I know Kung Fu

Well, not exactly. But I did get a semester's worth of CivPro crammed into my brain in one sitting.

It all started with an innocuous little email in my inbox this afternoon. It was from Bar/Bri, one of several Bar Prep courses out there (for those outside the law school microcosm, it's like Kaplan or Princeton Review... on steroids), inviting me to attend a few of their 1L course review sessions. There's one for each core class, one class a day from today until Thursday. It was free, so I figured I'd check it out. Today's subject was CivPro, 6pm.

I didn't realize how intensive the review was until I got there. A couple of people were talking about how long it was -- 3 hours. At this point I'm reconsidering my choice in coming. If it's not that helpful, I don't want to waste 3 hours sitting through this thing. So I snag a seat near the end of the aisle so I can bolt if necessary. I ended up staying the whole three hours, and it was a very good and worthwhile review. There weren't too many people there (about 15 from my section, tops), but most seemed to find it helpful. Though many might cringe at the thought of watching a videotaped lecture for 3 hours, the Bar/Bri people did a pretty good job with it.

Of course, the material was presented in a somewhat different fashion than Prof. Bauer. I'll still have to go over the material several more times and come exam time I'll process it into the format Joey B. prefers. But it was a good presentation of all the topics in CivPro.

There are three more of these sessions, and I'm looking forward to them. But next time I'm bringing food.

ND 1L: The Movie?

If a cheesy Hollywood director were making a movie out of my law school experience, now would be the appropriate time to cut to a montage sequence.

It would probably feature me doing the following: studying in the law library, walking to class while deftly dodging blasts from the ND sprinklers (ok, so they haven't been up and running lately. But you know, artistic license.), reading while eating lunch, bouncing a ball off the wall a few times before furiously writing down a good idea, studying in the law school lounge, laughing with some friends (with whom I'm presumably studying), typing on my laptop late at night wearing glasses and a wooden pencil clenched between my teeth, writing on a whiteboard during a group study session, sitting at a desk covered in papers and a cool desk lamp (probably wearing glasses again), sleepily studying in the law school library, etc. It would all be set to some montage mood music. It probably wouldn't be something upbeat like Eye of the Tiger; a more likely choice would be some soulful ballad. If you can think of something appropriate, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

After the roughly four minute montage, the movie would cut to me sitting down to finals.

Thankfully, my life is not a cheesy Hollywood movie. Though it would be cool if I could effectively study for all my finals in four minutes.

Acceleration

Imagine you're on a deserted country road lined by telephone poles. You start driving, and you watch as the telephone poles slowly pass your car. As the car picks up speed, the poles pass by faster and faster. Soon you're careening along at break-neck speed and the telephone poles are nothing but a blur. That's how things seem to be progressing at the moment. No sooner do I finish one thing, another pops up to take its place. It's the mythical Hydra meets pop-a-mole.

This past Friday was the first 1L exam, Legal Research. Like my classmates, I'd logged quite a few hours studying for this one credit, one hour exam. Why? Mostly because there was so much material that could be on the exam. I think it went fairly well, but it's hard to say for sure. While the ten citation problems were straightforward, the bulk of the exam consisted of T/F and evil multiple choice. Why evil you ask? Here are your options: a, b, c, a&b, a&c, b&c, all of the above, none of the above, q. Ok, so there weren't any q's. But I think you get the point.

After I finished the exam, there was little time for celebration, as my second memo to the court for Legal Writing was due on Monday. I devoted the better part of my weekend to it, and handed it in this morning.

One might think that with two big events behind me that there might finally be a time to catch my breath. Not so fast- tomorrow I submit resumes to the Career Services Office law firm resume drop. I'm still deciding which firms I'd most like to send my resume to (read: receive rejection letters from). I figure an initial volley of 50 resumes should suffice for now. That's just to law firms; the drops/mailings for Federal Work Study programs, Alumni Funded Fellowships, Public Interest jobs, and Judicial Clerkships will come later.

Of course, there are finals to look forward to as well. At least Thanksgiving break is just around the corner. Getting to see Honor, family, and a few friends will be nice. Not to mention food. And maybe a little R&R. Then it'll be back to the breakneck speeds of the law school rat race. I don't mind the telephone poles racing past. At least, as long as I don't hit one.

