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.

Picking 2nd Yr Classes

is quite an ordeal. Two big questions:

1. Do I pick classes that will be on the Bar exam? OR
2. Do I pick classes that I'll enjoy?

Professors will tell you to take classes that you enjoy since you pay all this tuition for them but most students tell you to take a healthy dose of classes that will be on the Bar. Barbri classes teach the substantive matter during their review classes (summer before the Bar) but it gets very rough trying to learn too many new subjects. I'll be taking majority of the Bar classes my 2nd year then those I enjoy, my 3rd year. That's the easy part.

The hard part is getting into those classes before they fill up. Rising 3L's get to pick their classes one week before we do (starting tomorrow at 8pm) and we get to pick starting next Thursday at 8pm. Imagine 230 students, at 7:59pm, with their fingers poised atop their keyboards ready to madly type in call #s trying to get into an Evidence class that has only 6o seats. Vicious! We also have to take an Appellate Advocacy class this fall which I hear is a beast. It's true what they say: 1st year: they scare you to death; 2nd year: they work you to death; 3rd year: they bore you to death.

Barrister Ball

was tonight at Confluence Park Restaurant. This is like a formal for law students where we get to dress up & go out for dinner & dance. I realized today how much I don't like hanging out with law students outside of the law school. The food was ok - I had prime rib which was served rare but they were nice enough to take it back & put it on the grill for a few more minutes. Dessert was outstanding & there were free well drinks. Dinner was generally nice. I made a few new friends who were all dates of the law students.

It was the after-dinner-part that was boring. The dance floor was way too small for 400+ people so folks were packed like sardines while the rest just stood around & watched. So unless you were drinking, there was really not much else to do unless you were willing to brave the dance floor crowd. I wasn't doing either so I left. I'm glad I experienced it but will not be making a repeat appearance next year!

Go Bucks! Kicked some Georgetown Hoyas' a$$. Final OSU v. Florida. Mon 4/2 CBS.

Update: Ohio State got beat.....yet again.....by Florida 84-75! Waahh....

Close but No Cigar!

Today I went to visit with my Civil Procedure prof from last semester about my exam. I'm thinking about taking him again for Civ Pro II this fall so I wanted to review my exam to help me decide. So I go into his office & he asks me for my exam number (our exams were anonymous) & when he looked it up, he told me that he had put a red circle around the number. "Why?" I asked. Because I had set a record......in his 22 years of teaching......for leaving the most objective (multiple choice) questions unanswered! 50 out of 150.

It was amazing to him because all the ones I had chosen to answer were all correct! Perfect score. So he told me to have confidence in myself. He could clearly tell I knew the material from my 'very good' essay & all my correct answers, so he could not figure out why I had not answered more questions. "Ummm.....negative points for wrong answers," I answered. "Well, you knew the stuff so you weren't completely guessing therefore, more likely than not, had you answered a few more, they'd have been right & you'd have gotten an "A". I don't mean to make you feel bad but I'm just telling you the truth. Be cofident in what you know," he answered.

Moral of the story: I'll be retaking him for Civ Pro II in the Fall.

Sanjaya Furor

Sanjaya is still alive & kicking after making it through tonight's elimination round. The only people to blame for this fiasco are the American Idol Judges (Randy, Paula, Simon) who allowed him to keep advancing in the rounds before America was ever able to vote for him.

So don't hate the singer, hate the judges.....for unleashing him & his hair on us, the unsuspecting public!

Update: 4/4/07. Sanjaya makes it through yet another round. His hits on Google have increased from 5 million last week to 6.27 million this week. Stop the madness America.....and India!

Update: 4/11/07. Not even in bottom 3. Was channelling an Antonio Banderas who hadn't shaved in 4 days.

