As I attended the ceremony celebrating your matrimony with Becca, I thought about our friendship--about how it all began, how it deepened over the years and how it's thrived on our many differences.
I remember your joking once that I'm the first Republican you'd ever met, and it probably won't surprise you that you're the first
You and I will forever be bound by the bond we formed during our days at Boston College, so it's hardly a surprise that, as I attended your celebration of matrimony with Kris-Stella last month, I looked back on our time together at BC.
In particular, I thought about what it means to be a BC
Despite attending a prestigious university called Boston College, there are certain things that you are not entitled to.
First, you’re not entitled to any particular grade. Certainly not an A or a B, or even a C+.
Grades measure your knowledge and abilities, however imperfectly. If you exhibit superior capabilities, you get high marks. If you exhibit deficiencies,
I am opinionated about a whole range of topics with little knowledge on a very small number of things.
The result of this less-than-ideal combination of personality and intellectual (in)capacity is that I have a tendency to mock, rather loudly and proudly, things I don’t understand.
Take art. I am an uncivilized philistine, so it is probably fair
One of the things I remain mystified about is why no one has ever asked me to give a lecture. I would have thought that a person like me with an opinion on a whole range of topics would be hounded to share just a small portion of all the invaluable insight.
After you graduate from Boston College, you'll realize that your years at Chestnut Hill shaped many aspects of your life. The liberal arts education that instilled a sense of public service is one. The life-long friendships that you formed is another.
As an underclassman, you're likely still building your circle of friends, and to those who
For me, the fall will always mark the beginning of a new year. For nearly two decades, September is when I progressed one year in the educational ladder. Now that I'm working, fall is when I tack on another year in my experience as a working professional. I've always loved this season because it's when
I don't have a lot of regrets in my life. If forced to name them, I have a list of three to choose from, but people laughed at me the one time I talked about how I forever regret choosing to study for my constitutional law exam instead of attending my very first Brad Paisley concert,
After three years of hard work, I know it's tempting to look at your final year in college as the last hurrah before you have to face the realities of the real world. Workdays, bills and taxes await you after graduation, and I don't blame you for wanting to make
I had one of the most deeply reflective moments about life in college in, of all places, math class, from a professor who shared a story about a failure of Johannes Kepler before he discovered that the planets orbit the sun in an elliptical curve.
Back in Kepler's days, scientists were aware of only six planets. Kepler
Being a natural overachiever, many of you will seek to become the cream of the crop of American society by obtaining a degree that's even higher than the Bachelor of Arts, like M.A., M.D., J.D., M.B.A. or Ph.D.
As an overeducated double Eagle myself, I have some experience with knowing what it takes to
John was a couple years behind me at Boston College. I don't exactly recall how we initially met, but we quickly became close friends because I was Japanese and he was interested in Japan.
John had a great laugh. He and I come from a different political mold, he of the moderate left and I of
For the longest time, I had no interest in reading.
I swear it started in high school, when novels like "The Grapes of Wrath," "Walden Pond" and "The Old Man and the Sea" sent me into temporary comas. I think my experience proves that just because a book is a "classic" doesn't mean kids in
My life consists of obsessions and it's no different with music. When I buy new music, I listen to it over and over (and over and over) again until it is playing in my head and driving me insane. I then find the next music to obsess about. Because of this, many of the songs
A couple months ago, I defended lawyers. To show that I can make myself even more lovable, today I defend my educational background, which I thought spoke for itself. For this show of narcissism that's paralleled, y'all can thank my office neighbor, who, upon hearing the details of my academic history, questioned whether I slipped through the
It may come as a shock to you (and your parents who are footing the enormous tuition), but the purpose of your Boston College education is not to ensure that you have a job after you graduate.
I'm ignorant about many things, but I hide it well by talking more and louder. But one thing even that can't hide is my lack of vocabulary.
As I've written before, the so-called advice I received to overcome this challenge in high school, like don't bother reading ("look up every word you don't know in
My parents are typical Asian parents. They are controlling and overbearing. That I was their oldest--and only--son probably didn't help much.
I think it's psychologically healthy for every child to go through a rebellious period against his or her parents (within means, of course), but I fear I missed out on that experience when I had
It's sad to know that I've reached a point and career in my life where no one bothers to invite me to fill out a bracket unless I beg. So I just created a league and cajoled my colleagues to join. As
Every season has a defining game. The victory over Florida State Seminoles was it for the Boston College Golden Eagles' 2009 season regardless of what happens for the remainder of the season.
