JVC's Almost Over

jvc47, originally uploaded by jvc_mw.

The above picture is one from my community having dinner. We were pretty good about eating together in the weeknights. At least a couple nights a week, all seven of us would eat together. Today we begin our two day trek to dis-orientation (silly name, I know), which is the unofficial end to my JVC year. I'm actually contracted to work until August 3, so it's not quite over, but it practically is.

This isn't the complete reflection on the year, but for starters, JVC has been a good experience. Of course, like all things, some of what I was expecting wasn't there, and other things that were I hadn't thought about at all. Our community wasn't hardcore spiritual (which was a semi-fear of mine). It emphasized more the personal spiritual element than the communal. The personalities in the house simply lead it to be that way. I sometimes wished we were more communally spiritual, but it just wasn't the house's personality. You get used to it, and start to enjoy the benefits of the laid-back approach.

I think we lived pretty well. Everyone probably had issue with everyone else at some point. You can't help that, though. And hopefully it brings growth. Jack Bauer and the movie Wedding Crashers were house favorites. The house was freezing in the winter (I slept next to a drafty window, so to stay warm I slept in flannel pajama pants, a sweatshirt with the hoodie up, in flannel sheets, and under 4 blankets--toasty), and hotter than it is outside in the summer, which isn't too bad until it reaches over 90 degrees. We had one car break-in (stole a radio) and one window broken. We threw at least 4 parties, not to mention impromptu beer pong. Life was good.

I think most everybody is glad they did this, if only because they had nothing else to do. Also, I think most everybody is ready to move on. That's a good place to be, I'd say.

Summerfest Rocks

Summerfest is apparently the world's largest music festival. That means, 11 days of seven main stages and multiple minor stages of music. Each stage has a headliner, and one main stage has the festival headliner. Like, on last Friday, the festival headliner was Def Leppard, but another stage had Sum 41 as it's headliner. Anyways, we got hooked up as volunteers, which means we get to go to the festival on the day we volunteer for free, and then get tickets to come back another day for free ($15 otherwise). All this for like 3 hours of ridiculously easy work.

REO Speedwagon was the first band I saw. Actually, I only saw them sing "Take on the Run" (the one the goes, "Heard it from a friend who/heard from a friend who/heard from another you been messin' around..."). The mics were all f*ck*d up, so it didn't sound good, but I can now say I hear REO live. The rest of that night was pretty uneventful for me. Saw Wolfmother (pretty cool rock band) and Jacks Mannequin (from the guy who was in Something Corporate, alternative rockish). Nothing to write home about, but that might be cause I was tired.

The next day Rocked, though! I didn't see their whole set, but I saw Styx play "Come Sail Away", followed by "Renegade" (my favorite dueling piano bar song). Absolutely awesome! Then I saw Def Leppard for an hour or so, only recognizing like 2 songs (they saved the other ones for after I left), but it was still cool. Most of them are middle-aged looking foggies, but one of their guitarists was jacked. I mean, nevermind looking good for a 40-something year-old. Jacked. I left early, cause from there...

I went to see OAR. Actually, I went to the stage they were at, forced my way to the seat-part of a picnic table, and watched them play on a monitor cause that's as close as I was gonna get. Still, it was pretty sweet seeing them play. When the finished with "Craziest Game of Poker", everyone apparently brought a deck of cards and threw them into the air. Pretty funny stuff, I thought.


Two nights ago, I worked and went to see Lewis Black do a comedy skit. He was a pretty funny guy, as usual. Talking about Santa Claus and stupid politics. Good stuff. John Mayer with Ben Folds was the main main show, but I didn't have the money to see them. AFI was also there, as was Weird Al. I think I made a smart choice with Lewis Black, but there was no shortage of talent there that night.

Last night I saw Less than Jake, and Reel Big Fish. Less than Jake puts on a pretty good show, but I didn't know a single song they played. I attribute that to me overestimating what I knew of theirs. I think I only know one song, come to think about it. "Dope Man." Wasn't played, though. Reel Big Fish, on the other hand, rocked the house, and I knew a lot of their songs. They have tons of energy, and did this one really impressive thing where they took a song of theirs and played it in different styles: reggae, ska, punk, blues, hardcore metal, as a love song, and as an old-skool hip-hop song. Amazing!

