Buyouts

Yesterday, the head of my newspaper announced a 6 percent payroll cut, which means 20-25 people have to go. They'll do voluntary buyouts first, then layoffs if they don't get enough people.
I'd take a buyout because I'm leaving at the end of July anyway, but the severance is a week's pay for every year of service. Despite the fact that I have worked at the Register Star for close to 4 years combined, they would only recognize my last stint, which isn't quite two years. So I'd get a sweet one week of pay! Not leaving for that.
Anyway, it sucks because we haven't done layoffs in about a generation. Our core revenues, meaning revenue from ad sales and subscriptions in the actual print daily newspaper, are down 17 percent. Ouch.
Our other products (internet, specialty publications, commercial print jobs) are doing fine and of course, we still make money. I'm guessing double-digit returns. But that's not good enough in an industry used to 30-35 percent profits. So buh-bye to some long-term employees.
I picked the right time to get out of this miserable industry.

The first hurdle to law school

So back to my law school odyssey...
The first thing I had to do before applying to law school was take the LSAT. Law School Admissions Test: The cruelest standardized exam ever created. Six hours to administer. Five sections, one of which is unscored and pointless. Only you don't know which one. An essay isn't scored either.
Now, I've always aced standardized tests. I earned a 32 on the ACT in high school. I was a National Merit honorable mention for the PSAT. But that was 13 years ago. Apparently you get dumber as you age. The first time I took a practice version of the LSAT, I scored the median, which is about 150. Decent law schools would laugh at that score. So it knocked all the arrogance out of me. Which was a good thing.
I spent six months studying. Every weekend, I went to the public library and staked out a table in a far back corner for several hours to take practice tests. Hours! In the library!
The test has three different kinds of sections: logical reasoning, reading comprehension and analytical reasoning. Logical reasoning was straightforward. Premise, conclusion. Is there a logical fallacy? Had to brush up a bit. Got a little rusty with logic while working as a journalist.
But reading comprehension was easy because that's what I do for a living: Read and write. So I consistently scored best on this section. That's a good thing, because I had to make up for the last section: analytical reasoning.
Analytical reasoning, also called logic games, is the cruel part. I prefer the moniker "godforsaken story problems written by tormenting demons from the 7th ring of hell." Questions would set up complicated relationships between objects or people, schedules and sequences. They would go something like this: There are two shifts a day to clean the hotel. No one works on Monday or Friday. No more than two workers clean per shift and no worker can work two straight shifts. If Kathy works the first shift on Tuesday, Sally works the second shift that day. John and Jose always work the same shifts. Margo always works on Saturday. Etc., etc., etc. Then the question would ask what day Constantine worked or something like that. You'd have to construct a little system in your mind, draw it out and try to ascertain relationships. It was grueling. I'm no good at this. After doing this section type over and over and over, I finally got to where I could finish 75 percent of the questions before time ran out. That was as good as it gets.
When I went to Beloit College for the test day, I was nervous. In a good way. I was just edgy enough that I knew I'd be alert and focused. The test rules were draconian. You couldn't bring anything in that remotely resembled an electronic device, including a cell phone, mechanical pencil, digital watch or blank sheet of paper. The things you could bring had to be in a clear Ziploc bag. You had to be fingerprinted before taking the test. It was ridiculous. But I'm sure there are cheaters, so I guess I didn't mind.
I earned a 163, which was in the 88th percentile and my average score on practices. So I knew I did as well as I possibly could. I received the news by email on a Saturday afternoon and was so ecstatic I sent out a text message to everyone I knew. I had to tell somebody in person, so I went out to my neighbor (a lawyer by training) working in his yard and I told him about my score.
I found out some law applicants who scored 162s, 163s were going to retake the test because they were so disappointed with their scores. That thing was so damn hard that I was pleased with my score and overjoyed that I won't ever have to take a hellacious test like it again.
Oh wait, there's the bar exam...

Quote of the week

Heard this quote in a speech last week and scrawled it in my notebook:

Up, sluggard, and waste not life;
In the grave will be sleeping enough.

--Ben Franklin

Good words.

