Until Next Year...

Done!

My final exam was a 24 hr take home which I began yesterday at 10am & got done this morning at 7am. Only 3 questions but it took me forever to knock them out. Off to bed!

Business Associations Exam

Part I: 65 minutes. 25 multiple choice questions. Tested how fast you could flip through the statute book to find the answer within the alloted time.

Part II. 70 minutes. Essay. 3 page fact pattern about a board of directors that was involved in a shady deal. Some shareholders wanted to bring suit because the value of their stock was going down. Discuss what claims, if any, they could bring against the Board.

Part III. 5o minutes. Essay. Horrendous!

The weather over the past few days has been something else. Thursday was in the 60s. Friday night into Saturday we got about 6" of snow which wasn't too bad. Ventured out to Starbucks and there was practically no one on the roads. Saturday night it rained like only Noah can relate to. Today the winds were gusting at 35-45m/h & the high was frigid 31F. Just lovely.

But even worse than the weather are the local t.v. weather forecasters in Columbus. Last I checked, this is the Midwest. Snow & freezing rain is just what happens around here. So why do they feel it necessary to keep cutting into regular programming to give updates on the extra inch of snow that has fallen?! Very aggravating.

Employment Discrimination Exam

3 questions. Essay. 3.5hrs.

Q.1. 90 minutes. Guy had bipolar disease which had been misdiagnosed as clinical depression. He was a technician that fixed a computers in peoples homes. He had a manic episode & ended up erasing the hard drive of the customer because he thought they were involved in terrorist shananigans. He was fired & now wants his old job back after he was correctly diagnosed as having bipolar. Company he used to work for seeks your advice on whether or not to rehire him.

Q.2. 45 minutes. Television station is implementing a grooming policy where all males are required to shave their beard & females must wear makeup before they can anchor a show. It's concerned about losing its customers. George is a black male anchor with a skin condition that causes the skin to get infected if the beard is shaved off. Condition affects 60% of african american males. Andrea is a 45 year old female anchor who hates wearing makeup because she believes it stereotypes women & better yet, she's allergic to cheap makeup. She breaks out in hives. This allergy is found in 10% of the women. Both will be demoted to reporters in two weeks if they don't get with the program. George & Andrea have come for your advice on how to proceed.

Q.3. 45 minutes. Female workers complain to their supervisor that they don't think it's in the christmas spirit when their male counterparts say "ho ho ho." Supervisor goes to his supervisor & reports to him what the females are saying. Tells his boss that they have a potential claim of sexual harassment if the males don't stop with the ho ho ho business. Next thing you know, the supervisor to the females doesn't receive a christmas bonus, receives a poor job evaluation, and doesn't get a raise the next year. Supervisor comes to you for advice.

Last day of classes

was today. Yay! But now it's time to hunker down for exams which start next week. I decided to continue with my current job next semester since I really enjoy it & I'm learning an awful lot. It was dicey there for a while since they require a minimum of eight hours & I had to find a way to tweak my schedule for next semester to try & fit these many hours in two chunks. But worked it out.

What are the chances of getting the soles of your boots come off as you trudge in the snow on the same day & at the same time?! 1 in 1 trillion. But that's what happened to me this evening. I'm leaving work headed to my car, which is quite a hike, & then I feel like something's dragging the bottom of my shoe. Look down & sure enough, the soles of BOTH my shoes are hanging on by a thread of glue. Keep in mind there's 5" of fresh snow on the ground so these soles have no choice but to make it to my car. So at this point, picture me walking like I have skis on (dragging my feet without lifting them off the ground). Swish swash. But my shoes were having none of that. With about a block to go, both soles came off!! $#&%. Lucky for me though the 'casing' of the shoes was leather & it wrapped around all the way around the bottom so my socks didn't end up getting soaked. Didn't feel like it though. Felt like I was trudging through the snow barefeet.

Go Bucks! The LSU Tigers await an a$$ whoopin' come Jan. 7!

1/2 Price Books

After 3 semesters of spending more than $1500 on textbooks, I began searching for a way to get brand new books for a cheaper price. I don't buy used books because I get very distracted having to grapple with someone else's writings or highlighting. Amazon & half.com have great prices on used books but a brand new book costs the same wherever you buy it from. Or so I thought.

So after registering for classes for Winter '08, I noticed that the booklist was already posted for all my classes. Off I went to amazon to see how much the books would cost me so I could be mentally prepared come January. Ended up finding all my books (brand new) for half the price!!! I have 6 classes next semester & ended up spending a whoppin' $200 for all of them. How super is that? I guess the key was buying books early instead of waiting for the after-new-year-rush when everyone is looking to buy books online.

Not so rockin'

Remember how I thought my appellate brief rocked & that it would save me from my dismal oral argument, well my adjunct just emailed us our briefs back with his comments & he skewered me yet again! He thought my analysis was conclusory and shallow. Wah! I give up. Seems I cannot win with this guy so let's keep it moving.

I truly enjoy my Gender & the Law class but for some reason I am unable to think critically on issues that the prof raises. This is like an undergraduate class where there's lots of theory & you just put your 'regular' thinking cap on to analyse feminists' take on different issues. Sounds easy enough but for me it's been a struggle. I much rather rules-based classes (most law classes are) where all I do is apply the rules to the matter at hand. Thank goodness it's a take-home exam. I'll need all the time I can get to get over my inability to think like I used to in undergrad. And here I was thinking I was getting smarter. Not so sure anymore.

5000 Calories

is the average number of calories that a person consumes over Thanksgiving. That would be me. I had a few friends over yesterday & we had a potluck thanksgiving so there was lots of good food, dessert, & wine. Dinner was about 6pm & from there we just relaxed & had a good ol' time. Since we were still up & chatting at 6am this morning, we decided to brave the crowds & hit the mall. The mall turned out to be rather empty which was surprising but appreciated. Mostly just browsed but we did buy a few things though I think the bargains will get better as christmas draws closer.

Plug for McDonalds: Their coffee is fantastic!

Week in Review

Went to church this morning with some friends. The singing was fab & so was the sermon. The parking though was autrocious but the church activities more than made up for it.

I had an interview this past Friday. My last interviewer was a total cynic. His boss was supposed to be the original interviewer but he had other things to do so he had this guy do it. He turned out to be the most interesting of all the people I interviewed with. It started out somewhat shaky since he had these 5 cookie cutter questions the office had given him to ask, "well let's get this crap out of the way & then we can start the real interview..." After that, we had about a 30 minute conversation on what we'd both done in the past. He'd been practicing law for about 30 years so he had alot of war stories to tell.

My oral argument for my appellate advocacy class was rough. We had 3 judges including my adjunct, who does appellate work in employment law & this was what my case was about. So anytime I answered a question, he'd have a ton of followup questions which I didn't seem to answer to his satisfaction, "...Counsel are you telling this Court that..." The rest of the judges just sat there & let him have at it. My opponent wasn't given as hard a time which I thought was unfair on very many levels. This oral part is 20% of the grade & the brief 80%. I thought my brief rocked so hopefully it'll save the day.

Go Bucks!

Rose Bowl here we come!

Update: Who needs the Rose Bowl when you can get the BCS Title game?!

No School Tomorrow....

thanks to Veterans Day. Got lots done around the house today. I took down some old vertical blinds in the kitchen & put up some drapes. Drapes in the kitchen you ask? Yup. They give the kitchen a very nice country feel to it. Then I went down to the basement & got out my christmas decorations. I usually put them up after Thanksgiving, but since I had all this time on my hands, I figured why the hell not. So got that done & everything looks lovely. Let's hope tomorrow will be just as productive to make up for all the non-studying today.

