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For the latent (or not so, in my case) geek in all of us.

Genius, I tell you.

Survey of Consumption

The home team won. Thanks to the firm, E and I saw it in person while hanging out with another summer associate and his SO.

In order to get the full experince, E and I shared as much of the foods as we could fit in our bellies (if SF is going to take flack from other cities over the prissiness of the food at our ballpark, then dammit, I'm going to have experienced it first-hand so I can defend my city!). I'm full:

Course 1: 2 draft MGD's, a salted soft pretzel, and stadium nachos with jalapenos.
Course 2: 2 draft Gordon Biersch pints, Gilroy Garlic Fries (you can't be at a game at Pac Bell park and go without...)
Course 3: 2 22 oz. Tsing Tao beers, a 4-ball package of flavored cotton candy.

Umm... arteries hardening...

Akbar

As Chuck, MB, and I sat around the plastic table at Stevens, we discussed the light-hearted topics that arise on a beautiful Friday afternoon. For starters, we all admitted that even though we're technically allowed a lunch break, it still seemed a bit like playing hooky to steal off and meet up with friends so we could sit outside eating delicious, greasy food. We all agreed that last year it didn't seem so decadent to duck out because we all were less busy. Chuck even spoke longingly of the standing Friday ride out to the coast for lunch that he and all of his fellow motorcycle-riding engineers made on a regular basis when the economy was in the outhouse. For better and for worse, those times have passed.

Our conversation quickly turned to Chuck's latest hare-brained plan to go BASE jumping. We all agreed that it was a stupid thing to do. To drive the point home, MB asked Chuck, "Of the roughly 50 sky dives that you've done, what percentage had some sort of flaw that would have killed you had you been base jumping?" Chuck responded, "Mmmm... about 25 percent. Yeah. Okay. I'm not going to do it."

But, he was reluctant to give it up. And I was amazed. I don't get it. Why the drive to do something that will kill you? MB was quick to jump in with his equivalent death-risk sport of solo climbing. At first, neither of them could give me a reason why a sane person would attempt to take on these sports. But then, I think MB hit upon it at the core. He said, "Well, if you're not the greatest climber in the world, you can train and solo up a major face and get some recognition and make a name for yourself."

And this, my friends, is the disease of the modern world. Way too many people suffer from the idea that if they aren't recognized for being the best at something, they haven't lived a good life, or they aren't worth anything. The need for external validation is everywhere, not just law school. But law school attracts over-achievers in droves, so there's an even higher concentration of people who feel failure at anything less than the best. I've always felt it was sad and wrong, but couldn't put my finger on why until the conversation with Chuck and MB. But now, I think I've got it. There've been way too many intelligent, stubborn, and lucky people alive on this planet since we started taking down written history. In order to do something truly great in the face of all of this history today, you have to be RIDICULOUSLY talented, lucky, hard-working, and/or stupid. To place your self worth on that level is to set yourself up for misery. I suppose that misery could drive you to do something that has a good chance of killing you. But, I still don't get it.

So, I'll probably never do anything of historical note. But I'll be happy, I'll live a full life, and assuming I'm not terribly un-lucky, I won't kill myself early while doing it. I wish more people recognized the greatness in such small and simple goals. Oh well. It takes all types, no?

[/end rant]

I Would Be Frustrated, But

I just had a Steven's Cheesesteak and I don't have room for any emotion besides satiety.

Instead of frustration, I'm amused. My admin and I just spent roughly 2 days working on replacement drawings for a patent application. The amendment, forms, and finals from the draftsman were finally ready to go out the door today. Before I signed, I figured I'd check the last correspondence from the PTO, just to make sure that our on-line docketing system wasn't lying to me.

Good thing I did. Turns out the firm from which my firm got this file let the final office action deadline go without responding. This file is DEAD. Somehow, it never was deactivated in our docketing, so when some of its brother and sister patents needed new drawings, we threw it in the pile as well.

The moral of the story? Always double check. The partner thought I was pretty smart for catching this error--he was also very sorry for wasting my time, mumbling, "I don't know why it hasn't been deactivated, give it to Linda, don't trouble yourself with it anymore, she'll file the deactivation form."

The best part for me? Clearly, the long outdoor lunch at Steven's with MB and Chuck was meant to be. Had I rushed back, I'd only have been doing work on a file that wasn't billable anyways.

Sloths Rock

Last night, at a friend's house for a poker game, I laughed my way through The Book for People Who Do Too Much.

I highly recommend it, if only for the picture of the sloth.

Apparently, the book infected my subconscious because today I sent a long-winded rant to my supervising professor about how I could do some research over the summer but there would be no paper started 'til fall. The research project had been hanging over my head in every spare moment I've found so far this summer.

Prof Research's Reply:

That's fine (I had thought that was the original plan anyways!). Enjoy
your summer.

Go Sloths! I didn't even need to be feeling guilty about my lack of effort. How excellent is that?

Summer Blues

No matter how cool your job is, when it is GORGEOUS outside and you are stuck inside, if you are me, you wish you were outside.

Also, I'm comatose after a big lunch.

Both of these have combined into a barely irresistable urge to lay in the sun, and read a pleasure book until I fall asleep.

Alas, I must sit inside, looking out my huge window at the sun, but air-conditioned to chills. Also, I must read this patent instead of fiction.

Not a bad life. But, boy can I smell and taste a better one, just a few floors and a single decision away. Of course, it's also only two days away from the weekend where I can lay in the sun and read and sleep to my heart's content. Focus...

Where Law School Doesn't Help

I've got an office action from the Chinese Patent Office sitting on my desk. I finally opened it today because I'd finished most of what I could do on all the English work on my desk until I get some feedback.

Sure enough, the Chinese Patent Office sends responses in hanzi.

I don't read hanzi. Not even a little bit. Except good luck and good fortune, fuji film, and maybe one or two other characters, I'm worthless with Chinese Characters.

But wait, it gets better. The patent application isn't translated, but the rejection from the Chinese Patent Office is. It tells me that the technology is being rejected for lack of inventiveness (looks like obviousness is the US equivalent, but I haven't looked it up to be sure) in view of a Japanese patent in light of a US patent.

You may be shocked to learn that I also do not read or speak Japanese.

So, the work that I am capable of doing on this file involves instructing my admin to order that the Japanese patent be translated and instructing my admin, yet again, to pull the original English text of the Chinese patent application (all the while praying that we can locate the English version prior to translation.)

I feel completely and totally useless. It's almost enough to make me want to learn Chinese before Spanish. Nahh.... vacationing in Spanish speaking countries will win over reading Chinese patents any day.

Manual Labor

A friend of ours, B, bought a schooner with 4 of his friends. They're fixing her up for a trip around the world.

E and I stopped by to check her out and were immediately put to work.

3 hours later, I'd pulled 250 feet of hulking anchor chain from the hull, moved it to the dock, laid it out in 10 feet increments and spray painted markings so that they'd know how much chain they were letting out when they set down anchor.

My hands are hot, swollen, and tight. My biceps are warm and creaky. My back is knotted. And I know I'm going to sleep better than I have in ages.

It's amazing how nothing reminds me that I'm on vacation (weekends are mini-vacations again!) quite like volunteering to take on labor that would be torture if it were a job.

Milestone

I can now officially say that I've stood up in court and presented a case to a judge. Unfortunately, it was anti-climactic.

No one wants to argue that they didn't jump the turnstile as their first in-court argument. It was a minor consolement that I was not the only one in the court room who believed that they shouldn't be punished for failing to have proof of payment for a system that didn't allow you to pay at certain entrances, but still allowed you to enter.

So, I did what the system banked on me doing--I took the easy way out and gave my Muni story a simple, but not-so-bookworthy ending.

The scam they're running goes something like this:

1. disable money-collection slots of turnstiles so that no one can pay. Leave the free-swinging gate unattended and available next to the broken turnstiles.
2. place muni-cops on the trains to catch people who enter without paying.
3. write them tickets, which are $110, even if they show you their $1.25 and explain that they tried to pay, they just couldn't.
4. make $110 off the lazy and the people whose time is worth money.
5. If the ticket recipient's time isn't worth lots of money (like a law student during the school year), they appeal. The judge offers to reduce the fee to $21 for a plea of no contest, or they can come in for a third visit to the hall of justice, in the middle of a work or school day 45 days down the line, in order to present their case at a bench trial.

Given that I have no pictures or useful statistics, it would simply be my word vs. the muni cop. There would be no jury, just the judge, who seemed to think I'd be an idiot not to take his sweetheart deal. It's a bummer that the trial would have been scheduled for July 29th, because I couldn't justify missing more work for this silliness. If only they scheduled trials so far in advance that I'd be back in school, then I'd fight for all I was worth. Oh well.

The final verdict? At $21, plus an 8-block walk to the justice hall in order to make my appointment to appeal, plus taking off half a day of billables and driving to the city for my second visit to the Hall, plus parking--let's just say that was by far the most expensive bus ride I've ever taken.

Dear virus email writers:

You need to think a little harder before you compose your emails. Today, I received the following:

Hello user of Yahoo.com e-mail server,
Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of unauthorized access.
For details see the attached file.

Kind regards,
The Yahoo.com team

Of course, the attachment was a .pif file. So, the usual logic applies, no one in their right mind will ever save/open an executable file that arrives via email, blah, blah, blah.

But what really showed your genius was the warning of "temporary disablement" of my account. I can only infect my computer with your virus if I take these steps:

1. log into and receive email on the account that's supposedly disabled.
2. download the attachment from the email on the account that's supposedly disabled.

Now do you see the problem?

-bt

I refuse

To refer to myself as a "rising 2L." It just sounds gross to me. I don't know why, but it does.

That is all.

Confession

I haven't been reading the books on my reading list to the left. Instead, I've spent my spare time in the last few days plowing through The King of Torts.

"Torts, I think BT is taking Torts, this book is perfect," I can just hear my mother Santa Claus thinking as the book was placed in my stocking at Christmas. I, of course, didn't touch it during school. In fact, I forgot it at her house until she gave it back to me on my last visit. As a general rule, I'm not a huge Grisham fan. But, boy, when you get sucked in... you have to finish it. It was great in the way that the occasional fast food meal is great--cheap, satisfying, quick, way more enjoyable than it's supposed to be, and inciting slight feelings of guilt, which somehow add to the pleasure of the whole experience.

But now, I'm done with that paperback book and I can move on. E and I biked to our local library last night and I checked out two big hardback books that should keep me entertained for a while. They are big, small font, serious books. Really.

Etymology

An anonymous comment points out that the correct expression is "beck and call" not beckonned call.

True Dat.

Google Hits:
"Beck and Call" = 716,000
"Beckoned Call" = 73,400
"Beckonned Call" = 32

Could I have been more wrong?

Best part is, I distinctly remember changing my opinion about what the correct phrase was when I was in my teens. Julia Roberts as Pretty Woman says, "I'd love to be your beckonned call girl..." Or, at least that's what I decided she said, and I decided she was right (how could a streetwalker who hooked herself up with a penthouse-dweller be anything but?). I rationalized it to myself by roughly this logic:

1. You beckon someone--you don't beck them.
2. Beckon can also function as a noun.
3. Beck sounds silly.
4. A beckoned call is a call that is requested and wanted, which seemed to fit with the common usage.
4. So, beck must not be a real word, and the phrase must be "beckoned call."

You will note that nowhere in this teenage linguistic analysis did I bother with the dictionary. I wonder how many other phrases like this lurk in my brain, I'm sure they're all dying for the chance to make a splash.

Just Remembered

One of the funniest things I've overheard in the last few weeks:


Well, you see, I had to practice in a big city because I wanted to practice civil law. And, in small towns, like where I'm from, people have a tendency to turn all of their civil problems, like divorce, into criminal problems, like murder.

The (Fun) Rat Race

Man, the efficiency of the real world can sure make ya tired. I've had quite a week.

The Good News:

Hey all you people looking for legal jobs or concerned about the economy in the valley: in the 9 months that I've been gone, things have REALLY picked up. I don't think I'll be posting about the illusion of work this summer (but of course, there's no accounting for cycling). I've got 6 projects on my desk as of today and I'm definitely carrying the second lightest load in the place, second only to the summer associate who hasn't worked in this area of the law before. The office halls are full of speedwalking overworked associates and partners who are happy to have interesting work again. When you ask anyone how they are doing, the consistent answer is "busy." Nine months ago, it was, "relaxed" or "planning a vacation since things are slow," or worse, "trying to drum up some work/business." When I left there were 4 empty offices. Now there are none and they've added cubicles for additional support staff. When IP law offices are busy, valley companies are doing technology development, and deals that bring about the need for the legal work. This is a very good sign for the economy.

The Firm:

They're mellow, low-profile and more interested in training summer associates than spending money on perks to lure them back. Sure, crazy perks would be nice (although I did get a new flatscreen and some of the associates don't have them yet...), but the upside of that conservatism is that they didn't over-hire in the boom nor did they take a lot of work on stock options. This meant the bust didn't hit 'em too hard. They weathered the downturn by allowing normal attrition to do its job and pushing back the start dates of the new hires. Their billing requirement is lower than most firms of comparable prestige and quality in the area and they're very clear that you do get two chances at the bar. The competitive edge that grates on me from school is noticeably absent from this group of people. Apparently the quality of life approach is attractive since everyone who got an offer from the summer class last year accepted and they all seem happy with their decision. I am surprised to find that I'm much happier to be back here than I expected. This, too, is a good thing.

The Spoiled Brat:

Today, I realized that I haven't had to pay for my own lunch since Thursday, May 27th. Wow. Of course, E's parents get credit for 5/27-5/31. But every day this week food was provided for me by someone at the firm. This is particularly impressive because my firm isn't fast and loose with cash. In fairness, I should point out that it was a 4-day week and my first week back, so hitting every day was easier than it normally would be. In keeping with the firm's low-profile, I only had one partner-sponsored, gut-growing, multi-course lunch. Additionally, I had two catered lunches at firm events, and one of my old co-workers took me out to our favorite burrito joint on his own dime to welcome me back (I'll get him back next week, since I hope we'll be going at least once a week, just like last year).

The Summer Social Butterfly:

All but two or three summer weekends are already booked with travel, parties, camping, and fun. This week, in addition to starting work and getting settled, I went out for drinks with a coworker one night, out for the full treatment of cocktails and a 4 course dinner on a partner another, attended a barbeque, had a friend stay the night on his way back from the airport, and went to see Prince in concert. This weekend promises a barbeque, a housewarming party, and a trip to visit a friend who lives on the beach. Tonight? I'm staying in and watching movies with E. I need to recuperate.

Academia:

I've still got to get through the books on my reading list to the left, particularly Volokh's. I also need to email my supervising professor about the schedule of work for this project. Most importantly, I need to do enough research to be able to discuss the problem cogently with the friend who needs my help by Sunday. Of course, this discussion is planned for sandwiches on a beach. Can't complain about that. Also, I volunteered to be a mock juror at a training trial for a firm in San Francisco. So tomorrow, on what would have been my first Saturday of relaxation in over two months, I'll be in a courtroom by 9 AM. Remind me again why I thought this would be a good idea.

So, it's official. It's that time of year again. There's sun, good food, friends, fun, and activities galore. I'm ecstatic and exhausted because it's too hard to say no to all the fun. So, I'm gloriously content that I managed to turn down an invitation to celebrate a friend's last final of the year in order to spend tonight on the couch with E.

Try This For Fun

1. Open a bizarrely titled email.
2. Watch in horror as windows multiply across your screen promising lewd acts, showing headless men with gigantic anatomy and naked big-haired and big-breasted women.
3. Smile through the glass window at the partner who walks by.
4. If the partner thinks the smile is an invitation to chat, alt-tab like crazy to hide the disgusting images on your desktop. (Note, do not try to close the windows since this will only cause additional windows to appear in their place.)
5. Blush, ask questions of the partner and try to sound intelligent.
6. Grin as they try to ease your obvious intimidation.

(**bonus points if the partner is of the opposite sex)

Differences

Oh, the shock! My time is money again. So is everyone else's around here. So much so that I won't be posting much from work since I have to watch the clock and bill accordingly. Right now, though, my brain needs a break from the 4 interesting but brain-draining projects I've got on my desk.

At school, it's clear that your time is worthless. Multiple emails (like 10) to remind you of the same thing? What does the school care if you have to read them or sort through them? Need something from the financial aid or career office? Better hope you can get there in the windows of 10-11:30 AM or 1-3:30 PM because if not... well, they're not exactly at your beckonned call beck and call.

Here, efficiency is a way of life. And I love it. I've got gadgets and websites and search tools and secretaries galore to make sure that every minute I'm here, I can spend it working full-steam on brain-draining legal work. (Or going to one of the many activities, gut-growing meals, or training sessions on my calendar). The point of efficient time management isn't just in my imagination, my welcome present was an engraved Franklin Covey organizer.

Some people may find this emphasis annoying, but for now, I'm thriving in this environment. There's support structures to make sure I get to do the best work I can do. I feel very important. I've been here before so I know what I'm doing, what's expected of me, and generally what questions to ask when I have no clue (which is many times, every day). No doubt, they go out of their way to make me feel this way during the romance stage. But, it's working. I really do enjoy the real world (or, the approximation of the real world of being a patent agent back at their old firm, but with access to the summer associate perks).

Spoiled Rotten

Well, I did finally finish my academic "please-oh-please-take-me" journal write-on. I took it to the post office and sent it certified mail as we left town for a weekend of bliss. The end of school-related work took a while to be real. In the car, I kept asking myself, what do I have to do next? Then I'd smile and think, "nothing."

E's parents were in town, so the four of us drove south on the 101 from Silicon Valley until we reached Soledad, where we went on a tour with the winemaker at Paraiso Vineyards. Paradise. Literally. Winds, Mountains, Grapes. Some of the highest quality-to-price pinot noirs being made in California today. What more could I want to start my vacation?

After a leisurely lunch and the purchase of too much wine, we drove south to our eventual destination, the sleepy fishing town of Morro Bay. Our hotel had breathtaking views, a fabulous restaurant, and a bird-filled estuary next door (a huge blue heron watched us without moving while we laughed at the cacophony of a bird-watcher's dream). The original plans had called for a more popular beach destination like Santa Barbara or Pismo Beach, but we all agreed that we made the right choice with a less tourist-filled destination.

The weekend just kept getting better, and now, I feel on top of the world thanks to several wonderful discoveries and experiences:

1. Portable Hot Tub Technology. Enough Said.
2. Long gorgeous drives in the country to reach and taste wines in the Santa Ynez Valley, Paso Robles Wine Country, and San Luis Obispo Wine Country.
3. Going to Hearst Castle for the first time.
4. Going to the Madonna Inn for the millionth time with my grandparents. (If you've never been, it's an experience not to be missed.)
5. Dinner at Windows on the Water. Two nights in a row. It was that great. The view of sunset over morro rock brings a silence to the restaurant--it's too beautiful to describe. The bouillabaise was the best I've ever had (besides my mother's), and the cilantro-grilled shrimp were perfectly spiced with black pepper. The wine list is extensive and full of local selections (which tend to be much more reasonably priced than their more well-known Napa and Sonoma cousins). And dessert? Well, I'm not much of a dessert person, but the lemon mouse inspired me to try one this summer.

Now, I'm home, relaxed, with memories of ocean views, wine geeking, and my belly full of excellent food. I joined one of the wine clubs of the wineries we visited (thankfully, one of my previous memberships has expired) and have plans to join one more when I get around to it.

It was the perfect gluttonous celebration of the great things in life: Family. Food. Relaxation. Sleep. Wine. Mountains. Ocean. Conversation to tie it all together.

Now, finally, I'm ready to go back to being a working stiff. Has it really only been 9 months?

Here's to hoping I can button at least one pair of my work pants after the weekend of stuffing myself silly.

Drifting Away

I had a week to finish everything before I start work.

Most of the week is gone. Most of everything is not done. But, boy, am I well rested, and have we had some good food.

Now, unfortunately, reality is kicking down my door. So, today I managed to motivate and take care of a big chunk of the to-do list.

The largest thing that MUST be completed before heading off for a weekend holiday of central Californian ocean, food, and wine bliss? Cite-checking and cite-fixing my write-on memo. Unfortunately, I've finished the writing, so I'm not that pressed for time. This means that I can't really get up the gumption to do the boring cite-related crap. I was hoping that writing about it would somehow motivate me to attack it and get it over with.

Looks like No. Oh Well. I'm sure I'll finish it before the deadline...

Why I'm Paranoid

Material Witness "holdings" scare the crap out of me. I haven't done anything wrong. I don't have to have done anything wrong to be afraid of humans with power who will make mistakes, innocently or otherwise.

I believe we must always fight a clean, honest, and fair fight. Especially in situations where our emotions whisper to us that it's okay to play dirty, sweep white lies under the carpet and use unfair tactics against those who have employed them against us. At the end of the day, we've got nothing but our honor.

Reverse Sublimation Phase

As you know, I was in finals mode 'til last Tuesday. Basically, I was vapor. I existed everywhere and nowhere, I had no real substance that my friends or family (or even myself) could depend on. I honestly didn't know what day of the week it was on most days. Since Tuesday, I've been transforming back into a normal solid-phase human, bit-by-bit.

Tuesday night, a small piece of me solidified during dinner out with friends (and wine) to celebrate the end of my last final.

Another piece returned the next day at the salon while I relaxed through a massage, facial and pedicure, courtesy of E. (If you're wondering what to get a recently finished finals-taker, a massage is THE answer, they will adore you for it!)

Additional bits of myself have returned after long bouts of restful sleep, relaxing on the couch with my pleasure book, finally cleaning the house, having the first barbeque of the summer, and spending a day doing absolutely NOTHING with my best friend (slept in, walked to brunch, walked home, showered, walked to tea, walked home, read our books in silence, had more tea, took a nap, and had dinner).

This weekend, I managed to be in good enough shape to deal with my family for extended periods of time--an undertaking which is always rewarding, but invariably exhausting. However, I was back to my usual sarcastic role in the family and watched with pride as my little sister officially graduated from college.

And now, I think I'm more-or-less officially recovered from 1L finals. This is good because I've got this huge packet full of cases and statutes and facts. I'm supposed to use it to write a memo in an attempt to qualify to be a member of one of my school's academic journals. I've had it for close to a week now. I believe tomorrow is the day to begin. Yeah, that's it. Tomorrow.

In theory, I could try to grade on and not participate in the writing competition (if I believed my grades were in the top 1% of my class). But, even if I was that good of a student, and didn't doubt the grading system at all, I'd still have to trust that there was nothing that could possibly knock me out of the top 1%. I doubt that anyone who actually wants to be a member of a journal is that confident. So, regardless of who does grade on when our grades come out AFTER the competition is completed, virtually everyone who wants to be on an academic journal will be making their way through the packet over the next week if they haven't started to do so already.

So, given that this is how I'm spending my week off between work and school, I'm thankful that my sanity and solidity have returned. I'm also thankful for memorial day weekend, which promises to bring travel, ocean, and wine tasting. Now, to finish that memo before the weekend...

Day is Done... Gone the Sun...

So, actually, the sun's not gone.

But it's SO OVER!!!!!

The exam kind of sucked, but whatever, I'm used to that by now. Given infinite time, I could have done better. Same story as always. I've got all summer to get over the arbitrariness of the skills they choose to test, the ranking system, grades, and all that stuff. I'll post more cogently about it later.

For now:
1. E's home.
2. I'm going out to dinner.
3. I'm a 2L.
4. I can read fiction and cook good meals every night.
5. Life is good.

500 yards to the finish line

You know the people that crawl over the finish line at the end of marathons? That's how I feel right now.

In the last 17 days, I've put in at least 110 hours of studying, ran 48.36 miles (which probably kept me sane), and spent 10 hours taking actual exams. This set of finals is an easy finalist in the competition for most demanding project of my life. I'm certain I've done other stretches of time that were this demanding, but due to the brain drain, I can't remember them right now, and most certainly, I was younger and more able to handle it back then. However, I've almost made it--there's only 24 hours of studying/sleep/etc and 3 exam-taking hours 'til 1L is done. I can hardly wait.

Unfortunately, I also have many a class note to push into my outline, several flow charts to make and a few practice exams to take before the last exam. So, I'm going to have to wait a little bit to enjoy the doneness, but it'll all be over before I know it.

If you see this before 11:30 AM on Tuesday, think good thoughts for me. My exhausted brain needs all the help it can get.

More Dreams

As I've mentioned before, I have f*cked up dreams when the rats on the treadmill in my head are racing.

Most of this semester's finals dreams have been predictably wierd and boring, but not particularly memorable.

Until last night...

Somehow, my brain thought that after roughly 8 hours of contracts and almost a week after the crim exam, a good thing to dream about would be the crim exam. And how I completely blew it. As in messed up the entire exam for everyone...

...fade in...

Proctor: Who is going to get these completed crim exams to the professor?

bt: [raises hand] I'll do it.

[All students throw exams into the bed of bt's Ford F150.] (mind you, I don't really have an F150, but apparently my subconscious wants one that is big, dirty, with huge mud tires, and, of course, yellow?)

faceless student (you know how people in your dreams are faceless?): You *have* to come with us!

bt: Of course I do. [bt drives to karoake bar with fellow faceless students]

[bt drinks and laughs and feels guilty about time that should be spent on contracts studying]

group of faceless students: come on, you know you want to...

bt: fine. I'll do it.

[bt sings karoake] [badly]

[bt leaves the bar at daybreak, sees the exams in the truck bed and freaks out]

bt (to self): oh, my god, I've got to get these exams to professor crim....

[bt screeches around several nameless corners to arive at professor crim's house]

professor crim: I've been waiting for you all night. You cheated, didn't you? I know you copied the best answers.

bt: No. I swear. I didn't.

professor crim: Oh, I'm supposed to believe that you just kept them all night for fun? And that everyone's answer is completely unaffected by an absence from my house of more than 3 times the exam time? How do I know you didn't all conspire against me?

[bt jolts awake]

...fade out...

What the hell?

3rd's the Turd

Is that how you spell turd? Remember "first the worst, second the best...?"

C needed her computer back. So I returned it on Tuesday. I suffered from the delusion that I had tax TOTALLY under control and didn't need to study that hard for it. So, I spent the first of the available two study days, running, working at about half-pace, and relaxing. Reality returned with only 1.25 days left. I'm now coming down from about 40 hours of frenzy. I went from believing I had tax under my belt to freaking out. For the first time this set of finals, I worked into the wee hours on the morning before an exam.

It didn't help that the computer gods continue to conspire against me. I did all of my charts/outlining on my desktop, in Windows, since formatting issues force me to be a traitor. The night before the exam at 9 pm, it blue-screened. [insert various curses at Bill Gates and windows here, although in fairness, it was a video driver error]. I spent the rest of the time before the final even more frenzied:

1. trying to recreate and recall several of the smaller charts that seemed to disappear with the BSOD.
2. cutting and pasting my charts into the blank pages of the code
3. installing the stupid exam software on my 3rd laptop (my new baby) for this finals period.
4. realizing I didn't have a USB floppy drive
5. finally going to sleep
6. getting up after about 4 hours of sleep
7. studying some more and making notes on the pages when I found more missing bits lost to the computer
8. going to Fry's to buy a USB floppy drive
9. booting my laptop in my car, in the parking lot of fry's and installing the floppy driver to make sure the hardware would work.
10. commuting to school
11. registering the exam software on-line, because it wouldn't let me do it 'til I had a floppy drive.
12. going to the mexican joint and repeatedly reassuring the adorable burrito-making-dude, that no, I wasn't his novia, but no, it wasn't because he was feo.

Anyhow, Tax is finished. I didn't really calm down 'til the exam began. Given my lack of sleep (since I never slept more than 4 hours before any exam in college) and the fact that there were problems with numbers and I had my trusty HP calculator, it felt like an engineering exam. Which was good. My adrenaline levels had been much too high for the day and half prior to the exam--can't be good for my heart (great for staying awake though...).

So now, I'm on the home stretch, and honestly, exhausted. There was NO CHANCE of motivating myself to take a run this AM. And possibly no need since the point is to be physically exhausted at the end of each study day, and boy, am I ever...

Finals Food

Waddling Thunder has a post dealing with responses to his Waddling Kitchen Post about the harried law school student's diet.

I, too, dream about food in my spare time. The approach of summer has me excited for several reasons, but the ones vying for the #1 spot are: barbeques, and going to the summer farmers' market every Sunday. Perhaps people who live for food don't begrudge the time it takes to make it. Maybe it is more efficient to buy pre-prepared foods, either in fast-food joint form, or in the bakable/microwavable "meal" form.

But, really, I don't believe it.

Last night, I made stir fry. It took about 10 minutes. It would have taken me at least that long to drive to the nearest fast food joint, order food, and bring it home. Plus, I fed 3 people and had left-overs for one more for about $6. Feeding four people in 10 minutes for $6 is not possible with fast food. But, if you hate cooking, cleaning the dishes, and don't really care about the quality of the food you eat, I could see how the effort saved may make pre-prepared food worth it.

Finals Stir-Fry:

1. Before finals, I do a bunch of little things to make finals easier. So, part of the ease of this meal is that I already went to the store and bought the stuff I didn't have out of the ingredient list. This meal requires:

• One package frozen stir-fry vegetables $1.69


• One Carrot (optional, it was in the fridge so I used it) $1 - high estimate


• One inch piece of ginger root $1 - high estimate


• Three Garlic cloves (staple, calculated into the high estimates above)


• Chili oil, or olive oil and chili flakes (staple, calculated into the high estimates above)


• One package firm tofu $1.69

2. Heat 1-2 Tbsp chili oil (or olive oil and chili flakes to taste) on med-high stove in a sautee pan or a wok. Add minced garlic and ginger (feel free to throw in sliced shallots, onions, or anything of that nature that's lying around).

3. While oil is making the kitchen smell delicious, cut tofu into 1 inch x 1 inch x 1/4 inch pieces. Sautee and stir in oil/spices for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add Frozen vegetables and chopped carott. Sautee and stir for 5 minutes.

5. Serve immediately. (Serves 4 without rice)

6. Variations: 1. buy a can of black bean sauce and add it to the stir fry after the vegetables are partially cooked. 2. Serve over rice.

Okay, enough procrastination. Back to Tax.

Two Down, Two to Go

Well, Crim is done. I've giving myself about 20 hours to recuperate 'til I have to start studying again and I think I'm going to need them all.

I walked out of the exam very disappointed. Crim wasn't supposed to be like Civ Pro where I knew the exam was going to be ridiculous and expected to be pressed both for time, and for the ability to find anything to say that was worthwhile. The previous exams from this professor led me to believe that I'd have ample time and the ability to address each of his questions. The trick to this professor was clarity. Or so I thought.

Turns out that this exam was harder than any of his freely available previous exams. (Or, perhaps it wasn't in which case I'm in worse trouble than I thought.) But, time was of the essence. In a MAJOR way. I finished the first portion of the exam with well over a half an hour to spare, which I donated to the essays. I did spot a bunch of issues and outlined a great answer (or so I thought). But despite the time spillover, I didn't have time to address all of the issues I spotted. I had to make judgment calls about what to include and leave out. I had to decide whether it was worth going in depth or giving cursory reference to the fact that I spotted the issues. It doesn't matter what I decided, I knew I could have done better had I had enough time.

I walked out of the exam certain of only one thing: the points I know I lost for not covering issues I had spotted but couldn't get to. I avoided the two sentence approach I had used in Torts because this professor had indicated that cursory statements were basically worth nothing. But, man, it sucks to know something is an issue and not be able to address it.

Ugggh... frustration. Oh well. Time to get over it. Two more in the pipeline.

Distraction

I put in a long day of studying yesterday and didn't do anything physical. I won't be doing that again during finals, if I can help it. Falling asleep was a pain--my brain was exhausted but my body had no interest in calling it a day.

Today is the last day before my Crim exam. I've got big plans:

1. Internet Procrastination: blogging, news, reading blogs, mail, the usual.
2. Physical Procrastination: when I finish here, I'm going to run 6.7 miles.
3. Amazon Procrastination: when I finish finals, I get to be a human again... fiction! remember fiction?
4. Food Procrastination: I've got to eat. But what?
5. Amazon-Food Procrastination: wow, Amazon really does sell everything.
6. Calling My Mom and Neice's Mom: It's mother's day.
7. Packing for, Driving to, and Checking in to the Hotel by School for the AM exam.

I'm also going to make a half-hearted effort to study and take practice exams in between all of that stuff. I'm running on fumes mentally, so there's not much I can do about it except procrastinate and hope I recover. Thankfully, adrenaline will kick in for the actual exam, it's just today that's going to be a bit of a waste. Oh Well. At least the weather is nice.

Lost Something

Yesterday, I had a "Law School has really f*cked me up" moment.

Professor Crim had invited students out for drinks. I actually thought my time would be better spent studying. Mind you, this is after 6 hours of studying and an hour and a half review session. Thankfully, H wanted to go and I came to my senses.

We went. It was fun.

A few short months ago, I used to understand that drinks/social occasions with co-workers and colleagues were important and fun. I used to make an effort to join people for drinks after work. I understood that more work was accomplished when people felt that they had a connection to you. I understood that feeling friendly towards the people I work with went a long way towards making the work day pleasant. I knew that I could learn things over drinks that I would never have an opportunity to learn in the office.

How did law school make me forget that?

Whatever. I remember it now. I enjoyed talking to the students that went and hanging out with the professor.

My new laptop arrived yesterday. I was going to wait until after my next exam to open it and play. I think I lost that battle. [runs off to open the box...]

Well, that was ridiculous!

Professor Civ Pro is a fan of a steep curve. This doesn't freak me out as much as some of my fellow students because I come from an undergrad program with a required mean of 2.7 and a group of professors who believe that if someone gets 100%, the test did not fully allow people to express the extent of their knowledge. I actually have gotten 20% right on exams and gotten a B on them.

I'm not sure how I feel about that philosophy. When I'm prepared and having a good game day, I think I like it. But, I've had other days where it sucked. It's no fun to work your ass off in preparation for an exam where an A is 50%. Walking out of an exam knowing that you had no clue about 50% of the questions does a number on anyone's confidence. But, in all fairness, so does life. If you know you're going to feel stupid before you go, it's not so bad. I think I also compare this extreme to the other extreme where the curve is required and the exam is too easy, so a 93% is a B-. I'll take the impossible exam over a couple of mistakes making me average any day.

So... yeah, I waver on the issue, but secretly, I suspect if I were a professor, I'd write really hard exams too. That makes me an asshole in the assessment of most of the people who left professor Civ Pro's exam today. He promised to be out of the zip code and people took advantage of the 1st amendment and his absence accordingly.

The exam was long, hard, and close to impossible. If I remember, I'll post the averages, raw and curved, when they come back to me, because I suspect they'll be amusing (like a 40% on the essays is the going bet for average). C's laptop served me quite well, I did my stuff, wrote what I could, felt pressed for time, realized I got some stuff wrong and didn't have time to fix it, also realized that I pegged some hard to recognize stuff, and generally, didn't have any clue that time was flying by.

It's done. It's a relief. Here's to hoping luck is on my side!

I'm doing NOTHING related to law school tonight. Tomorrow, it's back to the same: long run, study, study, study, yoga (if I can fit in in) tea, and bed.

Game Day

I'm up. I'm out of bed. I'm exhausted.

My windows partition died yesterday morning. I took it as a sign and ordered the dream laptop I've been salivating for.

Unfortunately, that did not solve my more immediate problem. What about today's exam? (I wasn't too upset, I was very thankful that it didn't die DURING the exam.)

So, last night, I took an hour and a half off studying to drove to and from C's house and steal the junker PC that she bought to take the bar (she's a mac-head). I spent another hour at home installing the crappy exam software (which most certainly contributed to the freak-out of my windows partition), making certain the external floppy worked, rebooting into and out of secure mode and convincing myself that this machine would NOT die on me.

Now, I've got about 3 hours 'til I need to go to the exam, and honestly, I'm too tired to do any more. I feel like I hit brain-saturation, and anything I add to my brain now will come at the expense of something else it pushes out. But, that probably won't stop me from trying...

Think good thoughts for me if you happen to see this before 4:30 PM PST.

Wow

I have a few friends who have the present gene. You know, the $6-$10 things you always meant to buy yourself but never did? People with the present gene are able to know what they are and you get 'em for you. They also know exactly how much to spend so that you feel grateful but not uncomfortable. N has the present gene.

N got me a wine question-of-the-day calendar for 2004.

I'm a big wine geek. This was one of those things that I didn't know existed, but if I did, I would have purchased it for myself without thinking. So, I was excited to receive it, and every day I'm excited to tear off the page from the day before so I can read about wine bottles, history, chemistry, producers, regions, grapes, and more.

Today's tid-bit? Although it's not certain because a record of private collections is not kept, it is generally assumed that the largest collection of corkscrews is owned by Don Bull of Wirtz, Virginia, proprietor of Virtual Corkscrew Museum.

Wow. I guess I'm not THAT big of a wine dork.

In other news, Civ Pro studying is continuing on schedule. I'm still enjoying myself. The weather is gorgeous. I fear I'll regret this happy-go-lucky attitude come grade time. But man, all things considered, I've got a pretty good life right now.

Enjoying Myself?

I'm shocked to find that this time around, during the reading period, I'm having a good time. I think I might even be able to keep it up.

[grin] of course, it's only been one day, technically, but that first day set quite a pleasant tone...

Yesterday, I slept in, ran 6 miles, got burritos with E, bought my grandmother a mother's day card, studied at at home and at H's house for 8 hours or so, ate defrosted turkey stew for dinner with E, had a couple of beers, watched the Simpsons and was in bed by Midnight.

Today, I got up after 9+ hours of sleep, ran 4 miles, and expect the rest of the day will be similar to yesterday.

I don't hate studying. And, I actually enjoy taking exams, I always have. So, I suppose I'm predisposed to enjoying finals. But mainly, I think my happiness stems from the combination of:

1. no classes 'til August
2. the freedom to make my own schedule
3. the freedom from fear of the unknown that gripped me during last semester's exams
4. and of course, the sun

So, I've got a list of stuff I must get through between now and my first exam (both work and required 8 hours of sleep each night). It's entirely reasonable to get through it with at least a day to spare. I'm planning on filling the remaining time with some of the items off of a longer list of stuff I could get through if there is time, and my list of activities for myself (like running, cooking, facial?, massage?, pedicure?, the list is infinite). My tentative schedule looks like I should be able to fit in some things from both.

Poem on Your Blog Day

Heidi showed me the way, so I'm joining in.

My favorite poet of all time is William Blake, with Dylan Thomas coming in a close second. And, if those two aren't enough, I'll cement my stereotypical views with the admission that I'm a big fan of Shakespeare's Sonnets to boot. I know, nothing new that no one's heard of. But, it's hard to argue with greatness.

So, in keeping with the assignment, my favorite poem is Auguries of Innocence by Blake.

And, like many, my favorite bit is the oft-quoted first verse:


To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.…


How could I not find comfort and joy in those words? They speak loudly and well about my jiggered together version of spirituality. A bastardized, rough amalgamation of Logic, Buddhism, Taoism, Math, my personal experience, folk tales, Christianity, Physics, foreign culture, history, and great writing I've encountered that speaks to me of the capacity for greatness in humanity and how to be at peace while striving to be a better person in an amazing World. Without a doubt, I've never found a better statement of what I would want to say about the rolling dice of life and why they're so great.

So, come on bloggers, jump in on your own space (readers, post your faves in the comments. I'm always looking for new poets to read and Summer, the blissful time of free pleasure reading, is fast approaching). Everyone, throw your two cents on the poetry bandwagon (don't you love mixed metaphors?). You know it's more fun than studying for finals...

Guaranteed Laugh

Transmogriflaw points to the funniest Ebay Auction I've ever seen.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Well, the fever is gone. Whatever it was, my immune system killed it.

I'm happy for that.

Now, the madness begins... 5 days 'til final #1.

DSL is down at home, so I'll be silent 'til it's fixed. That's probably a good thing for my study habits.

[update: studying decreasing, DSL is back up for now]

Ultra Low Grade Torture

I'm not visibly sick. (I think)

I have a headache. I'm kind of achey. But, I made it through an 8-hour day of madness today including two classes, reading, and two exam reviews where old exams were rehashed and ideal answers explained. I found the exam reviews comforting.

This semester, my approach is different than last semester. I'm more concerned with knowing how the exam will feel, the type of knowledge I will need and how it will need to be presented. Last semester, I spent quite a bit of time learning before I looked at old exams. I think I spent more time on detail in torts and not enough time on detail in contracts because I was approaching all of my exams with a "know everything and know it well" approach. Which, for me, a mere mortal, is impossible.

Last night, by bed time, my temperature was back to normal. This AM, it was a manageable 99.2 F. But, now, unfortunately, it's hovering at 101.5. Ugghhh...

So, I'll take it as a sign. I was hoping to hit the gym and get some more studying done. But, I think I'm going to fill my time with light preparation like organizing my outline binders, alphabetizing lists of cases, pulling practice exams off the internet and all of the little things that need to be done during crunch time (tasks which I inevitably use to procrastinate).

Add a ridiculous amount of fluids, a light dinner, movie, ice cream, and at least 9 hours of sleep and hopefully I'll be better soon.

No. No. No!

It's hot today. I love the heat. But I'm too hot. Uncomfortable.

And I'm REALLY sore from my workout yesterday. Way more sore than I should be. Come to think of it, I was really sore last night too. And I've had a headache for a couple of days and have been kind of naseous. And I've been really tired. I chalked it up to stress, but just now, I figured I'd better take my temperature to be sure.

38.2 C == 101 F.

Not Good.

Oh please, oh please, oh please, let my insane immune system kill off whatever this is in short order.

Policy

In the shower after my run, I started thinking about policy arguments for Crim, Contracts, and Civ Pro. (Yes, I think about law school in the shower... It's close to finals. I'm quite a monster, really.)

I decided that there are only about 4 policy arguments, they just get mashed up, applied to the facts and re-argued. Over and Over.

So here's my hint for the day (and note to myself):

If you need to argue policy, there's almost certainly a way to argue that going against your position will result in:

1. Unfairness
2. Impracticality
3. Morally Reprehensible or Societally Unacceptable Results
4. or, the last-ditch hide-out of every argument, a Slippery Slope.

Am I missing anything?

The Little Things

Getting ready for finals is full of huge tasks like outlining, reviewing, practice exams and review sessions. But, the little things are even more important. Here's my list, let me know if I'm forgetting anything.

