life, the universe, and law school

How not to give a closing argument

2010-06-11T23:19:00.003-04:00

The scene: Sentencing arguments for a carnal knowledge case. The Commonwealth Attorney is up.

Background: There has been some question about the sexual experience level of the minor in question, despite her age, basically implying she is already on the road to becoming a woman of easy virtue. Let's call her Annie.

Commonwealth Attorney (paraphrased)

Ladies and gentlemen, when I was growing up, I had a shoebox. In this shoebox I placed all the milestones of my youth. My first movie ticket stub, my first arm band at a concert, my first valentine's day card from a boyfriend. That shoebox is filled with childhood memories. As I grew older one shoebox turned into two, and I don't know an adult who doesn't have some version of that shoebox of her own to look back at and remember the moments of her childhood and adolescence.

This whole case boils down to what is in Annie's box. Instead of innocent, coming of age mementos, Annie's box is full of cruel tricks and stolen dreams. The defendant took them. So as you deliberate, I want you to think about what's inside Annie's box and how it will never be the same and will never heal.

Um....this Commonwealth Attorney is not old. The attorney was certainly young enough to understand the rather blatant double entendre for Annie's box in the context of a statutory rape case. There were moments as the CA stretched the metaphor for all it was worth that I felt as though my cells were going to explode and shower peals of laughter over the courtroom. I was relieved when my fellow interns later shared my laughter to the point of tears. I do love tears through laughter. So now it's our new catch-all phrase: Don't forget what's in your box!

Tales from the Courthouse

2010-05-29T23:08:00.002-04:00

I started my 2L summer job at the Public Defender. So much better than Cable TV.
It's been a while since I posted, but I spent my spring semester interning in Washington, DC Superior Court for a judge with a felony docket. That was wonderfully entertaining, but in an "oh god who would have believed the system could fail so many people so completely?" kind of way, in addition to the, "wow, you really are just too violent and stupid to continue living" sort of way.

These are more chuckle worthy sorts of moments:

1: Batman Returns
General District Court
Judge calls a young man forward. He has chosen to arrive in his Sunday go-to-meetin' blue jean shorts along with his fancy boxers which he has generously pulled his jean shorts down far enough for all of us to see--I love green madras plaid, don't you? He also has on an I Heart Haters T-shirt and a necklace that goes to his mid chest with a giant batman symbol about the size of my hand---all in the most handsome of diamonique.

Young Man: "Judge, I want a extension to pay my court fees."
Judge: "Why do you need an extension young man?"
Young Man: "I ain't got the money Yuh Honuh."
Judge: "How much did that thing around your neck cost you?"
Young Man: "Enough so I can't pay my court costs. I'd rather do community service anyway."
Judge: "Have it your way. 120 hours" Gavel bang.

2: Winona Lives
I'm sitting in a room full of people where it's pretty obvious who the lawyers and clients are by virtue of their wardrobes. I catch site of this gorgeous blond lady. her hair is in a sleek pony tail, wrapped with hair at the band. She wears a beautifully tailored suit with a crisp white shirt and silver cufflinks just visible at the edge of the beautifully hemmed sleeves. She has this great belt with a silver buckle that makes me think maybe she has a personal relationship with Calvin Klein and this is what real women would look like in his clothes. I wonder what office she must work for. Then the judge calls her to the defense table.

Judge: How do you plead?
Blonde: Guilty your honor.
Judge: Then I will sentence you to XXX amount of time all suspended and you are forthwith banned from Nordstrom for a year.

Figures the gorgeous, perfectly dressed vision was on trial for grand larceny at Nordstrom. Thanks Winona.

I'm such a Hamiltonian

2009-10-07T20:20:00.003-04:00

I have always had deep doubts about the democratic process, but those doubts took root this week. My dad has been a City Councilman for 12 years in my hometown. He is dependable and steady. He actually thinks through issues and debates reasonably and logically to reach mutually beneficial outcomes. He's not the fiery, fist-pounding bombastic who makes a scene and gets nothing accomplished. He's also not great at tooting his own horn when he gets something done. In a town where 80% of the population is Democratic and centered around every other district (not going into why--too political) he has managed to make sure the police are there patrolling, the roads are fixed, the drainage system works, and all those myriad aspects of civic life that when they're working, no one notices.

He is the only city councilman to never miss a single town meeting in 12 years. He is the only councilman to be 100% certified in every civic management course the state of Mississippi offers. He is a tireless advocate, and gives so much more to the city than that job ever contemplated.

He was told by the Republican machine this summer that they were tired of Daddy not making a public scene at council meeting to get their agenda through. They then explained that if Daddy wouldn't do what he was told, they'd simply put someone in office who would. Dad declined to act like a fool and scream his way through council meetings and opted to continue to work calmly and courteously with the other council members, knowing that alienating the other controlling majority councilmen with cheap theatrics would likely hurt the cause rather than help it. The Republican Machine found their puppet for the primary. She has lived in my hometown as a house wife for 37 years. She runs an illegal embroidery business in her spare time out of her living room. She has never served on a civic committee or organization. She has never owned/managed a business in town or been part of any commercial organization. Her platform was that she wanted to do more trash pick-up and have better shopping.

On Oct. 5th, this inexperienced, uninformed, uninvolved woman won the Republican primary 4 to 1. After 12 years of dedicated service in the face of rather staggering opposition, my father has been voted out.

I guess this shouldn't surprise me. 6 years ago, the citizenry of this same town voted out a successful mayor who had made marked improvement in the city in favor of a 25-year-old child with no civic experience of any kind because her father is a beloved lawyer in the majority demographic of the community. The town has just slowly collapsed under the weight of her childish whims, and the citizens reelected her.

I suppose the only comfort I can take is that when the Ward starts to slowly crumble under the weight of this woman's inexperience and complete inability to build bridges between parties, Greenville will have gotten precisely what it deserves--to rot.

I am really beginning to wonder if it's possible to get a good candidate into office there or anywhere these days. The country as a whole seems so excited to toss experience and proven track records to the wind in favor of some distant hope of something different--even if that something different is worse.

I guess I just ultimately don't believe in the current democratic process. I'm a must bigger proponent of Alexander Hamilton's view--that the average man has no business voting. I would like there to be some higher standard to which a voter must rise so that the informed majority, not just the numerical majority can control the direction of this country.

So disillusioned.

I'm not 2nd rate anymore!

2009-09-30T20:12:00.003-04:00

I was sitting in my Business Associations class, waiting for the prof to start, when a 3L who sits behind me begins to rant about the administration, in particular the Dean being the leader of amateur hour.

In light of today's debacle with the Attorney General visiting campus, he had a point. My Crim Pro professor wanted to have the AG visit our CrimPro class, but, of course, the administration refused to let him give only his students access and opened it up to the whole school. The talk was supposed to be in a big lecture hall at 1:15pm. We got an email at 12:43pm saying, "Whoops! The talk will actually be in one of the smallest rooms we have on the 2nd floor so that security will block off half the lockers and 1/3 of the people planning to come can actually get in. Oh, and we're starting at 1pm now."

So, I was turned away because the room was full at 12:40pm. It was poor planning and even worse execution. I would have been especially pissed had I been one of the night students who took time from work to be here for this and got turned away.

So back to my ranting 3L. He is complaining about how awful the Dean is and how he never follows through on anything...how he just smiles, pays lip service, and goes on with whatever he originally wanted to do. I mentioned that that story was pretty indicative of all law schools that I had any contact with. He began to argue, and I mentioned that the administation at my former school was the same way in much more important areas.

He then says, "Well, this is going to sound insulting, but that's to be expected of a 2nd rate school. But you're one of us now; you should expect more. Their carelessness is what's making us slip in the rankings."

I understand that CUA is a 2nd tier school, but that still puts it in the top 100, so it's not what I would call "2nd rate." I found that comment pretty elitist, especially in light of the fact that every friend I have in a law school ranked higher than GMU has the same sorts of complaints about their administration. Basically, I just marveled at what freely comes out of people's mouths.

I can't decide whether that was the comment of the week or if Monday when a fellow clasmate told me he didn't know where he would ultimately practice law, but it would definitely not be in Virginia because there were not enough white people for him to feel comfortable living there and raising a family. Wow. I'm from Mississippi, and still....Wow.

Maybe this is an excellent time for a vote. Which was the douchey comment of the week?

"That's a 2nd rate school, but you're one of us now so you should expect more."
OR
"I won't practice in Virginia because there aren't enough white people."

Discuss.

The Ego Bites the Dust

2009-09-24T16:21:00.006-04:00

O-U-C-H.

I just finished my OCI round (actual OCI interviews, not resume collections). I applied to 17 firms/agencies participating in OCI this fall.

I got 10 screening interviews and ONE callback interview which I had last Friday.
I got my rejection letter from that firm today. I cannot believe how easy it is to make me feel completely worthless as a human being.

What was the point of doing well in 1L--well enough to transfer up a tier--having a great summer internship I worked my butt off both to get and then to do well in, and joining and working my butt off for a journal only to have every single door slammed in my face?

I haven't felt this low in years. I didn't even feel this bad when I got my first legal writing assignment handed back to me. I guess I could blame it on the economy and that DC is a tough market, but that's just not my style. I have to own my failures just as surely as I own my successes, and Dear GOD have I failed.

How awful an interviewer must I be? I'm good enough on paper to get a more than 50% return on my applications, but only good enough in person to get a 10% return, and on closer examination, that drops to 0%. Christ. Maybe I should hire someone else to interview for me from now on.

I just want to go home, pull the covers over my head and cry myself to sleep. What a shitty day, at the culmination of 2 shitty months.

Why am I in this class?

2009-09-23T21:31:00.004-04:00

You know, I can put up with all kinds of drains on my time. Even if there's some little nugget of information to be gleaned, I'll wade through the BS to get to it without complaint. But this Journal writing course astounds me for sheer, unapologetic WASTE.

First, I don't need a 2 hour lecture every week on how to write a term paper. I don't to be told what an effective topic sentence looks like. I don't need to look at dozens of excerpts of various student papers to rate their effectiveness. I don't need to be told what plagiarism looks like. My time would be much better spent just dedicating these 2 hours each week to extra research for my paper. What an unbelievable waste of time.

My favorite part of the course is getting grammar advice from someone who clearly knows nothing about grammar. Case in point:

Prof: What is wrong with this paragraph?
Class: Silence
Prof: It's all in past tense!

Well let's decide why no one responded.

First I think we can all clearly see that "is" standing on its own is not past tense. It's pretty clearly present tense.

Second, if he meant passive voice (likely) it's not passive voice either. A form of the verb "to be" and the preposition "by" appears, but that doesn't necessarily make a passive voice sentence. We would still need a past participle which is conspicuously absent. The sentence is in the indicative mood.

So apparently a paragraph is bad for being in the present tense and indicative mood...not because it simply isn't concise.

I'm sure that irritates me only because I spent 5 years as a working editor, but, honestly, what am I gaining by being here? I cannot find one legitimate benefit to spending my Wednesday nights in this course.

Thus, in order to hate the universe less, I have decided to spend my Wed. nights updating this sorely ignored blog. One friend in particular will be very pleased, assuming she ever checks this anymore.

...You may show your pleasure.

It's like riding a bicycle

2009-07-19T13:16:00.003-04:00

Well the problem with never forgetting how to ride a bike once you learn is that when you learn in the Mississippi Delta where there isn't even a whisper of a hill for 90 miles in every direction, you have no clue how to ride with hills.

I never understood before what the point of gears on a bike were. I mean I had them when I was younger, but I never moved them because there is no change in the grade of the land.

Now I'm biking in Arlington--thank GOD not the Rosslyn area--and I am learning for the first time how to work the gears and the pain of extreme uphill travel. GOOD GOD, my thighs are still burning from my trek this morning.

I am not giving up though, because today's ride was only half as bad as the same ride on Friday. So maybe in 2 weeks I'll be a pro. It's still worth the trouble as far as I'm concerned. Besides, I'm still so excited about going to GMU, it overshadows any physical pain from biking.

This too shall pass. And then I will have thighs of steel. ;)

It's summertime....when exactly does the livin' get easy?

2009-07-15T11:33:00.003-04:00

You know, I was kind of looking forward to the thrill of a 32 hour work week rather than the 24 a day grind of 1L year. As far as the work goes, it is indeed a pleasant respite. I'm writing or observing trial all day, so it's good substantive and occasionally tiring work, but still much less soul killing than law school can be.

If I had just stopped at the job, maybe the living would be easy now, but I think we all know that Michelle just not capable of holding onto a good thing. In addition to my wonderful job, I decided to transfer law schools. Let me tell you about the work, worry, and frustration of getting letters of recommendation written, signed, and sent to the gazillion places law schools want them sent nowadays both via direct mail to the school and to LSAC. I also decided to take a 5 credit class to accompany my internship, which of course now will not transfer, so that's a whole lot of writing, a 30-minute presentation, and $7,000 down the drain.

Add on the personal statements, transcript request run-downs, and constant worrying that goes along with it. Then, magically I get accepted to one of my transfer schools. That starts a whole new cascade of time sinks, the first of which was a second write-on competition of the year. All my hard word getting onto Catholic's Law Review was suddenly useless. I had to start from scratch and write a whole new competition for transfer write-on.

Now I'm finished with that and On Campus Interviews are looming. So I have a whole new school's system for doing that and trying to draft 20+ cover letters to participate with that.

Add onto that trying to figure out which classes to take, getting email accounts set up, and all the other misc. things that accompany changing schools. And I can't really set a schedule either because the transfer credit folks haven't decided what will count from Catholic and what won't. I also will be out of town during their orientation, so I've got to figure all this out for myself before I leave on my trip home. Then let's add back the stress of worrying over whether I was good enough to get a Law Review or Journal Invite.

I'm also going to a law firm 2L reception tonight--just in case I thought I might get 20 minutes to myself.

Where are my f---ing lazy days of summer?!

