I'm a hypocrite

Anyone who has heard me talk about NPR knows that for the longest time I basically thought it was for uncool nerds. Yeah, I’d listen to it sometimes if I was driving in the morning and I hated Bay Area morning radio (it sucks) and wanted to hear the news. Sometimes I’d catch about 5 minutes on weekends if I as driving around, but then I’d put on my ipod and listen to whatever new band I’d “found” the previous week. For the last several years its been a near obsession of mine (I blame Chris really) to find the next band or sound or whatever. The more obscure the better. Hadn’t heard of it? Good. I had free time and money to get albums and search for them all day. It was fun. My friends ask me what new album I’m listening to, if I could burn them a CD … I felt like the gatekeeper to cool new music. I guess.

Well, over the last couple of months I haven’t had nearly as much free time and money. My searches are shorter and I rely on more crutches (free iTunes downloads, Pitchfork, The AV Club) in my search. I just haven’t had the time. Now I especially don’t have the time and I don’t see much time freeing up (well, at least for the next couple of months). I also realize that this notion of me being the “gatekeeper to cool new music” is absurd since I’m a huge nerd and dork and make no apologizes for it. But man, it was my thing to be cool about. That and possibly movies as well.

Anyway, back to why I’m a hypocrite. Of the six pre-programmed stations in my car in Eugene, two are NPR. (hey, I’ve noticed that about 5% of the time they have different programming and in different parts of town one comes in better than the other, so lay off … its not like Eugene has a great radio selection anyway. I’ve already been tricked into programming a Christian Rock station by accident because I heard a Nickelback song on the first time I heard it and thought it was the lame alternative station in town. Don’t worry, when I heard a commercial for Battle Cry I quickly changed that one to a classic rock station I’d missed. But I digress) And what do I mostly listen to when driving around Eugene, either to Target (for I think the 17th time) or class? NPR podcasts of Cartalk, Prairie Home Companion or Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.

So tell me I’m a hypocrite. Call someone who has seen the light. Call me an uncool nerd. But whatever you do, don’t tell me what Tom and Ray said on Saturday before I get to hit play on my ipod.

Horribly Innacurate Pac-10 Predictions

I know how many of you are just so desperate to know how I think this season will turn out, so here goes my completely unreasonable and not at all thought out predictions. And yes, I've predicted the final records for all 10 teams. What, you think I'm actually studying around here?

USC 12-0 9-0 (BCS)
California 10-2 7-2 (Rose)
Oregon 9-3 7-2 (Holiday)
Arizona State 8-4 5-4 (Las Vegas)
Oregon State 8-4 5-4 (Armed Forces)
UCLA 7-5 4-5 (??? - Pac-10 doesn't have enough bowl ties)
Arizona 5-7 3-6
Stanford 4-8 2-7
Washington 3-9 2-7
Washington State 3-9 1-7

Yup, with USC headed to New Orleans for the title game (hopefully against LSU), I'm sending the Bears to Pasadena. I guess if you can't go in through the front door just sneak in through the back. Oh, and Cal's other loss is to ASU. Harbaugh works miracles at Stanford - enough for two conference wins. Arizona once again fails to live up to expectations and thus cans Mike Stoops at the end of the season. Poor Ty Willingham takes another step back.

POY - John David Booty
DPOY - Antoine Cason
COY - Jeff Tedford
Newcomer - Joe McKnight

The Paper Chase

One week in and so far I’m not behind on my reading. Knowing myself that’s actually pretty good. And trust me, there is enough reading for me to be behind already. For those interested, I’m taking Contracts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Torts and LRW (Legal Research and Writing). And if you thought (like myself) that I’d be ahead in most of the classes (especially Civ Pro) because I’ve been working at two big civil lit firms the last five years … well, you’d be wrong. At least so far. Yeah, maybe I have some terminology down and am not shocked when I hear Latin terms for legal concepts, but other than that I’m basically Joe Schmoe.

Been here two weeks and I think I’m pretty settled in alright. Having Target, Costco and Trader Joe’s all within 10 minutes drives has helped a lot (though its killed my budget). I have a one-bedroom loft that’s fairly small but gets the job done. Its quiet and right next to a golf course though I don’t think I’ll be getting any tee shots into my back window any time soon. Its about a 10 minute drive to campus via two bridges and a couple of left turns so I’m not that far. I wish I would have found a place closer to campus so I could actually walk to class, but to be honest my place is really well set up for studying so I can’t complain too much. I’ve put my embarrassingly small TV in my bedroom and downstairs only has my desk and couch so I’m not tempted to watch TV instead of read. Its works.

I don’t have a great sense of the city yet though its easy enough to maneuver. Haven’t found the great late-night eating place, though I did go to Pita Pit on Friday night … I wish I could give a review, but I don’t remember what I ordered or that I actually ate anything. I knew I ate something because I had a strange taste in my mouth the next morning and called my new friend Joe (Oregon State grad) to ask if we had indeed eaten. “Oh, I’m guessing you weren’t the only person to not remember going there last night … and anyway, most people don’t remember their first time there.” Good times. I’d like to thank the law school for throwing a welcome party at the school with 8 kegs and people stumbling down drunk in the middle of the commons around midnight. Yes, they get drunk at school here in Eugene.

I wrap up this first (and terrible) post with a couple of things I’ve learned about Oregon, Eugene, the school and the fans.
- They really REALLY love those yellow uniforms. Actually, they love everything about all of their uniforms and are insulted that someone could think otherwise.
- Don’t make fun of Joey Harrington unless you want to fight someone.
- What do they love even more than those uniforms? That “O”. I’m not joking, its on EVERYTHING. Its on the window of every dorm room in alternating yellow and green. And driving around Eugene its on more cars than you could imagine. There are more “O”s around than there are “SC”s on cars on gamedays at the Coliseum.
- Prefontaine … learn to love him. Part folk hero, part running god, don’t knock him.
- Though I haven’t stepped into one, the people of Eugene DEMAND Hawaiian plate lunch restaurants. Its no joke – I’ve seen at least five of them.
- Going to Ikea in Portland was like going to Disneyland on a Saturday in late June. These people were NUTS about the Scandinavian modular furniture. One girl told me they had been waiting “for years” to get one … wow.
- I’m truly in the Mecca of great beer. Not Eugene per se, but Oregon and the Northwest in general. Its going to be hard to drink every night.

I’ll write more interesting and funny things later. Future topics to include: fifty-cent movie night in Springtucky; the benefits of all-you-can-drink-night at a single A baseball game; a discussion on SEC v. Pac-10 with a cool guy from Appalachia; why its great to make friends with a guy who has been a pharmacist the last 7 years before going to law school; and how to spend hours on end customizing every single part of your new MacBook Pro. Until then.