Graduation

I graduated from UCLA School of Law last Friday. While it was great to have so much family there, the ceremony reminded me of why graduations are no fun. Here's the thing: I've never been to a great graduation ceremony, nor have I ever heard anyone talk about what a great time they had at one. They're all way too long with too many speakers who take up too much time and you always have to sit in the sun. Why can't we just do away with all but maybe one speaker, read the names, and go home? That would be a great ceremony.
Here's a summary of the speakers and their themes:

- Dean Schill: basically talked about how much of a bummer it was to graduate into this crappy economy. Thanks for the pick-me-up Dean Schill!

- Ned: Ned's my friend (and teammate on our intramural champion football team), but it pretty much seemed like he hadn't planned anything ahead of time.

- Student Speaker: his opening line was, "One hot summer night, I lay in bed with my partner as the moonlight filtered through the window, delirious and blissfully unaware of the problems around us . . . "; um . . . TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

- Prof. Stark (Prof. of the year): great speech; very funny.

- Keynote speaker (D.A. of San Francisco): I'm sure she did well, but we were all tuned out by this time and I honestly can't tell you a thing she said.

Carter sums up how we all felt about the speeches

I will admit I liked at the end where the Dean had us all stand up and he said something to the effect of "By the power vested in me by the Regents of the University of California, I now confer upon you the degree of Juris Doctor". That was cool and made it all seem real.

Thanks to all who came! (Justin is taking the picture)

Noooooo!

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs

I'm shocked. I'm honestly numb. I'm dumbfounded. Everything was going right for the Dodgers. They have the best record in baseball. Last night, the broke the record for longest home winning streak to start a season, a record set in 1911. And now Manny's suspended for 50 games.
I have a lot of different thoughts about it. To begin, I'm conflicted because I really like Manny and feel like I will totally embrace him upon his return on July 3. But then I remember how much I made fun of Giants fans for embracing Barry Bonds during his whole steroid scandal. Do I really want to be like a Giants fan? But then I think about all the differences between this case and Barry's: Barry went out of his way to take steroids and evade detection whereas Manny's positive test supposedly comes from prescribed medication he was taking for "personal health reasons" (of course, those personal health reasons could be that he couldn't keep up the pace anymore and needed some extra oomph; I mean, he is an aging slugger who hasn't yet really seen a decline in his production, which is the stereotype of the steroid user). Plus, Barry denied and denied and denied in spite of mounting evidence, whereas Manny has come out with a plausible excuse, accepted responsibility, and decided not to appeal the suspension. If Manny's story is right, he didn't even take steroids and it's a case very similar to J.C. Romero who bought a supplement at GNC that contained a banned substance that the supplement did not include on the label. In other words, Manny wouldn't be guilty of cheating, but guilty of idiocy for not making sure the medication wasn't banned, and nobody's ever accused Manny of thinking things all the way through. Furthermore, there's never been any suspicion of Manny using PEDs.
So, I guess in the final analysis, and barring further revelations, I don't believe Manny's a cheater. I think he's dumb for not checking his medication against MLB's banned substance list, but I don't think he did anything to purposely attempt to improve his game through illicit means. It sure screws up the Dodgers' lineup though. I guess Ethier will move up to third, but who's going to hit clean-up? Loney doesn't even have a home run yet, and Martin is still struggling. Kemp strikes out too much. At least they're in a weak division and they will probably be able to stay in the mix until Manny gets back.
This just in: early indications are that the medication Manny was taking was a sex enhancer. I suppose I would say "personal health reasons" in my statement too.
Further revelation: it appears now that Manny tested positive for a female fertility drug (hCG) that steroid users often take when coming off of a steroid cycle in order to re-start natural testosterone production. Bummer. Maybe he really is a cheater.

I'm done

So, I had my final final this past Thursday. In other words, I am done with law school. It's pretty weird. It's also a little anti-climactic since I'm done with school, but I just have to start studying for the Bar Exam in a few weeks. Still, it's crazy. It's hard to believe we've been here 3 years. The weirdest thing, though, is how things have truly come full circle. I mean, when I was applying for law schools, part of my personal statement concerned whether the Dodgers should re-sign Jeff Weaver. They didn't. But then they just gave him a minor league contract before this season and called him up to the majors on, you guessed it, Thursday. Talk about eerie.
On a related note, we were really worried I was going to graduate jobless, especially since this recession has pummeled the legal industry, but last week I got an offer from Army JAG. While I haven't accepted (and won't actually incur any military obligation until I take the oath of office, which can't be before December since I have to pass the Bar first), it's good to know I at least have something. Now, for those of you who gasped when you read I am thinking about joining the Army, let me go through the pros and cons:

Cons
5 months of extra training including a modified boot camp
Possibility of deployment
Low salary

Pros
Every JAG officer I talk to absolutely LOVES his or her job
No billable hours
Generous housing stipend (tax free)
Free medical benefits
No billable hours
Food stipend (tax free)
I get to shoot a really big gun
Work 9-5
No billable hours
Chance to see the world
Retirement benefits
Tax credits
30 days paid vacation
Chance to work in multiple issue areas
Did I mention there's no billable hours?