All Good Things

2009-07-11T13:22:00.002-04:00

I am going to George Mason University School of Law!!

I cannot believe I got in with a 30th percentile ranking, but I'm in damnit! I have a feeling my summer job as an intern in Fairfax County Circuit Court where Mason sends its best and brightest probably played a role in that.

I sent in my transfer seat deposit, all my forms, and syllabi of some courses for transfer credit evaluation today. I'm about to head downstairs and continue writing the Transfer Write-On Competition paper.

I'm sure there will be transfer hiccups--there always are, but in one day I've gone from a school rank 94, about to fall out of the 2nd tier, to a Tier 1 school at half the price and infinitely more prestige. This school also has programs that fit my career ambitions in a way that Catholic's curriculum never could.

I am very excited and want nothing more than to obsess all weekend about what classes to take and all the minutiae of starting a new school--but I'm going to stop myself and focus on this writing competition now.

I'm so excited! My dear friend and I both got out and will now be only 4 metro stops from each other, and I can walk to law school now. Things are looking up!

We take the sweet with the sour

2009-07-09T16:11:00.002-04:00

So Tuesday was a bundle of mixed news. On the one hand, Journal and Law Review invites went out. I got an invite to every single legal publication, all of whom have different criteria. I think I'm most pleased with the Journal that bases acceptance 100% on writing ability and no grades. It's nice to know my writing can get the job done without any help from my happy GPA.

Of course I chose to accept the invitation from Law Review--is there really any other response?

Of course after a day of pure joy I arrived home to find my lovely parchment paper rejection letter from GW. It's the second in my GW rejection letter collection. So that's one transfer institution down. I suppose because I never expected to get in, it wasn't a shock so not nearly as disappointing as the first time I got rejected back in 2008. C'est la vie.

On a happier note, a mere two days later my law school partner in crime got accepted at GW, which I, of course, expected. I will miss my friend who is so like me and struggle to replace her out of the fodder at my current school, but I couldn't dream of advising her to do anything but run to GW as fast as she can.

She's in a dilemma over giving up her generous scholarship at our school, but I think that money will be made back over the first 5 years of employment given the discrepancy between our school's average salary and GW's.

So a little good news and bad news for me...a little stellar news for my friend. What else will this week bring?

Now that I have one foot out the door...

2009-07-01T18:51:00.003-04:00

So my school finally figured out that I'm trying to transfer. With 3 transcripts, 2 letters of certification of good standing, 1 certification of class rank, and 2 professor recommendations, I have no idea what could have given me away.

Yesterday I received an email shortly after I called to be sure my class rank certification had been mailed to one of my prospective schools. It was a lovely email from a Dean telling me how the school wants to do everything it can to retain excellent students such as myself and how they really want to help me with this important decision in my life. I'm not sure why I got this letter since my buddy who has a higher rank than I and a much better chance of transferring hasn't received it.

Anyway, to help me make this momentous decision, she lists 4 deans for me to talk to--3 of which have already paid me lip service before completely blowing me off during the semester. So thanks, but no thanks. It's amazing how they don't want to pay you one bit of mind until you appear remotely valuable to them again. Just when I think the bad taste in my mouth can't get any worse, they pull some patronizing stuff like this.

The time to worry about my concerns and disappointments with your school was when I went out of my way to bring them to THREE DIFFERENT DEANS back in February. This just reinforces the fact that whatever the cost, I should leave if I get half a chance at another school. So disappointing.

With Diabolical Efficiency

2009-06-21T13:54:00.005-04:00

I finished my 1L year in a very good spot (despite still not having class ranks released) and I decided I should try to transfer. While my 1L year is good, my undergrad GPA is abysmal--welcome to transferring in your junior year, getting your GPA wiped to zero, and then trying to build a new GPA on junior and senior level chemistry courses. Anyway, I worry about getting into any law school as a transfer because of the undergrad GPA. I am actually astonished that I got into a top 50 and a top 100 law school in my original cycle.

Ultimately I decided to try to transfer because I have become so disheartened and so disillusioned with the shitty tactics my law school employs during the year to make sure as many 1Ls as possible do not continue to have scholarships by stacking sections along with a few other tactics to keep people from transferring. I decided that I had no right to continue to bitch about my school and continue to challenge the deans and general administration if I didn't at least try to get out when the opportunity arose.

So 1/2 the schools in this area have deadlines of July 1st. Pretty tight, but possible. The other 1/2, however, had deadlines of June 15th. Since trying to transfer, I have discovered yet more dilatory tactics my school employs to avoid students transferring.

We finished our exams on May 9th. Grades didn't even begin to come in until June. My section got all of its grades on June 9th at 5pm. So the soonest you could even request your final transcript with all 1L grades (a transfer requirement at all area schools) was June 10th---for my section. That means I would have had 5 days to apply to any of these schools.

Another set of 1L sections totaling around 80 students didn't get their final 1L grades until JUNE 17th, 2 days after half the admissions deadlines had passed. Now if that's not contrived and devious, I don't know what is. Also, most schools want your class rank--which stands to reason since my law school also pegs its curve lower than any other school in the area. My school will not be releasing class ranks until AT LEAST mid-July......2 weeks after the latest deadlines for transfers. I have gotten special permission to turn that information in late at both my prospective schools because my application will otherwise be complete and I have no control over when ranks are released.

As it stands I have had to race to get my applications in to the 2 schools I sent applications to, but the finish line is in sight. I'm just waiting on my school to send those "Dean Certifications" that basically say I'm not in academic trouble or on review from the honor board or some such. What at most schools is a form letter the office can just fill in a name for, my school requires 7 to 10 BUSINESS days, in other words, TWO FULL WEEKS. Absurd. They couldn't be more blatant than if they tacked up a "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" sign.

I've done everything I know to do. I have a letter of rec from a prof and my judge I'm working for this semester where the vast majority of interns for the court attend one of the schools I've applied to. I applied to both schools the first time around, so my file will be there from that go round too--for whatever that's worth.

I just don't seem capable of picking a school that isn't underhanded. I did it in undergrad and I've done it again in grad school. Maybe it's just academia. They only answer to their own authority, and absolute power corrupts. I have several friends in my study group who did very well and are trying to transfer with me. They're already talking about sending a formal complaint to the ABA about all the stuff we've witnessed this year. I'm considering it.

In the meantime, Apps are due in around a week, and I've done my legwork. Now it's time to wish myself luck, send them along, and try to remain calm.

Back in the fray

2009-06-05T16:30:00.002-04:00

Okay, I know it's been a while, but without copious apologies and the same boring tripe about exams and paper season, let's get to the summer, shall we?

I'm an Intern for "Judge" in a Virginia state court. I've been there 2 weeks now, and I have certainly found my calling. Some brief highlights from my time writing memos and observing Judge hear motions to whet the appetite:

Attorney: "Your honor, lying is the national pasttime of the Middle East. The court cannot on principle believe a word of the Defendant's testimony."

Proposed At-Fault Divorce Grounds: Cruelty because wife uses pronouns incorrectly, does not fold towels as husband would like, nor unload the dishwasher his way, and repeatedly insists on knowing what husband is spending her money on. It seems not following his orders has caused him undue stress, hence cruelty.

Defamation Case: One attorney brings a suit against another using an old anti-dueling statute for impugning his honor. Among the additional insults not being litigated were:
Attorney #1 (suing attorney): Mr. Attorney #2, You are just an insulting toad!
Attorney #2's witness: I find you an ancient gas!

Zoning Infraction: "Your honor, I own several properties. I cannot be at all of them to see notices of violations on the front door. The Commonwealth should have to find me. They should have to figure out where I live and serve me personally. It's like a game, and they didn't play the hide and go seek portion of it."

Custody: Mother claims her 2 year old will suffer irreparable damage from being parted from her for more than a few hours, so Dad can't take him on a trip to see family overnight. "Most children are the messes they are today because they did not have constant maternal oversight and togetherness. The father impairs this critical bonding."

It can only get better.

I love winning

2009-03-18T19:28:00.002-04:00

Ah, after 128 applications sent out at $1.34 each for postage, I have a summer internship in the lovely Fairfax County Circuit Court. The world is my oyster. I also learned that I can get up to 5 credits for this little excursion. I suppose the catch is that my scholarship won't cover summer tuition, but who cares!? Oh, and it gets better--I only work 4 days a week! That's right, I get Sat, Sun, and Mon off every week of the summer. It's like an Xmas miracle.

Vacation is booked for Cozumel so that I can get my all important diving in before I become a judicial intern. I think we're finally going to have to go to Devil's Throat. And then off to the homeland to salute Dixie.

It's so nice when a ridiculous, obsessively compulsive amount of work pays off.

Mature and Firm = Mean and Old

2009-03-01T20:44:00.002-05:00

I think I have to officially boycott Lancome now. I went to the mall to replenish my moisturizer today. I walked up to the Lancome counter and said that the moisturizer I had been using is a little too heavy for my needs. I have perfectly clear, unblemished, and normal skin, so I don't need tons of moisture. The twenty-something girl behind the counter looks me over, leans in, gets a slightly embarrassed and pained expression on her face and half whispers, "I'm so sorry to have to ask this, but um...what age range are we looking at?"

Without really thinking, I just blurt out my age--29 (and I've only been that old for 3 weeks, might I add.)

She then says in a surprised voice with her head cocked to the left, "OH! Then you just need what's in this row. Do you want the day cream only?" I tell her to just wrap it up and wait for the humiliating transaction to finish while JP is behind me trying not to swallow his own tongue laughing. JP is nothing if not sensitive.

So apparently it's a total goddamn shock that I'm 29. To hell with you Lancome Bitch. I will find another cream for my GORGEOUS, YOUNG face.

...and she redeems herself.

2009-02-28T23:29:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! Got a call from another judge's chambers for a Monday morning interview, and THIS time I saved the message instead of deleting it. The learning curve is a steep mistress. So I get to put on my pretty shoes and my pretty suit, and try to pleasantly and memorably kick ass day after tomorrow.

Then I have my day observing the court of another judge who can't hire me, but was so impressed with my application packet that she wanted me to come to her court, have a little lunch with her, and take a tour.

I guess I'll just have to be fatalistic about that missed mystery call.

Who's the biggest moron ever?? Oh right, it's me.

2009-02-24T18:49:00.003-05:00

I win the ultimate idiot of the year award hands down. I am desperate to get a judicial internship this summer, which as a 1L in a bad economy in the DC area is no mean feat.

I sent out 128 application by the 2nd week of Feb, and on the 23rd, just this Monday, I received a garbled message on my cell phone regarding one such internship. I heard:

Hi, my name is Jessica garble garble garble
Judge Miller (maybe Millman) garble garble
Your application was passed on by garble garble
Either Federal Court of Appeals or Court of Federal Claims (couldn't tell on first listen)
If you're still interested in an internship, we like to offer you garble garble garble.

At this point, I started hopping around in pure joy. It was right before class, so the room was noisy, and I just decided to listen to the message in full afterward. My friend sitting next to me asked to hear the message, so I gave her the phone to listen to it.

When she handed it back, I went to press #1 to save the message, but accidentally pressed #7 AND DELETED IT!!!! I then panicked and hung up instead of pressing the buttons that would have allowed me to recall the voicemail.

I figured, no problem: I heard Jessica; I heard Judge Miller; I have a number in my caller ID. I can put this together after class. W-R-O-N-G.

First, the number 202-233-9996 is a trunk number (artificial number generated from a true land line; apparently it's part of security in all government buildings after 9-11) So the number just rings and rings forever and Verizon cannot tell me what real land line the number goes to. We just know it's in DC where the courthouses all are. Super.

So I call both the Court of Federal Claims and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals since they're in the same building. No luck. There are 2 Judge Millers at one of these courts. I called both and they were so wonderfully helpful--and I mean that in a completely non-sarcastic way. They were so sympathetic and genuinely interested and invested in helping me. They made me feel much better.

I found a Jessica who clerks for one of the judges online. She has a chemistry background like me and also founded a chapter of the Chemistry Frat I was president of, so I thought it was possible. I called those chambers and discovered she was out for the day, so I'm crossing my fingers this might be her.

Ultimately, I have done everything short of physically knock on each judge's chamber door to figure this out. I'm piecing together a garbled message half listened to and then accidentally deleted.

I HATE MYSELF and MY OWN STUPIDITY. I think I really had my most stupid moment so far in this life. In one sad little slip of the finger, I may have ruined my entire 1L summer.

*crying on the inside*

Solution to the traffic dilemma

2009-02-16T09:11:00.002-05:00

I have this epiphany 2 or 3 times a year when I have to come in on a federal holiday, but it bears repeating. D.C. is too full of people. We need a limit. I vote to limit the people who can commute in and out to those who live within 5 miles of the city. This will reduce traffic and drastically drive up my real estate value. Win-win.

Barring this sort of regulation, I think a good biblical plague to promote the thinning of the herd is in order. Honestly, as much as I would have liked a 3-day weekend, it's almost worth it to be here to experience traffic that sweet.

I have a feeling of generosity and lightness of spirit.

So my property class is shit

2009-02-13T13:16:00.002-05:00

And today, I got a good solid measurement of just how shit it is. We have a visiting prof who had a rating of a 2.4 on ratemyprofessor.com. He basically stands in front of the room making corny jokes, speaking in property-ese without ever explaining a single term. The book is just as disconnected and rambling, and on the off chance that he stops talking long enough to ask a student a question, he is invariably met with a blank stare and an incorrect guess because all 65 of us are CLUELESS.

So we were commiserating today, and a fellow classmate mentioned he was giving up his laptop in this class for Lent. I thought that summed up the futility and pain of this class beautifully. This student really believes that giving up his shield of a laptop in this god-awful class is enough of a sacrifice and infliction of personal pain to equal our man Jesus dying on a cross.

That's right people--listening to this man's pointless rambling for 70 minutes, 3 days a week is equivalent to crucifixion.

