Jimmer Fredette... the next (?)

So, everyone knows (or, at least, they should know) that Jimmer Fredette is a fantastic basketball shooter. One of my favorite quotes is from the Urban Dictionary, which has as on of its definitions for "Jimmer" as "One who is in range as soon as he steps off the bus".

I'm going to jump into the 'next' game and say... I think Jimmer Fredette is like Steve Kerr. He's not especially fast, nor is he especially good on defense, but he can shoot like nothing else.

I have heard a number of interesting comments and sides as to how well Jimmer will do in the NBA. A lot of people think that he's going to end up as a non-entity, someone who will ride the bench for whatever career he has.

I was curious, so I looked up the base annual salary of an NBA rookie. It's $490,180 for the 2011-2012 season. And that's not including any endorsements, or the $100 a day expenses during the season, or anything else. Honestly, with Jimmer's popularity, it seems likely that he'll be able to make a good amount through endorsements (honestly, I'd probably buy Jimmer-Jammer Juice or Jimmer Shoes). Should he be picked in the first round of the draft, he will assuredly make over $1.25 million a year for his first two years; he will also certainly get some kind of fat signing bonus.

So, all in all, it sounds like he'll be doing fine.

I Was Blind, but now I see...

My sister-in-law Marie is learning sign language, and she had to spend a day 'deaf'. She remarked on her blog that she thought it would be much worse to be deaf than be blind. I discussed this with Lisa, and she was of the same opinion.

Personally, I think I'd choose deafness. Having gone through days in which I couldn't wear my contacts and didn't have glasses, I fear blindness.

Of course, being deaf would be hard. Social interaction is much more difficult; anyone can speak to a blind man, but if you don't know sign language, conversation with someone who's deaf is a trickier matter. Also, the thought of giving up so much- From Mendelssohn and Mozart to the Beatles and Beach Boys to Muse and Coldplay- is a very sad thought for me.

However, while deafness is more isolating, I feel like blindness is more incapacitating. It would be so terrible for me to not be able to help in the kitchen, to not be able to drive to work, or read emails without a specific program; to have to learn a whole new language to read books; to be unable to find my way around a church building; to never know what my children's faces looked like. Honestly, it would also be hard for me to give up watching movies and playing computer games. It would be really hard for me to not be able to find things (even more than I can't find them now).

I feel very blessed that I haven't had to make that choice.

The State of Israel

So, after taking a class on the History of the Jews, I feel like I am able to have a civilized, intelligent discussion on the State of Israel. Anyone burning to discuss it with me?

Application Aggrivation

So, Lisa and I have narrowed the schools we want to apply to to Stanford, Chicago, and BYU. I have done all of the applications and am now....

Waiting for my letters of recommendation. It's kind of annoying, especially because the last thing I want to do is be rude to the professors who are very nicely writing them for me, but I really need them in soon. I don't know what to do.

Sigh.

So, how about dem Cougs?

So, as a BYU student, I would just like to acknowledge that the BYU Basketball Team is currently ranked #10 in the Coaches' Poll, which is pretty dang good. My favorite BYU player, Jackson Emery, has also set the school record for steals. Jimmer Fredette, the star of the team, was named ESPN's Player of the Week. That being said... how well do people think they'll do in March?

Law School?

I began getting Fee Waivers from law schools today. The University of Virginia (thus far) has offered to let me apply for free. It was interesting, because I got it as I was looking at this article that Glenn sent me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?pagewanted=all

I still plan on going to law school, but it's given me some pause in going to the kind of place where my law school debt is going to be this big- especially considering that it's not just 3rd tier or even 2nd tier JDs that are posting angry blogs or selling their law degrees on Ebay.

Any thoughts?

Wow. So, Long time, no write...

Time sure changes things. The last time I wrote on this blog, I was a single philosophy TA living right next to campus. I didn't have a girlfriend, I'd been off my mission for a little over a year, and I was comfortably inert.

A little less than a year later, I'm a married man living in Springville, filling out Law School applications and shoveling the driveway (I'd NEVER done that before!)... and I'm very, very happy.

:)