Ho Hum

This is straight off the Democratic Candidates Debate. Hillary Clinton gets on my nerves royally! She can't give a straight answer if her life depended on it. I love Dennis Kucinich & Joe Biden. Kucinich believes in UFO's & he cops to that. Ask Sen. Biden what he'd do with the toys coming from China & he says "as President I'll shut them down, all of them." No double talk just telling it how they see it. Seems straight answers only come from those who have no shot at winning.

Ask Hillary if the sky is blue & she'll answer "it depends." JUST ANSWER THE DOGGONE QUESTIONS! Enough politics already. Let us know where you stand instead of worrying about how the republicans will use your answers today to attack you tomorrow.

Goat Political Move of the Week

New York has passed a law that will give illegal immigrants drivers' licenses. This is all fine and dandy except that these licenses will be clearly marked to show that they are not valid federal IDs. In other words, everyone they show that D.L. to will know that they are illegal immigrants! This is where New Yorkers hard earned tax dollars are going towards: paying these politicians to pass idiotic laws that further put illegal immigrants in the cross-hairs of the police department ergo the BCIS. I think it'd be even more idiotic if an illegal immigrant went and got one of these driver's license. They can't show these when applying for a job because the employer will know they aren't authorized to work & if they get pulled over they can't show this license because the police will haul them to the nearest detention center faster than they can say hasta la vista. Way I see it, this is a conspiracy to get these folks out of the shadows & back to their countries. Literally.

Vigilant Neighbors

Friday morning, about 3am, I was at home watching episodes of Bionic Woman on the web. Then I heard a crashing sound. Wasn't very loud, just loud enough for me to turn off all the lights, run upstairs & look out the window to see if my car was getting broken into. No way I'd have heard it was I asleep. Anywayz, turns out I was looking out the wrong side of the house. I noticed a swirl of lights filtering in through my drapes on the front end of my house. So I ran to the window, peeked out & noticed about 3 police cars. So I threw on a jacket & went outside to see what was going on.

Guess who was standing outside?! The ENTIRE neighborhood!! Don't these people have jobs to go to in the morning?! Turns out a drunk driver flipped his car & that was the crashing noise I heard. But I guess my neighbors are a little more proactive than I am. Me, I carefully assess the situation....from a distance....& then proceed with caution. Them, they jump into the fray & damn the consequences. Turns out as soon as they heard the noise, they went outside to help the drunken driver get out of his flipped car & called the police. Makes me all warm & fuzzy knowing that my neighbors don't sleep at night. Neighborhood Watch at its finest.

Update: Jim the appliance guy came out yesterday & fixed my washer. Turns out it was the door sensor and not the timer. Jim wanted to make sure that it was the timer before he went out & got one so he tested everything else he could think of & sure enough, the door sensor turned out to be the culprit. It ended up costing about $100 less than it would've cost had it been the timer. Gotta love Jim & craigslist.

Bitching & Moaning!

All things water are going wrong in my life right now. Sunday I loaded up my washer & went on about my business. Came back to put the laundry in the dryer & found my clothes still swimming in water. Fished them out hoping this would fix the drainage problem but that didn't help. So I went to craigslist & found Jim the appliance guy. Jim comes out to my place today (I've been lucky no one from craigslist has turned out to be an ax murderer) & diagnoses the problem to be a bad timer. Long story short, $150 for the timer + $50 for labor. Jim says to get back to him in the morning with a decision on whether he's going to be installing the new timer or whether I'll be ditching my washer & getting another one (used of course). Hmm.

School has become a mo fo. Journal stuff is due this coming Monday. I'll be spending my whole weekend (night & day) in the library poring over the most boring article I've ever read. Then an outline of my student note is due in a couple of weeks. I haven't began doing any type of research for that but I'm sure I can whip up something the night before. Unlike most of my fellow journal staff members, I am not trying to get published (but would be totally stoked if they picked my article for publishing). I'm just going to make a good faith effort to get the darn thing done so I don't get thrown off the Journal.

Then I'll be spending all of next week on my Appellate Advocacy brief that's due Nov. 3. I would have called in work this week & next if I didn't have my car & washer falling apart on me. Then we have to make oral arguments, in front of a panel of judges, after turning in the brief, the week of Nov. 6. We had practice arguments this week, with 3L's acting as judges. I thought I killed my opponent & happily surprised myself that I wasn't nervous at all. Let's hope that carries over for my real argument. Classes have kinda sorta taken a back seat since I have all this other stuff to get done. I read as much as I can over the weekend & what I can't get to...oh well. I'm thinking about dressing up as "Sleeping Beauty" for halloween. It falls on Wed next week so maybe I can sleep through all my classes. Think my professors will get it?

Then the weather is not helping out. It's been pouring for the past 3 days. Gloomy nasty weather. Can't wait for thanksgiving break. To give thanks & to catch some zzzzzzz!

Nothingness

Remember my quandry about getting the washers of my car working, well after some soul-searching, I decided to go with Tuffy. I took my car there for an oil change about a month ago (I had a great coupon) & loved the manager of the shop. Fast forward to today. They took my car back & after about 20 minutes, here goes the Manager: "Come on back & I'll show you what we're dealing with."

Turns out the mechanic I had originally taken my car to to try & figure out the washer problem, had cut the airbag wires & connected them to the wires running to the washers & I was lucky that the airbags hadn't deployed while I was driving. So Tuffy had to fix that mess before they could begin trying to figure out why the washers weren't working. What did this mean? $$$. So I gave them the go-ahead but only to fix the wiring problem. An hour later, the manager came back & I'm like oh snap here we go again. "Well I don't know how to explain this but my guy rewired your car back to how it should be & guess what, your washers are working! I can't explain how that happened but it did." So $135 later, my car is wired up properly & the washers are back in business. Good times.

I'm really enjoying my new job. My work mates are great & the one person I truly disliked quit last week. Doesn't get better than that. And the work is great too. It's fairly busy but when we have downtime, we can do our school work or surf the web. Not to mention we don't have to dress up. Like McDonald's I'm lovin' it.

Stephen Colbert will be on Meet the Press this Sunday. You have to catch that. It's bound to be hilarious now that he's in the running for the Presidency.

Public Service Announcement

Click here to see if your wireless phone service qualifies for a discount, either through your employer or through your school. I am an existing AT&T wireless subscriber & still got a 20% monthly discount through my school. Definitely worth checking into. Enjoy!

Fall Break

Yipee! School is out until Oct 15.

Quandry

My car's washer fluid is not coming out when I pull the lever to clean the windshield. So I went to a nearby mechanic at the local gas station (yeah I know....what was I thinking) & he told me he thought he knew what the problem was. $95 dollars & 4 hours later, he couldn't find the problem since he ran out of time but told me to bring the car back. So I asked the question that begged to be asked, " . . . are you going to charge me for additional labor to continue trying to figure out the problem?" Yup. Now what's a girl to do? Do I cut my losses & go to the dealer; do I ignore the problem since it doesn't affect the running of my car; or do I take it back to Dufus the mechanic since he said he was close to isolating the problem? Hmmm.

Call-Back Interview

Yesterday: It was about a 3 hour drive to where I was interviewing. Got to the hotel the firm put me up at & it was fabulous. Just lovely. The recruitment coordinator even got me a goodie bag full of little knick knacks about the city that I found sitting in the hotel room. Then had dinner with two attorneys & it was surprisingly nice after which they took me on a brief tour of the city.

Today: Interviewed with 10 attorneys in half hour intervals. I guess it was payback for the really nice hotel room they put me up in. They got their money back in spades. I would be surprised if I got an offer from this firm since the question I got asked constantly is why I was interested in the city. I got the feeling my answer was a little too flimsy for their taste. Firms want the 2L's for the most part to come back & work for them permanently after they graduate. They don't want to pay them beaucoup d'argent for the summer to never see them again. That would be me. The city was nice but I can't see myself there beyond one summer.

