Bowling Recap coming soon

I apologize to any and all readers who were looking forward to a recap of last week's bowling escapades. I'll post a full update soon.

But, at the prodding of Bowling Injury I feel compelled to mention that I lost a bet on Thursday. For the second game, Bowling Injury and I made a friendly wager - loser buys the winner a beer. Although I started to come back strong at the end, Bowling Injury bowled a better game.

Congratulations, Bowling Injury. Your free beer is well deserved.

100 Things

1. Alex's favorite pizza toppings are ham and pineapple.
2. Alex wishes he had more photos of friends and family.
3. Alex used to play piano and clarinet but now can hardly read music.
4. Alex wants to pick up playing an instrument again.
5. Alex admires punctuality and sometimes gets annoyed at people who aren't; this goes double for himself.
6. Alex is a hopeless romantic.
7. Alex thinks of himself as a cautious optimist. And sometimes not all that cautious.
8. Alex played the lead role in his first grade play.
9. Alex thinks intelligence is very sexy.
10. Alex's favorite ballroom dance is the Tango.
11. Alex writes poetry but lets very few people read it.
12. Alex's favorite book is Jurassic Park.
13. Alex was originally an aerospace engineering major.
14. Sometimes Alex wishes he had stayed in engineering.
15. Alex took fencing in undergrad.
16. Alex has been to skating camp, science camp, and chess camp.
17. Alex likes the name Ivan but would never be so cruel to his children.
18. Alex hopes to someday see Australia. And New Zealand. And Australia.
19. Alex predicts that only one reader got the last joke.
20. It took Alex six tries to pass Novice Freestyle.
21. Alex likes broadway musicals. His favorite is probably Jekyll and Hyde.
22. Alex enjoys reading Shakespeare.
23. Alex really doesn't like hospitals, even though his father is a doctor.
24. Alex thinks it would be cool to have a wedding on a beach or in a castle, but doubts it will
happen.
25. Alex is pretty good at word games.
26. Alex was elected vice president of his eighth grade class; he chalks it up to being the new
kid and giving out candy.
27. Alex founded a chess club in high school.
28. Alex likes sushi.
29. Alex likes venus fly traps, but has trouble keeping them alive.
30. Alex has tried internet dating.
31. Alex paces when he's nervous.
32. Alex comes up with some of his best ideas while walking.
33. Alex can easily distinguish diet cola from regular cola by taste.
34. Alex thinks his wardrobe needs an overhaul.
35. Alex likes receiving post cards.
36. Alex doesn't like the word "normal."
37. Alex really likes inside jokes.
38. Alex has played euchre on the steps of Verseilles.
39. Alex is a big fan of movie trailers.
40. Alex has almost a compulsive desire for people to like him.
41. Alex has only let three people call him Al.
42. Alex has had two near-death experiences (as in almost died, not the white light and the
tunnel thing).
43. Alex origingally wanted to be a detective when he grew up.
44. When people forget Alex's name, they most frequently call him Mark or Eric.
45. Alex considered joining the air force.
46. Alex enjoys philosophical discussions.
47. Alex has never broken a bone (knock on wood).
48. Alex doubts it is possible for anyone to completely know and understand him.
49. Alex predicts his mid-life crisis will involve learning to sail.
50. Alex collects alligator knick knacks.
51. Alex has choreographed a group number for an ice show.
52. Alex wishes he was better at keeping in touch with his friends. Better yet, he wishes they
kept in better touch with him.
53. Alex finds thuderstorms to be relaxing.
54. Alex doesn't get motion sickness.
55. Alex was on a speech team in seventh grade.
56. Alex likes listening to classical music, especially Paganini's violin concertos.
57. Alex enjoys being snarky from time to time.
58. Alex has twice waited in a line outside a theater, overnight, for Star Wars tickets. He had
different company each time.
59. Alex knows that the top letter on the eye chart is an "E," but not because he can see it
without correction.
60. Alex comes in two shades: pale white and lobster red (depending on sunscreen use).
61. Alex's Chinese vocabulary is limited to "yes," "no," "corn," and "Happy New Year."
62. Alex wishes he knew more about Chinese culture and his heritage.
63. When engaged in introspection, Alex prefers to sit quietly and alone in the dark.
64. Alex wants to prove that nice guys don't have to finish last.
65. Alex often talks to himself when he's alone.
66. When Alex hears a piece of music, he often imagines how he would skate to it.
67. Alex was once the only guy living in a house with six women.
68. Alex worries that he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
69. Alex would rather be the de facto leader than the elected/appointed position.
70. Alex can yawn without opening his mouth.
71. Alex is against the death penalty.
72. More than anything else, Alex hates being falsely accused.
73. Alex is a sucker for free food.
74. Alex thinks the hardest thing about meeting a bunch of people is remembering their names.
75. Alex doesn't like making "to do" lists.
76. Alex is a night owl.
77. Alex likes the fortunes inside fortune cookies.
78. Alex dislikes people who try to push their beliefs on him.
79. Alex has never successfully kept a journal.
80. Alex likes being asked for advice, though he sometimes doubts that he's qualified to give it.
81. Alex wishes he knew French better.
82. Alex isn't afraid of heights; Alex is afraid of falling from heights.
83. When Alex was younger, he had an imaginary friend. It was an elephant named Charlie.
84. Alex's favorite magazine is Discover.
85. Alex doesn't really feel that he's "from" anywhere in particular.
86. Alex likes to bowl, shoot pool, and play golf, but isn't good at any of them.
87. Alex has never used illegal drugs.
88. Alex has lost or broken more pairs of sunglasses than he can remember.
89. Alex used to be a cub scout.
90. Alex thinks that someday he'll write a book.
91. Alex has only gotten drunk alone once.
92. Alex considers himself one of the most creative people he knows.
93. Alex once constructed a fully operational model ballista.
94. When ordering dessert, Alex first considers all options that involve chocolate.
95. Alex really likes walking along a beach at night.
96. Alex checks his email compulsively.
97. Alex is a fan of British comedy - especially Monty Python and Douglas Adams.
98. The first time Alex drank, he spent time rehearsing saying the alphabet backwards.
99. Alex believes discretion is the better part of valor.
100. Alex echoes the sentiment that creating this list is a difficult task.

