I just took the Alaska bar exam

I decided not to blog about my bar studying this year -- unlike two years ago -- because I wanted at least someone (in this case, you the reader) to think, "Oh, that was quick and painless." Because in reality it sucks. It's not fun at all. I didn't enjoy it.

Was it worse than 2 years go? No, probably not. Knowing that I've taken and passed a bar exam already definitely helped. But the exam itself was harder this time. Alaska is like most states in that it requires applicants to take the multiple-choice MBE exam in addition to some essay questions; in Washington, the whole thing is essay. The Washington test is easier to take, easier to study for.

It helped that I was able to take last week off and hang out with family in Donner Lake, CA. Pictures are here. My family was great -- they cooked my meals and gave me a place to sleep, and I was able to balance studying with some fun hikes, and occasionally some poker or other games. My family is a bunch of early-risers, though. Each day I would wake up around 8:15-8:30 -- on vacation -- and on my way to the shower each morning I'd receive a chorus of "Oh, look who's awake!" "The bear is out of hibernation!" "He has emerged from his cave!" and my favorite, "Don't worry, we saved some breakfast for you." They had been up since sunrise or something. Again, on vacation. What is up with that?

Anyway, the bar is over, and it's a new day. Life feels like this:



I'm off again for a short trip to Oregon. Have a good weekend.

Now where's my bear spray?

"I've never heard of a story where anyone who has run from a bear that bad things haven't happened,'' said a cross country runner who ran from a bear... and survived. This guy got real lucky.

I'm going to talk about the weather

For a long time I decided I wouldn't talk about the weather, even to fill the most awkward of silences. I thought it was too cliche, or that there was always something more interesting or important to talk about, or... something. But of course I was missing the point. People like talking about the weather because it's a topic we all know well, and we all have stories about how the weather affects our lives. Maybe it is cliche, and maybe other topics are more interesting, but the weather will never let you down. It always brings the goods. About what other topic can you say that? Sports, politics, news? Always a roll of the dice. The weather is ol' reliable.

And when it comes to awkward silences, there's no need to be a hero. Talking about the weather saved me many times last year when I would find myself in an elevator with a judge I didn't know well. "Can it get any colder?" "Actually, yes." "Heh. I can't wait." "Umm hmm." Ding! "Have a nice day."

Anyway, everyone in Anchorage is talking about the weather these days because the summer has sucked. Let me tell you how: so far in 2008, there have been only 35 days where the temperature has passed 60 degrees; 7 days above 65; 2 days above 70; 0 days above 75. On pace for the coldest summer ever. See? Interesting.

I took this dopey state quiz

And you'll never guess what state I am.

You're Alaska!

You're big, bulky, and extremely wild. At the same time, you're rather cold and standoffish, even a loner of sorts. Taming you may be one of the last great quests of the people who do manage to find you or even seek you out. So many of them just want to plunder you for what you have of value, but there are a few, the ones who will stick with you, that truly value your rugged remoteness. As long as no one is spilling stuff on you, you are truly beautiful.


Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Quick break

Blog activity will be at a minimum over the next 9 days. But I should return with some good pictures. Be well.

"Ichi's got something to say."

How can you not love Ichiro? He just keeps getting cooler.

Reed Lakes

This is an awesome hike -- a relatively short one, so it's perfect for any visitors who want a full day with lots of good views. I went on Saturday with a few friends, and the pictures are here. A sampling:

Plants:



Waterfalls:



Lakes:


(Enlarge.)

You should go on this hike. Come do it.

Brutal

There goes the only good sushi restaurant in Anchorage.

Thinking of Paradise

Everyone please do me a favor and think good thoughts about the firefighters in Paradise, CA, who are trying to contain wildfires threatening homes there. My aunt and uncle live there, just outside of Chico in northern California. Here's a picture of my uncle, a volunteer firefighter, all geared up.

