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While the passing of Terri Schiavo is sad and moving for many, the death of Fred Korematsu is one that should be brought to the public's attention. His conviction in 1942 for failing to report to the internment camps for Japanese Americans led to one of the worst rulings ever handed down by the Supreme Court. His struggle for civil rights during WWII was one that is quietly overlooked by many, but his court case is studied by nearly every law student. Mr. Korematsu was 86.
I have the tickets in hand for this weekend's Barrister Ball. Except this year it's not exactly formal...and it's not just for our class...and oh, did I mention that the insistence of TVs to watch the Final Four games? Yeah, so in other words, another night at the club. The guys are actually excited to go, the girls, not so much. Quote of the day has to be though: "I'm going, but I'm concerned about bending over in my dress...my boobs are gonna fall out. Luckily everyone will be too drunk to notice." Yeah, it's going to be a fun evening.
The schedules for PMBR and the Bar Review courses have come out. I see now that I have both PMBR and Bar Review for two days at the beginning. That's 12 hours of classes for two days. Mmmm...numb butt. Yes, if you don't take BarBri conflicts abound. That being said, that shouldn't be your motivation to take BarBri over another course. I also realize that not all states have multiple options. Never being one to take the path well-traveled, I am dancing to my own drummer here. I've gotten pressure from without and within. The hard sell has never been one I've enjoyed, in fact, I rather shirk away from someone telling me that I've made a big mistake. I also realize that filling in blanks on a handout isn't going to work for me. Heck, law school as a whole has not been a great success, so why pick the course that continues the status quo? Of course, I also won't have to rent a hand truck to pick up my books, since my course delivers them to your house. Who's laughing now?
I had a professor the other day tell me that I seem to be doing just fine these days. Not climbing out on the ledge, not tearing my hair out by the roots. I had gone seeking such words of wisdom, because I had truly begun to doubt myself. With no job prospects, finals looming large and the Bar not far behind, I was beginning to think I'm sabotaging myself. Perhaps I just needed those words of encouragement. The funniest part is, the biggest boost to my ego wasn't anything I had done at school, but rather what I made for a party. Seems that grandma's apple pie recipe still works its magic. It's tasty, it's attractive, and it's a damn massive pie. And who would have thought that the Bean could bake? My friends didn't.
I realized that I was dwelling on the car and hadn't really told about the trip. (The car was repaired by the way...thank you Goodyear.) It turns out that last week was "March Break" in Canada. That means that half the country leaves. The other half goes to IKEA, or invades our hotel pool. We did touristy things, ate poutaine, went to Tim Hortons. We did get to watch the wonder that was the Canadian National Curling Tournament. It's broadcast on TV. Alberta v. Nova Scotia. It can be a very compelling sport, though not as confusing as cricket. They mike the curlers, and you get play by play. Sadly, I fell asleep before the last end. The spouse said that it was a nail biter, though it would have been more exciting had it been explained that it was a big planned play by Alberta. All in all, I really wouldn't mind living in Canada. I find it a very friendly, progressive, and interesting country. Of course, to be an attorney there I'd have to go back to school...again.
I know I should be reading in the library, but I finally came up with something to write about and I want to catch lightning in a bottle so to speak.
I drive a non-descript GM sedan. This replaced my white non-descript Corsica when it was brutally totaled in a chain-reaction crash back in 2000. We weren't in the best position to buy a car, I had gotten a payoff check from the insurance which was a pittance given that the car had over 100K miles on it. (Still, it was a great car...and I miss it, but I digress.) Back to my current sedan. It's paid off this year, has just over 50K and for the most part has been trouble-free. (Proceed to bang on the carrel for good luck.) In the last few months, the coolant light had come on intermittently, leading us to believe that there was a minor leak in the system, but didn't smell burning coolant, and the level drop was just enough to bring the light on. Refill with Dex-Cool, wait a few weeks, and repeat. On the Spring Break Road Trip 2005, this was a concern, but only after we got to Canada and had the light come on in the hotel parking lot did we realize what a problem we had. (Now before you get all concerned about our maintenance skills, let me remind you that the spouse is a fully trained mechanical engineer with hands on Formula SAE experience. The maintenance had been done.) However, the minor leak and become quite a bit more, and a good quarter of the coolant had been lost on the road trip. Open the hood, stare at the hoses, do a diagnosis without tearing it apart. We decided the one hose that seemed to be the most wet had to be the culprit. We wonder aloud whether it would make the trip home. We have our doubts. New plan. Add water, get the car back across the border, find the nearest GM dealership and get it replaced. The idea of ripping it apart with the proper tools just wasn't appealing even if we did know where the closest Canadian Tire was. Luckily, this is near the end of the trip so not a huge loss.
