Macau

Hello again from beautiful Hong Kong. We had our third round argument today against Tsinghua University from Beijing. Tsinghua had won a Chinese national pre-moot, the CIETAC Cup, and was essentially the national champion in this year's Vis problem. Unfortunately, they drew the HUSL Samurai Wolves in the third round...

Kidding and exaggeration aside, we argued very well today, undoubtedly the most complete argument so far. We improved in the areas we wanted to improve in, and generally stayed on the ball throughout. The Tsinghua team was difficult and well-prepared, but we were equally so. I would venture to guess that we prevailed, but that's just me.

Anyways, after facing off against the Russian team yesterday, myself and my fellow travelers took the jet ferry over to Macau. Similar to Hong Kong, Macau is also a Special Administrative Region of China, and was for nearly 500 years a Portuguese outpost. Still, Chinese, Portuguese, and English are official languages. Macau, aside from being a strange little Mediterranean enclave in the South China Sea, is also the Vegas of the East. Mega-casinos as far as the eye could see. However, there also were very quaint, thoughtful touches. My favourite was the Portuguese style cobblestone sidewalks, done in fanciful patterns.

We shunned said casinos, and ended up wandering about the back streets of a gritty residential neighborhood for most of the daylight hours. It was extremely reminiscent of Brazil from my perspective - people jetting by on a navy of mopeds, tiny trucks delivering propane and supplies, having one's life flash before one's eyes as the aforementioned zip past. It was real, and it was glorious. I had this amazing street waffle, with nutella, coconut milk, peanut stuff, and some sort of sweet condensed milk.

Anyways, we finally got dinner in a Portuguese restaurant, and it was probably the best food I've had so far on the trip. We ordered this stupendous Portuguese fried rice with pork and shrimp. However, the pinnacle came with the galinha à Africana - this fantastic chicken stewed with garlic, coconut milk, and chiles.

It was a short trip, but a worthwhile one. For those of you who haven't been on a high-speed catamaran, one would be amazed how fast you can move across water. I would go back in an instant.

Tomorrow, our last general round against Bond University of Australia. We will do our best, and then hope our scores are good enough to advance on Saturday. Here's hoping...

Round 1

Hello again from Hong Kong. Today, the Hamline cobras faced off against Hanyang University from Seoul, South Korea. Aside from a few easily remedied things, it was a fantastic first round. Nowhere to go but forward.

Tonight, we ate dinner at a two Michelin starred restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, and then proceeded to "invite" ourselves into an arbitrator cocktail hour on Hong Kong Island. After that, we took the tram up to the top of the peak overlooking Hong Kong, and walked around for a bit. Then, we caught a double decker bus down to the harbour, took the Star Ferry back to Kowloon, and then finally took a metro train back to our hotel. Long, yet successful day.

Tomorrow, we face the Mari State team from Russia. Once that is done around lunchtime, the plan is to catch a ferry over to Macau, which similar to Hong Kong, was a colony up until 1999, albeit a Portuguese one. Apparently there is good food, and other stuff to do.

For those folks (if any) from Hamline reading, you can rest assured that we are representing the school to the best of our abilities, and talking up both our Vis program and the DRI as much as we can. I think we're making plenty of really great contacts, and both of us feel very confident as we enter the second round tomorrow. So, wish us luck!

Week

Hi folks. It's hard to believe, in the midst of the wildness of work, school, and competition, that in just a titch over a week, I'll be jetting off to Hong Kong for the Vis international commercial arbitration moot. After six months of devoting my life to this competition, to becoming best friends with Alan Redfern and Martin Hunter, to making Room 303 of the Hamline Law Library my second home, it's go time.



Truly, I am absurdly excited. For the longest time, I've felt a bit of an itch to get off of this continent, to go elsewhere, to go somewhere unfamiliar. Furthermore, despite the percentage of my life consumed, I think this international arbitration business is wildly interesting, and this competition personally and professionally fulfilling. My participation in Vis has (essentially) led me to new employment, where I have had the pleasure of writing a substantial portion of an actual international arbitration claimant's brief. Maybe more importantly, it has made me incredibly close with three other individuals I probably never would have met, people I would now probably count amongst my closest friends.

In any event, we're ready. I'm ready to fly 20 hours, I'm ready to eat rhinocerous horn or whatever else, I'm ready to argue the finer points of Milan Rules Art. 20(4), I'm ready to have that confused, stupid American look. Hamline might not be ranked in the US, but we're sure as hell going to be ranked in Hong Kong...

Falling Off

Hello folks, welcome back to the internet. Absent blogging from yours truly, I know it sometimes feels as if it doesn't exist. Sorry about that.

Honestly, I've had plenty of great Album of the Week ideas - I think I've been listening to a lot of good music lately. This Avett Brothers album is freaking me right out. I even went to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, two weeks in a row!

Some of you may recall that for the past, oh, eight months, I've been wearing a blue, orange, and black friendship bracelet thing on my right wrist. I'm somewhat disheartened to announce that tonight, of all nights, it finally fell off. In a most ignominious fashion too - in line at the Roseville McDonalds, waiting to buy coffee. Don't judge, do not judge - their coffee isn't all that bad. I feel as if I have the authority to make this determination, given the volume of coffee I consume weekly.

I had aspired for it to last until June, but alas, that is not to be. I was asked a few weeks ago what it meant - why I would keep such a tattered, raggedy thing on my person 24/7 for so long. I really didn't have a good answer. I suppose I wore it as a reminder. Like so many things though, you don't need a bracelet to remind you of bus trips and playing music.