Re-Correction

My legal writing prof is going off the rails. We have 2 writing assignments for the course; a memo & a trial brief. For both of these, you begin by writing a draft, which the prof corrects, and based on these corrections, you rewrite a final draft. So I turned in my memo draft, got feedback & made adjustments accordingly. Was very confident until I got back the results of the final draft. All the corrections he had asked me to make......& I did......had been re-corrected to what I had originally written! Huh?!

I was up until 4 am writing my trial brief draft which was due this morning at 8 am. When I get it back, I'm going to ignore all the corrections he makes & just resubmit my draft as my final submission. Then we'll see what corrections he's going to make.

Stood Up!

Got stood up today at my first ever business lunch! Students get no respect whatsoever. It was very annoying to get a cancellation voicemail just as I was stepping into the restaurant. Unless your office is right next door, you must know at least 30 minutes ahead of time you're not going to make it. Also got a text message asking me to eat in or take out anything on the menu & to put it on his tab (must be a regular)! What do you think I did?

Contracts Exam

Recap: 3hrs 40 minutes. 3 essay questions. 26 multiple choice questions. Closed book. Thought it was a very hard exam. My problem was the time alloted (Prof includes an extra 10 minutes for prayers!)

Essay I. 75 minutes. Was a 2-part exam with the first part dealing with preliminary negotiations & if one of the parties sued for breach what the result would be & why. Second part dealt with a contract being made after the preliminary negotiations. Problem was with performance so one party sued & the other countersued for breach. What result & why. There were so many issues it took me about 2 hours to complete the question instead of Prof-suggested 75 minutes.

Essay II. 45 minutes. Dealt with Seller's remedies. Agreement was for sale of sausages where the Buyer didn't cancel her order & refused to accept the goods. Sued for breach & the other party countersued to get the deposit back. I was hard-pressed for time so I didn't have ample time to look carefully at the UCC (which was provided by Prof) so I sort of did it from memory. Prof likes direct quotes but just didn't have time since I was compensating for the extra time I took in Essay I.

Essay III. 35 minutes. This was a policy question. We had to pick one of two questions. First one had to do with Emotional Distress damages & why it's difficult to get them under Contract law. Second one had to do with Parol Evidence Rule and Contract Interpretation & how the Courts want to move towards the strict Williston approach. Discuss how this is good/bad & which you prefer. I went with the 2nd one. Had plenty to write but again, had to rush to make it for multiple choice questions.

Multiple Choice: 1 hour. Ridiculous. There was a reason why he gave only 26 of them. These were the most complex multiple choice questions I've ever read. Probably half of them required damage calculations & the rest had fact patterns that you needed at least 3 minutes to understand(& this is pretty fast reading). And then all the choices given were plausible so it was just daunting. Didn't help any that I only had 45 minutes left when I began this section. The upside was that no negative points were being given for wrong anwers. So I ended up bubbling about 5 questions w/out reading because I ran out of time.

Totally stoked this class is over! I hated the Prof's teaching style altho' he did give us quite a few laughs. He never called on me the entire year so he gets brownie points for that too!

March Madness is here & my bracket is off to a rocky start. Four of my teams have lost so far - Texas Tech, Duke, Gonzaga & Georgia Tech. I have Ohio State losing to Tennessee in the round of Sweet 16 & Kansas Jayhawks winning it all.

Spring break is Mon 3/19-Fri 3/23. I have a brief due Mon 3/26 so will be hitting the books towards the back end of next week.

Nothingness

I got yet another settlement notice today from Equifax. It's a class action settlement that will be final sometime in June although I'm not sure what the suit was about. A few years ago I requested a copy of my credit report & my FICO score from Equifax. I'll be getting 3-6 months of free Credit Score Watch once the settlement is final.

Today was the late Oliver Wendell Holme's birthday (a supreme court justice) & so as an ode to him, my Contracts prof brought to class noise makers, birthday hats, & miniature cakes for everyone and then he conducted us as we sang Happy Birthday to Justice Holmes. It was fantastic. I haven't had such a good laugh in a long time. Turns out the Prof is an accomplished musician & conductor...who knew!