LOTR Marathon

Back in December, Brad issued a Lord of the Rings challenge. He and Niki watched all three of the LOTR movies back-to-back-to-back in one day. He then issued a challenge for others to do likewise. I'd always wanted to do something like that, but had never gotten around to it. I don't own the LOTR movies on DVD and I missed the "Trilogy Tuesday" promotion that theaters had back when The Return of the King came out. But today I got the chance to do it, thanks to Brendan who hosted the event.

Our LOTR marathon was a bit more hard core, however. Brendan held a viewing of the extended versions of each movie, thereby adding several more scenes and a bunch of extra time. For that reason, I wasn't able to meet one of the "requirements" - I don't think it's even possible to watch all of them in 11 hours. We did it in a little under 13 hours. All other conditions were met, though - we watched the whole trilogy, it was done in one sitting (taking such breaks as necessary for food and bathroom), and witnesses were present. In fact many people came and went (I think we had at least ten people at one point), but Brendan and I watched them all. Patrick and Dmytro also watched the vast majority of the saga, and were there to the bitter end.

Yes, I'm a big dork. But it was a lot of fun.

Coming Attractions

Looking back on the last few posts, I realize that I've not been writing on much except bowling. For that I apologize, especially to my non-NDLS readership, who probably couldn't care less about the weekly scores and such.

