Things I love about Lubbock #5: Doin' stuff with Chief

So while I've been here in Lubbock, one of the things I've enjoyed most is getting to know Chief, aka Carl Mortenson. He was in the branch presidency when I moved here, and was released when we became a ward.

Whenever I'm around Chief, I go into sponge mode. Whether it's business, religion, ranching - I just absorb it. I asked him the first month or so I was here if I could just go work on his ranch when I had some time, just to learn - and I'm grateful I did. Rather than go into all the reasons I like and admire Chief, I decided that I would put a few of the nuggets of wisdom I've recorded & learned from Chief.

"You don't own land, land owns you."

"Make it look easy."
"We are rewarded in this life according to the service we render."

Don't subdivide property until you're sure it's going to sell, because the taxes will eliminate profits, and maybe bring a loss.
Always have a backup plan - and don't tell people, and especially the bank, about the backup plan.
Share what you have with others.
In business, beware hiring/working with other mormons. They may feel entitled to something.
Keep a nice car separate from your working truck.
If you're in charge of something, take care of the problems without making management question whether you're up to the task.

Things I love about Lubbock #4: The Rec Center

Today's item of note is the Texas Tech Recreation Center, which is a amazing and getting better all the time.

At BYU, the athletic facilities are amazing. But unless you are a collegiate athlete, you don't get to use those. Instead, you are directed to some basketball courts, a pool, an indoor track that sometimes is fully open and smells like it hasn't been deep cleaned in 50 years, and 2 teeny tiny weight lifting rooms. They also have about 20 racquetball courts.

At Texas Tech, the student rec facilities put BYU to shame. There's a 3 story rock wall, bouldering, probably about 50 treadmill/eliptical things, an indoor track, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool w/ a lazy river, 3 big weight rooms, boxing equipment, a mat room, an indoor soccer court, and about 8 full basketball courts.

Oh, and they have actual lockers that you can rent out, instead of whatever BYU calls those pathetic little cubes we paid money for.

Plus, its right next to the law school, which was a perfect break for me.

Things I love about Lubbock #3: The Stars

This is a simple one. I love being able to see the stars when I'm walking into my apartment at night. During law school I've had some late nights, and since I normally studied up at the school it would often be late when I'd get home. It was really nice to look up and see a dark sky filled with stars. Orion, the dippers, Polaris, and other constellations I can vaguely make out - right there, surrounded by stars.

Everywhere else I've lived - Dallas, Utah, Argentina, Iraq - were all so lit up that while you might see some stars, you couldn't really see the stars. Too much light pollution.

Not in Lubbock. They stand out, and its relaxing, and I'll miss it.

Things I love about Lubbock #2: Music

Prior to leaving Utah 3 years ago, I was getting tired of country music. Tim & Faith don't write their own music, and only sing a song with passion once every 5 years. Toby Keith - does he still just try and put some funny one liners together with a beat? And Kenny Chesney + Rascal Flats = a bunch of gay cowboys singing crappy music.

I get tired of music, and musicians, when they just rehash the same junk over and over again. I understand that after 10-20 years, you get in a rhythm and it's tough to find the same fire and intensity you used to have (U2). So anyway, I was getting tired of country music in particular. I had started listening to a little more Johnny Cash, and then I moved to Lubbock.

Shortly thereafter, a radio station converted to country, and my buddy Jess from church started playing a bunch of Texas country. And I love it. It's so good. Thankfully, I can stream the station over the interwebs, because when I was in DC last week I was already getting frustrated by the lack of decent music options.

Here's the radio station link: 105.3 The Red Dirt Rebel
Here's some artists I would have never heard of had I not moved to Lubbock:
Josh Abbott Band
Turnpike Troubadors
Bleu Edmonson
Brazos Stone

Things I love about Lubbock #1: Bar-B-Q

So when I was in Roanoke VA last week, I looked up restaurants to go to dinner after my first night of the test. I found a bar-b-q joint, and the review online made it sound really good. I went, got seated, and ordered up some soft brisket that had been smoked all day long.

Now, I've had lots of brisket. I like brisket. A friend a couple years ago smoked a brisket at home all day and brought it to a dinner - softest, juiciest brisket I've ever had. Delicious. This? Not so much. It wasn't bad, but I really had to work to cut it with a knife. Juicy - yes. Tender - no. Was I disappointed - absolutely.

I suppose I should have expected as much, and maybe I did. The restaurant's specialty was something I would've complained about here, though they did rescue it with a nice smattering of sauces. But the meat...

This gets to the thing I love about Lubbock - there's some great barbq here. Whether it's Tom & Bingo's Hickory Pit, 4BarK, or even just Dickies fast food barbq. I've been spoiled by delicious meat, made and served by people who actually have smoked their meat all day, or even 2 days, and know how to serve it right.

