Psych LOTD

I think I may have read this article before...

Irish-Buckeye Fiesta?

Ohio State and Notre Dame both had good seasons this year, and both ended with 9-2 records. Both are BCS eligible, and could end up facing each other in a bowl game this year -- the Fiesta Bowl. That would be quite the matchup for an "Irish Buckeye."

Should OSU and ND duke it out in the Fiesta Bowl, my loyalties would be divided between my alma mater (OSU) and my current school (ND). I didn't expect such a situation to arise, since the two schools weren't scheduled to play each other (during the regular season, which schools have some control over) for any of the three years I'm here in South Bend. But the general rule is that your alma mater trumps all. [Of course, I feel that there should be some exceptions to this; if OSU and ND were scheduled to play during the regular season, and ND was on a possible national championship run whereas OSU wasn't, I think I'd have to root for ND.] So if Ohio State and Notre Dame are selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl, I'll be sporting scarlet and gray. Although I may wear some Notre Dame apparel as well. Fortunately for my ND friends, I'll be at home during the Fiesta Bowl and not around to harrass them when OSU wins. :) Although I'll have to make a note to avoid wearing my OSU shirts and sweatshirts for a while at the beginning of next semester if the two teams do play over break.

Despite the divided loyalties thing, I'd actually look forward to such a pairing. It's sure to be an interesting and exciting game between two very good teams with different playing styles. But perhaps the biggest benefit of an OSU-ND matchup is not having to switch channels during the game to check up on both teams.

For those interested in sports stat stuff: The Fiesta Bowl has been kind to OSU in recent years; they've been to Tempe twice in the past five years (2003, vs. Miami; 2004, vs. Kansas St.), winning both times. One of those wins was for the 2002 National Championship, where the Buckeyes bested Miami in double overtime. Notre Dame's last two trips to the Fiesta Bowl (1995, vs. Colorado; 2001, vs. Oregon St.) were considerably less successful: both were losses for the Irish.

Munch and crunch time

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving. As usual, I didn't get as much work done as I would have (ideally) liked, but I did get some stuff done. I also got to catch up with parents and sister, relax a bit, eat plenty of food (two Turkey Days, actually), and most importantly, spend time with Honor. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and she's definitely at the top of my list.

But unfortunately, it's now back to work. And it's a bit more than the daily grind, as finals are fast approaching. But at least it's good to know that in three weeks time I'll have another semester of law school behind me -- it'll be the halfway mark of my legal eduacation.

Pillaging, plundering, and litigating

As I've posted a few times before, I really think a career in pirate law would be incredibly exciting. Think of it: sailing, sunny and exotic tropical locales, payment in rum and Spanish doubloons... what's not to like? Adding to the allure of this swashbuckling vocation is the opportunity to make commercials like this. Yarrrr... so who want's to join me floatin' law offices?

Feeding the Blog Monster

"Bloggy"

To all of you out there racked with disappointment because of the lack of recent posts, rest assured that new posts will be coming soon. Until then, I leave you with this portrait of Bloggy the blog monster, an internet dwelling creature that draws sustenance from the ramblings of the world's bloggers. In order to better acquaint you with this character, Bloggy recently agreed to sit for an interview. An excerpt of that interview follows.

Mr. Bloggy, is it true that your very existence depends on the posting activity of the blogging community?
Bloggy starve with no food. Bloggy want eat.
Do you bear any relation to Pac-Man or The cheat?
Me Bloggy. Me hungry. Feed Bloggy.
Your torso looks like a Pollock painting gone terribly awry. Is it true that you are actually a malevolent piece of fuzz and/or lint?
FEED BLOGGY! (unintelligible) Bloggy eat now... Bloggy eat interview! (unintelligible crunching and munching sounds)


Okaaaaaaaaaay, yes I am insane. Anyway, I hope this little piece of utter randomness tides you over until my next *real* post.

Boston Saga, Part 4: From Asia to Italy

Honor and I spent Friday afternoon exploring Cambridge and poking around some of the shops. We had lunch at a nice little Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong (aka "The Kong"). The food was really good, and there was plenty of it. Later that night we had Indian food at a place called The Bombay Club. Again we were served a large quantity of excellent food.

After sleeping in on Saturday (a pleasure in which we law students don't get to indulge too often), we set off to explore some of Boston. First we visited Chinatown, where we had dim sum at Chau Chow City (why is it that practically every other Chinese restaurant feels obligated to make a bad pun with its name?). I've had dim sum on several occasions, but never had I been responsible for ordering the food. For anyone's who's not done dim sum before, you have to understand that this is not your typical dining experience. You don't get menus; instead, waiters/waitresses come by with carts of different small dishes, and you pick out what you want. I recognized a few things from prior dim sum outings, but I was mostly flying blind. Still, Honor and I did pretty well. Notable highlights: the sticky rice and meat cooked in lotus leafs, steamed pork dumplings, and red bean buns. Disappointment: shrimp still in their shells, with all legs still attached.