Fast forward to the dealership. We pull in, find the service department and notice that this dealership is brand spanking new. You could eat off the floors in the service bay. They have a greeter. She goes off to summon a service writer. (Now, for those of you who have ever dealt with a GM dealership, this isn't normal. Perhaps in an import dealership, but not in any domestic service department I've ever been in.) Time stamp for this operation, approximately 9:30am. This becomes important. Service writer arrives. He's snappily dressed. He has his clipboard at the ready. We tell the story that we're from out of town, a few hours from our home and the car is bleeding coolant from a hose that we believe is giving up the ghost. He looks at us warily and walks out to the car with us. Pop the hood, point out errant hose. The hose really doesn't seem to have a name. The writer goes right into fees. $48 bucks just to take a look at the sucker. Then we'll talk money on replacement parts. The next obvious question is asked, "How long do you think you'll be?" Answer? "Oh, we'll get you out of here probably by 8:00pm tonight." Incredulity sets in. Beat. Now remember what time it is? Yeah. "Oh....I don't think so, we want to get home tonight."
Now, for some this wouldn't have been a big deal. For us, we probably could have limped the car back home. But this came the day after GM announced an 80% cut in 2005 forecasts due to poor sales and health care costs. GM needs every penny it can get its hands on. We were willing to drop the money, but not to give them nearly 11 hours to figure out what was wrong with my car. If they had said, "It's been a busy morning, we're not sure we'll be able to fit you in," I would have understood. To get the condescension and open-ended time frame when it looked like they were all bored, that'll just piss you off. I'm working up the letter to GM now. Not that it'll get read or that anyone will care, but damn, I'm only 30 and I have a lot of cars to buy in my lifetime. Is it really worth it to leave that sort of bad taste in my mouth this early in the game?
I'm back at school. Yeah, I'm just thrilled to bits about it too. Where the heck did that week go? I had such grand plans to get all sorts of things done, and it all went bye bye. To add insult to injury I woke up to snow. Yeah, spring has sprung my butt. So now what? Time to get back on that horse and ride off into the sunset...or at least until I fall asleep in the saddle.
Yes, I have made it back from Spring Break. I wasn't arrested, detained, or even questioned heavily. That's right, we went to Canada. Heck, didn't even have to show ID to get back into the country. We could have brought anything back with us, they wouldn't have charged us duties. We even declared we had a near full case of wine in the car and got waved on through. We played 20 Questions going into Canada, and the Americans could have cared less. This isn't the first time this has happened either. I loved Canada though, with the exception of the money. Here I am a 3L, weeks from getting a penultimate degree, and I was struck dumb by Canadian currency. Between not knowing how GST is calculated and an unfamiliarity with loonies and twonies, people could have told me to pay three times what I should have and I would have just stared at my handful of coins scornfully. Yup, just call me a dumb American. I certainly felt like one.
Soup set the bar high, but I took time out of my busy Spring Break schedule to take this test. And drumroll please...