Tom & Bingo's Hickory Pit, 34th Street in Lubbock

The Bar is Done

The bar is done. I hope, I pray, I pass. I felt pretty good about the test - I felt really good about my prep. I don't know what more I could have done in preparation. I can still tell I'm exhausted from the prep, the test, and everything involved.

So when I arrived in Lubbock Saturday evening, it hit me a little harder than normal that my time here is really getting short. I've talked down on Lubbock during my three years here, but the fact is that I kinda like the town. If there were hills, forest, or rivers of worth mentioning anywhere nearby (less than 2 hours), I'd consider staying. This is true despite the fact that there isn't enough work for me here.

I like the weather, minus 40 mph constant wind & dust. I like the people. I like the attitude.
My dislikes... well, they exist, but I'm not dwelling on those anymore, certainly not this last week before I leave for DC.

So what I have decided to do is start making a list, or a compilation, of favorite things/memories about Lubbock. Since I'm doing these day by day, they probably won't be in order...

Crossfit Games

I've written before about how I love crossfit. Here are some videos from the crossfit.com website describing a little about what crossfit is. The 2nd one I think is way cool because the people work at the gym up in Park City - and the guy just got 3rd in the international competition last weekend. He weighs about 135 pds.

What is Crossfit?

Adidas Commercial

I feel broken

I feel broken. Physically, mentally. 2 1/2 weeks until the bar. So while I'm taking a break to eat some lunch, I decided to embed some motivational videos.

We might have been a free and great people together

This is a sweet article about the Declaration of Independence, and some words which the Continental Congress removed. I learned something new, and think it's worth sharing.

A Cold Man's Warm Words

Happy Independence Day - may we always be willing to fight for our Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Anosognosia

So there's this sweet NY Times article that I started reading... but it's 5 parts. And they're not linked right. So I decided to post the links right here, so when I get around to reading the other links I can find them.

Based on only the first part that I've read so far, I would highly recommend reading it. It discusses people who are too dumb to know they're dumb - and if there's every something I would want to read, it would be "How to find out if I'm a moron." So here the links.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Bankruptcy and Student Debt

So as I was eating my oatmeal this morning, I was reading online about student loans, which got me thinking about bankruptcy for people with outstanding student loans.

At present, when people can't pay back their student loans and begin to default, the creditor (bank) can eventually go to court, seek a claim, and try take that person's money and stuff - just like any other unsecured loan. The trick is that when that person also can't pay their credit card, home mortgage, car payments and student loans, they'll often file for bankruptcy.

While there's a couple different ways to do this, when they do, everything but the student loans can be discharged, wiped clean, and gone forever - though their credit rating will be in the tubes for several years. For student loans, there has to be an "undue hardship" preventing the repayment of the loan.

What is considered an undue hardship? Its up to the judge, however, earning $10/hr when you owe $140,000 in loans probably doesn't qualify. Probably.

So why all this backstory? Here's the thing: I feel for these people that get themselves into this situation. I think they had hopes and dreams that somehow got off track. But it's still their fault for taking out loans they couldn't pay back. Who know who else's fault it is? The schools, who took the money from these kids yet didn't prepare them adequately for a job.

There's been some talk lately of lowering the standard for forgiving student debt to something easier than "undue hardship." I have an idea (and this is the reason for this post) - How about we not allow any discharge of student debt for the first 15-20 years after the loan is made. That'll give the person who took the loan time to work and pay it off.

After that set time, let's assign some of the debt (1/2?) to the school that took the money. I think they're just as at fault. This would probably lead to further raising of tuition, and continue escalating until crappy schools go out of business - and I think that would be good for everyone.

I'm sure there are flaws to this idea - I haven't been thinking about this for very long. But, I do think that the schools are often as much at fault as the dumb students that can't balance their budgets, and should bear more of the responsibility.

Heartless

Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

Chart

So the other day I was looking for a chart of end-of-day Dow Jones Industrial Average figures. Why? Why do I do lots of things in my life - because I'm weird. Anyway, so I'm looking for an excel spread sheet of this data, which I never found, but I came across this chart comparing recent Dow numbers against the Nikkei from Japan. Japan, for those unaware, has been in a stock funk for about 20 years now.

Here's the link: Dow Jones Industrial Average Model
And here's the particular graph I found interesting:

Anyway, hopefully things get turned around soon. I, like most working Americans, have complete faith in both Congress and the President to turn this around.

Steel Horse

Sold my ride today. Am I happy about it? No. Did I need the cash? Yes.
Why can't I be like most Americans and willfully go into extreme debt?
Hopefully soon I'll be making lawyer money and can buy myself a new ride.

Big Bend

After 3 years of law school, I finally took a weekend and went to Big Bend. I decided that while I may be short on time/money, this was the one and only opportunity I would have for a long time in the foreseeable future to go.

