Law School Rant Numeros Cinco y Seises

Before I go do my reading ahead of time like a good little A-type who expects to thoroughly enjoy vacation, I must rant.

#5:

The lack of a campus is going to really annoy me by the end of the semester. What am I talking about, forget December, it already annoys me. For a school of our size, the "campus" is severely lacking in locations to study with varying levels of noise. Actually, it's just severely lacking in real estate, period. Back to the study locale rant: I have tried several of the more chill study rooms, as my LWR TA referred to them. Trust me, the only thing chill is the apparent ice-cold personality of the silent students working dilligently in those rooms. I just want a place to plop down, eat my lunch, do some reading, maybe chat a bit... you know, a space to call my own for a few hours between class. In the study rooms, I feel as if I'd be drawn and quartered for chewing too loudly. And, I'm not that classy. I just might chew too loudly... you know?

If they didn't want me to kill time between classes at school, the least they could have done was place the classes sequentially in my day. Then I could read/study/what-not at home. But no.... they pick your schedule when you are a 1-L, and they force you to spend big chunks of time between classes with nothing to do except study. Presumably this is for the student who have negative will power. The campus is a great deterrent to negative will power: well... I could waste time, but then I'd have to look at the non-existant campus. Or, I could go outside to the dismal weather and unsavory neighborhood. I guess I could just do my reading. On the floor in the middle of this hallway, since there's no other free space where I can make any noise and study concurrently.

#6:

OCI is a great thing. I'm glad that 2Ls and 3Ls get to interview on campus. But when your school is dealing with the issue explained above, and the room for OCI contains one of the bathrooms that you regularly frequent... well, let's just say, it stinks of poor planning. How can they get away with cordoning off the bathrooms when they set the location for interviews? How is this legal?

Black stilletto boots?

Ms. Cute Loud, your shoes are divine!

It was verified by a school-sanctioned publication of sorts that Professor Young is indeed a teaching virgin.

And, in other news, I must abscond to read ahead, for I plan on leaving for a holiday weekend on a lake with E's parents, and I don't intend on taking a single law school book with me. Just me, E, E's parents, a couple of E's friends, some good wine, good food, more good wine, a lake, the sun, and nothin' else. Ahhhh....

The Players

Mesdammes et Messieurs, the cast has been chosen. This semester's drama will play out with the following notable characters, among others:

[redacted]

Professor Early:
First class of the day, several days a week, and this professor is rip-roaring-ready-to-go. On Civil Procedure. Forgive me if this does not seem like the most exciting way to start my day. Forgive me as well if I'm not able to offer much in the way of character development on PE. I'm just not awake at that hour. I will say, however, that he does seem to like it when he can show off his spatial memory of the New York Times layout from the morning, and ask some eager student to read the article "second from the bottom right on the front page." An interesting teaching tool...

Professor Young:
We're convinced it's his first law school teaching gig. He's trying to be intimidating, but he's stumbling over his own words. He ambles around the point for the entire lecture without clearly pointing to it. This is a cause of much consternation amongst my section-mates. The general consensus is that this one's a loose cannon when it comes to grades and exams. How people can form opinions about cannons and their aim this early in the year is beyond me. But hey, I'm just documenting...

Professor Together:
More than anything, this woman just seems to have everything figured out. She's got the random number generator on her side for calling on people. She has already learned the names of some of the people in the section. She runs the lecture in a way that keeps people leaning forward to hear what she will say next (I'm not making this up). She's a snappy dresser. She's got the microphone on and without static before class starts. Her class, more than any other, is the one where I overhear people saying things like, "I think I may raise my hand next time," or, "I was going to volunteer to answer the hypo, but she didn't see me."

Fortunately, the majority of the other players are fun, nice, intelligent, and not annoying. This means that they don't get their own character descriptions, and will probably be referred to by "student a" and "student b." This is a good thing. I'm happy to have so many normal people to work with. Not a screenwriter's dream, but it definitely makes my experience more enjoyable.

