Law on Rice

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”

Happy I got to see it.

I’m only writing this to get it in the stream. There’s only one reason I would be sitting in the airport at 3:00 a.m., looking in vain for any airplane leaving the city to Seattle.

For those of you dumb enough to follow in my footsteps, you should know that almost nothing leaves Phoenix before 7:00 a.m.

Last weekend, I drove the Saab (hereinafter, “the Saab”) from Seattle to Phoenix, a 1,507 mile trip taking about 24 hours of total driving.

This is a picture as I was crossing the bridge from Washington to Oregon.  It was sunny and nice during this part of the trip.

It started to get a little colder and cloudier as I got into Southern Oregon, where I stopped in Medford for coffee and gas.  No offense, Oregon, but Medford really freaked me out!

When I got into Lake Shasta, it got really cold, rainy, and dark.  Worse, my wipers weren’t working very well.  I made it to Tracy, California, and crashed in a Quality Inn for about $59.  The next morning, it was very foggy in Central California.

I made it to Los Angeles just in time for lunch. Here is a picture of Glendale, and you can see that hardly anyone was on the road.  It was a little creepy to see so little traffic.

Here’s a picture in Pasadena on Colorado as they were preparing for the Rose Bowl Parade:

And at last, I MADE IT TO KOO KOO ROO!!  You can laugh at me all you want, but when you need a Koo Koo Roo fix and can’t get one, you suffer greatly.  I’ve been craving Koo Koo Roo for almost four years.

Then it got dark when I got on the 10.  I stopped in Palm Desert for a little dinner, some more coffee, and made it to Phoenix around 11:30 p.m.  It was a long, lonely trip, but the Saab is a great freeway car.

And good riddance 2009! Last year was probably the best and worst year I’ve ever had. As much as I relish challenges and shun routine, I’m ready for the roller coaster that was 2009 to come to a rest.

So 2010 marks a new year, a new decade, and a new world for me, personally and professionally.

My first impression of the new year and the post law school world is that law school was easy compared to what comes next!  And for me, that’s welcome news.

I’m sitting in the airport at Sea-Tac writing this, sitting on the floor, juicing up the little Dell mini.

Law school is over.

Over, that is, if I manage to pass my classes. I’m probably not ready to write anything about my law school experience yet. All I can say now is that I’m mostly just sad that it’s over.

I write to share my to-do list with you. I only do so because most people I tell seem startled by it, and maybe you will be too. I think it’s exciting. Over the two to three months, I have to do the following:

• Start a new job
• Study for the bar exam
• Have a child
• Move out of state to Phoenix
• Take the Arizona bar exam
• Sell my condo or rent it out
• Move from Phoenix to Tucson
• Start another new job

I’m at the mad crush that is Costco before Thanksgiving weekend, and I finally noticed that the sample people are just plain odd. They just stand there muttering about the praises of their wares, engaging nobody. It’s weird.

When I left Arizona, the real estate boom was reaching fever pitch. Shoot, it had been at fever pitch ever since the 1980s. Everyone had new cars that were shiny as new pennies, and Scottsdale threatened to eclipse Las Vegas.

As I drove on the Five through the rain this morning in Seattle, I heard that 14% of mortgages are behind or in foreclosure. And I wondered if Arizona will be the same when I come back?

Maybe all the cars will be the same, just not so shiny and new.

As you can tell, I haven’t had much time for posting. Finals are starting to wind up, as are a handful of papers I need to turn in.

So, the best I can do now is leave you with a quote I read today from a guy named Antony Jay. He said, “The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.” I like that.

We just happened to be driving Eisenhower near the Genessee dog park. Little did we know we were stumbling upon Dog-o-Ween!

Had we known, we would have put a sombrero on General Eisenhower.

Here are just a few of the pictures I got on the iPhone: