Top 10 Signs Its Exam Time

Direct from the home office in Knoxville, Tennessee -

The Top 10 signs its exam time:

10. The lights in the law school have switched to "reserve power" meaning that I am at the law school after 1:30am;

9. I have not slept in more hours than I can count;

8. My diet consists mostly of sugar free red bull, diet coke and pharmaceuticals (as properly prescribed, don't get the wrong idea);

7. Aaron needs a haircut;

6. I am buying CDs on iTunes just to avoid listening to The Darjeeling Limited soundtrack for the 40th time today;

5. I can feel my heart beating in my throat;

4. I am wasting time desperately trying to come up with ten items for this list instead of finishing my take-home Disability Law exam;

3. I've taken to watching season 2 of Prison Break as a means of rewarding myself for solid stretches of diligent work;

2. I'm going to waste even more time by taking this away message and posting it on the blog; and

The #1 sign that it is exam time again:

I just had to go back and reverse the numbering on this list because I'm so tired that I screwed it up. Yet, I was so concerned about this away message that I was willing to waste the time to fix it instead of doing my work!

Stay Tuned...

Roadtrip Anyone?

What better way to cleanse the body of the Tennessee Bar Exam than a 11461 mile, 4 week road trip?

Knoxville, TN to Fairbanks AK (by way of Lake Nebagamon, WI and the BWCAW)

to Vancouver, BC

to Seattle, WA

to Los Angelas, CA

to Las Vegas, NV

to Salt Lake City, UT

to Denver, CO

to Santa Fe, NM

to Jaurez Mexico

to San Antonio, TX

to Austin, TX

to Dallas, TX

to Houston, TX

to Memphis, TN

to Knoxville, TN.

11461 miles.

183 hours of driving - according to Yahoo! Maps.

A visit to Camp Nebagamon.

A night or two in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

A week in Denali National Park.

A day or two in British Columbia.

A drive down the Pacific Coast.

A day or two in L.A.

Three nights in Vegas.

The Great Salt Lake.

The Grand Canyon.

A voyage of literary proportions. The kind of trip that will wash our lives of all the mundane and clear our souls for the begining of the rest of our lives.

Done on the cheap, with no firm plans, reservations or accommodations - just a starting date, an ending date and a list of things to do.

The things we dream of during exams.

Stay Tuned...

The Procrastination Flowchart

This was found at the My Million Dollar January blog.

Very accurate, and probably made while someone was procrastinating.

Stay Tuned...

Let me save us all the trouble...

Let me save you the trouble.

I hate Auburn.

I hate Tennessee.

I hate LSU.

I hate going 6-6.

I hate losing to Auburn.

I hate losing to LSU.

I love beating Tennessee.

I am embarrassed to lose to La. Monroe.

I'm not embarrassed to lose to Miss St.

I'm embarrassed to have lost to Auburn tonight.

You want to talk shit about my coach being paid $4 Million dollars and going 6-6?

I'll be happy to point you in the direction of Mike Shula and the talent that he left on this roster.

I'll be happy to make excuses.

I'll tell you all about injuries, and the poor play of John Parker Wilson.

I've got all that if you want to hear it.

What I really want to tell you is that 6-6 doesn't matter.

That the calendar year of 2007 will be judged by the recruiting class - the 22 commits, two 5-star and twelve 4-star kids - and what they mean to the program when the are two years into their college career.

You want to talk shit about Nick Saban?

That is jealousy, because the god's honest truth is that every school in the country would take him at the helm of their program.

Every Auburn fan would take Nick Saban.

Every UT fan would take Nick Saban.

Every LSU fan would take Nick Saban.

Well he is the Alabama Coach, and as long as Coach Nick Mother Fucking Saban coaches in Tuscaloosa the future is bright.

Yeah, we went 6-6.

Yeah, that sucks.

Yeah, Auburn has won 6 straight against us.

Yeah, that sucks too.

But watch out...and enjoy it while you can.

Roll Tide Roll!

Stay Tuned...

Law School: The Musical

For those of you in need of a break from the realities of law school (or practicing law) - feast your eyes on this classic video:

Click here to watch "Law School Musical"

I hope this has helped stem the stress of the "early exam prep" period and given you the burst of energy you need to keep mindlessly typing up those hand-written notes you took. That was a bright idea, in retrospect...

Props to Jhasta Moore for the find - I can't take credit for this diamond.

Stay Tuned...

Radiohead Fights Piracy - Gives Away New CD Online!

