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It's been a long week, I've failed at being edgy or at least informational, so to make it up to you all I bring you a new one-time feature, a rant about fuel prices brought to you by my better half. I do take credit for this diatribe only in that I'm happy to know in five years of marriage and an additional three years of dating I have given my spouse a political bent that may or may not have existed prior to now.
There is nothing the American public can do about the gas prices except be smarter about the people we put into public office. It all stems from politics. Put people who have oil in their back pocket into office and this is what you get. But its now going to backfire on the administration and the American People. Bush couldn't get into Alaska, the Senate held firm and protected our beautiful countryside. Then we created a mess in the middle east and the oil supply countries have said a big **** you and reduced their supplies and raise the price of crude, not to mention all the extra oil it takes to run a war (despite being able to refuel in the country your fighting).
So the gas companies continue to close refineries (or have that accidental fire once a year), creating even more shortages (Shell is closing one of its biggest west coat refineries later this year). Reduced supply and more gas hogging vehicles (like my neighbor who owns an Explorer AND an Escalade as their primary vehicles) means higher prices at the pump. (see Economics 101)
OH, and by the way, because the administration couldn't get into Alaska like they promised their buddies, the gas companies are raising the rates even higher to get them out of office by way of public disapproval(nice turnaround eh?).
So the senate has passed a referendum to temporarily stop the US from refilling its reserves to allow more supply to the public at large. Will it help, maybe.
The poor truckers and farmers are right now being hurt, but soon all of us. Owner Operators are parking their trucks because its too expensive to fill them and they can't add fuel surcharges because the farmers can only afford to pay them so much because the cost of fuel for the tractors is also up so high. When you pay a fuel surcharge to a company, don't expect that trucker to get much of it. This will be a domino effect all the way to a head of lettuce in the supermarket.
The writers on Will and Grace really need to get a grip. I'm all for having Grace eat all the time, but they really need to cover up the fact that she's pregnant better. Taller tables, bigger coats, more head shots. The fact that since she actually has a chest now pretty much gives it away, but c'mon folks, can't we try harder here?
Thought I'd check in on my stats to make sure I still have readers, and I found a few things that I think I need to set straight. First, if you're looking for the coffee bar "Screaming Bean", I'm not it. I don't even drink coffee. If you aren't looking for coffee, but rather a 2L law student with a tendency towards sarcasm, you found me! For the person who was looking for the bitter law student, it is safe to say I qualify as well. Secondly, for those of you who either got your MPRE score (which if you took the test on Saturday, you have to wait...be patient people!) or are looking to find out what you need as a passing score, look on this page. Just remember, the best you possibly need is 85 scaled. It was a 50 question test, so if you got 30 right, you should be okay. I haven't got a chance to talk to any of my friends who took it Saturday, so I don't have a feel for whether it was worse than the one in November. If I can pass it, any of you out there can.
Life is too short to be bitter. I find telling myself this alot lately. I am not nearly as successful in law school as I'd llike to be, but then again I'm in law school and alot of people aren't. Perhaps age makes one mellow, or maybe it's being able to see the bigger picture, but it's still an internal battle. I've gotten beyond the mid-week panic attacks I had my first year, but I still don't feel nearly as worthy as most of my esteemed colleagues. Three events this week alone confirmed these fears of mine...I can't run for Moot Court Board because of my grades. I also attended a seminar about applying to work for the Department of Justice. This first 10 minutes confirmed that I would only be able to work for DOJ if I got in through the Honors Program. I'm not getting in on honors anything. The final annoyance was the fact that I was reminded of the fact I cannot take the patent bar because of my undergrad major. I know I'm loved, and I know I'm liked. People tell me they like my writing (and those people don't even know about this), and find me a rather funny person, but its hard to keep smiling when I really want to climb in to bed for a week. It's really sad when you're falling back on the Stuart Smiley affirmation, "...I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and, doggone it, people like me."
