated until the primary thread is strong enough to support the rest of the netting."
Contemplate that the next time you see/walk into/push someone else into a spiderweb.

Viva Concord

In the summer of 1950, having applied to Harvard business school, Warren Buffett took the train to Chicago and was interviewed by a local alum. What this representative of higher learning surveyed, Buffett says, was "a scrawny 19-year-old who looked 16 and had the social poise of a 12-year-old." After ten minutes the interview was over, and so were Buffett's prospects of going to Harvard. The rejection stung. But Buffett now considers it the luckiest thing ever to have happened to him, because upon returning to Omaha he chanced to learn that Ben Graham was teaching at Columbia's business school, and immediately--and this time successfully--applied.

When I read about the humble beginnings of the currently richest man in the world, I became happy. You see, lately I've been receiving a lot of rejection letters from law schools I had aspirations of attending. But one school, Franklin Pierce, was willing to take a chance on me. In fact, I've been getting really excited about Franklin Pierce Law and firmly believe that I can be successful in life through this program.
Franklin Pierce is renowned for its Intellectual Property law focus Currently, US News & World Report ranks them 5th in IP. I will be able to take awesome classes, get great job opportunities, and make connections with powerful people like few other schools can provide.
New Hampshire combines the best of both of my worlds Being on the east coast, it is close in proximity to cities. Yet, New Hampshire is very much a non-city environment, kind of like Utah. Transportation is very simple. If you want to go from point A to point B, you hop in your car at point A, and drive to point B. You don't have to drive to point C, pay for parking, take the train to point D, walk to point E, and then arrive at point B like you do in Boston. Housing is cheaper. Outdoor adventures will happen with all of New Hampshire's undeveloped land and wannabe mountains. Another exciting feature: Wal-Mart.
I won't go into that much debt I was fortunate to be offered a generous scholarship for each of the three years by FP. Also, housing is cheap and I am low maintenance in my needs. I may not have to sell my soul to a large law firm after law school.
I will have a better chance of standing out Everyone always rants and raves about getting into the the most competitive school, but I think there's something to be said about being a big fish in the pond. FP's total enrollment is 400 (For a comparison, Harvard has 1730) and I will more likely rise to the top of my class and land a top-notch job or internship. As a friend told me recently, I am about to start the end of my formal education. Because New Hampshire isn't well-known for its fast-paced, fun, city-lifestyle (Concord has a population of a whopping 40,000), I can hit the books hard. This way I'll get the most out of my law school experience. Will this take dedication? sacrifice? pain? Yes. But I think I'm ready.

In conclusion, I believe that great opportunities sometimes turn up in unlikely places. I would not have seen myself going to New Hampshire one year ago. But I am now firmly under the impression that it will be an amazing experience.

Some geese are not nice

For those of you who don't know, I am training for a May half-marathon. I recently bought a nice running watch, and have dedicated 6:30 - 7:30 every morning to running. This morning, I probably looked quite ridiculous. Let me explain:
I was running along Riverway and started approaching two geese. I thought nothing of it since I pass geese all the time. All of the sudden, one of the geese started flying towards me with his beak gaping open. I was stunned, not knowing what to do. The goose proceeded to fly slowly and directly towards my face. I stopped dead in my tracks and became SCARED. As my nemesis approached even closer, I behaved instinctually, not having any time to think things through: I cowered in the face of this bird. Seeing my submission, the goose called off his attack. After somewhat recovering from my spell of terror, I kind of laughed and continued on with my run. Thinking back to the experience, I can just imagine how much entertainment that must have provided someone driving by at that moment.