What I'm looking forward to now is G. Love and Special Sauce on Sunday. I've never seen them live before, but I'm a fan.

I also missed some sweet groups, like Razhel, Arrested Development, the Fray, ASIA, Plain White T's, Rusted Root, Keller Williams, Ludacris, etc. What a festival!

Happy belated Fourth of July, everyone.

Sounds Inviting

This is today's first reading. I like it.

Eph 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

I think it sounds better if its removed from Paul's goal of convincing Jews that they don't need to be Jews anymore. And that's the beauty of the Bible, or all writing for that matter: the words can have so much meaning, even beyond the goals of the writer. Hermeneutics, gotta love it!

My Work Peoples

These are my coworkers. After almost a year of working with these people, I finally have the pictures to show for it. We are celebrating Heydee, the girl on the right, who just received a $1000 award from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Milwaukee for going back to school. She's planning on getting a law degree and taking all of my current bosses clients, though by that time my boss might want to retire anyways and become a caterer. She's a damn good cook, but I've only been able to smell it. Never taste. Anyways, Heydee is sweet as pie, and cooks a delicious lunch, just like her mama. I really hope that she accomplishes her goal of becoming an attorney. That way she can make enough money to keep a house in Milwaukee to be with her family and still buy a house in Sarasota to be with her husband's fam....and near me.

The other lass is Gloria. If it's a beer drinking contest, a chili eating contest, or --worse yet--a chili-spiked-beer drinking contest, prepare to lose. She is a tough mofo, but she's also the gentle mother of three...I think three. They're all young, so they require a lot of work. It's a testament to her mothering that she has never heeded my advice of selling them. Apparently they mean a lot to her. I'd take the money.


This is Victor. He's my brother. My big brother in Milwaukee. We finally hung out for the second time all year this past weekend when he invited me to a comedy open-mic night with his wife and a friend. I brought my roommates, one of which was practically asleep, the other which was rolling and laughing it up. But, this is about Victor, not them. Victor is a generous guy who wants to make big positive changes for the Hispanic community here in Milwaukee. He thinks big, and seems to not get tired or lazy. Either that, or he talks a mean game. He was running up and down the line when Milwaukee Hispanics and friends marched on International Workers Day to make the impression of immigrants felt while Washington debates their futures. He's a winner.

Ames High Aims High

Note: My boss is too busy, and I'm stuck on like 8 cases until I can talk to her about them. Hence the posts today.

I went to Ames, Iowa this past weekend. Home of my roommie, Dorota Pruski. We stayed at her place and got to tour around this town that's got cornfields inside the city. But that's ok, cause Iowa State is pretty cool, I got to play legitimate frisbee colf, and I got to make pierogies with my new Polish mother. I didn't get to meet Dorota's dad, but he's a smart guy. Click on his name and you'll see just how smart.

Oh, and "Ames High Aims High" is one of the motto's to Dorota's High School. Go cyclones...

My Facination with Tyler Survant

I have this statistic thing that lets me see how many people come to my blog (see the right column, all the way at the bottom), but it also tells me how they got there. It seems that most of my viewers have my site bookmarked (thanks) or simply type the web address. The rest come from Katy Murphy's website (a special thanks to Kate O'Regan--ps. I was telling my friends this weekend about how cool your family's names are: Kite, Taig, and Asling, if I'm not mistaken. Irish is so cool!) or facebook.

One that keeps coming up every blue moon, however, has really caught my eye. I lived with Tyler Survant for half a year as a Junior in college. Then I went to Ireland and Tyler Survant went to Italy. We came back, and I lived with Juanito. Tyler Survant lived with architecture peeps (they're weird). Looking at some of the pictures I had from that time, I put one of Tyler Survant on the blog and made some pleasant commentary about how nice he is or something to that effect (which he is). Tyler Survant once googled "Tyler Survant" and found the picture and made a thankful comment. Since, though, Tyler Survant has googled "Tyler Survant" many MANY times. I think it's funny. That's why I have written Tyler Survant so many times here. I want his next search to include this entry.

