Le French Open, part deux

So I basically know next to nothing about tennis.

For the men's top eight, I predicted:

Federer, Soderling, Murray, Tsonga
Roddick, Ferrero, Gonzales, Nadal

Results: 3/8 correct. Actual top eight:

Federer v. Soderling, Berdych v. Youzhny
Melzer v. Djokovic, Almagro v. Nadal

And for the women's top eight, I predicted:

S. Williams, Sharapova, Wickmayer, Radwanska
Kuznetsova, Wozniaki, Dementieva, V. Williams

Results: 3/8 correct. Actual top eight:

S. Williams v. Stosur, Jankovic v. Shvedova
Schiavone v. Wozniaki, Dementieva v. Petrova

It's time for a new set of predictions! Hooray!

Men: Federer will play Berdych and Djokovic will play Nadal, with a Federer-Nadal final and Nadal winning in five.

Women: Honestly, I have no idea. But I'll go ahead and pick the upset: Stosur will beat Serena Williams to play Shvedova in the semis, and will go ahead to win the whole thing against Petrova in the finals. It's your year, Sam!

Fun week ahead.

Three good days

Saturday: Walked the Dish with good company.

Sunday: Hit the gym for some light squats: back, front, and overhead.

Monday: Walk/run 3-1/4 miles around the neighborhood, 40 minutes.

Following the Gospel of CrossFit, tomorrow we rest.

Le French Open

Two preliminary thoughts:

1. Jeez louise ESPN, why why why is that awful Chris McKendry in Paris? She doesn't know anything about tennis! She was terrible at the Australian Open! I have no idea what she's like with other sports--and honestly, I don't care. Important Producer Dudes: Get her off your tennis team. Brad Gilbert, Pam Shriver, Darren Cahill and the rest of the gang can make do just fine without her. And I won't feel tempted to throw my heavy-bottomed seltzer glasses through the TV screen.

2. The French crowd is rowdy, and that's an understatement. They whistle, boo, hiss, chant, and yell. During points, during serves, all the time. I feel sort of bad for the players, but as a general matter I think they're pretty coddled with all the hushed audiences they play for. A little rowdiness may be just what they need.

And, because I can, here's my first set of predictions.

MEN'S QUARTERS:
From the top half: Federer, Soderling, Murray, and Tsonga.
From the bottom half: Roddick, Ferrero, Gonzales, and (my boy!) Nadal.

WOMEN'S QUARTERS:
From the top half: Serena Williams, Sharapova, Wickmayer, and Radwanska.
From the bottom half: Kuznetsova, Wozniaki, Dementieva, and Venus Williams.

Make your own predictions here and here. And check back in a few days to see how much money I owe you.

"I think that the weather should decide it."

That's from an email back in 1L summer, when advice was trickling in about whether I should transfer and to where. "Clerkships are always iffy, but the weather at Stanford rarely is."

Today's forecast:

Cambridge: High of 84 and partly cloudy.
Chicago: High of 86 and partly cloudy.

Stanford: High of 64 and rainy.

Hm.

Speaking of phones

Is this the true cost of an iPhone?

A 19-year-old employee was found dead Tuesday morning in what appears to have been the ninth suicide this year at a factory in southern China operated by Foxconn Technology, one of the world's largest contract electronics manufacturers . . . . Foxconn, which produces electronics and computer components for Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other global companies, has been struggling this year to explain a string of suicides among young workers at its huge complexes in the city of Shenzhen, where the company employs about 420,000 workers.

Note the suicide rate at Foxconn is still below the national estimate of 14 suicides per100,000 people in China.

The week borne of Satan's loins

That sounded more dramatic than "hell week," I thought.

So! Paper deadline on F-R-I-D-A-Y. Sure, sure, there are two finals to think about, but not until after May 28! People, I need encouragement. One 35+ page research paper, three 5 page response papers, one 12 page winter-leftover paper. Five days. Jeez, why don't you kill me now and get it over with.

Or, NO. Times like this I channel my mother. WWMD? "Soosooooooo! It's only a week! You can do aaaaanything for a week. Hey! What are you doing blogging? Get to work! NOW!"

Okay mom. Will do. Off to bed, then an early morning of "reading films" and writing about banks.

All you graduated folks studying for the bar this week, procrastinate a minute and tell me I'll survive the next few days, plz? K thx. Bye.

Tomorrow Alert

RAPID UPDATE. So, I won't be drawing Mohammad tomorrow. I don't want to offend my (very progressive, btw) family members who feel strongly about their religion. But I will be thinking--fervently, angrily--that if someone wants to draw Mohammad tomorrow, they should be able to without being censored, threatened, or hurt. Okay, devout Muslims, so be offended. I am offended by the idea that women are responsible for containing the sexuality of men (hello, hejab). I am offended by the shunning, beating, and killing of gay people for their sexuality (hello, Iran). I am offended by the belief that violence against others brings rewards in heaven (hello, jihad). But you don't see me threatening anybody about it, do you? NO.

