ICBING update

Thursday night - time for a bowling update.

After last week's stellar performance, there was bound to be a slight slump. ICBING still did pretty well, though. The team decided to change a few things tonight. First was the roster. Our roster changes on a weekly basis. Tonight we actuallly bowled 8 bowlers for both games, and dropped the two lowest scores. Next, names. Instead of putting our real names into the computer, we entered our nicknames. More on the effect of this below in the highlight reel. Finally, Wrong Lane and Breaks 50 (aka "I want to change my name every week or more often but Alex doesn't seem to like the idea") decided to experiment with the effect of beer on their bowling skills. The jury's still out on that - I think further testing will be required.

And now for the score recap:

Wrong Lane: 83, 115
Take a Knee: 109, 153
9 pin (aka 10 pin, aka Turkey - see below): 106, 124
En Fuego (fka On Fire): 119, 96
8lb (fka 7lb): 57, 112
The Edge (fka Pinky): 166, 131
Breaks 50 (aka so many other names...): 121, 69
Newbie: 94, 98

Highlight reel:

The big story of the night was some name switching for 9 pin. The name had become something of a curse, resulting in 4 straight open frames (of nine pins, naturally) to start off the game. To break the curse, the team decided to change the name to 10 pin, which immediately resulted in a spare. Bolstered by this effect, the team rechristened him Turkey. Unfortunately, this didn't pan out quite as expected.

Take a Knee and Breaks 50 had another friendly wager for a week's worth of bragging rights. Take a Knee had to beat Breaks 50's score (for the evening - both games combined) by thirty pins. Breaks 50 jumped out to a commanding lead, bowling a personal best of 121 and led Take a Knee by 12 pins going into the second game. But Take a Knee came back strong. A turkey in the tenth frame clinched it, giving Take a Knee another week of heckling rights.

Wrong Lane didn't bowl in the wrong lane tonight, but the other team did during his turn (effectively bowling for him); maybe the SBA will stop sending emails that lead to such confusion.

"I never could get the hang of Thursdays..."

First off, 50 points to the first person to identify the source of the quote in this post's title.*

Anyway, today was a pretty rough day. But looking back on it, I've been rather lucky that things weren't much worse.

It started off when I woke up later than intended. I woke up a few minutes before 8am, when my LegWri class starts. We were giving sample oral arguments in the courtroom today and receiving evaluations from a Shakespearean actor. After a mad rush to get ready, I hopped into my car and drove to the law school (instead of walking, as I usually do). I parked at the circle in front of the law school (technically a No Parking zone) and made it just in time.
My partner was supposed to present today, but didn't make it in today due to a family emergency. Luckily, I didn't have to give the argument in his place.

After LegWri, my partner and I were supposed to meet with our LegWri prof to discuss the case. Since I had some questions that I wanted to ask, I decided I'd meet with her one-on-one.
But first, I have to move my car. I drive over to the bookstore parking lot (the sign here says Maximum 2 Hours Parking) and then rush back to the law school to make the 9am appointment.

When I get there, my prof isn't to be found. She does finally show up, half an hour late. The meeting was mildly helpful. I basically presented some of my questions and got responses amounting to "That's an interesting question" or "Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that." She did agree to check with one of the legal research professors in the law library to try and answer some of my concerns, which she emailed me with later today. (Have I mentioned that my LegWri prof is an English/Creative Writing professor who knows very little about law?)

By the time the meeting wraps up, I realize it's five after ten and my Contracts class has already started. Fortunately, if there was one class to which I had to show up late, I would pick Contracts. I peered in the doorway looking for an empty seat. Rougeau sees me and waves me in. I scramble down the steps and spot an open seat: front row, on the aisle. At least I don't have to crawl over people to get to a seat.

Ethics follows immediately after Contracts. That class is pretty boring and it's always a struggle to stay awake. All in all, the class passes without incident.

Now I figure I'd better go move my car (again). It's now 11:45 (for those of you keeping score at home, my car has been parked in the 2 hour lot for about 2.5 hours). I'm hoping I don't have a ticket plastered to my windshield. Not that it'd be a huge deal if I did - apparently the first "ticket" is only a warning. Once again fortune seemed to smile on me as there was neither a ticket nor a warning on my car.

I drive home, then walk back to the law school to do some work and grab my stuff. From there on out my day settled down considerably.