With Fragrant Lotus on hiatus, Biting Tongue on Spring Break, and Patent Pending lost and presumed fed, I can't handle the pressure. I've got nothing snarky to say, no happening happenings, just snow. Though, I did have the opportunity to spread the love of an early school closing. Seeing as how I am "technologically savvy" (exact quote from a fellow student), I happened to be online the very moment the email came out from the Dean. Seeing how very few people were checking their email at lunch time I got to be the bearer of that wonderful news. And I only told people I liked.
If it was only as easy as bringing in a box of tissues to get extra credit in law school.
I've come to the conclusion I must have a sign on this carrol saying, "Please stand next to this carrol and talk as loud as you like, especially first year students." I've already chased a pair off once because every time she laughed the carrol shook. I listen to my tunes loud enough to drown out most of the conversations, but enough already! This is a library, not the lounge!
Beware the Ides of March! (I always enjoy saying that.) We're all back, except for one professor whose plane was delayed. Yeah for cancelled classes! It made up for the fact that I woke up to a power outage. Love the ones that last only long enough to make your clocks go blinky. Luckily the spouse was up at the time and warned me...else I would have dozed right through the morning. I was able to get up on time and get a number of errands done before my first class. Supposedly the weather is going to hell this week, so nice to come back to that. Spring is just a cruel tease. I get that March is supposed to be haphazard, but this is nuts. Oh, and to top off the week, this Saturday is the law prom. Call it a formal, call it a barrister's ball, I'm pulling for the law prom. Conversations have been: "I don't know if I should go...I don't have a date." "This is gonna be a booze fest, with food!" "This is nowhere near the school!" I love the fact that I'm married in these scenarios. I didn't have a date for my senior ball, and stayed home, but now I have a guaranteed date! I'm looking forward to Saturday night. I want to get down and get funky. Gimme a gin and tonic and get the party started.
As much as I don't want to go back tomorrow, I'm actually in good shape for it. All the reading is done, and will be for a week. The FAFSA is finally completed, as well as all accompanying documentation for the school. Most depressing thing about that is where they ask you what your income for summer of 2004 will be. Seeing as of this very second I still haven't locked in a job I put down unemployed and a big whomping zero. I'm still holding hope that I might get something, in fact I received a letter for a callback interview. I'm really crossing my fingers on this one. I want to work for this firm. I enjoyed the interview, and I think I'm a good fit. Now to get that across in the interview. Anyway, time to get the house in order and the laundry done. Tomorrow, it begins again.
I have a question for those of the persuasion that have attended a baby shower in the last couple years. When you received an invitation to said shower, was the baby(ies)-to-be named? We received an invitation today for a shower, and the babies at issue were named. First off I find the idea of a shower prior to a birth to be presumptious, but that's a personal family preference and also an ethnic one. However, the idea of having a shower for an unborn child that is has already been named is just damn creepy. I can understand having names in mind prior to a birth, but what if you take a look at the new arrival and say, "Wow, he/she doesn't look like Blah. They really look more like Bleh." Now you're screwed. You've committed yourself and locked the poor thing in for the rest of their lives. Now I'm all for shaping the minds of unsuspecting youth, but it's another thing altogether when it's actually part of your DNA.
Honey I'm home! Yes, a lovely time was had by all and I drove more than I ever have before. I still hate bridges. I hate them even more when I have to drive over them. I do enjoy the beach. I also enjoy sun. And, if we'd like to turn this into a Playmate interview, I like long walks on the beach and hot tubs. We did have a great time and got to see new things and eat great food. And, as sad as it sounds, I also got a lot of my reading done for next week. I brought all my books along. No, I'm not a freak. Anyway, our new catch phrases are now, "We're doomed, doomed!" and "Yar!" Yep, we think we're pirates now. I wanna go back!