A year ago this weekend, I (along w/ good friend J) visited Moritz as a prospective student. Everyone we met associated with the school was really great & to return the favor, I'll be visiting with the prospective class this weekend. How time flies.

Other activities planned for this weekend: I'll be moving this summer so I'm going to look at a townhome nearby; I'm getting new speakers installed in my car (belated christmas gift to myself); I'm going out Saturday night for a few hours; and of course studying for the Contracts exam.

Property

is kicking my a$$ royally! This past week we've been talking about Future Interests & Rule of Perpetuities (don't worry...I don't know what those words mean either). I've gone through 4 classes w/out having a clue about what we're talking about. You realize how much you don't know when you get called on to explain something which made complete sense at home the night before but now in front of 80 students, all rational thoughts completely escape you. I have a new found respect for probate attorneys.


Contracts exam is next Friday & I'm worried! This is a year long class (5 credits) & the final is cumulative. It's then added up to last semester's grade & averaged. Problem: 1st exam is worth 20% of the final grade so this exam is a whole lot weightier. Amount of material we've covered this semester is astronomical & difficult. On top of that, I have to draft a contract & turn it in on Monday which is worth very little towards the final grade but is taking a lot of time. Don't forget Legislation, Constitutional Law, Legal Writing, and Property are still going on.....& on.....& on.....&....

Double Standard?

American Idol has allowed Antonella Barba (right) to stay on the show even after racy pics of her were posted on the internet. Frenchie (left) on the other hand got booted off the show in 2003, once topless photos of her surfaced on the web. Idol's justification is that Frenchie got paid to pose for her photos but Barba didn't (supposedly her friend posted the pics). Weak. I think if Barba makes it past this week, Idol will really be put on the hot seat. Tune in Thursday Fox 9/8c.

Update: America to Barba: Hasta la vista baby!

"Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream"

The new Ben & Jerry's ice-cream flavor.
Bringing balance back to the freezer!

Movie Review

Babel: B+ Interesting story although I should've watched it as soon as it made it to the theatres before it was publicized during the award show season. Felt like I was one step ahead the whole time.

Breach: A- Really liked it. I remember following the real life spy story back in 2001 when Robert Hanssen got caught & was surprised I was engrossed the entire time even though I knew what the outcome would be.

Crystal Ball Prediction

Rudy Giuliani will win the 2008 Presidential election!

Democratic primaries: As much as Hillary has critics and as much as people like Obama, Hillary will win the democratic primary. Obama may have some good buzz about him & that's all hunky-dory. However, whether or not we want to admit it, America is not ready for a black president. It has nothing to do with his inexperience in the political scene. I think that a person of hispanic heritage will be president long before a black candidate. When people are standing in that voting booth making their selection, reality will set in & they'll vote for Hillary.

Republican primaries: I thought McCain had this one in the bag since Giuliani was pro-choice and pro-gay rights & there was no way he was going to get the evangelical christian vote. That was until I saw Giuliani on Larry King explaining away where he stands on these issues. "Larry, I am pro-choice but I am against abortion..." He supports a woman's right to choose but he is personally opposed to abortion. Brilliant. He can have his cake & eat it too. He won't be accused of being a flip-flopper since he's still pro-choice & he'll now appeal to the christians since he's personally opposed to abortion. He also said, "...I will only elect Judges who will interpret the Constitution without legislating from the bench..." That will calm the GOP who were worried that he would be electing liberal judges. McCain's experience as a war vet is not going to be a big factor either since Giuliani saw NY through the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. That's why Giuliani will win the Republican primary.

National election: Rudy Giuliani (R) v. Hillary Clinton (D). It'll be fairly close but Giuliani wins.

