About Me

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I'm a habitual line crosser that believes everything happens for a reason, but life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances, you just have to live life to the fullest. Laugh as much as you can, spend all your money, tell someone what they mean to you, tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, love the ones who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, pig out, smile until your face hurts, be a flirt, stay up late and fall asleep watching the sun come up, don't be aftraid to take chances or fall in love . . . and most of all live in the moment, If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. No one said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Lunch With Jeffrey Toobin

Today my friend Lara and I, had lunch with Jeffrey Toobin at the Riverwalk Westin in San Antonio.  The lunch was amazing.  It was very intimate, just a small group of litigation attorneys.  The lunch lasted a couple hours and we were able to talk to him about all sorts of things from growing up with parents who were both journalists, to his experiences as a pioneer legal correspondent in the OJ trial (1st one ;) ) to different things he learned while writing his books.  I find him particularly fascinating, because so many of the reasons why he went into law are the same reasons why I did.  I never thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but I loved history and I loved studying about the government and current events.  For a long time I considered going into journalism.  In fact, my original major was communications, and then I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get a job with a communications degree, so I switched to business.  Watching people like Jeffrey Toobin cover major current events such as the OJ Simpson trial and Bush v. Gore, made me realize the different opportunities that going to law school could open up for me.  It wasn't just working at Fulbright or being a district attorney, neither of which ever seemed appealing to me.  It refreshing to be surrounded by people that were dorks like me today that love history, especially things like how supreme court cases have affected American History.  It was neat to talk to him about his encounters with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the months leading up to her resignation due to her husband's illness, and how similar his encounters were to what I had experienced when studying under her in Innsbruch, just a couple years prior to that.  The summer I spent with Justice O'Connor was shortly after her husband was diagnosed and it was not yet public knowledge.  However, because I was good friends with the daughter and the wife of two of my law professors, I had spent some significant time where the professors, including Justice O'Connor, were staying, and little actions showed the manifestation of this disease.  Justice O'Connor had told me that she loved Austria and Germany, because she and her husband had spent an extensive period of time in that part of the world when they were newly weds and that she loved the Innsbruch program, because every time she returned, she would become very nostalgic.  In their younger days they had done a lot of skiing, and hiking.  I was actually fortunate enough to go on a lantern hike with them, and even heard her yodle (sp?) She said that this trip would probably be the last big trip she and her husband took. It was amazing to see the love between the two of them.  And it was amazing to hear Toobin speak about his experiences with the O'Connors and similar they were to mine; that such a tragedy can bring out some of the most beautiful expressions of love one can imagine.  Toobin will be covering the Inauguration from the same spot that his mother and Peter Jennings covered LBJ's inauguration.  Toobin said that he was only 4 at the time and remembers going with his mother to the inauguration.  From his expression you could tell that the kid who "wanted to be anything other than a journalist" found it special to be able to follow in his mother's footprints at such an important time in our country's history.  As I left San Antonio, I felt a renewed feeling of inspiration not only regarding my career goals, but about life in general.  

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