Coffee Club

Somebody at the office always makes a fresh pot of coffee in the morning to which I've been helping myself most everyday. It's some really nasty tasting coffee but it does it's job. So yesterday I filled my cup like usual but for some reason, I stopped & asked my secretary "is it ok to drink the coffee they make in the kitchen?" That's when she broke it down for me. The coffee was reserved for coffee club members. Huh?! Either that or ask the coffee brewer & she'll let you have a cup for 50¢. I don't think the smell emanating from my coffee mug wafted to her nose so I quickly slunk back into my cubicle. No one seems to know who the coffee clubbers are or how the membership works but they must have never seen me partaking in their brew or I'm sure I'd have heard about it. Gossip gets around the office like wildfire. Coincidentally, there's a water fountain that I'm yet to see someone drinking from. Hmm. Water club maybe?

Who's Your Genius?

So my wireless internet went out a few days ago. For some reason my laptop wasn't communicating with the modem at all. My desktop wasn't affected but it doesn't count since I never use it unless I want to print something so it felt like the internets (sic) had disappeared. Spent an hour on the phone with TWCable who's troubleshooting was pointless so they scheduled an appointment for this Saturday for one of their techies to come out & take a look. A whole 3 days away!!!! This bothered me all day at work. If one computer was working fine then why not the other? Began thinking that maybe all I needed to do was to input my network key again & everything else would be re-created. Didn't have it so I called TWC again & this time the guy was located in Manilla Phillipines (I always ask them where they're located - makes for good conversation). Anyway, he gave me the network key - which I found out is located on the back of my modem no less. I put it in, followed the prompts & just like that, the internets were back! They need to disband the TWC "tech support" crew. Took me all of 1 minute to fix the problem. Yup, genius.

Ridiculous item of the day: American airlines will start charging $15 for the first bag checked in starting June 15th! Delta Airlines has refused to match this nonsense. Said they'd find another way to offset the hit they're taking for rising gas prices. Good for them.

My favorite singles right now (after hearing them in the club):
1. Bust it baby - Plies & Neyo
2. Lollipop - Lil Wayne
3. Love in this club (Remix) - Usher

It's Here!

My tax rebate has finally made it into my bank account! At least Dubya was good for something. I have no current plans for it but I'm sure that'll be remedied shortly.

My job is coming along splendidly. I met my boss this morning & he took me for coffee since he's been out this past week after his wife had a baby. He seemed really laid back. Told me to shoot him an email if I needed to take a few days off over the summer. I'll be sure to take him up on that. There's this one attorney who keeps coming to give me work. Well, today he gave me an assignment which I have no idea where to start & it's due first thing next week. Hopefully whatever I come up with won't be too horrific - I'd like to keep my steady source of work relatively happy.

I had to go to court today to get some documents which is a good 25 minute brisk walk away. I've never gotten so many compliments during a walk as I did today . . . from the local low lifes & soon-to-be-convicts of Columbus. I had one guy walk with me a good half mile while he showered me with sweet nothings. He was really nice so I humored him & to show his appreciation, he told me of a place where they were giving away food vacuum sealers (the ones that suck out the air in ziploc bags so food stays fresh). Sure enough, on my way back, I passed by there & got myself not one but two vacuums.

An aside: My cubicle faces one of the secretaries. She's been answering all my nonstop questions about where the printers are, where to get supplies, etc. She's even been running around the office trying to get me a mouse pad for the past 3 days - she tells everyone who cares to listen how I'm suffering without one (apparently the govn is too cheap to have some in stock). So to repay her for being such a gem, when I got back from the court house, I asked her if she'd like to have one of my food vacuums. "YEEES"! She was so excited. Made me feel all warm & fuzzy.

I'll probably be going out tonight w/ my girls to spend some of that tax rebate money. So you all have yourselves a wonderful weekend.

1st Day . . .

on the job was interesting. It started w/ a 2 hour orientation, got a badge & was then thrown out to the wolves. I'll be doing mostly employment law related matters which is great. Last summer I got to dabble in a little bit of everything which makes you a jack of all trades but a master of none so I'm glad I'm assigned to just one practice area.