Everything's comin' up Shelley

2009-02-10T23:04:00.002-05:00

I turned 29 this morning. I suppose I could have mourned running out of my 20's, but today was just too wonderful for that.

Good thing #1:
As we grow older we expect presents less and less. Imagine my pleasant surprise when a law school buddy gave me a gift today. I have a cute little ceramic feng-shui white cat that is supposed to bring me academic success if it faces northeast. I am almost certain I've found northeast based on my house's position to the highway which I know runs East and West. So I got a cute good luck charm AND a chance to prove my sad sense of direction.

A little back story before #2:
I am trying desperately to intern with a judge this summer. I've sent out a rather absurd amount of resumes (triple digits). No one's going to accuse me of not giving it my all. So I mailed all these (judges don't like email; they want pretty paper) on Saturday. This means they would have arrived late Monday afternoon and probably weren't read until today at the earliest.

Good thing #2:
I got a call from a judge today! Not bad for less than 24 hours. She called to tell me that her court unfortunately moved too quickly to be able to use an intern or even a clerk for that matter. Her usual docket is 200 cases in a morning, mostly snap easy decisions that just don't require research.

She called because she said my letter, resume, and application packet was just so "absolutely fabulous" that she felt compelled to call and tell me so. She then invited me to come to her court to observe any day, and to let her know so that I could get some individual time with her to ask any questions I might have.

I think getting a personal ego boost call from a judge based on a single page letter is pretty damn stellar. I am feeling awesome about myself. (Don't worry though. I'm sure my grade in my writing class next week will bring my head back down to earth.)

Good thing #3:
JP is in Japan, so this birthday was a solo show. I was expecting to spend a quiet night at home sending out more applications. Right after my call with the judge, I walked into my front foyer to find a huge bouquet of 29 white lilies in a silver vase waiting for me. JP sent me B-day flowers from Japan. They're gorgeous--just what I would have picked for myself--, and the whole house will smell like a floral dream by tomorrow.

Verdict:
So far, 29 is awesome...and this is only the first day.

"It's just a different class of people..."

2009-01-25T20:45:00.003-05:00

I was eating dinner in a local restaurant I frequent this evening. I can finally keep down a little food after a rather icky weekend of stomach bug. I am eating my salad at a bar while a family of LOUD TALKERS converse behind me.

The adult woman at the table has a very pronounced accent that makes me think she's from my area of the country, and she and her companions are SO loud, I can't ignore their conversation. She and her husband have a set of twins, a girl and a boy--both with double names--that will turn 1 year old on February 5th. (I told you they were loud talkers; I have all kinds of details.)

At one point, the Louisiana state math and science school comes up (okay, so they're from Louisiana). The local guy who they must be visiting breaks in and says, "Oh is that like the Mississippi Math and Science School? I just read about that the other day and how the standards are actually pretty high."

The woman turns up her nose, rolls her eyes to the right, and sucks in air through her teeth and says in a deep drawl, "Well, I don't know about that." Guy asks what she means. She says, "Well, it's just....you know, Mississippi." Guy says he doesn't understand. She and her husband exchange knowing glances as she shifts the baby on her lap who is starting to get fussy. She then says, "Well darlin', it's just a different class of people." She then pulls up her shirt in full view of everyone with no cover and starts to breast feed the child on her lap.

DEAR GOD. I almost spat my salad against the window the hilarity and the irony hit me so hard. Yes, I may come from Mississippi, but I assure you, I will never expose myself in mid-conversation in a restaurant while chit-chatting about the social indiscretions of other states' cultures.

The conversation about how much better LA is than MS continued for another half hour. I was wildly entertained, but ultimately, I'm left shaking my head. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Victory is sweet...and a little crunchy

2009-01-22T17:15:00.004-05:00

1st semester officially ended today with the release of our last grade. I have a 3.199 for my first semester. Sadly my school pegs the median to a 2.8, so my GPA reflects a higher class rank that it would suggest at first blush. WOOHOO!

Lowest grade was a B, highest was an A-. I haven't had a GPA that good since high school. How not frustrating it is to be a non-science major. (there's some good English for you)

I'm taking these few moments to bask in the glow of success...before I take the plunge and write a memo of law for a complex issue due in less than 7 days from now. Super.

Can't we just stop giving grades now and call it a day while I'm ahead of the game?

Presents!! I love material rewards

2009-01-20T00:08:00.004-05:00

JP was sweet enough to get me a "Good job on the first semester" present today. True to Office Space form, the law school released grades late Friday afternoon. My lowest grade was a B, and my GPA is quite comfortably over a 3.0. Life is sweet.

My prize is this lovely french provencial chiffonier. I love hand-painted furniture. Now I have a drawer to hide my car keys in rather than slinging them on the entry table.

Whew...okay, now on to the kicking ass portion of 2nd semester.

Law School is just another version of "Office Space"

2009-01-15T13:27:00.003-05:00

I have a whole new view of my law school. Law School is Lumberg from Office Space. We have been waiting on 1st semester grades since the semester started 2 weeks ago. Everyone is getting antsy as non-substantive class grades begin to leak out to some sections.

Today (a Thursday) we got a "Talk her down off the ledge" speech from 2 of 2 substantive class professors about not panicking when grades are "shortly" released. Why do I get the feeling that law school operates under the same premise as offices that want to fire someone.

Statistics and little efficiency experts in cheap brown suits and wingtip shoes have told us that employees will be less likely to go postal and shoot everyone in the office if they're fired on Friday afternoon under some logic that says when people are that close to the weekend, they are less likely to do something untoward that might interfere with that weekend.

It seems ridiculous, but I've seen it happen in my former office. When people were fired on Fridays they left the building calm as Hindu cows at the end of the workday, while the people who got the axe on say a Wednesday noisily cleaned out their desks the moment after they got the news, loudly proclaiming the "shittiness" of the company and the wrongful termination law suits that would surely follow.

The law school has learned this valuable lesson well. To keep highly stressed, volatile 1Ls from storming the gates and stringing up the available law professors, they are giving grades out on Friday afternoon, right before Inauguration so that the soonest any student can attack a professor will be next Wednesday, 5 all important days away. This, of course, eliminates any good Heat of Passion or Extreme Emotional Disturbance defense to murdering said professors, so maybe the idea is that facing manslaughter would not be enough of a deterrent to the students, but murder might.

So I'm waiting not so patiently for the remainder of my grades and relishing the sweetness of my A- in my stupid "Social Justice" 1-credit seminar class that won't ultimately help out my GPA in any noticeable way. Way to make an A a disappointment law school.

Is it any wonder that lawyers have some of the highest depression, substance abuse, and suicide rates of any profession? I certainly appreciate being manipulated on every possible level.

The time has come to keep time

2009-01-09T09:28:00.004-05:00

My lovely in-laws have been so gracious as to get JP and I a grandfather clock for Xmas. It will be delivered tomorrow afternoon, and I'm so happy to get it. This house needs a heartbeat.

In my joy of getting this clock, it never occurred to me that it was the harbinger of my irreversible old age. One of my more modern, clean lines friends re-emphasized how "mature and firm" (read old and mean) I must be to want one.

Well fine, woman! I'm an old lady in a 28 year old's body. No surprise there. My mother revels in telling everyone I was born 40 and grew taller. Her other favorite response is in answering questions about what I was like as a child. Her perrenial response: "She was shorter."

The old woman in me will love my Westminster chiming clock that marks the minutes of my family's life. Boo on you--keep your silly neon wall clock. :)

The best of 2008's "That law student just said what?!"

2008-12-28T22:34:00.002-05:00

(all tales have been paraphrased)
#3: The Cream Will Rise
In a seminar on hot button social issues, a classmate had this to contribute to our affirmative action discussion in which we were exploring the problem of minority students stuck in woefully sub-par school systems who are admitted to better universities through affirmative action programs:

"My parents really cared about me and sent me to the best schools, made sure I did my homework and all, and that really helped, but ultimately I am where I am because of who I am, not the school system I was in or the kind of household I lived in. If I had been born into a poverty stricken family and forced to attend public D.C. school I think I'd still be where I am because the cream will rise. The onus has to be on the kids to rise, not the system to raise them."

#2 What About the Animals?
In this same seminar class, a classmate offered this pro-choice argument leaving me wondering why he/she couldn't have been for the opposing side:

"Everybody is all like caught up on whether abortion is murder, but society commits murder every day. We decide who lives and who dies and like who is more important all the time. (This is where I was waiting for the argument about soldiers killing with impunity or the state sanctioned murder view of capital punishment...but this is what I got.) I mean we eat animals like every day.

#1 Poor=Incompetent
Contracts class topic of the day was unconscionability in which we discussed the inherent unfairness of a furniture company's dirty dealings with extremely poor customer, most of whom were on public assistance. While discussing whether the contract was egregious enough to warrant being rescinded on the basis of unconscionability, a student had this view to offer:

"I think the contract should be rescinded, but not for unconsionability. I think it should be rescinded based on mental disease or defect. (the teacher prods him/her to explain) Well, I mean these are people who through their totally flawed choicing skills have rendered themselves poor. They have made the absurd decision to be poor, so, how can we expect them to be competent enough to enter into any contract?"

Lest you thought law school was a lofty place full of the brightest minds of tomorrow, allow me to shatter your illusions. These observations came from a top 100 school. I cannot wait to see where these people end in the rankings. Why do I have a sickening feeling they'll be toward the top? :)

Let's play a game. Michelle...

2008-12-03T22:14:00.003-05:00

A. Has been abducted by gypsies and is being forced to live in squalor with tattooed, pierced, and suffering folk artists.

B. Found her true calling as an evangelical missionary and has been acclimating herself to the culture of Papua New Guinea, including all the local intestinal bacteria she needed to develop a resistance to, since August so that she can better preach the word of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

C. Had plastic surgery that didn't go so well and has been hiding while recovering; but much like Ashlee Simpson, I'll be sure to deny having any work done.

D. Became a raging Democrat who wants ALL the social programs, even the contradictory ones, and has been spending the past 4 months going door to door in support of various bills for said programs in congress.

E. Is a law troll who toils 12 to 16 hours a day to become a lawyer so that she can more effectively, efficiently, and profitably rule the world.

Play the game and see how well any of you remembers Michelle! And yes, this post serves as confirmation that I have not, in fact, died--all evidence to the contrary.

... and this post is dedicated to my faithful Blog Gnome, Andrea. Happy now?

Good Quiz (and more proof that I should not reproduce)

2008-10-20T23:31:00.005-04:00

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Joan!

You are a Joan -- "I need to succeed"

Joans are energetic, optimistic, self-assured, and goal oriented.

How to Get Along with Me

* Leave me alone when I am doing my work.

* Give me honest, but not unduly critical or judgmental, feedback.

* Help me keep my environment harmonious and peaceful.

* Don't burden me with negative emotions.

* Tell me you like being around me.

* Tell me when you're proud of me or my accomplishments.

What I Like About Being a Joan

* being optimistic, friendly, and upbeat

* providing well for my family

* being able to recover quickly from setbacks and to charge ahead to the next challenge

* staying informed, knowing what's going on

* being competent and able to get things to work efficiently

* being able to motivate people

What's Hard About Being a Joan

* having to put up with inefficiency and incompetence

* the fear on not being -- or of not being seen as -- successful

* comparing myself to people who do things better

* struggling to hang on to my success

* putting on facades in order to impress people

* always being "on." It's exhausting.

Joans as Children Often

* work hard to receive appreciation for their accomplishments

* are well liked by other children and by adults

* are among the most capable and responsible children in their class or school

* are active in school government and clubs or are quietly busy working on their own projects

Joans as Parents

* are consistent, dependable, and loyal

* struggle between wanting to spend time with their children and wanting to get more work done

* expect their children to be responsible and organized

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

If I have to work, YOU should have to work

2008-10-14T15:49:00.005-04:00

As I am working on the 3rd (and final) weekly research assignment, it's come to my class's attention that we are the overwhelming workhorses of the 1L class.

In our Lawyer Skills Class, we have 3 separate research assignments over the course of 3 weeks, culminating in a research exam and a memo.

1st week: average student in my class spent 12 to 16 hours on it.
2nd week: average student in my class spent 8 to 12 hours on it.
3rd week: average students are clocking 4 to 6 hours so far.

The majority of the other classes:
1st week: 2 hours
2nd week: 4 hours
3rd week: 4 hours

You know, I have no problem with hard work, but I have a major problem with that level of disproportionality in assignments when we're all supposed to be in a lock step class. The other students have a terribly unfair advantage because they're all getting a minimum of 10 extra hours a week just to spend on their other substantive classes, prepare outlines, or just rest.

We're killing ourselves doing twice the work of the other classes for the same curve. It angers me to know that B students in my class will probably be on the same skill level as A students in other classes, but they'll be branded B students nonetheless.

I hate inequity, and this whole debacle is going on my review of the course. I think we have a wonderful, though very hard teacher. I don't want the pace to slack; I just want the slackers in the other sections brought up to our pace.

ERG!!

This SO wouldn't happen at Georgetown

2008-09-24T22:43:00.003-04:00

So I had to stay on campus an extra 4 hours on Tuesday to attend a mandatory "ethics" related presentation. The "ethics" presentation was an hour-long rant geared toward 17-year-old undergrads about not putting compromising pictures or information on Facebook and Myspace.

Seriously? Did I need someone to tell me, a child of the information age, that "anonymous" websites are never anonymous because all IP addresses can be tracked? Duh people.

My intelligence is so unbelievably insulted. I will be writing a letter to the administration. That was a huge waste of my time and tuition dollar. I'm supposed to have to attend 2 more of these things, and I don't think my time is going to get any less valuable as we go along.

I just kept repeating to myself the entire time, "I'm betting kids at Georgetown aren't being subjected to this nonsense." Next time, I'm signing the attendance sheet and then walking out in the middle of the speech.