Vice President: My crystal ball is hazy on this one. Dems: I don't think Hillary will make Obama her VP since he's a rockstar in his own right & she wouldn't want anyone stealing her thunder. Also, Hillary will already have most of the black vote so I don't see Obama helping her in any way. John Edwards wouldn't work since he made an unsuccessful run as VP with John Kerry in 2004 & if he couldn't help Kerry, how is he going to help her? How about Gov. Bill Richardson? New Mexico Governor, he's hispanic & he was a former American Ambassador to the U.N. He'd appeal to some hispanic voters & his experience in international matters would help her. It won't make a difference in the big scheme of things though. GOP: If Giuliani could get McCain to sign on as the VP then the election won't even be close. No recalls will be necessary.

Animal Affinity

Lately, I've been hearing something scurrying around in my roof (no apartment above me). It's been going on for months but didn't think nothing of it until the pitter patter of feet increased. I'm now thinking that there's got to be a mouse & it must be keeping some company! What's the potential of it/them falling in through one of my air vents? It seems like animals have an affinity for me.

Take last year for example before moving here. I got up to take a shower one morning & just as I stepped into the tub & got the shower going, I noticed a gecko (in the shower stall) tracking my every move. After the customary quick bolt out of the shower, I decided that since it was on the wall, I needed to finish showering so I could make it to work. So I'm showering gingerly, taking great precautions not to startle the gecko & guess what happened? The damn thing fell into the tub w/ yours truly in it. That was it....I was done.....so much for my 20 seconds of bravery. G had to come all the way to my house to terminate it & when he got there, you guessed it, it was nowhere to be found. Fast forward to that evening when I got home. I entered the shower & as soon as I turned on the faucet, what came flying out of the drain? The darn gecko!

Comforting Embrace

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, of the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group at Balad, Iraq, cradles a young girl as they both sleep in the hospital. The girl's entire family was executed by insurgents; the killers shot her in the head as well. The girl received treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, but cries and moans often. According to nurses at the facility, Gebhardt is the only one who can calm down the girl, so he has spent the last several nights holding her while they both sleep in a chair.

Photo courtesy of David W. Gilmore Jr./U.S. Air Force

What is "Chicken"?

This is my contracts class & that at the very front is the prof dressed in a 'chicken suit'! It was hilarious. He did it because we were talking about contract interpretations & the case on the docket was Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp. which deals with the issue of what the word 'chicken' means.

10 Things That Drive Me Nuts

1. People who don't update their blogs regularly. There needs to be a "blog will be taken down after 7 days of inactivity" clause that all blog engines should impose.
2. Women with uneven nails. Clip them....they'll grow back you know.
3. Cars that won't move over when I'm trying to merge onto the freeway.
4. Typos
5. Grocery carts with one bad wheel which you only discover after you've made it all the way to the back of the store.
6. The big animated pop up ads that crop up every time you go to a web site. They fill up half your web page & the kicker is that they hide the "x close" button so that you have to actually look at the ad for about 5 seconds.
7. People who talk when class is in session. If you have something to say, share it will all of us that way I don't have to miss out on 15 seconds of what the prof has to say.
8. Women with chipped nail polish. There's a wonderful little liquid called acetone that works wonders for this problem.
9. When I'm at the grocery line & the person behind me is stepping on my heels. Coming closer to me won't make the grocery bagger go any faster.
10. People who drive while tapping on their brakes sporadically.

You're Hired!!

I got the summer job!

Not-So-Home-Work!

My last class yesterday was Property which the prof decided would last 2.5 hrs to make up for the snow days last week. It was about 4:45pm so I read up for Contracts & Legislation & decided to take my Constitutional law & Property books to read at home. Got home about 7pm, ate dinner while watching t.v. (was supposed to be only 30 minutes). Next thing I knew, it was 10pm & I hadn't cracked open a book. Started reading for Con Law which was a massive assignment & soon it was 11pm. Decided to watch the news & after 40 minutes, was back to reading Con Law. Got done at 1am & it was nighty night. Had Property homework been done? Nope. That was ok, I'd skim over it at lunch (which is now today).