LOTR:ROTK Super Long Edition

Brendan's posted some screen captures and a link to a two-minute preview of the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition DVD. Looks to be pretty cool, and will reincorporate many of the scenes from the book that didn't make it to the theatrical release. And since it's on DVD, you'll be able to pause it to take a bathroom break. 'Cuz you'll probably need a few during a four hour movie.

S.O.S.

That's Secretary of State, not a plea for help.

As everyone is undoubtedly aware, Colin Powell has resigned his post as Secretary of State. Though Bush has nominated Condi Rice for the position, she has yet to be confirmed. Leaving all that aside, Derek has posted a new poll, asking who should be the next S.O.S. - Derek, me, Brad, or a Ficus Plant. (Unfortunately, Biscuits the Turkey did not make it onto the ballot.)

I think I am clearly the best candidate on the ballot. And though I know I'd never get the job, since I didn't even vote for Shrub, Jr., I think it would be a nice gesture and in the spirit of non-partisanship and non-nepotism for him to appoint me. I'm not a black woman, but I am a short Asian ice dancer; I'd add diversity, and according to Brad I'm a member of a disadvantaged group that only recently got the right to vote. I like to travel, and if appointed I promise to send cool postcards from all the exotic locales I visit to each person who votes for me on Derek's poll.

Okay, enough fun for now. I hope to write an update on real life later tonight, for all of you who prefer that stuff to my attempts at humor.

Let's get ready to rummm-ble

In less than a month, I shall be fighting the good fight: 1L first semester finals.

But every main event has a few warm-up bouts, and here it's legal research and legal writing. We're already hard at work at our legwri graded memo to the court, and our legwri final is due after Thanksgiving. The legal research exam is this Friday.

Legres classes met today for an official review session, where students could ask any questions they have before the final. It was pretty clear that our prof didn't even want to be there, nevermind answer any questions. I couldn't tell if he was being purposefully evasive just to annoy us, or if he really couldn't communicate intelligibly if his life depended on it.

Fortunately, Cordell, a friend of mine from my study group, had arranged to have one of the other legres profs meet with a small group of students for an independent, unofficial review. She clearly and patiently answered each question and cleared up a few misconceptions about the exam. I learned a lot during those two and a half hours, which sounds kind of bad, but it's good that it happened before the exam. Oh, and Cordell's wife baked cakes for the group. She's an outstanding cook.

In other news, law school craziness continues. Between scrambling to prepare for the 1L job application process and scrambling to prepare for finals, everyone's a bit on edge. I'm not as stressed as I thought I'd be yet, but then again I tend to save that off until much closer to impending doom. And since I've been pretty diligent in studying, I think procrastinating on the stressing out is acceptible. Getting out of the law school every once and a while helps too.

I'll be back in Ohio in about a week and a half. I'm lucky enough to be having two Thanksgiving dinners this year, thanks to Honor's family and some considerate rescheduling by my family. Besides that I expect to be on the busier side (didn't I just say that there's job applying and legal writing to be done?), but if anyone wants to meet up for a little while, hit me up with suggestions.

On a final note: I'm trying to keep this page as updated as possible. A big thank you to those who have commented. But there's more to be done. As of this writing, only one person has submitted a caption for the photo captioning contest, and no one has submitted a suggestion for the new name of this blog. Let's get our heads in the game people, and start cracking. Now.

Career Services, or Job v. London

As if there isn't enough going on here at law school these days - legal writing memos, legal research final, profs trying to catch up to the syllabus, and finals just around the next bend - we're supposed to start looking for summer jobs soon.

Later this month, the Career Services Office (CSO) sponsors a huge resume drop, in which they flood the inboxes of various firms with all the 1Ls begging for summer work. Such positions are highly coveted for two reasons: 1) they are hard to come by (supply/demand, anyone?); and 2) they actually pay. Of course, there are other options for summer work. There are non-paying jobs in public interests, NPOs, etc. Then there are judicial externships, which are unpaid but prestigious because they are difficult to get. And though the non-firm jobs don't pay, there are ways to finance the summer so that you don't have to subsist solely on Ramen noodles and the occasional lime (you know, to avoid getting scurvy). Any work is good work, since it is imperative to develop experience, recommendations, and writing samples during the first summer.