Vegas, detox, stone fruits, postbar

This past weekend was the 3L trip to Vegas. I could probably write a whole essay on My First Vegas but instead I'll just say: I spent a lot of time lounging by the pool with a tasty margarita, exclusive clubs are pretty much stupid, I love my friends, rascals rule, and when you order curry at a Thai restaurant you should specify how spicy you like it even if the waiter doesn't ask.

Of course, after such a trip I need to detox. So after getting back home (and sleeping 6 hours in the middle of the day) I went immediately to the grocery store and stocked up on fruits, veggies, sourdough, and brown rice. Yes I know sourdough isn't a stock detox food but honestly I'm in the Bay area for like two more months and I'm eating as much of it as possible until I pop. Moving on....

And as if buying groceries--one of my favorite things in the world--wasn't enough to get my heart going all aflutter, I was greeted at le Whole Foods by a huge pile of stone fruits! Peaches are back! Apricots! Nectarines!!! Oh man, I've been waiting for stone fruit season for six months and I can't wait to eat, eat, eat as many pieces of fruit as possible.

And so finally, as if there weren't enough exciting things in this post to keep you entertained, the post-bar trip is taking shape. Come August we'll be seeing Saisai take over Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and (whew) Chicago. So fun!

Help: cellphone service providers in DC

Hi all you DC kids,

So my phone, while hanging on to life by a thread, is now about 90% unusable. I'm a Verizon customer and I remember it worked fine in DC. But I've also been coveting the iPhone and am thinking of switching to AT&T to get it. How's AT&T service in DC? All you iPhone users out there in the District, is your service alright? Is your 3G usable? Do your calls drop all the time?

I've got to get a new phone early next week. Drop your thoughts in the comments and if they're super helpful you might even win a prize.

Thank you millions!

Love,
saisai

I am looking forward to this...

"A rancher, being owner in fee simple of a ranch, conveyed the property by warranty deed to a woman. The woman gave her niece a mortgage on the ranch to secure a loan from the niece to the woman in the amount of $500,000. The mortgage was recorded immediately. Two years later, the woman conveyed the ranch to a farmer by quitclaim deed. The woman then defaulted on the mortgage, and the niece brought an in personam action against the farmer to recover the amount of the mortgage due. Assume the woman's quitclaim deed to the farmer made no reference to the mortgage. The mortgagee will probably: [(A), (B), (C), (D).]"

...NOT.

Mental health day

The past couple of weeks have been a little hectic. My house is a complete mess. Do you remember that saying about a clear desk being the sign of a clear mind? It's true enough for living spaces too. And now that I've made my legal studies presentation (moderate success), it's time for a day off to get my ducks in order. Of course, the laundry/folding/tub-scrubbing is interrupted by patches of TV/reading/blogging. It's the 21st century after all.

UPDATE: A side effect of such days is the insomnia that inevitably follows them. 4:21am and still awake! Antitrust'll be fun in the morning--er, in 5.5 hours.

Elena Kagan

She's great, but, I mean... The Supreme Court is a big deal, you know? People: am I the only one who thinks you should maybe be a judge somewhere, sometime before you get a seat on the highest court in the land?

Tropic of Cancer

"Once I thought that to be human was the highest aim a man could have, but I see now that it was meant to destroy me. Today I am proud to say that I am inhuman, that I belong not to men and governments, that I have nothing to do with creeds and principles. I have nothing to do with the creaking machinery of humanity--I belong to the earth! I say that lying on my pillow and I can feel the horns sprouting from my temples. I can see about me all those cracked forebears of mine dancing around the bed, consoling me, egging me on, lashing me with their serpent tongues, grinning and leering at me with their skulking skulls. I am inhuman! I say it with a mad, hallucinated grin, and I will keep on saying it though it rain crocodiles."

The Giant Pool of Money

Absolutely required listening (if you haven't heard it already--it's from 2008). This American Life and NPR News explore wtf happened in the US housing crisis and resulting economic collapse. Listen listen listen.

(It's 59 minutes long. But hey GW grads, shouldn't be a problem for you!)

Condensed comment on the Catholic church

The video won't embed right, so just go here. You may be offended, or you may fall in love with me. Both equally possible.

saisai drama returns!

The saga continues.

------

from joh*** weg***
to saisaiwala@gmail.com, [MY EMAIL ADDRESS]
date Mon, May 3, 2010

Dear Sai

I hope you are well????

My father is coming to Bagan on 19th May. I was wondering if you were free to show him around on 20th May?

My mother sends her regards to you.

Yoyo

------

This is my response. I think I'll just cut & paste it in these situations from now on.

from me
to joh*** weg***
date Mon, May 3, 2010

Hello,

You have used the wrong email address. We have never met before. Please remove [MY EMAIL] and [ALT EMAIL THAT GETS SENT TO ME VIA GMAIL BUG] from your contact list. And if you can find the person you were trying to contact, and ask him/her to stop using my email address, I would really appreciate it. I get emails like this all the time and honestly they are kind of uncomfortable.

Thank you.