Democracy at Work, 37 Cents at a Time

As just about anyone following this year's election is well aware, a vote in Ohio is going to count a lot more than a vote in Indiana. Therefore, I chose to vote absentee. I made sure to send in the necessary paperwork well before the deadline, but when I left for break, I had yet to receive my absentee ballot. I found this a bit troubling and began to worry that I might be disenfranchised.
Thus, I was happy and relieved to find my ballot waiting for me when I returned to South Bend.

This was the first time I've used an absentee ballot, and naturally it's very different from stepping into the voting booth and pressing the buttons next to the candidates' names. Instead I received a very sophisticated voting device - a piece of paper stapled to a foam board (collectively the "OFFICIAL BALLOT CARD") and a bent piece of metal - it looks like a misshapen keyring (the "Punching Tool"). On the ballot are around 200 little numbered boxes each containing an even smaller perforated box (the infamous "chad"). The numbered boxes correspond to the candidates/issues I'd be voting for; the misshapen keyring is used to punch out the chad. There were specific instructions directing me to check the ballot card for "any partially attached chads" and to remove them. Luckily, I didn't experience any technical problems - all my chads were clearly detached and embedded in the foam board backing. After placing the ballot card into the "official ballot envelope" (on which I could have written down any write-in votes), I placed everything into the signed "Identification Envelope," stamped it, and voila, fini. Unfortunately, there was no "I voted today!" sticker enclosed in the package.

I did all of this Sunday night, then dropped it in the mail the next morning. There will be plenty of time for snail mail to carry it to Ohio by November 2. However, Honor did remind me that my vote still isn't quite safe from disenfranchisement. It could get lost in the mail, or heaven forbid, "misplaced" by shady election officials...

Round 2

After a relaxing week off, it's back to the daily grind.

It was a good fall break. I probably drove more in the past week than I have for months. I caught up on sleep, went to rink a few times, ate a couple home cooked meals, and caught up with friends and family. Some of the week's highlights:

Spent time with Honor. She's pretty busy with school right now, but we did get a chance to hang out while I was home. We had a nice dinner out for our 2.5 year anniversary one night, and had yummy Catfish Biff's pizza and saw Garden State (a good movie that I highly recommend) on another night. She also got her LSAT scores back, and did very well. Honor will be applying to law schools soon, so here's a question you can comment to: Where will/should Honor go to law school?

I made a trek down to Cincinnati to see Derek. We ate at Skyline, discussed philosophy, and generally "talked as men do." (His words.) We also played pool. Badly. Very badly. Although the initial plan was to check out Billy Bob's Billiard Emporium (not the real name), we soon learned to Derek's chagrin that the Emporium was not a pool hall but rather a billiards table retailer. It was also closed. Instead we played in the backroom of a sketchy bowling alley; basically, where bad pool should be played. Oh, and Derek and I also watched I Heart Huckabees, a somewhat strange but altogether enjoyable movie.

I attended a Kerry speech/rally with Honor's mom. It was my first time seeing him speak in person. After a long wait and getting through security, we got to listen to him talk about the value of science and stem cell research. It was a good speech, and addressed some important points that have been greatly overshadowed by other issues in this year's election.
On a related note, my absentee ballot arrived in South Bend while I was gone, so I filled it out last night and mailed it today. I'll describe it more in a later post.

Notre Dame beat Navy, then lost a close game to Boston College. OSU lost to Iowa, then snapped the losing streak by beating Indiana soundly. While I had at least one team win each weekend, now both teams have fallen out of the top 25.

Okay, I think that's about it for now. My practice exams and graded memo will be returned this week, so wish me luck on that. Then I'll really know how things are going...

Time to Catch Your Breath

It's finally here - the mid-semester break. I know a lot of my readers do not enjoy this luxurious reprieve (suckers! just kidding.). All I can say is that after the past week, it's good to have a little downtime to catch up on sleep, eat a few home-cooked meals, and generally get away from law school for a little bit.

For those who are interested, I did survive the final push. Practice exams seemed to go ok, though I'll reserve judgment until we get our results back after the break. The same goes for memo #2; but at least it's finished and behind me. I did take two breaks from the craziness last week. One for the presidential debate (with the presidential debate drinking game), and one for the post 1L practice exam party (no drinking that night- I offered to be the designated driver and still had to work on my memo).

Come 2pm Friday, everyone scrambled to get out of the law dunge- er, school. After hastily wishing a good break to several of my 1L comrades, I high-tailed it out of there. And now I'm back in the Buckeye State. A week of relaxation, good food, skating, spending time with Honor, and hanging out with some friends is just what the doctor ordered.

Two-Minute Drill

Ok, just a quick post before getting back to work.

Congrats to Niki for winning the first Photo Captioning Contest. I had three respectable submissions. I disqualified my response, leaving two. While Derek's caption was amusing (although not quite P.C.), Niki's caption made fun of Brad, and those points tipped the scale in her favor. Since I'm a bit bogged down right now, there probably won't be a new photo until break. I'm hoping for more submissions this time around. Feel free to post more than one caption if you think of several good ones. And you anonymous lurkers should feel free to participate as well. (And I won't hold it against you if you don't know who Brad and Derek are and therefore don't know how best to make fun of them.)

This week is dragging along. Probably because it's the last week before break, I guess. Not that I don't still have a ton of things to accomplish before Friday, but I can't wait for the week to be over. I don't know whether it's the result of deadlines hanging over me like the Sword of Damocles, but I've felt a weird kind of energy the past few days. I even had a moment of clarity while writing my memo a little while ago, and felt a rush similar to what I used to experience when working on mock trial...
Still, it's not something I'll be able to sustain indefinitely, which is why it's a good thing that the mid-semester break is just around the corner.