"Your car's oil smells like it needs to be changed." Now, I've heard of a baby smelling like it needs to be changed, but car oil? For me it's always been 3 months or 3,000 miles. But if it needs to be done it needs to be done. We hit the road tomorrow morning. The oil is changed, the tires are inflated, and the gas tank is full of overpriced gas. It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be warm, it's not gonna be here. It's amazing how the moods improved over the course of the day when people saw the end in sight. The excitement was palpable. So as my good friend always says, "I'm out of here like the fat kid in dodge ball." See y'all next week.
I believe I may the only one on campus to pull the rare trifecta, not being able to get out of the first round of any of the three competitions I entered. Yeah, I'm bitter. Yeah, I blame the judge that I had for the last two competitions. If I were my partner there's no way in hell I'd work with me on the Senior Prize Trials next year. I'm walking bad luck. And if the emailed results didn't put me in a good enough mood, I had another interview this morning and my partner in crime was the interview right after me. Yeah, it would suck if only of us got hired. I really enjoyed the interview this morning too. It went well, I was erudite and made good eye contact. I want a job! I need to go on break. Lemme just get through the rest of this day...and I'll leave you all alone for a week.
Mmmmm...donuts! Have to enjoy fundraisers on campus involving the sales of lovely fresh donuts. Between the sugar from the donuts and my cup of tea it almost makes 8 am classes bearable. Almost. However, I just read that we just missed out on a free shrimp from Long John Silvers. From the Wall Street Journal:
Back in January, Long John Silver's announced that if NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars, it would give every person in the U.S. one free, 6-inch shrimp valued at 79 cents. The offer "is our way of saying . . . 'One small step for man, one giant leap for seafood,' " Steve Davis, the chain's president, wrote in a letter to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Luckily for Long John Silver's, based in Louisville, Ky., the chain set a deadline of last Sunday, Feb. 29, for disclosure of the discovery. Another big catch: The restaurant defined an "ocean" as a single body of water, with a surface area at least five million square kilometers, nearly double the size of the Caribbean Sea.
Of course between the buzz from the sugar and tea I originally read the headline of "Water on Mars Is a Close Call For Big Shrimp" to mean that there were shrimp on Mars. I was having a Dr. Zoidberg moment.
Wow, I'm taking Products Liability right now, and I had no idea that butter flavoring could be so dangerous. Check this out.
Okay, I think the school on the whole has begun to slip off the deep end. Certain standards of action have seemingly gone out the window. For instance, when the lounge is not full, it's sort of unwritten not to sit directly next to anyone unless you're good friends with them. However, for the last two days my bag...not me...has become a magnet for all sorts of people I do not want sitting next to me. I leave the lounge to get my books and boom I come back to neighbors. Secondly, you are to ask your fellow loungees whether it's okay to change the channel on the TV. It tends to be on permanent CNN or worse yet FOX News. I don't mind this...I like catching up on current events while noshing on a bagel. However, today in the midst of a speech about the Homeland Security Administration (which I will admit was a mind-numbingly boring speech...but I was reading the scroll) the channel was abruptly changed to TCM and a showing (already in progress) of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Now I enjoy Hitchcock, and I enjoy The Birds, but do not mess up my news gathering moments by getting me to watch a movie I cannot sit through to the end. Of course this same person is taking up two chairs at the moment so what do they care. Get me out of here already!
I need spring break now! Just driving to school this morning gave me the traveling jones. Never mind the fact that I had no toothbrush or even a change of clothes with me, I wanted to drive off down the highway to some place else. Maybe it's the sunlight, maybe it's the blue skies, maybe it's because I didn't want to go to Business Organizations...I don't want to be here right now. Just let me get through Thursday and my interview and I'm home free. We'll take a train...we'll go by plane...we'll go insane...YEEEEAGH!
So nice to see I'm on the cusp of a trend instead of catching on as it ceases to be trendy. Yep kiddies, every one of us bloggers is being edgy.
Oh, what a brave new world with such homework in it! I need to get ahead of the game before the end of this week, since we're going away for break. It seems that very few people are going away this year. The answers vary...some due to finances...some due to too much work. I knew I had to get away. I'm getting really cranky. Even with spring rearing its sleep addled head here it's not soon enough. Sadly though, it looks like I will be bringing at least some of my books with me. I can see it now...Trusts and Estates flashcards on the beach. Mmm, good times.