*Much like Whose Line is it Anyway? the points don't matter. But you still get bragging rights if you answer correctly. And who knows - maybe if someone accumulates enough points there might be some prize like a case of beer. For the sake of argument, let's throw out an arbitrary sum. Say, a million.

Weekend

This past weekend was pretty good - as Derek might say, "one for the books."

First off, I got to judge the regional undergraduate mock trial competition this weekend. I judged rounds 1 and 3, the morning rounds on Saturday and Sunday respectively. It felt a little weird being on the other side of things this time around. I can still vividly remember being in some of the same rooms competing just a few years ago. Also, I got to preside over both trials in addition to scoring. My co-judge in each round was an attorney, and technically they were supposed to act as the presiding judge. But they both asked if I would preside instead and I wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to be in charge. On the whole, the teams I saw did pretty well. I heard some horror stories from other judges though - teams on notes, running out of time, whispering objections across the courtroom, not knowing objections... but my trials went smoothly. It was a good experience, but it made me miss mock trial a bit. Still, it was a nice reminder of one of the reasons I decided to go to law school in the first place.

The next big event of the weekend was Emily's dinner party. Her fiancé Keith had come to visit, and we finally got to meet him. It was a great evening filled with great food and great conversation. Everyone brought something to the dinner. Not being a gourmet chef myself, I brought chocolate-covered strawberries (which were "ginormous", according to Brooke). They seemed to be a big hit. Keith's a great guy and he and Emily seem perfect for each other. I'm sure they'll be deliriously happy together for years and years to come (regardless of whether Emily deserts us for San Fran or Keith finds a job in Chicago).

Then of course there was the Superbowl. I watched the game with a few friends in Fischer, a rather low-key event. We pilfered some food from the community center's party (I figure, we paid the same activity fee as everyone else, so we're entitled to the food even if we don't eat it at their party).

All in all, it was a really good weekend.

Ugh

Longest, most painful game of Trivial Pursuit ever. And that's including the drinking Trivial Pursuit debacle of '01.

That's all.

Life in the Fast Lane

Well, it's Thursday night, which means it's time for another Bowling Update!

Lane assignments changed tonight so that we could face a different team (standings are calculated on a win/loss/tie system). Our team name (I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter!)got a bit butchered, appearing as "r can't believe it's not g" and "r can't believe it's not gutte." I pointed this out to the staff and hopefully it will be corrected for next week.

Tonight's performance was a marked improvement from last week. For starters, everyone broke 100 in the night's first game. Even better, we found out that they set handicaps based on last week, so our score should look all the more impressive. A brief rundown of tonight's performances:

r can't believe it's not g(utte)
Wrong Lane: 114, 134
Take a Knee: 113, 129
9-pin: 144, 109
On Fire: 158, 147
One-arm bandit: 104
Breaks 50 (f/k/a Secret Agent): 106, 97
Bowling Injury: 97

And now some color commentary:

Wrong Lane put in an impressive showing, breaking the all-important 100 barrier in both games. A spare-spare-strike combo in the last two frames of the second game landed a personal best of 134. Wrong Lane continued to live up to the name tonight, once again bowling on the... wrong lane.

Take a Knee put up solid numbers tonight, again breaking 100 in both games. Though not up to the same average score from last week, Take a Knee won a bet by beating Break 50's second score by more than 30 points.

9-pin had considerable success in the first game, causing our team to rethink the nickname. There were some errant gutterballs in the second game, but 9-pin continues to be a strong leader on the team. 9-pin has bowled four consecutive 100+ games.

On Fire more than lived up to the name by posting ICBING's top score for both games and by being one of the team's most enthusiastic cheerleaders. On Fire was closing frames left and right with strikes and spares. In addition, On Fire bowled three consecutive strikes during the first game to get the elusive and much sought after turkey.

One-arm bandit bowled the first game, and rounded out the impressive team showing of six 100+ scores. While pleased with the team's considerably better performance, One-arm bandit probably wishes it had come a week sooner when there was a bet with the opposing team.

One of the great Cinderella stories of season is Breaks 50. The team may have to consider a different name for this bowler (again) after tonight's showing. But we might keep it for irony's sake if this hot streak continues. Hopefully the 40+ point improvement from last week will ease the pain of losing a bet to Take a Knee (see above). Nevertheless, Breaks 50 gave Take a Knee a moment's pause by throwing a strike to open the tenth frame.