I just wanted to let everyone know that some more substantive posts shall be forthcoming. In particular, look for a "100 things about Alex list" similar to those made by Lisa, Jenni, Derek, and Welter. Originally, I wasn't going to compile such a list. However, I have been requested to do so and post it for the enjoyment of my readers. It's a lot harder than it may sound, but also a really interesting project. I hope to finish up the list and post it sometime this weekend.

That's all for now, but stay tuned - there's more to come.

Bowling Recap

Here's a very brief recap of last night's bowling exploits.
ICBING was running on a skeleton crew: we only had five bowlers. We rotated people into the sixth spot so that we'd have a full complement against over, more fully staffed teams.
Here's what the scores looked like:

Wrong Lane: 95, 104
Take a Knee: 130, 94
Nugatory En Fuego: 122, 100
Bowling InJury: 107, 86
Breaks 50 (and sometimes 100, her average is about 70, compared to a princess, "&", attractive nuisance): 83, 58

Ghost Person: 123, 88

It was Take a Knee's birthday, and he was showered with gifts ranging from store bought cookies to a bowling pin (the kind you wear, not the kind you knock down) to shamrock wristbands to a green plastic St. Patty's Day hat. Take a Knee also wore some very fashionable socks that had a bowling ball and pins on it - and if you folded it down, it sported the word "BOWLING."

Take a Knee also had the quote of the night, while talking to Breaks 50 (et al):
"If you don't break 50, then the terrorists win... Sleeper cells are pulling for a 48, if you know what I mean."

Although much fun was had by all, we look forward to having the full team together again for next week.

P.S. The naming committee (see last post) has been overruled, and bowlers will be known by their former names. Well, except for Breaks 50, who simply adds a few names to her already extensive list each week.

UPDATE: Pictures of the team now available here, courtesy of Bowling Injury!

New bowling names...

Apparently, the old nicknames weren't good enough, probably because they didn't rise to the proper level of law geekiness. A self-appointed naming committee set out to rectify this oversight, however, and I've been asked to post their results:

Alex: Tresspass to real property
Emily: Strict Liability
Chris M.: Contributory negligence
Chris N.: Res Ipsa
Brooke: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Jaime: Attractive nuisance
Christine: Proximate cause
Stephen: Assumption of the risk
Blake: Assault
Kelsi: Battery

Yes, we're big dorks. But I'm only the messenger this time around.

ICBING update

Thursday night - time for a bowling update.

After last week's stellar performance, there was bound to be a slight slump. ICBING still did pretty well, though. The team decided to change a few things tonight. First was the roster. Our roster changes on a weekly basis. Tonight we actuallly bowled 8 bowlers for both games, and dropped the two lowest scores. Next, names. Instead of putting our real names into the computer, we entered our nicknames. More on the effect of this below in the highlight reel. Finally, Wrong Lane and Breaks 50 (aka "I want to change my name every week or more often but Alex doesn't seem to like the idea") decided to experiment with the effect of beer on their bowling skills. The jury's still out on that - I think further testing will be required.

And now for the score recap:

Wrong Lane: 83, 115
Take a Knee: 109, 153
9 pin (aka 10 pin, aka Turkey - see below): 106, 124
En Fuego (fka On Fire): 119, 96
8lb (fka 7lb): 57, 112
The Edge (fka Pinky): 166, 131
Breaks 50 (aka so many other names...): 121, 69
Newbie: 94, 98

Highlight reel:

The big story of the night was some name switching for 9 pin. The name had become something of a curse, resulting in 4 straight open frames (of nine pins, naturally) to start off the game. To break the curse, the team decided to change the name to 10 pin, which immediately resulted in a spare. Bolstered by this effect, the team rechristened him Turkey. Unfortunately, this didn't pan out quite as expected.

Take a Knee and Breaks 50 had another friendly wager for a week's worth of bragging rights. Take a Knee had to beat Breaks 50's score (for the evening - both games combined) by thirty pins. Breaks 50 jumped out to a commanding lead, bowling a personal best of 121 and led Take a Knee by 12 pins going into the second game. But Take a Knee came back strong. A turkey in the tenth frame clinched it, giving Take a Knee another week of heckling rights.