Got my first grade and a buddy

2008-09-12T09:52:00.004-04:00

Got my memo back yesterday. It's a B+--not the rocking A++ I wanted, but pretty good and ahead of the curve (which is set at a B-).

I also spent 3 hours talking to my new upperclassman mentor who is just a scream. He really helped put some things in perspective for me.

I can't believe I was going to go home and be depressed over a B+ on a type of paper I've never done before.

First memo done; I feel cheated

2008-09-04T01:51:00.002-04:00

Ug, even after all that work this weekend, after Tuesday's class, i did some big revising. I am finally forcing myself to stop tweaking the memo and it's almost 2am.

I feel cheated because after talking to 4 of the 6 other sections, I discovered that they had to write their first memos based on one 3-page case and one 2-page statute to answer a question about whether an act constitutes identity fraud.

We had 6 cases (well over 60 pages in all) plus a 5-page statute to slog through to determine for the purposes of child support if a parent's job change would be considered voluntary impoverishment.

I feel like everyone else got to walk around the track while my class had to do a 9-minute mile.

So tired. And tomorrow is my long day. And I haven't even started on my Moot Court stuff. Awesome.

The world is full of assholes who can't park

2008-09-02T16:46:00.003-04:00

I left school today only to arrive at my home and see a huge honking scratch all along my drivers side door with champagne colored paint to go with it.

I drive a green miata, so now that pitifully parked, rather askew champagne colored lincoln that was in the space next to me makes a lot more sense. Why was this huge car parked in the compact spaces with mine in the first place?

That bitch hit my fucking car and didn't bother to so much as leave a note. So much for Christian goodness at the Catholic University. What a piece of shit this woman is!!! I hope an H3 returns the favor to her the next time she parks in a garage.

Now I have to figure out how to remove her crappy paint without destroying mine. GOD I wish I'd paid attention in the garage so I could have written down her tag number.

(I am naturally assuming it was a she as 80% of women simply cannot park or drive.)

I feel like I just gave birth

2008-09-01T23:57:00.003-04:00

So ends the freaking WEEKEND I just spent writing my first closed legal memo. It's a rather straightforward issue concerning child support and whether a mother can take a low-paying public interest job without the court declaring her involuntarily impoverished and forcing her to continue to pay at the high level she pays.

I have to write between 1700 and 2300 words for this (5-7 pages), and I have about 1650. I figure I have a class tomorrow to fine tune and it isn't due until Thursday, so it could potentially grow. At this point, I feel like making it any longer would require bad, verbose writing, and I'm just not willing to do that. Besides, the prof said a normal memo for an issue like this would be around 3-4 pages, but they consider that we're inexperienced and won't be so succinct on our first try, so we get the enlarged page count. I'm hoping I'm just efficient and not missing some crucial detail.

What a crappy way to spend my Labor Day weekend. I'm glad I decided to take Saturday off almost entirely so I had one day of rest. Sunday and Monday were full of critical reading of the 6 cases for this thing and then, of course, the actual writing.

I...am..exhausted...which is evidenced by the fact that I've allowed "A Knight's Tale" to play in the background while I've been writing because I was too tired to get up and change the channel (can't find remote). My IQ has probably dropped several points as a result. I guess that means I can be a Democrat now. :)

Founding member of the "Death Party"

2008-08-25T23:37:00.004-04:00

I've never fit in perfectly with Democrats or Republicans (nor the outside groups like Libertarians). My beliefs always seem to line up on the extreme ends of each group, so even just hanging out in the middle as a moderate doesn't work. JP always jokes with me that I am a member of the "Death Party."

This comes from the fact that in every issue, I seem to be okay and side with whatever ends in death.

Capital Punishment: Expand it and sensationalize it to create a following--Sunday hangings with the kids; an idea from George Carlin, "Boil them in oil, sponsored by Crisco."

Abortion: Give them to anyone of any age for any reason or no reason. Make them retroactive in some cases.

Euthanasia: If you want to check out, bravo for consulting an expert to do the job right the first time.

Gun Control: Let everyone have their own private arsenals--no restrictions, no limits. I'd prefer that children under 12 not have rifles because their little bodies aren't big enough to hold them properly, and we don't want bruised shoulders do we?

I'm being tongue in cheek (a little) here, but the general consensus seems to be that whatever results in death is cool with me.

This concept presented itself in Criminal Law today. We were discussing sentencing and what you consider from different schools of thought in meeting out punishment.

Case #1: in the late 1800's 4 career British sailors end up surviving a shipwreck to be left on the open sea in a row boat for 20+ days. As they near fatal dehydration from drinking salt water and are near starvation, 2 of them decide to kill the sick and fading 17 year old sailor to feed and hydrate the remaining three. One sailor stabs the 17 year old in the throat and the remaining three men eat him until the're picked up by a ship 4 days later (almost a month since the shipwreck)

Everyone in class voted to give these men some time in jail, though not the death penalty the court decided (before the Queen commuted everyone's sentence to 6 months). Apparently we always have to punish killing. I just don't agree. It's an extreme, life or death situation. Some common decency rules of society have to go out the window in extreme cases. We do it all the time--justifying typically reprehensible acts under the right circumstances. For example: War. Murder is wrong, unless of course you're shooting foreigners in their own country while wearing a soldier's uniform. In that case, kill all you like--kill enough and we'll give you a shiny medal!!

I just don't think they did anything wrong. They survived. I don't condemn the guy who did the killing for offing the kid; I commend him for having the courage to commit an act probably detestable to him to save himself and 2 other men. I so hate that we live in a society that condemns strength and survival in favor of protecting the weak in all cases.

The judgment in this case the just rattled me was the opinion that in an extreme situation, you should always sacrifice yourself in favor of another....period. That just goes against human nature and common sense. Can't get on board there.

So I would have let all the sailors go scot free with no punishment of any kind.

We had another case that involved a lady accidentally shooting a 15 year old who was trying to shoplift. Everyone wanted this woman to go to prison because of the "grief of the shoplifter girl's family." What purpose does that serve? It was an accident in an extreme situation. It's not like this 51 year old woman is going on a gun spree. She doesn't need to be rehabilitated because she isn't a habitual offender and showed extreme remorse for a situation that just got out of hand. She's not a danger to society. I just don't get the point of punishing her further. So yet another "killer" I would let go scot free (the judge in that case agreed with me).

I'm starting to wonder if I suffer from an "anti-social personality." :)

Go Death Party!!

Best decision ever

2008-08-22T20:32:00.002-04:00

I love law school! And no, I'm not a gunner. I was called on twice all week long and volunteered once for a 5-second response on a disputed fact in a case.

It's a tremendous amount of work, but after I read and take my own notes, I just "get" what's going on in class. In contracts, it's coming to me almost intuitively which is both surprising and scary. Maybe I just had a good week and the other shoe is about to drop, but in the meantime, I'm congratulating myself on a wonderful choice.

CivPro appeals the grammar nazi in me. It's just reams and reams of rules and procedure with all kinds of intricate little exceptions and qualifications. I thought it would be dry and awful, but I'm enjoying it.

Criminal is the class I thought I'd enjoy most, and while the class is my favorite thus far, it's based much more on the professor than the subject matter.

Contracts was the course I thought I'd hate and was really worried about because it's worth the most credit, but that's the class that's coming to me almost intuitively and whose subject matter I'm enjoying the most. If I have an aptitude with contracts, that means I could actually go into a branch of law that makes money!!! YAY, I'm finally not attracted to the underpaid profession!

Moment of triumph in contracts this week:

We watched a clip from the Disney movie Hercules on the first day (2 clips actually) that showed a verbal contract between Hades and Hercules. So we're discussing the ins and outs of it, and the teacher throws out a hypothetical about whether an offer is valid if xyz happens.

After listening to the gunners drone on with 2-3 minute answers each, I was called on and offered an answer and argument of 6 words which conflicted with the rest of the class. The prof paused to consider and then began to smile. He said, "Mrs W, that's a very sophisticated and SUCCINCT argument--one that I don't have an immediate counter-arguement for." Then he talked to himself for a moment weighing out the possible outcomes and said, "Yes Mrs W, I think you may have made a case-winning arguement there. Well done; you get a free pass for the rest of the day's class."

WOOHOO!!!!

That was $1,400 well spent

2008-08-14T21:18:00.002-04:00

Like any good little law student, back when I was accepted in February, I started looking for laptops. When I discovered that my remaining school choices all supported MAC, I bought a macbook. I've been using it since and adore it.

So today I start looking closely at the 7+ page syllabi for the three core classes I'm taking this year that will involve significant briefing of cases and notetaking, etc., only to discover that 2 out of the 3 professors won't allow laptops to be used in their classes?

Are you kidding me?! We live in the digital age people; how am I going to keep up writing in long hand? The arguement is that "Laptops disrupt the flow of class participation. We are legal analysts, not court stenographers." Honestly people, law school is a competetive place. If some yutz wants to write down every word said in the 1.5 hour class and try to make sense of it later, LET HIM! How does that affect me? If he's not able to distill the conversation into only the pertinent facts and findings, why do I have to suffer?

That arguement just infuriates me. Now if it were something more mundane and tied to teacher preference like "the clicking keys annoy me and make me lose my train of thought," I would be completely on board. I'm happy to accommodate the professor's personal choice. But please don't make a policy because it's just a better way to take notes.

It's amazing how every professor I speak to has the same "you have to find what works for you" advice for class note taking and class prep, yet this is imposed. All this is going to force me to do is type up my hand-written notes after every class. As if I didn't have enough to juggle.

I'm just irritated and feeling bratty. So I just plunked almost 2 weeks'pay on a laptop I can use in only one class. Awesome.

I'm so broke I'm just "po" (can't afford the other "or")

2008-08-12T21:13:00.002-04:00

Well today and yesterday have been expensive. Yesterday I plunked down $489 for a parking permit (only around $45 a month, so can't complain too much there).

Today was book buying day. $615 later, I feel so empty! At least I was able to get one book on Barnes and Noble for 25% off and free expedited shipping. JP laughed at me and said he didn't think he spent that much in all his 3 years of MBA. As an engineer, however, he and his ilk are notorious for "just getting the information" without the aid of a book. In fact, I remember them wearing badges of honor when able to successfully navigate a class without the book.

As I met students and listened to professors today, I got the distinct feeling that I was beginning to surround myself with other people like me--analytical, objective, reasoned, and in love with language. It feels good to be in like company.

I finally got my schedule straightened out, and now if I can just meet people in my section, I'd feel pretty good about the week. I will say for Catholic that they are really helpful and terrific about making sure you're getting through the process well. I know it's a little thing, but I love that every office greets me with a smile and a "how are you?" before anything else happens.

Also, 8 years ago today I gave away my name. JP and I have been married 8 years and together for 13. How did that happen?
Another also, Daddy entered his 60s today and loves to remind me in the most depressing way possible that it's probably the last turn of a decade he'll see. ERG. He obviously isn't on board with my "live-in, in-law nanny" program when el kiddo eventually shows up.

Kind of a waste of time, but I got a good ID photo

2008-08-11T19:35:00.002-04:00

So our first day of orientation was supposed to last "at least 3 hours." I got there early to take a pointless law library tour that I already took in the campus visit back in March. Then I went to the introductory presentation that started 15 minutes late and still finished before the hour struck.

I got a student ID card and I got my parking decal. I had already done all the other stuff I was supposed to be there for online during the summer. I guess that means I was just too proactive. I also feel like with my group going at the very end of the day, everyone was kind of deflated and ready to go home.

Everyone was really sweet and available for questions including several really attractive 2Ls. Hey---married, not blind. So now i have a little of my reading from the past week to review for tomorrow's sessions which, I'm confident, will be much more worthwhile.

Stay tuned. Oh, and the best part of today. When I was getting my picture taken for my ID, after a long line of people and very perfunctory computer operators taking the photos, the lady said to me after taking my picture---"Oh, this is beautiful. I didn't know you could get a picture like that with this machine." Then she had other people come over to look. It might be the best picture I've ever taken. Thank you awesome hair stylist Susie!

Dad's 8-year old computer plus time in Mississippi = no blogging

2008-08-05T23:18:00.001-04:00

Whew--I'm back in the land of the living and technologically advanced.

Ever spend 25 minutes trying to get a PC to not crash so you could receive your whole 2 emails for the day?

Ever checked voicemail to discover that the message was left 2 days ago and it just now made its way through the Mississippi cell phone (dis)service to your inbox?

Ever have rolling cell blackouts that make it completely impossible to to talk to anyone outside the Delta?

Welcome to Mississippi! A lot happened despite all these technical glitches including my being offered another spot in a law school I'd been waitlisted at back in March. I'll start detailing all that soon, but for now, I'm home, tired, alone since JP is in Philadelphia until Thursday night, and need to spend quality time with my puppy.

...and this is my BEST case scenario??

2008-07-24T10:29:00.001-04:00

When I got back I had a rather severe cold which included night sweats, dizziness, vomiting, nightmares, and best of all—coughing up blood. I decided to deal with all that in addition to a rather upset stomach until my Hep B shot (2nd of 3) on Tuesday. The nurse practitioner was extremely worried about my symptoms so she got me an appointment yesterday afternoon with the clinic’s physician.

The upshot of that visit is that there’s a 95% chance that I have a parasite. The question now is whether it’s a digestive parasite, a blood parasite, or both. They are growing a culture of my digestive system now (that will take a week to get results) and on Saturday before I fly to Mississippi I have to go in for a whole bunch of blood work. While they figure out what I’ve got, I’m on some super-powerful antibiotics that are going to kill anything that moves in my system. The doctor said if she wasn’t sure I’d taken my malaria medication, she’d think I had full-blown malaria based on my symptoms.

If that other 5% chance kicks in, and it’s not a parasite, that means I have a deeper systemic problem that the trip made acute, but it requires a whole other battery of specialists and tests that I don’t even want to think about now.

So if it’s a digestive parasite, these powerful antibiotics will probably kill it and everyone lives happily ever after. If I have a blood parasite, that will likely require a specialist and possible hospitalization for IV antibiotic treatments. Until then, I’m a walking science project.

