first semester

I'm almost 1/6 of the way done with my J.D. After cramming for finals for almost a week, these are the valuable lessons I've learned:

If you can buy 4 piece chicken Mcnuggets for $1.50 and a 10 piece costs $4.29, it's cheaper to buy the 8 nuggets to get more for your money or buy 12 for only $0.20 more.

Two small fries for $1.00/ea gives your more than the medium fries for $1.99. The real question though, is if the large fries are 15% more than 4 small fries, b/c the large costs $4.29.

These are the lessons that will direct my choices for the rest of my life. Wow, good thing I went to a great university.

offering plates v offering bags

The worst designed offering baskets are the shallow ones with no handles. Why is this the worst design? It makes it easier to drop when you're passing it. And when you drop it, all the money falls out.

Contrast this with the offering bag with 2 handles. Easy to pass, check. Money doesn't fall out when you drop it, check.

Reedemer has obviously chosen poorly when buying offering baskets. And the poorness of the decision was revealed when my friend was passing the basket along to my other friend.....and they dropped it. The basket flipped over, spilling cash and envelopes onto the floor. After a moment of shock, they started picking up all the money and passed the basket along. I'm surprised none of us were frisked when we left at the end of the sermon.

We were contemplating that the only thing worse would be if you dropped the communion blood/juice when it's being passed around. Embarrassing, AND you're preventing others from taking communion.

red mango v pinkberry

They opened up a Red Mango _directly_ across the street from the Pinkberry. Since today was their grand opening, they gave away free small yogurts with 1 topping.

Verdict: the yogurt tastes better than Pinkberry. It's less sour and tastes creamier. Cost is the same. They have more choices of cereal toppings.

All in all, the difference all comes down to personal preference. It was the only time I've ever seen an open Pinkberry without any customers.

Too bad we didn't get there earlier, too, cuz we could have got free $25 gift certificates.

pointless post

gmail lets you sign onto aim now.

You know you're cramming for finals when SOL means statute of limitations.

frolicking in the snow

Since I'm trying to maximize my study time for the next few weeks, I decided to goto Redeemer this morning, which has a shorter service than Vision. As we walked outside, there was a blanket of snow on the ground. This is the first time it has snowed since I moved to New York. At first I was dreading going out in the cold, but since one of my friends was excited, I had to admit it was kinda cool to see snow covered roofs and white powder on the ground. It's been a few years since I've been able to witness the first snow of winter.

After service, it was snowing, so we strolled through Central Park. A different friend said it was like walking through Narnia. We grabbed brunch and then headed back to school. This is when I started to notice the brown slush on the streets. And the huge puddles at every intersection. When we got back on the subway, I noticed the bottom edge of my pants were soaked.

This summarizes New York for me. In theory, it sounds cool. Even at first, you're excited and impressed, but then you start to see all the crappy little details and you start thinking maybe it's not as great as you thought it would be. NY is turning me into a pessimist.