Mixed Messages

I've got a couple of weeks of work left, and a lunch meeting for feedback with my managing partner this Friday. Word on the street (via associates) is that they love my work and want me to come back, which is excellent, but I'll believe it when I hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Despite my love affair with work, school is creeping back into my life. It looks like the trends from last year will continue for BT, and 2L will be filled with ambiguous feedback, at best.

The results from the journal competition came back, and per normal, I'm disappointed on one hand, relieved on the other, and resting in limbo. More than anything, I'm suffering from the winded shock that arrives in your chest when you convince yourself that you are good enough for something and anticipate its occurrence only to find you were wrong. I didn't get an invitation to law review or the tech-focused journal. I suspect my LWR grade takes a decent chunk of the blame for that, which is a bummer since my moot court brief won accolades. Oh well. Hindsight I'll offer to 1Ls: if you want to join a particular journal with grades that are only slightly above average, then you probably have to put in the time and effort for both LWR and moot court, even if they aren't GPA courses.

The other side of the coin is that I did get an invitation to another journal, which covers topics that interest me.

Benefits: exposure to a cool area of law that I wouldn't otherwise get to know. Longer release cycles for the journals (less stress and a semblance of a life while balancing 2L, journal, and moot court). Exposure to tons of legal writing, citing, and editing, which, apparently, I need.

Drawbacks: if journals are mainly resume fodder, all this work will be focused in an area where I don't intend to practice. If my goal really is to have the highest possible quality of life while obtaining a great education, perhaps spreading myself even thinner by joining this journal isn't the best decision. Maybe I'd be better served by writing a note on my own and doing my best to get it published. I'll mull it over but chances are, I'll just join the journal and enjoy myself immensely.

In other news, the moot court ramp up has begun. Meetings and work assignment will occur this week. We've got a huge brief to write in a very short time.

Add a quickly approaching job fair (may just wear the old suit, running out of time to buy a new one), OCI research and bidding, mucking with the old resume, finishing up my work before I leave the firm, booked weekends from now 'til after Labor day and I'm swamped.

School hasn't even started.

What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

Back in the day, Real successfully invoked the DMCA against Streambox in order to obtain a preliminary injunction. (link thanks to Ernie.)

Now, Apple is talking up the same game plan against Real. Real recently announced the release of Harmony Technology for Real Player which promises interoperability with the iPod. Apple, of course, isn't too stoked about Real offering an alternative music delivery scheme.

Queue Fighting Music.

Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Quiz Mania

It's only Thursday, but it feels like Friday...(better kill some time 'til my internal clock matches up with the real world). Quiz links thanks to Half-Cocked.

You're Brazil!

You're athletic, charming, and probably a good dancer.
 Unfortunatley, you don't really mind chopping down the rain forest, and you probably
consider homeless people expendable in certain circumstances.  Of course, your
personality is so diverse that it's hard to track down exactly what you're like.  You
definitely like Pele, the World Cup, and shouting "gooooal" at the
top of your lungs.
Take
the Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

You're Alaska!

You're big, bulky, and extremely wild. At the same time, you're rather
cold and standoffish, even a loner of sorts. Taming you may be one of the last great
quests of the people who do manage to find you or even seek you out. So many of them
just want to plunder you for what you have of value, but there are a few, the ones
who will stick with you, that truly value your rugged remoteness. As long as no one
is spilling stuff on you, you are truly beautiful.


Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Golf

Is not going as well as planned. E and I've been hitting the driving range once a week and we've played a few times. This AM, my phone rang at 6:37--Bear was on the phone wondering where I was. The 6:30 back 9 would be played without me.

Apparently, I set the alarm for 6 PM. Rad.

Control Freak

I've got quite a few lists currently sitting on my desk at home. Some are even normal and rational:

• Winter Break 2005 Travel: dates with proposed cities for each date, hotels booked, cities/dates where lodging still needs to be secured, E's travel dates to see the fam, possible departure and return dates to join E with the fam (on hold 'til my finals schedule is available), useful websites with information about the New Year's destination.