Bowling Injury took over for One-arm bandit and served as "relief bowler" for the second game. After last week's double gutterball incident, some may have been concerned. But that concern would have been unfounded, as Bowling Injury hit the gates running with two spares. Although unable to maintain such an impressive pace, there were no repeats of the double gutterball and Bowling Injury came oh-so-close to the 100 mark.

RotS Pics (***Spoiler Alert***)

Just a quick "I am a Star Wars dork" post.
Courtesy of IrishLaw (my opposite if you will; a ND undergrad now attending OSU law school) comes a batch of pictures from the upcoming Star Wars movie extravaganza, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Some very cool pics. You can see them here, but as might be expected, spoilers abound.

"Bummer of a birthmark, Hal."

That's pretty much how I felt today in CivPro II today.

I've already been called on in that class. Several times. And yet I was called on again today. Admittedly, I think I may be partially to blame. I did ask a question. But then Professor Barrett switched topics and had me do the hypo. I don't seem to recall the same thing happening to other people who ask questions. Maybe it's because I sit in the center of the second row, just at eye level. So much for hiding in plain sight.

But I'm okay with it, really. I just hope all my classmates appreciate the fact that I'm drawing fire for them. :)

1L Doldrums

I figured it was about time for another serious post on 1L life here at NDLS.

Right now we're in a period frequently referred to as the "1L Doldrums." It's essentially a period of letdown after all of the rigmarole of the first semester. Students often have a hard time getting back into the swing of things for second semester. I'm not really sure what supposedly causes this condition. Maybe it's because there's no longer a sense of fear propelling us, now that we've figured out how things work (mostly). Perhaps grades have given some a sense of futility or comfort (for more on this, see Brendan's post). Or maybe it's just the weather.

I'd heard about this well before starting law school, and vowed not to let it happen to me. But sometimes it is hard to focus. Especially when the reading gets a bit murky. Still, I'm managing to get through it.

It's kind of hard to believe that we're already 1/6th of the way through law school. It must be even weirder for the 3Ls - they're only about 100 days from graduating.

Thursday Bowl-blogging

The NDLS Bowling League officially kicked off tonight (as in, the scores actually counted).
I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter had a lot of fun, but we're going to have to kick things up a few notches to keep up with the other teams. Tonight's scoring (under aliases, to protect the bowling challenged):

Wrong Lane: 99, 105
Take a Knee: 136, 139
9-pin: 123, 114
On Fire: 121
7-pounder: 49
Pinky: 121, 96
7/One-arm bandit: 65
Secret Agent: 59
Bowling Injury: 0 (one frame, double gutter ball)

We're also working on the logo for our team t-shirt. I'll post a picture once the design is finalized, but until then I'll just say "flying manatee."

Oh, and there was a bowler in the lane next to us who did two things of note tonight:
1) threw the ball backwards - as in towards those waiting to bowl, away from the pins
2) threw the highest "lob ball" I've ever seen - I think it was airborne for half the length of the lane
All I can say is Wow.

Bait and Switch

Okay, so according to the syllabus for our ethics class, we were supposed to watch a clip from Arsenic and Old Lace. Instead, we watched a cheesy video entitled "Arsenic and Ethics."

I feel cheated.

Snow

Well, it's been fun being snowed in all weekend. Not that I can really complain, seeing as others have it much worse. A blizzard hit the northeast this weekend, dropping over three feet of snow in some parts of Massachusetts. For full details, I direct you to brendanloy.com, NDLS's resident weather nerd. :)

Rather than trudging through all the white stuff out there, I holed up in my apartment. A little legal research, a little ConLaw reading... fun stuff. But at least we knew that the snowstorm was coming - apparently other locales weren't as fortunate a few days ago, since their weathermen predicted a light dusting instead of the snow and ice they ended up with. Knowing that we would be hit Friday night and Saturday, I stocked up on groceries before the weather hit.

Not much news on the job front. I continue to get the rejection letters from various firms to which I've sent resumes, but the rate has slacked off a bit. I recently got an email from Career Services indicating that a Columbus firm is looking for 1Ls to submit resumes - which is kinda weird seeing as I did send them my resume and they wrote back that they weren't hiring 1Ls this summer. But I guess there's little harm in sending stuff their way again. Maybe last semester's grades, the fact that I've done some work with Depositions and TrialAd, and a writing sample will give me a better shot this time around. Worst case scenario is they send me another letter explaining that they're not interested. C'est la vie.