It took about 6 hours to get there...
Shortly after setting up my tent, a micro-storm came in. Rain, hail, lightening, all blowing my little camp away. After the storm it dried out pretty quick, but the rain remained. After trying to tie down my tent, I decided to just sleep in the bed of my truck. There was a thunderstorm just over the ridge all night, so the thunder/wind/full moon kept me kinda awake, but I figured it was still better than trying to keep a tent from caving in all night.


The next day I went and hiked Cattail Falls, a hike not quite 'on the map.'























Then I drove the 'River Road' - a dirt road that borders the Rio Grande. It took about 4 hours, and wasn't nearly as exciting as I was hoping. In part because there were only a few views of the river, in part because I was driving, slow, by myself, for about 4 hours.

But I saw the river, had a good time, and could see old Mexico. It was pretty cool. Of course, the air temp on the road when I was driving? About 110.

Then I ate some dinner at the lodge restaurant, and watched the sunset near my camp in the mountain basin.
Slept again in the back of my truck. When I woke up in the middle of the night, the moon had set and the stars were out in fine fashion. Slept until dawn, then took a different route home through Alpine and Ft. Davis. I've decided that these towns, in particular Alpine, have to be some of the prettiest towns I've ever seen in TX. As in, I would actually want to live in them.

I also passed through this town, whose name I couldn't figure out how to pronounce.
I finally decided it rhymes with 'diarrhea.' Notice this didn't make my list of places I'd want to live.

All in all, it was really a great trip. I enjoyed getting down there, and it was worth the wait. Considering the task before me (the bar) I'm glad I took 3 days off. Big Bend was beautiful, and considering how far away it is from anything it's quite possible I'll never return.

Ghostbusters

This needs to be seen...

Law School Graduation

So I've graduated from Law School! Bar Prep starts tomorrow... but at least the weekend was good!

Red Lights of Doom

Anyone who has owned a XBox 360 for more than a year and a half knows these lights. The red lights of doom. For those interested in why Xboxes have failed so consistently, costing Microsoft millions/billions? of dollars, here's the short version: They did no thermal analysis prior to selling them. None! If you buy one in the stores now, it works properly because they've put the necessary heatsinks in to absorb the heat and disperse it.

The thing is, I really enjoy having an xbox, and yet I start studying for the bar in 1 1/2 weeks. Now's probably not the time to buy a new one...

Post #400

I haven't blogged in 2 1/2 months. Part of it was feeling that nothing in my life was exciting enough to write about. Part of it was that I was too busy to really think about it. Part of it was that this is my 400th post and I wanted it to be somewhat memorable. But I've decided that there are a number of exciting things going on right now that I should share.

1) I graduate from law school in less than 2 weeks.
2) I'm still looking for a post-law school job, but I have some leads, and I'm hoping for the best.
3) I helped brand cows yesterday. I was really excited to be doing it - it was fun!
4) I continue to do Crossfit, although my exercise routine has been somewhat more erratic lately. Despite this, and despite gaining more weight lately than I like, I'm actually stronger than I can ever remember. If only my cardio were still worth speaking of...
5) My youngest brother Jeff is engaged!!!

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have plenty to complain about - I've been super frustrated in my job search, I'm stressed with school, and I'm ready to bid adieu to Lubbock. But the fact is that I'm very blessed, and hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have even more good news to post.

You can't chase the night

So I haven't written in a long time, but I've had a lot on my mind lately that I've been thinking about, so here's a new post!

I read this article by Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy that had one particular point that resonated with me. He was in Dallas for the NBA all-star game, and was out late with a bunch of guys when the bars were closing. Apparently a young player wanted to keep looking for open bars, etc., when a guy named Wes said,

"Nothing good can happen at this point," Wes explains simply. "You can't chase the night. When the night is over, the night is over. That's just the way it is. You just gotta wake up tomorrow and hope for a better day."

Lately I've been debating a whole lot more of what I want out of my life. I'll be real, this last semester of law school is kicking my trash. The job market still sucks - no significant leads on a job, I've spent 3 years going after this and now I have to wonder if I'm going to go back and beg for an engineering job in a year. I miss the mountains - snow boarding, camping, mountain biking. But then again, you can't chase the night. That time of my life was awesome, but it's over now and won't be coming back. I would like to move back to the mountains, but I worry that it wouldn't live up to the memories I have.

I did submit my Virginia Bar Application this week. I'm going to try and make it work out there. Of course, promptly after submitting my application I contacted an attorney out there I've been staying in touch with, hoping for a job. He told me that given Virginia's bar passage rate I might want to have a backup plan. Thanks bud.

I'm considering opening my own practice, but I'd really prefer to have more mentoring. Also, the idea of building my own practice intimidates me, but I think it would ultimately be very rewarding. Stressful, but rewarding.