Best Referral, Hands Down

Ass Biting Fun

How I ended up as this search result, I'll never know. I thought I was going to great lengths to avoid using terms like "ass." Apparently, I was not vigilant enough. Oh well. Fuck it. I'm going to cuss like crazy.

First of many misperceptions

So, the day with 2 hours of class, should, in theory be the easiest.

But what if the classes are early and you've gotten over the novelty of socratic classes. And, you have a problem with falling asleep in class. And, what if the day following the 2-hour class day you have many classes, so much of what appears to be your spare time for 2-hour day should actually be spent reading. Oh, and what if you assumed that after 2 hours of sleep-inducing class you could take a 2 hour lunch with a friend who works near school and follow it up with a leisurely walk down the embarcadero in the sun. (the sun, people. Perhaps you do not realize what a rarity a sunny and non-windy day is...) And then, what if, when you got home, you talked your love into going on a bike ride for an hour. And then of course, there was dinner, which you take quite seriously--you're not about to let anything distract you from good conversation and food for dinner.

Well, if all of the above things were true, you most certainly shouldn't be blogging right now. You have fallen into the oft-warned trap of not managing your time correctly. Duh... ain't school grand?

Tune in tomorrow for a full cast of characters. That's right, nick-named professors, obnoxious section-mates, comments on 2Ls and 3Ls, tricks to stay awake...

Excellent start

It's Monday. At 6:30 AM, I arrived at the golf course (armed with bug repellant, a lesson learned from the last early morning game) played 9 holes and came home. I still have several hours before my first class today and I'm done with all of the reading that is due today. I think I'll take E to work in a few minutes and then head off to school (which is air-conditioned) in order to escape the heat at home. Oh, yeah, I'm also going to school early because I want to study (raaaiiiigghhhttt....).

I am happy to see that like me, Dylan plans on taking his SO more seriously than law school. I'm also happy to see the back up on this position from Beanie and JCA. I feel lucky to have my priorities straight enough to know that E is more important to me than my {gasp} career.

The kids finally kissed and made up

The title of the article says it all: Germany and Italy--Friends Again.

Latest in the SCO debacle

Bruce Perens posted an analysis of SCO's power point presentation on the alleged "copied code" in Linux from System V Unix.

Looks like the case is pretty weak and SCO is out to repeat the AT&T-BSD battle. It's not even interesting unless you are a Unix historian...

Tech Update

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that WIPO canceled a previously scheduled meeting on open source due to lobbying from the BSA and the USPTO. Particularly frustrating is this quote:

Lois Boland, director of international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, said that open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual-property rights.

"To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO," she said.


It is unfortunate that we have reached a situation where philanthropy is not considered a use of rights and rather a disclaimer or waiver of rights. Donating to the public good with a requirement that the donation stay in the public good is protection of intellectual property rights. It's just not the kind of protection that makes the BSA or the USPTO any money.

First Day of School

Went how I expected. There were some classes. Some discussion of cases and philosophy. The professors seem smart and passionate. My fellow students seem to range from smart but freaked out into 14 colours of high-lighters to just plain high and relaxed. I'm somewhere in the middle. May I manage to stay there...

I made the mistake of trying to carry my rolling bag on my shoulders today after class, when I'd packed the books for all of my Friday classes due to the assigned reading. It hurt my neck and shoulders in a way that made me tempted to shrug, be tough, and keep it up. I suppose I bought the rolling bag for a reason--the reason being that I'm stupid about heavy sh*t. May I remember my stupidity and use the wheels...

Still Glowing

Yup. This law school thing seems to rock like crazy right now. The whole "Wednesday off" after Monday and Tuesday of orientation before classes on Thursday thing... yeah, it's treating me quite well. I drove E to work, drove to Costco, where they informed me that my lowly gold-star membership meant that I had to wait 'til after 11 AM to shop. So, I dropped off some of our stuff at the dry-cleaners, watched The Paper Chase, and finally returned to Costco, where they'd come to their senses and decided I could shop, so I stocked up. I also went shopping to buy new running shoes (the last pair had maybe 30 miles left in them), spent some time on my golf game (bought a new driver!), ate delicious south Indian fast food for lunch (delicious fast food, impossible, you say? Idly Podi from Madras Cafe, I say). I also read, highlighted, thought about, etc. the required reading for property, and prepared a delicious dinner of browned shallots and garlic over proscuitto-stuffed and proscuitto-wrapped basil-chicken (oh, yeah, points for me, and really, is there ever such a thing as too much prosciutto?). So, basically, I'm enjoying the life of a law student. I'm not complaining yet. So far, it's great.

