Author Archives: JJD
I can do hard things
Back in 2006 Elaine Dalton gave a talk that has stuck with me more than any other talk I’ve heard. Well, to be honest, the whole talk didn’t stick with me, just one line: Somebody, for some reason, adopted the phrase “I can do hard things” as their motto. I quickly forgot the context and […]
NYC – Saturday in Manhattan
I had a few hours this morning before my train back to DC, so I set out to make the most of a Saturday morning in Manhattan. After a quick breakfast at Dean & Deluca (consisting of orange juice, a banana, and a chocolate chip scone), I headed down to the Union Square farmers market […]
NYC – Danji
After Sleep No More I headed up to Hell’s Kitchen and got on the waiting list for dinner at Danji. This is a tiny Korean restaurant that I’d discovered in the Michelin guide – it’s got one star, the first Korean restaurant to get a star. Amanda and I had tried to go there when […]
NYC – Sleep No More
As I mentioned in my post on Wednesday, I came to New York to interview law students applying to the firm’s recruiting program next summer. All of Thursday was spent doing just that: Between 9am and 5pm, I interviewed twenty students (trying all the while to figure out how to invent better interview questions and […]
NYC – Two more stars chez Soto
After barely a week at home, I’m on the road again. This time to New York. I’m part of the recruiting team that the firm sent to interview students at one of the law schools here. I took the train up this afternoon so that I’d be ready for the interviews first thing in the […]
What ethnicity am I?
As we deplane in Amsterdam, the flight attendant bids each traveler farewell: “Goodbye, goodbye, thanks for flying with KLM.” But to me: “Adios, muchas gracias.” Then back to English. Apparently I look Spanish to the Dutch. To Americans, too: on the flight from New York to Madrid at the beginning of this trip I sat […]
Homeward bound
Sitting in the Barcelona airport. It’s spacious and bright and curiously free from PA announcements – so different from Madrid! In an hour or so we’ll board the plane to Amsterdam and then on to Washington. Two weeks is a good length for a vacation, but they always go so quickly. I will be happy […]
Barcelona, Day 3 – Flamenco
We had tickets tonight to see a flamenco concert at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. The primary motivation was to see the interior of the concert hall, especially the famous stained glass ceiling. They were impressive in their fanciful, Modernista way, but clearly designed by someone more interested in making a pretty building than […]
Barcelona, Day 3 – Beach, glorious beach
Beach day today! We took our time in the morning, had a leisurely breakfast and then took the metro to the Barceloneta beach. By 11am we had rented an umbrella and a pair of lawn chairs from an African man in a Mets hat and were set for the day. The weather was perfect (mid-80s with a light breeze and […]
Barcelona, Day 2 – Dinner at Hisop
If you’re alive and have taste buds, you can’t help loving the food scene in Barcelona. The city has great restaurants — unlike our experience in Paris, we found that even the places where we walked in from the street without further research have been decent. So if the run-of-the-mill places are good, just imagine what the real stars […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 