blurbs

I tend to do these update blurbs. Whoops! Will try to write more about more in depth topics.

I'm training for 1/2 marathon #2 on April 15th. I finished the Livestrong 1/2 in about 2:26 which was pretty good in comparison to my lack of training, knee issues, and killer hills from mile 10-13. With that said, I want to do better this time around! I'm hoping to run more around a 2:15. As part of that, I start my training (again) on Saturday with a nice easy 7 miler. During the weeks I'll be trying to work hills and speed a little.

I also took the plunge and signed up for a bootcamp. At 6 am. 2x a week. It's kind of like dying every Tuesday and Thursday, but I think it'll be good for me and my fitness goals. Today we did 50 squats, 50 above the head kettlebell lifts, 50 sumo squat kettlebells, 50 medicine ball side to sides, 50 butterfly crunches and then we got to do all of them again 30 times, and then again 10 times. Paaaaainn. I'm also semi-attempting a low-ish carb diet that begins in earnest tomorrow (I know that's what they all say).

Indy is doing well. We had a bit of a scare this weekend with some sickliness but he seems much better now. He lost quite a bit of weight, so I'm attempting to fatten him up. He loves it. On May 1st we start Agility League competition!

I got a 20,000 dollar a year scholarship at Vanderbilt on Monday, making it roughly the same price as UT. If I don't get in to Michigan, I will most likely be attending Vanderbilt Law next year. Yikes! I visit UT on March 25 and Vandy on April 8. I actually bought a pair of Sperry Top-siders today so that I can blend in on campus.

I had the joy of three awesome weekends in a row the past three weeks! Tyler came and visited for the weekend and got to see me stagger across the half marathon finish line. The next weekend was Disciple Now, an annual in-town church retreat that I have participated in (in various capacities) 9 times now! I was with the 7th and 8th grade house and it was cuh-razy. Not to brag, but the leaders did dominate on Murder in the Dark (best game ever). And then the NEXT weekend, Kirsten got to come visit! We pretty much ate a ton of food. We went to the kite festival, played with Indy, ate sno-cones and had a blast. Visits from friends have been so life-giving these past couple of weeks. I miss my social support system. More importantly, I just miss my friends!

.5 Marathon

Next Sunday I will be running my very first half-marathon. I'm excited because it has been a long-term dream of mine. (next, a full marathon?!) I'm also frozen with terror. 13.1 miles is FAR. I will run 7 miles (FAR!) and be only half way there (FAAAARRR!).

On Friday I ran my first 11-miler. I honestly should have prepped much better for this race, but I don't plan to set any speed records anyways. I would just like to finish with all my limbs intact. Plus, this whole "knee injury out of nowhere" thing has really throw me for a loop.

For those not "in the know," I somehow managed to give myself patellofemoral tendinitis. There were no warning signs. I went for an easy 5 mile jog and came home feeling fine. It was my first time running on the streets in awhile, but nothing felt odd and 5 miles was pretty short after a 9-miler earlier that week. I went to Randall's, got food, made dinner, and sat down to watch some Hulu. When I got up an hour later, intense pain commenced. It kind of feels like a dull knife on the top of my kneecap. I am, understandably, very anxious about pain around my kneecaps.

I went to the doctor and she confirmed the tendinitis. I was a little freaked. I had trained (relatively) hard for this half-marathon and it sucked to think about not being able to even TRY. She reassured me that I could keep running as long as the pain didn't radiate up my knee. I tried to run 4 miles after a weeks rest and it was pretty intense pain from mile 2-4. Unfortunately I was running Town Lake and the pain started right at the turnaround. Either way I had to run two more miles.

With all that said, the 11-miler (technically 11.3, thank you very much) yesterday was pretty much pain-free! I'm hurting a bit right now but I'm heating and rubbing it with Arnica gel and resting. I'm hoping to get in a few more short runs before next Sunday, but it is on!

Bring it on, Livestrong Austin 1/2 Marathon!

Vanderbilt

I thought some people might get a kick out of this story, so I'm posting it here.

Vanderbilt Law is one of my top choices for next year. Great campus, nice buildings, excellent career opportunities, relevant clinics (experiential learning opportunities), likely to give me a scholarship, cool city, nice climate, and dog friendly. (see? it's pretty perfect) Thus, I really really wanted to get in and a couple people with very similar numbers were getting waitlisted. Now, waitlisting is not the end of the world but it can mean the end of chances of receiving money. Without a scholarship, Vanderbilt is considerably more expensive than UT (in-state + scholarship) and I probably couldn't justify choosing it.