Two sports stories

Richie Sexson is gone. They should have done this last year, but okay, good riddance. Sexson lost me two years ago, when he finished up a 34-homer, 107-RBI season. Those numbers seem fine, but the fact is he was only productive over the last 3 months of the season, well after the M's had fallen out of contention. He then had the nerve to tell a reporter that he was proud of season because in the end he got his numbers, even though he was a big contributor to the team falling so far out of contention in the first months of the season. Someone with a better attitude would have said, "yeah, I ended up with decent numbers this year, but next year I really want to make sure I contribute from the start, and keep the team in contention." He was a punk then and he's a punk now. It didn't surprise me to hear that this move came primarily because he was being a baby over lost playing time. You lost playing time because you suck. Now take your $12 million salary and go home.

The NBA wants to get involved in the Schultz lawsuit. Three things:
a) that's fine, they probably should be involved.
b) their argument that Schultz can't sue because of a "release" in the sale contract is laughable -- if the entire contract was based on fraud, as Schultz is alleging, then surely so is the release clause. Stupid NBA.
c) I'm hoping that if the NBA intervenes, Schultz finds a way to add an antitrust claim against the league. Antitrust is kind of the nuclear option when it comes to sports leagues -- everyone generally agrees that leagues are in violation, but there's never been a reason to pursue it. Major League Baseball actually has an express antitrust exemption from Congress, but the NBA doesn't. I'd love to see this happen, but I don't know enough about antitrust to know if it's possible. If anyone out there knows more, I'd love to hear it.

Taketh, giveth

Just as I lose one basketball team, I gain another.

A week after the Sonics are ripped from Seattle... the ABA comes to Anchorage. Yes, the league featuring the Manchester Millrats, the Vermont Frost Heaves, the Georgia Gwizzlies (sic), and my favorite, the Quebec Kebekwa (get it? Quebecois?). According to the league website, the Alaska team will be called the Alaska Dream. Zzzzzzzz.

Bears!

This arrived in my inbox today (emphasis in original):

Currently there is a BROWN BEAR OVER A MOOSE KILL AND IS AGGRESSIVELY PROTECTIVE OF IT..ATTENTION ALL who will be between Hilltop Ski Area & Service High School, also between Abbott Trail & Lighted Loop Trail. Please use extreme caution!! AK Fish & Game is putting up signs.

Oh, good. Signs.

Hey, I went to high school with that guy

Just saw this in the Seattle Times, but apparently a guy I went to high school with, Jason Mesnick, was the runner-up on this most recent season of the Bachelorette, which ended yesterday. Now they tell me? As you know, I watch all sorts of unholy crap on TV, but I don't watch the Bachelor or the Bachelorette. I would have, though, if I knew Jason was on.

I haven't talked to Jason since we graduated, um... 14 years ago, but I see that he has ditched the glasses.

Know your tides

A cruise ship ran aground in Glacier Bay the other day. The US Coast Guard posted a pretty cool video of the ship, sitting helplessly on a sandbar after the tide had gone out. Come on, captain, consult your charts and your tide tables!

It looks to me that they got stuck at a pretty cool location, just to the side of Marjorie Glacier. Which is where I was almost exactly a year ago:



Another:



Panorama:


(Enlarge.)

More from Marjorie Glacier here. And the whole trip here.

Bears in the city

This is pretty cool. This map tracks the movements of 11 grizzly bears that live near Anchorage. They mostly stay to the east of the city, hanging out by creeks in the mountains. A couple of them are definitely within city limits, but none get close to downtown. It's interesting that they each have their own zones. I wonder how many more (untagged) grizzlies are frequenting the same areas?

A preface

I'm still not done writing about the Sonics; I'm just not quite prepared to do it yet. I've been fluctuating between anger and depression since the settlement on Wednesday. But before I say any more about the team, I just wanted to print this quote, which I first saw in a Bill Simmons column a few months ago. It's by The New Yorker's Roger Angell:

It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift.

I'll have more to say about the Sonics sometime soon.