On the social front, I've been doing my best not to be a hermit. And some of the upperclassmen from Depositions have struck up conversations with me as well. Oh, and I even stayed after class today to ask the Smiling Assassin a question.

The last presidential debate is tomorrow night. Be sure to watch. And if you feel that you need a little background on the candidates before then, check out this site.

Recent Happenings (and Prepping for the Big Push)

I apologize for the lack of posting as of late. Things have gotten pretty busy in the last couple of days. Everyone's set for a big final push before the mid-semester break. LegWri memo #2 is due by the end of next week, and my fellow 1Ls and I will be taking practice exams this Thursday.

Highlights from the past week:

Advice from the 2Ls. On two occasions I got to listen to 2Ls espouse wisdom about surviving law school. First I met with my SBA-appointed 2L mentor who invited me and the other 1L advisee to his place for dinner. A few days later, Professor Seckinger (Depositions) invited the Depositions witnesses to join his advisees for pizza and discussion. He and his 2L advisees offered their suggestions on getting through 1L. To summarize: work hard, but not too hard. Grades aren't everything. You need balance in your life. Don't stress out. Easier said then done.

Presidential debate #2. Fun stuff. I watched the debate in the Fischer Community Center with a small group of pro-Kerry types. Some of the more interesting moments: Bush refusing to yield to moderator Charles Gibson and responding to Kerry anyway; Bush claiming to know about rumors on the "Internets"; Kerry making a direct promise not to raise taxes for families that earn less than $200K; Bush declaring himself to be a "steward of the environment"; Kerry calling Bush out on the Orwellian labels of various legislation.

The graveyard. A pro-life group at ND filled the quad outside the law school with hundreds of white crosses in a demonstration against abortion. This raised some issues among the pro-choicers, especially since ND refuses to recognize any official pro-choice student groups here. In an act of defiance, many of the crosses were uprooted/displaced/trampled the next day; but they were fixed and remained in place for a third day. The display is gone, but some tension still remains.

Study group. Yep, I joined one. I wasn't originally planning on joining a study group, but two of my fellow classmates invited me along on Friday. I found it really useful, and despite the large size of the group (7 or 8 people, I think) we seemed to get quite a bit accomplished. One member did storm out part way through the meeting, though. After debating with the group (and meeting en masse with our professor) I think I now understand CivPro much better.

That's what's been happening here in South Bend. Updates may be light this week as I mount the final drive before break. Speaking of which: I'll be back in Ohio from October 15-25. I'll be staying with the 'rents down in Chillicothe, but will probably be making trips to Columbus, Cinci, and perhaps even Cleveland. If you'd like to hang out, do something, get a beer, etc., let me know. I promise not to bore you to death with stories about law school. Too much.

VP Debate

Debate declared a draw; Cheney, Edwards to break tie by thumb wrestling

Fun with Quotes

Commenting on OSU's loss to NWU last Saturday, Zwick said, "It's something that's going to happen and it's something you have to learn from. That's life. You're not going to be perfect all the time."

My response: Not perfect all the time? Let's see you be perfect some of the time, Zwick. Then we can talk about all the time.

Canadian Sub Adrift after Fire. (Yes, Canada has submarines. And a navy. I was surprised too.) Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham remarks, "Other ships have had fires in the past and no doubt there will be fires on board ships in the future -- this is something that our professional mariners are capable of managing ... There are risks in being in our Navy."

My response: So the risks of being in the Canadian navy are dealing with fires on submarines. Not the dangers of any type of armed conflict. Gotcha.

Technology Reaches New Heights

SpaceShipOne made another successful trip into space today, and should win the Ansari X Prize of $10 million. It rocketed into space at Mach 3 to a height of 364,000 feet (70 miles). It was also sporting a new paint job that announced its partnership with Richard Branson's company Virgin Group (which includes the airline Virgin Atlantic).

Speaking of Virgin Atlantic, the company recently announced its plan to install double beds and cabins (similar to cruise ship cabins) on board some of their jets. Branson freely acknowledges that this will encourage passengers to join the "mile-high club."

Plans to include similar accommodations on SpaceShipOne-type vehicles (for the 70 mile-high club?) for Virgin Group's space tourism venture have not been confirmed.

Photo Captioning Contest

Introducing an all new feature here at my humble little website: Photo Captioning. Here's how it works. About once a week I'll post a photo. Visitors to my site think up clever and witty captions to the photo and post them in the comments section. At the end of the week I'll use a complicated and sophisticated scoring method (taken from Whose Line Is It, Anyway?) to select a winner.

Some possibilities for scoring extra points:
Mock Trial humor (where appropriate)
Law humor (where appropriate)
Making fun of Derek
Making fun of Brad
Making fun of Derek AND Brad
Movie and pop culture references (if I catch it)

Good luck!
Here's the first photo:


UPDATE: WINNING CAPTION
The winning caption goes to Niki:
Brad's submission in the "What I Want to do When I Grow Up" contest.

Weekend

Aside from both of my teams losing (ND 16, Purdue 41 and OSU 27, NWU 33), this weekend was pretty good. I got to talk with Honor for a couple of hours on Saturday and catch up. Then my family came to visit for a while today. And amazingly, I still managed to get some work done too.

In other news, I'm Batman. (So when they cart me off to Arkham Asylum in a straightjacket and I keep repeating this over and over again, I won't be completely crazy...)