Other than that, I have nothing to add except that I tried to babble to E. about the required case for property and, well, it wasn't very well received. Somehow, I think I'm going to have to keep my babbling about law to a minimum around the house. This is probably a good thing.

Not Related to Law School (yet)

Word of the day (thanks to E--now I just have to think of the appropriate insult that recruits it): barratry.


bar·ra·try ( P ) Pronunciation Key (br-tr)
n. pl. bar·ra·tries

1. The offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless ones.
2. An unlawful breach of duty on the part of a ship's master or crew resulting in injury to the ship's owner.
3. Sale or purchase of positions in church or state.


The L-dog posted a link to an interview about blogs with Joe Trippi, campaign advisor for Howard Dean. This quote hit home for me:

Our biggest hurdle is getting people over the disbelief that they can make a difference. And the one place where I think people are starting to get over that disbelief is on the Internet: because the sense of community they're getting when they go onto a blog, or when they participate in responding to something like the FCC, more and more people every day are starting to realize, "Hey wait a minute, we do have the power to do something here." They saw it with the FCC and how Congress reacted. I think people are seeing it in our campaign too.


Why did this hit home? Because I'm used to being on the fringes. I always write my congress-critters and senators about things that upset me. I think this may be one of the first times that I was part of a mass swelling of support for something that actually changed. Even though I heard about Congress's (do I really need that last s? Strunk and White says I do, who am I to argue?) position on Media consolidation, I assumed it was because it was good law. It never occurred to me that Congress took their position as a result of constituent feedback.

So maybe the hurdle is to make people realize they can make a difference. I'm proud that I did something that mattered this time around. May I continue to do so...

Brain Dump

So, first, happy 1-year birthday to effinchamp--his photos have made many of my days.

Second, I left orientation after two sessions today. I probably could have skipped the entire day. I don't do well with baby-steps. I also don't quite get the idea of a mock class... why wouldn't we just start real classes? I'm sure there are plenty of people who received quite a bit of useful information from the orientation sessions I missed, and I'm happy that they did because I was able to put that time to use by taking a gorgeous drive down highway 1, stopping at a small farm and buying fresh heirloom tomatoes, spending time at a beach for the second time this week, and then coming home in time to get in a 2-hour work out, all before 7 pm.

Third, at the risk of sounding spoiled, arrogant, and all the other negative adjectives usually attributed to law students, I'm not certain that I buy into the 1L-is-the-hardest-thing-you-will-ever-do dogma. Sure, classes haven't started, and I'm speaking way out of turn. Maybe the whole "learning to think like a lawyer" transformation will be painful as fsck. If and when I'm wrong, I'll take it back and let you know just how wrong I was. But, given the information that I have so far, I'd be withholding the truth if I didn't share that I'm not convinced that this year is going to be close to hell:

1. 14 hours a week of classes
   
2. several tolerable (even pleasant) and non-competitive section-mates
   
3. 62 pages of reading by friday
   
4. professors who are better communicators than the majority of my engineering and science instructors
   

Even if the reading is increased 10-fold, it's still only 30 hours of reading in addition to class. That's plenty of spare time in my week for a social schedule, working on my golf game, and a good solid workout program. When discussing my confusion over the 1L hell with a friend (a brilliant engineer, who is disdainful of lawyers, and well, just about everyone else as well), he pointed out that the average law student probably needs 20 hours per week of reality TV, which can really cramp the studying schedule. I laughed. I also hope he's right. It would be wonderful if this year was actually easier than life on the outside as long as I'm as disciplined as I was in my career. Somehow, given the testimony of the people who've gone before me, I'm not certain I'll be so lucky. But, I can hope...