Thanks India.

I am a cess pool of disease

2008-07-23T11:13:00.003-04:00

I went to the travel clinic for my 2nd of 3 Hepatitis B vaccinations. I have to take the full three instead of an adult booster because my substandard home state of Mississippi didn't vaccinate me for it as an infant. So I got my painful shot and then had to tell the nurse practitioner about how I've been coughing up blood since I got back from India and how my stomach is still not cooperating with me.

She got a very worried expression and immediately made an appointment for me today with the clinic's doctor. It looks like today I'll be subjected to the following fun-filled battery of tests:

+ TB
+ Respiratory distress test (no idea what they'll do)
+ Blood cultures to figure out what's in my stomach
+ Intestinal cultures to figure out if I have a parasite that's causing my stomach trouble
+ Some kind of scope thing to determine if the blood I'm coughing up is from "micro-abrasions" in my throat from violent coughing and vomiting.

What a super day in the neighborhood! This is why you ALWAYS lie to doctors. You mention one tiny little detail and they panic, sending you through a round of probably unnecessary, certainly painful and humiliating tests. UG. I should have just told everyone I felt perfect, taken the damn vaccine, and just gone home.

Is Beverly Old English for Naive?

2008-07-21T12:45:00.002-04:00

I suppose I can intellectually grasp the concept of a mother's love being unconditional, but does it have to be stupid as well?

I have a brother who is my polar opposite. He's been in every kind of trouble imaginable with the law including prison time; had more drug addictions that we probably even know about (and we know about a LOT); and is the bane of women everywhere. The best thing I can say about my brother is that at 26 years old, he's more than likely sterile.

Anyway, my mother talks to me on the phone last night and asks, "Did your father tell you about what your grandmother did?"

Me: No; what?
Bev: She called this house and accused your brother of stealing her nerve pills.
Me: Okay; did he?
Bev: What?! Why would have have any reason to take nerve pills?
Me: I don't know; because he's a lying drug addict who is depressed and had a pretty recent hospitalization for pain killers and mood elevators.
Bev: Yes, but not for nerve pills.
Me: Hello stupid--what the hell do you think "nerve pills" are? It's grandma's old lady way of saying the pain killer/mood elevators she takes for her unbelievably severe and incurable arthritis.
Bev: Oh. Well--that still doesn't mean your brother took them!
Me: Who else would have?
Bev: She could have knocked them down behind some furniture or Katherine could have taken them or any of those other people in her house. She's also been robbed before; it could have happened again.
Me: Wow--this is absurd on many levels, so let's break them down.
1. Grandma has taken this medication for over 5 years without ever losing a pill. She's in agonizing pain and takes the lowest dose she can; I'm betting she's more careful than that. Plus, you've seen her house--you know how she wants everything in its place. She would have noticed that.
2. You think Katherine, her 80 year old best friend who comes to her house every day, lifted her meds. Yeah, that's plausible.
3. Those "other people" in her house are her nieces and nephews that come to see her at least twice a week to help around the house and do yard work on the property. Suddenly after helping for YEARS, their brilliant plan is to rob her of one bottle of medication. Okay.
4. Finally, random thieves could have taken it. These are some pretty savvy criminals to leave the 42 inch television, the jewelry, and the brand new car grandma always leaves open with keys in the ignition since she lives 22 miles out in the country.
Bev: Don't get smart, Shelley.
Me: One of us has to. Are you seriously still this stupid after all the money he's stolen from you and all the rehabs he's been in? Your son is a DRUG ADDICT and a DRUNK. He'll be that until the day he dies despite his brief periods of seeming lucidity. I can't believe you're actually going to come up with those other 4 ridiculous scenarios instead of the most plausible one:

Your son is broke, so he did what he always does---he went to grandma's to beat her out of some cash. The drug addict then lifted a bottle of medication that's in the same family of his last addiction-of-choice drugs. No---it's too clever to be true.

Bev: He is NOT a drunk. He doesn't drink at all now.
Me: Beverly--you do not now, nor have you ever known anything about your son. You have no idea what he's doing or what he's into. Stop defending him.
Bev: Well, I didn't get upset about it. When he told me what happened I explained to him that he had to consider his history and how it would look when he visited and then suddenly medication came up missing.
Me: Wow--you just did a total 180 there. Am I supposed to believe you told him that?
Bev: I did!
Me: Okay, my idiot meter has been pegged for today. Let's talk about something else, and for the love of God, don't ever call me to defend him. Of all people on the planet, you know I'm not going to believe him.
Bev: Okay--but I did tell him that!
Me: yeah.

SON OF A BITCH!!!! Is this the kind of denial being a mother pushes people to, or is it a special variety reserved just for her? I will never understand how she is ready to go to war against anyone over him no matter how full of holes and impossible his story may be. I honestly think until I picked it all apart for her, those possibilities had never even occurred to her. Please let me shoot a child before I enable him like that.

I love my mother, and it just angers me that much more when my brother takes advantage of her like this. It's nothing new, but it cuts every time. My visit home next week is going to be awesome!

Can't...go.....on.............

2008-07-17T15:56:00.001-04:00

Back from India.
Exhausted.
Sick as hell.
At work anyway.
Going to collapse.
That is all.

Dear Ms. X in the international office,

2008-07-02T08:56:00.002-04:00

Despite the fact that you failed to meet with me before my vacation at the end of June to discuss the finer details of my trip to your office and the training sessions I'll be teaching, I agreed to your panicked request for a meeting at the ungodly hour of 7:30am today.

To arrive at this office ready to speak to you requires me to awaken before dawn. Imagine my feelings when you arrive 45 minutes late to your own meeting only to discuss topics I've answered for your 3 weeks ago. Also imagine my joy at being asked to arrive again at 7:30am tomorrow for a repeat of today's scene right before the 4th of July holiday weekend.

Since you have shown such consideration for me and my time, allow me to do the same for you. You didn't think to speak to me for 2 weeks and it's obvious that your boss is now leaning on you for answers you never bothered to get. So instead of owning up to that, you've decided to throw your panic in my court and have me meet with you at rather inconvenient times to ease your stress level.

As my father would say, "That dog don't hunt." For the rest of my time here, I will arrive in this office at 8:30am as usual (still 1 hour ahead of all my colleagues) ready to discuss any new material with you before I leave on Saturday for my 16 hour plane ride to your office. If something doesn't happen between now and then, guess who's fault that isn't. I will not rouse myself at 6am so you can decide to show up at your convenience. I will not let you schedule my days to be jam packed for 9.5 hours during each of my 6 days in the office. This is MY show. You've paid for my services; now you'll stand back and let me do them...my way.

One of the wonderful things about my last day being the 25th of this month is that I don't have to care what you think or accommodate you in any way. It's my world; you're just living in it.

I look forward to seeing you Monday.

Back in town

2008-06-29T07:52:00.002-04:00

...with 12 new dives in my log book. The SCUBA sites were amazing, and for the first time ever, JP and I didn't fight every day of vacation. I guess it's harder to argue 90 feet underwater. We got video taped on our first dive out this time; I'll post when I rip the DVD. I look very cool swimming in and out of coral caves. Viva Cozumel!!

Now the countdownt to India begins. I'll be on the other side of the planet in 6 days. I am such a globe trotter.

Are people just physically unable to arrive on time?

2008-06-18T08:27:00.003-04:00

JP and I closed on a refinance last night (10 days later than the date we were promised, which is a whole other story). The closing agent called me on Tuesday to ask if we could make the appointment earlier at 6pm instead of 7pm because of some hiccup. I graciously agreed even though that meant coming in early to my office and leaving early in a really busy time.

I got home at 5:55pm and sat there until the closing agent rolled in at 7:30pm. You read that right. The b*%($ was 1.5 hours LATE. She just walked in nonchalantly with her paperwork and giggled some trite line about being glad we hadn't given up on her. We went through the closing and she left at 8:30pm.

I was incandescent with rage. If I could have waited any longer, I would have locked the door and not let her in. Honestly, who does that in the business world? How can you be a freaking hour and a half late?! With JP and I out of the country next week, and me out of the country again until mid-July, we just had to get it done though.

I feel like tardiness is an epidemic in this country. I was raised to always be 5 to 15 minutes early for any meeting so that when unexpected problems arise, you have extra time to deal with them and still get to the meeting on time. When someone shows up late (i.e., 15 to 30 minutes late, much less 1.5 hours) it just screams to the poor soul who had to sit there waiting, "My time is vastly more valuable than yours." It's pompous, arrogant, and bad for business. How many people do you think I'll ever recommend for that closing company? How many people do you think I'll go out of my way to tell not to use them?

So my whole evening and any hope of me getting to the gym went out the window last night. After she left at 8:30pm, JP and grabbed a salad at a local eatery and called it a night.

Still pissed.

Unpacking my frustrations

2008-06-16T13:01:00.003-04:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I've had a pretty high frustration level. After a weekend set apart from it a bit, I can enumerate all my stressers.

Work:
Apparently my company's policy on traveling to India is, "Um, talk to (fill in the blank). He just got back from there and can probably tell you what you need." Let's imagine how effective this is.

Thus only 20 days away from my India departure (and 9 of those days, I'm in Mexico on my SCUBA vacation) I still don't even have my HR letters so I can go get my India Visa. I can't get the Visa as we get closer to the end of the week either because it takes 2 days to get a Visa, during which time, the Indian Embassy will have to hold on to my passport--which I need to get into Mexico. So this basically means I'll get back to the U.S. with just 4 days until departure to India and still no Visa. I hate our HR dept. At least I am getting all my vaccinations on time.

Health:
Vaccinations--no one likes needles, but barring that I also have to decide about taking malaria medication which messes with your sleep cycle and has the added bonus of causing night terrors. These pills induce dreams so realistic that dreamers can't tell if they're asleep or awake (a problem I have already and can't afford to have compounded), and there's a chance of a psychotic break. AWESOME! I react funny to all medication anyway, so this one has me worried. On the other hand, can I afford not to take it? Malaria is not something I want to walk into law school getting over.

House:
Refinancing my house has been the biggest debacle imaginable. These people are obviously allergic to communicating about timelines and shifting dates. I probably spend a minimum of 2 hours a day dealing with this people, and in many cases, doing their jobs for them. I am SO angry about this whole process, but it seems I'm supposed to close either today or tomorrow (a full week past the original appointment).

Family:
In-laws spent the weekend here. Though I generally like my in-laws with some notable personality exceptions, any time you have weekend guests, it's stressful. JP decided he wanted to do a 3-course fondue feast instead of just going out to dinner. We spent as much at the grocery store as we would have to go out to eat, and we both ended up chopping, dicing, seasoning, and saucing for 3 hours prior. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we got a lot of family time in, so ultimately, I know it was worthwhile, but it still makes me tired.

=============================================================================

That brings us to Monday. I leave to get my vaccinations in a couple of hours and then get some Visa pictures taken for the day I actually get an HR letter. Maybe I'll close on the refinance tonight.

On the bright side, JP has agreed to some more egalitarian distributions of chores around the house that will take a lot of work off my hands. I'm so glad he's finished with this damn MBA. Maybe now I'll have a functioning second bathroom, walk-in closet, and laundry room since he isn't devoting all his time to studying anymore. I feel like the dynamic around the house is about to change rather drastically.

In the meantime, I'm focused on Saturday, when I board my plane for a tropical island where I can SCUBA dive all day and night, and there's an endless supply of free food and free liquor. It truly is a magic place.

The Frat House Makeover

2008-06-09T13:05:00.004-04:00

Ah, so after 3 very productive home improvement weekends, my 1st floor actually looks like a grown-up house. I've painted the large living room and my dining room and I've hung drapes on all the windows. It's amazing how a little fabric on the windows can change the whole feel of a house.

JP calls it my Frat House Makeover because, until I finally went berserk and started painting and rearranging everything, the house had the feel of a college house that might have been inhabited by smelly undergraduate boys.

As JP put it, "It looks like adults live here now." Ah, it only took two years to make it live-able, but at least now I actually want to bring people over to the house.

Pictures to come soon.

Old person good news

2008-06-06T13:24:00.002-04:00

JP and I are refinancing our house since rates dropped so nicely. We're changing from a 5 year ARM that would start going variable the year I graduate law school to a 30-year fixed. Yeah, we're here to stay.

After working myself into a frenzy to get the house ready for the appraiser, including painting the whole living room, we appraised for a little more than comparable properties in our neighborhood. This gets us to that all important 20% equity in the house, so now we won't have to pay for extra insurance and escrow fees.

What a relief. I can't wait for all this to be signed, sealed, and done.

At least he's consistent

2008-06-02T10:17:00.002-04:00

JP returned last night from his 10-day trip to Europe. My present: refrigerator magnet of Monaco.

That's right--he was in Europe for over a week and visited a French perfume factory while he was there, and my gift was a magnet.

I'm trying to decide which is worse--this, or the 15-cent plastic orange box he got me from India.

He really is sad. I know I'm hard to shop for, but come on.

Otherwise, we had our obligatory 3-hour screaming match the moment we got home about all the stuff that went on over last week. We're better and speaking now. It's all working out as usual. We'll see how he takes the tie incident when he realizes the one he's wearing is the only one he owns. He's sorry about the house; I think it will end up being a laugh. And it will give us an activity for the weekend. At least a third of those ties needed replacing anyway. :)

So JP is back in one piece, "present" in tow. And he even likes my redecorating.

Born 40 and just grew taller

2008-05-31T18:46:00.001-04:00

I went to a happy hour for 1Ls at my law school yesterday. Although by the end of the night, I was having a great time with all the day students, when I arrived from work dressed in my usual office attire, I was met with these looks from the 22-27 year old crowd like I had just come from a garden club meeting with their mothers.

Four different times, I got the, "Um, are you a ...night student?"

"No, I'm a day student."