I still think I'm funny.

Tampa Time

I'm in the the beautiful city of Tampa, and I just wanted to share some photos really quickly, before I go to bed. Tomorrow I'm off to the beach. Long live Florida beaches.

First off, we have the reason for the gathering. Young Terin Barbas graduated from Notre Dame. This beautiful young lass will be attending Florida State Law. We might have been classmates had Tallahassee not been void of anything useful for Monica.

Here is a handsome threesome. Mr. Atom, of course, making an appearance. Mr. Chris Sullivan is in the mix here, too. I think we make quite a fine Mexican flag together. If not, maybe Italian is more your tastes.

Here we have the freaky deaky Dutch gal, Kara Stajlan (is that right?), and a slim Joe Romano. Joe is taking over Tampa, which apparently is his way of escaping it, and Kara will get an M.D. at Jorgetown.

And this is the group. Nice.

I like my peoples in Tampa.

Sweet NFL Map

Just thought this was cool

I'm up

I am well. Life is good. Work is busy. Sun is nice. Memorial Day Weekend in Florida happening soon. Roommates are cool. I like hamburgers.

Now, just a quick note on what's going on in immigration in America. First off, my Peruvian and French/Irish friends, did you know that there are signs like this in border cities like San Diego, CA?

A funnier version of that sign, courtesy of Carlos Mencia, a comedian:
(note the preggers and the man's sombrero :)


And a not so funny version:

I get so frustrated with hearing the immigration reform be called amnesty. Amnesty is a clean slate. It's mean forgiven and forgotten. What is being suggested by Congress is not amnesty. Years of the suffering the all the problems that come with illegal status, the thousands of dollars lost to coyotes, crappy bosses, and corrupt landlords--from which there is very little protection, but no one seeks it for fear of being discovered and deported--all of this has ruled out amnesty. Some people act like the 12 million or so worker who are illegal in this country are all criminals. Like they had a choice to come illegally. A real choice. It's not a choice when you need the money to pay for your family's food, education, chance at life; when your parents are sick; etc.

If anything, the reform Congress is talking about screws over people who have had years of waiting for their family member to do the process the correct way (that's right, it could take 5-15 year for your mom to get your dad hear legally; if that's not a family, I don't know what is). Also, they are talking about helping workers, which is great, but it doesn't help them all. Look up articles on domestic workers, for example, and the little protections they get from abuse.

This is not an easy mess to fix, and no one seems to agree on how it can be fixed. I guess my point is that something needs to be done, and this is something. Not everything that needs to be done, but something. And, just like everything else in life, it has NOT come free.

Crist is the Man!

I really like this new Governor. He's my kind of Republican. I love moderates!

Everglades plan draws praise

By ASSOCIATED PRESS


Published May 9, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Environmentalists are hailing a bill to expand Everglades cleanup by extending the effort to the northern reaches of the ecosystem, where the water gets polluted in the first place.

A bill lawmakers sent last week to Gov. Charlie Crist doubles the amount of money going into Everglades cleanup, up to $200-million from the $100-million the program has received yearly since state and federal officials pledged in 2000 to try to reverse decades of pollution-caused problems.

With matching money from local governments and state funding for related projects, the total spending will be close to $500-million, said Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who led the effort in the Senate.
...

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I'm Alive

Ok, it's been a while, and I can't write much now. I just wanted to express my aliveness and my desire to write about:

• How cool my bro is (very).
• The silent retreat I did (nice).
• Mónica being done with work next week (relaxing).
• Summer plans (hotness).
• NYU (red delicious).

But not right now. Peace.

It is finished

Wow! I am going to law school next year. Man, it was tough. Ok, let's do the long and short of it. I applied to FSU, USC, Pepperdine, U Chicago, Loyola Chicago, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston College, Boston U, NYU, Fordham, UPenn, and Rutgers-Camden. I never heard from BU nor UPenn (weird!). U Chicago waitlisted me. The rest accepted me.