1. List of available study food, and the additions that must be made at the store.
2. Make sure that the late-night dinner places are still open (a near-by ramen house serves 'til 10:45 and an Italian place one town over serves 'til 1 AM). If you're anything like me, this information is absolutely essential to finals.
3. The phone number of the pizza delivery joint.
4. A full stock of soda, coffee, tea, and chocolate covered coffee beans.
5. A schedule that maps out which subjects are studied when, the workout breaks, the exam review sessions and the exams as well as the nights I need to stay in a hotel.
6. Laundry clean (still on the to-do list).
7. Make sure that all the Arriving Netflix movies are not the least bit sad, depressing or mid-life-crisis-inducing.
8. Notify family and friends that I'm going to be AWOL for about a month.
9. Order flowers for Mother's day.
10. Start smiling at the prospect of summer.

Bittersweet

I spent last night and half of today rationalizing my loss of moot court. I'd have more time for OCI and a journal (if I managed to get on one). I could do an externship or clinic second semester without worrying about conflicts. I wouldn't be stressed about time-management. I could still take an advanced moot court skills course and get more experience. Add that to what looks like a pretty friendly schedule for next year (I pick my final classes tomorrow) and I wasn't too upset. Sure, I felt rejected, but really, there's not enough time in law school to do everything and not being on a moot court team left time for other activities (like an externship or clinic) that really interested me.

On the drive home from class, my phone rang.


-Hi, this is so-and-so from the moot court department. I'm calling to Congratulate you. We'd like to offer you a place on a team.
[silence]
-Hello?
-Hi. I'm sorry. I was just convinced that I hadn't been chosen for a team, so I'm a little surprised to hear from you.
-Oh, no. You've got a spot if you want it. Are you interested?
-Yes. Of course.


And that was that.

My reaction was much more complicated than it would have been yesterday. I'm not convinced that moot court is the greatest thing I could possibly do in law school anymore. Obviously, I'm still excited about the opportunity. But I'm much more aware of the downsides than I was before. I'm particularly bummed about the loss of winter and spring break which I was using to console myself with promises of fabulous travel. I'm also scared that I'll commit to moot court and a journal, if one will take me, and then my second year will be a hellish marathon of work devoid of a social life.

Yes, I'm excited, happy, and grateful. But those emotions are swimming amonst my frustration. I assume that several of the people I bonded with today over our rejections and how we still hadn't heard anything are going to have to go through another round of what I went through yesterday. It seems completely unnecessary.

What's wrong with a synchronous and silent email notification at 6 PM? Personally, I would have rather been told that I was not a first choice so I could honestly congratulate my friends on their success without anxiously wondering with each classmate's cell phone ring, "But what about me?" In a hyper-competitive environment, selectively notifying people one at a time breeds frustration and disappointment. I'd rather know I was on a waiting list and find out good news later than assume the worst.

And, of course, I'm sad that I assumed the worst. I bought and paid for the typical negative effects of law school yesterday. Despite the best efforts of the hope in the corner of my head, I believed in rejection. When classmate after classmate got the call, I just couldn't keep up the good mental fight and question what seemed irrational to me. By late last night, I knew I hadn't been selected. There was plenty of time for them to call everyone, so they must have done so. I believed I wasn't good enough and they didn't want me because of a flaw in my skills, or my grades, or even worse, they just plain didn't like me. In bits, this kind of introspection is good because it builds character. But methinks there's too much of it in law school. I wish that career centers, extra curricular activities, and the things that are supposed to be the support structures of school would take a little more care not to stoke the ego-killing fires, particularly when it would be more efficient than what must have been close to 100 games of phone tag.

However, lest it appear that I am complaining when I should be happy, let me assure you. I am ecstatic and grateful.

Onward...

Disappointment

Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue. --Samuel Johnson

Oh, I wanted it so badly. But, it appears that I was clairvoyant about my failure to make the team.

I was not one of the people who got a friendly phone call inviting me to join a moot court team today. Most of the calls came during school hours, which was very nerve-wracking. The early acceptees were excited, and you could tell by the huge grins and quiet questions of whether you'd been called yet that they wanted to share. For them, it must have been tough for most of us hadn't received a call. Predictably, as the hours wore on, more and more people received calls and those of us who hadn't slowly let our hopes dissolve.

I'm very bummed and somewhat confused. What happened? How could I excel in my moot court class, want it so much, and yet, somehow, not be selected? Even with my lack of preparation and stumble, the feedback in the interview and my gut told me I was still decent enough to earn a spot. I feel betrayed by my own sense of hope (which, despite my attempts at banishment, insists on holding out in a corner until the absolute rejection arrives). Thankfully, I don't have much time to focus on this.

Finals are around the corner. Got to get cracking.

Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. --Samuel Beckett

Ouch!

The ticket from my muni debacle arrived.

$110!!! Are you kidding me? For taking a $1.25 ride without paying because the turnstiles were broken?

So, instead of studying on my break today, I'll probably be going to the Justice Hall to appeal. All right, here I go to do some REAL legal work.

Say I'm Not Clairvoyant

Since I've been fairly true to my workout schedule this semester, I've been less stressed and sleeping better.

But, now that serious studying time has arrived, I think I can count on the arrival of messed up dreams. I'm one of those lucky people who wakes up quite a bit during wacky dream spells so I remember them in much more of their weirdness than I'd prefer.

I studied Contracts at least 8 hours yesterday. E and I ate mexican food with margaritas, and then watched Sling Blade and Simpsons before heading to bed. The combination was a recipe for excellent dreams:

Dream 1. The moot court coach called and told me I was 9th out of 10 on the waiting list to make one of the teams. I then attended a terrible party, where my transcript/application was passed around and it was pointed out to me that I never actually turned in my memo in LWR, so I had an F in that class, which probably affected my chances to get on a team. I had to congratulate people who did get on one of the teams while they all explained to me why I didn't get on one and probably wouldn't off the waiting list. Also, the moot court instructor explained that there were only 1/2 the spots originally allocated due to budget issues. Given how badly I want to be on a moot court team, this dream sucked.

Dream 2. I woke up convinced that I had dreamt of the funniest sign in the world and wishing that I had a pad of paper next to the bed to write down whatever it was that the sign said. Of course, I can't remember what it said now...

Dream 3. I got in a huge screaming fight with my best friend from childhood on the phone. I woke up angry with my heart racing. The topic of argument: Junior High stuff like clothes, friends, appearance, "you think you're so cool," etc. This was the worst dream of all.

What the hell?

Sacrifices

E just got in from a poker game with some of our friends. Apparently, it was a lot of fun.

I'm heading off to bed after a night of working out, eating solo and making tax flashcards with a pot of tea to keep me company.

[grin] ahhh, the good things about law school really make themselves known around this time of year, don't they?

A good wine list

If I ran the world, wine lists at all restaurants would meet these standards:

1. A selection of wines that start at roughly 1.5 X the average entree in price.
   
2. A large selection in the 2.0-3.0 X average entree price range.
   
3. A few more expensive selections that are great values and finds, which might, but rarely do, tempt me to splurge.
   
4. Every wine would have at least one of the following qualities: great value, unknown but should be discovered, local producers (as in from the 20 closest producers).
   
5. At least 6 wines by the glass (usually the best values from 3 whites and 3 reds)
   
6. And, of course, all the usual stuff, all of the wines should go well with the food served, be indicative of their grape, producer, region, or something memorable, and in general, just good.
   

Unfortunately, I don't run the world. This means that most restaurants make wine lists based on a desire to make the largest profit they can, with the second goal of getting people to spend as much money on wine as possible. Usually, the cheaper wines on the list end up being mass-produced stuff I buy at the grocery store for $6-$10, but the restaurant is charging $20-$25 for it. The middle of the road for the price range in these restaurants is usually closer to 3-5 X the average entree price, and even then, the majority of the offerings are well-known stars of the wine world, which are overpriced due to their acclaim. This is before the standard restaurant markup of 100-300%.

Last night, E and I went out to a different local Italian joint than where we usually go. The wine list followed my school of thought, which was pleasantly surprising. There were several excellent values and good, but unknown local selections. So, I chose a reasonably priced Napa Pinot Noir of which I'd never heard. E and I were in heaven.

Finding a wine list that I'd make if I had the time, money and restaurant to host it in was the best thing that's happened all week. But enjoying an affordable wine discovery with a white-wine-saffron-seafood fettuccini and a much-needed date with E sealed the deal.

So, if you get a chance, give Fleur de Carneros a try. I have no idea if they carry it in stores, but even with the restaurant markup it's a good value. However, if you do find it in the store, splurge away--at $14 a bottle, the cheery, light, and delicious wine with the french-style label is a serious bargain (some of the winery's neighbors charge double or even triple that for wines of roughly the same quality).

Fuel to the Fire

In case you've been under a rock, I thought I'd let you know that USN&WR released their 2005 rankings and pretty much everyone already looked.

Several people already blogged, commented, ranted and discussed the use, misuse, futility, and effect of the rankings. And, I didn't add anything because really, what is there to say that hasn't been said?

