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.

Good Friday

I have a confession to make: before this year, I had never heard of the holiday 'Good Friday.' In fact, I hadn't heard of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday either. I'm particularly amazed that I had never heard of Good Friday considering how huge it is in mainstream Christianity. Many students and workers throughout the world get the day off. I grew up in an predominately Mormon community which doesn't celebrate this holiday, but shouldn't I have at least heard of it? I mean the stock market isn't even open on this day.
R invited me to a church's Good Friday service in West Newton. It was almost surreal being inside the chapel. Not only did the church have that old look to it, there were candles and the stained glass windows that added to the effect. Walking to the pews, soft music filled my ears. In the dimly lit chapel, I could make out 3 cellos, an oboe, a flute, and a harpsichord. The service was entitled Jeremiah's Lamentations and a man and a woman traded off singing in a foreign language that I thought was either German or Latin. The music was absolutely beautiful. In between songs, the pastor would get up and speak to the congregation. I would like to include some of what he read taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. Pay special attention to the wording as it is not King James Version.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

The question crossed my mind, 'Why don't we as Mormons join with mainstream Christianity in honoring and revering this special day?' I'm familiar with some of the standard answers. First off, there are a lot of false traditions that detract from coming to Christ. I've heard of weird reenactments of Christ's crucifixion and also overly focusing on Christ's death. But in the United Church of Christ, there was nothing morbid or unpleasant. In fact, it gave me more of an appreciation for what Christ did for humankind.
The second reason we Mormons don't celebrate Good Friday is probably because we like to instead focus on the happy part - the resurrection. While I see the logic in this, I also see several weaknesses: First off, by implying that we don't celebrate all the other holidays in Holy Week in favor of the climactic holiday, Easter, you would think that there would be a climactic celebration. However, my experience is that Easter is just like any other Sunday. So if we are going to say that we don't celebrate Good Friday in favor of celebrating Easter, then when Easter rolls around, we should really celebrate it. Secondly, I think the more often you can be touched by Christ, the better you are. I feel like we wouldn't be worse off as a church if we spent more time thinking about Christ and what He did for us. Thirdly, remembering the death does not mean we have to become too preoccupied with it. Indeed, it can make celebrating the resurrection that much sweeter when we realize that there was a Friday that was necessary for Sunday to come. Leo Tolstoy made the distinction in his later years how one can know if a work of literature is Christian. Whether it be happy or sad, if the work brings you closer Christ, it is Christian. I feel this standard applies to all art. I felt like this service definitely drew me closer to God as I thought about and pondered Christ. Fourthly, overlooking this holiday (and not even knowing what the flipping holiday is) makes us appear less-Christian to others.
In conclusion, I think it would be good to celebrate Good Friday in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church has been making a push lately to stress that it is Christian. Wouldn't celebrating Holy Week help in this regard? Also, wouldn't it help us think about what Christ did for us? I think so.

Mastermind - A Powerful Concept

In the book Law of Success, Napoleon Hill talks about the concept of creating a 'Master Mind'. Allow Napoleon to explain what a Master Mind is. "A Master Mind may be created through the bringing together or blending, in a spirit of perfect harmony, of two or more minds. Out of this harmonious blending, the chemistry of the mind creates a third mind which may be appropriated and used by one or all of the individual minds." He then focuses the remainder of the book in showing how a Master Mind approach can help achieve goals-whatever they may be. He supports this conclusion mostly with examples from business successes in the early 20th century. But lately I have found that this concept applies in the 21st century as well. My cousin came to visit me from DC, and we actually started talking about John the Baptist around 11:30 PM. This topic quickly turned into how to better pray, study the scriptures, and keep the commandments. I did not expect to be so spiritually uplifted on a Saturday night. But it reinforced the Master Mind concept that when two or more minds come together, something greater than the individual minds is possible. Anyone up for creating a Master Mind?

Daytime cellphone use is down

I have 7 days left in my cellphone billing month and I've used 24 minutes. That means that on average, I use (21/24 = 0.875) less than a minute a day. Ha! That's kind of funny. Well, don't be fooled that I never talk on the phone. My free minutes start at 7 PM and by being on the east coast, you can get a lot done with such a plan. I'd try and use my phone more during the day, but Sprint = crummy reception at work. 9/10 when people call me it goes straight to my voicemail, and I'm pretty close to a window. You'd think that the reception would be better. Well, my cell phone contract is about to expire and I'm open for suggestions.