Day 79 Graduation past and Monterrey Mexico

Day 79 Wednesday, May 19th. Ran 5 miles. I also ran 3.1 miles on Wednesday the 12th and 3 miles on Sunday the 15th but did not post....crazy week with graduation and out of town guests, etc. So now total so far: 122.5 miles/ Miles to go 877.5. Getting a little further behind and decided to not do the "how far behind" until the end of the month....too many statistics.

Gambling.....spent 6 more dollars and won 4 so I am 2 dollars further behind and not a millionaire...total so far $36 invested 21 won so down $15. Almost had a panic attack at 10:30 last night when I realized I had not bought my lotto ticket. I had gone to dinner with gym rat after my 5 mile run and at 10:30 he asked if I had my ticket....I had intended to buy it after work. I immediately checked the numbers and fortunately no one had won so now the jackpot is over 90 million. I wonder why they don't just split the money between say 1000 people and make a big difference in a lot of people's lives. They would not be millionaires but the extra money would flow back into the economy and help a lot of people and maybe more people would play with the odds of a large pay off were greater, even if it wasn't millions. Oh well, what do I know about the science of fleecing people of their money, I am just a humble lawyer.

Since the last post so much has happened. Saturday was the "hooding" ceremony at the law school where the graduating class is honored and receives their diplomas. I was humbled and happy that the valedictorian ended his speech with the phrase "Good News, Bad News, Who is to say?" my signature expression told in my orientation speech every year. Nice bookends to hear it again at the end of the law school journey and an inside joke for the students and faculty.

We had a weather crisis. The ceremony is normally out of doors. The law school quad is transformed into a beautiful garden with flowers and flags everywhere for the several thousand graduates and guests. It is a magical setting with horn players and a mini orchestra and lots of pomp and circumstance. The procession of faculty is lead by Professor Joseph McKnight who was a senior member of the faculty when I was a student back in the 1970s. 80 now, he still teaches and he very slowly and laboriously leads the procession wearing some dead animal around his shoulders, a relic of his Oxford degree I believe.

Friday it rained and there were flash flood warnings. It was supposed to rain Saturday too, the day of the ceremony. All the other SMU schools who had scheduled out door ceremonies for Saturday, announced that they had decided to move them inside on Friday. The law school was the lone hold out and I have to give it to our Dean, his guts paid off and the rain held back and the ceremony went forward and was beautiful. I cannot believe this was my 5th and July 1st I will have been at SMU 5 years. It seems like only yesterday I was pulling into the parking garage at my office at Jones Day in the Harwood building in Uptown.

My wonderful friend, Peggy Dean visited last week and this past weekend. We spent many nights on the front porch, she with her tea and me with my scotch (she was doing some detox program or we would have been sharing a bottle of wine). Mornings found us with coffee and laughter. Her last night, Sunday, we sang on the porch...softly so as not to disturb. I feel so blessed with wonderful friends.

Monday morning I was off to Monterrey Mexico and a trip to a law school there to interview for potential LL.M. students (International Masters of Law) and to meet with the Dean of the School. One of our LL.M. students from this past year, Cezar Garza, was my host and had arranged the trip and the introductions to the Dean and the students. What wonderful hospitality. He put me up in his family's suite hotel in the middle of the old city and each moment was filled with wonderful conversation, food and visits to sites around Monterrey.

It was my first time to visit and I had never realized how big and cultured the city was. There are huge plazas and parks and public buildings. US cities need more of this concept of the public space. There is a little river walk, like in San Antonio. My first lunch was taken on top of a mountain overlooking the city and my last dinner was in a restaurant built inside an old steel plant, once again overlooking the city. Monterrey is surrounded by mountains. I want to go back and spend more time as a tourist.

I also learned a little of the history of the region. It seems many if not most of the original families were of Spanish Jewish background who fled to Mexico during the Spanish Inquisition. Some had converted to Catholicism and others were more secular but there are still many traditions from this past which are observed.

I met Cezar's father, a successful lawyer of my age with a twinkle in his eye and more jokes than even I can remember. Cezar's mother was a beautiful and gracious woman with an easy smile and a regal but kind presence. The best way to see a new city is with a native and I had the best hosts. I hope more students from Monterrey will come to SMU, and that I get the opportunity to return and recruit and perhaps teach a short course, which was suggested by the Dean of the School.

This post is getting long so I will stop...hope to run today at lunch and write more tonight...Life is Good!