Flickr working for me

So, I sold a photo. Some guy who works on marketing projects for Honda Motorcycles in Canada found this photo and wanted to use it for a campaign. Sure, why not.

And here's that campaign: Adventure Awaits. Mouse over and click on "West Adventure," and you'll see the photo. They touched it up a bit, making it look like a nicer day than it really was. They also took the car (which is barely visible on the road) out. Make sure you have your sound up, because the voiceover is particularly cheesy.

The photo is from the Top of the World Highway in the Yukon Territory, which runs between Chicken, AK and Dawson City, YT. My photos of those places are on Flickr, too.

Sonics resolution -- live blogging

I'm going to blog my unfiltered reaction to news of Sonics developments today, the day the court case is decided.

2:00 AKDT - The case has been settled. No details on the terms yet. Crap. This means they're gone. They're really gone. Anger. Need to wait on the terms to judge fairly. If this is just a cash buyout, I'm going to be pissed. There has to be some promise of another team for this to make any sense. And what happens to the Schultz case? Dammit. Goodbye, team.

2:12 - Anything on ESPN.com about it yet? No, because Brett Favre is maybe thinking he might possibly unretire. Yep, because that's more important.

2:17 - I don't think I'm going to run too fast toward Slade Gorton next time I need legal help.

2:18 - I can't believe this. There's no way the city should have lost this case.

2:35 - Radio says maybe Judge Pechman will still publish the ruling? Does that mean nothing is official yet? The complete lack of information is driving me a little crazy. We're 25 minutes from when she said it'd be published, so we'll see soon.

3:04 - Pechman makes it official. It's settled. Man, I'd like to know what the ruling would have been. Radio people think the settlement terms may not be so bad. I hope so... it seems like the city had the upper hand today, and so the terms should be mostly favorable. But what can those terms be? We'll find out in an hour.

3:17 - The Seattle Times says the settlement may be a payout of up to $75million, maybe less if Seattle gets another team. I'm not impressed. Unless the plan is to use that money as a bond to cover potential damages that result from keeping the team in town throughout the Schultz case.

4:01 - This settlement sucks.

4:05 - I can't stand these jackasses trying to tell me this is a good deal. This is crap. Oh, don't even try to thank the mayor. He's the king of the jackasses.

4:10 - All this talk of future NBA basketball makes me want to puke. Why would I want the NBA back? All they've done is rob me of 30 years of fandom. Unapologetically. And you expect me to beg them to come back? What is this -- battered basketballfan syndrome? The NBA really loves me. It was my fault. Please come back. Bah. Pure crap.

4:15 - I'm all in favor of renovating KeyArena, but now I want an NHL team to play there. The NBA is dead to me.

4:28 - Who cares if the team name, colors, and history are staying in Seattle? Clay doesn't want that stuff anyway. I'd rather the name go to OKC so there's evidence that the team did in fact once exist. I'd rather see the word "Sonics" on Kevin Durant's jersey than whatever crappy name Clay comes up with.

4:43 - A coworker just asked me if this is the worst day in Seattle sports history. And... yeah. Yeah it is. There have been a lot of bad sports days in this town, but this really is the worst.

This is why politics is fun

Maybe you heard about the recent kerfluffle that began when Gen. Wesley Clark wondered whether McCain's experience as a POW in Vietnam was "executive responsibility" that qualified him to be President. I don't know, it doesn't seem like such a terrible question -- maybe it does, maybe it doesn't... but that's not really the point here. It's been quite funny to watch the media coverage, which went immediately into "Clark disrespects McCain's military record" mode and then a "Clark slams an American hero" frenzy. No one seems to have bothered to ask what he means by "executive responsibility," because frankly I'm not sure. But whatever it is, I don't think it means what the media thinks it means.

This video is a pretty funny look at how the media went from zero to mouth-frothing in about an hour.

Titletown?

Hmm, I see Palo Alto on this list. And I see Ann Arbor.

But, funny, I don't see Berkeley. (And obviously not Seattle.)