I can't believe it's not gutter

...is our team's new name. Far better than "The Bowlers."

The second most popular name choice was "The Flying Manatees," but was scrapped because it was something of an obscure inside joke (if anyone's really curious, I can let you in on it). "I can't believe it's not gutter" was simply much funnier and would be understood by all. Many thanks to Chris for coming up with the name.

A long overdue post

My apologies for the long absence. Apparently there are a few of you out there who actually missed reading my entries, especially while sitting in class.

The first week back is now out of the way, and I've finally secured all my books, know what last semester's grades are, and generally adjusted to a new schedule. ConLaw's been less exciting than I originally expected until today, when two of my fellow classmates engaged in an interesting debate over the role of SCOTUS. One debator even cut off our prof a few times, prompting her to chide him that in a courtroom he'd be expected to show greater deference to authority.

Property's been more interesting than I anticipated. In addition to reading cases about foxes, whales, ducks, and lobsters, today we had a rousing discussion on acquiring parking spaces and errant baseballs. Professor Garnett also has a sarcastic streak that I find amusing (which reminds me a little of Honor).

Second helpings of CivPro and Contracts are about what I expected so far. Legal writing is still annoying in that it still meets at 8 in the morning, but the case we will be working on seems pretty interesting so far (though I may soon come to loathe Emma and her idiopathic scoliosis, much as I cannot help but shudder whenever I hear the name Jani Weston). And Depositions is pretty much the same as last semester (it is the exact same class, only with a few new profs and all new students), except I know a lot more about what's going on.

I'll also be assisting the TrialAd course this semester, acting as one of the 1L "jury commissioners." I had a lunch meeting with Professor Seckinger and company today, and it sounds like it'll be an interesting time.

But the big news around the law school is the start of the Law School Bowling League. This is a pretty big thing here at NDLS, and I'd say the vast majority of people I know are participating. We'll go bowling almost every Thursday this semester, and they'll keep track of how the various teams do. Some teams have picked out clever names like "Splitigation," "Motion to Strike," "Holy Rollers," and "Six Drunks and a Ringer." So far my team's name is the rather uninspired "The Bowlers." Really? Is that the best we can do? I say we can come up with something more amusing. Sure, many of the good law/bowling puns may be taken, but no one said it had to fit that mold. We don't have to go super-law-geek and name ourselves "12b6" or "Proximate Cause." We could go only somewhat geeky with something like "Palsgraf's Pins." Or just something else entirely - based at least on my bowling prowess, I suggest "Mostly Harmless."

1 to go

I almost have all of my books now. The shipment of ConLaw books arrived yesterday afternoon, so I picked it up last night so that I could do the reading assignment due today on Marbury v. Madison. Of course, I could always have read it online if it came to that, but it's nice to have the book. Less eye strain, you know. It's a huge book though, and had a price tag to reflect that fact. I still don't have my Property books. Apparently our Property professor didn't tell the bookstore in time what book to order, and thus, no books. A shipment has been ordered, but the last time I checked with bookstore personnel, there was no ETA for it. But rumors circulating in the law school have earmarked Friday as the most likely arrival date. Until then, we're reading Xeroxed handouts of the relevant material. Fun, fun.

I also almost have all my grades back. Only Contracts has yet to be posted, which is interesting because that was the first exam all 1Ls took. We reviewed the exam, generically at least, yesterday in Contracts II (same prof). As Brendan pointed out on his blog the other day (at that time his section hadn't gotten their Contracts grade back either), such a review is probably of little practical value because students probably spent most of the time trying to figure out how they did rather than absorbing any analysis.

And the last entry on the "1 to go theme" is classes themselves. I've had all but one of all my classes at least once (Ethics being the exception here).

So far things are well, and getting back into the swing of things hasn't been too bad. I'll try to post a better reflection of the week's experience in a few days (when the week is over - neat how that works, eh?).

Deep Impact II?

