It's Really My Fault

I'll take the blame for the Patriots Super Bowl loss. Me, right here. This guy. I put on my Tom Brady jersey and wore it for the first quarter. I knew I shouldn't have. I caused this. I wore that jersey the last time we played the Giants, earlier this season, and we lost. I didn't wear it again until the playoff game against the Ravens - and we won despite our best efforts. So I should have known it was the bad luck jersey and kept it in the closet. But no, I had to go dragging it out to show my New England pride. Damn you, hubris. I apologize to Belichick, Brady, Welker, and the rest of them. I am sorry I selfishly wore that jersey and caused that dismal loss.

On the plus side of the Super Bowl, we had a party at my apartment with two tvs! That's twice the number of tvs you probably watched the game on. How did I pull that off, you might ask. Well I don't mind telling you it was a combination of laziness (failing to post the old tv on Craigslist for a few months), elbow grease (or re-wiring RCN service), and good old American work ethic (yeah!).
Since my roommate is a Giants fan, we were quite the house divided. I think Giants fans outnumbered Patriots fans 6 to 5, with another 7 people whose main attractions to the game were beer and salsa. In my book, some people (my roommate) deserve a penalty for excessive celebration. But the losers took their defeat with grace and poise. No one even punched a wall or destroyed a door. My response was doing dishes (conveniently aided by remembering I have a dishwasher and using it for the first time in two and a half years - no joke), drinking a beer, and watching Game of Thrones.

I paid attention to more than half of my Trusts and Estates class today. I relish the small victories.

I got a haircut today and got my barber in trouble with the head barber, for lack of a better term. With Diego, whose establishment it is. I unknowingly skipped ahead of a guy with an appointment. Sorry doode. Me and my barber are thick as thieves. Mostly because I've always wanted to say that. But he's a good guy and I gave him extra tip for getting him in trouble. That's the appropriate response, right? I can honestly say I had never seen a barber get disciplined. It wasn't a pretty sight. There was hair everywhere.

Radio Silence

Wow, so sorry for the radio silence. It's been...a lot. I was sick for a while in DC, then came up to Boston for a nice little vacation and ended up in the hospital for a few days. Dream vacation. Better than a cruise. No really, the hospital is less confining than a cruise ship, minus the whole being sick thing. At least there was no rocking. But there were vital sign check-ins every four hours. My favorite one was the regular 4 am check-in. It didn't lead to a lot of good sleep, let me say.

But now I am out and healthy(ish), regaining my energy and having a "real" vacation. I had to postpone my DC return, and in doing so I missed the DC earthquake. Too bad, I have never been in an earthquake. It sounds exciting. Added bonus: none of the stuff in my apartment broke or fell. My roommate reports that some of the pictures on my walls are askew. Damn you, earthquake! But really what is this, California? We don't have nearly enough actors to cause earthquakes in DC.

My time in Boston is going pretty well. I am just hanging out, relaxing...shootin' some b-ball outside of school. Alright, maybe not that. More like going to the outlets with Shaked and Ron and trying to convince Ron to buy argyle sweater-vests. But if you are in Boston and want to see me, I suggest you let me know. I'm looking at Erica right now. That's right, getting called out in a blog post. Which you may or may not read. I understand after the long silence, people may have thought I sunk after hitting an iceberg. Not the case. It's summer - there aren't icebergs. Idiot.

I'm sorry, but I really do not get the appeal of Mad Men. I am on the Season 1 finale, and there is still no concrete plot line. A lot of things just kind of happen. So what? Do people like it because it is breaking the traditional Aristotelian plot progression? I doubt it. Is it the 60's style? Or is it just that the actors look pretty? I just don't get it. And yet...I've watched season 1 and the question remains - why?

I wish that I had my class schedule figured out. But I don't. I would love to know how many credits my internship will give me. But why would the school want to tell me a silly thing like that? Oh yeah, I got an internship for this semester. It should be fun and more importantly minimize the time I have to spend in a lecture, reading a textbook, or taking a final.