So called "Music Piracy" has dominated the intellectual property headlines ever since Lars Ulrich (of Metallica) decided to punish his fans and take on Napster. Well the times they are a changing. For those of you who are not aware, Radiohead has found a new way to fight music piracy - Give the music away to your fans and allow them to pay as much or as little (£0.00) as they feel like paying! You heard me right! The new album In Rainbows is available at Radiohead.com for any amount.

A recent survey of U.K. listeners indicated that as much as 2/3 of all downloaders paid some amount to the band, and some paid as much as £20 (almost $40). One Radiohead fan even paid £100 for the album! The early reports are that Radiohead will ultimately make the same profit that they traditionally make. This will set an interesting precedent in the music world. Clearly there are only a handful of bands that could afford to take such a gamble. In the last 15 years (since piracy became an issue) bands have relied heavily on concert ticket sales to balance out their bottom line. With that being the trend (and ticket prices going up as much as 40% over that span), will more artist take a gamble on the "good faith" of their consumer and put their work out for public consumption? Perhaps the larger issue is the quality of the music that many of the artist are putting out today.

I can personally say that I did not pay anything to download the album. That being said, if I like it I will go back to the site and pay them something (though I am not sure how much) for the music. I am a firm believer in rewarding artists that put out quality music, not just 15 tracks of crap and 1 radio-play single.

Legally Radiohead, unlike many artist who sign with big labels without equal bargining power, was in full control of thier music and could make this release if they choose to. There are a lot of other artist who do similar things, but you tend to see that from small artist trying to get their name out there and are thus willing to spread their music far & wide in the hopes of landing a record deal. Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, has recently taken the music industry head-on in an attempt to put out the second half of the Year Zero album in much the same way. Reznor released this statement October 8th on the Nine Inch Nails Website:

"...as of right now nine inch nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to finally be able to have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate."

The long story short is that artist are starting to stand up for their fans and challenge the record executives. The RCAs and Sonys of the world are nothing without their talent and their fans, and when the two join forces freedom might be obtainable. For now, we will settle for a free album.

Kudos to Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails for taking a chance on their fans - I hope it works out, and I hope other artists learn from it. Thats right Metallica - I'm looking at you.

Stay Tuned...

LSU Writer Defends Alabama -

The Black Coaches & Administrators put out an annual report card grading the "coaching searches" conducted by college athletic programs. In an absolutely shameful act, the BCA gave the UNiversity of Alabama an "F" for the coaching search that ultimately led to the hiring of Nick "CNMFS" Saban.

The BCA disregarded the fact that Rich Rodrigquez (a latino) was not only a candidate, but he was offered the job of Head Coach, before balking to remain at WVU.

If the BCA wants to stand for equality and diverse hiring practices, then maybe they should recognize minorities other than African American. It is so hypocritical that its almost laughable. If it wasn't true, you'd never believe it.

As Mr. Scott (of tigerbait.com) writes below, the BCA not only owes the Crimson Tide an appology, but they should take a full page ad out in the USA Today and correct their mistake. It hurts UA across the board - recruiting, retention, ticket sales, image and national impressions. Further it hurts the entire state of Alabama.

I will point out, as does Mr. Scott, that its hilarious that he has now had to defend the University of Alabama (and more specifically its coaching search that ultimately yielded CNMFS).

NO Fs IN ALABAMA

By Chadd Scott

The Black Coaches and Administrators, an organization whose primary purpose is to foster the growth and development of ethnic minorities at all levels of sports (that's taken straight from its web page), has come out with its annual report card for college football on its hiring practices and the news is not good for some.

For Alabama, the news is downright ugly. The BCA slapped the Tide with a big, fat, red, "F" for the way it conducted its search that ultimately ended with the hiring of Nick Saban.

There are three things about this I don't like. One, I don't appreciate the competition when it comes to ripping the Alabama football program; I staked my claim to that fertile turf long ago and I don't need any company. Two, these claims are total b.s. and the BCA owes Alabama a public apology for them. Three, because of number two, I'm forced to defend Alabama which puts me in a bad spot because of number one.

From the USA Today story Wednesday about this "report card:" "Alabama got F's for the makeup of its search committee and for minority candidates considered."

An "F" for minority candidates considered, huh?

Funny, I thought Rich Rodriguez, who was offered the Alabama job and turned it down, was Hispanic?

Is he not?

I just checked his biography, he is.

Do Hispanics not count to the BCA?

Is Rich Rodriguez not "minority" enough?