Vanderbilt sends acceptances in 4 lb boxes via Fedex, usually arriving within 2-3 days of getting "Decision Letter Sent" on the online status checker. Waitlists and rejections come via regular mail and take much longer.

My online 'law school friends' had reported this situation earlier in a comical exchange:

Student 1: Fedex says I have a package coming. Does this mean I'm in?

Student 2: How much does it weigh?

Student 1: They said 4 lbs. That's good right??

Student 2: Looks like they sent you the rejection brick!

I laughed for a really long time at that mental image. (Student 1 was accepted, in case you were concerned)

My status turned to Decision Letter Sent on 2/7 yesterday. Understandably, I freaked out. A couple people had had luck calling FedEx and checking to see if a package was headed their direction so I thought I would try my luck. At least I wouldn't be stressing for the next couple days!

Here's how it went:

Me: Hi, I was wondering if a package is coming to me?

Fedex: Do you have a tracking number?

Me: No, is it possible to just check my address? Here it is _______

Fedex: It looks like it should arrive around Wednesday at 4:30

Me: IT'S REALLY COMING?

Fedex: Yes....it left Nashville at 8:00 this morning. It looks like it's from Vanderbilt Law School

Me: I GOT INNNNNNN!

Fedex: *nervous laughter* ....that's great?

Me: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh thank you so so much!

Fedex: ....ok great...have a good day?

Me: iloveyou bye

Haha. So I'm 0 for 2 on proper phone reactions to good news. For UT I said "hooray." Maybe next time?

I'm a bad blogger...

Well, it's official...I'm a horrible blog writer. Sorry (all 7 of you readers!)

Here's a little life update: killed the December LSAT (+9 points), Indy is awesome and currently shaved naked, still doing Agility classes, and still really enjoying my job at Dirty Dog.

Now a little expansions:

Law school:

In short, retaking in December changed my life. 9 points is huge on the LSAT and made a big difference in the schools I'm looking at. To put things in perspective, I barely got in to Wake Forest last year...this year I've received almost a full ride from them. I've been accepted at UT, Wake Forest, George Washington, Washington & Lee and Ohio State so far and I'm still waiting on a bunch more. If you are really really interested, you can check this out: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/akili

I'm not really planning on posting a ton about it on Facebook, so it might be a good way to keep track. If you care. No biggy.

Indy:

He's a goober but I love him. He's doing very well in Agility and today my mom is coming to see him in class which I'm really excited about. He can be a little crazy in person, so it's fun to show off his smart, focused side too. We still go to the dog park as often as possible. He's getting better with waiting on his bed when someone comes to the door and not jumping. We still have lots to learn though. Indy is officially a year old as of a week ago. He's definitely all puppy still though. Indy has been a huge blessing in my life this year and I'm so grateful for him in my life!

Dirty Dog:

I really enjoy it a lot. It's a fun job and requires quite a bit more brain power than I was expecting. Plus, PUPPIES! Today I got to play with a recently adopted chihuahua (trust me, he was stinking cute), two basset hounds, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Oliver. Looove it.

Other things:

I'm helping out at Covenant with the 7th grade girls d-group (whom I love!) and it's been wonderful. It's cool discovering Covenant again now that I'm an "adult"

I have lots of fun travel plans for this spring/summer. Hooray! Enjoying my last bit of freedom to roam the world. (slash the U.S.)

Bob Loblaw's Law Blog

Whoops. I need to update this more often.

I got my LSAT (part 3) results back and FINALLY killed it. It's awesome and very overwhelming because now my list of schools has drastically changed. My reaches are now safeties.

Top choices? University of Virginia, Michigan, Cornell, Vanderbilt, University of Texas, University of Washington, and George Washington. Crazy. I have pretty good shots at all but UVA. Hopefully I'll start hearing back from some schools that I had already applied to (i.e. UT, UW and GWU) in the next couple weeks. Most Admitted Student Weekends are in March or April so I should know almost everything by then!

Life...moves really fast!

I'm working at Dirty Dog still and really enjoying it. It's a really great job and I'm learning some great skills. Plus, PUPPIES. I'm hopefully about to start a small internship with a local non-profit that works with at-risk or on probation teenage girls. Hopefully it'll work ok with my Dirty Dog schedule. I'm waiting to hear what will work out. I don't want to get too overloaded and I want to treasure this down time and all the time I have to spend with Indy.