Wrong Lane didn't bowl in the wrong lane tonight, but the other team did during his turn (effectively bowling for him); maybe the SBA will stop sending emails that lead to such confusion.

"I never could get the hang of Thursdays..."

First off, 50 points to the first person to identify the source of the quote in this post's title.*

Anyway, today was a pretty rough day. But looking back on it, I've been rather lucky that things weren't much worse.

It started off when I woke up later than intended. I woke up a few minutes before 8am, when my LegWri class starts. We were giving sample oral arguments in the courtroom today and receiving evaluations from a Shakespearean actor. After a mad rush to get ready, I hopped into my car and drove to the law school (instead of walking, as I usually do). I parked at the circle in front of the law school (technically a No Parking zone) and made it just in time.
My partner was supposed to present today, but didn't make it in today due to a family emergency. Luckily, I didn't have to give the argument in his place.

After LegWri, my partner and I were supposed to meet with our LegWri prof to discuss the case. Since I had some questions that I wanted to ask, I decided I'd meet with her one-on-one.
But first, I have to move my car. I drive over to the bookstore parking lot (the sign here says Maximum 2 Hours Parking) and then rush back to the law school to make the 9am appointment.

When I get there, my prof isn't to be found. She does finally show up, half an hour late. The meeting was mildly helpful. I basically presented some of my questions and got responses amounting to "That's an interesting question" or "Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that." She did agree to check with one of the legal research professors in the law library to try and answer some of my concerns, which she emailed me with later today. (Have I mentioned that my LegWri prof is an English/Creative Writing professor who knows very little about law?)

By the time the meeting wraps up, I realize it's five after ten and my Contracts class has already started. Fortunately, if there was one class to which I had to show up late, I would pick Contracts. I peered in the doorway looking for an empty seat. Rougeau sees me and waves me in. I scramble down the steps and spot an open seat: front row, on the aisle. At least I don't have to crawl over people to get to a seat.

Ethics follows immediately after Contracts. That class is pretty boring and it's always a struggle to stay awake. All in all, the class passes without incident.

Now I figure I'd better go move my car (again). It's now 11:45 (for those of you keeping score at home, my car has been parked in the 2 hour lot for about 2.5 hours). I'm hoping I don't have a ticket plastered to my windshield. Not that it'd be a huge deal if I did - apparently the first "ticket" is only a warning. Once again fortune seemed to smile on me as there was neither a ticket nor a warning on my car.

I drive home, then walk back to the law school to do some work and grab my stuff. From there on out my day settled down considerably.


*Much like Whose Line is it Anyway? the points don't matter. But you still get bragging rights if you answer correctly. And who knows - maybe if someone accumulates enough points there might be some prize like a case of beer. For the sake of argument, let's throw out an arbitrary sum. Say, a million.

Weekend

This past weekend was pretty good - as Derek might say, "one for the books."

First off, I got to judge the regional undergraduate mock trial competition this weekend. I judged rounds 1 and 3, the morning rounds on Saturday and Sunday respectively. It felt a little weird being on the other side of things this time around. I can still vividly remember being in some of the same rooms competing just a few years ago. Also, I got to preside over both trials in addition to scoring. My co-judge in each round was an attorney, and technically they were supposed to act as the presiding judge. But they both asked if I would preside instead and I wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to be in charge. On the whole, the teams I saw did pretty well. I heard some horror stories from other judges though - teams on notes, running out of time, whispering objections across the courtroom, not knowing objections... but my trials went smoothly. It was a good experience, but it made me miss mock trial a bit. Still, it was a nice reminder of one of the reasons I decided to go to law school in the first place.

