illinois

Sometimes I still can't believe I'm in law school, at Northwestern, and in Illinois. We took a short tour of the library today, and seeing all of the Illinois reference books really made me realize that I wasn't in California (or even New York) any more.

Another unique Illinois feature is Lake Michigan. I went on my first lakeside run yesterday, and the beautiful weather, combined with the gorgeous lake view, made the five mile run go by quickly. Hopefully I can get back into a running schedule like in San Francisco, as my student diet is horrible.

This weekend I vow to get some furniture. I'm tired of just owning a bed and a desk (no chairs, television, anything).

One more thing, I had dim sum this weekend at the Phoenix, and it was awesome!

how convenient!

As soon as I move to Chicago, the Times does a 36 hour travel piece on the city! Once I become more accustomed to my schedule, I definitely plan on checking out some of the tours and exploring the other neighborhoods. Of course, that means I really need a new camera as well.

Today for dinner I treated myself to a hamburger, fries and a shake from Portillo's Hot Dogs. The food was cheap ($8 total) and tasty enough for me to go back and try theith Italian beef. Up next, however, is dinner in Chinatown tomorrow!

streeterville

Isn't that an odd name for a neighborhood? I live in Streeterville, which is part of the larger neighborhood known as the Near North Side. It more or less feels like I'm living in Midtown East, close to Fifth Avenue in NYC, as I'm blocks away from Michigan Avenue, Chicago premier shopping street. The Magnificent Mile is filled with tons of malls, food courts, and all of the big retaiil stores. I'm about two blocks away from Nordstrom, Virgin Megastore, Niketown, the Apple Store, and tons of other stuff. The only thing missing is good cheap food. I would go nuts for even just half a block of MacDougal Street.

Anyways, back to more reading. Classes have been interesting so far, but the biggest surprise is how dense the reading is. I consider myself a fast reader, but it can easily take me about two to three hours to properly read, digest and take notes on only 30 pages!

i'm back!

I apologize for the long hiatus, but I finally set up my internet connection at home! I'll kick off my return post with my Dream League farewell article (thanks guys!).

I've been in Chicago for a little over two weeks, which have included the week-long orientation, as well as my first week of school. All in all, everything about Northwestern has exceeded my expectations. The administration has been welcoming, the faculty impressive, and students are extremely friendly and considerate. Not to say that school hasn't been busy. I probably spent more time reading and doing homework during my first week of class than I ever did during the non-final school year at Berkeley.

Speaking of which, I'm off to do some more work this morning! I promise to start posting regularly again!

PS - For more about what I've been doing here, read about my awesome meal at Alinea with Gerald and Susana, who were here visiting for the Labor Day weekend.

7.95

The money I spent for internet access at the airport may just be the best $7.95 I've spent in a long time. After rushing to pack, ship and get to the airport, I learned that my flight has been delayed three hours!

On top of that, I left behind a ton of stuff at my apartment, including accidentally forgetting my keyboard and mouse!

this time

One of my favorite things to do is speculate about the future, and what my life will be like. I think, "What will I be doing this time tomorrow, next year, etc.?"

This time tomorrow I'll have moved to Chicago.

This time next month, I'll be a full-time law school student.

This time next year, I'll have finished my first year of law school and wil hopefully be back in New York for some type of lucrative summer job (otherwise I'm planning on studying/working abroad).

This time in five years, I'll be a practicing attorney in either New York or California, hopefully on my way to starting a family at the ripe old age of 33.

home again

Once again, it was extremely nice to return home after being away. This time it was a three night stay in Las Vegas with my old BUILD coworkers and my high school friends. It was good to see Suzanne, Ajuah, Paul and Shirin before four out of the five of us go back to school this fall. Plus, I'm glad I was able to finally make it to one of Mark's (warning: link to myspace!) big Vegas birthday bashes.

Unfortunately, my internet connection at home is not working, so I'll post a longer update once I have regular internet access.


BUILD Alumni

Four more days in New York!

home

I love how it feels to come home after being away for a few days. There's nothing like the sight of my made bed, clean room, and familar furnishings that put me at ease, usually following a long flight and taxi/shuttle/train ride. After a longer-than-expected trip in Chicago, I shouldn't have been surprised by the huge bliss of returning to my apartment.

Although I am headed right back out in an hour to catch my flight to Vegas (I'll be back Saturday night), I've managed to squeeze a lot of NY in the past 30 hours or so.

Monday:
- Arrived at LaGuardia Airport at 10PM, grabbed my luggage and took a cab home
- Trekked to the 24-hour Apple Store in search of a neeprene sleeve for my new MacBook (sold out!)
- Picked up two chicken and rice plates from the awesome Halal cart on 53rd St. and 6th Avenue (one for now, one for later). The wait was still 30 minutes, even though it was past midnight on Monday.

Tuesday:
- Walked to the Apple Store in Soho. Still no sleeves! Shake a fist!
- Made a ton of pre-law school appointments (TB testing, haircut, restaraunt reservations, etc.)
- Met my old D&P co-workers for lunch
- Checked out two new exhibits at the Met. I'll miss that museum.
- Ate the second chicken and rice plate for dinner
- Met with Andrea and Dickson for drinks at Cafe Noir
- Gave Dickson a tour of my favorite late night food court, Macdougal St, where he had his first Kathi Roll.
- Walked over to Gerald and Susana's where I got to see Janet before she left for b-school on Friday.

Now I'm off to Vegas!

countdown

I'm still in Chicago, but I've been thinking a lot about how to spend the remainder of my time in New York (less than two weeks, not including my Vegas trip):

- Meet with all the people I've seen far too little of since I (or they) have moved to NY
- Shakespeare in the Park
- Coney Island / NY Aquarium
- Run in Central Park
- At least one more nice dinner (Gerald, start planning!)
- Yankees and/or Mets game
- Monday night movie at Bryant Park

Hopefully today won't be as boring as yesterday, although I did catch a free concert at the Grant Park Music Festival last night. Today I'm upgrading my iBook for a new MacBook and getting my first iPod (which will be awesome considering I left my mp3 player in New York and have gone music-less this past week)!

right now

Right now I should be at an all-day Long Island wine tasting birthday party for my old roommate. Tonight I was planning on going out for the birthday of one of my Moe's Tavern basketball teammates. Tomorrow would've been my last Dream League game before I moved to Chicago.

But instead, I am stuck in Chicago waiting to sign my lease. At least it's a gorgeous day outside, which I plan on taking full advantage of after I finish running my morning errands.

On a different note, last night I finished Evidence of Things Unseen, which was a beautifully written book about love, hope and faith. It reminded me a lot of Peace Like a River, which I also really enjoyed. Next up is Moneyball, which I'm surprised has take me so long to get to.