It started well

A sunny day. A rarity. An auspicious start, as one of the (seemingly infinite) speakers claimed. The sessions, as I previously mentioned, were mainly boring, long, and full of vocal repetition of the information contained in the handouts.

Quote of the day:

There is absolutely no reason why I need to be sober for this. - a sage in my section, on law school orientation

I made fast friends with at least two people in my section. Given my general people pickiness, I couldn't help but be impressed. Should be interesting to see how long the morning-after glow lasts. All in all, I came home quite happy (perhaps the champagne reception had something to do with that...) with the people and professors that will be taking up the majority of my time this year. I even managed to wait through the lines for ID card photos and books without any major mishaps or idiotic comments to post to the blog (bummer 'bout that...).

Whaa?

Lovely night for acid reflux. Woke up and now can't sleep. I'm fairly certain it has more to do with the wine and food than stress over orientation. At least I hope it's the food. I so don't want to be a stereotypical law student who's stressed before school even begins.

Either way, I should be back asleep in a few minutes after the Zantac kicks in. Lame.

Gorgeous Weekend

Friday: wasting the day away in catch-up conversation with a good friend, followed by a delicious dinner prepared by a stay-at-home mom. I want a stay at home mom. Man, that dinner was good. And their house, it was so clean...

Saturday: lounging on the beach all day, reading, conversation, making new friends, frisbee with the dog, and a friend's party at night.

Sunday: wasting more time with a different friend, two movies, slow-roasted tomatoes (8 hours in the oven, E is a culinary genius!), a few chores, and a delicious dinner including prosciutto, romano, and basil stuffed chicken and a bottle of Diciannove (which is amazing, and reasonably priced, what's not to love?). Seriously, Diciannove it's easily one of the best value blends available in California today. If you find it, try it.

Tomorrow's the beginning of the law school thing, which is exciting, but I'm sure I'll sleep just fine after the meal and wine. Here's to hoping I wake up in time...

The Next 5 Months

So, at the risk of being ridiculously wrong...I am going to go out on a limb and say,
"Woo Hoo!!!!"
"I am so in love with my school schedule."

14 hours of class:

Torts
Legal Writing and Research
Civ Pro
Property

Yes, a big chunk of information to learn. But, 14 hours of class? And nothing before 9:40 AM? My schedule is so open to my own implementation. The possibilities have me giddy. I'm sure the reality will be less wonderful. But, for tonight, I'm ecstatic. Compared to the 65-70 hours per week I was putting in at the end of my internship this summer, going to law school seems like a fabulous idea.

update: I forgot Cotnracts. But it's still only 14 hours per week.

Last Day of Freedom

Slept in. Surfed the web. Now I'm off to the pool and then an afternoon and dinner with a friend I haven't seen in 6 months. Not a bad way to spend the day.

Oh, and the cold retreated.

Law School Rant No. Cuatro?

The web site. It appears that one of the faculty members secured their 5th grader a "Learn HTML in a summer" project, which became the school's web site. It doesn't work in most browsers, it's ugly, the menus often don't display. I'm certain the fifth grader is now a 7th grader with HTML experience and is ashamed of her work. I'm also certain that my school can no longer afford her going rate. So, IT maintains the site with an apathy that is palpable while surfing. I can only hope that they make good on their promise to post our section assignments and schedules today. You see... I'm very excited to start school. {laugh} Yup, I'm a geek. Always have been. At least I no longer have the HUGE coke-bottle glasses with large plastic rims that I was forced to wear when I was in 5th grade. Contacts are a good thing.

Latest SCO news

SCO has terminated Sequent's Unix License. I've never heard of anyone actually using Sequent Unix (Dynix/ptx). Doubt it's really a problem for IBM, they'll probably just brush it off like all of the other SCO annoyances.

On the mend

Slowly. I don't want to make any sudden movements. In fact, I don't want to move at all.

Check out the Google logo today. It's Al's Birthday.