Why A's Continue to Elude Me

Bourne Ultimatum: Loved it. Highly recommend but you have to catch it at the theatres to get the full effect of all the non-stop action. It's too bad that's the end of the Bourne trilogy. Finally got to watch "The Lookout" which was good but it didn't quite live up to the hype.

Newport Harbor: Another MTV reality show. Had never seen it before until last Sat when I caught a marathon of past episodes. Good thing the season is just about over because I'm hooked.

Kid Nation: The CBS reality show about kids living unsupervised in the middle of nowhere premiered today. It was interesting to see how much more rational & thoughtful kids are compared to grown-ups. Not must-see tv but catch it if you can. We can all learn a few lessons from these little tykes.

Next Week: Fall season line-up begins! I caught a few episodes of Criminal Minds this summer & does that show take the cake for having the most realistic creeps or what?! Love the story lines but I watch all the murder scenes with my eyes closed. Way to vivid for my taste. But I'm afraid I have to add it to my ever-growing list of must-see tv which is (in no particular order):

-24
-House
-Criminal Minds
-Grey's Anatomy (might boycott since Preston Burke is no more but I've yet to decide)
-All the new dramas - have to watch them at least once. Hopefully I'll hate them all so I can have time to study.

Small Legal World

So I'm riding in the elevator in school today with this girl & we begin to chat. She tells me she's glad her classes are over for the week but she's bummed out that she has to work Thu & Fri. Here's our conversation:

Me: So where do you work?
Her: At XYZ.
Me: What?! (my big mouth continues) I had applied to work there & received an offer but I called & quit on my starting day.
Her: (with her eyes wide open) You must be ...... (insert my name here)!!! They had sent us all these emails about you starting, & to be nice to you, & to show you the ropes, & then they sent us an email saying were no longer coming.
Me: (thinking...why did I have to open my big mouth) OMG...I feel so bad. I didn't know they had made such a big deal about it.
Her: Oh yeah they did....it's a very formal work environment & be glad you quit. The industry is very complicated so the research is very hard & everyone is so proper that you cannot do anything without having to fill out forms, sending out emails..... (she's been working there since May).
Me: .....(we continued to gossip about the place). It's a small legal world indeed.

I digress: I received a call for a call-back interview scheduled for next week! Woo hoo! This is a firm I interviewed with at one of the job fairs I attended. Will share all the gory details after the fact.

6 Years Later....

71,720-78,296 Iraqi Civilians Killed

27,767 American Troops Injured

3,774 American Troops Killed

298 Coalition Troops Killed

2,974 Killed on 9/11

OBL...Still at Large

Raw Deal

As we enjoy the game of football every Sunday, let's not forget what a violent sport this is. Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills will probably never walk again after receiving a catastrophic neck injury due to a head-on collision with another player yesterday. Even though these men assume the risk that comes with playing this sport, it's still saddening when an event such as this happens. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

Things Annoying Me Today

1. Why did Dell install Adobe Reader 7 on my desktop knowing that it did not support Vista? I've been trying to open pdf files for the past two weeks unsuccessfully & it wasn't until I pulled up Adobe on wiki when I found out what the problem was. Had to download Adobe 8 which only took a few minutes but it's the fact that Dell knew (I know they did) but still installed an incompatible version. I'll be shooting them an email of disgust shortly.

2. Why is it that my lights go off or flicker every hour on the hour when it rains? I love my new place but this is driving me nuts!! When I went outside to investigate, I noticed that the power lines sag & seem lower to the ground than they are supposed to be. Why not call the electric company to come fix the problem, you ask? Well, the lights do not stay out long enough for me to call them so until that happens, I'm stuck resetting my radio, stove, & microwave clocks as well as rebooting the cable box everytime it rains. Ugh.

3. Why is it I cannot seem to get going on my appellate brief? A draft is due this Wednesday but it's proving tougher than I thought it would. My group has been given a case that is pending before the Supreme Court. We are to write a brief supporting the petitioner's side, Fedex, which was sued in 2002 by plaintiffs alleging the company was discriminating against them on the basis of age, in violation of the ADEA. The 2nd Circuit Ct of Appeals ruled against them & we are appealing to the Supreme Court to resolve the key issue in this case - whether an "intake questionnaire" (i.q.) suffices as a formal charge of discrimination. I got the raw deal on this one because I have to write a brief supporting Fedex which is arguing that the i.q. does not suffice as a formal charge. I think it does but what do I know?! It's going to be a long week.

On a happier note: Disney on Broadway's "The Lion King" is making a stop right here in Columbus! Finally. So when will Mufasa grace us with his presence: Aug 28-Sep 28, 2008!!!! WTF?!

A couple of years ago, my cousin was killed by a drunk driver who jumped a light at a crossroad. Since then, on Labor Day weekend, the whole family has been getting together for family reunions to celebrate life. So this weekend, I was in Indiana & had a great time. I missed the last reunion & hadn't seen folks for a while so it was great to see them all again. For some reason, there were no crowds at the airport which was surprising. On my way there, I got to the airport a couple of hours early thinking there were going to be massive lines at the security checkpoint but there was hardly anyone. I guess people hit the road this time around.

I've been trying for the past 3 weeks or so to get a copy of "The Lookout" from Blockbuster but my efforts have proven futile. They only have about 6 copies & it seems to be the most popular movie in stock. Even the guys that work there do not understand why such a good movie (from reviews) would have such few copies in stock. I check in about twice a week but so far, nothing. I will try again tomorrow at 2 different locations & if I don't get lucky, then I'll wait for about a month & see if I can get it then.

I start my new job next week & it should be interesting. I actually get to interact with "clients" (who are really just OSU students) & follow their cases through to the end like a "true" lawyer would which is very different from a firm where all you get to do is research for clients whom for the most part you never get to see.

The NFL kicks off the new season tomorrow! My crystal ball predicts a Super Bowl showdown between Chicago Bears v. San Diego Chargers. You heard it here first!!!

I quit...

my work study job before it even began! It was going to be too much of a hassle to dress up & catch the bus to downtown 3 times a week & earn a measly paycheck from the gov't. So bright & early Wed morning, I called one of the attorney's & told them I quit. They were very nice about it but I'm sure they were seething on the inside. Whatever. All I wanted was for them to pay for my parking & allow me to wear jeans to work. But since they weren't having that, hasta la vista baby!

So the search continues. I interviewed this morning for another job but this one's going to be on-campus. Jeans are allowed & it's within walking distance. Now that's more like it.

This & That

My favorite new single is "Be with you" by Elisabeth Withers.

I accepted the work-study offer. I had to fax them an acceptance letter which is just adding to my level of incredulity on how seriously these folks are taking all of this. I was thinking about shooting them a quick email but they called me this past Friday asking me if I'd made a decision (yet their offer letter stated I had until Monday to decide!). So I said I was fixing to accept & that's when they told me to fax them a letter stating so. Seriously. They said it was so they could begin setting up my office....mmhh....I have a sneaky suspicion that they have difficulty getting/retaining law clerks for some reason which I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

I got another paycheck from my summer job this past Friday!!! Based on my calculations, they had paid me in full a couple of weeks ago but I guess I was wrong. I officially forgave them for not making me an offer to come back next summer.

Update: Today, I got a call from my summer job's Accounting department telling me they had mistakenly put money into my account & that they were going to reverse the deposit. sob sob sob.

I was in Kentucky this weekend. It's only a couple of hours away so my friend agreed to drive us there. Had a good time & got back just in time to get caught up in a tornado. Long story short....made it out in one piece. The weather lately has been crazy: flooding, intense heat, & more flooding.