• To do between now and the first day of school: pay bills and completely balance all accounts, clean, price required books on-line, stock up at Costco, handle some annoying legal crap with my brother's landlord, figure out the mess that is E's taxes, dual boot the laptop, get the pictures off the digital camera and up on the Interweb where people can actually see them, and, of course, finish off the other lists as much as possible.


• The Thank You List: I just had a birthday, there's a stack of cards which require letters in response.


• The OCI list: buy a suit (UGGH), update the resume, front-load any of the work that OCI will require so that I don't have to do it during school.

But the one that wins me awards for ridiculousness is The master time-line of the next few years with tentative dates for all major life events (graduation, the bar), travel and/or vacations (as well as proposed vacation locales). The time-line has at least two branches after law school right now: one for a clerkship and one for a firm. All branches include a plan to take at least 2 months to travel with E (either a bar trip, or after the clerkship).

Last night, I tried to pin E down on some 2006/2007 details. Went over about as well as you'd imagine. E's good for me that way. Logically, and even at the gut level, I know my life will be a chaotic mess of chance and circumstance. In fact, I'm often at my best when flying by the seat of my pants, I enjoy the chaos and I know it. But, for whatever reason, the world makes more sense to me when I have a plan, even if it's only something from which I readily deviate.

Relapse

In Junior High, I was a Robert Ludlum addict. I'd been in remission for years, and figured I was cured when The Bourne Identity, while good, did not pull me off the wagon.

Remission is not a cure, my friends. This weekend, I saw The Bourne Supremacy with my father. I want to re-read every book Ludlum wrote and can't wait for the Bourne Ultimatum to come out. Yes, the movie was only loosely related to the book, but it was smart and fast and true to the feeling that Ludlum was famous for creating.

In other news, I'm feeling very silly. Today, I found myself hiding behind corners at work and stalking up to my secretary to catch snippets of her phone converations before she realized I was there--I hope I get over this soon.

Awkward

Everyone is looking around at each other like no one's wearing any pants.
-- Anonymous guy at my high school reunion.

This weekend, I went to my hometown for my high school reunion. The class president was lazy for a while, so this was the first official reunion despite the fact that most schools have had at least one and possibly two in the time we've had none.

I left E at home, which was a good call. I couldn't really imagine why E would want to meet a bunch of people with whom I didn't keep in contact. I mean sure, I'd love to show off that I've managed to find someone really cool who doesn't mind being seen with me, particularly since I was so unsuccessful at the whole dating thing in high school--but please, I'm above all that. No really. I most definitely did not make sure to mention E to every happily in-love couple that approached me.

D, my cousin and I met for a drink beforehand so we could arrive with the backup of a posse. Good thing, too. The first 30 minutes in that room were the most socially uncomfortable minutes of my life to date. (Note, I'm not exactly what you'd call smooth.) For those few minutes, I was supremely glad I hadn't made E come, and I wasn't totally certain why I had come either.

But, I looked around the room, and I realized why: Despite the fact that I barely remembered most of these people, I was primally curious about what had happened in their branch of space-time. I was not alone, as we all seemed to feel it. Most of us initially roamed in packs and asked the vital questions: "Where do you live? What are you doing? So who's the lucky guy or girl? Any kids?"

The conversations were short and repetitive. I shook a lot of hands and doled out hugs, kisses, and compliments as appropriate. I was surprised at the number of my classmates who were balding and impressed with the way most of the crowd seemed to be healthy, confident, and genuinely happy.

Despite the awkward beginnings, the party quickly turned into a fun event. So much so that D, cousin, and I went to an afterparty and talked the night away with strangers. Soon enough it was 4 AM. And then, exhausted, we left. I probably won't see any of those people again until the next reunion. Logically, I can't find any reason why I should have enjoyed the event so much--it was awkward, full of people I don't feel compelled to stay in touch with, dominated by what's-your-status conversations, and just plain weird. But, I had a blast and I'm glad I went.

Hungry Eyes

I haven't taken copyright yet. I've only prepared the filing for one U.S. copyright, and turns out, it's just a fill-in-the-blank type form, so I didn't learn very much from that assignment.

I'm vaguely aware that useful artistic works can be copyrighted, but I'm not very clear on when you'd want to file a design patent versus a copyright (except that the copyright is much easier and cheaper to file).

So, as an educational exercise, I read the 7th Circuit's recent opinion on the copyright of a mannequin head, Pivot Point International Inc. v. Charlene Products Inc. (No. 1-3888).

Am I the only one who finds this sentence hilarious?

In the mid-1980's Passage [the hair designer who founded Pivot Point] desired to develop a mannequin that would imitate the "hungry look" of high-fashion runway models.

I thought not.

Random Bits
After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.
--P. J. O'Rourke

Last night, E and I had a great, but oddly international, evening. First, we went to play it again sports because the gods and I successfully conspired to convince E into buying a set of golf clubs [rubs hands, EX--cellent]. Then, we headed to the Japanese grocery store near the play-it-again because we're rarely in this area of town and how can you not go to the Japanese market? After we drooled over the sushi-grade fish selection, we picked up all sorts of good stuff that we don't normally get to have at home like chili rice crackers, fresh frozen mochi, roasted barley tea, fresh frozen soba, and noodle dipping sauce. Shopping when you can't read is always a fun experience--it's sort of like traveling very quickly. We finally left the market when it became apparent that we were picking up stuff because we were hungry, not because we knew what it was or whether we'd enjoy eating it.

From there, we headed to a favorite Mexican food joint that is renown for their tequila selection which includes upwards of 300 blue agave options. We savored simple enchiladas de pollo, chile colorado, y margaritas. The one drawback was the accoustics--there was no avoiding the loud voice of the salesman in the corner (bouncing off both walls). E and I were treated to a jargon-filled explanation of his start-up to an older, more experienced-sounding gentleman (aka a grey-hair). The economy must be on the upswing if this guy's getting funding, either that or he just popped out of a time machine from 1999 and no-one's bothered to explain the new rules to him. Dude, you need to understand the words you use. At least some of them.

We arrived home too full to move, swearing we'd never eat again (we regularly make this oath, it's sort of a religion for us). So, we sat on the couch and finished off our multi-cultural evening with L'auberge Espagnole. Nothing like hearing Japanese, Mexican Spanish, Catalan, Castillion Spanish, French, and a few phrases of Italian and Danish to give you f*cked up dreams.

An Idea in Its Time

It's simultaneously cool and creepy when there's convergent evolution of thought.

In this case, it's just good to see I'm not alone in my excessive thinking about golf (or putt-putt, but close enough).

Bitten

While it's true that I still have no golf game, I really want to earn one. Last summer, I played for practical reasons--I knew that in law, and particularly at the firm where I worked, knowing how to golf was a good career move. Once school started, I stopped golfing because studying seemed much more important, career-wise, than working on my golf game.

But this summer, I'm enjoying golf for its own sake. I'm sore from the all-day 18-hole gorgeous PGA course on the ocean experience that the firm sponsored for the summers--it was a fabulous experience for which I am very thankful. Despite the soreness, I have a tee time for Sunday, and I'm looking forward to it. I want to go back because I want to feel that great feeling when you hit the ball well--it's addictive. I also love the sun, the way my back feels creaky and well-used after a long day of golf, the conversations with friends, and the lack of time pressure.

But more importantly, I've realized that one of the best reasons why golf is a great game is because it sits in the middle ground between so many types of people.

Indoors v. Outdoors:

Outdoorsy types get the sun and the walk and the view. Indoorsy types get the civilized tamed-down nature. The alternative is hiking, camping, etc. where the indoorsy would not attend, or indoor activities, where the outdoorsy would feel closed in.

Drinkers vs. Non-drinkers:

In your personal social life, you can choose the presence or absence of alcohol, but not so for activities where your attendance is required for other reasons. In my experience, more company/firm social activities cater to drinkers than to the non-drinkers. I've heard negative comments by the drinkers about people not drinking at cocktail parties or open bars (as in, why did they even come?). I've heard complaints from people who prefer to drink that it makes no sense for alcohol to not be allowed at family-friendly company activities. And, I've heard gripes by non-drinkers because the company was sponsoring yet another alcohol-soaked activity. Too often, the presence or lack of alcohol sets the tone for the event and alienates people belonging to the unrepresented group.

Golf deals with this problem quite well--the focus of golfing is golf. The secondary focus is the socializing between the people playing golf. People who prefer to drink and/or smoke when they socialize can do so at the golf course with no fear of people considering it uncouth. People who prefer to abstain can do so without any remarks to that effect. (On a slightly related note, having someone ask me if I wanted the remainder of my wine in a "to-go" cup when I decided to leave the clubhouse before my wine was finished was a VERY odd experience. Who does that?)

Jocks vs. Geeks:

Golf is equally a mental and physical activity--it caters to both athletic types and cerebral types. People who like their leisure activities to be athletic can practice for hours, swing with power, hit hundreds of balls before playing the course, carry their own clubs, and/or walk the entire course. People who prefer not to sweat don't have to warm up, can take only the required number of swings to finish the course, can play a finesse-based game without much effort, and can ride in the carts and stay in the shade. People who prefer mental puzzles can spend infinite time analyzing the wind, the greens, the clubs, and the swing.

I could go on about the balance between team players and soloists, competitive and social players, and those who play by skill and those who play by luck. But I'll stop.

I just thought I'd give you all a warning. Golf may be showing up on this blog quite a bit more often. I may have to add it to my description on the left corner. I suck, but I like it and I imagine with practice I'll get better. Wish me luck.

Gender Bender

DG posts about Nature v. Nurture and I've got to add my 2 cents.

First of all, I'm pretty odd for my sex. I've got a lot of the traits that are stereotyped as belonging to the opposite group. No doubt, my experience as a non-normal member of my sex colors my opinion.

I think there are inherent differences between the sexes ON AVERAGE which might as well be attributed to "nature" since we've got one nasty chicken and egg problem on evolution and the beginning of life that's too hard to address right this minute.

However, I know there are plenty of people who fall outside the nature bell curve for their sex. I imagine nurture plays a stronger role for them than the people who sit happily in normal-for-their sex land. If your formative years are spent around strong gender-role role-models, presumably, you will absorb their essence, whether it's smack-dab in the center of the bell curve, or way off in outlier-land.

In short, I don't think you can say very much that's useful about a single member of either sex simply because they have the XX or the XY. But, if you get a big enough group together and you could probably make some reasonably accurate generalizations.

Finally, there's the nasty feedback loop: generalizations about groups of people of either sex are most likely derived somewhat from the bell-curve of nature. But the truthfulness of the generalizations makes them part of society's idea of gender roles. Once society accepts it as normal, it becomes nurture.

Raaaaiiiiighhht. I'm saying something oh-so-clearly here. It's this: I think there's a balance of sorts, but there's not really any way to know whether nurture or nature plays a larger role because they are inter-related.

Time Keeps on Slippin'

Yesterday was J's birthday. He's a little depressed about getting older. Okay, he's a lot depressed.

He informed me over lunch that he did the math and figures he's only got about 2000 good weekends left in his life. He's pretty certain that past a certain age, the weekends won't be worth anything either.

I retorted with, "Well, I try to remind myself that I'm on borrowed time every day. I could die today. So could you. No use assuming you've only got 2000 weekends left. You could have none--stop moping and have a good day, dude. It's your birthday."

Not the typical birthday toast, but I think he needed it. He smiled. We finished lunch with laughter and stories of our favorite birthday memories.

A Gift

I'm going to give you something. If you aren't into food, you'll probably think it's not that great of a gift. But, if you are, even just a little bit--you should try it out. I bet you'll be glad you did.

See, I love home made gnocchi. I've made it about 6 times in the last 2 years. Each time, it's turned out differently. First, the balls were heavy, doughy, starchy rocks. The next time, they fell apart in the boiling water (probably because I was scared of overkneading and adding too much flour due to the previous time). The third time, I followed a different recipe and steamed the potatoes instead of boiling--they turned out perfectly although it was very time consuming. The fourth time, following the exact same recipe, they were mealy. The fifth time, I went back to boiling, and again, I had a sauce-topped potato soup. Last night, I decided to try the renegade recipe in Pasta Al Dente.

Thanks Biba! The gnocchi turned out perfectly, and required the least amount of effort of any time I've ever made it.

So, take it from me, in order to make the simplest, easiest, most wonderful gnocchi, follow these steps and skip the boiling, steaming, and eggs.

Ingredients per person:
1 russet potato
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t. salt

To make the Gnocchi:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Wash, scrub, and dry the potatoes and cut a deep inciscion lengthwise in each one.
3. Bake them uncovered for 1 hour ('til soft).
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
5. Peel potatoes while still warm and run them through a potato ricer, or for the hard core, mash them with a fork. (Trust me, the food processor, the mixer, and mashing with a masher do not get the consistency you want.)
6. Slowly knead flour and salt into potato mush until the dough is complete.
7. Flour a flat surface and roll orange-sized balls into long ropes.
8. Cut the ropes into 1/2 inch long pieces and pinch the sides. Optional: roll them over a fork or grater for sauce grooves.

(You can refrigerate the uncooked gnocchi for a day or two)

To Cook:
9. Boil a pot of water with a dash of salt.
10. Add the gnocchi about 20 at a time.
11. When they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon.
12. Place them on paper towels or in a collander to allow the excess water to be removed.
13. Serve immediately, topped with your favorite pasta sauce. (Hint, you can use the pre-heated oven to roast onions, bell-peppers, garlic, etc. for the sauce while you work with the dough.)

You're welcome.

I Wish

I were funnier.
I knew how to tango (not just pretend).
I was more passionate about writing so I could hole up and do it instead of dream of doing it while having a more balanced, but less author-like life.
I took myself less seriously.
I knew when it was okay to cross the line.
I didn't question myself as often as I do.
I wasn't so judgmental.
I wasn't so quick to think I know the answer.
I was more focused.
I was more spontaneous.
I could have infinite time and opportunity to do the things I want and to spend the time I want with the people I care about.
I had more patience.
Summer wasn't half-way over.

I Got No Game

I started playing golf a bit last summer. I took some lessons and tried to either get to the driving range or play 9 holes about once a week. By the time school started I could regularly hit the ball over 100 yards with my irons and occasionally drove the ball closs to 200 yards.

Then school started. I haven't touched my clubs since October.

Soon, the firm is taking us on a golfing day with the partners. It's rumored that the partners attending are all quite good golfers. One partner suggested scramble or best ball format, but the others wanted to play a full 18 holes themselves. So, most of the summers are pretty sure that we will be embarrassing ourselves for 18 holes.

I went to the driving range for the first time in 8 months just to make sure. It was like starting from scratch. I took a large bucket of balls and managed to get a blister on my non-gloved hand (bought a second glove) while topping some balls, whiffing a few more, hitting several ground rollers for 20 yards, and regularly slamming the ball into the net immediately to my right and left.

So yeah, I'm going to suck at the golf course. Oh, well, I guess there's no pressure on me--barring a miracle, it's impossible for me to do anything but suck.

Stop Making Stuff Up!

It's been a while since I've spent time with an atomic table. The application I'm working on includes references to the following:

1. Tantalum (mmm... tasty)
2. Hafnium (the C2 of metals, apparently)
3. Niobium (doesn't this sound like a planet just waiting to be discovered?)
4. Indium (really?)

One Thing They Got Right

If you ask me, there's no arguing with the 9 months of education, 3 months of work model. By the end of the school year, I was sick of being a student and ready to be a productive member of society. Here, I may not be the MOST productive citizen, but I'm doing things that matter to some people--I'm actually getting things that people need done and I feel useful.