Until today, that is.

For some reason, the folks over at law.com have decided that my blog belongs on their short-list, so I've been getting a bunch of referrals from them. I went to go poke around their site today and found the 2003 BCG Guide to Class Ranking Distinctions & Law Review Admission at America's Top 50 Law Schools.

If you're a student who's concerned about your school's drop or consistently low rankings and how it may affect your future career, you might want to check out the PDF to gather information about your school's strengths and weaknesses vis-a-vis other schools. If your school has a difficult curve, the numbers in the PDF may help you make the case that your grades are better than they appear at first blush. If nothing else, you can read it for the gossipy tidbits, such as:

• Only 25 of the top 50 schools use a 4.0 GPA scale.
  
• The difference between failing and a B- in Stanford's GPA system is .4 points.
  
• Columbia is so secretive about its grading policies that BCG couldn't obtain any information on grading.
  
• At Boalt, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Stanford, UCLA and UC Davis, there is no grading-on to law review. It's all based on the writing competition.
  

Rounding 3rd Base

[phew] All school-related extra-curricular activities are complete. (Except journal competition, but that's not 'til after finals, which is a whole 'nother world to me these days). It's more of a relief than I expected. Now I can focus on all the crap necessary to get ready for the dreaded F-word. (finals, okay?)

Moot try-outs were okay. Not great, but not horrible either. I finally managed to motivate and slap together a somewhat decent understanding of my issue and the argument. I stumbled during my introduction, which is generally unacceptable, if you ask me. But, I wore my more formal suit and new shoes, so at least I looked the part. I recovered from my stumble fairly well and things seemed to be looking up for a while. But then, the judge asked me a question that I'd cleverly (or so I thought) skirted by limiting my argument.

I had to do respond with, "Your Honor, foo is germane to Respondent's very valid argument of bar. I am not making that argument today since Respondent's stronger argument is blah. However, I'd be happy to attempt to address foo if you'd like." Thankfully, the judges withdrew their question and asked me to continue with my prepared argument. Had I been more prepared, I would have been able to respond. But truth was, I wasn't prepared enough to do a good job, so I had to own up to it. Bummer.

Thankfully, the post-speaking interview went well and LWR grade explanation seemed to satisfy their concerns about my lack of a writing ability. My resume seemed to impress them a bit, which was surprising since I didn't think my tech background would matter for moot court. Apparently they have a hard time finding people for the more technical competitions. I'm not complaining, sign me up.

Oh well... It's out of my hands now. They notify people next week, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Motivation Needed

Tomorrow, I have moot court try-outs. Most people who are trying out for the team have read the brief several times, read all the cases and outlined their argument several days before their appearance.

Me? I'm excited about the topic. I really want to be on a moot court team. And yet, for some reason, I've been unable to start preparing for my try-out. I finally got myself to read the brief tonight by taking it with me to the gym and pouring over it on the elliptical machine.

Now I just need to pick the sub-argument I'd like to make, pull the related cases, outline the argument, and practice. This is the type of work I LIKE to do. It's much more interesting than the reading for my classes. But, for whatever reason, I'm caught up on all my reading and haven't started my argument.

I suspect that my no-procrastination policy during outlining and reading has backfired. Somehow, my brain knows moot isn't reading and outlining, so it's procrastinating away...

Here's to hoping the motivation kicks in before 11 PM. I'd really like to get some sleep before try-outs.

Keeping it Real

Saturday, someone pulled up next to me on the freeway in furious stop-and-go traffic on my way to my brother's house for Easter. They made the roll-down-your-window motion. You have no brake lights. I stopped at the nearest town. We checked the fuses, but it wasn't that simple. So, we dropped my car at the closed garage and navigated mass transit for 2 hours (!) in order to get a rental car at the airport (local rentals were all closed for the holiday/saturday/evening). I finally made it to my brother's place at 8:30 PM. I was not hit from behind by an SUV speeding around the corner only to meet my stopped and not-brake-lit car. I am very thankful that we were not injured. Bless the couple who took the time to tell us.

Saturday night after a 6 hour trip that should have been 2, I hung out with E, E2, my bro, his woman, and my niece. Adorable niece can say my name, sort of. She can say E's name better than she can say mine. She's wonderful, spoiled like the oldest grandchild that she is, attention hungry, and great. She woke up at 2 AM and, rubbing her eyes in that great way that kids can, and walked to the sliding glass door that separated us older kids from the house as we sat and told old stories about family. My sister-in-alomst-fact (not law, but close enough) effortlessly rose in mother-response and took her to bed. As she carried my niece away, my brother spoke his heartfelt expression of fatherhood aloud:

Sometimes, I just can't tell you how great it is. I can't explain it. A lot of times, she's crying and cranky and I'm like, "Come on, stop it, give me a break, do you really have to be like that?" But sometimes, she gets up and she rubs her eyes, and she's just so amazing. I love it. I can't explain it. It's just so great at those times.

That's all he said about that. But the emotion in his voice was humbling.

My sister didn't make it to Easter brunch. She pulled out of a gas station and into a car with an 80-year-old woman driving. Her car was out of commission. No one was hurt. Again, I was thankful.

My mother had an emotional moment while going through her jewelry with D, my bro's wife-like-baby-mama. Some of the things that my grandma left my mother have been in the family for ages and my mom doesn't wear them because they aren't her style. But she doesn't want to get rid of them either. Turns out, D is a jewelry artist and started jumping up and down and screaming at the sight of these old crystal necklaces. My mother gave them to her, crying happily at finally having a proper place to give them away and have some closure.

Today, I started to stress out about the work I need to do for moot court try-outs, the fact that there's only 14 days of class left, the amount of work I need to do to get my head around all of my subjects (particularly contracts) before finals, the stupid logistics of returning the rental car and getting my car back (assuming the repairs were easy to complete and I could afford them), and the reality that I didn't get a call-back for the trial team.

So, I went over to Salam's blog for a dose of reality. I highly recommend it if you are in need of one. If you don't need a reality check, I recommend it for the historical context, his great explanation of the Sunni-Shia religious past and present conflicts that arise therefrom is very educational.

[exhale] Well, that was a lot for one discussion, wasn't it?

Ode to Paypal

So, it's no secret that PayPal has a history of being very abusive to customers. Their actions in the past got them into a class action lawsuit.

In fairness, I heard that when EBay acquired them there was a bit of clean-up (which would make sense since EBay's a pretty reputable company), but I don't know for certain since I never use them.

Today, K decided to buy hockey tickets for a tomorrow's Sharks game.

Apparently, she didn't realize she'd have to pay by PayPal 'til too late. So, she signed up, and felt the need to add the following in the comments box (after copying it into an email for my amusement--K knows that I get a kick out of her ranting explosions):


I feel like I've been f*cked sideways by the
superfluous steps needed to set up an account.
Now the kids will never see Mickey Mouse or Goofy
(well, actually maybe Goofy...but that's NOT the
point), and it's all your fault. I feel like
I've been taking crazy pills trying to get this
stupid, sack-of-sh*t website to work. Your
horrible service has prompted me to leave the
country for a more civilized nation, like
Botswana. This is the most abusive thing I have
used since Windows 98. May God have mercy on
your souls...F*ck you and goodnite.


[laugh] I may be sick, but I think it's hilarious when people get so upset that they make no sense at all. Just Great!

Oh, and, I guess, the public service announcement part of this is: looks like the registration process at PayPal hasn't gotten any user friendlier as of late.

I See...

I am like Bill -- "I'm a trained killer - in business."

Bill was the Project Manager for the Celebrity Auction Challenge.

Which Apprentice are You?
brought to you by The Apprentice Blog and Quizilla

Link thanks to ambulance chaser.

11 months

The experiment of attempting to be fully anonymous didn't quite make it to the year mark.

Today, I had the luck of walking by a group of people in my section discussing the finer points of some of my earlier, less discerning posts. Turns out, my posts came across as pretty damn rude.

Back in the beginning of school, I was paranoid about protecting my own identity but I was less concerned with protecting the identity of the people about whom I made jokes. Most of those people are now my acquaintances and/or friends. I went back and read what I'd written and realized it wasn't cool. Back when they were imaginary people for my readers I felt fine about it. It's a completely different issue when people are reading about people they think they know.

When, I decided to post about Egypt, I consciously gave up any pretense that anyone who wanted to figure out who I was couldn't. Unfortunately, I forgot to recognize that by extension, they may be able to figure out who I had written about in the past as well. Or, at least they would be inclined to come up with some funny, but incorrect guesses. It also didn't occur to me that they'd assume that all joking descriptions of people were true, not exaggerations, bitterness, and creative license. Either way, it was irresponsible of me. I feel pretty shitty about it, actually.