Can the boys on MTV's Making the Band 4 sing or what! The ballad version of their single "Exclusive" was amazing. It aired on the live season finale.

As previously mentioned, I signed up for a Federal Income Tax class & it was quite the experience. The prof was terrible....he would talk & then loose his train of thought....look around the class as if he expected us to jog his memory & then picked up where he left off. Then when he was looking for statutes in the case book, "....uhh....where is that statute?....I know it's around here somewhere....uhh....oh there it is. Now what was I saying....?" Putting up with that for 14 weeks was not gonna happen. Dropped it like a very hot potato. So here are some of the classes I'll be taking: Gender and the Law, Business Associations, Appellate Advocacy.

The Gender & the Law prof is so passionate about the stuff she's talking about it's almost like having a baptist minister at the pulpit. Love it. For App. Ad. we get to write a brief and then argue it in front of a panel of judges, profs, or upper class students. Everyone says it's the most time consuming class ever but it's mandatory so I'll just have to deal. The work study interview went fine. I'm sick & tired of interviewing so for now I'm done. Oh wait....I'll be out of town for a job fair this weekend. Let me rephrase: after this weekend, I am done interviewing. Now that I think about it, doing nothing next summer is sounding more & more appealing. Bumming. Has a nice ring to it don't you think?!

In the midst of all this, I managed to watch "The Shooter." Thoroughly enjoyed it. I found this $5 blockbuster gift card when I was unpacking things into my new apartment. So off I went to Blockbuster & at checkout....bam....I broke out the gift card. Turned out it only had a $.68 balance! I guess I had used it before & since the balance was so little, I had discarded it...but not in the trash. Knew it was too good to be true.

Update: I got an offer from my work study interview. I have until 8/28 to accept or decline it.

Nothingness

School is back in session this Monday. I had to shell out $540 for books today which is rather depressing. I'm still having a hard time trying to decide what classes to take. I want to take Fed Taxation but tax is the most BORING & convoluted topic there is but I remember practically all my projects this summer had some form of tax issue. And since I want to do transactional work, I need to have a clue about tax matters. Then I'd like to take Employment Discrimination but it's offered at the same time as the Tax class so it's going to have to be one or the other. Then I want to take a class which has a take home exam which is proving to be a rather difficult task trying to decipher what type of exam each class has.

I got awarded federal work study money so I have to find a job for the 2007-2008 school year. To that end, I am interviewing this coming week for a job with a state government agency. The contact lady told me that I'll be interviewing with 3 attorneys for about an hour and a half! That's a little excessive. I don't plan on working for more than 10 hours/week & will probably make about $100/week. The job is not that serious!! But I'll humor them.....hit them with my Big Law interview skills & all.

The Windy City

was fab. My cabbie was a great tour guide since it was about a 15 mile ride to where I was going. Pointed out all the sites & sounds & even gave me his cell phone number for the next time I was in town so he could take me around....now that was a little creepy. The interviews went well but more so met alot of really nice people. In one of my interviews, all we spoke about was the Michael Vick dog-fighting situation and whether he should be going to jail or not. Didn't know what to make of that.

I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time & wasn't impressed. Their terminals are so tiny and their gates so close together, it seems like people are standing on top of each other. Not to mention the whole unassigned sitting thing. Wild wild mid-west. Then my flight was cancelled in the morning & trying to get on the next flight took standing in line for a couple of hours. On my return flight, they refused to let me on an earlier flight, even though there were plenty of empty seats, without paying a $60 upgrade fee. It's too bad they have the cheapest ticket prices to Chicago so I'll just have to deal.

756...

I've been following the Barry Bonds home run chase since he hit 754 by watching all the Giants games hoping to see history happen. That was before I moved to my new diggs on Saturday and Time Warner Cable decided their guys couldn't come out before Wed. And sure enough, Barry hit #755 on Sun & #756 on Tue. Ugh!

On to even more devastating news. The firm I worked for this summer has declined to make me an offer to come back next summer. Wah....cry me a river. Something to do with the attorneys felt they didn't get to know me well enough. Nothing I can do about it but I left the partner who called me a very nice voicemail thanking the firm for affording me such an amazing opportunity. The legal world is a very small community so I figured there was no need to go postal. Funny story: my interviewer today worked at my firm for a few years before she quit last year & joined a competitor firm. She didn't sling any mud but she made it clear how much nicer her new firm was. Ha.

Journal orientation was horrendous. The editor-in-chief is an arrogant S.O.B. who spoke to us like we were 5th graders. Why I signed up for this mess is beyond me. Here's the assignment: we all got articles written by professors or students that have been chosen for publication. Each article has about 50-90 footnotes and our job is to get a HARD COPY of every journal, newspaper, book, etc, that has been cited in the footnotes and making sure they have cited accurately and conform to bluebook rules. Traipsing through libraries in Columbus searching for these articles is not not what I had in mind when I signed up to join a journal.

On to better news. My new computer came & it is stupendous (if that's a word). I absolutely love it. Installation was pretty simple & it seems like all my software is compatible with Vista so that's a plus. The cable guys came out today and got the internet up & running so I cannot wait to test out the system.

Dell Purchase

Ordered a new desktop today. J, my technical advisor, is probably thoroughly disgusted wherever she is, because it's unfathomable to her that someone would buy a desktop in 2007. I heard her but I'm a firm believer that desktops have a very long shelf-life compared to their laptop counterparts. Take my current - almost obsolete - desktop. Had it for about 7 years (originally it had Windows ME before installing a bootleg version of XP) & it's still going strong. Then take my 15-month old laptop that had all 4 USB ports go out a few months ago for no apparent reason. Not hardy at all. We all need a trustworthy companion & my desktop is it for me. What's great about this one is that it's going to have a wireless network card so I won't have to run cable wires into my study room. Hook up the modem & the desktop should be able to connect to the internet from anywhere in the house. Love it!

Aug & Sep is when we job hunt for next Summer. Just found out that I'll receive 6 on-campus interviews (OCI). Here's how the process works in a nutshell: All the participating firms are listed on one website so you upload your resume, cover-letter, transcripts, and writing sample & apply to whatever firms you want & then those firms select those they want to interview. While it's great I got the interviews, only about 15% of the people get jobs through OCI so while technically, though unlikely, I could be part of the 15%, I'm just looking at this as an opportunity to polish up my interview skills. Then I'm going to Chicago for a job fair sometime in Aug where I have some more interviews scheduled. I've only applied to big firms thus far (since they have early recruiting dates) so I still have to target the small to medium sized firms & government jobs. It's going to be a long 2-3 months.

S.C.O.O.

Today I filed my first petition with the Supreme Court of Ohio. One of the attorney's sent an email asking if someone had an extra hour to do a project. I responded & it turned out it was to file the petition with the court which was about a 15 minute brisk walk away. After going through an x-ray machine, the security guard scanned my ID, laminated a copy & had me wear it on my lapel. Thought it was a little much but..... The building though was absolutely magnificent. Mostly marble with a Greek type of interior decor.

Journal & Other News

Remember my post about Journals at Moritz, well, I'm going to be on the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution! I am totally stoked about this although I have to be back in school Aug 5 for orientation & 2 weeks of journal assignments.

I signed my new lease today. The landlord will be out of town for the next couple of weeks so he had me sign the lease & get the keys today even though I'm not going to be moving in until Aug. I'm going to love having a washer & dryer since hauling laundry in the middle of winter is no joke. The landlord was nice enough to spray the basement to prevent critters from setting up shop. Since I had mentioned to him my fear of creepy crawly animals, I guess he figured he'd better take care of it now instead of waiting to get frantic calls from your truly.