I do think I need a new one though. Invitation to treat, anyone?

Anyways, to describe life as hectic as of late would be an understatement. Such is what you get though, when you agree to work two jobs while in law school, while spending a good six to seven hours a week honing one's int'l arbitration skills, while trying to not lose all your friends by being too busy, and while attempting desperately to finagle the ins and outs of a new relationship. And of course, who can forget the musical force that is the Minneapolis Trombone Choir. Needless to say, things are busy, and one always feels as if they might be on the brink of, just like an old bracelet, of falling off.

It's okay to be busy though.

I'm managing though, nay thriving. Although it's been hard to sync up, I've kept friends so far. Trombone choir, though perpetually awkward (as one would hope/expect/cherish), is going very well as of late. We had our best Vis practice yet tonight, and my (real!) int'l arbitration job is panning out quite alright. It's a bit unnerving to think that out of potentially <5 millions euros at stake, some tiny portion of that is riding on my nearly quarter century old brain and horn-rimmed glasses...

I won't complain though, and can't. I have a job(s) that I like, and successful homebrew at my side. Spring training has officially started, and although I can't go to Ft. Myers this year, I think it's going to be another fun summer. I like the way the team is shaping up. I have the fortuitous good luck of spending time with a girl that I like. I actually fancy her quite a bit. And to top off, I even got my trombone slide to stop sticking and making that annoying crunchy noise last week! I even got a new sack of cheesecloth to clear out the tubing with!

The world is certainly on a string...

Luck and Timing

Folks, as my academic career slowly winds to a close, I've increasingly been made aware that maybe the best quality I've cultivated in my 6 and 1/2 years of higher education is sheer luck. Dumb luck and good timing.

There's really not much more to say. I was lucky to get on this international arbitration team, and dumb enough to think that local attorneys who practice in the field would want to sit down and have lunch with me. As it just may happen, one of those lucky meetings occurred at just the right time, and I might have a new job coming up quick. I say "might," because you never know how one's luck may change...

Funny enough, through yet another set of stupidly fortuitous circumstances, I met a smart, pretty, somewhat arrogant, young woman the other month, and now find myself in what one might consider an almost-adult relationship. It's a very positive development, and that's all I'll say since this is blog is short on personal details and my mom reads it.

If anything, what 2011 has taught me so far, is that there is no risk to being a bit brazen. I attended a brunch with the MN Supreme Court last week, and one of the justices advised us that the worst phrases we could teach ourselves were "I can't" and "I won't." For the longest time, I told myself I would never do anything with tax law, because I hated it. After that brunch, I decided I could probably do tax if asked, if the timing was right.

It's been a long road so far, and I've worked real hard. Whenever I get together with old friends, we always remind ourselves that even though we did a lot of dumb things 1% of the time, we worked hard the other 99%. I don't think it diminishes that tradition to think about luck and timing, because it's that grunt work that puts you in the position to take advantage of fortuitous circumstances.

Anyways, this was a far too serious post. I'll also probably get in trouble for certain disclosures (ahem). That's okay though. Get ready folks, I have a plethora of Albums of the Week to unleash in the coming month - so get ready! And even, I daresay, prepare for new content on the MN Brew Blog!

Arguments

Well hello internet, apologies once again for the shameless lack of content. I fear this may be something you may need to get used to though, as rudely enough, school, arbitration, friends, etc. seem to constantly get in the way. It really is quite impolite, when you sit and think about it. In an ideal world, all I would do is sit on some type of throne and e-pontificate about all the injustices I suffer, all the wisdom I could impart, all the things I deem important, etc.

That would get real boring, real quick. Maybe it's a good thing I get distracted...

In any event, for those frequent readers who were undoubtedly waiting with bated breath for my reaction to the Timberwolves (Timberwolves?!) game I went to, I'm actually surprised to say that it was quite a good time. Sign my T-Wolves confession, slice my hand in blood, do whatever it is you need to do, I'll freely admit it - I had fun at a Timberwolves game. Unlike the last time, they did not lose by 50 points, they only lost by 1. I appreciated that.

Anyways, on to current events. Some of you might be following my continuing adventures in international commercial arbitration, either by (a) desire, or more likely (b) force. I think this is understandable though, the UNCITRAL Model Law only remains so exciting to so many people for so long. But I'm pretty much required to stay interested in it, and in fact am still interested in it, which is a very good thing.

One would imagine that after being held captive for a total of two weeks in a series of small glass rooms editing memorandums, the brunt of the pain would be over. That, however, is not the case. I was gifted with being a writer - I was not, however, not intrinsically gifted with the ability to persuade. Well, that's a misnomer. I was maybe not given a silver tongue, perhaps that's more accurate.

I think the inherent difficulty in argument, as someone who finds himself in many, is framing it in such a way that you are both easy to understand and convincing. In order to convince people, one merely must have knowledge and mastery of facts - that's not the difficult part. To frame something, or to organize it in a coherent way, now that is a task. As my admittedly (and proudly) liberal views tend to conflict with those of my more conservative counterparts, this is always the issue I face. It's the same issue I'll face in Hong Kong.

Moral of the story, this shit is hard, and there's a lot of work to be done. It's going to get done though, and come April, some folks will be impressed. Not least of whom being myself.

Destination: Hong Kong. Object: World Domination

Come the end of April, this is where you can find me. World arbitrators - you are hereby put on notice.

Team Hamline/Viper/Awesome, away!