Quickly, as shown by my previous message, it became the battle of two schools: Loyola Chicago and NYU. And deciding b/n the two was maybe the most difficulty and draining thing I have ever done (side note: I really think that this statement is true, which says a lot about the tough times in my life. I'm a lucky kid).

One the one hand, Loyola is a great Jesuit school, filled with a tradition of social justice, spirituality, and a high percentage of law students that go into public interest. But the kicker is this. They offered me full tuition, and I was the inaugural recipient of the award. What a gift!

On the other hand, NYU is the fourth ranked law school in the most recent US News and World Report rankings, has a serious interest in public interest (though it is most definitely populated by people who will most likely work for big time firms for big time money), and offered me $15,000 a year (tuition is $39k).

The debates in my head were almost a grueling with the debate I had with my dad. That was terrible. In the end, I am going to NYU. I am very VERY excited about going there, but I still feel very sad about turning down such an amazing gift. They give 3 full tuition scholarships, all in honor of different contributers to LUC. I felt blessed to have that distinction given to me.

In the end two things struck me and lead me to choose NYU over LUC (many of the other considerations made the schools pretty evenly matched). One, I don't think that not wanting to turn down a scholarship is not reason enough to choose one school over another. And, more importantly, New York offered me family. My cousins live in Queens. Monica's family lives in Philly and has family in NYC.

Man, that was hard to do. I need to recoup so I can truly be psyched about going to NYU. The Big Apple. Gotham City. Sweet.

Where I've been...

Below is where I've been in the USA. Some were day trips, but I count them b/c I did significant things there. Like I never spent the night in Kentucky, but I did bail someone out of jail. I never slept in Wyoming, but I did walk around Yellowstone National Park there. I never slept in South Carolina, but I did skim-board at Myrtle Beach.

And these are the countries I've been to in the world. There might be some more in Central America, but I was too young to remember much of it. Also, I have been to an island owned by Colombia, but that is nothing like the rest of the country, so I didn't mark it. I am painfully aware of how red the west and how gray the east is. I would love to check out Africa, especially surfing on the souther coast and partying all over the rest of it. I'd love to go to the Holy Land. I'd love to rock out India with my boy Pushkar. I'd love to have a cabana on the beach in Thailand, surf again in Australia, and then sing very bad karaoke in Japan before visiting Criollo in China. Maybe one day.


Shout-out to Isabel for this idea. I met your Marista friend, Carmen, at NYU. She's very nice.

Do your own maps, thanks to douweosinga (what does that mean?).

Welcome Chorizo!

Our good friend, Chorizo (number 5) made his professional debut at the Milwaukee Brewers game yesterday. He made a cameo last year, but the club violated mascot rules, so they needed to wait until now to bring him on for good. He joins Polish and Italian sausages, hot dogs, and I think a bratwurst, but don't quote me on that.

My boss, who was at opening day, told me that when they introduced our good friend Chorizo, some people cheered, but others booed. Obviously, Chorizo is not Spainish but Mexican. He's got a sombrero, for crying out loud! So do the people who booed just dislike spicy sausage? I'm guessing they don't like Hispanic immigrants. To all of those people, you frustrate me. You're missing out on how yummy chorizo can be.

Bush Admin and Greenhouse Gases

Justices Rule Against White House on Emissions

By DAVID STOUT
Published: April 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 2 — The Supreme Court ruled today, in what amounts to a rebuke of the Bush administration, that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide from automobile emissions, and that it has shirked its duty in not doing so.

...

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. dissented, along with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. The chief justice said his dissent “involves no judgment on whether global warming exists, what causes it, or the extent of the problem.” Rather, he wrote, the kind of dispute in this case is better resolved by Congress and the executive branch rather than the courts.

I think that the dissenters have a point in that Congress is the place to make the rules and do clarification on Acts. Then again, the point of having a Checks and Balances system is to make sure the other branches are doing their jobs right. (Well, it's much more complicated than that, but I think the majority ruling is still in the spirit of the checks.)