I'll be the only law clerk in this particular area so that's rather intimidating. No one to commiserate with when assignments go awry. However, I was assigned a mentor who's only been practicing since 2006 & she's great. She took me around to say hi to everyone which was about 15 attorneys & lots of paralegals & secretaries. But the attorneys were great even though most of them are on the older side. I have an inside cubicle which means I have no view of downtown unlike last year but at least I don't get to share it. All the attorneys though have offices with great views since we're on the 25th floor. Parking is the only hiccup. It's expensive & I have to pay for it.

So here are some differences between working for the government & a law firm: one, the secretaries at the firm do a ton more work than the government ones. I never did any filing, copying, etc at the firm but it seems like this will be part of my job this summer since none of them was assigned to me. I love secretaries so this was a bummer. Two, I have to pay for my own parking this time around. Three, no more getting projects that are fairly meaningless - these are projects that an attorney has been putting off all year just waiting for the summers to come in & complete them. All the work that I'll be doing this summer will be used in some fashion for ongoing litigation. But by far the biggest upside to working for the government is I don't have to attend functions & mingle with people that I'd rather never talk to again. I can't tell you how much I hated those outings. Schmoozing is so overrated. All in all, this should be a great learning experience. It's the first job I've held & not hated the first day. So we're off to a good start.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Exams . . .

begin this afternoon & will go on till the middle of next week. This has been my most enjoyable semester to date - not working or interviewing, fabulous professors, & interesting slew of classes, all had something to do with it. The one thing though I didn't enjoy was the amount of writing I had to do which was due to bad foresight. I had a journal note to write (I didn't get published) & yet I signed up for 2 other classes that had a ton of writing requirements.

I went to the dentist last week & he asked me when I was graduating & I said "next year." No one has asked me that this year so all of last year's responses were "in 2009" or "in 2 years." How time flies. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter & brighter altho' I suspect I'll be one of the few who'll miss law school. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - still need to get these exams out of the way before a much needed summer break begins:

Rule of Law - Paper - turned in 3/15
Ethics - Paper - turned in 4/16
Civil Procedure II - 4/28
Human Rights - 5/2
Evidence - 5/5
Criminal Procedure - 5/7

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!

I am screaming. Quietly. But screaming all the same at the thought of Hillary winning Pennsylvania. I knew she was going to win but seeing her afterwards shrieking about how the tide was turning made me want to do something irrational. Like hurl something big & heavy at my barely paid for t.v. I seriously cannot handle another day - let alone years - of her cackling laugh & her obliterating of Iran talk. And the only people to blame for this more-than-a-nightmare-she-devil that refuses to go away are none other than Ohioans. Had she lost that primary it'd have been lights out for her. The focus would be on McGrandpa & why he refuses to release his medical records. Instead we're stuck with this b*tch till June - if we get lucky. Wouldn't surprise me if she was still hanging on by the threads of her pantsuit come the Denver convention in August. Would this then force Obama to put her on his ticket? Because voter animosity would be at an all time high to the point where the exclusion of one candidate would be to the detriment of the other? Wouldn't put it past her to be doing all this just to get to that point so she can screw him over by refusing to become V.P.

Straight Talk

Let me first say that I disagree with John McCain's stance on nearly all issues. He's pro-life, pro-war, pro-Bush, pro-gaffes, etc. That being said, he was on the Hardball College Tour w/ Chris Matthews today & I must tell you that it was refreshing listening to him talk. For once, a candidate who can give you straight answers without hedging his bets. He might have been pandering to his audience since he was in Villanova University but who cares? The Straight Talk Express delivered. He answered "yes" or "no" and then gave an explanation for his position instead of blathering on and on like his democratic opponents do with annoying regularity.

Q: Do you think Obama is an elitist? No. But I think that the comments he gave were . . .
Q: Will you call for an end to swift boat attack ads in the general election? Yes. Because . . .
Q: You are known as a maverick. Would you allow ex-PA Gov. Ridge (R) to be your V.P.? No. While I admire his service to this country, he is pro-choice and . . .
Q: Will you invade Iran? I don't know. Because . . .

He wasn't straight talking about Iran because we all know he'll invade it as soon as he takes the oath of office but . . . Tomorrow, Shrillary & Barack have yet another debate on ABC. Let's hope they put their bitterness (pun intended) behind them & start giving some straight talk. From what I saw today, if McCain goes up against Clinton, he'll win. Convincingly.

Update: The Democratic debate in Pennsylvania was AWFUL!!! Shame on ABC. Rev. Wright, flag pin, Obama flimsy connection w/ a 1960s radical guy, . . . Haven't we had enough rhetoric about this nonsense already? I want those 90 minutes of my life back!

Nothingness

Registered for my final year of classes (2008-09) today. How time flies. One more year & I'll be done. Yay! But truth be told I'm not all that eager to reenter the work force. School sucks but working sucks even more. If I don't feel like going to class, then I don't. If you don't feel like going in to work . . . well . . . you go in anyway or you'll be out of a job shortly. Speaking of which, my summer job starts on May 12th & lasts through mid-August. Can't wait to make some money. I think I'll enjoy this job way more than I did my job last summer altho' the pay difference will be drastic. But on the upside, I don't have to wear a suit every day this time around. So you win some, you lose some.

I told off one of my BFF's. Sometimes I say hi to her in the morning & she'll respond very cheerfully but other times she'll barely respond. So after letting this go on for a few weeks, I said to her one morning: "Why are you saying hi to me like you don't want to?" Then she had the nerve to respond: "Do you want me to talk to you at all?" and I responded: "WTF do you mean?" to which she said: "If you want me to talk to you then don't question the tone of my voice." Oh no she didn't!!!! Won't rehash what I said but the B* had it coming to her.

I have a new favorite past time these days. Listening to music online. I like Rhapsody although they only give you 25 free plays a month. Napster is also ok. But what I really like to do is rack my brain for songs I haven't heard in years & then google them if I can't remember the singers or the song names. Without fail, I always find what I'm looking for on You Tube which has a music video to go with every imagineable song you can think of. Good thing about music is I can do my school work & listen to it at the same time. Gotta love multi-tasking.

Exams start on April 28th. Should be interesting. I have a 20-page paper due for one of my classes next Thu. But I don't even sweat writing assignments anymore. All I need is one night to knock it out. I've gotten this skill down to a science & so far it's been working out fine. But I don't recommend it for the young & impressionable kids out there. Pacing yourself is the way to go.

And yes, my BFF has gotten over her psychotic ways. She is nothing but cheery these days. All she needed was some firm guidance and yours truly was happy to give it to her.

Funny & Not So Funny

Q: What will your kid want to dress up as this Halloween?
A: A superdelegate!

What Shrillary wouldn't give to find a few hundred of them stuffed in her christmas stocking. I'm so tired of the dems bickering amongst each that I'm almost ready for John McCain & 100 more years in Iraq. Rev. Wright this, Bosnia that, Florida & Michigan this and that . . . ENOUGH ALREADY!!! This op-ed on Shrillary's audacity of hopelessness is very apropos.

Saturday MPRE Exam

Got an email today from the MPRE folks that the exam has been cancelled due to inclement weather. 14" of snow is expected by Sat evening. I was planning on taking the bus but they start running at 9am on the weekends which is when the exam was scheduled to start. Would've ended up taking a cab so I'm happy I no longer have to. It's too treacherous to drive that early in the morning. The Columbus snow removal trucks seem to have a policy of sleeping in over the weekends. Now we can all enjoy!

Glad It's Over!

Ended up buying a 40" samsung tv this evening (after my bro-in-law gave it his blessing). I was tired of dithering around & the sale on the tv was ending. So off I went to the store but James, the salesman from yesterday, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the Sales Manager (his name tag said so) came up to me and asked if he could help me with something. So I told him that I came to buy the tv that James had convinced me to buy (had to give him props). To cut a really long story short, here's what I got in addition to the tv:

-free shipping & free home theater installation by Firedog ($199.99 value!)
-$100 voucher
-a Sony surround sound system (yup, I got roped into it). The price on it was $299.99 because it was an open box item. So the Manager asked me what I thought about it & I told him it was great but I wasn't interested. Then he said, "C'mon through out a number." So I said, "$100," thinking there was no way he'd go for it. Then he said, "Done! I'll have the installation guy set it up for you when he installs your tv." Crap. Now why didn't I say "$50?!"

On balance, I think I got a good deal altho' my bank account would really beg to differ. Enjoyed dealing with someone who could make things happen. As for warranty, I didn't get suckered into buying theirs. It's terribly rated. Will probably get one from Square Trade though since LCD technology is fairly new so something's bound to go wrong.

Now why has . . .

John Edwards pulled a Dick Cheney on us? Not a peep from him since his "secret" meeting with Obama a few weeks back. Hmm. At this point does it even really matter? Seems like he was waiting to endorse once there was a clear winner after the Ohio & Texas primaries but Ohioans and Texans had other ideas (edit: Obama technically won Texas because he netted a higher delegate count than Shrillary by kicking a$$ in the caucuses). I suggest he settles further into whatever little hole he's holed up in. It's better that way. The race is getting ridiculous as it is. By the fuzzy math of those drinking the Hillary Clinton Kool-Aid, they are in it to win it. Already talking about the dream ticket - and not with her as the V.P.! Now that's some good sh*t they're sippin' on.

Obama should rethink his strategy though. The kid gloves need to come off - throw a roundhouse punch & knock Hillary in the mouth one time. Stop being such a nice guy. At some point it'll start looking like he doesn't have the mojo to stand up against her and who wants a woose for a President? If she slings mud, right back at'cha!

An aside: Four days a week, my breakfast consists of yoghurt, a slice of bread w/ peanut butter, and half a can of coke. Religiously. Not because I enjoy it but because it's the only thing I can grab & go inside of 1 minute & head on out the door. So I was in Walmart this past weekend & noticed a lady pick a bunch of frozen blueberry pancakes. Figured there were there were some plain ones in the vicinity & grabbed myself a pack. Now: what does my breakfast consist of every morning? Pancakes w/ half a can of coke! They come individually packaged - about 3 in a pack - and they are delish. Only takes a minute to nuke them in the microwave & they're ready to go. Mmm good. In case you're wondering, I only drink half a can of coke because I don't have enough distance between my house & school to guzzle the whole thing down. Too much hustle trying to lag my books & an open can of coke once I get there so it gets left in the cup holder.

Looking for a tv is proving nightmarish. Can't seem to make up my mind. I went into Circuit City knowing exactly what I was going to buy until I got to talking to a sales guy for about 3 hours who ended up convincing me that if I bought a 32" I'd end up bringing it back. Left the store, sans tv, to rethink my battle plan. This was after the Sears guy had me convinced, the previous night, that a 32" would be perfect. To top it all off, these sales guys were super nice so who'll-get-my-sale thoughts have been swirling in my head. Will it be the commissioned Sears one or the non-commissioned Circuit City one? Both stores price match so saying I'll go where the cheaper tv is doesn't cut it. Beats me when this excursion went from simple tv shopping to psych 101! Must be the aspartame in the coke.

Obama Rally

Stood in the freezing cold (wind & snow) for an hour waiting in line before the doors opened so that we could get good seats . . . which we did. There was near hysteria when he came in. Crowd went bananas! He talked a good talk. The line that the crowd loved the most was when he said, "Columbus, there's one thing I know for sure you won't find on the ballot when you go to the polls on Tuesday - you'll not find George W. Bush on the ballot!"

He signed my copy of "Dreams of my Father" altho' it didn't go down as planned. As we were walking in, an Obama staffer approached me & asked if I was trying to get my book signed (it was in plain sight). Duh?! Told me to put my name on it & give it to him so he could take it back for Obama to sign because his secret service wouldn't let it happen if I tried to do it as he was greeting folks. Staffer said he always felt bad when people brought books but couldn't get them signed. He seemed nice enough so I gave it to him.

The level of his secret service is ridiculous. Couldn't even let a brotha shake hands with his supporters before he was whisked away. I was miffed. I had gotten used to the access after Hillary & Michelle. Oh, back to my book. About 30 minutes after the speech, some guy came out with our autographed books. Kind of anti-climatic because I had anticipated getting up close & personal to get it signed but such is life. At least he took the time to sign it.

Here's my crystal ball prediction for the March 4 primaries:
Ohio - Clinton 52% - Obama 48%
Texas - Obama 54% - Clinton 45%
Vermont & Rhode Island - Who cares?!

Patience Pays

We use LexisNexis and Westlaw for legal research. You earn points from using either one which can then be used to buy something from their respective rewards catalog. So anyways, after months of painstakingly trying to get Lexis points, I finally have enough to buy a digital camera! I have a nice film camera so I feel it's a waste of money to buy a digital one. Doing it this way absolves all the guilt. A grand total of 11,446 points. I will be ordering it tomorrow!

Westlaw makes it a pain to get points & their selection of rewards isn't that hot so I just spend them as I get them. Don't have patience to rack them up & buy something substantial. I just ordered a Ralph Lauren tote bag (3500 points). This is my second bag - the first one was a nice Samsonite tote which I use for my books.

Barack Obama rally is this Wednesday morning on campus. Will have to skip my morning classes but who cares?! I have "Dreams from my Father" and my sharpie ready to go.

Bar/Bri MPRE Prep Course

I will be taking the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) in about two weeks so I attended a review course today. I thought we were going to have a live person doing the lecture but it turned out to be taped. It was really good altho' sitting through it for 4 hours was exhausting. I can't imagine what studying for the Bar will be like since we'll be sitting through these lectures 8 hrs a day for many weeks (yay!).

I had a harrowing experience on my way home after the lecture. It had to do with: darkness, the freeway, snow, tires losing traction, oncoming traffic, & a steep embankment. Nuff said.

Nothingness

I've been pleasantly surprised that I do not miss having a tv at all. That's because my new mistress is the internet! I can aimlessly surf the web for hours on end and what's even better, I am catching up with all the shows that I didn't get a chance to watch. Case & point: Lost. I am currently watching Season 1 and I'm about 8 episodes in (out of about 20!). The new season airing is Season 4 so I have alot of catching up to do. It's a great show & I see now what all the hoopla is about. It's really great when you can just watch back to back to back episodes. Cliff hangers suck.

Watched Damages the same way. Only then I had to buy the season from itunes since FX doesn't offer free episodes online (that was over christmas break). It's a great drama & I hope it's picked up for season 2. I'm just glad '24' will not air until Jan '09 now that the writers' strike is over. Hopefully by then I'll have a nice new flat screen ready to go.

Got someone to tuneup my car from Craigslist for $35! Turned out to be this really young kid. I jumped into his truck to go buy parts with him since I figured I could take him down if he turned out to be an ax murderer. He was really nice & seemed to know what he was doing. My car is running like a champ now (knock on wood).

Michelle Obama

was on campus today & yours truly was at it again. She speaks very well & I liked what she had to say. Altho' she had a freudian slip when she said, "We're going to win Iowa - Ohio!" But the crowd laughed it off & she clarified that she meant to say "We're going to win Ohio just like we won Iowa." I got to shake her hand . . . twice! . . . but didn't have anything for her to sign (banners were prohibited). That's two for two on the whole shaking hand thing so I'm thinking I have a good shot with the main event - Barack Obama!

Ruminations from a Hillary Rally!

I just came from a Hillary Clinton rally and loved every minute of it. She stumped at OSU this evening and spoke for about 40 minutes. Here's how it all went down:

My friend calls me up and asks me if I'd like to go hear Hillary speak. We were both half-assed about it because she is a staunch Obama backer & I am indifferent. But I was on campus and the rally venue was not too far off so I was convinced.