Remember a little film called Deep Impact that came out in 1998? It was the other space-object-threatens-to-hit-the-earth-and- wipe-out-all-life-as-we-know-it movie released that year (and far better than Armageddon, in my opinion). Well consider the following plot for a sequel:

A NASA mission to study comets has a probe slam into a passing comet. The probe makes contact, creating a huge crater (150 yards in diameter, about the size of the Pasadena Rose Bowl), and causes the comet to veer off course and towards earth. Sounds pretty Hollywood, eh?

Well it's all going to happen for real (except for the last part of changing the comet's trajectory), as NASA is launching a mission today called "Deep Impact." The two spacecraft will rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4 of this year, when one of the spacecraft (Impactor) will slam into the comet taking and transmitting pictures all along the way. Impactor's companion, Flyby, will witness the event without going kamaikaze on the comet. Interesting stuff. Read more here.

Back to the Salt Mines

Yes, I'm now back in South Bend and I've started my second semester as a NDLS 1L. My Property class was cancelled for today, so it's been pretty light so far. Constitutional Law at 9 this morning went well. We talked about the 4th Amendment and what constitutes unreasonable search and seizure. Professor Bellia hit the gates running, and cold called someone right off the bat. Fortunately it wasn't me (though I had read the Constitution, our only reading assignment for the class). Still up is CivPro II with a new prof. But that reading assignment was rather light as well (including Rule 3 from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - a whole sentence). And after that Professor Tidmarsh has scheduled a review of the Torts exam we took last semester.

Tomorrow I'll be in Contracts II and LegRes/Wri II; my first taste of Property will come on Wednesday, and Ethics on Thursday. While I'm not crazy about having class at 8 or 9 each morning, at least on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm pretty much done by noon.

And now for the rant of the day... I tried to buy my books last night only to discover that there weren't any in stock. You'd think that the bookstore would know how many books to buy, since NDLS has a 1L class of around 180 students every year, and classes have been more or less scheduled for over a month. Some of my classmates who returned to the Bend early were able to get their books, but a lot of us will be awaiting the next shipment due in later this week.

Happy New Year

Well, we've made it through another year. Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, safe, and productive 2005.

I spent New Year's eve with Honor at her apartment, where we chowed down on some Chinese food and played a few games of Trivial Pursuit. There was a little champagne at midnight, but nothing fancy and no ball dropping in Times Square.

I'm not into the whole new year's resolutions thing. The December 31/January 1 year border always seemed kind of artificial to me, and I feel you should resolve to do things as you find necessary rather than wait until a specific time of year. But best of luck to all of you out there who've resolved to do something different in the upcoming year.

It's now one week until the gears of law school start grinding away again. More Contracts, more CivPro, more LegRes and LegWri. Plus some newcomers: Property, ConLaw, and Ethics. I'll be playing witness for Depositions again, and might be one of the jury commissioners for the TrialAd class. Oh, and undergrad mock trial regionals will be held at ND in February, and I'll be judging. Fun stuff. Now the circle is complete. When I left, I was the attorney... now I am the Judge. Unfortunately, OSU won't be competing at ND this year.

Before I head back, I'm still planning to post a little about the cruise as promised. Until then, you can see some pictures that my sister took by clicking here.

Still here

Yes everyone, I survived finals. Many apologies for the lack of posting. After finishing up the first semester of law school, I spent a relaxing week cruising the Caribbean aboard the ms Oosterdam. I'll post more about that in a later post. For now, I just wanted to reassure my readership that I'm well, back in Ohio, and will be blogging more frequently soon. (Hopefully- this whole "dial-up" business really sucks.)

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and such. Seems the world is going crazy with winter storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, and asteroid scares, but I've avoided calamity thus far. Of course, I might be singing a different tune when grades come out...

Stay tuned.

The Final Countdown

5 down, 1 to go.

A three and a half hour Torts final is now the only thing standing between me and the end of my first semester of law school. Ok, so there are hours and hours of studying for that exam standing between me and the end of the semester too.

For the sake of Argument

As you've undoubtedly noticed, I've changed the name of the site. I'd like to thank everyone who submitted suggestions for the new name. While I've decided to go with something completely different, I did carefully consider all of your suggestions. Some of my favorites:

• The Irish Buckeye - submitted by Brendan, the Irish Trojan
• The Ho Knows - submitted by Jenni
• A day in the life of A Ho - submitted by Casey

I decided to incorporate arguendo because it's a legal term, in Latin, and rhymes with my name. It means "for the sake of argument," which kind of sums up a lot of what we seem to do in law school. Let me know what you think of the new name. If someone thinks up something more clever or public outcry demands a different name, I might have to change it.