3 Weeks & Counting....

down till my summer job comes to an end. I'm actually liking it much more than I did at the beginning so I'm not really looking forward to going back to school. But the remaining weeks will be hectic since I bit off more than I could chew. This is how it works: When we (summer clerks) get low on projects to do, we either walk around the office with a legal pad & pen asking attorneys for work to do or send them emails. Response is better if you walk around but lazy ol' me decided to send emails to about 4 attorneys (this was a few weeks ago) and last week they all decided to respond & assigned me projects. So instead of having a lazy few weeks to end the summer, I'm up to my eyeballs in mundane projects that have to get done before I leave. Initiative is overrated!

My BFF has been stalking me. Seriously. She wants to hang out all the time & since she's the only one willing to go with me on my firm outings, I have to be nice & indulge her. So Friday night, she had me bar-hopping even though I was dead tired after a hard week's work & the kicker was I had to drive. Sheesh! Saturday night though, I went out with my other girls & had an AMAZING time that shall not be rehashed - now that this blog is rated.....

Nothingness

I got my first Amazon seller feedback rating from a buyer this week. 5 stars . For some reason, buyers don't leave me any feedback even though I sell stuff all the time on Amazon & my products are always in great condition & I ship priority even when they pay for standard shipping. But try shipping something late & see the negative feedback assail you.

I found out today that I am now an Ohio resident for tuition purposes!!!! The process is tedious since you have to account for your whereabouts for the past 12 months. Leaving Ohio for more than three weeks during the entire school year disqualifies you & the only way to prove you were in the Buckeye state is through a year's worth of bank statements, pay stubs, leases, & other FBI type shenanigans. Well worth it though.

I was on a flight last week & the Columbus Destroyers (arena football) were on board. Didn't know who they were until the flight attendant announced them as we were fixing to land but I knew they had to be on some team since they all had on white polos & were bigger in stature than the average American male. The paparazzi in me almost pulled the camera out but since I didn't want to seem like the local groupie, I held back.

Red White & Boom

Gotta love 4th of July celebrations. Thanks to the festivities going on in downtown, we get to leave work at noon tomorrow so that we don't get caught up in all the fireworks madness. I was leaving work this evening & traffic was already a nightmare since lots of roads have been closed to prepare for the number of folks who'll be milling around. Yours truly is probably going to be joining the fray. My friends want to go out for dinner & drinks and then hike about 2 miles into downtown to watch the fireworks display so it should be good fun. Happy 4th of July!

Writing's on the Wall

In a 5-4 decision, the SCOTUS struck down voluntary integration plans in Seattle & Louisville, holding it was unconstitutional to use race as a criteria in deciding which high schools kids could get into. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, et al. While these cases only affected K-12 grades, in the very near future, affirmative action, as it pertains to higher education, will be a thing of the past. With a stab at Alito & Roberts, Justice Breyer summed it up best: "Never in the history of the court have so few done so much so quickly."

Looking Back....

at the past school year, these are some of my thoughts for incoming 1L's:

1. Make sure you really want to go to law school. There are too many miserable students who did not put alot of thought into it but are now stuck because they've invested too much time & money. Law school is tough & you should be prepared mentally.

2. If you have debt, pay down as much of it as you can, especially credit card debt, before starting school. Student budgets are very tight & you won't be able to afford to pay back those debts during the 3 years you'll be in school, unless you are making good money in the summer. One of the girls I'm working with will graduate with about $200k in debt. You don't want to be that person.

3. If you know for sure you are going to pursue a law degree, go to the cheapest undergrad college you can get into, unless your parents are fronting you the money or you have a full ride. In the big scheme of things, having good grades & LSAT scores will make up for whatever college you went to.

4. But, go to the best law school you can get into, in the state you want to practice. The law profession is a fickle one and school ranking does matter when trying to get your career going. Getting to transfer to another state takes quite a bit of leg work so if you are not willing to do that, don't go to a school in New Mexico hoping to practice in California. It's even more work if you go to a lower ranked school because chances are, no one would have ever heard of it.

5. You don't have to be in a study group to do well. I was in a study group my first semester & found it to be a waste of time. The biggest problem was spending lots of time talking about non-law related stuff, "girl, you ain't gon' believe what happened to me....." Maybe, try one around exam time just to work out whatever kinks you may have in your notes, but again, it's not necessary. Profs tout them at every opportunity but ignore them. Try it & if it doesn't work out, don't worry about it.

6. Don't be a gunner. I was lucky that we had only one gunner in my class but he was pretty hilarious so he got away with it. Unless you get called on or the prof asks for volunteers, try not to raise your hand because more likely than not, what you have to say will not contribute any value to your classmates' education. While she wasn't a gunner, I remember one girl who would always ask the prof to clarify things she did not understand. Ridiculous. Please hold the "I don't understand" questions till after class or use LEXIS/Westlaw to post your questions. Profs are more than happy to answer them there or meet with you after class. Most everyone doesn't follow what's going on but work out those issues at your own time.

7. Be nice to everyone. Sounds corny but these are your peers & will probably recommend/interview you for jobs in the future & if you were an a$$ in school, people will remember.

8. Do well in your legal writing class. It's a 2-credit class but do take it seriously. Writing is a must for all attorneys & it's pretty hard to explain away a bad writing grade. But if you do get a bad grade, don't feel bad. You are being graded according to your prof's writing style which is a very subjective standard to be measured against.

9. Study smart, not necessarily harder. Just because you are burning the midnight oil at the library does not mean you will do better than the person who has never seen the inside of it. There's a method to all the madness & you will figure it out. Remember, law school exams are graded on curves so you only have to do better than the best student in the class. But if you don't do as well as you expected, here's what my Civ Pro prof told us: "A" students become professors; "B" students become judges; and "C" students become attorneys.

10. Finally, don't take law school too seriously. It is just school. You are a smart person & you will make it through just fine.

Humble Abode

I was too lazy to go out & look for a place to move into this Aug so I put down the $600 deposit for a townhome that I had gone to see earlier this year. I really like it although I'm concerned about the wildlife. The landlord thought I was nuts when I asked him to give me details about all the critters I was bound to encounter while living there. "Well, really, the only thing I've had tenants complain about is centipedes in their basements.....but don't worry......we come out & spray so that whatever eggs they've laid don't hatch!!!!!!!" WTF?!

Age Is A High Price To Pay For Maturity!

Share Your Talent

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson~

Office Space

Here's how I tell who's who at the office:

Attorneys: Get an office with a view overlooking downtown Columbus
Paralegals: Get an office that has no window thus no view
Secretaries: Get no office & no window.... just a lovely cubicle

It's a slow news day. Went for happy hour after work & it struck me that I'm constantly out boozing & schmoozing. I have a good friend at work with whom I hang out with at these events so it turns out ok.

Counting Down....

the weeks until it's time to go back to school! I HATE WORKING!!! I have a calendar in my office that I mark off as each day passes by & I'm sure it's not lost on anyone who comes in & sees it. I'm actually thinking about taking on another graduate degree courtesy of the U.S. govn. just so that I don't have to actually think about getting back into the workforce for about a decade. Don't get me wrong, getting paid this summer to do a whole lot of nothing is great, but it's a rough going after one year off.

This is in stark contrast to my fellow summer assoc's who just love the job & worry incesantly about getting offers to come back next summer. I mean seriously. Can't we just worry about getting through this summer before worrying about next year?! Sadly, they may be on to something. I'm already starting to prepare my resume & cover letter to begin the interview process that will start this Fall. Reality makes a rude entrance.

My new B.F.F. didn't get the memo about the Open Toed Shoe Pledge & that's all I'm going to say about that until I line up another BFF. But just so that I don't leave you hanging, her toes were....... Who needs enemies when you have friends like me?