Are some minorities more important than others in the eyes of the BCA?

Is this just an attempt to smear the reputation of Alabama – again, bordering real close to infringement on my territory – regardless of the truth?

Is the BCA just plain stupid?

Is the BCA lazy?

Is the BCA playing off Southern stereotypes by trying to portray Alabama in a negative racial light despite the school's best effort to hire a minority?

All these are questions that have to be asked and deserved to be answered by the BCA, because the BCA loves to dish it out and call people names and threaten lawsuits, but it has libeled Alabama in my opinion with the gross misrepresentation – no, downright total and blatant fallacy – that Alabama did not pursue a minority football coach when it had a vacancy.

Alabama didn't just pursue a minority candidate, it hired one. Or so the school thought before Rodriguez wriggled away at the last moment.

Alabama doesn't deserve an "F" for its hiring practices, it deserves an "A."

But just correcting the Tide's "F" to an "A" by this irrelevant pressure group doesn't go nearly far enough in correcting the damage done to the reputation of the University and its athletic department because of this completely false and inflammatory accusation.

The BCA should immediately, and I mean today, run a public apology to the University of Alabama in the form of a full page advertisement taken out in the USA Today.

The BCA, in a highly public and visible manner so that no one can be left with the incorrect impression it has created, needs to take total blame for its lack of accuracy in researching the Alabama football coaching hire and applaud the University for the job it did in trying to promote minority coaches within its football program.

This story was mentioned on the cover of the most widely read newspaper in the country. It was fodder for talk shows all over America. The buzz words were "race," "Alabama," "denied opportunity," "F," "Black," "Saban."

Those buzz words and the utter mistruths promoted by the BCA through its shocking ignorance in researching this report only foster the misconception, a still widely held misconception in many parts of the county, that Southerners and people from Alabama are a bunch of racists who view someone by skin color first and promote a good old boy network that excludes outsiders.

I spent the last four years of my life living in Connecticut. I know that presumption exists.

I lived 10 years in Alabama and know that reality does not.

It is erroneous and agenda driven reports like this that continue to feed the prejudices of people outside the South that we Southerners are all bigoted hillbillies clinging to Jim Crow.

That's incendiary, it's malicious, and the BCA owes the University of Alabama an apology for casting those aspersions on it.

The intimation from the BCA with this "F" grade on minority hiring is that the University of Alabama is racist.

How do you think that effects recruiting?

How do you think that effects perception?

Not just of the University, but of the state of Alabama.

How do you think that affects the lives of the people at the University of Alabama who've tried to do everything they know how to break from the racial injustices of the past?

The BCA, through this poisonous "report card," has slurred an entire state in general, and a proud university in specific, and it has slurred them over something they did not do!

Where is the apology?

Where is the correction?

Where is the recognition that Alabama not only considered a minority candidate for its vacant head football coaching position, but interviewed one and offered its job to one?
Or does the BCA not offer corrections and apologies when it damages somebody? Does the BCA just chalk that up to breaking a few eggs to make an omelet? Does the BCA not consider facts important when it wants to promote a stereotype?

This is the cold, hard, truth as I see it: the Black Coaches and Administrators is not a fair minded organization seeking to raise awareness about the problem of too few minority coaches in college football, a problem which is real and deserves attention.

The BCA is a hostile pressure group well read in the Jackson/Sharpton race-baiting handbook and it's using a sympathetic media and totally biased research to try and force colleges and universities into hiring black – not minority, black – coaches whether those coaches are qualified or not.

No one else has the guts to say it, I will.
Prejudice and stereotypes have two sides, I've already been suspended and demoted from jobs for attempting to shed light on both of those sides so if I go down over what I've just written, so be it.

I have no allegiance to the University of Alabama, thousands of people think I hate the University of Alabama, but the University of Alabama was wronged in a deeply sinister way by the BCA and someone has to stand up and expose the lies and the jackals who tell them.

The perception that we're racist is something Southern people need to get serious about.

It's something we need to fight.

It's a sick fallacy perpetuated by insulting reports like the one issued by the BCA.

It's something I take personally because I know it's not true and I know it negatively influences the way Southern people and Southern institutions are thought of in ways you can't even imagine.

The BCA is calling the University of Alabama racist; I've researched the claims, they are untrue.

Who's going to hold the BCA accountable for this outrage?

One last thing –

My report card on organizations who claim to promote equality gives the BCA an "F."

Will we ever get tired of seeing groups advocate for an ideal that they don't themselves

Stay Tuned...