Here comes the cavalry

Internet retailing and rapid silkscreening have given rise to a Cambrian explosion of pop-culture T-shirts. On sites like cafepress.com, you can upload a design, choose some shirt styles, and they'll make and ship the shirt if somebody orders it. Comedy catchphrases, ironic icons and pure silliness abound.
Within 24 hours of seeing the infamous YouTube video of the University of Florida student getting tased, the multimedia editor at my newspaper had created a cafepress T-shirt with a lightning bolt and "Don't Taze Me, Bro!" emblazoned on it. Unfortunately, he was late to the game: There were already four or five similar shirts up.
When I see an ad for these kind of cottage industry shirt shops, I usually visit because they're funny. But I've always resisted buying one. Until now. I think this shirt conveys the underlying sentiment of most Obama supporters, so I'll wear it with pride.
And irony.

She's baaaack

The best blogger I know, Mappy B, inexplicably discontinued her top-rated blog "Confessions of a Cartographer" last year to the dismay of tens of readers throughout the country. But the blog bug is a tough condition to cure, so she's back again. Check out her new site.

The first step is admitting you have a problem

Jay pointed out in comments on my last post that the real reason I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. Sunday night is because of the "siren call" of the Xbox, not too much caffeine. Okay, guilty as charged.
My tax return was the gateway to this new addiction. I used part of mine to buy a console. But I can rationalize it; it's my reward for finishing the arduous law school application process.
Now that I have an Xbox, I've reached the highest levels of nerd-vana. I bought Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I'm dreaming in first-person shooter mode. Yesterday I blinked and saw ghosts of virtual soldiers charging me. I heard a Lifeline helicopter fly overhead last weekend and immediately thought of seeking cover to avoid fire from its deadly minigun.
Soon there will be a PTSD diagnosis for gamers who play too much deathmatch.

Foolishness

I drank a cup of coffee at 8 p.m. It was my only cup of the day. So when I laid down at 11:30 to sleep -- nothing doing.
I went and played on my Xbox for an hour to wear myself out. Four hours later, I feel tired again. It is now 3:30 a.m. and I will start my "nap." Alarm rings at 6:30.
I have no one to blame but myself.

Wasn't expecting that...

So I went to visit Iowa a week ago and I loved it. Although the other schools that accepted me -- Loyola, DePaul, Saint Louis -- are all very good, there's a definite difference between a Top 25 (Iowa) program and the second-tier colleges. You can feel it when you visit, when you talk to the students, when you listen to the faculty.
So I set my heart set on the University of Iowa. Then a few days ago, Loyola calls me and asks me to come in for an interview. I'm a finalist for the Kenneth Adreani scholarship, a need-based, half-tuition grant. Combined with another scholarship they've awarded me, the Adreani one would make my out-of-pocket tuition costs at the Jesuit law school about $6,500 a year. That's couch cushion money compared to the average tuition, which is something like $32,000 a year.
The only trouble is, I really wasn't that impressed with Loyola when I visited. Something just didn't sit right with me. But if I win the scholarship and they'll pay for nearly all my tuition, um, I can probably overlook a few things.

Why law (Part II)

When I tell people I want to become a lawyer, they either encourage me or they say something like, "Is there any way I could dissuade you?"
I'm sure if I wanted to be a doctor, nobody would try to stop me. People respect doctors. Oh well.
In the minds of most Americans, lawyers are slightly better than cockroaches and a little worse than journalists. So, it will only be a slight loss in social standing for me. Plenty of people already don't like what I do.
But pursuing law will be a HUGE challenge. That's a big reason for choosing this path: to stretch myself. My academic background is utilitarian, not prestigious. I earned my associate's degree at a community college before I commuted to a compass-point state university to finish my bachelor's. My undergraduate studies were not very challenging -- I didn't buy textbooks in some classes because I never had to crack them to learn the material. My major, journalism, isn't exactly a mind crusher.
I never believed that I should (or could) rise beyond mediocre. I'm an underachiever. So I want to find out what I'm capable of in a demanding college setting. To whom much has been given, much will be required. I can't keep giving minimum effort and expect my life to be satisfying decades from now.
The study of law is rigorous. At every school I visit, the professors and administrators talk about how I'll learn to "think like a lawyer." What they mean is the education will make me a better critical thinker, teach me to synthesize volumes of information quickly, and show me how to reason coherently.
The lawyer who promised me lunch described law school this way: It takes your brain out, reorganizes it and puts it back in. It gives you a how new way of looking at the world. That kind of education is good for me no matter what I choose to do.