Justice: "That's Hot"

Al Sharpton will be camping in front of the Heiress' house to protest her early release from prison. I'm with Al on this one. Classism at its finest. This is a mockery of the justice system & she should be thrown back into the slammer, pronto.

I went to visit with my secretary today because I needed her help on a project I was working on. So we discussed my project & just as I was about to leave, "Oh....did I show you pictures of my grandkids?" Daaamn! Now I gotta coo & uuhh appropriately with everyone in the surrounding cubicles hearing every inflection in my voice. "I'd love to see them," I responded. Bam. Photos were thrust into my hand & I thought I was doing a great job of saying how gorgeous they were when she stated loudly, "Aren't they the most beautiful things you've ever seen in your life?!" No! But since I still needed summer employment, I mumbled something really nice about them taking after their grandma & hightailed it outta there before she broke out any 'masterpieces' the little geniuses had drawn in school.

Update: 6/8. Heiress is back in the slammer to serve her full 45 day sentence.

"Your World.....Delivered"

For those of you who've talked to me lately, you may have heard me ask you to speak louder. My 3-year old cell phone has ran its course & it's been trying to relay this message to me by having the ear sound disappear when it deemed fit. Like with everything else I buy, I have to conduct extensive research before buying & was ready to defect from Cingular (J gave tmobile rave reviews) until I learnt how rollover minutes work. I'm currently on the $39.99 plan where you only get 450 minutes that roll over. I have ~1600 rolled over minutes which are set to expire in September. Since tmobile had a $39.99 plan with 1500 minutes, I was about to defect until I googled "how do rollover minutes work?"

Turns out not all the rolled over minutes drop off after 12 months (which would be Sep for mine). Are you still with me? Instead, only the oldest minutes drop off every month e.g. if I accumulated 200 rollover minutes last year Sep, then this year only 200 minutes will drop off....not the entire stash of minutes. And so it continues every month. I am absolutely ecstatic. I don't have to change carriers because I will still have plenty of rollover minutes left over every month to supplement the very dissmal 450 minutes alloted for $39.99. Color me impressed if you made it to this sentence.

Moving Out

I gave my 60-day move out notice today but I don't have a clue where I'll be moving to. I like some townhomes around where I live but the owner requires a $600 deposit & I'm pretty sure I'll be responsible for snow removal.....not gonna happen. Basically, I'll be homeless in 2 months unless I get on the ball.

I got new neighbors below me, it's been 4 months since the previous tenant moved out. I met them today (Paul & his grilfriend) & they are really nice. Being the conscientious person that I am I'll try & keep it quiet since the walls are paper thin.

Pay Day!!

Hard at Work

All the summer associates went to the Memorial Tournament today. We got there about 12 noon, had lunch at the Bogey Inn & then some of us ventured out to the course. We decided to sit at the 18th hole & watch the golfers go by which turned out great because we sat right on the edge of the green. Didn't get to see Tiger Woods tee off (because it was too hot to follow him around hole by hole) but saw him putt at the 18th. He was the only golfer in his group of 3 not to birdie the hole so we punctuated his miss with a loud Ooooohhhhh! It's a hard life but someone's gotta do it!

My Favorite New Show

Next Best Thing: Celebrity Impersonators. It airs on ABC Wed 8/7c. Hilarious!!!!

Summer Gig

I started my summer job & it's been an experience so far. I work from 8:30-5:30pm & take about an hour lunch. I get to dress up in suits everyday & get to rub shoulders with some very brilliant attorneys. Everyone is really nice except for one young attorney who's an arrogant s.o.b. We've got to attend lots of summer activities with the rest of the attorneys & this is the part I'm not looking forward to but it's a ritual everyone has got to go through. I'm being kind of cryptic with the details because of "ethical" considerations but I'll let loose once I'm done for the summer since I don't think they'll be asking me back for my 2L summer after the Property grade I got....he he he.

Some grades are in & as promised I tanked in Property but I did well in Constitutional law & Legal writing. I'm still waiting on Contracts & Legislation so we'll see how it all pans out.

Update: All grades are in. With the exception of Property, I'm happy with the results.

Journal Competition

Here's what it's all about: Moritz has 5 Journals - Ohio State Law Journal (OSLJ), Ohio State Journal On Criminal Law (OSJCL), Journal of Dispute Resolution (JDR), Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal (EBLJ), and Journal of Information Society (I/S). Journals publish works written by law students, professors, judges, etc, on issues concerning the law and they are completely student run which is great. The journal editors decide which articles they want to publish and the rest of us go through them with a fine tooth comb to make sure all citations are on point, no typography problems, etc. All except one of the journals require staff members to write a "note" which is about a 60 page paper on whatever you want to write about. If it's really good, then it may get published. We get 1 credit per semester for working on journal & about 2 credits for writing a note.

Back to the competition: OSJL & JDR have a joint competition. They provide you with a STACK of research material & provide two separate topics from which you choose one and write a paper 10 pages or less. 85% of points. There's also a 7 page editing assignment where you go through making edits on everything from typos, to punctuation, but mainly contains errors in the footnotes where you have to apply Bluebook rules to be able to make the necessary corrections. 15% of points. We must submit 11 copies of the writing sample & 2 copies of the editing assignment. I want to get on either one of these two.

Then EBLJ, OSJCL, & I/S have their joint competition. This one is easier because the 10 page writing sample can be from any past written work we've done. I used my legal writing paper since I got a good grade on it but I could've used the writing sample I submitted for the OSJL/JDR competition (didn't want to place all my eggs in one basket). The editing assignment is the same for all journals so you just send copies of what you submitted for the JDR/OSJL competition. However, these 3 journals require personalized letters of interest and a resume. We must submit 4 copies of the writing sample, 2 copies of the editing assingment, 4 copies of the letter of interest, & 4 copies of the resume per journal. I spent a whopping $25.60 at Kinkos this morning. Out of these 3, I would like to get on OSJCL.

I've applied to all 5 & since one could potentially get into all of them, the journal editors give you about a week to decide which one you want to be in since you can only work in one. The kicker of all this: if you accept membership to any one of the journals, you must be back in school by Aug 5 for orientation & journal work which is a whole 2 weeks before everyone else (why again am I applying?!). Should know sometime late July whether my writing & editing was good enough to get into one of them. Did I mention that I haven't slept in the last 30 hours trying to get this monstrosity done? Now that's dedication!

Nothingness

I was a procrastinator during the school year & I'm still a procrastinator during the summer. My journal paper is due this Thu by 4pm & guess what? I haven't typed even 1 page of the 10 page paper! I went to the library yesterday with the hopes of getting it started & was doing pretty well for about an hour when I decided to take a break & surf the web in the computer room. Ended up chit chatting with other folks for a couple of hours & completely abandoned my plan. It's all good though, I'll just pull an all-nighter tomorrow. Been there still doing that.

Watched a ton of movies this past week & really liked Something New. Thought it was going to be just another goofy movie but was pleasantly surprised. So if you're looking for a movie for a girls' night, this is it. Also liked MatchPoint although it starts out slow but picks up after about 20 minutes. Disclaimer: No money back guarantee.

Jerry Falwell died today. I'm sure liberals are not shedding too many tears over his demise.

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge

Alright Ladies, it's that time of the year again. Just a friendly reminder!! Please raise your big toes and repeat after me: (The Open Toed Shoe Pledge)...

As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when I wear sandals and other open-toe shoes:

I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow. I will shave the hairs off my big toe. I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.

I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes.

This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

If I have been privy to the magic that is Foot Soup, I will share that knowledge and experience with the non-initiated.

I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

I will promise to go my local beauty school at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $10 and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear...nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals....Don't keep this to yourself - pass it on to other sisters.

Done! Done! Done!

Legislation exam: Recap: 3.5 hrs. 3 questions. Open book.

