Hello. Welcome to my website. It started while I was in Europe for a semester, and I've kept it up since then. I'm now at the University of Chicago Law School, living in Hyde Park, and the story continues. If you want to say hi or visit me, email cfloyd at uchicago dot edu.
"Life is nothing if not the sum of your anecdotes." -Scotty The Body, on storytelling "But it ain't that bad, man. Just figure out the system before the system figures out you." -T. Matthew Smith, on the 1L year "The beer just doesn't taste as good when you're not drinking it with your buddies." -Anon., on being away from good friends "Somebody has to pay the rent around here. Why the hell not us?" -Cotton, on studying for exams
8/28/2004
I had a lot to post about, but I never got around to doing so. So here's one of those long posts that comes after I haven't done it for a week or so.
Last Saturday I lived the dream: I finally got promoted to Beer Man. Most of the regular beer men were across town working the Talons arena football game, so I was next in seniority. It was hard, glorious work. I popped open and poured about 170 tall boy beer cans over the course of the night, with nary a spill. I was hindered for the first few innings by a caffeine overdose, though. I had taken a Benadryl because of pollen allergies, and attempted to compensate for the drowsiness by chugging two Donkey Kick energy drinks from Quik Trip before the game. One would have sufficed. As it was, I was shaking as I poured my first fifty beers, and I must have appeared nervous or low on insulin. Oh well. Besides the stature, there's another great reason to want to be Beer Man: I made over a hundred bucks. Good times.
Sunday I saw Garden State. I suggest you do the same. It's a really good movie. After the film we also went to a great coffee shop in Tulsa: Double Shot at 18th and Boston. If you're a Tulsan or are visiting I highly recommend this place. They roast their own beans, and they have coffee-making down to an exact science. If you like espresso, this is the place: I haven't seen this kind of crema on a shot since I got back from Graz. I talked to the owner, and he really knows what he's doing: nine bars of pressure on the machine, temperature just right, even knows that it's 30 pounds of tamp on the grind to get the perfect espresso. Honestly, I give it my highest rating.
A political sign war has developed on my corner at 29th and Evanston. In a preemptive strike to start the conflict, some Kerry-Edwards signs sprouted in two yards, inflaming Jjakester (the dad) as well as other neighbors. I went Monday to the Republican HQ and picked up several. We put two in the yard and distributed them to sympathetic neighbors. We also live next door to a rare bird in 2004: a true swing voter. She allowed us to place a Bush sign on the property line, and once she decides who she's supporting she'll move it either onto our side or hers. I feel like the final location of that sign will be just like whatever county that is in Missouri that's always gone with the winner - a real election bellweather. Jjakester (the dad) will have to keep us posted on where that Bush sign ends up.
Wednesday was my last day at the federal courthouse. It was a good time seeing the inner workings of the federal justice system in progress.
I went to Norman on Thursday. Campus Corner continues to develop. Al Eschbach (sp?) opened his sports bar, and there's a new ice creamery open. Delightful.
Last night I played poker and won $50. But the winner of this particular game is obligated to do the buying at the Gray Snail, so there went most of that.
This morning Bessy (the sister) had a garage sale. She tried to sell my dresser, but I got up in time to stop the transaction. Garage sales are really awesome observational venues. As people came and went, so many questions entered my mind: I wonder what the shoplifting rate is for garage sales? How many garage salers does the average garage saler visit, and how much does he or she spend? What in the world is that man with the cane going to do with our old non-functioning computer, and will he somehow pull all of our financial information off of the dead harddrive and steal the Floyds' identities? From an econometric standpoint, just how much wealth is created in the United States from garage sales? What I mean is, the old lawn mower was worth little to us perhaps $5, per but rebuilt it was worth probably $40 to the guy who paid $15 for it. So we created $10 of value and he created $25 through that transaction. Could there be a time when garage sales end because an efficient Pareto distribution of junk has been reached?
I leave tomorrow for Chicago. I have on-campus interviewing for several days, and classes don't start until September 27. More news when I get there.