Thanks, Days Inn!

I had a terrible night's sleep. This could be because:

1. My bed was like a rock.
2. I can hear my neighboring hotel guests in their rooms.
3. I'm too excited to visit the University of Iowa.

It's probably all three. Good thing my excitement will fuel me during the day, because my rest level isn't going to.

Iowa and crummy lodging

I'm in Iowa City right now (well, technically Coralville) because I'm going to an open house tomorrow at the University of Iowa College of Law. Writing that sentence makes me realize how exciting this is. I'm at IOWA! I COULD GO TO IOWA!
I'm sorry for the outburst, but ever since I learned about the Writer's Workshop, the university's prestigious creative writing M.F.A. program, I've wanted to attend school here. Though I won't be writing a novel as a law student, maybe I can get in a few writing classes and sit next to some future Pulitzer prize winners and Nobel laureates.
Getting to see the law school tomorrow almost makes staying in this cheap hotel worthwhile. I can hear my neighbor's television right now. When I first entered the room, it was about 62 degrees in here. Well, I knew what I was getting into when I booked a room for less than $60. At least it has free Wi-Fi. And the sheets were changed ... I hope.

Why law? (Part I)

"If you want to write well and live well at the same time you better arrange to inherit money."

-- Flannery O'Connor

O'Connor was talking about fiction writers, but her comment applies to just about anybody who earns their wages by stringing words together.
I don't know when I starting thinking about being a lawyer. But I know why I did: Money. Journalists barely earn a middle class living. I've been working in newsrooms for seven years and I still make less than skilled tradesmen my age. My industry is cheap.
Somewhere along the way I realized that writing alone is not going to give me financial security. I wouldn't care if I were only responsible for myself, but I have Nicholas. I want him to go to college someday without worrying about paying for it. I don't want him restricted by financial burdens when he starts out in life.
So that's my crude reason for pursuing law. Stay tuned for more reasons...

A free lunch

I just made a phone call to the managing partner at a major law firm in town to claim something he promised me. I was interviewing him in his office nearly two years ago for a story when I realized I could be a lawyer.
He took me to lunch so I could pick his brain about the profession and has been very gracious to me ever since. He asked me where I wanted to go to law school. I said "The University of Iowa" and his eyelids raised and he said, "That's a good school." I don't know if he doubted that I could get in there, but he was definitely surprised I was setting my sights so high. When I ran into him months later, I told him that I would get in and he replied that he'd take me to lunch again if I did.
So it felt good to call him this week to redeem that lunch.
I was accepted at the University of Iowa College of Law earlier this month.

Mobile blogging

I just set up my pda email to send posts directly to blogger. This is a test.
Of course, I'm sitting at my dining room table with my pda right next to my laptop as I write this.

What I haven't written

I was reading some of my old posts and I realize how much more interesting this blog was when I started it almost two years ago. The reason for that is I have avoided the two most important, life-changing situations that have occurred in that time: my divorce and my decision to go back to school for law.
I don't know if I'll ever write about my divorce on this blog. That kind of thing takes years to gain perspective on and I'm not sure I trust my insights at this point. Suffice it to say that Meegan and I separated 15 months ago and our divorce was finalized in November.
But I've avoided talking about law school for for a simpler reason: some folks from my office read this blog. Last week, several editors approached me at different times to ask me about law school acceptances, so I know that somebody who knows about my plans blabbed in a newsroom meeting. Oh well. Journalists can't keep things quiet. It's against our nature.
So the point is, there's no point in keeping it a "secret" on this blog any more. I'm going to law school in the fall. My next few posts will be about the two-year-long odyssey I've been on to get to this point.