"Oh, really? Well hi; I'm __________"

I'm only 28 for the love of god! I don't look old. My friend commented that even though I don't look old, I have "an air of maturity." Whatever. Apparently anyone over 27 is the dreaded "older night student" for that particular crowd of students. It was only 15 people--I have another 285 to meet.

Just depressing. Maybe I need some old blue jeans and a pithy t-shirt bordering on rude to look more my age.

Just goes to prove my mother's favorite comment when describing me, "What was Shelley like as a child? Shorter. She was born 40 and just grew taller."

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

2008-05-29T08:40:00.003-04:00

What a surprise. In this whole JP rant about the house cleaning and Europe spending, commenters have fallen into 2 polar opposite categories:

A.) That's your husband. You should give him whatever he needs and learn to pick your battles. You're so selfish!

and

B.) What a tool. You both had a budget to stick to. How does he have the right to just go nuts? Also, why are you expected to be his maid and clean his office and wash his clothes?

I'm trying to analyze where the separation line is between these two groups. Many of the (A) live in less urban places (I also want to think less cultured and less progressive) than I. Also there seems to be an age factor. Those over age 35 had this "roll over and take it" attitude. While those under 35 and living around here were appalled that I had put up with this whole situation.

Maybe I'm just a new breed of wife. I even had some people warn me that if I didn't watch out and give JP what he wants, he'd probably leave me. After 8 years married and 13 together, I'm really not scared of that. Also, I'd rather be independent and myself while being alone than have to conform to some man's ideal of domestic bliss.

Maybe JP is a new breed of husband too. He knows we're going to fight when he gets home. I haven't gone into any of it over e-mail or on the phone, but he knows he broke an agreement, so he expects that there will be a fight (rightly so). And by fight, I mean a heated discussion with possible guest bedroom occupation, not vases flying through the air. If I were the kind of wife who just smiled, cleaned, and took whatever he gave out, he'd be out the door in less than 6 months. He enjoys the battles as much as I do. They keep us equal. No one is picking when to speak up. We both speak up whenever we need to.

Do people really just put on a fake smile and trudge through life to avoid conflict? I know they must---I look at my own parents and know they must. I just know I'd SO much rather be alone than face that kind of two-faced existence. I suppose I'm ultimately lucky to be married to someone who agrees.

Maybe this is why instead of JP and I being complementing opposites, we're almost identical. What works for us would break most couples up.

And for those who think I'm a bad wife and selfish, I think I'll have to suggest you fuck off.

Not so much a spendthrift as an idiot

2008-05-28T08:52:00.002-04:00

I finally got in touch with JP about the $1,000. Here is his explanation:

"I've only spent 400 Euro so far ($650). I think that's pretty good. But I didn't know if what I had left would last me the rest of the trip, and I didn't know what the ATM situation would be in Nice, so I took out more."

Where do I begin? Spending 70 to 80 Euro a day is not what I'd call frugal. It's a little less than the $1,000, but not by much. Why would you take out money you didn't need knowing I have a big mortgage payment to make in the next three days? Also, what do you mean you don't know what the "ATM situation" will be? It's Nice, France, one of the biggest resort towns on the french riviera! You didn't think there would be ATMs a'plenty there?

Either way, it's WAY too much money. All that cash has gone to lunch/dinner, beer, and castle tour fees. All the food and hotel have been paid up front. It's not like we sat down and decided that this would be his once-in-a-lifetime trip and he'd splurge. No, we sat down and had the, "Hey, I'm going to law school in 2 months; let's be frugal" conversation.

I don't know where his head is, but it seems pointless to argue about it over e-mail, and I am not about to start calling him and paying the cell phone charges for that.

So, in conclusion, it is not the fault of men that they are morons; it's genetic. How in hell are women not ruling the world?

I'm going to need a lawyer..

2008-05-27T09:42:00.004-04:00

Before you proceed, you should know that I'm going on a tirade that will involve man bashing.

I hope for JP's safe return from Europe this Sunday so that he can be perfectly healthy when I peel the flesh from his bones. I have no idea what is going through that man's head.

We're in the process of refinancing the house to go to a 30 year fixed loan. That involves having an appraiser come out and assess the house's value. Before JP left I asked that he mow the lawn and clean up his part of the house so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Note "his part of the house" equals his office. Before he left on Wed of last week he called to say that the lawn mower was out of gas, so he couldn't mow the back yard, but I could fill the gas can and he'd finish mowing when he got back (10 days later).

I went to the shed this weekend to discover a bright red gas canister with at least 4 gallons of gas inside. So he's either blind or a liar. Saturday morning, I walked into his office to see how much more cleaning I'd need to do behind JP because he can't clean to save his life. What should await me but a room with 4 piles of laundry that were waist high (this equals approximately 2.75 feet), stacks of paper, and boxes of electronic paraphernalia all heaped in an ungodly mess all over the floor. I snapped.

I walked over to his new $100 shredder that he just HAD to have, and I started shredding things. I started with all the paperwork that lay strewn everywhere. A friend asked me if it was anything important; I replied, "nothing important to me." After I finished, I still didn't feel better, so I started shredding neckties. There weren't enough ties.

Then I decided to paint the downstairs parlor. It's a large room that has been filled with all his junk along with an extra couch and chair for 2 years now. They were set in in sort of Fratboy splendor side by side. I painted the room a lovely Lincolnshire Olive that JP is going to hate. Then I bought new drapes for the big picture window that JP is going to hate even more. GOOD.

While cleaning, I noticed that JP had hidden a full set of those circular weights you attach to a bar for bench pressing behind a chest. So now I have to decide what to do with them. It will take about the same energy to lug them all up the attic as it will to lug them all out to the street for the garbage men to collect. I thought I would be charitable, and just put them upstairs, until I got an e-mail this morning that he'd taken out yet more money.

He went to Dulles airport with $300 in his pocket, got $552.50 changed to 300 Euro at the airport, and sent me a note saying he's taken another 200 Euro ($315.85) out in Germany. That means in a little town in the middle of nowhere with all his hotel and flights paid for in advance, he's blown through over $1,000 in 6 days. WHAT THE FUCK!? It's a good thing I don't have a mortgage to pay in 4 days. What is he thinking?!

I have now progressed past throwing things away and shredding. I think tonight I will need to start burning his valuables. I know it's just as much his money as mine, but the bills are equally his. How does he think we're going to pay them when he's pissing off cash amounts in the triple zeros? I almost feel like I've been robbed. The anger I feel is beginning to distill into a murderous rage.

Metro Is My Nemesis

2008-05-22T14:11:00.002-04:00

90 minutes---that's almost all I have to say. 90 MINUTES.

My house is a 20-minute walk (a little more than a mile) from the my nearest metro station (which is 4 stops away from my work metro station). That metro ride in rush hour usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes. Today, I sat on the platform for 45 minutes before I could finally fight my way onto a train, and then spent another 20 minutes stuck in the tunnel behind all the packed trains trying to get to the hub. At 90 minutes, I could have WALKED the 5 miles from my front door to my office building and saved myself a $1.65 in metro fares. Stupid fuel prices making more people take the train!

Oh and there were all these asian tourists on my subway car wearing surgical masks. I can't deal with that at 8am.

Even with the 5 minute walk to my office building, the fun didn't stop there. I waited 10 minutes for a damn elevator to come. I finally just left the high rise elevators, walked over to the low rise ones where I immediately hopped into a waiting elevator and just climbed stairs the rest of the way to my floor.

I'm still irritated about it this afternoon, and I'm fighting off yet another cold (3rd in 30 days) so I don't want to work on anything. I need to crawl into bed and stay there until next Tues.

Huevos

2008-05-19T09:13:00.003-04:00

I had a new experience this weekend. While visiting my in-laws in Amish country, they decided to take us to a nicer restaurant in the area. They told us we were going to have Tapas. I thought, "Great! I could use some sangria." Alas, the experience was not what I expected.

First, there was no sangria.
Second, at the table was a little ordering pad similar to a sushi ordering pad in which you jotted down the quantity of the whole 12 tapas available.
Third, these were not in any way tapas. I was looking for manchego cheese, sauteed mushrooms, patatas cabrales, etc., but everything was some sort of meat dish and all were covered in hard-boiled egg. (I despise egg in all forms.)

So I'm sitting at the table trying to figure out what alternative reality I've stepped into. Of course my in-laws were oblivious to the fact that the restaurant was in fact not spanish tapas, but south/central american appetizers. Lancaster is the height of diversity. I had diver's scallops (3 of them for $23--ridiculous!) and "tapas" of angel hair pasta in pesto sauce. But there was a surprise!

The angel hair pasta had something on top of it that at first glance appeared to be melted cheese. Upon closer inspection, however, it turned out to be omelette. Yes, they put a thin omelette-like layer of egg over the pasta.

A very odd dining experience. A friend crystalized it for me this morning though. "Well, they think it's the same. I mean they think, 'They speak Spanish in Mexico; they speak Spanish in Spain. It's all the same.'"

How tragically correct she is. I am SO happy to live in a big city full of authentic foreign cuisine.

The Tire Store Is Magic

2008-05-10T14:09:00.004-04:00

Where else could a fix for a slow leak at $18.99 turn into 2 brand new tires, an alignment, and a fix for a "massive oil leak" for $400?

That's right folks, I took my sweet little 2002 Miata in for a slow leak on my back drivers side tire, and I discovered I had one tire on the front that was about to blow and another that likely wouldn't pass inspection this August. So these high-performance, low-profile tires the Miata is known for are $120 each. Of course they need aligning, so there's another $75. There's apparently a massive oil leak, so they have to clean it all up, put dye into my oil, and see where the leak originates, and then that's going to cost me $50 if I'm lucky and it's only an oil pan gasket. If it's further up in the engine, it's going to be more. Throw some labor in there, and voila, we're at $400.

I had every intention of saving George Bush's $600 refund, but alas the capitalism machine has weedled 3/4 of the amount out of me in under an hour.

You know, since I've owned this car, I've had this same thing happen three times. I go in for a small leak, and I end up buying 2 new tires. Something I didn't consider when buying a sports car---high-performance tires perform great, but they go bad in half the time a normal car's tires do. Ah well, the flame that burns brightest...

The play is over. Go home.

2008-05-07T10:51:00.002-04:00

Whew! I had my scholarship interview today. I ended up meeting with the Dean of Admissions rather than my scheduled Professor S. She had 4 questions to ask, then let me ask questions of my own. I was pretty happy about how I was able to keep the conversation moving and topical.

Wonder of wonders--at the end of our 20-minute meeting she said I would most definitely be receiving a scholarship, and that the committee would be meeting tomorrow to allocate the amounts. She said I should have an amount sent to me by Friday.

...and best of all, she said she liked my suit. SCORE!

(I decided to wear a delicate grey linen print instead of somber, traditional colors; guess that plus the different silhouette paid off.)

Got a date!

2008-04-30T16:55:00.002-04:00

CUA sent me a date. I will be meeting with Professor S. at 9:30am on May 7th. Okay people, this would be a great time for law students to give me any hints at all on how to sell myself (figuratively folks) to this man.

I have a ~20% scholarship now. How do I bump that higher?

Cold Front

2008-04-29T10:04:00.001-04:00

Wow...so I woke up this morning, walked through my doorway, and hit the wall. The head congestion has found it's way into my eustachian tubes, and I have no balance. Awesome. Nothing like looking drunk at work.

She's back and she's....well, deaf.

2008-04-28T10:03:00.003-04:00

I had a great time back home in Mississippi--well for the 2 whole days I wasn't curled up in a ball hoping for death. I made the mistake of going to a friend's son's t-ball game. Children that age are like cockroaches; they breed disease. I came away from that game a day later with the worst cold I've ever had in my life. I've been fighting it since last Tuesday, and I still feel like ass.

Some of the more unique aspects:
Congestion has left me almost totally deaf. I have to listen to the TV with the volume up as high as it will go. Passersby on the sidewalk in front of the house know exactly what programming I'm watching. JP has to shout at me in public places like I'm 98 years old. I've started resorting to hand gestures.

Smoker's phlegm comes from places other than smoking. I have never had such icky stuff come out of me. Every morning, I spend my first hour hacking until my eyes water. I know some smokers who do this every morning as a matter of course which once again poses the question, why does anyone smoke?

Raw throats--for the first 5 days of this thing it felt like someone had cut the skin away from my vocal cords, and just left them exposed to crack and dry out in the air. I had no voice of any kind for 3 days--a welcome surprise to my brother, I'm sure.

Besides all this sick stuff, the weather was perfect, and I had lots of time with my family. I also got to eat real food for a week. I know it's evil, but I can't stop loving fried dill pickles. YUM.

So I'm back in the city, feeling shitty. I think I passed this mess on to my mother; I am a very bad child.

Dear Mr. Grill Man

2008-04-18T10:53:00.002-04:00

I realize that our building's cafeteria just opened, and maybe there are some kinks to work out, so I thought I could give you a few hints for food preparation:

1.) Every breakfast food grill item does not need a small ladel-full of oil to cook properly.
2.) French toast is, in fact, dipped in EGG, not pancake batter. (wasted $2.50)
3.) Omelets do not require any form of chopping as this converts the omelet into scrambled eggs.
4.) Changing your gloves between each patron is negated by rubbing your nose after every change.
5.) The nutritional value of a turkey or veggie burger is negated by deep frying it before putting it on the grill.

I wish you luck in your culinary endeavors, however, for the remainder of your training period, I will be getting lunch anywhere else.

Way to go Catholic!

2008-04-16T14:52:00.002-04:00

I received an e-mail today detailing the reassessment of merit scholarships for my soon-to-be law school. So sometime in early May, I get to go in for an interview with a faculty member and convince them to give me more $$$.

Woohoo--just when I thought I could relax, now I guess I have to think up answers to some singular questions:

Why do you want to go to law school?
What areas of practice interest you?
What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
Why would Catholic benefit from you attending this school?

Hmmm....

