A Strange Thing Happened on the Way to Loserville

If you had talked to me at this time last week I would have told you that UST Mock Trial sucked ass and that all I wanted was to get it over with. We were all fed up with the coaches, we were fed up with the late night practices, we were all fed up with each other and we were all wishing we had never signed up for such bull shit!

We had all agreed that the best we wanted to do was 9th place, this way we could ensure that we would still get a decent grade for the course but not advance to the next round. Not advancing to the next round meant that we would be done with Mock Trial and we would all have our lives back. "UST Mock Trial: Almost Making it since 2005" was our motto. UST's Mock Trial team has always come close to making it to the invitationals, but never quite made it; and we planned on keeping that tradition alive.

But a strange thing happened on the way to Loserville...as soon as that first round began, we were all in it to win it. I can't explain what happened. We wanted it and we fought for every inch of ground we took. It was grueling, it was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting. We wanted to win, but not only that, we wanted to crush the competition.

The end result is that UST finished 5th out of 17 teams, and is now ranked with NCAA teams such as the United States Air Force Academy and UT and we are advancing to the next round in Memphis, Tennessee...not bad for the smallest Catholic school in the nation.

In addition to the kick ass trophy we received we also received advocate honors. I got a little choked up when Jeff received the award for Best Witness. I got REALLY choked up when Katie received an unprecedented unanimous decision for Best Attorney. I almost lost it when, after she received her award, she was on her way back to her seat and I put out my hand for a "high five" and she grabbed my hand and said "it's because of you, you're my Drew Walton".

Nothing in the world beats being part of a team.

A Weekend of Catch-Up

All in all not a bad weekend. I picked up my sexy new bike on Saturday, but unfortunately I probably won't have time to ride it 'til the weekend after next...lamers. I guess I'll just have to be content in sitting on it inside my apartment with the fan blowing in my face while someone periodically smacks me with a tree branch. I also picked up some stretchy bike shorts (read: sexy) with the padded bum and a pair of cross country trail shoes.

For the past 2 years I've been using a cassette tape adapter (yes, I'm that high tech) in Anabelle (the Jetta) to rock my iPod/g1. Since the only radio I listen to is NPR on the way to and from the office (because every other radio station in Houston sucks MAJOR balls) the tape player gets TONS of use...well, it's finally on its last legs so I ordered a replacement this weekend. The new head unit has a USB port on the front so I'll just be able to plug in any mass storage device and be ready to rock; can't wait to upload my Hanson box set and jam out.

I'm all caught up on homework for now so I'll be focusing on Mock Trial for the rest of the week. The competition is this weekend so I'll probably be in practice sessions every moment that I'm not in class or at the office...I'm just looking forward to getting it DONE.

Android Review pt II

A week into using the G1 and I still can't put it down. I am now using it as not only my primary Mp3 player and IM client, but I am also relying on it more and more for internet searches and browsing. T-Mobile's 3G network consistently offers download speeds of around 1Mbps (I know b/c I installed a speed test app!) which is not too terribly slow for a mobile device; and the speeds are even better when connected to a wireless network!!!. And the user interface is just soooo easy to use. This thing really comes in handy for low-key web browsing during a boring lecture on whether Moses did or did not write the book of Genesis. Before I forget, I want to mention that yes, it's a phone as well...haha.

Wow! I can't believe it's February already. President Obama has called on all of us to perform a public service; here is a great example of some extraordinary young men serving their community:

Android Review pt I

So after losing my phone Saturday at a place that I will only refer to as a gentlemen's club, I decided to replace it with the HTC/Google G1 and let me just say; I think I made an excellent choice. Before I go on and on about this product let me say that I KNOW I'm not the first person to write a review on this product, I just wanted to give my pov.

The first thing that you have to do when you fire up the G1 is log in to your gmail account. Gmail serves as a "hub", if you will, to manage the way you use your phone. Once logged into your Gmail account the G1 will automatically pull all of in all of your Gmail contacts. From then on you can either update a contact on your computer's web browser or on the phone, and each will sync with the other; with this interface I will never have to worry about lost phone numbers again...too cool!! When I was IM-ing on the G1 I asked a friend Instant Message me her phone number. As soon as I received it all I had to do was use the G1's touch screen to highlight the number, search for her name and email address (which I had in my Gmail contact list) and voila! Her number was saved both in Gmail and on the phone!

Speaking of Instant Messaging, the G1's AIM and GoogleTalk interfaces are a breeze to use; I hardly need to use my PC's IM client at all anymore. All of this is great but the biggest advantage of the G1 (to me) so far is the multimedia capability. With the capacity for a 32Gb micro-SD card I can store my entire (current) music library on my phone and use the device as my default mp3 player...as a matter of fact I haven't used my iPod all week. The down side is that the music player's controls are a bit clunky, especially when trying to change tracks and keep your eyes on the road. But one feature makes up for the oversensitive controls: If, when playing music through your car stereo, you receive an incoming call, the music will fade out and the phone will ring over the car speakers. When you accept the call you will hear the caller's voice surrounding you like the voice of God and you can carry on a conversation with the phone safely cradled in your lap!!! As soon as the call is complete back comes the music! Kick Awesome.

Coming up: pt II - Interwebs and The Google

Oh, and this one is for jacobes: