Until next year . . .

Worser & Worsest

This has got to be the worst week ever. Just received my gas bill & it's a whoppin' $144!!! The reason this is so outrageous is that I barely turned on my heat last month - nada. But, these idiots estimated my bill based on last year's use. Technically, I could go to my meter, read it, then call them up with an actual reading. However, a little run outside my house yesterday did not reveal where the darn meter was. It is FRIGID outside so I'll attempt another detective run in a few days but if I don't find the meter, I'll have to pay this autrocious figure. Pisses me off.

Then we receive an email from one of my professors saying that a paper that was due on Friday, is now due on Friday in his office before 4pm! I was planning to submit it to him on Fri at 11:59pm via email but now we have this change of plan. Those 8 hours make a huge difference. I'm just now getting done with paper #1 & so I don't think I'll be able to research & write paper #2 between now & Fri at 4pm. Even I have my limits.

What I wouldn't give for today to be Saturday!

Update: Despite my hysterics, everything turned out okay. Bill got paid & paper got done before the deadline.

Update 2: I just got my gas bill for January & I received a credit of $25! Yay!!!

Secured Transactions

This freaking exam lived up to each & every expectation & then some. So here's how the exam was broken down:

3 hrs & all essays:
Que 1: 55 points (90 minutes)
Que 2: 15 points (30 minutes)
Que 3: 15 points (30 minutes)
Que 4: 15 points (30 minutes)

For the most part, I always start with the shorter questions & then tackle the long ones last. The long essay questions are usually very convoluted & I always end up taking too much time on them. So today was no different. Started with the shorter essays. I thought they were semi-decent because I had a clue as to what was going on in all of them. However, I misread one question and ended up having to redo it which took about an extra 20 minutes. That meant I had about 70 minutes to tackle que 1. No biggie . . . that was until I read the essay. I read it & freaked out!!! I mean literally. Couldn't make head or tail of what was going on at all!!! It was divided into sub-parts, 1(a), (b), (c), & (d). Fact pattern for (a) was about 2 pages long. Fact pattern for (b) was about a paragraph long - it built up from (a)'s facts but you were only to consider (b)'s facts, & the same happened for (c) and (d). Now I had about 30 minutes left to answer these four subparts & nothing was clicking as to how to answer them. The moral of this story: hoping, wishing, & praying I don't fail!

Just in case you are wondering why I didn't drop this class: We have one week after classes start to drop a class. After that, you cannot withdraw unless you want an "F." So in the first week, there is no way to figure out how hard a class is going to be since it's only introductory material. They butter you up & then lay it on you. To top it all off, I have two papers to write before Fri before I'm done for the semester. Don't you just envy my life right now?!

On a lighter note, my judicial externship ended last week. On the last day, I turned in my final draft for the Judge to review, edit, & enter the judgment. So yesterday in the mail, I received my edited draft with this message from the Judge, "This was really, really, excellent!" It was a 21 page draft opinion & she had made only minimal edits to it before it was filed with the court. I was totally stoked. All that research & wading through mountains of evidence was no fun at all but it paid off. Too bad this class is graded pass/fail.

Secured Transactions is hands down the hardest class I've ever had the misery of taking! The exam is on Monday & I'm desperately trying to make sense of it all with no luck. Misery. Pure unadulterated misery. I'm staring dead ahead at an "F" if my notes don't start making sense in the next few hours.

On to my next sob story. My car is acting up again. At idle, it'll warm up like normal. But as soon as I start driving, the temperature gauge drops down to "C" & remains that way until I idle the car again. So I stopped by the mechanic yesterday & told him the problem. He seemed to know what the problem was I told me to return today. Then guess what, the darn car will not repeat the problem again. The heat is working like a charm & doesn't drop when I start driving. WTF?

The aww moment of the year!!!

Not So Black Friday

I usually go to slickdeals.net to find out what the latest deals are. On Mon night, someone on slick deals listed that Best Buy had an HP laptop & printer combo listed for $278.99. Everyone on the slick deals forum thought that this was a black friday item which was mistakenly posted on the BB website but they all were going to try their luck the next morning. So who was I to be left out of this action? The next morning, I decided to skip my 10am class & go to BB instead to see if I could snag this deal before they became aware of their mistake.

So with my printout in hand, I made a mad dash to BB hoping to run into a fresh-of-the-street teenage salesperson. Guess who ended up asking me if he could help me? The freakin' store manager! Isn't being holed up in an office and not out on the floor one of the perks of being a manager? Well the short of it is, the only way I was going to get this laptop for that price was to come back on black Fri at 5am & duke it out with the rest of the masses. Keep in mind BB only had 12 of them in stock at this location. Turns out because of the slick deals posting, people began lining up at BB's everywhere & soon the stores got wind of the mistake. But some folks were able to get the laptop for that price before BB realized their mistake & corrected the price. Me, not so lucky.

So I began telling everyone who'd listen how I was going to line up at BB on black Fri at midnight in hopes of getting this deal. That's when everyone began wishing me luck because apparently BB lines begin forming on thanksgiving morning (and I mean 1am-ish)! Who're these people with no lives spoiling it for the rest of us?! Talk about a plan fizzler. But if my laptop holds up until next year, I shall be back with a vengeance for the next laptop deal - camping tent, heating lamp, food, a bat to beat off those trying to cut in line, friends to attack the store from all angles, etc. I shall not be deterred!

P.S. I did make my 10am class since I didn't end up spending as much time at the store as I had anticipated...you know, the salesperson didn't go back to get the merchandise, didn't get to ring it up, didn't try to sell me warranty, nothing. Instead, all I got was, "sorry it was a mistake bye bye."

Presidential Matters!

We have a new president-elect . . . Barack Obama!!! This country couldn't have chosen a more qualified person to lead us out of the mess that his predecessor has left.

I have a new love - facebook! It's sooo addictive. After years of refusing to cave in to peer pressure, I finally joined because my friends would take pictures but they'd post them on FB. So the only way I was going to see them was to join. I did & haven't looked back. Writing on peoples' walls has become the highlight of my electronic day.

I tried to outsmart the system but the system outsmarted me. At the start of this semester, I needed 26 credits to graduate. So I devised a master plan . . . take 16 credits this semester & leave only 8 for an easy-breezy last semester (I get 2 credits for journal work). So I've been killing myself juggling a gazillion things for the past 3 months & then I was talking to a friend about my very smart plan. This was his response, "sounds like a great idea but I'm pretty sure the school requires us to be full-time students." WHAT?! Moral of this story, yours truly has to take 12 credits next semester so as to be a full-time student. They don't care that I'll be over my graduation requirements . . . noooo . . . "the rules are the rules." I'm still super salty over this whole situation. All that hustling & strategery for nothing.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Heater Revisited

Last year I told y'all about buying a heater in an effort to bring down my gas bill. Turned out the heater didn't do what it was supposed to do. Was very surprised by this because everyone on Amazon had raved it warms up rooms in no time. But when it got down to 30 degrees a few nights ago, I decided to break out the ol' heater to give it another try. It has a thermostat so I cranked it up to the maximum which is something I hadn't done before. The heater now works like a champ. The room warms up very fast & the heat emitted is not dry at all. I absolutely love this heater now. Let's hope I'll still love it when my electric bill comes.

What's annoying me today: Why does Cindy McSame feel it necessary to stand right behind her husband so that she's always captured in the picture? All she does is stupidly nod & smile in agreement with McSame even when he has freudian slips. Maybe it's time you moved off to the side Cindy. Don't confirm for us what we already know.

Colin Powell Endorses Senator Obama

Thought the lead up to his endorsement of Barack Obama was fantastic! The highlight was when he addressed the Obama-is-a-muslim talk by the GOP. . . "What if he was?" Finally someone with the balls to stand up for muslims in this country. Based on this endorsement speech, his presentation at the U.N. for why the U.S. should invade Iraq is fast becoming a very hazy memory!

Movie Reviews

"Body of Lies" - The plot was good but the ending was horrendous. Skip it!

"Traitor" - Interesting . . . but you'll feel like you've seen it before. OK.

Obama Rally

Barack was in Columbus for a rally this afternoon & yours truly was front & center. People were very fired up. However, even though the venue was in a park, it was rather small for the crowd that showed up. They had roped off a large section of the park for security purposes so everyone was forced into one area. But the atmosphere & weather was fantastic so all was forgiven. The highlight though was when we were leaving. A truck was stuck in traffic right by the venue & guess what was printed all over it . . . "McCain/Palin!" The people on the streets of downtown Columbus went bananas. We started chanting, "O-ba-ma"..."O-ba-ma." People even started honking their horns to the beat of our chants. The poor guy driving the truck took it all in stride. Was waving & smiling at us the entire time. It was great! Obama/Biden '08.

Free cable t.v.!

I was telling my brother-in-law about how I had disconnected my cable. He asked me if my t.v. was still able to receive the local channels - NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC. Told him I'd tried but got no reception. Then he asked me the 'duh' question of the day. . . "have you connected the cable wire to your t.v.?" Long story short, I am now happily receiving 80+ crystal clear channels of cable t.v. for free!

Fall Break!

It's about time. No school or work for one week. I tried making it through the v.p. debate last night but kept muting out Palin. She's was just too cutesy for me with all her winking, joe six pack, & hockey mom references. The thought of going through this kind of nonsense for the next 4 years is . . . indescribable. Obama/Biden '08!

This F#*%$@^ Economy

My co-worker & I were watching on CNN as the House voted for the bailout plan. We couldn't believe it when it failed & we were in even more disbelief when the GOP choked its failure to a partisan speech given by Speaker Pelosi prior to the voting. I mean. These old geezers must've not gotten the memo that they're not in kindergaten anymore. Nobody cares about your hurt feelings. Somebody also didn't get the memo that the market as it is right now cannot correct itself. Gone are those days. So the sooner these [insert creative noun] face this reality, the faster the world markets can recover - and my little 401K. What an embarassment.

Of course, this for sure will cause McPalin to suspend the V.P. debate on Thursday. They're both needed in Washington this time. Since one didn't fare so well after rushing to Washington last week, maybe tag-teaming will do the trick this time. This would be hysterically funny if there wasn't a distinct possibility that it might just happen.

My little 401K is almost non-existent at this point. I haven't had the kahunas to look & see how it's been fairing over the past few months since if I was getting out I should have done it 8 months ago. But figured today was as good a day as any to take a peak. Christ. When the Dow falls 700+ points, there's a reason why every trader on wallstreet looks so depressed.

Oh . . . speaking of my co-worker. Imagine a guy who's 6' 4", buff, articulate, well-dressed, nice, outgoing, etc. So I noticed a ring on his finger & asked him what his wife does for a living. This was his response: "You mean what does my husband do for a living?" I almost fell off my seat! My gaydar continues to let me down.

Nothingness

Today I took the bus to downtown for my judicial externship. I usually drive because the last express bus (uses the freeway instead of side streets) gets me to the courthouse too early - at about 8:10am but I'm not supposed to be in chambers before 8:45am. But aujourd'hui I had an errand to run before heading down to the courthouse so I took the bus. Now the first express bus for returning home comes around 4:50pm so I planned on leaving the courthouse about 4:40pm to give myself time to make the quick hike. But the judge's law clerk wasn't having it. At 4:37pm, as I was hurriedly packing up, the clerk decided to come up & start chatting about what was going on in the courthouse for the next week, what my weekend plans were, the weather outside, etc. This was really appreciated but the whole time we were talking I was thinking "please hurry up I have a bus to catch." So finally, about 10 minutes later, the chat concluded & I just about broke into a sprint trying to catch the 4:50pm bus. Wasn't my lucky day. The bus was pulling away from the stop as I was getting there. Nothing I could do except wait . . . for 1 whole freaking hour!!! . . . for the next bus.

Tomorrow we're supposed to be having a "watch-the-debate" party with my Obama supporting friends. Now that seems to be up in the air since McScared doesn't want to show up to the clinic that's fixin' to be put on him by Obama. Or perhaps he doesn't want lipstick Palin to debate next week because they're starting to realize seeing Russia from an island in Alaska doesn't really count as foreign policy experience. But perhaps we're just giving him too much credit. Maybe he has no rime or reason for wanting to postpone this debate. Just pure unadulterated senility. "Friends, if I don't want to debate then I'm not going to debate." Idiotic on every level.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm looking forward to the winter 2009 tv season lineup. Season 7 of '24' starts Jan 2009. However, there's going to be a pre-cursor to the new season on Nov 23 that seems like can't miss tv. 'Damages' season 2 also premiers winter 2009. My cable service will be reconnected sometime late December in anticipation. Can't wait.

Wishing Everyone . . .

A HAPPY FALL!

Does Racism in America Still Exist?

Would Barack Obama still be a presidential candidate if . . .

1. Barack had an affair while he was still married to the mother of his kids?
2. Barack divorced his wife to marry his mistress?
3. Barack had graduated fifth from the bottom of his class (894/898)?
4. Michelle was addicted to pain killers?
5. Michelle was having a physician write illegal prescriptions to support her drug habit?
6. Michelle had gone to 6 colleges in 6 years? or
7. Michelle's daughter was pregnant at 17?

So why is it that a candidate who . . .

1. was raised by an 18 year old single mom
2. graduated from Columbia University & Harvard Law School magna cum laude;
3. was the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review;
4. taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years; and
5. has been faithfully married to his wife for 16 years;

. . . is the one whose qualifications are being challenged? Hmm.

Over-Extended

In my infinite wisdom, I signed up for 6 classes this semester. Figured I could hack it since only 2 of them will be exams - rest will be paper finals. But as the semester trudges along, I'm not sure I'll be able to crank out four 35-page papers, complete my journal assignments, and keep my sanity. So I disconnected my cable a few days ago to deal with the sanity part. I feel more calm when I don't have to watch idiotic pundits salivating all over lipstick Palin. But then what did I do? Turned around & signed up for yet another job.

Let me back up. Job 1: I have one job already which I work one day a week. It's a laid back atmosphere & I can do my homework if it's slow - which is often the case. Job 2: I had huge gaps of time between my morning & evening classes so I would go home because I hate being in school. But once I got home, I would do nothing except surf the web, nap, watch, tv, etc. So I figured why not look for a job to fill this time instead of doing absolutely nothing. Didn't get any takers when I sent out an email to some employers. So I settled into my going-home-in-between-classes-and-doing-nothing routine. Then a few days ago one of the employers contacted me & asked if I was still interested in working. What did I say? Yes. I could've kicked myself as soon as I agreed to interview but hoped they would hate me on sight. No such luck. Yours truly now has 2 jobs, 6 classes, & no cable. Even I feel sorry for myself for getting myself into this situation.

Color me Worried

When McCain first announced that Sarah Palin would be his V.P., I thought it was a brilliant move. For the first 5 minutes. Then as her paltry record as governor began emerging, I still thought this was a brilliant move by McCain but for a different reason - his ticket would go downhill faster than you could say "barracuda." Figured in no time, Obama would regain his seat at the change throne & this little hiccup would be a thing of the past. That was until this week. When people in Lebanon, Ohio gathered in large crowds yesterday to hear the Palin/McCain [sic] ticket speak, this worried me. Alot. Prior to the Palin pick, McCain couldn't fill a town hall if his life depended on it. Now he has crowds coming in droves to hear her speak even though she has nothing to say except, "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

There's a huge percentage of uninformed voters out there who do not care that she's not said one thing of substantive value in the 2 weeks since she's been on the ticket. And guess what . . . they'll be racing to the polls to vote for Palin just because they like her glasses, upswept hairdo, and the color of her lipstick. So, for those of you who are quick to dismiss Sarah Palin because she adds nothing of value to the republican ticket, think about these uninformed voters who will heading out in droves to the polling stations come November 4. Obama/Biden '08.

Keeping Them Honest!