In other news... Crim review today with the Smiling Assassin himself. Good times. Tomorrow's the exam, which will be something completely different from good times.

Also, Professor Seckinger has decided to add an additional section to the spring Depositions course. Since he needs two additional witnesses, he asked some of us seasoned veterans if we'd be interested in reprising our roles. Since all of the prep work is already done, I decided to do it again. This time I'll be several steps ahead of the students taking the course. Those poor hapless deposers-in-training won't know what hit them...

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Four finals down, two to go.

Today's final was CivPro, one of the shorter exams 1Ls at ND take fall semester. It's only a tow hour exam because it's only worth two credits. They don't get much shorter than that, except for LegRes which was a mere 60 minutes. (And for an interesting point of comparison, consider that LegWri, also worth two credits, had a final on which I probably spent more time on than all my other exams combined.) So due to the shortness of this one, you might expect things to go fairly smoothly. But you'd be wrong. What is law school without the drama?

While the vast majority of students are taking their finals on their laptops via Secure Exam (tm) -- a new option for law students at ND -- there are a few who still have to hand write their exams. This is mostly because Secure Exam doesn't run on Apple computers. So all the law students with their cool-looking Mac laptops (personally, I think the glowing Apple logo is pretty cool) are basically out of luck. Some of the profs will let these students type up their exams anyway, but others make them write.

So all of the students writing their exam today were put in the same room. Unfortunately, the two CivPro profs didn't give the same time instructions. The prof who teaches my section of CivPro was supposed to give us an additional 15 minutes to complete our exam (so we worked on it for 135 minutes); the other prof did not allot extra time. This became a problem when time was called for the writers -- the end result being that those students writing their exam in my section were not given the additional 15 minutes. This is a pretty big deal considering that the writers may already be at something of a disadvantage since most people type faster than they write. It's not clear yet what will be done about this, though early reports suggest that the administration has so far taken a "What do you want us to do about it?" attitude. It is difficult to envision a viable solution that will remedy the situation. Until then, hopefully Professor Bauer will be understanding and sympathetic when reviewing the written exams.

Ok, on a tangentially related but much lighter topic: the world is going crazy. Again. In addition to the whole exam craziness here in South Bend, here are some other examples:

• As I mentioned in my last post, Derek is considering abandoning civilization for several months this summer.
• Brooke's laundry went missing for a while due to a mix-up by the ND laundry service.
• Brad is hallucinating, envisioning law schools subjects as marauding demons.
• And Niki ran head first into a wall of bureaucracy.

Hang in there everyone. Christmas break is right around the corner. If we can all just stay sane for another week, I think we can make it.

UPDATE: Another source says that the Bauer writers were probably not deprived of the entire 15 minutes; it may have been closer to 8 minutes. I think that it's probably still significant, as I didn't really finish my exam until 2 minutes before time expired.

Ningat, Ningat, Ningat

South Bend got its first (strike that, second) substantial snowfall today. We got several inches today, though it's hard to tell for sure because high winds kept the snow drifting. Anyway, here are some cool pictures that Brendan took of campus today, covered in white.

And the Hits just keep on comin'...

Ok, I know it's been a little while since I last posted (because of this whole "finals" thing). But since I've done enough studying for CivPro that I think I might recite Rule 12 in my sleep tonight, I figured I should take a little break and post an update.

We're in the middle of finals season. It sucks. A lot.

I took my first "real" law school exam on Friday. Contracts. Who knew three hours could fly by so quickly? The exam was a little different from what I was expecting from looking through Rougeau's old exams and talking to 2Ls. And I honestly have no idea how I did. I didn't feel great about it, but I'm pretty sure I didn't fail it either. Really, that's about all I've got. And I bolted as soon as the exam was over. I had no desire to post-mortem the test to death with a bunch of other 1Ls who have no idea how they did. Just hearing people talking about it in the hallways as I made my exit was annoying enough.

The law school's become ground zero for stress, anxiety, and all-around craziness. I'm not studing there at all this week. I'll go to the other libraries, hole up in my apartment, go to a bookstore... anywhere that isn't the law school. I plan to be there for the exams themselves, and that's it.