In other news, I got an offer from my firm. It happened the same day I got out of the hospital. That was...a very good day. I don't think the impact of it has quite sunk in, but I am happy and consider myself very lucky. I would say the odds are about 95% that I will take it. Deep breath. Very lucky.

Sunday TV

Dear ESPN,
Just so you know, NASCAR is not a sport. So why you are going to show it for about half the daytime hours today? What a waste.
Thanks,
Will

So the U.S. has an AA+ that's still a better grade than you've ever gotten, I bet.
I really don't know what S&P is doing here. Who is the guy who ok's the decision to downgrade U.S. debt? That's such an unpatriotic decision. I hope he has a difficult time sleeping at night. Come on! That's like spray painting devil horns onto the Lincoln Memorial.

Now everyone is talking about double-dipped recessions. I don't know what that means, but I do love double-dipped ice cream!

Alright, let's face it, I really don't understand economics. I'm watching Larry Summers on CNN right now, and he's speakin' so reckless right now.

Do You Know What the Midwest Is?

Outlet shopping today was a disappointing but relieving. I didn't buy nearly enough clothing to feel ready to tackle being a "lawyer" or even an "adult," but I also didn't spend the bank. I ended up buying some practical things and some necessary things. No suits, however, so that still has to get done. It's a rough job suit shopping, but somebody's gotta do it. Ron contemplated both seersucker and white suits today. I encouraged him to go for it. So cheap. Alas, the peer pressure didn't work this time. Meanwhile my shoulders inhibited my suit shopping, as did some ugly suits. I'd say the real let down was the Banana Republic Outlet. Some people know that I am pretty much in love with Banana Republic (or Nana Pubs as some have been known to call it). Nevermind the fact that their dress shirts really aren't sized for me or that they constantly above my price range. The quality, the comfort, and the look are what I'm all about. Unfortunately they had just about nothing I wanted today. What the hell Nana Pubs, you are supposed to be my favorite, my rock. Today, you were a total let down. Your little brother, Gap, was far superior. You ought to be ashamed.

This evening, I politely declined to go to a strip club. I am certain I made the right decision. It is an experience in life that I am still lacking, but I am comfortable letting it remain that way.

I've been watching Heroes, season 1 on DVD. (Thanks Library!) I like it, but it's so repetitive and very little happens each episode. They follow so many character plots that it takes three episodes for anything coherent to happen and any event to resolve itself. It doesn't help that they do a "previously on Heroes" then they re-show the entire scene were a character left off, then some character has a dream where you see the same thing, then they have a flashback to that dream, then there's a painting of it, then it actually happens. By the end you have viewed the same scene twelve times and wasted half the episode. I understand that Peter is going to explode! I got it after the first three times I saw it! I'm looking forward to the next episode where small strands of plot will further be revealed, two questions will be answered, five new questions will pop up, and I'll get to see Peter explode again. Had to get that out there. I really do like it, but if it moved a little faster and had a little more confidence in viewers to figure it out, I would appreciate it.

On Friday I saw "Johnny Baseball" with Eva. It's a musical about the Red Sox, race relations, and a love story. Two of those areas they covered well; one they covered poorly. You can guess which was the poor one. Now you can check your answer: it's the love story. I'm not crazy about musicals to begin with, but adding an ill-conceived and ultimately irrelevant love story with mundane songs didn't help anything. The rest of the show, however, was lots of fun. It is very Boston. They rhyme with Scituate and Methuen, make fun of Worcester, and capture the baseball culture of Boston very well. Part of the plot takes place during Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, codename the best baseball game ever played. So of course you have to love that. Also, I didn't know that the Red Sox were the last baseball team to integrate and declined to sign Willie Mays. Go team. Yes, the Red Sox have made some (understatement) mistakes, but at least....ummm....they've been playing well this week. And at least....they aren't the Yankees!

Heading off to Chicago tomorrow, land of Bears, Cubs, and White Sox. Also Matt, Mike, Leor, Obama, and others (I'm just assuming other people live there - I don't have firsthand experience yet). But I'm excited. Do you know what the Midwest is? (David Ronn's answer was "Yes.") Well I'm going to find out tomorrow.