I'm learning, too, but it's a different kind of learning than school. First of all, much of it is too practical for what they teach in school. I've learned about several gotchas you have to check for when a file is transferred from an incompetent lawyer. I've learned that much of what I did in my prior career is considered "legal skills." And, I've learned that I shouldn't bother spending time on formatting documents because I'll never be as good as my admin at word processing and any work I do just makes her workload increase when she has to undo it.

It's also a slower type of learning than school. It's the spaces between the grunt work where there's actual legal stuff (some of which I haven't seen before)--that's where the learning occurs. After the whirlwind of last year, it's nice to cushion knowledge acquisition between easy required tasks and pretty-please-come-work-here perks. Having weekends and a paycheck are additional bonuses which I am doing my best to enjoy heartily.

Now, I'm almost halfway through my summer and I can see that after another half of a summer, I'll be ready to re-enter school with a healthy thirst for speed-demon learning. I know this because when I see issues that I'm not qualified to address, I'll think, "why can't I be done with school already? That work looks so interesting and the only reason I can't offer to take it is because I don't know anything about it (and I'm a Summer)."

In short, I think the 3/4 of a year at school and 1/4 of the year in the environment where you may eventually work is a fabulous model for education. I wonder why more fields don't do it. After two summers, when you get out, you actually have a chance at having a clue and being useful. I certainly think that engineering educations would be better if everyone was required to do an internship or two before they graduated. You need the fish-in-water portion of your education, and it's either going to happen on your first job, or before you get out. Why not graduate qualified people who have some idea of the field where they will be working?

An associate asked me whether I liked working or school better. I told him that I really liked the 3/4-1/4 split, but knew that it wasn't sustainable. He smiled and said, "yeah, those were some good years..." and walked off. I wonder if that should scare me. I try not to think about it, but I suspect that next year is going to be much more demanding than last year. That's fine, I'll handle it. I'm just happy to have this summer to slow down a bit, get a feel for what I'm working for, and enjoy life before 2L.

I guess this is my thanks to the organizations, agencies, firms, and schools who make the 3/4-1/4 split a reality. It's really quite a good life I've been living for the last year.

[update: I changed the ratio for a 2/3-1/3 split to a 3/4-1/4 split because of the 9 months, 3 months ratio. In reality, it's more like 2/3 in school, 1/4 at work and 1/12 on vacation, which may be why I so thoroughly enjoy the distribution of my time.]

Summertime

And the living's easy...

Camping was the name of the game this weekend. I'm so relaxed I don't quite know what to do with myself. I'm tan. There's a very solid v-shape on my feet to mark the flip-flops I wore everywhere except inside the tent. I swam in the lake. I needed a shower when I got home.

Some people couldn't make it due to food poisoning, getting into car/bike accidents and the usual crap that life throws your way. So, we had extra food. Obviously, I'm concerned for the ones who didn't attend and feel bad for their mishaps, but you don't want to hear about that.

What you want to hear about is this:

Corn Fritters, Southern Style

1. Cut the corn off of 4 left over white corn on the cobs from camping.
2. Mix 1 dried jabanero habanero pepper, corn, the yolks of 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of flour in the food processor 'til pastey.
3. Add a dash of salt, pepper, 1 tsp baking powder, a few TBSP of milk or cream and mix again.
4. Beat egg whites from yolks above until frothy.
5. Add egg whites to mixture in food processor and mix for 1 minute.
6. Pour mixture into bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups grated romano cheese.
7. Heat a 1 cm layer of oil (I used canola, bacon grease would probably be even better tasting, but worse for you, take your pick) in a sautee pan over high heat. Once simmering, turn down to 7/10 of the high heat temp.
8. Spoon mixture of fritters from bowl into simmering oil and cook 1-2 minutes each side. Flip once you can see brown on the edges.
9. Remove from oil when done. Place on paper towels to collect excess grease.
10. Eat immediately as a side dish, or if truth be told about E and I this evening, as a complete self-indulgent meal without any other additions.

