Marathon Pics

So the company that took/sells the pictures of me running the marathon wants some crazy amounts of money for the photos. The cheapest I can get the digital copies is on a CD for $55. If I were to download them, it would cost ~ $320. I called and spoke with a sales dude about how messed up their business scheme was - he didn't seem to care.

So what I decided to do was just save my own personal copies of the sample pictures (which I like just fine - people used to be happy with smaller pictures!), while I still debate on ordering a 5x7 or something that doesn't cost $40. Here they are:

Super Freakonomics

Despite some things in my life being far from perfect, on the whole I'm happy with my decisions to become an Electrical Engineer and come to Law School. Sure, I don't have a job yet, and we're in a horrible job market for lawyers, but things will work out, and I enjoy the material, even if I haven't exactly aced law school.

I enjoy the confidence both have given me. Other than advanced thermodynamics, I feel like I can understand and solve pretty much any engineering problem given some time to study it. Likewise, I feel like I can understand and communicate to legal clients what the options available to them are, and counsel them as to what would be best.

That said, if I had to choose another career, I think I would enjoy being an Economist. In particular, the types of studies the authors of Freakonomics do, and trying to come up with "some simple solutions." The sequel comes out soon - check out this video preview:

Publication

So I wrote a little something about an upcoming Supreme Court case that was published by the organization I worked for out in DC. You can find it here: In Re Bilski

My incredible weekend

First my complaints: American Airlines sucks. They were so awful this weekend that they alone could have spoiled the entire trip - delays combined with a dearth of gate agents, poor planning, and old nasty planes.... I will cheer when they finally go out of business the next time gas prices spike.

The rest of my weekend was awesome. I flew to Salt Lake and my friend Shannon was kind enough to pick me up (at like 1 AM when my flight got in) and I stayed at her place that night. The next day I got to meet my nephew Paxton Alan Ward and hang out with my brother Matt and his wife Raquel. We toured the Utah Capitol building and had a great time. Paxton's a quiet baby - at least when Uncle Ry is holding him!
I had an interview that went well, and hopefully something comes of it at some point. For now, no promises.

Then Shannon picked me up and we drove down to St. George, where we stayed with her cousin Joy, who I had met several years ago hiking the Narrows in Zion National Park. The next morning, it was marathon time.

It was a fun race - I finished a few minutes slower than I hoped. It was actually my slowest marathon yet - but I also felt really good. I don't feel so hot right now - muscles are still really sore, but I had a great time running the race. My leg muscles didn't even feel warmed up at mile 22, which is weird to say, but it's true. So I cranked out the last few miles as fast as I could. This is the only picture I have right now - there'll be more coming.
After the race I got cleaned up, then we headed back & I went to Priesthood mtg with T-Rav, ate some carnitas at Diegos, and just chatted with Trav & Kel. The next day they took me to the airport and away I went.

To Grand Junction. There was a medical emergency, so we landed, spent about 4 1/2 hours on the ground (because AA is awful) and I eventually got to Dallas about 8:40 at night. Called my parents and they offered to come pick me up, so I got to sleep at home for a few hours before going back to the airport for an early flight. Now I'm back at school, with a ton to do this week.

Also - it felt so good to be back in Utah. I don't know when or if I'll ever get to live there again, but I know that I feel at home in the mountains and mesas of Utah, and I love feeling the cool dry air.