When did bowling get so expensive?

2008-04-15T13:15:00.003-04:00

Saturday, JP and I got the urge to do something nostalgic, so we called up a friend and went bowling. We had a lot of fun, but the prices have gone up significantly since the last time I went bowling (easily 7 years ago).

3 people's shoes:$10.25
3 games at $5.25 a person: 47.25
1 pitcher of Killian's beer: $10.50
---------------------------
Total bowling fun: $68

Almost $70 bucks for bowling....are you kidding? When did bowling cost as much as a nice dinner out? Take out the friend's portion and I'm still left with a 2-hour event that cost JP and I around $50. And I thought going to the movies was a rip-off.

I'm thoroughly disconcerted by the pricing structure just on principle, but also because the bowling alley was a gift from the 1970's complete with an old cigarette vending machine that had been converted into a shoelaces vending machine. The shoes were probably older than I am, the carpet was circa 1970, the balls were all full of nicks and scratches, and the score-keeping machines were falling apart (the speaker box literally fell out of the stand).

What happened to cheap family entertainment, and moreover what am I supposed to do for cheap entertainment during law school? My funds are going to be drastically reduced when I quit my job in July; so what activities can I do. If this is what bowling costs, I'm looking at running through the sprinkler for entertainment this year.

I'm starting to feel like my parents when they used to describe bread costing a nickel or being able to see movies all day long complete with popcorn and a drink for a quarter. Shame on you America--shame on you for inflating the cost of my childhood pastimes.

Found On Road Dead, FORD

2008-04-10T17:15:00.004-04:00

JP and I knew it was dicey buying a Ford. We knew it was even dicier buying a new model of Ford, but we finally overcame our experiential hatred of Ford, and took the plunge on a 2006 Ford Hybrid Escape back in April of '06.

All was well until we drove home from DC this past Sunday night. As I made the turn that would take me into my neighborhood, the car died in the middle of the road. Thank goodness it was 11pm and the road wasn't a main thoroughfare. Nothing worked. All the electronics went haywire and the status button kept flashing "All system failure" "Service immediately" and other such "Danger Will Robbins" messages.

We pushed the car to the turn, where our friendly Sunoco gas station sits. We called a tow truck and had the SUV taken to the nearest dealer. It's under its 3-year warranty, so there wouldn't be a charge. Monday morning we hear that the entire computer is FRIED. Nothing works and the car's entire CPU will have to be replaced. What's worse, they have no idea whatsoever why it died.

They order the computer which comes in today, and they install it. While installing it, they discover a jury-rigged anti-theft device that shouldn't even be on a hybrid. They also discover it's been installed incorrectly with bare wires hanging out. One of these bare wires shorted out and took the entire CPU with it.

We later found out that the dealership in Maryland had installed the anti-theft device incorrectly while the SUV was on the lot. When we declined to pay an additional $500 for the anti-theft system, instead of uninstalling the device, they just pulled a wire to turn it off. 2 years later, viola, an exposed wire finally brushed up against the wrong part of the car, totally disabling it and simultaneously overloading the circuits.

The VA regional manager has been on the phone to the MD regional manager all morning about their incompetence and the legal liability inherent to doing such a thing. I'm wondering if I should sue, but can't think of what damages I would claim.

As it is, I'm trying to figure out how we can parlay being out of a vehicle for a full work week into some free services.

In conclusion, Ford: Shoddy products coupled with incompetent staff--what a winning combination.

Irony...

2008-04-09T09:40:00.002-04:00

I teach a class in Basic Grammar for Arlington County. At the end of the 10-week course, I have students lead a roundtable discussion on the topic of their choice. This gives me a chance to hear everyone speak in real time without preparation so I can focus on the elements of the language they're still struggling with and what's going well for them.

I have an older lady from Ethiopia in my class--let's call her Yaya. Yaya came to the U.S. seeking political asylum in 1996, and finally received it in 2006. Now that Yaya has become a citizen, she thinks the newer waves of immigrants are the reason for many of America's problems. So her topic focused on, "Why the Spanish people ruin our country." Let's imagine how my Mexican, Argentinean, and Bolivian students LOVED her presentation.

I told my students they could pick any topic they liked--no matter how controversial--but they should be prepared for adamant argument. Boy did Yaya get that from every angle, but she wouldn't budge. She is convinced that all native-born Americans are shining paragons of justice, and it's the evil immigrants that drag America down. This, of course, is with the exception (in her mind) of all African Americans. She expounded at length about how angry it makes her when African Americans are referred to as "black."

Here's the ironic part--she feels calling African Americans "black" puts them in the same class with her because she also happens to have black skin, and she doesn't ever want to be grouped in with "such people." She started on a nice tirade about how AAs are the "laziest people who drag down the country" and that "all AAs are greedy because [she] never see[s] them on television doing charity work." After about 3 sentences of that along with the appauled faces of her classmates, I just had to stop her.

Yaya has made these kinds of comments briefly across the past 10 weeks, but never had she had a forum to voice her opinions so freely before. It was like having Uncle Rukus from The Boondocks sitting in my class. I thought racism like that didn't exist outside my native Mississippi.

So I tried to dispel lots of her ideas with logic as did the rest of the class. I think we made some headway in softening her opinion of various ethnic groups, but it makes me shudder to think of all the other beliefs she holds that just didn't surface in last night's presentations.

I was exhausted after mediating that 3-hour class. I'll miss teaching, but I'm glad it's all finished now.

Dear researcher,

2008-04-04T21:40:00.003-04:00

Please understand that I take no joy in finding your project non compliant. If it were up to me, you could send all your projects out willy nilly filled with company names, logos, and all manner of sensitive, copyrighted material. Unfortunately executives are actually interested in retaining clients and abiding by IP laws.

Therefore, please refrain from taking your agression about the U.S. Intellectual Property laws out on me. I just edit your work. I want you to buck the system. I want you to call up the CIO and tell him you're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. I want you to get this entire legal compliance protocol tossed out on its ear. I want to never have to check up on these things ever again for you. I am on YOUR side, and I, like you, want to see the machine crumble.

Please direct further belittling comments and snide remarks to the CIO as this whole mess is FAR above my pay grade.

Ode to Overwork

2008-04-02T08:36:00.002-04:00

My boss's last day before maternity leave (that goes until July 14) is today. When she leaves that will give us only 2 senior editors (myself among them) and 3 junior editors to hold down all the publishing needs of the company. As the custom research editor, I am an army of one. Our newest editor hasn't been around long enough to pick up the reins yet, so I'm looking at a lot of leg work. Every time I feel like I'm beating the beast back, another request lands in my inbox. I am SO tired, and the workload does not look like it's going to abate for another 2 months.

We did a team exercise where we took the initials of our teammates' names, and made descriptive phrases about them starting with the same letters. Some of mine:

Amiable
Mature
Works hard

Aware
Makes us better at our job
Workaholic

All the Ws had some version of "workaholic" about them. Maybe this should tell me something--like not feeling guilty for leaving my job in July so I can have a whole 14 days of downtime before leaping into 3 years of law school.

I=exhausted. The End.

Admitted Students Weekend Complete

2008-03-30T22:23:00.002-04:00

Ah...

It finally happened. I visited Catholic, met students, spoke to admissions officers and alumni, and absorbed what life as a CUA law student will be. I was really impressed with Professor Hartley's Con Law class. I got a warm fuzzy feeling at the camaraderie I saw between students and the professor. The prof had a great, wry sense of humor, and always maintained a happy atmosphere, even when gently ribbing the students. He called all the students by their first names without benefit of a seating chart, and everyone there seems so easy going and ready to discuss the topic at hand. What a pleasant surprise.

I didn't meet anyone I just instantly clicked with. I was really surprised to see so many people bringing along their parents. The students with parents present tended to keep to themselves and mill around with mom and dad. Those who came alone were slightly more talkative, but still hard to draw out. It may just be the groups I happened upon, but I just didn't really click with much of anyone. There was a short exception in the person of a CUA undergrad. He plans on attending, and even with the age gap between us, I was detecting a similar sense of humor. I'm hopeful, based on that exchange, that I'll find a workable group of friends. Let's just hope they land in my section.

I visited the student center and the bookstore while I was there, and got my very first hoodie! Ah yes, finally I'm attending an institution that I don't already hate walking in the front door. What a novel concept. I can't wait to see the last institution I graduated from being some place other than the University of Maryland.

Based on this weekend, my excitement has not abated one iota. It was almost impossible to slug through the last 6 weeks from acceptance to ASW. I sure hope the next 20 weeks will pass through with a little less anticipation. The next big hurdle is scholarship reallocation. Once the seat deposit #1 deadline passes (April 1) word on the street is that awarded scholarships are reassessed. So I'll keep my fingers crossed until April 10th (the date a 2007 applicant received word).

So excited!!!

7:04am Delivery

2008-03-21T10:19:00.002-04:00

Really Sears? Don't get me wrong, I love that you delivered only 4 minutes into your proposed window of 7am to 9am, but seriously, who delivers at 7:04am? Being awoken by my doorbell ringing through the house and my dog's subsequent warning yelps, did not help my disposition for the day. Also, is it impossible to wear marginally clean work boots to do a job? I have greasy footprints all over my brand new carpet from these guys.

That said, they were ultra efficient, installing and testing the new washer and carting away the old in under 20 minutes. Now I have a lovely, high-efficiency front loading washer. Woohoo. There are so many cycles, I don't know what to do!

New Washing Machine Too

2008-03-17T10:24:00.001-04:00

Whirlpool Washing Machine

Choosing newer smaller furniture

2008-03-16T09:18:00.004-04:00

This weekend turned into another buying bonanza. Earlier in the week the washer we inherited with the purchase of the house finally died on us. It lasted almost 2 years with consistent use. Since this Lady Kenmore top loader is about as old as I am, that's pretty impressive. Thus, husband and I went to Sears where they were having a 15% off sale and free delivery. We now own a state of the art, high efficiency frontloading Whirlpool. YAY! It comes next Friday, but until then I guess I'm off to the laundromat. Boo.

We also trekked back to Regency furniture to make an exchange for a couch that would fit. Because of the small door size, the narrowest part of the couch as to be 28 inches or less. This basically limited all our choices to loveseats rather than full sofas (which I wanted in the first place!), so we traded the couch for a loveseat and a reclining queen ann chair. Very nice. We expected such a battle, but the owners couldn't have been sweeter about the whole thing. Apparently this is really common in our area since so many homes were built in the 1940s/1950s, and everything seems to have been built smaller.

It's nice to know that I may actually have a functioning living room before I head home to Mississippi in April.

Spatial ineptitude

2008-03-14T17:27:00.003-04:00

My beautiful couch is no more. We didn't think to measure the thing, and the door to the basement isn't big enough to get it into the room. What a bust. So it went right back on the truck. Now I guess we have to figure out a new seating strategy for that room.

It's supposed to be Moroccan themed---maybe just some giant sparkly throw pillows.....or not.

Catholic Seat Deposit Update

2008-03-13T15:05:00.001-04:00

Moments after my last post, Catholic U got back to me on the seat deposit. The postal worker did indeed forget to scan the thing in, and they have my check. Whew.

I love how attentive these folks are. :)

Another week gone--17 more to go

2008-03-13T14:21:00.006-04:00

Woo hoo!! Only 17 more weeks as a working stiff. Then I get to be a law school stiff. I have decided to make my last day at work July 25th. I want to have a week to spend with my parents and another week to just relax in Virginia, calm my soul, and take a deep breath before the plunge. It's just very surreal to me that for the very first time in my life, I won't have a job.

I worked 30 hours+ a week in high school, same deal in undergrad. What will my GPA look like when I'm able to devote all my time and resources to studying? Will my brain get larger? Will my social circle increase or decrease? Will my husband forget what I look like?

I mailed my seat deposit on Friday via certified mail. I should have known better than to trust the post office. Now it's been a week since I mailed it, and the post office has no idea where it is. I've e-mailed Catholic's admissions folks to determine whether they have in fact received it, and the postal carrier just forgot to scan it into the system. I suppose worst-case scenario equals my sending in another check. I have until April 1st, so I won't panic. Ultimately I could physically walk it over to the admissions building when I'm there for Admitted Students Day. No one's giving MY seat away! :)

Husband is interviewing at 2 different companies today. God, I love that he's almost finished with his MBA. He just finished a 2-credit class, so he only has one class a week for the rest of the semester. Since one of the classes I teach also ended, I also teach one night a week. Thus we will go from seeing each other 1 night per work week to 3 nights per work week. I wonder if anything new has happened with him since January when I last saw him. ;)

Tomorrow our beautiful new couch will be delivered (pictured above). I'm a little irritated with the haphazard fashion of giving a delivery time, but then again, how often is someone happy with a furniture store? This is all fantastic news because it means all the man stuff like the giant TV can move into the basement, and Husband can have his man cave. Then I can start making the living room look like an adult parlor instead of a frat house living room.

CUA, here I come

2008-03-07T13:19:00.005-05:00

I just put my certified envelope containing my first seat deposit to CUA in the mail. How gratifying that almost a full year after I decided that law was the direction for my professional life, the wheels are turning, and I'll be starting that new life in 5 short months.

Admitted students weekend starts on March 28th, and I am SO ready! I have taken that Friday off to spend my day sitting in on classes, strolling the campus, visiting the bookstore to stock up on school spirit stuff, and soaking up what will be my alma mater.

Husband will join me on Saturday for the more formal portion of the intro to CUA. Sometimes I have to stop myself and wonder if this is really my life or if I accidentally strolled into someone else's reality. That day off will be a welcome change too. I think everyone gets tired of the 9 to 5 grind, and I'm no exception.

Now I'm just deciding whether to take one week off before law school or two. I'm leaning toward 2 weeks (one with my family in MS and one just relaxing and taking care of last-minute things for myself here in Virginia). I keep thinking it's 2 week's worth of pay, but ultimately, is $1,500 really going to make or break my finances one way or another? Good lord I hope not.