Q. 1. Hypothetical problems going on in a city. Reforms you'd adopt to resolve them.

Q.2. Title VII affirmative action problem in a police department. Arguments for and against keeping the AA plan.

Q.3. Partisan gerrymandering case. New justice on SCOTUS & how you'd advise her to rule.

So excited about getting done with my 1st year of law school. Giddy is the word that comes to mind. We all headed to the local pub after the exam & guess who showed up? The legislation prof to have lunch. We heckled him jokingly & tried to get him to buy us shots but he wasn't having it. I picked up the materials for writing onto Journal & the package is about 600 pages worth of reading. Will be poring over that in the next few days. Signed up for HBO, Showtime & Starz also so I'm all set for the summer.

Constitutional Law Exam

Recap: 28 hours. Thu 9am to Fri 1pm. 3 questions. Take home.

Que. 1. Dealt with a federal abortion statute. Arguments the ACLU could make to get it struck down & the counter arguments the government would make. 2000 word limit.

Que. 2. State statute criminalizing sexual conduct between children & parents, step-parents, guardians, custodians. Write a majority opinion that you'd expect Justice Kennedy to author. 1000 word limit.

Que. 3. Separation of powers issue dealing with a Peace Treaty between the U.S. & Hungary. 1000 word limit.

I was at it from 9 am yesterday until 6 am this morning. On their face, the questions seemed decent until I got down to writing. Very complicated to make persuasive arguments when there's a word limit imposed. There was a provision in the instructions that papers exceeding word limits would be heavily penalized. Glad it's over.

Knock On Wood

Over the past few days, I have been thinking just how my car has been acting lovely for the past 6 months or so. But every time I would think that I would tell myself, "stop that!" Didn't want to jinx myself but sure enough, it happened. I put gas in my car today (for $2.99/gallon!!!) & then drove around the block to go use the ATM. My car would not hold the idle, it kinda just died. Shit! So I use the ATM....might as well have some money right....all the while thinking what was I going to do? Turned it back on & it still had an almost non-existent idle so I just kept pumping the gas pedal for about a minute & sure enough, the engine began idling normally. Drove a little & pulled into another parking lot just to make sure I had the problem 'fixed' & all was good. Even turned on the A/C & the idle held. My mechanic refuses to come fix my car unless it's not moving. His motto: if it ain't broke don't fix it. My motto: if I'm willing to pay what do you care?

Property Exam

Recap: 3.5 hrs. 4 questions. Open book. I got my a$$ handed to me today.

Que I. 20%. Four part question dealing with future estates.

Que II. 40%. Long essay with 2 sub-questions. Dealt with covenants, easements, & future estates. Took me FOREVER to finish this question. My problem was that when I began applying the rules to the facts & got stuck. I could not figure out how one of the rules applied & got hang up for about 20 minutes because I had to make it work & I couldn't make my argument logical until the rule fit in to the facts. I should've moved on in hindsight.

Que III. 15%. Continuation of fact pattern in Q. II dealing with Takings. At this point I had 15 minutes to spend total on this question so I wrote whatever I could in this time. Found out later from talking to people I applied the wrong case hence the wrong rules.

Que IV. 25%. Essay still on same fact pattern dealing with Tenancy. Main ideas were whether the landlord had a duty to mitigate & whether the tenants had any defenses left to them. I had 20 minutes total to complete question & completely missed the defenses of the tenants. I don't know how that happened but I did. To top it all off, while still working on my 2nd question, one guy got done & left. I mean, how is that possible? Unless he was writing an outline I do not see how he could've gotten done in less than 2 hours. No way. But maybe I'm just saying that to make myself feel better. I'm staring in the face of a failing grade. I'm seriously going to drop out of school if I have to retake this class again.

Semester in Review

1L classes ended today & I'm thrilled about that. This semester was definitely harder than the 1st which was surprising as I thought it would get easier now that I had become adept at knowing what to look for when reading cases. I enjoyed Constitutional Law the most although coming in I thought I would like it the least. The prof was absolutely brilliant & she was entirely responsible for me enjoying this class. However, I am most concerned with her exam so we'll see how that goes.

Legislation was my least favorite class although the prof was great. He had lots of energy and taught the material very well but it's the content that I disliked. Still don't think this class should be mandatory although I get where they're coming from since we're all at some point going to deal with statutory interpretation. Property was in the middle. My prof's British & she knows what she's talking about although she would get confused sometimes in class but she always followed up to clarify.

Exam schedule: Property 4/30; Con Law 5/4; Legislation 5/7.

Enlightened!

The piece of knowledge that has thus far been most surprising to me in law school is that the President no longer has the power to use the "Line Item Veto." The Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York (1998) struck down this power. Didn't get the memo until I got to law school & sat through Legislation. Why does this matter?

Well, the Iraq War Spending Bill was passed tonight in the House 218-208 (awaiting Senate tomorrow) & the President has said he'll veto this Bill because it gives a timetable for when troops should pull out. If this was pre-1998, the Pres. could've used the line-item veto to strike down the timetable portion & then sign the rest of the Bill into law. But since he doesn't have this power, he has to veto the whole darn thing. Congress could override this presidential veto with a super-majority (2/3) in each House. Problem: Dems can't get enough votes to pull this off so this Bill will die though it may revive later but it'll definitely be sans timetable.

Glad my tuition is being put to such good use. Really.

Nothingness

I got a $10 award for completing a survey. I redeemed it for Chili's since eating out is such a rarety (if that's a word) due to lack of $.

Yesterday we got evacuated from the building in the middle of class at about 2pm. We got to sit outside for about 30 minutes before the all clear was given. Don't know what the problem was.

Columbus has a brand new airline called Skybus & it's selling tickets for $10 each way. Gotta love that except I have no reason to fly to almost all the cities it's offering service to.

Bought a new skirt suit today from Marshalls. It's really nice although I was disappointed since I cannot seem to find pant suits. I prefer skirts but I need a little variety. The dress code at my summer job will be formal so I'll need a few more suits before it's all said and done.

I cannot seem to get started on my outlines. I have a skeleton one for Property but just thinking about all what needs to be done (Legislation & Con Law) makes me feel like not doing anything. Overwhelming. Only good thing is that all my exams are open book so if I don't get done it will not be the end of the world. Outlining though is a great way to review so I'll give it a try.

Joe has a CD that just came out & his new single is nice. Also like blogmusik where you can put songs in your playlist & listen to them later. Make sure to create your own playlist because the one already there will not save your songs after you log out. Variety of songs isn't that hot though but it's free.

Today: Weather is fabulous. No classes because it's a Constructive Friday (don't ask). Laundry is done. Sanjaya is no longer on American Idol. What a great day!

What a Day!

Today I went to the Student Health Center at OSU. I've been to this building before & they had about 20 parking spots just outside the building where people park their cars. When I drove up today, half these spaces had been turned to handicap parking spots and the rest had been reserved for state cars. Not a problem. There's a small adjacent garage with a similar number of spaces so I parked my car there. As I was locking my doors, I noticed that it cost $2.00 to park...CASH ONLY!!! I didn't have a single cent. Couldn't get out because of the bars that safeguard the exits. Ugh.