Happy Independence Day Y'all.

Here I go again

I just called my county voter's office and volunteered to be an election official for the November polls.

Why?

Earlier today, I remembered getting all worked up over the Diebold Debacle and figured it'd make a nice brain-break over lunch to skim the electronic version of Black Box Voting.

The writing is a little too conspiracy-theory for me. It's clear that much of what is normal in software occurs at Diebold and other companies that develop voting software. Mistakes happen. Products are shipped in a hurry and QA isn't what it should be. Programmers make ascerbic comments in the code. Also, it's shocking but true that local government has a hard time upgrading technology in its voting processes and will fumble quite a bit.

This may be why most tech people don't support e-voting. The average standards of the software industry are not high enough to inspire tech geek confidence in using software for important crap like Fly-by-wire, medical software and individual rights, like voting. This isn't to say that it can't be done properly. It's just that if you transport typical software engineers into a mission critical product, ummm, most of the other software geeks won't want to be early adopters.

The actions of the Diebold programmers don't appear malicious to someone who's worked with software engineers under tight deadlines with bugs to fix and product managers who can't allow the product version to roll. This is a point that I think Ms. Harris misses in her book, and one that made me view the rest of her writing with cautious suspiscion.

However, the allegations of abuse are more serious. The lack of certification, horrid Access "database" design (no primary keys!), last minute upgrades on-site at elections, apparent tampering or removal of votes and denials after the fact are huge problems. The fact that major parts of the Diebold code were written by a convicted felon who served 2.5 years for multiple counts of embezzlement (and one of his jail buddies, a convicted cocaine trafficker managed a division of Diebold)--well, clearly, there's an accountability hole in this process somewhere. What I can glean from the book indicates that there's the potential to alter voting tallies in most versions of Diebold systems that have been deployed in recent years and the reports from election sites make it seem likely that tampering occurred.

But, before we all jump on the grand conspiracy cruise, it seems like CA Secretary of State, Kevin Shelly is on it. Santa Clara County met the re-certification requirements, so electronic voting will occur in November. I figure if there is a conspiracy, I should at least go participate in the process and be able to report back about how bad it appears to the poll workers. Should be an interesting experience, I imagine.

Regardless, I'll be using a paper ballot.

Yesterday was a Good Day

Politically, I tend to be all over the place. My beliefs don't align with any particular group, which is useful when I want to distance myself from stupid actions of one of our political parties, but annoying when I'm trying to figure out who to vote for.

One thing that I strongly believe in is avoiding false imprisonment.

I was happy to see that my belief was shared across the conservative-liberal trenchlines by all but one member of the Supreme Court in yesterday's released opinions (Hamdi, Rasul, Odah and Padilla). Bonus: being out of law school for a month makes me able to appreciate the writing of the Court for its eloquence and brilliance instead of cramming the knowledge into my head in a pleasureless frenzy.

If you want more on this stuff, head over to SCOTUSBlog. Steven Wu's discussion of the balance of powers between the branches and how these decisions affect it is particularly interesting.

News of Weird

A judge in Oklahoma has been charged with conduct constituting an offense involving moral turpitude in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution.

The petition alleges acts including:

1. using a penis pump in court under the bench
2. exposing himself to the court reporter
3. shaving his pubic hair in court

The judge admitted he had the penis pump under the bench during a murder trial (WHAT??), but claims it was a gag gift from a friend [oh, well, in that case... no problem!].

Closure

As promised, now that I'm recovered from finals and have enough distance from the bubbleworld of school to have a reasonable perspective, I've got some stuff to say about grades, ranking, and 1L as a whole.

First of all, I maintain that grades are much more arbitrary than a sane merit-based ranking system should be. For whatever reason, I fell out on the lucky side of the toss-up this time around and I'm quite happy with my grades. If the system has to be arbitrary, I'd rather be lucky than not. So, I'm thankful. But I know the grades are only loosely related to my performance and knowledge of the material.