So--when should my last day be? July 31 or July 25?

Sonofabitch!

2008-03-05T19:58:00.003-05:00

Got my last law school response tonight--Waitlist from American. Fuck me.
I have been leaning heavily toward my other choice for a couple of weeks now, but I would like to have had the opportunity to tell someone no. The ego boost would have been welcome.

The waitlist just makes me insane. I'm so sick of schools yield protecting to secure their rankings. Now I have to decide if it's worth the trouble of trying to get in and sending extra Letters of Rec and an LOCI. The last time I had a waitlist episode was as an undergrad, and it almost cost me a spot at any college. I already have a bad taste in my mouth about American from all the talk I'm heard in 0L circles, so maybe this is fate's way of easing my decision.

Looks like I'll be attending The Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America this Fall.

Ah decision. Certainty feels good.

Officially joined the world of Mac

2008-03-01T09:05:00.004-05:00

I had a lovely Indian dinner in Clarendon, and I promptly walked across the center courtyard to the Apple store. There I purchased the higher grade white MacBook along with MS Office for Mac and a protection plan that covers everything for 3 years, all for the bargain price of $1600.

MacBook 2.4 GHz, 160GB: $1200
Protection Plan: $180
MS Office for Mac: $145
Not ever having to use Windows again: Priceless

What a wonderful, seamless buying experience. They're right about operability too. Right out of the box, everything works. No drivers, no instructions---just works.

Goodbye Uncle Jimmy

2008-02-29T08:42:00.003-05:00

The man I knew and loved as my Uncle Jimmy succombed to a year-long battle with liver cancer early Wednesday morning. I think we were all wondering when the end would come, and I'm glad he was surrounded by family and friends when the moment came.

It's funny how the only Uncle that didn't share blood with me ("Uncle" Jimmy was just Daddy's best friend since the early 70s) is the one I feel closest to. My real uncles are so full of their own problems, they never got close enough to my life to know anything more than a passing acquaintance would.

Uncle Jimmy had this gift for loving--this bottomless well of caring for everyone. He made everyone near him feel special, and that is no mean feat. He instantly made me feel less self-conscious and so loved whenever I was near him. I know I'm not unique there.

It's so hard for me to imagine a world without "Uncle Jimmy and Miss Margaret" together and waiting for a visit on Worthum Street. I can't begin to think of how Miss Margaret will work through this. Memories of him must be so thick in that house. I don't look forward to going to a hometown that no longer includes Uncle Jimmy. I suppose I can't really envision him being gone. His clear, bright blue eyes are so real in my mind. I hope that's a gift that stays with me.

I can't think a time he wasn't smiling. I'll see those eyes sparkling at me in my mind's eye always.

Love you, Uncle Jimmy.

Another one bites the dust

2008-02-27T16:49:00.002-05:00

Via a small white windowed envelope, George Mason University dashed my hopes of a T35 law school. Thank heaven I have an acceptance from Catholic in hand, or I might have to climb onto the roof.

I have but one remaining application still floating in the ether. Once that comes in, my cycle will either be over, or I'll have an interesting choice to make. Either way, a year-long ordeal (from the moment I decided to pursue law until law school decisions) is almost over.

I'm disappointed, but breathing a sigh of relief just the same.

Current score:
Waitlists/Deferred: 0
Accepted: 1 (with $$$)
Rejected: 2

Decisions Decisions (and a poll)

2008-02-25T09:30:00.002-05:00

I can make a shopping trip out of any major life event. Law school is no exception. This weekend, I went to the Apple store to get an idea of which laptop I'll be getting. I have narrowed my field down to two and have listed their pros and cons.

MacBook: $999
Pros: Has a CD Rom, multiple USB ports, ample memory, no need to buy additional peripherals
Cons: Twice as heavy as MacBook Air, lesser quality screen

MacBookAir: $1699
Pros: Super Portable, best screen quality on the market, back-lit keyboard (great for darkened classroom, conference room, or airplane)
Cons: Less memory, would need to buy $99 superdrive for CD Roms, only 1 USB port

So which do I choose? I have a Dell PC that would act as my "home base" computer, so backing up files won't present a problem. Basically, which computer do I choose to get me through the next 3 years? The (slightly clunkier)one that could essentially be its own "home base" machine or the (ultra-streamlined) one that travels great, but needs accessories or a "home base" computer to use.

Anyone care to give an opinion/explanation? Feel free. I'm probably not buying for another good month, so I'm in no rush and want to think this through before plunking down cash.

I got a scholarship!

2008-02-22T09:33:00.003-05:00

Wow, that was unexpected. I have a decent LSAT (87th percentile), but my UGPA is woeful. Getting your transfer GPA wiped to zero and then starting at a new school in junior-level Chemistry classes while trying to deal with being married at 20 will do that. At least I figured out that Chemistry wasn't the life for me 3 semesters from the end and switched into foreign languages.

Anyway, a scholarship is the last thing I expected. 20% off per year is nothing to sneeze at either. I feel warm and fuzzy. :)

The basement living room is complete! (and other law ramblings)

2008-02-19T15:34:00.005-05:00

Unbelievable! After 19 months of toil, my basement living room is finally finished!! I just have to move furniture into it, and voila, a real room where all JP's boy crap can go to die. (See pretty new room that will never be this clean again at the side.)

YES!!!!!

In other news, I continue to float on a celestial cloud of happiness over my 1st law school acceptance. It just takes so much of the pressure off the other 2 schools replying. I can cross my fingers and hope I have a compelling decision to make (who doesn't want to be fought over?), but ultimately, a school loves me and wants me, so it's a win-win. I submitted my FAFSA last night, so now I'll wait to see what sort of scholarship/loan package I end up with.

I can see Catholic University's Basilica dome from my office window. How lovely to stare at what could be my alma mater all day long. I want to do a great job in my last 5 months as an editor, but I'll be the first to admit that I can't wait to transition to law chick. My accepted student's day is March 28th.

I have also begun my laptop search. I am a complete Apple convert. PCs are so awful, and I just never realized it until I entered the publishing world. Since all my prospective law schools are Mac compatible for exam software, I am kissing the world of Bill Gates goodbye. I'll still use MS office for Mac, but otherwise, Steve Jobs has wooed me. The object of my affection is the new MacBook Air

Yea for toys. Anything else that the 1L MUST have?

I will be a lawyer!!

2008-02-15T20:14:00.002-05:00

I received my first acceptance today. Bless you Catholic University! You've believed in me despite a rather lackluster undergraduate performance. I have the opportunity to effect real social change and be a force in my government and legal system. I'm sure law school will train that passion and humanity right out of me, but I can't wait! I have 5 more months as an Editor, and then I become a law student.

The hammer falls

2008-02-13T16:16:00.004-05:00

This monday I received my first law school admission decision...in a small white envelope with a window. You guessed it--DING! Rejected from school A has put me into psychotic overdrive worrying.

This shift is entirely illogical as School A was a pretty distant reach that I didn't expect to get into from the moment I hit submit on LSAC. I think it's because it's the first decision to come back. A rejection would be much easier to swallow if I had an acceptance from another school in my hand.

So now we're down to schools B, C, and D. I expect school B will be an outright rejection as well. I am hoping for WL at school C. School D offers me a pretty decent chance at acceptance. (All this is based on 2007 entering class stats and LSN.)

I'll try to turn my attention to my new books that arrived from Amazon last night. They're pretty fascinating; good for my soul.

I'm not at the soul-selling portion of this cycle...but I'm assessing my blue book value. ;)

Just My Luck...

2008-02-06T13:36:00.001-05:00

I read in a law school admissions blog today that two of my schools have raised their standards in an attempt to push their U.S. News rankings significantly higher. This is not the news I wanted to hear. One of those schools is a reach as it is, but the other was a comfortable possibility. So now I suppose I'll make some extra time in my day to obsess over that.

The waiting is awful....but I suppose knowing a rejection would be worse, so I'll bite my tongue. I'm trying to stay optimistic. After all, schools A and B have had my processed application in hand for 6 weeks, so perhaps that means I'm at least being considered rather than shuttled into the automatic rejection pile.

I think I'll wrap myself up in the possibility and try to hold on a while longer.

Still playing the waiting game

2008-01-24T10:48:00.001-05:00

I submitted all my apps on New Year's Eve,and predictably, I'm still waiting.

I was really impressed with the efficiency of Schools A and B. They had all my stuff processed, complete, and ready for review committee in under 5 days.

The other two are dragging their feet. I discovered school D had my application processing and e-mail would come soon (still haven't received it). School C won't even look into the computer until this week. I think I'll be calling again today to make sure. We're getting way too close to February for this stuff not to be wrapped up and in review committee.

I've almost finished painting my basement (just a vent and the ceiling). The carpet company is coming tomorrow morning to measure which means that I could conceivably have my basement in a usable, livable condition before my birthday. YAY! Again, it's only been in progress since we bought the house in July of 2006.

JP returned from India with all kinds of wanderlust in his blood. He now has an opportunity to go to Germany for his company for 3 months, but I put my foot down about timing. He WILL finish his MBA in May before he can go. 3 years is quite enough of business school, and I'm sick of hearing the complaining.

Speaking of class, both my classes I teach for Arlington County start this week. I really enjoyed my Grammar course. It's always the most fun to teach. Business writing starts tonight, and is always the most depressing to teach. This stems from the fact that there is no possibility that in 2.5 hours a week for 7 weeks I can dramatically change someone's writing habits. In that amount of time, I can merely point out the bad habits and point them in the right direction for fixing them. The students expect to be Hemmingway by the end of the course, and always seem so disillusioned by the end when they realize just how much work and effort is really involved in becoming a better writer.

So I'll play the professor while I wait patiently to become a student. I have to say it's only Thursday, and I feel like I could sleep for the rest of the week already.

Ah....back to stressing out and waiting for law school responses.

Distraction through construction

2008-01-14T11:13:00.001-05:00

To get my mind off waiting for Law school admissions decisions, I've turned to household projects. My husband and I have been working on renovating our basement since July of 2006 when we ripped everything down to the studs, including a really awful bathroom. We did this thinking that we'd have a functioning bathroom and living room down there by Christmas of 2006. How wrong we were. With Jeremy's MBA schedule and work, that basement has been slow going. I have all kinds of new respect for professional drywall installers now that I've drywalled and wired an entire basement living room myself.

We've been so close to finishing the living room side for a while now, but with no time to go that extra step. So to occupy my brain and hands, I set about painting all the fresh drywall. I am in shock. It went from looking like a construction war zone to a real room. It's all primed bright white and waiting for it's golden parchment color to set the stage for a Moroccan feel. I am so excited over this project for the first time in months. I may actually be able to have carpet installed by month's end and reclaim my upstairs parlor where all the basement furniture currently resides.

Now to the bathroom. In hindsight, ripping out one of the two bathrooms for the house 1.5 years ago was not the most prudent choice. I've done something for a year and a half that I swore I'd never do again after my first year of marriage--shared a bathroom with my husband. Why are men so unhygienic? His mother's house is immaculate; you'd think some of that tidyness would have rubbed off. It's as though he has a special power to make dirt and grime invisible to his own eyes. and the hair! His hair is 2 inches long and it's everywhere. I have 3 feet of it and never lose a strand!

Well as failings go, I suppose being a slob is pretty mild. JP returns from India this week, and I can't wait to show him my handywork--that is, of course, assuming I can get up and down stairs by that point. Eight hours of squatting up and down to paint a basement and its ceiling has taken a toll on me. I may only be 27, but I feel 87 today. OUCH.

The basement bought me 2 days of sanity in not obsessing over law school and not missing my buddy JP. I'm thankful.

We begin

2008-01-10T13:08:00.000-05:00

I need a place to spill my stories, vent my angst, and generally decompress, and my poor husband shouldn't have to always take the brunt, so here we are.

So the present stresser: law school admissions. I think the root of all my stress is my voracious appetite for reading about things unknown. It's always been my habit to gorge myself with books whenever something is foreign to me. When I traveled to Mexico for the first time, I spent weeks learning the Mayan dialect of Spanish I was likely to encounter on the island of Cozumel. At 18 instead of going to a doctor or asking a trusted friend about birth control, I holed up in the public library for 36 hours reading every last volume it had, medical or sociological, on the subject until I had a decision. It has, of course, been the same with applying to law school.

Before I ever began, I knew it was a long shot. Getting married at 20, moving across the country, and changing your major in your senior year is not a recipe for a wonderful GPA. Needless to say, after all that, I ended up with a 2.79--so not indicative of my potential or my abilities. As much as I love my husband and as happy as I am to be married, I realize now at the ripe old age of 27 that I should have spent those years focusing on "me" instead of "us." So I did well on my LSAT and have applied to four area schools. So with the numbers set in stone, I've gone about the business of collecting my "soft material"--the personal statement, letters of recommendation, and addenda. Knowing that these factors may be my only shot at getting through the door, I have agonized over them for months now, and finally sent everything off on New Year's Eve. Since then I've been riddled with doubt.

Everywhere I read I find--of course--a conflicting opinion.
Include a statement about your GPA; don't include one because, unless you had cancer, it's going to sound like whining and excuses.
Write a personal statement that reflects to some degree what has led you to pursue law; stick to strictly personal topics so the committee can see who you really are.
Send it in early even with a bad LSAT; wait until your newest LSAT results come in--no need in wasting application fees.
Thick envelopes mean acceptance; thin envelopes mean acceptance.
There's no way you're getting in with that GPA; we look beyond the numbers.
Fill in your diversity stats; leave the diversity stats blank--why pigeonhole yourself?

It's enough to make anyone's head spin. I've been lucky to have a former LSAT teacher for the Princeton Review befriending me through the process, but I admit that I still swing from "I can rock this!" to "What the hell possessed you to think you were good enough?"

But the apps are sent, received, and processed, so fretting is futile now. So, in the meantime, I need to develop a hobby. What, I wonder, might that be?