Oh well. Bed made. Here I lie.

To those of you who think you've got me figured out, I repeat my request that you respect my wishes to be anonymous. Feel free to email me if you've got a bone to pick or a burning desire to confront me. I'm happy to oblige.

Worth the Work

So, it appears that some of my hard work in law school has paid off. Unlike LWR, where I did two re-writes of my memo to no avail, this time around, I'm a very proud and smiling BT.

Why? Because I received honorable mention for my moot court brief and the best oral argument award for my section.

Damn, old habits die hard. Us A-types (aka law students) do love our external validation, don't we?

Here's my advice to all my frustrated readers: Keep on keepin' on. Eventually, you'll find the professor that teaches in the manner in which you learn. If you're lucky, she'll value the qualities that you have by gut instinct and you'll actually get some validation out of it. And when you do, you too can be as happy as a clam.

Man, I am way happier than I thought I'd be about something like this. No doubt, the feeling of glory will pass shortly. I've got finals and the arbitrariness of the grades they bring to take me off my cloud. But tonight . . . I feel fabulous.

P.S. Having a blog is wonderful for being able to celebrate your successes when it is completely inappropriate to do so in the real world amongst your peers.

Sure we wang!

I just discovered the harry potter wang-for-wand switch. It's long, but worth a great many laughs if you find the word wang a silly, funny, and necessary addition to most conversations.

See the infamous cartoon if the wang fixation confuses you.

Still confused? Find the nearest 15-year-old boy, he'll sort you out right quick.

Manners

Beanie's got a bit of a problem with someone who's trying to out her. I started to comment on her blog about how I support her choice to be anonymous (duh...) but then realized it was getting way too long to be a comment. So, I'll blab on my own space instead.

Basically, there's a common set of manners (if not rules) about respecting the choices of people who choose to be anonymous on-line. I've met people who blogged anonymously in person and didn't mention a word about it until they invited me to do so. Others have extended the same courtesy to me. It's a strange and complex thing about the evolving nature of the freedom of this medium, but most of us who've been here all sort of know the social norms which sort of function as rules. The person who is outing Beanie is being rude.

It's important to realize that the freedom of expression in this medium is directly linked to the respect or manners that most people display towards our wishes to be anonymous. I've blogged about anonyminity before. It's a choice. It's difficult. It requires self-censure. But it comes with freedom to not censor other things, which is often the reason why people read.

I wouldn't post my full biography with picture as well as my thoughts and observations. It doesn't feel safe to me. So, I've chosen the level of detail that makes me comfortable and asked that people who manage to figure me out to keep their mouths shut. So far, they all have. I thank them for their excellent breeding and hope that Beanie's outer rethinks his or her approach. I'd hate to lose Beanie's perspective but I'd probably dive for cover and kill the archives if someone outed me, so I understand her response.

Thanksgiving, Revisited

Originally, I told my mom that I wouldn't be able to make Easter Brunch at her house. It's a 2+ hour drive and on the allocated Crim outlining weekend.

But then I talked to my more-or-less sister-in-law and mother of my niece. Turns out, in the last 3 months, my adorable niece has learned to talk pretty damn well and can now count to ten. She's 2 years and 2 months. Brilliant! Also turns out that when I missed my sister's birthday dinner for moot court arguments, my niece specifically asked for me by her adorable mispronunciation of my name. I've never heard her say my name.

Roughly the same logic that made me offer our new house and my cooking skills for Thanksgiving kicked in when my sister-in-law asked me if I'd be at Easter Brunch. This time it's a 2-year-old and not 80+ year-olds, but same concept. Life is too short to miss this sh*t. I will work myself to death this week in order to be at my mother's on Easter and watch my niece find those hidden eggs. Also, if she can call me by my adorably mispronounced name, that would be nice.

Following in the Turkey-Day theme, I decided to thaw out the turkey broth I made from the turkey carcass and make minestrone tonight. Mmmm.... E and I agree, turkey minestrone several months later is a fabulous way to remind ourselves of thanksgiving. I think it may have to become a tradition. Towards that end, I'll share the knowledge/experimental success with any of you who are interested

Turkey Broth, in a huge stew/soup pot:
1. Sautee one diced onion and 5 cloves of garlic in a splash of olive oil for 5 minutes.
2. Add 1 diced carrot, 1 diced yellow onion, 3 diced celery stalks, 2 cups dry red wine, the turkey carcass, turkey neck and giblets and cover with water. Add spices to taste (oregano, basil, thyme, lemon pepper, salt, whatever...)
3. Cover with an escape for the gas and boil (not vigorously) for 2 hours. Add water to keep everything covered.
4. Remove carcass and strain liquid into receptacles for freezing. Note: big receptacles are not a great plan. I ended up with one that was too huge for minestrone so I had to throw the rest out. Next time, I'll use smaller containers. Hindsight...

Minestrone, in a huge stew/soup pot:
1. Sautee several diced cloves of garlic and half a diced yellow onion in 1 T Olive Oil for 5 minutes.
2. Add 3 diced carrots, sautee for 5 more minutes.
3. Add 6 cups broth and bring to a boil. If the broth is too strong (likely if the turkey easily fed 17 with 2 weeks of leftovers but you still used one pot for the broth), add a cup or two of water.
4. Boil for 15 minutes, add 2 pealed and diced potatoes (brown-skinned idaho are good for soup), 3 leaves of chopped swiss chard (cabbage or any fibery leaf should do just fine), 1 16-oz strained can of cannelloni, 1 16-oz can of stewed tomatos, 2 T lemon juice, parsely, spices to taste (I threw in some preserved chopped chili peppers and salt), and 16-24 oz of pasta shells.
5. Add pulled turkey or other meat (pre-cooked) if you want meat in your minestrone (we used chopped turkey breast, it worked well, but next time I think I'll use sausage)
6. Boil for 15 additional minutes and take off the burner.
7. Allow to sit and thicken for 15 minutes.
8. Serve warm with grated parmiggiano on top.

Mmmmm.... I can't wait for Easter Brunch.

Spring Forward

So, with all the great things of Spring, comes the lost hour. Yes, it does suck. But, given all the great things that Spring brings, I'll take it with a grin.

I completely forgot that I'd have to lose an hour tonight, so I owe a big thanks to J, who I just discovered. Unfortunately, I may very well be outlining at the turning hour as he predicted. Nahhh, let's be serious. I'll probably get another 30 tax flashcards done and settle into the couch with E to watch Army of Darkness.

Either way, I can't complain. It's Spring, and E and I took a very pleasant bike ride to break up the day's studying. The plan for tomorrow includes a long run in the sun. I managed to plod through the week's onslaught of work and activities with enough time to spare for a Friday night off. Today, I kept busy all day with schoolwork and managed to keep the stress at bay. My applications for moot, trial team, and scholarships are complete. The 450 pages of crim reading to get back up to speed are finished (note to self, the Hot Now had a high price--it was probably still worth it though). So, tomorrow's run will be buttressed with tax flashcards, a first crack at the tax outline and an attempt to do a tax practice exam.

Ahh, yes, what was I saying about how wonderful spring is?

Easter Egg

Last night, E and I went to Italian food with friends and talked about VERY LITTLE relating to law school. Unfortunately, I did slip with some kill-the-conversation tax tidbits, but I'm not as far gone as I feared. I can still pretend to be normal. The bad news is that my Italian is quite terrible these days from lack of use. The good news is that I can't discuss tax in Italian.

R told us all about BMW's M3 Easter Egg. I'm not sure how I feel about an easter egg in a car. What's next? Planes?

You Belong in a Courtroom

I had oral arguments tonight. One of the judges had parked at the same garage as me, so we walked together. She asked about my summer plans and looked surprised when I told her I'd be doing mainly patent work.

But, You belong in a courtroom, she smiled and winked.

And oh, how glorious it felt to believe her.

Because I was pretty good tonight. Not great. But good. And I knew it. It was definitely not the best public speaking I've ever done. My opponent won the judges' hearts with his passion but I earned the nodding appreciation of their brains when I pointed out the flaws in his case analysis and reasoning. And that's enough for me. Particularly when I'm arguing about something about which I don't care. [laugh] The Chief Justice commented that she liked my calm, professional manner. Clearly, I didn't care enough. I've never managed to attain a calm professional manner in any oral argument in my life before tonight.

The biggest two lessons from this evening were:

1. Regardless of how unprepared your opponent has been, never doubt that they may just pull it together and impress the hell out of you.

2. Each member of the panel has their mind made up before you start to speak. Your best points will be appreciated by those who appreciate your position. But to change minds... now that's the thing I haven't figured out. It's not a smart enough thing. It's not a passionate enough thing because if you're passionate against their side, they think you're crazy. So, how do you do it? Or can you, even?