To make things even better, I got my first law firm rejection letter today. One down, a whole bunch to go. Hopefully the stream of rejections won't be enough to make me want to desert civilization and become a nomadic wanderer like Derek. If I don't get a job with a firm this summer, I'll probably end up volunteering my time to get some law-related experience, and I might still go study abroad in London. Career services did say that London's something to consider if my grades could use a boost...

Ok, enough doom and gloom. Back to studying for the three remaining finals. This time next week, it'll all be over...

Closings

First to dispose of the most important news of the day:

LEGAL WRITING IS OVER!!!
...until next semester.

After some final polishing and tweaking, I dropped off my legwri final today (the day it was actually due... see yesterday's post for more on that). If you're interested in some ND law school gossip regarding people who are not Alex having trouble turning in their finals, see Brendan's recent entry. At any rate, it's good to close that chapter of my 1L adventure.

Today was also the last day of classes for the semester. Our profs have scheduled some review/Q&A sessions over the coming week and a half, but no more classes. Profs have done what they can in the past few classes to bring the course full circle, where possible. But the winning "closer" was Professor Tidmarsh.

After putting the day's reading into context with the bigger picture, he tied up most of what we've learned in Torts this semester to one concept: Foreseeability. To further illustrate his point, he performed a little magic trick. (He's done this once before, making a cup of water disappear during our discussion of Rylands v. Fletcher, a case about a dam breaking and flooding a mine shaft.) Now some people say that knowing how a trick is performed ruins it. I think it lets you focus more on the style and presentation of the trick.

Tidmarsh came into class today with two items that immediately drew the classes attention. First was the mystery box he had brought in on the first day of class. Flashback: The box was marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 12/7/04." Inside was supposed to be a product that would change the lives of millions of people, but might end up killing many people as well. Tidmarsh used this to launch into the course. The other item he brought to class today was an envelope; as soon as he got to the front of the class, he taped the envelope to the board.

Tidmarsh told us we'd finally get to see what was in the box. He asked for volunteers to open it. He picked two people, and had them cut a deck of cards to see who would get the honor -- high card wins. After we saw the contents of the box and talked about foreseeability some more, Tidmarsh finally told one of the students to open the envelope and read the note to the class, which "foresaw" which cards the students drew. Ah, clever.

After "officially" ending class, Tidmarsh strode out of the classroom to a well-earned round of applause. It reminded me of a scene in The Paper Chase, when the professor concludes class and receives a standing ovation on his way out.

Thanks for a great semester, Professor Tidmarsh.

Ahead of schedule? That's unprecedented.

It's true. My legal writing final is actually done* early. Not early by a few hours, but a whole day. Unfortunately this isn't so much the result of me being studious and industrious, but rather because I thought it was due today. How did this happen, and how did I realize my mistake?

*"Done" is, of course a relative term. More on this below.

I'm not sure when I first got it in my head that the final was due today. My guess is that the last assignment we turned in was on a Monday and I had calculated that there was about two weeks between that assignment and the final. Because the final is something of a large assignment -- 3 different papers totaling close to 30 pages -- I actually got an early start on it. Heck, I even worked on it during Thanksgiving "break." I read through the fact pattern, the statutes, the cases... I took copious notes in yellow legal pads (anyone who knows me from my undergrad mock trial days knows what this means)... I outlined each paper. Then things got really busy this week. Bar/Bri held review sessions for each of our core classes (CivPro, Torts, Crim, and Contracts). This consisted of watching hours of videotaped lectures and taking notes as they essentially attempted to outline the semester's material. This took a good 3-4 hour chunk out of four days. While I found the sessions helpful (for the most part), every hour spent there was one fewer hour I could devote to legal writing.

Ok, so the weekend comes around. I get some serious work done. Then as I'm reading my papers, I spot some gaps that need to be filled. Only now the structure doesn't work. So I scrap it all and start from scratch. (Well not entirely from scratch. I completely overhauled the organization of my papers, though.)

At long last, I get my final to a state such that it's fit to be turned in. Not perfect. Like most works of art, legal writing papers are never truly finished; they're merely abandoned. After a final proofreading, it's time to print it out. I planned to print it a few hours earlier before it's actually due, since I'm expecting a run on the printers in the last hour or so. I submit the print order, then around lunchtime make my way up to the law library... only to find that the printers are down.

