Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Leave of Absence

Normally, we try not to write too many personal blurbs on this site keep things, generally keeping things limited to baseball. Occasionally, however, events come up that manage to get in the way. Such an event has arisen for me. I will be gone for at least a short time before returning to my duties, and when I return I will likely be less active. What is the reason for this absence? You could call it my big news of the year.

Today, I will be moving to Charlottesville to begin law school at the University of Virginia. Being a top school, I am both nervous and excited about the amount of work I will be facing over the next three years. Because of that, for obvious reasons I will not be able to contribute to this blog as much. However, I won't be leaving permanently, as over the two and a half years we've had this website, I've grown quite found of blogging and interacting with the readers on not only this site, but the other sites I tend to read daily, such as Gleeman, SBG, and Seth.

This news probably will surprise everyone who reads this site. I wanted to wait because I didn't feel like this blog was a place to air personal news or to gloat, so I figured I'd wait until it actually mattered. The good news is that Nick Nelson is more of the brainchild behind this blog and he's actually a journalism student, whereas I was a History and Political Science major who always had ambitions of going to graduate school and becoming a professional student.

The better news is that I see others in the Twins blogosphere, like Ubelmann, who manage to be graduate students in far more difficult areas of study (such as Physics, which is an endlessly interesting subject that I would have studied if I had just a tad more interest in math), and still are able to make major contributions as well as guys like SBG and Seth who manage to balance work, blogging, and the full-time job of parenting.

With that, I hope to be back soon and I plan to write more general analysis, as I'll have trouble catching Twins games for the rest of the year (I probably won't bother getting MLB.TV until next year). I'm sure there will be many Braves games to watch, as I'm living with an Braves fans.

Anyway, this blog should continue to run as normal, just with more of one Nick and less of the other. Thank you all of supporting the site, and hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.

-Nick Mosvick

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck and congratulations!

Law school takes a lot of time, but taking an hour or two away from the books is a good idea.

I have enjoyed your writing.

-- SBG

Nick N. said...

Fortunately, my life is much less interesting and I'll still be around to keep tabs on this ol' blog. Best of luck in Virginia, Nick!

Anonymous said...

Congrats Nick, I've enjoyed reading your posts for a long time now. I wish you best of luck on your new path and just as I once left blogging about our Twins, I'm sure one day you will return too.

Good luck!

thisisbeth said...

Congratulations and good luck!

Jon Marthaler said...

Good luck... and study hard, because at some point, Nick Punto will be thrown in jail for crimes against baseball, and we're going to need you to get him out because the Twins have nobody else.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Nick M.! Good luck!

Good luck... and study hard, because at some point, Nick Punto will be thrown in jail for crimes against baseball, and we're going to need you to get him out because the Twins have nobody else.

Not sure about that, but he'll sure be looking for a job in a few years. Hey, why not invite him to blog with you? It'll be Nick & Nick & Nick's Twins Blog.

J. Lichty said...

Nick M:

Some advice from a former law student:

1) do not get caught up in overstudying because your peers are doing the same. Just because your colleague has five different color highlighters and has come up with a different color to highlight each word of the case books does not mean they will do better than you. Law school comes down to the final -- period. Make a good outline that is short enough for you to have command of. The true goal of most law school classes is whether you can spot the issues and apply the law to those issues in fact patterns provided by the professor, not whether you know some ancient case that layed the foundation for law that is no longer "good law." You will not need to remember each and every case you read in class, as the majority of your classmates will try to do. Pick up a good commerical outline for your standard classes (I reccomend Emmanuels). It will save a lot of time and effort and at the very least can serve as a good template for your own outline.

2) get the professor's old exams from the library so going into the class you have an idea of they type of things you need to learn. Ask upperclassmen who have previously had the professor for their outlines.

2) Have fun and make a lot of friends -- even with undergrads. These people will help you down the road (and the undergrads will be less tightly wound).

p2 said...

Just make sure to use your law degree for good-not chasing ambulances. Money won't make you happy, I'm not sure what will, but money, in the end, is empty.

Nick M. said...

Don't worry. I won't be an ambulance chaser. And I have the best advice--my brother just graduated from UVA, the same school I'm going to. Thanks for all the great comments. I'll miss blogging all the time, but I'm not quitting.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with Law School, Nick!

Anonymous said...

As a recovering law schooler ....

no, seriously, you'll have a ball.

Law school was my intended destination from the moment I showed up as a freshman at the University of Florida. Don't misunderstand - I loved my undergraduate years - but they were nothing compared to law school because I was FINALLY doing what I really, really wanted to do.

As noted above, it is all about the final; everything before that is preparation.

What served me best were three behaviors I'd really call "discipline":

> Don't miss class.

I knew a few people in law school who could come the first week & the last week and ace the test. They were brilliant (they also weren't supposed to be able to do that, but it wasn't policed at UF); I couldn't risk it.

Showing up every day will put you ahead of a number of your classmates.

> Keep up with the reading.

Again, there were people who could skim the reading during the class where it was discussed (or not do it at all) and get by (some very well). I was never one of them.

3) Do whatever you do to lock information into your brain. I'm a tactile learner, so for me, it was taking copious notes during class, then refining those notes into outlines for finals week.

4) BALANCE. It's a three year marathon, not a sprint; putting the rest of life on hold while you "do law school" won't work. Get Extra Innings or MLB.TV so you can follow the Twins, go to some Cavalier games (ACC baseball is pretty good as college goes), etc.

You'll work hard; you'll enjoy it, too.

If you don't, then for the love of God, don't become a lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Good luck!

I have to say this is my favorite Twins blog.

Anonymous said...

charlottesville, va.... you have friends here.... i am a transplant from south dakota and have been here for 20 years, and have never given up on the twins... as frustrating as it may be at times. saw my first twins game in 1965 as a 10 year-old... at metropolitan stadium and got a home run ball that the killer hit! it is just an hour drive from here to see rochester when they play the richmond braves... about 5 hours to elizabethton. anyway... feel free to contact me... will be heading up to baltimore for at least 2 of the games next week.

(i am also an announcer at WTJU, the community radio station of charlottesville and UVA, which might tickle your music interests and we always need new blood.)

aer

Aer Stephen
1702 Bruce Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22903-1314
USA

h2oface@aol.com

Home 434-296-5337
Cell 434-960-9740

Now webcasting live !! ..... click the "listen live" link on the website

91.1 FM WTJU Charlottesville http://wtju.net

Folk & Beyond and the Zydecajun Conspiracy
Thursdays 5-7 pm

"Tuesday was Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address. It is an ironic juxtaposition: one is a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication -- and the other involves a groundhog."

Al Franken on the State of the Union 2005

Neil said...

I'm a recent grad as well, but can't really add too much to the above. Definitely buy the outlines - they are a lifesaver. Oh, buy your books off of half.com or something - so much cheaper than the bookstore. I'm so ashamed that it took me so long to figure that out.
Oh, and there is no correlation between people who talk a lot in class and doing well in law school.
Good luck.

Todd said...

There has been much good advice so far on how to succeed at law school and I want to add a couple things to the already good advice.

If you are stuck or confused the library should have Sum & Substance tapes on each subject to listen to.

Don't study too much, all you really need to know is the black leter law or the rule of the case.

Good Luck