I've convinced myself that grades have 3 components:

1/3 knowledge of the material
1/3 writing in a style and organization that the professor likes
1/3 luck

In schools like mine, where there are no ways to get feedback on your writing style from the professor before exams, you can only control one of the three variables. So, sure, you need to know the material--do your work and learn it at the level that you want to know it--Duh. But don't freak out and turn into a study-gnome. It won't compensate for the fact that it's just as important that the material is organized and written in a style the prof likes. And, it's also just as important that your exam comes up at a point in the grading cycle when the prof is feeling generous or particularly disposed to the points you make. The last two are a crapshoot and there's not much you can do about it, so relax.

In particular, I suspect that addressing novel issues is strongly governed by luck. If your exam is at the top of the pile, I imagine most profs reward the "right" answers and don't award many points to "off-topic" responses. However, by the time they reach the middle or the end of the pile, I imagine profs are much more likely to award points for unique thought processes or novel issues, if only because it helps 'em stay awake.

So, after a year of grades, I'm resigned to the random element and sad for the role that grades and ranking play in the hiring process. It's quite unfair that someone with a straightforward and basically correct answer who is lucky enough to have their exam at the top of the pile will get an A- and fall into a higher tier of ranking than someone with the same answer at the middle of the pile, who will get the B+ and be locked out of certain job interview opportunities. I wish there was a better way to differentiate who was deserving of the opportunities, but, I don't know of one.

As for ranking, it's silly. Attributing 100% certainty to a measurement with a high margin of error is WRONG. Most professors will admit that after they finish grading they couldn't tell a low B paper from a B-, or a low C+ from a C, or [horrors] a low A- from a high B+. In a 4.0 scale, that's a swing of up 0.3 to 0.4 points, or a 7.5-10% margin of error. But the schools will go ahead and apply a hard numerical rank to the top X percent. No one will believe that when you compare Jimmy at 98 and Bobby at 111 in a class of 200 there is actually NO DIFFERENCE between them that can be depended upon. Oh no, Jimmy is top 50% of his class and Bobby is in the bottom 50%. Silliness, I tell you.

And as for 1L as a whole, I had a blast. I know it's not en vogue to admit it, but I did. I met several new and interesting people, went to a few parties, learned tons of new stuff, was entertained by some of the best professors I've ever had, and enjoyed the freedom to arrange all non-class hours of my life as I saw fit. For the first time since I was 15 years old, I was a full-time student who didn't work. I felt spoiled and I reveled in it. I fit law school into my existing life and I loved the way it fit. Grades and Ranking suck. So do a few other things about law school. But all-in-all, law school rocks if you decide to enjoy it.

So, the advice I've got on 1L is this: Use the freedom. Travel. Be social with your classmates on at least a few occasions. Be committed to leisurely meals. Do things in the middle of the day that you'll never be able to do once you become a working stiff. Pick up hobbies (school-related activities or not) and make them fit, it makes studying easier and you'll be glad you did. For your sanity and in order to maintain perspective, be committed to at least one thing outside of school and do it religiously. And of course, be ready to fight the good fight so that you don't let anyone else's definitions of success define what you must do in order to be happy.

Microsoft Should be Against DRM

Cory Doctorow gave a pretty compelling talk to MSFT. I found myself nodding as I read it. (Thanks to Denise for the link.)

He managed to pitch a fabulous idea (Microsoft is one of the only companies who could get away with making media players that go against DRM and the studios) while pointing out their anti-trust naughtiness in a way that made me laugh.


Do it again! This is a company that looks the world's roughest, toughest anti-trust regulators in the eye and laughs. Compared to anti-trust people, copyright lawmakers are pantywaists. You can take them with your arm behind your back.


And he's right. There's a strong business reason for being the provider of hardware/software that can play ANY and all content. I'd even let my MS hatred mellow out if they followed through with his suggestion.

Unlikely, but still a fascinating read.

For Your Amusement

Check out the world's most advanced hand-held laser-guided bolt-action aluminum SP9004 potato rifle and the rest of SpudTech.Com.

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.