The next big event of the weekend was Emily's dinner party. Her fiancé Keith had come to visit, and we finally got to meet him. It was a great evening filled with great food and great conversation. Everyone brought something to the dinner. Not being a gourmet chef myself, I brought chocolate-covered strawberries (which were "ginormous", according to Brooke). They seemed to be a big hit. Keith's a great guy and he and Emily seem perfect for each other. I'm sure they'll be deliriously happy together for years and years to come (regardless of whether Emily deserts us for San Fran or Keith finds a job in Chicago).

Then of course there was the Superbowl. I watched the game with a few friends in Fischer, a rather low-key event. We pilfered some food from the community center's party (I figure, we paid the same activity fee as everyone else, so we're entitled to the food even if we don't eat it at their party).

All in all, it was a really good weekend.

Ugh

Longest, most painful game of Trivial Pursuit ever. And that's including the drinking Trivial Pursuit debacle of '01.

That's all.

Life in the Fast Lane

Well, it's Thursday night, which means it's time for another Bowling Update!

Lane assignments changed tonight so that we could face a different team (standings are calculated on a win/loss/tie system). Our team name (I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter!)got a bit butchered, appearing as "r can't believe it's not g" and "r can't believe it's not gutte." I pointed this out to the staff and hopefully it will be corrected for next week.

Tonight's performance was a marked improvement from last week. For starters, everyone broke 100 in the night's first game. Even better, we found out that they set handicaps based on last week, so our score should look all the more impressive. A brief rundown of tonight's performances:

r can't believe it's not g(utte)
Wrong Lane: 114, 134
Take a Knee: 113, 129
9-pin: 144, 109
On Fire: 158, 147
One-arm bandit: 104
Breaks 50 (f/k/a Secret Agent): 106, 97
Bowling Injury: 97

And now some color commentary:

Wrong Lane put in an impressive showing, breaking the all-important 100 barrier in both games. A spare-spare-strike combo in the last two frames of the second game landed a personal best of 134. Wrong Lane continued to live up to the name tonight, once again bowling on the... wrong lane.

Take a Knee put up solid numbers tonight, again breaking 100 in both games. Though not up to the same average score from last week, Take a Knee won a bet by beating Break 50's second score by more than 30 points.

9-pin had considerable success in the first game, causing our team to rethink the nickname. There were some errant gutterballs in the second game, but 9-pin continues to be a strong leader on the team. 9-pin has bowled four consecutive 100+ games.

On Fire more than lived up to the name by posting ICBING's top score for both games and by being one of the team's most enthusiastic cheerleaders. On Fire was closing frames left and right with strikes and spares. In addition, On Fire bowled three consecutive strikes during the first game to get the elusive and much sought after turkey.

One-arm bandit bowled the first game, and rounded out the impressive team showing of six 100+ scores. While pleased with the team's considerably better performance, One-arm bandit probably wishes it had come a week sooner when there was a bet with the opposing team.

One of the great Cinderella stories of season is Breaks 50. The team may have to consider a different name for this bowler (again) after tonight's showing. But we might keep it for irony's sake if this hot streak continues. Hopefully the 40+ point improvement from last week will ease the pain of losing a bet to Take a Knee (see above). Nevertheless, Breaks 50 gave Take a Knee a moment's pause by throwing a strike to open the tenth frame.

Bowling Injury took over for One-arm bandit and served as "relief bowler" for the second game. After last week's double gutterball incident, some may have been concerned. But that concern would have been unfounded, as Bowling Injury hit the gates running with two spares. Although unable to maintain such an impressive pace, there were no repeats of the double gutterball and Bowling Injury came oh-so-close to the 100 mark.

RotS Pics (***Spoiler Alert***)

Just a quick "I am a Star Wars dork" post.
Courtesy of IrishLaw (my opposite if you will; a ND undergrad now attending OSU law school) comes a batch of pictures from the upcoming Star Wars movie extravaganza, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Some very cool pics. You can see them here, but as might be expected, spoilers abound.