Well figured I'd just look for an ATM inside the health building. Turned out there was none. But one nurse told me that the Pharmacy was always willing to give people change. So I went there & asked the clerk, "If I buy something, can you let me get some cash back? I parked in the garage & don't have any cash." To which he replied, "Ohh I'm sorry we're not allowed to do that." So I ask, "Are there any ATM machines around here?" He replied, "Oh Hon, the closest one to here is in the Business school but it was down earlier today so the only other one I can think of is by the Ohio Union Bldg. Sorry." Great....only problem was that O.U. Bldg is about a 5 minute drive away which was probably equivalent to a half hour walk. Short of going around the building & begging for $2, it looked like I was going to be stuck in the doggone building & my 1 o'clock class was starting in thirty minutes. I was completely stumped at what to do (which is not often). As I was leaving to regroup, the girl standing behind me in line asked, "Are you needing $2 to get out of the garage?" I said "yes." She continued, "Here you go, have a great day." She gave me $2!!!! I wanted to smother her with hugs & kisses but I figured if I did this she would probably ask for her money back. So after thanking her profusely, I was off to release my car from bondage. Guess what happened next? As I approached the exit bar so that I could insert my money, the bar just raised up on its own without me having to put in the money! All that mental befuddlement for nothing. Sheesh.

So I made it to my 1 o'clock class on time. I should've skipped it. I had to make a presentation to all the students. We knew the order we were going in & by the time it was my turn, I was so nervous I thought I was going to pass out. I made it through unscathed but I hated the whole process. That's the reason why I'm going to be a transactional lawyer. I'm just not cut out to be a litigator. I need a cocktail after what I've been through today. Not to mention I was up until 5am finishing up my memo. Definitely need a cocktail.

Conundrum

Remember my story about my legal writing prof going off the rails with my memo, well, he's at it again. My trial brief draft was returned last Friday & he had made very little corrections to it. "This is a powerful brief," were his actual words. The problem is: I thought my brief was horrific! I had written it really fast & it didn't flow like any nice document would & my research was spotty at best. Planned to make numerous changes after getting what I was expecting to very negative feedback from the prof but it didn't quite work out that way. I don't trust this man. I feel like he's setting me up to fail by giving me positive feedback so that I don't make significant changes and then he'll hammer my final draft. But what if he's not out to get me and I make those changes I had originally intended to make & then he gets me for butchering a 'masterpiece'? What then? I don't prescribe to the theory of conspiracies but something sure smells fishy! It's due 8 a.m. this Friday & between now & then I have to come up with a workable solution to this twilightish situation.

Virginia Tech Massacre

A gunman killed 32 students - a toll that may rise - and injured numerous others this morning at Virginia Tech University. The first shootings occured at 7 am and the second shootings occured at 9 am in two separate buildings. This two hour time-span shows the glaring gap there is in communication between buildings of university campuses.

High schools since Columbine have become adept at locking down classrooms when a shooting takes place. I do hope this is a wake-up call to all universities to adopt communications such as those in high schools so that when these loonies go on rampages, they don't get the opportunity to harm as many students as those that were killed today. This will be no small fete due to the sheer size of campuses and the distance between buildings but it has to be done. The media coverage will no doubt inspire a copy cat situation in the very near future.

Update: 4/17. Noticed a significant number of police around the school patroling on bikes today. Must be in response to the Virginia Tech situation. Got an email that Ohio State will be observing a moment of silence on Wednesday at 3pm which will be smack dub in the middle of my Property class. Maybe we'll be let off early. Doubtful. The prof will probably cease talking for a minute & then pick it right back up where she left off.

Off To A Good Start

The registration period for picking classes for next year opened at 8 pm tonight. I was waitlisted for 1 class during Fall '07 & 1 class for Winter '08. Mighty pleased about getting into most of the classes I wanted, though there were a few tense seconds there where I couldn't get the Fall registration page to open, but about 8:00:15 pm it cooperated. That's probably why I got waitlisted. No biggie. They (classes) should open up before Fall rolls around.

Goat of the week: The PA radio jock that was fired earlier this week. Phrase that pays for his listeners was "nappy-headed hos." Howard Stern will be having plenty of company down in satellite radio pretty soon.

An aside: Why do celebrities who use racial slurs feel the need to meet with Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson? Who made these two the moral compass by which African-American standards are measured? They have so much 'baggage' about them that I cringe every time they scold these wrongdoers. I hope those who'll be spewing racial slurs in the future have learnt that meeting with Al Sharpton will do them no good - Kramer has been whittled down to nothingness and & Imus got fired. Why isn't anyone running the tape of Al Sharpton essentially branding the Duke boys guilty way before the facts ever came out & asking him to apologize? Pointless but you get the idea. They take everyone to task whenever the opportunity presents itself and it's about time someone returned the favor! Caveat: I have yet to see someone win an argument against Al.

Oh Hail Midwest Airlines

My flight this weekend was with Midwest Airlines bought through Expedia. When I got to the airport, they told me that they would have to rebook me with another airline because I would miss my connecting flight because the first plane was running late. It turned out to be a non-stop flight on American Airlines! I was surprised they made this happen because tickets bought through Expedia have ridiculous restrictions.

On my return flight yesterday, no such luck. I was issued my ticket & had to connect through Milwaukee. I was expecting an old raggedy plane but was pleasantly surprised. Plane looked very nice & clean & had leather chairs & served freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Even the connecting flight was very nice and plane fairly big which was surprising because for a 50 minute flight, you usually get the smaller planes that rock light boats at any breeze that wafts their way. Would definitely fly with them more often if I didn't have to connect through Milwaukee which has very suspect weather.

A girl was raped & robbed over the weekend right around the block from the Moritz building which is the southern most part of the school. Turns out the police have issued 5 crime alerts in the past week for the same area. That's why as soon as classes are done at 3pm, I'm outta there while it's still nice & bright outside. Too much craziness going on.

About Don Imus & him calling the Rutgers womens basketball team "nappy-headed hos": I think he should be fired from his job. I'm all about free speech & saying whatever you want to say. However, we all know that any other radio jock would've been given the boot as soon as those words were uttered but because it's him & MSNBC doesn't know who would occupy his time slot from 5:30am-9:00am, they won't fire him. His viewership won't suffer but the personalities he gets on his show will probably lessen in quality because they will be afraid that if they appear it may seem that they agree with Imus' views. I think that's a crock but that's how the media works. Moral of the story: double standards are very annoying. At the very least he should relegated to therapy!

Update 1: Imus will be suspended for 2 weeks starting this Monday.
Update 2: MSNBC TV will no longer simulcast the Imus radio show.
Update 3: FIRED!!

John McCain needs to hang it up. I don't even think he's officially stated he's going to be running for Presidency in 2008 & he should keep it that way. Did you see him yesterday on 60 minutes? He looked old & haggard after the whole ,"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." Then we see him walking around in a Baghdad market flanked by soldiers & apache helicopters above. Who you think you're fooling John? America doesn't want a President who's out of touch with reality. Shades of W. when he says, "We're winning the war in Iraq." Want a cold dose of reality? Vote Clinton/Obama 2008.

To My Niece

Baby's First Birthday

It's your first birthday, baby,

One candle on your cake;

Proud parents stare in wonder,

At each new move you make.

We join in celebration,

As this special date arrives,

For baby has brought pleasure,

Into all our lives.

We look forward now to seeing,

How you progress and grow;

From the cute and tiny infant,

You were one year ago.
So dig into your icing,

Enjoy your presents, too,

For the reason for this day,

Is a special person--you!

By Joanna Fuchs

My Mistake

This week, the girl that seats next to me in one of my classes showed me pictures of her family: 2 very cute & naughty toddlers(the last naughty thing her daughter did was put all her mother's credit cards through the slot of her car cd player). So after the customary oohs & aahs, I pointed to one picture & said, "That must be your Mom." She gave me that look of 'oh-no-she-didn't.' "That's my husband!!!," she exclaimed. My bad.......but the guy wears 2 earrings, has long curly hair & looks older than she does.....damn sure looked like mom's to me.

I received a "Save the Date" post card from my prospective summer employer. The topic: Schedule for Summer Barbecues & Parties. Makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside.....NOT! Just let me do my job, pay me & let me go home. Please.