For better or for worse, I seem to leave a distinct impression on people, although I can't tell whether the impression I leave is good or bad. One week into my foray into law school at the particularly liberal Rutgers of Newark, people started coming up to me and saying, "So you're the new conservative,
Congratulations on your acceptance to Boston College!
The odds are that in the past year and a half, you carefully researched BC's academic program, spoke with the students already attending, and toured the school to get a feel for the campus so your choice to attend the school is a result of thoughtful
My college professor once sarcastically remarked that I'm a collector. That I am. I don't just collect the popular, and the more common sensical, baseball cards or foreign money. No, no. I collect crap like movie stubs and hotel card keys (which I eventually stopped because I realized that's not crap, it's trash).
James Bond is a cool name because it's short, crisp and balanced. The last is important. You can't suavely pull off a "Bond, James Bond" if it's "Bondessville, Jim Bondessville."
My name, on the other hand, is long and unbalanced, with a one syllable first name and a four syllable last name.
I discussed my bracket with some people (okay, one person, mainly) and reviewed my "real" bracket and realized I have an all-Big East Final Four. Separate and apart from the unlikeliness of that happening, I just hate the Big East and upon further reflection, I realized that I think Pitt, a team that went as
It's that wonderful time of the year again, when America's economy loses an estimated $4 billion in productivity with no help from a recession because employees obsess about college games to which they have little to no connection.
And it's not just at work either. I remember when I was in high school, classmates brought in
It's that time of the year again when college and grad school applicants are beginning to get anxious. Law schools, with their rolling admissions, tend to decide the fate of the applicants several weeks earlier than others.
I am happy to report that the two friends I know were applying to law schools were admitted to
I received this week's issue of Sports Illustrated yesterday. I read SI on my commute, always in the same order: the back page column, the front page photos, and then the "Players" section, which is increasingly becoming my favorite after the departure of columnist Rick Reilly.
When you're an attorney, you're almost expected to be published. In two law-related jobs that I've held, one of the first questions I was asked was "Were you on a law journal?" I managed to survive at the law firm and with the judge despite my answer in the negative, but I could always see
While I was in Japan, I read a story along these lines about Australian sailors' efforts to stop Japanese whaling practices and an editorial in a newspaper by an European objecting to how Japan is raping their seas.
I can think of no issue that pisses me off more than the Western objection to Japanese whaling,
Boston College football's head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, affectionately known as Jags, will be fired by Boston College after proceeding to interview for the New York Jets' vacant head coach position even after Athletic Director Gene DeFelippo warned him doing so would lead to his termination.
$10 million for each ACC team? Wow that's a lot of cash. And I know exactly where that $10 million went. A million bucks on a staircase and now $10 million on a building that's already standing... Hmmm... All kidding aside, $10 million on restoration of Gasson Hall is a money well spent. The building
I knew the Eagles were in trouble when V-Tech marched right down the field with little resistance on its first drive. The BC offense just isn't built to come back from big deficits, and the first drive was just too easy.
It was an impressive win. It wasn't miraculous, like last week at Wake Forest. It wasn't dominating, like the week before at Florida State. But the victory sure was methodical, the defense dominating, the offense sufficient, converting two turnovers while committing none, and the coach making aggressive calls. It wasn't an easy win, but it
Yesterday, I would've told you this is as expected. After how the game transpired today, this is another "Holy Shit I Can't Believe They Pulled It Off" game.
Which victory was more unlikely? BC's come from behind victory at Virginia Tech last year that required two touchdowns and an onside kick in
My dad sent a random e-mail yesterday, reminding me of the series of unfortunate events that have been taking place:
1) The Yankess did not make the playoffs;
2) The Patriots, sans Brady, is mediocre at best ten months after blowing the Super Bowl; and
3) The GOP got whacked earlier this month.
"Well done" best summarizes what I want to say about BC's 27-17 victory over the Florida State Seminoles, the team that ended BC's unbeaten streak last year and the team that seems to perennially underperform.
Against a team that wins on the running game, the defense's performance was extraordinary. FSU's leading rusher of the game was
I didn't watch the game. I tried. I went to the bar, asked for the BC at North Carolina game, and the guy flipped through the channel before finally saying, "You sure it's on today?" and giving up.
Whether you call the ACC mediocre or competitive, the result is the same: BC has a shot of making something happen despite Crane at QB because anyone can beat anyone in the conference (and yes, that includes Duke).
To say that I was pleasantly surprised by the game's result is an understatement. I made the four