Bacardi 151
Congratulations! You're 146 proof, with specific scores in beer (60) , wine (133), and liquor (113). |
All right. No more messing around. Your knowledge of alcohol is so high that you have drinking and getting plastered down to a science. Sure, you could get wasted drinking beer, but who needs all those trips to the bathroom? You head straight for the bar and pick up that which is most efficient. |
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My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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You scored higher than 91% on proof |
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You scored higher than 90% on beer index |
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You scored higher than 98% on wine index |
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You scored higher than 99% on liquor index |
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Yes, I'm still alive, just on spring break. Having a lovely time here, and we're keeping ourselves out of trouble. Sadly, we still have been doing our school work, even here. I single handedly read all my Crim Pro reading yesterday. And then this morning on the Today show saw how Americans work too hard on vacations if they even take them. I don't think they had law school and spring break in mind during that segment. If I had some really exciting thing to say at this point I would. Nope, nothing. I'll check back in later.
Two classes closer to Spring Break. Hell, a lot of people have already bailed. We're missing one or two people per row. Of those who are physically here, our brains our elsewhere. Quote of the day: "I'm not here, I'm on a plane to Florida." I'm not heading to Florida, but I am heading out. I'm going to relax, do some reading, drink some icewine. That's all I ask for on my vacations. I may not come back with a tan, but I have a ghost like image to maintain.
Let's try this again...I had a nice long post but Blogger ate it.
For the third Tuesday this semester, the weather turned to absolute crap. And since we're like the post office, we never close. One hour to arrive here. This is normally a 25 minute drive. Hell, it took me nearly 15 minutes just to get out of my neighborhood. I nearly slid down a hill backwards in my car, dodged numerous accidents, and nearly dorked the car in the driveway of the school. I get inside, buy my egg and cheese sandwich and enjoy my morning, only to be accosted by a bat. Yes, you heard me right, a bat. Not the baseball kind either. Much shrieking and flailing ensues. To my credit, I neither shrieked nor flailed. I did duck a couple times when it did a low flyby. And as quickly as it began it ended. The bat was struck down by the maintenance man's jacket. I was immediately saddened. I can't handle that sort of cruelty at 9am...hell, at any time of the day. We needed a mascot, what did that bat do to you?
I love my local independent radio station. Where else can I hear "Holiday in Cambodia" by Dead Kennedys at 7:30am without even requesting it? And yes, I did sing along. How can you not?
Today I learned the joy that is the essay portion of the Bar Exam. However, I think that perhaps I missed my calling in law school. Forget the law school exam, I should have been able to just go to the Bar Exam and be done with it. I've been writing toward that end right along, but somehow missed the memo that perhaps this isn't appropriate for a law school exam. That might just explain my grades. Bring me up to speed on all the rules and I'll be able to draft essays that'll be just fine. I watch my friends go to this pre-review and get progressively more freaked out, I, on the other hand, go to these classes and come out feeling better about my chances.
I know it snowed again. I know the city can't plow the streets to save their butts. I know you're driving an Expedition. However, it's an SUV, not a double wide. GET THE HELL OUT OF MY LANE! Thanks.
This explains why I'm sweating...I'm too damn close to the Sun! (I can't remember where I saw this first. Sorry.) I do have to say though, this is one of the most accurate descriptions I've seen in a quiz.
You Are From Mercury |
You are talkative, clever, and knowledgeable - and it shows.
You probably never leave home without your cell phone!
You're witty, expressive, and aware of everything going on around you.
You love learning, playing, and taking in all of what life has to offer.
Be careful not to talk your friends' ears off, and temper your need to know everything.
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I just made the switch to Firefox. It's sort of cool, but I'm missing the functionality of my Google toolbar. I also thought this was supposed to have tabbed windows? I'm obviously missing something here. I did install a lovely wooden theme, which adds a touch of class to the old laptop. Either I'm getting older, or these learning curves are getting steeper. I used to be edgy, now I'm just squishy.
I won a free song on my Mountain Dew. I put the code into iTunes. It's now staring at me wantingly. It's like shopping in the biggest candy store ever...you want some of this, you'd like some of that, but you only have a dollar. Do I indulge with a disco hit? Do I go death metal? Do I totally wimp out and pick one of the most popular tunes? Too much pressure!
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