"mark it zero"

One of my biggest regrets (well...that's a little bit of an exaggeration) from last year is that I did not engage in this narcissistic exercise of blogging about my life. I wish I had captured my 1L sentiments/moments/woes/wows. 1L year is all a fuzzy memory. I would have definitely blogged about watching J. Coburn lose his common sense (and marbles and lots of money) bidding for a stuffed animal owned by our retiring Property professor, A.W.B. Simpson, for an obscene amount of money...$900? Our law school has an annual auction where students/alumni can bid for events/things professors offer. The money goes to support law students who plan on working in public interest...I think. Minor detail for me. Anyway, this year, I plan on bidding for the following item:

Your Foot Was Over the Line, Smokey.
Mark it Zero.
“I’ll buy the beer. But nobody is allowed to blow smoke
in my face. And only 1Ls get the gutter guards.” You’d
be crazy not to take Professor Mark West up on this
offer to make an hour of cosmic bowling at Bel-Mark
Lanes even better (includes two lanes for one hour, plus
shoe rental, two large pizzas, and two pitchers of pop,
up to $94 value). Beer courtesy of the professor. Bowling,
shoes, pizzas, and pop courtesy of Bel-Mark Lanes.

Unlike J. Coburn last year, I will be cool-headed and calculated in my bidding strategy. I have recruited six other students who have varying levels of desire to win, risk profiles, and etc. Thus, I borrowed from what I learned in Stern and what I learned from Professor Kahn in Partnership Tax to create a spreadsheet in order to align our risk preferences and resources in the most fair and efficient manner. Some of us will operate like general partners and engage in more risk...while some of us will operate like limited partners. The limited partners are definitely necessary for this venture because they provide the foundational basis to allow the general partners to engage in risky behavior. Haha, did that make sense?

We should probably win this since (1) we're super organized, cool-headed, and rational; (2) some of us are irrational when it comes to winning and losing; (3) J. Coburn is on our team (except he is engaged and has become an adult); (4) I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person; and (5) many other reasons that will not be disclosed. However, if we lose...then (1) Prof. West is too popular for his own good; (2) we deserve to lose; and (3) the 1Ls or others are too wealthy and/or unwise and have lost their marbles.

I cannot show you the spreadsheet (since that would reveal our strategy and our max amount)...but here is a picture of it.

I was working on it alongside my APALSA treasurer duties. I should actually be preparing for my 72-hour final exam that starts at 4pm today. Woes. I was debating whether to pass/fail it...but my law school angel (J. Lafond) said the following: Jason: one day you're going to have to take a class for a grade.

Touche. Have a beautiful weekend. I will be taking an exam and learning a lot about Taxation of Financial Instruments. Woes.