I had another interview today. It was a short interview, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It's an interesting unique firm that I would not mind working for. I can never tell how these interviews go, I just hope out of all of this I get an offer somewhere. I have another interview with a different firm next week, but who knows how it will all fall out...just the list of people who are interviewing with me each time makes me cringe. Journal people, people at the top of our class, and me. I know people are wondering how I get the interviews...heck I know the career people are wondering how I get them, but I do. I just have to get one to hit pay dirt.
Yes, this case has it all...divorce, a dead old guy, probate, a cockatiel, a gray parrot, and oh did I mention the bison?
I've flown on Southwest Airlines before. I didn't enjoy the experience. If I wanted to be herded like cattle I'd live on a farm. The fares aren't cheap enough to justify not giving me a reserved seat. However, after reading Wilson v. Southwest Airlines Co., 517 F.Supp. 292 (N.D. Tex. 1981) for Employment Discrimination class, I like them even less. All the innocuous logos that you see today arise from a much darker place in the minds of the original founders. Even their stock ticker designation "LUV" has a part in it. I feel dirty now. At least Hooters Air is more blatant about it. Though I'm sure the argument can be made, "Owls fly...yeah, that's it."
Tonight we negotiate. My partner from the moot court competition last semester decided to join me again for a negotiations competition. We have faith in our skills and hope like hell we make it beyond the first round. If not, it'll be the third competition this year in which I only did the first round. My last experience negotiating in law school had me pegged as the bad cop in the bad cop/good cop scenario, but I promise I'll be nicer this time. While the shock factor of me being angry is always good for putting people off their plan, I don't feel confident enough in the fact pattern to really be able to pull this off again. Of course, wouldn't it be funny if someone on the other team is reading this. If so, HI! Ah, who am I kidding, no one at my school reads this.
One of the oddest things I've ever seen at law school happened today. Our Trusts and Estates professor came in disguise to teach the class (the fake mustache was a nice touch), which was odd enough, but then took the last 10 minutes of the class to tell us about Mardi Gras and throw beads at us, all while playing zydeco music. Yes it was strange, but the best part of it was the people who came in late to class and wondered what the heck was going on.
I have another job interview today. Hopefully this is a better experience than my last one. I got my haircut for this, dressed up in my best suit, reviewed the firm's webpage, and found out the interviewer is the same age as me. Is this a bad thing? I really need to come up with a pat answer for "What sort of law are you looking to practice?" However, I don't feel strongly about any particular part of the law enough to say with authority, "I really want to practice _blah_". I just want a job. I will grow to love whatever it is I practice (as long as it's not health law).
Okay, so we've learned I'm a bizarre code section. I have yet to see anyone who has the same rule as me. But that's okay! I just got a check for $13 from the CD price fixing litigation. Yeah for class action suits! I might be able to buy a CD with that....if it is on sale.
YOU ARE 28 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1332!
You are not a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure at all: you're the statute that allows the federal district courts to hear diversity of citizenship actions! You were drafted with the idea that an out-of-state party may be unduly prejudiced by appearing in a foreign state. People think that you're strange, and they try to minimalize your effects by requiring an amount in controversy and by being especially strict on the requirements for diversity. However, like that weird kid that nobody likes, you always show up to the party. Section 1332 is bizarre enough, it is even more bizarre that it provides an apt metaphor for your personality.
Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Thanks to JCA by way of effinchamp.
Nothing much new here but an orgiastic frenzy of building IKEA furniture. This has thrown the household into chaos as we then decided to paint the room, and of course that in turn caused us to empty the room, meaning furniture and items hither and thither through the house. No laundry getting done, no bathroom being cleaned, just cams and dowels and paintbrushes. I think we have lost our minds. Here Flygge Flygge Flygge...
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