Lunch time comes & by the time I'm done eating & chatting, it's time to go for an interesting meeting (the school always invites people to come & speak so I always attend whenever I think a speaker is going to be interesting) which takes up the rest of my lunch break. I toted around my Property case book & didn't even open it. Classes resume & when Property rolls around, I am completely lost. We're talking about Covenants which are horrendous & the fact that I didn't do my reading makes this horrendousness go up exponentially. So I take a few notes every time something sounds logical hoping it'll all come together after I go back & re-read what I was supposed to have read yesterday, right after I read what is assigned for today. Realistically, not gonna happen.

An aside: During lunch, my friend had brought some sopapillas & put them on the table for us to partake. They looked delish & everyone was wolfing them down except moi. Why? Because they had been sprinkled liberally with sugar on top & I don't like very sweet things. It didn't go unnoticed for very long that I wasn't feasting on the delicacy. I should've stuck to my guns but silly me found myself reaching for one. The darn thing was so big...I had to really focus with every bite not to have a gag reflex. Can't remember the last time I had to eat something so unpalatable.

I See Dead People!

That would be Meridith on Grey's Anatomy this past week. The last 2 episodes about the ferry disaster have been a perfect example of a cliff hanger gone wrong. The little girl that stared & didn't talk was weird, Izzie & her 'I believe' speech made me want to gag - why would she say that she thinks George & Callie are wrong for each other? She came off sounding like a petty bitch & frankly I'm starting to think she must have the hots for O'Malley since she keeps bringing it up.

We all know that Meredith won't die (show is called Grey's anatomy) & the flat line at the end of last week didn't fool anyone since the preview of the next episode showed them still working on her. Sloppy. If she dies though, I hope she doesn't incarnate as the narrator like they have it on Desperate Housewives. Maybe the show will be called O'Malley's Anatomy. The person that needs to get killed off is Izzy...have you noticed that her character on the show is sounding more & more like her real self when she talks about Isaiah Washington? Wouldn't miss her one bit if they got rid of her.

The problem for Grey's is that people are watching shows like '24' where the drama is non-stop & un-predictable. So when you watch Grey's attempt at suspense, you can't help but notice the amateurish result. The writers need to stick to the personal story lines of the doctors & focus on trying develop their characters in the most interesting way possible.

Interviewed

today for a summer associate position at a firm & thought it went well. The highlight of the morning was trying to walk in snow & ice in 3" heels! I looked very nice though in a skirt suit & pearls so it was well worth it. Should know by the end of next week if it was a yea or nay so will keep you updated. Wish me luck!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Half-a-Snow-Day

No classes this afternoon due to a snow storm!

Update: Campus is closed Wed 2/14. Woot!

School Going-Ons

I didn't realize until last week that the Legislation prof calls on people by alphabetical order going backwards (from Z-A). I thought he randomly called on people so I was always prepared. Only after getting called on last week did I realize this pattern (5 weeks into the semester)! There's a reason they say students lose whatever common sense they had prior to law school. Whenever when we appear stumped in my Contracts class, the prof always asks, "What would you have said before you got to law school?" And sure enough, everything crystallizes. Anyway, now knowing he doesn't randomly call on folks makes my reading faster because when you're not on call, you read to get the gist versus reading in order to be able to regurgitate back to the prof. All of a sudden, I like this class much better!

One of my friends dropped out! Didn't see him after grades came out & when I asked around, found out he was done! I think he was burned out (came straight from undergrad) and that's too bad since he was a really nice guy.

Affirmative Action

Let the truth be told!

Tragic!

Anna Nicole Smith dead at age 39. Unresolved multi-million dollar suit for her dead husband's estate. Her 20-year old son died 5 months ago (3 days after her daughter was born). Pending paternity suit with her ex-boyfriend who's claiming he's the father of the 5-month old child. Then Anna Nicole & Trimspa are sued jointly this week in a class action suit for false advertising. Life should've cut her some slack....or maybe it finally did.