Speaking of... We are now in Agility 2 and Indy continues to be a rockstar. He's been a huge blessing to me and I'm so grateful for him, even when he's a brat. He turns 1 in a couple weeks. I'm still going to call him a puppy though.

A story of honor and bravery.

I am done with the LSAT. Forever. No matter what. DANG that feels good. I'm halfway tempted to create a little (illegal) bonfire on my patio of all my books and practice tests. I stick to the letter of the law though (and it would be ironic to break the law while burning study materials for the Law School Admissions Test).

The last battle between LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) and my brave, noble, persevering self took place this Saturday. It was a pitched battle beginning in the wee hours of the morn. I arose, clothed myself in splendor (Akili shirt and sweatpants. What up) and journeyed to the unfamiliar territory of UT campus. I arrived almost an hour too early and motivated myself with epic music within my trusty steed, Delilah the Fit.

I was interrogated and fingerprinted upon my entry to the testing chamber. No full body scan, however. My fellow warriors settled in and the Emissary of the Dark LSAC read the rules of the conflict. No hoodies, water bottles, digital watches, things that beeped, cell phones, mechanical pencils, or any other such frivolity would be allowed in this sacred chamber. I solemnly sharpened my 10 #2 HB pencils (one can never be too safe), popped open the seal and began the fight that might define my future.

I faced Reading Comprehension first. A fair weather friend, it can either help me greatly or harm me severely on my quest. However, this time it accepted an uneasy truce and I fought through valiantly with time to spare. Next with Logic Games. A horrifying, demonic section usually, this one proved to be more like a kitten than a roaring dragon. I eyed it with suspicion. I feared, and knew (in my heart of hearts) that this must be the dastardly Experimental section that counts for nothing! It is only a farce to weary the valiant and delay their quests. Before I could rest or eat I had to face one more foe. Logical Reasoning. It fell to my sword easily. We were allowed 15 minutes to eat and use the facilities. I only wet my mouth, knowing that troubles still laid ahead.

After the break I opened the Tome of Destiny and gaped in horror. Not only was it Logic Games again, but there was no room to swing a sword (or diagram a hypothetical). Panic set in. I couldn't seem to draw a breath. The enemy closed in around me. I took a deep breath and plunged through. I did not escape unscathed. I fear I lost points, and lives, but I persevered and ultimately declare dominion over the problems. Lastly, I faced another Logical Reasoning foe. This warrior put up a far more challenging fight, but in the end he was defeated like his brethren.

I celebrated with my comrade and training partner Caroline and we feasted upon queso, spicy jalapeno ranch and pico de gallo. Once refreshed, I began the long trek home. Exhausted, mentally and physically drained, but victorious (hopefully).

Only time will tell the results of this quest, but the fight was fought with honor and bravery. My soul is at peace whatever the number may be.

(Seriously, I think it went alright. But this was way more fun to write. I find out at the end of the month. I already have been accepted at Wake Forest again, so a lot of the pressure has lifted. I could be very happy there, but I am hoping for UT!)

T-4 Days

I just took the most recent LSAT that is available (PT60: June 2010). I got a freaking 172 on it. I got a 175 on October 2009 earlier this week. Now why can't I do that on test day?? I know I'm capable of scoring well, and I will be so disappointed if I don't perform up to what I think is my potential on Saturday. This is my last chance. It's almost nauseating.

I'm not even looking for a 172 (thought that would be incredibly legit), I would be pretty darn ecstatic with a 165. Like crying with joy ecstatic. I saved that champagne from October, I really hope I get to use it with happiness. If not...I'll figure stuff out. If I can't improve, I'm probably going to maybe consider some other career paths. With the economy, job stuff is scary. I want to give myself the best shot possible.

I start work at Dirty Dog on Monday! I'm really excited, but a bit scared. I have so much to learn! I'm also thinking about volunteering ...somewhere. I haven't really figured that out yet. Maybe with a shelter for battered women? Or having to do with juvenile justice? I just don't know if I'll be able to find a better job, and this way I can have (to quote Hannah Montana) the best of both world. The BESSSSSSSSSST of both worlds!

Tonight is Indy's last agility class. It's been pretty awesome, to be honest. I'm going to ask the trainer tonight if she thinks Indy should take Agility 2 or Obedience 2. If we do Agility, well hooray! I'm kind of worried how that might work with law school next year though. If we do Obedience, Indy can get his Canine Good Citizen award and maybe start Therapy Dog training? I think he's got a bit of settling to do before that could be a reality. It will be interesting to hear what the trainer says.