Rally was supposed to start at 6pm and we got there at about 5:30pm thinking we'd have a hard time finding a spot to stand. Not so. At the entrance, we were required to write down our personal info on a card which acted like an admission ticket. Handed it to a campaign worker as we got in. They use this info to contact you to volunteer for them so since we were having none of that, we gave them faux info. Then we were handed "Hillary Clinton for President" banners.

Venue was an old indoor arena with a podium set up in the middle. People were just kinda standing around. Lots of camera crew, police with canines, and secret service. Was surprised that we weren't required to go through a metal detector. So anyway, we found a spot where we had a good view of the podium but it was abit far off. It was also along some barriers that had been put up. All the good standing spots had been taken. Clear on the other side, you could tell that's where Hillary was supposed to come in through because the barriers had been decorated.

6pm. People still just sort of trickling in. I'd say there were about 3,000 people which was a much lower turnout than I had expected. It was freezing outside so maybe this had something to do with it (doubt it). A few hype-men came in to try & rally the crowd but the crowd wasn't really responding.

6:45pm. Now we were getting restless. Music was getting old. And people all around us were bashing Obama which added to the restlessness. They kept saying that his speeches were great but they lacked substance?! But at the heart of it all, these folks were left-wing liberals. There was lots of talk about not liking how Obama wants to work with the other side (GOP) to get things done. Screw the GOP was their mantra. We didn't add our $.02 in because we were in hostile territory but how do you expect to get your policies passed without some of the GOP members? Last I checked, the Dems do not have 60 senators - enough to overcome a filibuster. So until such a time, cooperation is the way to get things done. But I digress.

7:15pm. Still no Hillary. So I started looking at the demographics of those who attended. I'd say there were a sprinkle of black people here and there, some asians, but it was mainly an older caucasian crowd. In the 40-55 year range. Considering this was an event held on a campus that has about 52,000 kids, that was pretty interesting.

7:35. The Arrival. Hillary Clinton, Governor Ted Strickland, Senator John Glenn (yes the former astronaut), and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (was left wondering who from Ohio has endorsed Obama). Now take a wild guess on which side of the auditorium they decided to come in through? The side we were on! The side that did not have the decorated barriers! And guess what I got to do?? I GOT TO SHAKE HILLARY CLINTON'S HAND!!!! Ain't that some sh*t?? And my friend who initially was the one who wanted to come to the event wasn't able to because someone jumped in front of her. Boy was she pissed!

Speech was the usual type of stamp speech she usually gives. Crowd was very responsive. Yours truly included. Every time she said something I liked, my banner was up in the air waving from side to side. It was fantastic! She didn't mention Obama by name & didn't really talk about him except to throw a few jabs e.g. "we want specifics not rhetoric." Crowd ate it up. My friend though kept rolling her eyes. It was only when she threw the jabs that my banner didn't go up. Otherwise, my banner was flying high.

After the speech, we lined up again against the barrier hoping she'd exit the same way she came in. Not so lucky. She went around the other way. This time she slowly shook hands, took pictures with folks, and signed banners. I'd already shaken her hand so I didn't care but my friend wanted to see if she could get the chance to. Twenty minutes later & Hillary had barely moved an inch. So we started roaming around.

Long story short. Most everyone at our original position left after seeing Hillary wasn't coming back that way. So we went to stand there just to talk & watch the crowds follow her. Then lo & behold . . . Hillary completely left that side of the room & came right up to where we were - secret service and all!!! The crowds scrambled to get into position but yours truly & friend were front & center. And guess what?? She signed our banners!!! Then she asked us to please make sure we come out and vote for her on March 4th! Fabulosity itself! This banner with her autograph will be framed if she becomes the first female President of the United States. Talk about holding a piece of history in my hands!

I loved the whole experience & can't wait for Obama to come into town. I doubt though I'll get as lucky as I did with Hillary but I can't wait to try.

(I took the pictures below with my camera phone as she was signing my treasured banner!)

Now reading!

Watched Michael Clayton and didn't like it. C+. Big let down since critics had given it raving reviews.