Now for the proverbial catch: I was planning on studying abroad in London this summer, but most firms aren't interested in someone only able to work half the summer. The non-profits and other unpaid positions tend to be a bit more flexible.

I met with a CSO rep, Erika, yesterday to discuss getting a job for this summer. She recommended some changes to my resume (including adding that I have some foreign language ability - I might have to brush up on my French; you know, in all the spare time I have) We discussed where I was interested in working (most likely Ohio), and the problem of juggling London with summer employment. She more or less suggested that I rethink London, especially if I manage to get an offer from a firm. She also said that the other London option - studying there for the entire second year - probably wasn't viable unless I get a firm offer of 2L summer employment before I go. While it is possible to do some interviewing before and from London, callbacks would be something of a problem and most firms prefer to talk to candidates face-to-face rather than via phone or teleconference.

So what does this all amount to? Well, I plan to at least apply to several big firms. I'll know if they're interested in me before I have to apply to the London programme. I'll also apply to the various other employment options, and if they choose to hire me I'll discuss the possibility of working half the summer. As much as I would really, really like to go to merry ol' England this summer, I don't want to shoot my future career in the foot. And as Erika noted yesterday, there may be time after I take the dreaded bar exam (I don't even want to think about that right now) to get in some travel. If I don't have to start working right after graduation...

***Star Wars Dork Alert***

The teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has now been released online at the official site, starwars.com. It's pretty cool. Anyone even remotely interested should go check it out.

Okay, okay, I'm done.

Caption Contest Photo #2

Yes, I'm still alive.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been eons since I last updated this thing. Lots of things have happened since my last post, so there's little point in trying to rehash it all. I'll just touch on some of the more important stuff (read: what I can remember right now). And I'm going to avoid the typical post-election analysis and complaining. Suffice to say that it's over, and let's all move on. Besides, you're here to read about my life, right?

Hmmm.... well I got my practice exams back. The verdict: I'm on track, but need to do more. I see the practice exams as recon work on the professors. As a member of my study group likes to point out, "You're not taking a torts exam. You're taking Tidmarsh's torts exam." A successful exam answer gets into the head of the professor. Now that I've gotten a little feedback, I think I'm better prepared to do that.

Things here at the law school have gotten considerably more hectic. We're a week and a half (roughly) away from the legal research exam. Legal writing continues to bombard us with assignments. Finals loom on the horizon, and everyone's scrambling to revise their outlines. It's beginning to get more stressful, and the competitive side of many people is starting to surface. There's talk of a few of my classmates being very secretive about their notes and study aids. It's all their perogative, I feel, but those in study groups have pledged to cooperate with everyone in the group.

Despite the frenzy, there are still some light moments from day to day. My CivPro class, through the efforts of some hardworking 1Ls, threw a birthday bash for Professor Bauer this week (it's something of a tradition for the 1Ls to do this). We got another prof to serve process on Bauer (Dutile, the Smiling Assassin- seems fitting). We paraded cakes, adorned with toys representing some of the cases we've discussed, into the classroom. Everyone ate, drank, and was generally merry. The "merry" part was mostly due to the fact that the celebration preempted any semblance of having class. It was just like elementary school again.

To go completely off topic for a minute- who else thinks that t.v. programming for kids is completely insane? Gone are the days of good wholesome cartoons with coyotes trying to drop anvils on roadrunners. Two of the weirder things brought to my attention as of late are this and this. Bizarre. I worry for the youth of this country. And not just because of the results of the election, because I promised not to talk about that.

At the request of my loyal readership, I will try to update this site a bit more frequently. Look tomorrow for another photo captioning contest. Also, I've decided that the name "Alex's Blog" is too boring. To remedy this, I am now taking submissions from my readers for a new name. Just leave your suggestion in the comments. The winner will get a prize to be determined by me at some later date.

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...)