I still think that my final is due in 3 hours, and I have no way to get a copy into my hands. My mind rushes through possible alternatives. Print from another computer lab on campus. No good, the system is down throughout most of the university. Hook my laptop up directly to the printer. No, my laptop doesn't have a serial port or an infrared port, and the printer doesn't support USB cables. Email my professor. Nope, their computers are down too. Run home and print off my printer... might work, but I have class in half an hour. Maybe my prof's in her office... probably not, since she's rarely there. Well, maybe there'll be someone else to talk to.

So I rush downstairs to the legwri profs' offices. After confirming that my prof isn't there (typical), I talk to one of the profs from another section. It's then that I learn that the final isn't due until tomorrow. I'm sure a wave of different expressions washed over my face: surprise, confusion, skepticism... She pulled out the syllabus and shows me. Sure enough, "DUE: Tuesday, Dec. 7" right there on the page. Clear as day.

I felt a bit like Phinneas Fogg at the end of Around the World in Eighty Days. If you've read the book, you'll probably get that. If not, go read it and come back. Unless you're currently in law school, in which case wait until after finals. (Or if you're lazy and don't mind me spoiling the ending, email me and I'll explain. If you really care.)

So now I have time to polish my legwri final a bit more before abandon- er, I mean turning it in tomorrow. Then it'll be 1L finalmania. Let the good times roll.

Ice Master Ho Loco

That's my pimp name courtesy of playerappreciate.com.
Hate the game, not the playa. Yo.

Thanks go out to Brooke who's post originally directed me to the site.

P.S. The site generates a new name every time, so typing my name into the generator may not yield the same result (my second name was Sheik Alex Glide, also cool). So if you don't like the first one you get, you can keep trying until you find a keeper. Feel free to post your playa name below.

The Checkered Flag

That's right folks, we're into the final lap. 1L first semester exams are (about) a week away.

Which means... tons of work. I'm still working on the legal writing final (3 documents: an office memo, client letter, and 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss) that's due on Monday. I can feel it hanging over me like the Sword of Damocles. Although we're no longer attending classes for LegRes and LegWri, my days are still chock full of studying and all-round yummy legal goodness. (Hmmm... I could go for a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie about now...)

Also on the docket for the upcoming week: Deposition finals. Since I'm a witness, that means I have the distinct honor of sitting through ten (10) hours of exciting, edge-of-your-seat deposition finals. They're split up into two hour blocks over four different days, at least. I don't think it's going to interfere with my ability to study for finals, but I'm expecting it to be a bit draining, to say the least. Still, all sarcasm aside, I think it'll be fun. The first couple at least.

The exam lineup: Next Friday, Contracts. Next Monday, CivPro. Wednesday, Crim, and Torts on the following Friday. I've been attending the Bar/Bri review sessions which vary in their usefulness. Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're very repetitive. All of them eat up time. But I figure it's the closest thing to studying by osmosis, and at least suggest one kind of structure to use on exam essay questions.

There are a few good things about classes wrapping up (aside from the obvious, that is). First, as professors race to try and cover the remaining material on the syllabi, there's more lecture and less Socraticism (Ok, I think I made up a word. Primary brain power has been redirected to retaining legal knowledge, and I hereby reserve the right to make up words at my discretion.). This means that 1) there's less fear of being called on in class, and 2) the discussions are more directed. Take Torts for example: Tidmarsh leads us on meandering philosophical discussions enough as it is without the unscheduled detours of student input. Additionally, many of the professors are holding review sessions or taking time during the final few lectures to give us the bigger picture. Ah, now they show us the ball. Well, at least we get to see it at some point.

Oh, and as a side note, we've been filling out the teacher evaluation forms for all our classes. I had many good things to say about all my core classes. The ability to rant a bit for Legal Writing was cathartic. And afterwards, I reflected how grateful I am that none of our writing submissions were written by hand.

Everywhere I turn I seem to see stressed out 1Ls. Even the law school lounge has become a site for ad hoc study groups to obsess over legal details from various classes. That's why I try to get away from the craziness from time to time by retreating to a different building on campus or hiding in some quiet nook in the library.

For better or worse, the first semester is coming to a close and will soon be over. There's still a lot to be done, but the end (of this phase, at least) is in sight.

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...)