Who knew

that astronauts wore diapers as:

1. they're waiting to launch into space & for re-entry
2. they're taking space walks
3. they're driving 900 miles to confront the 'other' woman

Love can truly be a bitch!

Spoiler

Now is about the time reporters unearth Ralph Nader from whatever hole he's been hiding in. Will he or won't he run in the 2008 Presidential elections? I think he'll run as an Independent like he did in 2004 & that's why I detest him. Nader has no realistic chance of winning, he knows this & yet he persists on running because says he's the lesser of the evils presented. That takes away votes from Dems, especially highlighted in the 2000 presidential elections where had he not run under the Green Party, Gore would've received most of the Green Party votes, carried Florida & Iraq would've never happened.

Those who say he's not a spoiler say there's no reason to believe that people who vote for Nader would really vote for Dems and that Dems need to do more to try & understand what these folks who vote for him are attracted to. BS. The only difference in stance between Nader & Dems is environmental policies & big business & even that is iffy. Everything else is identical so it's really not a stretch of the imagination to think absent Nader, this misled group would vote for the Democratic candidate. I'm sure now, all the idiotic people who voted for Nader & his Green Party in 2000, would've voted for Gore had they known what we Dems knew, that W. would be a disastrous president.

Bbbrrrrr!! It's So Darn Cold!

Temperatures for the past few days have been sub-zero & will continue to be till mid-week. So Friday evening I went to the newly opened Walmart to buy groceries. When I got into the store, it was just cold but about 40 minutes later when I got out, it was snowing like you wouldn't believe. Got home and made 2 trips back & forth from my car to my apartment hauling the groceries. The only thing left was a 12-pack of cokes which I figured I'd leave in the back seat & get the following day since I was too lazy to make one more snowy trip outside.

Fast forward to this morning. Got in my car to drive to school & what do I see in my back seat? 12 cans of exploded coke!! Don't forget that my seats have been upholstered in a tan color and the frozen soda was all over the seat & floor mats. Dilemma: Do I take a few minutes to clean up my car and get late to class or do I leave the mess & make it to class on time since the soda will probably still be frozen a few hours later?

Well, I chose the former. Cleaned out the frozen soda with my snow brush but as I was brushing it off, it was melting onto my super clean seats & staining them. Ugh! Then I had to dispose of the exploded cans. With my kind of luck, I sliced my right thumb open on one of the cans. Didn't think nothing of it since I was working at a frenzied pace trying to make it to class on time (Prof's detest students that come in late). So I clean up but as I'm driving I notice a red drop and realize that my thumb was bleeding profusely. No band-aid was at hand so a tissue was the next best thing. Get to class & couldn't even take notes because the minute I flexed my thumb to start writing, it would start bleeding.

If there was ever a day where I should've just stayed at home, this was it.

It's Groundhog Day

and Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow so Spring is just around the corner!

The mock interview was today and it went splendidly! The attorney that interviewed me was very easy going. He lost the resume I'd sent him so I'm glad I carried some extra ones. I interviewed for about 30 minutes and then he gave me some feedback.
Positives: I was dressed very professionally, arrived 5 minutes early (my mistake because I forgot my watch was 5 min fast), spoke well, answered questions as soon as they were posed, knew some info about him, etc.
Negatives: Didn't ask enough questions about the company, to always remember who my audience was (he asked me if I would like to work in a large or medium sized firm & I didn't emphatically say a large firm which is what this firm was).
Funny situation: He asked me what I liked to do outside of studying and I told him I like to read fiction books. Then he asks, "Oh good, so which author do you like?" So I say Daniel Silva knowing perfectly well no one has ever heard of this author (saying I like Danielle Steel's books doesn't quite have a ring of professionalism). Then he says, "I like him too!" So we went on to have a conversation about all his books. All the while I was thinking, thank goodness I'd really read Silva's books because there would've been no way to get out of that one without coming off as a total fraud.