Saturday started out as cold and drizzly. The weather only got worse as the day progressed. We spent most of the afternoon ducking in and out of shops. In Chinatown, Honor and I visited a Chinese grocery store (she'd never been in one before) and a kitschy little store that sold the cheesy knick knacks that you usually only see in Chinese restaurants. When we got downtown, we went to a few clothing stores where Honor looked for a new coat. Alas, we weren't able to find anything to her liking.

Then it was off to the North End and Little Italy. Along the way, we experienced the wind tunnel known as Congress Street. The combination of wind, rain, and cold was absolutely brutal. We stopped at a gift shop along the Freedom Trail to get our bearings and thaw out a bit. Unlike the micro mini umbrella Honor had purchased* (generally ineffective against the typhoon conditions of Congress Street), the laminated (and thus, rain-proof) map of Boston proved to be an excellent investment.

We continued our trek to the North End and after braving more of the wind, rain, and all-around lousy weather, we found ourselves in Little Italy. We decided to warm up and dry out a bit in an Italian coffee shop. We sipped our coffee, chatted, and had a good time. Eventually the coffee shop began filling up, and we decided to free up a table and leave. We weren't quite ready to have dinner yet, so we perused a CVS for a little while.

Our original plan was to have dinner at Pomodoro, but it was really crowded and there were people waiting outside in the rain for a table. So we went down the street a bit and had dinner at Piccola Venezia instead. We were told it would be a half hour wait, but at least there were some open seats indoors where we could wait. We only had to wait for fifteen minutes before a table opened up. The food was very good, but the portions were large (and we were still a bit full from the dim sum), so we took a good portion of our dinners home in boxes.

Our trek home was, if anything, colder, wetter, and windier than anything we had experienced all day. By the time we got home, we felt a glass of wine would really hit the spot. But in opening a bottle of Spanish wine, the corkscrew broke off in the wine cork. I've never seen anything like it. After about half an hour (maybe longer) of chipping away, we finally got to the wine. Thankfully, the wine was very good and worth the effort.

Sunday morning was fairly uneventful. I retrieved my wallet, and Honor and I had a light breakfast in Harvard Square. We said our goodbyes, and I boarded to subway back to South Station to catch the train back to South Bend.

*I confess that I more or less recommended buying the small umbrella. I figured it would fit in her law school bag better (her last umbrella had fallen out of one of the side pockets). Plus it was kind of cute. Anyway, I must admit that it was not one of my better suggestions.

Boston Saga, Part 3: The One L Crucible

I got to sit in on a few CivPro classes with the legendary Arthur Miller (note: not the playwright). If you've ever read One L by Scott Turow, I think the evil Contracts professor was modeled off of Miller. (I also envisioned the Contracts professor in The Paper Chase.) It was interesting sitting in on the class, and rather enjoyable (although I attribute that in large part to the comfort of knowing that I would not be called on). I found the Thursday CivPro class to be fairly benign, especially considering Miller's reputation.

But on Friday, the gloves came off. Friday also happened to be Harvard's Alumni Fall Visit day (or something), so the back of the classroom was filled with (mostly not-too-recent) graduates of HLS. Many of them were now prominent lawyers and judges, and many of them had had Miller when they attended HLS. Given this audience, it seemed Miller felt the need to "show off" a bit. And by "show off" I really mean "be sadistic to some 1Ls." I felt bad for the poor soul who was the day's cold call victim for the Erie case. But I must say the student took all of Miller's jabs in stride. He even managed to engage in a bit of witty repartee himself, though Miller took care to have the last word in every exchange. But by far the worst comment of the day was, "Whatever happened to the vaunted interdisciplinary education of our Harvard law students? Did we make a mistake in admitting you all?" It even made me cringe. Frankly, law school (and especially the first year) is hard enough when you're asked questions out of the case and the following notes. Some of Miller's queries came from beyond what students should be expected to know (and yet he made it seem that the answers should be obvious). It's the kind of "hiding the ball" stuff that drives many a 1L crazy. I can only hope that Professor Miller eased up a bit once his audience of alumni departed.

After CivPro Honor and I went out to lunch with several of her classmates. Alas, I was ID-less at the time and could not partake of the lunchtime spirits. Honor assured me, however, that the Pumpkin Ale was quite tasty. (And it was -- I did sneak a sip.) Though I didn't get a chance to talk much with Honor's classmates, they seemed like a good bunch.

Once lunch wrapped up, Honor was off to her Legal Research/Writing class. I waited out in the hallway and did some reading. After that, we went to a "happy hour" held on campus - basically a kegger sponsored by the Students Against Domestic Violence group. We felt very safe drinking in the courtyard that had been designated a "Rape-Free Zone." Thursday night we had dinner at a cool little Thai place.