So anyway, while I haven't yet decided that is what I want to do, it is our only offer as of the moment. And it's a pretty good job.

Watermelon Crall

My sister Mary Ann has pretty much been calling me everyday to post some pictures of Carter, so I'll oblige.

It's the start of watermelon season and Carter is loving it! He crawls around the house with a slice (much to our chagrin) and was excited when we let him have some in the bath (he normally takes a bath in the tub, but he was playing in the sink and got mad when we tried to take him out). Unfortunately, he hasn't yet totally learned that the good part is the red stuff, not the green stuff.

LCLA -- the hot new fashion designer

Since we're too lazy to do laundry every day (or even every week), Carter's been running low on pants. That wouldn't be a problem except that we've had a pretty cold Spring (you know, like only 60 degrees). So, the other day I brought the problem to Lorein's attention, who responded "What do you want me to do about it?" even though I posed the dilemma in a completely non-confrontational manner and in no way suggested she was culpable in the matter. Anyway, I answered that she should make him some pants. She said "I don't know how to do that!", and I left for school. She must've soon remembered her quilting prowess, however, because when I returned, she'd busted out like 200 pairs of pants from various fabrics she found around the house, including an old sweatshirt. Here's a sampling, juxtaposed against the brilliant background of our industrial carpet. Either way, I believe it proves that Lorein is freakin' incredible! It is also a great find in these tough economic times. If you would like Lorein to make you or your loved one a pair of pants from old fabric, just send us $25 plus $5 S&H, and she'll see what we can do. If that price tag seems a bit high, just remember that a large portion of all sales will go directly to helping needy families* in Los Angeles.

On a different note, my Uncle Skip, Aunt Michelle, and their two kids, Nicholas and Abby, came to Santa Monica for Spring Break. We wanted to make sure we got some pictures, but our picture card was full. So, Lorein spent some of the drive up to The Getty -- where we were going to meet them on a beautiful day, perfect for pictures -- erasing some of the crummier pictures to open up some picture space. Of course, we then spent a few hours at The Getty and didn't take a single picture. We did get some at the beach, but Carter wasn't smiling in the picture with Nicholas and Abby, so I'm not going to post it (unlike the Los Angeles Times, I exercise integrity in my publishing). Instead, here's a picture of him trying to get a tan despite Lorein's 19 layers of protective coverings (and look, he's wearing the pants she made him!).


* it may actually only go to one needy family

Hide and Seek (almost)

Our lives are so busy that time flies by. I thought I just posted, but I got on here and saw it was a week and a half ago. Ay Ay Ay! So, since I don't have anything much to say, here's a video of Carter playing his new favorite game:



He also loves regular hide and seek -- you know, where he can't see me the entire time -- and he's getting really good at finding me and moving whatever object is obstructing my face. He's pretty much a lot of fun. Unfortunately, once again our industrial carpet is giving him rug burns on his feet and knees. Alas.

Carter's new tricks

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger. What's even worse is I haven't been reading other people's blogs, so I have no idea what's going on in any of your lives. But now I'm on Spring Break so I'm going to bang out a post. Without further ado, here's an update on what's going on in Carter's life, since I know that's all you people care about.

Carter started pulling himself up even before he was crawling. It was a problem at first because not everything in our house is entirely stable (No, I'm not talking about Lorein). For example, we have a little green Ikea stool that weighs half as much as him, but he's constantly trying to climb up on it. Of course, it falls over and he cries. Which leads to his other new trick, if you can call it that. If he falls onto his back and he knows you see him, he refuses to get up. He will just lie there on his back waiting for you to help him. If you don't, he starts to kick, and then he'll start to whine. I just sit there and tell him to get up, but he's a stubborn lad. The last time he did it, I covered my face with my hands as he looked up, so he didn't think I saw him and he just rolled over and got up. What a wise guy. Oh, the other thing he does now, as you can see in the picture below, is bite his lower lip. And talk about a drool monster!

Another funny thing he's started doing is yell to keep from falling asleep. He's always fought sleep by groaning as we rocked him, but a couple of weeks ago he started just opening up his mouth and yelling. It's really hard to keep from laughing when he's doing it. The problem, though, is that it's actually pretty effective. It's increased the time it takes to get him to sleep by a few minutes.



This isn't him at his yelling best, but it's the best video I've been able to get. It gives you the gist of his talent though.

Finally, we haven't been very circumspect with what we give him to eat. We're hoping if he's exposed to all foods now, we'll avoid the stage in four years where he won't eat anything but chicken nuggets.

Speaking of chicken nuggets, he loves them!

And he also loves Oreos!

Unfortunately, chicken nuggets and Oreos don't always mix well.